Watching Bad Anime So You Don't Have To

A blog dedicated to me (@MakioKuta) watching and ranting about anime. Like anime? Why not follow. Don't like anime? Why not follow! WARNING: Blog contains anime.

[lifehacksthatwork]

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it’ll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I’d recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn’t read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can’t for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You’ll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It’s genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[makioanime]

Only A3 left! Which I’m waiting for the dub for. What? There’s no show called Interspecies Reviewers this season. What are you talking about?

[makioanime]

This post took on an unexpected twist.

[makioanime]

any chance you'll be looking at dorohedoro when its on somewhere legal? and also kuutei dragons (drifting dragons) is an ONA that might also be good to check out, the manga its based on is really good and has amazing art

Once Dorohedoro makes it on Netflix I’ll be checking it out for sure. I think Kuutei Dragons is also bound for Netflix given it’s a Polygon Pictures series, but I’ll give it a watch when it comes out too. (Same with Beastars come March)

I should really write about Carole and Tuesday, but I haven’t finished the second half yet. The first half is great though!

[makioanime]

Only A3 left! Which I’m waiting for the dub for. What? There’s no show called Interspecies Reviewers this season. What are you talking about?

[makioanime]

ARP Backstage Pass Streaming on Crunchyroll.

To quote Jen “That was a hot mess.”

I’m not sure I can give a summary of this show. I mostly spent my time going “What is wrong with the pacing? Why is it so ugly? Can we please bring back the 3D models at least that looked good?” From my understanding this is a... backstage look into where ARP came from, whoever ARP is. But the first episode plays out like 17 disjointed thoughts all crammed on the screen with little cohesive narrative and the strangest direction and abysmal animation.

Toss in the fact that we are dealing with FOUR different distinct looks for each boy and you have yourself one confusing mess. There’s idol 3D model versions (the only versions with any production value), there’s 2D casual mode where they hardly look like their 3D selves because the style is so different, 2D flashback mode, and then in the scene after the ending, 3D school uniform mode. AND THOSE MODELS LOOK 100X WORSE SOMEHOW???

It took a long time for me to realize we were only focusing on these four characters and that they were indeed all the same people.

But even with that knowledge, this is just a painful confusing mess of a show.

Also am I missing a joke why does EVERYONE OWN THE SAME DOG????? lololololololol

I have never laughed so much and felt so much physical and mental pain at the same time. ARP had me emitting sounds of utter despair between laughs of disbelief.

It truly is a hot mess.

Will I Watch Episode 2? So like. The after credits scenes. It has the guys casually talking. And they are like “we hope you enjoyed the show” and Jen would say “no.” and they were like “see you in episode 2″ and jen and I were like “NO” and “I really enjoyed the show!” and I was like “NNNNGGH?” Anyway NO.

[makioanime]

In/Spectre Streaming on Crunchyroll.

A young girl is asked by spirits to become their Goddess of Wisdom and help guide them. She grows up and meets a guy at the hospital she goes to constantly. A hospital with absolutely no confidentiality, she finds out all about this guy and the girl he is dating from the gossiping nurses. A sad day for her, because she has fallen in love at first sight with him. But oh hey, his girlfriend broke up with him - time to make her move!! But he protests - I am no good for you. Because, you see, he is something so terrifying even a Kappa was afraid of him and his girlfriend left.

Not, you know, because she’s a highschool student and he’s like 3rd or 4th year university. Actually, apparently, because a highschool girl is hitting on him that means “he isn’t a lost cause” or whatever. (This logic has never been one I grasp)

Not, you know, because he hasn’t even met this girl and she’s been digging up information on him for 2 years through hospital staff.

Anyway, it’s this that sort of puts me at odds with the show. It’s a great looking show, and the episode does a great job delivering information and even calls out some of its weird inconsistencies rather quickly (sometimes to show an unreliable narrator and other times... well we will just handwave the gossipy nurses as ‘you’re not a patient’ sure.) But then we get the weird romance stuff between the two and even as a currently one-sided thing it breaks the tone for me.

Yeah haha make a sex joke in the middle of battling a giant boar demon thing, why not???? I feel like I’d have enjoyed this otherwise.

Will I Watch Episode 2? Nah.

[makioanime]

Seton Academy: Join the Pack! Streaming on Crunchyroll.

Where the last show had a character that got me throw start to end, this show had a character that pressed the eject button on my seat and left me on the side of the road after only 10 minutes, ears bleeding. Soul broken.

MC attends a school of animal people (Or, well, all the GIRLS are animal people, all the boys are just animals standing on two legs in uniforms. Something I saw the show immediately taking heat for on twitter.) He is human and boy does he hate animals. Which begs the question of - why is he here? He’s not the only human, so why did he attend a school for animals?????? He knew he’d be miserable? Anyway, he gives this wolf chick some of his lunch and she has decided he will join her pack yadda yadda she snarls and hisses and yells a lot and that’s all I know because I grabbed the remote and said “No more.” and turned it off.

That’s that.

Will I Watch Episode 2? I will not Join the Pack!

[makioanime]

A Destructive God Sits Next to Me Streaming on Crunchyroll.

It’s not fair that such a perfect character exists in a show that otherwise had me constantly wondering if it was really only 24minutes long because it felt like it would never end. Look at this man and realize that he is amazing.

It’s too bad everyone else is either mostly tolerable (resident chuuni) or just annoying (the MC) But I wanted to like this show ---- for him ;o; Incredibly perceptive wretch who draws ecchi comics to study science and eggs on his chuuni friend for his own amusement. Please leave this show and join a better one ;o;;;;

Uh... anyway. MC has a childhood friend in his class who lives in his deep deep delusions that he is a knight of light and darkness and MC is trying to distance himself but can’t. They become ‘friends’??again?? idk Look. I was invested in the third guy only.

Will I Watch Episode 2? Alas, Utsugi Tsukimiya, if only we had met in another life - in another show - I could continue watching your antics, but I must say goodbye to you -- I hope you continue to smile and passively make the lives of those around you better and worse.

[makioanime]

If my Favourite Pop Idol made it to Budokan, I Would Die Streaming Subbed and Dubbed on Funimation.

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmOK

Wow

No?

I mean this isn’t the level of “Don’t touch that” that Plunderer is, but it is still. Wow.

Basically we follow the lives of a couple of big time fans of a small time idol group. Buying merch, going to concerts, getting handshakes, photo ops. Whatever. Our MC is obsessed with who appears to be the least popular member of the group, a quiet and shy girl. MC is pretty sure she freaks her out, show makes it clear she’s just shy and doesn’t know how to thank her for her support.

Yeah alright, that doesn’t sound too terrible on paper, but in practice it’s creepy. This whole show is creepy. I am not a fan of this idol culture stuff, and somehow trying to paint it all rosy just makes it creepier. I also can’t help but think that making the main character a girl was just a cheap ploy to try to further distract from how creepy this whole thing is.

idk idk idk idk idk idk maybe I’d get this show more if I was in on it. Like I can see there is a Genshiken-ish vibe here (though episode 1 doesn’t show much promise of seeing these people OUTSIDE of their hobby) and I think that show largely appeals to me because I’ve been in a lot of its situations. BUT I CANNOT CONNECT HERE AND I CANNOT THINK ANYTHING BUT this is sort of creepy????

Will I Watch Episode 2? No.

[makioanime]

On that note I should mention that Bofuri is thankfully far less annoying in the dub.

[makioanime]

Smile Down the Runway Streaming on subbed and dubbed Funimation.

Leading Lady wants to model for the fashion company her dad runs, but unfortunately she had an early growth spurt and simply stopped growing. She never reached the ideal height to model his clothing in Paris. Years later, she has refused to give up, and when she meets a talented designer at her school, the two start to aim for their dreams together.

FINALLY! Something GOOD! This show is CUTE! This show is the reason watching all these episode 1s becomes worth it. Because I’d read that summary and go ‘eh’ and mosey along. But the two lead characters in this show are fantastic. It’s a little idealistic in places (why did leading MC not get in more trouble for her lie...) but its just got its heart in the right place. I hope it keeps up being this charming~ If you haven’t watched episode one yet, I recommend checking it out.

(Also, dub was pretty good. Funi sure has a lot of different female leads this season and so far their voices are nice. Even when MC here gets worked up, she doesn’t get annoying.)

Will I Watch Episode 2? Yeah!

[makioanime]

22/7 (nanabun no nijyuuni) Streaming on Funimation.

A big burly man recruits some idols into a huge underground studio (it’s got like 7 basement floors or something?) because some supernatural force in a wall mounted fountain told him to?? Maybe??? Main character is super socially awkward and thinks idols are stupid but wants to become one out of pure spite.

That was my take away anyway. I was way more invested in playing around on picrew than watching this show lolol

Will I Watch Episode 2? If Big Burly Man turns out to actually be recruiting idols for some crazy outlandish fantasy plot lying behind that weird wall? Maybe. (But I get the feeling this’ll just be a character drama and there’s only one idol character drama in my life and it has zombies.)

[makioanime]

Uchitama?! Have you seen my Tama? Streaming on Funimation.

It’s like Nekopara - but not. People with dog and cat ears that also turn into full dogs and cats hang out, get lost, and whatever.

Half way through this show I started to zone out a whole lot and wonder what is going on here. Are they actually turning between two different forms? There are full humans who ‘own’ them. Do they know they can turn into humans? I mean, they feed them cakes and stuff instead of dog food. Those are certainly cakes in that dog dish. Are they human or animal? What is the morality in a world where humans own cats that turn into humans?? Why have none of them passed their test for bells and yet are walking around outside? Why are their little dog and cat ears just tossed on so blandly? Would it kill for this genre to give me fuzzier animal people? Will this show ever address its strange setting or just live in ignorant bliss and hope its viewers do too?

Well - what I can tell you is that all these thoughts racing through my head were far more than Uchitama deserved because it is very boring.

Will I Watch Episode 2? No.

[makioanime]

Infinite Dendrogram Streaming on Funimation.

HOW DO YOU MAKE A CAT MASCOT THAT UGLY? MAKING A CAT UGLY SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE. FOOLS!!!

I think this show went in one ear and out the other. MC plays VR MMO. Gets really invested in saving NPCs also he has a talking bear for a brother? Generic.

Will I Watch Episode 2? Did I even really watch episode 1?

[makioanime]

Hatena Illusion Streaming on Funimation.

Thanks for having an interesting hook for all of three seconds before dumping yourself into all the cliche content you could possibly muster with a ‘but they are magicians’ side hook. =-=

Hatena comes from a family of magicians. Her childhood friend returns to live with them but GASP he is a boy! Hatena can’t live under the same roof as a boy. Not as an equal. Better keep him around as a butler so we can play through all the tropes that other anime has run through a million times over already.

I think I’m just bitter because the first few seconds looked neat lol

Will I Watch Episode 2? No.

[makioanime]

Nekopara Streaming on Funimation.

Cat girls in maid dresses who have passed whatever difficult test catgirls take to be able to walk outside of their house without their Master work at a cafe. They also roll around and hang out and fulfill the ‘cute girls doing cute things, with a side order of strange fanservice’ checklist. Now with more Nya.

Normally I’d have all these fighting words for a show that has “I really have to pee” as a punchline situation, but I just watched 1/2 of plunderer and Nekopara was like an inoffensive breath of fresh stale-anime air. Thank you for being regularly bad and not whatever that other level of bad is.

I gotta say though these girls........ I don’t actually think they are that cute. I like maid dresses and I like cats, but I don’t like them u.u

Will I Watch Episode 2? Nah

[makioanime]

Plunderer Streaming on Funimation.

Abort Mission and Never Go Back