#Arata's one of my favourite characters in the game even more so than a few MCs

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

hope the Arata haters are fucking happy now

[basedropepilled]

Arata Sanada headcanons:

Because he is my favourite character from that silly game series and I realised these don't just need to stay in my head.

he lives alone, and has a pretty neutral relationship with his parents. he only got into the EDEN beta test because his parents were pretty rich, and big financial backers of Kamishiro enterprises. (Ami did bcs her mum was a reporter on it, yuugo and yuuko for obvious reasons, and Nokia's family simply lucked out when applying)

he moved out asap bcs he wanted to stand on his own two feet, and he felt selfish relying on his parents (he doesn't believe he deserves the support tbh, especially in the wake of the beta test and the fall of Jude.)

He works at a cat cafe that's right next to an arcade. They're both run by the same manager, so he does shifts at both places. He doesn't tell anybody about it though, because he thinks he'd die of embarrassment if his friends found out (Chitose is sworn to secrecy)

he DESPISES most rollercoasters. It's not the height that bothers him, just the loops. They make his stomach feel weird

Though he and Ryuji are on bad terms still, he and Chitose still talk. Chitose is v protective of Arata, and tries to make sure he's getting by. To Arata's distaste, he's always looking out for him even when Ryuji is going off on one lol

He might be one of the best hackers out there, but he's absolutely dogshit at building PCs. He got Chitose to do it for him when he moved into his flat 💀

On that note, I like to think those three met quite early; Chitose was 16, Ryuji was 15 (just about to turn 16) and Arata was 13. The Jude breakup probably happened when Chitose was 18, Ryuji 17, and Arata 15. So about two years after they'd first met.

I've already mentioned this one, but transmasc Arata !! He keeps it on the down low (even by the beta test he was already presenting masc) but a few people he's really close to know about it (Ryuji, Chitose, probably Ami (or takumi, though I always played with femc).)

No one loves their friends more than he does, but he's absolutely terrified of showing it because of the aftermath of the beta test/Jude. Kinda has pretty bad abandonment and self worth issues.

very, *very* bisexual

he's incredible at baking, and Nokia gets really jealous about it. Turns out though, he learnt most of his tricks from Chitose.

played desu2 as a kid and that absolutely shaped his gender (look up hibiki kuze and you'll see what I mean,,,,, arata's basically cosplaying him on a daily basis). He's a bit of a nerd for atlus games in general :>

Anyway I think that's enough for now >:] i might try gather up a few more from my arayumi fic later bcs there's definitely more lol.

[somegirlsnerdywords2]

Anime i’ve Watched

That begin with a C!

Yep this is how i’m going to bring over all the anime and manga i’ve watched and posted about on the old blog. It’s not so detailed but it will have to do. Anything new I watch or read from this point on will have their own posts.

Cardcaptor Sakura:

Genres: adventure, comedy, drama, magic, romance, fantasy, school, shoujo

Synopsis:  Sakura Kinomoto is your garden-variety ten-year-old fourth grader, until one day, she stumbles upon a mysterious book containing a set of cards. Unfortunately, she has little time to divine what the cards mean because she accidentally stirs up a magical gust of wind and unintentionally scatters the cards all over the world. Suddenly awakened from the book, the Beast of the Seal, Keroberos (nicknamed Kero-chan), tells Sakura that she has released the mystical Clow Cards created by the sorcerer Clow Reed. The Cards are no ordinary playthings. Each of them possesses incredible powers, and because they like acting independently, Clow sealed all the Cards within a book. Now that the Cards are set free, they pose a grave danger upon the world, and it is up to Sakura to prevent the Cards from causing a catastrophe! Appointing Sakura the title of "the Cardcaptor" and granting her the Sealed Key, Keroberos tasks her with finding and recapturing all the Cards. Alongside her best friend Tomoyo Daidouji, and with Kero-chan's guidance, Sakura must learn to balance her new secret duty with the everyday troubles of a young girl involving love, family, and school, all while she takes flight on her magical adventures as Sakura the Cardcaptor. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 8/10

Finished airing in 2000 with a total of 70 episodes. 

My Thoughts: A childhood classic that’s probably due for a rewatch! Give me that nostalgia! Gonna need to watch the English opening though. Just recalling how much the artwork in older anime tends to make me cringe though looking back Cardcaptor doesn’t look all that bad. 

Charlotte:

Genres: drama, school, superpower

Synopsis: While on the surface Yuu Otosaka appears to be just another charming and intelligent teenager, he has a secret—he has the ability to slip into people's minds and fully control their body for five seconds at a time. Yuu has been using this skill for years to gain the highest grades, which allowed him to enter a prestigious high school. When the enigmatic Nao Tomori catches Yuu using his power, she coerces him and his sister Ayumi into transferring to Hoshinoumi Academy, a school for students with supernatural abilities. The student council of the school, led by Nao, is tasked with secretly tracking down adolescents who abuse their powers. Yuu is forced to join the student council and together, they face formidable challenges that bring him closer to the shocking truth that his own, seemingly incomplete ability, might be more powerful than he could have ever imagined. An original story from Jun Maeda, creator of Angel Beats and Clannad, Charlotte explores the supernatural lives of these teenagers and the price they must pay for being special. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

Finished airing in 2015 with a total of 13 episodes. Also has a separate solo special episode. 

My Thoughts: If I remember correctly the final few episodes are what really stood out to me in this anime. The beginning was alright but just after the half way mark is when it really blew me away. A slow starter if you will. I’m a sucker for some high intensity emotional drama and i’m pretty sure that’s what happened here. Whether that makes this a good anime or not is debatable. Perhaps a rewatch is in order?

Cheer Danshi!! (Cheer Boys!!):

Genres: sports, drama, school

Synopsis: After suffering from a shoulder injury, shy first-year university student Haruki Bandou gladly takes the opportunity to give up judo, failing to find happiness in the sport regardless of his family owning a dojo. He did not expect, however, that his best friend Kazuma Hashimoto would also decide to leave their university's judo club at the same time as him. Despite Haruki's protests, Kazuma already has plans for a new and revolutionary activity: a cheerleading team made up of only men. Although heavily reluctant, Haruki ends up helping his friend set up the team. Through sheer determination, and with support from their newfound club members, Haruki and Kazuma persist in founding the Breakers, the first ever all-male cheerleading team of Meishiin University, slowly making history in spite of the feminine tag attached to the sport of cheerleading and the prejudices, physical challenges, and self-doubts that inevitably follow. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 6/10

Finished airing in 2016 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Cheer boys! That’s it. That’s all there really is to it. Not a great or memorable anime. Just wasn’t for me. 

Chihayafuru:

Genres: drama, game, josei, school, slice of life, sports

Synopsis:  Chihaya Ayase, a strong-willed and tomboyish girl, grows up under the shadow of her older sister. With no dreams of her own, she is contented with her share in life till she meets Arata Wataya. The quiet transfer student in her elementary class introduces her to competitive karuta, a physically and mentally demanding card game inspired by the classic Japanese anthology of Hundred Poets. Captivated by Arata's passion for the game and inspired by the possibility of becoming the best in Japan, Chihaya quickly falls in love with the world of karuta. Along with the prodigy Arata and her haughty but hard-working friend Taichi Mashima, she joins the local Shiranami Society. The trio spends their idyllic childhood days playing together, until circumstances split them up. Now in high school, Chihaya has grown into a karuta freak. She aims to establish the Municipal Mizusawa High Competitive Karuta Club, setting her sights on the national championship at Omi Jingu. Reunited with the now indifferent Taichi, Chihaya's dream of establishing a karuta team is only one step away from becoming true: she must bring together members with a passion for the game that matches her own. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9.5/10

Finished airing in 2012 with a total of 25 episodes. 

My Thoughts: I freaking love Chihayafuru. Sports, friendship and all that good stuff is what this anime has to offer! One of my top 5 series of all time with my all time favourite female lead. Highly recommend! 

Chihayafuru 2:

Genres: drama, game, josei, school, slice of life, sports

Synopsis: Chihaya Ayase is obsessed with developing her school's competitive karuta club, nursing daunting ambitions like winning the national team championship at the Omi Jingu and becoming the Queen, the best female karuta player in Japan—and in extension, the world. As their second year of high school rolls around, Chihaya and her fellow teammates must recruit new members, train their minds and bodies alike, and battle the formidable opponents that stand in their way to the championship title. Meanwhile, Chihaya's childhood friend, Arata Wataya, the prodigy who introduced her to karuta, rediscovers his lost love for the old card game. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 10/10

Finished airing in 2013 with a total of 25 episodes. 

My Thoughts: The good times keep on rolling and i’m even more in love with the series and its characters! An obvious must watch for fans of the previous season. 

Chihayafuru 3:

Genres: games, slice of life, josei, school, sports

Synopsis: Winning the high school team tournament was a great accomplishment for the Mizusawa members. Each of them has made great strides in improving themselves, and the victory symbolizes how far they've come. But after accomplishing one goal, their individual aims are within reach. Chihaya Ayase has her sights set on Wakamiya Shinobu and the title of Queen, and now that Taichi Mashima has made it into Class A, he can finally compete against Arata Wataya. Everyone in Mizusawa wants to get better, and there's no telling what the future holds if they keep trying. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

Finished airing in 2020 with a total of 24 episodes.

My Thoughts: Blessed with a third season and I can honestly say that i’m ever so thankful! Finally getting a little hint of romance with this third season as well. I can only hope there will be a season 4! 

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro (Chio's School Road):

Genres: comedy, seinen

Synopsis: For the average Japanese high school student, walking to school can be a chore, but for first-year Chio Miyamo, it's always an adventure. Constantly running late due to her long night sessions playing video games, she is forced to come up with new routes to make it to Samejima Private Academy on time. On her many bizarre journeys to school, Chio contends with obstacles like street-blocking detours, overzealous kabaddi players, and befuddled motorcycle gang leaders. But these minor hindrances are no match for the special ops training that Chio, AKA the legendary assassin "Bloody Butterfly," has received from her extensive gaming obsession. Together with her best friends Manana Nonomura and Yuki Hosokawa, Chio will do whatever it takes to avoid her school's harsh penalties for tardiness. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

Finished airing in 2018 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: A perfect and hilarious situational comedy. Plus a glasses wearing female lead to boot! Highly recommend for those looking to watch something short and light. Great series for when you’re having a bad or off day in my opinion. 

Chobits:

Genres: sci-fi, comedy, drama, romance, ecchi, seinen

Synopsis: When computers start to look like humans, can love remain the same? Hideki Motosuwa is a young country boy who is studying hard to get into college. Coming from a poor background, he can barely afford the expenses, let alone the newest fad: Persocoms, personal computers that look exactly like human beings. One evening while walking home, he finds an abandoned Persocom. After taking her home and managing to activate her, she seems to be defective, as she can only say one word, "Chii," which eventually becomes her name. Unlike other Persocoms, however, Chii cannot download information onto her hard drive, so Hideki decides to teach her about the world the old-fashioned way, while studying for his college entrance exams at the same time. Along with his friends, Hideki tries to unravel the mystery of Chii, who may be a "Chobit," an urban legend about special units that have real human emotions and thoughts, and love toward their owner. But can romance flourish between a Persocom and a human? [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 10/10

Finished airing in 2002 with a total of 26 episodes. 

My Thoughts: One of my first animes and one that really caught and kept my attention. Character driven and comedic with a bit of a darker twist. Be forewarned though this one has some typical, eye roll inducing pervy scenes that seem to serve little purpose. Asid from that though it really is an interesting and beautiful stoyr. I actually have the complete manga series and have been meaning to read it for ages... maybe i’ll get around to it this summer. Dream big!

[drink-n-watch]

Another week, another brand-new episode of Psycho Pass. I’m going to hold back and be all mysterious and stuff. Because that’s how I do. I definitely don’t blurt out exactly how I feel about a show in the very first line of every post and then there’s no point in reading the rest. Nuh-huh. No siree. I gots some restraint! Who do you take me for! So instead, Matt, how are you enjoying season 3 so far. It may just be 3 episodes in but as they are double length, it’s now longer than most movies!

Oh, so does that mean it’s my turn to blurt out my thoughts in a single sentence? Okay, um, err, this show is still as consistently excellent as I thought it was based on the previous two episodes! Oh no, I hope I’ll have something to write for the rest of the review now!

Is that so? Fascinating. I can see how you would think and/or feel that way! (I write my part first… I have no clue what Matt said at this point…

So let’s get right into it. First I just a few general comments on my part. I enjoy high stakes corruption stories and although that’s also what season 1 was, the fact that this allows us to look into the public face of Sybil a bit more, through the device of gubernatorial elections is a great angle in my opinion. Diving into what has to be extremely complex and unique politics of a Sybil controlled society has so much potential.

I had to look up what “gubernatorial” meant (we don’t have anything like that in Australia, so forgive my ignorance), but yes I think politics and the world of ‘Psycho Pass’ is a perfect fit. 

I mean what powers do politicians even hold in such circumstances. Are elections largely a population suppression tactics. Something to keep the masses happy? If so, why are they so incredibly high stakes. Seems ridiculous to be going through all this for what amounts to a reality show (which might explain why both candidates are entertainers). So much potential!

What do you think?

I mean, if I know anything about politics and people its that ambitious people will always be ambitious and wanting to be ‘the best’ regardless of the world they live in–so even if politics amount to nothing more than a popularity contest without any real power or ability to change anything outside of Sybil’s system–people are still going to strive for that, people are going to kill for that even. We’ve seen time and time again in the real world that people do extreme things to get what they want, even if to ‘outsiders’ their goals seem ridiculous or pointless.

 Yakusuji really surprised me as a character this week. For a second there I thought they were going with a “bad guy is bad” sort of characterization but then it all took a very sharp right turn! I still don’t know if his character is sincere or if it’s all a big act. Either way, I didn’t expect it and I like it! Maybe it’s my suspicious nature that leads me to think he’s less than sincere but Psycho Pass did teach me not to trust anyone!

He’s definitely an interesting character but the way his character ties into Enforcer Todoroki’s subplot makes for a compelling bit of character development. As for whether he’s ‘on the level’ I don’t buy it…

I did find the assault scene a bit blunt. Not as in too brutal (mind you I thought it was hilarious that someone could kick a skull in so hard as to actually make it explode!) but just a little too straight forward. At least that’s what I thought as I was watching it. In hindsight though, if this was a political machination and not just the random terrorist attack they are making it out to be on the surface, then this type of direct and flamboyant assault is exactly what would be the most effective!

Yeah I took it to be that they were being intentionally flashy, down to the attackers wearing the same clothes, I found it to be a very intimidating scene.

How does anyone in this universe manage to keep their hue clear? I was only watching those little holo assistant thingies pop up for a few minutes (like the old Clippy office assistant) and I already felt my urge to murder rise. I wouldn’t last a day if I had to deal with those things and keep my thoughts in check!

I loved the idea of someone being physically assaulted and then a little pop-up comes up warning them that they were receiving injuries in-line with someone being assaulted, it’s that kind of AI assistant mentality that makes me hate AI assistants like ‘Alexa’ and ‘Siri’ all the more (but that’s a rant for another day).

As our heroes were chasing the attackers down, we got some surprising bit of universe building and musing on the dual nature of justice and law. One of my very favourite lines from the first season was said in a similar context. As Akane was chasing down criminals she said something to the effect that there’s a misconception that laws are there to protect people but it’s really up to people to protect the laws. I love that idea. It really epitomized Akane’s character and the fact that that’s what’s going through her mind in a high-pressure situation was just perfect.

We got something similar this week with Arata capping off a chase explaining that even in a Sybil controlled society it is imperative to exercise human judgement “that’s why dominators have triggers”. It’s a great line! And one that solidifies Arata’s devotion to ideals rather than establishments.

I’m glad you brought it up, that line really stood out to me too, the importance of the human aspect in an (at times) inhumane system.

Matt, you mentioned last week that you felt the writers of Psycho Pass season 3 had gotten around to reading old US news, it seems that they’ve moved on to more recent fare as the general depiction of the mudslinging politics does seem very familiar to what has been happening not too far south from my own home in the past few years!

Immigration’s a tricky thing, ain’t it?

Although, aside from the winky topical references, it does make a lot of sense that a society as portrayed in Psycho Pass would be particularly xenophobic. To be honest, I was really surprised they even had large scale immigration. I figured the country would have been largely sealed off!

So far, the themes of racial/cultural tension are handled a little naively and way too simplified for my tastes. However, I do realize that with everything going on in this narrative, you got to take some shortcuts.

I suppose there’s still time for a more nuanced discussion on immigration from this show, I imagine someone like you Irina, an immigrant yourself, would have a lot more to say on the subject than most people?

What did you think of Haruki Enomyia? I’m asking cause I have no clue what to make of them.

Difficult to say, for a second I thought they might be setting them up as a bigger villain for this story but I think they’re probably going to end up just another pawn in the bigger game being played. I think they were more just here to give us an idea of what kind of life Kazumichi had in the slums before joining the force. Though I think him just walking around the town with Arata did that well enough.

Am I the only one who noticed all the food in this episode? Maybe I was just hungry, but everything looked delicious!

C’mon Irina, all anime food looks delicious!

Ok back to more serious stuff, we got some very decent character-building backstory for both Kei and Arata. Now normally, this would not be my thing. It was delivered in straight exposition and boy oh boy was it all tragic! Taken independently, both of their backgrounds would have had me gently rolling my eyes and moving on without a second thought. Oh my, an anime protag with a tragic backstory! But it’s in how these stories intertwine to create such a bizarre picture of their relationship that brings the whole thing to a higher level.

It’s kind of interesting that they chose to more or less have our entire supporting cast learn this complicated backstory at the same time via the expositional method you mentioned. On the one hand I guess it helps to have everyone on the same page with their history but it makes me wonder if it was done for a more specific reason. Like one of the Enforcers using this information against our dynamic duo or the opposite and it puts more faith in them and brings closer as a team–who can say for sure?

In fact, the peculiar dynamic between Kei and Arata is truly fascinating and so far, a strong point of the season for me.

Agreed.

A few little random thoughts:

I quite like both the OP and ED. I like the visuals in the OP better, in fact, I like them a lot, but I prefer the ED song!

The interiors are really beautiful this season. I’m not so taken by the architecture, but room designs consistently catch my eye.

Also, I didn’t know where to fit it in the review, but I liked the statement that acting weak releases cortisol making you feel more relaxed. The behavioural neuroscience angle is one I like a lot and I hope they develop it more as Psycho Pass is the perfect universe to explore this in.

I thought it was interesting–if briefly mentioned–but I have to wonder if it was just the writer showing off some fancy things he learned on wikipedia and wanting to put it into the show (okay that was a bit catty of me, apologies to the writer of Psycho Pass).

Oh I guess I should finally admit it. I really liked this episode. More than the last. So far, I think the writing may be a touch weaker than I had hoped. There’s a lot of slightly clumsy exposition. But I’m also starting to see the foundations of a potentially fascinating story with some very intriguing dynamics. I’m excited. When the episode ended I was both surprised by how quickly it had gone by and a little bummed I couldn’t watch the next one right away!

I have to agree (we seem to agreeing a lot this time!) our new characters feel like they’re living up to the potential of this show’s world while adding interesting things to it too. Political corruption, a shadow organisation called ‘Bifrost’ pulling the strings (cool name by the way) plus all the internal machinations at the various levels of law enforcement and interpersonal relationships too makes for a rich and compelling tapestry. If you’re a person who adheres to the 3 episode rule and you haven’t given this show a chance yet then 3 excellent episodes in a row should be proof enough that Psycho Pass is back and firing on all cylinders!

Psycho Pass s3 ep3 – Tensions Flare Another week, another brand-new episode of Psycho Pass. I’m going to hold back and be all mysterious and stuff.

[chessanator]

11 Questions WIP tag meme:

Thanks for tagging me, @pomegranate-belle!

I’ll tag: @blackflirtlarping, @kiichu, @transezual, @eatingfireflies and @i-demand-a-hug.

1. How long have you been writing?

I’ve tried to start writing something a bunch of times during my life, but I only really got anywhere when I did some writing for the college magazine when I was at uni. Which was... eight years ago now oh fuck I’m old.

2. What are the major themes of your current wip(s)?

The main theme of TUoHS has to be, ‘Haruhi Suzumiya would be a dangerous fucking nightmare in any piece of fiction that wasn’t at its base slice-of-life.’ Because, duh, she would be. I’ll also need to work in my take on the usual Danganronpa hope/despair themes, but I’m willing to let that develop as I come up with later murders rather than lock it in precisely now.

3. What do you want people to take away from your story once they’ve read it?

An experience similar to playing the Danganronpa games. If readers can enjoy the murder mysteries - following along closely enough to enjoy working out some things in advance but not finding the whole thing too obvious - I’ll be happy.

4. Would you be excited if people write fanfiction about your wip(s)?

Probably? There’s some good hooks in the past half of the story which might attract some recursive fanfiction. And maybe people will like the OCs and want to do fluffier stuff with them that I wouldn’t consider. I think I would feel more comfortable if people were to contact me before doing something so I could vet it. Everything before the story is fair game, but there’s quite a bit of idea-space after the story that I’d want to reserve for sequels I want to write.

5. What’s your go-to writing beverage?

When I’m doing ‘write drunk, edit sober’ my go to drink is vodka-coke.

6. Who is your favorite oc? Tell me about them!

Ooh! Close choice between two:

Mayumi Uehara (The Ultimate Mathematician): Is essentially a self-insert (I knew long before starting to plan that I wanted an Ultimate Mathematician character) and also the OC slotting into one of my favourite Danganronpa archetypes. Plus my favourite line from TUoHS, the one I go and re-read when I’m feeling down, is a line of dialogue by her.

Hitomi Maeda (The Ultimate Chemist): I’ve got a database of all my characters, and one section is for descriptions of their personalities: quite a few paragraphs of text for most OCs as I’ve built them up. Hitomi’s now just reads ‘I have a massive crush on her.’ That’s enough to make her the easiest character for me to write by far. Plus she’s gotten me out of a couple of dead-ends while writing.

7. Do you feel that mistakes are important learning tools in the writing journey?

Not really? Unlike with maths or chess, I don’t really learn from my writing mistakes as I look over them. I just get locked-in on them, unable to change them without the help of the help of a beta-reader.

8. Rank your ocs by their capability in a footchase (either running after or from smth, your choice)

Let’s see:

Katsuya Terasaki (The Ultimate Firefighter)

Taichi Fujino (The Ultimate Driver)

Arata Nakayama (The Ultimate Archaeologist)

Ikko Watari (The Ultimate Scam Artist)

Satoru Ishihara (The Ultimate Journalist)

Hitomi Maeda (The Ultimate Chemist)

Yayoi Mikawa (The Ultimate Cosplayer)

Konosuke Kamio (The Ultimate Film Critic)

Mayumi Uehara (The Ultimate Mathematician)

I’ve long had a similar list ranking (both my OCs and the Haruhi Suzumiya characters) by who would win a fight. The big changes for this list are that Ikko Watari has shot up from last-but-one place, while Yayoi has dropped from third among my OCs. Also, while Katsuya is first out of my OCs on both lists, I’ve decided that his Talent has enough of an impact that he’s about equal to Haruhi in a race, rather than significantly worse than her in a fight.

9. Does your wip have romance? tell me about it!! if not tell me about a friendship/important relationship in your wip!!

I was about halfway through the sixth chapter when I realised that Arata Nakayama was crushing like hell on Mayumi Uehara. Had a bit of a think about it, decided it was mutual, and edited back to chapter four to hint at more of it. It doesn’t come from a particularly positive place for either of them: Mayumi is one of the few Ultimate students who doesn’t trigger Arata’s hangups about Hope’s Peak, while Mayumi (who as a self-insert - of me, no less - is about as close to an existence of pure selfishness as you can get) notices that Arata treats her better than the rest of the cast, and likes it. But I’ve decided that their romance itself will be happy and healthy.  It’s not a major part of the story - just offstage and a side detail like most of the other romances are in DR - but it does have effects on the plot. I’ve also decided that they will also get together in the past half of TUoHS, and that they would in any non-killing-game AU.

10. Do you believe in the advice kill your darlings?

Yeah: I have had cases where getting out of a block has needed me to get rid of a particularly witty but dead-end-aimed sentence. Most recent one was during the last part of the first trial, where I had three clues left to use and wrote a pithy way of introducing the first of them. But I quickly realised that talking about that clue would set the killer off, so no-one would get the chance to bring up the other two. I had to go back and use a different clue first, even if it wasn’t quite the same slam-dunk. That’s a general point, really: ‘Kill your darlings’ is particularly important in a mystery story like TUoHS, where controlling the information each character has is crucial for keeping the story on track. If a pretty phrase gives or requires from a character details they shouldn’t know, then it needs to go.

11. Do you prefer plotting or worldbuilding? Why?

The stories I’ve written haven’t needed lots of worldbuilding; they’ve all been hugging close to the world of the originals. I’d like to be good at worldbuilding, but I suspect I won’t be nearly as good as I am at plotting.

[sambart93]

2018.06.01 PuriStage Episode 5 [Review]

This is the final one, I think, I hope. And of course I went! Because I am trash and have an addiction problem that I can’t get over xD I really shouldn’t have but, I got a ticket so might as well go!

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1 PreOrder DVD here Online Store here Previous Reviews of the Series: Episode One, Episode Two, Episode Three, Episode Four

CAST and CHARACTERS

Hounan Izaki Ryuujirou as Yagami Riku Aoki Jin as Fujiwara Takeru Matsunaga Arisa as Sakurai Nana Kumagai Kaito as Hozumi Kohinata Kishimoto Takuya as Hasekura Heath Shiraishi Kosuke as Kadowaki Ayumu Ayukawa Taiyou as Kuga Kyousuke Arai Yusuke as Dan Yujiro Mizukoshi Ayumi as Kawarazaki Riko

Saisei Hiramaki Jin as Suwa Reiji Kobayashi Ryo as Mayuzumi Shizuma

Mihashi Kanegae Kou as Kamoda Kei Sawada Takurou as Eifuku Takeshi Yokoyama Masafumi as Nagatsuka Nobuhiko

Ichijyoukan Murata Hisashi as Himemiya Yuri Tanabe Ken as Shishibara Kaoru Asegawa Kenta as Samejima Arata Matsumoto Yui as Hachiya Tetsu

Ichiba Murakami Wataru as Izumi Shinobu Taguchi Ryo as Tomaru Kansuke Iwase Koki as Masunari Ikki

Tsubakimachi Suga Masanori as Minato Shugo Nakamura Tarou as Sata Kazuki Kurosaki Reon as Shizuno Makoto

Kakyouin Kitamura Kento as Yagami Tomoe Harano Masaki as Natsunagi Toya Maruyama Nao as Izumino Hajime Ohashi Noryuki as Izumino Ryo Masuda Yuki as Sakurai Joe

OTHER Kobayashi Shuuji as Piece of shit DJ Stride HAYATE as Isurugi Isamu

*

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This was so much better than (at least) the last one (Episode 4)! This was so much more enjoyable and interesting and just a lot of fun to watch! I almost didn’t go this time because while I love the anime and I was super hyped for the stage series, it’s always been pretty forgettable to me. So I nearly didn’t go because whats the point when I keep getting disappointed and none of my oshis are in it but... my fav character was back, Himemiya, I have this huge crush on Hiramaki Jin still, and he’s back this time around by some miracle(!), and we knew it was going to be a completely different story so I was interested in seeing something I couldn’t have expectations for but was with a cast/characters I liked. So I went... 

Also every time I’ve had freaking amazing seats. Episode 1: row 5, Episode 2: 10th row, aisle, Episode 3: 11th row aisle, 4th row: 11th row left side and this time: 7th row aisle. You can’t give up luck like that, can you?! And the seat alone is a big enough reason to say this time was so much better! Because of my seat, I had Hiramaki Jin RIGHT behind me. I had Kanegae’s butt right in my face. I have Aoki Jin run past me so fast. I had Izaki run past me and my hair just blew back. During curtain call I’m pretty sure KishiTaku spotted and remembered me and he got this amused smile on his face and wouldn’t look away (I was in my seat WISHING a kankeisha was behind me but I knew there wasn’t). Everyone outside of the stage/story itself was such a good experience. And can I just remind everyone how amazing the pre-show music is?! I freaking love it! Just let me sit in that theatre for 2 hours listening to that pre-show music please!! Or give me a gosh darn CD! xD Then the story itself; it was so interesting! I LOVE what they did and the character dynamics! It was sooooooo good! This stage allowed the lesser ‘important’ characters to develop and show their personalities which was nice. And then the stunts!! Again, please like Aoki Jin just stood out. It was a LOT more obvious this time who had kept up with their training and who hadn’t which made those that had carried on, stand out and look even more amazing -- although I was relieved to see Izaki’s knee muscles had softened a little. And we had freaking Hayate who did (what I think) is the most dangerous stunt of them all and you literally heard the entirety of the audience shit themselves and gasp. It was amazing. OH! The length this time was just right! It’s 2 hours and 20 minutes! I remember being so pissed when episode 4 came about and it was like less than 2 hours (turns out it was supposed to be 2 hours and 10 minutes) and no break. HOW CAN A FINALE BE THE SHORTEST ONE?! Anyway... this was the perfect length for them this time I think - especially because this one is a stand alone story. The character development was really good too! Especially Riku and his brother. And the other school’s members development too was great! I was so emotionally involved this time around that I was crying at the end at a few parts! This was just SO MUCH BETTER! If they’re gunna keep doing PuriStage like THIS one then please, bring out 5 more and I’ll definitely go! My literally only one (new) complaint is the ending. But that’s spoilers so I’ll talk about that later. My complaints about DJ Stride and Nana still stand though. OH! And the AfterTalk was so much fun too! Rating: 7.5/10

SPOILER REVIEW

STORY

So certain members of each school have been selected to join the EAST JAPAN national(?) team, obviously this causes the not-selected team members to either be pissed, get hurt, feel jealous or feel left out, which leads them to create their own rival team: vs East Japan. And so these two teams compete to see who really deserves to be given professional Stride opportunities. Meanwhile, Tomoe gives up Stride so he can take over and continue the family bakery, stating he doesn’t want to do Stride anymore.

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That’s the bare basics of this story and that is all you really need to know about the story because it focuses very heavily on everyone’s relationships. Suddenly teams are getting broken apart because one or two of them have been picked for this national team which means they can’t go to their school’s training etc. On top of that, because of the rival team, old team mates are now competing against each other so it’s like “I want to beat you but I still want to be your friend after all this” which causes tension. There’s also tension WITHIN the groups themselves. They ALL used to be rivals and now they have to start working together as a team?! Course that ain’t gunna go so smoothly! The story is just SO damn good! I absolutely loved that the teams mixed and they had to start working together and the conflicts and problems that arised within and between the two groups/teams were so great!!! It got even more juicy when the school members would be AGAINST each other in the races! My favourite was definitely Himemiya versus Hachiya! Oh my emotions... they kept/keep ALL the ‘versus’ pairings a secret until you actually see the stage so they were all surprises to us, which I loved! Although I know my friend said she would’ve preferred it if she’d known about who was racing who BEFORE the show. But personally I think that would’ve ruined a few things such as who’s on who’s team and things. Other pairings like Riku vs Takeru were blatantly obvious they were going to happen so I still stand by that I agree with Trifle for not revealing the teams and rival pairings beforehand.

A huge plus this time around, as stated above, was the fact it was an original story. So while we all knew these characters and we liked them, we were getting something different, something exciting, something we didn’t technically know (maybe this story is part of the game? But from the way they kept the pairing and the pairing bromides a secret makes me think it was an original story for the stage), and because of the story splitting the teams up, we could get some less known characters or less popular characters into the spotlight, or we could get more character development from others. It definitely felt like Hounan was the less interesting and less main this time around which was great and we could focus on others. Even though Riku and Hounan are technically still the main focus, I felt this stage gave them less time and more time to others. Which, me being bias towards others, was a godsend! We like how we spent more time with Takeru rather than Riku this time too and we got to see more of his development and his struggle and I felt he was more relate-able this time around.

The main character development I was happy about was the rift that occurs within Ichijyoukan. We have Himemiya and Shishibara being picked for the EAST JAPAN team while Samejima and Hachiya have been left behind and join the Versus team. And then, as said before, it gets even more juicy when Hachiya and Himemiya go head-to-head; you can see how much Hachiya respects and loves Himemiya and I love how no matter what happens in the race, it isn’t going to cause bad blood between them. And there’s this BEAUTIFUL scene towards the end when Himemiya has been chosen to go further in the EAST JAPAN selection series while the other three are being left behind and they got him a signed Ichijyoukan towel and it seems like he isn’t interest but then (I’m going to tear up thinking about it!) he swings the towel behind him and wears it almost like a flag around him and I just got so emotional - Himemiya is a little shit but you can tell he cares for his teammates, he appreciates them, he supports them even though it looks like all he focuses on is winning.... ahhh my heart!!

Also, with this shift in character/team focus, some lesser appreciated characters got more love. The three that caught my eye were Natsunagi Toya, Tomaru Kansuke and Kamoda Kei. And what got me cracking up part way through about these characters/cast most of all was that I couldn’t help they all felt like my friends’-oshis and when I spoke to my friends after they were like ‘yup that’s one of mine’ xD BUT I love how much more time they got! I’ve always liked Natsunagi and his actor - I’ve always thought he was totally adorable in the anime and the actor himself looks totally adorable, in fact he reminds me of someone.... the Yamanaka twins maybe? -- and he got more time in this which was so nice! Then we had Taguchi/Tomaru (by the way, his picture on the PuriStage site does not do him justice, he looks MUCH cuter in real life) and he has some issues to work through this time around and he takes his anger out on people and for quite a while he has a lot of frustration and he’s upset about the whole EAST JAPAN and not being chosen for it etc. I think his yelling scene was very well done and it shows just how little hope he has even though he’s good enough to be in the Versus group. And then we had Kamoda; it DID help I got that moment where he butt was right in front of my face but this time around he just seemed much more interesting to me and he’s cute so can you blame me?!

As for the new people... there were 5:

Matsunaga Arisa as Sakurai Nana Team Tsubakimachi: Suga Masanori as Minato Shugo, Nakamura Tarou as Sata Kazuki and Kurosaki Reon as Shizuno Makoto. HAYATE as Isurugi Isamu

We all know, I don’t give a shit about Nana, you can take her out completely and I’d be more satisfied. I GET why she is so predominate in the main story, I GET IT but I just don’t want her in it. She annoys me, she’s not exactly interesting, she’s only in it because of her father (yes I went there), just no thank you. Don’t care how many times you change the actress. Just leave. Yes the actresses are very nice and very sweet and I like actresses who’ve played her. I just don’t like Nana. MOVE ALONG.

Ah man Tsubakimachi.... I HATED these guys!! Well two of them. As soon as they came onstage I fucking hated Shizuno Makoto - this bratty arrogant cock head. And just UGH go die Minato Shugo; his hair is TOO anime and annoying as fuck and oh my god, don’t get me started on his voice. Maybe like 10 years ago I would’ve like the stereotypical ‘hair covering eyes and a soft voice’ character but now they just ANNOY me. UGH....

BUT SATA KAZUKI! OH MY! I LOVED THIS BOY STRAIGHT AWAY!!! And the actor Tarou too! His so tall and lean and he’s a good mixture of competitive and devoted but also a little shit. I love how we have the backstory of Kata and Takeru used to be in the same Stride group and Kata bullied him because naturally my brain goes ‘SEXUAL TENSION!!!’ and just... Kata is sexy and mean and great okay!! He doesn’t go overboard like Izumi-mean (if you catch my EnStar/EnStage reference there) in terms of bullying but OH! Did I mention he’s sexy?! I looooooooooved him and he has the whole jacket falling off one shoulder that just so sexy.... ohmyyyyy. But his two team mates are fuckheads okay.

I really want to see Kata and Takeru go head to head. Can we have a spin off which them in middle school and see what it was like? Or should I just go and doujinshi that shit?

So lets just have some appreciation for ALL the non-Hounan guys that entertained me and that I loved in Episode 5

HAYATE! Oh my Hayate is the BOMB! We all know people like Aoki Jin are really talented and good at the stuff in PuriStage but holy fuck, this old man is LEAGUES above everyone else. It never registered with me before but he did ALL the choreography and parcour training for these boys in PuriStage! He did it ALL! And you can tell why! Holy shit... he was doing his own stunts! He was JUMPING OFF the top platforms and onto the floor and it was so flawless and so freaking amazing and he’d doing it while HOLDING ONTO HIS HAT! Like straight away the ability level is way above everyone else. And then he has one scene where he’s training EAST JAPAN team (he’s in charge of them) and he asks what would be the best way to get over this one course; so three of the boys give three different ways and he’s like ‘you’re all right but slow so y’all wrong’ and he proceeds to show them the right way and he literally jumps ONTO A BAR! THE BAR IS LIKE 7+ FEET IN THE AIR. HE JUMPS ON THIS BAR WITH ONE FOOT and has enough power to jump onto a different platform! WHAT THE FUCK?!!? This was the moment that audience absolutely SHIT themselves. There were actual gasps during this moment and the entire room got tense and it was crazy. I’ll be replaying the SHIT out of that scene when it’s on DVD. Seriously, MY explanation is not giving it justice. He JUMPED from a 7+ ft platform onto a SINGLE BAR and onto another 5 ft high platform... WTF?!?!?!? Aoki Jin, you’re good but Hayate clearly showed how superior he is to everyone there for this sport that isn’t even real xD

Can you clearly see how much more I enjoyed this episode?! It took 4 stages (like 8 hours of wasted time... more like 13 if you include goods lines and stuff haha) but we got to a part that was just soooo juicy and gooooddd!! Seriously, PuriStage can continue their series so long as they continue doing things like this; original plot lines, other school focuses, mixed up competitions etc. YES!

And how could I forget to talk about my beloved Hiramaki Jin <3 I was a little worried partway through the show because in the beginning in the opening he was running around the stage just like everyone else but then in the actual play himself, he and Kobayashi were in their uniforms. BUT in the second half they turn up in EAST JAPAN and Jin runs in the final EAST JAPAN versus VS EAST JAPAN match. Kobayashi explains that Jin/Reiji does actually want this and so they cancelled their live for Reiji -- which is the sweetest thing ever!!! So Jin ran in the last race and of course looked great! But before the match he came into the audience area and he was right behind me and I just couldn’t stop looking. He’s so pretty and I’m so glad he was back this time around *cries* I understand why these two spent so much time out of the main story and why they were in it this time; one is to create mystery ‘why they in it if they ain’t going to race?’, another is because they’re damn popular characters you have to have them, another is the actors themselves almost always work with Trifle now so clearly they have a good relationship with the cast, staff and crew so they probably got asked if they wanted to return and did so, another reason is that these guys are much older than the other cast so in order to keep them safe and not over-worked they didn’t give them big whole chunks of Stride-ing. We don’t want wonderful actors like Jin and Kobayashi and KishiTaku getting hurt do we! We leads me actually TO KishiTaku! He also spent a lot of time NOT Stride-ing this time around and again I get it’s because of his age; he still did a damn good job when he DID Stride, just like Jin did, but they convenietly brought back in ‘Heath your injury is bad again isn’t it?’ in order to keep KishiTaku from stretching himself too far. I get all these reasons why they did what they did.

PS. No way am I complaining, I just felt the need to explain to those who maybe see the DVD and love one of these actors or characters and question ‘well what’s the point if they ain’t doing Stride?’ so here you go.

Ahhh Jin....

But Alex, what about the main guys?! Okay... I guess I’ll talk about them...

So the main part of the main characters/school this time is Riku and Tomoe’s relationship, and Riku’s character development (because isn’t it always *yawn* he’s so immature and I feel he never really develops). Riku is obviously hurt that Takeru got picked over him to be in EAST JAPAN so he has some hurt feelings towards the team and towards himself rather than Takeru - which is good - and he wonders why he was not good enough. Then we have the Tomoe plot line; he gives up Stride in order to help at the bakery because their father is ill. While Tomoe explains that he’s in his final year, he can’t do Stride forever and he always planned on taking over the store anyway, so might as well leave now before he gets scouted for EAST JAPAN or something. And stupid Riku takes it from face value and believes Tomoe!! What an idiot! But slowly, people like Heath go to his shop and ask ‘is this really what you want?’ and we also have Taiyou’s voice as NAME HERE calling from America (which is why he isn’t here this time) and telling him ‘the three of us should race together again’ so Tomoe starts to face his real feelings again. There is this beautiful moment towards the end where he gets back into his Stride gear and he’s racing and he finally admits and yells ‘I WANT TO DO STRIDE’ and I was so emotionally involved with him by that point that I was just streaming!

Some other scenes that I love were just so ridiculous and cracked me up. I love how the banana joked carried on from the previous stages in this one and we had one of the PURPLE GUYS taking the banana and eating a massive chunk of it in one go xD Also we had the twins from THE OHTER SCHOOL who had the weirdest warming up stretches and stuff and 50% of the audience were too busy watching and laughing at them rather than paying attention to the slightly serious topics going on between the rest of the EAST JAPAN members xD and sometimes one of the characters would point out and go ‘what the fuck are they doing?! Do you see this?!’ which was hilarious!

I loved the ending when GLASSES GUY was crying and acting like a mother watching her son go to war with the whole handkerchief in hand and waving pose xD speaking of the ending; I didn’t like it. I really like how Takeru is the only one to get picked to go the international races and he’s about to go and Nana and Riku are like ‘don’t worry, we’ll see you there next year’ which was beautiful BUT THEN THEY HAD TO RUIN IT and Dan-sensei gets a call and they’re requesting at Riku and Nana join the team too so they don’t have to wait a year and I thought it completely ruined it. WHY?! WHY?!?!? It was perfect and mature of them being okay with Takeru going off on his own, WHY did you have to.... anime-cliche it and allow the others to go too?! OHHHH I really hate this ending. WHY?!

Unfortunately we’re finishing on a negative here ^^^^ but in general I really, really enjoyed this installment! So much better then episode 4 for definite, so much better than the main story. I really loved this one! I kinda of hope we will get another but judging from tweets and stuff, it sounds like this really was the last one -- at least with this cast... but time will tell.

*

I am sooooooooo behind as usual, even though I only had two plays this month! I had an entire month to catch up and I just didn’t! I SUCK! I’m sorry. And July... holy shit July is fucking crazy.... prepare yourselves for THAT schedule.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Ancient Magus’ Bride 24 (FINAL) | ReLIFE OVAs 2 - 4 (FINAL) | Mahou Shoujo Ore 1 | Gakuen Babysitters 12 (FINAL) | Zoku Touken Ranbu Hanamaru 12 (FINAL) | Dances with the Dragons 1

The spring season came early on Crunchyroll, but HiDive is locking me out in exchange.

Ancient Magus’ Bride 24 (FINAL)

Aw, c’mon Chise. Beating people up is not how you do things, that’s a shonen protag’s role!

Noticeably, Elias seems to be “the child”.

Who’s the “weirdo”??? Chise? Elias?

The confetti kind of looks like flowers…

Alrightttttttttttttttt…this show just went into lecherous and out of the comfort zone territory when I remembered Chise is 15. Wearing a bridal outfit and exchanging rings. Yipe.

Wait, so what happened to Joseph’s eye? The dragon arm I get, but…

I was wondering what was under those gloves of Elias’s, so now you know. *The More You Know star shoots past*

I’m kinda confused. That ending was sweet but it was abrupt and didn’t solve much. Actually, I think it bred quite a few questions I won’t get answered anywhere but the manga…ergh. Dangit, manga!

ReLIFE OVA 2

Didn’t think I’d see Sumire (the volleyball teacher) again.

Interestingly the kanji combo for human and fish (in that order) is “mermaid” but the other way around is “fishman”…hmm…

I had some yakisoba recently. It has a distinctive flavour to it…dang, now I’m hungry.

It’s the brother again. He’ll be important, alright.

For reference, the ED is CHE.R.RY buy YUI.

Mahou Shoujo Ore 1

Yay! This show is my first debut for the spring season so I couldn’t be happier – I’m actually getting my magical boys (unlike my magical girls, which are likely to be locked away behind HiDive’s paywall)! It’s not about rocks (LOL) but ore in this case refers to the Japanese male pronoun.

Ah, this is so PreCure. It’s like I’ve come home. Welcome home, Saki!

Nice boat!

That “It was all a dream” definitely isn’t in the original, but it does set people’s expectations up, eh? The ol’ bait-and-switch.

Henshin = Transformation. It’s not “Transform” unless it has suru on the end.

The face in the song subs is a good touch.

Honeyed Flash, eh? (LOL)

Glass Galaxy is the ED if you’re not in the know.

Those stretched faces, kinda like Saitama’s…are from the original manga…(I feel sorry for admitting that now.)

Some animation of Saki is definitely 2010s, but it keeps feeling like this show was from 10 years ago from the stripped-back style. It’s quite the whiplash, but it’s not something I was ever bothered over (if you remember Saiyuki Reload Blast, that was a similar dilemma).

“…you’re an old hag once you’re over 15…” – Aside from vaguely calling back YOI’s young ages for retiring (which makes me kind of sad), there are PreCure girls who are over 15 (Cure Moonlight was 17) and the Outer Senshi were all older than 15 with the exception of Sailor Saturn, IIRC.

I think the OKAN on Sayori’s apron is meant to be short for okaasan, although I might be wrong there. (*still imagining what a wonderful world we live in, to be blessed with an adaption of this manga…even with two anime-original characters…*)

Okay…there was one shot there that reiterated why I don’t watch anime in public.

Monokubo, eh? (LOL)

Gakuen Babysitters 12 (FINAL)

Did Kotaro always call Saikawa Sai-chan???

Yikes, Kamitani isn’t that discerning about the age of who he hits after all. I thought it was just Taka-related abuse for most of the episodes…or maybe I’m generalising too much.

Eh, insensitive mu-oh, never mind.

Is the present for Ryuichi a smartphone? It is, isn’t it?

So that’s the end of another series. See you next time!

Zoku Touken Ranbu Hanamaru 12 (FINAL)

According to the rules of the game, you can only have one party in one time period at a time. Therefore, by bending the rules, you make for a more compelling anime…huh. They did it in Katsugeki too, although it was in a slightly different way.

Oh boy, I looked into this and this white-looking outfit is Yasusada’s Kiwame! Ooh, I was looking forward to this in Katsugeki and I finally get it! (I left before Kiwame was a thing, so I finally get to vicariously live out my Kiwame fantasies, LOL.)

If you’ve made it this far in TR, you obviously know how much Yasusada values Okita-kun…I’m so proud of my boy, even if he wasn’t a particularly special sword to me…

It’s wonderful to know that feeling – that I’ve supported TR from before the animes happened because of one measly sword known as Kashuu Kiyomitsu. That I now have friends all over the world with their own favourite swords who I can chat to anytime I want, because Toshiki Masuda got involved with a small franchise that got really big (in Japan). I think that’s a power of Boueibu’s “rookie system”, if I were to give it a name.

…With that, I say “farewell” to 2 seasons of Hanamaru! See you again someday!

ReLIFE OVA 3

Aw, Kariu and Ohga out on a lovers’ holiday…these guys are too adorable.

Arata says “You were made for each other” with such a straight face I can’t even…LOL.

Is it just me, or did they get more inventive with the backgrounds because the OVAs were straight to disc content?

My eyes have gotten so attuned to CGI I can tell the basket is CGI…I think that’s what made me toss (Space Battleship) Tiramisu off my list temporarily, come to think of it.

Arata still smokes? Oh dear…

Ferret Town, LOL.

Give Arata some eye contact, Hishiro! C’mon!

I think it’s kind of obvious, but they picked blue for the boys and pink for the girls in the background.

These picture slideshows are pretty cool (kinda like YoI…?). Less animation to do, as well.

The shop Hishiro looks at provides ramen and tsukemen.

Huh? For some reason, when I look at this “Genus Port” place, I’m reminded of a place which I think is in Los Angeles (or it could be in Las Vegas or Hong Kong, I don’t remember). There’s a bunch of shops around there, a fountain and a painted sky on the roof, plus a fancy yellow brick “building” in the middle somewhere. I think it was vaguely Italian or other European-looking in shop aesthetic, but that’s all I can get from the depths of my brain…

The words “grow up” have a very special meaning here in two different ways.

I’m still wondering, why does the guy always have to fall in love first? If the guy isn’t in love first, the girl sometimes gets laughed at or people just call it a transient crush. It’s quite saddening, to get your feelings crushed like that.

Score one! The song is La La La Love Song by Toshinobu Kubota with Naomi Campbell.

The final episode is called “Life”, which doesn’t match “Seed” or “Need” at all. Nor does it match “Date”. Fair weather charms would be teru teru bouzu.

ReLIFE OVA 4 (FINAL)

Did I see the map of Japan on the wall in the original series??? Or is that a new addition?

Aw, this scene where they just cry for a minute really got to me. Not that I cried, but it really hit me in the feels.

I’ve never heard this phrase before…”pat answer”? Okay…?

I think Onoya just wanted senpai to notice her, LOL.

The revelation that Arata wanted to work for the ReLIFE lab startled even me, and I tackled the series long before a lot of people got in on it!

Yoake-san’s got a moon on his icon. Considering his surname means “daybreak” and one kanji means “night”, it makes complete sense.

I couldn’t read the nameplate, but you can tell from the clothing colours that’s Ohga’s house.

I found this article on hikikomori one time and thought it would be relevant to share here, actually. It’s talking about a company that gets hikikomori to be social again through repeated correspondence…kind of like ReLIFE itself.

As soon as I saw the line “Fate may tear us far apart”, I knew the ED for this episode was “Button”.

Why do I get the feeling there’s still something left for me to see…?

I was so dang close to crying when they remembered each other! Gah! I need to recover, but I have some new episodes on tap as well. So, with that, it’s the end of our time with each other, ReLIFE. Farewell, and until next time.

Dances with the Dragons 1

I think, out of simplicity, I’ll call this show “Saredo” (“Even Still”) instead. As to how I was attracted to this show, it was because not only are there some great voices at the helm, but I think “physics x magic” could really go places as a concept.

Guy with big sword. It reminds me of a lot of shonen anime, like D Gray Man…or even Deltora Quest…

“SareRyuu”? That seems like a strange name, I think “Saredo” suits it better.

The only thing I fixated on in Gigina’s full name was the weird mention of “Ashley” somewhere in it. If anyone were to tease him, that would be a wide opening for them to attack him with.

This is looking like a Grancrest all over again, which spells bad things (LOL) about this show. Despite that, an Aini seems to be the spell Gayus (learnt his name from promo material) was using.

Gayus and Gigina have a great rapport. If they decide to go comedy with this show, it seems that would be very welcome here.

My mind is blown…it’s a sword, but it also provides armour and kind of acts like a gun in how it does that…amazing…

I feel like I’m really back in the driver’s seat, now that I’m getting my first new action anime in 2 seasons! Winter wasn’t bad but it can’t keep an action anime fan down!

Gigina’s a competent dragon slayer, eh? Slay me instead *wink wink, nudge nudge*! (LOL)

So an Altar is a special type of dragon, one that’s so special it has to be in a league of its own. Duly noted.

This show is screaming for a dub, for some reason…that’s my thoughts on it, anyway.

Notably, Kenryu in Japanese could translate to “sword dragon” with the right kanji combo.

Wow, this show is really political. I’ve getting Grancrest vibes all over again…

Uh…I guess I was wrong on the overall quality of humour in this show. The Horton joke was so black, I couldn’t see through it!

Is it possible in this world to arrest a dragon for murder? Or do you just slay it?

“They must be pretty good.”

Gayus is such a Kunikida, LOL. Except he drinks…uh…coffee? Tea? Not sure what his beverage of choice is, actually.

Juku and jushiki…are you trying to make my head spin with all the tongue twisters???

Wow, those green gems even have names like guns!

Well…Gigina isn’t quite Dazai, but I guess every straight man needs someone more frivolous to play off of…

“Falusi” appears to be a Hungarian word for villager (at least, Wiktionary said that when I checked it)…which obviously doesn’t work here. Stupid fantasy words…

The cut between the screaming man and Gayus wasn’t the best…

“Science-oriented”? Y’mean there are ones that are magic-oriented as well? Ooh.

*squints at this dude with black hair* He kinda looks like Ibusuki Ata (Boueibu Happy Kiss).

Someone went all out on the aesthetic for the ED! Wowee…

Even though these fantasy words and names are going to make my head spin and I’m sure this show isn’t for everyone, I’ll be keeping it on for now. You can tell it’s more competent than Mahou Shoujo Ore from the air it holds, but Mahou Shoujo Ore is a lot more fun…so this’ll be a tough decision if I have to cut either of them…

[drink-n-watch]

This season of Psycho Pass is frustrating for me. There are some brilliant insights and promising pieces of world building but they get bogged down by a messy and overly complicated narrative or else squandered. But I’m not going to bore you with story structure today. I know most people aren’t really into that sort of thing. Instead let’s start things off on something people do want to now, how are you Matt?

I’m fine, thanks for asking!

This week picked up with the denouement of the immigrant plot and, spoiler alert, it kind of fizzled.

Oh-ho-ho, I guess this’ll be a review where we disagree a lot then! This was my favourite episode in a while!

I’m blaming Steins;Gate for my lack of focus this week though, seems I cannot hear the name Kurisu without thinking back on it! And you know how it is, once I start thinking about Steins;Gate I need a minute to get back to reality.

I’m surprised it took you this long in this review series to mention Steins;Gate! That’s gotta be a personal record for you!

Anywho, from my personal tastes, Psycho Pass have been introducing way too many characters since the start of the season without bothering to really develop any of them so by now I’m straining to just keep proper track of everyone and their motivations, let alone form an emotional connection. I enjoy big ensemble casts but not when you also have to weave in such a complex plot.

For instance, I never really connected with Sister, Kurisu or the other two. I also don’t care about any of the roundrobin players at this point. So even though the revelation of Kurisu being alive and his twisted plan were more or less coherent, they really didn’t have the impact on me they should have.

I didn’t connect with any of the religious leaders of Kurisu either–but I mean were we supposed to?

Yup.

What did get a surprisingly emotional reaction from me was the revelation that Kei is o.k. In fact he seems to have healed up nicely between episodes. And although Heaven’s Leap apparently had kidnapped Maiko for leverage against him, they immediately switched the bait to information about his brother which was just silly. I have a feeling it’s these guys’ first high level shake up.

As much as I loved Maiko’s badass turn later in the episode (and the potential consequences it has for her hue) the villains’ motivation and having Maiko dragged into it all seemed kind tacked on for added drama, but whatever I’m glad she’s not dead!

Hur hur hur… “dangerous bottom”

We got to see a lot of Kei and his daring escape attempts and I thought that part was way more fun than Arata tracking down Kurisu. Except for the few times he got to use his trace and am I the only one who thought that was such Donnie Darko imagery? Never mind, I’m probably the only one who still remembers Donnie Darko.

Oh I remember Donnie Darko, only because it’s one of my least favourite films of all time but let’s not get too distracted from the topic at hand…

Why have I never realized before that Shion has a mullet? A femullet!

To me, the most promising reveal we got this episode was the conversation between Mika and her boss (I’m sorry I don’t remember her name). It seems the really not all that secret, secret criminal organization Bifrost, has gotten a touch too bold and Sybil is getting ready to bite back. As a premise that in itself holds a lot of promise. Though I remain wary about execution.

They better not rush the (presumed) demise of Bifrost into a single episode, it’s too soon (in my opinion).

In my opinion, this sort of arc would work best if we got a bit more info on Bifrost. Do we even know what the winner actually gets?

I imagine like most incredibly wealthy and powerful people its just bragging rights. Being in Bifrost kinda seems like being in a way more high-stakes and influential game of Russian Roulette.

I keep saying this but because I have a blind spot in my Psycho Pass knowledge I can’t tell if the returning characters are simply inconsistent (that is NOT the Nobu I know!) or if their evolution has changed them considerably. It would probably be better if I also forgot the past seasons.

Your guess is as good as mine, and I even watched the other stuff!

Although the reveal mentioned above was indeed the most promising, it was not my favourite scene this week. Not by a long shot. That parallel to season 1 in the tunnels, with a white haired man holding a “helpless” woman hostage was simply brilliant. For most of it I was doing a snooty face and thinking to myself “I see what you’re trying to do and that’s cool and all but you’re really just drawing attention to how much better it was the first time around”. But then it subverted my expectations and I got to give it to Psyco Pass 3, that impressed me. Credit where credit is due, that was a very good scene. I’m trying not to describe it in too much details cause spoilers but you can see it in the caps.

I think I jumped the gun and mentioned it earlier but yes, a definite highlight.

In general though, for me, this episode was a few shiny moments in an otherwise dull mass. The art quality once again went down. Character motivations were often spotty and the twist ending, although not bad in and of itself, comes a bit too soon in my opinion. I would have enjoyed a bit of respite as to me this is getting close to melodrama and the stakes are already out of control.

For the first time in a couple of weeks I finally felt like I was able to properly follow everything going on and enjoy it all too with very few complaints. My particular favourite part was the final ‘confrontation’ between Kurisu and Arata, not only was it visually impressive–evoking some future-neon art sensibilities reminiscent of ‘Blade Runner’–but also having Sho there constantly checking Arata’s crime coefficient throughout and watching in disbelief as it dropped to zero was very cool. Maybe I was just happy to see this part of the story ~end~ in a satisfying way when I was so wary about it being possible last week but those are my thoughts anyway.

    Psycho Pass s3 ep7 – That Looks Familiar This season of Psycho Pass is frustrating for me. There are some brilliant insights and promising pieces of world building but they get bogged down by a messy and overly complicated narrative or else squandered.