The original manga's actually French, but deliberately done in Japanese style. It's normal shounen fare. Fairly simple-minded, fights, hot-blooded passion, etc.

Our heroes are fighting a baddie with an evil moustache. It's the kind of role where the actor's putting on a voice so deep it could drill for oil, with no shade or subtlety in this one-dimensionally evil performance. He carries a lance as heavy as a small car and he's the leader of the city military, who dress like European medieval knights and have shields a bit like the Crusaders.

He's also an anti-immigrant rabble-rouser, which is a bigger issue in the West than in Japan right now. "What we need is not tolerance! It is the courage to eradicate every last one of the vermin!"

The episode's pretty good. There are significant plot twists, unexpected allies and Wacky Hair Girl getting shut in a cage with a man who dies. She takes it hard. "If only the other me hadn't shown up," she says, which startled me. I like all that. Nonetheless, it's still a show for young boys that will resolve everything with fights. I'd already dropped this show once, in 2018, but the episodes I've seen of it have been fairly good. Nothing wrong with it.

I've been avoiding Rainy Cocoa for years. It's a franchise of sneeze-length episodes of nothing, where pretty boys run a coffee shop.

This time, though, they've gender-switched it. Schoolgirls have half a conversation, cut off halfway through when the episode stops. There aren't even any end credits. The animation just stops.

Ah, what the hell. It's only two minutes.

I was already halfway through this show and I already knew I'd be continuing. Yes, it's good. Also, this episode's a strong re-entry point, with comedy and some new story arcs. (The opening info-dump for new viewers was a tiny speed bump, though.)

Tsutsui, Itou and Ayado are hopeless dorks, about to face their greatest challenge... the school culture festival! Shock! Normal people having fun! Tsutsui and Itou agree to climb in a hole and wait for it all to blow over. (It'll have a Blu-ray player and enough discs for an anime marathon.) Despite this splendid plan, though, the world gangs up on them. Tsutsui gets voted in as class rep by a class of bastards who couldn't be bothered to do it themselves. Itou discovers that Ayado's actually participating voluntarily.

This episode's about people changing, or wanting to change. Itou does what I'd been screaming at him to do, but there's a surprise. Tsutsui's shocked to realise that he'd had a positive thought, which leads to immediate disaster. The beauty contest judge thing was funny too.

It's a strong episode of a fun show. Recommended.

TEN DAYS UNTIL THE CULTURE FESTIVAL!!!

Schoolgirl idols. Where have I seen that premise before? The character designs make teenagers look like small children, with heads nearly the size of their torsos.

Finally, the episode takes a long time to find any dramatic content. Our dozy, passive protagonist, Mana, transfers to a new school and gets shown around by someone from the student council. This drags. There's a Lyrical Tradition Dance Club with silly attempts to recruit Mana. I liked the purple-haired Sayu, though, because she knows what she wants and has no patience with her slightly tiresome president.

It's yet another all-female anime with lots of lesbian undertones. We all know who those are aimed at. If you're that kind of otaku, maybe you'll like the heavy romantic angle between two girls who've only just met. I can't see anyone else watching the show, though.

What is it with Netflix and CGI? It's as if their focus groups told them to commission anime, but they don't want it to look like anime. This one has a schoolboy hero who kicks people, breaks their bones and carries a knife. "That's my duty and my destiny. Protecting everyone!" (That's everyone except his victims, presumably, although in fairness I don't think he's stabbed anyone yet.)

Furthermore, the title sequence promises giant robots. This is a mecha show. That's all I needed for a "no".

It's a lot more weird and interesting than I'd expected. The presentation screams "kiddie cartoon for infants", but the human protagonist (Kaoru) is very much an adult, with adult issues. She's been promised new recruits at work, but her camp probably-gay boss says that's been cancelled due to the downturn in recent years. Recruitment has been cut back by 30% and existing staff salaries are being cut by 10%. The office's blonde glamour kitten doesn't care because she's only interested in dates and men anyway.

After that, Kaoru goes to a cherry blossom viewing with all her old friends from school... only for everyone to cancel. She's left there on her own, drinking beer and feeling left behind by life.

At the same time, though, Kaoru shares her apartment with two human-sized teddy bears and a stuffed toy bird. They're alive, although they can only "talk" in noises. Even the music when they're on-screen is the kind of plinky-plonky relaxation you expect in the middle of the afternoon in a three-minute wordless kiddie episode about cats. They're her friends. They watch the cherry blossoms with her.

I love the juxtaposition in this, but the episode's story-light. Kaoru doesn't really do anything. Life sort of washes over her and she shares it with her bears. The tone's gentle and I'm expecting the show to be thirteen passive vignettes. It's different, though, and I respect Netflix for picking it up.

Oh no, their school club's going to be closed down! Can our Cute Schoolgirls find four members to keep it going? (Answer: yes. That was quick.) There's an airhead heroine, a competitive semi-bitch, etc.

It's fine, actually. Completely normal.

Unfortunately, they're into shooting laser rifles. They don't even go out on a shooting range. You hang a laser-sensing target in the classroom, stand against the opposite wall and shoot at it. I can't bring myself to get excited about this.

The actual episode's okay, but it's only five minutes long and that's about right for it. It's a sort of stream-of-consciousness diary thing. Ekoda-chan talks to us. She's a club hostess who's always naked at home, to save on laundry.

After that, though, comes a 20-minute live-action segment that blew my mind. They interview the director, who this week was the mighty Akitarou Daichi. The voice actress was also present, which is fine, but she wasn't the one I was interested in here. Daichi fitted my mental image of him, incidentally. He's lovely. Infectious smile, likes having fun, discusses the original manga.

They're going to have a different director and actress every week. Should be interesting.

To be honest, I'm watching this show partly because it's in Isekai Quartet's second season. I love that show and I want to be able to get the jokes.

I was a little concerned about the double-length episode. I always wonder if two episodes got combined because the first one's slow and boring. That's not completely untrue here, but there's a dark twist near the end and I'm curious about it's going. Naofumi Iwatani was nice at first, but by the end he's saying "show me what you've got" to a slave trader.

Naofumi's an otaku, summoned to another world to be a legendary hero! He'll save the world from destruction! That's normal for isekai... but this show actually has four heroes and Naofumi's the rubbish one. Each one has a legendary weapon, but Naofumi's is just a shield. This makes him a limp reed in combat, although personally I think he's getting too worked up about it. He just needs comrades. Assemble a party and he'll find a role.

I liked how genre-savvy the four heroes are. At one point, they even test each other by asking about their former worlds. Who's the Prime Minister? Who won World War Two? Anyway, I enjoyed this episode.

Robby Yarge is an easy-going loser who loves get-rich-quick schemes. Hatchi Kita is so good at everything that he's bored with the universe's predictability. Robby suggests being a bit more like him (Robby), which Hatchi realises to his astonishment is a good idea.

Hatchi thus takes a job with the debt collectors who are chasing Robby. This is a buddy comedy, but they're not friends yet.

The episode's a laugh. Our heroes are heading for Isekandar (which reminds me of Isukandar from Space Battleship Yamato) and there's giant robot silliness. It amused me. Happy to keep watching.

It's a highly regarded Kyoto Animation series based on a successful novel, but it's also a sports anime. About running. In the first seven minutes, we follow a race. Runners run. The spectators analyse. This is fine, but it's still people running around a track. (If you like running, though, watch this anime!)

What's great about the episode is that its heroes are university students who got tricked into participating in a marathon. Sports anime usually treat their sports as life or death. This lot... not so much. They've stopped bitching, but we've still got gags like the self-pitying loser vomiting in the car (which made me laugh) and mildly evil bits like the ringleader forcing everyone to run 10km before dinner if they want any curry in their curry.

Our heroes handle a worrying journalist and go off to a lake. They meet a rival team and a brat who's picking a fight. It's all good. The show's very well done. Recommended to fans of running.