#i'll get the delta episode eventually

[elithesia-autem-danguarde]

Chapters: 1/10 Fandom: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Haruka | May/Yuuki | Brendan, Senri | Norman & Yuuki | Brendan Characters: Yuuki | Brendan, Haruka | May, Senri | Norman, Tsuwabuki Daigo | Steven Stone, Mikuri | Wallace, Nagi | Winona, Mitsuru | Wally, Odamaki-hakase | Professor Birch Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, But with elements from Emerald for the sake of future stories, Family Drama, Angst with a Happy Ending, Reconciliation, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Hey maybe sending children to prevent the end of the world isn't the best idea ever, Emotions, Familial Love, I tagged May and Brendan as a ship but they're not together yet, Background Relationships, Steven and Wallace boyfriends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Healing, Eventual Happy Ending, Minor Injuries, Still requires hospitalization though Summary:

A once silent rift in a family rips open and threatens to tear Brendan and his father apart for good after years of unresolved tension and emotions. Norman has realizations to come to about mistakes he's made, but doesn't get a chance to act on them until the whole world is threatened with destruction. But will it be too late to make things right by then?

[no-side-us]

In the unlikely scenario that I had to redo at least the first season of Voyager, I'm going to go through the ideas I have and what changes I would make. This is just a fun theoretical cause I've been thinking about it for a bit, so this isn't going to be that serious, though it is kind of long.

Beginning:

First some changes for "Caretaker." Everything will be mostly the same, but there would be more emphasis on Janeway and Chakotay making the decision to destroy the array together, setting up their relationship and eventual friendship and whatnot. Doing this means that being stranded in the Delta Quadrant is something the Starfleet and Maquis crew can both agree and resent together. There ought to be negative and positive sentiment towards it from both crews to facilitate their eventual joining together.

Val Jean (the Maquis ship) would also be intact throughout the first season until the finale, as a physical representation of the division between the two groups. Both Val Jean and Voyager would be heavily damaged in the transition to the Delta Quadrant, with many of both crews dead, resulting in the two ships having no choice but to work together if they're going to survive. Maybe the Val Jean needs Voyager's medical facilities, while Voyager needs Val Jean's weapons as its own are too damaged. I'm imagining that with the episode openings, the Val Jean starts off flying near to Voyager, before becoming permanently docked onto it to represent this, culminating in the finale which I'll talk about later.

Characters:

As to the main cast, Janeway and Chakotay's arcs will be mostly comprised of learning to trust and work with the other side. As leaders of the "opposing" factions, they both share a sense of responsibility to keep everybody alive. They're also very aware of how essential it is for both crews to work together if they're going to do that, meaning they know any disagreements they might have will quickly spread among their respective crews, crews who they also both know are just waiting to go at each other's throats. I think something fun would be for each of them to sort of act as the other's first officer, in a practical sense since they're both still captains. They'd question each other, bring up other possibilities, etc., and eventually realize they actually make the other better leaders.

Chakotay would also have an established real indigenous identity instead of a weird made up one. I haven't seen Prodigy yet, but I know they've finally made him a descendant of the Nicarao people, which is cool.

B'Elanna and Harry will represent the Starfleet/Maquis conflict to a more involved degree. It's easy for Janeway and Chakotay to be more separated from the crew due to their positions as captains, but B'Elanna and Harry are the ones who have to administrate and talk and interact with everybody from both sides, while also dealing with their own personal issues. B'Elanna has to once more learn to become part of Starfleet in a way, while her interactions with the Starfleet crew's biases bring her Klingon heritage to the forefront, as it's been something she's avoided for a while now. In turn however, Harry will represent for her the best of Starfleet.

This of course does lead to Harry's issues, that being the fresh top-of-the-class cadet thrust into the impossible situation, forced to learn and mature quicker than he ought to have been. I'll get it out of the way now, Janeway's going to emergency promote Harry to Lieutenant or Lieutenant Commander very quickly. It's going to become something of a sore spot for him as, while it's something he's always dreamed of earning at some point, he doesn't think he really deserves it due to the circumstances he's earning it in.

Moving on, Tuvok is basically still the same, except being a bit more sympathetic towards the Maquis, for logical reasons obviously. He recognizes that the Maquis are justifiably upset at Starfleet giving away their homes, so while he hasn't switched sides or betrayed the Federation or anything, the fact he understands their logic means he'll be an important reason Janeway learns to trust them. His big moment is going to be actively apologizing to the Maquis crew for spying on them.

Tom is going to be the opposite of Tuvok (figuratively and literally). If Tuvok is the one who is sympathetic to both sides, then Tom is the one who doesn't care about either. His daddy issues with Starfleet and his being kicked out of the Maquis means his allegiance is to himself, for all intents and purposes. That being said, something I do like in the original show was how much he better he thought his life was on Voyager compared to back home, even before prison. So he does start growing attached to everybody, especially Harry. He wouldn't be an official officer here, but he will have more to say about Starfleet and the Maquis, pointing out to them their own hypocrisies.

Neelix and Kes will basically be the same as well. Neelix will be their guide through the Delta Quadrant with all his same quirks and behaviors. Kes, instead of just being the Doctor and Tuvok's mentee, will sort of be everybody's mentee, though her relationships with the Doctor and Tuvok will still be very central. She'll have more of a hunger to learn and explore the universe due to her short lifespan. For the both of them though, as neutral parties they're going to have an outsider's perspective on the Starfleet/Maquis conflict, being good ways for both sides to voice their frustrations and eventually join together.

I'm not going to change anything about the Doctor, he's fine as is and his development kind of comes throughout all the seasons.

Story/Setting:

This may seem odd, but I'm going to make the first season focus more on the Kazon, except with a purpose in mind instead of as general conflict-instigators. The crews interactions with the Kazon will start off the same, with both Starfleet and the Maquis seeing them as a divided, backwards, resource-stealing species who fire on the crews any chance they get. This view quickly falls away however as the real villains of the season are revealed: the Trabe.

When Janeway, Chakotay, and crew first meet the Trabe, they at first assume they're good guys due to the aesthetics of advancement they give off. They have advanced technology and seemingly an "advanced" society. The Trabe say that the Kazon have been attacking them for a long time now and are out to steal their technology, and asks for help. Basically, it's sort of the same plot as the one episode they were featured in. However, after some suspicious details come to light (maybe Tuvok discovers the Trabe fired first or something), the truth is revealed.

The backstory between the Trabe and the Kazons is the same, i.e., the Trabe were a more technologically advanced species who used to enslave the Kazon. The Kazon then eventually joined together to escape enslavement. However, we learn this hasn't stopped the Trabe from continuing to interfere in Kazon affairs. It turns out they have been spreading rumors about the Kazon to other species, stealing resources from the Kazon, sowing division among them so they can't unite again, and this is important, refusing to share their technology with them. This is especially evil considering Kazon slave labor is what contributed to the many current technological advancements made by the Trabe. It turns out that the Kazon have been simply asking for resources and technology which could help their species survive. And the Trabe have been refusing to give it to them.

Eventually, Janeway asks why the Trabe don't help the Kazon, and their answer is simply that the Kazon are too "primitive" by their standards and don't deserve the technology they have. This becomes a critique of the Prime Directive and the Federation, and helps push Janeway to reflect on her own ideals as a Starfleet captain.

This culminates in both Starfleet and Maquis crews helping the Kazon against the Trabe. At first, both sides assume the other won't help. The Starfleet crew assume the Maquis are going to try to save themselves and leave Trabe/Kazon space as soon as possible, while the Maquis crew assume the Starfleet officers will either do the same or side with the Trabe who they see as being a bit too similar to the Federation. Regardless, their unity for the Kazon against the Trabe is what gets them to finally trust each other.

Finale:

Some episodes would deal with Voyager and Val Jean helping unite the Kazon once again and be mediators for them to other species. The Trabe would eventually find out about this, and realize it'd be better to wipe out the Kazon now before they unite. This culminates in a final battle against the Trabe, with the Kazon sects, Voyager, Val Jean, and some other species who realized their mistake joining in and working together.

They win, etc., and the Trabe agree to give back territory and technology to the Kazon. In the battle however, the Val Jean becomes too damaged to be salvageable, and with Voyager also needing repairs, parts of the Val Jean are used to do so. Thus the physical representation of the divide between the two ships is now a physical representation of their unity, and they are all now one crew.

Janeway and Chakotay also agree that a ship run under strict Starfleet regulations and a ship run under the looseness of the Maquis would be too much for either crew, so it becomes more of a middle ground. There is still a hierarchy of sorts, but many regulations no longer need to be followed, including the dress code. I just want to see more casual wear on Voyager even if they do have my favorite Starfleet uniforms.

Other/Notes:

Even though this post is about the first season, it could also work for two seasons. I think it might be more focused with just one. That being said, I do think there would be episodes where they encounter just some random stuff throughout a la classic Trek.

I thought about making a connection between the Trabe and the Haakonians (from "Jetrel," the species who space nuked the Talaxian moon), but I don't know if that would make the Delta Quadrant seem a bit too small, so I'll just note it here.

I always thought it was odd that the idea of the Maquis, though being created for Voyager, is centered around a specific region of space and being stranded so far away from it kind of defeats the purpose, cause then what exactly are the Maquis fighting for now? But I do think it's possible that without the context of the Federation, Cardassia, etc., the Maquis and Starfleet crews can talk openly about what the Federation did.

After the season finale, I think Janeway, Tuvok, and Harry would be the ones wearing their uniforms the longest. Chakotay would wear his Maquis clothes. Tom would wear Federation casual. B'Elanna would wear that Starfleet uniform jacket she wore when her actor was pregnant over her Maquis clothes. Everybody else is the same.

And that's it. Thanks for reading!

[kaiowut99]

GX Finalized!Subs Ep. 112: Platforming (WIP, but likely scrapping)

So, madman as I am, I was thinking I'd take a crack at trying to fix an error that happens during Manjoume's sky duel with Amon where, in the scene Manjoume uses Enchanted Fitting Room to Special-Summon the three Ojamas, the animators forgot to draw in the platform he's standing on and the ropes holding it up towards the heli above him. Of course, you'll also notice that Manjoume's legs/feet aren't fully drawn in, likely as a result of forgetting the platform that might've covered them.

I was going about this by first splicing in the platform and ropes from a similar shot a few minutes later, after Manjoume uses Ojama Delta Thunder to wipe Amon's field and the Ojamas drop back onto the field...

...and then redrawing the ropes and rope outlines as needed once I got everything into position (the ropes and all are still rough--didn't apply blurs or anything to blend yet), then duplicating and setting aside the full ropes so I could erase the parts of the ropes that Manjoume and Ojama Green/Fitting Room would be in front of. Eventually, I was going to try using Track Motion in AfterEffects to redo the slow zoom-out that happens here, mask out the platform and ropes, and work some editing magic to throw Ojama Green and his materializing card in front of the rope on the left, fading in the rest of it as Fitting Room fades out. And while I think I could kinda still make that work and make it relatively seamless, I'm not really getting Manjoume's legs right comparing between these two frames, and there isn't another shot in 111 or 112 with Manjoume in that position that works for reference, lol, so that'd be a bit jarring.

So, thinking I might just scrap this one to be on the safe side--unless a better Photoshopper might want to tackle his leggies there lol--and just highlight it. With that, I have a couple of small quality-of-watching fixes and translating the note Samejima leaves Chronos and Napoleon at the end to go, and then I'll start on the translated credits for 111 and 112 before getting into the episodes themselves.

[purlturtle]

Star Trek W13 Crossover 🖖

Oh man that is a big one. So, it grew out of the desire to do a complete Voyager rewrite. Something that acknowledges the potential of the premise, and dives into it, rather than glossing over it after a handful of episodes. They're lost, they're alone, they have "the enemy" on board and have to rely on each other - it is so juicy, and the show didn't really do a lot with it.

And I wanted to put someone at Janeway's side, because while I have a huge soft spot for lonely characters, my immediate instinct will always be to give them someone. A friend or a lover, doesn't matter so much as I want them to have someone to share the burden with.

And then I had the thought, what if Myka Bering? Those two would vibe with each other! They're both extremely committed to their professions, they are both good leaders who care a lot about the people they're in charge of, they are extremely good at deflecting away from their own weaknesses (which would lend itself so well to the "takes one to know one" approach). I immediately liked the idea.

I'd just have to find a way to, a) put Myka in the Delta Quadrant, and b) put Helena "out of the picture" in a narratively satisfying way. (don't worry - it'll hurt, but she'll be... fine. Eventually.) And I did! It makes sense; it ties in with another story of mine, and it opens another pathway of narratives that I think will be very compelling over the course of that story.

I don't know when I'll ever get around to tackling it, though. I am *very* open to collaborating on it, because it is so big. I have lots and lots of documents and ideas and color-coded lists and that kind of thing. But it's also just so big, and I have so many other WIPs, and so it keeps getting pushed back down the line. It's not that I lack excitement for it, and more that I am currently adrift in a sea of WIPs...!

[shyrose57]

Brothers anon and ah, its just me than. Links on tumblr break half the time for me sorry bout that!

1: Mostly how it looks in the actual episode but with some changes. Its gaint, even has multiple floors, most rooms have a glass dome roof with iron railings (3-4) lining the bottom of the glass. The hallway typically have windows leading up to the roof, but the roof and both floor are a mix of materials like iron, copper, wood, and even gold. The most complex room is the Council room, which has a a higher roof than the rest, with mostly wood railings that go all the way up and lead to a circle at the top. The Council is the group that leads Mizu, they have 1 leader of every Idol to represent the different opinions of the citizens, with 1 special member that doesnt belong to any Idol, and is instead used to represent the opinions of people who either haven't chosen a idol yet, got kicked out of a idol following, and just to give a unbiased opinion most of the time. They do make most decisions, mostly those relating to topics like construction, farming, money distribution, where people can live, etc. And they also mostly agree on most subjects and don't agure, but they do have massive disagreements on topics and problems like Representation in other Cities/Kingdoms, trading, visitors and immigrants, and sometimes supply missions. 

3: Situations like taking care of his siblings (I have decided Benjamin shall have siblings) and friends, and he was also put under extreme stress as a kid in school and family life, but unlike Ranbob, he managed to successfully communicate his struggle and find coping mechanisms. Also when he went off to live by himself for a bit, he was under sudden extreme situations where he had to make split second decision. So he just learned from everything thats happened to him over time. 

8: Levi exists purely to make Watson and others go insane. People claimed it was made up because they claimed most events as unrealistic (like Doomsday, Techno escaping a death trial, Pandoras Vault (they believed it impossible for something to be inescapable)). Plus the fact it seemed cruel such young people where faced with such trauma that no sane person would let it happen, and the fact most historical important items couldn't be found, people claiming that they where made up (also cause if the land was that exposed to such devastation, it would've collapsed on itself). No to both of those, by this point their to far away from Dream for him to have a direct meaningful affect on the group, and while the residents of Kelalen know it was Dreams sword, the group does not know. Nope! Mizu came about years after Kelalen was forgotten about and shamed. And Mizu was only made because of the growing number of believers in the SMP history was causing disruptions in both the political sense and educational sense, so it was made to separate the "outcasts". Though Mizu eventually grew as big as most cities, and greatly civilized and advanced, though they where still often "forgotten" about and basically seperate from the Kingdom that set them up and became their own place (though not officially). 

They do have a friendship! Its not super close but their definitely friends. Ranbob is definitely a worrier, he heard that two of his friends almost died he immediately goes to them and fuses over them. And when their recovering he doesnt leave their side, infact Benjamin has to drag him away from the two just to get him to eat. And he refuses to sleep unless he's like directly on top of them. Yeah, Cletus challenges Grievous to a parkour challenge over a Delta Basalt, and he happily accepts. They end up giving everyone a heart attack after Cletus slips and almost falls onto a magma block. Jackie plays in soul sand and dumps a handful down Rans shirt, Watson teaches Charles and Isaac how to make gold from gold nuggets and more Piglin culture. When Cletus is cleared to be ok and Jackie stops getting soul sand in areas he didn't even know existed. They all sit in a circle and decide what they should try first, with Ran and Watson watching carefully and preventing them from drinking anything that they recognized as harmful. But other than that they just let the others do whatever. 

10: Because he couldn't use it, when Dream was a full human he used to be able to access his powers at his own will. But after his spirit got linked to his mask his power greatly reduced. To the point he relies on others for his powers, more specifically, he needs them to be exposed to him for a certain amount of time (like 2 weeks) until he can use their own essence/spirit to help his powers. When the group of people came after Ranbob left, they stayed for a long time, especially after they took the mask with them. Dream got the power back. Cause it is a "I worked to hard to give this up." Type situation. Ranbob was his first victim and the first person he had control over in decades, he considers Ranbob the puppet he was meant to have and refuses to let him go. Everyone is the nat to him, but specifically Ran. Cause Ran was the only person who survived the murders, so Dream sees him as a kill that was taken from him that he needs to fix. Everyone else to him is nothing more than an annoyance, and he's more than happy to use them as nothing more than a stepping stone to kill once he's done with them. 

13: Ran is stronger than everyone else, Jackie is faster than everyone else, and Watson is more acrobatic than everyone else. Sorry can you reword "Is Jackie considered stronger than them aside from shared tactics, or is it the other way around?"? I dont completely understand sorry. Kind of, I'll say. There can only be 3 ranking members, but it can also be 2 Corporals and 1 Sergeant. 

14: They where caught off guard, but also knew something must be going on due to the fishermen staying closer to Ranbob than normal. He never got too far, as he isnt very fast and Charles and both Isaac tend to be fast enough to get him. If the episode is really bad bringing him back can lead into physical fights but it rarely gets into that, as it seems like Ranbob really doesn't want to fight them most of the time, and holds himself back.

Well, I hope it’s working for you now, cause that sounds less than ideal, honestly.

1: Well, Mizu sounds gorgeous, quite frankly. As for the council having a member of no idol, what about that? People can get kicked out from an idol group? Why? Do some just never choose an idol? Also, how’s the housing situation there? Are there like, apartments on one of the floors, or something? Why does the council not really agree on outside affairs?

3: Not gonna lie, I’m rather curious. What kind of life did Benjamin lead to be under such heavy stress? Does he relate to Ranbob because of this? And what was he doing when he lived on his own to need to make fast-paced decisions? Also, siblings! What’re his siblings like?

8: He sounds like it.

And hm. There are several things I’ve taken from this. 

Do totems no longer exist, if they don’t believe Techno could have survived, or did that particular piece of the story just get left out over time?

Has Pandora’s vault fallen? And why would people find it unbelievable? If it’s the future, shouldn’t they have even more advanced technology than that? Or is it simply the lack of evidence that leads them to disagreeing about it’s existence? 

They don’t believe people would have been so cruel to the younger ones? Oof, um. Well, at least that says something about the future, I guess. 

Mizu sounds like it has an interesting history in it’s self. How do Ran and Ranbob feel about being in a world that basically shunned the people of what would eventually become their home? Do they ever have issues when people find out they originate from Mizu, or worship an idol? From how you put it, it seems like that wasn’t really looked upon well, since they shunted the people who did it to Mizu.

Friendships for the win! Maybe not close, but it sounds like an interesting dynamic. Charles honestly seems pretty mild, and as you said, shy, so putting him with Mr.Random And Chaotic certainly sounds like something. How did these two become friends?

And honestly, it sounds like everyone had a lot of unique experiences in the Nether. It also sounds like Ran and Ranbob were probably an inch from a heart-attack the entire time, considering the shenanigans ongoing. It sounds kind of cute that Ranbob was only sleeping when he was close to them though, and it gives me the image of a giant fluffy cat, so win-win there.

10: Interesting. Was Ranbob not enough to fully return that power to him when the Fishermen first came and took him? Or did Dream just not think they’d get that far and not react in time, when he still had that power from his puppet?

And, uh, wow. Dream was certainly off his rocker before, but that’s definitely cemented now. Is anyone aware he thinks of Ranbob in such a way? Does Ranbob know? How are everyone’s feelings on that-besides y’know, ‘gonna murder Mr.Mask Man’. How does everyone feel about being considered as ‘nats’?

13: Huh. And yeah, I confused myself rereading that. Basically, is Jackie considered stronger than those two? You said they were mostly on par, because of the shared tactics, so when it comes to cutting those shared tactics out of the picture, does Jackie come out on top?

14: So the gang could tell? If I may ask, what were the tells that gave Ranbob away?

[raechelpapaya]

Anime that my cousin has shown me that I'll also rec to you

I've realized that I've recently watched and completed a lot of anime that my cousin has shown me that I ended up liking a lot more than I thought I would, so I thought I'd recommend some to you guys.

Katanagatari, a 2010 anime from White Fox (who has also done The Devil is a Part Timer, Re:Zero, and Steins;Gate).

Katanagatari is about a young man named Shichika Yasuri who is a swordsman who fights without a sword. Shichika is sought out by Togame, a strategist who wants him to help her seek out the twelve Deviant blades (a set of twelve blades that were created by alchemy and magic by a reclusive swordsmith) as a gift to the shogunate. Shichika agrees and travels around Japan with Togame to challenge each of the wielders of the Deviant blades to obtain the blades.

This anime is so hard to recommend which is such a shame because it’s such a wonderful anime. The art style of Katanagatari is so wonderful to look at and very pleasing to the eye. All the characters are dynamic and easily identifiable from one another, and their designs are so distinct and colorful. The story telling is wonderful and has a nice balance to action, romance, comedy, and drama. Seeing the relationship between Shichika and Togame grow is so nice and their relationship is pretty cute, and it’s nice how they grow to care for each other. But what makes this anime so hard to recommend is that it’s only 12 episodes long with each episode being about 50 minutes long, but each episode is about 45 minutes of dialogue and about 5 minutes of action. It’s pretty boring to just sit down and watch it which is a shame because it’s such a fascinating anime to watch with an interesting story and wonderful characters of every kind.

Tiger & Bunny, a 2011 anime from Sunrise (who you may also know from Gundam anime and the Love Live series). 

I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people have already watched this anime given how wonderful it is, it’s almost a crime that I’ve only just recently watched it. For those who haven’t watched it, Tiger & Bunny is set in a world where some people have special powers called “NEXT” and are heroes. In this world, acts of heroism are displayed on televisions around the city in some sort of reality competition where heroes compete for the most points for doing acts of heroism to be ranked the best hero of the season. The main characters are Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, an old fashioned hero who has been losing popularity, and Barnaby Brooks Jr., a new young up and coming hero. Both heroes have the exact same power and have been forced to team up in which Kotetsu is to act as the sidekick to Barnaby’s main hero though the two don’t get along well due to their conflicting opinions.

I went into the anime for the main boys Kotetsu (a clumsy dad) and Barnaby (a serious but handsome young man) but stayed for the plot and the characters. The cast of other heroes is so wonderful. There will definitely be characters that you don’t like as much as others, but there aren’t really heroes that you’ll dislike either (at least for me). The growth between Kotetsu and Barnaby is really nice too, pretty organic in my opinion. It’s so rewarding seeing them grow together and their genuine care for one another. The anime only has one season (which is such a shame, I would love a second season) and two movies - the first movie being a recap of the anime series and the second movie being a sort of continuation, if I remember correctly. The anime is a full season long with 25 episodes for those who wanted to know. My little paragraphs don’t really do the characters or the shows justice but I recommend giving it a shot if you haven’t watched it, especially if you’re a fan of superhero type shows.

Working!! series, otherwise known as Wagnaria!!, it’s a 2010 anime series from A-1 Pictures (who you may also know from Sword Art Online, Magi, Black Butler, etc. they've done so much anime oh my god.)

I haven’t heard a lot about Working!! or even seen a lot from the series either. I know there’s been a lot of parodies done of the OPs and EDs because they’re really humorous and the songs are cute, but that’s about it. It’s a comedy anime with some romance in it. It features a high school student, Takanashi Souta, who begins working at a family restaurant chain with a cast of colorful employees who are noticeably weird to the otherwise rather normal Takanashi, though admittedly all the characters are weird. The anime is pretty light hearted and really only focuses on Takanashi and the antics that go on in the restaurant. Though a rather comedic series, the characters grow rather well over the span of the three seasons it has and it’s pretty refreshing seeing how they all change and interact with each other over the course of the series. The romances are pretty rewarding to see at the end of the series given how much you ended up rooting for them during the three seasons (and i’ve reblogged a bunch of scenes from the anime because I love it that much). Working!! has a total of three seasons (Working!!, Working’!!, and then Working!!!) with all three seasons having a total episode count of 40 episodes and one hour long special to close off the series. If you’re looking for something fun and light hearted, I recommend Working!!.

There is also WWW.Working!! which is set in a different branch of the restaurant from the first series and features a different cast of characters. WWW.Working!! features high school student, Higashida Daisuke, who begins begrudgingly working at the family restaurant when his father’s business goes bankrupt. The cast is just as wacky yet memorable as the ones from the first  series, though they suffer from not having nearly as much character development as the cast from the original Working!! due to only having a half season (13 episodes), though the characters are just as funny and the relationships are pretty satisfying to watch unfold. Between the original and WWW.Working, I prefer the original but WWW.Working is still pretty good for anyone who wants something fun and comedic to watch.

Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru, a 2014 anime from Studio Gokumi (who has also recently done Tsurezure Children).

I don’t actually know if Yuki Yuna is well known or not since I don’t actively look up magical girl anime, which is what Yuki Yuna is. But it’s similar to Puella Magi Madoka Magica in that it’s a darker take on the magical girl genre. The story is about Yuki Yuna, the titular protagonist, who is a part of the Hero Club at her school which dedicates itself to helping people who request aid. Yuna and her friends eventually gain the ability to transform into magical girls with special powers and they dedicate themselves to protecting the world from doom.

Yuki Yuna is such a fascinating anime to me because it’s the kind of anime that has you pay attention to the smallest details in order to help you understand what is happening to the girls as the series progresses. It’s very fascinating watching every thing unravel and occur as the episodes go on and when you’re able to piece things together for yourself at the end of the series, it’s incredibly satisfying for the viewer. As mentioned before, Yuki Yuna is similar to Madoka Magica in that they’re both darker takes on the magical girl genre of anime so fans of Madoka Magica may also enjoy Yuki Yuna. But between the two shows, I prefer Yuki Yuna. In my opinion, Yuki Yuna does a good job of making me sympathize for the characters in a way that I didn’t really experience with the Madoka Magica cast. It’s an emotional journey for the characters and the ending is incredibly satisfying.

Macross Delta, a 2016 anime from Studio Nue and Satelight.

Macross Delta is the fourth TV series in the Macross series. It’s a sci-fi anime that features transforming mechas, space, romance, and music. As a person who isn’t really into mecha anime (except for Gurren Lagann), I thought I wasn’t really going to like the anime, but I actually ended up really liking it! Macross Delta takes place in a part of space that is plagued by a disease known as Var Syndrome, which turns people berserk but has no known cause. The series follows Hayate Immelman, a young man who dreams of flying and is recruited into the Delta Flight squad in order to protect the people he cares about, and Freyja Wion, a Windermerean girl who ran away from home with dreams of joining the idol group Walküre, who use their power of song to calm those affected with Var Syndrome. Walküre performs alongside Delta Flight squad in battle in order to neutralize the effects of Var Syndrome, even when the Delta Flight squad is forced to fight on the front lines of an upcoming war.

Macross Delta is such a weird combination of anime genres that you wouldn’t think they’d work but they do. The combat scenes in the anime are complimented really well with the songs from Walküre. The songs are all really catchy and really good quality, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to them. The Macross series is pretty infamous for love triangles and Macross Delta is no exception. While love triangles typically aren’t my thing, I think they handled it decently and it was rewarding to see who ends up together at the end of the series. Macross Delta is such an odd combination of genres, but I recommend it for those who like music and mechas. The series is one season long (26 episodes).

Macross Frontier, a 2008 anime from Studio Nue and Satelight.

Macross Frontier is the third TV series in the Macross series. Same as Macross Delta, it’s a sci-fi anime with transforming mechas, space, romance, and music, but with a style of music that was more prominent during the time it came out. I actually watched Macross Delta before I watched Macross Frontier and Delta is actually set some time after the events of Frontier, but I enjoyed Frontier just a bit more. Macross Frontier is set on a heavily populated interstellar ship that has it’s course set for the center of the universe and along the way the ship is attacked by a race of insect-like aliens known as Vajra, which brings the humans into a war with them. Frontier follows three protagonists: Saotome Alto who is a canonically pretty young man and a high school student at an academy for training pilots and dreams of flying in a real sky rather than the simulated one aboard the space ship, Sheryl Nome who is a self assured and proud popular pop idol known as the Galactic Fairy, and Ranka Lee who is a cheery girl who dreams of being a pop idol like Sheryl Nome.

Frontier is similar to Macross Delta in that there is plenty of space fights in transforming mechas alongside pop music. The romance triangle is just as prominent but I think the end ship is also satisfying because of how the relationships between the characters develop. Frontier deals with a lot of anime tropes that were prominent during the time (you’ll know them when you see them), but I think it’s worth it to watch past them for the season finale which has been one of my favorite finales for a show in a long time. The characters are good and likable and some of them even experience romances of their own and it’s interesting to see where they’ll end up at the end of the series. The show is a full season with 25 episodes and two movies: Macross Frontier: The False Songstress and Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye. The False Songstress is an alternate telling of Frontier while The Wings of Goodbye acts as a sequel to the first movie and includes new songs.It’s fascinating seeing the characters grow during the show and the show has an incredible cast of voice actors too (if you’re particular about the seiyuus in the show) and a few of my favorites are there like Nakamura Yuuichi, Hiroshi Kamiya, Tomokazu Sugita, and Nakajima Megumi (the voice of Gumi from Vocaloid).