Marinate1016

Tsunlise is one of the most unique twists on the Otome/Dating sim genre and is without a doubt one of my favourites. What makes Tsunlise so unique is that unlike most Otome games, the characters are not actually isekai’d into the game. Instead it follows two childhood friends who are clearly in love with each other and bond over their love of an otome VN. The cool part being they can talk to the characters in the game and guide them to the good ends of the game. I have never seen something like that before in an anime and I loved the concept and execution.The story takes place probably 80 percent in the game and 20 percent IRL with the childhood friends gradually realising how they feel about one another. In hindsight that was probably one of my only complaints. The in game storyline was great and I loved Fiene, Liese and Sieg’s interactions, but Endo and Kobayashi were really my fave part of the show and we didn’t get enough of them IMO. I’m notoriously anti Tsundere, but I think Liese is probably one of the best examples of the archetype I’ve seen. Her personality makes complete sense once you learn her backstory and she never feels annoying over the course of the show. You just can’t help but fall in love with her prickly self and want she and Sieg to end up happy. Fiene is a fun female MC who is OP for no reason and very socially awkward, every time she’s on screen she just steals the show. The witch of yore plot line started out pretty good, but once we got reveals and background info about her origin story it kind of fell off for me. Still, a very enjoyable watch and character interactions carry it more than the story anyway. Animation is pretty underwhelming in Tsunlise with most the few action scenes being poorly animated. Even some of the walking scenes with Endo and Kobayashi IRL looked really janky at times. It’s not the worst, but not great either. Art is ok, going with a pretty generic fantasy style look that isn’t as good as the LN art, but passable. The unique premise of Tsunlise along with a loveable cast and some really good comedy made it a blast to watch. It’s not without its flaws. Like I said, I really wanted more of the IRL content. I also would have liked to have some better production values, but it is what it is. Did not really hamper my enjoyment and I can’t wait to check out the LN to see if they changed anything from the source material. Tsunlise gets 10 out of 10.

KANLen09

We have Katarina Claes, we also have Aileen Lauren Dautriche. And now, we go for the three-fer with Lieselotte Riefenstahl in the classic Otome Game fashion, featuring live commentary right from the current day of Earth we call Japan! Out of the 3 "villainess Otome Game" adaptations that we've had so far since the start of the 2020s, lone novelist Suzu Enoshima's Tsundere Akuyaku Reijou Liselotte to Jikkyou no Endou-kun to Kaisetsu no Kobayashi-san a.k.a Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte a.k.a Tsunlise, is the shortest on the list of similar stories. What do I mean? The LN that comes just rightat 2 volumes long that was released from 2019 to 2022, the anime itself is the exact complete package of the LN in its adaptation form, which I feel that this is the right length for an adaptation if it's considering the usual seasonal 12/13-episode runtime. Sure, both Hametsu Flag and Akuyaku Last Boss may have more under the hood that's not covered in their respective anime, but in contrast, I'll actually recommend the shortest of the series because you can just fire through the entire anime as opposed to reading the LN of the same name. The story and plot itself, by the "Villainess Otome Game" standard tropes that it has to offer, this show takes a creative and refreshing twist, in which by adding actual people playing the Otome Game and not being reincarnated into the game itself and guiding its characters along to reach the desired ending of their choice. The players: Aoto Endo and Shihono Kobayashi, members of the Broadcasting Club in their own school, decides to take a gander and play the Otome Game called A Magical Romance a.k.a MagiKoi, the standard story of the protagonist Fiene while fighting against the villainess Lieselotte Riefenstahl, who is eventually consumed by darkness and tragedy in all of the game's routes. The twist, is that through the game's manual, the reason for Lieselotte's villany tropes is a misunderstanding, a play on the word "tsundere" (or tsun de rais based on the game's perception), that's more than enough to be social commentators as Lord Endou and Kobayashee dictating a "Let's Play!" commentary through the character that could only hear the "Voices of the Gods": Lieselotte's fiance Prince Siegwald Fitzenhagen. And since he's the only one whom can perform this deed, Sieg is ultimately the key to alleviating the villainy fate of his own fiancée, which in turn, could result in the destruction of their world. If you ask me from the "Villainess Otome Game" standpoint, this is as good as it can get that's not borderline decent. The feud of royal nobility and their pairings: Siegwald with Lieselotte, Fiene (initially playing the Hero record) with Baldur Riefenstahl, they provide a great deal of entertainment when trying to deal with the ultimate tsun de rais Lieselotte herself, barring all expressions as a sign of embrassment when her ego's too inflated from say, skinship or words of affirmation that she is a kind and compassionate person through and through. Not all villains are bad people, and Lieselotte is one good example for both Endo and Koabayshi to voice their opinions so that Sieg can adjust to the temperaments of showcasing how beautiful his fiancée is in all ways possible, even going as far as to bond all of the lead and side characters together in the effort to save Lieselotte from her darkness doom. At the very same time, you can't fool me that both Endo and Kobayashi are like a couple match made in Otome Game Heaven, but with their focal point being MagiKoi, the mutual relationship seen externally might look like Endo's got a thing for Kobayashi (which he does), but with the female side being naive, he's forced to put her on a friendzone level. Regardless, Kobayashi leading the clueless Endo (y'know because he's the newbie) the way to play an Otome Game on the side, that is some good excuse of a club activity if I say so myself. So, while Lieselotte is the character development MVP on MagiKoi's side to dictate both the fate of their own and the current world, it's thanks to the male-female pairing of goofballs to lead the massive tsundere down towards the path of love, wholesomeness and authentication that she is beloved by everyone. Yes, including Fiene, whom has the typical "Hero vs. villain" program set from the get-go, only for both Endo and Kobayashi to override them. These days, Tezuka Productions mainly does whatever the anime production teams will assign them to, and because of this, we've been seeing a lot of diversity with the shows they helm since the mid-2010s. And Tsunlise is no different as it's adequately produced with time to spare, and the final result actually came out looking fine. It's the same for Tsunlise here, with a consistent productioon values and little fanfare of things looking a bit off. The OST is also fine but nothing noteworthy, though I'd prefer the ED much more than the OP by a hair. If I have to take a gander between the 3 "Villainess Otome Game" adaptations so far, Tsunlise is no doubt good, but a bit kinda of a hard sell because it's just the same tropes over again. And I don't blame you that if you've somehow passed this show by see it glorify the exact same things seen thrice now, but really, give this show another chance. If it's your thing, it's most probably your thing and vice versa. The least successful of the Otome Game genre (by MAL scores), but by no means it's bad at all, because it's still just as enjoyable on a lighter scale. I had a decent to good time with this, and I hope that you will too.