#sakura review

[nanakorobiyaokii]

wind breaker and sakura making it to top 100 of Tumblr’s 2024 Year in Review makes me so proud. 🥹 ✨👏🏼

let’s continue to support winbre in 2025🎉🥳🍾

[sealingstaff]

【カードキャプターさくら】Qpotcafeとさくらちゃんのコラボカフェ前期に行ってきた！潜入レポ！

[ecargmura]

Wind Breaker Episode 13 Review + Final Thoughts - Second Season Announced For 2025!

With the way this episode ended, there’s definitely no way they wouldn’t announce a season 2 and they did—it’ll come out in 2025! It’s to be expected because this was one of Spring 2024’s biggest hits. I certainly enjoyed this and it’s high up on my midyear anime list that I’ll be posting  next week!

Meeting with the Four Kings of Bofurin is going to help Sakura open up a lot more, even though he’s still taking baby steps. The Four Kings have such cool designs. We all know Hiiragi, but there’s also Tsubakino (he’s male), Mizuki and Momose who are very cool on their own! None of them speak, unfortunately. The purpose of the meeting with the Kings and the Grade Captains to let them know that they will always have people supporting them so it’s fine to let them rely on their senpais. Umemiya always knows how to ease someone’s spirits!

Sakura’s taking baby steps as leader of his class! He actually decides to take on Anzai’s matters into his own hands and the rest of the class tags along too because they’re a team. It’s so nice to see Sakura, who was super distrustful, slowly grow into someone who can be relied on! I really liked the scene with him talking with Anzai’s childhood friend Tsuchiya. He normally doesn’t try to start a conversation towards others, so for him to initiate talk is such a novel but welcome feeling! I even liked how Sakura was thinking about Kotoha’s advice on leaving the matter to him. If you look at Sakura at the beginning to the finale of the first season, there’s some solid growth there.

Anzai may be a bit of an obscure classmate in Sakura’s class, but It’s obvious that, while he’s a nice guy, he’s trying too much to take things by himself. He’s also a bad liar to the point that the gullible Sakura can see right through him.You know you’re a terrible liar when Sakura knows you’re lying. His story with Nagato was really sad. It’d break my heart if I learned my childhood friend was hanging out with the wrong crowd. I hope that things can patch up between him and Nagato once Furin goes to beat Keel’s ass. This might be a bit of rambling, but I just learned that his voice actor is Shogo Sakata, who’s known for voicing Aki Hayakawa from Chainsaw Man. I didn’t know he can produce such a childish voice.

Speaking of Keel, the gang is so creepy. Even when I was reading the manga, they gave me cult-like vibes. The member that Sakura meets on patrol is voiced by Junya Enoki. I’m as shocked as you are! I always familiarize Enoki with heroic roles like Totomaru Isshiki from Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective that it’s sort of hard to imagine him as a villain, but he’s here in Wind Breaker as a villain. This will seriously be a treat to watch because this is probably one of the rare times he’ll voice a villain and I can’t wait to hear it! Rambling aside, Keel is very cult-like because they have such a terrible method of discipling their members. If someone failed to do something, they get hit. It’s seriously awful. I do wonder how Nagato got entangled in all of this.

Even in the finale, the animation still is amazing. The way Anzai was fighting off Keel members and even the part where he was catching the purse thief, who turned out to be Nagato, were so good. My favorite part was when Sakura was chasing after Anzai and the camera pans to him going down the stairs and then jumps down to cut him off. Cloverworks really likes showing off why they’re so good with animation.

I seriously cannot wait for next year. It’s crazy how Wind Breaker is getting a second season already! If you’re curious about what happens next and want to read about, please start from Chapter 42, which is the beginning of Volume 6! Season 1 covered the first 5 volumes! I wonder how many volumes the next season will cover. What are your thoughts on the finale?

Final Thoughts

To be very honest, Wind Breaker was one of those animes that I wanted to watch primarily because of the stellar voice cast and that I had a very sour experience watching Bucchigiri, which was also about gang fighting. However, it slowly became one of the most exciting anime watching experiences I had. It’s because of Wind Breaker that I got a lot more online friends! It’s always nice to meet new people who watch the same things as you! While the anime is fun, I think what I gained these past three months feels as precious. Seriously, it’s such an amazing feeling.

Wind Breaker may be a straightforward story about gang fights and action, but the writing is a lot more heartwarming than you expect. It’s more about seeing the characters, specifically the MC Sakura, learn and grow. We learn why Sakura is the way he is and how being around people is beneficial for him. The concept of him going to a delinquent high school, but it’s also a place where the delinquents also have double duty as police officers of sorts. I also love that the fighting is just pure action and not crazy magic stuff. I love that it’s a little different from the usual delinquent stories in that it focuses more on characters and not fighting all the time.

The characters are the highlight of the show. Each of them have their own unique design and personality. It’s just so nice to see how well they mesh together. Not only does Furin have intricate designs, but Shishitoren does too! My favorite part of the characters is learning that their names have a theme! Bofurin characters’ names all revolve around plants. Shishitoren’s names revolve around animals. I can tell the author took so much time and effort to name these characters. As a writer myself, naming characters is both the funnest and the most tiresome aspect of the writing process.

Cloverworks did an amazing job with the anime adaptation. From the memorable first episode where Sakura goes all out against a gang by himself to animating the Shishitoren fights were so great. Though, my favorite part of the animation was seeing the studio elevate some of the characters’ backstories. I really loved how they animated Togame and Choji’s backstory! Togame got a backstory extension and Choji had such quality detail in his! Let’s just hope they keep that quality next season and not turn it into a mess like The Promised Neverland Season 2. Don’t f*** this up, please. The music was also really nice! The OP and ED songs were catchy and the OST were good! I especially loved the song Stronger! I love how there’s a piano remix of it too whenever something emotional happens.

The voice actors are seriously amazing. They legit casted extremely star-studded voice actors for this anime. We’ve got Yuma Uchida as Sakura, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Suo, Koki Uchiyama as Sugishita, and even Yuichi Nakamura as Umemiya. Look at those names! Shishitoren got some big names too like Yuichiro Umehara as Togame and Chiaki Kobayashi as Sako. If they’re going all out for this season, I can’t wait to see who���d they cast for the Keel characters because having Junya Enoki as one of the members is INSANE!

Like I said before, if you want to start reading the manga, start from Chapter 42 because Episode 13 ends on Chapter 41. I hope that you all had a wonderful experience with this manga! I hope that energy returns next year!

[anime-of-the-day]

Anime of the day: Wind Breaker

Released: 2024

This one was fun. Sakura was born with a rather unconventional appearance, his hair is like one of those black and white cookies. So, he has quite a complex around it. Because of his appearance he doesn’t have any friends and is often treated negatively. But, for someone who looks as delinquent like as him, he is actually a really nice guy. He’s also really used to getting into fights, so when he was deciding on where to go to school, he picked Furin, a place notorious for fighting. However, that was a long time ago. Furin is now an important protector in the town of Makochi from thugs and gangs.

[sstormshadow]

WINDBREAKER

Now I'm a huge fan of gang brawls and wars anime. Like tokyo revengers S1 specifically, the fights are well executed and the fluidity animation of Cloverworks just never disappoints. Sakura is new from the town and immediately became part of Furin, the fast paced story just escalated into something interesting with the interactions with another faction gang Shishitoren are brutal and ruthless but utterly weak hehehe... The characters are interesting with a lot of hidden backstory which I wish we get to know in the upcoming seasons. I loved it, can't wait for Season 2 overall a solid 8/10 can easily binged watch the first season in a day give it a try, if you're looking for something fresh and unique.

[oodearest]

Wind breaker, the shouneniniest anime to ever shounen in recent years (in my opinion)

The shounen formula consists of this thematic basis: The power of friendship and family. Good prevailing over evil. The underdog beating the odds and rising to the top. Working hard for your dreams. Dreams period.

It has plucky main characters that are loud, silly and always ready to throw down even if they don’t have the skill set to follow through yet.

They boldly declare their aspirations to the world and ALWAYS (it’s basically mandatory) someone scoffs and says something like “yeah right, dream on kid.”

And to the misfortune of all the skeptics in the series and the great joy of the underdog supporters, the kid does keep dreaming.

Wind breaker absolutely plays on the above themes and boy is it HITTING.

Truly, not even five minutes into the first episode, the plucky main character, aka Sakura (THE CUTEST HUMAN) with a tragic backstory (surprise, surprise!) prevails over evil and unlocks the door to his journey for friendship. And of course he boldly declares his dreams for people to scoff at or begrudgingly support.

I’m not even joking we get all that in like 10 minutes max. It’s beautifully compact. All the shounen magic condensed so skill fully that you have to give a nod of respect.

It’s really such a fun series. EVERYONE is loveable. It’s got so much heart and I think what sets it apart for me is that Sakura already knows how to fight so instead of focusing on that we spend the time seeing him learn how to build relationships and actually belong somewhere. It’s wonderful!

Anyways whatever they put in this show was spectacular and made me remember why I love this genre so much in the first place.

[svensevn]

Before the Storm ︴★★★★☆

➥ author ,, @crissy_writes_garbage .

➥ fandom ,, Naruto .

➥ pages ,, 6/6 : completed .

➥ tags ,, SasuSaku (Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke), Team 7, Time Travel, mentions of pregnancy .

➥ finished ,, 09.22.24 - 09.22.24 .

︴about ,,

This Ao3 Fanfiction is just about Adult Sakura, when she was pregnant with Sarada I assume, and she travels into the past where her team was a Genin and taking that huge mission where they traveled outside of Konoha.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

spoilers below, obviously .

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

︴rating ,,

I would say out of five stars, it would be four out of five

I love the concept of this person time traveling to the past and meeting this person because I like seeing the past reacting to the future and it makes me think "hrm... how will they react based on their personality"

I like the ship sasusaku.........

I usually don't read stories with women who are pregnant because it makes me so uncomfortable but I can ignore those parts

I love the writing style a bit because it makes it easier to read for me since it has big spaces each "paragraph"

For the most part in my opinion there wasn't anything too out of character, the only thing I could criticize (and the reason why I took a star off) is the part where Sasuke yelled "Don't touch my wife!"

I get it, overprotective especially because she is pregnant, it's just for me I feel like if he was really really desperate he would but if she is just in danger a bit he would just help her and not yell out a cringy line that made me repulsed a bit... ermm....

I JUST since he's like a very tch... im a kinda deadbeat dad.... tch but i care about my wife... NO EXTREME ALPHA MALE LIKE HIM IS GONNA DO A SCREAM OF "DON'T TOUCH HERRER !!! >_< PLEADING EMOJI!!!"

MAYBE MAYBE IM JUST OVERREACTING OBER THAT PART JUST A TAD BUT BRO IT WAS A SHORT FANFIC I READ OBVIOUSLY ONE PART OUT OF 6 PAGES WILL IMPACT MY SCORE!!!!!

[notruinedbutruination]

rate my professor but for jonin senseis

[wriheart]

My Madoka Magica Thoughts

Back in May of this year I watched Madoka Magica for the first time with a group of friends, and while it was an enjoyable experience, I couldn’t quite say I liked it. While watching it, almost every character bugged me to no end, and when it was over, I was left with this odd gut feeling, almost like dissatisfaction. 

Which made absolutely no sense to me: this should be right up my alley: magical girls with a dark twist? Yes, sign me up! So why didn’t it land for me? And was giving it a second chance going to do anything? 

Apparently yes because a week ago I read the manga, and while I still don’t really like it, I did enjoy it more than I had before. So, here are some of my thoughts that I had while reading it. 

Also major spoilers. 

✨The first thing I noticed when reading the story is that this time around, I enjoyed the characters more, and I think this is because I had the context of their backstories to help me empathize with them. I know that part of the story’s point is to show a character who might be mean on the surface has their reasons for acting the way they do, but I honestly found most of the characters too bitchy or annoying to truly emphasize with them the first time around, even when their pasts were revealed. So this time, knowing that Homura has been traveling through time over and over again, or that Kyoko’s father killed her family, I was able to enjoy them more in the story than before (even if I still can’t fully say I like them) because I was able to apply this understanding of them earlier on than before. 

✨I loved the theme of selflessness vs selfishness when making one’s wish, and how there can be consequences to both: while Kyoko regrets making the wish for her father, Mami regrets making the wish only for herself. No matter what, none of the wishes will be perfect and that’s the point. There’s a high cost in wishing for the impossible, and Kubey obviously knows this, since it’s what leads them to turn into witches. 

✨Sayuka’s outburst at Madoka made more sense to me this time around. Madoka is sort of the angel on her shoulder so to speak, almost coming off as high and mighty (though not intentional) when she’s telling Sayuka what is good and isn’t while not being a magical girl herself. It can be frustrating when someone tells you how to do your job or live your life when they don’t carry those same responsibilities. Sayuka made a sacrifice in becoming a magical girl, and is figuring out how to navigate it. Madoka hasn't made that sacrifice, so from Sayuka’s pov she has no right to tell her what to do. 

✨Homura is interesting because she does everything for Madoka’s sake: she’s sort of a mix of selflessness and selfishness. Because of her repeating time over and over again, she’s become a person who no longer understands the emotions of those around her, not even Madoka and her kindness. 

Anyway, that’s most of my thoughts. Even though they’re all positive enough, overall, I can’t bring myself to enjoy the show or the manga. Something just doesn’t sit with me and when I’m reading or watching, I like bits and pieces, but not the entire picture, and I still haven’t been able to put a finger on why. I just don’t like it I suppose.

[l-cereta]

im not mad enough about this (yet) to write a review but i just read one of the best yuri manga out there for my money (like, up there with How Do We Relationship) and then i went to myanimelist and half the reviews are just by people who should not be allowed near a computer. the worst most dogshit bad faith takes in the world. you're not allowed to read yuri actually go back to naruto

[localgyarugal]

𝐏𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐤𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰! 🎀 🍓

"Puella Magi Madoka Magica", or "Madoka Magica", is a magical girl series released in Japan in 2011. Written by Gen Urobuchi the "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" manga was released in Japan in three volumes also in 2011. With a total of 12 episodes the lore of this show goes surprisingly deep. Be careful though, because behind the cutesy art style lies the hidden dark world of magical girls.

𝑨𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑺𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒑𝒔𝒊𝒔 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 🎀

The story of "Madoka Magica" follows Madoka Kaname and her best friend Sayaka Miki, two seemingly ordinary middle school girls. One day they both save a mystical creature known as a Kyubey from one of their classmates, Homura Akemi. Upon meeting Kyubey he offers them the chance to become magical girls, gaining powerful abilities in exchange for fighting witches— evil beings that threaten the world. As Madoka considers this offer, Sayaka accepts. Then together, along with their new mentor Mami Tomoe, learn about the struggles of other magical girls and the grim consequences that come with it.

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 - - - - - - - - - - - 🎀

"Madoka Magica" is an interesting watch. If you love the magical girl genre but wish it went deeper then this is the show for you! It's similar to "Sailor Moon" in the way that both series are magical girl anime that discuss more serious topics. The series delves into themes of hope, sacrifice, and the often harsh realities of dreams, revealing the dark twists behind what seems like a typical magical girl story. Not only is the animation stunning but the soundtrack has a way of fully immersing you in what's happening on screen. Almost every character you see on screen is fully fleshed out and has an intreaging backstory. Overall the anime is very well thought out with amazing animation and an beautiful soundtrack to match, it's no wonder it got so popular!

𝑴𝒚 𝑶𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏/𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 🎀

Overall I'd give this anime a solid 9/10. I loved the spin on the magical girl trope and the fleshed out characters. I found myself intreged throughout the entire show sucked in by the interesting storyline and sensational soundtrack. I found myself with a few questions that were not answered but it was nothing so substantial that I couldn't understand the plot.

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑻𝒐 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 🎀

This show is available to watch on many different platforms. Disney Plus, Hulu, Crunchy Roll, and Prime Video.

[review-anon]

Here is a question. What is your favorite relationship (platonic or romantic, does not matter) from every DR game you’ve seen?—Timeline Anon

A wholesome question I can do, I like it!

Trigger Happy Havoc: Aoi and Sakura. These two are so sweet together as yes they are the athletic duo, and it’s not as in your face as some of the others but I just like they are vibing with each other in the background, wish we saw more of it. This friendship of course drove most of the drama in Chapter 4, but I think it’s because of said friendship the drama was so raw.

Goodbye Despair: Sonia and Gundham. It’s obvious why these two are often shipped together as on surface level they get on because Gundham likes to pretend he is a supervillain and Sonia loves the occult, but then dig deeper and you see it’s because both are often treated by people due to their status, whenever it be Sonia as a princess or Gundham because he was born out of wedlock, and wanting to be seen for who they are. This is why I cringe at people who think Kazuichi has a chance with Sonia, because he never respected Sonia for who she is, whereas Gundham does.

Killing Harmony: Kaede and Shuichi. It’s short and it doesn’t last long, but I wish it did as while Chapter 1 was brilliant as well as heartbreaking, it really shows the characters of these two. Shuichi is a very nervous and unsure person due to past experiences and Kaede wants him to be more confident in himself and his skills. Probably because I had a feeling Kaede had to endure some abuse from her skills when she was younger so she sees a bit of her old self in Shuichi. Of course this ends tragically since it’s Danganronpa, but it’s very telling in a franchise where most character deaths are forgotten by the middle of the next chapter, Kaede’s legacy lingers over the entire game.

Danganronpa Another: The Rainbow Trio, this being Teruya, Haruhiko and Satsuki. This chaotic group forms quite early on and they are a source of much light hearted relief and wholesomeness. I like how this contrasts Tsurugi’s rapidly deteriorating authority over the group as the others wake up to the fact he is not a good person. While sometimes their antics can be tone deaf, it helps to keep the game from being too depressing, and though the group falls apart in Chapter 4 because trios never last, their legacy lives on in Teruya as his SDRA2 outfit incorporates clothing from his fallen friends, and I feel his attitude is him trying to honour their memory which is the best way to go about it. Especially as I think he feels responsible for their deaths if he didn’t act so selfishly.

Super Danganronpa Another 2: Sora and Yoruko. It’s low hanging fruit but these two are soooo good with each other. Due to Sora’s programming it’s hard to tell if she actually likes Yuki or if it’s Mikado telling her to, but since Yoruko always seemed to be someone he shoved in last minute, her relationship with Sora is genuine. Yoruko shows she might be a hostess, but she has depth and layers to her, and seeing how Sora was learning throughout the game, you could say Yoruko was a major influence on her future behaviour. Yes they have a falling out in Chapter 5, but this is resolved once Yoruko realises how immature she was acting and Sora was undergoing serious identity crisis at the time. And the fact that though Sora sacrifices herself at the end, Rei promises Yoruko she will bring her back, is some actual Hope that these two could be reunited together in the future. Maybe they will have a happy ending.

Despair Time: Charles and Whit. Didn’t think these two would get on, but lol and behold they do. Whit is an amazing character all around and the fact he stood up for Charles in Chapter 1’s Class Trial, helped to dethrone him from Asshole Quadrant and make him a compelling character. They are like a comedy duo where Whit is the funny man and Charles is the straight man. It’s also very clear these two might have feelings for each other as while we know Whit is canonically bi while I don’t know where Charles swings, the amount of blushing sprites he has is sus. I sadly don’t think these two would stay together forever and if Whit is the mastermind then this is gonna be a Akane situation all over again, but let me enjoy these two for now.

Tetro Pink: Mai and Yanagi. It might shock you for me to say this since I’m not the biggest Yanagi fan, but I cannot deny these two are great together as Mai realises that Yanagi isn’t a bad person, he’s just very naive and needs guidance to stop being taken advantage of, both in the past and in the present. There’s also the fact that since Mai is the one girl who doesn’t tolerate the Prince act Yanagi puts on, it means interactions between the two are more genuine, plus the fact Yanagi blushes a lot when Mai puts on a suit? Damn I dig. Seeing as it seems Yanagi is getting better now, I hope Chapter 3 continues this.

Some titles were skipped either because there isn’t many relationships or there weren’t any I liked all that much. Either way hope you enjoy

[animereviewsxx]

Guess who just started playing the new cardcaptor game???

Me... it's pretty cute so far. It's a dress-up and fighting games and it's actually a pretty nice way to retell the story!!!

I absolutely recommend it if you loved the anime!!!

[ecargmura]

Wind Breaker Episode 11 Review - New Day, New Classmates

I’m a little confused. Tsugeura’s little motto revolves around the word “virtue”. In the manga, it’s virtue. The subtitles call it virtue as well, but I’ve seen some subs use “aesthetics.” What is the accurate word? A moot on Twitter says that the accurate word should be “aesthetics”. Virtue means a behavior showing high moral standards while aesthetics means a particular theory or connection to beauty or art. My moot told me that the word Tsugeura uses is actually more associated with aesthetic rather than virtue. I don’t know…. For now, I’ll just call it virtue since that’s what the subtitles say, but if they switch it to aesthetics or something, I’ll use that.

Anyways, it’s a new day, the fourth to be exact, and Sakura meets two new classmates. The first is Taiga Tsugeura who likes to talk about virtue, is a gym bro, and is an all around himbo. He speaks in Kansai dialect, by the way. While he’s a nice guy, he lacks personal boundaries, which is why everyone avoids him. Sugishita’s face says it all. Fortunately, Sakura, Suo and Nirei are nice enough to hang out with him after school. Tsugeura is a macho guy, but he’s surprisingly goofy and sensitive. While he doesn’t get along with Kiryu, he doesn’t let that bother him. He’s very funny, honestly. I think he brings a good dynamic to the group as the optimist in a way. His fighting style centers around wrestling with the way he did a German suplex to one of those scrubs.

Tsugeura’s voice actor actually surprised me. He’s voiced by Kengo Kawanishi. You might know him as Muichiro from Demon Slayer and Roland Fortis from The Case Study of Vanitas. Why I was surprised was because I normally associated with him quiet pretty boys, but remembering that he voiced Roland, he has the capability to go loud and dumb too. Also, another thing that surprised me about him was that Kawanishi always sounded like he could be Akira Ishida’s successor in terms of range and tone, but the voice he uses for Tsugeura makes him sound like Noriaki Sugiyama who you might know as the voice of Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto and also voiced Muichiro’s dad who appeared in the third season of Demon Slayer. Kawanishi’s range is seriously killer.

The second of the new classmates is Mitsuki Kiryu. He’s rumored to be from a rich family with the way he went to a rich kid’s school during junior high. His past sounds very interesting if he chose to rebel and went to Fuurin; I’m super curious as much as I am curious about Suo’s past. Kiryu is practically the total opposite of Tsugeura in every way. He respects people’s boundaries, especially girls’, but is rather effeminate compared to the macho himbo Tsuge-chan. He’s also a huge phone addict as he was first seen in episode 2 playing with his phone. I do wonder if he has a hamburger case alongside the hotdog case. His fighting style sort of reminds me of the Gentle Fist style from Naruto, especially with the way it focuses on deflecting as Kiryu deflects his opponents and sends them flying to his allies.

Kiryu’s voice actor is Toshiyuki Toyonaga. It’s been a while since I last heard Toyonaga voice a rather effeminate character. I actually really like his acting a lot! He has so much range that his voice is so hard to detect because he sounds so different in whatever anime he’s in. If you’re curious on what roles he had done in the past, some examples include Yuuri Katsuki from Yuri on Ice, Kazuki Kurusu from Buddy Daddies and Nayuta Yatonokami from Paradox Live. All three of those roles sound different, yet they come from the same person. Amazing, isn't it? I love how Toyonaga gives Kiryu a boyish voice; that tone is so cute.

The fighting scene in the anime was well-animated! All three have such distinct styles, but it meshes so well together. Heck, even Suo gets to be a part of the fight, despite him being at the back protecting Nirei and the girl Kiryu saved and only fighting when mooks try to run towards the back. I really like the part where Sakura is flipping around after Tsugeura throws in a punch and then Kiryu deflects a guy towards him.

The episode is also has some development towards Sakura as he gets new fighting allies in Tsugeura and Kiryu and even gets five new contacts in his phone. He’s the most chronically offline teenager, and he’s even slowly adjusting to the teen life by attempting to participate in group chats and stuff. I hope that Sakura becomes an expert at instant messaging by the time the story ends.

The episode ends with the second years coming to Sakura’s class in order to pick a Group Captain. What is a group captain? It’s like a top of the class or something. Suo volunteers Sakura to be captain. What happens next will be shown next week. However, the second years showing up is great because Enomoto is hilarious with the way he rolls his R’s. Can you believe that he’s voiced by Taishi Murata, who voices Pieyon from Oshi no Ko? Crazy, right? That’s the third voice actor with crazy range in this episode. Also, this is the introduction to Kaji but I’ll talk more about him next week as he’ll finally talk. I can’t wait to see people’s reaction to Kaji. He’s such a great character.

There are two more episodes left. With how popular this show is in the Japanese fanbase, I wouldn’t be surprised if a second season will be announced; I certainly want it. What are your thoughts on this episode and are you also wanting a season two like I am?

[mx-pokirby]

Episode 1 review of Sakura Trick

I'm conflicted in a way that makes me curious to watch more

The explicit "selling point" of this anime is that there are girls, and they kiss. Genuine, unapologetic, not-a-joke, canon, on screen, love-fueled girl-on-girl kissing. "These bitches gay. Good for them, good for them."

When the two leads kiss in episode 1, and even when they're just yearning for each other from afar, it's really sweet and wholesome and makes my gay little heart go :)

Now here's the middle part of the compliment sandwich where the not compliments come in.

Less than 15 seconds into Ep 1, the very first time we see of one of the leads is a cliche, albeit not explicit, slow pan-up shot of her bare legs, then the rest of her doing a cute post for the camera. No, it's no "grave offense", it's just a nice single example of a pattern we quickly noticed throughout the episode.

Despite essentially being about lesbians, the show (ep 1) also absolutely has "cute girls doing cute girls things/moe appeal/male gaze" written all over it. The way the girls are generally framed by the animators says everything. Even the OP shows them all off in bathing suits and 'family-friendly' naked. Except for the actual kissing scenes, which feel like they were intended to evoke feelings in a specifically lesbian audience.

We're thus led to the conclusion that this anime's ideal target demographic is not myself; it's myself (or more specifically Isabelle) like 10-15 years ago. An anime for growing "boys" who want to gawk at cute girls, and get a funny feeling in her chest when she sees these girls kiss, even though she's totally not gay like the characters are because she likes girls, and she's "totally" a straight boy, which then makes her sad cuz it means the characters could never be interested in her for being a boy.

... What was I talking about? Oh, right. Anyways I think this already shows the potential of once being able to be one of my favorite Slice of Life's as a teen.

But anyways we highly doubt a work like it would've ever been made with the intent of specifically appealing to pre-out trans lesbians, so I've no clue what the actual goal was to tell if they succeeded or not.

[shizukateal]

Grimm Variations - Episode Three Review: Hansel and Gretel

(Buckle up, everyone, this is the call-back episode.)

Hansel and Gretel live a pretty routine, gray life at their orphanage/boarding school, with their fellow classmates and their mama and papa- wait a fucking second, that's Sakura's great-grandfather from Card Captor Sakura!

Jesus Christ, CLAMP, I know designing old men isn't your wheelhouse, but that's no excuse to be lazy! Anyways, their life is pretty boring and restricted, so Gretel usually acts out and Hansel gets swept up until they're both grounded. Finally, one time after too many antics, their "parents" decide to spice up the punishment by leaving them to sleep outside in the forest. They're warned that they can sleep near the fence if they want to, but of course that's too boring for Gretel, so they go on a walk until they find a small wooden cottage, although it does have two ca- Yuuko.

...

I never really finished XxxHolic. I only watched the two seasons of the anime, so I didn't really experience Yuuko's death, I just spoiled myself. Still, it gets me unexpectedly emotional. To see a version of her blessed with the ability to age.

So the Dimensional Witch and the kids get to talking around some cocoa, and Yuuko incites the kids to find out about The End of the World. Her words, not mine. That's silly! reply Hansel and Gretel, the world doesn't have an end, it's spherical! They would know, they've been taught a lot of suspiciously advanced scientific stuff in school. So Yuuko proposes them to do a little empirical research to settle the debate. Next time someone loses a ball during a game they should go pick it up themselves, instead of letting their "parents" get to it first. Hansel does that at the first opportunity he gets and indeed, he finds a forcefield, proving Yuuko correct.

This discovery sparks a fire in Hansel, so he gets himself deliberately sent out to the forest again and Gretel does the same to accompany him. He reaches a bargain with Yuuko: she'll help him discover what's real and in return he will help her grant her own unspoken wish. She tells him to look for unusual things in his school and gifts him a tube filled with what could be candies or gems, saying that they'll help guide the way, but to not eat them or they'll run out of it.

Hansel and Gretel start paying attention to their surroundings and finally the weirdness of their situation starts to stand out to them, like how their classmates keep disappearing out of nowhere and nobody bats an eye, especially when there's photographic evidence about their numbers dwindling in the school group pictu- Syaoran.

And 2/3 of the Clamp School Detectives!

I find it hilarious that Nokoru and Akira are here, but Suoh had to be deleted from existence because his blue hair would've stood out too much. RIP, lmao.

Anyways, Hansel decides to try to see if he can find a way out through the forest and obviously his sister goes along with him. Before they can properly set out, however, one of the candies acts up and opens up a portal. The siblings go through it and they find themselves in a mysterious space station of all things, with data of all of their classmates. Soon enough their "mother" finds them sneaking around and they run away from her, using up the candies to open doors. But when Hansel almost gets squished by a closing door, Mother sacrifices herself to save him, confirming to everyone that she is, in fact, a robot.

Naturally, this leaves Hansel with more questions than answers, so after coming back to the school he and his sister straight to Yuuko, who gives him the Matrix choice of taking a pill to forget everything or learning the truth. Hansel chooses the latter and Yuuko takes them back to the space station, explaining that the earth has long since become inhabitable and that the school is teaching the children how to restore it until they deem them fit to go there. Her previously mentioned "wish" is to send them all safely there. Hansel is apparently fit to travel already, but he starts dithering about the choice, especially because the space shuttle only has one seat, so where is Gretel to fit?

That's when the curtain is lifted: Gretel doesn't exist. She's a mental projection for cowardly, dithering Hansel to act out decisively on his own impulses while mentally excusing himself for following along, but now that he has come this far on his own accord he doesn't need her anymore. Hansel, with Gretel's encouragement, chooses to leave, but he still cries tears of bitter regret at loosing his "sister" to the truth instead of taking Yuuko's offer to forget.

Alas, however, he arrives at earth, where his lost classmates have grown up and welcome him with open arms. Yuuko eulogizes the mom-bot, congratulating her for raising the kids and then welcomes Syaoran to her hut...

Oh boy, ok, this one's a doozy, let's see where to start.

Ok, I'm gonna start with the blatant Revolutionary Girl Utena references and work up from there, because if I don't it's gonna drive me insane. Here's the thing people, it's not a sin to reference RGU; in fact I'd encourage it, but if you're gonna pull iconography from there of all places, then you'd better be really fucking conscientious about The Themes™️ and what you say with them.

So this episode presents us with a school in which time is apparently bubbled, constricted by The End of The World it represents, supervised by two figures emulating the heteronormative family structure, contrasted by a witch who at first seems like an outcast but is actually essentially powering the whole thing (maybe), and where students disappear without anyone properly remembering them because if they dare to figure out what lies behind the curtain of the system, just like Ohtori Academy. So far so good... kind of.

The implication is that the school is deliberately set up as this secret test of character thing so, like Hansel, the students learn to be independent. There's even some clever hints that disobedience and figuring out the mystery gives them the passing mark before we watch our protagonist. But then like... why do the students forget whenever one of them leaves? In Utena that's implied to be the magic of whatever time bubble Ohtori is in keeping everyone ignorant to perpetuate itself without objections, but more important that the explanation itself is the metaphor it's in service of. Ohtori students forget because the system wants to present a narrative about itself without any blemishes, so tragedies get trivialized into gossip, victims swept under the rug. Even if you assume that this schools timeloop or whatever is also passively mindfucking with the children, why is there so much focus on the dadbot and especially the mombot keeping things like the forcefield hidden? What is the purpose of that? What commentary is it making? What does breaking the cycle of apathy and blind obedience mean in this setting?

It might sound like I'm doing a pointless nitpick here, but trust me when I say that the viewing experience is already too confusing because of the tone and its use of the imagery. The school really is portrayed like if Othori met the orphanage from The Promised Neverland met an oscarbait period flick about world war II. Like, you genuinely expect that the twist is that the school is farming the children for their brains or something. It took me until I was writing this review to actually put the pieces together as to what the robo-parents motivations are, because their secrecy and strictness is completely antithetical to them wanting the children to grow independent!!!

The truth of the matter is just too soft for the themes its exploring and the imagery is presenting. Hansel created Gretel because he's afraid of taking responsibility for his actions, the same way a character in Utena projected a Rose Bride to not acknowledge the fact that he killed like a 100 people in a fire on purpose. So one would assume, based on how fucking creepy the school and the parents are, that he has some real good fucking reason to reach that extreme of cognitive dissonance, but no!!!!! Even the parents sending them out to sleep in the forest lands like mere chiding!!!!

But going back to Gretel, the usual initial portion of the episode is about how Charlotte doesn't seem to like her character in the original fairytale. How she thinks Gretel should be punished for getting Hansel into trouble which... istg I have NO idea how this show is trying to engage with its source material at all, because that is NOT a conclusion anyone would reach after reading the fucking fairytale, but whatever. It's fine. Or rather it WOULD be fine if there was a smidge of actual feminist commentary in this script which goes OUT OF ITS WAY TO REFERENCE ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FEMINIST PIECES IN ANIME, but noooooooooooo it's all so bittersweet. On the one hand I'm glad he chose to grow up, and since I don't believe in punitive justice I don't think he needs to be punished to get there, but I'm still upset the character of Gretel gets reduced to this when she was an active heroine in her own story. Guess Charlotte succeeded in her purpose then, although it is curious that she casts herself as the twins.

Like, am I evil for expecting Hansel to straight up die in that oven-shuttle? In her original universe, Yuuko was an agent of karma. If she was scary it wasn't because she was evil, but because she would give you exactly what you want and not shield you from the consequences. It would feel weird to me if she were to endanger children the way she does some of her customers, but it would not have been completely out of place in this "grimm variation" that is about our protagonist literally deluding himself to avoid taking responsibility for his choices to end up with those consequences catching up to him in a terrible fashion.

Guess I shouldn't have expected all that much better. Although I am surprised that they didn't just straight up turn Subaru and Hokuto from Tokyo Babylon into Hansel and Gretel. Alas, to be a CLAMP fan is to suffer, and it seems that these past 20 years have not taught them much about theming. This is why I'm still terrified of reading Clear Card Arc, even though I should.