Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.

Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.

Azur Lane Review

This anime is my worst nightmare.

A long time ago, the battleships of all the major factions fought to destroy the Sirens, however a rift develops splitting the factions into two alliances, Azur Lane and Red Axis, among the conflict, Sakura Empire secretly develops a new weapon using siren technology, the conflict becoming ever more complicated and the ace of Azur Lane Enterprise going through a journey of self reflection, the battleships may need more to stop this new threat.
This is my first experience of the so called waifu simulator, usually combining anime girls with battleships or similar, having them battle avoids the label of them just being eye candy and the all female cast zero males dynamic avoids the male gaze accusation; but it's still not going to make for a convincing story.
The main problem is the cast is so bloated that it's difficult to focus on any aspect of the plot when every group of characters fights for attention, then you got Enterprise who speaks the same tired words all the time to really bring the mood down especially when there are so many scenes where it's just the cast having fun, the Sakura Empire doesn't fair any better in this regard.
It's my worst nightmare as a writer as an over bloated cast can lead to an early collapse of the story. At least the British forces were given great designs.
The dub has the quirks of using accents to identify who is on what side which can either be fun or distracting but then again full Japanese can make it even worse for the cast to stand out as many voices will be similar and overlap one another.
Final Verdict: This genre never does well in the story department and never escapes the realm of being a glorified game of top trumps, no matter which medium it's presented in.

Show By Rock Review

This is what happens when you give Sanrio the keys to your mobile phone.

Cyan wants to join a band but is too nervous to do so, while playing her favourite mobile game, she gets dragged into the world of Midi City upon receiving a rare guitar, transformed into a Kemono cat girl, she's drawn into a battle against a monster of whom she defeats after some persuasion, showcased around the city and given a cat ear goth lolita look back in human form, she earns the attention of Plasmagica who recruit her into the band, with Cyan's increase in popularity among other hot blooded bands, a dark force begins to emerge drawing Cyan into a music showdown with evil music producer Dagger.
The music aspects with Plasmagica are a little too similar to K-On, overlap a song and you'll get alot of overlap, thankfully we have Shingancrimsonz but their act gets old very quick as do others exposing itself as lacking as much substance as the game it's based on, I'm not going to be too harsh as it's four seasons and typically shows like this are often weakest in season 1 but at the same time if doesn't grab you early you won't likely follow it any further.
Dub is not worth it.
Final Verdict: It lacks in too many areas to be a solid recommendation beyond season 1 but if you do stick with it, you'll find it will improve.

Seven Mortal Sins Review

What the hell did I just watch?

Lucifer gets kicked out of heaven for turning against god and is plunged into the fiery pits of hell, along the way, a human girl named Maria gets used as a vessel to contain the last of Lucifer's angel blood. Not pleased to see Lucifer, with the exception of Leviathan of the sin of Envy, the sins led by Belial purge Lucifer of her powers turning her into the demon lord of Pride, swearing revenge and stealing Maria as an insurance policy, Lucifer sets out to take down the sins by any means necessary no matter how ridiculous the challenge.
This falls under the category of "I can't believe it's not hentai" there isn't a scene that goes by that doesn't involve some kind of sexual torture or humiliation, hard to believe that this is the same dubbing company that cancelled Interspecies Reviewers, yet this series got away with way more objectionable content, hypocrites!
Despite that, it's weirdly enjoyable, like watching a slow car crash, the dub makes it even more laughable as each performance is as cheesy as the accents used especially for Belial, Mammon and Astaroth, only in Vivziepop would you find rap battles between demons for domination yet it's also here, the works of demonology are an endless sea of ideas.
Final Verdict: This series is way too bonkers to function as a real anime, yet here it is and it will grab your attention whether you want it to or not.

Hina Logic From Luck & Logic Review

How difficult is it to review a spinoff series on it's own?

A year after the events of Luck & Logic, we find ourselves at Pirari Academy, a school for up coming Logicalists, humans with powers offered by the gods of the other world to obtain powerful magical girl forms.
We bring ourselves to the happy-go-lucky Liones, a princess from a small Russian like country who dreams of being a logicalist but has trouble controlling her powers, along with an ALCA organisation pro named Nina, a tech wizard named Mahiro and an ojou martial artist with ninja assistants named Yayoi, the girls go through the trials and tribulations associated with all cute girl school anime.
While not essential that you need to know Luck & Logic, neither the original anime or the game it's based on, it does help understanding the terms used to describe the power systems, thankfully there's enough content for it to stand as a school comedy in the pantheon of cute girls doing cute things, honestly you could slap it amongst any of the other titles in the genre and it wouldn't standout at all, Luck & Logic had a clearer place for it's power system but in Hina Logic it doesn't really work, the anime isn't unpleasant as there is quite alot of charm to it's cast but because it's attached to a bigger series, it can't really stand on it's own.
Dub never works in this genre so stick with sub.
Final Verdict: Hardly bad but hardly ground breaking, Hina Logic doesn't work as a spinoff of Luck & Logic, at least it does okay as a school comedy.

Restaurant to Another World Review

It's a travesty I didn't review this earlier.

In an undisclosed location of Tokyo exists a restaurant that serves Western cuisine known as Nekoya, normally just a regular restaurant but on Saturday, the restaurant is closed to normal patrons and the door starts appearing randomly in front of select people in the Fantasy world.
Joined by the demon girl Aletta and the dragon god of destruction Kuro as waitresses, the Restaurant master serves the best of Western food to the many fantasy creatures that inhabit the other world.
With a host of reoccurring narratives of the many cast members, an impressive world is built, each food is chosen carefully to pair with the character eating it to build up their personal story, bit by bit you learn more about the existence of the restaurant and why it connects to the other world, every little detail including the fantasy world's alternative names for certain foods adds character to the anime.
The calming atmosphere of each episode allows for pleasant viewing each time, even the dub manages to give a good performance.
It's an exceptional anime that takes the entire subject of food and creates a world far greater than the sum of it's parts.
Final Verdict: An exceptional anime that can build a world better than triple A anime, more than worthy of a top ten place.