#one of the most famous anime/manga series of the last 20 years

[kurokoros]

I’m... I’m sorry what??? I’m so late to this news, but first of all Netflix you already attempted a live action Death Note in 2017 and it was absolute garbage that was mocked by the entire anime community. And second of all you’re going to be giving it to the Duffer brothers, who have been shit at developing characters and creating and writing compelling mysteries for the last two seasons of their debut show?

[panda-puma]

I'm a little baffled by your post about the one piece anime, because while I would also recommend people read the manga instead, it still is a vastly more accurate adaption than the opla? like, opla is lovely for what it is, but oda being involved in it doesn't change the fact that they took huuuge liberties that the anime just... doesn't? which is perfectly fine for an adaption, I'm just mentioning it because it sounded like you were focused on the character dynamics, which are just... vastly, vastly different in the manga AND anime vs the live action. I'm thinking about Nami and Sanji in particular (and Usopp as well to a degree), who all kind of feel like watered-down versions of their actual selves (Nami isn't greedy enough, Usopp not cowardly enough, Sanji... well, I'm not saying Sanji being different is a bad thing asdf). Again, perfectly fine for an adaption that doesn't mean to adapt its source material beat for beat, but it just leaves me really confused over how the opla is possibly a more faithful/a better adaption than the anime? Which, as far as I can recall, has severe pacing issues, annoying fillers and leaves out things like the cover stories, but still sticks waaaay closer to the actual story and dynamics as they are in the manga.

(First of all: you can like the Anime. As I said before, I've watched the entire Anime 3 times this last year. But you can enjoy something and still know it's flawed. Very flawed, even.)

Uf, I will try to make this as short as possible xD If i sound dry or "angy", sorry, English is not my first language ^^

What baffles me is that most people really think the Anime of One Piece is a faithful 1 to 1 adaptation, or that everything on it is canon (except the fillers), or that Oda approves the changes they make. For context: it was very common in the 90s/2000s to just take a manga that was doing good and make an animation that took the characters and story and did whatever they wanted with it. One Piece is not the only victim of this treatment.

I respect the animators and Seiyuus, they do their jobs good and are what makes the Anime enjoyable. But I really can not understand the Directors and the changes they decided to make to the characters (and this applies to the whole series, not only 20 years ago).

The changes you see in OPLA are necessary to translate a drawing (Manga) to a series acted by real people. Also, condensing 95 chapters of Manga in 8 episodes and trying to bring the essence of the characters to the screen, translating Japanese funny gags to an International Audience and also having the input of 25 years of Oda thinking "huh, maybe this could have been explained better" it's obviously going to make things change.

The Anime has none of those excuses. It's also a drawing so no need to tone down, supposed to have the same Audience (even tho they really tried to make it for little kids and it shows), they clearly don't have an issue with the length of the series and they don't ask Oda for nearly any of the changes they make!

Pretending Oda being involved or not doesn't matter is just so weird to me. You know all One Piece characters are Oda's OCs, right? He is the original creator of the characters. He knows them better than anyone else. He knows where the story is going, what is acceptable, what is on character and what is not. Just because they are very famous characters it doesn't mean they are not someones Original Characters. He loves them and cares for them. Not respecting him as the only one that can say something is canon or not is completely disrespectful and dehumanizing.

About watering down characters in OPLA: again, they are real people acting the characters. In the Manga they are exaggerated to a comical effect that wouldn't translate as comical if it's real people who do it, it'd just be weird. That's because it's different mediums and different audience. But the core of the characters is very present, just less cartoony. On the other hand, the Anime reduces the characters to just this comical effect, taking away nearly everything else of the characters, making them just gags.

Answering to the specific points you make about OPLA:

Nami not being greedy enough: Nami's greed before Arlong Park Arc is just her trying to save enough to free her people. We don't really see her greed until after she is free. We haven't reached this point yet in OPLA, apart of her wanting to dress nice and enjoy a bath.

Usopp not being cowardly enough: they can not spend 5 minutes of an 50 minute episode showing him screaming around or running away. But they did show him running as first reaction in Kaya's Mansion, twice. They showed him wanting to go back home after encountering Garp. He does say cowardly things all the time, like wanting to leave, stay on the Merry, not fight the Fish Men, running away the second Chu payed attention to him… It's just less cartoony. They are also not showing inner dialogue of the characters, it's just shown by their acting.

Sanji not being a pervert: Not only is Sanji's perversion waaaay exaggerated in the Anime, to an unpalatable degree, it's also a very Japanese Funny Gag that wouldn't translate good to an International Audience. Sanji in the Manga has, on top of everything else, a friendly relationship with Nami. He can talk to her like a human being. They are friends that can agree or disagree without drama, that join forces to fix things very often and act very calm around each other unless something "special" happens and Sanji is lovestruck, but even so, he usually comes back to being normal pretty fast. Of course he likes her and he is attracted to her, but he also sees her as a person... unlike the Anime. This translated to into the Live Action to a man that tries to flirt and has no success, but that can take a no as an answer without being offended. Also, Oda probably wanted to show on the Live Action that the real reason Sanji is on the crew is no other than him following Luffy (that is also a thing that the Anime waters down: Sanji's dedication to Luffy)

The main point is: yes, OPLA is an Alternative Universe where things are shown a bit differently, but the core of the characters is the same. You see them and you see real people, just like in the Manga.

And let's see about the faithfulness of the Anime... just because the Arcs are called the same and things kind of happen the same, it doesn't mean it's a faithful adaptation. The most important thing in a story is the characters and how they interact and react to the world. These are just some differences between the Anime and the Manga that I can think of off the top of my head, just from the East Blue Saga. (without any particular order)

-- Zoro's real backstory (Manga) is that he had been in the Shimotsuki Dojo probably since birth, practicing his 2 Sword Style and only starting the 3 Sword Style to carry Kuina's Soul with him. [((spoilers from Wano: now we know Zoro is also a Shimotsuki, so he was training in his family's Dojo. It also explains why Koushirou gave Kuina's sword to Zoro so easily: they are family, and Zoro would carry the Shimotsuki name to the top of Swordmanship))].

Zoro's backstory in the Anime is completely changed to make it look like he is a random funny kid that came out of nowhere and one day appeared in the Dojo. His signature 3 sword style is also made like he just "wanted to use as many swords as possible".

I don't think it's very necessary to explain why this changes are just... terrible for the character and continuity.

[Edit: the following is not correct! Check the reblog for the correction :D] The Anime also makes Zoro's departure from Shimotsuki Village like something he planned to do, saying goodbye to Kuina's Grave and Koushiro… when in the Manga he literally tells Luffy he was kicking pirates out of his village and he got lost and didn't know how to get back. [/end of incorrect part]

Changing Zoro's character at every turn is something they love to do in the Anime.

--

Usopp in the Manga wants Luffy&co. to meet Kaya, because he cares about her well being. He wants her to make new friends, to be able help them and feel useful doing it. Usopp knows what Kaya needs is contact with the world and tries to bring it to her.

Usopp in the Anime is jealous and secretive of her. He doesn't want the others to go meet her, even knowing they are good people. He'd rather have her to himself.

This is a fatal change to the character of Usopp. He is a kind hearted lovely man that wants what's best for his friend... but the Anime just shows a jealous asshole.

--

In the battle against Cabaji, Zoro cuts his own wound, so his opponent can't use it as an advantage anymore.

In the Anime, he lowers his defense on purpose and lets Cabaji cut his wound.

The first one shows how far he can go to prove himself, also shows he is not at all worried because he doesn't consider Cabaji up to his level. I'm not sure what the second one is supposed to show apart from "children can not see self-harm".

--

Also in Orange Town in Manga, Luffy is fighting as much as possible against the cage he is trapped in, biting the bars. And afterwards he is very worried asking Zoro to leave him and not carry him or he will get worse from his wounds. In the Anime he is just surprised that Zoro can carry him like that. He doesn't really fight his predicament.

The Anime usually shows Luffy as an uncaring friend, which is sad when he is a character that cares so much and has so much empathy.

--

In the Manga, Zeff cuts his own leg and eats it to survive after giving all the food they have to Sanji.

In the Anime, Zeff lost his leg because it got caught in the ships broken pieces, and he had to cut it to survive. (i guess he survived 80 days thanks to the Holy Spirit or something) (again with being palatable to children)

--

In the Manga, the first encounter between Tashigi and Zoro is brief, Zoro gives her back the glasses and carries on (even tho tilted by her looking so similar to Kuina).

In the Anime, Zoro breaks Tashigi's glasses with the shock and she proceeds to be the meanest person ever insulting him in many ways (isn't she supposed to be a good person?) and forcing him to work for her to pay her glasses back, even tho she has no need for the money.

The Anime shows Zoro as a pushover, when in reality he is not. He was "pushed over" by Luffy out of the blue because it is Luffy, not because Zoro would let someone random do that to him. This type of "Zoro gets messed up easily by anyone" is very repeated through the Anime, taking away the importance of his relationship with Luffy and the other few he pays really attention to.

--

In the Manga, Sanji wants to be famous and have his face seen in the Newspaper. That's why he gets mad when Usopp is in Luffy's Wanted Poster and he isn't.

In the Anime, he is already a famous cook. We can see it in one of the many filler in Loguetown, where another cook has been wanting to surpass him for a long time.

[((spoiler of Whole Cake Island: This collides directly with how his Wanted Poster makes his bio Family looks for him to use him, after knowing he is still alive.))]

--

Also in Loguetown, in the Manga Luffy goes directly to the place Roger was executed.

In the Anime they make him get lost a hundred times for comical effect. He also meets Smoker, Buggy and others on the way… taking away all the surprise.

--

In the Manga, Zoro and Luffy are pretty confused with Sanji's romantic reaction to Nami. They don't get why she's getting special treatment. Zoro even wonders if she bewitched him somehow.

In the Anime, as soon as Sanji starts flirting with Nami, Zoro gets irritated and Luffy gets uncomfortable.

In the Anime they try hard to make Zoro have a romance with any girl that shows up, adding reactions that are never present in the Manga.

--

And well, a huge one that needs more elaboration, because it is the core of the Manga: Luffy is shown observing and judging situations and people constantly. Every time something is happening that shows the true nature of people, he is specifically shown paying attention.

In the Anime this is translated as him being an empty headed kid that barely thinks or cares about anyone. He is a shell of a man, who only repeats that he wants to be King of the Pirates...

--

This is a very tiny list of examples that explain themselves without going into extensive detail…

I can go on and on about more changes that make no sense or change characters personalities, but if I do, I will dedicate its own blog to it to not clutter this one. I need bigger posts to explain the changes I see in dynamics between the characters xD

And as I said: if all of these changes were approved by Oda, I would be happy to accept them. But sadly they are not.

So to me, the One Piece Anime is just a fan-made adaptation that takes too many liberties. Or, as Animes are really considered in Japan: just advertisement for the Mangas.

On the other hand, OPLA changes were approved after negotiations and struggles and years of back and forth. Oda was very invested in it, trying to really show his vision and his world as good as possible. That's why i consider the Live Action as a faithful adaptation of the story.

Of course you may not consider these things important, but they are for me. In the end, you are free to enjoy One Piece as you wish! ^^

Anyways, thanks for reading so much! xD This ended up not being short at all, but i controlled myself as much as possible, i swear uvuU

[medea10]

My Review of [Oshi no Ko]

Oof. The spring anime season of 2023 was kinda lax with the sequels and reboots. This was welcoming news for me as I was happy to take on any and every new anime that dropped. And I was ready to give the top prize to Skip and Loafer or even My Love Story with Yamada-kun. But then, this anime smashed in like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. This anime was already seen as the most, highly-anticipated anime to enter this season. Of course, the creator also made Kaguya-sama. It’s going to be awesome! And that’s stiff competition as Demon Slayer and Dr. Stone both returned with positive feedback. On the day of its official release, the first episode alone was seen as #1 on all of MAL. Gee, how long did it take for the FMA fan-idiots to nuke the score of this series? About four weeks. Guys, get another hobby.

Besides becoming the #1 anime on MAL with just one episode out, Hidive received the highest amount of traffic to their website for the first time ever. The music video released by YOASOBI for Oshi no Ko trended for a full week and as of May 17, 2023, the video reached 100 million views. Add to that, YOASOBI’s single has been dominating on the global Billboard charts. Manga sales have exploded. This anime is definitely one to behold. Let’s hope that nothing happens to the anime to make it falter.

Before I talk about the synopsis, I should really go a little further when it comes to the first episode. We all know, the average anime episode is roughly 21-25 minutes as it varies. This of course doesn’t include the length and time of recaps, openings, ending themes, or previews. But then, you get several episodes that are 40-50 minutes. I call that the, “Aniplex wants your attention episode”. Yeah, it’s because most of those I see are in Aniplex animes. Especially the Monogatari series. But in most cases, these are just the first or last episode. I just learned to accept it and enjoy the extra-long episode of SAO or Demon Slayer. Plus, it’s just their way to fill in as much content for the season. Oshi no Ko’s first episode clocked in at a whopping 82 minutes. This first episode alone could have been a feature-length movie. Japan actually did put the first episode on the big screen weeks before the television premier. This seems to be a missed opportunity for Sentai Filmworks.

A REQUEST: I do have a request for those blindly stumbling upon this review. If you are reading this part and have not watched at least episode 1, I kindly ask that you close this page and go watch Oshi no Ko’s first episode. Do not even read the synopsis to the episode. It is best that you go in blind. If you have already done so, please disregard this message and let’s get at it!

Ai Hoshino is an idol in a group called B Komachi. She is loved all around Japan. One particular fan (Sarina) loves her dearly. It’s the one thing in her life that gives her joy as she is currently battling a rare form of brain cancer. She dies. She was only 12. A doctor (Gorou Amemiya) who befriended her kinda got into Ai shortly after Sarina’s death. And now he’s hooked. One day, Gorou gets the surprise of his life as one of his incoming patients is 20 weeks pregnant with twins. And surprise, it’s famous idol Ai Hoshino.

Oof. I’m sorry, seeing them talk to a 16-year-old girl who is pregnant is not a pleasant topic I like to talk about nowadays. You all know the country I hail from and how angry I get talking about real world topics.

Gorou took care of Ai for the next twenty weeks to ensure a safe and healthy delivery. The night Ai went into labor, Gorou was murdered by a man who asked him about the whereabouts of Ai. In his final moments, Gorou recalled a conversation he had with Sarina about what it would be like to be the children of a famous idol.

With that, Gorou died and is reincarnated as one of Ai’s twins (named Aqua). The other twin (named Ruby) was Sarina reincarnated. We watch Aqua and Ruby grow as Ai’s children. But their identies were shielded from the public due to fear of Ai’s career being ruined forever. Still though, when Ai is with her children, it’s some of the happiest moments of Ai’s life considering her life prior to idol fame was dreadful. As for the kids, Aqua got into acting and Ruby got into dancing. And even though it took several years, Ai’s popularity began to grow past just being a teen idol and was ready to perform at a super dome. This happiness was shattered.

The stalker that killed Ai’s doctor stabs Ai in her residence and with Aqua as a witness. In Ai’s final words, she was able to give out a sincere “I love you” to her children. Ai is dead. The stalker killed himself. The children’s biological father could be the source of all that has just occurred. Aqua is ready for revenge.

Now, at age 16 is when the real story begins for Aqua and Ruby. Ruby has ambitions of becoming an idol like her mother, but Aqua wants her to steer-clear away from that business because of what happened to their mother. That doesn’t stop Ruby’s ambitions as she ends up restarting her mother’s old idol group B Komachi. As for Aqua, he gets several television appearances. He has no interest in that stuff, but this is the only way to get answers about Ai and their possible biological father as he might be the key or the reason behind Ai’s demise.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Oh good! Rie Takahashi is in the main cast. Oh…she plays Ai. That’s just sad. So, is Ai still technically a main character even though she gets killed by episode 1? Just curious! As for the sub, Sentai has a dub out. My premature thoughts went straight to Monica Rial. I’m sniffing around to see if she’s even in this. I can sense Rial up in here.

several research voice actor moments later

Okay, Monica Rial isn’t part of the main cast…but her sister is. I was close and thought that either one or both Rial sisters were going to be there. I thought these people did a good job considering the major hype to the anime. I know I usually never give glowing recommendations for any dub done by Sentai. This, they did fine with. This is my first time hearing most (if not all) the main cast.

JAPANESE CAST: *Aqua is played by Takeo Ootsuka (known for Tem on Beastars)

*Ruby is played by Yurie Igoma

*Ai is played by Rie Takahashi (known for Emilia on Re:Zero, Tomo on Tomo-chan is a Girl, Megumin on Konosuba, Ena on Laid-Back Camp, Sumi on Rent-A-Girlfriend, and Mash on Fate/Grand Order)

ENGLISH CAST: *Aqua is played by Jack Stansbury (known for Mendou on Urusei Yatsura 2022)

*Ruby is played by Alyssa Marek

*Ai is played by Donna Bella Litton (known for Ran on Urusei Yatsura 2022)

SHIPPING: This…can get really ewwie really fast.

Gorou’s obsession with Ai was borderline Lolita fetish. A grown-ass man obsessing over a 16-year-old idol can get really creepy really fast. I do give him props as he remained completely professional as Ai’s OB-GYN. Now, what happens when Gorou dies and is reborn as Aqua? Oh, he loves Ai! It’s just that Aqua was careful as humanly possible. That’s my tip-toeing around the scene where Aqua turns down being breast fed by Ai. Ruby doesn’t mind drinking from Ai’s teat.

16-year-old Aqua kept getting asked by his castmates for the reality show he was in what his ideal woman was. He tip-toes around it, but we all know he’s describing Ai. His mother! A woman who died over 10 years ago. And again, HIS MOTHER! Though, nobody else knows that fact so he just tip-toes around it by being as discreet as humanly possible. Because of Aqua’s looks, he’s a prime target for thirsty girls at his school. But thanks to the reality show he was in; he ends up in a fake relationship with Akane. Totally doesn’t help that Akane starts acting like Ai! Because those two “hooked up” during the reality show, they must keep up appearances with their relationship in the public eye.

We could end that shit topic here if not for little miss Kana being little miss tsundere whenever Aqua is around. Oh boy, Kana is a true tsundere here.

SADDEST MOMENT: That first episode killed it in more ways than one. There’s no doubt that every main character here has had their hardships in the past. Ai had parents that abandoned her and she winds up in an orphanage. When Ruby was Sarina, she was suffering from that rare brain cancer where it was a struggle just to walk. And as for Aqua, they never did find his original body. But I was not prepared for what happened when Ai answered that door in episode 1.

I was thinking that stalker guy was the father of Aqua and Ruby and we’re going to have this whole thing throughout the series. Instead, when I watched this guy try to kill Ai, I immediately got flashbacks of Selena. Oh yeah, who could forget that death?

Yes, everything about Ai’s final words killed me. The animation, the delivery, everything! And Rie Takahashi knocked it out of the park!

DO THESE STORIES LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOU?: So, I might be going out on several limbs here but hear me out. Watching Oshi no Ko, do you draw any kind of correlation to any character’s backstory and seen it with an actor who might have gone through this same sort of thing? This story delves into the dark side of the entertainment industry and mostly in Japan. But being American, I can’t help but draw connections to the sad stories I would see in the entertainment industry in the U.S.

When I watched a crazed fan attack Ai, I will always immediately think of what happened to Selena. Seeing Kana try to stay relevant due to being a child actor, I think of a lot of child stars that went on after the height of their careers and while there are some success stories, there’s…well, it didn’t end well for actors like Bobby Driscoll and Dana Plato. Look both of those up, it’s quite tragic. I know these are American actors and most of the story is revolved around what happens in the Japanese entertainment industry. I’m just using these an example because I learned about these tragedies and lived through some of them (especially Selena’s death). Despite all of those stories being decades old, a lot of dark things still take place in this day and age. And with the addition of social media, being an entertainer has become worse.

The Akane storyline…ouch. First of all, social media comments are toxic. I will admit, I used to “Egosurf” a lot in my 20s when I was somewhat relevant on certain sites. It did not do well for my mental health. But I’m not like Akane. I’m not an entertainer. I’m a dork that likes to write reviews for animes and proud of it. If someone on Tumblr tells me I suck, I just ignore it. I probably won’t even see it knowing me. Tee-hee! Back to the matter at hand though. Akane wasn’t really seen as anything special in the reality show she was in with Aqua. She didn’t stick out as much as her other co-stars. Despite it being kinda like a reality show, these kids are still acting or doing what their supervisors say. Akane decides to do something impulsive and it backfired. BADLY!

This resulted in people on social media exploding with hatred for Akane with the most disgusting of messages telling her she’ll never act again or just blunt ones that say “Just die”. Despite the episode clearly stating this is a “work of fiction”, you know they got inspired by the real-life tragedy of Hana Kimura. Kimura was a female professional wrestler for the most part. In 2019, she was in a reality show called Terrace House. During an episode, Kimura got in a verbal argument with one of the castmates. From what I’ve read, they asked her to stir the pot a bit and fight with the other castmate. After this episode aired, fans took to social media and posted a lot of hate-filled messages towards Kimura. This sent her in a deep depression. Two months after this episode aired and all of the horrible messages were blasted at top speed, Hana Kimura committed suicide.

I don’t want to say Oshi no Ko blatently used this one particular story for the Akane storyline. But I’m also not saying that either. This is eerily too similar. It also doesn’t help that this episode aired days before the anniversary of Kimura’s death. I know it’s coincidence, but weird-ass timing. Thank God Aqua saved her from jumping off the bridge. While Oshi no Ko is a work of fiction, what happened to Hana Kimura was not. And bullying the woman’s family is not helping anything whatsoever. Yes, Kimura’s mother is pissed at the anime for airing a story similar to the events that drove her daughter to suicide. She has that right! Don’t bully her because she’s mad at everyone involved with Oshi no Ko. If I was in her shoes, I’d probably be pissed too and for a long time too. Moving away from that dumpster fire…

And the biggest kudos goes to Hidive. At the end of episode 6, they put up a message to prevent suicide and well, you know what? I’m going to do so here too.

As someone who has unfortunately been in dark places like some of these characters, I encourage others to seek out help as well.

ENDING: Since the events of episode 1, we watched what Ruby and Aqua want to do with their lives. Ruby is committed to becoming an idol like her mother. Slowly throughout the season, she and Kana joined Ai’s old production company and started up the idol group Ai was in, B Komachi. It was just the two of them until the end of the reality show Aqua was in. That’s when Aqua suggested to his castmate Mem-Cho that she should become an idol in the B Komachi revival. This is an interesting mixture for an idol group with the daughter of an idol (though nobody knows that fact), a former child star, and a Youtuber that’s 25 going on 16 depending on her applications.

Kana puts up a brave face in front of Ruby and Mem-Cho. But you can tell that Kana is scared. She’s been tossed around since becoming older, nobody bought her single when she recorded songs, her own mother even gave up on her, and all of these rejections kinda caught up to Kana. Regardless, Kana went up on stage with Ruby and Mem-Cho as a rookie idol. B Komachi got their chance at an idol festival to perform. It’s a start compared to a lot idols in other animes. On stage, it was clear that the audience was mostly there for Mem-Cho due to her popularity through the reality show and her Youtube channel. But Ruby got some attention from an audience member who remembered the original B Komachi and noticed Ruby kinda got that same aura as Ai.

Kana felt a little despair while performing on stage. But then we get a déjà vu trip as Aqua is in the audience doing a glow stick dance. Yeah, it was a lot like what happened when Ai was performing, doubt was swarming her, and then the twins start doing a glow stick dance. I guess the performance went well. It’s just that after that we see more tsundere moments from Kana. Mem-Cho finally sees that Kana likes Aqua. And then there’s some friction when we learn that Kana and Akane know each other and are rivals. And when I say rivals, I mean they are like Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak in the first season rivals, they are catty bitches. They’ve been at it since they were children.

A popular anime is about to be adapted as a stage musical. Akane and Kana are set to be in this production. The gentleman that Aqua has been in contact for a while now set him up with a role in that same stage musical. This theater company was apparently where things changed for Ai when she was an up-and-coming idol.

Could this be Aqua’s big lead to possibly meeting his biological father? That’s a question that won’t be answered today. At least season two is greenlit.

Soooooo…after watching episode 1 and the hype that came along with it, did the rest of the season grab my attention? Yes. It totally did. I mean it wasn’t at the hype it was when I had just watched episode 1. After one viewing of episode one, I had to tell anyone who would listen to me that this was awesome. There were however several other episodes that grabbed me. Yes, it was the Akane-centered episodes. Let’s just say any time I saw moments with Kana and Ruby trying to do idol stuff before Mem-cho came were a little boring. I just felt like they were just there and nothing else. Probably just a reminder that yeah, they exist, now let’s go back to Aqua doing what he’s doing.

Am I excited for season two? Oh yes, I am. I’m doing my best not to look at any manga spoilers. It’s hard. Every so often, a spoiler drops on Twitter and you just want to look. Or someone on Youtube will say something about a new chapter and you just want to take a quickie. NOPE! I’m going to stay strong and just practice good patience.

Medea read up about Aqua and Ruby’s father

No self control whatsoever! Not one iota of it. Whenever season two drops, it’s going to be a biggie. Will the anime continue to be a smashing hit when it returns? That’s for the future to decide. I truly hope for the best. As long as they stay with the original material and the same studio that’s animating it, I think we’ll be good. Full recommendation!

FINAL (IDIOTIC) THOUGHT: So, is Ai going to be the next member of Franchouchou on Zombieland Saga?

…I’m going to sit in the corner and think about what I just wrote.

All 11 episodes are available on Hi-Dive.

[reginaldqueribundus]

Things about One Piece that crack me tf up

not one single character has worn an eyepatch in over 20 years of this 1,000+ chapter pirate manga

there's like… laser guns and cyborgs and CCTV but everyone's still using sailboats to get around (with square sails no less)

there are canonically three different kinds of furries

Luffy hangs around all day with the only person in the world who knows where the Death Star is, but he doesn't give a shit

Eiichiro Oda has spent more than half of his life so far writing and drawing One Piece. at age 22 he created his first ever manga series and it became the bestselling comic book in history and when it finally ends he can probably just retire

Oda planned One Piece would last about five years. This was in 1997

Oda just casually confirming his universe has SECRET ANCIENT MOON CIVILIZATIONS with ROBOT ARMIES and FUCKING SPACE PIRATES, and possibly ACTUAL ALIENS… in a fucking chapter cover story. And then never mentioning it again for 14 actual real-world years

eat a devil fruit. is it the one that makes you a godlike indestructible force of nature, or the one that makes you a rubber band who can't swim? welp

Sengoku is one of the most serious characters in the whole series, he runs the military, but he has a giant stupid afro and a pet goat that follows him everywhere and he can turn into a giant buddha with an even bigger afro

Chopper was just vibing as an animal and then one day he ate a weird fruit and woke up with self-awareness and hopes and dreams and anxiety and now he has a medical degree? the reindeer, he walks like a man

Dr. Hiliruk is basically one of those hippie moms who tries to cure measles with essential oils and shit but he's also one of the most heroic characters in the entire series

it's one of the goofiest wackiest manga out there but when you look closely the setting is actually a morally grey hellworld mostly run by a corrupt government built on secrets and lies which only exists to support cartoonishly evil aristocrats who live on a mountain beating slaves all day, and the rest is either lawless wastelands or controlled by 10 foot tall invincible psychopaths who could easily take over the rest of the world if they didn't all hate each other

the Celestial Dragons commit horrific atrocities every 0.001 seconds but they all dress like fucking idiots and have Dr. Seuss haircuts

there's a guy named Dragon who has dedicated his life to destroying them

Luffy meets people and goes "you're my friend now" and they have like no choice in the matter

Luffy: I'm not a hero! also Luffy: I will not rest until I crush this cruel tyrant who is taking food away from little kids

his grandpa is a world-famous war hero and his dad is trying to overthrow the entire government but Luffy doesn't even care

characters will show up and be like "I'm an 800-year-old time traveler from a lost period of history" and the story is like "that's neat. time for fifty pages of men crying"

Buggy the stupid fucking circus clown with blue hair and a flying penis, who spent his formative years with the literal greatest pirate in the entire world and yet somehow completely sucks shit, has more screen time than the main character's mentor and beloved elder brother combined. love it.

now that Jinbe has joined the crew Robin finally has another person with more than one brain cell to talk to

Brook became a global rockstar while being a skeleton and his fans just rolled with it

the Marines show up at his concert and accuse him of being a random pirate from 50 years ago and he's like "yes I am that pirate and I'm quitting the music gig to go back to being a pirate, also I work for the guy at the top of your shit list!"

[recentanimenews]

The Manga Review, 5/13/22

April sales figures are in, and manga continues to dominate the NPD Adult Graphic Novels list. Though the list includes some perennial favorites–Berserk, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia—Spy x Family saw a big jump in sales after its anime debuted on Crunchyroll last month. ICv2’s Brigid Alverson points out that  “April marks the fourth consecutive month that manga has completely filled the chart of the top 20 Adult graphic novels in the book channel.” Manga sales aren’t quite as robust in comic book stores, but three titles made ComicsHub’s Top 20 Graphic Novels for April: Chainsaw Man (4), Kaiju No. 8 (16), and Spy x Family (20). For additional insights into the current state of the manga, check our Madeline Dunnett’s recent post at Anime News Network.

MANGA NEWS

Kodansha just announced the winners of its 46th annual Manga Awards. [Anime News Network]

With less than three weeks to go, Sam Sattin and Guruhiru’s Kickstarter campaign for Unico: Awakening has exceeded its pledge goal of $50,000. The story is “an homage to the God of Manga’s original messaging of social welfare and eco-consciousness.” [Kickstarter]

Good news for Moto Hagio fans: Fantagraphics will be re-printing the first volume of The Poe Clan this summer. While there’s no official release date for the new edition, the long-awaited second volume will be released on July 26, 2022. [Fantagraphics]

Drawn and Quarterly will be publishing Nejishiki, an anthology of short stories by Yoshiharu Tsuge. Look for it in stores in April 2023. [Drawn and Quarterly]

Earlier this week, Yen Press announced that it will publish Sho Harusono’s Hirano and Kaguira, a spin-off of Sasaki and Miyano. [Yen Press]

Brace yourself: Seven Seas just announced even more new manga licenses! Among the most promising are Polar Bear Café: Collector’s Edition and Ex-Yakuza and Stray Kitten, which is pretty much what it sounds like: a former mobster indulges his softer side by rescuing a cat from the streets. [Seven Seas]

Over at The OASG, Justin and Helen round up the latest anime, manga, and licensing news. [The OASG Podcast]

FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS

Patricia Thang takes issue with the marketing label “manga-inspired,” arguing that “To call a comic ‘manga-inspired’ is akin to me saying, ‘Here’s a painting I did! It’s art-inspired! You’d think (or at least hope) I was joking, right? Because what in the fuck would that even mean?!” [Book Riot]

On the most recent Manga in Your Ears podcast, Kory, Helen, and Apryl dissect two manga by Naoki Urasawa: Sneeze, a short story anthology, and Asadora!, his latest series. [Manga in Your Ears]

Andy and Elliot dedicate the latest episode of the Screentone Club to City Hunter and Goodbye-Eri. [Screentone Club]

Walt Richardson and Emily Myers review the April issue of Shonen Jump. [Multiversity Comics]

The Mangasplainers turn their attention to Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, “the smash hit seinen manga that pits trust-fund-teens against one another in battles that cause embarrassment and ecstasy, skirting the line between schadenfreude and sadism!” [Mangasplaining]

As the spring anime season kicks into gear, Silvana Reyes Lopez recommends fifteen “unmissable” manga adaptations, from Chainsaw Man to Kakegurui Twin. [Book Riot]

Wondering what to read after Black Clover wraps up later this year? Christian Markle has a few recommendations. [Honey’s Anime]

Brianna Lawrence argues that Death Note Short Stories is more than just a sequel or a companion to the original series; it’s a thoughtful exploration of “how the government would react if such a terrifying weapon was available.” [The Mary Sue]

In an interview with TCJ’s Alex Deuben, Ken Niimura discusses his latest work, Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy, which re-tells three of Japan’s most famous folk tales. “What I like about these stories… is that they’re pretty open ended,” Niimura explains. “They can be interpreted in many different ways. For example, there’s what’s considered to be the standard version of ‘The Crane Wife,’ but there are actually different versions depending on the region, the era, with many differences to the characters, the ending, etc…” [The Comics Journal]

REVIEWS

Readers in search of “hallucinogenic” stories might want to check out Keiichi Koike’s Heaven’s Door: Extra Works. “In some of these stories, the scale is pure Akira, but the detail and fluidness of the line are absolutely Moebius,” reviewer James Hepplewhite opines. Speaking of over-the-top manga, Megan D. revisits one of the most ludicrous series Tokyopop ever published: The Qwaser of Stigmata. (No, really; this manga goes to eleven.)

After School!, Vols. 1-2 (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)

Apollo’s Song (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 13 (Sakura Aries, The Fandom Post)

Bungo Stray Dogs Wan!, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

A Centaur’s Life (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)

Dead Mount Death Play, Vol. 7 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Death Note Short Stories (Joseph Luster, Otaku USA)

Death Note Short Stories (Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?)

Dissolving Classroom (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)

Dr. STONE, Vol. 21 (Marina Z., But Why Tho?)

Eclair Bleue, Eclair Rouge, and Eclair Orange (Jaime, Yuri Stargirl)

Hinowa ga CRUSH!, Vol. 6 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Hinowa ga CRUSH!, Vol. 6 (Krystallina, The OASG)

I Want to Be a Wall, Vol. 1 (Danica Davidson, Otaku USA)

Little Miss P: The Fourth Day (Demelza, Anime UK News)

Love of Kill, Vol. 7 (Krystallina, The OASG)

Made in Abyss (Harry, Honey’s Anime)

Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More, Vol. 1 (Justin, The OASG)

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 1 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)

Marionette Generation (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)

Moriarty the Patriot, Vols. 6-7 (King Baby Duck, The Boston Bastard Brigade)

The Music of Marie (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)

Our Colors (Publisher’s Weekly)

Our Teachers Are Dating, Vol. 4 (Erica Friedman, Okazu)

Our Teachers Are Dating, Vol. 4 (Jaime, Yuri Stargirl)

The Royal Tutor, Vol. 16 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)

Seimaiden (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)

Spy x Family, Vol. 7 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

The Transcendent One-Sided Love of Yoshida the Catch, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Walkin’ Butterfly (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)

By: Katherine Dacey

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Anime Central 2021 Panels (...maybe)

Soooo ACEN has moved online this year, and is running their virtual con split between Twitch and Discord this weekend.

As we had provided some of the cultural content last year, ASIHTB was asked if we could provide a selection of pre-recorded educational and cultural programming for this year's event. Which we did, even bringing in authors and cultural experts to contribute more diverse content!

But when I checked the programming schedule to see when I needed to be online for the live panel Q&A, I discovered that of the 26 presentations we sent in, only two were actually listed on the final panel schedule. 😕 Laura was told by staff that more of our programs were going be added to the schedule, but it's now the day of the con and the schedule has never been updated, so I have no idea when, where, or if the rest of our videos will be run.

If ACEN doesn't show the videos, I suppose we can just put them up on our YouTube channel so you can watch them there after the con. (Bonus ASIHTB con!) In any case, here's the complete list of everything we prepared/recorded for the convention, along with panel times if we have them. For the rest... uh, I guess they might still be run off-schedule, or as filler or something? So keep an eye out if you're participating in ACEN Online.

Japanese Folklore and Mythology

Time: Friday, May 19 @ 4:30 PM CST (Discord)

What’s the difference between bakemono and ayakashi? Who’s that Pokémon, and why is it in a 200-year-old woodblock print? Does the story of Sailor Moon actually predate the Norman conquest of England? (Spoiler: YES, it does!) Get the most from your animé and Asian cinema experience when you understand the cultural background! Learn about Japanese mythology in this folklore primer, illustrated with video clips from animé and Japanese film.

Go West! The Saiyuki Legend

Time: Saturday, May 20 @ 3:30 PM CST (Discord)

From Dragon Ball to Gensoumaden Saiyuki, there's no shortage of adaptations, retellings, and wholesale lifts of one of the world's most popular folk tales. But most of the western world enjoying these retellings knows little of the original novel, and even less of the stories it itself combined and retold.

Let's look at the historic and cultural context for the original 16th century novel and the lore it collected into a single tale. We'll discuss some key adaptations as well, with the knowledge to enjoy them more.

The Phantom Thief: An Illustrated History

Time: ???

How did Edgar Allen Poe influence Sailor Moon? What do Norse gods, Joan of Arc, and Lupin III have in common? Who was the real-life Moriarty? Learn the origin of the kaitou, Japan’s archetypal thief, from his birth in Gilded Age literature to his high-tech 21st century incarnations. Follow this truly international antihero’s development through history with examples from animé, manga, film, and literature.

Patterns Lie! And Other Useful Sewing Facts

Time: ???

Learning to sew can be daunting, especially if you’ve never had formal instruction. We’re here to help! In this panel, we’ll cover selecting and reading a pattern, choosing fabric, cutting, pinning, sewing, pressing, finishing hems, and more — all without complicated sewing terminology! You’ll be sewing like a pro in no time. Bring your questions!

The History of Ramen

Time: ???

Favored by broke college students everywhere, ramen has a reputation as a cheap convenience food. But these twisty noodles actually have a fascinating history! Learn about ramen's (surprisingly recent) development and cultural background in this tasty presentation.

Ninja in History

Time: ???

Join celebrated authors Susan Spann (author of the Hiro Hattori mysteries) and Laura VanArendonk Baugh (author of the Kitsune Tales series) for a history-packed discussion of the fact and fiction of ninjutsu and ninja.

Japanese Fairy Tales

Time: ???

In the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, the Western world was fascinated by newly-available trade goods and cultural elements coming out of Japan, which had been closed off from the Western world for more than two centuries. One outgrowth of this trend was the repackaging of Japanese folk tales for American children. Join Alena as she shares translated stories from a 1904 volume of Japanese Fairy Tales.

Japanese Culture and History: The Bite-Sized Collection

Time: ???

As the oldest monarchy in the world, Japan’s had plenty of time for some amazing moments in history. Hear a few of the most important, most famous, or most fun -- from the Genpei War to the Meiji Revolution, from girl power to magical red cows, from archery contests to smallpox -- with illustrations, photos, ties to your favorite anime/manga, and plenty of geekery. These shorter videos range in running time from 4 to 45 minutes, so you can take your history in small bites or settle in for the whole marathon!

Individual videos cover:

Senjafuda

The Shitennou

The Akabeko

The Ainu

The 47 Ronin

Japanese Number Puns

Japanese Archery Challenge

Smallpox and the Great Buddha

Nakano Takeko

The Byakkotai

Dan no Ura

Koyasan

Nara

Shojin Ryori

The Shinsengumi

Shinto in WWII

The Eater of Dreams

One Ingredient Curry Rice

Yakuza: Facts and Fallout

[natileroxs]

If Katekyo Hitman Reborn ever gets remade, this is what needs to happen.

Yeah this is gonna be a long one

Katekyo Hitman Reborn (Which I will abbreviate to khr for convience sake) was a manga published in Shounen Jump Weekly (yes that Shounen Jump, where all the big boys come from) and created by Amano Akira who did both the writing and illustrations. It began appearing in the magazine in 2004 where it had a solid eight year run until 2012 where it finished up with 409 chapters and 42 physical volumes. Only sixteen of these volumes were released in English by Viz Media.

The series was incredibly popular in Japan and even outside, becoming one of the best-selling Shounen Jump manga with over 30 million tankobon copies being sold worldwide. At it's peek, khr was at the same level as some of the shounen giants such as One Piece and even Naruto, with it's popularity even spawning spin off games and a spot in crossover games, the most famous being J-Stars Victory VS.

If you've seen the anime or read the manga, you'll likely know the plot, and reading all this is a big waste of time.  But for the ones who have clicked on this post without knowing what it is, here's a brief summary. Khr centers around a loser middle schooler named Sawada Tsunayoshi (shortened to Tsuna) who sucks at everything from school to sports, having no friends and tripping over his own feet, who one day receives a home tutor thanks to his incredibly concerned mother. This home tutor is the titular Reborn, a baby with a fedora and a gun. Reborn is a hitman, and has actually been sent by the Vongola family, a mafia family that's regaled at the most powerful in the world (and this is a world where the mafia is rather powerful in itself vs ours which the mafia is rather small these days beside small areas). He has been sent to make Tsuna the next boss, as the current boss has no descendants left and Tsuna is the 'sole' descendent of the first boss. So, hence, Reborn has to take the loser Tsuna (deemed Dame-Tsuna which means No Good Tsuna) and make him worthy of the spot as Don.

A mafia story that has supernatural elements (because, yes, I forgot to mention but the mafia have superpowers) sounds like a really interesting battle shounen. If you've seen anything to do with this series, you've probably either seen little gun toting Reborn or Tsuna fully decked out with metal plated gloves and a flame on his head. Yeah, that's what most people think when they get into it, myself included.

But what you have to understand is that khr started as a *gag manga*. What that means, is that it was a comedy slice of life with the most over=the-top, explicitly Japanese humor, with some cringe worthy jokes that very much overstay their welcome. This tone continues on for a solid 61 chapters, before the tone shifts completely with a darker plotline that only thickens as time goes on. Even so, occasionally the humor and jokes remain, although different. As many people on this website, especially fic readers are aware, there is such a thing as 'crack humor', and there is a sub genre off that called 'crack treated seriously'. 'Crack treated seriously' is what the rest of the manga is. Amano Akira has, creatively, used some of the bigger jokes and gags and given them actual feet to stand on. Remember how Reborn is a baby, yeah, there's a reason for that now. Remember the time travel bazooka? Well that's a huge plot point now.

In the anime, the slice of life stuff is spread out. From episode 1 to episode 20, it only adapts bits and pieces of the first 61 chapters, including the most important ones for character introductions. The first 10 are the most important, I won't openly recommend you skip to episode 20, but I did it so you are free to as well. The rest of the slice of life, which many wrongly interpret as 'filler' is spread across the first 100 episodes between major battle shounen arcs. On the other side of things, after the first 61 chapters, most of the manga is full out battle shounen, with occasional jokes and slice of life elements peppered in and some gags that have no story meaning hanging around like annoying flies.

Both of these approaches have positives and negatives. On the one hand, in the anime you have sudden breaks between massive, high stakes arcs to end up with gag comedy episode with missing character development. In the manga, you have to slog through a full 61 chapters of overused jokes to get to, what some would call, the 'good stuff'. While others do have a special place in their heart for the cringe of the first part, a general audience finds it hard to invest their time in such an endeavor to work through.

If there were to be a remake/new adaption of the manga, there would have to be several changes made. I'm sure it would benefit from these changes and some need to be made to fit into the general landscape of the current world of anime.

First off, the animation studio that originally animated the series was Artland, a company that hasn't released an anime since 2017 and there last successful one was Mushishi Zoku, the movie spin off airing in 2015. But, the problem with this anime studio is the poor job they did in adapting the source material. The artstyle is incredibly lacking, and is likely due to low budget and man power. The second problem they brought with them is the harsh censorship the entire anime got, shown in these pictures below (with another major change being how they cut out a massive character arc that was likely cut due to the grim nature of it)

This shot below is completely missing from the anime.

The new adaption would have to be (and more than likely would be) picked up by a different animation company. My preferred choice would be one that specializes in fight choreography and also stays loyal to distinct art styles. If you think you've seen Amano Akira's style before, it could be because you've watched Psycho Pass, where she did the art and character designs.

The original seiyus were brilliant, however, especially Neeko as Reborn, Kondou Takashi as Hibari Kyoya, and Iida Toshinobu as Rokudo Mukuro, only to name a few. The music is incredible as well, with Sahashi Toshihiko on music The most popular piece of music from this anime is Tsuna Awakens. Several of the anime's openings are spectacular as well, seeming to have the budget that the core anime didn't achieve until possibly the middle where it's animation was more so spotty in terms of quality. In a new adaption, my desire would be for as many of these seiyus to return and old tracks from the OST to remain while new ones are created.

The trouble with adapting such a giant as khr would be the pacing and slice of life vs battle shounen that it has. Merging the two together to make it appealing to both old fans and outsiders would take a lot of work, patience, and belief. It would do better to stick closer to the manga's darker tone and remove less necessary gags but keep some of the more beloved ones (such as Hibari's 咬み殺す(Kamikorosu or "I'll bite you to death").

The condensing of the character introductions is very important if the anime is to become seasonal. One could argue that keeping the original pacing wouldn't be so bad when you're airing weekly for months on end, but when you're producing 12/24 episode seasons, filling up 20 episodes with character development and slice of life will turn away audiences who are there for the action. Heightening stakes, keeping in core serious character aspects, and speeding through less important characters to do more of a show don't tell approach, can get more general audiences engaged in the series early rather than possibly loosing a fair few viewers due to the slow start.

If a remake did this, it would definitely give the series a popularity boost and get it back on people's radars as one of the best shounen's of SJW and the mid-2000s.  

[blastoisemonster]

Kodomo No Omocha’s Sticker Album Highlights (Merlin, 2001, Italian)

Let's keep talking about retro japanese cartoons, shall we? I've done some posts lately in which I reviewed Game Boy games based on comics or animations from Japan, with the intention of covering series that I either used to watch as a kid or recall being popular during the GB and GBC eras. A lot of these games have never been released outside Japan, so it's also an occasion to gather up some imports and see what Italy has missed on. There's actually a particular cartoon I wanted to talk about since the start of this research, but unfortunately it seems it has never recieved any videogame adaptation. But hey, this is my blog, and I can talk about whatever I want! >:C Also I suddenly remembered my Fandom tag has been created purposely for non-gaming objects. >.> So, let's look at some stickers while I tell you the tale of Rossana.

Rossana can be best described as the soap opera that spawned a second wave of nipponic hysteria among every single italian person under 20 during the very last period of the 90s. It's like The Bold And The Beautiful looked at Pokèmon and said "yeah, I want something like that.". Its popularity hit even harder my personal view of the world as the plot starts with the protagonists attending the last year of elementary school... which is exactly what me and my friends were doing, multiplying the relatable factor tenfold. This cartoon took everyone by their necks since its first episode: it was broadcasted on what was, at the time, the best and most popular italian channel for children entertainment, and heavily advertised before starting, so we knew exactly when to tune in to catch it. The day after the first episode, school looked like a different place. Everyone in class was chanting the opening at the top of their lungs; boys were acting like the male protagonists, all girls mimicked the main role Rossana, the more artisticly inclined ones started doodling the characters anywhere possible, including textbooks and homework. Teachers were in tears. I had watched the first episode and found it amusing enough to keep me entertained, so for some period I fully partecipated in the general enjoyment of the cartoon. Then, I started missing episodes (when you missed something on TV during the 90s... it was gone!) and upon returning to it, I found the plot had become much more complex and centered on sentimental intrigues, of which I never gave a toss about, so I jumped off the hype train while others still followed it until the end.

As it is usual for these productions, Rossana was another anime based on a manga series; the original work is titled "Kodomo No Omocha" (which literally means "Children's Plaything"... yeah, I too find it a tad creepy), drawn by mangaka Miho Obana and serialized by Ribon from 1994 to 1998. It tells the story of Rossana Kurata, a child actress (an idol in the original story) trying to balance her career with a normal kid's life by going to school and having normal friends: however, her class is anything but normal and she finds herself often fighting against the biggest bully of the school group, Hayama (translated as Heric in italian). As the story progresses, though, Sana understands Heric's complex and at times completely inappropriate attitude is a result of a troubled childhood, having lost his mother at birth and being bullied by his older sister and completely ignored by his father. Willing to help him out, Sana befriends him and starts to develop even deeper feelings, also sharing her own troubled past: she had been actually abandoned as a newborn and adopted by Misako, a famous writer. New characters are introduced along the way, among which the child actor Charles, Sana's schoolmate but also colleague which the girl will work alongside during a trip to the States, and Funny, an extremely extroverted kid that will at first become close friends with Sana, but that will, at some point, steal Heric's heart, leaving Sana to deal with heartbreak and jealousy. Despite the story being drawn in an energetic shojo style and the episodes showing many hysterical/demential jokes along the way, Kodomo No Omocha is a dramatic story centered on overcoming past secrets, venomous feelings, and describing the difficult shift from childhood to adolescence.

The original 10 manga volumes got adapted for animation in 102 episodes, which broadcasted on TV Tokyo from 1996 to 1998. In Italy, the anime got imported first with the direct title "Rossana": it was aired in its entirety during all of the year 2000, and yes, all the 102 episodes got translated! Unfortunately, the channel wanted to make Rossana completely targetable to little kids, which meant that many plot elements had to undergo heavy censorship. The result was a comedy/demential series that at times showed a sentimental route, and for the rest felt very cut, like it was hiding something. This was no Chou Gals!-styled localizaion effort: scenes were edited or completely deleted, names and terms translated losing all context, graphics and objects concerning japanese culture got zoomed out, some episodes even aired randomly without following the original order, and finally the ending got cut, leaving it as an open cliffhanger. Kodomo No Omocha is, originally, marketed towards an adolescent audience, but kids are a much more profitable target, so a lot of the original plot points went away: Sana no longer thinks of Rei (her adult manager, called Robby in italian) as his boyfriend; it's never mentioned that her actual mother abandoned her in a park after giving birth at only 14 years old; and many instances in which some kids (Heric, but also Komori in later eps) practice self-harm or have suicidal thoughts are cut in their entirety. And yet, despite this general mangling, the story managed to become popular anyway, gaining three reruns, some video distribution on VHS and DVD (both cut, for unknown reasons, after the 20th episode), and an opening with lyrics that will never leave the minds of an entire generation. The manga got translated only after 2002, getting marketed instead for its actual audience and going for a literal translation of its original title: "Il giocattolo dei bambini - Rossana" got published by Dynit in its entirety, however I'm not sure wether it underwent the same censorship measures of the cartoon or it was left to a more faithful state.

The hype about Rossana was interestingly lacking of any substantial, original merchandise imported from their origin country; instead, every gadget we had about the anime was produced by italian companies and it consisted in the usual cheapish stuff sold in order to cash a quick buck on popular media. We had school supplies such as bags, pencil cases and diaries, decorated stationary, and the never-missing sticker album. This last merchandise, aptly featured in this post, is what I remember most since everyone was trading doubles at school; the blindingly hot pink package has also burned a permanent image in my mind. Published by Merlin in 2001, Rossana's abundantly pink album could contain 204 stickers; be them glossy, holographic, single or combined, it adds up as quite a large selection considering that all images shown were nothing more than screenshots of the cartoon, with album pages filling up a description of episodes shown, or giving a little more insight on the general plot. At least my previously reviewed Pokèmon album showed interesting action poses by Sugimori and doubled up as a Pokèdex, but I do recognize the latter can count on a much more substantial franchise. What Rossana's album excels in, though, is its value; remember when I said a completed Pokèmon album was only worth a few bucks? Well, a completed Rossana album goes instead for nothing less than a hundred euros on secondhand markets. Even the single stickers, if sold in lots, can become a pretty penny, and still sealed booster packs can range from 30 to 70 euros depending on how many you're selling. I can already picture italian readers going through their cupboards to see if they still have this relic intact! As for me, I was too focused on Pokèmon during that period to care about filling up another sticker album, so I had completely skipped that. And no, I'm not gonna spend 100+ euros on an album just to make a Fandom post: what you're seeing here are all images collectors have shown to the net.

It's interesting to notice that Merlin tried to cash in on the anime's popularity even beyond the sticker album itself, by advertising even among the album pages an upcoming periodical (monthly I suppose?) magazine almost all centered on the cartoon, but trying to double up as a typical girls' magazine with pictures of boybands, various articles, and the always present and equally emberassing mail section. For some reason I have very vivid flashbacks of me going through the pages of the first volume: probably some friend brought it at school, they had it lying about at their house, or I may have bought it along with other girls then left it to them. This mag was nothing particular and doomed to be shortlived: you can't keep a single anime series relevant forever, and it was apparent that arguments tried to always pull Rossana into context when in reality it had nothing to do with the articles. It seemingly disappeared after its second issue, and got buried under the sheer abundance of more relevant girly mags, among which the legendary Cioè.

All in all, Rossana’s shout of livelyhood was probably short, but loud enough to have shook the heart and soul of many of us, especially in this country. It’s apparent that companies wanted to keep the profit margin as high as possible by not importing any substantial japanese gadget about Sana and opting instead for printed publications or cheapy stationery; however, apart from dolls, plushes and general toys, even Japan didn’t seem too keen on releasing actually peculiar stuff dedicated to the franchise. The most technological gimmick I found is a toy audio recorder, of which I can only find a few images online and not even one single listing so I can get and review it. Maybe I’m just sour no one ever thought about doing a Game Boy adaptation, because I’m sure it would’ve been a major hit among girls here. Oh well, can’t change the past... but surely you can remember it. :)

[eventyrstuff]

Every Kdrama I’ve watched under the cut, to keep track and for recommendations.

Warning: Spoilers, few unpopular opinions ahead, please bear in mind: to each their own.

2009

·       You’re Beautiful – 16 amusing episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? This was the era of female leads pretending to be male (Hana Kimi, Ouran etc), but I still loved it. We follow the story of the female lead (who was a Nun at the beginning) who pretended to be her twin brother and become a part of the country’s current hottest band because her twin had a cosmetic surgery mishap (lol). It’s mostly trying to fit in and try not to get exposed but of course our male lead discovered her true identity thus begin her suffering and second also knows but did not admit it thus begin his unrequited love and comic relief and best character in the series was left in the dark thus begin questioning his sexuality 7/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES. Park Shin Hye is love and Jang Geun Seuk’s smile is freaking adorable. 9/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? JEREMY AND SHINWOO AND JOLIE YES. 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? MOST DEF. I fell in love with PSH’s “Lovely Day” and “ Without Words”, ANJELL’s “Still” and “Promise” though I prefer Lee Hong Ki’s version 8/10 o   Would you rewatch? I’ll definitely rewatch, I would love to compare my opinion back in my tween years and opinion now   o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Episode 6 – Shin Woo and Mi Nam’s pseudo date (totally heartbreaking for tween me) Episode 11 – supermarket scene was the best, Episode 13 – Cooking scenes was hilarious, every scene with Jeremy, TAE KYUNG AND THE PIG o   Words Association: GO MI NAM, Pig-Rabbit, JOLIE!, Fly me to the moon, “hyung, vinegar?” o   Yes it has overused plots, common conflicts and family drama but the characters and their dynamics are truly worth watching this and if you need a good laugh (this drama has a looooot of funny scenes), this one is for you. 8/10

2011

·       Heartstrings – 15 forgotten episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s a college drama involving modern and traditional Korean music. I honest to God forgot the whole drama, I think there was rivalry between the main leads? 6/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? Not sure, but if it’s Park Shin Hye, I guess so, sorry I’m shit at remembering this drama o �� Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I forgot so I guess not? o   Are the OSTs compelling? I am pretty sure it got an amazing Osts with having Park Shin Hye and CN Blue’s Yong Hwa but the only thing I remember was the song “Byeul” or Star and it was sung by the secondary character but it was really catchy o   Would you rewatch? Looks like I need to rewatch since I mostly forgot this drama o   Will rate once I have rewatched but if you shipped Yong Hwa and Park Shin Hye’s characters in You’re Beautiful, this one is for you.

Then after years of Jdramas, Anime, Mangas, YA books I returned to Kdramaland in…

2018

·       Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo – 16 charming episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? College athletes’ coming of age drama, added a dash of love and friendship and dreams. Strong female lead and affectionate male lead, sign me the fuck up. 9/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? I AM EMOTIONALLY INVESTED WITH THE LEADS PERSONAL AND LOVE LIVES. YES. 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? YES EVEN THE CAMEOS (Hello Lee Jong Suk who I haven’t watched any of his drama yet at the time and Ji Soo) 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I downloaded 2 of their OSTs (You&I and Dreaming), it was the first Korean songs in my playlist 9/10 o   Would you rewatch? Absolutely o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: “BOK JOO, WATCH OUT!”, “YOU DIE, I WILL KILL YOU”, Snow kisses, the gang in the amusement park, THAT SCENE WITH JISOO AND JOO HYUK o   Word Association: SWAG, Messi, Chicken, Samgyupsal, WHAT, Chubs o   I totally recommend to everyone, it has a unique plot, still not over the main lead’s chemistry, you’ll fall in love with the whole story. 10/10

 ·       The Heirs – 20 clichéd episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s your typical rich man poor woman plot, high school setting oozing with alpha males and lots of trope scenes, if only female lead was also an heir or they develop more on her character it will be memorable, I can’t really differentiate with other dramas with the same plot – well except the male lead’s mother is not your typical mother who absolutely hates the female lead 3/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? No, not really more on the secondary characters, both male and female leads are meh 2/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? With the mute mother and FL’s bestfriend and his girlfriend yes, everyone else is forgettable 3/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I only remember “Love is a moment” because it was used by fanmade crack videos on youtube ahahaha 2/10 o   Would you rewatch? Probably no. o   I guess if you are a big fan of Boys Over Flowers and looking for the same genre this one’s for you, this did not really age well for me, probably would have loved this if I watched back when I was in highschool – reminds me of wattpad days. 3/10

 ·       W: Two Worlds – 16 enthralling episodes (Started 2018 Finished 2020)

o   Is the plot interesting? The plot is what compelled me to watch this drama, male lead is a webtoon character created by the female lead but made famous by her father. Male lead does not have your best childhood experiences but became really successful as an adult but there are mysterious instances that put his life on danger, the female lead (doctor) was drawn in on the comic and saved his life, unknowingly her actions changed the course of the story and it reflected on the comic in the real world – this was truly a good concept 9/10 because I actually forgot I started this drama last 2018 then rewatched and finished this 2020, I am still confused. o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? THE CHEMISTRY WAS ON THE ROOF ON THIS ONE. I DIDN’T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE OTHER CHARACTERS 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I was actually more focused on the main leads, did not exactly give much attention to other characters 3/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I only liked “Where are you” but it was sung by that guy who was jailed among other things so I don’t know how I feel now. Still the opening was lit o   Would you rewatch? Yes, I will try to fully understand what the mechanics or rules of being a webtoon character and being alive in the real world o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: KISS IN THE JAIL was the first thing that came to my mind, also real life scenes to comic scenes and vice versa- kudos to the artists, slap and kiss scene, the flashing scene, 4 romantic concepts scene, the adorable scenes recreating the illustration book, the transition when yeon Joo dropped her ring, the hospital bed scene o   Words Association: #4, handcuffs, all the winks, sudden “saranghaeyo”, ring, bus stop, “to be continued” o   This drama was amazing for the first 10 episodes then became complicated after, I loved the chemistry between the 2 main leads but unfortunately overpowered the whole story – don’t get me wrong I love love stories, but my reaction was the same as those who read the comics – too much cutesy stuff they forgot the storyline, I wanted them to explore the W show, but they focused on filling the plothole for the murderer which created more conflicts and confusing scenes. The line between the comic and real word created plot devices and more questions. This drama has flaws but cool premise though, I hate amnesia plot on any drama but it was well incorporated on this one. 8/10

·       Goblin – 16 amazing Episodes (Finished, rewatched 2020)

o   Is the plot interesting? A general in Goryeo dynasty got punished by the Gods to be immortal and his sword still in his chest only the Goblin bride can take it off so he can be at peace and die. Immortal lead with a side of grim reaper as best friend, charming female lead with a confident female boss – a story with reincarnation and ghosts, scenes that will tug your heart – yes, one of Kdrama Masterpiece 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? At first no no with the age gap but yes, I say while crying o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? HELL TO THE YES, DEOK HWA, GRAMPS, SECRETARY KIM, HELLO CUTIE TAE HEE, SUNNY AND GRIM REAPER 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL OSTS, particularly “Round and Round”, “I Miss You”, “Stay with Me” and even without lyrics I still worship “When the time stops” aka the music that speaks to your soul 10/10 o   Would you rewatch? YES ALREADY DID BRUH WILL DO AGAIN o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Every bromance scene, I got hooked by the scene in the first ep where Eun Tak celebrated her birthday with her ghost mother, epic goblin and grim reaper modelling in the highway, everytime sunny flips her hair, grim reaper and his guests in the tea shop o   Word Association: Canada, sad love, candles, rain, chicken, tea, car crash *sorry not sorry* o   Totally recommended, well-deserved on its popularity. Will make you laugh and cry, at the same time. Acting skillz man. 10/10

 ·       Strong Woman Do Bong Soon – 16 whacky episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? Female lead has super strength which was actually passed down to every woman born in her family, she wants to be a game developer but instead got hired as bodyguard of our male lead who is a ceo of a gaming company 8/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? I remember that I did, I was? I need to rewatch haha o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I remembered I did not like Ji soo’s character and don’t really remember other characters… o   Are the OSTs compelling? Can’t quite remember so I need to - o   Would you rewatch? Yeahp, will do o   I’ll do a rewatch before rating

I had a watch list back in 2018, but then I became busy with work and life until…

2020 (Details will be more longer since every Kdrama is still fresh on my mind)

·       My ID is Gangnam Beauty – 16 pretty episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? Basically, female lead deems herself ugly and undergone a plastic surgery to fully change her face before attending the university – but a popular guy back in highschool (junior high?) was also attending the same uni and recognized her – it’s a mellow sort of drama tackling Korean beauty and it’s extent, still cute story tho 7/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? We must protect Mi-rae at all cost, Cha Eun Woo’s character is a little bit emotionally constipated but Eun Woo is *swoon* 8/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I am all for Mi-rae’s family and childhood friend, Kyung Seok’s sister, Yoo eun was very notable as well, I love how her character is completely fair and understanding 7/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? “D-day” and “True” is a bop to listen to, everytime I hear “Something” all I remember is Cha Eun Woo’s slow mo glance, other OST is a bop but not enough for me to put on my playlist 6/10 o   Would you rewatch? Probably but not right now o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: New face dance, bathroom scene with Kyung Seok beating the shit out of their senior, whenever Kyung Seok is annoyed with Soo-A but total heart eyes mode with Mi Rae, Cinema pseudo date – eating popcorn using straws, when he changed the color of his hair, Kyung Seok’s ID when he was a waiter, their high school date, and that last sweet scene in the final episode o   Word Association: gangnam, perfume, plastic, umbrella, soju o   I wasn’t planning on watching kdramas again after a long time but this quarantine just makes you do things and no regrets at all, MIIGB probably isn’t the best of the best but it definitely made me want to watch more kdramas and lo and behold more kdramas watched in a span of 2 months than in a year back in 2018. I love how it tackles on true beauty and female oppression and how idiotic alpha male trope is 7/10

 ·       While You Were Sleeping – 16 not enough episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? A prosecutor, a reporter and a cop can see the future when they sleep, which helps them in solving cases and do their best to change it. Every case is fascinating makes you say “ohhhhh” when they present their defense and I am like *chef kiss* I love the premise and the supernatural part of the story. 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES. JAE CHAN AND HONG JOO ARE ADORKABLE AND HAS INSANE VISUALS  10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? HAVE YOU MET JUNG HAE IN, THE PROSECUTOR TEAM WAS THE BEST. YES. EVEN THE SIDE CHARACTERS ON CASES AND THE VILLAINS 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I usually don’t hear the OSTs while focusing on a scene but boy oh boy, OSTs stole everything, I am obsessed with the whole album. The melody and tune is very captivating everytime you hear it you just want to embed it on your brain. If you are still having second thoughts watching this drama, listen to it’s OSTs the feels they give is the same feels when you watch 1000/10 o   Would you rewatch? I’ve watched it again after finishing it so yes, 100% yes, need more episodes still having withdrawal syndrome, still watching fanmade videos on youtube o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Every episode lol, the opening sequence, the outro scenes in episode 2 and 3 (with that background music), everytime “It’s you”, “You belong to my world”, “When night falls” and “I love you boy” is the bg music, every Jae Chan and Hong Joo parallel (Episode 2 and 16 particularly), OT3 scenes, the shadow picture, KISS IN THE RAIN, IN THE SAKURA TREE AND THE ALMOST KISS IN THE CAR if I list down all of my fave, I will be writing the whole summary of each episode. Hmmm. o   Words Association: Snow hug, sakura kiss, batman and robin, scarf, JUST ICE, choir, seatbelt, samgyupsal, femme fatale, lip balm o   I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. ULTIMATE FAVE. I AM BIASED SHUTTUP. JUST WATCH. NONE CAN COMPARE. NUFF SAID. 100000/10 SOMEONE FANGIRL WITH ME

 ·       Pinocchio – 20 important episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? This whole drama is about mass media and its major influence on anyone’s life and it is so powerful. We have a male lead whose family has experienced the impact of misguided news and it is painful to watch because this really happens irl at worse, this is due to a reporter which is our female lead’s mother. Now our female lead has Pinocchio Syndrome hence the drama title, she can’t help but hiccup when she lies, it’s very interesting to know why both leads wanted to be a reporter given their situation 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES, I JUST WANNA HUG THEM. Imagine having a condition that forces you to tell the truth, you can’t keep your feelings, privacy or secrets at all and to add an indifferent mother who did not care for your dreams but more on publicity. Imagine having a dream and working hard to reach it but after college you fail every job interview and it’s so realistic I just ashfdsjfha (Except the Pinocchio syndrome part but come on) Imagine experiencing a childhood where you don’t know what happened to your firefighter father, is the news about him running away true because it was his fault all those other firefighters are dead? Imagine your brother doing his best to hold your family together because your mother is on the verge of nervous breakdown to the point of pushing her to choose death, pulling you to a hug and just jump? Imagine this male lead fighting every chance to not love this girl who is the daughter of the reason why his family is gone now and could not leave her because she is also the reason why he decided to fight for the injustice done to his family and to others victims of fake news and they are so supportive of each other. It freaking hurts and I’m sorry I just have a lot of emotions for these two 1000000/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? YEEEEES, GRANDPA AND FATHER, I LOVE THEIR FAMILY DYNAMICS SO MUCH WHEN GRANDPA CRIED I CRIED! EVEN JA MYUNG HYUNG who has not enough episode in THEY DESERVE TO BE TOGETHER NOT JUST FOR ONE EPISODE. EVEN BEOM JU, YOO RAE, NITPICKER JANG, CAPTAIN, BOTH CAPTAINS ACTUALLY, CHAN SOO AND HIS FAMILY EVEN I LOVE TO HATE THE VILLAINS 100/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I was too focused on the intensity of the story but I do love the bg music –“First Love”, “The Only Person”, “Pinocchio” are few notable OSTs 8/10 o   Would you rewatch? YES FREAKING YES, I REWATCHED AFTER WATCHING IT o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Episode 16 as a whole, because main lead conflict with each other was resolved and that dinner scene is one I always rewatch, of course episode 1 introduction for Dal Po is freaking hilarious, Episode 2’s “Because I like you” damn feels, snow kiss, all the grandpa scenes and brother scenes, that scene when In ha remembered being drunk, that scene where Dal Po meets his brother again and I just ahjasgdjhsdgf, the intense debate and paralleling it in the seminar, the Christmas episode pyung pyung pyung my heart huhu o   Word Association: Six Degrees Separation, rumor, button, MSC/YGN News, traffic cones, hiccups, piggy banks, text messages, family o   EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS. I LOVE EVERY PART. IT WAS ON MY WATCHLIST LAST 2018 WHY DID I NOT WATCHED IT THEN. THE ACTING THOUGH YOU JUST FEEL THEIR INTENSE EMOTIONS THROUGH THE SCREEN. FEELS EVERYWHERE. 100000/10

 ·       Romance Is A Bonus Book – 16 heartwarming episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s about romance and books! Lee Jong Suk is on it what more can you ask for? Kidding aside it tells a story of a 30 something mother who to go back to work after 12 years which left a huge gap on her resume, she also got recently divorced and experiencing the repercussion of that, all of the job she applied for has focused on her work gap instead of her skills (which by the way as an HR a very hard truth). She applied as a support role on a publishing company and got hired but by omitting a lot of things on her resume. Oh and her childhood friend, our male lead is actually a co-owner and editor of the company. And he is also in love with her since high school. 9/10 but the fluffiness of the whole series is worth 10/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? YES, Dan-I is totally relatable and Eun Ho is lovable. I love their relationship so much they are each other’s home. 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? With Hae-rin (COME OOON UNREQUITED LOVE AGAIN WITH LJS CHARACTER?), Seo Joon, President Kim, Manager Seo, and our very own Gangnam Leopard YES. Others not so much. 8/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? The OSTs are feel good, the kind of playlist you want to hear when you read or travelling, point to “Rainbow”, “Walking on Sunshine”, “Happy End”also the heart churning feels when “You’re Beautiful” and “ A Story I couldn’t see” begins playing in the bg 10/10 o   Would you rewatch? YES over and over and over again o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: The first episode with the wedding visuals, so aesthetic with the running in the highway, the power dance was so out of place but it was adorable, the scene where Dan-I reminisce her married life and it just breaks your heart, the essay part of her application is just motivating and sad, WHEN EUN HO WAS DRUNK AND WENT TO DAN-I’s PLACE BECAUSE HE ALWAYS GO THERE WHEN HE MISSES HER AND I JUST AHGSHJAGDKJGHJ, “If that’s love, I love her then”, GANGNAM LEOPARD CLUB SCENE, the subtle Snow confession (what’s with LJS and Snow???) the long brown overcoats comes out I’m there, when Eun Ho rejected Hae Rin so nicely I cry, movie date, the day Dan-I and Eun Ho spent together at their house, all the book pages at the end of each episode o   Words Association: THE MOON IS BEAUTIFUL, noona, power pose, love letters, books, seasons change, cucumber allergy, April 23 o   This drama is literally a warm blanket on a rainy day. Recommended if you want a pure love story with almost no conflict and mellow storyline – just the thought of finding love and home in the same person is truly heartwarming. For aspiring writers and book lovers! Love the quotable quotes in it and the warm feels it gives 10/10

 ·       Extraordinary You – 16 extraordinary episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? We follow the story of the extras in a comic book. Get it? EXTRAordinary you, haha okaaaay, anyway, its fictional characters becoming aware that they are fictional characters and trying to change their fates, having a life of their own outside the “stage” and all around creating chaos – breaking the 4th wall if you will. We have your cliché high school filled with rich kids and an elite group called A3 (which was funny bc it was almost mocking F4), then we have the female lead who thought she was the main character of the story but was only the love bridge extra for the main characters. And our beautiful male lead who does not even have a name. Very attention-grabbing 10/10 also just found out the drama was based on a webtoon, so it’s a webtoon inside a webtoon nice. o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? Dan-Oh is a fun character to watch, her range of emotions and the way she acts in and out of the stage deserves a standing ovation, I don’t mind Ro Woon’s visual too haha 9/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? Yes to Lee Do Hwa (Because violin playing cutiepie), Joo Da (girl became aware and finally got claws at the end) and Dried Squid Fairy and Su Hyang (because their history is interesting) , not really into Bae Kyung or Nam Joo (who was 2dimensional character until the end) 8/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I loved all the instrumental background music especially “Highschool Runway”, Also “My Beauty” which was very kdrama-esque ending song 7/10 o   Would you rewatch? BIG YES o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: Every Dan-Oh and Do Hwa’s internal monologue and their bromance, every time Dan Oh breaks character but the page flips, every time she curse and criticize the writer, checking the male population’s back, when Dan-oh opened the umbrella and we got to see Haru’s face *dokidoki*, every reaction when they transition from stage to shadow, I mean kudos to Kim Hye Yoon’s acting from crying to laughing then from head over heels over Bae Kyung then cringing at herself , “It’s Bae Kyung Time”, the scene where Haru and Dan-oh was holding hands and here comes third wheel Do Hwa the way they reacted with Dan Oh’s “Annyeong Lee Do Hwa” made me rofl o   Word Association: AYUUU JINJJA, HARUYAAAAA, stage, shadow, page flips, October 10, secret, flower o   I love the concept and how it felt like writing fanfiction, you put your favorite characters in alternative universes or different setting and watch them fall in love all over again – in this case destiny also plays a huge part since the writer continuously separate them but they still fall in love with each other outside the stage. It’s fun to see the other side or the fillers whenever characters are not on acting on stage, they have more character depth and development. I definitely love the Sageuk and College AU part. 9/10

 ·       Graceful Family – 16 wild episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? It’s a drama full of Makjang so we are riding on a rollercoaster ride, I am here for all of it gimme gimme that outrageous plot with a dash of crazy family on the side and a group of people who cleans up their messes 9/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? SEOK HEE IS THE BEST FEMALE LEAD YET FREAKING BADASS BITCH QUEEN. Yoon Do is okay but really overpowered by Seok Hee’s strong personality 10/10 for Seok Hee o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? I am very interested in Ms. Han and the Top Team’s deal unfortunately it was not addressed further in the series, wouldn/t mind a mini sequel with them as the main characters, Choi Na Ri and Seo Jin is loooove, and I love Wan Soo with all my heart even after everything that happened 9/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? “Liar” is on my playlist solely for me to feel as badass as Seok Hee and “Black Diamond” because it plays with your emotions 8/10 o   Would you rewatch? Solely for all the WTF moments o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: ALL THE DINING TABLE SCENES, opening scene in the first episode got me hooked, all Seok Hee scenes made me stay, Wan Soo’s hilarious scenes, that whole hanbok shop scene, whole jail fiasco, when Seok Hee fights head to head with TOP management, PICASSO’S FUNERAL SCENE, Episode 9 when Choi Na Ri moved in, episode 15’s biggest plot twist, Episode 16 and it’s whole 1 hour and 45 minutes of drama o   Word Association: Home sweet home, Cannes, Picasso, power vacuum, kingmaker, Auntie o   It has a lot of flaws, plotholes and characters you wished was fleshed out but man what an exhilarating ride it was. I love all the dirty secrets in the closets and plot twists (won’t spoil just watch it!) but Seok Hee is definitely the show stealer for me. Soo Hyang’s character here is starkly different with her character in My ID is Gangnam Beauty and it’s really amazing. 9/10

 ·       Hi, Bye Mama – 16 heartbreaking episodes (Finished)

o   Is the plot interesting? This is all about mother’s love and the life she left behind. Our female lead died in an accident and has been a ghost for five years watching over her family especially her daughter, she watched how her family moved on – her husband remarried and her daughter grew up with a different mother. The Gods has given her a chance to live again if she gets back her place within 49 days – this means she get the chance to become human again and finally meet her daughter. 9/10 o   Am I emotionally invested on the Main Leads? I AM EMOTIONALLY INVESTED IN ALL OF THEM. 10/10 o   Did I grew attached to the secondary characters? SEO WOO YAAAAAA, Min Jung, her whole family and best friends even the other ghosts and their painful stories YES. 10/10 o   Are the OSTs compelling? I was busy crying and could not really hear the bg music because all I hear is my heart breaking a million times. But “Happy” made me happy and sad at the same time and the haunting “Same Town, New Story” instrumental is love o   Would you rewatch? I am not sure if I’m ready to cry again o   Favorite Episode/Scenes: whole episode 8 is where I broke down crying – I know this whole series is about mother’s and their unconditional love but episode 8 showed fathers and their incomparable love to their daughters and I just asjhdajksd the epilogue in this episode just made me cry nonstop – I am actually crying just remembering that scene, every epilogue will make you ugly cry, every time Seo Woo smiles, Episode 11 and that epic showdown in Kid’s café, when Yu Ri became human again and how happy she was she can hold Seo Woo, every scene with her and Seo Woo bonding, Gang Hwa and the egg,  the list of things she wants to do, when Seo Woo finally called her MAMA o   Words Association: mother, stepmom, ghosts,  “I am happy”, shaman, egg, 49 days o   I am emotionally exhausted watching this show, I cried on every episode, this definitely hurt me in every way possible. Highly recommended if you want a good long nonstop cry 10/10

Dramas I did not completely watched sans a few episodes, finished by skipping scenes or reading drama reviews. Warning: total unpopular opinions

2009

·       Boys Over Flowers – we all know Hana Yori Dango is superior, I just got bored of recycled scenes and I really don’t like LMH here, sorry

2018

·       Scarlet Heart Ryeo - Plot is very interesting but Sageuk dramas are not my cup of tea, reminds me of Fushigi Yuugi which I hated when I was a kid dunno why haha, will look for my motivation to watch the whole drama ·       Oh My Ghostess – got spoiled, skipped and just read episode summary

2020

·       Hello Monster – did not even finish 1st episode, skipped through episode 2 -3, too many plot holes, just read last episode spoilers ·       Hotel De Luna – finished 7 episodes got distracted by work and life. Plotline is interesting and characters look promising, will rewatch but I already know the spoilers and ending ·       School 2013 – just read the dramabeans episode reviews, may watch but reminds me of Gokusen concept (which I do love but very repetitive) so may not ·       Suspicious Partner – I liked the plot but unfortunately did not care too much on the main mystery of the whole show which was who the actual murderer is, did not like the shared childhood trauma, but acting still was good, its just the storyline ·       Doctor Stranger – I seriously would have loved to finish this because LJS’s acting skills on point (how can he be that seriously angry in North Korea then be clumsy adorkable in South? Howww) but alas, the female lead storyline is cringy I stopped at episode 6, read reviews and it would have been 20 wasted episodes for me ·       What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim – full of stereotypical tropes I could not finish, too romcom for me and could not invest too much about their history

Watchlist (2020)

·       Hospital Playlist ·       Crash Landing On You ·       Kill Me, Heal Me ·       I Am Not A Robot ·       Sky Castle ·      Love Alarm

Hit me up with your recommendations, better yet your favorite kdrama and reasons why it’s your fave!

[midnight-in-town]

Are there manga/anime you didn't expect you like it, but you did?

Hello! Haha, omg, actually I hardly ever start a series if something in the summary or the art style doesn’t intrigue me, so I always go in because I’m interested in a thing I read or saw about it.

However, there are definitely series I didn’t expect to like as much as I first thought I would. The series I blog about the most (be it manga, animes or games) are generally such cases of “wow I didn’t expect to like it so much and now I’m doomed forever”. xD

I’m supposing you are looking for some examples, so here we go for the ones I remember the most vividly:

Ace Attorney

I received the first game as an unexpected gift when I was a teen, even though I knew nothing of the story or its characters. 

Played the first case, was like ‘uh ok it’s nice and funny’ then things start to kick in in case 2 (’spirit mediums????’) and until the end of the game, which had me yelling everywhere in excitement considering how good cases 4 and 5 were. Then I played JFA, loved it obviously and T&T was not yet out in English by then. 

That being said, it only took the first game to dive pretty far into the well crafted world that is Ace Attorney, but I always enjoyed how the universe expands with each game.

And today, aside from the DGS prequel games which I haven’t played, I know the series by heart! It’s my first Internet fandom and still a favorite: I love how the games evolved (even if the first trilogy remains my fave), I love how good the character developments in these games are, I love the plot twists, the slight supernatural powers, etc. 

Still a fave to this day and probably 5ever! Also these games are the reason why & how I became fluent in English and, just for that, they changed my life quite permanently, haha. xD

The Suzumiya Haruhi series

My first anime! 

Kinda related to Ace Attorney actually because, at some point in the Suzumiya Haruhi anime they make a parody of AA as they’re solving a “murder case”, and that’s how I discovered the series (as I was browsing about AA on youtube).  

So I started watching it with no real idea in mind, but as it turned out, I loved how awkward it is, haha! The movie (an adaptation of the fourth light novel) is also my absolute favorite as far as animated works go. 

UDDUP

My first manga! And quite a great one at that! I remember finding the first volumes in a bookstore, thinking “wow the covers are so pretty?”, which is why I started reading it, haha.

Thanks to it I came to discover manga, so I’ll always love it a lot, just for that.

What I enjoyed the most though is how realistic and well-built the universe is. The cast of characters is also quite diversified, which is not something you find often and a very enjoyable fact. You can read more about it here and here.

Berserk

I already expanded on how I came to discover it here. :)

Blade of the Immortal

Ah, my latest favorite discovery! I had seen panels and screenshots of it passing by on my dash for years, but the summary had never struck me as that interesting. How wrong I was, haha.

Then someone I follow was asked about it and answered something about how “it was too violent” for them despite how enjoyable the story was. So I thought “hey maybe I should check this out”, which I did. 

I only have one advice: go read it!! It’s truly a masterpiece on the level of Berserk or Urasawa Naoki’s Monster!

Pierre Bottero’s Multiverse

He is a French author, so I doubt you’ve heard of him. He used to be quite famous in France in the fantastic/fantasy realm of fiction writers. 

His multiverse is made of 4 different trilogies and a stand alone book, which was supposed to be an introduction to a final trilogy tying everything together, but then he died in a car accident.

These books are probably my favorite book series ever. I read the first one thinking “okay it’s good but” and then I went to read the rest of the first trilogy and I absolutely loved it. 

I didn’t know back then that he intended on developing his ideas into multiple books, so I ended up following his book releases for years quite faithfully, until his death actually. May he rest in peace. <3

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

One of these series I started because I was bored & everyone was yelling that it was super good. 

I checked the anime for a few episodes, ended up bored out of my mind and dropping it for a few months. Then I came across some characters’ design (the Varia’s to be precise) and I was here like ‘??? where are these characters in the anime?’ so I went back to see more of the anime from where I had stopped.

As it turns out, the episode I had stopped on was quite good and I ended up watching it for all the laughs that it caused me, until the actual plot kicked in after 20 episodes or so. xD

Anyway, there was a reason everyone was yelling it was super good despite how peculiar it is at times, haha, and I ended up being no exception and drawn to its charms. x)

Avatar: the last Airbender

Ahhh, well, this is one series I discovered rather late! I was away on vacation with some friends and we were discussing stuff from our childhood that we still liked today, when this one friend started to mention ATLA.

And the thing is, I remembered watching some TV episodes but I couldn’t envision that this was a series with a particular or well-defined plot, because it left me no impression at all as a kid. 

But my friend was quite eager about how good it was and our other friend was watching LOK at the time (without knowing about ATLA) so they both made me want to check what ATLA truly was like. 

I ended up watching the whole thing a few weeks after in, like, two or three days, without being able to stop screaming about it, haha. :))

There you go Anon. :) I actually have many more examples, because I hardly ever know what to truly expect whenever I start a series. The MO is: the more it surprises me, the more I tend to love it!

Have a nice weekend!

[trustandblasters]

So we know you read manga. Are there any you wish would get localized or are surprised they haven't been localized?

I feel like I'm being called out and I dont know why.

Anyway, as a blanket catch all for certain authors it genuinely surprises me how many of Osamu Tezuka, Junji Ito, and Takemiya Keiko's works havemt been locized considering the historical treasures they have been to manga.

Now on to some specific examples.

First up is Mairimashita Iruma-kun, aka Welcome to Demon School, Iruma!

It follows a boy who's parents sold him to a demon and that demon adopting him as their grandson. Wacky hijinks ensue and this is such a standard shonen jump series that I was surprised of hadn't been localized and even more so now that there is an anime with an english dub.

Shuumatsu no Valkyrie, also known as Records of Ragnarok is an action manga where historical figures throw down with gods in a tournament battle to decide the fate of the human race. Some of the historical characters include Nostradomus, Jack the Ripper, Liu Bu, Sasaki Yojiro, and Adam with some of the gods being Thor, Shiva, Buddha (yes), Odin, Heracles, Loki, and Susanno-o.

It has some pretty good action scenes and also delves into the history of the fighters on both sides.

Sachiro no One Room or One Room of Happiness is one I'm sort of cheating with.

On one hand there is a localized digital version on Crunchyroll, but you cant get a physical copy which is my requirement for a true localization. Sachiro no One Room is what I was call a Psychological Thriller in a way in that it is about a young girl who was kidnapped by her older stalker and the two make a suicide pact if they are caught.

Except not really as the manga delves into the psychological trauma of the female lead who is trying to escape her physically abusive family, the male lead who has a past rife with abuse himself, and the two sides of the story that are at odds against each other and are kept together with a fragile thread.

The manga holds no punches for the effects of neglect, abuse, sexual assault, mental abuse/psychological trauma, abandonment, and just how far someone will go to leave a horrible situation so it can be a hard read.

If the art looks familiar it's because the mangaka for this is Daisuke Mariyama who also did the famous Chrono Crusade manga.

Which is precisely why I was shocked that his next work, World Embryo, never got localized. It is set in modern times and features a more demure but definately smarter hero than his previous work as the protagonist is able to play a chess game that puts even the most cunning villains to shame. Features body horror and a lot psychological mind fucks but that isn't new considering the final two volumes of Chrono Crusade.

Magico was never localized and I still think that is a crime.

The main plot is about a young girl who spent 16 years locked in a barrier of thorns and when she is released learns she basically has cthulu implanted in her chest and she is going to cause the end of the world. Then a guy in the mouth of a dragon bursts through the ceiling and proposes to her.

Magico itself is reference to the spell the manga is working to complete: series of wedding themed rituals between the two main characters that will rid the girl of her apocalyptic parasite. The manga has an amazing amount of plot twists, heartwarming elements, and comedy. Considering the manga industry at the time trying to appeal to a much wider audience than just shonen, and this sharing similair elements to the popular Tegami Bachi series, I was surprised it never got localized.

School Mermaid ended on a low note but it was an amazing suspense and horror filled manga that was worth the read in my opinion. Plus it leaves off on a massive cliffhanger.

It got insanely popular in the beginning for its horror elements so it does surprise me that never got it localization.

Surprisingly the only isekai on this list!

Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu or Moon-led journey through Another World is a manga about an average kid who gets ripped from his world and basically screwed over by the goddess after she finds two better alternatives for her Heroes. Another God takes pity on him and at least gives him an ability and helps him not immediately die.

Then we follow that protagonist go from Hero to Anti Hero to the possible end Villain against the other two heroes in a story that is more morally gray than Game of Thrones and far less sexual assault outside of the one princess straight up using sex to keep one of the heroes devoted to her (and considering shes in her 20s and the hero in question is 15 it is given the pedophilia undertones it needs to truly be creepy).

Has a slow start and slow update schedule, the manga is one of the better Isekais outside there and I'm genuinely surprised it hasnt been localized or given an anime despite isekai having a booming popularity in the last few years.

[maliciouslycreative]

So I’ve mentioned a lot of times over the years that I used to be fandom famous in a small anime fandom and I spent a lot of my time running damage control to an anti however I’ve never actually recounted the whole tale for you all. Buckle up and crack open a lemonade because we’re going on a journey (more under the cut).

The year is 2004, I’m 17, and in my final year of high school. I wrote a lot of fanfic back then, mostly for anime fandoms and around the time I joined Gaia I started posting my fanfic “Several Blows to the Head” which became unexpectedly extremely popular. But before I go forward I feel I should give some back story because some of you will probably get extremely confused very fast otherwise.  

For those of you who don’t know about gaia online let me give you some history. Gaia was pretty much THE SHIT back in the mid to late 2000s. It was an anime themed forum website where you had a little avatar you could dress up.You gained gold by posting, playing mini games, posting in polls, or even just browsing in general. There were hundreds of subforums and in each of them a tonne of active threads. Another feature was the guild system. Basically anyone could create a guild which was pretty much your own themed subforum that  the guild admin could decide the rules and who was able to join as long as they still followed Gaia’s ToS. 

The anime I was into was (Bakuten Shoot) Beyblade, which at the time was an ongoing series. For those unfamiliar with the series a bunch of teenagers use battling tops possessed with the spirits of ancient mythological creatures and even gods to fight each other. Let’s just say it wasn’t winning any awards for amazing writing but it was a lot of fun and I LOVED my small corner of the fandom. It was pretty much your average shonen series of the time which meant that it had a main cast of 5 male characters (with a female lead added in the second season) and then very few minor female characters. The only actual canon ship was only made canon in a post canon addition to the manga that was not even released outside of Japan. So I bet you all are coming to the same conclusion that yes, there was incredibly bad shipping drama. The breakdown of shipping pretty much looked like this

10% slash

70% canon male/OC

20% canon male/canon female

Now to resume our story. I joined Gaia and headed over to the anime forum and found the main Beyblade thread. I posted an introduction and in it made mention that I was a fanfic writer and I liked slash. This was when I met C. I’m not going to drag her name as all of this went down over a decade ago and I hope that she’s grown as a person since then. If any of you are REALLY resourceful I mean the threads still exist. You can go find them and see just how awful it got.  

C was a year older than me and apparently the authority in these parts on all things Beyblade. She was also a writer but in her own words did not write fanfics, she wrote and posted novels. She was pretty well known in the canon/OC circles and had a pretty enthusiastic following. 

So when I came in to that thread and introduced myself I opened a can of worms. I was told that we did not discuss slash ships in this thread because it was not canon and it made some people uncomfortable. And ok, I can see that. It was cool. I was there to have fun and chat with people. I mean anyone that wanted to chat slash I could add on YIM, MSN, or LJ. However, 2 things started driving the knife into the wound.

It was not ok to talk slash but it was perfectly ok for C to discuss in depth her fanfics because it was an OC and obviously did not contradict canon as the stories were post (a currently unfinished) canon

People kept recognising me because my fanfic was exploding in popularity. So people kept bringing up slash and I’d get dragged into it as my fic was usually a catalyst for discussion. 

To keep things from escalating us slash fans decided to make our own thread to talk Beyblade slash. Now, there was some divide in the slash fandom and people pretty much shipped only Kai/Takao or Kai/Rei but for the sake of everyone’s sanity we put our shipping differences aside in the thread and aimed to make it a positive space for everyone. I mean, most of us were multishippers so we tended to just be excited to read anything that wasn’t one of the 9000 OC fics we had to wade through to find any slash. 

Whenever people would come into the main Beyblade thread now if they happened to mention slash they would get an extremely cold message from C if one of us didn’t manage to intervene first and direct the new member to our other thread. 

The other crux of the problem was Kai. Kai was probably the most popular character in the English fandom and Kai was C’s favourite character. She had an extremely specific idea of how people should interpret Kai. If anyone came into the thread and made a post like “I LOVE KAI <3 <3 <3” she would be rather unkind to them making back handed comments about how the person only liked him because he was attractive or a “bad boy” or that if they didn’t have anything to add to the thread they should leave because we didn’t like spamming in the thread. If we ever started character analysis on Kai then C had to have the last word. After all she shared some characteristics with Kai and obviously that meant that she therefore knew him the best. 

You all can probably imagine how well conversations went in this thread. I did my best to kindly welcome people to the thread, redirect them when they needed to be, and tried to calm down discussions when they got too heated. And if things got too bad in the main thread we’d just move to the slash thread and be super excellent to each other. There were days where C became so unbearable that her friends that didn’t even ship slash would come into the slash thread to hang with us because we were just really nice. 

She was also extremely pushy with her fics. Whenever fanfics would come up shed be the first to suggest to anyone that they should read her novels. She even tried it repeatedly on the slash fans. Being completely fed up I one day made her an offer that if she read one of my fics I’d read all of hers. I didn’t even specify which fic. So she could’ve chosen one of my under 5k fics and I would have agreed to read like 200k worth of her fics. She never agreed to this in all the years of me dealing with her. 

The worst part of it all was we couldn’t even really report her for harassment or anything because she was friends with a lot of moderators. The last thing any of us wanted was to get banned over some petty grievance since we’d lose all our hard work to making our avatars look fabulous. 

If the whole mess in the forums wasn’t bad enough there was 1 Beyblade guild and guess who the guild admin was. The atmosphere in said guild could best be described as… tense. Anyone that wasn’t one of C’s rabid followers ran under the constant fear that they’d be booted for saying something that didn’t agree with her narrow view of things. My best friend and I were honestly surprised that she even allowed us into the guild. But she probably couldn’t afford to outright deny us as I was a pretty prominent writer in the english slash community then and my friend was also a prominent writer and artist. 

Eventually we got tired of walking on eggshells constantly so some of the other slash fans and myself pooled our resources together and I created a second Beyblade guild. Our message was simple, we were just there to be a safe haven for ALL fans of the series. We were expecting pretty much the people from the slash thread and then maybe a handful of other people to join.

The entire fandom on Gaia over the course of a couple days abandoned C’s guild and joined ours. Whereas before we created ours hers was on a steady traffic decline our guild was BOOMING with posts. 

Unfortunately the oldest mail I have is from 2007 on Gaia so I don’t have any screenshots of this but C was understandably upset that we’d sniped her entire user base. We did try to smooth it over with her saying that that was never our intention but it ended with her sending me a message that literally said “ok, you win” and this is something I still think about over a decade later. It forever shifted how I perceive antis. 

My whole time in fandom I’d just been here trying to have a good time. I didn’t intend to become fandom famous. I didn’t intend to be in charge of one of the most active Beyblade forums at the time. I wasn’t trying to change C’s mind or fight her. And this whole time she’d thought I’d been fighting against her because we had different views on the series. 

The last episode of Beyblade G Revolution aired in September 2005, her guild officially closed in 2006 and the fandom eventually started drifting into other things. I stayed active in it until probably 2008 when personal stuff drew me out of fandom and then officially took a leave from fandom in 2009 when my best friend passed away. I don’t know what happened to C but I know she was still writing her novels at that point. Whenever I see fandom drama brewing I always think back to her and how frustrated she used to make me and then I think of the “ok, you win” and I’m just left feeling sad for her and people like her. I just don’t understand how people can let their hearts be so consumed by hatred and self righteousness that it poisons their entire fandom experience. I guess that’s a conversation for another time.

One final comment that I would like to make here since I didn’t know where to fit it in above is that my one friend was completely DONE with C one day and we were talking to each other and she was like “she acts like her fics save lives in Africa!” and honestly this is the most perfect description of C’s attitude. Like good for her for believing in her writing but there is sometimes a point where you need to chill out with self promotion. 

[paulisweeabootrash]

Pokémon 2.B.A. Master

I stumbled across a piece of weeb trash media I had heard of, but neither attempted nor expected to find.  And it’s a bit different.  Today, my friends, we are not doing an anime or manga, or even another novel.  We’re doing a tie-in music album, a American blatant cash-grab based on a Japanese franchise.  Oh no.  Oh yes.

Pokémon 2.B.A. Master (1999)

As a young weeblet, I was a regular watcher of the first two arcs of Pokémon (Kanto and Johto).  It was in both weekday and weekend timeslots, and never seemed to be broadcast in any sensible order, but I nonetheless watched it frequently and enjoyed it no matter how many times WB decided to rerun episodes I’d already seen.  At some point, this CD came out, and I remember seeing ads for it when it was new.  There were even televised music videos for a few of the songs, broadcast as a segment called “Pikachu’s Jukebox”. I never saw a copy of the album in person, and never expected to. Maybe it was one of those that you had to order by calling some number?  I don't remember (or, frankly, care enough to look it up).  Anyway, I recently encountered this in the small music section of a used book store, and I figured "why not?"  And the obvious answer is "most of the contents".

The cover, in addition to using proud and unironic Comic Sans for the subtitle "2.B.A. Master", boasts that the album contains both "Music From The Hit TV Series" and "10 Brand New Songs!"  The former refers obviously to the main theme of the show and every child's favorite mnemonic device, the PokéRap (or “PokéRAP” as it’s spelled for some reason?), but I'm not sure what the third song from the show is.  And again, I don’t care enough to look it up.  The important thing is, John Loeffler wrote all of them, and apparently an absurd number of other Pokémon-related songs.  The "Brand New Songs!" here are mostly new to me, and they’re... a doozy.  Except for the songs from the show, plus “Double Trouble” and maybe “Misty’s Song” if I want to be very generous, I am tempted to suggest you could get a similar musical experience in a shorter time by putting on an episode of Pokémon, playing a mix of Milli Vanilli and Boyz II Men songs over it, and banging your head against a wall.

1. Pokémon Theme

We begin with the extended version of the classic theme, this is a sure dose of nostalgia for anyone who watched the show.  It sounds, considering the release date, a little outdated — I get kind of a "Beat It" vibe, not from the melody, but from the instrumentation, combining 80s-gated drums and searing electric guitar.  But the theme, already one of the few TV themes out there I find enjoyable and not instantly forgettable, extends to a full length surprisingly well, avoiding getting boring or devolving into complete idiocy with lyrics.  I actually like this song as a song, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

2. 2B A Master

The instrumentation in this track is absurdly 90s, and again kind of Michael Jackson-y, but is interesting and varied, especially in the sudden attention-grabbing rhythmic change accompanying the line "the greatest master of Pokémon".  It shows better restraint in its use of things like record scratch noises and basslines running parallel to vocal lines that I find get really old really quickly.  I actually, on the whole, enjoy this song and think the music could have been the basis for something great.  “Could have” being the keyword.  Lest you think I'm going to give a rosy, loving review of this album, no, it quickly gets bad.  Some of the lyrics feel like such forced attempts to get Pokémon references in that I am embarrassed on behalf of the people stuck singing and rapping them, 20 years later.  It’s a waste of what could’ve been a fun funky song.  (Incidentally, why is the title of the song punctuated differently from the title of the album?)

3. Viridian City

The slide downhill continues.  What the hell is this song?  The lyrics are only marginally less stupid than the previous track, the music sounds like a keyboard "dance" preset, and it has a weird rapped/spoken "echoing" of sung lines it’s incredibly hard to imagine anyone ever liked.  Ugh.

4. What Kind of Pokémon Are You?

Third time's the charm, I guess?  After the previous two tracks tried and failed to force Pokémon-related lyrics that just don't work, this one at least manages to fire off a series of type-related puns.  The music, however, turns back towards gratingly boring (and for some reason, the bridge comes thisclose to ripping off "Eye of the Tiger"?).  Actually, no, hahaha, the lyrics remain very stupid, I think I'm just getting "ground down by a Marowak" by how bad the preceding tracks were.

5. My Best Friends

The parts move in unison too closely for my tastes, the lyrics are bland, the vocal arrangement makes it sound downright inappropriately dramatic, and what’s up with the bridge that veers off into doo-wop?  The main thing this song has going for it is the vaguely pleasant piano part in the verses, which really appeals to me (it sounds familiar, although I can’t place what specifically it reminds me of).  The melody of the chorus sounds even more familiar — so familiar in fact I'm starting to wonder if it's a copyright-violation-skirting ripoff of something famous. But otherwise, this is a solid “meh”, sounding like a boy band song that would only briefly have made the charts.

6. Everything Changes

And now we're back to impressions of Michael Jackson.  This one's instrumentation and mood and even bits of the melody are so him that I could almost believe you if you told me this was an outtake that didn't make it onto Bad. (Although the singer sounds less like Jackson the longer the song goes on.) The lyrics, although vaguely applicable to everything, are a welcome change from the previous few tracks by not feeling like Pokémon has been painfully shoehorned in... up until the part where a clip from the show plays during a break between choruses.  Ugh.  Could you really not come up with a better way to make this into a distinctly Pokémon song?

7. The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye)

Yuck.  The sentimental ballad (I want to call it a “power ballad”, but I’m unsure what exactly counts as one), as a general rule, is a fire hose full of melodrama best used for comedy.  I don't understand how songs like this have ever been taken seriously.  I would expect to hear this as the ending theme to a movie that tries to be a tragedy but can’t quite pull it off.

8. Pokémon (Dance Mix)

I assumed from the title that this was a remix of the theme song, but instead, it's just sort of a filler track...  It makes almost no impression on me at all, although I do enjoy the intro’s use of "backward-sounding" and morphing synths.  Otherwise, this is another track that sounds like it uses keyboard preset backgrounds.

9. Double Trouble (Team Rocket)

Okay, look, I can’t rate this one fairly.  The longest-running fandom-related internal conflict of my life has been whether I'd rather be James or have James as mai hasubando, and I love Team Rocket in general as comedy relief villains.  I used to enthusiastically perform their ridiculous introductory speech with a friend from band camp (I am even more of a geek than you thought).  This song actually bothers to be more specific in terms of its Pokémon subject matter, meaning this is finally a song about Pokémon rather than just a generic pop song with Pokémon flavor, and it uniquely is performed by voice actors from the show, namely those who played Jesse, James, Meowth, and Giovanni.  It really grates on me when the VAs talk over the singers, but unlike some of the other songs, it feels like it builds up and goes somewhere.  We have at least broken free from the boringness of the last few tracks, with almost industrial percussion and chromatic and sometimes dissonant bass and synth lines that really make it a solid villain song, even though it has a hokey “rap written by people who haven’t actually listened to any rap” feel.  And James’s absolutely ludicrous laugh will absolutely alienate who isn’t already a fan of the character, and most people who are, too.

10. Together Forever

The “disappointing imitation of Michael Jackson” theme returns, this time mostly in the voice.  It especially pops out at me with the pronunciation of "friend" as "fraynnnndah!".  Unfortunately, rather than trying to imitate Jackson’s songwriting again, this song seems to want to rip off Stock Aitken Waterman.  And it succeeds at that, too well, as it somehow manages to outcompete a song those writers wrote for Rick Astley to be the worst song with this title.  Also returning here: the use of clips from the show to clumsily force an otherwise generic song to be Pokémon-related.  Hooray.

11. Misty's Song

Huh.  Now this one is interesting.  Buried deep in the album, we get something from a character POV that doesn’t just set trivia or quotes from the show to music.  Yvette Laboy does a believable job filling in as the singing counterpart for Rachel Lillis's speaking voice for Misty, and I just don't find it nearly as ridiculous as the other ballads on the album, for some reason. It even portrays a tsundere as insecure rather than just an obnoxious walking trope!  Sure, it's not great, but it's not bad either, especially after the other attempted ballads on here.  Until you remember that it's a 14-year-old singing a love song to a 10-year-old, which... ick.  It could've been sweet if put in the mouth of another character with a more age-appropriate relationship. Anyone want to rerecord this as “Kaname's Song” or something?

12. PokéRAP

Oh, educational rap.  Why?  It’s just unbearably cheesy and doesn’t seem to have had much thought put into it, as a general rule.  And this song is no exception.  Sure, I guess it has value as a mnemonic exercise (and it does a decent job of that, as anyone who still has large chunks of it memorized can tell you), but no value as music.  It often doesn’t even come close to rhyming where you’d expect it to, and it's obvious that Loeffler et al weren't sure what to do with a few of the names at all — Grimer and Chansey have egregious pauses after them, for example, and Omastar is stretched across space enough for two or three names for no good reason.  It is broken into convenient-sized stanzas that are only somewhat awkwardly forced into the established meter, but that meter has a too-regular feel, bouncing like a musical Superball, that even I, someone with no particular knowledge of nor interest in rap, recognize as being cheesier than Vanilla Ice.  It also hasn’t aged well.  The sung parts have absolutely no dynamic range and stay at MAXIMUM DRAMA LEVEL at all times.  Over the past 20 years, the lyrics have also become obsolete due to the many additional generations of Pokémon media and consequently much longer list of Pokémon to memorize.  Those topics have been covered in excruciating detail by Brian David Gilbert, who is much cleverer than I am, and yes, I do highly recommend sitting through that entire half-hour video.  All I can really add to that is, it's considerably less annoying than certain other mnemonic songs I was exposed to growing up. A bad song, unless you’re viewing it through sheer unfiltered silliness?  Yes.  A surprisingly catchy song that was a good marketing move?  Also yes.  And 20+ years later, I still can't avoid laughing at the way he says "Wartortle".

13. You Can Do It (If You Really Try)

The album could've gone out on that upbeat note, but no, they had to go for another overblown ballad, this time trying far too hard to be inspirational.  The plus side is, it's not yet another generic 80s/90s pop song.  The minus side is, it sounds like something that would be playing on the PA in a church thrift store.  Or a fake ad on an episode of SNL.  I do not feel empowered by this level of unironic encouragement.  I just feel like my eyes are rolling so hard they'll fall out.  Its only saving grace is that it’s somehow not the most irritating inspirational ballad from the late 90s that was used in connection with a geek-magnet TV show.

Overall... Although I want to describe the music as being "generic" — and it is full of the tiredest parts of 80s and 90s music, wandering from orchestra hits to record scratch noises to cutesy synthesizer "dings" to what seem to be several different singers' bad Michael Jackson impressions — some of it is actually interesting!  See, no matter what impression you got from what I said above, I don’t categorically hate this style of music.  I made multiple comparisons to songs from Thriller and Bad because I think most of the songs on those albums are examples of how to do this genre very well.  But 2.B.A. Master doesn’t just lag because I’m comparing it to widely-beloved albums.  Writing this review actually sent me introspecting for quite a while about what music I enjoy and why.  And I realized, many of the cheesiest and most flawed aspects of this album are also present on less-acclaimed albums I enjoy very much, like the niche The Golden Age of Wireless by Thomas Dolby and the virtually-unknown Playgrounds ‘n’ Glass by Urban Blight.  But, while Dolby’s music often has the same cheesy synthesizer voices and lack of dynamics or has weirdly melodramatic moments, it’s also often clearly experimenting with particular effects and techniques, and his lyrics have evocative images or stories that make the songs really engaging.  And, while Urban Blight’s lyrics are often cliche-ridden or downright idiotic, the 80s/90s pop music instrumentation and style elements are varied and used with... for lack of a better term, more discretion, I guess?, which makes me feel like their songs are building to something musically.  Well, except the song “Favorite Flavor”, which is just garbage.

The point is, while neither of those examples is a great album (at least not to my taste, which I freely admit colors this), they are both still good.  Unfortunately, while some songs on 2.B.A. Master approach goodness, they are the exception, not the rule.  Most of the music is simple and predictable and seem to use the more grating tropes of the time like orchestra hits and record-scratch noises just because they can, and most of the lyrics are less "song about Pokémon" and more "attempts at being vaguely inspirational with Pokémon references forced in uncomfortably".  Some of the songs are enjoyable in a "this was an earnest attempt” and/or guilty pleasure sort of way (and I unironically like the B-52s, so believe me, I know "this was an earnest attempt” and/or guilty pleasure music), but there’s very little on here I’d actually call good.  The best track here musically, “2B A Master”, is wasted on blah lyrics, and the one that most accomplishes the goal of being a song about Pokémon, “Double Trouble”, suffers greatly from its speaking-over-the-singers vocal performance.  All I can say is, I’m glad I got this album used.

-----

W/A/S Scores: 3/0/7

Weeb: The lyrics require some prior specific knowledge of the Pokémon anime to not be completely baffling, but Pokémon is probably the most well-known and well-entrenched Japanese franchise on this side of the Pacific, and other than that, it’s decidedly American, or at least decidedly within the musical cultures of Western Europe and the Anglosphere.

Ass: No.

Shit: AAAAAAAAH.  Okay, okay, no, seriously, there are a few good points, but it’s at best average-quality 90s pop with a veneer of Pokémon over the top.

-----

Oh Weird: While writing this and hunting down appropriate links, I was surprised to see how many uploads of, and even covers of, songs from this album there are on Youtube.  I assumed this album was a more or less forgotten piece of bad 90s media, but apparently it’s one with a significant fanbase.

Oh Cool: Maddie Blaustein, the original English-language voice actress for Meowth was also a comic editor and writer for both Marvel and DC and the Creative Director for the Weekly World News. Oh, and she was intersex and, according to one of the sources cited by the Wikipedia article, bi.

Oh No: Educational rap is still a thing, and there are resources to make your own.

[sailorstarr-chan4]

Top 40 Anime & Manga -- Part 4  (#10-1)

AND HERE IT IS AT LAST!!!! My personal Top 10 favorite anime & manga series!! As I began posting these lists, I already had my actually ranking sorted out at last, but I took more time aside to add commentary of why I love each series. Hence, there will be a LOT of rambling ahead, per usual, lol. Enjoy!

Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10. Skip-Beat! (manga and anime)

I. DEMAND. A. SECOND. SEASON. AND. MORE!!!!! I’m still angry at this anime for ending the way it did! This anime sorely deserved a second season, especially for ending in such a unresolved manner. At least other anime that were cut short from the manga’s story attempted to resolve the plot in some manner! But other than the ending, this is an excellent rom-com anime and one I feel all anime fans, particularly of that genre, should watch. AND THE MANGA IS AMAZING TOO AND I’M FOLLOWING IT NOW BUT IT’S STILL GOING, GAH!!! The premise? A young girl vows vengeance on her douche of a “boyfriend” when his true colors are revealed. How? By climbing the ranks of stardom and “defeating” his fame by becoming even MORE famous! And the rest is hysterically hilarious madness, mingled with “will they, won’t they” romantic tensions, and genuinely good characterization. Kyoko is probably one of the best heroines in a rom-com anime that I’ve ever seen, and I look forward to see how her story and character progresses in the manga. :)

9. Yuri on Ice (anime)

What’s this? A boys’ love anime where the main couple are in a perfectly loving, healthy relationship? No rapey/assault elements of any kind?? The feeling of love and attraction is completely mutual and consensual??? UNHEARD-OF!!! Okay, okay, you can lower your torches and pitchforks now. I’ve avoided the “yaoi/boys love” genre in manga and anime for years, simply because of the overall infamously unhealthy depictions of the various relationships. But Yuri on Ice is wonderfully refreshing. I also generally avoid sports genres in all media (with one or two exceptions), and YOI is definitely the exception in anime. Yuuri is an professional figure skater, who has almost given up on his career after a particularly bad season. But then, his skating idol and childhood celebrity crush, Victor, comes into his life, as his new coach. And the rest of the series is showcasing the various details of figure skating (and somehow doesn’t bore me to tears!), and we watch as Yuuri and Victor’s relationship blossom into a tender and touching romance. Whether or not we get a second season, this anime gained a huge following and fandom for good reason. Highly recommended, even if the sports genre or “boys love” isn’t your thing. This may be the exception for you as it was for me. 

8. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (manga)

This is one of the most gorgeous manga series I ever had the privilege to read. CLAMP’s art is truly something to behold and is half of the enjoyment, but the story of Tsubasa is even more amazing: dimension/time travel, various intricately detailed worlds, magical feathers that must be collected to both return a girl’s memories and to stop the magical mayhem, and tons of characters, parallel versions, etc. If this series was somehow translated into book form by some amazing fantasy writer and I stumbled upon it as a teen, I would have devoured it from cover to cover. Though, I’m glad I didn’t get into the manga until my 20′s; I feel like my teenage self would have been overwhelmed! This is one of the most mind-blowing series out there, with the sort of twists and layers that will make your head spin and still.... strangely, make sense and connect everything together. It’s hard to go on and on about the series without giving away major spoilers, so I’ll leave it at: it’s gorgeous, fantastical, mind-blowing, and amazing, and I HIGHLY recommend reading the manga. Also, while I wanna watch the anime just sate my curiosity, I wouldn’t recommend it first. Manga first. Anime either next or never, depending on who you are. ^^”

7. Cowboy Bebop (anime)

Still the greatest anime of all time, and certainly the best I’ve ever seen. Though the next titles are “nearer and dearer to my heart,” I cannot deny how much I love and highly recommend this incredible series. Unlike most of my favorites, this is a very episodic show, with seemingly little to no connection from each one, until you watch the whole thing. And recognize the hints along the way. And suddenly you’re hit with all the feels. It’s essentially about a ragtag group of bounty hunters, trying to make a living by capturing criminals, and still struggle to get by. Every character has a backstory, and though life has hardened them, they still feel human and vulnerable in almost every episode. This is what I like to call the “wine” of anime: for adults, perhaps not to everyone’s taste, but still highly praised and recognized for its influence. Even if you enjoyed it as a teen, try it again as an adult, and see how much more the themes hit you in the gut. Whether you find the series inspiring or depressing, it’s still an incredible work of art and one I cannot recommend enough. It’s always my “to go” anime to recommend, especially to long time fans who never got around to it. Oh and only watch it in English, cuz the dub is what all dubs strive to be: absolutely pitch perfect.

6. FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (manga and anime)

This is the anime that drove me to make these lists, because while watching it, I knew it was forever cemented as a favorite of mine. But the journey to finish it was a long one. Several years ago, I attempted to watch the 2003 original anime, but came to a screeching halt after episode 7..... fans of the series, you know EXACTLY the one... For the next couple years, the title remained one that I wanted to return to, and yet couldn’t. Similar to Attack on Titan, it shook me to my core, though for very different reasons. Titan shook me due to my fear of gore and horror; FMA shook me emotionally and psychologically. Then, I came across the manga, and decided to follow in the footsteps of how I handled Titan: manga first, then anime. So I did. And fell in love. Shortly after finishing the manga, stunned and amazed that it took me so long to get to it, I slowly inched into Brotherhood, deciding that I’ll be more emotionally prepared because I know the story now. But I still skipped that ONE episode the moment I saw its description on Crunchyroll, this time at episode 4... When I finally devoured the rest of the anime last spring, I fully comprehended the depths and power of FullMetal Alchemist, as a story, an anime, and the writing/characterization. This is one of the most well-written series, in any media, I’ve ever had the privilege to experience. Cannot recommend it enough. Just beware: if you get squeamish over children being harmed....... just be prepared. >.>” Still an amazing show. One of the best out there. 

5. Clannad & Clannad: After Story (anime)

My personal favorite romantic drama anime (with comedic elements). And quite possibly, my favorite love story in any anime, let alone other media. It starts off as your typical High School Drama™, with an angsty teenage boy named Tomoya who feels like life is pointless, until he meets a literal ray of sunshine named Nagisa who brings color into his bleak world. This series inspires me and fulfills me and makes me cry like a baby every single time I rewatch it. Though it resembles a harem, don’t be fooled: the harem aspect only exists in the first season and only a distant kind of way. Tomoya has eyes for only one girl, and that is Nagisa (I’m sorry, but I refuse to count that as a spoiler, cuz it’s so fucking obvious) and they are MY FOREVER OTP AND ARE TOO PRECIOUS AND PURE FOR THIS WORLD AND DESERVE ALL THE HAPPINESS AND PEACE IN THE WORLD, GODDAMMIT!!! This is a romance anime I will always recommend, because even though it might break you, it will also heal you and make you believe in true love and it’s JUST SO PRECIOUS TO ME, OKAY??? *gross sobbing for all eternity* 

4. Ouran HighSchool Host Club (anime and manga)

This is my personal favorite romantic comedy anime of all time, and, by default, favorite harem. As much as I love Skip-Beat, Kiss Him, Not Me!, and Maid-Sama!, Ouran has latched onto my heart in a way none of the other rom-coms ever can. And even though it was hilarious to me when I first watched it, I think older anime fans will appreciate it more, as I did as I grew older. Ouran went from a batshit crazy anime that made me laugh excessively, to a damn piece of genius that pokes fun at every shoujo romance trope, and still pays homage to the genre by being one of the best out there. This is a rare anime where I can watch any random episode and still thoroughly enjoy myself, laugh hysterically, and fall in love with the main cast all over again. In this show, Haruhi accidentally breaks an expensive vase at the Host Club and thus is coerced into working off her debt by working as a Host herself... by pretending to be a boy! What follows is a series of shenanigans, and heartwarming moments, and is a series I will forever love. (Oh and I prefer the anime over the manga. The manga is very sweet and I’m glad I read it, but the anime entertains me more and is one I can watch again and again and still feel refreshed and content. ^_^)

3. Yu Yu Hakusho (anime)

This series is criminally underrated. Oh, it has its fanbase and is critically acclaimed, but it horribly overshadowed by the Big Brother™ Dragon Ball franchise. YYH is one of the best battle shounen series I’ve ever watched, mainly because there’s NOT A SINGLE FILLER. Yep. 112 episodes, and every single one is important to the plot, characters, and motivations. At most, particularly during the Tournament Arc, some battles are dragged out a bit, but no more than 2 or 3 episodes at a time. Not to mention, this anime has one of the BEST “introduction to the main character” opening episodes EVER. Yusuke is a loudmouth, trouble-making delinquent who shocks everyone when he sacrifices his life to save a little boy from being hit by a car. The afterlife is so stunned by the turn of events, that they offer Yusuke a deal: to return back to life, and in exchange, work for them as a Spirit Detective. And so he spends much of the series battling demons and evil humans to protect the world and his loved ones, gaining forever friends along the way and growing and maturing as a hero and a fighter. Words cannot express how much I adore this amazing and underrated series. If you like battles and great humor and interesting characters, please, I implore you to watch this series. It’s such a fun ride and one I love to re-experience over and over again. 

2. Vampire Knight (manga and anime)

*SQUEEEEEE* HERE IT IS!!! MY FAVORITE MANGA SERIES OF ALL TIME!!! This was my very first exposure to the world of manga, and technically the first anime I watched, and therefore provided me several other “firsts”: my first manga obsession that I “followed” (when my friend got me into it, there were only 6 volumes, out of the eventual 19), first manga/anime heartthrob (ZERO KIRYU IS MY BABY <3<3<3), and, of course, first manga/anime OTP (ZEROXYUKI FOREVER!!!! AND IT’S CANON NOW, BITCHES!!!!). Oh, the series is definitely flawed though. Soooooooo flawed. It’s basically High School Vampires, the Soap Opera™, and I lap it up like a cat drinking milk. Yuki Cross is an Ordinary Human Girl™, who’s madly in love with the hot vampire, Kaname, who saved her life when she woke up in a world with no memories of her past. And Zero is her childhood friend, with whom she works to keep the peace at their academy, so that vampires and humans may coexist together (though of course, most of the humans are completely oblivious that the hot “Night Class” students are, in fact, vampires. DUN DUN DUNNNN). This is basically a love-triangle, centered around vampire action and drama and angst (ALLLLLLLLL OF THE ANGST), and I loved every second of it! Though I could write a freaking essay on the love triangle and why YukixKaname are awful and YukixZero are perfect, but, hey, I already kinda did that in blog entries, lol. I only recommend this if you’re a sucker for hot vampire romances, with a bucket load of angst and a ton of convoluted plot threads. 

1. Inuyasha (manga and anime)

Welp. This should come as a surprise to no one who follows me. Like. I mean. Not only in this blog like mostly Inuyasha related posts, but I literally started writing fanfiction specifically for the Inuyasha fandom! Both the manga and anime are great in their own ways, though the manga has the stronger writing and characterization. Even though it’s not my first anime or manga, it’s certainly among the earlier titles and one that has latched onto my heart like no other. The more I watched other anime titles, the more flawed and even silly Inuyasha seemed by comparison, and yet I still enjoy watching it and reading the manga. Not to mention, I’ve read and loved literally hundreds on Inuyasha fics, sooooo.... This is definitely a great “gateway” anime for new fans. The story is simple yet engaging, the characters are relatable, and the action and humor are a lot of fun to watch. 

I’m not sure what else to say, cuz pretty much 90% of my followers are mega huge Inuyasha fans like me, but for those of you reading and are on the fence, here’s the basic premise: there’s a powerful Jewel that is basically like The One Ring™ where it bestows a lot of power, but causes a lot of evil and terrible shit to happen. A half demon and a priestess fall in love and are tricked into betraying one another, resulting in the half demon being pinned to a tree and sleeping for 50 years and the priestess to die. A modern day girl travels back in time and releases the half demon from his spell. Then, she accidentally shatters the Jewel. Well, shit. Time to collect all the shards! Lots of demon slaying and friendship bonding ahead and annoying villain escapes ahead! Oh, and the ENTIRE plot is caused by one douchebag who couldn’t get laid, so there’s that. Highly recommended, if only to enjoy a silly but heartwarming anime classic that has a huge fandom that continues to grow and flourish even to this day. 

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 12/1/20

Cutie and the Beast, Vol. 1 | By Yuhi Azumi| Seven Seas – This looked cute, and gave off a very My Love Story!! vibe, but I was wary of the fact that one of the leads is in his late twenties and the other is a senior in high school. That said, unlike a lot of other romance titles from Japan that adore this sort of couple, the manga makes their age difference the main conflict. He’s a famous pro wrestler, and getting involved with a girl her age, even if she is eighteen, would be career-killing. On the other hand… these two have fallen hard for each other almost at first sight, and can’t stop texting, calling, meeting up, etc. Now, how this will play out I’m not sure. Pretty sure they’ll get together, but I bet his career does take a big hit. Nice to see the manga address it, though. – Sean Gaffney

How Do We Relationship?, Vol. 1 | By Tamifull | Viz Media – “Opposites attract” is a common enough trope, but it is utilized to great effect and with notable complexity in How Do We Relationship?. The manga follows two young women in college as they begin dating each other—the somewhat shy and innocent Miwa and the much more boisterous and experienced Saeko. Navigating a new relationship is rarely easy and a romance between two women has additional sets of challenges, as Saeko in particular is very aware. While Miwa and Saeko’s deepening feelings are obviously core to the story, their relationships with friends and classmates play critical roles as well. One of the things that impressed me the most about the first volume of How Do We Relationship? was just how believable and realistic all of these different relationships were. The characterization of the leads is wonderfully nuanced, too. I’m really looking forward to reading more of the series. – Ash Brown

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 9 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Most of this Komi volume revolves around Valentine’s Day, which as always presents the author with a conundrum: how do I make them give chocolates and be the cutest couple ever without actually making them a couple or having them confess? Rest assured, though, fans of Komi and Tadano will find endless scenes to love here. My favorite may be Tadano’s sister trying to get him to admit his feelings, then being rather annoyed when he actually comes close to doing so. Fortunately, as the title suggests, Komi is not very good at communicating, so things stay the same for now. Still, I suspect we need something to shake things up. Perhaps a new love interest could magically arrive soon? – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 25 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Shigaraki’s backstory is as terrifying and traumatic as you might imagine—let’s just say the hands he wears aren’t just for show. So it’s back to our heroes, who are practicing how to do hero interviews (Midoriya’s goes as badly as you’d expect) and also preparing for the next round of internships. Oh yes, and celebrating Christmas, which is adorable and also has Eri Santa. As for internships, Nighteye is dead and his agency is too busy to take him in, and Best Jeanist is missing, so Bakugou’s in limbo as well. Todoroki suggests an obvious idea: all three of them could intern with the best dad ever. All of this is clearly setting up a huge battle in the upcoming books, but it’s fun to see. – Sean Gaffney

Ossan Idol!, Vol. 1 | By Ichika Kino and Mochiko Mochida | TOKYOPOP – Adapted from a light novel, Ossan Idol! is the story of Miroku Osaki, a virginal, pure of heart, and unemployed 36-year-old who has spent the last decade as a shut-in. He’s always been overweight, but once he discovers a love of dance, he starts training at a gym with Yoichi Kisaragi, who was once overweight himself. Soon, Miroku is buff, handsome, and charming and the karaoke video he accidentally uploads to the internet becomes a viral sensation. The volume concludes with a famous producer declaring he’ll turn Miroku into an idol, and not just him but Yoichi (41) and dancer pal Shiju (40), too. All in all, this is a pleasing bit of fluff that I don’t have a lot to say about either positively or negatively. I will probably check out volume two, at least, to see where the story goes. – Michelle Smith

Sadako at the End of the World | By Koma Natsumi and Koji Suzuki | Yen Press – The premise of this one-volume manga—What if the girl from The Ring ended up in a post-apocalyptic world?—made me wonder if it would be horror or melancholic like Girls’ Last Tour. It’s pretty much both. Sadako, particularly once the artist gives her a tablet to communicate with, is not as scary here, and the girls she’s with are an innocent delight. But as they meet the few remaining people in this world along the way, there’s a definite sense she’s also going back and doing what she does best to each of them. The ending tries for sort of a fourth-wall-breaking thing but I think it was simply there as the author wasn’t sure how to end it after the cast was gone. A good read overall, though. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 13 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media After reading my brief of the last volume, I feel a need to eat my words. The combination of this new volume and the currently running anime have made me realize: yes, there is real character development here. Syalis at the start of the series was a gag character who would murder at the drop of a hat. Here, while she’s still extremely flaky, she’s doing her best to unite humans and demons, even if this means completing all the Demon Lord’s paperwork—in ONE DAY. Even better, when the Cleric waffles on about his feelings for her and the reason he ran away from the castle, Syalis points out something: who she likes is her own decision. Our Sleepy Princess is all grown up! – Sean Gaffney

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 4 | By Kintetsu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – There’s a chapter of sex here, in case you were looking for that, but for the most part this series would rather deal with the sweet tensions of a young couple in love trying to negotiate how to do that and still be attentive to the other partner’s needs. Their couple-ness is now generally known to the office, though we have not quite told the parents yet—I suspect that will be next book. More importantly, they are talking about moving in together, something that requires charts and sticky notes, because these two are organized and also adorable. And they are also still very much desiring each other as well—the sex here is hot. One of the best romance mangas to come out in 2020. – Sean Gaffney

What the Font?! – A Manga Guide to Western Typeface | By Kuniichi Ashiya| Seven Seas – This is pretty much exactly what you’d expect. A young woman is told to layout a presentation, but has never done this before. While studying Western fonts, she falls asleep… and meets personifications of many of them, both Serif and Sans. Each font has a personality, they talk about themselves and their history, and then we move on. If you’re expecting Hetalia antics, look elsewhere—there’s no plot to speak of, and the fonts are not the most riveting characters. If you do want to learn about the differences between Western typefaces, though, this is a good enough guide for you, though I suspect it works even better in Japanese. – Sean Gaffney

Whisper Me a Love Song, Vol. 1 | By Eku Takeshima | Kodansha Comics – The cover of this volume is quite striking, and it led me to believe that this would be somehow different from your standard “high school girls in love” story. Unfortunately, it really isn’t. Yori Asanagi is a talented singer who fills in with the light music club band for a performance at the entrance ceremony Himari Kino is attending. Himari promptly informs Yori she’s fallen for her at first sight and Yori believes she means it romantically (instead of merely as a fan), and instantly falls in love herself. Characterizations here are shallow, particularly for Yori’s would-be bandmates, and there’s just not much going on that’s especially interesting. The one exception is that Himari’s enthusiastic appreciation for Yori’s singing is seemingly helping her to overcome some confidence issues. I’ll give this one more volume, I think, to see how it develops. – Michelle Smith

You Are My Princess | By Hiroto Kujirada | Futekiya (digital only) – Itsumi Tachibana is a scary-looking guy who secretly loves kitties. He’s surprised when the princely student council president, Seima Takajo, confesses romantic feelings for him, and suspects he’s being made fun of. After spending more time with Takajo, however, and realizing he’s the only one Takajo allows himself to be unguarded around, Itsumi’s feelings change. Plot-wise, You Are My Princess isn’t terribly unique. The guys get together, they have sex in the final chapter, the end. What makes it special, though, is Kujirada-sensei’s clean and expressive artwork, the nonverbal storytelling, and the little moments in which Takajo drops the facade and reveals real vulnerability. And also kitties. In the end, I enjoyed this cute story and look forward to more by this creator! – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

[awkwardanime]

Awkward Anime Episode 12: The Wind Rises

As I pressed play and the Ghibli logo met my eyes again, I knew that the following 2+ hours would have me immersed and hypnotised no matter what story would be told. Those feelings of wonder and curiosity, once the movie had ended, turned into the same thought that always goes through my mind after witnessing a Hayao Miyazaki film: “He’s not a bad at making films is he?” but also how the greatest Director in the world yet again shows his principles of life through storied complexities within simplicity.

I have simply run out of words to describe the art that Studio Ghibli produces every few years. In what was supposedly another “last hurrah” for Mr. Hayao Miyazaki, the highly acclaimed Director decided to take a different path creatively in 2013 with the release of The Wind Rises. As a hobby, Miyazaki loves to draw Manga for magazines, and his 2009 publication was deemed to be interesting enough to be adapted into a movie by his producer Mr Suzuki who constantly asked him:

“Why don’t you make a movie about this?”

The story of that particular 9 chapter Manga series in 2009 followed the career and dreams of one Jiro Horikoshi, whose love for the elegance of flight leads him to a non-stop working frenzy to create the perfect airplane… the Mitsubishi A5M. This story is actually a fictionalised biography of the man with the same name who did indeed design the most famous Mitsubishi planes back during the days of World War II. The story was also loosely based off the famous short story by Hori Tatsuo in 1937 titled The Wind has Risen.

“From the tragedy they experienced, these two people, as I continued to look at them, became the one protagonist in my film”

Funnily enough, the man himself was reluctant to adapt his manga into a feature length Animation as he originally believed it would be a huge gamble due to his adamant stance on how Animation should always be created to expand the minds of children and let their curiosity shine. It’s definitely clear to see why he had doubts about making this film, with political and ethical issues being raised by the movie. In fact, after the release in 2013, many of the Japanese political groups alongside the Japan society for Tobacco control criticised and accused Miyazaki about his decision to make his main protagonist a warplane engineer. With this fear, he even jokingly said to his staff that “Somehow, we are digging our own graves in a way by creating this film.”

The were many challenges that arose during the making of this film, as the Staff at the Studio were young and so they had to be taught about the small intricacies of the time period.

“How to sit on a Tatatami…How to walk in a Kimono. We all needed to learn once again the details of this way of life.”

Never can it be overlooked with a Ghibli film, and yet again this 2 hour story is filled with absolutely stunning animation. I found myself mesmerised by the artwork, notably how my eyes were made to believe the wind rose and ran across the fields as the love interest Nahoko Satomi brushed across her canvas. Throughout this movie, I constantly got goosebumps. I was drawn into the art and more importantly, the life of this young man who was simply trying to design and create the perfect plane.

The audience knew that it was to be used for War, and so did the main character Jiro Horikoshi. Yet, that never crossed his mind… how his beautiful creations would be torn down in seconds by the “enemy”, Jiro simply loved his dreams of the “perfect plane” dancing across the horizon as the wind followed suit. This indeed is a simple story. Filled with deep issues. Who is in the right here? Is there a right or wrong here? These are the questions that Mr. Miyazaki purposely raised to the viewers by creating this story. The animator-turned-Director principles within his films are to show a plot that is never one dimensional. Life is never straight forward, and nor should it be.

“Things are way more difficult and complex. History is as well. We can’t easily just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to how we look at things.”

The life that popped out at me during the dream sequences were so fulfilling. Colours of green and blue, as the planes filled with ecstatic relatives gained momentum and flew, showed how wonderful life can be if you believe in something. To oppose that image of life bursting in colour, we saw the dark and dreary consequences of a disaster as an Earthquake along with the effects of War shattered the landscape of Japan. For me, the 5 seconds that warmed my heart was as Jiro was tending to the young Nahoko and her friend, he put his suitcase down and simply opened it up. The clothes puffed up and rose to the top. In this scene, I could almost see the suitcase being alive. Finally it could breathe again. I can’t get those 5 seconds out of my head.

A lot has to be said about the beautiful animation, so of course it is truly heart-warming that Miyazaki constantly praises his Staff at Studio Ghibli repeatedly stating about what gives him most satisfaction during the production of a film:

“I am most satisfied when my staff does good work. When one image or one scene that they draw is well done, I’m very happy”

Even though most of his highly grossed creations came in the past 2 decades, Hayao Miyazaki actually had already completed his dreams in animation by the time he was 40. After this time, once his ideas had all been brought to fruition, his biggest challenge was to keep creating new intriguing films. Remarkably, he had no idea what he was going to create in these past 20+ years, yet he still took that step to do so, truly letting his passion for creating, much like Jiro, never stop rising. To describe his creative mind to seek out new themes, he says “It was like walking into a dark room, not knowing where to go”

“Don’t follow the path of just one person. Strive to find your own path”

This film epitomises what many love about Hayao Miyazaki. The themes he chooses are not ordinary, you would not see many hit these topics, all the while giving you an intriguing and emotional story yet somehow making it seem “simple”. The Wind Rises is a movie that grabbed me instantly, with the inspirational outlook on life and the ever present green scenery that had me having to pick my jaw up off the floor numerous times, it is without a doubt an instant classic. I almost feel like it was made 20 years ago, it has that feeling to it. It was made just a few years ago, which shows how we as people can look back at history and not make assumptions, as well as taking this message into the future to see the world as what it is, and to get in your plane as you rise with the wind.

“ Le vent se lève! … il faut tenter de vivre!”

Please share if you enjoyed this analysis and remember to eat those tiny trees!

Check out previous Eps:

Ep 11 - The Secret World of Arrietty

Ep 10 - Tokyo Godfathers

Ep 9 - Garden of Words

Ep 8 - Kimi No Na Wa

Ep 7 - The Boy and the Beast

Ep 6.2 - Fading innocence of Ame

Ep 6.1 - Wolf Children Poster

Ep 5 - My Neighbor Totoro

Ep 4 - Summer Wars

Ep 3 - Spirited Away

Ep 2 - Koe no Katachi