#the main reason why I want a reboot is because I want the manga animated to glory

[myinterestsvary-writes]

Y’all, the bridge scene between Haruhi and Tamaki is so good but so annoying because their dynamic shines through so much. She likes him enough to value him as her friend, yet calls him an idiot and it genuinely feeling brutally honest yet still caring but also she doesn’t know him enough to not be surprised that he jumped after her and grabbed her. Tamaki shows his concern for her in demanding her to stop the carriage and without hesitation jumping after her after she fell off the bridge and hugging her tight as they fall together. Not kissing her though because that’s still his daughter in his eyes. Why would you want them to kiss there?

[cocogum]

Weird things I want Ankama to explain.

Why did Tot develop the adventures after season 2 into a manga? Was it because of budget related reasons? Because it couldn’t have been for its maturity. Tot follows the audience as it kept growing and at the time, the majority were still young. The only reason why the Great Wave, on the other hand, got turned into a manga was because it was apparently going to get graphic.

Why did Tot jump 6 years into the future instead of making more adventures when the gang still had no responsibilities or duties?

Why did tot not make up a new queen outfit for Amalia in the Great Wave instead of making her feel limited to her strict s4 budget? I thought the entire point of converting the story into a manga is to be finally be free from restrictive animation budgets.

Why was Arpagone added into the story??? Ruel specifically stated in two moments that he never got married. In season 1, he spoke to Kabrok and when the wife topic came up, insinuated that if he ever had a wife like Miranda, he'd stop his adventures. And in season 2, when Yugo asks Ruel if he has ever fallen in love, Ruel says that he did and had many lovers in the past but ALMOST married one of them. In season 3, we see that he officially married Arpagone, which completely contradicts what he has said in season 2.

Why are there good concept arts of the characters from seasons 3-4 from the yt videos Ankama uploads for us but these same concept arts are not included in their respective season artbooks??? I thought the whole point of an artbook was to show ALL character concepts and sheets.

Why did Nora have this entire redesign? Don't get me wrong, I think she looks cool as hell but it threw me off so much when I first watched the S4 trailer. I had to get used to it lol

It's funny how Wakfu's main role was to introduce the eliatrope class but then finally opted to introduce a sub branch of it being the 'eliotropes' instead. Like Tot please give us more info in Season 5, you literally did an entire reboot of the eliatropes' history FOR SOME REASON and it now feels like we're back where we started because of Season 4. We now have more questions than answers and it literally took us 16 years to get here and we BARELY SCRATCHED THE SURFACE.

Sooo are we just gonna forget about how Amalia dreamed of Sadida telling her to go out and help a hero? The hero being Yugo? She literally tells Eva in Season 1 that she had a dream of her GOD, but Eva doesn't believe her cuz she thinks she's making up things or whatever. But when Amalia says the same thing to Armand, again, NO ONE BATS AN EYE??? Tot you seriously need to give me an explanation for why Amalia was able to meet her god like this, AND why she seems to have a special connection with the Tree of Life SINCE IT SPECIFICALLY CHOSE HER TO POSSESS DURING NOX'S WAR. Also, why would Sadida willingly make Amalia meet Yugo?? I ain't complaining, I think it's such an interesting thing to know about, BUT EVEN AFTER FOUR SEASONS AND THREE SPECIAL EPISODES, we still don't know why she is so special! She was even able to find a solution for Pandiego's village CUZ HER FUCKING TEARS HAPPENED TO BE THE SOLUTION FOR THE MILK PROBLEM ‼️‼️‼️‼️

[mio-nika]

I got my notes, so let's talk about the "reboot" of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. I'm sorry that it's so long..

Major spoilers for original higu and GouSotsuMeguri, not detailed, but major. (I mean, you already reading my blog.

Part one: Precursor of Doom

So. Higurashi is an insanely famous anime consistent of multiple seasons (first two covering the main story and others covering additional content). It started as a small independed visual novel, it grown in this behemoth of different types of content from anime and manga, to written novells and audio. It cemented it's place in golden halls of horror.

But even tho, it was so popular, it never got a proper anime reboot. Anime stoped coming somewhere after 2006. And let's say the visuals looks s little dated (especially second season, which looks like shit).

So when in the year of the plague (2020) was anonced something called Higurashi Gou people were HYPED. Based on the promotional material, people assumed it was a reboot, but man, they were incorrect. Higurashi Gou was released the same year.

Let's step aside for some spoilers. Higurashi is a story of a group of children who are stuck inside of neverending timeloop of tragedy. And the ending (which was covered in the second season of the original anime) is the one where they are realised from it. That I wanted to say. The original anime was finished. Nothing else to say. Everyone survived, they won against the bad guys and finally got a chance to grow up. So everyone's assumptions that Gou was a reboot was a logical choice. The same happened with the first episode. It closely followed the first episode of the original anime, so yeah. It's reboot. Let's get cosy and watch the story about kids dying.

The second episode showed people that IT WASN'T.

A little spoiler, again. In the original story only one person remembers previous "lifes". And desperately trying to prevent the tragedies and her death. So in the second episode of Gou we see her complaining of (probably) dying and waking in the loop again. Well, having nothing else to do she tries to prevent the bad things from happening and survive to the end of the loop. Because of her memory, she knows the choices that would bring a bad outcome, but it's all futile. She triying to stop one person from becoming possessed and killing everyone, the other person becames possesed and kills everyone. Almost like no one is following the original script. Main character is confused, the people who are watching are confused. Who are the bad guy™? What's happening?

And then the last episode of Gou drops and fans ARE LOSING THEIR SHIT. And not in a good way.

The bad guy... *dramatic percussions* is a random eleven year old. Well, she's not random. She's actually one of the main characters, but she's still ELEVEN in original story. And also she was never an instigator of violence. She was a victim in probably the most serious arcs. I don't know how to convey you how incorrect it felt. And the people felt their first fires of wraith. Also, it's the last episode of the season, so if you want to know that happened wait for another 🤗

Part Two: Toxic Yuri

So. Second season starts. The people who thought that it was a reboot dropped a long ago. Some of the fans dropped too. But, yeah, I kept going.

I didnt want to include any pictures in this post (because it's so fucking long), but I make an exception for this two. When I saw this frames in the opening of the second season, I understood that something went VERY WRONG.

Anyway, the second season explained the parts of the story that happened after the original story, but before Gou and why timloop started again. I'm not gonna retell you the entire plot, but let's say, the eleven y.o. was actually the reason for everything.

And the fans were pissed. The Satoko discourse (Satoko is the mentioned eleven y.o.) was MASSIVE. Most of the people thought that GouSotsu was stupid and bad (understandable). Big number of people hated Satoko, because in the original story she was uselles little girl, but now she was malicious evil girl (I'm quoting, I don't think like this). Some people were just upset about everything, like. Creator could just. Give two season of total fanservice and it would have felt better. Fans got in the bloody fights, some saying that Satoko decisions were correct, even tho he killed (directly and indirectly) a lot of people. The others told that it's bullshit, she's evil actually and the "minor and neurodivergent" is a bad defense. Like. It was a SHITSHOW. It's all culminated in the last episodes of the second season, where a girl who remembered everything and the eleven y.o. who killed her innumerable number of times had a Yuri Moment™. They reconsilliated about how they are only two people who understand each other. Dropped a bomb about how they are probably the characters from the other story (umineko). And went their separate ways.

Part Three: The aftermath and Meguri

As I already said. People were pissed. People fought. People said that GouSotsu is not canon and never would be. It's all made up like Homestuck2.

But while everyone was reliving seven stages of grief, Gou got itself a manga! Which is not very typical, but why not. Gou manga retold the same story as the Gou anime, so everyone kinda ignored it. But. Just like anime had a second season, the manga had a second part. It's called Meguri. It started the same as the second season, but got turned at some point, after, I think, the second arc. And it's INSANITY. Not only fans got this weird anime, that totally destroyed their opinion about the higu as a whole. But now this weird part of the story that almost no one liked had a different plot root.

Anyway. Don't interact with Satoko discourse. Watch/read the original story (it's great actually. I'm gonna go sleep now.

If this post gets three or more notes, I will explain GouSotsuMeguri debacle for everyone who wasnt present or people outside of higu cycle.

Like. Y'all, you missing out on some insane level of fandom drama. Made by creator himself.

[robotlesbianjavert]

MVA is a Matryoshka Doll of Character Development & Framing: Yes This is About How the Anime Failed. Whatever.

Breaking it down, the My Villain Academia arc serves two (2) main purposes in the overall narrative.

→ Put the League of Villains back in a position where they can be a credible threat to the heroes after losing All for One and their potential partnership with Overhaul falling through. Obviously accomplished by upgrading Shigaraki / Twice / Toga, giving Shigaraki the Meta Liberation Army, Ujiko’s assistance, Gigantomachia’s loyalty, etc. 

Of course the anime undercuts all of this by letting the heroes know what the League is planning before the League can take advantage of their new position (ergo narratively giving heroes the advantage, as seen in the manga’s war arc) before we even get to see HOW they got all these cool new toys. So why bother. That’s a different sin that the anime has committed, we can put this on the backburner.

→ Pseudo-reboot the direction of the story so that villains are characters on equal standing with the heroes, rather than being obstacles to beat up. This involves a lot more factors, but it’s all rooted in how the arc and characters are framed, and how the characters are developed.

I talked a bit about my concern about the sympathetic framing of the League in MVA way back when we first learned about the anime arcs being shuffle here (my triumph of objectivity). The gist of it is that the arc switch undermines the way the League are portrayed as underdogs—broke, aimless, and relatively weak compared to the heroes and the army coming for their heads—and I was right! Worse, they didn’t just undermine that underdog framing, they straight up didn’t bother. There is zero context for the League’s situation post-Overhaul, pre-Gigantomachia. No explanation for how they have to rob other villain groups to get by, that their equipment is breaking down, that they have no solid end goal or means to achieve anything of note. Just a challenge from Ujiko and Gigantomachia that loses a lot of pressure without understanding the sorry situation the League is in.

Tellingly, they don’t even let the League kill the fantasy racists. Who doesn’t want to see the fantasy racists get murdered! Outside of the existence of the CRC being an interesting bit of worldbuilding that confirmed the existence of heteromorphic discrimination, which is likely to continue playing a role in the manga, it’s an easy way to let the villains be villains while allowing the readers to go with the flow into this villain-focused arc, without having to be outraged by their actions.

From the get go, we’ve lost the framing that made MVA an arc worth paying attention to when it was first released, which indicates a) that the anime doesn’t care about the actual purpose of this arc outside of setting up a flashy hero vs. villain fight for season six and b) that we shouldn’t expect much from the rest of the anime arc. Even if they get the technical aspects of it right, we’ve already lost the weight of the narrative.

MVA is also obviously known as being the big push to develop the villains as characters. We’ve gotten some character development for them before (Twice and Toga’s adventures with Overhaul, Shigaraki’s consistent growth from “brat” to a capable villain and leader in his own right), but MVA is the first arc solely dedicated to their stories and humanization. However, there are “tiers” of character development and focus here, nested within each other, that are tied into the arc’s narrative structure.

Getting them out of the way: Dabi and Compress didn’t get to do much, though we do get to see their relationships with the League in action, plus stuff like Dabi’s quirk limits which come up later. Otherwise, their actual storylines only come into fruition or start with the PLF Raid arc (which in itself is dependent on MVA but that’s another argument). 

More memorable and meaty is the development for Toga and Twice. We learn more about their backstories, we get to see them push themselves to the breaking point for the sake of survival, Toga gets to evolve her quirk while Twice finally uses his to its full potential. We also get to understand their personal philosophies, relationships with society, how they view the world around them, and their loyalty to Shigaraki and the League. And with the manga’s underdog framing and the life-threatening situations they were thrust into (plus at the time they didn’t have guaranteed plot armour the way the students and heroes did), the audience wants to root for them, even if they’re the bad guys!

Toga and Twice’s development are undeniable highlights of the arc, contribute strongly to the story as a whole, and justifiably receive a lot of attention. However, they are also primarily moments nested within the arc, tying into their personal ongoing storylines (Twice’s starting with the Overhaul arc and ending tragically with the PLF Raid; Toga’s storyline carries on into the PLF Raid with the loss of Twice and her confrontation with Uraraka). But they aren’t the primary storylines of the arc.

A primary storyline of MVA is in Shigaraki being able to identify the direction he wants to take the League in and make that a reality, as well as answering the questions of his past. MVA starts with the League’s aimlessness and with him revealing how little he remembers of his origins; the arc climaxes with him regaining his memories and having the confidence and strength to earn the Ujiko, Gigantomachia, and Redestro’s loyalty and resources, giving him the means to finally enact his dreams of destroying hero society. Toga and Twice’s development is encased within Shigaraki’s storyline, and that storyline provides a concisive beginning and endpoint structure of My Villain Academia—

Except Shigaraki’s narrative structure is encompassed by a layer even beyond that: Spinner’s story. When the arc begins, before Shigaraki can discuss his dream of a destroyed horizon, Spinner is the one challenging him about the League’s lack of direction and purpose. When the arc ends and Shigaraki stands victorious, Spinner is the witness who now understands that the destroyed horizon can be their reality. Spinner is the one watching Shigaraki throughout the arc, Spinner’s gaze is emphasized at the beginning and end of Shigaraki’s MVA storyline, and Spinner is the one who undergoes the most radical change from frustrated Stain flunky to Shigaraki’s devoted follower.

To paraphrase from @stillness-in-green, My Villain Academia is “about what Shigaraki coming into his own looks like to the people watching him”.  To Re-Destro, to Ujiko and Machia, and most importantly to Spinner.

It’s been frustrating enough over the past two years to see people who have read the manga discard Spinner’s role in the arc just because he isn’t a basic easy pretty boy didn’t get an elaborate flashback sequence the same way that Toga, Twice, and Shigaraki did. Seeing the anime not even bother emphasizes that lack of comprehension. But why does it specifically matter that the anime screwed over the Spinner & Shigaraki premise of MVA?

Aside from the anime’s decisions taking all the weight out of the story: In the current manga, Spinner is the only one left at Shigaraki’s side who is specifically loyal to and cares for him.

Barring executive meddling, Horikoshi changing his mind on plot points that he set up, and straight up bad writing (which can all very well happen): You don’t go through the effort of developing a character like Spinner, explicitly in conjunction with your main villain, as the framing perspective of an arc that is so vital to your story, without having a plan for that character. With the way Spinner is positioned right now, there’s a lot that can be done with him! And if that potential does get utilized, then the anime lost out their chance to give that potential its due.

Between the immediate loss of set up and context, tossing the pseudo-protagonist framing of the League, and gutting the emotional core of Spinner’s developing regard for Shigaraki, the anime adaptation has already lost. The rest of the episodes could be perfectly competent, but without the actual base of the arc it all falls flat. Hell, they could stick Spinner’s confrontation with Shigaraki in as a flashback in his fight against Trumpet and it won’t matter; that just nests Spinner’s story within Shigaraki’s the same way Toga and Twice’s is, when it should be the other way around.

Of course there are other reasons why MVA anime arc is set up to fail without reany spect for the source material (I know that the MLA got screwed over in the PLF Raid arc but that’s no reason to not even TRY with introducing them into the show properly just LET Rikiya be his fun, threatening, and engaging self!), but the fact of the matter is that I’m not going to get my Spinaraki AMVs and I want to fucking die about it.

[dpganime]

Shaman King vs. Yu-Gi-Oh - What Yu-Gi-Oh did right

Shaman King was first broadcasted in US back in 2001, riding on the success of Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. Though the two series have many similarities, Shaman King was nowhere near as popular as Yu-Gi-Oh. While YGO had one spin-off after another, Shaman King only had a sequel Shaman King Flowers and a spin-off Shaman King Crimson in manga - and nothing in anime except for 2021 remake/reboot.

So, why isn’t Shaman King that successful? Here’s what YGO did right but Shaman King did not:

1) A balanced protagonist duo

Yugi Muto was a nice boy who wants to have friends. He found one in the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, Yami Yugi/Pharaoh Atem. Unlike Yugi, Atem was more arrogant and can be merciless at time. Atem was also mysterious, with his real name and story not revealed until the last season, which kept the audience intrigued. 

But in Shaman King...

Yoh Asakura was a nice and lazy guy, nothing more. His reason to become Shaman King was so that he could live an easy life? Or was it family duty? Whatever it was, we are interested enough to care.

His spirit partner Amidamaru and his human friend Manta were also Mr. Nice Guy. Three Mr. Nice Guys = BORING.

2) A rival who does not overshadow the protagonist

Seto Kaiba was a well-written character. In each YGO spin-off, there’s an expy of Yugi and an expy of Kaiba as well. Cold, jealous, and (a little too) obsessed on beating Yugi in card games, Kaiba was mostly an antagonist though sometimes ally. He also had a story - in the past and present, but he’s not taking over the show. 

But in Shaman King...

Ren Tao was a blood knight that turned the whole show up-side-down. Well, actually, he was a kindhearted boy who was abused by his father. He was able to see his errors and redeem his wrongs. Compared to Yoh, he was a better fit as a main protagonist and as Shaman King. Unfortunately, he was not the main character. 

3) A love interest who can be nasty but for a reason

Anzu Masaki was Yugi’s childhood friend. She had her abusive moments towards Jonouchi and Honda, but that’s because they were being inappropriate, like lifting up her skirt. Yugi had a crush on her, but Anzu liked Yugi’s spirit partner Atem, who shipped Yugi and Anzu...spawned many fanfics. 

But in Shaman King...

Anna was mean. Period. She slapped Manta and punched Horohoro. Though I liked the 2021 version of Anna much more than 2001′s version, I find it very hard to understand why a nice guy like Yoh would be okay with Anna abusing everyone around him.

4) A beta couple who explains the plot

Wanna know why Blue-Eyes White Dragon meant so much to Kaiba? The answer: in their previous life, Blue-Eyes White Dragon was the spirit of Kaiba’s love interest, Kisara. It’s another story worthy to tune in where the origin of Kaiba vs. Yugi will be explained (come think of it, it has some Game of Thrones flavor to it). 

But in Shaman King...

Ren got married...to Iron Maiden Jeanne. They had a son. But how did they get there?

Either you are very interested but can’t find enough details or you just don’t care, but find the couple coming out of nowhere. 

5) The bad guys are punished for their wrongs

Pegasus was the big bad in the first story arc. He sealed Yugi’s grandfather’s soul to force Yugi to participate in Duelist Kingdom Tournament. Whatever his reason was, he lost and his Millennium Eye was taken from him - it was painful and traumatic. At least he didn’t kill anyone. Marik from the second arc had killed his father, but it was semi self-defense and in a moment of insanity. 

But in Shaman King...

Ren killed. Iron Maiden Jeanne killed. X-Laws killed. Hao killed. Fraust opened up Manta with a surgical knife...and all of them are forgiven? For those who shipped Jun Tao and Lee Pyron, let me tell you what happened: Tao family killed Lee Pyron so that he could be her Jiang Shi puppet. And oh yeah, per Anna, Lee Pyron was married. So that makes Jun Tao a homewrecker - and she and Lee Pyron live happily ever after?

6) A satisfying ending

Atem found his name and returned to the past. Yugi moved on to be a legendary duelist, a real King of Game (which is what Yu-Gi-Oh means in Japanese). Friendship and true meaning of winning are well defined. 

But in Shaman King...

Hao did all these bad stuff and he still won? He got to be Shaman King and decided not to wipe out humanity for the time being because his mom intervened? Okay, so what’s the point of this whole story? I’m lost.

So as for the rest of 2021 Shaman King episodes, I’m only going to watch the ones that feature Ren because I like this character. Nothing more. Sorry, I don’t think the remake is going to be any more successful than 2001 version. 

[berrychanx]

I know you're a Tokyo Mew Mew fan, but did you think about why the 2002 anime (and some of the "popular" magical girls) only got one season (51 to 52 episodes only) that didn't get a second season (or more) to continue the story, instead of getting a reboot ? (I don't much like anime get rebooted)

But some of the magical girls anime (NOT includes Salior moon and Pretty Cure franchise) do had season 2 (or more)?

Nowadays the og tokyo mew mew would be considered a 3 season cour anime / split into 3 seasons if it was to have 52 episodes.

Sailor Moon has multiple seasons because during its airing time the manga was still in development, so the studio and the author had to come up with original / fillers episodes to fill in airing time... While the TV aired this original episodes, Naoko would work on the Manga. And then each arc was split into different seasons (nowadays its still the same).

When tokyo mew mew aired most of the Manga was already completed (when the Anime aired the Manga was entering the last volume/ climax chapters) so the studio had lot of material to adapt and didn't need to create that many fillers in order to let the manga develop.

Why no S2?

Why TMM never got a season 2 is probably because how A La Mode was received, Kodansha request Mia Ikumi to create a new short story (which is they commissioned to be 2 volumes) since it was so short and rushed there was no time for development, reviews and sales were ok... Which meant it wasn't profitable for any studio to grab the project or animated.

Besides the anime had already did its job, which was to help sell the Manga and toys/merchandise (this can be seen with a lot of mahou shoujo's aimed for kids, like precure or even shounen's like beyblade - their main objective is to sell merchandise to kids, that's another reason why so many seasons pop up... To keep younger viewers interested and to profit from their parents money).

Reboots:

Reboots tend to happen cause of the series anniversary, usually they're made as a way to commemorate the franchise X birthday or to finish adaptating the full story without original content (fruits basket) and be faithful to the source material (fruits basket, sailor moon crystal).

Usually they're a goods way to capture new audiences, since new generations are more used to modern anime style, they'll more quickly will watch the reboot in a style their familiar with than to watch a 20 year old version with XX episodes (for example, I love the franchise legend of the galatic heroes but I know 112 eps + movies + ovas can be very tiresome for some viewers... Despite having lot of episodes focused on world and character building the plot sometimes drags on for too long, usually to those type of people who can't stand more than X episodes, I recommend the reboot, although more condensed it does a decent job without dragging on for too much, plus Hirayuki Sawano soundtrack is a plus).

Pre-cure & Co - why so many seasons?

For example the author/director of Ojamo Doremi is also the author of the precure franchise and he directed some seasons.

Since both shows are original studio creation, the author (usually the studio director or project director) can make up as many seasons, movies, ovas as he/she wants because the project belongs to them and it's not based on anything. - This also applies to Princess Tutu which is a studios original.

In short as long it's a studio original and seems to be profitable on sales and viewers ranking it will spawn a lot of seasons.

Like I also mentioned before... Toys...

[nodangnameisavailable]

Thoughts on Shaman King 2021 as an OG Shaman King fan

I posted this as a comment on a youtube video recently... So

!!Long post warning!!

First I just wanted to say that I completely agree with everyone saying that the pacing is very fast, and that it's harder, if someone was a new viewer coming into Shaman King, to be convinced that in two episodes a deep bond has formed between Yoh and Amidamaru and Yoh and Manta. But I think people (especially some of the fans of the OG Shaman King) are being too hard on this adaptation. I think there are a few things we have to take into consideration when viewing this adaptation right now:

 1. There are 300 chapters of the source material to be adapted in 52 episodes (that's obviously going to cut a lot out, and they've already cut so many chapters out that I personally enjoyed, but the meat of the story is still there and there's so much to the story that I can't wait to see animated and WILL be animated because that's what Hiroyuki Takei wants)

 2. It shouldn't be the norm to compare this adaptation to the 2001 adaptation because what it should be compared to first is the source material which is the manga. While I do think it's inevitable that people will compare the current adaptation to the old one, the old one takes a lot of creative liberties (because the manga wasn't done yet when that adaptation was being made). Therefore, first and foremost we should compare it to the pacing and order of events in the manga, which the current adaptation is doing very well (despite some chapters being cut), rest assured we WILL get more of Ryu and his journey, but it's going to be ordered slightly differently from the 2001 anime. If we look at the list of chapters of the manga on wikipedia (if the manga isn't on hand), they do kinda leave the Ryu storyline untouched until the third volume. And in the manga, by the time they explore Ryu's storyline they've already introduced Ren, Jun and Anna (slightly different from the 2001 anime's pacing and order of events). The current anime's depiction of how Yoh and Ren meet and subsequently fight, is almost panel by panel exactly how they met in the manga and subsequently how Yoh learns from Ren what 100% gattai is and how he can do it in his own way.

3. The voice actors are largely the original cast of voice actors from the 2001 Japanese series. If someone grew up watching the anime in another language (like me I grew up watching Shaman King in English and in Tagalog dub), the difference in voice acting and their stylistic choices of how to bring these characters to life can be a bit jarring. Especially since, if you experienced it in another language first, you might have associated those characters already with the voices that those dubs provided. But the dubs are dubs, and the decision to keep a lot of the original voice actors was a choice made by the creator of Shaman King. In fact, the reason why it took so damn long for this reboot to be even made was because back in 2017, Hiroyuki Takei refused to let it happen if the original voice actors can't come back. So what does that tell us? The voices of the characters we hear right now are largely the voices that the creator has acknowledged to be worthy to bring his characters to life in anime form. A lot of people might not like it, like how a lot of people HATE Goku's voice in the Japanese  version of Dragon Ball. And these are things we as fans are allowed to comment on. But I've seen someone on twitter say that they refuse to continue watching the current adaptation because the voice acting was not what they expected. And as a fan of the manga, that really hurts me. A lot of people have been waiting FOREVER for this to happen, and we should be thankful that the creator is so invested in his work that he would go to great lengths to ensure that this time around, he gets to control the anime being released to us fans.

 4. There's only been 2 episodes. We get a taste from the first episode exactly how good the animation can get (with the opening segment of Hao and Yoh's birth), and I'm willing to bet they're saving the more fancy animation for the juicier fights we're going to see in the future. I believe what they're doing right now is laying down the groundwork: Introducing most of the main cast of characters, and giving a little exposition so that we can either be refreshed if we haven't touched the series in a while, or giving a simple and brief introduction that isn't boring or dragging (which the 2001 anime was, at least in the beginning for me) for a completely new viewer.

 5. People are always going to find something bad to say about everything, it's impossible to please every single fan of the series. But I just wish that people, especially OG fans of Shaman King, won't be so quick to judge or be disappointed. The rate it's going now, it's going to cover a lot of ground and the story later on is where it gets REALLY good anyway. And judging from this episode, this adaptation of the anime likely isn't going to censor out things like blood and just exactly how ruthless Ren and the Tao family can be. So, while I appreciate all the talk and buzz going on about Shaman King in social media, maybe we should just sit back, enjoy the ride.

 Anyway, I hope that for everyone that is quick to judge or to refuse watching this adaptation of the series, I wish we can all just relax a bit and trust that the creator of Shaman King will not screw us fans over, because he really does care about this series. And because in the end, just like how Yoh always says, everything will work out.

[tohruhondablog]

🐱🐭 🍙 🐶🐍 🍙 🐮🐴 🍙 🐯🐏 🍙🐰🐗 🍙 🐉🐓 🍙 🐵

What is Fruits Basket & Why to Watch It

Spoiler free!

What is Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット, Furūtsu Basuketto) sometimes abbreviated Furuba or Fruba (フルバ), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. It is compiled into a total of 23 tankōbon volumes. (Fruits Basket Wiki)

Fruits Basket (2019) is the reboot anime adaption of the manga of the same name by Natsuki Takaya. The 2019 anime faithfully adapts the entirety of the manga, along with a completely new cast and staff from the original 2001 anime. The series streams on both Crunchyroll and FunimationNow, while Funimation holds the license to home video rights. (Fruits Basket Wiki)

Synopsis:

Tohru Honda is a high schooler who has just lost her mother, meaning she has now lost both her parents. She doesn’t want to bother her living relatives, her grandfather and few of his relatives, so she determines she will support herself by living in a tent. She manages for a little while, until the owners of the land, Shighre and Yuki Sohma (her classmate), discover her living there. Shigure invites her back to his house to determine why she was living in a tent in the first place. After learning her reasoning, it is decided she will stay with them for awhile in exchange for much needed cooking and cleaning around the house. In the midst of this discussion another Sohma relative Kyo arrives. Chaos ensues and Tohru accidentally falls into him, which turns him into a cat. She panics, thinking it was her fault, and bumps into the other two who also transform into animals. The Sohma's then explain to her that their family is cursed to transform into the 12 animals of the Zodiac, plus the cat, if they’re embraced by a member of the opposite gender. From here we follow Tonru as she lives her live with the Sohmas.

Why Watch Fruits Basket

My main reasons which I will go in depth on are these: the characters, the plot, and the animation and music.

Tohru Honda, Kyo, Yuki & Shigure Sohma

The characters

Tohru is an amazing main character. You will hear me time and time again mention that I highly relate to her in many ways. I will include a post introducing myself which explains why I feel qualified to give analysis from her perspective later. Yes, she is clumsy and a bit naive at times, but she is also incredibly mentally and emotionally strong. She manages to maintain an almost entirely positive and driven outlook, despite the grieving process she is currently going through. She is a wonderful person who truly cares for and puts others before herself. She will be a friend to anyone that will let her. In fact, her two best friends are a reformed former member of an all female gang, and a goth girl with a psychic power that has caused people to fear and avoid her. The friendship between them is incredible. They’re the perfect example of how women should love, support and build each other up. The Sohmas are also very interesting, because they have all suffered so much trauma from living in a family that is inherently abusive, due to the nature of their curse. This show may be considered a shoujo/romance and also has some great comedy, but don’t let it fool you. It’s very dark at times, showing the backstories of mental illness and trauma from almost every major type of abuse. The characters are not at all one-dimensional. The theme of this show is growth and change, and all of the characters grow in incredible ways. The various relationships between Tohru, the Sohmas, and the students at her school are very unique. Even minor characters are developed well with very real emotions and personalities.

The plot

The Zodiac curse is interesting all by itself, but the concept of growth and change is so much fun to watch. You’ll be rooting for the characters to be their best selves and live the happy lives they deserve. The plot is never what you’d expect and there is never a dull moment. The comedy never ceases to make me laugh, the romantic moments make my heart beat faster in my chest, and the depictions of trauma are informative and taken very seriously. There are very few shows, anime or otherwise, that can give me real physical chills from the emotions shown in them. Fruits basket has given me chills countless times. I can’t promise you that you won’t cry sometimes, but I will promise you that if you give this show a real chance it is worth all of the hype it gets. I can’t tell you how much this show has helped me learn about myself and others, and process my own traumas. This show addresses mental health in a very real, yet entertaining way that is easy to understand. I think almost anyone can relate to at least one of the characters, and I believe everyone could benefit in some way from watching. Also, if you’re a guy that happens to be reading this and are skeptical of watching a shoujo/romance with a female main character, don’t be! I have known guys that were extremely entertained by this anime, and could also relate to the male characters. Just don’t turn away from it for those reasons alone.

Animation and music

All I can say is that they must have had a high budget, because they did not hold back on providing the highest quality animation and music. The characters and scenery are absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. The music is catchy and enjoyable. I love the soundtracks so much, I listen to them regularly.

In closing

I hope that by reading this I have convinced you to at least give Fruits Basket a try. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I and many many others have. There is a reason that this manga is one of the most popular shoujo of all time, as well as the 2019 anime being one of the most watched of the anime season every time a new season airs. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) rating for it is also 8.5/10.

Thanks for reading!

🍙 Tohru’s twin (@lunastellanova)

Feel free to DM me or send an ask if you want to discuss!

🐱🐭 🍙 🐶🐍 🍙 🐮🐴 🍙 🐯🐏 🍙🐰🐗 🍙 🐉🐓 🍙 🐵

Tohru Honda's tumblr masterlist here

This blog contains Fruits Basket edits by myself (@lunastellanova), re-blogs of Fruits Basket information/art/fanfiction ect, and meta from the perspective of Tohru Honda.

[yusuke96universe]

In need of more Turles content

Why I want more 'Turles' Dragon Ball content.

Background: TURLES' RETURN | ZtoS | Off-The-Cuff and MasakoX's "What If Turles Turned Good" series are both great

Both provide interesting avenues to reboot ideas that a modernized Turles could have.

One links Turles to both retconned Bardock as his estranged brother that unlocked the False SSJ form missed out on a chance at redemption when Planet Vegeta was destroyed. So this can provide Goku a direct connection to his family lineage again.

The other links Turles up with the Heaters organization that competes with the Frieza Empire. This actually provides a method to connect a lot of the contradictory backstories within supplemental materials.

I am a fan of MasakoX's DBZ 'What If' series. I don't always agree with his takes on certain concepts, but through a lot of the community, I can cherry-pick what I like and make my own take on certain subjects like I did with his What If Nappa or Cell turned Good series for example. I often make super long, well-crafted comments that hardly ever get attention, and here is one I made

The comment was about how interesting a character is in the Dragon World

I think Turles should best be used as a means to complicate a plot or storyline. He can fit in many types of stories. He easily can fall under the Magnificient Bastard trope (a.k.a. the Charismaniac), a potential ally, antagonist or something else entirely that makes things difficult for all involved. He can best be used like how Law was introduced in Sabaody Archipelago, a seductive danger that pulls you in. You know he is probably going to stab you in the back or you're being played, but you just can't say "No" to his offers for one reason or another. Either he is charismatic enough to win you over or he's got something you want, bad.

Any character from any alignment good, evil, divine, or even Demonic should have something interesting to say about Turles because he is such an outlier to the rest of the characters. He just offers so much potential fun dynamics and storytelling.

A smart and methodical Saiyan, who still loves to fight and isn't a coward? In fact, he is willing to take on just about anyone, he was introduced while he was preparing to take on Frieza of all people. As smart as he is, he has to know how outmatched he is compared to Frieza's Empire, but he was going to do it. In their interactions within games and such, Turles isn't even nervous, on the contrary. He's pumped!

A fighter who prides himself on his strength, but isn't totally blinded by it to overlook the forest for the trees. He has been shown to have foresight determine his actions. He does get arrogant and that makes him vulnerable, but he can quickly recover by allowing his pragmatism to take over.

A Dragon Ball villain that can respect his enemies? He is open to potential partnerships and underlings joining his side, in fact that is how he recruited his Crusher Corps. (so he could potentially be written to have his own Power of Friendship moments) And he may be willing to ally with the good guys if their goals ever align. He also knows how to be a team player as shown in Xenoverse 2, where he is quick to play mediator with the villains.

A deserter that still has pride in his race, but felt wronged by the caste system that discredited him which acts as a motive for his current actions. So a political plot can be on the table. (he fits a usurper plot to a T)

A drifter whose experiences have led him to blaspheme against the established Divine hierarchy because his Tree of Might that he is known for, is the property of the Gods.

He's pure evil so other pure evil creatures like Devils and Demons who directly oppose the Angels and the Gods could recruit him to be direct counters that contrast the good Saiyans.

While Turles is known for being an 'Evil Goku clone' meant to contrast his characteristics, in doing so, he has contrasted a lot of his own Saiyan race's characteristics as well which puts him in the same boat as Goku who he is meant to contrast. They are both outliers of their race in one way or another.

Anime Goku Black is a sophisticated and elegant Kai on a Multiverse level Crusade compared to Goku's outdoorsman simplicity.

Manga Goku Black contrasted Goku's gentleness and innate goodness by being one of the most vicious villains the series ever had. Zamasu was being taken over by the Saiyan body's base instincts for destruction and violence transforming him in to a ferocious monster.

Turles on the other hand can display traits of both the smart and elegant Zamasu and the Saiyan's natural savageness and societal cruelty while being similar to Goku in that he is an outlier of their race because he reels those traits in opening himself to many more options and avenues to potentially walk down.

I am not even getting into the fact that Turles looks just like the main character so he could be a surviving relative. A cousin, an uncle, half-brother, even a Grandfather with how Saiyans age. Heck a straight up counterpart isn’t even out of the question. 

Personally, I am a bigger fan of him being his own person, and his shared looks are only used to highlight how he contrasts with Goku, but also how they gain similar things like leading a group of strong loyal misfits who admire his power. It’s like the two take their own paths, but arrive at practically the same destination and that is what fascinates me about Turles the most when compared to Goku.

My point is that Turles has a lot of storytelling potential for involvement within What Ifs and even the future of the Dragon Ball Super, but what do you guys think? Do you want to hear my thoughts on how I would reboot Lord Slug as well because I can do that next?My take is a bit different from others but I think it's really interesting. Also, wouldn’t a False Super Saiyan line of forms for Turles be really interesting?

[liquidstar]

I'd love to hear some of your recommendations! And I'm good without any content warnings, but since you're posting this for all your followers to see probably best to add them

Alright sure! I’ll be general then and since you’re just starting out this will sort of be bringing up a lot of really popular ones, the really good ones where the general consensus is “you gotta see this!”, but I’ll also try to give ones from different genres so you have a variety of things to pick from, so this isn’t really a list of personal favorites but I’ll throw in a couple of those too lol, but generally think of this as a handy beginners guide with just a little personal bias.

I wrote a lot so I'm gonna put them under the cut here.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist is a franchise that’s considered a must-watch, it takes place in a world where alchemy is a borderline magical power, but is considered scientific in-universe and follows scientific laws, namely the law of equivalent exchange. Something can’t be made from nothing, to gain something of equal value must be lost. The story follows the story of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who at the ages of 10 and 11 committed alchemy’s one and only unforgivable sin, human transmutation, in an attempt to bring their mother back to life. As a result, one brother lost his arm and leg and the other lost his entire body, leaving his soul bound to a suit of armor. However the brothers are resolute to regain their original bodies, and the older brother, Edward, joins the State Alchemists, a branch of the military, to try to gain access to research materials to help them achieve their goal. But was that really such a good idea?

Fullmetal Alchemist can be a bit confusing to get into due to the fact that there are two series: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009). The latter is a reboot with a different story that follows the original manga. They both have the same beginning, but diverge paths and tell very different stories. My recommendation for how to watch this show is: Watch 2003 first, and Brotherhood second. Everyone has a different opinion about which is better, but everyone agrees that 2003 has better backstory but a contrived ending, and Brotherhood has a rushed beginning (Because it works off the assumption that you’ve seen 2003) with a great and fulfilling ending. If you can’t do both I say just watch Brotherhood because it will leave you more satisfied and you don’t have to watch 03 to get into it.

For both series the biggest trigger warnings are: Parental death, child death, pet death, war, genocide, dismemberment, religious themes, and miscarriage. For brotherhood specifically: on-screen suicide, and for 2003 specifically: rape (not on-screen) and pregnancy from it. The 2003 series is also a lot darker than Brotherhood which has a more optimistic tone, so that’s worth noting too.

Soul Eater

A show I think is incredibly fun, and a good one for an October watch if you wanna save it. It takes place in a world where certain people have the ability to transform into weapons, and they team up with other people who become their meisters. The characters often travel around, but the main setting is Death City, a fictional city in Nevada based off of Las Vegas but with a huge Halloweentown vibe, and a school right at the top of it called the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA) where a bunch of kids that turn into weapons learn how to hunt down witches and kishins (Beings that consume human souls). The school, of course, is run by the grim reaper, Lord Death himself.

Our main characters for the series are a group of 7 students. Our protagonist Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul “Eater” Evans, a scythe. A loud mouth assassin named Black✰Star and his weapon partner Tsubaki, who has many weapon forms. And the son of the grim reaper, Death The Kid, and his two weapon partners Liz and Patty Thompson, who are twin pistols. There are also a bunch of really lively colorful background characters and antagonists, and the cast of the show being as insane as it is really makes it, on top of the great atmosphere and of course the plot, which just builds more and more as the series progresses. Also Crona is there and we all love Crona.

Trigger warnings for this show include: Child abuse (Mental and physical), manipulation, snakes and spiders (The motifs of two major villains), some very surreal moments that can verge on unreality. Also, in the dub and most subs: misgendering of a canonically trans character. Crona is a character who is non-binary, but the dub and subs use gendered pronouns for them due to general ignorance about neutral pronouns in 2008, though this isn’t the fault of the original series and falls on the translators hands.

Also it’s important to note: that the first 3 episodes are prologues and they take themselves less seriously, there’s more fanservice in them than there is in the rest of the series (Except for Blair she stays the fanservice character :pensive:)

Zombieland Saga

Idol anime is really prevalent as a genre, the most popular being Love Live, but my personal favorite is Zombieland Saga. It’s an idol anime, but it’s also a comedy about zombie girls who become idols. It sounds ridiculous but there’s an insane amount of heart in it regardless, it wasn’t a show I expected to get emotional at but I did! It also made me laugh a lot too. The series itself can serve as a bit of a subversion on what idols are, not just because they’re literally zombies, but because of who the characters are.

Sakura Minamoto is a character who starts off as a more typical idol, a peppy pure girl, as the series continues her struggle with depression gets highlighted. Saki Nikaido serves as her initial foil, a delinquent girl with a criminal record who subvers the idea of pure perfect idols. Ai Mizuno, a former idol who has since undergone severe trauma (The way she died). Junko Konno who has ideals that seem very different on what idols “should” be due to the time period she died. Lily Hoshikawa, an explicitly transgender idol. Yugiri nolastname, a former high ranking courtesan, subvering the pure image of an idol by being a sex worker. And Tae Yamada, a completely nonverbal idol who’s still treated with the same amount of importance as the rest of the team. The premise here really is just that these girls don’t fit the incredibly rigid mold of what idols should be and yet they still all deserve love and they gain a fanbase by being their earnest selves.

Trigger warnings for this series aren’t incredibly severe but since they’re zombies there’s still talks about death and they way they died (Including motorcycle/car accidents, plane crashes, getting struck by lightning, and a heart attack), there’s also comedic dismemberment, as in their arms just sort of pop on and off and stuff like that. The most notable thing is the deadnaming of Lily, the trans idol, by her father, but it doesn’t appear to be malicious in any way.

Note: this series is in the middle of it’s second season right now, if you want to wait until it’s over it should be 12 episodes long and just aired it’s 3rd, so about 9 more weeks.

Death Note

This is also absolutely another series that gets recommended to people right off the bat, and for good reason, this show is an intricate game of chess between a serial killer and a detective trying to catch him, and it’s incredibly easy to get super invested in the suspense of what happens next. The story begins when a shinigami, a god of death, drops his “Death Note” into the human world out of pure boredom. A Death Note is simply a notebook where if you write someone's name in it… They die! And who better to pick up such a powerful object than Light Yagami, a prodigy praised for his genius and academy accomplishments as well as his charm and popularity, and with a very strong but juvenile black-and-white sense of justice, likely due to being raised by a cop.

So naturally Light begins his power trip as soon as he finds the notebook, he intends to “fix” the world by cleansing it of all the bad people, but truly he intends to become the world’s new god. Or the “God of the new world” as he puts it. But there’s one thing standing in his way, a detective resolute on catching him with the codename L. The series entire crux is a game of cat and mouse between these two, as they try to outsmart each other and the murders continue, Light loses more and more of his humanity, L becomes more resolute on catching him. There are more twists and turns than a cheetah race, and it’s honestly pretty addictive to see what happens next.

Trigger warnings here obviously include a lot of death and murder, including suicide, but in some cases it’s a forced suicide at Light’s hands. Also abuse, as Light loses his humanity he isn’t above manipulating and discarding people who love him. And one instance of near-rape on screen fairly early on, but the purpitrator dies before it happens and the victim escapes.

K-On!

Slice-of-life is an incredibly popular genre, and K-On! is the quintessential example of it. It’s a series that not everyone will like, because not a lot truly happens, and it can be overly saccharine or “moe” for a lot of people, and that’s fine. But I personally think that despite not a lot happening, the story has genuine substance, more than you may gather at first glance. It’s true that not much in the way of big plot really happens, it’s mostly life events, that’s why it's a slice-of-life. But it’s not about nothing. The real theme of the show is the fleeting nature of youth. It’s about how important the friendships you form at that time are, how they’ll stick with you for a lifetime, and how everything comes to an end. It’s sweetness even becomes a little bittersweet because you knew their after school tea time would end come graduation, and as they realize this it breaks their hearts a little, but they continue on, because they’re still After School Tea Time!

The series itself is simply about 5 girls in a band, Yui Hirasawa on lead guitar, Mio Akiyama on the bass, Ritsu Tainaka on the Drums, Tsumugi Kotobuki on the Keyboard, and Azusa Nakano on Rhythm Guitar (Who shows up later). They’re in a club at school called the light music club where they waste a lot of their time just drinking tea and eating cake, but they’re having fun and that’s what counts! The series has a lot of really great direction and expressive animation despite the fact that a lot of it is just sitting around and talking, it’s incredibly visually interesting so you don’t get bored.

I honestly don’t think there are any big trigger warnings I can give for this series, maybe that Sawa-chan can be a little too forceful when she wants to dress up the girls in cute outfits sometimes but it’s usually not presented as too creepy especially after season 1 where they tone it down due to straying from the manga.

Mob Psycho 100

This series is an absolute love letter to the art of animation as a whole, the artstyle itself may not seem like much to look at but the animation is some of the most expressive, fluid, creative, and vibrant out there right now, it’s the type of series that you can tell was made with a real passion for its medium and it’s story. It’s protagonist is Shigeo Kageyama, nicknamed “Mob”, a term that literally means “Background character”. Mob is a middle school kid and an incredibly powerful psychic, like, insanely overpowered, but he’s currently working part time for a shady conman, Reigen Arataka. Though it may seem as if Reigen is just using Mob for his powers, their bond is actually a very sweet one and you can tell they care for each other, it’s a very important one at the heart of the series.

The core themes of the series itself are what really make it shine, it’s message is stated as clearly as possible in the opening songs, “your life is your own” and “if everyone is not special, maybe you can be what you want to be”. Put simply, you’re the protagonist of your own life, but the other important message of the series is that all the supposed background characters are just as important. The friends you make, the connections you have with other people and the way they impact you, they’re what make you strong. No one is born special, everyone is just a normal person, and everyone deserves kindness. It’s a series that I recommend incredibly strongly for just how powerfully it portrays this message.

Trigger warnings for this series include kidnapping, possession, a scene with a “man in a dress” joke, and a racist design for a background character. Also (spoilers) a scene where it seems like a child was murdered and a scene where it seems like Mob’s entire family was murdered.

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War!

Hey, speaking of amazing animation, Kaguya-Sama is a romantic comedy series centered around the premise of two incredibly arrogant people falling in love. Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane are the vice president and president of the student council at the prestigious Shuchi'in Academy, they eventually develop feelings for each other but they’re both simultaneously too proud and too insecure to admit it, so the real crux of the series is the 3D chess they play with each other to try and get the other to confess first. Along with the scatterbrained secretary, Chika Fujiawara, the treasurer in desperate need of Prozac Yu Ishigami, the cast is incredibly fun and they all fit into the comedy great. Every single little game of “do you like me?” that they play is written like the most intense thing in the world, the insane animation absolutely adds to it, making it seem almost like a psychological thriller, the comedy comes from the absurdity of just how much they hyperbolize it.

It’s not pure comedy though, due to a lot of the series being set up around mindgames, the characters are actually fairly psychologically complex with a lot of genuine development stemming from their childhood to explain why they are the way they are. The series may be about mindgames, but the actual narrative frames them as a juvenile way to go about relationships, a way to try to protect yourself from getting hurt because you’re afraid to trust. The entire core theme is that communication in relationships of any kind is the most important thing and you cant replace it with clever little tricks, so the main pair only ever make actual progress when they’re actually upfront with each other. Even if it’s scary to be that vulnerable with someone, especially if you’ve been hurt in the past like they have, the relationships you build off of mutual trust and openness will be worth the risk, and they can help heal you. And one of the things I love about the series is that this doesn’t just apply to the main pair, but it places equal emphasis on the importance of friendship. All the characters' relationships with each other are unique and interesting and they all develop the same way, with trust and openness, and they become better because of each other.

Despite being generally a comedy, a lot of the characters deal with some really heavy things too so trigger warning for: child abuse (not on-screen), child abandonment (again not on screen), anxiety and panic attacks, suicidal ideation- initionally played off as a joke but it becomes very obvious the character in question is legitimately suicidal and in the manga he nearly attempts it but is stopped, this plotpoint will most likely be in the anime at some point as it’s also not complete.

Your Lie In April

Alright I gave you a funny show now I’m going to make you cry. In fact it’s hard for me to type this synopsis because I’m an absolute crybaby and thinking about this show gets me, but I think it’s absolutely worth checking out because it’s a very beautiful sadness. Your Lie In April is a series that follows the stress and trauma young musical prodigies face in their lives, as well as the people around them, and it’s a series about the beauty of music and art, and just how much it affects people. The music in the show is absolutely gorgeous, the way that they convey emotion through it is so beautiful and intricate that it just sticks with you. You feel the music, and you understand.

I’m actually going to give the trigger warnings right now instead of at the end because in order to explain the plot I’ll have to talk about them so tw for: Child abuse (phsyical and mental, on-screen), terminal illness, death, in depth depictions of PTSD, vomiting, panic attacks, the works.

The series follows Kousei Arima, a formal piano prodigy who hasn’t performed since the death of his mother two years ago. Kousei's mother was terminally ill, but she was also incredibly abusive. Kousei has incredibly complex feelings about his mother because of this. The trauma she instilled in him is severe, but because he was a child, he still is a child, and he loved his mom a lot, as any child would, and he didn’t want her to die and he blames himself for not being good enough. He wanted to make her happy, and the only way he knew how to do that was to play the piano. So he played and played and practiced until he was perfect, they called him the human metronome. But he would still get severely punished for being anything less than perfect. He had lost all the passion he once had, and after his mother died it was the final nail in the coffin, his trauma manifests now in a way that makes him unable to play. But all that changes one day in April when he meets a violinist named Kaori Miyazono, a girl full of life and passion for music, she’s someone who according to Kousei “Exists in springtime.” and she’s going to help him play again and refined that love for music whether he wants to or not! Teen drama happens of course, but there are much bigger roadblocks ahead.

Assassination Classroom

This series is thankfully generally more lighthearted… Most of the time at least. The premise is pretty simple, but incredibly ridiculous. An incredibly powerful octopus-like creature is the teacher of a classroom of middle school students tasked with the assignment of assassinating him in order to save the world. The series starts off very slice-of-life as it focuses on introducing the very large cast of characters inside of Class E, also known as the “end class”, but it quickly gains traction and gets a lot more intense as time goes on.

The octopus creature in question, Korosensei, is actually a very kind and genuinely good teacher to all his students. The real crux of the series is that it’s sort of a critique on the educational system, the students in the end class are there because they’ve been ostracized from the rest of the campus, far away in the mountains, to be made examples of. Why? Because they’re students that are considered worthless, instead of getting help they’re only pushed back further down in the system and left to struggle within it fruitlessly. They’re given up on, despite being children with so much potential, because they don’t fit a very rigid mold. That’s what Korosensei wants to help them with, and they’re able to grow as people together. As the series progresses you feel such a great sense of unity for the class, they’re like a family, they stick together and it’s very heartwarming. And watching them work as a team of assassins is so fun!

However the series can get heavy at times too, it doesn’t stray from heavier subject matter at all and i found myself incredibly shocked by it a few times, so trigger warning for: Child abuse (on-screen and off), both at the hands of a parent and a teacher and in one case a parent who is also the principal, misgendering of a character, sometimes as a “joke” but other times played dead serious at the hands of his mother, child death- specifically suicide, a successful one as well as 3 assassination attempts that doubled as suicide attempts by the main 3 characters (weird parallel they all got there huh)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Honestly this is a series that is good to go in blind for if you need to tws, it’s a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, but if you don’t want to know more than that you can stop reading here. If you want to know more, it’s a series that starts off very light-hearted and in tune with typical magical girl conventions at first, however by episode 3 it’s made painfully clear that these girls are being led to sign up into something they shouldn’t. It’s heavy, though not incredibly so, but it’s also a lot to explain in a summary. Madoka magica is… It’s Faust with magical girls.

I’ll explain as much as I can without giving too much away. The story begins when Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki encounter a creature who calls itself Kyubey, who says it can grant a wish of theirs and in exchange they have to become magical girls and fight witches. Both the girls are hesitant, but Sayaka wants to wish for her childhood friend’s injuries to be cured so he can play violin again, while Madoka is content as she is and can’t think of a wish. Luckily they have a mentor, a magical girl named Mami Tomoe who helps introduce them to everything. However something is stopping Madoka from becoming a magical girl, a mysterious new student who is also one herself, Homura Akemi, is resolute on keeping Madoka from becoming a magical girl by all means possible, for reasons Madoka doesn’t understand. Things get even more complicated when a rival magical girl shows up, Kyoko Sakura, who becomes Sayaka’s new rival. As things get more heated between those two they discover a terrible secret about the nature of magical girls, and what they truly signed up for.

Spoilers ahead but trigger warning for: Child death, parental death (backstory only), decapitation (off-screen), needles, incredibly surreal imagery inside the witch’s labyrinths that may feel unreal, mind control, suicide, depression and despair expressed by young characters. Also don't bother with Magia Record

The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K.

Alright something lighthearted now, there are a lot of comedy anime I enjoy, a lot of series that have made me laugh, but none has made me bust a gut like this series has, it’s absolutely hilarious. It follows the life of a boy named Saiki Kusuo who has psychic powers. His powers are incredibly overpowered, and he absolutely hates them, in his eyes they cause him nothing but trouble. There’s not much in the way of a plot to describe, because there isn’t any, the series is comprised of 5 minute segments surrounding Saiki and an incredibly vast and colorful cast of characters that are just all completely insane, many serve as parodies as types of anime tropes because the series as a whole is very self aware and doesn’t shy from breaking the fourth wall a lot, but the characters surrounding Saiki are what make his life… Disastrous.

Like I said there’s not really a plot to describe but like FMA people may get confused with this one, there are 3 seasons but one of them is titled “The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K: Reawakened” as is a continuation of the first two with just 6 episodes in it. Also for some reason only the second season isn’t dubbed so if you’re planning on watching it that way you’d have to either stop or switch to subs for season 2

The only major tw I can give here is an ongoing joke about a character being into his sister, he’s treated as disgusting for it of course because he’s a parody of that trope but that doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable, luckily he doesn’t show up much.

Little Witch Academia

Little Witch Academia is a series I personally just adore, it takes place in a world where witches are common and well-known among the people, but the era of witches is over and magic is dying out. However that doesn’t mean passion of magic doesn’t exist, the protagonist is a young girl named Atsuko Kagari, or Akko for short. She’s resolute on being just like her icon, a witch known as Shiny Chariot, as she attends the same magic school: Luna Nova! Unfortunately Akko isn’t exactly a magical prodigy, in fact she can’t even fly a broom, but that’s not gonna stop her, nothing will. Just like Chariot said, believing in yourself is your magic.

Once at school Akko gets into all types of crazy shenanigans with her with her two roommates, Lotte Yanson and Sucy Manbavaran, and occasionally her rival, Diana Cavendish. Akko still struggles a lot in school, in fact her inability with magic is pretty explicitly handled as a metaphor for a learning disability, and though this makes it harder for her she’s still resolute. Though the series is generally episodic, a concrete plot starts to form by the second core. Along with the help of her guidance counselor, Professor Ursula, Akko learns that she needs to unlock 7 “words” to bring magic back to the world, each time she learns a new one it comes with an important lesson to her and ultimately relates back to each of the core themes of the series

The series is pretty lighthearted so the biggest trigger warning I can give is one for bullying, two characters in particular tend to target Akko for not being a good witch and it can really sting to watch. Other than that none come to mind

[metalandmagi]

Summer 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Summer is here, and with it brings another new season of anime! In case you’re feeling lost and want to find some new shows to pass the time, here’s some of the anime I think are worth checking out...because some really good shows tend to fly under the radar. I think there’s some genuinely interesting stuff this season, so hopefully you’ll find something you like too. 

I also have a Winter list and a Spring list and a fall list now!

And here’s my master list for 2020

New Shows!

Given: A *cough* BL *cough* romance anime in which tsundere highschool guitarist Ritsuka Uenoyama is on the verge of losing his passion for music when he stumbles upon the sleepy-eyed Mafuyu Sato who constantly carries a guitar around that he doesn’t know how to play. Drama and musical shenanigans ensue. This was by far my most anticipated show of the season, because I happen to have read a few chapters of this manga and liked it a lot. The only reason I stopped was because I wanted to hear the music in this music oriented story...so naturally the anime makes me very happy. Not only is it sweet and cute with great animation, but it’s also hilarious. Sato is also basically a human incarnation of a lost puppy, and you just help but fall in love with him and the other characters! AND NOW WE HAVE TWO GAY MUSIC SHOWS THIS SEASON! 

Dr. STONE: An action adventure anime that takes place 3,700 years in the future after the world is struck with a mysterious phenomenon that turns the entire human race to stone. Our protagonists: the genius, scientific minded Senku Ishigami and the muscle-y comic relief Taiju Oki, must find a way to rebuild civilization and turn humanity back to normal using the POWER OF SCIENCE! It’s fun, good looking, and way more interesting than I thought it would be. I’m not very attached to the main characters yet, although it’s still early. I’m mainly sticking around for the plot, the comedy, and the answers to the crazy amount of questions I have after watching the first episode!

Fire Force: An action/drama where super powered fire fighters must protect Tokyo from people who are spontaneously combusting while our hero Shinra must find out who started the fire that killed his mother. More than anything, I’d say this show is definitely worth watching for the cinematography and action because almost every second has been high flying dynamic animation that really grips you. It reminds me a lot of Soul Eater, the story and characters have a lot of potential, and you know an anime will be good when the girls have muscles too!

If it’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Can you tell it’s based on a light novel? A slice of life set in a fantasy world where an adventurer named Dale stumbles upon an adorable lost little girl in the woods, who happens to be branded as a criminal. So of course Dale basically adopts her and tries to find out how she came to be with him. It’s basically fantasy School Babysitters without the tragic depth to it (but there’s room for potential). Yes, this is definitely the most wholesome show of the season, but it’s to be expected considering it’s basically Japan’s latest attempt to get people to have more babies. Personally, the most interesting aspect of this show is the fact that Dale and his “daughter” can’t speak the same language. Unfortunately, the light novel ends up pulling a Bunny Drop...so I sincerely hope the anime doesn’t try the creepy romance factor. So for now, if you feel like puking up some rainbows, give this one a try. 

To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts: An action drama where, during a civil war, one side used “forbidden technology” to enhance their soldiers and basically turn them into badass monsters. The only problem: the soldiers who were turned start to lose their humanity and end up killing humans for the fun of it. Now our protagonist must hunt down his fellow soldiers and kill them before it’s too late. Honestly, this show has some pacing issues and can be a bit stilted in terms of its character interactions, but what kept me watching was the last 5 minutes of the first episode. I was so not prepared for the roller coaster that was the first episode’s ending, and now I’m extremely intrigued. Besides it’s made by MAPPA so I would at least give it a couple episodes to see if it’s for you.   

Vinland Saga: The story of a young boy named Thorfinn’s journey to become a great warrior and while the adults deal with going to war. IT’S THE ONE WITH THE VIKINGS!!! It basically feels like a darker, grittier viking version of Moana. I’ve heard literally nothing but praise for this manga for so many years that my hopes skyrocketed as soon as I heard Wit was doing the adaption. And it has definitely lived up to the hype so far! It’s a great action historical drama to fill the void after Dororo. The only problem is no one will watch it because it’s on Amazon Prime.

Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga: A fun brightly colored historical anime about the famous warlord Nobunaga when he was a young teenager. I honestly don’t know what the tone of this anime is going to be from here on out, because it’s going to go from “fun thieving shenanigans with pretty boys” to leading people into battle, but it got me interested. I know putting Nobunaga in an anime isn’t exactly original, but this one seems like a fun ride...and it looks gay as fuck. 

And I have to shout out some that haven’t premiered yet...just in case...

Try Knights: This one doesn’t come out until the end of July, but you bet your ass I’m going to be watching it because it’s an original anime about PRETTY BOYS PLAYING RUGBY! And I have a feeling it’s going to be very... different from the other resident rugby anime All Out. 

Yokai Ningen BEM (Humanoid Monster BEM): Okay, this one’s not out yet either, but the trailer had a really cool vibe to it, so I’m including it anyway. It’s a remake of the 1968 anime in which a group of yokai who look like humans fight crime in the big city. If nothing else, the music is cool, and it’s made by Production I.G, so why not?

*UPDATE* The first episode finally dropped, and holy crap I’m so into this. It’s basically Durarara mixed with Psycho Pass mixed with Bungo Stray Dogs. The first episode has me completely hooked!

Next seasons and continuations!

As always there are some leftovers from the spring season that are continuing into the summer that I highly suggest!

Carole and Tuesday: The musical sci-fi anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe wherein a rich runaway named Tuesday meets a streetwise girl named Carole, and the two decide to start a band together. Now Carole and Tuesday must rise to stardom in a world dominated by android created music. It was by far my favorite new show of the spring, and if you can find a way to watch it (because it’s still not available legally anywhere aside from Japanese Netflix apparently) I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s got the best and most diverse music I’ve seen in an anime in a long time, an interesting setting (apparently it takes place in the Cowboy Bebop universe!?), and very well rounded fun characters. And I'm dying for a soundtrack release with all the songs!!!!

Fruits Basket 2019: Yes, the remake of the classic 2001 anime in which a girl moves in with a family who can turn into animals from the zodiac is getting a full run. And thank God because I just can’t say goodbye to it after only 12 episodes. It is so stunningly beautiful in both animation and story subjects that I don’t know what I would do without it. The characters feel so much more fleshed out, and I feel like I learn a lesson about life each week even though I already know most of what’s going to happen. If you never watched the original because thought you were too “cool” to watch a shoujo anime, give it a chance. Because if you think it’s just a generic love triangle romance show, you couldn’t be more wrong. The reboot is so good at portraying different kinds of love and how the presence of love and family can change lives AND IT’S JUST SO FREAKING GOOD! 

Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba: In case you missed Ufotable’s newest project, this is a shounen anime that follows a young boy named Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko who has been possessed by a demon and their journey to turn Nezuko back to normal while fighting demons along the way. I still feel like this is a pretty basic shounen anime story wise, but I really like the characters, especially the villains. It has some of the coolest fighting/power mechanics I’ve seen in awhile, and the animation is very cool and different!

Ace of Diamond act 2: Our favorite shounen baseball anime is continuing into the summer. And I have very mixed feelings about this season so far. We are getting some fun new characters and some great scenes with the team, but the games are very...choppy and rushed. Apparently this is how it goes down in the manga, and we’re in for some good Sawamura development...but it’s still touch and go for me personally.  

That’s it for now. Most of these are available on Crunchyroll, except Vinland Saga, Carole and Tuesday, and Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga. Since Try Knights and Yokai Ningen BEM aren’t out yet, I don’t know where they will be available legally. 

See you next season!

[cocogum]

My problem with hxh fans’ reasoning for claiming that the 1999 anime is canon.

I do not understand why some people would believe that the 1999 version of hxh was so different from the manga because Togashi told the staff team about what to include for the 1999 adaptation.

Like why would anyone believe that stupid far-fetched claim??

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, killugon fans have claimed that the reason why there are so many gay hints in the 1999 version is because Togashi was the one who told the staff team to change some scenes that happened in his own manga and make them the way that they are now in the 1999 anime.

Why would he do that you ask? Because apparently, Togashi wanted to replace his own manga scenes with gay fanservice filler so that his fans can come to the conclusion that the main four will pretty much all end up together.

So here’s why this theory is bullshit:

Togashi is a perfectionist.

Why in the hell would Togashi, someone who is critically known to be a perfectionist that would literally not hire anyone else to make the story for him even if he has massive back pains, would willingly tell an animation team to go completely off the rails by altering the animated version of the story for him in order to make something different from what he originally worked and planned?????

Not only that, but you expect me to believe that Togashi helped them on the show while fully knowing that half of his own characters would get their personalities and character buildings shrewd in the process if he even altered one thing from his manga?????

This literally doesn’t make any sense.

Togashi said (on multiple occasions mind you) that he enjoys writing/drawing the series BY HIMSELF. HxH became a hobby for him at this point and so, he does it at his own pace.

He would NEVER in any situation, let someone else especially a TEAM change huge chunks of his series and replace it with pointless filler just to give out hints for the fans that their characters would canonically get together in the end.

Why???

Who thought of this “theory”????

I’m guessing that someone was curious enough to note that the 1999 looked nothing like the manga and 2011 one. Because of the huge differences, this person must’ve thought it was a good idea to severely speculate that there must’ve been some “weird” business going back in the day.

Like I said, I don’t know who the hell thought about this, but they were clearly overthinking this whole situation.

If anything, I can actually give you a much better reason as to why the 1999 version is so different from the manga and its reboot: old mangas adapted into anime used to have the same treatment as hxh. A lot of animes back in the day used to completely ignore the original material and just did whatever they wanted with the series they were working on.

A few examples like these are as follows:

Fullmetal Alchemist

Black Butler season 2

Deadman Wonderland

Bleach

Rurouni Kenshin

Sailor Moon (first adaptation)

It was completely normal at the time to take some few aspects of the manga and put it in the anime to make it look more independent and detached from its original source.

HxH was no different. It also suffered from that common practice.

So no, Togashi did not play a role in working or suggesting any ideas for the 1999 hxh anime. The only times he would actually do an effort in noticing hxh works based on his manga is if he’d promote these works or not (like how he promoted the first hxh movie Phantom Rouge by drawing the main antagonist of the movie Omokage in volume 0 as well as Killua, Kurapika and Gon promoting the movie themselves).

He had no part in anything anime related.

He only cares about his manga.

And for the love of god, please just stop listening to these kinds of people.

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Anime That Deserve Another Season

Category One: Anime That Supposedly Deserve Another Season Even though the title says “deserve”,  I will be listing some anime that I do not think deserve another season. They’re just here because people are loud about not getting another season. These are mostly series I just didn’t enjoy watching. 

Category Two: Anime That Can Get Another Season They’re fine without another season as there are no cliffhangers to close and no questions that are really unanswered. These anime will not keep you up at night asking for an answer. 

Category Three: Anime That Need Another Season While it’s not mandatory that these anime have another season to be enjoyed, they’d sure benefit immensely with it. Whether it’s because there’s too many cliffhangers, things end abruptly, or there is just too much good source material that was left untouched, they’ll end up here. Even if I didn’t really enjoy the anime, some anime may end up here anyway.

Bonus Category: Anime Need a Reboot Not all adaptations are created equal, and even if the anime can be enjoyed on its own, sometimes it’d benefit from actually looking at the source material and going, “Oh, it was written that way for a reason!” Some anime just need the Brotherhood treatment. From pacing to anime-exclusive storylines, anime in this category stray so much that you might as well just start from the ground up.

*Please note that if an anime isn’t here, it might be because I haven’t watched it (or I bypassed it in my listing journey)

*Categories Two and One are listed from “Bottom Tier” to “Top Tier” in terms of how much I think it needs a sequel/continuation

*I almost never read the manga. These are mostly speculations/me spoiling the series for myself by reading the last chapter of the manga after finishing the anime.

*The bottom half of category three really rips my soul out when people say that there’s no chance of another season.

Category One: Anime That Supposedly Deserve Another Season

Aoharu x Machinegun

The manga is still on-going, but I wasn’t interested enough to really pay any mind. It would benefit from another season due to it ending on a point that made sense, but you could tell there was way more behind the curtain.

Btooom

Remember when they joked about this gross anime getting another season? Hahaha! There’s a story behind it, apparently. Anyway, it leaves off unfinished, but I don’t need any more of whatever this show was. This show is garbage, questionable garbage at that.

Ao Haru Ride

This anime made me kinda bored. The characters were kind of bland. The world was kind of bland. This anime left as much of an impression on me as white-coloured pencils did in grade school. I’m sure it’d benefit from another season, but whether that’d actually make me like the series is another question.

Code: Breaker

This series was pretty bad. I enjoyed it at the time, but it was pretty bad. I don’t recommend this show to anyone. It technically has a ton of manga material left (I think it was a 100+ chapters?)

Classroom of the Elite

I actually strongly disliked this show and wanted it to be over, but people said it got good. I stuck it out. I didn’t like any of the characters. I couldn’t find a reason to enjoy this show, and maybe it’d benefit by having some more story content to it, but if you can’t make me enjoy any of the cast after 12 episodes, you’re not getting any more of my time.

No Game No Life

Admit it, 90% of the people who want another season of this just want to see more fanservice.

Category Two: Anime That Can Get Another Season

Kyoukai no Rinne

This series is very repetitive. I’m surprised it survived three seasons. I still really liked it, but it is counted as one of Takahashi’s weakest works (not sure why though). I would mind seeing it receiving the rest of its adaptation.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

While it ended well, it probably has a lot more story to tell. This is an earlier isekai, and it’s hard to say whether it’d do better in today’s isekai market. This anime is what Sword Art Online should’ve been. This show takes it slow. Its action isn’t as over-the-top, and while it has fanservice, the show still feels far more real than SAO markets itself to be (but it does it on purpose)

Hinamatsuri

This anime made me laugh too hard for me not to want a continuation. They also had a character they didn’t have time to touch base on.

Runway de Waratte

There’s quite a lot of manga material to go on. I feel like we haven’t seen the characters develop to their max, and the protagonist hasn’t even gotten his full shot yet. This anime is an underdog, no matter how you look at it, it’s a shounen series about runway fashion, but I’m rooting for it!

Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo

I hear the manga goes downhill, and honestly, you could’ve just let it end right where season one ended, and I would’ve gone, “Wow, that was pretty good!” It did come back and “overstay its welcome” according to manga readers, but those final chapters make up for that.

Gakkougurashi

I respect the way that this anime decided to end, but there’s a lot of potential to take it elsewhere. It has a lot of material too. I feel like not a lot of the backstories of even the main cast were revealed.

Category Three: Anime That Need Another Season

Kimi to Boku

I had a hard time determining which category this anime should go under, but I think this category fits it best. The manga does pause sometimes. There are a lot of loose ends romance-wise, but it could’ve easily gone into the previous category.

D-Frag

This is a romance anime that didn’t really get to any of its romance. It hinted, it tried, but it stuck to the comedy route (which I respect). However, there is a lot of potential if this anime ever did want to return.

Hataraku Maou-Sama

This series really needs a season two. It was an isekai before its time, and it has a lot of comedy that made me laugh. There are romance ends that are left up, and the underlying background plot went virtually nowhere. It ended, and it makes the audience go, “That was good and enjoyable”, but it leaves nothing else.

Mob Psycho 100

I’m pretty sure this anime will get another season, but it will take some time. This series does have the popularity, and since it was quite recent, I think it’s just a matter of time. Studio Bones is far too thirsty to leave their man alone. Let’s be real.

Ranma ½

I think what bothers me the most about this one is the fact that they had the right number of episodes to finish the series, but because the manga was still publishing at the time, they had to use a lot of filler which ultimately took away from a lot of the series. The Ranma manga ending had about as closed of an ending that you can have for a series like Ranma. There are some arcs in there that I think would boost the story after a lot of those OVAs left an unsatisfied taste in people’s mouths. I didn’t even bother watching those.

Nisekoi

I’m not sure if I would want an adaptation if it were to happen because I don’t like the ending anyway. There is material there though if they wanted to, and I do think it’s a bit annoying if you focus so heavily on romance and harem then just don’t end it conclusively.

Grand Blue

According to someone I know, the manga gets good. This anime was really funny during some of the parts, so I really wouldn’t mind a continuation.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

This manga actually did end, and I feel like it’s really missing out by not finishing itself. Shoujo manga and other romance manga do rely on having the characters graduate, get together, etc. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun didn’t get that chance, and since the manga has a more conclusive ending, I think the anime should too.

Tsurezure Children

This anime focuses on everything so ends up with little progression in the long run. A lot of this is puppy love, but we never really move beyond that stage with the countless couples. I think this anime would greatly benefit with a continuation because it got so little done than series that focused on one couple. Focusing on multiple couples is part of this series’ charms though.

Yuri on Ice

I personally don’t feel a strong need for a season two, but I’m sure a lot of people would enjoy it because it has a large audience that are attached to these characters. They weren’t at their final stage yet.

Edit: They just announced a continuation called “Yuri!!! on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence”

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun

The manga just hit a really pivotal point at the time that I’m writing this post, but the manga usually publishes monthly leaving it little room for successive seasons. Regardless, I feel that the series has more than enough popularity to carry it, and despite some of the real big corners that were cut during the making of the first season, people are still invested. I actually read the manga and can say that it has enough material for a second season.

Wotakoi

I actually read the manga for this series sometimes, and let me tell you, this series REALLY SHOULD GET a continuation. Sure, it’s sweet that you know who ends up with who, but this series is about “mature romance” (i.e. beyond high school). 12 episodes isn’t enough for this series. There’s so much awesome stuff that’s happened and is happening in the manga. 

Deadman Wonderland

This anime isn’t great by any means. It’s a gore fest. However, a lot of its plot holes and questions could’ve been answered if it went further in its source material. I’m not sure how much it would’ve made it make sense, but this anime is one of the ones here that really suffered from their lack of time to adapt the manga. Without some of the explanations, this series may little sense. I don’t really want another season simply because I didn’t really enjoy this anime, but I think I put it up here just because of how much it would benefit from a continuation. 

Ouran High School Host Club

Legend has it that every April Fool’s Day, someone goes on Twitter and announces season two. As much as we’d want that, Studio Bones is busy doing something to do with Bungou Stray Dogs or My Hero Academia. I already had to debunk a fake Ouran Season Two post for someone on Discord. I didn’t really enjoy the romance in Ouran (stayed for the comedy), so it would probably benefit from a continuation, even if it is a reboot. I mostly put this one here because of how much fans want it. Personally, I’d still be able to rest in peace either way. Regardless, it woudl still benefit immensely if they were to continue what they started.

Kekkaishi

This anime actually left 200+ chapters of manga untouched when it was adapting. I’m not sure of timelines and whether it was because of the manga publishing at the time that the anime was airing. Now that it’s a finished series in terms of manga, it can always get a reboot. It’s definitely worth it since it just finished on one arc.

Akatsuki no Yona

To me, Akatsuki no Yona was okay, but it could’ve been great... if they didn’t end on literally what the entire series was building up to. As a result of that, the anime really feels like a long manga advertisement going, “Wow, you sure are stupid for not reading the manga like the rest of us nerds!” The only reason why this series isn’t even higher on the list is because the other series did a better job cementing itself into a place in my heart. Akatsuki no Yona could’ve done that if they were given enough time, but alas, this series really suffers from a lack of anime adaptation.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

It is such a shame that this anime doesn’t have another season. The OVAs are great, but if this had another season or two, they would be legendary. The voice actors really added to the comedy (the manga is still funny, but it’s didn’t make me laugh as much as the anime). The quirky soundtrack really adds to the atmosphere, and there’s so much development that’s gone down since its first season run. I really, really, really want another season. But this anime can be enjoyed even if it doesn’t.

Gin no Saji

This anime is incredibly enjoyable even if it doesn’t have a third season, but with the manga tying up all the loose ends with Hiromu Arakawa’s incredible storytelling, I find it really disappointing that they couldn’t get another season for this. Its characters were so likeable. I watched this anime with my mom who keeps nattering about a season three. If only such a thing were to exist.

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

As with a lot of shounen anime, this ended on one arc. However, this still had well over 100+ chapters that could’ve been adapted in series to come. The seiyuu events were hilarious, and this anime really hit its stride, but it left us all hanging. Now that the manga’s finished, I feel that it would be really great if we were to get another season. There were some arcs that I read that were so good. This was the first anime I watched, and it always holds a special place in my soul. I do hear the manga goes downhill majorly towards the end, but I’m sure that even that stuff would still be watched by people like me (heck, people waited for Black Clover to get good, come on!)

This also includes the Sinbad spinoff that felt more like a trailer rather than a full series. It wasn’t given nearly enough time.

Noragami

Noragami is extremely popular, and I think one of the reasons that it didn’t get the rest adapted is because the manga went on hiatus for about a year. However, I feel that it still had more than enough material to make some more way. Studio Bones is still busy with Bungou Stray Dogs and My Hero Academia, but Noragami would benefit by cleaning up some of the cliffhangers left behind. The future arcs are also really good, so the source material at least maintains some quality.

SKET Dance

I finished this series (both anime and manga) a couple of days ago, and I want to write a post about it. It was so good. It made me read 100 chapters in two days or something. But if this were to get adapted, this would give the series a MAJOR CHANCE to fix up the ending. Unfortunately, the manga ending disappointed a lot of people (including me), so being able to maybe just give the people what they want (I don’t care if it’s cheesy). They left a good chunk of great, hilarious, and touching arcs that would be able to keep toe-to-toe with the fantastic series they’ve done up to this point. I think it might’ve stopped due to the anime catching up, but come on, I just want this anime to get equal treatment to Gintama!!! It gets compared so often anyway!!! Series like these make me think, “If I was Jeff Bezos, I would just throw my money into making another season of this.” The seiyuu of this anime made the lines so funny too. I will be thinking and talking about this series for a while. 

Anime that Deserve a Reboot

Soul Eater

They really just dropped the source material in the last half. 

No. 6

The pacing kind of sucked in comparison to other materials, apparently.

Kids on the Slope

The pacing for this also really sucked and didn’t give a conclusive ending either way.

[dolores-lovesfruits]

There is something that has been itching me ever since I entered the fb fandom. It’s been a long time debate ever since the manga and the 2001 anime up till now and Idk, I feel like this topic is overlooked by many, which is kyo vs. yuki/ more like pitting them against each other on who’s better. 

Beware: This is a super long post.

Look, I may be a Momiji stan at heart but I can’t deny that these dudes are awesome. Do note that I am not speaking against those who have their own biases, I’m referring to the people who keep comparing these two in a really negative way to the extent of antagonizing the other party or worse; comparing who’s got more trauma. I saw the latter part on that one facebook post and I was all “wtf?!” 

Now we all know Yuki was criticized for his so-called “surface” character especially back in the 2001 anime where they really botched their chances of developing Yuki’s storyline with his brother, backstory, and president arc; and since the first half of the manga centered on the true form arc, a lot of Kyo stans emerged and at times, shoved yuki in the mud as if he’s not that important to the whole series (which infuriated me and I’m pointing my finger at the 2001 anime for this). The reboot is finally shining Yuki and the fandom, new viewers/old fans begin to love this Yuki more than the old version because this is the Yuki that was portrayed in the manga that we all love. It also helps that there are a lot who posted their metas about him and people have matured enough to understand his situation.

Now moving on to Kyo. Since the second half of season 2 will finally focus on the storyline that Yuki didn’t get during the 2001 anime, this is the part where I’m very intrigued of. Gathering some opinions from manga readers, this is the arc wherein there might be an emergence of Kyo hate opinions. I predicted this for a number of reasons and connected it to what season 2 will show, like Yuki’s backstory wherein we found out that Yuki actually wanted to befriend Kyo; using yuki as a scapegoat; the cinderella arc where Kyo lashes out on Yuki again. Not to mention, Kyo doesn’t really appear that much or get that much spotlight during the second half (except Kagura’s confession and Kyoko’s backstory albeit it’s more focused on kyoko’s) because his spotlight and development will come at season 3.

This is something that really pissed me off. The Yuki hate was based on his treatment towards Kyo and acting like he’s better than him (ex: is when a lot complained during the ore-sama dialogue that he’s acting all superior to Kyo or some shit). If anything, Yuki has the right to call out on Kyo which I’ll explain below. The Kyo hate on the other hand was based on his treatment to Yuki back when they’re younger till now (it rages me when there are fans who blamed Kyo for ALL of Yuki’s trauma. He’s partly at fault, for sure but the fact that they are really blaming ALL this on Kyo was absurd. blame akito or the curse dammit). 

Kyo’s actions are unjustifiable, sure, especially when he’s channeling his hatred to someone he doesn’t fully know but it’s one of his main conflicts in this series. Even as a kid, he still technically started that feud between their relationship even when Yuki just wanted to be friends w/ him but because of the rat/cat hierarchy implanted on him since he was born, it was natural for him to lash out on Yuki, which, resulted on damaging Yuki’s trauma more. It didn’t help that Yuki was used as his scapegoat because not only projecting your hatred also cause to damage to the other person which come of as insensitive, but it also developed Kyo’s unhealthy way of coping esp since he explicitly said that he used Yuki because he wouldn’t be able to take it any longer (it really was the only thing keeping him together which was a super fucked up situation). It’s a lose-lose battle on him

I’m not going to pretend that Yuki is an angel as well. He, too have struggled immensely and his envious thoughts and jealously towards Kyo sprouted his hatred towards him which in any case, is not Kyo’s fault. His internal struggles of not being able to be himself was not entirely Kyo’s responsibility, which developed an unhealthy coping mechanism wherein he puts up this princely facade and also lashes on/ beats Kyo due to his jealousy. I also think a lot are forgetting that while Kyo used him as a scapegoat, deep inside, Yuki looked down on Kyo as well. Based on what Shigure told Tohru that the cat is needed for them to make themselves feel a little better. Which was amplified during Momiji’s grown up chapter (the scene where they are making curry) the zodiacs finally acknowledged the effect of being in the cat’s unfortunate position.

I cannot fully blame Yuki for looking down on Kyo and used his jealousy to beat him up because he reminds him of anything he’s not. At the same time, I cannot fully blame Kyo for lashing out on him when they were kids and used the rat to have a purpose of his hatred. Their feelings manifested from the curse, it just so happened that these two were driven with different coping mechanisms.

In addition, I really don’t understand the point of antagonizing/villanizing person a to person b’s backstory and vice versa when it’s clearly not the case. A lot are forgetting that it’s the bond/curse and akito that made them this way. You can’t fully blame the other party because both of them are victims of terrifying positions (Yuki’s closest to god so he really suffered from akito’s abuse while Kyo’s position as the cat made him mocked and looked down by the sohmas and eventually imprisoned for life for something he was born with). It’s also interesting despite their different childhood experiences, both experienced some kind of isolation (yuki was isolated from the other zodiacs and kept in the dark room while kyo was an outcast and not included in any event because the mere presence as a cat is something they need for the banquet to keep going).

This is the reason why my blood was boiling when they get compared at who’s got the worst trauma or some shit from the two. It’s downgrading the other’s problems and experiences and fucking petty. BOTH, I repeat, both have been traumatized and suffered a lot and it defeats the purpose on portraying different traumas and their journey of fighting their demons. In other words, the two do not deserve to be compared. It’s not a battle between traumas.

If they want to blame something, blame the fucking curse (and Akito). It clearly destroyed the cursed Sohma’s mental health. No need to pit these two into an experience that haunted them both.

I’m saying this because while I was glad and relieved that the yuki hate is slowly dissolving, I noticed that this season might involve some Kyo hate and I just have to fucking slap my desk and be like “Not this again!”

Again, everyone has an opinion on certain characters but there are some that are just “too much”. That feeling overshadows the character’s good points/flaws. Kyo and Yuki are not painted to be the bad guys. They are characters with flaws and conflict going on. Without these flaws, the story wouldn’t drive further. I actually prefer the fandom right now than before because the majority of the main Kyo and main Yuki stans both love and respect the other. I hope it will continue to be like that and just stop with the Kyo and Yuki hate.

[sun-moon88]

Hi!! I wanted to be creative today and I decided to list my top 10 favorite anime and why! From 10-4, they're not really in particular order, but my top 3 are. Hope y'all enjoy!

10. Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni

I actually watched this recently. Higurashi was really really good. I was so nervous starting it because of all of the clips I had seen. I thought it was going to be extremely scary. But to my surprise, it wasn't. It was disturbing for sure, not it wasn't really that scary. The plot for this anime is so COMPLICATED. I had to rewatch some scenes because I got lost. But I really liked the lore of Higurashi, it drew me in. I was hooked from the first episode.

9. My Hero Academia

I like MHA quite a bit. I'm not caught up to the manga, but I've watched the anime. It's really good. But, here's my problem with MHA and the reason why it's lower on my list: the fandom. The fandom is extremely toxic. And I don't like being associated with it. The show is so good, but people get really angry about it quickly. So it's not high on my list, but enough for it to get on my top 10.

8. Yu-Gi-Oh/GX/5Ds

THIS IS ALL ABOUT CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA! I love YGO because I watched it when I was a kid. It's so cheesy and cringy, but I can't stop watching it. I rewatch it periodically, like most of the childhood animes I watched.

7. Hunter x Hunter (both 1999 & 2011)

HxH is a solid show, with really compelling characters and backstories. I enjoyed watching it, despite how boring the Chimera Ant arc is (and anyone who says it's not and it's the best arc, you are WRONG and I will throw hands. The best arc is Heaven's Arena and the Phantom Troupe arc). Both the original (1999) and the reboot (2011) are both really cool and have a very cute charm to them.

6. Noragami

Noragami is a very interesting anime. The three main characters are super cute and funny. I really hope Noragami gets a third season soon. The animation is really smooth! Despite how horrible Yukine is in most of the first season, he grows to be my favorite character. I also think Yato's backstory is really interesting and I want to know what happens. (Yes, I know I should read the manga, but it's difficult to find.)

5. Your Lie in April

Your Lie in April holds a special place in my heart. It helped me through a really rough time, and it pulled me in because of the classical music. I play piano too, so I related to Kousei on a personal level. I lost my drive to play, but watching this anime helped me find that again.

4. RWBY

I have a love/hate relationship with RWBY. It's so intriguing and unique, but it was sometimes painful to watch. Seasons 4 and 5 are not good. But they show is slowly picking back up in quality, and season 8 was amazing. I love the weapon designs and outfits, I think they're so cosplay-able. I highly recommend.

3. Demon Slayer

I really liked Demon Slayer and it rocketed up this list FAST when I watched it the first time. I just think it's so charming. I love Tanjiro so much, he's such a cutie!

I think the violence and comedy is well balanced. I think the characters have growth that match the pacing. And I genuinely fell in love with the animation. Ufotable did an amazing job.

2. Haikyuu!!

I had put off watching Haikyuu for YEARS. And I 100000000% regret it. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS ARE ADORABLE!!! Hinata is best boi.

The drama is intense. It makes me feel for all the characters when something sad happens. I just, can't describe how much I love Haikyuu.

1. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

FMAB is my number 1 favorite anime. I've watched this show more than 6 times. It's just so beautiful.

FMAB helped me when I was in a really hard place. I watched it in 7th grade when I was depressed. Getting immersed into the lore helped me so much to escape reality, even if it was for a little bit.

My favorite character is Edward. I related to him on a personal level when I saw his struggles. His character development was written so beautifully.

Honorable Mentions: Ouran High School Host Club, Sakamoto Desu-Ga?, Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars!), Mob Psycho 100, Blue Exorcist, Nagi no Asu Kara, Erased, InuYasha, Fruits Basket, and Free!

Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed reading this post! If y'all want a full in depth analysis about an anime, let me know!! I would love to do that, I think it was be so much fun.

[darksaiyangoku]

DarkSaiyan and OddNub’s YuGiOh Reboot

Back in February, my buddy @oddnub and I were talking about how we would reboot the YuGiOh anime, and we decided to follow in the footsteps of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and pitch a more faithful adaptation of the YuGiOh manga:

Now don’t get me wrong, the anime back in the 2000’s definitely had a big impact and, despite my hate for 4Kids, I do have fond memories of it. However, it’s such a shame that a lot of fans have overlooked such a great manga. What makes YuGiOh stand out from other Shonen titles is the fact that despite not being very action heavy, it’s still an engaging read and a battle of brains can be just as compelling as a battle with fists, maybe even more so.

Anime Studios

Some of you are probably wondering what would this new adaptation might look like and I have three main studios in mind for this:

A-1 Pictures

A-1 Pictures are my go to studio for this project. They have a knack for making good fantasy anime, such as Fairy Tail and Seven Deadly Sins, and using animators from those teams can really bring the battles to life in new and epic ways!

Not only that, but A-1 are also the studio responsible for producing Your Lie in April, Anthem of the Heart and the legendary Anohana. All of these are very emotional and hard-hitting stories and can carry over to the heavier moments adapted from the original manga, showing the audiences that this is going to be much different than what they’re used to.

OLM. Inc

While it would be great to have a more serious look at the story, let’s be honest with ourselves; there’s gonna be a huge demand for new merchandise. Known for also producing the Pokemon anime, OLM Inc seem like the perfect studio and can really capture a nostalgic “Saturday Morning Cartoon” vibe the original had.

Madhouse

Ah, Madhouse. One of the most popular studios among anime fans today. They would be a great studio to handle the YuGiOh reboot. Why? Simple.... horror. Madhouse is no stranger to horror anime, mainly thanks to their sleeper hit of 2014; Parasyte. Not only that, but they’ve also had some solid action series too such as 2011’s Hunter x Hunter and One-Punch Man. If they can combine that horror and hard hitting action, we could be in for a really good time!

Seasons

Keeping things simple, New YuGiOh would be divided into 7 seasons, each one being 24-25 episodes. The main story arcs are as follows:

School/Death-T Arc

School/Monster World Arc

Duelist Kingdom Arc

Battle City Arc

Tournament Finals Arc

King’s Memories

Ceremonial Battle Arc

Cast

Okay, I know that this is gonna sound controversial, but I wouldn’t have Dan Green or Eric Stuart return as either Yugi or Kaiba respectively. Before any of you jump at me, I have a reason. Mainly because I want this reboot to go in a new direction, which is being a more faithful adaptation of the original manga. As such, I don’t want any ties to 4kids being in this show. I want this to be fresh and exciting not just for newcomers but for older fans too.

Dan and Eric are the iconic voice actors for Yugi and Kaiba, I know that. But they shouldn’t be the only ones to voice the characters. Batman has had multiple voices, I think Yugi and Kaiba can have them too.

Anyway, me and Odd had a pretty cool idea where characters with a Yami form would have their voices be completely different, emphasising that there are two separate people inhabiting one body. The voice actors I had in mind are as follows:

Yugi Mutou/Yami Yugi- Colleen Clinkbeard/Bryce Papenbrook

Anzu Mazaki- Cherami Leigh

Jonouchi “Joey” Katsuya- Benjamin Diskin

Hiroto Honda- Kyle McCarley

Sugoroku Mutou- David Lodge

Setō Kaiba- Johnny Yong Bosch

Mokuba Kaiba- Alexis Tipton

Ryuji Otogi- Todd Haberkorn

Mai Kujaku- Erica Lindbeck

Dinosaur Ryuzaki- Newton Pittman

Insector Haga- Robbie Daymond

Bandit Keith Howard- Kyle Hebert

Para Meikyu- Lex Lang

Dox Meikyu- Talesin Jaffe

Maximilion J. Pegasus- Kaiji Tang

Ryo Bakura/Yami Bakura- Josh Keaton/Clancy Brown

Marik Ishtar/Yami Marik- Matthew Mercer/Mark Hamill

Shadi- Todd Haberkorn

Thief King Bakura/Zorc- Ray Chase

Music

There’s only one choice; Yuki Kajiura. I mean, she composed the music for Ufotable’s Fate!!!! What more could you ask for?

And that’s the pitch for our potential YuGiOh reboot. Even though it’s highly unlikely that this would all happen, it was still a fun thought to have. One day, I’m sure we’ll see another YuGiOh series that does adapt the manga more faithfully. Until then, we still have the manga with us right now. Seriously if you haven’t read it yet, do it!

Special thanks to @oddnub for helping me with this. Go check him out, he does some fun, cute artwork as well as some good stories. 👍