Captain220

Love and Lies is a 12 episode anime where love takes the form of lies and each of the characters are like walking chalkboards, constantly scratching upon each other. Japan for some reason deemed it fit to pass on the torch of its current social crisis to the biggest intellectual heavyweight of a medium out there. By presenting a theoretical scenario in which society as a whole is shaped a certain way in order to entertain the idea of Japan's birth rates not being in the gutter, we are hence introduced to another run-of-the-mill-overdramatized-romance-love-triangle-rectangle-harem-cocktease. And impressively enough, its' atrocious and unexplained setup remarkably gives somethinglike Eromanga a whole new level of credibility. While its' innovativity didn't didn't speak for much in the minds of the masses, at least it had the audacity to try and push forward a healthy agenda. "It might be grasping at straws, but she's still fertile". Meanwhile on the other end of the spectrum, we have an anime that is centered around this very same nuanced topic, yet fails to provide any substantial worth at all to the table in regards to social commentary, or much of anything, really. About midway through it crumbles down under the weight of its nonexistent ruleset and unexplored concept, but impale me with a cactus if these redundant melodramatic pieces need consistency within anything but MUH FEELS. While some thought that resides strictly within the compounds of the show does delve into questioning the validity of a clearly-corrupt system via the characters, I find it extremely difficult to believe the writer herself put any while actually writing this story. In anything but an ideal world, the idea of these arranged marriages would be doomed from the get-go. And in an ideal world, there'd be no need for them in the first place. So in the end, all we're left with is a hypothetical scenario that is not and can not be founded in reality by any stretch of the imagination, ever. Thus the series is forced to revolve around this lofty joke of a scenario, and revolve around it, it does. Not only would it be a shitty situation on an emotional and mental basis for most young people, but for some reason it is able to reach the back ends of society as well. If you decide against being being a mindless drone (which is somehow a rare occurance, seeing as teenagers love losing their freedom of choice, being enslaved, etc), it is for some reason able to influence your academic standing for the worse, with no apparent reason anywhere in sight. Imagine being on the short end of an abusive relationship. The person you're paired with treats you like dirt, and you might be in love with someone else. So what happens when you try turning your life around for the obvious better? You get shunned by society, your future put at risk and ironically enough get deemed a lesser human being than your peers. How or why rejecting an arranged marriage is the end all be all of a person's highschool life is beyond me. May as well write "SEX OFFENDER" on the entrance exam sheet in big, bald letters just so everyone is aware what a menace to society these rebellious teens really are. Case and point - Marriages are apparently all sunhshine and rainbows where nothing bad can ever occur, and likewise all people are inherently bound to accept the iron fist of free will. Despite there being enough conveniences and unexplored scenarios relating to the story to where'd I'd call plotholes, the worst detractor evidently might just be how poorly the author invisioned this artifical caricurature of a modern society of hers to function. If anything, this red string of science would eventually end up bringing the country's mortality rate to new peaks entirely, as suicide is already enough of an epidemic currently as is. Therefore, not only does it serve as a weak ass plot, but it also contradicts the very nature of the idea that is combating low birth rate for which it initially set out to do. The only counter-argument ever provided against any of this is that it works cuz.. science, 'n stuff. Because we all damn well know scientists ought to seize and take notice of all of our behavoural patterns, personality traits and preferrable positions in bed. If we've come this far, Koi to Uso's neo-Japan should be an island paradise, barely short of eden. Technology, banzai. Neji is either the biggest excuse for a human being I've had the displeasure of setting my eyes upon or the typical Japanese beta male, I really don't know anymore. This man trembles in fear and is required to turn the other cheek as the thought of looking another person into the eyes instills such immense dread into the very fiber of his being, especially when one such person happens to be a moderately cute girl who he ends up accidentally wooing by giving a slight demonstration of his immeasurable bravery. Neji knows no fear, ladies and gentlemen, as he only takes 3 full hours to hand over a chopped up piece of his eraser to this desperate damsel in distress. Upon recieving the rougher edge of said eraser, cute girl is suddenly transformed into the love of his life the moment she thanks him for being such an indecisive, although considerate, loser. This is what the main characters' infatuation for one another stems from, sadly enough. I can only assume that it is because of this, I, in recent memory oftentimes encounter myself subconsciously wandering off into the deepest and darkest recesses of my mind, only to spend endless hours upon hours wondering if our species was doomed from the very beginning. Cue the oversatured Nietzsche quote, please. "𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶.".. That's the one. Despite what the aformentioned may make you believe, make no mistake. Neji is quite the player. No, he is THE player. The aftermath of being such an immense pussy his entire life inevitably resulted in his very body transforming itself into a pussy magnet. But his savagery doesn't stop there. The pure sight of Neji's huge pussy makes him irresistable to guys as well, although that's another story entirely. I'm sure that by now most of HanaKana's characters would be able to compete in some sort of national women's marathon for constantly running away from their male counterparts in these drama series so much. What seperates her from Orange's Naho is the old saying about the shy ones being the kinkiest out the bunch, which surely ought to hold some truth this time around. Forest sex, anyone? With this in mind, Erasergal is probably to be considered the story's main heroine. It's been an entire year since I rose above and beyond the wish-washy poetry of my collegues by writing an intellectual diatribe for last summer season's Orange, yet it remains as fresh as ever in my mind. As such, there are some paralells to be drawn between the two heroines from the overall feel of the shows to even matching haircuts. Evidently so, what makes Erasergal stand out as the superior/updated version of Naho is the fact that she actually gets shit done on her own accord. No Kakeru-kun is needed here, when she wants some good ol' forest sex, good ol' forest sex will be had. With every tool at her desposal and virtually very little competition, she takes Nejima by the balls and French-kisses him until they run dry. Quite commendably so, really. Apart from her subpar taste in men, HanaKana does this girl justice. She has no problem cucking her friend out of the relationship with her fiance and rocks some cute bangs while doing it. #HanaKanaPleaseGetSomeDiversityYourEntireCastingCatalogueIsBangs Regardless of the heaps of praise I could give to her character in comparison, she is overall extremely willy-nilly in what she wants. It's like she's got severe bipolar disorder and gets caught up in the moment so heavily one episode, only for next week to flush it down the unkempt toilet like it's all bygones and make-believe, cus it'd make harem member #2 sad. Regardless of harem member #2 consciously going out of her way to get them to shag in front of her very eyes. Whatever, logic isn't this show's forte and it slowly devolves into an endurance test of how many mental flops Erasergal can do per 20 minutes, before breaking out into wishful tears full of regret and getting comforted by Nejima who is at this point having a mental breakdown over the overwhelming guilt and being an overall pansy who shouldn't be loved by anyone other than his own mother. Ririna is the second most prominent member of the Nejima Fan Brigade. Despite of her shortcomings and lack of comprehension for her own feelings, she is cute. However, the shortcoming that serves to seperate her from the other members is the overwhelming fact that she is, in fact, a cuck. And I do not use this term lightly or as a form of internet slang in hopes of coming off as hip. Ririna is full-fledged Resident Cuckold in the flesh. The real thing. This girl literally goes out of her way to force her future husband into a make-out sesh with some girl she's known for a day's time. Her backstory is that of loneliness and sorrow, as she's never had any real friends to speak of. Yet when she does acquire the faintest signs of friendships, she successfully serves as a gap closer which would in turn make her the ultimate third wheel, essentially sending her back to square one. Because she admires their unadulterated romance. The irony is that the romance in this show is BAD. Anywhom, Nisaka does well to point this out before going on some completely idiotic tantrum about how the after-effects of cucking can harm Nejima's academic performance. But good on him for trying. #TeamCuck Last and dead least in the race for Neji's heart, there is the sole male companion of the gang. Nisaka is sharp, easily embarrassed and full of angst. Why is he full of angst? Either because he's gay, or he's gay and his taste in men is subpar. While to some extent I want to applaud the writer for going this extra mile, is this really anything beyond a fan ship from a fujoshi's hidden locker? Surely, no one in their right mind thought this ship was ever setting sail. Perhaps after years of discrimination in Japan, being gay is the new blockbuster recipe after Yuri on Ice. His voice is good to the ears, but as a non-13 year old girl I sure was not hoping for any.. unforseen unpleasantries to occur between the two boys. #NejiDroppedTheSoap Finally; Shuu Igarashi, being the only female cast member able to contain her overarching lust over Nejima's shallow manhood personally comes as a huge disappointment. While equipped with a design that reeks of Eromanga's Sagiri that suddenly started hanging out with the wrong crowd and recently got out of rehab with a whole new jaded outlook on life, she is also appointed as being the granddaughter of Lady Democracy from whom the red string of science originated AND Misaki's bff. Due to the extreme position she holds in the story you'd think she'd be able able to grant some clearance as to either of the afromentioned, but no. It's a blank state of mind in which this moody little snowflake operates, being the single biggest cocktease in existence. She is revealed a laughable 2 episodes before the finale and in that short time nothing but her backstory is provided. Oh, and that she orchestrated the entire fall of Nejima. I honestly wouldn't have known she was anything beyond Misaki's over-obsessive stalker had her MAL profile not been indicitive of something else. Thanks, MAL Re-Write!!! SuMmArY Boring series filled with plot and character inconsistency buzzword, buzzword, buzzword - IT SUCKS. Taking place in a twisted reality in which emotion and freedom of choice are exchanged with a lofty system that doesn't even work, and the goverment's tax money is spent to gather 16 year olds to mass porn sessions where they can beat off in unison. Devoid of logic, full of corny scenes and dialogue that does get a bit experimental and even overboard for the standard "By Fujoshi, For Fujoshi" formula. Which will sadly be all but lost on the vivid fandom consisting of 13-year old girls and a few other unfortunate souls. I would ironically request some alluring Nisaka fanart, but this anime will be long forgotten by the time its' fanbase learns to draw art more impressive than doodles of their cute elementary-school boy crushes.

Pipe

"This show was like a bad roller coaster. You love the first turn, the second turn isn't that amazing, and after more turns, you just want to get down and forget the experience." The story was interesting at the beginning but then transformed into a mess to the point that it was unexplained and inconceivable possible that happens. The partners and couples are selected by "Japan's officials" at the age of 16, so you will need to marry with them because the law demands it. The writers created a weird love square and combined with a failed character progression titled it "Koi to Uso." I can'tlie that the story is average from the perspective of the characters. The main character Yuraki Nejima failed to express his feelings. He loved Misaki Takasaki since the middle school. When the government selected his partner, he couldn't fight for his hidden love even when she said to him that she loved him. Also, it is incomprehensible why Ririna tried several times to be the backer of Nejima and Takasaki's relationship under the wrong argument that she doesn't know the meaning of LOVE. Ironically, she ended loving Nejima. Well, that was expected so I am not spoiling anything. The other character Yuusuke Nisaka is Nejima's best friend and loves him in silence (love square design). In other words, you can see this as a harem where all the main characters love Nejima, and this one is just so silly that doesn't decide about his life and his feelings. One day he loves Takasaki and after some hours is worried why the other girl didn't send him a message. Maybe he just loves all them. About the characters, they lack a creative background. The love started with an eraser, literally. A failed progression and a failed character background in progress. Characters that are a pool of mixed feelings and don't take any coherent decision. For example, I love you but will love another person in 3, 2, 1. You will say that these actions are because are young but not. It is because the script created shallow characters and not insecure ones so we could mistake insecurity sometimes with silliness. The art. it is weird. From some angles it is good, but then you look another angle, and that big puppies eyes aren't that cute as we believed. The sound was normal, but it didn't help. Both the OP and ED weren't that bad. The ending was average, and it didn't conclude the story. The lace of the destiny is hooked to ... ALL them. We didn't get an appropriate conclusion to this story. We got an ending that will add a message like "for more information, please buy the manga." Finally, the story isn't great and needs lots of work to keep us entertained. It is unconcluded and is the reflection that this show was very average.