BeetleR19d

'Making a rom-com anime is simple, but making a simple rom-com anime is the hardest thing there is.' - Otaku Cruyff........ Though that was a playful twist on Johan Cruyff's wisdom, it encapsulates what I loved most about 'Astro Note'. That is its simplicity. This anime's charm lies in its straightforwardness, mirrored in every character it portrays. 'Astro Note' is a must-watch, especially if you're nostalgic for the 90s or simply a rom-com enthusiast. Plot (7/10): The core of 'Astro Note's' plot is reminiscent of many classic anime, employing the familiar 'living under the same roof' trope. In this regard, 'Maison Ikkoku' notably comes to mind. The young,beautiful female lead who is a 'Mibo-jin,' the presence of a pet dog—these similarities can't be mere coincidences. Yet, despite these parallels, 'Astro Note' carves out its own unique identity, steering clear of being a mere 'Maison Ikkoku' clone. The characters are compelling, and the situations they navigate are engaging. This rom-com doesn't just spotlight the main couple but delves into the lives of the side characters as well. Such depth is rare these days, given the constraints of a typical 12-episode season, which often struggles to develop multiple relationships fully while giving minor characters their due. 'Astro Note' faces some challenges because of this approach, but it also gains significantly by making its world feel more real and its characters more relatable. On the other hand, the sci-fi elements in this anime don't play a significant role in the storyline for most of the show. In conclusion, 'Astro Note' is primarily a comedy anime with some romance and a touch of slice-of-life. Characters(7/10): Like many other anime series featuring a group of people sharing a house, 'Astro Note' has a cast of eccentric characters. There's a jobless adult who always stays in his suit-and-tie attire, a boy who wants to crossdress, a small old man, an unsuccessful and depressed idol, a professional chef who just lost his job, and a couple of actual aliens. Each character receives roughly the same amount of screen time. Perhaps Aoi-chan, whose situation adds complexity to the main couple's relationship dynamics, gets a bit more focus towards the end. Each character's story feels genuinely believable, and the creators handle some complex topics quite nicely. However, amid all these stories, the development of the main couple feels neglected. Their relationship receives much less focus than it deserves, making the eventual romance feel rushed and underwhelming. In addition to the main cast, there are other characters, some of whom impact the story significantly, while others do not. The old hag, for instance, is primarily there to add humor. Unfortunately, not every joke delivered through her character lands well, and her antics become tiresome over time. Animation (7.5/10): As this is an original anime, there's no reference point for comparison. However, the art style, while unconventional, was neither bad nor strange. It was acceptable. I appreciated the character designs, and the studio consistently maintained the same quality throughout the anime's runtime. Audio and Soundtracks (7/10): Though perhaps one of the least popular shows of the season, this anime featured experienced and prominent voice actors, resulting in solid voice acting. The opening and ending songs were decent-not the best or particularly catchy, but they weren't bad either. The effort put into the visuals of the opening sequence was evident and paid off well. Overall (7.2/10): While I can't say 'Astro Note' is particularly unique or jaw-dropping in any aspect, it achieves what it intends to: keeping the story relatively simple and laid-back while focusing on the humor of the show. It does a good job in that regard. 'Astro Note,' as a comedy and slice-of-life anime, is a really good watch. However, if you are specifically looking for a sci-fi or romance anime, you might not enjoy it as much. In the end, 'Astro Note' manages to wrap up things quite nicely, making it an anime worth calling 'underrated' (it's rated 6.57 at the time of writing this).

ImNotAnOtaku1

It would seem as if each season, we get one or two anime which are a complete, absolute throwback to a few decades ago: clichés, simplicity and a return to the roots of anime. Yes, Astro Note is one of those anime that has no business in this time and age, but which nonetheless makes its presence known for those who will acknowledge it, either to throw them back to their younger days and fill them with nostalgia, or to allow the modern youth to experience what anime was like some 30 years ago. Astro Note is straight-forward in its plot, its characters and its setting,it has all the clichés of a late '80s and '90s anime: varied color palettes and colorful character designs, dumb action, sci-fi aspects, mechas, space travel and an overall lack of a deeper lore. The anime tells a story that's easy to follow, albeit rather uninteresting, and instead it focuses more on the relationships between the characters and the daily events of their lives, using its plot merely as a motor instead of necessarily a focal point of the anime. If its meta contents weren't some of the most retro things there are to find here, Astro Note makes sure to provide a full-on old-time experience: the animation is rather fluid and at times can be very detailed, but at the same time it has that sort of granular, slightly-lacking quality that makes it seem outdated, which creates a bit of an interesting contrast given that decades-old anime didn't have such degree of detail and smoothness. Its sound design doesn't lag behind the animation, as the anime prefers simplistic and at times repetitive sounds, with a soundtrack that is pretty much city pop-influenced and draws heavy influence from '90s anime OPs and EDs. The general feeling of the audiovisual experiences in this here anime is rather upbeat and accessible, but certainly a bit pompous for people who like more grounded and serious experiences. One of Astro Note's highlights is, certainly, its variety of characters; their design is vibrant, varied and somewhat unique. No characters look alike, you've got everything: a regular male protagonist in his 20s, an adult NEET with an unnaturally elongated-head, a cute and small gentle old man, an idol, and even a talking dog-like creature. Each character has a certain degree of simplistic development, and their personalities and stories are defined and somewhat relatable. In a way, the cast in Astro Note is both peculiar and nowhere out of ordinary, each character as its own appeal, but none of them are necessarily unique in the way they act or think: they can be good people at times, and bad people at other times, many of them face issues that you or me might face in our lives, they can sometimes make you admire them, and they can sometimes make you see them under a bad light; none of them are perfect, they're just normal, and thus they're rather relatable. Now, as nostalgic and appealing as this anime can possibly be, it is not without its faults, and in fact, it's a bit more of a flawed anime than anything else. No, it's not bad, necessarily, but it's certainly not remarkable. Astro Note works as a filler, perhaps as something you might watch alongside other things in your "Watching" list, and this is because it's quite frankly tedious: it doesn't follow an interesting plot, it's a bit more of a slice of life without a clear trajectory, as a romcom it inevitably falls into regular clichés, and it provides no innovation at all in its storytelling or character development. It is repetitive and perhaps predictable, and watching more than an episode or two in a day is a bit hard because the anime certainly fails at being captivating and capable of retaining its viewers' interest as it lacks a proper structure, suspense or, a deeper plot. Astro Note relies entirely on its recurring topics to provide entertainment: the antagonists trying to sabotage the protagonists, the male main character trying to win the female main character's heart, the talking dog trying to not be found out: it's the same thing over and over again, and it's tiring. Now, the question is: is Astro Note worth watching? It can't be said that it's not worth watching, but it's certainly miles from being a must-watch. Anyone with a taste for the oldies might find this appealing, specially those who grew up in the '90s and 2000s watching similar anime, and mostly for the sake of nostalgia. Otherwise, this is just something some niche anime fan might watch, because there's simply nothing fascinating about Astro Note, it's just an OK anime, another one in the huge sea of Japanese media, which is filled with many great works that are certainly much, much more appealing than this. In other words, unless you've got the time and interest, this is an anime you can skip, albeit a decent one, in case you're willing to sit through its 12 episodes.