#did yuusha do it on purpose?

[crystallizsch]

💜: oops. i dont think this is where the christmas lights were supposed to go, vice housewarden ~

🐍: you had a single job, prefect. how you managed to get us this tangled is beyond me.

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Nov 5, 2022)

I gotta start putting the year in these things because I've been on Tumblr for too fricking long.

Anyways, I've been getting back into anime which is why my doctor is very concerned (I'm not even joking about that one).

These sequels are good (obviously)

Pop Team Epic

Honestly, the last few episodes have been mediocre. For one, I expected more out of Asanuma and Toyonaga's bit. Second, the writing, like all comedies, is extremely hit or miss. Pop Team Epic in particular is niche to many memes that people haven't even heard of. I'm watching it for the seiyuu and the bad jokes. Yuuma and Enoki's 3B part is what puts it under the "Yeah, I'll keep watching this" category.

Spy x Family Season 2

Yeah, it's good. Wholesome stuff right here. This is the type of content that's okay to put on your search history. Yor is also one of the few characters that Shonen Jump can sexualize without being put on a watch list. Not that they need to. We all show up for Anya.

Mairimashita Iruma-kun Season 2

My only complaint is that there isn't enough Clara antics. I have already written a post about this show. It's good. Go watch it.

Mob Psycho 100 Season 3

Takahiro Sakurai scandal? What is a "Takahiro Sakurai scandal"? For real, that scandal did kind of rock my enjoyment of the show, and I really wouldn't want Reigen to be played by anyone else, but that's up to the people involved with the show. Either way, this season has already been recorded. I just don't see how they can top that previous season with Reigen's revelation arc. Just remember kids, separate the artist from their work. Sakurai is just a small part of what makes Mob Psycho 100 good. There's also some controversy with the dub cast too, so don't think that watching dub will protect you from that.

Recently finished

Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de

The fanservice interferes with this show. Honestly, I've been watching anime for quite a while, and even this show really sticks out for some reason. Besides that, it's a cute love story that doesn't diverge too much from the usual "Romeo and Juliet" type fare.

I was really surprised about some of the casting decisions for this anime, but I think it worked out for the most part. I don't think I've seen Yuusuke Kobayashi play a meathead before.

Heaven's Design Team

Okay, this is the one show where it genuinely doesn't matter that the cast is never developed because it isn't that type of show. It's ecology mixed with creationism, and even though you'd think those two would never mix, it leads to an almost theistic brand of evolution, and I think that's okay. Just enjoy it for what it is. I watched it for the seiyuu who made the show fun. It's a nice watch, but I can't say it's mindless because you do actually need to pay attention sometimes.

Also, I accidentally watched this out-loud on a VC and still cringe every time I remember that. It was during one particular scene too. Ouch.

Shinchou Yuusha

I pretty much watched this for the voice actors. For one, Aki Toyosaki was really funny in the clips I've seen. Second, I got it spoiled for me and wanted to see the build-up for said spoiler. It was alright. Not a complete waste of time, but it still wasted time if you get what I mean (I watched it on 1.5 speed). I should've been productive. I feel like some of this stuff could've actually been abridged. Besides the two main characters and a few gag characters, the cast is extremely forgettable. It's almost like they made them forgettable on purpose. The fanservice interfered with the show a lot. I could not sit a minute without having female MC's boobs hanging out.

Romantic Killer

Yo, I made a post for all the reasons you should go watch this show. You should go do that. Quit reading this and go watch it. It's good. I like it. Makes the little dino in my brain boogey.

(also a comment on that gif: If this was your normal average harem with a male protagonist, MC would've definitely accidentally groped someone. Anzu never fall on their ball sack. I appreciate that it just stops with a kabedon and her accidentally stomping the crap out of him)

On-going

Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita

I just realized that I may have watched too many anime with Yuuichirou Umehara as the lead, and the funniest part is that all of the three characters in the past three anime I've mentioned have the exact same voice. It wasn't a whole "voice actors have such range" kind of thing. Umehara does have range, but I swear the past three entries have had him to do the exact same or extremely similar voices (closer to his natural voice). He was also in Heaven's Design Team where he did give the character a different voice. So yeah, he's been in four of the anime I've watched lately, and I think it was done by choice? I don't know. He happened to align with a lot of my stuff on my "watch later" list. Meanwhile, Rie Takahashi has given such range as Anzu and the MC of this anime. Man, I have slept on how good she is.

Anyways, this anime is alright. Honestly, go read the manga which covers the first four episodes. From episode five on, the anime goes at a snail's pace compared to the first four episodes which adapted at light speed. Bro, choose your pace then STICK WITH THE PACE YOU CHOSE.

Chainsaw Man

You know, I thought this while reading the first few chapters, but man, it feels both refreshing and insulting to have a straight-forward pervert as the protagonist. Thanks for being honest with us and what you want to project, but man, I am not part of the crowd that would relate to this (asexual). It beats all of those "I'm a good guy who just happens to grope women in my spare time" MCs, but man, how am I supposed to get behind Denji as a main character? Also, screw those people who dislike the casting. I strongly like this cast. Tomori deserves support and so does that trombonist playing Denji. Also, RIP to all of them peeps who are falling for the Makima x Denji stuff. We all know how that's gonna turn out given the tone of the show... and the manga readers screaming spoilers at us from 100 kilometres away.

[smokeybrand]

This is the Good Life

I read a ton of manga. I find the content coming out of Japan to be far more genuine and creative than the sh*tshow comic industry we have here in the states. I’m not saying there isn’t good content to be found in the massive annals of Marvel and DC, i am in particular love with whatever the f*ck is going on with the X-titles right now, but that is the exception, not the rule. Japan is different. Even the most blatant shill of a cash-in has a unique spin to it. When the moe boom happened and we were inundated with slice of life fodder for a decades, shows like Higurashi, Toradora, Haruhi, Lucky Star, and basically anything out of Kyoto animation, were absolute masterpieces. Each tells a distinct story, adapting that cutesy art style to their respective strengths, and it worked beautifully. The homogeneity of formulaic content here in the US, isn’t really a concern overseas and that is a wonderful thing. It makes for amazing storytelling and a creativity freedom, even when awash in trend or fad. I say all of this to preface the fact that Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is chef kiss levels of shine, even if it is a manga staunchly entrenched in the grating isekai fad.

Now, i say “grating” in the glib sense because i genuinely love the isekai genre. I have for decades, going back to Escaflowne, El Hazard, .Hack, and Rayearth. What i think most people are frustrated with, is the OP protagonist in these stories. You can only identify with some, overwhelming, power fantasy, so many times going into these tales. How do you frame that narrative? how do you keep it compelling? You don’t. Entries like Overlord and Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken do a great job avoiding that stagnation by building out the world around their ridiculously plot-armored mains but that doesn’t work all of the time. If you want a character driven narrative, you have to build great characters. You have to make your principal cast affable, flawed, and fun. I think that’s the strength in Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life. You almost immediately fall in love with the cast you’re going to sped all of your time with and that’s absolutely necessary because this story is as much about the world building as it is about the main cast, themselves.

Slow Life follows Eizo Tanya, who is hit by a truck in the process of saving a cat, who turned out to be an inter-dimensional god or something. Since the Kitty deity f*cked up and was almost “killed’, causing Eizo’s death in turn, it offers to reincarnate him into a brand new world with a mad overpowered cheat skill. Eizo gives it a thought and chooses - blacksmithing! You see, Eizo was a salaryman, bitterly unhappy with his life in the old times. He wanted, more than anything, to be able to work with his hands in the new world so, instead of asking for he power to be a Hero or some vicious Demon Lord, he just wanted the ability to make dope sh*t in the woods. Kitty Deity is a little surprised but grants Eizo his wish and, boom! We have the foundation for a pretty delightful romp. Stuff happens, Eizo gets a tiger wife and a dwarf apprentice. His craftsmanship is the best in the world and his tale toward legendary status begins.

The simplicity of this narrative is one that has a level of accessibility not found in most isekai. The simple desire of a man, overworked and looking to be fulfilled, to find value, in what he does with his life, really resonates with cats like me who have been in the workforce for decades. I left my job a year ago to pursue my dream of crating so i identify with Eizo’s passion to be more than just a cg in a machine. More than that, i love the way he is written. Eizo feels real, like a proper person lost in a world of fantasy and magic. The supporting cast is also amazing and decently developed. I immediately fell in love with tiger waifu, Samia. She is capable, tenacious, curious, and f*cking adorable. There isn’t a ton of groundwork about her past being laid but i have a feeling we’ll definitely get into that as the narrative develops and i can’t wait to see where that leads. Newcomer to the story is the dwarf apprentice, Riku Moritz. We haven’t had a great deal of time with her so far, but she comes across as a studious, knowledgeable, junior who yearns to be the best at her craft. She reminds me of Miles Morales from Into the Spider-Verse, to Eizo’s Peter B. Parker and i adore that type of dynamic. We are only a handful of chapters in, but this story seems like it has legs and i look forward to where it goes in the future. I’d say it’s a slow burn, but it really isn’t.

I was hooked from chapter one and a lot of that, aside from the great writing and developing character work, stems from the artwork. My, goodness, is Slow Life gorgeous! There is a purposeful elegance to how these lines and strokes come together. The line work is clean and precise, granting each panel thjust the right amount of detail hile staying true to the artist's personal vision. It's actually very refreshing to see. The style is very distinct and carries it's own, unique hallmarks, similar to Toriyama or Oda, but slightly more relaistic than those. I am absolutely in love with it. Like, i follow a few trash rags because the art is dope and immediately hooked me. Isekai Meikyuu de Dorei Harem Wo, Gunbured X Sisters, or Kouya Ni Kemono Doukokusu immediately come to mind, all decent in their own right, but it’s very obvious the strength of these entries lies in the art. True to form, it took a while for me to get into their respective narratives and, in all honesty, they’ve gotten pretty good but those first few chapters were a bit rocky. The art kept me coming back and now, these three are some of my favorite titles to read. Slow Life did not have that issue. The art immediately took my breath away. It felt like cracking open Tsugumomo, BLEACH, Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life, Gleipnir, Meikyuu Black Company, or Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure. That’s a lot of titles but i am a slut for great, unique, artwork and these entries hit my sweet spot immediately. I’m just lucky that the narrative accompanying them was enough to do the linework justice because it would have been a shame to abandon these titles over sheer ugliness. Slow life definitely dodged that bullet. It is, without hyperbole, some of the best looking manga I've seen in years.

Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is absolutely amazing. It’s an easy read filled with exceptional art, deft character work, and a world that is both compelling and growing steadily. Eizo is a great protagonist, easily to identify with and none of the edgelord OP, baggage most Isekai protags tend to have. Samia is a delightful love interests who carries a quiet strength and enjoyable naivety, which immediately endears and Riku is just plain hilarious. This laid back narrative of a smith who just wants to make dope sh*t, while being dope to his tiger wife and faithful apprentice is an distinct palate cleanser in a world of power fantasy saturated, isekai, trash. I love this book and feel like more people should have eyes on it so, you know, got put your eyes on it. You won’t be disappointed. Also, all the other titles i specifically mentioned. They’re worth a gander, too, especially Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure and Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life. Them sh*ts is just plain lovable and have two more of these objectively bias essays forthcoming. But that’s for later, for now, go read all of Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life, right now! Is totally worth! Plus, Samia is f*cking adorable, man. Seriously, tiger waifu is best girl!

[beardycarrot]

Between Honzuki no Gekokujou and Otome Game no Hametsu Flag, I’m seeing something that I would love to become a new trend in isekai anime: forgetting your past life for a few years.

Isekai anime has been popular for the last few years because of how easy the storytelling is, even with series as short as twelve episodes. In a fantasy setting, the author can do pretty much whatever they want, and by making the protagonist someone magically transported from Earth, you instantly have a viewpoint character the audience can relate to, while also warranting expository dialogue from other characters since they’re unfamiliar with the world.

This can be awkward, though. In Tate no Yuusha, the protagonist being from another world is a well-known fact... but this is in the minority. For some reason, almost all modern isekai stories have the protagonist hiding the fact that they’re from another world, so you get things like the guy in Isekai wa Smartphone needing the basics of magic explained to him, despite the fact that he has tremendous magical power. That leads into the issue of how they arrive in the new world.

In older isekai series like Rayearth and Digimon Adventure, the protagonists’ motivation was always to find a way back home. In modern isekai, you have editors who wants to keep a story going for as long as possible and more of a focus on the characters enjoying their time in the world they find themselves in, so to remove that motivation for going back home, the solution is usually having the character die on Earth and reincarnate in the new world. There are exceptions, usually the characters being magically summoned for some purpose or being transported through mysterious means that are never explained (lookin’ at you, Death March), but reincarnation is far more common. The problem with this is the aforementioned Isekai wa Smartphone. That’s not the most serious take on the genre, but even still, having the protagonist “reincarnate” by just arriving in the new world, exactly as they are... and maybe even carrying their smartphone, is kinda dumb.

So, we arrive at literally being reborn in a new world while retaining memories. This also has its own problems, of course. Isn’t it kind of weird to have the mind of an adult in the body of a baby? Yes, it is. Isn’t it kinda implausible that the protagonist would have the same personality they did after living through a second childhood? Also yes. Kenja no Mago and Youjo Senki both went with this angle, and while the former can just be ignored as the over-the-top unrealistic male power fantasy that it is, the latter does have a few issues that crop up.

While it isn’t addressed in the Youjo Senki anime, the second and third light novels feature a lot of the protagonist thinking about Earth history, having been reincarnated in an alternate reality Earth undergoing its first world war. For the record, while this guy has an incredibly sharp mind, he isn’t known to have been any kind of history buff, or interested in war at all. He’s shown to be older than thirty, so history class should be a fairly distant memory at that point... and on top of that, he lives in the new world for nine years before getting involved in the war. Even if we assume the minimum time since he graduated from college and that he was taking history notes right up until the end for whatever reason, that’s still fifteen years. By the time of the second and third books, when he’s really putting knowledge of Earth warfare to use, it’s seventeen! That is wholly unrealistic, to the point of distraction for a pedant like me.

Which finally, finally brings us to the Potential Future Trend that I mentioned at the top of this post: dying, being reincarnated in a new world, and only regaining your memories after a set period of time. In both of the aforementioned series, the protagonist lives their life in a new world with no memory of who they used to be until something (a magical fever and a completely ordinary bump to the head, respectively) causes them to remember. This gives them a family and basic understanding of the world, but they regained their memories at an age where it’s not unusual that some things have to be explained to them. This also allows them to do the “isekai jump” into the new world with their personalities intact, without being a random person inserted into the world who wasn’t there before.

It’s not a perfect solution, of course, but in the future I’d love to see more things like this, with actual thought put into the mechanical and narrative sides.

[smokeybrandreviews]

This is the Good Life

I read a ton of manga. I find the content coming out of Japan to be far more genuine and creative than the sh*tshow comic industry we have here in the states. I’m not saying there isn’t good content to be found in the massive annals of Marvel and DC, i am in particular love with whatever the f*ck is going on with the X-titles right now, but that is the exception, not the rule. Japan is different. Even the most blatant shill of a cash-in has a unique spin to it. When the moe boom happened and we were inundated with slice of life fodder for a decades, shows like Higurashi, Toradora, Haruhi, Lucky Star, and basically anything out of Kyoto animation, were absolute masterpieces. Each tells a distinct story, adapting that cutesy art style to their respective strengths, and it worked beautifully. The homogeneity of formulaic content here in the US, isn’t really a concern overseas and that is a wonderful thing. It makes for amazing storytelling and a creativity freedom, even when awash in trend or fad. I say all of this to preface the fact that Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is chef kiss levels of shine, even if it is a manga staunchly entrenched in the grating isekai fad.

Now, i say “grating” in the glib sense because i genuinely love the isekai genre. I have for decades, going back to Escaflowne, El Hazard, .Hack, and Rayearth. What i think most people are frustrated with, is the OP protagonist in these stories. You can only identify with some, overwhelming, power fantasy, so many times going into these tales. How do you frame that narrative? how do you keep it compelling? You don’t. Entries like Overlord and Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken do a great job avoiding that stagnation by building out the world around their ridiculously plot-armored mains but that doesn’t work all of the time. If you want a character driven narrative, you have to build great characters. You have to make your principal cast affable, flawed, and fun. I think that’s the strength in Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life. You almost immediately fall in love with the cast you’re going to sped all of your time with and that’s absolutely necessary because this story is as much about the world building as it is about the main cast, themselves.

Slow Life follows Eizo Tanya, who is hit by a truck in the process of saving a cat, who turned out to be an inter-dimensional god or something. Since the Kitty deity f*cked up and was almost “killed’, causing Eizo’s death in turn, it offers to reincarnate him into a brand new world with a mad overpowered cheat skill. Eizo gives it a thought and chooses - blacksmithing! You see, Eizo was a salaryman, bitterly unhappy with his life in the old times. He wanted, more than anything, to be able to work with his hands in the new world so, instead of asking for he power to be a Hero or some vicious Demon Lord, he just wanted the ability to make dope sh*t in the woods. Kitty Deity is a little surprised but grants Eizo his wish and, boom! We have the foundation for a pretty delightful romp. Stuff happens, Eizo gets a tiger wife and a dwarf apprentice. His craftsmanship is the best in the world and his tale toward legendary status begins.

The simplicity of this narrative is one that has a level of accessibility not found in most isekai. The simple desire of a man, overworked and looking to be fulfilled, to find value, in what he does with his life, really resonates with cats like me who have been in the workforce for decades. I left my job a year ago to pursue my dream of crating so i identify with Eizo’s passion to be more than just a cg in a machine. More than that, i love the way he is written. Eizo feels real, like a proper person lost in a world of fantasy and magic. The supporting cast is also amazing and decently developed. I immediately fell in love with tiger waifu, Samia. She is capable, tenacious, curious, and f*cking adorable. There isn’t a ton of groundwork about her past being laid but i have a feeling we’ll definitely get into that as the narrative develops and i can’t wait to see where that leads. Newcomer to the story is the dwarf apprentice, Riku Moritz. We haven’t had a great deal of time with her so far, but she comes across as a studious, knowledgeable, junior who yearns to be the best at her craft. She reminds me of Miles Morales from Into the Spider-Verse, to Eizo’s Peter B. Parker and i adore that type of dynamic. We are only a handful of chapters in, but this story seems like it has legs and i look forward to where it goes in the future. I’d say it’s a slow burn, but it really isn’t.

I was hooked from chapter one and a lot of that, aside from the great writing and developing character work, stems from the artwork. My, goodness, is Slow Life gorgeous! There is a purposeful elegance to how these lines and strokes come together. The line work is clean and precise, granting each panel thjust the right amount of detail hile staying true to the artist's personal vision. It's actually very refreshing to see. The style is very distinct and carries it's own, unique hallmarks, similar to Toriyama or Oda, but slightly more relaistic than those. I am absolutely in love with it. Like, i follow a few trash rags because the art is dope and immediately hooked me. Isekai Meikyuu de Dorei Harem Wo, Gunbured X Sisters, or Kouya Ni Kemono Doukokusu immediately come to mind, all decent in their own right, but it’s very obvious the strength of these entries lies in the art. True to form, it took a while for me to get into their respective narratives and, in all honesty, they’ve gotten pretty good but those first few chapters were a bit rocky. The art kept me coming back and now, these three are some of my favorite titles to read. Slow Life did not have that issue. The art immediately took my breath away. It felt like cracking open Tsugumomo, BLEACH, Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life, Gleipnir, Meikyuu Black Company, or Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure. That’s a lot of titles but i am a slut for great, unique, artwork and these entries hit my sweet spot immediately. I’m just lucky that the narrative accompanying them was enough to do the linework justice because it would have been a shame to abandon these titles over sheer ugliness. Slow life definitely dodged that bullet. It is, without hyperbole, some of the best looking manga I've seen in years.

Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is absolutely amazing. It’s an easy read filled with exceptional art, deft character work, and a world that is both compelling and growing steadily. Eizo is a great protagonist, easily to identify with and none of the edgelord OP, baggage most Isekai protags tend to have. Samia is a delightful love interests who carries a quiet strength and enjoyable naivety, which immediately endears and Riku is just plain hilarious. This laid back narrative of a smith who just wants to make dope sh*t, while being dope to his tiger wife and faithful apprentice is an distinct palate cleanser in a world of power fantasy saturated, isekai, trash. I love this book and feel like more people should have eyes on it so, you know, got put your eyes on it. You won’t be disappointed. Also, all the other titles i specifically mentioned. They’re worth a gander, too, especially Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure and Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life. Them sh*ts is just plain lovable and have two more of these objectively bias essays forthcoming. But that’s for later, for now, go read all of Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life, right now! Is totally worth! Plus, Samia is f*cking adorable, man. Seriously, tiger waifu is best girl!

[highly-opinionated-ramblings]

(I watched Rokka no Yuusha a few months ago and absolutely fell in love with it. What follows is a drabble that started off as me wondering how the story would continue from where the anime left off, and ended up as an excuse to write all my favorite characters happy, healthy, and very much in love.)

They kill the demon king. Of course they do. It’s what they originally set out to do, after all. It seemed like the most important thing ever, the story that would be worth telling some day. Until it was over, and they found themselves faced with the entire rest of their lives.

Chamot and Rolonia go back, back to wherever they came from. They did their job. They have people waiting for them, tasks left unfinished, goals as yet unmet. So they go back.

The rest watch them go. Adlet says, halfway joking, that he doesn’t really have anywhere to go back to, anyway. Flamie doesn’t say anything. Neither does Goldov. Hans shrugs and makes some offhand comment about how there must be somewhere where the famous heroes who killed the demon king would be welcomed.

“Or we could just stay together,” Maura suggests. “There are still other demons out there. Someone has to hunt them all down. Might as well be us. I think we’re quite good at it by now, don’t you?”

And so the five of them stay together, and continue on their demon-hunting adventure.

Goldov never really recovered from what happened with Nachetanya. He doesn’t really speak much to anyone anymore, and he doesn’t sleep much either. It only gets worse after Chamot and Rolonia leave. He should have been headed home by now, too. But that home doesn’t exist any more. And with the demon king gone, he doesn’t know what his purpose is anymore.

But thankfully for him, he’s among friends who know exactly what it’s like to be completely alone and lost in the world. It takes Adlet putting his arms around him, assuring him that he is more than just what Nachetanya threw away and reminding him to smile in the face of defeat, for him to come to terms with what happened. It takes Flamie chastising him for moping around when there’s work to be done for him to finally get over it. Little by little, he finds himself again.

Life goes on. They travel, land and sea, and they kill demons, and they explore the world together.

They’re all very different people now than when they started out. Goldov smiles readily now. Maura and Hans are learning to let themselves be vulnerable, and to trust the others. Flamie’s horn is growing out, and no one cares.

(Beneath the surface, of course, Adlet still has nightmares about what happened before he met any of the other heroes. Flamie is still desperately afraid of doing something wrong, and of being rejected again. Goldov still obsesses over what he could have done different, what signs he could have possibly missed. Hans is bitterly jealous of how close Flamie and Adlet, and now Goldov, are, but is trying to convince himself otherwise because he’s afraid to get too close himself. Maura is still trying to make up for what she did, back when she suspected first Flamie, and then Adlet, because she doesn’t understand how they could forgive her for those things so easily. But none of them ever talk about any of that.)

One night, they’re sitting around their little campfire as usual, and Adlet gets maybe a little too drunk. He stands up, announces loudly that he’s going to bed, and leans over to kiss Flamie on the forehead. Then, on a whim, he leans over and kisses Goldov on the forehead, too- he goes beet flaming red and Adlet just laughs.

“Hey,” says Hans from across the circle, also more than a little drunk, “where’s my kiss?”

Adlet stumbles his way over, plops himself down in Hans’ lap, and kisses him right on the mouth.

There’s a moment where Hans is definitely kissing him back. But then he comes to his senses, pushes Adlet away saying “stop, Adlet, stop. Don’t do something you’ll regret in the morning.”

Ohh, Adlet makes such a scene at that. “No, Hans, I wouldn’t regret it! I could never regret kissing you, any of you! I love all of you too much! How could I regret that?”

Eventually they manage to get him to bed. The rest of the night is spent in awkward silence.

The next day the sky opens up and it pours, and they’re forced stop early and take shelter in a shallow, rocky cave. They light candles, pile all their sleeping bags on the ground and stretch out, giggling together, as if they were children at a sleepover.

“Just so you know,” Adlet says as the rain falls outside, “I meant what I said yesterday. Every single one of you means so much to me.”

And it doesn’t take long before that kind of talk leads to Hans blurting out all the things he’s been holding back, and Maura confessing that she can’t imagine life without the others any more, and Goldov stammering out that he would follow any of them to the ends of the earth and back.

“So,” Adlet says, with a smile, “does that mean I can kiss you again?”

The rain lets up a few hours later. The five of them stay in the cave.

[deltaengineering]

Fall Anime 2019 Part 1: Real Isekai Hours

Shinchou Yuusha

What: 💩 wait we’re not doing that anymore. So hey, welcome to a new season of isekai! Now with fewer listicle stylings but a turd is still a turd. Dude gets summonend by goddess to another etc., you’ve heard this one before. The unique selling point here is that it’s actually a parody comedy, so if you tolerated Konosuba you’ll probably tolerate this too. It’s just that “The hero is overpowered but overly cautious” has exactly one joke up its sleeve, and it is that the hero is overpowered but overly cautious. It’s a kneeslapper exactly once, and that is when you read the title. Of course, the overly cautious hero is paired with a goddess who can get constantly exasperated at how overly cautious he is. The humor in this is just the fucking pits and it’s really a huge credit to the technical execution that it’s fairly watchable for half an episode or so. Yes, this show looks good; cartoony, expressive and well-timed, in short like a midcard Trigger production. But those looks can’t even keep actual Trigger productions afloat, nevermind this generic manzai tripe on top of generic isekai detritus.

Ahiru no Sora

Speaking of generic, would you like some sports shounen? Ahiru no Sora is about basketball, and the main guy is very gutsy but overly short. People compare him to a duck for... reasons, including but not limited to terribly on the nose “soaring the sky upon your mighty wings” metaphors. Well, they tried. Really not much to say here, it’s pretty decent looking, not particularly annoying and very by the book, so if you’re looking for Haikyuu methadone or just can’t stand volleyball but love basketball, this is your jam right there. I’d sooner just watch Haikyuu or any number of other sports shows exactly like this instead. Or laugh my ass off at Try Knights.

Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo

Now here we have a romantic comedy where the twist is that the nice guy protagonist doesn’t get none and he gets friendzoned by every girl in favor of his hunky sportsballer classmate. Oh, and it turns out he’s just pretending to be a nice guy and is secretly a seething incel. And it’s not every girl, he also has a creepy, supposedly homely stalker who definitely won’t turn out to be stunning once she takes off her glasses and lets her hair down. Now, unlike some I’m not opposed to flawed protagonists, but a fluffy romantic comedy between two deeply unlikeable sociopaths is still asking a bit much. I’m not saying that this couldn’t work in theory, but there’s still a very unpleasant air about this show and it hasn’t got much besides that.

Urashimasakatasen no Nichijou

This is a short about a “male vocal unit” going to school and and uh. It probably is more appealing if you already love these guys? Apart from that the only memorable thing is that the saturation and brightness is so cranked up that it seems like a bad HDR conversion job and was intended to be played on a cinema projector or something. Yeah, that’s what I’m going with.

Hataage! Kemono Michi

Another isekai and this is also a semi-parody, just in case it wasn’t already clear that ironical isekai is default isekai now: A wrestler with an animal gimmick gets isekai’d to a world full of furries, much to his delight. Now, this doesn’t have the snappy production and delightfully cartoony look of Hero is OP, but makes up for it by being actually reasonably funny; Not-Tiger Mask disregarding wolf ears to go for the entire furry got a chuckle out of me, and so did wolfgirl Shigure clowning on the isekai slave trope. More spicy than the average take, I suppose. I’m not about to pledge my allegiance to this show because the last time I thought this, it was Yo Mama Online and that didn’t turn out well. It’s still notable when some isekai nonsense makes me consider watching a second episode though.

Honzuki no Gekokujou

Isekai the third, and this isn’t a parody attempt. In fact I’d say that it is as far removed from a parody as it could possibly be because if anything, it’s too serious. Honzuki no Gekojou is about a librarian who gets reborn as a sickly child into a world where books are a rarity. What’s notable here is that she most definitely doesn’t impress everyone with her skillz, starts building a harem right away or muses how much like a dumb light novel this is - given how rare that is, I’d say it barely registers as isekai at all. So that’s all pretty heartening, but on the other hand, it just isn’t very good, at least not right away. It’s pretty simplistic, the pacing is very slow (the first episode is basically just world and character introductions, something I managed to accomplish 80% of in the one sentence above) and further dragged down by tons of voiceover, and the animation looks just... weird. It’s choppy, as if there were inbetween frames missing, and I can’t see why that would be on purpose. Still, because it’s so slow not much of import happens in the first episode, and that makes me at least consider watching a couple more episodes to see where this is going.

Houkago Saikoro Club

Since we’re definitely not reinventing anime this season, here’s another classic: the “cute girls getting dragged into doing a niche thing by other cute girls” anime. The thing in question is euro-style board games, which is a none-too-common subject if nothing else, and which already pegs the tone at more slice-of-life than riotous comedy. Everything else is fairly predictable from there, and generally it’s as agreeable and unexciting as these tend to be.  There’s a few niggles in the details; the main girl is a sadblob that acts like she’s never even heard of the word “fun” before, which may be more than a little tryhard. And the games themselves don’t really get much attention mechanically, which makes them seem interchangeable and namedroppy, though I’d say I still prefer this to full on tutorial mode. Overall, it’s an easy watch for now, and I’ll keep an eye on it until it starts to annoy me.

[badanimereviews]

finishin’ up fall 2019 anime

ahahaha it’s almost here. new year. new anime. 

let’s look at some of the best and worst from this season. well, everything i watched actually....

dr stone: if anything deserves 10/10 it’s this bitch. my inner chemistry slut has risen from the grave. this is my lifeblood. it is so good. nearing ep 17 i started reading the manga because i NEEDED more. and i haven’t read manga in like three years. i cried then at that bitchass byakuya, and dr stone’s last ep made me cry again. i’m talking more tears than the Niagara falls........ and then cried again when the second season was announced. like. if there wasn’t one i might have just gone up in flames then and there

bnha 4: i feel it’s a little more lacking then s2 or s3, maybe in action or smth but idek. i like the bit more insight and development the world is getting. also i love eri, and fat is hot (when he aint fat), also that over..load? guy is hella bae. also nighteye is actually rly cool and pls dont kill all might thats rude. also why the sudden interest in red riot like tbh i don’t rly care bout him. i want kirishima or todoroki or w/e bc they’re hot and redboy isn’t sorry. his powers suck anyhow

sao alicization 2: i think it started out better than the first season did. i needed these flashes into reality that helps show more realism, rather than just ‘ooh haha fantasy sword magic stuff’. which honestly took away from what should be a fairly severe situation. yknow. so far animation’s been steady, tho the new op is meh compared to the last ones. im not a huuge alice stan but the alice vs asuna vs the other girls is not fun, i mean it’s all asuna’s fault she could be like ‘ya i married him, dumb fucks back off’ and that’d be that but nooo it’s her fault. isn’t she dating kirito? and just letting these strange girls do this stuff to him? bruh

enen no shouboutai: very good. also 10/10. though not as 10 as dr stone. maybe more like 9/10. animation kinda decreased in quality a lil. understandably hah. warming up to the new op, i like the bit where shinra/arthur kinda fighting w each other their friendship is goals. i like all the powers. also shou is a baby boy

shinchou yuusha: the last ep twist got me fucked up. no spoilers tho. i loved all the characters, ristarte was awesome, her expressions killed me sometimes like same girl same. yuusha-san was a little bland but that might’ve been on purpose lmao now that i think of it (last minute thought: ristarte sounds oddly like... restart, don’t it? ;)))))

shokugeki no souma 4: another epic season kakakakaka. they always end on a cliffhanger and i’m like FUCk the episode’s over already when did that happen>???????>?>?> we STAN souma x erina guys. her father is an absolute DICK. and i am so glad she fuckin showed him. you go erina. get that character development. 

assassins’ pride: love me them character designs. and that op is to die for. i got the last ep to watch still. i’ve definitely warmed up to melida. and that navy-hair girl with the weird name is a goddess lmao we STAN a QUEEN. oh ya her name’s mule. dear author what made you choose that

choyoyu: i feel like a lot of the seven were glazed over, just kinda ‘oh aoi can chop stuff, merchant-san is .... a merchant that one time.... keine can heal people ..... and makes medecin worse than dr stone (btw i screamed at that like BRUH YOU FUCKIN COPIED OFF SENKU’S TEST WTF) tsukasa is way boring, akatsuki is meh and does not provide any explanation for how he pull off that magic shit without modern tech shit. ringo is cute and i want more of her actually showing why she’s smart and like... explaining it rather just ‘o she invents stuff yay’. shinobu needs to be the main-er character bc i love her god

azur lane: livechart.me says. ep 11 in 77 days. hello? where’s my jean bart?

kabukichou sherlock: ok i wasn expecting that at all. until they started insinuating how glasses dude was ‘jack’. bruh maki scary asf. did not give me good vibes ;-; also moriarty is a lil babby boy and i honest to god thought if he wasn’t jack then he was some mastermind bad guy at least bc i read sherlock holmes and we all know that bitch is a bad boy. but no now he’s a good boy and hella cute. also yes irene and sherlock dynamic kills me what a LAD 

chuubyou gekihatsu boy: shit i forgot to add this quick edit .... yes this is so cute and good and all them boys are so loveable omllllll my weeb heart

[recentanimenews]

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 5

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

Sometimes you just can’t balance a book so that the coolest, most exciting stuff happens at the climax. Oh sure, you do your best. There’s an insurmountable monster that has never been killed before, that can easily take on the magic of your two strongest characters. Good stuff, everyone has to work together to achieve victory, lots of near death experiences, etc. But then the readers get to the book and no one is talking about that. They’re all saying “Did you see the part where the tiny spider rides to the rescue on a horse? Because that is a thing that happened.” I’m not even sure how you could top that in future books. The victim being saved is even a former bad guy, and so there’s a “we’re friends now, bond between brothers” scene. Again, one of the characters in that scene is a small spider. Mr. Crawly Wawly is the real hero here.

As you can see by the cover, this book reunited Red and Rit with Yarandrala, the high elf who helped the hero’s party for a time and also had some romantic ship tease, though she is quite accepting of their relationship. In fact, she’s there to invite both of them, as well as Ruti, to come live with her in the elf kingdom… because humans will betray your trust. Yeah, she’s still not over the whole “banished from the hero’s party” thing. As for Red, he wants to get the perfect gem for Rit’s engagement ring, but that involves a long journey to the land of giants, which may not even work out. Still, it’ll be fine. Rit is with him. And Ruti. Oh, and his dwarf friend. And the former mayor of the city, who happens to be a mage. And then Yarandrala shows up with Tisse, Godwin, and Mr. Crawly Wawly. This party is even bigger than the Hero’s Party!

Despite the action sequences, this book is trying its best to be a bit more slow life than the previous one. Ruti is still trying to search for a purpose in life (yay!) and also wants to become lovers with her brother (boo). Fortunately, Red has enough common sense that I’m sure this will go nowhere. Red and Rit are by now sickening everyone they come across with their flirting, even if they’re unaware of it. There’s even time for a visit to a natural hot spring, and the whole book ends with a citywide festival. That said, there are hints that we’re starting to set up for a second arc, as the epilogue has assassins in town, and we also get a long prologue reminding us of the large number of other kingdoms that are also trying to defeat the demon lord. Ruti may be adventuring only when she wants to for now, but can she keep that up?

Overall, good book, and those who watched the anime can start here. Long live Mr. Crawly Wawly.

By: Sean Gaffney

[themangaguide]

That must take an ethical obligation

But tsurezure children that's not the worst thing that she did, and the reason why I keep that she should have to be called the mightiest cunt of cunts (while being stoned to death) is due to the extremes she went through in order to prove to Shirotani-- once more, A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY-- that she is the only one that can make the dad satisfied. Are you men prepared to review it? It's sickening, I tell you. Yet below we go: One evening in his father's workplace, the girl had Shirotani hide in one of the storage lockers. When the daddy arrived, she began attracting him until they wound up making love RIGHT THERE AND THEN WITH SHIROTANI STILL HIDING IN THE CLOSET. Shirotani, amazingly experiencing his own parent taking part in sexual congress, was instantly unable to process as well as cope due to the fact that he started getting excited also and it horrified him. To relive himself, he began masturbating for the very first time because he remembered among his schoolmates telling him that if his penis starts to injure then he should scrub it. After the cunt got what she desired, the papa leaves due to the fact that he believed he heard some noise in among the class. Complacent with her new breed of malignance, the girl then resolves Shirotani in the closet, bragging that he could never ever have sex with his dad the means she simply had and therefore she should be the one that obtains married to the father. When he really did not address, she opens up the wardrobe and also discovers him shivering with his trousers down around his ankles, weeping and also quite numbed regarding what simply happened. As well as her response. She yells at him that HE IS DISGUSTING.

Exactly how does this impact the young Shirotani? SIGNIFICANTLY. He was incapable to talk to his father about it, obviously, and his innocent familial love for his own moms and dad was polluted to the point where he outright rejects to be touched by him in the future. IT WAS PAINFUL AND WRONG AND ALL KINDS OF HEARTBREAKING! What took place to Shirotani was absolutely A SEXUAL TRAUMA. The worst thing is that his father might have obtained married to that self-indulgent cunt which would certainly discuss why I never truly reach see the papa again now that Shirotani is a grown-up. As terrible as this part of the tale was, I assumed it was a fascinating facet and also a purposeful backstory that described successfully why Shirotani is both at the same time repelled and aroused by sex, as well as why he believes attractive is a filthy, unclean act. It's truly unfortunate to see him refute himself affection with his very own father. This scene broke my heart:

THE BAD: So currently we have established that Shirotani-- already as a male in his thirties-- is still shocked by the pain and also loss that cost him the partnership he made use of to have with his father, as well as has actually endured a gross violation pertaining to his youth innocence. Consequently, he created a lack of ability to obtain physically close with any individual without going through harrowing spells of self-loathing and disgust. And after that right here comes Kurose who at first was a favorable impact in his life that intended to assist him overcome his fear. For a while, Shirotani was making some progression however after that he establishes attraction for his specialist which does take place however there are fail-safes that must be in place when such circumstances do take place such as being referred to one more doctor. However, this is a yaoi manga so the remedy was still based on the dream of sex-related supremacy and also submission where Kurose-- blatantly revealing his passion and also wish for Shirotani-- gets close to Shirotani physically even with the unsafe effect that can carry the male. Shirotani has sexual injury and also psychological distress and also badly needs the behavorial treatment and what does Kurose do instead?

maou desu onna yuusha no hahaoya to saikon shita no de onna yuusha ga giri no musume ni narimashita manga THE UGLY: He continues to take part in progressively sex-related situations with him where Shirotani clearly explained in words numerous times that he is unpleasant of the physical affection that Kurose starts. Certain, he gives up anyhow because his body longs for physical enjoyment but that doesn't suggest he is psychologically ready for it. AND ALSO IT DOESN'T GIVE KUROSE THE RIGHT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SHIROTANI'S TRUST. The dubious consent situations are on high alert for this manga but much like a lot of yaoi, this is fetishize rather than being addressed as a major trouble that absolutely virtually goes across that thin line in between authorization and rape. I am appalled that Kurose even proclaimed at some point that he intends to deteriorate Shirotani by making him feel the satisfying pain of sexual arousal and conclusion. I additionally have an issue with the softening resolve that Shirotani displays every single time Kurose outright rapes him. It's like he would certainly resist at first yet his will starts to deflate as quickly as his body begins really feeling great. THAT IS STILL CONSIDERED RAPE since if the person obtaining the satisfaction feels guilty and ashamed of himself later on after that there is a lack of real authorization to begin with.

Shirotani is not a normal individual that can be held totally responsible for his choices particularly when he is at the grace of the a single person that must take an ethical obligation to appreciate his boundaries and help him improve. Shirotani is susceptible and broken products as well as Kurose is an absolute prick to make love with him nilly-willy. And to do it as his specialist! It would certainly have been much less ... wickedness if he surrendered his specialist relationship with Shirotani as well as just be some asshole who is taking advantage of someone else than be a treatment expert and also do this kind of things to said client. Truthfully, this has yet to be dealt with in the tale which is why I have hopes that Shirotani will insist his firm and look for help (most likely from his boss and co-worker Mikami that are both genuinely worried concerning him) due to the fact that Kurose is never the person he should link himself with regardless whether or not he is drawn in to him, and especially after that.

I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO TALK ABOUT KUROSE PROCLAIMING HE LOVES SHIROTANI BECAUSE CLEARLY THIS IS NOT HOW YOU SHOW THAT YOU LOVE SOMEONE! Be sure to visit https://acousticguitarzine.wordpress.com/2021/05/12/zjo4fhmj62a8o764lzuxsia1620835929/ and learn more about manga books

[furederiko]

Countdown Counter: 10. Kyuranger 39 is calling for a Hero, in order to save a 'Princess' in need! It's my first post for December 2017 too...

- Can't believe it's December already! As in, there are only 2 months left for us to enjoy a rollercoaster ride with Kyuranger. Aaaaawww... -_-. This recap-view was initially planned to be the final post of November, but evidently so, that's not the case. Well, things tend to run off track every now and then, and delaying this one eventually became a conscious decision. I DID watch the episode when it aired last week on November 26th, but I've decided to wait for the fansub in order to get a more accurate view. And I have only been able to catch the subbed version this morning, due to health and internet. - Last we saw the Space Rebellion, the team was divided into two. Tsurugi/Xiao led one half to clear out the wacky Cepheus trials, while Lucky's unit went to Planet Ghem to locate the Perseus Kyu Globe. In case the name and shape of the planet (with joystick and directional pads) aren't obvious enough, it's clearly a pun for the word 'GAME'. - Madako has been converted into Mecha-Madako, and become the Menaster of Perseus System. She wastes no time to trigger Champ's berserk. Worse, she and a Bovine All Purpose Weapon Unit-00 deactivate Champ and snatch him away. How can she accomplish all of these? With the help of one not-that-surprising figure: Professor Anton. Yes, as has been speculated by many and later rumored and reported, Champ's creator is NOT dead. The creepy mad scientist is still very much at large, and has been the brain behind the Vice-Shoguns 'revivals' and continuous modifications. Fun fact: In the mythology, the tale of Perseus is famously connected to the Greek monster Medusa. Madako might be an octopus, but her head design does resemble a woman with snakey hair, am I right? So her being the Perseus Menaster sort of fits the bill. - The world around the team is then altered, and Lucky, Stinger, Spada, and Kotarou suddenly find themselves turned into... RPG characters. Well, duh? Planet GAME, anyone? Kotarou gets to be the 'Hero', Spada gets to be this unit's fan-service master as the shirtless 'Warrior' (he's skinny, but IMO in better shape than Tsurugi LOL), Lucky is entrusted to be the episode's crossdressing master... a magical gir- I mean female 'Mage', while Stinger also uncharacteristically becomes the 'Jester'. Of course, we also know how melancholic Stinger could have been. Prof. Anton created this alternate space with the Alternate World Projection Machine so he can trap them for good. - With the Kyu Globes being rendered powerless, their personalities are also slowly altered to fit their new... ugh 'Jobs'. Wait... WHAT?! Yep, this is... as Hammy notes it perfectly, HILARIOUS. Singing and dancing Musical-Stinger totally steals every attention with his performance outbursts (seriously TOEI, make a Kyuranger Musical already!!!). Macho-Spada allows his actor to play a dumb brute jock (those blank expressions! LOL), while Brave-Kotarou gets to be the COOL leader. And surely I'm not the only one who thinks Feminine-Lucky actually looks pretty convincing as a girl, right? His inner-Eris, perhaps? *wink-wink* - Their mission, should they choose to accept it or else, is to rescue... beautiful Black Cow Princess, from the evil clutches of Demon King. Ouch, so Champ's the 'Damsel in Distress' in this situation, huh? LOL. Demon King is obviously Prof. Anton. He used to be gentle and kind in Champ's memory, so this time his actor gains the chance to ham up his performance into a twisted maniac intent on turning the fighting robot into a weapon of destruction. Sure, it looks campy and exaggerated, but unlike that other show this level of weirdness feels natural and makes sense. And surprise, surprise! Prof. Anton... isn't really 'alive' in the flesh. Great goodness, creepy Anton is CREEPY. He has become the Super Sentai version of Marvel's Arnim Zola!!! That scene with the TV head is a great proof of this homage. Just like Zola, he had uploaded his consciousness to a machine to gain immortality. - But it gets better! The professor was NEVER good, and has been Jark Matter's devotee for hundreds of years. Good-Anton was merely the undesirable benevolent 'residue' left behind in his mortal body when the real one decided to go full-pledged machine. Problem is, Good-Anton acted selflessly by taking Champ away, turning him into a robot of justice. That means the one Champ knew was indeed good, eventhough that was merely a 'defect version'. That's the reason why Scorpio was sent to eliminate Good-Anton. How I love this twist! Did you see this coming? I sure DON'T. Again, Kyuranger keeps on surprising us. - Champ has always been a weapon of destruction, and the 'Berserker Circuit' located next to his heart is the key to all this. Dang it, the Rebellion technicians must have done a FINE job rebuilding him to NOT have noticed this utter crucial thing. This chip explains why Champ occasionally gets out of control. Anton has unlocked its function now, reverting Champ back to his natural purpose. So the team needs to destroy it if they ever want to bring their friend back. But can they do it without blowing away his heart in the process? Do they need to sacrifice one of their own to protect the universe? - That's where Musical-Stinger plays a vital part. Unable to transform, he is defeated very easily by Champ. But following Feminine-Lucky's advice, Musical-Stinger uses the thing he does best to revert Champ's missing heart: SING! And goodness grace, what a tearjerking moment it becomes. Sure, the silly flamenco dance bit at the start made me rolled my eyes, but halfway through the performance turns into very melancholic and deeply emotional. Don't be surprised if out of the blue, smoke gets in your eyes! Fun fact: The song Stinger is singing is none other than his image song that could be heard during Scorpio's death, and was also featured prominently in his V-Cinema. But he deliberately alters the lyric to Champ's condition, that it's no longer about the loneliness of the Scorpius System warrior. This one is about his bromanc... I mean, partnership with the Taurus System hero. Similar to the Dark-Naga conclusion, we get to see glimpses of Stinger and Champ's moment together. A perfect touch for an already strong scene. - Champ partially wakes up from his berserk, and asks Stinger to do whatever it takes. There's a faint glimpse of Good-Anton in a neat metaphor of 'Angel vs Devil', as Stinger succeeds in liberating Champ's heart. Gotta love how the partners play it cool afterwards, with Champ teasing how 'bad' the song sounds. Just hug it out already! We all know you both want it. LOL. - Stinger's strike also short-circuits the lab, causing Digital-Anton to lose his hold. Alternate World no more (which is sad, because I want to see more role-playing... -_-), it's time to duke it out in battle. We get really cool action sequence too! Leo Red Orion, Dorado Yellow, and UrsaMinor SkyBlue take on Mecha-Madako, while the duo of Scorpius Orange and Taurus Black deals with a pair of Unit-00s. Scorpius Orange utilizes his special power up using the #27 Monoceros Kyu Globe, and Taurus Black can send his fist flying now! Being freed from the Berserker trigger seems to have granted him some kind of power up. Meanwhile, Leo Red Orion uses his 'Gate of Babylon' attack to summon projectile weapons for him and the other two. Neat move! - In the end, Mecha-Madako retreats alongside Digital-Anton (along with his mechanical brain, of course). She had sacrificed her regenerative ability so her days is pretty much numbered, while the mad scientist must have forgotten that becoming a machine isn't any better than having a mortal body. Looks like these two will play important roles ahead. Could it be, Digital-Anton is behind Don Armage's secret of long lasting life? Highly likely. But that's the story for the final arc in the remaining 9 episodes. For now, the other Kyuranger's unit arrive just in time during the mecha battle, reuniting the team to goof off locate the prize in the 'palace'. Naturally, it's the BN Thieves who discover one... in a treasure chest: the #36 Perseus Kyu Globe. Only one more left! Next stop, Cassiopeia System...

Overall: This episode was another solid example of how brilliant Kyuranger handles the tone shift. What started out as humorous and ridiculous comical-fest, eventually evolved into a dark emotional turn, while still able to slip in exciting action sequences. Eventhough many including yours truly expected this would be a Kotarou's focus episode, it ended up becoming an excellent conclusion to Champ's story arc instead. In that case, it confirmed that both "Episode of Stinger" and its coupling web-series "High School Wars" took place after episode 34 and before 35. Admittedly, those separate features were rather inconsistent with this fact (the V-Cinema's ending, among others), but I guess we'll just have to take it as is. It's the only plausible and logical placement anyway... *sigh* Nevertheless, the show continues to pull off all kinds of sci-fi plots in general. And that is nothing short of impressive! The Mecha-Anton twist might not be original, but it was also unexpected. And those RPG-nods, they instantly reminded me of the crazy fun "Yuusha Yoshihiko", to the point that I was disappointed we didn't get to see more. And I'm not kidding. Two episodes in a row, and the show has left me wanting more. So just the thought that the series is going to conclude pretty soon, is giving me all kinds of mixed feeling... Next week: Aim for the Big League! Baseball Spada strikes!!!

Episode 39 Score: 8,1 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: December 2nd, 2017 - Version 3.07. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[exile-wrath]

bahamut/yoi collab p4

part 1 here | Part 2 here | Part 3 | Part 5

*Please note that my understanding of Japanese is reliant on spoken, and even then it’s a bit spotty, so this may be inaccurate in terms of direct translation. However I have a rough sense of what’s happening.

Yurimaru: nnn... where is this? 

Victor: “Do you notice it?” (not sure what “it” is)

Yurimaru says yes, asks Victor somethiing about if he’s always been like that. Victor says that Yurimaru is a cheerful angel. Yurimaru splutters into apologies, says he’s alright, and then yells “bl-bloodlust?! are you a wing-thief!?”

Yurio does his signature “Ha?” Piashi apologizes. (It seems that Yurio’s wings are... from yurimaru? ohno) Yuuri asks if Yurimaru is okay, and Yurimaru says yes, he bounces back quickly. He says that he admires(?) what they’ve done, feel free to ask him to help or anything. 

Yuuri introduces everyone. Yurio: “Hey, next thing you say I’ll kill you”. Yurimaru is about to introduce himself when another demon attacks, and taskmaster Victor says that it’s time for them to do their thing! Like he did! Yuuri protests because they have no rink and shoes(ice skates), and Victor is just... something along the lines of, “Oh, so without a rink and shoes you can’t do it? What a shame. How do you expect to be able to do it even with them if you can’t do it without them?”

Yuuri and Yurio: *pain*

Yurio: fine, we’re doing this!

after the boss battle, Yurio is wtfing because the demon isn’t going down. A little back-and-forth here, Victor is disappointed and Yurimaru asks him if it’s really okay to be doing this, the demon is dangerous. 

Victor has an ‘aha!’ moment and asks Yurimaru if he’s good with music. Yurimaru protests “that’s not really true...” Victor says it’ll be okay, he’ll teach Yurimaru ;) 

Yurimaru: !!! Your face is so close--

Piashi is dying because she LOVES seeing pretty people get along (I’m dying too) Lily tells Yuusha-sama that Piashi’s eyes are scary... 

Victor: okay, I’ll teach you then. 

Yurimaru tries to do the thing, slips on the ice, asks Knight-kun for help. “It’s harder than it looks...” Victor wonders what went wrong- but thinks that Yurimaru’s steps were very interesting! And then asks his name. 

“My name is Yuri!” 

Yuuri and Yurio: HAAAAAAAAA???

Victor laughs. It’s like Piashi ended up summoning a bunch of Yuris for assistance lol. Piashi says, in a daze that no, she didn’t plan this at all. He laughs again, and says that since there are three Yuri here, new Yuri needs a nickname. Thus he’s dubbed Yurimaru. 

Yurio is incredulous. “As if having two Yuri isn’t bad enough, now there’s three?!” 

---

Yurio is very displeased with having another Yuri in the party lol. Victor thinks it’s amusing, Yurio gets fed up and wants to go. 

On the side, Piashi mentions, once again, how she likes pretty things, and pretty people. And especially when pretty people get along *_*  Lily realizes that she means the party, and Victor edges close to Yurimaru, who gets flustered, in order to see Piashi’s reaction. 

Yuuri makes this. very irritated noise at their closeness and PULLS YURIMARU’S WINGS. (I SHIT YOU NOT YURIMARU ASKS WHY IS YUURI GRIPPING HIS WINGS TIGHTLY) The accompanying words are, “Because Victor is MY coach.” 

Victor realizes that Yuuri is kind of jelly, and wonders if this is how Yuuri is behind his back. 

Yuuri asks Victor to watch him. A demon appears, with perfect timing. Yuuri asks Knight-san to watch his back and his glasses. Then Yurio steps up to plate saying that he’ll prove he’s the strongest (lol). Piashi is worried because Yuuri is casting his sword aside, but Victor assures her that it’ll be fine - they’re not people that are used to the sword, art/performance is more their thing. 

After the boss battle, Yuuri and Yurio are trying to subdue it with their step sequences. (Yurio thinks Victor is insane for being able to do it, Yuuri mentions how this is a fantasy world, and he has no skates but there’s ice, surely he can do it! They won’t lose!)

Demon disappears. 

Piashi gets super excited, she’s in awe. Victor is slightly proud of them. Yuuri is tired, and Yurio demands some shoes. (he means skates)

Victor: “Shoes? I don’t carry those?”

Lily is confused why Yurio is demanding shoes, and Victor explains ice skates and their purpose to her. Yuuri thanks Knight-san for watching his glasses, and says that ice skates to Yuuri is like the sword to Knight-kun. Piashi apologizes (take a shot every time she apologizes) for being unable to bring them too. 

A little exchange, in which Lily decides to try to magic some ice skates for them. 

[englishvisualnovels]

[Opinion] Speculation for MangaGamer’s 2017 Announcements

I've been mulling over some of the hints MangaGamer revealed in a recent blog post for their upcoming announcements so I decided to write down my own thoughts on what they could be here!

Note: Keep in mind that this is only speculation and should be taken with a grain of salt. MangaGamer has not explicitly named what their new license acquisitions are at the time of this post. Also, certain links below may contain content that are NSFW.

First off...

Give me a moment to myself since Liar-soft’s Fairytale Requiem probably isn’t going to be one of these announcements based on the hints given so far. Sadly.

Ahem.

Let’s get onto the actual speculation itself! There are some hints from MangaGamer’s post I purposely chose to skip over since I wasn’t sure enough about them to make a guess on.

"Digital remains the dominant format of choice, being the primary preference for over 70% of respondents."

The “nan” is italicized in the actual post itself and isn’t a mistake.

I’ve seen some speculation that it could be a reference to artist Nan Yaegashi of Senran Kagura fame, who has worked on visual novels before.

I’m going to place my guess two games Yaegashi worked on, which would either Alicesoft’s gameplay visual novels Drapeko! ~Onedari Dragon to Oppai Yuusha~ or Evenicle.   MangaGamer currently has a partnership with Alicesoft and a MangaGamer staff member did state on Curious Cat the company plans to focus “more on Alicesoft's titles with gameplay” at the moment.

"Crazy as it might sound, genre-wise, romance remains the top choice followed by science fiction and fantasy—good thing we have quite a few games in those categories to announce this year!"

I’m going to pass up on guessing on which romance title(s) MangaGamer picked up since the sheer amount of them out there makes it difficult for me to narrow down.

However, I do have a few guesses on the sci-fi game(s) MangaGamer mentioned. One thought I had is Himawari Aqua After, the fandisc to blank-note’s sci-fi VN Himawari -The Sunflower-. On the otoge front, Sanzen Sekai Yuugi ~MultiUniverse Myself~ also comes to mind since it’s apparently advertised as a “space fantasy battle ADV” and the developer is connected to Hobibox, a current partner of MangaGamer.

"We have a lot to look forward to this year, from more entries in popular series, a title with a bit of a historical bent, something old, something new, something borrowed, and something BLue...?"

Let's break this down!

"from more entries in popular series"

Some possibilities that come to mind is any entry from Rance or Funbag Fantasy series (NSFW), which are both pretty popular with the western fanbase and have had English versions released by MangaGamer in the past.

“a title with a bit of a historical bent”

One guess I have in mind is InnocentGrey’s Kara no Shojo 3, the latest game in a historical murder mystery series set in late 1950′s Japan. Kara no Shojo 3 is still in development in Japan, but it’s entirely possible that MangaGamer could working with InnocentGrey for a worldwide simultaneous release this time around.

Another guess I have in mind is Sengoku Rance, a Rance game set in fantasy version of Japan’s Sengoku period.

“something old”

I got nothin’.

“something new”

This is going to be a long shot and wishful thinking on my part, but I want to hope this “something new” might have to do with the new, big project Novectacle plans to announce at the next summer Comiket. The date of 2017′s summer Comiket is at August 11th to August 13th in Japan which almost coincides around the date of when Otakon, one of the conventions MangaGamer plans to visit in 2017, is supposed to start. That makes it the perfect time for MangaGamer to make an announcement if we assume it is Novectacle-related.

Of course, this is all assuming that Novectacle’s next project is going to be a visual novel instead of, say, a manga or a light novel. Again, this is a long shot and I admit my reasoning is pretty shaky.

“something borrowed”

Again, nothin’.

"something BLue"

I'm assuming BL being capitalized in “blue” refers to the Boys' Love genre. Personally, I think there's a good chance it might be Si-Nis-Kanto -Shijou no Sora- (Si-Nis-Kanto -至上のソラ-) by Ands.

I'm not too familiar with the game so there might be things I'm missing, but the "blue" hint could be a reference to the ソラ (Sky) from the game's subtitle and how the island, where the game is set, is surrounded by, well, blue skies and waters. Also, the game's opening song is titled Persistent Blue which does provide a stronger connection to the blue reference.

Finally, the parent company of Ands is also Hobibox. While we do know MangaGamer does look for new companies to partner with, I’d imagine it’d be much easier for them to successfully negotiate for the license of a game that is owned by one of their current partners than with a company they aren’t partnered with.

And that’s just about my thoughts.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Something else? Feel free to comment!

[recentanimenews]

DARLING in the FRANXX and Hiroyuki Imaishi's Mastery of Mecha

Even if you haven't heard of Hiroyuki Imaishi by name, you've almost certainly seen his work. The dynamic director of Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill began his career at GAINAX, establishing a kinetic style that, once seen, is never forgotten.

    He'll be returning to our screens as the action director for DARLING in the FRANXX, Studio Trigger's new mecha series. His direction will bring to life the slim, powerful mecha designs Shigeto Koyama. But what's come before? It would be impossible to put a full spotlight on every contribution Imaishi has made to the giant robot genre... but mecha fans wondering what to expect likely don't have to look much further than their own DVD shelf for examples.

  Gurren Lagann

Hot-blooded cultural phenomenon Gurren Lagann is a no-brainer for this list and absolutely belongs first and foremost. The over-the-top action sequences exemplify, both in human-based and mecha-based encounters, the animation style for which Imaishi has become so well known.

  Imaishi's usage of Yoh Yoshinari's wild mechanical designs isn't just impressive for its Moon-combining and galaxy-chucking, though. More down-to-earth scenes involving Gunmen -- especially Simon's Lagann -- bring the action to a different scale and even allow for a bit of humor along the way.

  Evangelion

Of course, Imaishi having his start at GAINAX means he was going to be involved in Evangelion to some degree -- and this is actually where his career began. After twelve episodes as an in-betweener, he went on to do key animation for the series's variegated finales. Since then, he's returned to do key work for Rebuild movies 2.0 and 3.0.

  (Also, yes, we hear those of you yelling that Evas are technically giant armored cyborgs and not robots. We know that, too, but you try writing an article about giant robots on a major anime news site and not including Evangelion.)

  Star Driver

Here's another that falls under "questionable robot status," but for our purposes, it really belongs here.

  For potentially the most solid look at what to expect from DARLING in the FRANXX, look no further than episode 25 of Star Driver. The mecha series also features designs by Shigeto Koyama -- so if you felt like those FRANXX designs looked familiar, you weren't wrong! Koyama's designs moved under the pen of Imaishi, who was key animator for the series finale.

  GaoGaiGar

Surprise! Even the King of Braves got a hand from Imaishi. Episodes 28 and 30 of the Sunrise yuusha series were animated with assistance from GAINAX, with Imaishi as key animator. Fans of the series will remember the epic battle between GaoGaiGar and EI-01, in which the latter launched devastating attacks by flooding the air with mirror shards and bouncing lasers off them in all directions. It shouldn't be surprising who was at the drawing board for this one!

  Hayate the Combat Butler

Hayate fans will not only not be surprised by this show's inclusion, but may well remember the exact episode in question. Imaishi stepped in for episode 39 of the series, which included a Gurren Lagann-inspired robot and battle sequence. Because who better to mimic someone's style than that very person?

  Imaishi absolutely delivers in his self-parody, delivering more lens flare than J.J. Abrams in a glass house and Hayate's use of him for their robot pastiche says a lot about who's at the top of the mecha anime game right now!

   Dai-Guard

  Imaishi only did one piece of key animation for Dai-Guard, but you can't miss it. The giant robot/office worker sci-fi series features his key animation for the opening sequence!

  Diebuster

Finally (at least for this list), Imaishi's fingerprints are all over GAINAX action/sci-fi sequel Diebuster. He sat in as key animator for three episodes and oversaw mecha animation for episode 4. While feelings on its existence in the Gunbuster universe are fairly divided, it's still an amazing piece of eye candy.

  This isn't even everything Imaishi has done in the world of giant robot anime! He's been a part of Heroman, Gad Guard, Medabots, Gundam 00, Gaiking, and so many more that detailing all of them would keep us here all day. In short -- it seems DARLING in the FRANXX is going to be one heck of an action-packed ride, and we cannot wait to see what this new cast of mecha and pilots gets up to.

    DARLING in the FRANXX starts next month on Crunchyroll.

-----

Kara Dennison is responsible for multiple webcomics, blogs and runs interviews for (Re)Generation Who and PotterVerse, and is half the creative team behind the OEL light novel series Owl's Flower. She blogs at karadennison.com and tweets @RubyCosmos. Her latest stories can be found in Whoblique Strategies.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com