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Sparrow's Hotel is a fun, fast-paced romp that gives off this atmosphere of something that should have aired on Adult Swim- sharp, witty, fast-paced, and absurd. The story is built upon a strong premise with a lot of iterative potential- a group of people working in a hotel, each one with quirks and oddities that set them apart from one another. Namely, you have Satou, a femme fatale former assassin who uses her proficiency for violence to protect the hotel from troublemakers. Though she is pretty funny, I actually prefer the rest of the cast, like the petite yet business-minded Tamaki Shiokawa, her obsessive older ... brother simply named Shiokawa, the inept internal company spy Yuu, or Misono, the longsuffering part-timer. Each episode covers a kind of story that could only really be told in the context of running a hotel, and provides comedy at a nice pace from start to finish. My favorite episode of the whole run was Episode 9, where they host a con, and have to navigate the chaos that inherently comes with such a venture.

Next, the art is a strange beast. At first, it looks like genuine garbage, as though it was put together in flash or something, given that it looked flat, stilted, and amateurish. However, by episode 7, when they change the OP, and Misono inexplicably becomes blonde, the whole art style suddenly changes, and the production values shoot through the roof. The whole thing all of a sudden looks so crisp and professional, and it uses this bizarre improvement to the full extent of its potential, making for a second half that is far superior to the first.

The sound has a more consistent quality throughout, with good pacing and a sense of how to match the energy of a given moment, with music that is good yet not distracting.

The characters are the real strong point of this anime, however, as the cast feels like it has such natural chemistry despite the whole show only being about 36 minutes total. Of them, my favorites are definitely Tamaki Shiokawa, the dedicated manager of Sparrow's Hotel, and Misono, the withdrawn yet witty part-timer who is more often than not stunned by the absurdity of the things that go on at his place of work. Shiokawa is great as a kind of central point between the whole cast, and her capability to control the situation when contrasted with her stature makes her witty retorts all the more funny in context. Meanwhile, Misono is a normal guy that only wants to get through his shifts, but he regardless finds himself caught up in the antics at hand, and even finds that these people he works with are his only real friends- once again, it is the contrast he represents that elevates his comedy. Overall, even with the issues it has with production for the first half, Sparrow's Hotel is a fun romp of an anime that's well worth the minimal time investment required to watch it.

So. I get why everyone here seems to be so hard on this little OVA. It's a weird little two-episode children's show chock full of some of the worst CG ever put to screen, that was only made to push some bizarre Barbie clone. Indeed, that's all it really is. It is a bad, low-quality product. However, the second episode is what gets me- while the first episode follows Mei, a young girl who wants to be more feminine, the second follows Keiichirou, an otaku who collects these dolls. This absurdity is so genuinely hilarious that it shocked me at the very start- I had ... to pause it to brace for what was to come. I won't get into specifics here, but he is just about as much of a menace as you'd imagine he'd be, and not even the characters of Pinky Street really know what to do with him. This is like if MLP had a dedicated episode where a brony was transported into their world for a day, and they were all kinda uncomfortable about it. I guess the folks up at Pinky Street headquarters knew their market well enough to make a dedicated episode for each half of their fanbase- little girls and dudes in their 20s. I cannot emphasize how funny this contrast was, and it is for this reason that I believe the story is the strongest aspect of this title, and also absolutely recommend it- whether or not they meant for this to happen, the people behind this anime have produced comedy gold.

The art is a mixed bag, with that warm yet simple Saturday morning 2000s style reminiscent of Yu-Gi-Oh! for the traditionally animated sections, and CG portions which are lengthy and nauseating, terrible in all respects even for the time it was produced. The CG alone drags it down so much, as it is actually hard to watch, especially when they cynically repeat animations despite the whole anime only having a run time of 24 minutes or so. How many corners do you really have to cut if your whole anime is under half an hour? I get this is made for kids, but that's insulting, even to them.

The sound is unremarkable, with a grating looped track that plays during the CG portions. However, the VA work was pretty good, as the genuinely unsettled reactions from the various characters at Keiichirou and his antics are pretty great.

As for the characters themselves, they're all pretty generic, serving the roles that are required of them throughout, with the sole exception of Keiichirou. He provided such a hilarious and absurd contrast in the second episode that he made this OVA worth watching, and as such he is easily my favorite character here. Overall, Pinky Street is supposed to be a cynical boilerplate moneygrab designed to push product, and in many ways it is, but it is also a hilarious look at certain aspects of Otaku culture from an angle rarely explored. As such, for this anime's brief runtime and the second episode's potent comedic absurdity, I definitely recommend Pinky Street for the spectacle alone.

Ooya-san wa Shishunki, or, Landlord is in Puberty!, despite taking place in the same world as the related anime Komori-san Can't Decline!, lacks a lot of the cohesiveness and overall potential that Komori-san has throughout. The core difference here is that Komori-san knew what it wanted to be from the very start, and in a format where you only get a few minutes per episode, that kind of clearheaded decisiveness about your premise is absolutely essential. Indeed, it is this essential quality that this anime lacks in particular. While Komori-san is a fun story about friendship and fitting in despite your differences (with only mild ... fanservice), Landlord is in Puberty! is completely unable to make that choice. Is it a cute story about found family, where the middle-school landlady Chie finds parental figures in the tenants Maeda and Reiko, who help her navigate school, pack lunches, and start clubs? Or does Maeda want to FUCK Chie?? This show doesn't seem to be sure. It is this confusion that limits the show, as it seems to want both of these things to be true and asserts at the same time that they cannot be. So, like oil and water, we get a confused mix. Honestly, if they picked a lane and just went with it, this show would have felt way more cohesive and would have netted a better score. This is disappointing, because there's so much of that humor and wit here that makes Komori-san such a delightful anime, especially by comparison. That's all to be said of the story, so let's move on to the art.

The art, much like this anime's related project, is clear and colorful and high-quality throughout, with fast-paced, fluid animation, and a kind of high-energy expressiveness that enhances the comedy throughout.

The sound is also very much the same as the other title, nailing the voice work and musical accompaniment for a zany, frantic comedy with episodes that are only a few minutes a piece.

The characters are probably the strongest aspect of the story, as they are individually all quite entertaining, and they play off well together as a kind of found family. Though, of course, this show's hesitation as to which direction it wants to take their relationship leaves things feeling vague and awkward throughout. Overall, Ooya-san wa Shishunki! is an anime that could have measured up to the other project in its universe, but failed to start out with a clear idea of exactly what it wanted to be, and as such, it nets a lower score, even with its visually pleasing production style.

Komori-san Can't Decline! is a simple yet delightful set of shorts about a girl who loves helping others and just can't turn down a request for aid. The story follows her and her friends as her self-sacrificial optimism gets her into all kinds of shenanigans. Honestly, given that they made Komori so much more 'developed' than her classmates, this could have very easily turned into something distinctly unwholesome, but outside of a few instances of very tame fanservice, it maintains its tone as a simple, lighthearted, SoL comedy. Indeed, given how cramped the episodes feel and how short the whole anime is, the fact that ... they managed to make Komori and her friends all so endearing is a genuinely impressive feat that makes the story this anime's strongest aspect. Even given these factors, however, the issue of limited runtime still rears its head, and makes the issue of pacing a notable problem that prevents this anime and its premise from reaching the real heights it is capable of as a story.

Moving on to the art, there is less to say about it. It is clean, colorful, and pleasing to the eye, with character designs that are distinct, expressive, and fun. Due to its short runtime, there's not many places where it cuts corners, and as such it feels like they were able to play around with certain scenes more than they would have otherwise been able to, giving the anime as a whole a kind of playful, energetic visual atmosphere.

The sound is solid, meeting all the basic standards of quality for the time. The voice actors also nail their roles in this regard, matching the expressive attitudes of their characters.

Of the cast, my favorites are two of Komori's friends, Ootani and Negishi. Ootani's genuine and well-intentioned desire to be a dependable, reliable guy despite his stature, as well as his budding romance with Komori, makes him a fun and genuine addition to Komori's group. As for Negishi, her wry wit and wordplay is clever and plays off both Komori and her other friend Nishitori quite well. Not to mention that her character design sets her apart, and elevates her witty aspect in particular. Overall, Komori-san Can't Decline! is a fun little romp of an anime, and even if it is a fleeting title with minor pacing issues, it still stands out from many other anime of its kind as a lighthearted and wholesome comedy that is well worth the 24 minutes or so it takes to watch.

Before I begin this review, it's worth noting that I am the first to review this title on MAL, and even the first to give it a score at all. It is my belief that every anime deserves at least one proper review, deserves to have its content engaged and reckoned with. No matter how obscure it is, and no matter how long ago it was made, an anime still represents the creative ion of its creators, the hopes and dreams of the team that made it, and as such, I will give this one a fair and honest ing here. Ketakuma no DVD is ... a trippy little anime about a GIF keyboard character, as he gets into self-contained, single-episode antics, like dancing with his friends, hallucinating in a field, or setting himself ablaze in a winter landscape to keep his friends warm. It was pretty difficult to find a way for me to watch this, but since it's already so light on dialogue, I was able to rely on Japanese captions which I then translated using external translation tools. The story is little more than what I've already described, and the skits range from lighthearted and funny to bizarre and unnerving, which is an impressive range for such an ephemeral piece. If I had to make a point of comparison, for those of you who , this is like a Japanese ASDF Movie. Due to how funny many of the skits are, in an absurd kind of way, I'd say the story is the strongest aspect of this title.

The art follows up behind as something that is both interesting and well-suited for the kind of comedy it wants to convey, but doesn't really stand out in ways beyond this. It is silly, simple, and at times creative, but it certainly isn't impressive on a technical level or anything.

The sound receives a similar estimation from me, expressing that silly and simple vibe that is expressed throughout thew show. The music is a bit more skillful, filling its role as a lighthearted OST while also, at times, expanding into this strange, hallucinatory score for the sake of absurdity.

As for the characters, the cast is fairly simple, and dominated by the titular character, Ketakuma. I wasn't able to get the names of the other characters, but the dog who appears pretty frequently is also a great addition. Overall, Ketakuma no DVD is an odd piece, from start to finish. Its very premise is rooted in an original character from a GIF keyboard, and the skits it decides to portray are so outlandish that one wonders how they brought together this strange creature of an anime. Overall, given how odd and fleeting this title is, some people will enjoy it and some won't. Even if I found it pretty funny, I still realize there's not a lot to really engage with here beyond a series of absurdist shorts. As such, I think a 5 is a fair score.

Ore, Tsushima is, put simply, Japanese Garfield. Expect nothing more or less from this fleeting title. The story revolves around this fat, entitled cat named Tsushima that is living with this old woman who waits on him and her other cats all day. Each episode is a little single serving story, and none of them are especially funny. Indeed, overall, this comedy anime just isn't terribly entertaining. It's boring, and that's a big problem for a show that's got nothing else going for it.

The art is probably its strongest aspect, with the cats and other animals featuring a surprising amount of detail, though it ... falls desperately short in the animation department, simply stretching and warping the drawings to simulate movement most of the time.

The sound is fine, and Tsushima's VA does a great job of giving him a characteristic voice and oppositional personality, but that talent feels wasted here.

The characters are also fine, meeting all the basic standards of quality for the time, each of them filling their simple roles and failing to stand out in any particular way. Overall, Ore, Tsushima is a fairly lackluster TV adaptation of a web show that this anime certainly did not inspire me to go check out.

Before I begin this review, it's worth noting that I am the first to review this title on MAL, and even the first to give it a score at all. It is my belief that every anime deserves at least one proper review, deserves to have its content engaged and reckoned with. No matter how obscure it is, and no matter how long ago it was made, an anime still represents the creative ion of its creators, the hopes and dreams of the team that made it, and as such, I will give this one a fair and honest ing here. Kaseifu ga Ita was ... rough to find with English subs, but with the help of certain translation tools, I was able to supplement the native subs enough to make this title watchable for my purposes. The story revolves around this young girl and her father who receive a kind of magical shapeshifting maid to help take care of the house. The issue is that the girl doesn't want her around because she wants to prove that she can take care of the house herself, and the magical chibi maid is lazy, taking shortcuts at every opportunity. Hijinks ensue. It's a fun enough concept, but it, as well as the anime as a whole, fails to rise above the level of ingly entertaining.

The art is fine, if quite simple, with static backgrounds and foreground characters that look like cutouts, snapping between expressions without very much animation at all. It's not great, but for such a fast-paced and simple situational comedy, it works just fine.

The sound is, as expected, unremarkable, meeting the basic standards of quality for this type of show.

The characters are similarly serviceable, with everybody filling their assigned roles without issue. Overall, Kaseifu ga ita is a silly, lighthearted little OVA, produced to promote the shoujo manga it's based on. As such, there's not much there to really engage with, but that's not what it's here for, and in the end, that's ok.

It's worth noting that I am the first to review this title on MAL, and even the first to give it a score at all. It is my belief that every anime deserves at least one proper review, deserves to have its content engaged and reckoned with. No matter how obscure it is, and no matter how long ago it was made, an anime still represents the creative ion of its creators, the hopes and dreams of the team that made it, and as such, I will give this one a fair and honest ing here. Dramatic Nounai, however, makes such a thing quite difficult. ... It is a brief anime which depicts daily decisions as a horse race inside of one's head, with all the potential options as named horses in the race. I had to look pretty hard to find any way to watch this with subs (as they are necessary given the rapid, auctioneer-level speed of the narrator as the horses race), and ended up still needing the assistance of translation tools for a fair portion of it, but the message still came across. This is the whole of the story, pretty much, and in many ways it feels kind of like a commercial for something, though it's not clear what they'd be advertising for. The concept itself is a fun one-off idea, suitable for the funnies in a newspaper, but gets old pretty quick, as it's basically the same joke applied to different situations.

What really nets this whole production such a low score, however, is the art. Something about the sloppy, undisciplined style feels cynical, like it was made in such a way so as to give the impression of authenticity while in reality being carefully manufactured to some end. Furthermore, it feels distinctly cheap and soulless, especially in the way the riders move on their horses. It's just ugly, and I think my reception of the art is what's fueling my reaction to the piece as a whole.

The sound is totally unremarkable, and so are the characters, even if the latter are a little better. Overall, Dramatic Nounai barely feels like an actual entity, and exists as a set of weird, ugly shorts, fueled by a joke that is quick to overstay its welcome. Since there's no real reason to watch it, there's no real reason to recommend it either.

Uhh. Hm. Alright, uh, let's just get right into it. Henkei Shoujo is one of the strangest anime I've ever seen, and centers itself around teen girls that transform into vehicles and mechs. These transformations are also meant to be erotic, but outside of a very concerning cohort of individuals, this ambition falls flat. When you get a pantyshot of a girl that's turned into a car, or titties that have transformed into naval cannons, the thing that should be grabbing your attention as the viewer is the grotesque, insanely detailed cg transformation sequences that seem to be the whole point of a given episode. ... To use a point of comparison, it feels like deviantart fetish stuff that was given a suspiciously high budget. That pretty much covers the story, which is essentially nothing more than its premise.

The art is pretty unremarkable, outside of the insane detail applied to the transformation sequences, which seem to have a level of genuine engineering prowess backing up their schematics.

The sound is generally unremarkable, and the last thing you'll notice watching this title.

The characters are very weird, and only exist to transform on-screen. Of them, my favorite is Rin, as her episode has the funniest lead-up, but my real overall favorite is the girl who doesn't transform at all- Hiromi. She is simply subjected to the insane antics of these mechanical beings, and she is highly relatable given that her dumbfounded expression matched mine throughout this anime's brief runtime. Overall, Henkei Shoujo is a weird show, and it's hard to recommend at all due to the fact that the only two ways it can be enjoyed are as spectacle or as fetish material. Even so, it is so short, and so strange, that at the very least you'll have something you can laugh about and subject your friends to without warning, and in that capacity there are few better shows for such a purpose.

Zekkyou Gakkyuu is a fascinating little anime, and while it has genuinely fun ideas and story concepts, it doesn't really have any meat on its bones, and feels like little more than an ad for the manga. Beginning with this title's strongest aspect, the story, the viewer is treated to a few self-contained ghost stories, which feel appropriately spooky and give off a kind of lighthearted, Halloween type atmosphere. However, they do feel rushed, which robs these stories of their full potential. I also feel like the sequel, Zekkyou Gakkyuu: Tensei, is of a slightly higher quality in regards to its pacing and animation quality. ...

This brings me to the art, of which there is little to say. While this title and its sequel that came years later both exhibit a playful sense of aesthetic identity, especially in regards to the snake-eyed girl at the start of every episode, they fail to stand out beyond the most basic standards of quality for their respective time periods.

The sound is completely unremarkable, once again meeting the basic standards of quality in each case.

The characters are, as expected, quite fleeting, but they fill their roles, even if they don't end up being especially memorable. Overall, this anime isn't terrible, and it even displays a kind of wry cleverness, but it is undeniable that it exists simply as an ment for a source material that is assuredly more satisfying than its animated adaptations thus far.