Anime Lightning #2: Spring 2025

Anime Lightning returns with a comprehensive breakdown of Spring 2025's standout shows, covering everything from romantic comedies to sci-fi thrillers with honest, detailed reviews.

• Childhood friends navigate complex feelings in "Can a Boy Girl Friendship" as their two-person gardening club faces new romantic challenges
• "Catch Me at the Ballpark" delivers a simple sports workplace rom-com about a tired salaryman and a tough-but-sweet beer vendor
• "From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman" follows a middle-aged swordsman reluctantly pulled into adventure by former students
• "I Left My A-rank Party" scores 8.5/10 for its engaging story about an underappreciated mage helping his former students
• "I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire" delivers a hilarious tale of a villain whose evil plans keep backfiring into good deeds
• "Kowloon Generic Romance" earns 9/10 for its nostalgic setting and complex relationship between two real estate agents
• Shinichiro Watanabe's "Lazarus" receives a perfect 10/10 for its blend of 2D art, CGI, and mature storytelling
• "The Beginning After the End" suffers from animation issues and slow pacing, earning a mediocre 6/10
• "The Brilliant Healer's New Wife in the Shadows" provides satisfying fantasy with a healer building a family of monster girls
• "Your Forma" impresses with its sci-fi crime drama about a cyber detective and her android partner

Stay tuned for the upcoming Summer 2025 Anime Lightning episode, which promises to arrive on time with even more exciting reviews.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Apology
• 13:05 Can a Boy Girl Friendship

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

what up everybody? Y'all ready for another round of anime lightning? I will admit that I apologize for spring 2025 coming out late. I just had things going on, but I am here now, so let's just go ahead and get into it, starting with can a boy girl friendship. Childhood BFFs, himari and Yu devoured a friendship, his turbulence when Yu reunites with his first crush in high school, rin. Himari, who's never known the fuzzy warmth of a crush, now must confront her feelings. Their shared dreams and peaceful ways as a twosome gardening club are tested in this tale of love, flowers and growing pains. Now, title alone.

Speaker 1: 0:51

I was intrigued, and it reminded me of my dress up darling in the sense of boys having hobbies. That leads towards a feminine demographic and in this case, you being interested in flowery fashion accessories. It's a cute rom-com that have the right amount of drama for this premise. Himari develops feelings for you, but fails to be honest about it, so she's in a love rivalry with Rin, who's actually dating the main character, and then there's Makishima, who's stirring the pot as far as making sure you choose his friends in the very end. Not much to it. I give it a 7.5 out of 10. It's the right blend of entertainment and I'm kind of hoping that a second season might raise my score for this next up. Catch me at the ballpark. To escape his tiring job, weary murata finds escape at a nearby baseball stadium. While the games are thrilling, is ruriko, this gyaru girl who's as cold as the beer that she serves, but secretly a sweetheart who keeps him coming back as her first regular, murata discovers the warmth behind her frosty demeanor and their hilarious, heartwarming encounters light up the far apart, maybe even their hearts. I'll make this one really quick. It's not that deep, it's just a simple sports workplace prom com. That reminds me that confidence can be worn like a mask, but it's better to fake it till you make it than it is to be a self-appreciating pushover. I give it a 6.5 out of 10. Not bad, not a grand slam either.

Speaker 1: 2:37

Next, from old country bumpkin to master swordman into Master Swordman, now Barrow Gardner. He's a middle age swordsman running a dojo in the backwaters, lives a quiet life until Alusia, a former student and commander of the Royal Order of Knights, appears and Barrow's life is about to change dramatically City life, old students, new friends and formidable foes it's all too much. But after years of training he has mad skills and he's been dubbed a backwater swords master. Now this humble swords master that's being inconvenienced by his own students, dragging him into the plot for his admirable skill and wisdom to be proven to others who doubt him. And I just can't help but think that this man is quietly in his mind thinking what these bitches want from me, because, funny enough, most of those students were girls. I give it a 7 out of 10. Uh, with the second season being greenlit for 2026, let's see how it topped this season, because right now it wasn't doing a whole lot for me.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Next we have I left my A-rank party to help my former students reach the dungeon debts. Now this one. Okay, I got a bunch to say about this one, so here we go. So you have uk. Uh, a red mage and alchemist who angrily declares that he's leaving thunder pike, a a-rank party that's been with that. He's been with for five years because he's fed up with being insulted and ridiculed by the other members. And while searching for a new party, he runs to his former students, marina, silk and Rain, and decides to join their party on Clover, encouraged by their admiration of him as their teacher. Uk leads them in completing several quests that shows off his own extraordinary magic and skills, while bringing out the girls' abilities to their fullest. Then, through an adventure broadcast by an artifact known as Camelot Clover, becomes well-known throughout society. The party's dream is to conquer Achromatic Darkness, the most challenging dungeon of all, but as they take on other dungeons and hope of eventually achieving that goal, they gradually become entangled in chaos that threats the whole world.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Now, first of all, I want to say the theme song is kind of a jam and visually vibrant characters and usage of magic with advanced technology in the settings, especially live streaming. So the streaming community, whether you're on twitch or youtube, you might like this tiktok too. You know I keep forgetting that tiktok live is a thing, but even though I'm on tiktok, just you know, I just don't. I'm sorry, I just don't don't tune into those TikTok logs for very long because I'm like, hey, by the time I tune in for up to five minutes I'm realizing hey, man, you know what it's got me thinking. I got other things to do. Like you know, I got my own podcast. Okay, I'll stop, let's keep going.

Speaker 1: 6:01

The adventuring aspect and the spells cast gave me dnd and final fantasy vibes immediately. The dialogue interactions unfortunately kind of comes off a little flat to me, almost as if the series is not taking risk with off-the-wall antics we normally see in anime. I like the characters to have liveliness among them, where we see a range of emotions and layers other than Nene. The main cast feel like they're lacking personality. I don't know. Just you know they feel kind of there just doing their job, fulfilling their role and whatnot.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Uk tries to maintain a platonic relationship with his former students, which is commendable, but it becomes more and more clear that he ends up hooking up a reign. It is what it is. The guild master uk seemed to have some sort of connection to each other, at least I thought so at first. Uh, I mean they do, but I don't know. Just a little unclear for me. Maybe a third season will clear things up.

Speaker 1: 7:09

But Thunderpike, uk's former party. They are some of the most selfish assholes, with poor resource management, lack of accountability and their races towards dark elves like Silk Simon. Their leader was a childhood friend of UK who only saw our MCs work until after leaving the party. He insists that UK rejoins, even going as far as taking on Akramat and Darkness just to convince him, but fails. Barry and Camilla are just kind of there. Uh, the only member that isn't a total piece of shit is Jamie, who's been quiet up until the seventh episode, while Barry, camilla, gets killed by orcs in Achromatic Darkness and Simon uses an illegal artifact provided by Bessio who's this fat ass that I'm going to mention in a minute to become an undead in order to survive Achromatic Darkness.

Speaker 1: 8:12

To become an undead in order to survive acrimonious darkness? But you can use a modified personating missile to ensure that the creature informally known as simon would suffer in pain forever. I mean, not that it was his plan, but it's my. If he's in, if time is immortal, then there's not much you can do itself, or you know, he's just gonna keep feeling the pain until forever, apparently. And then he just became this blob like creature that was like stuck to the ground and then some shadow walkers came in and started ripping him to shreds and whatnot, but like, eventually he does get laid to rest, but I'll explain that later. Uh, yeah, he was suffering pain forever and was left to be attacked by shadow stalkers and jamie survives and joins clover later. Now this fat ass bestio keeps harassing Clover into joining, and not only does he hate UK, but he would ally with Thunderpike out of spite. That's how Simon got that artifact in the first place and he ended up the way that he was.

Speaker 1: 9:24

And during the raid on Achromatic Darkness, clover encounters Persephone. Who's this goddess of the underworld? Clover encounters Persephone. Who's this goddess of the underworld? She leaves this curse mark on Yooka as a promise that they'll meet again and make him a disciple of hers with access to dark magic.

Speaker 1: 9:41

Now, after their ordeal in acrimonious darkness, clover explores a new dungeon that's inviting grave danger dungeon that's inviting grave danger. Yuka is projected as a hero who will stop a stampede that will wipe out everybody. And Clover finds a girl named Nebarune who helps them and eventually joins them. And to prevent a political marriage to another man, yuka agrees to be Reign's husband by title. By the way, did Nene just do a fireball juicer in episode 15? I mean, I know she's like a cat girl thief, but the hand signs though. It's just too coincidental. That's all I'm saying. After the Twilight City mission, clover ventures in a secret dungeon as part of a joint nation expedition led by prince mastoma of the samutaria nation and in name only. All of the girls in clover are uk's wives and property in order for other simultaneous to not hit on them. And rain is the bottom bitch in this polycube. In the end, without spoiling too many details, the story wrapped up nicely, potentially leading to a second season.

Speaker 1: 11:09

I give it a 8.5 out of 10. Definitely have substance, but just not enough sauce, like okay. And also this plane, the simon situation, before I forget, they eventually find this thing called the one goal. It's almost like a one piece reference, but it's not. But point being, this time around they have to destroy the thing and by destroying it somehow it also neutralizes the whole thing with simon. To where simon can finally rest in peace once this artifact is destroyed. So yeah, you just have to watch the show to see what I mean. But yeah, 8.5 out of 10.

Speaker 1: 11:57

Now next we have I'm the evil lord of an intergalactic empire. Now, after a life of honesty left him betrayed, liam is reborn into a vast interstellar empire with one goal be the galaxy's worst evil lord. But no matter how hard he tries to be a tyrant, his quote-unquote wicked plans keep backfiring into peace, prosperity and adoring fans. Galactic chaos, magic and mechs await in this hilariously misconstructed tale of a villain who can't help but to impress. Now, first of all, speaking of impressions. I'm digging the design of liam's black titan mech. It's like a magical samurai unit that would fit the jet black extreme aesthetics of Smith. And secondly, the series was giving eminence and shadow vibes for a minute but plays out differently than that.

Speaker 1: 13:00

In Liam's past life he was a hard-working family guy up until he got fired and divorced, all being set up by his ungrateful ex-wife and his former boss, who not only sabotaged the main character but tucked him long enough to where his daughter was the boss's kid the whole time. And it was even worse that, oh, the kid like the boss more than the dad that he she grew up with. So colleagues and family members have been against him for at least 10 years. So I can see why liam has his villain arc in his current life because like shit. But by episode two liam pretty much got his revenge already by dying in his past life. Because after he died, boss man got found out that he blamed the main character for embezzlement and got arrested, and that left his ex-wife in shambles. The real revenge was Liam moving on with a more successful life.

Speaker 1: 14:08

By the way, there's this main thing about ai it's where humanity and this new world almost got wiped out by ai, and this series put a lot of emphasis on the uses of artificial intelligence, deeming it taboo in liam's home world. So apparently, house banfield or bonfield sorry, I'm bad at mispronouncing sometimes was in debt, and liam's parents abandoned him as soon as he was old enough to become accountant seriously, on his birthday too. Crazy and amagi. This ai made android that they made for him serves as Liam. Serves Liam as the second command and his personal sex doll. So pick that as you will. She plays a big role in Liam's operation and shown more loyalty to him than most humans or any at all humans. And despite wanting a harem of 100 women, amagi is special to him and takes her perspective into consideration. There's even a sweet moment at the end of the season between the two defining their bond with each other. Then there's Brian the butler, who's constantly concerned for Liam, despite the boy's eccentricity, and ultimately wants the best for him, better than Liam's deadbeat parents and grandparents for sure. Oh, by the way, yeah, the Bonfield lineage was fucked for two generations. Like his parents ain't shit and his grandparents ain't shit, it was the great-grandfather who was really running shit.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Now, to become a better pilot of the mobile knight, liam hires a samurai named yasushi who teaches him the way of the flash. But yesushi turns out to be a phony, a big fat phony that struck stringing liam along for a long-term con that went on for three years. Once again, liam's being used by a dirt bag. Only amagi was onto him from jump, and, despite being a big fat phony, yasushi actually taught Liam some techniques, unwittingly and skedaddled, before he was found out. Then we have Christiana, who's a princess from Liebe who was pursuing this pirate named Goaz, who ends up capturing her and destroying her world. Ends up capturing her and destroying her world and, after being tortured and experimented on, christiana was saved by liam, who was attacking the pirate crews for treasure which is kind of ironic and was restored to her original beauty and swore loyalty to liam.

Speaker 1: 17:03

Now liam hires nias to help service his mobile knight. Yesushi develops a crush on her and is liam for flirting, quote, unquote. Although he was fascinated by seeing her big boobs when he was younger, liam grew disinterested in despite the her efforts to persuade him into buying battleships and whatnot through seduction. Much to liam chagrin like seriously, she's like bitch. I'm just not into you anymore, like I was just a horny kid back then, but now I'm like I'm into robot women now, oh, good lord.

Speaker 1: 17:49

And upon dying the guy. By the way, the guy is a thing. The guy offers the man a second chance at life, but it's part of his plan to set up Liam for failure, like he's the guy. That's this being that feeds on negativity and hates positivity and especially gratitude, because it seems like every time things go liam's way, he's thanking the guy for his new life and then the guy's like stop doing that, I'm gonna get you, motherfucker, I'm gonna apply against you like almost just about everything that was supposed to be a bad thing happening to liam. That was the guy setting that up. Yosushi being hired as a teacher, uh, liam's parents abandoning him, like just about everything that was supposed to go wrong for liam. Like that was all the guy trying to set him up. But uh, liam just keep prevailing. Now where was I, oh yeah, from liam's parents leaving him to be responsible, which issues being his teacher? All the for the guys to be shocked by how well things are going for the young evil lord. He even tried intervening in some instances, like giving go as, uh, demonic power, but it still backfired on him because there was this dog spirit that kept aiding liam to the right thing to do. Overall, this anime is much better than expected and I am hoping to see more episodes in the future. I'd give this one an 8.5 out of 10.

Speaker 1: 19:24

Now, kowloon generic romance. This one is really good. Let me explain. We have two real estate agents, reiko Kujirai and Hajime Kudo, who works in the nostalgic Kowloon Wall City. As they spend more time together, reiko's feelings for Hajime grow, and when she finds out a photo of him with his horned fiance, reiko was shocked to see that the woman looks exactly like her, and then she had this sudden realization that she has no memory of her past. Now, first of all, this anime looks good High definition details at times that count, and the setting has this preserved nostalgia look that reminds me of Studio Ghibli movies and anime made in the 90s, which turns out to be very intentional, because the theme of the show is nostalgia and remembering or forgetting the past. Secondly, I love that this is centered around young adults, which y'all know how much I like. Based on the first anime, lighting, there need to be more anime with characters older than 18, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to express how attractive Reiko looks I can say that she's 32.

Speaker 1: 20:47

In this anime Reiko and Hajime have the kind of dynamic together where they bicker like an old married couple. There's a certain realism to their relationship. That doesn't annoy me, like how anime usually executes romance. And when I say that this anime gives me studio ghibli vibes, it it definitely decades with the presentation of food. It really got me craving lemon chicken. We have Dr Heavy Numa, who strongly reminds me of Roachie Maru from Naruto and More Ways Than One, the villain glasses type character with a suspicious intent, but he turned out to be not that bad, but he was like involved. We have gwen the bartender, who plays a role in the mystery surrounding the couple in kowloon and it becomes more apparent when he's seen naked in bed with heavy numa. Yeah, there's some boy love in here. The plot evolves quickly when it's no longer just an amnesia storyline but a matter of there being a first Reiko who died a while ago and Hajime is directly involved with her death, but not in a murder kind of way.

Speaker 1: 22:06

You'll see when you watch the anime, or if you haven't seen the anime. You probably already know what I'm talking about. See when you watch the anime, or if you have seen the anime, you probably already know what I'm talking about. There's also a second one, but he doesn't matter anymore. But once again, you gotta see the anime now. Xiaomei, who adds more emphasis on forgetting the past, as she was an actress poised by her mother losing her grip on her own identity, and added perspective of having a life pre-constructed for you, in exchange for a life that one could have of their own terms, without spoiling this great story any further. It's safe to say that this anime deserves a 9 out of 10. The right amount of sauce and layers didn't go too crazy, but it did exceed my expectations.

Speaker 1: 22:51

Now, moving on Lazarus. It's the year 2052, an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity prevails across the globe. The reason for this is because mankind was free from sickness and pain, because Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Dr Skinner has developed a miracle cure, all drug with no apparent drawbacks, called Hapuna or Hapna. Hapna soon becomes ubiquitous and essential, but soon after Hapna was officially introduced, dr Skinner vanishes, almost like an Avatar type thing. He's like when the world needed him. No, most of you disappeared. No, not really. But like. Three years later, as the world moved on and whatnot, dr Skinner returns, and this time he became a harbinger of doom, so to speak. He announced that Hapna has a short half-life where everyone who has taken it will die approximately three years later. And death is coming for this sinful world, and coming soon, in fact, they had 30 days. So, as a response to this threat, a special task force of five agents comprised of Axel, chris, leland, doug and Elena. It's gathered from across the world to save humanity from Skinner's plan. This group is called Lazarus, and can they find Skinner and develop a vaccine before time runs out? Now here's my notes.

Speaker 1: 24:32

Created by Shinichiro Watanabe, the man behind Cowboy Bebop, you can tell that this anime was going to be a banger to some degree and I'll explain further. The blend of 2D art and CGI works well with the action almost felt like a live action movie in some scenes the opening theme, the background music, the transition and the ending card and each episode reminds me of cowboy bebop, so you can immediately tell that this is from the same guy and the dialogue is fairly cerebral, like it's given a mature nature of the series and creator of the at the helm, especially Skinner's announcement upon his return. It's kind of refreshing to see an anime taking place in the States and other places like Istanbul and whatnot, not just Japan. You know what I'm saying. So my impression of the team is so Lazarusarus supposed to be some sort of suicide squad, because between the shop break was and the point of the series, I couldn't resist making that reference. I mean, axel makes a reference to the avengers in this one, and there's more real world references being made as well, so you're gonna look out for those. It's kind of funny in that sense. Actually, axel, it would have been closer to say y'all are more like the thunderbolts because, come on, y'all seen the movie. Lovable cast of characters. The main cast have their own story and connection to each other. I kind of knew how the series was going to end, but it did not disappoint at all. Like I won't spoil how it plays out because you've probably seen it already, but even if you haven't, I would rather you have experienced the show for yourself. Shit, I. I give it a 10 out of 10. Watanabe, you've done it again, moving on the beginning after the end. Oh boy, here we go. After a mysterious death, king Grey is reborn as Arthur Leywin on a magical continent of the Cathen, and although he enters his second life as a baby, his previous wisdom remains. He begins to master magic and forge his own path as the years go by, seeking to correct the mistakes of his past.

Speaker 1: 27:10

Now a lot of people gave this anime shit for the animation looking like a slideshow, and although the animation is not great, I don't think it warrants a reboot after one episode. But you know, that's how snobbish the anime community can be. The main thing about this anime for me is that the plot is slow, burning for a 12 episode season. So it's hard not to call it another run of the mill isekai anime, because it hasn't really done anything that makes it stick out, other than people saying that the animation is trash. The story has potential, especially with how we jump from the perspective of King Ray's life to his new life as Arthur, learning more about how our protagonists develop over time. And that's just it. It's something we've seen done so many times that even the title of the series can tell you that it's just another Isekai story that shoved down the windpipes of the audience. I would say give it a six out of ten. The fact that I'm rating this under cash me at the ballpark should tell you that it was kind of a fumble.

Speaker 1: 28:27

Now the brilliant healer's new wife in the shadows. Okay, this one impressed me a little bit more than I thought. See this guy, xenos. Banished for being quote-unquote useless by his former party, he's a self-taught healer from the slums and he turns despair into defiance and opens a secret clinic in the city's shadows. With unlicensed, unmatched magic, he cures, comforts and right wrongs, quietly becoming a legend. But as his power grows, even the royal palace takes notice. Can he fuck the odds and heal a world that cast him aside? Now, right away?

Speaker 1: 29:16

There's a heavy emphasis on the usefulness of healers and, as a D&D war cleric, this is Ctharsis by proxy, as well as a theme of demi-humans being mistreated and forced into slavery. So there's that the English dub is not bad this time around. Zenos not only has drip for sale, but he got especially with this overcoat that he will wear, that I will wear, and he already have a harem of monster girls between Lily the Elf, carmilla the Wraith, loa the Orc, zofia the Lizilla, the rape uh loa the orc, sophia the lizard woman and linga the werewolf. Out of the bunch, I would say carmilla has the best character design in my opinion, definitely can inspire the cosplay girls, and the latter three are oh, by the way, the werewolf, the orc and the lizard woman are underground slumlords. Once again, we have a story where our main character gets treated like shit by his former friend and party members, despite the value he brings to the table. Unlike uk feldeo, though, failed the ill though, xenos was fired with only a gold coin at Severus' pay. Afterwards he was, he counted. He found Lily being mistreated by slave traders, and he bought her freedom with the coin, took her in, and everything else was history, including how the three slumlords ended up needing his services. Oh, excuse me, where was I? Krishna, the vice commander of the Royal Knights, looking to how someone could squash the Turk war, but jumped to conclusions when confronting Zenith about it. Quote unquote, one of her many flaws. Right right now, after episode seven, it's confirmed that I like loe the most because of her personality and physique. Also them cheeks, though.

Speaker 1: 31:31

Ultimately, this anime plays out like a semi-serious mystery series uncovering corruption among aristocrats, and I'm genuinely interested to watch a second season when it comes. I give it an 8 out of 10. Great potential with the right amount of story layers. Now we're getting close to the end, y'all, so hang with me. We got like three more to go the shiunji family children. Let's go with that now.

Speaker 1: 32:03

The shiunji family with their seven children reside in a mansion within tokyo, setagawa ward. The eldest son, arata, is tired of being pushed around by his five sisters and daydreams of a life without him. That is until Arata's father reveals a shocking truth that Arata isn't biologically related to his sisters, and the siblings relationship will be tested as they navigate life with this new light. Now. First of all, actually all of the children are adopted. Only Minami and Shion, the only other guy in the family, are actually related, being twins, paternal twins, being fifth and fifth. But outside of that, everybody's adopted and the series is self-aware about being a harem rom-com, which I find kind of funny, and each of the girls have their own arc, barnery, best girl and also the only one that's at least 18 plus. So yeah, honestly, I give this one a 7 out of 10 because it's pretty much a standard series in its genre. Like, once you know the premise of what's going on, you can kind of imagine where it goes.

Speaker 1: 33:29

Yandere dark elf she chased me all the way from another world. So he did it, the main character. He got reincarnated into another world, took up the mantle of hero slain, the dreaded demon lord alongside, alongside his party of fellow adventurers as he. As his reward, he returned to earth to resume a normal life. Or it would have been, uh, if it wasn't for the fact that his dark elf companion, maria bell, uh, decided to travel to earth to come with live with him. Now she uses her arcane talents to ward off any potential romantic rivals and capture Hinata's affection.

Speaker 1: 34:20

Now, this one is a short form anime with typical edgy shenanigans. Watching it on high dive. You can tell that scenes were edited and not in a good way. Like some of the dialogue gets muted and Hinata is this kind of rom-com protagonist that pisses me off in recent times, like the kind that's fairly friendly but isn't very daring or dominant. Like I get common decency, but it's annoying to see him rejecting or being reluctant to return uh, maria bell's romantic feelings. And if you're not into her like that, then just stand on business. Otherwise what's the problem? Thankfully, he does make a love confession at the end, so cool, uh, you know, at this point I'm just gonna call it bill bell have a tendency to say the quiet part out loud, like homer from eden zero, but at least with bell.

Speaker 1: 35:23

She can be chill, like she loves hinata, but to an obsessive extent like very beautiful, though just crazy, you know. You know the crazy hot nature. So it's like really good looking, but she really crazy too. Like Do with that as you will. And in a way Sakura Mochida Reminds me of Siami from Blue Exorcist In the look department, and Cecil is the serious Cellar woman. And then there's may, this happy-go-lucky streamer, who is also companions of hinata and bell from the other world. So honestly I would give it a 6.5 out of 10. It's decent fan service. Yeah, more entertaining than the beginning after the end, for sure. And now we're at the last.

Speaker 1: 36:21

Yourforma In an alternate 2023, the Yourforma and miraculous smart thread technology initially developed to treat a massive outbreak of viral ascephalitis I hope I pronounced it correctly has become an integral part of Daily life. But these Convenient devices come With an invasive drawback. They record every sight, sound and even emotion their users experience. For electronic investigator Etchegahieda, diving into people's memories via the UR-4MMA and hunting down evidence to solve the toughest crime is all part of a day's work. The problem is she's so good at what she does that her assistants literally fry their brains trying to keep up with her. After putting one too many A's in the hospital, the top brass finally furnish Etika with a partner of her level, a brilliant yet cheeky android named Harold Lucraft. Does this unlikely duo have what it takes to resolve their mutual suspicions of each other and avert a deadly technological infection from sweeping across the globe before it's too late now?

Speaker 1: 37:45

This is a sci-fi crime drama series where a cyber detective with reservations against working with robots is partnered with a android excuse me, I mean amicus with attitude, quote unquote and a twin brother named marvin who's responsible for criminal activity that hero was being accused of at first and sdk and hero doesn't hit it off right away, but earns each other's trust as the show progresses. This anime is another example of a mature, thought-provoking series that reminds me of titles such as Ghost in the Shell and Psychopaths, with its uses of exploring the mind of humans and amicus. The action is okay. I like how the background music matches the tone of certain moments and the dialogue is 50 50 swing for me between being fairly dramatic and sounding kind of flat. The voice acting is fine, but I think it would have been better if there was more expression. Uh, facially like. Maybe I'm just too used to watching anime with exaggerated looks on their faces.

Speaker 1: 38:56

I think the craziest part is the mastermind, eve using a cat bomber to try to kill Etika and Harold in episode 7 during a firework show. Of course, the last four episodes of the season would be the best part, where the confrontation of Sogon's killer gave us a clearer picture of what's been on harold's mind, as well as deepening up his partnership with etchica. Without spoiling any more details, I give your forma 9 out of 10. Great show just needs more special sauce. It might get a second season, so we'll see. So that concludes all I got for anime lightning spring 2025. Once again, I do apologize for it being out a little late, but you know I had things going on, but I assure you things are gonna get better, especially with this summer lineup, so look out for that.

Speaker 1: 39:53

There were some titles in spring anime like um, please put them on Takamine-san. There was some other ones I wanted to watch, but there was some problems trying to either watch it with subtitles or to even find it on some sort of official streaming service. Like, yeah, I could have done the whole dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, but nah, yeah, nah. So, with that being said, that is it. I'm going to go get ready for more reviews, so remember to stay nerdy, remember that great things are coming, so go ahead and have yourself a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night, but ultimately, take it easy.