#the tale of outcasts

[newtypezaku]

[animangapolls]

[cherry-valentine]

Winter 2023 Anime Season

Here’s what I’m watching:

Buddy Daddies is easily my favorite new show this season. Following a pair of skilled but unlucky hitmen (Kazuki and Rei) who end up taking in and attempting to raise a little girl they just orphaned (Miri), the show is primarily a comedy. The humor mostly comes from watching two people who are woefully ill equipped to deal with a child having to work through the day to day challenges of caring for a little girl, from finding a good daycare to figuring out how to dress her. These mundane objectives are made hilarious through the lens of these guys being literal assassins. They go from shootouts to making dinner for their daughter. The show also sneaks in some truly heartwarming moments, as well as truly traumatic ones. Both Kazuki and Rei have tragic backgrounds that explain why they can’t just abandon Miri. The relationship between the two men is fun and interesting. While a lot of viewers are hoping for a romance between them, I just don’t see it happening. So far I’ve yet to see a single hint that the story will go that direction. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see it, but I’m afraid there’s going to be a lot of disappointed fans at the end of the season. Other than that, the show has decent animation and excellent character designs (Just look at Rei when he’s in assassin mode. Just. Look. At. Him.), as well as fun peppy music. The series overall is just super watchable. There’s not a moment in any episode that I’m not entertained. Highly recommended.

The Tale of Outcasts follows a young orphan girl named Wisteria who can see a powerful demon named Marbas, a rare ability among humans. Marbas is immortal, very old, and very bored, so he decides to take Wisteria along with him to travel around the country, meeting other demons along the way as well as avoiding powerful demon hunters sent by the church to destroy him, one of them being Wisteria’s long lost older brother Snow. This show is a bit more light hearted and mild than I expected at first. It does have serious or darker moments, but overall the stakes don’t feel incredibly high at any given time. The charm of this story centers on the relationship between Wisteria and Marbas. Both care very much for each other, and thankfully (so far) the age difference prevents it from becoming a romance. If anything, Marbas takes an almost fatherly role with Wisteria, even if he sometimes forgets how fragile humans are and unintentionally puts Wisteria in danger. It’s a soft, sweet relationship that carries the series on its back. The animation is fine, nothing special, and the design work is pretty good. In particular, the demons all have cool designs. I’m not crazy about the music but that’s a small quibble. Recommended.

High Card is an energetic action series set in a fictional modern kingdom where 52 special playing cards give people super powers. These cards were accidentally (?) scattered across the kingdom, one of which lands in the possession of a young thief named Finn. After getting drawn into a battle for possession of another card between rival groups seeking to collect them, Finn is recruited to join High Card, an organization trying to gather all the cards for the king. This is a very colorful, vibrant series with a fun setting, exciting battles, and excellent visuals. The characters are cool, especially Wendy, a somewhat shy and mousy young woman who turns into a batshit crazy, unstoppable killing machine when she uses her card, and Chris, the flippant ladies’ man who is rendered immortal by his card’s ability (and there’s obviously more to him than meets the eye). The animation is slick. The music is, in my opinion, the best of the season (both the opening and ending themes are absolute bangers). Honestly, if not for Buddy Daddies, this would have easily been my favorite new show of the season. The show has a generally light hearted vibe but they’ve thrown at least one episode at us to prove how serious and dark the story can get. Highly recommended.

Bungou Stray Dogs has a new season (I think it’s season four?) and like with a previous season, it opened with a mini arc that’s entirely comprised of a flashback. This is something not every show can get away with, but Bungou Stray Dogs pulls it off. This flashback deals with the creation of the Armed Detective Agency, a group of “gifted” (people with special powers) agents who work with the government to neutralize threats, most often involving other “gifted” folks. When the season’s actual plot kicks in following the flashback, it’s about the Agency being framed for horrific crimes and being pursued by powerful government-sponsored hunters. The strength of this series has always been its ability to balance its genuinely funny humor with the darker, more violent aspects of its plots. It does both things so well, and manages to overlap them without one aspect distracting too much from the other (something a lot of stories, anime or otherwise, struggle to do). This season might just be the darkest yet, with each new nightmarish development making the situation more and more bleak for the Detective Agency. The animation remains polished and the design work attractive and interesting. If you watched previous seasons, you’re definitely already watching this. If you haven’t, this is a great time to catch up.

Revenger follows a group or mercenaries who take jobs killing targets as revenge for people who can’t afford to hire hitmen, charging only a single coin that has been bitten into, to display the rage of the person who was wronged. A skilled but stoic samurai named Raizo joins them after they get involved in a plot by his lord that tricked him into killing his fiancé’s father. While they’re definitely a group of killers, there’s a lot of moral variety among the group, with some seeming to enjoy the kills while others simply want to see the guilty punished. It’s an interesting mix of personalities. There’s an overarching plot about a giant stash of opium hidden somewhere in the city and corrupt government officials, but the show is best when focusing on stand alone stories of random people needing revenge. The animation is decent and the character designs are varied and attractive, particularly the leader of the group Yuen. The backgrounds are especially nice, with lovely colors and lighting. The music is quite good too. It’s not my favorite show this season, but it has a solid spot on my watch list.

Carry Over Shows From Previous Seasons:

Boku no Hero Academia

Blue Lock

Yowamushi Pedal

To Your Eternity

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Buddy Daddies

Best Opening Theme: High Card

Best Ending Theme: Buddy Daddies

Best New Male Character: Rei (Buddy Daddies)

Best New Female Character: Wendy (High Card)

[nenadear94]

[faline-cat444]

This isn't everything

[anime-of-the-day]

Anime of the Day: The Tale of Outcasts

Alt title: Nokemono-tachi no Yoru

Released: 2023

Wisteria lives in the British Empire. She is an orphan girl who can see demons. However, Marbas, a lonely immortal demon, isn’t really interested in contracts like a normal demon is. He just kinda mopes about. That is till Wisteria appears. Now the pair frolics around the Empire while trying to, poorly, avoid hunters.

[stacotto]

God, what is it about red hair x white hair pairs that sets the shipping part of my brain into overdrive? Like, I would commit horrible atrocities to get content of:

Suletta/Miorine

Reiji/Aila

Shirayuki/Zen

Marbas/Wisteria

Chise/Elias (ok I guess he kinda barely counts but all of his non-Simon-based disguises feature white hair and he's normally just a skull so I'm counting it)

It's just...so unexplainably satisfying. Probably doesn't help that red (like red red, not ginger red) and white are some of my favorite fantastic hair colors.

[animescreencolle]

[newtypezaku]

You know we leave hunting to the women!

[pengumi12]

Since The Tale of Outcasts has Watson and Sherlock I decided it would be fun to make a Mycroft to go with them lol

I took inspiration from ACD canon, Moriarty the Patriot, BBC Sherlock, and Sherlock: Case of Evil while putting my own twist on him.

A "tall and portly" man with brown slicked back hair and a mustache. His blue-grey eyes have a "far away introspective look", seemingly glazed over yet piercing at the same time. Often sleeps in a chair so gives the impression of an insomniac. Nerve damage of the sciatic nerve due to a lifestyle of prolonged sitting among other things has led to him walking with a limp and using a cane in recent years.

Sciatica causes pain along the whole nerve pathway (down your leg) which varies from aches, sharp burning, or even a jolt/electric shock feel. It can also go numb (and you should really see a doctor if that happens) and grow weak so you can't support your weight on it and stuff. The idea of giving Mycroft a disability comes from Sherlock: Case of Evil and the idea of giving him a cane come from Watson not having one in Nokemono and me getting salty about it XD

Other things about Mycroft:

- He's not on speaking terms with Sherlock but if they need to contact each other they can

- Cares even less about demons and the supernatural "occult" than Sherlock does

- Refuses to see a doctor cause he's kinda lazy and doesn't want professional confirmation on what he already knows about his questionable health

- is the middle child (has an older brother [Sherrinford] who lives out in the country)

[minsarasarahair]

Nokemono-tachi no yoru (The Tale of Outcasts) Genres: Action, Drama, Shounen, Supernatural, Historical Fantasy

Its already aired in the past but I just found it now by algorithm. Why is this overlooked? I think you will like this if you like Beauty and the Beast, Mahoutsukai no Yome (The Ancient Magus Bride) or Niehime to Kemono no Ou (Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts). The beast has beast and human form as well. It seem heroine has a brother though? Its also not romance? So they just have deeply platonic relationship? Interesting...

[nenadear94]

[xuniqo]

"Humans are fragile. Their lives are less than a fraction of ours. But much like the way my perspective on the world has changed since meeting you, these encounters serve a purpose, even if only for a fleeting moment. As long as it results in something, then it had meaning. It wasn't for nothing."

[ridley-was-a-cat]

What I Watched This Week – 6/4-6/10

Dear Brother Ep.1-20 - I've wanted to watch this classic shoujo yuri for a long time, but the only place it was streaming was Retro Crush and their video player didn't marathon, and I was just not going to press play and unmute for 39 episodes. Now that their video player works like everyone else's, I can watch it, and I'm mostly enjoying it. I say mostly because I'm generally not a fan of drama series centered on teenagers being cruel to each other, and this is a series set in what appears to be the training ground for villainesses. You've got your yandere girls, your cigarette-smoking delinquent girls, your "don't you know who my father is?" girls, and your straight up sociopath puppet master girls all making life difficult for our main character, a girl who has no idea how to mind her own business and protect her peace. I'm a little tired with the constant selfish and destructive behavior, but the connections forming between the characters are complicated and genuine enough that I want to see how it all plays out. 7/10

The Tale of Outcasts - I watched the premiere of this last season, but it didn't thrill me enough to make me squeeze it into my crowded seasonal schedule, so I set it aside to marathon later. This fantasy anime follows a young orphan girl living in Victorian London, the powerful demon she befriends in the attic she's living in, and their journey after she makes a pact with him to escape her situation. Everything about this was just fine. The plot was coherent, the animation was competent, the voice actors tried their best, and it was a fine way to pass the time. I just won't ever think about this anime again, I don't think. 6/10

Squid Girl S1&2 + OVA - This shounen comedy about a squid girl who comes to a Japanese beach restaurant to spearhead an invasion to punish humans for polluting the ocean was way funnier and better written than I thought it was going to be. The aforementioned squid girl was an entirely charming mix of groundless confidence, shameless selfishness, staggering incompetence, and childlike glee. It was like watching my nine-year-old niece try to conquer the world, but with a full set of tentacles and the ability to barf up squid ink. The characters around her were equally amusing and likeable, from the deceptively powerful older sister who runs the restaurant, to the gaggle of elementary school boys who participate in her plans, to the group of enthusiastic but borderline incompetent extraterrestrial researchers from MIT, and everyone played off each other well in the seven-minute skits that made up the episodes. If it didn't have my biggest pet peeve in the shape of the overly attached female character constantly throwing herself at Squid Girl and trying to manipulate her into romantic situations, this would be in my top tier of anime comedies. 7/10

[tuckedinbugw]