Jeez, some shows sure are a load of dirt. Jinsei definitely counts among the worst shows I’ve reviewed for ANN, lacking the fundamental sadism of something like Psycho-Pass 2, but more than making up for that in pure bland mediocrity. As I say in the review, Jinsei is one of those shows you watch and then feel you’ve consumed nothing at all. Thanks for nothing, Jinsei.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my fatigued notes below!

Episode 1

Jeez, this show’s animation and designs sure are ostentatiously bad

A super bottom-of-the-barrel production, it seems

And the comedy is equally bland. Aaand the characters. Here we’ve got our textbook ice queen

An expert from each school division

The humor is incredibly mild, and it’s just dragged out through explanation

One dude and some cute girls

They’re teaming up to dictate the school’s self-help newspaper column

Already arguing about their different philosophies, which is actually pretty solid. They certainly have personalities!

This sequence about trying to set up an indecisiveness club is actually a solid gag

Wow, water balloon contest in the first episode. This show isn’t wasting any time

Wet t-shirt time

I like that the characters are following up on each other’s absurdism. Far better than just pointing it out

Ah good, time for a boob-groping scene

I also like that the cast are already friends

And now a “the benefits of skinship” sequence. This show is certainly a lot more horny than most slice of life shows

The show has a solid sense of light absurdity throughout

I also like the low-key deadpan of the MC

“Pick someone and take them on a date.” So the main two are already in romcom territory

Heroine just starts rambling about fatalism. This isn’t really chemistry – the two of them have nothing in common

Episode 2

More reasonable conversations attached to generic fanservice. I like the arts girl’s explanation for how fortune telling helps her relax

I also like these random other-show fantasies

Getting into a classic “stuck under the table with the girl” scenario. This show is basically half slice of life, half harem

Time for groping, apparently

This show has been sticking pretty closely to its question-based structure

Wow, the show just slowly lingers on these fanservice shots even when nothing else is going on. Fanservice is pretty huge in this show

It’s all relatively tame, but it kinda kills the show’s aspirations as far as slice of life goes

All of the humor is just standard genre comedy. Characters talking in terms of light novel tropes, etc

Love interest girl doesn’t know much about presents

Looks like they’re throwing her a surprise party or something

Yep

Rino’s her name

Episode 3

Christ these jokes are bad. Very, very self-aware, typical “let’s talk about harem antics” stuff

This show’s pacing is so disjointed

“Who are these mob characters?”

A rival advice columnist

“I won’t be outdone by Ikumi’s shortness!”

The three main heroines are all just their types – just tsundere, just sporty/genki, just ojou. And they all have the same Anime sense of humor, so when they go to the ojou’s house, they all comment on her boob development in her family photos

This show has no animation

More generic woman-saving

God, Rino is such a tedious character. Could someone be more of an archetype

Episode 4

A beach episode, which in this show means heavy fanservice and not much else

All of this show’s jokes and narrative turns are such default anime. It barely exists

Welp, another breast grab. This show

“I know I’m a G-cup, but I may be down to an F-cup now.” Basically sums up this show’s dialogue

Mohawk wants MC to peek in the bath

Wow, a whole sequence dedicated to spying on the girls using advanced peeking systems. This is definitely endearing me to the protagonist

Episode 5

Stuff is actually happening! A competition between the advice columns!

The lecherous monk. I guess this part is supposed to be funny

More comments on missing the manzai punchline. Commenting on how manzai routines should proceed is possibly the only thing worse than manzai routines

I guess if you really like basic manzai routines, basic anime archetypes, self-aware commentary, and fanservice, this show has stuff for you

God, the MC is so condescending. But really it’s the show itself

Christ, it’s over

Episode 6

Someone burned up their question box. Narrative!

This show is so boring let me die

They’re stalking Sports, because they think she has a boyfriend. This is a default narrative

The guy is a local superhero

This old-fashioned anime OP is a good idea, but somewhat hampered by this show’s awful art and animation

HHH, a secret society, burned their box

Episode 7

This Koganen sentai stuff feels pretty out of place

Time to think up conversation starters

I actually like this conflict – having Sports’ formative superhero influence be this washed-up dude who was just doing a lousy neighborhood production is a nicely human issue

And the final joke was actually good! The absurd reframing of his questions followed by the very long deadpan shot at the end. Humor!

Suddenly MC is the second generation Koganen

Wow, this episode’s a big improvement in general. A fair number of actually inventive jokes, like this massage sequence

The secret society invented a giant robot that disposes of your porn if you die. That’s pretty solidly ridiculous

Episode 8

School festival time

Every episode of this show feels exactly the same. Such an incredibly tedious experience

And of course, that’s kind of fundamental to slice of life – but that’s why these shows need humor, or mood, or animation, or SOMETHING

The MC dude decides they should make a real life board game for the festival

The student council president is apparently a villain. It’s a girl though, so eventually she’ll be seduced by the MC in some way

They’re still throwing in advice requests. This show has zero focus

More talking about breasts, closeups of breasts

Episode 9

They need to stop the occult club from being weird

A stupid competition between science and the occult

Hypnotizing Science Girl to find out who she likes. Look, there’s only one non-villain male in this whole show

Wow, what a lazy use of the silent confession trope

Time for molestation fanservice

Science Girl likes the MC, but they have no chemistry. She likes him because he’s the male lead. Neither of them are anywhere close to being people

The show’s alternate style vignettes are easily its strongest element – Ojou’s fantasies, or their various other ideas about solutions

Oh no, their festival application has been overruled

Episode 10

In order to preserve their spot in the festival, they have to cheer up the school’s “Negative Four”

This show has a fairly limited number of genre musical cues – “mystery,” “suspense,” “wackiness,” “ecchi”

Wow, they relate the actual board game through a montage? I’d figure that’d be the one interesting thing this show could do

Oh no, Science tripped and fell into his arms

Episode 11

Apparently the leader got them all together to break some story about the student council president’s corruption

The show’s comedy relies heavily on loud noises and random references

This one “suspense” music cue sure is getting a workout

Their new scheme is pretty much exactly Miss Congeniality

More boob comparison jokes

Emi’s personality is “the pervert,” I guess

Episode 12

Sports is competing in the beauty contest

Episode 13

They want to have Sports throw the contest to prove it’s rigged

Their stupid plan was defeated

The show isn’t any better at storytelling than it is at not-storytelling