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I was never planning to write a review for this series, and at the very least not until it had finished. I don't understand the critism being thrown at Shoushimin Series; it's unique, has fantastic characters and can convey exactly what it needs to in the span of an episode.

I write this at episode 3, with the fourth being delayed by a week. As of now, I can confidently say that the 2 main characters are good. I think they are a pleasure to watch with their quirky character dynamic and almost an underlying feeling of "something about this is strange". Kobato and Osanai strive ... to be "ordinary" which in itself leaves a mystery right there... why are they not already? They're not robots with no ability to make interesting conversation, or even a lack of personality. To the people I speak about this show with, we all find them genuinely interesting with obviously plenty to unravel about their character in the future.

The second main "problem" I see complaints about is the simple mysteries themselves. It's entirely subjective whether what is presented each episode interests you or not. However it's important to understand that this show currently does not strive to plot out a mystery to see who's going to blow up earth, but instead simple dilemmas that allow us to have a extremely fun way of seeing character dynamics and personalities with no speaking at all. Just because a whole episode was a mystery on how Kengo made his hot chocolate, does not make it worthless. We saw the thought process of each one allowing them to interact, and it showed the viewer that even such a stupid outcome as Kengo just being an idiot: you don't need a complicated murder story or straight out telling me what a character is like to have me understand what I need to understand, I can just be shown through fantastic story telling.

Are these stupid problems a good setup for a central theme and conflict? Well... yes. Who the fuck cares if you wanted the next Sherlock Holmes, that isn't the story we're telling. Shoushimin Series has just put out a 3rd episode and you're telling me this is objectively bad because well uhh... I said so. If you hate dialouge, move on. The likes of Monogatari have shown us that lengthty dialouge sequences like this can be fantastic story telling. There is life in this show and it's being thrown straight at you - you just can't read!

Most of all, if you already dislike the show you could atleast try to stop bashing what it's gone above and beyond on. A unique choice to go with a 21:9 ratio that pairs fantastically with the mood and atmosphere the show creates. Not just a great OP but an incredible ED, everything that just screams potentital is right here. So do me a favour, let it air. Give your opinion later.

The score below is not the one I would like to give just yet, but I have to until the show finishes airing and I can delete this review.

Ever just playing Shiritori and think, “man I could totally just destroy a couple solar systems right now by removing the force holding atoms together” or when you’re halfway through a quick game of Othello and need to tag out to your sister currently in a world where you never existed to avoid losing your memories… yeah me neither, but for Sora & Shiro they were probably planning to do this 27 episode ago!

Story – 6.5/10
The slightly too inseparable gaming duo of NEETs Sora & Shiro are a part of the infamous “Blank” (literally 『 』), a group known to never loose no matter the ... game with little known about who lies behind the empty spaces left in the name. However, this group are really no illusive expert gamers… and is in fact just the result of 2 siblings becoming so fed up with life they’ve dubbed it a shitty game and moved on to spending their lives inside. Blank’s antics are soon to come to an end in our world - as upon destroying some sketchy guy on the internet in a match of chess, they are invited to the world of “Disboard”.

In Disboard, there are 10 covenants rules to be upheld by every entity:
1. All murder, war, and robbery are forbidden in this world.
2. All conflict in this world will be resolved through games.
3. In games, each player will bet something that they agree is of equal value.
4. As long as it doesn't violate pledge three, anything may be bet, and any game may be played.
5. The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game.
6. Any bets made in accordance with the pledges must be upheld.
7. Conflicts between groups will be conducted by designated representatives with absolute authority.
8. Being caught cheating during a game is grounds for an instant loss.
9. In the name of god, the previous rules may never be changed.
10. Let's all have fun and play together!

To skip over some of the boring stuff, this god of this world has decided that this war stuff kind of sucks and we should all just play poker for land and disagreements instead. Oh, and would you look at that! The land of the humans (Imanity) is looking for a new ruler who can outplay all the other competitors! I know 2 people who just happened to reincarnate and are VERY good at playing games… Now I suppose it’s time for a little bit of world domination. Will they give justice to the people and reclaim what’s theirs? Nah, Sora has some other motivations for why he needs to conquer a land full of monster girls. Will they do anything for the first 10 episodes? No, the main cast are probably too busy fucking around and bullying Steph. Will we ever get more seasons expanding on the idea? Remind me what we’re watching again.

Throughout our 2 new monarchs’ journeys to reconquer the lost land of Imanity, Sora will play some mind games, Shiro will have a panty shot every other scene, we’ll meet the worlds most useless princess and be joined by the thirstiest (for knowledge) angel you’ve ever laid eyes on. Get ready and prepare to laugh, because it’s time for No Game, No Life.


Characters – 8/10
I think there’s enough to talk about each character individually to give you a good idea of what we’re looking at. Overall, we have quite the interesting set of characters to lead forwards the plot. Brother & Sister, (forced) lovestruck princess and knowledge horny angel all came together to make the antics and comedy of the show genuinely amazing.

Sora – Our leading protagonist and most relatable member of the cast - scared of woman, society, social interaction and driven by the most stupid ulterior motives everywhere he goes. He makes a perfect charismatic main character to take the centre stage alongside his sister and win every game he plays in using deceitful and overly complicated tactics.

Shiro – A tad too attached to her brother suffering withdrawal symptoms at the chance of being 10m away from him (it goes the other way too), Shiro is blunt, practically emotionless loli reminiscent of a supercomputer here to compliment Blank’s perfect teamwork and cover everything that Sora doesn’t have. Also here for lolicon fanservice... (although none of it felt *too* forced) game is game

Steph(anie) – eternal suffering for steph. Honestly this is the ideal comic relief character. Though mostly on the receiving end of the relentless jokes being thrown at her, the impulsive behaviour she demonstrates because of the deal to “you will fall in love with me” (See covenant 4) was genuinely hilarious and I found each stupid gag better than the last.

The remaining of the side characters kind of just exist and don’t provide much for as far as this season covers but aren’t entirely forgettable. As my rating suggests, this is a very good cast of characters that are as memorable as they are ridiculous and will manage to get atleast a smile out of you.


Art & Animation – 8/10
I surprisingly have a bit more to cover than usual here. The first thing you will notice after 10 minutes of episode one is that the utter contrast in colour between the game, the real world and back to a “game” again. NGNL uses an incredibly oversaturated colour pallet with obvious red borders throughout the show, except the small real-world segment at the beginning, and still has it come out looking great. Not only the neon-bright colours but the consistency of the art was very much appreciated.

The animation of the show was also very good – though not really an “old” show to say – it was all very smooth and free flowing without any random cutting or overextended still frames. I’d have to wholeheartedly say it is above average.

And… holy shit is that a motherfuckin jojo reference!??!?! Yeah, there are quite a few references to different pieces of media haha

Music & Sound– 7/10
The OP was straight heat, albeit I did actually end up skipping it most times it played because I was feeling actual excitement for the upcoming episode. It did eventually find its way onto my liked songs so I was hearing it occasionally as a break to actual music. ED was alright though I can’t really find myself to say anything bad or good about it.

The background music was absolutely incredible at some points and pretty mediocre at others. Most of it sounded like videogame music (duh) but none of it didn’t fit to the situation, so it was good but not great.

The voice acting was very good with great performances from some seiyuu you’ve most likely heard before, both Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (Sora)’s loud and full-on voice and the quiet emotionless puns of Ai Kayano - who voices some of my favourite characters – did great jobs. While reading the reviews for some inspiration I found out that the main characters are also voiced by the same pair for sakurasou so no wonder I liked them so much… anyways we’re getting a little off topic here. I’m going to stop talking about something I know nothing about and sum it up as great.

Closing Thoughts
If I would have to say one thing about this show then it would be “funny as shit”. This is one of the more enjoyable shows I’ve gone about watching, so while it doesn’t provide an incredible storyline or perfect anything it is a good time had by all.

And with that, I have one last thing to say… season 2 when?

Wow. I just got done with “Blue Giant” and it was absolutely brilliant. I never had much link to jazz as a whole and I’m a pretty shitty drummer, I could relate to Tamada (until he got “good”), but without any bias whatsoever this movie hit HARD.

Story – 9/10 [SPOILER WARNING]
This is not the most innovative piece of fiction you’ve ever seen, but I would strongly agree it does it bloody well. Fresh out of high school and radiating full of ambition, our shining main character, Dai, has big aspirations and he is not afraid to act upon them. After the questionable comment of ... “Wow that’s big.” being said at a urinal, he sets upon his dreams to be the greatest jazz player with fellow pianist Yukinori and “landlord” & new time drummer Tamada. Together they begin the long and gruelling trail up the ranks of music in the big city of Japan, and my god have they have the talent to back it. Throw in a few dramatic scenes, success and failure and there is nothing you can wrong with. Except that’s how it was MEANT to go until truck-kun shows his ass on screen and thunders into Yukinori. I still feel like didn’t impact the overall result of what happened but was an interesting contrast from the lead up to success shown previously.

I would also like to mention how they managed to throw 10 volumes worth of content into 2 hours and still have it work brilliantly.

Characters – 10/10
No character is bland, no matter the role, significance, or number of appearances I think every single one added something to the story. The main cast have such contrasting personalities on occasion yet still work so well together on screen. The side characters never really say that much yet I genuinely enjoyed seeing them constantly reoccurring – specifically the guy rooting for Tamada’s drums and the bartender of their practice location. They didn’t need to steal the show or oppose anybody – I wouldn’t change a single thing about anyone of them.

Music – 10/10
I feel like Blue Giant might have set a new standard for music anime. Every single song was composed to give my ears an orgasm and played perfectly into the whole “remaking jazz” theme. I genuinely had my jaw open after one of the performances, to me it was that good.

Art & Animation– 8/10
Both the art and the animation were always at a higher standard throughout the film, during the final performance of “Jass” they stepped it up quite a few notches. The CGI didn’t bring me out of anything and looked pretty good where it needed to. I have no complaints asides from the fluctuating quality throughout.

Closing Thoughts
I was very pleasantly surprised watching this. I know I’ve just glazed BG for a while but it is definitely worth your time!

Score – 9/10

I like to start off my reviews with a stupid joke and a bad summary, but I don’t think that will do this short 40-minute heartwarming story any justice. Hotarubi no Mori e or Into the Forest of the Fireflies’ Light tells us the story of a Young Girl and her mysterious friend Gin and how their relationship grows over a span of around 10 years. If by the time the film ends you feel like crying – I don’t blame you, even in the one shot, you can get attached to these characters very quickly.

Plot – 9/10
It’s short, concise and well executed – everything ... you need in a film. Hotaru Takegawa is a young 6-year-old child who has found herself lost in the “Forest of the Mountain God”. A strange, masked man approaches the crying child and asks her if she requires any help, following this Hotaru declares she is saved and runs to hug her unknown saviour. However, this is when the main plot point is revealed, the man – Gin – is a spirit of sorts and cannot be touched by a human otherwise he will disappear. Throughout the rest of the film, we see the time they spend together during each summer and the time they spend longing for each other at school or in the forest respectfully. As each summer passes their relationship grows, and by the time Hotaru enters High School she’s invited to the “Spirit Summer Festival” by Gin and the movie ends with a controversial but fitting ending that manages to be a tearjerker and a happy ending at the same time. The plot has nothing wrong with it - I enjoyed this sweet little story a lot, but I don’t think it’s a perfect masterpiece by any means.

Characters – 8/10
There are 2, maybe 3, characters that have any sort of significance throughout the story – resulting in it a little hard to mess 2 main characters up. Hotaru Takegawa is a character we see age from 6 to 15, she has a developing personality and appearance at each stage so it’s a little hard to summarise but she’s an interesting character who couldn’t really have many improvements given the situation. The masked Gin is a very interesting character; he first describes himself a spirit, later he opens up about his background. His character leaves plenty of room for mystery and intrigue and in general would struggle to leave any complaints. I definitely enjoyed the growing dynamic between the 2 as the film progressed. The other few characters in the background say about 20 lines collectively but aren’t boring characters for the little screentime they get.

Art & Animation – 8/10
The characters are in the good old style of “we don’t have much budget - early 2010s” but the backgrounds could probably have been ripped straight out of an art museum. They look amazing and the style used fits the show perfectly and really gets the film off the ground visually.

Sound & Music - 9/10
100% on the better side of anime music. The background music is great. I can’t really describe music well, but I can say you will notice it’s impact when watching.

Closing Thoughts
Unfortunately no stupid jokes this review, but this film is a very strong one no matter the length. If you enjoy any side or genre of anime, I’d probably recommend this to you as a good start to see the length to which the stories in anime can express and show emotions in any duration of time.

Score – 9/10

What would you do if one of your kind, loving (and 20 million yen in debt) friends threw you into a mysterious game testing how far you’d go for friends and how little for money? Well, you don’t have any friends - but in Tomodachi Game or Friends Game you can find out the answer to this completely bizarre situation! Combining a little bit of mystery, a whole lot of mind games and a dash of an ending begging for a continuation; Tomodachi Game aims to present how close bonds between friends can really get.

Plot – 7/10 - Close 8, a few major plot holes ... (SPOILER FREE)
Yuuichi Katagiri and the friends he holds dear are utterly inseparable and from the start it is clear that they will do anything for each other. However, when the class’s 2-million-yen school trip funds are taken from Shiho Sawaragi’s locker after a short trip to the faculty office, an extended leave of absence follows. When Yuuchi, Shiho, Tenji, Yutori and Shibe can only wonder why a letter has appeared at the footstep of their doors addressed from one or the other promising details. Reality strikes. They are kidnapped and awake in a blank room where a funny looking fella promises to remove the groups debts if they play his game… one problem – none of them claim to have debts. What ensues after this is a series of children’s game where friendships are tested and debts are deepened or lifted, traitors are found and common sense is very much challenged in the occurring game of wits. You say it sounds familiar? What are you talking about? What is this “Squid Game” you speak of? Here in the Tomodachi Game the only thing you’re going to be losing is your mental state and your pride after having a know-it-all main character absolutely destroy you while acting innocent as can be. Will we ever find out why there’s 3 characters observing the groups every move? No. Will we ever find out why this isn’t under federal investigation? No. I can certainly say the plot isn’t perfect, but with enough plot twists to keep you on your toes it certainly is an interesting one.

Characters - 8/10
This could be a more controversial category. The show focuses on the 5 “friends” and how their friendship is affected by each game they play together. The main character is a know-it-all wit battler and essentially can see through every single front, portray his emotions as he wishes and deduce the situation from what little information he can obtain. He IS ready to starve out and potentially kill his friends and allies for the slightest bit of leverage in the ever long mind-chess that this show aims to be and unlike other characters popping into your head he does actually have a personality switching between Ayanokouji, innocent, mentally ill and deranged murder – he’s quite a range to say. Tenji is an ever-loyal man with the same personality of his glasses, but I’d be lying to say he isn’t interesting or important at all. Shiho is a character whose sole purpose originally is to be fought over by the 3 males but she manages to stay believable and show the signs of not being neglected love interest 1, she also definitely has 0 importance to the story whatsoever. Yutori is there to bolster the numbers and show that even the character with some real great “plot” also isn’t written to be the equivalent of a brick. Shibe is... there until he gets some real great developments during the second game leading onto the ending sequences where he seems to be involved in his own unhinged story. Theres a few girls on the “Management Team” who give insights to explain the battle of wits for any incredibly slow individuals, unfortunately they aren’t explained much. Interesting characters, I suppose. Useful characters, not for now. So, summarising this block of text – the characters all have more than meets the eye and give some nice foundation for half the script to be someone thoughts.

Art & Animation - 7/10
Very standard animation – truly nothing special. Literally becomes 8 or 9/10 during the little animation in the intro, but that’s most shows.

Music & Sound 8/10 - One of the best openings I’ve heard

Starting off with the strongest thing piece in this category. The opening is amazing – the song it’s great and the animation goes along with it very well. 9.5/10. The background music is alright it fits well when it needs to. The sound effects in general are pretty standard.

Closing Thoughts
It’s quite the plot-twist heavy show but it shines through during the brain-chess and makes a very entertaining watch. This show isn’t actually a squid game copy by any means – started before anything like that was released and it holds 1 or 2 similar aspects, make sure to get that preconception out your head. I can say it holds it ground as a good psychological show and one to enjoy if being a stuck-up-know-it-all is your thing.

Score – 8/10

Are you currently under the age of 14? Well have I got the anime for you! Join formally unnamed reincarnated character, now Cid Kagenou, on his adventures to live out his life-long fantasy of being an edgelord while living his day-to-day life as a background character. In this world where side characters have inspiring names such as Po Tato, Skel Etal and Mundane Mann and the main organisation has 30 minutes of screen time; in The Eminence in Shadow or Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakure! everything can happen EXACTLY as you expect it to!

Plot – 5/10
Right, this does not set it off to a great ... start. Unnamed reincarnated character has gone mad in his pursuit for power to do something more than beat up low-life bandits as “Stylish Bandit Beater” and has subsequently – in true fashion – been hit by truck-kun. Now reincarnated into a noble family he choses the life of a background character and decides to run his organisation “Shadow Garden” with an alternate persona of “Shadow” fighting the supposed “Cult of Diablos” with it’s increasing member base built from saved humans, elves and rabid cat girls alike who have been gifted incredible names such as Alpha, Beta to Zeta. The truth with the Cult of Diablos is that Cid wasn’t being very serious, and he made up a few quick fabrications, but unbeknownst to him they are soon to be fact and is the main running enemy throughout the show. From there Cid heads to school and is joined by Po Tato and Skel Etal where the main antics of the show begin as he tries to live his life as a peaceful background character but is constantly being whisked into various scenarios, all while continuing to run Shadow Garden and unleashing his alternate persona when it makes him look fucking badass.

This isn’t the most inspiring plotline ever and happens to come across as a little cringy even though the show clearly tries to make all it’s typical Isekai happenings as irony. I did find it a little strange that Cid was running an organisation of 666 anime girls with no free will ready to do anything for the slightest compliment, but it’s not slavery… I guess? To put it to your face - it isn’t good, but it isn’t bad either. It’s uninspiring but I occasionally found it very entertaining to watch throughout.

Characters – 4/10
After you’ve watched the show name me one character that isn’t Cid, you’ll probably end up saying shadow. The characters are very forgettable, for god’s sake they have literally called the side characters inanimate objects and the per se “named characters” of the series are either part of Shadow Garden and get 10 minutes of screentime, a very angry female pupil who gets 2 hours of screentime or a fancy noble who is there to play the antagonist. The only character who actually matters is the ONLY main character, Cid "Minoru Kagenou, Shadow, Jimina Seinen/Mundane Mann, John Smith, Suzuki Hope" Kagenou (he plays a few characters). He also occasionally likes to speak a bit of engrish to end off his moves, “I. am. Atomic.” is the favourite, coincidently the people who rate this show highly are also probably atomic radiation mutations whose brains have been turned to sludge.

Art & Animation – 8/10
I’ll have to give them something - the animation of the fancy abilities and fight scenes is, dare I say it, quite good. The grand final fight between Shadow, Iris and Beatrix was very nice and plenty of the smaller fights finished off with the grand atomic move always have nice swordsmanship and fancy abilities. The art style just reminds you of every isekai ever and isn’t very special.

Music & Sound – 6/10
First off, the intro and outro we’re awful but this category is saved by the well done final boss-sounding music for each fancy fight and the generally alright background music. Might as well throw in that the outro was one of the worst I’ve ever seen, it is quite literally an ecchi image with a PowerPoint transition for 1 and a half minutes.

Isekai – 9/10
Slightly different category for isekais. The Eminence in Shadow delivers everything you could possibly need in an Isekai: a 90% female cast, an extremely overpowered main character, cool fucking magic with no explanation to how it works and some damn good looking fight scenes – it essentially has it all. We even go into his strange past for AN ENTIRE EPIOSDE working out why he has this lifelong desire to be a “hero”. Aside from that stupid list, the show does have a very nice running theme where due to Cid’s “Knowledge of the Shadows”, the girls in this organisation influence the world around him and suddenly we start seeing department stores with confectionaries like chocolate, advanced technology like cameras and even well-known book titles and famous pieces of music being introduced and recreated into this fantasy world. It builds this aspect quite well, however none of the other world is built especially well and its sort of just kingdoms, knights and magic for all the audience is told – docking a point for this.

Closing Thoughts
I was excited to watch this show, but I can personally say this is very overrated. 8.31 on MAL? 82% on AniList? Where did that come from? It’s a fun watch but in no way a quality watch, I’ve probably skipped over a few too many key details and things I will have wanted to say at one point, but I can happily say that if you like Isekai – it’s a dream come true. If you don’t – you might have some fun. The Eminence in Shadow is... okay.

Score – 6/10

Did you enjoy highschool romance? How about workplace romance? Well get ready for fucking church romance. Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrance or Shiro Seijo to Kuro Bokushi is a unique romance anime in a mix between a fantasy world and reality featuring a small European village’s pastor and a “lady saint” in a strange marketable Christian show adapted from a 4-koma.

Plot 6/10
The show is extremely simple. It’s a romance show, there isn’t much story. Cecilia is missionary of God who helps the people. After a long struggle to save a community causes her to become exhausted, she ends up in a small village where ... the local community’s backbone, a church’s pastor – Lawrance – takes her in and looks after her throughout the rest of the show. I can’t say I really cared for all the religious references, but the utter overprotective and adorable nature of their relationship really saves what little story was; so, you can pretty much forgive it not existing. The simple nature of the story does allow it to develop slightly and give way to an element of mystery as it explains some concepts such as “divine protection” and a few characters backstories, but unfortunately by the time it does that all you want to see is Lawrance and Cecilia interacting.

Characters 7/10
The show is mainly centred around this lovely close-knit community featuring a few notable characters. Cecilia is absolutely adorable, and all her interactions are the only reason you’d be watching this show. She has a fair bit of depth behind all of the extremely red faces, a “lady saint” – a messenger of God sent to protect the people who can bestow her protection on people and someone who can’t stop lazing around when not having to put on the extreme sparkle-inducing front that is the Lady Saint. Lawrence is the village’s pastor and the backbone of the village, he gives more to the table than the average black haired self-insert but is still dense as ever when it comes to any form of romance. The other main pair – Haiselita & Abel don’t really scream romantic interactions at all but provide a nice straight reality into the romcom problems experienced by the 2 main characters. I quite enjoyed these two as Abel is designed to be a “tutor” but is the stupidest character in the show and Hasielita is some fancy rich noble with an obsessive sister-complex brother; she is pretty much the embodiment of the audience getting irritated at how dense Lawrence is. As a result of such contrast, the chemistry they provide is great. Finally, the cast of side characters doesn’t leave much room for desires. A dress maker and her son, a fortune teller and several other reappearing characters heighten the show and solidifies that close-knit community that gives the show a great feeling to watch.

Art & Animation 7/10
It looks good - It’s not bad, It’s not amazing. Just good. The art style aims to be quite vibrant and cutesy which it does well - quite nice to look at.

Music & Sound 7/10
Still Pretty okay, the intro and outro aren’t Spotify playlist material by any means but they get the job done. I’m not even going to lie to you I did not pick up on the background music as well – I suppose it succeeded on the “background” quite well.

Closing Thoughts
Well I never expected Christianity to be marketed in an anime, but I think they’ve done it well. If you hate romcoms - don’t even try it. If you like romcoms – give it a shot, this could be one of the better shows where you want to punch the main character for being so dense. I personally had quite a bit of fun watching this, the interactions cured my daily depression and the anime resulted in 0 progress between Cecilia and Lawrence.

Score: 7/10 - Good