The NekoPara OVA was a crowdfunded project released in 2017. In one hour, it covers the basic story of NekoPara vol 1. Though it is much shorter than the VN it's based on, it has the added benefit of the main character Kashou, being fully visible and voice acted. In the VN, he has no voice acting and his face is obscured.
Before the NekoPara anime came out, NekoPara had two OVAs, that were bonus content. The NekoPara Extra OVA is about the same story as the NekoPara Extra visual novel. You meet Chocola and Vanilla as kittens getting used to the Minaduki household, and having their first Christmas there. The whole OVA is about 21 minutes long.
The animation is pretty good, very traditional. All the characters look very distinct and accurately represented of their VN artwork. I'm not sure, but it sound like the same voice actors for the VN were used for this OVA. It's all in Japanese, so I watched it with subtitles, which seemed accurate enough. I was able to follow what was going on and everything.
This OVA is available for free through a Steam purchase of the NekoPara Extra VN, which is only 5$, so I think it's worth it.
I'm in Love with the Villainess is an anime based on a light novel series about an office worker woman who gets isekai'd to her favorite otome game where she can finally, at long last, romance her favorite character, the villainess.
Not gonna lie, at first, I had my doubts about this one. The protagonist, Rae, does experience some homophobia by side characters, and it doesn't seem like Miss Claire is into her until the end, so I thought it would be an unrequited love, and that kinda sucks, but in the end, they get together and seem pretty happy so yay! Apparently, in the light novels, they have children together and save the kingdom. Awesome!
Given is a BL drama anime based on the manga of the same name, with a matching live action too. The manga ran for 9 years, and the anime came out in 2019. Normally, I don't like drama, but this one isn't superficial, stupid drama, it's coping with neurospicyness, loss, and grief. The manga has 3 arcs, and the anime features the first arc.
Ritsuka is a grumpy guitarist who starts out pretty uninspired, since he's good at guitar and doesn't feel much need to work at it anymore. Then he meets Mafuyu, a shy boy with a ton of angst and a singing voice Ritsuka really likes. Also, the bassist and the drummer have feelings that they need to work out.
I don't wanna spoil it, but OMG, it's a good watch, and I'm trying to read the manga too.
Bofuri is about a girl who isn't very practiced in video games becoming remarkably powerful almost by accident. She and her skilled PvPer girlfriend play as much as they can, start a guild, and have lots of fun shenanigans. Their little guild becomes full of surprisingly powerful players, in unexpected ways, and they end up competing in some large scale guild events.
Unlike reality, in this anime, everyone is friendly and a good sport, so this is s pleasant anime to watch. Also, the relationship between MC and her PvPer girlfriend is a little vague, but I ship them, so whatevs. It's a good, cozy anime to watch.
A single officeworker with a penchant for drinking, makes friends with an incredibly powerful, but homeless dragon, who swears to repay her kindness by being her maid. The dragons other dragon friends show up, and shenanigans. Some of the characters have incredibly large breasts, but it's too comical to be sexy, and I kinda appreciate that somehow.
Recovery of an MMO Junkie is an MMO themed anime that's near and dear to my heart. Overworked and stressed, the main character quits her job and hides in a video game to try to cope. She joins a friendly guild, and another player becomes special to her.
There's a lot of video game references I get very well, some gender confusion mishaps, and a lot of sweetness overall. I really like this anime, and have watched it a few times.
I admit, I've only watched season 1 of this show, and it has 2 seasons so far, but I think season 1 is worth reviewing. This is another otome game isekai. The main character is reborn as the antagonist of her favorite otome game from her past life. Because of this, she fears an early demise, and will stop at nothing to get a longer, fuller life.
This otome game isekai is also incredibly funny, in a very sweet and wholesome way, and it's really cute. The MC does her best to befriend everyone so no one will try to kill her, and she tries to hard that everyone loves her instead. Even the female characters fall for her, which makes my bisexual heart happy too. I haven't watched season 2 yet, because season 1 ended so perfectly, it felt weird to, but I'm sure it's more of the same.
Trapped in a Dating Sim is one of my favorite anime. It has one 12 episode season, came out in 2022, and the dub is so good, I got the MC voice actor's autograph. This is the only dating sim isekai I was able to get my husband to watch with me. It's special.
Why is it special? Well, it's because the main character is an anti-hero, and a hilarious one at that. His obnoxious attitude, even as he's doing the right thing, is priceless. Also, otome games make me mad, so I really enjoyed him ripping on all the old otome tropes.
I've read some of the manga after watching the anime, and it's not as good. It doesn't wield the sword of humor quite as well as the anime does. The premise isn't that great if it takes itself too seriously. It's the parody and sarcastic edge that makes this anime a gem worth watching.
The manga is still ongoing. I thought volume 9 was gonna be the finale, but there's much more after!
YuruYuri: Happy Go Lily is a slice of life anime for a group of middle school students at an all female school. At least, I think it's an all female school, because I don't remember seeing a single boy in the show. It's based on a manga that's still ongoing, and I've only seen the first 3 seasons, so my review is based on that.
YuruYuri has been one of my go-to anime to watch when I'm feeling down. Like Lucky Star, it cheers me up when I'm sad. Season 1 is just about 4 girls in an after school club, being silly, and a little gay. Oh yeah, major gay undertones in this anime, like a lesbian sledgehammer. Another reason why I like the show, of course. It's all incredibly innocent though, not lewd at all. The girls don't have sexy times, they just crush over each other a lot. In all 3 seasons, I think there's only one kiss ever. Most of it is their very active childlike imaginations. They are middle-schoolers afterall, still children.
There is no dub available for this show, that I'm aware of, it only comes subtitled.
I watched this season dubbed, and the voice acting is good. Uzaki's voice is a little grating, but it adds to her annoying-ness, so I think it fits the character. Everyone else sounds normal. Animation is on par for most slice of life anime.
Not my favorite, but it hit my slice of life checkboxes, so I'll prolly sit through season 2.
NekoPara is an IP that started as a visual novel series, blew up with merchandise, and eventually got an anime adaptation. I've been following NekoPara for years. It is incredibly rare for a hentai series to become this popular, but the cast of characters is incredibly lovable.
This anime set the stage for dozens of moe, slice of life anime for years to come. It it thanks to Lucky Star that we have hundreds of other anime showcasing the day to day lives of schoolgirls, office workers, monsters, mermaids, all sorts of people. It's fascinating, and comforting, and relatable.
In this short anime, a schoolgirl named Poemy is put in a catastrophic situation by alien invaders and uses a magic dead fish to become the scantily clad hero, Puni Puni Poemy, all while trying to become a successful voice actress. Her doting best friend, Futaba, also has super powers, but her older sisters stop her from using them until the finale. Poemy is also infatuated with classmate Kei, who never sends her a message or call, but he turns out to have a ridiculous backstory and hidden intentions that come out in the second episode.
This show is pretty bad, and I love it for it. It's probably a good thing that this hasn't been picked up by any of the streaming services. I would never share this show with polite company. It's really only funny if you watched anime during the timeframe that it was making fun of. It's one of those "You had to be there" things.
