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dropintomanga · 4 years

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Can Sports Manga Really Break Through in North America?

Here we are in the summer of 2020 and it’s usually San Diego Comic-Con time. And with it comes discussion of how manga is doing in 2020. There was a Manga Publishing Industry Roundtable discussion at Comic-Con with representatives from almost all of the U.S. manga publishers (which you can watch here) about what’s happening in the U.S. side of things. While manga sales have dropped due to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have rebounded back in some ways. A great thing about this is that it’s not just mainstream titles that are selling; it’s also series that are from other genres like slice-of-life and horror.

Which now leads into the title of this post because at the end of the discussion, publishers were asked about what they would like to see in the future. Erik Ko, chief of operations at UDON Comics, said something that really piqued my interest. He said that he wants to see if sports manga can truly break out in North America (i.e. reach levels of sales and popularity a la My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, etc.). Erik mentioned how his daughter loves Haikyu!! on Crunchyroll and watched all 3 seasons multiple times (It’s also mentioned that Haikyu!! sold well during the pandemic for its U.S. publisher Viz Media).

While the manga has officially ended as of this writing, Haikyu!! will last for a while as the anime will have a 4th season and possibly more. However, while Haikyu!! is loved by a lot of anime/manga fans, it’s not exactly a series that has gotten EVERY shonen fan or manga reader talking. With the many sports manga licenses that manga publishers have gotten over the past few years, it doesn’t sound like there’s significant traction.

This does beg the question of what will it take for sports manga to really catch the eyes of manga readers here in the United States.

For starters, I’ll discuss a bit about the history of sports anime here in the United States. It’s been noted that a lot of sports anime do not tend to sell well over here. There was an Answerman article on Anime News Network answering “Why Do Sports Anime Bomb in North America?” that really goes into this. While it’s noted in the article that Yuri!! on Ice and Free! are indeed sports anime and have sold well, almost all discussion about those series revolves around the relationships between the male characters. Sports play second fiddle to the relationships compared to series like Haikyu!!, Slam Dunk, and Captain Tsubasa (where the sports aspect is still preached a lot).

Speaking of Captain Tsubasa, if you don’t know about this series, this is the one sports anime/manga that generated a lot of love overseas in countries that worship football/soccer. In the Manga: The Citi Exhibition book, there was an article on the promotion of Captain Tsubasa in Baghdad, Iraq by the Japan Self-Defense Force. The series was promoted via pictures on water distribution tanks in Iraq in the mid-2000s’ as a way to make Iraqi children smile. During the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Japan would later work with Iraqi media channels to show programming that would help encourage the country. One of these shows happened to be Captain Tsubasa, which was dubbed in Arabic. The series’ fandom took off from there and more places in the Middle East (like Saudi Arabia) even got in on the action using hacked satellites to watch.

I wonder if this is what Erik Ko wants to see - something like Captain Tsubasa that not only gets fans gushing about the story and characters, but also inspires kids to become professional athletes or at least become more physically active in their own lives.

A big problem that gets in the way of this happening in the U.S. is how sports culture is like over here. How do I explain this? I’ll use a quote from a 2016 article in the Milwaukee Independent about Anime Milwaukee.

“While the Anime Milwaukee convention does not collect statistical data about those who attend, walking around the convention provided empirical confirmation of how Anime speaks to multi-generational and multi-cultural people.

Anime itself will not solve the very real problems faced by disadvantaged residents in Milwaukee.

But unlike the adversarial escapism offered by sports teams and the nature of competitive games, the appeal of Anime is with its positive messages. Where as sports is an unrealistic role model for struggling youth, for the most part Anime offers socially beneficial and moral examples.”

Sports in the United States are very much “us versus them.” In Japan, sports focuses on healthy competition between players. At least, that’s what Japanese sports stories try to focus on. While healthy competition between players does happen over here, it either doesn’t get shown as much in U.S. sports media or that competition becomes toxic to the point it hurts innocent people. In the U.S., you’re supposed to win and get recognized in order to move ahead in your respective sport via whatever means necessary. A good example is college basketball over here and how competitive schools have been involved in recruiting scandals over the best high school players. Another example is the psychological trauma faced by the number of young female athletes who were sexually abused/harassed and forced to believe that it was all part of the process to get ahead in their respective sport. I want to note that sports programs in the U.S. are often heavily underfunded, which adds to the pressure that faces any youth going through sports programs.

There’s also this tendency to view athletes over here as all-knowing celebrity gods (i.e. athletes who say awful things with confidence on social media) or people that only know how to play their respective sport (ie. the “shut up and dribble” comment to outspoken basketball players on social issues). There’s no in-between where we get to see the complete humanity of the athlete.

This does tie into how sports fans and anime/manga fans may not get along. You usually learn more about the nuanced aspects of life from outside sports than within. Sports over here preach some questionable values that anime/manga fans sometimes don’t believe in. Add the fact that sports is shoved down Americans’ throats so much and you can see why not everyone over watches sports. I do want to note that there are U.S. pro athletes showcasing their love for anime. While this is nice to see, almost all the titles they grew up watching are mainstream shonen/shojo. I’m curious if athletes would watch series like Haikyu!!, Kuroko’s Basketball, Eyeshield 21, etc., but then I wonder if they would keep watching as they can only handle so much sports drama as it’s part of their everyday reality.

So what will it take for a sports manga to break through in a big way? Viz Media tried to promote Slam Dunk here using the NBA to promote literacy in 2008. I also found out that Tokyopop tried to do something with the NBA via its Cine-Manga initiative in the mid-2000s’ and it only lasted from 2004-2007. So to that extent, there probably has to some kind of manga that’s similar to the now-famous The Last Dance documentary, which chronicled Michael Jordan’s last championship run with the Chicago Bulls in the 1997-1998 NBA season.

Though honestly, it’s gonna take a mangaka who’s really interested in all aspects of American sports culture to come up with that kind of story. What might be better is that the story heavily criticizes the culture in a compelling and sometimes humorous way. I think that’s what will really get all U.S. manga fans and comic fans interested, especially those who are sick of commercialized sports exposure wherever they go. I do think over time as anime/manga continue to be accepted in the geek ecosystem, we can see this kind of story take off.

Until then, if you happen to be someone who likes both sports and anime/manga in a level-headed manner like me, you’re doing alright. It’s hard to occupy both spaces when you’re supposed to choose a side. Although I liked physical education during my school days, I can understand why anyone whose hobbies lie more towards the artistic and creative side disliked physical education possibly due to the structure in how it’s taught. I know sports anime lovers that dislike watching real sports in general and I get why.

Hearing Erik’s comments made me wonder about the beauty of sports manga. Now that I think hard about it, sports anime/manga are a intersection of both the “nerd” and “jock” in a way that helps everyone. To be honest, that intersection is what really bridges gaps that makes people better. It’s what truly completes a person. I’ll use this example - you can’t have mental health without physical health and vice versa. Some kind of exercise can help the mind while learning how your mind works can help you do better in physical activities that connect people together.

Maybe more importantly, what sports manga tends to preach is that winning shouldn’t be everything. Right now, everyone is encouraged to win at something just for a taste of meaningless status and we’re seeing how that mentality can ruin someone. Sports, with all of its benefits freed from corporate influence, are supposed to teach us (like all great manga stories do) that there’s no “us versus them,” there’s only “us” in the end.

And that kind of story deserves to hit a home run that rounds all the bases to reach a celebratory and meaningful win for the world.

#sports manga #manga industry #manga #mental health #psychology #sports culture #sports fandom #manga fandom

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arcaneranger · 5 years

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Final Thoughts - Summer 2019

Hey, look who finished the season perfectly on time, even if he did so by dropping a bunch of stuff last minute! (Technically, as of writing, I haven’t finished Re:Stage Dream Days, but you can rest assured that it’s bad.)

I thought I was going to do a first impressions rundown video for the entire season at once, since my impression posts don’t tend to get a lot of engagement anyway, but since I didn’t end up going through with it, I’ll summarize my point - summer started strong, and even here at the end, I can easily say it’s the best season thus far in what’s largely been a letdown year for seasonal anime (and a god damn renaissance for long shows, thanks to My Hero Academia, so if I seem down on a season that had Dororo, or Vinland Saga, or Fruits Basket, remember that I exclude those shows from my considerations until the end of the year).

This season saw several high-profile continuations like A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon II, and Symphogear XV, but also new works by creators like Mari Okada, and anticipated adaptations of Astra: Lost in Space and Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, and in the end, well...a lot of those were mixed bags at best, but the biggest drawback I will remember Summer 2019 for is that it was drowning in bad isekai shows. The aforementioned Arifureta, the basically-counts Danmachi, and also Isekai Cheat Magician, Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks, The Lost Ones, Demon Lord Retry!...it just never ended, and that’s not even counting If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord.

Speaking of all that stuff, let’s get right into it, yeah?

28 shows were simulcast this season, and of those, I…

Skipped 4:

Yami Shibai 7, Starmyu Season 3, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, and Lord El-Melloi II Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note were all skipped because I have not watched the previous series.

Dropped 15:

Worst of the Season: If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord!

I dropped this after one episode because I found the aesthetic and tone to be aggressively boring and I found even the cute daugheroo character to be utterly generic in execution...and then later found out oh boy was I right to drop it, based on how many people compared it to the Bunny Drop manga that we don’t talk about. *shudders*

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest

Wins the “biggest tryhard” award for being just the most straightforward an SAO award gets, right up to being grimdark for dumb reasons. The first episode alone had inconsistent animation, and that just did not bode well for the future...and the plot instantly reminded me of Slime, which soured on me over time. I let this one go sour after one shot.

Demon Lord, Retry!

The blandest of beige this season, Demon Lord had neither the story nor the production values to reel me in or convince me it was anything but the Overlord wannabe it so clearly was.

Isekai Cheat Magician

This show was a pretty transparent attempt to have an isekai story with a childhood friend romance plot, and while I’m fine with one and a half of those things, it couldn’t execute them in any decent way by the end of the first episode, and just wound up being largely boring.

Wasteful Days of High School Girls

Speaking of boring, what if Nichijou wasn’t funny? You’d get something like this.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?

So the tone this one ultimately ended up having was pretty much exactly what I expected after the premiere - it leaned too hard on jokes that weren’t as funny as it thought they were, and too hard on the dumb hentai mom trope, and neither of those things interested me in the slightest. Pretty okay with having left this off the watchlist.

The Ones Within

I have stated multiple times in the last few weeks that Symphogear is great because it can convince you that it’s a work of genius. The Ones Within has, unfortunately, convinced itself that it’s deep social commentary of some kind, rather than a bargain-bin Danganronpa with no real thought put into it.

Are You Lost?

I’m amazed that we got another Eromanga Sensei this season and it flew entirely under the radar. For God’s sake, the first episode featured a young teenage girl eating a bug and drinking her own urine. I just didn’t see myself being particularly entertained by the shock value longer than the premiere.

Ensemble Stars (4/10)

I can’t tell if this one is actually over, but Funimation’s site doesn’t list any new episode premieres coming up, so I’m gonna assume it is? I gave this one a shot and hung onto it because it took UtaPri’s premise and gave it the slightly more serious tone I was looking for, but dropped it after the second episode started to drown us in side characters with no hint that the floodgates were closing, rather than giving ample screentime to a select cast so they could actually become at least two-dimensional before throwing in more people we’re supposed to care about.

BEM

BEM suffered from an unfortunate lack of distinct personality, which sucks when it seems to have had a decent story to tell. Nothing else about the show wound up sticking out to me, though, which has me fully convinced that Production I.G.’s name is only on this to boost recognition, and the second-billed LandQ studios did the majority of the work. And their best-known other show is Swordgai. So...

To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts (5/10)

I have gotten absolutely no pushback so far for my decision to tear into this show because it should have been a different show, so I’m gonna take that as a general agreement of my earlier statement. What a waste of a concept.

Cop Craft (5/10)

This one I still think I was not crazy to pick up after the first episode, because it wasn’t until the third that the animation tanked hard and the pacing went absolutely nuts, and apparently stayed that way. Did they write a thirty-nine-episode story that had to be condensed into twelve or something?

Magical Sempai

This one I probably would have kept watching if the majority of its humor wasn’t just the title character embarrassing herself in lewd ways. It was funny, but I didn’t see myself enjoying anything more than one episode of it.

GRANBELM (6/10)

This one I got halfway through before realizing that, during my end-of-season catchup, I had absolutely no desire to return to. The plot didn’t really start moving until the fifth episode, and in that time I had not gotten particularly invested in the characters, especially since the show makes fun of the viewer for thinking that the big mecha dream battles actually had stakes beyond “you don’t get to be The Thing”. At least it looked nice and the mecha designs were very original.

Are you willing to fall in love with a pervert, as long as she’s a cutie?

There were four shows this season with questions for titles. Just saying! This one actually had me hooked right up until the end, revealing that not only is it a fanservice show, but a fetish pandering one. That being said, if I were attracted to women, I could have seen myself getting something out of it, what with the decently moody tone and good production values.

I put 2 On Hold:

Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? II

I’ll probably come back to this when the third series comes around, just to give it one more chance to pull me back in, but ditching my favorite character for harem antics and character shilling just did not endear me to this long-awaited sequel.

Re:Stage Dream Days!!

This one’s not actually on hold, but I don’t have any other good place to mention it. This one I’m gonna make it through just on willpower, not because it’s good, but because it starts out as the most shameless rip-off I’ve ever seen in anime, specifically of Love Live!.

And I Finished 7:

Kochoki (5/10)

I thought I was gonna give this one a 7 at least, for nearly the whole season, for being a decently-told and somewhat new telling of Nobunaga’s early life with great production values for Studio Deen...right up until the structure fell completely apart at the end, almost completely out of nowhere. I’m still in awe of the gall this show had to literally skip over the final battle.

How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift? (8/10)

This one came right the fuck out of nowhere and totally blew my expectations out of the way from the very first episode. Looking at the summary, I was convinced I was gonna drop this after the premiere...and found myself totally hooked by its cheery visual presentation and excellent sense of meta-comedy, not to mention its genuine educational value.

Astra: Lost In Space (8/10)

One of two adaptations I was really looking forward to this season (along with Fire Force), Astra was pretty much what I expected - a very good translation of a very good manga that ran for the perfect amount of time to be divided into twelve-ish episodes. A fantastic and memorable cast of characters enhanced a surprisingly twisty story, and Lerche made it all look just as good as I’d hoped.

The Demon Girl Next Door (8/10)

Speaking of defying my expectations, another show I was expecting pretty much nothing from, maybe one I could compare to Gabriel Dropout or something, that was instead an incredibly charming story of a girl trying to save her family by defeating a magical girl...with a very, very loose definition of the word “defeat” in play. I couldn’t have asked for much more from this one, aside from maybe a sequel?

Given (9/10)

Speaking of “Lerche” and “gorgeous”, this profoundly gripping story of a spacecase and a loner hesitantly making music together blossomed further and further as it went on, and became my new go-to reference point for explicit gay relationships in anime. It went where even Yuri On Ice!!! couldn’t, and left me desperate for a Part Two.

O Maidens In Your Savage Season (9/10)

My write up for this show was one of my longest in recent memory, and I stand by it - even if Okada had to write a few plot contrivances in to get where she’s going, at least she presented her cast in an incredibly thoughtful way and gave them a satisfying payoff, with the knowledge that they’re teenagers and all of their problems can’t be solved in one semester. The high water mark for discussions of sexuality in this medium.

BEST OF THE SEASON: Symphogear XV (9/10)

Anime is wonderful, and so am I.

So that wraps up summer! We’ve got a lot to look forward to in fall, even if My Hero Academia and Food Wars’ fourth series will both ultimately end up on a list in the distant future next year. Will Psycho-Pass 3 redeem the series? Will Azur Lane be better than Kantai Collection? Will Beastars beat Aggretsuko as the biggest furry panderer of the year? Only time will tell. And then I’ll tell you all what I think it said.

#summer 2019 anime #anime #symphogear #symphogear xv #o maidens in your savage season #astra lost in space #kanata no astra #given #the demon girl next door #machikado mazoku #how heavy are the dumbbells you lift?#dumbbell nan kilo moteru?

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 8/21/19

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 4 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Aside from praising Iris’s innovations, this volume focuses more on the political end of things than the commerce end. Iris ends up attending the ball, and it goes better than she expected, mostly as the Queen Dowager is in her corner. In fact, honestly, things may go a little TOO well—the entire ball seems engineered to show off how the guy who dumped and exiled Iris is a hothead idiot, and Yuri seems to be doing an excellent job of manipulating the country into… running itself into the ground. But how invested should Iris be in all this, especially as she has to look out for her own nation, because there’s war on the horizon. Still an excellent political drama. – Sean Gaffney

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 7 | By Bisco Hatori | Viz Media – I enjoy Bisco Hatori’s humor, but her plotting is not a thing to behold. That said, as predicted, things resolved with the Ruka plotline, followed by a quick epilogue showing the film Goda made (honestly, the plot of the film sounds like a manga I’d love to see Hatori write), and then another epilogue several years later showing the two pairings (mostly) resolved and the two stars at ease with themselves and successful. There’s fun to be had here, but I can’t deny that I think this started a lot stronger than it ended, and I’m glad it did not end up as long as Ouran. I’d still recommend it to Hatori fans, though. Oh yes, and the amnesia arc proves to be as inconsequential as I suspected it would be. – Sean Gaffney

Cocoon Entwined, Vol. 1 | By Yuriko Hara | Yen Press – Hoshimiya Girls’ Academy has a unique tradition. The students have exceedingly long hair, and as the middle school third-year students are being measured for their high school uniforms, the high school third-years are finally having their hair cut, which will be used to make said uniforms. Cocoon Entwined so far is light on plot, heavy on atmosphere. We meet Yokozawa, a girl who seems to be able to sense breathing and/or heartbeats from the uniforms, and Saeki, the princely girl whom Yokozawa has feelings for. We don’t meet, except in flashback, the elusive Hoshimiya, granddaughter of the headmistress, who has locked herself in her room and for whom Saeki seemingly pines, much to Yokozawa’s dismay. I really liked this volume, even though there’s not a lot happening so far. I look forward to more, whenever it comes. – Michelle Smith

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 6 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – Thankfully, and despite Kadode assuring her friends that something happened, it’s suggested nothing did, and the teacher is leaving the city due to the ongoing chaos. Honestly, the world may not have all that long to go—even if the aliens don’t bring things to an end, can Japan really hold off America and everyone else? This still has a bit of a post-apocalyptic feel to it. Still, Futaba does end up getting lucky, so to speak, though the implication is that her politics and his desire for a non-serious relationship will make that a very short relationship. The best part of the story was Oran’s surprise birthday party, which was sweet as pie. I hope there’s more sweet moments ahead. – Sean Gaffney

Emanon, Vol. 1: Memories of Emanon | By Shinji Kaijo and Kenji Tsuruta | Dark Horse – I initially picked up Emanon due to Tsuruta’s involvement since I’ve been enjoying Wandering Island; I only later realized that Kaijo is an award-winning author. The Emanon manga is an adaptation of a series of stories written by Kaijo (also illustrated by Tsuruta) featuring a young woman who calls herself Emanon. Kaijo’s somewhat melancholic but engaging narratives lend themselves well to Tsuruta’s atmospheric artwork. There’s very little action in the first volume of the manga. For the most part, Tsuruta is capturing a reminiscence of a conversation between two people, a young man who enjoys speculative fiction and Emanon. She intrigues him, not only because of the air of mystery surrounding her but because she tells him that she holds memories reaching back to the beginning of life on Earth. Memories of Emanon, adapting Kaijo’s original story, is self-contained, but I’m greatly looking forward to the continuation of the series. – Ash Brown

Idol Dreams, Vol. 6 | By Arina Tanemura | VIZ Media – It’s been almost two years since I read a volume of Idol Dreams. I’d stop short of saying it has gotten good in the intervening time—there’s a lot of melodrama here, from the death of Hibiki’s little sister and him carrying on despite his grief (leading to the spectacularly cheesy line, “Sayaka, can you hear Hibiki singing?”) to the plotline revolving around Hanami’s pregnancy and the fact that it isn’t Tokita’s—but it’s certainly somewhat better, and I think that’s because this volume puts much more emphasis on Deguchi as an adult interacting with adults rather than her masquerading as a teen interacting with teens. It was even a little gratifying to see this mousey character haul off and smack Hanami for leaving Tokita at the altar. Do I care enough to keep reading? Maybe, especially if the next volume is the final one. – Michelle Smith

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Vol. 37 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | VIZ Media – And so, Magi comes to an end. There were some things I really liked about it, like how Ohtaka-sensei showed how Alibaba’s unfailing determination to fight the spell reminded various brainwashed people of other heroes they had known who had sacrificed everything for goals and countries that would no longer exist if everyone and everything returned to rukh. I liked how Kogyoku was desperately trying to get him to surrender to her before the arrival of the massive army in an attempt to save his life. The rest, though, is not completely clear. I get most of what Sinbad did, but I don’t really get how Aladdin emerged victorious. There was a big flash of light and then… happy epilogue? Which I guess is fine. The happy epilogue was what I really wanted, anyway. Overall, I enjoyed this series and its themes of self-determination. – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia, Vol. 20 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – This is an excellent volume, but it’s definitely a “wrap up one plot and start another” sort of book. Midoriya stops the “villains” and we see the small series of tragedies behind their backstory. He makes it back for the festival—just—and it’s a blast, with Jiro at her best (the redrawn art helps) and Eri dazzled. Then we see the new hero rankings post-All Might, and Endeavor is finally top of the charts, but being #1 also means that people are after you as well, and there’s a pretty nasty fight towards the end. Will Endeavor win the day? And will Todoroki care? Great volume, but I think it’s all about Jiro and Eri’s big grins in the end. Those are wonderful smiles. – Sean Gaffney

Shortcake Cake, Vol. 5 | By suu Morishita | VIZ Media – Ten has realized she likes Riku after all and returns early after summer vacation because he’s alone in the boardinghouse. Meanwhile, Chiaki is getting bolder about expressing his feelings. The great part is that not only does he get this pertain to Ten—including a smooch at the end and a “What can I do so that you consider me?”—but to Riku, as well. Chiaki’s oddball personality is starting to come through, and the best chapter here is a cute interlude where he lies about the origins of a cup Riku broke so that they can go out shopping for a replacement together. It involves Riku winning an enormous bag of potato chips for Chiaki from a crane game. I’m not super invested in the romance angle of this story, but I do like the main trio of characters! – Michelle Smith

Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, Vol. 4 | By Tomo Hirokawa, based on the story by Reki Kawahara | Yen Press – There’s an attempt to ramp up the danger here, given that we’re dealing with the death of NPCs, who technically aren’t real people (though honestly, most of SAO has been built around proving that false lately) and the fact that this time you really can log out and go back to your life. But the threat of the game being hacked, as well as users using drugs to “enhance” their experience, means that this time the Japanese government may finally shut down all these VR games for good—something that Kirito and Asuna in particular are determined to stop. Can they help save Premiere from her fate? And what about Anti-Premiere? – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 10 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – As expected, Okamon is shot down (very nicely) by Hana. Of course, Takane misunderstands. Indeed, the entire volume is about misunderstandings and poor communication, which is always a good fallback in romantic comedies like this one. We also get the backstory on how Takane met Nicola, and how, like Hana, he was at first completely annoyed by him till he saw his hidden nice side. There are not quite as many amusing faces as previous volumes (though the omake helps make up a lot of the difference). But in return we do get a bit more on the romance front, as a drunken Takane (they had a birthday party for him) ends up kissing Hana… on the nose. That said, the effect is devastating. Fun times. – Sean Gaffney

Yuri Life | By Kurukuruhime | Yen Press – We’ve seen quite a few yuri anthologies about adults lately and this one is a 4-koma one-shot, with each chapter focusing on a different couple, until we come around to the first one at the end. There are couples I found interesting. (One involves the Grim Reaper waiting for a woman to die, falling in love with her, and then having her romance be what enables the woman to keep living… so they have to part.) I will say they are “mostly” adult romances… one is teacher-student, with the student being sixteen, and it didn’t work for me. Nor did the one about the “yandere.” Still, there were more hits than misses, and if you’re looking for cute, sweet yuri that won’t stick in the head, this is decent enough. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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areeta9 · 6 years

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My Waifu/Husbando List

(Here is a list of my husbandos/waifus and why. Bear with me, I just felt like sharing)

Husbando

Fafnir(Ms. Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid)

Long black hair: Fricken love it, especially on male characters. I also love red eyes on characters because even though they’re usually used on villainous characters, I think the black hair, red eyes combination is beautiful and it works really well on Fafnir(You can tell he was based off of Sebastian). I also love a well-dressed man. But the best parts of Fafnir are his bromance with Takiya and the stark contrast between his looks and his gaming addiction.

Tamaki Suoh (Ouran High School Host Club)

I shipped this boy with Haruhi from Day 1. He’s a dumb butt rich boy, but I love him. He’s a goofball but at the same time he also has that princely charm. He does so much for the Host Club and he cares a lot about all its members and they care about him too. Also, I’ll say this a 100% unironically: Tamaki is GORGEOUS. Sharply dressed, nicely cared for blond hair, violet(or blue, if you’re a manga reader)...Just, yes.

Chezem (Shall We Date? My Sweet Prince)

Chezem is a love from my dating sim days. He was the first prince I went for in the game and to this day is still my favorite. He’s a scholarly boy with trust issues. Wonderful. His route was beautiful and his CGIs warmed my heart to the core. The few times you see him genuinely smile are just the best. I also love his overall design. He even wears reading glasses(That megane appeal is on point!).

Keima Katsuragi (The World God Only Knows)

Ah, the megane once again. He’s cute, what can I say. He’s smart and he loves games, what more could you want? I personally think it would be very fun to be one of his “conquests”. Even if you know it’s not gonna last, you know he’s going to make sure you have a good time.

Kenji Yamaguchi (My Little Monster)

Is it bad that as I was watching My Little Monster, I slowly began to route for Yamaguchi even though I knew Haru was gonna win(I don’t really like characters with anger issues)? He’s sort of an Ace in universe but he’s also a bit of a jerk. So why do I like him??? He’s smart, but there’s a lot of characters who are smart. I think it’s how he falls for Shizu in the anime. Maybe I like the thought of someone who acts so above it all being brought down to their knees because they caught feelings.

Lancer: Diurmuid Ua Duibhne(Fate Zero)

I feel bad for Lancer. He was one of the characters in Fate/Zero that I really didn’t want to die. I knew it was inevitable but all he wanted to do was be a loyal knight! He’s such a great guy but his luck is TERRIBLE. I think the fact that he met such an unfortunate end makes me like him more because now I want to write a story where nothing happens to him.

Waifu

Now because I’m straight, I’m not actually sexually attracted to my waifus and they may not be waifus by the same criteria that others would make waifus.

Yona(Yona of the Dawn)

SLAY ME, QUEEN! I love Yona! Her character development is to die for! She is kind, she is strong, and she is cute as a button. She is a beautiful queen and long may she reign!

Hinata Kawamoto (March Comes In Like a Lion)

Hina is on this list because I can’t help but applaud her strength during the bullying arc. She has the inner strength that I WISH I had in her situation. She stood up for her friend, stood up for herself, and did not decide to fight her tormentor. She sought help when she needed but didn’t let her struggles keep her from moving forward. Love this girl.

Don’t Know You But I Love You

These are for the characters from shows I haven’t watched but am already fond of.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi(Shoujo Chara)

Catboy who is also a tease. Enough said.

Victor Nikorov (Yuri on Ice)

Why does he have to be so hot?! I avoided watching Yuri On Ice because I didn’t want to become a fujoshi yet this man. This man right here. Oh lordy. The ice skating, the hotspring scene.....I’m weak.

Love Them So Much I Can’t Even Call Them a Husbando

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya (My Hero Academia)

I am not good enough for Izuku. I can’t even call him a husbando. He’s too pure. He is the best hero. He is incredibly smart, brave, and heroic and he’s everything I aspire to one day be. Except reckless. I’m not too fond of breaking my arms.

It would be nice if I could hear about your opinions of my list because I know that a person’s waifu/husbando(s) is supposed to reflect a lot about them and what they want from a partner but I don’t personally see a pattern with these guys.

Who are your waifus and husbandos?

#list #waifu #husbando #chezem #tamaki suoh #izuku midoriya #fafnir #lancer #yona #hina #hinata #victor nikiforov #ikuto tsukiyomi #keima katsuragi #yamachen

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stabmevicino · 7 years

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Tag game!

Tagged by @hi-so-krazy who kindly described me as “ shook af 24/7 but still kilLING IT” dats true dats me (lol thank you so much for the tag!!!)

Tag 9 People: LET’S BE HONEST HERE no one does these so what’s the point lol also im lazy as fuck but @kallianofdiabolos GURL U GOTTA

Last song I listened to: Butterfly by Kim Jaejoong

Last book you read/listened to: does manga count cuz BNHA owns my ass rn

Favourite color: black *insert the joke about the color of my soul*

Top three shows: Yuri!!! on ice, Boku no Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist

Top three characters: Yuuri (YoI), All Might (BNHA), Todoroki Shouto (BNHA) listen that’s just cruel I LOVE THEM ALL

Top three ships: Victor x Yuuri (YoI), Sorey x Mikleo (Tales of Zestiria), Nino x Jean (Acca 13)

2) BOLD the statements that are true for you! (italic for partially true)

APPEARANCE: I am 5'7" / 170cm or taller I wear glasses I have at least one tattoo I have at least one piercing I have blonde hair I have brown eyes I have short hair My abs are at least somewhat defined I have or have had braces

PERSONALITY: I love meeting new people People tell me that I’m funny Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me I enjoy physical challenges I enjoy mental challenges I’m playfully rude with people I know well only with those who do understand a good friendly sarcasm and are fine with that I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY: I can sing well I can play an instrument I can do over 30 pushups without stopping I’m a fast runner I can draw well - i mean it’s not for me to judge??? im okay???? I have a good memory good visual memory to be exact I’m good at doing math in my head I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch I know how to throw a proper punch

HOBBIES: I enjoy playing sports I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else I have learned a new song in the past week I work out at least once a week I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months I have drawn something in the past month I enjoy writing FANDOMS ARE MY #1 PASSION I do or have done martial arts

EXPERIENCES: I have had my first kiss I have had alcohol I have scored the winning goal in a sports game I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting I have been at an overnight event I have been in a taxi I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year I have beaten a video game in one day I have visited another country I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts

RELATIONSHIPS: I’m in a relationship I have a crush on a celebrity I have a crush on someone I know I have been in at least 3 relationships 2 I have never been in a relationship I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them I get crushes easily I have had a crush on someone for over a year I have been in a relationship for at least a year I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE: I have at least one person I consider a “best friend” I live close to my school i do in fact live close to my school that i graduated from 10 years ago holy fuck im old My parents are still together I have at least one sibling I live in the United States There is snow right now where I live I have hung out with a friend in the past month I have a smartphone I have at least 15 CD’s I share my room with someone

RANDOM SHIT: I have breakdanced I know a person named Jamie does a youtuber count lol I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce I have dyed my hair I’m listening to one song on repeat right now I have punched someone in the past week I know someone who has gone to jail I have broken a bone I have eaten a waffle today I know what I want to do with my life I speak at least 2 languages I have made a new friend in the past year I have been given flowers before

#tag game #sorry for lots of crossed commentary i caNT SHUT UP #thank you again <3 #MAR YOU GOTTA

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itsclowreedsfault · 7 years

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Huge Tag Meme Masterpost pt 2

aka I’m finally doing the rest of all the tags I was tagged at

under the cut because this is really really long

Tagged by @the-awkward-orca, @yukination, @kuroosukii and @tartan-llama. Thanks you my lovelies <3

Name: Thais Nicknames: Tha Zodiac sign: Aries Height: 1.63m Orientation: Straight Fave fruit: Watermelon Fave season: Winter Fave books: Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Night Circus, The Illuminae Files, The Raven Cycle, the list is endless Fave flower: Don’t have one Fave scent: hm, I never really thought about it, maybe cookies baking? Fave color: Blue, purple, black Fave animal: Cat Coffee, tea or hot cocoa: Hot cocoa Average sleep hours: around 5-6 hours I think Cat or dog person: Cat :3 Fave fictional character: there are so many jakshakj Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki, Jae-ha, Soo-Won, Fai Flourite, Natsume Takashi, Roy Mustang, Greedling, Mutsumi Asuma; these are just some of them Number of blankets: 1 (unfortunately it’s almost never cold enough here to use more than just one) Dream trip: New York and Japan Blog created: February of 2016 Number of followers: 1944

Tagged by @takasukis and @kuroosukii. Thanks Robin and Mooza <3

Rules: BOLD the statements that are true for you!

APPEARANCE:

I am 5′7″ or taller

I wear glasses

I have at least one tattoo

I have at least one piercing

I have blonde hair

I have brown eyes

I have short hair

My abs are at least somewhat defined

I have or have had braces

There is something I would change about the way I look

PERSONALITY:

My Hogwarts house is:

Gryffindor Hufflepuff Ravenclaw Slytherin

I am an introvert

I like meeting new people

People tell me that I’m funny

Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me

I enjoy physical challenges

I enjoy mental challenges

I’m playfully rude with people I know well

I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it

There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY:

I can sing well

I can play an instrument

I can do over 30 pushups without stopping

I’m a fast runner

I can draw well

I have a good memory

I’m good at doing math in my head

I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute

I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling

I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch

I know how to throw a proper punch

HOBBIES:

I enjoy playing sports

I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else

I’m in a orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else

I have learned a new song in the past week

I work out at least once a week

I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months

I have drawn something in the past month

I enjoy writing

Fandoms are my #1 passion

I do or have done martial arts

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss

I have had alcohol

I have scored the winning goal in a sports game

I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting

I have been at an overnight event

I have been in a taxi

I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year

I have beaten a video game in one day

I have visited another country

I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts

RELATIONSHIP:

I’m in a relationship

I have a celebrity crush

I have a crush on someone I know

I have been in at least 3 relationships

I have never been in a relationship

I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them

I get crushes easily

I have had a crush on someone for over a year

I have been in a relationship for at least a year

I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE:

I have at least one person I consider a “best friend”

I live close to my school

My parents are still together

I have at least one sibling

I live in the United States

There is snow right now where I live

I have hung out with a friend outside of school in the past month

I have a smartphone

I have at least 15 CDs

I share my room with someone

RANDOM SHIT:

I have breakdanced

I know a person named Jamie

I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce

I have dyed my hair

I’m listening to one song on repeat right now

I have punched someone in the past week

I know someone who has gone to jail

I have broken a bone

I have eaten a waffle today

I know what I want to do with my life

I speak at least 2 languages fluently

I have made a new friend in the past year

Tagged by @cutiebobo and @de-k-u. Thanks bbs <3

Relationship status: Taken Lipstick or chapstick: Chapstick Last song I listened to: Jingo Jungle - Myth & Roid Movie I watched: The Secret World of Arrietty Three tv shows: Yuri!!! on Ice, Boku no Hero Academia, Akatsuki no Yona Three characters: Todoroki Shouto (Boku no Hero Academia), Jae-ha (Akatsuki no Yona), Fai Flourite (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle) Ships: TodoBaku, KuroFai, Jaeki, Viktuuri, UnderGrell, BokuAkaKuroTsukki, Soukoku, Shin Soukoku

Tagged by @hades-no-daifuku. Thanks sweetie <3

Post 10 facts about yourself and pass it on to 10 faves

Tagged by @mintsugawara. Thanks dear <3

rules: share 11 random facts about yourself and tag 11 people

(I’ll just do both of these in one since no way I can think of 21 facts haha)

1. I am moving in less than two weeks, though I’ll still be in the same town 2. I’ll be adopting another cat soon (she kinda “came as a bonus” with the new house haha) 3. I’m a huge procrastinator 4. I started doing manga colorings recently and I’m really enoying it! 5. I have a weakness for Fallen Angel AUs (or any AU involving characters with wings, tbh) 6. My enthusiasm about things usually fades very quickly 7. Tumblr (making edits, writing fics, etc) seems to be an exception to that, since it’s been over a year and I still love it :P 8. If I count my manga collection, I own nearly 700 books 9. I’ve traveled abroad twice 10. I used to collect stickers (probably still have them somewhere lol) 11. I barely ever write anything by hand (even at uni) so my handwriting sucks

#whew I think those were all of them!#sorry it took me so long to do them guys!#and I'm sorry if you've tagged me in anything and I forgot to do it #it was hard to keep track of all the tags haha #tag

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lisa-lisaa · 6 years

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So for people who are curious, these are going to be my choices for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. I kind of feel like it’s futile. Last year, Yuri on Ice sweeped. But this year I’m sure My Hero Academia is going to sweep, when it certainly doesn’t deserve all the awards it’s nominated for. Even though the second season is in my top 3 of 2017.

Anyway, my choices are:

Best Action: My Hero Academia Season 2, because I haven’t seen the others. Though I’m definitely going to watch Land of the Lustrous soon.

Best Animation: A Silent Voice. Really, it’s not fair that a movie was placed in this category with TV shows, but it’s just so beautiful. The other shows (except for Kobayashi because I didn’t watch) are all animated great too, but A Silent Voice is better.

Best CGI: Land of the Lustrous. I haven’t seen it but from the clips and gifs I’ve seen of this show, this is easily the best CGI we’ve gotten in anime EVER. Kado: The Right Answer also looks great too, so it should be praised too.

Best Comedy: ??? Honestly, I haven’t seen any of these shows, except for Little Witch Academia, so I might just skip this category. Little Witch is funny but I don’t consider it a comedy. For predictions, I think Osomatsu 2 is going to win because the fangirls are scary.

Best Continuing Series: ??? Again, I haven’t seen these shows so I’m definitely skipping this. Also, some of these choices are weird? Naruto Shippuden? Case Closed?! There’s close to 1000 episodes of Case Closed, who the hell is watching it?!

Best Drama: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu Season 2 Rakugo is my favorite anime of all time. And I’m going to be honest, it’s not going to win anything this year because so few people watched the first season, and even less watched the second one. Either way, I’m voting for it because Rakugo is honestly a modern masterpiece that deserves all the awards. Shoutout to Made in Abyss, though, my second favorite show of 2017.

Best Boy: Shoto Todoroki Honestly it’s not fair that there’s two boys from Academia here. But Todoroki is a great character. Also, Yakumo was a strange choice because he’s not even a boy, and also Yotaro should have taken his spot and I would have voted for him instead.

Best Girl: Moriko Morioka Again, HeroAca doubling up again, that’s not fair. Anyway, I love Moriko. She’s cute, funny, and relateable as hell. Love her a lot. <3

Best Film: A Silent Voice Honestly, the two films that are going to be duking it out are A Silent Voice and Your Name, and I honestly think Your Name is going to win because it got more attention and word of mouth. I haven’t seen Your Name or any of the others in the category, so...yeah. But A Silent Voice is fantastic.

Best Manga: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu I was going to skip this category as well because I don’t read manga, but if Rakugo can win something, it could most likely win this! I think...

Best Opening: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu Season 2 I’m not sure how they’re judging openings, whether it’s just music, or just visuals, or both. If it’s just music, all of the nominees are pretty equal, they’re all great but Princess Principal edges out just a bit. If it’s visuals, Attack on Titan looks magnificent and Rakugo’s are powerful. When it comes to both, Rakugo takes it.

Best Ending: Netjuu no Susume Literally because I don’t know the other ones. :/

Best Score: Made in Abyss By far the easiest win. I didn’t even need to see the other nominees, Made in Abyss’ score blew me away and the last scene of the first episode is still ingrained in my head. If Made in Abyss doesn’t win at least this then I will seriously riot.

Best Slice of Life: Netjuu no Susume I absolutely loved this show, it was so funny and adorable and it made me smile every week. Also...I haven’t seen the other shows. Sorry.

Best Hero: Gin Minowa I can’t talk about how amazing Gin is without delving into spoiler territory, but she absolutely deserves this award way more than the others. I won’t count out Nanachi, she’s a close second. But I’m ready to be disappointed because I know hardly anyone watched Yuki Yuna, let alone the prequel. And...Deku is in this category, so that makes things worse. I love you, Gin.

Best Villain: Tanya Degurechaff Tanya is kind of a weird choice because she’s not totally a villain to me? She’s evil and ruthless, for sure, but she’s trying to survive in the shitty world she was sent to. Honestly, Being X is way more of a villain to me than Tanya. Stain is another great choice, but because we got to know Tanya more and saw the things she’s done and heard the things she’s said, I have to go with her.

And last but not least,

ANIME OF THE YEAR: SHOUWA GENROKU RAKUGO SHINJUU SEASON 2

Like I said, Rakugo is my favorite anime of all time. I’ve never seen an anime as amazing as this one and the second season wrapped up the series so beautifully. It told an interesting and tragic story with complex and realistic characters, and I recommend everyone to watch it. But if I have to be honest, it’s not going to win because My Hero Academia 2 is here. If Rakugo won’t win, I would be happy if somehow Made in Abyss won as well, my second favorite anime of 2017.

Let’s hope for the best!

#anime awards #crunchyroll anime awards #i don't want to be cynical #but #my hero academia is going to sweep #and i will cry #even though i love the anime #pls don't let it sweep

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pod7 · 7 years

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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

#summer anime 2017 #lightning review #anime review

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Bookshelf Briefs 5/18/21

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 1 | By Shio Usui | Seven Seas – It’s always worth buying a new yuri volume that features two adults, and this one does not disappoint. Hinako is trying her best to live the life that everyone and everything says she should be living, but she’s still pretty unhappy with it. She also finds herself drawn to Asahi, the cool and collected (and scary to the other workers) manager at the place she works, who turns out… to be a lot cuter than she expected. Meanwhile, Asahi’s sister finds out that she’s made friends with another woman and pushes hard for them to bond some more, as Asahi’s life revolves around work and her sister and that’s about it. This has just gotten started, but I really like both heroines and hope they make it work. – Sean Gaffney

Farming Life in Another World, Vol. 2 | By Kinosuke Naito and Yasuyuki Tsurugi | One Peace Books – I may have been a bit too generous with my brief of the first volume. I think the main issue is that the series does not allow our hero to leave the “village” that he has created—he’s considered too valuable, so others act as his envoys. Which is fine, but… the series never leaves his POV, so they just fly off, then come back. I suspect the series is popular with young men because it does not shy away from talking about how he’s having sex with over 50 women… but I wonder what they get out of it, since none of this is ever shown. You’re left with a book heavy on the food and farming but light on adventure or sex, the reason you’d think folks would be reading it. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 19 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – Again, a book of two halves, and it’s all about the front half, as we resolve the “Hayasaka quits” plotline. It’s very tense and dramatic at times, and I enjoyed seeing Hayasaka briefly fantasize about a more typical romantic comedy resolution to things before being confronted with the sordid reality: Kaguya is upset and feels betrayed. And, well, with good reason. That said, Kaguya clearly understands that Hayasaka was doing this under threat, so they’re able to resolve their past and start over as friends. It’s really nice. The rest of the book is more typical, though we’re definitely setting things up to resolve the Tsubame subplot—is she going to betray Ishigami? Probably not, but I would not expect her to win. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 27 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – This marks the start of a very long and very devastating arc, and it’s clear almost from the get-go that it’s not going to go as well as planned. It’s impressively planned too, as the heroes really do try to take everything into account… but the villains are also very, very good at being bad guys. Indeed, the end of this volume revolves around the very question of “can bad guys be redeemed?” and the answer—yes, but you’ll need to do prison time—does not appeal. So the series shows it can kill off regulars, but will it go further? Certainly Mirko facing off against the Nomus involves a painful sacrifice for her, and the students all question whether they should really be there… a question the reader might be wondering as well. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 25 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – This is down to about once a year now, but I still love it whenever it comes out, whether it’s telling more light-hearted stories, like the one here about a weak yokai hitching a ride out of a dangerous area, or more serious stuff, like the story that takes up the rest of the book, one of the longest arcs to date (and it ends on a cliffhanger), involving Natsume, Natori and Matoba teaming up to take on a nasty customer who seemingly works for an even nastier one who likes to collect yokai-related items. We get lots of (seemingly) identical ceramic cat dolls that look like Nyanko-sensei, some very scary paper dolls, and a real sense of danger on all sides. This feels like the sort of shoujo title you’d read in a horror magazine. – Sean Gaffney

Remina | By Junji Ito | VIZ Media – I’m not exactly a horror manga aficionado, but the premise of Remina intrigued me. Sadly, I ultimately found it strangely unaffecting. When a scientist discovers a new planet and names it after his daughter, she becomes a celebrity. And when said planet swiftly devours the rest of our solar system and heads for Earth, public opinion suddenly shifts as people become convinced that killing Remina the girl will compel Remina the planet to disappear. It’s a neat concept, but nothing lands with any weight. The destruction of the other planets happens so fast, for one thing, and Remina is largely passive (often “rescued” by creeps who then turn on her when she rejects their advances) and frequently expressionless. There are several panels, for example, where if not for dialogue reading “sob sob sob,” I never would’ve known she was crying. For better Ito, I recommend “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.” – Michelle Smith

Sadako at the End of the World | By Koma Natsumi | Yen Press – I’ll have to admit, I’ve never actually read Koji Suzuki’s novel Ring. Even so, I’m still very familiar with the premise of a cursed video tape and the character of Sadako who emerges to kill anyone who watches it—with so many adaptations and references to it in pop culture, Ring is a touchstone of Japanese horror. Sadako at the End of the World is a somewhat unusual but surprisingly effective take on the character and curse. The conceit is that Sadako has been brought forth by two young girls in a post-apocalyptic setting. In their innocence, they don’t recognize Sadako for the vengeful spirit that she is and are instead delighted to finally have someone else around for company. Natsumi takes a humorous approach, but at heart Sadako at the End of the World is a work of horror, even if it can at times be unexpectedly charming and endearing. – Ash Brown

We’re New at This, Vol. 5 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Now that our newly married couple have managed to have their first time, they may like it a bit TOO much—it’s strictly regimented to Friday and Saturday evenings, so that they get enough rest for their jobs. As always, there is a core underneath all the comedic fanservice, which is properly communicating with your partner, and not just assuming you know what they’re thinking. Even Sumika and Ikuma are having trouble with this… the rules have been set, but that doesn’t mean that Sumika doesn’t want her husband noticing when she’s horny and ready to go anyway. This is never going to get very deep, and you’d better be OK with sex and nudity, but it’s still a favorite of mine. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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recentanimenews · 7 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 11/28/17

It’s a cornucopia of briefs!

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 6 | By Yuji Terjima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Training camp continues, and the coach has arranged for some practice games right afterwards, the better to gauge how well the first years play when exhausted. For Furuya, the answer is initially “not well,” but he never loses his determination, and once he swallows his pride and asks Miyuki for advice, finally internalizes the truth that, at Seido, he’s got teammates who are going to back him up, even if the batter does manage to get a hit. Eijun’s fun and everything, but Furuya is not your typical shounen protagonist, and I’m pleased that he’s getting his share of attention. I also liked that the boys hang out some with varsity teammates we’ve barely glimpsed, and we learn how awesome the captain is. I am already relishing the thought of future marathon rereads of this series. It’s a keeper for sure. – Michelle Smith

Cells at Work!, Vol. 5 | By Akane Shimizu | Kodansha Comics – Once again, Red Blood Cell is absent from this volume except a brief cameo. This allows us to focus our attention on the ‘normal cell’ from prior volumes, who still has a tendency to do dumb things on impulse. Fortunately, the cute adorable bacteria he’s harboring in his room are the GOOD kind of bacteria. Unfortunately, his attempt to get them to where they can do good is thwarted by a host of crises from which White Blood Cell and company must rescue him, most notably the return of Cancer Cell, who brings back the ethical ambiguity to the series as he asks essentially “are the needs of the many less important than the needs of the one?” The one being the body. This was a lot of fun. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 3 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – The cast expands a bit in this third volume. We see one of our team’s old comrades, who left them due to actually wanting to get paid, and the complicated relationship she has with them, particularly Marcille, and it’s made clear she’s not a bad guy—everyone has their own needs and drives. As for Marcille, we also get a flashback to her school days, which shows how she met Laios’ sister (still being digested by a dragon, if you recall), which is rather cute. And of course more ridiculously gross yet amusing monster recipes. And plenty of humor, as it turns out tentacles can be peeled sort of like bananas. Still good, though I’d like to get the sister rescued or declare her dead. – Sean Gaffney

The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 6 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – It was inevitable that Mikuri and Hiramasa would discover that they are in love with each other, but I am still kind of surprised that it actually happened. It’s lovely to see him grinning like a doofus at the office after an evening of fooling around, but I appreciate that the transition into a real marriage isn’t exactly going to be smooth. Mikuri is worried, for example, that she’ll be expected to do the same amount of work for free, while Hiramasa worries about his waning sex drive. Somehow I doubt we’ll ever see the latter issue addressed Everyone’s Getting Married! I also really enjoyed the scenes where Mikuri’s aunt and Kazami get to know each other better—I wholeheartedly approve of them hooking up! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 17 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – And so our heroes pull it off, and get to advance, while Aoba Johsai has to suffer an ignominious defeat. This is done in the best possible shonen way, with lots of noble tears and resolve to get even stronger. The cliches don’t FEEL like cliches—the author is adept at making this feel fresh even when you know where every plot beat is going to be. And so it’s on to the finals, and I suspect this game may drag on a while, as it’s a best 3-sets-of-5 game. Their opponent is Shiratorizawa, who I’m sure we’ll find out more about as we move on, but who clearly have one player who’s REALLY good, and the volume ends with our heroes down by quite a bit. I think they’ll come back, though. Just a hunch. – Sean Gaffney

Hana & Hina After School, Vol. 3 | By Milk Morinaga | Seven Seas – This turns out to be the final volume, and honestly you get the sense it was cut a bit short—the last half feels rushed. Of course, considering all we were getting before that was a slow-burning pile of angst, it might be best that it got the push. Morinaga Milk has always been better at fluffy than angsty, so it comes as something of a relief when our two heroines finally get over the whole “is it just me? Did she mean it when she said she’s not that way?” drama and get together (in all respects—as with previous MM titles, there’s a brief, not-that-explicit sex scene here). In the end, this was a cute read, but I’ve seen better yuri from this author. – Sean Gaffney

Horimiya, Vol. 9 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – Horimiya has always tried to be at least slightly more realistic than a lot of romance manga, and thus watching Yuki’s ongoing angst regarding her lies and deceit and how it’s impacting other people is particularly painful. I’m not really all that sure I want her to win here, even though the alternative will also suck. On the bright side, Hori and Morimiya are doing better than ever, and as Hori is forced to think about her future—something which she seemed to have given not a single thought to—but she realizes here that no matter what she does, she wants to be with Miyamura. This leads to a sort of adorable reverse proposal, which fits the general characterization. Still good, but I hope it’s wrapping up soon. – Sean Gaffney

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 5 | By Hirohiko Araki | Viz Media And so, finally, JoJo’s has run up against my ability to get 500+ words out of each volume. Yes, this is the first volume to get a Brief rather than a full review, and I put the blame entirely on the rambling Road To Cairo plot that Araki has chosen to use this time around. Individual moments are as striking as ever—I felt the killer baby was more interesting as a killer within dreams than in the real world, and the surprise non-death of a character feels a bit cheap. But JoJo’s still has its bizarre visuals and grotesque violence, and as long as it keeps that up it should stay interesting, even if Jotaru continues to be the dullest Jo we’ve had to date. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 4 | By Canno | Yen Press – Most sports manga fail to show the heroes moving on to a professional career, with a few exceptions like Captain Tsubasa. In reality, a lot of sports careers end just the way we see Mizuki’s end here—she comes close to the Nationals, but doesn’t make it, and realizes that this is it, she has to stop doing track and decide on an actual career. There’s also her relationship with Moe, which may actually be hindering her for a spell—it’s gotten to the point where she forgets running was fun—but eventually proves stronger than both thought, and we get a proposal (of sorts) and a kiss. This is a bit stronger than Hana & Hina, even if it’s just as fluffy, and I’m pleased to see it continue. – Sean Gaffney

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 7 | By Koyuki and Mamare Touno | Yen Press – The comedy is kept to a minimum here, as we get the more dramatic parts of the third and fourth novel, intermixed with how it’s affecting the West Wind Brigade. Kawara’s on the cover, and we get a bit more insight into her character—basically, she’s an instinctual fighter but a bit of an idiot who got into the game because she wanted to be a shonen hero, and the West Wind Brigade was the only one that would take her in. It does also show off her strengths as well, though. That said, easily the most interesting part is the ending, where we get a surprise appearance by a seemingly insane Nureha, who’s met by a battle-crazy Soujiro. I want to see how this battle turns out. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 10 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – I appreciate that Horikoshi is willing to let Bakugo be a completely unlikable jerk, driven by rage and jealousy and every single negative emotion, and yet still show that he realizes the difference between good and evil—that he’s decided that he wants to be a HERO rather than a villain, even if that means going against what comes more naturally. It’s a terrific scene that really made me like him. On the flip side, the disguises used to infiltrate Evil HQ are hilarious, particularly Deku and Momo. The humor is needed, as this is something of a grim arc, especially with the arrival of a Bigger Bad towards the end. This volume shows off everything that has made this the hot new Jump title. – Sean Gaffney

Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 24 | By Naoshi Komi | Viz Media – Even though it’s obvious Onodera’s going to lose, give credit to the author for not making it easy. She and Raku have really developed a close relationship, and even if it’s not romantic I hope they can stay friends. More to the point, the fact that Onodera is willing to help Raku track down Chitoge by FLYING TO AMERICA with him (because Chitoge has, like many tsundere heroines in denial, literally run halfway across the Earth to escape her love issues) shows off her truly ridiculous kindness. There’s the last popularity poll in this book, and Chitoge and Onodera are separated by barely 100 votes. That’s impressive for a harem title. In any case, it wraps up next time, so keep reading. – Sean Gaffney

One Piece, Vol. 84 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – It’s been a while since we had a volume that focused on further sad backstory for one of the Straw Hat crew, but that’s what we get here, with many hard-to-read scenes about Sanji’s abuse at the hands of his family, intercut with a silly fight in which Luffy defeats a bunch of cracker soldiers by eating them. Because Big Mom is threatening to kill Chef Zeff if he doesn’t comply, Sanji is forced to both insult and attack Luffy in an attempt to get him to abort the rescue, but of course this doesn’t work. In addition to this riveting drama, there’s also the question of whether Pudding (Sanji’s seemingly sympathetic bride-to-be) can actually be trusted, more information about the ponegliffs (yay!), and a glimpse at the unintended consequences of toppling Doflamingo. Plus, Brook actually gets something important to do! This series is still excellent. – Michelle Smith

By: Michelle Smith

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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recentanimenews · 7 years

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FEATURE: Crunchyroll Favorites 2016, Part One: Anime and Manga!

Hoo boy, 2016 was a rough year (and that's putting it very, very mildly)--but there were a few bright spots, and that's what we're here to talk about today! Crunchyroll Favorites kicks off its fifth year with another three-part look at all our favorites from the past twelve months!

The rules were simple: for Part One, only anime, manga, and related media that were released in 2016 (or received a Western release in 2016), or experienced a major milestone (like starting a new season or closing up a major arc). There's a lot to look at in Part One--let's get started!

NATE MING (@NateMing)

FLIP FLAPPERS- Finally, a modern magical girl series that steps out of Madoka's shadow and delivers something that's unique, energetic, and positive as hell. Callouts to everything from Fist of the North Star to Sukeban Deka to (of course) Sailor Moon are welcome for longtime fans, while still getting appropriately dark and moody. Cocona is all about the unease of adolescence, and Papika exudes the simple charm of Son Goku in all her pure, heroic glory. Speaking of...

Dragon Ball Super- I rarely get excited to watch simulcasts as they come out--I tend to wait and binge, but I'm there every week within a day for Dragon Ball Super. In 1995, when I was 13 years old, I wanted a sequel to Dragon Ball Z with Future Trunks coming back. Now, over twenty years later, I get to see a DBZ sequel where Future Trunks comes back--and the series feels even more like the original Dragon Ball. This is the real secret to eternal youth.

Yuri!!! on ICE- Yeah yeah, "fujo bait" or some other BS, you're just mad their fandom is more organized than yours. That says a lot to me--that a TV anime, a sports anime, can pull together so many people and get them excited, week after week. Lapsed fans have viewing parties, share recommendations, and remember why they were once into anime in the first place. This is what happens when it feels like something's made for you, and that's a wonderful thing. Yuri!!! on ICE was a pretty okay show, but it's what it symbolizes that means so much more to me.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable- I always say that JoJo's is like the original Star Trek movies--the best parts are even-numbered. Diamond is Unbreakable continues Studio David's glorious adaptation of Araki's mega-epic, bringing out all the style and soul and violence of Josuke and the gang's battle to save their town. New to JoJo? Start here--and buckle up.

Tanaka-kun is Always Listless- Anime comedies are pretty important to me--whether it's the sheer absurdity of Cromartie High School or the more low-key silliness of Tonari no Seki-kun, finding a fairly simple premise and then focusing on it is a good way to hook me. In this case, a lazy guy has to deal with his high-energy friends, and we learn that sometimes, taking it easy is the only easy way to get ahead in life.

Evangelion 3.33: You Can(Not) Redo- It felt like this movie was never going to come out here after its 2012 release, but holy crap it was worth the wait. After the familiar ground of 1.11 and the bold, assertive new direction 2.22 took, 3.33 brings us back to what Evangelion does best: raw emotional pain, horrifying visuals, and never quite trusting or rooting for anybody we see on-screen. What a ride.

Rurouni Kenshin live-action trilogy- Another awesome release that was a long time coming, this adaptation of my all-time favorite manga condenses the first 17(ish) volumes of the series into three movies, trimming some plotlines and making them all just work as dynamic, rough, yet stylish martial arts actioners. Thankfully, great fights and drama don't overshadow Rurouni Kenshin's sense of fun. Check these out when you can!

Thunderbolt Fantasy- Written and created by Gen Urobuchi? Voice acting by Junichi Suwabe, Rikiya Koyama, Nobuyuki Hiyama, and Tomokazu Seki? An opening by T.M. Revolution?! I don't care what you say, you have those credentials, it can be live-action and be made in Antarctica and still be anime as hell. As the only person I know who regularly bought ComicsONE's kung-fu manhua, Thunderbolt Fantasy brought me back to the days of hunting down volumes of Saint Legend and Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre.

My Hero Academia (manga)- There's always a certain point when a manga hooks me, and I'm in it for better or for worse. One Piece had Arlong Park (and later Enies Lobby). Naruto had the Chunin Exam. Hunter x Hunter had Yorknew City. Now, My Hero Academia's 2016 developments--and a very public, dangerous reveal and its emotional fallout--have pulled me in. I don't just say "My Hero Academia is good." Now I say "My Hero Academia is One Piece good."

Crunchyroll x Funimation- Competition's good, but everybody wins when we all work together. Funimation are the other half of what we do, and have been in this business a hell of a lot longer. Being able to watch brand-new anime subbed on CR or dubbed on Funi is the kind of thing I never thought I'd see, and I am excited as hell to be a part of this, and to see what good it can do for anime fans.

JOSEPH LUSTER (@Moldilox)

Dragon Ball Super- Dragon Ball Super went from "this thing I keep hearing is poorly animated" to "my favorite show of the year" in record time. As soon as it was available legally I jumped into a mountain-leveling, rosé-tinted marathon of madness, and as of right now it's the best damn thing since DBZ. Super has completely rekindled my not-so-dormant love for all things Toriyama, and I can't wait to see where they take the series next.

Mob Psycho 100- I loved the One-Punch Man anime, but I'm pretty sure Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama could take Saitama in an unrestrained fight. That's saying a lot, but it's just another indicator of how much I adored BONES' gorgeously-animated spin on ONE's manga (which needs to come out in English ASAP). It certainly has some of the most creative fights of 2016, and that's a year that brought us the butt-battling of Keijo!!!!!!!!

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- On paper, Re:ZERO isn't something I should have enjoyed as much as I did. I read the first volume of the light novel series and found it as clunky and poorly written as most other light novels I've attempted (noted exception: Kizumonogatari), but the anime really hooked me. It's one of the few series I felt I was watching right alongside everyone else, and it never failed to surprise me and punch me in the gut when it mattered most. This one will be remembered fondly down the line, and here's hoping we get more since Tappei Nagatsuki is still churning out volume after volume of the novels in Japan.

Also, Subaru is great, you just can't handle how devastatingly real he is.

PETER FOBIAN (@PeterFobian)

FLIP FLAPPERS- On a visual level, FLIP FLAPPERS is a fascinating tour de force of concept and animation, featuring regular bouts of intense sakuga and amazing environmental design in the diverse worlds of pure illusion all illustrated in a pseudo-classical style. For critics it is a cornucopia of satisfying references to fine art, science, psychology, philosophy, and spiritualism with visual callouts to a diverse range of media from Neon Genesis Evangelion to The Shining to Popeye. For the casual viewer it’s a powerful story of adolescent discovery told both literally and through beautifully-rendered metaphor.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Despite the formulaic basis of Re:ZERO’s story, appearing as one of a dime-a-dozen isekai light novel adaptations featuring a female harem, Re:ZERO proved to have some serious narrative worth. Not quite a deconstruction, Re:ZERO featured a deeply flawed protagonist in Subaru and an atypical narrative featuring a novel premise in Subaru’s ability to resurrect from death. This gave the anime a huge potential for speculation, and created an entire community of enthusiasts and analysts who followed it from week to week to see what happened next.

ERASED- Halfway through winter season I was absolutely convinced that nothing in 2016 would be able to top the combination of subtle direction, emotional narrative, and unique premise of ERASED. The series masterfully invested its audience in Kayo’s well-being, so for the viewer, the series became less about solving the mystery of the murders than the simple hope that this brave, unfairly abused girl could find some modicum of happiness in a cruel world. Satoru’s altruistic quest, forthright concern, willingness to admit his own faults, and habit of accidentally vocalizing his thoughts made him a truly endearing protagonist.

March comes in like a lion- This show tells a story that's as difficult to look at as it is to look away from. The inextricable nature of the sources of Rei’s joy and sorrow have created a narrow path he must walk upon just at the edge of despair. Studio SHAFT makes excellent use of visuals, employing darkness and deep water to give Rei’s emotions an elemental quality that allow you to experience the suffocating hold that his depression has upon him, while surrounding the Kawamoto household with a warmth and childlike simplicity that represents the refuge their unconditional love offers to him.

Mob Psycho 100- Mob Psycho 100 may justifiably have a place on top 10 lists for 2016 simply for visual power of the anime alone. Like FLIP FLAPPERS, Mob Psycho 100 is a demonstration of what is possible when you let artists loose on a project. It also showcased ONE’s versatility as a storyteller, strangely, by portraying the same type of overwhelmingly powerful protagonist through a different lens. Behind all the oddball humor and eye-popping art is the story of a boy who struggles with being normal, while everyone around him wants to stand out.

Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū- What we have here is one of a kind: a dedicated, generational period piece not only faithfully depicting post-war Japan, but doing so through the the lens of an obscure and nearly-extinct form of artist theater that is uniquely Japanese. Rakugo feels like the sort of soulful, arthouse passion project that a Hollywood director would have to put years of time in to build the clout to justify its creation. Its direction, emphasizing on gesture and expression, is absolutely cinematic, drawing out each emotional note of the melancholic narrative. The somber humanity of Rakugo almost doesn’t feel like an anime, and is a testament to the versatility of the medium.

My Hero Academia- The next up-and-coming shonen hall-of-famer, in many ways My Hero Academia has already surpassed many of its peers with its fascinating triadic rivalry between Deku, Kacchan, and Todoroki. MHA does a tremendous job of portraying its immensely charming cast of characters' pursuit of diverse personal goals that are equal parts altruism and self-interest. Most importantly, Horikoshi has tapped into the ethos of superheroes, creating inspirational figures that are intrinsically human, but saddled with the responsibility of representing something larger than life.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable- Despite my many attempts to get into the series, Diamond is Unbreakable is perhaps the first iteration of JoJo that had something interesting to say. The slow-burn murder mystery set in an idyllic town and the many asides, notations, and references all work in concert to build the fictional city of Morioh into a nearly real place like The Simpsons' Springfield. With that hurdle passed, Araki’s stylized art and its amazing adaptation into color and movement by Studio David become an art form unto themselves.

Tanaka-kun is Always Listless- Maybe it was how atypical Tanaka was as a lead in a medium where protagonists are homogenously faceless, featureless, and altruistic that drew me to this series. The entire cast each have some sort of hang-up, but the titular Tanaka-kun just treats it differently (ironically) by treating them all the same. Tanaka-kun definitely has a lot of offer on the classroom comedy front, but it also provides a unique sort of iyashikei, or healing media, in which characters' idiosyncrasies are taken in stride and wholeheartedly accepted, even appreciated, by others. It’s this light-hearted dedication to the positive that makes this anime so dear to me.

Yuri!!! on ICE- Complaints about animation and 11th hour writing aside, I do believe Yuri!!! on ICE was one of the most important anime this year or perhaps of the past several years. Yuri!!! on ICE is a story meant to appeal to a much more vast audience than the more targeted content we’re used to, and it showed. It's created new fans for the sport of figure skating, reached out to the LGBT community, and represented countries that hardly see a mention in modern media. It was written for a global audience and it reached it. Only time will tell if it's destined to have any sort of lasting cultural impact, but in the present, at least, it has drawn some deserved attention to the art form.

KARA DENNISON (@RubyCosmos)

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress- I had this show dropped on me by a friend with absolutely no lead-in whatsoever. I've had my fill of steampunk and zombies, so I nearly gave it the brush-off... but then I realized Mikimoto was behind the character designs! It's a gorgeous piece of work, and not at all tuned to the tropes I was expecting. The promise of more is incredibly exciting.

BAKUON!!- Motorcycle anime? Sign me up. It took literally zero arm-twisting to get me into a show about schoolgirls on bikes. Especially when one of them is pretty much literally the Stig. I haven't finished this yet, but I'm looking forward to watching the end very soon!

Love Live! School Idol Project (pre-2016)- Yeah, yeah, I'm late to the party. After lurking around on the game, I finally gave the anime a try to see what all the fuss was about. And I admit it: it's actually really good. It helped that I was in touch with the characters after playing on the app for so long, I think, but I really did jam with this. Looking forward to starting Sunshine soon.

EVAN MINTO (@VamptVo)

Space Patrol Luluco- As Crunchyroll’s resident Trigger fan, I’m obligated to put Luluco at the top of my list. It’s the famed studio of loony ex-Gainax dorks indulging in some of the most surreal, self-referential comedy this side of FLCL (the show where Luluco director Hiroyuki Imaishi got his start as an animation director). Not only does Luluco boast references to every Trigger property from Kill la Kill to Kiznaiver and cameos from Little Witch Academia, Sex & Violence, and 2016’s REAL Best Boy — Inferno Cop — but it’s also a surprisingly sincere shojo-inspired cosmic love story!

Mob Psycho 100- I loved what I saw of One-Punch Man, though I never did finish it (I know, I know). Mob Psycho 100, also from webcomic artist ONE, has some of the same appeal — superpowered battles, lush animation, and an absurd, slightly dark sense of humor — but cuts it with a heartfelt coming-of-age-story. More than anything else, though, I watched Mob just to see what wild shots the animators at BONES would try next, and I was rarely disappointed. Mob Psycho 100 is easily one of the best-looking shows of the past five years; every animator gets a chance to show off their unique style, and even the most mundane scenes are infused with energy and personality.

ERASED- It’s rare we get an anime series I can comfortably recommend to my parents, but ERASED manages to capture the nail-biting cliffhangers and complex mysteries that drive so many popular modern American TV series. On top of all of that, director Tomohiko Ito (of Sword Art Online fame, go figure) crafts powerful, cinematic visuals without resorting to expressionistic anime flourishes. When it all comes together it’s a captivating experience. The ending needs a bit more room to breathe, but even with a few stumbles at the finish line, ERASED is a series I’ll be recommending for years to come.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable- I wasn’t super pleased with Stardust Crusaders, but Diamond is Unbreakable brings back all of the wacky charm of the first two parts of the JoJo’s saga, EXCEPT WITH STANDS. This time Araki doesn’t hold back, introducing a host of completely absurd Stand powers, including: “transform a person into a newspaper and read their life story,” “heal people via Italian food,” and “a real army but the size of toys.” It’s also much smaller-scale, with a lot of recurring characters, many of whom are some of my favorites in the whole series. Though they’ve dropped the incredible Kamikaze Douga OP sequences, David Production makes up for it with colorful, high-contrast artwork that perfectly accentuates Araki’s manic sense of style. I’m sad to see Diamond is Unbreakable go, but JoJo’s still has so much more in store.

Only Yesterday- At 25 years old this year, Only Yesterday is hardly a “new” title, but 2016 was the first time we got it in the United States! Produced at Studio Ghibli and directed by Grave of the Fireflies’ Isao Takahata, the film is a beautifully understated, lyrical look at a woman’s life, told simultaneously through a summer spent farming and a series of memories from her childhood. Most of the movie is ordinary almost to a fault, but like many of Takahata’s movies, it builds carefully and almost imperceptibly to a sublime emotional climax. Only Yesterday is easily one of my favorite anime of all time.

Belladonna of Sadness- Another retro release, Belladonna is the third and final film in the Animerama series of erotic art films produced by Osamu Tezuka’s Mushi Productions. This one, however, is entirely directed by Eiichi Yamamoto (Tezuka co-produced the other two). Suffice it to say, it’s not exactly what you might expect from the studio that produced Astro Boy. A medieval lord rapes a beautiful peasant woman, who seeks revenge by making a deal with the devil. Yamamoto presents the story’s gothic horror — complete with Satanic rituals and frightening descents into madness — with elaborate animated paintings and an incredible psychedelic rock soundtrack from Masahiko Satoh. Not for the faint of heart, Belladonna of Sadness is an arresting work of experimental animation that’s a welcome change of pace from the banality of modern anime.

One-Punch Man (manga)- I’m finally close to caught up with One-Punch Man, and I’m surprised I didn’t read it sooner! Eyeshield 21’s Yusuke Murata has a great eye for character design and pulls off some surprisingly ambitious page layouts, but it’s ONE’s absurd, childish sense of humor that makes the series stand out so much from its shonen action contemporaries. Saitama’s complete apathy undercuts every opportunity for serious danger or drama, giving the series a sardonic self-awareness that’s relatively rare in shonen action series.

And Yet the Town Moves- After a 10-year run, And Yet the Town Moves is finally over. Masakazu Ishiguro’s decade-long manga never follows a single storyline for more than two or three chapters, instead constructing a deliberately out-of-order series of episodic comedy vignettes about a small Japanese town and the grossly out-of-place maid café at its center. What always made And Yet the Town Moves a joy to go back to was Ishiguro’s ability to weave endless strings of jokes at his characters’ expense, all while painting a picture of a tight-knit community of decent, lovable folks both old and young. Appropriately for a sitcom that consistently shuns sentimentality in favor of comedy, the final chapter ends with just another dumb joke.

The Gods Lie.- Lots of anime and manga feature children as the main characters, but it’s rare that these stories really tackle what it means to be a child in modern society. The Gods Lie, on the other hand, tackles it head on with the story of three kids — the oldest of whom are in 6th grade — who live alone in an abandoned house for a summer. There’s a fair bit of high drama in this single book (an absentee father, a sick, elderly soccer coach) but The Gods Lie communicates far more about how how societies nurture and shelter their children through showcasing the fractured but functional surrogate family that the three kids form for each other.

The Osamu Tezuka Story- Though it’s sometimes a little too detailed for its own good, The Osamu Tezuka Story is an invaluable book for anyone like me who’s obsessed with the life and work of Osamu Tezuka, the “God of Manga” who created Astro Boy and revolutionized both the postwar manga and anime industries. In manga form, author Toshio Ban lays out Tezuka’s life from his schoolboy days sketching in the margins of notebooks to his death in 1989, pulling from memoirs, interviews, and personal accounts from those who knew him best. Tezuka loved to write manga epics about the lives of heroes and historical figures, so it’s fitting that he’d get immortalized in his own manga biography.

SAM WOLFE (@_Samtaro)

One Piece- 2016 was another great year for the One Piece manga, as the Straw Hats finally did something fans have been anticipating for years: take on one of the Four Emperors of the Sea! Luffy has been making waves on Whole Cake Island, home to the notorious pirate lord Big Mom (and let me tell you, she’s got that name for a reason). Next to Teach, Big Mom has become one of my favorite One Piece villains, largely due to her distorted views on family. But is Big Mom really so bad? After all, her dream is to sit at a table where everyone sits at the same height…

ERASED- ERASED was a critically received murder mystery and drama that took the anime world by storm earlier this year, and I can’t sing its praises enough. Regardless of your feelings on the ending, ERASED had us gripped, and because the anime promised an alternate ending than its source manga, we were all in the dark. But to me, the success of ERASED was its appeal to both anime fans and non-anime fans. When a newbie asks me for anime recommendations, ERASED is sure to be on that list.

Dragon Ball Super- Dragon Ball Super really wasn’t on my radar until it was licensed in the States, and boy am I happy it was. As a big fan of Battle of the Gods and Resurrection F, Super was familiar territory, but this year I realized how good of a follow-up this show is to Dragon Ball Z; the power levels are higher, as are the stakes, and Goku is finally an underdog again. It’s good to be back.

Yuri!!! on ICE- I know, I know, you’ve heard enough about this one, but it deserves the nod. Yuri!!! on ICE is a special show for a lot of reasons: it’s appealing to anime fans and non-anime fans alike, it was an original story (meaning, it’s not based on a manga or light novel), and it told the story of two male figure skaters falling in love. It’s more than just a fujoshi dream come true; Yuri!!! on ICE did something really new, and that’s worth noting, even if you’re not a fan.

ISAAC AKERS (@iblessall)

As has been my custom with this space over the past few years (okay, just last year), rather than highlighting the shows that made it into my top 10 of the year, I’ll be touching on a few of the year’s offerings that just missed the cut.

She and Her Cat -Everything Flows- One of the quietest and shortest shows of the year was also a serious contender for being one of its best. Based on an earlier work of the same main title by Makoto Shinkai, She and Her Cat -Everything Flows- is a peaceful, melancholic look at the life of a young woman struggling with the loneliness and sadness that can come with being out on your own in the world. Much like one of my favorite short pieces from 2015, the Animator Expo’s tomorrow from there. She and Her Cat captures with ease and empathy a kind of wistful yet warm existential state. If you’ve been in the main character’s shoes even a little (or, if you’re in them right now), She and Her Cat -Everything Flows- is like getting a nice hug.

Three Leaves, Three Colors- Studio Dogakobo is well-known for their bouncy comedies, with recent hits like Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun and Love Lab leading the list. However, Three Leaves, Three Colors (from the same mangaka as Engaged to the Unidentified) is a somewhat more demure affair despite sharing many of the same trappings. With standout bits of animation scattered throughout and great color work, it’s a pleasure to look at, but it also boasts a rock-solid main trio of friends who play off each other in fun ways. There are even some almost surrealistic comedic interludes interspersed here and there. If you like moe comedies and missed this one this year, here’s your cue to check it out!

The Lost Village- Arguably the most controversial show of the entire year when it was airing, whether The Lost Village was genius, mediocre, or horrid varies depending on who you ask. I’ve weighed in on the matter with my own thoughts multiple times, but even considering how much respect I ended up having for the show I still find myself a bit baffled by it. That being said, it’s definitely one of the shows I had the most fun watching, writing, and discussing during the year, and I think those who engage with it ready to be flexible with their expectations will find, at the very least, a very unique anime to add to their completed list.

As for manga… I didn’t read any manga this year and I don’t think Nate will let me put Orange on my list for the third straight year, so sorry. [EDITOR'S NOTE: I would have been cool with this.] Pokemon Special’s still fun and good, by the way.

NICK CREAMER (@B0bduh)

FLIP FLAPPERS- FLIP FLAPPERS offered basically everything I want in an anime: great character writing, stirring themes, beautiful worlds, and an overall sense of whimsy that kept the whole thing fun and propulsive even when it was touching on topics like child abandonment and an inability to love yourself. It was an astonishing visual showcase and also a remarkably well-constructed character story, using its many diverse Pure Illusion adventures to consistently illustrate new things about its central characters. It’s one of those weird passion projects that make anime special, and I’m very happy it exists.

Concrete Revolutio: The Last Song- Okay, when I said FLIP FLAPPERS was everything I want in an anime, I sort of lied - I also like shows with searing political messages, and The Last Song was that all over. Depicting the breakdown of an alternate post-war Japan where superheroes are real, The Last Song was more reflective and bittersweet than Concrete Revolutio’s first season, but just as clever, creative, and engaging. From its wild pop-art style to its smart application of superhero archetypes to the social turmoil of 60s/70s Japan, The Last Song offered me a hefty meal to dig into every single week.

Sound! Euphonium 2- And reaching the final pole of my anime preferences, Sound! Euphonium continued to be thoughtful character drama done right. The show’s second season was messier than its first, adapting some material that couldn’t match the consistency of its predecessor, but the show’s characters continued to be very strong, and Kyoto Animation’s execution was just beyond compare. While many shows use the open canvas of animation to tell soaring, fantastical narratives, Euphonium demonstrated just how much magic and beauty there is in the personal and everyday.

Kizumonogatari- Oh, I also watched the first two Kizu movies this year, and they were glorious. Monogatari has been one of my favorite anime franchises for years now, but seeing Tatsuya Oishi’s gorgeous take on the prequel novel still felt like a revelatory experience. Instead of the TV series’ usual embrace of heavy internal monologue, Oishi fully realized Araragi’s depression, panic, and sexual mania through sound and pictures alone, making for one of the most distinctive and visceral film experiences I’ve seen. The Kizu films are a remarkable achievement.

FROG-KUN (@frog_kun)

Yuri!!! on ICE - An anime that was born to make history. Besides all the pretty boys and ice skating, the one thing that will stick with me about this show is how international its scope was. Yuri!!! on ICE takes you around the world and offers a surprisingly detailed and true-to-life picture of international competitive ice skating. We got to see skaters from Thailand and Kazakhstan excel at what they love on the world stage. As compelling as Yuri's journey as an athlete was, any of the skaters could have been the main character of this story. In fact, this was something that director Sayo Yamamoto and mangaka Mitsuro Kubo specifically went out of their way to suggest. No wonder this series was so beloved around this world!

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- This series might look like a typical fantasy-adventure story about an insufferable male nerd at first glance, but I was really impressed by how much empathy the narrative had for its main character. Subaru is an extremely weak character in the scheme of things, and the world doesn't revolve around him. His struggle to connect with others and move past his self-hatred resonated with me for similar reasons that My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU and Neon Genesis Evangelion did. I also happened to really love all the side characters in this series, and there's enough left unexplained by the end to make me burn with curiosity to find out what happens next. Season 2 when?!

your name.- I got to see Makoto Shinkai's masterpiece when it came out in Australian cinemas in November, and I ended up loving it so much that I saw it twice in three days! In my view, it's the first Shinkai film that balances its macro plot and themes equally with the love story, and that might be one of the reasons why I found it so personally relatable. your name. was created in response to the Fukushima disaster, and I found its message of empathizing with others and treasuring every fleeting moment especially profound in that context. I also think that the film touches on something deep about the way we humans connect with each other, and how it's possible for us to emotionally identify with people we've never even physically met. For that reason, among many others, it has become one of my favorite anime of all time.

WILHELM DONKO (@Surwill)

Sound! Euphonium 2- The first Sound! Euphonium was already my favorite anime of 2015, and the sequel again managed to make my list this year, as the second season was not lacking any of the traits and attributes responsible for the remarkable first season. Sound! Euphonium 2 kept its authentic grounded tone, which was accompanied by realistic characters and character-interactions, relatable drama, and background art nothing short of stunning. After a bit of a slow start, the season really picked up after the incredibly animated musical performance during the Kansai Competition, and in the end managed to tie up most loose ends beautifully. I’d also like to quickly mention Kumiko’s voice actresses’ unusual and mellow performance, which added a lot of personality to her character in my opinion.

Haikyu!!- Volleyball? I’m surely not going to care for an anime about a sport I don’t even know all the rules to. Boy, was I wrong. I picked up Haikyu!! around the start of the year, while the second cour of the second season was still running, and was immediately hooked. The show is extremely engaging, energetic, fast-paced, and almost always kept me on the edge of my seat during the matches. Haikyu!!’s cast is equally lovable (even the opponents in the show are great), and undergo some major character development throughout the seasons. I really did not care for Tsukishima at the beginning of show, but he soon became one of my favorites, especially after the thrilling third season. I guess I could say the same about Haikyu!! in general.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- I don’t think I need to talk a lot about Re:ZERO, as it was undoubtedly one the biggest, if not the biggest anime this year. The show was definitely one of the more interesting takes on the Isekai (different world) formula in recent memory, and always sparked a great amount of discussion after each episode. And what can I say? I really liked to see Subaru suffer.

Love Live! Sunshine!!- I’m fully aware that Love Live! Sunshine!! is the odd one out of all my picks, and I would never objectively consider it as anime of the year, but it was my personal favorite of 2016. Even though I watched both seasons of the original, I never really cared for the Love Live! series, but that drastically changed with the start of Love Live! Sunshine!! While I never warmed up to Muse, I just adore every member of Aqour’s, and generally consider Sunshine!! to be a step up in every aspect compared to the original. However, it wasn’t until my own pilgrimage to the show’s setting, Uchiura and Numazu that I really fell in love with the series. I’ve done a lot of anime pilgrimages, but this one ranks among my favorites. After that I started collecting everything Love Live! Sunshine!! related I could get my hands upon. From art books, to figures to coffee mugs, I have it all – I even play that darn mobile game every day. Yousoro ~

Honorable Mentions: Flying Witch, KONOSUBA, Ajin.

BRANDON TETERUCK (@Don_Don_Kun)

FLIP FLAPPERS– Magical girl anime have encountered a bit of a dry spell in recent years. Thankfully Kiyotaka Oshiyama brought us a unique spin on the genre with his directorial debut, FLIP FLAPPERS. While FLIP FLAPPERS was a mishmash of different styles, ranging from campy shojo horror to Mad Max action, each episode worked harmoniously to create a cohesive emotional narrative. FLIP FLAPPERS’ two heroines, Papika and Cocona, learn more about themselves and each other by exploring a slew of psychedelic and dreamlike worlds. Although the peculiar fusion of genres may not suit every audience’s taste, FLIP FLAPPERS had essentially what I wanted out of a modern magical girl anime: creative and experimental animation sequences, heavily allegorical storytelling, and fabulous henshin scenes.

KIZNAIVER– Hiroshi Kobayashi’s directorial debut, KIZNAIVER, was an ambitious project unlike anything studio Trigger had attempted before. Alongside scriptwriter Mari Okada, Kobayashi created a contemporary adolescent drama that wasn’t afraid to tackle some of the touchier issues in Japanese society. Throughout KIZNAIVER, its cast of misfits constantly grapple between wanting to feel the physical and emotional pain of others and questioning whether an artificial connection could create a sense of togetherness. This was the primary dramatic narrative of KIZNAIVER, and while intriguing in and of itself, it was truly Kobayashi’s thoughtful directing and clever use of visual symbolism that elevated the material. KIZNAIVER may have lacked narrative polish around its edges, but it was one of the most visually poignant pieces of commercial anime to come out of the industry in the past couple of years. Here’s hoping that Kobayashi will have more directing roles in the future as his cinematic vision brings a lot to the table for commercial anime as a whole.

Sound! Euphonium 2– The first season of Sound! Euphonium had always been a favorite of mine, and as such, the bar was set quite high when I heard a prequel was announced. Despite a rather lackluster first arc, the second half of 2016’s Sound! Euphonium 2 blew me away. The relationship between Kumiko and Asuka, two of the central pillars of Kitauji High’s concert band, embodied both the heart and soul of Sound! Euphonium’s web of emotional connections. It was beautiful to see their close-knit bond - built upon respect, trust, and understanding - unfold as the barriers between senpai and kohai were broken down. It set the stage perfectly for the resolution of Sound! Euphonium’s many other narratives: Kumiko and her older sister’s mending of their sibling conflict, Reina’s emotional maturing, and Taki’s finding peace within himself over his late wife. With a soulful conclusion to an already fantastic anime by Kyoto Animation, Sound! Euphonium is a series that couldn’t have ended in a more satisfying manner.

Mob Psycho 100– Mob Psycho 100 is unequivocally a testament to the creativity and passion of the anime industry’s top animators. Director Yuzuru Tachikawa and animation director Yoshimichi Kameda created an experimental take on ONE’s source manga that showcased the importance of animation for storytelling and expression. While still operating within the confines of a shounen work, Mob Psycho 100 is an anime with a visual and ideological identity that does not confirm to the sterile and idealistic standard of perfectionism that is seen in many contemporary anime. “If everyone is not special, maybe you can be who you want to be.”

Love Live! Sunshine!!– Last, but certainly not least, is a pick that you may find a bit strange if you’ve been reading the reasoning behind my other favorite anime of 2016. While I do value artistry in animation and direction, there are times when a fun anime with a cute and charming cast of characters is just as enjoyable to watch. Despite adopting a similar plot structure to the original Love Live! series, Love Live! Sunshine!! knew how to play around with its audience’s expectations, in some cases subverting characterization tropes and outright parodying the original. The girls of Aqours were a low-key bunch of loveable dorks who enthusiastically attempted to emulate the franchise’s previous group of idols (often times with hilarious or unfortunate results). Aqours’ playful banter and goofy antics quickly made me invested in their underdog soul search for stardom, while the intimate relationship between Chika and Riko brought a smile to my face. With the collective energy and excitement it brought to my life while watching, Love Live! Sunshine!! was one of my most pleasant surprises of 2016. Also, Dia is best girl.

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And that's a wrap for Part One of our three-part series! Be sure to tune in at the same time tomorrow for PART TWO: VIDEO GAMES! And if you're still in the mood for past CR Favorites, check out the previous years' features here:

Crunchyroll Favorites 2015 Part One Part Two Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2014 Part One Part Two Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2013 Part One Part Two Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2012 Part One Part Two Part Three

Crunchyroll News' Best of 2011 Part One Part Two

What were your favorite anime and manga of 2016? Remember, this is a FAVORITES list, not a BEST OF list, so there's no wrong answers--sound off in the comments and share your favorites with us!

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Nate Ming is the Features and Reviews Editor for Crunchyroll News, creator of the long-running Fanart Friday column, and the Customer Support Lead for Crunchyroll. You can follow him on Twitter at @NateMing.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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Bookshelf Briefs 12/29/19

As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Vol. 8 | By Matoba | Yen Press -Aside from the cute slice-of-life aspects of the series, much of it revolves around the fact that everyone seems to have a crush on someone in the cast, but it’s either the wrong person or they’re too shy/tsundere/unable to see it to do anything. I was reminded of that in this volume, which literally has Beelzebub and Mullin going on a date to the aquarium… but they’re still not actually a couple, even if they are treated as an eventual one. We see this again with a mixer that Mullin is forced to go to, where we see a girl who a) is so cute she even gets Mullin’s brain briefly off his boss for a bit, and b) has a great meet cute scene with Samyaza… who it turns out has a crush on Eurydice, the shotacon. Sigh. That’s the manga. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 4 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – One thing I really like about this series is that, while Komi has trouble communicating and is trying to improve, the series never shows it as a bad thing per se, and never really judges her for it. Her family is the same way, with the exception of her talkative mother, who we get more of here. A bulk of the story is devoted to the athletic festival, where, as you might expect, both Komi and Tadano are in a position to save the day and win for their group. There’s a bit of selfishness, mostly courtesy of Yamai, who is still around, but for the most part the series really runs on sweet kids doing their best, and also finds the time to be funny. I admire that. – Sean Gaffney

My Father Is a Unicorn | By Monaka Suzuki | Seven Seas – Sometimes you get a book that falls between two stools, and it can be even more disappointing than if it was too much of one thing or the other. This wants to be a funny comedy about a guy trying to live with his out-of-touch stepfather who is really a unicorn, bad at transforming at the worst of times, and also a big flake. This also wants to be a series about found family and giving new people a chance when they mean well and are trying. Unfortunately, too often it tries to do both at once, and the tone is wrong. There’s also a number of times when, even for the broad comedy this is sometimes going for, the characters are so stupid they beggar belief. If you like silly monster “guy” manga you may like it, but… eh. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 18 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | Viz Media – Another volume that is very funny when it’s trying to be, but isn’t trying 3/4 of the time anymore, so it’s just serious fighting stuff. The best bits were the restaurant and the dining and dashing, which felt a lot like the OPM of old. We’re also making Garo into less of a villain by having him do more protecting of a kid, which is fine but does remind you that everything about this world is absolutely terrible—in the end, the kid even ends up captured anyway. Now, arguably you could call this a pastiche of the tendency in modern comics, especially superhero comics, for “grim and gritty,” but this isn’t a parody anymore—it’s just a lot of serious fighting with more gore. My Hero Academia is looking better by the day. – Sean Gaffney

Saint Young Men, Vol. 1 | By Hikaru Nakamura | Kodansha Comics – It’s a Christmas miracle! Despite great interest in the series, Saint Young Men has been unlicensable in North America for years, at least in part due to concerns over how more conservative Christian groups in the United States might react to the manga’s blatantly irreverent humor. The premise is simple enough—Jesus and Buddha are taking a break from their heavenly duties and are sharing an apartment together in Japan. Hilarity ensues as they live their day-to-day lives while trying to keep their identities a secret. Readers who already have some familiarity with Christianity and Buddhism—and to to some extent Japanese culture, as well—will likely appreciate and get the most out of the series, but Kodansha has included plenty of notes after each chapter of this release to help along those who aren’t. Personally, Saint Young Men brings me great joy and laughter; I’m thrilled it’s being translated. – Ash Brown

Seven Days: Monday→Sunday | By Venio Tachibana and Rihito Takarai | SuBLime – Handsome Toji Seryo has a reputation for agreeing to go out with the first girl to ask him on Monday morning and then breaking up with her on Sunday evening, saying, “I’m sorry I couldn’t fall for you.” Impulsively, Yuzuru Shino (also popular with girls due to his looks) asks Seryo out and is surprised when he agrees. From there, their week as a couple unfolds, during which each guy develops feelings for the other, with Seryo convinced that Yuzuru is not going to seriously return his feelings and Yuzuru convinced that what’s happening between them has also happened with all the other girls Seryo has dated. It’s sweet and angsty and features some poor communication, and I enjoyed it a lot. They each finally found someone who loves them for who they really am and I am totally happy for these fictional boys. Strongly recommended. – Michelle Smith

Yuri Is My Job!, Vol. 5 | By miman | Kodansha Comics – Despite the events of the last volume, this one is devoted to showing us that nothing is really solved. Hime is trying a bit harder but is still too much of a flake to really be a good waitress (though she’s better as a schweister), Kanoko is still really in love with Hime, a situation not helped by them going out on a shopping “date” and Hime giving Kanoko a special present. Most importantly, Mitsuki is still tortured and tormented, and it’s coming out by her lashing out at Hime whether she deserves it or not. This is a good story in a tortured sort of way, but I have to admit this specific volume was not so much “fun to read” as “crawling across broken glass.” But the glass *is* very pretty and shiny, and there is hope things will get better. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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Bookshelf Briefs 9/4/19

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 23 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Seido is reeling from their surprising loss in the final round of the West Tokyo qualifiers. Promptly, the third years retire to focus on college while the rest of the team gears up for the fall tournament. Many pivotal spots have been left vacant, so the junior varsity players are fired up to finally secure a place on the varsity squad. Not fired up are Eijun, who has trouble shaking the image of his pitch hitting a batter, and Kawakami, who squandered Seido’s lead and ruined the upperclassmen’s hopes of making it to Koshien. I always appreciate anything that leads Eijun to a more humble state of being and also really liked seeing Miyuki seriously step up to a leadership role after he is made the new team captain. I’m excited to see how this iteration of the team fares. – Michelle Smith

Barakamon, Vol. 18 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – Much of the final volume in this series involves showing us that time is slowly marching on. There’s no time skip or anything, but life keeps happening. Tama gets a manga published. Miwa’s father is leaving to work on a ship, similar to Naru’s father, and Naru and Hina move on to the next grade, though the island is so small that they don’t get any underclassman to be sempai to. As for Handa, he’s become the stable part of the group; still teaching calligraphy, still being a bit of a goofball, but not going anywhere—this is where he belongs now. The overall tome of this series was relaaxing and fun, and that’s how it ended up, with the characters undergoing mild but meaningful journeys. I’ll miss it. – Sean Gaffney

Count Fujiwara’s Suffering | By Mahito Aobe | Yen Press – I’ve talked before about how I think that omnibuses of comedy manga are a bad idea, and this 540-page volume bears that out. That said, I don’t think I’d love this even in single volumes. Count Fujiwara is a cat, whose thoughts we are privy to. He’s dealing with two sisters—one an airheaded NEET who stopped going to school after a past event we only find out about near the end; the other is a more “normal” girl who has an unfortunate crush on her sister—unfortunate in that it contains all the annoying “comedy lesbian” tropes. There’s a speck of a storyline here about what happened to make Shizuka like this, but for the most part it’s “look at the silly girls and their frustrated cat.” You can do better. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 8 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – I have occasionally wondered as I read a manga where a character discusses the fact that they’ve never felt love like other people if said character will actually end up being asexual. It’s rarely happened, and I don’t expect it to happen here, but it’s an interesting thought. Ayumi’s thoroughly analytical personality is great for a career as a newshound, but very bad when dealing with Takaya, who we’ve known for a while has fallen for her in his quiet, hard-to-read way. Her thesis paper on why they should or shouldn’t go out doesn’t help. Fortunately, we have Kai and Riko being adorable fluffs in love to balance things out. And this time Kagura’s on the cover, but STILL gets nothing to do. Arc when? -Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 2 | By Tomohito Oda | VIZ Media – Much of this volume is cute. A classmate declares herself Komi’s rival in the national health exams. Komi attempts to tell (lame) jokes in writing. The gang goes out for ramen after school. Najimi encourages Komi to go shopping for clothes and the gang all chooses different outfits for her to try on and rate. And then there’s Ren Yamai, who has a crush on Komi and promptly goes into scary, knife-wielding psycho mode. I liked that Yamai’s threats against Tadano prompted Komi to firmly state (in writing) that she decides who her friends are, as well as the fact that this whole situation prompted Komi to “talk” a lot with Tadano and allowed for some funny Najimi moments. But I really disliked that, after all Yamai’s terrible, alarming behavior, Komi consents to be friends with her after all. Yamai is the Mineta of an otherwise really fun series. Sad face. – Michelle Smith

Murcielago, Vol. 11 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – The police have had a very odd relationship with Kuroko, for obvious reasons, but they find themselves more drawn into the current case than usual. The people getting eaten by sharks rapidly led to brains in jars, including the wife of Tsuru, who he’s been trying to avenge but sadly reality gets in the way. Also, his partner may be secretly evil? Fortunately, Suiren is saved, and deals with her grief. She’s not even seduced by Kuroko—yet. And so we move on to a new arc, which involves someone going around killing master swordsmen. Murcielago will never win any good taste awards, and its leads are all sociopaths (even the police, to a degree), but it’s fun, and there are some great Kuroko faces here. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 17 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | Viz Media – When the hell did this get so boring? Its strength remains its humor, and the best parts of the volume are showing off that humor, such as Fubuki desperately trying to rally the incredibly apathetic troops, or Saitama only getting really pissed off because the hero hunter keeps ignoring him. But for the most part, it’s serious fights between serious heroes and serious villains, and honestly I can get that much better in My Hero Academia. The world is also pretty nihilistic here—we need the heroes because the villains are not going to stop and wait for them, as a Private Merc Force finds out when they are quickly beaten and enslaved. I want more funny stuff, please. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 8 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media – It’s time for new employee orientation, including a field trip and a hot springs visit. This actually means a bit more fanservice than the other seven volumes combined, as of course Syalis goes along with everyone—they have to pretend she’s working as a demon in order not to give it away. (This being a comedy manga, the author lampshades that Syalis is in a swimsuit twice within three chapters.) The jokes are the same, though—Syalsi is spoiled and a bit appalling but also too difficult to say no to, and also sort of cute and adorable. At least she’s not gleefully killing everyone anymore, so that’s a plus. It even feels a bit like an extended family now. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 7 | By Maybe | Yen Press – We’ve hit a new harem manga record with this volume, as fully HALF THE BOOK is set up to have Satou and his fiancées get it on so that they can gain the power needed to defeat the Abyss King. Sadly, for anyone hoping for a payoff, there’s lots of skin and titillation but everyone is still a virgin by the end of the book. We also get some details of the prior hero, who was seemingly corrupted by the situation of “get to bone all these girls” and ended up getting killed by said girls, one of whom is still around thanks to the long lives of elves. Will Satou end up going down the same path? Well, not if this keeps up. This is a good series for fantasy fans but harem fans may be getting irritated. – Sean Gaffney

We Never Learn, Vol. 5 | By Taishi Tsutsui | Viz Media – As with the series’ spiritual successor, Nisekoi, We Never Learn is very good at balancing out each girl in the romantic comedy stakes so that they all get something to do. Unlike Nisekoi, the choice is not obvious from chapter one, either. It doesn’t help that Fumino seems to be honestly trying to help Naruyuki get together with someone else… even as she gets the shippiest chapter in the book, the classic “we have to share a hotel room and there is only one bed” trope. But the others get their moments as well (including the teacher, which I suppose I will have to get used to), and it’s cute, fun, and a bit sweet and romantic as long as you don’t mind it then snapping back to status quo. – Sean Gaffney

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 3 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – Sometimes series can falter after their respective love interests get together, but so far that hasn’t been an issue with Wotakoi. There are some chapters that I find less engaging (generally the few that take place “in game”—I prefer the manga’s exploration of real life experiences), but as a whole it’s still consistently entertaining. I especially appreciate the importance placed on the series’ non-romantic friendships. The fact that Hirotaka and Narumi are dating is still being kept a secret in the workplace, so one of my favorite running gags in the third omnibus of Wotakoi is that their coworkers are all essentially rooting for them to hook up. In part this requires Fujita to introduce a few new recurring side characters who end up being a rather amusing addition to the manga. I continue to greatly enjoy Wotakoi. – Ash Brown

Yuri Life | By Kurukuruhime | Yen Press – Yuri Life is a collection of 4-koma vignettes about various cohabitating couples, the vast majority of whom are working women in their twenties. Some stories are kind of cute, but none is in the least bit funny, so it’s not that kind of 4-koma. Probably the best story in the lot is “Life with a Grim Reaper,” in which a grim reaper falls in love with a woman who’s supposed to die soon. I could see a concept like that filling at least one volume, but not so much the rest. The collection also includes “Life with a Yandere,” in which we get creepy inner monologues like, “If I snipped off those small, slim fingers, would I be the only one you touched?” Um, that is seriously fucked up! Why is that in the same collection as these other frothy tales? This is definitely a mixed bag. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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