Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
kiner_shah
This was quite an amazing and fun anime to watch!
Story was fun to watch, comedic at times, with a good amount of suspense, drama and sci-fi. I really liked how the game development journey from 1990s to 2020s is shown in this anime. Different aspects of game development are covered and this shows how difficult and demanding the game development industry can be requiring good knowledge of technology and tools. The way people worked in 90s has changed so much due to upgradation in technology and availability of newer/better tools. The technology advances are shown quite accurately.
I liked the idea of game development combined with time travel to change history, quite interesting. How the time travel happens though was quite creative, although not all people may like this unique time trav…
Read at the sourceSgtSalamander
This anime is a love letter to otaku culture, an exploration of what goes into making its artistic works commercially successful, and a poignant reminder of how to keep it what it is without losing that unique spark to commercialism, cynicism, and corrosive cultural influences. 16bit Sensation: Another Layer is a show with a true passion for the heritage and history of otaku culture, which is admirable, impressive, and- for those who remember the earlier days of anime, manga, and visual novels- distinctly nostalgic. Even if it loses the thread somewhat by getting into the metaphysical weeds concerning time travel around episode 8, I'd still say that this anime has a lot of important things to say regarding a realm of culture loved by many, and as a result the story is still the strongest a…
Read at the sourcedirect0rr
the first half was really good, a delve into old technology of the era, adorable interactions between a weeb girl and retro devs and her experiencing old japan in its glory as well as struggling with the technology, a must watch
until................
the second half throws you into a loop
while i usually absolutely love avant-garde stuff, it didnt feel earned here, it felt less like a plot twist and more like a justification?
then the dystopia hits and you're not sure what to feel about it anymore
you will potentially either hate it or love it for that, but personally i just dont know what to feel, and a lot of things ended up a bit confused in the writing as well as missed potential, they set up a character we get attached to and look forward to seeing only to make her relevance a total h…
Read at the sourceYuki_Raine
A warm story filled with game nostalgia, weird time travel and McGuffins.
Worth your time but be warned that the ending is rushed and quite a few things are left in the air, so I can really see lots of people being unhappy about it. I did appreciate the jokes and can forgive the gaps, thus the rating, but for others it can easily be a 6 for the same reasons.
The art is great, MC is characteristically MC-like, annoyingly energetic and hopeful at times.
There are some fitting choices given its about making games, the layout feels like quests/ routes to get to an ending of a visual novel. Some things really fall off, like a villain of the week that pops up for a bit and the water plants& zombies, but their existence is quite ironic in the setting.
Read at the sourceMidniteAndBeyond
Ya know, some shows have been stuck on my backlog for so long that when I finally do get around to watching them, I have to ask myself how and why it ended up on my to-watch list in the first place. But then I saw the Kanon reference in episode 1 and I guess that was enough to convince me... also, this is a really bad example, because this show isn't even a year old, yet... ANYWAY!
This show wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be, at the beginning. At first I thought it was just gonna be a very simple time travel show about the early days and creation of the visual novel genre with a bunch of visual novel references thrown in, but then it evolved into something more... and then it evolved one more time into something entirely different in the end... and then it sorta just went back t…
Read at the sourcelycoping
I'm honestly a little mystified as to why this has a rating as low as it does.
There is a clue to why I feel this way in the name: "another layer". This is a layered anime. If you look at it from a surface perspective, you might not like this anime very much. And from a surface perspective, there's not much to like. There's quite a bit of nostalgia - most of which is done rather hamhandedly (though even at my age I didn't know about the PC-98, seems interesting to look into). It could also be seen as a love letter to bishoujo. It kind of is, but if we were to leave it at that level, it wouldn't be much to speak of either. On those levels, the story is a bit trite and shallow, the FMC is rather annoying, and the MMC is quite one-dimensional (see what I did there?)
But there's so much more…
Read at the sourcesix20
16bit Sensation: Another Layer was disappointing. The idea of a show being a tribute to an early part of the anime subculture, the early 80-90s doujin games is a good premise. However when it was executed, it felt weak. It is not worth watching.
Animation wise, the show is fine. Konoha looks cute, Mamoru is quite handsome. The other characters are easy on the eyes and the show is fine on that regard.
Character wise, the show is also fine. Konoha does love games of the era she is supposed to enjoy. Her passion is infectious and game development team as a whole feel warm and dysfunctional yet competent enough to pass as something I would expect to see of an indie studio.
The soundtrack is okay, I definitely like Link ~past and future~. The rest of the soundtrack is okay and does its job f…
Read at the sourceSyaf_Arief73
Yeah, this is the most easy watching Time Travel series ever. but at the same point the plot is made very well that the watchers will not getting bored by the story.
The art style is cute and serious at the same time, it's not too "Moee" and realistic enough for an "adult cast" which makes it adorable.
As a Comedy series the animation is great, even with the TV version (Not BD yet)
Most people said the plot is a bit low at the end but it does not matter, as I said at first you will not get bored by the story. people just setting their expectations too high sometimes.
This show is recomended especially if you want to wipe out all of your weary and tired after working etc.
Plus the VA makes the Comedy incredibly hillarous, just love this show...😊🔥
Read at the sourceHanayaka
You are in for a ride.
Starts off pretty casual but later on it turns into a rainbow blueberry cake... You may ask what that is but tbh I don't even know you have to experience it to figure out.
By any means it's not exceptional in story or art or sound but just cozy and crazy.
Art style was acceptable and the characters were pretty hard core nothing too elaborative but yeah, mc can be a little bit on the annoying side but that's just eehhhh.
Reactions of the characters were as expected so nothing problematic.
It's a easy watch, basically if you like random things you might like it.
That's it folks.
Read at the sourceUrsaw
The unfortunate thing about this VN production anime is that it isn't about VN production. If you want a variation of Shirobako — look elsewhere. This is an uninspired "teen girl does time travel" anime that uses old tech as a cheap nostalgia bait. The deepest it gets into the actual creative process involved in VN creation is within the first few episodes where the main character Konoha first teleports into the past and finds out that in the 90s you had to use your mouse to draw on PC (the horror!).
The problem is that creative team behind this production is as knowledgeable about VN/old tech/overall 90s topics as their main character. So they just throw a few old VN names (that they have rights to) in your face and maybe dangle a floppy or two over you... but some retro PC visuals and…
Read at the sourcePRIZER
Nominally a love letter to bishoujo games, 16bit Sensation is actually about the importance of having passionate interests and using them to indulge your imagination.
With her singleminded focus on creating a great bishoujo game, Konoha, the heroine, annoying voice aside, is one the most relatable otaku ever to grace an anime. Her foil and co-conspirator, Mamoru, who initially dislikes Konoha, slowly comes around over the course of the series because of his own passion for the long-since-discontinued PC-98.
With colorful and frankly beautiful character animation (Konoha’s faces alone are worth the price of admission) the story leans into what anime does best: be crazy and over-the-top.
As the series proceeds, interspersed with interesting lessons in how games were made a quarter century…
Read at the sourcehentiespinsggez
Very neat and accurate understanding on otaku culture from the 90s and now, and really let people feel the gap of what differences in illustration can be produced from computer system's capability. Was really impressed by 1st episode with all the otaku reference and eroges. As someone who has touched all the areas as otaku, including illustration, made me feel very relevant and appreciated.
Last few episodes's content are debatable, I understand what they are trying to say, but I think it wasn't executed very well. There are also lapses, as other reviews probably mentioned, about the difference in say dress style / norm in the 90s from the actual 90s. That being said, I don't think that was the point to me at all, totally acceptable as the key focus, which is otaku's life in Akihabara, w…
Read at the sourcedenkisoda
This anime seemed ambitious. The first half is an elegy for the bygone golden age of galgames, while the latter half is a paean to human imagination and passion. If the creators chose to focus and deep dive on either one, this anime would likely have been a better show.
For galgame enthusiasts, ep.1 is a nostalgic trip down memory lane, featuring names from the heyday of galgames: _Dokyusei_ (Elf), _Shizuku_ (Leaf), _Kanon_ (Key), _Rance_ (AliceSoft)...Aaaaaand the ending theme was composed by Shinji Orito from Key, with Lyrics by Kotoko (a pity that it wasn't sung by her!). As the main character, Akisato Konoha, time-traveled to the past, the audience got a glimpse of how the galgame industry progressed. Even younger viewers would find this part quite fascinating (at least I did!): How i…
Read at the sourceKazuyuki_Koyoki
As a person who watched a lot of anime since 2010s and play a lot of games and also want to make true games, I really like this anime. I think people like me, or people want to understand more about moe culture in the past will like this anime as well.
The two main characters are really cute couple, though the anime does not focus on romance, people enjoy romance can surely enjoy this anime as well since the anime have some minimum hints at the end.
Even it seems like only Konoha is protagonist, but actually both Konoha and Mamoru are protagonists, it's just Konoha takes story lead role, so even people who like male character protagonist like me can still enjoy the anime.
Plot twists in this anime are just sub-element, they do affect the anime's pace so people might feel difficult to adapt…
Read at the sourceRian_Rahmat
For the first episode, I quite liked this anime, although basically I was a little disappointed because I thought this was an anime with a male MC.
But that's not a big problem, because I can still enjoy this anime throughout the episodes.
I praise the design and workmanship of this anime, it has good graphic quality and beautiful characters, it is very pleasing to look at.
But unfortunately I can't recommend this anime, because towards the end I had several questions about the storyline.
First things, who is Echo? In the anime I didn't get much information about them, even when one of the male characters experienced Time Travel there was no explanation. What exists only tells about human imagination, so who are they?
Their arrival at the final episode is also very mysterious, are they A…
Read at the sourcemattrdowney
The first seven episodes are really good, and the next six episodes start to feel less cozy and wholesome, although the throughline of the series is positive.
The creators likely wanted to add surprising elements, so even two thirds of the way through I would not have been able to predict where the series was going. This is mostly good, because the series doesn't follow a single formula, and it tends to have a lot of cozy plot elements.
The main criticism is the ending feels like it is rewritten, which makes the story feel less cohesive. Viewers like me came for a cozy low-stakes atmosphere, and the story explores some darker plot elements visible throughout the series (like employee exploitation). Additionally, the stakes start low but ramp up significantly by the end of the series.
De…
Read at the sourcewachinayn
An anime that I approached because it promised to be the 'Shirobako' of Visual Novel creation in the 90s, but it ended up being much more. It offers numerous nods, tremendous plot twists, a time-travel plot (inevitable given games like YU-NO or Steins;Gate), and surprisingly deep reflections on the nature of game development (or any other creative product). Additionally, it feels as if the scriptwriter knows perfectly well all the questions the viewer is asking and proceeds to answer them, but always in unexpected ways. A tremendously fun series to follow, leaving you eager to see what will happen in the next episode, and it is much more enjoyable if you take the time to develop your own theories about what will happen. I give it a 9 because, on top of everything, it deals with a topic I'm…
Read at the sourceMarlsMarsBars
This anime has me conflicted. 16bit Sensation: Another Layer is a series that revolves around making bishoujo games but with a twist: the main character, Konoha, time travels to the past to fulfill her dreams of making the video games that she loves. I actually was really invested in this anime at first since despite the time travel gig, this was seemingly a chill show about developing video games. However, as the season went on, the story spiraled so out of control that it eventually lost me. Although the aspect of time travel was still part of this show, it played a semi-important role in the story since whenever Konoha travels back to the past, the show primarily focuses on the events happening at that time, with the small sci-fi elements of Konoha’s time jumping being secondary to the…
Read at the sourceKitsuFrost
16bit Sensation: Another Layer is a series that didn't lift much dust when it was being released. One of the reasons is the fact that it was among two highly awaited shows in Fall 2023: Sousou no Frieren and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. Also, the manga wasn't famous enough to bring some mainstream hype. Which is a shame, since this series was one of my favorites from the season with all its good points and flaws.
16bit tells the story of Akisato Konoha, a 19 year old illustrator who works at Blue Bell - a game company that focus only on the trends of the market. Such thing brings Konoha a feeling of disappointment towards the industry. After the end of her working hour, she finds a game story on her way home; there, the young illustrator finds classic visual novels from the 90s and 00s such a…
Read at the sourceSanaeK10
On the face of it, 16bit is a loose adaptation of a doujin manga from Wakaki of TWGOK that was originally about making bishoujo-ge in the 90s with the anime adaptation having a time travel element to I guess ease viewers into the world. In the middle of it all, suddenly you get aliens and the whole thing starts becoming fully anime original and pretty batshit crazy without much of a satisfying resolution.
Still, despite this, I still enjoyed the show quite a lot. I enjoy VNs a lot and have fond memories of Akiba from the past, and seeing that kind of passion translate so well is heartwarming in a sense, with some shade thrown around low effort AI art to boot, always a way to my heart. Mamoru-kun's infatuation with PC98 is hilarious and yet so empathetic at the same time. As someone with a…
Read at the source
