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secretpeachtea · 4 years ago

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“hand over your heart”

Scenario: Comparing hand sizes with the kings of teasing ‘cause you’ve got much smaller hands that fit real nicely in their much larger hands. You’re basically having the opportunity to hold each of their hands and interlock your fingers for a sweet moment. I don’t make the rules. (individual scenarios)

Genre: F L U F F

Pairing: (Y/N) x Kuroo / (Y/N) x Hawks / (Y/N) x Gojou

A/N: This is dedicated to both the voice actor Nakamura Yuichi and my best friend! My friend absolutely adores this VA and I wanted to gift her a little something with a classic romance cliché and whatnot with some of her favorite anime characters. I’m sure some of these men if not all of them have a special place in your heart too. I hope everyone else is able to feel something like my friend did hehe

Kuroo

“So, the middle blocker-”

“Kuroo, I know what a middle blocker does.” You wave one of your hands at the tall volleyball player walking next to you while your other hand cradles a matcha mochi. “In fact, I know every volleyball position! I’ve been to some of your games, and you even made me watch that volleyball anime with you a couple years ago!”

You and the Nekoma captain are walking home after having a little group outing with the rest of the volleyball team. Today was their day off from practice, so you all decided to stop by a mochi ice cream shop after school. Kuroo was telling you about a practice game he had with Fukurodani’s volleyball team the other day. You don’t mind listening to him talk about volleyball at all, but it does get a bit repetitive when he forgets that he’s told you just about everything he knows about the sport.

“Right. Sorry, I guess I just got a bit excited to talk to you about it.” Kuroo rubs his neck sheepishly. He stuffs the rest of his own strawberry mochi into his mouth and proceeds to pout quietly.

The silence lasts for about a minute or two before you start fidgeting with your hands. It’s almost never silent when the two of you are together since you always have something to talk about with each other. You start to feel bad for losing your patience and let out an audible sigh. “Look. Sorry...I…”

Kuroo blatantly ignores your gaze and keeps his eyes forward, his bangs covering his expression. You try getting his attention once again. “I know a lot about volleyball, but I guess… I haven’t actually played before.”

You could’ve sworn that you saw Kuroo’s ear twitch from the corner of your eye, but choose to stay focused on what you want to say next. “We could go to the gym tomorrow and… maybe you could teach me?”

Now that definitely got the male’s attention. Kuroo’s eyes light up at the prospect of being able to play with you and teach you how to play the sport that he loves. He takes a large step in front of you and you have to hold out your arms so that you don’t bump into him. Your hands make contact with the male’s chest and you would be lying if you said you didn’t like how toned it was.

“I thought you’d never ask, (Y/N)!” Kuroo exclaims. “Let’s go right now!”

You blink twice before bewilderment casts over your expression. “Wait! Right now?!”

“Yeah! It’s too late to go to the gym, but we won’t really need anything else other than a volleyball!” At this point, Kuroo is almost hopping in place with excitement. Before you could properly react, he clasps one of your hands in his and starts running along the sidewalk.

“But, today’s your day off!” You try to find a way to slow down, but your much shorter legs are no match for his long limbs. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

He just laughs.

“Kuroo!!”

The two of you stop by Kuroo’s house to pick up a volleyball and he finally tells you that he’s planning on having the two of you practice at a nearby park. Once you guys arrive, you both put down your belongings on a nearby bench and Kuroo immediately ushers you to start stretching.

“I don’t wanna overwhelm you with serving and blocking, so let’s just practice going over some basics.” Kuroo demonstrates how to do overhead tosses and receives and you try your best to follow his movements.

When you try to stand in a receiving position, something must’ve been off because there’s a slight frown on Kuroo’s face. You watch as he walks past you and positions himself directly behind you. Without hesitation, both of Kuroo’s arms slide on top of yours and move your arms to the correct form for receiving. Your mind wanders back to Kuroo’s toned chest which is basically resting against your backside. It takes everything in you to push aside how intimate the position was since it seemed like Kuroo was purely focused on teaching.

“You have to make sure your forearms are facing this direction or you won’t have good control of the ball.” Kuroo’s head is positioned right next to your ear and you involuntarily shiver at the feeling of his breath so close to you. You’re a little disappointed when he lets go of you and stands up straight again. Suddenly, your back misses the warmth.

Kuroo steps away from you and grabs the volleyball from the bench. “Alright! I think you’re ready to practice with the ball!”

The two of you pass the ball back and forth with overhand tosses for a bit and you’re pretty satisfied with your decent passes. Kuroo then gestures to try receiving the ball with your forearms, but then the passes start to become more unstable. At one point, you receive the ball so poorly that it flies over to an area that’s impossible for him to receive, landing on the ground after bouncing several times.

“Sorry about that!” You apologize.

Kuroo just jogs over to the volleyball to retrieve it. “No worries, (Y/N). You can’t become a pro overnight!”

The male picks up the ball with one hand and your eyes widen substantially. “How the hell are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” Kuroo stares at you with a confused expression as he makes his way back to where you’re standing.

You point at the volleyball in his arms adamantly. “You just picked up the ball with one hand!”

“Oh, it’s not that hard.” Kuroo holds out the ball so that it’s between the two of you. “Here, you try.”

For the next couple seconds, you try every method to pick up the volleyball with just one of your hands. You ultimately fail at every attempt and Kuroo begins to laugh at you in amusement. “Aw, how cute! Your hands are too small.”

You let out a little noise of annoyance. “Well, sorry if my fingers aren’t as freakishly long as yours, Kuroo. I’m quite happy with my hands the way they are, thank you very much!”

“Come on~ My fingers aren’t that long.” He then gently takes a hold of your wrist and places his hand against your own. Despite his words, your hands were significantly smaller than his. Kuroo’s hands practically engulfed your own. “They’re just long compared to your adorable fingers.”

In the midst of his teasing, Kuroo starts playing around with your fingers. You didn’t expect this at all, so you’re just left flustered at his ministrations. “A-are you trying to show off?”

The tall male lets out a quiet hum and finally interlocks his hand with yours. “Would you believe me if I told you I just wanted to hold your hand?”

Your cheeks are now fully tinted with a bright red blush. You’re surprised you could even let out a coherent sentence with the amount of blood rushing to your head. “I mean...it’s not like you have to ask to do that or anything…”

Kuroo gazes at your face for a moment in surprise, but a grin makes its way onto his lips after a couple seconds. “Oh? Then, does that mean I don’t have to ask to do this?”

He pulls your interlocked hands towards himself so that your whole body lurks forward. You stumble into his chest with a small thud and grab onto his shirt to keep yourself stable. He lays his other hand on your waist and successfully traps you in a tender hug. At first, you feel like your heart is about to burst from how fast it was beating. However, there was something so comforting and gentle about the hug that made you relax and feel completely at ease. You two stay like that silently for a bit as the evening sun sets beside you both.

Kuroo is the first to notice how late it’s gotten and decides that it would be a good time to walk you home. He begins to pull away when you suddenly tighten your grip on his shirt, your hands tugging at the hem.

“Can...can we stay like this for a bit longer?” You feel a bit embarrassed at your request, so you don’t look up at him and keep your head against his chest.

Kuroo looks down at you and smiles softly. Your hands are still interlocked and he moves his other arm so that it is now wrapped around you to pull you even closer. “Only if we can do this more often.”

A light breeze passes by, but instead of feeling the chilly air, all you feel is the warmth from both the sweet embrace and the little firecrackers igniting your heart.

Hawks

Your vision is blinded by a myriad of red feathers as Hawks lands beside you on the sidewalk outside of his agency building. You both greet each other with matching grins and it’s almost like the sun was shining brighter on this particular day.

The two of you often partner up when going on patrol since your respective agencies are situated in the same city. After bumping into each other on multiple occasions, you eventually became good friends and have found solace in patrolling together on slow days.

“Ever thought of walking out the front entrance like a normal person?” You ask him playfully.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Hawks just smirks as he retracts his wings. You shake your head with a small smile and make your way towards the male.

You’re a little surprised when you notice that Hawks was not wearing his usual black gloves with his hero costume. “What happened to your gloves?”

“The last villain I fought did quite a number on them and when I ordered new ones, the support company said it was gonna take about a week or so until they can send them to me because they’re a little behind on orders,” Hawks explains. You nod your head in understanding as the two of you start walking while keeping an eye out on your surroundings. Although, you’re internally celebrating about this new information.

During your patrols with Hawks, there have been a couple times when he’s left you behind to take on villains or rescue cases on his own. It didn’t bother you as much in the beginning, but you were soon getting tired of always picking up after the Wing Hero and filling in all the reports instead of saving civilians with your own efforts.

You’ve now picked up on the habit of latching onto some part of Hawks to make sure he doesn’t go off on his own, such as gripping onto a section of his jacket or linking your arms together. The one thing you always make sure to avoid holding onto, though, are his wings. You made that mistake once during a patrol when you were just starting to get comfortable around each other and he couldn’t look at you in the eyes for a couple days without the tips of his ears turning red.

More often than not, you choose to hold onto Hawk’s hands since they are one of your favorite things about him and you love playing with them. The only issue is that he almost always wears those pesky black gloves since they’re a part of his hero costume. Today seems to be your lucky day.

Your hand instinctively brushes up against Hawks’ fingers to grab onto them, but your body tenses up as the male flinches his arm back away from you. There’s a sharp sting of sadness in your heart at the idea that maybe Hawks didn’t actually want to hold your hand.

However, your negative thoughts are thrown right out the window as Hawks takes a hold of your hand and starts to squeeze your fingers back and forth repeatedly. There’s a slight look of concern on his expression. “Hey, you good? Your fingers are freezing.”

You let out an inaudible sigh of relief. “Oh, now that you mention it, it is a bit windy outside. My hand is probably really cold since I’ve been out longer than you have. Sorry about that.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Hawks just brushes off your unnecessary apology. “Actually, you should’ve told me sooner!”

Without a moment to lose, Hawks extends his wings out slightly on the side you’re walking on, successfully shielding you from the incoming wind. He then stops his ministrations on your hand and just simply wraps his palms around it. His hands are significantly larger than yours so they practically engulf your entire hand and you feel a comforting warmth seeping into your fingers.

“Are your hands always this cold?” Hawks questions.

You shrug your shoulders. “I guess so? I don’t really notice since they’re pretty much always like this. You probably never noticed since you always wear your gloves when we’re patrolling.”

“You should invest in some hot packs or something.”

You pretend like you’re contemplating, but you already know what you want to say. “Hm...no thanks! I’d rather just hold your hand to keep mine warm!”

Hawks almost trips over his own feet at your response and his cheeks turn a little pink. In order to avoid your gaze, he lifts the collar of his jacket up a bit higher with his free hand and refuses to face you. You softly smile at his reaction and feel immensely satisfied at flustering the normally confident hero. The both of you just continue your patrol in a comfortable silence with warm hands and warm hearts.

~~~~~~

It’s the end of the day and you and Hawks are making your way back to his agency. The two of you were still holding hands, and at some point during the day, your hands became interlocked.

The day was pretty uneventful and there were only a few incidents, but you still needed to file reports of everything. At the end of your shift, Hawks practically begged you to help him with the paperwork. You were weak to his pouty face, so you reluctantly agreed.

As Hawks’ agency came into view, the man suddenly dropped his hand from yours and wrapped his arms onto your waist securely.

“What are you doing?” You ask with slight panic in your voice.

“Having fun~” Hawks smirks and before you know it, both of your feet are lifted off the ground. You let out a small yelp as Hawks flaps his wings and flies you to his office balcony.

After landing safely, you take a moment to catch your breath and Hawks makes a beeline for the couch. He plops into the plush cushions and you raise an eyebrow at him.

You make you way over to his relaxed form and cross your arms loosely. “Um...don’t you have some paperwork to do?”

“Don’t wanna.”

Hawks’ tone reminds you of a child and you just shake your head with a sigh. You know there’s no way you’re going to get him to do any work at this point, so you just join him on the couch and stare at the small Endeavor plushie sitting on one of his shelves near his desk. There’s a subtle warmth from where your shoulders are now touching and you’re almost tempted to just fall asleep right then and there. It wasn’t exactly easy for you to feel this comfortable with another person, so it’s a wonder how Hawks was able to worm his way into your heart. You definitely cared deeply for this man.

Not wanting to waste the precious moments you had with him, you just say the first thing that comes into your mind. “You know, you got pretty big hands.”

“Do I?” Hawks’ voice has a hint of amusement and you feel him shift his position so that he’s facing you.

You also sit up and direct your gaze at him. “Yeah, I’ll prove it. Hold up your hand.”

He lifts his hand curiously but stiffens when you place your palm directly against his and add a little bit of pressure. The two of you have held hands on so many occasions, but it always leaves his heart racing every time you touch.

The corners of your mouth curve upwards slightly. “See? Your hands are a lot bigger than mine!”

Hawks takes a brief moment to just gaze at you silently. His mind takes you in as a whole and he’s reminded of how much of an impact you’ve had on his life. His pupils flicker along each feature of your face before ultimately landing on your soft lips.

“Do you wanna compare our lips too? We could use the same method.”

Despite the urge to roll your eyes, all rational thoughts completely vanish from your mind as you immediately crash your lips against his lovingly.

Gojou

“Hey, (Y/N)! Come here for a sec!”

At the sound of Gojou’s voice, you look up from your phone to where the said male was flailing his arms at you. After pocketing your device, you walk over cautiously with one hand on the hidden dagger on your left hip. You never know what your crazy companion might pull on you, so it’s always better to be on guard. You’ve only made that mistake once and it still haunts you to this day. You muster up a strained smile as you approach him. “What’s up?”

The white-haired sorcerer raises his right hand into the air with his palm facing you. “Hold up your hand for me like this.”

You raise an eyebrow at him suspiciously but still lift your hand up as he asks. Once he gets his chance, Gojou pushes his palm forward to come in direct contact with your own. You tense a bit at the sudden touch, but relax when he doesn’t appear to make any other movements. There’s even a small part of you that enjoys how warm his hand is against your colder fingers.

You open your mouth to question his motives, but he beats you to it. “Ah~ It’s a wonder how you can put so much cursed energy into your punches with hands this small.”

A small angry tick mark appears on your forehead at the sudden comment. “Are you giving me permission to punch you?”

“Now, now. No need to get all heated up, dear (Y/N).” There’s a slight shift in Gojou’s expression because he’s well aware that you’d take any opportunity to land a blow on him. However, his amusement seems to subdue any of those thoughts as his face reverts back to his usual smirk.

You tense your leg muscles to deliver a well deserved kick to his shins, but you freeze up when you realize that Gojou is slowly interlocking with your fingers. He takes his time as he gradually curls his long digits around your palm. The gesture seemed a lot more intimate than you’d like to admit.

A sudden memory takes over your mind and you huff with unease. “You better not pull any of that infinity shit on me.”

“Now, why would you assume that?” Gojou replies in a teasing manner.

You scoff. “I heard what you did to that Krakatoa* demon a while back. Right after your little hand stunt, he was practically sent flying back to where he came from.”

If he didn’t have his blindfold on, you would definitely be able to see him wiggling his eyebrows at you. “Were you jealous?”

“Shut up, Gojou.”

“With pleasure, (Y/N).”

The two of you stand in front of each other with your hands still interlocked for another minute before you finally succumb to your impatience. “So, how much longer are we gonna be doing this? Is there a point to this?”

“I just wanted to hold hands with the woman that has captured my heart~” Gojou responds with no hesitation and confidence that leaves you shocked. You begin to sputter at the sudden confession and his smirk widens.

In an attempt to keep his attention, you lower your hand along with Gojou’s to face him more directly. “H-how can you just say that?! Don’t you feel even a little embarrassed?”

“I can say more!” The man just lets out a satisfied laugh at your uncharacteristically flustered state. “You’re the apple of my eye!”

“Can you even see with that blindfold?”

“Why do I need to see when you’re already running through my mind every day?”

“Okay, that’s enough.”

“You’re the beautiful girl of my dreams!”

“Gojou! Stop that!”

You shove his shoulder a bit with your unoccupied hand without much force and even a small giggle escapes your lips in mild amusement. It seems like even you can’t stop Gojou’s charms from making its way into your heart.

“I’m only being honest~ I’m a man of truths!” The man lights up at your smile and a wave of joy falls over him at your positive response to his words.

Feeling lighthearted, you gather up the courage to make a suggestion. “Alright, Mr. Man of Truths. Is it true that we’re going to grab dinner together after the mission for today?”

You feel him tighten his grip on your hand and find Gojou even more endearing when his thumb caresses the back of it.

“Most definitely.”

*Krakatoa: Reference to a volcano in Indonesia, a children’s novel that I once read in 6th grade (The Twenty-One Balloons), and that one hero episode of SpongeBob

#haikyuu #haikyuu fic #kuroo #bnha #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia fic #my hero academia #my hero academia fic #hawks #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fic #gojou #secretpeachtea

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smilingperformer · 4 years ago

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NS027 - The Legend of Heroes! Dande's Ultimate Battle! Full Summary & VA cast!

Satoshi and Go have gone to watch an official "Pokémon World Championships" match; Dande, the Greatest Of Them All VS Kibana, a Gym leader in the Galar region! And now the battle between these passionate men begins!! Summary: Satoshi and Go have gone to the Galar region to watch an official "Pokémon World Championships" match. They're both super excited to see a battle between two Trainers in the "Master Class", which consists of the 8 best in the championships. This noteworthy match is between Dande, the Greatest Of Them All and Satoshi's ultimate goal, and Kibana, a Gym leader of a Dragon Gym in the Galar region and Dande's rival. And now the battle between these passionate men begins! Voice Cast: Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi Daiki Yamashita: Go Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu Megumi Hayashibara: Rabbifoot Yuichi Nakamura: Sakuragi Shinichiro Miki: Galar Kamonegi Yuji Ueda: Barrierd Kenta Miyake: Lizardon Sayaka Senbongi: Messon Daisuke Ono: Dande Tatsuhisa Suzuki: Kibana Marina Inoue: Sonia Yo Kitazawa: Danpei Kei Shindo: Joy Ryota Iwasaki: Host Tatsuki Kobe: Trainer Marina Aicholtz: Go's Smartphone Rotom Kenyu Horiuchi: Narration

Source: PocketMonsters.Net forums, link in the source tag!

#pokemon #pokeani #pokemon ns #ns027 #pokemon news #episode list #sonia #dande #leon #kibana #raihan #also debut of #messon #sobble #galarian farfetch'd #galarian kamonegi #pokeani 2019 #pokemon journeys

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djsockpuppet · 5 years ago

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NS012 Summary and Voice Cast

Translation by Dephender

Satoshi and Go have come to the Galar region in order to see the finals of the tournament that determines the world's best at Pokémon battling. One of the Trainers in the finals is the undefeated superstar Dande. Just how strong is he?! Summary: Satoshi and Go have come to the Galar region in order to watch the finals of the "Pokémon World Championships", the tournament that determines the world's best at Pokémon battling. The two Trainers competing in the finals are both attracting high amounts of attention; Wataru, the winner of the Elite Four Cup in the Kanto region, and the undefeated Dande, a superstar from the Galar region. Satoshi and Go are both super pumped as they're waiting for this battle where they'll get to see the immense power of Daimaxed Pokémon! This is a world class battle between the absolute best of the best!! Who will win, Lizardon or Gyarados?! Voice Cast: Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi Daiki Yamashita: Go Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu Yuichi Nakamura: Professor Sakuragi Megumi Hayashibara: Musashi Shinichiro Miki: Kojiro Inuko Inuyama: Nyarth Yuji Ueda: Sonansu Rikako Aikawa: Madatsubomi Kenta Miyake: Lizardon Susumu Chiba: Wataru Daisuke Ono: Dande Sayaka Senbongi: Kikuna Noriaki Kanze: Renji Yo Kitazawa: Danpei Ryota Iwasaki: Host Tatsuki Kobe: Copilot Kenyu Horiuchi: Narration

#pokeani #pokemon #anipoke #ns012

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animebw · 5 years ago

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Binge-Watching: Psycho-Pass 3, Episodes 1-2

And so we begin! In which the field is cleared for a new cast of characters, but they carry all the old baggage with them, while one lone hope remains.

Sweep the Deck

The big question going into Psycho-Pass 3 was, would this franchise be able to escape the pull of its past at last? It’s seriously hard to write effective sequels to Gen Urobuchi’s work when he makes sure to cover all his bases the first time around and encase his stories in a perfect little self-contained narrative ecosystem. Psycho-Pass’ first season was sensational, but it also got in and said everything it needed to say, leaving it an open question if it was possible, or desirable, to expand outward and explore the world of Sybil in more depth. And the attempts to do so have only born that fear out, because the only successful sequels to Psycho-Pass have succeeded by returning into the comfort zone the first season established and playing around with the characters and scenarios you’re already comfortable with. Every time it’s tried to push things forward and move to a new status quo, it’s ended in disaster. This work just doesn’t lend itself to existing beyond the horizon of its initial ending; the centralized pull of what made Akane and Kogami’s story so great is too powerful to escape. But is there any way to craft a sequel to Psycho-Pass that expands off the ideas of the original and takes it in new, vital directions, with a new cast of characters inheriting the unfinished business of the old guard and finding new reasons to carry on their mission?

Well, Psycho-Pass 3 is making a game effort of it. The cast of the first two seasons is still hanging around, but they’re firmly background characters, content to watch over the new inspectors and enforcers as they make new tracks in old soil. Mika’s a chief, Kogami and Ginoza are part of a new Extra-Special fighting force, and Akane... well, we’ll get to Akane in a second, but this season belongs to the new boys (and girl). If there was ever a chance for this franchise to shake off the baggage of its past and establish that it still has legs moving forward, this would be it. And I do like the new cast of characters! Arata’s loose stoner energy is a welcome change of pace from the intensity of Ginoza, Kogame and Akane, even as he’s still hyper-observational and capable of genuine pathos. From the first moment he’s on screen, observing the inadequacy of mental care under the Sybil System- “If that’s all it took, we wouldn’t be here now, would we?”- it’s clear we’re in for a more rebellious, dynamic servant of the law than we’ve had before. And Ignatov earned my respect the moment he was faced with potential criminals and instead of exerting Sybil’s judgement over them, he let them go and gave them another chance to avoid clouding their Psycho-Passes. An inspector who actually acknowledges the inherent flaws in the criminal system he upholds and does his best to follow the spirit, rather than the letter, of justice? That’s right the hell up my alley. Credit must also go to Yuichi Nakamura and Yuki Kaji, who bring this duo’s nuances to life with aplomb. I cannot overstate what phenomenal voice actors they both are, and their presence here is very welcome.

Blind’s Eye

And yet. For all the promise this clean slate shows, I didn’t even last until the end of the first episode before I felt that goodwill crumbling before my eyes. Sadly, Psycho-Pass 3 is still under the guiding hand of Tow Ubukata, the series composer for season 2, and it’s got all the same problems. The most glaring and obvious of which is, a huge part of the season’s central conceit is based around a nonsensical sci-fi concept that’s too ludicrous to take seriously and pretty much single-handedly destroys the possibility of me suspending my disbelief. I know I love saying that emotional logic should be more powerful than literal logic, but that doesn’t mean I can accept just patently stupid concepts like the idea that getting organ transplants from a bunch of different people means you get pieces of their mental state, as was the case in season 2. And Atari’s immersion-shattering Mental Trace bullshit is no better. If we accept his explanation at face value, then Psycho-Pass 3 is asking us to believe that this fucker is somehow able to jack into people’s memories, just by standing where they stood and concentrating really hard, because... his empathy is super high. No, no, no, fuck no, and might I add, no. There is literally no logic in that concept whatsoever. It tries to bullshit an answer by hand-waving it as “Mentalist” powers, whatever the fuck that means, but I’m sorry, I don’t care what cybernetic advancements have occurred in the next century, one cannot just replay someone’s memories through vestigial contact with a space they once were in. That’s fucking stupid.

And that’s far from the only cue Psycho-Pass 3 takes from its direct predecessor; just like Psycho-Pass 2, it’s overly complicated and bogged down in piles and piles of bullshit. There’s so much exposition thrown at us about some weird extragovernmental cabal called the Bifrost, which seems to be acting outside Sybil’s control through... stock exchanges? Maybe?? How do they “gamble money and freedom” in a society where Sybil has total control? It’s trying to be mysterious and confusing to make us want to find out what’s going on, but with nothing to ground it in, it just ends up feeling like a cheap tactic to avoid revealing how weak the story is. I don’t think the double-length episodes are doing this season any favors; each episode feels endless, with so much padding stuffed between the actual important plot beats that it becomes numbing after a while and you just want it to end. It’s not even structured well; episode 2 ends the current ongoing mystery right in the middle of the episode and starts an entirely different one, and I’m just left wondering why the hell the episodes weren’t normal length so there could be an episode break there instead of awkwardly shoehorning two different plots together at the hip. Then there’s Arata’s equally context-lacking mysterious backstory, which lays on the trippy gradient filters to try and make up for its lack of actual emotional substance, but considering we’ve never had this kind of acid-trip imagery in Psycho-Pass before it just comes off as jarring. This season’s set up so many pins, but none of them interest me, and I don’t trust it to knock them down effectively when none of them fell like, well, Psycho-Pass

And that’s the most frustrating thing about this season thus far: it just fundamentally fails to understand what makes this franchise at its best so compelling. Psycho-Pass’ strength was in the Sybil System itself, how this carnivorous structure wrapped its tendrils around all of society and you could see its fingerprints wherever you walked. The world of the first season was a world with identity, a world where the evolutions brought about by the hivemind were visible and palpable in every last detail. It was the dark, ugly emotional grounding that made its story such an engrossing, emotional roller coaster. But the world of Psycho-Pass 3 just doesn’t have that sense of danger. It’s too normal, too sterile, too lacking in the guts and grimness and genuine discomfort that made Sybil so terrifying and loathsome. Never mind how frustratingly goofy it tries to be at times; between Mika angrily shotgunning Pez, Arata’s overexaggerated mannerisms and the stupid faces everyone makes, it feels like every ounce of gravity that defined this show has been lost. The characters of the first season could be funny and charming without resorting to such hackneyed, juvenile cringe (and considering this isn’t the only Fall 2019 Production IG detective mystery show to mistake empty cringe for character-driven comedy, I think it’s safe to say something’s in the air with this studio lately). This isn’t the world of Psycho-Pass; this is a cheap imitation that completely fails to capture the gravitas of this franchise’s best.

With one possible exception.

The Last Avenger

Because there’s one piece of this unfinished puzzle that actually does really interest me: Akane herself. As this season starts, the heroine we know and love goes studiously unmentioned for a good stretch of time, her absence almost as much a character as her presence. And then, someone drops a bomb: Akane Tsunemori is an ex-inspector. Not because she quit, but because she went rogue. She goddamn did what she was always threatening to do; she’s gone against Sybil itself. And what little implications we get about what’s happened to her since are riveting. She’s tucked away in a mysterious cell, imprisoned by an unknown master. She awaits judgement, and according to her old comrades, she’s ready to be judged fairly. But she’s also the reason Ignatov and Arata are on this team; she hand-picked them, and Sho, the one remaining member of her team fro Psycho-Pass 2 still working as an Enforcer, is keeping tabs on them for her, making sure they’re holding up okay. And then, in her own words, she drops the biggest bomb of all:

”The truth of our society will come to light. What will people choose to believe when it does?

Holy. Fucking. SHIT. Akane hasn’t just gone rogue, she’s gearing up to spill Sybil’s secret to the world. She’s preparing to let Japan know that they’re being governed not by a fair, impartial computer, but a hivemind of cannibalized brains subsumed to act against their own self-interest and uphold a system makes the outcasts of society the very agents of their own oppression. If I’m reading this correctly, the girl’s officially stopped trying to fix the system from within; she’s ready to tear the whole damn thing down and free Japan from its sway, letting whatever may come rise from the ashes. That’s HUGE. That’s the most explosive direction a Psycho-Pass sequel could have gone in. And while I have no idea if it’ll be enough to make this season worthwhile in the end, it’s the one pin being set up that I genuinely can’t wait to see knocked down. Against all odds, I still choose to have hope. So bring it on, Psycho-Pass 3. Whatever happens next, I’m not telling go until this ride is over.

Odds and Ends

-Well, the OP’s a right banger, so that’s one box checked.

-”I’m happy.” Man, the selfie generation really went off the deep end, huh?

-Okay, either holo tech has really fucking progressed or Sybil is being way too lax about giving away the old woman facade she uses.

-”Do you think you’re in a Tom and Jerry routine?!” I wasn’t expecting Mika to be such a mood, but here we are.

-”But I just bought that!” pfft

-I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting a history lesson on Japan’s 90s housing bubble bursting, but here we are.

-I feel like we’re really going overboard on the CG backgrounds. You proved you could do good CG already, Psycho-Pass, now dial it back before it goes to your head.

-Okay, that’s definitely Dimple’s VA as the old man Enforcer, isn’t it?

-”Bean sprouts are nutritious!” It’s a testament to how damn good a voice actor Yuki Kaji is that he can make lines like this work.

-Okay, the concept of controlled fighting sports that use robot opponents to keep psych levels from going too high is kinda cool.

-”Cute girls always have to deal with them, don’t they?” “Is that supposed to be a compliment?” Jesus, what a well-deserved cold shoulder. Dial it back, Arata.

Man, this is gonna be a rough ride. Here’s hoping I can get through it intact, and I’ll see you next time!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #psycho pass #psycho-pass

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sarazanmai · 7 years ago

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Stuff I loved in 2017.

Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Kyoani.

So this was a very interesting year you could say. I really put forward a lot more effort to try new things and I do think a bigger part of this year for me was learning to stop stressing myself out so easily. Not sure if I fully succeeded, but I tried. I have a lot to talk about in this post so I suggest getting comfortable. This post isn’t a ranking, I have no interest in doing a ranking. So if you question why certain things show up sooner or later in the post than others its just a random order and not a signal of my opinion on it.

Let’s get this over with, I like “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid”. Try and hear me out on this. I did not read the manga and have no intention to ever do so. Now with the anime I remember hearing about the concept and finding the idea of it rather charming. A dragon who takes on a human form and tries being a maid, it sounds adorable. Then I saw the character designs and went “oh”. But through all of the controversy regarding the anime there was still this piece of me that kept wondering about it. I am mutuals with @darlinginthefranxx and asked them about the anime because they liked it so much and despite saying I wouldn’t watch it, I did. And I really enjoyed it. This is not an anime to be judged on screen caps, you need to see the characters in motion to fully appreciate how good the animation actually is. In screen caps it looks like nothing special and their faces can look rather flat, but this is a beautifully animated show. From the colors to the character animation themselves it looks great. Kyoani if anything just excels at their animation. Everything comes together in a very seamless way. I really enjoyed the characters a lot too. Kanna is the cutest thing I saw all year and I think Tohru and Kobayashi themselves were really fun to follow. Lucoa was funny, I liked Fafnir and Takiya, I love Elma, this was a good cast. The seiyuu are great too, I’ve always loved Daisuke Ono so hearing him as Fafnir made me happy. And Yuichi Nakamura as Takiya was amazing because he doesn’t actually sound like I’m used to him sounding. I never would have guessed that was him. I also wanna give credit to Kobayashi’s actress Mutsumi Tamura, I really enjoyed her voice its very smooth and relaxing. There is sexual fanservice, but it is not the focus of the anime. In fact most of the fanservice amounted to bouncing breasts and Lucoa putting on these silly little outfits. The anime is largely a slice of life / fish out of water kind of story. Its not a harem, its not an ecchi, and even if it was I have seen harem and ecchi anime that are still good so that isn’t a kiss of death to me. As a whole the anime is composed of very funny and even very sweet episodes detailing things like Tohru’s attempts to win Kobayashi’s heart or things with Kanna at her school or Fafnir and Takiya being otaku who love online gaming. The OVA is about Valentine’s Day and it climaxes with such a heartwarming moment that I felt like I had a blanket wrapped around me. I do wish the last episode was different, its just this rather awkward tone shift into something more epic. I think if you took the last few minutes of the finale and just latched them onto the second to last episode completely removing the stuff with Tohru and her father it would be smoother. The final few minutes of the series were so good showing us that everyone has found some kind of place and seeing Kobayashi bring Tohru and Kanna to meet her family just seemed like the right stopping point. It indicated that she sees them as her own family and leaves me with a good feeling. That being said its an anime that I can understand is not for everyone. Hopefully if you’re reading this you are someone who trusts my opinion. When I sat down and watched it I realized it isn’t what I thought it was and it truly is one of the best anime of the year.

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I don’t talk about music very often. And that’s because I don’t think my taste in music is especially interesting to talk about. But I loved Lana Del Rey’s “Lust for Life” album so much and its worth mentioning here. When I first became aware of Lana I was not interested, another retro female singer just wasn’t something I got excited about. But then I actually tried her music and just fell in love. The thing that people seem to lose sight of with her music and her artistry is she’s actually quite weird. Her music is strange, its haunted but she’s singing about sex and getting high and loads her songs with references to literature. And I love that. Her music is almost hypnotic. Whoever said that she sings like a horny ghost was completely right and nowhere is that more clear than on the song “Cherry”. There’s a haziness to that song that makes it so hypnotic and what sets it over the edge are the bizarre lyrics. If you’ve heard it you know what I’m talking about. When it comes to her music I honestly don’t try to analyze every lyric she writes. Like I’m not gonna be all “hm yes when she says ‘I’m crying while I’m cumming’ she’s speaking to the way sexuality is tied up in female suffering”. I’m not that kind of person with music. I don’t need to know her every waking thought process behind her music, I just feel it. I wouldn’t consider any of her songs lacking in substance though. My favorite track off the album is the one I’ve linked up there called “13 Beaches” and when I first heard it I was just hit by a train of emotions. “Get Free”, the last track, is hands down one of her best and has a very moving message about moving past your demons and into something more promising. On this album she collaborated with Stevie Nicks for the song “Beautiful People Beautiful Problems” and Sean Lennon on “Tomorrow Never Came” and those tracks are both beautiful as well. Its hard to say how this compared to her other albums as I enjoy all of them, but this one I keep reaching for.

I didn’t see "The Handmaiden” in 2016 when it came out, but ultimately its a film that was worth waiting to own on blu-ray. It is stunning. I’m a big fan of Park Chan-wook’s film “Oldboy” and when I heard about the production of this one I was instantly interested. Its frankly bizarre to me how many bloggers and critics tried to act like the lesbian content was some plot twist when this was literally used as a selling point. The Korean lesbian revenge thriller. I find that description to not do it proper justice at all though. Its more than just a movie about women taking revenge and women being defiant and boiling it down to such a movie is just wrong in my opinion. So much of the film is about the voyeuristic and predatory nature in male sexuality and the male gaze and how it damages women. To paraphrase Chan-wook himself, during Hideko’s reading scene those men don’t lay a finger on her but they cause her deep pain because she has been made a sexual object. A thing for them to be amused by while she silently endures humiliation and performs her way through it. The romance between Hideko and Sook-hee is handled in a way that is not only believable, but it feels natural. Them falling in love did not feel like a twist as it felt like the natural course the movie was taking. There’s so many layers and so many things about this movie to dissect, but all people want to talk about are the “yaaas queen” revenge scenes and the sex. The revenge aspects to the film are emotionally and dramatically satisfying, but the amount of focus on them while failing to deliver a more nuanced discussion of it disappoints me. Its frankly easy to focus on the revenge angle and ignore the more thought provoking substance and I’m not fond of that. The sex scenes I felt were beautifully shot and knowing the levels Park Chan-wook went to in order to insure the actresses were comfortable gives me a lot more respect for him as a director. He removed all male crew members including himself from the set and provided them an extra room with snacks to go relax in should they feel overwhelmed. Compare that to other male directors making films about female sexuality and you’ll see that not nearly enough directors have that amount of self awareness or respect for their actors sadly. In terms of the scenes themselves I saw them as representative of the two ladies experiencing a freedom with each other once they’re no longer under the oppressive and stifling male gaze. The scenes are explicit certainly, but I wouldn’t consider them obscene by any means. And definitely not a male fantasy given the themes within the film concerning sexuality. Either way I think honing in on this just feels unnecessary, there is so much more to this film than seeing two beautiful women touch each other. Ultimately this is a movie I am proud to own and my favorite movie I’ve seen all year. Its deep, its emotional, its beautiful, the lead actresses Kim Tai-ri and Kim Min-hee were amazing, I fully look forward to seeing this epic story unfold for me again when I rewatch it.

“Moonlight” is a brilliant film. I had first heard about through @elegguas and I remember straight off the bat seeing the stills for it and thinking “wooooow” because the cinematography in this movie is so top notch that I am angry it did not win the Oscar for that category. I mean I can’t be the only one who thinks this movie got cheated out of that award. Much like with “The Handmaiden” I do not understand people treating the gay subject matter as a spoiler that must be kept under wraps. I watched reviews for it on youtube after seeing it and was confused about why people were tip toeing around it. This wasn’t something they tried to keep a secret, the trailer shows them leaning in for their kiss and when I first read about it I was informed by the article that it was a film exploring the life of a closeted black man. You look foolish for acting like this was some plot twist is what I’m saying. I think with all the back and forth surrounding the awards season and people putting it against movies like “La La Land” a lot of people didn’t even go out of their way to watch this film to be honest. It feels like a lot of people just weren’t watching it. I also found some people just looking for a reason to critique the movie negatively for what I can only assume is being contrarian. I actually saw someone chastise the movie because they appeared to have used eye drops for the scene with Chiron and his mother in the third act. Of all the things to zero in on that is probably the most inane one. This really powerful scene loaded with emotion is on display for you, two really strong performances, but you’re going to focus on the fact that they might have used eye drops for their tears. Its ridiculous. But in spite of all of that I will tell you this honestly is a movie that lives up to its hype. All the performances were great, again that cinematography is beautiful, its a movie where everything lined up where it needed to be and makes for a rich and moving experience. And it really is not a story you see being told in very many films. The choice to present this as a look at Chiron’s life in three different stages was a very smart one and the actors they hired all performed the role brilliantly. I never felt like I was seeing three separate people, but a person through the years. There was a cohesion throughout the three chapters and everything builds up to a finale that is quietly powerful. The writing and the performances make it all conclude in a very striking way that never felt ham fisted. There were some stylistic choices like having the actors look directly into the camera or the audio not syncing up with the footage that helped give specific moments this very unique feeling. And they did not feel random either. Some might not like that, but I did. Barry Jenkins is a very talented director and I look forward to whatever he creates in the future.

Is this the greatest anime ever made? “Legend of the Galactic Heroes” is an anime who’s strength is all in its writing. Trite as it is, especially after what happened to Star Wars, this is a series that excels at grey morality and truly showing a multifaceted group of characters. Nothing is too simple. You can’t pin someone down as a perfect hero or even evil. And the characters grow. When I finished the 110 episodes of this OVA I really felt like I experienced people evolving with time. I suppose that comes from the fact that unlike most anime this wasn’t based on a manga, it was based on a series of novels. Novels that were well received upon their release. All of this being said you always need to approach something highly praised with as clean and open of a mind as possible. Set the bar too high in your mind and you’re not going to get the story you envision. I say the same thing about “Cowboy Bebop” and “Evangelion” too. The series has a slow start, given how long it ran for its only natural I suppose. They took their time to set up this universe, these people, what they fight for, who they care about, this is a very complex situation being presented to us and it needed time to have proper seeding and development. Once things kick into high gear its like nothing else. A lot of media will try to show grey morality and ultimately fail as it always feels like this “omg who are the REAL bad guys!!!!” thing. You don’t get that with this. You really do see all these different perspectives and angles and its what makes these characters feel so engaging. I wouldn’t want Yang to be the perfect hero, I definitely don’t want Reinhard being Dio Brando in space. When characters die it really feels like you’ve lost someone special. Even characters I didn’t think I was attached to really hit me hard when it was time to let go. It appears that this is an anime a lot of snobbish people latch onto as an example of “real” art in anime while other more recent anime are junk. I always hate when that happens as it makes me want to root against the anime in question just for the sake of being contrarian. But if its really that good, then its really that good. “Legend of the Galactic Heroes” is by no means a weak anime, the fact that I finished it all in under a month (along with the introductory movie “My Conquest is the Sea of Stars”) is proof that for how dense it is you can watch it with ease. So is this the greatest anime ever made? I’m not sure I can answer that as we all look to anime with different things we want out of it. What I look for in an anime is likely not what you look for in an anime and the medium as a whole is so vast that its hard to point to one thing as the best. But the answer is probably yes.

“Tamako Market” is like the definition of wholesome. Obviously given the art direction this is a very cute, very sweet anime. And there are people who treat that like its a bad thing. What this anime does better than so many else I’ve seen is it really feels like something I can unwind to. I felt relaxed watching it. This is the hot cocoa of anime. Its a slice of life anime where ultimately there isn’t much if any conflict going on, but that’s honestly good. The series director is Naoko Yamada who made “K-On” and “A Silent Voice” and she really has talent. She is not old, she just turned 33 and has already carved out a space for herself in a very male dominated business. Watching all of those anime I listed its clear why that is. She knows how to make simple stories interesting. We don’t always need a big epic plot, like sometimes we all need to take a break and enjoy something simpler. That doesn’t make this a lazy anime though. There’s scenes that are set up very interestingly, there’s a specific moment of Tamako and her family eating dinner and its shown from above with you looking down at the table. It didn’t feel gimmicky, it didn’t feel random, in the hands of another creative team something like that would have. People seem to dislike Kyoani because they make these slice of life anime centered around cutely designed girls and I feel like that’s unfair. The amount of effort they put into their anime is staggering, none of the anime from them that I have seen felt like some cheapo cash grab with no thought put in beyond making lots of money. And I have to respect the studio for how they go about making anime. They make all of their anime in house and are one of only two studios who do not outsource (the other being Ufotable) and compared to majority of anime studios they have a very healthy system in place. People have given this anime negative reviews for being a sweet and simple slice of life anime and honestly those people just come across like they don’t have fun. That’s very blunt of me to say, but I read these reviews and just wonder why they’re so angry at something so harmless. Like this is such a strange anime to get mad over and meanwhile vulgar and even offensive anime become these big mainstream hits and no one bats an eye. This anime is great and just because its not some big sci-fi action banger that doesn’t mean its worthless junk. I even found myself getting choked up during some scenes. My only problem is that the subplot with the islanders felt like it came and got resolved weirdly easily. Like it just happened and then it was done. That doesn’t detract much from the fun I had with it. Overall this is a great heartwarming anime that I’d recommend to anyone who isn’t an elitist jackass that only cares about manly shonen anime.

“Samurai Champloo” was the first anime series Shinichiro Watanabe directed following “Cowboy Bebop” and surely he felt a lot of pressure to do something equally as great. And the direction he went was really refreshing and something that I feel only he could have made. I rewatched “Bebop” and “Space Dandy”, my personal favorite of his anime, in full shortly after completing this and its interesting to notice the ways in which Watanabe’s anime feel connected. He has a very clear vision when it comes to his anime. However they all feel distinct and not at all like they’re trying to fall back on his reputation and previous successes. Watanabe really feels like a true auteur for the anime world, there’s always this high quality to his work and no one else makes anime like him. I feel like he brings out the best in the people he gathers to work on his shows. Its also no coincidence that his “big three” if you will follow a similar format in that they’re a group of established characters traveling and encountering people and events through their journey with few recurring characters outside their respective circles. I like when anime do that, its what I enjoyed about “Mushishi”. The fact that Watanabe specifically looked to black culture and chose to merge it with the traditional samurai image is something that I doubt anyone else could have pulled off. Watching this anime it was clear he had a real respect for the music and various elements of hip hop that he was incorporating into the show. He was not concerned with this anime being nationalistic, he specifically said he did not want to make such an anime and it shows in the choices he made with it. Things like showing foreign characters and making a protagonist be from the Ryukyu Islands helped give this setting a feeling that it was lived in. It felt like this world seemed as wide and expansive as our own despite us spending the entire time in Japan. Another reason this show works so well naturally is our main characters. I’ve always liked Kazuya Nakai’s voice and since I honestly haven’t been watching the “One Piece” anime despite keeping up on the manga it felt great hearing him again. Mugen literally had to say one sentence and I was like “...Zoro?”. He seems to like voicing swordsmen who are low key stupid since I know his character in “Gintama” falls into that description as well. I thought Fuu was great, frankly I felt this was more her story than anyone’s and the way it all concludes for her left me feeling like I was about to cry. And Jin is a really interesting character in his own right, with someone else behind the character he could have been very boring honestly. Its a lot of fun following these three and when it all ends I felt sad despite the ending being positive, I didn’t want it to stop. Do I like this anime as much as Watanabe’s other anime? Yes I do.

“Wandering Son” is a beautiful anime. It follows a child named Shuichi who is a trans girl and her friend Yoshino who is a trans boy. And its handled in such a powerful and sincere way. It doesn’t feel like a gimmick, I genuinely believe this was a story that people wanted to tell because it was worth telling. Its based on a manga by Takako Shimura who’s work in general seems to focus on LBGT people, I want to watch the anime “Sweet Blue Flowers” which is based on one of her other anime and focuses on lesbians. I feel like with “Wandering Son” she managed to not only tap into something relatable, but she also made something highly thought provoking. She chose to write this story about middle schoolers because she felt there was a lot of potential to discuss puberty and how it effects trans people. Shuichi is a character that leaves you feeling a desire to protect as she’s not only a very sensitive child, but we see that the people in her life really do not understand what she’s experiencing. Her romance with one of her sister’s friends Anna becomes complicated, her sister just sees her as a weird boy that sneaks in her room and tries on her dresses and there’s a particularly emotional situation where she decides to go to school dressed as a girl and suffers the aftermath. But this isn’t a tragic story either. She grows as a person and by the end no longer seems as meek as she was in the beginning. And Yoshino undergoes an equally interesting character arc that touches on things like wanting to wear a binder and not feeling comfortable trying on a boy’s gakuran due to the effects of puberty. There’s also very interesting stuff regarding their friends and family. There’s a whole sub plot regarding a girl named Saori who has a crush on Shuichi, Anna made for a very interesting character and I was happy to see her set things right with Shuichi and accept her, and there’s a very poignant back story to an older trans woman named Yuki that our leads often seek advice from. In the end Shuichi finds it in herself to keep moving forward and be the person she wants to be and develops a good support system among her friends. I feel like what I saw in the anime was done beautifully and amounts to a very uplifting story, I felt proud seeing these character mature. And ultimately a story like this is not something I have ever seen an anime attempt so it felt like an eye opener in a very good way. Also as that screen cap shows its got a very unique animation style to itself, it evokes the art from the manga and very much looks like its own thing at the same time. The way they colored it is different and gives a painterly effect which I think was a smart move. Its weird to say, but if it wasn’t for my complete disappointment with “Yuri on Ice” I wouldn’t have ever heard of this and the next anime I will be discussing. There are LBGT centered anime out there worth your time and if people voicing dissatisfaction in one anime is what it takes to get them out there in your consciousness then I suppose I can’t see that as a bad thing.

It says a lot about a movie when my biggest problem is “it should be longer”. “Doukyuusei” is a fantastic movie. Beautiful art, a great believable romance, but its only an hour. Its based on a manga of the same name by Asumiko Nakamura and if the film is anything like the manga or her other work then she is really skilled at creating a believable chemistry. The art style for the movie appears to be the same as the art in her manga and I like how almost 1970s it looks. I know this isn’t necessarily how 70s manga and anime looked, but something to the designs reminds me of that time period. The director is Shouko Nakamura who’s worked on anime like “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” and “Gurren Lagann” and her work here really makes a case for how skilled she is. I hope she directs a series of her own someday. And I think the seiyuu they’ve hired are worth acknowledging too. I’ve been a fan of Hiroshi Kamiya for years, he’s someone with a lot of natural charm and charisma. I hear his voice and instantly want to like whoever he’s voicing even if I don’t like all of his characters. Its hard to describe in writing, but there’s something magnetic about his voice. And Kenji Nojima I’ve wanted to see more of ever since he became Mamoru Chiba in “Sailor Moon Crystal” and it felt great hearing him in this. He’s one of those seiyuu who seems to keep showing up in anime I don’t want to watch (unlike Kamiya who just shows up in everything) so it felt good to finally encounter him in something that appealed to me. Both of their performances are great and help enhance the personalities with these characters. I’m not sure if they recorded the dialogue together, I think with anime that’s typically how its done, and if that’s the case then I really feel like they played off of each other perfectly. Now I do know there is a big chance this is considered BL to a Japanese audience just knowing what I know about the way they categorize certain anime and manga. Regardless of what label you latch onto it this is still a believable romance and it never truly felt like it existed just to make fujoshi sigh. The way the relationship is presented is very romantic and heartwarming, it didn’t feel exploitative and like a thing designed for straight women to gawk over. The more sexual moments are still handled in an intimate enough way and it never feels like sexy fanservice. With one hour of run time they managed to succeed in really every area the romance in “Yuri on Ice” failed for me. You see them kiss (a lot), they address that there’s a sexual attraction between them, the idea of this being a long term relationship and not just a high school fling is really central to the film. Its never beating around the bush about it being a love story and they even address the character’s insecurities regarding the relationship. It isn’t sloppily thrown in there because oh wait we need drama even though none of these emotions have been touched on before, these thoughts and actions feel natural. Plot wise there kind of isn’t one as the romance is the focus of the film, but I love that. Its a simple story about two teenage boys falling in love and being in love. Just a shame it couldn’t have been a half hour longer. Not because it felt abrupt, it doesn’t. But because I just wanted more of these characters and this beautiful animation.

The second I laid eyes on Anna Biller’s “The Love Witch” I knew I was going to love it. She captured the 60s aesthetic so beautifully, you’ll excuse the pun the movie is absolutely bewitching. Biller really involved herself with this production from the writing to directing to set and costume design. She experienced a lot of problems with her crew that didn’t believe in her or the project, but I’m happy she persevered and made the film she wanted to make. This is her second feature length film after a 2007 movie called “Viva” in which she starred and I hope this gained her enough attention to result in more films from her. Some might argue this retro pastiche isn’t something she can do forever, but honestly she does it so well that I don’t really care. This movie just screams aesthetic and Samantha Robinson who plays Elaine is absolutely stunning and great in her performance. Its a performance that evokes how acting in the 1960s generally were with it being very presentational, but it works for both the character and the film at hand. I hope she develops a good career for herself. What’s interesting is watching the movie as a woman all of these feminist concepts she works into the plot felt very easy for me to understand and relate to yet all of these male critics don’t really seem to get it. They understand feminism is involved with the film in some way, but they don’t seem to fully appreciate all the ways in which feminist theory shapes the film. Scenes like Elaine going “life’s been tough huh?” while her latest man is crying like an idiot or the words of her ex echoing in her mind telling her she needs to put more effort into her appearance resonated with me. Everything including the overall concept of a woman who’s dragged herself into this fairy tale state of mind is something born from Biller’s personal ideologies, yet to so many critics the film is just an exploration of sex and kitsch. I don’t think this is a movie that would alienate any male viewers, but I do wonder if the feminist theory and Biller’s self described attempts at creating a female gaze just wash over them entirely. Critics have said its a movie lacking in plot, but I disagree. It has a plot, its about a witch who wants to find her dream man and uses her magic to entice the men around her only for things to turn out very badly every time she tries. Even if you watch it as just a tribute to old campy horror films you’ll still be entertained, but its so much more than that in my opinion.

This might sound weird, but for months now I’ve been convinced I watched “Haikyuu” last year. No that was this year. The reason I held off on it for so long honestly is because sports don’t especially interest me, but after watching it and getting caught up to date on the manga I think the problem isn’t sports as a subject matter but how its executed. “Haikyuu” is a very fun and lighthearted series. You’ve got fun characters, everyone is adorable, and the actual games themselves do have a sense of tension. You also don’t need to worry about the cliched evil rival team who we hate purely because they aren’t on the same team as our protagonist. I know there’s people who like to flatten Oikawa down to an egotistical villain, but that’s a massive disservice to his character as at the end of the day he’s one of the most interesting members of the cast. I never got the feeling the series itself was trying to make anyone an antagonist, they’re just people who love their sport and want to win. Making people like that evil is just tiring and one of the reasons I don’t take movies focused on sports very seriously. Its interesting that we’re now in an era where one of the big hits from Weekly Shonen Jump that isn’t “One Piece” is a sports anime. I made a post saying that our new big three are “Haikyuu”, “Boku no Hero Academia”, and “Black Clover” and I meant it. Of those three “Haikyuu” is the best. You don’t need to go in with a deep knowledge of volleyball, they educate you on the sport through the story. Much like how one of my favorite anime “Ping Pong the Animation” educates the viewer on table tennis. I’m no sports anime connoisseur, but I think its important to inform people with no knowledge of the sport at hand about how it works. Its not just a matter of passing a ball over a net and making sure it hits within the boundary line and Furudate understood the importance of teaching his audience about the complexities within volleyball. Centering the story around someone considered too short for this sport was also a good idea. Underdog protagonists in sports media is far from new, but the way in which Hinata throws himself into the sport and how far he’s willing to go to prove he isn’t defined by his height just makes him endearing. Its hard to say what’s going to happen in the series after the current arc focusing on nationals ends, but I’m also perfectly comfortable with rolling with whatever Furudate brings my way.

This is a fun anime. I know its likely gonna be on everyone’s worst list, but I am not everyone. And don’t show me that video of Asta yelling that got really popular on here, I’ve seen it too, and I just don’t care anymore. I swear though Asta’s voice is not as bad as everyone acts like it is. When he isn’t doing that vibrato yell he sounds good and I don’t think he yells as often as he did in the first two episodes. Maybe I’m just used to his voice, but I’m really fed up with all the complaining about it. Its funny when I tried watching that video I couldn’t handle five seconds, but I understood this was one of the new big things from Weekly Shonen Jump and decided to try it anyway. I love shonen anime and manga so it just felt like there was no harm in trying it. And its fun. “Black Clover” does have a very formulaic first several episodes and we’ve seen characters and tropes like this in other shonen anime and manga. And I understand fans of the manga think the manga just pulls everything off better. But its still an entertaining anime to me. I’m sure people will tell me that this is still something that’s just too by the numbers, but I personally have too much fun with it to get upset over it. Once I got past what I consider the set up phase to the story I enjoyed it so much more. I like this setting a lot and look forward to seeing more of it. And I do like the characters for what they are. Asta is a type of character I have a soft spot for because I like protagonists who try hard. Yuno hasn’t been in a lot of episodes as of the most recent one, but he has potential to be interesting. Noelle I really love, I love that she’s designed more with beauty in mind instead of cuteness and that she’s rather prissy. I like Yami, I like Magna, I just appreciate a lot of things about this series even if its not anything groundbreaking. “Black Clover” is in many ways a mixed bag, but at the end of the day I still like watching it.

“Hibike Euphonium” is gorgeous. Kyoani never seem to rest on their laurels and keep finding new ways to improve upon their animation with each anime. I genuinely believe they aim to push the limits of what an episodic anime can be like. Like with many of their anime “Hibike” is a slice of life shojo and this one follows a girl named Kumiko who plays the euphonium, a tuba like instrument that I had never heard of before, in her school’s band club. What Kyoani understands about making a slice of life is that if your characters and their interpersonal relationships are interesting enough then you don’t need to make something especially complex. A lot of people likely feel as if Kyoani is wasting this gorgeous animation on these simple stories, I don’t agree with them. All genres of anime should look good, except hentai, so slice of life having this kind of production value doesn’t offend me in the slightest. When it comes down to the characters I found them all likeable, especially Asuka. I really loved her character and was happy to see her get so much focus in season two. And again the animation in this is so beyond what other anime are doing. I had so many moments where I went “oh my God they included a detail like that”. With this anime they aimed for something that felt naturalistic and its reflected in both the animation and audio. The seiyuu were all directed to speak in a natural tone of voice rather than the typical “anime voice acting” kind of way. When characters are inside their voices have an audible echo while outside they do not. The scenes of them playing their instruments work in the same way. We see Reina practicing her trumpet outside and the audio reflects where she is supposed to be. This level of perfectionism just blew me away. I know a film is in the works and its directed by Naoko Yamada and it isn’t a complication film either, I really look forward to that.

Surprise more Kyoani. I meant it when I said loving Kyoani was a big part of my 2017. I never had anything against them, I never even watched their anime before. But man I am happy I have. Its just in general great to try watching different kinds of anime than what you usually do. This anime is called “Hyouka” its one part mystery one part high school slice of life. Those two elements mesh together very well despite them seeming like they wouldn’t. Our protagonist is Houtarou played by Yuichi Nakamura sounding unlike I’ve ever heard him sound before. It follows him and his friends in his school’s classics club as they try to figure out various mysteries surrounding the school. It sounds simple, but amazingly enough there’s a tremendous amount of depth to the anime. A lot of symbolism behind their use of color, a lot of foreshadowing, I’ve only watched it once but I’ve been told its an anime you discover new things about upon each rewatch and I believe it. A lot of people seem to overlook the rewatch value in something and truthfully not everything has it. Some shows or movies lose their magic when you go back to them, but it takes a considerable amount of skill to create something that keeps giving and giving. Part of why I believe this has that special rewatch value is that these main characters are interesting and flawed in ways that make you want to keep experiencing things with them. Some people I guess didn’t like the way it ended, but given these characters I felt like it was a conclusion that made sense. I feel like this anime has not gotten the amount of attention it fully deserves. Compared to other things by Kyoani it seems like this one falls under people’s radar and I think that’s unfortunate as its just as impressive as something like the previously mentioned “Hibike Euphonium”.

When you hear the name “Flip Flappers” you probably imagine a Nickelodeon cartoon about talking ducks. Or at least I did. In actuality its one of the most interesting anime from 2016. I didn’t see it until this year obviously, but I remember people talking about it and how amazing the animation was. While “Mob Psycho 100″ is my favorite anime from 2016, I do think this is an anime with a lot to share too. Its directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama who directed one of the more artistic episodes of “Space Dandy” and in between that episode and this anime its clear that he’s someone with a strong vision and unique style. “Flip Flappers” is another anime that I feel screen caps do not do justice to, you need to see the characters move to really see just how brilliant the designs are. There’s something about this art style that only looks good in motion for me. Clearly they’re very striking, but the animation itself on the characters is very smooth and the way the anime uses colors makes me smile. I’m just happy anime are still using strong color palettes and not giving me this dull wash of grey in an attempt to look more serious. Story wise I can’t help but feel like “Flip Flappers” is a big Gainax homage up to and including the cartoonish animal sidekick. I wouldn’t say its exactly like any one Gainax anime though. Many compared it to “FLCL” and those are two radically different anime. The qualities people found similar between them are what I think can be chalked up to this feeling like an homage, but when it comes to the plot and these characters and what the show is striving for its really doing its own thing. You cannot tell me that this is just like “FLCL”, its still got its own identity. Some of the plot points I was able to predict as things developed, but in the end everything comes together in a very satisfying fashion. The characters I wanted to see happy got to be happy and the conflict is concluded in a satisfying way. I hope after this we get to see more from Oshiyama as I’m sure we haven’t seen the best of him yet.

Its become very clear to me that “Made in Abyss” is most people’s favorite anime of the year and I think its obvious why they love it that much. This is a really special anime and I am so proud of the team for getting a second season. I think what makes this anime so strong is that this world does feel fleshed out. We are discovering it along with Riko and Reg, but it still feels fully realized and it enhances the sense of wonder and terror that looms throughout the episodes. Its a thing that’s been said to death about anime that frankly aren’t that good, but this is an anime where the characters do feel like they’re in real danger. On the surface it looks like just a sweet show about kids wandering the forest. And I admit the screen cap I chose certainly makes it appear that way, when I make these posts I like to sometimes select misleading or out of context caps for kicks. But this anime goes to some very intense and unnerving areas. I really believed that Riko was going to need to lose her arm. When we got the flashback about Nanachi and Mitty I was shocked by how far they went. We all still talk about Nina from the “Fullmetal Alchemist” franchise, doesn’t matter which version. And as emotionally powerful as that was we still didn’t actually see it happen to her. Here such a trauma doesn’t happen off camera, you see it all and it leaves you with a feeling that is hard to shake off. This isn’t a nihilistic story though. I never get the feeling that this is one of those “life sucks and then you die” stories. As intense as the show gets there is still this feeling that something good could come out of it even after everything we learn about the Curse of the Abyss. Riko and Reg ultimately haven’t lost the spark in their eyes and that means so much to me. I don’t want a miserable experience, I want to see the characters move through their situation. While it isn’t my personal favorite 2017 anime “Made in Abyss” definitely is up there as one of the best we’ve gotten from this weird year.

One of the great tragedies of the anime world is losing Satoshi Kon at such a premature age. He still had ideas, there’s no telling what else he could have created if he never got sick. There is a gaping hole in the anime world that he left behind and nobody can replace him as proven by the complicated production for his still unfinished film “Dreaming Machine”. His movies are difficult to obtain in America, hopefully we’ll see them rereleased in the near future because to deny audiences of his work really gives me a bad feeling. I think about people who may want to watch them, but can’t because they’re so difficult to get your hands on. I really don’t like that. So long as there remains an interest in his work though I’d like to believe he will remain a figure of importance. I had always wanted to watch “Paranoia Agent” and really regret not seeking it out sooner. I didn’t even know the plot, I just knew he made it and that was enough to sway me. Going in blind my assumption based on the official art I had seen was that it was about a punk kid solving a surreal mystery in his city. I’m honestly happy I was given something far more imaginative than that. This series exists because Kon had all of these story ideas and concepts, but felt none could justify a feature length film. So he piled them all together and created a thread that connected them and this series was born. What impressed me right out the gate was seeing that the quality of animation in this show still holds up. Not a lot of TV anime from the 2000s have aged well for various reasons, but this still looks good. His style was something that I feel will always look good and its impressive to this day. And the writing and overall structure to this anime is just tight. The twists and turns and various interwoven stories were handled wonderfully. Despite how much I enjoyed this anime I will say that there was an episode that just took me out of it all. Episode eight just felt awkward and honestly goofy which is something I never associated with Kon by any means. I wish it wasn’t there as it breaks up the flow the episodes had built up. In spite of that I was happy with the anime. My personal favorite episodes were the second and third ones. And the overall message this anime carries about facing reality is something that while not new for an anime is done in a very emotional and gripping way. Kon only got to make so much within his short lifetime, but what’s there is impressive. They were all so interesting and expertly made by a true visionary. And we will never seen anything like them again.

And here is the third in the “YOI was disappointing so let’s find better LBGT anime” trio. “No.6″ is a really engaging anime. The sci-fi aspects to the story were interesting, I went in blind outside of knowing it was LBGT and found everything to be very curious. I told myself at the time to only watch a few episodes and I ended up watching all of it in one go because it grabbed me. It also helps that it stars two really great seiyuu. I always liked Yuuki Kaji and even if he’s been in pretty much every anime these days I have never had a problem with that because I don’t feel like I’m listening to Eren whenever he appears. And Yoshimasa Hosoya I knew was a good voice actor, but I had no idea he could sing that well. The characters they portray are both very interesting and seeing their relationship bloom through the episodes was one of the best qualities to the show. Like with all good romances it develops and progresses naturally, it felt like all of their interactions were leading into this deep rich relationship forming. The romance while a major selling point in my opinion isn’t all the anime is about though, its got a really interesting sci-fi plot where we watch Shion face the cruel nature of the world he lives in that he had up until then been sheltered from. With Nezumi, someone who’s lived in that cruelty his whole life, by his side Shion is ultimately forced to face whether or not the city he once called home is worth saving. I don’t want to reveal too much else about this piece of the story. Just know that its something that builds to a massive and emotionally powerful climax in which I was brought to tears out of pure relief. Its got a strong plot, a romance you actively root for, and despite being made in 2011 I’d argue it holds up very well from a visual standpoint.

Moisture is the essence of wetness. And wetness is the essence of beauty. How the hell did we get here? The swimming anime? Really? Well guess what despite its status as a meme the anime is actually really great. When this first came out I just thought it looked like the dumbest yaoi bait thing. I was wrong though. "Free” is certainly transparent about its fanservice, but that kind of gives it all a charm. Of coarse them being swimmers means seeing them shirtless a lot, but when its actual fanservice its pretty clearly fanservice and there’s something about how they did it that just made me smile. What I think the anime was successful at was just crafting a very fun and lighthearted sports anime. I think its so easy for sports to result in a lot of angst and drama and this does have some dramatic elements, but they never feel excessive. Something that was also appreciated was Mamoru Miyano not playing a douchebag for once. Seriously it doesn’t happen very often for whatever reason. There was Ling Yao, Tamaki, Riku, and that’s kind of it. Rin starts off as a typical rival jock, but as you get to know him that all breaks down and he ends up being a good friend to everyone in the second season which warmed my heart. After everything it was nice to see that and Rin was probably my favorite character as a result. These characters generally speaking were all very likeable and the seiyuu cast just got me so excited. Rei was probably my second favorite character and him being played by Daisuke Hirakawa just sweetened the deal. There are people would still think the series is too ridiculous for them, but I feel like those people never really gave it a fair try. Its a fun anime about a bunch of boys who love swimming, it never pretends its anything else. I have not watched the movies or the OVAs, I only watched the first and second season but trust me I am eating my old words. And I look forward to the third season when it arrives.

Is this the greatest anime ever made? Its definitely one of the best the 2000s has to offer. I remember when “K-On” came out and people really hyping it up, but I just never got around to it. What impresses me about this anime is how it left a very noticeable impact on not just Kyoani as a studio, but on anime in general. This anime isn’t even ten years old and there’s already proof that its left its mark. The moe boom was a big thing and I understand there’s people who don’t like that kind of anime, but what I have seen has been very enjoyable. In between this and “Tamako Market” I can’t decide which one I prefer, but they’re very close and incidentally both are made by the same team. Naoko Yamada making an anime like this when she was just in her 20s is still impressive to me, especially with how much of an improvement the second season was. Season one was great and a lot of fun, but it was season two that really brought it to a new level. The animation got a lot better and I feel like the episodes themselves had a little extra something to them. Everything just felt elevated. A lot of people seem to hate anime like this and I’m just not going to agree with them. Especially with all of the misinformation regarding these types of shows. “K-On” is about a group of girls in their school’s light music club and watching them connect, its not a skeevy fanservice show designed to sell itself to otaku that live in their mother’s basement and don’t bathe. This anime was a big hit and had a large female audience in Japan because people enjoyed these characters and its humor. They could relate to them and share in the fun experiences they have. When you watch this anime you really feel this sense of camaraderie among the girls and feel like they’ve grown once you reach its finale. Something as simple as that still makes for a great show. Big epic shonen anime aren’t this end all be all. I say this as someone who really loves shonen anime and manga, while its the most popular kind out there it isn’t the only type that matters. A big theme with the anime I discussed in this post is I don’t need a big sweeping plot if the characters pick up the slack and entertain me. This cast does that and then some. I loved these girls and seeing their banter and what they were up to. I loved seeing them grow and I loved seeing them perform. I enjoyed every minute of it. That being said its also an anime that knew when to stop. We really did not need a third season where the girls were in college. This felt like a complete experience and I look forward to revisiting it in the future.

So I said “Made in Abyss” seems to be most people’s favorite anime of the year. Well for me personally after rewatching “Little Witch Academia” its mine. I watched the first two episodes and immediately went and watched the 2013 movie and the 2015 OVA. As I was watching the episodes when they came out I was surprised to see that it was giving more of a slice of life feeling in favor of a more plot heavy tone. This is something I love about it now, but at the time I expected it to have a structure like “Kill la Kill” and midway through I stopped watching every week but fully intended on coming back when it ended. And I did and I loved it. The choice to adopt this type of writing works in favor with it and yet when its bigger plot does kick in it doesn’t feel out of place like the one in the finale for “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” did. And it was so much fun that I watched it all again recently. This world and these characters are just so charming. Akko is one of the best protagonists in recent years, Sucy and Lotte are adorable and play off of Akko fantastically, Diana has great development, Chariot was very likeable, Croix is actually I villain I cared about. I wanted to know more about her. The problem with Ragyo from “Kill la Kill” is she was so evil that I didn’t want to know more about her, it felt like all I needed to know was she was evil and had an amazing theme song, but Croix genuinely had me intrigued. Something I want to give the anime major credit for, especially from Trigger, is they chose not to make this sexual. There is no sexy fanservice, we don’t see up the girl’s skirts when they ride their brooms, Croix is fully clothed, even Chariot’s costume in her performances isn’t actually sexual despite it being a bustier style top, after something as in your face as “Kill la Kill” I’m happy they went the opposite route and gave us something that I believe all ages can enjoy. You could show this to a kid and not have to worry about them seeing something trashy. The voice cast is great too. Megumi Han as Akko is just as fantastic as she was as Gon in the 2011 “Hunter x Hunter” anime. Diana’s seiyuu Yoko Hikasa was Mio in “K-On” and she is just great at capturing that haughty tone Diana required. Junko Takeuchi the once and eternal Naruto blew my mind as Croix. I never would have guessed that was the same voice actress as him. Granted this was the first time I ever heard her voice a woman, I’ve only heard her play boys, but she hit it out of the park. And hearing Noriko Hidaka was a real treat. She voiced Akane in “Ranma 1/2″ and Kikyo in “Inuyasha” and it just felt good hearing her voice someone like Chariot. The creator of the series Yoh Yoshinari has said he’d like to continue the franchise with a new season and even showed interest in a spinoff about Chariot or Lotte’s “Night Fall” books. I really hope he can do all the things with this that he wants to do. People did crowdfund this series so we know for a fact people wanted it and came back to tune in when it aired. And I hope as the years go by more people discover this anime because I truly think it captures a lot of things people want anime to do.

At Anime Boston in 2015 I saw this AMV and immediately knew this is something I had been overlooking for far too long. “Yu Yu Hakusho” is my favorite anime I’ve seen all year. Its probably strange to other people to find out there’s people who haven’t seen it, but some of us did not have the luxury of getting Cartoon Network growing up. I went into this anime very blind, I didn’t know anything about its plot. What I expected was this monster hunter type of story, essentially I expected “Hunter x Hunter” meets “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”. I did not get that, but I’m very happy with what I was given instead. Let’s start with the fact that it has the best introduction to any character ever. I love seeing how protagonists get introduced. "Yu Yu Hakusho”, your protagonist is fucking dead. That’s honestly so amazing that I applaud Togashi for coming up with that. I’m happy the series didn’t drag out the amount of time it took for Yusuke to come back to life, it would have been rather dull I think to center the story around that. Also the day I started watching this anime coincidentally was Easter. Just wanted to share that. Watching this anime there are definitely motifs and ideas comparable to “Hunter x Hunter”, but by no means are they the same story. Gon and Yusuke are near polar opposites and while “Yu Yu Hakusho” never goes as deep as “Hunter x Hunter” did it also manages to pull off things that in other shonen would have pissed me off. I really enjoyed the Dark Tournament episodes. I am someone who isn’t always very engaged when watching fights that drag for episodes on end, but not here. There was just something to it all that felt right, this felt like how a battle tournament arc should be. I was also very happy to see that even in a series like this Togashi was still willing to create characters who are not intended to be placed on a pedestal purely because they’re main characters. In this and in “Hunter x Hunter” he makes it clear to you that your main characters will make mistakes, they will do things that aren’t virtuous, and you are not supposed to ignore them just because these are your main characters. But all of that is fine because your characters need flaws in order to feel dynamic. Just like with its younger brother these are characters you still feel very invested in. Much like “Haikyuu” all your characters are cute. And I really loved seeing all of them grow. Yusuke feels very unique compared to other shonen protagonists, Kuwabara underwent great development, Kurama felt like a character the shonen genre doesn’t have enough of, Hiei was always fascinating. In the hands of someone else Hiei would have been boring and that’s just not acceptable. No one writes characters like Togashi. And this seiyuu cast. Yusuke is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki who was Tetsuo in the film “Akira” and Julian in “Legend of the Galactic Heroes”, Shigeru Chiba who I fucking adore was Kuwabara, Megumi Ogata as Kurama was fantastic, Nobuyuki Hiyama as Hiei was perfect, Mayumi God damn Tanaka was Koenma, there’s so much talent in this cast. I also want to give the series credit for including some romance. Granted Yusuke and Keiko’s relationship wasn’t handled in depth like say Kagome and Inuyasha’s, but it does develop and feel believable. I was so happy seeing them kiss in the end especially after everything Keiko saw him get involved with. The fact that she wasn’t in the dark about everything was also appreciated. i know her involvement in the plot was only so much, but I liked that she wasn’t out of the picture entirely. In between this anime and “Hunter x Hunter” its really difficult to say which one I like the most, but I will honestly say that “Yu Yu Hakusho” is one of the greatest shonen anime in history. It might even be the best in history. It accomplishes all of the things I expect from a shonen while at the same time providing me with plenty of surprises and concepts I did not see coming. Arigatou gozaimasu.

#oh no a personal post

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