#also not included because things got too long but yuno helps pick out some more feminine/androgynous things that fuuta is shocked to like

[good-beanswrites]

Happy 0203 day ❄️🔥🎉 I don't know if these are specifically meant for ships, but have a little platonic normal au thing I wrote of them hanging out and being silly :3

Yuno narrowed her eyes to study the shirt she was holding up to her unwilling model.

“No.”

She angled her head, undisturbed. “You don’t get any say in this.”

“I get all the say in this – they’re my clothes!”

“And it’s my birthday gift to you. So zzzzzzzzip!” she mimed zipping her lips, though she knew Fuuta was incapable of any such thing. She pulled the shirt away from him. “There’s nothing wrong with this one! It’s cute.”

“That’s exactly what’s wrong with it.”

She thought it would have been harder to convince Fuuta to come along on a mall trip this close to his birthday, but he’d answered her text almost instantly. He said he’d allow her to buy one pair of fancy sunglasses, and only so he’d have something cool to wear once he could take his eyepatch off. That one pair became two, then added clothes to match, then a handful, and now they stood beside a massive stack of items she was considering.

“Just try it~”

Yuno gave him a gentle push towards the dressing room. She could only laugh as he went spewing complaints the whole way in. 

A few minutes went by and she busied herself with sorting the clothes they’d looked at, pairing up tops and bottoms and jackets and scarves. Fuuta would probably tease her for shallowness if she admitted how much she enjoyed activities like this, but there was something about it that just lifted her mood. Shopping trips with her classmates left her feeling a bit hollow, but Fuuta’s wildly honest commentary always made it more fun. 

Right as she was starting to feel a twinge of impatience, he crept out. He was still clutching the shirt and hoodie he’d removed, covering up most of his chest. Yuno eased it out of his hands, leaving him with an expression of utter panic.

“It’s awful.”

“Are you kidding?” She pressed her hand to her cheek. “It’s super fun!”

He was looking less at the new shirt, and more at the people passing by, or checking over his shoulder, or down at the floor. Restless hands tugged at the collar, then the hem. It was certainly more form-fitting than his usual picks. 

As much as Yuno liked the look, she didn’t want the poor guy completely folding in on himself. 

She made a grand swing of her arms, ending in an X. “I like it, but I suppose we’ll add that to the ‘no’ pile.”

“What pile…?”

“I mean, you still have to try these on.” She scooped up the stack of clothes beside her and dropped the whole heavy mess into Fuuta’s arms.

“Eh? Which ones?”

“All of them.”

“All of them? Are you fucking –!”

He tried to protest, but his raising voice caught the attention of some other shoppers. His face burned red and he practically sprinted back inside before he could retrieve his original clothes from Yuno.

She folded them neatly over her arm, no longer excited that it forced him to try something else on.

Had she been too much? She thought this was something fun for him, but he was genuinely uncomfortable just then. What if, all this time, she’d only been projecting her own enjoyment onto their outing? Her stomach sank. She knew he took up her invitation so quickly because he didn’t have any other plans. She’d completely taken advantage of his loneliness – dragging him out here just for her to have a blast while he had no other option.

His phone buzzed from the hoodie pocket. 

He still hadn’t come out of the dressing room. So, he really was that uncomfortable. She bowed her head at her selfishness. They’d go right home, once he returned. 

His phone kept buzzing. Yuno glanced down in its direction.

She was never one to poke her nose where it didn’t belong. In her defense, this wasn’t a good sign given Fuuta’s history. She fished it out of the pocket, promising herself just one peek, for his own good.

A groupchat was firing off notifications.

@ fuuta where are you?

he said he was ditching, remember?

are you serious?

Broooo I thought he was kidding…

He’s out with a girl FR? No way, I still think he’s lying

you know you forfeit your spot if youre not here when we start the tournament

He was so hyped for this 💀 

must be quite the girl, huh

cmon man, we need you!

I can’t believe he’s finally touching grass 🙏

TRUE

happy for you man

“Is that my phone?”

Yuno nearly dropped it in surprise. “I – uh, it was going off, and –”

“Sorry.” He snatched it away without even glancing at the screen. “So?”

“So…?” Her heart raced with the panic of getting caught. He looked at her like she’d gone insane.

“What do you think of this thing?” He gestured to the new shirt he’d put on. “This was all your idea, but if you don’t want to be here as much as I don’t, we can –”

“No.” Her face broke into a smile. She exhaled. “No, I’m really glad we’re here.”

He blinked at the sudden warmth in her voice. “O-okay.”

“And I think it looks perfect. Really suits you~” It made sense he’d pick this one next; it sat right within his usual style. “Ooh, ooh! Why don’t we keep alternating things in your comfort zone! That would definitely help.” 

“Or we could just buy this one and be done with it.”

She kept her expression neutral. “Do you have somewhere else to be?”

His face was obscured as he headed back to the dressing room. “I wish,” he spat, “but I’m fucking stuck with you.”

Yuno couldn’t help it as her smile spread even wider. 

She called after him, “hey, try on that colorblock one next.” 

“Ugh. It’s ugly. And asymmetric.”

“So’s your face. Put it on.”

“Oi!”

[medea10]

My Review of Grand Blue

How did I get into this anime? Well, I heard there were some good reviews about this particular title. It was one of those animes I probably should have watched in summer 2018, but more than likely I was watching some sequel no one remembers.

Iori Kitahara just moved to an ocean-front town to live with his uncle since he lives near Izu University (a school Iori was accepted into). His uncle owns a scuba diving shop that serves as a local hangout for members of the school’s diving club. Little does Iori know that this is a local hangout to get FUCKING SHIT-FACED!!!

I am not making this up. These members drink like it’s going out of business. And usually these drinking binges end up with blackouts and public nudity. In Iori’s case, he got so black-out drunk that he woke up in front of his new university’s courtyard…on the first day of school…only wearing his boxers! I’m beginning to see why Amazon put out an advisory at the beginning of each episode about drinking responsibly. But aside from drinking with a bunch of meat-head senpais, there’s also diving. Yeah, club activity is actually diving into the ocean.

So let’s dive into this college-leveled, binge-drinking club as we meet some interesting characters like, a raging otaku (Kouhei), Iori’s cousin with “Permanent Resting Bitch-face Syndrome” (Chisa), a girl who should get a makeup tutorial on Youtube (Aina), two meat-head senpais (Bukki and Tokki), Drinky McStripsItAll (Azusa), and Chisa’s “loving” older sister (Nanaka).

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: So this is an Anime Prime exclusive, so I doubt I’d be hearing a dub to this any time soon. The sub has quite the line-up of seiyuus including that upcomer I’ve been raving about all 2019, Yuuma Uchida. But a lot of well-known folks like Kana Asumi and Hiroki Yasumoto (who can literally play anything at this point) shine in this anime. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Iori is played by Yuuma Uchida (Kyo on Fruits Basket 2019, Uenoyama on Given, Chika on Kono Oto Tomare, Sun on Oresuki, Ash on Banana Fish, and Shirazu on Tokyo Ghoul :re)

*Kouhei is played by Ryouhei Kimura (known for Hinata on Angel Beats, Hachiken on Silver Spoon, Takizawa on Eden of the East, Judar on Magi, Taishi on Tokyo Ghoul, and Hiyori on Free!)

*Chisa is played by Chika Anzai (known for Mina on Attack on Titan)

*Aina is played by Kana Asumi (known for Taneshima on Working!!, Ran on Shugo Chara, Kazakiri on Index, Yuno on Hidamari Sketch, Nagisa on Madoka Magica: Rebellion, and Tachibana on Nisekoi)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: I’m gonna say that after watching all 12 episodes; Aina (a.k.a. Cakey) grew on me. Horrible caked-on make-up aside, let’s be real here.

I think it’s because of the development we see with her ever since she was introduced early in the series. We see a girl trying her damndest to fit in with the tennis club only for it to blow up in her face (literally when we’re talking about all that makeup that’s “caked” on her face). Yeah, these guys treated Aina like garbage! But after joining the diving club, we see her be herself and slowly trust those around her. I think it’s more of this character resonating with me in some sad aspect, but I too feel the pain of trying to fit in or not wanting to let anyone down. Anyways, Cakey is my girl!

Poor dear, I feel your pain.

SHIPPING: So Iori is now a college lad and getting smashed eight ways from Sunday. And I’m sure he’s going to have his own picks of the ladies when he isn’t drinking with an otaku and a bunch of meat-heads.

…Or he can get freaky with his blood cousin!

*eyeball twitch*

ANYWAYS, Chisa has made her point clear with the disgusted face she makes whenever she’s around Iori. But in anime terms, we know that she has that classic tsundere syndrome. So when someone like Aina comes into the picture and Iori sticks up for her, jealousy arrives like a fucking A-bomb! Despite Chisa announcing to a wide, public setting that Iori was her boyfriend (while he was passed-out drunk), nothing too scandalous happened with this. It was just so she could keep creepy boys away. Honestly, I really have no problem if Chisa and Iori hook up. It’s actually better than Chisa being with someone who has an unhealthy obsession with her.

I don’t want to say Nanaka has a thing for her baby sister, but this is getting too borderline Yuru Yuri that I have to say something about it.

I’m pretty sure Aina might be a contender after all Iori has done for her throughout the series. It’s just that she can’t stand all that binge-drinking and getting buck-naked at any moment.

And then there’s wild card Azusa! She’s a flirt! What else can I say about her? She teases Iori every chance she gets. Hell, near the finale she tantalized Iori in sex. Wasn’t sure if she was kidding or if she really meant it! However she did shove a leek up Iori’s ass, but that’s because he was sick.

I swear this is normal behavior.

By the end of the series, we really didn’t get much in terms of full-on hookups. Many misunderstandings have occurred involving word-play. Iori, Kouhei, and their band of geeky friends are still virgins (though one of them came very close to sealing the deal). One of the meat-heads has a girlfriend (did not see that one coming). But on a positive note, Chisa and Iori’s friendship has been pretty steady. I wonder how long that’ll last!

ANIMATION: I gotta say it, the facial expressions on these characters were a laugh-riot. It wasn’t like this was pathetically sad that I have to laugh at it. But more of how expressive these characters got when they have to express hatred or disgust! This is more for comical expense and I happened to like it. It’s like with the anime Prison School, all the facial expressions worked in their favor. This, while out of place some of the time, never fails to make me laugh.

ANIME REFERENCE: While shopping for gear for an upcoming diving expedition, Kouhei came across two suits that would make any old-school otaku squeal.

The suits of Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion in diving suit form. And Kouhei got Chisa and Aina to try them on!

ENDING: At the end of episode 9, the diving club is heading to Okinawa for a special trip that is promised we will never forget. They made sure of that when the anime gives us a two-minute preview of what to look forward to in these final three episodes. Just be warned a lot of things mentioned really didn’t happen. It almost felt like one of those gag previews Gintama is notorious for.

Well Iori, Kouhei, and Aina are going to attempt at getting their divers license so that they can go even further down the ocean. It seemed like all three were doing pretty well when it came to the basics of diving underwater. However, it was quickly noticed by Nanaka that Iori was having trouble keeping water out of his goggles and that could result in immediate failure. So Iori practices all night (with help from Chisa and Aina). However, Iori ended up in some trouble when a patrolling policeman comes upon him in the pool. And Iori spent the rest of the night in the water because he was naked.

Because I’d be concerned if he wasn’t naked!

Well, the next morning, he caught a cold. Then dumbass thinks it’s a good idea to get rid of a cold by drinking vodka.

Because I’d be concerned if he wasn’t drinking!

And as a result he ended up missing his chance for obtaining his diving license. Kouhei and Aina were able to get their licenses. So the big diving expedition of Okinawa is about to commence and Iori has to sit this one out. But he remains hopeful to one day dive with his friends in Okinawa. After all that, the group travels to another spot and get fucking hammered. You all see the theme to this series, right?

But the last few episodes gave us a few moments involving Kouhei and Aina. Kouhei ended up stumbling into this group on accident (much like Iori), but discovered how much fun he had (aside from getting drunk as a skunk night after night). As for Aina, she learned that despite the diving club being full of a bunch of drunken meat-heads, these people care about her (unlike the previous club she belonged to).

So it was a memorable trip.

This was absolutely NOT what I expected when I picked up this anime. I notice Grand Blue being taken place in a cute ocean town and thought it would be just as cute as Tsuritama. But it turned out to be the anime equivelant of Animal House. I can easily tell you that my college years were NOTHING LIKE THIS.

Despite going to school in a state where the drunk-driving rate is sky-high, I did not witness any strange anomalies like arriving on campus and seeing a bunch of drunk, naked lads sprawled across the courtyard.

Now then, I do feel like this series could have focused a little more on diving and oceanography. It felt like the majority of the series involved characters binge-drinking, meat-heads fighting with tennis club members, more binge-drinking, sad geeks never getting laid, studying for a German test where you only get 20%, and drinking more than Sterling Archer. Not so much on the ocean like I would have hoped. And even though Iori gets the short-end of the stick in almost every episode, I do feel bad that he couldn’t join the rest of the club under water in the finale. That felt a little disheartening, but that’s just me. Short answer, I like this anime! If you’re in for a good laugh and are not turned off by all the drinking and nudity, I say go for it.

For what it’s worth, it’s a silly adventure I can see myself rewatching one or two more times. And if you’re interested in watching, Amazon Prime has all 12 episodes available for streaming.

Okay, this was quite the trip! Let’s pick our next Amazon/Netflix/Crunchyroll exclusive anime!

Think Zootopia, but set in high school.

Beastars!

Great choice as I even heard good things from celebrities who don’t normally watch anime.