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joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh · 4 years

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My Top 20 Anime of 2020

So in terms of my personal life, 2020 was the absolute worst year I’ve ever been through by a large margin even before COVID-19 destroyed the world and so many other major events piled on to just bum me out even further. But yo anime went kinda hard, even despite several delayed productions. Enough good shows existed this year and I’m into the alliteration of “Top 20 of 2020” so I decided this should be a top 20 instead of a top 10. Sometimes the resoution of these photos is shit, deal with it. Anyway yeah, let’s get going.

20. Akudama Drive

This show is cool as fuck and hype to watch, Swindler based, it’s really impressive how well this show managed to maintain its pace and energy throughout 12 episodes, even in spite of the occasional misstep it still felt really consistent.

19. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou

Once again prefacing this with I’ve never seen other Higurashi things, but this series is pretty enjoyable when it’s being a slice of life and really enjoyable when it’s being a horror thriller. I’ve seen some statement about the next half of the show being some “answers arc” so that sounds like it could make this a way more satisfying watch, looking forward to it.

18. Adachi to Shimamura

I’m just a yuri cuck and this show is a really pretty slice of life yuri show.

17. Munou na Nana

Not always super interesting and lowkey the ugliest show on this list but Kyoya + Nana and especially Nana + Michiru are very top tier character dynamics.

16. Deca-dence

Sorta just a fun and exciting watch with really great visuals tbh, also Tomori Kusonoki based as fuck.

15. Mewkledreamy

I like magical girls.

14. Healin’ Good Precure

See above, but there are more magical girls.

13. Somali and the Forest Spirit

We did get good traveller shows this year pog.

12. BanG Dream! 3rd Season

Not as good as s2’s second half but s2’s first half dragged that season down so s3 is better overall. RAS are the best band to ever exist.

11. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

God remember when I was sitting there denouncing the first season because it was just sorta inconsistent and boring a lot of the time? Yeah s2 doesn’t really have that issue, so the show’s just actually funny and entertaining and Ishigami gets some pog character moments too. Coolio.

10. Dorohedoro

Funniest anime I’ve ever seen? Maybe.

9. Princess Connect! Re:Dive

At its weakest when it’s not focused on its main 4 but those main 4 are all the most endearing fucks ever, I can’t believe I like a male MC in a gacha girl anime.

8. Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story

Disappointing in some ways, namely just character writing and how the plot was paced out, but I still like the structure a lot and the audiovisuals are so fucking strong that this show’s just always gonna be real fun for me as a Madoka simp.

7. Maoujou de Oyasumi

Honestly can’t believe this show stayed as good as it did, but it did, so I loved it. Inori Minase’s best vocal performance.

6. Taiso Samurai

How in the hell did the gymnastics family dramady show turn out to be one of my favourites of the year.

5. D4DJ: First Mix

It’s so fucking charming and cute and the animation is so expressive and I love Muni and this show’s not over so maybe the finale cocks it all up but tbh I have faith we’re gonna be in for a good time as we have been for the first 9 episode.

4. Eizouken ni wa Te wo Nasu da!

My thoughts on this show soured throughout the year as I tried to remember just how much I loved everything about it yet my mind barely moved past episode like 4 or something, and honestly maybe this position would move down quite a bit on a rewatch, but fuckin, show’s still visually splendid as hell, characters are dummy endearing and have amazing chemistry, this show still made me cry most episodes just from excitement, it’s a good time.

3. Koisuru Asteroid

This show gets dismissed by so many people as just another mediocre Kirara show but it’s not! It’s fucking really amazing! It pays a lot of attention to its character writing and actually sets up on and follows through with a narrative that has themes and lets the girls grow and develop and it’s really fucking good! Give it a fucking chance!

2. Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

Oh wow I put the Love Live thing in the top 2? What a shocker. Basically though Niji was able to quell all the fears I had for the show and blow me away in just about every element, I loved close enough to every episode.

1. Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka? Bloom

I loved every episode as opposed to close enough to every episode lol. I’ve said this before but this show physically hurt me to watch it because my face muscles would get so tired from smiling ear to ear for entire episodes. Literally posted my Season in Review for Fall like 3 days ago and that put Gochiusa as Anime of the Season over Love Live so there’s further explanation in there if you care pog.

Movie of the Year – Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul

Bondrewd is the literal best anime villain ever.

Girl of the Year – Setsuna Yuki

Don’t be surprised.

Boy of the Year – Bondrewd the Novel, Sovereign of Dawn

Remember 2 sentences ago where I called him the literal best anime villain ever. Yeah scratch out “anime”, this dude’s just the best villain ever.

Yeah we’re done now.

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takerfoxx · 4 years

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Some stuff from 2020 that I actually liked

Okay, so 2020 was a godawful year, we all agree. But a lot of good did happen to keep us sane, so I want to go ahead and list everything that made me happy last year. Also, note that some of these things actually debuted earlier than 2020, but I came across it in 2020, so it counts for me.

TV!

-The Hollow.

The Hollow is a truly underappreciated show. A cool premise and interesting characters that just got better every episode.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

This is one of the best single-season shows I’ve ever seen. Absolutely brilliant, and fuck you Netflix for pulling the plug!

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

This show is not my thing by any means, and I would never have checked it out if the opening wasn’t so attention-grabbing. Glad I did, because it gave me genuine joy. Though it probably should have debuted later in the year, since it seems custom-made for the quarantine months.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Season 5

What more can I say? One of my favorite shows of all time going out with a fantastic bang. God, I love this show.

Honorable mentions: Kipo and the Age of the Wunderbeasts, The Owl House, Magia Record, and SSSS Gridman.

MOVIES

There wasn’t a lot of movies worth talking about this year, and fewer that I actually saw. This one had the good fortune to drop just in time to dominate the box office right before quarintine shut everything down. And for a film with such an uninspired premise, such a problematic production, and being a video game movie no less, it just brought me so much joy.

VIDEO GAMES

Stinkoman 20x6: Level 10

Homestar Runner was my first favorite thing on the internet, and I spent many hours playing through Stinkoman 20x6 well over a decade ago. So when they finally announced the final level mere days before flash died forever, it was a big of closure I never thought I would get.

A Hat in Time

This game was a surreal delight. More like this, please!

Hollow Knight

On the other end of the spectrum, good lord was exploring the world of Hollownest a joy. Can’t wait for Silksong!

Honorable mention: Orri and the Blind Forest

PRO WRESTLING

Tetsuya Naito achieves his Destino

I’ve already got into detail why this moment was so special, so I won’t repeat myself here. But man, was it incredible.

Kota Ibushi, back-to-back G1 winner!

If it were anyone else, I would be annoyed. But it’s Kota.

I started watching Lucha Underground!

This show is years old, but I only started watching it this year, and I’m glad that I did, because it is so much fun. It’s basically Mortal Kombat as a wrestling show!

Honorable mentions: the Firefly Funhouse match, Roman Reigns turning heel, Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley’s AEW championship wins

LITERATURE

Two Dresden Books

The Dresden Files is my favorite book series, and after waiting so long for it to return, getting two books in the same year was a real treat

Dance in the Vampire Bund

This is probably my guiltiest of guilty pleasures, because unlike other guilty pleasures like To Love-Ru or the Hollywood Undead in which their unashamed schlockiness is part of the charm DitVB is largely a fantastic vampire story with a richly drawn world, great characters, a compelling plot, and some truly great action. It just has that one really gross aspect that overshadows everything else, and unfortunately is promoted as its main selling point. That being said, I was happy to see it return.

PERSONAL WRITING

Returning to fanfiction

Ah, IM and RD, how I’ve missed thee. Sure, my heyday may be over, but it’s still wonderful to return to old stories

Finishing both Walpurgis Nights and Restless

These two were both passion projects that have been taking up space in my head for years, so finishing both was a dream come true, no pun intended

Getting Blood Island going

I have no idea how my future in original fiction will go, but I hope it’s good.

MUSIC

DemonDice

Yes, we all know who she is now, but finding Calliope’s older stuff kind of makes me mad about how unappreciated she was.

Mystery Skulls - Ultra Rare vol. 2

I remember asking Mystery Skulls right after vol 1 dropped if a vol 2 was in the worlds, and he said definitely. It took a while, but it’s finally here.

Skyhill returns

God, Howling at the Moon came when I needed it the most.

K/DA All Out

I found out that this was coming out literally days before it dropped, and it ROCKED!

Ken Ashcorp

Why yes, I would like more incredibly catchy, shamelessly horny songs about nerdy stuff that I like, thank you very much.

Honorable Mentions: Hybrid Theory deluxe edition, In This Moment, Gorillaz Song Machine

Misc.

hololive

This is the era of the Vtuber. I still don’t fully understand why these cute but psycho anime girls bring me so much joy, but I’m glad that they do.

And finally...

Donald Trump gets voted out of office.

Fuck you, you narcissistic, fascist piece of shit. You losing didn’t make up for such an awful year or for the four years in which you ran this country into the ground, but it was a good start!

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someguynamedstevewrites · 4 years

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My Roommate is an Apparition: WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A DAD - Part 2

Based on characters created by @reddpenn

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Oh man, am I late on posting this. So many things going on. Not to mention figuring out how to follow up the first part.

It seems people really like the first-person narration from “A-Pink-Ciation of Culture”, so I went with that again with this piece.

Almost DAILY, I get likes or re-blogs and the occasional follower despite not having posted anything since March. I’m very curious and would like to hear from you readers about what you like about my writing and what appeals to you. Eventually, I want to make a living off of writing, but until that time, I definitely could use any and all feedback.

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, on with the story!

From the Diary of Lily, March 1st, 2020:

Okay, diary, I’m coming to you because I honestly have no idea where else to go to try and sort through the evening I just had with my Dad and Tulpa. I can’t put my finger on it, but something about tonight just... bothers me! It’s like I’m on pins and needles and can’t stop thinking about, well, a LOT of stuff. Just... hear me out and maybe it’ll make sense if I put this all down on paper (I.E. You). I just spent the last twenty minutes trying to talk things through out loud, but that got me nowhere so here goes nothing:

First off, my Dad came to visit a week earlier than what I had planned, and immediately sets up shop in my living room with his NES and copy of Castlevania III. Only problem was I hadn’t talked with Tulpa about his visit since I was expecting him until NEXT weekend. I kept thinking that the last thing I wanted was for anything weird to happen during his visit.

Which, looking back on it, was a really stupid thing to worry about.

I mean, Dad’s a pretty open-minded guy and he’s quite weird himself. He’s actually quite proud of his weirdness (embarrassing as it is sometimes). He tends to under-react to all kinds of things like it’s no big deal. I’ve even asked him why he doesn’t freak out about some of the stuff he comes across in real life or on TV, and he just tells me, “I’ve seen weirder.” (If some of the stories he’s told me are true, then he has. He really, REALLY has!)

For example: if Tulpa had come into the room holding a... I dunno, a plate or something, like would that really freak my Dad out? Pfft, No! He (maybe?) wouldn’t see her, all he’d see was a “flying saucer” (he deliberately would make that lame pun too), and then get back to his game. Then later, he’d try and tell me about the real flying saucers he saw years ago, or something.

Since I had assumed that Dad wouldn’t have been able to see her, it eventually clicked in my head that what I was actually worrying about was, “what would Tulpa think of my Dad?” He’s a huge Goofus that likes to make bad jokes, tell tall tales, and play video games! And even if he did weird her out, it’s not like she could go anywhere... right? I mean, she might avoid interacting with me because of him, but...

Oh...

Oh wow...

I just read what I just wrote and I can not believe I was being THAT irrational! ( Man, people are stupid sometimes; me included!)

Avoid me because of my DAD!? That’s gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve ever thought! It’s not like he LIVES here or anything! He’s not the one paying the rent; I am! And... I’ve gotten to know Tulpa pretty well these past few months, but... I guess I still have a lot more to learn about her. Case in point:

————————————-

So Tulpa tells me that she wants to meet my Dad, and after coming to my senses somewhat, I say she can sit in so long as she doesn’t touch anything (see flying saucer explanation above). A few minutes later, she walks in looking like the tall girl from Keep Your Hands off Eizouken (I had to look the name up; I couldn’t remember it for the life of me). By that I mean, she’s coming in as a tall, lanky, skinny, somewhat pale skinned girl looking to be about my age. She’s wearing some modest clothes and, if I’m being honest with myself, they looked kind of cute in that outfit they had on. It was a nice ensemble.

Then Dad says “Hi” to her.

...

Let me repeat that in case it hasn’t clicked with you yet.

My Dad GREETED her!

He! SAW! Her!

When I asked her about it later, she said to me that she thought that since he’s my Dad, then whatever it is that allows me to see her could be something my Dad has too. So far, her theory has been proven right, but... I’m not one-hundred percent sure, because Tulpa... well... she changed.

And I’m being literal here, too! She no longer had that transparency to her like usual. She had a nose! She had ears! She had five fingers! And she looked...

...well...

...good.

Tulpa said she had never tried doing this before, but figured that in the off-chance that her hunch was correct, she wanted to make a good impression on my Dad. (Why do I keep thinking about that old joke in movies and TV shows about the overprotective Dad that threatens the boy about to go on a date with their daughter?) She even went so far as to create her own “clothes”, saying she knew they’d be important. Considering that she doesn’t wear (or need) clothes any other time, I ask her how she came to that conclusion. I still have no idea what she meant when she suddenly bellowed out, “GOOD...! GRIEF...! HE’S...! NAKED!”

[Edit: It’s from Spongebob, because of course it was.]

So I’m not sure if Dad could see her because she purposely made herself opaque, or if he would have been able to see her if she wasn’t in her human “disguise” (and yes, I’m calling it a disguise and I’ll explain why a bit later, okay?). But either way, she walks in and my Dad just starts chatting away like so:

————————————-

“Hi there! You must be Lily’s roommate!” says Dad.

At this point, I’m kind of frozen solid on the couch, just watching and listening as everything unfolds in front of me like it’s being burned into my retinas. You know that saying about slow-motion train wrecks? Y’know, about how you can’t look away from them? This is probably why I remember the conversation so well.

“Heh...Hello,” she responds back nervously.

“I’m Lily’s Dad,” he says as if it wasn’t obvious, “Hope you don’t mind if we play some games out here.”

Tulpa shakes her head and stutters out, “No...N-not at all.”

“Great!” Dad responded with a smile that said, “Even if it was bothering you, I’m still going to take up the TV and play video games. So nyeh!” I’ve lived with him long enough to know that he’s not someone who would give up the TV without a fight.

(...gee... that kind of reminds me of someone now that I think about it...)

Tulpa then asks, “M-mind if... I watch?”

Dad gives her this big, goofy smile and responds with a, “Sure thing!” since despite him never admitting to it, he always liked having an audience around when he played games (or almost anything really) in hopes of “schooling” them. (Why he didn’t go into teaching, I will never understand.)

As soon as Dad turns back to his game and un-pauses it, Tulpa smiled, sat back, and looked content (Although it was a little weird seeing her smile with a nose to go along with it.) This snaps me out of my stupor long enough to scootch over to Tulpa and chat with her.

“You actually want to watch him play?” I ask her once more because the mere thought that she’d be interested in something outside of cartoons still hadn’t registered in my head, yet.

“Yeah...” she says as she starts to stare at the screen like she usually does during her cartoon time. “...sounded... familiar,” she said before looking up slightly while lost in thought, “...Simon... Belmont... Mega... Man... Kid... Icarus...” she said again as though that meant something. To me it just sounded almost like some kind of madness mantra, but...

“Oh! You mean Captain N: The Game Master!” my Dad chimed in out of seemingly nowhere.

“YES!” Tulpa said with excitement (worth noting that she doesn’t look excited very often, but when she does, she practically glows). “I remember...” she said before pausing to collect her thoughts and form the words she wanted to say. If I could have, I would have warned her about my Dad’s tendency to pounce on any hesitation in a conversation to take it over.

“Man, I haven’t seen Captain N in decades,” he said wistfully, “Surprised someone young as you remembers it. I was in High School when that show came on! When did you see it?”

“Ummm...” she hesitated, “...reruns... when I was... a kid.”

(As I’m writing this down now, I realize she was trying to hide her actual age from Dad. She looked to be in her early twenty’s like I was, but if she said she saw it when it came on the air originally, that’d make her over thirty years old at least.)

“Ahhhh! I see you have good taste in reruns!” Dad complimented.

“Th-thank you,” she stuttered back. As I listened to the awkward conversation of father-roommate bonding, I found my eyes constantly turning towards Tulpa. Not out of adoration or anything, but more like... studying her.

————————————-

On the one hand, she looked like the Tulpa that I had known ever since she became my roommate months ago. But on the other hand, they somehow weren’t. It’s kind of like when someone changes their looks a bit for maybe, I dunno, a night on the town, a job interview, a wedding, or something else along those lines. Only in her case, “dressing up” meant adding additional body parts she didn’t normally have.

(To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what to think about that...)

I’ve always been a firm believer of people being themselves, and being allowed to be themselves. I can’t stand situations where people are unable to truly express themselves or feel comfortable. Way I see it, life is too short to be spent worrying over stupid stuff that makes people miserable just so they can come off as normal.

Sometimes it’s because of social norms and expectations; those unspoken rules of life that people are supposed to just magically “know”. Like if someone was going to a church or temple service, social norms say they need to wear their “Sunday Best” with stiff, itchy clothes that are dry clean only. If I was able to go to a sermon wearing a baggy college sweatshirt, sweatpants, and slippers, and NOT be judged like I’m some kind of crazy hobo, it would have definitely made something like that more appealing to me.

Now I have nothing against anyone that likes to dress up in fancy clothes and wear them out and about; I mean, everyone likes different things, right? The point is that if I’m going to do something that makes me uncomfortable, it should be because I wanted to do it for myself. I don’t think I should bend over backwards making myself feel bad (physically or mentally) for someone else’s sake. Sure, call me selfish if you must, but I just can’t advocate for doing something that makes you feel bad because you wanted someone else to feel good.

I’m just thankful no one in my family has ever tried to push anything on me. Sure, they’ve suggested things to me before, and of course made sure I didn’t do something stupid that would injure me or worse when I was too young to know better. But overall, my family has given me a lot of freedom to do what I want, dress how I want, and be who I want to be. Now that I think about it, I’m kind of lucky that way.

(I hope I’m making sense on this. Re-reading this, I’m not entirely sure if I do.)

————————————-

Anyway, I’m looking at Tulpa and watching them carefully, trying to figure out if they were comfortable looking like that or not. She’s just sitting there watching my Dad play Castlevania III, and he was now on the haunted pirate ship with Trevor and Sypha. He was breezing through at a pretty good pace and sharing an anecdote about how Warren Ellis figuratively gave him the “Turd Cape of Shame” on this old message board back when the Castlevania series on Netflix was just an idea back in 2007. (I still am not entirely sure if that story is true or not.)

“Hey Lily,” Dad asks suddenly out of the blue, “got anything to drink?” I offer him some lemonade, he accepts, and I go to the kitchen to pour him a glass. As I’m doing this, I hear Dad ask Tulpa, “By the way, I don’t think I caught your name. What was it again?”

“...Tulpa...” she says back to him.

My body freezes up for a moment as I realized that “Tulpa” is not an ordinary name. I mean the first time she told me her name, it sounded like some kind of Pokémon. Once again, that irrational fear of my Dad being weirded out or something enters my head, but is dispelled almost immediately.

“Tulpa?” my Dad says aloud to himself, “That’s a very interesting name.”

“T-Thank you...” she says back.

I walk in with a glass of pink lemonade and set it down on a little, folding TV dinner stand that was given to me when I first moved out for college. I slowly sit back down again as I keep an eye on Dad. His facial expression is the same as usual: relaxed. You could call it a poker face, but I’ve seen him play poker and he is BAD at poker.

“Anyone in your family Buddhist?” my Dad asks casually.

I step in, “Dad! What kind of a question is that!?” And I meant what I said too. Who even asks something like that!?

“I was just wondering,” he says before once again shutting up and focusing on his game.

This is one of the things about my Dad that bugs me to no end: he likes to be cagey sometimes. He’ll say something vague with the sole purpose of making the other person curious, confused, or both. It leaves, like, questions in the back of your head that just start gnawing at your brain and won’t stop chewing away at your gray matter until you finally ask him to explain what the heck he was talking about. He does this on purpose to “bait” people into asking him questions or to continue with what he’s saying. So annoying!

I sigh, “Why’s that, Dad?”

He gives a little smile and continues, “Oh it’s just that this isn’t the first time I’ve heard the name “Tulpa” before, that’s all.”

NOW he has my total undivided attention and Tulpa’s too as we both unconsciously lean forward. Practically in sync, we both say, “It’s not!?”

He’s still smiling as he says, “Nope. First time I heard that name was when I was doing some monster research for a Castlevania Wiki I had been working on a while back.”

Tulpa practically gulps, “M-M-Monster...?”

“Well not really a monster,” he says back, “more like... a supernaturally, artificially created person.”

(There are some times when my Dad can be down right spooky and creepy. This was one of those times.)

Full Metal Alchemist immediately pops into my head, and without even hesitating, I ask, “Like a Homunculus?”

“Nah, more like...” he says before pausing his game and turning to Tulpa and I, “...an imaginary friend.” Tulpa and I both tilt our heads in confusion. Dad picks up on this and by now, he is practically glowing at this opportunity to share some weird thing he just happens to know something about.

He explains, “So there’s this word in Tibetan called “Sprul-Pa” which means “Manifestation”, okay? And in early Buddhism, this is used as the explanation for how Gautama Buddha could travel to heavenly realms and come back again. You could say he created a clone of himself in the other realm and then transmitted his consciousness to it from his body on Earth. Kind of like a-”

By now, Tulpa and I were clearly on the same wavelength as she asks, “a Shadow Clone!?” at the exact same time I was thinking of it. Believe it!

Dad’s silent for a moment as he thinks to himself before finally going, “...uhhh... I guess... you could say that. I was thinking “Dream Body” but I suppose a shadow clone could work too.” My Dad used to watch Naruto with me on Toonami years ago, so he knew full well what a shadow clone was.

He turns to face us as he continues talking, “The thing with a Tulpa is that it’s something made from nothing. A Homunculus, using your example, Lily, requires having the materials necessary to make an artificial being on hand before you can create them. But a Tulpa is willed into existence out of nothingness. It is created from the thoughts of the creator; known as a “Thoughtform” in some cases.”

(WHEN did my Dad even learn this stuff!?)

“The difference between a Tulpa and an imaginary friend,” my Dad continued to say, “is that while an imaginary friend is just that, someone that exists in your imagination, a Tulpa is made when someone’s thoughts are so strong that they will their imaginary friend into existence.”

I look over at Tulpa, and she is totally absorbed in what my Dad’s saying.

“Now from what I’ve read...” Oh my God, Dad! What have you even been reading!? “...it’s very difficult for one person alone to have enough psychic power to will a sentient being into creation. But if you had enough people thinking the same thing, and thinking about it hard enough, then, hypothetically, a Tulpa could be created.”

“So what you’re saying is if enough people think Bigfoot is real, then they can actually make it real just by believing in them?” I snark.

“Yeah, pretty much,” my Dad replies without detecting my snark at all.

“Or like...” Tulpa chimes in, “...how Tinkerbell is saved... by believing in fairies and... clapping hands?” I was a bit surprised Tulpa knew that since I couldn’t recall Disney’s Peter Pan having that scene in it.

Dad thinks about it for a moment, and then goes, “Hmmmmm... yeah! That too, I suppose.”

Right about then, Dad gets a notification on his phone. He pulls it out, looks at it, gets a somewhat serious look on his face, and then stands up and says, “Hey, I gotta make a phone call real quick. Mind if I...” he trails off.

“Yeah, sure thing, Dad,” I say back. He heads down the hallway to the guest bedroom and closes the door as he makes his call. It’s now just Tulpa and me in the living room, and we were both feeling super awkward. I turn to Tulpa and say, “So... did you know anything about all that?”

Tulpa shook her head, “N-n-no. First time I... I ever heard of... of it.” I could tell she was feeling nervous. She had started stuttering pretty badly.

All this time, I knew Tulpa was an apparition, but I never thought about what kind of apparition she was. It never really dawned on me that an apparition could have an origin story. With Tulpa, she was just... kind of there for me, and I never really questioned it. Her being her somehow felt, I dunno... “natural”, I guess.

I never thought I really needed to learn more about Tulpa, anyway. I mean, outside of the occasional mischief, Tulpa was perfectly harmless. Worst thing she ever did was the Pinkening (still don’t know how she did that), but that was partly on me because I was being a big dummy. Overall, she’s always been friendly, kind, and fun to be around, and that‘s always been good enough for me.

“You, uh...” I start to say, “...want to talk about it later?” Tulpa looks ahead of her kind of blankly, and I immediately add, “It’s okay if you don’t want to, Tulpa, I just-“

“Talk about what?” She asks, now looking at me kind of confused.

“About...” I trail off as I try to find the right words, “...about what my Dad just said and about... I dunno... where you came from?”

Tulpa clearly hadn’t thought about it before. She leaned back against the couch and audibly sighed (I think that was the first time I ever heard them sigh!), before saying, “I... don’t know... Lily...”

“Don’t know where you came from, or don’t know if you want to talk about it?” I asked her.

She thought for a moment before saying, “Both...”

I wanted to say something more to her, maybe give them some kind of reassurance, but I just couldn’t as long as my Dad was here! The frustration of wanting to talk about something with someone, but not being able to because of other people being around, is just AGONIZING! If only Dad would hurry up and leave, but when he says he’s going to beat a video game, he’s going to beat a video game. Problem was he hadn’t even made it to Dracula’s Castle yet, so who knew how much longer it would be?

Then Dad comes back in and says, “Hey, sorry about this, but I need to get going.”

HAAAAAALLEJUAH!!!

“Oh sweet merciful powers that be, THANK YOU! “ I thought to myself. I was worried things were going to get all cringy like a bad self-insert fanfic. “Aww, that’s too bad,” I fibbed out of politeness. I mean, he’s my Dad and I love him and all, but... y’know...

“Yeah, I got a call from work and they need me to help out with something. ‘Fraid I have to cut my visit short, Lily.” My Dad powered off the Nintendo system and began packing it up. But then he suddenly stopped, looked up, then looked back at me and said, “Hey, you want to borrow my NES for a bit!?”

Dad suddenly leaving to take care of something for work happens every now and then, so that was no big surprise. But Dad suddenly saying he has to leave to take care of something and leave his NES in MY care!? THAT scared the pants off me!

“Oh my God, Dad... you’re not dying are you!?” I ask with a half-serious tone.

“What!? No! What gave you that idea!?” He shoots back.

“Because that’s the NES you’ve had ever since you were a kid! You have NEVER let anyone else look after it! EVER!” I remind him because it is one-hundred percent true.

His lame-sauce excuse was: “Hey, both of your uncles used to look after it!”

And then I remind him, “That’s because you all lived in the same house with grandma and grandpa! Y’know, because you were all kids and everything!”

“They still took care of it,” he pouts.

“Only after they sneaked into your room, de-hooked it, and snuck it over to their room! You know I’ve heard the stories at the family gatherings!, right?” This is all completely true.

————————————-

My Dad is the oldest of three, and at family gatherings, like around Thanksgiving, he and my uncles used to tell as many embarrassing stories about each other as possible like they were trying to one-up each other. Like, “Hey, remember that time you stuck a LEGO tire up your nose and had to go to the Emergency Room?”

And my uncle’s all like, “I WAS FOUR!”

Good times....

...now where was I?

Oh right! Why leaving the Nintendo was a big deal!

————————————-

“C’mon, Dad,” I plead, “The only way I can see you willingly giving away your Nintendo, even if just for a little while, would be if you were on your death bed and filling out your last will and testament. So go on, spill it, what’s up with that?”

My Dad just had this look of offense on his face like I had seriously wounded him with my words. “I am NOT that overprotective of it!”

“Yes you are.”

“Okay, I am,” he admits way too quickly, “but I just thought that you having it might be a good idea in case you finally get some free time coming up. Best way to enjoy it is to play it, after all.”

I chuckle, “Dad, the only way work is going to give me enough time off to sit on my butt and play video games is if some horrible catastrophe caused the art store to shut down. Like, I dunno, a deadly virus or something.”

[EDIT, APRIL 12th, 2020: ME AND MY BIG FAT MOUTH!

AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!]

Dad chuckles and say, “Yeah... you got a point there. Still, I think between you and your roommate, you’re both responsible adults now who can get some enjoyment out of it. I’m sure I can trust you two to take good care of it,” he says before raising an eyebrow, “or is there some reason I shouldn’t leave it here!?”

“Relax! We can look after it, Dad. Nothing’s going to happen to it,” I say as I whip my head back so fast it could have made a sonic boom. Just as I suspected, there was Tulpa sitting down in front of the Nintendo about ready to poke it with her finger. “Isn’t that right, Tulpa?” I say while looking straight at her.

“Y-yes...” she mutters.

Dad smiles at the two of us and then suddenly, out of the blue, he gives me this big ole bear hug and pats me on the back! It’s the same kind of hug he gave me on my first day at school, when I was leaving for summer camp, and when I moved into my freshman dorm for college. It was the kind of reassuring hug that says everything is going to be fine. “Ohhhhhhh, look at you growing up and being all responsible! I’m so proud of you, Lily!”

“Dad! Can’t breath, Dad!” I say before he finally lets go.

“Oh yeah, tomorrow, when you get a chance, make sure to pick up a couple packages of toilet paper,” he says casually, “your bathroom’s running low and now would be a good time to stock up.”

[EDIT April 12th, 2020: HE FREAKING KNEW!

HOW!?!?!?]

“Thanks for the tip, Dad,” I respond before saying the thing that led to my Dad saying the other thing that would make my brain do somersaults for the next few hours and ultimately come to you, dear diary, “What brought up that little nugget of wisdom? Dad-ly Intuition?” (Yes, that pun was intentional.)

“Well I’ve always considered myself to be a little psychic here and there,” he says about twenty-three seconds before the door closes and forty-five seconds before my face faults, “and you’ve always been a little psychic too, haven’t yah?”

“Sure Dad, I’ll catch you later,” I say waving goodbye.

“Take care, Lily! Keep in touch! Love you, sweetie!” he calls back as he’s walking into the hallway heading out,

“Love you too, Dad” I say as I close the door and lock the deadbolt. With that family obligation out of the way, I was feeling much better not having to worry about next weekend, not having to worry about Tulpa and Dad, and could just chill and relax and-

It was right about then that my eyes shot wide open as I stared ahead of me at nothing in particular. The gears in my head started turning faster and faster as the past few months living here started to tie together. Tulpa looks at me, slightly concerned. She’s still in her “disguise”, but looks genuinely concerned. She waves her hand it front of me and my mind is working at warp speed, so it doesn’t even register.

“Are you... okay... Lily?” she asks.

I slowly turn to look her in the eye, and then ask her flat out:

“Am I Psychic!?”

#my roommate is an apparition #reddpenn

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vanilla-blessing · 3 years

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qb’s 2020 Anime List

[Representation of making my brain recall anything from last year]

As usual, these are ordered by whatever arbitrary mood I was in when I constructed the list. Do not cross reference this ordering with any other evaluations I may have done.

0. kiratto prichan but only after it lost all pretense of being grounded in reality

I don't want to explain why I watch this anime, but I will do it for the fans. It's the franchise people, by all rights, should make fun of me for watching instead of Precure, which is harmless; the Pretty Rhythm series is ill-advised subculture shitpost brainrot which has at least halved my IQ. PriChan had been very boring for at least a year since its premiere, but during 2020 went off the deep end in way that rekindled the unique flavor the decade-long series has traditionally had of doing the most dumbass thing every week and not letting any sort of television authority or good ideas stop it. I had fun every week once it got in the groove and remembered its roots as a dumbass crossover franchise with nothing to prove and nothing holding its stupid, fantastic ideas back. It’s always the most insane thing on TV and it never even has to try.

Also following the twitter cult that formed around a rare plushie from this show with a wide face. That was the most entertaining thing of 2020 for me.

1. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Creatively inspiring in a year without many sources of creative inspiration, the airing of this anime mirrored my unwilling dive into learning too much about anime production than I ever meant to. Eizouken takes the sketchbook ideas of the manga and fully realizes its world into animation in a way that only Masaki Yuasa and Science Saru could pull off, while simultaneously giving rising stars in the industry their first chance at directing episodes. It's a very satisfying show to watch and if there's anything on this list that inspired me to finally just slam words on paper and get this out it was thanks to watching Eizouken at some point in my life.

The season is split into three distinct “projects” and each of these end in a such a strong climax that I have to recommend watching it 4 episodes at a time, if you are able to. Here’s an endcard by tkmiz

2. Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Gaiden

3. DECA-DENCE

I like a nice contained science fiction and this one's episode 2 hook was so shocking that I was glued to my screen until the very end. It’s not perfect, but it’s about as perfect as you could reasonably expect to get from the year 2020. The less you know going in the better so I’ll shut up but it’s a much more ambitious sci-fi than you think it is at first. It might have been a had-to-be-there serial experience, so it could be impossible to really get the hype that was around this show at the time, but I think there’s enough there to stand on its own, and just having a definitive, satisfying ending in one season is an anime rarity worth recommending by itself.

4. Toilet-bound Hanako-kun

I love looking at pictures of cryptids and Lerche paneling and this gave me both in abundance. It rides the line between telling Shonen and Shoujo stories, like many Seinen that defy easy categorization do, and I’ve always been a sucker for that. Along with the anime being drop dead gorgeous on a weekly basis, I enjoyed the lovable cast of various SUPERNATURAL DANGER BOYS and also Yashiro who provides the funniest faces and widest ankles of the whole show, despite stiff competition.

5. Talentless Nana

Came outta nowhere and exceeded expectations for a frankly kind of mediocre thriller manga by absolutely nailing the strong first episode/chapter hook, then continuing to nail it every week with smart directing. I’m obligated to pay attention to this team in the future if they're capable of making something this compelling on a limited drawing budget. (the core staff were all Heybot regulars, which either means something or doesn’t)

6. Extra Olympia Kyklos

The one-person studio that made this did not have a high bar to clear to be the best Olympic tie-in anime (the only other one I can recall is the rare media Eagle Sam which sucks complete ass) but despite the Olympics not even happening in 2020, it soldiered on, and was easily the most I laughed at anime in that year. Kyklos takes serious source material and just spices it up beyond recognition with bizarre jokes, perfect timing, and hilariously cheap original music videos at the end of every episode that wouldn’t be out of place on adult swim bumpers. Overall it’s very surprising that this was funded at all once anyone saw what it was, but I’m so glad the creator got away with it. In a way, it’s the perfect monument to this psychotic year.

7. Kakushigoto

I just think the author is funny and this is a good anime adaptation that outpaces the original, by the author's own admission/intention. 61-sensei is the best girl

All Hail The Daia Bread All Hail The Daia Bread

these were all enjoyable too:

Gal and dino

Hit in the right spot at the time, when we all needed a roommate who couldn’t catch covid

Star twinkle precure movie

I'd show this to people to introduce them to precure if not for the song and dance number at the end being kinda lame

Mewkledreamy

it’s not going to end precure but it has incredible faces

BOFURI: I don’t want to get hurt so I maxed out my defense

gamer has logged on

- qb kiranichiwa

#daiapan

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charleskenny · 3 years

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How Are You Handling the Animation Overload?

More animation than you can eat? Cable and Netflix made it happen, but are audiences spoiled for choice or overwhelmed?

I’m not old (or at least, at 36, I don’t feel old) but I can remember a time when cable channels didn’t have enough content to fill an entire day. Instead, they ran on an 8-hour loop so shows broadcast in the morning were broadcast again in the evening. The reason was that libraries were only so large and channels wanted at least a bit of time between repeats. Although that didn’t stop The Simpsons from making light of the fact. Producing new content was also very expensive. Cartoon Network started by broadcasting old Hanna-Barbera shows for a reason.

Initial forays into original content yielded profits however, and soon every channel was at it. Some even generated enough library titles to broadcast a single show all day, every day. (cough Spongebob on Nickelodeon cough) Along comes Netflix, et al, combine it with rapidly falling production costs and now the door is wide open.

All of which is really good news! Besides audiences having more choice, the industry as a whole is expanding, and more and more artists find gainful employment.

Except, much like the entertainment business in general, audiences are balkanised. Monoculture no longer exists and while you may love one particular show, most of your friends likely never heard of it. Technology plays some role in this. Netflix’s suggestion algorithms show different shows to different people; crafting a truly unique viewing experience. The only thing left for them to do is go one step further and show different cuts of the same content to different people depending on their interests. But that’s a topic for another day.

I’m Overwhelmed!

The sheer abundance of choice means keeping up with everything gets difficult. Staying on top of industry news is one thing, but the films and shows themselves is a different matter. I find I simply cannot devote all the time necessary to even checking out a lot of the TV shows in particular that come out. If I do dedicate time to one series, that then means that five others don’t get even a peek. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

Am I overwhelmed? Personally I believe so and it’s unfortunate given the rising tide that’s lifted all boats. Whereas before the best was only a handful of series’, now there are many more and the best have only gotten better. The result is that even the best of the best get stuck in the ‘to watch’ list. Half of the new Animaniacs’ first season still languishes in my queue. I still have a handful of episodes of Hands of Eizouken! to get through too; even though that series is a few years old now.

As for films, pretty much every big-budget release gets a pass. Part of the issue there is that every American film is exactly the same. So independent and foreign films are where I dedicate time these days.

All this, bear in mind, is when I find the time, and only if I have it. Life gets busy the older you get!

What is Everyone Else Doing?

I’m curious as to how other people are handling this explosion in animated content and what it may mean for the industry as a whole.

Are viewers simply relying on algorithms to suggest new things to watch? Are they slowly circulating around a particular universe or studio (think Marvel)? Or do friends and peers (physical and virtual) continue to form the backbone of recommendations?

Let me know what you think either in a comment below or via email (charles [at] animationanomaly [dot] com) and I’ll publish a follow-up!

#animation

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jellophoid · 3 years

Note

I didn't want to tell you but I was up when you posted it and I inwardly cried because your asks were off and I couldn't respond to it.

If you don't mind i have four words for ya: Parchment murky galaxy daydream

"You look down and in your hands was a parchment of a galaxy, seen through a murky daydream."

I hope you don’t mind, but I absolutely loved that quote so I made something with it

(As for the questions)

Parchment( favourite book ?) - I have a couple books that I have very fond memories of reading which are; the spirit animals series, inside out and back again, the tale of despereaux(I think that’s how you spell that), and maybe a fox ! Maybe a fox and inside out are probably the top two for me. The whimsical feel of maybe a fox is a feeling that will always stay with me and the poetic format of inside out and back again is so interesting to read. Lovely books :)

Murky( biggest fear ?) - oooo, uh- let’s see. Cant really boil it down to one thing but like- the thought of everyone around me and the people I love going away haunts me quite a bit. A bit generic I know but like- I don’t wanna be alone 🥲

Galaxy( what fascinates you ?) - ahhh I could on and on about animation. Like oh my goodness, whenever I see like a really good animated,,,anything really, my tiny leetol heart just pounds with so much joy. It’s so amazing, like it’s one of the reasons I absolutely ADORE keep your hands off eizouken. Like it’s my favourite anime EVER because it’s all about three people(well more like two)who share the same love and passion for animation as I do ! It’s so exhilarating aaaaaa !!! I love it sm

Daydream( best memory ?) - oh wow, you’re asking a person who lives in nostalgia to pick just one favourite memory ?? Okay okay, let me see. Most of my good memories are ones of my childhood when I lived in England. So uhh- okay okay okay. When I was younger and my uncle came over, we would have a barbecue ! We also had like picnics in the backyard sometimes, we would have like chocolate Nutella sandwiches and juice boxes. I remember this was also the time my grandpa visited from Somalia(he would visit every like couple years so this was a very neat thing) and like I remember looking up at the evening sky not wanting the day to end. The music from someone’s iPhone and the smell of the yummy food. Everyone was happy ! I loved it so much.

#ask game #WOW THIS WAS A LONG ANSWER #IF YOU DONT READ ALL OF THIS I DONT BLAME YOU GHDHAH #I was gonna say something but I forgot. f #thank you so much for asking !! I’m so sorry the asl box was closed grrrr fhfhsh #doodles #I wanted to put clair de lune in that thing #but like it didn’t fit hxjchs

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ladyloveandjustice · 4 years

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Winter 2020 Anime: My personal ranking

Here’s my personal ranking of the six anime I watched in winter 2020, in a vague order of least favorite to favorite, with links to the full reviews (which are very short for some of them).

Magia Record:

This Puella Magi Madoka Magica side story and mobile-game-spin-off-adaptation had some nice aesthetic moments and kept me watching out of curiosity for a while, but ultimately I found the pacing way too slow and the whole thing way too overstuffed with paper thin characters (and unnecessary cameos). The entire episode that was essentially a powerpoint presentation didn’t help. OG Meguca this definitely isn’t, I won’t be returning for season 2. (though if they have more transformation sequences I may be returning for youtube compilations of those. those were good why did we only get 4???).

Quick review here.

My Hero Academia Season 4 (Ep 13-25)

My Hero Academia continues! I enjoyed seeing the kids who’d been out of the spotlight get to shine and interact dorkily this school festival arc, but honestly wish there’d been a lot more focus on them and giving them actual stories. Feel some trepidation about the direction the final episode is going, but manga readers say it’s at least a little more nuanced than it looks. Overall, season 4 had good moments but the high points didn’t quite reach the heights of seasons 2 and 3 for me.

Some more vague thoughts here. (I didn’t really “review” this tbh).

Somali and the Forest Spirit

A story about a golem and the girl he adopts, set in a world where monsters run society and humans have nearly died out. This show’s wistful dark fairy tale atmosphere and tone was executed quite well, and is largely what carried it- especially the gorgeous aesthetics and lovely monster-people designs. The narrative itself had interesting moments, but was also kinda slow and predictable in a lot of places. The father-daughter relationship between Somali and Golem was quite sweet, but could have used a bit more substance. Overall, a solid watch, but likely to be forgotten beyond the surface elements.

Quick review here.

Chihayafuru 3 (Episodes 13-24)

Kids playing Japanese poetry based card games and having a lot of feelings continues! This part of the season had the misfortune of focusing on a character’s downward spiral that I found...kinda tedious to watch a lot of the time, especially since the main character was so passive in it, and I wish the stuff with the adult players (while still good!) had ended less predictably. But I liked a lot of the character moments and backstory reveals we got and the show remains solid and quality. Even if this ending didn’t hook me as much to its previous seasons, I’m still very interested in seeing how everything continues.

Quick review here.

Objective Best in Season: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

A visual feast of wonderful animation that features characters with bold, distinctive designs and equally bold, distinctive and lovable personalities, Keep Your Hands off Eizouken is both an anime about awesome girls on a journey of creative triumph, and a strong example of creative triumph itself. A great show I whole-heartedly recommend, it’s sure to be remembered for years to come.

Full review here.

Personal Favorite: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun)

Don’t let the bad English title fool you, this show isn’t gross, but is a lovely ghost story full of heart, humor and intrigue. It follows a girl named Nene as she befriends a ghost boy in her school and discovers a whole supernatural world. While it does have serious pacing issues (especially when you compare the manga) and some Bad Jokes That Don’t Land, making it objectively inferior to Eizouken!, I can’t deny this anime is what made my heart sing the most this season with its perfect combo of compelling ghost drama, atmospheric mythological adventures and super fun character dynamics. This is Exactly My Stuff and I’d like it injected directly into my veins.

Full review here.

#anime overview #keep your hands off eizouken #toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shonen hanako kun #jibaku shounen hanako kun #magia record #chihayafuru #somali and the forest spirit #my hero academia #winter 2020 anime

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stillinaincrad · 4 years

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I wanted to really take in Eizouken before I said too much about it, because I totally love parts of it, and they aren’t the parts that really go anywhere. I just finished watching it through for the second time, because sometimes you catch something you didn’t before, but it’s odd - the story progression and in some regards even the characters mean nothing to me, but the elements that go into the rest of it might as well be a grapefruit-sized rough diamond. I’ve never seen anything I appreciated so much and really didn’t care much about at the same time lol

I guess first and foremost, I totally loved that these three random teenage girls with incredible talents and passions were never portrayed as anything but teenage girls. Hilariously goofy, young, teenage girls. My favorite part of the entire show was the beginning of Ep3 when they are like “ok, time to be serious” then are chasing a butterfly. Then ok, time to get serious again and RACCOON DOG DANCE!! They really are just hilariously teenage ADHD-riddled girls who dance around like hilariously teenage ADHD-riddled girls actually would.

Which is a big part of what I covet about Eizouken, to be honest. Something I always value in any anime is believability, even in fantasy or sci-fi or any genre that is pure fiction in the first place. If it’s not something I can somehow rationalize, I kind of lose interest. And not only are the characters made to be believable, but they put SO MUCH EMPHASIS on practically engineering all these conceptualized ideas to what would and would not be feasible to a viewer. The entire windmill scene, the robot, the movements of getting in and out of a chair... it totally shows how much thought and attention to detail goes into what makes anime believable, and I was so taken in that someone put a voice to it. Yes, anime is about artwork, but there is so, so, so very much that goes into that artwork to make it life-like and something we can be invested in. The fact that they actually did a math breakdown of timing and counts and motion and all the explanations of how what we see on the screen is actually accomplished in-studio... it really felt like a vindication of sorts for me, I’ve always valued anime so much - especially the really good ones - because of all the work that goes into making it. Yes, I am always drawn in by incredible character art (pun 100% intended btw), but even the most phenomenal artwork can’t save an otherwise mediocre anime that ignores too many of the little things or doesn’t try hard enough. And by telling it through the eyes of these characters that we can totally and unequivocally accept as credible, it lends credence to all of the rest of it, too. Absolutely genius writing as far as I’m concerned. It really made me love this medium even more.

But the biggest thing I wrapped my arms around Eizouken and couldn’t let go of was the absolute joy and mirth that just erupted into the sky from the creativity of it all. I was 11 years old again, running at top speed, wearing a smile wider than the Kermadec Trench with a stick for a light saber and a KFC bucket for a helmet. It took me back to a time where if I could imagine it, it was possible. Every time that music starts, I know we’re about to be transported to somewhere amazing and crammed full of fun, and I start smiling before anything even happens. No matter what chemicals I’ve put in my body over my lifetime, creativity is still the best high by an immeasurable margin. This is the first show I can remember in a long time that put imagination above anything else, because that’s always what I want to watch most - I want to be taken somewhere and shown something absolutely incredible. Eizouken made me feel that again in spades.

It’s just so odd to me that I didn’t really care much about the characters themselves as individuals, or the plot/progression, or really much else - I was far too busy being in love with the concepts to care about the nuclear. It’s almost foreign to me that I could enjoy an anime so much with no regard whatsoever to the linearity, but I can’t help it. That awkward balancing act made Eizouken a weird one for me, but one I will likely come back to again. And again. And again!

#keep your hands off eizouken!#eizouken ni wa te wo dasu na!#anime

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deltaengineering · 4 years

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Winter Anime 2020 Reviews: brought to you by quarantine

aw shit look who’s got the time to do some of these again yeah that’s right it’s me

22/7

For 11/12 of its runtime this was an astonishingly forced exercise in hacky tragic backstory that thoroughly answers the question of what happens when assembly line jobbers jump on the already rickety KyoAni bandwagon. So I was ready to give it a well deserved meme score of 3.14/10. Then it remembered it actually had a gimmick and managed to completely fail at that as well, with one of the most thematically misguided endings I can think of. Oh well, if nothing else I laughed. 2/10

Asteroid in Love

Well, it’s competent and inoffensive. What else can I say? I guess it’s pretty amusing how blatant the gay marriage implications get by the end, but that’s not really, you know, quality all by its own (and Harukana Receive does it better). It’s also weird how its first season clearly ends at episode 9 and it just quickly does a second one in the time it has left. Apart from that it’s a slightly above-average Kiraralike with good character moments but a real drought of content (note: dropping exposition on your topic isn’t content) in the middle. Fun enough, but really doesn’t leave me wanting more. 6/10

Dorohedoro

This had much potential to suck but then it didn’t. The biggest surprise was that Dorohedoro is a comedy; a splatter comedy with a core story worth taking seriously, yes, but this is not horror, or mystery, or even action, even if it has all those elements at points. And it manages to be consistently funny. The other big surprise is that the nonsense really does start to come together and is meaningful where it counts, so it has much better worldbuilding than most. Looks really good too - you might take exception to the CG, but it allowed MAPPA to make the rest look great so it’s overall still a plus. Definitely needs a sequel though, because the plot seems to just get started and then it ends like there’s an episode next week. 8/10

ID: INVADED

Ei Aoki’s Inception fanfic turned out very nice, with neat visuals, cool characters and a story that comes together in the end. I mean, come on, it’s an anime where Kenjiro Tsuda literally talks people to death, how can I not like it. It’s not perfect; it’s stuck with some pacing problems, strangely superfluous side characters and ultimately less ambition than it could (maybe even should) have. But it’s also weird in a good way and moderately thoughtful without being pretentious about it. 8/10

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die

Romantic comedy? Eh, maybe not quite. Funny riffing on wota dumbassery without being mean-spirited about it? Yep. Oshibudo gets the tone (the critical aspect in a show like this) right and it actually ranks fairly high simply as an idol show when that’s not even the point, which is really surprising. It’s just very charming, even if a little simple. 8/10

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

So everyone’s losing their shit over how great Eizouken is and I’m just like nah, man. Not that it’s truly bad, it certainly has its fun moments and undeniably cool animation at times. But it really says a lot when in a show supposedly all about how amazing creativity is, the no-fun-allowed producer is the only character I like - Kanamori is indeed great, shame about Nerdlinger and Plot Device though. And it’s full of the kind of standard boomer animation bromides that just make me think “well, if Ghibli is supposed to be so great, why am I watching this instead of the real thing?” It also has notably poor and uncreative use of background music, which wouldn’t irk me as much if it wasn’t lecturing on the topic. At this point I’m fairly certain that I simply don’t like Yuasa’s style much, no matter what he does. 6/10

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story

So I’m watching the “final” episode of this and I realize that I care about this random, poorly explained fanservice fight between Mami and Sayaka much more than I care about any of the characters this show is ostensibly about. And that’s pretty much Magireco in a nutshell: It has very little of its own, what it does have is split among way too many video game characters, and it’s at its best when it’s just being dumb and bombastic or lazily replicating the style of Madoka. It’s definitely not good (and the things it does to the Madoka lore are double ungood), but as long as you keep in mind that it’s just meaningless Madoka-ish things, it’s barely entertaining enough. 5/10

Natsunagu!

Natsunagu turned out to be a pleasant (if very cheap) short film that’s severely compromised by broken up into weekly 3-minute chunks. Episodes that short can work, but not for material that depends on atmosphere and character engagement. I can only assume I’d like it more if I watched it all in one go. 5/10

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It

This one started out as a one-note romantic comedy with the rare novel note, which then got more and more tired as it went on, and the introduction of decidedly less novel characters didn’t help. But by the end it recovered somewhat from not being much good at comedy anymore by being actually pretty good at paying off a romance, which is maybe even rarer. Remove bear though, what the hell. 6/10

Somali and the Forest Spirit

Somali just kept doing its thing (which is dadfeels/protect the blob). Still can’t think of another show so intensely laser-focused on that one thing, to the point they’re constructing an entire fantasy universe around it. I liked the fluffy/introspective parts a lot more so than the grimdark/”let’s get Somali into some danger so dad can rescue her” ones, but at least the former ones are more common overall, and I understand that both are important for the other one to work. So yeah, good show, even if I wish it used the big guns less often. 7/10

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

I wasn’t too hot on this one at first (apart from the looks, which were always really cool), but I have to say it has won me over by the end. It has likeable and occasionally funny characters, some meat to its setting and a mildly interesting streak of intrigue running though it. Of course it also doesn’t really answer anything, but I’m satisfied. 7/10

Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki S2

Peer pressure presents: the other tourism short of the season, ft. material that fits the format. While it’s still not really good, it’s an improvement over S1. Mainly because it stops trying to extract humor from the characters themselves and gets back to dropping the hot #nagoyatruths, which are the thing I’m here for. 6/10

#anime #review #winter2020 #22/7 #asteroid in love #dorohedoro #id:invaded #oshibudo #eizouken #magia record #natsunagu #science fell in love so i tried to prove it #somali and the forest spirit #toilet-bound hanako-kun #yatogame-chan #nagoyatruths

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wot-in-the · 4 years

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thinking back to 2020 was very hard. feels like it lasted 10 years. still, good media is good media, and the below are my favorites of what i saw/read/played last year, in no particular order:

nier: automata // it’s refreshing to see a video game really embrace its video gamey-ness – this story could only ever be told in this medium. haunting plot, complex characters, incredible soundtrack, combat as smooth as butter. but what will stick with me longest is the eerie, palpable sense of sadness that pervades every nook and cranny of its setting. and the voice acting?? it’s rare that voice acting makes me feel things, but in some parts it was so good i forgot i was playing a game.

fruits basket s2 // s1 set up most of the cast, introduced their surface level traits, and started digging into their pasts. in s2, the horror stories introduced in one-off s1 episodes are revealed to be deeper and more intertwined. the magical realism premise is, more than ever, an allegory for generational abuse, and this series does that without sacrificing hopefulness. i’m happy that this adaptation turned me back to a manga i really loved. it's every bit as good, if not better, revisiting it in my 30s. i’ve heard s3 may be condensed, which is a shame (it’s the best, most intricate part of the manga), but anime adaptations rarely do a good manga justice.

dark // the writers of this show did something really ambitious. with a story spanning multiple decades, many actors playing aged up or aged down versions of the characters (and HOLY CRAP the casting is incredible in that regard), a plot web so thick you need to take notes, and a sustained super-serious tone, things could go horribly wrong. but they didn't. they keep you deeply engaged even if some of the characters rub you the wrong way - which is done purposefully. doesn't hurt that it's beautiful to look at and listen to.

natsume yuujinchou/natsume’s book of friends // takashi natsume, the purest boy who ever lived, can see spirits. this has made him an outcast his whole life. we follow him as he begins to form bonds with humans and spirits alike and learns the joys and heartbreaks of making real connections. this is a slow, supernatural slice-of-life story about the transience of our everyday meaningful encounters. it’s so simple and so beautifully executed. almost every episode perfectly nails the heartwarmth/heartbreak ratio.

the king of elfland’s daughter by lord dunsany // i appreciate modern fantasy, but sometimes i want a fairy tale. and fairy tales aren't written like this today. this one is about... let's see. time? magic? the loss of innocence? beauty? love? all of the above and more. this one's 100% about the atmosphere and the prose used to describe it, and sometimes that's what i'm in the mood for. i read it early last year and can't remember the finer details of the plot, but can vividly recall the images it conjured in my mind.

final fantasy vii: remake // this was one of the biggest surprises of the last several years for me. i whined about not wanting a remake, especially one split in parts. but they took everything i actually loved from the original, expanded on it, sprinkled in just the right amount of details from the compilation, made some clever gameplay decisions, and fleshed out the characters so much that i was shocked. still shocked. i can't believe how much i was moved by it and how much fun i had with the gameplay. been thinking about this one since the first day i played it.

stranger 2/secret forest 2 // if s1 introduced us to larger than life heroes, villains, and stakes, s2 takes a step back and asks harder questions. we know our two leads (tbh? worth watching both seasons just for them) are good people who will stand up for what's right. but what happens when doing that is difficult, dangerous, and full of consequences? it was a treat being able to revisit hwang si-mok and han yeo-jin, especially as it was yeo-jin’s turn to have the more prominent character arc. it doesn't need another season, but i hope it gets one!

the legend of zelda: breath of the wild // this game's world is masterfully created. there's just enough plot to ground you, but the point is exploration. it’s your boy link and this huge physics sand box full of decaying ruins and rolling fields and waterfalls and like, snow capped mountains and rivers of lava and expansive desert. the vast quiet landscapes hammer home how this is a post-apocalyptic world. this is an after-the-end story, and your wanderings slowly rehabilitate hyrule and make you stronger. this more than lived up to the hype.

honorable mentions: piranesi by susanna clarke, honey & clover by chica umino, gravity rush, hunt for the wilderpeople, keep your hands off eizouken, the ancient magus' bride: those awaiting a star, medicine walk by richard wagamese

(i pretty much abandoned film last year. will make a point to watch more in 2021.)

#nier automata #fruits basket #dark #natsume yuujinchou #the king of elfland's daughter #final fantasy vii #secret forest #botw

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dwengolyn · 5 years

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Dwen Reviews: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

yeah imma be doing reviews on things that i like from now on, in case you didn't know i like to give my thoughts on things, can't remember if i did something like this before, but LETS GO!

Eizouken ni wa Te o Dasu Na! / Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! has got to be one of my favorite animes of all time, without any exaggeration whatsoever.

It breaks the mold on what people normally view anime as, don't get me wrong, i like Shounen, but i've seen so fucking many of them that there's nothing new you can do with them, so seeing a anime like Eizouken is more refreshing than taking a cold bath after running on a hot ass day.

Things that i liked:

1: For once, FOR FUCKING ONCE, THE GIRLS ARE NOT OVERSEXUALIZED, ITS A MIRACLE!!! sadly though, it still won't stop people from making porn of it, oh well...

2: Talking about the girls, i love all of em, however i feel like Muzusaki is underrated, all art ive seen of her so far is just her with Asakusa and Kanamori or being gay for Kanamori, sometimes Asakusa, well i love that shit but cmon gimme more sole Mizusaki content! well, after the last episode i think more people will start appreciating her, which is good.

3: THE ANIMATION THO? THE FUCKIN ANIMATION THO?!?!?!?

4: None of the girls are neurotypical(you cant tell me otherwise) which is great!

5: The way that they describe animation while being in a anime is so fuckin meta and wholesome, i love it, and im sure the creators had a lot of fun!

Things that i didn't like:

0: NONE.

I can't think of any flaws whatsoever, this show is fucking perfect, and the people who made it knew EXACTLY wtf they were doing, i dare say, anime of the year, it honestly deserves it.

I give it a 10/10!

#dwen reviews #op #put a sock in it dwen #eizouken #kyhoe #keep your hands off eizouken!

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natsubeatsrock · 4 years

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10 Things I Enjoyed in 2020 that Aren’t Fairy Tail

Well... it’s almost over? With all the crazy stuff that’s happened this year, it’s hard to remember that there were some good things to come from this year. So instead of 7, here’s 10 things I enjoyed throughout this year.

#10. Sonic the Hedgehog

Not unlike many people, this would be the last film that came out this year I would see in theaters before everything shut down earlier this year. While I have gone out to watch movies throughout this year since, this happens to be the only movie I’ve been looking forward to that came out this year. Since the release of Detective Pikachu last year, the fraught history of video game movies has started to look a lot better. For all intents and purposes, I think this film is better than that one, and I’m a much bigger fan of Pokemon than Sonic. If certain spoilers are a sign of anything, a future sequel will be interesting to see and greatly anticipated.

#9. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

One of the blessings-in-disguise of being locked down with extra money is the ability to get and enjoy things you haven’t gotten the opportunity to before. In my case, I was able to play through some of the Pokemon games I’ve been waiting to play through. My favorite of the bunch has been the second installment of the Pokemon Ranger series. The Ranger games have been greatly underrated and overlooked by fans. I was reintroduced to the original last Christmas and believe it to be a solid game, but this easily blows it out of the water. While this year also marked the sad end of the 3DS cycle, I’m glad that this game came my way.

#8. 42

With the unfortunate passing of its lead actor, Chadwick Boseman, and the racial tensions which came to a head after the death of George Floyd, it makes sense theaters would reopen with this movie. Jackie Robinson’s story is one that’s interested me as the talks of integration and racism have gone on this year. He became the first African American MLB player because of both his talent on the field and his character off it. He wasn’t just skilled in stealing bases. He didn’t allow the anger he rightly felt towards racism control him.

#7. Bakuman

The famed writer and artist duo behind Death Note teamed up to deliver another smash hit manga for Weekly Shonen Jump. This time, about... a writer and artist duo who team up to make a name for themselves by delivering a smash hit manga to Weekly Shonen Jump. As I read Bakuman, I was struck with the genius of its construction. It’s one thing to read the information about Shueisha and WSJ this series shares in a book. It’s another for that information to be shared within the confines that the series itself describes. Special shout-outs go to Ayakashi Triangle and Phantom Seer which started in WSJ this year.

#6. Power Girl: Power Trip

Oh? Were you perhaps expecting to see some other female character owned by Detective Comics Comics who graced the silver screen take this spot? Well, maybe next year, depending on how things go. I love my comic book heroes with healthy doses of snark and existential crisis. While I might have gone in expecting the former, I wasn’t expecting the latter as much. If you know about Power Girl, you may know about her famous “boob window“, which is in lieu of a real symbol. It turns out that she was originally thought to be Superman’s cousin, but has recently been proven to be otherwise. I’m not so against DC that I’m unwilling to admit when they make books that I like.

#5. Carole and Tuesday

Carole and Tuesday holds a special spot as becoming the latest 10/10 anime I’ve seen. This is easily one of the most diverse anime that I’ve ever seen. It’s not just a matter of showing people of different walks of life, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. It’s also showing artists different music styles from folk to jazz to rap to electronic to new age to operatic rap. And none of it feels forced or unnatural, though some of it might come off as offensive. If you’re on as big a planet as Mars, you’ll expect to see all kinds of people and hear all kinds of music as long as you’re willing to listen. Shinichiro Wantanabe is one of anime’s best directors and this might be his best work yet.

#4. Lupin III: The First

If you told me a few years ago that one of the best anime movies would be a fully CGI film, I would have looked at you like you were insane. Nevertheless, this movie exists. I was skeptical about the idea of a fully CGI movie for a character like this. But when I saw a clip from the movie, I could tell they knew what they were doing. This movie is by no means anywhere as good looking as Spiderverse, but it looks amazing in its own right. Content wise, this serves as a great heist film for anyone regardless of proximity to the series. Arsene Lupin III makes It makes a fine introduction to the world of one of anime’s most longstanding series, and a good launching point for his earlier antics. Props to Weathering to You for keeping this slot warm. (Ironic considering things...)

#3. John Byrne’s run on Sensational She-Hulk

So I wasn’t going to say this talking about Power Trip, but I need to say this here. American comics are at a weird spot. In attempts to reach a wider audience, they’re not doing a great job of keeping the fans they have. Or make actually new ones. The current run of Savage She-Hulk has been no exception to this. Though it wasn’t always like this and John Byrne’s runs on Sensational She-Hulk is proof positive. Byrne took Jennifer Walters with more fun than I’ve seen any author write any comic book with. This especially shows in one of the more notable abilities of She-Hulk, breaking the fourth wall. I was very worried when I heard Marvel Studios was going to do a series with Shulkie. But with this as inspiration, maybe there’s hope for this project after all. (Please be good!)

#2. Burn the Witch

Tite Kubo is back, baby! This spot doesn’t go to any of the sets of chapters to be published in Shonen Jump. Rather, his collaboration with Studio Colorido is my choice for anime of the year. Burn the Witch tells the story of a different Soul Society than Bleach fans may be familiar with. It’s almost cheating to compare this mid-length film to the other shows to come out this year, even if it was broken up into three episodes for streaming sites. However, film or otherwise, no other anime grabbed my attention as much as this did. This also marks the best anime from WSJ I’ve seen this year. Surely I’m not forgetting anything big to come out recently in saying this, especially from this year with everything that got delayed. Honorable mentions go to TONIKAWA: Under the Moon, Bofuri, BNA, Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!, and Misfit of Demon King Academy for nearly taking my spot.

#1. Skullgirls

This year has been a tough year for a lot of people, companies, and fandoms. Though, I’d be hard pressed to think of a fandom that has had a worse year than this indie fighter. One of its founders was revealed to be terrible, one of its parent companies went under, and a prime opportunity for the spotlight in EVO Online being cancelled, it wouldn’t be a mistake to say things aren’t going well. Thankfully, the fans and dev team have done everything they can to keep this game alive before and that didn’t stop this year. It feels somewhat on-brand for this series to have survived the kinds of situations that would normally kill a game off. This game would have made the top spot by virtue of being the most fun game I played this year. I’m proud to put it at this spot knowing everything that’s surrounded it this year.

For extra honorable mentions, Pokemon’s seventh generation of games, especially the Ultra versions, were fun to finally experience and they have the best stories of the 3DS era of Pokemon. Cobra Kai was a fun series and almost definitely would be here if I were more emotionally attached to the Karate Kid series. I rewatched Neon Genesis Evangelion and it’s better than I remembered originally. Finally, I’d move heaven and earth to add Oregairu or Hilda on this list, considering new seasons came out this year, but I know better.

As usual, check my list for EZ, which also has 10 things, and be glad we’re almost done with this year. See you!

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expshared · 4 years

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this season was kind of whack, but at least we had Eizouken

Heya Camp is just kind of a lazy reminder that Yuru Camp exists, and will continue to exist in the future. You remember these characters?? OK good, just making sure. That said, did I immediately feel the tension release in my entire body when I heard the OST? Duh. Did I sing “it’s coffee time” to the ending not knowing these were the incorrect lyrics? The entire time.

I don’t know what to do with Isekai Quartet because like, objectively, I should hate it. I do not enjoy like 2.5 of the shows involved, and the addition of Shield Hero was not a welcome one. Turns out it doesn’t matter anyway because it was just Isekai Quartet and also Naofumi is Sometimes Scowling in the Background and that’s about as much of him as I want to see anyway. And yet? I do enjoy this Disney Channel Original Crossover. There’s something inherently fun about watching these characters from disparate shows interact with each other, and no matter what the original stakes were in their respective series, they’re all just doing homework and getting part time jobs and that shit’s funny when a big skeleton man is doing it.

After its first episode, Asteroid in Love was kind of a slog. This is your typical seasonal CGDGT show, and apart from that, I really can’t think of anything to say about it. I didn’t learn anything about the Extremely Niche Topic these girls are doing, and it wasn’t even that gay. Disappointing.

I was really looking forward to Toilet Bound Hanako-kun because I am a big fan of the source material, but I was pretty let down by this adaptation. It seems that they prioritized the art style and the color scheme above everything else, but that essentially just meant the entire project ended up being colored manga panels. I wanted to see them move around! There was not a single moment of animation that justified it being an anime. You might as well have been watching a PowerPoint. I can’t think of anything nice to say. Let’s move on.

Bofuri is my power fantasy. I want to play a video game so cluelessly I break it into tiny pieces and bumble into being the most powerful player in the world’s nicest MMORPG. Maple turns powercreep into powersprint. What Bofuri lacks in character development or plot, it makes up for in outrageous Maple feats. She holds the entire world in the palm of her hand and she doesn’t even know it. She named her OP pet turtle Syrup and then turned into an alien abomination unknown to the world and went on a killing rampage. This anime was Maple Crossing Online. Love you, Maple. Wreck shit, Maple.

If My Favorite Idol Got Into Budokan, I Would Die walks a thin line and what separates it from being a slobbering idol otaku engine preaching how Cool it is to Be an Otaku and an Idol Show Watamote is the fact that Eripiyo is a girl. That’s it. If you took her and replaced her with your average Joe Schmoe-san, this show would be insufferably creepy. Every time I was waiting for it to topple over, Jenga-like, it managed to right itself and straddle the tightrope. It’s not a particularly subtle piece of media, nor does it do what I was hoping it would do and engage in any sort of conversation about the obsessive nature of idol otakudom, but you know what it does a good job of doing? Portraying being an idol as a job. Just some adults putting on underground shows and selling the same CD of like two songs over and over again. I was also hoping it would address what happened to Eripiyo, maybe talk about why at the beginning she’s dressed like an office worker and apparently gives that all up to follow this kinda-shitty idol group, why this fanatic escapism is preferable, or even maybe address how gay it is? Not in the cards, though. Honestly Budokan was, despite itself, pretty enjoyable? There are some great background lesbians. Also can we talk about how consistently good the production values were on this show? Why did this have such great dance sequences? Why did this look better than Love “Has More Money Than God” Live? Actually no I take everything back this show was kind of just Idol Otaku Watamote

Hey, let’s talk about the other idol show airing this season: the completely unhinged 22/7. This show is Whack. This show operates on an entire different plane of reality. I know nothing about the actual band, so I came into this blind and oh my god. Hey guys, the plot of 22/7 is that a Wall tells some girls to form an idol unit. A sentient Wall whose orders absolutely must be followed. Why? Dunno! What happens if you don’t follow its orders? Never elaborated on. (Actually, is this a reference to Pink Floyd? I have no fucking clue.) In any case these eight girls, summoned by a letter from the Wall, are all invited to become an idol group, and then they’re magically an idol group. It’s unclear how they become successful, how they book gigs, who’s keeping the lights on at the agency, how they’re getting paid, who HR is, how their gorilla man agent found this Wall and determined that all its directives Must Be Followed, but shit, man. What follows in 22/7 is a one-member-per-episode serial that quite frankly stumbles far more often than it succeeds. One girl’s grandma died and that’s why she came to Japan. One girl had a traumatizing experience where she got lost in the woods for a week and it broke her family apart and now things just suck forever. These things are equal. One poor girl’s entire episode was about how she didn’t want to put on a bathing suit for a photo shoot and how uncomfortable she felt about it, but in the end she was made to apologize for dragging her feet for so long and takes her photo for a pin up. Yuck. Gross. Bad. The only valid girl is Jun, end of discussion. None of this even holds a candle to the finale-- wherein the girls are directed by the Wall to disband, and, defying an order for the first time, the girls return to their agency and throw shit at the Wall until it breaks down. It’s revealed that the Wall isn’t supernatural-- behind it are tv monitors, photos of the girls as children, records of their activities. A person or people are behind this. Why??? Are they being groomed?? Is the Wall a metaphor for the Industry? I’m so concerned. The girls aren’t, though, because after a little side eyeing, they ascend a staircase and wow! A Stage! Our fans are all here for our reunion tour! And then they’re fine and I guess their idol group is back together or something? Did I mention the stage where they perform? It’s at a zoo. I can’t tell if this is the most scathing condemnation of idol culture I’ve ever watched or just completely oblivious. The characters don’t engage in any sort of thought about what they’re being put through, but they are performing their final song, the lyrics of which are about how life is just too hard to keep on living, at a zoo and I don’t think you can have that sort of thing happen unless you’re trying to make a point. Right??? RIGHT?!? Dance and sing, monkeys.

Smile Down the Runway was another show completely divorced from reality. So you got your main character, Chiyuki, whose thing is that she’s Too Short to Be a Model at her father’s very prestigious modeling agency. Which, like, is valid! Let’s see some variation in the modeling industry. Let’s shake it up. Let’s lead the charge for alternative models with bodies outside of the very narrow requirements of the fashion industry. What’s that, Chiyuki? You have no interest in that? You want to be a Hypermodel? I don’t know what that shit is, I think you made it up. Our other protagonist is Ikuto, the destitute, put upon, bobcut boy with a dying mother and 3 younger siblings who is trying to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. Are you beginning to sense the problem here? There is a fundamental imbalance in the presentation of these characters’ goals and situations. Also? Emotions are at an eleven, always. Characters are always acting as if they’ve just seen someone get murdered in front of their eyes even when it’s like. There’s a messed up seam. They are constantly being mortified, crushed, and having their dreams ripped away. One time, two different assholes offered Ikuto magical mom-fixing blood money when he was struggling to come up with funds to pay off his medical debt at the cost of giving up his spot in the fashion show. Wildin’

Haikyuu didn’t exactly come in like a lion, but I’m sure it’ll be more organic upon rewatching. We were laying the groundwork for much of this season so I’m expecting it to payoff later, but the beginning definitely lagged. Every time Haikyuu hints at a women’s volleyball tournament, I want a volleyball anime with girls. Man, those ten minutes we got with Kiyoko? Those were great.

I don’t have too much to say about Somali and Forest Spirit. Abe’s “Make Children” agenda feels at least a little more like a narrative choice in this anime, and I enjoyed Somali and the Golem’s relationship and their travels were in equal turns harrowing and heartwarming. And I did tear up at the end so you got me there, anime.

In/Spectre has some balls being an anime. It’s existed as a light novel and a manga and those are both superior mediums for it because let’s put all our cards on the table here-- In/Spectre is a show about talking. Five whole entire episodes take place in a car. The finale is winning an argument in an anonymous 4chan chatroom. That said, I have such a fondness for In/Spectre. I think Kotoko rocks. I think a show willing to do nothing but talk at you for two hours is badass. Sitting through this anime is like watching a podcast. I think the show engages in some great dialogue about human nature and how we prefer stories that are theatrical, narratively-driven, and have a logical cause-and-effect, instead of the truth, which is more often than not grim, and disappointing, and illogical. I like that Kotoko’s only function, in-story and out of it, is to bullshit so hard she invents alternate realities. Anyway In/Spectre is good.

There’s no praise I can lavish on Eizouken that hasn’t already been said. It’s powerful, it’s strange, it’s energetic, and it’s packaged with such love. It’s repurposed the CGDCT template into something deeply affecting. It’s an anime for people who love animation. I hope everyone watches Eizouken.

#animoose and mango #chitchat paddywhack #long post /

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