Shueshia

Megumin Took a Page from Darkness for 100 Girlfriends Audition

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

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 2 Ep 5 Review

Masochism is a noun describing the act of deriving pleasure from one’s pain. And in the anime world, no masochist is more famous than Darkness from KonoSuba. Darkness will throw herself in front of enemy attacks to experience pain. She regularly (and openly) fantasizes about painful and humiliating scenarios she can go through. She might be the ultimate masochist, but 100 Girlfriends may have just given us someone who rivals her interest. And for extra irony, this new girl is voiced by the seiyuu of Darkness’ party member, Megumin!

Also, good on the anime for updating the OP to now include Mei Meido.

Megumin Joins the Family!

As Rentaro is walking near the entrance to his high school, he sees a girl in a baseball uniform asking other girls to join the baseball team. But then, the two’s eyes meet and…zing!

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Meet girlfriend #9 Iku Sutou, a tomboy and only member of the girl’s baseball team. She loves the sport and is determined to be the best at it. She’s so determined, in fact, that she will practice until every part of her body is screaming at her to stop. And she likes it! She’s a colossal masochist!

Most of the girlfriends have quirks that viewers and readers will consider funny, but Iku might be among the funniest. Rentaro sees her have hearts in her eyes while dealing with the pain of swinging the bat 10,000. And when she finds out Rentaro already has a girlfriend(s), she’s heartbroken…and loves it!

The funniest part about Iku isn’t even something found in the manga; it comes from anime. Her seiyuu is Rie Takahashi, AKA the seiyuu of Megumin from KonoSuba. This was a brilliant casting choice, and it cannot have been a coincidence. Someone must have realized how hilarious it would be to have a character that takes after Darkness’ looks and personality but has Megumin’s voice. She’s easily the funniest character to join the cast since Hahari’s reveal as one of Rentaro’s soulmates, and the same goes for her love confession. He pretends to reject her confession because he knows she’ll love it.

Doing that is so painful it makes Rentaro vomit blood. Peak comedy, and girlfriend #9 is now secured.

Masochism+Determination=COMPLETE DISASTER

Iku’s masochism might be used for laughs, but her determination is very genuine. With all her teammates training in America, the girl’s baseball team is in danger of being shut down. Hence why she’s spent every day asking girls to join the team for an upcoming practice game so it can stay open. Once the Rentaro Family accepts her, though, they all agree to help. Partly because they’ve been trying to burn off the calories from the eating contest but mostly so they can exercise with Rentaro.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

As expected, the girl’s practice is full of jokes and visual gags centered around how their quirks affect their practice. They’re all pretty funny, ranging from Kurumi trying to eat the ball (it reminded her of a candy,) Nano throwing the ball like a pitching machine, and Kusuri copying Zoro’s three-sword-style with bats. If you like the jokes about each girl, you’ll like the training. However, things do take a serious turn when Iku stays up practicing all night, only to collapse from exhaustion!

Like every girl, Iku deconstructs an archetype found in fiction. In this case, her determination to do better, combined with her masochism, feed into this loop that could quickly become self-destructive. She is what would happen if Goku or Vegeta trained themselves past their limits but never gave themselves the time to rest. It’s not something one should always do, and it moves the Rentaro Family enough to stay overnight to look after her.

This is gonna be fun

Black comedy points for the reason they found it being Hahari overhearing Iku underneath the bed in the nurse’s office. The anime even shows her doing this!

Iku might be one of the best girlfriends to join the Rentaro Family thus far. Her determination is endearing, she gets extra points for being a tomboy (#tomboysupremacy), and her quirks, combined with her seiyuu, are hilarious. Welcome to the family, Iku, and good luck at the game.

I Give “Most Athletes are Masochists” a 5/5

The maids must be crazy

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

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 2 Ep 4 Review

Of all the waifu archetypes in anime, one of the oldest and most respected is that of the maid. The cute outfits, the respectful behavior, the willingness to serve their masters loyally. Many a male anime fan has dreamed of having a cute maid as their girlfriend! However, there’s the expectations, and then there’s the reality of what that’s like. And as Rentaro finds out when he starts a relationship with the Hanazonoโ€™s maid, Mei Meido, being a perfect maid does not immediately correlate to being a girlfriend.

Also, I would like to amend my review for the season premiere. It turns out that the first half of the episode wasn’t anime-original. It was a chapter that I had forgotten about.

Mei has some serious issues!

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

So, having gotten Hahariโ€™s blessing to date Rentaro, Mei shows up at his house so that they can have their first real date. As said before, many young guys would kill for the chance to date a pretty maid girl like Mei. However, Rentaro soon discovers that Meiโ€ฆhas some issues.

Mei is so devoted to her life as Hahariโ€™s maid that she has no interests outside of serving her mistress. When he asks her what she likes, all she can answer with are himself and lady Hahari. Then she tries to drive to both their residences, despite just leaving his!

It gets worse. While she does endear herself with a pre-made lunch, her maid mentality is so thoroughly ingrained into her that Mei needs someone to give her a command. If she had fallen in love with someone with fewer scruples, she could be asked to do things that some might seem indecent. The anime even lampshades how fortunate it is that Rentaroโ€™s love far outweighs his lust. Its pretty clear, though, that, like many of the other girlfriends, Mei has her own, deep-seated issues. And while the anime tries to make light of it with a joke in the stinger, the accompanying flashback makes it clear that Meiโ€™s problems should be taken seriously.

Spoiler alert: Meiโ€™s deadbeat, debt-ridden parents abandoned her in the cold. If Hahari hadn’t found her in time, she would’ve died. Thankfully, not only did Hahari find her, she even offered to adopt her as her daughter. In other words, her non-existent self-esteem led Mei to become slavishly loyal to Hahari.

CHADtaro powers, ACTIVATE!

This looks like a job forโ€ฆCHADtaro! In this case, he gives Mei thus command to not be of any use to him whatsoever, only to then point out how thats impossible. Why? Because her very existence is helpful to him!

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The logic and execution behind it seems crazy, but you can understand what Rentaro is going for. He’s trying to build up Meiโ€™s self-esteem by showing her that she doesn’t need to do anything for him to make him happy. Just existing is enough for him because he’s a CHAD among CHADS. It doesn’t fully snap her out of this way of thinking, but none of the other girlfriends have fully gotten rid of their issues. Nor do they need to, because Rentaro accepts them, faults and all.

And with that, girlfriend #8 has been secured. On to the celebration.

Squirt Gun Fight!

It should be a recognizable formula by one: once Rentaro secures a girlfriend, the Rentaro Family will spend half an episode or a whole episode attempting to integrate the newcomer through comedic hijinks. In this case, Hahari has them all dress up as maids and have a water gun shootout. The winner gets a hug and kiss from Butler Rentaro!

The fight itself is funny due to how seriously (or not) the girls take it. The anime really leans into each girlfriends unique quirks to demonstrate how they win or lose. And, since this is a rom-com harem, each girl gets a gratuitous money shot of them soaked in their maid outfits. Unfortunately, Meiโ€™s loyalty to Hahari leads to none of the girls winningโ€ฆwait, that’s not unfortunate. They all get a kiss from the best boyfriend in harem animeโ€ฆand a money shot of Butler Rentaro.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

One might think that having the series down to a formula would get boring, but what matters more is the execution. And with how many girlfriends with different personalities will be joining the Family, this isn’t going to get old anytime soon.

Though, admitedly, some of Hahariโ€™s motivations can get grating if they’re not used in moderation. The fact that Hahari saved Mei mainly because she was cute is not something we needed to know!

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By the way, they updated the ED since they don’t need to hide Mei anymore! Secret route UNLOCKED!!!

I Give “Super Soaked Maid Party” a 4/5

Toriyama’s Last Gift in Dragon Ball Daima Starts Off Strong!

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

Dragon Ball Daima Ep 1 Review

In memory of Akira Toriyama.

When Dragon Ball Daima was announced last year at NYCC, fans were thrilled. For the first time in years, Dragon Ball would be getting a new series, and Akira Toriyama was the one who wrote it. It felt like a dream come true!

Then, in the spring of this year, the world would end up losing Toriyama. Dragon Ball Daima would be the final work that he would contribute to the world that he had created. Suddenly, it became more important than ever that Daima was a huge success. And so, the world waited with bated breath for the day when it would premiere, ready to honor the memory of a man who inspired millions of its people. Th

Iโ€™m glad to say that Toriyama didnt disappoint with his final work. He cooked us a feast of thrills and laughs.

https://twitter.com/YapapaMirage/status/1845185951586238945

Welcome Back, Dragon Ball

Since this is the first time Dragon Ball has had an anime in a while, a good portion of the premiere is devoted to getting everyone up to speed with events up to the defeat of Majin Buu. While some might see it as an issue, itโ€™s essential for two reasons. Firstly, it establishes that this will take place before the events of Super, so no Super Saiyan God or Blue. Secondly, it introduces us to the leading antagonistic group.

https://twitter.com/xAuraZora/status/1844833008559206853

Meet Gomah, Degesu, and Dr. Arinsu, the new King of the Demon Realm, the Supreme Kai of the Demon Realm, and a Core Person of the Demon Realm. While much of the rest of Universe 7 and parts of the other Universes have already gotten fleshed out, the Demon Realm has remained notably unknown until now. I think Toriyama wanted to correct that by making the primary setting of Daima, and if thatโ€™s the case, Iโ€™m glad he chose to do so before he died. He even gave them their own Dragon Balls and guardians to protect them, and retconned the Namekians point of origin to be from the Demon Realm. So, congrats Piccolo. Youโ€™re now a slug alien demon!

The main plot of the episode is that Gomah has watched how powerful Goku and the others are and fears them to be a threat to his rule. So, he and Degesu (and another Namekian) travel to Earth to use the Dragon Balls to make Goku and everyone else kids so they wonโ€™t be a threat. In essence, itโ€™s the plot of GT but on a larger scale. By the time the credits start to roll, we can already hear everyone beginning to shrink down to the size of kids. And the kids shrinking down to the size of babies!

https://twitter.com/DbsHype/status/1844905014067855825

Toriyama Decided to do GT, but Better

I know that this is supposed to be serious, but I still canโ€™t help but find it funny. Toriyama took the plot of GT, the series that was made without his direct involvement, and made it ten times better. Thatโ€™s essentially him saying โ€œYouโ€™re doing it all wrong, you guys. Let the master show you how itโ€™s done!โ€ Given how Daima is meant to celebrate the franchise 40th anniversary, though, it makes sense why Toriyama would want to tell a story like this. He tried to get the series back to its roots, and it glad he got to do so before he died.

This was an excellent start to what will likely be one of the most giant anime of the year. I have no clue how long Daima will run, but I know that Iโ€™m going to enjoy it every step of the way.

I Give Conspiracy a 4.5/5