#Tomo-chan Is a Girl! Episode 2

[natsu2501malo]

Remember how Tomo nicknamed Carol cotton candy on ep 2??

Well when Carol invited Misuzu to a shop to have cake, the name of the store was "Barbe à Papa" which means....

You guessed it!! It means cotton candy in french!!! What a coincidence right!?

(Although if you want to get technical, and translate it word for word the shop is called Daddy's Beard. Do with that what you will. XD)

[crehador]

this season’s astonishingly mediocre romcoms are making me realize shikimori was waaaaaay better than i originally gave it credit for

[animebw]

I’m gonna be honest, I thought going into Winter 2023 that this was gonna be a bit of a dump season. One of those seasons where anime just kinda sits around farting and we all wait patiently for the actual Good Shit to start coming out again while pretending to catch up on our backlogs.

That... has not been the case.

Bofuri Season 2: Seriously, how does this show get so many incredible action cuts?

Buddy Daddies: Look, it’s probably not gonna be gay, but Spy x Family meets Tiger and Bunny is something we all need in our lives, okay?

Campfire Cooking in Another World: Couldn’t even last a full episode of this one before my eyes glazed over. Dropped.

Endo and Kobayashi Live: Now this is pretty charming! Pity the animation’s such garbage, though.

Giant Beasts of Ars: It’s a damn good season for fantasy anime, y���all.

Handyman Saitou in Another World: Could actually end up a halfway decent isekai SOL if it stops being so goddamn terrible at structure.

High Card: This is exactly my brand of Anime Bullshit(tm) and I am so on board.

Ippon Again: An actually great female-led sports anime? With major A Place Further Than the Universe vibes? Do not sleep on this one, y’all.

Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Damn. Good. Season. For. Fantasy. Anime.

Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible: As far as Takagi-san knock-offs go, this one is pleasant enough.

The Magical Revolution of the Oh Fuck It These LN Titles are Impossible to Remember Just Call it “MagiRevo”: Buckle up, folks, we might just have another Actually Good Isekai on our hands.

Malevolent Spirits Mononogatari: It’s Noragami but shit. Dropped at 1 episode.

Nagatoro-san Season 2: Yeah, turns out I’m still not above the occasional well made trash.

Nier Automata: Genuine question, is this gonna be an acceptable substitute for the game or will I just be spoiling the experience for myself?

Onimai: I fucking hate the Mushoku Tensei studio so much and I hate myself even more for deciding to stick with this one.

Reborn to Master the Blade: This one might be soon for the chopping block, but I’m holding out hope that its story can overcome its middling production values. We’ll have to wait and see.

Revenger: GEN UROBUCHI’S BACK BABY YEEEEEEHAW

Sugar Apple Fairy Tale: Take notes, Every Isekai: this is how you explore slavery in a fantasy setting.

The Tale of Outcasts: Feels like a 13-year-old’sedgy  Ancient Magus Bride fanfiction. Honestly, though? I kind of really dig it.

Tomo-Chan is a Girl: LET. TOMBOYS. BE. TOMBOYS. WITHOUT. SHAMING. THEM. FOR. IT. Dropped at episode 2.

Tokyo Revengers Season 2: At this point, I’m just watching out of morbid curiosity of how bad the manga’s ending supposedly was.

Trails of Cold Steel: The Northern War: Easily the weakest fantasy anime of the lot. Giving it one more episode to impress me, otherwise it gets the drop.

Trigun Stampede: Y’all are buggin, the CG here is incredible.

Tsurune Season 2: Good god, the glow-up from season one is nuts. KyoAni just does not miss.

Vinland Saga Season 2: Okay, manga readers, let’s see if watching a bunch of sad men farm is as incredible as you say.

[turtlycute]

2024 Anime Watch List

February:

This post is part of my ongoing record for the new (to me) anime I watch in 2024. I'm excited to see what new shows and films I discover as this list grows through the year.

I once again did a romance themed anime watch for February. This anime watch list was a mix of some old favorites and some new to me watches.

* indicates shows that are rewatches

Tada Never Falls In Love* (2018) episodes: 13 started: 2-1-24 finished: 2-2-24 rating: 9/10

Diamond Daydreams (2004) episodes: 12 + OVA started: 2-3-24 finished 2-5-24 rating: 7/10

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions* (2012) episodes: 12 + OVA started: 2-5-24 finished: 2-7-24 rating: 9/10

Love Chunibyo and Other Delusions!: Heart Throb* (2014) episodes: 12 started: 2-7-24 finished: 2-8-24 rating: 8.5/10

Love Chunibyo and Other Delusions!: Take On Me* (2018) movie watched: 2-8-24 rating: 8/10

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth (2017) episodes: 13 started: 2-9-24 finished: 2-12-24 rating: 7/10

Ceres,Celestial Legend (2000) episodes: 24 started: 2-12-24 finished: 2-14-24 rating: 7/10

Horimiya: The Missing Pieces (2023) episodes: 13 started: 2-15-24 finished: 2-16-24 rating: 8.5/10

Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me To You* (2009) episodes: 25 started: 2-18-24 finished: 2-21-24 rating: 9/10

Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me To You* (2011) episodes: 13 started: 2-21-24 finished: 2-22-24 rating: 9/10

Tomo-chan Is a Girl* (2023) episodes: 13 started: 2-23-24 finished: 2-24-24 rating: 8.5/10

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts (2023) episodes: 24 started: 2-26-24 finished: 2-28-24 rating: 8/10

Sasaki and Miyano* (2022) episodes: 13 started: 2-28-24 finished: 2-29-24 rating: 9.5/10

Sasaki to Miyano: Graduation* (2023) movie watched: 2-29-24 rating: 10/10

Previous Months:

January Watch List

[himebushou]

Okay, I think this is happening -- I've been drawn in and I'm now rewatching The Prince of Tennis.

Thoughts on Episodes 2 through to 6 below.

Ep 2 - Samurai Junior

Inoue appears! This guy is so important for the audience as he explains so much tennis teminology to us (at Shiba's expense, whoops) but the fact that he works for a (presumably) well-known tennis magazine yet spends so much time covering the middle school scene is... odd. Like, he's there for the entirety of Seigaku's ranking tournament? What about the other Kanto schools?

HE TALKS ABOUT NANJIROU and says how Nanjirou 'might have even won the Grand Slam'. To my memory, Nanjiroh was one match away from becoming World No. 1 (is that possible without winning a slam?) but suddenly quit because, y'know. The boy.

Ryoma does this lil glower after the first time he meets Momo and it's so funny, lol

Ryoma's contrary nature is RIDICULOUS. Arai demands that the freshmen introduce themselves, which the Ichinen Trio do, but Ryoma? Just stands there. Like, CHILD. He asked for your name! these are not state secrets!

So of course, we have the whole thing with Arai trying to con the freshmen and Ryoma gets pretty mad about Arai trying to fleece the freshmen -- he gets pretty heroic (?) about the whole thing and, with it, very bratty: "If I hit the can 100x, do I get 100,000 yen?"

Then Momo is there and it really seems like he just wants to beat Ryoma up!

Rather adorably, Horio umpires the Ryoma v. Momo match. When Ryoma's about to serve, the Triple Counter OST starts playing (I really don't remember any of the titles from the OST -- except Yuugure -- but I'm sure everyone knows what I mean). It's very cool.

Tomo-chan sees Ryoma serve ONCE and calls him Ryoma-sama -- MY GIRL.

And then we get our first Nanjiroh appearance! And it turns out that he even has an umpire's chair at the temple, so? Who is umpiring his games against Ryoma? Nanako? RINKO??

Ryoma also tells the Ichinen Trio that he learnt to play tennis at a temple. Um. Ryoma is a big liar because he has only lived in front of said temple for about 5 minutes. What a DORK. In the best way!

(The temple is absolutely gorgeous by the way.)

Ep. 3 - The Seigaku Regulars Make Their Debut!

Man -- so we see Sakuno and Tomo-chan in one of the classrooms overlooking the courts and they comment on how cool the team is -- and then the camera pans up to Tezuka who's on the floor above, watching silently and I just enjoyed that so much. Like, at this stage, Tezuka is a bit of a mystery, so it's so fun!

Then Horio brags about how strong Momo is and Ryoma spends an eternity tying his shoelaces. Many moons ago (we're talking about 15 years ago, at least), I read this blog post about how much screentime is dedicated to Ryoma TYING HIS LACES and, honestly, I've never been able to get that post out of my head. Truly incredible stuff.

Guhhh I hate the obsession with heirarchy at Seigaku... Hyoutei and Rikkaidai are a heck of a lot more flexible, whoops.

Oishi! Beloved Oishi! Until he gets to the courts, the freshmen are just running around doing Tasks -- then Oishi arrives and tells them to practice playing because he wants them to get a good feel for the way things run at Seigaku. And it's so heart-warming! Oishi recognises that these kids are there because they want to have fun and he does these little things throughout the early eps to build camaraderie -- like when the freshmen are cheering for Seigaku in episode 8 or 9, Oishi teases, "Freshmen, we can't hear you!" and it's just... wow. Oishi's not there to pull rank: he's there to encourage the team. Tezuka honestly could not have had a better VC.

(I'm honestly just loving this so much... everyone's regarding Ryoma as this potential problem and sussing him out and being in this privileged position of knowing how much this team will grow to love him -- and how much he'll grow to love them -- is really special. It's really incredible to see this journey again.)

Arai behaves like a dork, gets scolded by Tezuka and told to run laps, questions this, and is then told to run more laps. Ryoma just dutifully runs his laps without any argument (the slight contradictions in his personality are so funny -- like he will sometimes rail against authority and, at other times, just accept it without question).

Come to think of it... Ryoma and Gon Freeccs get pretty similar treatment, I think, in that we don't get a look-in at their literal thoughts? Compare that to how often we're in Killua's head, for example, or Inui's or Oishi's or whoever's and... it's a very interesting way of storytelling.

Eps 4 & 5 - The One Named Viper & Snake Shot

AND SO, THE RANKING TOURNAMENT IS UNDERWAY.

Man, there are so many girls watching the ranking tournament? The tennis club is so popular lol

WE SEE RINKO FOR THE FIRST TIME. Of course, her face isn't shown, but!! She's there!

Ryoma's match against Kaidoh is a lot of fun. Momo's on standby to provide commentary to the Ichinen Trio (and they correctly determine that he's so knowledgeable about Kaidoh's playstyle on account of having lost to Kaidoh, which is hilarious). Ryoma impresses everyone by pulling off his own version of the Snake Shot -- the Buggy Whip Shot! -- and phew, good stuff. There's a lot of technical tennis talk.

(I hate how Kaidoh hurts himself at the end of the match. Both Kaidoh and Sanada need to be seen by school counsellors or something.)

I love seeing Ryoma get squashed by the Ichinen Trio -- he looks slightly bewildered, haha.

Ep 6 - That Man, Echizen Nanjirou

OOFT, probably my favourite episode so far! Nanjirou has become my second favourite in The Prince of Tennis (no prizes for guessing my favourite) and this episode is wonderful.

Inoue barges over to the Echizen house and ends up playing a game with Nanjirou -- the stipulation is that Nanjirou will only answer Inoue's questions if Inoue manages to get a point past him. Despite this, Nanjirou ends up telling Inoue a lot: he explains that he quit his pro career because playing with the 'impudent' Ryoma is a heck of a lot more fun than playing his pros and geez, Nanjirou loves his son SO MUCH. Nanjirou also explains that Ryoma's tennis style is currently identical to his and, to go further, there are some things Ryoma has to achieve. We get to see some of Nanjirou's skill.

The only question Nanjirou doesn't answer is when Inoue suggests that Ryoma's being trained to go pro. Nanjirou's pretty dismissive of this idea (AND WE KNOW WHY! YAHOO!).

Ryoma has a conversation with Sakuno and says that he doesn't know when he started playing tennis -- it's been part of his life for as long as he can remember and he couldn't quite even if he wanted to because there's something he has to do. So, once again, this episode sets up one of the major themes/conflicts of The Prince of Tennis.

(It turns out that the temple is behind the Echizen's house! Nanako -- the sweetheart -- explains that the monk is currently on a retreat and that Nanjirou just made a court without permission. This is one interaction I desperately want more information on.)

So... yeah. I'm genuinely having a whale of a time.

[irenewsky]

Anime I watched in 2023 (Part 2)

If you came here from the part 1, I thank you and I appreciate you. Now, this part of the list will include some shows I wanted highlight and some extras. Okay, that's it. Let's go!

Some of my older lists:

My favourite animes (Old. Tells of my tastes back in, like, 2018-2020 or something. Updated list coming once I get around to it)

Feel good anime Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Blue Lock

Yoichi Isagi is a member of his high school’s soccer team and during one of their important games, he makes a decision that costs their team a chance of going to the nationals. Bitter and disappointed, Isagi returns home only to find a letter from the Japan Football Union waiting for him. He has been chosen to be a candidate for a new projects called ”Blue Lock”. The competition is tough and ruthless. Who will make it through to the end?

24 episodes - sports

Everyone and their mother watched this one for sure. I might hate irl soccer due to finding it extremely boring (sorry irl soccer fans), but this one I really liked due to it making the sport actually interesting for me. I gotta also say that I found their eyes kinda unsettling when they entered their ”monster modes” (I can not say that with a straight face lol) but other than that, the animation was quite good.

Moriarty the Patriot

In the late 19th century Britain, William James Moriarty and his accomplices with nobles’ blood on their hands work together on a grand plan to bring down the system that favours aristocracy. A mathematician by day and a crime consultant by night, William James Moriarty is about to meet his match - one gentleman called Sherlock Holmes.

24 episodes and 2 OVAs - drama, thriller, mystery

Love me some more victorian era Sherlock Holmes shenanigans. I was so late to this one but it was still so worth the watch (and the read. The manga is just *chef’s kiss*)

*Mastermind by Taylor Swift playing in the distance* Honestly, imagine meeting you soulmate (platonic or otherwise) and them being on the completely other side of law from you. The drama of it all. (Yes, I’m very normal about these two)

Dr. Stone (Season 3 + Nanami Ryuusui Extra)

Over 3700 years ago, a mysterious beam of light enveloped every human into a layer of stone. To stay conscious, Ishigami Senku started to count seconds from the moment he was petrified. When he manages to break free from the stone in the spring of the year 5738, the human civilisation as he knew it had already disappeared. What will happen from now on? What will happen to rest of the petrified people? Are there others who have depetrified?

3 seasons + Nanami Ryuusui extra - action, adventure, comedy, drama, sci-fi, shonen

You will find this anime/manga on my updated favourites list, I’m warning you in advance.

I love, love, love this anime so much. It follows the manga so well and yes, I do recommend the manga for anyone interested. It’s really, really good and didn’t let me down unlike some others have. Also, it’s so refreshing to have a main character who is actively very much uninterested in sex and romance. How aro and ace of him (personal headcanon, no need to fight me for it)

BRB gonna go make myself a Gen Asagiri cosplay. My favourite scheming gremlin.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl!

Tomo is a high school girl with a crush on her long time bestfriend, a boy named Junichiro. She tries to confess to him but unfortunately she has been placed into the friendzone from where it seems almost impossible to escape from. With Tomo being very tomboyish and physically strong, it’s just hard for Junichiro to see her as a girl. Will she get out of the friendzone? Maybe she should get some help from her other friends…

13 episodes - romance, comedy

I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did. ’Childhood bestfriends to lovers’ trope with a healthy sprinkling of pining, chaos and ridiculousness. Delicious.

Romantic Killer

Anzu, a high school girl obsessed with video games, cats and chocolate and fully uninterested in romance, gets assigned a wizard that is going to do everything in their power to create the perfect love life for her. Anzu, however, is having none of it. Game on, you stupid wizard!

12 episodes - comedy, romace, supernatural

I kind of have a lot to say about this one, so buckle up. As an aroace person (who also, coincidentally, loves cats, chocolate and video games) I found the premise a bit annoying at first. I do love, well, love, but it pissed me off that romance was treated as an ”end all, be all” kind of thing and everything else as irrelevant rubbish. Trying to force someone into a relationship via magical means felt wrong. You could say I’m reading too much into this and yes, maybe I am, seeing as the premise was a ”to counteract the low birth rates” gag, but I’m also entitled to my own opinion and critiquing hetero- and amatonormativity.

Regardless, I ended up actually quite liking the anime as it progressed. The backstories for the characters were interesting and I found myself really loving Anzu’s headstrong personality. She doesn’t let the wizard push her around and stands her ground quite often. I really appreciated that. Also the humour in the show did make me laugh quite often, which is always a plus. That being said, I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to whack the wizard around the ears. Annoying little thing, that one is.

Sasaki and Miyano

Yoshikazu Miyano, the schools resident BL loving student, meets his senpai named Shuumei Sasaki after he saves Miyano’s classmate from being bullied. This chance encounter and Miyano accidentally revealing his interest towards BL bring the two together and from that day onwards Sasaki is stuck to him like glue.

13 episodes and an OVA - Romance (BL), drama

My VPN worked its ass off when I read this manga on some shady ass website lmao. I just had to know what happens after the point where the anime ends.

Very sweet. Do recommend.

The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting

Kirishima Toru works for the Sakuragi family. One day the head of the yakuza crime family summons him and tasks him with the duty of taking care of his daughter, Yaeka. How will this ”demon of Sakuragi” handle his new responsibility of watching over her?

12 episodes - comedy

This filled the hole in my heart that Spy x Family ending left at the time. Really heartwarming and I loved the bonds the characters in this show had.

The Salaryman’s Club

Shiratori Mikoto is really good at badminton. That is until an incident in the Interhigh leaves him unable to play how he wants to. Things start to change when he gets a job at Sunlight Beverages and joins their weak and amateurish badminton team.

12 episodes - sports

I saw no one talk about this??? Anyway, I liked this one. A lot. There might a little bias on my side since I actually practiced badminton when I was younger, but I think I would have liked this regardless! The characters had nice dynamics and liked the aspect of ’salarymen by day, badminton players by night’. Have you even lived if you haven’t experienced the highs and lows of corporate world badminton?

And finally, we have a few honorable mentions without descriptions, only vibes and opinions:

Latest season of Tokyo Revengers (Chifuyu truly is the bestest of boys, the homiest of homies. I also read the manga in its entirety. That one I have… a lot of opinions about, not all of them good)

Our Dating Story: the Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me (this one was just okay for me. I actually don’t know if I ever finished it… Well, I’m gonna have to accept the fact that I’m just not someone who enjoys the ’established relationship’ trope…)

Trigun Stampede (I’m not usually scifi kind of person but this one I really enjoyed!)

Komi Can’t Communicate (Not much to say about this one. It was very nice and I particularly liked the way Tadano almost seemed like he was able to read minds hahaha)

The latest season of Demon Slayer (Honestly, a little disappointed. It felt simultaniously very slow and very fast. Also, kinda boring compared to the last arcs. Still decent tho)

Spy x Family (Ah, Spy Family, my beloved. I liked this one a lot)

Chainsaw Man (Gotta admit, I was a little traumatized by the episode 7. I have never wanted to crawl out of my own skin more while watching anime, than I did while watching that episode. The skipping and pausing I had to do with that one… Damn. Other than that one episode, I liked this one enough to finish it)

My Dress-Up Darling (mixed feelings about this one. I just wanted a nice anime about cosplay and sewing and ended up getting fanservice and sexualization of minors. I’m in my mid to late 20s, I don’t need that shit. Just feels weird and wrong. I did finish it, albeit I did skip all the fanservicey scenes)

[animechick2015]

Anime I Watched in 2023, Part 1:

1. God Troubles Me 5/5

This is technically called a donghua but we’ll consider this an anime for this list. This show is the Chinese version of Gintama and I am for it. It so hilariously charming that I got addicted quickly. There wasn’t a single character that I disliked. In fact, there wasn’t a single episode that made me bored. The animation style was godly that it definitely gave a lot of Japanese anime a run for their money. Please, please, please give this one a chance.

2. Mob Psycho 100 100/10

Epic. Brilliant. Heart warming. Those are not enough to describe how much I loved this anime but it’ll have to do. Seriously, this one blew me away. I thought it was just a quirky anime about a middle schooler going psycho whenever he’s pissed but I’m so glad I was wrong. The second season caught me by surprise; it’s definitely my favorite of the three. Mob’s character development happened so effortlessly that I actually had to take a moment to let it all seep in on how much he changed. Also Reigen is the best Master in the anime universe, hands down. His confession to Mob at the end brought tears to my eyes, he truly cared for Mob.

3. Charlotte 4/5

Absolutely loved this one. The reason that this didn't get 5 stars was because the ending felt a bit rushed. Also, I didn't like Kumagami dying. He was such a vital character that I felt like we should've explored more. If I was the MC I would've definitely travelled back in time just to save him. Overall, I highly recommend this anime.

4. Barakamon 5/5

After watching a depressing anime like Charlotte, you definitely need something lighthearted to watch and this was really got me out of my funk. I wasn't expecting this to be so funny, honestly. This was such a warm, funny, slice of life that made me crave living in the countryside.

5. Blue Lock 5/5

Ok I have to admit I didn't start off liking this one. Isagi's whining was grating on my nerves. Thankfully, I have learnt the error of my ways and have now come to realize that Isagi is HIM! Holy crap the development of this boy was crazzzzyy. There are so many interesting characters in this show that I was confused who was the real main character. Also, it was so refreshing to have an anime without the power of friendship; it was every man for themselves and I was absolutely there for it.

6. Play It Cool Guys 5/5

Ahhhh this was such a cute wholesome anime! If you're stressed out with life please just watch these adorkable group of young men try to navigate their lives. It was so nice to see the uncool side of guys for once. The episodes were short and sweet and I really hope we get another season of them.

7. Tomo-chan is a Girl! 5/5

This was such a funny and sweet show. I'm always a sucker for friends to lovers romance so this was right up my alley. This anime also had so many charming side characters that I couldn't but fall in love with them also.

8. Ice Guy and his Cool Work Colleague 5/5

I felt so single watching this. How do I sign up to work at their company? I swear everyone was finding love and being all happy while all I get in my workplace is stress and more stress. It was also so refreshing to have a romance anime with adults and not high schoolers.

9. Demon Slayer Season 3 5/5

Another great season to another great anime. Can I just add that I loved the OP from episode one while everyone was hating on it; it was such a banger! The animation was once again top tier that I can't wait to see what the studio does when animating the last arc. This was a tough season to compete with the flashy brilliance of Tengen's last season but they did wonderfully. I'm glad I got to see my baby girl Mitsuri finally animated.

10. My Love For Yamada -kun is Lv 999 5/5

I watched the first episode right after it aired and I knew I couldn't hold out for another week. I devoured the manga! It was that good. The anime definitely didn't disappoint. This was such a sweet, comforting anime that put my cynical heart at ease. I really hope that we get more seasons because my boy Yamada is the standard!

[torque-witch]

If anyone pays attention to my weird anime recommendations besides friends I pester -

Tsurune was absolutely lovely and emotional even tho it’s *technically* a sports anime. It’s about Kyudo, traditional Japanese archery.

Sasaki & Miyano is just perfect as a BL and the dub is incredible with so many hilarious sound bites and a queer cast. I have actually watched it like 8 times in the last month and half. Judge me.

Fairy Gone is considered a bad original anime series apparently, but I enjoyed what I’ve watched so far. Mobster/Military with fae and fantasy elements.

Hell’s Paradise just came out and it seems like it’ll be done well. Soulless mercenary who travels to the underworld to get a pardon and return to the only thing he lives for - his wife.

Ancient Magus Bride was lovely, season 2 is coming out this month, April. Sorry but skull daddy is for me 🤡

SUGAR APPLE FAIRY TALE - so great I have watched it 2 or three times now. It does end on a frustrating note be warned, and I guess the whole thing is frustrating. But it is enjoyable nonetheless

Heaven Official’s Blessing - Chinese Danmei but also more traditional art style, cute romance, fantasy, mystery, swords

Black Clover I’m assuming is more of a classic based on how many episodes are available, but I like it! Classic hero with a huge disadvantage and a giant sword lol

My Little Monster - frustrating teen rom com but still cute. I think I first watched it when I was in college?

TOMO CHAN IS A GIRL - if you like rom coms it was super cute and well worth it. And I always love a tomboy

BUDDY DADDIES - found family, absolutely a wonderful original anime and of course hot hit men lol

Welcome to Demon School Iruma Kun is cute - about a human who gets adopted into a demon family and has to go to demon school of course. Humans are a delicacy so they say

Rosario + Vampire is a little older and cruder but still an interesting teen coming of age + monster school + human goes to monster school trope

Karneval seems like it could be good but the dub annoys me a little bit

The Case Study of Vanitas if you like vampires + mystery + weird romance + the entire fandom wanting it to be gay bc it kind of is but you’ll see. Vampires desire too many things 🫠

Trigun - watch the original first but they are both masterpieces need I say more? And the Vashwood fan art on TikTok is all I need forever

I’ll update when I remember more

[ridley-was-a-cat]

Winter 2023 Anime Roundup

Anime of the Season – Tsurune S2

I hadn’t watched season one, so I did not plan to watch this show this season, but all the gorgeous screenshots and gifs on Tumblr got to me, and I watched the entire series during the last week of the season. Hilarious, honestly, that the show I wasn’t even going to pick up ended up being my favorite of the season.

As good as the first season was, this was an upgrade on pretty much every front. All of the intersecting relationships between the characters at different schools made for more interesting and more grounded drama than the previous season. The art and animation both absolutely sparkled, and the sound design made you feel like you were watching in person. In particular, the spat between the two cousins/best friends on the team made for one of my favorite episodes this season. Something about how realistic their disagreement was, pushing each others’ buttons like only lifelong friends can do, and the way they resolved it by tiring themselves out in a tense archery duel that ended with a fit of the giggles, just thoroughly charmed me. I adored all of these characters, and I hope we’ll see more from the franchise. 9/10

First Runner-Up – Tomo-chan Is a Girl!

I had my doubts about this early in the series, with all the boob jokes and efforts to make Tomo girlier, but they were all gone by the end. It was just a solid romcom about a loveable group of lunatics that actively affirmed that Tomo was perfect the way she was. 8/10

Second Runner-Up – Buddy Daddies

The hitman content was not as good as the stuff about two single men in their twenties suddenly grappling with the minutia of parenting a five-year-old girl, but I was entertained week after week, and thought they did a good job sticking the landing. 8/10

IDOLiSH7 Third BEAT! Part 2 – Idol shows have a reputation for being harmless vehicles for hot guys/girls, but wherever that idea came from, it absolutely does not apply to this show, which repeatedly punched me in the gut and made me feel. Ryu is a top-ten hateable villain, for sure. 8/10

Play It Cool, Guys – I believe this was pretty popular in Japan, as it’s also getting a live-action drama, so I hope that means we can look forward to more relaxing, lightly amusing shows about cute guys doing cute things in the future. I just really enjoyed watching a handful of fairly normal dudes bumble around. 8/10

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro S2 – As much as this series is a comedy first and foremost, I just really love the relationship between Nagatoro and Senpai. Their dynamic is so playful, and they have great chemistry along with a genuine friendship. 8/10

The Vampire Dies in No Time S2 – Season 1 was a little uneven with the jokes, but this season was consistently funny, episode after episode. The character interactions hit better once you’re more acquainted with everyone, and the silly situations were just better this time around. 8/10

In/Spectre S2 – The end of season one dragged quite a bit with the Steel Lady Nanase arc, but this series was made up entirely of shorter, three-episode arcs that made the best use of the medium and the characters. Kotoko is the tiny, thirsty queen we need in these troubled times. 7/10

“Ippon” Again! – For years now, I’ve been wanting a serious girls sports anime that wasn’t an anodyne cute girls doing cute things show, and this pretty much gave me what I was looking for. The judo matches had a nice level of tension and excitement to them, and the girls were free to get intense, work hard, and not look particularly pretty while doing it. 7/10

Sugar Apple Fairy Tale – This sat at the top of the chart for me this season, until the final episode had me ready to take my earrings out and square up. The infuriating story decision isn’t necessarily irredeemable, so I will watch part two this summer to see what they do, but my expectations are low. 7/10

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague – This was more of a vibe than it was a story, but I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of a bunch of yokai who are otherwise bog-basic office workers interacting with their human coworkers. 7/10

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun S3 – My love for Iruma and all his friends knows no bounds, and I’m really hoping for a season four, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say the harvest festival arc felt really padded and dragged out in this season. 7/10

My Hero Academia S6 – This season had some pretty epic fights and story developments, including a resolution of sorts for Todoroki’s family situation and a boiling point for Deku’s self-destructive selflessness, but it was a little uncomfortable to watch the angry citizens portrayed as ingrates. It had a whiff of “Blue Lives Matter” to it. 7/10

Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari – In many ways, this is just a basic off-brand action shounen with a blunt main character taking his anger out on everyone he fights on a quest for revenge, but I think the female lead and her retinue of tsukumogami adds enough novelty to keep things interesting. I look forward to watching part two. 7/10

Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte – I enjoyed the unusual approach to otome isekai in this, where two players in the real world became connected to the characters inside the game, who heard their voices as though the gods were speaking to them. It was nice to get a full adaptation of the source with multiple ships setting sail, but it started stronger than it finished. 7/10

Handyman Saitou in Another World – With the exception of two poorly paced episodes in the middle of the season that centered on a hideously animated monster in a group battle in the dungeon, this was a highly entertaining and refreshing take on isekai, with a cast of loveable characters. 7/10

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 – If you stripped out all of the titty harem business, or just focused on building a genuine romantic connection with Ryu, this would shoot to the top of my favorite action/adventures. All of the dungeon exploration and fighting is just fantastic, with high stakes that get your blood pumping. 7/10

UniteUp! – It was feast or famine with this show. The first episode was straight up the best premiere I watched, and there were several excellent episodes where characters struggled with their families or with adjusting to working as an idol, but there were multiple production delays, some of the voice acting was fairly wooden, and there were several episodes that were merely okay. I wanted more Kacchan content! 7/10

Revenger – I can’t really argue with the people pegging this as an edgy revenge story, but I thought the main character had an interesting internal conflict, the fights were creative, and the guys were all easy on the eyes. 7/10

Kaina of the Great Snow Sea – The 3D CG animation wasn’t fantastic, and the second half that focused on a war between two remaining kingdoms was a little blah, but the setting was imaginative, the backgrounds were gorgeous, and the two leads had great chemistry. 7/10

The Fire Hunter – On the one hand, I really love the world building and all the intersecting plots going on in this post-apocalyptic fantasy. On the other hand, a number of questionable artistic choices mingle with straight up sloppy work to make the visual presentation an extremely mixed bag. 7/10

By the Grace of the Gods S2 – This is one of those shows that I can’t quite bring myself to call “good”, because the animation and art are just meh and the story is barely a story, but the vibe is so chill and the characters are so nice that watching it every week felt healing. 6/10

Giant Beasts of Ars – This is one of those fantasy shows that entertained me while I was was watching it, but I will likely never think about again. It had some creative world building, I enjoyed the adventuring party that formed around the main characters, and the voice acting was solid. 6/10

Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don’t Believe in Humanity Will Save the World – If they didn’t decide to tie one of the main characters’ backstories to a false accusation of sexual abuse by a spiteful child, I would have enjoyed this fantasy adventure series about a party united by their histories of being betrayed by those they trusted a lot more. 6/10

Trigun Stampede – Having enjoyed the original anime and everything else this studio has done, I expected to enjoy this. While I didn’t hate it, something about the story and characters just didn’t click with me, and I didn’t like how they animated the characters’ faces when they were talking. 6/10

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement – I am sort of in awe of the author’s sheer audacity in taking the colonialist power fantasy subtext of modern isekai and making it bright, glowing, neon text. Not a good show, but an entertaining one. 6/10

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady – I really wanted to love this one, but I thought the writing was a bit of a mess with inconsistent characterization, elements introduced then quickly forgotten about, and a underdeveloped romance that felt unearned. 6/10

[tantei-armin]

ANIMES I'VE WATCHED - WINTER 2023

I'm going to make these from now on, just for fun. This is about the animes I've watched this season, my short opinion and my rate on each. This is just my personal opinion.

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DROPPED SHOWS: Tomo-chan is a Girl! (2 eps), The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Collegue (3 eps) and Kaina of The Great Snow Sea (1 eps).

First, let me be clear that none of these shows are bad. I will not rate them, coz I don't think it's fair since I've watched less than 3 episodes of each.

Tomo-chan was funny, but after 2 episodes it just felt generic to me. Ice Guy is a super pretty show and rly cute, but I just got bored and not rly invested to want to know more. Kaina, idk. Obviously the CGI animation can't be compared to Trigun Stampede, but it's not by any means bad. It wasn't the animation that made me drop the show, it simply did not hooked me at all, and after the first episode I completely forgot about it. Let me know if you think I should give them a second try.

Now here are the animes I've finished and my ratings for each (in no particular order). Beware for a few spoilers!

High Card

This one was good, but tbh, I couldnt really connect with any of the characters in the show. I actually enjoyed the episodes where it was just dumb fun with getting to see new characters and their weird powers, more than the episodes with actual plot. So the whole thing with Chris at the end, didnt rly appeal to me much, I felt like I barely new anything about him to actually care. Would I watch it again? Probably not, but I did enjoy it and will most likely give S2 a try.

Rate on MAL: 7/10 (Good)

Bonus: Favorite ED this season.

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Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

I didn't expect to like this show as much as I did. I assumed I would lose interest quickly like it happened to Ice Guy and Cool Colleague. But the show, aside from being visually super pretty, have a nice (even if not the most creative) premisse and I rly liked the characters. It was one of the few anime that I was actually excited to watch a new episode every week. The only downside for me, is that the plot became repetitive halfway through. Ann gets screwded over by others, coz she is a girl and they are jealous of her talent. That made it get quite tiring near the end. But I am still excited for S2 and I hope the plot moves on a bit more.

Rate on MAL: 8/10 (Very Good).

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In/Spectre S2

Tbh, I feel like this show might be better in manga form than anime. Because there's A LOT if talking. This season (so far) did not have much of a plot, more like 3-4 episodes arcs, that you can watch in random order and it will not affect the experience at all. I like the puzzles and the mystery, but thats about it. I actually waited for each arc to end and watched those episodes on a row, rather than watch weekly. I didnt have to force myself to watch the show and I quite enjoyed each arc. But I wouldnt rewatch it, specially since I know the answer to the mysteries now.

Rate on MAL: 6/10 (Fine).

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Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari

Went into this one completely blind. I actually kinda loved it. Unlike other shows that I started losing interest by the end, with this one I started to enjoy more as it went. The first episode gave the impression that it would be just another dumb shounen. I didnt expect the romance and actually rly liked it. The characters are very endearing, and it was refreshing seeing a MC that started as an edgelord and turned out to be a complete awkward dork instead of the other way around. Whats so funny to me is that practically nothing big happened by the final episode. It started as classic shounen and kinda ended like a Slice of Life. Would watch it again, and will definitely check out if theres a S2, since it's clear this was just the beginning of the story.

Rate on MAL: 8.5/10 (Very Good)

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Revenger

Another show I went in completely blind and enjoyed it... for like half the show. Would not rewatch it. It's okay, I'm not big on historical shows, but it was interesting for most of it. To be honest, I would have rated this show higher, wasn't for the last episode. If tristamp had the best finale of this bunch, this show had the worst.

(Major spoilers ahead)

There was a whole lot of complicated built to the finale only for it to be SUPER BORING. The villain was so generic and during the entire show he was like this super smart guy, always one step ahead of the heroes... only to die in the dumbest way possible. Seriously he literally standed in front of the guy trying to kill him and say "hey come on join me" and got murdered. And then there was this whole thing during the entire show about having the main dude, forgive himself and find another reason to live and whatever. It kept building up and then in the last moment he was just still depressed and got killed by a character that appeared like twice and they never explained why the kid even did that or why he was so angry at him to begin with. Look, I'm all for sad endings and stuff, but this one just felt like the ending basically made half of the show's point completely useless.

Rate on MAL: 6/10 (Fine)

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Buddy Daddies

This one was great! Very wholesome. It was a lot of fun, but also with some quite good drama. Not gonna lie, I teared up more than once. I expected it to be just dumb comedy, but it turned out to have quite the right amount of fluff and angst. A lot of people expected it to be SpyxFamily Gay Edition, but thats not it. I do have to say though... probably unpopular opinion, but I do NOT like Miri. Honestly she annoyed me to no end. Which makes her more realistic as a kid I guess. Do not go into this if you are expecting some homoerotic tension between the two guys. It's not about that, it's about found family for all parts involved and it's absolutely wholesome. I'll definitely rewatch it some day. Highly recommend.

Rate on MAL: 9 (Great).

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To Your Eternity S2

Aw man this is hard. I absolutely adored the first season, it have probably the most beautiful first episode of all anime. Unfortunately... S2 did not do it for me. I desperately wanted to love the show as much as I did the first season, but it just didn't happen. By the end of the season, I felt detached from it and also disappointed. It didn't give that rush of feelings from season 1, and by the last couple episodes I felt like all the things about loosing people were thrown in the trash with all the revivals. The big reunion was kinda boring too, I was so excited for it, and yet it was just, meh. There were definitely some great highlights, but overall this season was incredibly inferior to S1 imo.

Rate on MAL 7/10

Bonus: Best character development of the season: Bon.

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Trigun Stampede

Listen. LISTEN! If you follow my blog you know. But listen. This show! I'll say it right now: Anime of the Year. Haven't hyperfixated on anything this hard since Banana Fish.

No, I did not watch Trigun, I tried years ago and dropped after like 3 episodes for a bunch of reasons that I''ll not gonna go into rn. Tbh the main reason I decided to watch Stampede was over the visuals. I am a big fan of Studio Orange. I find their shows visually beautiful and just really pleasing to the eyes (where's my Houseki no Kuni S2, Orange!??), and I was instantly attracted to it when I watched the trailer. So I hopped on the first episode for the eyegasm.

But boy, oh boy this show is gorgeous. After the first episode I was hooked solely for the visual experience and the fun ride. By episode 3 I was hooked by the plot, and by episode 4 (with Wolfwood's introduction), I was in love with the characters.

I love the visuals, the designs, the story, the music, everything. Some of the changes people complained about werent actually changed, just postponed (which I theorized would happen halfway through the show), and some of the stuff that is actually different from the 1998 anime are actually the things I did not like in Trigun 98. And thats just a personal preference. But I do think that the fact I didn't watch the 98 show as a kid (it wasnt even released in my country) gave me the opportunity to fully enjoy Stampede without nostalgia getting in the way and clouding my opinion on it. I'll say that I agree that the pacing was quite fast, but I also understand why Orange and Kenji Muto did that, specially after we realized this entire season was a prequel. I do hope S2 slow down the pace a little bit.

But guys. The finale. Holy shit. The finale. I was rendered speechless. The final episode alone was a masterpiece. That's how you raise the bar on how to do a finale. The second cour of 86 had an AMAZING finale, but this here was something else. The animation was stunning, the music (ohmygod the scene they fell from the tower holy shit, when Vash's wing appeared), everything was absolutely incredible.

This was the show I couldnt wait for a new episode. This was the show I kept rewatching the episodes over and over while waiting for the next. And every time I did, I would find a new detail that I didn't notice in the previous watchs. Look, preferences aside, it is crystal clear how much love and passion was put into this show. From the gorgeous animation, to the character's expressions, to the small details everywhere, to the way the studio's staff interacted with the fans on twitter, this show was put together with a lot of effort, passion and thought.

I can say right now that Trigun Stampede easily became one of my favorite shows of all time, and this is coming from someone who have been watching animes for over 20 years. I'm not really planning to try watching Trigun 98 again, but I am planning on starting the manga, specially since I already got spoiled about some big events.

Bonus: Favorite OP of the season.

Rate on MAL: 10/10 (Masterpiece)

Anime of the Year for me 100%. I do not see any anime taking Tristamp's place, not even SnK's finale, and this is coming from an originally SNK obssessed blog. Thats how much Tristamp impacted me.

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That's it!! If you think there's an anime I missed this season and should check out, pls leave it in the comments which is and why I should give it a try.

[k7l4d4]

K Reviews and Rants: Miraculous Ladybug Season 5! Episode 16

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another day of my mind melting over this show's writing.

Now, there isn't a ton to say on Episode 16; it's honestly one of the more mediocre episodes, since it's main issues are that the entire plot is artificially constructed to revolve around Kagami once again believing Lila's lies and manipulations, despite having known that Lila is someone she can't trust and who likes to emotionally hurt her since "Oni-Chan." It could've been an interesting look of Kagami struggling to balance the impossible expectations her mother forces on her and breaking from the crippling loneliness those expectations instill in her... but that's the kind of plot we should've seen in SEASON 2, maybe Season 3 if you stretched it. It's just far too little too late to be trying something like this.

We also are given the apparent reveal that Gabe and Tomoe are angling to force their kids into a relationship... for some reason. We aren't given a reason why they want to do this, when this deal was reached, or why Adrien or Kagami never even KNEW about each other prior to this season. It comes out of nowhere, and while the concept of exploring the expectations of high society folks and how it impacts their kids in the form of arranged relationships, particularly in how it negatively impacts the relationships they would prefer to have, would be interesting... this was never hinted at before. It wasn't even alluded to. So why the hell are we only learning about this NOW?

Anyway, that's my reflection on this episode, keep reading for the review below. Thank you, and as always, please forgive any profanity on my part.

Episode 16: Protection 

Okay, it's Protection, and we get a scene of Kagami hanging out for Lila for some reason, despite having an established history of the girl lying, manipulating, and using her. Off to a "great" start. 

Lila talks about how she's Kagami's "best friend" which is BS... or maybe something about Marinette being Kagami's best friend, it's a bit hard to tell for me. 

Now it's a bit of unfunny commentary on HOW FUCKING LONG IT TOOK FOR MARINETTE AND ADRIEN TO GET TOGETHER by their classmates. No Astruc, trying to go "hey, we get it, don't we get it guys?" and be self-aware about the singularly most infuriating part of the show does not make it less insufferable. Wow, they nearly had a swear by Nathaniel. I gotta say, I was genuinely not expecting that. 

And Marinette's obsession for overly complicated plans has infected the entire class that they are going along with what amounts to getting Marinette and Adrien to kiss through a ridiculously overly complicated "romantic moment" involving a Ferris Wheel and trained pigeons, instead of just... telling them to kiss or letting them sort it out themselves. 

And Marinette hitting the nail on the head of how just trying to kiss someone you are too shy/awkward to say you love is ridiculously hard... Ugh. I just... the show trying to make a joke about how overly complicated the romantic plots in the show itself just falls apart because we KNOW they are gonna try and go through this anyway, and "self-awareness" is more than just mentioning the problems with something, it's also about growing past it, which the cast clearly HAS NOT DONE.

Saying a "kiss is a miracle cure for all your problems" genuinely disgusts me. It's such a reductive and deliberately idiotic take on romance that it offends me that the show is trying to make it's utterly terrible handling of any and all relationships INTO A FUCKING JOKE. 

...Why the FUCK are Adrien and Marinette's classmates treating Fairy Tale and fictional tropes regarding kissing as some kind of ironclad fact of reality? WHY!? I was about to go on an angry rant about how Marinette is talking sense about waiting for things to happen in their own time, when it clicked in that the writers are deliberately making her and Adrien's classmates/friends into strawmen as a way to shut up people who just wanted the relationship drama between Marinette and Adrien to just FUCKING END ALREADY!! So now I'm too pissed off to rant. Now my blood is fucking BOILING. 

And the plan immediately goes off the rail because Nino doesn't even know how to play the guitar. Oh, and the fact that Kitty Section's music is REALLY not romantic in the slightest in any way that would be conducive to making things go better, but yeah, they did Nino fucking dirty. The dude wants to be a DJ, he should be WELL AWARE of how hard it is to use ANY kind of fucking instrument, least of all one like a guitar!! 

Them making Marinette run off in tears while sad music plays REALLY DOESN'T WORK when they basically made the ENTIRE FUCKING PLAN as ridiculous as possible while making everyone act as if it going off without a hitch was a given. 

Okay, we get another case of the writers relying on stupid as hell Japanese stereotypes with Tomoe referring to Gabriel's heartbeat as "louder than a Taiko Drum." Oh, and something about a Diamond Ball, which I'm pretty sure is gonna be fucking stupid.

Okay, is Tomoe supposed to be blind or not? Because the writers are deliberately angling her head so she's directly facing Gabriel's arm as he unrolls his sleeve and exposes the Cataclysm injury (which she literally can't see, so he has no reason to be EXPOSING THE THING TO OPEN AIR!!). 

Adrien... no. Fuck that. Even discounting how sheltered you are, you CANNOT be this fucking stupid. You CANNOT be so stupid as to think Marinette's painful levels of awkwardness was "just the way she is, just part of her charm." Like, shit like THIS is why I just cannot get behind them as a couple on a personal level, because THAT is not a healthy attitude to have in a relationship!! That's the kind of attitude you have towards someone you barely know, not someone you apparently know well-enough to want to date. It says very bad things about their dynamics as a couple. 

Them acting as if Adrien just NOW learning about Marinette's emotional issues regarding him is supposed to make him more sympathetic falls apart when you stop and realize that the ONLY fucking reason it's this bad is the fact that they have artificially stretched out the reveal and stagnated Adrien and Marinette's relationship this entire time. You can't make this a touching moment because all it does is highlight just how mismatched the two ARE as a couple!! And now we get Tomoe overhearing a fragment of a conversation between Adrien and Kagami. THAT can't possibly backfire!!

Ugh... the creepy emphasis on "Made for each other" and "Just as planned" is so disgusting. 

NEITHER OF THEM ARE FUCKING PERFECT YOU IDIOTIC RICH TWITS!!!! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!! 

NOW they get that Kagami and Adrien aren't together and Adrien was talking about his actual "girlfriend" Marinette. Also, the show pulling this "Tomoe and Gabriel arranged to have Kagami and Adrien get together" shit comes out of nowhere, and is just cringe-inducingly bad commentary on the 1%. It's disgusting. "You've changed Adrien" NO KAGAMI HE HAS NOT. 

The show going from a gentle, introspective moment of Adrien trying to do something sincerely thoughtful for Marinette to once again making Marinette's emotional and relationship problems as a fucking joke pisses me off. 

"You were supposed to control your son, Gabriel." "And you, your daughter!" Wow, parents of the year, these two are TOTALLY not toxic shitheads! Tomoe, Gabriel is DYING you don't need to fucking dance around it!!

Adrien, she's not perfect, and for FUCK'S SAKE, shit like THIS is why the show trying to act like Gabe is a good parent fucking piss me off!! He is actively trying to dictate Adrien's life and refuses to acknowledge him as a human fucking BEING instead of just as a dress-up doll!!! 

Why the fuck is Gabe calling Marinette, someone he once publicly acknowledged as a Designer when she was the undisputed winner of one of his fashion contests, mediocre? This literally comes out of nowhere for no other fucking purpose then for more relationship drama BS. 

Well, we have another Japanese Stereotype getting spit from Tomoe's mouth, and yet another case of the show denying the possibility that relationships can just end and feelings can change, or that love is more complicated then "yes or no." 

Adrien, the guy who literally broke out of his own house just so he could go to school, TWICE, acting as if his dad telling him he can't be with Marinette is some unshakable iron-clad rule. It's shit like this that makes the Senti reveal so utterly stupid. 

And of fucking COURSE Gabe never bothered to take back the ring that lets someone mind-control Adrien (never mind how their care be TWO fucking Amoks for him or whatever) from the woman who has stated more than once that she's not on his side anymore and has physically assaulted him in his own house (not that she's sincerely done anything to actually stop him of course).

Marinette finally employing a strategy to circumvent her overcomplication problems would be nicer if the show wasn't currently acting as if her just deciding "not to worry and take things as-is" is this miracle fix-it that makes all her problems simple and that she can just ignore all her issues is super infuriating. 

And here we go, NOW we get to see Irrational Marinette, in that she's literally refusing to change her pajamas because it'll "break the magic of the moment." Bull. Shit. 

Does... does she SERIOUSLY not remember how much of a strict hardass Adrien's dad is? She probably doesn't. Because plot. Fuck the plot. 

Okay, not gonna lie, Adrien changing into pajamas to make Marinette feel less self-conscious about her impulsive decision is oddly sweet. Too bad it's buried amid a mountain of shitty writing. 

NOW Gabe realizes the issue with letting the woman opposing him have the same mind-control powers as him. Ugh... it's really, REALLY fucking hard to sit through this because of just how stomach-churning the writing is. 

Kagami... where the fuck is "I think I've fallen in love with him again" coming from? Wait, trick question, mind-control rings. Fucking bullshit. 

Do. NOT. Bring up that "meant to be together" BULLSHIT!! No one is "meant to be together," THAT IS NOT HOW RELATIONSHIPS FUCKING WORK!!! 

Why the FUCK is Kagami trusting Lila on any level!? 

Gabe, you OF ALL FUCKING PEOPLE have no right to call anyone on being toxic!! 

Kagami, DO NOT FUCKING FALL FOR LILA'S BULLSHIT!! THIS IS LITERALLY THE SAME GIRL WHO WENT OUT OF HER WAY TO TAUNT YOU WITH A FAKED PHOTO OF HER AND ADRIEN!! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT WHAT DID THE WRITERS DO WITH HER BRAINS!? 

Once again, Lila is a fucking PLOT DEVICE to enable bullshit because the writers ARE FUCKING HACKS WHO WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE MEANINGFUL CONFLICT IF IT SLAPPED THEM ACROSS THE FACE WITH A FISH!!! 

Kagami... THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU LETTING YOUR EMOTIONS CLOUDING YOUR JUDGMENT, YOUR JUDGMENT WAS FAULTY TO START WITH IN BLINDLY TRUSTING LILA DESPITE HER HAVING USED AND MANIPULATED YOU TWICE ALREADY!!! 

And she immediately believes Lila's sob-story about being best friends all over again, OF FUCKING COURSE!! On the plus side, we get a hint that Gabriel is eventually gonna cut Lila loose. And with that, this fucking nightmare is over!!

[tetrix-anime]

Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! (Tomo-chan Is a Girl!) - Episode 2 Preview. Premiere: 11 January 2023

[animefeminist]

Chatty AF 183: 2023 Winter Wrap-Up

Dee, Chiaki, and Peter look back on a season with a lot of mixed bag recommendations!

Episode Information

Date Recorded: April 16th 2023 Hosts: Dee, Chiaki, Peter

Episode Breakdown

0:00:00 Intros Pit of Shame 0:02:01 ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! Yellow Flags 0:08:47 TRIGUN STAMPEDE 0:09:56 Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 0:17:05 Revenger 0:18:24 Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire 0:21:57 Chillin’ in My 30s After Getting Fired from the Demon King’s Army Neutral 0:23:40 NieR: Automata Ver 1.1A 0:24:16 The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague 0:28:07 HIGH CARD 0:30:55 Farming Life in Another World 0:31:55 Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill 0:32:40 Buddy Daddies It’s Complicated 0:35:14 The tale of outcasts 0:35:32 The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 0:40:05 Kaina of the Great Snow Sea 0:45:04 Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte Feminist Potential 0:48:32 Technoroid Overdrive 0:52:55 Ippon Again! 0:57:19 The Fire Hunter Sequels 1:03:45 Lupin Zero 1:04:16 VINLAND SAGA SEASON 2 1:05:09 In/Spectre Season 2 1:06:13 D4DJ All Mix 1:07:50 Bungo Stray Dogs Season 4 1:08:13 BOFURI Season 2 1:10:46 Outro

Further Reading

2023 Winter Premiere Digest

2023 Winter Three-Episode Check-In

2023 Winter Mid-Season Check-In (WITH TRANSCRIPT)

[mceproductions]

MCE The Jaw Droppers 2023 #4: Breakthrough of Bilingual VAs in Anime.

The year in anime had itself a relatively quiet go of things. Though one trend did emerge.

2 certain anime shows had vas that ended up doing the original Japanese Version and in the cases where it was simuldubbed in English and released the same day, the same role.

The notable one here being Sally Amaki, Voicing the lovable airhead Carol on Tomo-Chan Is A Girl.

Her work in making the character have 2 different sides of native Sub and Dub while utilizing the same dialogue was definitely unique and almost unprecedented.

The other example actually in microcosm took the work Sally Amaki did and paraphrased “Not only do we also have a bilingual Voice Actress, we’ll make it a plot point.”

Leading to Karin Kagami from D4DJ as we get a unique second season episode that sees her character Maho Akashi think in Japanese and talk out loud in English. Revealed later to be a fever dream but still was the most unique thing anime had done this year.

[formulaorange]

Winter 2023 Anime Review

This has got to be the longest season ever. I swear I stopped watching anime for a good few months and came back and the season's still going. I definitely cut down the amount of shows I watched this season since I burnt out but the upcoming Spring season should be a banger. My top 3 for this season: Buddy Daddies Sugar Apple Fairy Tail The Vampire Dies in No Time Season 2 Here's this seasons final reviews:

Giant Beasts of Ars - 12 Episodes Definitely one of the better anime originals I've seen in a while. This is a new sci-fi fantasy concept that felt a little reminiscent of Ghibli content. I was satisfied with the story but was a little disappointed they didn't end it off with 1 season. 8/10- Very Good

Trigun Stampede - 12 Episodes I honestly loved this. Studio Orange killed it with the 3d animations (they did Beastars) and the story is well rounded. I think the series is definitely underated and many people skipped it due to the animation style but it's 100% worth a watch. 8/10 - Very Good

Vinland Saga Season 2 - (Still airing - 12/24 Episodes) Who knew we'd see Facebook's farmville be animated in such detail. But honestly, the first half of this season is absolutely brutal. I know they're keeping it real and the slow pace makes the rest of the season stand out all that much more but damn. Doesn't pick up until episode 9 but somehow I still have high hopes for the rest of the season. (Side note - Mappa is killing it as usual with this take-over) 7/10 - Good

Blue Lock - Part 2 (Episodes 13-24) This is definitely still one of the best sports anime I've seen in the last few years. All the characters are unique and enjoyable to watch, the art style is solid and well executed and the story progresses at a decent rate. I honestly don't have many complaints about this series. (of course other than the usual butchering of english in the last 2 episodes) If you like sports anime, soccer or just want to watcha battle royal, this is one to check out. 8/10 - Very Good Endo and Kobayashi Live! - 12 Episodes This honestly didn't feel like a novel concept but I had a lot of fun. It's 2 romance stories in 1 but with all the fun of shitty otome game intervention animes. (I can't believe this is a genre now). Just overall wholesome fun. 7/10 - Good Revenger - 12 Episodes I really thought this series could've been better. While I did enjoy it to some extent, the story ended up feeling very superficial and didn't feel like it really went in depth on any of the characters and just floated along the surface story for the whole season. 5/10 - Average Tomo-Chan is a Girl - 13 Episodes I nearly stopped at the first episode. I'm still not 100% sold on the concept where this strong girl just wants to be seen as a romantic interest and a lot of the gender stuff was really on the edge but I think they managed to walk around it. The story did end up being cute without it stepping all over tomboys. Was fun to watch but not as good as the hype behind the manga. 6/10 - Fine Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill - 12 Episodes I really enjoyed the manga for this series and I was stoked that Mappa picked it up. I found that as long as you don't try to look for a serious story from this series it's a fun lighthearted watch. Definitely made me hungry while watching. 7/10 - Good The Eminence In Shadow - Second Half I think this show was actually pretty fun. Definitely more of a fantasy than isekai since it has nothing to do with his previous life. I had fun with Shadow's character but found that it got boring for a few episodes until the end. If it continues I'll likely still check it out. 7/10 - Good

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague - 12 Episodes This was really cute and I liked the change of pace from other romance series where they're all workforce adults, like in Wotakoi. Still felt that it didn't really go anywhere. Enjoyed it but likely won't continue to watch if there's a second season. 6/10 - Fine

[anitrendz]

Top 10 Anime Winter Week 8

Magirevo topples Angel Next Door after a very emotional episode between brother and sister that had a lot of people sympathizing in surprise with Al. Onimai jumps 3 spots as we reach the final month of the season.

The big question is: Magirevo and Angel Next Door are likely both guaranteed a nomination spot for Anime of the Year 2023. So, who will the remaining two be? Buddy Daddies started off lower but gained momentum throughout the season. Unfortunately, it will lose a week as a recap. Tomo-chan is a Girl began strong but became middling in chart performance as the season progressed. Meanwhile Vinland Saga started off strong but dropped out of Top 4 for 3 weeks.

Ultimately, you get to decide which 2 of the 3 mentioned get to be nominated. Increase their chances by voting at anitrendz.com/polls!