First Impressions / Gakusen Toshi Asterisk / Series Introduction

「華焔の魔女」 (Kaen no majo)
“Witch of the Resplendent Flames”

Eh, not my thing.

In my opinion, Gakusen Toshi Asterisk is a somewhat forgettable and hackneyed compilation of worn out anime tropes. “Battle High School” settings have never gripped me or struck me as particularly intriguing—let alone ones filled with stock side characters, an uninspired, blank-slate protagonist, and loads of gratuitous ecchi. It’s a regurgitation of a lot of things which conflict with my own, personal tastes.

Let me first back up a little.

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk takes place in a world far flung into the future. More than a century ago, a group of meteorites dubbed “Invertia” exterminated a substantial portion of the human species. Some of those who managed to survive were left with odd mana-infused abilities. Fast forward to the present, and six academies—each representing a major power in the world—send their most skilled and gifted students to wage battle at “Festa,” an annual major battle tournament which takes place on the floating city of Asterisk (of which the series derives its namesake). In the meantime, students are free to organize and partake in consensual duels in order to increase their ranking and status.

If it sounds like you’ve heard it before, it’s because you probably have.

The exposition is a dilapidated and unoriginal explanation for the sort of superpowers and action battles fought between mere high school students—a setting which itself is already well-explored territory. I don’t see the lore being built here as anything striking, intriguing, or unique. The series doesn’t even try to do anything new with this setting—it really is just more of the same. At least it’s not the case that every student besides the protagonist is a girl.

Our story follows Ayato Amagiri(Atsushi Tamaru), a recent prodigious transfer student who…accidently walks straight into the room of a half-naked pink-haired beauty.

Ah geez.

I think the argument against unnecessary and distracting ecchi has been made time and time again, so I won’t go there. I will point out, however, that not a minute since being introduced to our main character, and he is almost immediately thrown into a pervy situation. The episode sacrifices a valuable first impression of our leading man for some good ol’ T&A. And it doesn’t stop. Instead of being well-developed and intriguing characters, the only two female leads introduced seem to only exist to provide sexual tension and eye candy for the protagonist and the audience. Sure we’re told Julis-Alexia van Riessfeld (what a mouthful) has some problems socializing and making friends, but it’s barely mentioned in passing, and it’s a pretty generic personality trait.

And apart from the hasty mention of some lost sister, Ayato Amagiri undergoes little to no growth as a unique or fleshed-out character. He’s not too much of a loser, not too much of a cool guy, not too awkward around girls, not too cocky or humble, not too angsty or carefree—you get the idea. He’s apparently a gifted fighter, however, which still provides nothing in the sense of personality or motivation. He really is just an outlet for the viewer to insert him/herself into this world—not how I prefer my characters.

And that’s just it: these are just my own, personal thoughts.

I’m not necessarily discrediting these types of shows—if you enjoy them, that’s totally cool; hell, I’ve even liked a few in the past. Anyone who watches anime enough knows that these kinds of productions have a place in the market, and will persist through and through in bulk. Fans of the genre might really enjoy what Gakusen Toshi Asterisk has to offer. Even though I’ve been raggin’ on the infrastructure and make-up of the plot and characters, I think the production is rock solid. The animation is consistent, stylish, and not too flashy or over-the-top, the pacing and tone is appealing and executed well enough, and the music and audio are appropriate and excellently complementary to the visuals. Plus, the OP is super catchy and fun.

In the end, though, I didn’t like it, but I’m certainly not attempting to purport my opinions as hard objective fact. And maybe the show will develop and grow into something I’d very much enjoy—who knows. As it stands, however, Gakusen Toshi Asterisk doesn’t do much to change my stance on these kinds of shows, but that shouldn’t at all hinder another’s potential enjoyment of it.

-Jig

Note: There are currently no plans to blog Gakusen Toshi Asterisk on a weekly basis.

 

OP Sequence

OP: 「Brand-new World」by 華焔の魔女(Shiena Nishizawa)

 

77 Comments

  2. This was the second battle high school anime I saw today where a bland underdog MC walked in on a flame-using sword-wielding princess of a small country, who has come to Japan’s battle high school to get stronger.

    And of course, both were beaten by the underdog MCs.

    Lemme bang my head on my desk a little bit.

    Ok, done with that. Going to watch some old Seitokai Yakuindomo instead.

    s_w
    Reply

  3. This is definitely “pick one from column A and one from column B” type of show. Tsundere with a chip on her shoulder (“I must win the competition at all costs”), the Ojousama with the big chest, and the ML who just can’t stop himself from automatically grabbing a boob and squeezing. Somebody should make up a trope chart of character types in this show and see how many they hit.

    Bear
    Reply

  4. My Lord, that review was scathing! But yeah, i kinda understand Jig’s points of it being so dull and full of LN checklists. Considering the sheer amount of these harem highschool battle LN adaptations we’ve been subjected to for the past few years, it’s no wonder that he’d be so tired of it. I mean, no sane human would.

    Also loved to see jig tearing apart the fanservice. Because really these LNs don’t even try anymore on that point. Dude walks into the girl while she’s half naked has been insultingly tired trope since the good ol’ days of Love Hina. And to see these shows pull that trope straight is total laziness.

    Rorschachfan
    Reply

  6. Ah the bells of Magical Jesus, I do believe thee can be heard gently chiming in the background.

    Fully expected a mouthful of stereotypes, genre tropes, and superficiality going in and wasn’t disappointed in that regard. Everyone experienced knows what to expect from these type of shows. I have a disdain for this genre, but some can be entertaining if they try to fashion themselves along the sports line of heavy character building, overcoming defeat, and celebrating hard-fought victory.

    Unfortunately Asterisk so far appears to be following the tried and tested formula seen ad nauseum: the transfer underdog Gary Stu with family issues and special skills; tsundere love interest with the dark and mysterious past (who just also happens to be popular); organization targeting Gary Stu over his family/skills. All these features are centered around a battle arena format and light political machinations allowing our Gary Stu to show off overcome his obstacles. What makes it all the more humourous is that Asterisk is rumoured to be two cours.

    I will admit first impressions can be changed and I certainly plan on giving the show three episodes, but the alarm bells are already ringing and right now there is precious little here to encourage turning them off. We shall see what the next few weeks bring.

    Pancakes
    Reply

  7. https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    Light Saber
    https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
    and cliches.

    Gakushen Toshi Asterisk has wonderful art, animation, and bgm. But, this is still your standard “super-powered high school battle….. with ecchi“. Better check on Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan. Oh wait. Both of them have the same premise?!

    OnePunch_Guy
    Reply

    1. It just appear like it at first. But Cavalry will separate with it really fast. Cavalry is not focused on action but rather character interaction and development meanwhile Asterisk is focused on tournament. In Cavalry the importance of hard work and talent is more emphasised and how much emotional baggage failure label is.

      NeoAnkara
      Reply

  8. These types of unoriginal shows must be insanely popular in Japan? Why else would these things get made over & over and get a decent budget thrown at it? Just feels like a typical high school generic show

    I did enjoy the opening action battle. Might be worthy of a skim. Lots of pointless ecchi and pervy scenes though might turn me away fast.

    Rick Anime
    Reply

  9. Are we sure there’s not some sort of template-sheet that the Japanese light-novel community gives out where all the author has to do is fill in the blanks for names and some specific details, and the story turns in to one of these? I mean, there are so many of the bloody things, and they’re so ridiculously similar, it’s hard to believe that hundreds of authors are churning these out entirely on their own and can’t see how ridiculously generic they are.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    1. I think the publishers are just trying to appeal to a very particular market of otaku. They know those people are suckers for these type of stories, and they make money, so more get written. It’s just business for them.

      zztop
      Reply

    2. Personally I liken it the romance market over here. You read/see one romance story and you’ve basically read/seen them all. As zztop mentions it’s all deliberate targeting of a particular audience. Much like women eat up romance–no matter derivative–Japanese otaku keep consuming the same stories time and again, encouraging novice writers to try and tap into that vein. It’s a positive feedback loop defined by high churn and cookie cutter writing. Only need to look at the self publisher market on places like Amazon to see just how big it can be.

      Unlike romance (which I’m sure most of us have tuned out :P) we notice it here mostly due to cultural differences; for us the story type and the audience target are different and the entirety of the genre is largely centralized in foreign language books and programming found only in select, niche locations.

      Pancakes
      Reply

    4. As the reader who enjoy reading many these things, I find that they only look similar at the begining (introduction) but each of them manage to develop into something unique or great in later volume.

      There are not many ways you can begin the series but there are many ways the story can develop to.

      Marina2
      Reply

      1. Sure. After a while the author gets their feet under them and starts putting out what’s in their imagination rather than the basic light novel template. But that point is almost always far enough into the series that almost no anime made from these sorts of light novels ever shows the content that is actually good. So anime viewers are stuck seeing what’s basically a hundred clones of the same story over and over, with only minor differences that do little to make any one series actually seem worthwhile from our perspective.

        This series is apparently going to be 2-cour, so it may actually stand a chance of breaking out of that rut of similarity. Maybe.

        …Eh, don’t mind me. Seeing this sort of thing happen so often just makes me feel cynical.

        Wanderer
        Reply

    5. As Pancakes said, having a genre that tends to be cliche isn’t exclusive to Japan. Probably half the shows in the US are either a CSI/Law & Order type deal, or “reality” shows following the lives of someone that people apparently care to watch. Generally, if a specific genre is consistently being made, the suits probably figure that there will always be a market for this type of thing and it is a safe choice to produce.

      I think it is useful as a marketing tool, though, since the plots tend to begin differentiating (read: become interesting) right around, or just after, the point where 1-cour would end. People then have to go buy the LNs since most of these never end up getting a second season.

      That being said, I don’t disagree that this one in particular seemingly tries to check as many boxes as possible. If I’m still watching by then, hopefully a second cour will actually move in an interesting direction.

      SK
      Reply

    6. The two series are only look similar if you only look at the introduction, setting and ignores how it continues. It’s a bit like calling Star Trek the same as ALIEN. They are both SF, you travel with your spaceship and meets aliens.

      Znail
      Reply

    1. A-1 Pictures is hardly a model for consistency and beautiful animation. I don’t know why people keep saying this. They usually have decent opening episodes and then odd moments of sakuga and just average animation throughout, same as most studios really. They tend to be extremely hit or miss depending on the episodes and scheduling.

      HxC
      Reply

      1. It’s about staff, and A-1 is quite good at putting together a team to do whatever. They may be somewhat like anime mercenaries, sure, but they also channel money into results quite effectively. If there’s investment behind this show, then it will get appropriate treatment.

        Passerby
        Reply

      4. Just watched the premiere. Seems likesome bgm score by him, but for the song we need to wait for episode 2 to ED which is composed by him… And sung by Sakamoto Maaya! Crap, now I need to watch at least 2 ep.

        About the episode itself, I get somehow frustrated that this series actually could be pretty fun if not for the very poor writing (to the point that I suspect that things like “I didn’t expect that we will be in the same class” is actually meant for satire) and unnecessary fanservice. The rest of the production value is very solid, it is 2 cour and actually a ‘tournament and fighting enemies from many factions’ could be a fun, albeit basic shounen formula if the battle and the circumtances around it is interesting.

        zeroyuki92
        Reply

  13. Ah, so the generic harem series of the season finally graces us with its presence, does it? And it would, truly, be so much easier if I could just sit back, call it generic crap and be done with it. But that wouldn’t be much fun, now would it?

    No, no it wouldn’t.

    Just so we’re clear, I don’t have any particular bone to pick with generic harem anime (which Asterisk absolutely is) so long as it adheres to two basic standards: don’t be boring and don’t insult my intelligence. Do that and we can get along just fine.

    Now, to its credit and contrary to other shows (*cough*Absolute Duo*cough*), Asterisk kept me engaged enough to want to see the second episode. The animation is slick and nice to watch, while its MC (who, thank Madoka, wasn’t voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka), being the more subdued type, strikes me as at least modestly interesting in that he isn’t out for some cliche reason like revenge or anything like that. He’s actually relatable in that, while he obviously has some proverbial clouds hanging over him; in his heart, he’s just looking for what he wants to do with his life.

    Now, obviously, not every harem lead can be the pinnacle of greatness that Seitokai no Ichizon‘s Ken Sugisaki was, but if he can at least avoid being the kind of blockhead that makes you want to smack your head against a desk, I consider that passable.

    And then we have our two female protagonists, both of whom I will simply say are diamonds in the rough at the moment. Neither outstanding nor outright failures; how they’ll turn out is purely up for grabs right now.

    And that’s about it for right now, that it is. Given that it’s already guaranteed a two-cour season, we’ll see where Asterisk goes from here. I’ve no expectations one way or the other right now, but I hope for the best.

    Ryan Ashfyre
    Reply

  14. Hell, at this rate, them Japanese horndogs would be better off with me as the script writer for a Dracu-Riot! anime adaptation than having to constantly annihilate and regenerate their brain cells with each new generic series manufactured for their, frankly, mild sex drive… ʅ(◔౪◔ ) ʃ

    AHEM… In all seriousness, I’d like to say that Sweet Jesus’ writing style strikes me as polished, which in turn helps me to reassert my feelings of ~BLAH~ at the animation industry in Japan right now… ⊙△⊙

    “Once the seeds have been sown and nurtured, next thing you know those very seeds have inexplicably turned into Venus Fly-traps that ya’ can’t escape from, and these trends that you see here are its non-biodegradable waste products. Yeap, can’t use that fertilizer for more creative and innovative things no more- no sirreee.”

    Nishizawa Mihashi
    Reply

    1. Actually, I think a Dracu-Riot! anime could work quite well, so long as the right studio picked it up and focused more on the romcom elements rather than just oversexualizing everything and clamoring for the money (looking at you, Grisaia no Kajitsu). If they did that, it could actually be pretty fun. 🙂

      And it doesn’t have to be limited to just Dracu-Riot!; that same formula could apply to almost every recent Yuzu-soft eroge.

      Ryan Ashfyre
      Reply

      1. I concur. I absolutely, wholeheartedly concur~ Yuzusoft titles all have this really interesting ‘charm’ to them… And just like you said, in order for those Yuzusoft adaptations to work, the studio and publisher NEED to focus on the steaming hot romance, comedy and drama. As to who should be the MAIN love interest is up for best waifu debate, but in general, it would be best if they center the story around one love interest, while setting up the other potential love interests to advance the plot and as starting points towards excellent dramedic elements.

        On a side note, to those that are wondering as to why I’m suddenly talking about Dracu-Riot!, it’s because that self-contained series has far too much potential that scaredy-cat producers end up not seeing the pot of gold that’s been right in front of them all the while, fearing that they’re not up to snuff. ʅ(◔౪◔ ) ʃ Well, that’s my ‘psychological’ theory, so to speak.

        Nishizawa Mihashi
        Reply

  15. Remember tenchi muyo wanna know what separates that show from its knock offs? Excluding kyo-ani harems While the love thing was still there the girls all had their own goals and objectives in life they wanted to live they didn’t just revolve around tenchi not to mention how tenchi played out more like a sitcom than a harem and all the characters worked off each other well which most harem now have forgotten. Yeah the love elements can be there but focus on the other side too like character interactions that aren’t rinse and repeat.

    masselle
    Reply

    1. it seems like the anime industry, much like the gaming industry really isn’t trying anymore..or maybe the “new” idea makers are just lame, maybe just pop media in general…all for a cash grab…..

      or I’m prob just old

      BROOKLYN otaku
      Reply

      1. Old? Nah…

        Heck, mass multimedia that focuses on ‘entertainment’ is spiraling further downward into a sinkhole that leads directly to that sizzling hot core, where all trash is burned for fuel. With fuel being an analogy for paper and digital numbers, abstract fictions of the mind.

        So nah, you ain’t old. Though I certainly must say that those promoting the more varied and creative side of things really need better platforms and alternative funding options in order to thrive. Which begs the question… Are we even trying?

        Nishizawa Mihashi
        Reply

  17. I liked it. Pretty colors, nice art. And I’m not against high school battle anime so, I think it’s cool. It just sounds as if you’re really not into this type of anime. I guess it won’t be covered then? Why did you choose this one to review then? Just curious.

    igniteous
    Reply

  18. Maybe I’m just numbed to much of the genre and cliches after seeing Seiken Tsukai no World Break (one of the ultimate train wrecks of the genre, IMO)…like, whenever I see such anime come up, I seem to immediately think, “As long as it’s NOT like that (World Break), then I should be able to watch it.”

    So far, it’s not that far, so I’ll probably keep watching, lol.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. LOL agreed, that’s an atrocious anime befitting to be the benchmark of score 1 out of 10. Asterisk still have decent production value, at least pretty or cool to look at, though indeed the story is rather generic. As a battle anime as long as the battle is presented in decent quality at least it’s passable.

      cryarc
      Reply

      1. Yeah, the only part I liked about it was those couple of episodes that focused on Shizuno.

        Everything else was just…bad.

        “Underdog MC” who quickly becomes more Gary Stu than Kirito, Akatsuki, and others combined just because he “remembers” a moment from one of his past lives (that just so happens to conveniently involve a spell just perfect for the situation he’s in) and yet nothing on the fact that “reincarnation” is merely the same soul inhabiting a different body, not the same body, so how could Moroha’s modern day, completely different, and most likely far, far weaker human body possibly handle all that power from not one, but TWO uber-powerful past selves without destroying itself?

        And Satsuki was one of the worst, most annoying female “MCs” ever and played pretty much NO role in the series outside of the first couple episodes (which was more to push Moroha than giving her any development), other than to annoyingly cockblock Moroha and Shizuno in an extremely obsessive fashion. Even in battles, she has been completely useless, and the only reason she was even part of that “elite” group was because of Moroha getting the leader to let her. She was like a combination of Part 1 Sakura’s and all of Hinata’s uselessness.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

  21. To be honest, the only reason I watched this show is because I loved the art of its manga and now, A1’s awesome animation and character designs. And that’s it.

    Red HeartGold ZX
    Reply

  22. Solid first Episode

    I am Hooked so far. Even if the plot somehow felled like i saw it many times in my Past (A Guy and his “love obsessed Doll” as example), i find it that this Anime has something that valuable. Let’s see, if this little Gem become shinier for me

    Episode 1 of 3:

    Passed without Problems

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

  25. For those who are complaining about this anime’s over saturation of cliches and would like to drop it at the very get go (this includes me ofcourse), remember the 3 episode rule. Dont just write it off just because we’ve seen this a bajillion times before. Hell, we even saw this same plot progression a few hours ago!

    Ginobi47
    Reply

  26. I’m tired of the highschool harem battle anime as the next person. However, I gave Gakuen Toshi Asterisk a chance while reading the novel and it was actually somewhat interesting. The setting is pretty good and much of the content were interesting fights while only briefly dabbling in the romance/harem aspect. In addition, the visuals and animation were also decent in the anime. I admit there are a few cliches here and there, but people should give it more of a chance before dropping it. While not my best, I would still recommend watching it.

    NotToday
    Reply

  27. It only becomes egregiously annoying to me when the ecchi situations are just excuses for flogging the protagonist by a parade of tsunderes. However yes, it can be annoying to see an also-ran when it ends poorly or waffles around with the plot.

    However, a tightly constructed and well written show will always entertain, even if it’s a series of stereotypes and tropes. Sadly, that just doesn’t happen very often. More probably, we’ll see all the worn out conventional story-beats that ends in another sequel-bait non-ending…another series which manages to provide no meaningful answers to the questions it asks.

    However, I’m always a sucker for a good romance/action anime, so I’ll probably give this a shot, even if I am disappointed. I hope I’m wrong though, and this ends up being one of the good ones. Hell, back in IS came out, I was still interested in the genre. Then IS2 made me hate my life, lol!

    Seracen
    Reply

    1. To be fair, IS 1 had some semblance of plot progression centered on a military-industrial complex controversy before dropping into the sinkhole towards the inner core for fuel…

      Nishizawa Mihashi
      Reply

  28. Guys, this is the First Episode for this show in Anime form. Give it a fair chance, will ya? If i read here and there, it sounds like if this Show kick you in the Balls in his past.. But it just air today…

    Calm down

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

  29. I had high expectations because of the production values and the LN’s inner monologue. The way these characters think is overshadowed by how they act. It’s a huge disappointment.

    TitanAnteus
    Reply

  30. I’ll keep an eye on this.

    The novel starts slower than its peers, but it knows how to build up momentum. It’s one of the fewer light novels that get better and better over time.

    Alex
    Reply

  32. After see all of you guys harping on how similar this is to Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan Chivalry, I went to watch it just now.

    Lets just say, seeing Gakusen Toshi Asterisk AFTER Rakudai leaves this show seem lacking in flow. Still, I enjoyed it none the less…

    …not that it would guarantee me to add this show to my jam-packed Saturdays…

    ps. They aren’t that similar.

    pps. I know that comedic factors are needed still, but you’d think the following weapon would be replaced by something a little more…futuristic?
    https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2029.jpg

    info600
    Reply

    1. Jeebus, reading the synopsis for “Chivalry” was almost painful, my eyes rolled so hard, lol!

      Maybe that weapon has some sort of lasting appeal…sort of how they still use shotguns in Aliens?

      Seracen
      Reply

    2. Can’t beat the stat boosts of the legendary spiked bat with your common lightsaber. Also, if there are still priests threatening boys with muskets today, teachers can still have their spiked bats in the future.

      SK
      Reply

  34. A bit sad that the one that covered this isn’t someone who could at least tolerate such shows. Or maybe there isn’t one on RC. At this point, the complaints about shows being generic is ironically generic as well.

    HungryPanda
    Reply

  36. Well, I don’t know about you guys but I had fun with this show.

    It may be short on originality but my prerequisite for fun has never really relied on that fickle notion. Sometimes older ideas told in a different way can be just as good if not better than a whole new idea.

    And while Asterick probably won’t win any grammies or whatever, it is solidly constructed so far and hasn’t been as cliche as we are all led to believe. The little touches are what has entertained me and I wonder if it’ll be a running gag that almost every character identifies what they are.

    “Yes, I recognize it was an accident but my angry sense of justice won’t allow me to let you go”

    “I’m putting on a front and I’m actually a pretty big schemer”

    Et cetera Et cetera.

    And the other thing, too, that I noticed was his objective. After probing about his sister a little bit, he boldly declares “yeah, that’s not why I’m here; I just wanna find my way”.

    So, really, it’ll be interesting to see where it goes.

    Autocracy
    Reply

  38. It pains me to write it, but that was a very weak post for Random Curiosity standards. When you added Passerby and Samu to the crew, they were able to fit in perfectly and what they wrote was interesting. But to add a writer who can’t write anything other than “Eh, not my thing”?

    I read Random Curiosity for bloggers who write about shows they enjoy or at least about genres they enjoy. Why? Because if I watch a show, that clearly means I like it. And I want to fanboy about it, not to read how much it sucks in one’s opinion.

    I can understand it when Stilts doesn’t enjoy a similar show and writes about it, because it’s still an anime from genre he knows and likes. He’s got something interesting to write about it. But I can’t understand some random person who doesn’t even like the genre, writing a blog post about the show on RC. What a waste of a post.

    I’m disappointed, Random Curiosity.

    brajt
    Reply

    1. I really enjoyed this and even watched it twice. So entertaining. The Reviewer I feel needs to stop watching anime altogether and really not be even writing reviews. I don’t even understand why they are even watching anime.

      By definition anime is 80%+ stuff you’ve seen before.

      flexiverse
      Reply

    2. @brajt @flexiverse @zeroyuki92

      I apologize for that. Sometimes we forget to tell newbies things, and apparently “Don’t bother to intro a show if you end up not liking it” was one of the things we missed this time. The message has been passed along, so won’t happen again.

      Stilts
      Reply

  39. This was greatly entertaining and I really enjoyed it. I watched it twice. So the the reviewer needs to pack up shop and stop watching anime.

    If you don’t enjoy any of this, you really shouldn’t be watching and reviewing anime.

    flexiverse
    Reply

  40. I forgot to add my thought about your review, Jig. Some ppl above me reminding me of that.

    You obviously didn’t hide the fact that you were not enjoying this. While we all know that everyone has their own personal taste and quality is subjective bla bla bla, I would like to add about why I keep coming back to RC for reviews.

    Basically, compared to other sites, RC writers (almost) always tend to advocate. Even on shows with a lot of obvious weakness, most writers still try to look at the bright side and dig deeper for things which are informative/interesting about the show.

    I didn’t ask you to sugarcoat your review with empty praise, however I read your review as rather passive aggresive. You did acknowledge the good points (production values), but your writing tone simply suggest that “Yes, it has good budget, but it does not matter because it has bad writing in every places. Yes some people may like it, but I don’t”. It is not wrong, but it makes an impression that you were forcing yourself to write a review for a show which you know you won’t like from the very beginning, and it does not looks good for your first review. Plus, that kind of tone tends to alienate people who actually like the show for its story/character.

    So well, my suggestion is: If you can’t name a single thing you can appreciate from the story, you’d better not review it at all. Take Enzo for example. He probably won’t touch this kind of show even with a 5m long stick, but he simply don’t watch/review this here. He knows that he won’t like this kind of show, so he simply skipped them. Afterall, a detailed, long review with 95% of it consisting only negative personal opinions don’t make for a good read, imho.

    If I want that kind of ” this anime is sh*t according to my taste” reviews, I would simply go to some other big sites. Which I don’t ever do anymore.

    zeroyuki92
    Reply

    1. I understand and appreciate you voicing your concerns. If it’s any remedy, I would like to let you know that I was operating under the assumption that the staff was obligated to INTRO the shows that we were signed up for (I wasn’t told otherwise until just recently). I would not have bothered writing about it otherwise—this wasn’t a post I was particularly proud about, or even enjoyed writing. I, however, really would like to reiterate my gratitude towards the constructive and rational nature of your comment.

      Jig
      Reply

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