Endro~!

JRPG is a beautiful gaming genre with a rich culture and history tracing back to the days of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Endro feels like a JRPG except here, we have an absurd set of characters united together for defeating the great Demon King. Wait, does this sound familar to anyone? Now I’m a bit of a sucker for cute girls doing cute things. Yes, it gets repetitive sometimes but everyone needs a dose of that cute and fuzzy feeling sometimes, right? Every season has one in some shape or form. Endro focuses on a more unorthodox way of showing its ‘cute girls doing cutethings’ formula by taking on a high class fantasy theme. It’s not truly an isekai so don’t expect truck-kun to appear in the first episode. Rather, I see Endro as an interactive JRPG style adventure about a group of charming characters. There’s no official rule but most viewers could probably find one particular character they enjoy watching more than others. The term ‘best girl’ would be used. Taking place known as Naral Island, we are introduced to a small yet colorful cast of adventurers – Yulia Chardiet (Yuusha), Ellenoar Seiran (Seira), Fai Fai (Fai), and Mather Enderstto (Mei). They make up the bulk of the main cast while we are also told about the Demon Lord, a character named Mao who became a small girl after a complicated spell goes wrong. Taking the job as a teacher at school, she makes an immediate impression with her cunning personality. But don’t be alarmed. This really isn’t some fantasy war story that involves bloodshed, revenge, politics, or anything complicated like that. It’s a slice of life with each episode containing a misadventure of its own. Watching Endro reminds me of how simple a fantasy slice of life should be. From the first episodes, there’s probably going to be a make or break depending on how you approach the style of this series. The comedy is evident with the silliness and naivety of the main cast. Yuusha and the others aren’t aware that their arch nemesis is right in front of them. Meanwhile, Mao continuously plot to get these girls expelled but often somehow end up in failure. The show also takes a good amount of time to show its fictional themes that you would find in any JRPG game. Armor, weapons, spells, character class, dungeons, you name it. Anyone who has ever set foot into a JRPG game should be familiar with these mechanics although Endro makes more of a parody out of it. Still, I have to really have to praise the character cast as they are not only able to carry the show with their personalities but also made the show much more entertaining than it should be. Starting off, Yuusha is the vibrant girl with a ton of energy and spirit. My first impression of her is that she is capable of being a leader despite being a bit airheaded. She is determined to defeat the Demon Lord and takes it upon herself to be a “hero”. Next, there’s Mei, my favorite character in the show for her unpredictable nature and knowledge of magic cards. You know, a party can’t survive together without her skills. Fai has the role of the warrior class and she isn’t afraid to demonstrate it. Serving as the “muscle” of the party, she’s the one monsters should fear in their adventures. Finally, we’ll come to understand Seira, the knowledgeable elven priest who is perhaps the most cautious of the group. Combining their skills together, this seems like a formidable party. However, it’s obvious the show wants to explore the slice of life content with its social aspects. Outside of their quests, the main girls interact with each other with high quality dosage of appealing character chemistry. I say this with strong confidence because each character in Yuusha’s party stands out on their own. Whether it’s for pure comic relief or with witty dialogues, I never once grew bored just watching these characters be themselves. On the other hand, I also find it quite hysterical to see Mao’s ambitions that sometimes jump way over her head. Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that you’ll find a special character bond between the main characters. You may asking yourself it this show is so lighthearted or "plot lacking", then what’s really the point of watching? I actually asked myself that originally but then realized it’s for the pure enjoyment. Seriously, don’t overthink yourself when watching Endro. It’s a show that’s built with humor, parodies, JRPG gags, and variety. I emphasize all these as you should watch the anime with an relaxed mind. The criticism can easily be directed to the underdeveloped characters and weak “plot”. But when I watch Endro, I never really focus on that as the show didn't advertise itself so. Fantasy JRPGs are hard to embrace for some fans and it’s no surprise. In our world, we are too enticed by overly complex storytelling shows or those that made an influence in others. Yet, the more I watched Endro, the more I see how sometimes, a simple collection of ideas is all you need to entertain yourself.

Endro~! is D&D ( Dungeons & Dragons ) loli version. I can't overlook that fact. It just feels so relatable. The cliches, the eccentricities, the facetious. This anime feels like it was made by a Dungeon Master with care. Providing the players with the greatest of jubilation. The show is kawaii. And as I was watching the show, I felt contented. It felt like an adventure brimming of everlasting happiness. An adventure that I will never forget no matter how much I try to forget about it. A group of cute girls trailing the hero-demon lord cliche route with convulsing comedies. This anime was sosimple yet its simplicity is its brilliance. Endro is truly a hidden gem of winter 2019. I'm quite surprised by its low rating, but I do understand why it is that way. The ending doesn't hold any power in it - in summary, it was bland. It felt something along the lines of "Oh. So it'll be over that way? ok.". Not really what I wanted after all the laughs and cries I had as I watched this show. But.. doudemo ii.. The show was still very fun and meant a lot to me. This show is highly recommended for those who enjoy CGDCT. But even if you're not one of those people like me, you could also start the show if you're a fan or have ever played D&D. This show might relate. And lastly, if you want Yuri. There's kind of Yuri inside this show so watch it if you want some Yuri.

As the reviews say: surprisingly good. This is my dark horse for the season. This was the anime that I didn't expect to be any good at all. Especially the first bit of the first episode, the fight with the demon lord and then the credits. I thought it was going to be terrible. But the more I watched it, this anime felt really refreshing and kind of original. The concepts and everything were great and I haven't stumbled across in the other animes that I've watched. There are many moments where the incidents are crazy enough to be funny. I'm not the type to just likea show because "cute girls doing stuff" Non Non Biyori for example I just found to be a bore and then Aho Girl was a bit too psycho. I really thought that Egao no Daika was going to be dark horse of the season as the anime with the low rating that turned out to be great. It was, until it fell flat on it's face trying to wrap up a larger story in 12 episodes. My dark horse for last season was Akanesasu Shoujo, I have a review for it if anyone wants to know why before dismissing this. Overall, I think this is above average and deserves an 8. Characters that you can like, incidents that are crazy and enjoyable. The ED is good as well.

Endro has to easily be the comfiest show of the season. If you are in for a light-hearted and heart-warming anime that will leave you with a smile on your face at the end of each episode, you have stumbled across the right show. Ah yes, the CGDCT genre. This time we feature cute girls doing cute hero things. I don’t think I generally lean towards the “fantasy” side of anime (although there are exceptions), this show definitely uses the cute girls to make it feel just different enough from other fantasy genre anime. I think the blend of the two certainly felt fresh in it’sown respect. Although I have not seen it at this point, Konosuba takes this approach, but from what I understand has more fantasy leaning intentions as compared to this show. It is a lot more focused on the cute girls aspect and they just happen to be in this fantasy world. Story: 6/10 - I’m kind of conflicted on the score of the story as it was warm, but there wasn’t too much going on and felt a bit generic as much as it can. I felt if anything was lacking from this anime, it would have been the consistency of the story aspect (although it tried to cover it up in the last episode, but that’s okay because it was super effective). Not bad, just nothing notable in my mind. Art: 9/10 - What I like about the art in this show is how it impacts my interpretation of the show. You could have thrown in the art from another fantasy show like Konosuba, SAO, or Shield Hero from this season and it would just not have the same effect. As this is more light-hearted, I think the art style had to be different. I think other anime in the fantasy genre tend to lean towards the style of the shows I mentioned earlier as it makes you feel more like you should be there and it is relatively more realistic. The art style found in Endro almost seems like a picture book or a children’s book, like a fairy tail. It felt like I was reading one of those books myself which allowed me to take a different interpretation of the show which had its own charm and appreciation to it. There were some small things that I didn’t like all that much, but definitely not taking away big points from the amazing work it did. Sound: 10/10 - The music in this show was incredibly fun and I would definitely walk away from an episode with one of the songs from the OST in my head. Definitely throwing it up there in my top OSTs of the season. I think the emotions and actions that followed the music was done incredibly well and the mood was set for a fun-filled adventure every time. The OP and ED are both really good and have definitely added the full versions of them to my playlist. The OP feels like a generic CGDCT OP with some hints at fantasy. There’s one part I really enjoy where it shows Princess Rona and has a cool harmony with the main melody and it feels very adventurous. The ED has a very Baroque sense to it. It is light, playful, and really captures the image of a castle and the fantasy idea of the time. It was a touch that I appreciated. Character: 8/10 - The characters were pretty generic and “trope-y” but I liked it. I mean, at this point, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. I know what I enjoy, you know what you enjoy, and nothing stands out too much in this category (with the exception of the main antagonist who actually has some cool plot points). Just trust yourself in this category. Enjoyment: 9/10 - My enjoyment of this show was kind of unstable about 60-70% through the season. It kind of got to a point where I was unsure if it was all leading somewhere (although this kind of attributes to the story score), but it ended just right for me and I was happy with what I saw in the show. I got a comfy show that I could relax to and leave with a smile on my face. A comfy show is an enjoyable show in my opinion. Overall: “Comfy show made me comfy” 8/10

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