Jeoffrey

The fifth One-Punch Man OVA, The Sisters Who Have Too Many Things Happening, has a narrative concerning Fubuki. It features a rather dramatic relationship with her older (!!!) sister Tatsumaki. There is also her team, The Blizzard Group. Plus, there is the train rescue, which also involves Genos, and it is action-packed, a little bit dramatic, however, (and this is probably the biggest problem) it is not funny at all. By the standards of One-Punch Man, this OVA could be described as rather boring. I like Fubuki quite a lot, and I can more or less understand her motivations. Tornado, does not bother me that much, even though she is a typical "annoying brat" and does not get that much screen time in this OVA (for example, in the last OVA, you can see a lot more of her). Genos does not get much screen time either, so it is mostly about the more serious stuff and the problems of the younger sister who lives in the shadow of her much more successful sibling. I would almost say the best character was the nameless C-class heroine. I cannot say if this OVA was completely pointless, although I can safely say it is the weakest of all the OVAs. On the other hand, it is quite a standard fare for an OVA, albeit weak. 4.6/10.

The movie Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade is the sequel of the first special short film Little Witch Academia. It is a little longer and a little more thought-out narrative than the first movie, and still interesting, charming, quite amusing, a little endearing, and very enjoyable. This franchise definitely deserves a longer fully-fledged anime series adaptation of some kind because, in addition to the really good setting, it also showcases a lot of interesting characters and good ideas. Admittedly I am not a fan of big social events, so the word "parade" only elicits a bored sigh of "right, a parade..." although I quite enjoyed it in this movie. The soundtrack stood out, which I also enjoyed, and it complemented the sometimes pleasant and sometimes suspenseful atmosphere well. 8/10.

They announced an anime television series of Little Witch Academia on June 24, 2016, following the final episode of Space Patrol Luluco. I was, therefore, immediately intrigued by a witch on a broom I had not seen before. Every once in a while, I let something slip I should not have, and Little Witch Academia is a good example. If you make a show about a magical world, well, the result has to be magical. Otherwise, it is going to be a lot of hard work. I fell for the supernatural aspect almost immediately with this lovely short film. While there are a lot of elements taken from mythology and other anime series I have already seen about magic, the resulting combination is very well done. On top of that, it has a good atmosphere, a bit of wit and likable characters. For example, Sucy Manbavaran was "love at first sight" for me. I liked it; I even liked it a lot, although I do not see it getting five stars. That is because the narrative could have perhaps been much better. Still, this was a very enjoyable affair. 8/10.

Because it took thirteen years to make this sequel, the screenwriters had enough time to think about it properly; I did not believe it would be a disaster. On the other hand, I was expecting that it would be much more of a mess by focusing the narrative on Dory as the main protagonist. In the end, the result is very good, and Pixar has managed to keep the bar of this franchise still very high. The animation is, of course, perfect, and the characters, both the old ones and the new ones, are also very good. The narrative does feature a few minor quirks, although I could not find anything majorly bothersome. The ending was good, and I found the moment with Dory and Marlin interestingly profound. So, in the end, they pulled Finding Dory off really well, though I do not know why, although I was expecting a bit more. 8/10.

Piper is a brilliantly made, cute, funny, and fresh short film that perfectly set the mood for the underwater adventure about Dory. However, this also stands on its own. The animation is simply gorgeous, the narrative is great, even though the theme of "overcoming fear" is a bit of a cliché. However, because of the shorter running time, it certainly does not have the chance to get boring. The moment when the little bird watches the wave sweep away the others and then it naturally does not want to go to the beach made me laugh my socks off. So I thought it was very good. 9/10.

Ookii 1 Nensei to Chiisana 2 Nensei features a pleasant narrative about growing up, friendship, overcoming fears, and a great adventurous journey to the Ipponsugi forest to find blossoming spotted bellflowers accompanied by Dvorak's Humoresque and other very good musical motifs. The animation is endearing, the narrative features decent storytelling, and the whole thing is very likable and heartwarming. 8.5/10.

There really is not much to say about this insane movie, and what could be said has already been noted by others. Anyway, the gentlemen from Studio Trigger are a mental bunch of people that can combine some mental things into a mental narrative with some mental characters and some very original animation. It is only a few minutes long, yet it is still pretty much taken up by the opening by Japan Animator Expo and the theme song. Sex and Violence with Machspeed is a mental and peculiar ride even though it is definitely not boring. 7/10.

Have you ever wondered what Pinocchio would have looked like if a Japanese man with a penchant for fantasy adventure had taken up his story? Apart from a few minor shortcomings, A Tree of Palme was a very good anime movie. So I am going to start with its weaknesses, and, in my opinion, these are the various sudden shifts in the plot, where the narrative moves forward too quickly and slightly chaotically at certain points. These shifts could result in less attentive viewers feeling it is a bit of a mess and often unnatural. I was extremely pleased with the rest. I like the animation, even if it is dated. The soundtrack is, in my opinion, really good, and I enjoyed some of the motifs a lot. However, the most positive thing for me is the intriguing narrative, the engaging atmosphere, and the fascinating setting: the flowers, trees, and animals combined to create a rather desolate and slightly depressing landscape, which I thought was interesting. Even the ending was pleasing; I was worried for a while that it would end like a dumbed-down fairy tale. However, in the end, it was quite good, and as a result, it ended and did not end at the same time, so it was also well-executed. I might have been able to find a few minor reservations about the characters as well, even though I did not mind them on the whole; in fact, rather, I was intrigued by them. On the whole, I found this quite a respectable offering, and I am awarding it a strong four stars which means 8.3/10.

Just because the animation is satisfactory and the movie has a pretty good soundtrack does not necessarily mean you have made a good one. This is especially true when it does not have a very good narrative, and you decide to present the story in a way that there is hardly anything which engages the viewer. Add to that the rather unappealing characters, of which I could only tolerate the main male protagonist and the passionate, romantic policeman, and his dog. No one can be surprised that, in the end, I was not impressed by Quackerz. So, this is a very muddled, poorly presented, and not particularly entertaining movie, even though it may be watchable. 3/10.

I was expecting Shonen Maid to be rubbish, and I also expected to drop it quickly because gender-bender style costumes are somehow not my thing really. The reality, however, must be suspended, and this is a pretty funny slice-of-life anime series that is inoffensive and quite entertaining because of the eccentric uncle Madoka Takatori who is quite fascinating. I am very pleasantly surprised and often have to smile, which means it is better than average. 6/10.