#gotta use this instead of myanimelist

[mnkiss]

Satsuriku no Tenshi - it was a short story with an easy to forget plot and characters you can root for. Tbh it hooked me with the never ending suspense and Zack. However I'll never forget the heartbreak at the end. So toxic and broken and tragic. The horror elements were fun, sometimes scary even so 7/10! Demon slayer - Its a bingeable shounen. The story is mid, the animation is cool, the MC is kind and likeable + i love how they show us the difference between "city japan" and "rural japan" (especially technology and behaviour-wise), but the constant screaming and second hand embarrassement is just too much. And besides getting stronger and using better techniques there are no character arcs (as of in S2). The boar + thunder kid just ruined the whole series for me t_t Even if it's for comedy there's nothing funny about a kid screaming for 15 mins straight!!! And the mountain peasant/animalistic superpower schtick is boring as hell after an episode or two. 6.5/10

Samurai Champloo - 2k graffiti/breakdance meets samurais. Boi, what an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G anime! The AV, OST, art style, all the fight scenes and character design... all of it is 10/10. Of course the found family trope can never be trumped, however the story itself was adventurous, not repetitive (except for them never having money lol), captivating, witty and emotional when it needed to be. Also the episodes tie into each other a lot, which makes the storytelling natural (+ its not just episodes put in order). The MC's are all 3D with weaknesses, believable behaviors and distinct manners + they have easy to remember names and styles. And only had 25 eps to achieve this! Watching the messy trio's friendship come to live is something you should experience at least once.

Konosuba! - A surprisingly bad and adorable parody of the isekai genre that I only could watch all the way through after the 3rd attempt. Most characters are completely helpless/stupid/naive but in an oddly charming way. The MC is ofc a pervert neet that is insufferable, but his oversexualized companions are cute, their friendship is cute, and their boobs are huge. Watch it while having dinner 6/10

Ouran highschool host club - light hearted and stupid and has some second hand embarrassement, but its a must watch! I wish the artstyle was different tho :/ 8.5/10

The Apothecary Diaries - sherlock holmes meets chinese historical romance fanfic. Beautiful, captivating and rewatchable. Very dreamy (but i have a feeling that theres going to be a lot of drama and sadness in the future? idk i havent started the light novel yet) 9/10

Midnight Occult Civil Servants - its so much more worth it than ppl think! Yes, the power of friendship is strong in this one, buuuut 1) its not overdone 2) the story is not sugarcoated and there are some interesting philosophical topics that we can analyze throughout the episodes 3) even though the MC is a naive and ridiculously hard working boy, he learns a lot from his mistakes and kinda grows up. His friends are lovely too! I just wish that their design was a bit more detailed, the animation got a bit more budget and that we could have gotten a bit more chapters... 8/10!

Mignon - a korean BL manwha adaptation. Each episode is around 5 mins so the story isnt too complicated. It has vampires (why dont we get more of them nowadays??) and sexy man-love. 6.5/10

Golden Boy - It is a golden comedy (and educational) anime and it's so humorous that I actually laughed watching it. At first it seems annoying/ridiculous but from the end of the first episode I understood the premise and the point of the anime. Spoiler alert the boy doesnt learn much, but the women around him do. 7.5/10

A quick list of animes I watched and don't want to forget 2:

Spoiler, duh

OG post here:

Corpse party - similar to Another: I watched it and forgot about it…kids being creepy and killing a lot (i think) (2/10)

Yuri on Ice - loved it for the romance and the soundtrack but couldn’t care less about the skating lol Cute anime tho, I recommend it (8/10)

Kimi no nawa - cute, I cried of course, but i really wish we could have learned about their relationships more. I wanted to see them falling in love slowly and helplessly, not just a montage haha. Maybe a 7/10. Wasn’t thaaaaat great.

Dororo - I’m not as a big fan as others, but it was an interesting journey on the historical side with a much less repetitive story than I expected. It’s an old tale, a myth, told by an old man about demons and humans, and two children’s (well, an adult-ish boy and a kid) fate and character development. The show shows war and all it’s gory, terrible reality so be ready for some depressing episodes… The message of the anime is very clear and heavy. This is a remake, there is supposed to be a much older version of the anime with not 12, but 48 demons and missing body parts, but I’m not really sure if I want to watch it again. (7/10)

Citrus - Yuri, cute, well-done, but 1) Yuzu is sooooooo ugh, she is nice and kind but so easy to influence jesus she really is not the sharpest tool in the shed and that got soo annoying around ep7. >< 2) The story is weirdly written, they introduce characters as they go and as it gets comfortable for the plot, which feels like a rookie mistake but ok. Only 12 eps, two sweet girls and lots of sexual tension between them. Btw some people have misconceptions about the manga/anime. There is no incest as they are both teens and strangers when they happen to become step-sisters, and sexual assault does not get romanticized because if somebody is uncomfortable they struggle and voice that they don’t feel comfortable. That being said “You should consider other people’s feelings” is a fucking stupid answer to “Hey I don’t want to have sex with somebody”. Also the silent treatment? AND always coming with the “I had a bad childhood” shit? I’m treating the kindest, dearest person on earth like shit just because I was rejected once? Really? Fucking Mei lol. Yuzu deserves better. Like Harumi. You know, somebody who actually cares about her. 5/10

Baccano! - Gory mafia stories are always amazing but this one is like… dude. Watch it. Sadly it’s short but go and watch it and the ovas too. Oh, and watch it again because first time you miss like 10% of the story  especially the first episodes. And then watch it again because it’s beautiful, has an amazing opening, wonderful characters (Naaa Miriyaa!!!! Neee Isaccu!!!!) and weird ties to the supernatural. No tears only happy smiling even during the 13th episode. One of my favourite stories of all time. (Oh and if you're one of those weirdos who love it when animes use weird brand names instead of the real ones [like hollywood becomes woodland, daily mail becomes daily days, hersheys becomes baccano] then you’ll love the small details lol) (11/10)

Tower of God - S1 is only a prologue :/ I usually don’t care about isekai or isekai-like stuff but this story is pretty immersive. I loved that there is only a moderate amount of gore even though people dying is half the anime. All the supporting characters are easy to remember, have enough screen time and we learn their history so we do care about them, the main character has all the characteristics a shounen protagonist needs but the anime itself is not in the shounen category. The soundtrack is phenomenal except the opening (sorry stray kids). Yeah, go watch it and be ready for the webtoon, they say its super long but worth it (8/10)

Wolf’s Rain - i love animals/shapeshifters in animes, but this was boooring. Idk why tho. I was hoping for a crazy adventure with ancient legends and animaguses and stuff instead I got bored. I got to 17 episodes and just stopped watching. It was good tho just not for me. Maybe I'll try watching it again...later...some day (5/10)

Cyberpunk Edgerunners - Found family? Check. Cute girl? Check. Worldbuilding, sexy superpowers, neon lights, awesome action, greedy capitalism? Check. But for 10 episodes you’ll have the feeling that something will happen and yes, that thing indeed will happen (8/10)

Jujutsu Kaisen - S1 only yet. I'm - again - more invested in the adult's story and scheming behind the scenes. Character development? It is there, baby, and it is not just thought-provoking/brooding all the time. Competent enemy? There it is, the menacing, cunning, sexy-sexy enemy. Bro time? There is some healthy, masculine bro time!(9/10)

Chainsaw Man - This is a Jujutsu Kaisen 2.0. Teen boy gets adopted to an organization that uses dark superpowers that come with a price and they kill demons but they also are too crazy for the world and die easily. Also 2 boys 1 girl, the girl is nonconvenional but looks cute, the black haired friend of main character is super cold on the outside but has a heart of butter and is like a strong brother for the MC... I'd also really love if they'd STOP FUCKING KILLING ALL THE CHARACTERS. Seriously what's up with that nowadays?? They show you how friendly and happy they are together, and the next episode is just filled with deaths. However the story is fun, I like the pacing, the artstyle, the enemies and the music sooo S2 when? (8/10)

Spy x Family - Superduper cute, feel good anime with some badass characters. Some second hand embarrassement is in order tho lol (9/10)

Sailor Moon (90's series) - It's. So. Good. Such a comfort show. It has problems (the combat seems very... repetitive), but a) this show is gorgeous b) it has characters that you wish they were your friends c) it's long so the story is well paced. So go and watch it, it has good humour, super powers, a long and immersive story, surprisingly well made character arcs, ammmmaazing opening (and overall the soundtrack is ICONIC), 90's aesthetics and lots of gay vibes. However, it's extremely romance-centered, so probably not the best choice if you are in search for an action anime (9/10)

Soul Eater - 51 episodes of a surprisingly good story with surprisingly bad characters. The ending was disappointing, and the most powerful or intriguing characters just... weren't used? The monologues made no sense? Guy who can't die literally only fought 2 times? Madness wasn't mad? Brave girl wasn't brave? Like what even happened in this show? (5-6/10)

[sfsolace]

My thoughts on the Hakumei & Mikochi anime

Having recently finished watching the series again, i felt like giving my opinion on the anime adaptation of "Hakumei & Mikochi".

Warning: this post will contain spoilers for season 1 of the anime, so if you just want a quick overview of what to expect, please check my other post.

(Believe it or not, i couldn't find a decent picture of the cover art. The one on imbd is the english version with the horrible font and the one on myanimelist has approximately 5 total pixels)

So here's my general thoughts on the anime: I like it a lot! It's what first introduced me to the series and i think it's a great adaptation of the source material. They did a bunch of smart things in adapting the manga and created something that can stand on it's own as a season of television. It's still my go to anime to recommend to someone to watch while they're sick or feeling a bit down, since the 12 episodes can be watched in a relatively short timeframe.

I really like the vibe of the anime, everything has sort of a warmness to it. From the sound design to the color palette to the pacing, it all has a soft, warm, homely feel that hits exactly right.

What I also like is that some shots are actual panels, giving it sort of a manga feel. This, together with the vignettes that are always matched to the content of a given scene, is a great choice by the director and adds to the unique style of the anime.

I already talked about the music in this other post, so I won't repeat too much here; but the soundtrack is honestly one of the most varied and creative anime soundtracks I've ever heard. It amazes me how the composer can use this many different instruments while still making it seem unified instead of messy. The soundtrack really elevates the anime and makes the emotional beats hit so much harder.

Plus, the ending is also an absolute jam and i love how they used it to close out the final episode with all of the characters we've met. I'm pretty sure this is one of the original additions to the anime, as I can't find an equivalent in the manga.

Which brings me to my next point: it's awesome that the creators of the show took the episodic nature of the manga and used it to make more of a "greatest hits compilation" of the first five volumes instead of going through the chapters chronologically. This way certain stories/chapters were moved to the same episode, so they form more complete arcs.

The anime lets it all culminate in the final episode, where we get to see the next harvest festival, with all the characters we've met throughout the series being there to celebrate. It's a fun sendoff to the stories that were told in this short season and i think they gave a lot the characters ample time to shine.

I think the anime nails the artstyle of the manga. Sure, a lot of the more intricate drawings from the original are hard to top; but the creators of the anime focused on getting the characters and general feel right, which should be the top priority.

The voice acting also makes a huge difference when comparing the story on page and on screen. The original japanese dub just has amazing performances all around. I especially like Jada's voice, because it adds such a unique touch to her character. When she appears in the manga, i instantly read the lines in her voice.

On this recent rewatch i watched the english dub for the first time (didn't know there was one) and I gotta say: It's pretty good! Hakumei and Mikochi are pretty well cast, Conju and Iwashi are great; however, a few characters feel like safe/uninteresting choices. Also the translation and voice acting is a bit "uneven" at times.

I don't think that's the fault of the team that did the dubbing, a lot of these moments feel like they just needed another pass over the script or another take for a scene and simply didn't have enough time for it. I can defnitely recommend the english dub to people who don't watch anime with subs.

All in all, I think the anime is a wonderful adaption and even if you don't follow the manga, it is a nice 12-episode anime to watch and recommend. The team behind it seems to have passion for the story and used the limited resources they had to make something really special.

I don't think we're gonna get a season two, since the anime didn't perform too well; but I'm very grateful to have found this anime before it disappeared from streaming.

If this was at all interesting to you and you like cozy anime: please give it a watch! It's only 12 episodes and it's something really special.

Thanks for reading! <3