Peter Grill and the Philosophers Time: Rating:

Suggested age ratings: TV MA, movie R

Classic harem anime perpetuating the myth that all women want strong men and are all willing to share. Also, how likely is it that the man in this scenario is agonizing over the situation and actually only wants one of the women? I feel like it's much more likely for the average man to be agonizing over getting caught by jealous women, and for the women in question to be more interested in eviscerating him or too busy leaving him if they found out than in sharing him. Animation is quite detailed on the naked forms. Not for kids. Or feminists. Or decent men (I'm sure they're out there). Plot is merely a tool to get various characters in bed together. That is to say, non-existent. Music is upbeat enough to believe the woman singing is probably unaware of the content of the show. I will not be watching this again.

This one did prompt me to start a suggested age rating, though. So I'll be including that from now on. It should not appear on the same page as the things my kid watches.

Rent-A-Girlfriend: Rating: HuhSuggested age rating: TV-Y14, movie PG 13

The main character gets dumped by his girlfriend in the first few seconds of the first episode. Thinking of her possibly making love to a shadowy other man, he resorts to a dating site designed, seemingly, for lonely men. I liked how the premise brought the traditional geisha role to the modern day. The contract he had to sign, which was referenced, but not seen, obviously specified a low level of intimacy.  Hence, handholding, but not bed games. Not exactly feminist, but better than most male-centric anime. Of course, the mark of a good story is how much hot water you can throw your character into. So there are immediate complications when their real lives connect.  Animation was good. I liked the use of different styles to create mood. I'll be interested to see where the story goes from here. A Whisker Away: Rating: Worth WatchingAlready age rated: TV-PGJunichi Sato and Tomotaka Shibayama are the next Miyazaki-sensei.  A beautifully animated movie, the main character's movements are already half-cat, so it's no surprise when she becomes one. The story was painfully human, with space for love, rejection, betrayal and redemption. You can see how the main character sees others in the clear dehumanization of certain characters, leading up to the decision of her life. We get to witness both the main character and her love interest in social as well as private moments, making their personalities and lives so much richer and real. The dichotomy of how people behave in different situations highlighted our need, as humans, to protect ourselves from hurt, and how we can be hurting even while smiling. I cried. It was amazing. The Misfit of Demon King Academy: Rating: HuhSuggested age ratings: TV Y-14, movie PG 13A meld of The Irregular At Magic High and The Devil is a Part-Timer. The main character is a reincarnation of an all-powerful Demon Lord from 2,000 years ago. He's overpowered and makes jokes only the audience laughs at. No one respects him, but he plays it cool because he's constantly in God-mode, so he doesn't really need their approval. But he's quite a vengeful god. Took care of all the antagonistic male characters pretty quickly. At least he reincarnated into his own world. Having to deal with his disrespectful descendants is a fun twist. I liked the way the magic circles pieced themselves together. Animation was average. Characters are a bit trope-y. I felt the older sister character came around a little too quickly. Hope it doesn't turn into harem anime.The God of High School: Rating: Worth WatchingSuggested age ratings: TV Y-10, movie PG This one made me laugh right off the bat. I liked the way they used foreshadowing on the dead alarm clock to show the strength of the main character. Setting up the story with a chase scene gave us insight into the characters' personalities. Especially the use of internalized, imagined backstory on the grandma. The animators did a great job of showing us how they think instead of the drawn-out monologue so many shows use to explain actions. When we finally got to the fight scene, we knew enough about the characters' styles from their movements during the chase scene, that we were unsurprised and delighted to watch them fight. Top notch animation paired with synced music sequences set the mood. It was just a really fun show to watch.