#anyways anyways. Isekais never give the protagonist a good enough reason to go home but i think 'my beloved pet will suffer a slow death'

[bitchfitch]

actually I've decided all those old ideas for them suck. Objectively the funniest possible answer to "who the fuck Are Conrí and Gwyn" is:

Gwyn is a proper nobody, but he's mostly happy living with his pet pixie frog, Jeremiah, and his roommate/best friend Human Jeremiah. who is a sorta eccentric older fellow. Tends to be very air headed and spends most of his time keeping to himself and quietly reading the old books he keeps up in their attic. He also does basically all the chores when Gwyn is at work so the dude could be a serial killer and Gwyn would still consider him the best roommate ever.

It's a great life for Gwyn. He can relax and persue his passions in his free time in a quiet and lovely home. He has company when he wants it and peace when he doesn't. it's Perfect.

Until Gwyn gets forcibly Isekai-ed.

He wakes in (bulk standard magic land... Bustmala) on an alter surrounded by strangers. They tell him he's the reincarnation of some ancient sorcerer and it'll be his job to stop some horrid evil. Gwyn is not down for this. He doesn't know how time moves in relation to the two worlds and Human Jeremiah is out of town so if Gwyn doesn't get home soon his beloved Jeremiah will starve or his water will dry up.

What proceeds is the set up for your standard harem anime. There's the extremely accomplished sorceress who works for the king/queen, Exac'coso, She is being forced to teach this newcomer. She resents his existence and he agrees that she should, they start hatching their plan in secret almost as soon as they are alone in the room together.

The powerful general who immediately starts talking strategy, Powge. her words go just as far over his head as Exac'coso's did. It devastates her to find out the plan her predecessors had been working to put into place for generations is going to fail. They didn't have any other way to possibly contain the BBEG. While she still has hope it'll work out some how, it doesn't take long to get her on board. The sooner Gwyn is gone the sooner the higher-ups will let them all start investigating more options that might actually work. This is the first time she and Exac'coso are getting to work together and she's learning to not be quite as intimidated by such a well respected member of the court.

And finally a maid of no renown, Manoré. She's the glue that holds the team together. The only one of the three of them that has an excuse to go anywhere without a single person paying her any mind. It also helps that she's a pickpocket and clever in a way that compliments Powge's straight forward eyes on the prize mindset and Exac'coso's overthinking and over complicating. Plus it also gets her a chance to reverse pickpocket a few things off the ladies. She likes stealing but also always feels a little bad about it later if the person is nice. She doesn't need to be convinced to join their mission, she was listening in when the other two weren't thinking of her as having been there because she was just the help.

The four of them get everything set up and nearly succeed in their goal without much fuss. Until the overly loyal dog of a guard that is Conrí interupts. He had been the greatest hurdle as he had been assigned to watch over Gwyn at all times in case BBGE tried to get him before he was prepared to win that fight. He had refused to hear any of Gwyn's protests on this matter and insisted he Must be the sorcerer because otherwise, what hope did any of them have?

The spell was already started up. Both Gwyn and Conrí were transported back to Gwyn's world. They land in his backyard and Gwyn just books it to check on Jeremiah. only managing to out run Conrí bc of the narrow halls and low cielings giving the giant fucker a hard time. Jeremiah is completely fine and Gwyn could just about cry with relief. His water is still full so despite weeks having passed in the other world it seems only a few hours at most had passed in this one.

Now Conrí is the one who's the fish out of water. You thought this was a story about a normal dude in a magic world surrounded by hot chicks? Gotcha. It's about a big wolf man stuck in a normal world that's wholely incompatible with him. with a man he's done a great job at making hate him.

Worst of all, Weeks had passed in his home when only hours had here. How long did they have to get back before the final confrontation was had and lost without the prophecized sorcerer there to save everyone? how long until everything he had ever known or loved was gone? He had pups, would they think he abandoned them in the days leading up to their firey deaths? They had already lost their mother, he couldn't make them suffer That too.

Things are awkward those first few days. Conrí is already going stir crazy having to stay inside what is to him a very cramped little house. Driving them both mad with his constant worry and hopeless anger. He's furious with Gwyn even if it's not fair for him to be. If Gwyn had just Paid More Attention. If he had learned more from Exac'coso before running like a coward then Maybe they would have gotten home in time.

They had summoned Gwyn with 3 years of prep time to make sure he was ready for the fight. With how time had moved between their worlds, the math said a year in Bustmala was only a day here.

The fourth day comes. Conrí locks himself in the spare room and refuses to come out.

The fifth day Gwyn barely manages to get him to eat.

The sixth he offers to bring Conrí a book so at least he could enjoy some reading while he wallowed. Conrí doesn't want anything that mentions earth or anything about it. All Gwyn has is non fiction. Human Jeremiah likes fantasy though. So maybe they could raid his library? Gwyn promises Human Jeremiah is cool and if he isn't Gwyn will pay him back for the book if he's not ok letting Conrí read it. Conrí reluctantly agrees.

They go up to Jeremiah's attic room and Conrí grabs a book at random from the shelves. They're all the sort that are bound in leather to look fancy and old despite being fairly new so he has to flick through a few pages to actually get a feeling for the type of book it is. Gwyn watches his brow furrow and realizes he might not be able to read english. but then Conrí is flicking to the table of contents and then to a specific story.

Conrí throws the book through the window and collapses onto the bed with his head in his hands. He already regrets having thrown that book. It was the same collection of short stories his kids had on their bedside table. He'd read it to them hundreds of times.

"Funny how the world can find a way to beat you when you're already dead. Right house, wrong man."

He doesn't respond when Gwyn asks for clarification but Gwyn doesn't really need it. It was more the shock of the realization that had wanted the confirmation than any cognizant part of his mind. Gwyn wishes he hadn't turned down Human Jeremiah's offers to let him read one of his books. Maybe he would have realized the truth when they still had time to act on it then.

He pulls out a few books, opens and sets them aside until he has the one he wants. A magic grimoire that had a spell and set of sigil work he recognized from Exac'coso sending him home. He was barely at the point of learning to read the most basic of basics from her and this... This was something she had spent an entire day preparing for and studying and even then made sure he knew there was a nonzero chance she fucked it up and sent him way back in time or dropped him from a few stories up.

"I... I can try to learn more."

"What's the point in that? To let me see my home in ruins? To see if I can find their bodies in the rubble? Just put me down and move on."

"Human Jeremiah will be home eventually... He could teach me. Or send you home himself."

"And still there would not be a point."

"We were wrong. about how time passed. There's this, uh, this denotes a time I think? If you remember what the date was we can go back to the same day we left on. I think."

"I will unscrew your head from your neck if you are givinge false hope."

"I don't think I am."

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 70 Rundown

Code Geass: So Lelouch is gonna go join Nunally’s ‘let’s all hold hands and get along’ area but literally no one wants to go after Euphy murdered everyone last time. You’d think there’d be at least one dumbass like “Maybe it won’t be a massacre.” But yeah Zero’s like “Oh well I just happen to have a million people I can give to the zone if you exile me and let me go scott free” and everyone’s like “that’s a super shitty thing to do but okay” so then Zero tells Suzaku that culture is stored in the titty and all the one million people do their I am Spartacus thing and wear Zero’s costume which had to be a logistical nightmare, like Zero’s outfit already is pretty expensive with the fancy clothes and the helmet and shit and some of them are randomly customized even though that defeats the purpose like how do you do this on a terrorist budget in a few days without anyone in the government finding out. Like “we received an order for a million pounds of the thing used in Zero’s helmet on the black market” seems like it’d stand out. But yeah, the million Zeros get away, partially because of the “dogs playing basketball” rule that they’re all Zero because their culture of being Zero is stored in their titty which wouldn’t hold up in court but also because if they just kill a million people who’re just trying to leave that’d be bad for the government, not that they’re not used to genocide and being hated as Imperialists but Suzaku specifically doesn’t want that on his and Nunally’s hands while they’re trying to actually do shit for Japan for once. Feel like there’s probably a good cause for peaceful detainment and not letting them just walk out but it’s not like they’d find Lelouch or whoever the supposed second Zero was anyway even if they strip-searched everyone since he was never there and if it isn’t Lelouch the only thing that makes him Zero sight-wise is the mask.

Inuyasha: So yeah we get the conclusion of Shiori’s story for Inuyasha and I just can’t help thinking about how nice it is that she went on to help a lot of other half-demons in Yashahime because of an act of kindness that Inuyasha showed her right here, really good ripple effect shit. But yeah Shiori gets pissed that her grandpa killed her dad and Kekkaishi YEETs him and his followers out of the barrier so Inuyasha can backlash wave the lot of them. We still got fifteen minutes left though so even after Inuyasha says he’s not going to murder a little girl for a powerup that’ll get power crept in a few seasons, Shiori offers him the blood coral crystal to break to give him the powerup instead as thanks for not fucking murdering her. We can’t have the climax of the episode just be Inuyasha smacking a crystal ball though so Taigokumaru’s spirit yeets itself out of the crystal and fights with Inuyasha and attacks Shiori but her dad makes a barrier to bounce him off of so Inuyasha can kill him a second time and get the Red Tessaiga. There’s some navelgazing about how life as a half demon is rough but how Inuyasha thinks that hardship will be good for Shiori and he’s rooting for her in his own way and in Yashahime we see he’s right and all in all that’s pretty nice. Anyway next time we have the Panther Demon filler arc which is honestly probably one of my favorite filler arcs in Inuyasha so that’ll be fun.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke continues his fight with Suzaku and Suzaku splits himself into seven, which this doesn’t seem to be the Multi-Form or Shadow Clones deal where it divides his energy, each one seems as strong as the original so that’s just kind of broken. Keiko pulls a bait and switch on the zombies which neither Suzaku nor Yusuke see coming despite watching the whole thing on Spirit TV, guess Suzaku had the camera point at the door instead of on Keiko for some reason even though the point is to make Yusuke watch her die. Anyway Yusuke flashes back to Genkai telling him he’s a little bitch that always doubts himself and splits his energy across multiple plans instead of having the confidence to go for something with everything he has and make it work instead of holding back in case it doesn’t. This and remembering his mom crying over his death and all the relationships he’s formed makes him go Super Saiyan in what I can only describe as a Fully Body Shotgun which I don’t think ever comes up again. He knocks down all the Suzakus but it’s just time to start the real fight since Yusuke’s lifted his limiter again like he does in every fight.

Fate Zero: So the clusterfuck in the middle of Saber and Lancer’s battle continues to grow as Iskandar just fucking dares everyone to come at him and five of the seven servants actually do. Gilgamesh is all like “Ugh, why do I have to do this shit, breathing sucks, I’m a king, someone breathe for me.” And tries to murder everyone with spears and shit but turns out Berserker is Darth Vader this time around and uses the force to steal his stolen weapons until Rin’s dad is all like “Dude you’re showing the whole world our fucking moveset, get the fuck out of there. Which given that Gilgamesh is an archer which are supposed to be independent and he’s a fucking snobby asshole, even with a Command Seal I’m surprised that worked. Also Waver’s racist teacher is all “hah wow, I was supposed to have Rider and the token teenager character stole it from me” and Iskandar’s like “I like this kid that’s ride or die with me even though he cries all the time way more than someone who doesn’t even step onto the battlefield you stuck up prick” and then Lancer and Berserker double-team Saber (giggity) and Lancer’s not happy about it because he was fighting Saber first and doesn’t wanna just jump her with Darth Vader but more Command Seals are thrown around until Iskander runs over Darth Vader with his fucking Lightning Chariot and that’s kind of shitty because Racist Teacher man wasted a Command Seal to have Lancer attack Saber for like five seconds before making him retreat. Bug Dude is also kinda freaked out that Berserker just kinda went for Saber meaning she must be pretty pissed at Saber about something anyway so basically everyone runs away and nothing is really accomplished, we didn’t even really need Kiritsugu’s sniper shit or Assassins’s Ninja Bullshit for this everyone’s just had enough and goes home. Also Caster is a creepy yandere simp for Saber but really who isn’t in this series.

Konosuba: So Aqua’s ready to sit in a lake for a few hours to make some money but for the first time in her live her divine booty is not enough to solve this problem. She gets traumatized by getting attacked by demon alligators and Kazuma and co. are honestly uncharacteristically worried about her and ready to try and help her. Meanwhile generic isekai protagonist has a crush on Aqua despite already having his own harem of bland girls and wants to steal Aqua back but basically the whole group is so totally anti-White Knight they can see right through his shit and turn him down. Kazuma beats him up in the most Kazuma way possible and steals his magic sword, proving that not only is he not doing anything to defeat the devil king but he’s actively sabotaging those that are. Aqua fucking decks the guy and blackmails him so she’s rich now and Kazuma’s rich from selling his OP Isekai Cheat Sword. Also the Dullahan dude is back for revenge about bombing his castle and Kazuma’s like “Wait were we still doing that? Thought we stopped, oh well everyone in this world’s problems are our fault somehow so it sounds about right.”

Sailor Moon Crystal: So this time we get Makoto’s story who’s probably my favorite thus far because her job is punching shit and making sure Usagi doesn’t die from the hundreds of things ready to hit her on a daily basis. I have sort of found a redeeming trait for Usaig in that she’s willing to reach out to anyone and everyone, like she’s not what I would call traditionally ‘nice’ but she is friendly and that ability to pull disparate people together does kind of make more sense for why she’d be the leader rather than the other girls who have useful but more specific talents. But yeah continuing with the trend of things teen girls like trying to destroy the world, haunted bridal shop that also reveals Makoto’s tragic backstory of being a more believable version of Tall Girl. Makoto transforms and beats up the Bride lady with a combination of Zenbonzakura Kageyoshi and Azula’s lightning bending, no fair that she gets two powers but I guess she is the tough one so it make sense. Now we’ve basically got the whole crew except for the one that we already know is active but hasn’t joined the group yet so we’ll see how this goes.

Durarara!!: So Mikado’s in deep shit after stealing the girl away that half the town is looking for, all because he has it hammered into his head that whenever a girl asks for his help he has to give it. There’s a bit of discussion about the nature of the Dollars that I’m sure won’t be important later but both Izaya and Celty show up outside Mikado’s school and he’s kind of in an awkward position since there’s nowhere he can really go but home and lead them to the girl. So he decides to find out about them, or at least Celty, Izaya’s just kinda along for the ride. He gets Celty’s backstory and agrees to take her to the other girl only to get jumped by Yagiri thugs and pull out some Death Note animation internet shit that has even Izaya stunned, Mikado about to actually become the main character of this anime for a bit.

[italicwatches]

Comic Girls - Episode 11

Today I have to decide whether or not to do a batshit thing to build hype for Smash. But also, it’s Comic Girls, episode 11! Here we GO!

-It all starts at the dorm, where the girls have gotten one of those career-goal surveys from school to fill out. Which has them in a bit of a trouble, since three of the four here already have their plans figured out and even Kaos knows her goals, she’s just struggling to, you know, achieve them. Of course, they all have to put down more than just the obvious first choice…

-So what’s Ruki’s backup plans if this manga train stops? She’d love to teach children. And Kaos gets all sad about the idea of losing Ruki and Tsubasa says, and I quote, “How could you leave Kaos behind to take care of other people’s children?!” And Koyume even backs her up. I’m sorry, Ruki, you’re stuck with this little pink blob thing for life.

-Opening!

-So why teaching, and especially at a nursery school of all places? Low supply, high demand, and she loves working with kids. Really, as much as she loves manga, Ruki would still be pretty dang happy if teaching was what paid her bills, and it’d be a lot more stable…She intends to get the license after she graduates, in fact, just so she has the option if things go sideways. …Just don’t draw any smut in front of them on accident. That’s how you got into this mess in the first place, remember.

-Well, Koyume’s thinking she could always fall back on her family’s sweets shop! She knows most of the recipes already! Oh hey it turns out Kaos’s folks also run a small shop, but they do traditional Japanese confectionaries, not Western sweets like Koyume’s folks. Koyume suddenly totally wants to do a fusion collab. East meets West! They’ll take the treat community by storm, Kaos! Would anyone even buy that…They could build it into a great cultural icon! Have enough space to do events, work with up-and-coming idols, it’d be the coolest! Koyume please focus on your actual current plans and not your wild ideas for if those plans don’t work out.

-So what about Tsubasa? Nothing. And she is NOT putting down anything her parents would want god dammit! …Tsu, you got issueOMINOUS CHANTING. We can never escape. I’m sorry what were we talking about? Oh, right, jobs. Tsubasa is having to figure out actual plan Bs to continue her rebellion. How about being a superhero? No, that’s too unrealistic. A professional swordswoman, maybe…You, you know what, let them help—

-SUZU IS HERE

-FROM THE CRAWLSPACE

-SHE WANTS TO BE A GHOST WHEN SHE GROWS UP

-Actually she also wants to be a caregiver. There’s lots of demand for it back home, as she casually starts to lower a rope to come down to the ground. …Suzu, you’re as much of a dork as Tsubasa. Also she really does want to be a ghost when she grows up. KAOS RUN FOR IT SHE’S COMING FOR YOU

-So after they banish Suzu to the shadow realm, back to this damned form. Tsubasa still has no idea what to write after ‘manga artist’. And Kaos…Kaos has the problem that she has no idea of anything she could do. She’s much too clumsy to help out at her parents’ shop…And she’s the only one without a serialized gig! She’s doomed, DOOMED she tells you! And cue Ririka to come check up on them.

-Soon they’re all talking over coffee and tea, and she explains her own past…How she was facing much the same decision. She was nearly serialized when she was your age, you know…But, she gave it up. The pressure of being a professional manga artist just…took the fun out of it for her. The freedom. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit in front of actual working pros, though she did get to to release a one-shot volume, “The Afternoon Smells Like Oranges”…

-Kaos perks up. Because wait. Wait wait wait. YOU’RE Rika Sonoda-sensei?! You still have fans! Look at all these reviews! And Ririka is embarrassed, most of all to admit that even under that, she just, couldn’t hold up her end of things…It’s one of the reasons why she runs this dorm, to give people a better place to work, to find the strength to be able to do what she couldn’t. Because there is nothing that makes her more proud than seeing an artist become strong enough to stand as a professional…And of course, she still does some hobby work from time to time.

-…Kaos wants to see it. Right now. Right now right now! Koyume also wants to see it! Nnnnope. (It’s all incredibly trashy yuri manga, isn’t it. I remember the flashback scene, I know you were pushing for girls smooching on the cover!)

-But then it’s a firm cut to the notice going up. The dorm’s final days in its current state. Everyone’s got to have their crap gone by February 2nd, because that’s when the wrecking crew is coming. It’s a painful moment for all of them…As Ririka decides she wants to make their remaining time special. And since nobody has deadlines, she needs help going through the storage room…Full of the history of everyone she’s held in these dorms. It’s all got to get organized, boxed, and ready for its next home…And treated right.

-There’s tons of history and weight in this little storage room. Sketches, photos, reference books…Everything that years and years of growing young professionals used. All carefully stored in closed book cases, to keep them safe from the ravages of time. Tsubasa and Kaos end up talking about those damn career forms…Tsubasa just gave up and wrote “manga artist” twice. Let them try and call her on it. But Kaos…Kaos still doesn’t even know if she’s confident enough to write it once. She absolutely wants to be a manga artist…But she gets so scared…

-That’s normal. It’s a scary thing to do. All you can do is just…Put the fear aside, and keep pushing forward. Focus on the dream. Now, come on, help her get this poster down…And when that poster comes down, there’s something behind it. A simple drawing on the wall. A little cheer for the artists still to come, written by someone who long since left this place. The history hits her like a freight train, and she properly realizes she’s standing upon the shoulders of giants…!

-Hard cut to Kaos and Koyume trying to get all fired up. Which mostly means a lot of wiggling and shouting.

-And then it’s night time, and Kaos has been working her ass off all day…When Koyume goes to get her something to drink, and finds Tsubasa and Ruki sipping cocoa. Everyone’s having a bit of a late night, it seems…I can only assume it’s the last night in the dorm, or close to it.

-But then the next meeting, when Kaos brings four storyboards to the meeting with Mayu. She, needs, to, have, SOMETHING accepted before the dorm shuts down! So, each of them is a little different…The first is a rom-com, borrowing some skill from Koyume. It’s…Well, it’s very Kaos. Her idea of strong and manly is firewood-chopping and mighty lung capacity. And full of ridiculous dad-jokes. Because her best concept of ‘manly’ is, well, her own dad. That’s kind of adorable, actually.

-So next. It’s a naughty comedy! She pulled from Ruki but it was like 2 in the morning and seemed like a good ideate the time even if now it feels like a terrible plan in the stark light of day. Also Kaos’s super simple chibi stylings don’t, entirely, work with eroticism. And also the height of perversion that Kaos can internally parse into her art is panty shots. Oh and the firewood again. You’d think someone so thirsty could go heavier.

-Third storyboard…It’s a comedy isekai! You know, that actually has a lot of potential meat on the bone. Meat that Kaos wasn’t really able to properly use, because it’s very cliche…Though Mayu points out that it just needs one good twist. Find a way to make the protagonist stand out, and…he’s chopping firewood. I’m sensing a pattern. Mayu is quietly despairing…

-When the fourth one comes up. It’s core slice-of-life, with a lot of the lessons she’s learned in her life so far…And without a lot of the real zaniness. No, without the over-the-top comedy, the cutesy art is able to just be…cute, and let the real heart shine through. The feel of a girl running on genuine fears and loves, passions and anxieties…It, it’s genuine. Mayu has to admit that she’s a bit brain-drained from chewing on all of these, as it’s been hours now, but…Let her hold onto this one. She wants to read it again in the morning.

-And so Kaos is off…Having left behind her manuscript with Mayu. For a simple, heartfelt manga about four plucky lesbians by the name of The Lord of the Ri—Er, I mean, Comic Girls. Yeah, that. Kaos is full of uncertainty herself, but as she walks home under the light of a full moon, and remembers that simple cheer that was on that wall, from someone who themselves finally escaped rejection hell on their last days in the dorm, she feels like she’s at least gotten her path forward…

-Even if she ends up staying up half the night in fear. Until she gets a call! From her mother! Oh, wh—ANOTHER CALL! It’s from Mayu! Who lets her know…She’s been APPROVED! She made it! She’s getting published! Not just that, they want her to expand Comic Girls into a two-parter! If the surveys come back well, it could even be serialized! Oh god, OH GOD SHE MADE IT! Making it. You ain’t there just yet, kid. Deep breaths!

-And everyone hears and YES you did it! You DID IT! Even Suzu is there, openly admitting she only shows up out of nowhere.

-So when the morning arrives at school, everyone’s got those career forms. Tsubasa’s is simple: Choice one? Manga artist. Choice two? “There’s nothing else.” It is true to her. And Kaos?

-…Kaos no.

-Kaos you’re doing into my bad place. That’s my bad place, stay out of there. I have it just comfortable for me. But anyways she wrote manga artist in the first choice so that’s the important bit.

-Episode 11: My Life Has Reached Its Peak

-Credits!

Well, much like Kaos’s own manuscript, this episode skipped a lot of the absurdist comedy to just…Be really from the heart, for a minute. And it hit fuckin’ hard, too. I guess now we will see what happens in our wrap-up, and if Kaos can stand on her own two feet, next time in the finale. Episode TWELVE of Comic Girls! Wait for it!

[kiritokun]

2017 Anime in Review

So, it is that time of the year again, the end is neigh, and it has snuck up on me yet again. With the end of the fall season for me only 3 days away, I thought I should get to writing and compiling this list, which, compared to other years feels dauntingly short. With a total of only 33 anime/movies I saw this year, I feel like either I’ve gotten pickier, shows have gotten worse, or there were too many sequels that I didn’t wanna rush through previous seasons to watch the new season. Regardless, keeping up with tradition, here I am for my fifth annual anime review. As always, the top 12 are in alphabetical order and then the rest are discussed in alphabetical order as well since, as you may have noticed, I was lazy this year and didn’t do any quarterly reviews. So, you’ll get my full rambling here this year! Let’s get this party started!

Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen

The long awaited sequel to Ao no Exorcist, the Kyoto arc is where the action finally ramps it into high gear. The stakes get higher and the action gets real fucking rad. I’m so glad the Ao no Exorcist got its second season finally, it’s, in my opinion, somewhat underrated as an anime and doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Here’s hoping that the second season garnered enough attention for another season, because with stunning visuals, great story, and music to boot, it be a shame not to continue seeing more of this series.

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria

And here we have it, the spin of to DanMachi that focuses on the Loki Familia. At first I was skeptical that they decided to do this instead of another season of DanMachi, but to quell my concerns I read into the manga and fell in love. The motivations you see for Aiz in the story help make sense of why she puts up with Bell, why she is the strongest and overall just a lot of fleshing out of her character. But luckily it doesn’t just center around Aiz, but the whole of the front line of the Loki familia, letting us see how a strong dungeon clearing familia does business, and boy does they show us the business in the season finale.

Eromanga-sensei

What is this train wreck? Another imouto series? Yes, I’m sorry. I can’t stop myself, I’m a sucker for comedy. Eromanga-sensei is great, because unlike its predecessors (OreImo) it doesn’t try to make the viewers stomach that blood relations hell. With an adorable cast, great punchlines, and reasonable visuals, it’s well worth a watch if you need a laugh.

Gamers!

What is this, another train wreck? Yep, sorry not sorry. At least it’s a unique train wreck, with our 5 main characters in a horrible love pentagon from hell. Amano likes Tendou and vice versa, Aguri likes Uehara and vice versa, and Chiaki likes Amano. Seems simple enough, just a love triangle you say, NOPE. Because its all a clusterfuck of people thinking the person they like likes someone else. EVEN THOUGH AGURI AND UEHARA ARE DATING. God help me why did I like this again. Wait the great lolz. That’s why, grade A lolz.

Imouto sae Ireba Ii.

Yes, it says Imouto in the title. But I swear, its not OreImo again. My boy Itsuki here is a light novel author… with an obsession for little sisters. See that’s new. This anime is a slice of life that revolves around the light novel publishing business and we see most of it through the perspective of Itsuki, but Nayu and Haruto have been in the spotlight, showing us their process to writing their novels or anime adaptations. But the cake for me has to go to Itsuki’s college friend Miyako, who is best girl of the year for me. Lord have mercy that girl is adorable. Also this bastard of an anime has the best ending song of the year for me, freaking great song.

Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.

The premise here was interesting, our protagonist meets an early end in his world, but God having pity on him allows him to reincarnate in a new world, taking one thing with him. He chooses to keep his smartphone and there by gains a interesting advantage in a world of magic, where he is able to access all the old information from his home world (Assumingly an anime Earth), but also gains amazing power in this world. Because God felt the phone was a bit of a cheap gimme, he enhances all hit attributes including his affinity for magic, allowing him to be incredibly fucking broken and OP in this world in combat. So don’t go in to this for a fair fight, but for comedy, bullshit fights, and a interesting take on how a medieval magic world would benefit from someone from our time period came and started just dropping knowledge. (ICE CREAAAM)

Koi to Uso

A society that has a system that will match you to your perfect soulmate, seems ideal doesn’t it? But what if you find yourself fallen in love for years and come your 16th birthday you are matched with someone whom you have no feelings for. That’s the premise of Koi to Uso, and man it’s a doozy. I wish this had gotten more episodes because I feel like the premise was great, even if the protagonist was a bit spineless. Unfortunately I doubt it did well enough to get another season, so I’ll have to read the manga for some closure, but it got my interest. It also had a fantastic opening song, catchy as all hell.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2

If you read my reviews in the past, you should NOT be surprised that KonoSuba2 made it into this list. The laughs were still there, the bullshit success story of Kazuma never ends. God what else can I say about one of the best action comedies I’ve seen? Go watch it? Season 1 first though, it does actually continue story wise so you need to see it in order. ERIS IS TRUE LIFE, AQUA LIES!

Rewrite 2nd Season

Man, I can already feel how controversial this pick is. A lot, and I mean a lot, of people did not like Rewrite, nor Rewrite season 2. I am one of the few that thought it was alright. I have also not played the visual novel its based on so I’m more forgiving to its faults than most. But I have researched into the series post watching the anime, and can see very well why people were so… triggered. Overall the second season I feel was stronger than the first, elaborating on back story a lot more and giving viewers more to understand what the actual fuck is going on. And you gotta admit the season started off with a bang with that huge battle in episode 16. After which the series I feel took a darker and more realistic turn, which I thought was a step in the right direction.

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records

Yes, another magic world school series. What was unique about this one? The main character is older for one, isn’t trying to fall in love for another, and lastly, isn’t purposefully gimped of his power. He tends a lazier route but is able to be bring forth his abilities to full blast when necessary. I will say the uniforms are kinda bullshit, like how are they practical lol.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 

Why oh why did we not get just a bit more of this series? I’m glad they announced a movie to hopefully finish the story since its so close to the end of the light novels. But this ends up being more of the same, with Aki trying to pursue his game creation dream further with more trials and tribulations along the way. But none of that matters, what matters is we got more Megumi in our lives and man oh man is she still as great as ever. Best heroine, no boring heroine here!

Tsurezure Children

Considering how much I love the manga series, it is no surprise that I loved the anime. They stayed true to the manga and made it a snippet of short stories for all the characters. I only wished it had been 24 episodes so we could have developed everyone more and introduced more people as well. But, its okay, we introduced the best characters anyway with BROTOYAMA being introduced and of course, everyone’s favorite LOVE MASTER! He gets even better, just you wait.

Honorable Mentions

ChäoS;Child

This was just a big disappointment to me, I had hoped it would fall back on Chaos;Head a bit and explain some more, give us an epilogue if you will of what happen to those people, but we just got a new story full force. While the story of Chaos;Child isn’t bad, it wasn’t what I wanted, though man, the movie was something else. Sadly it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Clockwork Planet

Iffy animation, story all over the place, main dude kinda nuts and annoying. I couldn’t actually find something I liked about Clockwork planet. It’s a shame because I thought I’d love it based on the poster art, but, it wasn’t meant to be apparently.

Code:Realize: Sousei no Himegimi

I have a very love hate relationship with Code:Realize. I don't actually enjoy it that much, but its interesting enough that I was not able to bring myself to drop the series. Week after week I watched with half attention because I wanted to see a resolution to the series, but it wasn't very good to watch it. I don’t know what drew me to it, but it brought me back for more every week so I guess it had to be somewhat good if I can't find something I hated either.

Fate/Apocrypha

Man, Fate Apocrypha is an example of why ufotable should be the only people that are allowed to handle the Fate series. While the story is pretty interesting war wise, the character development felt slopy, the fights were poorly animated (til episode 22-23 those were pretty rad), and overall just felt bad. It’s a shame ufotable doesn’t have exclusive rights to fate adaptations, but oh well, it was okay. Hopefully Shaft does better with Fate Extra, but I doubt it.

Gin no Guardian

Normally if a series gets a second season announced and I watched the first season, I watch the new season. Like I watched Samurai Girls, then tried to watch Samurai Bride and realized it was god awful. Well with Gin no Guardian, I watched the first season and will not be giving its second season a watch because it was very boring, slow paced, and scattered about. I don’t see how it got a second season, but I guess some people might have liked it, or maybe since its shorter episodes it was worth finishing up another season? I don’t understand really.

Hajimete no Gal

The boobs in this series were fucking absurd. Who was the character designer for this and the manga? They need to go look at some real women to understand how boobs function. Holy shit was that a problem in this series. Unless the designers only watched porn with very fake breasts, they should have realized something was awry with their boob design. Holy fuck have I been waiting to complain about that for a while. Besides the boobs, pretty good anime, I laughed pretty hard actually, when the boobs were functioning like human boobs.

Hand Shakers

Now, the art style alone was a bit of a departure for me, but it also caught me attention so I gave it a shot. Hand Shakers story was rocky at best, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t actually bad. The concept of not being able to let go of her hand got real old fast, like come on that’s a horrible life flaw to force on someone, even anime wise. But oh well, I didn’t hate the anime, I found it enjoyable at least.

Juuni Taisen

Some people really loved Juuni Taisen, I was not one of those people. Don't get me wrong, it was actually pretty interesting; I enjoy that battle royal genre a lot. But I just couldn’t get behind the predictable episode structure and most unlikable characters. I was glad when I started to like people, but then they’d die off and make me feel like I wasted my joy. So, that was rough going, even if it was predictable in the end it was a fun watch.

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series

Oh my god, Kino is a wonderful anime, but I couldn't make myself drop one of the other 12 down. So no don't think I didn't love this anime, I did, I adored it. The visuals were beautiful, the music was great, and each individual story was amazing. Episode 11 was incredible in my opinion, and a satisfying watch to realize how Kino came to be.

Konohana Kitan

I might be a bit slow, but I did NOT realize that the hotel was a kind of limbo til very late in the series. Did I miss some key dialogue? Maybe, someone let me know. But holy hell has this been an amusing watch. Its been beautifully animated, and on top of that the stories are all heartwarming.

Kuzu no Honkai

This fucking anime, holy shit this anime. I had some issues here. First of all, our two protagonists, like fuck, why didn't you end up together? Like, are you that childish that you can’t accept that you’ve made mistakes but are essentially good for each other? Also; Ecchan; can really go fuck off, her attitude drove me up a wall the entire series. What a horrible personality. God, I think I only made it through this because I was hoping for a happier ending and man did I not get that.

Little Witch Academia (TV)

Very unpopular opinion incoming. This should have stayed a movie. There, I said it. I didn't think it needed to be adapted into a full length anime. It felt like every episode dragged on and on and only felt like it reached a proper pacing structure towards the end when everything started to go down. Had the series been condensed to 12 episodes I get a feeling I may have been fonder of it.

Masamune-kun no Revenge

Masamune really needs his revenge; he went from tubby to abs in a few years. He needs to get vengeance for starving and working out to be healthy. Wait that sounds wrong, shouldn't he be thanking her for making him realize that he needed to get healthy and that she was kind of a bitch? That would be the logical outcome, but no, we get led into a lengthy hell. The manga has started to move towards the conclusion, which I think might satisfy me more than the anime did, but we'll see what happens.

New Game!!

More of the same and that's okay with me! Watching the game development process is fascinating! And the characters are all adorable and relatable! And so well drawn and animated. I really do love this series so much, even though it broke my heart with the last episodes. Oh well, I trust the writers!

Princess Principal

I really liked the series. But, I felt like I was watching the episodes out of order a lot of the time. That really threw the pacing through a loop in my opinion. I thought it was a lot more mature than I initially gave it credit for though, so that was good overall. I'm glad I watched it.

Re:Creators

This on the other hand, I regret bothering with. But I was so many episodes in by the time I regretted it that I couldn't just stop anymore. Man, this was not a good anime.

Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2

If you'e watched season 1, you know what season 2 is all about. Death, glory, fighting, WOO! While we do make some plot progress in season 2, we haven’t gotten to the real meat of the plot just yet, so hopefully another season and we'll get to the nice dark conspiracies!

Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale

I loved the Ordinal Scale movie. I was able to go see it in theaters and it was fantastic. While original content, it fit so well with the world that Sword Art Online has built. And the magnificent tease at the end. We will see Alicization soon enough boys!

Trinity Seven Movie: Eternity Library to Alchemic Girl

A shame I didn't get to see this in theaters, but man it was good. While not canon to the manga's story it held its own with a very interesting take on the series. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

UQ Holder!: Mahou Sensei Negima! 2

Oh god what a fucking train wreck. Why can't they make a good Negima anime? Is it really that hard to get it right? It was so fucking bad. Why can't you stick to the source material? Why must you skip so much? God fucking damn it.

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (TV)

At least we end on a high note. This was one hell of a trip. The concept was cool and the animation was decent. They had some issues with slow pacing to start, but once the politics and drama began it just kept rolling. I wish it had had more episodes to give us more plot because with how it ended, you really are left wondering what the intentions of the main character are and where the story is leading. Oh well, hopefully it gets another season or if not I'll have to read the light novel.

And with that we come to a close, yet another year of anime. While I watched significantly less this year, it was still a lot I think. I hope this helps you if you are on the edge about some of these, if not, well, sorry I like to ramble. I';m always open to discussion, so if you have opinions that clash, let us have a duel of words. Til next time!

Edit: Apparently my formatting freaked out a bit and I had to fix it, hopefully I got everything, if not let em know!

[honest-anime-reviews]

The Misfit of Demon King Academy - S1E1

So when I was browsing anime on crunchyroll, I found this show that was pretty new. It only has 3 episodes released as of now, so I figured I’d give it a watch and keep watching and reviewing as I go on.

SPOILERS AHEAD - DUH!

The first episode begins with a slight exposition, giving us the basic premise: 2000 years ago, a demon king conquered the world and said he would reincarnate in 2000 years (aka now). Honestly, a pretty good premise, somewhat reminiscent of The Devil is a Part Timer. It takes the whole heroes vs bad guys and flips it on its head, making it so the bad guy has already won, let’s see what happens afterwards. It’s a lot to think about and It’s definitely different. However, in case you couldn’t guess, our main character is the reincarnated demon king, so we have this evil overlord demon king isekai, although to be fair, it didn’t take the age old trope of someone in modern times sleeping/dying/reading a book/playing a video game.

Interestingly enough, we don’t see the demon king’s original demise at first. Interestingly enough, we don’t meet our main protagonist first. We actually meet a female companion named Misha as she and our main character are about to take an exam at a demon academy. Almost immediately, we have a stereotypical bully-type character named Zepes, who is used as a bunching bag multiple times, once outside the academy and once more during the practical exam, where our main character kills him and resrurrects him multiple times, just because he can. In fact, in case the writers thought you were so dense you couldn’t comprehend how powerful our main character (as well as our first main female character) are, Misha gets a score in the 100,000 range while most scores are in the 100-300 range, and our main character gets a score of 0 and breaks the scale.

Yes, the writers are blatantly admitting how op the main character and his companion are compared to everyone else, and everyone else isn’t concerned, because LOGIC.

The only interesting parts of the exams was the aptitude test and the brief worldbuilding we get during the practical exam. During the aptitude test, we finally know our main character’s name, Anos Voldigord, and the fact that he burnt down his homeland to ressurect the populace into powerful zombies. Other than that, we sadly don’t get anymore information about the world, which I honestly would have preferred than multiple displays of how OP our main character is, which include killing Zepes multiple times with his heartbeat and snaps of his fingers. Just call him G-d at this point, except well, in his past life Anos killed the gods, so hooray? The other good part is at the beginning of the practical exam, where Zepes reveal anti-Demon armor that resists Anos’s original attack of magic being sent through the vibrations of his voice, only to be completely ignored 5 seconds later when Anos’s heartbeat, an attack that has magic sent through the vibrations of his heartbeat. Zebes also reveals a fire sword but it’s useless because Anos snuffs out the fire again. Whoopee, super interesting. I wonder if the combat will get as exciting as the practical exam.

After this mess of an intro, we get the gratuitous “the main character has a female friend, so let’s assume they’re dating and going to be married” trope, as Anos brings Misha to his place to celebrate them passing their exams. There, we meet Anos’s “parents”, as well as the fact that Anos’s reincarnated self is only a month old. Everyone is unreasonably cool, and it’s honestly stupid how now one, not even his parents, suspect that he is the resurrected Demon King based on how OP he is and how fast he has grown. What’s even more strange is how Misha responds to the parents calling her his “wife he brought home”, being unnaturally calm about it. I can see that it’s a way to subvert the classic trope, but it just feels like the same trope, but weaker now that Misha doesn’t give an actual embarrassing reaction. However, I can see that the writers were showing how Misha isn’t easily embarassed and is a different kind of female character than in normal Isekais, so it’s honestly fine, just kind of disappointing.

We end off the episode with Anos walking Misha home, and the topic of Anos being the Demon King still isn’t brought up, because everyone dumped their Wisdom stat and can’t relize that breaking the magic scale and killing a guy and resurrecting home over and over again, especially after audience members are shocked at the resurrection part due to it never having been performed recently, isn’t exactly normal. Suddenly, the arean from the practical exam gets copy-pasted around our heroes and Zepes’s older brother Leorg, along with some guards and Zepes himself, come to exact revenge on our hero because Anos embarassed Zepes. You see, they believe Anos is a hybrid, who is someone with magic who isn’t a noble. In other words, it’s the writers stuffing class warfare/discrimination into this anime because every fantasy anime has to have it at this point. So now we have nobles trying to kill Anos because he’s a filthy hybrid who’s better than them, yada-yada-yada, Leorg kills Zepes, Anos get ready to fight....WAIT WHAT?

Yeah. For some god-forsaken reason, Leorg kills his younger brother Zepes. The reasoning behind this is because Zepes embarssed his family. This doesn’t make sense. Leorg should want to keep his brother alive because in case Leorg dies, Zepes can immediately take over as the Demon Lord replacing his brother and keeping the family in power. Killing Zepes after being bested in combat isn’t honestly one of the stupidest things Leorg could have done. Anyway, now we get actual combat. Let’s hope Anos actually takes a step this time (spoiler alert, he doesn’t).

I swear, this anime should be called, how to beat up everyone while doing nothing, because that’s all Anos does with combat. First, Leorg and his guards try to launch magic attacks, but Anos thinks for a bit and causes their magic circles to spiral out of control, making them blow up in everyone’s faces. Next, Leorg decides it’s time to launch the big guns, and uses what is called origin magic. This is actually a neat concept that I’ve never seen before, so I have to give the writers credit for this one. Basically, origin magic takes magic from someones ancestor, in this case the demon king himself, and uses it temporarily. It’s like your parents letting you drive their car for a bit because your car is a piece of crap. So they launch it at Anos and Anos doesn’t move, surely he’s not dead, right?

Anos is untouched, and do you know why? Because origin magic can’t affect the origin, and because Anos is the Demon King, aka the origin, he can’t be affected by origin magic. It’s admiteddly kind of dumb and it’s really only used to make Anos seem cool, because i mean, I can still hypothetically run over my parents with their car, right?

Anyway, after that, Anos decides to zombify Zepes and show them how zombies work. Because one one has seen a zombie yet, this is a perfect time to explain to the audience that zombies gain more magic power and are full of revenge against their killer. Anos tries to make Leorg assert control over the zombie and get the both of them to attack Anos, but Leorg argues that it’s mindless and won’t follow his orders, so Anos tells Leorg to speak zombie Zepes’s name to stop him, but because their bond is weak, they both die. After the arena starts collapsing because Leorg is dead, Anos shows more how OP he is (for the billionth time) by stopping rocks, resurrecting everyone, and shielding Misha. Finally, because Leorg still doesn’t get that Anos is the Demon King, Anos introduces himself, and we get the credits.

Final thoughts:

The concept was what really brought me to start this anime, and when I found it was just another Isekai with random tweaks, I immediately got turned off. The writers are only writing to subvert expectations and not to write a good story, with the main protagonist showing off their power any chance they can get, getting only slight confusion from new inventions. It’s a story that’s been told time and time again with nothing new to add to the table. Overall, a bad first impression. I’ll still watch it, hoping that I might just be wrong, but I’m not expecting any miracles.

Additional Comments and Comparisons:

Here are some additional thoughts/questions about the episode. Throughout the episode, we can see Anos being kind. He picks up Misha’s letter, he defends Misha from Zepes, his parents describe how kind Anos is to Misha, etc. There’s a lot of kindness here, something that doesn’t seem right for a Demon King. As of now, this kindness isn’t addressed, which is understandble, but my question is, when will it be? Let me compare this instance of “is the bad guy pretending to be nice or nah” to how it was handled in The Devil is a Part Timer (This question may have been handled differently in the light novel or manga series but for the sake of argument, let’s focus solely on the anime). In it, Sadao Mao, aka Satan, retreats from his world, Ente Isla, to Earth, originally to plan his reconquering of Ente Isla. Throughout the series, Sadao’s intentions are repeatedly questioned by the Hero and her comrades, thinking that Sadao is simply being kind because it benefits him the most and that he will eventually turn on them and reconquer Ente Isla, despite how much he denies it. The truth is, this question, at least in the anime, is not fully answered. We don’t know Sadao’s intentions and we’re left wondering whether or not we should sympathize with Sado or not. It’s honestly great how they handled it because, at least in the anime, we don’t know. Also, on the topic of The Devil is a Part Timer, they handle Sadao’s power/OP-ness beautifully. It’s so simple, yet it solves the problem that many other Isekai protagonists struggle with. We know that Satan is powerful on Ente Isla, but when Sadao is on Earth, because Earth doesn’t have magic (or rather, it has very little magic), Sadao and anyone else from Ente Isla can’t use their magic. It’s a simple fact that keeps Sadao in check and reveals his true power only when it’s actually necessary. Sadao doesn’t waste magic on the Hero when she arrives, nor does he use it on anyone he feels like. He uses it only when necessary, unlike Anos, who’ll show off everything on a simple bully character.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Hokago wa, Isekai Kissa de Coffe o 1

Author: Kazamidori

Illustrator: U-suke

Label: Fujimi Fantasia Bunko

Release Date: 20 June 2017

Art Notes: U-suke’s art is cute but it’s a shame that almost all of the illustrations are of cute girls. I would have liked to have seen more of the odder customers that visit the cafe. Regardless, I like the character designs a lot, especially Albel’s.

A very relaxing story about a cafe owner who gets isekai’d. It surprised me quite a bit and I enjoyed myself reading it. Recommended if you want to read an isekai cooking series and you enjoy series are almost drama-free.

...mmm... now I want a toasted cheese sandwich...

Story:

Genre: cooking, isekai, fantasy, iyashikei

Yuu is the owner of a cafe in Japan. One day, together with his cafe, he is transported to another world. With no way of getting home, he decides to reopen his cafe in the other world. The series focuses on Yuu and the people that come to his cafe.

This series has one of my biggest nit-picks when it comes to cooking isekai series and it’s when the author doesn’t create their own ingredients that could be made in a fantasy world and instead uses the food from our world and gives them a different name. For example, “devil’s fruit” is just a tomato. It strikes me as being uncreative and I would love to see a fantasy cooking series make up their own ingredients. Also, despite there being scenes that detail Yuu’s process of cooking, there aren’t any proper recipes that you can try out at home. Most of the cooking manga that I read do have the recipes and I was a bit disappointed that this didn’t but it really is a minor nit-pick.

Anyway, this was quite a nice and relaxing read. There’s not much conflict or drama or anything which makes for a nice change of pace. The volume also surprised me by addressing the amount of anxiety that would come from suddenly being isekai’d through the protagonist and it did it in an interesting way that I hope gets developed more. I had fun reading this volume and I’m interested to see what direction the story goes.

As for romance, there’s not much of it. Yuu and the main heroine, Linaria, are likely going to get together eventually but there’s not much focus on their relationship. Their dynamic is nice but there is an age gap. Their ages aren’t specified but Linaria attends a magic academy and I would assume she’s in her teens and I really don’t know about Yuu. Based on his looks, I would guess that he’s in his early twenties but it’s never specified. The age gap doesn’t really bother me at this stage because Yuu never really feels older than Linaria but I figure it’s worth mentioning because I know that this can be a deal-breaker for some readers.

Character:

Yuu starts off a bit of a boring protagonist but I was impressed by how he was developed by the volume’s end and he turned out to be pretty interesting. His narration is also good and helps to maintain the relaxing feel of the volume. Linaria is a bit plain but she’s likeable enough. All the characters that visit Yuu’s cafe are quite memorable and endearing. My personal favorite ended up being Niltori, a lazy cat girl who often cuts class to hang out at the cafe and I also liked Albel, an adventurer and one of the few customers who like their coffee straight. I do want to mention that not all of the characters are cute girls; there’s a surprising amount of variety to the customers of the cafe. There’s older men, older women, a mafia rabbit boss in a suit (yes, really), etc. and all of them are memorable in their own way.

Adaptation Notes:

The manga is complete at 1 volume and is illustrated by Sora Tsutaya. It covers the first volume of the light novel and cuts a couple of things out regarding the side characters. I was sad to see Albel cut out (aside from a small cameo) but her part wasn’t really necessary for the story so it’s fine. Sora Tustaya’s art is nice and suits the series. It’s a nice adaptation and I’d recommend reading it if you don’t have access to the light novel.

Recommended for:

People who want to read a cooking series with an isekai element and who don’t mind stories with low stakes and little conflict.

I plan to read the second volume sometime soon.

10/3/20

I read 2 chapters of the web novel and they contained extra info that isn’t in the light novel so I wanted to add some corrections to my original review.

1. Yuu did not already own the cafe and he did not transport together with it. Instead, he just fell down a manhole and ended up in another world. He then spent 2 years searching the world to try to find a reason as to why he was transported and found nothing and THEN he obtained the cafe. How? I don’t know and it’s another one of those things that I’m going to have to ignore for the sake of my continued enjoyed experience of this series. Unfortunately, there’re a lot of contrivances in this setting that I have to ignore, like the chess thing in volume 2.

2. Yuu was 15 when he first arrived in the world and is 17 at around the time when the story starts which means that there is no age gap between him and Linaria. He doesn’t act like he’s 17 but I guess coming to a new world forced him to grow up and mature quickly or something.