(Adapted from my MAL review)
Sometimes, I ask myself, "Why do you subject yourself to this? Do you really think that if you continue to watch bad anime, you'll eventually come to love bad anime?" Believe me when I say that I don't believe that will ever be the case; after all, trash is trash, even if it's yuri trash. The simple fact that it's yuri resulted in a particular anime being added to the list of anime I watched in the Summer 2017 season when it was announced; although I'm straight, I sometimes have a yuri thirst that I need to quench. Thus, if you ask me why I kept watching a netorare (cheating) anime such as this one I'm about to review, the answer is simple; it's yuri. The problem is, however, it's not even good yuri.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my review of "Netsuzou TRap".
Netsuzou TRap revolves around the relationship between Yuma and Hotaru, two best friends who both have boyfriends. In Yuma's case, she just started dating her boyfriend, Takeda; nervous about getting intimate with him, she turns to Hotaru for help. It was at this moment that Yuma realized she messed up, as this resulted in Hotaru kissing her as "practice". Of course, with a title like NTR, it wasn't just going to end there; even with their boyfriends being in the picture, Hotaru keeps "practicing" with Yuma, even though she constantly tells her to stop, even though it's clearly obvious that SHE WANTS IT. Thus, we get the heart-wrenching story of how one toxic relationship shatters all kinds of relationships, both friendships and romantic relationships! Yay! (Just kill me now.)
Now, let me get one thing clear; I don't like netorare or even the very idea of cheating. No matter the genders of the person you're cheating on and the person you're cheating with, it's still a relationship-breaker on both sides, as it results in the loss of an important aspect of a relationship - trust. With that out of the way, I will honestly say that the story of Netsuzou TRap is really bad, without a doubt. Cheating aside, everything within NTR's story feels fake; the actions and thoughts of these characters can be compared to plastic. However, for reasons I cannot even decipher myself, I was intrigued at the same time. Was it because it was yuri, or maybe I just wanted to see Fujiwara or nearly any other character get hit by a bus?
That last sentence actually transitions into the central issue with this anime, which is, of course, its characters. Yuma is pretty much an idiot who can't figure out her growing "feelings" for Hotaru, even though these "feelings" are so shoe-horned in that it just makes me want to slap myself. Hotaru is so much worse, and her actions make me believe that she's actually a succubus in disguise as a human; she constantly seduces Yuma to the point where she thinks she loves her. Their relationship, however, is even worse than the two of them as individual characters; as friends, they're pretty "meh", but everything about their "romantic" relationship is so abrupt and ultimately empty that I consider them to be the worst yuri couple I have ever seen.
There is one character who is worse on his own than Yuma and Hotaru together, and that is Hotaru's "boyfriend", Fujiwara. There is quite a long list of words I could use to describe this character (some of them being not so friendly), but I'm just going to use "manipulative", "heartless", "abusive", "misogynistic", and "unfaithful". Yes, you read that last word right; as if two cheaters wasn't enough, another one had to come into the picture and be even worse of a human being than the other two. With both Hotaru and Fujiwara being horrible human beings, it's clear exactly why they're dating, but that doesn't excuse their relationship also feeling false.
Luckily, the cast of this anime has one saving grace within, however minor this saving grace is, and his name is Takeda. One may compare him to a typical male protagonist in another romance anime, but in comparison to everyone else in this series, he is at least a decent human being; he's kind, sweet, and (for whatever reason) very caring towards Yuma. I even found his relationship with Yuma to be more believable than Yuma's relationship with Hotaru; heck, if Yuma wasn't cheating on Takeda behind his back, I believe that they could have been capable of having a rather healthy relationship! (Note: When you end up aiming for the protagonist of a YURI ANIME to end up with a guy instead, that yuri anime is doing a poor job at being one.) Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Takeda's only purpose in Netsuzou TRap is to constantly be lied to and eventually get his heart broken. What a shame, really.
With all of this being said, is there any other thing about Netsuzou TRap that is at least decent? Well, I guess I can say that the animation is rather lazy, but with this being a short anime from a studio with a not-so-impressive track record (Creators in Pack), this fact doesn't tick me off as much as it should. Let's see, what else.... Oh! Actually, the voice acting isn't too bad; each voice was a good fit for their character, with the best performance going to, surprisingly, Daisuke Ono as Fujiwara. (An impressive voice actor still doesn't excuse Fujiwara as a character, though.) I also didn't really hate the opening or ending themes, even though they don't really have much re-listen value to them.
Take this piece of advice that I'm about to give you; go watch Sakura Trick or Aoi Hana if you want a yuri anime to watch, or go watch School Days if you want an anime where the main character cheats on the person they're dating. What's that? You want both at the same time? FINE! Go watch Netsuzou TRap! Just know that if you ask your best friend for dating advice, you shouldn't let them seduce you instead!
Sometimes, I ask myself, "Why do you subject yourself to this? Do you really think that if you continue to watch bad anime, you'll eventually come to love bad anime?" Believe me when I say that I don't believe that will ever be the case; after all, trash is trash, even if it's yuri trash. The simple fact that it's yuri resulted in a particular anime being added to the list of anime I watched in the Summer 2017 season when it was announced; although I'm straight, I sometimes have a yuri thirst that I need to quench. Thus, if you ask me why I kept watching a netorare (cheating) anime such as this one I'm about to review, the answer is simple; it's yuri. The problem is, however, it's not even good yuri.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my review of "Netsuzou TRap".
Netsuzou TRap revolves around the relationship between Yuma and Hotaru, two best friends who both have boyfriends. In Yuma's case, she just started dating her boyfriend, Takeda; nervous about getting intimate with him, she turns to Hotaru for help. It was at this moment that Yuma realized she messed up, as this resulted in Hotaru kissing her as "practice". Of course, with a title like NTR, it wasn't just going to end there; even with their boyfriends being in the picture, Hotaru keeps "practicing" with Yuma, even though she constantly tells her to stop, even though it's clearly obvious that SHE WANTS IT. Thus, we get the heart-wrenching story of how one toxic relationship shatters all kinds of relationships, both friendships and romantic relationships! Yay! (Just kill me now.)
Now, let me get one thing clear; I don't like netorare or even the very idea of cheating. No matter the genders of the person you're cheating on and the person you're cheating with, it's still a relationship-breaker on both sides, as it results in the loss of an important aspect of a relationship - trust. With that out of the way, I will honestly say that the story of Netsuzou TRap is really bad, without a doubt. Cheating aside, everything within NTR's story feels fake; the actions and thoughts of these characters can be compared to plastic. However, for reasons I cannot even decipher myself, I was intrigued at the same time. Was it because it was yuri, or maybe I just wanted to see Fujiwara or nearly any other character get hit by a bus?
That last sentence actually transitions into the central issue with this anime, which is, of course, its characters. Yuma is pretty much an idiot who can't figure out her growing "feelings" for Hotaru, even though these "feelings" are so shoe-horned in that it just makes me want to slap myself. Hotaru is so much worse, and her actions make me believe that she's actually a succubus in disguise as a human; she constantly seduces Yuma to the point where she thinks she loves her. Their relationship, however, is even worse than the two of them as individual characters; as friends, they're pretty "meh", but everything about their "romantic" relationship is so abrupt and ultimately empty that I consider them to be the worst yuri couple I have ever seen.
There is one character who is worse on his own than Yuma and Hotaru together, and that is Hotaru's "boyfriend", Fujiwara. There is quite a long list of words I could use to describe this character (some of them being not so friendly), but I'm just going to use "manipulative", "heartless", "abusive", "misogynistic", and "unfaithful". Yes, you read that last word right; as if two cheaters wasn't enough, another one had to come into the picture and be even worse of a human being than the other two. With both Hotaru and Fujiwara being horrible human beings, it's clear exactly why they're dating, but that doesn't excuse their relationship also feeling false.
Luckily, the cast of this anime has one saving grace within, however minor this saving grace is, and his name is Takeda. One may compare him to a typical male protagonist in another romance anime, but in comparison to everyone else in this series, he is at least a decent human being; he's kind, sweet, and (for whatever reason) very caring towards Yuma. I even found his relationship with Yuma to be more believable than Yuma's relationship with Hotaru; heck, if Yuma wasn't cheating on Takeda behind his back, I believe that they could have been capable of having a rather healthy relationship! (Note: When you end up aiming for the protagonist of a YURI ANIME to end up with a guy instead, that yuri anime is doing a poor job at being one.) Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Takeda's only purpose in Netsuzou TRap is to constantly be lied to and eventually get his heart broken. What a shame, really.
With all of this being said, is there any other thing about Netsuzou TRap that is at least decent? Well, I guess I can say that the animation is rather lazy, but with this being a short anime from a studio with a not-so-impressive track record (Creators in Pack), this fact doesn't tick me off as much as it should. Let's see, what else.... Oh! Actually, the voice acting isn't too bad; each voice was a good fit for their character, with the best performance going to, surprisingly, Daisuke Ono as Fujiwara. (An impressive voice actor still doesn't excuse Fujiwara as a character, though.) I also didn't really hate the opening or ending themes, even though they don't really have much re-listen value to them.
Take this piece of advice that I'm about to give you; go watch Sakura Trick or Aoi Hana if you want a yuri anime to watch, or go watch School Days if you want an anime where the main character cheats on the person they're dating. What's that? You want both at the same time? FINE! Go watch Netsuzou TRap! Just know that if you ask your best friend for dating advice, you shouldn't let them seduce you instead!
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