#like no lie kirara looks cute but i really think she just looks like some kind of alt gor.ou; same color palette etc

[welcometoteyvat]

new catgirl hmmmm

[ryqoshay]

Tri-Arame: Sleepover Night

Primary Pairing Trio: YuuAyuSetsu Words: ~3k Rating: G Time Frame: During their 2nd year in high school Story Arc: Stand Alone

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Author’s Note: My µ’s muse is rebelling against the drama I’m trying to write for my PTX set. So here’s some more fluff.

Summary: Setsuna took a rain check on watching the anime series that inspired her Koppe Pan order back in Ne, Wanna Bite? Now it’s time to cash in.

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“Uhm, Okaasan?” Nana asked trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

Why had she waited until the last possible minute to ask permission? What if she was denied? She’d have to cancel the plans to which she had looked forward all week.

“Yes, Nana?” Mrs. Nakagawa replied, looking up from her paperwork.

“Would it be alright if I stayed at a friend’s place tonight?”

“Oh? Someone from the student council?”

“No, a friend associated with the student council who is assisting with a project.” Nana explained. “There is a lot of preparation work that still needs to be done and I wasn’t the only one busy with tests this week.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. Ayumu had indeed helped her with student council work several times. So had Yuu, for that matter, as well as several other members of the idol club. Usually, their aid was reasoned away by them simply wishing to assist a friend, as well as allow her to more easily participate in club activities. This often led to her wondering if they knew how much their help was truly appreciated.

As for the mentioned project… Well, the club did have a Live coming up. And a member of the student council was participating. Granted that member was her, but…

“I see.” Mrs. Nakagawa nodded. “Very well then.”

Excitement bubbled up within Nana, but she quashed most of it, offering only a polite smile. “Thank you, Okaasan.”

Her mother offered a similar smile in return. “Have fun tonight.”

“I will.” Nana said before turning and heading to her room to pack.

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Setsuna was giddy with excitement as she undid her braids on the train. Her first sleepover with friends!

It wasn’t her first time visiting a friend’s home, but she hadn’t even done that in years. She had lost track of her childhood friends over the years, due in no small part to increasing expectations from her parents as she advanced in grades. The ban on her favored pastimes had been the final blow as she had to sneak around to continue to indulge, and that was best done alone.

Then she joined the student council and managed to become its president. Suddenly she had an excuse to stay out later or even just be out on weekends. She hated having to lie to her parents and did strive to be as truthful as possible, though she knew full well that a lie by omission was still a lie. But that had become her only way to become a school idol, to join the new club, to shop for manga and doujin and to hang out with friends.

And to spend time with those two.

Ayumu and Yuu had quickly become her closest friends after she joined the idol club. They had graciously given her an outlet through which to focus much of her enthusiasm for her hobbies. And this weekend they had agreed to marathon one of her favorite anime series with her. For the second time, Setsuna would be able have an actual conversation with friends about a beloved story, instead of just a one-sided explanation; the first being earlier that week as the three hung out together and purchased the latest book of Heavenly Life.

And she couldn’t wait.

Honestly, the train couldn’t arrive at the station quickly enough. And Setsuna knew she would have to resist the urge to run to the apartment complex where Ayumu and Yuu lived. For the sooner she arrived, the sooner they could start watching. And the sooner they finished the series, the sooner they could start talking about it.

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“Ah, Nakagawa-san.” Mrs. Uehara said upon opening the door. “Welcome. My daughters said you would be coming.”

“Daughters?” Setsuna couldn’t help repeating. Did Ayumu have a sister?

Mrs. Uehara chuckled. “I’m sorry.” She said shaking her head. “It’s a bit of a habit of mine. But Yuu is over here so often that she’s pretty much family at this point.”

A tiny flash of envy shot through Setsuna. How nice to be so close to someone. And not just them, but their family as well. Perhaps someday she could be that close to someone, or someones…? as well.

“Ah, pardon me.” Ayumu’s mother said after a slightly awkward moment. “Come in. Come in.” She opened the door fully and ushered Setsuna inside, introducing herself along the way. “Forgive my asking, but do you prefer to go by Nakagawa-san or Yuki-san?”

“Oh, uhm, actually,” She calls Yuu-san by her name, so maybe “Setsuna is fine.”

Mrs. Uehara smiled. “Setsuna it is then. I’ll go tell my daughters you’re here.” She laughed lightly again at her joke before taking a couple steps toward the hall. “Ayumu! Yuu! Setsuna is here!”

Before Setsuna could even finish removing her shoes, a twintailed girl was scampering around the corner.

“Setsuna-chan!” Yuu greeting joyously.

“I’m glad you could make it, Setsuna-chan.” Ayumu added, following at a more modest pace.

“I’ll have dinner ready soon.” Mrs. Uehara said, moving toward the kitchen. “I’ll send your father to fetch you once he’s home from work, Ayumu.”

“Thank you, Mama.” Ayumu replied.

“Thanks, Ayumama!” Yuu added, earning a blush from Ayumu and a chuckle from Mrs. Uehara. “C’mon, let’s go.” Yuu then said, grabbing both Ayumu and Setsuna’s hands before leading them down the hall.

Yuu opened a door, pulled the other two inside and…

Pink.

That was the first thought that came to Setsuna’s mind upon entering Ayumu’s room. The walls were pink. The clock and lamp on the headboard were pink. Pink curtains framed the balcony door, pink cloth decorated the shelves on the wall and a pink blanket covered something under said shelves. And what wasn’t pink was still some other light, fluffy pastel color. It was all… very Ayumu. Yes, that was the best description Setsuna could think up based on what she knew about her friend.

But beyond the cute colors, it was also very comfy, soft and warm. And welcoming. Setsuna immediately felt at home in the room.

Then her eye caught something. Or rather, a lot of somethings.

“They’re so cute…” She said, finding herself drawn to a display of plush animals.

“I know, right?” Yuu was the one to respond. “Ayumu wanted to pack them away because she thought they were too childish.”

“Y-Yuu-chan…” Ayumu protested.

“I should show you my collection sometime.” Setsuna said, resisting the urge to grab several animals and hug them, as she did not yet have such permission. “I have Kirara, Kyubey, Tamago Onsen, Dera Michimazzi, Kuroneko-sama, Sakamoto, Taroumaru, Ryo-Ohki…

Yuu started to chuckle. “Aren’t those all anime animals?”

“Yes.” Setsuna affirmed with a nod.

“I thought your parents forbid anime? I mean that’s why we’re having the marathon here, right?”

“Oh, uhm… my parents… don’t know they’re all from anime…” Setsuna admitted. “I haven’t told them, and they don’t seem to have looked into things online or anything. Posters, figures, and the like would be too obvious, so they’re the only merchandise I can display openly; I can pass them off as just being cute plushies.”

“Ah, I see.”

“And they’re not all from anime. I have Toothless as well.”

Yuu grinned. “A good choice.” She declared.

“Anyway, these are really cute too, Ayumu-san.” Setsuna turned her attention to the redhead.

“Thank you.” Ayumu replied. “You can touch them if you want, Setsuna-chan.” She added with an amused tone in her voice.

Was my desire that obvious? Setsuna wondered to herself. How embarrassing…

Setsuna swallowed down a blush and offered a smile instead. “Thank you.” She said, reaching for a pink rabbit to inspect. A pink bear had also caught her eye, but the rabbit seemed so Ayumu-like that she couldn’t help picking it over the others. It really was very cute, and she could easily tell why Ayumu liked it.

I wonder if there is one like Yuu-san here… Setsuna thought to herself as she continued to investigate the display.

“So, should we get a couple episodes in before dinner?” Yuu suggested.

“Yes.” Setsuna agreed enthusiastically, her attention reverting back to the original reason she was visiting.

“What site is the show on?” The twintailed girl asked as she sat down on a green pillow and opening what Setsuna assumed to be Ayumu’s laptop. “My parents have several accounts, so if its on one of them, I can sign in to it.”

“Actually, the series is old enough to be on the free sites.” Setsuna explained, choosing the blue pillow, and leaving the pink one for Ayumu.

“Oh, alright, uhm… here.” Yuu slid the computer over.

Setsuna started typing in the address, though as she did, she noticed both Yuu and Ayumu moving their pillows to either side of her. “Hm?” She hummed quizzically as they sat down.

“Since this is one of Setsuna-chan’s favorite series, she should have the best view of the screen.” Yuu answered before she could actually give voice to her question.

“But I’ve already seen it…” Setsuna rebutted.

“Setsuna-chan is also our guest and should have the best seat.” Ayumu added.

“Oh, uhm… alright.” Setsuna conceded. “Will we all fit?” She noted the tiny table did not have room on any one side for three people.

“It’s fine if we do this.” Yuu scooted in until her shoulder touched Setsuna’s.

So close… Eh? As Setsuna’s focus was on Yuu, Ayumu slid in from the other side, though not quite close enough to touch like Yuu. Setsuna wondered how red her face was as she quickly typed the title of the anime and found the first episode.

Setsuna was very much not used to watching anime like this. For so long she had watched alone, hiding from her parents and anyone she worried might not keep her secret. But this was simultaneously comforting and distracting.

Distractingly comfortable… Was that even a thing? While most of Setsuna wanted to pay attention to the anime on screen as the opening title began, there was no denying the part that wanted to focus on the surprisingly soothing warmth radiating from her two friends. She had only sat this way with her parents as a child, and the frequency had decreased dramatically as she grew older and her parents became busier with work.

As Setsuna felt her heartrate start to return to normal and the heat dissipate from her cheeks, she started to settle into the idea that this was a nice arrangement. She could get used to watching anime like this. She could probably even get used to Ayumu leaning in closer.

Yuu giggled, bringing Setsuna’s attention back to reality.

Ah yes, the protagonist’s introduction. Definitely a humorous moment, but there were funnier scenes yet to come, even in the first episode. What would Yuu think of those? Well, they did intend to talk about everything afterward, so perhaps she should just enjoy the show for now.

Setsuna relaxed and turned the entirety of her focus on the anime.

----------

Setsuna startled at the sound of knocking on the door. She turned her head to see said door open and a man she assumed to be Ayumu’s father poked his head into the room.

“Ayumu?” Mr. Uehara spoke. “Your mother sent me to say that dinner is ready.”

“Thank you, Papa.” Ayumu responded, starting to get up.

The man’s gaze shifted. “Hey, Yuu.” He greeted with a smile. “And… Setsuna, was it?”

“Yes.” Setsuna replied, getting up as well before bowing. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for having me tonight.”

“The pleasure is ours.” Mr. Uehara’s smile grew. “Ayumu and Yuu have told us a lot about you. It is nice to finally meet you.”

Ayumu-san and Yuu-san talked about me? Setsuna hoped it had been at least more good than bad, though judging by both Ayumu’s parents’ actions towards her thus far, that had been the case. And that realization caused warmth to spread through Setsuna’s chest.

Setsuna couldn’t help smiling as well as she followed the other three out to the Uehara dining room.

----------

The notification chime sounded on Setsuna’s phone as she got out of the bathtub. She padded one hand dry on her towel and unlocked the screen to find a message from Rina. The first-year was inviting the school idol club second-years to join a game she was playing. Well, except Ai, though Setsuna assumed she was already playing. She tapped the link so the app could download as she dried off, deciding the game might make for a fun activity to pass the time while Yuu and Ayumu took their turns bathing.

A few minutes later, Setsuna padded down the hall back to Ayumu’s room, already fully engrossed in the game’s tutorial.

“Yuu-san, Ayumu-san, this game… oh…” Setsuna cut off as the other two girls looked up from their own devices.

“It’s fun, isn’t it?” Yuu grinned as she set down her phone and stood before heading toward the door.

Ayumu had also put down her phone and traded it for a hair drier. “Come have a seat, Setsuna-chan.” She motioned to the pillow she was in the process of vacating before kneeling behind it. “I’ll dry your hair for you.”

“Oh, I can do that myself.” Setsuna declined. “Thank you for the offer though, Ayumu-san.”

“Are you sure?” Ayumu seemed confused and… disappointed? “I’d be happy to do it for you, Setsuna-chan.

“Ayumu just wants an excuse to play with your hair, Setsuna-chan.” Yuu chuckled.

Setsuna startled. She hadn’t realized Yuu was still in the room, apparently having stopped to watch. In response to the teasing, Ayumu’s cheeks flushed and Setsuna imagined her own were close to matching.

Although, why was she declining anyway? Memories of the braided bun lesson from earlier that week were still fresh in Setsuna’s mind had certainly caused her to want to accept, and yet she hadn’t. But accepting wasn’t forcing those desires on Ayumu or inconveniencing her or the like. Ayumu had made the offer.

“A-Alright…” Setsuna said after an awkward moment before taking a seat in front of Ayumu.

“Back in a few.” Yuu tossed over her shoulder as she left to head to the bath.

Ayumu flipped on the hairdryer and began running her fingers through Setsuna’s hair to spread out the strands for easier drying.

For her part, Setsuna was just about to relax into the session, when her phone pinged. She checked the screen to find Rina had sent an in-game gift. She accepted excitedly and began to play again.

“Uhm… Setsuna-chan.” Ayumu said after a moment. “I don’t mind if you play, but can you stop moving around while you do?”

“Oh… uhm… Sorry, Ayumu-san…” Setsuna replied, chastising herself for being rude while her host provided a wonderful service. Still, it would also be rude not to use Rina’s gift to the fullest, so she resumed her game, but made sure to remain still for Ayumu.

----------

Setsuna stared up at the ceiling, laying on her back on one of Ayumu’s guest futons. As sleepy as she felt, she was still buzzing a bit with lingering excitement from the events of the night. The three of them had successfully powered through the entire season with a few breaks for snacks and stretching before spending the next couple hours talking about the story. It was well past midnight, but it was the weekend so they could sleep in late in the morning before having a late breakfast, or early lunch, before Setsuna would head home to study.

Or perhaps… maybe she could study here? She had brought her books, even though she didn’t really expect to use them. And she really liked the welcoming atmosphere of Ayumu’s room, though really her apartment and family as a whole, if she was being honest. However, she didn’t want to impose by overstaying her welcome, and she certainly wasn’t going to just invite herself to stay. Still, it was a nice idea. Perhaps someday…

“Yuu-chan?” Setsuna heard Ayumu murmur, distracting her from her thoughts.

She heard the mattress shift and turned her head to see Yuu’s silhouette sliding under the duvet. She couldn’t quite understand Yuu’s response, but both girls in the bed fell silent after.

Strange. While it didn’t surprise Setsuna that a dating couple would share a bed, she couldn’t help wondering why Ayumu would bother setting out a guest futon for Yuu. Or question Yuu joining her.

Perhaps they were hiding the fact that they were dating and setting out the futon was a visual prop to convince Ayumu’s parents? No, that didn’t seem right. Neither Ayumu nor Yuu seemed the type to hide much, if anything, from their parents. Unlike Setsuna herself… Also, if Yuu’s parents were anything like Ayumu’s, Setsuna believed they wouldn’t have much of an issue with their daughters dating. The Ueharas already considered Yuu part of their family after all.

Were they, perhaps, not actually dating? That would explain Ayumu’s protest. And knowing Yuu’s casual approach to personal space, it wouldn’t surprise Setsuna in the least if she just did as she pleased. And Ayumu would let her. Still, that didn’t seem quite right either. Setsuna was fairly certain they were a couple. Their close bond was obvious to anyone who spent more than five minutes with them.

In any case, whether they were dating or not really wasn’t any of Setsuna’s business. So perhaps pondering the possibilities was inappropriate.

What was far more worth her mental energy was focusing on memories of how much fun she had this evening. For the first time, she had been able to not only watch anime together with friends, but also talk about it with them. All in person. Not over the internet. She had shared a meal with her friends’ family and gotten to know them a little. Setsuna couldn’t remember the last time she had gone to bed feeling so welcomed, accepted and… loved? Was that the right word?

Surely, she didn’t mean to imply that she went to bed at home feeling unloved. She knew her parents loved her, even if their way of showing that love was apparently very different than Ayumu’s parents. But even having only been in the Uehara home for not even half a day, she felt loved here. They were all so kind and Setsuna hoped she could come back and experience it all again.

Setsuna closed her eyes, allowing her mind to begin yet another replay of the day. Sleep would come eventually, but right now she was content just being this happy.

----------

Author’s Notes Continued in Followup Post

[venus-says]

Aikatsu on Parade! Episodes 14-15

Otome says "POP TYPE RIGHTS!"

I don't really remember why I kept avoiding watching these episodes for the past two weeks, but I'm genuinely happy I did because I had the best time ever watching these two episodes together.

There's not much to say about the two since they were more or less filler and they didn't try anything bold, but much like with its predecessor, on Parade thrives on the more slice-of-live/filler episodes and these two are an excellent example of that. I think on Parade does it even better than Friends because they're not limited to a certain amount of characters so when they want they can put together a good number of interesting idols to interact, have the nostalgia factor play in, and still create a very fun story to just sit down and relax.

And if you're a fan of pop type idols, like I am, these two episodes were an absolute delight.

Episode 14 we had the best Stars unit, Yuzutto Lillie, takeover Ako's tv show having Raki, Honey Cat (!!!), Nina (!!!!), Mikuru (!!!!!!!!!), and even Haruka as support! And gosh this episode was a JOY to watch. Just the fact they brought Nina back was a huge deal breaker to me, I really love her and sadly she didn't get that much time to shine during her season so to me that's amazing. The same can be said about Haruka, I'm not one of her biggest fans but I do think this show has treated her very badly so seeing that they didn't forget she exists somehow brings some peace to my heart. XD

I'm not gonna lie and I'll say that I thought it was a bit weird they brought up Ema's issue with small animals again since to me this was something that she had already got over with, but that isn't a huge problem, the scene was cute, I love that shot they had with her and Ferry so it's all good. Speaking of weird things I also think that the transitions between segments during the show felt a bit awkward at times but I understand that with 3 performances per episode it gets hard to make things feel smooth all the time, again it wasn't a big detriment, I had lots of fun with their segment with the owl and that crazy quiz show that had THE MOST ADORABLE CHIBIS EVER so I'm fine.

Speaking of the performances, I think this is one of the few times where I was okay with the 3 lives format (this applies to episode 15 as well). We got to see You x I again which was something I needed SO BAD after the Let's Find It spam we had in Friends S2, we got to see Nina perform again which is absolutely great seeing she performed only two times in OGkatsu, and I'm always excited to see the best rendition of Animal Carnival being performed (tho I'm not gonna lie I was a bit disappointed they didn't perform in those unit coords they received in the arcade game).

While 14 gave me the most fun, actually 15 was my favorite out of these two.

This was kinda a drama episode with some extra flair to it, it was incredible. I wish we had seen PowaFuwa Dreamin's creation so that this conjunct event didn't feel so detached from everything, but once I got over this it was just a bomb of joy. To begin, they did nostalgia here in a very subtle way, the event happened at the same park where Honey Cat decided to form their unit and Pop'n Popcorn was there to remind us that's a product Otome endorsed before, which I liked a lot I think whatever comes next for Aikatsu they should go by this route whenever they wanna reference past seasons.

We had some top-notch interactions here between each unit that gave another special charm to the episode. Like, Shion went to live like an ear of corn for a day in order to make the popcorn better, it's so absurd it's impossible to not love it! Shion is truly a gem, she deserved so much better. Another very nice thing was seeing the kids inquiring Ako and Kirara on why are they a unit when they seem to hate each other so much, I appreciate a show that has some level of self-consciousness to it and its problems.

also, THEY DIDN'T FORGET BABY PIRATES EXISTS AND THEY PUT THEM HERE EVEN THOUGH THEY DIDN'T NEED TO. T-T (honestly, the life of a Baby Pirates fans is so sad, look at me being so happy with only scraps that they gave us)

But the best thing about this episode was without a doubt the play they came up with, it was so fun and they also showcased the talents of all members of both main units in the production so it was amazing. And of course, the Three Goddesses was amazing. As y'all know I'm not the biggest Pure Palette and Yume fan, but they here acting as superheroes together was perfect. And the performance??? Gosh, that was wonderful, I loved all the effects, the song is pretty good as well, everything there was perfect and I wish we could get more.

As empty as these episodes seemed, they still had good lessons for Raki here which acted as the cherries on top to crown these awesome episodes. In the first we had Raki learning the importance of smiling and wanting to make your audience smile, and in the second we finally saw Raki seeing the value fans have for an idol and this is the thing that made me like episode 15 more than 14. I've mentioned on twitter that Raki had no interactions with fans, all she had was contact so far was with other idols and all she was doing was absorbing experience whenever she went, and I like that the show noticed and mentioned that, of course, this can be just lampshade hanging and the show will move on without touching on this again but these were great episodes and I'm on a very good mood so I wanna be hopeful about it.

And I think that's it for today, as I'm writing this episode 16 has already come out with subs but I haven't watched it yet and since I'm trying to get my schedule back on track I'll release this post as it is and do a separate post for 16. Anyway, what are your thoughts on these episodes? Let me know in the comments. See ya~

[deltaengineering]

Fall Anime 2017 Part 4: Screenshots don’t lie

Saturday’s a very busy day this season, and all the sequels are hitting too. Time to get to work!

Previously:

• Part 1: Maximum Something

• Part 2: The snooze cruise

• Part 3: Fooled again

Burendo Esu (Cat Balls the Animation)

Blend S is the story of schoolgirl Maika that has “mean eyes” (basically, she has tsurime in a tareme world), which prevents her from getting a job other than the one in a moe gimmick-themed café, where her duty is to make “mean eyes” at the customers. The other waitresses play a tsundere, an imouto, an idol and an onee-san. So yeah, that’s one way to get your standard moe show cast together. But wait! The twist here is that Maika is not actually mean! Quite the opposite actually! And that goes for all the other waitresses too! While girls getting forced into moe archetypes is a pretty amusing/scary concept, this is of course a Kirara manga, so they’re just different moe archetypes underneath. In short, the concept doesn’t amount to much. As far as Kiraralikes go, this isn’t a bad one though. It’s colorful, cute and a little funny, and splits the difference between a pure moefest like Knohana Kitan and the more structured comedy of a Working (obviously). Only the pervy Italian manager and his obsession with his blob underlings gets old pretty fast. If you’re down for a show like this, this is probably the one to watch, because unlike Konohana Kitan I didn’t wish for it to end.

Code: Realize - Sousei no Himegimi

While we’re on the topic of “best of the breed”, Code: Realize is an upmarket otome harem. I know, right. The setting is a basic steampunk universe, the bishounens are Arsène Lupin, Victor Frankenstein &c, and our bland heroine’s super special trait turns out to be killing everything she touches due to some jewels in “her heart”. I mean, who hasn’t been there. So everyone wants to “steal her heart” and Code: Realize is very keen to point out the double meaning of this constantly. Hey, we kinda did it in Katawa Shoujo so I can’t really complain. The thing is that Code: Realize is very obvious, but it’s also not all that bad – the fact that is has more going on than nothing at all already makes it the best otome harem since Akatsuki no Yona: It looks fairly pleasant, none of the main characters are tremendous assholes, and there seems to be some sort of story to go with the pretty boys. But it’s also not as hammy and ostentatious as, for example, Dance with Devils, so it’s caught in a middle ground where I can appreciate it not sucking tremendously, but I also don’t feel like watching it – because it’s too respectable.

Dynamic Chord

Dynamic Chord is another otome VN, this time about rock bands. Since this is 2017, apparently the production committee thought they could cut out the middleman, leave out the bland girl and just make a boyband anime instead, because those are all the rage right now. So it’s Tsukipro, apart from the bit where Tsukipro looks like a Ghibli movie next to this. Dynamic Chord is a production catastrophe that looks closer to a no-budget gag short of the Pikotarou Lullaby type (note: I mean “catastrophe” in the absolute sense, for all I know this could all be calculated perfectly and the producers are laughing all the way to the bank). The show consists almost entirely of two things: Long, quiet zooms and pans over stills, and montages, mostly of “performances”. Those performance themselves are really something else too. What if I told you that this is a show in 2017 that does not seem to feature ANY 3DCG? Turns out 3DCG actually costs money too, so when the band plays, they do paperdoll tweens of 2D artwork. Oh, and outside the performances lack of CG means you get the worst animated car since the QUALITYVAN. There’s also just baffling stuff like walk loops that don’t loop. Given that these montages are all endlessly long, you might think there’s not much space for a story. And you’d be right. Basically nothing happens, the singer of a band gets a bad case of the broods so some guy from another band has to substitute  for him. That’s it. Would have easily fit into 3 minutes, but I have to say that by the end of this show’s 24 minutes, I was straight up laughing my ass off when the next montage of bad stills started right after the last one ended. That’s something, right?

Garo - Vanishing Line

I’ve seen Garo before, but last time I didn’t know it was a tokusatsu meta-franchise, the anime versions of which really only share that there’s a gothick looking motherfucker fighting horrors called Horrors. So this has little to do with the last ones: different crew, different studio, different setting. Because this version of Garo is most definitely set IN AMERICA: The main character is a gothick looking motherfucker called "Sword” that charitably resembles Hellboy, and less charitably resembles a Leifeld original. He rides a big hawg around a Big Apple, eats big bloody steaks and looks at big boobies a lot because you know, setting. It’s charming in its idiocy, and this is MAPPA so you get a lot of fights with very nice animation too. I could watch this simply for the action, but I won’t because there’s a Murrica-sized caveat here: The fights take place at night, are edited very rapidly and most importantly their idea of an impact frame is to do an extreme camera shake effect with intense motion blur. And there is a lot of impact frames – believe me, that might have been the easiest screenshot to find for an article yet, and I highly suspect I could have found worse ones if this wouldn’t bring the point across already. I simply can’t tell what the fuck is going on because everything is an incomprehensible mess, no matter how nice the frames beneath the effects are. It’s pretty infuriating because this show is one mouse click away from being a good time, simply disable your After Effects layer with the shake on it. But I can’t do that for them, so Vanishing Line ends up being a bad time instead. And even if you are interested in some big, zany action in the ol’ Gotham, there’s a little something that makes Vanishing Line instantly obsolete:

Kekkai Sensen (Blood Blockade Battlefront) & Beyond

Yeah boiiiiiiii, Kekkai Sensen is back. I had forgotten how fun this show can be, and we’ll discuss the reasons shortly. A lot has happened since 2015, and I have a good reference point for it now: Kekkai Sensen is basically One-Punch Man without The Joke. It’s an universe full of all sorts of crazy nonsense and a bunch of cool dudes that try to keep thing under control, usually in an explosive manner. The one really important thing that Beyond changes is that it’s not directed by Rie Matsumoto. Shigehito Takayanagi is taking over, and while that guy is a noted jobber of little distinction (previous credits: TWGOK, Dagashi Kashi and uh... Toyko ESP...), he’s at least enough of a craftsman to imitate Matsumoto’s style very well. I only found out about this after the fact, and wouldn’t have noticed the difference otherwise. It is noticeable if you look for it though: this episode has all of the stylish action antics, but none of the more moody content that Matsumoto’s original character (do not steal) White brought to the show. I liked most of White’s scenes with Leo and they gave season 1 some welcome emotional grounding, but to be quite honest, it’s not what I watched Kekkai Sensen for. I can definitely accept losing it if this time the show isn’t consumed by White’s subplot and doesn’t culminate in an ending that not only is all about her, but also comes out a season after everyone stopped caring because auteurs can’t manage a production. With Kyousougiga and Kekkai Sensen S1, Matsumoto has shown a 100% track record of donking her endings, so I’m not complaining she got replaced with someone who just gets the job done. Especially if it’s still Bones relying on Yutapon for action cuts; when shit hits the fan, it looks straight up incredible and makes me question why I slummed it with My Hero Academia for three seasons when I can get the same amount of awesome fights in a single episode of this. And hey, White is still in the ending, so maybe we will get the less crazy end of it covered as well. Just keep the priorities straight this time around, please.

Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Lustrous)

Houseki no Kuni is a manga about gijinka gems of indeterminate gender that takes the amusing step of Mohs hardness directly translating into Shounen Powerlevel™. Apart from that, there’s not much content in this episode 1: We get to know the characters and a glimpse and how a society of a bunch of brittle gems in makeup works. What makes this interesting is that the setting is intriguingly vague and very pretty (think: Haibane Renmei), and the characters seem to be fairly strong and likeable. Not exciting, but I could see myself watching this just for the atmosphere. The big downside of it is that it’s a 3DCG show, and not one of those fancy mocapped ones either. The animation is, in a word, bad: robotic and clumsy, as usual. I’ll readily admit that in screencaps it looks great, especially the crystal shaders that would be difficult to pull off in 2D animation. Houseki no Kuni seems very okay, but it has a hard time on this crowded Saturday so I don’t think I’ll bother with it right now. If it delivers in the long run, I’ll readily admit it to my backlog though.

Love Live! Sunshine!! S2!!!

Sunshine’s back as well, and finds itself in an awkward spot right away. This first episode has a lot of things to get out of the way: Tying up the last season properly because the final episode of S1 fumbled that, reminding the audience of the characters, and setting up a new drama arc. In practice, that means it ends up feeling a lot more like the lost E1S13 than the S2E1 it is, because the other two aspects are pretty pointless: Reintroducing the characters just means they all shoot off their catchphrase in turn, and the brand new conflict is (hold on to your seats for this one) that the school is getting closed and there’s a new Love Live. With all these things going on and none of them being all that interesting, the episode feels very rushed and just accomplishes establishing that yes, it’s a Love Live show. I guess that is exactly what it was meant to do and I can say that at least they have it out of the way now. Well, the last time I said Sunshine had gotten something out of the way, it was the obsession with µ’s in episode 1, the getting out of the way of which ended up lasting 10 episodes. It’s gone now (thankfully), but maybe I shouldn’t assume too much here. So yeah, fairly weak first episode, but it’s not like I wasn’t going to watch this to the end and even at its most rushed and pointless it’s still Love Live: a polished Five Guys hamburger of a show that doesn’t exactly need to be great to be a joy to watch.

Two Car

I expected Two Car to be That Show: the one where a schoolgirl discovers her sudden love for Thing and goes on to experience Thing with the help of her friends. Two Car isn’t in the K-ON/Bakuon/etc mould however, it’s much more similar to the sports show style of Girls und Panzer, wacky sport with themed teams of contenders in a world where everyone seems to care about it a little too much. It helps that real sidecar racing is already weird as hell (looking forward to the breathless Anime Now article about how it’s a thing that actually exists) and is less motorcycle racing and more Twister on a fast-moving platform. Quite coincidentally, Two Car is also tremendously gay, as you’d expect from a show about two-girl teams in very tight leather crawling over each other competitively. The main girls aren’t even so blatant (and shown to have a crush on their male instructor, who has taken off to the aptly named Isle of Man), but the opponents are all some sort of standard yuri pairing. So yeah, the setting is a goofy blast, but I’m sad to report that episode 1 has tremendous structural problems. All the team introductions are very clumsy and intercut with an equally clumsy introduction of the setting, the sport and the main girl’s extensive backstory. I will give this more chances because the setup has a lot of potential, but I really hope this shapes up on the storytelling front or I won’t make it very far in.

[starzki]

My first story for MirSan Week 2017 and another story for my Summer Mini Challenge. This is for the prompt “Jealousy” and also “Wish.”

Title: The Rules Author: Starzki Rated: K+ Words: 764 Pairing: MirSan (obviously) Characters: Kirara, OCpuppy Summary: Kirara tells the new puppy the rules of the house.

"Okay, Little Pup, I am going to grant your wish for a family. But before we begin, I have some rules to tell you. If you cannot follow these rules, you will have to find another family okay?"

 "Hey wait, Kirara! I'm not 'little'! I'm big! Or I'll grow!"

 "Shh. They are still sleeping. It is what I will call you until they give you a name, okay?"

 "Okay! I can follow some rules! What do I do? What do I do?"

 "Let me introduce you to the family. First, these are the girls. I have invited you here mainly for them. Since I will be spending more time with Kohaku, they will need a playmate and I've chosen you. They are energetic, so please do your best when playing with them so that Sango can do what she needs to without always tending to them."

 "I can play! I'm good at playing! Look at how cute they are! I love them already! I'm already their best friend! Can we play now?"

 "Soon, Little Pup. Now please continue to listen. Next, that little bundle there is the baby."

 "A baby?! I love babies! Can I play with him, too?"

 "No, he is too young. You may lie close to him and protect him..."

 "Can I sniff him? Please?"

 "Gently. And only for a moment under Sango's supervision."

 "Can I sniff him more than once a day? Like ten times a day? Or fifteen?"

 "Hmm. I think that would be acceptable."

 "YAY!!!"

 "Shh.  In another year or so, he will become another playmate for you as well as the twins..."

 "Really! I can play with him then?! That makes me so happy!"

 "Yes.  That is good.  Now next we have the most beautiful woman you will ever meet. Her name is Sango and everything about her is good and pure and wonderful."

 "Sango. I see! Yes, she is definitely the most beautiful woman in the world!"

 "Good puppy. You must do everything that she asks of you, without question. You must play with her children. You must protect the house. You must try to make her life easier and more filled with joy. And if she asks, you must follow her into battle and be prepared to lay down your life for her. She is perfection in this sadly imperfect world and she must survive."

 "Okay! I can do that!"

 "Good. I'm glad you understand."

 "Who is this last one?"

 "Oh. Him. That is Miroku.  He is... fine."

 "Okay! Good! He seems like the best man I've ever met!"

 "He is... fine. I mean, he makes Sango happy, which is *sigh* fine. However, he takes time away from you and he gets all the extra cuddles and kisses. She spends too much time with him and sometimes forgets to rub your chin that way you like for days. And sometimes she does stupid things in battle to save his life and almost hurts herself in ways that will make you furious with both of them."

 "Um..."

 "But the battles are over. And he makes her happy."

 "Okay? Okay! That's good! What a wonderful person! What a great family! Anything else I should know?"

 "..."

 "..."

 "Well, there is one thing.  Miroku and Sango sometimes like to have what they call 'alone time.'"

 "What's that?"

 "You will know it when they take their clothes off and start climbing over one another."

 "Why?"

 "It does not matter. But Miroku's favorite thing in the world is when he is having 'alone time' with Sango and someone puts their cold nose here. Do you see where I am pointing?"

 "Hey, wait! I have a cold nose! I could do that for him! It's so easy! And it's his favorite thing? This is my lucky day!!!"

 "Yes. So even if they put you outside, you must find away inside so that you can do that, okay?"

 "Okay! Are those all the rules? They're so easy! I can do them all!"

 "Excellent. Now, to the plan. I will curl up in the corner and you do just as I told you, and you should be accepted right away. Take you place outside. I want to hear you heartbroken and lost and pathetic. I want this to be the saddest day in your life, understand?"

 "But it's a happy day!"

 "It will be soon. Until then, be sad. Now... action!"

 *whinewhinewhine*

 "..."

 *yipwhineWHINE*

 "Hey, whassat?"

 "Hmm? What is it?"

 *whinewhinewhine*

 "That noise. Go look."

 "You go look."

 "Is it... what is it? IT'S A PUPPY!!!"

 "MOMMY! DADDY!"

 "DADDY! MOMMY!"

 "*snore* Whaaa..."

 "A puppy! Let's name him Inuyasha!!!"

 *prrrrrrrrr*

 END.

[rieshon]

Spring 2017 Preview

This season is hype. Lots of adaptations I've been waiting for.

1 Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasuka? Isogashii Desuka? Sukuttemoratte Iidesuka?: Surprisingly, out of all the LNs I read in preparation for this season this was far and away my favorite. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's a goddamn mastapeece. I just don't know how they're going to squeeze the whole story into one cours.

2 Sakura Quest: If this show is even half as good as Hanasaku Iroha and Shirobako it's an AOTS candidate. P.A. Works' working women series is one of the best things out there and I hope this show carries the tradition on.

3 Hinako Note: Another early favorite for anime of the season and one glance at the key art should make it obvious why. It's not a Kirara anime but it's definitely got the atmosphere and the cute girls. Plus, it looks like it's going to be lewd, which really puts it over the top.

4 Shingeki no Bahamut VIRGIN SOUL: The first series was one of the best shows of 2014, and Cygames only has more money now. Hopefully it maintains that same fun, Hollywood action-adventure feel of the first series with the new protagonists.

5 Eromanga-Sensei: A good series where I'm not sure who best girl is, but it's definitely not the imouto, which is funny considering this is the new series from the creator of Oreimo. Muramasa is probably my favorite through three volumes of the LN, but Elf-sensei is good too, plus there's some Kido-hyan in here...

6 Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho: Another one I've read the original of. It's pretty good 王道 fantasy, and the second arc is pretty feels inducing. It's a little darker than your average anime fantasy, I think. The main thing, though, is Zero is angel, but I'm still upset she's not being voiced by Ayaneru.

7 Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Gekijou: I quit playing Deresute late last year, but this should still be pretty great. I hope Rinapoyo is in it... SINCE SHE SURE ISN'T IN THE GACHA AS AN SSR

8 Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata♭: I keep forgetting this is airing this season but holy shit am I ready for Kasumigaoka Utaha (and her kuro pansuto) to come back.

9 Busou Shoujo Machiavellism: One of the top candidates for Blade Dance anime, this one with some really good looking character art and animation and an amazing blondenblu voiced by Hidaka Rina.

10 Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Record: Ahh, a good ol' kettou anime. Last couple seasons have kind of lacked a traditional Blade Dance anime but this one definitely checks all the boxes.

11 sin Nanatsu no Taizai: The figures were pretty, uh, nice. I expect there will be too many titties for a lot of people but I've watched all of High School DxD so I'm inoculated against them already. Bring on the big American tts.

12 Ren'ai Boukun: Looks like a solid romantic comedy with some over-the-top characters. Guri is adorable and Hara Yumi plays a chijo.

13 Sword Oratoria: This is a spinoff of Danmachi, the problem is that Aiz Valentine or whatever the fuck her name is (I never did learn how to spell it) was always the most boring character in that show anyway. Forget the spinoff, I want more of Hestia and cute boy Bel.

14 Clockwork Planet: This was the one LN that I wanted to read before the anime aired but didn't have time for. Clockpunk with lolis I guess. The cast is good, including Nanjolno as the male protagonist, so I'm looking forward to it.

15 Granblue Fantasy The Animation: I just started playing Granblue last month so this should be interesting. Cygames has all the money so hopefully they're pumping some of it into A-1 for this show. I just hope Cagliostro shows up.

16 Alice to Zouroku: Loli and curmudgeonly old man is a time-tested formula for HNNNGs, even in 3D, and with the power of 2D it could be even better.

17 Sakurada Reset: Honestly, it seems kind of boring, but Takayama Katsuhiko knows how to write good, feels-driven adaptations so it might be good. From what I understand, the LN it's based on is immensely popular.

18 ID-0: I have no idea what to expect out of this after the most recent trailer. Hopefully it's a cute as one is led to believe.

19 Tsugumomo: Not gonna lie, the only reason I'm even aware of this series is because for years now the artist of the original has posted nude drawings of all the characters on his Pixiv account (they're pretty good). Hopefully that means the actual series is pretty lewd too.

20 Gin no Guardian: Hadn't heard about this until the other day. The trailer makes it look pretty cute, but it's a "trapped in a video game" story and I'm pretty sure the goofy cartoon stuff is only going to be right at the outset. Not a lot of high hopes.

21 Re:CREATORS: They won't let me watch the trailer for this, but it has girls. I guess it's another VRMMORPG anime or something. The staff is pretty high quality, with Aoki Ei both directing and writing, so it could be interesting... But the last thing Aoki Ei and TROYCA worked on was the detestable Aldnoah Zero.

22 Seikai suru Kado: I actually missed this when I was going over next season's anime yesterday, but it sounds like a high concept SF show about a Japanese diplomat slipping into a fantasy world. The premise gives me GATE flashbacks, but surely nothing can be that bad...

23 Frame Arms Girl: I hate the CG, but I'll at least give the first episode a try only because the human protagonist is a girl. Really not sure why they went the Busou Shinki route with this instead of just doing a sci-fi military action show.

24 Tsuki ga Kirei: No idea what this is. The "story" icon on the official website is greyed out which is pretty rare. Art style is kinda weird.

25 Makeruna!! Aku no Gundan!: You really did it Soramaru.

26 Twin Angel Break: I never saw the original Twin Angel shows but it's got Kayanon so count me in. Funnily enough the key visual just reminds me of Flip Flappers now.

27 Idol Time PriPara: Why you do this Takara Tomy. If you fuck this up Amamiya will lay a 10,000 year curse on your families.