medea10

[medea10]

My Review of Please Put Them On, Takamine-san

Okay, time to watch a random anime because I had several open spots during the spring season. This anime is ecchi. Okay, that’s fine. It’s probably some flash-in-the-pan 5-minute anime filled with uncensored titties on Friday nights.

It’s 23 minutes and airs on Wednesdays.

Ewww…Does it air at an appropriate time on Wednesday?

It airs while you’re at work.

How ecchi are we talking about?

Yes.

Probably don’t watch this at work during lunch break.

Koushi Shirota is as average high school student as you can get. Nothing special about him. Barely nobody notices his existence. Rightly so, he’s not the main focus of this show. That honor goes to Takane Takamine. This girl excels at nearly everything including academics, sports, and even holds the high spot of student council president as a freshman. Not to mention, being absolutely stacked with…well, you know, tits. However, Takamine does have a bit of a secret when it comes to much of her success. And yes, it is as absurd as you could possibly get.

Takamine has an ability called “Eternal Virgin Road”. With this, she’s able to rewind time itself if something doesn’t suit her need so things end up with a different result. How she does it is that she takes off a certain article of clothing (either bra or undies) and boop, time is rewound and she gets the result she wanted like acing an exam or winning a sport competition. However, that boy I mentioned at the beginning, Shirota kinda stumbled upon Takamine’s power by accident. He saw her change clothes and then was a witness to her power in action.

Takamine tells Shirota about her power and wants him to become her ‘closet’. The reason for that is whenever she uses this power of hers, it does come at a price. Her lingerie disappears whenever she uses the power. Can’t go around school going commando and certainly can’t go bra-less with that fucking chest of hers. Therefore, Shirota will not only have lingerie at his disposal, but must put them on for her. Why would he do that? Not because Shirota wants to, he’s not perverted. Takamine blackmailed him. So, he has no other option.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Okay, we all at one point or another have watched an ecchi series on Crunchyroll to mixed results. Random beams of light from nowhere. Crappy censor bars or items. Crude attempts at editing. Those of course were mentioned in the before days. Because they did this when things like To Love Ru Darkness, High School DxD, and Sword Art Online: Alicization first aired. Nowadays, Crunchyroll has gotten better at…

God damn it, Crunchyroll.

I got swept up in the first episode and actually seeing a nipple on the Crunchyroll website. But come episode 3, there was a six-day hiatus. Not because of production issues. Oh, no. Oh, hell no! It was so that Crunchyroll could get its hands on a sorta censored version. And it wasn’t just one isolated incident either. This happened several times throughout the show’s run. Apparently, there are three versions to this anime; uncensored, slightly censored, and full-blown cock-block. Yeah, you know what my best method would have been? GIVE THIS ANIME TO SENTAI FILMWORKS! They gave us Chained Soldier, My Life as Inukai’s Dog, and Redo of Healer, no problemo.

As of now, no English dub to this yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they snuck a dub in one day and just didn’t announce anything. Anyways, here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Takamine is played by Yurika Kubo (known for Kaede on Bunny Girl Senpai, Hanayo on Love Live, and Esther on A Certain Scientific Accelerator)

*Shirota is played by Daisuke Kasuya

SHIPPING: Going into this anime, you would have thought that the main lead Shirota had a thing for Takamine behind the scenes before meeting her officially. Actually, no. It’s safe to assume that he kinda envied her a bit with her popularity and wasn’t really infatuated with her. And now, this boy is thrust upon a well-endowed girl, putting panties on her and seeing more than one high school boy should see. Will we see a romantic spark here?

Here's the thing, both of these characters have a history with each other. It’s just that one has a sharp memory for what went down and the other has put the past behind them. Apparently, Takamine remembers taking care of a stray cat with Shirota when they were much younger. Shirota only vividly remembers that part of the story. The other part of the story is that during that time, Takamine revealed to Shirota that she likes him and he turned him down. Ever since learning this fact, I can’t help but thing Takamine is getting some kind of twisted revenge on Shirota for forgetting the past.

This anime can’t possibly involve just these two, right? Is there anyone who interferes or stirs the shipping pot just a bit? When it comes to Takamine, I think it’s more of everyone at her school loves her because she’s popular. And it doesn’t matter the gender either. To Takamine, she doesn’t really care about if they love her in that certain way, just as long as they keep believing she’s perfect. Although, her classmates do get up in arms whenever they see Shirota hanging around her.

And as for Shirota, he does have a childhood friend (Ellie) that comes around close to the end of the season. Now, what do you suppose Takamine does when she sees these two together? Obviously, have this tsundere face on. But there’s more to this. Ellie is not interested in Shirota, although she might be interested in Takamine despite already having a girlfriend. Yep, lesbian. Shirota doesn’t know because he’s dumber than a sack of bricks. Ellie being revealed to have a girlfriend felt like it really came out of nowhere and completely random.

ENDING: High school anime. Okay, time we turn to the “Wheel of Banality”. Wheel of Banality, turn, turn, turn. Give us the ending this anime should earn.

And the plot device for the ending is: Culture Festival.

Takamine continues to use her powers to still make herself the all-around favorite in the entire school. So, it’s no contest that everyone voted to do the play Cinderella and have Takamine play the leading role. It’s also in Takamine’s grasp to control Shirota to do things he really doesn’t want to do. To prevent having to put on any more underwear on Takamine, he goes out for the prince of the play. Several problems there! Shirota is up against this popular twat for that very same role. I don’t recall his dumbass name and I really don’t care at this point. No one in the school likes Shirota or they don’t know him. And finally, Shirota got 0 votes and ends up with the role of the prince’s guard.

Okay, good enough.

Come the day of the play, the popular twat gets hurt off-screen. He’s in pretty rough shape. Might have gotten hit by a bus or some shit. Maybe he should go to the hospital. I don’t know, who cares?! Takamine took the matter into her own hands and told Shirota to play the role of the prince. Shirota was a nervous wreck the whole time as he was trying to remember his line. Add to that, every person aside from Takamine hates his guts or doesn’t know of his existence. And then you have Takamine getting angry with him at the drop of the hat. You know how much of a perfectionist this girl is. So, what happened when it was time for Shirota to say his line?

He forgot.

Obviously, Takamine used her Eternal Virgin Road ability, took off her panties and re-did time. Do not ruin the play! Focus on Takamine. And also, put on her panties. That’s pretty much what Takamine told Shirota. Once that happened, the play went on as normal. That was until that popular twat I mentioned not too long ago. The one that got hurt, right?! He bursts out on stage, interrupts the play and states Shirota is a fake prince and that the twat is the real prince. That was indeed a twist even I wasn’t expecting. The kids just go along with this. It’s up to Takamine to choose which prince she believes is real. Takamine picks Shirota and even kisses him. Don’t worry, there’s no development between the two. Takamine is still going to manipulate Shirota at every opportunity and continue using him as a “closet”.

Wow. This anime is Goddamn silly. And it’s for the reason you think it is. There is no way. No Goddamn way that no one ever notices what Shirota is doing every time Takamine wants her underwear put on. This is on a whole ‘nother level of ridiculousness. I thought the desk scene early on was crazy enough. But that was nothing when I see Shirota underneath Takamine’s Cinderella dress putting on underwear while she’s singing a solo. I am just stunned. Absolutely, stunned I tells ya!

Um…I don’t like Takamine. The person. The anime…eh, not my cup of tea. But, as for the subject at hand. I think it’s just severe leftover hatred I have for Satoko Hojo from Higurashi Gou. I just really hate people bending the fabric of time just for petty things. And there is a severe difference between the two characters. At least Takamine wasn’t continuously killing someone, she was just manipulating someone. That’s still not good. Sorry guys, she just turns me off no matter how beautiful she looks and how much pussy and ass we see. Had to get that out there!

Other than that, what can I tell you? It’s a hentai. You know what you’re in for. If you’re into hentai, yes, you might be into this despite it being soft-core. If you don’t like hentai, stay the hell away from it.

Crunchyroll has all 12 episodes available…not uncensored.

[medea10]

My Review of Blue Exorcist: Seasons 3 - 5

I’ve gone back and forth wanting to post this review due to the fact that all my other Blue Exorcist reviews are not on Tumblr and I really don’t feel like going over those old things with a fine-tooth comb.

Blue Exorcist is the story about Rin Okumura, the boy who is the spawn of Satan. Rin has a twin brother named Yukio, but it seems like Rin has the majority of the demon energy. The boy’s world is turned upside-down when their foster parent Fujimoto was possessed by Satan and killed. It was after that, Rin decided to enroll in True Cross Academy in order to become an exorcist. Yukio is there too, but it’s different for him as he is an instructor. At True Cross, Rin was able to make some connections with his classmates also wanting to become some kind of exorcist. There’s Shiemi, Izumo, Bon, Shima, and Konekomaru.

The manga was released in 2009 and has received quite some praise. As for the anime, it can be complicated. The first season was released in 2011 and blessed with a 2-cour season. However, the ending to that season was filled with controversy as it ended things quite differently. Actually, a good 8 episodes or so are not canon with the true story. And aside from a movie in 2013, the anime didn’t come back until 2017. This season left an air of confusion as many fans on all spectrums were wondering if this season would make a connection to the second half of the first season. It did not. And aside from a 2-episode OVA that I doubt even made an American release, Blue Exorcist did not come back for another 7 years.

Yep, just come back seven years later like nothing happened. Like yesterday was just 2017 and nothing of importance has happened since. And if you think my snark is through the roof here, you should hear me talk about Spice and Wolf and Black Butler. I was not kind about the long wait on those either. In late 2023, Blue Exorcist and many other early 2010 animes like Madoka Magica and Black Butler were to be given more content. In this case, a sequel. I’m always down for more Blue Exorcist. I just worry that the next installment won’t come for another 7 years and I’ll be in my 40’s for fuck’s sake.

ILLUMINATI-HEN: This would be our third season. Apparently, there’s a short arc the anime isn’t covering (unless we get an OVA or special episode at the end of the season). Basically, we don’t get much information about the mysterious Illuminati group until a few episodes in. Their goal is to bring upon Satan and kill everything. Mephisto is essentially powerless against these guys, the high-court folks miss the boat, there’s a spy in the school, and the target is Izumo due to her family and ancestry history. At first, it’s made out to be Nemu as the Illuminati spy. Nemu is someone we barely know, rarely see him talk or in action. But he seems to be chattier than normal. Plot twist, it’s Shima who’s the spy.

What?!

I know I’m way behind in reading the manga, but…WHAT?! Girl-crazy Shima?! The boy with a bunch of priests in the family?! That fucking guy?! And has got the nerve to not be shunned and persecuted like Rin! I am all kinds of gobsmacked and angry. At least Rin likes his friends. Shima was already tired of Bon and Konekomaru. I hate him now.

NEW ANIMATION: No, it’s not your imagination. The animation is different from what it was the previous two seasons. A-1 Pictures did this originally and it seems like several animes are jumping ship to other studios. Some of them with positive results. But here, we’ve got Studio VOLN at the helm. Apparently, this studio doesn’t have that many credits to flaunt, however they’re the ones who did I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and I’m feeling a little better about the change. I can still tell the change and there are times where the characters look kinda derpy.

LICENSING: One thing that hasn’t changed was the fact that Aniplex of America has had control over this series from the get-go and still does. And of course, the entire series streamed on Crunchyroll and during the FUNimation renaissance, over there too. Now, one place that never aired Blue Exorcist even though it would have been a perfect fit was Toonami on Adult Swim. They never did! It wasn’t until 2024 (over a decade after it’s debut) did Toonami finally get it’s hands on it.

THE CAST: One thing I always get excited when I learn there’s more Blue Exorcist is hearing the cast. BOTH! Nobuhiko Okumura, Bryce Papenbrook, Jun Fukuyama, and Johnny Yong Bosch are perfection. And besides them, the supporting cast as well. I know that those four are destined to return. Actually, the entire Japanese cast except for Keiji Fujiwara has returned. As we all remember Fujiwara (voice of Fujimoto) passed away back in 2020. But what of the dub?

As it has been 7 years since the last Blue Exorcist release, things have changed in terms of Crunchyroll hiring voice actors. And they are not afraid of replacing someone if the voice actor is part of a certain union. Thankfully, most of my worries were put to rest as it seems like most everyone has returned. Wait, for real?! Yes, for real!

Brian Beacock too? Yes, him too.

Sam Riegal too? Mr. I for-for-forgot my bag! Oh my gosh, my heart is all happy!

Wait, what about Darrel Guilbeau? Yep, he came back to voice Amaimon.

And gasp, dare I even ask, Mona Marshall? SCORE! She’s still in the Blue Exorcist family! Bear with me on this, I just love this cast and Mona Marshall will always be a guilty pleasure for me as I have pretty much heard her voice in so much in the past 40 years, including Tenchi Muyo, Rozen Maiden, Here Come the Littles, and South Park. Yes, you read right, THAT South Park.

A CHARACTER THAT NEEDS TO BE SET ON FIRE: This guy, right here. This fucking doctor. I knew from second-one that this guy was to be hated, that he was going to have an annoying as fuck voice, and that he somehow reminded me of Chudelkin, that little ****-sucker from SAO: Alicization. Yeah, I do censor myself sometimes, but I stand by what I just said about Gedoin. It’s not just the trauma that he has inflicted upon Izumo or the experiments he gleefully conducted on Izumo’s mother. But, this guy goes above and beyond to take unsuspecting people and put them through all kinds of hell. Turning innocent people into zombies or worse.

SHIPPING: So…things kinda go there at times.

Let’s talk about Shiemi first. Ever since season one, we’ve seen Shiemi with both Okumura brothers on missions. But we have to wonder if there’s any kind of romantic inclination with any of the three characters. Rin finally says out loud how he feels about Shiemi (though no one really paid attention as several other characters were under a spell). During the Snow arc, Rin does slip out in front of Shiemi that he likes her. But because both of them were in a close-call situation where they thought they were going to be buried alive; I think Shiemi is going to treat it like a spur of the moment type of confession. Their whole will-they-won’t-they thing builds up during the snow arc, but kinda put on the back-burner when Shiemi goes through her dilemma of really wanting to be an exorcist or not. And then Yukio’s drama. And then Shiemi being kidnapped and we just don’t go there again. Yeah, that whole thing is a mess when we get to the Blue Night saga, but we had other shit to deal with. Not to write that whole season off, but there was one moment between Rin and Shiemi during that arc.

During the Beyond the Snow arc, we get a lot of backstories involving Shura. Because of her ancestor, Shura’s fate has kinda been decided. She’s to find a mate, have a baby, and die at 30. There was one person who Shura has only cared for and it’s Shiro Fujimoto. That age difference is fucking huge especially since Shura wanted Shiro since she was a child. Now that Shiro is dead, is there something between Shura and his two sons? Maybe Rin. Yukio on the other hand was ready to sacrifice himself to save Shura (including impregnating her). But he just claims that he was acting. Sure bro!

But that’s not all with our boy Shiro. During the Blue Night Saga, we get the entire story of Shiro and Yuri (the mother of Rin and Yukio). Yuri looked up to Shiro due to the weird way they met. And for the next couple of years, she wanted to be friends and maybe even more. However, that was not going to be in the cards. A certain satanic force was jealous of anyone around Yuri. And this guy would try at every opportunity to one-up him. But, we do get both characters admit their feelings. It was just at the end of certain things and it’s just one of those tragic ships that were never meant to be.

IZUMO & THE ILLUMINATI: Once you see Izumo’s backstory, it all adds up about her demeanor and how she interacts with other people. Izumo’s family comes from a long-line of priestesses with fox guardians. Apparently, those foxes we see throughout the series respect Izumo’s mother and have made it clear that they will never obey Izumo. They’ve been quite clear on the matter since their debut. Izumo and her sister were shunned due to being illegitimate children to the head priest. This guy has never even seen these kids and Tama (Izumo’s mother) is still loyal to this fucker. Tama ends up losing control and winds up being possessed by a fox demon. Izumo calls for help with the intentions of helping her mother. Help came in the form of the Illuminati, the group willing to bring about the king of darkness Lucifer. This led to the imprisonment of Izumo’s sister, the endless experimental torture on her mother, and Izumo put in a predicament to do as they say or worse will happen.

It doesn’t matter if Izumo denies the help of her classmates, they’re going to come regardless. There hope is to save both Izumo and Shima. Of course, they have no idea that Shima is a fucking back-stabber. Seriously, if there’s even a shred of forgiveness by anyone in the cast (excluding Rin and Shiemi), I’m going to be really pissed. They all learned about what happened to Izumo and her family. When they entered Izumo’s hometown, they stumbled upon something quite disturbing. Many people disappear and are never seen again. Unfortunately, they are turned into zombies. And then there are others that seemed to be merged with other zombies where it just feels like a Nina Tucker situation all over again. I really wish for Dr. Gedoin to be murdered. Rin, Yukio, Shiemi, Bon, and Konekomaru were all split up having to face these scary, yet pitiful creatures alone. But they all managed to escape.

Meanwhile, Gedoin is preparing the extraction of the fox demon from Tama and put it into Izumo. Unfortunately, doing so only had piss-poor percentage rate of success and would result in Izumo’s demise. Gedoin was ready to continue with his experiment and rate of success be damned. A bit of a miracle occurred here as Rin and the others came to save Izumo and her mother Tama mustered enough strength to end the fox demon’s wrath once and for all. In the process, Tama dies, but at least says some kind words to her daughter before passing. On a positive note, Izumo was able to gain back her two fox spirits after it was thought that Shima killed them off. Gedoin did not like any of this and pulls out a disgusting last resort method where he turns into fuck if I know. Rin and Izumo were able to give Gedoin some damage before the bastard escaped. The rest of this was taken care of the characters from the Kyoto-arc including Bon’s father and Shima’s brothers.

In the aftermath, Izumo was given some closure. Her sister whom she was fighting for was saved several years prior. She was given to a loving family, so she has a different name and doesn’t remember Izumo or Tama. Regardless, Izumo is happy to know that she was safe this entire time. Now for the Shima issue. Shima’s brothers and father know all about this and explain the whole thing. Shima is actually a double agent instead of a double-crosser.

So…Shima was recruited to become an Illuminati. His family and Mephisto conspire to have Shima become a spy for the Illuminati to see what is going down. Hmm…I might have to retract a few things I said out of anger. Now, were Shima’s classmates that forgiving when he comes into class after this incident like nothing had happened. No fucking way! Bon headbutted him, Izumo exorcised him, Rin burned off all of his clothes, and Shiemi slapped him for being naked. Pfft, Shiemi is just too precious! Well, we get more of an explanation with Mephisto. I’ve said in the past that I do not trust Mephisto one bit. His dirty mitts being all over several incidents that just didn’t sit right with several people like Bon, Izumo, and Rin. In fact, Rin went face-to-face with Mephisto. Didn’t end well for Rin! It never does end well if you try to go at it with Mephisto.

Now then, we are only have one episode left of this season. Lucifer is still looming despite being quite sickly. And for a bad guy, I give him props for destroying Gedoin. Either we’re getting another season soon to get deep with this particular guy or he’s going to be the worst villain in this franchise’s history if he gets only one episode to shine. For now, I’m just going to be satisfied with watching Gedoin be obliterated. All that was left of him was his hairpiece. Like Ralphie from The Sopranos! If you know, you know! But, the character I hate the most in this arc is dead.

So…let me pay my respects.

So…I guess Shima is going to be trusted by his peers again. I know he’s really a double agent, but there’s a lot of hurt feelings especially when it comes to Bon and Konekomaru. They have known each other since infancy and have gone through some of the most intense scenarios one could be put through. Bon is still going to give him ultimate shit for everything he’s done. But eases up when he sees that Shima and Rin’s minds were corrupted during a bath trip. Shima’s mind is still girl-crazy, so he’s still the same old Shima as he always was.

Oh, and Rin’s thing for Shiemi is confirmed. But no one seems to care! As this season draws to a close, I couldn’t help but notice a lack of the Okumura brothers and their developments. Yeah, Rin was there kicking ass, but I barely noticed Yukio having one of his mental breakdowns like all the other seasons. Oh, that comes at the end when Shima triggers him about Lucian and just how much Yukio can say on certain matters. Before you know it, season’s over and we just have to wait another 6 or 7 years to see…

WHOA, MY GOD! THAT CAN’T BE RIGHT! We only have to wait six months? What kind of witchcraft-voodoo shit is this? Don’t question it, just live with it.

BEYOND THE SNOW SAGA: We wound up with not just one more season after the Illuminati arc, but another one immediately after. Does it more than make up for the fact we all went without Blue Exorcist for so long? I can’t be mad at this so I’ll say yes, it totally does. After the events of last season, Mephisto thinks it’d be best to move the date up for exorcist exams. Due to Lucifer’s presence approaching soon, it’s best for all parties that it be done.

Lewin Light, a small role last season is bumped up to instructor and Bon’s master. I can’t complain as this means more Tomokazu Seki. And we get more angsty Yukio. Yeah, that’s nothing new. He’s been that way since the Kyoto arc. But the bigger focus is on Shura. Since the Illuminati arc, she’s been in and out of the place. Here, we get a lot more insight about her and learn that due to an ancestor, she must bear a child and die at 30 (a few short years from now). Obviously, things work out for Shura and she does survive the ordeal (with a new look no less). I’m not gonna complain. Shura is my favorite character on the show.

Now, this part of the arc did end off earlier than I thought. Leading up to the season finale, we’ve got several key things to deal with. Shiemi goes back and forth with her decision on becoming an exorcist and taking the final exam. It looked like she really was going to go for it, but says, nope, I’ll just root for you guys. Yukio is still the baby brother of brooding. After fighting alongside Shura and Rin, he wound up severely wounded with months of recuperation ahead of him. He ends up yelling at Rin several times and even pulls a gun out on Bon. And as for Bon and Light, they’re inching closer on info involving the illuminati. This hits a little too close to home when they uncover the candidates for host bodies for the evil one and Shiro Fujimoto was one of them.

Again, not the best time for Yukio when he’s in an identity crisis. Yukio is succumbing to the satanic eyeball he’s had since…well, you know. It only gets worse as Yukio threatens one of his students, nearly hurts another one, and when he didn’t get a specific answer from Mephisto, that’s when the straw broke the camel’s back. At this point he’s like a rabid animal. And I seriously want to punch Yukio’s lights out for making Shiemi cry like that. But things go absolutely bonkers by the 11th episode.

Due to recent events where a bunch of demons were attacking out in the open, Mephisto and the prime minister thought it be best to come clean to the public about these strange phenomena happening around (as normal people can’t see the demons). But when Mephisto took the stage, Yukio drew his gun and shot him in the head. This started quite the chain reaction. Mephisto is normally strong enough to survive something as being gunned down. However, his body is weakened due to him alone holding off a gate holding many demons. In his weakened state, that gate diminished. It also goes without saying that Yukio is in deep shit as his actions were broadcast for the whole world to see.

Rin tries his best to confront Yukio, but because of his demon eye (Satan), all of Rin’s attempts are stopped and altered. Yukio ends up joining Shima to the Illuminati, not before dropping news about Shiro. Rin’s body ends up going through a horrific alteration due to his sword and just about everything else going on at the time. But the sword was a very big factor. Thankfully, Rin didn’t disintegrate when taking on so much of Satan’s flames through his body. It’s just that it almost wrecked him and everyone around him. Thanks to Shiemi and Rin’s determination, Rin got control of his body…except a few changes (like his hair).

Okay, now is the time to ask some big questions revolving around your birth, Rin. Yukio asked but didn’t get a straight answer from Mephisto. And Yukio’s been wanting to know and got mad at you for having a meh attitude about wanting to know. So, snap to it! Mephisto gave Rin a key to the past to get his answers about Shiro, his mother, and Satan. And we wait…actually, only a couple of weeks. Yeah, they were very kind about giving us another season immediately after Beyond the Snow.

BLUE NIGHT SAGA: Rin gets to travel back in time! Wait, Blue Exorcist has the capability to do that? Why am I questioning that when a character like Mephisto exists? Rin opens the doors to his mother Yuri’s past and her connection with Shiro and Satan. Each episode we watch Shiro and Yuri grow and become stronger. But as we all know, there will not be a happy ending for either one. And Rin has to learn about the unhappy beginning here.

And unhappy is an understatement. Yuri’s past before hanging out with the knock-off cast of Tokyo Godfathers is shrouded in mystery. She ends up playing with blue flames only she can see because it’s her only friend. That might come back to bite her in the ass one day. As for Shiro, yeah, we saw his files last season. He’s just a test subject that is bred only to become a host body for Lucifer. And no matter what he does to change his fate, he always ends up under the same system. He always tries to flee the system, but always gets caught. And that’s kinda how Yuri and Shiro met. Rin goes from time to time and sees Yuri and Shiro grow up. Watching them interact with friends and each other.

And of course, Yuri meeting Satan, their relationship, Yuri’s choice, and well…you know what happens next.

ENDING: Rin got the front-row seat to everything. From the beginnings, to Satan meeting Yuri, and everything between that. It’s just what Rin saw after he witnesses the birth of himself and Yukio that kinda wrecked him. Yukio came out unable to breathe and almost died. Newborn Rin was (for a lack of a better term) a feral beast burning everything in sight. One of the contributing factors to what was later known as the Blue Night.

Yeah, we saw the newborn Rin burn several folks to death. Rin is aware about this particular night as his friends were affected by it. Bon’s grandfather died. Shima’s eldest brother died (who ends up saving Shima in his final moments). And Konekomaru’s parents also died as a result. His father did that’s for sure. His mother, I’m not so sure of her circumstances as we only see her pregnant with Konekomaru. The point is, Rin is feeling absolutely horrible with what he knows and is almost ready to give it up.For some reason, he hears Shiemi (who was kidnapped by a faction earlier this season) who tells him what’s on her mind. Yeah, this was a bit of a blink and you’ll miss it moment as it does come in between the flashbacks.

Eventually, we see the aftermath of Rin and Yukio’s birth. Yuri only got a couple of hours with her newborn sons before dying. Shiro was in a shitty state where he almost wanted to welcome death’s sweet embrace. Hey dude, you’ve got 15 years left before that happens. Speaking of, let’s just say Satan was laying dormant inside Shiro waiting for the right moment to strike, take over, and well, he’ll die.

In the final episode, we see Rin and Yukio grow up as Shiro watches after these Satanic boys. Yukio’s a crybaby, Rin’s a fiery little shit, and Shiro has a time-limit before having his body taken over by Satan. Rin’s hair also unexplainably turns from blue to black while younger. And we finally make it to the events of the very first episode. It all comes back full circle for both the audience and present-day Rin. He sees it all. Realizing he’s worth living. That his mother and Shiro, hell, he’s his father regardless of the circumstances! Rin is thankful for Shiro and all he’s done for Yukio and even says so. Next stop, Yukio.

No sequel in sight.

I shouldn’t be greedy. In an 18-month time-span, Aniplex gave us three seasons of Blue Exorcist after a seven-year wait. That’s a lot for them. It’s just that if we wait too long, we’ll forget key details like why Yukio is a brooding shit or why Shiemi got kidnapped or why Rin’s hair changed colors.

Okay…so, where do I begin? The Illuminati arc was definitely a great start after such a long time without Blue Exorcist. Really, my only gripe was getting used to the animation. It became less of a problem as the next two seasons came around. But story wise, I was glad to learn more about a character who up to this point I could take or leave. Izumo has kinda always left a bad taste in my mouth from the get-go. The Illuminati arc changed some of that.

Beyond the Snow had a lot of moments where things just kinda fell flat for me. Although, I did like seeing Shura’s backstory. And it’s not the anime’s fault. This is where the story went and important things had to be told before we could get to the good stuff. And that was to give us the TRUE story between Shiro and Yuri. I know a lot of people frown upon most anime-only endings, but what we were given in episodes 22-25 from season one wasn’t all bad. But having the flashback arc be an entire season was really helpful to faithful fans.

I know it’s been a hard road for Blue Exorcist anime fans these last several years when the first season started out so promising. Let’s just say, it lost a lot of steam after the movie and even after the second season in Kyoto. And the several-year wait for each season did not help the matter one bit. Giving us three seasons almost all at once was…well, it was a good boost for fans of the anime. But will it be enough? The manga is still on-going. Chances are, we could be in for a long wait again for any more content anime-wise. I, myself should not complain about any of this. I picked up the manga years ago and have yet to even come close to where the anime is. So, if I want more, I can just go ahead and read. And if you find yourself craving more Blue Exorcist and have already watched these, I suggest you do the same.

If you would like to watch the entire series of Blue Exorcist, Crunchyroll has all five seasons available with the sub or dub of your choice. I’m a dub girl for this particular anime. But that’s just me. There are several things missing from the Crunchyroll catalog and that includes a couple of OVA specials and the movie.

[medea10]

My Review of Himouto! Umaru-chan

Every so often, I will rely on my randomizer to choose an anime. Sometimes, I get some welcome surprises like Tokyo Revengers, Bocchi the Rock, or anything from the World Masterpiece Theater collection. This is not one of those happy times.

Umaru Doma is what you would call a model student. She usually gets perfect scores on her tests, is loved and envied by her classmates, and occasionally does well in sports despite not being on any team. This is all for public show. Once she gets home, she becomes a junk-food eating, anime-watching, hamster-looking sloth. Her brother Taihei is the only one who knows Umaru’s true nature as she keeps a “Miss Perfect” appearance when out in public.

And…that’s it. Umaru, the cautionary tale for every otaku.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Sentai Filmworks was the one who licensed and dubbed this one. Aside from the 4-panel specials, I mainly relied on the dub to watch the show. I liked it. Despite how I feel about Sentai’s dubs, there are a couple of voice actors that occasionally stand out in their performances here. I always forget how much I love Emily Neves. There are some roles where I hear her and it’s a total shock because I never know it’s her sometimes. She has such a range. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Umaru is played by Ami Tanaka (known for Ryuzu on Re:Zero)

*Taihei is played by Kenji Nojima (known for Mamoru on Sailor Moon Crystal, Eiji on Banana Fish, Natsuya on Free!, Keisaku on Shakugan no Shana, Ginoza on Psycho Pass, and Kiba on High School DxD)

ENGLISH CAST: *Umaru is played by Emily Neves (known for Sylph on Mushoku Tensei, Eri on My Hero Academia, Minene on Mirai Nikki, Kotomi on Clannad, Kanade on Angel Beats, and Kumin on Chunibyo)

*Taihei is played by Adam Noble (known for Ennoshita on Haikyuu)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: I was warned. Watching this particular anime was going to cause me to hate not only the titular main character, but every otaku to ever exist as well. Impossible! I still like Konata Izumi and that’s never going to change. Plus, I’m what you might consider an otaku and that would mean I hate myself. Joke’s on you, I already hate myself!

But in all seriousness, I do hate the living fuck out of Umaru. Watching this annoying twat makes me reevaluate my life and ask myself if I’m just as bad as this character.

No. Not a chance.

SHIPPING: So, the shipping that comes up is between Umaru’s brother and best friend. Nana came from the country and lives just down stairs from Taihei and Umaru. I find it funny that Nana doesn’t notice the ruckus coming from upstairs because Umaru is loud as fuck. Ever since moving in down stairs, Nana always gets flustered whenever around Taihei. It wasn’t until the middle of season two when one of the girls caught onto Nana having feelings for Taihei. I think it was Kirie.

But, because this is the type of anime it is, I expect no kind of romance to flourish or sail away to any kind of special degree.

END OF SEASON ONE: Beach episode! Umaru gets inspired to want to take a beach trip by watching a car commercial. As one does, I suppose. Taihei is actually on board with this idea. So much so that he was willing to test-drive a car and then rent a car. That was until he got severe anxiety from driving despite passing his test and having a license. Thankfully, Taihei’s idiot friend Bomber took on the driving responsibilities. So, the trip consisted of Umaru, Taihei, Bomber, and Umaru’s two classmates Nana and Kirie.

Now, this is where things get complicated. Umaru’s relationship with Kirie is only on a classroom basis. When Umaru is in her sloth-hamster mode and Kirie is in the room, she is known as “Komaru” Umaru’s little sister. Apparently, the characters of this show are dumber than a sack of hammers as Kirie can’t tell that Umaru and Komaru are the same freakin’ person. Then again, this is one of those anime logic moments and I shouldn’t question it and go with the flow with the rest of these idiots. It’s not just the whole Umaru/Komaru issue, but Kirie is actually on a trip with her brother. Unknown to everyone else, Kirie and Bomber are siblings. And for the episode, Bomber has no clue that his sister is there (mostly because she’s quiet and wears a hat through the episode’s entirety).

As this is a season finale, you would think that there would be some sort of revelation coming from Umaru. She came close to telling Kirie that she’s really “Komaru” but decided not to. Kirie ended up telling Umaru that she and Bomber are siblings and that things have been frosty with their relationship as of recent. Because Bomber showed up to the school’s opening ceremony instead of her parents and Kirie kicked his ass, Kirie ended up with a bad reputation at school. She ends up opening up to Umaru by saying that “Komaru” and Taihei have been good to her and that she’s starting to become better friends with her and Nana. And then, Sylphin happened to be at the beach too.

Just a reminder here, Umaru is hiding from Sylphin too except it’s much different from with Bomber and Kirie. Sylphin would occasionally run into Umaru, but doesn’t know it’s her. Umaru is known as UMR when she’s disguised to buy things outside the home. And because of a common interest, Sylphin and UMR get along well. But don’t worry, none of that crap comes up in this finale.

S: Hey, were you interested in watching 2-minute segments of every character in chibi form with no regard to the plot or that several characters who don’t know about Umaru’s double and triple life are just hanging with otaku chibi-sized Umaru? Too bad, you’re getting it anyways!

OVA: Usual kinds of shenanigans; Taihei’s birthday, a Halloween night, shameless manga promoting, and a random sighting of Miku Hatsune’s doppelganger.

But then, the second OVA decides to get a little serious as Umaru is giving serious thought into letting Nana, Kirie, and Sylphin know about everything. Nana is pretty oblivious and misses so many moments of Umaru slipping up with her real persona. Kirie still thinks Komaru is Umaru’s little sister. And Sylphin hasn’t made the connection that Umaru and UMR are the same person. So, Umaru gave it a lot of thought to let her friends know that she is really Komaru and UMR. Does she do this? Of course not! What kind of silly question is that? Although, the second episode came out around the same time season two came out. So, I feel like that answers my questions even without watching season two.

SEASON TWO: Same old crap. Umaru is still a lazy shit at home, puts up a façade in front of her friends at school, and no one is the wiser. Let’s add another person to the mix. This season, we are introduced to Alex. To Umaru, he’s another otaku to talk to. To Taihei and Bomber, he’s another workmate. Little do they know, Alex is Sylphin’s older brother. Well, Umaru seems to know. Whether the rest of the cast catches on is up to the creator. There’s also this tiny, white-haired girl named Hikari who gets excellent marks in school like Umaru. Hikari is in A.P. courses at school and is a year below Umaru. And just like Sylphin, Umaru, and Kirie, Hikari has an older sibling that works with their siblings. So which persona will Hikaru know Umaru for?

Actually…she knows about her secret. It’s just that Hikari is far more interested in spending time with Taihei. Hikari is also a lot like Umaru.

The final episode looks to be regular shenanigans but surrounding the Christmas and New Years holiday. And before you ask, no, Umaru doesn’t reveal to anyone about who and what she really is. Only Taihei (and to a lesser extent Hikari) will know that Umaru is cola-chugging, anime-watching, hamster-emulating, lazy-ass imouto.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t hate this like I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, Umaru is an annoying imouto and well-deserving of my disliked character spot. I think it was the second season where it felt like she seemed a little more tolerable. Or maybe it’s just that the stories seemed more focused on Umaru at school, with her friends (as Umaru), or as UMR with Sylphin.

Now, here comes the recommendation part. I recommend that you watch the anime His and Her Circumstances (or Kare Kano). That came out of left field. Let me explain. Yukino from Kare Kano is a bit like Umaru as she’s an over-achiever at school, but all of that is a façade as she’s totally different at home. Aside from that, there really isn’t anything else connecting these two animes. I just felt like giving this particular anime some love. Can I be nice about Umaru for once? Fine. The ending was better on Umaru than Kare Kano because it wasn’t crapped out by Gainax.

Tread with caution as this anime has never gotten a positive reputation. Rightly so! Umaru is annoying as fuck. Hidive has the episodes available for streaming.

Okay, time to watch some more anime licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

I picked this one up through the randomizer. I’m sure it can’t be as irritating as Umaru-chan.

#FamousLastWords

[medea10]

My Review of Nerima Daikon Brothers

Time to take a step away from the World Masterpiece Theater classics and into one that I’m jumping into blind-folded. Let’s go through my usual scanning process and…

*5 minutes later*

Wait, wait, wait! Let me get this straight. There’s an anime that’s essentially the Blues Brothers. It was licensed by ADV and voiced by the holy trinity of voice actors; Greg Ayres, Luci Christian, and Chris Patton.

AND is directed by Shinichi “Nabeshin” Watanabi who also makes frequent appearances just like in Excel Saga?! This fucking guy?! Where the fuck have I been the last 19 years?

We’ve got the loud brother Hideki, the stoic brother Ichiro, and their vain cousin Mako. They run a daikon radish farm together. But these three have bigger dreams like one day opening up a concert hall where they can perform for big crowds with their band the Nerima Daikon Brothers. However, money has always been an issue. And they don’t have much to start on their dreams. Sometimes, they do things that aren’t right or kosher, hell or legal. They gotta get that money one way or another. They borrow money from the ATM, get a snappy song in the process, but end up broke in the end. They rent items from a man whose face we don’t see, but it’s totally Nabeshin. They save the day with those rentals, but end up blowing it one way or another.

There’s also a panda that’s there. It’s a Nabeshin anime, you’re going to get a cute animal. Just be happy the main characters aren’t going to try and eat it like in Excel Saga.

BETWEEN THE…

Nope. And you know why. Say it with me now! “FUCK THE SUB, THIS SHIT’S GOT CHRIS PATTON!” If this is a 90’s or 2000’s anime and licensed by ADV Films, chances are it’s going to star Luci Christian, Greg Ayres, and/or Chris Patton. In this anime’s case, it’s got all three doing the top billing. Now hold on a minute everyone, you have to remember that this anime is a musical. And when I mean musical, the cast sings. And when I mean the cast sings, the entire cast sings. And when I mean…you know where I’m going with this. English cast sings. But it’s a silly anime. This is the company that dubbed Excel Saga after all. It can be forgiven if you hate it. I personally don’t hate it.

And now for the unfortunate part to this portion of the review. This anime is currently in license limbo. As we all know, ADV Films died out years ago. Shortly after, FUNimation licensed this gem. But soon after let the license expire. And no one has it for streaming. Not Crunchyroll, not Hidive, not even Retro Crush. You would think that Sentai would have nabbed this one up or Crunchyroll would have aired it like it did with Ghost Stories and Excel Saga. Oh well! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Hideki is played by Shigeru Matsuzaki

*Ichiro is played by Shoutarou Morikubo (known for Shikamaru on Naruto, Bartolomeo on One Piece, Kisaki on Tokyo Revengers, Zagred on Black Clover, and Iwata on Excel Saga)

*Mako is played by Ayano Niina (known for Mammon on Umineko)

ENGLISH CAST: *Hideki is played by Greg Ayres (known for Kaoru on Ouran HSHC, Sunohara on Clannad, Kouji on My Hero Acadmia, Nagisa on Free!, Negi on Negima, Hiro on Ef – A Tale of Memories, and Nishinoya on Haikyuu)

*Ichiro is played by Chris Patton (known for Greed on FMA, Asura on Soul Eater, Hajime on Ghost Stories, Sato on Welcome to the NHK, Oikawa on Haikyuu, Yuuichi on Kanon, and Ayato on Diabolik Lovers)

*Mako is played by Luci Christian (known for Hiro on Fruits Basket 2019, Wrath on FMA, Truth on FMA: Brotherhood, Nami on One Piece, Alois on Black Butler II, Yukari on Azumanga Daioh, and Huni on Ouran HSHC)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: I know that one of the brothers is a host at a certain kind of club. But I was just really uncomfortable watching the scenes in the first episode involving a “hot dog”. So for that reason alone, the production company guy. No. Just no to this guy! This guy got what was coming to him. Phrasing!

SHIPPING: I’ll keep my mouth shut about the whole she’s your cousin thing. Because at this point of my watching anime (non) career, it’s moot due to all of the incest I’ve watched. Plus, this is a Nabeshin production. It’s all wacky if not over-the-top-raunchy.

Although, I could do without so much of the panda love. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing Chris Patton singing about the panda. I’m losing credibility with every word I write here.

But yeah, there’s a lot of cousin love and panda love here. Hideki loves Mako and goes over the top to declare his love for Mako in nearly every episode. As for Mako, she loves her other cousin Ichiro. Ichiro kinda dodges everything in life with the blasé attitude he’s known for. Ichiro even goes above and beyond by singing a song that describes how he’s not interested in Mako. I seriously had Chowder x Panini vibes watching that moment.

But then, there’s this police woman that’s always on the brother’s tail. Yukika has a thing for Ichiro much like Mako does. And they do fight over him. But Yukika also has a small thing for that fucking panda. See?! What did I tell you about the panda love in this show?!

ENDING: In the final couple of episodes, there was a bit of a split in the brothers. Hideki was getting suckered by this weirdo wearing a pot. This guy wants the deed to the Nerima Daikon farm. Meanwhile, Mako is getting suckered by another weirdo who wants the deed to the daikon farm. And this…Ugh…

And this ladies and gentlemen is Yuukel Hakushon. Yes, he has a Picasso face. Yes, he’s dressed like Peter Pan. Yes, his nose comes off more than once. Yes, there are zombies dancing next to him. So yes, he is the quintessential character you throw in mid-2000s shows to make fun of Michael Jackson. I can’t even begin to tell you how much all of those jokes bugged the shit out of me. And I shouldn’t talk as I did make a lot of jokes surrounding the man back in the day. But watching it so many times really did annoy me. The only exception to all of that was Mr. Jefferson on South Park. That episode is just iconic.

Okay, Mike McFarland did a good job voicing this guy. Pearl point for him.

Back to the ending. With Hideki and Mako gone, Ichiro has been lonely and worried about the fate of not only the farm, but his relationship with his brother and cousin. But the plan for pothead and Jacko rip-off to get the farm diplomatically went right out the window when a flying city hall comes in and zaps them. The prime minister of Japan comes in and is ready to take the Nerima brother’s farm. He wanted those two underlings to do it, but now it’s time for this guy to get serious.

We’re at the finale and I’m expecting something absolutely bat-shit, off the wall, crazy to happen. Nabeshin was the one who did give us that final episode of Excel Saga after all. Compared to Excel Saga, it was pretty tame. Don’t get me wrong, everything about this show is what I expect to come from Nabeshin’s brain (and afro). The prime minister sent everything to try and keep the brothers down and just take their property. There was even a final fight against the prime minister’s cronies versus Hideki, Mako, Ichiro, a horde of pandas, the random dancers you see when a character goes to an ATM, and even, yes, Nabeshin. Just like in every episode up to this point, Nabeshin gives the trio something to combat whatever they’re fighting. This time, it's a microphone. Once more, they get a rental from a guy who’s mental and save their asses.

They were able to get rid of the prime minister and his cronies. And they were able to turn everyone back to normal after the prime minister used a weird ray turning everyone into lions. However, the stage Hideki, Ichiro, and Mako built on the farm was destroyed. Their dream of having a stage and sing the blues will be fulfilled one day. They’re just going to continue chasing the dream and harvesting daikon in the meantime.

Holy shit, this was indeed something. First of all, I’m thrilled that this anime’s finale wasn’t as balls-to-the-wall crazy like Excel Saga. Though, I think Nabeshin got in trouble with Excel Saga’s finale that this time it had to be tame. By the looks of this, you think I’m going to give this a full speed ahead recommendation here. Not so fast, pal! You have to know what you’re getting into otherwise face being gobsmacked with the WTF.

If you are a fan of the 1980’s classic The Blues Brothers, keep an open mind. This is an anime after all. The cast isn’t going to have the voices that match Akroyd or Belushi. Second, this is by all accounts a musical. Characters are going to break out and sing at any moment. There are several songs per episode. Not everyone is a fan of that. Third, Nabeshin animes are an acquired taste. It can be nonsensical, inside-y jokey, and parody.

With all of that said, it’s your call to make if you want to watch it. And it’s also the internet’s call if you can find it as this series is currently not streaming anywhere and the DVD might be out of print after so much time.

[medea10]

My Review of Ranma 1/2 (2024)

I think we all know who Rumiko Takahashi is. Right? One of Japan’s finest mangaka’s. Creator of great stories like Maison Ikkoku, InuYasha, Urusei Yatsura, and of course Ranma ½. And…

Ugh…I gotta get this off my chest. Ever since we hit 2020, every time I see news involving one of Rumiko’s stories, it’s been either a sequel or a reboot. And seeing as this is the third one in four years, I’m a little concerned that one reboot might be around the corner that I will dread its arrival. In short, please don’t reboot InuYasha. If you’re going to reboot another classic, go for Maison Ikkoku. I don’t want to go on the defensive again and claim that the older series is not bad and it’s actually quite good. I’ve done it before with other animes like Full Metal Alchemist, Fruits Basket, and Hellsing. The original series to those three mentioned are great and I will not stand for bad-mouthing of any one of them.

But onto Ranma ½! Obviously, InuYasha was my very first Rumiko anime. But Ranma ½ was something I started sometime after InuYasha’s final act finished. The anime was created by the same woman, a lot of the characters felt similar to InuYasha, funny, quirky, many love triangles, and even had some of the same cast. Kappei Yamaguchi played both Ranma and InuYasha. Even in the English dub, Richard Ian Cox played both characters (eventually). Knowing all that, I knew I was going to enjoy myself here. I wasn’t wrong, I did. InuYasha is still my favorite out of the Rumiko universe, but Ranma ½ was definitely #2 for me.

The original Ranma ½ manga began in 1987 and ran for nine years. The television series aired two years later and lasted for 161 episodes, along with several movies and OVA’s. So, much like Urusei Yatsura, it was decided to be given a reboot for this new generation of anime watchers. But unlike Urusei Yatsura, Ranma ½ will be given the same voice cast (for the most part). And where Urusei Yatsura got David Production to animate it, Ranma ½ has studio MAPPA.

You know, the same mother fuckers that gave us Yuri on Ice and snatched it away. I’m not over it and never will be. Yeah, that’s right! I’m gonna be 100% that bitch crying crazy at MAPPA for that one fuck up. The rest of the world will know MAPPA as the ones behind the fourth season of Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man. Okay, onto the story!

Soun Tendou is the head of the Tendou Martial Arts dojo. He’s also the father of three young daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane. One day, Soun gets a letter from an old friend (Genma Saotome) saying he and his son are coming and one of Soun’s daughters will be betrothed to his old friend’s son Ranma Saotome. Soun’s hopes are for the family legacy to continue. The day Soun’s friend was to arrive was anything but normal. A giant panda and a young girl named Ranma Saotome arrives. But wait! Isn’t Ranma a boy? Don’t worry, everything will be explained soon and it’s every bit of absurd as you remembered.

Ranma is a boy and a girl. Watch this get canceled by MAGA really quick! Whenever Ranma gets wet with cold water, he turns into a female. Ranma’s father also has a strange anomalies with him as well. When Genma gets wet he turns into a panda. While training in China, both fell in a cursed lake that altered their bodies. However, they can both change back with hot water. And as the story goes on, there will be several characters that have the same problem. But we’ll get there when we get there.

Soun’s youngest daughter Akane is not happy by any of this. First, she’s pissed that she is being pushed onto a boy she just met. Second, she hates boys! And third, this whole situation is just too much for her. Very valid reasons here to be honest. Oh well. Suck it up because Akane and Ranma are going to be in this for the long haul.

THE SUB: Yes, yes, InuYasha and Ranma have the same voice in the Japanese. He also plays Rinne's father too. Moving on!

As I said before, as long as a cast member isn’t dead, retired, or #MeToo they are going to be in this reboot. That and you cannot have this anime without Megumi Hayashibara and Kappei Yamaguchi voicing both Ranmas. But most of the cast has returned like the voices for Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, Ryoga, and Shampoo. Genma’s original voice actor (Kenichi Ogata) did not come back to voice Genma. However, they got him to voice the Narrator. Oddly enough, the dub did something similar to that. But, we’ll get there. They got the equally talented Cho to play Genma Saotome. And I’m okay with that!

As for newer voice actors, yes, there are a lot of familiar folks. Mamoru Miyano plays that horn-dog ice skater, Mikado. Aoi Yuki plays Mikado’s ice-skating partner, Azusa. Okay, that’s funny having the voices of Cilan and Iris together again. Tomokazu Sugita blesses this anime by playing the abrasive Kuno becoming the third person to play this character as the previous two have passed away. And finally, there is an anime only character here. This is the person you see commentating on any kind of fight that goes down at school. And that honor goes to the greatest seiyuu in the universe, Tomokazu Seki! Perfection right here! Getting the same guy who plays Meito Anizawa is just S-tier greatness.

And you thought I was going to bring up Tracey here. I know I just did. But that’s beside the point. This is a Medea review. You all know I’m bound to do that.

LICENSING AND THE DUB: If you notice a nice pattern here, most of Rumiko Takahashi’s works are licensed by Viz Media and then distributed to the masses. Even the manga to many of them. I had the highest of hopes that Viz would license it, Crunchyroll would stream it, and then Crunchyroll would work with Ocean Group to put out a dub. You know, just like with Yashahime most recently. While most of the cast from Ocean Group hasn’t been heard from in years or died, people like Richard Ian Cox, David Kaye, and Willow Johnson are very much alive and kicking.

But then Netflix…

Yeah, you know how it’s going to go from there. I still haven’t forgiven them for their dub to Evangelion. But I will not write them off with their dubs as they have done some great dubs including Violet Evergarden, Aggretsuko, Carole & Tuesday, Dandadan, and many others. And they got J. Michael Tatum. That’s a big thumbs up there! Yeah, I fold easily once I hear Tatum is in an anime. I am just not used to Ranma’s voice here. I know Richard Ian Cox wasn’t even Ranma until partial-way into the original dub, but that’s what I’ve grown to like. The one person from the original Ranma ½ dub they got was David Kaye. He originally played Soun Tendou, but is now voicing the narrator. At least it gives him some more work outside Sesshomaru and Last Week Tonight w/ John Oliver.

You read right; David Kaye has been on that program for the last 10 years. You’re welcome!

And now, some other stuff. I love the dubs that Ocean Group and their subsidiaries put out. No one is denying that. However, some groups of people have not been happy with how they dub certain characters with thick accents. I think it was Shampoo here and Shenhua from Black Lagoon that got the most complaints. I will admit, Shampoo sounds a lot better here than in the original. And that’s all I’ll say because I try to stay out of the fight of having characters of color played by people of color. As a person of color, I have many thoughts on the matter and let’s leave it at that. On with the review!

Here’s the new English cast.

*Ranma ♂ is played by David Errigo Jr.

*Ranma ♀ is played by Suzie Yeung (known for Makima on Chainsaw Man, Shizuka on Mushoku Tensei, Milize on 86, Sumi on Rent-A-Girlfriend, Ayumu on Love Live Nijigasaki, and Amane on Demon Slayer)

*Akane is played by Valeria Rodriguez

*Genma is played by Fred Tatasciore

*Ryoga is played by Damien Haas (known for Kudou on My Happy Marriage)

*Shampoo is played by Grace Lu (known for Hana on Sakamoto Days)

SHIPPING: It’s a Rumiko classic. Get ready for some love-polygons because there’s going to be many of them.

Akane x Ranma is of course the main ship. They hate each other at the beginning and there’s a lot of bickering for the most part. You know, like another anime couple that debuted a decade after these two. And another anime couple that debuted a few years before these two. Rumiko is formulaic at times, but I ain’t complaining. As I said in the synopsis, Akane has an immense hatred of the opposite sex (with one exception). At school, she is constantly hit on or challenged by boys. And then you add Ranma to this mix and…adding Ranma just gained more trouble. Akane and Ranma both have fathers who want them to hook up. Leaving out my thoughts on arranged marriages, Akane wants nothing to do with this. Then you add Ranma’s condition and that’s all kinds of messed-up troubles. Ranma’s new to this being a girl thing and is fine with walking around naked. Akane is not having this shit! So, in terms of this season…while they do have a few moments here and there, wait a little longer to see this progress.

Tatewaki Kuno: Along with several other rough-tough boys at school, this man has an infatuation with Akane. And Akane has turned him down every single time. His jealousy does get the better of him when Ranma’s around. But when Kuno meets Female Ranma, let’s just say he falls for her too. But he doesn’t give up on Akane knowing that the “pig-tailed girl” is out there.

I don’t know about you, but I support him with Nabiki.

Dr. Tofu: The young doctor that the Tendou family has relied on for many years. And despite being several years older than Akane and being a guy, she likes him. Dr. Tofu doesn’t seem to notice that because there’s another Tendou sister that has his attention. Tofu is definitely crushing on Kasumi Tendou. Speaking of the that, whenever Kasumi is in the room, Dr. Tofu all of a sudden forgets how to do basic shit.

Ryoga: This man has got to have the worst sense of direction of any anime character. Yes, worse than Leon from Pokemon. But when he appears, he comes with a knuckle-sandwich for Ranma. But as for shipping, Ryoga has a bit of a crush on Akane. He’s the only one who has slept with Akane. Oh, let me explain. Much like Ranma, Ryoga suffered a fate in one of those cursed lakes in China. When he gets wet, he turns into a little piggy. Whenever Akane sees the little piggy, she doesn’t put two and two together that this is Ryoga. Ryoga is P-chan and Akane loves P-chan. But not in that sick way like in that Inukai's dog anime.

That anime makes me think again about suicide. Moving on.

Kodachi Kuno: Oh yeah, this crazy bitch. One of Kuno’s crazy family members (yes, they’re all certifiably crazy). This is Kuno’s sister. She’s heavily into rhythm gymnastics. Has an unhealthy passion for stalking her competition. And is crazy in love with Ranma. She even paralyzed him and tried to kiss him on a roof. Now, you would think Kuno would be mad at Ranma for his sister’s infatuation. Quite the opposite, Kuno is fine with it. Less competition for Akane…but he still likes the “pig-tailed girl” too. The Kuno family is nuts.

Sanzenin: I absolutely forgot about this guy and his skating partner’s existence. Not gonna lie! Much like Kuno, he has a softness for pretty girls. But while Kuno will only pull out bouquets of flowers from nowhere and declare his undying love, Sanzenin is more impulsive. This guy kissed Ranma on the lips. Yes, it was the female Ranma. He was not too happy by this. Not including the kiss of death Ranma got from Shampoo, I do believe this was his very first kiss. Again, not happy about any of this.

Shampoo: Oh yeah, shit goes down here. Shampoo is a Chinese amazon where martial arts is high in her family with many traditions. Ranma inadvertently crossed paths with Shampoo while in China and defeated her in combat. Because Ranma was in his female form, Shampoo gave him the kiss of death. Meaning, she will not stop until (female) Ranma is dead. Shampoo even traveled to Japan to kill him, but met with real Ranma and once again accidentally defeated her. Shampoo kisses Ranma, but this time it’s a declaration of love.

CENSORSHIP: Oh yes, there is A LOT censored here. Long-time Rumiko fans know that some of her older works had a lot of risqué things. Lum was everyone’s 80’s waifu with her skimpy outfit. There was one character on Maison Ikkoku who would wear see-through negliges where you could see her nipples like in every scene she was in (including the opening theme). And Ranma was also guilty of giving us a nipple or two every so…well, more often than not. Ranma is a boy and clearly has no shame walking around without a shirt on. When he’s in girl-mode, it’s not so modest.

Plus, most of the time he gets wet, he does have to go into the shower to turn back to normal. Yeah, there’s a lot of bath and shower scenes. Maybe Netflix wasn’t the right choice in the licensing department when you see they were not only going to censor nipples, but also the word “China” and even butt-cracks. Come on now, even Crunchyroll keeps the butt-cracks! They just add unneeded beams of light to that. Honestly, the only ones who would have given us uncensored Ranma ½ would have been Discotek or Sentai Filmworks. Keep in mind, those are the companies that gave us Kiss x Sis and Redo of Healer.

END OF SEASON ONE: Wait, I thought this was going to be a two-cour season. Oh well, they announced a second season shortly after so I shouldn’t complain. Thankfully, we got the introduction of Shampoo before the season ended. Shampoo is one of the biggest love rivals in this anime. She comes in ready to kill female Ranma due to her family tradition and the kiss of death she gave her, but ends up falling in love with male Ranma after losing to him in combat. However, Shampoo was not pleased with Akane’s existence around Ranma and gave her the kiss of death. Shampoo vs. Akane went in a weird direction. Shampoo is a formidable opponent strength wise. But she didn’t use much strength to take out Akane. She used a special shampoo to brainwash Akane into forgetting Ranma’s existence.

They don’t call her Shampoo for nothing.

Thankfully, Akane’s amnesia was broken thanks to Ranma’s insults about Akane. Shampoo however isn’t through here as she is determined to have Ranma all to herself. That’s when Ranma decided to do something bold. In front of Shampoo, Ranma voluntarily poured cold water on himself to reveal to Shampoo that he and female Ranma are one in the same. It’s just that he says the male side is temporary. This kind of broke her heart and she left Ranma. And that’s how the season ended. Ryoga and Ranma discussing what had just happened. And, we’ll get season two whenever we get it.

But don’t worry, that’s not the end of Shampoo. Not by a long-shot! We still haven’t seen her secret nor have met her grandmother.

So, not a bad start. I was hesitant, but I’m enjoying the reboot so far. Of course, I’m looking forward to the upcoming season(s) as there are many other characters not introduced like Cologne, Pantyhose Taro, Mousse, (my personal favorite) Ukyo, and the grand pooba of perverts, Happosai. The dub actually grew on me. I might even say, I like it a bit more than the original. I know it’s blasphemy to say that, but it could be just my rose-colored nostalgia glasses clogging up everything. Although, if we do see Mousse and Ukyo soon, I want them voiced by Brad Swaile and Kelly Sheridan again.

I KNOW IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Fine, I fully admit that. But you know you could get them. They are still voice acting. And they are great fucking voice actors!

But I do have to wonder how long this reboot is going to last. Many of Rumiko’s works are lengthy, even when you get rid of the fillers. I’m not even sure the reboot to Urusei Yatsura is even finished with what they attend to animate. The original Ranma ½ manga was over 400 chapters long. If the studios and animators are willing to give the public the full story, I’m all for it and will happily watch it.

Now for recommendations! If you’re a fan of the original Ranma ½, while this story is far from finishing and has a long way to go, it’s a good start. For fans of Rumiko’s other works like InuYasha, Urusei Yatsura, Rinne, and Maison Ikkoku, this is definitely for you especially if you watch these stories for shipping purposes. Rumiko loves the complicated love polygons. If you are a fan of comedy anime, absolutely check this out. And if you wandered over here and just learned about this anime and find it offensive that a boy turns into a girl and jump to every wrong conclusion, go away. FAR away from here. And never return.

This ain’t for you, fool.

In the meantime, you can check out Ranma ½ (2024) on Netflix.

And if you have a lot of time on your hands, there seems to be several outlets streaming the original Ranma ½ series including; Hulu, Peacock, Amazon Prime, and Tubi.

[medea10]

My Review of Love Live Superstar: Season 3

Season 1 & 2 Review Here

Kinda hard to scream out, “I’m in Idol Hell” if the Idol Hell gacha game ended before it could begin again. If you know, you know.

HISTORY: Kanon Shibuya always loved singing. Once she puts on her headphones, she’s on full blast. The only problem is that when she has to perform, like in an audition or solo performance, she freezes up. This caused problems when she was auditioning for an entrance exam into Yuigaoka High School (a school famous for its music program). Kanon was still accepted into the school, it’s just that she’s just a regular student in general studies. Kanon at this point was ready to give up on ever singing again. But on her way to school, she was singing without realizing and caught the attention of another student. Keke Tang was enthralled and wanted to know more about Kanon.

Keke is from Shanghai and came to Japan due to her love of school idols (much like so many other girls from the franchise). The girls decide to start a school idol club. However, they are constantly stopped by a student council member (Ren). She bans their attempts at them starting a school idol club (much like what we’ve seen in previous Love Live stories). Thankfully, the principal had some mercy by allowing Kanon and Keke to start an idol group at school under the condition that they win 1st place in a local competition. While it was damn-near impossible, the girls won a special newcomer award for their performance and the principal caved in on giving Keke and Kanon the opportunity to start a school idol club. This is the story of Liella.

The girls of Liella spend their first year of school trying to make it to the top and while things didn’t go their way, they never gave up and tried again the following year. There, they added four new members (Mei, Natsumi, Hinako, and Shiki) to the group giving Liella the signature 9 members and became winners of the Love Live competition.

THIRD SEASON: As you might remember, Kanon was stuck wondering if she should take on the opportunity of studying at a prominent music school in Vienna, Austria. In the end, she decides to go. And this is where the second season gave us that cliffhanger. That very next minute she gets the news from Margarete that things have changed. Margarete is now to attend Yuigaoka and board at Kanon’s home by orders from her parents. So, the exchange to Vienna is delayed indefinitely. Well, that’s good news for the girls of Liella as they get Kanon back. Or did they?

With Margarete’s arrival, she starts up a rival idol club and intends to win against Liella at all costs. Much like the second season, there really wasn’t anyone willing to jump in and join either idol group. Only two people joined Margarete’s idol group and it came with a lot of pushback and shock. Natsumi’s younger sister (who is now a first year) decided to join an idol group that could rival her older sister’s. The other person to join was none other than Kanon. Kanon’s hope for this little endeavor was to help Tomari and Natsumi patch up their sisterly relationship, get the girls of Liella to grow as a group without her, have Margarete be less salty about working with others, and maybe even turn the two groups into one.

LICENSING: Yes, Crunchyroll has this. They’re just not loud about it. Love Live isn’t a major cash-cow nor is it a new flavor of the month. It’s the third season to the fourth installment of an idol anime. Hell, they didn’t even bother giving the second season an English dub. When it was airing week-to-week, Crunchyroll still waited 36 hours before putting up the new episode. That part I’ve gotten used to. What I don’t like is that there’s usually a minute long MV or some 4-panel short and Crunchyroll doesn’t air that too. They do it for their shounen shows. Then again, Crunchyroll will gladly dick-ride shows like Jujutsu Kaisen and air everything that Studio Mappa farts out with that franchise. I ain’t even sorry for that statement.

NEW CHARACTERS: Just like in the previous season, we are introduced to new girls interested in becoming idols. As Kanon, Keke, Ren, Sumire, and Chisato are now third years, there’s bound to be one or two first years interested in joining Liella. Actually, no! I mean sure, these two girls will eventually become Liella members. But for now, these girls are rogue alongside Kanon.

First, we’ve got the resident pink salt bitch, Margarete. You might recall her leaving a bad taste in everybody’s mouth last season with her outburst during the competition and several other occasions. Her pink saltiness will continue this season as well as she starts up a rival idol group at school.

Next is Tomari. She was curious about the school idol phenomenom as her sister has been consumed by the hell. Her sister is Natsumi and has been a little irritated with Natsumi since joining Liella. But she has a bit of a valid reason as she doesn’t want to see Natsumi have her dreams shattered because she failed.

*Margarete is played by Yuina

*Tomari is played by Sakura Sakakura

…

What the double-take?! That’s gotta be a fake name.

SHIPPING PART II: As I’ve stated before on many of these ships, I am a multi-shipper and a ship-swinger. I will support many ships and will happily ship one character with more than one person. I’m just not as crazy about it like how I was with Love Live Sunshine. This season, let’s just say that…

Mei x Shiki is the best Sumire x Keke is the most amusing Kanon x Margarete is…it’s there.

ENDING: Okay, we’ve watched Kanon, Keke, Rin, Sumire, and Chisato grow throughout these three seasons and they are currently in their third year of high school. So, one of the big things weighing on their minds is the future. Keep in mind that Love Live is only for high school students. Once they graduate, the whole high school idol thing is over and the girls will have to focus on what they want to do in the future. Kanon of course is still set to attend the prestigious school in Vienna as the opportunity opened back up. Ren has set her sights on higher education. Kinako will take over Ren’s duties as student council president. Sumire has been getting offers from everyone in the entertainment industry. Chisato is going to become a professional dancer. Keke went through her own issues by going back home to Shanghai. But it all worked out for the best here as Keke was able to perform in front of her parents, tell them what she really wants to do, and best of all every girl performed together.

Ever since Kanon left Liella to perform with Margarete and Tomari, there’s been a myriad of emotions and opinions with that decision. But as long-time Love Live viewers, we know the time is going to come soon where the other girls are going to join Liella and they’ll be a group of 11 instead of 8. But until that happens, we have to deal with Tomari’s issues involving her older sister and Margarete being the bitchiest hold-out. Natsumi and Tomari were able to patch things up. Margarete is still a hard no on everything. Having two idol groups at the same school has been a bit of a headache. The principal decided to hold a competition. As only one idol group per school can enter Love Live, this has to be done. Look, just join up already and become 11 you salty-pink bi-atch!

The school and everyone else voted unanimously that Liella should be 11, merge the two groups already. Everyone was in agreement…yes, even her. Just because she’s officially a Liella member doesn’t mean she’s going to become like every other girl at this point of the franchise. No, she’s gotta burn down every bridge. I really gotta stop this hate-o-rade I’m showering in here. But I gotta be real, this has to be the very first character in a Love Live franchise that I legitimately hate. I’m sure that’ll change over time, but I seriously don’t recall hating any other character to the degree I do with Margarete.

Despite a few bumps in the road they’ve faced, Liella persevered and managed to make it past the preliminaries and the finals for Love Live and they are ready to hit the big stage once more. Will the group win back-to-back Love Lives? The answer was already given by the end of episode 11 as they totally did. So, I suppose the final episode is graduation, goodbyes, and possible looks into the future.

Episode 12 is…yeah, pretty much what I just said. Except for the future thing. We’ll never see grown-up Love Live idols. Kanon is feeling the severe anxiety of going to Vienna alone. Despite Margarete fulfilling the promise of her family, she decided to stay in Japan, attend Yuigaoka, and be a true member of Liella. Took her a long time to get along with everybody. Along with Kinako’s new position as student council president, the girls decided to promote Mei to president of the school idol club (with Shiki as VP). This is top-tier shipping! Along with Sumire getting job offers from the entertainment industry, Keke is also in the same situation. So, this just means Keke and Sumire are going to be seeing more of each other once high school is over. And I’m all for more Keke x Sumire.

My shipping goals in this series are being check-marked.

Graduation day was emotional as the underclassmen are saying goodbye to their senpais. Kanon is leaving the country. Chisato got accepted to be in a dance troupe. Sumire and Keke are going to be in the entertainment field, but who knows where their new opportunities will take them. And as for Ren, her goal is to one day become the headmistress to Yuigaoka as this was the school that Ren’s mother was working toward before passing away. So, she might still be around. But as of this moment, this is the last time we’ll see these five together. And so, they all sang for one last time for their underclassmen.

I am satisfied with having a Love Live series like Superstar. Mostly for the fact that this is the first series from the franchise to show all 3 years of the high school experience. Yes, we do get the formulaic routine of the school being threatened with possible closure and the usual doubt and rejection from the token student body character plus the other number of tropes you expect from any Love Live anime. But unlike the three series before this, we see the idol group grow from season to season instead of episode to episode in the world’s longest school year.

Okay, I suppose I should lay off Margarete as we see that she grew as a character and an idol eventually. Not all rivals in Love Live are going to be nice like Sunny Passion, encouraging like A-RISE, or helpful like the other school idols in the Nijigasaki series. She had a chip on her shoulder more so than the girls of Saint Snow. I don’t condone having rivals that are stand-offish and inadvertently push the girls to excel. It’s their attitude that irks me is all. Even Pokemon had some of the best rivals for Ash whom I hated with a holy passion. But they did do their job as a rival. That’s usually the job of the rival.

Hmm…now I’m thinking about Paul cross-dressing in Margarete’s solo costume for no reason whatsoever. Don’t mind me. If you know, you know.

Plus, I forgot to mention it when I reviewed the first 2 seasons but the good thing with Margarete is that we get to hear solo songs. Just like how I was when Nijigasaki did the units, I was happy to hear some solos here. There are other songs done by other members from the other Love Live groups that were solos. I’m looking at Nozomi here as she’s still best girl. But I digress.

Well, this Love Live story is over. But mark my words, this franchise is not going anywhere any time soon. There are other characters and groups that have yet to be put to an anime. And as of early 2025, there’s word of a new Love Live anime project. Well, that is just fine. I happily welcome a new one. Just as long as Bushiroad can get their shit together and give us that LLSIF rhythm game everyone is waiting for.

There’s also another Love Live Nijigasaki film coming up that coincides with the other film released not too long ago. It would be nice if Crunchyroll would put that up. They probably will in a few years knowing them, but if you’re going to collect anime like this, commit to them.

In the meantime, you can check out all three seasons of Love Live Superstar on Crunchyroll. Only season one is dubbed though.

[medea10]

Medea Hears Some News That Sparked Joy

I gotta tell you, it's getting harder and harder trying to find things that spark joy these days. If you read my 2024 year-in superlative, you knew I had a hard year. It got worse literally the day after I posted that. Ever since, I've been trying to find things to make me feel happy. Recently, it's been video games. And as of recent, it's been Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

Not even five minutes into this game and Badtz-maru made a Snakes on a Plane reference. This game has succeeded.

And for the last two months, this game has been occupying my mind so I can try not to look at the news. Seriously, we're in the stupidest fucking timeline.

Has there been anything else giving me joy? Outside of the cats and this game. No. Even posting reviews isn't sparking that joy right at the moment. Maybe I just need to do one good shit-post to make me feel whole again.

Hahaha...Foreshadowing.

Let's see. An Azumanga Daioh character appearing in a Yotsuba chapter as an adult. Hell yes, that sparks joy.

Yolanda Saldivar got her parole denied again. Fuck yeah, that's a joy sparker. IYKYK

Inappropriately laughing at a Re:Zero spoiler. Sadly, yes, that does spark joy. I have no shame or control.

Anything else?

Oh?

Well, that's lucky. This might be the last crop of games going to the original Nintendo Switch before we all have to make the SWITCH to 2. I have no hopes really. The game I want will never happen. And Pokemon just did it's direct last month. But okay, whatcha got?

Yes!

Okay, I got into this franchise a couple of years ago and been enjoying myself with these games. So I'm going to give this one a shot.

Okay, more details about Pokemon Legends: Z-A. No official date given. Hmph.

I still say it'll be November 14th or 21st. That's my guess.

Anything else?

Medea, rumor has it that there might be a Mega Evolution for Clefable.

Do what now? Yeah, that does gain my attention. I just feel that adding new mega evos over 10 years after the fact kinda feels ruined in a sense.

And the fighting at night has me raising questions as I'm the kind of person that's dead-ass come 7pm. Regardless, that's still a game I'm gonna play regardless.

What else you got?

A farting mii...A FARTING MII?!!!!!!!

IT COULDN'T BE!

IT IS! IT FREAKIN' IS!

THE ULTIMATE JOY-SPARKER!

I am already thinking of what to have my game consist of with mii characters. Will I do all Pokemon characters or just my favs? Maybe the cast of [redacted] 101. The possibilities are endless at the moment.

So, if you've been following me before I became solely for posting anime reviews, you might remember my little infatuation with a little game called Tomodachi LIfe.

If for no other reason in the world but to have my mii date, marry, and have Tracey Sketchit's mutant mii children.

Priorities!

But when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it, this game was just fun.

I could go on with the pictures I have from my 3DS game because let's face it. I spammed everyone with this. Good times.

With that said, here's what I hope Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will give the masses.

The mii creator from the 2021 Miitopia.

For those asking, no, I did not create that Inosuke mii. It was just too good to pass up when I found it back then. There was only so much one could do with miis during the 3DS days. This was one of the best things to come from the reboot game. I was able to make characters like Washu, Konata Izumi, Grell Sutcliff, Piers and Marnie look much more than what they would look like circa 2017.

I don't care if the characters decide they want to have babies. Just leave me the fuck out of it. I ain't a babysitter. In short, "Fuck them kids".

Let the miis cuss.

One thing I give Miitopia for is that the characters can say just about anything when they say their "war cry". I was able to get away with having Revy scream out, "eat shit, cocksuckers". Because it's Revy. Having her say anything censored would not be Revy. In Tomodachi Life, I couldn't even say the word "fart".

Shit's sake, I came across nearly all the miis farting at one point or another. The point is, lift up the ban on 'fart' and a couple of other naughty words.

Scary mask better return.

...

Hmm...was there anything else I was supposed to remember? I feel like I'm missing an important something.

AH! YES, THAT'S RIGHT.

This was...what, 2014? I honestly doubt they'll remember this and I will have to wait another millennia before I can make Harley and Tucker a match-made in gay heaven without having to make Harley into a woman in the game.

So, when does this game come out?

2026

Hmm...

Move over, FIFA World Cup. I have a new top spot now.

Huh. Talking about Tomodachi Life made me feel happier. Okay, as you were.

[medea10]

My Review of Anne of Green Gables

In 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery published what was to be her magnum opus, Anne of Green Gables. In a several year span, she wrote about eight novels featuring the titular Anne Shirley. And it was an all-around success. For the next century, there have been plenty of adaptations through film, radio, plays, and yes, television shows. In 1979, Japan’s World Masterpiece Theater came out with Akage no An (or Anne of Green Gables). And now that I’m picking this up, this anime is officially the oldest anime I’ve ever watched, just narrowly beating Rose of Versailles by 10 months.

While my mom has encouraged me to pick this title as this was one of her favorite books growing up as a kid, I wanted to venture onto this due to a few notable people working on this particular title. Believe it or not, this anime was directed by the legendary Isao Takahata. If the name rings a bell, he’s been involved in several Studio Ghibli films including directing Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, and The Tale of Princess Kaguya. But he’s not the only familiar name attached to this. Hayao Miyazaki is also credited for this anime as well doing setting and layout for the first 15 episodes. Just to think that only a few short years later, those two would go on to bring about Studio Ghibli. And the rest is of course history!

Before we start talking about Anne herself, let’s talk about the Cuthberts. Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are siblings and entering their golden years. Neither have married nor have had any children. One could place the reason behind the fact that Matthew can’t speak to women (other than his sister). As Matthew and his sister are getting on in years and upkeep around their home is getting harder with each passing year, they decide to adopt a young orphan boy. When Matthew went into town to pick up his new son, he was in for the shock of his life. His son is really going to be his daughter.

Anne Shirley has had a really interesting 11 years on this earth. For starters, both of her parents died when she was a few months old. After that, she was adopted by several different families and spent a little time in an orphanage. You wouldn’t know it by just looking at her from afar, but Anne is a bit of a chatterbox. So, Matthew sure had his hands full when he not only learned he wasn’t getting a boy orphan, but a girl who loves to gab. For you see Matthew is not good at conversation in general. And aside from his sister, he refuses to talk to any other female. Unfortunately, when Matthew brings home a girl, his sister was very upset by the mistake that was made.

Regardless of everyone’s first opinions, the right decision was made. Anne fell in love with the home of Green Gables, but was worried if Matthew and Marilla were going to take to her. Marilla, while stern with her much of the time, grew to love her. And Matthew, who had never taken to talking to other people opened up to Anne and saw her as the daughter he never had. Anne, who had spent her entire life uncertain if she was loved or would even get to stay at this home is finally somewhere she belongs.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Okay, so…I stumbled upon this. Anne of Green Gables is actually on a streaming platform. It’s just one that many might know exist. Much like with the Little Women dub, it is only available dubbed. And not much is known about the cast or even when it was dubbed. My guess is sometime in the 80s. As for this streaming site, it’s called Studio 100. Their Youtube page seems to have the entire series available to watch. So, that’s pretty easy to watch. Turns out this Studio 100 has other older animes including Heidi and Dog of Flanders. Plus, some stuff I watched as a youth like Babar. Phew, for a second I was worried that I was going to have a hard time finding this anime and would have resulted to watching old VHS tapes. But how would I do that?

Here’s me finding a VHS copy from Japan at Sakura Con. Who in their right mind would buy a VHS…?!

*Medea proceeded to buy two Pokemon Orange Island VHS tapes that were at that same booth*

I know my VCR died a year ago and I do not care at all. I see Tracey, I buy it. I regret nothing.

Let’s move on and talk about Eiko Yamada! Yes, she’s totally in this and yes, she plays the titular character. And by the looks of it, this was her first major role. As you can tell, this proved to be very successful as she was asked to come back to voice other characters from some of the other World Masterpiece Theater animes like Princess Sara, Little Women, and Pollyanna. I have to wonder then, does Yamada return to voice Anne in the prequel series? The answer to that is no. Rina Hidaka did Anne Shirley there. No notes, she’s the best at playing little girl characters. With all of that said, here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Anne is played by Eiko Yamada (known for Mai on DBZ, Jo on Little Women, Tsubasa on Ranma ½, and Lavinia on Princess Sara)

*Matthew is played by Ryuuji Saikachi (known for Grand Kai on DBZ, Motro on Castle in the Sky, and Silas on Little Women – Jo’s Boys) [R.I.P.]

*Marilla is played by Fumie Kitahara [R.I.P.]

*Diana is played by Gara Takashima (known for Hild on Ah My Goddess and Julia on Cowboy Bebop)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: Let’s just say that there were two characters I disliked. Not dislike them intensely, just my usual, they rub me the wrong way for one reason or another or they’re just a bitch.

Rachel Lynde was the one who rubbed me the wrong way. Not all of the time, but enough for me to bring it up. I think what put me over was when Matthew has a big heart attack and Mrs. Lynde notices he was looking at the news in the paper that proved she was right about something and has the gall to say then and there, “I told you so”. Read the room, lady.

And then there’s Josie Pye. I just don’t like her. She’s a bitch! Every novel and every anime adaptation to that novel had to have some snot-nosed bitch in their story. Princess Sara had Lavinia. Les Mis had Eponine. And Anne of Green Gables had Josie Pye. I’ll give her credit as I don’t hate her as much as I did Lavinia and Eponine. Only because she didn’t physically hurt Anne. Indirectly she did.

SHIPPING: I know that what I’m about to mention is just a platonic friendship and nothing more. But if you watched how these two act for the majority of the series, you would swear these two were an item. I’m of course talking about Anne x Diana. Whenever they have to be apart, whether for a few days or because Diana’s mother refuses it, they act like they’re Romeo and Juliet. Even when they’re older, they still have act like they’re going to be separated forever. But, I shouldn’t be such a jerk about it. It’s good that Diana and Anne have remained the best of friends. Now for the actual ship.

Anne x Gilbert. As children, both have endured some hardship (Anne moreso). As a result, they were both far behind the other children in their studies. But in the next few years, they both worked hard to get to the top of the class and the top of their exams for Queens College. Much in common and yet Anne Shirley hates Gilbert’s freakin’ guts. And it all stemmed from one silly comment about her red hair when Gilbert first met Anne. Anne’s red hair is a bit of a red-button issue. She will give you quite the tongue-lashing. Mrs. Lynde, a full-grown woman was even scolded by Anne. What makes you think a boy like Gilbert would be spared? Ever since then, Anne hasn’t even given Gilbert so much as a “Hello” in all of those years. And when entering the college exams and college, Anne’s drive was to make sure she gets higher marks than Gilbert.

Yeah, these two are going to get married. Don’t blame me, blame the original source!

ACCURATE OR NOT (part 1): Isao Takahata wanted to stay as close to the original source as humanly possible. And by the looks of things, he was pretty damn accurate. There was one thing that was spotted.

*Cherry blossoms! I’m sure there are cherry blossoms everywhere now depending on where you live and the climate of its survival. Cherry blossoms growing on Prince Edward Island, Canada in the 1800’s, not bloody likely.

ENDING: It’s certainly been an eventful 4 years for Matthew and Marilla. Ever since adopting Anne, it’s always something with her, from her crazy imagination to all of the incidents that occurred. Let’s face it, she did a lot. Anne tried to dye her hair black but it came out green. She accidentally got her best friend drunk. She accidentally put cough syrup when baking a cake. She even walked on top of a roof on a dare and broke her leg. Let me add to that last thing, Josie is a bitch, not just for daring Anne, but everything else about her, and no one likes her. Moving on! So, imagine everyone’s shock that by the time she turned 15, Anne Shirley’s completely changed and has become a bit more mature.

It could be because of the college entrance exams she’s been studying for. It feels like eons that Anne has been dedicated fully to her studies. Anne’s studying paid off. Not only was she accepted into Queens College in Charolettestown, but was ranked #1 in the exams. This is just one step closer to Anne’s dream of becoming a teacher. One more piece to this puzzle will to go out for this scholarship that would take her to another college after Queens College for free. However, Anne gets some distressing news while studying for her finals involving Matthew. It’s no secret that Matthew and Marilla are getting on in years. But when it comes to Anne, they tried their best to not worry Anne with certain matters. Unfortunately, Anne stumbled upon the news of Matthew having a heart attack. And this isn’t a solo incident, it has happened at least three times up to this point. It’s just that Anne was hidden to the fact.

Well, the results came in. Both Anne and Gilbert got the highest marks. It’s just that Gilbert got the medal and Anne got the scholarship for the four-year college. This marks an end to the long-time rivalry between Anne and Gilbert. While Anne is making plans to further her study at Redmond, Gilbert cannot afford that college. But Anne starts having second thoughts about continuing her education as she starts to feel guilty. Matthew and Marilla’s health are declining. In Matthew’s case, quite rapidly. Anne starts to consider that maybe she should stay at Green Gables and help them since Marilla’s eyesight is worsening and Matthew has had several heart attacks at this point.

During Anne’s summer break, it was one tragedy after another. Matthew has one last heart attack. After trying to revive him, Marilla and Mrs. Lynde could do nothing more. Matthew was gone. The heart attack was brought on by the news that the bank Matthew had all of his money in went bankrupt. Because of Matthew and Marilla losing their money, the talk of selling Green Gables frequently comes up. Shortly after Matthew’s death, Marilla got the news that her eyesight is getting worse. If she kept up with her usual tasks, she’d go blind within six months. This was the final straw for Anne as she made some crucial decisions about her future. Anne will not attend Redmond College (I know, it’s foolish to turn down free college tuition, but you know how real life can be a bitch). Anne has decided to take up an offer given to her by Diana’s father and become a school teacher in a nearby town.

But then Anne got the shock of a lifetime when she was given the opportunity to teach at her old school in Avonlea. Gilbert gave up his opportunity for Anne after hearing about her recent plight. The two finally spoke to each other after five years of utter silence. There were many in the town that were confused about Anne’s decision to not go to Redmond College after winning the scholarship. And no one really knows that the Cuthberts lost their savings due to the bank going belly-up nor do they know of Marilla’s deteriorating eye sight. Anne knows where she belongs and she will forever be Anne of Green Gables.

This is basically where the first book ends as well. There are several more books published by the author. It’s just that the anime only goes this far.

The first six episodes of Anne of Green Gables was put into a compilation film in 2010. But was there ever a continuation to show Anne Shirley as she gets older? No. You all know by now that the World Masterpiece Theater focuses on children in their stories. But believe it or not there is a manga out there of Anne of Green Gables. These volumes came out between 1997-1998 and consist of the content from Montgomery’s first 3 books (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne of the Island).

In 2008 it was officially 100 years since Montgomery’s release of Anne of Green Gables. And so, Canadian author Budge Wilson decided to write a prequel, Before Green Gables. This is the story of Anne’s life prior to living with Matthew and Marilla. One year later, Japan’s World Masterpiece Theater released Konnichiwa Anne: Before Green Gables. This was released 30 years after the Anne of Green Gables anime.

PREQUEL: In the original anime, there’s an episode where Anne talks about her life before coming to Green Gables. Her parents died when she was just a baby and was taken in to several different homes and orphanages for the next 10 years of her life. Her life was hard, but it turned her into the girl everyone loves.

After losing both parents, Anne was taken in by the Thomas family. Joanna the mother has her hands full with four children of her own and one more on the way, so she has Anne do a lot of the work. The father Bert is a lazy drunk, quick to anger, and isn’t above letting Anne take the blame for something he did or striking his wife in front of the children. The children blame Anne for everything (except for the eldest daughter Eliza). Despite all of the odds against Anne, she’s an imaginative child who plays in the woods and makes friends with the animals. And I think I speak for everyone here when I say…

For the love of Figaro, don’t let anything bad happen to this cat.

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

What’s this? I didn’t ask for a Breaking News alert in my own written reviews. What’s all this then?

Anne of Green Gables will receive a brand-new anime adaptation in April 2025 under the name of “Anne Shirley”.

Well, raise my rent! I hope we get a U.S. release.

ACCURATE OR NOT (part 2): I’m going to leave the stuff about the first anime and second anime lining up or not. Because obviously it doesn’t and there’s stuff about the two novels where their shit don’t line up either.

First of all, a lot of these stories shown in the anime are true to the original source material. However, a lot of them are told out of order. In the book, Anne doesn’t get the cat until the family was living in Marysville. The anime introduced Lockinvar at the end of episode 1. Miss Henderson and the Egg Man leave town and get married around the same time Anne leaves to live with the Hammond’s. Obviously, those two events were spread out in the anime. Also, the Thomas family apparently had two other daughters in the novel after Eliza. That would make a little sense as the original anime showed a flashback of Anne comforting a girl during Bert’s drunken fits.

ENDING TO THE BEGINNING: Despite my first impressions from the first couple of episodes in this prequel, we see a lot more fleshing out of Anne’s caretakers the Thomas family. Even though the mother Joanna is strict and has Anne do everything around the house, she is happy to have her help around the house. The father, Bert has a lot of demons. He’s prone to alcoholism. And when he succumbs to the bottle, he does become violent and ends up losing more than just his job. But every now and then, we see these moments of clarity with these two when they’re with Anne. Joanna was able to get through childbirth with Anne’s help and Bert was able to see things clearer while thinking back to happier times while talking to Anne.

I’m trying my best to see the best in this really shitty situation. Anne had several opportunities to live a happier life. SEVERAL!!! And every single time Joanna and Bert turned them down and sent the people packing. Joanna can’t see herself surviving without Anne. And Bert sees Anne as someone part of the family. But if you know the early story of Anne of Green Gables, nothing lasts forever.

What would seem like a happy Christmas turned to tragedy. The head of the Thomas family, Bert was struck by a train and perished. In the aftermath to that, Joanna’s parents came down to take care of the situation. They will shoulder the debts left by Bert and take in Joanna and her four kids. And that’s it. Anne will have to go to the orphanage. Thankfully before that could happen, a gentleman passing by town named Mr. Hammond heard about Anne’s plight and was willing to adopt her. She would have to leave the Thomas family immediately and also leave behind her inanimate object she frequently talks to and the cat Lockinvar.

In one difficult home and into another one. The Hammond family has six kids (two sets of twins). And two more on the way. Seriously, three sets of twins in a row. That’s gotta be some kind of record. The Hammond’s just doubled Anne’s workload as she was only taking care of four children with the Thomas family up to this point. Despite all of that, Anne still managed to sneak in some reading and eventually got to go to school. Her teacher inspired her to think that one day she will reach Prince Edward Islands. She even made a friend that happened to be the echo you hear when screaming near a mountain.

God, this poor girl.

Déjà vu hits as Mr. Hammond kicks the bucket a year or so after Anne moved in with the Hammonds. Unlike Anne’s fortune(?) when Mr. Hammond adopted her when Bert Thomas died, she isn’t really going to get that fortune now. Watching the few episodes with the Hammonds and you can tell the matriarch doesn’t really care for Anne. No way in Hell is she going to stay there much longer.

Speaking of this lady, Mrs. Hammond has got to be one of the most depressing characters in this anime. Scratch that, this franchise. No, scratch that again. The entire World Masterpiece Theater collection. And really, who can blame her. Her husband had many, many, many faults. She had to take care of 8 children, nine if you include Anne. She probably has several undiagnosed mental disorders including post-partum. And now, her husband is dead. She is broken. In the end, the family divided up the children for themselves and sent Anne to live in the orphanage. Okay, eight episodes left. The only thing left is for Anne to be in the orphanage before she ends up at Green Gables.

Yeah, the orphanage. Like Annie mixed with Princess Sarah mixed with a prison. In fact, two of these characters look like Miss Amelia and Miss Minchin. Anne was very upset at this point. All of her belongings were taken from her. Nearly every girl there hates her. Anne’s emotions are all over the place due to the sudden change in her life. Add to that, her belongings were taken by some of the girls and were accidentally set on fire. Anne eventually makes some sort of peace at the orphanage even making one friend. But there’s still friction between Anne and all of the other girls. Especially one girl named Edna. It gets worse when someone on PEI wants to adopt an 11-year-old and it’s either going to be Anne or Edna.

Anne learning about Edna’s plight caused her to give up her dreams of going to PEI and leave Nova Scotia. But Edna was just being sneaky and trying to get Anne to give up. This just led to a big fight. But then we learn Edna’s mother didn’t abandon her so much as gave her up while being treated for an unspecified illness. Her mother even returns to see her and there’s hope for the two to one day live together. Edna gives up her spot and Anne is going to be adopted to the sibling pair on PEI.

Meanwhile, Anne gets a lot of better news. Care packages, letters, and a visit from some familiar faces. Anne’s old teacher and her husband visited. The care package was from Joanna. The letters were from Eliza. We get some happy endings as Anne’s teacher is expecting a child. Joanna and the rest of the Thomas children are doing well and miss Anne. And Eliza is doing well in London and named her daughter after Anne. So, Anne bids a fond farewell to the orphanage and her home of 11 years Nova Scotia.

So, there we are. One of the earliest World Masterpiece Theater animes and the very last one together. Yeah, Before Anne of Green Gables was the last anime done for this collection. It’s a shame that this hasn’t continued. It got a whole generation of children interested in literary classics. And I’m sure there are plenty of other untouched literary classics that would have been perfect for an anime adaptation. However, in 2022 Nippon Animation did something nostalgic for the upcoming Resident Evil 4 video game.

I simply have no words for this other than this made me laugh. And that’s very wrong. Then again, I’ve been known to laugh at the most inappropriate of things.

As for the story of Anne Shirley, I’m glad I got to see Anne of before and after Green Gables. Yes, the character Anne is a lot to take in. I honestly felt Marilla’s pain whenever Anne would go on and on about this or that. But when you’re in a situation much like Anne Shirley, you find ways to cope. And seriously, Anne making friends with a reflection in a glass window and the echo through the mountain is as sad as you can get. Unlike how I was with Little Women and its sequel, both Anne of Green Gables animes are not going to give you major whiplash. Both series did it’s job by showcasing Anne Shirley as a youth and a teenager. I might even go so far as to say it’s one of the best of the World Masterpiece Theater collection. I’m just going to put it up there with Les Miserables and Princess Sarah. Those are the ones I will always recommend, and I will do so for Anne of Green Gables. Even the sequel is worth it!

As I mentioned before, this anime is going to get a remake in April 2025. And I suppose, this is the year for 70s anime remakes. Even Rose of Versailles got a remake by ways of a movie. I have a lot of hope for this one as we might see Anne Shirley after making her college decision. I only say that because Gilbert Blythe is getting mentioned in these PV’s. Again, I hope that we do get an English release of this one.

If you would like to watch the first series, the English dub is available on Studio 100 miniKIDS’s Youtube page. Per usual, anything other than that, good luck on your mission finding quality subtitles.

Now then, it’s time I take a small break from the World Masterpiece Theater collection and pick up this weird anime that’s like The Blues Brothers. Yes, there is such a thing as anime Blues Brothers.

[medea10]

My Review of Plastic Memories

I’ve heard a good amount of things said about this particular series. Some loving it, some finding massive flaws with the concept, and others saying "CHOBITS DID IT"! And if I’m seeing stuff with romance and robots, I better queue up my certain Futurama saying here.

In this world, there are highly advanced androids known as “Giftias”. This technology is so advanced it’s nearly impossible to tell the Giftias apart from actual humans. However, Giftias have a short lifeline. To be precise, 81,920 hours (9 years and 4 months). The company that produces these androids is the Sion Artificial Intelligence corporation (SAI corp).

And that’s where our main protagonist Tsukasa Mizugaki comes in. He manages to get a job at SAI Corp in their Terminal Service One sector. The job is to retrieve Giftias before their expiration date. Once a Giftia reaches its expiration, it loses all of its memories and quite possibly becomes hostile. Tsukasa is paired up with a Giftia named Isla. Isla is a little odd in her approach on the job, but she’s said to be one of the best. Throughout these 12 episodes, Tsukasa experiences many different stories with the Giftias he’s retrieving and…

Alright, yes! He does fall in love with the Giftia at his job, Isla. I mean, anyone watching just the first episode could see that shit coming.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: This is one of those Aniplex of America titles and you know what that means. If you want to buy a physical copy, better start breaking out the cash because that shit’s expensive. Now then, this anime came out in 2015. Damn near a decade later and no English dub to be seen. I should probably walk away from the topic as there are a lot of Aniplex titles like this one. Crunchyroll occasionally gets an anime dubbed eons later. But I don’t want to talk about Crunchyroll and dubs at the moment considering they allegedly ripped off a bunch of donors for the kickstarter to Dirty Pair.

Oh wow, I just clumsily stumbled into THAT subject in an anime that has no connection whatsoever. Gee, I hope I don’t do this again in another review. I probably will. And I’m not sorry.

*Tsukasa is played by Yasuaki Takumi

*Isla is played by Sora Amamiya (known for Aqua on Konosuba, Chizuru on Rent a Girlfriend, Touka on Tokyo Ghoul, Miia on Monster Musume, Elizabeth on Seven Deadly Sins, and Elise on Bungo Stray Dogs)

SHIPPING: Of course, Tsukasa was going to fall for Isla. Of course this is not going to work. Of course this is only going to end up in heartbreak. Dummy, you watched in your own job how hard it is to detach yourself away from a Giftia that’s on the brink of expiration and those people have been with that Giftia longer than you’ve been with Isla. But you still have the tenacity to say that you love Isla by the end of episode 8. Who saw this shit coming? Bro, she’s got less than a month left and afterward, she’s not going to know you. Why not just cut your losses and just ask out that fire-crotch tsundere Michiru?

Ever notice how she looks a lot like Asuka from Evangelion?

Actually, a lot of characters here funny enough remind me of Evangelion. Anyone else feel like that?

Wait, what was I talking about? Ah yes, shipping!

The majority of the series is just a game of will they won’t they. They both know what’s going to happen if they allow their emotions get in the way. What will the end result be?

ENDING: By the halfway point of this show, Tsukasa and the others had to deal with a very complicated matter. After a very traumatic experience with a Giftia that went past its expiration, everyone at Terminal Service One took the incident differently. Many of the veteran employees have awful memories from an incident three years prior. Michiru still has trauma as the Giftia she saw lose its sanity and went on a rampage was someone she saw as her father. Kazuki lost her foot during that very struggle. And Isla (while not there), had her partnership ended by Kazuki. This time, while it did end on a…I can’t lie, it was not a happy ending. The stuff that Terminal Service One do in their work is very sad and if it gets to those lengths, it’s very triggering. It was shortly after this incident that Tsukasa learned of what happened three years prior and also learned that his partner Isla only has roughly a month left before expiration. And we all know what happens in a month.

Deactivated. Heartbreak. Possibly see her again with a new name, persona, and no memory of you whatsoever.

How do I know this? SAI Corp is into cost-cutting by recycling Giftia bodies for use at the company. Andie is living proof of that. She was once gone by a different name and has no memories of that time. Absolutely heartbreaking for those who knew that Giftia like Eru. Tsukasa will learn that sting soon enough even if the anime doesn’t show us. I’ll give him credit for having Isla as his partner and continuing to do so after so much doubt prior. But dumbass here has to go and say he loves her by episode 8. We have like what, 5 episodes left here and I’m assuming that’s all the time left for Isla. I’m doing my damndest to not use this but this fool is giving me no other option.

…

Yes, this public service announcement is brought to you by the Space Pope. Now let’s move on.

After Tsukasa revealed his feelings, Isla immediately turned him down. Tsukasa didn’t take the rejection well but wound up getting some support from the members of the office. Despite Michiru’s reaction after learning how much longer Isla has left, she seems willing to help Tsukasa out. But then, Kazuki ends up changing things. She puts an end to Tsukasa and Isla’s partnership. Kazuki has kind of been that one objector to Tsukasa as she was Isla’s previous partner. Kazuki ended up caving in and allowing things to continue between the two. The rest of the office seems on board with this shipping despite knowing that in one month’s time it’s going to get really depressing. They’re all downright encouraging to these two. But before we get to all of that, Isla and Tsukasa have to BE an item.

When Tsukasa revealed his feelings for Isla, she flat-out rejected it. And ever since that time, she’s been avoiding him. But it was mostly to keep from hurting him in the long-run. But she winds up accepting it and the two are now a couple. Awkward AF, but still! For the little time that Isla has left, both her and Tsukasa spent their time enjoying the moments and creating happy memories. And even when Tsukasa got the mission to take on Isla, it was okay. Both of them carried on with doing their job together one last time, enjoying each other’s company, and going to the amusement park again.

And that’s where Isla decided she wanted to be deactivated, at the top of the ferris wheel. This was actually sweet and calm these last two episodes. Neither character went out kicking and screaming about the situation, they both seemed mature. Possibly because they’ve seen first hand what happens to a giftia soon after expiration.

I’m stuck in the middle with this one. For one thing, there were so many moments that I saw coming a mile away. Many things were going to be obvious. The main character falling for the robot that’s just going to leave by the end of the series. And yes, there are those purists that are going to say, “Just watch Chobits, it’s way better than this bargain-bin rom-rom-com”. While, I’m on team Chobits I won’t hate on it. It was okay for the most part. It didn’t break my heart as many things I saw coming a mile away. It’s just one of those animes that are just okay and I’ll probably forget about most of it in a few years anyways. I’m just being honest here. I would say make your own call while just kind of pushing to the side about the faultiness of the technology. It’s a short series so it won’t take up much of your time.

Crunchyroll has the entire series available.

[medea10]

My Review of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II

Season One Review Here

Alright, my favorite modern Isekai is back! Same cast, same studio, same kinky pervertedness…

Okay, some things aren’t that great when said out loud.

HISTORY: A 34-year-old shut-in is out of the house for the first time in forever. And he’s immediately hit by a truck. This man then wakes up as a baby in another world to parents Paul and Zenith Greyrat. We’re not sure what the man’s name was in his prior life, but he will now be known as Rudeus (or Rudy). His 34-year-old mind is in the body of this child. And this new world Rudeus is in is heavily focused on magic and swords. In the first 5 years as Rudeus, he managed to become well equipped with learning magic incantations, even out-doing his own teacher, Roxy. In his downtime, he ends up making friends with a cute, green-haired girl named Sylph. And when he’s sent away for training, he meets his cousin Eris and becomes her tutor.

Seems easy going at first, but once Rudeus hit 10 his whole world changed. Actually, the entire continent was changed and most of it not for the better. A giant mana disaster hit sending an entire continent of people all over. In Rudeus and Eris’s case, they were able to survive for several years. Others like Rudeus’s family has had it rough.

And I’m going to stop that here because of spoilers. Seriously, just watch and read my previous review.

SYLPH: In season one, we focused a great deal on Eris. Mostly because she’s with Rudeus! Roxy gets some extra screen time despite never being in the same place as Rudeus. But what about Sylph? We don’t see her after the great mana disaster and all we know is that she was marked as safe afterward. Before season two officially started, we were treated to an episode 0 that tells the tale of what happened to Sylph when the big mana disaster hit. Sylph was flying through the air, her hair changed colors, she kills a monster, and saves a princess. It will not sound less weird if I repeated this statement.

Because of unfortunate circumstances regarding where Sylph hails from and what occurred, the princess (Ariel) has Sylph hide her identity for her own safety. Sylph is now known as Fitz and is to be the princess’s bodyguard. Sylph goes above and beyond to protect Princess Ariel that the two of them get closer as friends than just bodyguard and princess. That’s why Sylph goes to the magic academy on her own accord to be with Ariel.

SEASON TWO: Just like with season one, it will be split into two parts. Rudeus is still depressed about Eris leaving him. He still keeps a lock of her hair and strokes it to…you know what, I’m not going to judge him after all he’s been through…Still creepy though! Rudeus ends up joining a new group, but was hesitant due to his closeness with his prior group and again, still sad over Eris. Things worked out well at first. That is until Rudeus had bedroom problems and took his frustration out at his new crew.

OH! Now I get why my friend called it the limp biscuit arc!

Soon after these setbacks hit Rudeus, he got word that a school wants him as a student. There he meets an old ally, new friends, new foes, and…SYLPH?! Nope, sorry, after the events of Episode 0, she is Fitz, the silent, mysterious bodyguard to the princess. It isn’t just “Fitz” as Rudeus meets several other people from season one who are attending this academy. Here, Rudeus makes new connections and indiscreetly gets help with curing his erectile dysfunction.

LICENSING: As usual, Crunchyroll is the one dishing it out. They dubbed it too and…that’s all I’ve got for this category.

NEW CHARACTERS: Some of these characters were technically introduced in the first season. It’s just that their characters are a little more fleshed out and they were featured more often than prior.

Let’s start with Rudeus’s sisters Norn and Aisha. In the first season, Rudeus only spent a small amount of time with his sisters before their father Paul sent Rudeus away. And they were infants at that time. The next time they met was years later and under other circumstances. Norn had an intense hatred for her brother due to him punching their father. Aisha respects and idolizes her brother because Rudeus saved Aisha and her mother. In this season, Paul sent Norn and Aisha to stay with Rudeus while he went on a search for Zenith. Aisha forgoed school to just stay at Rudeus’s home and become a maid like her mother. Norn enrolled in the same academy as Rudeus. Despite a rocky start, Norn got the hang of her new settings and even has a little more respect for her elder brother.

Princess Ariel is the daughter of King Triton. She lives under the sea, goes out searching on her own, and sings about wanting more. I had to do it. Because Ariel is third in line to the throne, her life is constantly in danger. Coming upon Sylph back during the great mana disaster was a bit of luck on her part as she saw her potential. While shielding her real identity, Ariel essentially saved Sylph and protected her. Once Rudeus came into the picture, Ariel loosened Sylph’s restraints and became a supporter to this romance.

Shizuka…Where do I even begin with this one? First of all, Shizuka came from Rudeus’s original world. Unlike being reincarnated like Rudeus, Shizuka was teleported. Add to that, Shizuka was the girl Rudeus saved when he got struck by that truck and was reincarnated. In the first season, she’s seen with Orsted (the Dragon God that scared everyone except Rudeus). Shizuka hates being in this world and wants to go back to her original world. While Rudeus likes his life here and won’t join Shizuka in returning, he does help her with teleportation circles.

Zanoba. Yeah, I’ll add him too. In season one, we see him and Rudeus bond over figures Rudeus crafts. This continues throughout this season. Let’s just say Zanoba is a lot better than what he used to be. When you kill your brother (at age 3 no less) and later down the line, kill your fiancé, him working with dolls with a slave is a lot better.

Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Norn is played by Saya Aizawa (known for Yuzu on Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale and Ayano on Alya-san)

*Aisha is played by Yukari Takada (known for Elma on Miss Kobayashi, Yuu on Bloom Into You, and Lessar on Index)

*Ariel is played by Reina Ueda (known for Mallow on Pokemon SM, Kisa on Fruits Basket 2019, Kanao on Demon Slayer, Lemon on Mashle, Miyo on My Happy Marriage, and Jiro on Tokyo Ghoul)

*Shizuka is played by Shion Wakayama (known for Takina on Lycoris Recoil)

*Zanoba is played by Satoshi Tsuruoka (known for Caster on Fate/Zero)

ENGLISH CAST: *Norn is played by Bryn Apprill (known for Historia on Attack on Titan, Mimosa on Black Clover, Ai on Zombieland Saga, Ritsu on Assassination Classroom, and Nagisa on Kaguya-sama)

*Aisha is played by Meg McClain (known for Rachel on Angels of Death)

*Ariel is played by Sarah Wiedenheft (known for Tohru on Miss Kobayashi, Power on Chainsaw Man, Zeno on DB Super, Charmy on Black Clover, Lily on Zombieland Saga, and Ruby on Love Live Sunshine)

*Shizuka is played by Suzie Yeung (known for Makima on Chainsaw Man, Shizuka on Mushoku Tensei, Milize on 86, Sumi on Rent-A-Girlfriend, Ayumu on Love Live Nijigasaki, and Amane on Demon Slayer)

*Zanoba is played by Ian Sinclair (known for Space Dandy, Whis on DB Super, Kureno on Fruits Basket, Baldroy on Black Butler, Sousuke on Free!, Brook on One Piece, and Azami on Food Wars)

SHIPPING PART DEUX: It’s obvious that going into this season that Rudeus was not over the whole Eris thing. He’s tried to move on by burning the piece of hair he kept. But the crowning moment in this sob moment was when temporary new mate Sara goes on a date with Rudeus as a thank you for saving her. Oh, the date and dinner were no problem at all. It’s what happened afterward in the bedroom.

Rudeus Greyrat has officially become Broke-dick Bob.

Now, during this limp biscuit arc, he does get a baby inkling from his johnson. Problem is that it was inkling when in the company of another male. Or so Rudeus thinks! He got into a very sweet friendship with the mysterious classmate known as Fitz. But as we all know FITZ IS SYLPH! It’s just Rudeus doesn’t know until he literally sees Fitz’s exposed body. After that moment, things between Rudeus and Sylph actually turned for the better. She helped Rudeus cure his E.D., he took Sylph’s virginity, and got a nice bloody keepsake of the sheet they slept on that night. It’s going in his collection next to Roxy’s panties.

He still has Roxy’s panties. He prays to them. And now he’s keeping the bedsheet with the shattered remains of Sylph’s hymen. This show is still all kinds of canceled.

In that aftermath, Rudeus gets engaged and later marries Sylph. And even better, he knocks her up. Yeah, this is turning into a Tomodachi Life happy ending scenario here. Let’s see what happens when we take Rudeus and put him on another continent with Roxy.

Roxy has not seen Rudeus since he was a little child. So, their first meeting in over 10 years did not go over well for Rudeus as she didn’t even recognize him. Water under the bridge actually. Rudeus is really grateful and happy to be with his master again and Roxy is actually all blushy. Funny how no one tells her that Rudeus is married with a baby on the way. I sense Rudeus walking down the same path his father did. He does and thensome! I’ll delve into it a bit deeper when I get into spoilers about the ending to the season, but Rudeus is definitely Paul’s boy.

UH-OH, THIS TOPIC: Slavery!

Yes children, Mushoku Tensei is going to get into slavery. Halfway into the first part, Rudeus gets the notion that if he purchases a slave, it’ll apparently help his friend Zanoba create sexy figures? I don’t know, just go with it! Rudeus buys a slave. It appears that the character Rudeus isn’t outraged about slavery. Insert Twitter losing it’s shit.

Rising of the Shield Hero had way too much slavery topics and people choose to lose their collective shit-bricks on this?! Even the creator had to come out and clear the air on the subject.

END OF PART ONE: Rudeus’s adventures in school take a turn when he runs into a familiar someone in more than one way. Near the end of season one, Rudeus had a run-in with the man known as the Dragon God (or Orsted). Alongside him was a masked woman. Rudeus met up with this masked woman. Things are about to go crazy. This girl (named Shizuka) was originally from Japan much like Rudeus. Rudeus does recognize her as the girl he saved from getting hit by a truck when his previous life ended. Though, he keeps it to himself along with his real name before being reborn as Rudeus Greyrat. Apparently Shizuka did not die and come to this world. She was teleported and it happened when the big mana disaster struck. Unlike Rudeus, Shizuka wants to go back to her life in modern Japan. For the time, Rudeus and Shizuka seem to want to use one another.

Meanwhile, I’m groaning impatiently with the development of Fitz and Rudeus. Like, when the hell is Rudy-boy going to realize that Fitz is really Sylph? He’s realizing that he has feelings for Fitz and making this whole E.D. storyline something else. Rudeus is concerned that Fitz is a male. Everyone says so. But an accidental trip had Rudeus confused further. He clearly felt female parts on Fitz and a partial erection. Fitz denies being female and runs off. I have no words here. I think Fitz has permission to at least let Rudeus know the truth. Especially since Fitz told a bunch of embarrassing stories from their youth to Ariel and about her feelings now. We finally get the moment we’ve been waiting for as Rudeus and Fitz are warming up in a cave and Rudeus forces Fitz to undress so that they don’t catch a cold.

Where have I seen this before? Oh, that’s right! When they were kids, Rudeus didn’t know that Sylph was a girl yet and forced her to take off her clothes so she doesn’t catch a cold. She slowly takes off her clothes, including her sunblockers. There she is, standing in front of her long-time friend and crush, partially naked and exposed. What does Rudy do? He smiles and asks if Fitz’s real name is Sylphette. FINALLY! GOD, YES! They’re going to fuck! AW, FUCK YEAH!

Oh wait, we’re still in Limp Bizkit arc. Nope, no. Broke-dick Bob ain’t getting any nookie tonight.

Despite that epic fail, Rudeus and Sylph were able to reconnect without connecting sexually…For now! After Sylph discussed the events of that night to Luke and Princess Ariel, these three went into scheme mode. Luke managed to dig up an aphrodisiac to help Rudeus with his impotency. This potion might not be the most romantic methods for Sylph’s first time, but it’ll help a fella who has been impotent for 3 years. As much as I revel in Rudeus’s E.D., that is quite a long time and I do feel somewhat sorry for his little fella.

The end result of this aphrodisiac…Mission accomplished! Rudy did the deed. Not sure what the mystery stain on the bed sheets was. Spilled wine or a broken hymen! But the bigger question looms. Does Sylph stay with Rudy or does she ditch him like Eris? SHE STAYED! Better, Rudeus is cured. And even better than that, Sylph and Rudeus are engaged!

PART TWO: Rudeus no longer has E.D. and is currently engaged to Sylph. Now what? I guess the custom in this world if you’re in this situation is that you have enough money to get a house for him and Sylph. It seems as though all of Rudeus’s friends at the school are happy about the occasion and same goes for Sylph’s side. In fact, Princess Ariel is giving her blessings and not having Sylph try and come back as her bodyguard. And then we learn Elinalise is Sylph’s grandmother.

Do what now?

Yeah, that’s a spoiler I did not stumble upon nor was expecting. That kind of slammed me into a wall. We learn a little bit about Elinalise in the first season. We know that she used to travel with Paul and Zenith. But what most people remember about her is that she sleeps with every living man she can find. Roxy was scarred watching all of that. But there’s much more to that come season two. During this season, Elinalise enters the academy alongside Rudeus. There, she meets another student named Cliff who has the hots for her. But unlike every other guy she’s been with, this guy seems genuine. It’s just that Elinalise is cursed and will die if she doesn’t continue to sleep with other men. Seriously, weird curse. Regardless, Cliff still loves Elinalise. I don’t even think Cliff is bothered by the fact that she’s a grandmother.

Aside from this, we are getting some early season one vibes as Rudeus’s family comes to live with him in his new abode. Paul got a hot tip on where Zenith was and wants Aisha and Norn to stay with Rudeus. I’m glad Rudeus is getting the opportunity to be with his baby sisters. He’s only had a few encounters with them since they were babies when Rudeus was sent away. And even after that, Aisha was saved by him (which was good in his favor), but Norn is still sour because Rudeus punched Paul in the face a few years ago.

END OF PART TWO: Things were actually looking up for Rudeus. His sister Norn was finally opening up to him. Paul’s crew is on the right track to finding Zenith. And the best news yet, Sylph is pregnant. With that news, the good came crashing down. Rudeus got word from Paul’s crew in search of Zenith. Things were not looking positive and urged Rudeus to send help.

Rudeus comes to the conundrum of leaving his pregnant wife to go on a two-year trek to search and save his mother or stay with Sylph at least until she gives birth. Oof. No one had a right answer for that one. Norn was ready to leave home and go on the mission herself. Even that Man-God Rudeus still talks to in his dreams advised against going to that other continent to save Zenith. In the end, Rudeus is going on this trek with Elinalise. This is the first time Rudeus went against the Man-God’s advice. Thanks to a teleportation circle, that cut down on travel by at least a year. But, this is very taboo and could land Rudeus in extreme trouble. But we’ll probably worry about that on a later story.

Elinalise and Rudeus made it to the desert continent and met up with Paul and his crew. And unlike their previous meeting, Paul and Rudeus were able to get along quite well. Elinalise was even able to put her hatred for Paul to the side. Better do it now since you both are technically related. Paul’s group have hit a lot of snags in searching for Zenith. More recently, it’s been a whole month and Roxy was lost in the labyrinth. This labyrinth is complex with many formidable monsters and teleportation circles. Luckily, the group was able to save Roxy just in the nick of time. Now as for Zenith…

Zenith has been encased in an ice crystal for…honestly, I forget how long. This is surrounded by an over-powered hydra. Paul went in head-first and was quite hard to reason with as he was literally out for blood. That’s his wife up there! It was a very complicated and hard-fought battle as this hydra had nine heads and was able to heal itself fast. This battle pushed everyone to their limits, but they were successful in defeating the hydra. Unscathed…not at all. Rudeus ended up losing his left hand. And Paul split in half.

This episode aired on Father’s Day and we watched Paul die.

I can’t begin to tell you how sick that is…that I snorted at the fact that this aired on Father’s Day.

But, they managed to achieve their main objective. They saved Zenith. There should be solace in that fact, right? Well…

Zenith waking four days after Paul’s death brought back a lot of Berserk memories and what happened to the character Casca. No speech, no memories, nothing! Maybe Rudeus should rethink what he thought about his mother before this revelation. It’s not just Zenith that Rudeus had that mindset with, but Paul too. Rudeus thinks back to his parents from his own time and how there’s so much left unsaid. His original parents died and due to being a shut-in, didn’t claim their bodies, see them one last time, or go to the funeral. This time, he witnesses Paul’s dead body and see that Zenith is going to remain this way permanently.

Before Rudeus goes into full depression mode, that is railroaded by Roxy who comes in, talks to him, and proceeds to have sex with him. Yeah, we’re going down that route. Roxy is not his first true love, but his first bit of lust and perversion. And of course, on the list of people Rudeus has slept with, um, I think Roxy’s the fourth if I remember correctly. I still count Sara. Let’s just say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the Greyrat tree. Now, we’ve come to the conundrum of the moment. Roxy sleeps with Rudeus to help him in his time of need after losing his father, his mother’s memories, and his left hand. It helped that situation, but a bigger problem grows. He’s always loved Roxy, but knows damn-well he has a pregnant wife at home. What will Rudeus do?

Despite Elinalise being Sylph’s grandmother, she’s rooting for the best-case scenario. And what might that be? Rudeus returns home, be’s honest with his wife about what transpired, and ask for Roxy to be his second wife. And it looks like I’m going to have to do a lot of back-tracking on some shit I said in my season one review.

PAUL AND RUDY: As you can see, history is repeating itself. Paul managed to knock-up, not only his wife, but his live-in maid. I screamed holy hell when that happened. Probably because I was jumping in this blind-folded not knowing the whole story between Paul and Lilia. Though, it is still pretty fucked up. Rudeus getting a second wife…I was aware of it due to reading spoilers. And I know more than you would think for someone not reading the light novel. I probably shouldn’t have jumped the gun about having a harem as in this world, as long as you’re not part of a certain religion, it’s okay to take on a second and even third wife. Now, Zenith came from a family that was under that certain religion. But more on all of that possibly in the next season. I am still a little irritated at Paul’s circumstance. Less so now. Rudeus and Roxy…I’m in the middle. I’m just going to sit back and watch what comes of it.

BACK TO THE ENDING: Thanks to the teleportation circles, Rudeus was able to cut this trip to save his mother and Roxy shorter than what was expected. And he was able to return home to find Sylph still pregnant and everything well on her end. Rudeus dropped the news to everyone that while they were able to rescue Zenith, she’s permanently altered and Paul was killed in action. Norn took this harder than anyone else. And then Rudeus decides to talk to his sisters and Sylph about the matter about having a second wife. His sister Norn harshly rejected it and verbally attacked Roxy in the process. Despite the mindset of monogamy, Norn almost forgot the fact that her own father took on two wives. Sylph was actually understanding and was more than willing to accept this change of events.

Life starts to get a little better. Norn started to learn how to handle a sword after given Paul’s sword. Sylph gave birth to her daughter, Lucie. Rudeus was able to give Paul a final resting place. And we are getting a third season!

I’m going to be honest, I think after watching the second half of this season, I forgot a good chunk of what happened at the beginning of this season. Funny how when they split a two-cour series, this sort of thing happens. It just felt like I was watching a totally different thing from a totally different time. Probably because most everything else took place at the school Rudeus attended. I can’t even remember the crew Rudeus was with after he split from Eris. And I bet you can’t either.

The animation is still magnificent. I mean, yes, you can tell there’s a major difference between last and this season. There are different people working on the product, but at least it’s the same studio. And of course, the subject matters that come up that makes it hard to recommend to certain groups of people. Like with season one, there’s still a lot of canceling of Rudeus and Mushoku Tensei as a whole. That’s your call to make. Yes, there’s still a lot of healthy libidos flaunting about (not so much for Rudy in the first 12 episodes). Yes, there’s that thing with slavery. Again, it’s in nearly every Isekai and just not at the degree that it’s at like with Shield Hero.

Well, we’ve got a third season on the horizon to look forward to. Will we see Eris again? Is there a way to help Zenith? Will Rudeus get a fake arm like most of the other anime characters who lost an arm in battle? Don’t look at me, I don’t have the answers.

Mushoku Tensei is available to watch on Crunchyroll in several languages. It’s also currently available on Hulu, Sling TV, and Amazon Prime Video.

[medea10]

The Year was 2024 and Oh What Fresh Hell Am I Living In?!

I know this is my yearly post where I’m supposed to be upbeat. But this year was such a pile of shit, I don’t think I can be upbeat. I never thought a year could possibly rival that of the devil’s butt-hole of 2005. I still can’t say it. 2005 is still a year I will despise from the depths of my soul due to the gravity of the situations I was in. But 2024 was just awful. And no, this has nothing to do with Trump being re-elected. That happened in November and I had a whole 10 months of other shit before that. Although that did not help. And yes, I will be waiting in the wings to give the biggest and smuggest “I told you so” when the time comes.

In 2024, sickness, depression, and death has plagued my inner circle for the majority of the year. I know one of those deaths I was expecting so I was prepared for it mentally. What I wasn’t prepared for was the sudden death of my youngest cat and the sudden death to a friend of over 30 years.

If I had a nickel for every time this year someone close to me died of Cardiac Arrest, I would have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Not to mention the surgeries, the sinus infections, the endo pain…All of this and more has really taken a toll on what I love to do. There were a lot of anime that I watched this year and a lot that I didn’t have the energy to write about. I just absolutely gave up on writing. I watched shows like Bungo Stray Dogs, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Dandadan, and I am not writing a single review for those and more. Does this mean I’m going to stop writing reviews forever? Probably not. I’m just slowly trying to get back to normality. Okay, I think that’s enough kvetching from me.

If you’re unfamiliar with this post, every year I do my (so, so outdated) list of the anime and games I watched and played this year. And I’m very inclusive to everything I’ve watched. So, if I watched an anime and it came out seven years before I was even born, it counts. Okay, let’s hit it!

First Fandom of 2024: The Apothecary Diaries

I know this came out in Fall 2023, but I picked up the series at the beginning of the year while it was still airing. And from the very beginning, I couldn’t turn it off as I was captivated by Maomao’s tale. I’ll be honest, up until I watched this, I had no idea what an apothecary was. I’m dumb. Well, I certainly don’t have any more questions after watching this anime. It was fun watching Maomao progress throughout the series in her many roles she served in the palace. And I’m going to get a lot of hate when I say this. I liked the Apothecary Diaries better than Frieren. I am not even sorry.

Favorite Main Character of 2024: Hitori "Bocchi" Gotou from Bocchi the Rock

While I was close to choosing Maomao for this category, I did watch Bocchi the Rock this year and I can’t resist putting up another introvert who has a hard time communicating. Yeah, I can connect with Bocchi and understand how her mind works. I’ve been there. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I over-analyzed a situation involving communicating with friends or scenarios.

Favorite Villain of 2024: Galaxia from Sailor Moon Cosmos

I know I’m reliving watching Makoto Shishio on Rurouni Kenshin, but I cannot in good conscience sleep on Galaxia’s reign during the two-part Sailor Moon movies. There is no comparison between the Cosmos and Stars adaptation, Cosmos wins. Galaxia killed off Mamoru in front of Usagi. Not just him, but all of her friends and this girl is just wrecked. Galaxia is the strongest foe in the Sailor Moon universe. This woman can destroy single planets in no-time flat. She can zap anyone out of existence like they were nothing. Galaxia went to the trouble to mentally hurt Usagi by having her loved ones turn against her.

Favorite Video Game Character of 2024: Vivian from Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door

As I did not have a Nintendo Gamecube, I never played this game or had any idea of its existence. It came out when I was in college and the only console I had was the GBA SP. So, I never knew of this precious cinnamon roll. I want to protect them like they protected me. Vivian doesn’t deserve hate. In fact, next to baby Yoshi, I used Vivian the most out of all the other partners.

Favorite Video Game of 2024: …

Much like last year, I had an interesting time reliving old classics on the DS and 3DS. Had to play it while I could online. But then we had quite the influx of Mario games within the last 12 months. There was a Luigi game, a Peach game, another Mario/Luigi RPG, another Mario Party, and a remake to a fan favorite. I wound up playing three of these and even older versions of those three. The video games really helped me through this year. As with the previous entry, I gotta give it to…

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Okay you Gamecubers, you were right. This was fun. I had fun.

Favorite Het Couple of 2024: Itsuomi Nagi x Yuki Itose from A Sign of Affection

Yuki is a precious cinnamon roll and I want nothing but the best for her. Itsuomi better treat her well. And that’s what we get with this series. A deaf girl meets a multi-lingual boy and the two hit it off. Itsuomi is always up for a challenge to learn a new language and culture, but has never learned sign language before. And Yuki, she just wants to expand her world as it just felt like it was mostly restraint.

Favorite Yuri Couple of 2024: Diana Barry x Anne Shirley from Akage no Anne (Anne of Green Gables)

Yeah, that’s the anime that I nodded at being seven years older than me. Now, I know this isn’t an actual ship, but please do bear with me with this. If you watched the original 1979 anime, you know why I would put this on the list. And for those waiting until April 2025 to see the new adaptation, you’ll see. Anne and Diana became fast friends and if they are ever apart, they are the most dramatic characters you will ever see. If their parents or guardians forbid them from seeing each other again, you would have thought they were going to go Romeo and Juliet on us.

Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2024: Adachi Kiyoshi x Yuuichi Kurosawa from Cherry Magic

Like there was any other Yaoi couple this year that could compete with this one. I mean, sure there could be others, but from what I watched, no way. You cannot compete with the ending we got from this. I was worried about this becoming another toxic relationship like some other yaoi ships I support. While this one was…borderline that, I give credit to Kurosawa for not doing what I thought he was going to do. His jealousy is another subject. But overall, seeing an office crush evolve into sudden romance and eventually marriage, it chokes you up inside a little.

Fandom That You Didn’t Expect to Get Into: Dragon Ball Daima

I will admit that the second it was announced we were getting another Dragon Ball series where Goku and the rest of the cast are turned into little children, my first thought was, “Fuck you! We’ve been through this before with Dragon Ball GT. No! Go back in the dumpster fire where you came from”. That was until I heard Akira Toriyama was actually involved unlike with GT. I unfortunately don’t know how it’ll go as Toriyama passed away earlier this year, but for now let’s just enjoy Daima for what it is. It wasn’t just Goku becoming a child, but everyone involved in the Majin Buu incident that’s turned into children. The characters Goku is traveling with, they’re a lot better than Pan and an essentially neutered Trunks.

Fandom That Made an Unexpected Comeback: Black Butler

All of my favorite Aniplex animes made a return this year. Hell, there were a lot of comebacks this year. But Black Butler was still my go-to for the year (along with Spice and Wolf). While I was hella skeptical when it came to the studio at the helm for this arc, they pulled it off. Despite the seven-year wait since the last project, it felt like less time once I started watching. Probably because Book of the Atlantic and Public School arc kinda dealing with the same thing.

Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Dandadan

I was this close to putting Mashle in this category, but a certain anime where a spirit known as “Turbo Granny” is after this kid’s nutsack. This anime is batshit and I love it. I’m going in thinking this is some wacky-ass shit that was conceived by Studio Trigger. On the contrary, it was done by Science SARU. That makes sense as Ayase looks like Tsubame from Keep Your Hands Off Eizoken. Same studio for both. Every episode I’m going through the motions. Mostly it’s, “What the fuck am I watching” or “Am I high” or “this is awesome, but totally fucked in the membrane”.

Last Fandom of 2024: Dandadan

Ranma ½ was almost going to get this spot due to my nostalgia for everything Rumic World. But, Dandadan is just too addicting let’s give it the final two spots on my usual list. I wasn’t sure what I was hopping into when I picked this up at the very last second, but I’m glad I did it. Who knew watching an anime about ghosts, aliens, demons, and the contents inside some kid’s boxers was going to get me to watch. Who are we kidding? I’m surprised I didn’t jump on this shit sooner. Also, episode 7 is a treasure. It didn’t kill me like everyone else, but it was a really good episode. Another also, the English dub is superb.

Okay, I’m going to take a page from my 2022 superlative and do some silly honors here. It’s only to lift up my spirits.

Best (real life) Cinnamon Roll of 2024: Jasmine Paolini

This girl is just the best. She’s black and Italian (like me). She’s 5’ 4” (like me). And she plays tennis…I don’t play tennis, but I’ll watch. She won the tennis doubles finals at the Olympics. She made it to the single finals at Wimbledon and Roland Garros. And you know what, she’s an all-around good sport and just the sweetest thing to come from Italy since gelato.

Video Game That Didn’t Deserve a 5/10: Mario and Luigi Brothership

It’s a plumber brother RPG game. You’ve played them before. You should know how the mechanics are going to be by now. And you should know how insane it is. Although, I feel like the conception of the game came from game designers staring at a wall for 9 days straight.

Funny NFL Moment: Andy Reid’s Mustache

I know everyone still memes Andy Reid and Travis Kelce at the Super Bowl. But I’m still going with the game a couple of weeks before that when Reid’s mustache formed icicles. I know it was a very chilly game and I got worried about the players on the field. That weather was dangerous. However, frozen snot-bubbles on Reid’s mustache is what I’m going to chuckle at. As if I needed any more reason to compare Andy Reid to The Walrus. Look at those two and tell me they aren’t identical.

A Song Everyone Should Stop Singing: Defying Gravity

I love the song, but it’s not for everyone. Stop trying. The song is out of your range.

Oh Just DIE Already of 2024: Velma

Uuuuugggggggghhhhhhhh.

A Pokemon Ship I Miss Gushing About: Contestshipping

You notice how I didn’t mention Pokemon in the list this year. Yeah, me neither. While I like Pokemon Horizons just fine, I don’t find myself being a total dork-a-doofus over every little thing like with the original Pokemon anime. And for no reason whatsoever, here’s Drew x May. I miss it. You miss it. We all miss it. It was totally canon. And if you haven’t watched Pokemon Advanced Generation to know what I’m talking about. Fuck you doing here? It’s been around for 20 years now. GO!

Best Dance Scene: Abbott Teachers Dancing to Will Smith

Holo’s dance from Spice and Wolf was a close one. But the teachers of Abbott dancing to Will Smith’s Wild Wild West just wins hands down.

Something That Sparks Joy: MeTV Toons

Thank you for existing.

Best Day of 2024: May 30th, 2024

If you know, you know. I also liked it because I ate some damn good pizza.

[medea10]

My Review of Plus-Sized Elf

I really gotta stop picking up animes that get a lot of traction on the Anime News Network.

I knew from the get-go that this was going to gain a certain kind of following from certain weirdos with weird kinks. Where I’m going with this is, watch the inflation porn art explode for this series.

Tomoatsu Naoe is a massage therapist. One night, he gets a bit of a strange patient come in. She needs help losing weight. Naoe noticed that this strange patient happens to be an elf. This elf’s name is Elfuda and yes, elves are real here. There’s an entrance in a forest on the outskirts of town. Problem for Elfuda is that in order to return to her homeland, she has to weigh exactly the same as she did when she left. And she has gained a considerable amount of weight since coming to the human side. Elfuda’s weakness is French fries.

I can understand as potatoes are my weakness as well. I can’t help but think if this girl visited the city I grew up in, she would be hooked on green chile and cheese potatoes. If you know, you know.

In one month’s time, Naoe was able to help Elfuda shed those unwanted pounds and she was able to go back to her homeland. But she came back soon after and gained all of that weight back again. Those fries are just too addicting. It’s not just Elfuda trying to lose weight as there are a myriad of other-worldly entities. This includes dark-elves, pig-humans, werewolves, plant-human hybrids, ogres, and others. So, if you have a kink for furries, chubby stomachs, fat asses, or some other interest in weird shit, I’m sure this anime has it.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: This is licensed by Sentai Filmworks and probably for the best if we’re going to see a massive amount of elf titties. They’re not shy about airing uncensored anime. While I’m not too familiar with the main cast, I did find a few surprising seiyuus in the supporting cast like Yuka Iguchi. As of this moment, there doesn’t seem to be a dub to this, but I’m sure that Sentai might do one in the future. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Elfuda is played by Ayasa Itou (known for Kotori on Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale)

*Naoe is played by Takahide Ishii

SHIPPING: Don’t really think any character here has an attachment to Naoe. They don’t even call him by his first name. They just call him “Human”. I know that in a lot of anime where the one male character is outnumbered 10-1 by lucious women, the male is not the main attraction and barely even gets his name said. Give some of those other animes some credit as they do call their male “Darling” or something to that nature. I don’t consider “Human” a term of endearment. At least Elfuda calls Naoe by his first name in the final episode.

I don’t consider that a ship of any sort. There’s nothing here.

Still though…Naoe still has a better chance with one of these chunky beauties than Kazuya in Rent-A-Girlfriend. Still not through grilling this bi-atch.

ENDING: Elfuda’s diet in these last 10 episodes have not been the most positive. A few set-backs have occurred. She will do all of her exercises with Naoe and the other girls, but her bad vices keep her from shedding the unwanted weight. Mainly, every time she exercises she always wants to treat herself with French fries. There were times when it wasn’t her fault as a satyr named Satero caused trouble for not only Elfuda but the other girls looking to lose weight. No matter to Ooeda as she has seen Elfuda is lazing about in the human world.

Who is Ooeda? She is Elfuda’s strict aunt. Ooeda says her sister is worried about her daughter and wants Elfuda back. Of course, Elfuda is unable to return to her home world. The portal to the elf world only opens if Elfuda is the same weight she was when she first entered the human world. So, Ooeda has decided to take things into her own hands. She finds Naoe’s regiment is weak and not worthy of her niece. Ooeda ends up doing things her own way including starving Elfuda, limiting what she eats, and do endless exhausting exercise. And that’s definitely a no-no when you’re trying to lose weight! I’ve been there, man!

Naoe watched all that he could and put an end to the strenuous exercises. He stood up to Ooeda and eventually, so did Elfuda. She put the blame on herself and promises to work hard with the human to lose the weight. Ooeda reluctantly allows this relationship to continue. Soon enough, Elfuda was able to lose a lot of weight. Not enough to return home, but noticeable. Baby steps, Elfuda. Ooeda sees this progress and heads home. Unfortunately (and as if we all didn’t see this coming), Ooeda cannot return home as she has gained a lot of weight due to the amount of ice cream she’s been eating. Looks like Naoe has another body to work out.

THAT’S NOT ALL, TIME FOR OVAS: About a month or so after the series had it’s run, there were two special episodes that came out. And yes, they’re both 12 minutes long. The first one was a beach episode. Can’t believe we didn’t get one of those in the main series. Then again, OVA’s are notorious for spicy beach episodes. And the second episode was like one of those school harem games, except it’s with BBW’s. This was all the doing of Satero causing trouble for Elfuda and Naoe once more.

What else can I say that everyone else has? This anime is for people with certain fetishes. It’s ecchi. Even my ex likes it! Then again, bro’s not that picky about his ecchi. Let’s just say it checks off all the boxes for your average perverted bruh man. This is just another version of How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift. I haven’t even seen that anime and even I know it is. It’s just not my cup of tea. I like ecchi and all the tits you can flash on the screen. It’s just not for me. Well, if you’re serious about this anime, at least it’s short. Each episode is 12 minutes long.

Hidive has the entire series available for streaming.

[medea10]

My Review of Hokkaido Girls Are Super Adorable

Just a random pick. Roll it!

Tsubasa Shiki has just moved from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo to the northernest and chilliest part of Japan, Hokkaido…well, Kitami City if you want to get technical. His first day there, he meets a young girl waiting at a bus stop and was just amazed at her. Minami Fuyuki has blonde hair, flashy nails, makeup, and has the leg strength to withstand frigid cold temperatures without the need of knee-high socks. They seem to hit it off. As Tsubasa is new to this area, Minami seems to have her priorities all settled in terms of everyday life. So, she has no problem helping out the new guy.

And that’s essentially it for the story! There are Hokkaido girls Tsubasa hangs out with. He hangs out with the extrovert Fuyuki, the gamer Sayuri and the odd-ball senpai Rena.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: I guess I must have slept on the dub for the last couple of months because up until doing the finishing touches on the review, I didn’t know of its existence. Like nearly every other anime that is coming out nowadays it was licensed and dubbed by Crunchyroll. The sub has a lot of recognizable names and all do a great job. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Tsubasa is played by Nobunaga Shimazaki (known for Yuki on Fruits Basket 2019, Haru on Free!, Eugeo on SAO: Alicization, Sunakawa on Ore Monogatari, Shinichi on Parasyte, Yuno on Black Clover, and Izana on Tokyo Revengers)

*Minami is played by Ayane Sakura (known for Orla on Pokemon Horizons, Uraraka on My Hero Academia, Gabi on Attack on Titan, Nero on Black Clover, Fiona on Spy x Family, Gasper on High School DxD, and Saki on Girlfriend Girlfriend)

*Sayuri is played by Yumiri Hanamori (known for Nadeshiko on Laid-Back Camp, Hayasaka on Kaguya-sama, Evileye on Overlord, Ryuuji on Blue Period, Asahi on Happy Sugar Life, and Doumeki on Eizouken)

*Rena is played by Reina Ueda (known for Mallow on Pokemon SM, Kisa on Fruits Basket 2019, Kanao on Demon Slayer, Ariel on Mushoku Tensei, Miyo on My Happy Marriage, and Jiro on Tokyo Ghoul)

ENGLISH CAST: *Tsubasa is played by Matt Shipman (known for Floch on Attack on Titan, Cavendish on One Piece, Inasa on My Hero Academia, Sogiita on Railgun, and Chrome on Dr. Stone)

*Minami is played by Mikaela Krantz (known for Momiji on Fruits Basket 2019, Clementine on Overlord, Misaki on Railgun, Ai on Wonder Egg Priority, Doll on Black Butler, and Hyouka on Shimoneta)

*Sayuri is played by Brittany Lauda (known for Riko on Made in Abyss, F.F. on Jojo’s Pt. 6, Satoko on Higurashi Gou, Mai on Nichijou, and Saki on Girlfriend Girlfriend)

*Rena is played by Jill Harris (known for Noelle on Black Clover, Fern on Frieren, Aura on Overlord, Hiiragi on Natsume’s Book of Friends, and Shizuku on Love Live Nijigasaki)

SHIPPING: Hmm…three Hokkaido girls. All of them are attracted to this kid (kinda not really in a love way). Tsubasa’s a shy boy and new to the concept of…well, everything involving the opposite sex. I think I’ve seen this set up before. The only difference here is that Tsubasa has a very strict grandmother that’ll stop any of these clumsy girls falling on him. But you have to admit that Minami, Sayuri, and Rena are at play here. Rena is actually on good terms with Tsubasa’s grandmother and loves all the traditional things Tsubasa is accustomed to. Sayuri and Tsubasa had a lot of great moments together whether gaming or just opening up. And as for Minami, well, she’s first girl.

Honestly, I think that Tsubasa will get with one of these three before Kazuya gets with Chizuru on Rent-A-Girlfriend at this point.

BURRRRRRN!

And my take on the matter, I kinda became a Minami x Tsubasa shipper when Tsubasa played the piano for Minami.

RANDOM NOTE: I can’t be the only person who thinks this.

Agree or disagree? The opening theme sounds a little too similar to Uptown Funk.

In episode 11, you can see the singer of the opening theme playing the song. This experience felt like watching the Love Rollercoaster scene from Beavis and Butt-head Do America. If you know, you know.

ENDING: Kind of a weird time for this to happen, but Tsubasa is now entering his second year of high school. Yeah, we don’t see that until the end of or beginning of a season. Whatever! We are in the spring season, but you wouldn’t know that since Hokkaido is much like the town of South Park. Snow is going to be on the ground regardless of what your calender says. There’s a lot of talk and thinking about the growth of these characters over the past few months. Since Tsubasa transferred, a lot of these characters have changed. Sayuri was able to kinda come out of her shell and do things with classmates she normally wouldn’t do. Rena was able to see the impact of what she does. And Matsuo…

Wait, who’s Matsuo again?

I guess this random guy, Matsuo is part of the crew now. I noticed it subtly when he was featured with the rest of the main cast at the end of the opening theme. I didn’t even realize that he was the guy that made that comment about not getting homemade chocolates from Minami during the Valentine’s episode. Whatever!

One little comment from Tsubasa about wishing to see cherry blossoms in Hokkaido prompted Minami to set up a surprise trip for him several hours from where they live. She wanted to have Tsubasa go out with her for one day and because she has something important to say. A myriad of possibilities pop up in our brains when Minami wants to discuss with Tsubasa. When it comes to this girl, it can be anything. While she is a flirt, we are approaching the season finale and this could be something serious. For now, let’s enjoy these two enjoying the spring weather, good food, music, and all that fun stuff. So, of course Minami is going to drop a bombshell at the end of this particular episode. And give Tsubasa some credit as he thought that Minami was going to reveal personal feelings for him. I’m glad his character isn’t that freakin’ oblivious. Actually, Minami is leaving as she’s going to study abroad. Tsubasa hugs her and next thing you know, they’re both in a hotel room together.

Yeah, they both missed the bus from their current location and Tsubasa’s father (whom we haven’t seen up until these last two episodes) hooks his son up. Being alone in a hotel room with a pretty girl gave Tsubasa quite the vivid images in his mind. Fortunately, nothing came of that as he fell asleep while she was taking a shower and then she left immediately after.

In that aftermath, Tsubasa was quiet and kept himself inside, not even talking to Rena or Sayuri. Well, this is the day that Minami was going to leave. Minami reveals to Sayuri that it was because of people like her, Tsubasa, and Rena that she came to this decision about her future. Tsubasa eventually gets off his ass to go to the airport in one last romantic gesture you’ve seen in God-knows how many romcoms.

And as we all know, Tsubasa would never have the clearance to make it to the boarding area if this is any program after September 11th, 2001. But logic be damned as he came in to see Minami off and give her a hairpin that was left behind. And then she drops a big ol’ bombshell of a facepalm. Minami will only be gone for 2 weeks. The time passed by like that and we’re back to the status quo. The end!

I honestly didn’t know what to expect watching this week-by-week. What I was given was not bad. Yes, there’s going to be some fan-service when you have a character like Minami. Hell, there was an episode where she was talking to Tsubasa on the phone while naked in the bathtub. Girl’s a freak! I guess what I got from this is that we all need a close-knit group of friends that’ll be there to encourage you.

And that Hokkaido girls are super adorable!

Hence the title of the anime.

If you want a short, fluffy high school story, give this a try. Crunchyroll has every episode available.

[medea10]

My Review of Masamune-kun's Revenge: R

Uhhhhhh…Do I even remember this series? I know I reviewed it…I think?

Season One Review Here

Um, yep! I definitely did. But do I remember anything about this series? Let me think…Narcissist main character with body issues. I remember hating him. Icy-queen girl that the main character tries to get revenge on for fat comment when they were kids. Girly best friend. Lots of girls interested in main character. Lolita mother.

Ah yes, now I remember now! That mother!

HISTORY: Masamune Makabe is a high-school teen, heavily focused on his looks. Fatty foods and slothfulness are not in this guy’s diet. But this wasn’t how it always was. When he was younger, he was a chubby child and would occasionally be the subject of torment. What changed him from chunk to hunk? When he was younger, he had a crush on a young girl named Aki Adagaki. But she broke his heart and cruelly nicknamed him “Pig’s Foot”. This moment stuck with him and it changed Masamune.

Fast-forward to the present, Masamune is a high school student and manages to attend the same high school as the girl who insulted him as a child. So, Masamune wanted to plot a revenge plan to break Aki’s heart the way she once did to him. Easier said than done! Aki is known as the “Cruel Princess” where she is asked out by numerous boys. But she shuts them down and gives them all cruel nicknames (much like what Masamune got when he was younger). So, can Masamune win this cruel princess’s heart and then break it?

SECOND SEASON: Lordy, we waited a long time for this sequel. We last left off on Masamune’s class going on a field trip of some sort. Turns out, it’s a trip to freakin’ Paris, France. Usual shenanigans happen. Koiwai is still a shit-starter. Gasou still pisses off Masamune and at the same time is losing face with Aki. Fujinomiya is still a flirt. And Masamune x Aki is still a thing in the eye of strangers. A young, French artist named Muriel thought they would make a perfect inspiration for the manga she’s creating. And because this girl has a mafia-ish type brother, Masamune and Aki have no choice but to oblige this girl.

This class trip was about the length of two episodes, but it was enough for Masamune and Aki to have a moment and not a good one. We finally see these two (or the other Masamune) interact with each other as kids. Apparently, Aki enjoyed that time with Masamune as she was going through a tumultuous time at home with her parents separating. But she apparently doesn’t say anything about calling Masamune “Pig’s Foot”. That pissed Masamune off and he told her off for that.

As it turns out, it was Koiwai all along. I gotta say, I thought something like this was going to happen. Aki’s a bitch, but I don’t think she called Masamune that name when they were kids. Koiwai got jealous that this chubby kid was getting attention from Aki. One night while Aki was in bed sick, Koiwai dressed in disguise as Aki and called Masamune “Pig’s Foot”. Koiwai is the one that started it all. Because of her, Aki never saw Masamune again and had to suffer her parents divorcing on her own. Because of her, the chubby doppelganger with Masamune’s name is inching closer to Aki. Because of her, Masamune dropped the weight. In one way that’s a good thing, but then you remember what a complete narcicist this guy is as a result.

LICENSE: If I remember correctly, Masamune-kun was property of Crunchyroll all those years ago and they did give it an English dub eventually with people like Josh Grelle and Morgan Garrett. Fast-forward to six years later and we get same-day dubs and the entire English cast returning to voice these categories. Okay, bravo Crunchyroll. You did not fuck around and change the cast with your weird union-hating shit-fits you guys have been having.

UMM…HOW DO I TALK ABOUT THIS?!: Gasou being female. I seriously can’t remember if this was known when the first season aired. Was this revealed? Did the manga reveal this back in 2017 or did it come later? And they even kept the same person to voice Gasou in the dub, even after knowing this fact. Remind me again, who voices Gasou in Japane…Mitsuki Saiga, never mind! That woman can voice anything. The point of this babbling is that this came out of left-field and smacked me in the face.

SHIPPING PART II: Before we hit the halfway point, Masamune got a resolution from the past. Aki never once called Masamune “Pig’s Foot”. The boy that Aki was fond about when she was younger was Masamune. The two wound up a couple, I guess. But is it enough for Masamune? His several-year plan of revenge has crumbled suddenly. He has no reason to hold a grudge against Aki now. Masamune could set his anger out on Koiwai, but she probably suffered enough trouble as it is. And as it stands, Gasou is no longer a candidate after it was revealed she was a female posing as a chubby boy. Again, I seriously did not see that coming. All of this might seem overwhelming to Masamune. So much so that he started developing hives shortly after dating Aki.

But then we’ve got Fujinomiya butting in. You remember her, the one that occasionally goes commando. Surprise, she also has a past experience with young (fat) Masamune. I seriously don’t even remember this in the previous season. Despite Masamune being off the market, it really doesn’t stop her (or many other girls at school) from hitting on Masamune. But give Fujinomiya some credit as she does confront Aki and asks her to drop Masamune.

And that’s where we are at. Does Masamune stay with Aki? Does he dump Aki like he originally had it planned? Will he end up with Fujinomiya? Does Koiwai have a shot?

ENDING: Soooo…is the Masamune x Aki thing going to last? Aki’s attachment to Masamune stems from childhood, but didn’t connect the dots that Masamune was that chubby kid she used to play with. Masamune was ready to make Aki taste his revenge and didn’t care if it was going to hurt her, but changed his tune when he realized that Aki was not at fault for what happened between them. Like immediately after Masamune told Aki that he was that chubby kid, they were a couple.

It's been a couple of months now. They spent Christmas together. Aki finds out that Masamune wanted revenge against her and Masamune develops a case of hives. They spent Valentine’s Day together. And then came White Day. Koiwai ends up telling Aki the truth about everything with Masamune and “Pig’s Foot”. Aki takes Masamune to a drug store to confront an old bully of Masamune’s. Then came Masamune to give his White Day present to Aki…and she declines it. This one decline led to Aki to break things off from Masamune. The aftermath of the breakup went as follows.

Masamune ditches school and essentially leaves his mother and sister to take refuge at his grandfather’s. This of course, shattered Masamune’s loli momma. At school, his friends were concerned as they were led to believe that Masamune was sick. It wasn’t until the fourth day of his absence where Aki reveals that they broke up. Koiwai wasn’t even told about this, that’s how that went. Koiwai went after Fujinomiya as she thinks it was her interfering that caused something between the couple. It seems like Aki has put a lot of thought into her decision. She confronted Koiwai and yeah, Koiwai likes Masamune.

So, Koiwai took the trip to the countryside to meet up with Masamune. She greeted him with a kiss on the lips. So…I guess that means these two are a couple.

The final episode begins with the new school year. Aki’s decision to let Masamune go and Koiwai to have him was starting to come with a lot of regret. Even seeing him in class and lunchtime was starting to wane on her nerves. Aki’s next move came with chopping off her long hair. Yeah, whether heartbreak, a massive defeat, or an unexplainable accident, these things happen in anime. After this impulsive move, Koiwai sends Aki to their homeroom class to meet Masamune. There, she sees a letter addressed to her. Masamune met up with Aki and we learn that Masamune turned down Koiwai when she came all that way to release her feelings. Now that some time has passed and both know the truth behind everything, Masamune thinks it’s the best time to ask Aki out.

He kisses her. She slaps him. They’re a couple again.

We end the episode with the culture festival. The end of the festival anyways with the Bon dance.

Okay, after my disinterest of the first couple of episodes waned, I think I’m satisfied with what went down this season. I actually have a much bigger gripe. It’s just that I really hate it when I watch an anime over 5 years ago that really didn’t leave that big of an impression on me and then it all of a sudden comes back for a new season and I gotta remember every freakin’ detail from this. And that’s been happening a lot lately as I had to remember Black Butler stuff from over 10 years ago, Kimi ni Todoke stuff from 13 years ago, and Spice and Wolf stuff that happened 15 years ago. Help, I’m drowning!

As for this story, it was fine. Even though I didn’t read ahead about the whole Pig’s Foot debacle, I had a feeling that Koiwai was behind it all. I don’t know why, maybe because of her relationship with Masamune in the first season where she would continuously call him “Pig’s Foot” that I felt it. I guess I’m just relieved that this whole matter got settled halfway into the second season and we can actually see Masamune be with the woman he thought he hated and see if this relationship is going to last or fall apart. Oh well, alls well that ends well.

If you want to see a revenge to romance story, Redo of Healer is available on…Oops, let’s start that again.

If you would like to see a faux-harem, check out Alya Sometimes Hides her…Oops, what the hell am I reviewing again?

Masamune-kun’s Revenge is available on Crunchyroll.

[medea10]

My Review of Black Butler: Public School Arc

I’ve made no secret about my love for Black Butler. It has everything I could ask for. Sexy butler, cheeky brat, flaming gay reaper, stoic sexy reaper, J. Michael Tatum’s sexy voice for the sexy butler, Junichi Suwabe’s sexy voice for a sexy undertaker…Ahem, so yeah. It checks off a lot of boxes. And looking at my calendar, it has only been a mere 10 years since the last Black Butler season.

I thought I was needlessly cruel to Blue Exorcist for being away for only 7 years. To be fair, Black Butler did have a few things after the Book of Circus arc in 2014. Book of Murder came out in 2015 and Book of the Atlantic came out in 2017. Still, a long time without this story. Thankfully, at the Aniplex special in 2023, they gave us the return of several shows produced by Aniplex including Madoka Magica, Blue Exorcist, and of course, Black Butler. And the next story in this tale would be the Public-School arc where Ciel goes undercover once more for the queen to uncover a massive spoiler alert.

Now, let me try and remember things correctly as it has definitely been a minute since I read this in the manga. If I remember correctly, no we do not see Grell and William in this arc. If we do, it’s probably a flashback of some sort. I also don’t think we’ll see Sebastian’s love of felines this season. And if I also remember correctly, there’s a term used. A certain three-lettered “F” word that was used. And I’m wondering if Crunchyroll would be fool enough to use that word.

AND WE DODGED A BULLET!

Also, Black Butler will now be animated by Cloverworks.

Shit! Look, I know nearly every anime I’m watching now is going through the change. Konosuba, Blue Exorcist, Spice and Wolf, all of those changed studio hands. But I still have a severe distrust of Cloverworks. I know they’ve done some really good gems like My Dress-up Darling and Bocchi the Rock. But then you remember what they did not too long ago with some other animes. Wonder Egg Priority and the second season to The Promised Neverland comes to mind. I really don’t want any more fuck-ups here. Black Butler already suffered enough with creative differences when we got season two.

HISTORY: After a family tragedy that claimed the lives of his parents, Ciel Phantomhive was in a terrible situation that seemed to get worse and worse. At his lowest low, he makes a contract with a demon named Sebastian. Ciel sells his soul to the demon in favor of revenge on those who have wronged him. After fulfilling most of that, Ciel and Sebastian live in Ciel’s family home where Sebastian is now his butler.

Despite his young age, Ciel has not only the family business to attend to, but duty to the queen of England. His title is known as the “Queen’s Guard Dog”. Sebastian aids young Ciel in many situations for his job. From solving a Jack the Ripper case to infiltrating a circus, to solving a case involving zombies on a luxury liner.

PUBLIC SCHOOL: Once again, Queen Victoria has asked for Ciel’s help. This time it’s to get some insight on a member of the royal family (Derrick Arden) who appears to have gone missing from a prestigious school he was attending. Much like with Book of Circus, Ciel is in unknown territory and must put on an act to survive his new settings. This time, Ciel must become a student at the illustrious Weston College. Unfortunately, Ciel must start at the bottom and do as he is told by his senpais, headmasters, and the schools P4.

The Prefect Four (P4) are these four special lads that are head of certain households. Edgar Redmond, Herman Greenhill, Lawrence Bluewer, and Gregory Violet are the four that head up each special house. Each student is assigned a house and currently, it looks as though Ciel is in the Sapphire Owl dorm headed up by Bluewer due to Ciel’s earldom and family status. To add to Ciel’s plate, getting into any other dorm is troublesome as there’s bad blood between the four houses. Not to mention, snot-nosed little shits deceiving Ciel for petty reasons. And of course, going to school with his betrothed’s brother as well as a certain loud-mouth friend.

LICENSING: Black Butler has had an interesting time in the licensing arena. A couple of years after debuting in Japan, FUNimation licensed, dubbed, and released it. Hell, they were nice enough to license Book of Circus, Book of Murder, ye who shall not be named, and even have the movie Book of the Atlantic released on the big screen. During this time, FUNimation did drop Black Butler from its category. To be fair, they did the same thing to Full Metal Alchemist. A big fuck-up if I’ve ever seen one. But it gained it back. And now, Crunchyroll has it. With the death of the FUNimation website, Crunchyroll has every piece of Black Butler (anime) media.

Mm-hmm, y’all better have Brina Palencia and J. Michael Tatum coming back.

Well, shut my mouth! Okay, I’m fine by this. I love how they sound exactly the same as they did all these years ago.

Actually, they managed to get everybody to their original roles. Todd Haberkorn, Jerry Jewell, Cherami Leigh, Ian Sinclair, Monica Rial, John Swasey, Justin Briner, and many others came back to voice their respected characters. Not so sure about Patrick Seitz voicing Agni just yet. And as for Prince Soma…Um, next category please!

SADLY, THIS CHANGE: A couple of years ago, voice actor Christopher Ayres went through hell with lung cancer, COPD, and massive surgery. However, his long fight came to an end in October 2021 as he passed away. I haven’t gotten a chance to talk about Chris Ayres as I seem to have stopped writing DBZ reviews, but since he plays a key character on Black Butler, might as well do it here. There are several characters he still played up until his sickness and death, so it’s sad to see their character when they come on screen. I am definitely going to miss him as Frieza as he is best villain of that show. But, I did like his Prince Soma. Thanks for the memories!

With. That. Said…

*Soma is now played by Abi Kumar

NEW CHARACTERS: Being in a prestigious all-boys school, there’s bound to be a lot of interesting new characters. Oh-ho-ho, you have no idea. There’s the fake femme boy with the worst name possible. Lizzie’s older brother is there and is a drudge to a prefect. And then there’s the boy who shit his britches. It was more tragic than…whatever that scene in Prison School was. For this category, I’ll focus on the Prefect 4. These four play a bigger role as the arc delves further in plot wise.

First, there’s Edgar Redmond (the one in red), the head of the Scarlet Fox dorm. He has this charm that can woo the panties off ladies. It gets worse I’m afraid. Because it has been several years since reading this arc that I have forgotten completely that Viscount Idiot Druitt is his uncle. Forgotten the relationship, never forget what he did to Ciel.

Lawrence Bluewer (the one in blue) is head of the Sapphire Owl dorm (the dorm Ciel is in). He, along with everybody else in the dorm is more on the strategian spectrum than anything else. While good for grades, it’s not really good for competitions like you’ll see halfway into this arc.

Herman Greenhill (the one in green) is the head of the Green Lions and I’m pretty sure Erwin Smith’s doppelganger. Their dorm, pure strength. Just don’t get caught on the wrong side of this guy’s cricket bat. Hahaha, foreshadowing!

And finally, Gregory Violet (the one in purple) head of the Violet Wolf dorm. His dorm is full of those artistically inclined. This guy is crazy talented with his art. But, he does come into some suspicion as the missing person Queen Victoria asked Ciel to look into was actually in the Violet Wolf dorm.

JAPANESE CAST: *Redmond is played by Toshiki Watanabe

*Bluewer is played by Junya Enoki (known for Yuuji on Jujutsu Kaisen, Nasa on Tonikawa, Inui on Tokyo Revengers, Red Blood Cell on Cells at Work: Code Black, Naoya on Girlfriend Girlfriend, and Jack on Beastars)

*Greenhill is played by Shunsuke Takeuchi (known for Takeda on My Senpai is Annoying, Varis on YGO Vrains, and Askin on Bleach: Thousand Year Blood)

*Violet is played by Tatsumaru Tachibana

ENGLISH CAST: *Redmond is played by Reagan Murdock (known for Hayakawa on Chainsaw Man and Itsuomi on A Sign of Affection)

*Bluewer is played by Brandon McInnis (known for Sir Nighteye on My Hero Academia, Hitogami on Mushoku Tensei, Finral on Black Clover, Gyuutarou on Demon Slayer, and Mafuyu on Given)

*Greenhill is played by Jonah Scott (known for Legoshi on Beastars, Tatsu on Way of the House-husband, Raiden on 86, and Akihiko on Given)

*Violet is played by Kieran Flitton

ENDING: Ciel is making his long journey into finding Derrick Arden and the other missing boys for Queen Victoria. It’s just long and tedious. Ciel already made waves with the P4 by becoming a drudge’s drudge. But then, he managed to calculate a win in an annual cricket tournament. Something that Ciel’s dorm has been unable to do since his father Vincent Phantomhive attended the school. All of this is to meet with the school’s headmaster. This guy is elusive and is rarely seen, and yet his rule is absolute and must not go against his word. How elusive is elusive? A demon like Sebastian couldn’t even get his hands on him. That should tell you something.

Ciel will actually meet this mystery man as Ciel was invited to have midnight tea with the headmaster, the prefects, and their drudges. There, Ciel decided to get right to the point and start asking some questions, mostly about the disappearance of Derrick. Ciel is then one-upped as the missing person the queen asked to look into is staring at him right in the face. Why all the secrecy? Derrick is really dead. Not just that, but now part of the undead. Not just that, he was murdered and used as a zombie puppet by the headmaster.

Hmm…why does this have a whiff of the movie Book of the Atlantic? Because the headmaster is none other than Undertaker himself. Mmm and Junichi Suwabe is still voicing Undertaker in Japanese. Ugh, John Swasey is still voicing Undertaker in English. Continuing.

It was then that we got a couple of flashback scenes that explain to people who have forgotten Undertaker’s role as it’s been so long since Black Butler has been on. Now, do keep in mind that Clover Works is in charge for this one season. And we get a retelling with the new animation. And we see one second of Grell! I am fine with this. Undertaker’s appearance was because Redmond’s disgusting uncle had him come to take care of a problem. And that problem?

The prefects killed Derrick. Yeah, he wound up on the wrong side of Greenhill’s cricket bat. I told you not to get on this man’s wrong side. Things between Derrick and the prefects were fine at first. Derrick was Redmond’s drudge and I gotta say, Redmond has the worst judgement of character as we see several of his own drudges doing shady things behind his back. In Derrick’s case, it was hazing. Not just that! He beat the shit out of the students with the most talent and potential, to take it as his own to impress the prefects. But wait, there’s more. He’s got not only certain students, but one of the higher-up faculty members wrapped around his finger. Weston is corrupt and the prefects are quite disgusted by this turn of events. The only way to fix the problem is to murder them all. Murder Derrick, his cohorts, and even the teacher. While Derrick and his friends were kinda failed zombies, the teacher seemed to pass off as normal.

…I mean close to normal as zombiely possible.

Now that everything is out in the open, it’s time for a fight against the supernatural. Eh, not really. Yeah, Sebastian played it out in his head how his fight with Undertaker would go down. It would have ended with Ciel being kidnapped by the laughing reaper. Undertaker escapes, he lives to laugh another day. Sebastian and Ciel are left with taking care of the zombie boys and then having to report back to the queen about this wild predicament.

In the aftermath, Ciel reported everything he learned back to Queen Victoria. Her fascination with the undead raises eyebrows from the audience, but Ciel will find out when he finds out. In the meantime, the public will be given a false story about Derrick and the other missing boys deaths. Clumsy zombie professor as well! Redmond, Greenhill, Bluewer, and Violet are all expelled from Weston. Their drudges have been promoted to prefect. But no one is happy by this. Those drudges were there that night and learned everything. Like a British P.I.F. or Princess Margaret’s love life, there is no happy ending here.

Okay, one episode left. Now what? It’s like a normal episode of Black Butler. Normal in the sense that the episode revolves around Ciel, Sebastian, the crew that runs the household, a few particular run-ins, business talk, and loud hijinks. But during the episode, Sebastian and Ciel come across a little something. As Sebastian got a hold of a certain trinket of Undertaker’s, he was able to do some research and learn that there’s some special people’s names on it. One name in particular caught Ciel’s eye as it’s his late grandmother. So, Undertaker has been doing stuff with and to the Phantomhive family longer than anyone could think.

We end this season with…oh, let’s just say the beginning to the next arc. Get ready for some wolves…whenever this season comes to existence. In the meantime, just watch Spice and Wolf. It’s not Black Butler, but it has J. Michael Tatum and Brina Palencia as the main cast. Let’s just hope that we don’t have to wait another Goddamn 7 years to see Sullivan and Wolfram. Actually, we’re getting the next arc in 2025. Well, that’s lucky!

Okay Cloverworks, I’ve pre-judged you too hastily. You did a great job with Bocchi the Rock and My Dress-up Darling. And you exceeded my expectations here with the Public School arc of Black Butler. Good job!

Now that you’ve reached this portion of my review, you’re probably wondering if you should hop onto Crunchyroll and watch this season despite several other seasons existing and you never seeing. Hold up, Buttercup! Do not do that! I highly recommend at least watching the first half of season one and the movie Book of the Atlantic. Those two things should keep you not so confused. Book of Circus and Book of Murder arcs are semi-recommendations for this case. Mostly due to the fact that there are a couple of characters shown this season that you might be lost if you suddenly see these people.

But if you’re like me and you love to watch things in chronological order, it should go as this…

*Black Butler (season 1) *Black Butler OVA’s (season 1 OVA, season 2 OVA eps: 1, 2, 4, 6) *Black Butler: Book of Circus *Black Butler: Book of Murder *Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic *Black Butler: Public School Arc *Black Butler II NEVER WATCH THIS!

Okay, enough time has passed and I’m sure everyone has eventually made peace with what Black Butler tried to do with season two. You’ll either meet people who thinks we made a mistake in judging it so hastily and those who will never speak of it again. I am in the category of people who never want to see this again. But will happily watch the OVA’s that came from that season. I’m a Grell fangirl and will happily watch anything with him in it. Even if that thing features Alois or Claude.

Back to the matter at hand. I liked how they handled this season for the anime. Never mind the fact that I love Black Butler to the point where I would even gather up the courage and enter a contest to win more Black Butler stuff. I never do that and yet when FUNimation put this out years ago, I gathered up my courage and did so. Got me some nice swag including a notebook. I still have to this day and have Yuya Matsushita (live-action musical Sebastian) and Patrick Seitz’s (eng dub for Agni) autograph. I’m digressing again.

Cloverworks kept things legit. One thing I will always applaud Cloverworks for is their animation. It’s great! I mean, compared to some of the other animes that changed studios, this is one of the better outcomes. One thing that also seems on-brand for Cloverworks is recaps. Thankfully, they kept it to a minimum at the first part of the episodes. But then, we get a bigger (but slightly necessary one) when Undertaker is revealed at the climax. The reason I say that is because A LOT OF TIME HAS PASSED for people watching this. And yes, we’ve got a new studio at the helm. Plus, I get to see Grell for one second.

Did I mention that I like Grell? Because I do like him! But just like some of the Black Butler sequels from the past, I found myself enjoying every moment of it.

If you would like to watch Black Butler in (almost) it’s entirety, Crunchyroll has quite the line-up. Unfortunately, the hour-long Book of Murder is for some reason not on their site. Black Butler’s first and second season are also available on Hulu.

FINAL NOTE(S): A few quickies!

It still makes me hot whenever Sebastian says “Yes, my Lord” in any language. Violet is best boy in the P4 category. The OP theme is a banger despite my prejudice against any Black Butler opening theme not sung by SID.

[medea10]

My Review of Cherry Magic

(short for: Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!)

Note from the reviewer: Hi everyone! Sorry it's been several months since I last posted a review. It has been a hard and stressful time for me. I've had to endure a surgery, two infections, my younger cat having a heart attack and dying, a family member have her cancer come back, and this one condition of mine where I had symptoms plague me for an entire month. As you can see, I had no interest in writing reviews. Now that a lot of this turbulence has passed, I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. With all of that unpleasantness out of the way, let's get at it.

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When looking at this title, your first thought is this is an Isekai, a BL, and has a run-time of 5 minutes per episode.

As it turns out, this is a work-place comedy and has a normal running time of 22+ minutes. But it’s still a BL. That’s good enough for me!

Kiyoshi Adachi is 30 years old and still a virgin. Apparently, Adachi has acquired some weird power upon turning 30. Whenever he touches someone, he can hear the thoughts in their head. Adachi actually finds this power lame and also annoying in cramped places like crowded trains. One morning at his job, he accidentally brushed up against the handsome and charismatic employee, Yuuichi Kurosawa. Turns out, Kurosawa has a crush on Adachi.

Despite having some perverted thoughts about Adachi, Kurosawa really doesn’t act upon them. Yes, he invites Adachi over and yes, it’s a little odd that he has an extra pair of pajamas that are his exact size. But at least Kurosawa doesn’t do things to his crush that would chase him away. As for Adachi, this must be a big shock. But is he seeing this workmate in a new light? Could you even say that he may like Kurosawa?

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: The sucky thing about BL animes is that the licensing company usually never dubs it. I know there are dubbed ones out there, but it sometimes feels like a why even bother looking. And I was ready to write this off as yet another BL anime that’s to be left alone. Crunchyroll released an English dub to this several months after the anime’s premier. When it comes to the sub, I’m glad I’m getting the opportunity to hear some of these men again. I only know the two main cast members for one big recent role and almost nothing else. So, this always helps me. Plus, this cast also has Makoto Furukawa and Ami Koshimizu. You cannot go wrong here!

Yes, there’s an actual female in the show. She was seen as a possible rival of love, but it just turns out she’s just a big shipper of Adachi and Kurosawa. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Adachi is played by Chiaki Kobayashi (known for Stark on Frieren and Yuu on Sing Yesterday for Me)

*Kurosawa is played by Ryouta Suzuki (Ishigami on Kaguya-sama and Ryouhei on Tsurune)

ENGLISH CAST: *Adachi is played by Daman Mills (known for Amethio on Pokemon Horizons, Monaka on DB Super, Yakov on Yuri on Ice, Osamu on Haikyuu, Shin on Misfit of Demon Academy, and Ginshi on Tokyo Ghoul :re)

*Kurosawa is played by Dio Garner

SHIPPING: I have to wonder about Adachi for a moment. I know it’s clear that he’s a 30-year-old virgin. But not every relationship is built around sex. My question is, has Adachi ever been in a romantic relationship prior to meeting Kurosawa? By the looks of it, he really didn’t show much interest in hanging around other people. Even a small group of coworkers make him a little tense. It might have to do with this recent power that he has. There was also a flashback of something that happened to Adachi. It didn’t end well obviously. But I digress.

Time to open up a bag of cheesy popcorn and talk about these two boys.

Kurosawa’s mind is essentially an open book for Adachi. He knows Kurosawa has a burning passion for him. But Kurosawa doesn’t try to act upon his biggest urges. He gets an opportunity to kiss Adachi, but just does a safe kiss on the forehead. Modesty or just trying to not to be so obvious. Halfway into the series, there’s a confession and an acceptance. Seeing them move fast even for a 12-episode series makes me wonder if this relationship is going to go further like them sleeping together. And with that said, what would happen if Adachi loses his virginity? Will he lose his power? Oh, but I’m over-thinking things here. I’ve got another ship to discuss here.

Wait, what?! Are we going down the Junjou-Sekaiichi route?

Tsuge is Adachi’s long-time friend. He’s a writer and surprise, surprise a virgin like his friend. And just like Adachi, Tsuge got hit with the supernatural as whoever he has skin contact with, he can read their minds. Tsuge winds up making friends with a delivery boy, Minato. I know the boy is only coming back to see the kitty Tsuge recently adopted, but we all know what’s up. Unlike Adachi and Kurosawa, these two had no interest whatsoever at the beginning. It felt like Minato didn’t really see Tsuge as a friend until it was close to the end of the series. And Tsuge was a bit quicker with his feelings.

ENDING: By the halfway point, Adachi and Kurosawa are an item and went on their first awkward date. What comes next? Total honesty! Yeah, Adachi has been holding a pretty big secret from Kurosawa and that’s him being able to read thoughts when there’s skin-to-skin contact. Adachi almost let the secret out on accident once or twice, but could pass it off as one of them being too drunk. On Kurosawa’s birthday, there was an event for work. Adachi invited his friend Tsuge and Tsuge invited his friend Minato. This is when Adachi learns that Tsuge recently got the same power as Adachi.

Okay, so I guess that means it’s just the same power of being able to read minds. That just means Japan’s got a mass horde of 30-year-old virgins reading people’s thoughts. But of course, it can only work if there’s skin-to-skin contact. Depending on your life, you could go your whole life without noticing you have this power. But I digress.

Another effect to the power is that Adachi and Tsuge are able to communicate telepathically. The boys learn that this power led them to someone they have feelings for. Of course, Adachi can’t enjoy this moment of clarity. Kurosawa sees the two boys standing together and got jealous. Jealousy is Kurosawa’s ugliest trait. He is jealous of nearly every person Adachi talks to. After Tsuge leaves, Adachi reveals to Kurosawa that he has the mind-reading power and has had it for a while now. Thankfully, it didn’t cause a rift in the relationship. Both boys seem to love each other just the same if not more so. Although, Kurosawa is a bit embarrassed knowing that Adachi has kinda been prying in his mind for a while now.

Okay, the big reveal for Adachi is already out in the open and there’s three or four episodes left. What now? Something kinda huge! Work life kinda comes in and sticks a wrench in things. The higher-ups noticed how much Adachi has improved as of recent. You can chalk that up to Adachi now being able to read minds and the side-help he’s been getting from Kurosawa. But the big bosses wanted to give Adachi an opportunity at one of their other branches in Nagasaki. And currently, they are in a different city. I honestly forget where. It really felt like Adachi had no interest in doing this and not just because of Kurosawa. So, he tip-toes around the idea by speaking to another colleague about taking up the opportunity or not. This did not sit well with Kurosawa when he learned about what Adachi did. Kurosawa was not only mad that he didn’t discuss this situation with him, but that he spoke with another coworker about it.

Meanwhile, let’s look at Tsuge’s situation. Unlike his friend, Tsuge is not in a relationship with Minato and there’s an air of uncertainty of whether Minato feels the same way as Tsuge. Plus, Minato has got other things on his mind like dancing. He has the chance to go professional and be in a dance troupe. Tsuge has been a real big supporter of Minato. He even got him to an important performance when his bike ran out of gas. This looks like things are going to end nicely. Ehhh…that was until Tsuge reveals to Minato that he had a bit of an ulterior motive for doing so much to help him.

This is where we’re at. Adachi and Tsuge have not spoken to the guys they like for a couple of days. Both for different reasons, but both for stuff they said and did. The Minato situation is that Minato couldn’t talk about joining this dance troupe as it was sudden and secret until the reveal, so boy’s been busy. Tsuge showed up at the debut with a gift of new sneakers and hell yeah, Minato wanted to see Tsuge. Both boys reveal how they feel about each other currently. It’s looking good.

As for Adachi and Kurosawa, Adachi is on the 10-day business trip to Nagasaki and Kurosawa is just miserable. Actually, both boys are miserable! They both said and did things that they regret over a work issue. It looked as though Adachi was ghosting Kurosawa until Kurosawa got a hand-written letter from Adachi. More can be said in a letter than in a text message. Kurosawa winds up making the long trip to Nagasaki and waited for Adachi outside his hotel. Not only are they made up, they look like they’re about to fuck. Did they?

Oh, yes ma’am these boys fucked. Huh? I wonder if Adachi or Tsuge have sex if their mind-reading powers will disappear. Oop, right on cue! Yeah, Adachi lost it. It’s a weird feeling, but I think most of his thoughts are of trying to open this new location in Nagasaki and wanting to be with Kurosawa. And…ooh, I’m too excited because the end result made me very happy.

Rings. Vows. FUCKING WEDDING WITH EVERYONE THERE! Happy ending!

Sorry, after watching Yuri on Ice all those years ago, I’m still going to lose my shizzle when I see two boys who love each other exchange rings. God, I miss the fuck out of that show. Oh well, at least I know that we will one day get the Yuri on Ice movie that has been promised to us that is on its way since 2017.

I am now receiving word from some random place that the Yuri on Ice movie has been dropped by Studio Mappa. FUUUUUUUUUUU-

But as for this series, I liked it. I might even pick up the manga to quench this thirst of mine. I’m wondering how a story like this continues as both of these boys are now happily married. Unless the story decides to cover more with Tsuge and Minato. I think I’ll just check out the live-action drama that aired in 2023. Yeah, believe it or not, the live-action came out before the anime. I see a lot of hype surrounding this particular title. It’s no surprise that a compilation film was announced immediately after the season ended. That’s sometimes a good sign that more content is on the way. I think those who are into BL anime, this might be a good watch. And for those long-time Yuri on Ice holdouts…I’m pissed off too. But maybe, take your mind off the anger and check this puppy out.

If you would like to watch Cherry Magic, Crunchyroll not only has the anime, but also the live-action drama as well.

[medea10]

Medea Rants - CARTOONS!!!

I’m taking a break from writing up anime reviews to talk about some news that dropped a few weeks ago that has my mind swarming with so much thought.

A few weeks ago, I’m scrolling through Twitter…I’m still not calling it by its other name and randomly came across this news about a new television channel coming. MeTV Toons. The minute-long video teased all of the old cartoons I used to love watching and still love watching.

The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Top Cat, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog, Wally Gator, 2 Stupid Dogs, Johnny Quest, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Magilla Gorilla, Speed Racer, Freakazoid, Snagglepuss, Looney Tunes, Popeye, Droopy, Betty Boop, and so, so, so, so, SOOOOOO MUCH MORE!

HISTORY ABOUT METV: Depending on where you live, you might get a combination of different channels in your cable package. MeTV, Antenna TV, Cozi, Catchy Comedy, Get TV, Rewind, etc. Ever since their existence I’ve been drawn to both MeTV and Catchy Comedy (formerly known as Decades). MeTV has been known to play programming ranging from the 1940s to the 1980s give-or-take. It’s like what TV Land used to be like before becoming the MASH and Raymond network. Me personally, I’m usually watching The Three Stooges or All in the Family.

In recent years, MeTV has decided to play cartoons. Not a lot, but enough to gain attention. Ever since they started this, every Saturday morning I’m up watching the cartoons. Because I’m still used to the Saturday morning cartoon setup before it died. Mostly, this consists of Popeye, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, and Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes. On Sundays, they play The Flintstones and Jetsons. During the week, they also aired a show called, “Toon In With ME”. This was an hour-long program where the hosts would play the short cartoons I just mentioned above. I actually only watch this on rare occasions since it always airs when I’m heading off to work. Believe it or not, this program has been a huge hit. So, it’s no surprise that the hosts announced MeTV Toons on their program.

THE CONCEPT OF A 24/7 CARTOON CHANNEL: Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Y’all remember this, right? Back when Cartoon Network first started, it had all of the old cartoons from back in the day. But then, they started doing their own original programming. And that was okay, because we got Cartoon Planet and Space Ghost Coast to Coast out of the deal. Then we got original programming from the Cartoon, Cartoon era. And that was okay, because we got shows like Courage, Billy and Mandy, Powerpuff Girls, and Dexter out of the deal. But then, all of the older cartoons started disappearing and we get some mediocre cartoons out of the deal. Not okay! But also, we got things like Toonami and Adult Swim. So…I’m stuck here.

That’s when Boomerang came in! And that’s all I can tell you because I never got Boomerang in my cable package. BECAUSE XFINITY SUCKS! Apparently, in the early 2000s, all of those older cartoons I’ve mentioned before migrated to the Boomerang channel. It so would have been nice to watch that. I’m still disgruntled about that whole thing. Time passes and both of these channels are unrecognizable. Fast-forward to the 2010’s, Cartoon Network is playing some garbage called Teen Titans GO and Boomerang mostly plays…I don’t know. I just know it wasn’t the old cartoons. Just rehashes. I only came across it if it was playing in the breakroom at work since we had Dish there. Not going to complain that they were playing Pokemon and it just happened to have Tracey on that day.

YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE FROM MY TRACEY OBSESSION HERE! Think again.

Mwahahahaha!

Both channels have become shells of their former selves. And if you want to know the truth, I only watch Cartoon Network for Adult Swim and Toonami. That’s it!

Now that MeTV is doing its own 24/7 cartoon channel, I have so many thoughts in my head. Hopes and dreams, crushing reality thoughts, worry, and so much more. Most of all, I just want to actually see it with my own eyes. I don’t want to relive being 12 years old and seeing my favorite shows plucked off the air and put on a channel that I don’t even get. That’s not cool. I’m too old to be going through emotions I felt at the start of puberty. So, Xfinity! Do a sister a favor and hand over the goods. And MeTV, learn from the past mistakes of Boomerang and Cartoon Network. No original programming! Unless it’s something like Toon in With ME, none of that! Leave that shit to Cartoon Network and Max. And Teen Titans in any capacity must be BANNED! It’s for the greater good.

With that said, here are some scattered thoughts I have with the upcoming MeTV Toons channel.

UNDERDOG: I want to see Underdog. Plain and simple. Not that shitty-ass, bull-shit, pile of Taco Bell toilet leave-behinds movie that Disney made back in 2007. I. WANT. UNDERDOG. The show! Wally Cox saying, “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here”. THAT! I WANT THAT! I want to see Underdog, Sweet Polly Purebread, Riff Raff, Mooch, Tap-Tap the Chisler, Batty Man, O.J. Squeeze, Rudy Guiliani’s doppleganger Simon Barsinister, Cad, I want to see everyone!

…

I ain’t fucking around here. Put Underdog on and LEAVE IT THERE ON THE SCHEDULE. Don’t be fucking with me and having it on for one day and then I never see it again. PLAY IT!

Sorry to get so postal here. But Underdog is my all-time favorite older cartoon. And as you can see by my collection of goodies here, I am a fan.

TIME-STAMP: Seeing all of these old cartoons finally getting a home, you have to ask what’s the cut off of how old the cartoon must be? I seriously would have been fine with them cutting things off at 1989. But then I see surprising entries like 2 Stupid Dogs, Freakazoid, and the cartoon series based off the movie that was based off the comic, The Mask. Wow, that certainly takes me back. Okay, perfect! All of the cartoons played here don’t go past the millennium threshold. This, I can live with. But then…

Xiaolin Showdown too?! Okay, this one was obviously not made in the 90s as it ran on KidsWB from 2003 to 2006. I’m a little excited as it does make me optimistic for more KidsWB programs. But it does make me a little suspicious seeing this one red herring. Nothing against the show at all, I just don’t trust any program after 1999 when you’re seeing the line-up I’m seeing. If it were me, the cut-off time should be this.

This is Christopher Walken dancing in the Fatboy Slim video Weapon of Choice. When this came out should be the cut-off point for any cartoon made to be put on this channel. With Xiaolin Showdown being the exception.

MOVIES: A good idea that Cartoon Network used to do on Saturday nights was play movies. Believe it or not, there are good cartoon movies that were made by people not affiliated with the Disney corporation. Why not do so here? A lot of Don Bluth’s movies used to play like An American Tail, Thumbalina, and Secret of NIHM used to play. Let’s do it here! How about some trippy-ass 60s and 70s movies like Gay Pur-ree and Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure?! A Boy Named Charlie Brown! Yes, do it! MeTV plays that one and Snoopy Come Home during Christmas time, this would be perfect. Hell, add the other two Charlie Brown movies here too. The Chipmunk Adventure! Yes, please!

A lot of the cartoons already on the docket for MeTV Toons have movies. The Jetsons have their own movie. Just stop before you see The Jetsons with the WWE. Tom and Jerry had a movie come out in the 90s. It was weird, but it was at least original. Just stop before you see Tom and Jerry crashing movie classics. Scooby Doo has a plethora of movies. I know the Boo Brothers and the Ghoul School movie has Scrappy Doo, but those were still solid features. Just stop when you see any movie that aired after Y2K. The Flintstones had many that have been made between the 60s and the 90s. This includes a musical, a cross-over, a wedding, and even Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm becoming parents. Seeing all the pictures on the MeTV Toons website put up Fred and Bamm-Bamm from the Christmas Carol movie. So, that gives me hope. Again, just don’t play anything made after 2000.

While you’re at it, try and see if you can get the rights to play The Brave Little Toaster. I promised I wouldn’t bring up anything Disney here, but this movie is very much a Disney film and yet, five years later is still not on Disney+. That’s a fucking crime. Somebody needs to play that classic.

ANIME ON METV TOONS: With this announcement, we saw one of the characters prominently featured in the teasers was Speed Racer. That is definitely an anime despite what we all thought back in the day when we first saw it. Should MeTV stop right there and just keep it with Speed Racer? Believe it or not, I say yes. Shocking, yes. There are so many anime series that could be added to MeTV Toons to bring back other kinds of nostalgia. MeTV Toons is playing shows that came from the KidsWB time. What played back then? Pokemon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Yu-Gi-Oh! There are shows from FOX Kids time too. What was a show that played there? Digimon! And let’s not forget the Toonami classics like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Gundam, and Tenchi Muyo. Would love the fuck out of that, but would also feel like it’d be too much and also hard to get as some of the anime companies are hard to negotiate with. Plus, Cartoon Network is actually bringing DBZ and Sailor Moon back.

But if they do put Pokemon on the schedule, I won’t be mad about that.

ADULT PROGRAMMING: I’m not saying to go full-on Adult Swim. Also, no on Squidbillies. I just like this picture. But some adult programming wouldn’t hurt. Excluded would have to be anything owned by Disney/FOX or Paramount. So, as much as I love shows like Daria and The Simpsons, NO! With that said, there are several shows worthy enough to be given a new home. Let’s start with Duckman! No? How about The Critic? If not that, how about Bob and Margaret? Nobody has seen this show for 20 years. Let’s make this happen. How about the short-lived cartoons that aired in the late 90s/early 2000s? The Oblongs, Baby Blues, Mission Hill, and…I hesitate even saying this one, Dilbert. Hesitation because the creator of Dilbert is a bit of a fuck-hole. But the show is okay! Let’s not go too far with adult animation. Fritz the Cat would be too far. And don’t even think about Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon. That’s a war crime in and of itself!

CONTROVERSIAL CARTOONS: Make no mistake about it, there are some cartoons that if made today would be cancelled by all kinds of groups. I’m kind of standing in this fork in the road wondering if it should air or not. Obviously the infamous “Banned Eleven” from Looney Tunes should remain that way and for good reason. But…two cartoons do come to mind and why people would find issue with it. First, is Johnny Bravo. You realize that Cartoon Network is doing it’s Checkered Past block and not once did it put Johnny Bravo on there. I think it’s the fact that he’s a womanizer. Like a human Pepe Le Pew! I can see MeTV Toons carrying Johnny Bravo as their parent channel does play Pepe Le Pew cartoons. The other cartoon I’ll mention might not get a warm welcome.

And it’s Batfink! The superhero bat with wings of steel. He’s Batfink! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved watching Batfink when it used to air on the short-lived Nickelodeon show, Weinerville. There’s just one itty-bitty, little, tiny thing…okay, it’s a fucking big crater. Batfink’s assistant, Karate. Yeah, that’s a collar-tug. Just look at him. Just listen to him. I can hear every anus clamp shut with this. The good thing about channels like Catchy and MeTV, they do put up disclaimers if they’re about to play something that could be seen as offensive.

HOPES FOR THE LOST MEDIA: I know I have a lot of treasured classics on VHS. Damn shame my old TV/VCR died last year. If you’re wondering how old I am, I’m this old.

I am (this) Disney Black-Diamond logo old. Moving on!

Seeing that this channel is actually bringing The Mask to it’s line-up gives me hope for other pieces of lost media from back in the day. Shows that aren’t on a streaming service, shows that never got a DVD release, and shows you can only find through old VHS copies. From Cartoon Network, there’s Cartoon Planet and all of the cartoons played on O Canada and What A Cartoon Show. From KidsWB, it would be a lot of the short-lived series like Detention, Histeria, and Generation O. And as for FOX Kids, there’s Life With Louie, Peter Pan & the Pirates, and Eek! The Cat.

Hey Medea, aren’t you forgetting the bad side to this? Angela Anaconda ring a bell?

Oh shit. That’s right. We also do run the risk of seeing things like Mega Babies and Angela Anaconda again. I guess this is a take the good with the bad.

AND FINALLY, SHOWS THAT WOULD BE AWESOME TO SEE AGAIN: Yes, what the website has given us has so many twists and surprises. So, I’m going to list off all the cartoons I didn’t see on the teaser and website. Here’s hoping they’ll get another chance to be seen.

The Tick Batman Beyond Time Squad Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law Count Duckula Gerald McBoing-Boing Dudley Do-Right The Banana Splits Bobby’s World Madeline Pee Wee’s Playhouse Camp Candy Static Shock Tennessee Tuxedo Earthworm Jim The Addams Family Hong Kong Phooey The Littles Space Ghost Coast to Coast/Cartoon Planet Life With Louie Alvin and the Chipmunks Sabrina the Animated Series Every property of Charlie Brown and Snoopy (fuck Apple TV+) Gumby Inch High Private Eye The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic Underground Commander McBragg

I think I got everything out of my system. Will all of my hopes and wishes come true with the upcoming MeTV Toons. Hell no! But it’ll be nice if one or two of these happen.