Jeoffrey

This is an isekai anime series for girls, where an ordinary main female protagonist suddenly finds herself in a mysterious fantasy world that she must save with the help of some beautiful and dashing young men. They are sensual, compassionate, and devoted. The main female protagonist then has various adventures and gets into predicaments from which the gentlemen kindly rescue her, and she herself actively lends a helping hand and pitches in, thus adding some new princes to her group, perhaps even princes still under some spell, or those who have fallen to the dark side... Why? Because what woman does not like the idea of trying to change that seemingly tough-as-nails thug and turning him around? After all, that is why girls are so attracted to bad guys (oh, and also because they are not boring...). Plus, above all, every woman dreams of being the center of attention, and the object of so many understanding and beautiful men trying to protect her - making her feel like a princess... This is what fan service for young girls looks like! Well, sometimes it works (see Yona of the Dawn) and even guys can find something to enjoy here (for example, because it has a cool narrative and some cool characters) and other times, unfortunately, it sucks... So for example I also try to watch shows like this, I know I am not the target audience, and sometimes, I strike gold and find it enjoyable (like Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits) and then there are shows like 100 Sleeping Princes & the Kingdom of Dreams, where the main female protagonist is deeply uninteresting and features male characters who argue as irritatingly and boringly as those girls in bad harem anime series aimed at men. More princes come and go, and who cares? (Jeoffrey doesn't!) The prince who keeps repeating "I guess..." probably has a secret and definitely has amnesia, but who cares? (Jeoffrey is like three episodes in and he cannot wait to find out, and that will be who knows when?!) The show has an adorable furry mascot, but who cares? (Perhaps fans of stuffed animals and Jeoffrey when he was five years old!) In conclusion, 100 Sleeping Princes & the Kingdom of Dreams does not really have anything to offer for a guy, I thought none of the characters were interesting and it did not have a very good narrative, so I am going to quit at episode four and instead of watching a Prince Pirate Captain, I am going to go for some Captain Morgan rum, put on Pirates of the Caribbean, and have some fun, a right royal fun time, which is something this show cannot deliver... Dropped after the fourth episode and a boring 3/10.

In terms of this movie’s artwork and animation (yes, there is CGI, although it may not look like it in the preview gallery), it is definitely something worth seeing! Our communist comrades from P.R.C. (since we are using acronyms...) really tried hard to make an impressive movie and they succeeded. It was really good, the fight scenes were pumped, and even if some things looked out of place at times (almost like as if Legolas was riding Oliphant's trunk in Return of the King, I guess), at least it could be justified by the fact that the characters have superhuman magical powers. However, I fail to see the point of having nice looking artwork if you just cannot get what the narrative is about, even though it is kind of going pretty well most of the time… Imagine if you will, a pretty attractive girl who is on a date with you and talks and talks and talks, even though you just do not get what the hell she is going on about, and it is only towards the end of your time together (after almost two hours) that her endless chattering (although quite compelling) starts to make some sense... Most of the time, I essentially could not understand most of the characters regarding their motivations and intentions! Moreover, it is set in quite an interesting fantasy world, although I only got a chance to briefly understand how it all works on a basic level, and casually learned only a few things on the fly, and nothing had enough depth to properly engage me. Maybe if there was less fighting and more exposition --- then perhaps it may not have been such an interesting and action-packed show, even though it would have perhaps made more sense to me... The soundtrack was like that too --- on the one hand, I liked it. The songs and musical motifs were pleasant to listen to, however, they just did not seem to fit the mood of some of the scenes very well --- in other words, they were not in tune with each other… This is a contradictory albeit quite an interesting movie - on its own I would award about 5.5/10, add to that the fact that I would like to see the follow-up (to be released this year), because perhaps then this would all start to make sense, and it will be even what the movie’s creators intended - an epic and wonderful fantasy…

It is very difficult to review this anime series when there are so many people commenting about how it is only for pedophiles. Anyway, chances are those who made such comments have not even made it to the sixth episode, let alone finished this anime series. Plus, from a certain point of view, you could easily say that, for example, the previously mentioned movie Lolita is also for pedophiles... So which is it then? The truth is that both sides have a point because this anime series has some scenes where the relationship between the really very young girl and the teacher is overly sexualized, the setting is often intended by the mangaka/anime’s creators to be an erotic scene, or a scene with strong sexual overtones, which, in conjunction with children this young, is simply unacceptable for ethical and moral reasons in our culture. Some of the scenes are meant to be amusing, and the truth is that if I leave out (stop addressing) the morality of this show, sometimes they really are funny. So in the end it is up to each individual person regarding how much they are bothered by the ethical and moral dilemmas while watching this show. In addition, it is a drama as well as being a comedy. The anime’s creators were fully aware of the subject matter and did not want it (unlike Eromanga Sensei for example) to come across as pure Loli (or kodomo) fan service. Therefore the characters are not black and white, but rather quite complex, plus it has situations that are thought-provoking and suspenseful. Once again, it really depends on how much you want to go along with these melodramas, how much you find the narrative believable, and how much those things excuse just about everything else (the context) - which for some is inexcusable... In other words, because this show has a much more complicated narrative, there are no cookie-cutter formulaic characters and in fact, are quite relatable (Reiji, for example, is a very interestingly written character). You can look at this anime series as a narrative regarding a girl with a complicated backstory, and that backstory explains why she is too grown-up mentally and quite precocious. It also goes some way to explain this young girl's first crush, and why she develops that crush on her teacher (which happens in real life a lot, it is quite common, because I also had a crush on one of my teachers when I was much younger...). Plus, he is a character who is practically an easy target, because of his ineptitude, and he is a victim due to the sometimes unbelievable manipulation of the girl. Still, I just cannot escape the feeling that it is all the teacher’s fault really, and the reason why the situations keep escalating over and over again is that he constantly fails to set healthy boundaries, and also because of his approach to the children, as he tries to get as close to them as possible, so actually he has brought all this on himself... There are many ways to consider your attitude towards this anime series, and I do not think any of the views I have presented are completely wrong or right, so I encourage everyone to take a look for themselves, and so you can then see for yourselves if it makes you feel uncomfortable, and by how much. At the very least, you may discover where your own moral and ethical boundaries lay in this regard. In conclusion, this is not simply an anime series aimed at pedophiles, it is aimed at the wider public as well, as long as they can accept its premise and find the characters and their motives believable. I think you could learn a lot and have a good laugh at times, which simply depends on how seriously and gravely you take it. However, if you happen to find this anime series sexually arousing, then you quite possibly might really have some serious issues... 6/10.

In terms of the animation and the soundtrack, this is definitely a very well-produced movie. The narrative also has its moments, and it tries to teach us that everyone is equal before one God, no matter what color they are, where and to whom they were born, and that true freedom means breaking the chains in your heart... It is just such a shame that I could not get rid of the strange feeling that a pompous animated movie from the United Arab Emirates, i.e. from the world of extremely wealthy sheiks (where you can see the disparities between the rich and the poor at a glance, and where the wealthiest gentlemen in the land probably still have servants and harems), simply is not going to convince me that everyone is really truly equal. Of course, these are probably typical European prejudices, and I am going to be condemned by all of the woke brigade fighting for freedom, justice, and equality in society, of which there are many in 2018. However, I am sorry, I just cannot shake off these prejudices. The irony of the differences between the origins and the message has stuck with me and watching this movie, no matter how good it is, kind of made me start to really dislike it. However, what the hell did I expect, it is a narrative concerning Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi who was a loyal companion to the Prophet Muhammad, so it has to be the real story of Islam. Well, yeah, although as far as Islam is concerned, I found certain things in the movie that struck me as especially true with parallels to how it is today... But enough!!! I am just going to sum it up by saying that subjectively speaking this movie is very accomplished, it has respectable production values and also a good message, plus a rather interesting narrative (although in my opinion, it has too much unnecessary melodrama). It is just not my kind of movie (and it would not be my kind of movie even if it was about let's say John the Baptist) and therefore I am just not going to award more than 6/10…

It is a shame that the best thing I can say about this anime series is that probably the only really powerful scenes are in the ending itself. The final episode was really good and gave the show some meaning and its message made sense. Well, yeah, this is true even though unfortunately the rest of the anime series was not anywhere near as engaging. The beginning and the first three-quarters of the season or so are pretty boring, it features a narrative regarding teenagers who pilot robots in a world that looks quite interesting and yet tells you almost nothing about itself. So you get to watch some young people dealing with their problems, forming relationships and while it might sound interesting - it really is not. All the time you are reminding yourself that this was produced by Studio Trigger, so you just hope the best is yet to come. Fortunately, from time to time, you get little indications that the world it is set in has some secrets yet to be revealed, so it manages to keep you hanging on. Because of that, you can tolerate the romantic relationships, the monotonous mecha fight scenes, and the teenage dramas that are often more exhausting than thrilling. The chemistry between the main two protagonists is quite good, although in all honesty I still preferred the two other couples Kokoro x Mitsuru and Ichigo x Goro. However, that is quite enough about the show’s romantic relationships and love stories, even though that is what this show is really about. Now, more about the plot. The last quarter of the season is quite eventful and at first, you are bombarded with information that reveals some stuff you have kind of been suspecting all along and you are like “yeah, it is there although I was expecting it…” So anyway, you are going to be disappointed rather than shocked by the first info dump. However, a series of shocking revelations and another barrage of rather insane happenings come along that will have you wondering if the anime’s creators are being serious, and where you are going to be wondering if this show is insanely stupid or insanely cool. Also, possibly for the first time in twenty-something episodes, you finally realize that you are watching something that was created by Studio Trigger, the Japanese animation studio founded by former employees of Gainax... and these are the dudes who are famous for giving the world anime series such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gurren Lagann… As I have already written, the finále is satisfactory and the last episode itself is really very good indeed. However, could the ending possibly redeem the entire season considering the tediousness of the first three-quarters of this season? Unfortunately, I think not, not this time, and I cannot say this is an especially unforgettable experience, more like just your average anime series with a very good ending and that is about it. 5.6/10.

Before this season aired avid viewers already knew that it was going to be produced by a different animation studio than the one that had produced the previous three. The style of the artwork changed (for the worse) and had already been noticed before the first episode had aired by almost everyone who had seen the posters for this fourth season. I remember the sheer dread I felt when I feared that those beautiful and uncensored (yes High School DxD always offers an uncensored version) oppai would never be the same again... In other words, this season was expected to be a disaster, and in the end, yes it was, even though I would not say it was not as much of a disaster as everyone had feared. The details in the artwork are worse and they are very visible in some situations, for example on the faces of the characters, which is a real shame even though I do not think it is such an issue to recognize the old familiar faces. As for the main concern, the oppai are still the oppai, they are given a lot of attention just as they were in previous seasons and they are still nice and round and pink and ... well, even Passione animation studio understand the main reason why half of its audience are fans of this show. At the same time, despite all that, the new version of High School DxD has once again convinced me that it still remains the king of the ecchi anime genre. It has at least two scenes (involving the wardrobe in the first half and the changing room in the second half) that are really erotic and interesting even in animated form, which I can only say sporadically with ecchi anime series (probably mostly because I usually know exactly what is going to happen and when the scene is going to get cut off...). Plus, I still find most of the characters likable, and that includes the main male protagonist! This is another great miracle because I probably dislike around ninety-nine percent of the main male protagonists from ecchi anime series, and I absolutely despise a significantly large number of them (especially the one that has nosebleeds and collapses). However, how could I not like Issei Hyoudou? He is a creep who is not ashamed of being a pervert and is despised by the majority of the females at his normal school. But he is in fact the greatest hero in the demon world, the "Oppai Dragon" who is everyone’s idol, including small children... On the one hand, it is so stupid it is quite amusing, although, on the other hand, there are a lot of scenes where you can root for Issei as he is really impressive. He is just fearless, and the only ones who stop him from getting some real "action" are the screenwriting dudes, or rather the mangaka behind the original it is based on. The narrative of the fourth season could be divided into two sections, the first part being the school trip which introduces a couple of new characters, and was basically just a typical storyline which is nothing new for this anime series, and then the second part where there was a battle between the clans again. The show also featured a strong attempt to deepen the intensity of the relationship between the two main protagonists, which of course a lot of people who really love the harem vibe resented. It is as if they are not aware that a harem can exist even if the main guy has one favorite, as long as the others respect her and the Harem Master does not show too many special favors too often... Plus, Issei needs Rias, and the fact that he has intense feelings for her, I mean, is he in love with her? I say this because of course, he loves all of his girls in his own way, he just loves each one in a different way. This is normal, every time we fall in love it is never the same as the last, each time we love someone it is a little different than the last (which often leads to comparisons and therefore problems...). So it was just necessary for the main protagonists to work out their relationship, as everyone around them knew about it anyway, some other girls did not even care, and it motivated others to try harder. So this part was not a bad thing, quite the opposite... However, enough of this, I am philosophizing over an anime series about a dude in red dragon armor chasing after boobies and mostly not grabbing hold of them anyway... Well, at least it is clear that I am still a fan of High School DxD, and even though there are more shortcomings I could list, I still cannot help but say that even this time it was an experience worth 7/10.

I watched this first installment, which has a running time of seventy-nine minutes, and all I can say is that this is such a monstrosity that if The Asylum was behind it, I would not be surprised. The narrative is so moronic that sometimes I just stared in disbelief. Furthermore, it seemed to me that this was just another horror B-movie, and if there was some expert on the horror genre (I have not seen many of them), he would tell me how many other horror movies used the same storyline because it is not original at all. I am pretty sure that I have seen something like this even as a porn movie (it had the same storyline even though it featured a real mummy)... Plus it was definitely not terrifying in any way, so can you call it a horror movie? - I do not know... I am not going to comment anymore, as I have already suffered enough. I guess it had at least the two most important ingredients; ​​boobies and blood, so it was watchable, although the idea this is going to have a follow-up frightens me more than the whole of the first installment and I am not going to watch the next installment. I think seventy-nine minutes is more than enough to say that this was a monstrosity and rate it - 1/10.

This is a show with short, stand-alone episodes, that is occasionally really brilliant, and sometimes really uninteresting. 6/10

This is about artificial intelligence and its applications, or rather how such intelligent androids should be properly handled, and how to find the right ways for humanity and its machines to co-exist. Now we are going to do a little sociological experiment... We are going to unleash a few autonomous and intelligent next-generation androids into a world where robots already exist, with each one having its own secret mission written into its code. Then we are going to put some of them with owners perfect for them, which means people who are going to help them achieve their objectives. Which direction is society headed in, what results will it bring, and what will ultimately be the most ideal way, and the purpose of living with artificial intelligence? You are going to find out in the four-part conclusion this winter because the anime’s screenwriters are a bunch of total fucking amateurs who absolutely do not know how to create and sustain a decent atmosphere! For example, they managed to dampen any suspense by cramming four recaps into a twenty-four-episode series, making me feel like they thought I was a complete moron who could not remember what the previous five episodes were about, while at the same time permanently ruining any interest in what was going to happen. So, the conclusion? As I have already written - you are going to have to wait until winter for that. However, in the meantime, instead of a cliffhanger, something that would have left me open-mouthed and as wound up as a bowstring, all I got was a stupid load of blathering on about nothing. This means that I already know that when the "grand finale" comes out, nobody is going to care two hoots about this anime series, and I am not even going to even remember watching something called Beatless. Not even the narrative can save it, that is a narrative which might have been quite interesting under different circumstances. This show’s narrative, however, is just soulless, emotionless, and without any suspense. This is also “helped” by the main two protagonists, the main female protagonist is clearly in the foreground, doing something, and behind her, the main male protagonist is simply just flapping around behind her doing bugger all. Even though he admittedly has rock-solid convictions, still all he can do is blindly trust his robot, despite the fact he is supposed to be the master of it. It is also marred by the quality and frequency of the dialogues because they only minimally move the story along, and often just feature characters chattering on and on about what has already been discussed a hundred times (Arato x Ryo). Plus, there are the occasional fight scenes, which also did not grab me in any significant way and could not redeem this show. Personally speaking, the final impression of Beatless is very poor, and if it had been called Soulless, that would have been more accurate. 2.7/10.

Why do the power levels in the manga not look so bad, whereas in the anime series they just look like a bit of a pissing contest in a men’s room? How is it that the character Hawk did not bother me so much before, and now I sometimes have the urge to have him impaled on a very sharp spike? Instead of a fun and action-packed show with a simple plot, we have been given a much more complicated and convoluted second season, and it is clear that they are far from finished. So, why was I entertained only by two or three fight scenes at most this time? Why am I tempted to say that the manga series is better and that even the most epic fight scenes featuring Escanor and Estarosa are just cooler on paper? I probably should not have read the manga and thereby spoiled the watching of the anime series. In addition, the printed version (whether it is the manga or the light novel series in general) is always more detailed than an anime movie/series and gives more room for the imagination, so why should I be so dissatisfied, why should I even compare them at all? Well, yeah, but why not compare them? There are the aforementioned changes from the first season - they gave us a darker, more complicated, and convoluted narrative, albeit one that is definitely going to leave you waiting for the rest of what they need to tell you. The frequency of the fight scenes really suffers a lot because of that, and also that there are still a lot of things yet to be revealed... Furthermore, even that nice lightness that accompanied the first season is gone, as we are now on to the serious stuff - well, I guess that makes sense!!! Did I like it? Yes, however, when I compare it to the manga.... 7.8/10.