Zíza

I read what it's about and I was like, cool, some of the supernatural “we're going to fight the boogeyman" stuff, I'm in the mood for that. Only it ended up fighting corruption and dirty politics. It's like they couldn't forgive themselves. I mean, sure, given the way the story was laid out, it wasn't going to work here, but I was really hoping they were just going to fight demon slime... The series is horribly inconsistent. Sometimes it had pacing and cool action, but then it kind of bogged down into boredom and I didn't feel like I needed to keep watching to see how it would turn out. By the tenth episode, the feelings of not being excited were more prevalent, when suddenly there was tension, super action, it had momentum... and I thought it was finally picking up speed and I was excited to see what would happen next. Except that it fell down again, the tension faded, we got some unnecessary filer here and there, probably because of emotions or something, but it didn't go well, the songbird wasn't up to it, then it climaxed and showed what happened afterwards. Which was fine, I have to admit the ending of the show was hilarious. Disinterest alternated with interest, and I didn't come away from the series feeling like I got what I wanted to see, nor did I get adequate compensation instead. Sure, it's Korea, it looks nice, but that's about it.

Yes, it's a perfectly ordinary love story, just as the subtitle of the series claims. It starts with the coronavirus and people have to keep their distance. The people in the company are advised by their psychologist to install an online game to sort of keep themselves sane. So that's what our heroine does, but she's not very good at it, nor does she particularly enjoy it. But she starts chatting with another user and their anonymous chat goes on for months. Then it becomes something more. But the two don't know each other, only the heroine finds out that it's someone from the same company. For a while we fumble along with her trying to figure out who it could be, until we finally do, and just watch it slowly unfold from behind the screen. Enjoyable, human, topical. Right from the start, we thought these two would be a good match, and they are. But then all of a sudden I got absolute second lead syndrome and it was all over. I haven't had such a great "second lead crush" in a long time (if ever). A great actor, a likable guy, and a well-written character to boot. Still, the ultimate object of the heroine's love was no conniving bad guy; quite the opposite, I just personally liked the other one better. A very pleasant coronavirus movie. Somehow a love story unfolds behind the masks. And he wasn't the only one. We had several couples on the show, most of whom I liked, except for the youngest. They actually annoyed me quite a bit, I didn't care what happened to them, just as the young man in the couple assumes when he talks to the camera. Still, a hilarious romantic series. Interestingly, Haru plays in them quite often. A strong 3 stars.

I was expecting something a little different from this since it's gotten such accolades. I admit the beginning was fine. A bit slow, and it still hasn't been revealed what's going to follow when they say their piece – it's mutual. It's just that from about the third or fourth episode onwards, it slowly fell into the classic Shōjo template. The characters, the plot, everything. Some might argue that it doesn't matter, and I would agree if it weren't presented as something cool, something with added value. Which the show doesn't really have. The Japanese have done plenty of work about gay people, in fact some of those series got the same awards, just in previous years (Kinō Nani Tabeta?, Ossan's Love), and they had much more original story and characters. This is pure innocent office romance. It doesn't matter that they're guys. This has been here a thousand times before and it's disappointing. Especially towards the end, it started to drag a little bit. Quickly watched, quickly forgotten. 55%.

Such a fairy tale. Unrealistic, but it's every woman's wet dream. To suddenly get a handsome, nice, sensible, simply the most wonderful man in the world who will love you to the grave. The thing I liked about it is that it always comes close to a cliché, but avoids the arc of its clichéd resolution. It was also interesting that it touched on the decision not to have children. Albeit on a fast track, but it rang true. And it was said without judgment. Which I think is so cool. At least the perfunctory mention. The series could be described as a cute little cake full of second-rate sugar.

This TV special follows on the previous rather good and very talky series. Since it has a fairly limited running time, we didn't get any deep insight into their lives, but we did meet them at a time when major changes are happening in their lives. And whatever those changes turn out to be, the girls have to deal with it. In the end, this is a special about the fact that while something may seem like a happy ending, it's not really an ending, but just one chapter in a long book, and that the troubles never end, even if you happen to get what you want. We meet all the important characters from the previous series again, although some of them are only glimpsed, and are more of a please-the-fan-that-could-see-me-again-but-otherwise-I'm-here-rather-unnecessarily nature. Anyone who enjoyed the previous series will enjoy this one too; most importantly, there's “Tokyo Girl" by Perfume again, so you'll feel right at home.

Nice execution, fine characters, one doesn't even feel a need to murder them mentally, a simple and straightforward story that won't impress anyone. But whatever. Just such a nice ordinary anime with different female characters, some mecha, a classic world where there is a big difference between the elite, the chosen, and the rest of the world, the poor. And then there's the father of science... Just a mediocre anime for nice light entertainment.

Unexpectedly not that stupid. It's just a romantic comedy. Nothing more, nothing less. Nice woman, nice man, nice car, a few lies, lots of smiles... But it's just a regular romantic comedy that doesn't bring anything new, though at least there aren't those awkwardly tense moments where one hates the other because they've been hiding something. Finally. In this genre, great. And the actor looks and gestures like my brother-in-law... that's gross. :-D

It's not exactly mainstream and it's not for everyone in every mood. The characters are not animated as likable characters, but rather as unlikable stick figures. So what? It's still got something going for it. It's got a twist. There's experimentation with expression, the screen breaks up into individual windows like a manga, but it's all the more intense for it. It's fast-paced, it doesn't get bogged down with details, yet it's not flat. Quite the opposite. We get to know the ping pong players, find out their motivations, discover what's inside them. The dialogue flows; if you're not paying attention, you won't end up "seeing" the characters. This experiment is a success. Anyway, my favorite character is the player who gets beaten by Tsukimoto right at the beginning, and then he tries different things. It starts on the beach.

An ordinary movie, the kind of movie Okada Yoshikazu just knows how to write and has been doing since forever. That's why it's nothing special. It's sedentary, and strong emotions, when they’re there, run beneath the surface and rarely bubble up. It's that feel-good movie when you're just in the mood for something mundane. While it's true that this film is a bit of a "flight through the world" kind of film, it has a really powerful scene toward the end that makes it step out of the grey. A moderate cast, a sparse setting, an intimate drama about the relationship between a daughter and her father.

A pretty hilarious ad for the subject matter. It's got its secrets you want to uncover, but you’d pretty much just peek behind the curtain for a few seconds. What you see isn't bad, but it doesn't tell you much. The main character is more than just a physically adept horny teenager, Nanana is more than just a busty roommate addicted to pudding, and overall the other characters aren't bad either. Given more of that, I wouldn't be mad. Because who would care who killed her.