#i watched a lot of other stuff this season but this only the isekai corner gets a full write-up. it's not honest work!!!!!

[cospinol]

...actually this spring’s isekai pickings were a little bit better than usual, not even one 2/10 on my list! isenido just barely scraped by by sparing/pseudo-redeeming touma at the last second, but his plotline was SUCH a downer it made me despise the protagonist enough to knock the whole show down to a 3 when otherwise i’d have at least considered it for a low 4, accrued mainly from the excellent little romance with leviathan (of course her screentime is minimal and the rest of the harem is especially worthless to make up for it) (also, touma’s goofy yandere antics are genuinely a treat, but if i think about them for too long i remember that he literally actually did nothing wrong and my spirit of righteous vengeance starts thinking maybe this shit is a 2 after all). though i will soon have forgotten everything abt this show except for its wonderful myanimelist synopsis

i can’t find a single other website that uses the phrase ‘isekai-normie’, all respect to the mad genius mal editor responsible. the double-isekai aspect is almost so stupid it’s worth talking about but it’s also not even in the damn show, the classmates he got isekai’d with do not even appear in the fucking plot, so i won’t waste more space in this post on it

anyways i was expecting to dole out more 3s this season but everything else managed to accrue enough random charm points to scrape by; fundamentally i’m most affected by tone and this particular set all trended towards the genuinely fluffy and forgiving, which is shocking considering yuusha ga shinda is on this list but i’m a sap so i loved the bullshit reverse body-swap resolution and was even kind of rooting for touka and yuna’s deeply stupid romance by the finale. tensei kizoku is probably the meanest of the bunch but it made up for it in other ways (first and foremost: wataru hatano catboy ojisan. the character he voiced in yuusha ga shinda was also the highlight of that show lol, a seasonal throughline), mostly literally by having great design sense and introducing a whole cast’s worth of new characters every single episode so even though the main harem was another viciously terrible one we essentially ended up spending no time with them at all, i’d mercifully completely forgotten about the elf girl by the time she popped in in the finale

on the flip-side of this is that ‘uncommonly garbage set of love interests’ is the other throughline of the season for some reason, with iseleve being the other main offender, but in that case it’s offset by obvious Main Girl Who Will Win kaori being more than charming enough to balance out the rest of them. i was disappointed that there were so many irritants and distractions in the real-world part of the plot because yuuya using his video game hacks to win at crane games and getting coerced into becoming a fashion model is WAY more interesting than any of the generic isekai antics on the other side of the door (it’s so pathetic it loops around to deeply compelling at points), though i ended up liking the latter half well enough too once the evil onii-sama plot made it to the redemption arc portion. it’s too brief to really write home about or to bump this show up to a 5 but it did remind me pleasantly of a speed-run version of seikoku no dragonar’s prince julius plot, which will always be the gold standard for those (don’t @ me)

and that leaves isesuma Season Two as the only one on the list i haven’t talked about yet but it’s an outlier that i feel like i have to treat a little differently just because it’s very funny as a case study; when the first season aired in 2017 it was genuinely the worst thing i’d ever seen and i didn’t hesitate to give it a 2/10, while this season felt pretty much as average as one of these can get, and there’s no doubt in my mind that they are of pretty much the exact same quality. the only thing that really stood out this season was how little of a shit touya gives about his harem, even with him being a clueless/reluctant-type protagonist i remember the previous season actually attempting to build (even being mostly dedicated to building...?) romance arcs with the sisters in particular but this season girls he’s JUST met just get added to the fiancé roster *by the other girls* without even consulting him and the show doesn’t even play it as a joke. the mal synopsis for this one presents the harem as the main hook but the only time touya seems to care about anything in this entire season is the mecha engineering plotline, if you close your eyes you can pretend it really is still summer 2017 and you’re watching knight’s & magic..................... anyways it still just barely snags a 4 by actually putting in the white-haired catboy rival (i guess he isn’t actually a catboy but i spent all of s1′s intro thinking he was so that’s ingrained as fact for me) who was in all of s1′s damn intro but did not appear in the show at any point. he’s here now!!!!

also, i did drop katsukami at episode 4. self-respect moments

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 17:  Joey Falling Down for 20 Minutes

It is HOT in my house and so I’m going to do my best but no promises!

It’s a holiday weekend, which usually means I should catch up on work that’s falling behind, but today means that it is too hot to do anything but talk about this weird arc of Yugioh. One where, in case you forgot, we are in an isekai that takes place in an Egyptian pyramid that is in the Northern part of India. Oh, and this isekai was made by Alexander the Freakin Great. Don’t worry about it.

What’s weird about this, is that we are definitely in that anime video game isekai genre, but we are actually in less of an isekai realm than normal Yugioh. There’s no game stats. There’s no game rules. Just these pokemon tubes we shoot at other monsters and we just let them do whatever. Kinda like a reverse isekai if you will.

This arc definitely has more of a Rated G quality to it, it’s trying really hard to capture that Wile E. Coyote feel. And does it hit it? No, not really, which is a shame because we would all like to see an Emperor’s New Groove style of wackiness applied to any show, honestly. But, instead, we get so many dry one liners out of Joey Wheeler who is like side-eyeing the camera like “nyeh, remember when this show was grimdark?”

(read more under the cut)

At some point last episode Joey Wheeler got abducted by this bird, who is a mother of this many children.

I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would be like “yes, Joey is delicious” but these birds will try to eat Joey for the rest of this episode. Some sort of crazy pheromone is going on with his shampoo, and they want all of it.

Faced with the end of this gimmick we are introduced to that convenient tree branch that is in basically every animated show with a freefall in it, but something about Yugioh feels just real enough to make this particular splat....REALLY painful looking.

And after this series of random events, we get yet another convenient plot device.

Usually you have to go out and find your MacGuffin, but in the case of Joey Wheeler the MacGuffin got tired of waiting and just went out to greet him.

Alexander the Great’s free time sure is something else if he just made a magical D&D campaign with monsters and stuff and then just...never used it. He just decided to leave this here for hundreds of years later. Just cuz he was too busy taking over the middle East and romancing just so many people, I guess?

Haunted D&D game for sale, never used.

We are finally introduced with a rule to this game, and the rule is: You will die. Does that mean now their Pokemon run is Nuzlocke?

Man...I think I have used a Nuzlocke joke on this blog here before but like it just really changes the dynamics of Pokemon if they can freakin die and then Ash Ketchum also freakin dies.

Like take this orange “baby” dragon with pecks that are the size of hubcaps. If it freakin dies, so does Joey Wheeler.

Joey of course, can’t truly walk anymore, so it’s a good thing he’s letting baby dragon do all the work.

Meanwhile, in the woods, Yugi is getting attacked by a bunch of trees and that just makes sense.

These Deku trees look so much like something out of a Adult Swim show but I cannot put my finger on what it is. I think it’s that hair. It has strong vibes to something I watched in my youth...but I don’t know what it was at all.

Anyway, trapped in a small corner, Yami gets his second monster to bond with his entire soul, and it’s exactly the sort of thing he’d get really excited about.

This animation of Yami smiling as he stares into the horrific fire he started in the woods to burn so many sentient trees is very on point for Yugioh.

Never let Yami back into California.

Straight up fire season is a few months going now, and I’m already so tired of the endless anxiety that is fire season.

Meanwhile, Joey has gone to a waterfall, most likely in order to ice his crotch from falling directly onto a tree branch.

Coincidentally, he finds yet another MacGuffin. And like, I guess this is because of Joey being lucky, but it’s extremely kid’s show because stuff just keeps happening.

Baby Dragon sets Joey Wheeler on fire again (FREAKIN FIRE) and honestly...how many times are we going to set Joey Wheeler on fire in this show? We’ve had a literal fireball, fire golem, that god card that was just a fire bird, and like...an actual volcano last season?

Is Joey made out of asbestos?

Good thing Kaiba isn’t here to completely disregard this map, but although they’re certainly better about finding out where to go than a Kaiba...they ain’t good at it.

Tea and Tristan spend this whole episode fighting a giant merman. It felt a lot like card stuff so I skipped most of it, just know the big thing was that Tea remembered that her pokemon can heal Tristan. And that was a little weird because Tristan was like “That’s the GOOD STUFF give me MORE OF THAT” and it’s like...would it actually feel a little bit like drugs?

I mean it would, right?

And then, as it looked like they were about to die, the episode ended with a mysterious man using his monster to save them, that’s right, it’s the only other person it could possibly be.

Not Kaiba, I know. We all wish it were, but it appears that Seto got grounded this arc, and when he was like “Roland! We are going to India!” Mokuba and everyone else in that office promptly hid the keys to the wifejet by flushing them directly down Seto’s dragon-shaped toilet.

Instead it’s just Grandpa.

Pretty sure Kaiba’s voice actor went on vacation during this arc, from what I’ve heard.

PS, as you can see--I numbered the episodes wrong. We are on 17 now. I have no idea how that happened. I don’t know where I went wrong. I will probably not fix it.

Like seriously how do I keep misnumbering these episodes, haha.

Anyway, hope y’all have a safe holiday weekend for those that celebrate, and if you want to see fireworks, go to a show done by a licensed professional (not your weird cousin), or get a good score in Super Mario, or watch it on TV. Overall, don’t be the dumbass that burns down half of California! And have a good time!

And if you aren’t doing anything this weekend, or you’re just new to the blog--hello! You can read all of these episodes from S1 Ep1 using this link.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[erazos]

Era’s Anime Corner - Overlord (Season 2 Overview)

The Tale of the Overlord has come to an end… until the third season comes out in the summer. Until then, however, let’s have a look back on the second season.

How does it line up to the first season? What were the best parts? Who was the best character? The answer to that last one is Sebas. No one who read my episodic reactions is surprised to hear that.

This season was pretty good. Personally I enjoyed it more than season 1 but it depends on what characters you like, I imagine. In order to explain more clearly, I’m going to have to talk about spoilers so if you don’t mind spoilers then join me below the line.

Let’s cover the season in order. That means I’m going to start with the first arc, the lizardmen.

This arc was really interesting because until the last episode of the arc, it was completely unrelated to the previous story. A bunch of lizard people were approached by a shadowy being that foretold their doom and the disparate tribes have to band together to save their people from annihilation. It’s relevance to the greater plot of Overlord isn’t made clear until it turns out that the whole thing was a plot by team Ainz to do… something. I’m not entirely sure.

I feel like the whole arc could have been skipped and we wouldn’t have missed anything. Then again, maybe it’s important later on, I haven’t read the light novel. Still, the lizard people were written pretty well. The different tribes felt different, each of the chieftains was a unique character that had potential for stuff to happen if it weren’t for…

Yeah…

Still, the fight with Cocytus was really good. On a smaller scale than anything we saw with Ainz in season 1 but was still very fun to watch. They did a good job of making these minor characters relatable and interesting in a way I don’t think many shows do.

With that, let’s move on the second arc. Personally, in fantasy settings, I’m more of a fan of city stories than ones set in the wilderness. I usually find the conflict between two people more interesting than a story of a group of adventurers traveling to slay a dragon. In that way, I enjoyed the second arc a lot more than the lizardmen arc. A major reason for that is Sebas.

A major problem with the main cast of Overlord is that since they are basically all godlike in their power, most of them don’t give a damn about the ants they step on along the way. Sebas, on the other hand, goes through so much for the sake of this random woman he found on the street. He’s a strong embodiment on how a true gentleman should be: strong, kind and always putting the needs of others before his own. Sure he obliterated the villains that stood in his way…

… I Love that picture… but I’m certain that even if they were powerful enough to give him a challenging fight, Sebas would have done the exact same thing. Sebas is Best Boy, there is no question about that.

As for the rest of the story, it’s fairly standard stuff. A number of skilled adventurers working under Princess Murderface…

… Yeah, that’s the one… are working to root out an evil organization. Standard stuff that led into some very cool fight scenes. The variety we got to see with characters like Evileye, Climb and Unglause resulted in a very fun watch.

This brings us smoothly on to the final couple episodes which are sort of their own arc. Demiurge takes a large section of the city hostage for some plan that I wasn’t clear on, which gave Ainz a fantastic opportunity to step in as the great adventurer Momon and save the day.

If you watched Ovelrord specifically for Ainz, I can see why you’d be disappointed. He’s hardly in his own show until the finale. I didn’t mind so much but it’d be understandable if a lot of viewers were turned off. In any case, we got even more great fights in these episodes and some fun character moments.

The main criticism I have for this arc and the season as a whole was the development of Evileye’s character. Here we have this badass magic-caster who always wears a mask. When her comrades can barely touch Entoma, she steps forward as the first person in the whole show who can stand up to a minion of Nazarick.

I really liked her as a character up until the point where Ainz saves her from Demiurge and she just becomes the latest in the frustratingly long line of women who want to jump Ainz’s bones. It’s a really annoying trope of the isekai genre that keeps happening and it ends up ruining a lot of potentially awesome female characters.

I’m not saying you can’t have an interesting female character who is in love, but we already have Albedo and Shalltear as major characters who are in love with the male lead simply because he is the male lead. We don’t need more. When you have a cast as massive as an anime like Overlord, it’s hard to have many interesting female characters when you write them all the same like this.

Still, considering this is the largest complaint I can throw at this season and it’s only really a thing in the final episode, I can mostly overlook it and say season 2 of Overlord was really good. I’m looking forward to season 3 and you can bet that I’ll be covering it when it comes out.

The OP is really good. I enjoyed it showcasing all of the characters that play a significant role in this season (and there are a lot). A good follow up to the season 1 OP. The ED was quite nice too. I’m not sure how relevant a love song from Albedo’s perspective is considering she was hardly in this season but it was a nice ED nonetheless.

That’s all I have to say. Thank you for joining me for The Tale of the Overlord and I hope you’ll join me in the summer season for the next chapter. See you next Anime Time!

[recentanimenews]

Crunchyroll Features' Most-Anticipated Anime of Fall 2018!

Yesterday, we gathered together the Features team's editors to talk about the Summer 2018 shows that stuck with us the most. Now, looking to the far future of this coming weekend, we also wanted to share the top shows of the Fall 2018 season that we're most excited for.

  The last season was notable for having a variety of genres--comedy, action, horror, adventure--and while some shows are guaranteed hits for our editors (hi, Golden Kamuy), every one of them ended up going in their own direction. Let's get started!

  NATE MING

Summer 2018 was pretty awesome, but Fall 2018 is right around the corner--well, okay, it's already here. Here's the three shows I'm most looking forward to for Fall 2018!

     Golden Kamuy- "Beatings, bears, and Battlestar Galactica some damn delicious-looking food" is the best way I can describe Golden Kamuy. Just think of it like a cooking and wilderness survival anime, only every episode or so we get a horrific fight scene or someone gets mauled by a bear. I can't wait to rejoin Sugimoto, Asirpa, and Shiraishi as they navigate the treacherous woods of Hokkaido and the even more treacherous alliances made as all the factions start facing off.

    Radiant- We've done a whole bunch of coverage for Radiant here on CR News, and I was, to be honest, a bit skeptical. But reading up on it and seeing the love that Tony Valente's put into this world and its characters, I'm ready to jump in and watch Seth take on the Nemesis. I needed a new shonen addiction anyways. And speaking of pure shonen goodness...

  JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind- Barring Steel Ball Run, I very firmly believe that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a lot like Star Trek movies: the best installments are even-numbered. This doesn't mean that I'm not excited for Part Five, a wild romp through a stylized Italy where our new JoJo--sorry, GioGio--Giorno Giovanna and friends fight their way up the ranks of the mob to become Gang Stars! If you thought the Stand abilities and chess-match battles were crazy the last time around, well… yeah. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

  NICOLE MEJIAS

With Summer 2018 winding down, I’ve got my eye on a few series, two of which are returning or continuing series and one new one!

    JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind- I’m a huge JoJo fan, so this one was a no-brainer for me. I’ve been absolutely stoked to see the Golden Wind anime since I first heard about the announcement, and I’m really excited to see a JoJo storyline that I don’t already know much about! This one is almost totally fresh to me aside from a few characters I’ve seen in the JoJo fighting games over the years, and I can’t wait to see what crazy antics the cast will get up to, as well as the Stands that we’ll see in this new story arc! The JoJo anime have always had vibrant and catchy designs and music choices to go along with the striking and unique visuals, and seeing what’s already available for Golden Wind I think that trend is only going to continue, so I can’t wait!

    Golden Kamuy- I initially didn’t know what to expect from Golden Kamuy when I saw season 1 earlier this year, and I almost was sure I wouldn’t like it, but instead I got hooked by the amazing cast and mixture of hard, violent action and calm, funny moments of cooking and camaraderie. I have been dying to know what would happen with Sugimoto and the gang as they keep heading forward with their quest to find the Ainu gold and Nopperabo’s secrets, and I’m absolutely on board to see what interesting food Asirpa cooks up for the cast next, as well as the weird faces that are a Golden Kamuy staple! I’m even excited to see what stupid antics Shiraishi gets himself into, the stupid jerk!

    Skeleton Bookstore Employee Honda- I am also a huge gag comedy fan, so any time I see something that looks like it’ll scratch that itch I’ve got to check it out. I absolutely love zany and odd comedy shows like Pop Team Epic, Cromartie High School, Space Battleship Tiramisu, and Inferno Cop, so that made Honda an instant Fall must-watch for me based on what I’ve seen of the show so far! The idea of a skeleton bookstore employee who sells manga was enough to get me hooked, and the other bizarre coworkers he has made me even more excited. I don’t really know what to expect out of this show, but I get a feeling that will just make checking it out even more exciting! Besides, what’s not to love about a workplace comedy about a skeleton selling manga!? Don’t give up, skeleton!

  PETER FOBIAN

Fall is looking to have a fantasy overabundance with revival of Sword Art Online, Goblin Slayer, some new isekai, and Radiant, so the season is basically already a success. I feel a little bad for more narrative-focused shows that require a few episodes before you decide they're amazing, but there are plenty of upcoming titles that have the legacy and/or visuals to get me mega-hyped.

Radiant- There’s so much to be excited about with Radiant: a new shonen title is always cause for celebration, but one authored by a French comic artist is an historic first, and what it could mean for the industry is anyone’s guess. More than that, I want to watch this anime because the manga is awesome--it’s no mistake that Radiant has been translated into so many languages and earned this adaptation. Right out the gate it was hilarious, quirky, and heartfelt, and the world and action sequences are also breathtaking. Even from my small exposure, I just want to see what this thing will look like in full color and motion. Also, Romi Park.

Golden Kamuy- If you didn’t watch the first season of this anime, it’s time to catch up. Far and away one of the best anime of the spring season, Golden Kamuy almost defies explanation. Historical action/drama, treasure hunt, cooking anime, and slice-of-life each tell you a bit about what Golden Kamuy has to offer without giving you the full picture. It’s breathtakingly violent, raucously funny, and unbelievably cute in turns. Sugimoto and Asirpa’s quest for gold has introduced a huge cast of cutthroat killers as friends and competition who each possess an unbelievable amount of charisma, and I expect even more characters to show up in the second half.

SSSS.GRIDMAN- I’ll call this the inheritor of my “boy with amnesia fights aliens in a mech” pick. To be honest, I’m not sure if I would have put this up here if I hadn’t already watched the first episode. Sword Art Online and even Goblin Slayer have me really interested in seeing what, or how, they’re planning to deliver, but SSSS.GRIDMAN showed off some really unique stuff in its world premiere. The characters were fun, the world was mysterious, and the giant Gridman looked really, really cool. You can check out my review if you’re interested in seeing what I mean, but I’m really in the mood for some faux retro-kids-banding-together-to-defeat-a-big-enemy story.

What about you? What are you most looking forward to in the Fall 2018 season? Have you already checked out RErideD, the first one out the gate? Let us know what you're hyped for in the comments!

-----

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

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Week in Anime (Week of 8/14/17)

Hello friends and welcome to another edition of TWiA! There’s a lot to get through, but first let’s head on over to...

The News Corner

This week didn’t have too much in terms of shocking news. The one thing I do want to highlight that came out this week is:

Violet Evergarden PV2

Mmm that’s good stuff. Not as amazingly animated as the first CM, but that was more or less done for the light novel so I don’t expect the whole show to be that level of quality. And even then the PV had some dang good animation, complete with some more information about the show. From the translation done here, one might think it has a big focus on romance. And that’s what I thought too, that is until I read another comment in the same thread that mentioned light novel spoilers but had a TL;DR stating it’s a coming-of-age story and not a romance. Good to know, otherwise I probably would’ve had the wrong expectations for it.

I’m not gonna lie though, I’m pretty hyped for this show. I’m trying not to be, but ever since the CM came out (which was the first glimpse of the show), my first question was “when?” (which has since turned into “how many days until January?”). I’m excited for the potential pairing between KyoAni animation and a great story considering the light novel won the Grand Prize award in the same yearly award that other light novel-turned-KyoAni shows like Kyoukai no Kanata and Chuunibyou only got Honorable Mentions in. Well, only four months to go. That’s not that long of a wait honestly.

Now before I get onto the rankings and awards, I want to write some blurbs about some shows I recently finished. Now some of these shows aren’t ones I finished within the last week, but I think it’s a good time to talk about them after having them stew in my head for a little. So let me start by talking about a show I might have an article on in the future...

Love Live Sunshine

With season 2 of this coming soon, I was determined to try and finish this show. And I did. So that’s nice.

On a more serious note, Sunshine was a nice sort of spin-off to the main Love Live anime. I think one of the biggest complaints I heard was that it was too similar to the original anime, and I can see that. The whole school-closing storyline was a bit too convenient, though it actually didn’t get resolved by the end of the season, so that’s something to keep an eye out next season. Another thing was the similarities of the leaders of each group, which I strongly agree with. I mean I wasn’t a huge Honoka (Honkers) fan in general, and Chika to me feels sorta like a ripoff of her (hence the reason I call her Ripoff Honkers).

But some of the other stuff wasn’t as bad to me. Like other than Ripoff Honkers (and Dia to an extent) I feel like each character is unique enough to be their own person, rather than be a clone of a previous μ‘s member. Sure there’s some obvious parallels that can be made. Ruby/Hanayo for shyness (which is even eluded to in the anime), Mari/Nozomi for being the memester, etc. But when I think of, say Hanamaru, I don’t think of anybody from μ‘s in particular, but about her zuras and her eating habits. Same schtick for the rest of them (except Ripoff Honkers). If anything, I like Aqours a bit more than μ‘s so far, if only because my favorite character from the Rabu Raibus is in Aqours (though favorite group is still a toss-up as of now).

Story-wise, I liked Sunshine a lot more than the original, if only because there was a minimum of the “power of friendship” stuff that the original had (like the final scene from the last episode of S1). And before episode 10 when the third-years joined the group, I actually liked how the drama didn’t feel too cheesy. Of course, that changed when the third-years joined, but it still wasn’t as cheesy as the original show, which was nice. Add in the fact that the slice-of-life scenes added some nice snark (making it less /r/wholesomememes cult-like happy), and in the end Sunshine > original (at least anime-wise). 6/10 overall, and actually somewhat excited for the next season in 2 months-ish.

Free!

Funny story. Actually not really funny, or a story: I had this on my list for some time, but it wasn’t until I visited my friend last week that we ended up watching the first 6 episodes of this show. And then from there I finished it a few days later, and now we’re here.

This show’s pretty famous for its manservice (fanservice of the male variety), and I’m not gonna deny that. In fact, I’ll confirm it: there were a lot of shots of those muscular sculpted bodies, toned to perfection.

...

Uh yeah. But other than that this show was actually pretty fun to watch. I don’t know how much of that is the fact that there was at least one main girl character in the show, who ended becoming one of my favorite girls and now has a place in my Favorite Characters list on my MAL profile.

But it’s really because in it’s core it’s a sports anime, and not of the shounen type. Like there’s competition and hype sports moments with none of the shounen tropes like explaining every single ilttle thing. It’s actually... like sports with just plain competing, which as a huge sports nut I’m down for. The races were pretty hype, and the drama between the characters wasn’t too out there (though the whole thing between Rin and Haruka seemed very ship-friendly).

So overall, a surprisingly good show, manservice aside. I’ll definitely be watching the second season of this soon (once I settle in to my new place). 7/10 would recommend for swimming shenanigans.

Teekyuu

In my quest to have Nisemonogatari be my 200th entry on MAL, I watched shorts/specials that wouldn’t take too much time to watch. So why not watch the famed 2-minute short known for having faster pace than the Roadrunner? Generally I don’t like fast-paced shows, but I think that this short does a really good job with itself. Content-wise this show is so freaking ridiculous and doesn’t take itself seriously. But it works for the most part, and it’s pretty hilarious. Though it’s technically about a tennis club, I think they only have tennis in like 3 of the episodes, with the others focusing on some other random subject.

If there’s one negative to this, it’s the pace. Because as well as they use it, it’s still super quick, and sometimes an episode goes by and I go “what just happened?” Still, it’s a stupidly fun show: overall 6/10, and definitely will be watching the next 8 seasons (no I’m not joking, the ninth season is airing right now).

Nisemonogatari

So that was an adventure. This was an interesting case study, considering these were the stories that Nisio Isin (the author of the light novel) never intended to be released. As a result this show ended up being probably the most controversial entry in the Monogatari series. And it showed: this version of Monogatari really ramped up on some questionable scenes. Before I get into the infamous scene this show’s known for, let me get into some other stuff I wasn’t really about. First, the bath scene in episode 4. I don’t doubt it was an important scene: in fact it’s probably one of the most important scenes in the whole of Monogatari. But it’s the whole showing a naked 8-year old girl for the majority of the episode thing that made me pretty uncomfortable. It’s funny looking at the comments of the rewatch thread, and people trying to explain why it wasn’t that bad. The most common thing I saw was that it wasn’t sexualized at all, what with Araragi not being pedo like he is with the others and the fact that there wasn’t any zoom-ins of the naughty bits.

Yet the problem I have with that is that at it’s core it’s still... a naked 8-year old for the majority of an anime episode. And I’m not denying what the people in that thread are saying: actually it makes a hella lot of sense. But it’s still a naked 8-year old. I’m not about that life, even with the deeper meaning and all that.

And now that toothbrush scene. That... was a thing. Yep, a thing. Indeed. A. Thing.

Sigh... that was honestly the most uncomfortable I’ve been while watching anime. I’m glad I live alone or else I would have feared a roommate or something coming into my room and seeing me watch that. 

Now before you start telling me “deeper meaning” and all that jazz, I’ll just say this: my least favorite subject was English. The reason? I always had to be on the lookout for some deeper meaning, some symbolism, etc., instead of just enjoying reading. Now with the Monogatari series full of its more deeper themes, symbolism and looking deeper into events is very necessary. But looking past the deeper meaning this scene is a guy brushing his sister’s teeth while she starts getting sexually aroused, almost leading to a kiss in the end. That’s... also not my thing. Big time.

Well, that rant’s out of the way. Not counting the above scenes (as well as some of the other questionable stuff like imouto boob touch), I actually did enjoy this show. Monogatari’s slowly becoming one of my favorite franchises, making what should like a boring dialogue-heavy show fun and interesting. And now that Nisemonogatari’s out of the way I’m excited for what’s arguably the best version of Monogatari, Monogatari 2nd Season (kinda misnamed don’tcha think?). Overall despite above statements still a 7/10 show, with hope for the future.

Now that that’s done let’s move on to the good ol’...

Rankings:

1 (0). New Game!! (9/10) [5/12]

2 (0). Princess Principal (8.5/10) [6/?]

3 (0). Kakegurui (7/10) [6/12]

4 (0). Tsurezure Children (7/10) [6/?]

5 (0). Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season (7/10) [19/25]

6 (+1). Sakura Quest (5/10) [19/25]

7 (-1). Ballroom e Youkoso (5/10) [6/24]

8 (0). Centaur no Nayami (5/10) [6/12]

9 (0). Isekai Shokudou (4.5/10) [6/?]

10 (0). Nana Maru San Batsu (4/10) [6/12]

Awards

The Tangent Award: Centaur no Nayami

After 6 episodes, I think I have a general idea of why I feel like this show is off. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do like the show. Some of the scenes offer some nice commentary on the small issues that these people face (like the whole toilet thing) that some people may think is pedantic but I think is super interesting. Basically the stuff like the first few episodes of Demi-chan wa Kataritai (with the nice interviews and stuff).

The problem that this show has is that it goes through different scenes that seem jarring in transition. It jumps from one thing to a completely random thing, leaving me wondering how they even got to a certain point in the episode. Though in the end they’re able to show that the disjointed events are somewhat connected, the connection’s as fragile as Troy Tulowitzki (sports fan explanation: a baseball player who’s seemingly always injured, hence he’s called “fragile”). And in the end I continue on, wondering what I just watched for the past 23 or so minutes. I feel like there’s a better way to organize the episode, but I’m not really sure how yet. For now I’ll just continue watching, because despite questionable organization it’s still a mildly entertaining show.

The Not Comfy Award: Kakegurui

Yo but actually what was that episode. Return of masochist queen = return of fear for my life. This show isn’t high on my “comfy show” list, but after this episode it’s sunken even lower.

On a totally unrelated note, I’ve changed my opinion from slightly liking Yumeko to not liking her at all. In fact it’s kinda funny that my opinions of Yumeko and Mary flipped, and now I find Mary to be the better girl (if not best girl of the show). Seeing how she’s not just one of the crazies and actually seems kinda nice is reassuring to say the least (even if the crazy leaks out at times). The return of Suzui was also nice, considering he’s a good dynamic compared to the insane characters in the show. If anything, I’m curious to see how this ends, considering the pace so far and the fact that it’s one cour.

Best Episode of the Week: Princess Principal

After three straight weeks of New Game!!, we finally get a new show for best episode of the week. It was a hard choice, considering this week’s episode of New Game!! was very good. But Princess Principal wins out with a great episode about Dorothy and her life before being a spy.

I won’t go deep into the episode because I want to try to not have too much spoilers in these blurbs. But what I will say is that dang, these girls have good reason for being spies. Also that the end of this episode was pretty sad, especially considering Dorothy’s final line. Princess Principal’s been impressing so far, and I love the disjointed style of storytelling (with case 6 last week and case 18 this week). Next to New Game!!, this show’s been my favorite of the season. I highly recommend it even if you aren’t the biggest fan of CGDCTs or spy stuff.

And that’s all for this week! Thanks for reading! Just a quick announcement/notice: I’ll be busy next week preparing for school and moving into my new place, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t have the time to watch the currently-airing shows. If that does happen I’ll mention which ones I didn’t get to, and if it doesn’t well then it’ll be business as usual. Anyway, thanks again and I’ll see you in the next post!

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Week in Anime (Week of 8/7/17)

Hi and welcome to TWiA. Today is Day of Mon (sick reference bro). But before I get into the nitty gritty, I want to introduce yet another new thing to these weekly posts, which is:

The News Corner

This is where I’ll talk about recent anime news from the past week. If there isn’t anything interesting (which hopefully shouldn’t be the case), then I’ll just leave it blank for the week. But the reason I want to introduce this is mainly because of the surprising news that came out a few days ago, which is that...

Dagashi Kashi is getting a second season

I seriously didn’t expect this show to get a second season. It was an okay show, but it felt more like a candy infomercial than an anime show most of the time. Out of all the second season announcements for this year, this one is probably the most unexpected for me. But I guess it makes sense: apparently the manga sold really well after the show ended, which at the end of the day is what anime adapatations are really meant to do (advertise the source material).

One interesting thing to note is the studio change: instead of the studio feel doing it again, the second season’ll be handled by Tezuka Productions, a studio I never heard of. Under futher investigation, I learned that this is one of the oldest studios out there, founded by somebody regarded as the “godfather of manga”, a Mr. Osamu Tezuka. Apparently the studio mainly adapted works from Mr. Tezuka, and used to be pretty popular back in the 80s and 90s. Pretty interesting stuff, but also somewhat worrying considering the studio doesn’t have a great track record for shows from this decade (Kids on the Slope and Young Black Jack seem to be the only somewhat noteworthy shows). Even more worrying is that the studio and the staff don’t really have any experience with the type of show Dagashi Kashi is: a relaxed slice-of-life. Another thing is that with the studio change comes different designs for the characters, which kinda sucks in my opinion. I liked the designs of Hotaru and Saya, what with their crazy eyes. I thought that feel nailed their designs in the show, and changing it seems like it’ll do more harm than good. It’s still too early to tell (with only one visual) but Hotaru’s new character design seems kinda more relaxed compared to before, which apparently is supposed to be more true to what she looks like in the manga. Not sure if I like the change, but again it’s still too early to tell.

With all that said I’ll still watch the second season because it was still a decent show. Though I would be a bit wary given all the changes.

And now let’s move on to those...

Rankings:

1 (0). New Game!! (8.5/10) [4/12]

2 (+1). Princess Principal (8/10) [4-5/?]

3 (-1). Kakegurui (8/10) [-/12]

4 (0). Tsurezure Children (8/10) [5/?]

5 (0). Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season (7/10) [18/25]

6 (0). Ballroom e Youkoso (7/10) [-/24]

7 (0). Sakura Quest (6/10) [18/25]

8 (+1). Centaur no Nayami (5/10) [5/12]

9 (-1). Isekai Shokudou (5/10) [5/?]

10 (0). Nana Maru San Batsu (5/10) [5/12]

Awards

The Tsurezure Children Couple Update

Welcome back to the Tsurezure Children Couple Update where I talk about high school couples in the least creepiest context.

This week we have three skits, so three couples to talk about. The first couple featured I think a new couple texting and stuff (though this may have been the couple from the first episode, I’m not 100% sure). This was my favorite skit of the episode: I was laughing pretty hard at how at the exact moment the girl confessed by text, the guy sent a text saying it’s pretty bad to confess by text. Truly some impeccable timing. And the whole time their reactions to each other’s texts was some cute stuff. Man I hope they resolve this though.

The second skit featured the return of the astronomy club, but this time with a childhood friend. And with the friend comes a classic LOVE TRIANGLE. I liked this one, though apparently it was pretty forgettable since I legitimately forgot which couple it was while typing this (which really shows that I shouldn’t type these blurbs days after watching an episode).

Finally, the third skit featured the return of nervous blue-haired girl and tall bad word-choice guy. At first it seemed like stuff was gonna go down, but in the end it’s classic bad word-choice guy with his classic bad word choices. Nice end to a somewhat tense moment, and nice end to another great episode of this show.

The “Rubik’s Cube” Boring Show of the Week Award: Isekai Shokudou

It’s just... gotten boring. The last few episodes have had storylines that honestly I didn’t give a dongle about, ranging from history of lizard people to the struggles of being vegan. Actually, I don’t even remember the storylines from the last episode (typing this on Thursday when I watched the episode on Monday). That’s how much I become invested in this show (not). Even the food isn’t really worth it in the end. It’s like I said to somebody a few days ago: when the food is better looking in a CGDCT (New Game!!) than it is in a show about food, you know something’s wrong. Though hopefully it’s looking like next episode will feature people from past episodes interacting with each other, which should be more interesting than a nature documentary (no offense to nature documentaries: I like watching them. But not in anime form).

Best Episode of the Week: New Game!!

Once again it’s Hifumi time this week in New Game!!. I’m starting to get the feeling that Hifumi is the main character, and not Aoba. Which I’m not complaining about, because Hifumi best girl.

But in all seriousness this week’s episode was, like the last few week’s episodes, top quality. Though there were some questionable inconsistency with the faces, overall it was still an enjoyable episode. The insert song was somewhat unexpected but well done for the brief time it happened, and the reaction faces were once again on point. A nice show to relax to overall.

One kinda cheesy thing I do want to mention is how this show’s starting to have an impact on my life. Seeing Hifumi working hard towards her goal of overcoming her social struggles kinda makes me work towards getting out of my comfort zone and trying new things. Whenever I don’t want to do something social or out of my comfort zone I just think “well this anime grill with crippling social anxiety is doing well for herself, why can’t you, a real hooman bean, do something like that?”. So that’s nice. It’s good that anime can be more than just an entertainment medium sometimes.

And that’s all for this week! Thanks for reading yet again! I anticipate that next week I’ll have a lot to say about shows seeing as I have a free week until I get back to school which I’ll spend binge-watching all of the shows. Anyway, until then I’ll see you in the next post!