#I think an exception to the last point might be haruhi (in the manga)

[yumedoca]

You like short hair girl characters (Haruhi, Akane, Momo)

Hai, there!! Hope you're doing great!!

(Context..)

Tbh, generally I love both short and long hair female characters equally. I think they both have their charm: (to me) long hair gives a more beautiful and elegant kinda look, while short hair gives a cuter and softer type of look. Or something like that, idk how to properly explain it but I think you get the gist of it lol.

Btw, if we are talking about characters who have cut their hair short, I tend to lean more towards the shorter look, so you kinda may have a point there lol.

[medea10]

My Review of Flowers of Evil

How did I get into this anime? Because Flowers of Evil is something no one says, “Oh I want to see that, this looks like a masterpiece”! Oh, I was well familiar with the rotoscope nightmare stories from this and hoped to God my randomizer wouldn’t curse me with watching Flowers of Evil. I was however intrigued to learn that there was a yandere in this anime that’s on Yuno Gasai AND Shion Sonozaki levels. But intrigue can only get me so far when you spend 13 episodes watching…

THIS!

No this is not an exaggeration. Everyone has this kind of cringe face throughout the entire anime series. Be afraid children.

So the story is about this guy named Takao Kasuga. He loves to read and he loves the class smarty-pants Nanako Saeki. He doesn’t just love her, he sees her as his muse and his Venus and all that bullshit. But this is an admiration from afar. Pretty sure Saeki doesn’t even know he exists! One day, Kasuga forgets his book in his classroom. And on the ground, he notices a gym bag that belongs to Saeki. Oh come on, he’s not gonna go down the perverted route and steal a girl’s gym…

So he steals Saeki’s gym uniform. And surprise, one person knew what happened. The class loner, Nakamura! She forces Kasuga to form a contract with her. It wasn’t written or anything, just verbal. However, that doesn’t stop Nakamura from forcing Kasuga to do whatever she wants. But does Nakamura really like Kasuga or is she just into torturing this shit-faced pervert?

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: You know, I’m too thrown off by the animation here that it has temporarily paralyzed me from catching voices or even giving a damn. I’m familiar with only two of the cast mates and the rest is literally my first time hearing it. Okay, I have one comment here. I often forget Mariya Ise could do some damn-ass scary characters like Nakamura. And when she does those murderous screams, forget about it! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Kasuga is played by Shinichirou Ueda

*Saeki is played by Yoko Hikasa (known for Bea on Pokemon Journeys, Rias on High School DxD, Mio on K-ON!, Hina on Domestic Girlfriend, Kirigiri on Danganronpa, Frieda on Attack on Titan, and Diana on Little Witch Academia)

*Nakamura is played by Mariya Ise (known for Bonnie on Pokemon XY, Levy on Fairy Tail, Ray on The Promised Neverland, Stocking on Panty & Stocking, Mika on Durarara, Dorothy on Black Clover, and Yuuko on Yuri on Ice)

SHIPPING: Oh please, anime Gods, do not turn this into another School Days fiasco. I find myself praying for this a lot these days. But in this anime’s case, please do not go down that route!

So, it was clear from episode one that Kasuga had a crush on Saeki. But this got very perverted very fast when he stole her gym clothes and that lead to the contract with Nakamura. Now is Nakamura romantically invested in Kasuga or is she just a crazy bitch. Let’s chalk this up to a 50-50 split here.

It wasn’t until the fourth episode where Kasuga and Saeki actually spoke to each other. And one episode later, they go on a date and end up in a relationship. One has to wonder if Kasuga would have one day acted on his own and ask Saeki out. All of this happened because he was being forced by that psychopath Nakamura. She tortured this kid and forced him to do so many unethical things. Stripping him naked and putting Saeki’s uniform on him for one! Who does that? So would Kasuga have done these sporadic actions if Nakamura wasn’t in the picture? After he stole that uniform, anything is possible. Now here’s the crazy shit here, Saeki loves Kasuga and she doesn’t care that he stole her gym uniform and did fuck-knows-what with it. She’s mad that Kasuga hid it, but still loves him.

Girl, the fuck is wrong with you?! You must be some special kind of crazy!

By the end of this series, you do see a shift in Kasuga and who he wants to chase after. Saeki or Nakamura?! Let’s just say that during a running away scene, Kasuga was going to go home with Saeki until he saw Nakamura and he chases after her. That’s a pretty good sign that Kasuga has switched gears on who he likes. I won’t delve any further than that as the anime only gives us so much and the rest of this love turmoil between these three characters is covered only in the manga. Probably a sign I should read the manga!

LOOOOOONG NO DIALOGUE MOMENTS: Dude, I know you’re trying to set the mood for certain moments, but I think you can dial it back a bit. This complaint isn’t just what happened at the beginning of episode 9; it took forever to get the main gist of this story in the very first episode. I had no idea what the main premise of the story was until the last five minutes of the first episode when Kasuga stole Saeki’s gym uniform.

Now I’m not knocking serious moments where there is no dialogue between characters for a long period of time and we just watch the animation of them walking or doing something. Hell, Neon Genesis Evangelion had famous scenes like that. But the elevator scene didn’t last six fucking minutes. Neither did the scene where Shinji kills Kaowru. In episode 9, we watch Nakamura and Kasuga walking from the school to home and watch the whole walk after destroying the classroom. I guarantee you, you could leave this episode running, fix yourself a bowl of cereal and toast, eat it up, go to the bathroom to have a good yank, then finish it off with watching a Che Guevara documentary…and Nakamura and Kasuga would still be walking home! I’m exaggerating and I don’t care. I feel like being an asshole here.

OH DEAR GOD, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!: Very rarely will I ever look at an opening or ending theme song in literal fear. In fact, the last one to be so morbid was with Attack on Titan’s second season ending. I mean, the imagery alone should tell you that this is full of spoilers and possessed by the devil itself. Now that I think about it, that’s still undefeated. But Flowers of Evil’s ending theme is a close fucking second. Have you heard this thing? It sounds like Bjork singing in Japanese, synthesized, while a cat walks on a keyboard and having a seizure at the same time. Thank God there are no actual visuals for this other than the flower featured on Kasuga’s book. I don’t think we can handle anymore animation from this nightmare fuel.

ENDING: The writing is on the wall!

And the floor, the ceiling…that classroom is just a fucking mess!

Kasuga’s one bad deed led to another and another in a domino effect. And instead of a little devil on his shoulder, he has a classmate that’s a sociopath. Kasuga has guilt about hiding so much from Saeki in this relationship and he wants to tell her everything he did. Nakamura says, “Nah, you’re going to write it all over the classroom and let the whole world know what a piece of shit you are”. Let’s just say Nakamura and Kasuga went overboard and completely destroyed their classroom. Kasuga gets a bit of a lucky break as the other vandalism covered up his name on the chalkboard confession. But two people have caught onto Kasuga’s crime, Saeki and Kasuga’s mother.

Saeki put two and two together when she noticed the ink smearing on the ground resembled the flower art work on Kasuga’s book “Flowers of Evil” and her stolen gym uniform was placed right there. As for Kasuga’s mother, she put two and two together when she heard what happened to his classroom and noticed Kasuga’s behavior and dirty clothes from the night of the crime. Won’t be long before everyone knows what Kasuga did.

What now, shit-face?

Run away with Nakamura to the next town. Yeah, why the fuck not?! Saeki ends up tracking them down and tried to convince them to come back and for Kasuga to be truthful. Saeki wants Kasuga and I almost want to say the same, except hanging around this psycho-bitch for a while has caused him to try to stop Nakamura from leaving. Having Saeki see Kasuga go after Nakamura isn’t really a good look! At this point, it really feels like his love for Saeki was nothing more than lust.

Dude, isn’t there a rule about not messing with crazy…like, don’t stick your dick in crazy?! This dude has got one crazy bitch on psycho-yandere levels and the other that’s about to turn into Kotonoha from School Days in about five seconds. Well, no one left town today as the police were called to look for Saeki because her parents are overprotective types and they take the other kids in.

We get a small time-leap of one month after the night in the police station. Nakamura’s been ignoring Kasuga and Kasuga ends his relationship with Saeki. Dude, stop trying to stick your dick in crazy! Kasuga tries to speak to Nakamura again and it fails. So he visits her at home and meets Nakamura’s father and grandmother. Then, he sneaks into her room and reads her private journal that talks about Kasuga a lot. Dude, you are stepping in uncharted territory! Drop the journal and get the fuck out before Nakamura comes home. So Nakamura comes in her room and finds shit-face reading her journal.

*sighs*

First, I would like to acknowledge that Mariya Ise has one hell of a throat to scream as much as this crazy bitch does. Second, the fuck did I just say, ya dumbass?! Here we get another chase scene between Kasuga and Nakamura. What follows is…I can’t place my thoughts on this. Weird imagery, out of place dialogue, and possible scenes of future stuff to happen! A rape scene involving Saeki, a festival, a hideout, a knife, and fire! Thanks for the cryptic message guys, really appreciate it! Either the anime ran out of money or they’re fucking with the audience. Kasuga says he wants to form a contract with Nakamura and that’s the end!

Hmm, this anime came out in 2013 and it is now 2021. All the buildup and no word on a sequel! We all know that sequel ain’t ever coming. You have a better chance of a continuation to Haruhi Suzumiya than you do with this hunk of shit.

Okay, maybe ‘hunk of shit’ is too mean. This wasn’t a terrible anime. It was weird as fuck, the animation leaves a bad impression, but overall it wasn’t that bad. Now the manga to Flowers of Evil is a favorite to many. Probably because the characters don’t look like a cringey meme and there aren’t so many awkward pauses with no dialogue. Unless there’s a whole volume of Flowers of Evil out there where we just look at pictures of Nakamura and Kasuga walking home where they don’t say a fucking thing! I am not letting that go! Charlie Brown movies didn’t go to that level you guys did!

I was interested with each passing episode to see what Nakamura was going to do next and what she was capable of. I couldn’t make out if she was going to be homicidal or suicidal or just impact psychological warfare on her prey. It was the latter for this series, but I heard of some attempted seppuku going down in the manga. I’d like to think maybe one day a different studio would pick up this series, but I seriously doubt it with the rotten reception this adaptation received. It was said that the director to the anime saw this more as a live-action series than an anime and that’s why we have the rotoscope animation. It wasn’t until 2019 that we got a live-action adaptation to Flowers of Evil. Not sure how people felt about that adaptation, but even I have a feeling that it was much better than the anime. Hell, a Netflix adaptation probably would have turned out a better product. It would be nice for this to get a reboot, different studio, different director, and smash everything that has the word ‘rotoscope’ on it

Yeah, if you can get over watching the animation, give it a watch. Episode one drags, but it picks up the second Nakamura confronts Kasuga.

If you would like to watch Flowers of Evil, Crunchyroll and Hidive have all 13 episodes available for streaming.

Okay, now that I’m finished with that sociopathic nightmare let’s pick another Sentai Filmworks anime.

HELL NO! I am not reviewing, “My Teacher Accidentally Made Me Horny”. That’s what I’m calling it and you should all do the same. NEXT!

Okay…I have no idea what the hell this anime is, but it looks harmless enough.

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

Ouran High School Host Club REVIEW:

Hello there, everybody. My name is JoyofCrimeArt and welcome to the first cartoon review in my month long "Deviant-cember." event. For those of you who don't know every Friday for the rest of December I will be posting a new cartoon review, because I really enjoy making these reviews and hopefully you really enjoy reading them. Plus why not make something extra for the month of December. I mean all of those Youtubers are doing it. Anyway, I think I've gotten a bit off track, it's review time!  So a couple months ago my little brother decided to randomly pick a show off of Netflix and start watching it. After he saw the first episode he decided to ask me if I was interested in watching it with him. This show was none other than the 2006 anime series "Ouran High School Host Club!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1SxNoqhwHA

For those who are unaware, "Ouran High School Host" is an anime series produced by Studio Bones and based on the long running manga by Bisco Hartori. This manga series seems to be pretty big in Japan as this series not only got an anime adaptation but also a live action series that aired on the Japanese version of TBS. And THAT series was apparently popular enough to warrant a live action film based on the series to be created. I didn't even know that Japan even had any live action shows! Like what!? Man, what will those Japanese people think of next...  Anyway Ouran High School Host Club is a comedy anime that pokes fun at the Shojo genre of anime and manga. The Shojo genre seems to be defined as, quote "Them anime's where people don't spend all of there time powering up, fighting, and blowing stuff up." I didn't even know that Japan even had any anime like that! Like what!? Man, what will those Japanese people think of next...All jokes aside Shojo is apparently anime that is mainly targeted mainly at teenage girls. I've never seen any other "Shojo" anime before this but if this parody series in indication I would guess it features a lot of roses, fancy outfits, and flamboyant men. But enough background information, let's talk about the series plot!  The series focuses on Haruhi Fujinoka, a first year high school student who is attending the illustrious private school Ouran Academy on scholarship. (SIDE NOTE: the show makes a big deal about, even though we actually only see our main characters actually DOING schoolwork in like two episodes out of the twenty six. And even in those episodes all we see are characters do is like a fitness exam and planning a school fair. Like does anybody actually do like, math and stuff at this school? Like, I know this show is about an after school club and all, but dang! Okay tangent over.) Everything is going well until Haruhi accidentally walks into the room of the Ouran High School Host Club. Now, I know what you may be wondering if you aren't Japanese or haven't seen this show before, "What is a host club?" Now, I'm not going to say that I'm an expert on the subject or anything but based on my limited research a host club is basically a less sexual and gender flipped version of a Hooters. There basically bars or clubs that feature attractive men who's job is to charm and flirt with female customers. This show takes that idea and just puts it into a high school and removes the alcohol. Haruhi accidentally knocks over a vase that belongs to the club and, since this is a precious private school owned entirely by rich people, the vase is valued at 8,000,000 yen, or a about 70,561 dollars American (give or take inflation. Thanks Google!) And thus, Haruhi is forced to work at the host club in order to pay off her debt but, shocking twist, Haruhi is actually a girl! Wah Wah Wah! So now Haruhi has to disguise herself as a man in order to work of her debt to the host club, and many shenanigans ensue!

(You know that the vase is going to break because they have an arrow pointing at it for the entire scene before Haruhi breaks it. It's because the show thinks that if there wasn't an arrow pointing at the vase, we might forget that the vase is important.)  So let's talk about the members of the host club. First we have Haruhi. She's smart, hardworking, and independent to a fault. She acts as the straight man of the group and honestly she serves that role perfectly. Her default emotion ninety percent of the time seems to just be "indifference," and I mean that in the best possible way. Her deadpan attitude acts as a perfect foil for the other members of the host club. That being said it's not like she's a static character, as she does show emotion when a scene calls for it. Without Haruhi down to earth attitude the show would not work at all, as without it the show would just become to zany. You really need that voice of reason character to balance out the wackiness, even in a show as silly as this. Also, while I don't know how much this applies in the Japanese version her American voice actress, Caitlin Glass, does an excellent job delivering her lines as this character. Also yes, I did watch this show dubbed and not subbed and that is because I am a FILTHY CASUAL PLEBE!  Next we have Tamaki, the leader and co founder of the host club. Tamaki is very much the dumb but beautiful type of character. He's self absorbed, though it seems to come less from a place of ego and more from just a place of ignorance. And despite him being so self absorbed he isn't selfish. He is shown to be a kind person who cares deeply about helping people, which does keep him likable. Tamaki is just such a passionate character it's hard for you as the viewer to not get as passionate as he is. He has a crush on Haruhi, which is obvious to everybody except himself. Many episodes focus on him trying to impress her, or focusing on his jealousy of anybody else who wants to get close to Haruhi, leading to many comedic situations. The obvious irony here is that Tamaki is in love with the only girl in the school who isn't madly in love with him. Like for real, every other girl in the school just melts in his hand, except for Haruhi. This is something I simply do not get, Tamaki is a doofus. I just don't see the attraction.

I mean sure he's attractive, I guess! What with that shaggy blond hair, and those deep blue eyes...that look like two glistening pools of water in the moonlight. And he does have a sort of innocent boyish charm to him...and those luscious, kissable lips....I-Ugh, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the review! Hehe, um...Where was I again?    Also in the dub Tamaki is voiced by none other then Vic Mignogna. Most people would probably recognize him as Eric Elric from "Full Metal Alchemist" but the role that I most recognize him from is Uncle Qrow from "RWBY." QROW IS TAMAKI GUYS! I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO TAKE QROW SERIOUSLY AGAIN!

Then we have Kyouya, the other co-founder of the host club. He's in charge of all of the planning and actual day to day running of the host club. He also acts as a straight man for the group, though not as much as Haruhi. He's cold and calculated, being in the club more business reasons as oppose to Tamaki who does it in order to make women happy. He's an excellent foil for Tamaki and an excellent tool for exposition for the writers, because he always does extensive background checks on literally every character in the series because, well, he's kinda a creep. Though in all serious he is a good character, especially as we get to learn more about him and get past his calculating exterior, as we learn he truly does have a soft side.  Then we have twins Hikaru and Karou, who are in the club in order to appeal to guest who attracted to a certain, specific, type of yaoi....And this has gotten weird already if you get what I'm saying. Though to be fair it is left a bit vague how much of there "brotherly love." is real and how much is just an act for there clients. They are mischievous and overall pretty awful people overall, doing really jerky things pretty much just for the fun of it. Luckily they do get character development over time that fixes this a little, but yeah. They look completely identical to each other and act pretty much the same for the first half of the series too. There's even an episode where the dye there hair differently so it'd be easier to tell them apart.

(...I think this how Akira Toriyama got his inspiration for the "Future Trunks Arc" of Dragonball Super.)  They do however start to divulge more in the second half with Hikaru being more rash and more of a jerk while Karou being a bit kinder and more sensitive. But don't worry, if you think that that's the last of the awkward and possibly unfortunate implications this show presents, you'd be way off-  -Cause we also have Honey! He's a seventeen year old who's whole gimmick is that he both looks and acts like a five year old...God damn it, Japan. Okay to be fair the girls in the host club don't seem to actually seem to be "attracted" to him per say, they seem to just like to fangirl over how cute he is. So at least there's that. Honey is the cute one of the host club, who loves naps, stuffed animals, and cakes. While the anime gives no explanation on why Honey looks and acts the way he does the creator of the original manga gives one, and it's the dumbest answer ever. Bisco Hatori has jokes the reason Honey looks and acts so young is because Honey was born on February 29th, and thus only ages every four years. Well played Hatori, well played.  There's also the host club manager, Renge. Now according to Tvtropes at least, she's kinda a base breaker character, meaning people either love her or hate her. I personally love her, but I totally understand how people might find her annoying. She's doesn't really serve much purpose to most of the plot, probably because she was only in one chapter of the manga. She's an insane Otaku who's only real purpose is to be genre savvy. She also always rises from the grown on a platform powered by a powerful motor. Even when there outside or something. Don't ask, there is no explanation.

...Oh, there's also Mori. Yup. Mori's was definitely there too.

here are some other characters, like Nekozawa, Haruhi's dad, and Zuka club but I don't want to go into all of those characters here. I don't want to spoil the entire show. Oh! I almost forget everybody's favorite side character, John Cena Senpai!

(All credit to twitter.com/thaniasenpai for the original tweet/joke.)  If there was one word that I would use to describe this show it would be "farcical." This is a really frickin' silly, especially in the first half. There's lots of yelling, over exaggerated facial expressions, and even some fourth wall jokes. Also this show has this weird thing with banana peels. Like y'know how in most slapstick comedies you'll see a character eating a banana, and then they'll drop the peel and later on some character will slip on it. This show just skips the set up and just has them slipping on the peel from the get go. The banana peels seem to just, kinda spawn. It's really kooky. The comedy is definitely over the top, but it's a really fun kind of over the top that I found to be very enjoyable personally. When your "Alice and Wonderland" episode of your show is actually one of the more serious episodes, I think it says something about the tone of your story.

(Example of Kooky.)  About half way through the series the show starts to change in tone slightly. The show still remains goofy all the way through, (That image above me is actually a shot from one of the last scenes of the last episode.) but we start to get some more serious episodes mixed in with the silly ones, or episodes that have both silly and serious elements to them. We start to get more backstory on the various members of the host club and it's actually pretty effective the majority of the time. It's really weird because you wouldn't expect the show to go off in that direction but I think it's good that it did. They know not to ever make things get to heavy and give us just enough drama to be drawn into the story a bit more without substituting the shows original appeal, which is the comedy. We see the characters open up and develop as time goes on, becoming more complex and interesting.  Honestly after watching all twenty six episodes of this show I didn't really have much to complain about. The only problems the show has is that the jokes don't always land and some of the unfortunate implications. And I don't just mean the stuff I mentioned earlier with Honey and the twins. When you get right down to it a lot of the host clubs antics, if placed in a less comedic setting would be a lot more creepy. Like how Tamaki claims himself as Haruhi's "Daddy." and tries to stop her from having any romantic relationship with someone else, and is kinda forcing Haruhi into his weird love club until she starts to actually start enjoying the club, almost like stockholm syndrome. Now obviously that's not the implication we're suppose to take away from all of this, as the show's tounge and cheek attitude prevents any of this stuff from getting too weird, and the bond between Haruhi and the members of the host club are genuine, I'm just saying that there's an great darker and edgier horror movie in here waiting to be made!  So in conclusion is Ouran High School Host Club the greatest anime ever made? Yes. IN YOUR FACE "Hayao Miyazaki!" No, while Ouran High School Host Club may not be the greatest anime ever made by any stretch, I found it surprisingly enjoyable. It has great characters, good comedy, and a surprisingly well told and heart warming story. I think a lot of the parody and and some of the weird implications the series would work a bit better if I know more Japanese culture and the shojo genre, but regardless I do think it's a good show that is worth watching. This show will not be for everybody. It's comedy may be seen as "too goofy" for some, some of the implications might be a bit squicky for some people, and some people may not be able to get over how flamboyant and cheesy it is. But if your willing to look past all of that, and your just in the mood for a silly, nonsensical farce featuring a lot over the top characters, a lot of yaoi overtones, and a lot, and I mean a lot of roses, Ouran Highschool Host Club might just be the show to give you all of that, plus maybe a little bit more. While the show is no longer available on Netflix it is still available on Hulu both subbed and dubbed. You can also watch the series on Funimation.com for free, or buy the series on DVD and blu-ray. Check if the show sounds interesting to you maybe check it out. It'll most likely be time well spent.  So that's my review of Ouran High School Host Club. Have you seen the show? What do you think of it? Feel free to tell me your thoughts in the comments down bellow. Even if you disagree with my opinion I'd love to hear yours. Feel free to fav, follow and comment on this post if you liked the review. And don't forget to come back next week for the second review in my multi-part "Deviant-cember." where I'll be talking about the 1992 Holiday "classic" Frosty Returns. See you guys then and have a great day.

(And here we have Tamaki, about to break through Wall Maria, releasing the titans onto the citizens of the Shiganshina District.) (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/Ouran-High-School-Host-Club-REVIEW-650271772 DA Link

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 9/23/20

SEAN: Manga is here and nothing can stop it!

Except perhaps fire. Pacific Northwest-based Dark Horse has two manga releases currently scheduled for next week, but has already said the wildfires might delay releases. But we will note them anyway: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls 2 and Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles 2.

ASH: Yikes, that is a completely understandable reason for possible delays.

SEAN: J-Novel Club once again has two debuts, one which I care about and one which I do not. The “do not” is My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! (Sokushi Cheat ga Saikyou Sugite, Isekai no Yatsura ga Marude Aite ni Naranai n Desu ga). Leaving aside the fact that no light novel with the word ‘Cheat’ in the title should ever be licensed, this is by the author of My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World, and apparently ties into that story, but I’m still not interested enough to look at it. But it should appeal to those who like this sort of thing.

Far more to my taste is The Sorcerer’s Receptionist (Mahousekai no Uketsukejou ni Naritaidesu), a J-Novel Heart series about a commoner woman whose goal is to become a guild receptionist, and the duke’s son who she keeps running into while she achieves this.

ASH: That one’s more to my taste as well.

SEAN: Also coming out next week: I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! 3, Lazy Dungeon Master 12, My Next Life As a Villainess! 7, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen 8.

Kodansha has a very light week next week. No print books, and the digital side is light as well. The debut there is Maid in Honey, a Dessert title whose synopsis and cover art makes me cringe, but I know there’s a big audience for series like these.

MICHELLE: Yeah, this is another of the “girl with a service job” titles I mentioned last week. The style of the cover looked familiar so I did a search on the mangaka and, yep, she’s the one who did Beauty Bunny also. I think I’ll be passing on this one.

SEAN: We also see Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 4, Altair: A Record of Battles 22, DAYS 20, and the 20th and final Elegant Yokai Apartment Life, which I’m not sure if it completed or if it was simply cancelled.

MICHELLE: I’m hoping for the former! I have been meaning to read it for ages.

SEAN: KUMA has a print release of Canis: Dear Mr. Rain (which I thought we’d had before, but…)

MICHELLE: I am pretty sure it was supposed to come out earlier but got pushed back.

ASH: Yup, I think that’s the case. I’ll probably check it out at some point now that it’ll be available.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts, one print and one early digital, but both yuri. The print is Our Teachers Are Dating! (Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei wa Tsukiatte iru), a Comic Yuri Hime title about a gym teacher and nurse who are in a relationship… and the school is rooting for them! This looks cute, though future covers suggest it will also be ecchi.

ASH: I’m more in the mood for cute than ecchi at the moment, but I’ll admit to being curious.

SEAN: The digital debut, from GL Novels (you can guess what GL stands for), is I’m in Love with the Villainess! (Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou). As with many light novels recently, an OL dies and is reincarnated in an otome game. However, she’s the heroine. But she’s not interested in the guys… This looks fun, and I’ve been reliably informed is very well written.

Also out next week: Cosmo Familia 2, Gal Gohan 4, the 7th print volume of How a Realist Hero Rebuilds the Kingdom, the 2nd print volume of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, My Androgynous Boyfriend 2, My Senpai Is Annoying! 2, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 2, the 6th print volume of Reincarnated As a Sword, and the 8th and final volume of Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, which I have really loved from day one.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more My Androgynous Boyfriend!

ASH: I’m looking forward to reading more of that series, too!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of Koimonogatari: Love Stories.

Vertical has the 1st volume of Weathering with You in print. Which I know I said 3 weeks ago, but this year has just been VERY BAD for release dates slipping.

There are a LOT of light novels from Yen due out next week. Including one debut, Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside (Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita). “Slow Life” in Japanese loan word has become “Quiet Life” in English for these sorts of books, but the intent is the same: the heroes shun him, so he goes off to do basic boring tasks. I’ve heard good things about this.

Technically there is another debut, but it’s a sequel to a spinoff. Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! Bonus Story moves the timeline forward a bit, but still has the premise of “Megumin and Yunyun have side adventures”, this time with Princess Iris along for the ride.

Other light novels: The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life 4, Baccano! 14, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 4, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 17, The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 4, A Mysterious Job Called Oda Nobunaga 2, Re: Zero EX 4, Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 3, and Torture Princess 5.

ASH: Wow, it really is a full week for the Yen ON imprint!

SEAN: Yen Press has three manga debuts. If Witch, Then Witch? (Majo Raba Majo Reba) is a Shonen Gangan title about a boy whose life is saved by a girl donating her blood. He wants to repay her anyway he can… and finds to do this, he has to dress as a witch and help her pass the magic exams. My expectations are low but not zero.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: The second debut is King of Eden, a Korean horror manga that got a limited release a few years ago but is now out in a two-in one omnibus (it’s 4 volumes total, so the 2nd should finish it). Given it’s horror, it’s not my thing, but… Ash?

ASH: Well, now that it’s made its way to print, I may very well take a look!

SEAN: Lastly, we see the manga version of Last Round Arthurs, which I have described as “King Arthur meets Haruhi Suzumiya”.

We also see A Bride’s Story 12, The Elder Sister-Like One 4, Kakegurui Twin 7, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 14 (manga version), Plunderer 5, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 11 (manga version), the 15th and final volume of Silver Spoon, Trinity Seven 21, and Yowamushi Pedal 15.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more YowaPeda!

ASH: Oh yes, and A Bride’s Story, too! And of course, Silver Spoon. Yen manga is where it’s at for me this week.

SEAN: Leaving aside Melinda (SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOOOON!), what are you all getting next week?

ANNA: I’m going to use this week as a breather to catch up on all my unread manga!

MELINDA: Hey, I think I missed my cue. SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

By: Sean Gaffney

[veryangryhedgehog]

Code: Realize and the Problem with Reverse Harems

So, I just finished watching the first episode of Code: Realize. I liked the show well enough that I put it on my Crunchyroll queue, only for the plot, uh huh, that’s definitely the reason, but that first episode made me realize (god why I didn’t even intend the pun) a glaring issue within the anime and most other reverse harems in general: the main heroine is fucking boring.

She’s this little dormouse whose expression never changes from this lost, confused, oh look at me I’m so precious face. This all being said, I haven’t seen a whole ton of reverse harem shows because of the fact that I need more than just hot guys to keep me entertained, but from what I have seen (Diabolik Lovers, and the first ten minutes of this season’s SENGOKU NIGHT BLOOD being glaring examples), it seems like most reverse harem heroines are these doe-eyed, quiet little things who let the male characters (her titular harem) walk all over her.

Yes, I am fully aware that the appeal of these kinds of anime for most people isn’t the heroine, or the plot at all, but of course that sweet sweet manservice™. Just hear me out. The “point” of these dull ass characters, as I understand it, is to make their personalities as vague as possible so that any girl could theoretically empathize and identify with them. On paper, this is a sound marketing strategy, because if the viewers can’t relate to the main character of the anime, or comic, or book, what have you, that they’re reading/watching, they’ll stop reading/watching. But as with communism, this strategy is good on paper, bad in practice. By making a character so vague that she literally has no identity of her own, she ends up detaching the viewer. You can’t relate to a blank canvas. It just doesn’t work.

To demonstrate my point, take a show like Ouran High School Host Club. By all accounts, Host Club is a reverse harem show. It has a female heroine who somehow finds herself surrounded by impossibly gorgeous men, each of whom fit into an “archetype”, and most of whom develop a thing for her by the series conclusion. By all means it should have the same, boring protagonist as all of these other harems, but it doesn’t. Why? Because the main heroine isn’t like all of those other girls (wow, I’m really bad at jokes).

It’s literally the same shot! But you can see just how more expressive Host Club’s “heroine” is. Haruhi actually has a personality. She’s a teenage girl with a lot of snark, mostly due to putting up with her fellow hosts’ shit, but a good heart, and a flexible gender to boot. She talks and acts like an actual person, and bounces off each of her love interests in a different, interesting way. It also doesn’t hurt that her interactions with the other hosts don’t happen in a vacuum, they interact with each other just as much as her, which gives the cast a more “ensemble” feel than a strict harem. I could write a whole essay on just what makes Host Club so ingenious, but I digress.

There is another difference between anime like Code: Realize and Diabolik Lovers, and Host Club that I haven’t touched on yet: their origins. Allow me to explain. The former type of anime are all adapted from Otome games, while Host Club was adapted from a manga. For the uninformed, Otome games are visual novels attempting to appeal directly to either male or female viewers. Essentially, they’re romance simulators. In these games, the focus really isn’t on the heroine, because--depending on the game--you might never see her; she’s an extension of the player. She doesn’t need a personality, because the player automatically substitutes their own. That’s how video games work, and why they’re so difficult to adapt to film. Unlike books or manga, in order to properly adapt a video game to screen, you need to give the MC a “canon” personality. And this is where anime adaptions of Otome games tend to fail, they forget to add a personality to their heroines.

Or perhaps maybe they don’t forget, maybe the dormouse personality is added on purpose. In some anime, like Diabolik Lovers, it could even make sense.

How else is the main heroine going to let these crazed vampires keep biting her week after week if she’s confident enough to tell them to stop? Counter point: there are many ways that you could make her into a more interesting heroine without sacrificing the sexy times. Perhaps the vampires are hanging something over the heroine’s head, and if she doesn’t offer up her blood to them, they’ll kill someone she loves, or the like. Perhaps the vampires inject a drug into the blood stream when they bite, addicting the victim so that they experience withdrawal if they stop biting her. Perhaps she’s just as perverted as they are and just plain likes it. These are all things that could be used to preserve the harem without sacrificing the heroine’s personality in the process, and these are just solutions I thought of off the top of my head.

The problem is that these solutions take time to implement, and may anger already existing fans of the Otome. Except for the last one, which would just be plain unacceptable for a teenage girl to be horny, god forbid. So the adapters instead opt for the least time consuming and easy answer: make her a fucking idiot. There, problem solved! Then, because of anime like this, it becomes the norm to have dormouse protagonists, and then anime like Code: Realize just jump on the bandwagon!

Of course, this isn’t just a reverse harem problem either. It exists just as prevalently in regular harems as well. I present to you the Light Novel Guy:

They literally all look exactly the same! This may be even more of a problem than the dormouse heroine because of one fact: while the dormouse heroine evolved due to adaptation, the light novel guy was designed that way. He���s called light novel guy because that’s where he originates from: light novels. The authors of these characters wrote these characters to appeal to teenage boys. They’re overpowered as all hell (a hero, if you will), they get all of the girls, and... and that’s about it. Personality is entirely optional. You can theoretically get away with this in a novel, because you have the light novel guy’s narration to keep things at least a little interesting, but in an anime, you don’t have that. Unless you add in some super cheesy voice overs (which you can’t get away with you’re a sarcastic ass and your name rhymes with nyan), you have nothing to add personality.

This sucks. This sucks. I’ve always believed that character interaction lies at the heart of every narrative. It’s what I build all of my stories off of. And contrary to what light novel authors and anime producers think, you can’t have good character interaction if your main character is boring as fuck. While I was watching Code: Realize this morning, I kept thinking to myself: this is good. I like this, but why is the heroine even here? If she wasn’t what got the plot going, the show would have functioned just as well without her, maybe even better. And that is not what you want. You don’t want your main character to be the one that the audience groans about every time they come on screen, or worse, skips ahead to later in the episode where the other characters interact, because they know that they’ll miss absolutely nothing by skipping this conversation.

And you know what’s the most damning of all? I don’t even remember her name. I remember the names of all of the other characters. There was the gentleman character Lupin, and then there was my favorite devilish smile character Impey, and there was baby-face Frankenstein. Hell, I even remember the name of her father, Isaak, who we didn’t even see. But I don’t even remember if they gave us her... oh, I just got it. It’s Cardia. That’s right. I remember it now. They said it like five times. And I still didn’t remember it until now. That’s terrible. I think I have to turn in my Feminist card. 

tl;dr: Heroines are much more interesting and fun to watch if they have personalities, yo.

[sheepinthesky]

8 books of 2016

I haven’t read many books last year, which is very sad. (However, I have seen loads of TV show, haha!) Fortunately, most of the books I read were really great! Here is eight books I’d like to talk about.

THE FIRE WITNESS (Lars Kepler)

This is actually the third title in Joona Linna series. I never start with the first book, that’s too boring. Fortunately, I haven’t felt like I was missing something. Yes, sure, the story has already started, so some events were mentioned, leaving me a little bit confused, but it wasn’t that important for the main story. And it was explained, too.

I got this book as an ebook (one of many) for free in 2015. I figured out I could actually read some of them. I really liked the formatting. And I really liked the fact it was an ebook – the book is SO thick. However, because it was a digital book, I was unable to see the pages, so my brain thought it was short book and I read 500 pages in a week! I don’t usually read this quickly when it comes to thick books. They have very long chapters and it is kind of boring – even when the book itself isn’t boring. Maybe I’m just silly, though.

The story was gripping. It was pretty complicated, too. The case Joona Linna is investigating is about murder at home for troubled girls. Not only a girl was murdered there – another girl is missing! Of course everyone thought she was the killer – she wasn’t very nice girl at all. There is also a medium who claim she had seen the murder. Is she saying it for money? Is she really a medium? Joona Linna isn’t the only one searching for the truth – a lady who has been a foster-mother of the missing girl is trying to find her and uncover if she is really the killer.

It was very interesting and felt real. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact there were some adult scenes in the book. And I’m sure they had nothing to do with the story.

HEADHUNTERS (Jo Nesbo)

This was another ebook I got for free. I actually wanted to read something from Jo Nesbo before, so it was pretty nice gift. It was yet another “commuting” book – which is what I call books with short chapters. It was quick read and I enjoyed it.

The story followed Roger Brown, who was a headhunter and was stealing art pieces. That was really interesting to me, because my parents own an art gallery, haha. Roger find a man, Clas Greve, who is the best candidate for Roger’s client and he also has a very expensive painting. Great! Except not really, because Clas Greve is actually hunting Roger!

The book was very funny. That’s actually what I liked the most about it. It wasn’t trying to be all serious.

DYING TO GET PUBLISHED (Jennifer Fitzwater)

I actually found this book randomly at Amazon.  I really liked the name.

Jennifer Marsh, the main heroine of this book, is very silly person. She tries to, wait for it, get published. She writes mystery books, criminal books, even tried romance books, but nothing works for her. One of the responses she received said that she doesn’t know how criminals think. So she came up with the best idea ever – she will plan a murder and then write about it. Little did she know that her fake murder victim will get murdered. And she is the one who gets arrested – fortunately, they let her out and she can make her investigation.

I really liked the idea of this book. I found out it is actually a series – I wonder what kind of adventures she gets into in the sequels.

THE HALF BAD TRILOGY (Sally Greene)

When I first heard about the first book, I thought it was going to be bad. That was the reason I didn’t look for it or anything after Half Bad was released. Life went on and I went to senior high school and I made friends and one of them had that book. And she lent it to me. I read it and I loved it. Then she gave me the second book as a birthday gift, so I really have some nice memories with this series. Because the third title was supposed to get released, I thought about re-reading all the books. This time in English! I read the third one, too.

It has simple writing, which is very good. I suppose you can learn a lot of English words by reading that.

The story is a little bit dark. What I really liked about it was the LGBT+ characters. They were written really well. It felt natural. Although I suppose it was kind of the selling point. It wasn’t all that obvious, though.

The books follow Nathan, who is half white (“good”), half black (“bad”) witch. The white witches lock him in cage, because he’s not white witch. And they want to have bait to kill his father, who is the most powerful black witch. It’s so sad to read it, because the good witches are acting very wrong towards Nathan and his family. Everyone treats them bad. Nathan manages to find friends, though. (And his friends are great!) And somehow he gets into revolution. Will he be successful?

The trilogy is accompanied by two “half-books”, short stories. They’re set before the trilogy. Half Lies, the first one, follows Nathan’s friend Gabriel and it tells the story how he got his gift (magic powers), The second short story, Half Truths, follows Gabriel and two additional characters and is about the first meeting of Gabriel and Nathan. They’re very good, too, and worth the read if you liked the trilogy. Half Truths might be a little worse than Half Lies, but just a little.

THE RETURN (Hakan Nesser)

This is another series I’ve started by reading the third title, haha. It was free ebok, too.

I liked it little less than The Fire Witness, because the writing was more complicated. However, the story was worth it.

The book starts with a school trip. Sounds weird, haha! And the school trip doesn’t end up good. A little girl is lost and when they find her, she tells them she found a body. And tha’s when the investigation starts! The main story is interleaved with a story about a prisoner who got to go home.

And the main hero is really scared, because he has to undergo a surgery.

BZRK (Michael Grant)

I wanted to read this book for so long! Finally, I’ve been able to read it, thanks to my friend who let me borrow it, and I really liked it. I took a long time with it, though. Not sure why, but towards the middle I just stopped reading. I’m glad I finished it, though. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood to read.

It is about pretty interesting subject matter – nano weapons! Brain control! The story follows a boy, whose brother got crazy and is locked in nuthouse, and a girl, who is very rich. And kind of dying, which is stopped because she has tiny robots in her brain. And those two get a new name (based on crazy people!) and new powers. Well, they end up sharing their brain with tiny robots. I can’t even imagine what that must be like. Their nano robots can see everything up close but they still can see things with their eyes. I would end up with headache, I suppose.

Yeah, and those teens have to save the presidents of big countries, or else the whole world will be united. As in, everyone would share the same mind.

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (Paula Hawkins)

I bought this because I was about to go on train. And I’m a girl. I was a girl on the train reading The Girl On the Train! Okay, I guess that’s not all that interesting.

It’s not the greatest thriller (Gone Girl was better), it Is enjoyable read, though! You would probably guess the culprit pretty easily – don’t trust the reviews inside the book.

I found the narration of this book really interesting, because the main heroine is an alcoholic. She is pitiful. On the other hand, she kind of solves a murder!

Rachel catches the same train every morning. She is always watching the same building next to the house she used to live in. She is watching people who live there. She’s imagining their life is perfect. Until she actually sees the woman cheat on her man. That really confuses Rachel and she wants to do something. When the woman goes missing and eventually winds up dead, she knows she has to tell someone what she saw – she has to save the man who probably everyone sees as the culprit.

THE MELANCHOLY OF SUZUMIYA HARUHI (Nagaru Tanigawa)

I love Suzumiya Haruhi. I’ve seen the anime, I’ve read the manga. It was about the time I read the novels, too.

Suzumiya Haruhi is a girl who’s NOT interested in ordinary humans. She wants to meet aliens, espers, time travellers! She’s very smart, very talented and very hard to communicate with. Kyon, the protagonist, somehow befriends her. And thanks to Haruhi, he ends up in weird situations he wouldn’t otherwise get into! Haruhi opens up a school club, S.O.S. Brigade, which has a mission to seek the unordinary. She gets people to join her club. And little does he know, they’re actually an alien, an esper and a time traveller.

This book was released around the same time as Harry Potter in Japan and it sold more. Here everyone is into Harry Potter and in Japan, they’re into Suzumiya! Of course they’re both totally different books.

It is very funny and interesting read. It’s a mix of genres, really. It’s a little bit of romance, a comedy, a thriller, a mystery, a sci-fi...