Flowers Of Evil (2013*/**)/Girls und Panzer: das Finale: Part 2 (2019*)/Happy-Go-Lucky Days (2020*)/Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Season One (2017*/**)/Nakaimo My Little Sister Is Among Them! (2012 - 2013*/**)/RWBY: Vol. 8 (2020 - 2021/Warner Blu-ray)/Rent-A-Girlfriend (2020/*all (**Complete Collection) Sentai Blu-rays)

Picture: C/B+/B+/A-/B+/B+/B+ Sound: C/C+/B+/B+/B+/B+/C+ Extras: D/C/D/C/C/A/C Main Programs: C+/B/B/B+/B+/B+/B+

Here's a new group of Anime for you to check into, including a couple of reissues....

After Kasuga gets caught by his classmate Nakamura in stealing Saeki's gym clothes, she blackmails him into entering a 'contract' with her. Afraid of Nakamura of telling the truth to the rest of the class, Kasuga agrees. Unfortunately, Nakamura is the black sheep of the class and orders Kasuga to do follow dark desires and more acts of perversion. Kasuga and Nakamura's 'relationship' quickly snowballs and soon involves Kasuga's object of desire, Saeki. Saeki, finds out about Kasuga and she turns out to not be as perfect as she seems and she, Nakamura and Kasuga enter a twisted three-way relationship of 'evil' in Flowers Of Evil (2013.)

Kasuga was a regular high school student and has a crush on the most beautiful girl in the class, Saeki ...until one day he steals her used gym clothes. Unfortunately for him, he was caught by Nakamura, Nakamura is totally convinced people is full of s#$% and all men are dogs in heat, and she is determined to prove that by blackmailing Kasuga into becoming her slave. She pulls Kasuga into the world of perversion and encourages Kasuga continue with more dark acts of desires. Kasuga ends up dating Saeki, but Nakamura forces Kasuga to do more acts of sexual perversion while dating her.

Saeki eventually finds out about the truth about Kasuga, but instead of rejecting him she acknowledges him and becomes jealous of his relationship with Nakamura. Kasuga at first feels guilty for stealing Saeki's clothes, his relationship with Nakamura develops into a twisted symbiosis, sympathy and trying to understand why Nakamura is making him do these things.

This is a dark anime and definitely not for kids, the characters are traumatized and people are damaged goods and they believe human nature is inherently evil. The anime was made after the live action movie version and they used rotoscoping to make the animation. The anime style looks totally different from the manga style and the plot ended at halfway through the manga version. The series is a reflection of the dark desires in Japanese culture and how it happens more often in real life than people think. Extras includes trailers, while episodes include:

Episode 1: Kasuga has a crush on the most beautiful girl in class Saeki and is into dark French literature. One day he finds a chance to steal Saeki's used gym clothes.

Episode 2: Kasuga steals Saeki's clothes. Nakamura tells Kasuga she saw him and blackmails him. She creates the situation of Kasuga bumping into Saeki's breast and orders him to write about it.

Episode 3: Kasuga resist Nakamura's order and then Nakamura forces Kasuga to wear Saeki's stolen clothes. Nakamura is accused of a theft, but Kasuga steps up as her alibi and defends her.

Episode 4: Saeki admires Kasuga for standing up and protecting Nakamura. Kasuga works up the courage to ask her out. Nakamura orders Kasuga to wear her clothes underneath while on their date.

Episode 5: Kasuga enjoys a normal date with Saeki until Nakamura pours water over Kasuga making his clothes transparent and for Saeki seeing he's wearing her clothes underneath. Kasuga runs away before Saeki sees.

Episode 6: Kasuga and Saeki are an official couple. Nakamura gets close to Saeki and then tempts Kasuga by telling him that Saeki is a nympho and wants to have sex with him.

Episode 7: Saeki beings wondering what Kasuga's relationship with Nakamura is. Nakamura and Kasuga talks and later that night vandalize their classroom.

Episode 8: Kasuga and the rest of the school face the aftermath of his actions. Saeki learns that Kasuga is involved up to his neck.

Episode 9: Saeki refuses to accept Kasuga is bad and confronts him. Kasuga's mom finds out his involvement with the incident at the school.

Episode 10: Kasuga and Nakamura goes up to the mountains, Saeki follows them and then Nakamura forces him to undress and Kasuga is forced to choose between the two. Kasuga is unable to decide and they are brought home by the police.

Episode 11: After a month, it seems things have cooled down. Kasuga and Saeki have broken up. Kasuga dreams of Nakamura.

Episode 12: Kasuga writes a letter to Nakamura, but she refuses it. Kasuga goes to Nakamura house and meet her father who tells him he is her only friend.

Episode 13: Kasuga discover Nakamura's diary and her obsession him. She feels better when she makes him feel worse. Nakamura returns and discovers Kasuga with her diary and she then runs away. Kasuga chases down Nakamura and tells her this time she will make a contract with him.

The girls of Oarai Company continue to fight in their out dated tanks in the Caterpillar Tread Cup. Their next opponents are the BC Freedom Academy girls and then Chi-Ha-Tan Academy. Each company uses different types of tanks and each battle is on different terrains in Girls und Panzer: das Finale: Part 2 (2019)

Those Oarai Academy gals and company are a group of misfit girls with miss-matched tanks and are the underdogs of all the tank schools. On board their gigantic mega-city size ship, each company battles one another for rank, prestige and glory, but no matter win or lose the girls of Oarai Academy will never give up and will go into battle marching and singing while firing their cannons. In their battle with BC Freedom Academy, they fight in a giant maze hedge garden. While fighting Chi-Ha-Tan Academy they fight in a jungle and must find a way to stop their guerrilla tactics.

This is a fun little series about cute little loli's driving tanks and having mock battle with live ammunition. As the battles get more serious, they show it's not always the tanks with the biggest cannons that win and in tank battles there are complex tank tactics. Extras include clean opening and closing animations, Taiyaki War OVA, Japanese promo and trailers.

Sex. Life wouldn't exist without it and yet it seems like the biggest taboo and things people talk about. Like life and love and war, anything can happen and love sometimes finds itself in the oddest of places. Three short stories tell the sweet tales of several couples. First, two lesbians meet at a former girlfriend's wedding. Second, a teacher wonders about his own sexuality when a student confesses to him on his graduation day. Lastly, 2 childhood friends learn about love and sex from an older cousin that was in an adult video in Happy-Go-Lucky Days (2020.)

During a wedding, two girls meet and the rant about their former girlfriend they both dated and was both dumped afterwards, and while bitter about their past, they are still grateful because of their past they have now found each other. A young male teacher has one of his male students confess his attraction to him on his graduation day gets the teacher into thinking maybe he is gay if he hasn't gotten married yet. Finally, two childhood sweet hearts get thrown into the adult world when the girl meets the boy's older cousin who was in an adult sex video, she suspects the boy is in love with his older female cousin and she became curious in having sex and doing adult things with the boy.

This was a very cute anime about people coming out, finding love and exploring their sexuality. There is actually very little sex in the three stories but nothing too adult. It comes off more like a coming-of-age stories and still has a refreshing and innocence about them. It does not treat sex as a bad thing, but just a natural thing that happens. Extras includes trailers.

Welcome to Hyakkaou Private Academy for the children of the elite, powerful and rich, where everything controlled and decided by gambling. The Student Council reigns as the top of the school's hierarchy being the best gamblers and controls all the students and gambling in the school. Students can bet their entire fortunes to increase their wealth, status, their future, even their lives. However, if you are not winning, you are losing and if you lose and fall into debt you become 'House Pets' and are no better than a slave and treated like a plaything in Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Season One (2017.)

Jabami Yumeko is a compulsive gambler and at arriving at Hyakkaou Private Academy immediately begins gambling. She loves gambling and the more she risks and gamble the more she gets orgasmic pleasure from it, her eyes glow red when she becomes serious. At first, others thought she was an easy target, but turns out Yumeko is fearless when it comes to gambling and a very high-level player. She is able to figure out and see how others are stacking the deck and cheating to win and then she turns the tables on them. Yumeko becomes on purpose a 'House Pet' because a House Pet has one perk, the right to challenge the Student Council to an official gambling match. She frees others who have become House Pets while turning those who controlled them into pets themselves. The Student Council sees Yumeko as a danger and threat that could destroy their entire system.

This series is definitely for a more mature audience, it's subject and topics border on adult topics and mature themes, including sadistic and sexualization of characters, prostitution, torture and even slavery. The main protagonist is what people would call an anti-hero, she does the right thing, but should not be a role model for others. Extras include Maid Cafe Shorts, clean opening and closing animations and trailers.

Episodes include:

A Woman Named Yumeko Jabami: Yumeko arrives at Hyakkaou Academy and she challenges the best in the class, Mary. At first, she loses, but in the final hand she reveals how Mary is cheating and turns the tables on her and wins.

A Boring Woman: Mary becomes a House Pet after losing to Yumeko and Yumeko's reputation begins to spread. She is challenged next by Sumeragi, a rich heiress of a toy company. Yumeko loses the first round again, but then comes back in the second round after figuring out Sumeragi has marked the cards.

Slit-Eyed Woman: Yumeko challenges Nishinotoin, a student council member next but then reveals she is cheating by using magnets with the game pieces, but then, the student council appears just before Yumeko is about to win and suddenly turns the table. Yumeko, while she can't prove, reveals that the room they played in is a trick room and no matter what, the student council is cheating. Yumeko becomes a 'House Pet'.

The Woman Who Became a House Pet: The Student Council creates a gambling contest in which students can exchange debt with others. Yumeko teams up with Mary to gamble against a sadistic male student named Jun who loves to sexually harass female house pets.

The Woman Who Became Human: Yumeko reveals Jun is forcing his house pet Nanami to help him cheat and encourages Nanami to betray him to see Jun lose. Nanami betrays Jun and Jun ends up losing and getting Yumeko's 310 Million debt and he becomes a house pet himself, Yumeko takes Mary's 50 million debt and Mary becomes free from being a House Pet.

Inviting Woman: Despite having enough money to clear off her debt, Yumeko remains a house pet making others realize she doing it so she can challenge the student council to an official school match. Yumeko is then challenged by Midari, the student council beautification member to a game of cards mixed with Russian roulette.

Refusing Woman: Yumeko reveals that playing with Midari is no fun because of how easily she figured out which is the loaded gun and which cards are the winning hand. Yumeko then further reveals Midari doesn't care about winning or losing, she simply gets orgasmic when betting/risking her own life and that Yumeko life was never in danger.

Idol Woman: Yumeko is challenged next by Yumemi, the student council idol and she offers to clear Yumeko's debt in a gambling match. However, if Yumeko loses, she must join Yumemi as an idol unit. Yumeko agrees to play, but instead she has a recording of Yumemi of how she actually hates being an idol and she is disgusting with her fans.

Starry-Eyed Woman: Yumeko and Yumemi compete in an idol match and in the end Yumeko wins. Then, Yumeko reveals everything was set up by the student council treasurer Kaede, if Yumemi won, they would of taken care of the Yumeko problem, if Yumeko won, Kaede would have had one less rival for the Student Council President. Yumeko then challenges Kaede to an official match.

Deciding Woman: Yumeko and Kaede plays a no-limit poker match in which they can pick strong or weak hand wins and she simply reveals whoever has the last hand gets to pick and has the advantage.

The Woman Who Bets Her Life: Yumeko teams up with Sumeragi to borrow more money to add to the pot. Yumeko, Sumeragi and Kaede all end up betting their family fortunes and their futures. Yumeko wins when she reveals she figured out Kaede's betting behaviors. Kaede loses his student council seat and then Student Council President Kirari challenges Yumeko to a match.

and Gambling Woman: Yumeko and Kirari gamble in a game of cards with Tarot Cards in which loser has to leave the school, but then it is revealed how the Student Council has marked the Joker/Wild card. Yumeko had a chance to win, but then she says it's no fun to play with marked cards. Instead, she asks Ryota to pick a random card and the match ends in a tie and both of them gets to stay. Kirari decides to dissolve and rebuild the student council system, while Yumeko continues be the school's dark horse compulsive gambler.

Shogo is the heir to the worldwide conglomerate Mikadono group and after his father died, in order to claim the inheritance his late father given him the condition to find a girl to marry at Miryuin Private Academy. However, a mysterious phone call then comes to Shogo, that he has a mysterious long-lost sister and she is also attending the same school as him, and she wants to marry him too. Now, Shogo has to find the girl of his dreams, but he also has to figure out which one is his sister, but since she won't tell him who she is, is the girl he is falling for actually his sister?

In Nakaimo My Little Sister Is Among Them! (2012 - 2013,) Shogo is also considered the catch for all the girls at Miryuin Private Academy, a school for rich heiresses. He gets a mysterious visit at his father's funeral and later a phone call with a girl claiming to be an illegitimacy child of his late father, that she has fallen for him and she vows to become the 'one' without revealing she is. Without saying, Shogo realizes if the world found out it would be a scandal and tarnish the company name. As Shogo seeks to find his partner for life, he becomes worried that he will commit a taboo if he doesn't discover who is his sister first.

This was a romantic comedy with girls falling head over heels for the protagonist while he tries to figure out which one is his real sister. As he gets closer to the girls in the series, the girls learn of his 'little' sister issue and tries to use that to their advantage and become his 'little' sister, but then who is the REAL sister? Extras include clean opening and closing animations and trailers, while episodes include:

The Voice of My Unfamiliar Little Sister: Shogo meets Konoe and Miyabi and wonder if he has met them before in the past and could one of them be his little sister?

My Sister and the Moonlit Dance: Shogo meets Mei who runs a little sister cafe, she seems to know the truth about his past. Another rival appears for Shogo the vice president Rinka.

My Sister's Seduction: Konoe and Miyabi tries and 'help' Shogo to be interested in girls, they flirt with him as his 'little sisters' during the day and at night the undress and sleep with him, since they are 'little sisters' it is Ok.

My Sister's Hero is Her Big Brother: Shogo tries to figure out who is his little sister with a prototype voice changer on their phones. Both Konoe and Miyabi reveal they have met Shogo in the past and they both confess they are in love with him and decide to openly fight for Shogo to see who is the better girlfriend.

My Little Sister Won't Let Me Sleep: Shogo becomes sleep deprived and sleeps at school in Mei's secret room at school. There he learns about Mei's cafe, the Lyrical Sisters Cafe and he learns more about the prototype phone his sister is using.

My Maid Sister Have Cat Ears: Shogo helps save Mei's failing cafe and returns it to profitability and she now wants to marry him too, then he learns Mei is connected to his past and the creation of the voice changing phone and she knows who his real sister is.

My Little Sister is Disciplined and Beautiful: Shogo tries to get a DNA test of Konoe and Miyabe to rule out if they are sisters, then someone threatens over the PA if he is to look anymore into who is his sister they will reveal his secret, that his sister identity is to remain a secret.

My Sister Resisted: Shogo goes on a date with Rinka and Mana and she reveals she is the one who threaten to reveal secrets, but not of Shogo, but of her father who wanted to use the secret of his little sister to blackmail Shogo's family company.

Surprise Attack! Little Sister Warning!: A mysterious girl named Yuzurina moves next door to Shogo and openly claims to be his little sister. However, Shogo has been suspecting, now that people know he has an illegitimate sister, they will try to use that to their advantage?

My Blooming Sisters: Shogo invites all five girls to a company party to prove he can handle the company as well as figure out who his sister is. However, he then overhears that a rival company has hired someone to cause a scandal to disgrace the company.

My Sister's Trap: Yuzurina reveals she is the one who was at Shogo's father's funeral, then, Shogo tracks down the locations of all the girls during his father's funeral and realize Yuzurina is not his real sister, that she was a hired actress and she was the one who was hired to cause a scandal.

My Sister Was Always Beside Me: Shogo reveals that Miyabi is his real sister that she remained a secret to prevent a scandal, but he isn't going to leave her but instead protect her. That their relationship doesn't mean she has to leave, but they are closer because they are real brother and sister. However, that doesn't stop the girls from still fighting over Shogo on who gets to marry him.

and Brother, Sister, Lover (OVA): Now that Miyabi is revealed to be Shogo's real sister, the girls go on a group date to compete who will be Shogo's future wife. In the end they all still want Shogo and all of them chase after Shogo while wearing wedding dresses!

The worst comes to past as Salem awakens and it is all out war in Atlas, but things get worst when the General Ironwood has pulled back the military and left people of Mantle to fend for themselves. Now, both the Grimm and the military are fighting to get control of the ancient relics of unlimited power to decide who is winner. Meanwhile, Team RWBY must now find a way to save not only the citizens from Salem, but also from a mad military director in RWBY: Vol. 8 (2020 - 2021.)

Team RWBY and their friends are a group of hunters and huntresses who hunt and fight the Grimm, monsters that appear out of nowhere and attack the Kingdom of Remnant. The truth is finally revealed that Grimm are not just mindless monsters, but controlled by Salem who wants the power of the relics to free herself from her immortal curse. Salem is cursed to be immortal, to die and be reborn again and again to suffer. She believes only the power of the relics will finally free her, but the mad General Ironwood is power hungry and wants the relics for only himself, he only cares that he remains in power in his floating military city of Atlas.

Both the Grimm and the military secretly helped with the destruction of the Academy of the Hunters and Huntresses, the only real force fighting against the Grimm and the military was over confident that their technology could stop the Grimm. Team RWBY and the remaining hunters and huntresses are made of students from all around the world and they must all learn to set aside their differences, races, countries and homeland if any of them are to survive.

Salem has control of one of the Maiden's powers the Military wants the control of remain Maiden's power, because only with the Maiden's power can they access the ancient relics. Team RWBY, hunters and huntresses make the decision to help evacuate and save the citizens but then they are forced to make the ultimate sacrifice to buy time for the people to escape.

This was an action-packed series fill with action, adventure and fantasy. The series is like a mix of CGI, video games and anime references mixed in. The series' art and animation has improved since the beginning, but most likely they got a bigger budget with its growing fan base. Extras include CRWBY photos, RTX Panel, Talk CRWBY to Me, Script 2 Screen, Grimm Campaign and an audio commentary.

After getting dumped by his girlfriend, Kazuya discovers 'rent-a-girlfriend', a service where girls pretend to be their girlfriend for a day for money. He meets Chizuru and she is the vision of the perfect girlfriend, unfortunately things get complicated when Kazuya and Chizuru are both seen together by their grandmothers and they think they are a real couple. Things get even more complicated when Kazuya discover is also his next-door neighbor, but also his classmate and now their friends also think they are dating. But can they keep up all the lies, or does Kazuya have a chance and Chizuru become his real girlfriend?

In Rent-A-Girlfriend (2020,) Kazuya is your typical wishy-washy boy with no clue on how to treat a girl. He is down in the dumps when he meets Chizuru, a girl who works as a rent-a-girlfriend. Things get complicated when their personal lives start crossing into each other. Chizuru is beautiful, kind and the picture-perfect girlfriend, but that is her job, and she helps Kazuya get over his ex-girlfriend, but his ex-girlfriend Mami become suspicious of Chizuru and doesn't like Kazuya getting over her and then she pretends to wants him back.

As Kazuya and Chizuru relationship becomes more complex, so does their lies to keep up their appearances. Eventually, Kazuya develops feelings for Chizuru, but does she feel the same? Chizuru remains professional about her job, she wants Kazuya to find real love, but can she really not feel jealous when she starts seeing Kazuya with other girls?

This is your typical romantic comedy in anime about boy meets girl and how they keep getting into situations that get misunderstood. Things get more complicated until finally the two protagonists realize they have crossed the boundaries of more than just friendship and they have become more than friends. Extras include clean opening and closing animations and trailers.

Episode include:

Rent-a-Girlfriend: After getting dumped, Kazuya meets Chizuru through rent-a-girlfriend, but then their grandmothers catch them together and think they are dating for real.

Ex-Girlfriend and Girlfriend: Chizuru agrees to be Kazuya's rent-a-girlfriend once a week for the sake of their grandmothers, then they are caught together by Kazuya's classmates and ex-girlfriend.

Beach and Girlfriend: Kazuya and his friends go to the beach and they run into Chizuru. Mami, Kazuya ex-girlfriend becomes jealous of Chizuru being more popular than her and wants to break up Kazuya and Chizuru by pretending she likes Kazuya again.

Friends and Girlfriend: Kazuya is torn between Chizuru and Mami, and totally clueless of the truth. At first, Chizuru and Kazuya plan to break off and end their relationship, but when Chizuru get sick and falls overboard, Kazuya rescues her, making others think they are real boyfriend and girlfriend.

Hot Springs and Girlfriend: Kazuya and Chizuru's grandmothers play match maker for them and fix them together for one night together at a hot springs resort. Both Kazuya and Chizuru don't want to tell their grandmothers the truth and hurt them, but they are unable to find the right moment to tell them the truth so they continue their 'relationship'.

Girlfriend and Girlfriend: Kazuya and Chizuru run into Kazuya's classmate and his new girlfriend Ruka. Ruka sees through Kazuya and Chizuru's relationship because she is also a rent-a-girlfriend and she confronts them.

Provisional Girlfriend and Girlfriend: Ruka has a low heart rate condition and she discover Kazuya is the first person who gives her an elevated response. She confesses to Kazuya and Chizuru that she likes Kazuya and want to become his real girlfriend, which leaves Kazuya conflicted and Chizuru puzzled.

Christmas and Girlfriend: It's Christmas and Kazuya catches Chizuru out with someone else and gets extremely jealous, but then discovers Chizuru dream is to become an actress and she was with a co-actor.

Lies and Girlfriend: Ruka returns and shows up at a family get together with Kazuya's family along with Chizuru and claims that she is Kazuya's girlfriend, shocking everyone. Kazuya and Chizuru manage to convince Kazuya's family Ruka is lying. But Ruka points out she is the solution to Kazuya and Chizuru's problem if she becomes the girlfriend.

Friend's Girlfriend: In order to help his friend, Kazuya asks Chizuru tell the truth to his friends and be their rent-a-girlfriend for a day to help cheer him up. After discovering the truth, they ask Chizuru is it possible for rent-a-girlfriends to fall in love for real with a client, but Chizuru's answer is vague. Chizuru then asks Kazuya to help another rent-a-girlfriend with getting over a shyness problem.

Truth and Girlfriend: Kazuya helps Sumi get over being shy with being a rent-a-girlfriend, but then Mami his ex-girlfriend discovers Kazuya has been using rent-a-girlfriend.

and Confession and Girlfriend: Mami confronts Chizuru about her being a rent-a-girlfriend and both of them question each other if they are serious about Kazuya. Kazuya secretly overhears them and hears Chizuru confess that she is Kazuya's girlfriend. Later, Kazuya meets Chizuru and confess he still wants to be with her ...with her as his rent-a-girlfriend.

Now for playback performance. All seven releases are here in 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers and Flowers is a reissue of a title issued years ago and it looks and sounds like the same transfer, which disappointed me. Otherwise, these all look as good as they ever will in this format and some should get 4K editions at some point.

As for sound, most of the Sentais offer Japanese DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes, with Kakegurui, Nakaimo, and Rent offering lesser English dubs in DTS-MA Stereo, Happy and Panzer offering DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 Japanese lossless mixes, Panzer adding a lesser English DTS-MA 5.1 lossless mix, though the Japanese is much better. RWBY offering its DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix only in English. Flowers is the poorest sonically, with Panzer and Rent a little underwhelming. Otherwise, the Japanese soundtracks and RWBY play very well.

- Ricky Chiang