#MAPPA YOU WERE EVIL FOR THIS EPISODE

[megumis-eyelashes]

This Barbie just made a massacre:

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #709

Animestyle 2017/05, Staff's round-table discussion

Part 10.

Shishido: After editing, when all scenes have been put together, the episodes were 10 minutes too long! It means we had to cut out 10 minutes. That's why we asked - a character isn't even that well-defined in the story, is it really necessary for them to have so many skating scenes? But to that, Yamamoto-san's answer was 'no, I won't reduce the number of jumps', 'no, I won't make the music end abruptly in the middle of a song'.

Oguro: But it took you a lot of time to make the episodes shorter at the editing stage?

Shishido: ...... Yes. If you don't make it clear in the schedule like 'this is the deadline', then it could go on forever.

Oguro: Was it Yamamoto-san, who couldn't let it go? Was that the reason?

Shishido: Yeah, it was Yamamoto-san. She loves figure skating so much, that she doesn't want to cut out anything. I'm able to look at this from a more objective point of view, so I can tell which parts are unnecessary, but you can't win with Yamamoto-san's love for figure skating.

Oguro: So in episode 6. and after, in every episode we see programs of max 5 characters, and one character's skating is in a digest form, but was it the case that you had to trim it all at the editing stage to not exceed the time limit for one episode?

Shishido: Yes, we did. The programs that were already decided to be left out at the storyboard stage, weren't included, but even without that, we still have around 5 characters skating per every episode.

Oguro: I see.

[Notes: I've said this many times before, but after all the MAPPA-hating partly justified by the fandom by 'they are evil, they mistreat animators😡!! (but make and release IceAdo now!!!)', reading about Sayo abusing her staff so much is funny. In the later part of the interview the staff will talk (whine/badmouth) about her even more.]

[ecargmura]

Bucchigiri?! Episode 10 Review - A Drastic Change

Matakara has gone to the dark side! The transition was rather quick. He’s been behaving unlike himself and even beating up harmless people like Hagure by orders of Ichiya in order to get rid of the monster he keeps seeing. The episode was rather intense because it shows how much he has changed.

The normal people in that world might see it as Matakara going through an emo phase due to his brother’s “death”. It must suck for Zabu and Komao knowing that their friend has changed in a bad way and there’s nothing they can do to stop him. They see him beat up random thugs and it persists to the point that Zabu goes to Kenichiro about it. I feel like Zabu is under appreciated as Matakara’s friend because that guy does genuinely care for Matakara.

This episode mainly focused on Matakara’s change, so Arajin took a backseat. After hearing about Senya’s true intent from Akutaro, Senya became MIA for the entire episode and only showing up towards the end. What is Senya’s true goal? Also, the fact that Arajin is not simping for Mahoro and is actually listening to her for once is surprising. He usually ignores her words and simps, but he’s actually taking it to heart this time around. While his concern for Matakara is present, he was more concerned with Senya being unresponsive. He only shows concern for Matakara when he sees the drastic change his childhood friend up front.

Matakara’s fight against Jabashiri and Marito were the highlights of this episode. While Jabashiri and Matakara always had a bit of a rivalry as they were equal in strength, Matakara clobbers him here. It doesn’t help that Jabashiri was fighting seriously because Matakara hurt Hagure. For Marito, the battle between them was well-animated as this is a MAPPA show. It’s shocking to see Marito lose his second fight to a genie-infused fighter as the first instance was Arajin back in Episode 1. The ending of their battle was rather brutal as he just brutally stomps on him. It caused Mahoro to faint, so you know how bad it is.

Ichiya is a bit of a mystery. He wants to use Matakara in order to get revenge on Senya, yet what his beef is as yet to be revealed. When will it get revealed? Will Senya spill the beans? Ichiya is very manipulative as he does emotionally manipulate Matakara very well.

Akutaro gets degraded into comic relief as he’s seen taking care of the camel in the school. First off, how did he get in? It sort of sucks if he’s just comic relief now as he had a fantastic evil laugh in the beginning of the episode.

What do you think Senya’s intentions are? How will the rest of the episode will play out? Is Mitsukuni actually alive? What are your thoughts on this episode?

[swordshapedleaves]

Once again it's time for my seasonal anime opinions no one asked for!

Putting it under the cut because it's long as fuck

New Anime I'm Excited About

Uzumaki It's Uzumaki!

365 Days to the Wedding Introvert coworkers fake an engagement to avoid a work transfer. I fucking love fake dating.

Dandadan An anime guy on youtube already sold me on this one by talking up the manga but the trailers look incredible. I'm too stupid to know what's going on and I don't even care because it looks amazing. Science SARU also made Devilman: Crybaby and Heike Monogatari so this should be a treat to watch.

Demon Lord 2099 This looks sick as fuck, very Shadowrun.

Ao no Miburo I am way more excited for this one than it probably deserves but I love historical dramas. This one is about the Shinsengumi before they were the Shinsengumi. I don't honestly believe Maho Film can pull it off but I really want them to.

New Anime I Plan to Check Out

Lockdown Zone: Lv. X: This could be a good horror show but the teaser trailer is leaving a LOT to the imagination though so it's hard to tell if this is gonna be good.

Negative Positive Angler This anime has cute girls AND boys doing a cute thing, the animation looks really good, and the trailer had good vibes. Might be a tear-jerker since protag-kun has a terminal diagnosis.

How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer I think this is BL but it's not clear. I will watch in the hopes that the guys kiss.

Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Grounded historic anime set in Poland isn't a thing I think I've ever seen before. The animation looks serviceable at best but I'm still hopeful Madhouse will give us another gem.

Ranma ½ (2024) I really wanted to like the original Ranma 1/2 anime but I gave up 28 episodes into its 161 episode run out of exhaustion. Every time it seemed like the main relationship might develop a bit, they backslid to the status quo by the next episode. If this is a less faithful adaptation of the manga and it streamlines the story, I might actually enjoy it. It's being made by MAPPA so at least we know it's going to look incredible.

Yakuza Fiancé Isn't an arranged Yakuza marriage the foundation of one of the greatest anime rom coms of all time? I can't remember the name but I didn't like it. I'm not into gangster stuff, but Studio Deen has made some of my favorite romances and the animation has a really fun bold style.

Nina the Starry Bride I read a bit of the manga and enjoyed it so I'm definitely checking this one out. Signal.MD also made MMO Junkie and The Fire Hunter.

New Anime I'm on the Fence About

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History It doesn't look like a good villainess show but that's never stopped me before! I haven't watched anything by Maho Film before but their winter anime Doctor Elise was supposed to be good. I have high hopes for the other anime they're putting out this season but I'll check this one out as well.

Kinoko Inu Is a story about healing from grief with the help of a fakemon. It says it's heartwarming but the trailer had some sort of last second sting where the guy's house was on fire??? The only other thing I've seen by C-Station is the first couple eps of Yuru Camp, which was too sleepy for my tastes.

Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière The premise, that magical girl is just a job you can have and there are start up magical girl companies, is quite charming but the animation is mid and the adult protagonist sidesteps a lot of the emotional core of the genre.

Mechanical Arms Complicated sci fi set up for what looks like a typical shonen battle anime, but I like that it appears our soft boy protag-kun has a girl for a lancer without any romantic tension. This is either a rerelease or a remake of the anime that was released on Vimeo by TriF Studio in 2018? I think?

The Do-Over Damsel Conquers The Dragon Emperor It's giving "we have seventh time loop at home" if the protagonist went for the evil emperor first thing as soon as she looped and he was actually super silly and chill.

Dragon Ball Daima I love that the synopsis is just "New Dragonball series." Fuck you. Its Dragonball. What else do you need to know? Based on the trailer, it looks like the adults get turned into children somehow and then sent to the demon realm. I'm not really a dragonball guy but this looks pretty charming!

[animebw]

The Graveyard of Dropped Shows

So the thought occurs to me that I’ve dropped quite a few anime this season. Turns out, when you don’t pressure yourself to keep up with every show you start out of an obsessive need for cataloguing, it’s a lot easier to say goodbye to shows you don’t like. Who’d have thought? And at this point, I’m far enough into the shows I’m still watching that I’m mostly confident sticking with them to the end. Unless things really take a turn for the worse, but hey, we’ll burn that bridge when we cross to it. For now, I thought I’d just give a quick rundown of all the spring 2023 anime I started watching but gave up on for whatever reason. Cool? Cool. Welcome to the first installment of my graveyard of dropped shows!

Hell’s Paradise: Dropped at 4 episodes

This is probably the most unfair drop on my list. Hell’s Paradise is fine, I guess; as much as I hate the overly bloomed-out lighting Mappa decided to go with, the action’s pretty fun and I’m a sucker for a good Garden of Nightmares setting. It’s a perfectly adequate Shonen Thing that’ll scratch a lot of people’s itches. But man, the older I get, the less patience I have for what I’ve come to call Shonen Gender Bullshit, or SGB for short. And sweet buttery crumpets, this show is full of it. It takes all of one episode for Sagiri to transform from a competent executioner deuteragonist to an inexperienced damsel who exists mainly to be outclassed and taught lessons by the men around her while she stares on in reactive awe. The only other female characters besides her are either evil seductresses who flaunt their bodies for the audience at the first possible opportunity or saintly, far-off idealized wives who exist as goals for Gabimaru to strive for. And in a post-Jujutsu Kaisen world, there is no more excuse for your ridiculous shonen beat-em-up to not treat its ladies with respect.

Konosuba Megumin: Dropped at 2 episodes

Was there a time when I actually liked Konosuba? I’m sure there was, but every new installment in this series just makes it harder and harder to remember why any of us thought this show was anything more than passably amusing at best. And this is a spinoff centered on its best character! If anyone from this cast of losers and misfits had the strength to carry a side story of their own, it was the crimson witch Megumin herself. But absent the incredibly expressive, body-contorting animation that made Konosuba’s comedy work as well as it did, all you’re left with is a boring supporting cast, stupid fanservice, and jokes about guys being creepy perverts who want to molest women. Riveting.

Magical Destroyers: Dropped at 3 episodes

It’s almost impressive how lame Magical Destroyers manages to be. It’s got some of the most unhinged, creative animation this side of mid-2000s Gainax, all the angular momentum and unhinged editing of a lost Hiroyuki Imaishi show. You can tell the series creator started as a graphic designer, because he sure designed the fuck out of these graphics. Unfortunately, you can also tell he’s a graphic designer from the script. Because all that insanely creative animation is paired with some of the dullest, stuffiest, most conservative writing imaginable. If you were hoping for some clever subversion of the “otaku are the most oppressed minority” setup, prepare to be disappointed. This is just brainless wish fulfillment for insecure manchildren who want to feel like badass revolutionaries surrounded by super-sexy, super-powerful warrior women who nevertheless happily submit to some hapless dudebro’s orders. Every single artist involved in this slog deserved to put their talents to better use.

The Marginal Service: Dropped at 1 episode

How do you take a premise like “sexy firefighter super sentai heroes fighting aliens” and make it boring? Well, by slathering it in five layers of faux tryhard grit and grime, making every character the dullest possible archetype version of themself, and drowing the whole affair in a level of xenophobia so uncomfortable I barely made it through a single episode. Cygames just knocked it out of the park with Akiba Maid War, how did they go from that masterpiece to this?

Mashle: Dropped at 2 episodes

This show feels like someone watched One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100 and thought “Wow, I should make a show like that!” without fully understanding what makes them so great. Everything is such a surface-level approximation of ONE’s writing talents, from the tired “Wow, this guy is so overpowered!” gags to the reheated “Despite my powers, I just want to live a normal life” motivation. Not to mention its own struggles with the dreaded Shonen Gender Bullshit. But what really killed Mashle for me is very simple: it’s primarily comedy, and it doesn’t make me laugh. Or at least, it doesn’t make me laugh consistently enough to justify sitting through the lackluster animation and cardboard characters. I’ll just watch Mob Psycho again, thank you very much.

My Clueless First Friend: Dropped at 1 episode

Okay, I lied: this is the most unfair drop on my list. As a simple story about a clueless elementary school boy unknowingly helping his classmate deal with bullies, there’s really nothing wrong here. But we have no absence of fantastic rom-coms to keep up busy these days. Just this season alone, My Love Story with Yamada-kun, The Dangers in my Heart, and especially Skip and Loafer have more than enough charm and wholesomeness to fill those needs. And unless you’re really fond of shrill vocal performances (seriously, whoever’s voicing the male lead makes him so irritating to listen to), there’s nothing here you can’t get much better in countless other places. Just Fine, sadly, no longer cuts it in the competitive world of anime rom-coms.

[sonofthesaiyans]

Three years ago today, a nightmare repeated itself.

Of course, I am talking about the day "Assassin's Bullet" first aired, courtesy of Studio MAPPA. When Attack on Titan's best girl was cruelly ripped away from us.

All this time, and I'm STILL furious about the fate of our beloved Sasha. The very heart and soul of Titan, and who's completely unjustified and needlessly cruel and drawn out end made the entire fucking series, both in the manga and the anime, UNWATCHABLE.

I hoped so hard that season four would never get adapted after season three came to its conclusion, and those hopes were dashed when MAPPA came into the picture.

I would NEVER watch any of MAPPA's shows, all because they went through and adapted this one single, evil episode, from the mind of the very bastard who wrote it into existence.

Like in the manga this horrific scene was drawn out and designed to twist the knife to the absolute maximum. Such an undeserving fate for such a beloved character, not allowed to go out with any kind of real dignity, just given the cheapest fucking death Isayama dared to throw at us, just because we know for sure he was just that eager to rid us of Sasha, and to punish us for daring to connect to her. The blood on her mouth as she was bleeding out, unable to speak and staring blankly as she slipped away.......I NEVER WOULD HAVE TOUCHED THIS ANIME IF IT MEANT SPARING MYSELF THAT ONE IMAGE. And it's that image that defines my whole experience with AOT. And what was it all for? For THIS.

Gabi MotherFUCKING Braun. A character who nobody liked even before this chapter and episode saw the light of day, a character who is NOT interesting, NOT likable or sympathetic in any sense, a character who is NOT essential to the story, and who actively brought it down not just by stealing Sasha's rightful place, but also by stealing focus away from not just her, but from nearly every other aspect of the story that suddenly had to make room for her incredibly forced and insincere "redemption arc". That's a load of crap, Gabi didn't earn her right to redemption any more than Reiner, Annie, or Eren himself did. The fact that Gabi suddenly because Isayama's primary obsession for 80% of the final season is the most crass and unacceptable display of favoritism on the part of any author. I have never had any reason to connect with Gabi or to take any sympathy upon her, and I will continue to vie for the scene where the little bitch gets her dues. Because she did NOT earn her right to live, let alone exist in this story. And I will continue to demand an explanation for Sasha's missing armor plate. We know what the game is there........I want to hear it from the man himself for pulling such a transparent stunt. Long story short, go fuck yourselves, the staff and animators of Studio MAPPA. You are all dead to me.

And that goes tenfold for Hajime Isayama. I hope one day I'll be the guy to bear upon you all of the anger and stress I have felt because of you since the day you unleashed Chapter 105 and in doing so, stole something very precious from us. You should have left well enough alone.

And with that, something I've been wanting to share for a long time......

Courtesy of a good friend of mine. You Gabi apologists out there, you will never believe who I have to thank for giving me this fitting tribute ......

I can only hope one day, our beloved Potato Girl will finally get the justice she deserves, and restored to us as she ought to be.

There is no Attack on Titan without Sasha. 🥔 ⚔️ 🥔

(I realize this intended post is a little late.......but if you've spent enough time here, you know I'm not one to keep things brief when it comes to our Best Girl.)

[frost-felon]

Thunderclap, Part 2 got me in a grip, for better and worse. Remembered to use a Read More this time.

So, my issues with the character animation on Sukuna? Part 2 delivered¹, though almost in the other extreme, lmao. He's such a prick, and Yuji paid the price via a simplistic frame during one of his most defining character moments. I did actually like much of how they adapted Yuji's breakdown and decision to soldier on, though it felt comparatively rushed to the manga, even accounting for the differences of animation versus the art of manga. EDIT: Having re-read that chapter, they definitely fucked over Yuji. His breakdown is given significantly more pause and elaboration on what he's actually thinking of ("I wonder why I have to be executed." juxtaposed with the answer: Yuji's life isn't worth more than the suffering Sukuna causes, even to Yuji himself.) in the manga, whereas the anime portrays it as if ALL OF THAT happened in like, two minutes in JJK time. Disappointing, as I really thought MAPPA would give that scene the weight it deserves. It's not nearly as much of a sucker-punch low in that episode, at least to me.

Uraume still got cucked, lmao, getting hit with the blur for half of their minimal screentime in this episode. Not as off-putting as last episode's, so I'm hoping to see more attention to Uraume later. EDIT: Having re-read that chapter, Uraume loses the depth-ambiguity in the manga scene.

Mahoraga fight was adapted extensively, which while hardly surprising, oozed a feeling of, "We gotta hype up Mahoraga for later." One thing I really liked was the additional civilian kills, for fleshing out the anime's depiction of Shibuya's liveliness (and then the wasteland it partially becomes); one thing I took issue with were the civilian kills via Sukuna's Domain. Unless my brightness wasn't up high enough, we didn't get to see Dismantle in a way that sticks/is informative and impactful, like how the manga handled it.

I liked how the abominable twink's death was handled. Haruta's characterization seemed notably different from the way he was portrayed in the manga, though. Rough for all eight of his fans.

I felt iffy on the explanations in this episode--some of the vital information seemed to be skipped, not just adapted visually (that is, shown with clever framing/animation-direction instead of narrated). This seemed to come at expense of showing off Sukuna's insight, though the bastard still made a good showing throughout his time in this arc.

Praying that Yuji gets great character-animation for the rest of these episodes. I doubt MAPPA will pass up the absolute state of this lad in the end-chapters of Shibuya Incident, but I need to see how he's handled before that. The way they handled him in this episode has weakened the doubt.

That one still of Yuji that they used twice reminded me of holding-shot issues in the Maki VS. Mai fight and I think part of the defensive against Hanabi in S1. It's just not a compelling enough frame to stay on for so long, especially compared to how the manga showed changes in Yuji's expressions in each panel. It definitely didn't deserve to be used twice, though the part showing his fingers rising to grip his head was nice. Actually groaned when they held on it again. I'm aware that budget/time-constraints likely played into why the scene was adapted this way.

Also, EVIL to use "SPECIALZ" there, though I guess that gives us a better idea of what the OP was meant to point to. I still see it as an overall summation of the "Everybody knows that shit's fucked!"vibe of Shibuya Incident. I can't remember what exactly I said when it cut to the ED, but that was a remarkably evil choice, too, to keep it fully-intact.

Also, heyyyyy, Nanami! You look...like you really need to see Ieri. Bet we're gonna have fun with him in the next episode.

¹Rereading the chapters had made me once again appreciate the differences in how manga Sukuna and anime Sukuna are depicted. I miss the bit where Sukuna gets surprise-decked, though the "oh shit" expression he had later in the anime was fun.

Bonus: Tags that didn't age well.

I don't have a whole lot of thoughts on Episode 16/Thunderclap, but man, the changes to how the scenes where Sukuna takes enjoyment in playing with the lives of the 'weak' and the reunion with Uraume suck the wind out of my sails. I have some problems with how MAPPA has adapted the Premature Burial -> Shibuya Incident chapters (Mechamaru/Kokichi, my guy, what did they do to you--), but I was really hoping to see the emotions present adapted in a way that was faithful to the intent of the panels, even if it wasn't the same. And it's like...the expressions were kept, but they were shadowed, zoomed-out, or both. That strikes me as such a loss, since Sukuna is shown to be outright giddy when he's wrecking shit in Yuji's body. Sure, he made fun of Yuji when the latter was made hopeless witness to Junpei's demise, but he hasn't shown emotions like this since Yuji tried to kick Sukuna's ass after calling Sukuna's bluff in Chapter 10/Episode...5 or 6, can't remember. Hell, you could probably argue that even then, he wasn't filled with as much glee. Mirth, perhaps, but this is different.

Sukuna genuinely seems to be elated at having control during Shibuya, even though he knows it will be short-lived. It's not hard to see why--he's Yuji's prisoner most of the time. Whether he admits it or not, he's bound to Yuji's whims, with his only levels of control being: he can refuse to give his power to Yuji, and he's got the Binding Vow that Yuji can't remember. That's it. Don't get me wrong, Sukuna holds a lot of power and control over Yuji, but Yuji ultimately decides if Sukuna gets to feel the breeze on any given day. And in most cases, understandably, he chooses to not give Sukuna that freedom.

So Sukuna getting some time to do whatever without Yuji's interference? You can bet that he's high on life.

And when Sukuna sees Uraume, he appears actually excited. Uraume is, likewise, rather pleased that Sukuna is around. They're doing this at each other in the manga:

Is it so wrong, MAPPA, to want to preserve what crumbs of characterization we can get for either of these two? I know that MAPPA probably won't fuck with a certain Uraume scene later, but damn, I miss the touches on character animation.

Anyways, Yuji will suffer regardless, as Gege intended.

[sixeyesgojo]

Team Gojo as flowers

Summary: Gojo, Yuji, Megumi, Nobara and Sukuna as types of flowers

Characters: stated above

Content warning: mild manga spoilers

Word count: -

A/N: I’d appreciate feedback here (and in general) because I’m not sure whether to do this kind of hc for other JJK characters or not. I am thinking of Toge in particular because I love my salmon boy. Also fyi, this was some time after 135 but before 140 for sure.

Gojo Satoru  - Nemophila

I just saw these and immediately thought about how good they would suit him???

another name for them would be baby blue eyes (no, I had no idea beforehand)

they symbolize prosperity, victory, success or triumph over an enemy

flashback to Gojo beating Jogo tf up... but add a nemophila field in the background <3

That being said, his profile literally states that he is perfect in every way (except for his personality but we still love that, right?), so if this isn't success in every way then idk

This flower's essence is also said to be helpful for those who put up a mask over their painful sensitivity

Gojo also displays characteristics of cynism and mistrust towards the higher-ups

Furthermore, I think he is a little anti-social - doesn't have a lot of friends. As someone from the secret Jujutsu World, he's bound to be hidden in a way. This is enforced by the fact that he is the strongest, so a lot of people and curses are out to get his head. I'd think he doesn't keep anyone too close to him so that they do not become a target for anyone. Must be traumatizing to be him.

This flower helps soothen the soul's conflict, healing it slowly, which is exactly what Gojo needs imo

it really is the perfect flower for him

but it's native to North America

Yeah, watch him teleport there to bring back a bouquet of them for his s/o

Itadori Yuji - Protea (orange)

This kind of flower comes in many different shapes, which is why it's a symbol of transformation, which is exactly what Yuji embodies by going from a regular human being to being a Jujutsu sorcerer

Diversity: Yuji is open to anything, Gojo even described him as "having a few screws loose up there". I don't even think he questions how he is being taught by Gojo or anything for that matter?

Yuji also embodies courage and is known to be daring and i don't think i need to explain this one further

I mean, the boy literally jumped right into a curse to rescue Sasaki and Iguchi and help Megumi while not even knowing what a curse is

Orange proteas represent cheerfulness, joy and happiness - if that isn't our sunshine boy, then idk. After what happened to Junpei, he seemed a little down at first but recent episodes have shown that he will not slow down because of that and will keep on being the energetic fluffball of joy that he is.

moreover, they also symbolize unlimited possibilities as his cursed technique so far probably isn't even his final technique yet - compared to Nobara's hammer and Megumi's shikigami. All we know is that Sukuna's techniques are going to be his over time but we don't even know the full extent of the said curse's power yet

If anyone ever mentioned all this to him and showed him the flower, he would think it looks weird at first but will grow to find it interesting (especially the shape). It's not like the flower is native to Japan, so he most likely wouldn't have seen it anywhere.

Gets really excited if you were to give this baby one of these flowers

Fushiguro Megumi - Anemone (purple)

hear me out

The most common symbol for the purple Anemone is 'protection against evil'. While it's Megumi's primary focus in his line of work as a professional, you ought to know he became a sorcerer in the first place because of his sister, Tsukimi.

Fragility: While Megumi shows a lot of potential for growth, it's also said that he will most likely stagnate due to the mental aspect. He's pretty insecure about his own abilities and doesn't think much of himself but that doesn't mean he won't use his powers in order to protect someone.

Anticipation: As previously stated, Megumi shows a lot of potential as a sorcerer, even to the point that Sukuna (mind you, the creature that only cares about himself) has praised him and will not hesitate to make Megumi a pawn to whatever his big, mysterious plans may be. With that being said, if Sukuna himself is interested in our blue-haired boy, we can anticipate great things from Megumi in the foreseeable future.

This specific flower seems to be a double-edged sword in terms of symbolism. In some cultural circles, it is believed to be a symbol of bad luck, whereas in other areas it's seen as a lucky charm (in which we hope this is the one for our boy). I see the same principle applying to Megumi's descent and his mysterious technique - not gonna elaborate further though (feel free to ask though)

a rather dark symbol for this particular flower: "death of a loved one". In this case, I am referring to Tsukimi, his step-sister. She may not be dead but it is indicated that she is in a comatose state due to being cursed. It seems that Megumi does not know when - or rather whether - she will wake up or not. Knowing this boy, he probably has tried anything and everything in his power to wake her up (hell, he probably even consulted Gojo) but nothing worked so far. This poor boy is anxious about it all the time.

he's surprised anyone would even associate him with flowers but wouldn't mind it

Kugisaki Nobara - Orchid (mainly orange)

I had some trouble finding something for her but orchids seem to suit her best

couldn't really pick a particular color though but I am leaning towards orange

orange orchids represent: pride, enthusiasm and boldness

Nobara is very proud of who she is. She strikes me as a person who is not afraid to tell her story, even though she despices the countryside where she is from. She also takes pride in staying true to herself all the time, to the point of admitting that she only enrolled in Jujutsu High so that she could move to Tokyo to Yuji, who was basically a stranger at that time

She is also very enthusiastic about her own future. She knows she won't ever like having to exorcise curses but somehow, being a Jujutsu sorcerer excites her.

plus points for her being enthusiastic about winning in the Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc and just beating up the Kyoto students

I don't need to mention her being enthusiastic about shopping and sightseeing in big cities, do I?

Bold? Oh, she is bold. She has no filter when it comes to speaking her mind and would never hesitate to put anyone in their place. I see her going places in Gojo's revolution... and cussing at the superiors.

Yellow symbolizes new beginnings and friendships. Nobara does not have any problems making new friends, she adapts fairly well in new environments. There's also the way she mourned for Yuji, despite "only knowing him for two weeks" and I don't even doubt for a second that it was her making him hold the black funeral picture frame when he came back lol

Pink: grace, femininity, joy + purple: royalty and admiration

There is no doubt that Nobara tries to enjoy her life to the fullest *cough* moving to Tokyo

Moreover, there is something about her that just screams "queen behavior" to me and I don't even mean that in the slang sense. Have you all seen how graceful this girl moves? (I would like to thank MAPPA at this point)

Nobara shows respect where it's due - I'm just gonna mention Maki here - but is a very admirable girl herself

probably has an orchid plant in her room, ngl

Ryomen Sukuna - Snapdragon

please, the name already sounds a little dangerous

This flower shares a certain character trait with him: being unique

Snapdragons are usually associated with strength due to the way they even grow in rocky areas and if that's not screaming Sukuna's name, who is all about strength, then correct me

Deviousness is practically Sukuna's second name, so this symbol isn't exactly off the track either. Let me remind you about the way Sukuna and Mahito laughed at Yuji??

Graciousness: just like Nobara, he possesses some sort of grace that makes me percept him as a majestic being

but maybe that's just his throne of bones and title as King of Curses contributing

and him owning a shrine???

or maybe that is just the way he majestetically killed that special grade lol

"Only large insects like bumblebees can pollinate snapdragons because the petals are too heavy for smaller insects to push apart." I read this and if you reverse it a little, it somehow reminded me of the fact that Sukuna's fingers need to have a powerful vessel aka small fry won't do because they will simply die away.

Deception: despite being given the minimum amount of information about Sukuna in general, I just don't see him being anything but egoistic and evil. I just cannot picture it. So yeah, put everything evil in a pot, stir a little and don't be surprised if your result is not the Powerpuff girls but a four-eyed multi-talented and deceptive curse that is out to kill you for fun

[thecrazyanimegirl]

Winter anime 2020

And it’s time for another one of these lists. They kinda keep growing in number and it’s scary, but here it is! This season there were some continuation and some anime that got new seasons (ahiru no sora, chihayafuru, isekai quartet,  kaibukichou sherlock, iruma-kun, radiant, nnt) but here are the new anime we started ^^

{ Winter ‘18 }  { Spring ‘18 }  { Summer ‘18 }  { Fall ‘18 }  { Winter ‘19 } { Spring ‘19 }  { Summer ‘19 }  { Fall ‘19 }

BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.

This is a typical isekai with a game-like action and plot. It doesn’t have any deeper meaning, but okay for relaxing. Basically, if you want to take your brain out for a walk - watch this!

Darwin’s game

The manga is better. It always is, but here especially so. It has a really good concept - a battle to the death game in real life, but not as good execution with the anime adaptation, they skipped some of the really important parts. Don’t let that discourage you tho! It has a good character development and nice action scenes, which makes it quite good! And move on to the manga later ^^

Dorohedoro

A very interesting anime! Weird, but good! Not surprising tho, it’s mappa. The world in which the story is placed is, although very dark, refreshing and unusually good. The characters are unique, lovable, but weird... like really weird. The animation is a bit different, but it has it’s charm. Also, it has it’s fair share of blood and gruesome scenes, so skip it if you don’t like that. We loved it though! One of the favorites ^^

Hands off the motion pictures club! 

Soft. Just goddamn soft. The animation is a bit different and simplistic, but it fits the characters so well. This slice of life pulls you into the imaginative and colorful world of three high school girls who share the love for animation, and the viewer follows their process of getting inspired for plots for their anime and working on creating it. There is not much action going on, but it always leaves you with a positive feeling after watching it.

ID:Invaded

Yes. Watch it please. Awesome detective/ mystery story. The idea of entering a criminal subconscious (aka the id) is a unique and it gives new possibilities for detectives to find clues. The plot is very intriguing and keeps you on your toes. Its confusing at the beginning, but the story connects better after a few episodes and it makes you want to watch more. The characters are intriguing and their conversations well paced. (also great voice actors and music *-*) It has some darker scenes, murder and suicide mention, just thought I should mention that, but it’s an extremely good anime, so would definitely recommend!

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die  

As you can see from the title, this is about a girl fangirling over her favorite idol and that’s it, that’s the plot. But, it’s somehow soft, nicely animated and the story is just enough for an episode a week. It shows both the idol and the fan side of the idol culture, especially the less famous groups. Overall, it’s not an anime that will knock you off your feet, but it’s a solid comedy with relatable characters ^^

Infinite Dendogram  

Generic entering-a-game anime. The point of the anime is that every persons possibilities are endless and everyone has the potential to develop into a strong person. Like we said, nothing new. It’s old, but cute concept. 

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun 

And we’re pretty sure most people already know about this one! It’s playful, colorful, cute as heck, the main girl gets a bit annoying, but it’s hella good! The story balances comedy with a school setting and a darker side involving yokai and evil things that lurk in the shadows, making it interesting to watch. The animation is pleasant to the eyes and the characters are great, what’s more to want ^^

Kyokou Suiri

The plot of this anime is more focused on logical and critical thinking rather than on action, though it may seem otherwise from the synopsis. The relationships between the main characters are kind of weird, but in a good way and their interactions are always interesting. We were pleasantly surprised to see the main female character to have a crush on a guy and still maintain her IQ level. Overall, it’s a good anime, it has good voice actors (Mamo-chan <3), but don’t expect to be kept on the edge of your seat.

Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Gaiden  

If you watched Madoka, I’m sure you’ve heard about this release. We were happy that they kept the same dementia animation style, especially of witches. It kinda has a more positive vibe than the original but it still keeps some of the original darkness. There are a lot of new magical girls and more plot and action. It’s pretty good, but the original is better (we love them darkness).

Natsunagu! 

A very cute five minute anime about a girl searching for her friend who suddenly stopped answering her texts. The animation is cute and you have nothing to lose if you watch it.

Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga 

It’s about japanese warlords and historical figures, who are resurrected as dogs. Even though they’ve kept their personalities, they can’t say no to dogs drives (pet me hooman!). It’s cute, but not a lot of plot.

Pet

It has a very interesting idea of entering peoples subconscious and changing it, manipulating their memories in order to control them. But the executions of that idea is... meh, at best. The characters aren’t lovable or memorable, you don’t feel a connection to them. It’s one of those anime that at the end you say ‘It could have been so good’. But yeah, it wasn’t.

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It 

The title says it all. Comedy, slice of life (but not really, the sample is not representable). You really start rooting for the main couple and they are funny at proving their love. It’s also educational, it does mention and explain some principles. It’s quite funny ngl. 

Smile Down the Runway

A heartwarming anime about a guy who wants to be a designer and a girl who is too short, but still wants to be a model. It’s a story about perseverance, hard work and pushing towards your dreams. Positive and emotional, and you find yourself cheering for the main characters. Perfect if you want a slow paced anime that includes character development. 

Somali and the Forest Spirit 

It’s heartwarming, has very clear animation and great voices. The concept is really interesting, the accent is on understanding others different than you and showing love and support. Basically, lots of emotions, it doesn’t have action or a complicated plot, but as a soft story, it’s pretty good. 

The Case Files of Jewler Richard

This show is so filled with emotions and softness, it’s amazing! It’s mostly peoples stories - problems and difficulties they overcome on their own or with help of the people close to them, which also have some connection to a jewel. The plot focuses more on the main characters in the later episodes. But the art is very pleasing and the main characters have good chemistry. Of course, it’s not for those who don’t like a bit more of a slow paced story, mostly based on storytelling and human interactions. But it’s still good ^^

Watched but got to lazy to properly review: Ishuzoku Reviewers (sometimes you just have to admire that someone had the imagination to come up with some of the episodes), Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (not terrible, not that good either)

[ghostmaze]

I have seen so many complains about new AOT episode, especially about Mikasa and Levi. It's gotten really tiring.

You are free to be entitled to your own opinion all you want, but don't disrespect people who work their asses off to deliver the final season of Attack On Titan. Without them we wouldn't even see anything animated, so if you have all the space for bitterness, atleast free some space for a damn respect.

Literally main complain is Mikasa. I'm sorry, what do you expect her to arrive like? In a red lipstick, maybe cute waifu hairstyle and a puffy dress? I won't even start on her body. A body of a soldier and the one MAPPA did exactly right. Mikasa was always buff, we have seen her training to gain muscles in one scene, she grew up, matured, she is fighting for survival. She is not there to fill whatever expectations or fantasies you have. Don't like her design? Fine, but don't shit on how MAPPA ruined her. In my personal opinion, MAPPA did her justice. Enough of body shaming.

In terms of Levi? I have some complains myself, but they still did him equal justice. We can't expect perfection, nothing is perfect, neither is AOT. However, I give all my respect to how well they actually used CGI and some scenes left me in awe because they were amazing and cinematic. Levi looks a bit chubby, perhaps because he's geting old and it actually suits him. He is still awesome and nothing can change that. Some parts of animation looked odd, I noticed that myself, but I appreciate they used Rotoscope animation in some parts to make it look more realistic. One example is anime called Flowers of Evil, it doesn't suit everyone's taste but animation is unique and eerie, just what AOT needs.

Besides, I have seen some manga comparison and MAPPA is trying their best to fully animate them according to Isayama's artstyle. If you don't like Mikasa's design in anime, then don't claim you like it in manga and therefore bash the studio.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[rawr-mortgage]

Watch me praise the heck out of Jujutsu Kaisen despite starting only two nights ago and only being on EP 12 so far

Jokes aside, Jujutsu Kaisen is turning out to be one of the best anime series i've ever watched and quite possibly, one of the best animes of the coming decade???

Plot is actually interesting to theorize about and to see it play out. The main goal of our protagonist, Itadori, is to find and harvest all of Sukuna's fingers for him to consume and house the whole version of Sukuna's soul just for the Sorcerers to kill him once he finally does in order to vanquish and be rid of one of the most powerful cursed entities in existence. That's insane. That's a hella good main plot. Itadori's basically just a lamb being cared and fed for until he eventually has to be led to the slaughter. And he's aware of it and completely accepts it cuz being the only person in the world who's able to control Sukuna as his vessel, he thinks it would be selfish of him not to do it, to not willingly sacrifice himself and help other people remove this evil entity from the world at the expense of his own life.

Initially, he wanted to do good becuz he wanted to honor the fateful last words of his grandfather, who outright told him he's meant to help and save other people becuz he was gifted with outstanding physical capabilities and he should put it to good use. But then, he's told that if he's only engaging with the cursed spirit world becuz of his grandfather's wishes, he'll eventually start to resent his grandfather and blame him for all the pain he has to endure and the sacrifices he'll make being involved with dangerous and malevolent beings that'll stop at nothing to kill him in order to harbor Sukuna's powers for themselves, until he reaches the point where he's laying on his deathbed filled with regret and cursing his grandpapi to the depths of hell.

Having realized this, your boi makes his own resolve to dabble in the spirit world on his own terms and fight for defenseless people who are unaware of the inhuman dangers that lurk the earth becuz Itadori actually has a strong sense of justice and believes people get what they deserve, but no one is horrible enough to deserve suffering and death at the hands of cursed spirits.

I'm usually indifferent to shonen MCs cuz they typically follow the same format when it comes to their characterization. Your typical guy next door who's friendly, outgoing, kind of an airhead, gets flustered around girls, doesn't get much attention from the people around him, feels inferior and has a rivalry going on with the 2nd male lead, all smiles and sunshine and sickeningly nice, yada yada yada. All in all, just flat out BORING.

I'm running out of words so I'll stop here, I don't think I need to comment on the animation cuz no amount of praise or blubbering on my end can justify how beautiful and exquisite the animation is. Let's just say I now see why some AoT fans went on a rampage and claimed MAPPA was playing favorites with JJK cuz the animation on this series is sensational enough to make any other series jealous along with its fanbase (not that I'm saying the accusations were true and that I condone the hate that the studio was subjected to. like wtf, people who harass the folks that work their asses off to bring you god-level quality entertainment don't deserve anime).

Surprisingly enough, the sentiment doesn't ring true when it comes to Itadori. Even tho he shares a few generic character traits with other shonen MCs, I actually really like him and he isn't a bore to watch and follow around as the story progresses and I'm honestly just questioning what makes him different from all the other MCs and why can't every other shonen protagonist be likable and interesting enough to not turn me into a goat becuz they always make me go: meh.

I also really like the non-linear narrative JJK has going on. It actually has the potential to be quite off-putting since not a lot of animes do that sort of thing (at least I can't think of any at the top of my head), but they execute it well and do it in moderation to effectively steer it away from being too jarring. I think it's a great method for avoiding potential info dumps and filler episodes and other manga authors should deploy this technique more often cuz it's a great switch-up, storytelling-wise.

The narrative is also somewhat fast-paced, bordering on neck-break speed on some occasions, and I don't mind honestly. Don't you just hate it when the story goes full-on snail mode where every episode feels like a chore to finish and not at all like it has a 23 minute time constraint? Yea, completely throws enjoyability out the window. There hasn't been a dull moment yet in my experience, and how quickly everything plays out just encourages you to pay utmost attention and keep your eyes completely glued to the screen so to not miss any of the epicness happening before your eyes.

The soundtrack has no business being this fucking amazing. You might think I'm being nitpicky and actively looking out for things to criticize the animes that I watch on, but no, most times I don't even pay attention to all that or miss the quality of those elements entirely cuz it's too subtle of a detail for me to notice. But here, it just enhances the experience so much and compliments what's happening on-screen so well that it's hard not to take notice and feel so fucking appreciative of the awesome background music that gets you properly hyped while watching the fight scenes and lending the ambience for the milder and more emotional scenes.

Might make follow-up reviews in the future, who knows. Still haven't finished it like I said and I have a lot of thoughts on the other characters, if I feel like ranting about it, rest assured I definitely will lol.

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #354

Yuri!!! on ICE, DVD vol. 5, Hiramatsu Tadashi's interview

Part 4.

~In figure skating scenes, consistency was very effective~

(The critical moment) was episode 3. In September we were scheduled to have an event, where the first three episodes were to be aired. The episode 1 was almost finished, but with episode 2 and 3, we were not quite there yet. That was the first time, when everyone thought: will we really manage to create this anime till the end? And at that time still only two characters were skating. When we realized how many other characters were going to appear in the next episodes, everyone for a moment thought: "It's going to be impossible to accomplish, isn't it?". But we managed to make it through that and then episodes 4, 5 and 6, and finally, I thought that it should be alright. (From episode 5, we started to use CGI to make parts of the skating scenes) - if we didn't do that, then it would have been pretty tough. The idea to use CGI had been there from the very beginning, but the Director's will was to have everything drawn by hand as much as possible. The one person who pulled the team forward (by making the decision to use CGI) was Otsuka [Manabu, now MAPPA's CEO] producer, in the sense that he didn't give up.

Every time we very changing the skating scenes little by little, improving the parts that looked off and this consistent effort, in a sense, resulted in us having honed up our skills. Especially, this movement, when Yuuri moves his head to face the camera in the beginning of his SP - matching his personal growth, his expression in that moment is different each time. His performance is the same, but the circumstances are different, or his relationship with Victor changed - so he makes the same movement, but it looks different. This is what makes visual media so interesting.

[Notes: Some people in the Eng fandom seem to think that Otsuka CEO is the source of all evil that feeds his animators instant ramen (I assume the cheapest possible, obviously, because there as some kinds that I as a student can't afford to buy without thinking twice... 😔) and pocky crumbs, but well, as you can see, from an animator's perceptive, he was the person that saved YoI staff from death by overworking by Sayochin's hands...

Of course, random people on the internet know better what kind of terrible homophobic monster he is😔

But seriously speaking, I think it should be common sense not to write bs on the internet about people you have never met...]

[madame-fouquet]

2020 Anime Retrospective

With the end of the year here, and all the anime that came with it now behind us, I feel like looking back and reminiscing on it. So, following the style of ANN's own yearly retrospectives, may I present my 2020 anime in review! Enjoy.

Best of the year: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken

    This is actually not the first time Yuasa and his crew of, let's be honest, visionaries have rolled something special out right at the beginning of the year in some weird power move against everything else that has to follow it. They did it back in 2018 with Devilman Crybaby, and then they hit us this year with Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken.     You ever have one of those shows where you're just constantly in awe of everything it does? Where you never found yourself chasing merch or hunting after content based off it online, but you consistently find yourself thinking about it? Yeah, that's what Eizouken did to my brain after I watched it. It was such an earnest love letter to anime and anime production, to animation in general, that I couldn't help but get sucked into its imagination and enthusiasm. The way it was able to so perfectly illustrate that pure, boundless, childlike joy that one can derive from the simple act of creating, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it had a powerful effect on my own desire to continue creating. (Corny as that sounds, it's true.) The sheer amount of love it contains, and the equal amount it puts out into the world make it so I know I am going to be thinking about it again and again for a long long time.

Runner-up: Akudama Drive

    I don't know if it's really quite a matter of my two favorites being opposites, but there are definitely some pretty sharp stylistic and tonal differences between my two top shows this year. Akudama Drive's cocaine-fueled bender of an intro episode made it very clear what it's intentions were and what it wanted us to be prepared for. That doesn't mean I had ANY idea of where it was headed narratively, but I did know I was in for one hell of a ride. And it delivered is spades on that promise.     The twists and turns, no matter how insane, illogical, or steeped in tropes they were, were all such a colorful energetic spectacle that it would be hard to hold anything against the series. Every character was such a force that I didn't really consider any of them a weak point. Yeah, some of them were more or less cardboard cut-outs of antagonistic elements, but when the cardboard cutout looks REALLY FREAKING COOL, it's hard to get too torn up over the details. It's a show that oozes style and knew EXACTLY what it wanted to do and be, and I have to respect that.

Runner-up-up: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

    The next few entries aren't really in any sort of order, I actually found it near impossible to sort anything below my top two. Hanako-kun however does hold a bit of a special place for me though because, at least from a stylistic standpoint, it hits so many of my buttons. Just visually this show is the exact kind of thing my younger self would have latched onto immediately, even before knowing anything about the actual content. I suppose not much has really changed though.     I'm absolutely in love with the animation style of Hanako-kun, and I got really lucky that there is an interesting story and delightful cast of characters underneath that visual splendor. Along with the sharp lines, intense colors, and soft characters, I'm also a sucker for contemporary supernatural mysteries. That's a fancy way of saying one of my favorite shows as a kid was The X-files, but both make the point pretty well. The world of Hanako-kun has a lot to offer, and I can only hope it gets a second season so we can continue to delve into it's beautiful and terrifying mysteries.

Runner-up-up: Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2

    I know a lot of people will be talking about this one when it comes to “Best of” lists. I know a lot of people were talking about the first season when it reminded us just how funny anime can be back in 2018. Absurd high school comedies (Is that a genre?) could definitely be considered my favorite. Hell, of my top five favorite anime of all time, THREE of them fall under that category. So believe me when I say Kaguya-sama absolutely deserves the deluge of praise it receives. For what describing something as “laugh out loud” is worth, this show had me constantly needing to pause it just so I could finish laughing at whatever ludicrously funny misfortune had just befallen it's cast of lovable morons.     The thing is though, Kaguya-sama understands that you can't just earn love and goodwill on laughs alone, there needs to be a beating heart at the center of all the shenanigans. And when this season had me actually cheering on and feeling sorry for Ishigami of all people, I knew that beating heart was present and accounted for. Look, the cast are all self-centered idiots, but I'll be damned if they aren't also my dear children who I delight in watching slowly grow and become slightly less self-centered idiots.

Runner-up-up: Dorohedoro

    When the Dorohedoro anime was first announced, a lot of my experience was watching a group of people online scream about how they were so pumped that it was finally getting an anime. I had never heard of it before, but the excitement was very real and tangible. And I gotta say, sometimes you need to believe the hype.     I've never been one to shirk a series just because it was CG animation, (Watch ID-0 dammit!) but Dorohedoro makes a strong case for why people shouldn't sleep on something based solely on it's animation. The dirty, grease-encrusted world of Hole is brought to life with plenty of flair and style that, I feel, the CG didn't hold back at all. What I had seen said was that for a long time Dorohedoro was kinda considered “unanimateable” but I think MAPPA did the iconic manga a fair amount of justice. Even if pulpy ultra-violence isn't normally your thing, I still highly recommend giving Dorohedoro a look, it might just end up being a hole worth going down.

Honorable Mention: Show By Rock!! Mashumairesh!!

    I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. The first Show By Rock!! was definitely an indulgence for me. While not something I considered a high level series by any stretch: messy plotting, shallow characters, a weird isekai angle, a lackluster finale, and an even MORE lackluster second season, it still got is hooks into me with its sheer energy and fluffy charm. So despite the, as mentioned, rough second season, I was more than happy to check out the new series in the franchise. And boy was I glad I did.     Mashumairesh!! takes all the heart and sweetness that worked for the first series and dials it up. It then took a hard look at a lot of what DIDN'T work in the first series, and manages to fix most of the issues. Removing the isekai angle and the whole existential threat thing, and just letting the series be a “slice-of-life but in an electric animal filled music world” did wonders for the direction and consistency. Add to that more properly fleshed out characters, and you get a series that is far stronger than it's progenitor.     The next series, Show By Rock!! Stars!!, will be adding back the cast from the first series, and that could very well be a sign that it will be falling back into its old habits, but the presence of the Mahumairesh!! girls gives me hope that it might have a chance of staying the new, far better course.

Worst of the Year: Digimon Adventure:

    This one really hurts to say. What hurt more was how quickly I knew what show I'd be electing for this position. One thing to clarify is that I would not nominate a series that I'd only watched one or two episodes of, that's just not fair. So the award was bound to go to something I had at least dedicated a decent amount of my time too. And in any other year this may have gone to something that was more my “least favorite” or had an ending that disappointed me. But unfortunately I have to be honest and sit here and tell you that the newest entry in the Digimon franchise was easily the worst thing I watched this year.      I have been a long time Digimon fan. Ever since I was but a wee lass watching the original Digimon Adventure premiere on Fox Kids at a family reunion, I have always considered the franchise a sort of cornerstone of my anime fandom. So please understand the excitement I had felt when I found out they were doing a full on remake of that flagship series. Imagine how absolutely pumped I was when the bombastic movie-like premiere of Digimon Adventure: wowed us with everything it delivered, and all the promises of what was to come. And then imagine my disappointment, my despair as the show devolved until it showed us what it really was during the finale of the Fake Tokyo arc.     I would call it a production meltdown, but considering the precedent that got set back in episode 10 during the already shaky Ultimate Evolution arc, has been so clearly informing everything up to the current episodes in the early 30s, I have to be honest with myself and admit: this is what we were going to get all along from day one.     All of the heart that had made the original series so endearing, despite its own flaws, just isn't present here. What you get here is just a non-stop (and I mean non-stop) string of barely related fights with poorly-defined stakes, or sometimes no real stakes at all. It's just one ugly set piece fight after another as the children chase after vaguely implied evils. I think the most damning thing is how much more I could say about just how much this series has let me down. Like I said, this one hurts.

Best Theme-Song of the Year: Night Running (BNA)

     My opinion of BNA as a series is complex. But my opinion of its ED, Night Running, is simple: Its a god-damned bop! I could spend this whole section talking about the artistry of the ED animation itself, its fun and creative use of color, the slight variations for certain episodes, the focus on character, or the fact that it was done by an American animation team. I could even talk about the song's importance to the series as a whole and its place in the narrative. I won't though. The fact of the matter is that even without all that, I STILL probably would've picked Night Running as my best of the year because as a song it is just that much my jam. This is the kind of shit I could listen to on repeat for hours, days, weeks, and still keep coming back to it. Don't get me wrong, Ready To is a damn powerful and catchy tune that goes hard, but at the end of the day, I'm a sucker for a soulful pop tune like Night Running. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWTFfEnMCCc

Best Character: Sayaka Kanamori

    This was actually probably the hardest category for me to decide on. It was stuck hard between Eizoken's Kanamori and Akudama Drive's Doctor. I know those are a powerfully different pair in basically every way, but it was specifically for their startling differences that both characters stuck out to me so much. In the end though, it was the poignant rounding out of, and emotional hooks of Kanamori's character that let her triumph over her delightfully two-dimensional opposition.     Kanamori already had me from episode one. In a show that I wasn't really worried about the usual diversions of anime ingestion like picking a favorite character, Kanamori sealed herself as “Best-girl” from the word go. I have mad respect for a girl who knows what she wants, and has a clear idea of how she's going to go about getting it (See also: Doctor.) But Kanamori was more than a driving desire for success and money. Underneath her unstoppable ambition there was a very real, very relatable driving impetus. She stood apart, and yet still believably vulnerable and invested in the people she associated with. It was always a blast watching her suffer as the only thing keeping the more creative minds on track, and yet she was never reduced to a simple task master; her love and respect for her friends was always clearly visible. I could go on and on about how Kanamori is a nearly perfect character, but I hope I've said enough already without having to resort to senseless rambling.

Best Moment: Howan confesses her feeling to Himeko (Show By Rock!! Mashumairesh!!)

    By the time episode six rolled around, Mashumairesh!! had already shown marked improvements over its progenitor in basically every area. Not only was the story in a better place by focusing on what had worked in the original series, (Ya know the BAND part of this show about bands) but the cast was also doing a good job of standing out from their seniors and feeling more equally rounded out. Where the original series had just kinda been the Cyan show with guest stars, I felt like I had an actual grip on all four of the main girls now.     There were however the usual issues that come with a cute-girls-doing-cute-things series, chief among them the “ambiguously gay member of the group who constantly reacts with clear romantic interest towards the main protagonist but the writing will never actually do anything with those feelings” trope. Retoree had spent the better part of the first two seasons fawning over Cyan only for nothing to come of it and, despite the increased focus on all of the girls this time around, it looked like we were going to get the same old song and dance with Himeko's feelings towards Howan.     But then the climax of episode six hit and, midst a really intense subplot about Himeko's abandonment complex, Howan comes out with a straight up love confession. And I kept waiting for the usual dead-ends these moments always seem to have. The “I love you! I love the girls too! I love the band!” Or a “I love being with you.” and the dreaded, “I love having you as my most precious friend.” But none of that happened. It was a full on heart-felt, “I love you, Himeko. I want to stay with you forever!” I'm just not used to getting that sort of straightforwardness from my silly little band shows, so I was shocked, but also completely overjoyed. And frankly the series just kept getting better from there.     The evolution of their relationship built off that moment, no dreaded resetting of the status quo. I daresay it was on the power of this moment alone that I wanted to include this series in my top five at all. If there was anything I would want other anime to take from Mashumairesh!! it's that it's okay to introduce radical changes to character relationships partway through a season, and it's okay to let characters unequivocally state their feelings for each other. People will respond positively to that earnestness, I promise.

[thehornedguy]

So, I've been recently watching Netflix's newest anime show Yasuke, a historical epic based on A character of a same name, who was the only black skinned samurai according the history.

Yasuke, who was once a slave, became a servant of Oda Nobunaga, and became a samurai serving him till he Oda commited seppuku. And rest is unknown what happened to Yasuke.

I'm a huge fan what to an anime, especially those that focus on feudal samuria stuff. So when I heard that Netflix was going to work with Studio MAPPA, that MAPPA who's now in charge of final season Of Attack On Titan, and newest hit, Jujutsu Kaisen, honestly I was excited to see how their newest anime show works, and I can tell you that...

IT DOESN'T WORK.

The biggest problem I had with this show was that it takes place AFTER the Yasuke was serving Oda Nobunaga, and all that was shown as a backlashes and they were much more interesting to watch than, seeing Yasuke fighting against some giant mechs, super humans and evil spirits, which was the second problem with this show, adding things like mechs in a show like this felt very unnecessary, but hey, I'm fan of mechs and evil spirits in anime, like in Jujutsu Kaisen, that has evil spirits known as curses, it works in that show, but this, it doesn't, they are so misplaced. I would've prefered that show would've stayed realistic like other historical anime show, Vinland Saga was.

Other thing that bothered me was the characters themselfs, they didn't even feel like they were given any personalities, take a main lead, Yasuke as an example, we meet him as this lonely old boatsman, who was once a samurai, who also served under one of the famous leaders in Japans history. But, we never get to see Yasuke's life before he became a slave, it's hard to get related to him, to feel that you want to see him win every time. Anime shows like Attack On Titan for example show us from the beginning our main character Eren, and how he became to hate and fight the Titans, we get to fitness his growth and progression and his relation to other characters, like Levi. That how we came to relate to him. Yasuke doesn't feel like a character who you can relate to.

And the fact that show has like only 6 episodes just feels too short, Castlevania first "season" had only 4 episodes, but they managed to deliver story that was interesting and had great characters and writing. And animation that was good, and it wasn't even made in Japan.

But hey, atleast fight scenes are well animated, even if there's some cg elements used to.

At the end, Yasuke isn't great, but not bad either, but weak character writing and poor, misplaced story disappointed me. But over the top fight scenes kept me wake and excited.

Well, now to wait Castlevania season 4.

[poetprolific]

Netflix's Yasuke: A Review by a Nobody

The music, art style and animation in Mappa's Yasuke is so... top knotch. Like, wow. This is really nice.

But it didn't... feel like an anime? Felt like a rushed videogame adaptation. First three episodes we see flashbacks that makes our main character tangible — understandable and sympathized with. But then it just... huh? What? Sorry?

Compare this to other anime with Black MC's, like Afro Samurai, for instance, this just falls flat. In that anime, you know you're watching a show that is not of this world.

But Yasuke is, which gives an advantage to story telling because we are already familiar with our world and its history. But we don't know Yasuke's history. We just know that he was a samurai who was black. They could've done something with that, instead of... this. Mechs and reanimated corpses and Daimyos that are demons and a magic system that doesn't make sense.

Also, why the fuck are Daimyo demons?? Huh??! Nobunaga was a Daimyo! Daimyo is just a fancy term for warlord! Is the show trying to say that war is hell, and that the Daimyo are inherently evil?? Someone, explain!

Everything else felt rushed and fake. What about Saki's back story? Why did the mercenaries switch sides so adamently? Mitsuhide (historically) got DEMOLISHED by Hideoyoshi after he betrayed Nobunaga, why is it like this?

Speaking of Nobunaga's main squad, where the hell is Hideoyoshi? Ieyasu? The two people who finished uniting Japan??!

How did the Mongolian Empire get their hands on... mechs? Why on Earth are there samurai if you can just... hop in a mech? That kinda fucks up the whole Mongolian Invasion thing, imo. Like, the reason why it failed was because of the Kamekaze winds that decimated the invaders' fleet when they were trying to reach the mainland. They got mechs though, so they could've just... *motions self getting into a mech and making blast off noises to Japan*... y'know??

The trailers didn't give me any inclination that there were gonna be mechs. But it also didn't tell me that we were gonna get BOMBASS MUSIC. "African Samurai" by Flying Lotus and Denzel Curry is fucking CATCHY. "Using What You Got" is just so... OOMPH.

I love animes that give me an awesome soundtrack. Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Attack on Titan, etc.

Anyway, that's my take on this. In the end, I liked it. Couldve been better and longer, but this was good.

I like that Black people are getting representation in media more now— that, imo, is the biggest win in this show.

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 66 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 102 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

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RATE THE EPISODE 96 Responses

“Assault” got fantastic reviews from anime watchers, with the majority (93.8%) ranked the episode a 4 or a 5. No one seemed to have negative feelings about the episode this week. 

can't wait for the next

epic

amazing 

BEST

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING ACTION MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 96 Responses

The most favored action moment among anime watchers, at 29.2%, was seeing Eren using Porco’s titan as a nutcracker to defeat Lady Tybur. Following closely behind, at 27.1%, people most enjoyed Armin’s reintroduction as he blew up the harbor with his Colossal atomic blast. 24% most enjoyed seeing Mikasa fillet Porco’s legs, and a small 9.4% felt the most hype when Sasha and Jean helped take the Cart Titan and the Panzer Unit out of the fight. 

armin supremacy

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS MADE YOU FEEL THE MOST EMOTIONAL? 95 Responses

In contrast to the action were the scenes that made us feel some emotions. 25.3% were most emotionally affected at Mikasa’s sorrow watching Eren doing something cruel to another human being. 26.8% felt the most for Armin in this episode as he looks down on the horrific aftermath of his explosion. 12.6% empathized most with Reiner as he made himself wake up despite still wishing to die. The remaining scenes that got people choked up, in order: Finally getting to see Hange again, Porco’s pleas as he’s forced to kill Lara Tybur, Gabi and Falco yelling out for Reiner to save Porco and help them, and Falco pleading with Jean not to kill Pieck. 

Hange <3

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW EERIE DID YOU FIND THIS IMAGE OF THE WAR HAMMER TITAN? 94 Responses

MAPPA drew an eerie shot of the War Hammer Titan near the beginning of the episode as she takes her final blow against Eren. Overall, people seemed to be neutral about the image, though more people found it to be closer to the stuff of nightmares than those who did not.

REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT GABI’S CHARACTER, HER SEIYUU TRULY WENT ALL IN ON HER SCREAMS FOR REINER. ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW BONE CHILLING WAS HER PERFORMANCE? 93 Responses

The majority of anime viewers were taken aback by Gabi’s seiyuu’s performance, with 64.5% ranking it a 4 or 5. A smaller amount (14%) were less impressed by the acting and found the screams more annoying instead. 21.5% were more or less neutral. 

Gaby's scream were... So desperate, so real.... I was chilled to the bones.

SOME FANDOM SPACES SEEM TO BE MORE POSITIVELY RECEPTIVE ABOUT THE CGI IN THIS EPISODE. WHERE DO YOU FALL ON THE SPECTRUM? 94 Responses

Overall, the reception to the CGI this episode has vastly improved over last week. 82% total felt that MAPPA’s use of CGI was a big improvement and that they continue to get better at it. Only 5 people felt more continued disappointment this week.

EREN MENTIONS THAT LARA TYBUR IS CRYSTALLIZED LIKE ANNIE, AND THAT HIS TEETH ARE USELESS AGAINST THAT. DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE SURVEY CORPS HAS TRIED TO HAVE ANNIE EATEN? 93 Responses

In general, respondents didn’t want to make a call either way about whether the Survey Corps has tried to have Annie eaten or not, with 40.9% voting a simple “maybe.” 34.4% believe that Eren’s words insinuated that he has experienced an attempt to eat a crystallized shifter before, while 24.7% feel certain that Annie has been left untouched all this time.

WE SEE EREN TRANSFORM FOR THE THIRD TIME IN A SHORT PERIOD IN THIS EPISODE, A STARK CONTRAST TO THE BEGINNING OF SEASON 3 WHEN HE COULDN’T DO SO WITHOUT HIS TITAN SEVERELY DEPLETING IN STRENGTH. WITH THIS, ALONG WITH HIS ABILITY TO REGENERATE QUICKLY BY HIS OWN WILL, HOW IMPRESSED ARE YOU WITH HIS MUCH IMPROVED ABILITY TO HANDLE HIS TITAN POWER? 92 Responses

Eren has improved vastly in terms of controlling his titan power since the earlier seasons of the anime. 73.9% altogether felt very impressed with his improvement, while 18.5% didn’t think it was any big deal at all.

Eren is such a badass. I am totally proud of him.

ZEKE CRYPTICALLY DECLARED THAT EREN IS “NOT HIS ENEMY.” WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS MEANS? 90 Responses

We haven’t had a lot of insight into Zeke’s thoughts and feelings much this season, so hearing him declare Eren as not being his enemy may have taken some by surprise, though he quickly follows this statement up by stating Levi comes first. 34.4% of viewers believe that this was a heartfelt statement and that it has something to do with Zeke telling Eren back in Shiganshina that he was going to save him. 22.2% believe it was a dismissive statement and that Zeke didn’t see Eren as a threat so much as he wanted to deal with getting Levi out of the picture first. 15.6% took this as a signal that Zeke’s loyalties may not be with Marley at all. The remaining respondents have already been spoiled about future plot developments.

WE FINALLY GET TO SEE ARMIN - AND HIS COLOSSAL TITAN! WHICH COLOSSAL TITAN DESIGN DO YOU PREFER? 96 Responses

This episode marks the first time we get to see Armin’s Colossal Titan form, so we asked which design fans prefer between Armin and Bertolt. It came close, though the slight majority think that Armin’s Colossal design is just a bit better than Bertolt’s classic mascot design.

ARMIN ASKS, “ARE THESE THE SIGHTS THAT YOU SAW, BERTOLT?” DO YOU THINK HE HAS SEEN SOME OF BERTOLT’S MEMORIES? 90 Responses

The majority (62.2%) believe Armin’s words prove that he has seen some of Bertolt’s memories over the last few years. 27.8% aren’t sure and simply voted “maybe.” A small 10% feel certain that Armin hasn’t seen any of Bertolt’s memories and can merely only speculate about the horrors Bertolt witnessed as the Colossal Titan.

LEVI TOOK DOWN ZEKE RATHER EASILY. IS ZEKE DEAD? 89 Responses

Just about everyone, aside from those who are already spoiled about future happenings, believe that Zeke went down way too easily for it to be true. 55.1% believe that he has gone completely unscathed from Levi’s attack one way or another. 10.1% believe that he’s at least injured, just not dead. A small handful don’t want to make a call either way and just a tiny sliver of the pie believes that Zeke may actually be dead for real. 

It is a plane

JEAN’S THUNDER SPEAR DOESN’T HIT FALCO AND PIECK. HE QUESTIONS HIMSELF ON WHETHER IT’S BECAUSE OF HIM OR BECAUSE OF THE STEAM PIECK EMITTED. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 89 Responses

We’ve seen Jean struggle to kill another person before, so it’s not surprising to see him struggle with it once again when said person is just a child begging for the carnage to stop. 65.2% of respondents feel that the reason the thunder spear missed was ultimately due to Jean’s hesitation and unwillingness to harm an innocent child. 22.5% believe he had steeled himself to kill Falco but was only thwarted by Pieck’s steam. Some feel unsure about what ultimately affected the outcome, though some write-ins think it’s a combination of both. 

I think it's a combination of both, I think that the steam and his reluctance to kill an innocent child is what caused him to completely miss.

I think both

both

Both?

WHO IS ONYANKOPON? 89 Responses

Hange and Armin were seen in the blimp with a new character named Onyankopon piloting it. But… where did he come from? 43.8% seem to believe that he is someone from another nation that has allied with the Survey Corps. 20.2% suspect that he is originally from Marley but has chosen to switch sides, and only 13.5% think that he’s a Paradis native we’ve never seen before. 

I have no idea!!!

Jesus himself

WHERE DID THE SURVEY CORPS GET THE BLIMP? 89 Responses

Just as much as the new character is a mystery, so is the acquisition of an entire blimp! 30.3% believe that the blimp is something borrowed from an ally nation. 22.5% believe that it is stolen from Marley itself. 15.7% aren’t sure what to speculate, and only 11.2% believe that Paradis managed to figure this one out themselves.

WE SEE EREN’S TITAN SWALLOW THE BLOOD FROM LARA TYBUR. WHAT DO YOU THINK, DID HE SUCCESSFULLY STEAL THE WAR HAMMER TITAN’S POWER? 89 Responses

Nearly half of respondents are confident that Eren succeeded in his task to take the War Hammer Titan from the enemy. 25.8% think he most likely did, but are feeling confused as it’s been previously stated titans only transfer their power via spinal fluid. A small handful suspect there’s a possibility that Porco managed to swallow the necessary component to take the War Hammer instead of letting Eren have it. 

Probably not, the titan that swallowed Eren whole in season 1 didn’t get his powers

%50 eren eat warhammer or %50 porco.

OVERALL, HOW DID IT MAKE YOU FEEL TO SEE EREN DOING SOMETHING SO COLD HEARTED? 90 Responses

Eren as a character has seemed a bit colder since the time skip, so we were curious about how people felt watching him assault Liberio and take out Lara Tybur the way he did. Reception of Eren’s actions is definitely a mixed bag. 27.8% are enjoying this new side of Eren, feeling he’s the “MF’ing GOAT.” 22.2% aren’t really sure how to feel about Eren’s actions yet and may need more context before making a final judgement. 20% just feel sad seeing Eren doing something so horrific, and 16.7% have lost any positive opinion they may have had about Eren at all. 

Love to see Eren being a savage<3

Being given his rationale for his actions makes him a much more compelling character and I appreciate his gray morals more

It made me hate him, the way it felt to watch the Colossal and Armored Titans in Season 1.

Such is life

I think his character development is going in an interesting direction and I'm excited to get a more clear picture of why he's doing this in future episodes

I mean he always seemed to have a steak of evil in him since before. Kid killed people remorselessly, even if it was to save a girl. It was surprising from an audience point of view, but with his character, maybe it shouldn't really be too surprsing.

FALCO MENTIONS THAT PIECK’S BODY CAN’T HEAL FAST ENOUGH. DO YOU THINK SHE’LL MAKE IT OUT OF THIS ALIVE? 89 Responses

Pieck did not have such a good time this episode… Explosive injuries all around. When it comes to her fate in the next episode, a plurality (46.1%) seems to believe she’ll make it out alive, in contrast to 9% who think she’ll perish. Just under a quarter (23.6%) can’t be certain and 21.3% note that they’ve been spoiled already.

WHEN REINER AWAKENS, HIS ARMORED TITAN APPEARS TO TAKE ON A DIFFERENT FORM. THOUGHTS? 93 Responses

Reiner’s so handsome :3 and so is his Titan form this episode. An interesting development! What could it mean? Just under 50% seem to believe it represents how broken his soul is, 19.4% are just like the writer of these text blurbs and think the Titan form is cute. A little over 17% think it’s simply a rather cool structure and finally, a small minority are just yearning for his old form to return.

lol weird combination of reiner and titan i.e. when titan dies he ded

I'm just wondering why it looks so different.

squidward

Handsome squidward lol (I honestly don't have feelings on it either way)

why does it look like that 😭

Meh

Maybe he's weakened? The armors in his arms were also malformed.

DO YOU THINK PORCO WILL DIE NEXT EPISODE? 90 Responses

Porco was not treated well by this episode… Sheesh. Will the next episode do better by him? Well, just under 29% think he won’t die, at least. An equal amount of people believe he will, in fact, perish and were also spoiled about his fate (23.3%). 24.4% simply aren’t sure. Such an even pie chart!

THE NARRATIVE HAS LAID OUT A CLEAR FOUNDATION TO ALLOW THE AUDIENCE TO EMPATHIZE WITH CHARACTERS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE SPECTRUM. WITH THE DEVELOPMENTS OF THIS ARC, WHICH SIDE OF THE CONFLICT DO YOU FIND YOURSELF EMPATHIZING WITH THE MOST AS A WHOLE? 90 Responses

Sympathy and Empathy for everyone! When it comes to solely empathizing with one half of the cast, the results are rather close! 22.2% find themselves solely (or rather largely) attached to the old Survey Corps, in contrast to 21.1% who happen to solely (or rather largely) be attached to the new-ish Warriors. On the other hand, when mentioning the more “differing” options, 48.9% of responses noted that they find themselves more attached to the SC, while still caring for the Warriors, in contrast to the 7.8% stating the opposite. 

I've grown to love the Warriors throughout this season but watching them get wrecked one by one like that was simply incredible...especially that dumbass Porco, he took the fattest L ever Idk how its possible but every episode gets better than the last one. Bless MAPPA!

Fuck the Warriors

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

It was Fire, finally Levi could take his revenge from zeke

Easily one of the best in the series. Mappa really found their feet with the CGI and it was clearly a mammoth task due to all the different titans and ODM scenes. Everything was so much cleaner this episode. I have not yet been majorly spoiled, so seeing Eren use Porco to kill Lara was literally so energizing, reminded of how I felt when I first watched SnK. Did everything go a little too smoothly for the Survey Corp? Yes. I want to believe our friends will win, but i have my doubts. Im excited to see how this battle will play out because I have know idea where it's heading.

Good god can Eren kill Gabi next she's freaking annoying xD

One of the Panzer Unit's members had  in his cart area thingy.

Gave me what I wanted 

I've never so afraid and sad while watching this series

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 91 Responses

Thank you again to everyone who participated!