MozillaFennekin

Flavor text: Quick, and to the pointless. Jashin-chan Dropkick is about a naked snek-girl who’s trying to kill and adorable goth loli. She fails and gets horrifically brutalized by chainsaws and knives and iron maidens and moe snow creatures and other similarly terrifying weapons. If that doesn’t sound fun to you then turn 360 degrees and moonwalk away, because that’s about half the show. I’m the type that enjoys ridiculous, over-the-top violence. While No Dropkick on Snek doesn’t contain any real detail with its violence, the implication is good enough to sell it. Particularly because the one inflicting such violence is doing it with an evil grinon her cute face, because Snake-chan is a fucked up individual who actually deserves it, and because the animation is actually quite good for this type of anime. But I feel like enjoying this or not depends on the individual viewer. You either get it or you don’t. I looked at this anime before it started and thought “this sounds fucking hilarious”, watched the first episode, and thought it was fucking hilarious. No deep reasoning behind it, really, I just like the use of violence as a joke. So now, all I really have to do is clarify a couple of things. First off, there’s no story in this anime; you probably could’ve guessed that, but there’s not even context as to why anything is happening in this anime. The first episode offers no introductions, but I thought this was clever. In a dumb gag series, I’m not expecting particularly detailed characters in the first place, especially in a series like this that uses religious references as jokes. Jashin-chan is a devil, so she acts like a cunt all the time. That is her character. Everyone else could be summed up in equally short statements; a quick glance at how each character acts is enough to determine all that they are. The lone exception is Urine (oh dear, what an unfortunate name indeed), who’s the only human of the series, as far as major characters go. But her enigmatic character acts as a landing pad for many of the series’ jokes, in terms of violence and fourth wall breaks. Urine’s character doesn’t have any particular set of rules, which means that her actions and dialogue have fewer limits, which is why it’s funny for her to get a chainsaw out of thin air. Moreover, backstories have a tendency to drag out too long and waste time from the real draw of the anime. The point is that Jashin and Urine have to kill each other; the fact that there’s a cowgirl and a stoner chick make little difference to that. Those characters are already distractions. How they got here doesn’t matter, what matters is that they’re here. Like I said, “Quick and to the Pointless”. This anime doesn’t have much of a point to begin with; it’s all shenanigans. A meme anime, if you will. It exists so that you can put it on whenever you feel like distracting yourself from whatever bullshit you’ve got going on in your life, or perhaps after a really dramatic, intense episode of another seasonal on your list, like Asobi Asobase. Which would bring me into the other thing to defend: repetition. I can’t say that this anime is repetitive, but I also can’t say that it’s not repetitive. Probably because that doesn’t affect me too much when I’m watching anime weekly, and you should also take this in small doses. If you try downing too much of it at once, you’re just gonna hate the taste of it pretty quickly. Jashin plotting and executing the murder of Urine, only to get dunked on in two seconds is a large part of the anime. Another large part is Jashin being an asshole to someone else, causing Urine to violently execute her. Fortunately, it manages to safely pad itself out with some other characters. They’re one-note, but good enough to pass the time. I would complain that there were a few too many scenes of Pekola, as the joke of her character runs thin pretty quickly. Meanwhile, there’s very, very little exploration with Minos, who I thought was a lot more fun with her quirky, but not super exaggerated personality. She feels like the most normal character of the anime, despite qualifying as a devil. But she’s also so normal that she doesn’t really leave an impression. But, even if all the character are one-note, they have a witty enough chemistry to keep the laughing gas flowing. I wasn’t bored at any point. To better present itself, Jashin-chan Dropkick has a surprisingly high level of animation. Not only does character movement look good in and of itself, but the character designs are memorable and the anime has a rather colorful, fun look to it. They likely managed to maintain this quality by shifting into lesser-detailed styles where characters look a little more simple; but note that I’m not saying this is lower quality. They manage to toy with the fine details without making it look jarring. Everything is as good as it needs to be, most of it is even better. But despite all of that, the funniest joke of the whole series is that fucking OST with the shitty recorder. It’s so (intentionally) godawful that I burst out laughing every single time. Overall, Jashin-chan Dropkick could stand the test of time as a solid slapstick anime--perhaps its ridiculous, bloody violence makes it more of a niche pick than others, but I had a good time with it. The show delivered what I wanted, and coming back to it every week was never a struggle. I don’t have a whole lot to say as its appeal is simple, but I have even less to complain about. Story: 7/10 Art: 9/10 Sound: 8/10 Character: 8/10 Enjoyment: 9/10 Overall: 7.75/10 (Range: 7.0-8.25)

KanseiDorifuto

Jashin-chan Dropkick, yes Jashin-chan Dropkick. One of the series that has defined the cultural slice of life comedy series of the last generation in the history of anime. This is a series that has changed significantly over the past summer. What I love 'bout Jashin-chan Dropkick is the whole “devil aspect” of the show. Every technique had substance, quality and all of the assassination arcs really shown the defining elements of how devils worked within the Jashin-chan universe. These qualities are something I will soon not forget. I know a lot of people complain about Jashin-chan Dropkick being a half-ass wit that can’t do anything Orperhaps Pekora being useless. But in a way, I look at the series as being a little different, especially in the developing of characters. Yukiwo did not intend to create the story with a “badass” character right from the start, toppling people one after the other, no. Jashin-chan Dropkick was set up in a way that much resembles an ordinary life and the tribulations and tests you must go through. Death is at every corner and Jahsin-chan is a devil that is trying to fit in with the rest of the humans and be "recognized" I think that was one of the main defining elements of the series. Yukiwo wanted to show that Jashin "is a character that no one likes because she has the body of a serpent". You can only wonder what she is thinking, being in his predicament. Watching her grow up as a devil and trying to kill Yurine, but realizing that she is in a world fraught with fascinating anime girls. Watching her friends get all of the food while Jashin-chan only gets a very small slice that can't even stand on its own. The degree of emotion in the series was something I really enjoyed. It was really powerful. I remember hearing people spout nonsense in the discussions boards "omg too much drama, get on with the fighting already" But I actually liked how Jashin-chan Dropkick had that drama, it fits in with the entire theme of the series. It kind of brings a whole different realism to the show compared to other slice of life series. I won’t state any names. One of the things that Yukiwo really focused on in the original was friendship and bonds. That's one of the major theme's watching this group of friends grow up together, learning from her friends and becoming a great devil in the process, learning the ways of the human world. This show explores themes of lust, love, epic fighting, and greed to a very astounding degree. The characters in this series were in every sense of the word children, growing up in a world full of adults that were much more talented in both skills and combat. That is not to say the show was made for children. Just that Yukiwo wanted to show the younger generation the main characters of the show grow and the progression and development into well-rounded characters. They had to learn the ropes of what being a devil is like. These devils are put to the test to show how they must use every ounce of their ability to survive and protect the people they love. Perhaps maybe the reason that I love Jashin-chan Dropkick so much and the reason it feels very nostalgic to me is because when I watched it for the first time when it was airing, It was one of THEE most popular anime series on the net and not a single person had anything remotely unscrupulous to say about it. Suddenly after the first episode filler arc, or the not so appreciated “trying to kill Yurine”, it lost its reputation and became a show just muddled by idiots that call anyone a Jashintard for watching it. I have seen how the fanbase has changed significantly over the past summer of watching Jashin-chan Dropkick. It is quite sad really. I still consider Jashin-chan Dropkick to be one of my favourite quality anime series, regardless of where it’s going. Perhaps maybe its because I'm very infatuated with devils and like the unique way that Yukiwo has created this human world, similar to how I really love Initial D for its drifting. Every arc is something new and fresh so Yukiwo can develop on that and expand upon the show in various different ways. Initial D had some of the greatest character backstories and cast I’ve seen in a series, but it did suffer from story progression a bit thankfully Jashin-chan Dropkick does not. It has a pretty solid pace and some of the most groundbreaking plot twists. I guess it’s all a matter of personal preference and what you like to see in a show. I myself am not a huge fan of typical slice of life tropes that are used consistently, but I love how the original series gave us a so much of a more powerful emotional impact to the show. In a way, it felt more humanized as opposed to the more generic school girl elements of slice of life animes.