zak-kondo

[zak-kondo]

The funny part to me when the fat man falls on paprika is that they cut out instead of what you ussually see where a man falls on a woman, touchign her breasts or something.

fatman is so bad at assessing hte situation he culd come off as an accompish to due imcompotent logic.

iti s man's responsibility to control science nad techonogloy says the hairman, but htis same man fights for possession of it.

What is terrorism

im ridig the anikme ocean waves

visually and surrealy paprika is portrayed as a superhero

the story is about how your subconscious affects you dreams

Kon's creativity is about not goign stritly by hte book, but ti pick up imrpovised idea on the spot, and use them if you feels instictively that htey are good

kon sometimes realizes he is dreaming, and remembers those if he want to alter them for use in anime like he did in paprika scenes. underwater mermaid darkness one and paprika monkey ring swallowed by butterflies are 2 exmaples. not sure if there are more.

"I didn't think about that possibility at all. I have never done psychedelic drugs, so I wouldn't really know. I'm not able to imagine that what I conceived in my mind would be the same as the images one might get from taking psychedelic drugs."

reality vs illusion in the movies. this is one way he tries to make his films engaging:

", to be moved by that experience, is important. The goal is to force the audience to participate in the movie."

The author liked the movie so much, he said he wished he could have added certain anime only lines like where the two paprikas talk about you are me, or me is you and fatty"

"Mr. Yasutaka, who viewed Paprika after it was completed, said that in a sense the movie was very true to the novel. He said that it was faithful in that it had an attitude of breaking through common-sense notions."

On religious things in the parade:

"These are things that were thrown away, that are now returning. A hundred years ago in Japan, there was much religiosity. In these modern times, it's become rare. Go to a Shinto shrine, and you might see the gates. Go to a Buddhist temple, and you might see the statues. You might see maneki-neko, and all of these things are now coming back. It's as if they've all returned from the unconscious. Of course, it cannot be helped that these things are being thrown away. However, I would like to see that they not lost completely."

Why blend fantasy and reality?

"There is the reality that we are living, and there are also the thoughts we see. It seems as if these are separated. However, we ourselves experience this in quite a synthesized manner. I might be here in this restaurant in Washington, talking to you today, and my consciousness is focused on this interview at hand. However, I might also notice that you remind me of a teacher I had when was in junior high school in Japan. And so that brings me back to that time and place, which is different from this time and this place. I wanted to see if it was possible to create that overlap between reality and illusion."

On the parade:

"What fascinates me in dreams is the idea that they emanate from our subconscious. I think that there are many possibilities to interpret dreams but a great deal of mystery always remains. When a dream is explained to us, it’s necessary to know the personal context of the subject. For example, what his childhood was like, his adolescence, his interpersonal relations. You’ve got to understand all these elements in order to tally up the dream and to decode it. At the cinema, that can’t happen because the approach demands the introduction of too many elements. In order for viewers to identify with this dream, I chose a parade which makes one think automatically of other common dreams and unconscious states. There are very old characters like objects that are discarded by people today or religious symbols that people have forgotten. I think that even nowadays, people have forgotten the importance of dreams."

on the internet:

"To my way of thinking, the Internet has two functions. First of all, as any other tool, like television and the telephone. But in addition to this function, I think that the Internet possesses similarities to dreams. For example, dreams take place at night. You enter into a very vast universe. The Internet is the very same thing. Fanatics log on the Internet at night. In both cases, there are two universes which remove us from reality."

Should movies be comprehensible?

"I don’t think so.

Whether I am in the audience or in the crew, I can say with confidence that movies that are 100% comprehensible are absolutely boring.

Of course, unlike dreams, most of the things expressed in movies are expected to arouse audiences’ empathy.  But without some kind of a mysterious aftertaste, I believe the movie wouldn’t leave much of an impression.  Needless to say, that “mystery” wouldn’t prove effective if it confuses the story, or if it has developed from the writer’s selfish reasons.  The “mystery” that I’m talking about is, in other words, “a little margin” that leaves some room for the audience’s imaginations.

And the mystery can well exist in anything—in the pictures, the characters’ feelings, the storyline, or even in the setting.  But in any case, the audience would still be able to put the pictures together and undergo their “original” experience of the movie with some help from their own imagination, even without understanding where the mystery lies.  Watching the very same movie and having different thus original ways of experiencing it, is indeed a big similarity between filmmaking and dreaming."

On atsuko and paprika"

"These expressions can be interpreted in a wide sense, but as you have pointed out, in Paprika, obvious doubling can be seen in the heroines Atsuko Chiba and Paprika.  These characters actually developed from the same person’s two distinct personalities, but as the director I considered them two different people when directing.  That way, I thought I could describe a person’s inner conflict and antagonism more clearly.

I’ve seen Atsuko Chiba as a “father’s daughter.”  It’s a psychological term for a woman who regards her father as the archetypal hero, and this kind of person tends to be very particular about “following an example.” Atsuko Chiba, too, is the kind who prioritizes “what she’s supposed to do”, suppressing her desire of “what she wants to do.”

Because of this, she thinks she lacks emotions, or it’s more like she finds it difficult to express her feelings.  And as a result, she doesn’t know how to express her feelings in romantic relationships where a gush of emotions is supposed to be seen.

I’ve thought that Atsuko Chiba’s personality careening to the extreme stimulated Paprika’s emotional, wild side, and as a consequence, the two lost touch with each other and ended up splitting.  But this doesn’t mean one is good and the other is bad—it’s the balance that is important, and both sides are to be blamed for not maintaining it.  The big image of a woman that is reborn at the climax is indeed the mature version of Atsuko and Paprika integrated."

*We started developing Paprika while we were still in production on Paranoia Agent.

on the importance of making paprika:

"I realized I had been influenced by him far more than I expected. In fact, after I finished making Perfect Blue, I considered making Paprika as my next film, not with Madhouse but with the producer who financed Perfect Blue, but that company (Rex Entertainment) unfortunately went bankrupt. But I did have the idea in my mind of making Paprika back in 1998. When I met Tsutsui-san and got his blessing to make it into a film, it was as if something came true that I'd had in my mind for a long time. The visualization of the film goes beyond the initial concept. It's a film that demanded to be made in this era. It's something I had to make, a personal commitment."

on CG in anime:

"Yes, there was. We considered how far we could expand the possibilities using computer graphics, so the role that CG played in this film was bigger than in my previous work. The biggest challenge was that in all kinds of 3D and 2D animation, there's a big divide between hand-drawn analog animation and digital animation. In all the projects I've seen, it's been difficult to blend them harmoniously. I prefer hand-drawn imagery myself, so my biggest challenge was how to blend them so the textures worked together."

More on the parade and how it was heading towards reality:

"The parade itself is something I came up with. It's one of the most important motifs for me, and wasn't in the original story. I didn't feel a strong desire that I had to change the original story, but the novel was very text-based and psychological. Trying to visualize all that text couldn't compete with the novel as it is, so I had to find a way in one visual step to represent the mindset of the novel and that became the parade of inanimate objects. Where that parade goes is also interesting - it overflows into reality. It starts in the desert, which is the furthest point from civilization, through the jungle, over a bridge, and finally intrudes into reality."

more on the internet:

"where internet is prevalent, people can anonymously seek or release things they can't speak of offline, as if there's a part of the subconscious that's uncontrollable and comes out on the internet. That is very much like dreams. This may be a very visualistic analogy, but I've always thought we drop down into dreams, and when you're sitting in front of your computer and connect to the internet, you're also going down into some kind of underworld. I've always thought those two images had something in common. I'm not trying to say that dreams and the internet are good or bad, I'm trying to saying that there's good and bad that cannot be judged in both worlds. Some people say that in the virtual world, different rules exist or try to say that a lot of vicious things happen there, but I don't think there's a reason to differentiate the virtual world from reality because reality includes that virtual world."

view on where anime dustry is going and dreaming machine:

"As far as Japanese animation, I'm not in the habit of giving overviews in that way, but I know from personal experience the number of animated productions is increasing and that there's not enough staff to go around. Which directions animation will go in is something I never really thought about, but I do think that there needs to be more education because the crews aren't maturing. Those people who have access to the technology are often over 40 and they can't work forever. For animation to continue at the same level or to go beyond is going to be difficult. As far as where my own filmmaking is going, I have an idea for a children's story, but with the same kind of realistic techniques. I've honed those techniques over the years and they're difficult to just stop using. So, I think changing my subject matter will force me in new directions."

On why film over animation:

"Depending on what the idea of the project is, some mediums are more suited for a particular idea. As far as TV series goes, the schedule is generally much tighter, and the budgets are much smaller as well. You have to choose which part you want to emphasize – if it’s an interesting story you have to tell the story right, so it’s a little bit of a challenge. As far as a feature film goes, the final length may only be 90 minutes or two hours, but you do have a much bigger budget to work with and much more time on the schedule so you’re able to produce something that is higher quality. While there may be fewer minutes to work with than a TV series, it’s more packed full of quality per minute than a TV series is. I prefer film."

on the chiba and fatty romance:

"Yes, Dr. Tokita is purposely portrayed as a pretty nerdy scientist, that was something we were aware of, and of course physically, he's certainly not a good match for Dr. Chiba, who is very beautiful. I actually think that the unbalance there is good. It's in the original work that this somewhat mismatched couple do end up together at the end, but I really liked that in the original work. Perhaps it's not often seen as a couple in the real world, but if you look at it this way, Dr. Tokita has a very childlike world view, which is not quite in harmony with the enormous genius he possesses and his intellect. Dr. Chiba, she also has this unbalance in herself in that she has almost this multiple personality situation and this alter-ego Paprika, so in a way, these two people who are both somewhat unbalanced in themselves come together, compliment each other and bring more harmony into each other's lives. That's why it's a great couple."

purpose of paprika and also on rewatch value:

"As a basic rule, there has not been a big difference in how audiences have been enjoying the film overseas and in Japan. Also as a basic rule, my intention was to make a film that seen once would not be enough, so I think that's basically been the case overseas and in Japan. With "Paprika," the idea is that I wanted to create a film that is more like an attraction in an amusement park. For example, what's fun about a rollercoaster is not because you understand the angles it turns or the particular rate of acceleration or anything like that, but it's fun and you enjoy it. I think "Paprika" has been created to have the same effect. If you think about times when you've had a very odd, interesting or curious dream and you wake up and are a little astounded and a little bit dazed, and it makes you think about why you had such an odd dream. If people have the same effect after watching the movie, then that would be great. If you're the type of person who wants to know more about that dream you had and why you had it, then it would be great if you watch the movie again."

More on the parade:

"For example, people are less religious compared to 100 years ago, and traditional icons have lost their real meanings and are now mere fashion items. And during the years of rapid economic growth, people have thrown away cars and appliances that can still be used, and repeatedly gone through the buy-and-trash cycles.  As I thought about the trash, I cultivated the image of them coming back to real life through the dream world.  I saw the parallel connection between that “trash” and the suppressed dreams and the unconscious state that modern age people have ignored."

on repeating scenes in his movies:

"“Repetition” is a common phenomenon seen in our dreams, and therefore I did attempt to adopt the idea in Paprika. Actually I have used repeating images not only in Paprika, but in my previous works such as Perfect Blue and Sennen Joyu [Millennium Actress].  Repetition of similar scenes undergoing slight changes is very dreamlike, and also, it is an effective way of expressing the mental/emotional changes within the dreaming character, along with the passage of time. If the scenes are almost the same, but have an obvious but slight change, the audience would definitely focus on that point.

The importance lies in the obviousness at a glance, and since it is very visual, it would be hard to implement this in novels and literary works.

The more similar the scenes are, the more striking the changes.  It is similar to music where the same motif repeats itself like A、A'、A''…undergoing changes and developing into variations, and I think dreams and visual expressions are musical at the same time."

on his creative process:

" I wouldn’t have a hard time coming up with creations and expressions if I knew what kind of stimulation I need, or what kind of condition I should be in to get inspiration.  That way I should be able to meet all the deadlines, but unfortunately, I haven’t acquired it yet.

In Paprika, I found it very difficult to come up with the images of dream scenes.  Those dream people don’t follow logic or linguistic connections, development, or coherency.  In other words, dreams unfold in one’s right brain, not the left, controlled by its visual connections.

And that means, the more linguistically and logically I pile images up, the farther away I end up from what’s characteristic of dreams. But of course, I can’t think of ideas in my sleep, so when preparing the storyboard, I actively utilized the idea of “association.”

In this process, I see things around me, like collections of paintings and photos, music and creations at our work, the dreams and experiences I had, and conversations with the staff.  And from there, an image occurs, and I keep associating the images vaguely to other things, and after a while I come across this image that I never would have even expected.  I draw that image, and once again keep thinking of associated images.  I narrow them down into one image and draw it again, and this just keeps going.

What’s important when choosing the images is how well they go with the picture, and not with the scenario or with the story.  When connecting the images, I had to be careful not to have similar and linked images adjacent to each other.  If they are linked, you don’t see the jump, but at the same time, if the jump is too big, you won’t be able to tell the connection.  I wanted the images to unfold in unexpected ways, but still be subtly understandable.  This kind of standard was a delicate one to work on, and that should explain why the completion of the storyboard was greatly delayed."

on sexuality in paprika:

"I didn’t really think sexual metaphor and metonymy were necessary as a part of the plot, but since dreams reflect suppressed sexual desires, needless to mention what Freud said, I thought it was indispensable to this movie which has got a lot to do with dreams.

However, sexual depiction is more obvious in the original, adding more appeal to it.  But if we kept the same kind of atmosphere in the film version, it would be pornography under certain circumstances.  But also, if we eliminated the sexual overtones, the dreams would just be an eccentric theme park.  The scary, dark sides of dreams would be lost.  Dreams are fun and mysterious, and at the same time they scare you beyond your imaginations.   I’ve mentioned earlier that I put importance on “Tai (opposition, contrast),” but I found the double and multi-sidedness of dreams also as important.

In the movie Paprika, I believe the most obvious sexual expression is seen when Osanai captures Paprika and then sticks his hands inside her to tear her apart.  This is nearly rape, but this is what I came up with to show the direct sexual expression in the original in a form other than sex.

And actually the importance of this scene lies not only in the shocking sexual expression, but also in the childish desire and personality of Osanai who tries to use his force to control her.  This reflects his selfishness of not accepting her entire personality but only picking out what he finds favourable.  That’s why he doesn’t desire the Paprika-Atsuko personality as a whole, but lusts the Atsuko part, resulting in him extracting Atsuko from Paprika’s body.

On the other hand, Tokita, the man who says he swallows anything, is the complete opposite of Osanai.  He accepts Paprika and Atsuko as a whole, and I think that’s why Atsuko realizes her love for him towards the end.

And there’s one more image I had concerning the sexual overtone.  I considered Paprika, who enters the clients’ dreams to treat them, as “hetaira,” a sibyl and prostitute of  ancient Greece and Asia who had sex with the worshippers to give them divine revelation and blessings.

I guess I didn’t hesitate giving the heroine Paprika a sexual overtone because I considered her the modern age “hetaira.”"

[zak-kondo]

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[zak-kondo]

The lessons of Gerda's travels made her mature. She was always a fiery character at heart. She's not afraid to move over you if you don't move over. Towards the end, she comes to be more than a mere farm girl, hardened by her journey. She'll need it for the battle between good and evil she'll be forced to partake in that Kai lays at the center of.

Ragi the passionate minstrel carries the burden of being the only survivor of the war. Filled with guilt, he wonders why The Snow Queen only saved him. while moving hearts with his music, and teaching Gerda his wisdom, he is also on this own journey, because he wants to understand the queen, and settle the misunderstandings.

As the Snow Queen watches over Kai in her ice castle, it reminded me a lot of the dynamic between Maetel and Tetsuro from Galaxy Express 999. The issue since the beginning has been the broken mirror. It shattered, and the shards spread across the world, corrupting that which they touch, by changing the hearts of those affected. Many of the episodes show how even the kindest people can become monsters. Another touching part of this anime is the focus on redemption. As much as a character might be unlikeable, it explores how one can make up for it. To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.

While with Gerda, a shard went into Kai's eye. Kai's own dilemma afterwards is to help rebuild the broken mirror for the Ice Queen. But the shard he has has travelled into his heart. Even if Gerda finds him, there is still another issue. The climaxes at the end left me even more tear eyed. At the same time, The pay off felt magnificent. Despite the issues, such as the bad animation at times, that Dezaki himself never managed to overcome, The Snow Queen made me feel, and won me over, as the type of anime I look for.

Thank you for watching.

https://nyaa.si/view/1003268

https://nyaa.si/view/1560349

https://anihdplay.com/download?id=MjAxMjg1&typesub=Gogoanime-SUB&title=Megaton-kyuu+Musashi+2nd+Season+Episode+15

https://anihdplay.com/download?id=MTEyOTI4&typesub=Gogoanime-SUB&title=Dragon+Ball%20Super%20Movie:%20Broly+Episode+1

https://anihdplay.com/download?id=MTY4ODg0&typesub=Gogoanime-SUB&title=Gundam%3A+G+no+Reconguista+Movie+II+-+Bellri+Gekishin+Episode+1

https://anihdplay.com/download?id=MTk4NDQ4&typesub=Gogoanime-SUB&title=Gundam%3A+G+no+Reconguista+Movie+III+-+Uchuu+kara+no+Isan+Episode+1

https://anihdplay.com/download?id=MTM2Nzkw&typesub=Gogoanime-SUB&title=Gundam%3A+G+no+Reconguista+Movie+I+-+Ike%21+Core+Fighter+Episode+1

https://mangadex.org/chapter/315cf54f-05ae-4749-95dc-9b74c2e3d5cb/2

[zak-kondo]

The Snow Queen is a fairytale, a series of them, meshed together. They are tragic and bittersweet stories that were written almost 200 years ago by Hans Christian Andersen. Together with Dezaki's script and storyboard enhancements, the viewer is once again pulled into those classic Dezaki emotions that brought the viewers to tears in Ashita no Joe, and in The Rose of Versailles. It's Gerda's painful, but beautiful journey to search for her missing childhood friend. It's a personal journey for myself, as this felt like Dezaki was saying goodbye. After looking at his last works after this, none came close to this as the final great Dezaki work for me.

This anime changed my perception of episodic anime. When it comes to anime like that, such as Dirty Pair, or Violet Evergarden, it tends to be hit or miss. It feels as if it is difficult to constantly come up with completely new stories and characters in these, because they don't have much to do with following into the main plot, and can't lean on it. As a result, each one has to try hard to be great on it's own without the plot.  The Snow Queen changed that thought for me. All of the 36 episodes, and each of the many episodic ones, moved me. There wasn't a single episode I didn't like, and it surprised me.

This is also the anime that made me look more critically at Violet Evergarden. Violet Evergarden is a lot like this, except the Snow Queen does it better, in my opinion. I didn't have anything to compare Violet Evergarden to before, and now that I have a similar anime to compare it too, I have a new yard stick to judge it by. Because of the Snow Queen, and the quality of it, I ended up lowering Violet Evergarden's score, and replacing it with this on my favorites.

Some say this is a children's anime. However, Many of the stories presented here can be so dark and terrible, that it's surprising. I cried several times throughout the series, and thanks to Dezaki's direction, the stories are not just interesting, but so unpredictable, that the viewers never know where the story is going to go. It has so many plot twists. The good about this is that they are written cleverly and cohesively. They are not written in a sloppy manner, such as in Code Geass.

With some episodes, you think it can't get any worse, though it does. Then, it surprises you with tear jerking surprises, and then still continues to plummet downhill and tear your emotions apart. That's how I felt while watching this.

What I am not saying, is that this is a depressing anime. Gerda's friendship with Kai, and her struggle to find him is also filled with hilarious amusement.

https://gogohd.pro/download?id=MTUzMDkz&typesub=Gogoanime-SUB&title=Macross+F+Movie+1%3A+Itsuwari+no+Utahime+Episode+1

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https://ny.iss.one/view/1282699

[zak-kondo]

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1.Macross 7 and Romance 2.No one knows where it will go 3.You'd think that you will know 4.The little cupid's strange Arrow 5.There is Mylene and Sivil 6.Gamlin and Gigil 7.Flower Girl and Basara 8. And then all the emotions run

8. But I cannot decide 9. I thought Mylene was best 10. and then Sivil came in 11. What is Gamlin doing? 12. You will lose your chance 13. Someone else takes the pass

14. Even more get involved 15. Who do I even root for 16. But I just can't decide anymore 17. Why Does Macross torture me so

[zak-kondo]

Macross 7 is a passionately written, music driven series. Nekki Basara touched my soul and set it on fire, as I connected with him on a spiritual level. It's unique that this series abandons the typical background music approach, by using the setting and characters instead. Every episode felt like a concert, as I screamed along the lyrics. At the same time, a love triangle plays out, while the Zentradi from the original Macross, continue to haunt the humans by stealing their spiritia.

Including the extra plus, encore, Galaxy, and Dynamite side content and sequel, I experienced something so magnificent, it almost surpassed Ashita no Joe for me. I listened to Basara's song, and sang along.

Macross 7 is a spiritually liberating series about a wandering rock star, and his unique philosophy on life. He travels the galaxy to sing his songs to friend or foe. I enjoy the feelings of freedom and positive energy he emits. There's a message here to travel the world, be free, and to keep struggling and pushing forward with your dreams. As the sequel to SDF Macross, Max and Milia return as well.

I love how Gamlin's character plays out. At first, he and the viewers don't understand what Basara is doing, as they see Basars singing in the battlefield, only dodging and not attacking. Their relationship gets greatly developed, as well as the viewer's with basara, as Gamlin, the viewers, and even the antagonists, begin to understand, and also sing along.

song about how the passion and how riduclous it was to see bassara singing.

[zak-kondo]

https://gogohd.net/download?id=MTkzMjkw&title=Muv-Luv+Alternative+2nd+Season+Episode+1&mip=0.0.0.0&refer=https://gogoanime.dk/&ch=d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e&token2=C8DQoymZ7CFj8nRV6uh7_w&expires2=1664995897&op=1

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Introduction:

Looking at it now, things have been looking more and more up. Last month, I was very busy with everything I crammed in and wanted to do. I ended up exhausted at the of the season, and couldn't even finish all the reviews I wanted to do. That reminds me, if you want to keep up with all of my content, and haven't already, I have an Anilist account where I have plenty of reviews that I did not have enough time to make videos for here. It's sort of like a Twitter for me too, since I don't actually use Twitter.

Most of the past few videos were difficult to do. However, I would like to make videos faster, because I feel I am moving too slow. Being on my own, it can be a challenge, since I have to manage my time efficiently and do everything myself, while also being careful in not burning myself out, which I unfortunately did again. I went part time on my job to focus more on this too, and it has helped a lot. Don't get me wrong, I have a blast doing this, and have enjoyed watching some of the recent anime I've looked into so much, such as Macross 7, that I ended up abandoning the Summer anime season for it in the end. The Fall anime season is here now, and I am terribly behind already. I haven't even started anything yet because I've been watching Tomino's G-Reco movies. I have a plan, but with no real direction, since I tend to spontaneously do things at many times; there's no order to it.

Looking at the analytics, it's neat to see that the dislike ratio on my channel has shifted to a much more positive percentage. Overall, the numbers on my analytics have been rising more, and I've had a small and steady trickle of subscribers the past few weeks. You could say it's my fault, because I am terrible at advertising myself. However, though the arrow of my progress is long, it bends upwards.

Typically, I try to wake up early, and work on my laptop until nighttime, around the time my brother needs to go to sleep, since we share a room. I then step out into the city night, exercise, and afterwards, usually use the rest of the time to watch more anime. Other than that, I have other non-anime related things I have to do, such as working my other job, and satisfying my social life among other things.

Set up wise, I am still in the same place, for the most part. My laptop is becoming less and less functional, which is a bit worrying. I've had to improvise to get around a lot of issues. I was given a tracker mouse and an ipod recently, since the ones I was using before had just about malfunctioned and given up on me. I was also given a better mic, which I should be getting soon. At the moment, I am saving up to get better gear for all this also. It's been a journey.

With this video, I want to say things I haven't had the chance to, and to talk about all the recent videos I've made. I'll make timestamps for this one. Some of these videos, I was rushing at times, and there were other times where I was limited on what I could do again, because of the poor specifications of my laptop.

I want to keep working on my writing. Education wise, I didn't go past high school, which explains a lot of my amateurishness. I was very self-taught after that point. I don't want to be that person that can edit and use music, but lack substance in their writing. I want to push what it means to do anime analysis videos. When I pick a series, I try to make the video in the spirit of the series. It can be a challenge because I try to create the feel of every anime in each video. Some people do all their content just talking into a mic and camera, but I want to push towards something greater and more creative. My health has also not been at it's best, which I should be more careful with.

Despite all this, I am determined to follow with this as a career for the rest of my life. Those friends who laughed at me in the beginning have seen my progress, and have now come around to support me. You have to keep pushing and walking forward against the wind even if it's only small steps. And yet, maybe in the end it won't work, but I can't deny how much fun I've had out of the love of pursuing this already. The best way to give someone advice is to be the best example of it. I can talk all this motivational talk, but I have proved myself at least a little at this point, despite all my hardships and struggles against myself, other's negativity, and other things. Through the tears and hard times, I want to be the type to persevere and to never break away from that principle.

Kiki:

My video on Kiki's Delivery Service is very a personal video. It represents big part of my very uneventful childhood. I had not watched this in a while, and was hit with nostalgia by every second the film. Once I pulled all the clips I wanted out, and because I had seen this around 100 times already, I was flooded with ideas on how to build it.

I specifically chose Soaring for the introductory AMV, because it has been one of my favorite songs since I was kid. I don't often watch dubbed anime, and don't like how they often change the script and even story, but as the video says, I am biased when it comes to this.

When it came to copyright, I got hit once with the last song in the end. I got around it by lowering the volume. There's a funny part where I talk about improving my editing, and then proceed to make an editing mistake right afterwards. In the middle section, I broke away a bit to talk about people who foolishly refuse to watch older anime. I recall someone, somewhere online getting upset with me over that.

I am not saying that everyone's opinion doesn't matter. There are those who can make a great analysis without having watched older anime. What I mentioned is the importance of watching older anime. Trying to understand anime, but not wanting to bother with the classics is like trying to build a jigsaw puzzle, but deliberately throwing away half the pieces.

In the last part of the video, I tried to make the editing dance with the beat of the song. Lowering the volume makes it harder to notice, I suppose. In the end, I felt a bit embarrassed making this video because of how personal of a work it is to me, but felt I had to move outside my comfort zone, and not be a coward.

Evangelion:

This isn't really an analysis of Evangelion. It is simply as it is titled: "A Strange Evangelion Video." During those two weeks, I watched it twice, alongside the movie, and thought really hard about what it meant to me, and became frightened to see myself in many of the characters. My state of mind was in a strange place during that time, and it showed in how I made the video. I used very experimental songs, and tried to fit them with the editing. Again, it is a very personal video where I talk more about my own personal insecurities, and how I don't get along with my father. I did make a mistake in the part about the angels, and didn't reduce the volume when I started talking. Overall, I didn't know to say about Evangelion, and this was the result.

When it comes to sound, it's complicated for me, because my laptop, and the several other devices I use, all seem to have their own specific ways of mixing sound. Something might sound fine on my laptop, but too low on one of my phones. It doesn't help that I have different headphones that all sound different too. I just try to mix the volume what I think is best for everything.

Then, in the middle of the video, I made an AMV to "Four Seasons," where I showcased the brutality of Eva. That particular version of the song comes from the Legend of the Galactic Heroes soundtrack. I thought it fit best as a somewhat optimistic, but also dramatic piece. This was very fun to do, and the reason why this video managed to rise to 2,500 views and 70 likes. Making all the chaos and destruction dance with the song created something I felt really proud of.

The problem I ran into here is that because I was worried my laptop wouldn't be able to handle the amount of clips I'd get, I used a version of End of Evangelion with questionable quality. It shows, but that was what I had to do at the time. After I made that video, I found a way that helped me get somewhat around this by reducing the size of the clips by a lot by reducing the quality when exporting. Fortunately, it's hardly noticeable, as I can't see a difference.

Geist:

The Geist video is about the 2 OVA releases. What I like about MD Geist is that fascinates me with how absurdly manly Geist is, and the ridiculous violence. The beginning showcases when Geist came back down to the planet, the nasty gore from throughout, and Geist massacring characters. Being only 2 OVA releases, it was fairly easy to make this. What I wanted to really inject into this was good metal music that is not from the anime itself. As a result, I used music from Lords of Thunder. It's a shooter game from the Sega-CD era. It's one of the greatest metal video game soundtracks, and soundtracks in general. I felt it added really well to the feel of Geist. It's overall a fun video about a violently fun series.

Versailles:

There are two Rose of Versailles videos here. The first is an analysis of the series, including an in-depth look at the politics. I had just seen it, and was moved deeply by what it had to offer, with it's beautiful art, fantastically moving music, and emotionally bittersweet story.

In the first part, I meshed the analysis, music, and footage with each other. I tried to make all three really connected, to dance with each other, and changed the volume at times during quick breaks between talking to do this. That's something I like to do when I make videos. Instead of the music, words, and footage just being there, I try to make them play with each other like this. Being a series about revolution, I made sure to show the people, as they fought and overwhelmed the soldiers. It ends with quick show of the violence before suddenly cutting off. That could had have been the whole video right there, as an introduction to the series.

The next part is a 30 second AMV featuring an unreleased song that I put together by editing different parts of it from when it appeared in the series. The Rose of Versailles is among the most beautiful pieces of media I have ever seen. That song often plays while showcasing lots of the beautiful art and moments, that left me breathless many times. I wanted a moment like this in the video to show this beauty.

The rest of the video focuses as an analysis of revolution, in relation to the series, and our world today.

The second video is an AMV to showcase the violence of Versailles. The title is joke, and I was glad to see some people did find it funny. The song is from a vocaloid producer named Iroha. Her favorite Vocaloid producer, Wowaka, had died recently. As a result, her next release ended up sounding twisted, and distorted, because she was severely depressed and thinking dark thoughts. I felt the song fit well with the madness of the brutality of Versailles. I noticed there were two clips of the characters screaming, that I thought fit well with two parts where the voice screams in the song. I decided to put those two together, as if the characters were screaming. I've been it's a really strange video, but I had lots of fun putting it together.

Digi:

The Ygg Studio video is interesting because of the timing, as how many people have pointed it out already. I saw the painful decline of the channel, and hit a boiling point where I felt someone had to say something, because it felt like people were ignoring the elephant in the room. As a result, I gave my honest opinion about this tragic downfall from grace. To the end, Beatrice would not truly admit her mistakes, and decided to blame YouTube when she should have been blaming herself. Hours later, Beatrice would release the "I'm retiring" video. Granted, this was the plan, but the timing made it amusing, regardless. And it wasn't easy for me to see this downfall, as someone who really appreciates the older content. The fire was extinguished long ago, and it felt like a corpse was trying to drag itself out a coffin during those final years.

Gridman:

The Gridman analysis video is something I don't have too much to say about. At the end of my career, I think it will feel like a video that was just there along the way. I do the usual thing I do, offer more such as general anime commentary, and I also add some more personal information about myself in relation to Akane. It shows more growth, as that was the time when my videos were beginning to look more like I wanted them to. The video features arranged songs from X-Men 2: Clone Wars from the Sega Genesis, that I felt fit in with Gridman.

The second video is joke video about the shin kicks in Gridman. It surprises me how well joke videos get received compared to serious analysis videos.

Victory Gundam:

I love Victory Gundam. I love Uso Ewin. Instead of doing a video essay on him, I thought it would be better to show his passionate and furious Gundam skills with an AMV. I will admit that did rush with this one, as I wanted it out the same day I started it, and had a limited time to do it. The song is from the Super Famicom game Live a Live, and is called "Puro Odio," which translates to pure hatred. Out of all the mecha I've watched, his brave and creative way of fighting and catching his opponents off guard during battles, always fascinated me. As a Tomino protagonist, he carries that extra fire when he yells out towards his enemies before attacking them, while also being very reflective and critical about the politics of war, and himself. What surprises me about Uso is that he is very violent. You could say almost genocidal because some of the things he does in Victory Gundam. I would never call him a coward, and though he has his flaws as a young kid in a Gundam, he was a force to be reckoned with, on or off the Victory Gundam. He was a beast of prey. And that's why I call him the War Lord of Gundam.

Seasonal video:

This video is a general outlook to an anime season that I personally felt was weaker than usual. In reality, anime seasons have been generally weak. There is so much trash out there, that I'd be wasting my time trying to watch so many of them. Now I feel I have to research the staff to be able to identify if something could at least look like it could be good or interesting. Even The Tatami Time Machine Blues that I was rooting for disappointed me with its second episode.

From the terrible production values of RWBY: Ice Queendom, the Boring Call of the Night, the blandness of Orient, Tokyo Mew Mew New, and Lycoris Recoil, to the disappointing Made in Abyss, and annoying ridiculousness of Summer Time Rendering, I didn't personally get much out of this season.

The editing here is much more basic than usual, and I had just lost my phone, resulting in a weirder sound quality. Nothing really out of the ordinary here.

MAL:

Since making this video, SingleH did find it, and eventually tried to reach out to me. Unfortunately, I don't use My Anime List anymore, but did see the email notification of the comment. Eventually, that user came to Anilist, and tried posting their review of the new Made in Abyss there. It looked like it was doing well, until it suddenly got taken down there too, as it had also been back on My Anime List.

Freedom of expression is monitored and cut down in both websites. It's really the moderation team that determines this. The way they make their so called rules makes it easy for them to find any reason to take down a review. It's really whether or not they personally like the review, much of the time. I've seen many reviews on My Anime List, for example, get taken down for reasons that look more personal, than for the improvement of quality reviews. The moderation team constantly butchers their best reviewer's reviews there. Then you have all the children who mass report reviews they don't like because they are foolish enough to believe that Attack on Titan is a 10/10 masterpiece, and that if anyone gives it anything less, should be mass reported and harassed.

Sometimes I feel SingleH should go to YouTube. At least that user can say what they want to there. Still, there's the big issue of copyright.

This videos showcases how My Anime List has an overall terrible community of despicable people, and parasites that spend much to much time there. You'll see comment after comment of users who feel the need to harass one person, without a good reason.

Texhnolize:

The Texhnolyze video came out, partly because I had not seen it in a while, and was moved again by it enough to want to make a video about, and because I got tired of people dismissing it as merely a depressing anime. Other than that, it is somewhat of a remake of older Texhnolyze videos I did, back when I was doing terrible phone recordings.

The introduction is about Kazuho Yoshii. I used a few quotations from an old book from the 1880s, by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, that felt were a clear influence in his character. I simply read the introduction, rearranged the text, and edited a few lines to repeat. The piano song is a very obscure song taken from the second Moon: Remix RPG soundtrack box.

The introduction AMV, is to showcase the violence of course. It was fun editing the footage because of the way the song can get more technical at times. After that, I wanted one of the strangest scenes put in, and then the beginning of the analysis. A lot of the weird imagery here comes from the episode previews. And no, I am not the person with the mask and microphone.

I tried to change the tone of the video throughout, and hoped that it all made sense. Overall, was a fun video that took me a whole day to make once I had all the clips and the script ready. Overall, Texhnolye is a series that led me into making the strangest video yet because of the type of feel of it I tried to capture in the video.

End:

I love my videos. I watch them all the time. I'm not afraid to say it. At this point, I have to keep pushing. There is still a lot I have to improve on. The current season looks as if it will be intense, with all the big names in it. I'm already brainstorming ideas for 2 big videos that will hopefully come out this month that are not seasonal related. Other than that, the channel continues, as chaotic as the journey has been.

Thank you for watching.

[zak-kondo]

Personally, what I have grown tired of are the constant opinions that this is a depressing anime that only leaves people feeling hopeless and cynical. This is what Texhnolyze can be if seen on the surface. For me, it's truer intentions are couched under this. It's more of a revolutionary call towards finding meaning in your humanity, and in others. The series gives a hint of this right away in the first 20 seconds during the opening sequence. It shows Ichise on the ground, slowly getting up, and then standing up, raising his artificial fist into the air, despite his setbacks and lack of a real flesh and blood limbs.

The characters, such as Ichise, left me feeling inspired. His drive to survive, and push forward through what he believes in absolutely motivated me. Even if he gets injured critically, or loses a limb, he doesn't give up. Regardless, he keeps going, as primal and stubborn as he can be, and grows. Other characters, some who meet unfortunate ends, die, but leave with a smile on their face. There was a sense of satisfaction that they lived to their fullest. Some characters like Oonishi and Yoshii, pushed with a revolutionary drive to prevent humans from their miserable and apathetic, downward spiral into extinction, at a time where mankind had reached a self-destructive all time low.

The underground city of Lux is decaying and drowning under violence and misery. The surface world has reached a disturbing type of surreal state where humans have lost the will to live meaningfully, despite that their living conditions appear to look adequate. The people have suffered a death of the spirit, as how too many of us do today. As a result, the only thing they are waiting for and looking forward to is a slow death, despite looking happy and living peacefully.

There was an experiment done several decades ago that some viewers eventually learn about because of this series. It's the "behavioral sink." In this study, a rat utopia was made. Despite that the rats were were given unlimited food, water, shelter, and safety, they eventually became self-destructive. Many began isolating themselves, cannibalism began appearing, they stopped mating dramatically, and the females began abandoning their babies. Ultimately, they went extinct. They died socially, and then physically.

Texhnolyze shows a clear influence of this experiment in it's depiction of human societies. It's a warning to our own. The focus on material possessions, social media, and people spending their lives watching other's lives, has all partly added to people suffering a death of the spirit. In the series, Ichise talks to people, and though they seem happy, they have an empty look on their face. There's nothing there, but a drone like existence, devoid of meaning and spirit, doing the same thing, day in, and out, until they expire. People are either unconscious or conscious in their state of mind.

It's not enough to have a brain. It should be constantly developed. Thinking should be done. Some people turn their brains off, and never turn them back on, or go on auto pilot, and never fully think for themselves. Almost no one on the surface level was questioning authority, or their miserable state. If someone never questions what deserves to be questioned, they'll come to accept anything. This leads to everyone thinking the same. If all the people in a society thought just alike and saw the world just alike, they thought no differently, one from the other, the society would be soon defeated because it would be uncreative, it would not be innovative; it would not be able to change its perspective of a problem in a way so they can solve it.

The character who first took a great offense to this is Kazuho Yoshii. He came from the surface world, after becoming tired of seeing the people there become like emotionless ghosts. Throughout history, people are born who are unique, and different from the rest. They see things clearer, and are able to say and do the things that many cannot put into words or do themselves. They inspire, and try to radicalize the people in order to advance them and help them find meaning. They teach the people who is the enemy, and what should be done. Yoshii is an anomaly who is one of these people.

Yoshii travels down below, and though the city of Lux has been stuck in an endless circle of gang warfare, he sees that they feel more human than the ones at the top. As result, he decided to try and channel this energy. He thought about who can become leaders, and instigated a great spectacle. His violent revolution was to destroy the order that was keeping the people down, and with enough organization, a better humanity could emerge from under the ashes.

At some point, he says, "True freedom can't lean on anything. It's transient, lonely, and arduous. You can't hope for security or reward beyond it." Freedom and peace only exist temporarily. What he is saying here I agree with. Freedom is always under the threat of corrupt authoritative forces that try to manipulate laws in their favor. This has been done historically where democracies become so corrupted, that they become disguised as fascism. Struggling for freedom can be a lonely journey. Historical figures are known for being attacked by the state's media, and vilified as demons and violent criminals. Lastly, it's difficult. There is no easy struggle. Those who believe revolutionary struggle is easy are not ready for it. The second sentence interests me because it reminds me of people who think being a revolutionary means that there is a reward at the end, like fame or fortune. That's not true at all. Having that state of mind as a so called revolutionary is reactionary. People like that tend to sell out easily to those in power. People struggle for others, not themselves, and many don't really get appreciated until after their passing or assassination.

Yoshi clearly shows that his character is inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's Ubermensch. He wants to enlighten the city of lux, a "sleeping people." He wants to show them the meaning of their existence, of their humanity, and to channel their energy into making them realize that they have power, and should learn how to use it for revolution against those that are holding them down, and causing their deplorable state. "You have to try to improve. You have to give more meaning to your meaningless life." Still, he does begin to let his fun start getting to his head, but he in his core is a man on mission. As the soundtrack calls him, "The Man Of Men."

Not only that, in addition to his revolutionary ideas, he understands the importance of power. He warns Shinji that to stand up against an organized force, it can't be done with a disorganized gang. They have to become seriously organized and trained to fight. Without organization, their gang will operate too sloppy and amateurishly, and be outclassed by the organized enemy force. Additionally, Yoshii also has the mindset that you must think differently from your enemy. There's a saying that "Whatever the enemy is for, you must be against. Whatever the enemy is against, you must be for." This is because if you don't think diametrically opposed to your enemy, you will think that their interests are your interests, confusing you.

Oonishi has a similar view point to Yoshii, though he feels much more tame. He works from within the order. Oonishi struggles to be a voice of reason and moral force. Sometimes it feels as if he is alone, as Yoshii stated earlier about struggle, and has the whole weight of Lux on his back. As I said earlier, he is also among the characters that have such a determined drive, that they struggle with all they can to be true to their principles and obligations towards the people.

After the set up, and fiery first half, the series begins to flesh out more characters and political drama (I personally find the middle the weaker part of this series). Then, towards the last few episodes, it turns into a surrealist nightmare. One of the most memorable and impactful experiences in anime for me, is the introduction of the surface world, and how unsettling it is, despite not appearing that way. The staff reference a lot of art, and managed to make such as scary world up on top, it almost frightened me at times. Alongside this, is the soundtrack. It's one of the series that makes the best use of it's music, even if I don't personally like the music as standalone content, because it's used well in execution.

The atmosphere in Texhnolyze, and world building is done so well that I felt I was down there personally living in Lux, and the surface world, during the time I watched the series. The staff did really well in teaching me the world of Texhnolyze, how it works, the inner politics, and really drove that horrid feel of Lux and the surface world into my mind. It's frighteningly and harshly immersive, to the extent, I have a map of several locations in my head. Despite the danger, I learned how to live and survive there.

The last part of Texhnolyze I want to talk about, is the ending, because it's very special to me. It's when the series decides to really break you. There is a sincerity to it though, if you really think about it. I came to really appreciate the struggle of the characters, and what their goals and aspirations really meant during those last moments. I broke down because the meaning behind the conclusion is painfully beautiful. It may be odd to admit, but I needed time to sit back, and let it sink in, because I felt drained and heavy. Texhnolyze is a series important as a study of mankind, that I think about it pretty often. Yoshii taught me a lot, and for me to try to do better myself, and to find as much a meaningful life as I can. It's a special case where an anime can really teach and speak to the viewer on a personal level. Don't feel so down at the end, because the series is shaking you to wake you up with it's real message. The feeling at the end of Texhnolyze, after some thought, felt to me like a text book example of the saying, "only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars."

[zak-kondo]

"Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse."

"Formerly, all the world was mad,' say the most refined, and they blink.

.. 'We have invented happiness,' say the last men, and they blink ..

"I love him who justifies future and redeems past generations: for he wants to perish of the present." "I love him whose soul is deep, even in being wounded, and who can perish of a small experience: thus he goes gladly over the bridge;

"Behold, I teach you the overman: he is this lightning, he is this frenzy.'

Let me speak to them of what is most contemptible: but that is the last man.'" And thus spoke Zarathustra to the people: "The time has come for man to set himself a goal. The time has come for man to plant the seed of his highest hope. His soil is still rich enough. But one day this soil will be poor and domesticated, and no tall tree will be able to grow in it.

"I say unto you: one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say unto you : you still have chaos in yourselves.

"Behold, I teach you the overman: he is this lightning, he is this frenzy.'

"There they stand," he said to his heart; "there they laugh. They do not understand me; I am not the mouth for these ears. Must one smash their ears before they learn to listen with their eyes? Must one clatter like kettledrums and preachers of repentance?

"Behold the good and the just! Whom do they hate most? The man who breaks their tables of values, the breaker, the lawbreaker; yet he is the creator.

"Behold the believers of all faiths! Whom do they hate most? The man who breaks their tables of values, the breaker, the lawbreaker; yet he is the' creator.

Human existence is uncanny and still without meaning. I will teach men the meaning of their existence-- the overman, the lightning out of the dark cloud of man.

"I shall join the creators, the harvesters, the celebrants: I shall show them the rainbow and all the steps to the overman. To the hermits I shall sing my song, to the lonesome and the twosome; and whoever still has ears for the unheard-of-his heart shall become heavy with my happiness.

"To my goal I will go-on my own way; over those who hesitate and lag behind I shall leap. Thus let my going be their going under."

"Behold, I teach you the overman: he is this lightning, he is this frenzy.'

[zak-kondo]

As a former My Anime List, and current Anilist user, I noticed quite a few differences between both websites. I grew to really despise MAL, and to see the advantages Anilist has over it. What did I see?

(hate comments)

MAL users don't read. Despite having such a large amount of people on there, they don't read reviews. In fact, it gets worse, as I'll explain later. Now, compare this to Anilist. I have a small account there, and write reviews often. Despite that Anilist has a lot less users, it has the better crowd, who actually bother to read and give feedback. With the recent reviews I've done on there this month, such as Bakemongatari, and Texhnolyze, I got some encouraging words from fans of both series, that felt inspiring and motivating. I learned a lot from them. People with tastes I could relate to. It's great for this to be a time for content creators to be able to experience something like this.

As for the MAL reviews that do get read and make traction, it's mostly from users who have developed a sort of cult following, or users who have nothing better to do with their lives, and feel the lifeless need to post in every thread of almost every seasonal anime. These individuals, such as the so called number 1 MAL reviewer, do not deserve the spot. This is because that individual has the spot because they have hundreds of reviews. It feels like spam. Despite that user has thousands upon thousands of forums posts, and hundreds of reviews, I couldn't find anything of substance. Saying so much, but saying so little. Because this individual forces all this content out there like this so much on that website, people started to follow that user simply because of that. They assume because that person posts everywhere, and writes insane amounts of reviews, that that person must know what they are talking about. There are also others who are following in that user's footsteps. Please, venture out to the outside world. Watch some anime before the year 2000.

next song:

What also annoys me about these pests that have injected their lives digitally into such a terrible website, is that they skip out on important seasonal anime. Skipping the new Made in Abyss, and Tatami Time Machine Blues? But tolerating all that seasonal garbage? I gave up watching so much seasonal anime, because almost all of it is bad, and is going to be bad. I only keep a small number only for reviewing purposes. Life is too short to watch so much trash.

Then there are those who say, "why watch anime you don't like." Then these same people say, "you can't criticize my anime, because you didn't watch it! Do you see the contradiction? I watch bad anime so I can justify my opinion of why it's bad. Does this really need explaining?

There is a user on there named SingleH. I think that user writes the best reviews. I agree with a lot. I also think that user has one of the most violent comment sections on the internet, that show just how terrible the My Anime List community is. From shonen enjoyers who can't stand Attack on Titan being criticized, to cowards who use fake accounts to attack this individual. It's a very fascinating comment section that shows the worst parts of humanity, all wrapped up in this joke called My Anime List.

Their data compiling of anime is sad. If it's a lesser known work, good luck finding much information on it. There's also the moderation team, that have it out for reviews they don't like at times, and who are always angering the users with terrible updates. The recent review update made a lot of people angry. A lot of people got rid of their subscriptions. So did I. Not only that. I quit the website. Good riddance.

next song

This isn't to say that Anilist doesn't share some of these problems. Still, As someone who reviews and engages here and there on the website, I have not encountered this type of lunacy anywhere near the degree that it happens on MAL. Even though I have reviews with hundreds of dislikes, I don't get death threats and other outrageous comments like the ones that are normal to have on MAL that I have showcased on here so far. The reviews on Anilist overall feel much better, as I do keep up with them here and there. Honestly, it if wasn't for SingleH, I wouldn't care about any of the reviews on MAL to begin with. Just take a look at the forums there. I get second hand embarrassment at many of the topics that get posted for so called discussion. Make your life better. Quit MAL, and come to Anilist.

[zak-kondo]

The Summer 2022 Anime season is approaching it's end. It's been a twist of turns and surprises among what I decided to watch. Overall, it felt very weak, though recently, it redeemed itself to me somewhat with the debut to Tamami Galaxie's so called sequel The tamami Time Machine Blues.

There was disappointment, such as with RWBY: Ice Queendom. I recently became a fan of Shaft after watching Madoka Magica and Bakemonogatari, but was harshly disappointed with this one. It starts by going into so bad it's good territory with 3 recap-like episodes that rush through the story ridiculously fast, shamefully skipping a lot of scenes in the process. I don't even know the source material or previous adaptation, but I know this series managed to ruin a character named Penny early on because of this. The way conflicts get resolved are so rushed they feel nonsensical. The art and animation has it's moments where it can be good, though it's hardly ever the case, and mostly in these first 3 episodes. The amount of off model shots, ugly art, alongside weak CGI and terrible animation is the norm. The opening sequence is disappointing in that the song is terrible, in my opinion, and recycles the best looking parts of the first 3 episodes. At least with the ending sequence, they upgraded it with better footage eventually. Not with the opening, however. After 3 comical episodes, it goes into a new original story, and the pace slows down dramatically and painfully. Many of these episodes felt as if they were wasting a lot of time. It felt as if every two episodes were better off being condensed into one. The dream within a dream, and Weiss changing her dreamworld and the people in it by how she perceives them was a bit interesting. Overall, a disappointing disaster. At the very least, I enjoyed the end card Yoshitoshi Abe made from the series. He is known for working on Serial Experiments Lain, Hanbarei Renmei, Texhnolyze, and Ghost Hound, among other works.

Call of the Night, to me, felt like a poor attempt to be similar to Monogatari. As a romance, I haven't been moved at all by the main duo. I felt bored at times, and confused who was who because the art looks all too similar at times. The constant bombardment of background art looked alright, though it was drowning me in the color purple. Regardless, it came off as annoying eventually. I rather the series do some world building of the town, the people, and more of the exciting night life, than vomiting background art devoid of people. It made me feel like it's a ghost town because of that.

Kou fits that mold of protagonists I have come to despise. Coward like main characters, who fight with friendship and who are awkward, and insecure about themselves. Anime needs better protagonists in general.

I don't have much to say about Nazuna. I find it amusing that the viewers can't stop arguing about her anatomy. The new characters have done nothing for me, and the plotless episode in the maid cafe didn't help at all, but to at least make Kou's character a bit better.

It's dialogue isn't interesting enough for me, and during the last few episodes, It almost put me to sleep. With 3 episodes left, I don't feel very motivated to keep watching. If I had not chosen this to review it, I would have dropped it weeks ago. If you are looking for a good romance, watch Kare Kano. If you also want vampires, check out Bakemonogatari instead of this.

My next disappointment is with Orient: Part 2. Part 1 I reviewed last year. It proved to be a very poorly made, bland, and hideous looking shonen anime. Part 2 started much stronger, though still carries over many of the same issues.

Part 2 actually showed some promise at the start that it may become decent. It expanded the world vastly, and introduced a lot of new characters. the funny part about this is that many of these new characters have completely outshined the main cast. Speaking of the main cast, Musashi has become annoyingly useless. I thought at first it was to give a different type of shonen protagonist that isn't all too powerful. Eventually, It became annoying out of how useless he became, and how he uses the power of friendship. Kojirou and Tsugomi have essentially been shafted to the side as background characters.

The powers in this anime at first seemed like it they could be interesting, as some of the warriors fight with all their energy combined into whoever is leading the battle. Their powers are determined by which color blade they are born with. Then, the swords became goofy laser guns. The worst part about the fights in this anime is how ridiculously overpowered some of the heroes and villains are. I like Shiro's character. This antagonist, who seems to have ulterior motives among his so called allies, is this sadistic, constantly smiling bushi who likes satisfy his own thrill more than the mission. He has the power to teleport the bottom of the ocean at you at will to crush you with it's pressure. It sounds ridiculous, and it is. There's no telling what is going to happen because of how random and overpowered many of the characters abilities are.

There is a decent section in the middle where Michiru has her moments with Musashi, though after a decent start, Orient fell off for me again, and it seems hopeless now. Near the end, it's been focusing more on character drama between the new cast. Orient that that annoying thing anime does during this where the monster just stands there as the characters talk on and on. I think Akihito is alright, though nothing amazing of a character.

Next, among the anime that isn't that bad, and more around average, is Tokyo Mew Mew New. Besides it's environmentalist message, it's about these two suspicious men who force animal DNA into 5 poor unsuspecting girls, thus turning them into magical girls. They make them work at a cafe, and fight aliens to save the world. It's a magical girl series. The only magical girl series I am really familiar with are Revolutionary Girl Utena and Madoka Magica. This is different, and nowhere near the quality of those two anime. This series feels too light hearted and happy to me. It feels like a kids show.

The monsters look laughably bad, and don't look menacing. The characters constantly, and annoyingly go off model. Ichigo does this the most. She can look adorable many times, as I have been very charmed by her thus far, and I think her debuting voice actor is doing great, but the series looks too bland and lowly produced. The villains are like team rocket. They try to appear menacing, but are useless and have the annoying formula of showing up, and pathetically losing each episode. There's nothing exciting about them.

One of the parts of this series I can praise is the music. It's well made, maybe even too well made for this series. I think this is has my soundtrack of the season.

The romance between Ichigo and Aoyama can be adorable at times. However, many other times, it comes off as annoying and dragged out. They make aoyama so oblivious and foolish it makes me want to yell. It's another romance that moves so much at the pace of a turtle, that I am nearly over it now, and want them to just start dating already instead seeing the writing make them both constantly look like fools.

There's a character named Lettuce, and though attempts have been made, some characters like Zakuro almost feel as if all they ever have to say is the same line over and over again.

Slightly above average is Summer Time Rendering. It's nearly done with it's 25 episodes. It tries to do what anime like Re:Zero does. It involves a character who discovers he can go back in time if he dies. He has limited chances and can't do it too quickly as a result, and there is also a threat from shadow monsters who are trying to kill everyone. It's a mystery series with a plot so convoluted and ridiculous at this point, that I can not take it seriously anymore. It's annoying when a character knows something crucial to the plot, and responds with "I won't tell you" the way this series executes it. It's annoying how too many of the twists and moments where character outsmart each other isn't cleverly written, but done by the writer making up ridiculous mechanics with the magic that come out of nowhere. The protagonist annoys me and feels like a copy of Subaru from said Re:Zero. He does learn to grow and mature, to the extent he becomes much braver, and an amusing tactician. The last episodes are intense, and very engaging, to the extent it reminds me of how Attack on Titan: the Final Season made me feel. I still have too many problems with it, however.

To build tension and to make dramatic scenes even more dramatic, this series takes this comical approach of hilariously exaggerating the characters reactions and facial expression. I cannot take this seriously when it happens and laugh every time. The gore can come off as too cartoony at times also.

The back and forth between the protagonist and antagonist is turning into tom and jerry. I can enjoy watching this story unfold, but have given up that it will be coherently done.

I have enjoyed Black Mio's character. It's nice to see a shadow try to become human, and not come off as another rei yanagi clone. Hizuru became another of my favorite characters, and has a special case regarding her and her twin brother that makes her more interesting. At this point, I think all I'll remember this for is it's first opening sequence. The song is very good, though the second opening sequence is a major downgrade, in my opinion.

Next, and with the same score, is Lycoris Revoil. Aside from how I feel about the series itself, this anime has produced one of the most annoying fan bases I ever had the displeasure of being a part of. Trying to discuss anything about this leads to people crying about the yuri question, destroying almost all discussion.

As for the series itself, there isn't much to say about it anyways. I don't blame them for spamming the internet because of the lack of meaningful discussion. It started out as this seemingly action packed "girls defeat villains with guns" type of series, but often deviates into the two main leads, Chisato and Takina, doing casual things together. It tries to be political, though it's attempts feel laughable with Majima, who's plan to stir up trouble feels pretty laughable.

Speaking of the action, there is a disappointing amount of it in this series, and towards the end it feels like it abandoned it and stopped trying. I don't really find any depth to any of the characters. The only real interesting part for me, personally, is the relationship between Mika and Shinji.

Chicato annoys me in that she has that problem protagonists have that irritate me to no end. It's the "killing is bad" mentality, even if it includes killing the bad guys. It's costed her painfully so far. Her personality is very optimistic to the point it has an uplifting effect, such as what the characters in K'on! can do, though her never being able to face reality and showing any real emotion has mostly gotten on my nerves.

With Takina, I appreciated that they developed her quickly. Then she just becomes completely devoted to Chisato . Towards the end, her, like almost all the characters, how almost no meaningful development of depth to them.

Visually, I have enjoyed the nice intermission art, though the series begins to shaft it's action scenes, disappointingly.

This used to be my anime of the season, but was surpassed by a lot of other anime towards the end, and ultimately disappointed me.

I'm Kodawa Kawashiri is a 24 episode series consisting of 2 1/2 episodes. Sadly, most of every episode is the opening sequence. As the series progresses, the audio quality of the opening song becomes more and more inaudible. Kodawa shows the viewers life hacks among her greasy, chaotic life. A fan of fried chicken and beer, the series feels as if it is showing her mental decline as she hilarious descends into degeneracy. There's a charm to the series with it's absurd style, and voice actor Aoi Yuki delivers a great performance. She also voices the sound effects and other characters. By the end, there wasn't much to this series, however. I was at least and amused to see Kodawa try to educate me with her lazy way of life.

The new Made in Abyss has caused me lots of disappointment. It leeches off the first season too much to the extent it feel as if it overuses season 1's OST and even recycles it's moments. One of the highlights of season 1 is the music, though with this second season, the new music has been disappointingly used and overall not that great. Instead of being marveled by a new and great soundtrack, it uses songs from season 1 too much, drowning out the chance for the new soundtrack to shine, which it hardly ever does anyways. Regardless, even the composer himself showed some doubt of it's quality on Twitter.

Animation wise, it's a major downgrade from season 1. Instead of the sinister and detailed shots of the monsters in season 1, season 2 is filled with jarring CGI. That's not to say that CGI can't look good. Instead, This is to say it failed in this case. Honestly, it was painful watching Made in Abyss become this bad after I was moved deeply by it's first season and third movie. The obvious Bondrewd clone does nothing for me, and it takes a while for the new season to get better.

It doesn't feel Riko has done much besides eating roasted testicles. The creepy things the author tries to slip into his work are present here again, also.

Story wise, the Golden City is interesting in what happened there, and continues to happen. Reg gets much needed exploration, and his past begins to slowly unfold. Fortunately, the more recent episodes have been much better, as the one hour finale approaches in two weeks.

The surprise of the season for me has been the second season of Shadow House. It's not saying much, honestly, though it has been inspiring to watch. The rebellion against the Shadow House gets more intense as Kate struggles to radicalize the shadows and living dolls that are willing to listen. Her own character's development has gone along nicely enough to show her determination and plans to expose the hierarchy. This time around, the mystery aspect is done much better than in season 1. The way the characters outsmart each other is written much cleverly than something ridiculous like Summer Time Rendering. Many of the characters get their own episodes and much more focus this time around. I don't particularly care about Emilico, but seeing John being funny and some of the recent characters like the mysterious one in the hood has been pleasant.

On the other hand, I can't help but feel the animation feels lazy with characters that are literally pitch black. the production isn't that impressive.

Last, and certainly not least, is what has quickly become my anime of the season with just 1 episode: The Tatami Time Machine Blues. This one I was really interested to start watching because it's a sort of sequel to Tatami Galazy, which is one of my favorite series, and the next directorial work of Shingo Natsume, from Sonny Boy.

The first 30 minute episode brought back many of the vague memories I have from the prequel. Watashi is always amusing to see talk about anything, as he has this bizarre but sincere type of way of critically looking at things. Ozu returns and reminds the viewers the type of troublemaker he is. This is even more interesting now because Watashi isn't the only who can go back in time. The music so far feels mostly reused from the older entry. The visuals are surreal and beautiful, and overall, a strong start for the series. The fast talking is there, though not as intense as before. All throughout, there is a lot of good, cleverly written humor that I can really connect with.

Overall, this is the weakest season I've covered. Despite that, it had some amusing twists and turns around the end.

[zak-kondo]

Can't do it anymore. Have to say something. I don't care if I am a small channel. It's been an uncomfortable topic in anime circles for a while now. The fall of Ygg Studio, or Digibro, as she was in another lifetime. Something is wrong. I am concerned. This fall from fame, and disturbing turn into more drugs and incompetent and disappointing content has been painful for me to see. I first found Digibro around 2019. I had never seen someone talk about anime the way Digibro did. I felt inspired enough to try and do this myself, because I felt I had something to say too. Questioning, and going against public opinion with honesty and valid points, and as degenerate and controversial as it all was, there was passion, Digibro had fangs as a anime analysis content creator. All that has been lost with Ygg studio, and the now existing Beatrice the Golden Witch.

People are angry at this individual, because many of them care. They have seen the drop in quality in content and in her as a person, it almost brings a tear to my eye seeing what she was become. She has to know what her audience wants, but doesn't give it to them, or rarely does. Has she realized yet that it is not working? That something is not right? Why not make a separate channel to talk about whatever she wants? Look at the consequences, what has happened. With this video, I am exiting out of her content. I can't do it anymore. I tried to still keep up with her content, but I can't watch her continue to spiral downward. She can take her so called big announcement, which she is also late on, by the way, and take it elsewhere. I don't care anymore about her channel.

Just look at the descent. Her subscribers continue to fall, and went under 309,000 thousand recently. Today, I saw that it fell under 308,000. Her patreon continues to decline, dropping 50 dollars recently. Does she not see it? Does she not care? Is she doing this on purpose because she wants a hate following? Or have the drugs done her in enough?

Some may say, "Why are you being dramatic." Check out her recent comment sections. Check out her recent comment sections. Now, I don't go along with all the offensive comments. However, the criticism is there, there is a lot, and it is valid. Beatrice won't always answer them, as her annoying guard dog Riley will take it up upon himself to make a fool out of himself trying to defend all this. Even some of the people who have been supporting her are starting to slowly complain, and rightfully so.

The 1 vlog a day from last month felt like the last test for me to see if Beatrice still had it. I was disappointed again and again, and stopped keeping up with it for a while. The daily vlogs were not on time, they were constantly late and being uploaded at random times. The anime reviews were many times not even her, but other people talking, some who don't even know what they are talking about. The low production values throughout were frustrating to see because she has done content with good production values in the past. The decline continued. My disappointment continued.

The final video from yesterday with the 420+ anime recommendations is another low point. Why start it by yelling into the mic? She called it "extremely edited," but I disagree. I picked up editing on my own 3 months ago, and taught myself how to do it. I don't even watch AMVs or am influenced by them. Why couldn't she do that too? She's been doing this much longer than I have. Putting thumbnails for every anime can be repetitive, but it's the bare minimum to at least look acceptable and to show what you are talking about. It's low effort. There's no way to go around it. she could complain that it's 420+ anime, but to pick up a great project like that brings along all the hardships you must put work into it to show that you care and want to put effort into it. All she had to do was use random footage of the anime. That's easy compared to when you need specific footage to flow with what you are talking about. Instead, it's mostly her talking into a camera for hours.

I'm frustrated. Me talking about anime Youtubers in videos in the earlier days was because I felt inspired when she had done it as Digibro. It's important to hold anime content creators accountable, and to criticize them, document them. I still plan to talk about anime youtubers one last time eventually. At least there are other people doing this, fortunately, who are much better than me at it. Still, I never thought I'd talk about one specific anime content creator like this, and more surprisingly is the fact that it ended up being her.

Thank you for watching.