#marimotalks

[marimopeace]

aoisjdaoisjd i'm CRYINGGGGGG so it's just been announced why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion is getting an anime adaptation TTwTT my heart is genuinely soaring as evidenced by my twt reaction: "!!! I am! so! excited!!!!!!!"

this is coming straight off of solo leveling's anime reveal (no surprise but still super 🥳) so i just feel so so so happy that this could be an escalating trend since more japanese brands are accepting korean creative works! (raeliana just had its 7th kadokawa manga release today 7/5/22 it's got to be selling well i imagine <3)

this has been a tepid but sure trickle since 2016ish (tbh the 2010s as a whole but ppl still don't realize how korean animators have made most ppl's past decade of anime hits u-u) w noblesse x production ig so i'm vibrating w excitement to see what other titles end up getting popular and adapted!!

*fingers crossed for who made me a princess i want it so badly 😭💗*

// my korean friends who indulge in manhwa w me ended up ditching me since they hate gays so i have no outlet to squee over things like this anymore so i dug up my old anitumblr 🥲 basically i'm korean and japanese so the announcement today made me v v happy for possible positive cultural trends btwn jp + kr entertainment spheres! //

[kuro-marimo]

I have 3 followers. 2 of which are ghosts...

[marimopeace]

d. gray-man still fucks me up...

in the best of ways, even after all these years plus breaks on my end as a fan and hoshino's circumstances.

loved all things gothic and fantasy in middle school to escape my life via power-wielding teens (i.e. 07-ghost, pandora hearts, soul eater, karneval, hakkenden, etc.) and d.gray-man was huge for me since i was still in a phase where i was binging all the long anime series i could since it gave my attn span something to latch onto and be immersed in for a good amount of time. tbh i can't tell if my attn span has gotten even shorter considering i usually substitute streaming social media videos over tv nowadays or better since i'm able to better sustain interests in specific niche things?

i switched to consuming content on a more seasonal basis in high school but i became more of a manga reader so at the time i was still on the nose for the rare new d.gray-man chapter. i was so excited for when hallow was announced! i think the hallow promo visuals + posters were some of the last things i shared on my old tumblr blog actually lmao. didn't love hallow as a show but i loved it for what it brought back to me in terms of bringing hoshino's drawings to life via sound + color and seeing ppl turn into fans via gifs in comment sections. that's part of the reason why the furuba reboot meant a lot to me too tbh! always so nice when you can see new and old fans come together to show artists the love they deserve <3

took a break from d.gray-man specifically since the searching for a.w. arc was just a lot for me to take in chapter by chapter since it was hard to keep track of intricate plot details without needing to re-read some chapters for every release and that's not how i enjoy content personally. and i guess from there life just kind of ? came and went? college + growing up in general with new life obligations have changed the way i pursue entertainment aha.

i don't know what switched it on but i ended up spending this past weekend going through everything from scratch! i haven't sat down to marathon 100+ chapters/episodes of anything in a long time since i either keep up with shorter serials now or keep up with things on a monthly basis and wowwww the immersion hit different this time fr XD i swear i felt like a kid again!

but wow going through the entire manga + anime bit by bit from my new position in life really made me appreciate hoshino's storytelling a lot more; it's not so much that the plot of d.gray-man aged well, but that the whole series works together to tell one of the most cohesive stories i've seen for a fantasy shonen (esp with such a young protagonist--allen is the age of a high school sophomore!!!!!! a literal child!!!! someone be on his side kthxJohnny).

when i say i went through bit by bit i MEAN IT i fully had a list of episodes via wikipedia out and i was going through chapter arcs as they were recreated in the old anime series i went in completely XD god i'm crazy.

but it felt so sweet and so wonderful to dive into the adventure head-on.

i'm trying to do the same with the hallow sequel but reading/watching d.gray-man like this is really making me see how rushed it was ^^; it's taking more chapters to get to where each episode of hallow ends and i get why hoshino was so peeved with both shows now to be honest for the out of order details or skipping of content.

i'm also really resonating with hoshino's anger towards TMS for the hallow promo materials and i get why she went as far as to shoot their bank accounts in the foot bc the way i started tearing up during hallow episode 6 with talk of the lotus, flashbacks, and the hand reaching up to the sky....ㅠㅠ #bigoop

kanda shouldn't have been shoved into a yaoi narrative for the sake of money (nor allen esp considering his age) since it completely goes against his character arc and everything he is with alma. i'm getting so fucked up by their past lives' love story and their current again like when i say the tears i'm shedding come from something so old and deep inside of me ㅠㅠ (oh lorde it's so sad!!)

i had to pause my marathon since i spent my monday without wifi bc of a storm in my area and it'll prob be a while until i can finish re-reading/watching until the end of hallow. i'm excited to read new saying goodbye to a.w chapters though! i know it'll definitely be worth waiting these past few years <3 seeing allen's character growth as he matured as a "destroyer who saves" and how he grapples w mana's influence is fascinating and exploring the nitty-gritty of the morality that pervades the Black Order is just! ugh love this kind of worldbuilding with strong characters sm

planning this next content binge will be tricky though since i meant to catch up on the furuba reboot before it ends next week...welp i'll see how this goes ^^;

// time to get to writing this thesis marimo! //

[marimopeace]

mashiro: you're rude

takagi: am i?

aha god this took me back! a podcast mentioned how eiichiro oda is essential built to be a mangaka (otherwise how else would he have the stamina to be as consistent as he has been + there were side tangents about time-management skills etc. etc.) and the comments on WSJ's structure in terms of how manga are cancelled brought me back to bakuman.

i've become more of a manga + manhwa / light novel reader over the years because of the demands real life has on my free time and i've definitely tried to keep these poor working conditions in mind as i consume content. i've been thinking more about how i take in media from legitimate vs illegal means and the logistics behind productions. i'm not sure if that's a byproduct of getting older and becoming a "real adult" / my political awakening since tbh watching bakuman in middle school single handedly changed how i saw artistic production and publishing i.e. corporatization (since this was prob around the time i started getting into things like tapastic or webtoon which have since ballooned into $ machines).

as animanga culture becomes more mainstream i wish ppl would keep things like this in mind esp since places such as America are started to grow in social awareness and class consciousness but ^^; there's always going to be ppl who demand everything.

part of me wonders if bakuman could get big on tiktok or something (the same way screencaps of miyazaki have become meme commentary on art twitter lol) then maybe a younger generation would become more aware of what goes into the cultural exports they love--so much bloody competition and overworking but ah just a pipe dream on my part i guess u.u

btw i guess this is a nudge to myself to rewatch bakuman one of these days if i have the time--they don't make things like this anymore! with the way these clips have stood the test of youtube time aka remain crisp i wouldn't be surprised if bakuman's plot would mean more today.

[marimopeace]

In Feudal Japan, Half-Demon twins Towa and Setsuna are separated from each other during a forest fire. While desperately searching for her younger sister, Towa wanders into a mysterious tunnel that sends her into present-day Japan, where she is found and raised by Kagome Higurashi's brother, Sota, and his family.

Ten years later, the tunnel that connects the two eras has reopened, allowing Towa to be reunited with Setsuna, who is now a Demon Slayer working for Kohaku. But to Towa's shock, Setsuna appears to have lost all memories of her older sister.

Joined by Moroha, the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome, the three young women travel between the two eras on an adventure to regain their missing past.

aoidsjaoi inuyasha is getting a fucking sequel and i didn’t find out until i was listening to a new podcast ft. lilypichu and she mentioned it as an aside and i was like what???? excuse me????? 

my younger self is screaming but the older me thrown back with nostalgia right now is just hella confused tbh bc i have mixed feelings towards the premise of this and ahhhh

idk usually when i hear about childhood throwbacks being revived (shout-out @the upcoming ojamajo doremi movie for fall 2020 bc i may be a whole college student but i will never forget my days of going on Veoh to binge that show 😤loved/love my magical girls) i do tend to get slightly jaded bc i wonder if the production is done out of effort to indulge the creator’s / the fan’s interests or if it’s a money grab by some corporate entity but i always still feel a thrill of happy nostalgic sadness bc i’ll be like “god i remember those times and i’m so glad other people do too” but with yashahime...i just

ugh

love takahashi and i absolutely adore inuyasha (SO happy that sesshomaru may have had some romantic fulfillment in his life!) but idk after learning more about the series there’s just this weird taste in my mouth

// that could also be the quarantine mac & cheese i just made but i found out abt this sequel before i pulled this out of the microwave so i think not lol //

[marimopeace]

ikuya crying is me as i realize that this series has been part of the last 7 years of my life

official movie trailer can be seen here on kyoto animation’s channel

// random introspection under the cut //

i remember back in the good old days of me not minding free crunchyroll (tbt when they had that old orange play bar and the “exclusive stream for _____” header) i stumbled on the first episode of a new series about swimming

i thought the water looked pretty, so i was like ok this seems good!

i watched the series as it aired that summer (goddamn i really miss having summers of absolutely no responsibilities) and finished it right around the time 8th grade started (oh god)

the show quickly flitted out of my preteen mind, faster than haru could leap into a pool

until a few months later when a local convention was going to happen in february, and my friend gave me an extra sticker her friend had made during her prep for her merch booth

it was a chibi sticker of rei, and i was like omg! i remember this!

cue a year of fangirling from the both of us

and then eternal summer happened, the fandom exploded, i got into kuroko no basuke and showed my friend haikyuu and then the following year all the fandoms exploded

*fast forward and insert development here*

and here i am, fresh out of my freshman year of college, having just watched a PV for free!’s fourth film

and there’s going to be another one a year from now!

and also goddamn time is a thing and i have literally grown with the series (the characters even entered college around the same time i did!) and here i am not necessarily crying per say, but just marveling at how surreal this feels

on one hand, i could be disappointed in myself for clearly not finding a different niche hobby to invest my time into

on the other hand, here i am thrilled to still get the same kind of refreshing entertainment during the summer anime season from a series (not a franchise) that has managed to expand alongside its audience

(props to kyoani for getting ahead of the game with international distribution bc that definitely helped to make this series’ lifespan last this long)

and...yeah basically ikuya’s crying face is me as i marvel over the fact that the internet’s “gay swimming boys” are still here and are going to be back for at least one more round after this summer and that i’ve managed to make it to this point in my life

adulthood is weird.

[marimopeace]

i’m just venting at this point but can i just say that i am so incredibly glad that hyakkimaru was able to open his eyes because 

1. he can see!! + that means that all the eye-ripping didn’t go to waste (i really didn’t like tahomaru but it was cool to see him try to redeem himself rather than just having him die and hyakkimaru regaining his eyes by default)

2. he finally got to see his mother and his father which was already emotionally overwhelming but he managed to do it right before they perished and i thought it was nice that this little detail was included since it was a touching way for jukai to bid a final farewell and for hyakkimaru to know just what the kind grey souls who cared for him actually looked like

it would have been great to see hyakkimaru enjoy life with his parents in the aftermath (i’m not counting daigo bc redemption be damned he needs to wallow in guilt for a lot longer before i can stand him) but i did think their sacrifice made for a beautiful character arc

the weary warrior finally got to rest, and left the world knowing his son would live on and finally enjoy life as a human. the heartsick mother got to hold her child once more and send him away with love.

furuhashi did a great job of bringing dororo to life. i fully admit i’m not a tezuka expert, but to my understanding in the original series both jukai and hyakkimaru’s mother survived--which again, sounds great, but i don’t think the emotional pay-off would have been the same.

someone on MAL said that mappa finally made a modern anime classic.

and i agree.

[marimopeace]

“Life is nothing but goodbyes.”

                                                                                            -Sakutarou Yanagihara

rewatching 3-gatsu no lion and the burnt field arc is my favorite part of S2 because 

1. whether it’s bc i’m a huge sentimental baby or bc of how confucian ideals have trained me to always respect elders i tend to have a soft spot for older “veteran” characters who serve as the stereotypical OP wise sage/hermit and/or as a mentor figure — i love how his outlook on shogi was developed and how his storyline stirs up the empathy of the viewer as we learn about the pressure of success and admire his willingness to take on the burden of forging a legacy for his generation

2. oadsjaoi THIS GORGEOUS ANIMATION BY SHAFT RIGHT HERE ^^^ which hits on so many things that i enjoy from an creative viewpoint: it’s rich in symbolism (yes i am that snobby intellectual who enjoys abstract metaphors much too much) and the way umino’s art was translated into sashes that harshly whipped to and fro from the intensity of wind blowing across the field and appeared to both embrace and suffocate yanagihara was just—ughhhh!! and i love how the animators weren’t afraid to show agony on his facial expressions/his age (that scene where he woke up in his room was just wonderful) because it turns the unreal introspection into something real for the audience to understand. and my final soft spot was hit when shaft turned this (image credits to u/aafarr2 over on reddit) into that breathtaking painterly image above. i am a huge sucker for things that resemble traditional art and i love how movement was utilized in that animation, from the stilted arms of the flames to the rapid flowing of the sashes against the wind, to the goddamn ripples below that really add to the panning out of the screen...it’s just

it’s perfect

many other things that could be said but tl;dr i love this so much

[marimopeace]

magi feels like a fever dream tbh (so does 2014)

my youtube homepage usually gives me updates from podcasts/commentary channels but occasionally music will filter through bc of my subscriptions and WOWWWW i just took such a nostalgia trip

a thumbnail for AmaLee's cover of The Bravery popped up and the little thing said the video was from "7 years ago" and i took a second to process that

1. omg magi!!! loml for quite some time until it fizzled out until its final chapter

2. 2014 was 7 years ago...

everything about that moment just took me back to a simpler time aha--even the video itself! it has the old youtaite formatting of a black bar of lyrics + the way this song sounds takes me back to action-packed shonen really making it mainstream (magi's anime should have been right around opm's blow-up and the gradual rise of mha since i distincting remember naruto ending that year)

but also i guess the tiktoks talking about how kids born in 2014 are 1st grade are really starting to hit me ^^; 7 isn't that big of a number but when you think about what can happen in the span of 7 years...

*cue marimo's tumblr that was originally meant to be a casual aniblog just turning into a young adult's thoughts on aging*

(but also fr the grip that sinbad had on ppl's minds as the pinnacle of OP heroism...not to mention the vast amount of fics that emerged bc of the character-heavy nature of the series damn all so much fodder for ships/self-inserts)