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xian1na · 2 years ago

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buncha words about buncha spring animes

I've had a bit of a break from anime for a last couple of years but I spontaneously decided to watch some new things from this season and now have a burning need to share my opinions with strangers on the Internet. Enjoy!

Hell's Paradise (eps. 1-3) - I read the first volume of the manga some time ago and remember thinking it was pretty cool and could be even cooler animated. Lo and behold, here we are. Now, I have a bit of a problem with shounen anime. I used to gobble battle shounens up like they were spaghetti but I just don't enjoy them as much anymore. Still, this one looks like it could be a good fun. I love the creepy imagery and vibrant colours of the island, especially when contrasted to toned down colour palette of the first two episodes. I'm also excited for how the characters will not only fight each other but also the hostile environment. There could be some nice juicy drama in future episodes. I'm not entirely sold on the main characters on their own yet (I think of all the spring shows I've watched, they might be the least engaging leads) but I like them conceptually, so to speak - Gabimaru being a wife guy is very sweet and really humanizes him and Sagiri... well, I'm not entirely sold on her subplot but she's a sword chick. Love me some sword chicks. And I like her design, too!

My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999! (eps. 1-3) - I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this one, I'm not a big fan of romance, rom-com, slice-of-life, and so on. This show reminds me of Bofuri, or at least scratches some similar itches. See, I played one MMO game a lot when I was a kid (I still come back to it sometimes when I feel nostalgic) but I've never been particularly good at it. Seeing anime about people playing games in an unusual way, not power-gaming their way to the highest level but instead messing around with their friends just reminds me of good ol' times. That said, I enjoy other things about this series as well. For one, it's very funny. For two, almost all characters are terrible but in a very relatable way and I kinda love them. I'd like the romance to be mostly built on the characters' personal growth, I get a feeling it could be a very satisfying story if it goes that way. But even if it doesn't, it could still be a nice little series.

Oshi no Ko (eps. 1-2) - Man, watching that first episode sure was An Experience. We went from an old guy being creepy about teenage girls to this weird breast-feeding scene, then to some really interesting insights into idol industry (and show-biz in general) and THEN to the finale, AND THEN to what the actual plot will be? I'm still a bit on the fence to be honest but I'd lie if I said I weren't intrigued. I think the character writing and visuals are amazing. Ai's characterisation in particular was phenomenal. You know how you sometimes watch a series where all the characters talk about this one supposedly super charismatic and special person but you just roll your eyes because you don't see any of it? That is definitely NOT the case here. I couldn't take my eyes off her, there is just something so hypnotizing about the way she's animated. That said, I'm not a fan of humour and dialogues here. I don't like how everything is spelled out and nothing is left up for interpretation (I have similar problem with Hell's Paradise, by the way). But those are minor flaws and I definitely want to see how the story unfolds.

Heavenly Delusion (eps. 1-3) - Frankly, I think this the best show from this season that I've watched so far. The characters are likeable and they have a fun dynamic, the setting is interesting and it's presented very well (they're showing, not telling and all that), the dialogues are natural sounding and the visuals are gorgeous. There are some things I wish weren't here but I'm willing to look past them (at least for now) because the rest is so solid. So I say this is 'the best' show but is it my favourite? Hard to say. The thing with mystery shows like that is that it's very possible that once all the mysteries are solved, there won't be much else to enjoy. Also I'm a bit wary of where Kiruko's plotline is going. I really hope this series is good. Sadly, often anime that I think is going to be the best of the season doesn't deliver in the end and leaves me sulking and disappointed. That said, Heavenly Delusion is based on a manga and the manga is apparently good, so maybe all these worries are unfounded.

and finally Skip and Loafer (eps. 1-3) - I said that I didn't expect to enjoy Yamada-kun as much as I did so when I sat down to skip and loaf, my expectations were pretty high. I had to re-adjust them a bit though. From some screenshots here and there I'd seen before watching I expected a different kind of show, maybe a meaner one?But instead Skip and Loafer is very positive and cute. Both Mitsumi and Sousuke are very observant and empathetic characters and watching them interact with their classmates (and each other) is a lot of fun. I really liked the subplot with Egashira in episode 3. Egashira was kind of an asshole in episode 2 and when we see her again she's being kind of an asshole again but then she has this moment of anxiety when she compares herself with Yuzuki. And that by itself would be fine character writing but then Sousuke actually notices that she's feeling down and compliments her a little, despite what happened between them in the previous episode. It's such a kind thing to do and the whole show seems to promote this kindness and wholesomeness without being sugary sweet. In this bleak, dark, dark world something like Skip and Loafer is a real balm for the soul.

That's it for the currently running series. I hear there's even more good stuff though, so maybe I'll get around to it next week. I also started watching two older shows.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (currently on season 1, prologue + eps. 1-3) - This, ladies and gentlemen, is my very first Gundam. So far I'm pretty into it. I should probably mention that I haven't watched Utena (yeah, yeah, I know, shame on me), so I only heard about similarities between the two shows (or rather homages paid by GWitch). So I pretty much just take GWitch as it is and don't think about wider context. I really like the characters so far. Suletta is a little ball of anxiety but what I really appreciate about her is that despite how shy she is, she's always speaking her mind. It's kind of inspiring, to be honest. I often keep my thoughts to myself even when I want to speak up because I lack confidence but I when I see Suletta I feel like I want to become a better person. This probably sounds very corny, or maybe sarcastic but I'm 100% honest right now. Miorine is also great. Based on her design I thought she'd be a quiet and withdrawn type but boy oh boy, she isn't that in the slightest. At this point I don't know what the main plot will be exactly but one thing I do know, is that I love these girls and I'm rooting for them, whatever their goals'll end up being.

Spy x Family (eps. 1-3) - I wanted to watch it when it was airing but first I missed one episode because I was busy, then the second one because I was tired and ultimately I missed the whole thing. Now that I'm in anime watching mood again I decided to give it another go. I'd read a little bit of manga before anime even came out (2 volumes iirc) so I'm not going in blind for the first 8 episodes or something like that. And I actually re-watched the episodes I've already seen. There isn't all that much I can say about these first three episodes, other than Anya is wonderful and the whole show's a perfect blend of funny and wholesome. Man, so many wholesome shows these days. I wonder if it's a good or a bad sign. Anyway, episode four is the interview in the school. I recently reread the first volume of the manga and was literally laughing out loud during these chapters so I'm curious to see how it was adapted.

That'd be it from me. Thank you if you read all my ramblings ^^ Sometimes writing down my thoughts helps me in organising them and even realising what they are exactly. And I think it's a good writing exercise, too, so I'll probably write another post like this next week. Until then!

#anime spring 2023 #spring 2023 anime #anime #jigokuraku #hell's paradise #my love story with yamada kun at lv999 #yamada kun to lv999 no koi wo suru #oshi no ko #heavenly delusion #tengoku daimakyou #skip and loafer #skip to loafer #the witch from mercury #kidou senshi gundam: suisei no majo #spy x family

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arcaneranger · 5 years ago

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Final Thoughts - 2019 Long Shows

Dear Lord. This is where all the good shows went.

2019 was absolutely awful on a season-by-season basis (except for Summer, anyway), but that’s mostly because most of the best shows ran longer than what has become the industry norm of a single season. And indeed, heading into the new decade, we seem to be seeing a major renaissance for two- or split-cour shows, given the massive success seen by shows like My Hero Academia, Food Wars, and Haikyuu!!..particularly in comparison to the new perpetual-runners Black Clover (which, despite running for over two straight years now, is still not the most popular show of Fall 2017 by viewer count on MAL, and sits at a ‘meh’ 7.2), and even worse, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which is faring even worse on both counts even though it premiered two whole seasons earlier and the fact that it is the sequel to Naruto.

As a reminder of my rules, the shows on this list may or may not have premiered in 2019, but they finished airing this year. The split-cour rule (stating that I judge any show that “finishes” and then premieres a “new season” within six months) didn’t come into play for any 2018 shows, but it will for Ascendance of a Bookworm and Food Wars this year, at the very least.

With that being said! 25 shows running longer than thirteen episodes finished airing this year after being simulcast, and of those…

I skipped 6:

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part V: Golden Wind, Fairy Tail Final Series, A Certain Magical Index III, Ace Attorney Season 2 and Cardfight Vanguard (2018) because I either dropped or have not finished their previous (also long-running) seasons.

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS because the simulcast started late and also it was bad.

I Dropped 8:

Worst Long Show of 2019: The Rising of the Shield Hero

It’s always fun to see that a show you hated from its first episode only gets more and more distasteful afterwards, but it’s less fun when a service you have to promote because they’re the legal option is forced to shove it down your throat because they had a hand in making it and it became a massive hit that your friends don’t see any issue with because the author wrote a story that justifies its hero’s patronage of the slave industry. This is my punishment for watching the whole first season of The Asterisk War before I knew better.

YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world

A confusing mess from the word go, this ill-fated adaptation of a visual novel from the nineties seems like it was mostly made to cash in on the popularity of the Science Adventure series, but failed to present itself in a way that made an ounce of sense or looked remotely interesting.

Fairy Gone

Am I really the only one that saw potential here? I mean yes, it ended up a boring slog that didn’t care to move its plot in a meaningful direction, but the first episode was at least cool. I guess Izetta: The Last Witch should have taught me better.

We Never Learn

I know that I’m in the minority in terms of the male demographic for shows like this, but honestly, how are bland harem shows still this easy to market? A copy-pasted protagonist with copy-pasted waifus drag down what could be an interesting setup for a story.

Karakuri Circus

The first episode of this one had me excited, the second and third left me bored to tears and wondering if it would continue to look uglier by the minute. I haven’t seen a three-cour show look this janky since Knight in the Area.

Radiant

Having heard good things about this show from my cohorts, I do feel bad for saying I’ll probably never return to Radiant, but when you have a show that’s notably written by a European author...and it turns out to be a frustratingly standard shounen affair with middling production values, well, you can see my earlier annoyance with Cannon Busters.

Ensemble Stars

This one still gets to me. It almost looked like a male-idol show I would finally be able to get behind, what with its rebellious attitude and oddball setting...that is, until the setting got to be too unbelievable and the show began drowning its audience in side-characters because they had to squeeze every husbando from the mobile game into the story, and it all began to resemble UtaPri a little too much...but without the production value.

Boogiepop and Others

This was a hard drop, honestly. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I felt four episodes in, before concluding that I was bored and not particularly invested, two things that should never describe the experience of watching a Madhouse show. The fact that this was the project responsible for ruining One Punch Man only made it worse. There’s a slow burn, and then there’s walking away without turning the stove on.

And I Finished 11 (holy crap that’s like three hundred episodes just on their own).

That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime (5/10 & 1/10)

I’ll be honest, I had forgotten just how livid I was with the ending (and especially the sad excuse of a recap episode) of Slimesekai, and reading back through my write-up of it, it’s certainly coming back to me. While this year had bigger demons to fight (Shield Hero), the bad taste that Slime left me with hasn’t really faded, and the wasted premise bugs me to this day.

Hinomaru Sumo (7/10)

What Hinomaru lacked in production value, it happily made up for in good execution and earnest heart. I can’t believe this came from the same studio as Conception, Try Knights and 7Seeds, but if they can only get out one good show a year, I’m glad that we got one bringing attention to a sport that many will joke about but few understand, respect and appreciate.

Kono Oto Tomare (7/10)

Speaking of giving love to traditional Japanese culture, here’s a decent-if-unoriginal show about a local high school koto club down on their luck, and the troubled teens coming together under a scrappy protagonist to bring it back to life. Kono Oto Tomare doesn’t have much that you haven’t seen before, but a decently-executed club drama with Your Lie In April-inspired musical performances is more than enough to keep me interested, and since Forest of Piano kinda crashed and burned under the weight of its own self-importance this year, it was nice to have an alternative.

MIX: Meisei Story (8/10)

It’s hard to judge MIX next to the other shows on this list because it’s almost too old-school for its own good, revelling in an eighties storytelling style that didn’t end up jiving with a wide audience this year. But at the same time, its fun character dynamics (and a very good dub from Funimation, despite them saying they’d never touch sports anime again) were very entertaining to watch, even if it didn’t focus as much on the sport it was supposedly about as much as I’d have liked.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (8/10)

I fully admit that I’m very salty about the fact that this won Show of the Decade in Funimation’s poll while it was still on and I thought there were hundreds of more deserving shows, but I can’t deny that Demon Slayer was a very enjoyable experience, albeit one that I had notable problems with. That’s not gonna stop me from getting mad when it sweeps the Anime Awards in a few weeks, though.

Fire Force (8/10)

I was very afraid that David Productions wouldn’t be able to match the energy of Studio Bones’ adaptation of Ohkubo’s previous work, Soul Eater, but I was happy to be proven wrong. Even if the last few episodes contained a bit too much infodumping, it was all sandwiched between jaw-dropping fight scenes that proved that the people who make Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure can still handle the reins of a more traditional action show.

Fruits Basket 1st Season (8/10)

I know that my score for this one is a bit lower than others, but I think that Fruits Basket did pretty well in its first season, considering that it was largely spent setting up future storylines and adapting the part of the manga we’d all seen before, but with much higher production value. I’ve been familiar with this part of the story for over a decade, and the scene with Tohru and Kyo (you know the one) still made me cry. Now, we get the real plot going.

Dr Stone (9/10)

A great start to a totally new spin on shounen, Dr Stone gives me hope for survival in the post-Shokugeki world in which we’ll soon live, as a show that wears its research on its sleeve. A complex plot weaving interesting characters in and out of a narrative surrounding a philosophical battle where both sides actually do have fair points (even if one of them is going about it in a pretty cruel manner). More please.

Vinland Saga (9/10)

Once again, a great start to what will hopefully be years of quality storytelling, Vinland Saga made it seem like it was dragging in the middle only to reveal just what its slow burn had been leading up to, with twist-heavy storytelling and a fantastic cast to match the high visual quality of its brutal battles.

Run With the Wind (9/10)

It’s not often that Production I.G. gets to make a complete, fully-realized show anymore, and this one was a glorious reminder of the potential of the studio in the TV space, and a great rebound for the director of Joker Game. It’s gorgeous to look at, the cast is wonderful, and the story is both realistic and idealistic in a satisfying balance. It’s a miserable process to get to the finish line in real life, but sitting back and watching this was nothing but a treat. At least, until a minor fumble at the end.

Best Long Show of 2019: Dororo (9/10)

Speaking of complete stories, Tezuka Productions and MAPPA teamed up for a breathtaking adaptation of an underappreciated Tezuka classic that expands upon the story in exactly the right way to create a thrilling, savage, beautiful masterpiece that focuses a laser-sharp eye into the relationship between two characters in their journey to, literally and figuratively, become complete people. Also, that opening was killer.

And that’s it! That’s the fun list. Next comes the painful one. Stay tuned for the trash heap.

#final thoughts #year end anime list #long 2019 #dororo #demon slayer #Fruits Basket #vinland saga #run with the wind #Dr Stone #rising of the shield hero #fire force #kono oto tomare!#mix meisei story #hinomaru sumo #hinomaru zumou #that time i got reincarnated as a slime #tensura

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natsspammityspamspamham · 4 years ago

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Dino Watches Anime (Nov 15)

BOI, I HAVE A MIDTERM ON TUESDAY AND TEST ON WEDNESDAY. SCREW THAT. I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE ANIME I’VE BEEN WATCHING IN BETWEEN STUDY SESSIONS! Yeah, the studying is like 2% while the anime and games are like 98%... I’m working on that, okay? Anyway, I’m going to cover mostly seasonal stuff with some other stuff.

Let’s go over the seasonal stuff first. Summer had so few anime coming out whereas Autumn/Fall came in like, “OPEN THE FLOODGATES! LET’S GO!!!” I haven’t even gotten around to all the anime airing this season that I want to like Yuukoku no Moriarty, Majo no Tabitabi, and Adachi to Shimamura. I missed some last season too like Deca-Dance which I just didn’t want to commit to if it was only for the good animation.

Taisou Samurai (DROPPED)

I dropped it after two episodes. MAPPA has two major series this season, but they clearly gave more time and attention to the one that was actually going to make money here (which I’ll talk about later). This one seems like a passion project without the passion in it anymore. It’s like opening a bag of chips and finding out they went stale long before you even reached into the bag.

Taisou Samurai, at its core, has a premise that I found really promising. I happen to like watching gymnastics sometimes, and the idea of an athlete who doesn’t want to retire is interesting. They went wrong with the execution. I don’t know what they were trying to pull here, but with unlikeable characters and a terrible run at it, it’s like they weren’t playing with a full deck of cards here.

Also, if you don’t know what a gyaru is, one of the supporting characters will look like a racist caricature. Also, this bird has no other point than to try to make up for this show’s lack of usable humour by using Kappei Yamaguchi’s range and going, “Please, save this show. I beg you.”

I didn’t even bother giving this show three episodes to drag me in because I just couldn’t see myself wasting another 20 minutes here. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart, but for now, I should be having better things to do.

Munou na Nana (WOULDN’T RECOMMEND)

I know everyone has made this joke already, but this is really just My Hero Academia x Among Us. I feel like if there was some more... budget put into this anime, they could’ve made it a lot better. The manga had a lot more detail, so a lot of the gruesome scenes with zombies or killings, etc. were muted and toned down beyond belief. Not to mention, I guess watching it after I read the manga just made me feel stupid. This is such a junkie show that pulls tricks that everyone knows is coming. Nonetheless, I can’t find some big reason to say “do not watch this” because it’s still a very mediocre show. It has its good points, but its presentation devalues it, the voice acting is meh (especially since Yuuichi Nakamura is playing THREE overpowered main cast characters this season), and the jig is up after the first episode, so the twists are just to make you sympathize more with the imposter. I haven’t seen a show like this for a while though, so I guess you can watch it if you want something refreshing like that. I don’t think you’re supposed to like this cast of characters, so I won’t say anything against not liking this cast.

Kamisama ni Natta Hi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

Jun Maeda... the man who manages to incorporate baseball into every anime he does... seriously, every anime I’ve watched by him has it from Angel Beats to Charlotte to that unfinished Little Busters I just left on hold. Anyway, Kamisama is no exception. Jun Maeda has a reputation for building touching stories that start off strong then really lose their footing once he realizes that he’s not going to get 24 episodes and needs to squeeze all of those 16 episodes of story left into 4 episodes or so. It also doesn’t help that sometimes he goes off on useless storylines that pay no use to the story.

Hina is really funny sometimes (but can be annoying). Narukami is funny. Really, everyone has some valid point about them that makes the show better compared to the previous entries.

Seriously, some little kid comes up to you and goes, “The world is ending, I am God, and I’m going to stick by you.” Meanwhile, you’re just a simp that’s trying to get your childhood friend to fall for you.

Honestly, I’m still having a blast watching this. As much as Maeda’s writing can really suffer from tonal shifts (mostly in the end), I still wanted to watch this anime simply because I always like his storytelling in the beginning, and the laughs it brings can sometimes still muddle out the bitter taste that’s left in your mouth when the series finishes. I can already feel this train going down a slide and off a cliff. I already paid for my ticket though, so I’m obligated to stay on this shootshow until the end.

Seriously, I do not like where some of these relationships are heading.

Maoujou de Oyasumi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

This anime is relatable. It can get stale fast for a lot of people, but every time I think I’m going to get sick of it, it pulls one of the same gags that makes me go, “This. This is why I’m sticking with this.” I’m not sure how much more there is to say. It’s just an abducted princess who couldn’t care less that she’s a hostage and instead, takes this newfound time to take some good ZZZs. What a life.

Oh yeah, this princess is also willing to commit murder, mutilation, theft, and assault to get the sleep she wants.

Tonikaku Kawaii (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

I’m not dropping this show... even if it makes no sense. The premise is astoundingly stupid, but it pulled a Zombieland Saga on me. It sounded so stupid, but once I gave it one episode, I found myself being entertained and almost rooting for the characters and their relationships.

Imagine this: You are about to get into the high school of your dreams when you see the girl of your dreams cross your path. You want to ask her out so you jump over the barricade and get hit by a truck. You’re on the brink of death when you realize you can’t die there without confessing your love. You chase her down with blood coming out of your head and confess. She says that she’ll only go out with you if you marry her. You then... somehow survive, drop out of school, then get a job to search for her. I kid you not. This is the setup. It’s as stupid as it sounds, and the anime knows this. It doesn’t try to fool you into thinking that this series is supposed to be anything but some highway fast-track way to convince you into watching a married couple. I think what irked me the most is that the character designs didn’t change from when they were in middle school to when they were adults. It wasn’t the being hit by a truck and not being sent to another world, it wasn’t this girl who stopped the truck without ruining her hair, it wasn’t anything else but their character designs staying the same.

Anyway, this anime is cute as long as you can jump some hurdles. It’s basically puppy-love marriage with anime stupidity through and through. I don’t know what about this series people, including myself, find charming.

Jujutsu Kaisen (RECOMMENDED - BUT DON’T COMPARE TO DEMON SLAYER TOO MUCH!)

It’s Shonen Jump. “Will it be the next Kimetsu no Yaiba? The next big Shonen Jump series? One of the next big three? Five?” No, I don’t think so. I’m not enjoying this nearly as much as I did binging KNY. The cast isn’t nearly as likeable, but I’m still having a good time. It’s not all that fair to make that comparison anyway. The cast for Jujutsu Kaisen is passable. I like some of the main cast, but I feel like they lack the same kind of depth with its main heroine. I know she gets more stuff done in the future chapters, but her backstory so far is, “I had a friend once... No, she’s not dead. She just left our small town.”

The fight scenes are actually so much fun to watch. MAPPA gave this series a lot more time and budget than say that first anime I mentioned. It’s fluid, the camerawork is amazing, the choreography is on-point.

The voice acting for this anime is spectacular among the main cast... when character dialogue allows it.

I feel a bit of imbalance, but Yuuji does offer a good protagonist template. Junya Enoki makes his lines so funny and gives this nonchalant approach that is the polar opposite of his performance in Tonikawa. This is definitely his season.

Junichi Suwabe voicing the main demon thing is amazing too. It fits so well, and he sounds so cool and evil. It’s great.

Gojou is also one badass mentor played by Yuuichi Nakamura. Overpowered, part of the main cast, etc. Insert your reverse Kakashi joke here. Just give him more Sharingan genjutsu, I dare you.

Yuuma Uchida is back playing another tragic character that’s serious and uptight. I can’t say much more about him.

The opening and ending are both worth listening to even if you don’t want to watch the anime. Lost in Paradise by ALI has been on repeat for me.

Besides that, I’m going to go over some other anime that I’ve been watching.

Hunter x Hunter (AS IF THIS HASN’T BEEN RECOMMENDED ENOUGH)

Slowly. Slowly but surely. 11/148.

I know this is going to be amazing... I just want to be in the right mood to full savour it. I don’t want to be consumed by stress and not pay attention. The reason why I like a lot of those seasonal anime is because I don’t pay the same kind of attention.

If you told me these characters’ ages, I probably would’ve believed everyone... except Leorio. The guy looks like a middle-aged money-hungry gangster.

What I would give to have the energy and serotonin of a Shonen Jump protagonist.

Haikyuu (YEAH, IT’S GOOD)

I’m watching this one with my mom and sister as they go “OMG OMG OMG” as we watch while I’m sitting there like -_-

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good show, but sports anime are made like shounen battle anime (because they are in a way) with different stakes. I’ve felt more “nervous” about some of the Haikyuu matches than I did with some of the Hunter Exam. Worst case scenario in Haikyuu, you lose the match. Worst case scenario in Hunter x Hunter? You die.

I knew what I was going to get into when I was watching Haikyuu, and it’s given me what I remembered (since I did watch 10 episodes of it a few years ago) and expected.

SKET Dance (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)

Unfollow me. Unfollow me right now. This is what I’m going to be talking about for the next month. I can feel it. I’ve had this show for like 3 days and watched around 33 episodes along with some of these other titles. I have a problem. I know that, but I don’t feel like fixing it. This show is just too good.

I get why people call this a poor man’s Gintama, but it’s not quite that. I can get the similarities, but it’s like eating an empanada and saying that it’s just like that dumpling you tasted last week. It looks alike on the surface... if you’re not that great at... telling the difference between things... but once you get to the meat of it (PUN HAHA), you realize that they are completely different, and you were a fool for thinking otherwise.

That’s our main heroine! Go go go!

Dude, episode 25 hit me out of nowhere, AND I READ THE SPOILERS! I won’t say any more than that.

The cast is one of the best that I’ve seen in a while. Their chemistry is basically the entire show. Without one of the main three, you wouldn’t have the show anymore. It handles its female characters better than some of its fellow competitors at the time, and it may have what some may call a “token fat character”, but the character never makes fun of her for being fat. They make fun of her for saying “Yabasu” every single sentence. It hurts that the manga ended with some loose ends, and this anime isn’t getting a season 2.

But at its weird and mushy core, this show is about three people with heavy and complex pasts who simply want to help people work out their issues in their own... unique ways.

I don’t want to say much else, but I wish more people would watch/read it and create/post most content for it even if it’s a bit old because it deserves it. I’m almost a decade late, and this anime still holds up.

I gave Mairimashita Iruma-kun its own post.

#dino watches anime #seasonal anime #sket dance #haikyuu #hxh #hunter x hunter #tonikaku kawaii #tonikawa #kamisama ni natta hi #Jujutsu Kaisen

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benisasoftboi · 4 years ago

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Unorganised thoughts on Trails of Cold Steel I:

So I did like it overall, but I have a lot more criticisms of it than I did of the previous games

Which also means I have way more to say!

Tl;dr - Rean Schwarzer, Estelle Bright you are not

Also, spoiler warning for both this game and the previous ones

So... the pacing in this was weird. Like I loved all the field study segments, they were SO fun, but there’s also the Trista segments between which very boring and felt like filler

I think it’s meant to make the ending feel more important, since you’re defending the school, but it kind of backfired because being forced to run around Thors (which is not a very interestingly designed location, by the way) over and over and over again actually made me kind of resent it. To a point where I low key wanted the ILF to destroy the school. Oops

Like I cared about Liberl and Crossbell because they were interesting, and big, so I never really got tired of them. I got tired of Trista very quickly

Also having everyone in school uniform made their designs less interesting :/

The other places were all super interesting, though! I think if I had to pick a favourite I’d say Bareahard, but they’re all contenders really

Oh also the other issue with the structure was that everyone had to be mad at someone at all times, and it was almost comical how systematic it was - Rean and Alisa don’t get on, that’s resolved, now let’s focus on how Machias and Jusis don’t get on, that’s resolved, IMMEDIATELY we’ll replace that with Fie and Laura, then the moment that’s resolved it’s Jusis and Milliam...

Like, be a little less formulaic in your character conflict

Anyway, characters!

I do not like the thing where the character’s name appears in front of them before they say it. It was irritating

Elliot: The one I would have been in love with when I was eleven. Elliot is good and sweet and did nothing wrong ever. Holy Song is the most useful craft in the whole goddamn game. He also has easily the best S-Craft in a game where most of the S-Crafts are *decidedly* lackluster, aesthetically speaking. I like Elliot. His friendship with Gaius is also very nice

Jusis: The one I would have been in love with when I was fourteen. So, the moment I saw Jusis, my immediate first thought was ‘oh, this guy is one half of a gay ship’. I had no clue who the other guy was going to be, but I knew there was absolutely no way that Anime Draco Malfoy wasn’t getting shipped with a man.

And then Machias opened his mouth, and... every franchise, no matter what, has its gay OTP (its homoTP, if you will) - that one, usually M/M, but sometimes F/F, ship that’s practically got a whole side-fandom just for itself. Up until now, I assumed Trails’ was going to be Olivier/Mueller - but while I haven’t checked, because I don’t want spoilers, I will be shocked if these guys aren’t actually it. They have every making - opposites attract, enemies to lovers, they sing together, other characters make jokes about it...

Like, this was deliberate, surely? Surely?

yes i ship it but like, against my will and resentfully and semi-ironically, because I hate myself for instinctively taking the bait >:(

Something something ‘Turbo-Gehenna’ joke

Anyway, I like Jusis. I think he’s a fun character, easily the most interesting of the boys, and I really enjoyed his development. He has a cute smile

I also thought he had the best voice acting in Class VII, so I looked it up and Ben Diskin! I love Ben Diskin! I couldn’t even tell, I had no idea his range was that great, wow!

I did think it was extremely weird that if you invite him to the Stella Garten, he says he wants to date a woman who is ‘like his mother’. Okay, Jusis.

Machias: The one I would have been in love with when I was seventeen. You ever meet someone who’s like... always right, really, but in such an obnoxious way that you wish they weren’t. Machias. He would have been way more interesting if he was just a really politically minded teen who needed to learn tact, rather than yet another member of the Trails Dead Family Member Club (the fact that it was revealed right after Elliot’s Dead Family Member Club story did not help). Still, he really did grow on me in the end. He’s a little dork

Gaius: The one I would be in love with now, if not for the fact that he’s only seventeen and thus a little baby in my eyes. I do love his design the most. Can he say even one line that’s not about the wind, though? I also like that he’s one of very few characters in this franchise to not have a tragic backstory, was very refreshing.

I can only assume, therefore, that Nord will undergo ethnic cleansing in Cold Steel II

Crow: oh boy Crow hahahahahaha. I don’t know how I feel now. Uhhhh... what did ‘the things I do for love mean’? I am curious

Alisa: I don’t like tsunderes much, and I found her ‘being mad at Rean for something that was absolutely not his fault’ thing very, very stupid and it did not endear me to her at all (also, like, if you had to have that - a better way would have been for him to accidentally injure her, rather than... ugh, look, I am a woman with large breasts - accidents really do happen irl. There’s no point in getting that mad about it. There just isn’t. I have no patience for this kind of plot). It also bothered me how possessive of Rean she got, I swear I picked Towa over her half out of spite. I don’t hate her, though, to be clear - I loved her plot with her mother and that scene in Nord. And her relationship with Ferris! She’s great when she’s not talking about Rean, basically

I don’t buy her as Rean’s love interest, honestly. Rean consistently shows more attraction to Emma, and has more (mandatory/canon) moments with Towa. It only felt one-sided to me

Laura: I like Laura a lot. I don’t really have anything to say about her, just that she was consistently good, and I appreciated her maturity and self awareness, I love her and Rean being sword bros, she’s just great

Fie: I think Fie was designed to appeal to exactly me personally. Tiny snarky badass girl with a great design? That’s everything I love and aspire to be! Best girl in the game (didn’t date her though because she’s fifteen and I refuse to date anyone who is younger than the protagonist when I play games set in high schools. Feels weird enough dating teens the same age as my character. Also she had 0 romantic chemistry with Rean)

Millium: She’s fine, good voice acting, want to know more about Lammy, no strong feelings

Towa: I wasn’t going to date anyone, but changed my mind because I really liked Towa... and then I looked at her, and saw a tiny girl with long, light brown hair and soft voice, and realised I just want to date myself

I checked, and according to Playstation Trophies, at least, she’s the least picked girl? The only characters picked less than her are the non-Crow boys (Machias is the least popular, which... I feel a little mean for finding hilarious lol)

Emma: I like Emma herself just fine. Don’t get me wrong. But she’s infuriating as a mystery character, because she’s the worst kind of mystery - the kind that relies on the other characters to NEVER AT ANY POINT ASK THE QUESTIONS THAT A NORMAL HUMAN WOULD ASK

Estelle would have asked

Rean has multiple opportunities to ask her to explain herself, and he doesn’t! One time, she straight up ASKS HIM TO ASK, and he doesn’t! That’s not mysterious anymore! That’s just incredibly annoying!

Lloyd would have asked

And no one else asks either! Some of them, fine - I can understand say, Elliot or Gaius or Millium - but Jusis!? Jusis, who has been there for pretty much all of her mysterious vague magic, and has repeatedly shown himself to be willing to be kind of rude, and may not be that interested in other people but certainly isn’t stupid - while they’re in the Schoolhouse Depths, Jusis isn’t going to grab Emma by the shoulders and demand she explain what she knows? He’s just going to go with it as she refuses to elaborate on things?

Really?

Kevin would have - actually, no, Kevin would have already known because Kevin Knows All, but he would have told everyone else, so same outcome

Rean: And that brings me to Rean. Rean... is a JRPG Protagonist. He is good, and noble, and he gives Inspiring Speeches, and he can date all the girls (which means we don’t really get any interesting opposite-gender friendships, because oh no, a threat to the harem!), and he is so, so boring. My god

Hey remember how I praised Sky for how great it was to have Estelle be an actual person with flaws and personality? No you don’t, no one’s reading all of these, but yeah - Estelle is just as colourful and full of life as the rest of Sky, while Rean is the least interesting character in Cold Steel no contest

Oh he has a super powered dark side, oh, well, that’s a game changer, never seen that before except in every 2000s shounen anime. Also we never actually learn the Super Rean rules, so that dramatic moment where he’s thinking about transforming to fight Scarlet isn’t actually that dramatic because I had never realised it could kill him until he said so in that moment

Oh except he’s also an awakener and can summon a Persona giant mecha suit! Because he’s the most special boy to be very special? I have never seen that in a JRPG before except in all of them

In Sky, Estelle wasn’t special. Except she was, but it wasn’t because she had super awesome secret awesome powers and all the boys liked her best. It was because she was flawed, but always trying, and because she was incredibly brave and optimistic no matter what, and because she was the kind of person who told a god summoning evil mastermind ‘lol no’ and then beat him with a stick, and because she really, believably loved her friends. She loved them. And they loved her. Not the player she was the avatar of. Estelle herself

Estelle Bright has ruined me for all other JRPG protagonists, is what I’m saying

Oh also Rean has that whole speech about how they can’t cancel the festival to protect people from an unknown threat, that’s not fair to meeeeee, and as someone who has lived through the year 2020 - go to Gehenna, Rean

Olivier is back!!! And yeah I’m going to keep calling him that, that’s who I know him as, and also Olivert is a silly name

Even more importantly, Mueller is back!!! And he and Olivier still have the best comedy dynamic in the series, joyous day! THAT is love and peace, baby!

Sara really, really grew on me :) I want to see her interact with Schera so bad

I didn’t really like Sharon up until I worked out OH SHE’S OUROBOROS, because yessssss more of them! Also, yessss, guessed it!

Angie... predatory lesbian stereotype aside, Angie’s super interesting and I want to see more of her yes please

George is like, the most inoffensive character I’ve ever seen, but apparently he has haters? What!?

What is with these games and naming characters/things French words, and then PRONOUNCING THEM WRONG

I do not care that the official pronunciation is ‘Blue Blanc’. I will continue to pronounce it ‘Bleu Blanc’. Because that’s what you guys actually wrote, Christ alive

I have a French GCSE and I will use it for something, goddamnit

I took Jusis on the bike trip and he looked so adorably goofy in the little sidecar. Best moment of the whole damn game for me

I’m trying to imagine what it would be like to have played this game first, as I know a lot of people did. Specifically in regards to Olivier (or Olivert, I guess)

Like... imagine meeting this guy for the first time as a fairly serious leader of an important faction, participating in vital political machinations. Imagine meeting him here and not knowing about the Grand Chardonnay incident. Imagine not knowing about that time he stopped a riot by riding up in a boat and singing. Imagine not knowing he has a rivalry of aesthetics with a terrorist. Imagine not knowing what I was referring to when I said ‘that’s love and peace, baby’ just now

Incomprehensible

Side note, if you had told me, on one of those warm August days when I was first playing Sky FC, that the silly man in the white coat was actually one of the most important characters in the franchise, I would not have believed you for a second

But on that subject, I was also trying to work out who a first time player would be siding with... like, I’ve played Sky and experienced Zero (currently working way through Azure as well), which means that my immediate reaction to all of Erebonia’s politics was ‘trust whatever Olivier and the bracers say, don’t trust anyone else’. But someone starting with Cold Steel has no reason to have loyalties to those factions, so I’m curious

Side note, having played the previous games also massively impacted how I viewed the ILF - I’m very confident that I would have just taken them being evil for granted if I’d played this first, but considering they hate Osbourne... and Olivier does not like Osbourne... that kind of made me a lot more suspicious of who I was really meant to side with

I really liked most of the NPCs in this. I especially became weirdly fond of Beryl

However, I do now also have characters I actively dislike, a series first! Gwyn (creepy old man), Neithardt (sexist jerk, kick his arse Beatrix), and Dorothee (...could write a whole essay on the myriad reasons I do not like that particular archetype) get in the bin

Good god, every interaction between Rean, Emma and Dorothee made me want to smack the lot of them with my controller, Dorothee for being an absolute creep, and Rean and Emma for overcorrecting into low key homophobia (seriously Rean, you’re friends with a lesbian, the idea of the existence of gay men should not shock you this much)

Re: Elise... I heard the words ‘non-blood related younger sister’ and my eyes rolled so far back in my head I was afraid they wouldn’t come back down

Took me a while to figure out, but ideal team is Elliot, Jusis, Machias, with Laura and Fie as back-up

I would like to find whoever’s idea it was to make the S-Crafts unlock as the game progresses rather than just be there when you get the character, and shake them until they apologise. Have them evolve with the story, sure, but not having them at all wrecks the battle flow so much. Emma was unusable to me until chapter-goddamn-FIVE

I loved the Annabelle subplot, and the punchline that the person her family wanted to marry her off to was a Lakelord... I actually yelled

The concert was so hyped, and then there weren’t even any real songs (aside from the re-use of the end credit song from Sky, which made me very happy. And Olivier singing along made me laugh out loud)

TOVAL IS TOBY!?!?!

Man I’m so mad at myself for not reading Carnelia in/after FC (read it in 3rd), but still - what a reveal!

AND WHAT AN ENDING

I mean. At first

They did such a good job building the tension, and then-

The Crow twist, my GOD, when I tell you I freaked the fuck out... I was totally convinced that it was Claire. Or possibly Campanella on stilts. I completely overlooked that there was another major character with a C name, and honestly I’m glad I did because I have not been this shocked by a reveal in a while

And then I stopped taking it seriously when I saw the robots with heelys

It was all.. we had a very final boss-y final boss, right? Excellent final boss fight, very fun, very satisfying. And then the game just... kept going. I accidentally stayed up until 4 AM because I thought I was at the end and it just didn’t stop

And then it did. Very, very abruptly

(no seriously I was making some snarky comment about how goofy the flying robot suits look and then the game just ENDED, what)

(also worst *actual* final boss I’ve ever seen. the fact that they managed to make a battle between two giant robots, one of which was controlled by a traitorous former friend, feel like an anticlimax... that was impressive, honestly)

So Cold Steel I is... easily my least favourite Trails game so far. Again, I did like it, but like I say... Rean isn’t Estelle Bright. And that’s pretty much my main problem, in the end

Sorry, Class VII

OH MY GOD they never explained why it’s Class VII and not Class VI! My theory is that it’s either something about the Sept-Terrions, or the Seventh Division, since Olivier’s specifically connected to them. Or maybe both

Well - I’m excited to find out!

#long post #trails series #trails of cold steel #trails of cold steel 1 #kiseki series #erebonia arc

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joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh · 4 years ago

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Emma looks older in the OP than she does in the show, are we gonna see a timeskip?

Aaaaaaaaanyway, Promised Neverland season 2. I was quite meh on the first season, I thought it was pretty great as a horror and did much of its more emotionally driven scenes very well, but I wasn’t that engaged in the mystery element of it and I especially found the shounen mind games thing to be pretty fucking lame. But hey, we’re 2 years later (as in, IRL), we’re out of that orphanage, and now it’s a far more normal fight for survival rather than just a psychological one. Honestly think this could’ve benefitted from having a recap episode since I didn’t remember shit about Emma’s ear being fucked or Norman giving everyone a pen but asking for a recap episode is basically just complaining because I didn’t want to put in the time to rewatch this, so.

But yeah new content wise, we’re wandering through a forest, struggling for survival, Emma having to now lead the children in such an immediately dangerous situation is taking its toll on her, Ray’s not an edgy bastard anymore, everything is cool and different and for how much I was kind of sort of dreading having to watch this, I ended up fairly enjoying myself. Helped obviously by the show’s still really good production, even the big CG monster didn’t look that bad.

I do think the cliffhanger is a little weak though, it’s very obvious that these characters they’re being saved by are demons (thanks key visual too) and they’re probably not out to get the squad, “the demons” probably aren’t a hivemind so splinter groups that help humans like this one seem fair enough. As such it feels like we didn’t really get anywhere or accomplish anything this episode. Honestly it feels weird for me of all people to say this but I wish this had been a double length episode or something so we could, you know, have it go somewhere, and because I was actually having fun and would’ve been okay continuing to watch this.

Other gripe is that I remember season 1 not addressing the morse code books mystery and being annoyed by that, but season 2′s just skipped the acknowledgement entirely - everyone knows the books have morse code and just read them without a care in the world and are using the books and their morse code passwords to get a digital map from their William Minerva pen and it’s like, fair enough if you want the morse code to be part of the narrative now, but you’ve introduced it as a problem and then shown us the aftermath of the solved problem - we didn’t get that “aha!” moment that mysteries generally want to have. Fuckin, oh well.

But yeah I mean this was cool, I wasn’t super looking forward to this second season just because how meh I felt about the first season, and I think my main source of anticipation for this show was because I felt it’d at least be an interesting watch in the meta sense, but now I’ve come out of this episode having actually had a fair bit of fun and wanting to see more. So this did a good enough job as a first episode in that regard pog. Well done, The Promised Neverland.

#the promised neverland #7.1.21

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ichika27 · 5 years ago

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Winter 2020: Episode 3

I said before on my first Winter 2020 post that I’d give the anime I chose to watch 3 episodes to see whether or not I’d continue watching.

Here are my thoughts on them.

First off, Magia Record.

It’s not like the main Madoka series but I can’t exactly put my finger on why. It just feels different but not in a bad way of course. It’s still interesting due to the mystery but I’ve not connected with any characters yet. By that I mean, other than Iroha, I don’t feel like caring much about the other girls yet. That’d probably change in later episodes the more I know about them but I don’t know how well they can showcase everyone when, according to the OP, there are gonna be a lot of characters for this show unlike the main one with 5 important characters (plus Kyubey).

Still, it’s good although I wish Iroha gets stronger cause right now she hasn’t really done much in terms of fighting. All the better character development in the future though so I’d look forward to it.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (2020)

Different from it’s previous adaptation not only in art style but also in how they handled the first few episodes. The art style still kinda uh, confuses me on how to feel? Some characters look good in this (Childman looks way younger here than he did in the first anime. It was the reason I didn’t recognize him at first.) while some looked better in the first series (Orphen looks like a pretty boy in this style but I think he looks more handsome in the old style).

Since the way they handled the story is different, for someone like me who watched this like, more than 10 years ago and remembers little of it except some parts in the beginning and end, this made me feel excited and interested. For one, back in the first anime, the thing about Azalie being the dragon was a spoiler but here it’s showed in the beginning. Her dragon form is called ‘Bloody August’ in the first anime but here, I don’t think I remember her being referred to as that. Anyways, start of adventure soon, I hope? There’s a lot of magic school flashbacks here and while interesting, I’d like to see the main characters get more screentime (Orphen, Claiohm, and Majic).

Bofuri continues to be a fun and exciting series about cute girls playing a VRMMO! Despite being an OP character, watching Maple and Sally fight is still fun and also, the mods are starting to nerf her lol.

Still no overall plot at the moment and I dunno what that would be later on but for now, I’m just enjoying the ride. I’m curious about the blond guy though - the knight who got 1st in the event whose face isn’t shown. What will be his significance, I wonder?

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is an okay show, I guess? Not the ‘case files’ I was hoping for. They have little detective work done and the show is more like ‘Character of the day needs a jewelry-related thing and has some personal problems and is helped by the 2 main guys whose shop becomes some kind of counseling room’. It’s not bad as I said but its kinda boring at times. While Richard and Seigi are the MCs, the ones with the spotlight is whoever the character of the day is. It’s episodic right now and there maybe a bigger plot later but I’m not sure if I’d still continue following this series. It’s nice if you like jewelry though as they do give info on that so kudos to them as the ‘jeweler’ part is not just something they threw in - the characters actually know stuff about it.

So verdict is: semi-dropped for now. Might come back later if I felt like it but it’s not a priority anymore. I wanted a detective series, dude. Oh and Seigi might be straight and has a thing for that girl he met before but if you guys wanna ship the two MCs, there are some shippy stuff here for you as well :)

Hatena Illusion explains to us why Kana’s family steals: her mom’s family makes magic items and they decided to sell them even thought they’re dangerous. Her mom, Maeve, thinks this is bad and runs off with the guy she likes and also goes everywhere to steal the ‘artifacts’ (magic items) so they would pose no danger. She does replace it with a non-powered replica so the people she steals from won’t miss them. Reminds me somewhat of DNAngel.

That said, Kana is annoying as heck. Typical tsundere who is violent and keeps hurting Makoto even when something is her fault. Makoto is some kind of dormat as well which is annoying. Ema, the maid makes things worse with her stupid comments which doesn’t help and Kokomi, while annoying in the first episodes seems like the only one with common sense and I ended up liking her in episode 3.

I want to drop this show cause Kana pisses me off but hey, Makoto just became a magical (thief) boy and now I need to give it 2 more episodes! It’s rare for there to be a protag magical boy. Most of the time, they’re either supporting or background character but Makoto is a co-protagonist (I know Binan Koukou exist but that’s more of a parody anime).

I’ll be back on whether or not I’ll drop this completely after seeing episode 5.

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun is one of the few shows here which has a different ‘style’ in presentation which isn’t bad and actually makes it stand out. The story is also fun with the seven mysteries (and if you watch the OP, everytime a mystery is revealed, they stop being shown as silhouettes in the next episode’s opening) with their respective rumors and backstories. We also have some new characters and some clues about Hanako’s past.

I like this show. It’s cute and has some adventures and a tiny bit of romance (I already ship Hanako with Yashiro) and comedy. The current story with the stairs seem like it’d be fun as a video game haha. I’d definitely be watching this one til the end.

Side note: this and MagiReco feels similar due to the ‘rumors’ and such. I mean, they started dealing with some rumored ‘stairs’ this time. It’s like MagiReco’s seven mysteries is spread in towns instead of just in one school. Just saying the coincidence is interesting.

A Destructive God Sits Next to Me is probably the biggest disappointment to me for this list as I looked forward to this since last year. I needed a replacement for Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy and this seems perfect but character-wise, it is not.

While it is funny (the first episode had me laughing so hard), there are a lot of scenes that just annoys or frustrates me. The 2nd episode in particular was unbearable and the only thing that kept me going is the thought that I promised to watch 3 episodes. By the end of the episode, all of the frustration I felt just broke when Koyuki had the misunderstanding with the girl and I ended up crying. Yeah, I cried. It sounds stupid and it is which makes it worse. I only ever cry in comedy anime when there’s either a heartwarming or dramatic scene. Here it’s frustration.

I can tolerate Hanadori since Koyuki can and does punch him when he goes too far. It’s Tsukimiya I can’t take. His actions and personality gives me nothing but pure annoyance and hate (except the notebook scene in episode 1 which is really funny). He’s a mean-spirited character and he just makes me uncomfortable. Their homeroom teacher too, is annoying, by the way.

We have a new character this time, though who looks up to Hanado-- er, I mean ‘Miguel’-senpai. He’s annoying but only a little as its his first appearance. I’d give this 1 or 2 more episodes as I want to see who and what kind of person the long-haired guy in the OP is but I don’t think I can take this entire series.

Too bad as the art style is super cute and part of me low-key ships Koyuki with Hanadori (their interactions are cute sometimes esp. when Hanadori drags Koyuki in his fantasy). It also got a banger OP I can’t stop listening to. If I’m able to ignore or at least get used to Tsukimiya, I might watch more. Might. I’m not positive I can take it.

These are all my personal thoughts and opinions of these shows. They’re not an indication of whether or not you, the reader of this post, will enjoy it. Give them all a shot and maybe you’d end up liking them more or less than I do as we all have different taste and sense of humor. Hope you guys are enjoying this season’s anime offers. I’d write more about these later on probably when they end or when I decide to completely drop them.

#anime #winter 2020 #magia record #bofuri #the case files of jeweler richard #hatena illusion #Sorcerous Stabber Orphen #jibaku shounen hanako kun #a destructive god sits next to me #sana_post

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makeste · 5 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 238: Shigaraki Tomura: Tattered Goth Remix

Previously on BnHA: Young Shimura Tenko killed his whole family, as angsty young misguided antagonist characters sometimes do, and then proceeded to wander the streets feeling all sad about it until All for One just happened!! to come across him and was all “oh you poor thing it looks like you killed your whole family by accident, let me just adopt you and raise you to be my own personal killing machine.” We got some more flashbacks showing just how this transformation took place, plus some answers about the hands that kind of just raised more questions though tbh, and watched as little Tenko made his first premeditated kill after a number of effed up AFO pep talks. AFO then rechristened him “Shigaraki Tomura”, and we learned that Shigaraki is actually AFO’s own last name. The chapter ended back in the present day, with Tomura reflecting on how his family’s death wasn’t really a tragedy after all and ended up setting him free. We’ll have to agree to disagree, kid, but in the meantime have fun fucking up Re-Destro and dealing with Gigantomachia’s rampage!

Today on BnHA: Re-Destro tries to smash Tomura at 100% and absolutely nothing happens. So then he summons a bunch of robot armor bits like fucking Iron Man, and levels up to 150%! Tomura could not care less, because he’s leveled up to be one of those “yawn, is that all you got?” bad guys now, and while RD desperately tries to intimidate him, we briefly check in with the rest of the League. Everyone is freaking out at how quickly Machia is destroying the Liberation Army, and Compress calls Ujiko and frantically begs him to warp them all to safety. But Ujiko is all “nah” and says he wants to drive Tomura into a corner. Meanwhile Gigantomachia finally takes out Dairy Queen, since Dabi was doing fuckall, and the chapter ends with Tomura possibly killing Re-Destro?? To be honest it’s really unclear. For all I know the dude just dropped dead of a heart attack from all that stress. In fact, now that I’ve typed that, I kind of think that’s what did happen. Anyway! The point is I’m pretty sure the battle is finally over.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added one or two ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

so I mentioned this in an ask post a couple days ago, but this recap is a day late because I was out of town this week. consequently I’m behind on my asks and other things as well (I know, what else is new), so I’m sorry about that!

also! @temperatezone informed me that there’s yet another BnHA spinoff coming out, and that the preview chapter debuted last week! so I went to check it out, and holy shit, it’s a manga all about the U.A. kids teaming up with various pro heroes!!!!??!! between this and the new anime season coming up in just two months (it’ll fly by) and BakuDeku: Heroes Rising coming out in December, I feel like I’m being fucking spoiled with BnHA content. and I didn’t even mention the 2nd light novel which just had its official English translation released last month! so all in all it’s a lot of good stuff, and I desperately want to recap chapter 0 of the new spinoff as soon as possible, but it’ll probably be a few days unfortunately, unless I decide to be very irresponsible and do that instead of the piles of work I should actually be doing. we’ll see which impulses actually win out sob

fortunately Jump is on a break next week if I recall, so that’ll give me some time to catch up. anyway let’s start this thing before I manage to procrastinate anymore! so the new chapter is called “Liberation”, probably after a certain army

and the chapter is picking up where we left off before, with Tomura taking his Father Hand out of his pocket and saying he doesn’t need it or any of his other hands

ooooooh

maybe the title isn’t referring to the Liberation Army after all! or just one of those cool double meaning things

oooh man

god but that is satisfying. is there anything more satisfying than seeing a character you’ve been rooting for finally reach out and take control of their own destiny? ahhhh yessss that’s the good shounen shit right there

lol Re-Destro

he finally scared you into using your ~full power~, huh? punk

don’t mind me I’m just appreciating how much of a total badass my boy here is

your move, RD. personally if it were me, I wouldn’t want to fuck with him anymore! but hey your funeral bud

hmmm

the last few chapters have been so well-drawn that I’m starting to think I was maybe getting spoiled. I wonder if Horikoshi will re-do these later for the volume release

anyway so it seems like what’s happening is that RD is trying to hit Tomura with another Almighty Bitchslap and Tomura is not having any of it, basically

oh wow

and this isn’t even the Gigantomachia damage. will there be any pieces of this town left larger than a toothpick once all is said and done here?? stay tuned! but the answer is no

so the rest of this two page spread is just more panels showing vague high-contrast images of the destruction. we’re also briefly cutting to Gigantomachia! and to Dabi, who is still fighting Pinkberry, and like, dude, come on. finish him off already

and now the dust is clearing after that latest clash, and would you guys fucking look at this dramatic bitch though omfg

Shigaraki Tomura: Tattered Goth Remix. you look like the cover of a Bauhaus album. thank god this arc isn’t set somewhere stupidly dark, like, say, a basement

lmao Re-Destro is so mad

once again I would like to point out that you invited him here, you overconfident dishrag

so now Tomura is casually conversing with him

Tomura did you burn one right before this battle. you’re so fucking chill all of a sudden. gotta say that if someone had asked me “what do you think it would take to get Shigaraki Tomura to mellow out” before this arc, I probably would not have answered, “hmm, well maybe flashbacks to his horrific childhood and the violent deaths of all of his loved ones”

well at any rate, watching Re-Destro progressively freak out while Tomura makes more (ﾟ⊿ﾟ) faces is my new form of sustenance, guys

“you seem a bit rattled. a bit ill at ease. perturbed. something’s got you in a tizzy, huh.” ⊂( ・ ̫・)⊃

(ETA: okay but rereading this here, he keeps talking about his heart pounding, and then he goes and summons a fucking robot suit that actually raises his stress on purpose. so like, I don’t know? but I vaguely recall reading a theory on reddit a few weeks ago that RD was going to have a heart attack and it looks like it could really be the case. or not! that last page is really inconclusive.)

and now the Re-Destro flashbacks that absolutely no one asked for! of course!!

-- OH MY GOD

I’M DYING I CAN’T. SEND HELP

Iida I’m so sorry. all this time I have been teasing you and calling you a 40-year-old man, when this whole time it was actually Re-Destro who Benjamin Buttoned his way from his mother’s womb

is he related to the Alpha Kid from the adventures of the Babysitter’s Club? he can’t not be, right? what else could it be? two characters just happening to vaguely resemble one another in a purely coincidental manner?? are you even hearing yourself?! get out!!

um hey, so what the actual fuck is happening

...Krestro??

lol what. Horikoshi Muriel Kouhei, did you seriously just give this fucker Hulkbuster armor. do you just have a list of Marvel comics tribute shit that you check off as you go

so apparently this suit jacks his power up to one hundred and fifty percent! wowwwwwwww

but meanwhile Tomura is all just

what would it take to faze new Toked Goth Remix Tomura, I wonder

sob omg

goddammit now he’s going to want one. Ujiko you’d better get on it

oh my god you guys

I’m starting to feel really bad about all of these nice Twice clones who are being so helpful and are just going to end up dying in the end omg

also, if someone ever asks you, “should I read BnHA,” you can say, “well that depends, how much do you like scenes of characters with two broken arms getting piggyback rides from other characters?” and they’ll be like, “that’s really specific, does that... happen often,” and you can be like, “well it’s officially happened more than once, so”

like, it’s a whole thing now I guess. also, ouch

anyway so Real!Twice is concerned that Machia is having far too easy of a time kicking names and taking ass, and he’s trying to regroup with the rest of the League

oh my god Compress, seriously?

League of Ungrateful Sods, is what you guys are. he’s trying to help you guys out!!

lol Dabi you fucking liar

no you fucking weren’t, you were going to keep fighting him for a million more years. your fight was going to make Goku VS Frieza look like a 15-second Youtube ad. once again, you guys should really be more grateful here

(ETA: why did they even invite Dabi lol. all he did was fight offscreen and have zero (0) flashbacks. fucking tease.)

so now Compress is calling Ujiko and asking him to warp them out of there

what...?

he’s absolutely 100% making this up, right?

lol yeah now even Compress is calling him on it

right, Compress??

okay now Ujiko is straight up telling him no

oh, this is good you guys

Ujiko, I don’t know how to tell you this but while you weren’t looking, the dude hopped on a fucking golf cart and drove his own damn self. and now appears to have made himself pretty damn comfortable in that corner too

oh is Halo Top finally about to fucking die??

the cornerstone?? really?? holy shit, it really is remarkable how thoroughly unprepared these guys actually were in the end

anyway so now more action panels are happening

did Machia kill him? it looks like he survived but just went flying

and what the hell does Hanabata think he’s actually going to be able to do. drive his van at him? give him encouragement??

anyway I guess we’re wrapping this up now, and we’re cutting back to Tomura who’s saying something extremely cool

it is kind of like that. except that it’s bullshit

anyway so it looks like he’s touching the ground and using his decay again and holy shit is this it???

!!!!!

YOU GUYS DID HE JUST DISINTEGRATE RE-DESTRO OH MY GOD. JUST LIKE THAT!!??!

YOU GUYS I HONESTLY CAN’T TELL, ALL I KNOW IS TOMURA TAPPED THE GROUND, AND RE-DESTRO HAD A WEIRD PANEL WHERE YOU COULDN’T SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING, AND HE HAD A THOUGHT AND IT WAS SUDDENLY CUT OFF, AND THEN WE CUT TO GIGANTOMACHIA WATCHING AND WE COULDN’T REALLY SEE ANYTHING OMG

but can you imagine, though?? “one single strike”?! like oh my god, there wasn’t even any fanfare? if he really did just kill him that is pretty much exactly how I would have wanted it to go down tbh

at any rate, it’s safe to say life just got a hell of a lot more dangerous for our Actual Protagonist with this new power-up. shit. oh my god

well I guess that’s it! does that mean this arc is gonna wrap up next chapter. because I’m also going to be away the 16th, so I’ll be a day late in doing that chapter too. I s2g Horikoshi, if you finally cut back to U.A. on a day that I’m not able to read the chapter right away, I will... well actually I’ll be pretty happy regardless, but secretly I will also believe it’s some sort of conspiracy against me. so just know that

#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha 238 #shigaraki tomura #re-destro #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #dabi I can't believe you abandoned your boyfriend for this #just left him hanging there with a severed head in his backpack #on the plus side this really gives me hope for hawks's ability to fool the league in the future #apparently you don't actually have to kill anyone or do anything remotely useful and your fellow league members will still be fine with it #tomura and twice out here carrying the entire organization #twice buddy #they're not paying you enough

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thewebcomicsreview · 5 years ago

Note

please do in fact make a comparison between homestuck and naruto now that youve mentioned it i need to read it

Honestly, I don’t want to read the entirety of Naruto for this, but the more I think about it the weirder the comparison gets. Homestuck has an infamously bad opening and then gets really good around Act 4, stays really good for a while, and then crashes hard. Naruto starts off great, and then slowly putters out as Kishimoto runs out of ideas (and hands!). I think the first year or so of Naruto is legitimately great, and is starts puttering out around the Chuunin exams

I think this is legitimately the best first page of any comic ever (even though it’s technically the second page). There’s just so much in these two panels. You’ve got the ninja village, you’ve got the most striking visual image in the whole series with ninja Mount Rushmore, and there’s a kid drawing dicks on it and laughing maniacally. You learn so much about Naruto’s character, his world, and his relationship to that world in a single page with no real dialogue. It’s excellent.

Now, granted, this chapter also introduces a crystal ball that can scry on students, which you’d think would come in handy later and is never seen again, but still. Good opening effort.

dustybins said to thewebcomicsreview:

oh man do you wanna shit on Naruto? together even? like how Chakra Natures, an integral part of the setting and something constantly used in combat is largely unexplained til like two thirds of thew way into the manga? about how the big climactic battle is with an enemy that appears from no where has no character and is of little consequence after she is beaten? about how Sasuke's whole arc becomes a FARCE after the timeskip? how about the HUGE disservice that the manga does to its characters?

A smarter nerd than I did exactly that, and it’s a good video if you’re in to that kind of thing. But there’s maybe another anime that’s a better comparison

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Bleach was only slightly less popular than Naruto at its peak, and was one of the last anime I was really into as I transitions from “high-school weeaboo” to “college student who fell out of anime immediately after joining the anime club but that’s where my friends are so okay I guess”. While Naruto started great and slowly declined, Bleach followed a more Homestuck trajectory

Initially, Bleach was a lighthearted monster-of-the-week story about anime ghostbusters. The plot was kind of meandering, but it was carried by fun characters and a humorous tone.

Then it introduced a bunch of kind of alien characters, about a dozen weridos, and their society. The series took on a darker tone, and this arc, the Soul Society arc, lasted as long as everything before it put together. People went nuts for it. And they especially went nuts for the Shinigami, and started making what we’d call Shinigamisonas (Shimisonas? Chimichangas?) today. And they were helped in that endeavor because the Shinigami as a concept were very modular. If you made a Shimisona, you basically filled out a character sheet with information like which of the thirteen groups of them you were in, which would indicate what your characters basic powers were

and then you’d get to the cool shit like the number of Katanas you had. (In Bleach, instead of characters themselves going super saiyan, their katanas did, which is the raddest idea ever, so everyone got to make three with an evolving concept). You had structure, but not so much structure as to limit your creativity.

Bleach kind of lucked into that aspect, but Hussie’s big genius idea for marketing Homestuck, moreso evan than the shirts, was leaning in super hard to this idea. Troll blood color, classpect, even stuff like “what you put in your Kernalsprite” that didn’t catch on, were all intentionally made modular so that you could more easily make fanfics and personas (Hussie says this explicitly in one of the books). I doubt he pulled it from Bleach, but the same idea turned up.

Anyway, Bleach made the transition to a dark battle shonen, Shinigami were massively popular, and the Soul Society arc is widely beloved by nerds of a certain age to this day. If the Ghostbusters stuff was Acts 1-4 of Homestuck, the Soul Society was Act 5.

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But there was a problem.The Ghostbusters stuff set up a ghost called Grand Fisher as the main bad guy. He’s leading a bunch of ghosts, he killed Ichigo’s mom, Ichigo is the protagonist. Boom. Obviously, the guy who’s the strongest guy around who killed the protagonists’ beloved guardians was going to be the bad guy, right?

But then Shinigami got cool so they spent time on that and Ichigo was explicitly more powerful than any ghost about their powerups before the ending, so Grand Fisher can’t be the bad guy since Ichigo would squish him, so he’s out. He ultimately gets defeated by someone else who also has a beef with him but is in no way shape or form a protagonist

There’s a new villain, Aizen, and he’s got a new evil plan, but it doesn’t affect Ichigo at all and he kind of doesn’t give a shit about it.

So there’s no narrative momentum anymore. Ichigo is going to fight the new bad guy because he’s the new bad guy, but there’s no in-story reason for it, and also once he does the story will be over, and it’s a really popular cash cow. You know what that means!

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Pointless

Fucking

Around!

Elements of worldbuilding were brought up and expanded upon, like “Wow, the Shinigami created artificial people for fun and now wants to kill them all! How villainous! How are we going to resolve this?!” and the answer being “lol vampires”

This is where teen me tapped out. The Mod Soul storyline, itself a filler arc, is aborted in favor of forty-odd episodes of vampires that never get mentioned again because it was a filler arc while the anime desperately waited in vain for something to happen in the manga. The Homestuck equivalent would be Openbound, but Homestuck is worse because at least you knew at the time that Vampires wouldn’t be important later

So you got less of the slow decline of Naruto or My Hero Academia or most popular long-running series, and more of the series getting bigger and more popular until suddenly crashing completely because something was broken on a fundamental level that was preventing the protagonists and antagonists from ever actually coming into conflict

This scene, in Act 7, four minutes before the end of the series, is the first time in the entirety of Homestuck that a main character interacts with the main bad guy.of Homestuck.

Of course, the economics of Shounen Jump meant that Bleach could stay collapsing longer than Homestuck did, but once Ichigo killed the Vasto Lorde, which was right before the Soul Society arc even started, the die was cast and the series was doomed. Likewise, once Lord English usurped Bec Noir as the main bad guy of Homestuck, the story was broken on a fundamental level, and while Hussie going up his own ass about metanarrative didn’t help matters, nothing would have. Once Bec Noir left the medium, the story slowly died, like it was infected with some kind of slow-acting disease where the host body kills itself. I’m blanking on what the metaphor is I’m looking for. Help me out, Karkat.

PCG: AND UNLIKE A NORMAL DISEASE, IT WOULDN'T GRADUALLY KILL ITS HOST FROM WITHIN PCG: THE CANCER LEFT THE BODY PCG: CHASED OUT, AS IF BY AN IMMUNE SYSTEM. PCG: BUT THE PROBLEM IS PCG: IT WASN'T ANY LESS DEADLY ON THE OUTSIDE PCG: AND NO LESS DETERMINED TO FINISH THE JOB.

PCG: SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE IT COULD BE PCG: WHAT'S WAITING FOR US AT THE END OF THE COUNTDOWN. PCG: JACK WAS EXPELLED FROM YOUR SESSION SOMEHOW PCG: HE THEN METHODICALLY DESTROYED ALL OUR PLANETS, PROSPIT AND DERSE, AND TRIED TO WIPE US ALL OUT PCG: SO THAT WE COULDN'T DO THE SAME THING TO HIM AGAIN PCG: BUT HE WAS ALWAYS SAVING HIS TRUE TARGET FOR LAST PCG: THE ONE HE HATED MOST. PCG: JACK WAS THE LIVING EMBODIMENT OF THE DISEASE ALL ALONG.

PCG: NOIR IS THE CANCER.

PCG: IT'S HIM.

Yeah, that’s it

#heecawroo #Naruto #Bleach #Homestuck #Honestly that's the best meta joke in all of Homestuck #And it wasn't even on purpose

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drkandraz · 7 years ago

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Why Hirohiko Araki Is a Great Writer

Note: add writing saying “I am only going to be addressing JoJo because 1) I have not read his older works, 2) His works before and including Phantom Blood lack what I am talking about here and 3) I include JoJo spin-off manga under the “JoJo” moniker”

As the man behind one of the most influential manga of all time, Hirohiko Araki is already a highly praised writer and artist. However, I believe what lies at the heart of Araki-sensei’s writing style is not explored often enough. What I think are the most important factors in the writing of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are the extremes to which the author takes his creative freedom and his skill in writing relationships between people.

Phantom Blood is the most conventional part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. It has a structure very similar to other shounen manga at the time: hero has a rivalry, rival becomes obscenely powerful, hero learns martial art to defeat rival, ally dies, other ally narrates, hero wins etc. Phantom Blood’s writing only succeeds in the outlandish concepts introduced throughout: vampires appearing as a consequence of mayan blood rituals with magical stone masks, vampires somehow sucking blood by introducing their fingers inside a human’s skin, the power of the sun channeled (or created) by breathing, medieval warrior zombies, people being cleft in half by chains… frog punching. What also comes out here is a hint of the strategic battles the series will come to be known for, with Dio’s defeat at the hands of a burning sword.

A lot of the quality of the writing comes in the relationship between Jonathan and Dio, two characters who could not be more polar opposites who supposedly die together. While Jonathan is a typical nice guy shounen protagonist, Dio is a somewhat complex villain; he is irredeemably evil, but not unjustifiably so.

The decision to change protagonists was in itself an unheard of prospect at the time, each part bringing its own atmosphere and self-contained storyline, facts which allow Araki-sensei to explore all of them at length.

In comparison, Battle Tendency goes completely off the rails. If Phantom Blood is a cautious dip into the water, then Battle Tendency is a cannonball jump right into the deep end. This is where JoJo starts going from typical shounen manga to a manga characterized by battles of wits and skill rather than of pure brawn; and this change is reflected in its protagonist. Where Jonathan was the perfect gentleman who would never face his enemy anything less than head-on, Joseph likes to screw with his opponents’ heads. To show this change in character, his first major fight is against an enemy comparable to Dio, who is taken out a lot more easily thanks to Joseph’s fighting style. The insanity present in Phantom Blood is taken up to 11: the vampires are mere distractions to the new Pillar Men, Nazis are turned into Cyborgs and Hamon now apparently works on bubbles.

The relationship built between Joseph and Caesar is perhaps the most natural growth displayed in the series until this point. Their friendship grows gradually and culminates not with perfect teamwork, but with a realistic ideological fight between the two, one that Joseph would come to regret for many years to come. Caesar’s death is one of the most natural and powerful scenes in manga history, from the desperate dedication he displays even in his final moments, to Wamuu’s respect for him and to Joseph’s desperate cry for his best friend.

Stardust Crusaders is the start of Araki-sensei’s complete creative control. Stands now allow him to explore any fun and interesting idea he has in battles and to make stands that fit with their characters. The change of the format from single story to monster of the week supports the author’s writing style of throwing ideas at the wall and expanding them to his heart’s content. However, the clunkiness of his inexperience with such creative control is obvious. He is obviously pressured to come up with cool designs and powers for the stands (some of which he will later forget). In the second half of Part 3, getting used to the concept of stands, he starts writing interesting and fun ideas for his battles, like the D’Arby Brothers and Vanilla Ice. The insanity is punctuated by the increasing number of musical references (from Captain Tennille to Oingo Boingo).

Sadly, the characters take a backseat for the duration of this Part. Except for certain minor moments between the Crusaders, the characters don’t really have arcs (except for perhaps Iggy and Polnareff). For this reason, Jotaro, Kakyoin and Avdol are often criticized for having little to no character, which is a fair point. Jotaro himself is more of a superpowered version of the most barebone characteristics of Sherlock Holmes.

Dio’s return recontextualizes Part One as a tragedy rather than a story of sacrifice for the greater good, as well as making Part Three more of a culmination of generations of fighting rather than another story about saving the world. Jotaro vs Dio is still one of the best battles in shounen history because of the weight behind every single action the characters take feeling like the climax of the story.

Diamond is Unbreakable, in contrast to its predecessor, is not in the least an epic story about cleansing evil. It is, for the most Part, a slice of life. Therefore, its stand users have abilities more suited to everyday life (Bad Company notwithstanding), or rather their own special needs. The town of Morioh truly feels like a real (albeit bizarre) place, with a community comprised of people with their own personal goals. The advantage of Part 4 in Araki-sensei’s writing style consists of the fact that the author is no longer chained by the needs of the lengthy story structure that plagued Part 3. He himself pointed out in an interview that he could always go back to continue Part 4 if he wanted to (I could not find the interview again, sorry. If you can find it or correct me, it would be most appreciated).

The character’s relationships in DiU are quite evidently better defined than in Part 3. The main crew of Part 4 is smaller and it never feels restrained to keep everyone around at every point in the story (like Part 3 was somewhat forced to). In this way, characterization and character relationships are better crafted within stories that emphasize only those characters and relationships. Jousuke is never forced to be the main character of an episode; rather, he only is when the story demands it, making for a much better experience. Of note are Koichi, whose growth is signaled within his stand’s abilities, Rohan, whose growth is exhibited throughout the series and within his spin-off series, Joseph, whose appearance is bittersweet to old fans, as the sneaky and crafty Joseph becomes senile and unable to do anything worthwhile and Kira, whose chillingly normal demeanor doesn’t betray his dark tendencies.

After Part 4’s gleeful atmosphere, Part 5 dives right back into the horror-inspired roots of JoJo. Giorno Giovanna, Dio’s son, is a far more dark and cunning figure than Jousuke. Indeed, Giorno and the rebellious cell of Passione he becomes part of are a reflexion of past characters painted in a new, more sinister light, fitting with the new Mafia theme. They are a family, led by Bruno Bucciarati just as the Part 4 gang was led by Jotaro, but because of their jobs, they live in a world almost completely devoid of the fun antics of DiU. However, their relationships are just as well developed: Abbachio and Giorno’s one-sided rivalry is resolved organically, Bucciarati and Giorno’s hatred of immorality is what binds them together and Fugo’s “betrayal” is completely in character for him etc. As a villain, Diavolo is well written insofar as we recognize that his main attribute is his megalomania and his relationship with Doppio is magnificently fucked up in the best way possible.

The fights in Part 5 are brutal bouts for survival. The enemy stand users are trained assassins who will stop at nothing to get their revenge on The Boss. What makes this change even more effective is their motive for chasing the gang, the murder of their “family members” at the hands of Diavolo. Therefore, each ability is more valuable than each of the ones in Stardust Crusaders, since there are just a lot less of them. Each stand is that much more developed and consistent in its use (with the exception of King Crimson, but I’m not going on that rant right now) On the other hand, the concepts introduced for them are just that much more insane: a turtle in which one can enter by putting a key in a hole in its back, a stand that dehydrates everything at long range, a stand that can put zippers on anything etc.

Part 6 is a much more plot focused arc. The whole part focuses on Jolyne’s search for her father’s memory and stand discs with the help of Stone Ocean’s gang of reluctant helpers. This gang feels less like a pseudo-family, more like a bunch of people chasing their own goals and helping each other along the way. This, by the end of the story, is what will bring their demise at the hands of Pucci, Dio’s best friend. Despite this, I can’t say they are not well-written characters. Foo Fighters’, Weather Report’s and Pucci’s characters and arcs particularly are very compelling.

Within this story driven part, the villain of the week format just does not fit anymore. This is why, despite their great ideas and executions, a lot of villains from Stone Ocean are made forgettable especially by the ending, which left almost no hope for a direct continuation to be made. In many ways, it can be said that one of Araki-sensei’s strong points eclipsed the other one completely. The creative freedom which used to be a leading factor in why the series was so great was now taken to too many extremes (Looking at you, Heavy Weather and Bohemian Rhapsody) which detracted from the story more than they added.

On the other hand, the reboot Part 7 brought was exactly what JoJo needed, in my opinion. Now that stands had been grounded as more akin to abilities than the ghosts they were originally, there was no need to keep them as anything more than representations of the user’s skills. The bizarre nature of JoJo was also given almost complete freedom with the abolishment of continuity and concepts like stand arrows. Instead, Araki-sensei introduces pseudo-scientific and pseudo-philosophical concepts that fit in perfectly with JoJo. To explain the level of insanity, I will summarize the premise of SBR in one sentence: two men, one crippled and the other with the power of ball hamon, compete in a cross-country horse race in 1880s USA, while fighting dinosaurs and the president using powers granted by Jesus Christ. While the stand battles in the middle section are almost as forgettable as Part 6’s, it matters less because the most important aspect is the development of our two main characters.

The characterization in Part 7 is the best it’s ever been in JoJo. Johnny’s hopeful nihilism contrasts perfectly with Gyro’s playful jackassery. The main cast – now smaller than any that came before it – only consists of two characters (if we don’t include the very well written reccuring side characters). Every character gives a feeling of having their own agenda, while also each contributing to one side of the battle between Johnny and Gyro and President Valentine. Interestingly, Funny Valentine is probably right from an ideological stand point, which is an unexpected turn out from a mostly childish manga up to this point.

Part 8 brings Steel Ball Run’s ideological musings into the 21st century with a return to Morioh. Araki’s style has retained its mature edge, but shifted them into science-fiction territory. The characters retain the moral ambiguity found in Part 7. Jousuke would do anything for Yasuho, even torture somebody. Yet the familial aspect that had long been missing from JoJo returned in full force with the Higashikatas and their rival pseudo-family, the divided Rock Humans. This makes Joubin a perfect antagonist despite his seemingly underpowered ability.

The bizarre atmosphere of JoJo’s fourth part returns with the Shakedown Road and the Milagro Man arcs which have almost nothing to do with the overarching plot of the series, but enhance the sense of a world existing beyond the characters. The battles in JoJolion are realistic and brutal to the extent not even Vento Aureo was willing to go, despite the relative bizarreness of the enemies’ stands.

This is how Hirohiko Araki’s writing style changed over the years from simple and restrained to bold, philosophical, dark and bizarre. The overall mundanity of Hamon was slowly replaced by stands and other special abilities, allowing the author to indulge in outlandish ideas that complimented the intelligent, consistent and thoughtful structure of his battles. To conclude, I believe Hirohiko Araki is a great writer because of the balance between his strange, out there ideas and his calm and logical understanding of his concepts (with a few exceptions), combined with his ability for writing strong and believable arcs and relationships for characters.

Edit: If you want more details about the first four parts of JoJo, I wholeheartedly recommend Super Eyepatch Wolf’s videos on the subject, as he can go into much more detail in those.

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sparda3g · 6 years ago

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The Seven Deadly Sins Chapter 285 Review

A sacrifice had to be made to advance the plot and Wild was the man (that’s right, man) to pull it off. Now with Ban and Meliodas returning home, the reunion with Sins and Elizabeth is closer to reality. Or so I thought. The Demon King is hell-bent to keep Meliodas’ emotion away from returning home and more hijinks ensue. Or so I thought as well. This was more of a hype chapter for not only what’s in store with Meliodas’ character, but the three grand battles waiting to erupt.

Wild used a sacrifice tactic for Ban and Meliodas to escape; abandoning his own wish to meet Mild or Hawk, his little brother. Judging by this chapter, it’s clear that he’s officially dead and unlike Hawk with his sudden resurrection, there’s no sign of it; at least for the time being. It’s a nice thing that Ban and Meliodas didn’t gloss over his sacrifice like a moment gone by. Although they escaped and thinking what to do next, they can’t shake it off that Wild died without reuniting with Hawk after countless years.

A small moment of them thinking on what to do when they reunite with Hawk is charming. It’s friendship like this I can get behind. Amusing how Ban wants to sing the song that Wild sang for his brother, even if Hawk may not know where it originated from. Pointless or not, they want to honor Wild like a friend. I actually want to see how that reunion goes down. That would have to wait long because all the sudden, a giant hand emerge from the Purgatory. You guessed it. It’s the Demon King.

I have to admit, it did throw me off-guard since I was under impression that everything is set for them to escape completely. At least we know he’s quite persistent instead of just letting it go and say, “Oh no…” Meliodas gets captured as Ban was going to try to break him free. However, Meliodas insists Ban to leave without him and he will eventually return home. My initial impression was baffling. It almost defeat the purpose of the whole rescue mission. Although the two have gotten strong and acquired a new technique or so, Meliodas remaining there would be odd and null the past moments. That is until the next scene.

Since The Demon King pulled an element of surprise, it’s only fitting for a son to pull one as well. All the sudden, The Demon King lost his arm, which was the one that was holding Meliodas. I suppose he didn’t reactivate The Ruler to negate the attack, though he didn’t expect his own son to wield a power to destroy his arm. It’s because Meliodas is finally showing his actual power. Why not do it in the first place? According to him, his power is similar to The Demon King more or less. In other words, it’s so powerful that he cannot live in Earth.

Now that the power has awakened, he won’t able to live there anymore. I don’t know if it means he can’t go back now, or once he’s at Earth, his time limit begins. On the other hand, he does leave after breaking free with a cost, so perhaps it’s the latter. This does ruin The Demon King’s plan, considering he needs a vessel that can roam around on Earth and Meliodas is going to ruin it once he reunites with his body. He has an amusing taunt to mock his father to actually care for something, even if it is selfish. Meliodas goes back, negating the thought of pointless, but now wondering how long can he stay there.

Now that we have taken care of Mael and the Purgatory, the only important piece left to cover is Meliodas in the cocoon state back at Earth. It’s the same as Mael’s cocoon, which it’s a ball of darkness, and no one can enter. Merlin don’t have a way to enter it without getting killed, even with Perfect Cube. So much for being perfect. The team that joined the task consists Merlin, Gil Thunder, Hendrickson, and Ludociel; the last name already spelled trouble.

There’s a page worth of inner thoughts of Ludociel; giving you a better insight of his character and agenda. As expected, he’s no good. He mainly sees his team as fodders or tools. Although Merlin and Escanor are beneficial for power, he doesn’t think highly of them as comrade; it’s just a task they have to take care of. As for Gil Thunder and Hendrickson, he sees them as fodders, but on the plus side, they can be used as his next vessel, especially Hendrickson. What a douche.

He casts Sanctuary to penetrate through the Ball of Commandments for them to enter the center. Merlin has a Commandment with her, so it made it easier to penetrate. That does weaken a bit of Ludociel’s achievement to say, “I am upmost necessary and everyone can’t do crap.” I guess that’s why he has to talk arrogant that the only way to leave is to kill the host alas Meliodas. Merlin wasn’t buying it and respond back with another option and that is to turn him normal. There’s a friction between her and Ludociel, and that can be alarming for what’s to come soon.

At last, they reached to the cocoon location, still hibernating before awakening. I still wonder if we will get to see Meliodas with multiple Commandments; unless with Mael is the only time to see it. That aside, it’s time to get hype. They weren’t alone in the center as it turns out Chandler, Cusack, and Zeldris are also there. At first, I thought there was a plot hole with Zeldris continuing to state Estarossa as his brother; however, when the chapter transitioned to Earth, it stated the timeline is before Mael was revealed. Good save. It does make me wonder for the element of surprise and how the reveal affected them around that time. It should be interesting if done right.

What’s really interesting is the upcoming battles. We have Merlin versus Cusack. Someone wants a payback from that ice magic. We have Zeldris versus Ludociel. It’s the battle that has been planted for centuries. Lastly, we have Chandler versus Escanor. It knows it’s the most hyped with Escanor literally looking down upon Chandler, let alone being placed in the front above all. The double page spread itself is pretty hype. Poor Gil Thunder and Hendrickson. They now know how Shounen works when you are behind in power level. Welcome to the family of cheerleaders. Go! Fight! Win!!!

Overall, this was a really good hype chapter. It was almost baffling with Meliodas nearly ended up staying at Purgatory, but it was done to demonstrate his actual power and a reason to avoid awakening. The rest prepared for the next major event with characters to look out for and the hyped battles. The art is solid as well, especially that double page spread of the matchup. All it was missing was a VS. sign in the middle. I don’t know who goes first, but one thing is certain: it’s going to be fun.

#The Seven Deadly Sins #nanatsu no taizai #chapter 285 #review #spoilers

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nimbus-cloud · 7 years ago

Photo

Taka-Talk Tokyo Summer 2018

So I got to attend two sessions out of the three Takato had in Tokyo, (mid-afternoon and evening), and ohhh my goddddddd.

Actor events are a trap. They just make you love them ten times more and then all you want to do is throw all your money at them. I’m writing a recap of what I saw across the two sessions, so peek under the Read More if you’re curious!

Afternoon

The afternoon session had Kage-chan and Kousei as guests, and they were really cute chatting about soccer and Takato trying to constantly upstage the other two by being really cute and having us scream that he was really cute. Occasionally this would make Kage-chan or Kousei get “irritated” but every time they had anything near a “fight” Takato they’d do this little hand gesture to be like, “But I don’t hate you~” And they were really in sync with it (Hiroki in the evening had NO idea how to do it lol).

At one point, he had these two purikura photos to give out as prizes, with Kage-chan and Kousei drawing seat numbers out of an envelope to choose the winners and hand them out. A girl in the row behind us won one of them and omg she was so excited she was gonna die. So Kousei came really close to us to give her the photo and he was like, "It's not a photo of me but congratulations!" lol And she was just super super excited and happy it was adorable.

Then Takato prepared these short videos to show us but there wasn’t time for all of them so Kage-chan had to choose randomly which video we could watch from these 3 cards. So we got to see the selfie video that Takato took going through a haunted house by himself! It was so cute watching him get spooked~ But then when the staff recorded him separately after he came out, he was all nah, i wasn't scared, i was totally manly and cool Even though he did still say that it was probably still a good idea to not do a haunted house by yourself lol

He and Kazuma wrote a song together, and he's posted some clips on Twitter, the song is titled "Try." They're both very good at singing and their duet was fun~ Kazuma did most of the composing for the song, and he wanted to come up with something that would convey Takato’s personality and what he thinks about him and stuff. Since they did the song at every session, Kazuma was at every session and technically a guest every time, but also he was helping out with random stuff (like bringing out the cards for Kage-chan so he could pick a video). He was very shy and nervous about singing, and I don’t know why because he’s great!!!

At the end of the sessions, Takato does high-fives to send us off and when it was my turn, I told him it was my first time and that I had fun and he went, “Really?” with a little smile.

Evening

Here is where I almost died.

We were in the second row this time, and at the start he wanted to know if anyone had come from really far away to see him. My friend @lost-shounen nudged me so I raised my hand and told him I came from Seattle and his eyes went big and went, “Seattle!? Wow...” And then he said, “Me too!” and I was like, “That’s not true!”

Of course he brought up our baseball team the Mariners and their famous Japanese player Ichirou, and I said yes, and then he pointed out of course that he played an Ichirou in Engeki Haikyuu (the elementary schooler). And then when he was introducing his secret guest for the evening session (it was Ino Hiroki) he had the audience try guessing who it could be. And then he looked at me and asked me how to say 誰だと思う? in English. So I replied, "Who do you think it is?" and he was like, “wait wait, too fast.”

So I slowed it down, he repeated, "Who do you think..." I said "it is?" But then when he put it all together by himself it was just a gibberish of sounds lol BUT ARGH SO CUTE AND ALSO I WAS GONNA DIE MY HEART WAS BEATING SO FAST AND FOR MINUTES AFTERWARD UGHHHHHH

And then Kazuma dragged Hiroki in and wow those screams tho lol Even Takato was surprised at the volume because it really was impressive.

Oh yeah, for all his guests Takato asked them to kiss this little poster of himself. Kousei got hammy with that, but HIROKI LORD He just pressed it to his face for several seconds and then threatened to throw it in the audience lololol. And then later the subject of Gotou Takeru's (Yaku) wedding came up, which Hiroki went to, and he was like, “Ahhh weddings are nice~” So Takato was like, “Should we get married?” THEN THEY LOCKED ARMS AND STOOD SIDE BY SIDE and Takato said all the lines the officiant would say. Hiroki very seriously and softly said, “I do.” And then when it was time for the kiss, Takato held up the little poster again but Hiroki just shoved it out of the way to try and kiss Takato's actual face instead. Allllmost got him that time (he gets him later lol).

Hiroki's guest corner was Who can draw better? Kazuma brought out the markers and sketchpads, and they made him stay on the stage to emcee. The first topic was Lilo & Stitch. Honestly, they both suck at drawing lol but we voted for Takato's since his Lilo was cuter and because he had the cuter Stitch voice impersonation.

Hiroki then tried to do a Lilo voice and it sounded nothing like Lilo lol He told us to close our eyes before he did it, and I wasn't closing mine so he pointed at me and yelled, “You're not closing your eyes!” Being in the second row and being a head taller than those around me meant I couldn't get away with anything I suppose lol

The second art theme was: TOKUGAWA IEYASU Kazuma kept wandering between them and blowing in their ears (mostly Hiroki) to distract them and mess them up lol. Hiroki won the round because he mimicked an iconic painting of him and actually drew the Tokugawa crest and stuff. Takato's was good too but "looked too much like Nobunaga"

Since they were tied, they had to do rock, paper, scissors to decide who’d have to do the “punishment” but they forced Kazuma to do it with them and then HE WON so he had to say an embarrassing romantic line. A staff member brought out a sheet of paper that had several different ones listed on it so Hiroki and Takato chose one for Kazuma (while giggling the entire time), and they dimmed the stage, gave him a single spotlight, and he had to face us and dramatically say something along the lines of, “I just can’t keep it in anymore. I need you.” type scene. He was soooo embarrassed to do it, especially since he wasn’t supposed to be involved in this segment to begin with but he did it for us~

Then they picked one for Takato because in the end, they ALL played the “punishment” round and they all gave us a dramatic, romantic line. Takato’s was one where he ran from off-stage to the center, tripped and fell over his chair, and had the dramatic, “Wait! Stay by my side!” kind of scene. And made it really dramatic by kicking the chair again toward the end because, “You’re driving me crazy!” Kazuma picked one for Hiroki, and then Hiroki sat on a chair in the spotlight and his line was, “Put your hand over my heart. It’s beating like this because of you. I love you.” AGAIN THE SCREAMS WERE SO LOUD.

That ended the guest corner with Hiroki, and before leaving the stage, Hiroki offered his hand for Takato to shake and then he PULLED HIM IN AND KISSED HIM. Takato tried to turn his face away but like, Hiroki basically smooched him riiiight on the edge of his lips. SHOULD’VE SEEN IT COMING TAKATO, YOU KNOW HOW SMOOCHY HIROKI CAN BE!!!

I’m kind of starting to forget the order of things, but sometime during all this, Takato realized he’d lost track of the time and that he was supposed to broadcast some of the event on his Line Live Channel, so the staff started setting that up, and he and Kazuma came out again to sing Try. And then there was a special video where he announced his first photobook!!! It’ll be released in August around his birthday!!!

Another guest during this segment was a fellow C.I.A. member, Yuushin, who played the guitar for the Try song, and then he and Takato did a duet doing an acoustic cover of a Shiina Ringo song. Again, I really like hearing Takato sing~ I hope he gets to do more musicals (and hopefully I’ll get to see them). Then a final segment where he goes through the audience and we’re allowed to take photos of him (that’s when I took the photos above) as he walks by.

And another high-five send-off~ I told him I’d love to come visit from Seattle again and he gave me an adorable smile with his high-five and said, “Please do!”

I got several packs of random bromide, a Taka-Tomo shirt, and a pamphlet, and fell basically ten times more in love with him. TT ^ TT

#nagata takato #taka-talk #fan event

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itsdanystormborn · 7 years ago

Text

Orient 2 Full Translation.

Orient 2 Spoilers

This is only a fan translation. Don’t forget to support the official releases of Orient, Shinobu Ohtaka and Weekly shounen magazine.

►[Please don’t repost without giving credits. If you use this translation, don’t forget to share the link to this post!]◄

Thank you to @midenm for the preliminary info. You can find the scans in @soreita‘s blog!

Orient 2 : “Malevolent God”

Color Page

The 2nd of this new series! with 50 pages that include color pages!

In the next page there is a special feature article which consists on a fully detailed explanation about the world of “Orient”

Story 2: “The malevolent Gods”

Turn the world upside down !!

Page 79

Check the 2 previous color pages first!!

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Textbox:

9 years ago. Tatsuyama town.

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TN: This is a flashback to Kojiro’s past. It shows us a scene that took placec at School.A little boy is being scolded by a teacher because he forgot his homework.

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Sensei: Very bad, Gorou-kun! You forgot your homework! didn’t you?

Gorou: I’m sorry, Sensei!

Sensei: Go stand in the hallway. You will receive the “Samurai penalty” as punishment!!

---

TN: Gorou stands in the hallway with a katana hanging off his neck and an apron that has “bushi” (Samurai) written over it”

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Gorou: I’m so embarrassed…

Girl: Ew! He’s wearing a Kanata just like the “Samurai”

Boy: HIHIHI!, he is!

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TN: Kids start looking towards Kojirou while they gossip (SFX: chira chira) Kojirou is on his seat, with a real katana chained around his body. What are you doing to my bby you monsters…

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Sensei: All right everyone, don’t look towards Kojiro! It’s time we resume the class! Open your books from the chapter about “*Oda Nobunaga’s misdeeds” ….

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TN: (*Oda Nobunaga is a famous daimyou from the Sengoku era. Please read about him!)

---

Page 80

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TN: Kids keep looking at Kojirou and making fun of him, while he’s looking upset on his seat. He holds the Katana with one hand, while he writes with the other and tries not to look up.

---

Kanemaki Kojirou (6)

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TN: Later, at Kojirou’s house. Kojirou is in the garden, and he’s very upset; he throws the Katana to the ground ( it’s still chained to his body) and then he sits next to it, hiding his face in his arms.

---

Kojirou: This damn thing !!! (TN: The kanji is that from “Katana” but the furigana says ”thing”)

Kojirou: I don’t wanna wear the stupid Katana anymore! Why did I have to come from a “Samurai household” ….?

---

TN: Someone calls Kojirou…

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Person: Kojirou

Page 81

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TN: Kojirou’s dad!! He’s so cute!! Pretty eyebrows and cool scar on his face. He has his Kanata chained around his body too.

He gets closer to Kojirou ( who is crying.. ) and tries to calm him down caressing his head.

---

*Kanemaki Jisai. Kojirou’s Father

(TN: *Kanemaki Jisai is the name of a real person, please read about him)

Jisai: Come here…. I’ll tell you a secret story.

Kojirou: Father…

---

TN: Inside their house, they sit facing each other

---

Jisai: You see…

The “Demons” are monsters. They are not guardian gods at all.

The only warriors who fight them are the “Samurai”

Kojirou: “Samurai” …

Jisai: That’s right… They are *our ancestors. (TN: “yours and mine”)

---

TN: But Kojirou doesn’t look convinced by these words.

---

Kojirou: ….

Jisai: ….

Page 82

Jisai: Kojirou… I know what kind of disgusted looks you receive every day in town…

All because you have inherited my blood…. (TN: because you are my successor)

Jisai: … I’m sorry.

Kojirou: ….. …..

Kojirou: Don’t say that, Father…

Jisai: But I want you to know this… While the adults of this country abandoned their pride and gave up on fighting against the “Demons” …

Jisai: The “Samurai” are the only ones who continue fighting in order to restore the human world….

Jisai: Kojirou…..

You are not scum.

Jisai: You are the descendant of a *brave and highly proud household.

Please don’t forget that. (*TN: Brave/Heroic)

Kojirou: …. ….

Kojirou: Yes Father….

---

TN: And then, Jisai takes the Katana that’s chained around Kojirou.

---

Jisai: And about that….

Kojiro: ?

Page 83

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TN: Jisai pridefully holds the Katana in fron of him while he speaks to Kojiro

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Jisai: A Katana is a Samurai’s “pride” itself.

Jisai: Don’t lose it!　　　

---

TN: And then, Jisai hands the katana back to Kojiro, who accepts it with tears in his eyes.

---

Kojirou’s thoughts: A katana is a Samurai’s pride…

Kojirou’s thoughts: …. Is that how it is?

---

TN: Then, someone interrupts the scene… I wonder who that might be? ;D

---

Musashi: Hey Kojirou! Let’s do some *fencing training!!

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TN: Kojirou looks at Musashi while he tries to hide his tears, cleaning them with his hands. then he starts scolding him for just barging in. Jisai looks very amused!

*Fencing/Swordsmanship

---

Page 84

Kojirou: I’ve told you not to barge in so rudely!

Jisai: HAHAHA! It looks like you’ve recently made a fencing friend !

Kojirou: He’s such a weird guy…

Jisai: What did you tell me his name was?

Kojirou: … … ….

“Musashi”

---

TN: This scene throws us back to the present! The people are really scared of the Oni ( Oni chase them), Musashi is slicing some more Oni in half. Then he jumps on Kojirou’s motorcycle.

---

Page 85

Musashi: Take this!!!

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TN: They run over some Oni and people run away from the mess

---

People: Uahh!

Officer: Our lord, the *God demon, has arrived! Retreat for now!

(TN:Kishin)

Page 86

---

TN: Musashi and Kojirou ride in the motorcycle towards the Kishin. there’s some more oni in their way. Ohhh they are gonna get slain!

---

Text box: 151# kiho school year. Tatsuyama’s mine prospective employees. Entrance ceremony. (TN: Kiho *demon support/ demon protect)

Kojirou: I’m surprised nonetheless!

Musashi: About what, Kojirou!?

Page 87

Kojirou: About the fact that “Demons” were truly monsters! I reached the point where I trusted in the town’s common sense.

Kanemaki Kojirou (15)

Kojirou: They say “Demons are guardian gods”!

Musashi: I’ve believed in your dad’s story all along! He said that “Demons are scoundrel, Samurai are heroes”!!

Musashi (15)

Musashi: I’m so excited!! Now we’ll finally be able to fulfill that vow we made 5 years ago!!

Flashback: When we become adults, let’s become “Samurai”. We’ll form a “*Samurai group” and start a journey to exterminate the demons!

---

TN: *bushidan.

TN: Kojirou doesn’t look so sure..

---

Kojirou: …..

Kojirou: Yeah..

Musashi: We’ll make a name for ourselves in this world with nothing less than our own swords!!

Kojirou: hmm…

So, about being a “Samurai”….

Musashi: “hmm… So about being a Samurai”!? What’s wrong, Kojirou?

Page 88

Kojirou: Well…..

Kojirou: To put it frankly….

Kojirou: I don’t care….

Kojirou: About becoming a “Samurai”

Musashi: …..

Musashi: Huh?

Musashi: Why are you saying this, Kojirou!?

Weren’t you excited too just a moment ago!?

Kojirou: Well, I let myself be carried away in the moment and I ended up saying “Yeah”!

Kojirou: If I think about it well… I’ve thought about wanting to leave this town all along, but…

Kojirou: I’ve forgotten how it felt…. Wanting to become a “Samurai” and exterminate the “Demons” …

Page 89

Musashi: ….

Kojirou: Even if I say “The Samurai” are heroes, I don’t find the idea very appealing. ( TN: “it doesn’t hit home”)

Kojirou: Not even finding success in the world with the katana does…

Kojirou: A Katana is not such a great thing….

Musashi: ….

Musashi: Kojirou…

---

TN: Musashi looks at Kojirou, like waiting for him to say something or understand what he means

---

Musashi: ….

Kojirou:….

---

TN: They look at each other

---

Musashi: Hu-huh?

Kojirou: Wha- What’s with that face?

Musashi: Anyway, we’re already at the summit of the mountain, so let’s beat that “*God demon” (TN:* Kishin)

Kojirou: Did you even listen to what I just said?

Page 90

Kojirou: I said that I don’t care about being a “Samurai” or about the “Demons” anymore!!!

Musashi: It’s all right.

Kojirou: Because you’ll definitely get it when you do it.

Koujiro’s thoughts: I’ll get what?

Koujiro’s thoughts: Why is this guy being so pushy?

---

TN: they reach the summit and…. Is that a chicken-like demon or what? xD

---

Kishin: HOO.!

Page 91

Musashi: Is this thing a “God demon”!?

The “chief” of the demons can’t be this little thing!!

Kojirou: Don’t let your guard down!

Musashi: I know!

---

TN: So, Musashi cuts the chicken kishin in half

---

Page 92

Kojirou: Are you done? Then, let’s leave town right away….

Musashi: Noo! It’s not dead yet!!

---

TN: It’s mutating!

---

Page 93

Musashi: It revived!? What do we have to do to beat a “God demon”?

---

TN: Officers come in with a lot of metal to feed the kishin. Carriage says “offerings”

---

Officers: Our Lord, God Demon!!

Musashi&Kojirou: ..!?

Officer: Please enjoy these metals that we present you as an offer!

---

TN: The chicken kishin eats the metal. And Kojirou points at something

---

Musashi: What’s that? That thing is eating the metal….

Kojirou: LOOK!!

Page 94 and 95

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TN: …. HOLY KISHIN! the chicken demon evolved into…. A super thing!

---

Musashi& Kojiro: A… AHH…!!!

Page 96&97

Page 98

KISHIN (God Demon) “ENGOKUTENGU” (TN: Which would be something like “hellfire goblin”)

Musashi&Kojirou: It’s… It’s huge!!!

Page 99

---

TN: So, the thing crushes its foot on the ground and everything flies away. It does crazy and starts to destroy everything. Miners run away from the mess

---

Page 100

White hair boy: Wha….

Dark hair boy: Wha…

White hair boy: What is this monster!!?

Page 101

Miners: Hii…

Lord, God Demon… Please calm down...

Officer: Oh! Lord, God Demon… After 5 years you’ve revealed us your true form...!!

---

TN: Meanwhile Musashi is unconscious on the floor from when the Kishin went crazy and started to destroy everything, and Kojirou has to face this by himself. He stands up, supporting himself with his katana.

---

Kojirou: T….

This….

Page 102

Kojirou: Is this… a “God Demon”?!!

Kojirou’s thoughts: It’s too big, fighting him is out of question! Either way, better to retreat for now.

---

TN: But Kojiro realizes Musashi is still unconscious. Then he looks back at the kishin and holds his katana in position.

---

Kojiro: Musashi….

---

TN: But the kishin is standing right in front of them! He opens his mouth ready to… eat them?

---

Kojirou: will we be eaten!?

Page 103

---

TN: But the kishin takes him by the katana, with his claws!!! And slowly lifts him.

---

Kojirou: !? This thing wants my Katana!?

Some guy: IDIOT! The katana is made of metal too, so he’ll eat it! Throw away that Kanata as fast as you can!!

Kojirou’s thougths: Did he say I should throw away…..

Kojirou’s thougths: My katana…?

---

Page 104

---

TN: BUT instead of doing that, Kojiro tries to free himself and his katana of the kishin’s gold, pulling it towards himself with strength!

---

The guy from before: huh!?

Same guy: That guy…

Why is that katana so important to him!?

Another guy next to him: who knows… I can’t understand what this Samurai guy is thinking!

---

TN: Meanwhile. With Musashi and the 2 boys that I wish had a name so I could stop writing dark and white hair every time….

---

Both boys: Are you all right? Musashi!?

Musashi: *looks up* Ko.. Kojirou…

Page 105

---

TN: Musashi looks at Kojirou struggling to free his katana out of the kishin’s hold!. Meanwhile, Kojirou has an internal monologue.

---

Kojirou: Throw away my katana….!?

Certainly… It’s this thing’s fault that I’ve received disgusted looks since long ago…!!

Flashback:

Officer: Aki’s military laws, article 9, clause 3!

In order to identificate them, the people who belong to “Samurai households”, will be forced to carry their katana!

(TN: “Akishohatto”. Aki: Hiroshima’s former name and the rest “shohatto” makes reference to “bukeshohato” which are a series of laws/ regulations for warrior (samurai) households)

Officer: “Samurai households” Are the great sinners of the Sengoku era.

Girl: really!

Page 106

More flashbacks: TN: People gossip about Kojirou.

People: A child of a “Samurai household”…

People: A “Samurai” household offspring!

Kojirou’s thoughts: Even so…

Kojirou’s thougths: This is my father’s keepsake.

Kojirou’s thoughts: this Katana is with me in every single one of my happy memories…

--- Flashbacks: Jisai watching Musashi and Kojirou play

Musashi: Kojirou! Let’s do some fencing training!

Kojirou: Father! Today I did 100 practice swings and 100 counterattacks!

Musashi: I did 10 more than him!

Kojirou: And then, I did 10 more than him!!

Page 107

More flashbacks: Kojirou and Jisai training.

Kojirou: 1!, 2!, 3!, 4!

Kojirou: Father… Why when I swing the katana, I feel like clinging tightly to it?

Jisai: That’s due to the “Samurai” warrior blood that flows through your body…

Page 108

Kojirou: Even if I lose this… I won’t die.

But, I feel like i’ll end up loosing something too precious to me...!!

Flashback- Jisai: “A Katana is a Samurai’s pride itself, don’t lose it!”

Kojirou: That’s why…

I’ll never let it go!!!

Page 109:

Kojirou: Give it back…

Page 110:

Kojirou: It’s mine…!

TN: But the kishin is finally able to take the katana off kojiro’s hands and it’s about to eat it!

Page 111

TN: And the kishin eats it…

People: …. ….

Guy: Oh boy! He ate it…

White hair boy: well… Never mind! To lose 1 Katana or 2 it’s nothing…

Kojirou: …..

TN: But Kojirou is in despair ☹

Kojirou: Damn it…!

Page 112

TN: But then, Musashi runs towards the kishin with the pickaxe katana ready to attack.

White hair boy: Musashi!? What is that guy planning to do!?

Dark Hair boy: He’s trying to take that “God Demon” by himself!? There’s no way he can match it, he’ll die!!

Page 113

TN: Musashi climbs the kishin. Stands on its… stomach?

---

Musashi: It’s here inside, huh?

White hair boy: He’s standing over the God Demon’s stomach…!?

Kojirou: !

Kojirou: No way he’ll….

Page 144

TN: Musashi does his move…

---

Page 115

TN: The kishin tries to fight back.. but Musashi avoids the hit on time.

---

Officer: HAHAHA!! It’s heaven’s punishment! That’s what you get for annoying our lord, the God Demon, while he eats his meal!

Musashi: … “Our lord, The God Demon”, huh ?

Musashi: … That Katana belongs to Kojirou…!

Page 116

Musashi: watch me smash your dirty guts!!!

Page 117

TN: Wow... he landed a big hit, the stomach sort of cracks…! Kojirou is shook too haha. The kishin screams!

---

White hair boy: Is the “God Demon” screaming!?

Kojirou: …. Musashi …

Page 118

TN: Musashi keeps landing blows on the kishin’s stomach.

---

Officer: What should we do? This is becoming dangerous for our lord, the God Demon!!

Officer 2: It’s all right, there’s no way that guy has the strength to break him by himself!

TN: Then the kishin gets really mad and tries to smash Musashi. But he ends up punching himself xD

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Officer: Oh… Our lord, God Demon, you must calm down your anger…. You are punching your own body..!!!

Page 119

TN: Musashi keeps hitting until its stomach breaks. Ew… guts! Musashi goes to take a swim inside the kishin’s gusts and his friends get worried.

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White&dark hair boy: Musashi!!!

White hair boy: is… Is he dead…!!?

Kojirou: Musashi…

TN: But then there’s a little movement among the liquid insides of the kishin.

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Page 120&121

TN: Musashi lives and he has Kojirou’s katana!

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Page 122

TN: RIP Kishin. Musashi walks towards his friends with the katana in hand. Then he stands in front of Kojirou.

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Kojirou: ….

Musashi: Here

Musashi: You dropped this!

TN: Then he hands it to Kojirou, who gets sentimental.

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Kojirou: …

Page 123

Kojirou: Tha- Thank you

Kojirou: This is…. super important …

Musashi: I know! It’s something precious to you!

Musashi: Don’t lose it!

TN: So… right in the kokoro? Musashi repeats Jisai’s words from the past…

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Kojirou: !!

Kojirou: ah!!

Flashback- Jisai: Kojirou…

You are not scum

You are the descendant of a brave and highly proud family.

And, about this…

Page 124

Flashback- Jisai: A Katana is a Samurai’s “pride” itself…. Don’t lose it!

Kojirou: …!

Flashback: Jisai&Kojirou

Kojirou: Father… Why when I swing the katana, I feel like clinging tightly to it?

Jisai: That’s due to the “Samurai “warrior blood that flows through your body…

Kojirou’s thoughs: I see…!

Kojirou’s thoughts: My precious possession… Since I was born I’ve had this proud feeling

This is something I don’t want to lose!

I didn’t notice it myself but…

Flashback to the beginning of the chap: Musashi&Kojirou

Kojirou: I said I don’t care about being a “Samurai” anymore!

Musashi: It’s all right! You’ll definitely get it when you do it!

Page 125

Kojirou’s thoughts: This guy knew, huh….

Musashi: Phew, I’m so glad!

Page 126

TN: Dead kishin lies dead there…

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Musashi: This guy’s…. not moving huh…. It means we won!?

Kojirou: Let’s get out of this town before we get into trouble….

Musashi: Yeah! By the way, what is this weird horse-like thing!?

Kojirou: No idea! It was my father’s…. I wonder what could it be?

TN: OHHHH YES! In that moment, more “weird horses” ( lol) approach the scene! It’s seems like a bushidan ( samurai group) will make their entrance!

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Narration: A warrior group riding metal horses approaches! The rebelion is unavoidable!!

Continues on next issue: “ Bushidan ( Samurai group) raid”

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Thanks for reading!

#Orient Manga #Orient Manga 2 #Orient Manga 02 #Orient Manga spoilers #Orient Spoilers #Orient #MyOrientTranslation #Musashi #Kanemaki Kojiro #Kanemaki Kojirou #Kanemaki Jisai

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blankie-greenie-anon · 7 years ago

Text

Notable Stuff from Boueibu HAPPY KISS ep 2

Today, I watched this episode in my college. I viewed it, not on my laptop nor any android device. I turned on the projector in my classroom and played the episode movie-style. This will be my routine every Monday morning starting now.

I was correct. They weren’t using any censorship methods to hide their identities. Everyone knows everybody and there are no secrets.

This episode is more focused on the Student Council, so it’s only natural that they cut down the Defense Club’s screen-time. The following episodes will likely balance between the two groups now that both have been formally introduced.

Furanui actually explained the situation to the Student Council whereas the Defense Club are totally dumbfounded by the whole ‘fight for the throne’ thing going between Furanui and Karls.

Nanao seemed interested about Furanui’s motives at the beginning, but Furanui turned out to be the type to give overly-long sermons that bore everyone to death that even Nanao didn’t want to listen anymore.

Oddly enough, when the boys changed out of their costumes while Furanui explained everything, they were back in their school uniforms, even though they were originally in towels. The only other way they could have regained their clothes is if one of them ran back to the bathhouse and brought the clothes to the others, or Karls used teleportation magic to bring their clothes to them as an apology for exposing their naked bodies to the cold and also to avoid being skinned into a pelt.

Ichirou is acquainted with Martha, since he speaks quite familiarly with him. It’s probably because they’re the same class. Ichirou also warned Martha that he could slip and fall, which means he might see Martha as a friend, even though Martha easily treats him like a pest.

The current King of Honyala Land is a platypus, and Minister Wao is a lemur. Seeing as there is no queen, I’m taking a guess that the King gave birth to the princes themselves. Platypi lay eggs, so it sounds possible.

Minister Wao has yet to show himself in the human realm.

The King tends to end his sentences with ‘kamo’.

Tawarayama became the headmaster of Binan High. He was the most recent to retire since his photo is at the end, or he could be the current one.

In the Pretty Boy Contest poster, the guy in the center looked like Kakeru Kazami from Shounen Hollywood.

The first thing Furanui did upon entering the human realm was to eat a grasshopper, which he found delicious.

There were three things Furanui hated in this world: indolence, affectation, and deceit. He finished off his spiel about the world being to lazy with “Rise, Furanui! Strive, Furanui!”

Furanui quickly rushed to Kyoutarou when he thought he was dead, either out of worry or curiosity. He scurried down the wall on all fours. When he found out Kyoutarou was just sleeping, Furanui casually says he could slit his throat.

Kyoutarou has an aura of laziness that incapacitates any animal in vicinity, lulling them into a slumber with him. It is so powerful, not even Furanui can resist.

There’s some sort of connection between Kyoutarou and Ata. Kyoutarou had no qualms referring to Ata by his first name, and while Ata is angered by Kyoutarou’s lazy attitude, he never ordered him to call him ‘President’. Ryouma seems to know Ata, too, enough to use his first name.

Kyoutarou doesn’t let Ata call himself stupid, whether he’s being sarcastic or not. He keeps reminding him that he’s smart.

Ata tried to be insulting to Kyoutarou, probably to get the latter mad and attempt to prove himself, except that Kyoutarou already knew he’s a lazy good-for-nothing and has no need to state otherwise.

Ata has some sort of grudge about Kyoutarou doing something to him, but it doesn’t seem like it is because Kyoutarou left him behind or anything since they’re still interacting like normal. It sounds more like he was frustrated by his behavior. It’s possible that Ata eventually became sick of Kyoutarou’s character and wanted him to change, except Kyoutarou didn’t want to change and there wasn’t anything Ata could do about that, or at some point in the past, Ata was in trouble and Kyoutarou did nothing, which the former attributes to the latter’s sloth. This would explain Ata’s present attitude towards indolence.

Furanui is quite haughty. He believes Ata is perfect to be his knight, but considers him a lower being.

Furanui has been mistaken for a dog, a chihuahua, and a fox.

Ata was hardly frightened by Furanui, only shocked when he displayed magic. In fact, a ‘talking chihuahua’ didn’t seem like anything special to him.

Martha was enamored by Furanui’s adorable animal form at the beginning and tried to take a selfie with him, until Furanui snapped and kicked his face in the same way Hercules punched Hades.

For someone who likes baking treats, being fat is considered a terrible thing in Martha’s vocabulary.

In comparison, the Student Council actually had a choice to join. I mean, Ata was threatened, but that was mostly due to his insolence and he willingly consented afterwards. On the other hand, Taiju just went along with it because of Ata, and Martha, unsure at first, was ready to join once Furanui presented himself more grandly. Karls forced the Defense Club into becoming the Happy Kiss, but Furanui won the Student Council’s loyalty through charisma alone, minus Taiju who only participated because of Ata.

When Furanui changed to his human form, he did a somersault and showed off his butt.

It’s clear that the Defense Club could care less about the Edelstein’s world domination plan because, let’s face it, being under the Edelstein’s control could be no more different than having the Student Council run the school like normal, Taiju did very little to threaten them, and their idea of conquering Earth involves making weird monsters with weird powers that do weird things.

Kiyara Bentaro is a pun on Chara Bento.

In this episode, the type of fear being addressed is the fear of not getting to eat the food you love.

The monsters seem to have a theme of “If I can’t have this, neither can you!” and “We shall become the same!”

Despite already having the Happybraces, the boys are still required to kiss Karls’s hand before transforming. In this episode, they transformed for the a similar reason as the Battle Lovers during the Melon Monster episode. For the former, it was to increase their endurance against the monster’s attacks. For the latter, it was to increase their mountain-hiking abilities.

The Cutesy Lunch Monster would turn its victims into boxed lunches using a beam cannon. Strangely, his beam didn’t affect the Defence Club at all, besides hurting them physically to the point that Kyoutarou almost died. Maybe being Karls’s Knights provides some protection against the monsters created by Furanui’s Knights, as seen as Taishi didn’t go “Blorf!” when he was hit by the Voice-Changing Monster’s beam.

Ryouma always try to talk to the monsters, which usually seems to be the best option since they always listen to him. The Voice-Changing Monster easily explained his motive when asked, and the Cutesy Lunch Monster was almost convinced to step back when Ryouma told him his mother worked hard to make him his food.

Taiju is probably the cruelest character in the show, besides Kyoutarou. Even if it was to strengthen the monster, there was visible enjoyment when he revealed the soul-crushing truth to the monster. Taiju isn’t good at making scary threats like Kyoutarou, but he is very capable of dealing an emotional blow on people.

The Cutesy Lunch Monster’s mother makes cute bentos to show off online, and the monster interprets this as his mother only caring for her ego instead of her child’s welfare.

Actually, no one even made fun of the student for having a cute-looking bento. In fact, one of them was amazed.

This marks the first time a monster in the Boueibu series has ever taken a second form.

Ichirou probably watches a lot of anime. That’s why he’s so insistent that Kyoutarou, who had the color red, should act like a proper protagonist.

Kyoutarou never wanted to be a main character. Rather, he would be happier being a background character who is partly in the scene.

It wasn’t exactly a pep talk, but more of an advice when Kyoutarou told the student who was turned into a monster to just go make his own lunches if he doesn’t like his mother’s.

Additionally, the students, after reverting from monster form, actually snapped out of the trance induced by the finishing move.

As of now, Furanui has displayed the power to transform into a human, manipulate nature to do his bidding, and like Karls, lend his power to other humans and fly. Unlike Karls, he doesn’t need to blow kisses each time casts a spell, and simply summons some circles on the spot from his paws.

Karls’s also shows a new power, and that is to erase the memories of bystanders. Seeing as Furanui didn’t do that himself, it could mean either he didn’t have the power or he wants people to remember the horrible events which would strike fear in their souls.

Kyoutarou often falls asleep in hot baths and there’s only Ryouma to prevent him from drowning.

Karls loves hot baths, which seems to be something he cannot experience back in Honyala Land.

The first-years don’t understand why the club goes for group baths all the time. Ryouma simply answered, “It’s an old habit.” They don’t call it tradition, meaning it might be unrelated to the previous Defense Club, at least not directly.

When the shooting star appeared, Ryouma’s voice echoed when he called Kyoutarou’s name.

It might not seem like it, but the Defense Club literally fought two monsters in the span of a single day.

#BGA blabs #Boueibu Happy Kiss #Boueibu HK #The HAPPY KISS list #Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu HAPPY KISS

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