#finished 2022

[magicalgirlmel]

Anime finished this year 28: Love After World Domination

5/10

[kaitcake1289]

in paris you gotta sleep with one eye open

[bastart13]

I remember starting these in 2022, but what better time than the present to finish the wedding set

The charms really were beautiful

[iysure]

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?

[d3epfriedangels]

Alexa play Kate Bush's Oh to Be In Love

[chillachins]

the gang dances

[mimimar]

finally completed my comic based on the song ivy by taylor swift!✿ please zoom in to read the text and see the details~

✿.✿.✿

you can get the digital zine pdf here! it includes extras like character profiles, costume design, more art of willow and ivy, zine-exclusive sketches and an illustrated guide to the symbolism of all the flowers in this comic.

you can also get prints of individual pages here!

✿.✿.✿

[anothersuperstition]

will you welcome your extinction in the morning rays?

[eristhenat]

another hallucination

[arcteris]

i just know coerthan snowball fights are legendary

[rayllurn]

Rayllum + Kissing

Bonus:

[magicalgirlmel]

Anime finished this year 61: Akiba Maid War

10/10

Transcript under the cut

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that an anime about maid cafes would be in the running to be my anime of the year, I don't think I would have believed you. After all, I'm not someone who entirely 'gets' the whole maid café thing. I understand it as an occasional novelty, sure, but I can't understand the idea of going to one over and over again. There was also a spot in the middle of the year that had like three shows that all featured girls in a café in some form and I just felt like the idea was overdone. So, what did Maid War do to make it interesting again? It turned it into a yakuza movie... obviously.

Akiba Maid War is set on the backdrop of the maid café boom of the 90's, where supply is clearly outpacing demand so the maids are turning to violence to make sure their turf is staked out and the money keeps flowing through their doors. It imagines a whole seedy underbelly hidden away under cutesy layers just barely out of the eye of the public. I wasn't sure at first, but it really grabbed me by the end of the first episode when the brutal takedown of an enemy café was shown off like a choreographed dance complete with a backing track and all. It was wonderful, every act of violence done with a whirl of a petticoat.

There are some parodic elements here for sure, turning the whole thing up to levels that I don't think anyone would have expected the to take it to from the outset, with a sprinkling of dark humor laid over the top of the whole affair. However, what really astounded me and made it so special is that it was able to have these episodes that made me laugh out loud, but also deliver episodes that were honestly heartbreaking to watch and moments that hit with all the weight and drama of a more serious mobster flick. That is an incredibly tough balancing act to pull off and Maid War does it excellently.

It also treats most of the characters with the seriousness that they deserve. Aside from a tiny handful of shots, the maid costumes aren't sexualized when the girls in the show are wearing them. They're treated like the battle armor that the characters treat them as. I really appreciated it. It would have been so easy to make this a sort of trashy late night fanservice vehicle, but they didn't and it was very much to the show's benefit. 

Like I said, this is one of my contenders for Anime of the year, it was that good. If you missed out on this one for some reason, be sure to give it a watch when you get the chance.

[delicourse]

rare dog among sheep and whatnot

[namelessmap]

Something something a thin veil now separates them something

[phosporo]

watching him fade away 👍

[natypinkns]

my piece for the @heroshotzine!