#going crazy actually. maybe i just like the plot points of shounen anime but like i stg watching naruto is like. oh my god i can Feel the

[oofouchhimbones]

for someone who was deeply invested in the way you can see the bones of a much better story poking through all of my hero academia, watching naruto is like going on a fucking archeological dig for the entire intact skeleton

[m1ckeyb3rry]

I’m laughing so hard I can’t wait to read this officially in reos version!! Omg wait is it time to play guess the wc again…haven’t done this since the first quarter of Karasu bfb….hmmmmmm

STOP these pics alone are giving Reo conversion moment….im convinced you just sprinkle some sort of magic character propaganda dust into ur writing atp

LMAOOO FR omg imagine kdrama nagi….40min eps weekly I would fr eat that shit up

NO FR JJK audios are always insane (Gojo taking over daddy’s home will forever be an insane phenomenon)

FRRRRRRRRR THE S2 HYPE IS SOO REAL I bet we’re gonna see a bit of Karasu in action first ep too!!!

Poor chigiri he deserves compensation for that fr….but LMAOO nah fr hollyhock otoya >> regular otoya jkjk we love goofy otoya too but he would SO say that (yet again proving Karasu supremacy…)

BROOOOOOOOOOO THIS SLAPS???????? Im crying yuki tweaking out the moment you started the sentence I already imagined him just like that like “NO we CANNOT this is literally the OPPOSITE of what we were paid to do???” Ok but wait….what if…..what if this was the long fic…..here we have a yotd bllk crossover they kidnap her and then they’re like welp guess we gotta run from our boss…yotd spinoff plot…ok but anyways maybe im just enamored by the fact that karasus got his own little crow SHEJSHSS

Im CRYJNG THE SONG yet another product of your crazy rizz…ok but is the song good though….

Also im crying WTF is that yuki face on the right LMAOOOOO I’m ngl angry yuki lowk kinda….but wtf is the one on the right I’m sorry it’s like Shidou possessed him

- Karasu anon

HAHAHA OMG ON THE TOPIC OF THE OAEU I LITERALLY FOUND THE EXACT VIDEO TO DESCRIBE THE UBERS DYNAMIC IN IT i’m crying…just need to finish sae’s version and then things are abt to go crazy fr (also barou looks so handsome in this video bro i need him)

i’m literally converting myself tbh 😭 reo is just so perfect nagi is lucky i make him outdo himself in this fic because normal fandom fanon nagi could never compare w peregrine reo (tbh canon nagi lowkey might not be able to either LMAOAOA only men that can beat peregrine reo are peregrine nagi and bfb karasu)

okay wait speaking of nagi and dramas i think it’s so funny that he apparently likes watching dramas?? i think at one point (maybe second selection w barou) isagi’s like “i could’ve watched two episodes of an anime in this time” and nagi’s like “yeah or one episode of a drama 😒☝🏻” HAHAHA bro plays fps games you’d think he’d be into heavy shounen guns and violence type of stuff but honestly besides his video games he kinda has very cutie pie chill interests 🥹 like even his favorite song i listened once and it’s so calm??? truly a man of many contradictions

YESSS KARASU FIRST EP ego’s def going to announce the top six so we’ll get tabieitaken and nagi (and rin + shidou but who gaf abt them) although i wouldn’t be surprised if the first ep starts off with a flashback of reo and kunigami losing to shidou since that game is what kinda builds the hype for shidou and sets him up to be more “villainous” than even karasu and otoya (who are the third selection antagonists) as well as setting him apart from the rest of the bllkers which foreshadows him going to the u20s

somebody save chigiri fr 😭🙏🏻 honestly i think it’s funny when you actually watch bllk or read the manga besides the haircare chigiri is actually one of the most boyish characters??? idk how to put it but especially in the anime he just gives such strong BOY energy tbh fanon chigiri is closer to bachira than anything 😩 but FR hollyhock otoya lowkey does gag regular otoya i’m afraid (but tbf hollyhock otoya would be so proud that regular otoya is the way he is FJSKDJS) and YESS karasu supremacy he truly has such “me and my girl don’t argue she tells me to shut up and i do” energy like that man would be so delighted that someone wants him he’s not questioning ANYTHING

HAHAHA FREE YUKIMIYA only one with an ounce of sense between the three of them…ofc otoya’s like “😨 baddie alert 🚨‼️” so HE’S not saying anything 😭 and karasu’s just a softie he can’t kill her when he realizes she’s like. younger than him. it’s not by a ton probably a couple of years or so but still he’s used to killing like corrupt people or people who have wronged their clients meanwhile reader is just a girl she literally knows nothing…like when he’s about to kill her she wakes up and immediately calls for ness (unfortunately there is a brief ness era in the beginning) and karasu feels soooo bad because she’s like terrified and plus he knows ness was deadass INVOLVED in the plot against her life 😭 karasu number one gentleman fr 🤩 not killing a girl because she offers her half-brother’s life in exchange: LAME (@ otoya) not killing a girl because she’s crying and tells you she’s scared: WHAT A MANNN MAYBE CHIVALRY ISN’T DEAD

i fear this was meant to be my long fic (i came up w the idea a WHILEE ago) but i was never satisfied with how it turned out + i was annoyed by the mc’s lack of agency (crow and cackle karasu >> hollyhock otoya BUT hollyhock y/n >>>>>>> crow and cackle y/n) when i tried writing it especially in the beginning so alas it will remain a fond memory for us all 😩🙏🏻 HAHA karasu’s pet crow is so cuteee though i think it’s so funny to imagine when karasu pulls up w reader yukimiya’s just like bro stop adopting random creatures 😒 BUT a mutual of mine inadvertently reminded of this crazy detailed outline for a pokémon au i have in my drafts so perhaps i will revisit that after the oaeu and see if there’s anything salvageable from it or if it’s another doomed plot (lowkey it’s sad asf though icl the angst is real)

hmm the song is pretty good!! i wouldn’t say it’s my favorite but it’s not bad by any means…unfortunately i just cannot listen without remembering our crazy memories (this is the guy who i only texted about demon slayer and specifically akaza…like i would just send him paragraphs about how hot i found akaza even though me and akaza were never locked in like that but i found it funny that it pissed him off SO BAD and at the time i didn’t know why 😭 then he asked me out and i was like ??? you’re not akaza ??? LMAOAOA jkjk i was much nicer abt it but truly it’s proof that nothing can stop a man when he’s determined to ask you out NOTHING)

i fear this may be the one thing we disagree on i think he looks so fine on the right 🙏🏻 idk he just looks kinda cocky and sassy which is more in line w his mc vs bm match self but i honestly like the splash of personality it gives him LSFJJSJS

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Finally done with this chapter and this arc. Can’t believe I have an entire post that’s just about Tsukauchi Naomasa. The discord server is so happy. There’s a lot of Naomasa love in there, and I mean, can you blame them? Dude is the straight man in a world of shounen bullshit. Gotta respect his ability to take everything happening in stride.

[No. 21 - In Each of Our Hearts]

We have brief passage of time wherein the police arrive at the USJ. We see Tsukauchi doing a headcount of the students while Sansa is directing the other police in containing and leading the villains out of the building. Naomasa is able to determine that, aside from the one with the messed up legs (Izuku), all of the students are unharmed. As if to confirm this, we get some wide shots of the class in two panels, showing everyone to be perhaps roughed up, but not really injured.

Hagakure puts her hand on Ojiro’s shoulder, commenting on how he’d ended up in the fire zone, and on his own at that, with a small congratulations. Ojiro admits he’d thought everyone was alone, and that he’d only survived with hit-and-run tactics. He then asks Hagakure where she was, and she points out Todoroki before stating she’d been in the landslide area, and that Todoroki’s crazy strong. We see Todoroki and his worry that he could have frozen her, while Ojiro in the background just says that he’s glad she’s okay.

Aoyama, of course, then tries to take center stage. Aoyama seems like he’s about to reveal where he’d been, but then turns to the other students to ask them if they have any ideas. 

He first tries the group consisting of Tokoyami, Koda, Kirishima, and Kaminari, but all of them are busy with a conversation. Tokoyami makes a comment on how he guesses ‘those lowlifes’ were spread out, waiting for them. Kirishima slams a fist into the palm of his other hand and complains about how the villains had been looking down on them because they were kids.

Then he turns to Tsuyu, asking her where she thinks he was. She plays along for a bit, asking him where, only for Aoyama to dramatically turn away and pose while stating that it’s a secret. Tsuyu turns her attention back to Tsukauchi, completely uninterested in his shenanigans. 

Tsukauchi states that they (likely meaning the police and pro heroes) are going to get the students back to the classroom for now, and that this is no time to take their statements. Tsuyu asks after Aizawa, and Naomasa gives her the details - both arms smashed to splinters, face is fractured. Thankfully, there’s no brain damage, but his eye sockets have been pulverized, so there’s a chance he may suffer long-term loss of vision - or so he hears. He seems to be on a call with the hospital at the time, or perhaps the station where all of this cleanup and investigation are being processed.

This is not exactly the welcome news Tsuyu or Mineta were looking for, both of them looking pretty torn up over it.

Tsukauchi continues down the list of injuries - Thirteen has terrible lacerations across her back and upper arms, but her life isn’t in danger. All Might’s injuries aren’t life threatening either; it’s likely that Recovery Girl’s healing will be enough for him, so he’s gone off to the nurse’s office instead. 

Ochako and Tenya, basically in unison, ask after Izuku, worry etched across their faces. Naomasa takes a second to place the name, but confirms that Izuku also made it to the nurse’s office in time. He then states that he happens to have business there himself, so he’ll leave the rest of the cleanup to Sansa. Sansa gives a salute and confirmation. 

(Meanwhile, Ochako and Ashido are both puzzled because Sansa’s not a dog. Don’t be rude, girls.)

Nedzu notes that UA will need to completely revamp their security systems. Midnight adds on how teleportation quirks are rare enough, and that it’s a shame one of them had to go and turn villain. 

Another officer shows up to report to Tsukauchi, stating that they’ve apprehended what seems to be a villain in a thicket about 400 meters from the USJ. Tsukauchi asks what condition the villain is in, and the officer states that the villain seems unharmed, and that he didn’t resist arrest. He also adds that, oddly enough, the villain isn’t responding in any way, and appears to be mute.

Tsukauchi turns to Nedzu, asking for the opportunity to go over the school with a fine tooth comb. Nedzu gives him the go-ahead, saying that some won’t be happy, but the police certainly have jurisdiction. He notes that investigations are Tsukauchi’s field of expertise, so he can do what he feels is necessary.

We transition to the nurse’s office, with Izuku and Toshinori both stuck in bedrest. And honestly, I just cannot get over how tall Toshinori is, like.

Look at that. If he picked up Izuku for a hug, Izuku’s feet would maybe reach his knees. 

Anyways. Plot. Yes. Recovery Girl tells the two of them that, the situation being what it was, she can’t really scold them this time. Toshinori says that he thinks he’s probably shortened his time limit again, and that he’ll be lucky if he can still get an hour a day. Izuku’s worried about him, but Toshinori shoves himself up into a sitting position with a groan, shrugging it off with a ‘what can you do? Bad things happen.’

The nurse’s office door opened, Tsukauchi letting himself in with an apology for the intrusion/interruption. He greets Toshinori as an old friend, while Toshinori’s surprised Tsukauchi is here. Izuku shoots up into a seated position, worried about if it’s okay for Toshinori to be seen while he’s not buffed up. Toshinori says it’s fine, then gets a bit silly about his introduction of Tsukauchi to Izuku.

Tsukauchi calling him out on the weird intro though. Like I said, this man really puts up with so much shounen-world bullshit as the straight man. 

Tsukauchi then bring up his reason for stopping by - not to rush Toshinori or anything, but he’d like to ask about the villains. Toshinori interrupts him to ask if the students are alright, as well as Aizawa and Thirteen. Tsukauchi’s quiet for a moment, before huffing a laugh. He says that besides Izuku, the students have nothing more than a few bumps and bruises. The two teachers are also out of danger for now. If the three hadn’t put their lives on the line, the students wouldn’t have made it out unscathed.

Toshinori acknowledges the report, but tells Tsukauchi he’s got one thing wrong, which draws a surprised frown from him. Toshinori goes on to explain how in that fight, the students put their lives on the line too. To be thrown into a real battle so young and survive - now these first years know how scary the wider world can be. Has he ever heard of such a class? The villains picked the wrong fight, because the members of class 1a are going to be might heroes indeed - and he’s going to make sure of it.

All Might really does have completely faith in this class, it’s incredible. 

As an aside, I know it’s probably a small editing mistake, but Izuku lying back down in one panel just to be back up in a seated position the next one is just. Fucking hilarious.

As a last weird bit. Tsukauchi just. Tapping his ear here? Either that’s a teeny foreshadowing of the quirk the fandom believes he has, or it’s just. A really weird gesture. 

(I want to clarify, for people who aren’t aware of it, but Horikoshi has never actually confirmed that Tsukauchi has a truth-sensing quirk. His sister’s quirk, which is touch-based lie detection, is confirmed in the Vigilantes side manga, but not his!)

We get some narration as time passes - classes were cancelled the next day (Thursday), but the class couldn’t rest easy. After that (presumably the day after, which would be Friday), we come back to all of the class waiting for morning homeroom to start. Tenya is vibrating as he directs the class, stating that morning homeroom’s about to begin, so everyone to their seats. Sero points out that everyone else is sitting, and that he’s the only one up. 

The classroom door opens to reveal a heavily bandaged Aizawa, who gives them a brief greeting as he wobbles his way in. The class is shocked that he’s back already, calling him an undeniable pro. Tenya, who finally is in his seat, snaps his hand up as he states he’s glad to see him doing well, which Ochako mutters about whether you can really call that ‘doing well.’

Aizawa shakes his head, stating that his welfare isn’t important, because their fight is far from over. The class is confused at that statement, with Katsuki, Izuku, and Mineta all questioning his statement. Aizawa clarifies himself - UA’s sports festival is fast approaching.

The class gasps, clamoring about how that’s so totally ordinary.

And with that, we’ve wrapped up the chapter and the USJ arc. I’ll probably do a few side posts before moving on to said arc, since the sports festival is 23 chapters long (ch 22-44) - longer than everything that’s happened up to this point in the manga!

If you have any questions / thoughts / observations you want to share, feel free to! I like hearing what y’all think about this early stuff, especially those of you who were anime-only and so seeing some of this stuff for the first time or used differently by the show.

[butterfly--empress]

So About BnHA…

Man! I don’t participate much on here but it sure has been an interesting popcorn eating time, lurking through the good, the bad, and the annoying posts in the spoiler chapter tags. For this week’s chapter, especially!

Not gonna rant (I save those for close friends on discord) 

I do notice that lines within this crazy ass fandom have been drawn, tears have been shed and righteous fury has been felt. And no matter wtf Mister Horikoshi has in stored for chapter 320, it’s going to be a make or break chapter for a lot of folks. I did try my best to keep this post Bakugou neutral grounds. I don’t think I’ve bashed nor favored the character just fyi.

But the most inconspicuous opinions can be taken too serious these days…

The Silly:

For chapter 320 onwards, I am and have ALWAYS BEEN 100% Team: The Legend, The Myth, The Champ, Izuku ‘Feral!Rabbit-Cryptid!’ Midoriya! Win or Lose, I ride or die with Midoriya, hands down! ON GOD!

While everybody yelling into the tumblr void over whose gonna win or lose.

I’m sitting here thinking about two things: A) Has no one thought that maybe some of Class 1-A might side with Deku? *coughsUraraka/Iida/Todorokicoughs* *coughsmaybeevenMineta/Asui/Yaoyorozu???coughs* *coughs maybe even a surprise Shinsou/class1-b reveal even though class 1-b don’t know deku that well* B) Did everyone forget in all the excitement that uhh my boi has yet to unlock the 2nd OFA user’s quirk???

I mean, I’m not saying if it does come down to a bawl of drama and angst, that Izuku’s gonna win.

But I am saying, if it does come down to a bawl of drama and angst, that Izuku’s gonna win…I regret nothing with this bet! If my boi loses we just gonna take that L but…ya know…*shrugs*…Baby, beat their Bakugou’s collective asses.

The Serious:

Personally, I honest to god really love this shounen series with all my heart. It is the anime that reignited my love for shounen after my fatigued of constant disappointment with two old shounen favorites. 

Now, having said all that: I truly have not had a serious issue with the writing choices made by Horikoshi. Yes, I have my…gripes…(it’s complicated) but considering what I got compared to the stuff I’ve watched/read in the past, it’s definitely better to me. Having read/watched a lot of anime/manga and shounen, (I haven’t watched them ALL, srsly after my great disappointment and real life I sort of had an anime dry spell if you must know. Watched some stuff here and there when I could/in the mood but not as frequent as I’ve done like yrs ago), I’ve come to learn to just…begrudgingly accept/expect certain; I suppose you can say, writing choices or ‘tropes’ that I can just easily ignore them, roll my eyes when I see them, and still enjoy whatever I’m invested in at the time. 

The only real frustrations I have is with a certain character. Yes, I mean Bakugou. I have come to tolerate him, I have come to begrudgingly like him, especially after a second rewatch of the series, I could see and accept that in a very typical shounen way, Bakugou did change, though very little, and it’s subtle and undeniably frustrating how it’s happening but it’s there. However, I do question Horikoshi’s writing choices when it comes to him at times. I see the character development, I know it’s there but….*sighs*

Now I’m one of these people who do believe that the creator of this universe, actually knows wtf he’s doing with his own story (even if rabid/hormonal younger fans loudly disagree but YMMV). One thing I’ve noticed, for the most part, he doesn’t just write/draw things for the hell of it, even if a certain plot or a certain character’s development takes a snail’s pace to get to the point. The conclusion of building up to arcs do have a pay off. (And I 100% understand that for some people, moving at a snail’s pace just don’t cut it. Everything cannot please everybody all of the time and that is FINE!)

Katsuki Bakugou…I know the crumbs and very subtle ways he’s changed have to lead somewhere and to something huge. When Bakugou admits to All Might he bullied Midoriya when they were kids, I had an ‘ah ha!’ Moment. The fact that a very prideful guy like Bakugou was finally starting to admit just that much, (even though, we the audience knows it runs way deeper than he’s admitting here) even in his frustrating roundabout way I like to think this is progress, is very in-character and cannot just be for the hell of it. It has to be leading up to something else other than Bakugou jumping in to take that hit for Deku during the war arc. There is unresolved tension still between Bakugou and Midoriya that is not going to just go away because they will it to.

Which brings us to Chapters 318 and especially 319. It’s the perfect set up for all the dirty skeletons to come out of the closet that both Bakugou and Midoriya have been avoiding/trying to pretend doesn’t exists between them, because it’s been a long time coming. The honest to god truth? This is actually how I always thought this confrontation will go, with a showdown that forces Midoriya into a corner where all those repressed negative feelings he’s bottled up inside is bound to come out; Because I Honestly think Izuku would take what Bakugou’s done to him to his grave if he had it, his way. (Boy can be very frustratingly stubborn when he wants to be).

It’s just, after saying all this, I don’t hold my breath that Horikoshi will take it there…The opportunity is there, I want it to go there, it NEEDS to go there! In order for both characters to come out for the better. But will Mister Horikoshi ‘DO THE THING?’

Remains to be seen. A little bit of me is hopeful, another part of me is resigning myself to feeling dissatisfied with what little we got for Bakugou’s character development and by proxy, Izuku’s getting stuck in limbo. I’m not kidding, Bakugou being a very contentious character within this fandom doesn’t just come from nowhere. But this post isn’t about me ranting into the void about Bakugou. (I don’t even think I can muster up the rage I felt the first time watching MHA blindly to rant to high hell about the bullshit Bakugou’s done now.)

I suppose I will just have to internally scream for 1,000 yrs over half baked character development if Horikoshi doesn’t do the FUCKING THING in giving a satisfying pay off to Katsuki and Midoriya’s history. I’ll just frustratingly chalk it up to old freaking shounen logic and just continue to enjoy the series because I’ve been here for Izuku Midoriya since ep 1 and I am not about to let Bakugou or Horikoshi’s unwillingness to do something with him derail that. And there’s always hoping that someone is writing some really good Bakugou gets actual Consequences fanfic out there because ooh boy…I like Bakugou but mofo can catch these hands…and I’m not even a fighter, but Bakugou…this lil shit does make you want to choke the hell out of him at times. 

I haven’t been this emotionally frustrated over an anime character since…maybe fucking Louise from Zero no Tsukaima and it takes a LOT to make me actually dislike characters, good or bad. 

All in All: Regardless of how the story goes from here on out, we are all about to lose our collective shits. No matter how you feel about which characters…

It’s about to go down!

[char-lotteral]

I agree with Kishimoto never trying to use the girls. The hate they get is not fair. I used to defend Sakura back in the days because I hoped kishi would do her justice. When shippuden started I WAS SO HAPPY because I thought this was the start of something great for Sakura and the girls but NOOOOO. Every time, Sasuke showed kishi turned her brainless. If you compare Naruto's actions and Sakura's actions to sasuke, you'd see they're completely different. What's up with that weird fake love confession scene 😭? It makes her look like she was manipulating Naru. JEEZ.

Also he literally had badass Tenten and Temari with cool useful abilities and he didn't use them ?! TF ?! Thank god for modern authors who treat their characters with respect :)

okay2 you know how i am with these longass rants so click readmore and brace yourselves

The way I see it, Sakura's character development in shippuden was always one step forward, two steps back. She gets this really badass scene (like her fight with Sasori and those cool ass medical skills) but is then regressed back into a pining girl in love every time Sauce is on screen or Kishi just throws her in the background YET AGAIN.

I love Sakura's abilities actually. Her brute strength, intelligence, vast knowledge and skill as a medic nin. But what I dislike about her character is how kishi handled her feelings for Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura's obsession with Sasuke was so???? huh??? it was so damn toxic and i never once understood why both Nardo and Sak were so obsessed with him. They were a team for one year???? I mean its great that they care about him alot but Sauce's feelings were kinda valid. His freakin clan died. Id go batshit crazy against my own village too. BUT BESIDES THAT. Both Nart and Sakura's Sasuke obsession was so annoying. 80% of shippuden was literally Keeping up with the Uchihas or Naruto yelling SASUKEH. BUT what irks me so much is the fandom's double standards with both Naruto and Sakura. "Oh Sakura shouldve gotten over her Sasuke obsession" but then turn around and call Naruto's obsession cute and gush about how he's so in love with him!!

Hot take but the only reason why sasunaru is "the most developed ship with the most chemistry" is because theyre both male characters.

I guarantee you if Naruto was a girl and SHE would be the one to have this unhealthy obsession who was chasing around Sasuke, the fandom would shit on Naruto just as much. And if Sasuke were a girl, Sauce would be sidelined like the rest of the female cast and Naruto would have another male character to have a "brotherly bond" with, because thats the only bond Kishimoto is actually good at developing. Yey for male characters having all the screentime and cool assets <333

And about that confession scene, I get her intentions. I really do. I understand that she did that in order to bring him home and that she cares about him but honey, w-why?? Why lie to him about your feelings?? Supposed he DID believe her, then what? then what kishi???? huh??? Some of her fans point the blame on Sai or whatever but I personally dont see why that scene was at all necessary. Maybe to establish Naruto's feelings for her wasnt all that serious? or his maturity? idk man. That scene was such a clusterfuck.

In the end her development in The Last and in Boruto was immaculate. She had one of the best glow ups in the old gen and ironically enough, her character wasn't butchered in Boruto. She got badass scenes she was cheated from in shippuden. I also love how she's finally getting the spotlight she deserves. Unlike the other konoha 12 :,)))

Okay onto the next female character that Kishi completely wasted. My baby. My light. 🙈 AAAHHH HINATAA.

I DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN OKAY2 DEEP BREATHS.

Let me just establish this real quick. Hinata's goal was to get stronger because of Naruto, her goal was never to be with Naruto. She wanted to become someone who is worthy enough to stand beside him, someone whom he can consider as an equal, as a partner. She NEVER once said "marrying Naruto-kun is my all time goal UwU" (if youre one of those weirdos who interpret her character that way, youre immediately invalid, go take a hike)

I personally dont have anything against their crushes but to the point of making their personalities revolve around these guys every time theyre onscreen is so fucking frustrating. And with the way he writes their dialogues is so.damn.cringey. Like that one scene in the war arc with Tsunade and Madara

"I mAy bE a WomAn but I aM nOt WeAAKKKK"

BAAHAHAAHHA WHAT?? Everyone else gets coolass monologues and one liners but thats the best you can come up with Kishi?????? Hilarious.

If im being honest. Hinata's character is actually kinda well written. Not well executed. Dear God no. But with the way he set her story, her personality, her chracterization. She's honestly one of the best written female characters on the show. IMO. By Kishi's standards of writing women ofc. She's hands down one of the most complex characters. Her shy personality wasnt out of the blue, it wasnt a cutesy waifu trait. Her abusive upbringing made her that way. Her trauma turned her that way. So yeah, sue her if she looked up to Naruto as an inspiration when everyone else in her family treated her like dust. Shit on her for having Naruto's love light in her dark when her own damn father wouldnt even look her in the eye and her entire clan shunned her because she was "weak." She doesnt owe her family shit so idgaf what they do with the Hyuga clan. Neji and Hanabi aren't included btw

Im not gonna deny that her role in the show was only as the love interest but tbh for a love interest, Im glad her character wasnt so one dimensional. It just pains me SO MUCHHH how fucking wasted she is. Every time she's with Naruto, they always make her into a damsel in distress. They always feel the need to turn Naruto into the heroic prince. How cute.

LIKE THAT ONE SCENE IN THE LAST WHERE SHE'S THROWN IN THE CAGE?? WHY??? LET NARUTO AND HINA FIGHT THAT FREAKING ALIEN GOD TOGETHER. QUIT WITH THE TOXIC MASCULINITY. WE GET IT. NARUTO'S STRONG. GOOD FOR HIM. NOW LETS SEE HINATA THROW HANDS AND PUT NARUTO IN THE CAGE GODAMMIT

Hnggggg dont get me started with her role in Boruto. She's as relevant as a damn houseplant in the manga. They made her into an invisible trophy wife and "the mc's mother" and we all KNOW what happens to the shounen mc's mother once mc is in need of character development :) Quit putting her in the background. Give us that scene where she won against Hanabi DESPITE being retired for years. Give us that scene where she trains Boruto. GIVE US ANY FIGHT SCENE OF HER WHERE HER POTENTIAL ISNT WASTED WTF?¿

Now if you say that Hinata didnt have development. YOURE INVALID. She came from an abusive household, the shyest girl in her class, her insecurities got in the way of her own confidence, had difficulty of standing up for herself now became a loving mother of two, has the guts to kick her husband out of the house(with whom she couldnt even keep eye contact with when she was a kid) became the strongest hyuga, most supportive wife and mother, and has given her kids the comforting childhood she never had as a kid.

She has one of the most beautiful stories in the show and if you think her personality is only Naruto-kun and big boobs, then im sorry that you cant appreciate such a heartwarming story.

And I agree, killing her would honestly make me feel more at ease than continue to see her suffer because of godawful misogynistic writers. But at least let her die in an epic fight. Please. PLEASEE. She got nerfed so bad, i feel a physical pain every time i think about it

Okay what else. I think Ino got pretty good development. Another wasted potential in shippuden but she's doing good for herself in Boruto. I dont know what Temari is up to. They basically made her into another classic angry mom who beats up her husband for comedy trope. Haha very funny and original! Im not sure with her career, im not that invested in the anime.

Tenten??

oh G O D Tenten. The dirtiest of all. Her jokes about her screentime is so mean and i hate that its true ahsjhs. She was the only female character in OG who's goal wanted to be as strong as Tsunade but what did Kishi do to her?? Sidelined. Forgotten. Irrelevant. Like every damn female on the show :D

Konan shouldnt have died. I blame plot armor. I know in my heart that Konan wouldve kicked Obito's ass if it weren't for Kishi's boomer mindset.

Tsunade had so much hype when she was introduced but died down in the war arc. Madara wiped the floor with the kages. Holy shit. Not only that, but yipee! Naruto is there to save the day AGAIN!!!!

AND UGHHHH If the female characters were given proper treatment then maybe MAYBE all the endgame couples wouldve made fucking sense????¿¿¿

I think that ends my rant. Im not sure how the female characters in Boruto are handled. Except maybe Sarada (she's pretty well executed in the manga imo). But arguably they are sooo much better handled in Boruto than how the old gen girls were. And thats because Kishi isnt anywhere near the new gen female cast. I cant formulate a solid opinion with the other new gen female cast since im not entirely invested in the anime. Not ashamed to admit that I only watch it for the sunshine moments and for Hinata :DD

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 246: Plot Whiplash

Previously on BnHA: Hawks handed Endeavor a copy of Re-Destro’s NYT bestseller and was all “ಠ_ಠ READ THIS!!” He then flew off back to the PLF and was all “hey guys just got back from handing out free copies of Destro’s book to everyone in a 1000-mile radius, which absolutely nobody asked me to do, well anyways you can thank me later” and they were all “SWEET.” Back at the Endeavor HQ, Bakugou got all fired up to BUST SOME HEADS but Endeavor’s sidekicks were all “WAIT FOR THE PLOT YOUNG MAN.” Meanwhile in his office, Endeavor discovered a secret code in the book Hawks gave him, which basically read “HEY WHAT’S UP THE LEAGUE HAS TAKEN OVER THE MLA AND HAS AN ARMY OF 100,000 PEOPLE” and Endeavor was like “!!!!” And then we cut to the League and Toga was all “IN FOUR MONTHS TOMURA IS BLOWING THIS SHIT TO KINGDOM COME” and then the chapter just ended. Sometimes it be like that.

Today on BnHA: Tomura sits down with Ujiko who monologues a bit about Quirk Singularity and then starts some sort of quirk-upgrading process which will apparently take four months to fully set in. And also he’s like “oh btw let me tell you about One for All” so THAT’S A THING NOW, GREAT. We then cut back and forth between Endeavor and Hawks, who both somehow come to the weird conclusion that THE INTERNS ARE OUR ONLY HOPE NOW using logic that is hard to explain on account of THERE ACTUALLY ISN’T ANY LOGIC BEHIND IT, SHHH. But anyway, so Endeavor figures out the rest of Hawks’s message and he knows that Hawks is trying to figure out what the League is up to, and something something that’s why the internships are so important. Like, I get that the Terrible Trio are future legends in the making, but these guys are seriously like “well okay let’s just go ahead and rest all our hopes on them” out of the blue, and Hawks has this big monologue about how “THINGS WON’T GO ACCORDING TO YOUR PLAN, VILLAINS” and okay then!! And then the last two pages are basically just DID SOMEBODY ORDER SOME HYPE with more shit going on than I can possibly sum up so I won’t even try lol. But damn.

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

okay guys, I’m feeling kinda under the weather today, but I know this chapter’s gonna be good so lesssssss gooooooo. bring me back to life Horikoshi

(ETA: lol well there sure was a lot happening in this chapter, that’s for sure. my head hurts.)

oooooh it’s a sexy Jump cover celebrating season 4!

I really need the anime team to step up and give Ochako and Tsuyu some more screentime in the Basement Arc since the manga did not do them justice. there’s only like a 20% chance of that happening, which is depressing, but it’s 2019 and the winds are slowly changing, albeit at a geriatric pace. so I’ll allow myself to have some hope. you never know

YEAH SON LOOK AT THIS COLOR SPREAD Y’ALL THIS IS RAD

hello I love everything about this. the colors, the focus on our best girls, Deku’s bizarre-yet-awesome assorted sci-fi accessories (Deku do those headphones let you communicate with space or what), and of course, the five million TVs in the background which for some reason all appear to be from the 70s. all of this to remind us to TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE LONG-AWAITED SEASON 4 DEBUT. I will definitely tune in! the first episode is just gonna be the usual half filler/half clip show, but honestly season 3 was so good that I could sit through a whole hour of nothing but highlights and still be thoroughly entertained

anyway let’s move on because there are GAMES AFOOT, and we’re hopefully about to learn which direction this arc will be headed in!

OH SHIT OH FUCK

yep, that’s him. Shigaraki “destruction incarnate” Tomura. I see we’re getting our weekly dose of “just a reminder that WE ARE SCREWED” even earlier than usual this chapter, huh

so does anyone else get a chill up their spine every time Ujiko makes an appearance, or is that just me? like, god. he may honestly be even creepier than AFO. he’s just completely soulless, this guy. he’s got like this Mengele vibe to him (though that may be kinda dicey to compare horrific real-life atrocities to fictional ones in a shounen manga, but I’m just trying to explain why I find him so disturbing) and it really freaks me the hell out, ngl. anyways so him wearing a surgical mask and standing in front of this weird examination chair is pretty much the last thing I need right now. go away Ujiko

so Tomura is all “I want it cuz you promised, so pay up jackass”, and like. fair, though

I really like this new art style Horikoshi’s been using for him since his Awakening. kinda curious how it’s going to translate to the anime, or even to a color spread. but at the very least in black and white it looks siiiiick

smh look at this little punk trying to downplay how insanely freaking overpowered his quirk currently is

okay first of all, “President Baldy” is only alive because you left him alive. and he also had to chop off his own legs to stay that way. like, what kind of argument is this, Tomura? “this power is far from invincible, all my enemies have to do is amputate their own limbs and then they’ll have me right where they want me.” you know what, just go on and destroy the world right now kid. you’re getting greedy now and it could be your undoing

that is a nice parallel between him and Deku there, though. now I’m craving some Symbolic Artwork of them standing back to back each holding out their scarred right arms. maybe with their respective mentors in the background. here at BnHA we prefer our parallels nice and dramatic

sdskfjlaskdj

son of a bitch. I really wish he wouldn’t say that with such utter certainty. “the next conflict will be our last.” cue me flipping through the BnHA table of contents and trying to determine just how far along we actually are here, because this is veering dangerously close to Final Battle signaling, and like, ALREADY?? TOMURA ARE YOU JUST BEING THEATRICAL OR ARE YOU FOR REAL OMG. motherfucking DARK LORD’S LIPS curling into the WICKEDEST FUCKING CRESCENT I’VE EVER SEEN, fuck me

(ETA: it occurs to me on readthrough #2 that “the next conflict will be our last” could be interpreted to mean him and All Might specifically. like, the last conflict between the two of them. and that might very well be true, and would not surprise me at all. shit.)

fjsgk now Ujiko’s talking about research. and quirks!! glkjlkl

fully expecting the camera to cut to some NOUMUS any second now oh my god. also trying not to think about how crazy ominous that fucking chair looks. and how many people this maniac has probably strapped down to it and done god knows what to them. hey Horikoshi you know what, I’ve had just about enough of this dark shit, can we please cut back to my kids now I’m feeling too unsettled. goddammit

anyhow of course we are NOT cutting away, and Ujiko is continuing to talk about quirk evolution, and now segueing into a speech about that quirk singularity thing. -- which he apparently named?? wow

is he actually going to do something to Tomura? holy shit?? this whole time that they’ve been talking about this “power” I’ve just been assuming it was something external, like some other handy dandy villain resource that AFO’s just been sitting on or something. this is not where I expected things to go. didn’t he just get an upgrade??

anyway so here’s a brief summary I just wrote up of The Past Six Months of BnHA:

Deku: [gets a new quirk]

everyone: bruh. Horikoshi really out here giving Deku AFO Powers while Tomura just sits around starving to death on a couch. what the heck

Horikoshi: [powers up Tomura to the point where he can destroy anything just by it being in contact with something that Tomura happens to be touching] [has Tomura use this power to level an entire city]

everyone: -- oh. okay, you know what, never mind --

Horikoshi: [gives Tomura an army of 100,000 people] [also gives him command of 11 extremely lethal and nigh-unstoppable killing machines, just one of which was almost enough to take out the number one hero, LITERALLY THE STRONGEST GUY THE GOOD GUYS CURRENTLY HAVE IN RESERVE]

everyone: okay we’re sorry we get it you can sto --

Horikoshi: APOCALYPSE IN FOUR MONTHS!!!

everyone: WE GET IT WE’RE SORRY PLEASE

Horikoshi: [GIVES TOMURA ANOTHER POWER-UP]

everyone: [curled up in fetal position sobbing]

starting to think the mangaka might be the actual final villain here. hmm

anyway. so I guess we have four months until Tomura ascends to Actual Godhood and proceeds to rain hellfire down upon the world. what are you all gonna do with your four months. I personally have a lot of stuff to binge, but knowing me I’ll probably just waste all my time reading fanfic while youtube videos play in the background which I’m not paying any attention to. what am I doing with my life

oh were we not done hyping him up? there’s more??

(ETA: I got so caught up in the OFA comment I didn’t pay attention to Tomura becoming a beautiful decayed butterfly in this exquisitely creepy panel here. but damn.)

-- HOLD THE FUCK UP. does Tomura know about One for All??? because I was under the impression that AFO hadn’t told him? this would change a lot if he knew this entire time, holy shit?!

aaaaaaaaand exactly one panel later Horikoshi is all “no he didn’t know calm the fuck down” lol

okay then. so he didn’t know, and he’s only just finding out now. well tbh that’s still worthy of a smiling crying emoji face though :’) this is fineeee

shit here we go oh shit

-- WAIT, SO WE’RE JUST CUTTING AWAY FROM THEM? NOW YOU CUT AWAY? YOU GET WITHIN INCHES OF CONFIRMING THE FUCKING ALL FOR ONE FOR ALL THEORY AND THEN IT’S JUST “ANYWAYS HERE’S ENDEAVOR” YOU KNOW WHAT, HORIKOSHI, I --

just. come on dude. AFOFA 2019! let’s make it happen! dammit

sigh, so looks like it’s back to the admittedly-still-epic “Hawks passes down secret information about the villains to Endeavor” plot. I guess we’re not exactly hurting for good plots all around. I may complain but honestly we are spoiled

so Hawks is saying that he actually doesn’t know the specifics of the villains’ plans yet. well shit

apparently his feathers can only pick up sounds from short range, and the villains keep escorting him away whenever they get to talking about the good stuff. well at least that explains that potential plot hole from last week. Hawks’s feathers may have a short range, but Horikoshi’s plot hole caulking gun can fill in leaky plot holes from fucking miles away. amazing

ffffffff

don’t mind me I’m just sitting here fretting about Hawks continuing to be in mortal danger and risking his life to gather information in a race against time against the end of the world. Horikoshi out here piling up stakes like a freaking vampire hunter

but in the meantime, everyone please stop what you’re doing for a moment to look at this absolute unit of a bellhop slash security guard

apologies Lord Vader he was just trying to get to the dining hall. my bad. as you were

and holy shit I hope you enjoyed that light comedic break because two seconds later Re-Destro has dropped in to fixate Hawks with one of those Lightly Menacing Smiles he’s so infamous for. so that’s just fucking great!

HAWKS WATCH OUT FOR YOUR FINGERS

omg. imagine, a showdown between the two stealth murder MVPs of the series, Yotsubashi “Sleeper Hold” Rikiya (yes I did have to look up his real name just now) and Takami “Tag Em And Bag Em” Keigo. true, RD may no longer have legs, but he didn’t need them to choke out our little mouse buddy now did he? anyways speaking of which I just remembered that I fucking hate Re-Destro and I honestly hope Hawks does kill him. it’d be pretty easy to fit him into a bag too. he’s basically just a torso and arms now

oh sure Horikoshi go ahead and spring this on me after all of that ranting why don’t you

by the way does Re-Destro have Robot Legs now, or

looool he does

I will say this for Horikoshi, he knows my weaknesses. more robot limbs please. either badass or memeable ones, either is fine

meanwhile I skipped over this panel of Hawks and Twice being buddies in order to get to the legs, and shame on me for that. let’s go back

Twice is a genuinely good guy and I hope Hawks can tell. I wonder how fake this smile is. I feel like it’d be easy to relax around Twice regardless of how tense you are about your secret spy mission which could go south at any time. anyways this is wholesome

and now we’re cutting back to Endeavor who is taking his sweet time reacting to this whole thing. Endeavor can you fucking chill with the poker face already geez

okay wait, what

are you serious?! I fucking can’t with this lady. “now make sure to throw these children directly into the line of fire! it’s good for them and builds character!” I’m sorry, I thought this was the Hero Public Safety Commission, not the Putting Juveniles Directly Into Harm’s Way Commission?? at least change the acronym to something more appropriate then. Heinous Pathetic Soulless Cowards. just a suggestion. jesus

anyway so for a moment I got confused as to whether this was implying that she’d told Endeavor about Hawks’s undercover mission. but it seems like he’s still unaware. shouldn’t be too long before he puts the pieces together though at this rate

lol in the very next panel, even

meanwhile you’re just sitting on your ass reading a book! FUCKING DO SOMETHING ALREADY, ENDEAVOR

so he’s thinking that the “preparation” part of Hawks’s message is referring to the interns. let me back up a sec and write down the entire message as he’s read it thus far

“four months from now / rising to action / until then / will send / signals / in case / of failure / preparation / numbers”

...read like that, it really does sound like Hawks is advocating to get as many soldiers ready as possible. even if that includes actual children. including Endeavor’s own son. shit. I mean, I get that they don’t have much of a choice, but that’s still so fucked up. sure, we as omniscient readers know that Deku is their one and only hope, but they don’t know that. as far as they know these are just a bunch of teenagers with less than a year’s worth of experience that they’re propping up on the front lines. and the plan is then... what? hope they don’t die too quickly?? fuck

Hawks is out here having an argument with me in his thoughts. you wanna play it like that, Hawks? fine

I don’t know what kind of “but” you can tag on to the end of that paragraph that could possibly win me over, dude, but go for it I guess

and we’re finally cutting back to the kids in question now! with Burnin’ casually trying to crush Kacchan’s hopes and dreams

okay but I love how both Deku and Shouto are like “easy there buddy, we got you” and trying to keep Kacchan from having a fucking aneurysm sob. JUST TRY AND HOIST HIM ONTO SOME DUMB SIDEKICKS, LADY. YOU’VE MADE A POWERFUL ENEMY HERE TODAY

oh shit

oh my god. are we going to get our first actual interaction between the three of them that doesn’t consist of them grumbling annoyed introductions at each other and then running off to fight an old fortune teller omggggg

I love how Deku and Bakugou look weirdly intimidated by him lol. Bakugou where did all that “YOU’RE KIND OF A JERK” confidence go all of a sudden

YESSSSSSS

GODDAMMIT, I’M STILL SO MAD AT YOU GUYS FOR BEING ALL “LET’S JUST MAKE THE CHILDREN DO IT,” BUT DAMMIT THEY KICK ASS THOUGH SO I CAN KINDA SEE YOUR POINT

NOW HAWKS IS METAING ABOUT THEM AHHHHHHH

DAMN STRAIGHT THEY WOULD HAVE. BRING ON TOMURA AND ALL OF HIS STUPID POWER-UPS. WOW I’M WEIRDLY HYPED UP ALL OF A SUDDEN WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME

AND FUCKING LOOK AT THIS TWO-PAGE SPREAD AHHHHHHHHHHH

MOTHERFUCKER [WHIPS OUT PEN AND NOTEBOOK] TIME TO ANALYZE THIS BITCH

so Ochako and Tsuyu did indeed go back to intern with Ryuukyuu again! makes sense, she is a top ten hero after all. who’s that with them, though? almost looks like Yanagi from the hair and the mask, but the costume looks different? hmm

I CAN’T BELIEVE IIDA WENT BACK TO INTERN WITH FUCKING MANUAL AGAIN. THIS GUY IS THE BRAN CEREAL OF HEROES. though I fucking love him though so yeah it’s fine

JIROU AND SHOUJI TEAMING UP WITH GANG FUCKING ORCA AW YISS BOYS THIS IS THE GOOD SHIT LET’S GOOOO

KOUDA AND MANGA TEAMING UP WITH WASH OMG. MANGA IS THE ONLY ONE ON THAT TEAM WHO ACTUALLY FUCKING SPEAKS. IS WASH’S SIDEKICK SOME SORT OF BROOM PERSON OMG

A WHOLE FUCKING ACRE OF KIDS HAVE ALL GANGED UP ON THIS CAVEMAN-LOOKING FELLA I DON’T EVEN RECOGNIZE. WHO ARE YOU. DID YOU CROSS OVER FROM THE FANTASY AU

KIRI BACK WITH FG AND BROUGHT TETSUTETSU ALONG FOR THE RIDE HELLS YEAHHHH

KAMINARI AND SERO WITH KAMUI WOODS AND EDGESHOT I’M HYPERVENTILATING AHHH. AND SHIOZAKI TOO!! I’LL JUST PRETEND I DON’T SEE MINETA THERE IN THE CORNER. MIGHT BE TIME TO DUST OFF THE OLD “CANCELLED” STAMP AGAIN BUT WE’LL SEE HOW THINGS GO

WHO ARE MOMO AND TOKAGE AND MINA AND AOYAMA (WHICH BTW IS THE GREATEST HERO TEAMUP OF ALL TIME HOLY SHIT) TEAMING UP WITH!? TELL US. AND PONY AND MONOMA. GODDAMMIT HORIKOSHI

whew! anyway. they’re all still screwed, but by golly that was nice to have that little invigorating breather of life and hope

LOL OH SHIT THERE’S ANOTHER ONE

okay, SOMEONE TELL ME RIGHT THE FUCK NOW WHAT ALL MIGHT IS LOOKING AT OR I’M GONNA LOSE IT. holy shit. he was researching the past users of OFA, wasn’t he? WHAT DID YOU FIND OH GOD. he’s not just upset, he looks one step shy of fucking crying?? did he learn about what happened to Nana’s son and his family, maybe? shit shit shit

so Yanagi is interning with Kendou then? so who was that with Hadou and Ryuukyuu and the rest. one of Ryuukyuu’s sidekicks?

IS THAT FUYUMI (SPOILERS FUCKING YEAH IT IS) AND WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE SHE’S FUCKING PRAYING OMG. it looks like she’s kneeling at a family altar?? like saying a prayer for someone who is PRESUMED DEAD, maybe?? LIKE MAYBE A LONG LOST TWIN BROTHER OH SHIT OUT OF NOWHERE THE HYPE DON’T STOP!!

AND WHY DOES NAO HAVE HIS HAT OFF AND CLUTCHED TO HIS CHEST LIKE HE’S TELLING SOMEONE BAD NEWS. GOD WHAT THE HELL EVEN ARE ALL OF THESE PLOT THINGS HAPPENING ALL OF A SUDDEN. LIKE I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO LOOK NEXT

KUROGIRI AHHHHHHHH

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ERI’S HORN!? DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS?? AIZAWA??? HELLO!?!?

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, TEAM OT3. TIME TO FUCKING SUIT UP. APPARENTLY. WELL ALL RIGHT THEN. [JACKET ZIP] [GUN COCKING SOUND EFFECT] LET’S GO PUNCH ‘EM IN THE MOUTH

y’all. this chapter was like plot whiplash. this went in so many different directions and hinted at so many different things that I’m at a complete fucking loss as to what to process first. but I guess the interns are gonna save us all, somehow. lol okay then

[metalandmagi]

Hogwarts House Anime Recommendations pt 2: Gryffindor!

A couple years ago, I made some posts with anime recommendations based on Hogwarts houses. And in case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a lot of new anime that’s come out in that time, and I’ve thought of some other things that I think people may have missed. And I was bored…So if you have ever wanted some anime recommendations with the same general themes and tones, maybe you’ll find something here.

Other house recs:

Gryffindor pt 1

Hufflepuff pt 1

Hufflepuff pt 2

Ravenclaw pt 1

Ravenclaw pt 2

Slytherin pt 1

Slytherin pt 2

Last but not least is GRYFFINDOR! Or as I call it, the house of main characters, where one is brave, adventurous, heroic, reckless, and always fights for what’s right. Because Gryffindor is kinda the...most popular house, I always seem to focus on more popular anime because they fit the traits so well. So that’s why this list may seem a little more mainstream. And I talk about most of these in my 2019 Anime Worth Watching lists, so the descriptions might sound familiar. 

Cardcaptor Sakura: A classic magical girl anime in which a 10-year-old girl named Sakura accidentally releases a bunch of magical cards made by a mysterious sorcerer into the world and must collect them all to stop them from wreaking havoc. This anime was made in 1998, but it recently got a continuation called Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, which picks up right where the series left off and is equally amazing. This is a delightful anime with amazing characters that formed a lot of people’s love for the magical girl genre. There’s mystery, action, adventure, cute outfits, cute romance, and like any other CLAMP work, a lot of LGBT subjects. And when I say subjects, I mean CLAMP makes a lot of canonically gay characters who are in canon relationships, and no one can dispute it. 

While this show is very much for a younger audience at the beginning, I watched it as an adult, and I still loved it all the way through. Sakura is a great Gryffindor protagonist who always does what’s right even when it’s hard, and she grows so much over the course of the show. Not to mention the mystery of the Clow Cards will always keep you coming back for more. And I should mention, the best thing about Cardcaptor Sakura is that it’s kind of the start of the larger CLAMP universe. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, the creators of Cardcaptor Sakura (a group called CLAMP) have made a ton of other works over many years...and eventually those all sort of intersect and basically become the Marvel Cinematic Universe of anime and manga. While this is a good, lighter story with some heavier undertones, it can be a good introduction into the darker CLAMP universe. So, if you want a cute, classic magical girl show that doesn’t overdo the campiness, this is a great one that a lot of younger people haven’t watched. 

Demon Slayer- Kimetsu no Yaiba: A shounen action/adventure in which a boy named Tanjiro comes home to find his entire family has been slaughtered by demons...all except for his younger sister Nezuko who has been transformed into one! Now he and Nezuko must embark on a journey to turn her back to normal while fighting demons along the way. The premise may sound basic, but this is a great show with a well-made protagonist who is not super annoying, a kick ass little sister, and some very entertaining side characters. Not to mention the fighting system and the villains are super dope. 

It hasn’t even finished airing yet but this has been one of the most popular shows of 2019, and for good reason. While it started out as kind of...bland...it quickly grew into one of the most entertaining and emotional shows of the year with its own jaw droppingly beautiful and unique animation from Ufotable. I think you could make the argument that Tanjiro is a Hufflepuff because he’s so blatantly nice, but I think he’s a true Gryffindor at heart because he does a lot of reckless fighting all for the sake of others. Yes, he is very kind to the point where even when he fights demons, he does so with a sense of compassion and understanding as opposed to the “I must avenge my family” trope. I also think Nezuko is a Gryffindor because she is constantly fighting off her demonic instincts in order to help people. They are a great duo, and the side characters really bring the show together for an awesome, emotional, action-packed adventure that I hope will become a modern classic. 

Made in Abyss: A mysterious adventure story (with a dash of horror) that takes place in a fantasy city where explorers are constantly trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious chasm that lays outside the town. The story follows a girl named Riko and a boy named Reg who are pushed into an adventure trying to find Riko’s mother at the bottom of the abyss and discover the secrets of the creatures inside it. It’s a thrilling escapade with a lot of mind-blowing mysteries. Yes, the characters are drawn in a cute chibi style, but do not be fooled. This show has some heavy subjects and more gore and body horror than you’d expect.

This was one of the best shows of 2017 (if not the best), and I need so much more of it. Riko and Reg are great Gryffindor protagonists who are strong in different ways, brave beyond measure, and loyal to a fault. The creatures and threats of the abyss are incredibly interesting (and also terrifying), and the world building and atmosphere are off the charts. You know this is going to be a great show from the first episode.

Run with the Wind (Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru): An anime in which 10 misfit roommates are all manipulated/coerced/forced into running in a prestigious race even though almost none of them have any running experience. Now, you may think a “sports” anime with so many main characters would be trying to juggle too much. And you’d be wrong. This anime has the perfect balance of amazingly real characters and an intriguing plot that makes you really want to see these boys succeed even though you know it’s a crazy idea. 

Okay, I admit that Haiji, the captain of this team who is responsible for forcing all his roommates to participate is 100% a Slytherin, but the main character Kakeru is a Gryffindor all the way. He’s a good example of a different kind of Gryffindor. He’s not the outwardly boisterous or chivalrous type of sports anime protagonist, but he is quietly brave and definitely reckless in his own way. Also, the team in general has a lot of Gryffindor spirit because they are putting in so much work and commitment to something for the sake of their friend, even though they know they have no chance of winning this race. And that takes a lot of bravery. I also think the whole team has a sense of unity and camaraderie that is unique to Gryffindor house. This anime was absolutely amazing, definitely one of the most underrated shows of 2018, with great music, a lot of feelings, really defined characters with great interactions, and an unbelievable story. Plus, it’s made by Production I.G, the king of sports anime, so you know it’s gonna be good!

Dororo: A dark action reboot of the 1969 anime in which a samurai lord trades the limbs and organs of his son to demons in exchange for prosperity for his land. Unbeknownst to him, his son grows into young warrior named Hyakkimaru, who travels across the land fighting monsters to regain his lost limbs with the help of a lovable scamp named Dororo. This show is how to do a dark gritty reboot right, with more fleshed-out story lines, cool animation, a compelling story of brotherhood and good and evil, AND IT HAS A MAIN CHARACTER WHO CAN’T SEE OR HEAR WHO TOTALLY KICKS ASS! 

I cannot sing the praises of this anime highly enough, even though the last episode was a little...different from what we were expecting. Still, I had Dororo as my top anime of 2019 until I watched The Promised Neverland, because every episode was such a wild ride full of action, adventure, and family drama that’s actually interesting. This is a solid Gryffindor anime because the whole thing centers around sacrifice and how what is considered “good” differs from person to person. What starts out as a clear line between right and wrong becomes blurry as Hyakkimaru regains his limbs, and eventually he must avoid becoming a monster himself, with the help of 100% Gryffindor certified Dororo. Dororo is a treasure to this world, and we are not worthy of this wonderful child.

I also want to include another bonus anime: Vinland Saga! It’s the long-awaited Viking anime about a young boy named Thorfinn who must fight among the enemy to avenge the death of his father. I had a bonus anime with Ravenclaw, and I wanted to include this one because even though it also is not over, I can just tell it’s an absolute Gryffindor anime. I can’t really explain why this is a Gryffindor anime at its core, but it just is. It’s the general vibe of bravery and recklessness that makes it a good show for this house.

[badanimereviews]

summer 2019 anime sum-up

lmao i realized i never did this and posted the fall season b4 this.... oops

kimetsu no yaiba: tbh started out kinda meh. and now it’s turned into one of the new big shounens. i was not expecting that. nearing the end got rly good and i was rly looking forward to more episodes! tanjiro gets cooler and cooler! animation is rly nice (thanks ufotable) and the way tanjiro’s water is animated. like. aesthetic asf. it’s so good. i love black-haired emo dude and zenitsu (my spirit animal) and ofc nezuko she is adorable im c r y. side note: the hashira? i think they’re called? some of the ugliest fkn characters i’ve seen in ages like flame boy? stone boy? i HATE them. and the gem dude too like man get a new tattoo artist on god.... he needs it.,,,,,,and inosuke is so pretty it’s unfair

dr stone: ok man dr stone rly went off. tbh. i’ve always been a whore for chemistry since reading the flavia de luce series (btw, i want more books of) and watching this just tickles my noodle brain in a good way... who needs prozac when i get a shitton of serotonin from watching senku dick around....  (btw what is going on with what’s his face and the girl. yuzuriha????? i can’t remember. i love senku don’t get me wrong but i need their perspective too... bc i hate lion dude... so much.... dick....) again i will repeat that i am a whore for chemistry so i get oFF on this. backgrounds are amazing/ animation so nice n clean (most o the time lmao). i thought i would hate the black n white haired trickster boi and ms yellow ponytail and suika but no! dr stone is such a good show that they are now great, loveable characters. also i am senku and chrome’s whore so jfc. man, i love the explanations of all the chemistry shabang, but some things i think would be better if explained! like senku doing physical labour at the beginning- ex. making all those pots and building that shit by hisself. i know he weak af. yes he smart but like. construction? difficult. pottery? even for me the artist . difficult. and that shed of his was filled to the brim. HOW. anyways, i love this so much i am crying constantly

just realized i didnt need to write about dr stone. oh well. 

danmachi 2: wtf yo. haruhime is so pretty but not a fan of her personality! bell still cute af and still don’t rly like aiz! animation good as always, and my god i shit myself whenever the argonaut theme starts up bc that is ? one of the best pieces of non-sawano hiroyuki pieces i’ve ever heard? addicted to it. and the opening! love the dynamics, the brief ‘rain’ scenes like when mikoto slashes the raindrops and just her motion basically? as an animator that is what i aspire to accomplish because i just love that. tiny little scene. 

arifureta: this would have been so much better had they dragged out mc’s op-ifying process! made him suffer more! i explained this briefly in my ‘first thoughts’ post for this season, but story-wise and pacing-wise his power-up could have been so much more deserved and gratifying. think shield hero- loser suffers, gets angry, slowly builds up power in an epic payoff! would have been so epic too. and also if they’d made his gained powers less.... crazy nerfed. again: HE SHOULD HAVE SUFFERED MORE AND THIS WOULD HAVE MADE A BETTER SHOW. harem thoughts: yue- meh. sucky char honestly. shea- my fav girl, she is a great character don’t judge- sexy and love her personality and love her character design and love how much fanservice she gets lol. panty flash ftw. dragon girl- discount darkness honestly , tho nice design. and mermaid girl- yuck, annoying,  DO NOT like the ‘papa’ trope! (ahem sao.) it’s gross. also just fuck mc’s classmates honestly- paladin dude sucks ass, healer girl OOF that last episode ruined her, samurai girl is ok i guess. hate ai-sensei too like shut UPP annoying ass HOEEEEE (postscript: opening=very epic too)

kanata no astra: plot twist? check. trillion well-done plot twists? check. this was done very well. i am so happy. all those plot twists and turns would usually suck in any regular anime- but this was written with GODLIKE ability. thank you, lerche. legit, this was such an enjoyable ride, i eagerly awaited each new ep! typically i hate space-related stuff but like! survival stuff gets my goat.... like this was good- (tho maybe more technical-stuff in the survival theme would make it so cooler) what shocked me the most: (spoilers alert) didn’t end up hating quitterie or funi. (tho the puppet made me want to strangle smth) luca’s gender had rly confused me but i’d decided on him being a boy- so basically that reveal left me like WHOA. i died. did luca rly have to show emo boy their tity tho... kanata losing his arm gave me the yeeeks, charce being the traitor was made sO WELL into a surprise even tho i’d kinda already suspected him<- like that was just fucking amazing writing there. gj. and ares the princess! ok man! shocked! AND also the whole clone thing, just fucked me right up. up the ass. like there are probably more plot twist layers in this than a fkn ogre has.... anyway shrek aside, yun?’s character arc was very pleasing, i think that was done very well! and the ending made me UwU like BRO? goals tbh. yeah this is a hidden gem and is just so good, so well-written overall. 

cop craft: didn’t have high expectations. i am now,,, quite,,, shocked &,,, blown away. sweetheart this is a good fucking show. so why @ livechart.me DOES IT HAVE 7.40 STARS WHEN FKN ARIFURETA HAS 7.72. can someone explain this to me? i’m outraged. LIVID.  matoba and tilarna were amazing characters btw! loved their dynamic! briefly i thought it might get romantic! nope, it didn’t, so it’s all good. actions scenes were epic, tilarna’s design and outfits were so much nicer than i thought they’d be like. she is so cute. and the op- man, if that is not such a bopper vibe then idk what is. i could watch it forever. it deserves so much more than what it’s got rn.

naka no hito genome: (serious question: is this considered some sort of isekai?) genome gave me btooom vibes honestly but like- this is SO much better than btooom and most game/trap/ kinda shows. fkn BOP of an op, especially the sequence at the end with short clips of each character in action (nutt). paka-san was a good boy and he deserves irl merch. i fell in LOve with all the characters (bubble boy= hot, akatsuki= ok meh actually kinda boring, karin= hot and i want her to punch me, ruromori= beautiful 12/10 would let her stalk me, sleepy eyes boy= baby + dazai vibes and hot af, twin boy= also hot, onigasaki= hot and love him so much, and loli girl= her light grenades got annoying but nice char design) anyways yeah more of this would be epic. i wanna see sakura and her twin reunite, and how they get out basically! also animation quality was very good which is surprising considering it’s a silver link anime.

kono yo no hate de koi wo utau shoujo yu-no: i include the whole title bc this is a good anime. (also livechart.me why 7.27 stars i will fuck you up) only meh part of this is the return to earth from dela granto bc that was like a culture shock and honestly at that point i’d forgotten a lot about what had happened on earth and didn’t care as much. btw, f ayumi and f the other brown-haired oneesan. mio and kanna ftw. obvs i didn’t understand the sayless x takuya thing like dumbass horny teenager . why u gotta creampie the worst girl. u have mio. bruh. (tho mio x ‘oyabi!’ boy is a great ship) also, takuya’s mom? keiko-san? idk if you’ve noticed but that’s literally my name so yeah just glad to finally have some keiko representation. altogether goodass anime. the time travel/ rezero esque reset thing almost got me but this was done well. so no problems. both ops very good. first song was bae, second also bae (just realized it’s by konomi suzuki, one of my waifu idols, so yea nice) and ed2 also so pretty! also yu-no’s design was rly pretty, the outfit colours, and her pigtails rly suited her :)

granbelm: sorry this is the last one lol this was a long ass post! other than the fact i dont rly like mecha this was good.... action, CHARACTER designs aesthetic asf, honestly rly pretty ok. i liked the cast, very diverse and more depth than most shows of this ilk. op was nicely choreographed- especially the part where the girls’ faces are contorted by their gems, showing their magical girl side. nicely done. mangetsu didn’t end up being that bad a char, and honestly? suigetsu is best girl and deserved better. and the ending too- like, bro, that made me kinda sad. some off points: anna’s mom was a little unrealistic as a mom like woman- please learn to control your child, and, white-haired girl’s sister should have played a bigger part, based on how her parts in the opening were emphasized! (quick note- blue girl, love her, great bad guy, when she dumped anna made me so happy honestly, she is beautiful, and i couldn’t actually decide who i wanted to win between her and suigetsu....)

hope u enjoyed this bad review. pls share ur opinions w/ me on some of of these more controversial shows. thank. 

[arcaneranger]

Final Thoughts - 2018 Long Shows

It’s finally here! I’m so close to being done with 2018 (...mostly. We’ll get to it) that I can taste it, but in the meantime, this list is gonna be weird, because there will be things that were already on other lists since I revised my rules of what should be classified how. This post is specifically for any show that ended in 2018 and lasted longer than 13-ish episodes (including shows that aired a second season during the same year or within six months of finishing the previous one), which means that there’s about as much on it as a usual season of shows, but they all had more time to impress - or disappoint me. I’m doing a better job in recent seasons of getting to everything, but last year there were unfortunately things that I missed (I was burned out in the winter) and just have to leave aside for now because I can’t wait any longer for these lists.

Anyway! As usual, let’s start with what I skipped!

* The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of the Commandments, The Disastrous Life of Saiki Kusuo S2, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Garo: Vanishing Line, and Mr Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues because I haven’t seen their previous seasons or parent works. (Yes, even Cardcaptor Sakura. Y’all can shoot me later.)

* Hakyuu Hoshin Engi, Beatless, and Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls because by the time I was rounding things up, I hadn’t heard a single positive thing about any of them.

Next comes what I dropped -

WORST OF THE YEAR: Steins;Gate 0 (4/10)

What a fucking mess this show was. Aside from a very noticeable downgrade in production talent from its predecessor, the plot meanders and flirts with maybe actually happening this time before just dropping out again, over and over, to the point where I was perfectly willing to drop it two episodes from the finish line because it was such an insult to fans of the original. (Also, continued disgusting mistreatment of the transgender character.)

Gundam Build Divers (4/10)

Taking the Build series from being a well-written kids show to an averagely-written kids show that hides itself in decent mech designs.

Katana Maidens (4/10)

I remember so little about this show, and granted that I did drop it after one episode almost nine months ago, but what I did remember was that it gave me strong KanColle vibes with laughably inconsistent animation and flat characters. Meh.

Darling in the FRANXX (5/10)

This should probably be lower on the list, but I got out of Darling while the getting was good, sixteen episodes in. I understand that future episodes of the show cemented it as crappy right-wing nonsense in addition to pushing worldbuilding out of its fortieth-story window, but the moment it lost me was much sooner, when the crazy yandere female lead was reduced, almost instantly, to Good Anime Waifu as a reward to the protagonist for going against his friends with his selfish motives.

Persona 5 the Animation (5/10)

In addition to not actually finishing in 2018, Persona 5 just did not give me a single reason to watch it when I’d already finished the source game, with middling-to-bad visuals (thanks to the switch from Production I.G. to A-1 Pictures, and not even the team that created the much better-looking Day Breakers OVA before the game was released in the U.S.) and phoned-in music, which is especially unacceptable in a Persona adaptation. Also, we all absolutely called that the studio couldn’t tell the story of the entire game in just 26 episodes.

Record of Grancrest War (6/10)

There’s people that like this one a lot, but I didn’t see much that interested me in the first two episodes. I’ve heard better things about the manga.

Golden Kamuy (6/10)

I had problems with the first half of Golden Kamuy that the second half simply didn’t fix, and it became difficult for me to keep watching - the show still interrupted almost every fight scene with a dick joke, but still wanted to maintain a serious and occasionally frightening tone - and those things simply don’t go together. It needed to either spend more time being funny, or keep its lowest-common-denominator humor out of the fights.

Next, I have two shows that are (potentially permanently) On Hold, simply because it’s time for me to move on and I don’t have the time or energy to marathon them when the Winter shows are starting to wrap up:

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, because even though I initially dropped it, I’ve heard a lot of good things since and I want to eventually give it another shot.

Yowamushi Pedal Glory Line, because despite the fact that I still enjoyed the previous season, this one started right in the middle of my burnout and I only heard bad things about it. I’ll get to it eventually, but it’s a shame that this series has been on a clear trend downwards since its revival.

And finally, the stuff I finished!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (6/10)

Keep in mind that this is here entirely on the merits of its aesthetic and its side characters - in the end, Ancient Magus’ Bride is a Beauty and the Beast story where the beast gets what he wants without learning to be less of a dick or even apologizing for his clearly wrong actions.

Major 2nd (7/10)

Always pleased to have even just Good sports shows around, and this one is a very effective reboot of a classic series that’s never made its way stateside (man, the underperformance of Big Windup! really did a lot of damage to this genre in the West). With good character development and a decent second-generation premise, Major 2nd has the potential to be the beginning of a solid baseball story, assuming that it gets a needed followup.

IDOLiSH7 (7/10)

I dropped IDOLiSH7 when it first aired, and though I wound up enjoying it after I was very strongly urged to revisit it, the problems it started with never quite left it behind - that is, it has an okay cast of characters but doesn’t present even passable performance sequences, and if you’re going to include big song-and-dance numbers, they have to be good, or you may as well just be UtaPri.

ClassicaLoid Season 2 (8/10)

In 2017, I gave the first season of ClassicaLoid a near-perfect 9/10, and while this season gives us a satisfying conclusion to the story, it does things both a little better than the first, and also not quite as great. It’s story is much more well-integrated over the runtime so it doesn’t happen all at once in a few chunks, and the jokes that work are still absolute genius, but there’s simply too much that doesn’t quite land correctly, and a little too much immature humor, for it to reach the same lofty Hall of Fame heights as the first season. Still, one of the most underrated shows I’ve ever seen.

My Hero Academia Season 3 (8/10)

God, Izuku in that onesie is too damn cute.

My problems with Hero Academia are frustratingly persistent - the show is at its best when the students are competing with other students, because outside of last season’s Stain (a villain whose motivation is specifically related to the world of MHA), the villains are just not at all compelling and they all seem a little too generic for their own good. I just want Horikoshi to be a little bit less predictable of an author and do a little less reading of the Standard Shounen Playbook. Luckily, when it works, it works magnificently.

March Comes in Like a Lion S2 (8/10)

March remains director/auteur Akiyuki Shinbo’s most accessible work, and one of his masterpieces, as a well-paced and marvelously moody story of a depressed shogi prodigy learning to be a normal teenager before his youth completely passes him by, and the fantastic characters that surround him with their own complex problems and motivations. I just really, really hope it gets a third season eventually, because this one did not leave off on a satisfying conclusion.

Speaking of which...

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma S3 (9/10)

It’s almost a shame that My Hero Academia became hugely popular purely based on its accessibility to American audiences, because Food Wars pretty squarely deserves to be the reigning Shonen Jump king - each season has only improved on the previous one, and this one was based entirely on a continuing arc that could only have happened in the universe of this show, Fighting Food Fascism. That being said, it also leaves off right in the middle of the arc (because it had almost caught up to the manga), meaning that we have to hope that it can remain relevant long enough for there to be enough source material for another season. I’ll be crossing my fingers until they snap.

Banana Fish (9/10)

Yes, this has risen a point since my review, but Banana Fish still deserves to be thought of as both a complete masterwork of crime fiction, being fantastically paced and expertly plotted in the use of its many, many twists, and a work that disappointed the side of me that hoped that, in adapting it into the modern day, MAPPA could have managed to get the author to let them depict what is clearly a queer relationship with the authenticity and legitimacy that it deserved. It’s still amazing, though, and Amazon should be pushing it with their most lavishly-made originals. At least it was the last noitaminA show they’ll get to totally bury.

And, finally, the one you all saw coming.

BEST OF THE YEAR: Lupin the 3rd Part V (10/10)

Lupin is, quite simply, one of the pinnacles of the medium. A simple idea that can (and did) go in thousands of different directions, handled by highly creative writers and an animation staff that has been knocking it out of the park for years, despite the fact that it is criminally (heh) unrecognized in the West. To put it simply, there’s a very, very good reason that it’s been around since the 70′s.

Okay! All I have left to do is finish Dragon Pilot (waiting on a friend) and we can get the last two lists out of the way! We’re almost done...

[neverwatchedonepiece]

613-614: "Showing Off His Techniques! Zoro's Formidable One Sword Style!" and "To Save Her Friends! Mocha Runs at the Risk of Her Life!"

I feel like by the time Luffy finds Caesar, his rage will have reached critical mass.

The best actor awards in episodes 613 and 614 obviously go to Zoro and Chopper. Best supporting actors must also be given credit and the plaudits go to Tashigi and little Mocha.

From a narrative standpoint, I’d say these episodes continue the “tying up loose ends” theme from the last two. But there’s also a decent chunk of character development here, especially from Zoro in 613.

Cuz You’re My Bro, Bro.

The action picked up with Sanji leading his G5 Fans out of the Biscuit Room and away from “Harpy-chan”. Onward they charged to serve the noblest of causes: impressing Nami and Robin by saving the kids!

The G5 Fans had a teeny problem, though. Why didn’t Sanji, their saviour, help out earlier when Monet was chewing through shoulders?

Sanji told them straight. “Don’t be dumb. I don’t kick women.”

A G5 dude said what we all probably thought, “Then what would you do in a life or death situation?”

Again, Sanji told them straight. “I’d choose death.”

At this point I would normally insert the man blinking gif, but at least I have confirmation that Sanji hasn’t changed that much over the timeskip. It is dumb that he would never fight back (and dangerous, if you remember Kalifa). Also, not a good idea to inform the Marines of your major weakness. Still, it’s a huge part of Sanji’s character, will likely never go away, and as long as he doesn’t endanger another Strawhat by refusing to fight a lady, I guess I’ll just accept it.

The G5 Dudes were surprised to hear this from Sanji. These Strawhats were all so different, even though they work in the same pirate group. That pirate hunter guy, Zoro. He looked like he’d chop up anyone without mercy!

That comment made Sanji laugh. “Surprisingly, he has a soft side too. He’ll find a way out. You can count on him. Don’t worry. And don’t worry about Tashigi-chan, either.”

“You can count on him.”

There you have it, folks. Proof that, even though they rag on each other constantly, it’s more like two really close guys bickering and bantering back and forth, rather than actual dislike. I never ever believed they disliked each other. They just love bickering and noising each other up. Plus, all the bickering pushes them to achieve. Zoro’s success drives Sanji to be better and vice versa.

And Sanji does not dismiss Tashigi either, which is nice. Sanji acknowledged Zoro’s strength by saying, “Yeah, he’ll find a way out.” He also did the same for Tashigi. That could be evidence for the argument that Sanji does not view women as inferior. He’s just an old-fashioned, chivalrous type who feels like must protect women.

Which leads us neatly on to Zoro.

The Jury’s out on This One. Or Is It?

Back in the Biscuit Room, Zoro and Tashigi were already butting heads. Zoro insisted he didn’t need Tashigi’s help. 

She countered with, “You think whatever you want”. 

Zoro shot back with, “you want me to take care of you first, since I’m a pirate, Marine soldier girl?”

And Tashigi revealed what she thought was the root of Zoro’s problem with Monet. “You can’t do that. You are not going to cut me or that woman.”

She believes Zoro looks down on her because she’s a woman.

I’m not sure about that, to be honest. I think Zoro’s better than that. And here’s why.

Tashigi recalled her first encounter with Zoro way back in Loguetown. She was defeated by him then and angrily asked why he wouldn’t finish her, Mortal Kombat style. “Is it because I’m a woman? It’s humiliating that you won’t fight seriously in a game played in earnest just because men are physically stronger than women! I’m sure you don’t understand the feeling that I wish I was born a boy. I don’t carry a sword for pleasure.”

Leaving aside the possibility that Tashigi might one day pay Ivan-san a visit, as a female swordsman and Marine captain, she has obviously come up against the roadblock of sexism time and again. If someone looks down on her, it’s because of that.

I do think Zoro was being honest when he said the reason he couldn’t fight her was because she reminded him of his friend who had died. I think he was genuinely spooked back then.

But Tashigi didn’t believe him. “You view women as inferior. You don’t really try to fight us. You won’t kill us. You might not lose but you won’t win against Monet, either.” She basically said that if she let Monet go after her men, there would be carnage. Which was true.

Zoro said, “Are you looking down on me?”

Tashigi’s reply was a blunt, “Yes.”

“Fine. Do what you want.” Zoro sheathed his swords. “My duty is to keep her again from my friends too. All I have to do is block that path.”

What I think happened here is that Zoro thought, “Fine. I’ll let you handle this and I’ll see how you go.” Not in a patronising way. More like a “big brother” or “senpai” role. Kind of like how he is with Chopper and Usopp and Nami, the slightly weaker members of the crew. He’ll let them do their thing, but if he has to step in for their safety, he will do so without hesitation.

Zoro knows he’s the stronger swordsman here, but did not rub that in Tashigi’s face. He sat back and thought, “Good. You’ve improved a lot since Loguetown. You do have some fighting spirit, after all. Fine, you take this and if I need to, I’ll step in, but only if it gets really bad.”

And that’s pretty much how the fight panned out.

Were These Manga Panels? (Because They’re Awesome)

It was good to see that Tashigi’s confidence has grown. She snapped back at Zoro. Her fight with Monet confirms she has learned haki. (Probably a must for higher ranking officers in the New World.) She is tough, determined and strategic as she would not let go even when Monet was munching her shoulder. Nom, nom, nom.

But what the fight with Monet also confirmed is that if a logia user is fast enough, bog-standard haki will not cut it. I’m actually cool with that because it means Luffy won’t be able to just blitz everyone with Conqueror’s Haki (I know it only works on fodder but still, you know how I like a bit of peril in plot.) This also bodes well for the Smoker fight. Vergo is strong in the way of Haki but Smoker is a fast, tricky Logia type. Should be a good fight, when we get to see the end of it.

The speed differential meant Monet gained the upper hand. The way she gnawed on Tashigi’s shoulder was savage.

This is when Zoro thought, “Okay. Enough. Big brother has seen enough of Tashigi being bullied.”

Even unsheathing his swords, Zoro does damage. (The warning cut on Monet’s face should have been her cue to scarper.)

Still, Zoro would never, ever admit that he likes to help out anyone because that would ruin his pirate-hunter image. So he shit-talked Tashigi a bit. “You talk big but you took so much time. Time’s up. I have to go now.”

And to Monet, he said, “When you thought you couldn’t beat me, you should have run. Of course there are things I don’t wanna cut. But let me ask you something. Have you ever seen a fierce animal you were sure would never bite? Because I haven’t.”

The grey filter descended. Everything was in slow motion. Monet could not move.

Then, with his one-sword style: Great Dragon Shock, Zoro literally ripped Monet a new one.

Honestly, the Zoro and Tashigi fight was so damned savage. There was Monet, lying on the ground in two pieces, twitching and flailing and freaking out because she could no longer control her body (nightmare fuel) and Zoro wise-cracking, like, “Are you two happy now?” xD

And do you know what? Zoro didn’t even use haki. If he had, Monet would probably be dead.

But Monet did get up and tried to strike again - and this time, Tashigi was the one to finish her off. (Laws of shounen. Women have to fight women. The trope was so close to being subverted!)

Of course, Tashigi ragged on Zoro for not killing Monet. “You are like that, after all! You can’t fight seriously against women.”

Nah... I don’t think it’s that, exactly. think Sanji’s right about Zoro. He does have a softer side. But it’s not like Sanji’s, in that he wants to protect women. Zoro just likes to help out deserving people who are not as strong as him. Secretly, though, while maintaining his surly demeanor.  And maybe he just doesn’t like killing all that much. If they’re a good opponent, you can fight them again someday, right? Why waste them?

YMMV, of course, and I don’t mind if anyone disagrees. I can see the evidence for the other side too.

And, of course, Tashigi collapsed from her injuries and Zoro had to lift her out of the Biscuit Room. Just as well, really, because the gas was leaking in and Zoro has no sense of direction. I think this is a new record for Zoro: getting lost in a round room with two doors.

How sweet was that little scene with Tashigi geeking out over Shisui, though?

I think from now on, Zoro and Tashigi will be secret buddies. :)

IT’S SAD CHOPPER, NOOOOOOOO... ;_;

I love Chopper. Ever since I learned about his past back on Drum Island, I have had a major soft spot for Chopper. Fun fact: I own a Chopper key topper, a Chopper roll-up pencil case and a giant Chopper mug I drink coffee from every morning without fail. You could say I am a Chopper fan.

I like his honesty, his cleverness and his kindness. Cleverness is not a rare commodity in scientists at Caesar’s level. But kindness and honesty? Those are first edition shiny Charizard rare qualities.

And I’m gonna frame this bit of discussion of Chopper by comparing him with Caesar. Because Caesar has said the following phrase several times this arc, to the point it stood out to me: “I will treat you at any cost.”

Every time I heard him say that, I was like, “Nice significant omission, Caesar. You’ll treat them with your crazy drugs at any cost. You’ll treat them with that poisoned candy at any cost. You will continue your “treatments” at any cost.” Another sugar-coated lie with a basis in truth. The sort Caesar specialises in.

I was not aware of the actual cost until now.

The morality bar has officially given up and gone home. It’s crying on the sofa now because it can’t deal with Caesar anymore. (@infriga That human garbage comment... Oda is not wrong there. xD)

Mocha Regrets Doing The Chili Pepper Challenge

The action in 614 picked up with Robin and Chopper teaming up to restrain and sedate children. Not in a Nurse Ratchet way. They were helping.

The kids still running free were being held back by Nami and Mocha. Well, Nami tried to hold them back without hurting them (which is nigh impossible with her weather skill set) and Mocha ran with the candy.

Inevitably, the giant kids were the real obstacle. One took a might swing and Nami and suddenly, Mocha was on her own. She ran to a crossroads, and then, like Gandalf at Moria, she was like, “I have no memory of this place.”

But the other kids did. Some looped round and cut her off.

Must admit, at this point I thinking, “Jeez, just let them have the damned candy and you can sedate them later. They’ve been dosed for years. One more won’t kill them.”

Because Mocha knew it was, in fact, the opposite, she decided to take one for the team and NECK THE ENTIRE LOT OF CANDY IN ONE GO.

Even I gasped at that one. That was a major, major overdose. Even Chopper had never seen anyone put away that quantity of drugs before. He was screaming at her to spit them out. He had told her what kind of drug it was! But Mocha hamstered them in her cheeks for a while and I thought, cool, she’ll hold them there until the kids are all sedated. Job done!

Nope. This is Oda we’re talking about.

He was about to engage Sad Chopper and Certain Death and I was not ready for them.

Chopper and Caesar Compared

Remember when Chopper and Mocha were holding the door against the other kids? There was a bit of that conversation OP fans were not party to (Oda’s fave cutaway technique in action again).

Mocha asked Chopper if Caesar really was a bad person. He was always so lovely to them and gave them candy every day. 

“Yes,” Chopper said. “That’s his trick. You kids are his test subjects. You were never sick from the beginning and your giant body is proof. I’ve heard turning people into giants has been a project underway for hundreds of years. No one has ever succeeded. This experiment is a doomed failure too. Caesar knows this. I suppose he’s just collecting data for his next attempt.”

Then poor, little Mocha asked a difficult question. “What’s going to happen to us?”

Chopper dropped the heavy truth bomb.

“You’re all gonna die. None of you will make it home. That candy is a deadly poison. It will destroy your body before you know it. The more you eat, you’ll crave more and the harder it’ll be for you to get away from Caesar. I sedated you already but from the side-effects from the candy... you’ll probably die before you can even become an adult.”

Ouch. 

Huge, huge ouch. 

Especially since Mocha had a short flashback where the kids all got together and promised to go out to sea when they were in their twenties and have an adventure. Once they got better and went home. ;_;

I mean, hefty truth bombs of that magnitude are not normally the way you’d deal with breaking such crushing news to kids. But that’s not Chopper’s way. He is kind and honest, almost to a fault. Plus, they were in a really highly-charged, difficult, life-or-death situation. The truth was probably the quickest way to impress on Mocha the seriousness of what was happening.

Chopper also hinted they might not die, “but only if you kids escape now. You’re not gonna die. We will save you all!” That glimmer of hope led to Mocha making a noble sacrifice for her friends. If she could show them what the candy did, they wouldn’t want to eat it. Then they’d want to go home, just like her.

But here’s the thing... Chopper told Mocha the truth. Even though it shook her to the core and distressed her deeply, it was the right thing to do and helped Mocha take difficult steps to improve her situation. Being carted away by Sanji and his G5 fans to a treatment room, Chopper said: “I will save you at any cost, Mocha!” 

Chopper will do anything to save Mocha, which means getting her better, off the drugs and home to her parents.

This is in stark contrast to Caesar, who always said, “I will treat you at any cost.”

The treatment was the experimental drug and the cost was Mocha’s life.

Caesar wanted data to further his own ambitions. 

Chopper’s motivations are entirely selfless.

Chopper for President.

Oh, and btw, Luffy punched his way out of the garbage pit. The haki use on the fodders and the “Do I have to repeat myself?” moment was badass.

Caesar, you’d better get a jar because you’ll need somewhere to put all your loose teeth.

Caesar has made Luffy so angry he tries punching through the fourth wall to find him.

[sparda3g]

My Hero Academia Chapter 226 Review

This is a rather conflicting chapter for me to grade on. On one hand, there are points that I like such as Toga’s backstory and the battle’s conclusion. On the other hand, there are points that reminded me on why the series’ formula needs an update or change that will benefit in the long run. It also doesn’t help to assure the purpose behind the new faction. When it comes down to the overall, it was a good chapter that was saved by focusing on Toga, one in which is long overdue for adding character’s depth.

From the get-go, the flashback shows many people interviewed about Toga’s strange behavior. She was seen as an outcast, weird, and unloved for who she really is. She even drank a popular boy’s blood back in middle school. There’s a couple of blocked text to hide Toga’s real name for some reason. It could be nothing or maybe a plot twist; who knows. Bottom line, she was not seen as normal for her fascination with blood.

The chapter shifts to the battlefield. I thought Toga will make a comeback at this point, but instead she collapse, leaving the floor room to Curious. This means more rambling, though because of her knowledge, her words basically narrates Toga’s life story. I believe that’s her whole point of her character; other than that, she’s rather single dimensional, and that’s disappointing. Anyway, Toga’s backstory is exploited further, where it becomes clear that her life cannot relate to society; eventually, pushed her away.

She has a strange fascination with blood, be it human or animal. People around her, family included, were disgusted by her action and smile. So much for the phrase, “A face that only a mother can love.” Reminding Toga of her past pisses her off, but Curious brings out a special glove and Curious Burst her face. Toga is at a clear disadvantage. She tries to run away, but she can’t get too far ahead. By this point, she was narrating how her life was never unhappy because of what she believes in.

She uses Ochako’s blood, transforming into her; I almost laugh at the ideal she does more work than the real self. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because it’s only for a disguise, not to use a quirk like one. We’ll get to that soon. Bottom line, Toga is screwed one way or another. Disguising as Ochako reminds her that she is lucky to have Deku’s complete trust in her and she wants to be like that. That’s her life. That’s actually a bit sad. If only she wasn’t this crazy.

Right before Toga gets another Curious Burst head-on, Curious begins to float. No, the real Ochako isn’t there and reveal as the big traitor as one theorized. No offense. It was Toga that made her float. She goes after other enemies, touching one-by-one. She recalls one of her ways of living as a villain: don’t get caught. This push her further and further to overcome the odds. Hero much? She realizes that she can use Ochako’s quirk.

According to Curious, she implies that quirk has evolved or upgraded by the power of fear, or in Toga’s case, it might as well be the power of love, even if her definition is twisted. This seems to reinforce the idea of feelings to be the key to unlock more power-ups. Even Deku’s recent new quirk was said to be reflected by his emotions. Toga regains her sadistic smile and release the float on Curious, dropping her from high up in the sky, straight to the ground. You see, when you’re a villain, this type of display is welcomed. Granted, heroes can do that in other series, but for this one, you need to count on a villain to be violent. Dead or knocked out, the battle has ended and Toga continue to live on to do what she knows best: destroy.

Let me first address the parts I like. I like the backstory of Toga. It’s simple, straight-forward, and reasonable. She was outcast by society, but she stood by her way of living, including love. I also like the struggle she was facing against Curious, probably the only good part aside from the ending. Speaking of which, it ended cool because it was dark and somewhat new to the series. We hardly see a villain gets the win; actually, probably never. Because it involved with two villains, a loss wouldn’t be harmful, like “Oh no! He’s my favorite hero! I really like that guy!” Basically, anything goes.

The problem I have is the execution. Let me first address the main key before everyone begin shoving at me. Yes, I know in volume 19, it was addressed that Toga can copy quirk alas Monoma 2.0. The problem is how it was presented. I have to look back at the past chapters, and the last time her quirk was described was in Internship Arc. That was the last time. It never said anything about copying quirk. Now, if we go by volume 19 additional detail, just exactly when Toga knows she can do it. The answer is just now. It can go many ways. You can say volume 19 spoiled the surprise of this chapter. You can say volume 19 was more or less contradicted since this chapter was designed as a big update. Which is it?

Removing the detail from volume 19, let’s talk about the idea of quirk’s evolution. I don’t have much of a problem with it. If anything, I would have prefer this over Six Quirks of Deku. That begs the question, why not use this concept instead. Maybe it’s not about evolution, but simply another technique. Whatever it is, at least this will keep character up-to-date. Although, everyone has a quirk, so it still applies the same effect; only few characters will get the spotlight. I can only hope Kohei’s imagination is expansive if he’s willing to go through with evolution. It’s passable; what’s troubling however, is the execution.

Toga acquired the ability to use other’s quirk. First of all, is having multiple quirks the Senju DNA of My Hero, where it becomes the most abusive tool to obtain godlike? It’s getting really old. Second, if volume 19 said she can do it, why is this a big surprise to her? Even if she did know, only she has properly control it, how convenient this was. It would have been a lot more interesting to see overcome the odds since that was the narrative it was pushing for. It can be said the same for acquiring a new ability, but it’s more of a cheap getting out of the corner technique. It’s the same problem this series seems to keep on bringing.

People would argue that Shounen series tends to have the characters acquire a new technique and win the battle. The difference is it’s not done as a game changer, rather a deciding factor. Naruto has Sage Mode; it wasn’t the endgame. Luffy has Gear 3; it wasn’t the endgame. Even the last big fight wasn’t as one-sided or one-hit kill. This wouldn’t be a problem if the battle structure would alter for each one. It’s either a brand new power or overwhelming defeat. The storytelling is getting repetitive, or already has. Plus, it’s odd for a villain to obtain a heroic factor to win, but they are designed for us to grow attach to their characters. I guess that’s why Curious hardly has any, and I could expect for others as well.

The battle was mediocre suffered by familiar structure, weak opponent in many ways, and a cheap turnaround. At least the ending was cool though. The artwork is pretty solid as well. I still like the chapter despite its execution. Toga’s backstory was long overdue to address, so it was good to learn more about her. Simple but effective. She is arguably fans’ favorite villain, so this is a great treat. My concern for the Meta Liberation Army has grown. They’re here as stepping stones. Maybe it’s still early to say, but perhaps I’m being optimistic. We’ll see after the break.

[thatyanderecritic]

Do you like Mirai Nikki (you can review it or just give a response to this ask, either one's fine)? Personally, I love Yuno but Mirai Nikki as a whole was kind of a disappointment to me as it was full of plot holes and certain parts of the story felt really contrived, so I'm curious to hear what you think.

Hey there anon. Kai here.

Can I first say that I’m not surprised in getting an ask like this. Like I said back in the Elfin Lied post, I already knew we’re going to get ask like these after I posted that review on Higurashi. Mirai Nikki, Elfin Lied, and Higurashi are all in the same vein and people would always recommend the others if you watch any of these three. 

Anyways, to answer your question, I legitimately liked Mirai Nikki. It’s one of the few shounen anime that I watched from beginning to end without skipping. I even read the manga completely. It was the show that got me into yanderes in the first place (Genderbend Yuno? Fucking Noice mate). But do I think the storytelling was god tier or the story was created by a genius? No, of course not. It was a fine anime and can be considered decent to good. On a grading scale, Mirai Nikki was a C- to a C+… maybe a low B-. 

Mirai Nikki most certainly has it flaws and plot holes. But the same can be said about any other piece of media. There’s no such thing as the perfect story. There’s always going to be an issue that makes a reader go “???”. Hell, the fucking bible got more plot holes than swiss cheese. Yet people believe the bible as if it’s literally the word of the lord (Nothing against religion. I’m just stating some of the passages are… something else). And that’s the trick with storytelling. The writer knows that there are some parts that are convoluted… some parts that don’t make complete sense… some parts that are a bit of a stretch… and so on. They can do so much to smooth out these wrinkles but in the end they have to rely on this: Is the story compelling enough to suspend a reader’s disbelief? 

Look at the story of Kingdom Hearts. It’s crazy, confusing, and just downright nonsensical. Yet people love the story, characters, and so on. Why? Because just for a moment… the duration of the game, it makes the player suspend their disbelief and gloss over details or issues. For that moment, in that world, anything could happen and you would believe it. 

This applies to Mirai Nikki. I can go on a soap box right now and list every thing that was wrong with it. But I’m not. Besides the fact that I’m to lazy to do that, I just thought that the show was good enough. It did something that not many stories do for me… suspending my disbelief. I’m a very salty person. You can see in my reviews that I’m not shy in pointing out flaws in storytelling and called out bullshit. But I’m more than willing to admit if a story is good… if it manage to capture my utter attention. And Mirai Nikki did that for me. It was a decent story, the characters were interesting, and the world building was a bit unique.

Am I saying your opinion is wrong? Of course not. It’s a matter of “the eye of the beholder”. What managed to mystify me would appear as a cheap parlor trick to you. Mirai Nikki was a cheap parlor trick to you, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s both the beauty and horrors that is storytelling. Writers, artists, musicians, and any othe sort of creators are basically magicians. Some people fall for their spells and others are immune to it. 

So what do I think about Mirai Nikki? I liked it and don’t find it bad. Has it flaws and issues but I’m willing to overlook it for the sake of enjoyment. It used the yandere trope really well. One of the few that properly use the trope for an actual interesting story telling. Yuno is the ideal female yandere and Yandere-Chan can never take her place.

Side Note: I want to continue a little bit on my analogy here. It’s important to give criticism to writers and artists when their “Spell” don’t work so they may improve. Point out the flaws and don’t hesitate in giving suggestions for improvement. But don’t get hung up if the person doesn’t change their act or do much improvement. Artistic freedom is important, but there’s no harm in asking for more. You can ask a magician to include a rabbit trick in their show. But if they don’t include it, don’t get pissed. You don’t need to stick around either. There’s plenty of other shows to watch. 

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2017 Part 3: The one where I get lazy

It’s that time of the season where I didn’t get around to doing these posts for a couple of days, which at least gives me an excuse to go through a lot of shows very quickly. I’ll start with the especially worthless shorts.

Nyanko Days

Nyanko Days is 2 minutes of a friendless highschooler cat-lady-in-training hanging out with her moe archetype cats. Can’t say it isn’t cute, but... yeaaah.

One Room

It’s pretty incredible that One Room is apparently an original, since it’s essentially the final boss Dark Souls Male Gaze Simulator 2017 of VN adaptations: Four minutes of your moeblob neighbor asking the viewer to study with her, presented in first person. And man, that guy just can’t keep his eyes from wandering. I’m not going to lie, compared to the usual dumb comedy short this is at least something else, even though it’s obviously terrible. The funniest thing is that the already have Female Gaze Simulator 2017 lined up for next season.

Piace - Watashi no Italian

Back to things you’ve seen before, this is Working in an Italian restaurant. It being so short prevents any character stuff from occurring so it’s just manzai comedy, moeblobs and boobs with a slightly weird character design. Unlike the last few seasons bishoujo shows are not rare in this one, so I don’t see why you’d take this over any of the others.

Chiruran - Nibun no Ichi

I have no idea what this is supposed to be, since it’s apparently a spinoff of something else? In any case it’s some vaguely Touken Ranbu-ish thing where chibi boys with swords are cute. Whatever.

Kemono Friends

We’re done with the shorts now, but this is the one show that I can’t believe isn’t one. Not only is it classic short material (cheap and badly animated CG, gijinka hangout concept, based on a mobile game), it also has about enough content to fill 2 minutes. But it’s not two minutes. This isn’t the worst show I’ve watched this season, but it has to be the most boring: a girl who is a girl and a girl who is a serval walk around for 24 minutes and talk about... well, nothing, unless you count dropping properly capitalized jargon words like “Friend” a lot. Oh, and there’s a few instances of completely laughable “action”. Suffice it to say that the barebones personalities on display here can’t sustain this, and the only other Friend who shows up briefly is a hippo who doesn’t manage to add much variety. So it doesn’t even do a good job of showing off the game’s character designs, which was clearly the intention here. The studio must have been very surprised that Nexon paid for 12x24m of this, and their struggle to fill that may be amusing to think about but doesn’t make this any more watchable.

ACCA - 13-ku Kansatsu-ka

Someone sure likes their handsome guys in uniforms. ACCA is shameless styleservice: Apart from the pretty boys (and girls) in broad-shouldered suits and ties, this features great art direction, a very pretty setting and cool jazz music. It’s just that the content is almost gleefully anti-interesting: What we have here is basically Rolling Girls, but about a guy with bedroom eyes who travels around looking cool while smoking, eating cake and... auditing. Yes, looking at spreadsheets has never been this stylish. Somehow this entire thing seems like the result of a dare, but I can’t help being intrigued nonetheless. The style can carry it for a bit, and maybe the plot will pick up. And if it doesn’t, it’s still possible that I can get used to it being mainly about its own presentation - Non Non Biyori for hepcats and male tailoring afficionados, essentially. Gonna keep an eye on this.

Chain Chronicle - Haecceitas no Hikari

It turns out that Chain Chronicle had some movies previously, and while I can’t say if those help with understanding it, it’s never a good idea to drop the viewer right into a huge brawl involving about 30 characters with no introduction whatsoever. I get the appeal of opening your series with everyone getting spanked by the final boss right at the start, but come on. After that’s over, Chain Chronicle turns out to be, well.. a serious mobile fantasy game adaptation. Which means all your favorite rare cards show up for a second and then some generic plot about saving the world from the Dark Lord starts. It seems to have quite a bit of money behind it, but if it has any amount of originality or ambition, I'm not seeing it in the first episode and that’s where it needs to be for me to give this a second thought.

elDLIVE

eIDLIVE is a Weekly Shounen Jump manga by Akira Amano, whose main work is Hitman Reborn, but is mainly known to the more discerning crowd for the Psycho-Pass character designs; my first impression is that the main character looks a whole lot like Akane. But unlike Butcher-brand grimdarkness, eIDLIVE is a silly action comedy that seems to trend young even for the Jump crowd - read, it’s a bunch of random nonsense with outrageous faces. It splits the difference between juvenile humor ala Heybot and a standard shounen superhero plot, and that’s pretty painful both ways. The only thing it has going for it is that it has a colorful, stylized presentation, but looking like a more stylish HeroAca doesn’t sufficiently endear it to me either, especially since a Jump adaptation by Pierrot is likely to be rather... long, both in runtime and in slow plot bullshit.

Gabriel DropOut

Guess what, Dogakobo is adapting an ostensibly funny manga about cute girls again. And of course it looks pretty nice as usual; so let’s talk about the source material. Gabriel DropOut is about angels (and demons) that visit a regular high school for some reason. Its one joke is that the angels range from lazy slobs to outright rotten, and the demons range from responsible and nice to being too stupid to be evil. What a twist! The astute watcher may notice that this is essentially Sansha Sanyou with the conceit much more clearly pushed to the forefront, and this doesn’t even have the occasional crazy sakuga outbursts of Sansha Sanyou while not being any more interesting. In a season where this type of show is making a strong comeback, I see no reason to bother with it unless you need to watch all of the bishoujo anime.

Hand Shakers

If you told me that Hand Shakers is a subversive art piece from the fringes of the superflat movement, I would be inclined to believe you. Of course, that’s probably not the intention here: this is GoHands, and making eye-searingly ugly and garish anime is just what they do. And they’ve outdone themselves this time, their trademark Instagram color gradient filter is only the start here. An out-of-control camera that highlights the Google Sketchup-tier 3D backgrounds (with the added benefit of the 2D foregrounds often not quite matching up, to nauseating effect), the CG “special” effects that Gonzo did better in 2004, the outright use of photo cutouts for anything too complicated to model, the bizarre character work that resembles a cheap mid-2000s eroge, the random wandering highlights on shiny objects; if this was Takashi Murakami or Inu Curry, we’d all be scrambling to see the hidden meaning in this dumpster fire that could easily double as a scathing parody of KyoAni’s recent love of postprocessing. And ironically that meaning wouldn’t even be hard to find, since the story (as far as I was able to follow it, reading the subs is hard when your eyes are bleeding) could also double as a satire of shitty shounen plots: A guy gets superpowers by holding hands with his waifu and has to fight other pairs in ridiculous relationships; clearly someone thought this was very meaningful indeed, especially when the enemy pair is an asshole and his BDSM sub (incidentally a plot point last seen in none other than Valkyrie Drive). On top of this, the script does the impressive double whammy of only blatantly expositing via lots of jargon without actually explaining anything.

So yeah, Hand Shakers is absolutely, stupefyingly horrible, to the point where I’m totally down to watch it. It’s probably not meant to be a genre sendup like Mayoiga was, but with a bit of Death of the Author it can easily double as one. And hey, it’s still easier to digest than Occultic;Nine.

Idol Jihen

You know, an anime about a version of Japan where politics are run via idol competitions really has no business being this fucking boring. With that setup, you’d at least expect it to be a comedy (or better yet a satire - just read the above sentence again, it basically writes itself), but somehow it only manages to be a slightly above-average regular idol show, with as little as you can say about those as usual. Usual characters, usual music, usual ganbaru. Seriously, it’s pretty amazing how little the politics aspect ends up mattering, that must have taken some effort. I didn’t really feel Macross Delta, but that at least did a better job making its “idols where they don’t belong” subject matter work. It’s possible that this show discovers its potential somewhere along the way, but if the beginning was a fakeout intended to show that this is run-of-the-mill idol shenanigans, it may have done a little too well at that; my takeaway was mainly that silly universe aside, yes, I’ve seen this before, and no, I don’t need to see more of it.

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

So after years of “Dogakobo is the new KyoAni while KyoAni is off doing their own thing”, KyoAni is back in the game of adapting ostensibly funny manga about cute girls. I’m not shocked that the results are pretty much identical, this is what happens if you adapt 4koma humor in a flat, colorful style and put some effort in it. Maidragon (the manga) is, if nothing else, better than Gabriel DropOut, but not decidedly so. Production values aside (and while nice, Maidragon is no Nichijou and not even a Sansha Sanyou), it’s just the standard magical girlfriend shit of yore; that the main character lucking into a magical maid is female here makes very little difference in practice. Kobayashi as a character is at least a bigger draw than the usual nothings in something like this (and definitely bigger than zany boob dragon maid Tohru); she’s moody, somewhat acerbic and a maid fundamentalist - i.e., anti-fanservice/cosplay maids. If I’m going to watch one of these shows, it might as well be the one that has me as the main character... but it’s entirely possible that I get tired of this very quickly.

Kuzu no Honkai

Kuzu no Honkai (aka Scum’s Wish) is based on a hyped drama manga, so I expected to see the next 3-gatsu, and I’m still not convinced by 3-gatsu a whole season in. But where 3-gatsu is overall still mostly a warm iyashikei blanket where even Rei’s depression due to hilariously tragic backstory seems mostly intended to elicit wanting to give him a hug, Scum’s Wish is, for better or for worse, the real deal: A sexually charged story about awful, not even remotely likeable characters, most closely related to something like Aku no Hana. As of episode one it pulls no punches with the horny kisses and it’s noitaminA, so it’s a looker too - it’s cool how everything is in shoujo sparklevision except when it comes to the making out, which comes across as pretty grimy. In theory I’m all for something like this, but well... watching a girl fuck some other guy because she can’t fuck her brother, who is fucking some other girl, who is the one that the guy fucking the first girl can’t fuck, is just not what I’m into, especially if I’m not even supposed to like the characters. Pity Fuck: The Animation is something that I feel like I shouldn’t disregard on its first episode alone, but I felt the same way about Aku no Hana and didn’t end up finishing that either.

Little Witch Academia

So here we go, the other big name of the season. Unsurprisingly, the LWA TV reboot is still LWA, so it’s pretty good. The animation remains pleasantly cartoony and expressive and it’s generally made with a lot of care. I still can’t help feeling slightly let down by it though: The basic concept of LWA already got threadbare halfway through the second movie, and since this just starts from the beginning again, there definitely isn’t anything new. The best I can come up with is that it’s even more of a Harry Potter clone than it was before (yes, that is actually possible), but that’s not winning it any points. Another weird thing is that the action, while hard to criticize on a technical level, comes across as strangely unengaging - I usually blame the editing in these cases. In any case, LWA is entertaining to watch for now but it has to go somewhere with its story and characters really soon if it wants to fill 24 episodes of TV anime. I can only forgive it treading water again for so long, no matter how well it’s put together.

Marginal#4 - Kiss kara Tsukuru Big Bang

And finally, here’s the idol boyband anime of the season. The only one, if I’m counting correctly. We used to get more even half a year ago, and to be quite honest I can’t really tell the difference anymore. It’s like all of those with all the characters one of those always has and comes in the variety without the self-insert main girl, if you want the finer details ask your local UtaPri specialist. Really the only thing that raises an eyebrow is that this is about four guys who try to start a school club while already being in an idol group, which seems slightly backwards? Having your cake and eating it too, maybe? Apart from that incredible innovation, possibly the most forgettable show in a forgettable genre.

[bainhardt]

FALL 2018 ANIME - STRAGGLERS PART 1

Ore ga Suki nano wa Imouto dakedo Imouto ja Nai - No doubt about it, the word here is: SOULLESS.

It’s basically like “bad Eromanga-sensei.” And I watched Eromanga-sensei to completion, so believe me when I say that that show sucks. For this one to register even lower on the scale is an impressive feat in garbage.

It has all the same features, so really I could review it exactly the same. Incest overtones, starring a sister hiding her job with the help of her who-gives-a-shit older brother? Check. Extended cast of other girls who are attracted like moths to the flame to our milquetoast lead? Check. It threw in more nudity too, with three distinct fanservice scenes in one episode (by my count).

And I’d assume there are other things that will hold equally true despite there being no evidence of such in the first episode. I bet this show will simultaneously glorify and bastardize what it’s like to be a Light Novel author, and that everyone will fall in love with the protagonist despite him sucking so, so much.

In the end, it’s presentable but unimpressive. The animation gets weak at times and the characters look... uncomfortable. The music was annoying. I’m not even sure why that is, but it really was. I think even at my lowest points - times in my life when I’d watch literally anything - I’d still feel this one was a waste of time. Absolute No.

CONCEPTION - The opening credits for this one were perturbing; shot after shot of statuesque, overly-reflective bodies posed in suggestive ways silhouetted against a blinding red background.

Then the show actually starts, and everything suddenly looks drab by comparison. It’s not outright ugly, but the contrast was a poor choice. And the first scene has a girl talking about being pregnant... I think this show is pregnant with some not-so-subtle themes.

Well, it’s based on a game. The story has the protagonist and his cousin isekai’d hardcore into a world of magic and fantasy that is being threatened by generic evil X, this time called Impurities. These two isekai’d people, as well as 11 other chosen women, are the only ones who can purify the evil, but they gotta make babies to do it, for some reason.

For about half the episode, the protagonist is handcuffed spread-eagle to a bed in his underwear while a sexy nurse explains all of the game-mechanics-but-oh-wait-we’re-not-a-game-this-time to him at length. What I would describe as a needlessly high number of these shots feature his clothed dick prominently in the foreground. Then, he’s ushered directly into gettin’ it on with his cousin in their first act of saving the magical world.

I’m someone who relies a lot on my gut instinct when making judgments, and when I watched this anime, I said, “This is so ass.” If the idea of a bunch of generic moe characters having forced sex while a weird raccoon mascot flies around making perverted jokes sounds like your cup of tea, try it out, but I think this might be a case where playing the game is the better choice.

Or who knows, maybe the game sucks too. No.

Beelzebub-jou no Okinimesu mama. - In one word, this show is: FLUFFY.

The first thing that stands out to me is how gorgeously animated every scene is; this anime looks fantastic. Buuut... I think that’s the only compliment I have. It’s somewhat cute, but not especially funny or interesting. And the plot is baffling in a way that’s tough to pinpoint.

The story takes place in hell and features a variety of demons who work in a sort of “government,” with Beelzebub at the head. But therein lies the chief problem I have with this anime: how it portrays “demons” feels almost like a complete waste of the concept.

Couldn’t Beelzebub have been a princess or something instead? The setting is like a city, and the cast all look like people. Practically nothing about this show says hell, or demons, or underworld in any capacity. I understand it’s difficult to draw accurate judgments from just one episode, so maybe there’s more to this later. Currently it simply seems made up or tacked-on.

I don’t feel there’s any reason for me to come back for episode 2. No.

Karakuri Circus - Oh, it’s got a Bump of Chicken op. That’s usually a good sign.

A boy is the heir to a huge family fortune and is being hunted by some weirdos in suits. A random guy on the street working as a circus promoter gets involved keeping him safe, a bunch of crazy shit happens, and they end up at the circus. The third lead character is introduced, a foreign woman who seems like a circus performer of some kind and who can control this enormous battle puppet. She kills the guys in suits, who were also enormous battle puppets. And some other guy shows up at the end who has his own enormous battle puppet...

I think it’s an action show, but it’s really not bad in the slightest. The art is goddamn fantastic, the music was cool as hell, the characters were appealing. There’s a lot to like about this one.

Watching this reminded me a lot of Hinomaru Sumo; it’s an excellent show, but one I might not be particularly interested in seeing through to the end. I’m not certain.

Perhaps if I had far fewer shows already lined up, I’d squeeze this one in (it might even be superior to some other shows I’m watching). I’ll toss it a Maybe because I don’t want to rule it out.

Merc Storia: Mukiryoku no Shounen to Bin no Naka no Shoujo - I sincerely thought the dad was going to be the protag in this one, before he disappeared in the first 3 minutes. Woops. I think I would’ve liked that, actually.

In a fantasy world with monsters, there are magic users called Healers who can effectively tame the monsters so they can coexist with humans. Our protag, a young boy, is from a line of Healers, but he’s not confident in his abilities. A souvenir bottle from his father’s travels happens to have a fairy inside of it, and when the show picks up, the two of them are traveling by themselves. We don’t learn why right away.

The fairy is cute, and I like how she ends her sentences with なのです... it reminds me of the owls from Kemono Friends. The two lead characters have a good dynamic, and it’s actually pretty funny watching their interactions. I appreciate that the protagonist has believable shortcomings: he’s prone to complaining, he’s nervous under pressure, and he’s also afraid of monsters. Hey, I can’t blame him; I think I would be afraid of monsters, too.

I honestly started this one with low expectations, but I found myself smiling by the end. It’s well done, and I kind of want to watch more, even though my schedule is looking pretty packed already. I’m going to give this one a Yes in spite of myself, lol.

CONCLUSION - Calling some of these stragglers might be sort of inaccurate given that other shows I watched also aired this week, but roll with me. There are still 3 more shows I have to watch (by my rules), but they all air next week or even later, so it would be a waste to wait that long to post this.

[ravenwolfie97]

the FMA netflix movie

i mean... it was okay, i guess

i don’t love it. i don’t hate it That much. there are some things i liked, and an amount i didn’t like. it was okay

(more in-depth stuff under the cut)

if i had to adapt the main story into a two-hour movie, i would have paced it WAY differently. there was a lot of backtracking/flashbacks that just absolutely killed the flow of the movie. all the major events could have been handled a lot more fluidly; it seemed like we kept hopping back and forth between locations and plot points which made the flow so confused

i really liked how they incorporated winry into more of the story so she could be more important in the long run, but they really gave alphonse the shaft and that was disappointing. edward was alright, there were a lot of good moments with him, but overall he just kinda acted like a typical shounen character. it wasn’t the worst thing, but he could have been better

the other characters weren’t particularly noteworthy either, since they had barely any time to build them up. i appreciated hughes and the development he got in the short span, i was a fan of mustang’s performance, nina was adorable and tucker was... he was just crazy. and it didn’t really work for him. beyond those four, i can’t say anything about anyone else

the acting was actually pretty good! except for kid edward. he was really terrible. at least kid al tried. maybe that’s the reason they didn’t do the whole beginning, cause the kid wouldn’t be able to make it convincing. i really liked hughes’ performance the most, and edward had some wonderful moments; they were both excellent casting choices. the only thing that really stunted (HAH) ed’s performance was just the writing itself

the CGI... was really bad for most of it... i mean, i know that japan isn’t great with their 3D animation techniques but... this was not satisfying Especially for Gluttony, jesus christ he was horrible

i can’t say too much about the story, especially the lab 5 scenes, since i’ve never properly seen that part of the anime or manga, but again it goes back to the pacing problems. trisha dying and the kids bringing her back was so fucking rushed, i felt nothing; it went by in an instant. i would have preferred it better if they went through the entire scene like the beginning of the anime, and then cut to ed and al doing military stuff. i don’t know if starting in Lior (sorry, Reole) was the best idea, or at least it should have used the time it took doing terribly choreographed CG fight scenes to flesh out cornello’s deal and why the brothers were there in the first place, again like the anime but condensed nicer. mustang and crew coming in to apprehend cornello was unexpected, but i didn’t mind the segue. it functioned well into tying everything together. the rest of the middle section is alright, though i don’t know why they made the conversation between mustang and hughes in the middle of nowhere so important. i would have preferred they gave winry and ed a sort of reunion scene with her fixing his automail, so they could talk about automail and give winry something to do other than stand around and be cute, witty, or crying. since that’s Kind of her thing. i don’t know why they made hakuto the bad guy since i literally don’t remember him being all that important in the anime. couldn’t they have just used fuhrer king bradley? would have made a hell of a lot more sense, i think. regardless, the deals with tucker and marcoh are rushed but they’re also given too much time in other places; too many of these scenes go on for too long, providing us with nothing but space, when they could be using that time to actually put its characters to use and invest in them a bit. i don’t know why lieutenant ross was really added? she didn’t do anything that other characters couldn’t have handled, and the one time she was supposed to be important they had mustang fill in instead. but also... that made no goddamn sense, like what was envy trying to pull? it was clumsy, but i guess it sort of worked with the whole “ed gets detained” and then the ed/riza power duo al’s little dilemma is so fucking forced in this, it really could have gone without or at the very least, once again, it could have been condensed to make room for other more important stuff. i’m skipping around a bit, but i didn’t completely mind the dream/door of truth sequence; i just wish it didn’t recap over the entire beginning. like, if it was a portion of it, like he was reliving it and it showed al’s soul being bonded, and put more emphasis on Truth and that whole deal then it would have been better. i have no real words for the final scene in lab 5 - like i said, i don’t know very much about what was Supposed to happen there. regardless, i hated that tucker had to monologue everything while ed stood there and screamed. it was slow and boring, when it could have been interesting if it was done differently. the actual fight scenes with the homunculus dummy army were okay, if again a bit drawn out. seriously, this movie drew out so many unnecessary parts when it should have given more time to the actual important events! it’s wild!

the little bit of sequel-bait at the end is intriguing, but i just hope to god whatever they do next is better than this was

okay i’m done, have a good day

[pod7]

Summer Anime* 2017 Lightning Review

*Just the shows I watched, of course

I’m leaving out shows that I dropped, so if you remember me talking about a show but it’s not listed here, I was either bored by it or just didn’t enjoy it anymore after a certain point, and that’s really all there is to say~!

Shows Included: 18if, Action Heroine Cheer Fruits, Aho Girl, Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season, Centaur no Nayami, Classroom of the Elite, Clione no Akari, Gamers!, Hajimete no Gal, Isekai Shokudou, Kakegurui, Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun, Knight’s & Magic, Koi to Uso, Made in Abyss, Nana Maru San Batsu, New Game!!,  Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen, Pokemon Sun & Moon, Princess Principal, Teekyuu 9, Tenshi no 3P!, Tsurezure Children, 

Reminder that there are spoilers in the reviews below

18if I didn’t quite get what they were trying for with this show until about half-way through. This felt like more of an excuse to explore and experiment stylistically than to actually tell a story at most times, but because of that it got to tell lots of varied and unusual-for-anime stories, including an episode exploring the culture of the hearing impaired/deaf population of Japan, which was really cool. The ending just ended up being kind of wank, but since there wasn’t really that big of a reveal set up, it wasn’t that disappointing. If you want to see some interesting visual styles and some cool Twilight Zone style reveals, you might give this show a shot. 7/10

Action Heroine Cheer Fruits This was quietly one of the better shows of the season. It had the same framework story-wise as Love Live; girls end up banding together to save a building from being demolished and help support the town by buying into the newest fad sweeping the nation. Only instead of idol groups, it’s “local heroes”, live stage shows portraying sentai and superhero like characters beating villains with the goods and virtues representing the town they’re from. The girls are all really cute, even the really cliché ojou-sama~ Shimura had her moments. I will also give this show all the praise in the world for not only including a handicapped character but also making her a central figure to the plot. The ending of the finale where she is included in the show after working behind the scenes for so long tugged on my heart strings a bit. Plus, there is a not so vague relationship between Misaki and Roko, with Roko probably being my favorite character in the show. It’s not as moe as Love Live and the comedy isn’t as quality as something like Yuru Yuri or Wakaba Girl, but it’s still a great show. 9/10

Aho Girl The comedy reminded me of a mixture of Saiki-kun and Plustic Nee-san; very off the wall slapstick kind of stuff, but still really clever and you could tell there was a lot of love put into this show. I don’t know that I would say I laughed the most while watching this show this season (more on that later), but I would say it’s the comedy of the season for sure. Was really easy to forget the episodes were only 12 minutes long because it was just jam-packed with gags. Definitely a must watch for 2017. 10/10 Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season I definitely feel like the girl characters are getting more screen time in season 2, which is always good. I still don’t see what people see in Bakugo, even after reading ahead in the manga, I don’t feel like his attitude is “redeemed” or “explained” much at all. Hero Killer Stain definitely stole the show; he’s so grungy and RAW, and Go Inoue delivers Stain’s final lines so passionately he almost had me convinced he was the real deal. Like I said earlier, I’ve read ahead, so some of the moments to come are exciting, but there are also some that I can feel will take up waaay too much time, or even have filler put in, which I’m not looking forward to as shounen manga stretches things out enough as it is. Will certainly get another season, it’s so popular it would be stranger for it to not get a third one. 7/10

Centaur no Nayami It’s been a while since I have read the manga, but I feel like they got many of the voices down exactly the way I imagined them. However, it also felt like there was a lot of stuff that was anime-original, or at least were out of order. As much as I can remember, this was the only anime this season with a confirmed-in-show homosexual couple, and while the explanation to the kids in the scene left a lot to be desired, considering the overlying theme of “zero-tolerance tolerance” towards discrimination, felt kind of odd, and felt like maybe the studio made it a little more conservative than it was in the manga. It was a shame that a lot of the everyday life moments from the manga were cut out in favor of more tropes per minute. What I’m trying to say is that while the show is good, it isn’t the best representation of the manga that it could have been in my opinion. 8/10

Classroom of the Elite This show was almost trash, but was saved by the revelation of Ayanokoji’s true self at the very end. Right as Horikita is seemingly spilling her tsundere guts out to him as well. This, in a similar vein to Kakegurui, was really unintentionally comedic to me. There was zero tension at all, mostly because you could see where it was going in most cases. I think it was a bit cheap to have the solution to how Ayanokoji would win the survival test come from a rule they never mentioned about the classes losing points for guessing other class leaders wrong. It would be like having a multiple choice question A/B/C/D and then saying the answer was E. I also think Kushida was a dud. Every time she tried to buddy up or get closer to Ayanokoji, I kept waiting for him to say “At the risk of you blackmailing me again, I agree.” Especially when she asked him who would he choose between her and Horikita it’s like... gee, do I pick the super effective mark I just procured or the girl who has blackmail on me and is asking me this? I wonder... A show that thinks very highly of itself unjustly. 5/10 

Clione no Akari This was kind of bizarre series; it was pretty obvious from the beginning that a certain character would die or was already dead. It felt like a series aimed at like 10 year olds, in an effort to teach them about bullying through entertainment. I don’t really have much to say about it, it had an obvious message with a miserable ending, I’d say pass on it. 5/10 Gamers! I’m not as enamored with this series as most people seem to be, but it has it’s charms to be sure. Karen and Aguri are really great, and in a close third Uehara-kun, but I’m not a fan of Chiaki and Keita, which is kind of bad considering they are the ones we’re meant to be rooting for. I was also pretty shocked at how well received this was considering it is almost entirely a love-pentagon rom-com; any other series with a love triangle or more seems to be met with “ugh, why does this shit have to be in here.” I suppose if it’s meant to be poking fun at the trope as a whole, then I can see it, but if that’s the case then it was so blunt I immediately dismissed it as being too likely to be the case. Karen is probably my fav in the show, and I was kind of annoyed that the rest of the actual game club didn’t really show up much at all despite the early hype for each member. Aguri is a late favorite, mostly because of how she was in the finale; a person who genuinely doesn’t understand the appeal of video games but is still willing to hang out with gamers and tease them about gaming’s darker sides. 8/10 Hajimete no Gal This was basically what I thought Galko-chan was going to be, but it also had it’s own uniqueness to it. The show knew what it was, and didn’t take itself too seriously, but wasn’t a slouch either; it made an effort to make the characters get to know each other and come together somewhat organically, considering how big the cast was. Obviously I’m drawn to Eri Kitamura’s Ranko; the misunderstood childhood friend with a gay crush on her best friend beating up any guys that try to get in her way is something I can get behind as a protagonist, let alone a side character. I think this show is actually more interesting censored than uncensored because they did it creatively and on-theme instead of just mysterious beams of light or clouds of steam. A fun show if you don’t mind sex comedies. 9/10

Isekai Shokudou The “comfy” show of the season to be sure. A great lesson in evolving narrative as well; it starts of with seemingly one off stories each week, but begins to intertwine the stories of the patrons that come along, which was done quite well. The only real problem with it is that, it’s called a western restaurant multiple times in the show, but almost everything they serve is Japanese; it was a real missed opportunity to introduce food from around the world to the Japanese audience, who would be able to relate even more to the bewildered fantasy characters coming to eat every seven days. That being said, if you just want to relax and enjoy something really just pleasant, or need to make yourself hungry, too, this is the show for you. 10/10 highly recommended 

Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni It’s kind of a misleading title, to be honest; it’s meant to convey how powerful his smartphone is in this new fantasy land devoid of most technology, but it’s actually more that God gave him affinity to all elements that makes the protagonist so OP. If that wasn’t enough, he can also learn all null magic, which is meant to be like character specific spells... He doesn’t even have to be taught them, he just have to read about them in a book and he can use it, which is crazy ridiculous in any other show, but because you are expecting him to be over-powered from the start, it’s actually quite enjoyable, in my opinion. The harem stuff was tedious but at least they acknowledged that a) in a medieval setting and time period polygamy being normal makes sense and b) protagonist is still holding on to his previous world and life’s customs of monogamy, and won’t commit to marrying all of them, not yet, anyway. I don’t know that I’d watch a second season of this to be honest. It would have to go one of two ways; either an actual challenge shows up, or he ends up similar to One Punch Man, and begins working on a way to go home or something. 8/10

Kakegurui I said earlier that Aho Girl is comedy of the season, but that I didn’t laugh at it the most this season. This show (and another) would be the reason behind that. I don’t know if I’m just too jaded for it or what but the fact that this show was billed as “psychological” slays me. How anyone could take any of these characters or situations seriously, in the most obvious hentai setting on the planet, is beyond me. The style and animation was all ready pretty and well done, as were the expressions. It’s hard not to compare it to Prison School visually. My main complaint would be that Yumeko isn’t fleshed out enough; they tried to make her this force of nature type character but so was the student council president, who was far more mysterious (naturally), so she just ended up feeling underdeveloped. Since this probably won’t get a second season, I would have liked for the finale to be more in jeopardy by having the second to last episode end with the “president” denying Yumeko’s challenge with a smile, which would have been devastating to Yumeko. If you would like an edgy version of over the top characters rivaling the Phoenix Wright series that take themselves a bit too seriously, you might give it a watch. It’s hysterical. 7/10

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun I’ll be brief about this one; it’s basically Sakamoto Desu ga, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge, and DAYS!! mixed together. Make of that what you will. I loved the coach and the girls’ basketball star character. 7/10

Knight’s & Magic FINALLY another mecha show I can get into! Just had to make it wizardy and junk, I guess. Another show this season where the protag is OP and it ends up being just fine, honestly. A slight complaint would be that they bother to mention how much time passes between scenes multiple times, some of which are “many months” long, yet none of the characters visibly change with time. It kind of reminded me a bit of Arslan, in some ways. I would have liked to see more about the mysterious race that guards the secrets to the mech engines as well. If you’re only kind of sorta into mecha like me and want something different, this is a great show just for you! 9/10

Koi to Uso Really should have dropped this one, but there was just a glimmer of hope now and then that this would actually have an ending. It didn’t though, and now I feel like I wasted six hours of my life. There wasn’t even any big reveal in the finale that would be a hook to get me to read the rest of the story, just “he loves both and well I guess that’s it.” I liked how genuinely awkward the protagonist was; these days in anime they’ll say the protagonist is weird, otaku, awkward, but then he’ll be the least nerdy of his friends, or “borderline weird”, which when he’s with his friends makes him look normal (see Hajimete no Gal), which defeats the purpose. The guy friend who was in love with the protagonist was really interesting, and it felt like they didn’t do enough to make it feel like he would ever actually confess. The show isn’t particularly funny or poignant either, it’s just kind of there. The thing I will remember most about this show is that it had a catchy opening theme. 4/10

Made in Abyss It’s a crying shame that this isn’t a 24 episode season; who knows how long it will be until a second season, though apparently it’s pretty likely to happen. Don’t let the cute characters and pleasant background masterpiece artwork full you; there is some pretty gnarly shit in this show, particularly Mitty, a formerly-human blob of body parts that is functionally immortal, despite her friend Nanachi’s best efforts to put her out of her misery. You get to see, fully on screen, how this 10 year old became a puddle of skin, or basically the eldritch version of a pokemon. It’s fucked up. I honestly had to look away. Still, it’s a great adventure show filled with real peril and very, very dire consequences. My favorite character was Ozen because of how creepy she is but also I love her voice, it stands out from every other voice in the show. 10/10 must watch

Nana Maru San Batsu I have participated in quiz bowl in the past, but it was never this hardcore, yet still managed to have the elitist bullshit attitudes, so I wasn’t too sure I was going to like this one. However, Mari Fukami and Akira Sonohara kept me around. It’s rare to see a girl in a setting like this that is shown to have earnest and ambition separate from revenge; sure, she wants to redeem quiz bowl for her brother so she can play him again, but in general she just really loves it and wants to be better at it. Akira is fantastic, I empathize with them (for the sake of brevity, gender neutral pronouns will be used) on a lot of levels when it comes to games. Whenever I play canasta with my family, they just want to play to the bottom of the draw pile, which, when you want to play multiple games, can take HOURS, so I started playing where I would keep all of my cards in my hand, and then “go out” all at once to end the round. They stopped asking me to play because of it, but it sure was fun to throw a wrench into things while still “playing the game”. Also, Akira is really cute, I really loved the side ponytail wig. ANYWAY, I had low expectations, but this turned out to be pretty good, though there were some points I was skimming through. 8/10

New Game!! Anime of the season. I just can’t get enough of these ladies and their interpersonal dynamics. While things were once again switched around from the manga, it still feels very much like its right off the page, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that Shoutarou Tokunou, the creator of the manga, sat in on script meetings and even wrote the script for some episodes! Which is pretty unheard of I think. He even started bringing a tablet with the script on it to make changes to the script on the fly. I’m really torn on the ending; they just about all but said Rin and Ko are lovers, which was actually more than what happened in the manga, but didn’t pull the trigger. I also feel like Ko leaving is a hell of a cliffhanger, especially considering the anime is basically caught up to the manga already. Tokunou has said that Ko’s time in France will be included in the next volume, so maybe in a couple years there could be a third season? That’s being greedy though; it got a second season, and I was already reading the manga before the anime so continuing to read it won’t be an issue. I just love them so much. 10/10 highest recommendation

Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen Continues to be one of the better short form series I’ve ever seen. The comedy is always extremely clever and the historical accounts and the sarcastic take on such revered figures is always great to see. If you are interested in the time period or Nobunaga specifically but don’t take them too seriously you should really be already watching this. 9/10

Pokemon Sun & Moon I haven’t been this into Pokemon for a LOOONG time, and it is 100% to do with this series I think. It’s just so fun and energetic, there’s no world-ending threat (yet), the kids are all just hanging out and discovering new Pokemon stuff together. Lillie is of course the show stealer, and it would be great to see her travel as a full time companion with Ash eventually, since she essentially leaves at the end of Sun/Moon games to become a Pokemon master, just like Ash. I may have missed about 400 episodes of the series, but I don’t remember ever seeing any of the companions as like an apprentice to Ash, so that would be a new take for the series to use I think. I said Lillie steals the show, but Musahi/Jessie is still my number one gal; she is outstanding in this season, and is honestly becoming one of my favorite animated characters ever. Which covers a lot of ground. I know some people are down on the character design and over-exaggerated reactions, but I think, like the Sun/Moon games did for the game series, this was the breath of fresh air that the series needed to stay relevant. Continues!

Princess Principal The finale felt really flat/anticlimactic. They are definitely planning on a second season, or some way to extend the story like a game, which hurt it in my opinion by leaving too many things open-ended. Also seemed really hackneyed to have Princess and Ange just immediately back to lovey-dovey mode, despite Princess telling Ange to never let her see her again after a pretty hardcore betrayal. A begrudging thank you from Princess after being saved and a stern re-establishment of their relationship as mutually beneficial rather than romantic (or extremely platonic) that would build back up to it’s previous height in a continued story setting seems like it would have been a better choice. Best girl was Dorothy easily, for me. She seemed the most like a spy out of the whole group, and was kind of the Dick Grayson to Ange’s Batman; for raw ability she may be a bit behind Ange, but Dorothy has the heart and the willpower to really become a legend in the game, while holding the group together. Even though the show felt like it fell on it’s face at the end, the rest of it was crazy good, especially the episode where they confront the double agent and former classmate. 8/10

Teekyuu 9 Speechless. How do you describe perfection. Mandatory viewing. 10/10

Tenshi no 3P! Despite the pedo alarm sounding on nearly a weekly basis for this show, it ended up not being too bad. It was kind of like Ryo-Kyu-Bu but if all of the girls were professional level athletes already. To be able to play like that at age 7 or 8, and “not know what to do” with it seems really silly, but it’s more of a story about dragging the protag out of his room after becoming a shut-in from bullying. I feel like in the end the protag will end up with the age appropriate older sister, but then again I thought that way with Usagi Drop and Listen to Me Girls! I am Your Father! so who knows where this will go. Not to a second season, most likely. 6/10

Tsurezure Children I’m sure many people on tumblr were aware of this series without actually know the title, so it was nice to see it make the rounds every week with a decent amount of popularity. There’s not really one couple I would pin down as my favorite, it’s all just really clever gag writing that is couple with great visuals, another great short form series. 9/10