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Dec 23, 2023
While the start of the first season was a rather interesting one, in S2 we are given more like the ending of the first season - a rather ordinary isekai OP MC story with no innovation or effort put in it. Let me just give you a quick rundown so you can go watch something better instead.
Story. Typical OP MC isekai stuff: our hero takes on “impossible” challenges while being constantly praised for being basically godlike. This time “The Hobbit” was taken as the source of inspiration and most of the season is about the journey to a fallen dwarven country to kill a
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dragon. Sadly no creativity was put into making this copy so the entire arc was so generic that not once I was caught off guard and I always managed to predict what will happen in the next scene. While being predictable and well telegraphed is better than Deus Ex Machinae events used to dodge poor writing decisions (there is one those here too though), it is still not a good thing.
Characters. You know how it goes. Old ones don’t really show much, new ones are added to praise our hero even more. Only the party has enough screen time but I struggle to say that they had serious development (with the exception of the newbie who went from a wimp to a battle hardened veteran in a span of like 2 episodes).
Art. I will say it looks cheap. Some things look horribly stiff in motion, some scenes are just ugly, but mostly the visuals are “servisable”.
Enjoyment. Well, is it even here? The show is so shallow, generic and forgettable that it doesn’t really feel like I even enjoyed it, more like “I consumed it” and moved on.
So yeah, overall I can only see fans of the show that are OK with any adaptation enjoying the second season. The rest of the potential viewers? Just watch something else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Dec 22, 2023
This season continues to show how cutting content and worldbuilding makes a “good enough to be enjoyable” source to a dull bland mess. So, what exactly are you signing in for when you start watching this season?
-Visuals. They are mostly fine, but there are enough cheap looking scenes, and tre CGI is still ugly, clunky and looks horrible.
-Sound. Nothing impressive, nothing memorable.
-Plot. Horribly rushed. As I have already mentioned, the whole season follows the rule “take the source, cut details, stitch together whatever is left”. The result - most of the events feel rushed, some of them completely lose sense and weight. Most of
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the fights feel like the MC doesn’t even care about the fight as he just wins without trying. And considering that some of the fights in this season SHOULD be tense as the enemies were pretty hard - the overall feel goes into the usual “generic immortal OP MC”.
-Characters. To make the “generic” feel even more obvious we are given a whole village of side characters. While it could work in a longer anime where those characters have some development and actual screen time, right here it feels more like a fan group or a missed opportunity. The characters from this fan group are lucky if they are even mentioned, as most of them are somewhere in the background. While this was the case for the source material too, in written form it was more of a background workload for our MC. But much worse is the state of the main heroes, as they, on one hand, are finally given SOME development, but on the other hand the quality of said development is abysmal. One is reduced to a joke character, two others have basically the same edgy-dark story but under different sauce.
To be honest I wish I had more to say, but the problem is that without the details that were mercilessly butchered, the shield hero is just a bland, generic isekai show. All of the positive traits were lost in adaptation, what you get is something that you have already seen thousands of times. Just don’t waste your time, read the LN if you are still interested in the title instead.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Sep 28, 2023
To be honest at this point I don't even want this series to get another season. I liked S1 a lot, S2 was disappointing, but there was at least SOME hope things would go better at S3. Well, it didn’t. So here is a quick list for you if you are considering if this anime is worth your time.
-Visuals. Yes, I know I am late to the party, I just thought that I could get used to it. I couldn’t. Everything looks like it is some of those “cute girls doing cute things” slice of life anime on an extreme budget, but we have a
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reverse isekai here, with some magical stuff going on. Most details are gone, expressiveness is gone, personalities are no longer seen. Even if females look tolerable with that artstyle, all male characters, demons and beasts are just a laughing stock. Obviously no great combat scenes to be found here.
-Plot. I don’t know if it is even here at this point. The story repeats itself yet again, with half of the show being old stale jokes about demon king working at Mac and being poor, the other half tries to be action packed fantasy stuff - but at this point it lost all its novelty, the reasoning behind actions is no longer impactful, the combat scenes themselves look dull and pathetic. Overall it just feels like there is much more bland boring stuff than things that actually matter - and it kills all your interest.
-Characters. There is really nothing to say here, even though this season has some major inner conflict for the hero to resolve and shows us the motivation of the demon king - it was all way too predictable and given to us in such a lame way that it is just impossible to care.
-Sound. Even though voice actors try hard - their effort is put onto barren land: there is no animation to amplify the emotions, to show the weight of their words. And apart from dialogues there are no sounds that weren’t taken from a free sound sample library. Even OP and ED feel generic and empty.
-Enjoyment? Well, none. The show was way too bland and boring, after finishing it I simply can’t remember a single good moment that made me feel something.
To be honest, I just wish that the show stayed dead. Instead of 2 seasons of continued interesting story we got 2 seasons of cheaply made bland and generic show that was done solely to milk the fans. Don’t waste your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Sep 23, 2023
Wow, a few years too late but we got the continuation of Horimiya. Well, calling it a continuation may be a bit of a stretch. We have more of the character and the same title name, but I have no clue why this is called Horimya. Well, let me make a bit of a list to make it easier for everyone.
-Romance. It is dead. I think nobody forgot that the culmination of romance was in the main story and the episodes after that were just some kind of fillers that missed their train and came after the show had ended. And now we have an
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ENTIRE SEASON of leftovers. “Well, maybe they decided to wrap up other arcs for side characters?” - a good question, sadly the answer is a big fat no. The entire season has barely enough romance for one episode but spreads it on the entire season. Thats why I hesitate to call it Horimiya, as there is no real romance between the main couple. Barely anything happens, barely anything moves, when you get scraps of said romance - you just feel cheated and wasting time instead of watching something else.
-Humour. It is horrible. At best it could barely make me smile, but most of the time jokes are either completely flat and unfunny or simply inappropriately bad, the kind that makes you think “oh God why, who wrote this and who laughs at it?”
-Slice of life. Somehow 13 episodes of barely nothing are less eventful than even my own life: all of the events were straight from a “generic stuff list”, none of them had weight, they were just decorations for another stale joke. I have no clue how someone can make a generic school slice of life THIS boring, but the creators of this anime showed their expertise.
-Character progression. Kidding, there is none so let's move on.
-Well, this one is obvious from the previous points - but the PACING is horrible. Too little content, almost no important events, next to none development - and to add insult to injury - most of the scenes feel disconnected from each other, others feel stitched together. The story is simply uneven and patched. Even the pacing of some dialogues is off, with strange pauses, it almost felt like the voice actors see the script for the first time.
The biggest problem of this anime is the fact that it isn’t even a story, but “pieces” that were cut from the main story to cram it into one season. As a result, “pieces” is nothing more than filler episodes for the anime that ended ages ago and that only hardcore fans care about. If it was made as OVAs for the main story, if it was merged with the main story - we would have 2 perfectly fine seasons of Horimiya. Instead we had one rushed season and this discarded pile of trash that has no value and gives no enjoyment to viewers.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Sep 20, 2023
And so, another season has ended. Is it good, did it fix the mistakes of the previous one? Of course not, “if it’s not broken - don’t fix it” as they say, eh? As I did for the previous season, let me tell you where this one falls flat.
First things first I’ll mention that flashbacks take much less time in this season and they are mostly fine. However I still don’t get why giving us flashbacks of the events that happened 5 minutes ago is considered a good idea. Thank you, but I don’t have issues with memory.
But if you thought that there would
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be no annoying overused writing method - you are mistaken. There is a golden rule for any movie, anime and any other similar work and it goes as “show, don’t tell”. You want a cool fight? Ok, show it to us. Great smart plans? Show us. Tragic events? SHOW US. Instead most of the “action scenes” consist of one move and a “Oh, you are surprised it didn’t work? Let me tell you why!” - and yes, after that we get a text dump that explains what happened. It would be fine in something that is not obvious, but instead you will hear this phrase several times per episode, even after some minor events that don’t need an explanation and are obvious. So the question arises: does the author think that we are brain dead? Because there is simply no reason to give such explanations, either this or cutting spendings on animations to further profit from fans who will ignore this obvious disrespect and be thankful for another season. And with those answers I don’t even care which one it is, as both show lack of effort put into the show.
While I am talking about the writing - no, it didn’t get better. The plot turns are obvious, the events try fruitlessly to ramp up the tension - and as with the previous season you as a viewer just can’t believe there is any danger coming at all. Why, you ask? Plot armour, obviously. For four seasons our brave heroes prevailed against any and all evil plans - how can I think they will fail this time, when the stakes are the highest? When in four seasons no one died and all the injuries were healed by a miracle healer - how can I care about a lost fight that led to serious injury? Instead of being thrilled I just think “nah, they will heal him anyway” and continue watching unfazed. To make things worse - some of the descriptions of the events in “let me tell you how” segments feel like an afterthought and a patch hastily applied to a plot hole, not like something that was carefully built into the world. At some point I was just wondering how bad the explanation would be instead of trying to enjoy the show. And as the result of ramping up enemies' strength the main villain is given a completely OP ability that he, of course, doesn't even use to its full potential as the main party would lose not even reaching a half season mark. I just wish more effort was put into thinking things through instead of trying to be cool while pretending to be smart.
I really thought that I had a lot to say about the show, but when I wrote down the text above I realised that most of the problems are already covered and going through them more would be more of the same, repetition. And this is EXACTLY what S5 is - repetition of everything you have already seen. If you are a hardcore fan and loved the previous seasons - this anime will be great for you, cause it is more of the same. If you, like me, didn’t like it - you will only waste time watching it - because, once again, it is more of the same. No progress in writing skill for the author. No significant character development. No major events that actually matter. Nothing, just another evil plan for our heroes to battle, more of the same stagnant mediocrity with zero entertaining value we have already been fed for 4 seasons.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jun 24, 2023
While I enjoyed this anime, I can't really recommend it. Why? Well, it is just like a bland soup that will fill you, but will not give you any lasting taste.
So what do we have here? A girl after a break up meets a gamer and we follow their interactions for 13 episodes. Don’t be fooled tho if you thought “wow, a gamer, he is just like me!” - the man is a typical hot dude that has no rest from girls. And this is, basically, everything I can tell without going through every episode spoilering you events, because the flow of events is neither
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fast nor very varied. I would describe it as a “slow chill show”, that you can just watch while you have your tea or before going to sleep. And if you take a look at the colour palette of this show - you will get a confirmation for this “slow chill show”, as everything is soft, light a bit watered down. Sadly most of the characters are a bit :”watered down” too, as the only bright one is the female lead of the show, the rest of the characters are either not given a lot of time, or as the main male character - a bit empty and even soulless.
Overall I’ll say this: if you want something chill and nice - watch it. If you are a fan of romance - watch it. If you are searching for something special - you will have to look somewhere else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 22, 2023
Ah, finally we got a breath of fresh air after being tortured by poorly made self-insert fantasy stories. And unlike those shows, Shinda clearly knows what it is and doesn't try to make a straight face while being stupid.
I'll be honest, if you are looking for stellar visuals - you came to the wrong place. Stellar sound design is not really here either, but it is good enough in delivering character lines. And what characters, oh boy. We were fed for so long with empty, blank and bland heroes for self-insert, that looking at our protagonist is so refreshing. And the fact that
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he isn't your average good boy, but a random degenerate pulled into events he clearly wasn't cut for makes it even better. Even better - it is not your comfortable world where everyone stays completely ignorant to the protagonist's weirdness, but it is instead taken into account and used to create pure dumb fun. All the side characters have their own screws loose and are fun to follow.
I’ll be honest - there is nothing much to add here. If you want some fun - watch it. But if you don’t take horny jokes well - you might want to skip it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 19, 2023
While S1 gave us more of a "cute girls chilling/exploring in a game world" experience, S2 tries to do the same but leans way too heavy into "another world" experience with all of the bad stuff included. And what do we have in result?
First, as usual for all of the isekai (the bad ones) - MC and her party are OP. In isekai it is bad, however this one is an MMO, so it is even worse as OP builds should be nerfed. But instead of balancing or nerfing our MC devs introduce more and more abilities and features that are easily abused by MC
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with help of previously acquired OP abilities. That leads to our second problem.
Second - everyone opposing MC lost half of their IQ. Devs making new content instead of balancing. Devs make mobs and bosses to "counter" our MC that fail miserably and only give more power to MC. Like really, how can you not counter someone when you know all the stats, abilities and items in their disposal? And after their failure they just start praising our MC how strong she is, and at this point I as a viewer started to lose my own IQ as these scenes are beyond stupid. Oh, you want to know why I am only talking about devs? Well, cause everyone else is friends with our MC cause she is oh so lovable. And yes, I know that in S1 they weren't exactly enemies either, but there is a huge difference between "slice of life friends" that were in S1 and the "fanbase of our glorious Hero" that we have in S2 now.
Third - our glorious hero needs to win more fights, so more fighting scenes, yay! They all look the same though, as no matter the enemy, all of the fights end after a character who has a fight casts the exact same set of skills. While it is how MMOs work, we aren't really playing one, you know. And replacing exploration and friendly banter of S1 with more of the same fights that still are cleared from the first try feels so dull that I can't help but wonder if they fired the only guy who knew what he was doing.
And as a result there is a fourth problem, that you can read as a conclusion - this season is completely forgettable. All of the empty praises, all of the easy battles, all of the new broken abilities - all of this just leaves no positive impressions, only a bad aftertaste of consuming something way too bland, cliched, empty and unenjoyable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Mar 29, 2023
With every season I watch this series I can't help but notice that the same formula works worse and worse, to the point of completely falling flat. Let me explain what feels wrong with Stray dogs.
First, following the already existing pattern, we have flashbacks. Way too lengthy flashbacks that add nothing to the story for two simple reasons: they are too ordinary and they add nothing to the character in question. By being ordinary I mean that there would be no difference if the story of the flashback was set in the present, as the plot of said events doesn't differ in any meaningful way
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from what the characters are doing in present time. Even worse, even though there are years between flashbacks and the actual events of the main story - the characters are the exact same as they were, like they were in stasis this whole time or not even existing. I know that without major events people don't go through major change, but at least some progress is to be expected, characters mature and get experience even if the viewer/reader is not going through every second of their life. Oh and while I am talking about character development - there is almost NO progress for the rest of the cast too, even though they are actually going through a serious event.
Second, the lack of logic. Yes I know this anime has supernatural. But you see, even the supernatural follows SOME rules, or it will soon deteriorate into a mess. And this is exactly what happens in Stray Dogs. Almost half of the season is a kind of mystery-solving detective story. What do you expect from it? Logical investigation, interrogating suspects, collecting evidence, cornering the criminal into revealing themselves. Or you can just get a set of BS accusations based on "I AM A GENIUS '' claim that suddenly are all correct even though they make no sense at all. It is almost like saying "The sun is up so it is monday '' while it is indeed monday. Yes, you are correct, but your reasoning is completely wrong and you can't make me believe you used any kind of logic here. Oh and don't forget to make anyone involved in the investigation more stupid than they should be so our "genius" claim would be at least somewhat believable, or just make the mystery in question predictable and obvious from the start.
Third, the lack of thrill. When the action comes you could expect adrenaline, high stakes, a battle of life and death. Not here though. Because the plot armor is so THICC for everyone that characters are basically immune to all kinds of blades, bullets and explosions as long as it is not THE tragic moment. Cause when THE moment comes - suddenly a character can be damaged even by strong wind. I know that this is used to both fill the title with action and have some kind of a point to continue with the plot, but at least give characters a thing to fight over. Because "fighting for their lives" while your plot armor doesn't allow you to even be wounded is not a working justification for me to be engaged. Maybe if characters in combat at least used their magic powers in an interesting way it would be enjoyable, but nope, they do the most basic stuff one could imagine.
Overall I have an impression that Stray Dogs simply tries to be way too many things at once. It wants to be over the top with abilities like Jojo does, but doesn't embrace the required "over the top and out of charts' ' level, as it also wants to be a serious show. It wants to be a serious detective/mystery story, but lacks good mysteries and can't make a logically sound investigation process. It wants to have deep characters but only throws one flashback on a barely developed character with one defining trait and calls it a day. It wants to be an action but lacks both the thrill and the spectacle. To be honest I didn't read the novel so I don't know whom to blame - poor adaptation of great source material or poor writing in the source, but the result is the same - I don't find Stray Dogs in any way enjoyable. I would only recommend this anime if you are watching it in the background while cooking or doing something else, because if you pay attention to what is happening on the screen - you will lose all the fun in its shortcomings.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Mar 26, 2023
"You don't get it, it is a healing isekai, it is not like other isekai" people told me when I didn't like the first season. So I checked the second one and to be honest - everything is now even worse and makes even less sense.
First I will mention that production quality, that already wasnt stellar, now is just awful. While blured drawing as a background can be considered a style choice, terrible CGI in places noone ever asked for are neither a style nor a choice. Even if not CGI, there was a "combat scene" that was a set of 3 attacks that were
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repeated in a loop, each of said attack was animated only once and pasted for every single loop without any change. Imagine watching the same few minutes repeating for 3 times - it almost feels like your player bugged and is not working properly. Overall already cheap looking anime now looks even cheaper.
And now my main problem: the writing. If in S1 we had some kind of "boy finding friends and his place in a new world" story, now we have "adventures of Jack of All Trades (and master of them all) in the land of really silly people" to call it lightly. In S2 most of the characters we had around the MC in S1 take a back seat while we get to know a vast array of very incompetent new characters. So incompetent that any more incompetence - and they would forget how to breathe if MC wasn't there to tell them. Take, for example, slime researchers who did research for ages as their job. Guess what, they know nothing about slimes. Or how about robbers who get hired to mess with people? They are weak and stupid, wow who could have guessed. Literally every small thing and encounter that MC has in this anime is something that he can do so good that everyone is constantly praising our MC for how cool he is. And the new cast that was introduced here serves no purpose but to, once again, give our MC a new way to show off and to praise him afterwards. And to make it even worse - despite all the praise MC does nothing worthy. He has no growth. He does not develop as a character. He just "suddenly" finds that he already knows everything needed to solve any situation while everyone is applauding to our little genius. I know that isekais are notorious for being nothing but self-inserts, but this is so over the top with self-praise that it just makes you to say "dude, calm down".
Overall this season was even more of an empty shell than the first one was. Nothing original, nothing interesting, nothing to care about or remember. And the shell is not even looking good, with too many corners cut and too little effort put into writing. Just watch anything else and you will have better time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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