#sometimes i will literally read a manga and then look at the anime adaptations soundtrack later on. its wild. i dont know why im like this

[bmpmp3]

and you know in general i am in a constant state of liking music that is associated with and/or is from some thing i know nothing about. so is the life of the anison fan who never watches tv shows.

[ihatetaxes99]

A Brief Retrospective Look At MVA (In The Anime)

Well. Here we are. Every end of the time is another begun. After what has felt like years of anticipation (mostly because it actually has been years), My Villain Academia has been fully animated. Well, "fully" may be the wrong word here, but that's something I'll get into later.

To honour the end of the arc, I decided to do two things: One, I re-read the entirety of the arc in the manga all in one sitting; Two, I rewatched all five episodes of the anime's adaptation back to back once again. My life is pain and I know not of sleep. Anyway, the reason I did this is because of a little project I proposed to myself back just before the first episode aired; Once MVA was done and dusted, I would go back and give my own retrospective on the whole thing. Because why the hell not, sounds like fun. This will also hopefully be less emotional than my thoughts I shared as the episodes were still airing, but who knows?

So, let's begin. And I wish to start by stating that My Villain Academia is my absolute favourite arc in the manga. It did a lot of things right. It focused entirely on my favourite faction, the villains. It offers a glimpse into their lives and goes a long way in humanising them, particularly Spinner and Shigaraki. It sets up key points for others too, such as Mr. Compress' habit of thinking more about the bigger picture than the others, which would factor into his major reveal during the Paranormal Liberation War and of course the formation of the Front itself. It introduced us to Rikiya Yotsubashi, one of my favourite characters in the manga, even if he honestly peaked in this arc and was never as good again. And it gave us a large-scale, grueling fight for supremacy in which I found myself actively rooting for the League. It is, in my mind, the very best of BNHA, the only arc I would want them to do well in the anime. They could screw up literally everything else and I would be happy if MVA was even just as good as the manga, it didn't even need to be better. I would have been delighted to have an excuse to experience the arc all over again, seeing my favourite moments with the sublime soundtrack and voice acting.

Yeah… 

But before I get to that, let us take a little trip of sorts down memory lane to see the road to MVA, what led to it. So, 2021 rolls around. What a fun year. It's just 2020 without the excitement of everything being so uncertain, and frankly it's been really fucking boring as a year. However, BNHA Season Five was announced. In February, we get the first trailer for the upcoming season. It's... It's fine. Obviously, it focuses heavily on the Joint Training Arc (in fact, that is all it shows) and although I despise that arc with a passion, it's not too bad. I had not watched the anime since Overhaul ended, so my plan was I just wouldn't watch JTA and would wait until the big attraction, MVA. And so, Joint Training starts. And it goes on. And on. And on. I checked back almost two months later to discover it still wasn't over yet. Now I found this odd. Joint Training Arc was horrible for many reasons, but the big one was that it dragged on for so long as a result of Horikoshi's health complications, which is by no means his fault. But, surely the anime, which would consistently release on a weekly basis, wouldn't have the issues associated with this. Episodes of BNHA have always encompassed around three to five chapters, and Joint Training's were shorter than usual, so why was it taking more than ten episodes to adapt it? 

Very strange, but I didn't question it much. Then, the key visuals released, confirming that MVA was at the very least happening. Great, wonderful. I love it. We've got the whole gang there, seeming like they're in Deika, looks pretty good.

Wait, did I say whole gang? Yeah, my bad, there was someone missing. Spinner. Now, I am not the biggest Spinner fan so I wasn't prepared to riot over his exclusion like I would have been if Compress wasn't in it. But this was starting to get strange. Spinner was the main narrator of MVA. Even if his importance was not on the level of Shigaraki, Twice and Toga, it was certainly more than Dabi and Compress, who did both appear in the art. Why was he excluded? Obviously, I bet you're all having a good old chuckle to yourselves right now because in retrospect, this makes perfect sense now.

Alright, then. I heard from a friend around June time that Joint Training was finally over. Awesome, great, time for the good stuff- why is there a Christmas episode here?

Yes, this was probably what really started to get the alarm bells in my mind going. The Christmas episode- in June. Very, very strange. Also, absolutely no mention of Rikiya, which even if they were reshuffling things, I would have expected him to appear in the episode of Bakugo and Todoroki getting their licenses, since it directly ties in. Concern levels rising, I shrugged it off and waited for next week.

Bam. Major reshuffling. Now, Endeavour Agency comes first, fuck you if you want context for who the hell the PLF are or the significance of Destro's memoirs. This was really starting to worry me now. I told myself that the key visual meant that MVA had to be happening, but it was starting to seem like the villains were being shafted. A fact not helped by the new OP.

Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain or whine, but season five's second OP is just bad. The music is fine, I have no problem there. But the visuals are just awful. Not only is there an extended focus on that stupid bloody trio of Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki, not only is there more screentime given to characters who don't appear in MVA or EA than the main cast of the former, but the animation itself is just so stiff and lacking. It had potential, but the visuals are the worst out of any recent anime opening I've seen in a good few years and this was what got me really panicking.

Boom, a beach episode smack in the middle of Endeavour Agency to promote the upcoming movie. Boom, adapting two chapters per episode during EA. Boom, the Shirakumo episode, which I always thought was part of the War Arc and not EA. But finally, mercifully, the title leaks came and it was revealed that episode 20 of season five would be the start of MVA.

20. Out of 25. And it was pretty obvious that they weren't going to end the season with MVA, so really, up to 24. Ohhh no…

But hey, I'm an optimist sometimes. I was excited to just finally be clear of all this nonsense and get to the real good stuff. Hell, in preparation, I watched the entirety of the season up to that point. I finally realised why JTA took so long and it's one of the most depressing things I've ever learned, in a bad way. Were all those flashbacks really necessary? EA was okay, as someone who as a manga reader, already had the necessary context for the PLF stuff. The beach episode, I watched half of, got too bored and skipped the rest of. And you know what, I liked the Shirakumo chapters. They weren't as good in the anime, but it was nice to see.

And then, finally, in comes episode one of My Villain Academia, on a cold, dark August morning. I even bought Crunchyroll Premium to watch it as soon as possible, I was excited. All the messing around, all the crap, it was finally over and the time had come to enjoy what this season was really all about.

I can now safely say why Bones kept pushing back MVA, because if I was them, I would be embarrassed to show this.

No, that's not fair. I promised I wouldn't get too snarky, so let's reek things back in. As a whole, MVA has been… fine. Just fine. Not good enough to justify the bullshit, but not horrendous (mostly.) In fact, right now, I'll give a ranking of the episodes, my worst to best:

5) Episode One 

4) Episode Two

3) Episode Three

2) Episode Five

1) Episode Four

Yeah. So, there's a clear pattern here, that things more or less got better as time went on. From just straight up bad, to still not great, to alright, to the final two episodes being what I would comfortably call good. This is not a good look. I'm sorry, but Episode One, an episode that I just called bad, is still one of the season's best in spite of that. That spells out awful things for this season as a whole. But what exactly made this such a disaster?

Well, cut content is the big thing. MVA in the anime cuts out:

The League's battle with the CRC

Their struggle with poverty

The sushi joke setup

All of Spinner's character

All of Rikiya's character, including most mentions of Detnerat and Miyashita

Fairly integral pieces of Skeptic's character

Most of Giran's integrity and bravery

This doesn't look too bad at first. It could be far worse. We got basically everything else from the arc, so what? Well, I would already be annoyed about all of these cuts, but the issue is that they cause a knock on effect. Without the establishment of the League's poverty, the payoff of Toga's duffle coat now makes no sense. Without the setup of Spinner's characterisation, his battle with Hanabata now feels hollow. Rikiya's surrender to the League now makes even less sense, as his love of human life and desire to cause no more death is completely non-existent. The first time Rikiya being a CEO is mentioned is in the closing minutes of the arc. The sushi scene is hamfisted into a two second flashback just so that the payoff makes some sort of sense, but again, it is hollow without it being at the start (this is also the first mention of the League's poverty and it literally happens just as they are freed from it.) Can you see how these little seemingly unimportant cuts spiral into bigger problems? I would have been pissed even if they hadn't caused some tremendous cascades, but the fact that they did just makes this from a subjective issue to an objective one.

Yes. They did some things well. Toga's backstory is mostly intact, SMP is just as satisfying as the manga, Tenko's backstory is one of the best things the anime has ever done, the awakening is very well done, I adore the PLF formation as much as I did in the manga. Everything important is intact, but as I keep saying, you cannot just keep the bare minimum and expect it to work. How about in the next arc, they decide to cut everything involving Bakugo out, and only keep him jumping in front of Midoriya because it's the only absolutely necessary thing he does in the arc? People would be pissed, and it's the same thing that's happening here. It's a problem, it's not just a bad adaptation, it leads to bad storytelling in general.

The animation. Now, I do not believe this is a be all, end all. BNHA's anime is never going to look as gorgeous as Horikoshi's art, that is a fact and I do not begrudge them for that. They have a week to draw hundreds upon hundreds of frames, it's not a process that lends itself well to good looks and the animators and artists do their best with what they have. This does not change the fact that it is extremely hit or miss. Some things, Tenko's backstory in particular, look fantastic. Other things, mostly every action scene, make me laugh at how bad they can look and some things, particularly Twice and Re-Destro's hideous designs in the anime, make me cringe. The lighting is also an issue. Garaki's lab looked fantastic, but every other scene is just boring mid-afternoon with dull, basic lighting. I don't expect huge detail, but sometimes, it fails to achieve competency and as an extremely popular show, I don't think that's okay. I don't blame the animators, I blame the higher ups. And while I wouldn't mind the poor animation and art in an MVA that at least has all the story content, this does not have that and so I am even harsher than I would have been.

MVA was rushed. That's not up for debate. It took forever to get to it and once it came, things moved so quickly that they gave me whiplash, with no time to think or lament. Now, this could be attributed to the story structure of the arc, which is essentially a series of big fights, and it just isn't as bad in the manga because I can stop at any time to catch my breath. But I think it's worth noting that the anime at least highlights these issues. Curious dies in the same episode where she first appears, really driving home how pointless she was in the end. Episode Two alone tries to cover everything from the journey to Deika up until Jin finding Toga's body. That's a lot of content to fit in one twenty minute period and it was bound to feel messy in the end. I will say that, much like everything aside from the animation, this did get better as time went on, with episodes three, four and five adapting more reasonable amounts of content, compared to one giving us almost nothing and two giving us too much.

At the end of the day, that was it. The show's over. MVA has been closed in the anime. It will never be given a chance to improve, to go from just fine to anything even close to the manga. Why did this happen? I don't think we'll ever truly know. Some blame the new movie, others the studio's lack of faith in the villains, and there are those who say that it's just how fate turned out. I personally think it's a combination of all of these things. Without the movie, that beach episode wouldn't exist, giving more time to MVA, without the studio's hesitation, we'd perhaps get stuff like an actual good OP and perhaps some more general hype for it (I mean, MVA didn't even get a trailer.) Whatever the reason is, we got what we got. My verdict is something that's very overplayed as of late, but seriously, just read the manga with the fantastic soundtrack playing in the background. The anime's adaptation of MVA is not worth the time investment, when you could read the manga in roughly the same length of time and get more content, a more coherent plot and beautiful artwork.

So, what may come next for Season Six? I don't know. Season Five has definitely been one of the most unpopular seasons in the anime, with a lot of people speaking out against it, but this mostly seems to come from the Western fanbase, so it's up in the air if Bones will learn from their mistakes. Since they'll have a full season to do presumably the War and Rouge Deku arcs, then I feel like they'll put on a better show. But we just don't know. Spinner had his spotlight stolen this time around, will Compress suffer the same fate in Season Six? Dabi and Toga will probably be handled well, since they have inexplicably high amounts of popularity, but with his own lack of recognition rivalling Spinner's, I can see Sako ending up much the same way. Time will tell, I suppose.

[x0401x]

Hey miss wonderful taste in everything, can you recommend us some of your favorite KyoAni productions?

Sure! I love doing recs and I’m literally taking any sort of positive content related to KyoAni lately because we truly need it at the moment. Long post alert, though. Here goes my top 10:

1. Hyouka

This one will probably be my first choice forever. It’s KyoAni’s most brilliant work so far and easily one of the best animes I’ve ever watched, hands down. It’s also their finest novel-to-anime adaptation in my opinion, and one of the very few animation series that actually turned out better than their source material.

The books are extremely interesting, but they’re also bland. The alterations made to the anime added visual value to it in order to make it more alluring and appealing, turning ordinary situations into rather unique and thought-provoking settings, while managing to never deviate from its novel counterpart. The changes on the characters’ designs were also a very good choice in my opinion, as they fit more into the character archetypes and the impressions they give off.

This one is honestly an example for the whole anime industry and a timeless gem. I’m pretty certain that it was one of the studio’s turning points in terms of animation style. Surely will become a classic in the future.

2. Koe no Katachi

KyoAni’s most well-done movie, as far as I can tell. I’m specially fond of the symbolism of every scene and the effort put on the scenery, which gave an effect of depth to the frames. The studio managed to portray the mangaka’s art style while staying true to its own trademark traits as well.

Animation quality and sound design aside, it’s also loyal enough to the manga. There were cuts in order to fit the story into the time limit, but KyoAni made up for the gaps with later released specials. The movie is also considerably less dramatic than the original, yet I’m certain that the alterations in that regard were made so that the transition between the phases of the story wouldn’t feel rushed. Albeit in a much more uplifting way, it nevertheless managed to transmit the characters’ essence and emotions.

What caught my attention the most in this movie was the soundtrack, though. There was a lot of care in its production, and it was clearly made to be gentle and almost imperceptible, with glitch-like repetitions here and there, as if it means to put the viewers in the shoes of the deaf heroine. It certainly did its job well.

3. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu!

First anime from KyoAni I’ve ever watched, aside from the Inuyasha movies. Easily one of their funniest series, if not the actual funniest. It has a very special place in my heart. I dropped Amagi Brilliant Park on the first episode, but I’d cry internally every time I saw Bonta-kun in it. The nostalgia is strong, kids.

It’s got excellent animation for the year it was made, and I dare say it’s more decently animated than many current animes. The pacing is dynamic and the jokes vary from over-the-top to smart and witty in a smooth way. I also give this one kudos for not relying nearly as much on fanservice as more recent titles.

For the people who didn’t watch the first Full Metal Panic, I suggest doing so before trying this one out. Anyone who enjoys the two should also watch the second season, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, which comes right after Fumoffu and was also animated by KyoAni.

4. Clannad

This one I deem as the best out of KyoAni’s most notorious classics. I also recommend the other titles related to this one, such as Clannad: Another Story.

Much like Hyouka, it’s a masterpiece in every aspect. It has a very non-cliché and unconveninent plot that deals with delicate themes in a sensible way and tears your heart apart at the same time. Frankly exemplary to the drama genre and exceptional as a visual novel adaptation.

5. Free!

The franchise became lackluster after the first director left, but the first two seasons were fun enough in their own right. Unlike most novel-to-anime adaptations, Free! started with original content through creating a future for the main story, which was turned into the not-so-distant past in the anime. This is unusual enough, but it worked out well as the anime maintained itself as loyal as possible to the first book and never went off the rails with the plot. The main characters’ personalities did suffer many alterations, yet it’s obvious that they meant to make the two more charismatic and likeable. As far as fan responses went, it worked.

I find very interesting that the creators were aware the story took itself too seriously at times, and they made this clear by compensating the heavy melancholy with heavy comedy. They also compensated the overdramatic atmosphere of the first season by picking up the pace and getting a little more serious in the second season. Everything was intentional and designed to be a hit amongst women, which I think had served the purpose until the first movie came out.

To be honest, I’m not fond of the exaggerated fanservice, but it gets easy to ignore it after a while if you only pay attention to the storyline. I don’t consider myself a fan of Free!, and I actually took very long to start liking it. I only did get into it at the last scene of episode 8, back when the first season was still airing. It was only by this time that I could see the true value of the series, so I recommend anyone who tries it out to go at least that far with it. I know it might be a lot of work, but in my honest opinion, it’s worth the trouble.

I deem the High Speed! novel awe-inspiring because of its nostalgic tone and the awfully realistic depiction of childhood crises. The most serious situations of it are a little out of reality, but the rest is absurdly relatable in levels that I myself don’t know how to put into words. Yet I also appreciate Free! for its strong tone of encouragement. It feels like the creators are trying to cheer up the viewers.

6. Kyoukai no Kanata

It starts becoming a mess from episode 4 onward, yet the beginning was quite promising. This one relies heavily on fanservice, often makes use of nonsensical tropes for the sake of comedy and sometimes goes overboard with the jokes. However, it doesn’t fail to deliver emotional value and the action is pretty neat. Anyone who hasn’t read the novel will definitely be able to enjoy it as a standalone.

I don’t think I need to mention it, but the animation is stellar. I in particular love the blurry movement effects of when the characters draw their weapons and the geometrical spectrums in the colorful power barriers. I also recommend the OVA, as well as the second movie I’ll be Here, although the latter is 100% original content. It was actually cute and fun to watch. The first movie is merely one huge recap.

7. Hibike! Euphonium

Truly dazzling take on slice-of-life. It’s healing and heartrending at the same time. The way that characters are portrayed allows the viewers to feel their passion and dedication without it occasionally feeling unrealistic. Everyone has their own problems, but none of them are taken out of proportion. Miscommunication happens, just not in a frustrating shoujo manga way.

The soundtrack and scenery are breathtaking, yet the forte of the animation in this one was the huge amount of detail put into the eyes and hair. Everyone’s hairdos are remarkably glossy without ever looking weird, and I especially like how their eyes all glinter in different colors.

The author published another volume of the novel after the anime, saying it had inspired her to write more, and it’s no wonder. I also recommend season two and the OVA. The first two movies are just recaps and the third was to me a disappointment, so I leave those to people’s own discretion.

8. Tamako Market

Rather odd but nice story. It blends iyashikei elements with a peculiar plot and actually manages to do that in a cute way. All of the characters are likeable and the visuals do a good job in transmitting what they have to transmit in a very relaxing manner.

This show caught me off-guard by how unproblematic it was. It has trans, gay and dark-skinned characters, but none of them is ever used for fanservice or jokes and their respective circumstances are portrayed as 100% normal, which is sadly still rare in anime even nowadays. The romance is pretty not-dramatic and filled to the brim with fluff, and I very much like that the main guy treats his female love rival as a serious threat.

I recommend the specials and the movie as well. Especially the movie, which is basically the same as direct sugar injestion and gave me diabetes.

9. Munto

Also has a special place in my heart. Cheesy but good, actually. I’d be lying if I said there aren’t some surprises in it, though, but I’ll refrain from giving too much info on the story itself.

It was firstly an OVA, but then got adapted into three movies. The animation was done finely enough, but there’s a drastic change in style from the first to the second half, though I myself didn’t really mind it. The characters are all well-stablished and the plot is consistent. There’s a present quality of feminist shades in it and the relationships are very endearing.

10. Nichijou

Not really one of my favorites but certainly one that I recommend for people who are in need of a laugh. It’s got some pretty creative and iconic humor. Its imaginative retakes on routinely affairs manage to transform the most trivial real-life situations into Oscar-worthy wit. It also gets nonsensical every so often, but this fits within the show’s own narrative.

It has a very unique animation that sometimes mixes different styles of art, which only makes every scene a hundred times funnier for being so soft and adorable. It varies from hyperrealistic to surrealistic at the speed of light and sometimes even becomes abstract as hell. It’s full of notes on Japanese culture, not only about daily life but also about media, which adds up to the fun.

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Nov 28)

Obviously, I’m not going to list the ongoing anime that I’ve still watching as that hasn’t changed much. I will put the ones that I recently completed though!

Recently Completed!

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e

I was going to put this in chronological order until I realized that I just wanted to get this piece of crap out of the way. Seriously, I regret watching this show. I HATE how it’s the highest rated out of all of them! It’s almost an 8/10! I gave it a 4! Here’s why:

This anime started out okay. I liked the sound of its premise. I liked the idea of teenage psychology being pushed but not as life-or-death but more of status. Because believe it or not, sometimes a person values their image and status more than their life. That plot was... kind of there? I don’t know. It was mostly boobs and ass. Those jiggle physics don’t stop here. They make sure to remind you that every character in this anime has large assets and asses every two seconds. 

The characters are probably the most deplorable part of this show. They were so bad. Seriously, we just took the worst parts of every trope and threw them together! The “I don’t talk to anyone. I don’t have any friends. I’m EDGY and don’t belong here. I’m this close to selling myself to Orochimaru for power”, the “cardboard houseplant that’s so monotone that it hurts”, the “double-sided dipstick that will take out a person’s intestines and use them as a jump rope”, and the “arrogant older brother who is way more accomplished than his sister”. We also have more assorted bastards, but those are the main ones. The characters ruined everything. Their interactions were so coarse, forced, hard to watch, and everything is executed so poorly that it made me wonder whether people rated this for ulterior motives or not. Everyone here is an asshole. 

Let’s look at the first three characters:

“cardboard houseplant that’s so monotone that it hurts” - Shoya Chiba isn’t even a bad voice actor. He does give me Hiroshi Kamiya vibes though (not a bad thing), but his voice acting in this show was hard to listen to because his expression didn’t change and neither did his voice. Seriously, over 12 episodes, he has that same expression. Someone threatened to harm him, and he’s still looking like a dead fish. I can’t describe how much worse it is to have a main character whose facial muscles don’t move. He has no personality.

“I don’t talk to anyone. I don’t have any friends. I’m EDGY and don’t belong here. I’m this close to selling myself to Orochimaru for power” - I like her design, but what else is going for her? How many times does she need to say, “I don’t need friends. I just want to move up in school.” Bitch, I get it. You can calm down. You keep doing things for other people but you say you don’t care? She arguably gets the most growth. Akari Kito voiced her and it was just like how any other person on earth would voice this character. 

“double-sided dipstick that will take out a person’s intestines and use them as a jump rope” - She’s exactly what she sounds like. She’s in that gif. She’s sweet and nice until you catch her being not that. Yurika Kubo did a pretty alright job voicing her. Nothing really to say here besides I hated her with a burning passion.

Music was alright. Animation was... Lerche standard. Nothing special. It looks nice until you are flashed so many times that you can’t tell what this show is even about anymore.

This is one of the worst shows I’ve watched in a while. It wastes a perfectly good premise and voice cast.

Kekkaishi

2006 was a good year for anime, and this probably got swept over because Code Geass took the fall season by storm. But this anime was genuinely good. I wanted a good shonen/comedy with action and this filled that void and more. I even read some of the manga before realizing that I just don’t like reading manga that much.

I genuinely like the cast of characters and find them amusing. I also like how they incorporate a stay-at-home dad who wears an apron and no one judges him because it’s what they see as normal. We have a female character whose not being sexualized every few seconds. Sunrise did cheat a little with other female characters though because the manga made their proportions okay while the anime decided to make them look more like a Barbie rather than a human. The animation was pretty okay too. For 52 episodes, it did some pretty okay stuff but with today’s technology, it’s probably not as “wow” as it was back in the day.

I’m just mad that they developed a character only to kill him a couple of episodes later. That’s sad. 

The soundtrack was pretty standard, but I was impressed by the fact that I liked the voice acting. I originally wasn’t as much of a fan of Hiroyuki Yoshino’s works because I found his voice annoying, but when he finds the right character (like Yoshimori or Eraser Mic), he works really well. It’s unfortunate that a lot of the main cast aren’t as prolific as they once were, but I guess that’s life.

No one was hurt in the making of that gif. 

I rated this a 9/10 because it was for pure enjoyment. I didn’t have this much fun watching an anime in a while. This is the anime that got me binge-watching again.

Nobunaga Concerto

This anime has a blaring problem. It’s not the story, it’s not the writing, it’s not the characters, and it’s not the music. It’s the art. Watch any clip and it will give some Berserk flashbacks.

The writing was pretty good too. The story was genuinely interesting, but in the end, it didn’t feel like it did enough. It didn’t cover enough. The dialogue and the incorporation of modern culture with the historic parts were smart. Saburou was really likeable and oddly adaptive. The characters around him (the historic ones) are pretty cut and dry. The music was pretty good too! The art and lack of adaptation are the only things truly holding this show back.

Mamoru Miyano plays the main character and obviously makes him charming and funny, Yuki Kaji plays Nobunaga Oda, and Nana Mizuki plays Oda’s betrothed. I actually didn’t know anything about Oda’s tale prior to this anime so don’t think that’s required. 

I rated it a 7/10

*Another important note is that they get suddenly racist in the last episode. A black guy appears, and people scream that it’s a monkey like they’ve never seen a darker-skinned human before. It was honestly disappointing.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi

Okay, this anime surprised me because of how much I liked it. It wasn’t even anything special. They took the same JC Staff rom-com tropes and put them into another anime combined with some fairy tale lore. But this anime was so entertaining and charming with its cast that I genuinely didn’t hate any of the characters. There were a few moments that made me go, “okay, that’s a bit too much”, but a girl going around punching people with neko boxing gloves? That’s pretty cool. Ookami was a really funny character who I actually found a bit interesting which is weird for a story that’s supposed to be superficial and comedic. Ryoushi is practically a spitting image of my anxiety and personality but in a charming way? He has some cool moments. He’s almost a little like Zenitsu. Courageous when push comes to shove but he’s actually awake. Ringo was the innocent loli until she wasn’t because if you mess with her friend, she will poison you. Again, they made these references to regular rom-com anime and fairy tales that completely roll together nicely. JC Staff didn’t mess this one up, and as always, there’s a tsundere Rie Kugimiya role in there somewhere. 

Because I enjoyed it so much, I gave it a 9/10.

Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha

I literally finished this one an hour ago, read the last chapter of the manga, and went “what the heck?” Because... I enjoyed this, but I also didn’t? Bitter-sweetness at its best. Houko Kuwashima is a really underrated voice actress because she hasn’t taken that many big roles as of recent, but she has incredible range. The characters of this are incredibly plain, but I don’t mind that because they aren’t painful to watch unlike the first anime I mentioned (seriously, I watched the last three shows on this list to wash that bad anime out of my brain). Everyone in this anime seems to be perfect in one way or another because they don’t really wish ill on anyone. Not gonna lie, characters like that aren’t for everyone because “everyone is a scum at some point in their lives”. I definitely respect for the need of balance. The story is pretty simple and plain and so is the art. The music was nice and pleasant. Basically, it’s a palette-cleanser of an anime after watching some bad anime. It’s about developing middle school romance and this... “teenage” couple on the side. It’s about friendship! And discovering yourself, and yes, one character found out she was gay, and I was rooting for that character so hard only to find out that she didn’t get her conclusive ending. Everyone else gets some bullshit ending one way or another! This is published in the same publication as Bungou Stray Dogs, and I wouldn’t have been able to tell if I didn’t look it up. 

I rated this one an 8/10 because I enjoyed it still despite the ending being a little idealistic, sad, and far-fetched (seriously, someone becomes a god and gets their existence erased). 

[rontra]

do you have any recommendations on how to like. Take In Umineko. I think it looks really cool and I’d like to get into it, but there’s a lot of things that are confusing (like all of the different games, the manga, the anime, ect.) and I’m not really sure where to start watching/reading it. Do you have any advice on where the best place to start is?

HOH BABY NOW THIS IS A GOOD ASK

Basically, a lot of this depends on you and how you prefer to take in media. People are different after all; some people like reading long novels, some prefer comics, u know! So let’s just go over all the avenues and how to get at them, and the rest is up to you!

I’m gonna make this post very long. VERY VERY LONG. IM SO FUCKn SORyr

First, I’ll talk abt what umineko is; then I’ll discuss the various media; finally, at the end, I’ll write down what I typically recommend to newcomers! SCROLL REALLY FAST TO THE HEADERS IF U HAVE NO TIME FOR MY RAMBLING LOL

So…here we goooo

READING UMINEKO: UNTANGLING THE WEB

OR: what the fuck is umineko and why do you want me to read it, diesel?

Since this is a general To Whom It May Concern post: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Or Umineko: When They Cry, alternatively When The Seagulls Cry) is a murder mystery/fantasy/metafiction visual novel published between 2007 and 2011. I know “murder mystery” and “metafiction” sound pretty boring when you combine them, but trust me–Umineko’s unlike anything you’ve seen, and defies explanation. Still, I’m here to do my best!

Umineko is about a rich and complicated family, and their annual family conference–and the year it goes super duper badly. On an isolated island, in the middle of a typhoon, tragedy befalls the family–on a massive scale! Someone is killing them–all of them–and the only answer that seems to be rising is–

“Beatrice did it.”

But Beatrice isn’t supposed to really exist. Not for real!! No one by that name is on the island. It’s just a story! She’s made up–Beatrice is a legend. A witch who has lived for a thousand years–who loaned the family patriarch ten tons of gold, an insane amount of wealth, in exchange for his soul. Now she’s collecting on that loan, taking everything back, with interest–the lives of the family included.

Is the culprit a human, or not? Does the witch exist, or not?Is the culprit one of the 18 people? Does a 19th person exist? Or…?And, most importantly–when the typhoon passes, will anyone remain alive on the island?

[YouTube: Umineko opening]

I’d super-recommend Umineko if you enjoy: strong characterization, a solidly built mystery (with plenty of smaller mysteries to try your brain with along the way ;) ), complex and nuanced characters, hype magic fights, Logic-Based Combat(???), deep discussions of trauma and its consequences, large casts of characters, Genre Fuckery, coping, Meta™, and milfs Complex Lore

I would, however, NOT recommend Umineko if you are triggered by/can’t stomach reading about: body horror, gore, death, trauma, child abuse, bullying, discussion of suicide, discussion of sexual assault, etc (you can message me for a more complete list of warnings; I’m happy to provide super-specific ones if there’s something specific you’re concerned about, or even give you specific scenes to watch out for. I kept this vague on purpose, but if you message me off anon or via DMs here or at @aceyasu, I’ll be happy to answer anything!)

Overall it’s a pretty dark, emotional story, with a lot of Themes™–but it’s also full of love and genuine heartfelt Feelings. I don’t think any story has touched me the way Umineko has! Of course, everyone’s experience is very unique to them, but I think Umineko has something for everyone (provided, of course, that we’re taking into account the content warnings and excluding people who can’t/don’t want to encounter those things!). The characters, music, story and message–it all has a lot of heart and it all is very important to me as an individual. Obviously no media is flawless, but I think Umineko’s good outweighs its bad…YMMV though of course :p

Also, hype magic fights.

OKAY WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY

Umineko’s story is told over 8 arcs–styled as “episodes”. I use “arc” and “episode” sort of interchangeably! Specific ones I just call “EP#” though. All you really need to know though is there’s 8 of them, of varying length, and you have to read them all for the full story.

Thankfully they’re numbered, am i right?? HAFDmgkdfmg

Each episode has its own focus within the overarching narrative and comes with its own fun mysteries and harrowing developments just for you! yay! But basically, the important thing is that they’re divided into the Question Arcs (1-4) and Answer Arcs (5-8).

Sometimes, to make things confusing, the Answer Arcs are also called “Core Arcs” or “Chiru”. I will use “Answer Arcs” here, but if you encounter those two elsewhere, that’s what they are. :p

ACTUALLY EXPERIENCING UMINEKO

(now that im done YAPPING)

The anime

Generally viewed as a poor product. It’s a bad adaption that fails as a standalone, too, because of the amount of important scenes that are missing. Don’t watch the anime first if you really want to get into Umineko. It’s a fun watch once you know how it’s supposed to go, though :p Covers the Question Arcs only, ends with EP4–so even if it was good, it would only be half the story… press f to pay respects. The opening fuckin slaps though, and all the VAs are solid.

The manga

Each Episode has its own manga adaption, usually done by a different artist (with exception of EP1, EP3, and EP8, which are all by the same artist). Generally solid; gets the most important parts. For people who want to get through quicker, the manga helps a lot.

The primary cost is that a lot of characterization doesn’t get to shine AS bright, as there’s simply no time to get into the nooks and crannies (still a great cast, though). However, the art is usually fantastic–since the artist changes every EP, it’s easy to deal with even if you don’t like a specific one’s style. It’ll be gone by next Episode!

A lot of moments get punched up by the more visual format of the manga. You really get a better sense of the characters interacting physically with one another! You do, however, run into the Scanlation Problem…..

I know, I know–most people, when given the option to, don’t want to pay for things. So when given the choice between fan scanlations and the official release, a lot of people would choose the scanlations. And they’re fine…for the most part…except for the parts that aren’t. Some parts (notably in the Answer Arcs) are…bad. Really bad. Even I can’t really understand it sometimes, despite knowing this story inside out… LOL

If you’re good at parsing Scanlation SNAFU or can’t afford/don’t want to buy it, you can find Umineko on MOST manga hosts! I don’t know which you prefer so I’m not gonna link ‘em hahahafkgmfh I usually use Manga Rock but that’s because I usually am reading on my phone and I like their app. The episodes are all numbered, so it’s pretty easy to find your way around!

On the other hand, if you have a hard time understanding poor translations, reading inconsistent typesetting/fonts, or simply Can afford it/prefer buying media, the manga is being officially released in English by YenPress! As is standard nowadays, you can get them in both physical volumes and digital e-books! However, YenPress’ release is currently ongoing–the first volume of EP8 is slated to release in March.

[YenPress link]

The visual novel

Ah, here we are–the head honcho himself…! This is the original version of Umineko. These are the ones we call “games”, and why we sometimes say u “play” Umineko, but. Really. It’s just reading. They’re kinetic novels. Its literally just reading. So I don’t know why we complicate things like that.

(“if she an .exe, shes a game”, I guess… xD)

This is where the characterization and voice of Umineko really shines! The style is often simple to read, sometimes even comically casual, but it cuts deep when it wants to. Even really simple lines can have a really strong impact–it’s a really pleasant style to read, IMO…pretty easy to understand most of the time, but emotionally resonant all the same!

Reading the VN is somewhat of an undertaking, because of the amount of hours required…It’s a far longer read. Depending on your reading speed and whether or not you pause to think/talk about things as you read, people clock in 100-200 hours to finish it.

But, on the upside–because it has so much more time than the manga, the VN can really get deep into the characters, their dynamics, and their inner conflicts. You really get a deep sense for everyone’s character and it makes most of the cast feel fleshed-out enough that you appreciate all of them to some extent (whether positive or negative :P)

Oh, actually–the original Umineko branded itself a “Sound Novel”….as opposed to a Visual Novel, where the emphasis is on, uh–Visuals–Umineko leans more heavily on audio to create its atmosphere. And the music? Fuckin rips!! The Umineko soundtrack is huge and has tons of absolute bangers. It’s easy to see why it decided to market itself as a Sound Novel rather than a visual novel–the graphics of the original PC version are simple, but the atmospheric sound effects and BGM really shines.

Here’s some enticing tracks to pique yr interest (be careful about the comments/etc though, there’s Definitely spoilers in there xD)[worldenddominator] [dead angle] [dir] [system0] [hope]

The VN nowadays is split into the two halves; if you get EP4, it’ll include 1-3 as well, essentially. Picking up Question Arcs (or EP4) and Answer Arcs (or EP8) gives u the whole 8 episodes. Easy peasy! Because we live in the future now, and retroactive inclusion of past games is just convenient!

There is an official English release now, which is a brand new luxury. It’s even on Steam! Wow! That’s the easiest way to get your paws on the hands-on experience. The translation has been slightly updated as well! Also, they added a new set of toggle-able graphics that are…um…I mean they’re certainly new…#BarelyContainedOpinionAlert

If you don’t want to pay or can’t afford it…uhhh….I used to have torrent links but they’re all dead. :T still, you can probably just find them, if you know your way around torrents. For the translation, you’ll have to either get a pre-patched version of the game, or use the translation group’s instructions to patch it yourself. 

If you can’t do either of those, or just don’t really have a preference, or…any number of reasons, you can also find all the games fully recorded and uploaded to YouTube (with or without commentary)!

As for the links, I’ve got them right h–

Wait–oh, sh–the graphics are bad?!? You think the graphics are bad? Or you think plain reading is boring? Y-you can’t understand what the background image in this scene is even supposed to be? Ah…the post-2007 struggle….

The visual novel, Part Deux: AH, THE JPEGS edition

OKAY SO I SPLIT THIS APART BECAUSE IT*S IMPORTANT

If you wanna spruce up your VN-reading experience, here’s the thing: they ported the game to PS3, with brand new graphics and–get this–full voice acting. Wow! There’s even CGs now…Jeez!

These are NOT the same graphics as the new ones from the official English release! That’s important!

SO, if you wanna spruce up the graphics a bit, or you enjoy voice acting with your novels, you can do that! People took apart the PS3 games and made patches for the PC version to enjoy the new graphics and voices. And now it’s available for the Steam version as well!

[SPRITE COMPARISON: ORIGINAL PC | PS3 | STEAM]You pick your favorite!

ALSO VOICE ACTING! WOW!! Remember how I said the anime got two things right and they were the OP and the voice cast?

SAME CAST, BABEY!!!! They are all excellent and do a wonderful job! It can really add some more interest if you struggle with staying focused on “plain” reading.

Okay so NOW the links:

You’ll have to dig up torrents yourself if you want those, bc its 6am and I’m too sleepy to… uzu

QUESTION ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

ANSWER ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

YOUTUBE[Non-commentated, with PS3 patch] you can find more just by searching but this one looks good to me :p

RONTRA OPINIONS / SUGGESTIONS

Personally, I favor the VN for most scenes, but the manga for my light casual reading. Y’know? The VN can be pretty…um…dense, at times.

Ironically, I think EP1 itself might be the biggest hurdle for total first-timers. It’s definitely paced as a “part 1 of 8″ for the first solid portion! By which I mean, it really takes its time establishing the cast and their individual situations. Which isn’t a bad thing–especially in the overarching scope of how long the story is–but if you aren’t sure about the premise, format, or if you’ll enjoy Umineko at all, it can be sort of…challenging.

It all really depends on the individual–things like attention span, investment, and personal preferences, imo. Some people just don’t enjoy reading that much text at once! And that’s fine! Some people love it and that’s fine! Some people think the intro is too long, some people think it’s intriguing from the start. Some really like watching character building, and some prefer to see action happening. Either way is fine, so it’s really up to you!

Usually, if someone isn’t sure, I suggest they try EP1 in manga form first, just to see if the general premise entices them; it’s fully possible to jump back and do the VN if you decide you like it! It sacrifices some characterization in exchange for exploring the main premise a little faster.

Similarly, if you just can’t get into the VN–you can read the entire thing with manga too, if you favor action over the deepest character lore. It’s still a good time and a good experience!

Though, in EP1′s favor–if you ARE sure about it, and are able to dedicate your attention to the first 10-13 hours of set-up, EP1 has one of the most rewarding escalations I’ve encountered! If you are able to sit and read a fairly long-winded introduction, you are rewarded with the most buck wild Popping Off you can imagine.

So there’s nothing wrong with jumping right in there with the VN, if you enjoy reading!

However, if you do find that the VN is dragging too much for you, you can go in reverse too–and finish EP1 by manga, then decide if you want to jump back to the VN or not. I promise, the novels pick up the pace too–it’s just getting all the introductions down that can be daunting, when the initial cast size is a staggering 18 people (plus the LORE has to be established too)!!

Just for you–if you want to get into Umineko, but struggle with EP1, I’ll offer my private archive of YenPress manga rips for EP1–read the manga, official english translation, for free thanks to your dealer friend, rontra,You will have to message me about it, though–off anon or via DMs, here or at @aceyasu.

My favorite setups when I play by myself are either Original PC Graphics + Voice Acting, or Full PS3 Patch. I personally really like the original PC graphics, but I understand some people think they’re kinda…um…Rough, to say the least xD PS3 graphics are a close second for me though.

I don’t really like the steam version’s new sprites. Some people don’t mind them, so it’s up to you what you prefer, but I think they don’t really convey the feeling as well as their counterparts sometimes… :/

But hey, everyone’s got their own opinions!

I also prefer the EP8 manga to the EP8 VN. If I have control over someone’s first playthrough, I always push over to the manga for EP8! In my opinion, it’s a rare instance where the adaption is better than its original. People have different opinions on this, of course, but since this section is My Opinions Central, that’s my opinioooon!!! :D

SO BASICALLY MY OWN PERSONAL PREFERRED STRUCTURE IS

->TRY EP1 (jump over to manga if struggling; if enjoyed manga ep1 until the end, hop back into the VN at EP2 and come back to EP1 if you want to later)

EP2-EP7 VN

EP8 MANGA(EP8 VN if desired afterwards, once the dust settles)

But you’re free to do what you want, of course. ;9

And then after that there’s some spinoffs that I didn’t talk about because that’s a post for another time. (There’s a fighting game! It’s packed full of spoilers.)

AFTERWORD

All in all, Umineko is…big. its very very big. it has a huge cast (the final count comes out to like, almost 70 characters!) and a huge story. and huge feelings.

The manga and the VN are the main avenues of getting into it. It’s easier than it looks at a glance; and yet, more daunting than it seems…

If you have the time and energy to pour hours of your time into it, Umineko is a super worthwhile story that tackles genuinely difficult material with a delicate but honest hand.

It clowns up sometimes and stumbles over its own demographic–see: Weird Vaguely Unpleasant Anime-brand Sex Comedy that springs up a lot in EP1, some in EP2, and then largely disappears save for a few dumb jokes here and there–but overall is a solidly built and solidly delivered story about trauma, love, loss, and getting your family ritual-murdered by a thousand-year-old witch who may or may not be real.

And if you have any questions at all (or just wanna talk Umineko), you can send an ask or IM me here or at @aceyasu–you can ask for my Discord too if you wanna really get into it. Or DM me on twitter! I’m happy to answer any question or elaborate on anything you’re confused about. I tried to go over this post quickly, so if I was too vague on something, feel free to ask!

The same of course applies to content warnings; if there’s something specific you’re worried about, I can answer it for you, whether it’s “does [specific thing] happen/appear” or “how much of [thing] is there, i can handle a little bit”! Anything! Of course I want people to read my favorite, but I also more than that want u all to be safe.

I’m very sorry that this post is literally three thousand words long. Umineko’s been my special interest for almost ten whole years. I get chatty! But hopefully my passion shines through and gets you excited!!!

LOVE, A BIG NERD

[hannahdearr]

Tag Game (:

- answering the following questions then making your own to ask others -

Thank you for tagging @moreenchiladasplease ! I loved your responses, def related to some of the well--you’re wonderful & I hope your day is goin’ great ♥♥♥ 

1. what is an unknown/underrated piece of media that you love?

Piece of media? I guess print media if that’s what you mean lol--like ok, nowadays people are all up about doing things electronically ya feel? I’ll always prefer something I can physically hold and read in my hands I guess? Like, I absolutely love receiving (or more like, *received now haha) letters! especially if it was handwritten (: Print feels more personal I guess haha and idk I still have issues fully trusting everything to be saved / spread / etc digitally haha

2. what are five things you love about yourself?

wow ok, what a lovely question and lovely reminder haha let’s see.. I love my one (1) lone dimple on my right cheek, I love my ability to take care of / maintain and have good looking eyebrows?? (so I’ve been told haha), I love my growing sense of style bc I’ve been experimenting more with what works / looks good on me since senior year of high school, I love my open-minded personality to trying new things or just kinda in general bc I grew up spending my time in all the types of cliques and moving around my families a lot since I used to be an only child lol (actually is this adaptability? hA), & lastly I love that I am solidly bilingual, fluent in Tagalog and ofc English lol

oh my omg haha this question actually took me a really long time to do, kinda sad but thank you for it (’:

3. do you read comics/graphic novels? any favorites?

oof my lists used to be so long but I dropped a lot when classes started again and only solidly read a few now (’: 

Fairy Tail, Akatsuki no Yona, Boku no Hero Academia, Kamisama Hajimemashita, Dengeki Daisy --for webtoons, My Beautiful World & True Beauty 

4. what’s top 5 on your playlist right now?

uhhh, I literally kinda just made a new playlist today filled with Zion.T & HEIZE’s latest releases + DEAN haha ooh and Tatiana Manaois & Bruno Major, also the latest collab of John Legend and Red Velvet’s Wendy (: (yes, I’ve been goin thru a mellow almost simpy phase lately haha)

5. what is something/someone that never fails to make you laugh?

BTS & GOT7 + dogs, all the doggos LOL

6. recommend me some of your favorite tv shows/movies/books/music.

hmm, I guess definitely everything I’ve already mentioned before haha, I struggle myself with finding new things ..oOh! Tori Kelly’s new album Hidden Place --or just Tori Kelly in general lol she’s my favorite (:

ALSO, Panic! at the Disco!!!!! all time fave since  e v e r  I could really listen to their discography for days on end haha, mister Brendon Urie is bae ♡

7. an unpopular opinion you have?

I usually have a lot of these but I’m drawing blank rn (’: oo uhm lately on twt people have been bagging on Arrowhead water drinkers but like, Arrowhead is the superior water imo with Life Wtr coming in right after --if we’re tryna be boujee tho, FIJI WATER (yes, I firmly believe that not all water tastes the same lol)

8. favorite disney soundtrack?

ftftatfjtjcjsthrhskoskjptlp uhhhhhm, this is so hard lol but probably Moana is at the very top bc sir Lin-Manuel Miranda had his hands in it & I absolutely love his work. I am a big fan of all Disney soundtracks tho haha

9. favorite word from your native language?

honestly? this is cliché but, “mahal” lol it means either ‘love’ or ‘expensive’ depending on how you use it ofc but I find it both funny / ironic bc love CAN be expensive both physically and I guess emotionally? mentally? bUT also beautiful at the same time, love is expensive haha take it as you wish but that’s my opinion lol

10. what makes your heart go mushy?

dogs, Jeon Jungkook, doggos, babies, idk getting compliments? I’m literally all skfnaljfwioe fgawnbwajl when people compliment me sometimes like omg my hort, thank you

11. top 5 tropes you live for?

friends to lovers used to be my top fave bc I lowkey wanted it to happen to me irl hAHAHA, enemies to lovers bc idk--the relationship seems just more fierce & deep if you were once at each other’s throats but are all sOFt for each other hahahaaha oK, uhh not sure what other tropes there are haahaha --but I guess the tsundere trope for characters?? big fkn softies LOL & well, idk what other tropes I absolutely live for but these three are the most notable that I enjoy I guess lol

as always, you don’t gotta if you don’t wanna; @tori-yaaaaaaa @bymoonchild @dreamyukhei @arosequartz @jiminsbellybutton @shy-filipina-fangirl @jajajaebum & @moreenchiladasplease if you’d like to go at it again! (:

I’m taking this as a kind of get to know you better type of thing soo here are “my” questions (really like theses questions already so lul):

artists you listen to outside of the kpop spectrum?

what are five things you love about yourself?

if you could master one (1) thing, what would it be? (as in like; knowledge of something, ability to do something, etc.)

what’s been on repeat from your playlist(s) right now?

what is something/someone that never fails to make you laugh?

what are your favorite tv shows/movies/books/music? 

an unpopular opinion you have?

favorite anime/manga and or show/comic-graphic novel? 

favorite word from your native language? 

something(s) you’re currently / you are proud of yourself for?

top five memes you live for?

[recentanimenews]

Composer Kevin Penkin on Symphonic Metal and Flamenco Music Influences in The Rising of the Shield Hero, and More!

At Crunchyroll Expo, we were excited to premiere the first episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero, and what a premiere it was! If you didn’t get a chance to see the first episode, fear not, because the show will be coming out soon in January 2019, so there’s plenty of time to get ready for this unique take on isekai fantasy action!

The Rising of the Shield Hero follows Naofumi Iwatani as he gets summoned into a parallel world, but things don’t go quite as planned for this “hero:” he’s not very easy to get along with, a bit uncharismatic, and to top it off, his only piece of “legendary” equipment is a shield. Stuck in a new world filled with danger and intrigue, is there anyone that Naofumi can trust, and just what can he do without any means of attacking his enemies?

Following the premiere, we were honored to get a chance to sit down and talk to Junichiro Tamura, the head of production for the 1st anime division at Kadokawa, who has overseen series like Bungo Stray Dogs, Chio’s School Road, and Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion, and Kevin Penkin, a composer whose works include anime like Under the Dog and Norn9, video games like Defenders Quest and the upcoming Necrobarista, and last year won the Crunchyroll Anime Award for his work on Made in Abyss. Let’s see what they had to say!

Hello! Thank you for speaking with us today. Could you tell us a bit about yourselves first?Junichiro Tamura: I’m the head of the 1st anime division, and I work mostly on KADOKAWA IP titles, like novels and manga.Kevin Penkin: I just walked in off the street. I don’t go here! (everyone laughs) I am an Australian living in London, and I do music for anime and games. I did some titles like Made in Abyss and Under the Dog, and now The Rising of the Shield Hero. Also did work on a game called Florence, which came out earlier this year, and I’m also doing other games like Necrobarista, which is coming out next year. So yeah, I do music for things, and occasionally get paid for it.JT: Occasionally?KP: Occasionally. Well, actually, no, no, more than occasionally, you know, FINALLY! (laughs)

We're looking forward to The Rising of the Shield Hero! What has it been like to work on this series?JT: This project mostly came out of trying to get more fans from overseas. Crunchyroll producer, Sae Ho Song, was the one to tip us off about Shield Hero, so that’s what prompted us to make it; he told us it was popular overseas. That’s also another reason why Kevin is part of this project, so we can get more overseas fans.KP: For me, this is my first Crunchyroll title, and it’s also the first big title I’ve been doing since Made in Abyss finished airing. Originally, there was a bit of pressure, cause trying to find a way to do another project and not in the same way, but try and find a new and unique voice for Shield Hero. At the start, it was a bit of a challenge, but as the project started to pick up steam, we started writing more music, I found that it was actually quite natural to switch gears from one style, from one approach to another, because it was a completely different anime to what I’ve been used to writing before. And especially when it came to writing for battle music, trying to think of interesting ways to create tension in a battle track, for example, that would not be a typical approach was quite fun! So yeah, it’s been an interesting experience getting into Shield Hero, and it’s been really fun, and very very challenging, but very very enjoyable as well!

Yeah, you mentioned something back at the Shield Hero premiere: symphonic metal and flamenco music? I bet that was part of the challenge!KP: Yeah, that was interesting meeting to have when they gave me that idea! (laughs) It’s not necessarily about how do you blend one instrument with another; you can always find a way, but it’s about how to convince them that you know what you’re doing. Trying to figure out a way where every instrument would be pretty well balanced with one another was sort of the challenge for when it comes to that type of writing. For example, there was the main theme that was shown in the first episode and also in the PV, which is a classic example of what the soundtrack will be in terms of variation. It’s gonna jump sometimes between in-your-face symphonic rock and then it’ll have a sort of more sensitive guitar sounds at times. I’m trying to create almost a bit of an emotional whiplash between these two set of contrasting styles that will yield interesting emotional results with the audience. It’s still too early to tell exactly how it’ll play out, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing how people react to the full soundtrack in due course.

You two have worked together before. Can you explain a bit about how your relationship developed?JT: We haven’t met face-to-face until just a few days ago for Crunchyroll Expo! (laughs) We’ve done quite a few Skype calls to just talk about music, though! KP: I’ve got my story all wrong…! (everyone laughs) But I thought in January we had met, but I was too jet lagged at the time to remember who exactly was there and wasn’t there! (everyone laughs) Because I’ve been talking with Tamura-san multiple times on Skype, I’m already quite familiar, even though we haven’t apparently met in person before just now. (laughs) We’ve had some pretty cool detailed discussions involving the direction of the music and where to go, and how we should develop whatever themes we may have composed for Shield Hero so far. We do have a really cool working relationship. So cool that I thought we had already met! (laughs) But nevertheless, Tamura-san’s really good to work with, because Tamura-san has a very clear vision for Shield Hero, so he knows what he wants and when he wants it. However, he’s also very respectful if he thinks that we just want to try writing music away from thinking about too many specific things, and just sort of trying to get almost like an imageboard of the music and then try to focus it down from there. We have a very good back and forth!JT: The meeting he thought that we were having in January, I wanted to come, but I couldn’t because I had another obligation at the time.KP: I just forgot! Your presence was just so strong! (everyone laughs)

Kevin, how did you get interested in working in music?KP: It helps that I have literally no skill in any other set of field. (laughs) If you’re only good at one thing, you might as well make it a good one! I decided very early on that I wanted to get into music, and by the age of 10, I knew that I wanted to do soundtracks. It started with games like Metroid Prime; I really wanted to work at Nintendo when I was a kid, so that led me to studying Japanese and immersing myself in the culture, going there multiple times, which sort of broke open the door to start working in companies in Japan. It’s always been a passion of mine to do music for games and anime, because I definitely feel like I’m able to create the music that I want to create the best when I’m working with a team on a project for multimedia. Let it be interactive or linear, it doesn’t matter, what matters is working with a team on a creative vision that can inspire me and allow me to do a good job.

You've worked on other anime, such as Made in Abyss, which won a Crunchyroll Anime Award last year. You've also worked on video games like Norn9 and with Nobuo Uematsu. Are you a big anime and game fan yourself?KP: For sure! Since I was a kid, I’ve been playing games, and even though I might not have enough time now, for good reasons, I still do play. I started out playing games like Metroid Prime and Smash Bros. I was really into the GameCube; that was my console! That solidified my passion for wanting to do this. Anime was a slightly different beast, in the sense that when I started watching anime, I didn’t realize what it was, and then slowly started getting into not just the production of anime, but the culture around it. I find the anime consumer culture really interesting and really fun and incredibly passionate as well. I think Crunchyroll Expo is a perfect example of that! You see everyone dressing up as whoever they want to dress up as and cosplaying, and it’s really gratifying, almost give you a bit more extra energy to do your job, and even better, if you can! I know that I came into anime, not just because I really like the production aspect of it, but I really like everything that comes with the culture of anime.

Tamura-san, your show Chio's School Road recently finished airing. That show has a lot of references to video games and a unique sense of humor. Were there any challenges adapting that series to an anime?JT: It really wasn’t too much trouble. What I was worried about was that first person shooters and shooters in general aren’t really popular in Japan. My concern with that when we adapted those scenes, that we would get it corrected. That way, people who are actually into FPS games, when they would watch it didn’t feel like “Oh, they don’t know about FPS at all”.

Your other show, Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion has also finished airing this past season. What challenges did that series present between adapting the manga and real historical events behind it?JT: We tried really hard to make it as historic as possible. Even though they’re all samurai, their armor and weapons change throughout the era, so we tried to keep it as historically accurate as possible.

Kevin, as a composer for anime, when creating music for these series what do you draw on for inspiration? Do you learn the source material first?KP: What I have discovered now doing a few more projects, is that it can vary from project to project how I try and achieve what I need to for the music. Sometimes reading the source material is the best way, and then sometimes taking the reference from other things, such as background art, or from other characteristics of the show, those might sometimes be a fresh wave of inspiration in terms of how you approach writing music. For example, sometimes I get very stuck on the color palette of background art and try to derive some textures or musical ideas from that. A lot of times, the source material comes into play; it’s important that you are accurately representing what happens on the screen. But then also, looking at other things to do with anime, like anime has a lot of interesting movement and style, with the way that characters move and how they’re animated, which is quite unique! So, sometimes looking at how characters move on-screen can actually be quite interesting to derive tempo from, for example. Looking at how characters are moving on-screen, and especially with such a unique approach to animation that I believe a lot of Japanese animation tends to have, that can be really fun and an interesting challenge in terms of trying to find something interesting to say with the music that is still very much connected with whatever show I might be working on.

Kevin, you work on both anime and games. What do you find is different between them? Or perhaps, similarities?KP: From a practical standpoint, one is linear and one is non-linear, so how the music is written, at some point, is gonna have to factor that in. For example, when we were doing a game called Florence last year, we recorded the music in very short sections at a time, so it could be stitched together and sometimes in any other order it could be triggered in different ways depending on the player’s movement. When it comes to anime, or by extension, any other sort of linear content, you can pick your spots as to where you want have these emotional apexes. Anime is slightly different, because you employ what is called the “menu approach”, which is where you’re writing a lot of music that isn’t synchronized to picture first off, but then you’re synchronizing it to multiple spots in the series at a later date. Anime is almost like an interesting hybrid of non-linear and linear approaches to writing music, and it’s very cool to see how it comes together, because it actually becomes almost like a team effort. And I think it’s actually to the credit of anime, because I do feel that sometimes, especially if you’re starting out or a young composer, having the objectivity that you need to know where exactly music should start and stop, even though it’s an essential skill, does take awhile to develop, so working with a fantastic team like Shield Hero, or any other project, has been not only inspiration, but a wonderful learning moment as well!

Tamura-san, what is your process when producing a show based on a novel series, like Shield Hero?JT: When I’m specifically working with novels, since most of it is not illustrated, we have to make and design everything from scratch, from all the small things like props to background characters. That’s probably the most difficult thing for me when working from novels.

Thank you so much again to Tamura-san and Kevin for taking the time to speak with us and talk a bit about their processes in producing anime and music, as well as how they’ve worked together. We can’t wait to see how the rest of The Rising of the Shield Hero pans out for our unfortunate hero Naofumi, and hope you’re excited to watch it next year right here on Crunchyroll!

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Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known to profess her love of otome games over at her blog, Figuratively Speaking. When she has the time, she also streams some games. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[gojosexual]

what animes do you see? *

Of the animes that have been released this season I’m currently watching (kind of first impressions because why not?): 

Black Clover. I really was not planning to follow this anime because I knew since forever that it was not going to be a good thing to watch but given that I lost a bet, I am forced to follow it. This is undoubtedly one of the worst “first episode” I’ve seen in a long time, terrible pacing even by Pierrot’s standards and one of the worst performances of a character I’ve seen. Someone could tell me where’s the joke in a teenager constantly wanting to sexually harass flirt with a nun?

Garo: Vanishing Line. This one here has the word “rule of cool” all over the face and I really just hope it’s gonna be mindless action for the rest of the season, which will make it entertaining or at least that’s what I expect. It has some strange decisions in the direction but to have a badass that likes of tiddies without being a fool and a loli with some kind of tragic past doing some typical pursuit deserve that you give an opportunity. It seems that this is the kind of anime that MAPPA is enjoying most to do in the last few years and I totally support it.

Gintama: Porori-hen. I don’t have much to say since we all really know what it is about, and this season does not have to be any different. The only good thing is that they are gonna animate arcs that I thought it would not get adapted, some very funny to watch before returning to the beloved “serious arcs”.

Houseki no Kuni. Easily the rarest anime I’m watching, the designs are not something much seen despite not being amazing at all and the characters itself are quite strange and are some kind of special beings fighting against… some kind of evil force? When I read the synopsis before I thought it would be a kind of survival anime but it may be one of personal self-discovery or it may just be “weird” to watch for its somewhat curious atmosphere, story and animation.

Inuyashiki. I do not know how to talk about this particular anime since two good personal friends had already recommended it to me a long time ago, but could not give me the good impression that they gave it through their recommendation. It is sad because it has to be in such way, and the victimization with the main character is not something I like at all, there is still more story and characters to reveal so all my faith is set in it since I have not read the manga. Its opening and ending are very good and I’ve long since promised to finish it, so that’s what I’m going to do.

Juuni Taisen. The first one on my list to be possibly dropped because there’s not something in it that calls my interest, its character design is eccentric but not in a way that I could like because it looks ridiculous and the reason why they fight doesn’t catches my interest because it hasn’t even been established in the first place. I literally ran to watch it when I found out that it was an adaptation of a Nisiosin’s work and that it would have Sawano Hiroyuki involved, but sadly that is not enough. Possibly I’ll gonna watch it once finished.

Kekkai Sensen & Beyond. This is my favorite anime of the season and rightly so, despite having had a change of staff has remained intact what made characteristic to the first season, again making great use of the charisma of its characters, its very striking soundtrack and one of the most incredible settings in recent years. The only thing I expect is something of continuity for the main characters of Libra and a concise story, which was what missed the first season.

Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau. This is the last anime I’ve watched because I really did not plan to watch it, but in a discord recommended it so I decided to give it a try. I really liked the setting and some construction of the world, the animation is nice as well as the designs of the characters and the sceneries. I know it’s also being adapted from a manga so I have doubts about that, personally I felt it like a kind of mix between Shinsekai Yori and No.6 (even the protagonists are alike). If it ends up being like the first one it will be a very good anime, and it will end as the second, it will be somewhat at least enjoyable to watch.

Mahoutsukai no Yome. I ended up watching this because a friend read the manga and recommended it to me, and because the cover has caught my attention for a long time. The same thing as with Inuyashiki, I do not like the situation in which the protagonists are, I feel it manipulative and really unnecessary, unless what the mangaka wants to do is develop the character, but this romantic story with a being like Elias… I do not know what to think about it, are they romanticizing something that should not be romantic? Anyway, I enjoyed the technical section and feel that it’s well set, at the moment, it’s my only reason to keep watching it.

Osomatsu-san 2. As Gintama, more referential comedy but if I’m honest, I have a special affection for the sextuples for the way I met the anime, I really find them very funny and pleasant to watch, even if sometimes they go wild with some things, still have the same spirit of the first season.

Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara. I really wanted to watched this arc being animated but I’m having problems with some decisions taken in the direction section, I still hope they do a good job with some moments that are to come and that I have long wanted to see. I still do not recover the change of Erina’s seiyuu but the new is doing it very well, I just hope they reduce the excessive use of chibis that is becoming annoying. 

EDIT

Net-juu no Susume. Well, I just saw this anime thanks to a last minute recommendation since I didn’t even know of its existence. In fact, it’s an unexpectedly nice anime to watch, although its animation is very limited and lacks detail, the protagonists are not remarkable but it is easy to identify with them, especially for those who are more related to the world of MMO and want to find the husbando/waifu of your dreams. It’s cute. 

I don’t know if I’ll eventually watch some other anime but that’s it for now. Thanks for asking little anon! 

[tigerlover16-uk]

Anime I need to watch (August 2017 update)

Sooo, yeah. Two days late this time. I really want to apologize for this one, it wasn’t entirely my fault this time. While I was in the middle of writing my thoughts down on the shows I’d seen, my computer suddenly decided to refresh the page so I ended up losing everything, and it took me a while to catch up to where I was and finish everything since I had a lot of stuff to talk about. And stuff kept coming up when I tried to write it all again.

So, yeah, my bad for not being more careful with this stuff and all. Either way, here it is at last, read it below.

Okay, so to start things off, the first new show i watched this month was Outlaw Star. It's a pretty popular anime from what I've heard, while it apparently bombed in Japan it's widely beloved in the West and considered a benchmark for early 2000's anime. It's to the point that it's still the most heavily requested show to be re-aired on the reinstated Toonami block by it's regular viewers. No small feat to have that much fan devotion for so long. So, what did i think of it?

... Meh. It's okay.

Really, it's just... okay. It was probably one of the most average anime I've seen in a while. The characters are okay. The overarching story is okay. The humour, well, occasionally i got a chuckle out of it, but only a few episodes really made me laugh hard. There were a lot of episodes I liked, some I really liked, and some I didn't care for. The action was alright. The soundtrack was pretty good. None of the villains weren't really that interesting.

I'd go into greater detail, but I don't really know what to say overall. The show for me was just the definition of okay. Not bad, it was certainly enjoyable and I'm glad I watched it at least once, but I really can't think of any reason why I'd want to ever watch it again. Which, yeah, a little disappointing.

But oh well, that sort of thing happens. Sometimes certain classic works of fiction just don't resonate with some people the way they do with others, and I guess Outlaw Star is one of those cases for me.

After I finished with that show, I decided to catch up on Soul Eater. I mentioned in another update a few months ago that I found Soul Eater a slightly above average show, but not all that great. Well, after re-watching some of it and then finishing the show, I'll admit it's grown on me and I'll admit it's really good for the most part.

It admittedly took me a little while to get into it, since the first few episodes... while not bad, feel like they thrust you into the middle of a story that's been going on for a bit already rather than being the start of a story. I think maybe that's the point, but that sort of thing is usually a bit jarring for me personally. And I maintain that much of the show's first half was simply okay. But once it gets going, it really gets going.

The comedy was good, the action was mostly pretty decent, and the animation was great. The story progressed at a pretty good pace once it found it's groove. While a few of the major characters, namely Soul and Tsubaki, didn't really interest me that much, the main cast were all a likeable bunch (Favourites probably being Crona and Death the Kid), and the supporting characters were all fun and quirky in their own rights.

Though honestly I felt a little disappointed that Spirit and Maka's relationship didn't play more of an important role towards the later parts of the series. I mean, with how much time the show focused in it's first half on their strained relationship and Spirit's failing's as a parent and as a husband, it feels like it was meant to be more crucial to the plot or at least Maka's character arc and that things would progress at least a bit more than they did towards the end. But then as the show went on it felt like that subplot just lost relevance, so I'm kinda left wondering what the whole point of that was.

And while the story was well told, there were some things I found underwhelming. The fight between Lord Death and Asura in the middle of the series felt anti-climactic for what was described as a battle of Gods, for one.

Medusa was a great villain, I didn't think much of her at first but she won me over with what a malicious, scarily competent and savvy scheming monster she was, and her fighting style was honestly pretty unique and something I haven't seen before with an anime villain. But I felt like Crona should have had more of a role helping Maka finish her off. With how very well done Crona's character arc was handled up to that point, it felt like they should have done more in that final confrontation than get beaten to help spur Maka forward. Her unlocking Genie Hunter to finish Medusa off in one hit felt a bit cheap, really.

And the ending was a huge cop out. While I like what they were going for, in practise it just felt lazy and kind of silly, and honestly reminded me of the ending of Digimon Adventure 02 a bit. The fact that the show then ended so suddenly didn't really help much.

That all sounds like it's leaning a bit negative right? Well, yeah, but while I had a few gripes, the overall experience was still really great. The series has a great premise and sense of style, and is really fun to watch. Most of the character development was decently handled, and I can confidently say that it was a really good show, and definitely something I'd be willing to come back to again soon. Next up is Bleach, the only one of the legendary "Big 3" of anime that i have never watched before in any form. Because I really wasn't interested, and eventually I heard it had gone really down hill, so I wasn't willing to go through a repeat of what I went through with Naruto towards the last few arcs of that series.

But, I'm a curious sort, so I decided to look into it anyway. I don't plan to watch the whole series, because that seems like a lot of investment for something I can expect to go off the rails at some point and never even got finished due to a cancellation, but I want to be able to say I'm at least partially informed on all of the Big 3. So, part of my plan right now is to just watch it up to the end of the Soul Society arc. Maybe if I enjoy that enough I'll watch a bit more to see how it is for myself, but for now that's the plan.

I watched the first 20 episodes this month, the second season DVD set wasn't available at an affordable price on Amazon though so I don't know when I'll get around to watching that and season 3. Hopefully relatively soon. But for the moment, I'll just talk about this season.

All things considered, it was... pretty good. Not great, but a bit above average, if kind of mundane in places. Definitely took a few episodes before it started getting good, and I'll admit I'm not all THAT enthusiastic about most of the characters, but they are all at least likeable and I'm curious as to where things are going by the end of the season. So, good enough job there.

The premise was pretty good, and there was some good comedy and action scenes in these episodes, though admittedly not much that's truly spectaculr yet. I imagine that comes next arc when the story really picks up. A lot of the episodes did seem just okay for a while, but when I got invested I found myself really enjoying the show. I don't know what else to say in detail, and I want to get this update out quickly already, so I'll just leave it as saying I enjoyed it, but I'm waiting until I watch the next arc to make any solid opinions on whether I really like the show all that much. Hopefully Soul Society is as good as people say it is.

Next up I decided to look into a series that, honestly I now really wish I'd gotten into a lot sooner. The 2012 anime adaption of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series. This is one of those popular and influential franchises where I knew OF it, in the sense that I'd heard the name, knew it was popular and knew what the protagonist of part 3 of the series looked like... but I knew literally nothing else about the series before I went into it.

With a lot of series I tend to have a good idea of what to expect before I start them, but here I was really figuring everything out as I went along, you could say. Admittedly I expected it to be a lot sillier and harder to take seriously from the title, but after watching it... well, while it's definitely pretty crazy in a lot of ways... it's pretty amazing how dramatic it can be at the same time, I'll give it credit for that.

I watched the entire first season that consists of the Phantom Blood arc and the Battle Tendency arc of the series. So I'll be discussing them seperately here now.

I'll be honest, watching the first episode of Phantom Blood, I wasn't all that into it. Not that it was bad, but the pacing was really fast. So much stuff was happening that the whole thing felt rather rushed, and knowing that the arc was apparently only 9 episodes as I was watching it, I thought the rest of the arc would feel the same way. Thankfully though episodes after that felt a lot more even, and while the arc does feel rushed in a lot of areas, it turned out to be a very enjoyable story.

Most of that probably comes down to the 2 main characters. Jonathan Joestar admittedly may not be the most dynamic protagonist ever and in some ways feels like a standard shonen hero, he was still very likeable and sympathetic, so it was very easy to root for him throughout. And Dio was such a well written malicious, self-serving complete scumbag, I thought he was a bit much at first but with just how over the top he got with his evilness that he was fun to watch, and it was always highly satisfying whenever Jonathan gave the creep his commupance. The whole arc revolves around these characters and their conflict with one another, and thankfully it works well to the story's favour because of how well established their relationship is.

All that said, the show does have a number of flaws that really highlight the age of the manga it's adapted from. A lot of stuff in the second half of the show felt rather standard, pretty generic shonen stuff, mostly in the fight scenes which... I really wasn't all that big on them, being honest. And while Zeppeli and Speedwagon were both good characters (Even if I wish we'd had more time with the former before his death, though that's a story problem more than anything else), the rest of the supporting characters introduced in the final act of the story to help out all felt underdeveloped and... kinda pointless and uninteresting. I only really remember one of them due to what happens next arc.

And while again, the pacing did get better, the story did feel too short for it's own good and I wish there had been more time taken for more character building moments with characters besides Jonathan and Dio and longer fights, among other things. There are a few other nitpicks, but honestly this is going on long enough.

In a lot of ways, Phantom Blood feels like a pretty standard shonen story. But it's a well told standard shonen story with a lot of great moments, a compelling if basic story and a really tragic conclusion, that was a ton of fun to watch. It may not have held up great, but I was still really invested in the story and to see what the show could do from there.

And on that note I'm glad to say, Battle Tendency was a huge improvement in pretty much every way. Apart from just having more room to breath thanks to having more episodes than Phantom Blood, Battle Tendency had a better story, a much more dynamic and, frankly, interesting main character (Even if the cross dressing scene was cringy and the perverted moments were annoying) in the form of Joseph Joestar, great villains (Particularly Wamuu) and better, more creative fights.

Honestly this whole arc was just a blast. It was full of great tension, brilliant action scenes and great animation, the supporting cast was better utilized for the most part and there was a good group dynamic between the major characters, the stakes kept getting higher, and yeah, it felt like a truly "Bizzare" adventure. And all the while feeling like a natural extension of the story started in Phantom Blood.

I'm really struggling to find any weak points to this arc, other than it felt awkward that one of the supporting protagonists was a nazi soldier and he was more or less one of the good guys. I mean, Von Stroheim was an entertaining character sure, but I honestly just feel uncomfortable with the idea for a number of reasons. The stupid political climate we're in right now probably isn't helping with that though.

But other than that tidbit, the show was fantastic. I don't really want to say too much and risk spoiling anything, just go watch it yourself if you haven't seen it or go watch Super Eyepatch Wolf's video about the series on YouTube, he does it much more justice than I ever could.

Needless to say though, I'm now a Jojo fan. I think I might wait until the dub for Stardust Crusaders is done or at least further ahead before starting that series, since I have some other shows to be watching right now, but it's something I really look forward to.

I also got a hold of the third DVD set for One Piece, taking me up to episode 78 of the series. This is where things got interesting for me, since the 4Kids dub I watched as a kid cut out a lot of stuff around the crew actually reaching the grandline and just after it, which I was aware of going in, and I really don't remember much of what happened after the Straw Hats reached the Grand Line and before they got to Alabasta, or at least before Trace (Aka Ace, what was up with that change?) showed up. I remember my watching the show was a bit more erratic at the time since I kept missing episodes and having to make sense of what was going on at several points while waiting for the episodes I missed to re-air.

Needless to say I'm not fully sure what to expect going forward whereas I knew almost everything that was going to happen to most of the episodes of One Piece I'd seen before. And I had no idea about what happens in most of these episodes I just watched, so this was a relatively fresh experience. And overall, while I don't think a lot of these arcs were as good as anything between the arc introducing Usopp and the Arlong arc, they were all good in their own right, and I'm sorry some of this stuff got cut by 4Kids. The Warship Island arc was a surprisngly good filler arc with a likeable new character in the form of Apis, and a really great conclusion that I didn't see coming. Pretty fun and moving, honestly above the standards of what I usually expect from a filler arc. The stuff with Laboon the giant whale was pretty good too (Though, any story that lets me look at a flashback involving an adorable baby whale is automatically going to be good in my mind). And the last several episodes involving the giants had some really great conflict and action.

So, yeah. For a set of episodes where I was really unsure what to expect going in, I had a pretty good time watching all of this, and I look forward to more One Piece episodes whenever I get my hands on the fourth DVD collection.

And rounding things up as far as anime shows go, I also watched the first 13 episodes of the series Tenchi Universe.

I have had a weird experience watching Tenchi stuff. I remember watching Tenchi related shows as a kid, but my memory is really hazy and I only remembered bits and pieces, like Ryoko arriving on earth being chased by someone in a big robot suit (Which I thought was Ayeka for a while for some reason, but when actually watching the first episode of universe it was Mihoshi... I seriously wonder what wires got crossed in my head to make me think that was the case for all these years whenever the Tenchi series crossed my mind), and a moment at the end of episode 8 with Ryo-ohki.

But, after looking into the Tenchi franchise further and plot synopsis for the series and clips, I realize that as a kid I also watched a few episodes of Tenchi in Tokyo. So, for years I guess I basically thought Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo were the same show, and since I had so few memories of anything Tenchi related, I didn't realize until just recently.

Yeah, this has been a weird experience for me. But not one I regret. So, bits of weirdness aside, what did I think of Tenchi Universe?

Kinda meh so far to be honest. On the one hand, the plot is a lot less clunky and better handled in places that the ova series. But on the other... I think some of the charm of the ovas was lost in the transition to tv. Mainly because some of the characters, mainly Ryoko and Ayeka, don't feel as endearing or likeable as they were there. Most of the cast is fine, but a few of the changes to motivation and personality felt weaker than their original selves, Ryoko and Ayeka's bickering certainly comes off as more annoying and less creative than it could be in the ova's. Though I guess Kiyone was a good addition, though her being glad in her debut about the possibility Mihoshi was dead did bug me for a bit. Yeah I understand that Mihoshi could be a very frustrating person for anyone to have to put up with, but come on now.

The show could be hit or miss. Most of them are entertaining, a few of them were great like episode 9 though some like episode 8 felt a bit lacking. The Time and Space Adventures arc espeically felt very hit and miss and wasn't really as interesting as I thought it would have been, and I was honestly glad it didn't last too long.

Honestly as a whole, I'll say it's not bad, but I'm a bit underwhelmed by the experience so far. I hear the second half of the show is really good though, so I'll get around to finishing that as soon as I can and give my final thoughts next month. So far though, while it has some things over the OVA's which have a number of flaws, I think I still enjoy the original story more.

Now, getting around to the anime movies I watched this month, first we have the first film in the Digimon Adventure Tri series, Reunions. I really loved Digimon growing up, admittedly I always prefered Tamers as my favourite series, but the original series is what I watched first like many people and it holds a special place in my heart as one of my first anime. I actually recently re-watched the whole series since it finally came out on a full season DVD set here in the UK, and while some parts show their age I honestly think the show still holds up decently well. At the least, I still love it.

So, you'd imagine I'd have gotten around to watching these movies sooner right? Well, I thought about it, but honestly I always much prefer watching my anime dubbed whenever I can help it, so I've been waiting a while now for the UK DVD releases of the films to make a start on the series. The first film only very recently came out here.

Ah well, better late than never. So, what do I think of the movie.

Well, it's a pretty decent start to a film series all things considered. Though admittedly not great, it’s a really slow start. But I attribute that to it being the first in the series and having to re-introduce all the characters and their current situations, and set up the plot. In which case, it did a... mostly good job. Everyone was still pretty likeable and mostly how I'd expect them to act at this point (Except Izzy apparently having a crush on Mimi now. That I don't know where it came from), and while it doesn't feel like all that much really happened, it was still pretty fun seeing everyone again and I am interested to see where everything is going.

The animation was mostly pretty good, though the fights themselves all felt a little too short and generic for me. Though hey, this is Digimon, I kind of expect that. The action alone isn't what makes the show fun and worth investing in, character stuff was always more important and the film still seems to focus on that. Though admittedly even if I wish the final fight had gone on longer, Agumon and Gabumon shifting through all of their digivolutions before becoming Omnimon was pretty darn awesome.

I do have some complaints. Like, Tai apparently having some kind of PTSD, or some other trauma in regards to all the destruction caused by Digimon battles felt poorly handled. I dunno, watching him in the original series again recently and with how he was in 02, his suddenly being afraid to have agumon get involved in the final fight felt a bit contrived to me. I could have bought it if the movie actually explored Tai's mental state more and did something interesting with it, but apart from the frequent flashing back to the same rubble over and over again it only seemed to have been done as a convenient excuse to keep him and Matt from merging their Digimon into Omnimon straight away and cutting the battle with Alphamon short. Maybe the other movies explore it more and handle the idea better, but it felt half hearted here.

Also, from what I've heard the apparent decimation of the 02 cast in the opening apparently goes about as unnadressed in most of the next few movies as it does in this one. Soooo... yeah. What the heck Toei!?

If you want to know how I feel about Meiko, the new digidestined... I have no opinion. She barely appeared in the film and did nothing but have her partner be chased after by Alphamon, so I'm just going to see how she plays out in the next movie. Fanfictionny as it sounds though I am on board with another Digidestined, especially if it means one more girl on the team, just so long as she's a worthwhile addition.

So, yeah, pretty good start, fun bit of nostalgia though nothing really special yet. Though certainly better than the frankenstein's monster of a movie cobbled together from short films they tried to sell us last decade. I am interested in seeing where things go from here, though things could go either way with whether I enjoy the other films or not.

Next up we have another Naruto entry, Naruto Shippuden 3: The Will of Fire. I'm going to keep this one short because, honestly, I don't feel like I have a lot to say about it. he story was decent, I like how all of the Konoha 11 got at least one cool moment and a chance to be useful in this movie, some jokes were funny, the story was decently told and I didn't find it too preachy like so people did, probably because I do try as hard as I can to remain an optimist, the action was good, and the ending was a lazy cop-out followed by a dumb joke. Still an enjoyable movie, glad I saw it, but it could have been more and that bit of laziness really hurt the film.

And rounding it all up, I also finally got around to watching a film I ordered the DVD to a month or two ago but never got around to watching until three weeks back. The critically acclaimed 5 Centimetres per second... and it was boring. Like... really, really boring. I can't remember the last time I was so uninterested in something boring.

I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm just not the type of person this movie was made for and if people like it, okay, fair enough. But this entire thing felt like a pointless waste of 60 minutes. The whole thing was just an hour of these boring characters pining over people they like and moping about "Oh, we can't be together" because they're either too afraid to spit it out, or for other reasons I don't care about.

No, I don't care if it's "Atmospheric" or whatever. Nice animation and cinematography alone do not a good movie make. I didn't care about any of these characters, the story was boring, almost nothing here was interesting, and it all just felt pointless by the end of it like absolutely nothing was accomplished at all in the whole film.

And it's not that I don't get a lot of the things it was trying to do, I do have an idea. But the problem is, I don't care, because it wasn't entertaining and I kept thinking that my time could have been better spent watching a Miyazaki movie instead.

Maybe it is just me. If you like the film or see it's merits better than I did, good for you. But personally, I was just glad when it was over and I don't plan to go back to this movie for a long, long time.

And, well, that about covers it I think. Again, sorry this update was so late and if I didn't go into as much detail as I could have about some things, I was rushing. Either way, it was an interesting month for me, with a lot of different experiences. Hopefully I'll have another month as productive as this one soon. Anyway, if you read all this then thank you very much. As always, please leave whatever suggestions you can for the list below and i'll see you all again with another update at the end of the month this time, hopefully.

Series:

Mobile Suit Gundam

Cowboy Bebop

Digimon Frontier

Digimon Data Squad

Digimon Fusion

Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Sailor Moon (Watched the entire first season and was about halfway through season 2. Should really get back to watching the full series)

Sailor Moon Crystal

Yu Yu Hakusho (Up to episode 94)

Ranma 1 ½

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders

Jojo’s bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

One Piece (Up to episode 78)

Bleach (Up to episode 20)

Astro Boy (Any series. I just want to be able to say I’ve watched something from this franchise).

Kill La Kill

Gurren Lagann

Fairy Tail (Up to episode 203)

Little Witch Academia

Tenchi Universe (Up to episode 13)

Death Note

Yuri On Ice

Fist of the North Star

Code Geass

Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma (I watched about 9 episode, need to catch up)

Your Lie in April

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Mob Psycho 100

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Phoenix Wright anime

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Eureka 7

Black Cat

Black Shooter Rock

Gunbuster

Afro Samurai

Space Dandy

Vision of Escaflowne

magical girl lyrical nanoha

Shin Sekai Yori

Baccano

Cyborg 009

Gaogaigar

Danganronpa

Yo-Kai Watch

Pretty Cure

Future Boy Conan

Yona of the Dawn

WataMote

Space Patrol Luluco

Rurouni Kenshin

Steam Detectives

Death Parade

Movies:

Your Name

Garden of Words

Paprika

Tokyo Godfathers

The Boy and the Beast

Millenium Actress

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

The Digimon Adventure Tri Movies (Watched the first one)

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions

Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend awakened

Pokémon: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction

Pokémon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel

Pokémon: I Choose You

Ghost In The Shell

Memories

Perfect Blue

Naruto: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

Naruto Shuppuden: Bonds

Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower

Naruto Shippuden: Blood Prison

Naruto: Road to Ninja

Boruto Movie

Fairy Tail the movie: Dragon Cry

Godzilla: Monster Planet

Mary and the Witch’s Flower

Princess Arete

Tekkonkinkreet

[cv-045]

i was tagged by: @pokkipo​ (THANK YOU!!!)

1. Favorite anime?

Yuri on ICE, Haikyuu, DRRR, March Comes in Like a Lion, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and a crap ton more i’m not remembering rn.

2. Your worst anime?

The Asterik War, the entire SAO series, p much most things from A1 Pictures (i tend to avoid that studio tbh). 

no offense to anyone that likes those shows/the studio, i’m just not a fan.

3. Do you read the manga that goes along with the anime you watch?

sometimes ye

4. Most favorite genres?

i p much like anything. that being said...

5. Least favorite genres?

i cannot stand harems & i literally only watched oran high school host club. i cannot deal with that bs.

6. Favorite character?

Tomoe Mami, Yuki Nagato, Katsuki Yuuri (p much the entire yoi cast tbh), 

7. Least favorite character?

i can’t think of a character off the top my head rn. probs just every character from my least favorite shows.

i always try to find an aspect i enjoy about every character in shows i watch.

8. Qualities you like in a character?

i honestly love any kinda character. i tend to gravitate towards shy, sweet characters (i.e. Shuichi Saihara), characters i can relate to (Katsuki Yuuri), or characters with nice-looking designs & i tend to love them later on (Sugawara Koushi).

9. Short or long anime?

depends on the story. if it’s draggin’ on for too long, i’m gonna probs lose interest unless they can keep it engaging.

10. Anime or manga?

both.

11. How do you choose the anime you watch?

solid designs, good soundtrack, depends who’s working on it, what studio it is, if it’s a light novel adaptation or not (that one’s usually the deal breaker for me- i’ve been let down a lot by light novel adaptations).

12. Skip or listen to intros/outros?

listen to ‘em.

13. How do you cope if your friends or family don’t like you watching anime?

i dont care tbh- it ain’t a big deal to me at all.

14. Do you stop an anime midway if you don’t like it?

i give it one episode and if i’m not at least moderately interested then i drop it. 

i tag: @attack-on-pizzaa​ ; @oikatsudon​ ; @nightreii​ ; @syrinfin​ ; @yurikatsuki​ ; @belumiri​ ; @yurioplisetskies​ ; @hairyboobz​ (none of yall have to do this btw)