#For me rezero best quality is the characters then the plot

[dumping-ideas]

WARNING REZERO ARC 7 SPOILERS

The author repeatedly say that Re:zero is a heartwarming story, and it has the heartwarming tag in Narou too, so of course Re:zero is not only doom, gloom, and despair. It's a story about how a boy and a girl can find a moment of peace, and it's also a story about a boy when pushed from all corners will use his only strength--the ability to not give up. With premises like that, it's obvious that Subaru won't be going down the emo/gritty/vengeful/ruthless route anytime soon no matter how close he comes to it in the main story (IF stories are different matters). Because if he does then, well, he gives up and that is not the theme of Re:zero. People who want dark!Subaru in the main story without considering what Re:zero is all about can just read the IF routes or write fanfics about it, geez.

Hoo boy, I literally jumped out of my seat, the newest chapter is wild. Tanza assuring Subaru that people gladly sacrificed themselves for him because he stood by their side was really poignant, because this incident in Ginunhive is not even the first time it happens. Off the top of my head, there's Rem in Arc 3, Otto and the Arlam villagers in Arc 4, Ram, Beatrice, and Emilia in Arc 6, and now Idra, Hyain, and Weitz in Arc 7. For Subaru, his gentleness towards others isn't something special, but other people know how hard it was to be that kind--and they didn't even know the betrayals and hate that Subaru experienced in failed loops. Even then, there were so many who were grateful for his existence (kinda a pity because the story needs Subaru to die lol), and Subaru with his deep-rooted self-hatred kinda needs the repeated reminder that yes, people loves him enough to the point where they're fine being dead as long as he's alive. One Satella and the witches' intervention isn't enough for the bucket of low self-esteem that is Natsuki Subaru.

And then there's this passage:

"--I can return by death!"

I'm right here. Please, find me. I know I'm selfish, but I want to save everyone.

My--Natsuki Subaru's authority alone isn't enough. That's why--

"--Find me, Satella."

"I love you."

THIS MOMENT!! RIGHT HERE!! SUBARU REALIZING THAT HE NEEDS SATELLA FOR RBD TO FUNCTION NORMALLY!! HIM FINALLY ACCEPTING SATELLA'S LOVE CONSCIOUSLY!! INVISIBLE PROVIDENCE!! SUBARU FINALLY FINDING HIS SECOND WIND FOR THE CLIMAX IN LUPGANA!! LET'S GOOOO!!!

I'm really excited to know that Subaru will bring the whole Ginunhive as an army to attack the capital. Kinda funny that people had speculated that Subaru would start a rebellion and he did, it's just that he needs to accept Satella's love first and unite the island under "the current emperor's illegitimate son who wanted to take over the crown". Because they're a big entourage, I'm sure words would travel faster, so I'm sure Vincent, Priscilla, and Emilia factions will also gather in Lupgana. Also, now that Subaru can use his authorities, I expected Cor Leonis will make an appearance later.

I had a feeling that Bassu would change to Boss, and I'm glad I'm right lol. If only Subaru helps Halibel, he'll also get Kararagi's strongest as his ally. First Reinhard and now Cecilus--Subaru is collecting all these super-powered allies like they're pokemon.

[badanimereviews]

summer 2019 anime sum-up

lmao i realized i never did this and posted the fall season b4 this.... oops

kimetsu no yaiba: tbh started out kinda meh. and now it’s turned into one of the new big shounens. i was not expecting that. nearing the end got rly good and i was rly looking forward to more episodes! tanjiro gets cooler and cooler! animation is rly nice (thanks ufotable) and the way tanjiro’s water is animated. like. aesthetic asf. it’s so good. i love black-haired emo dude and zenitsu (my spirit animal) and ofc nezuko she is adorable im c r y. side note: the hashira? i think they’re called? some of the ugliest fkn characters i’ve seen in ages like flame boy? stone boy? i HATE them. and the gem dude too like man get a new tattoo artist on god.... he needs it.,,,,,,and inosuke is so pretty it’s unfair

dr stone: ok man dr stone rly went off. tbh. i’ve always been a whore for chemistry since reading the flavia de luce series (btw, i want more books of) and watching this just tickles my noodle brain in a good way... who needs prozac when i get a shitton of serotonin from watching senku dick around....  (btw what is going on with what’s his face and the girl. yuzuriha????? i can’t remember. i love senku don’t get me wrong but i need their perspective too... bc i hate lion dude... so much.... dick....) again i will repeat that i am a whore for chemistry so i get oFF on this. backgrounds are amazing/ animation so nice n clean (most o the time lmao). i thought i would hate the black n white haired trickster boi and ms yellow ponytail and suika but no! dr stone is such a good show that they are now great, loveable characters. also i am senku and chrome’s whore so jfc. man, i love the explanations of all the chemistry shabang, but some things i think would be better if explained! like senku doing physical labour at the beginning- ex. making all those pots and building that shit by hisself. i know he weak af. yes he smart but like. construction? difficult. pottery? even for me the artist . difficult. and that shed of his was filled to the brim. HOW. anyways, i love this so much i am crying constantly

just realized i didnt need to write about dr stone. oh well. 

danmachi 2: wtf yo. haruhime is so pretty but not a fan of her personality! bell still cute af and still don’t rly like aiz! animation good as always, and my god i shit myself whenever the argonaut theme starts up bc that is ? one of the best pieces of non-sawano hiroyuki pieces i’ve ever heard? addicted to it. and the opening! love the dynamics, the brief ‘rain’ scenes like when mikoto slashes the raindrops and just her motion basically? as an animator that is what i aspire to accomplish because i just love that. tiny little scene. 

arifureta: this would have been so much better had they dragged out mc’s op-ifying process! made him suffer more! i explained this briefly in my ‘first thoughts’ post for this season, but story-wise and pacing-wise his power-up could have been so much more deserved and gratifying. think shield hero- loser suffers, gets angry, slowly builds up power in an epic payoff! would have been so epic too. and also if they’d made his gained powers less.... crazy nerfed. again: HE SHOULD HAVE SUFFERED MORE AND THIS WOULD HAVE MADE A BETTER SHOW. harem thoughts: yue- meh. sucky char honestly. shea- my fav girl, she is a great character don’t judge- sexy and love her personality and love her character design and love how much fanservice she gets lol. panty flash ftw. dragon girl- discount darkness honestly , tho nice design. and mermaid girl- yuck, annoying,  DO NOT like the ‘papa’ trope! (ahem sao.) it’s gross. also just fuck mc’s classmates honestly- paladin dude sucks ass, healer girl OOF that last episode ruined her, samurai girl is ok i guess. hate ai-sensei too like shut UPP annoying ass HOEEEEE (postscript: opening=very epic too)

kanata no astra: plot twist? check. trillion well-done plot twists? check. this was done very well. i am so happy. all those plot twists and turns would usually suck in any regular anime- but this was written with GODLIKE ability. thank you, lerche. legit, this was such an enjoyable ride, i eagerly awaited each new ep! typically i hate space-related stuff but like! survival stuff gets my goat.... like this was good- (tho maybe more technical-stuff in the survival theme would make it so cooler) what shocked me the most: (spoilers alert) didn’t end up hating quitterie or funi. (tho the puppet made me want to strangle smth) luca’s gender had rly confused me but i’d decided on him being a boy- so basically that reveal left me like WHOA. i died. did luca rly have to show emo boy their tity tho... kanata losing his arm gave me the yeeeks, charce being the traitor was made sO WELL into a surprise even tho i’d kinda already suspected him<- like that was just fucking amazing writing there. gj. and ares the princess! ok man! shocked! AND also the whole clone thing, just fucked me right up. up the ass. like there are probably more plot twist layers in this than a fkn ogre has.... anyway shrek aside, yun?’s character arc was very pleasing, i think that was done very well! and the ending made me UwU like BRO? goals tbh. yeah this is a hidden gem and is just so good, so well-written overall. 

cop craft: didn’t have high expectations. i am now,,, quite,,, shocked &,,, blown away. sweetheart this is a good fucking show. so why @ livechart.me DOES IT HAVE 7.40 STARS WHEN FKN ARIFURETA HAS 7.72. can someone explain this to me? i’m outraged. LIVID.  matoba and tilarna were amazing characters btw! loved their dynamic! briefly i thought it might get romantic! nope, it didn’t, so it’s all good. actions scenes were epic, tilarna’s design and outfits were so much nicer than i thought they’d be like. she is so cute. and the op- man, if that is not such a bopper vibe then idk what is. i could watch it forever. it deserves so much more than what it’s got rn.

naka no hito genome: (serious question: is this considered some sort of isekai?) genome gave me btooom vibes honestly but like- this is SO much better than btooom and most game/trap/ kinda shows. fkn BOP of an op, especially the sequence at the end with short clips of each character in action (nutt). paka-san was a good boy and he deserves irl merch. i fell in LOve with all the characters (bubble boy= hot, akatsuki= ok meh actually kinda boring, karin= hot and i want her to punch me, ruromori= beautiful 12/10 would let her stalk me, sleepy eyes boy= baby + dazai vibes and hot af, twin boy= also hot, onigasaki= hot and love him so much, and loli girl= her light grenades got annoying but nice char design) anyways yeah more of this would be epic. i wanna see sakura and her twin reunite, and how they get out basically! also animation quality was very good which is surprising considering it’s a silver link anime.

kono yo no hate de koi wo utau shoujo yu-no: i include the whole title bc this is a good anime. (also livechart.me why 7.27 stars i will fuck you up) only meh part of this is the return to earth from dela granto bc that was like a culture shock and honestly at that point i’d forgotten a lot about what had happened on earth and didn’t care as much. btw, f ayumi and f the other brown-haired oneesan. mio and kanna ftw. obvs i didn’t understand the sayless x takuya thing like dumbass horny teenager . why u gotta creampie the worst girl. u have mio. bruh. (tho mio x ‘oyabi!’ boy is a great ship) also, takuya’s mom? keiko-san? idk if you’ve noticed but that’s literally my name so yeah just glad to finally have some keiko representation. altogether goodass anime. the time travel/ rezero esque reset thing almost got me but this was done well. so no problems. both ops very good. first song was bae, second also bae (just realized it’s by konomi suzuki, one of my waifu idols, so yea nice) and ed2 also so pretty! also yu-no’s design was rly pretty, the outfit colours, and her pigtails rly suited her :)

granbelm: sorry this is the last one lol this was a long ass post! other than the fact i dont rly like mecha this was good.... action, CHARACTER designs aesthetic asf, honestly rly pretty ok. i liked the cast, very diverse and more depth than most shows of this ilk. op was nicely choreographed- especially the part where the girls’ faces are contorted by their gems, showing their magical girl side. nicely done. mangetsu didn’t end up being that bad a char, and honestly? suigetsu is best girl and deserved better. and the ending too- like, bro, that made me kinda sad. some off points: anna’s mom was a little unrealistic as a mom like woman- please learn to control your child, and, white-haired girl’s sister should have played a bigger part, based on how her parts in the opening were emphasized! (quick note- blue girl, love her, great bad guy, when she dumped anna made me so happy honestly, she is beautiful, and i couldn’t actually decide who i wanted to win between her and suigetsu....)

hope u enjoyed this bad review. pls share ur opinions w/ me on some of of these more controversial shows. thank. 

[dewbond-blog]

Shallow Dive: Rascal Does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

I want you to think about a bolt of lightning.

When you see one in the sky you are often filled with emotions and feelings. It’s powerful, beautiful, awe-inspiring, and almost all too fleeting. Once the lightning comes it is as gone as soon as it came and you don’t really think about it anymore. Still when you saw that lightning you were just blown away by how much it affected you, or just how great that experience was.

That is pretty much the series we are talking about today. Let’s waste no time and dive into 2018 series, the sharer of the Anime of the Year: Rascal Does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai.

I’ve talked about this show several times both on my blog and others, but I’ve waited to give it a proper overview because I wanted my thoughts to solidify. I tend to stay away from week to week episode reviews because I prefer to get the whole picture, the entire point of the anime before I give my thoughts. I am also glad I gave this show sometime after the final episode because I didn’t want my thoughts on that piece to affect my entire view of the series.

Bunny Girl Senpai was a show that many people didn’t think they would like. One look at the poster could make you think this was another slice of life romantic harem comedy. What people weren’t expecting, and neither was I, was that it would be one of the most thoughtful, well written and just plain good series this year.

The plot is simple. We follow Sakuta Azsuagawa, a sort of ‘go it alone’ Holden Caulfield (with thankfully none of the angst or inflated self-importance) type of guy as he discovers that “puberty syndrome” a sort of scientific abnormality linked to teenage problems, is causing several different girls in his school to undergo strange events. Whether it is body switching, time loops, being invisible to anyone but himself or splitting yourself into two people. Sakuta has to help these girls figure out their issues, all the while trying to nurse and raise his bullied sister Kaede back to health.

Right off the bat, Bunny Girl Senpai had probably the best three episode run of any series in the last five years. If the series had ended right after those three episodes, it might have been completely flawless. The first arc centered around our titular bunny girl senpai Mai Sakurajima felt like an entire movie played out over three weeks. Mai and Sakuta’s romance and chemistry are some of the strongest I’ve seen in years, and both of these characters felt more realistic and endearing than almost any romance I’ve seen in anime. There are none of the tropes or moments that are so often attached to anime romances and despite the science fiction twist, Mai and Sakuta’s attitudes to each other feel earned, touching and most of all realistic.

That is the key word here. Bunny Girl Senpai is a very realistic show. No, not in terms of the science and puberty syndrome, but in the problems and atmosphere of its characters. I’ve said it before, but Bunny Girl Senpai is an anime about teenagers in high school, not an anime about teenagers in an ANIME high school and that is a very important point to make. The problems of the girls are things all girls I expect have gone through, whether it is wanting to escape the spotlight, feeling inferior to your successful older sister, obsessed with trying to fit in, being insecure about your body, or the fear of being abandon by your only friends. These are real problems that are thankfully portrayed by realistic characters in a realistic setting. Most of all, they are able to talk about teenage problems without coming off as pandering or “after school special,” something that is very difficult to do with viewers. To see high school students actually act normal in ANIME, where a high school is so often used as either a springboard for outlandish plots or a walking trope factory was absolutely refreshing to see.

Now Bunny Girl Senpai does have some faults. The science fiction elements can be hit or miss, and too often the show just has characters explain this through dialogue rather than visual examples. Some of the girl’s story arcs are stronger than others, with the third starring Sakuta’s scientific sidekick Futaba feeling the weakest of them, and the overall plot settled into a “Sakuta meets a new girl, identifies the problem, solves the problem” formula pretty quickly. These, however, are extremely minor when compared to just how perfect the show nails its characters, atmosphere, themes and pretty much everything else. Something frankly this good always ends up short so how, but never in a way that would damage it’s standing.

However, like a bolt of lightning, I wonder if something like Bunny Girl Senpai has a staying power. I won’t lie, it wasn’t a show I thought of much after I watch its weekly installment. I loved every single minute, but after the credits rolled I didn’t much think about. Just like lightning it appears in the sky, blows your mind and then is just gone and you move on with life. Will we be talking about this show two months from now? Five? Seven? A Year? I don’t think we will, and yet this show is one of the best anime I’ve seen since ReZero. Maybe that is ok, perhaps some pieces of anime are meant to simply be like that, doing what they have to do and then fading into history.

Rascal Does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is, as I have said in this blog post: a bolt of lightning. It’s beautiful, spectacular and deeply moving, and then just like that lightning, it is gone. It is one of the best anime I have seen since ReZero brought me back into this genre, and absolutely deserves its place as the best anime of 2018. A masterpiece of high quality, despite being something I think many will forget about, viewers of this blog and anime fans, in general, should absolutely not skip out on this show.

[cardcaptortakato]

ReZero Spoiler Free Review

I recently finally finished watching all of ReZero which is a series I surprisingly really enjoyed.  I was initially skeptical of it because of all the early criticisms about it being another parallel world anime and the main character being an otaku self-insert hero.  I thought it was going to be like Gate or something which I didn’t enjoy at all.  But then ReZero suddenly got a lot of high praise from reviewers I trusted a lot and it was suddenly the most popular streaming anime on the Internet, so I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the show is.  

What shocked me with ReZero is how dark and twisted it gets really early on.  With most anime like this, the show usually doesn’t play it’s hand until around the second arc, but ReZero shocks you with it’s incredible plot twists right off the bat.  Almost every episode had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what happens next.  I was also shocked at how much I actually enjoyed the characters.  

I know Rem is the most popular. and I came to appreciate her eventually, but my favorite early on was always Emilia.  I just really took a liking to her and i loved how she was kind and had a strong sense of justice, but she wasn’t’ a pushover and she was really cool and had awesome powers and her mascot sidekick, Puck, was so adorable.  Felt was definitely in a close second as I loved her  unexpected personality and I was shocked with how they took her character later on.  I just wish they showed more of her and I hope they’ll explore more of Felt if they ever get around to season two.  

As I said, I came to appreciate Rem and her sister, Ram later on as the story progressed.  I liked their dry wit dynamic early on with their interactions with Subaru and their backstory was really sad and engaging.  But I really started to enjoy Rem more as she started to grow closer to Subaru and fight alongside him.   But Emilia is still my best girl though Rem was really good too.  Really though, I enjoyed almost everyone,even Betty, who I thought was funny and I loved how her magic dimension reminded me a lot of the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter.  

Even Subaru I felt was a much more likable character to m than what a lot of people made him out to be early on.  I can see how some fans might be frustrated with him, but I felt like he was portrayed in a more believable and sympathetic way than most otaku main heroes are in a lot of anime like this (I’m looking at you, Gate).  I never get the impression that the show was trying to justify Subaru’s flaws and Subaru was slowly learning and maturing over the course of the story as he tries to fix his mistakes with his relationships.  His early reactions to the fantasy world felt believable.  I mean, to be honest, I feel like most anime fans would react in a similar way to Subaru if we suddenly found ourselves in a fantasy world.  

The big draw to ReZero for me is the unique concept of time travel.  There’s tons of anime and gene fiction that deals with time travel but you rarely ever see it in a fantasy setting, so I loved seeing it portrayed this way in ReZero.  I also loved how they potrtrayed Subaru going through what I thought was a belivable mental breakdown from always having to repeat the same day.  It was always shocking how it was handled because you never knew when the time travel was going to happen.  Subaru could just be walking on a peaceful day minding his own business and suddenly be shocked back into the past.   The show always kept me on the edge of my seat with who was going to die or how Subaru was going to get through this next mess.  I was also impressed with how little actual fanservice was in ReZero.  

An anime like this could have easily went in this direction like they did with Grimgar a bit, so I was surprised when it didn't.  There was like one episode early on when they were first at Roswaal's mansion that was a little bit fanservicey, but it was fairly tame by modern anime standards and wasn't anything too outrageous and the fanservice is pretty much dropped after that.  The show is more violent than anything and there several times I had to close my eyes because I have a weak stomach for graphic violence.  It's not the most extremely violent anime I've seen but it can be pretty intense, so take that into account if you decide to watch it.  ReZero is definitely an anime for an older more mature audience.  if I had any real criticism of ReZero, I feel like the animation and music  could have been a lot better.  It wasn't bad or anything but nothing about the visuals or the soundtrack really stood out to me in any way.  I feel like a series like ReZero needs to have more epic music and animation quality to complete the experience.  The animation improves a lot towards the end of the show but there is some pretty wonky CGI in the first few episodes.  

I thought the ending to ReZero was really good and I thought it was very emotionally satisfying.  It wraps up that particular arc but it still doesn't complete the whole story, so there's still plenty of room for more adventures.   With how successful ReZero is on a global scale, I'm hoping it's popularity means we will eventually get a second season.  And hopefully we won't have to wait as long as we have with Attack on Titan finally getting more.  Even if you're not normally into the Sword Art Online MMORPG type of anime, if you're otherwise a big fan of fantasy, I do highly recommend throwing out your preconceived notions about the series and give ReZero a chance and I think you'll be really surprised by it.  In spite of a few minor animation issues, I really enjoy ReZero and I would give it five star rating and I highly recommend to all anime fans.