#scene originally from monthly girls nozaki-kun

[decoysatrn]

a conversation/realization Hori and his editor had about Bakugo and the final chapter

[dragonclaw29]

Top Ten Anime( Yet Again)

It’s that time of year again. Top ten Anime! YAY! I know everyone is super excited. In order to prevent repeats from years prior I have removed any duplicates in my lists. If you want to know what my other top tens are like search my blog for top ten and you’ll get them, like my thoughts on Full Metal Alchemist, Evangelion and my Absolute favorite Haibane Renmei. But without further ado this years list. 

10 Bleach

Everyone has their big shonnen anime that they spend way too many hours watching and for me it’s Bleach. Of the original big three Bleach is the one that hasn’t seen as much love in recent years, however a new season of it is supposed to come out soon, I hope. Does this show follow almost every trope of a big shonnen anime? Yes. Does it have too much filler that you can just skip over? Yep. Does the main character get weird powerups from out of nowhere? Definitely. Is is fun? It’s a blast!

9 Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Humanity has Declined)

Look I am going to be honest this show is a wild trip from start to finish and I don’t really know what the hell is going on but, it is a good time. Set in a world after an unknown apocalypses we follow the protagonist, who remains unnamed the entire show, as she works for the new U.N. or at least what they think is the U.N. 

8 Dorohedoro

From one acid trip to another Dorohedoro is one of my favorites just because of how bizarre and wacky it its. You never know what is going to happen ever. The show follows a man who has been turned into a lizard monster by magicians on his quest to turn back to normal. It’s weird, it’s violent, it’s hilarious. 

7 Gangsta 

Gansta is interesting for it’s character designs. One of the main characters is a deaf body guard, the other is a gigolo and they both work for the mob. It’s a world full of cruelty but also incredible acts of kindness. The show has a weird power system that is unique and has it stand out amongst the crowd. I will warn you however the manga is not done and so the show doesn’t have a ending. 

6 Fate Unlimited Blade Works

Fate has a lot of problems I’ll be the first to admit it. It can be confusing were to start and all the timelines kind of go out of control if you watch every show connected to this series. However, Fate Unlimited Blade Works has some of the best animation in anime and some of the coolest fight scenes all with a compelling story backing it up. If you want to get into Fate I recommend that you start here.

5 Hunter X Hunter

Look at these cute kids having fun what trauma could they get into haha...ha..ha.... It’s a fun shonnen with great character development and a flushed out world design it’s fun. 

4 Amagi Brilliant Park 

A teenage boy is given an option. Save the amusement park from being closed down, or get shot in the face, comedy insues. Also magic is real and mascots don’t have people inside of them. 

3 Katanagatari

This show, this show is strange. Each episode is about 45 minutes long and has a very different art style but it is so good. The tale follows a girl and a swords men who doesn't have a sword as they try to round up all the greatest swords in Japan. This show will have you laughing then in tears moments later. A good show for people more accustomed to anime. 

2 Little Witch Academia

I didn’t think I would like this show as much but here it is number 2. God I love this dorky show it’s the anime version of Harry Potter with an ensemble cast of loveable characters. It’s a show about dreams and wonders and it fulfills both. 

1 Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun (Monthly Girl’s Nozaki)

Look this show is a romantic comedy making fun of romantic comedy's by making the hot guys/woman side characters and making the main character to quote the show, “a slab of meat”. When Chiyo tries to confess her love she learns that Nozaki the boy she has been crushing on has a few secrets up his sleeve relating to shoujo manga. Seyo is the best character I will fight you if you say otherwise. 

Well that's this year done. I hope you enjoyed the list please feel free to recommend me more shows ,please do im running low, or tell me if you watched any of the ones on my list. Again if you want to have more recommendations my blog has a few more all under the tag top ten. 

[chickenandwafflesandtv]

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun Season 1

Back with another week of anime! The two shows I'm watching this week couldn't be more different, but both look super interesting!

Welcome back to my blog! Let's get right into it!

MONTHLY GIRLS' NOZAKI-KUN SEASON 1

This show has been on my "to-watch" list since I first started watching anime. It was one of the first ones I heard about and it features a lot of the cast from my favorite anime, so I had high hopes. It seems like a cute premise and I had high hopes for it.

BACKGROUND

When Chiyo Sakura attempts to confess to her crush Umetarou Nozaki, he mistakes her for a fan and she finds out that he's actually the author of a famous romance manga! In order to get closer to him, she agrees to become his assistant. Through the season, she meets the other members of his team like the class womanizer who secretly draws the flowers, an aggressive theatre kid who draws all the backgrounds, and a basketball player who helps shade the pictures. All of the characters are intertwined and dealing with their own problems, which Chiyo often has to figure out for them.

REVIEW

The most entertaining part of his show was when I realized I was almost finished with it. It was an okay show but it just couldn't keep me captivated. The best part about it was the characters. They were all super unique and their quirks weren't things that I normally see in shows like this, so it was super refreshing and it made the show a lot more enjoyable. One of my favorite narratives in movies or television are told from the perspectives of multiple characters who all end up somehow being connected, which is probably why my favorite movie of all time is Love Actually, but this show did a really cool job of connecting them. The characters and their nuances were probably the only redeemable part of this show. The rest was just kind of meh. If there's a season 2, it would be very debatable as to whether or not I would watch it.

SIGN OFF

It's interesting to think about how this show is probably based a lot on reality. The show was originally a manga series, which is what the show itself is about. The mangaka (this is what you call the author of a manga) most likely based a lot of the scenes on situations from their own life and experiences creating manga. It's kind of meta, but it does make me like the show just a touch more.

Thank you for reading, all see you later this week with a show that I ended up enjoying WAY more than I thought I would!

9/13/22 8:12am

[nissakii]

9 Romance Animes you should watch

Who doesn’t know the feeling when you have just finished a bunch of Shounen animes filled with action or maybe some sad movie you simply cannot get over with that easily,

and all of a sudden the thought comes up, “ah it’s about time to watch some romance again.”

For those of you who are searching for an anime to satisfy your maiden hearts, here are 9 romance animes you should probably watch when you are craving for those little candies in your life!

Kaguya love is war

Let’s start with a different kind of romance anime: Kaguya love is war!.

While the anime as well as the manga had received a lot of recognition and fanbase, there are still a lot of people who only know it for the memes (Fujiwara).

Despite it being another romcom Anime the fact that it’s built up in an interesting and strategic way. It doesn’t feel like a romance anime sometimes and even makes you feel if there is even a hint of that sappy love-story you might be craving.

But I can assure you, that anime will stir all kinds of emotions going from sad and tragic backstories that might let you shed a tear to laughter where you have to repeat one scene or another.

Next to the variety of characters that all have flaws, flaws and… even more flaws despite their good image at school, which makes them much more relatable and twisted that you might feel, finally not another perfect protag who gets all the girls/boys.

Because on both sides the mind games are on a high stack, yes mind games that’s the cue because Kaguya love is war is not a simple love story that plays in the most important years of highschool.

It’s a game of who will give in first, who weakens to succumb to their own feelings and confess to the other person, with all kinds of tricks and traps to get their ways.

Let’s not forget about external factors like other characters who put the whole strategy planned ahead to no avail and the funny ways of ridiculing some typical anime cliches.

With a lot of romance, psychology, humor and a hint of drama watching Kaguya love is war will be your out-of-the-ordinary romance anime that you surely don’t want to miss out.

Tonari no kaibutsu-kun

Tonari no kaibutsu-kun is an anime which might not be as known and especially the manga who was even better didn’t get as much recognition.

It’s not a new-generation anime but still one you might want to watch for a change of pace.

Another synonym for the anime is my little monster matching the male part of the main cast.

The two main characters are not your usual shy girl and popular guy, but a hard-working emotionless highschool girl with no friends due to the fact that she doesn’t care at all about her social life and enjoys studying to secure a big job later on.

On the other hand, we have the boy who is not shown at the beginning since he was suspended from the get-go getting into fights and being feared by others yet turns out to be a little bit socially-inept and misunderstood by those around him.

Due to a coincidence and some misunderstandings those two collide and it’s not like you think a super cute shoujo-anime moment, not at all rather the potrayment of social anxiety on the boy’s side and being dragged into a mess on the girl’s side.

To not tell you too much, the interesting thing about this anime is actually not the pairing (which of course is too but) the development of each character, even the side characters.

Because in this series everyone gets their deserved screen time and character development, showing big problems highschool girls and boys alike tend to have around their ages and the social stigma around f.e your typical popular girl or the sporty gets along with everyone guy from the class next door.

If you already watched this series, but haven't read the manga yet I can only recommend you to do so, the stories of each character are told in depth there and it goes beyond the anime revealing interesting facts and arcs that were not shown in the anime.

Kimi Ni Todoke

If you are a slow-burn romance fan like me, then Kimi Ni Todoke might be your next series to watch.

The title means “From me to you”, depicting the life of a female highschooler who gets misunderstood frequently by her peers as she looks like Sadako from the horror movie “The Ring”. As she is actually a very kind and optimistic soul her classmates and the people around her get too scared to even talk to her and start rumors that she is able to curse others. 

While the story goes on the girl starts to develop more and more, getting to know much more feelings and experiences through her classmates and the guy she admires.

It’s a lighthearted cute story with a lot of relatable issues that some of you might already have overcome or in midst of it.

Like the title says, the story focuses much more on the depiction of thoughts and feelings, how different the thoughts one person holds and it can or cannot reach another. Showing us the many sides of communication and trying to understand other people not by only relying on only what one thinks is the way to communicate but also adapt to the way others try to communicate, f.e shy characters who cannot always get their thoughts across.

It also revolves around how one perceives other people they have never engaged with and the main role of rumors and prejudices taking place in our society as well.

For some people this series may be a bit too long for a romance anime, having two seasons and a total of twenty-four episodes, but it’s worthwhile if you are interested in a more pure kind of romance that establishes slowly and step by step.

Akkun to Kanojo

Sometimes for a change of pace seeking something easy and quick to watch might help you to sweep that small moment of romance into your life.

Akkun to Kanojo is a short series consisting of 25 Episodes in total but each episode is 3 to 4 minutes long if you cut the opening out it’s even shorter.

Still the story that is told might make you smile from time to time, as you see the romance between a male tsundere and a cute childhood friend unfold.

The concept of the male being the tsundere is really funny and has a little twist as most animes, especially romance animes usually depict the woman/girl as a tsundere type of character in that cast.

The pure love the male part actually bears for the female one is very cute yet a bit frustrating at the same time just like he does feel when seen from his perspective.

Which makes it even cuter is that the female part knows him very well as she doesn’t really get bothered by his tsundere traits and just plays them off not minding him even insulting her since she knows he doesn’t mean it like that.

The guy on the other hand blames himself and even tells himself he cannot get near to such a pure and beautiful being, whenever she leaves right afterward.

A funny romance comedy that skips the drama and fills the day with smiles and cuteness.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, one of the anime that makes you wonder which shipping you like the most but at the end leaves you behind since the romance aspect is always overshadowed by comedy.

And that is not a bad thing.

While the manga goes past the story told in the anime and even has some more romantic moments as well as crucial realizations, the anime gives the viewer a lot of content when it comes to diverse characters, funny moments, frustrating interruptions and even more.

At some points a lot of misunderstandings come up which I personally found so frustrating and hoped to finally get resolved, yet at the same time they had their own charm in pushing the story into another direction.

It’s a slice of life anime in the end which makes the story not too flashy, but the flashy characters compensate with the fact.

If you are searching for a romance anime where the comedy genre is heavily emphasized then this might be your next choice, since the anime is much more for laughter and enjoying the flow of character interactions and relationships than the actual romance as the focus point.

Honobono log

Another short series anime with only 12 Episodes this time and they are less than two minutes long. Still it’s a refreshing depiction of the many ways of love going from fighting couples to a heartbroken girl and a family.

The interesting style of art, the way how sounds and music are used, and the vibe in general just puts you at ease and let’s you enjoy the story with a light heart.

Especially after a hard day watching this short series feels like a wonderful way to slowly get into your deserved relaxation mood.

Ouran Highschool Host club

A classical one that most of you probably already watched and if not, then this is one of the animes you should really add to your list.

Ouran highschool host club could be viewed as one of the older animes that just rushes your mind back into a nostalgic mood, and the original story behind it still influences a lot of people outside.

It’s about a girl who dresses as a boy, not to be admitted or because she feels that way, no because she doesn’t care at all how she looks and how people perceive her making others mistake her for a boy.

She does not really intentionally make people view her that way, and events of coincidences caused her to get the final blow as she destroys a vase and is forced to join the host club of her school to pay it off.

Of course the leader of the club thinks she is a boy until he realizes the Fe before the male part is very present but he was too dense to realize it.

A story with a lot of character development, building  relationships, finding yourself and many other important topics starts from here on.

The many characters that represent the host club is what makes the series so charming and with the female lead not being your typical female protag as well.

As she is a very independent, cold and goal-oriented character who doesn’t care about romance at all yet has a natural charisma of her own.

A slow-paced romance anime with a lot of stories and derives from your usual storyline, a must watch for those of you who haven’t yet.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Another classic to add on your list with a feisty female lead and a funny teasing male lead who doesn’t seem to care for anything at all, beside teasing the student council president who is the female lead.

The student council president is known for being strict, not standing boys and doesn’t fear to speak her mind when she sees things going wrong at school, actively taking part that the school rules are being followed.

But her school is mostly filled with boys and undisciplined ones on top of that making her being feared for chewing each of them out with no remorse or hesitation.

There is a little problem though, when the handsome and cool male lead suddenly finds out that she is part-timing as a maid in a maid-cafe after school to support her family financially. And he doesn’t simply tell her secret, no it gets worse.

He visits her frequently, keeping the secret for himself and threatening her into hanging out with him or talking to him, even forcing her to be his maid at work.

An interesting development of storyline and plot, with two people coming from different backgrounds  and getting to know each other's real sides as they move forward towards a complex relationship.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

What is the best way to find love for an otaku? Fall in love with another otaku.

This romance comedy anime takes place in the world of work where the characters are all already older and mature than the usual highschool love setting.

As the female-lead switches workplaces in order to hide the fact she is a yaoi-fangirl and her secret passion for anime, she meets her handsome school friend again who is a video-game otaku.

Both of them go out for drinks and make fun of their situations being both different kinds of otakus, the sudden purpose of trying to date comes up and so a weird start of a relationship between two otakus takes place.

Additionally a lot of characters join the cast with different kinds of love stories of their own having one couple that constantly fights and doesn’t look like one at all, as well as side characters with their insecurities.

The everyday life of an otaku couple starts and we follow their story into the twists and fun of being in a relationship, as well as the insecurities and concerns that come with it.

A series for a different kind of romance that makes you wonder how different couples can be and the importance of accepting your true self.

Did you already watch any of this series?

Or do you think there is another must watch romance anime?

Drop it in the comments!

Well then let me now return to my lonely tea,

forever single Makii

Original Source

[bookclub4m]

Episode 129 - Non-Fiction Film & TV Books

This episode we’re talking about Non-Fiction Film & TV books! We discuss media about media, self-pity book purchasing, spoilers, and more! Plus: Kakapos!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards | Appleberry

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade

Movies (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano and Arturo Torres 

Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation by Questlove

Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss, Mathew Klickstein

Hollywood vs. the Author edited by Stephen Jay Schwartz

Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies by Ann Hornaday

The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero, Tom Bissell

Richard Ayoade Presents the Grip of Film by Gordy LaSure

Typeset in the Future: Typography and Design in Science Fiction Movies by Dave Addey

Typeset in the Future website

101 Movies to Watch Before You Die by Ricardo Cavolo

How to Watch Television, Second Edition edited by Ethan Thompson and Jason Mittell

Other Media We Mentioned

A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (Wikipedia)

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (Wikipedia)

Samurai Pizza Cats (Wikipedia)

My Pet Monster (Wikipedia)

The A-Team (Wikipedia)

Murder, She Wrote (Wikipedia)

Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Wikipedia)

Goosebumps (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Live from New York: An Oral History of Saturday Night Live by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales

Saturday Night Live (Wikipedia)

The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy by Paul Myers

The Kids in the Hall (TV series) (Wikipedia)

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman

Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman

The Fugitive (Wikipedia)

View from the Top (Wikipedia)

The Room (Wikipedia)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Wikipedia)

Alien (Wikipedia)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Wikipedia)

Blade Runner (Wikipedia)

Total Recall (Wikipedia)

WALL-E (Wikipedia)

Moon (Wikipedia)

House (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Battlestar Galactica (Wikipedia)

The Video Game History Hour podcast

Decoder Ring - The Soap Opera Machine

Shrill (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Love, Actually (Wikipedia)

List of Hallmark Channel Original Movies (Wikipedia)

33⅓ (Wikipedia)

Criminal Minds (Wikipedia)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wikipedia)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Wikipedia)

Dredd (Wikipedia)

The Muppets (Wikipedia)

Top Gun (Wikipedia)

Kate Beaton’s Top Gun comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Wikipedia)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Wikipedia)

Armageddon Films FAQ: All That's Left to Know about Zombies, Contagions, Aliens, and the End of the World as We Know It! by Dale Sherman

Links, Articles, and Things

Library Punk episode 014 - Manga

Episode 128 - Plucky Kid Detective

Fanart!

Episode 104 - Entertainment Non-Fiction

Toy Galaxy (YouTube channel)

Lindsay Ellis (YouTube channel)

Amanda the Jedi (YouTube channel)

Jenny Nicholson (YouTube channel)

Every Frame a Painting (YouTube channel)

Postmortem: Every Frame a Painting by co-creator Tony Zhou

Welcome to the Basement

Pushing Up Roses (YouTube channel)

Jacob Geller (YouTube channel)

Letterboxd (Wikipedia)

Demi Adejuyigbe on Letterboxd

Sidewalk Slam - Episode 57 - AEW Revolution 2021 (YouTube)

Kakapo (Wikipedia)

Lego set

Diegesis (Wikipedia)

The Stranger (newspaper) (Wikipedia)

Chuck Klosterman (Wikipedia)

Hanif Abdurraqib (Wikipedia)

24 Film/TV/Video Non-Fiction books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire by Jonathan Abrams

“Indian” Stereotypes in TV Science Fiction: First Nations' Voices Speak Out by Sierra S. Adare

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade

Contemporary Black Women Filmmakers and the Art of Resistance by Christina N. Baker

Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present by Robin R. Means Coleman  

The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry by Maryann Erigha

Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film by Ed Guerrero

Why Wakanda Matters: What Black Panther Reveals About Psychology, Identity, and Communication by Sheena C. Howard

Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa

Our Gang: A Racial History of The Little Rascals by Julia Lee

The Films of Bong Joon Ho by Nam Lee

Moving the Image: Independent Asian Pacific American Media Arts edited by Russell Leong

Farewell My Concubine: A Queer Film Classic by Helen Hok-Sze Leung

Cinema-Interval by Trinh T. Minh-ha

Get Out: The Complete Annotated Screenplay by Jordan Peele

Where Do You Think We Are?: Ten Illustrated Essays About Scrubs by Shea Serrano, illustrated by Arturo Torres

Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity by Viola Shafik

Maori Television: The First Ten Years by Jo Smith

Shaded Lives: African American Women and Television by Beretta E. Smith-Shomade

Tribal Television: Viewing Native People in Sitcoms by Dustin Tahmahkera

Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation by Ahmir Questlove Thompson

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song: A Guerilla Filmmaking Manifesto by Melvin Van Peebles

Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism by Nancy Wang Yuen

I See Black People: The Rise and Fall of African American-Owned Television and Radio by Kristal Brent Zook

Also check out the booklist from our episode on Entertainment Non-Fiction.

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Which zine do you most want to read? (Twitter poll)

RJ's zine about Love Actually

Anna's zine about Criminal Minds

Matthew's zine about Dredd

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

It’s almost time for our annual “We all read the same book” episode. So on Tuesday, July 20th we’ll each suggest and talk about one title and you��ll get to vote for which one we’ll read. (And yes, it will definitely happen this time.)

Then on Tuesday, August 3rd it’s time to jack in and download because we’ll be reading the genre of Cyberpunk!

[scoutception]

Ranking the next 5 animes I’ve recently watched

After many distractions on my part, including playing through Steins;Gate, something that has quickly become something I adore like few others, I’ve continued my descent into the world of anime with 5 more series. The stuff I watched was a lot shorter on average than last time, and my attempts to be “objective” and my personal biases align much more closely compared to last time. With that, I’ll begin. 5. Soni-Ani: Super Sonico the Animation

Number of episodes: 12. Language options: subs only. Streaming availability: Crunchyroll. When it comes to visual novels, nitro+ is one of the biggest developers out there, alongside Key. Whereas Key is mainly out to make you really, really sad, nitro+ prefers a different approach. To my understanding, at best, their works are really, really dark, and at worst, they’re going straight for your nightmares, with stuff like Song of Saya and Sweet Pool. So clearly, the best mascot for them is the pink haired, constantly headphoned, and downright adorable Super Sonico. Even if it’s not outright official, it’s pretty jarring. Anyway, with that little rant out of the way, here’s the only thing on this list I actually wouldn’t recommend. Produced by White Fox back in 2014, this anime apparently got slammed pretty hard, and honestly, I have no idea why I even ended up watching this one. Perhaps this’ll be a reminder to be less impulsive in my choices in the future. Soni-Ani focuses on, who else, Super Sonico herself, an energetic and kind, yet clumsy college student who should reasonably be dead from stress and exhaustion. Along with college, she’s an idol, gravure model, helper at her grandmother’s restaurant and guitarist and main singer in the band First Astronomical Velocity with her friends Suzu Fujimi, the witty and manipulative bassist and official leader of the band, and Fuuri Watanuki, the mysterious drummer single mindedly obsessed with food. The series just explores some of the odd, extremely fanservice filled days of her life. It’s ok idea on paper, but in practice it’s just not really anything special or even entertaining for the most part. While I can usually ignore fanservice, it’s downright distractingly prevalent in the earlier episodes, to the point of several episode premises pretty much only catering themselves to it. Even without that, there’s just not much to be found; aside from Suzu and Sonico’s manager, the honestly hilarious Kitamura, who constantly wears a hannya mask and is willing to attack people for attempting to take advantage of Sonico, the characters aren’t anything memorable or entertaining on their own, leaving a lot of episodes feeling dry. They do improve in the second half, featuring episodes like a fairly charming murder mystery spoof, and an episode focusing on Sonico’s cats, of all things, but they’re still not something going out of your way to watch. The voice acting and animation, while at least ok, don’t stick out much either. Overall, again, this is the one thing I’d say to just avoid. There’s tons of other slice of life animes out there that are way better. If nothing else, though, I’m kinda glad I stuck to it just for the surprise cameo by Kurisu Makise’s outfit, considering I was already playing Steins;Gate.

4. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun

Number of episodes: 12. Language options: dub (video release only, apparently) and subs available. Streaming availability: Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix. Moving onto stuff I’d actually recommend, here’s a nice little anime adaptation of a gag manga by Izumi Tsubaki, produced by Dogakobo. Chiyo Sakura, a high school student who stands at an impressive 4′9″, confesses her love to the tall and mysterious Umetaro Nozaki, and gets his autograph, of all things, for her troubles. Trying again, Nozaki instead takes her to his apartment... to assist him with his manga. As it turns out, Nozaki is a popular romance manga author, whose interests in life start an end at manga, rendering him utterly oblivious to Chiyo’s feelings. Thusly, Chiyo officially becomes his assistant in order to grow closer to her crush, meeting his other associates along the way. The main thing that must be said is that this is not a serious anime in the slightest, and it’s all just big parody of romance manga more than anything, especially with the characters, like Mikoshiba, who acts like a playboy, but in reality is cripplingly shy, and Kashima, the “prince” of the school who is both actually a girl and an airhead who’s frequently on the nerves of the drama club’s president, Hori. A lot of the humor thrives on miscommunication, and it’s exaggerated enough that it works well. Every character is an idiot, in their own ways, but endearingly so, and each of them stands out, from Chiyo, who mostly plays the straight man but has her moments of over imagination, or the hilariously abrasive Seo. The plots are the right kind of dumb too, like Nozaki and Mikoshiba becoming obsessed over a helper NPC in a dating sim, or Hori gaining an intense hatred for people standing on boxes due to Nozaki’s attempts to fix perspective problems. The jokes can get a bit predictable after a while, especially with Nozaki, but overall it’s a pretty funny time. The voice acting is good, and the animation is charming. Overall, this is definitely a fun watch. If you want a good laugh, or just something that doesn’t take itself too seriously, this is definitely something to check out. 3. Angel Beats!

Number of episodes: 13 (+ some OVAs not on streaming services). Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Netflix, Crunchyroll, Funimation. As it turned out, visual novels, or at least visual novel developers, became a theme in the things I watched this time around. As mentioned before, Key is one of the biggest VN developers out there, who specialize in making you really sad. From Kanon, to Clannad, to Planetarian, to Little Busters, Key’s made a lot of great stuff, and had some great anime adaptations made, particularly for Kanon and Clannad. Thus, Jun Maeda, co-founder of Key, conceived Angel Beats to originate as an anime, produced by P.A. Works in 2010. Angel Beats focuses on Otonashi, a teenager who wakes up in a strange high school with amnesia, only able to remember his last name. He soon meets a girl named Yuri Nakamura, who informs him that they’re dead, and stuck in a sort of afterlife, seemingly ruled over by a mysterious girl they only know as Angel. In this purgatory, they’re unable to die, as Otonashi finds out first hand at Angel’s hands, and the school is populated by fabricated teachers and students, but the real people stuck there are at risk of being “obliterated” if they act like normal students, ceasing to exist. Unwilling to accept this, Yuri leads class SSS in opposition of Angel and the assumed God that created this world for the cruel fates that everyone stuck in the afterlife met, Otonashi seemingly included. With seemingly no other path to take, Otonashi joins forces with the SSS. The main strength of Angel Beats is its cast of characters. From the pretty mean yet charming Yuri, to the reliable, yet often abused Hinata, to the crazy and energetic Yui, to even some of the side characters, like Shiina, the ninja girl with a crippling weakness for wind up dog toys, or TK, who speaks in gloriously mangled English and dances constantly. The premise as well is honestly fascinating to me, and makes for some very interesting episodes. It’s got some pretty entertaining action scenes, along with some really funny moments, mostly by playing the “nobody can actually die” tidbit for all its worth, with the second episode devoting a good amount of time to slowly killing off the main group in horrible, yet blase fashions. It delivers emotionally too, with the second half in particular having a good deal of touching episodes, especially episode 10. Unfortunately, there’s one giant problem with this anime that brings it down quite a bit: it’s only 13 episodes long. While I’m not a fan of 12 or 13 episode seasons, I can’t say that’s a problem by itself. What is a problem is that they were planning to have double that amount of episodes, causing the storyline to feel very rushed, and leaving nearly every character in the cast that isn’t part of the main group very underdeveloped. While there’s an entire expanded universe of stuff, good luck tracking it all down, and while Key themselves were making a 6 part visual novel of Angel Beats to expand upon it all, something that’s very promising, only the first volume has been released so far, back in 2015, with no word since, very likely because of Jun Maeda’s health issues. Overall, Angel Beats genuinely is a good watch, but it’s kinda depressing, just because of how much potential was cut short thanks to whatever genius decided to cut the episode amount in half. Unless the VN project really gets going again, it’ll probably just remain a bunch of what could have beens. 2. Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Number of episodes: 12. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Funimation. Continuing the theme I unintentionally set up, here’s this famous little thing, from the mind of Gen Urobuchi, who, among other things, has worked on several nitro+ visual novels, mostly notably Song of Saya, wrote the apparently horribly depressing Fate/Zero, and was a scriptwriter for Kamen Rider Gaim, which, to my understanding, is one of the darkest Kamen Rider shows out there. Will all this in mind, there’s no real hiding that this isn’t going to be anywhere near as innocent as it tries to appear. Even if you didn’t know that, its reputation probably far exceeds it by now. Madoka Kaname is an average middle school student whose life is thrown into chaos when a mysterious girl named Homura Akemi transfers into her class, whom Madoka later finds attacking a strange creature called Kyubey. After rescuing it, Madoka and her best friend Sayaka are attacked by a strange creature known as a witch, only to be rescued by Mami Tomoe, a “magical girl” given power by Kyubey. Kyubey sees much potential in Madoka, and offers to grant her any wish of her choosing, in exchange for her becoming a magical girl as well and helping fight the witches. Homura, however, is completely determined to keep that from happening. Thus starts a chain of event in the lives of Madoka and Sayaka that, suffice it to say, don’t go very well. Without getting too specific, what starts as a mostly typical, if slightly odd, magical girl show quickly goes to very dark and twisted places, comparative to Neon Genesis Evangelion, though not quite as in depthly depressing with it. Everyone takes a beating in some way, and even with just 12 episodes, it can get a bit much for some people, even when it doesn’t end quite as awfully as you might expect. Still, it’s actually very well done. The characters are complex and flawed, but ultimately sympathetic, the overall plot is fascinating, and it ends in a very fitting way. It’s emotional, and has surprisingly good action. The dub voice work is solid, and the animation by Studio Shaft is as well, especially helped by the abstract designs of the witches themselves. While I’m not quite as passionate about it all as some are, it’s definitely earned its reputation. It’s a great watch, and definitely a big recommendation. 1. Steins;Gate

Number of episodes: 24 (+ 1 OVA). Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation, Hulu, Crunchyroll. Finishing off my unintentional theme with an actual adaptation of a visual novel, there was no way I wasn’t checking this one out with how utterly passionate the VN made me. This is at least partially a bias placement, but this anime is a very, very good adaptation, and a great way to experience the story without the VN, and a great watch even having gone through it. Rintaro Okabe is a college student on break living in his “laboratory” in Akihabara. A self proclaimed mad scientist, he whittles his days away hanging out with his friends Mayuri Shiina and Itaru Hashida, inventing useless gadgets in a supposed fight against an evil organization. One day, Rintaro and Mayuri go to attend a press conference by Doctor Nakabachi in Radi-Kan, who claims to have invented a time machine, only for it to end horribly for all involved when Rintaro discovers Kurisu Makise, a young neuroscientist who had recently had her thesis published in a major science magazine, murdered by an unknown assailant. Sending an email to Itaru about the incident, Rintaro suddenly finds the world to have changed. According to everyone else, the press conference had been canceled due to a mysterious satellite that crashed into Radi-Kan, and Rintaro later runs into Kurisu, alive and well. Investigating, Rintaro finds that, by complete accident, his modified microwave has become a device capable of sending emails to the past- and that SERN, a French research organization, has been conducting time travel experiments of their own. In his attempts to understand the capabilities of what he’s invented, and his curiosity as to why his memories appear to be out of sync with everyone else’s, Rintaro rushes into a series of experiments that change his life, and those of friends old and new. This is something I could rant about all day, but putting it as succinctly as I can, I’ve never been as fascinated by time travel as Steins;Gate has made me. As fantastic as it, it’s also shown to be unpredictable, limited, and downright unsettling, especially when nobody knows just how time even works. It’s a story about the concept of time travel as much as a story about using it. The story definitely starts a bit slowly, but it’s well worth pushing past. As an adaptation, it doesn’t even need to sacrifice much, with the most that’s lost being some details in a few later arcs that aren’t worth much in the long run anyway. Beyond that, the main strength of the story is the cast of characters. Rintaro, with his rather severe case of chuunibyou, is a unique protagonist to begin with, but the events of the story turn him into an honestly fascinating and downright tragic character, and easily one of my favorite protagonists in a long time. The rest of the cast is just as good, with Kurisu being a great mix of intelligence, ravenous curiosity, and flusterability, with her and Rintaro’s interactions always being entertaining. As well, there’s the always kind, yet ditzy Mayuri, the outgoing, but odd Suzuha Amane, the endearingly gentle Luka Urushibara, and the energetic and wily Faris, just for some examples. The cast is downright loveable and very easy to get attached to. While I prefer the Japanese voice cast overall, the dub isn’t to be overlooked, with Trina Nishimura as Kurisu, Tyson Rinehart as Itaru, Cherami Leigh as Suzuha, Lindsay Seidel as Luka, and especially J. Michael Tatum as Rintaro giving great performances. Visually, White Fox did a great job giving it a distinct look. While the VN had a gorgeous and unique artstyle, it’s not really something that can be translated into animation. Instead, they used a whole lot of washed out colors and saturated lights that, combined with the sparse use of flashy effects and even music, gives a very subtle atmosphere to it all. Even beyond the style, it looks very good on its own, and it’s especially nice not having Rintaro look like a ghoul half the time, like he does in the VN.

Overall, this is very much something worth checking out. I’m beating a dead horse here since Steins;Gate is already wildly popular, but it’s that way for a very good reason. There’s also an extra OVA episode, along with a sequel movie, though both are only available via Funimation. They aren’t quite the best, but they make for entertaining watches worth checking out. And with that, that’s the end to my rambling. With the exception of, again, Super Sonico, everything here is very much worth a watch. I’m sure, once I emerge from the hell of Steins;Gate spinoffs, I’ll get to watching even more stuff. Till then, though. -Scout

[toukaisbetterthanyou]

I've seen many posts assume that fans of Touka, as well as Touken, cannot explain why kaneki & her relationship is not abusive. They say, she beat him up when he was defenseless (at the start of TG), she beat him up on the bridge, she hit him in re after the Cochlea arc, & now in ch 130 of re. Of course they always seem to fit in the "& on many other occasions" line. Not to mention the emotional and sexual harassment accusations... Could your lovely team prove them wrong & answer the question?

Mod K:

I think it goes back to what you personally define as abuse. I personally do not think that touken is abusive. I think it’s a relationship that has some unhealthy dynamics, but at the end of the day, I think that both of them make each other better based on what I’ve seen from the series. Generally, Touka has her reasons for hitting Kaneki. I’m not going to say that they’re okay - but she has never hit him just because. Usually, when Touka hits Kaneki is meant to be “funny” and goes back to slapstick humor in Japan. There is lots of running gags in Japanese manga and anime of someone hitting another person. Usually, this happens in male/female relationships where the woman is doing the hitting, but there are also comedic gags when a man hits a woman, a woman hits another woman, or a man hits another man.

In Monthly Shoujo Nozaki-kun, there is one particular couple when the guy is always hitting the girl (and the pairing is canon) but it is played as being a funny thing, a gag. Now, you can argue that it’s still bad – but authorial intent is authorial intent and when critiquing these things, you need to think about the cultural norms and comedy that is present in what you are watching. Gags that are acceptable in japanese media are not always the same as those that are present in our media.

While most of the violence from Touka @ Kaneki is slapstick, I will admit that there are a small number of moments when it is not and it meant to be taken seriously.

Now, going back to the original TG, Touka is not initially mean to Kaneki. When she first meets him as a ghoul and drops her kind waitress act, it is when she kills a man who is sexually harassing her. Kaneki justifiably gets scared by this and runs away from her when she offers him a piece of her kill. Touka becomes upset about this.

Touka is 16/17 and has led a difficult, cruel life. Her entire life humans have rejected her for what she was, and Kaneki had just done that as well, after she tries to help him. She is pretty mean when he does come to anteiku after this and refuses to help him because she’s still upset about it.

Then, when they meet again, Touka saves Kaneki from Nishiki and tries to help Kaneki again. He is starving and near mad from hunger, and she tries to feed him. Then, Kaneki freaks out and calls her a monster (not that I blame him) – and this pisses Touka off more and she begins to beat him before she is stopped by Yoshimura.

From that point on, Touka is mean to Kaneki and bullies him at anteiku. She huffs at the idea of helping him, and calls him names rather than referring to him by his name. This changes after Touka goes after the doves who killed Ryoko and Kaneki comes out to help her.

From this moment on, Touka’s attitude towards Kaneki changes. She is caught off guard by his kindness and concern from her and she is less aggressive with him. She even begins calling him by his name after this and begins to train him. Now, I’m not counting any of the times that she hurt him when they were sparring because they were training and she needed to do that to get the fight of flight response necessary that he needed to use in order to use his kagune and learn to control it.

The next time she hits him seriously is during chapter 120, Penetration.

Note – prior to this Kaneki had promised to stay with her and didn’t, then he promised to visit and didn’t. Then, he lies to her about what he’s trying to accomplish with his group and Touka flips out. Is it right? No – but she is also a 16/17 year old girl at the time that this happens. She cares about Kaneki deeply by this point and she sees that he is trying to throw his life away and has no real purpose for what he is doing other than self-gratification and self-sacrifice. He is still being the person “who gets hurt,” just going about it in a different way. He is really protecting no one. She punches him, and then tells him to not come back to anteiku.

She later regretted this outburst.

But, what I love about this scene is that Kaneki after reflecting on his actions while he is “dying” thinks of her words and realizes that she was completely right about him.

After that, Touka is doesn’t give up hope that Kaneki is alive and builds re: for him for the chance that he does get his memories again and wants to return to them.

She doesn’t hit him again until they return from cochlea, but this scene is meant to be more comedic in tone.

Was this right? Nah, it wasn’t – but Kaneki has been putting his loved ones through emotional hell for the past few years. He ran off to die, became a dove and lost his memories, and did some TRULY reprehensible shit as the black reaper for awhile. This is all very frustrating and I took this at Touka’s way of getting out that pent up aggression. I don’t think it was right, but I also understand the reason.

The last time was when Touka threw Kaneki out of her room, and she didn’t punch him. She pushed him out.

Now, you can go back and forth about whether this is abusive. Has she hit him? Yeah, but it’s a common trope in Japan. If you use that definition of the barest definition abuse then it would be considered abuse but so would almost every ship in the series save for Hi//de//kane and Tou//ri/ko. As I said, many of the people claiming abuse refuse to even try to understand the reasons behind Touka’s actions, but will spend hours analyzing other ships that I’m not naming that also meet this definition of abuse.

What I dislike about many of the anti–to//uken blogs is that while they point out the negative aspects of those ships, they NEVER, ever, call out some other ships in this series that meet this criteria. If they are so against what they preceive as abuse, then why don’t they also have callout blogs for those specific ships? If Kaneki is such a poor and traumatized abuse survivor, when why the hell are you pairing him with people who had physically harmed him, nearly killed him, or tried to eat him?

At the end of the day, I have no problems with those ships, but it’s hypocrisy at it’s finest.

Even in that anti–tou//ken blog, they stan Mut//suki, which is fine, but Mut//suki also  basically “raped” that U//ta clone thing that looked like H//aise and is actively trying to fuck over Ken for his own selfish reasons. But they don’t call that abusive? Do you see what I mean? Either it’s all abusive and awful, or it’s not. Either you are going to hold all of these ships to the same standard or you’re just a hypocrite that hates Touka because she doesn’t fall into the perfect parameters of what a female character is supposed to be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[recentanimenews]

Monthly Manga Review Index: May 2017

Spring house cleaning alert! In an effort to make the Monthly Manga Review Index more useful, I’ve reduced the number of categories from four to three. Those categories track closely with the original format: From the Top lists the first volumes of new and ongoing series; Ongoing Series focuses on later volumes of current titles, and From the Vault lists older series that are complete, unfinished but suspended, or out-of-print. Digital-only titles — once a separate category — are now flagged with an asterisk (*). I’ve also created a permalink for all installments of the Monthly Manga Review Index, making it easier for readers to find titles of interest. Last but not least, I added four websites to the blogroll this month: All-Comic, Anime Ushi, Manga Maniac Cafe, and SKJAM! Reviews.

Here at The Manga Critic, I posted reviews of The Emperor and I, a gag manga about a family who adopts a penguin; Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, a drama about an ex-con who’s trying to reinvent himself as a rakugo artist; and Delicious in Dungeon, a series about a quartet of adventurers who slash, fight, and cook their way through a subterranean world of monsters and man-eating plants.

REVIEW OF THE MONTH

Khursten Santos, manga scholar and hostess of Otaku Champloo, recently posted a hilarious, detailed review of Welcome to the Ballroom. I’d been on the fence about reading this series, but Khursten’s ecstatic descriptions of the dancing sequences convinced me to give it a try. “Seeing these dancers made me appreciate the power of lines and how they express movement,” she explains. “The weight of a line that flicks to a wisp illustrates a movement so rhythmic that it’s almost animated in these panels. A turn transforms into this complex movement that twists the dancer’s body.”

By the way, if you’re following Khursten on Twitter, be sure to extend your congratulations; Khurtsen just submitted her doctoral thesis! The subject: why fujoshi love Shonen Jump. Now that’s a dissertation I’d like to read!

FROM THE TOP: FIRST VOLUMES (PRINT)

Aoharu x Machinegun, Vol. 1 (Allen Kesinger, No Flying No Tights)

Behind the Scenes!!, Vols. 1-3 (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Bloom Into You, Vol. 1 (Siddarth Gupta, All-Comic)

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Vol. 1 (Nick Smith, ICv2)

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Vol. 1 (Robert Prentice, Three If By Space)

Cells at Work!, Vol. 1 (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

Days, Vols. 1-2 (Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue)*

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 (Jordan Richards, AiPT!)

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Vol. 1 (David Brooke, AiPT!)

Dragon Ball Super!, Vol. 1 (J. Caleb Mozzocco, Good Comics for Kids)

Dragon Ball Super!, Vol. 1 (Nick Smith, ICv2)

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 1 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 1 (Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue)

Erased, Vol. 1 (Eric Cline, AiPT!)

Erased, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Fire Force, Vol. 1 (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

Flying Witch, Vol. 1 (Alexis Puga, BentoByte)

Flying Witch, Vol. 1 (J. Caleb Mozzocco, Good Comics for Kids)

Flying Witch, Vol. 1 (Michael, Taykobon)

The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vols. 1-2 (Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue)*

Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Deluxe Edition (Ollie Barder, Forbes)

Giant Killing, Vol. 1 (Cain Walter, The Fandom Post)*

Giant Killing, Vol. 1 (Matt, Taykobon)*

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 1 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 1 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

Gleam, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)*

Hana & Hina Afterschool, Vol. 1 (Erica Friedman, Okazu)

Hatsune Miku: Acute (Alyssa Vaughn, NerdSpan)

Hatsune Miku: Bad • End • Night, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

Immortal Hounds, Vol. 1 (Julie, Manga Maniac Cafe)

Kitaro: The Great Tanuki War (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 1 (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Vols. 1-2 (Siddarth Gupta, All-Comic)

Mobile Suit Gundham Thunderbolt, Vol. 1 (Siddharth Gupta, All-Comic)

Murcielago, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Murcielago, Vols. 1-2 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Charles Pulliam-Moore, io9)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (EL, Just Love: Queer Book Reviews)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue)

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness (Erica Friedman, Okazu)

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students, Vol. 1 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Peach Heaven, Vol. 1 (Anna N., The Manga Report)*

Peach Heaven, Vol. 1 (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)*

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Complete Deluxe Box Set (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Complete Deluxe Box Set (Erica Friedman, Okazu)

Smokin’ Parade, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Smokin’ Parade, Vol. 1 (Justin Stroman, The OASG)

Species Domain, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Sword Art Online: Progressive, Vols. 1-4 (Nic Willcox, No Flying No Tights)

Toppu GP, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 1 (Helen, The OASG)

Witchcraft Works, Vol. 1 (Julie, Manga Maniac Cafe)

ONGOING SERIES

7th Garden, Vol. 4 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 6 (Helen, The OASG)

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 6 (Jordan, Taykobon)

APOSIMZ, Chapter 3 (Chris Beveridge, The Fandom Post)*

Attack on Titan, Vol. 21 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Blame: Master Edition, Vol. 2 (Patrick Moore, BentoByte)

Blame: Master Edition, Vol. 3 (Patrick Moore, BentoByte)

Cage of Eden, Vol. 21 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Case Closed, Vol. 61 (Siddarth Gupta, All-Comic)

A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 11 (Siddarth Gupta, All-Comic)

Chihayafuru, Vol. 2 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)*

Clockwork Planet, Vol. 2 (David Brooke, AiPT!)

Complex Age, Vols. 3-4 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Erased, Vol. 2 (Eric Cline, AiPT!)

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 5 (Anna N., The Manga Report)

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 18 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Gangsta: Cursed, Vol. 2 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 2 (Sarah, Anime UK News)

Happiness, Vol. 4 (Jordan Richards, AiPT!)

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 4 (David Brooke, AiPT!)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 3 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Kamisama Kiss (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Master Keaton, Vol. 10 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun, Vol. 7 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Murcielago, Vol. 2 (Erica Friedman, Okazu)

My Hero Academia, Vol. 8 (Nick Creamer, Anime News Network)

My Love Story!!, Vol. 12 (Anna N., The Manga Report)

One Piece, Vols. 28-30 (Renay Williams, B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog)

One Piece, Vols. 31-33 (Renay Williams, B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog)

One Piece, Vols. 34-36 (Renay Williams, B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog)

One Piece, Vol. 82 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

One-Punch Man, Vol. 11 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

Platinum End, Vol. 2 (Anna N., The Manga Report)

Platinum End, Vol. 2 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

Platinum End, Vol. 2 (Robert Prentice, Three If By Space)

Prison School, Vol. 6 (Justin, The OASG)

Tokyo ESP, Vol. 7 (Richard Gutierrez, The Fandom Post)

Umineko: When They Cry, Vol. 8 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

UQ Holder!, Vol. 9 (Nick Creamer, Anime News Network)

Vagabond, Vol. 2 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, Vol. 5 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 2 (Anna N., The Manga Report)

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 4 (Matt, Taykobon)

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 5 (Matt, Taykobon)

FROM THE VAULT

Battle Angel Alita (Toussaint Egan, Paste Magazine)

Berserk (Charlotte Arielle, Anime Ushi)

Bound Beauty (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Dawn of the Arcana (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

The Devil Within (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

The Earl and the Fairy (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

FukuFuku Kitten Tales, Vol. 1 (David Arul, star2)

Grand Guignol Orchestra (Megan R. The Manga Test Drive)

Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Juline (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Kitchen Princess, Vol. 1 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)

Kodacha (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Life (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Nana (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Shugo Chara! (Megan R. The Manga Test Drive)

A Silent Voice, Vols. 1-7 (Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue)

Stepping on Roses (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Two Flowers for the Dragon (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Yukarism (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

* Denotes a digital-only release

By: Katherine Dacey

[meowsaidmayaanime]

What I'm Watching November as of 11/25

Servant x Service 11/25? (I think it was sometime around thanksgiving???)

This was a great show, yet another really awesome slice of life, and a semi-natural one too.

The show is about a Japanese girl named Lucy (abreviated) Yamagachi who joined the Welfare Administration Section of local government in order to find the person who accepted her crazy long and unreasonable name from her parents when she was born, and settle the score so to speak. She joins with two other newbies a girl named Saya Miyoshi and a very flirtatious man named Yutaka Hasebe. It then follows the work relationships between the characters as well as a little bit of what civil servants go through working at the office with disgruntled civilians.

I loved the main character and eventually came to adore the Hasabe, the other new recruit, even though I didn't like him that much at the beginning of the show. He turned out to be much nicer and more relate-able than I ever would have imagined, and quickly started rooting for him!

The show is absolutely hilarious, and something that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good laugh and even a little touch of romance~ It was absolutely adorable!

Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun 11/13

I really loved this anime. It follows the daily life of a high school girl, who after 'confessing' her feelings to a classmate finds out he is a shoujo manga-ka and ends up working for/with him on his manga.

It is absolutely hilarious. It has been so long since I have physically and audibly laughed multiple time each episode. It is just that funny without it feeling forced.

Whats also great is that it does not fall into conventional stereotypes within the romance and/or comedy genre. Many characters have roles that are typically assigned to the opposite gender, the obligatory valentines episodes in romances isn't even a valentines episode in itself really. they reflect upon it long after and has its own brand of comedy making fun of tropes. There is no fighting over a single character between the main cast and everyone is really just a normal good friend, and its wonderful being able to see that dynamic like it is in real life.

In all honesty I would compare it to Ouran High School Host club but without the harem, the flamboyance, and the super obvious in your face defiance when it comes to stereotypes. This one is more of a natural slice of life, a little more realistic in events and scenarios, as well as being more laid back.

If you want a laid back romance comedy that goes against stereotypes and will genuinely make you laugh, this is a must watch.

Shelter 11/11

This is incredibly sweet, I saw it on Crunchroll and it turned out to be a 6 minute almost music video about a young girl who controls her surroundings with a tablet, but it is not all that it seems. Any more information would completely spoil it. But the animation is beautiful, the voice actress for the girl is great, the song is good and the plot is very bittersweet.

It's only 6 minutes, and I would very much recommend you give it a shot. You've got nothing to lose!

Blood-C: TV Series and Movie 11/2

So in the spirit of Halloween and my rewatch of Blood the Last Vampire (which I would highly recommend), I decided to watch one of the many series' inspired by the movie. Blood C has one 12 episode series and one full feature movie, and it was disappointing. I liked the idea that the series had for the story, however I do not believe that they were able to properly act it out. In the series, Saya is otherwise a normal, bright eyed, happy go lucky girl, who lives in a shrine and attends high school. But at night she fights and kills monsters. and for the first three episodes she does the exact same thing with barely any difference.

The first episode starts with Saya waking up, doing her shrine maiden duties, going to a cafe to eat, singing a not so great song about how happy and great everything is, going to school, coming home and fighting monsters. The exact same thing happens for the next 3 or 4 episodes with no change to the plot of the episode. After that a few things do change, but the series just largely repeats itself. it is only at the last 3 episodes that they make real progression and things are not repeated. And let me tell you those last few episodes were great.

A few other things to mention, during the series Saya has flash backs that were very clearly and obviously taken from the original movie, including images of the monsters. However the monsters in this series are completely different in both appearance and action. Which I feel was a bad decision to tie the stories together as canon if not only the names of the creatures, but also their appearance and actions are completely different. Not to mention that the animation style is very different between the original and this series that it was jarring to see the original flashbacks.

Speaking of style, this series was made by clamp so not only does the art style appear very similar to XXX Holic, but it also includes Watanuki from the same show as a major player in forwarding the plot. Which was really neat to see, and very much like Clamp to try to tie in all of its shows together in the same general universe.

As a while, I do not think the anime was that good. It very much felt like they had taken the plot and story boards of a movie and decided last minute to turn it into a 12 episode TV series, but because they couldn't think of anything else to add to the story they just decided to repeat scenes and pretend that there is actual plot progression. The series really would have been much better if they had turned it into a movie or an OVA with 3 or 4 episodes.

Fast forwarding a little to the movie, it is completely different in both style and plot. It picks up about 6 months after the actions of the TV series' last episode. The movie was not that bad in plot but still has many many flaws. For one thing, the animation style flip flops between 3D CGI and hand drawn. Normally I'm alright with the usage of CGI when it makes sense and at least somewhat flows with the style of the hand drawn animation. However this one did not. Very often it would layer moving hand drawn animation and moving CGI very obviously in the same frame. Further the detail ans style of the CGI did not match the hand drawn detail and style either. Another jarring mismatch in the Blood C series as a while. Moving on, the meeting of the first main character and Saya was way too convenient, and did not match the facts that the movie gives later on. When Saya and the main cast first meet, the main cast has no idea who she is whatsoever. But later in the movie the main cast talks about how they have heard so much of her and were looking for her. So which is it?

I could go into further detail, because there is more about the movie and the TV series that I had problems with, but I still don't want to give spoiler in case anyone wants to watch it themselves. All in all, I don't recommend this series, I was very disappointed. If you want to know more about Saya aside from the original movie Blood: The Last Vampire, you should watch Blood+. It also has its issues and goes into a lull halfway through the series because it gets incredibly slow paced, but the story is well put together, the animation flows, and it fits significantly better with the original than Blood C does. But I would not recommend Blood C.

[recentanimenews]

Monster Strike Third Film's Main Trailer Features Theme Song by Masayoshi Oishi

    The official website for Monster Strike THE MOVIE: Lucifer - Dawn of Despair, the third feature film from the Monster Strike anime franchise, has started streaming an 80-second full trailer. In addition to intensive battle scenes, the clip features the film's theme song "Eiyuu no Uta" (The Song of Heroes) performed by Masayoshi Oishi.

  The 40-year-old singer-songwriter has been known for his theme song works for Kemono Friends, Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Cop Craft, and provided the theme and insert songs for the Monster Strike web anime series in 2019. The song was already included in his double A-side fifth single "Sekai ga Kimi o Hitsuyou to Suru Toki ga Kitanda / Eiyu no Uta" released on May 20, 2020.

  Monster Strike THE MOVIE: Lucifer - Dawn of Despair was originally scheduled to be released in Japan in June 2020, but has been delayed to November due to the current COVID-19 outbreak. Instead of the theatrical release, online preview screenings of the film's two-part edited edition will be held on the Monster Strike franchise's official YouTube channel on June 13 and 14. The first part will be streamed at 19:00 on June 13 (JST), then the second part will be available at 19:00 on the following day.

    "Monster Strike THE MOVIE: Lucifer - Dawn of Despair" main trailer:

    ????本予告公開???? 劇場版モンスト「#ルシファー #絶望の夜明け」の本予告映像を公開しました✨ 視聴はこちら????https://t.co/hVzosS6Kr2#モンスト映画 は2020年11月公開予定???? さらに6/13・14には、本編のスペシャル編集版が見られるオンライン試写会を開催???? #モンスト pic.twitter.com/CKOjynK7zO

— モンストアニメ公式????劇場版モンスト11月公開予定！ (@monst_animation) June 3, 2020

    Key visual:

    Source: "Monster Strike THE MOVIE: Lucifer - Dawn of Despair" official website

  ©XFLAG

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[recentanimenews]

Moe for Manga and Masochism: A Look Back at Comic Girls

  Ah, Spring, the season of youth, when young girls' thoughts turn to...drawing manga? Well, maybe not, but despite the tortured seasonal metaphors, the “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog” Spring 2018 Renewal is in full swing as we look back at some of the series that made the anime season of one year ago special.

  This week, we're thinking about inking, turning our minds to screentone, and trying to stay within the lines of comedy with a little dash of romance as we reminisce about Comic Girls.

    What's Comic Girls?

  Based on the 4-panel comic by Kaori Hanzawa, Comic Girls is a 2018 TV anime with direction by Yoshinobu Tokumoto and animation production by Nexus. Crunchyroll describes the series as follows:

  Moeta Kaoruko (Pen name: Kaos) is 15 years old, a high school student and 4-panel manga artist! After moving to a dorm especially for female manga artists, she meets shojo manga artist Koyume, teen romance manga artist Ruki, and shonen manga artist Tsubasa. Every day, they'll work all through the night trying to ink and finish their work! Her cute, funny life in a manga artist dorm is about to begin!

    An everyday comedy starring adolescent protagonists, whether you enjoy Comic Girls largely depends on whether you can engage with the central conceit: that it's possible for a high school student to maintain both an academic career and professional career as a serialized manga author without crumbling into an over-stressed and under-educated bundle of neuroses.

    Comic Timing

  The central charm of Comic Girls is how it lovingly pokes fun at the conventions of various manga genres, running the gamut from frilly romance comics to hot-blooded adventure comics to gruesome and gory horror comics. Each girl has her own specialty, although there's often an amusing gap between their artistic strengths and their real-life personalities and experiences.

  One of the main running gags is that the heroine, Moeta Karuko (aka Kaos), is absolutely terrible at her job, generating mountains of rejected manuscripts and frequently frustrating her long-suffering editor with storyboards full of dubious choices. Her journey as an artist is beset with stumbling blocks that evoke both sympathy and despair, but Kaos is the sort of lovable loser for whom the audience wants to cheer.

    The Scent of Lilies

  The original Comic Girls manga runs in Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara Max, a seinen publication that aims for a demographic of men in their twenties and older. As a result, it's not terribly surprising that the Comic Girls anime has a bit of fan-service and a few fetishy scenarios, but mostly the show comes across as sweet rather than skeevy.

  Like many anime where male characters are nowhere to be found, Comic Girls contains a hint of yuri (i.e. an often highly-stylized focus on romantic same-sex relationships between women), and the series also has a very sweet and positive depiction of Koyume, the shoujo romance author, coming to grips with her burgeoning attraction to her dormmate, Tsubasa.

    Art is Hell

  While there's an element of fantasy to the premise of a manga dorm for high school girls, Comic Girls doesn't sugar coat it when it explores how much time and labor go into creating sequential art. Deadlines, physical exhaustion, and social isolation are a constant problem, and Comic Girls doesn't tiptoe around the idea that not everyone is cut out for a career as a professional artist. If you've ever nursed artistic aspirations, the scene where the girls cook sweet potatoes using their old, rejected artwork as kindling will hit you right in the heart.

    Why So Serial?

  Crunchyroll currently streams Comic Girls in some 196 territories worldwide, and the series is available in the original Japanese language with subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian, and Russian. Unfortunately, there is currently no home video release version of Comic Girls in North America, but if you'd like a little Kaos in your life, there is a Nendoroid of the main character.

  Cute and tender, with strong comic timing, adorable characters, and a healthy respect for the troubles of trying to make a living in the harsh landscape of sequential art, Comic Girls is a good choice for fans of shows such as Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun. If the series is available in your area, and if you're in the mood for an irreverent look at high school life through the lens of making manga, then please consider giving Comic Girls a try.

    Thank you for joining us for this latest entry in the "Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog" Spring 2018 Renewal. Be sure to tune in next time for the concluding installment of the spring series, where before we dive into the dog days of summer, we'll shoot for the stars with a look at a completely serious and not at all tongue-in-cheek short form anime about intergalactic warfare.

  Is there a series in Crunchyroll's catalog that you think needs some more love and attention? Please send in your suggestions via e-mail to cruisingcrunchy@gmail.com or post a Tweet to @gooberzilla. Your pick could inspire the next installment of “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog”!

    -----

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 1/23/19

SEAN: (collapses under pile of manga) (muffled voice) Yen Press week, gang.

Dark Horse has a 2nd volume of its manga adaptation of the 2nd Dangan Ronpa game.

J-Novel Club has the 2nd and final volume of Apparently It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast, and the 12th and nowhere near final volume of In Another World with My Smartphone.

Kodansha has a bunch of debuts, and they’re even print! We start with 10 Dance, which combines BL and ballroom dancing, so sounds AMAZING. It runs in Young Magazine the 3rd.

MICHELLE: I am so looking forward to this. The cover and concept makes me think of the works of est em.

ANNA: I am intrigued.

ASH: Yes! I am so excited for this one!

MELINDA: YES to this! I’m so excited!

SEAN: Hitorijime My Hero is a spinoff of a title that used to be released digitally here by JManga, but no doubt stands up fine on its own. I gotta be honest, this student/teacher BL story excites me far less than 10 Dance. It runs in Ichijinsha’s Gateau.

MICHELLE: I’ve seen a couple episodes of the anime and liked it, but I never got far enough for anything particularly problematic to happen. We’ll see how it goes, I guess.

SEAN: And on the yuri end (hey, when Kodansha decides to do new genres, they go all in), we have Yuri Is My Job! (Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigotodesu!), from Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime. A girl ends up working at a yuri café, but behind the scenes things aren’t quite as yuri… or are they?

ASH: I’m very happy to see Kodansha starting to release BL and yuri titles in print. I hope the venture does well for the company so we might see even more!

MELINDA: Agreed.

SEAN: Kodansha also has Golosseum 5 and Waiting for Spring 10 on the print end, as well as Ace of the Diamond 19, Ao-Chan Can’t Study! 4, the 8th and final Aoba-kun’s Confesssions, Blissful Land 2, Kakafukaka 4, and PTSD Radio 6. Looking forweard to Ao-chan and Kakafukaka.

MICHELLE: For a second, my brain interpreted the word “radio” to mean that we were getting more Wave, Listen to Me, but not yet, sadly.

ASH: That would be nice.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a mere two titles next week. We get the manga adaptation of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, which should be as heartrending as the book was. It’s a complete omnibus edition, and ran in Futabasha’s Monthly Action. There’s also the 2nd print volume of light novel How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

ASH: I still need to pick up I Want to Eat Your Pancreas in one form or another; I’ve heard good things.

MELINDA: I should do the same.

SEAN: Vertical gives us a 3rd volume of The Delinquent Housewife!.

MICHELLE: Woot.

ANNA: Nice!

SEAN: And now Yen. There were a few titles delayed till the final week in January, but for the most part it’s all next week. On the light novel front, the most interesting title may be The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story. This is a Final Fantasy VII novel.

Also out in novel form is Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 7, Goblin Slayer 6, Overlord 9, A Sister’s All You Need 3, and Strike the Blood 11. An off month for me, as Strike the Blood is all I’m getting of those titles.

There are four debuts next week, some of which may even interest the rest of Manga Bookshelf. First we have DIVE!!, which is, oddly, a remake of a manga that ran in Shonen Sunday back in the 00s. This one is from Young Ace, and the premise is the same: let’s save the diving team from getting shot down. If you like sports manga, or the anime Free!, you’ll like this.

MICHELLE: What troubles me is the long list of credits on this one. I’ll give it a shot.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

ASH: I’m hoping the original light novels will be licensed and translated at some point, too.

SEAN: From the sublime to the ridiculous, we then get Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls. It runs in Monthly Comic Ride. I guess if you like the other vaguely softcore Yen monster titles you’ll like this? Hard pass from me.

Nyankees is the delinquent manga you never knew you wanted, showing stray cats as if they were in teenage hoodlum gangs. I must admit I really want to read this. It runs in Shonen Ace.

MICHELLE: I really want to read this, too!

ANNA: Based on the description, I feel happy that something like this exists in the world.

ASH: I’m so looking forward to this series!

MELINDA: I’m so on board for this.

SEAN: Lastly we have The Witch’s House: The Diary of Ellen. This may sound like an OEL project like the James Patterson books, but no. It’s Majo no Ie: Ellen no Nikki, a harror manga that ran in Kadokawa’s Dragon Age.

There’s more Yen too, of course; Based on light novels, we see A Certain Magical Index 16, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (manga version) 6, DanMachi 10, DanMachi Sword Oratoria 6, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil 5.

There’s also Black Butler 27 (remember Black Butler? It’s back! In pog form…), BTOOOM! 23, The Case Study of Vanitas 5, Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler 8, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 10 (yay!), Murcielago 9, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 4, the 7th Sekirei omnibus, Teasing Master Takagi-san 3 (yay!), and Today’s Cerberus 11.

MICHELLE: Yay for Nozaki-kun!

ANNA: Yay!

ASH: Huzzah, Nozaki-kun!!

SEAN: A lot of debuts next week. What interests you most?

By: Sean Gaffney

[recentanimenews]

The 10 Best Faces of Anime: 2017 Edition

The human face – one of our species' most entrancing, fascinating traits. Capable of revealing the depths of the bearer's soul or hiding a person's true intentions, the face is the external cradle of emotion, the heart's fairest and yet most complex messenger. Tonight, on NOVA...

  Just kidding! You're not here for a deep dive into the nuances of human faces and delicate insights into what the expressions we make say about who we are, what's important to us, and the human psyche – you want some gosh dang goofy anime faces, and I'm here to provide. Good anime faces are one of the medium's greatest treasures, with each new season of anime bringing with it a brand-new set of contenders reaching for the crown of best anime face. Some of these contenders bide their time, breaking out truly stellar faces for a moment of ideal impact, while others seek to make their mark with torrents faces.

  Let me tell you, it was no easy task to break down an entire year's worth of quality anime faces to a list of just ten of the best contenders, but I have tried my darndest and present before you the fruits of my labors. You can either read all the reasoning, or just look at the pictures and start yelling in the comments. Your choice! And so, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the top 10 best faces of 2017 anime!

  #10. Aguri Dies (Gamers!, Episode 3)

Gamers! (Pine Jam, Summer 2017) was sneakily good in a lot of ways, feeding us rich material on the smugness of nerd self-deprecation, touching little reflections on romance, and a late bounty of dunks on video games courtesy of my favorite character in the show – Aguri. But there was one area where Gamers! needed no subtlety: its excellent face game. Trying to narrow down the faces from this show was a truly daunting task, but this one wins out for a number of reasons. First, the mismatched combination of heavy, marker-like lines and traditional thinner lines provides an odd contrast that frames Aguri's deformed facial features – her mouth trailing off her face is probably the detail that makes the whole thing work. But the most impressive thing about this face? I don't have the foggiest clue what it was in reaction to, but it still works devoid of any context. In many ways, that's emblematic of what makes silly anime faces great – their ability to stand on their own apart from the context of their show. How about that? Weren't expecting actual analysis on silly anime faces here, were ya!

  #9. Jean's Smirk (ACCA, Episode 12)

  This shot of Jean Otus from ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. (Madhouse, Winter 2017), on the other hand, is one of the most context-rich faces in today's list. While those of you who haven't seen ACCA might be able to appreciate the smug upwards tilt of Jean's mouth and his coy eyes, the people who did watch the show have the privilege of appreciating that this smile is the culmination of an entire show's worth of political intrigue, spywork, and plotting. The twist and triumph this one smirk represents gives the audience a sort of deep satisfaction that offers an entirely different sort of appeal from the instant amusement that your typical anime face grants – and that earns it a spot on this list.

  #8. Sana's Pout (Alice & Zoroku, Episode 7)

  There's your typical anime girl pout, and then there's filling up the entire darn screen with your pouting. Leave it to an actual sulking child, like Sana from Alice & Zoroku (J.C. Staff, Spring 2017), to pull a feat like that off. In fact, Sana pulls a plethora of fantastic faces throughout the duration of Alice & Zoroku, including a ton from my personal favorite anime face genre, then > <. That being said, there's no way a pout this powerful, which conveys both her childishness and her earnest cuteness in one shot, could be anything less than the show's best face – and one of the best of the entire year.

  #7. Takao Melts (Tsuredure Children, Episode 3)

  What other sort of face are you supposed to make when a pretty girl seems like she's about to confess to your extremely low self-esteem self? It was pretty much all out war in the Tsuredure Children (Studio Gokumi, Summer 2017) camp for this spot on the list, as the show's face game was, frankly, unbelievable – with wobbly mouth smiles, tears by the gallon, blushes so numerous they probably contributed to global warming, moments of shock, embarrassment, and awkwardness galore. But Takao's face here topped them all on two specific strengths. One, his head is very round. Two, the mix of sweat, full-face blush lines, pitch-perfect pink shading, and his huge mouth are a truly phenomenal combination that make it look like he's just about to melt. #relatable.

  #6. Todoroki's Rage (My Hero Academia S2, Episode 7)

  Todoroki takes a page out of All Might's book as he storms away from Endeavor in this scene from My Hero Academia's second season (BONES, Spring 2017), complete with the intense lines and dark shadows – except, in his case, it's a face chiseled by rage instead of heroism. Pretty much everyone knows about famous BONES animator Yutaka Nakamura's contributions to Todoroki's fight, but the figure behind this epic face is anime character designer and chief animation director Yoshihiko Umakoshi. Although this shot is based on mangaka Kohei Hirokoshi's excellent original drawing, Umakoshi's distinct style still shines through in the inky lines and sharp angles. In the end, the anime version isn't hugely different from the manga version, but it's got just enough extra style to stand all on its own. You can really feel Todoroki's fury!

  #5. Drunk Chain (Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond, Episode 3)

  What's better than a sexy werewolf lady who can crush your heart with her hand while it's still in your body? How about one who can drink you under the table without batting an eye, like Chain Sumeragi from Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond (BONES, Fall 2017)? While not the most intricate offering on the list, the simple chibi-like design is actually part of the face's charm. There's a pleasing asymetry to the whole thing, what with the back-and-forth linework of her mouth and the goofy puff of her left cheek. The empty shot glass of otherworldly liquor is just the chaser that makes the face irresistible.

  #4. Gabriel's Stare Contest Face (Gabriel Dropout, Episode 10)

  I didn't watch Gabriel Dropout (Dogakobo, Winter 2017) myself, but that doesn't mean I'm not familiar with the show's inescapably good face game. The studio behind GabDro, Dogakobo, has made a name for itself doing cartoony comedies with fun animation and great faces, and Gabriel Dropout is just another in a prestigious ouvre that includes cult favorites like Love Lab, widely beloved offerings like Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, and transcendent meme shows like Himouto! Umaru-chan, but on faces alone GabDro certainly stands on level ground with the rest of the studio's productions!

  #3. Mikasa's Death Glare (Attack on Titan S2, Episode 11)

  Can an anime face be just one eye? I'm not sure, but I'm sure as hell not going to argue with Mikasa Ackerman when she's looking at Eren like that! I'm not the biggest fan the show, but this chilling moment from Attack on Titan S2 (Wit Studio, Spring 2017) got my attention in a big way simply because of how much intensity and emotion was packed into a single open eye. The much-discussed makeup animation crew (more on that here) appeared many times during Titan's second season, but I'd argue this moment is their crowning achievement – if only for how impactful and terrifying it is. 

  #2. Sagiri's Bleh (Eromanga Sensei, Episode 6)

  At this point in the list, we're well and truly into meme face territory, with Sagiri's infamous "bleh" face from the middle of Eromanga Sensei (A-1 Pictures, Spring 2017). I didn't watch the show myself, so I have basically no idea what the context is, but as we've discussed with some faces on this list already, many of the best anime faces are accomplished because they can be divorced from their shows. And, in the case of ones like this, they go on to become memes in their own right, ways of expressing emotion and feeling through our computer screens. Ah, for the face of an anime girl that expresses my true heart...

  #1. Kazuma Looks Dumb as Hell (Konosuba S2, OP)

  As much as it physically pains me not to have an Aqua screencap in this spot, was there ever any doubt that the most memorable anime face of 2017 would be this incredibly goofy Kazuma face from Konosuba S2 (Studio Deen, Winter 2017)? The face was an instant legend among the community as soon as the show aired, and went on to be discussed at length on Twitter, Reddit, and pretty much everywhere else for the entire season. As for the merits of the face itself, the bulging eyes, tiny pupils, streaming tears, garbled mouth, the general upwards slant of everything including Kazuma's hair, and the hilarity of the moment itself all pull together to make the best anime face of 2017.

  And with that, I sincerely apologize for the fact that I could not fit more anime faces into this post. As a token of my regret, here is a small album of some of the runners-up that I compiled for you all. With that out of the way, it's time to hear from you guys! What was your favorite anime face of the year, and which anime had the best overall face game? Chime in down there in the comments!

-----

Isaac eases his compulsive need to write about anime on his blog, Mage in a Barrel. He also sometimes hangs out on Tumblr, where he mainly posts his drawing practice as he seeks to become a renowned idol and robot fanartist. You can follow him on Twitter at @iblessall or on Facebook.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[recentanimenews]

My Week in Manga: September 4-September 10, 2017

My News and Reviews

Last week I took a short family vacation so I wasn’t really online much, but I did announce the winner of the Vertical Comics giveaway before disappearing to the land of limited Internet. The post also includes a list of the manga that have been released (or will soon be released) by Vertical’s manga- and anime-related imprint, Vertical Comics. I’ve been pretty busy over the last few weeks, so I’m sure that I’ve missed out on plenty of news and announcements. Do let me know if there’s something that I should really be paying attention to or need to catch up on!

Quick Takes

Kigurumi Guardians, Volume 1 by Lily Hoshino. I actually haven’t read very many of Hoshino’s manga despite a fair number of them having been translated into English. Hoshino is probably best known as a creator of boys’ love manga, although she was also notably the character designer for Manwaru Penguindrum and her seinen series Otome Yokai Zakuro received and anime adaptation in 2010. Kigurumi Guardians is Hoshino’s most recent series, a prettily drawn but rather strange shoujo manga when it comes down to its story. Hakka Sasakura is a pure-hearted middle school student who, along with two of her schoolmates, has been paired off with a living, breathing, giant stuffed animal which transforms into a beautifully handsome man and back when kissed. This, of course, is all in order to save, or at least protect, the world from creatures from another dimension which steal the hearts of humans. The charm of Kigurumi Guardians is largely derived from the fact that the series’ doesn’t take itself or its weird humor very seriously at all. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem to have much depth to it either. Or at least not yet. The ending scene of the first volume would seem to imply that there’s much more going on than might be initially assumed from the series’ inherent and deliberate goofiness.

Oresama Teacher, Volumes 1-6 by Izumi Tsubaki. I absolutely adore Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, so while waiting for new volumes in that series to be released I figured it was about time that I finally gave another of Tsubaki’s manga a try. And because as far as I know Tsubaki only has three series (all of which are available in translation), my choices came down to The Magic Touch and Oresama Teacher. Although I’ll probably still read The Magic Touch at some point, ultimately I decided to pursue Oresama Teacher first, mostly because I have a huge soft spot for delinquents in Japanese popular culture. I really should have picked up the series much sooner; I’m loving the manga and its tremendous heart. I find Tsubaki’s sense of humor in Oresama Teacher to be similar to that in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun–played fairly straight while still being completely ridiculous with a cast filled with incredibly endearing characters. Granted, some of them can be pretty asshole-ish at times, too. The plot wanders around a fair bit, mostly for comedy’s sake, but the series generally follows Mafuyu Kurosaki, an ex-gang leader who is attempting to clean up her act by transferring schools and trying to become a “normal” high school girl. This proves to be rather difficult when her homeroom teacher and newfound friends all have pasts as troublemakers, too.

Manga in America: Transnational Book Publishing and the Domestication of Japanese Comics by Casey Brienza. Relatively few academic writings have been specifically devoted to the North American manga industry; so far, Manga in America is both the first and only book-length work to tackle the subject. Although it was published in 2016, Manga in America was originally written in 2012. There have been some significant changes and developments in the United States manga industry since then, but the book is still a an informative and valuable ethnographic study. A significant portion of the volume and Brienza’s research was informed by a series of confidential, in-depth interviews that were conducted with seventy people who had experience working within the industry. Manga in America is undoubtedly the most comprehensive look at the North American manga industry that I’ve seen in a single volume, providing insight into all aspects of what Brienza terms the “domestication” of manga. Licensing, translation, editing, sales, design, and more are all addressed as is the historical context of the industry and possible future developments. Overall, Manga in America is accessible to a general audience although some sections will likely be more interesting or meaningful to readers with some familiarity with sociology.

By: Ash Brown

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 5/24/17

SEAN: Either you ride with the manga tide or you let it drown you. Looking at next week… blub blub blub.

MICHELLE: I thought this list was huge enough as it is!

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 2nd volume of Psycho Pass prequel Inspector Shinya Kogami.

J-Novel Club gives us a 3rd volume of Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, which I still find much better than its title would suggest.

Kodansha has a pile, of course. In the Del Rey rescue category, we have Nodame Cantabile 19 (get ready for weekly releases of this), and Princess Resurrection 14.

MICHELLE: I continue to be asquee about Nodame. Looks like they’ll have the final volume out by the end of June!

ASH: Wow! I wasn’t expecting such a rigorous schedule for Nodame!

SEAN: Their debut is Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, a josei title from Itan magazine. Its anime was insanely popular, so I’m expecting good things.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely looking forward to this one!

ASH: As am I! It’s actually one of my most anticipated debuts for the year.

ANNA: Sounds great!

SEAN: The Full-Time Wife Escapist has a 3rd volume digitally, and I still want more of it.

MICHELLE: I still need to read 1-2!

ANNA: This is one series I’m actually not behind on reading!

SEAN: Hozuki’s Coolheadedness also has a new volume out digitally, its 2nd.

ASH: So many things I’m interested in are only being released digitally right now!

SEAN: Missions of Love 14 is here to make me grind my teeth but enjoy it anyway. It’s still a while away from an ending.

There is also a 3rd Peach Heaven out digitally.

The Seven Deadly Sins is almost old enough to drink with its 20th volume.

And Welcome to the Ballroom has a 5th book, no doubt starting the next arc.

And now for Seven Seas. First off, we have the 7th Golden Time manga, a good solid romantic dramedy.

Kase-san and Bento is the 2nd in the “Kase-san” series, and I would guess will involve bento lunches.

MICHELLE: That’s a good guess. The first one wasn’t profound or anything, but it was pleasant, so I reckon I’ll read this one, too.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give the series a try for a while now, but there being a food theme does bump it up on the to-be-read list.

SEAN: And a 7th volume of sleepy slice of life Non Non Biyori.

Vertical gives us an 8th volume of Cardfight!! Vanguard, which seems to have gotten over whatever licensing issues had it on hold.

I’ve been forgetting about Boys Over Flowers Season 2, which Viz is still releasing digitally – the 5th volume is out next week.

MICHELLE: I wish I could love this as much as the original. Sadly, it hasn’t grabbed me.

ANNA: I liked the first couple volumes, but I agree, not as compelling as the original series.

MICHELLE: The Yoko Kamio series I *would* be excited about is Cat Street.

SEAN: The rest is Yen, but so much Yen. On the novel side, we get an 11th A Certain Magical Index, now on location in Italy.

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody has a 2nd volume. I understand it is one of them newfangled trapped in another world thingummies.

The much delayed My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected finally gets its 2nd novel, which may require me to reread the first to remind me what’s going on.

And a 4th volume of Overlord, this time focusing on some Lizardman Heroes who will no doubt be destroyed by our title antihero in some way.

Strike the Blood will have a 6th volume of eminently readable and totally uninspiring antics.

The big novel release this month is your name, whose lack of capital letters did not prevent it from becoming a huge movie. It’s complete in one volume, though a sequel is out later this fall.

MICHELLE: I’m a little wary of this, since I loved the movie so much. What if it taints my experience?

ASH: I’m interested in seeing how the novel reads. The manga adaptations of Shinkai’s works have generally been quite good, though.

SEAN: And there’s 3 more Spice & Wolf digital releases, 15-17, which I believe finishes the catch up.

In manga news, there’s a 5th Anne Happy, which wrings laughs out of misfortune. Well, chuckles at least.

Big Order has its second omnibus, as it continues to try to outdo Future Diary.

This isn’t manga, but I don’t care. Brave is out next week! From creator Svetlana Chmakova, it’s a semi-sequel to her hit Awkward, taking place in the same universe but focusing on new kids. It’s super good.

Following something like Brave with the 17th volume of BTOOOM!, a series still best known for its bomb-breast-bouncing scene, seems cruel.

The Case Study of Vanitas gets a 2nd volume. I understand there are vampires.

ASH: And pretty artwork, from what I hear.

SEAN: Corpse Party: Blood Covered must have killed its way through the cast, as this is the 5th and final omnibus. Not to worry, a sequel is out later this year.

Several exciting new debuts this week, starting with Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi), a seinen series from Enterbrain’s Harta magazine that manages to combine dungeon crawls and a cooking manga.

MICHELLE: I am excite!

ASH: Same! I love the premise of the series so much. Granted, the few times that I’ve played tabletop rpgs, the groups had a tendency to put a lot of emphasis on food, both in the game and outside of it.

ANNA: Oh yeah, this sounds good!

SEAN: Dimension W has a 6th volume for those of you who enjoy the things Dimension W provides. (Can I get any vaguer?)

Girls’ Last Tour (Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou) is also debuting, coming from Shinchosha and one of its many Bunch magazines. It’s post-apocalyptic slife-of-life, and probably the closest to Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou anyone is going to get.

ASH: I’m very curious about this one, actually.

SEAN: Karneval has a 7th omnibus.

Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl has a 2nd volume, which seems fast but recall the first volume was delayed a month. In any case, yay!

MICHELLE: Forsooth!

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade has a 5th volume, and is one of the more enjoyable fluffy spinoffs out there.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun remains a highlight every time it comes out, even with its 7th volume.

ASH: Yes! It is so consistently great! I love it so much!

SEAN: And if you want hyperviolent fanservicey trash (which I sort of like anyway), there’s a 2nd Murcielago.

ASH: Definitely not a series for everyone, but I liked the first volume, too.

SEAN: Re: Zero’s manga starts to adapt the 2nd novel with Chapter 2: A Week at the Mansion. Yes, folks, you’ll get your Rem here.

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers has a 2nd volume of its manga adaptation as well.

We get the 3rd and final volume of Rose Guns Days Season 2. Worry not, fans, Season 3 is on the schedule. (Are there Rose Guns Days fans?)

Yen released this digitally ages ago, but it’s popular enough to get print now (the upcoming anime may have something to do with it). Enjoy The Royal Tutor!

ASH: Glad to see more digital titles released in print! I wanted to give this series a try when it was first licensed, and now I finally can.

SEAN: Spirits & Cat Ears has a 2nd volume, and while I wish we’d get more of the former and less of the latter I expect to be disappointed.

There is a 9th Trinity Seven.

Lastly, Black Butler fans will take interested in the 2nd Yana Toboso Artworks book, which is devoted to the series.

Keeping your head afloat? What are you getting?

By: Sean Gaffney

[recentanimenews]

My Week in Manga: March 6-March 12, 2017

My News and Reviews

Every month I post a Bookshelf Overload feature which takes a quick look at some of the manga and other media that make their way onto my shelves at home. And so last week I published February’s Bookshelf Overload. As I mentioned in that post, I’m currently working on an in-depth review of Kazuto Tatsuta’s Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. I expect that it should be ready to post later this week (that’s my intention anyway), but I’m also incredibly busy right now getting ready to change jobs. Taiko performance season is also steadily ramping up, and the Lion Dance troupe is still getting regular performance requests, so I’ve had a bunch of extra rehearsals and less downtime in general, too. Still, the writing is slowly but surely happening!

Despite being so busy and not being online as much as usual, I did come across a few interesting reads last week. Jennifer Robertson (who I’ve actually briefly met before) recently wrote for Salon about Japan’s long history of blurred sexualities and gender-bending. Brian Hibbs takes his annual look at the BookScan numbers for comics and graphic novels for The Beat. The analysis includes a section specifically devoted to the manga being released in English. Finally, in what I think is terrific news, more of Yen Press’ digital-only titles will now be getting print editions, too! Look out later this year for Homura Kawamoto and Toru Naomura’s Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Higasa Akai’s The Royal Tutor, and Sakurako Gokurakuin’s Sekirei. Finally, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to publish anime director Yasuhiro Irie’s manga Halloween Pajama in English.

Quick Takes

The Ghost in the Shell, Volume 1 by Masamune Shirow. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Shirow’s The Ghost in the Shell. The series was actually among one of the first manga that I encountered. My introduction to the franchise was through Mamorou Oshii’s animated film Ghost in the Shell which probably remains my favorite interpretation of the story and characters. I actually often find the manga to be very difficult to follow. Shirow has some great, thought-provoking and intriguing ideas, but the flow of the story can be extremely disjointed at times. A live-action American Ghost in the Shell film will soon be hitting theaters, so it makes sense that Kodansha Comics would take advantage of the opportunity to re-release the original The Ghost in the Shell manga in a beautifully-produced deluxe hardcover edition. This “definitive” version is being presented in right-to-left format with Japanese sound effects for the first time. I’m fairly certain there are more color pages included, too, but the volume does lack some of the additional textual content found in previous English editions. The controversial lesbian sex scene has also been excluded at the creator’s request which does cause some slight narrative confusion.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volumes 5-6 by Izumi Tsubaki. I love Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun so incredibly much. This series, along with My Love Story!!, is something that I can always count on to make me happy. I find myself constantly smiling while reading Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun and on more than one occasion have even caught myself laughing out loud. At this point the manga series is far enough along that almost all of the content is new to me. (My introduction to Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun was through the anime adaptation which is likewise an absolutely wonderful series.) There are new scenarios and even new characters–Nozaki’s younger brother and his judo teammates have become more prominent as one example–but those that were previously established are never forgotten. The good-natured humor in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun remains consistent throughout the manga. Most of the hilarity is the result of the fact that none of the characters quite manage to be on the same page as any of the others and the ridiculousness that ensues because of it. The quirky characters themselves are incredibly endearing, too, even if they’re not particularly nuanced.

Ten Count, Volume 2-3 by Rihito Takarai. Well now, that escalated quickly. From the very first volume Ten Count presented itself as a dark psychological drama, but if anything its intensity only increases as the series progresses. The relationship between Shirotani and Kurose is an incredibly unhealthy one which only becomes more troubling as sexual elements are introduced to it. Kurose, whether or not he realizes it or intends to be, is abusive, manipulative, and controlling. He pushes Shirotani, often without consent or consideration, to his limits and beyond. Shirotani does have some personal breakthroughs but heartbreaking glimpses into his past and into his current emotional and mental states reveal a man who is conflicted and struggling with his own self-worth. Frankly, I find Ten Count to be disturbing and unsettling, verging on psychological horror rather than romance. At this point I can’t really envision things turning out well. (Honestly, I’d probably feel disappointed or even somewhat betrayed if Takarai manages some sort of romanticized happy ending.) To me Ten Count is still immensely engrossing, but I certainly can’t blame anyone who would want to avoid the series.

Dragnet Girl by Yasujiro Ozu. I recently had the opportunity to see Ozu’s silent film Dragnet Girl in a theater narrated by a professional benshi and accompanied by music cued by a prominent local DJ. There was even a brief lecture beforehand which I wasn’t expecting but found interesting. I enjoyed the production as a whole immensely–it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime events–but I also specifically enjoyed the film itself. (I really ought to seek out more of Ozu’s work.) Dragnet Girl is a gangster film which largely follows Tokiko and her boyfriend Joji, a retired boxing champion and current small-time crime boss. Hiroshi, a promising young hoodlum, joins the boxing gym and their gang. His older sister Kazuko worries about him and so tries to convince Joji to make her brother leave. Some romantic entanglements and turmoil ensue, but eventually Tokiko and Joji decide to leave their life of crime together but only after they pull off one last heist for the sake of Kazuko. Dragnet Girl is available from Criterion, collected together with two more of Ozu’s silent crime films, Walk Cheerfully and That Night’s Wife. It won’t quite be the same as watching it “live,” but it’s wonderful that there’s a home release readily available at all.

By: Ash Brown