#academia really is designed to exclude you in so many ways

[the-everqueen]

i feel like no one talks about the terrible in-between that's common in academia. i defended my dissertation with the belief that i would not have a job when i was done. i applied to approx. 30 postdoc and teaching positions. i'd been rejected from most of them. i got the call for my current fellowship the day i was scheduled to fly home because my lease was up, and where else would i go? i'd applied to 40+ non-academic jobs and was considering returning to freelance music teaching because despite having a doctorate that's all anyone in the non-academic world thought i was qualified to do. i spent the summer before my postdoc started working part-time with my previous supervisor because i needed to pay bills. all my savings went into covering expenses for moving, for keeping up my credit score, for scraping by. i started my postdoc a week later than planned because my mom was in a serious car accident. i have not yet been paid. i just registered as a person in this institution's system, and i don't know when i get paid or when my benefits start. all this time i have not been working on my academic projects. how could i? i thought for months i was going to have to let it all go and i grieved in advanced and screamed at the universe. then i got to hang on a little longer but i was too busy surviving. now i'm supposed to start the work like the grieving didn't happen, like i wasn't burned out by debt and overtime, like i'm not anxious about whether i will actually make rent. i don't have generational wealth. my parents are working class. my loved ones are clinging to the jobs they have. but i should be excited. i should be throwing myself into the next round of work. my continued funding depends on me fulfilling what i said i'd do in my proposal that i wrote a million years ago. my (potential) career depends on me building connections and meeting expectations here. i'm so lucky. i'm so lucky.

[lesbianchemicalplant]

If you're surrounded by people who call trans people by their deadnames, you're most likely in a hate group. But a possible alternate explanation is that you're in academia. And it's not because that many academics are openly transphobic -- they just don't know that the site they fully trust, Google Scholar, is telling them to do it. Google Scholar was developed in 2004 and has changed very little since then. It supplanted a lot of hard-to-use library search indices by providing a Google-style interface with a single search box. Now it's the most name-recognized site for searching for almost any paper by almost anyone. One aspect of the design was, authors are just a kind of search term. An author is a cluster of different ways to abbreviate a name, like Firstname Lastname, Firstname M. Lastname, and F Lastname, and you might see different forms in different places, but the underlying name will never change. This is because Google Scholar was built by, and for, cis men with unchanging Western-style names. The "almost anyone" who you can search for excludes trans people, among a lot of other people it represents poorly. And because Scholar will not change, it should perish.

I fought the goog, and the goog won I changed my name in research, retroactively. I broke the assumptions of Google Scholar, and Google Scholar hid my papers from search results when it couldn't model what was going on with them. It would particularly suppress search results for my new name, which were just confusing distractors for the results it really wanted to show, for my deadname. If you ask it how to cite me, it will auto-generate you a citation of my deadname. I fought hard to remove citations of my deadname, replace PDF files, take down papers I couldn't replace, take away all the evidence of my deadname that I possibly could. Not to keep it from the eyes of people, but to keep it out of the Google Scholar model. I partially succeeded in making my new name more searchable, and even got it to show up in the auto-generated citations in some circumstances. For a fleeting moment, I claimed victory. But Google Scholar countered by finding my absolute most obscure things that count as publications, ones that I can't kill because they were not really alive in the first place, and bringing them to the top of my search results, so it can use them to keep helpfully directing you to my deadname. Signing in and claiming papers on an "author page" doesn't help, because author pages are one tiny link in search results that nobody clicks through, because the papers are already right there. Most trans people quit research rather than deal with this, and even though I found myself with more energy and opportunity to fight for my name than most, I quit research too.

There! We fixed it for cis people Google knows about this. I raised the issue with them in February 2019. It became an internal bug report in July 2019, which I have never seen, but from what I've heard about it, it quickly went far astray from what I was trying to tell them. "Allies" inside Google came up with extremely dumbass theories of how to represent trans people in a way that fit Google's preconceptions. I've posted about the problem at various times on social media (mostly Twitter when that was a thing). I tweeted about how Google's name model doesn't even work for cis women, given that many women change their names at some point in their lives. This got some traction and led to an amazingly quick response, along the lines of "oh shit! We fixed it for cis women." The new feature they added allowed a person (who had claimed papers using a Google account) to link together their multiple names, as long as they were okay with all the names being shown at the top of their search results. The first trans person to try using the feature was extremely surprised and dismayed by the prominence it gave to their deadname, and asked "do you think they talked to even a single trans person about this feature?" Nobody has ever heard Anurag Acharya, the creator of Google Scholar, say anything about the problem of name changes on his platform, or really anything attributable to him at all. But I know he knows about it.

The one time we got their attention Google got banned as a sponsor of Queer in AI, partially because of Google Scholar, though if you ask most people now they'll say it's because they profit from AI weapons systems. Which is also a thing. But Google Scholar was enough of a part of the issue that an exec actually got on the phone with non-Googlers about it for the first time. The exec was Jeff Dean, head of AI, whose organization does not actually include Google Scholar. When pressed on the issue by Queer in AI, he defended Scholar's lack of name changes, saying -- I believe this to be a direct quote -- "we have to ensure accurate information". Calling trans people by their names does not fall under the category of "accurate information" to the latently transphobic Jeff Dean. In another rare instance of public communication, a couple of painfully assimilationist trans Google FTEs promoted a horrible idea where publishers would have an API for informing Google that someone's name had changed in their archives. That's right, you wouldn't control your own name, dozens of publishers would, all with their own processes ranging from gatekeepy to nonexistent, and you'd have to out yourself and beg to every one of them to press the Here's A Trans Person button. The only good thing about this proposal is that it was so obviously unworkable that they didn't do it. Aside: If you are a Google full time employee, and you are trans, you are assimilationist. I'm sorry. I know your life circumstances mean you have to be. There used to be non-assimilationists there, and they joined the union and got illegally fired in 2019, or they quit in solidarity with the people who were fired in 2019 or 2021, and that leaves you, keeping your head down and keeping your job. You're still reading this paragraph, and that's amazing, so here's what I need you to know: from your position, you cannot advocate for the needs of trans non-Googlers, unless you allow trans non-Googlers into the conversation. Contract workers, though, you're cool. You fought for a trans man, working at a Google data center, to stop having to wear his deadname on his badge, and you won.

There is a solution I know that Google would not invest a lot of development effort into fixing a pet project like Google Scholar (though, again, "we fixed it for cis women" came remarkably quickly). I know that Google is institutionally incapable of letting people control their own identity without being a gatekeeper, that it's just not in the realm of things they dream of. There is still a solution. It's so easy. It plays to Google's strengths. There's even a business argument for it. They just need to shut it down. Google Scholar can have a plot in the Google graveyard next to Hangouts, Picasa, AngularJS, Cardboard, Inbox, Orkut, Knol, and the dearly departed Reader. It will be missed, for a bit, and then real librarians and archivists can get back to doing the job that Google monopolized. They'll know how to do it better this time. The Internet Archive is already doing it, and they let trans people change their names. I made a site about all this, scholar.hasfailed.us. I haven't been raising the issue enough since the fall of Twitter, and I think it's time that I get back to it.

[transmutationisms]

i am the world's biggest wikipedia defender (especially against people who say that it's unreliable) because, while i know it's not infallible (is anything, though?), it is peer-reviewed. once, my friend edited the othello page to include a joke we had made and she got her account banned. how do you reckon with wikipedia as a source of knowledge? my understanding of it is that it can serve as a good base for things, but learning never stops and one should read as many sources as possible to gain a fuller understanding of whatever they want to know about. this is a very long-winded way of asking your opinions on wikipedia. my apologies, and i hope today is alright for you :~)

wikipedia obviously gets a lot of flak for the fact that anyone can edit it, which means that people certainly can and do check each other's work, but also that anybody with an axe to grind or just a poor understanding of a subject can potentially really distort the presentation of that topic. there have been some high-profile cases of bad and even dangerous editorialising, like the woman who basically single-handedly is trying to correct a whole bunch of pages for former nazis that really whitewashed their legacies and cited various antisemitic and white supremacist sources to do so. i think it would be foolish to claim that crowdsourced knowledge is inherently accurate, fair, nuanced, &c. wikipedia replicates the biases people put into it, and just having more people edit it doesn't instantly 'average them out' because yknow, we're often talking about widely held positions or prejudices that have also caused distortions in many of the cited sources. also, wikipedia has many more gaps than most people realise, partly because an encyclopedia is necessarily a massive undertaking and also because, by design, it excludes eg oral traditions, non-literate people, &c.

however i do find a lot of wikipedia criticism annoying because it will usually involve trying to counterpose wikipedia to approved academic channels of knowledge production, specifically in a way that sets academic institutions and publishing as an intellectual gold standard that crowd knowledge simply can't compete with. academia is not some kind of magical solution to problems of distortion and bias; academics have their own ways of perpetuating and rationalising prejudices, and reinforcing rather than challenging each other's epistemological authority and laziest, most harmful assumptions. not to mention that many shitty wikipedia articles do actually cite approved academic sources published by university presses! because these characteristics do not actually guarantee that a source is good, only that it passed quality control at a reactionary institution lol.

ultimately i approach wikipedia basically the same way i approach any academic text, which is to say i have to read both with attention to how the arguments are being developed, what evidence they rely on, what ideological assumptions are being made or defended, and so forth. i can't really think of a source or genre of source that i would endorse just reading and uncritically believing; in that sense i certainly agree with people who point out the major potential for inaccuracy in wikipedia articles, only i think this line of criticism is totally useless and blatantly elitist if it simply exempts 'respectable' academic sources or presumes institutional channels of knowledge to be epistemologically infallible.

anyway i use wikipedia to check dates of major events and it's sometimes useful or intriguing simply to see what about a topic interested people enough to write an entry about it. but i don't automatically trust any arguments or analyses in wikipedia articles, any more than i would the thesis of any nonfiction book i pick up.

[sims4legacyaesthetic]

Sims 4 Aesthetics Legacy Challenge:

About: welcome to the aesthetics legacy challenge! In this challenge you will not only be fitting into the aesthetic with fashion, but with personality as well. You are not allowed to cheat with the aging(must be set to normal), and you have to build a starter home with only 25,000 simoleons. I hope you enjoy and have fun exploring different aesthetics!

Generation 1: Goth

Traits: Gloomy, Proper, Loner

Aspiration: Best Selling Author

Career: Writer

Welcome to the first generation of the aesthetics legacy challenge, the goth aesthetic. This sim is required to own everything in the colors black and shades of grey(you can have red lipstick if you want). As a gloomy and loner, interactions are going to be rare(excluding a lover). You must complete the aspiration, complete the writer career, have a max of 5 friends(including lover), and have only one child which you never interact with.

Generation 2: Y2K

Traits: Creative, Cheerful, Neat

Aspiration: Party Animal

Career: Designer

Since your gothic parent wasn’t all that loving and you were sick of living in the dark, you decided you wanted a more fun and colorful lifestyle. With this sim you must wear as many colors as you can. You must max 3 different skills, complete the career and aspiration, must have 15 good friends(including lover), and must max your dance skill.

Generation 3: Light Academia

Traits: Bookworm, Perfectionist, Snob

Aspiration: Academic

Career: Politician

Since your previous gen didn’t want to do anything but have fun and be social, you wanted to be smarter and hit the books. This sim must wear white and other light shades and styles which make them appear nerdy. You must complete the career and aspiration. Must max all of the knowledge skills and be an A+ student in all of their education. They must have their own library in their house.

Generation 4: E-Girl

Traits: Geek, Lazy, Materialistic

Aspiration: Computer Whiz

Career: Tech Guru

Your previous gen was very strict about all of the academics, so you wanted to lean more into technology than just books. This sim must wear comfortable but fashionable clothes and wear intense makeup. They must complete the career and aspiration. They must have a very nice game room and require having the more views video station and the drone. Must stream as often as possible and upload a video every day. Must max the programming skill and max fame.

Generation 5: CottageCore

Traits: Green Fiend, Rancher, Maker

Aspiration: Lord/Lady of the Knits

Career: None(your farm)

Your previous gen was all about the newest tech, but you weren’t really a huge fan of all the electronics and wanted a more rustic way of living. This sim must not wear any makeup(lashes are fine) and must wear a dress or trousers. Must complete the career and aspiration and can only gain resources off of the farm(like eggs from chickens and milk from cows).

Generation 6: Grunge

Traits: Music Lover, Socially Awkward, Hot-Headed

Aspiration: Musical Genius

Career: Entertainer

Growing up on the farm with your previous gen helped you learn your love for music. This sim must wear thrifty outfits and shaggy hair. Must complete the career and aspiration and have a music room. Must publish songs every day, max all musical skills, and have 2 failed relationships before you can marry a sim.

Generation 7: Boho

Traits: Freegan, Recycle Disciple, Insider

Aspiration: Master Maker

Career: Gardener

Your previous gen was always making music and never had time to take care of nature. This sim must live on an eco-friendly lot and wear light and warm neutral colors. Must complete career and aspiration. Must max handiness skill and 3 more of your choice. Must have all eco-friendly appliances and must reuse or recycle things when you can. Must have a successful club with the max amount of members.

Generation 8: KidCore

Traits: Childish, Family-Oriented, Jealous

Aspiration: Super Parent

Career: Painter

Your previous gen was focusing more on nature than that truly matters, the family. This sim must wear kiddy outfits and must wear a onesie as their sleep wear. Must complete the career and aspiration, must have a full household(8), and must max the parenting and painting skill. Must be best friends with all your children.

Generation 9: WitchCore

Traits: Goofball, Paranoid, Cat Lover

Aspiration: Spell-craft & Sorcery

Career: Actor

Feeding into the previous gen’s imagination, you wanted to become a spellcaster. This sim must wear a witch hat with every outfit and whimsical clothes. Must complete the career and aspiration, and must have a sorcery basement. Must brew all the potions, must max 5 skills, must marry another spellcaster, must have a human child before marrying the spellcaster.

Generation 10: Villainy

Traits: Overachiever, Evil, Kleptomaniac

Aspiration: Public Enemy

Career: Criminal

Playing with all the alchemy with the previous gen has made you hungry for villainy. This sim must wear evil and dark looking outfits. Must complete the career and aspiration. Must max the mischief skill and 3 more of your choice, must have more enemies than friends, and must have no romantic relationships or children.

[classy-violence]

Hmmm what are 3 animes you really like ? ( if any )

Ahhh I've watched so many recently, that's hard!! Gonna exclude movies and stay with series for this haha (plus there's ones I want to watch or are still in the midst of watching so there's that)

Not in order ofc

Cyberpunk Edgerunners (if you count this haha) duude watching this series was a trip from beginning to end, having played a small part of the game as well made it cooler, its also gorey, and unfortunately has a couple sexual scenes (even though I watched it less than a month ago I'm thinking about watching it again tbh)

Demon Slayer (we've watched seasons 1 and 2, and the Mugen Train arc) technically this one's not "finished" but it's gonna be a bit before we get more content so, either way this series has been so so cool so far!! The character designs, the effects, even though the creator said the whole sword elements effects are just for show me and my sister like to believe they're actually there :))

Dorohedoro (gah I want to read the manga so bad) This one's gorey like edgerunners, and technically isn't finished like demon slayer!! Caiman my beloved <33 The story for this one is so cool!! I can't wait to either read or watch what happens further!! The character and monster designs, the way magic works, the trippy visuals, are all so cool looking ^^

Honorable mentions (these include ones I'm not finished watching)

Trigun (the og series, not Stampede, I haven't started that one, also not finished with this one yet)

Pacific Rim the Black

Dragon Pilot

BNA (ofc haha)

Blue Period

Toilet Bound Hanako Kun (the art style <33)

Way of the Househusband

Little Witch Academia

Spy X Family (not finished with this one either)

There's probably more I forgot haha but there's already too much to read anyways ^^

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

I think that this thing with the american heroes is happening because of hori's editor, bnha is popular here in japan BUT is not as popular as people in the west think, I would dare to say that bnha main demographic (??) is made of americans, so I think that the editor is pushing this narrative to make the audience feel more include in the story, but well, seeing you guys reaction to the chapter I don't think it worked

Ohhh that's nice to know! Thank you for the information, anon!

Well, I can't speak for the people on USA, because I'm from Latam and that means I don't fall exactly into their target audience, but my big problem with how they decided to do the American inclusion is that they:

Sacrificed My Villain Academia, that is a really important arc in the manga, for a movie that is not canon.

Well, they actually sacrificed the whole time-line of the last season for this movie.

Gave the N. 1 USA hero a stereotypical design that is on the verge of parody, because most suits like that in the western comics were used as USA propaganda for their wars.

And if not like there wasn't USA representation before in the manga. All Might is a well done character that honors the western comics in a very balanced way. In fact, if you're a fan of the western comics, you can pinpoint where Horikoshi got inspired by them to create certain characters, like Sero Hanta for example, who has many traces of Spiderman.

We already had a good movie, the first one, with characters from USA like David and Melissa Shield. They are very well done and they represent really interesting plots. Also, it's interesting how Horikoshi gave us a well executed redemption arc with David Shield, who was partially the villain of the movie and ended up paying for what he did, but he didn't die or became just a big tragedy, instead getting happy to see All Might okay and be able to be around Melissa.

It is totally wrong to sacrificed the quality of the anime in order to give more attention to the movies. I wouldn't be so angry if they had correctly animated this last season, but they changed the time-line and shortened My Villain Academia. This is going to be a total problem because Horikoshi wrote that arc in a genius way, in order to help the readers understand the villains and build a general sense of why they deserve to live, for example.

Also? Since the second movie, I noted a pattern that I really don't like. They are taking many plot points that were already on the manga and made them the focus of the movies. Why is that wrong? Because then they don't execute those same plot points on the anime. It takes the impact of the plots too, because people already saw them on the movies.

And finally, what people need to understand about the famous flag design is that it's traditions come from war propaganda of the USA. Many heroes with such suit come from the past century and the many wars USA fought in those years. Nowadays, using that type of design is a little ironic or even satiric. And making the suit just a giant flag and calling the hero something like stars and stripes is just... Well, I don't have words for that.

It only makes it more sad that the character is a woman, because we are already lacking good female character representation on the manga. Nothing surprising for sure, but still. When you have a hero already centered on the USA identity, it gets complicated. I think Horikoshi made this new hero a sort of fan of All Might or maybe even a student of him, because that's a clever way of explaining why they share such identity.

And maybe it's because I've been fighting for so long about how nations are a social construct and the identities of such nations have been widely excluding a great part of their populations, but the N. 1 USA hero looks so stereotypical to me. And I mean it stereotypical as in the way Captain America is stereotypical.

The problem with representing other cultures in our actual world is that you need to do your research and pay attention to the details.

And if it worked or no... No idea. This blog is already in the minority side by being a villain main blog. If you add to that the fact that I'm not from USA and I don't share many cultural beliefs from there, you are gonna find that my opinion doesn't matter that much to Studio Bones.

Anyway thank you very much for this ask. It's always helpful to have some insight into the culture and country of the original material. 💞

[mx-bright-sky]

One of the things that draws the audience into the My Hero Academia universe is the world that is presented. Most superhero stories present the heroes as vigilantes, and there is debate over whether or not what they are doing really is “lawful”. But in My Hero Academia, the society is shown to fully welcome the idea of heroes, to the point where being a hero is actually its own profession due to everyone having powers. This is a very refreshing change of pace, because it takes away the conflict with society. 

...Or does it?

On the surface level, everything seems to be some kind of “quirky” utopia where everything is good up until the villains start trying to put cracks in the system. But if one takes a closer look at the things put into the world building, it slowly becomes clear that the society in the world of My Hero Academia is a lot more devious than it lets on. The hero society is corrupt and full of many flaws, and even if it is the villain’s goal to make people question it, maybe that is because it should be questioned.

((I should warn, this is like a whole full on essay so you better get comfy where you are if you’re gonna click that “Keep Reading”, which I sincerely hope you do because I spent too long on this for it to be ignored))

First of all is the treatment of people based on their quirks. Some people have quirks that affect their physical appearance, like Shouji, Mina and Kouda; and then there are people who have quirks that make them part animal, like Tsuyu. People in the hero society treat those with animal type quirks differently than they treat everyone else. In an OVA the audience is shown bits and pieces of Tsuyu’s middle school experience, and it is clear that everyone in her old school avoided her. There were various reasons given; they thought the way she acted was odd, they did not like how her tongue stuck out from her mouth, they thought that the way she held herself was funny, and so on so forth. All these reasons come back to the same attribute; that Tsuyu is, because of her quirk, part frog. The same can be said of the friend that Tsuyu makes, Habuko. Habuko was also avoided by everyone else and this was what originally drew them together, and Habuko was avoided because her quirk makes her have the appearance of a snake. It is clear from all of this that people are treated differently (mostly by being avoided) for having animal quirks that make them “odd” in the eyes of others. It can also be assumed from what we know that some people in the My Hero Academia universe would even view them as less human for having such quirks, and it is entirely possible that these people have to fight for their rights simply because of the quirk they were born with. 

However, that is not even where the discrimination against people based on their quirks stops. Obviously, while there are many people who’s quirk affects their appearance, there are many people who have quirks that do not; but that does not mean their quirks do not affect how they are perceived by other people. Shinsou, a character introduced during the Sports Festival arc, has a mind controlling quirk. In the eyes of many, this is a “villainous��� quirk. Some people will only ever see Shinsou as a villain simply because of this quirk. They say things like “That would be a perfect quirk for a villain,” and it’s shown in a flashback that even people who do interact and talk with him say things like “Just don’t brainwash me, okay?”. Through no fault of his own, Shinsou has been villainized ever since he developed his quirk. But not only is he discriminated against for having a quirk that would be considered villainous, he is also discriminated against for having a quirk that does not give him any physical strength. With the way the entrance exam is designed, there was no way Shinsou could ever pass with the quirk that he possessed. Because of all this against him, it could be argued that Shinsou has to fight harder than nearly everyone else to be accepted as a hero. Despite what everyone says, Shinsou wants to be a hero. However, some people with similar quirks might not have been so determined; how many people were born with “villainous quirks” and then, after being called a villain for their whole lives, decided to become a villain because it was all anyone would ever see them as? It is clear that people with all kinds of quirks experience discrimination for being born with any quirk that would be considered “different” in a bad way. 

When it comes to discrimination based on quirks, though, there is one group that might just have it the worst out of anyone: quirkless people. In a world of quirks, the only people who have it worse than those with strange quirks are those with no quirk at all. The audience is shown this clearly through none other than the main protagonist himself, Izuku. Ever since being diagnosed as quirkless, not only was Izuku socially excluded by everyone else, he was bullied. For years, Izuku was bullied and tormented and abused simply for the crime of not having a quirk. Even people with the most useless of quirks looked down on him; in the scene of the classroom from the first episode, it is clear that many of them have quirks that do not have many uses, and yet all of them are laughing at and ridiculing Izuku when it is revealed that he wants to attempt to go to UA. The discrimination does not stop there, either; it was already mentioned in the paragraph above that UA’s Hero Course entrance exam specifically favors people with physically strong quirks, but for quirkless people it is even worse. According to the first episode, there has never been a quirkless student at UA. Not even in the general education course. Izuku even says “They removed that rule,” when asked how he expects to get in even though he is quirkless. That means it was formerly an actual rule that quirkless people could not attend UA. So not only are quirkless people discriminated against by society, they are discriminated against by the system itself. Considering the way that the hero society is now, and how the number of quirkless people will likely decline in the future, it will only get worse if there is not some kind of change to the system. 

In all of this discrimination of people with “strange” quirks and no quirks at all, though, there is one thing that should not be left ignored. Yes, most of this discrimination we see is committed by children and young teenagers. One might say, “These are just kids, they can learn to do better.” But to learn from one’s mistakes, it must first be known that something has been done wrong. Which uncovers a much bigger problem, an enabler to all of this behavior; the adults, in all of these situations, do absolutely nothing to remedy this behavior. The adults do not tell people to stop avoiding Tsuyu and Habuko just because their quirks make them “weird”, the adults do not tell people to stop telling Shinsou that he has a villainous quirk or that he would make a great villain, and the adults do absolute nothing to stop the bullying that Izuku goes through. In this situation, these adults should be given most of the blame for these events happening. It is their job to stop these kinds of actions and teach the children that it is not okay to do these kinds of things. But do they? No. Instead, these children will grow up with prejudices against people with animal quirks, people with “villainous” quirks, and quirkless people. Once they are grown up, it will be almost impossible to correct these unfair prejudices. They will think that nothing is wrong with it because it was never stopped in the past. With the hero society that raised them, who can blame them? They were never told it was wrong, and so the hero society as a whole obviously does not see it as wrong. They will continue to raise children to hate those with strange quirks unless something is done about it.

There has been lots of talk about discrimination for people based on their quirk (or lack thereof) but what about the opposite side of the scale? People with quirks that are physically strong and “suited” for hero work are treated as special and they are praised. The audience is shown this through the treatment of Bakugou. It is impossible to deny that the people in charge have constantly given Bakugou the special treatment. They were the ones who fueled his ego, constantly telling him that he was great, that he would be a perfect hero. So much so that Bakugou truly believed that he was the strongest, that no one could be stronger than he was. Additionally, by giving Bakugou this special treatment, they overlooked his bad behavior that should have been corrected. They did not punish Bakugou when he bullied Izuku. To them Bakugou was their “star student”; they could not let him get in trouble over something as “insignificant” as bullying a quirkless student. By treating Bakugou this way, they did him a great disservice. They never actually taught him anything. These adults let Bakugou believe that bullying was okay, that there was nothing wrong with the way he was acting, and that all that is needed to make a great hero is power. Bakugou was never taught the true importance of being a hero because of the special treatment he received. 

On the surface, the way that the My Hero Academia society approaches heroes as a whole seems like a good thing. The heroes in this world are rightfully praised for the work that they do, and they can work as heroes full time so that they can give saving people their undivided attention. However, the way that this hero society views heroes is incredibly warped because of the popularization and the way that heroes are treated like celebrities. Exhibit A: the classroom scene from episode one. The students are originally talking about what high schools they are going to attend, along with their plans for the future. However, after announcing this the teacher says, “Why bother. You all pretty much just wanna be heroes, right?” which is followed by the class breaking out into cheers. It is clear that all of them want to be heroes. But if all kids everywhere want only to be heroes, then what does that say for all other job options? Are they all filled by people who wanted to be heroes but failed? Another problem with the glorification of heroes is that it leads to people becoming heroes for the wrong reason. Some people want to become heroes because they want power and fame and nothing more. This system enables people like Endeavor; he is the number two hero despite acting the very opposite of how a hero should act, simply because he is strong and powerful. How many other heroes became heroes for the sake of being powerful? The way that the society itself glorifies heroes is wrong (and this is the only time I will ever agree with Hero Killer Stain on anything).

Along with this glorification of power in heroes, there is yet another problem; battle heroes are far more prioritized than any other kind. We know there are all kinds of heroes. There are support heroes like Recovery Girl, rescue heroes like The Wild Wild Pussycats, and underground heroes like Eraserhead as just a few examples. Yet, they are all outshone by heroes who are more focused on fighting. Everyone is a fan of All Might, or Endeavor, or whatever hero hits villains the hardest. There needs to be more balance in the system, because not every situation is one that a battle hero can handle. Most of the time, though, it is as if hero society itself is even pushing for the new crowd of heroes to go into becoming battle heroes. UA has one hero course, split into two classes. Logically, it should try to give an equal learning opportunity of all types of heroes, but it does not do this. On the first day they have a test on their physical abilities, and then the next they do battle training, then their rescue training is interrupted by the villain attack. After that, they have the Sports Festival, which is all about competing and fighting each other in different ways. Then they have internships where they get to choose, but none of the internships shown really offer much diversity for learning; even Ochako, who wants to be a rescue hero, interns with a battle hero. Then the final exam is about fighting the teachers or escaping. The license exams starts with fighting each other, but then there’s a rescue portion... that has the threat of fighting fake villains thrown in again. There is absolutely no training for underground hero work or support hero work, and the rescue hero work is always over shadowed by battle hero work. It is like there is not a real choice for any of them; they have to be battle heroes. Even though at the start of the series, villains are technically on the decline because of All Might’s status as the symbol of peace. It really is a shame when you consider that most of the students in Class A have quirks that would be very useful for a rescue hero. Jirou can hear people who need help, Todoroki can use ice to reinforce buildings that might be falling apart, Momo can also create things to help with reinforcing and do so much more, Ochako (who wants to be a rescue hero, again) can use her quirk to lift rubble, and there is so much more that all of these students can do. However, the system pushes them towards becoming battle heroes, thus showing favoritism. This favoritism of battle heroes reflects on a society that has become numb to the horrors of fighting and instead finds entertainment in it.

Another way that it is shown that this hero society finds entertainment in fighting is the blatant disregard of safety for students in hero schools such as UA. UA’s motto is “Go beyond; plus ultra” but often by pushing these students past their limits, they can seriously hurt themselves with their quirks. This is most obvious with Izuku’s initial use of One For All. Before learning to control it, anything he did would completely break his bones. However, the school does nothing to prevent him from doing this and continues to leave him as is. The only people who make an honest effort to tell him not to do it are Aizawa and Recovery Girl. Izuku is not the only one pushing himself past what is healthy with the “Plus Ultra” mentality either. Kaminari’s quirk short circuits him whenever he uses its full potential, and even if this is played for laughs, there is no way that constantly going brain dead is good for his health. Even Ochako has problems with her quirk; she constantly pushes herself to vomiting, and this is treated as a minor inconvenience. Then in the Sports Festival, Ochako exhausts herself to the point of collapse. Todoroki almost freezes himself over, and even if that was because he refused to use his fire, the teachers should have done something to stop that. However, again and again, these students hurt themselves by trying to achieve “Plus Ultra” and it is treated as a good thing. Because they are “determined”. These are children, fifteen and sixteen years old, and the adults who are supposed to look after them do not because they want these children to become heroes to fight horrific battles in the future. It is quite honestly disgusting how little UA cares so little about the well-being of its students.

Finally, the last point is that this hero society itself is what leads to the creation of at least some of the villains these heroes are supposed to be fighting. There is, from earlier, the rhetorical question: “How many people with villainous quirks were called villain over and over again until they became one because that was all society would see them as?” But there is more to it than that, and it is the “main” villain himself who proves it: Shigaraki. At a young age, he was found and manipulated by All For One. How did All For One manipulate young Shigaraki? Well looking at every above point; All For One could easily have been telling him at least half of the truth. By neglecting to help Shigaraki or save him from All For One, the heroes unintentionally made a villain. How many other “outcasts” became villains as well? Consider the situation of Toga, for example. There is not much that the audience knows about Toga, besides that she is young and she has a quirk that lets her turn into people when she drinks their blood. Why would someone so young turn to villainy? Where are her parents? There are plenty of possibilities for how Toga’s past led her to the path she is on in current canon. Was she abandoned by parents who were disgusted by her quirk? Were her parents killed in an accident when they could have been saved by heroes? Is she one of the unfortunate few who was constantly told they were a monster until they believed it? The point is that neglect from heroes is what causes some people to fall into villainy.

By looking underneath the surface into the cracks of the hero society of My Hero Academia, it is easy to see that things are not as perfect as they appear. There is constant discrimination against people based on their quirks, and some people are given special treatment based on their quirks; the society thrives off of the violence and glorifies the power in being a hero at the expense of the safety of the students trying to become heroes; and at the end of the day, half of the villains the system is supposed to fight are created by the system itself. Why is this important though? Well, it shows that even when something looks good on the surface, there can still be bad things lurking underneath. This applies to many things, not just the societal structure of a fictional world. It applies to the societal structure of the real world, it applies to people who look nice but are awful people, it applies to that food that’s been sitting in your fridge for a week that you haven’t eaten yet because at first it was too soon to eat the leftovers because you had them yesterday and then suddenly it’s been a week and you don’t know if the food is still good or not. Where was I? Oh right. Repeat after me:

Fuck Hero Society Rights

*bows* thank you, thank you. And if you’ve made it this far then please consider reblogging because I spent my entire day on this. *throws glitter in the air* bye

[arcaneranger]

Final Thoughts - Summer 2019

Hey, look who finished the season perfectly on time, even if he did so by dropping a bunch of stuff last minute! (Technically, as of writing, I haven’t finished Re:Stage Dream Days, but you can rest assured that it’s bad.)

I thought I was going to do a first impressions rundown video for the entire season at once, since my impression posts don’t tend to get a lot of engagement anyway, but since I didn’t end up going through with it, I’ll summarize my point - summer started strong, and even here at the end, I can easily say it’s the best season thus far in what’s largely been a letdown year for seasonal anime (and a god damn renaissance for long shows, thanks to My Hero Academia, so if I seem down on a season that had Dororo, or Vinland Saga, or Fruits Basket, remember that I exclude those shows from my considerations until the end of the year).

This season saw several high-profile continuations like A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon II, and Symphogear XV, but also new works by creators like Mari Okada, and anticipated adaptations of Astra: Lost in Space and Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, and in the end, well...a lot of those were mixed bags at best, but the biggest drawback I will remember Summer 2019 for is that it was drowning in bad isekai shows. The aforementioned Arifureta, the basically-counts Danmachi, and also Isekai Cheat Magician, Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks, The Lost Ones, Demon Lord Retry!...it just never ended, and that’s not even counting If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord. 

Speaking of all that stuff, let’s get right into it, yeah?

28 shows were simulcast this season, and of those, I…

Skipped 4:

Yami Shibai 7, Starmyu Season 3, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, and Lord El-Melloi II Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note were all skipped because I have not watched the previous series.

Dropped 15:

Worst of the Season: If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord!

I dropped this after one episode because I found the aesthetic and tone to be aggressively boring and I found even the cute daugheroo character to be utterly generic in execution...and then later found out oh boy was I right to drop it, based on how many people compared it to the Bunny Drop manga that we don’t talk about. *shudders*

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest

Wins the “biggest tryhard” award for being just the most straightforward an SAO award gets, right up to being grimdark for dumb reasons. The first episode alone had inconsistent animation, and that just did not bode well for the future...and the plot instantly reminded me of Slime, which soured on me over time. I let this one go sour after one shot.

Demon Lord, Retry!

The blandest of beige this season, Demon Lord had neither the story nor the production values to reel me in or convince me it was anything but the Overlord wannabe it so clearly was.

Isekai Cheat Magician

This show was a pretty transparent attempt to have an isekai story with a childhood friend romance plot, and while I’m fine with one and a half of those things, it couldn’t execute them in any decent way by the end of the first episode, and just wound up being largely boring.

Wasteful Days of High School Girls

Speaking of boring, what if Nichijou wasn’t funny? You’d get something like this.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?

So the tone this one ultimately ended up having was pretty much exactly what I expected after the premiere - it leaned too hard on jokes that weren’t as funny as it thought they were, and too hard on the dumb hentai mom trope, and neither of those things interested me in the slightest. Pretty okay with having left this off the watchlist.

The Ones Within

I have stated multiple times in the last few weeks that Symphogear is great because it can convince you that it’s a work of genius. The Ones Within has, unfortunately, convinced itself that it’s deep social commentary of some kind, rather than a bargain-bin Danganronpa with no real thought put into it.

Are You Lost?

I’m amazed that we got another Eromanga Sensei this season and it flew entirely under the radar. For God’s sake, the first episode featured a young teenage girl eating a bug and drinking her own urine. I just didn’t see myself being particularly entertained by the shock value longer than the premiere.

Ensemble Stars (4/10)

I can’t tell if this one is actually over, but Funimation’s site doesn’t list any new episode premieres coming up, so I’m gonna assume it is? I gave this one a shot and hung onto it because it took UtaPri’s premise and gave it the slightly more serious tone I was looking for, but dropped it after the second episode started to drown us in side characters with no hint that the floodgates were closing, rather than giving ample screentime to a select cast so they could actually become at least two-dimensional before throwing in more people we’re supposed to care about.

BEM

BEM suffered from an unfortunate lack of distinct personality, which sucks when it seems to have had a decent story to tell. Nothing else about the show wound up sticking out to me, though, which has me fully convinced that Production I.G.’s name is only on this to boost recognition, and the second-billed LandQ studios did the majority of the work. And their best-known other show is Swordgai. So...

To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts (5/10)

I have gotten absolutely no pushback so far for my decision to tear into this show because it should have been a different show, so I’m gonna take that as a general agreement of my earlier statement. What a waste of a concept.

Cop Craft (5/10)

This one I still think I was not crazy to pick up after the first episode, because it wasn’t until the third that the animation tanked hard and the pacing went absolutely nuts, and apparently stayed that way. Did they write a thirty-nine-episode story that had to be condensed into twelve or something?

Magical Sempai

This one I probably would have kept watching if the majority of its humor wasn’t just the title character embarrassing herself in lewd ways. It was funny, but I didn’t see myself enjoying anything more than one episode of it.

GRANBELM (6/10)

This one I got halfway through before realizing that, during my end-of-season catchup, I had absolutely no desire to return to. The plot didn’t really start moving until the fifth episode, and in that time I had not gotten particularly invested in the characters, especially since the show makes fun of the viewer for thinking that the big mecha dream battles actually had stakes beyond “you don’t get to be The Thing”. At least it looked nice and the mecha designs were very original.

Are you willing to fall in love with a pervert, as long as she’s a cutie?

There were four shows this season with questions for titles. Just saying! This one actually had me hooked right up until the end, revealing that not only is it a fanservice show, but a fetish pandering one. That being said, if I were attracted to women, I could have seen myself getting something out of it, what with the decently moody tone and good production values.

I put 2 On Hold:

Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? II

I’ll probably come back to this when the third series comes around, just to give it one more chance to pull me back in, but ditching my favorite character for harem antics and character shilling just did not endear me to this long-awaited sequel.

Re:Stage Dream Days!!

This one’s not actually on hold, but I don’t have any other good place to mention it. This one I’m gonna make it through just on willpower, not because it’s good, but because it starts out as the most shameless rip-off I’ve ever seen in anime, specifically of Love Live!.

And I Finished 7:

Kochoki (5/10)

I thought I was gonna give this one a 7 at least, for nearly the whole season, for being a decently-told and somewhat new telling of Nobunaga’s early life with great production values for Studio Deen...right up until the structure fell completely apart at the end, almost completely out of nowhere. I’m still in awe of the gall this show had to literally skip over the final battle.

How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift? (8/10)

This one came right the fuck out of nowhere and totally blew my expectations out of the way from the very first episode. Looking at the summary, I was convinced I was gonna drop this after the premiere...and found myself totally hooked by its cheery visual presentation and excellent sense of meta-comedy, not to mention its genuine educational value.

Astra: Lost In Space (8/10)

One of two adaptations I was really looking forward to this season (along with Fire Force), Astra was pretty much what I expected - a very good translation of a very good manga that ran for the perfect amount of time to be divided into twelve-ish episodes. A fantastic and memorable cast of characters enhanced a surprisingly twisty story, and Lerche made it all look just as good as I’d hoped.

The Demon Girl Next Door (8/10)

Speaking of defying my expectations, another show I was expecting pretty much nothing from, maybe one I could compare to Gabriel Dropout or something, that was instead an incredibly charming story of a girl trying to save her family by defeating a magical girl...with a very, very loose definition of the word “defeat” in play. I couldn’t have asked for much more from this one, aside from maybe a sequel?

Given (9/10)

Speaking of “Lerche” and “gorgeous”, this profoundly gripping story of a spacecase and a loner hesitantly making music together blossomed further and further as it went on, and became my new go-to reference point for explicit gay relationships in anime. It went where even Yuri On Ice!!! couldn’t, and left me desperate for a Part Two.

O Maidens In Your Savage Season (9/10)

My write up for this show was one of my longest in recent memory, and I stand by it - even if Okada had to write a few plot contrivances in to get where she’s going, at least she presented her cast in an incredibly thoughtful way and gave them a satisfying payoff, with the knowledge that they’re teenagers and all of their problems can’t be solved in one semester. The high water mark for discussions of sexuality in this medium.

BEST OF THE SEASON: Symphogear XV (9/10)

Anime is wonderful, and so am I.

So that wraps up summer! We’ve got a lot to look forward to in fall, even if My Hero Academia and Food Wars’ fourth series will both ultimately end up on a list in the distant future next year. Will Psycho-Pass 3 redeem the series? Will Azur Lane be better than Kantai Collection? Will Beastars beat Aggretsuko as the biggest furry panderer of the year? Only time will tell. And then I’ll tell you all what I think it said.

[kinhnghiemsovn]

Amazon vs. Google: Decoding the World's Largest E-commerce Search Engine

Posted by Lorna_Franklin

A lot of people forget that Amazon is a search engine, let alone the largest search engine for e-commerce. With 54 percent of product searches now taking place on Amazon, it’s time to take it seriously as the world’s largest search engine for e-commerce. In fact, if we exclude YouTube as part of Google, Amazon is technically the second largest search engine in the world.

As real estate on Google becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, moving beyond a website-centric e-commerce strategy is a no brainer. With 54% of shoppers choosing to shop on e-commerce marketplaces, it’s no surprise that online marketplaces are the number one most important digital marketing channel in the US, according to a 2018 study by the Digital Marketing Institute. While marketplaces like Etsy and Walmart are growing fast, Amazon maintains its dominance of e-commerce market share owning 47 percent of online sales, and 5 percent of all retail sales in the US.

Considering that there are currently over 500 million products listed on Amazon.com, and more than two-thirds of clicks happen on the first page of Amazon’s search results—selling products on Amazon is no longer as easy as "set it and forget it." 

Enter the power of SEO.

When we think of SEO, many of us are aware of the basics of how Google’s algorithm works, but not many of us are up to speed with SEO on Amazon. Before we delve into Amazon’s algorithm, it’s important to note how Google and Amazon’s starkly different business models are key to what drives their algorithms and ultimately how we approach SEO on the two platforms.

The academic vs. The stockbroker

Google was born in 1998 through a Ph.D. project by Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin. It was the first search engine of its kind designed to crawl and index the web more efficiently than any existing systems at the time.

Google was built on a foundation of scientific research and academia, with a mission to;

“Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” — Google

Now, answering 5.6 billion queries every day, Google’s mission is becoming increasingly difficult — which is why their algorithm is designed as the most complex search engine in the world, continuously refined through hundreds of updates every year.

In contrast to Brin and Page, Jeff Bezos began his career on Wall Street in a series of jobs before starting Amazon in 1994 after reading that the web was growing at 2,300 percent. Determined to take advantage of this, he made a list of the top products most likely to sell online and settled with books because of their low cost and high demand. Amazon was built on a revenue model, with a mission to:

“Be the Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.” — Amazon

Amazon doesn’t have searcher intent issues

When it comes to SEO, the contrasting business models of these two companies lead the search engines to ask very different questions in order to deliver the right results to the user.

On one hand, we have Google who asks the question:

“What results most accurately answer the searcher’s query?”

Amazon, on the other hand, wants to know:

“What product is the searcher most likely to buy?”

On Amazon, people aren’t asking questions, they’re searching for products—and what’s more, they’re ready to buy. So, while Google is busy honing an algorithm that aims to understand the nuances of human language, Amazon’s search engine serves one purpose—to understand searches just enough to rank products based on their propensity to sell.

With this in mind, working to increase organic rankings on Amazon becomes a lot less daunting.

Amazon’s A9 algorithm: The secret ingredient

Amazon may dominate e-commerce search, but many people haven’t heard of the A9 algorithm. Which might seem unusual, but the reason Amazon isn’t keen on pushing their algorithm through the lens of a large scale search engine is simply that Amazon isn’t in the business of search.

Amazon’s business model is a well-oiled revenue-driving machine — designed first and foremost to sell as many products as possible through its online platform. While Amazon’s advertising platform is growing rapidly, and AWS continues as their fastest-growing revenue source — Amazon still makes a large portion of revenue through goods sold through the marketplace.

With this in mind, the secret ingredient behind Amazon’s A9 algorithm is, in fact: Sales Velocity

What is sales velocity, you ask? It’s essentially the speed and volume at which your products sell on Amazon’s marketplace.

There are lots of factors which Amazon SEO’s refer to as "direct" and "indirect" ranking factors, but ultimately every single one of them ties back to sales velocity in some way.

At Wolfgang Digital, we approach SEO on Google based on three core pillars — Technology, Relevance, and Authority.

Evidently, Google’s ranking pillars are all based on optimizing a website in order to drive click through on the SERP.

On the other hand, Amazon’s core ranking pillars are tied back to driving revenue through sales velocity — Conversion Rate, Keyword Relevance and of course, Customer Satisfaction.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the key factors behind each of these pillars, and what you can optimize to increase your chances of ranking on Amazon’s coveted first page.

Conversion rate

Conversion rates on Amazon have a direct impact on where your product will rank because this tells Amazon’s algorithm which products are most likely to sell like hotcakes once they hit the first page.

Of all variables to monitor as an Amazon marketer, working to increase conversion rates is your golden ticket to higher organic rankings.

Optimize pricing

Amazon’s algorithm is designed to predict which products are most likely to convert. This is why the price has such a huge impact on where your products rank in search results. If you add a new product to Amazon at a cheaper price than the average competitor, your product is inclined to soar to the top-ranking results, at least until it gathers enough sales history to determine the actual sales performance.

Even if you’re confident that you have a supplier advantage, it’s worth checking your top-selling products and optimizing pricing where possible. If you have a lot of products, repricing software is a great way to automate pricing adjustments based on the competition while still maintaining your margins.

However, Amazon knows that price isn’t the only factor that drives sales, which is why Amazon’s first page isn’t simply an ordered list of items priced low to high. See the below Amazon UK search results for “lavender essential oil:”

Excluding the sponsored ads, we can still see that not all of the cheap products are ranked high and the more expensive ones lower down the page. So, if you’ve always maintained the idea that selling on Amazon is a race to the bottom on price, read on my friends.

Create listings that sell

As we discussed earlier, Amazon is no longer a “set it and forget” platform, which is why you should treat each of your product listings as you would a product page on your website. Creating listings that convert takes time, which is why not many sellers do it well, so it’s an essential tactic to steal conversions from the competition.

Title

Make your titles user-friendly, include the most important keywords at the front, and provide just enough information to entice clicks. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing titles on Amazon, in fact, it may even hinder your rankings by reducing clicks and therefore conversions.

Bullet points

These are the first thing your customer sees, so make sure to highlight the best features of your product using a succinct sentence in language designed to convert.

Improve the power of your bullet points by including information that your top competitors don’t provide. A great way to do this is to analyze the “answered questions” for some of your top competitors.

Do you see any trending questions that you could answer in your bullet points to help shorten the buyer journey and drive conversions to your product?

Product descriptions

Given that over 50 percent of Amazon shoppers said they always read the full description when they are considering purchasing a product, a well-written product description can have a huge impact on conversions.

Your description is likely to be the last thing a customer will read before they choose to buy your product over a competitor, so give these your time and care, reiterating points made in your bullet points and highlighting any other key features or benefits likely to push conversions over the line.

Taking advantage of A+ content for some of your best selling products is a great way to craft a visually engaging description, like this example from Safavieh.

Of course, A+ content requires additional design costs which may not be feasible for everyone. If you opt for text-only descriptions, make sure your content is easy to read while still highlighting the best features of your product.

For an in-depth breakdown on creating a beautifully crafted Amazon listing, I highly recommend this post from Startup Bros.

AB test images

Images are incredibly powerful when it comes to increasing conversions, so if you haven’t tried split testing different image versions on Amazon, you could be pleasantly surprised. One of the most popular tools for Amazon AB testing is Splitly — it’s really simple to use, and affordable with plans starting at $47 per month.

Depending on your product type, it may be worth investing the time into taking your own pictures rather than using the generic supplier provided images. Images that tend to have the biggest impact on conversions are the feature images (the one you see in search results) and close up images, so try testing a few different versions to see which has the biggest impact.

Amazon sponsored ads

The best thing about Amazon SEO is that your performance on other marketing channels can help support your organic performance.

Unlike on Google, where advertising has no impact on organic rankings, if your product performs well on Amazon ads, it may help boost organic rankings. This is because if a product is selling through ads, Amazon’s algorithm may see this as a product that users should also see organically.

A well-executed ad campaign is particularly important for new products, in order to boost their sales velocity in the beginning and build up the sales history needed to rank better organically.

External traffic

External traffic involves driving traffic from social media, email, or other sources to your Amazon products.

While external sources of traffic are a great way to gain more brand exposure and increase customer reach, a well-executed external traffic strategy also impacts your organic rankings because of its role in increasing sales and driving up conversion rates.

Before you start driving traffic straight to your Amazon listing, you may want to consider using a landing page tool like Landing Cube in order to protect your conversion rate as much as possible.

With a landing page tool, you drive traffic to a landing page where customers get a special offer code to use on your product listing page—this way, you only drive traffic which is guaranteed to convert.

Keyword relevance

A9 still relies heavily on keyword matching to determine the relevance of a product to searcher’s query, which is why this is a core pillar of Amazon SEO.

While your title, bullet points, and descriptions are essential for converting customers, if you don’t include the relevant keywords, your chances of driving traffic to convert are slim to none.

Every single keyword incorporated in your Amazon listing will impact your rankings, so it’s important to deploy a strategic approach.

Steps for targeting the right keywords on Amazon:

Brainstorm as many search terms you think someone would use to find your product.

Analyze 3–5 competitors with the most reviews to identify their target keywords.

Validate the top keywords for your product using an Amazon keyword tool such as Magnet, Ahrefs, or Keywordtool.io.

Download the keyword lists into Excel, and filter out any duplicate or irrelevant keywords. 

Prioritize search terms with the highest search volume, bearing in mind that broad terms will be harder to rank for. Depending on the competition, it may make more sense to focus on lower volume terms with lower competition—but this can always be tested later on.

Once you have refined the keywords you want to rank for, here are some things to remember:

Include your most important keywords at the start of the title, after your brand name.

Use long-tail terms and synonyms throughout your bullets points and descriptions.

Use your backend search terms wisely — these are a great place for including some common misspellings, different measurement versions e.g. metric or imperial, color shades and descriptive terms.

Most importantly — don’t repeat keywords. If you’ve included a search term once in your listing i.e. the title, you don’t need to include it in your backend search terms. Repeating a keyword, or keyword stuffing will not improve your rankings.

Customer satisfaction

Account health

Part of Amazon’s mission statement is “to be the Earth’s most customer-centric company.” This relentless focus on the customer is what drives Amazon’s astounding customer retention, with 85 percent of Prime shoppers visiting the marketplace at least once a week and 56% of non-Prime members reporting the same. A focus on the customer is at the core of Amazon’s success, which is why stringent customer satisfaction metrics are a key component to selling on Amazon.

Your account health metrics are the bread and butter of your success as an Amazon seller, which is why they’re part of Amazon’s core ranking algorithm. Customer experience is so important to Amazon that, if you fail to meet the minimum performance requirements, you risk getting suspended as a seller—and they take no prisoners.

On the other hand, if you are meeting your minimum requirements but other sellers are performing better than you by exceeding theirs, they could be at a ranking advantage. 

Customer reviews

Customer reviews are one of the most important Amazon ranking factors — not only do they tell Amazon how customers feel about your product, but they are one of the most impactful conversion factors in e-commerce. Almost 95 percent of online shoppers read reviews before buying a product, and over 60 percent of Amazon customers say they wouldn’t purchase a product with less than 4.5 stars.

On Amazon, reviews help to drive both conversion rate and keyword relevance, particularly for long-tail terms. In short, they’re very important.

Increasing reviews for your key products on Amazon was historically a lot easier, through acquiring incentivized reviews. However, in 2018, Amazon banned sellers from incentivizing reviews which makes it even more difficult to actively build reviews, especially for new products.

Tips for building positive reviews on Amazon:

Maintain consistent communication throughout the purchase process using Amazon email marketing software. Following up to thank someone for their order and notify when the order if fulfilled, creates a seamless buying experience which leaves customers more likely to give a positive review.

Adding branded package inserts to thank customers for their purchase makes the buying experience personal, differentiating you as a brand rather than a nameless Amazon seller. Including a friendly reminder to leave a review in a nice delivery note will have better response rates than the generic email they receive from Amazon.

Providing upfront returns information without a customer having to ask for it shows customers you are confident in the quality of your product. If a customer isn’t happy with your product, adding fuel to the fire with a clunky or difficult returns process is more likely to result in negative reviews through sheer frustration.

Follow up with helpful content related to your products such as instructions, decor inspiration, or recipe ideas, including a polite reminder to provide a review in exchange.

And of course, deliver an amazing customer experience from start to finish.

Key takeaways for improving Amazon SEO

As a marketer well versed in the world of Google, venturing onto Amazon can seem like a culture shock — but mastering the basic principles of Amazon SEO could be the difference between getting lost in a sea of competitors and driving a successful Amazon business.

Focus on driving sales velocity through increasing conversion rate, improving keyword relevance, nailing customer satisfaction and actively building reviews.

Craft product listings for customers first, search engines second.

Don’t neglect product descriptions in the belief that no one reads them—over 50% of Amazon shoppers report reading the full description before buying a product.

Keywords carry a lot of weight. If you don’t include a keyword in your listing, your chances of ranking for it are slim.

Images are powerful. Take your own photos instead of using generic supplier images and be sure to test, test, and test.

Actively build positive reviews by delivering an amazing customer experience.

Invest in PPC and driving external traffic to support organic performance, especially for new products.

What other SEO tips or tactics do you apply on Amazon? Tell me in the comments below!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[patriciavetinari]

I think it's absolutely fair to admit it's weird when people try to pigeon hole every picture of bedsheets as some kind of aesthetic, but here in my personal space I would actually like to scream into the void about trying to figure out and/or build the aesthetic as a fat person.

This is a sub-problem of the issue of availability of varied clothing for fat people, obviously, but I also feel like this is definitely, like... A problem of mental images? And imagery and design in general? Many styles and subcultures, when they are explored, are only explored through the example of thin people. I don't know how to explain, other than if you google 'goth' or 'vintage' or 'dark academia' or 'cottagecore' or 'manic pixie' or whatever, all of these is going to show thin people. And most of these are obsessed with thinness even if there has been a plus size community or a veneer of body positivity. Unless you add 'plus sized' and then you will find very little and will eventually land somewhere in rockabilly.

I mean that not only I am a roundcheeked person in a world obsessed with cheekbones, I'm also a person consisting of roundness in a world obsessed with geometric lines and angles and protruding bones.

I guess I'm saying that fatness really isn't romantisized which of course it isn't given the rampant fatphobia, but I find it a whole separate kind of pain and a personal challenge to like myself not only despite the weight or the size as numbers, but with the roundness it gives me, the intrinsic features that have been excluded from styles and aesthetics for decades.

I love the posts talking about soft tummies and chubby cheeks and such but honestly, they are not something that helps me that much. I've mentioned it before that it's super annoying when anyone says 'fat people are so soft like clouds like cherubs so cute so nice to cuddle' like they are talking about a fucking body pillow.

I want to be known for elegance and grace and I want to explore like noire femme fatale aesthetic which is all represented by stick thin rita hayworth types with only collarbones and ribcages and cigarettes and the only curve allowed is jessica rabbit kind of breasts. And some jokers bring up like dita von teese as an example of plus size or round face which is, you know, absurd. It's a thin woman with visible ribcage and cheekbones.

It's fucking frustrating. There are no examples, no role models, no aesthetic that celebrates the face that looks like mine. All round features. I hate smiling because it makes my face wider and rounder and eyes smaller. I mean I obviously have a long way to go when it comes to self acceptance but it's bloody hard to do when every style and aesthetic out there is celebrating every feature opposite of what I have and whenever the features I DO possess are mentioned it's always this 'friend shaped cute so soft like a cloud like pillow so nice, absolutely not elegant or graceful or ravishing or entrancing or glamorous or striking or bewitching, just cute'.

This is a very superficial issue and a very personal one but every day is an agony. My aesthetic is something sharp like daggers and knives, bittersweet like dark chocolate, elegant like violin or harpsichord, cool like eucalyptus, and the world still is only prepared to celebrate me if I embrace the 'cute chubby tummy pillow cloud my little pony funny candy floss poof and fluff' that I have on the outside it seems.

I don't know.

It's hard. I like my body, I genuinely got better at this. I'm a gorgeous human being. But the fact that there is nothing for me to get for my body to like how it's presented to the world is agony. The fact that I cannot change people's perception of me as cute chubby wannabe vaguely goth is pain. Don't even get me started on sexy. I have never been made feel sexy by other people in the first place but even in theory I'm not a fan of the whole mommy milkers side of things, like I want to feel and recognized as femme fatale sexy not huge fat mommy milkers sexy.

[downtheaxon]

hello friends and followers - two days ago, I found out I won (earned?) the biggest/most prestigious phd scholarship in canada (a vanier cgs)

other than two days of celebration (and exhaustion, as my masters/phd is always way more work than I anticipate), I have a lot of complicated feelings about this:

tw: frank discussion of psychiatry, including depression, suicidal ideation, and self harm

firstly, as you know, I’ve been struggling with my mental health for most of my adolescent and adult life. I recently (read: monday) brought back journals from my childhood home to my apartment in montreal and the earliest mention of suicidal ideation that I could find dates from around my 13th birthday i.e. over 10 years ago. and that breaks my heart.

9 days before I found out I won the vanier, I had my first psychiatry intake appointment. I spent an hour discussing essentially everything that has brought me to this point, and couldn’t shake what the doctor who referred me there a few weeks prior had said: why have you never seen a psychiatrist?

I’m more aware now (than ever) how long I suffered in absolute silence, with no care, and really truly believed my suffering was self-made, deserved, and normal for me. I didn’t get any form of psychiatrist help until after I left my abusive relationship in the winter of 2014 shortly after I turned 20 (and I am so so grateful for the relationship I built with my psychologist, who I still see). 

even with a history of suicidal ideation and attempt (singular), extensive history of self harm (all kinds), mental illness in the immediate family, unstable/traumatic upbringing, clear social isolation, obvious blatant unhappiness, no one thought to take mini-me to see a doctor. I exclude the time I briefly met with my brother’s psychiatrist shortly after I turned 18, who suggested I might be a borderline personality ten minutes into meeting me but didn’t follow up on this.

I always thought this was my fault and that my feelings towards myself were justified. when I was young, my self harm made sense - I deserved to be hurt (and others hurt me without consequence, so clearly I was the designated punching bag). my abusive relationship reaffirmed this, and a circuit in my brain intensified and fully, at my core, believes that I am worthless, awful, deserving of pain. and that’s really scary to me because now, at age 24, after years of therapy and self-compassion, I know on many levels that that isn’t true. but on other levels, I still believe it.

why am I talking about this? because after the elation of winning the vanier, I was hit with incomparable sadness. I don’t deserve the vanier - not only that, but it would be better if I reject it so that it goes to the next person on the waitlist, someone more deserving as me. my brain even ventured into see, if you’d killed yourself earlier in the year, then the next person on the list would have it and it wouldn’t go to waste on you. along with this thought came a profound urge to self harm and destroy myself. 

academia induces enough imposter syndrome as is. couple that with a mental illness, and the toxicity becomes overwhelming and unbreathable. 

don’t get me wrong, I’m happy. I’m very very happy. this honour opens many doors for me, be it the financial freedom to afford healthcare for my cat if she needs it, take my partner on a trip to europe, move into a bigger apartment, and and get a monthly massage (or a nintendo switch - or both), as well as the exclusive trainings and professional travel opportunities that are included with the award.

but I don’t feel like I deserve it - while also feeling like I do. knowing I ranked in the bottom 5, knowing I got it by the skin of my teeth (is that the expression?), also knocks me down a peg (and trust me, I don’t need to be knocked down a peg.

I don’t know what my point is with all this. my point is a few things: my partner is moving in in two weeks, after two years of a long distance relationship. that’s extremely exciting and makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world. I’ll be financially secure in my phd (thanks to the vanier), which also makes me feel lucky. after a trip next month, I’ll start SSRIs which will hopefully take the edge off my pain and that also makes me feel lucky. a lot is happening all at once.

I guess my point is this: my illness feels more central to my life than my phd does. and my phd is very important to me, but it always comes second, and always exsits within the context of my illness. I prioritize therapy and doctor’s appointments and good eating habits and regular sleep and time for myself over experiments, because I can’t exist otherwise. 

my other thought and point: I’ve suffered a lot in my life, and perhaps it’s pretentious to say that I’ve suffered more than others my age in my program but it feels that way most days. I’m exhausted from all this suffering. the vanier feels like a life raft in this sea of difficulty and trouble. 

another thought: I’ve always used school to cope. when things got worse at home, my grades got better. after I figured out how to take tests, it always felt like something I could control. friendships were hard, dealing with home was hard, loving myself was hard, but school was always easy. and I know that that isn’t as common of an experience and am so grateful that that was mine. because being good at school is what saved me - it’s what allowed me to move out (to do a phd), to build a social circle, and to reach financial independence and stability.

a last thought: I never know how public to be about my struggles in my immediate academic circle. I wish I were braver. I’m realizing slowly that visibility does not have to be self-indulgent - I wish I knew someone in an academic position above mine who talked about succeeding in academia in spite of a long history of mental health struggles and trauma. I wish I did more, outreach wise. I’m good at this one-on-one, and I’m proud of how good of a mentor I can be to my students, both academically and personally. but, on a bigger scale....

no one wants to hear you cry about the grief inside your bones.

thank you for reading, should you have gotten this far. I’m submitting my phd proposal today, in order to pass my comps/proposal at the end of april. that’s terrifying and exciting all at once. I don’t know if I belong in academia, I don’t know if I deserve the success I have, but when I feel well, I want to take full advantage of what luck and opportunity have given me.

I keep telling my partner: we’ve had enough unhappiness. it’s time for the happy times of our life to start. (although I am terrified of something awful happening, because my experience suggests just that).

I’m grateful and I’m struggling. I’m successful and I’m traumatized. I’ve spent months trying to reconcile these two opposing states, and perhaps the vanier (which acknowledges my extracurriculars, my outreach, all reflective of my need to teach, mentor and decrease mental illness related stigma) is doing just that. or perhaps it creates a larger divide. it’s hard to say. 

feel free to send me a message should you want to chat about this. I’ll be working on my phd candidacy presentation all day (what an odd terrifying wonderful bizarre exciting and frightening life). 

[hentaihunblog-blog]

SPRING ANIME 2018 PREVIEW

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2018/03/26/spring-anime-2018-preview/

SPRING ANIME 2018 PREVIEW

Continuing Titles (Bolded: Currently Covering) Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou, BEATLESS, Black Clover, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen,  Classica Loid 2, Darling in the Franxx, GARO VANISHING LINE, Grancrest Senki, Hakyuu Houshin Engi, Hugtto! Precure, Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu, Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan 2 (TV-Short), Toji no Miko, Yowamushi Pedal: GLORY LINE, Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS

Excluded Spring 2018 Titles: Beyblade Burst Chouzetsu, Future Card Buddyfight X: All-Star Fight, Puzzle & Dragon,  Akkun to Kanojo Alice or Alice (TV-Short), Amai Choubatsu: Watashi wa Kanshu Senyou Pet (TV-Short), Keifuku-san (TV-Short) Koneko no Chii: Ponponra Daibouken 2 (TV-Short), Kuroneko Monroe (TV-Short), Nobunaga no Shinobi: Anegawa Ishiyama-hen (TV-Short), Omae wa Mada Gunma wo Shiranai (TV-Short), Tachibanakan to Lie Angle (TV-Short), To Be Hero 2 (TV-Short), Uchuu Senkan Tiramisu (TV-Short), Usagi no Mathew (TV-Short)

Resources: Anichart, ANN, CR, LiveChart, MAL, MoeTron

Writers on Season Hiatus: Nikolita, MoonNyte

~*~

Spring has come, and you know what that means? A new season! Please welcome our three newest additions to the team, Fuzzy, Shadow, and Tsuyoku, along a surprise return of one of our former writers, MidnightDevont! 

We would also like to note, in this edition of the Season Preview, due the lack of interest from the team, we have elected to exclude TV-SHORTS. Due to the the shows being as short as 3 minutes or 15 minutes long, we have also decided TV-Shorts are regarded as an Optional Side Project for the writers to pick up on the side if it garners their interest. So even though they may not be on the preview, there may be a writer or two who will may cover one anyways.

We are also aware about the rise of Netflix exclusive anime titles that can sometimes slip off the radar. If you see a Netflix exclusive anime you wish to bring to our attention, give us a shout at FAQ + Ask the Team!

3D Kanojo: Real Girl

Animation Company: Hoods Entertainment Website: http://www.3dkanojo-anime.com/ Genre: Romance Airing Date: April 4, 2018 Summary: Hikari Tsutsui is a high school boy who is satisfied with the virtual girls he encounters in anime and games. He does not have many friends and he lives in his own world. One day, when he is stuck on pool cleaning duty, he is approached by Iroha, a “real girl” who is showy and popular with boys. Trailer: CM 1 | PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I am pretty sure I read a bit of this manga at some point, but I lost interest in it.

Berry: Characters like the main guy always annoy me and make me cringe, so I don’t think I’d like this show.

MidnightDevont: This is all kinds of not my kind of show. First off, the protag sounds really annoying, vague Dangan Ronpa reference but it’s like if Hifumi Yamada got hot and suddenly met a 3D girl he was interested in. No. Thank. You. I might give it a watch down the line if people start telling me that it’s any good but it’s not something I’d cover. Hard pass.

Pandora: Nah, but It seems like it will be funny like World Only God Knows. I loved that one.

Aplus: Hmm, yes. ‘Satisfied’ with virtual girls. This looks like one of the increasingly popular anime themes that try to go meta/ends up trash talking all anime fans. It looks a bit boring to me personally, but I’m always down to give it a shot. I mean, even if he ends up liking the IRL girl… it’s still a 2D person, so… win-win?

Fuzzy: I usually enjoy romcom type shows, but I don’t really see anything that piques my interest on this one. 

Shadow: Hmm, this could potentially be interesting and I’m always up for a romantic comedy.

Tsuyoku: The old 2D > 3D debate made into anime! A part of me feels a little bit curious, but I don’t particularly like the designs and overall it just looks bland, so pass.

Aikatsu Friends!

Animation Company: Bandai Namco Pictures Website: http://www.aikatsu.com/friends/teaser/ Genre: Music Airing Date: April 5, 2018 Summary: “Let’s go, together! Head for the goal, Diamond Friends!!” The new anime will have a theme of “Aikatsu with your friends!” and will center on a new protagonist named Aine Yuuki, who is good at making friends, and is enrolled in Star Harmony Academy’s general education track. She befriends Mio Minato, the school’s top idol, and becomes an idol herself. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I never gotten into the Aikatsu series. It is too bad because they always have adorable character designs.

Berry: I had only watched a bit of the previous season, Aikatsu Stars, and thought it was cute and the music in it was pretty good. I fell behind on it but I love the designs here, so I’m gonna check it out!

MidnightDevont: IDOL ANIME, female idols? HAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHA, I had this talk the other day. I’m pretty much an exclusive ‘male idol’ anime kinda gal.

Pandora: They still making these?

Aplus: I will always give music anime a shot. I’ve regretted it more times than I’ve enjoyed it but, hey, they can’t all be winners, right?

Fuzzy: Not a really big fan of the art style, but the PV has some nice voice acting, so maybe it’ll have good songs? Still a no though. 

Shadow: Too many girls looking way too colorful and too moe. Was never into female idol animes so this is definitely a no go.

Tsuyoku: I have very little interest in idol anime in general and although this seems cute, I doubt it’ll be the exception, so I doubt I’ll check it out.

Amanchu! Advance (S2)

Animation Company: J.C. Staff Website: http://amanchu-anime.com/ Genre: Comedy Slice of Life Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: The second season of Amanchu! Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I watched the first episode of the first season, and then forgot about it. I intend to get around to watch it at some point though.

Berry: Didn’t watch the first season. I watched the first episode and that girl with the green hair kept making that weird fish face with the giant smile and it was creepy.

MidnightDevont: Didn’t watch the first season, not even sure what it’s about. Not gonna lie, the art is pretty though. This might be something I double back and look at.

Pandora: Never seen this first season.

Aplus: Never heard of this show before. To be fair, Slice of life is my kryptonite. It’s the one genre I just can never get into even if I want to. It’s like the sims of anime. I’m good.

Fuzzy: Didn’t watch the first season, but the PV does look promising. Really pretty and seems to have a nice cozy vibe. Probably won’t touch it though. 

Shadow: I didn’t watch the first season.

Tsuyoku: I’ll be watching this, as I watched the first season and the OVA, but I don’t have much interest in blogging about it because it’s not a show that makes me want to say a lot about it.

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu HAPPY KISS

Animation Company: Studio Comet Website: http://boueibu.com/hk/index.html Genre: Slice of Life, Comedy, Parody, Magic, School Airing Date: April 9, 2018 Summary: (Spin-Off Series)  Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I couldn’t get into the original series, so I suspect I won’t like the spin-off either.

Berry: Saw the first season but not the second season. It was a fun watch but I don’t think I’d watch more.

MidnightDevont: -sighs- Well, I covered season 1 back in the day. I’ve watched season 2 and the OVA…I am genuinely curious about this entirely new cast and what they are going to do with the reality show plot threads from the original series and if they’re going to go down the more musical route of the second season. Which I genuinely enjoyed,So, sign me up.

Pandora: I watched the first season, and then I never watched the second season. I probably should. The first season was pretty funny, though, back in the day.

Aplus: Wow. If that picture isn’t enough to get someone interested, then I don’t know what is. There’s always one of these in every season. Just a bunch of bros, hanging out and drinking milk. Not my idea of a good night-in. I’m going to hard pass on this. 

Fuzzy: Nope, does not seem like my type of show at all. 

Shadow: I attempted to watch the first season of this with a friend but I honestly couldn’t watch more than three episodes.

Tsuyoku: Back in the day I would have watched this just for the voice actors, but I don’t really have the patient for it anymore.

Possible Bloggers: MidnightDevont

Boku no Hero Academia 3

Animation Company: BONES Website: http://heroaca.com/ Genre: Action Comedy Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: The third season of Boku no Hero Academia. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

disTeam Impression

Eva: STARES AT BACKLOG … I really should be reading the manga and getting around to watch this show already….

Berry: This show is more fun to watch than to blog, so HOO BOY. HERE WE GO I CAN’T WAIT FOR MORE. Second season was absolutely amazing so I can’t even imagine what’s in store next (i don’t read manga).

MidnightDevont: Hmmmm, seems like Oki had been covering the other seasons. With her on hiatus…-snakes around the series- Seriously though! I love Hero Academia so much and my friend has me REALLY hyped up for the third season. So if none of the other bloggers want it, I’ll take it for sure!

Pandora: Nope. Everyone loves this show, but I only able to get through 3 episode. I don’t remember why though, it’s been awhile.

Aplus: Well, well, well. Here we are again. I have to agree with some of the other writers on this. Incredibly fun show to watch and that almost makes me not want to blog it. Sometimes shutting my brain off is the best choice.

Fuzzy: Okay, super excited for BnHA. Definitely one of my recent favorites and very excited for the content it’s covering, but I’m fine with just watching along.

Shadow: I have been so HYPED about this series and hoo boy, this season is going to be INTENSE. I’m sure a bunch of people would want to blog about this and I just want to enjoy watching it.

Tsuyoku: I’ll probably wait for the whole season to finish airing before I marathon it, so I won’t be following weekly, but I’m as hyped as everyone else!

Possible Bloggers: MidnightDevont

Butlers ~Chitose Momotose Monogatari~

Animation Company: SILVER LINK. Website: http://www.butlers-anime.com/ Genre: Action, Comedy Airing Date: April 12, 2018 Summary: Koma Jinguji (Jay) is the smart and handsome student council president. His elegant smile captures the hearts of women. Tsubasa Hayakawa is a multi-talented and gentle shop assistant at a café. His cafe latte with owl latte art is very popular with female customers. The two men travel through time to fight their archenemy. The charming “Butlers,” as they are called, fight supernatural battles and also experience a slapstick comedic life at their academy. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I am not entirely sure what to think of it, but it sounds and looks pretty cool. I will probably check this one out at some point or another.

Berry: This actually looks decent. And the slapstick comedy part throws me off because the PV looked pretty cool. I’ll probably check it out.

MidnightDevont: THIS SOMEHOW PASSED ENTIRELY UNDER MY RADAR! This sounds amazing! I have a ton of other things i’m thinking of putting my name down under for wanting to blog though. That is the only thing holding me back from throwing myself down as a possible blogger for this! I’ll be watching for sure though! Maybe if nobody else wants it i’ll look into covering it….AH! WHY IS THIS SEASON LOOKING SO GOOD?

Pandora: Seem interesting. I probably could watch for the comedy.

Aplus: Now, generally anything with the words ‘monogatari’ in the title gets me interested. It’s sort of like a Pavlovian response at this point. I will definitely give this show a chance, but the comedy-action balance is a hard thing to get right. I will hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Fuzzy: I like the premise, reminds me a bit of Sakamoto-kun except now there are two less Sakamotos, which is more than one whole Sakamoto I guess? Probably a pass though. 

Shadow: The premise does seem interesting and I wouldn’t mind giving it a look. But I’m a bit hesitant about it as well since Silver Link is a very hit or miss studio. Not to mention my sense of humor is… strange. I’m either dying laughing or it just kind of passes over my head. I think I’ll just be content watching this to see where it goes and if it tickles my funny bone.

Tsuyoku: I’m not interested in these butlers. I don’t know why, but the PV makes it seems really serious, yet there’s comedy in the summary. I find the contrast jarring.

Possible Bloggers: MidnightDevont

Caligula

Animation Company: Satelight Website: http://caligula-anime.com/ Genre: Action, Sci-Fi Airing Date: April 8, 2018 Summary: The Caligula Effect is set in a virtual reality program known as “Mobius”, created so people can escape pain in their lives and live in an idyllic high school setting, forced to live out their 3 years Indefinitely. The main protagonist is one of a group who realize that they are in a virtual world, and form the “Go-Home Club”, a group dedicated to escaping from Mobius and its god-like overseer program, a vocal program called “μ”. They oppose the “Ostinato Musicians”, a group who supports μ and sees the Go-Home Club as traitors. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I was this close to buying the game, but changed my mind about it. So I might watch this, wouldn’t hurt to try- but I don’t have any major expectations from it.

Berry: Yeah, this could be a hit or miss. Like, it has the potential to be great but it could just as easily fuck up bad if handled wrong. I will tread cautiously on this one.

MidnightDevont: ….This sounds like Sword Art and Ready Player One had a baby, and it sounds kind of cool. -slams head on table- STOP TEMPTING ME WITH SHOWS SPRING SEASON. Alright, moderation is a thing…pass…pass…

Pandora: I feel like this will be one of shows that had a good idea, but they are somehow going to fail at episode 6. Interesting, though, nonetheless.

Aplus: History repeats itself. In this case, that means I am 100% going to watch this to completion and it will more likely than not get lost in its own premise and sputter out before anything actually happens. I wholeheartedly look forward to it. Plus, it’s ironic, isn’t it? The people there are using VR to escape the pain in their lives and I’m using the show to do the same…..

Fuzzy: It looks alright, a definite “maybe it’ll be a hit?” or “maybe it’ll be like the other twenty mediocre shows that are like it.” Not worth it in my opinion. Pass.

Shadow: This looks like one of the edge lords of the season and could be an interesting watch… as long as there is good writing which is definitely a 50/50 with most animes of this caliber. So pass.

Tsuyoku: Definitely looks like the kind of show I would check out! Though learning it’s based off a game put me off slightly, so now I’m on the fence about it.

Possible Bloggers: Aplus

Captain Tsubasa (2018)

Animation Company: David Production Website: http://ball-ha-tomodachi.com/ Genre: Action, Sports, Shounen Airing Date: April 3, 2018 Summary: Captain Tsubasa is the passionate story of an elementary school student whose thoughts and dreams revolve almost entirely around the love of soccer. 11-year-old Tsubasa Oozora started playing football at a very young age, and while it was mostly just a recreational sport for his friends, for him, it developed into something of an obsession. In order to pursue his dream to the best of his elementary school abilities, Tsubasa moves with his mother to Nankatsu city, which is well-known for its excellent elementary school soccer teams. But although he was easily the best in his old town, Nankatsu has a lot more competition, and he will need all of his skill and talent in order to stand out from this new crowd. He encounters not only rivals, but also new friends like the pretty girl Sanae Nakazawa and the talented goalkeeper, Genzo Wakabayashi, who shares the same passion as Tsubasa, and will prove to be a treasured friend in helping him push towards his dreams. Representing Japan in the FIFA World Cup is Tsubasa’s ultimate dream, but it will take a lot more than talent to reach it. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I remember watching a bit of the original series during my “Sports Anime Marathon” I pulled one summer! 😀 I don’t think I ever completed it though…

Berry: I’ve always wanted to get into Captain Tsubasa but never did, but with a reboot and an easier way to watch, then heck yes! I love soccer and love sports anime, so I’m excited! I also love that they still stuck close to the original art style. Btw, 2018 World Cup this summer and I am PUMPED! >:)

MidnightDevont: Oh look, at last, something I could care less about…I’ve seen a total of 3 sports anime i’ve enjoyed and this does not look like it would be one of them.

Pandora: Nope. Sports

Aplus: I think soccer is the final ‘major sport’ I have yet to find a good anime for. Days and Clean Freak Aoyama just didn’t do it for me. Baseball, basketball, volleyball, swimming, ping pong, and more have already been covered. I hope this can enter my sports hall of fame. I 

Fuzzy: Never watched Tsubasa. YET! So pass.

Shadow: Seems like there’s been a trend of revamping old anime. Unfortunately I never got into this series in the past nor do I have much of an interest now. Pass.

Tsuyoku: I watched some of the original Captain Tsubasa on TV as a kid and I remember enjoying it, but I’m not really interested in getting back into it now. I’m more of a baseball person than a soccer person.

Comic Girls

Animation Company: Nexus Website: http://comic-girls.com/ Genre: Slice of Life, Comedy Airing Date: April 5, 2018 Summary: The manga’s story centers on the 15-year-old high school student and manga creator Kaoruko Moeta, who uses the pen name Chaos. After ranking at the bottom of a reader survey, Kaoruko’s editor recommends that she enter an all-female dormitory for manga creators. Kaoruko’s roommates are shoujo manga creator Koyume Koizuka, teen romance manga creator Ruki Irokawa, and shounen manga creator Tsubasa Katsuki. The girls support each other as they work to become better manga creators. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I like the sound of it, but I am not sure if it will keep me interested from start to finish.

Berry: This is just going to be like another New Game where it’s less about making manga and more about the cute girls doing nothing. Boo, no thanks.

MidnightDevont: Wow, I can taste the cute rainbows and fluffiness from here…I might die from sugar overdose. Please, send help. No..um, pass, thanks.

Pandora: Looks interesting, only because I like to make comics. Probably won’t watch it though.

Aplus: Cute girls doing cute things? No one else is on board with this? Damn. It looks like a manga edition of New Game. Hopefully it’s as interesting and addresses the hardships of the industry as well as flaunting moe blobs. 

Fuzzy: Moebloberinos, not my thing. 

Shadow: Again, I’m not one for cute girls doing cute things aside from a few exceptions. Pass.

Tsuyoku: I’ll probably be checking this one out since I find these kind of shows educational, but I’m not very interested in blogging about it.

Cutie Honey Universe

Animation Company: Production Reed Website: http://cutiehoney-u.com/ Genre: Action, Comedy, Magic, Ecchi, Sci-Fi, Shoujo Airing Date: April 8, 2018 Summary: Honey Kisaragi appears to be an ordinary girl attending St. Chapel Academy, but in reality she’s the “Warrior of Love” Cutie Honey, a super-powered android created by Dr. Kisaragi. Honey and her allies investigate the evil schemes of Panther Claw, a criminal secret society, but Honey doesn’t realize that the leader of Panther Claw is already closer than she thinks… Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I am liking the trend of old school titles making a comeback! 😀 Although I’m not big with ecchi, I will probably be tuning in for this one. I did watch a bit of the original series.

Berry: The original 80’s OP is catchy as hell, but I’m not an ecchi person so no thanks.

MidnightDevont: HONEY FLASH! While I’ve never been a Cutie Honey fan outside of listening to it’s super catchy opening. I hope someone covers it so I can read about it at least, I’ll pass, but I hope this classic gets some love.

Pandora: Looks cool and retro. I like old school shows like Dirty Pair and stuff like that.

Aplus: The resurgence of this type of animation is very cool! I probably won’t blog it, but I will definitely check it out. Tasteful ecchi is always a plus in my book.

Fuzzy: I’ve heard great things about the original Cutie Honey. But I think it’s a pass for me. 

Shadow: Ecchi is a no go for me.

Tsuyoku: I never watched the original Cutie Honey, but I’ve always wanted to get into it, seems like this might be the perfect time for it! I really like how it looks and I’m familiar with other works of Go Nagai, so I’m curious to see if this kept his essence. Definitely picking this one up!

Possible Bloggers: Tsuyoku

Devil’s Line

Animation Company: Platinum Vision Website: http://devilsline.jp/ Genre: Action, Drama, Horror, Romance, Supernatural Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: Tsukasa, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that can blend in among the human population. Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who exploits his supernatural gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force that specializes in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two quickly forge a tentative bond—one that Anzai fears will test his iron-clad rule of never drinking human blood… Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Funny story, so I actually started reading the manga on a whim after I saw the announcement. The story and some of the characters interesting, but there are a lot of nasty stuff that happens in this series. That being said, I don’t see myself watching this.

Berry: It looks like a worse Tokyo Ghoul, so no. And I didn’t even like Tokyo Ghoul.

MidnightDevont: Huh, honestly I am conflicted. While this sounds like it would be entirely up my ally…it also has that ‘i’d lose interest quickly’ feel that I get every time I try to go back and watch Tokyo Ghoul…So it’s a pass for now. If I later hear that it’s good, maybe i’ll do a retro review or something.

Pandora: Reminded of Tokyo Ghoul, but I feel like I need more horror in my life. Too much comedy is bad for you, I guess. Gotta find something new and different.

Aplus: Ehhh, this looks ok I guess. I don’t get the ‘horror’ genre of anime. I haven’t been spooked yet despite watching a few horror titles. This is maybe a ‘binge at the end of the season depending on what I hear about this show’ show.

Fuzzy: I’m willing to give it a shot. Once again probably a strong hit or miss, but I like the music in the preview. What’s that you say? Music in a PV is a bad way to judge? Nonsense. 

Shadow: I am a complete baby when it comes to horror. The last time I tried to attempt horror, I lasted maybe three minutes into the first episode of Tokyo Ghoul until a jump scare happened and I NOPED out of that real fast. So I’ll pass on this.

Tsuyoku: It looks edgy and mysterious, but also average and forgettable. I’ll definitely pass on this one.

Possible Bloggers: Fuzzy

Dorei-ku The Animation

Animation Company: Zero-G Website: http://doreiku-anime.com/ Genre: Drama, Psychological Airing Date: April 12, 2018 Summary: What if you could enslave anyone you ever wanted? Well, this comes close. The SCM lets you enslave anyone who is also wearing an SCM, at a price. One must win over the other, at the cost of anything, in order for the other to become their slave.  Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: How about nO! UGH. Definitely not my cup of tea.

Berry: Bitch what is this? Lmao. This looks trashy as hell. It’s also creepy and nasty sounding.

MidnightDevont:  I am at least doing a first impressions on this. I don’t know why, but I am SUPER intrigued…it reminds me of Kakegurui in that sense and I LOVE the character designs. 

Pandora: Hey! It’s seems weird. I’ll watch it.

Aplus: Now horror may not be my thing, but I can always get behind a nice psychological tag! I won’t enter the fray, but I’ll definitely be watching alongside whichever of the other bloggers ends up deciding to cover this show.

Fuzzy: Reminds me of Kakegurui also, but Kakegurui was enough Kakegurui for me. Pass!

Shadow: After watching the PV, I don’t think this is my cup of tea. So no thanks.

Tsuyoku: Towards the end of Fall 2017 I did a check on the 2018 charts and this was one of the few that stood out. It’s definitely weird, so I find it intriguing. I’d be interested in check it out.

Possible Bloggers: MidnightDevont, Tsuyoku

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory

Animation Company: Xebec Website: http://fullmeta-iv.com/ Genre: Action Mecha Sci-Fi Airing Date: April 13, 2018 Summary: N/A – Coming Soon… Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I am desperately trying to remember when I last watched this series…. OH MY GOD, THE LAST SEASON WAS IN 2005?! I’m pretty sure I watched it when it was complete, so it must’ve been 2006… I’m pretty sure of it! I’m going to have to binge watch the previous seasons again!

Berry: No mecha for me, but hey good for the fans.

MidnightDevont: Mecha anime, studio? Not Trigger, also I have never watched a FMP series in my life…pass. 

Pandora: Eww. Mecha.

Aplus: Haven’t watched any previous iterations, so this is a no go. I generally pass on mecha anyway. Trigger was my only exception, with TTGL being the deal breaker. I finally thought I found my ‘in’ into mechas. Then I watched Darling in the Franxx. Trigger is no longer the exception.

Fuzzy: This one’s been waiting for a long time, but I’m not too invested in FMP. Pass! 

Shadow: I’ve heard of this series but I was never interested in it.

Tsuyoku: I’ve never watched any of the previous ones and although it seems cool, I’d probably not play the catch up game on it yet.

Gegege no Kitaro

Animation Company: Toei Animation Website: http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/kitaro/ Genre: Comedy, Supernatural Airing Date: April 1, 2018 Summary: The story is set in the modern-day Japan, when people almost forget about yokai. Various phenomenons that cannot be explained by science start occurring frequently, and adult people are rushing around in confusion by groundless rumors. To settle the situations, 13-year-old girl Mana Inuyama sends a letter via the “Yokai Post,” then Kitaro appears with the iconic sounds of his geta, “Karan Koron.” Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I never watched this series, and I can’t imagine that I will start now.

Berry: Not sure what to make of this. If people say it’s good, I would check it out.

MidnightDevont: The art is kind of weird and the summery um, sounds nothing like something I would enjoy. I’ll pass on this one.

Pandora: That art tho. But anyways, people need to start coming up with other ideas and stop remaking everything. Thanks.

Aplus: I have no idea what’s happening. I can’t even tell if it’s a good kind of weird or a bad kind. I’ll need to watch it to see for sure. The last yokai based show I watched was Yokai Apartments and that was a huge mistake so yokai-themed shows leave a bad taste in my mouth right now. Hopefully this show will change that!

Fuzzy: A bit too crazy for me. Pass.

Shadow: This looks super bizarre. Like I can’t tell if it wants to be creepy or funny with the character designs. I don’t think this is something I’d want to invest my time in.

Tsuyoku: This actually looks kind of cool to me and I’ve been digging some of the old stuff remakes that have been popping up lately, like Mahoujin Guru Guru last year, but although I might check it out, I don’t think I’ll cover it.

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu -Die Neue These- Kaikou

Animation Company: Production I.G Website: http://gineiden-anime.com/ Genre: Action, Military, Sci-Fi, Drama Airing Date: April 3, 2018 Summary: In humanity’s distant future, two interstellar states—the monarchic Galactic Empire and the democratic Free Planets Alliance—are embroiled in a never-ending war. The story focuses on the exploits of rivals Reinhard von Müsel and Yang Wen Li as they rise to power and fame in the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance.  Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Surprisingly I don’t believe I have ever watched Legend of the Galactic Heroes series- OH WAIT A MINUTE. JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO, I WAS THIS CLOSE TO PICKING UP THE NOVEL!!!! I didn’t realize…. oh my god, I have some serious catching up to do!

Berry: Now THIS is another classic that many people talk about and that I’ve always wanted to watch. This is another one I’ve been excited for.

MidnightDevont: It sounds like boring space politics with pretty boys to me. So i’ll be passing this one by.

Pandora: Nope. I don’t particular like space dramas.

Aplus: I desperately want to watch this, but I have not even started the original show. The void of the ‘Plan to Watch List’ is too strong. 

Fuzzy: The reboot of my favorite show of all time? I need this. Let’s see if this lives up to the expectations set by the first!

Shadow: I was never a fan of space themes (aside from Star Wars at least). If people say it’s really good later on, maybe I’ll watch it. But for now, pass.

Tsuyoku: I’m still about mid-way in watching the original show, which is amazing and totally up my alley, so I’ll be definitely watching this one. I’ve been looking forward to it since last year!

Possible Bloggers: Fuzzy

Golden Kamui

Animation Company: Geno Studio Website: http://kamuy-anime.com/ Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance Airing Date: April 9, 2018 Summary: In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: This might just be too violent for me… otherwise, I would definitely watch it.

Berry: I’ve wondered about this series as the manga is pretty popular and people say it’s good, so this is going to be one of the few shows I sign up for this season.

MidnightDevont:  I don’t know how to feel about this one. I have no real strong feelings towards it one way or the other…it seems to me like a show that will pass into obscurity and maybe one or two people will look back fondly and go “Yeah, I remember that show.” and smile…but not me…not me. 

Pandora: Nope. Historical.

Aplus: I will probably watch this. Like Fuzzy mentions, it does seem to err on being violent for the sake of violence rather than establishing actual substance. I’m always ready to be proven wrong though. 

Fuzzy: I like how different the premise is. But the PV seems like edge central with a lot of blood, but not a lot of substance. Pass. 

Shadow: Looks too intense and dark for my liking. Pass.

Tsuyoku: Pretty intense indeed, which I don’t dislike, but I’m usually not that much into historical anime and if I do watch it, it’ll probably be after it finishes airing.

Possible Bloggers: Berry

Gundam Build Divers

Animation Company: Sunrise Website: http://gundam-bd.net/ Genre: Action, Mecha, Sci-Fi Airing Date: April 3, 2018 Summary: The Gunpla Force Battle Tournament is a big event held in GBN once per year. Competing in the final round are Avalon, led by the champion Kyoya Kujo, and the elite 7th Panzer Division led by the cunning Rommel. Starting with Kyoya’s Gundam AGE II Magnum, a variety of Gunpla take to the field to determine which is the strongest force! Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I love Gundam, but I don’t love Gundam Builders. Eh, maybe I’ll try again.

Berry: Not a Gundam or mecha person, I don’t know how many times I have to say this.

MidnightDevont:  Mecha, studio? Still not animated by Studio Trigger? Nope, couldn’t care less then. 

Pandora: Nope. Mecha.

Aplus: Mecha. Gundam. No.

Fuzzy: Haven’t dipped in the ocean of Gundam yet. Pass!

Shadow: Not the biggest mecha or Gundam fan, so no thanks.

Tsuyoku: I like Gundam, but I’ve never watched Gundam Builders and I don’t think that’s changing any time soon.

Gurazeni

Animation Company: Studio DEEN Website: https://www.bs-sptv.com/gurazeni/ Genre: Sports Airing Date: April , 2018 Summary: The “baseball money survival” story focuses on a baseball team that operates as a highly-stratified society, where the player’s performance determines his annual salary. The story follows an eight-year relief pitcher with an odd left-handed side-arm throw as he fights to survive under the team’s strict system. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Oh you have my attention! It is a very different take from the usual sports anime we are used to! I will have to check this one out!

Berry: Another sport I love is baseball so again, I love this. Though the art style doesn’t really match the serious premise?

MidnightDevont: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME! Honestly though, this does look like your different kind of sports anime. Perhaps this is the rare one that will catch my attention and I’ll enjoy it. That being said, I’m still taking a hard pass on covering it. 

Pandora: Interesting premise, but it’s sports and those always end up boring.

Aplus: Sports = automatic checking out. Whether or not I’ll keep up with it is another story. 

Fuzzy: Seems like it could be funny and has potential, but I’m pretty picky with sports anime, so nope. 

Shadow: I may give this a look since I’ve learned after Kuroko to give sports anime a chance, but I don’t think I would be that interested in blogging about it.

Tsuyoku: As a baseball anime fan, I’m definitely checking this one out! It also helps the cast is adult and it seems to include some of the problems of his professional life. I can’t tell yet if I’ll stick to it, but I’d want to give it a try at least.

Possible Bloggers: Tsuyoku

High School DxD HERO (S4)

Animation Company: Passione Website: http://www.haremking.tv/ Genre: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Romance Airing Date: April 10, 2018 Summary: The fourth season of High School DxD. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I will never watch this, period. On the side note, looks like another studio it picked it up! I wonder what fans think of the newly adapted character designs?

Berry: Yeah I really wonder what fans think of the new art style. They look like babies now. Either way, yeah nah.

MidnightDevont: Despite Oki’s best efforts to tell me that this series is actually way better then I would think it is. I still have yet to watch this series previous seasons, so I’ll pass. 

Pandora: Ay! I haven’t finished watching the third season, but I liked this show. It’s not just ecchi and craziness, it was an interesting story mixed in. About to finish watching it, just for this.

Aplus: I begrudgingly watched the first 3 seasons at the behest of a friend who swore by it. I do enjoy tasteful ecchi, but this show went a little too far over the line. When the ecchi becomes your main power source for getting stronger and drives the plot, I’m out. But this looks really cool… the new art style is really up my alley… I’ll let Pandora cover it, but I will most likely end up watching (and still not enjoying) this series.

Fuzzy: One day someone will convince me to give this a chance, but it is not this day. Pass!

Shadow: Yeah, no thanks. Ecchi usually equates to nope for me. Everyone looks really pretty I must say though.

Tsuyoku: I’m going to openly admit I always mix this up with other shows, that’s how small my interest in it is. Pass.

Possible Bloggers: Pandora

Hinamatsuri

Animation Company: feel. Website: http://hina-matsuri.net/ Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Slice of Life Airing Date: April 6, 2018 Summary: The comedy manga centers around a super-powered girl named Hina and Nitta, a young member of the yakuza. Hina suddenly appears in Nitta’s room and threatens him with her extraordinary powers. However, they end up living together. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: For some reason this reminds me a bit of Level E…. It’s probably just me. Definitely looks like it will be a funny one!

Berry: No thanks.

MidnightDevont: Does…this picture have an E.T. reference? pfft. That’s kind of funny. Still, I think i’ll pass on this one for now. 

Pandora: The picture has an E.T. reference( when that movie is still revelant??) Interesting though.

Aplus: I laughed so I feel obligated to watch now. Comedies are always a huge hit or miss though. Anything to keep reality at bay. 

Fuzzy: Seems like it could be pretty funny! Willing to give it a shot. 

Shadow: When I first saw the cover image to this anime my mind immediately went: E.T.??? I may want to give it a couple episodes to see how it is. Who knows, maybe it’ll be a diamond in the rough. With that said, I don’t think I’ll be blogging about it.

Tsuyoku: Wow, this looks really funny! The art style is very nice and appealing to me too. It had slipped under my radar since the E.T. reference poster doesn’t really stand out to me much, but the PV convinced me. Not sure I’ll stick to it though.

Possible Bloggers: Fuzzy

Hisone to Maso-tan

Animation Company: BONES Website: http://hisomaso.com/ Genre: Military, Fantasy Airing Date: April 13, 2018 Summary: Straightforward and innocent Hisone Amakasu is a Self-Defense Force rookie stationed at the Air Self-Defense Force’s Gifu Base. She was struggling with the fact that she sometimes hurts people unintentionally by her innocent words and decided to join the Air Self-Defence Force, hoping to maintain a certain distance from people. This decision led her to a fateful encounter which profoundly changed her life. It was the “OTF” dragon hidden in the base and it chose Hisone as his pilot. When it soared into the sky with Hisone, her fate as a dragon pilot was decided. It is said that dragons have a key to the future of the world… Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I am not particularly a huge fan of the art style, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

Berry: Interesting art but where is your nose?! This looks interesting though and it’s Bones so what could go wrong?

MidnightDevont:  Cute girls and military situations are barely ever my cup of tea. See Saga of Tanya the evil for the only exception to this rule. I’ll pass on this one, even if there is a cute dragon. On that note, does the dragon look like anime toothless to anyone else? 

Pandora: The artwork is cool, but no.

Aplus: Yeah, I guess. Really have no strong opinion on this in either direction which probably means it’ll be great or really boring because my first impressions are usually incredibly off-target. 

Fuzzy: Ehhh, nothing about it makes me interested. 

Shadow: The art style looks interesting, but the fact that almost all the people in this series seems to be missing a nose is throwing me off a bit. I’ll probably look at the first episode but I’ll have to pass on blogging about this.

Tsuyoku: Original anime by Bones with series composition by Mari Okada? Nice and different-looking artwork? Check and check! I’ll be picking this one up since it seems character-oriented and has a touching vibe to it.

Possible Bloggers: Tsuyoku

Hoozuki no Reitetsu 2: Part II

Animation Company: Studio DEEN Website: http://www.hozukino-reitetsu.com/ Genre: Comedy Fantasy Supernatural Airing Date: April 8, 2018 Summary: The second cour of Hoozuki no Reitetsu 2 Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Never liked it.

Berry: Couldn’t get into this series.

MidnightDevont: I’m conflicted, I liked season one well enough but not really enough to go back to it…so i want to pass…but at the same time…eh. I’ll pass. 

Pandora: Never seen season one.

Aplus: I’ve never heard of this show. It looks cool enough that I’d start watching it by accident while randomly browsing, but not cool enough that I’d decide to specifically start watching the show.

Fuzzy: Never heard of this, never touched season 1, so pass. 

Shadow: I didn’t watch the first season of this so no thanks.

Tsuyoku: I’ve always thought the character designs for this are awesome, but it’s never been enough to get me into it.

Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin

Animation Company: OLM Website: http://www.inazuma.jp/ares/ Genre: Sports Airing Date: April 6, 2018 Summary: The story is set after the first Inazuma Eleven, but will take place in a parallel world from all other Inazuma Eleven games apart from the first because the story has taken a different course. In the story, protagonist Asuto Inamori’s soccer club is disbanded after the school’s soccer field is destroyed. He and friends go to Tokyo to attend Daimon-chuu (Daimon Junior High) to play soccer. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: This is one of the few soccer ones I could never get into.

Berry: I’ve always hated the designs in this show.

MidnightDevont: didn’t see the FIRST Inazuma Eleven…not gonna see this one either. 

Pandora: No sports up in here.

Aplus: Sports = automatic checking out. I actually never saw the original series but, like I mentioned with the other soccer show airing this season, I really want to find a solid soccer anime. Out of all the sports anime I watch, soccer is the only sport I’ve actively played (for over a decade now) and am invested in so I guess my standards are just a bit higher.

Fuzzy: Maybe I’d watch this if I was ten. But not now. Pass!

Shadow: Some of the character designs are a little too out there for me. Not to mention I didn’t even watch the original series of this, so I’ll have to pass.

Tsuyoku: I’ve never seen the original so I don’t think I’d pick up this one up and there’s plenty other titles that interest me more.

Isekai Izakaya: Koto Aitheria no Izakaya Nobu.

Animation Company: Sunrise Website: https://r.gnavi.co.jp/nobu/ Genre: Fantasy Airing Date: April 13, 2018 Summary: There’s a bar called “Nobu” located in Kyoto, Japan. In it is a door that is connected to a bar in another world. The visitors include denizens of the other world, and customers seek out its excellent “Toriaezu Nama” ale and cuisine. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Nothing about this is grabbing my attention.

Berry: This is literally like that other show with the restaurant, it’s literally the same thing. What the heck.

MidnightDevont: Huh, cute, good premise…if I wasn’t holding out to jump on three more very specific shows I might toss myself as a possible blogger on this one. 

Pandora: Hmm. The question is ” Is it going to be funny?”

Aplus: Wait, what? Did the isekai restaurant anime just not do well so they decided to remake it? What is happening? No, I won’t watch this. The other show was so horribly boring. Why would I subject myself to it again?

Fuzzy: This seems interesting and I love izakaya dens. Might take it up!

Shadow: Hmm, the premise sounds very similar to another anime a couple seasons ago. I may give it a watch, but I’ll pass on blogging.

Tsuyoku: I might watch this after the season ends, but I don’t think I’ll keep with it weekly or be interested in blogging about it.

Possible Bloggers: Fuzzy

Juushinki Pandora

Animation Company: Satelight Website: http://www.project-pandora.jp/ Genre: Mecha, Sci-Fi Airing Date: March 29, 2018 (Netflix Premiere) |April 4, 2018 (TV Premiere) Summary: The new series is set in a near-future world where the boundary between human being and AI is vague. A rapid biological evolution, similar to “Cambrian Explosion,” is caused by one incident. This incident turns into the genesis of a new jostle for supremacy, and the influence of the evolution goes beyond biological framework and spreads to various kinds of materials and technologies. The era of massive evolution involving diverse existences, such as human, machines, and biotechnologies, is coming. Characters fight an existential war in such a world. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Well I don’t have a whole lot of expectations for this one, but I will be checking it out. But ugh, I wish Satelight could just improve the quality of their CG… It looks so dated.

Berry: No no no, where’s there’s too much going on in the synopsis, then that’s baaaaad. Keep your expectations low.

MidnightDevont: Alright, follow with me this time. It’s a mecha series…is it animated by STUDIO TRIGGER? Then I. don’t. Care. I have liked 3 mecha’s in my 20+ years of watching anime and they have been by Gainax[which fractured into studio Trigger], been a parody or are a currently airing show named ‘Darling in the Franxx’.

Pandora: No mecha and no apolcalyses.

Aplus: Looks like I’ll binge it, feel meh about it, and forget all the characters names and the plot a few weeks later because it ends up being cut short due to episode limits and ends up being an advertisement to read the source material.

Fuzzy: The synopsis alone is very very anime. Doesn’t seem like it’ll be anything special. Pass.  

Shadow: Sounds like a lot is going on in this plot and that rarely amounts to actual good writing. Unless I hear otherwise, I’m probably not going to be watching this. So, pass.

Tsuyoku: It seems to me like this will be the kind of show that will focus more in the action scenes than in trying to get across what’s going on. Not very interested at the moment.

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

Animation Company: GONZO Website: http://kakuriyo-anime.com/ Genre: Supernatural Airing Date: April 2, 2018 Summary: Female college student Aoi inherited her deceased grandfather’s ability to see ayakashi. One day, while Aoi is feeding some ayakashi, a demon appears! He declares that Aoi’s grandfather owed a great debt, and as compensation, Aoi must marry the demon! Aoi refuses, and decides to pay off the debt by working. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Oh man when I first heard about this one, I knew I had to watch it. SIGN ME UP! Oh how I’d love to read the novel!

Berry: Definitely got Kamisama Kiss vibes as well and that series (before it fucked up) was great. This looks up my alley.

MidnightDevont:  Oh wow, the art here is super pretty. Like, that is some amazing promotional art. The plot however does not seem like my thing. Cute, but not my thing. So i’ll leave this one to the others!

Pandora: Nah.

Aplus: Looks nice. That’s about it. Sorry sakura blossoms. You won’t win me over this time.

Fuzzy: Looks interesting, and I love anime with ayakashi, but I’ll just watch it casually. 

Shadow: One glance at the PV and I immediately got Kamisama Kiss vibes from it. I have to say, I’m a little intrigued by this so I may just want to give this a go.

Tsuyoku: This isn’t the type of show I usually watch, but I might give it an episode or two to see if it holds my attention. The art is nice, even if it’s simple.

Possible Bloggers: Eva, Shadow

Kiratto Pri☆Chan

Animation Company: Tatsunoko Production, Dongwoo A&E Website: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/prichan/ Genre: Magic, Music, Shoujo, Slice of Life Airing Date: April 8, 2018 Summary: First-year middle school girls Mirai Momoyama and Emo Moegi are two aspiring idols who decide to use the “Pri☆Chan System,” a system used by famous people and companies to broadcast content. Like many girls starting their own channels and uploading content, the pair decide to become their own producers, starting their own channel in an attempt to become Pri☆Chan idols. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I think the only Pripara “related” series I watched was Pretty Rhythm: Aurora Dream. I haven’t watched anything else ever since.

Berry: Again with kiddie idol shows, I did watch a bit of PriPara and loved it but fell behind. Don’t know if I’ll follow this one though.

MidnightDevont:  A magical girl series, but not either one of the ones I am holding out for. Cute, but pass. 

Pandora: Nope. I don’t really like too many idol shows.

Aplus: I’m not saying I will absolutely never watch this show. I’m just saying it’ll be a dark, dark time when my go-to anime is a middle school girl (that look like they’re 5) idol show.

Fuzzy: Yeah, no. 

Shadow: I think my limit of overly cutesy girls was Shugo Chara (which wasn’t too cutsey), and that was a while ago. So I’m gonna have to pass on this.

Tsuyoku: Not interested in this. Idol magical girls are not particularly my thing.

Possible Bloggers:

Ladyspo

Animation Company: *TBA Website: N/A Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy Airing Date: April 10, 2018 Summary: The anime is a science-fiction comedy where various pro sports bounty hunters fight each other in sporting events. The story centers on Arigetti, Korupi, and Sabina, three women in a team who participate in various sports. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I can’t see myself liking this at all.

Berry: This looks like it could get trashy so I might pass on this one.

MidnightDevont:  Sci-fi…sports…hunters…IS THIS HUNTER X HUNTER? Wait, it’s not? What do you mean the manga is still on hiatus? Don’t get my hopes up? NOOOOOOOOOO. 

Pandora: Sports. I’ma need to pass.

Aplus: Yup. I’m in. It’s so mysterious, I just don’t see how it could go wrong.

Fuzzy: I might’ve been interested, but the title makes me think it’ll be like Keijo. Pass. 

Shadow: What even is this? Doesn’t seem like it’ll be up my alley so, pass.

Tsuyoku: I’m not sure what to think of this! An original anime with no studio, no PV, barely any information, it could frankly be a mess. It seems kind of interesting, though so I might give the first episode a look to get a better idea.

Possible Bloggers: Aplus

Last Period: Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari

Animation Company: J.C. Staff Website: http://lastperiod.jp/ Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Magic, Fantasy Airing Date: April 12, 2018 Summary: The story takes place in a world where fantastic beasts called “Spirals” are born from isolation. Those who can defeat the beasts are called “Periods.” Haru is an apprentice Period who belongs to the Arc End 8th Branch. However, after a mysterious theft incident, there is an economic collapse, and the Arc End headquarters abandons the 8th Division, leaving only three Periods left, including Haru. Haru and the other two Periods start their work to rebuild the 8th Division. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I am not feeling this one. It doesn’t grab my attention.

Berry: Eeeehhhhhh…doesn’t seem like my kind of show.

MidnightDevont:  Spirals? Is this Gurren Lagann? Just kidding, this sounds cute and all, but once again I am holding out grabbing any more spots until I see the three series I really want to sink my teeth into. 

Pandora: Nope. Don’t feel like it because it looks like the main characters will catch Ls.

Aplus: I’m into it. Will definitely check out. Will I blog it? No, probably not. It’s so close to being too childish.  

Fuzzy: A bit too cutesey daisy for me. Not just a bit. A lot. Pass! 

Shadow: This looks WAAAAYYYY too moe and kiddish for my liking. Pass.

Tsuyoku: This looks cute! Way too cute though, so I’ll pass.

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Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File

Animation Company: LIDENFILMS Website: https://www.layton-anime.jp/ Genre: Mystery, Comedy, Kids Airing Date: April 8, 2018 Summary: 50 Puzzling Episodes, One Gentlewoman Extraordinaire and a Whole Load of New Mysteries coming to the small screen in 2018!  Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Never played any of the Layton games, but I am curious how it will turn out. I can see myself watching a few episodes.

Berry: Never played the Layton games but I always wanted to. Good for the fans!

MidnightDevont: Well, it can’t be any worse then the movie right? That being said, I’m not big on Layton and 50 episodes is a lot. So pass. 

Pandora: Nope. Couldn’t even play that game on the DS. So hard back in the day when I was ten because it was puzzle based.

Aplus: I’m not super into the mystery/puzzle genre. I still need to figure my own life out first. You feel me?

Fuzzy: I really should get into Layton one day. But I’m not too big a mystery guy. Pass!

Shadow: I was about to say, this style looks a lot like Dr. Layton. I never got into that series and I’m not huge on mystery anyways so I’ll give this a pass.

Tsuyoku: I’m a huge Professor Layton fan and a huge mystery fan so I’m pretty excited about this, but that episode count is terrifying.

Lost Song

Animation Company: Dwango & LIDENFILMS Website: http://lost-song.com/ Genre: Fantasy Airing Date: March 31, 2018 2018 (Netflix Premiere) | April 7, 2018  (TV Premiere) Summary: Rin is an energetic girl who loves to eat and lives in a verdant frontier village. Deep within the royal palace in the bustling capital city, the songstress Finis spends her days in solitude. Both share a special power no other person has. A miraculous power that can heal wounds, create water and stir the wind — the power of song. Guided by destiny, the two young women each face an arduous journey with the power of song. The shadow of war looms over the kingdom, tainting even the miraculous songs with the blood of innocents. Loved ones meet their deaths as silent screams echo through a stone prison. Trailer:  PV 1 | PV 2

Team Impression

Eva: Musical Fantasy? Well that’s hard to pass now isn’t it! But the CG… cringes Stupid pet-peeves…. I will try my best to ignore it.

Berry: This slipped under my radar! This actually looks quite nice. CG is a little off putting, but the story grabs enough of my attention. Don’t know if I’ll cover it but I’ll think about it.

MidnightDevont: Is this Fire Emblem? It looks like Fire Emblem. All joking aside, it um, sounds interesting sort of? Not sure if I want to cover it, but I might watch the first episode out of curiosity. 

Pandora: Eh…not my cup of tea.

Aplus: A musical anime is something I’ve been waiting for! I also like the CG in it. In general, the quality of CG has been improving and I’m happy to be documenting it’s rise into mainstream. Infini-T Force and Houseki no Kuni are just two amazing examples of what can be done. Definitely checking this out. Come along for this sing-along journey with meeeee!

Fuzzy: It seems interesting, I’m not too turned off by the CG, and I love music in anime. Might watch the first episode. 

Shadow: I almost made up my mind on not even bothering with this with the cg dancing in the trailer. But I may want to give it a watch since I’m a huge fantasy fan, for at least a couple episodes to see if it’s any good. Probably won’t blog it though.

Tsuyoku: The designs are nice and the setting seems a little intriguing, but it’s not interesting enough to me.

Possible Bloggers: Aplus

Lostorage Conflated WIXOSS (S2)

Animation Company: J.C. Staff Website: http://lostorage-wixoss.com/ Genre: Game, Psychological Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: The second season of Lostorage incited WIXOSS. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I haven’t seen the first season, but I haven’t heard good things about it either…

Berry: WIXOSS is a fantastic series that should have ended after selector spread WIXOSS. Lostorage was unnecessary and was so bad that I couldn’t even finish it. They even brought the original characters back for this, HOW DARE THEY.

MidnightDevont: Didn’t watch the first season, despite how interesting it sounded to me. I heard it was actually pretty bad, can anyone confirm?

Pandora: No, Wixxoss for me. One episode and I was done with that franchise.

Aplus: I don’t have enough time to binge the first season. I’ve been meaning to for a while now, ever since I found out this show existed! I’m weak…

Fuzzy: Never been a Wixoss fan. Pass!

Shadow: I never saw the first season so, pass.

Tsuyoku: I am familiar with this franchise in the sense that I know it exists, that’s as far as I’m willing to go.

Lupin III: Part V

Animation Company: Telecom Animation Film Website: https://lupin-pt5.com/ Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy Airing Date: April 4, 2018 Summary: In the new series, Lupin III will travel to France — the home of his grandfather and namesake, Maurice Leblanc’s master thief character Arsène Lupin. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I used to enjoy the Lupin series, but I am not really into it anymore.

Berry: Have never seen a single Lupin, though I feel that I would enjoy it a lot. Frankly, I think it’s too late to catch up.

MidnightDevont:  I do love Lupin, but it’s been forever and a day since i’ve actually watched a series for him. I’ll pass, but you keep doing you Lupin! 

Pandora: My brother was watching it on Adult Swim, but it was 2am, so I have never seen it before. I heard it was good.

Aplus: Lupin is one of the few series I’m 100% positive I would love and I have no idea why I haven’t even attempted to watch it yet. I have to pass, but maybe this will ignite the fire in me to actually watch.

Fuzzy: Haven’t dabbled in Lupin yet, so pass!

Shadow: I may want to pick this up eventually since it’s a huge inspiration for a certain game that I love. But for now, pass.

Tsuyoku: I’ve seen a handful of Lupin movies and the artsy Fujiko Mine show, so I’m familiar with the cast and I like them, but I’d have to let others gauge out this show’s quality before I decide to give it a watch.

Mahou Shoujo Ore

Animation Company: Pierrot Plus Website: http://magicalgirl-ore.com/ Genre: Comedy Fantasy Mahou Shoujo Airing Date: April 2, 2018 Summary: Saki Uno is a high school girl and rookie idol who has a crush on Mohiro, her best friend’s older brother. When Mohiro is kidnapped by demons, Saki hastily makes a shady contract to be able to transform into a magical girl, which transforms her body into that of a handsome man. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I KNOW I ASKED FOR MORE TRADITIONAL MAGICAL GIRL SHOWS… BUT… BUT… I CAN’T. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I NEED TO WATCH THIS!

Berry: You thought the memes would end after Pop Team Epic? WRONG! THIS IS THE TYPE OF SHIT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!

MidnightDevont: HERE IT IS, ONE OF THE SHOWS I’VE BEEN HOLDING OUT FOR! YES, YES, PLEASE. SIGN ME UP, THIS SHOW HAS HAD MY INTEREST SINCE THE FIRST PV DROPPED. I AM ALL KINDS OF HYPED FOR THIS MADNESS!

Pandora: Nope, but it’s looks like some weird stuff I’d watch.

Aplus: This is what we’ve come to?

Fuzzy: No words. This is a pass from me. 

Shadow: Watching the trailer for this made my brain melt a little and I don’t think I’d be able to handle the madness this series is guaranteed to bring XD;.

Tsuyoku: This sounds really insane but also hilarious, so I might give it a try.

Possible Bloggers: Eva, MidnightDevont

Mahou Shoujo Site

Animation Company: production doA Website: http://mahoushoujyo-anime.com/ Genre: Drama, Horror, Psychological, Supernatural Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: Asagiri Aya is a young girl who has fallen victim to bullies at her school. Looking for a way to escape her troubles, she looks to the internet for distraction, when a mysterious website called “Magical Girl Site” appears. Simply viewing the page is all it takes to hurtle Aya headlong into the deadly world of the Magical Girl Apocalypse. There, it’s fight or die, against a seemingly endless array of savagely adorable, frilly-skirted killing machines, each armed with magical powers and an unquenchable thirst for blood and chaos.  Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Oh joy, another DARK!Magical Girl series! Can we have the nice and fluffy ones again? I’m so done with the dark ones. I just want more of the fluffy, magical girl romance!

Berry: So it’s Magical Girl Raising Project but even more brutal and violent. Well then sign me the fuck up please!

MidnightDevont:  oh joy, ANOTHER Dark magical girl series. Please, sign me up. This is another one that has had my interest for some time now and one of the ones I was hinting I wanted to gobble up earlier. 

Pandora: Nope. Madoka was too much for me.

Aplus: I completely agree with Midnight on this. I think dark themes in shows that typically aren’t dark are great! I will be excitedly watching this.

Fuzzy: Ehh, magical girls and edge? I’m not too confident in that combination usually. A pass. 

Shadow: Looks like another edge lord of the season and after seeing several uncomfortable images from the trailer (because I’m a huge horror baby), I’m giving this a big no thank you.

Tsuyoku: Eh, I’m not sure this would keep me interested long enough for me to have strong opinions about it.

Possible Bloggers: MidnightDevont

Major 2nd

Animation Company: NHK Enterprises Website: http://www.shopro.co.jp/tv/major2nd/ Genre: Comedy Drama Sports Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: Daigo is born as the son of Gorou, a father who is too great. What path will Daigo, who is burdened with great expectations, take in baseball? Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I can’t remember if I watched the original series… I don’t think I did…. adds Major to Animes to Marathon

Berry: Feel like I’d have to watch the original Major to fully appreciate this, so I’ll have to pass for now.

MidnightDevont:  GET ME SOME PEANUTS AND CRACKJACKS. I DON’T CARE…about this show at all. Pass please. 

Pandora: Nope. Sports, yet again..

Aplus: Sure, just pile on the sports! I will also have to marathon the original series before I watch this.

Fuzzy: I hate baseball. 

Shadow: This almost sounds like Boruto in a way lol. This season sure has a lot of baseball though. Nothing really sticks out to me reading the summary or from watching the trailer. Pass.

Tsuyoku: I love baseball but Major is so so so long that I’ve been putting it off for a while and now they go and start a new one. Sob.

Megalo Box

Animation Company: TMS Entertainment Website: http://megalobox.com/ Genre: Action, Drama, Shounen, Slice of Life, Sports Airing Date: April 5, 2018 Summary: (Ashita no Joe 50th anniversary project.) JD (Junk Dog) participates in fixed boxing matches in an underground ring in order to live. Today, he enters the ring again, but he encounters a certain person. JD wants to take on a challenge that risks everything. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Boxing? I don’t like boxing, but this one looks interesting!

Berry: Hmm, very interesting. Lots of good sports shows this season of sports I actually care about!

MidnightDevont:  Put me in Rocky, on second thought, take me out Rocky! No thanks, boxing isn’t even a sport I enjoy in real life. 

Pandora: Nope. More Sports…

Aplus: Yessss. Give. Me. More. Sports.

Fuzzy: Looks like it might be alright, could give it a shot!

Shadow: I was never really interested in watching boxing and I honestly would rather just watch people beat the crap out of each other with their bare fists, which I can find literally anywhere else. So this’ll be a pass for me.

Tsuyoku: I really really like how this looks! It seems it has no connection to Ashita no Joe, it’s just like a loose homage, but man if it doesn’t look cool. I’ll watch it for sure.

Possible Bloggers: Fuzzy

Nil Admirari no Tenbin

Animation Company: Zero-G Website: http://nilad-anime.com/ Genre: Romance Airing Date: April 1, 2018 Summary: The Taishou era didn’t end in 15 years, but went on for another 25. In order to protect her waning family, a girl resolves to marry a man she doesn’t even know the name of. However, just before the marriage was to take place, the girl’s younger brother mysteriously committed suicide by self-immolation and was found holding an old book in his hands. Appearing before the bewildered young girl was the “Imperial Library Intelligence Asset Management Bureau,” more commonly referred to as “Fukurou.” According to these men, there exists “Maremono,” which are books that greatly affect their readers. On top of that, ever since the incident involving the girl’s younger brother, she unwittingly gains the ability to see “Auras” (the sentiments of the Maremono which manifest as bright lights and are usually invisible to humans). It was as though fate were trying to drag the young girl in its flames. And then, even though apprehensive, the girl chooses to venture outside her bird cage. Jealousy, hatred, scorn, compassion, and love. What awaited the girl was the darkness of betrayal that had already begun to bewitchingly inlay the imperial capital. Toyed by and swayed within that darkness, will the young girl finally reach the truth after her struggles, or…? Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Not gonna lie, I have been eyeing this game for a while now. So since I can’t play it, I sure do want to watch it! Only it comes out on Sundays. FML.

Berry: Damn this sounds intense! I hope this is good because reverse harems usually end up bad.

MidnightDevont:  Once again the art is gorgeous, but I can’t drum up any actual interest in the plot. 

Pandora: I saw historical and I was out. I just don’t really like history, don’t get me wrong.

Aplus: I am pretty selective with harems (reverse or not). I will check this out though. Looks intense and dark. 

Fuzzy: Yeah the art is great, but I’m not hooked onto anything else. No thanks. 

Shadow: Is this a reverse harem? watches trailer THIS IS DEFINITELY A REVERSE HAREM. Which means this obligates me to at least watch one episode to see if it’s worth keeping up with. But due to the track record of reverse harems ending up not that good, I’ll give this one a pass on blogging.

Tsuyoku: Reverse harem based on a game means I’m out.

Possible Bloggers: Eva

Persona 5 The Animation

Animation Company: A-1 Pictures Website: http://p5a.jp/ Genre: Action Fantasy Supernatural Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: Ren Amamiya is about to enter his second year after transferring to Shujin Academy in Tokyo. Following a particular incident, his Persona awakens, and together with his friends they form the “Phantom Thieves of Hearts” to reform hearts of corrupt adults by stealing the source of their distorted desires. Meanwhile, bizarre and inexplicable crimes have been popping up one after another… Living an ordinary high school life in Tokyo during the day, the group maneuvers the metropolitan city as Phantom Thieves after hours. Let the curtain rise for this grand, picaresque story! Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: ALL BOARD THE HYPE TRAINNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!~ IT LOOKS SO GORGEOUS! I need to play the game already, it’s been stuck in my backlog… ; v ;||||

Berry: Now THIS….THIS….THIS. Persona 5 is the only Persona game I’ve ever played, but let me tell you how much I loved this game. It’s story was amazing, the characters were all simply fantastic, it had fun gameplay, the soundtrack is out of this world. It was a really sexy game with a lot of personality and I love it to death. I’m also a little scared because I know that anime adaptations of video games are usually almost always bad, but I really want to be optimistic for P5. It’s just so damn GOOD.

MidnightDevont: I am super conflicted on this. i’ve played the game twice, I love it. All of the art they have put out has looked amazing, the PV looked great, the hype train is all kinds of real…but I am a realist. Let’s face it, anime adaptations of games are almost never good. They suffer greatly from time constraints and trying to condense plot points and almost always end up subpar at best. [see Persona 4 the animation for more details]. That being said, I want to check this out really badly BECAUSE I loved Persona 5 so much. It was a great game, with great characters and I think the anime will be able to drum up at LEAST half the charm. I’m putting myself down as a possible blogger and hoping that I don’t come out crying. Oddly, this is not the last show i”ve been hinting I want…so I lied earlier. There were four shows. 

Pandora: Never watched or played Persona at all.

Aplus: I think the rest of the team has the hype-train covered… never seen it/played it…

Fuzzy: I’ve always wanted to play the game but my lack of PS4 made it impossible. Alas, I will settle for watching the anime. Definitely won’t take this one up since I think someone who has preexisting game knowledge would be better suited. 

Shadow: HOLY. CRAP. I have been WAITING for this anime since being introduced to this game! And while I am hesitant after what happened with Persona 4 (which honestly wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it wasn’t great), I love the characters way too much to not watch this. And as much as I’d love to cover this, I won’t step on anyone’s toes if they want it more.

Tsuyoku: So stoked about Persona 5! I will not be able to play this one, so I’ll only get the anime experience this time around which means I hope it’s really awesome and well done.

Possible Bloggers: Berry, MidnightDevont, Shadow

Piano no Mori

Animation Company: Fukushima Gainax Website: http://piano-anime.jp/ Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Music, School, Seinen Airing Date: April 8, 2018 Summary: A tranquil tale about two boys from very different upbringings. On one hand you have Kai, born as the son of a prostitute, who’s been playing the abandoned piano in the forest near his home ever since he was young. And on the other you have Shuuhei, practically breast-fed by the piano as the son of a family of prestigious pianists. Yet it is their common bond with the piano that eventually intertwines their paths in life. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Music and a good story? You have my attention.

Berry: This is another one that immediately caught my attention. The premise is so interesting and it sounds like there’s going to be lots of drama and emotions. Two boys with such polar upbringings, how will they interact and what will they learn from each other? It just makes me excited thinking about it!

MidnightDevont:  …holy hell this sounds adorable and like it had potential for sadness and shipping. I won’t be covering it, but i will be checking it out. 

Pandora: Nope. Seems kinda sad.

Aplus: Ah yes, the old ‘piano in the woods’ story. Classic. I like the potential idea of 2 styles of training competing and ultimately influencing each other. Kind of like Kids On the Slope and the mix of classical and jazz music. That being said, I don’t think I will be covering this. I’ll probably just be envious the whole time about how much I want to learn how to play the piano. I guess I’ll go wander off into the woods…

Fuzzy: I think the old movie version of this has been on my plan to watch for like three years. Sorry but pass. 

Shadow: Hmm, not sure how I feel about this. Sounds interesting enough to give it one episode, but I probably won’t be covering it.

Tsuyoku: I’ll be watching this one casually because I’m interested in the characters.

Possible Bloggers: Berry

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori

Animation Company: ZEXCS Website: http://rokuhoudou-anime.jp/ Genre: Slice of Life Airing Date: April 10, 2018 Summary: Four men—Gure, Sui, Tokitaka, and Tsubaki—each help run a Japanese tea shop together called Rokuhoudou. When one visits the shop, they are greeted warmly, is served tea, and are often helped with any problems they may have.  Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I wonder if I am not just not into the whole “Happy Food Shop” animes? Wait, have I ever been????

Berry: Not very appealing and sounds a bit boring.

MidnightDevont:  …zzzzz…huh? oh sorry, I fell asleep because of how boring this sounds. The animation looks pretty though…

Pandora: Are they going to do odd jobs like Gintama? Out of their tea shop? For customers?

Aplus: Yeah… pass. The cat and the pigeon head in the picture almost got me. Not this time.

Fuzzy: No thank you. I have Bartender for this. 

Shadow: Hm, none of the character designs are that appealing and it really just sounds like a more dull version of Ouran High School Host Club so, nope.

Tsuyoku: The cast seems huge and in general it doesn’t seem appealing to me.

Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru

Animation Company: Seven Arcs Website: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/sareryu/ Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi Airing Date: April 5, 2018 Summary: The series takes place in an alternate world, staged mostly in the city of Eridana, whose territory is half in the Tseberun Dragon Empire, and half in the Lapetodes Seven Cities Alliance. Each half is separated by the Orielal River. In this world, special abilities called spell formulas (咒式, jushiki) exist, which are essentially chemical reactions augmented through special weapons that cause a magic spell-like effect. These special weapons are called Magic Staff weapons, and are as varied as regular weapons are. Spell formulists use these spell formulas to fight with “Beasts of Abhorrent Form,” natural creatures that use spell formulas and pose a threat to humans, such as Dragons, Aions, or Enormes. The story focuses on the two main characters, Gaius Sorel and Gigina Ashley-Bufh, the only two employees of spell formulist dispatch office Ashley-Bufh & Sorel Co. They are met with a variety of requests from a variety of clients, all requiring the adept use of spell formulas.” Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: As complicated as it sounds, I intend to check this one out. But I right now I don’t see myself blogging it.

Berry: Again, too much going on in the synopsis. No way.

MidnightDevont:  This is another one that looks really pretty and honestly the premise sounds kind of neat, but because of the sheer amount of other things I am putting my name down on. I’m gonna pass, but I might watch it anyway. 

Pandora: Nope. I’m not even sure if I like fantasy shows..

Aplus: I almost want to write it off for trying to put such an unnecessarily complex idea into the synopsis. That being said, the hour-long intro videos of the Fate series put me off from watching it for a while but I ended up loving them. This is difficult…

Fuzzy: Once again, the synopsis is super ANIME. Looks gorgeous, but still gonna give it a pass. 

Shadow: I’d probably watch the first episode to see if anything would come of it, but I’ll probably just pass on blogging.

Tsuyoku: It’s always weird to me when there’s fantasy and sci-fi tags at the same time. Overall I’m still not into whatever is going on here.

Shiyan Pin Jiating

Animation Company: Big Firebird Cultural Media Co., Ltd. Website: http://frankenstein-family.animen.com.tw/ Genre: Sci-Fi, Supernatural Airing Date: April 9, 2018 Summary: A scientist couple has been arrested for conducting illegal studies, allegedly for performing genetic modification on five of their children. Youngest children, Dannis, is the only one who grew up as a normal human, and has become the only family member who has to tend to rest of the members and to try to find a medicine to turn them into normal humans again. Dog human, plant gene, spider web gene, as well as mind reading, how will these family members who grew up in the laboratory survive in the outside world?! Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: This show has been delayed for quite a now, nice to finally see it back on the board!

Berry: Finally! I’ve been wondering where this show has been. I was excited for this one because it sounds so good so it’s about time. Looks to be a possibly heartbreaking show with a strong family bond, which I love watching.

MidnightDevont:  This could go one of two ways, it could be super cute and heart warming or it could be a trainwreck…only time will tell. I’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for word on this one, but I won’t be actively seeking it out. 

Pandora: I was supossed to do this one seasons ago. I’ll give it a nice first impression.

Aplus: So, this is where the data from Nina went? Good to see Shou Tucker’s work finally being acknowledged in the scientific community.

Fuzzy: If this goes well, I see it being amazing. I mean that spider web and plant girl designs are great! But it’s something I’ll wait on before picking up. Also that dog human hmmm. Pass!

Shadow: This could be the heartwarming, family feels anime I need… or it could just turn horribly wrong. Either way, I’ll give it a couple episodes, but I don’t foresee myself blogging this.

Tsuyoku: The character designs and the concepts are interesting and cool, but the fact that has been delayed gives me bad vibes.

Possible Bloggers: Pandora

Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara – Tootsuki Ressha-hen (2nd Cour of S3)

Animation Company: J.C. Staff Website: http://shokugekinosoma.com/ Genre: Comedy, Ecchi Airing Date: April 9, 2018 Summary: The second cour of the third season of Shokugeki no Souma. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: W

Berry: Never liked this series.

MidnightDevont: I really need to watch the other seasons of this show eventually. I hear that it’s really good…

Pandora: This is still going on? My brother is ready for this season, though.

Aplus: Eh, I was pretty disappointed with this show recently. Maybe that was more of a setup season though, so I won’t judge it too harshly. I sincerely hope it gets back on track, but I’m not really feeling it.

Fuzzy: Love Shokugeki. Not caught up in the manga, but the show hasn’t really disappointed me yet, so let’s keep the train moving! I’m fine with taking it! 

Shadow: Didn’t watch the first two seasons so a pass for me.

Tsuyoku: Ah! I forgot to watch the first cour to this season… I definitely need to catch up.

Possible Bloggers: Fuzzy

Souten no Ken: REGENESIS

Animation Company: POLYGON PICTURES Website: http://www.souten-regenesis.com/ Genre: Action, Historical, Martial Arts Airing Date: April 10, 2018 Summary: A mysterious man known as “the King of Death” roams the streets of pre-war Shanghai in this action-packed prequel to Fist of the North Star. Shanghai in the 1930s is a dangerous place. Foreign governments and Chinese factions have carved the city into different quarters, each with its own laws and government, and all rife with corruption. As the major powers vie for political control, the streets are left to local gangs. Life is cheap, and death is always near. In days past, one man walked these mean streets battling the forces of evil. He was known only as Yan Wang, “the King of Death.” Few knew who he really was, but many knew that he was a master of Hokuto Shinken – Fist of the North Star – a lethal martial art. He disappeared years ago after dispatching the city’s worst gangsters, and is now rumored to be in Japan. Various people have come to Japan in search of him, but who will find him first? Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Pass.

Berry: I keep telling myself I’ll get to watching Fist of the North Star, I mean Hulu has the entire series there. But I still haven’t!! Grrrrrrrr! I swear I will!

MidnightDevont:  My thoughts looking at the art ‘It reminds me of Jojo or Fist of the North Star’, my thoughts after finishing reading the description. ‘So basically, it’s a sequel to Fist of the North Star’…which I was never really a fan of.  May it be meme’d as much as it’s predecessor I suppose? 

Pandora: Nope. Saw historical tag.

Aplus: A prequel to Fist of the North Star? My god. The memes. I’ll check it out, but that’s probably about it. Never actually saw the original so I have never been too invested.

Fuzzy: Omae wa mou shindeiru. That is basically a summary of the chances of me watching this. Pass. 

Shadow: Not a fan of the art style so, pass.

Tsuyoku: Passing on this one even though I think it’s great they got a reboot of sorts.

Steins;Gate 0

Animation Company: White Fox Website: http://www.steinsgate.tv/index.html Genre: Drama, Sci-Fic, Thriller Airing Date: April , 2018 Summary: The dark untold story of Steins;Gate that leads with the eccentric mad scientist Okabe, struggling to recover from a failed attempt at rescuing Kurisu. He decides to give up and abandons his lively scientist alter ego, in pursuit to forget the past. When all seems to be normal, he is seemingly pulled back into the past by meeting an acquaintance of Kurisu, who tells him that they have begun testing a device that stores the memory of a human and creates a simulation of them with their characteristics and personalities. Okabe begins testing and finds out that the simulation of Kurisu has brought back anguish and some new unexpected tragedies. Zero is a side story that explores events from the Beta Attractor Field’s future that contribute in making the end of the original story possible.  Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Whoops, it’s been years, but I have still yet to watch the original Steins;Gate- I even have the game! And I haven’t played it yet halp!

Berry: I’m one of the very few people that DID NOT like Steins;Gate. It was extremely boring, so boring that I couldn’t even finish the show. I couldn’t force myself anymore. Go ahead and roast me but I can’t stand Steins;Gate. 😐

MidnightDevont: -deep breath, pyrodactyl shriek- IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE. IT’S HERE, THIS ISN’T A DRILL. GET YOUR PHONES AND YOUR MICROWAVE TIME MACHINES. STEINS;GATE 0 IS HERE AND I AM 300 KINDS OF READY. My only regret in life right now is that as a returning writer I can’t shotgun this, if I could. I would. I want this so badly, I would sell my soul to cover this. I love Steins;Gate. I’ve watched the original anime multiple times, played the VN, watched the movie and dear LORD the black suit Okabe. I haven’t played the VN for 0 yet, but I want too so badly. Possible blogger? YES, ABSOLUTELY YES!

Pandora: Never watched this show or played the game.

Aplus: I will almost definitely get burned alive for this, but I’m really not a fan of the original. I’ve tried watching it maybe 3 times and lost interest every time. The farthest I got was 8 episodes in. Needless to say, definite pass. 

Fuzzy: Steins; Gate 0? The next installment of the series that pretty much got me SUPER hooked onto anime? Of course I’ll watch it, and i have no doubt I’ll love it! But I don’t want to pick it up, I’ll just give it a nice slow watch. Maybe play the VN before I delve in, but considering how long the VN is, the chances are very slim. Pass! 

Shadow: I should watch the original series, but I probably won’t due to general laziness.

Tsuyoku: It took me years to finally cave and watch Steins;Gate because I was dead set on playing the VN and eventually came to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t. It was love at first watch! I watched everything that was available in like a month and once I found out this new one was coming out, I knew it’d be hardcore high priority watch.

Possible Bloggers: MidnightDevont, Tsuyoku

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

Animation Company: Studio 3Hz Website: http://gungale-online.net/ Genre: Action, Fantasy, Game, Military, Sci-Fi Airing Date: April 7, 2018 Summary: Karen Kohiruimaki always felt out of place in the real world. Due to her extreme height, she found it hard to make friends with other girls her age. Everything changes when she’s introduced to VR and Gun Gale Online. In GGO, Karen is free to play the cute, chibi avatar of her dreams! Can Karen find friendship in this bullet-ridden MMO…? Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Eh, I am not big on the SAO series in general, so I am a bit skeptical of whether or not I will like this one.

Berry: Okay, here’s a series I love shitting on. SAO is absolute garbage and deserves to burn. Although this is tempting because Kirito’s dumbass isn’t in it, but…this is SAO. I’m not even going to risk it.

MidnightDevont: Oh um, I need to watch season 2 still. I’d probably grab this if I was up to date, but I’m not…

Pandora: Nope. Don’t like Sword Art Online. I watched the first episode and was like “Nah.”

Aplus: Hehehe. Everyone needs a guilty pleasure now and again. For some people it’s cat girl maids. For me it’s watching shows that can only be described as ‘basic’. What’s that? An OP character who’s flawless and ends conflict before it begins with his charm and overwhelming strength? This is another turn off your brain show, so I will be watching, but not blogging.

Fuzzy: I don’t think I’ll ever watch Sword Art without the main cast. Need me some Kirito. Pass. 

Shadow: Hmm, I might give this a watch since Kirito won’t be the main focus. But I’ll pass on blogging.

Tsuyoku: I’ve watched a total of 5 SAO episodes. It was okay, but I never continued so I’ll pass on this one too.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

Animation Company: Doga Kobo Website: http://tadakoi.tv/ Genre: Romance Airing Date: April 5, 2018 Summary: In the story, Mitsuyoshi Tada, a boy who has never known love, is taking pictures of the cherry blossoms in full bloom when he meets Teresa Wagner, a transfer student from Luxembourg. Upon arriving in Japan, she got lost, separated from her travel companion. Mitsuyoshi helps her and brings her to his grandfather’s coffee shop. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: Oh my god, my heart is fluttering. I think this might be the one show I will cover from this season!

Berry: The PV gave me goosebumps. Wow, it looks gorgeous! The colors are soft and the movements are fluid. This looks extremely adorable and promising!

MidnightDevont:  Oh wow, this sounds and looks really cute. I’ve got enough i’m signed up for, so Eva can have it…but bless my heart this show sounds adorable. 

Pandora: Romance! Good Art! But at the same time, looks historical..

Aplus: I always say I don’t like romances. Then I watch them and get hooked immediately. Happened with After the Rain this season and I’m sure it’ll happen with this show next season.

Fuzzy: This show looks amazing, and I dig the vibe of the PV! But I’ve got a good number already signed up. Take it Eva!

Shadow: I saw the pv for this and it looks absolutely gorgeous! I’ll probably stay tuned for it, but Eva can take this one.

Tsuyoku: I found out about this one about 2 weeks ago and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since! It’ll probably be one of those shows I love and hate to watch.

Possible Bloggers: Eva

Tokyo Ghoul:re

Animation Company: Studio Pierrot Website: http://www.marv.jp/special/tokyoghoul/ Genre: Action, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Psychological Airing Date: April 3, 2018 Summary: Two years have passed since the CCG’s raid on Anteiku. Although the atmosphere in Tokyo has changed drastically due to the increased influence of the CCG, ghouls continue to pose a problem as they have begun taking caution, especially the terrorist organization Aogiri Tree, who acknowledge the CCG’s growing threat to their existence. The creation of a special team, known as the Quinx Squad, may provide the CCG with the push they need to exterminate Tokyo’s unwanted residents. As humans who have undergone surgery in order to make use of the special abilities of ghouls, they participate in operations to eradicate the dangerous creatures. The leader of this group, Haise Sasaki, is a half-ghoul, half-human who has been trained by famed special class investigator, Kishou Arima. However, there’s more to this young man than meets the eye, as unknown memories claw at his mind, slowly reminding him of the person he used to be. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2

Team Impression

Eva: I really need to get around to reading the manga series… I know I am missing out.

Berry: Remember I said I didn’t like Tokyo Ghoul? More like I hate it, but you get the picture.

MidnightDevont:  Right um…so remember earlier when I mentioned I struggle immensely to watch Tokyo Ghoul despite it being just about everything I like in anime. That applies here…I just…don’t think I could. 

Pandora: Ay! What up! I’m watching this. I need some horror in my life. And I watched the rest of the Tokyo Ghoul. I wasn’t about to blog it, but everyone going to watch the first 3 episodes. Everyone hated root A, but seriously the author wanted to see this story a little differently, which I love.

Aplus: I don’t care what PV, review, or whatever comes out. After the ending of the last series, I won’t, nay, I can’t, trust this show without hard evidence. It looks soo cool though.

Fuzzy: Never read the manga, and I didn’t really like the original Tokyo Ghoul, so pass. That cover looks sick though. 

Shadow: Considering I never made it past the first three minutes of the first episode in the first season because I’m a pathetic, scaredy baby, pass.

Tsuyoku: I’ve been meaning to pick up the first Tokyo Ghoul manga for like 2 years and it hasn’t happened yeat. I don’t see that changing for this one.

Possible Bloggers: Pandora

Uma Musume Pretty Derby

Animation Company: P.A. Works Website: http://anime-umamusume.jp/ Genre: Sports Airing Date: April 1, 2018 Summary: The game’s concept begins with Uma Musume (Horse Girls), girls endowed with excellent running capability, and who aim to become top idols and compete in the national sports entertainment show “Twinkle Series.” Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: ….. It looks cute and all but… what a bizarre combination….

Berry: I know this is a fake Miyazaki quote, but he was right, anime was a fucking mistake.

MidnightDevont: What did I just read? 

Pandora: No. What is up with sports this season. Everyone calm down with the sports.

Aplus: Yesss. Give me more sports. Horses or not, I’m digging the animation and art.

Fuzzy: Horse girls? That’s my feti-Pass. 

Shadow: Um, what?

Tsuyoku: I have no idea what is going on with this one, but even though the art is pretty cute I don’t want to find out.

Wakaokami wa Shougakusei!

Animation Company: Madhouse Website: http://www.waka-okami.jp/ Genre: Supernatural Airing Date: April 8, 2018 Summary: 12-year-old Oriko Seki, who lost her parents in a car accident, ended up living in her grandmother’s Onsen Ryokan “Haru no Ya.” With the ghost “Uribou” cohabitating with her and all the other odds, she ended up training to be a young female innkeeper. At first, she didn’t like the training, but gradually felt her admiration for her title and began to train seriously. Thus, the growth of the young warrior Oriko begins. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: No. Pass. Not interested.

Berry: Looks harmless and cute, but maybe too kiddie for me.

MidnightDevont: words do not begin to describe how uninterested I am in this.

Pandora: Nah, but it looks cute.

Aplus: Nope.

Fuzzy: Yeah, not feeling this at all. Pass. 

Shadow: I think I’ve given up on watching series that star twelve year olds.

Tsuyoku: This looks really cute and like someone I could enjoy! I might watch it casually.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

Animation Company: A-1 Pictures Website: http://wotakoi-anime.com/ Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life Airing Date: April 12, 2018 Summary: The story centers on the awkward romantic comedy between Narumi, a female office worker who hides her fujoshi lifestyle, and Hirotaka, a handsome and capable company man who is secretly a game otaku. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I read a bit of this manga a while back, it is quite charming!!! I will be watching this one!

Berry: Hmmm….I’m not too sure on this one. Surprisingly it’s not making me crazy for it.

MidnightDevont:  Oh darn, it’s cute…and i relate to the main girl…and it’s animated by A-1….I know I said no more but….just in case one of my other shows gets shotgunned or I need to step aside and let someone else take one….

Pandora:  I like that, but I’m going to let everyone blog it like I did with After the Rain.

Aplus: I’m good. The fujoshi life ain’t for me. Anytime something like that is used it becomes the entire character rather than a trait of the character and, unlike other traits, I can’t relate to it at all.

Fuzzy: I might pick it up if I hear good things about it, but otherwise I got too much on my plate. Pass.

Shadow: I absolutely LOVE the manga for this and I made a rather embarrassing noise when I saw this on the list next season. It’s so freaking adorable and it’s definitely on my list to watch.

Tsuyoku: Kyaa! It’s finally here! I’ve been looking forward to this since it was announced. Can’t wait to check it out.

Possible Bloggers: MidnightDevont, Shadow

Yokai Watch: Shadow Side

Animation Company: S Website: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/youkai-watch-ss/ Genre: Comedy, Demons, Kids, Supernatural Airing Date: April 13, 2018 Summary: Keisuke is a fifth grader who does not believe in ghosts, UFOs, or even yo-kai. Lately, he has noticed that Natsume has been coming home late, and one day decides to tail her. When he discovers that Natsume goes to a yo-kai detective agency, Natsume is forced to involve Keisuke in her activities. Trailer: PV 1 | PV 2 | PV 3

Team Impression

Eva: I haven’t actually watched any of Yokai Watch yet, so I guess should probably get around to see if it entertains me?

Berry: I saw like one half episode of Yokai Watch on TV and it actually made me laugh out loud. I can see why people like this series, but I’m not sure if I’d ever get into it.

MidnightDevont:  Never did get into Yokai Watch….

Pandora: Nope. Do people still watch Yokai Watch???

Aplus: Too many “nevers” in this reaction section. It’s so negative. I’ve always… been a fan of watching shows… that aren’t this one. That’s more positive, right? 

Fuzzy: Doesn’t interest me in any way. I do love yokai, but not enough to make me watch this. 

Shadow: Never got into it. Pass.

Tsuyoku: I’ve never watched Youkai Watch despite constant peer pressure, so I doubt this will change that.

Overall Thoughts

Eva: Welp, talk about a bad time to have your hands full! This season is looking great, but I am in a bit of a pinch because Darling in the Franxx, Hugtto! Precure, Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS are all carrying over into the Spring. With my current life schedule, I may be forced to pick only one title from this season, and I decided it will most likely be Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai. No question about it. Nevertheless it is frustrating to only pick one when there’s so many titles that have caught my attention, so maybe I can whip some magic together and make something work. The ones I will be keeping my close eye on this season will be Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory, Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi, Mahou Shoujo Ore, Nil Admirari no Tenbin, Persona 5 The Animation, Piano no Mori, Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii! 

Berry: At first I thought the Spring season looked pretty boring but now that I’ve gone through this preview, it’s actually looking pretty good. There’s lots of different type of shows, and luckily for me lots of interesting looking sports anime with some reboots! That said, I didn’t sign up for that much because I kind of want to be on the down low this season. I’m working more on myself with job searching and such, you know, being a productive member of society, so I can’t swamp myself with too many shows. I only really wanted to do two shows, with Persona 5 being an absolute must, and picking between either Golden Kamui or Piano no Mori but I kind of want to do all three of them. Even worse, I might even pick up Lost Song, or at least do a Quick Look for it. I still don’t know what to do so I’m going to have to think about it. But, if anyone wants to share any other those shows (most likely Persona), then that’ll lighten the load and that could let me handle another show. We’ll see!

MidnightDevont:  THREE THOUSAND YEARS WILL GIVE YOU SUCH A CRINK IN THE NECK. I’m back from my supposed retirement [who could keep me from watching anime and blogging forever right?] and ready to cover shows. 9 shows, 9 shows my name is down on. This season is bursting with potential for good anime and I’m not even exactly sure how my brain is going to handle it all. I am so happy to be back and writing for the site at the beginning of such a promising looking season. I’m just hoping I can either split coverage on some of these or I am going to burn myself out for sure. Though, that being said, my biggest hype trains of the season are Steins;Gate 0, Persona 5, Mahou Shoujo Site, Mahou Ore and Hero Academia season 3. The others are just vague interests or things that sounded really neat or fun to me. I am hyped to bring you coverage and watch good anime! 

Pandora: Okay. Too many remakes/reboots, too many sports, too many historicals, too many idols, and too many fantasies. Ugh. What a mess up in here. Come up with better ideas or actually animate manga/ideas people really want instead of making remakes( just thought of shows that would be nice animes). I have found some ones I like including Devil’s Line,Shiyan Pin Jiating (Jikkenhin Kazoku) and Tokyo Ghoul:re to detox from watching too much comedy. And thay slavery one(Dorei-ku The Animation), also looks pretty good to be honest. I also still have Saiki, so I still have comedy. I’m just sort of disapointed, I didn’t really want to watch too much of anything this season.

Aplus: I wasn’t here for the last season (or two?) and I’ve become a very jaded old man in a very short amount of time. Everything in the lineup looks just OK. I’m really not expecting any gems out of this season. Maybe my low expectations will make it so I am pleasantly surprised. I personally see the increase in sports to be a great thing, the historical pieces are up my alley, and I always look forward to the action/adventure shows! While there were a bunch I would’ve like to have covered, due to time restraints, I will be checking out these three for first impressions (at least): Caligula, Lost Song, and Ladyspo. I mentioned my reasoning under each individual show but, to sum it up, I think Caligula will either be very, very good OR get completely lost in it’s own plot and do absolutely nothing with it’s time. I am excited to document that journey whether it be into the hall of fame or on a flaming, sinking ship. Lost Song and Ladyspo both just seem like shows I’ll enjoy. While the latter (even after researching on my own) has basically NO information available, I can’t see how some ladies playing sports for money could go wrong. Another Keijo? Sure, why not. Oh, it’s just another sports show? OK, that’s totally fine by me! See? It’s a win-win! Regardless, I’m glad to be back after my short, short hiatus and I’m looking forward to laughing, crying, and just generally being confused with everyone.

Fuzzy: Alright! Let’s go SPRING 2018! This is actually a pretty great season, with romances, a reverse harem, a lot of sports. It’s like crazy diverse. I guess I’m most excited for the reboot of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and although pretty much everyone is skeptical on the reboot, I have hope! Please don’t mess it up. Please. With Persona 5 and Steins;Gate 0 the anime community will definitely be busy this season, and of course there’s the big dog of shounen, My Hero Academia. But yeah, the season seems really good and I am excited for my first season as writer! 

Shadow: Freaking HYPED for a few of these titles such as Third Season of My Hero Academia, Persona 5 and Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii. There do seem to be a lot of other potentially interesting ones as well. I’m always hesitant going into a new season after such a good previous one, so it’s going to take some getting used to with these new shows. I’m excited to see what hidden gems there are this season though!

Tsuyoku: Very polarizing season lineup for me! I’m either really cold or hot on everything, very few titles I’m neutral about, but let’s ignore the riff-raff and focus on the amazing! I’m really looking forward to possibly blogging Cutie Honey Universe, Steins; Gate 0, Hisone to Maso-tan, Gurazeni and Dorei-ku the Animation. Besides these titles I’ll also for sure be watching Boku no Hero Academia 3, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu -Die Neue These- Kaikou, Hinamatsuri; Megalo Box, Persona 5, Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai, Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii and then there’s a few more I might check out for the heck of it!

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Amazon vs. Google: Decoding the World's Largest E-commerce Search Engine

A lot of people forget that Amazon is a search engine, let alone the largest search engine for e-commerce. With 54 percent of product searches now taking place on Amazon, it’s time to take it seriously as the world’s largest search engine for e-commerce. In fact, if we exclude YouTube as part of Google, Amazon is technically the second largest search engine in the world. As real estate on Google becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, moving beyond a website-centric e-commerce strategy is a no brainer. With 54% of shoppers choosing to shop on e-commerce marketplaces, it’s no surprise that online marketplaces are the number one most important digital marketing channel in the US, according to a 2018 study by the Digital Marketing Institute. While marketplaces like Etsy and Walmart are growing fast, Amazon maintains its dominance of e-commerce market share owning 47 percent of online sales, and 5 percent of all retail sales in the US. Considering that there are currently over 500 million products listed on Amazon.com, and more than two-thirds of clicks happen on the first page of Amazon’s search results—selling products on Amazon is no longer as easy as "set it and forget it."  Enter the power of SEO. When we think of SEO, many of us are aware of the basics of how Google’s algorithm works, but not many of us are up to speed with SEO on Amazon. Before we delve into Amazon’s algorithm, it’s important to note how Google and Amazon’s starkly different business models are key to what drives their algorithms and ultimately how we approach SEO on the two platforms.

The academic vs. The stockbroker

Google was born in 1998 through a Ph.D. project by Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin. It was the first search engine of its kind designed to crawl and index the web more efficiently than any existing systems at the time.

Google was built on a foundation of scientific research and academia, with a mission to; “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” — Google Now, answering 5.6 billion queries every day, Google’s mission is becoming increasingly difficult — which is why their algorithm is designed as the most complex search engine in the world, continuously refined through hundreds of updates every year. In contrast to Brin and Page, Jeff Bezos began his career on Wall Street in a series of jobs before starting Amazon in 1994 after reading that the web was growing at 2,300 percent. Determined to take advantage of this, he made a list of the top products most likely to sell online and settled with books because of their low cost and high demand. Amazon was built on a revenue model, with a mission to: “Be the Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.” — Amazon

Amazon doesn’t have searcher intent issues

When it comes to SEO, the contrasting business models of these two companies lead the search engines to ask very different questions in order to deliver the right results to the user. On one hand, we have Google who asks the question: “What results most accurately answer the searcher’s query?” Amazon, on the other hand, wants to know: “What product is the searcher most likely to buy?” On Amazon, people aren’t asking questions, they’re searching for products—and what’s more, they’re ready to buy. So, while Google is busy honing an algorithm that aims to understand the nuances of human language, Amazon’s search engine serves one purpose—to understand searches just enough to rank products based on their propensity to sell. With this in mind, working to increase organic rankings on Amazon becomes a lot less daunting.

Amazon’s A9 algorithm: The secret ingredient

Amazon may dominate e-commerce search, but many people haven’t heard of the A9 algorithm. Which might seem unusual, but the reason Amazon isn’t keen on pushing their algorithm through the lens of a large scale search engine is simply that Amazon isn’t in the business of search. Amazon’s business model is a well-oiled revenue-driving machine — designed first and foremost to sell as many products as possible through its online platform. While Amazon’s advertising platform is growing rapidly, and AWS continues as their fastest-growing revenue source — Amazon still makes a large portion of revenue through goods sold through the marketplace. With this in mind, the secret ingredient behind Amazon’s A9 algorithm is, in fact: Sales Velocity What is sales velocity, you ask? It’s essentially the speed and volume at which your products sell on Amazon’s marketplace. There are lots of factors which Amazon SEO’s refer to as "direct" and "indirect" ranking factors, but ultimately every single one of them ties back to sales velocity in some way. At Wolfgang Digital, we approach SEO on Google based on three core pillars — Technology, Relevance, and Authority.

Evidently, Google’s ranking pillars are all based on optimizing a website in order to drive click through on the SERP. On the other hand, Amazon’s core ranking pillars are tied back to driving revenue through sales velocity — Conversion Rate, Keyword Relevance and of course, Customer Satisfaction.  

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the key factors behind each of these pillars, and what you can optimize to increase your chances of ranking on Amazon’s coveted first page. Conversion rate Conversion rates on Amazon have a direct impact on where your product will rank because this tells Amazon’s algorithm which products are most likely to sell like hotcakes once they hit the first page. Of all variables to monitor as an Amazon marketer, working to increase conversion rates is your golden ticket to higher organic rankings. Optimize pricing Amazon’s algorithm is designed to predict which products are most likely to convert. This is why the price has such a huge impact on where your products rank in search results. If you add a new product to Amazon at a cheaper price than the average competitor, your product is inclined to soar to the top-ranking results, at least until it gathers enough sales history to determine the actual sales performance. Even if you’re confident that you have a supplier advantage, it’s worth checking your top-selling products and optimizing pricing where possible. If you have a lot of products, repricing software is a great way to automate pricing adjustments based on the competition while still maintaining your margins. However, Amazon knows that price isn’t the only factor that drives sales, which is why Amazon’s first page isn’t simply an ordered list of items priced low to high. See the below Amazon UK search results for “lavender essential oil:”

Excluding the sponsored ads, we can still see that not all of the cheap products are ranked high and the more expensive ones lower down the page. So, if you’ve always maintained the idea that selling on Amazon is a race to the bottom on price, read on my friends. Create listings that sell As we discussed earlier, Amazon is no longer a “set it and forget” platform, which is why you should treat each of your product listings as you would a product page on your website. Creating listings that convert takes time, which is why not many sellers do it well, so it’s an essential tactic to steal conversions from the competition. Title Make your titles user-friendly, include the most important keywords at the front, and provide just enough information to entice clicks. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing titles on Amazon, in fact, it may even hinder your rankings by reducing clicks and therefore conversions.

Bullet points These are the first thing your customer sees, so make sure to highlight the best features of your product using a succinct sentence in language designed to convert. Improve the power of your bullet points by including information that your top competitors don’t provide. A great way to do this is to analyze the “answered questions” for some of your top competitors.

Do you see any trending questions that you could answer in your bullet points to help shorten the buyer journey and drive conversions to your product?

Product descriptions Given that over 50 percent of Amazon shoppers said they always read the full description when they are considering purchasing a product, a well-written product description can have a huge impact on conversions. Your description is likely to be the last thing a customer will read before they choose to buy your product over a competitor, so give these your time and care, reiterating points made in your bullet points and highlighting any other key features or benefits likely to push conversions over the line. Taking advantage of A+ content for some of your best selling products is a great way to craft a visually engaging description, like this example from Safavieh.

Of course, A+ content requires additional design costs which may not be feasible for everyone. If you opt for text-only descriptions, make sure your content is easy to read while still highlighting the best features of your product. For an in-depth breakdown on creating a beautifully crafted Amazon listing, I highly recommend this post from Startup Bros. AB test images Images are incredibly powerful when it comes to increasing conversions, so if you haven’t tried split testing different image versions on Amazon, you could be pleasantly surprised. One of the most popular tools for Amazon AB testing is Splitly — it’s really simple to use, and affordable with plans starting at $47 per month.

Depending on your product type, it may be worth investing the time into taking your own pictures rather than using the generic supplier provided images. Images that tend to have the biggest impact on conversions are the feature images (the one you see in search results) and close up images, so try testing a few different versions to see which has the biggest impact. Amazon sponsored ads The best thing about Amazon SEO is that your performance on other marketing channels can help support your organic performance. Unlike on Google, where advertising has no impact on organic rankings, if your product performs well on Amazon ads, it may help boost organic rankings. This is because if a product is selling through ads, Amazon’s algorithm may see this as a product that users should also see organically.

A well-executed ad campaign is particularly important for new products, in order to boost their sales velocity in the beginning and build up the sales history needed to rank better organically. External traffic External traffic involves driving traffic from social media, email, or other sources to your Amazon products. While external sources of traffic are a great way to gain more brand exposure and increase customer reach, a well-executed external traffic strategy also impacts your organic rankings because of its role in increasing sales and driving up conversion rates.

Before you start driving traffic straight to your Amazon listing, you may want to consider using a landing page tool like Landing Cube in order to protect your conversion rate as much as possible. With a landing page tool, you drive traffic to a landing page where customers get a special offer code to use on your product listing page—this way, you only drive traffic which is guaranteed to convert.

Keyword relevance A9 still relies heavily on keyword matching to determine the relevance of a product to searcher’s query, which is why this is a core pillar of Amazon SEO. While your title, bullet points, and descriptions are essential for converting customers, if you don’t include the relevant keywords, your chances of driving traffic to convert are slim to none. Every single keyword incorporated in your Amazon listing will impact your rankings, so it’s important to deploy a strategic approach. Steps for targeting the right keywords on Amazon: Brainstorm as many search terms you think someone would use to find your product. Analyze 3–5 competitors with the most reviews to identify their target keywords. Validate the top keywords for your product using an Amazon keyword tool such as Magnet, Ahrefs, or Keywordtool.io. Download the keyword lists into Excel, and filter out any duplicate or irrelevant keywords. Prioritize search terms with the highest search volume, bearing in mind that broad terms will be harder to rank for. Depending on the competition, it may make more sense to focus on lower volume terms with lower competition—but this can always be tested later on. Once you have refined the keywords you want to rank for, here are some things to remember: Include your most important keywords at the start of the title, after your brand name. Use long-tail terms and synonyms throughout your bullets points and descriptions. Use your backend search terms wisely — these are a great place for including some common misspellings, different measurement versions e.g. metric or imperial, color shades and descriptive terms. Most importantly — don’t repeat keywords. If you’ve included a search term once in your listing i.e. the title, you don’t need to include it in your backend search terms. Repeating a keyword, or keyword stuffing will not improve your rankings. Customer satisfaction Account health Part of Amazon’s mission statement is “to be the Earth’s most customer-centric company.” This relentless focus on the customer is what drives Amazon’s astounding customer retention, with 85 percent of Prime shoppers visiting the marketplace at least once a week and 56% of non-Prime members reporting the same. A focus on the customer is at the core of Amazon’s success, which is why stringent customer satisfaction metrics are a key component to selling on Amazon.

Your account health metrics are the bread and butter of your success as an Amazon seller, which is why they’re part of Amazon’s core ranking algorithm. Customer experience is so important to Amazon that, if you fail to meet the minimum performance requirements, you risk getting suspended as a seller—and they take no prisoners. On the other hand, if you are meeting your minimum requirements but other sellers are performing better than you by exceeding theirs, they could be at a ranking advantage. Customer reviews Customer reviews are one of the most important Amazon ranking factors — not only do they tell Amazon how customers feel about your product, but they are one of the most impactful conversion factors in e-commerce. Almost 95 percent of online shoppers read reviews before buying a product, and over 60 percent of Amazon customers say they wouldn’t purchase a product with less than 4.5 stars. On Amazon, reviews help to drive both conversion rate and keyword relevance, particularly for long-tail terms. In short, they’re very important. Increasing reviews for your key products on Amazon was historically a lot easier, through acquiring incentivized reviews. However, in 2018, Amazon banned sellers from incentivizing reviews which makes it even more difficult to actively build reviews, especially for new products. Tips for building positive reviews on Amazon: Maintain consistent communication throughout the purchase process using Amazon email marketing software. Following up to thank someone for their order and notify when the order if fulfilled, creates a seamless buying experience which leaves customers more likely to give a positive review. Adding branded package inserts to thank customers for their purchase makes the buying experience personal, differentiating you as a brand rather than a nameless Amazon seller. Including a friendly reminder to leave a review in a nice delivery note will have better response rates than the generic email they receive from Amazon. Providing upfront returns information without a customer having to ask for it shows customers you are confident in the quality of your product. If a customer isn’t happy with your product, adding fuel to the fire with a clunky or difficult returns process is more likely to result in negative reviews through sheer frustration. Follow up with helpful content related to your products such as instructions, decor inspiration, or recipe ideas, including a polite reminder to provide a review in exchange. And of course, deliver an amazing customer experience from start to finish.

Key takeaways for improving Amazon SEO

As a marketer well versed in the world of Google, venturing onto Amazon can seem like a culture shock — but mastering the basic principles of Amazon SEO could be the difference between getting lost in a sea of competitors and driving a successful Amazon business. Focus on driving sales velocity through increasing conversion rate, improving keyword relevance, nailing customer satisfaction and actively building reviews. Craft product listings for customers first, search engines second. Don’t neglect product descriptions in the belief that no one reads them—over 50% of Amazon shoppers report reading the full description before buying a product. Keywords carry a lot of weight. If you don’t include a keyword in your listing, your chances of ranking for it are slim. Images are powerful. Take your own photos instead of using generic supplier images and be sure to test, test, and test. Actively build positive reviews by delivering an amazing customer experience. Invest in PPC and driving external traffic to support organic performance, especially for new products. What other SEO tips or tactics do you apply on Amazon? Tell me in the comments below! Read the full article

[atsumus]

Get to Know Me Better

i was tagged by @seamarmot, thank you so much! ^-^

Rule: tag 9 people you want to get to know better NICKNAMES: elea or sometimes elli... and QUEEN OF OIKAGE! that’s what people on the internet call me at least Zodiac sign: pisces sun, virgo moon, aquarius rising Height: 161cm ... if you squint lmao Last thing googled: one piece naruto netabare Favorite music artist: i have too many.. and i listen to a lot of different stuff.. like everything from one direction and taylor swift to fall out boy and panic! at the disco. also lana del rey, marina and the diamonds.. halsey.. coldplay, the wombats, arctic monkeys.. florence and the machine.. of monsters and men, mumford and sons.. many many many more..  Song stuck in your head: “the good, the bad, and the dirty” by panic! at the disco Last movie watched: if anime counts too “koe no katachi”, if not “fantastic beasts and where to find them” What are you wearing right now: grey cozy socks, white sweatpants with a floral design, white-cyan-striped nightdress, and a grey hooded jacket, a dark blue scarf (it’s summer hot outside but i am ill yay) Why did you choose your URL: because I LOVE MIYA ATSUMU SO MUCH Do you have any other blogs: ohhh boy, way too many.. i’ll exclude group blogs and only mention the few most active ones:

@inoyamanaka - naruto/boruto

@harolds - music, lyrics, tv shows, movies, artists, celebs etc.

@mcclainlance - voltron

@kiyoomis - nsfw art (i posted one drawing so far lmao)

@wakatoshi - resources

What did your last relationship teach you: i have difficulties letting go for absolutely no fucking reason, but i’m actually 100% good on my own (i mean, without a romantic partner, not without people in general of course), so i don’t want a new relationship unless i really, really think it’s a good idea (so probably not anytime soon, maybe never again lmao bye what’s a love life if you have anime)

Religious or spiritual: spiritual I guess.. definitely not religious Favorite color: green, especially pastel tones and really dark ones Average hours of sleep: during the “depressed what’s sleep” phase it’s a maximum of 6h a night, during the “depressed i will never get up again phase” it’s a minimum of 12h a night... there is no in between Lucky number: i don’t think i have one lol Favorite characters: this would be a way too long list so here are a few from recent fandoms... kageyama tobio, oikawa tooru, miya atsumu, aomine daiki, kagami taiga, akashi seijuurou, lance mcclain, keith kogane, pidge gunderson, bakugou katsuki, todoroki shouto, midoriya izuku, dazai osamu, nakahara chuuya.. and many, many more.. How many blankets you sleep with: usually one or two (don’t ask about the amount of pillows though lmao) Dream job: as a kid i always wanted to become a paleontologist, but i guess by now i’d like to become an author and/or programmer/computer scientist and/or graphic designer..  Lipstick or chapstick: chapstick (only the “isana” ones from “rossmann” though) Last song you listened to: “seven devils” by florence and the machine

Top 3 shows: haikyuu, kuroko no basket, boku no hero academia okay so this time i’ll actually try tagging people i wanna get to know better and not just the people i always tag and talk to lmao @alien-iwaoi @iwaizumi-hajimie @oizumi @kourai @haiyse @shouhei @bakugoukatsvki @yulicechan @hairuko (i know everyone’s busy, so just do it if you want to, of course! ^-^)

[nebris]

America’s hidden philosophy

When Cold War philosophy tied rational choice theory to scientific method, it embedded the free-market mindset in US society

The chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was worried. It was May 1954, and UCLA had been independent of Berkeley for just two years. Now its Office of Public Information had learned that the Hearst-owned Los Angeles Examiner was preparing one or more articles on communist infiltration at the university. The news was hardly surprising. UCLA, sometimes called the ‘little Red schoolhouse in Westwood’, was considered to be a prime example of communist infiltration of universities in the United States; an article in The Saturday Evening Post in October 1950 had identified it as providing ‘a case history of what has been done at many schools’.

The chancellor, Raymond B Allen, scheduled an interview with a ‘Mr Carrington’ – apparently Richard A Carrington, the paper’s publisher – and solicited some talking points from Andrew Hamilton of the Information Office. They included the following: ‘Through the cooperation of our police department, our faculty and our student body, we have always defeated such [subversive] attempts. We have done this quietly and without fanfare – but most effectively.’ Whether Allen actually used these words or not, his strategy worked. Scribbled on Hamilton’s talking points, in Allen’s handwriting, are the jubilant words ‘All is OK – will tell you.’

Allen’s victory ultimately did him little good. Unlike other UCLA administrators, he is nowhere commemorated on the Westwood campus, having suddenly left office in 1959, after seven years in his post, just ahead of a football scandal. The fact remains that he was UCLA’s first chancellor, the premier academic Red hunter of the Joseph McCarthy era – and one of the most important US philosophers of the mid-20th century.

This is hard to see today, when philosophy is considered one of academia’s more remote backwaters. But as the country emerged from the Second World War, things were different. John Dewey and other pragmatists were still central figures in US intellectual life, attempting to summon the better angels of American nature in the service, as one of Dewey’s most influential titles had it, of ‘democracy and education’. In this they were continuing one of US philosophy’s oldest traditions, that of educating students and the general public to appreciate their place in a larger order of values. But they had reconceived the nature of that order: where previous generations of US philosophers had understood it as divinely ordained, the pragmatists had come to see it as a social order. This attracted suspicion from conservative religious groups, who kept sharp eyes on philosophy departments on the grounds that they were the only place in the universities where atheism might be taught (Dewey’s associate Max Otto resigned a visiting chair at UCLA after being outed as an atheist by the Examiner). As communism began its postwar spread across eastern Europe, this scrutiny intensified into a nationwide crusade against communism and, as the UCLA campus paper The Daily Bruin put it, ‘anything which might faintly resemble it’.

And that was not the only political pressure on philosophy at the time. Another, more intellectual, came from the philosophical attractiveness of Marxism, which was rapidly winning converts not only in Europe but in Africa and Asia as well. The view that class struggle in Western countries would inevitably lead, via the pseudoscientific ‘iron laws’ of thesis, antithesis and synthesis, to worldwide communist domination was foreign to Marx himself. But it provided a ‘scientific’ veneer for Soviet great-power interests, and people all over the world were accepting it as a coherent explanation for the Depression, the Second World War and ongoing poverty. As the political philosopher S M Amadae has shown in Rationalising Capitalist Democracy (2003), many Western intellectuals at the time did not think that capitalism had anything to compete with this. A new philosophy was needed, one that provided what the nuanced approaches of pragmatism could not: an uncompromising vindication of free markets and contested elections.

The McCarthyite pressure, at first, was the stronger. To fight the witch-hunters, universities needed to do exactly what Allen told the Examiner that UCLA was doing: quickly and quietly identify communists on campus and remove them from teaching positions. There was, however, a problem with this: wasn’t it censorship? And wasn’t censorship what we were supposed to be fighting against?

It was Allen himself who solved this problem when, as president of the University of Washington in 1948-49, he had to fire two communists who had done nothing wrong except join the Communist Party. Joseph Butterworth, whose field was medieval literature, was not considered particularly subversive. But Herbert Phillips was a philosophy professor. He not only taught the work of Karl Marx, but began every course by informing the students that he was a committed Marxist, and inviting them to judge his teaching in light of that fact. This meant that he could not be ‘subverting’ his students – they knew exactly what they were getting. Allen nevertheless came under heavy pressure to fire him.

Allen’s justification for doing this became known across the country as the ‘Allen Formula’. The core of it ran like this: members of the Communist Party have abandoned reason, the impartial search for truth, and merely parrot the Moscow line. They should not be allowed to teach, not because they are Marxists – that would indeed be censorship – but because they are incompetent. The Formula did not end there, however. It had to be thoroughly argued and rigorously pervasive, because it had to appeal to a highly informed and critical audience: university professors, whose cooperation was essential to rooting out the subversives in their midst. Ad hoc invocations of the ‘search for truth’ would not suffice. It had to be shown what the search for truth – reason itself – really was. Allen’s ‘formula’ thus became philosophical in nature.

Like the logical positivists of his day, Allen identified reason with science, which he defined in terms of a narrow version of the ‘scientific method’, according to which it consists in formulating and testing hypotheses. This applied, he claimed in a 1953 interview with The Daily Bruin, even in ‘the realm of the moral and spiritual life’: Buddha under the banyan tree, Moses on Sinai, and Jesus in the desert were all, it appears, formulating hypotheses and designing experiments to test them.

The Allen Formula gave universities two things they desperately needed: a quick-and-dirty way to identify ‘incompetents’, and a rationale for their speedy exclusion from academia. Since rationality applies to all human activities, the Formula could be used against professors who, like Butterworth, were competent in their own disciplines, but whose views in other fields (such as politics) had not been formulated ‘scientifically’. Moreover, and conveniently, rationality was now a matter of following clear rules that went beyond individual disciplines. This meant that whether someone was ‘competent’ or not could be handed over to what Allen called members of ‘the tough, hard-headed world of affairs’ – in practice, administrators and trustees – rather than left to professors actually conversant with the suspect’s field. Professors thus found themselves freed from having to deal with cases of suspected subversion. Small wonder that, according to the historian Ellen Schrecker, Allen’s actions, and his rationale for them, set a precedent for universities across the country, and catapulted Allen himself to national fame – and to a new job at UCLA.

The Allen Formula was administered, at UCLA and elsewhere in California, through something called the California Plan. Imitated to varying degrees in other states, the Plan required the head of every institution of higher education in California, public and private, to send the name of every job candidate at their institution for vetting by the state senate’s committee on un-American activities. The committee would then consult its database of subversives and inform the university whether the candidate was in it. What to do next was, officially, up to the university; but the committee’s policy was that if an identified subversive was actually hired, it would go public, issuing subpoenas and holding hearings. As Schrecker notes in No Ivory Tower (1986), no college could hope to deal with such publicity, so the Plan effectively gave the committee ‘a veto over every single academic appointment in the state of California’.

The California Plan was supplemented at the University of California by a memo in April 1952 from President Robert G Sproul to department chairs and other administrative officers, directing departments to canvass the publications of job candidates to make sure that they ‘prohibited the employment of persons whose commitments or obligations to any organisation, communist or other, prejudiced impartial scholarship and teaching and the free pursuit of truth’. As the language here makes clear, it is not merely communists who are the problem, but anyone who is not ‘impartial’. Sproul, like other academics, followed the Allen Formula.

This official emphasis on scientific impartiality excluded adherents of a number of influential philosophical approaches from employment in California. Non-communist Marxists whose beliefs reposed on readings of history rather than on logic and mathematics were said to have abandoned what was rapidly defined as philosophy’s ancient concern with strict objectivity in favour of what Allen called ‘leading parades’. Existentialists and phenomenologists did not follow the experimental method (and the former tended to be atheists as well). Many pragmatists did not even believe that there was a single scientific method: true to their name, they believed that scientific enquiry should be free to apply whatever procedures worked. Moreover, whether a method ‘worked’ or not in a given case should be a matter of its social benefit, a dangerously collectivist standard in those difficult days. It was far safer to see the scientific enterprise as what Allen called it in Communism and Academic Freedom (1949): a ‘timeless, selfless quest of truth’.

The California Plan operated in the greatest secrecy. Ending someone’s career in public required extensive justification, multiple hearings, and due process, all of which could provoke damaging public outcries. The need for secrecy also explains why the Plan emphasised preventing hires rather than rooting out subversives already in teaching positions. As the committee noted in its annual report for 1953, professors already on campus had networks of friends and supporters. Efforts to remove them often produced loud backlashes which, in the committee’s view, invariably benefitted the Communist Party.

According to its advocates, the Plan was a great success. In March 1952, 10 months after it was implemented, the committee’s staffer, Richard Combs, estimated that it had prevented about one academic hire per day in the state. The next year, Allen himself declared that ‘so far, the arrangement is working to mutual advantage’.

As long as Allen remained chancellor, the Plan’s secrecy was successfully maintained at UCLA. Two years after he left, however, attacks resumed: the anthropologist John Greenway was fired in 1961 for suggesting that the Roman Catholic Mass exhibited traces of cannibalism. Three years after that, the philosopher Patrick Wilson was denounced by leading Los Angeles clergymen for the way he taught philosophy of religion. The seven years of silence while Allen served as chancellor at UCLA are testimony to his, and the Plan’s, success at tamping down controversy. We will never know, of course, the number of job candidates who lost their careers before they even started.

Things took a different turn at the university’s other campus, Berkeley. Unlike Allen, Berkeley’s chancellor, Clark Kerr, refused to cooperate with the Plan – with the result that, unbeknown to Kerr, a university security officer named William Wadman took it over. Wadman’s view of his job went well beyond merely forwarding the names of job candidates. It amounted to a general political policing of the faculty, and this attracted national attention. In March 1954, after Wadman’s activities became public, an article in the far-off Harvard Crimson quoted Richard Combs: ‘If, after looking over charges against a professor and investigating them, Wadman thinks the man should be removed, he goes to the state committee and discusses the case. If the … committee agrees with him, the information is passed on to the president of the university [Sproul], who calls for the professor’s resignation.’

The initiative in this arrangement clearly belonged to Wadman. The committee itself was known to be rabidly anti-communist and eager to justify its existence by capturing ‘subversives’, while Sproul’s assent to its findings is portrayed as virtually automatic. The Crimson article goes on to summarise Combs as saying that ‘any professor in the college – not merely those in classified research – can be dealt with in this manner’. Which means, if true, that every professor in the college – not just those in classified research – owed his job to the benign disregard, at least, of Wadman.

As all this was happening, US academics also faced the task of coming up with a philosophical antidote to Marxism. Rational choice theory, originally developed at the RAND Corporation in the late 1940s, was a plausible candidate. It holds that people make (or should make) choices rationally by ranking the alternatives presented to them with regard to the mathematical properties of transitivity and completeness. They then choose the alternative that maximises their utility, advancing their relevant goals at minimal cost. Each individual is solely responsible for her preferences and goals, so rational choice theory takes a strongly individualistic view of human life. The ‘iron laws of history’ have no place here, and large-scale historical forces, such as social classes and revolutions, do not really exist except as shorthand for lots of people making up their minds. To patriotic US intellectuals, rational choice theory thus held great promise as a weapon in the Cold War of ideas.

But it needed work. Its original formulation at RAND had been keyed to the empirical contexts of market choice and voting behaviour, but the kind of Marxism it was supposed to fight – basically, Stalinism – did not accept either free markets or contested elections as core components of human society. Rational choice theory therefore had to be elevated from an empirical theory covering certain empirical contexts into a normative theory of the proper operation of the human mind itself. It had to become a universal philosophy. Only then could it justify the US’ self-assumed global mission of bringing free elections and free markets to the entire world.

Scientific method was already installed as coextensive with reason itself – philosophically by the logical positivists, and politically by the Allen Formula. All that was needed was to tie rational choice to the scientific method. This was accomplished paradigmatically by the UCLA philosopher Hans Reichenbach’s book The Rise of Scientific Philosophy (1951). In a crucial paragraph, Reichenbach wrote:

a set of observational facts will always fit more than one theory … The inductive inference is used to confer upon each of these theories a degree of probability, and the most probable theory is then accepted.

Facts always underdetermine theories, and this requires scientists to choose from an array of alternative theories, under a preference for highest probability. Science thus becomes a series of rational choices. Which meant that by 1951 there was a unified intellectual response to the two pressures: appeals to science fought the domestic subversives, and when science was integrated with rational choice theory it entered the global conflict. The battle was on, and what I call Cold War philosophy began its career, not only in fighting the Cold War of ideas, but in structuring US universities – and US society.

To be sure, interest in the California Plan seems to have petered out well before California’s anti-communist senate committee was disbanded in 1971. Even before then, the Plan was not entirely successful, as witnessed by the hiring in 1964 of the Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse to the philosophy department at the University of California, San Diego. That hiring was not without problems, however; public outcries against Marcuse culminated, in 1968, in armed guards, organised by his graduate students, spending the night in his living room.

But to say that with the waning of McCarthyism Cold War philosophy itself vanished from the scene is far too simplistic. The Cold War lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Cold War philosophy is still with us today. Thus, humanists long ago abandoned McCarthy-era attempts to subject their work to scientific method (as New Criticism was held to do). But in universities at large, intellectual respectability still tends to follow the sciences.

Cold War philosophy also continues to structure US society at large. Consider the widespread use of multiple-choice tests for tracking students. Whether one takes an ACT or a SAT, one is basically being tested on one’s ability to choose, quickly and accurately, from a presented array of alternative answers – under a preference, of course, for agreement with the test designers. Rational choice thus became the key to one’s placement in the national meritocracy, as illustrated by what I call the ‘40’s test’: if you know that someone has got 440, 540, 640 or 740 on the SATs (under the scoring system in effect until March 2016), you usually know a lot about their subsequent life. Someone who scored a 440, for example, likely attended a community college or no college, and worked at a relatively humble job. Someone with a 740 was usually accepted into an elite university and had much grander opportunities. Many countries, of course have meritocracies – but few pin them as tightly to rational choice as the US does.

Cold War philosophy also influences US society through its ethics. Its main ethical implication is somewhat hidden, because Cold War philosophy inherits from rational choice theory a proclamation of ethical neutrality: a person’s preferences and goals are not subjected to moral evaluation. As far as rational choice theory is concerned, it doesn’t matter if I want to end world hunger, pass the bar, or buy myself a nice private jet; I make my choices the same way. Similarly for Cold War philosophy – but it also has an ethical imperative that concerns not ends but means. However laudable or nefarious my goals might be, I will be better able to achieve them if I have two things: wealth and power. We therefore derive an ‘ethical’ imperative: whatever else you want to do, increase your wealth and power!

Results of this are easily seen in today’s universities. Academic units that enable individuals to become wealthy and powerful (business schools, law schools) or stay that way (medical schools) are extravagantly funded; units that do not (humanities departments) are on tight rations. Also on tight rations nationwide are facilities that help individuals become wealthy and powerful but do not convey competitive advantage on them because they are open to all or most: highways, bridges, dams, airports, and so on.

Seventy years after the Cold War began, and almost 30 after it ended, Cold War philosophy also continues to affect US politics. The Right holds that if reason itself is rooted in market choice, then business skills must transfer smoothly into all other domains, including governance – an explicit principle of the Trump administration. On the Left, meritocracy rules: all three of Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominees attended law school at either Harvard (as Obama himself did) or Yale (as Hillary Clinton did). The view that choice solves all problems is evident in the White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s presentation of the Republican vision for US health care, at his press briefing last March 23: ‘We’ve lost consumer choice … The idea is to instil choice back into the market.’

Part of the reason for Cold War philosophy’s continuing dominance is that though it is really a philosophy, proffering a normative and universal theory of correct reasoning, it has never been directly confronted on a philosophical level. Its concern with promulgating free markets and contested elections gave it homes in departments of economics and political science, where it thrives today. Philosophers, for their part, have until recently occupied themselves mainly with apolitical fields such as logic, metaphysics and epistemology.

On a philosophical level, however, Cold War philosophy has some obvious problems. Its ‘ethics’, for example, is not a traditional philosophical ethics at all. From Plato to the pragmatists, philosophical ethics has concerned the integration of the individual into a wider moral universe, whether divine (as in Platonic ethics) or social (as in the pragmatists). This is explicitly rejected by Cold War philosophy’s individualism and moral neutrality as regards to ends. Where Adam Smith had all sorts of arguments as to why greed was socially beneficial, Cold War ethics dispenses with them in favour of Gordon Gekko’s simple ‘Greed is good.’

Another problem with Cold War philosophy’s ethics concerns what I will call ‘disidentification’. Whatever I choose has at least one alternative; otherwise there would be no choice. But if I identify myself at the outset with any of my plurality of alternatives, I cannot choose any alternative to it; doing that would end my identity and be suicidal, physically or morally. Therefore, any alternative I consider in the course of making a rational decision is something I can walk away from and still be me. This is not an issue for rational choice theory, which concerns cases where my identity is not at stake, such as choosing which brand of toothpaste to buy, or (usually) which candidate to vote for. But when rational choice theory becomes Cold War philosophy, it applies to everything, and everything about me becomes a matter of choice.

This in turn leads me to abandon my own identity, in the following way: suppose that what I am choosing is my religion, and that my alternatives are Catholicism and Hinduism. If I am already a Catholic, however, Hinduism cannot be a serious alternative, because one’s religion is (usually) part of one’s identity. If I am to choose between Catholicism and Hinduism, I must put both at a distance. I must ‘disidentify’ with them. And since Cold War philosophy bids us to take this stance on all things, at the limit the moral agent must be disidentified from everything, and can have no other fundamental identity than being a rational chooser, ie someone who first orders her preferences according to transitivity and completeness, and then opts for the highest utility. That is a pretty thin identity. Everyone has certain characteristics that they simply cannot or will not relinquish under any circumstances. What else is there to live for?

The widespread success of rational choice theory, coupled with the problems of Cold War philosophy, suggests that the problem lies in what differentiates the two: Cold War philosophy’s claim, inherited from Allen, to universal, and indeed sole, validity as an account of human reason. If we look at the history of philosophy, reason has been many things. For the Greeks, it was basically the capacity to grasp universals – to see present givens as instantiations of underlying structures. For René Descartes, it was the ability to provide an a priori and so ‘unshakable’ foundation for beliefs. For Immanuel Kant, it was the ability to generalise conceptions to the maximum, which provided the foundation for the absoluteness of the moral law. Similarly, freedom has not always been merely a matter of choice. For Aristotle, you act freely, are responsible for an action, when you desire to perform that action and your reason tells you it is the correct action in the circumstances. To act freely is thus to act from your entire moral being. This idea, that freedom is really the capacity for complete self-expression, is summed up in Hegel’s pithy remark that true freedom is the apprehension of necessity: it is to understand, in a particular situation, what it is that you have to do in order to be you.

None of this suggests that we should stop valuing freedom of choice. But we should stop assuming that making choices amounts to freedom itself, or that making them rationally is the whole job of human reason. Freedom of choice, like free markets and contested elections, is valuable only when situated within wider horizons of value. Divorced from them, it becomes first absolute and then disastrous. Free markets, for example, are wonderful tools for enhancing human life. So are MRIs; but you can’t just drop an MRI on a street corner and expect it to function. Both kinds of device require proper installation and constant tending. The penalties for ignoring this became evident in the financial crisis of 2008.

The absolutising of things such as freedom of choice – the view that free markets and contested elections suffice for a good society – is a view that came into prominence with the early Cold War, when the proliferation of choices was our main contrast with Soviet Marxism. In reality, there is much more to a good society than the affordance of maximum choice to its citizens. With market fundamentalism dominating the US government, and with phantasms being paraded in the media under the sobriquet of ‘alternative facts’ that you can choose or reject, forgetfulness of the McCarthy era and the Cold War philosophy it spawned is no longer a rational option.

https://aeon.co/essays/how-cold-war-philosophy-permeates-us-society-to-this-day

@catcomaprada

[rei-reviews]

Winter 2017 first impressions!

This new season of anime has been very special to me. Not just because all of the shows I've been following have pretty good but because this season I'm currently following 6 anime! And i haven't followed so much seasonal anime since the summer of 2014

So to fill in some time on this blog until I finish my voltron review I decided it'll be neat to write my short impressions of every show I'm watching so far, even though this isn't the most original idea...

And I will be excluding sequels like konosuba season 2 and rakugo shinjuu- descending stories because not everyone watched their first season.

Ms. Kobayashis Dragon Maid (Kyoto animation) (episodes 1-2)

So far, This show tells about the day to day life of office worker kobayashi and her dragon maid torou, who became her maid to pay her a favor to save her life and because she fell in love with her.

I did not have the highest expectations of the show because... It sounded like the typical trash anime is known for, with the exception of no highschool setting. But now that I've seen this show I can safely say... It's cute. Kobayashi makes for a solid straight man for her maid, and her other dragon friend antics and I've always liked seeing fish out of water stories. I definately had a good laugh with this show more than once. And the animation by KyoAni definately manages to shine in this production in its own subtle ways. The jokes are well timed and well animated and while I'm not a big fan of Tohrus design, I liked how they animated her as a dragon.

If your an avid fan of slice of life comedy's this is a show you'll probably enjoy. I can definitely see why this show won't be for everyone's tastes and it won't change your opinions of this shows overall genre but it's still a good watch Reccomendation level: 3/5

ACCA 13 (Madhouse)

This political thriller takes place in a fictional kingdom of 13 districts. It has managed to contain peace for almost a century not because of a reality show death game but thanks to its inspection department ACCA, who kept supervision on every district and made sure order is prevailed. However it is alluded that some people are planning to overthrow the king and ACCA and our main protagonist Jean Otus who's himself a member of ACCA, becomes the center of the conspiracy.

Unlike Dragon Maid I was pretty exited for this show because of the premise and the show's director Shingo Natsume. And perhaps this exitement got the best of me. That isn't to say this show is awful but it's first 3 episodes are definately a slow burn.

It spends a lot of time establishing the setting and the worlds government but it does it in a way that feels rather mundane. That makes sense because the world of ACCA 13 is seemingly peaceful but it still effected of how engaged I was with the show. But what kept the show from being totally boring is its cast of characters. I can't say I've fallen in love with them yet but Jean's cool demeanor was very appealing and all of the ACCA members seemed to be pretty quirky and intriguing enough.

The presentation for this show is definately a good one, considering its created by many talented people .The character designs are very stylish yet appropriate to their profession and the way this show sets up its world makes it look very appealing. The background music was also a lot of fun to litsen to because it helped make things less mundane and the show's opening song is definately a strong one.

Im still reluctant about fully reccomending the show because of the rather slow 3 episodes. It's definately not a show you see every season but here's to hoping it'll start kicking things up in its next episodes

Recommendation level- 3/5

Scum's Wish (Studio Lerche) (episodes 1-2)

Hanabee Yasuroka and Mugi Awaya both have unrequited but strong crushes for their teachers. Mugi fell in love with his teacher Akane after she tutored him, and Hanabee's crush on her teacher Narumi stemmed from the fact she's known him ever since he was a child.

So because they both share Mutual unrequited loves, they decide to start dating each other so they can use each other for as a substitute for their respective crushes. They have only three rules for their relationship: 1) the relationship will end once one of them got together with their loved ones 2) They will not have sex with each other . and 3) they will not fall in love with each other.

This setup that Mugi and Hana created for themselves is unhealthy and even borderline toxic but this show is fully aware of that. And it manages to capture this toxicity not just through how The couple interacts but also through the direction of its visuals. The intimate scenes are pretty sexy but they're composed in a way that makes you feel tense and uncomfortable. And I love it.

I always had a soft spot for seeing stories that explored unhealthy relationships (with awareness of course) and this show really feels that niche of mine in a satusfying way. There's a lot of potential in this set up to get great drama from the two main leads as they struggle with the rules of their relationship, as well as some of the side dramas (with one of them including Hana's good friend also having a crush on her. That could be very interesting)

However, I do feel that Mugi needs some more fleshing out in comparison to his partner Hanabee, who is a very interesting character I can somewhat understand.

Even if this show will end up tanking, I'll definately watch it until the end to see where things will go because as far as I'm concerned I'm hooked If you guys want to see a good drama show then give this show a chance though it can get rather sexual so it's not for everyone.

Recommendation level: 4/5

Little witch academia (studio trigger) (episodes 1-3)

After almost 4 years since the original Little Witch Academia OVA aired we are finally getting a full TV show! And boy is it exiting.

The premise of this anime is pretty simple: a girl named Akko joins a magical witch academy because she's a huge fan of a witch named shiny chariot, who she adored since she was young. Her main conflict however is that she is the only student in the academy that was born to non magicians. This is the story of her going into the witch academy, meeting new friends and learning how to become a witch despite her disadvantages.

The premise is simple and definately inspired but BOY is it executed with so much charm and passion! All of the characters in the show are super likable and mostly stray from archetypes that plague a lot of anime, the animation has brilliant sakuga moments and is filled with expression and the world building is very inventive!

And did I mention that so far this show is completely devoid of sexual fanservice? That is amazing honestly This show really brings me back to when I was a little kid. It's so refreshing to see a light hearted magical girl show that isn't trying to be a "dark subversion" of the genre but still has a lot of smart writing!

So yeah, so far this is the hottest show of the season for a good reason! I reccomend that everyone should at least give it a try and maybe try watching this show with a younger sibling or something alike.

Reccomendation level: 5/5

So yeah! These are the shows that I decided to follow this season in addition to sequels. I'd love to hear what you guys think of those shows and what are your general thoughts! At the end of the season I'll probably do a roundup of all of the shows I finished and maybe dropped so look forward to that!