#inuyasha manga recap

[luckystarchild]

INUYASHA Volume 01, Scroll 01: “The Accursed Youth”

Welcome to Lucky’s INUYASHA recap—a recap of the Inuyasha manga by me, Lucky, an anime fan who has somehow never read it or seen the anime before.

Over the course of these posts, I’ll be recapping and reacting to the events of a chapter (or series of chapters) of the Inuyasha manga. I’ll be using the official VIZ manga volumes as my source material. References to Not Quite Kagome (“NQKagome”) pertain to my ongoing fanfiction series, Lucky Child.

And without further ado... chapter 01 of Inuyasha (or volume 01, “Scroll 1,” as VIZ titles the manga chapters.)

We begin in media res; Inuyasha has stolen the Jewel of Four Souls (the “Shikon Jewel”) and is rampaging through a village. He wants to use the jewel to become “a true demon.” Kikyo, mortally wounded, shoots him with an arrow and pins him to a tree. Her body is burnt along with the jewel by her young sister, Kaede.

I don’t generally like prologues that employ flashbacks in writing, as they sometimes seem like a way to shoehorn in backstory that either isn’t necessary OR backstory that could be imparted through the reader more organically. (They’re all-too-often lazy, basically.) But this is a manga, so maybe it’s not so bad. Not sure how I feel TBH.

Was sort of surprised we learned what Inuyasha’s goal concerning the jewel is so soon; thought maybe that would get dragged out a bit longer, though IDK why I got that impression exactly. I’ve seen a few random eps of the anime and know he isn’t fond of his own half-demon status. Perhaps I feel like we should’ve earned this revelation during the narrative and on Inuyasha’s terms, rather than have it handed to us right off the bat by a faceless narrator. But that’s me being overly critical, perhaps.

Flash forward to 1997. The day before Kagome’s 15th birthday. Her grandfather tries to tell her a legend about the Shikon Jewel, but she shrugs it off. 

Kagome’s family lives inside a big temple, and everything has a legend attached to it (including the massive 500-year-old Go-Shinboku God Tree), but Kagome never pays attention to them. Later, her brother loses their cat in the mini-shrine, specifically in the well house (which a sign declares the home of the Bone-Eater’s Well). Kagome bravely ventures inside to search for the cat.

Right off the bat, we get the impression that Kagome is a pretty average teenage girl—a bit of an airhead with a sharp sense of humor who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty or shy away from a dark and spooky well house. Nice bit of characterization in just a few panels. Well done, author-san.

NQKagome Bonus: She’d probably pay more attention to all the legends her grandfather tells, which could give her an edge in the Feudal Era.

Kagome hears odd noises coming from the covered well; the cover pops off the well and a horrible, Noh-mask-faced women with a skeletal snake body to leap out and drag Kagome into the darkness. 

Her body regenerates, turning into a... centipede body. Not a snake. D’oh. Frightened as they fall, Kagome emits a light from her hands, breaking off the woman’s arm and sending her careening away into the dark as she cries something cryptic about the Jewel of Four Souls.

Soon Kagome stops falling and finds herself at the bottom of the well, but upon emerging, she’s lost in an unfamiliar forest.

I gotta say that as far as first-chapters go, this one is pretty good! We immediately know who Kagome is, where she’s from, what she’s like as a person, and this introduction to the supernatural is spooky and interesting. The stakes are high and the action is fast-paced, without an overload of exposition.

Kagome spots the God-Tree and hurries toward it, noting that she always used it to find her way home in the past, but she does not find her familiar home at its base. Instead she finds Inuyasha pinned to the God-Tree.

We’re treated to this gorgeous two-panel spread:

She notes that the boy pinned to the tree has inhuman ears before some villagers find her in “Inuyasha’s forbidden forest” and bring her to Kaede, the younger sister of Kikyo (who is much older than she appeared in the earlier flashback). Kagome realizes she is in the Sengoku Period (1467 to 1615 CE). The villagers theorize that she’s a spy, a kitsune, and similar before Kaede realizes that Kagome looks identical to the deceased Kikyo.

Kaede tells Kagome briefly who Kikyo was before the centipede woman attacks the village. 

That bit where Kaede tells Kagome about Kikyo is where I would’ve placed the flashback from the start of the chapter, FYI. Would’ve given the earlier parts of the chapter more mystery to withhold some information from the reader.

Also we have TOO MANY K-NAMES. Already three of the four named characters start with K, and two even start with the “ka” sound in Japanese. We have this problem with YYH and I foresee it being a problem as I type these names a ton, LMAO 🤣

So... Kagome realizing what time period she’s been magically dropped into after approximately seven seconds seems… IDK, kind of handy? Easy? The only info she has to go on are the vague references to “battles” a few villagers shout at her, and maybe the way they’re dressed. She supposedly doesn’t pay attention to old legends, so it doesn’t seem plausible that she’d pay enough attention in history class to discern what period she’s in now based on the cut of a kimono.

(Disclaimer: I’m American and the American education system is notoriously horrible at teaching the subjects of history and science with any accuracy, so I might be projecting my experience onto hers to some degree. Maybe Japan is better about this stuff. IDK, but thought I’d mention it.)

ALSO, Kagome jumps to the possibility of time travel really fast. I would jump to “this is a dream” or “I have fallen into a historical reenactment amusement park in which no one will break character” (a special hell of its own) first. Again, though, this chapter is moving quickly to draw in readers, so I can see why they didn’t give her confusion more screen-time. Especially with serialized manga, you have a handful of chapters (if that) to grab readers, so it’s gotta move fast as a matter of necessity.

I appreciate that some of the villagers mentioned “kitsune” in this section (and not just because it reminds me of all the reasons Yu Yu Hakusho is so easy to cross over with this manga). It shows that the supernatural is something the locals consider on a daily basis, which helps with worldbuilding.

Also, I wasn’t expecting the nipples on the centipede woman??? In her first panels, her breasts were covered up a bit, but now we’ve got detailed nipples. I’m guessing the scant few episodes of the series I watched were censored quite a bit. I’m wondering if there’s going to be more fanservice in this series than I expected, especially after reading that the series’ author, Rumiko Takahashi, advised the anime team to avoid using Kagome for any pantie-shots…

The centipede claims Kagome has the Shikon Jewel, and Kagome flees the village (toward “that light” in the east, which Kaede notes she shouldn’t be able to see) as the centipede woman gives chase. Elsewhere, Inuyasha wakes, stating he can smell the scent of the woman who killed him.

So I know a few things about this series already thanks to the research I did for Lucky Child, and chief among these things is that Kagome is Kikyo’s reincarnation. We can already see this tidbit coming through in obvious ways: Kagome’s resemblance to Kikyo, the Jewel being connected to her somehow, etc. Kagome seeing that light is probably a power she got from Kikyo, too.

It’s interesting that these connections are as physical as her having the same scent as Kikyo, though; scent is informed quite a bit by genetics. Obviously we’re dealing with magic and not science in this story, so I’m not looking for infallible logic when it comes to this reincarnation plot device… but it’s almost like the magic here overrides things like genetics and the extreme differences in what Kagome and Kikyo must’ve eaten in their respective times when determining their scent and appearance. The soul is more important than the body, etc. Wondering how consistent that will remain over the course of this admittedly massive story.

And that’s it for chapter 1. This was super fun! I’m guessing I’ll have more to say once we get past the set-up and are introduced to more characters, but overall I think this was a really strong start to this feudal fairy tale.

If you enjoyed this recap, feel free to buy me a Ko-Fi☕, and subscribe to the tag “lucky’s inuyasha recap” to see more!

NEXT CHAPTER

[levraiweebdepoche]

INU YASHA (romance/historique/action/fantasy) 2000-2004 – 164 épisodes

Rumiko Takahashi

Note : 10/10

Inu yasha est ce genre d’anime qui réunira toute la famille devant la télé. Anime d’aventures qui suit un demi-démon, Inuyasha, et de son demi-frère, le Yokaï (démon) Sesshomaru, rejoints par une lycéenne, kagome, qui découvrit une porte vers leur monde dans le puit du jardin de sa maison, Inu yasha vous portera vers des contrées fantastiques, emplies de démons tout droit sorti du folklore japonais. Si l’intrigue tourne autour d’une histoire d’amour malheureuse entre Inu Yasha et la prétresse Kikyo, le genre premier de cet animé reste avant l’action et la fantaisie. Le groupe d’ami se lance en effet à la recherche des fragments de la perle de Shikon, brisée au début du premier épisode et qui a comme pouvoir d’exaucer un souhait. Anime facile à regarder pour une tranche d’âge très large, méfiez-vous des émotions intenses qu’il vous réserve. Les contrevenues sont nombreuses et les épreuves semblent sans fin. Au-delà de leurs voyages à travers le mythique japon de l’époque sengoku, les personnages voyageront également au travers de leurs émotions, souvent de manière peu apaisée. Questionnant ainsi le sentiment amoureux, sa persistance et son épuisement, sa volatilité et son expression par différentes personnes, Inu Yasha est autant un voyage émotionnel que fantastique.

Inu Yasha peut ainsi être décrit comme une introduction un peu froide et brutale à ce que l’on pourrait appeler la dure réalité de la vie. Et pourtant, c’est là toute la force d’Inu Yasha de vous faire vibrer avec les émotions de ses personnages comme peu d’anime savent le faire. Aussi je recommande ce tumultueux voyage émotionnel à tous les amateurs de sensations fortes, et à ceux qui veulent transmettre une belle histoire pleine de sens à leurs enfants (+10 ans).

[sandytree1]

InuYasha

Arcs: 

1 ) Bone eaters well and awakening InuYasha

Yura of the Hair

Sesshoumaru and the Tessaiga

The Frog Prince + Nobunaga Amari and Tsuyu-hime

Toad of Tsukomo, 300 yrs old

The Amazing Thunder Brothers + avenging Shippo’s father

11 ) Ancient Noh mask (Modern era). Everybody comments on how Inuyasha seems more considerate and kind than what Kagome has described him as before, and he is notably more cooperative. 

12 ) The Soul Piper and the Micheveaous little soul (Modern era)

13 ) Mystery of the Full moon and mortal InuYasha

I don’t see why not, I don’t know what day saturday is though

Humans are scared of hanyos, demons mock them

Spider head (priest yokai) and Nazuna (orphan)

Does good demons exist or are they all evil? 

14 ) The witch Urasue ressurects Kikyo from ash and clay

Night shifts, camping, hiking with a bike and backpack

baked of human remains and graveyard soil

15 ) Urasue steals some of Kagome’s soul for Kikyo

I’m human, but I mustn’t be human. I can never show weakness lest a demon get the better of me. My duty is to protect the jewel, without it I’d just be an ordinary human. If you became a human, the jewel would be purified and cease to exist. 

16 ) Miroku - mysterious wind tunnel (kazaana) caused by Naraku

He took all the noble had of valuables and sold them off

My grandfather battled him in his youth 50 years ago. The battle lasted several years. In his final battle Naraku took the form of a beautiful woman. Despite having strong spiritual power, he was a lecher. Naraku pierced his hand and passed it to his progeny. The wind tunnel gets larger every year. If I don’t defeat Naraku I’ll probably get sucked in. If I fail to defeat Naraku, I need to get a child to carry on my family’s mission. 

17 ) Demonic ink - wandering artist from the capital

Får en følelse av at det aldri var meningen at Miroku skulle henge sammen med dem gjennom hele serien, noe jeg syntes ville vært så mye bedre om var tilfellet.. 

18 ) Naraku and Sesshoumaru joins forces

Naraku gives Sesshoumaru a human hand with a shikon jewel enclosed

Plot foil for Mirokus OP power: poison wasps 

Miroku tends to lie when he needs a place to sleep: sees a strange dark cloud over the nicest mansion nearby.

[nattikay]

So while I’m no longer active in its fandom, I was super into Inuyasha throughout high school and into college. It’s one of the older, better-known anime/manga series out there, but for those who don’t know, the titular character Inuyasha is half-human, half-youkai. The term the manga uses is “hanyou” (‘han’=Japanese for ‘half’, ‘you’ (pronounced yo) from youkai). 

The official English translations use the term “half-demon”, and refer to all the youkai as “demons”...personally I wish they didn’t because “demon” is not quite an accurate equivalent for youkai; it has negative connotations that “youkai” doesn’t necessarily. 

“Youkai” is basically a catch-all term for magical/mythological creatures, such as oni, kitsune, tengu, nekomata, etc. If we want to expand into Western mythology, the concept could also include such things as unicorns, centaurs, satyrs, pegasus, dragons, gnomes, or...say...trolls.

Alas, English doesn’t really have a singular term for this...or. Well. Technically we do. It’s fae or fairy. But in modern English those terms have kinda come to have different, more specific connotations to the average speaker--that being, tiny magic women with butterfly wings or similar. So while fae is still technically the closest equivalent term we have for youkai...well, I guess the translators thought “half-demon” sounded a heck of a lot cooler than “half-fairy”. But I digress.

So to recap: 

Hanyou = half-human, half-youkai

Youkai = magical creature, or fae

Trolls are a type of magical creature

basically what I’m trying to say is that troll!Jim technically qualifies for the category of hanyou, just like Inuyasha

that’s it that’s all idk my brain hurts

(p.s. there is a Japanese term that better fits the western concept of “demon”. It’s actually... “akuma”. where u at ML peeps XD)

[yuichi-ro]

my track record of simping is horrible, it's always the emo questionable ones since idk watching sailor moon and inuyasha when i was a kid, the villains were so seasoned and pretty

NOT YOU GIVING ME KAZUTORA AND ME HAVING BLONDE BANGS WITH A BLACK SHAG, a match made in heaven

actually i read like 25 manga chapters once and dropped it because i was trying to juggle studying, life, and reading, it ended being more than i could chew

my track record is...pretty much a straight arrow. Throw in the occasional cinnamon roll with a murder switch *cough cough* Deku 'n Mitsuya *cough* the rest pretty much are the same. Lanky looking fucks with ish good intentions going about it in completely inappropriate ways but kinda grow to be semi decent humans. It's the deadpan stare I swear gets me every time 😩

BOOM I'M THE FUCKING MATCH MAKER THIS SITE REALLY DESERVES ITS PERFECT HE'S BATSHIT CRAZY AND THEATRICAL LIKE DABI YOU GUYS ARE PERFECT TOGETHER WHEN'S THE WEDDING

Of Tokyo Rev? My wife's picked it up and thoroughly been enjoying it and she NEVER picks up mangas to read (normally its my job to binge something and then recap it for her 🙄) But she says its a really easy read. Idk maybe bc im so bitter about the entire idea of the story. There's something about the "I keep going back in time and things keep getting worse...so lets go back again!" that makes me wanna strangle them. ITS NOT WORKING STOP FUCKING WITH TIME ALREADY NOTHINGS GONNA CHANGE

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 78 Rundown

Code Geass: Lelouch finally confronts Charles in the Human Instrumentality Elevator but before his laser Geass bullshit can kill him, he steals C.C.’s Code and becomes immortal. Now that Charles is at the highest Geass level, C.C. like “Oh yes Imperialist Daddy kill me cause Lelouch is too chicken to” because she wanted an out for her immortality all along. But she’s been saving Lelouch this whole time and didn’t force the Code on him like was done to her so she clearly has a soft spot for him. Also Viletta and Sayoko are having a ninja fight over Ohgi and Nia’s developing nukes or some shit. Ironically now that we finally know who C.C. is, she’s lost her own memories so her character is always incomplete. But Lelouch has busted up the Thought Elevator and Charles is stuck there so showdown postponed I guess.

Inuyasha: Naraku continues his plan to cover Sesshomaru in his goo and take him inside himself… not gonna bother rephrasing that. But he gets jumped by Inuyasha’s barrier breaking powers and absolutely wrecked by both of them once Inuyasha inadvertently saves Sesshomaru. Ironically Inuyasha’s able to stop himself being absorbed while Sesshomaru isn’t, implying he’s stronger at this point but who knows. Anyway Naraku just kinda rockets away on a poison cloud and Sesshomaru’s about to turn full doggo and chase him but the writers remember we’re never allowed to see full demon Sesshomaru again until he regains his arm and Naraku tells him “Hey yo Rin’s about to get murdered, better go take care of that instead of finishing the series now” and Sesshomaru’s out of bluffs pretending he doesn’t care. Everyone realizes if Sesshomaru catches Kohaku killing Rin or about to kill Rin he’ll straight up murder Kohaku which is exactly the level of head-fuckery Naraku wants. They stop Kohaku from killing Rin but he keeps attacking Sesshomaru and Sesshomaru’s like “Oh, you WANT to die, well tough shit buddy, I’m not in an accommodating mood today so you live mother fucker” because even he realizes Naraku wants him to murder Kohaku for some reason. It’s interesting to see him spare a human out of spite but also kind of take pity on Kohaku, his tolerance for humans is slowly but surely growing.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Well we’re on the boat to the Dark Tournament, aka the first episode of Hunter x Hunter, and the totally not Genkai Masked Man uses the move Genkai taught Yusuke to wipe out all the competition, wonder who they could be. Like even Kuwabara’s guessing it’s Genkai at this point, we have no excuse. Anyway the other demons get pissed at the loss and everyone has to murder them all to be let through, including one dude Yusuke kills while still sleeping off his training hangover. We meet two of the first team they’ll be facing and it’s standard “Grr rawr, we’ll crush you” shit from a little boy and an Buttrock Band singer. Also Keiko and Shizuru are on the way to the tournament courtesy of Botan and Yusuke’s mom is left at home for no reason despite being in the arc in the manga, we just couldn’t handle more Milf Urameshi action.

Fate Zero: This is basically a summary episode, we have Kirei/Gilgamesh and Kiritsugu summing up where we’re at right now with the war and who’s involved. Kirei doesn’t have any more ninjas so he’s out but the Grail’s like “Nuh-uh, get back in here loser” and gives him Command Seals back even though he doesn’t have a Servant to use them on. Gilgamesh is all “What if we teamed up? Haha, just kidding… unless?” And weirdly enough Kirei is kinda into the soap opera bullshit going on with Kariya trying to save Sakura and being turned into a mummy for it. He’s like “what kind of fucked up person would like seeing a man being eaten from the inside out to save a child in vain?” Gilgamesh is all “Joke’s on you, we’re into that shit”. Also Iris is dying or something so they move into Shirou’s home and Saber ironically makes the transmutation circle in the shed that Shirou will bleed on later and summon her in UBW, guess it makes more sense why Shirou lives in a bullshit dojo house now that we know it was a originally a mage base fortress to harbor his girlfriend and Stepmom’s forbidden lesbian affair.

Konosuba: We kick of Season 2 with everyone throwing Kazuma under the bus for him to go to jail and then Aqua showing her whole damn ass during her pathetic breakout attempts. Then we shift Ace Attorney/Chrono Trigger mode and get a recap of all the shit Kazuma’s done over the past season. It’s kinda funny people don’t really know how to feel about him because he is a scumbag but he’s a net positive for the community. He eventually uses his lie detector skills to clear himself but because this is a kangaroo court he get found guilty anyway. But SINCE it’s a kangaroo court Darkness is able to use her own even higher levels of royal bullshittery to void the verdict and delay the case until Kazuma can prove he’s a harmless scumbag instead of a traitor. And they lose Darkness and get all their shit taken. Like I get that’s the nature of the show and the main joke but I kinda wish we’d get more story stuff or have them thrown a bone every once in a while, not a huge fan of shows like Marrier with Children or Everybody Hates Chris where you know shit’s just gonna fall apart in the end somehow, it makes it hard to care. Like this isn’t THAT bad about it but I just wish we’d get a few more serious/wholesome moments thrown in because everything else is just a fakeout.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So we’re getting close to the end of the season here and Beryl’s here and Mamoru just kinda… watches as she fights the Sailor Guardians in an alternate dimension because apparently Ami can just do that, like aside from their signature attacks I feel like the limits on what the Sailor Guardians can and can’t do are very vague, seems to be a problem with a lot of shojo action at the time since powers are more focused on emotion and it just ends up being “I can do whatever I feel like”. Anyway they summon the Meteor Sword from Avatar and cut off Beryl’s power necklace and she just kind of… dies for some reason? Like she was a reincarnated human just like everyone else but she just kinda melts after her necklace is chopped off like she’s been alive a thousand years. But yeah, possessed Tuxedo mask has the crystal and the sword and apparently the sword is the key even though we only started hearing about it like three episodes ago. Usagi follows him to Antarctica or whatever and the Sailor Guardians just… fly there, see this is what I mean apparently they could fly the whole time and just never did? They fight the Four Kings and reawaken their memories but Metalia blasts them away in seconds which if she could do that to the people that were kicking the Sailor Guardians’ asses five seconds ago couldn’t she just do it to them too? Anyway the girls’ former boyfriends are dead and that’s sad I guess even though I don’t think we ever really established which one was dating who so idk if it matters unless they’re all one big polycule. Usagi tries her bullshit fixer beam power and it doesn’t work so her next solution is just stab everyone and sort it out later, not a bad plan honestly, she cuts down Mamoru and then herself and is like ah fuck it, the end.

Durarara!!: The Saika arc concludes and we get Anri fucking up Haruna while Shizuo pounds the whole town in the park with his new demon gloves. But basically because Anri is a little ball of dissociation and trauma more than a person she’s a perfect host for a sword that’s yandere for the whole human race, the void contains the explosion and all that shit. However now that there’s been a Saika riot but Mikado and Masaomi are scared and mobilizing the Dollars and Yellow Scarves (also oh yeah Masaomi is the leader of the Yellow Scarves but you should know that already) to fight Saika to protect Anri except Saika IS Anri and Izaya’s just having fun stirring the pot and Anri’s the only one who knows he’s behind it because turns out when you have a hundred peoples’ memories swimming in your head it kinda helps you piece shit together.

[flowersforone]

I'm finally getting around to watching Inuyasha: Final Act. I'm ten years late, but by then I was already in college, moved on to another fandom, and I already read the manga. Also some I was under the impression that it was bad for some reason. IDK where that came from.

I'm only on episode six, and my only real criticism is the breakneck speed of the pacing and the combining of multiple arcs together. It's really jumpy and the original anime feels like stroll in the park (okay sometimes it feels like a crawl in the bits with a lot of filler,) while the Final Act feels like fighter jet breaking the sound barrier. If had not read the manga first, I'd be so fucking lost right now. Cramming the final 20 volumes into 26 episodes when it took 167 to cover the first 36 wasn't the best idea.

Sunrise really should of given themselves at least two season, that way there's some breathing room between story arcs and beats and they can explore and expand whenever they want. You know connect some of the better filler episodes to later story arcs, like maybe they could of included Ayame into the Goraishi arc and the one with Shinta and Kai. And they could expand on arcs that were a bit more lackluster like the arc with Kaou (I that how it's spelled.) A slower pace would also help Kagura's death be more impactful, because I remember almost crying when it originally happened in the manga, and here it felt rushed like it was just a checkpoint for getting the Meidou Zangetsuha and not a huge turning point for Sesshoumaru's character and the culmination of all his character development so far.

Also Moryomaru's and Hakudoshi's death's felt were glossed over, like just a footnote. And how Tessaiga and Dakki were handled pretty meh... I know that it was like a red herring because it's not super important, and you could kind of trim that part of the manga off and it would still work because the Meidou Zangtsuha renders it pointless, but yeah. IDK the anime should of used the opportunity to do something more with it, other than give us a half-assed cliff-notes version.

Two things I do appreciate is that they finally cut back on filler stuff like unnecessary flashbacks, the recap of previous episodes or those intros where Kagome re-establishes the plot and characters for the 100th time. They just jump in straight into the OP and then story. I guess they gotta save time wherever they can. I also appreciate the fact that in the flashbacks that do occur they actually reanimated it so it doesn't looks as out of place and awkward as say The Tragic Love Song of Destiny, or any digitally animated episode with footage from traditionally drawn ones. That was a petpeeve of mine, because all it did was highlight the difference in animation between these two.

[makiizushis]

Hanyou no Yashahime first impressions

Not much new in the first episode. Mostly a recap of that special chapter which reignited the InuKag/InuKik debate.

Speaking of it seems like they toned it down a little somehow? Idk I remember it being much more “Inuyasha really isn’t over Kikyo still” and being frustrated about that but I didn’t get that from this episode.

I have been told that Sunrise seriously simped for Kikyo and made Kagome extra annoying back in the original series compared to the manga (and it consequently leaked into the manga) so I’m hoping the fact that they toned that down means they won’t be screwing established characters’ personalities anymor

4-eyed owl guy strikes me as a true neutral; I don’t get the feeling he’s working with the big bad

Sesshomaru just. Appearing behind Kohaku to scoff at a lesser demon and then leave. Peak Sesshomaru, also hilarious.

Also “for some reason, this house is safe.” *Sesshomaru casually floating outside* “oh.”

Ok who thought it was a good idea to put pearls in everyone’s eyes (based on the ep. 2 preview)? Did we learn nothing from episode 6 of the original anime why this is a bad idea??

I assume that these pearls are tied to the one that Inuyasha got back in the anime (not in the manga)

Why does Moroha have hers already? Maybe Inuyasha saw this was a bad idea given his experience idk??

The ED absolutely slaps (in the same manner as BNA’s Night Running)

[x0401x]

Hey miss wonderful taste in everything, can you recommend us some of your favorite KyoAni productions?

Sure! I love doing recs and I’m literally taking any sort of positive content related to KyoAni lately because we truly need it at the moment. Long post alert, though. Here goes my top 10:

1. Hyouka

This one will probably be my first choice forever. It’s KyoAni’s most brilliant work so far and easily one of the best animes I’ve ever watched, hands down. It’s also their finest novel-to-anime adaptation in my opinion, and one of the very few animation series that actually turned out better than their source material.

The books are extremely interesting, but they’re also bland. The alterations made to the anime added visual value to it in order to make it more alluring and appealing, turning ordinary situations into rather unique and thought-provoking settings, while managing to never deviate from its novel counterpart. The changes on the characters’ designs were also a very good choice in my opinion, as they fit more into the character archetypes and the impressions they give off.

This one is honestly an example for the whole anime industry and a timeless gem. I’m pretty certain that it was one of the studio’s turning points in terms of animation style. Surely will become a classic in the future.

2. Koe no Katachi

KyoAni’s most well-done movie, as far as I can tell. I’m specially fond of the symbolism of every scene and the effort put on the scenery, which gave an effect of depth to the frames. The studio managed to portray the mangaka’s art style while staying true to its own trademark traits as well.

Animation quality and sound design aside, it’s also loyal enough to the manga. There were cuts in order to fit the story into the time limit, but KyoAni made up for the gaps with later released specials. The movie is also considerably less dramatic than the original, yet I’m certain that the alterations in that regard were made so that the transition between the phases of the story wouldn’t feel rushed. Albeit in a much more uplifting way, it nevertheless managed to transmit the characters’ essence and emotions.

What caught my attention the most in this movie was the soundtrack, though. There was a lot of care in its production, and it was clearly made to be gentle and almost imperceptible, with glitch-like repetitions here and there, as if it means to put the viewers in the shoes of the deaf heroine. It certainly did its job well.

3. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu!

First anime from KyoAni I’ve ever watched, aside from the Inuyasha movies. Easily one of their funniest series, if not the actual funniest. It has a very special place in my heart. I dropped Amagi Brilliant Park on the first episode, but I’d cry internally every time I saw Bonta-kun in it. The nostalgia is strong, kids.

It’s got excellent animation for the year it was made, and I dare say it’s more decently animated than many current animes. The pacing is dynamic and the jokes vary from over-the-top to smart and witty in a smooth way. I also give this one kudos for not relying nearly as much on fanservice as more recent titles.

For the people who didn’t watch the first Full Metal Panic, I suggest doing so before trying this one out. Anyone who enjoys the two should also watch the second season, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, which comes right after Fumoffu and was also animated by KyoAni.

4. Clannad

This one I deem as the best out of KyoAni’s most notorious classics. I also recommend the other titles related to this one, such as Clannad: Another Story.

Much like Hyouka, it’s a masterpiece in every aspect. It has a very non-cliché and unconveninent plot that deals with delicate themes in a sensible way and tears your heart apart at the same time. Frankly exemplary to the drama genre and exceptional as a visual novel adaptation.

5. Free!

The franchise became lackluster after the first director left, but the first two seasons were fun enough in their own right. Unlike most novel-to-anime adaptations, Free! started with original content through creating a future for the main story, which was turned into the not-so-distant past in the anime. This is unusual enough, but it worked out well as the anime maintained itself as loyal as possible to the first book and never went off the rails with the plot. The main characters’ personalities did suffer many alterations, yet it’s obvious that they meant to make the two more charismatic and likeable. As far as fan responses went, it worked.

I find very interesting that the creators were aware the story took itself too seriously at times, and they made this clear by compensating the heavy melancholy with heavy comedy. They also compensated the overdramatic atmosphere of the first season by picking up the pace and getting a little more serious in the second season. Everything was intentional and designed to be a hit amongst women, which I think had served the purpose until the first movie came out.

To be honest, I’m not fond of the exaggerated fanservice, but it gets easy to ignore it after a while if you only pay attention to the storyline. I don’t consider myself a fan of Free!, and I actually took very long to start liking it. I only did get into it at the last scene of episode 8, back when the first season was still airing. It was only by this time that I could see the true value of the series, so I recommend anyone who tries it out to go at least that far with it. I know it might be a lot of work, but in my honest opinion, it’s worth the trouble.

I deem the High Speed! novel awe-inspiring because of its nostalgic tone and the awfully realistic depiction of childhood crises. The most serious situations of it are a little out of reality, but the rest is absurdly relatable in levels that I myself don’t know how to put into words. Yet I also appreciate Free! for its strong tone of encouragement. It feels like the creators are trying to cheer up the viewers.

6. Kyoukai no Kanata

It starts becoming a mess from episode 4 onward, yet the beginning was quite promising. This one relies heavily on fanservice, often makes use of nonsensical tropes for the sake of comedy and sometimes goes overboard with the jokes. However, it doesn’t fail to deliver emotional value and the action is pretty neat. Anyone who hasn’t read the novel will definitely be able to enjoy it as a standalone.

I don’t think I need to mention it, but the animation is stellar. I in particular love the blurry movement effects of when the characters draw their weapons and the geometrical spectrums in the colorful power barriers. I also recommend the OVA, as well as the second movie I’ll be Here, although the latter is 100% original content. It was actually cute and fun to watch. The first movie is merely one huge recap.

7. Hibike! Euphonium

Truly dazzling take on slice-of-life. It’s healing and heartrending at the same time. The way that characters are portrayed allows the viewers to feel their passion and dedication without it occasionally feeling unrealistic. Everyone has their own problems, but none of them are taken out of proportion. Miscommunication happens, just not in a frustrating shoujo manga way.

The soundtrack and scenery are breathtaking, yet the forte of the animation in this one was the huge amount of detail put into the eyes and hair. Everyone’s hairdos are remarkably glossy without ever looking weird, and I especially like how their eyes all glinter in different colors.

The author published another volume of the novel after the anime, saying it had inspired her to write more, and it’s no wonder. I also recommend season two and the OVA. The first two movies are just recaps and the third was to me a disappointment, so I leave those to people’s own discretion.

8. Tamako Market

Rather odd but nice story. It blends iyashikei elements with a peculiar plot and actually manages to do that in a cute way. All of the characters are likeable and the visuals do a good job in transmitting what they have to transmit in a very relaxing manner.

This show caught me off-guard by how unproblematic it was. It has trans, gay and dark-skinned characters, but none of them is ever used for fanservice or jokes and their respective circumstances are portrayed as 100% normal, which is sadly still rare in anime even nowadays. The romance is pretty not-dramatic and filled to the brim with fluff, and I very much like that the main guy treats his female love rival as a serious threat.

I recommend the specials and the movie as well. Especially the movie, which is basically the same as direct sugar injestion and gave me diabetes.

9. Munto

Also has a special place in my heart. Cheesy but good, actually. I’d be lying if I said there aren’t some surprises in it, though, but I’ll refrain from giving too much info on the story itself.

It was firstly an OVA, but then got adapted into three movies. The animation was done finely enough, but there’s a drastic change in style from the first to the second half, though I myself didn’t really mind it. The characters are all well-stablished and the plot is consistent. There’s a present quality of feminist shades in it and the relationships are very endearing.

10. Nichijou

Not really one of my favorites but certainly one that I recommend for people who are in need of a laugh. It’s got some pretty creative and iconic humor. Its imaginative retakes on routinely affairs manage to transform the most trivial real-life situations into Oscar-worthy wit. It also gets nonsensical every so often, but this fits within the show’s own narrative.

It has a very unique animation that sometimes mixes different styles of art, which only makes every scene a hundred times funnier for being so soft and adorable. It varies from hyperrealistic to surrealistic at the speed of light and sometimes even becomes abstract as hell. It’s full of notes on Japanese culture, not only about daily life but also about media, which adds up to the fun.

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 5-Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Hey there, hope you’re doing well, whenever/wherever you’re reading this. We’re on the fifth episode of the Ranma Rewatch, and I just realized that you can pretty clearly delineate the last three episodes into one arc, all about introducing Kuno. This episode and the next few, judging by the title, look like they’ll be focusing on Dr. Tofu and Akane’s crush on him. I...really cannot recall a lot about these episodes, so it’ll be interesting to look at them with a fresh perspective. See you all again in a second, once I’ve finished watching the episode!

Wow, uh...I am finding my memories of this show are definitely blurred in ways I hadn’t expected. Or rather, when I saw it as a younger person, I didn’t notice the same things I’m noticing now.

The episode starts with Ranma brooding over how often Akane gets angry and violent at him, which ties into Akane training in the dojo with her dad. For a second, she remembers Ranma’s rude comments from the day before, and the anger makes her hit her dad so hard he’s left pretty hurt. Kasumi, the eldest of the Tendo siblings, tends to his injury, but pleads with Akane to reign in her violent tendencies, even if the exact specifics of that promise change from the Sub to the Dub.

Later, Kasumi sends Akane out to get meat for dinner, at the same time Ranma is brooding in the same area. They run into each other, and Ranma provokes Akane so much that, even after trying to restrain herself to Kasumi’s promise, she gives up and clobbers Ranma so badly she has to take him to a doctor. Specifically, Doctor Tofu.

This is actually the good doctor’s first time seeing Ranma as his uncursed form, so they’re formally introduced. Tofu reasons out that Akane is responsible for the extensive damages, looking serious...only to happily point out that the injuries make that clear, since the way she fights is so distinctive. To Ranma’s surprise, Akane is in a hurry to leave once Ranma is okay, and before they go Tofu tries to tell Ranma that Akane’s actually a pretty nice person, which Ranma is skeptical of.

Seemingly to prove his point, Tofu hit a pressure point on Ranma’s back just before they left, so that halfway home his legs would go out. Despite the fact they’d just been arguing, Akane immediately offers to carry Ranma home, something he only accepts after being splashed with water, thanks to his pride as a man. It’s there, being carried piggyback style, that he considers whether Tofu may have been right after all, but just isn’t sure.

This whole time, their dads have been trying to think of some way to make them get along, since things are only getting worse between them, but it seems they don’t have any ideas. At breakfast the next day, Kasumi asks Akane if she can take a book she’d been borrowing from Dr. Tofu back to him, only for Akane to refuse. When Ranma questions why she’d do that, about to spill the beans on her crush, Akane hurries to school with Ranma in toe, not even noticing that Ranma gets splashed as they sprint down the street.

Once there, she realizes the curse has activated as she starts chastising Ranma for what he did, namely by opening up Ranma’s shirt...revealing his breasts in front of all the guys who usually fight Akane. Not that they seem to notice. They’re not about to fight Akane anymore, telling her that they’ve decided to honor her engagement to Ranma, since he beat Kuno, their best fighter and biggest pervert.

Not that Kuno himself is going to honor that agreement, even if he’s still covered in bandages from all the hits Ranma got on him, and can barely seem to stand. But when he notices Ranma there in his cursed form, he goes from toting the virtues of Akane to his red-headed love in seconds. Ranma is annoyed, and that only gets worse when Akane pretends to support the two getting together, in the hopes that maybe that would maybe get Kuno to leave her alone. For a few seconds, Kuno is struck with indecision...only to once again reiterate that he’s in love with both of them.

During gym, a few guys in Ranma’s class hassle him over his luck in being engaged to Akane, and needle him over whether they’ve ‘done anything’ yet. Just when he’s about to mention that Akane already loves someone else, she hits a softball right in his face, though it’s unclear whether this was on purpose or not.

This means another trip to Tofu’s clinic, though this time they run into his newly hired assistant: Ranma’s dad in his panda form. Tofu laughs to hear that this panda is apparently Ranma’s dad, but it’s unclear if he actually believes that or not. Ranma is getting more and more curious about why it seems like Akane is trying to avoid the person he knows she likes, when the phone rings. Akane answers and talks to that person, before finally telling Ranma that Dr. Tofu already has someone he’s in love with, and that woman is one the way to the clinic, that’s who Akane had talked to on the phone. After a fake out, it’s made clear from how the scene cuts to her that the woman Akane’s talking about is Kasumi.

There are a few things this episode has really brought to mind for me. To start with what I alluded to earlier: when I have thought about Ranma 1/2, for the longest time, I’ve thought of it as a very episodic storyline. Throughout it’s very, very long run, I mostly remembered it being unrelated little stories, aside from the small arcs that populated the various seasons, cropping up from time to time. I do remember enough specific episodes to come that I do know there are one-off episodes later on.

But as I look at the five episodes I’ve covered so far, I’m kind of staggered by the continuity. Each episode flows seamlessly from the last, even as we’ve kind of moved on from an arc about Kuno to one about Akane and Dr. Tofu. Now, whether this is something the show will outgrow with time, as it drifts farther and farther from the manga, isn’t really something I know for sure, so it’s a thing I’ll have to keep an eye on.

So much of this episode is devoted to Ranma and others thinking about his relationship to Akane. He’s clearly very skeptical about any idea that they might work out as a couple, already seeing the rough ways they tend to hit each other where it hurts when they bicker. Still, there are other moments where he can clearly see her better traits, such as when she immediately moves to help him when his legs fail him.

In that same vein, I was very much befuddled at first when Akane just opened Ranma’s shirt to check he really was in his more feminine body. Like, that just seemed out of character for her, but then I realized a better way to read that. Akane has no problems doing something like that because she considers Ranma a guy, for better or worse, regardless of what he looks like at the time. Unlike so many characters, who tend to treat Ranma differently depending on if he’s in his cursed form or not, Akane always sees him as Ranma. Here, that made things awkward, but on the whole it’s kind of a big plus from her. She validates Ranma for who he really is, in that way.

Oh, back when I was recapping things, I mentioned a couple of guys hanging out with Ranma at school. Well, fun fact, those are Hiroshi and Daisuke, and I think this is their first appearance in the anime. They become Ranma’s default two friends at school, and later on Akane will get her own similar pair of friends to match. If you’re not paying attention, they might seem like extras, but Hiroshi and Daisuke actually have consistent designs and personalities, which I find pretty neat.

This week, for the character spotlight, I thought I should round out the Tendo siblings with the oldest, Kasumi. After all, she’s getting more attention in the plot right now, and there really aren’t a lot of characters worth focusing on introduced yet.

Now, as best as I can tell, her voice actresses in the original Japanese and the English dub are doing the same kind of thing. Namely, a very sweet, if restrained, kind of performance. In English, she was played by Willow Johnson, another fairly minor Canadian voice actress who doesn’t seem to have done a lot of work recently, though she is also Kikyo from the Inuyasha dub. In a strange coincidence, she also played Lalah Sune in Mobile Suit Gundam, which I’m going through for the first time right now, and her character literally was just introduced a few episodes ago, so that’s cool. Her Japanese voice actress seems to be more well known and well regarded, Kikuko Inoue. She’s done a ton of roles, including more recent work. She’s even worked for Japanese dubs of American series, such as playing Blue Diamond from Steven Universe. And, like I said last week, she was a member of DoCo.

Of the three Tendo sisters, she’s definitely the one that’s gotten the least attention and development so far. Sadly, I’d say that’s also generally true throughout the entire series, as far as I can recall. Akane is one of the protagonists, after all, and Nabiki is a great source of conflict. In contrast, Kasumi is mostly...there.

That said, even if she isn’t the most well developed character, she’s at least clearly defined. It’s obvious already that she’s the one running the house, seemingly with more authority than even her father. She acts more like a mom than a sister most of the time, which from personal experience is definitely a thing that happens with oldest sisters sometimes, even without dead moms in the picture.

Kasumi cooks their meals, cleans their house, and just seems to be the one making sure everything gets done. She’s also very kind and accommodating, and comedically her strength is her nonplussed reactions to the madness going on around her. Kasumi is nearly always unphased by things like houseguests sparring in the yard. The exception did appear in this episode, however. When her father was injured, she did try to lay down the law on Akane, even bringing up their dead mom to try and make clear how serious this was.

That’s...really all there is I can say about Kasumi, at least so far. I can really only think of one really interesting thing they ever did with her character, and I’m sure other fans know exactly what I’m talking about.

Okay, so, what did I really think of this episode? On the whole, I’d say it was fairly strong. I appreciated seeing Ranma really thinking stuff over a little bit, and that scene with him and Akane at night was very cute. That said, I also do kind of find this Tofu plot a bit boring, since he as a character hasn’t really done a lot for me. So, in the end, I’d say this episode is middle of the pack.

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

But what will I think of the second (and only other) part to this small arc? We’ll see next week with the sixth episode, “Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know”. Man...I really do love these kinds of episode titles. See you then!

[luckystarchild]

I’d love to hear your Inuyasha thoughts in general! (Not-Quite-Kagome tidbits would be a great bonus.)

Your wish is my command! I just posted a recap of the first chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Follow the tag “lucky’s inuyasha recap” so you don’t miss any installments, and thanks for reading! ♥

[chibinoyume]

Feb 15th - International fanworks day

So today I found out via this post that today is international fanworks day. As such, I thought I’d reminisce about how fandom & fanworks have changed my life, little by little. While I’ve been a fan of many things, to me, a level of love/obsession (and most likely, a ship) must be present in order for me to engage more in a fandom, read fic, make fanart, try to write, etc. Still, I’ll only mention the 4 most significant here, with drawings to match.

The oldest - Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X)

My first fandom, Rurouni Kenshin, made me interested in trying to draw (by copying what I saw), especially as it was an anime/manga, I had (and still have) the comics and so the source material was right there. Here is my favorite character from that series, and possibly one of the oldest scans I have from any fanart. Fandom was hard to navigate because I was limited by the glitchy websites that were the norm back then and I was barely starting to learn really basic english at age 12 (my first language is spanish).

The one that kept me sane - InuYasha

As I fell more and more in love with a different show, InuYasha, I still felt most comfortable copying what I saw (above is one of my favorites from that time, copied from a page of the manga), and sometimes, with a ton of detail. It was a hard time in my life because personal things, family problems, depression, school problems... focusing on something I loved deeply at 13 -and weirdly for a fantasy story, identified with- was really helpful. I felt limited because the difference in results when I copied an image vs when I made it up was staggering, but I still tried.

I joined a forum, made friends online (some of which I’m still very close to today -some of them I’d definitely credit with helping me not... take drastic measures back then), ventured to write fic in spanish and, something I’ll always thank my obsessive brain for, I forced myself to learn english so I could keep up with the new releases (it was either english or japanese, easy choice which one was easier). 

It was literally trying to figure out via context what the english subtitles meant, sometimes pausing every 5-10 seconds in a 20 minute episode because sometimes I didn’t understand a single word and had to look it up on the dictionary (google translate was kinda trash back then). My english wasn’t great but I tried. I couldn’t read fic in english yet, though.

This era lasted for a long while, I don’t know how many years. While I never stopped being more comfortable copying stuff, I did venture into doing my own little drawings and comics from my own head, based mostly on things I liked, stuff that happened in real life and my love for chibis has never stopped.

The “taking a leap of faith” fandom - The Mentalist

There were quite a few years where I went fandom-less (at least to a significant degree), I don’t know why. I found The Mentalist relatively early on, but since it clearly involves real people and actors, I couldn’t quite copy anything since realistic portraits have never been a huge interest or my strong suit. I started using pictures as references instead. I joined a forum once again, they had a lot of activities and I got to interact with people I admired, especially fic writers (by this point, I could read if in english, which was great because the ratio between spanish fics and english fics is... like 1:100. Also the source material in this case is in english, so...).

I didn’t know if my very anime-y style would be well received in the fandom, especially as I was probably one of the youngest people there and one of the only ones that came from the anime world. I tried regardless, I felt accepted, and eventually ventured into making my mostly pencil-only drawings snazzier with some digital editing. 

I dipped my toe in writing fic, in spanish and (gasp) in english, even if I was slightly terrified even with a beta reader. I also became very active in my deviantart profile (an art sharing website) since I hada lot of material to show and the fandom was also active there and probably joined Tumblr around this time.

I stayed in that fandom for years, through universities, made a lot of fandom friends over the years (from my late teens to my early twenties), mostly from the forum and ffnet, and because of tl;dr reasons, I had the opportunity to travel eventually and I had the good fortune of meeting a bunch of them in person. A couple of them we’ve met irl more than once even if we’re from different countries, and we talk online very often ♥��

Also I started experimenting with watercolor, just a little bit, encouraged also by university. I did a ton of fanart comics, mostly humor. All the constant interactions with my fellow fangirls helped me improve my english a great deal, especially when it came to slang, and ever since then, most of my online life is in english now. 

There was this blog that did episode recaps of the show, I was somewhat popular in this fandom by then because I did a lot of fanart, and the person in charge of the blog commissioned me to make a drawing or comic per episode. I had deadlines and this was the first time I considered making drawings to supplement income, the opportunity meant a lot to me because I had free reign to let my fanart ideas run wild. I mostly used colored pencils. I think it was the most creative period of my life, I had so many ideas I never did, some because I didn’t feel good enough, lack of time/energy, etc. Still, some of them I’m still pretty fond of.

The current one - Blindspot

Again, it was a few years between fandom/a show I deeply connected with/a ship I fell in love with. But I stumbled into Blindspot (and Jeller) around July 2019, and you all know I love it here ♥ I wish I had found it earlier on, but eh, I’ll take what I can get!

I now run my own tiny business where I make stationery and apparel goods with my own original illustrations (and making commissions sometimes), mostly working in watercolor, and while it’s not yet at the point where I can fully support myself with just my income, it’s been a very long ride to get here. Of course it took a lot more than just fandom love, but I can’t say it wasn’t a big part of it.

Blindspot will end in 2020 but I still hope I can keep it and the friendships I’ve already made from it close to my heart, and that the fandom lives on. I certainly have lots of ideas pending, and as opposed to my previous fandom, I don’t want to leave any just as a scribbled down idea on a notebook.

[kingdomsaurushearts]

What’s your story behind all the things that you like? What I mean is how were you introduced to all the things you find enjoyment out of (video games, anime fanfics etc). How’d you find quote on quote “geek culture” or how did it find you?

The majority of what I enjoy was via introduction by my older sister, or a friend. (This includes music. Nova is always exposing me to new stuff and giving me culture) Or. The old fashioned way, TV. Lol I survived off morning cartoons and cereal. In short, sister, friends, cartoons, fanfics, and CONVENTIONS.

My older sister had played KH1 up to the Deep jungle and then she quit. It was maybe 2004 at the time. But I remembered it well enough, that when my friend showed me KH2 lent his copy that I’m like. Ah hell yeah, I kinda remember this? (KH2 was the first I played, never even saw anything after Deep Jungle until I played KH1 later. But honestly KH2 pretty much gives you a recap, CoM exempt so it was fine. Sora didnt remember, so.. we were on the same page. Lol)

Same thing with Zelda. My first exposure was Majora’s mask, watching my sister play. (She wouldn’t let me play.Older sibling complex.) My first game was Twilight Princess, love that game, it’s beautiful and amazing. Dont @ me lol

Miraculous Ladybug was on Netflix, and I had seen @philsterman01 ’s comic dubs so I was like, yeah, I can finally watch it. (It wasnt what i expected AT ALL, but I still frickin love that cornball of a show. It’s ridiculous and cute.)

Sailor Moon was a huge part of my life, and I still adore it, my First OC was based off that and Tokyo Mew Mew.

Toonami was a huge thing way back when. Yu Yu Hakusho, Cyborg 009, Dragonball/DBZ, a liiiiittle Naruto. There was Fox Kids with Digimon, Shaman King, Winx Club, KidsWB had Yugioh, Pokemon, Cardcaptors, etc. (Adult swim had Inuyasha, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Scry-ed)

A lot of what I enjoyed actually starts at the library. I would ride my bike to the library and check out the limit of Manga and DvDs, I’d read them all and return them the next week and do it all over again… the internet was still foreign to me. Lol

My library didn’t really carry the “POPULAR” manga series, I got stuff like Iron Wok Jan, Skip Beat!, CLAMP stuff (to this day I still don’t understand Clover), Maison Ikkoku, Angelic Layer, but they still had like Fruits Basket, Bleach, Death Note, Chrono Crusade, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, etc. Anime was Rurouni Kenshin, X (1999), Tenchi Universe, Ranma ½, Vampire Hunter D, a lot of arbitrary anime I can’t remember but they were weeeeird.

When I was 13 I got a GaiaOnline account, and a FFNet, where I actually met my best friend and current roommate. (We bonded over our love for Hiei.) Lots of new stuff was introduced there.

A coworker of my Mom’s from a past job lended me Trigun, Raxephon, Fullmetal Panic, Generator Gawl, Arc the Lad, Kiddy Grade, Noir.

My mental library is pretty small all things considered. And I’m definitely more of a Casual Geek. I enjoy things in passing.

I think Kingdom Hearts is the thing I’ve held onto the longest, besides Yu Yu Hakusho and Cardcaptor Sakura. But I definitely love it the most.

And Miraculous Ladybug is sticking with me pretty strongly atm too. (But we’ll see. It’s still young)

I missed out on an lot of stuff in high school because I decided to ignore anime and instead get obsessed with Japanese and Korean Pop stars, of which I still need to get rid of my posters 💦💦💦 (they’re just… sitting in the closet lmao) and I was like… a YouTube nut. (I was absorbed into stuff like NigaHiga, Smosh, Mystery Guitar Man, Tobuscus, SMPfilms, Chonny, Bubsbeauty, Shimmycocopuffs, Equals3, stuff like that. Also the time I drew the LEAST and my art stagnated BAD)

I’m still playing catch up, but I’m more interested in creating, working on my OCs, animation/storyboards. Etc. It’s hard to get myself into new stuff cause I know I’ll be sucked in. *stares at Fire Emblem from a safe distance*

It’s also only in the last year or so, (2?) That I’ve actively been a part of a fan community, so it’s still a territory I’m treading lightly. And I’ve kept it to just the KH and ML fandoms. (And maaaaybe the MLP fandom but you didn’t hear that from me. *sweats*)

Long answer is long.

But it’s interesting to think back. Because everything is so VASTLY different now.

[wordcrawler]

Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda & Valynne E. Maetani - A Most Disappointing Read

Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda My rating: 2 of 5 stars I'm FINALLY done with this book! I was so excited going into this book, only to end up thoroughly disappointed. I really wanted to love this and I could see the potential had it been done better. In theory, I should have loved this. This has all the elements that I would've enjoyed in a book and all the elements that I tend to look for in anime. Being a fan of both, this would've been the perfect mesh. Also, the fact that by the end, I find out that this has been inspired by some of the biggest names in manga/anime, like Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha (which is my heart and soul), CLAMP's xxxHolic, Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, to name a few, I really SHOULD HAVE loved this. But I didn't. I guess it just all came down to poor execution. The first glaring issue for me was the writing. It all started when the line "releasing the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding" appeared. And in the space of 5 short chapters, that same line was repeated. I have read so many books these past couple of years, and this is the first time in a long while that I've encountered that line again—it just took me out of the story. Because this was published this year and that line made it through is surprising. From there, it became obvious to me how cliched the writing was. The writing was also overly repetitive. The book is fairly short, so I didn't need constant recaps of what happened a few chapters ago. The annoying bit is that these recaps were mainly used to reinstate just how "different from other girls" our main character is. It also affected the pacing of the entire story, which I'll get to later on. My second issue is that I just didn't care about the main character—nor any of the characters, for that matter. I couldn't find myself able to empathize with Kira despite all the shit she went through. Her moments of grief and sorrow just felt hollow and shallow to me. Because that's what they are—just moments. You have her inner monologues saying how much she misses him and that she's so sad, but that's it. Because the next thing you know, all her attention is focused on trying to save the world. It would've added some depth to her had her actions been for avenging her grandfather, and in consequence, saved the world. I also couldn't care less about her strained relationship with her parents because she doesn't seem to care anyway. She barely even mentions them and doesn't even have any longings for their affection. Out of everything she went through, the only time that I actually felt any sort of empathy for her was when she was getting bullied. While on the topic of not caring, I could've easily bumped up my rating to 3 stars if this managed to make me like the romance (because I'm basic like that). But it also failed at that! Again, I just didn't care. I didn't expect this to be focused on romance but at least give me some banters between our main couple just to make me feel something. It was like the romance was set up for convenience's sake only. My last issue is the pacing. I have read shorter books with more complex plots than this yet somehow this still ended up feeling rushed. This goes back to my first issue of being handed a recap after almost every chapter instead of expounding on the overall plot. Those pages could've been used to focus more on the preparations, or better yet the importance of the Shinigamis's roles, in the upcoming war. To end this review on a high note, what I can definitely say that I love about this book are all of the Japanese lore and mythology. The Japanese have some of the most interesting (and also creepiest) mythological creatures which are what made me pick up this book. To read about the creatures that I'm already familiar with and to also learn more about them and the myths was already an experience in itself which is why I still gave this 2 stars. View all my reviews

[devilselbow]

Jude Recaps Mermaid Saga 1-2 by Rumiko Takahashi

Title: Mermaid Saga Chapter 1 & 2 – A Mermaid Never Smiles

Author/Artist: Rumiko Takahashi

Summary: N/A

Initial Thoughts: Some of you might know who Rumiko Takahashi is, or if you don’t, you might at least know of her works. She’s a longtime mangaka and creator of “Inuyasha,” “Ranma 1/2,” and “Urusei Yatsura.” She’s been writing and illustrating comics since at least the 1970s, and she’s still going. Nearly every one of her series have gotten at least one animated adaption, and most of them run for DECADES.

But today I’m here to talk about one of her more obscure titles and possibly the one oddball in her resume of titles. “Mermaid Saga” is Takahashi’s only foray into a straightforward horror series, and is relatively light on humor and love triangles unlike her other books. Which is good because it means her male protagonist isn’t an insufferable lech or an idiot.

Rest assured, the mermaids here are NOT the kind of mermaids you’re familiar with. We’re not talking about Ariel, or Darryl Hannah in “Splash,” or even the Hans Christian Andersen Little Mermaid. Mermaids in this story are monsters. Sometimes they walk on two legs, sometimes they don’t. But they are not cute, and they’re not friendly. The only way you can kill them is by chopping off their head.

Legend says the mermaid’s flesh can grant a person immortality if eaten. And it can… if you’re lucky. Eating the mermaid’s flesh is like Russian roulette, and if you don’t get immortality, you’ll be lucky if it kills you. The majority of people who eat the flesh, well… it’s not pretty.

Mermaid Saga didn’t get an animated series straight away. There were two OVAs (Original Video Animation, the equivalent of direct to video movies), one in the 80s and the 90s, and then an animated series in the 2000s. The one animated adaption I’ve watched in its entirety was the “Mermaid’s Scar” OVA from the 1990s, which is my favorite by far due to the artwork and the beautiful music. By admittedly, the opening theme to the anime series, “Like An Angel,” is breathtaking.

It’s one of Takahashi’s shorter series, with all the chapters collected in 4 volumes. For the sake of these recaps I’m going by each separate arc, but will include the cover art of the Viz manga collections that included the arcs.

[Wing: Okay, this sounds amazing, and I’m so excited. #killermermaidsforever]

READ THE RECAP

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 69 (Nice) Rundown

Code Geass: So this episode is kind of a ride, like fuck. We kinda yadda yadda how Lelouch fucking escaped from Nunally’s sinking airship and just have Rolo sitting over him in bed kind of conflicted that he’s still stuck on his old little sister, so therefore he programs the tvs in Lelouch’s train to blast Nunally’s appointment but it’s funny because he probably didn’t even have to do that because directly after that Lelouch runs into the station and Nunally shit is just everywhere, like I get it’s a metaphor but it’s just funny that Rolo had to plan for him to run into something Nunally-related only for him to run out of the plan and run into ten times more Nunally shit. Then we get Kaguya claiming herself, Kallen and CC as Zero’s harem directly followed by a depressed Lelouch hypnotizing a bunch of street punks to exercise, about to do drugs and asking to fuck Kallen, like this episode is fucking ridiculous and parts are hilariously contrived, thankfully Kallen slaps the shit out of him and Rolo’s like “yo bro we don’t need that bitch, come on and live it up in this ridiculously racist system and the one place where it’s slightly less racist with me” and then they go back to school and have the “Happiness is Like Glass” scene which is genuinely amazing and moving, like for all the weird zany stuff that happens in the first part of this episode, this is a little oasis of pure sincerity and quality where Lelouch makes a promise he knows he won’t be able to keep. Inspired by this amazing moment, Lelouch returns to the Black Knights with the thought of “Maybe there are other reasons to destroy an oppressive dictatorship aside from my one ridiculously crippled sister” which he probably should’ve thought of before. And then he defeats Suzaku’s navy with the power of FUCKING BUBBLES, like yeah, this episode is right back to being crazy ridiculous but Lelouch is back and wants in on Nunally’s special zones… okay, phrasing.

Inuyasha: So we open with a scene of Kagome playing cards with Miroku which is genuinely adorable if pointless, but it just makes me laugh that Miroku and Sango seem to know all the rules of the game but are still stumped when Kagome tells them they’re Playing Cards, probably a culture thing. Anyway, Inuyasha has to kill a Barrier Demon to get the power to break barriers, which is a bit of a conundrum because Barrier Demons have, you know, barriers, which Inuyasha currently cannot break. Worse still said demon is a little girl and a half-demon like Inuyasha which understandably puts him in quite a quandary. Inuyasha does his usual thing of “Let’s just go in swinging and figure out the rest later but Shiori’s grandfather deflects the admittedly cool-looking Water Wind Scar Inuyasha throws at them with Shiori’s barrier. Shiori’s mom is all “Gimme back my daughter you said you’d stop attacking us if I let you have her” and he’s all like “Well make me, I have a fucking barrier and can hold you hostage” so everyone’s generally pissed off about the situation and Shiori’s granddad with the long name sends all the bat demons to go destroy the village which makes no fucking sense because the only reason she’s still cooperating is so they won’t hurt her mom, without her she has no reason to keep doing it but I guess he’s hoping having nothing to live for will make her do what he says out of nihilism or some shit.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke gets to face off against Suzaku, the final boss of the Saint Beasts and the gang get to demonstrate the teamwork lessons from this arc by doing a reenactment of the jumping Bahamut scene from Advent Children so Yusuke can get up the tower to fight him. It’s really pretty cool how they splice in Keiko’s Day of the Dead montage with Yusuke fighting Suzaku, tying things together thematically and culiminating in Yusuke and Keiko both fucking decking their opponents. I also really like how Yusuke’s so confident Keiko won’t go down to a zombie hoard so easily, like she’s not a fighter but she’s smart and has got guts so he’s pretty sure she can last a while while he pretends to punch Suzaku with his shoes. Overall a really good start to the fight that means Yusuke still has to wiggle his way out after using his Spirit Gun already and Suzaku still has a lot of shit to pull.

Fate Zero: So Saber and Lancer do their fight and there’s a bunch of fightnobabble talk that someone who’s actually held a weapon in their life would probably enjoy but to me is just “Oooh cool jabbies, flashing lights” which is still fun. Basically everyone’s watching though, Kirei has his ninja squad on the job, Kiritsugu’s Black Ops is monitoring things and Iskander is watching from the Radical Highway Bridge from Sonic Adventure 2. Eventually Iskander is like “Well damn they might kill each other if this keeps up” and Waver’s like “yeah duh.” And Iskander shows who wears the booty shorts in this relationship by storming into the fight against Waver’s wishes cause he wants to fight everyone anyway. So yeah, giant lightning chariot in the middle of this First Boss battle.

Konosuba: Now that the party’s all formed the group settle into a daily routine of Kazuma being Megumin’s wheels for her Explosion training, Aqua being a waitress and Darkness doing… probably better not to think about what Darkness is doing. Anyway, Megumin bombs the shit out of a Dullahan’s castle and before the Dullahan can call his friend Celty to come kick her ass, Darkness gets hit with a death spell and he issues a challenge to Megumin to come to the tower of the Four Saint Beasts and (wait wrong anime again) but Aqua just breaks the curse on her own and they just don’t bother showing up. In the manga this is really funny because Aqua’s in a maid outfit from her waitress job and just does it like it’s nothing and then they show a panel later of the Dullahan waiting for them like “The fuck when are they getting here…”.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So for some reason even though we only have three of the five Sailor Guardians, Luna decides this is the time to give a recap and reintroduce our protagonists for the first part of this episode. Anyway there’s a big party to celebrate a dated princess Di reference that’s kind of in poor taste at this point and Usagi and friends get in based solely on having fancy dresses and being hot, man I had no idea getting in with rich people was that easy. Anyway, Usagi gets a new tiara because of love and shit and gets an upgraded Ancient Egyptian Laser Beam from the moon. The Four Kings show up to be all “Ha-ha! You defeated my demon but now there’s all four of us and even though we still think you have the crystal and outnumber you and there will never be a moment when you’re weaker than this we will now… LEAVE FOR NO REASON!” like the logic of people in this show oh my fucking god. But of course the dated princess reference’s treasure isn’t the crystal they’re looking for and Tuxedo Mask kisses Sailor Moon while she’s asleep which is definitely sexual assault there was no fucking consent there, I don’t care if they’re moon soul mates or whatever she barely knows who he is and wasn’t conscious. But yeah Luna calls him out on his shit and despite clearly being an ally he has to be all edgy and be like “Well maybe I’m a friend, maybe I’ an enemy, who knows~” because I think he gets his power from how mysterious he is, like he’s going to be utterly useless if anyone figures out who he is, not to mention Luna already knows his identity but for some reason doesn’t tell Usagi. Idk man I just have a hard time following the logic of this fucking show…

Durarara!!: So yeah, this is the “The Yagiri Family is fucked” episode Namie has a weird fucked up brocon yandere thing going on, Seiji’s an asshole that because of having two stalker yanderes going after him has become a fractured manchild that thinks love is everything and pretends he knows shit but knows less shit than pretty much everyone around him and has his sister do all the shit for him. But yeah, Celty sees Seiji with the girl with her head and freaks out, and Shinra A DOCTOR if you remember says “Hey maybe your head just attached itself to a corpse Parasyte style” like either he’s a terrible doctor and really thinks that or this is a smokescreen to make Celty think her head has moved on and she should too which is a fucked up level of gaslighting. But yeah, Mikado takes Head Girl, Seiji keeps stabbing people with pens for some reason, luckily it’s mostly Shizuo so it doesn’t do anything, and Izaya’s just like “oh shit, chaos, I’m down”. Basically everyone is awful in this episode except for Mikado who just wants to help and doesn’t know shit, Celty who’s doing her best, and Shizuo who’s just awesome as usual.