Kawaii

Karaoke Cuteness Chaos

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Blogging, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 2, Episode 7 Review

It feels like only yesterday that Rentaro met his first two girlfriends. Now, he’s sitting at nine, with ninety-one girlfriends left to meet and win over! And the more girlfriends join the Rentaro Family, the more chaotic and sillier things will get. Case in point, this next episode has the Family go on another group date. Then, Rentaro finally hits double digits as his tenth girlfriend appears! And she happens to already have history with another girlfriend!

Who Doesn’t Love Karaoke?

The episode starts off making us think Rentaro’s about to meet his soulmate #10, but it’s a fakeout. In truth, the Rentaro Family’s out on a group karaoke date!

The entire date is a demonstration of one advantage that the anime has over the manga it’s adapting. In the manga, readers have to imagine what everyone sounds like when they’re singing. Because it’s an anime, the show lets us hear each girl belt out songs in all their glory. Even better, you can actually hear the OP and ED amongst the songs being played for a few moments. Considering how good they were, it’s a welcomed callback.

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Shizuka’s Flooflness Made everyone Yamcha Pose

The real show, though, starts when Shizuka plucks up the courage to get up there and start singing. And thanks to another one of Kusuri’s drugs, her natural cuteness gets amplified to the point where it physically overwhelms the Family.

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I don’t know what’s funnier: how each of the girls tries to tank this onslaught of cuteness, or how each of them does the famous Yamcha pose when they can’t take it anymore.

That’s one of the great things about The 100 Girlfriends. It regularly includes parodies of pop culture to the point where you could spend each episode trying to figure out reference. Special mention goes to Rentaro and Shizuka’s duet (first CHADtaro moment of the episode) leading to a recreation of the “girl falling from the sky” scene from Castle in the Sky.

NEW GIRLFRIEND APPROACHES

The second half of the episode starts with Rentaro heading to a high-class mall to scout out date spots. That’s when he crosses paths with this girl who’s boasting about how beautiful she is and…ZING!

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Meet girlfriend #10, Mimimi Utsukushisugi, AKA the narcissistic beauty. She is an incredibly beautiful young woman capable of making heads turn as she walks by. Not only does she know this, but she revels in it. She considers herself the most beautiful woman in the world and will not accept anything less. And when she becomes smitten with Rentaro, she immediately gives him a makeover to conform to her beauty standards.

Normally, a character like Mimimi would be seen as toxic. Since this is The 100 Girlfriends, though, she deconstructs the narcissist. She actively puts in the work to being beautiful and maintaining it. She works hard to earn money, does daily maintenance on her face, and taught herself how to speak eloquently. She’s even capable of recognizing how one’s personality traits make them beautiful.

Case in point, when another couple jealously tries to ruin her outfit via spilled boba, Rentaro has his second CHADtaro moment of the episode. He willingly shields Mimimi with his body and ruining the new clothes he got.

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And then, when that guy almost slips on his own drink, he doesn’t hesitate to save him. Because, according to him, he was just trying to stand up for his own lady, something he can respect.

Thus, Rentaro gains his tenth girlfriend. His selflessness so moves Mimimi that she says he’s already beautiful as he is and begs him to go out with her. She even takes the news that she’s his tenth girlfriend as a compliment. So all seems right with the world…

…then Nano shows up, and Mimimi goes off.

Uh-oh.

As it turns out, despite calling herself the most beautiful, there was one black mark on her record. She and Nano competed in a beauty pageant in the past, and Nano won! Mimimi hasn’t forgotten this slight, and can’t tolerate joining any group with that has Nano! So she challenges her to a rematch, with the penalty being the loser will have to leave the Family. FOREVER!

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So, the episode ends on the biggest crisis the Rentaro Family has faced since the day they met Hahari! And Rentaro seems powerless to stop this coming duel! Remember, if any of his soulmates don’t date him, they’ll eventually die. This is serious business to him! How will he get out of this mess?

Find out in the next review, which will hopefully be up soon. Also, it should be noted that I had to look up the reference that Nano made at the end. A rare instance where I didn’t get the reference.

I Give “Karaoke Crisis” a 4.5/5

‘Fluffy Paradise’ is the First Feel Good Anime of 2024

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Blogging, Crunchyroll, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

Fluffy Paradise Initial Review

Lots of people in the world love animals. They’ve helped us with our work for thousands of years and can serve as good companions for years on end. Being comforted by an animal can even serve as an excellent way to reduce one’s stress; it’s why animal videos are so popular online! Which is why the first isekai of 2024 is one that, while a bit silly in premise, is one capable of melting animal-lovers hearts:ย Fluffy Paradise.

Wanting to Live for the Fluffies!

Midori Akitsu was a 27-year old office worker with a horrible job and no way to relieve her stress. Thus, when she came home from work one day and dropped dead from exhaustion, she couldn’t help but lament her sad fate. Until a being that called itself a god plucked her from death and made her an offer. He’d give the usual isekai treatment and send her to live in another world called Asdyllon with a special power of her own. All she had to do in return is decide if that world’s humans, who persecuted non-humans, deserved to be saved or wiped out.

What does Midori ask for? Instead of super-powers or great knowledge, she just wants to pet fluffy animals forever. So, God gives her the ability to make non-humans love her, and off she goes. She’s now Nefertima ‘ Nรฉma’ Osphe, the youngest daughter of a warm and loving Duke’s family. 

Three years later, and Nรฉma now a little girl, and true to the god’s word, all animals love her and want to be around her. Life couldn’t be better! However, then Nรฉma’s mother takes her to the Royal Palace where she works, and the girl wanders off and befriends the Crown Prince’s pet sky tiger. Then she befriends the giant dragon that her sister summoned in front of an entire stadium of people! It doesn’t take too long for those in power to realize that Nรฉma has some kind of special power, and then the more unsavory types start getting this gleam in their eyes.

Nรฉma, though, doesn’t really care. Having known naught but stress and toil in her first life, she just wants to be surrounded by a fluffy paradise.ย 

A Feel Good Anime for Animal Lovers

So far,ย Fluffy Paradiseย only has four episodes out at the time of this writing, but it already gets its premise across pretty well: it’s meant to be a feel-good anime. It’s not a story that has the fate of the world at stake or some dark lord that needs to be stopped…or a misguided hero that needs to be stopped. It’s just an anime about a cute little girl trying to get as much cute and fluffy time in to make up for her first life. And, despite not doing anything so far to move the isekai genre foward, it works.

Why? Because it’s a show about cute little girl getting spend time with all kinds of animals. From little birds and kittens to dragons and tigers that can, and would, end you in real life, Nรฉma loves all animals. And seeing them fawn all over is, honestly, adorable.

Plus, despite the light-hearted premise, there are hints that things could get darker. Nรฉma’s whole reason for being sent there was to judge if humanity is worth sparing. Given how the second episode sees nobles and priests openly talking about how they can use Nรฉma for their benefit, they could become a problem down the road.

So, if you’re the kind of person who likes animals and wants something to take the edge off our lives, then I recommend watching Fluffy Paradise. It’s a feel-good anime to help start the year on a positive note.