#saitou rei

[traceofexistence]

this is so flipping cute

setsuna mama, and hotaru

Karin who played Hotaru in the new seramyu

and Saitou Rei who was the very first seramyu Pluto

meet in a play together that has nothing to do with sailor moon

and Karin decided to take a seramyu pose with her :D

tagged as "puusata"

[astromegastar26]

[CLEAN INSTRUMENTAL] Sera Myu - Stay Alone (1994/1995 Ver.)

[landofanimes]

ANZA ∞ Akiko Kosaka - The Day The Future Becomes the Past -

September 24, 2023

The newest reunion concert of Bandai Sailor Moon musical cast members had two performances, and Kosaka disclosed the setlist!

The event featured, among other things, 2 songs written by Sanae Kimura and composed by Kosaka, one in each performance. Nao Takagi only featured in the Nighttime show, so the setlist has 2 extra myu songs.

SETLIST

Densetsu Seitan ~A Cappella~

[ Non-myu songs ]

Kanata e, by Anza

Anata, by Akiko Kosaka

Hitori Janaino...

Lai Lala Blue Moon, by Kosaka

Forever

3 People [Daytime] / EMPTY HEART [Nighttime], both by Sanae and Kosaka

[ Back to myu - Daytime ]

Fukkatsu! Crisis Yurusumaji

Stay Alone

Chou Bi! Uranus to Neptune

Over The Moon

Onna no Ronsou

La Soldier

Kokoro Tabanete Makin' For the Right

Minna Dareka ni Aisarete

[ Back to myu - Nighttime ]

Fukkatsu! Crisis Yurusumaji

Harsh! Saint Cry!! [only at Night]

Destined Couple [only at Night]

Stay Alone

Kokoro Tabanete Makin' For the Right

Chou Bi! Uranus to Neptune

Over The Moon

Onna no Ronsou

La Soldier

Minna Dareka ni Aisarete

[ Non-myu ]

Amazing Grace

Horohoro no Kaze, by Kosaka

Tsubasa, by Anza

[ Back to myu ]

Moon Revenge

Densetsu Seitan

And apparently a mysterious encore? Does anyone know what was it? (or is Secret the name of the song?)

A lot of non-seramyu songs in this one - like, nearly half the list! To be fair this and Legend Forever are Anza and Akiko's collabs which feature myu guests, and this one doesn't have as many guests, hence the music choices and balance, but anyway... I found some of the titles among Kosaka's or Anza's music so I figured that's what they are.

Anyway, as usual here's the Youtube ♪ Playlist ♪ I made for it!

[real-life-senshi]

PGSM Reinako things I want to yell about, in no particular order (7/∞)

This is actually THE ONE THING that made me start this series of gif set, but it took me forever to put my thoughts into words. But it's finally here and I'm SO EXCITED to talk about it!

Fair warning - this is an essay.

Across the years I've seen many Reinako shippers used Rei following Minako around in Act 19/20 and Act 23 in the live action as proof that Rei has feelings for Minako. While I don't disagree, I do feel Rei being the one to seek Minako out was circumstantial and justifiable because Rei was literally the only Senshi then that knew Minako was Venus. Instead, there was something else both Rei and Minako consistently do to each other for the entirety of the series that I felt had more impact to the narrative of their story, but often get overlooked and not talked about enough, and that’s Minako's act of walking away and Rei's act of staying behind.

The significance of Minako walking away: Walking away or pulling a disappearing act is one of the most common thing we see Minako do, not only to Rei, but with everyone else. (E.g. Such as V walking out on Moon in Act 7, Minako disappearing on Saitou for Senshi business.) It's a recurring theme to help build the impression of elusiveness and secrecy that surrounds Minako's character. But more deeply, the act of walking away is also a device to represent the main issue Minako needed to overcome in her character arc - in prioritizing the past life mission, she was running away from what's most important, herself as Aino Minako. Her Senshi power literally woke after she accepted herself and chose to face the challenge Aino Minako faces, instead of only focusing on the challenges of Sailor Venus.

Now this in itself seems like it's really just a Minako thing, right? Where does Rei fit in?

The significance of Rei's act of staying: PGSM Minako is the the queen of the hot-and-cold behaviour, especially when she's with Rei. And her signature "cold" gesture is walking out on Rei. In fact, as you can see from this gif set, I've counted 14 times where Minako had walked out on Rei on screen in the series, and 4 other times she attempted to walk away but was stopped. Even for the normal person, you'd think when someone keeps pissing you off and runs out on you, your patience would be spent and just give up on them, right?

Now, PGSM Rei is written as the awkward, stubborn and easy to anger teenager. And don't forget, with Rei's backstory fleshed out as much as it did in PGSM, it's basically confirmed that Rei suffered badly from parental abandonment, so it's not much of a reach to interpret Rei's trust issue to be born from acts of someone she cares leaving her behind or showing rejection. And so it should reason that Rei would be doubly pissed off at Minako's seemingly flippant and callous behaviour, and couldn't wait to pass Minako off to Makoto and Ami to deal with once they know Minako is Venus, right?

But no, Rei stayed, every single time.

Despite all the crap Minako threw at Rei and repeatedly rejected Rei's support, Rei didn't react with her usual knee-jerk reactions. This, more than anything else, proves to me that Rei sees Minako as someone special - someone she could not and would not turn away from, even when Minako keeps pushing her away.

These actions forms a very beautiful, and dare I say, romantic narrative to their shared story. Here's why.

PGSM has established that all along Minako had made the conscious decision to not get deeply involved with her teammates for fear she'll end up hurting them when her illness inevitably takes her. In doing so, she boxed herself into a self-imposed isolation as her health worsens and things get tougher.

And yet in Act 11 and Act 17 when Minako met Usagi and then Rei, the narrative revealed to us that loneliness does unsurprisingly overwhelm Minako from time to time. This changed partially though when she accidentally revealed her identity to Rei. In doing so, she gave herself the choice and space to be outspoken with someone who is (at least partially) in-the-know besides Artemis. The fact Minako repeatedly approached Rei in Act 18 was evidence she actually craved the contact when she lets her guard down, to the point even Artemis had to call her out on it. And so, in moments of clarity, we see Minako try to backtrack by pushing Rei away, ie walking out on Rei. The cycle persists, where Minako's behaviour fluctuates depending on her state of mind, her backstory sadly but logically explains Minako's sometimes seemingly-random hot and cold attitude towards Rei.

In contrast to Minako's unreliable and mixed signals, Rei was the definition of stability and certainty in this relationship. Yes, Rei had indeed followed Minako around a few times, but more than that, Rei stayed and was consistently there, waiting to be available for Minako even when Minako didn't want Rei to be. Rei knows when to initiate contact (chase after Minako), but also knows to not push Minako too much too soon, choosing to stay put when Minako is actively pulling back. She lets Minako go most times when Minako walks away, as if patiently waiting to try again another day, hoping the next time will be enough to fully bring Minako's walls down. Rei knew she was in it for the long haul, not for momentary wins.

This back and forth dynamic is a persistent theme in their relationship. It can be perceived that Rei's tenacity and relentless efforts had managed to wore Minako's guard down slowly but surely throughout the series.

Act 20: Minako finally shared Rei was meant to be leader, hinting Rei needs to step in when she’s gone.

Act 36: Minako chose to disclosed the truth about her terminal illness to Rei.

It was only after Act 36, we see Rei being even more persistent and takes drastic measures in attempt to get through to Minako, because Rei realized they were out of time. But even then, their dynamic didn’t really change - Minako being the runner and Rei being the person left waiting, until…

The times their role reversed, the other AMAZING thing about all of this!

Minako walking away and Rei staying is THEIR thing. But has Rei ever walked out on Minako? The answer is yes. But only 2 times! And both times it had significant impact on Minako.

The first time was when Rei ran out to fight the Youma, and that led to Minako being overly worried and end up accidentally revealing her Senshi identity to Rei.

The second time was when Minako finally pushed Rei so much in front of the team, Rei pulled back and walked out in Act 44, reversing their usual roles. And you can tell from Minako's reaction she looked lost and conflicted as she watched Rei leave. Here was someone who had been a rock and pillar of care and support to her, now seemingly giving up on her because she finally shoved too hard. Between Makoto's near miss in Act 45 and the fact that Rei actually walked out on Minako in Act 44, Minako was shocked enough for her to finally listen and process what Rei's been telling her all this time. This ultimately lead to the resolution of Minako's character arc in Act 46.

In conclusion, their action forms a pattern to their story and deepens the meaning behind their choice to follow, stay or walk away from each other. When the pattern is disrupted it adds complexity of their story! Seriously, it feels like Rei's actions was catalyst of Minako's major character story development! Just as many of Minako's story influenced Rei's outlook on their mission and the past life (another post to come!), Rei's action had just as much influence on Minako's eventual character growth. If that doesn't prove these two are special to each other, I don't know what else to say!

Now - you'd think I'm done with my soapbox, right? NOPE. I've only finished talking about how these actions form patterns and the significance in their story. But the visual and filming appraoch of each of these scenes are also very telling. VERY.

Each time Minako walked away, it is intentional that Rei's reaction get highlighted on camera, even in group scenes. As well, we also get really telling reactions from Minako when Rei walks out on her. And that's regardless of which director led the filming.

Sato Takemitsu - Act 17, 18, 23

Takamaru Masataka - Act 20, 26

Maihara Kenzo - Act 40

Suzumura Nobuhiro - Act 43, 44, 47

It suggests either the script writer Kobayashi Yasuko intentionally scripted for Rei and Minako to have the spotlight for reacting to each other's action so all the directors received the same fucking memo about them. OR, even better, it wasn't part of the camera/filming direction, but all the directors have arrived to the same conclusion after reading the script and decided to put the spotlight on these two no matter which episodes they worked on, because the unresolved sexual tension was clear as day for them to see.

And especially Keiko did amazingly on her part portraying Rei’s attraction towards Minako. Regardless if it's a group scene or not, Rei/Mars always had the most expressive and meaningful look on her face when Minako/Venus walks out. Even in Act 22 when Mars was just in the background with Jupiter, you can tell Mars’s eyes and body following Venus’s direction while Jupiter just stands flatly.

Rei/Mars' reaction to Minako/Venus leaving also changes across the series. From frustration/irritation, to hopeful yearning, ending with worried yearning. A reflection of Rei's feelings for Minako, from seeing her an annoying brat of a Princess, to respecting Minako as a mentor, to caring for her as a friend (and maybe more).

And look at this shit!!!!!!!!

Act 20 and 26 were done by the same director. The two scenes are basically parallel to each other visually and artistically, which is also so layered when juxtaposed to the plot point:

Act 20: Minako tells Rei that Rei's meant to be leader, and Rei follows Minako wanting to learn more while expressing concern for her Princess's well being and safety.

Act 26: Mars grown enough to start taking on the leadership, and follows Venus in attempt to invite Venus to integrate with the team now Venus no longer need to play decoy, only for Venus to turn around and claims she's actually the leader and Mars is the substitute.

Lastly, the most beautiful yet absolute worst visual the PGSM directors gave us:

Even the imagery of Minako's passing just as Mars breaks down was of Minako walking away, leaving Rei behind. That shit can't be made up. If the imagery was coincidental, well, that's one hell of a coincidence.

These factors all lead to me concluding PGSM had very intentionally used the acts of walking away and staying behind as recurring theme in Reinako's relationship. The length they went to do this and the tragically beautiful story it gave us forms a much more compelling reason for audience to ship Reinako. In fact, this is the very primary reason why I fell in love shipping them in PGSM.

[shiroasada]

All Sailor Pluto Actresses in Sera Myu

Over the past 30 years, 10 actresses have played Setsuna Meiou/Sailor Pluto.

Bandai Myu:

Fun Fact: In Usagi Ai no Senshi e no Michi Sailor Pluto appeared as a silhouette, but it was the Sailor Jupiter actress holding the Garnet Rod.

Miwa Hosoki (1994 - 1995) appears in only Musical but don't recorded.

Henshin - Super Senshi e no Michi

Rei Saitou (1995 - 1998) appears in 8 Musicals, two of them not recorded. She is the second longest Sailor Pluto actress.

Henshin - Super Senshi e no Michi (Kaiteiban, not recorded)

Yume Senshi - Ai - Eien ni

Yume Senshi - Ai - Eien ni...Saturn Fukkatsu Hen

Special Musical Show (not recorded, exist only fan recordings)

Sailor Stars

Sailor Stars (Kaiteiban)

Eien Densetsu

Eien Densetsu (Kaiteiban) - The Final First Stage

Yuki Kamiya (1998) appears in only Musical. (It's a pity she doesn't stay longer) Yuki is a formerly Takazuka.

Shin Densetsu Kourin

Seiko Nakazawa (1999) appears in two Musicals

Kaguya Shima Densetsu

Kaguya Shima Densetsu (Kaiteiban) Natsuyasumi! Houseki Tankentai

Teruyo Watanabe (2000) appears in only Musical

Shin/ Henshin Super Senshi e no Michi - Last Dracul Jokyoku

Yuuko Hosaka (2000 - 2004) appears in 10 Musicals. Yuuko is the longest Sailor Pluto actress. She is the only Pluto who sings the image song "Forbidden Hades". She is very close with Marinamoon. Some other actors called her "mother" in reference to her role.

Kessen/Transylvania no Mori - Shin Toujo! Chibi Moon wo Mamoru Senshi-tachi

Kessen/Transylvania no Mori (Kaiteiban) Saikyou no Kataki Dark Cain no Nazo

Last Dracul Saishuu Shou - Chou Wakusei Death Vulcan no Fuuin

Tanjou! Ankoku no Princess Black Lady

Tanjou! Ankoku no Princess Black Lady (Kaiteiban) - Wakusei Nemesis no Nazo

10th Anniversary Festival - Ai no Sanctuary

Mugen Gakuen - Misstress Labyrinth

Mugen Gakuen - Misstress Labyrinth (Kaiteiban)

Starlight - Ryuusei Densetsu

Kakyuu - Ouhi Kourin - The Second Stage Final

Yukiko Nakae (2004) now know Yuki Nakae appears in only Musical

Shin Kaguya Shima Densetsu

Miho Yokoi (2005) appear in only Musical. Miho is the last Bandai Sailor Pluto actress.

Shin Kaguya Shima Densetsu (Kaiteiban) - Marinamoon Final

New Myu:

Mikako Ishii (2014 - 2017 as Sailor Pluto) (as Tuxedo Mask 2018 - 2019) appears in 4 Musicals (I know I already talked about her as Tuxedo Mask but whatever. I really like her so I'd like to say it again.) She is the third longest Sailor Pluto. She sing the Image song "Chronos Guadian". She was the first Pluto with green hair. Mikako is a fashion model and appeared in several anime musicals/ play/stage since 2014, such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Doremi and Lycoris Recoil.

Petite Éstrangère

Un Nouveau Voyage

Amour Eternal

Le Mouvement Final

Chisato Minami (2021 - 2022) appears in 2 Musical Chisato was a member & leader of the Idol Group "Idol College" until 2024.

Kaguya-hime no Koibito

30th Anniversary Musical Festival - Chronicle

DISCLAIMER: Of course, I don't have any rights to Sailor Moon. These belong to Kodansha, Bandai Visual, Bandai, Nelke Planning, Toei Animation, PNP and especially to the creator Naoko Takeuchi.

[anitrendz]

Top 10 Anime Best Boy Winter Week 10

Bell reaches number 1 for the first time this season! Heard that Danmachi has been insanely good for this season in particular. Our Buddy Daddies, Rei and Kazuki, reenter Top 10 at 4 and 5th place. Those two literally can't live apart from each other - even on the charts, they're always right next to each other without fail. While the majority of characters went down, Saitou, from a little known isekai anime, went up and deservedly so. His anime is charming and more people should check it out!

While Top Anime is on break for one week due to Last Week Advantage, the characters and couples chart will continue, so make sure you continue voting at anitrendz.com/polls!

[ciaossu-imagines]

Hello there! For the mini event may you please do gintama with the au avatar the last airbender, thank you!

Hello there, my lovely anon! I definitely can do that - I really couldn't come up with solid ideas, so I admit to taking the lazy way out, so have a pretty comprehensive list on what type of Benders everyone would be in this AU! And guys, there are so many characters in Gintama so I swear it wasn't as easy and lazy as it looks! Thanks for sending in a request and I hope you'll enjoy!

Okay, so we're going into this AU with there being the four major bending types - Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Each bending type is as it is portrayed in Avatar: The Last Airbender, with people possessing different degrees of bending and different skills being present within each bending type.

So, when considering which type of Bender each character would be, I kind of broke it down into personality types and traits and qualities to look for, based on what I figure the 'stereotypical' Bender is for each of the four.

Earth Benders are a little rough around the edges, slow to anger, slow to decide on things, but stubborn once their mind is made up. They can be sensitive and they are often very patient.

Air Benders are gentle souls, respectful and adaptable, changeable. They're fast, both in their movements and in their thoughts.

Water Benders are typically calm and easy-going, flexible enough to adapt to their companions or situations. They're often quite easy to talk to and rather content with their lives.

Fire Benders are often prideful and confident individuals who are loyal, determined and ambitious. They can be very playful and fun but they often also have very short fuses on their tempers, which can be very volatile and explosive.

Keeping that in mind, this is what I figure the characters would be for Benders.

Earth Benders

Shimura Shinpachi

Shimura Tae

Shimura Ken

Chin Pirako/Doromizu Pirako

Kanemaru

Otose

Hanako

Saigou Tokumori

Saigou Teruhiko

Doromizu Jirochou

Hiraga Gengai

Hiraga Saburou

Haji

Terada Tatsugorou

Otaki

Jigsaw

Ofusa

Kirara

Urara

Rokkaku Kirie

Hongou Hisashi

Terakado Tsuu

Terakado Ichi

Hachibei Takaya/Takachin

Takatin

Rotten Maizou

Hijikata Toushirou

Sasaki Tetsunosuke

Kumanaku Seizou

Saitou Shimaru

Sasaki Isaburo

Oboro

Katsura Kotarou

Dragon Leader

Fat Dragon

Nakamura Kyoujirou

Shachi

Kameyama Duuke

Onijishi

Hijikata Tamegorou

Tsukuyo

Mutsu

Daraku

Abuto

Shijaku

Blu-Rayko

Prince Dai

Princess Bubbles

Otakai Sayaka

Water Benders

Sataka Gintoki

Kanemaru

Hasegawa Taizou

Hachirou

Tatsumi

Obi Hajime

Ketsuno Crystel

Ketsuno Seimei

Kuzunoha

Uchino

Hashida Kantarou

Hashida Kanschichirou

Hashida Kahei

Daigo

Kitaooji Daigorou

Izumi

Kawakami Bansai

Yamazaki Sagaru

Kamiyama

Harada Unosuke

16th Ikeda Yaemon

Hattori Zenzou

Wakikaoru

Momochi Rappa

Kurokono Tasuke

Takechi Henpeita

Kidomaru

Ebina

Seita

Suzuran

Hinowa

Kamenashi

Neptune Shokaku

Umibouzu

Shiramizu Pinko

Anigasaki Momo

Air Benders

Ikesawa

Tama

Oryou

Azumi Agonoske

Musashi

Kozenigata Heiji

Honjou Kyoushirou

Juurouta

Murata Tetsuko

Murata Tetsuya

Murata Jintetsu

Hedoro

Nishiki Ikumatsu

Hasegawa Hatsu

Hayashi Ryuuzan

Hayashi Fuyou

Sakurajima Chiharu

Okuni

Isao Kondou

Tokugawa Shige Shige

Tokugawa Soyo

Tokugawa Mori Mori

Tokugawa Sada Sada

Sarutobi Ayame

Elizabeth

Sakamoto Tatsuma

Yoshida Shouyou

Chougorou

Urashima

Oiwa

Rei

Enshou

Daishikyou

Mahha Noriko

Fumiko

Megami

Sorachi Hideaki

Fire Benders

Kagura

Kamui

Sakata Kintoki

Catherine

Ane

Kurogama Katsuo

Kujaku Hime Kada

Madame Yagami

Kanbei

Yagyuu Kyuubei

Yagyuu Binbokusai

Yagyuu Koshinori

Toujou Ayumu

Kitaooji Itsuki

Nishino Tsukamu

Minamito Sui

Shirino Douman

Gedoumaru

Antenmaru

Mone

Professor Meguro

No.305

No.502

Death Cancer

Ochi-san

Ben

Haga Kenji

Yocchan

Kimiko

Matsudaira Katakuriko

Matsudaira Kuriko

Hanano Saki

Goemon

Bichie

Sougo Okita

Hitotsubashi Nobu Nobu

Itou Kamotarou

Shinohara Shinnoshin

Imai Nobume

Ikeda Asaemon

18th Ikeda Yaemon

Utsuro

Jiraia

Banzou

Takasugi Shinsuke

Kajima Matako

Okada Nizou

Tendou Soutatsu

Mashiroi Kaguzou

Mashiroi Utsuzou

Inoue

Tasuke

Kuraba Touma

Eromes

Kurikan

Okita Mitsuba

Housen

Otohime

Admiral Abou

Ougai

Soutatsu

Kouka

Suitsu

Prince Hata

Jii

[bergeronprocess]

My 2023 In Anime

Ah, 2023. What a year! According to my Anime Planet custom 2023 list, I watched 20 anime this year. A couple of them I haven’t finished yet and a couple of them are DNF. As the year dwindles down to its final days, I’m gonna take a look back at what anime I watched in 2023. Beware of spoilery discussion for all of the tagged shows.

Sorted by season and then in the order they appear on my list.

Winter 2023

Nijiyon Animation: Nijigasaki is my favorite flavor of Love Live (it’s the first one I watched, I like the characters a lot, the songs are great and there’s literally a girl also named Emma in the cast) and so I will never say no to more Niji. Cute fun bite-sized episodes. There was even a touching farewell to Tomori Kusunoki as Setsuna. I just saw that they’re going to do a second season, so I’m looking forward to that.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: Holy crap, this show was a pretty little nothingburger. Literally NOTHING happened aside from the characters becoming friends. The two leads didn’t even kiss?!?! I wanted to see how they might handle that - the idea of people who are imbued with yokai powers is a neat one, but oof. This was unsatisfying.

UniteUp!: My dark horse favorite of the season, a bishonen idol show that dealt with some of the more realistic/uglier aspects of fame and the idol industry specifically. There were some production delays (that’s the story of 2023 across the industry, isn't it?) but I actually really enjoyed how they handled those - they showed these neat behind the scenes episodes with the voice actors. I love behind the scenes. The characters have a lot of heart, the songs were really good and the dancing looked excellent too. I think this is getting a second season too? If so, I’m thrilled to spend more time in this world.

Handyman Saitou in Another World: I actually watched an isekai! Holy shit! But it wasn’t one of those lazy paint-by-numbers isekai shows that are just a dime a dozen. I like how it showed Saitou using his skills (undervalued in our world) to get stuff done in the high fantasy world he found himself in after a Truck-kun situation. There WAS a bit too much fanservice for my liking - I’m a sports fan, so I’m used to that “oof, as a cis woman I am NOT the target demo here” feeling lol, but still - and I feel like they did a few too many “he’s dead! But not really because magic!” fake-outs. But hey! Ai Fairouz was in the cast here! I like her!

Buddy Daddies: OHHH did I enjoy this one. Great music, I love Kazuki and Rei, you could tell there was someone on the staff who is a gearhead based on how they portrayed cars, Miri is great, lol at how they overcome bureaucracy crime-style…Tumblr loved this one and with good reason. Also I definitely ship those two guys lol. The one downside is I feel like they kinda fridged Kazuki’s wife and Miri’s mom. They could’ve done a bit better by their adult female characters. I do still get the opening song stuck in my head now and again, though.

Soaring Sky/Hirogaru Sky Precure: Folks, this is the year I got Precurepilled. I tried Delicious Party last year but bounced off of it after episode 1 - it just didn’t hit for me somehow - but this one GOT ME! This is still ongoing and will be through the end of January (50 episodes y’all!), so I can’t speak with finality about it, but so far so good. The first boy Cure! The first adult Cure! She drives a Hummer for some reason lol! I think Mashiro is my favorite! It’s been so much fun to theorize about the story (I was SO wrong about Yoyo being Sora’s hero from her childhood, ha…) and watch it unfold. I do think they waited a bit too long to bring in the Kaiserin storyline, but hey, we’ll get a few more episodes to wrap everything up, right? As for Wonderful Precure, I don’t know lol the concept isn’t getting me hyped up, but I will at least watch episode 1 and go from there.

Spring 2023

Kira Kira Precure A La Mode: Still the only Precure season I’ve completed to date lol. This one was so much fun. I love sweets and baking, so I had great fun here, sometimes even shouting at the TV to try to help Ichika with her doomed bakes when she inevitably forgot baking powder or whatever. When I realized that Ciel had literally been in the opening credits since episode 1, that blew my mind lol. I DO wish they would’ve just let Julio become the first boy Cure, but hey, he walked so Cure Wing could fly. Himari is baby and Akira/Yukari is Haruka/Michiru for the 2010s. Aoi’s band made some good music. The very last scene was very sweet. Both ending songs are total earworms. Good stuff.

Skip and Loafer: This show is SO FREAKING CUTE. I just love these goofballs. I love how Nao-chan is able to just be herself and is not subjected to transphobia all the time. Mitsumi is adorable and also extremely relatable. I liked this one so much that I’ve started to read the manga, picking up where the anime left off. (2023 is also the year that Atlanta got a Kinokuniya location, which is very exciting for me, though maybe less so for my credit card lmao.) Season 2 pls? I would love to spend more time here.

Gundam The Witch from Mercury Season 2: Damn, this show needed at least one more season. Preferably two more. I was fully expecting 50 episodes like what Gundam Wing got lol. It needed more time to breathe, to show us more about the other characters (Lilique my beloved!) and to flesh out the big story. But alas, this is not a perfect world, and what we got was still pretty damn good, and also Sulemio married. That’s my interpretation. That's everyone's interpretation, isn't it?

Star Twinkle Precure: I’m still working on this one, but I FREAKING LOVE IT. The day-glo 80s aesthetic is right up my damn alley, I adore the transformation sequences, we get dark-skinned biracial representation with Cure Soleil, I enjoy reading the horoscopes at the end of each episode (my Japanese is at about a preschool level, so it’s great that everything has furigana lol), there’s space stuff AAAAAND this season has my very favorite Precure song ever. One of the only two so far to be in a minor key, folks, it’s PaPePiPu Romantic time.

I now have a new goal: sing this bad boy at karaoke someday. Pew pew! Pew pew pew!

Summer 2023

Yohane the Parhelion: I enjoyed Love Live Sunshine a lot, but phew, this didn’t do it for me. I feel like it would’ve been better as a 3 or 4 episode OVA (ONA these days I guess), but just didn’t have enough story for a full 13 episode season. My mom is fond of saying “just okay”...like, it wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t awful either. Yohane the Parhelion is just okay. Please just watch Sunshine instead if you want to be introduced to these characters. Sunshine is so much better.

Zom 100: I watched the first episode of this and then didn’t bother with the rest. DNF. Sorry to hear about the production troubles - that’s especially ironic for this show.

Fall 2023

MF Ghost: The other DNF for me. Watched 3 episodes, heard they were about to introduce a character who is obsessed with 17-year-old girls, noped the hell outta there. Wasn’t impressed with the 3 episodes either. I love Initial D - we named our cat Hachi because she’s black and white just like the Hachiroku - but MF Ghost just had no heart or soul. The Toyota 86 was lovingly rendered but I hated the ugly black motion lines they added when it was moving. The race they showed was dreadfully boring, the worldbuilding felt extremely unrealistic and oooh did I HATE that “outfit” they put our underage race queen in, if you can even call that an outfit.

Overtake: Of the two car racing shows this season, Overtake absolutely wins. It looks great, it introduces F4 racing to the audience very well (there’s some show, there’s some tell, a good blend) and the characters have more heart in their pinky fingernails than the entire cast of MF Ghost combined. There’s a very real and affecting subplot about PTSD, realistic discussion of just how much racing costs for an amateur team and plenty of men being unafraid to feel their feelings and cry it out. Overtake is definitely on the top of the podium. It hasn’t gotten anywhere near the love it deserves - ANN didn’t do weekly reviews of it and Anime Feminist was hyperfocused on the lack of female characters (valid! But not a dealbreaker to me!) - so I hope that people discover it later.

Shy: Thank goodness this is getting a season 2 because we spent literally a quarter of the season focused on the Pepesha and her mother subplot. That could’ve been tightened up a bit - ANN’s review mentions how Amarariruku’s villain speeches tend to be very circular, which is exactly how I felt seeing Lenya explain herself for what felt like the 50th time over - and I was genuinely looking at the episode count like “uhh??!?” before the season 2 news came out. So other than that part being a bit too drawn out, though, this is a very interesting show with a cool concept (Teru experiences Personal Growth! We are so proud of her!) and I’m interested in seeing where it goes from here. Will we meet the USA’s hero next season? I kinda want to see who that might be.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer: Ai Fairouz is in the cast of this one too, so maybe she’s just what needs to be present for me to watch an isekai/high fantasy show? I did enjoy this one, even though the action scenes were a little bit lacking, perhaps above the skill level of the animators. They did do lovely watercolor-like scenery shots, though. The characters are charming (Belgrieve, total DILF, also giving us disability representation) and the opening song is a bop. They did leave the door open for a season 2 - for example, the question of Ange’s parentage was never answered, although it is VERY heavily implied that she is also a demon. I mean, the little demon kid Belgrieve takes in at the end literally looks exactly like her, for crying out loud.

Spy x Family Season 2: Haven’t finished this one yet - I want to watch it with my husband because he also likes it and we’ve just had a lot of stuff going on! We have watched 4 episodes, which means we’ve watched a bunch of one-off side stories basically lol. He even remarked at some point that the episodes felt weird. I was like “Well, because they’re only side stories!” From what I have read, it sounds like things are about to pick up plot-wise, so we gotta just make some time to catch up soon lol. 

Power of Hope/Kibou no Chikara Otona Precure 23: I have not seen ANY of the Precure series that have characters appearing here, so I came in fresh. This was enjoyable! I was originally bummed that we didn’t get to see them transform as adults, but the age reversion to transform was done for big story reasons and made perfect sense in that context. The episode that showed how the town was devastated by firebombing in World War II was deeply affecting - war is hell, no wonder Bell was changed by it - and it was great to see Cure Black and Cure White turn up. It reminded me of all the companions coming together at the end of Doctor Who season 4. Total fan catnip, I love it. I have not seen Mahotsukai Precure either, so I’ll be going into their sequel fresh too. (Is that what was being teased at the very very end of episode 12? Yeah probably lol)

16bit Sensation Another Layer: My winner for best show of this season. As you may have gathered from my mention of Doctor Who just now, I like time travel stories, so “Listen, Konoha Akisato has come unstuck in time” appealed to me right away. This show also genuinely taught me things about computer game development. I have a deepened respect for PC-98 game art (I follow such accounts on here now lol), which would surely make Mamoru smile. Plus, I like how it has a core message of “You can be a woman who works on erotic video games and that is not weird or perverted. Follow your dreams!” Toya does, after all - I would have loved to see her team up with Konoha and it sucks that she was being manipulated by the evil company. The show did take a turn for the Matrix-y in the fourth quarter, and I do feel episode 13 was a bit rushed (Konoha opens Comic Party and then is just immediately back in 2023? She and Mamoru explain how they told everyone about being time travelers instead of us getting to see that reaction?), but dammit, I teared up at the very end anyway. What a show!

Magic User’s Club OVA: I remember renting videotapes of this from Blockbuster way back in the day, but I didn’t remember much about the show itself, so I decided to watch it again after seeing this AnimeBackWhen video about it. It’s so fun and charming! And Ikuko Itou designed the characters and Junichi Satou is the director - a bit of a Sailor Moon reunion lol. (Fun fact I learned just now is Chiaki J. Konaka did the screenplay. This is very very different from his work on Serial Experiments Lain.) I’m not done with it yet. The opening song is a big ole bop!

2024 goals:

Finish Star Twinkle Precure

Watch Gunbuster (another "I rented it from Blockbuster during the Clinton administration" story - I bought Discotek's new Blu-Ray of it, just haven't cracked it open yet lol)

Continue to enjoy seasonal anime!

[ruinenekami]

Umineko no naku koro ni Shared VAs - '98 Squad

Others:

Main Three

Cousins

Adult Siblings

Spouses

Servants

Heavenly Court

Golden Land

Stakes

Tetsurou Okonogi - Ken Narita

Sesshoumaru (Inuyasha)

Lin Koujo (Ghost Hunt)

Fuuma Monou (x/1999)

Hajime Saitou (Rurouni Kenshin)

Shiryuu Dragon (Saint Seiya)

Jeremiah Gottwald (Code Geass)

Bright Noa (Gundam)

Reborn (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Juuza Amakusa - Kouji Yusa

Akira Midousuji (Yowamushi Pedal)

Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic X)

Vincent Law (Ergo Proxy)

Aka no Lancer (Fate)

Adolf Reinhardt (Terra Formars)

Gin Ichimaru (Bleach)

Ergo Proxy (Ergo Proxy)

Kyousuke Hyoubu (Zettai karen children)

Kasumi Sumadera - Sumi Shimamoto

Sara Crewe(Princess Sara)

Eucliwood Hellscythe (Is this a zombie?)

Nausicaä (Nausicaä in the valley of the wind)

Rei Asaka (Oniisama e...)

Kanata Izumi (Lucky Star)

Kohaku Tsukishiro (Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara)

Kyouko Otonashi (Maison Ikkoku)

Yukiko Kudou (Detective Conan)

[tirorah]

Aww, Rei looks so adorable in that first shot! I really enjoy this version of Rei that Kitagawa Keiko brings to the table--like all of the PGSM performances, Rei is never stuck as just one type of character. She can be stern and blunt to the point of being hurtful, yet she can look cute as a button when her heart of gold is allowed to shine!

It's really nice that Minako is allowed to be a step behind here. It would've been easy to have both show up with food, but Minako is allowed to be flawed and only bring herself and her ridiculous hat. Of course, when she sees the forward thinking Rei has done, she makes THAT incredible face and speeds off in the taxi.

Rei 02 - 01 Minako

"The hell was that all about?"

As an aside, I love it when shows have to invent new brands of things to avoid copyright (or whatever the reason is). The packaging looks so weird and...dare I say it, boring. This may be my cultural bias speaking, but where's the staged picture of a model dog? Where's the photo of scrumptious kibble, almost cresting like a waterfall while it's being poured into an off-camera bowl?

The funny thing is that I don't care for loud packaging, but this is the same show that has Tsukino Ikuko and Saitou Sugao in it. Packaging this drab is unfit for this campy universe!

[guillermo-moreno]

Blitz-Rezension: Handyman Saitou in Another World

El isekai no es algo nuevo, a pesar de que pueda sentirse esa forma. Existen en la literatura, especialmente en occidente, muchas historias que pueden servir de antecedentes al género. Por ejemplo tenemos cosas como un Yanki en la corte del Rey Arturo de Mark Twain, Tres leones y tres corazones de Poul Anderson, la Saga de Jon Carter de Marte y de Carson de Venus del creador de Tarzán con ese…

[rerenikos-sweetheart]

honourable mentions :

gauguin's va ( souma saitou ) also voices hinata and yuuta aoi

courbet's va ( ryota osaka ) voices ibara saegusa

michelangelo is voiced by KENN. he's cool. he also voices tamaki yotsuba from idolish7

renoir's va ( tetsuya kakihara ) also voices subaru akehoshi

monet's va ( wataru hatano ) also voices adonis otogari

sisley's va ( arthur lounsbery ) voices fuuta from milgram

bazille's va ( toshiki maduda ) voices rei sakuma ( IRONICALLY THEY'RE SO DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER AS CHARACTERS )

rembrandt's va ( natsuki hanae ) voices hiyori tomoe

velasquez' va ( yuuki ono ) voices koga oogami

hokusai's va ( tomoaki maeno ) voices hokuto hidaka

delacroix's va ( yoshiki nakajima ) voices tetora nagumo ( THAT'S ACTUALLY COULD BE A NICE DUO.....)

el greco / domenikos' va ( umehara yūichirō ) voices keito hasumi

munch's va ( daiki yamashita ) voices izuku midoria + ritsu sakuma

mucha's va ( yuuki kaji ) voices shouto todoroki + isara mao

watteau's va ( nobuhiko okamoto ) voices bakugou katsuki ( welcome back class 1-a )

JUN AND VAN GOGH SHARE A VA. the autism spectrum is insane

[astromegastar26]

Sera Myu - Stay Alone (Cover) (Happy Birthday, Pluto!)

[landofanimes]

ANZA ∞ Akiko Kosaka - The Day The Future Becomes the Past -

Rei Pluto, Anza Moon, Akiko Kosaka, Yuuka Neptune, Sanae Uranus, and Nao Uranus at the concert! There were two performances, with Nao joining the others in the second one.

P.S.: Naoko Takeuchi sent flowers for the occasion!

September 24, 2023

[real-life-senshi]

May I ask for your headcanons of Reinako’s relationship after canon? Could be for manga or PGSM!

Hello friend! Thank you for dropping by and giving me a prompt to gush on Reinako even more! XD

First off, here are two sets of PGSM Reinako headcanons for those who haven't seen them before. They are all connected. XD

Reinako Headcanon 1

Reinako Headcanon 2

And thanks to this ask, here is a brain dump of more headcanon:

PGSM Reinako Headcanon Part 3:

Timeline/stages of life of the Reinako development:

Following directly after the Final Act, during the girls' 3rd year in middle school, Minako was a bit awkward about how to act casually around the Senshi team. Rei helped her out the most before the group dynamic fully settled - e.g. never stopped inviting Minako even if Minako often needed to miss out on group plans due to work without making Minako feel bad (not that the others intentionally make Minako feel guilty, but they just try too hard, versus Rei doesn't make a big deal about it); calling Minako out when Minako holds back on sharing her candid thoughts or feelings with the team for some silly reason or due to occupational hazard of being an idol; calling Makoto and Usagi out when they fangirl too hard and was making Minako feel awkward, making it a struggling for Minako to balance building a genuine friendship or treat them as fangirls. (Ami was also a bit shy with Minako at the start, so Rei had to run some interference there, but Usagi and Makoto were the troublemakers.)

I struggle to make up my mind on which is the better high school scenario: if Minako went to Juuban with Ami, Makoto and Usagi just like manga canon, or because of her fame and celebrity status she ended up going to T*A academy for high school with Rei (better security because of all the politician’s and big businessmen’s daughters in the school, etc), Regardless, high school period is when Rei and Minako really settled as best friends, getting to the point they practically know everything about each other and would be in contact almost everyday.

By the 3rd year of high school approaching graduation, Minako starts to realize she has romantic feelings for Rei. She suspects Rei might actually reciprocate her feelings, except Rei is too dense to realize or too scarred by his dad's abandonment of Rei and Rei's mom to consider exploring a romantic relationship. Knowing both Rei's and her own career trajectory would take them away from Tokyo with limited contact after graduation, Minako decided to not broach the topic.

Rei and Minako drifted apart a bit after high school graduation until the Special Act. After the kiss at the hospital (see Headcanon Part 1), and then UsaMamo's wedding, they both matured enough to face their feelings and started seriously considering starting a relationship. They had to do a lot of soul-searching and shared really candid conversations to get through all the emotional baggage, personal barriers and doubts they both carried, but they eventually got there.

And then they live happily ever after following what I described in Headcanon Part 2. haha (My actual headcanon of post-Special Act Reinako is drastically different from my fanfic, coz apparently I thrive most in writing angst and battle. LOL)

High school era PGSM Reinako:

While Rei took the lead in helping Minako find her place in the Senshi team dynamic and getting comfortable with just being a normal teenager during their middle-school period, Minako was the one that instigated most if not all the shenanigans that led to their deepened friendship in the 3 years of high school, elevating their relationship from just-friends to best friend status.

I always imagined Minako pranked Rei by surprising her on a school visit at T*A to "check out options for a new high school". Minako and her manager Saitou Sugao are being led on a school tour by a nun, and when they spot Rei, Sugao (who is of course in on the prank with Minako) makes a whole scene of barging into the classroom trying to scout Rei into stardom in front of all of Rei's peers as if it's his first time meeting Rei and exclaiming he has found the next shining star of Japan, after Minako of course! Rei was absolutely mortified, though the Senshi team had a great laugh when Minako shared the story in their next hangout. Rei was not pleased.

Following the above headcanon, I headcanon that Rei achieves the same intra-school celebrity status by the time she enters her high school division, similar to how Rei is a school celebrity in T*A in the manga. The drastic change from live-action canon was first prompted by the whole stardom scouting fiasco Minako and Sugao caused. Secondly, Minako learned by chance that Rei was bullied at school throughout middle school through Usagi describing how she met Rei. When Minako confronted Rei about it, Rei just shrugged and brushed it off coz she was used to it and the bullies are practically harmless with more bark than bite, but Minako was still so upset about it that she went to post on her public blog (equivalent to celebrity Twitter/Insta nowadays) about how Rei's her best friend and the coolest, kindest person who helped her get through her illness and recovery, etc. She wrote a whole sob story narrative about how thankful she is for having Rei in her life and how Rei was a source of inspiration and a role model to her, etc. etc. and posted some photos she had taken with Rei. Suddenly all of Rei's peers see Rei in a new light and think she's the coolest and want to befriend her for a chance to also meet Minako. The teachers started actually addressing and punishing the bullies and the school atmosphere was changed anew. The whole deal freaked Rei out, while Minako felt very pleased with herself.

Once Rei joined the archery club in T*A's high school division, she gained even more fame from winning archery competitions at the district and then national level. Her achievement adds to the furor Minako caused, and the lowerclassmen in T*A practically fawn over Rei and founded a fan club with merch. Minako loves teasing Rei about it and secretly becomes a fan club member with platinum status from buying all the merch.

^ The fan club is how Minako knows Rei's archery competition schedule, coz Rei is too humble to ever mention it, and also because every time she gets way too embarrassed by how loud the Senshi team is when they cheer for her, because Minako makes sure the whole Senshi team is decked out with inflated thunder sticks and signs whenever they go cheer for Rei at competitions.

Other misc PGSM Reinako headcanon:

Rei's the one who always remembers and is mindful of Minako's distaste for whipped cream, and stops Usagi's rampage on getting strawberry shortcake for every Christmas because Usagi always reminisces on the cake she and Minako had on the Ferris wheel and forgets Minako’s actual food preference. Rei knew coz she actually paid attention to the lyrics in Sayonara ~Sweet Days.

It's very often Usagi and Makoto would drag the girls around town to try out a new cafe or shop that's selling some new sweet drink, pastry or snack (shaved ice, ice cream, crepe, cake, etc. the stuff you'd see people post on foodie social media). If Minako ever bows out of getting something for herself, Rei will make sure to buy something she knows Minako will likely enjoy so Minako can share some of hers (usually strawberry-flavoured coz that's Minako's favourite), and without fail Minako would take some of Rei’s 'just for a taste because she’s curious', and then inevitably eating half of Rei’s. lol And if Rei is buying something for Minako or knows Minako will inevitably take some from her, Rei would always also buy a bottle of water to accompany whatever crazy sweet things Usagi makes them eat/drink - and it has to be room temperature only, for Minako because Minako needs to be very careful with maintaining her vocal cords for singing.

Whenever Minako and Rei get into a serious fight but both struggle to reconcile, they both would separately go to Artemis and poor Artemis can usually help them sort it out after. But if things get really bad and they notice Artemis is feeling caught in the crossfire, Minako would then go to Makoto, and Rei would go to Ami to process their thoughts... or vent. Makoto and Ami's involvement becomes a yardstick of whether "shit's-hitting-the-fan" or not.

Manga Reinako Headcanon...?

I've not thought as much about the manga Reinako headcanon because I perpetually live in PGSM brainrot. But I do think manga Reinako eventually established a partners-for-life relationship in the manga universe as well.

Different from how I think PGSM Reinako eventually enters an openly romantic, crazy-in-love-for-each-other relationship (once they get over their personal crap), I see manga Reinako has a more subtle and delicate soulmate relationship that is built on deep partnership and mutual understanding in life and duty, especially considering their near immortality and role in Crystal Tokyo. Their relationship dances back and forth on the line of being romantic involved in their personal life, and being a kind of kindred spirit in their view and attitude towards their duty. They've dated, and fallen in love with each other, but across the years also realize sometimes they need space from each other to maintain healthy boundaries between private life and their duty. When they enter a break from each other, it's nothing bad and always with mutual understanding, done amicably - stepping away so they don't get "sick of each other" since eternity is a damn long time! But if one of them is ever feeling down or struggling with something, they are each other's default go-to person, their safe place, and they can discard their masks and break when they need it, especially when they start outliving their non-Senshi family and friends while the world they know of slowly changing and morphing into Crystal Tokyo.

Once they stopped aging, Minako would still try to find opportunities to enjoy life as a human when it's possible, while Rei was more comfortable just accepting fate and being Sailor Mars for life. When there's no crisis to deal with, Minako makes Rei de-transform and drags Rei out of the palace for a girls' night with her in the city.

I see manga MakoAmi to have a similar partnership as well. Though their way of showing affection for their partner is a bit more overt and less complicated than Reinako's. Rei and Minako are so interesting to me because I feel they are more polar opposites in some ways, yet both are so similar in how deeply layered their personality and backstories are that it complicates their relationship but also strengthens them.

[leenaevilin]

[Video] 観劇者 (kangekisha)