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Short experimental comments on two experimental shorts

Harmonia

I find it hard to comment on shorts that don't have an obvious storyline, and this is partially because I don’t have a lot to say about animation in general. But I enjoyed Harmonia with its pretty colors and flowing transitions. It was pleasant to watch.

Characters are definitely the main aspect I care about in stories, which I feel is really hard to build in shorts. Shorts that win in my book are shorts that build a great setting or mood, which are the next two elements that make stories for me.

L'Œil du cyclone

Watching L'Œil du cyclone after Harmonia made me think...I actually don't have a proper scale for this kind of work. In this one, the music really kept me going, and visuals are still interesting to watch with nice transitions, but after Harmonia, this is even more bare bones when it comes to a narrative, with no discernible story at all.

I watched these two animated works as an out-of-anime experience in the end, and it felt more like looking at a modern art installation, which is not something I often do willingly. I think  L'Œil du cyclone in particular might have worked as an OP or an ED to an anime. I do not see OP/EDs as a separate work to an anime though they are a separate experience, so that probably summarizes my thoughts a bit. 

I’m definitely glad to have seen these two as I think it's important to see the different things you can do with a medium, if you claim to be a fan of it, to be aware, and appreciate the good examples whether you are into them personally or not.

So if for nothing else, this was a good bit of studying.

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Favorite crossdresser characters 4x4

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Art by  CFpapico

Posted with Permission (reprint/edit and/or commercial use prohibited)

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Art by  kanbabichio

Posted with Permission (reprint/edit and/or commercial use prohibited)

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So much to watch, not enough time in the week - What does Fall 2020 look like?

A list of what looks interesting in the next season and silly reasons as to why

I’m not the sort of person who likes finding out too many (in some cases even a smidgen of) details about anime I’m going to watch, so this will be a spoiler free preview of the season. Here is a list of anime I will try and you can expect to hear about on Kagemajaya.  

Click on the show names to be taken to their MAL pages for more detail.

Hype

Taisou Zamurai

A male cast gymnastics anime from MAPPA (the studio of Yuri!!! on Ice.) Enough said.

Watch the trailer here.

Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan

This one’s a bit of a cheat as we’ve already seen 2 episodes of it (3 for those who have VIP accounts on weTV.) However, I was indeed hype for it before it started. Based on a BL novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, the author of Mo Dao Zu Shi, this one promises a lot to people who enjoy transmigration, cultivation and a bit of gay. It is also a quite funny isekai parody. The only downside is that it doesn’t share the same visual quality as MDZS, and is entirely 3D. It’s a good thing I’m not much of a stickler for hot visuals.

Watch it here on its official stream. 

Tian Guan Ci Fu

Another donghua based on a BL novel, well-known among the danmei fans also by its English name of Heaven Official’s Blessing. Also written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (boy, are they busy.) And a big plus: it’s not 3D, so really looking forward to watching handsome men cultivate together in pseudo-historic China. Beautiful setting, beautiful boys. Now one can only hope for an interesting plot too and we are set.

Watch the trailer here.

Cautiously Expectant

Yuukoku no Moriarty

I saw manga adverts for this one all around Akihabara and Ikebukuro last year when I went on a little trip to Japan. The bishie Professor Moriarty was an immediate pull, and as a Holmes fan, I feel attracted to most of its adaptations, despite almost always being let down. The one thing that makes me cautious about this one is that it is published by a shounen magazine that is not GFantasy, so I’m not sure if the bishie designs and the male cast actually mean what I want it to mean. Fingers crossed.

Watch the trailer here. 

Giving It a Shot

Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii

A cute looking comedy short about a dog and a cat.

Jujutsu Kaisen

A mostly male cast Shounen Jump affair. Spring 2020’s Kakushigoto also implied that it has a fujoshi fanbase - let’s see what that’s all about.

Maesetsu!

A female cast gag comedy sol created by Lucky Star’s Yoshimizu Kagami. I watched Lucky Star fairly recently and found it quite entertaining with many sweet/funny characters. I suppose we will see if Yoshimizu still has it. Fingers crossed.

Adachi to Shimamura

I try to watch all queer anime as they come, and this comes in from the shoujo ai quota. Looks like a pretty straightforward romance. Hopefully it will have heart.

Kaeru no Pickles: Kimochi no Iro

All I know about this one is that it has a chill looking poster and has a slice of life tag on MAL. I’m not entirely sure whether we’ll get this subbed, but if we do, I’ll give it a shot. 

Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko

Fell for the slice of life tag once again. This one is an isekai with a soft looking MC. Not entirely sure it’ll be up my alley, but no harm in trying it, maybe for a pleasant surprise.

Sore dake ga Neck

This one seems to have the cool setting of a convenience store. I did initially think this was going to be a sol as well, but seems like that might not be the case. Either way, cool setting.

Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima

Another anime whose source project I saw plastered all around Tokyo. I’m not a huge fan of idol shows but the rapping bit makes me a bit curious.

Noblesse

A manhwa massively popular among female fans which has also received one off adaptations before, it’s finally getting its turn for a full cour among the hype the industry seems to have for Korean webtoons these days (Kami no Tou, God of High School, etc.) I did watch one of the OVA’s years ago, and wasn’t entirely impressed but then again I can’t judge a whole work based on one arc adapted into a single episode. Male cast action stuff. We shall see and judge.

Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst

This was chosen entirely on my shallow criteria as usual: visuals with two dudes on them. Now we’ll see whether the German name is a cringe factor or it’s actually interesting.

Sequels

Osomatsu-san 3rd Season

Osomatsu-san has been a consistently high quality production for me since the beginning. The humor is definitely my cup of tea, though as with any episodic gag comedy, some sketches do miss. It is more often than not a hit. The seiyuu cast is a huge huge pull, as this is not them only acting out an already written character but you can actually hear them having fun as the sextuplets. It is also one of the rarer shows where I, as a person who isn’t great at focusing on visuals, appreciate the impeccable quality of animation. So hype for another season of this majorly fun series and to welcome Matsuno’s back home - coziness, here I come.

Quanzhi Gaoshou 2

I watched the first season of Quanzhi Gaoshou (or King’s Avatar) because it was made by the studio of MDZS, and it was the first time I had seen a good looking Chinese animation production. And it didn’t disappoint. Production quality was similar and more importantly, it had a very engaging plot - pro MMORPG players playing MMORPG,  their personal dramas and the actual (surprisingly fun for me) gameplay and action. Its most important quality is still its charming cast for me, a successful ensemble cast, where with the exception of the antagonists, everyone and their relationships are lovely. Mostly a male cast show, it does also have nice ladies. Looking forward to going back to them. My only personal issue (definitely not a flaw on the show’s part but my attention span) is that it has so many teams and characters that I forgot most of who was who. Fingers crossed it’ll be easy to get back into. 

Haikyuu!!: To the Top 2nd Season

Haikyuu is back again, to finish off the “To the Top” arc. The first cour of this season was probably the season that took me out of the Haikyuu hypnosis state where I assumed everything that came out with the name attached to it was great. It was still enjoyable in its second half but I do feel like the magic has worn off now. I hope I’m wrong and the tournament hype will bring it back again. Haikyuu is at its best when it’s tense in-match and funny with character interactions, so fingers crossed for that.

Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 4

The Chinese comedy short is back! As mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago, gag comedies are always hit or miss with their sketches, and this one is also mostly a hit for me, though definitely not at the level of Osomatsu-san. The pull of this show is the cute boys and their dumbassery. Looking forward to its easy fun and more Kai Xin. 

Also continuing...

Mo Dao Zu Shi Q, Great Pretender

Have been enjoying both these shows greatly so far. 2 more cours of MDZS Q to go with their cute chibi fun, and Great Pretender’s last case (9 eps) is already released on Japanese Netflix so now we wait for Laurent and the gang to reach us. Really looking forward to the emotional drama of Laurent and hopefully some proper addressal of his feelings for Edamame. Either way, it’ll look gorgeous and will be heaps of fun if the first three cases are anything to go by.

I might pick up other shows and most likely drop some of these throughout the season but here’s hoping it will be enjoyable overall despite the small number of shows I’ll start with. What are you guys planning to watch?

[kagemajaya]

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu - Your run-of-the-mill seasonal fanservice show turned into something charming

Baka & Test - Summon the Beasts - Winter 2010, Silver Link. - 7/10

Cute and dumb boys and girls of Fumizuki Academy will take you through a sweet journey of open-minded fanservice tropes, friendship and love

In my first post about a non-seasonal, I will be covering all the pieces of BakaTest until its 2nd season: the first season, its specials, Matsuri OVA, and its specials. I’ve watched this package in what passes for a binge for my 30-something self, pretty much every moment I could throughout one week. I had started it with not many expectations, having even forgotten that a “trap” legend was among the cast. What I found was a charming surprise. BakaTest was one of those rare shows whose next episode I actually looked forward to. Whilst not every episode focused on elements I particularly liked, no episode was offensive, boring or uninteresting, and no character annoyed me. Quite surprising, since Inoue Kenji also wrote Grand Blue which I could barely stand for a full episode due to its obnoxiousness about basically the same themes (a lesson here to not judge a book by its author.) It flew by in a jiffy thanks to its light-heartedness and most importantly its cast.

The show isn’t necessarily anything unique. In fact, it relies heavily on tropes anyone who’s watched any anime would be familiar with. We have the perfect girl who is a bit frail and we have the flat childhood friend whose flatness is a constant gag. They both love our dumbass MC by virtue of him being our MC. We have the voyeur character who is constantly trying to look up girls skirts, and so on and so forth. The thing is I actually liked all of these things in BakaTest. One thing the show owes its non-vulgarity to is how sweet the girls and boys of Fumizuki Academy are. They might remind you of a supernatural version of your high school days if you liked your high school days and was in a class filled with dumbasses like I was. 

Which high school kid doesn’t?

On an ensemble cast level, they work really well with each other and are just plain nice kids.  They are actually, genuinely friends, and that feeling coming across makes a huge difference - even if Akihisa is sacrificed every once in a while, or the boys don’t mind seeing their female friends in states of undress. It’s all give and take. Maybe the boys like seeing the girls naked (but like really, which high school boy wouldn’t?) but Himeji and Minami are also quite invested in Akihisa’s crossdressing photos (not sure I’d have wanted to see my high school crush in drag but hey, Akihisa is a bishounen.) Even someone like Muttsulini, whose sole purpose in the show is being the guy who takes upskirt pictures, didn’t bother me - a huge surprise indeed. The context provides all the relief. The entirely self-aware nature of the show possibly helps a lot in this regard. What matters is as the audience we shouldn’t be taking the show or ourselves too seriously. I don’t know whether there will come a point in season 2 where they take it too far, but so far, it is dumb comedy at its best. 

The size of girls’ breasts coming up in any anime is a major eye roll moment for me but I laughed out loud here. They are not wrong. Flat is flat in any country. Sorry Minami-chan!

On an individual character basis, BakaTest’s biggest success is everyone’s favorite Fumizuki student: Kinoshita Hideyoshi. His existence in the show is not only about the gag on his gender and his sexuality. His dumbness and beauty are combined perfectly to show one thing about the show - it’s not homophobic in the slightest. First of all, Akihisa (and the FFF) genuinely find him attractive. This is especially evident with his twin sister Yuuko being in the picture. She looks exactly like him and is a girl but no one ever looks at her like that. What they want is Hideyoshi!! And this is not an attempt at a social message but just the nature of the show. It’s quietly accepting, which makes it much more genuine to me than shows where diversity is forced into the narrative to make a point. We do of course have more than that in BakaTest when it comes to queerness. We have Kubo who has a crush on Akihisa, Miharu who is obsessed with her onee-sama, and half of the show is about crossdressing, literally. So if you want dumb mainstream fanservice entertainment, with actual queer acceptance, look no further!

Outside of that all, Hideyoshi is just a sweet character of his own accord. He wants everyone to know he is a guy but also, he doesn’t exactly mind being girly either. The episode where everyone loses important things to them, he is quite adamant about finding his female nurse outfit because it means a lot to him. While he is exasperated by Akihisa’s antics, he doesn’t really lose his mind trying to stop him. And he makes full use of Hideyoshi Changing Rooms, a true queen. I could gush about Hideyoshi for hours - he is just so sweet, and hot to boot. However, since there is no depth to explain, I’ll just do it visually instead. 

Round girl Hideyoshi introduces us to the summoning system of Fumizuki Academy.

Hideyoshi in a swimsuit: the biggest rival of any Akihisa lover.

He won the ladies division too.

I’ll give up on the commentary, I just wanted to see him naked.

Here ends my Kinoshita Hideyoshi appreciation post. Looking forward to a day where we can see his nipples.

[kagemajaya]

Hidamari ga Kikoeru - Part 2: From iyashikei romance to conventional romantic drama

I Hear the Sunspot - 2013, Fumino Yuki - 7/10

Kouhei and Taichi being sad and alone under the rain

You can read the first part of this post here.

The healing has ended and now it’s time for some romantic drama tropes to take over. I will be quite harsh in the rest of this review and focus on the manga’s flaws, but bear in mind, this is because I loved this story and expected more out of it. It is of course still leagues ahead of many others of its kind. 

With the second volume of Hidamari ga Kikoeru, we step into a territory that we haven’t been in yet: proper romance. That is not to say Koufuku-hen (vol.2) and Limit (vol.3) do not delve into other topics at hand, coming of age and disability, but they are now tools to give us more and more melodrama between our “established” couple. Kouhei and Taichi aren’t exactly going out at the beginning of Koufuku-hen, but all intentions are there and we know why we are getting these sequels: the boys will need to get together.

Koufuku-hen introduces the first two obstacles to our boys’ soft romance: an entitled rival and worries about future occupation, classic go-to’s in any elementary romance story. (For an almost exhaustive catalogue of what drama a simple first love story should include, check out Doukyuusei, it does it well and without pretense.) 

Maya, the rival to Taichi, is a total bitch. Whether her disability is supposed to make her sympathetic, I don’t know, but she is the sort of character I can’t stand in any story. Actually stopping Taichi, someone she’s just met, from meeting Kouhei, and Kouhei and Taichi both allowing her that power is lazy narrative. Where does she get that power? Why is it okay for her to be mean to Taichi? And why is Taichi a pushover? Is that what being nice means? Certainly not in my dictionary. And certainly not by the standards of what we’ve seen from Taichi so far. He’s been quite defensive and protective against mean people - does Maya being a girl make it okay? Is it because she hangs out with Kouhei? None of these reasons work for me. As the story continues into Limit, she mellows out a bit, and even reluctantly helps Taichi. Unfortunately, this was nowhere near enough to redeem her character for me. As a tool to further the boys’ relationship, she was rudimentary. If we look at her as her own character, Fumino certainly gives her character development and her own plotline, neither of which are things she gave me a reason to care about. Maya was in the end Strike One towards a suffocating, trite melodrama that Fumino did so well keeping away from in volume 1.

Aren’t you the one who acts like that Miss Prejudice? 

Strike Two is future worries. Now as a topic for a 19 year old who has no idea what he’s doing with life, it makes total sense. When we come to its execution however, I have huge problems. Taichi quits university because now he knows what he wants to do with his life: help Kouhei with his hearing problems. In essence, both his wish to work with the hearing disability community and Kouhei’s reaction of feeling like a burden to Taichi are realistic, and could have been explored much like Kouhei’s original issue was explored in volume 1- quietly, without melodrama, with respite. Instead, what we get is, lack of communication and many many misinterpretations of each other’s feelings, not seeing each other for ages (and the normalization of that - two adults in a relationship not having time to see each other is bullshit, also propagated across many manga as if it could be real.) and once again, we are drowning in the sad feelings of youngsters who feel they are just not loved.

Of course, the work environment itself, which we get into more in Limit, carries the melodrama a million steps further. Taichi’s colleagues are generally nice people. The one that stands out the most is his de facto boss Chiba-san. He is the tough love type who teaches well and cares about you in his own grumpy way. Taichi of course loves to complain about him - which leads to Kouhei being jealous. And of course that’s not enough, whilst he is being jealous, but also feeling like a burden to Taichi cause he changed his future plans for him, he also decides to stay away from him, and be friends with another character who can’t hear, Ryuu, who is both vehemently against deaf people being with hearing people, and also - a shocking twist of fate - turns out to be Chiba-san’s little brother. With his venom, he convinces Kouhei that he can’t be with Taichi forever, and that he doesn’t need to get better hearing. I call it venom because before his own plotline is revealed, he comes across quite villainous. In fact, he is a sad, sensitive young man because he thinks he ruined his brother’s life, much like he makes Kouhei think he ruined Taichi’s life. The generalizations made and the entitlement to butt into other people’s life choices and the self-righteous attitude that comes with it bring us even more melodrama and suffocation. On the other hand, Chiba-san and Ryuu’s plotline is nicely resolved by the end, unlike Maya’s, it resonated with me as its own story. One reason for that could be that the only major female character we get ends up a part of the romantic plotline, and boy that is a turn off. Is that all girls are for? (Not saying Fumino-sensei is the sort to do this on purpose, but it is still quite boring to see it happen over and over again.)

Don’t fuck with a sensitive guy’s head dude... 

In the end, rather than envisioning ways to execute these plotlines better, I ask myself the question - was this continuation necessary at all? Apart from turning all the earlier beautiful drama into a tool to create romantic melodrama, what did we achieve? I guess we did get Kouhei and Taichi together by the end, but the somewhat open ending of the first volume had already done a classy job in making me think they were going to get together. It is of course natural to want to see your favorites continue to be a part of your life, and that is how I had felt at first when Koufuku-hen had come out. However, this is another lesson in how carrying on with an already finished story is almost never a good idea. Koufuku-hen and Limit did not entirely fuck up Hidamari ga Kikoeru, but they were far from ideal. Rather than enjoying the journey, I looked forward to it finishing as I waddled through Kouhei and Taichi’s endless troubles. 

The latter volumes get a 6 from me - a score I give to manga that I think are fine enough but I don’t want to read again. Surely, most of these flaws will get lost in the original sensitive choice and execution of the topic and will get ignored, branding Hidamari ga Kikoeru a master work. I’d like to reserve that epitaph for stories that carry that sensitiveness throughout. Maybe the solution is to regard these volumes as separate works, as I still love the original and will cherish it among my other favorites. Would also love to hear about your thoughts on these points - did you feel similarly as you read? Or did you only notice after reading this? Maybe you still loved the manga just as much as before? Either way, here’s hoping good stories aren’t dragged down by editor/reader pressures or a hunger for fame and money and we stop where they should.   

A dramatic chase, a traffic accident scare and we’re there… take a chill pill Fumino-sensei and see you next time...

[kagemajaya]

Hidamari ga Kikoeru - Part 1: An understated love story that changes the silent world of a melancholy young man

I Hear the Sunspot - 2013, Fumino Yuki - 7/10

Kouhei and Taichi being soft in soft light 

My story with Hidamari ga Kikoeru goes as far back as the days I first started reading BL. At the time, Hidamari was a one volume “completed” manga with the particularly touching topic of hearing disability. So before I delve into the whole work, I want to separate the first volume and talk about that. I will refer to the other volumes by their specific names to make the distinction.

Hidamari ga Kikoeru is an excellent example of slice of life drama. It’s soft, slow (but well-paced,) focused on an important topic without making the reader feel suffocated by melodrama, and on top of that, it is ever so slightly shounen ai. Now, it’s not at a level where the reader would feel like they were short changed for the genre tag - after all, it is focused on two male university students trying to find their way around each other. Kouhei, the hearing impaired MC, does indeed openly fall in love with Taichi and confess to him. Taichi does not turn him down and we can all imagine that he will eventually go with it. You can see that he cares about Kouhei, just as much as Kouhei cares about him. Having said all that, the romance is an intertwined part of the narrative and we are not there only to get to that end. The focus is certainly on their relationship, and much of the time is spent just building that relationship, with romance being a natural, not over-emphasized part of it. I’m not saying that this is a pro in comparison to romance focused stories, but it is refreshing how Fumino makes the reader feel like they are reading an intense BL without actually making every chapter about that. 

Considering the author note at the end of the volume, this makes utter sense. Fumino talks about how her editor complained about there not being enough BL in the story since it was being published in a BL magazine. Fumino confesses to not knowing what a BL magazine is as a result. Now, this may of course be a joke. Whatever the case, it shows how this story wasn’t meant to be your run-of-the-mill BL and was actually one of those stories that are highly coveted by the manga/anime fandom: a story where the gay love is incidental and is a part of the plot but not the primary focus. It’s especially difficult to pull it off with a slice of life that focuses on that said relationship - yet Fumino does this. 

It is very easy to be emotionally manipulative with her choice of topic. Hidamari, however, is a particularly genuine work. Kouhei’s struggles are quiet, delivered in a slow pace with respite thanks to the light-hearted Taichi and their relationship, but certainly he feels pain. He is in university, and some might argue that the story not turning “emo” is a result of his more mature age compared to many anime/manga works we consume. I’d probably debate that as he is still only a first year. He is quite a gloomy character who doesn’t have friends, doesn’t engage anyone other than his mother, and has made it a conscious choice to turn off his feelings in the face of the cruel in-between world he is caught in. After all, Kouhei doesn’t belong to either the side of the hearing or the deaf. His hearing is impaired but not heavily. Though the outside world is indeed shown as casting him away, it is more Kouhei’s own insecurities that make him a lonesome soul in places full of people. From my POV, the credit for sincerity and realism here goes entirely to Fumino Yuki’s pacing.

Taichi drops into Kouhei’s solitary rooftop lunch and changes his life forever

Real life is rarely ever suffocating darkness. That of course does have a place in stories as well. However, I find it utterly unbearable when it is a story about relationships set in realistic modern society environments. Surrounded by people, we are never crying all the time unless we are clinically depressed. There is always a moment of laughter or a moment of relief mixed between our sad thoughts. And whilst some writers might choose to zoom in on the especially dramatic moments, I find stories like that devoid of real meaning. It’s like they are made to make me cry even when I don’t actually give a shit about the characters. I can tell they were crafted in such a way that watching their “heartbreaking” moments only make me yawn, or in some cases, just feel entirely overwhelmed by the negativity of the atmosphere, whatever the subject matter. 

Kouhei has problems, and isn’t necessarily a happy young man, but he is not in such a state of depression that we need to wallow in his sorrows 24/7. Taichi, of course, helps further with his cheerful spirit despite having plenty of problems of his own.  More than anything, this is a story of two boys finding and healing each other. As we read, we are healed along with them. Personally, I am partial to Kouhei. His understated, sweet personality melts my heart and as I read this story about 4-5 years back, I thought he was a particularly well-written character with genuine depth, and the character whose character development was mainly focused on. 

I left Hidamari, fully pleased with where we’d ended, Kouhei had become a part of my extended favorites list, and the manga itself was a 9 - a truly special story. A little while later, Hidamari ga Kikoeru - Koufuku-hen came out. Of course, I was exhilarated and read whatever was already translated in a breath… The results of that session and the rest, I will write about in another post, as I don’t want to ramble for too long.  In the meantime, would love to hear your thoughts on the manga.

Look at their sweet faces, feel the breeze, and heal...until next time...

[kagemajaya]

Unripe Expression - High school romance and friendship done well

Misughan Pyohyeon - 2016, Aga - 9/10

Jaewon and his boys - my favorite harem yet

I’m not much of a manga reader, if you don’t count BLs that is. BL manga is one of the very few things that can pull me out of boredom, and I consume on average one volume a day. Korean webtoons are definitely a part of this comic devotion of mine. They are almost always easy to consume (not something I can say for manga) and the format lends itself to binging extremely well. Many a night, starting a new 80+ chapter webtoon has been a grave mistake for me, as I end up welcoming the sun with whatever couple I’m on a journey with at the time. Another feature of most BL webtoons is that somehow their drama never suffocates me, no matter the seriousness. Albeit a huge generalization, even when they make me cry rivers, they never feel quite so pessimistic as their Japanese counterparts. I always know what sort of an emotional reaction I’ll get out of them - which is not a bad thing if you are reading romance as a enjoyable pastime.

Unripe Expression, while seemingly just another one of the cute high school romances with some light drama, changed my mind as it built towards something subtly different. Throughout the majority of the story, I had two main feelings: that the story was ordinary but very involving, and that the main cast was individually superb characters. They were well-written and had lives and feelings of their own, and they were all extremely sympathetic even after they made mistakes. At the end, my feelings on the boys remained strong, but another thought struck me. The story was their desires, interactions, overall relationships, and characterization otherwise. The romantic pursuits and the friendships that Aga showed us were nuanced and alive, and I love each and every one of them.

Jaewon, the MC, is a sweet guy and first and foremost I wanted his choice to be realized, and this was in spite of Junseo being my best boy. While Jaewon had agency in the narrative, and he had a choice from the very beginning, the romantic plot never revealed what it had in store for us at the end. This is a 70 chapter comic, and I only knew who the lucky guy was in the last 2-3 chapters, a truly unpredictable gem. This can rattle a lot of people, and perhaps, if I hadn’t been convinced by the relationships of Jaewon and the boys, I’d have felt the same. Looking up some reviews after I finished the story, I found that not a lot of people were happy about the ending, so this might not be one of the stories you choose to read when you are in the mood for wish fulfillment. Speaking for myself, it fulfilled my wishes in terms of great relationship development on all counts, so even if I felt sad for the unlucky ones, I was completely satisfied with the way this particular story turned out. I bought every one of their plotlines, and that none of them were tools for fanservice to the audience. I was reading the real lives of a bunch of good high school boys, and what I wanted for them was not really their concern. Aga certainly has the qualities of a writer that I respect passionately. They seem to be writing for art and not the reader. Having said that, I’m still a weak human, so I’d love to see a continuation story for the other boys who couldn’t get Jaewon. [Big spoilers past this point until marked otherwise.]

Is it gonna be him or him or him? An embarrassment of riches...

First and foremost of those boys is of course Junseo, the reason for the public outcry in reviews. Junseo is the most well-built character and it is perfectly natural to be on his side as he helps Jaewon through his identity crisis and romantic troubles chasing Karam. He is sweet, loyal, a great friend, and as we witness him support his friend wholeheartedly, he falls in love with him in the process. The fact that he had already had a very intense relationship before high school and was broken hearted over it adds to our deep sympathy for him. His own transition from friend to boy in love is believable, and the story helps us support him in his quest through the first half of it - until we start getting a bit more into how Karam sees Jaewon (well at least me!)

My journey in what I want for Jaewon was quite shaky. In fact I’d say I’d have probably felt okay with whoever he ended up with. However, my top choice changed throughout the story; first Karam, then Junseo, and Karam again. I never stopped loving Junseo the best and feeling for him, but as mentioned, I wanted Jaewon to have who he wanted. We knew Karam was slightly interested in him from the beginning but the nature of that was not entirely clear. As we got further away from understanding him, my heart was turning towards Junseo and giving him what he wanted. However, Aga eventually turned the story back to Karam, with a new tool in the game - Jaewon’s first love Yoonsung. Yoonsung didn’t only trigger Karam to understand his own feelings better, he also showed us that Jaewon’s feelings were fully mutual. Karam can come across as the least developed of the group, and he is certainly the “less exciting” choice, but his own struggles with his feelings were gripping. Despite feeling that Jaewon was special, and despite being confessed to, he turned down Jaewon and still wanted to stay with him. This trope of being scared to lose a friend can come across as ordinary, but in this case the execution was superb. Karam wasn’t actually scared, and without respite, he kept sticking to Jaewon and flirting with him and doing everything in his power to stay in his heart. He didn’t want to lose Jaewon’s love for him to Yoonsung. The inherent selfishness of this is also inherently titillating to me - as long as Jaewon was only looking at him, he didn’t want to bother with the troubles that come with romance. Thankfully, Yoonsung came across as a very open threat to his possessive love. Little did he know, the real possible competition was Jaewon’s best friend Junseo.

Yoonsung himself comes across as the easy boy, the playboy who is playing games, and why would we ever root for him? The truth is we’ve read plenty of BL where the childhood love of the hero returns and has had a transformation of his own and gains the heart of his love again. Yoonsung is a charming boy, and from his perspective, the story is a sad one. The boy he’s loved all his life doesn’t pick him, and he doesn’t even make it simple. Jaewon’s protests against Yoonsung’s advances are flimsy at best. In the space of a few days, he gives hope to all three boys with his actions. Karam has already been confessed to, Yoonsung is allowed physical closeness, and Junseo emotional closeness. Jaewon’s relationships with each of them make these interactions believable and not-unlikeable. They are all a part of the natural flow, and in the end, as a boy who has been turned down, his confusion is natural. I find the final choice of Karam incredibly realistic, as he’s never stopped loving him. And luckily for Karam, he wasn’t too late to fix what he had almost undone. Unlucky for Junseo of course, because given enough time, I have no doubt that he could have made Jaewon forget about Karam’s rejection. Just the timing wasn’t right. Poor Yoonsung, on the other hand, was entirely too late. His time had been almost ten years ago. His unintentional rejection of Jaewon as a well-meaning child was the final chance he was ever going to get. 

Jaewon is the wholesomest slut in the world of BL

Another entirely doki doki element of the webtoon is that throughout the story no one ever finds out how close Jaewon and Junseo were. It was their own world, making their friendship particularly special - and make no mistake, it was a friendship, of the best kind. A huge strength of this webtoon was that despite most of the boys being in love with Jaewon, it wasn’t only about romance. It was very much about friendship, friendship of people who might have romantic connections as well. Whilst in many romance stories, friendship can be neglected, it is even rarer to see lovers or love interests portrayed properly as a friend. The perfection of how Junseo was equally in love and a loyal friend is one of the biggest draws here. Of course, we don’t only have Junseo as a friend but also Jaehee, who was the only straight boy in the crowd, Jaewon’s other best friend. Jaehee had a smaller role compared to the others, however, from his initial reaction to how he got himself forgiven and how he silently watched over his friend without wanting to make him uncomfortable, he had a subtle and sweet character development of his own. He was the less complicated friend-the one who was always there, unlike Junseo who had to leave at the end. And that choice was probably the one that made me the saddest. It was clear to me that Jaewon wasn’t only a crush for Junseo, so seeing him throw away his friendship was particularly sad. Jaewon respected his choice in the end, as he had briefly been there with Karam and didn’t appreciate the situation he was put in (once again showing that Karam is not such a goodie two-shoes.) In the end, this made the ending particularly bittersweet - not only because best boy Junseo didn’t get the boy but also because they had lost their best friends in each other as well. If we ever get a sequel, I would love to see Junseo get a boyfriend of his own, and back to being friends with Jaewon - and close friends at that! If I had to complain about anything at all, it would be that friendship does come behind romance as the main theme, and this means that once the romantic plotline ends, we don’t get to see any “side stories” to see where they all end up. Given how important friendship is to the rest of the story, it would have been more fulfilling to have one for the road.

Spoilers done!

In the end, Unripe Expression was a great success - telling a heartfelt story of love and friendship of five sweet boys, all of whom you could route for, for their own happiness. Harem is a particularly difficult structure to realistically execute and Aga did it perfectly here. None of the characters’ interest in the main character felt forced and I never found myself thinking, oh my god, why does everyone like this one boy! Even if the last choice may be controversial to some, Unripe Expression tells the story of Jaewon’s romantic escapades in a heartfelt and well-constructed fashion. Hopefully, you’ll give this beautiful (and extremely bingeable) webtoon a shot and Aga will one day grace us with more of their imagination and more of these boys’ friendships.

[kagemajaya]

Osomatsu-san Season 3

[kagemajaya]

Wan Sheng Jie - Modern everyday life among cute mythological boys

All Saints Street - Spring 2020, FENZ, HMCH - 6/10

The cute devil Neil is having a little game night with his roommates

Chinese productions were not a thing to pay attention to for me until very recently. Thankfully,  Mo Dao Zu Shi has changed my mind, and people kept posting about Wan Sheng Jie in my feed. There is not much to say about this little show except that it is a sweet, light-hearted affair, if you have roughly 50 minutes to spare. Made up of 4-minute long episodes, Wan Sheng Jie made me smile and kept me interested the whole time. The cast is lovely - my favorite being the shy and unlucky werewolf but there is something for everyone among the nerdy vampire, no-presence mummy, the straight-laced angel, his impulsive little sister (the romantic interest,) and the main character, an innocent little devil by the name of Neil. We watch them in their day to day but there is also an overarching plot about whether the devil has ascended to our world to take over, which keeps things intriguing. One cour has aired so far, but another seems to be on the way - I suppose we will watch and find out. 

People of all kinds can get along and share some delicious festival food

If you like Kimi to Boku, Miira no Kaikata, Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, Hora, Mimi ga Mieteru yo, Shirokuma Cafe or the sort, give Wan Sheng Jie a shot!

[kagemajaya]

Bare bones in lockdown - What does Summer 2020 look like?

A list of what looks interesting in the next season and silly reasons as to why

I’m not the sort of person who likes finding out too many (in some cases even a smidgen of) details about anime I’m going to watch, so this will be a spoiler free preview of the season. Here is a list of anime I will try and you can expect to hear about on Kagemajaya.

Hype

Fugou Keiji: Balance:Unlimited

We’ve already seen two episodes of Fugou Keiji before the COVID delays, but I consider it  a Summer anime nonetheless. What we’ve seen so far was stylish, fun, and a great dynamic between the two leads. The rich detective Kanbe has already been a Twitter phenomenon when the show started but his dutiful police partner is nothing to scoff at either. It’s always a great pleasure when a boring archetype is realized in a particularly interesting way - and a hugely difficult thing to achieve. On a much smaller note, I really love that Haru is taller than Kanbe. How cute is that?  Fugou Keiji returns to us on 30th July.

Cautiously Expectant

Tian Bao Fuyao Lu

Next season’s Chinese BL novel adaptation is this one. While the idea is always exciting, I always have to remind myself of the caveats. First of all, the studio is not B.CMAY PICTURES who made Mo Dao Zu Shi and Quanzhi Gaoshou - the studio which is currently miles ahead of other Chinese studios. Whilst the other studios can make fairly entertaining shows, adaptations can really leave a lot to be desired compared to their source material. One of the reasons for that is technical capabilities, the other is the censorship all BL adaptations must go through. So there it is, as ever, I’m very excited for this one, but also very cautious. At least the Dragon Boat Festival art above looks gorgeous.

Kyojinzoku no Hanayome

Now this is something I never expected to see animated. An mpreg BL isekai with a major size difference tag on it. Thankfully, Comic Festa Anime Zone, who continue to bring us hentai shorts for the ladies every season, wasn’t shortsighted like me. All I want from this show is that it’s entertaining and sexy - as any porn production should be. For those who aren’t into the animated sex bits, as ever, there will also be a mild version that’s just about the romance plot. Whichever one you prefer, the perpetual seme seiyuu Ono Yuuki will be there with you. What more could you need in your BL?

Sequels

Muhyo to Rouji no Mahouritsu Soudan Jimusho 2

Muhyo to Rouji’s first season was a mediocre affair after which I had decided to quit the franchise. However, Summer is empty and there is one character I can’t give up on - Kamiya Hiroshi’s feelsy villain Enchuu who is just obsessed with his old friend Muhyo. For those who like cults and magical mysteries, it can be a fair pass time as well. Here’s hoping for a major upgrade in the entertainment department of Muhyo to Rouji this season.

Also continuing...

Shokugeki no Souma: Go no Sara, Fruits Basket 2nd Season, and Olympia Kyklos. 

I might pick up other shows and most likely drop some of these throughout the season but here’s hoping it will be enjoyable overall despite the small number of shows I’ll start with. What are you guys planning to watch?

[kagemajaya]

Kakushigoto - On the midlife crisis of an artist

Spring 2020, Ajia-Do - 5/10

Hime has put the fear of God in Gotou-sensei once again. Kakushigoto was one of the two shows I was most hype for in Spring, and with its first episode my hype was still in place. I expected another installment of good old Kumeta humor, with a lot of manga industry references and self-deprecation sprinkled on top. However, as the season progressed, I was faced with a show that didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. The dark humor was there intermittently but didn’t have enough of a presence to pull off the few jokes it attempted. The interesting tidbits about the manga industry were fun to learn when included, but despite the story being about a mangaka and how he tries to hide his job from his daughter, we didn’t really learn a whole lot. Self-deprecation was mostly in the form of how Gotou-sensei saw his daughter - his daughter was his whole world, to the level that everything he did was dictated by her and what he thought would be good for her. 

The extremity of this could have been comedic if the tone of the show actually had decided on being fully comedic. Instead, it was a light-hearted slice of life, where not much of interest happened throughout the first 11 episodes of the story. It relied on being funny but failed most of the time, only to reveal Kumeta Kouji as an artist who was now too much of an adult with normal adult worries and adult interests to actually pull off being interesting- the change of topic from his previous stories to a dad-daughter pair already being a red flag. The experience reminded me of the time The Offspring put out a punk album in their 40s, singing about their life as parents. The album was not bad, but it was a bit ridiculous - that’s not the soul of punk after all. Maybe it was time they did other kinds of music.

A great taste of the behind the scenes of the manga world and Kumeta’s self-deprecating humor - and perhaps a sad forecast?

Kumeta Kouji’s brand of humor is one I feel is similar to punk music in this regard. It requires the whimsical childishness of an artist. The cheekiness to not care about who gets offended by your jokes and being able to create an absurd universe that barely holds within its own rules. His first work which he wrote in his early 20s, Katte ni Kaizou, is a pure and unbridled example of that. Its humor sucks for (likely) anyone other than teenage boys but it’s unapologetic and dirty and crazy. At the beginning of the journey, he is too immature as the anime continues, both the artstyle and the humor gradually changes and comes closer to what we know him best for: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. SZS is witty, funny, sometimes sweet, but most of the time doesn’t bother, wacky and has nothing to do with reality beyond the biting remarks it makes about society. It uses the medium to its fullest, with beautiful outfit designs, experimental voice acting sequences, a quirky cast that is perfect at being a mouthpiece for his observations, but doesn’t aim to be more. Now, in his late 40s and early 50s however, he seems to have gone down the maturation rabbit hole a bit too much.

Kakushigoto’s cast doesn’t fit in a slow paced slice of life because they are still the quirky characters of a wacky comedy but they are trying to tell an emotional story instead. It’s difficult to accept them as tools to tell jokes because the structure of the narrative calls for characters who have depth. The pace itself however could easily be a joke. After 11 episodes of nothing happening, the last episode packed in so much that I didn’t quite know how to digest all that. It was involving and all, unlike the rest of the show, but it could have been told over half a cour rather than in one episode. I will not dwell too much on the eyerolly moments because at least I wasn’t bored, and I’ll take that as a win.

Kakushigoto won’t stay with me as a special story in its own right. I’m not a fan of family stories, and a father loving his own daughter is not an interesting story if it’s not embellished with other details. What Kakushigoto managed to do however, is continuing the saga of Kumeta Kouji. I love figuring out creators from their work if their work embodies enough of their vision.  Kumeta certainly has a vision and a style, and it’s a treat seeing it change over the years, whether I enjoy the shows themselves or not. From his youth to young adulthood to middle age, the shows together tell a good story of who he is as an artist and perhaps partially as a person. I’m looking forward to watching Joshiraku, the last of his manga that have been adapted into anime to have a full picture. And I heartily recommend Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei to everyone (and maybe even Katte ni Kaizou if you like the man himself.) 

Here’s hoping for an actual midlife crisis for Kumeta to produce another brilliant work for us - here here!

[kagemajaya]

pet - A beautiful and tense journey through the peaks and valleys of memories

Winter 2020, Geno Studio - 7/10

Hiroki appreciates the idyllic imagery of the landscape of memories

This season has been bountiful for me and pet was one of the main contributors to this success. Despite my avoidance of tense and emotionally exhausting topics, going through pet was easy. First and foremost, pet was a champ in the department of visual storytelling and I expected nothing less from my favorite director Oomori Takahiro. Whilst I don’t always fall in love with all the stories he adapts into anime, I know that he will never make a show that underestimates its audience and that the story will always have heart. And pet didn’t disappoint.

The main attraction of the show for me is the depth of emotion and the psychological struggles it portrays in characters I actually care about.  Of the main foursome, Hiroki was an immediate favourite with his sweet, naive and just nature, followed by an interest in his “boyfriend” Tsukasa, mostly because of the creepiness he exuded but also because he still wasn’t unlikeable - he did really care for Hiroki. Their relationship, of course, was a big draw in itself - immediately intimate and full of innuendo, much like the rest of the narrative around the co-dependency between image users who give and receive peaks from each other (peaks represent the best memory that make up the entire psyche of a human being.) This almost surface-level subtext never disappointed despite all the drama surrounding each other’s value in each of these four characters.

I’m not one to say no to an intense bout of connecting in memories.

In some cases the relationship drama made me sad - because why couldn’t Hayashi prioritise Tsukasa? Why was it always Satoru who came first? It gave me a dark pleasure in some - Tsukasa’s intense need for Hiroki to be with him drowned out his need for Hiroki to be okay. He just needed him around no matter what. In others, it made me stray away from the emotional core a bit - who cares about this supernatural Chinese mafia and their politics? I’m not one for the gangster stories. I need beauty and elegance in my crimes rather than grit. I was also a bit suspicious about the extremely over-the-top vibe in some dramatic scenes. Tsukasa confronting Hayashi felt almost hammed up to me.

At the end of it all, pet delivered a finale that made the uninteresting bits suddenly interesting and made the interesting but confusing bits all the more deep. A lot of the drama was actually caused by the limited emotional capacity of these four, who had a different developmental period than normal people. They couldn’t create their own memories and they didn’t feel their own emotions until someone else came to save them. The nicer, more naive and newer pets like Hiroki and Satoru felt exactly like that - pets. They were not treated as equals and were clearly tricked into all sorts of situations they didn’t want to be in. More importantly, they didn’t even want to think, they didn’t know how to form their own opinions, but despite the lack of basics in emotions, they still grew those. It was easier to see that they were indeed limited in their capacity to not feel (because they felt a GREAT deal) but in their capacity to make sense of it and control it.

The older, cleverer characters like Hayashi and Tsukasa looked well-adjusted on the surface until past halfway, where we could see the cracks in their armor. Hayashi prioritised his younger “child” Satoru, not because he didn’t love Tsukasa but because he thought Tsukasa could have been a lost cause in the hands of the Company, whereas he had been able to take care of Satoru till recently. Thinking back on it, this fact didn’t make me feel relieved for Tsukasa because in the end he was relegated to a secondary position, but it made sense. Hayashi was not cruel, he only had the capacity to prioritize one particular feeling (or person in this case.) He had even thought of Hiroki and wanted to bring him out despite not even having met him but more than anything he had to get Satoru out.

Hayashi’s protective feelings for Tsukasa were more hurtful than warm. After all, he was always the “too.”

Tsukasa, himself, was acting in a lot of scenes but this was not true for all scenes where he was emotional - despite giving the impression. The confrontation scene with Hayashi was as hammed up as the scene where he was putting on a performance for Satoru, but the truth is he was just unable to express himself in a way that was genuine. His emotional baggage was of course far bigger than this. After all, he even groomed himself a perfect pet after he was betrayed by his peak giver. He wanted someone to trust and he could only trust someone who would be on his side unconditionally. His actions (and thoughts) made it obvious that he didn’t see Hiroki as an equal, but the question is was that also his feelings? If anything, Hiroki (and Hayashi) were put on a pedestal and he could not live without them. However, he didn’t really understand how to go about keeping them without thinking about himself first. He had been self-centered for so long that it was impossible to think of anything other than himself. He’d never learnt to.

Tsukasa’s perfect world.

And the Company - I didn’t care about this plotline until the last episode where the connection between Katsuragi and LianLian was revealed. And what a way to end it! Suddenly I was emotionally connected to the evil goon, doing the bidding of his superiors and nothing else the whole season (and he had no gay storyline to boot, so a tough sell for me :)). 

The sad ending was coming from miles away - but pet also surprised me in that regard. The ending could be viewed in two different ways. The source material had been a completed manga for a long time until recently, in which case, it looked like the “stupid” ending of the naive pets, looking optimistically into the future, never likely to have what they want. We do now know that a sequel is starting that focuses on the lives of Tsukasa, Hiroki and Satoru after this point, and I, for one, am excited to see a somewhat happy follow-up to this tense but strangely sweet psychological drama. We might end up finding out about more rules surrounding how memories and images work (though that plot itself is not necessarily my main concern.) And who knows? Maybe Hiroki and Satoru will really bring Tsukasa to their peak and Tsukasa will relearn how to make memories and they will live happily ever after. A girl can dream...  Though I still must add, the conclusion is a perfect one as it is, not entirely sad, but really just two fool’s dream that we can also choose to believe in.

The peak that bestows hope on all who is destitute

Putting aside the story elements, the show itself is crafted superbly both visually and narratively. The imagery was almost never outright explained but always visible and giving a pleasant rush to me when I noticed them.

Don’t kill the innocent pets! They understand nothing about the evils of the world they live in. 

The dissonance between thoughts, feelings and actions of the childish but equally deep main four was showcased well in all dialogues, but especially in the confrontation scene between Tsukasa and Satoru in episode 12. Both characters didn’t suspect they were wrong despite both of them being half-wrong. The pacing of the dialogue allowed both their thoughts and actual words to be conveyed but also showed us in great detail how underdeveloped they were emotionally. Their understanding of those external to them was somewhat complex, it’s not like any normally raised human being can figure out all the things that were happening in that situation, so it was realistic that they wouldn’t understand it all. More importantly, their self-awareness levels were way below the threshold that would allow them to flourish in a cruel environment, surrounded by people who were hellbent on taking advantage of them and seeing them merely as pets. It made for a fascinating watch - the cleverness of it all was the depth of the characters who I’d classify as idiots in a lot of ways. As someone who very rarely enjoys idiot characters, I’d call this experience an orgasmic pleasure.

Takes one to know one.

One last word about Ueda Keisuke, the seiyuu of Hiroki. The genuineness and sweetness portrayed in the character hugely owed to the great voice work of the actor. I had heard him in Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine before as the titular character Heine and noticed his distinct tones, but hadn’t felt anything beyond that. Hiroki’s performance, however, affected me to my core. Looking back on Heine now, I really appreciate the sense of distinctiveness he can grant the characters he plays. Heine was not an attractive character for me, so I didn’t care at the time as his voice fit him perfectly - it was not particularly attractive. With Hiroki, he put on a performance with a completely different range of emotions that retrospectively, I can put Heine together with Hiroki,  and see what a great voice actor he is. Here’s hoping for more roles for Ueda in the future! (Apparently he is a stage actor as well, but selfishly, I hope he becomes a full time seiyuu.)

Ask me again in that voice, you sweet little child.

The overall tension and the focus on two young men and their relationship, in addition to the matter of their survival within a gangster world remind me of Banana Fish but I must caveat that I intensely dislike BF for failing to do all the things pet did perfectly - from a genuine relationship and real characters other than the very main character, tragedy as a harrowing storytelling medium rather than the sake of having it there (and without respite,) drama that is not cheesy despite being over-the-top in places (with good reason) and imagery that served the narrative which closed the loop, without leaving any threads untouched. 

As the pull of the show is the emotional co-dependency between the male cast for me, I have a hard time narrowing down my actual recommendations for pet. There are so many of them, and they are not necessarily similar to the show in other respects. I will name a few of my favorites here if you are up for gay love/obsession as a theme in tense, non-romantic anime, with characters who aren’t quite in touch with their emotions: Shigurui, Saraiya Goyou, Kenpuu Denki Berserk, and 91 Days might do the trick. Let me know your thoughts!

[kagemajaya]

We are home but sakura are blooming - What does Spring 2020 look like?

A list of what looks interesting in the next season and silly reasons as to why

I’m not the sort of person who likes finding out too many (in some cases even a smidgen of) details about anime I’m going to watch, so this will be a spoiler free preview of the season. Here is a list of anime I will try and you can expect to hear about on Kagemajaya. 

Hype

Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro

I saw the first visual of this show in Anime Japan 2019 and was immediately excited for it. Two male leads, historical detective show, good art - at least on first impression, as first visuals can be deceiving. The posters shared afterwards, including the one above, gave me even more hope that this would be a high quality show. With a full male main cast to boot! What can go wrong? (And thus she jinxed herself.)

For those who like to watch trailers, give it a shot here. 

Kakushigoto

My hype for Kakushigoto has a bit more substance to it than above as I’m a fan of mangaka Kumeta Kouji’s Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series. Kumeta is as clever as they come, a master of (dark) gag comedy. Whilst I haven’t read the manga itself, the anime is a masterpiece in usage of the medium, an example of true art. I expect something to please my eyes, heart and mind with Kakushigoto. And ears - as my favorite seiyuu Kamiya Hiroshi is leading this one. 

Trailer here. 

Cautiously Expectant

Fugou Keiji: Balance:Unlimited

Another cool visual, another Spring show with two male detective leads. This one is not historical and not fully male main cast but otherwise fulfills the criteria for a try-out. Everyone’s favorite madman Miyano Mamoru will be playing one of the leads.

Giving It a Shot

Mewkledreamy

Sanrio has given me three great shows in Winter 2018 and I’m still expectant. Hopefully this will be cute, and the family mood won’t kill me.

Zashiki Warashi no Tatami-chan

This is an original by High Score Girl’s mangaka Oshikiri Rensuke. Whilst High Score Girl let me down with its most recent installment, I’ve seen this man write a story that makes me go “awww” or tear up at the cuteness of the characters. I’m hoping the lack of a teenage romance in this one should make it work.

Olympia Kyklos

By Yamazaki Mari, of Thermae Romae renown - which for me was a great concept but boring execution. I kind of expect a similar thing to happen here, especially with the clay animation business, but I shall give it a shot anyway. At worst, I’ll have one more drop. 

Sequels

Shokugeki no Souma: Gou no Sara

Shokugeki is coming back with yet another season. I’ve enjoyed most of it through the years but I don’t expect too much from this season. Hopefully I’ll be surprised. Either way, it can’t be worse than a 6, can it? (She jinxes herself again.) Here’s hoping for more SoL content and fewer shokugeki than the Fourth Plate.

Fruits Basket 2nd Season

A pleasant, easy watch with not much depth to its messages (unless you are a fan of extremely pure and naive girls.) I hope this season is similar for a casual watch (or maybe better??) and they forget to animate the pig girl.

I might pick up other shows and most likely drop some of these throughout the season but here’s hoping it will be enjoyable overall. What are you guys planning to watch?

[kagemajaya]

Uchi Tama - Super cute lazy days on the Third Street

Uchi Tama?! Uchi no Tama Shirimasenka? (Uchitama?! Have you seen my Tama?) Winter 2020, MAPPA/Lapin Track - 9/10

If anything is unclear, Tama is extremely cute.

My AOTS for Winter 2020 was what most would call underwatched -  though I won’t be making any such claims, even though the member count on MAL is right now only slightly over 10k. This is one of those shows that possibly only appeal to a small audience, a SoL in the true sense of the word, with cute boys (and a couple of cute girls) just idling away their time innocently in their little neighbourhood. On top of that, the cute boys and girls are actually all cute cats and dogs (or tanuki?) but only anthropomorphized in the scenes where humans aren’t around. So a weird one all around.

The plots of the little sketches also vary from cute to extremely strange (but still cute) with one of them dedicated to the number of nipples on different animals. We have host cats and animal coming-of-age topics standing in for (not-so-innocent) human growing pains, and all sorts of weird, cute, wholesome on the surface topics taken on in this show. It’s sweet, tongue-in-cheek funny, with many surreal moments, hilarious rap segments and EDs sung by different members of the cast, all equally entertaining. With high production value to boot!

As ever, women love manly men who eat lots of meat.

The seiyuu cast itself is also a great attraction point if you are into that sort of thing. Saito Souma, Ono Kensho, Kaji Yuki, Maeno Tomoaki, Hanazawa Kana make up some of the main cast.

The cast itself is a bunch of nice kids, welcoming to all kinds of people whoever you are. And if you like all that I described here, Uchi Tama can be a warm place for you, like it has become for me.

If you like Shirokuma Cafe (for the cute, wholesome animal funniness), Kimi to Boku. (for the quiet lazing around life in the city), or Jingai-san no Yome (for the uniquely weird-cute), this show can be for you. Follow’s Beh’s footsteps and step into Sanchoume - and let me know what you think!

Beh is going in.

[kagemajaya]