COLUMBUS, Ohio — Local anime fan Darren Jeffries strongly recommended the recent series Danjonmonsutā: I Love Crushing Dungeon Monsters to his friends, including only roughly seventy percent caveats and excuses for the problems that plague the majority of seasonal anime.
Jeffries first praised the show for its inventive premise, which took only the first two episodes of exposition to become even slightly cogent to the average viewer.
“They have some charts and text on the ad bumpers that help clear it up,” said Jeffries, “and they end up changing the whole direction of the plot later on, so you don’t need to worry about it too much.”
Jeffries went on to discuss the sharp character writing, which makes excellent use of a likable cast of nebulously aged girls in outlandishly sexualized attire.
“The bits with Naru-chan in the torn swimsuit and handcuffs aren’t very long,” he assured, “and they’re sandwiched between some truly beautiful scenes about the nature of loneliness and what it really means to connect to other people.”
Between heaping compliments on the show’s distinct visual style and breathtaking shot composition, Jeffries only had to stop briefly to address the concerning stories of the show’s director posting unhinged, antisemitic rants on social media.
“I mean, he’s just one guy, and a lot of other people worked hard on the show that don’t share any of his views on the Jewish people, and only some of his views on the problems with homosexuality,” said Jeffries, before quickly changing subjects.
While he admitted the show ran out of budget for the animation sequences about halfway through, Jeffries insisted it was “not all that noticeable.”
“It actually lets them get more abstract and creative, since they don’t get distracted making it look or sound good,” he said of the final and most important scenes in the twelve episode series. “I heard they might do an OVA later that redoes the last two episodes, but puts in all the visuals and story they wanted to do originally.”
At press time, Jeffries was gushing about the series’ opening theme and title sequence, noting that “the bubbles flying by cover all of their important bits, so it’s not that bad.”
