#with one yuri and more monogatari

[doyouknowthisanime]

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I've got some good news - I've finished tallying up the results of the favourite anime survey and can now, finally, reveal what Tumblr's favourite anime actually are. To start with, I'd like to thank everyone who responded - yes, all 1172 (wow!) of you - and to apologise for he delay in actually getting these results out. For anyone who needs a reminder, these results are based on how many points each anime received - a first place ranking was worth five points, a second or third place ranking was worth four, a fourth or fifth place ranking was worth three, a sixth-tenth place ranking was worth two, and a eleventh-twentieth place ranking was worth one. When multiple anime had the same number of points, the anime with the most first-place votes was placed higher. The results are below the read more right here - I hope you enjoy reading!

100. Yona of the Dawn - 82 points

99. Devilman Crybaby - 83 points

98. Monogatari Series - 83 points

97. Lucky Star - 84 points

96. Toradora - 84 points

95. Dr. Stone - 86 points

94. Princess Jellyfish - 86 points

93. ERASED - 87 points

92. Noragami - 87 points

91. Wolf's Rain - 88 points

90. Azumanga Daioh - 90 points

89. Paranoia Agent - 90 points

88. Odd Taxi - 91 points

87. Banana Fish - 93 points

86. Digimon Adventure - 95 points

85. Akira - 95 points

84. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni - 95 points

83. Psycho-Pass - 96 points

82. Little Witch Academia - 96 points

81. Monster - 97 points

80. Mononoke - 98 points

79. Free! - 99 points

78. Kekkai Sensen - 99 points

77. Trigun Stampede - 102 points

76. Haibane Renmei - 103 points

75. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters - 104 points

74. Gintama - 105 points

73. Violet Evergarden - 107 points

72. Dorohedoro - 113 points

71. Made in Abyss - 113 points

70. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury - 113 points

69. Eizouken ni wa Te o Dasu na! - 115 points

68. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - 116 points

67. SK8 the Infinity - 117 points

66. Samurai Champloo - 117 points

65. Your Name - 118 points

64. Castle in the Sky - 119 points

63. Perfect Blue - 119 points

62. Promare - 120 points

61. One Punch Man - 122 points

60. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - 126 points

59. Kiki's Delivery Service - 129 points

58. Kaguya-sama: Love is War - 136 points

57. Inuyasha - 136 points

56. Assassination Classroom - 142 points

55. FLCL - 143 points

54. Pokémon - 144 points

53. Death Parade - 148 points

52. Dragon Ball - 150 points

51. Natsume Yuujinchou - 157 points

50. The Apothecary Diaries - 158 points

49. Revue Starlight - 159 points

48. Durarara!! - 160 points

47. Yu Yu Hakusho - 162 points

46. Naruto - 163 points

45. Black Butler - 165 points

44. Attack on Titan - 167 points

43. Houseki no Kuni - 168 points

42. Steins;Gate - 172 points

41. Cardcaptor Sakura - 186 points

40. Code Geass - 186 points.

39. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun - 187 points

38. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. - 192 points

37. Kill la Kill - 194 points

36. Bungou Stray Dogs - 194 points

35. Baccano! - 198 points

34. Bocchi the Rock! - 201 points

33. Chainsaw Man - 208 points

32. Demon Slayer - 209 points

31. Serial Experiments Lain - 213 points

30. Jujutsu Kaisen - 227 points

29. Spy x Family - 236 points

28. Howl's Moving Castle - 238 points

27. Princess Mononoke - 240 points

26. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - 241 points

25. Sailor Moon - 249 points

24. Mushi-shi - 249 points

23. Princess Tutu - 254 points

22. Nichijou - 263 points

21. Trigun - 265 points

20. Spirited Away - 266 points

19. My Hero Academia - 266 points

18. Fruits Basket (2019) - 269 points

17. Soul Eater - 292 points

16. Sousou no Frieren - 300 points

15. Yuri!!! on Ice - 333 points

14. Fullmetal Alchemist - 364 points

13. Ouran High School Host Club - 374 points

12. Death Note - 437 points

11. Cowboy Bebop - 450 points

10. Haikyuu - 457 points

9. Neon Genesis Evangelion - 496 points

8. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - 496 points

7. Hunter x Hunter (2011) - 516 points

6. Revolutionary Girl Utena - 537 points

5. One Piece - 633 points

4. Puella Magi Madoka Magica - 664 points

3. Mob Psycho 100 - 943 points

2. Dungeon Meshi - 985 points

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - 1106 points

Congratulations to FMA Brotherhood for winning! For more detailed results, go to this spreadsheet. Once again, thank you all for participating, and waiting so patiently for the results!

[freezing-kaiju]

ALRIGHT, IT'S TIME!

THE SECOND RYUKI-AND-BLADE-ACCOMPANYING ANIME POLL IS NOW HERE!!!

SO, MEET YOUR CHALLENGERS!

AJIN Demi-Human

We start with a dark horror and possibly scifi about ethics in science, immortality, and an outlaw fugitive alien plot as a boy finds himself part of a group of immortals declared legally inhuman. While I have some misgivings about Oh No I Was Secretly A Creature All Along plots, I do fucking love horror and there’s a lot of ways for those plots to hit hard in the trans and gay and autism organs and be really important!!!!

Dimension W

The New Tesla Energy Corporation has monopolized the fourth dimension and the coils that connect to it. A duo of bounty hunters, one human and one robot, make money via repossessing illegal coils and seek out the answer to the mysteries within the dimension. I really wanna watch this one for a few reasons, the primary one of which is 'there are multiple fat women'. It seems to have freaks and weirdos and fun times, and its comedy is emphasized more than most of the other ones on this list so it might give some needed levity!

Kyoukai no Kanata

A bumbling monster hunter with blood powers meets an immortal via trying to shank him and ends up in an arrangement where she'll keep trying to kill him to boost her confidence while hunting monsters in what I hope is a monster-of-a-week show that came highly recommended by a friend as her favorite anime, or one of her favorites, so i have high hopes! Script's by the hibike euphonium guy and the power system seems quite interesting!

Air

A puppeteer (if he’s as good as Sakon will remain to be seen) stops his Road Trip To Meet A Golden Sun Jupiter Summon to stay for a bit in a town and, as happens to anyone who stops for too long, gets attached to the place and also meets a girl who might be said jupiteresque being. My friend informs me that it's gorgeous, sounds amazing (so I'll make sure to get clips), and has "nice sad vibes"!!! And it’s…listed in a “provincial horror” listing… hoho

Heike Monogatari

A child who can see ghosts and the future walks tirelessly through the tragedy of the war between the Taira and Minamoto families before the dawn of the first shogunate. It's wildly beloved by a friend of mine, and also centers a historical event i know some but not all about and definitely need to know more about the Taira side of. Seems like a beautiful drama, one I could lose my heart over.

SSSS Gridman

Digital kaiju! Digital hero! Digital amnesia! A monster of the week show about an unknown amnesiac summoning and merging with Hyper Agent Gridman to fight digital, possibly virtual monsters while making friends(?) in the real world! It's the one thing Tsubaraya Productions has that isn't Ultraman, and I expect some tokusatsu vibes from it along with the mecha stuff, i've also heard it has gay girl megatron??

Akudama Drive

It's a prison break and crime story set in a tech dystopia, starring a scene girl shoplifter, and featuring a bevvy of unpersoned convicts in what seems like an excellent ensemble clusterfuck!!! The Danganronpa crew made this thing! It's also beloved by a friend of mine, and I've heard it'll be a generally excellent tragedy of a time

Canaan

A reporter gets saved from assassins by a woman she might do yuri with, and the summaries I’ve found seem to imply a plot about terrorism and mystery! It’s a Type-Moon work that isn't part of the fate, tsukihime, OR melty universes! It might still have magecraft, but it's tagged sci-fi too, and a type moon take on scifi sounds interesting... it’s also based on. *checks wikipedia* a…perfect-Famitsu-score visual novel for the Nintendo Wii. So I might need to dig out some old hardware to watch this thing. For fun’s sake!

Killing Bites

A guy unintentionally becomes the underground wrestling promoter of a ?werewolf? Woman who murders his friends and wins him a shitload of money. The end goal? According to the summary, control of the economy!!! This was recommended as garbage and good lord I need garbage so much good god I need to put some trash inside of me.

[lumalees]

I wanted to show off some of the creative work I’ve done this year (and also maybe practice posting on tumblr more), but I’m not a visual artist, so instead of an art summary, here’s a compilation of excerpts I like from the fics I’ve posted

this was done entirely on mobile so sorry for any weird formatting. this is a very vulnerable post in a lot of ways

ANYWAY. most of what I wrote this year was stuff for my insane “what if persona 5 was yuri” au. everyone should be just as obsessed with this au as I am. shuake being girls fixes just about everything wrong with p5 you gotta believe me

from here’s her house, all its doors are wounds. character study about the rocky transition from expecting to die to realizing you have to live

from a shell where the ocean is still standing. character study about girls who suspect they’re going to drown, featuring Ocean Symbolism (tm)

from phantom pains. fem!akira breaks into fem!akechi’s apartment and is sooo normal about it

from three nights at the ball. an exploration of the awkward not-really-a-friendship between sumire and fem!akechi

from walking towards tomorrow’s stars. extremely indulgent post-post-canon getting together (?) fic

from the generosity of cats and crows. a return to cringefail tsundere era fem!akechi, about trying to convince yourself you absolutely hate and definitely want to kill the girl you’ve been hanging out with a lot lately

then sam & max: the devil’s playhouse remastered came out and I went insane in a completely different and 1000x more embarrassing direction by taking a femshuake break so I could instead write about the funney cartoon animals

from the long and short goodbye. my pitch for a thrilling conspiracy theory about what alt max may have been getting up to before leaving his timeline

from the strings on me. a companion to the previous fic but with more puppets

from palmar grasp reflex. experimental piece about things that go unsaid when you primarily communicate via Banter. it felt weird and scary to lean so much on dialogue with simple tags, so if you want to praise this one specifically, please do so. especially the jokes, I worked so so hard on the jokes, please god tell me if any of them made you laugh (even if this specific excerpt isn’t funny)

finally, although I will Not be posting it here, I also started work on an original project I’m jokingly calling “yuri monogatari”. said project is perhaps best described as femshuake by way of sam and max, rendering the circle of stupidity that has been my creative output for the year complete

thank you remember to tip your servers love and kisses xxxx

[mangojournals]

i read sherbet above the sea of fog (up to the latest chapter) after you recommended it and i had to thank you! <3 it is so good 😭 if you have any more yuri recommendations (manga or manhwa) pls tell 🌸!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I can only remember these ones right now -

1. Double house

2. She loves to cook and she loves to eat

3. Still sick

4. Nevermore (webtoon)

5. Always human (webtoon)

6. The guy she was interested in wasn't a guy at all.

7. Dallae

8. Hana monogatari (only 3 chaps translated I think)

9. Sora and haena

10. Makoto no momoka(one shot)

11. Getting to know grace

Edit : I can't believe I didn't add her tale of shimcheong. Also love my life, indigo blue, runaway with me girl, black and white, handsome girl and sheltered girl, night and day.

[valhallakonbi]

who are your top 3 blorbos?

do you mean monogatari or in general? i'll do both.

in no order in particular because i'm not good at ranking things:

monogatari

suruga kanbaru (sucker for the genki tomboy archetype + tragic lesbian in more ways than one)

ougi oshino (blorbo in the truest sense imo)

rouka numachi (on the basis that i spend a disproportionate amount of time writing/drawing/thinking about her compared to her actual screentime LOL)

in general

ritsu kageyama (this guy is such a monogatari character it's not even funny.)

sayo yasuda (warning: lethal umineko spoilers, don't look it up)

my ocs that i've been drawing yaoi/yuri of for over a decade,

[megaboy335]

Anime and Manga of 2024 Review

It’s that time of the year again. Below is my overview of the anime I watched and the manga I read throughout 2024. There will be spoilers and remember it's just my opinion.

1. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End When I make these yearly lists I consider anything that ended within the year to be eligible so of course the top anime of the year is without a doubt Frieren. I’ve been following the manga since it began and I knew right away that it would be a massive hit someday. Frieren is about the passage of time with an Elf who realizes how short the human lifespan is. She comes to realize that despite always being with Himmel and his party for 10 years, she barely knew a single thing about them nor treasured the time together. So with a new party and a renewed goal of reaching Heaven for one last conversation with Himmel, she sets forth on a quest that is part making new memories while retracing old events. I thought the anime was the most perfect adaptation I’ve seen in a long time. They nailed the atmospheric slow pacing, they went all out on the action scenes, and the seiyuu cast brought out the best of the characters. I would even argue it’s an overall improvement on the manga. The manga is good, but the paneling isn’t the most exciting and the art can be plain looking. I can’t possibly recommend this anime enough. I’m eagerly looking forward to season 2.

2. Hibike Euphonium Season 3 A running theme in 2024 was new seasons for anime that I highly enjoyed from several years ago, the strongest of which was without a doubt Hibike Euphonium. The new season gave me a good reason to watch the recap movies and then the 2023 special to get myself back up to speed, and let me just say WOW. Hibike Euphonium is just as good as I remember, maybe even better since I’m older now and appreciate some of the finer storytelling techniques. Liz is also worth watching. I’ve been on Tumblr for so long that I have my thoughts on record about season 1 (poorly written) from back in the day. Season 3 is all about Kumiko’s 3rd year of high school. She’s now club president and must deal with all the responsibilities that come with managing the underclassman. However, her Eupho position comes under threat from the transfer student Mayu whose skills on the Eupho are just as good as Kumiko, if not downright better. This stirs up tension throughout the season which continues to build and build to the climax. Kumiko and Mayu are presented as foils to each other in a few aspects. Mayu is good at the Eupho while not seeing herself as someone overly committed to the club. Kumiko in contrast feels inferior to Mayu yet feels earning the coveted position on the Soli is a given her seniority status in the club. Everything comes to a head when Kumiko and Mayu have to compete against each other for a spot in the nationals performance. The club had to vote for which was best, and it came down to Reina’s tie breaker. Even though she couldn’t deny Kumiko's music from sound,  Mayu was obviously the better player. We then had a super emotional scene on Mt. Daikichiyama that mirrored season 1 (I visited this location earlier this year). Easily one of the best anime moments this year. So with this season, Kumiko’s story has come to a close. I couldn’t believe KyoAni actually changed the ending of this arc. In the novels it was Kumiko who won the competition. The change to Mayu was so seamless and honestly always felt like that’s where the story momentum was going. Also Shuuichi was more or less banished from the story so season 3 had plenty more Yuri baiting. Anyhow, KyoAni anime only comes out 1-2 times a year and everytime I’m quickly reminded why they are the best. I can’t wait for City and the Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid movie in 2025.

3. Monogatari Off & Monster Season Speaking of long awaited new seasons, this year also featured a new installment of the Monogatari series. This season covers 3 stories from Off Season and the first volume of Monster Season. Right away it was obvious that the direction style was changed to be a blend of the original Bake era and the style used in later installments. I can only describe it as a return to form of what made the anime so attractive in the first place. It's an approach that still perfectly compliments Nisio’s out of the box writing. The first major arc this season was a Nadeko retrospective story where she has to literally confront her past selves. It was the closure to her previous arcs that I didn’t realize I needed. From shy to outgoing to becoming a god, then reverting back to normal, Nadeko has been on a journey like no other. In Nadeko Draw she comes to accept every aspect of herself and how each moment played a role in bringing herself to where she is today. Ironically she’s become more in-tuned into the world of aberrations than ever before. The second major arc revolved around Shinobu and her backstory. We learned that her beauty brought death wherever she went until she encountered the vampire Deathtopia. It's a very Nisio concept to explore the interaction between someone who can kill all and someone who can’t die. It really put into perspective why she treasured Seishirou and Araragi so much later in life. This backstory was a prelude to Shinobu Mustard. A story about Araragi trying to figure out the vampire targeting Kanbaru’s basketball team. It was great seeing Araragi again after all these years. Between more Monogatari anime and Cipher Academy, I’ve been spoiled on experiencing more Nisio writing lately. The man is a non stop writing machine yet he still has the magic touch to make compelling stories.. Surely there will be another installment of Off Season and Monster Season since there’s still plenty more to cover.

4. Too Many Losing Heroines I am no stranger to the losing heroine archetype as someone with over 15 years of experience watching my heroines lose over and over. This Tumblr blog is themed around Kosaki Onodera, the losing heroine of Nisekoi. So when a series comes along that follows the pov of losing heroines from various archetypes then you know I’m in. Too Many Losing asks “What happens afterwards?” We follow Yanami Anna, the stereotypical blue hair losing heroine who took too long to confess and loses her standing to the new pink hair transfer student with large breasts. It’s a troupe as old as time which even Kosaki fell victim to. The story begins at what would be the climax of Yanami’s story.  She is pushing Sosuke, the male character of her story, to see the heroine one last time before she departs. It's the exact moment when so many losing heroines formally lose to the new heroine. We then meet Lemon (the athletic tomboy) and Chika (the shy bookworm type) along with the cast of characters for their respective stories. From here we basically get the aftermath to each one. Our losing heroines can’t simply let go of their feelings after seeing their guy hook with another girl. They all join the school’s literature club and take comfort in knowing each other. I’ll be the first to admit the writing could be stronger, but I think the series works with a solid base. Yanami is one of the funniest characters from this year. The author recently confirmed how they were inspired by Darling in the Franxx’s Ichigo who certainly had an attitude on her shoulders, just as Yanami. We can only imagine how the losing girls act when they’re off-screen and this series provides a glimpse into the characters. It’s written with earnest love for the genre. I’ve picked up the LNs so maybe I’ll have more thoughts to report in the future.

5. Girls Band Cry Lastly, we have a show that came out of nowhere. Girls Band Cry might initially turn off viewers for its CG, but I assure you Toei is the one studio you can trust to give a CG model the personality it needs. Just see all the Precure EDs, some of the movies, and DB Super Hero as recent examples. I too was foolishly dismissive at first as well, but I should have known better. This quickly became one of those shows that defined the odds and grew rapidly in popularity during the season it aired through word of month alone. Girls Band Cry is about Nina moving to the big city in hopes of changing her life. She wants to get away from her strict family and rediscover herself through the escapism of music. There she meets Momoka, Subaru, and a couple other band members to fill out the group. Nina is quite a bundle of rage who always seems ready to blow at any moment. She gets easily misunderstood by everyone around her. Nina is the type who often times believes she is always right to a stubborn degree. A major point of her character arc is getting Momoka to be less dismissive of her own music as Nina struggles to convey how much it changed her own life. They argue, they fight, and in the end they become closer. This better get another season. The Nari character designs are charming. I want to see the group make it big plus Rupa had no episodes for herself. There’s plenty of room for the band to grow and many more challenges to overcome. The CG allowed the series to stand out in a way that I think surprised a lot of people. Between this, Bocchi, and Girl Meets Rock on Jump+, there’s been a strong streak of girls playing bands lately. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best OP/EDs of the Year: 1. One Piece Opening 26 - Perfectly captures the energy going into Egghead and teases everything that will happen in this set of episodes. Also directed by Megumi Ishitani like the previous OP. 2. Tying the Tie with an Amagami Sister ED 1 - Sung by the main seiyuu with pretty visuals. Better than usual for a rom-com ED 3. Bleach TYBW Cour 3 ED - Rare case of ED being better than the OP. I love the stills of each character + there are 3 versions 4. Nadeko Draw OP - A visual adventures in Nadeko's imagination with Yotsugi is very cute. Felt like a continuation of her previous openings 5. Hibike Euphonium Season 3 OP - The Perfect kind of opening that got me in the mood for the episode each week. KyoAni visuals perfect as usual. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wonderful Precure: Precure is usually on my top 5 list, so what happened? Put simply, after 20 years its gone to the dogs. I know how some years of Precure are better than others and the 2024 series had especially big shoes to fill so I had to keep my expectations tampered. Initially I was not pleased with the animal theme or the lack of fighting and minimal plot. However I come out not completely disliking Wonderful Precure. In my All Stars F post I mentioned how one of Precure’s overarching themes is Bonds. This year we explored bonds between pets and their owners through Komugi/Iroha, Mayu/Yuki, and Satoru/Daifuku. On the opposite side we have the wolf Gaou-sama who completely detests humans after being betrayed and seeing his species nearly go extinct. Its got more depth than you might think from the start. The 2025 series will be idols so that’s already promising. While I wouldn’t list these in my top 5, this was a generally good year for Weekly Shonen Jump (and Jump+) anime adaptations. My Hero Academia came and went with another season. Same issue as usual but I’ll give them credit for improving the drawings. We got a shaft-like experience with Undead Unluck that made the anime stand out in ways I didn’t expect. Unfortunately there were pacing issues in the middle and the back half wavered compared to the start. There will be a 1 hour special in a year so we can only hope for another season after that. Dandadan from Science Saru came out swinging. It was always going to be impossible to adapt Yukinobu’s spread compositions to screen yet that made up for that with superb character animation and voice acting. Dandadan Episode 7 was one of the best this year. Bleach TYBW Cour 3 added several much needed scenes for Uryu. Each week I remember how much I enjoyed Bleach and how we didn’t appreciate Kubo while he was around. The Elusive Samurai is definitely one of the best looking Jump anime in a good while. I never would have expected that one to get such strong animation direction. Matsui was overdue to have one of his manga adapted with such style. It's only held back by there not being more right now.

Lastly, I wanted to mention the single best anime episode this year was One Piece Fan Letter, directed by Megumi Ishitani. She honestly might be too good for directing normal episodes at this point. The special was framed around the normal people within the world of One Piece. How do they see those with crazy powers? How is the shifting times affecting them? Do they engage in power scale conversations? It’s a side of the story focused on a point of view that we never experience. It was such a treat to revisit that turbulent time after Marineford within the world of One Piece. Toei please give Megumi Ishitani a full length movie to direct next. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manga Section: The Year of Long Runners Ending

As for manga this was a major transition year for Weekly Shonen Jump. My Hero Academia ended an impressive 10 year run in the magazine and Jujutsu Kaisen concluded just weeks later. As of the time of this writing Undead Unluck and Mission: Yozakura Family are looking to likely be ending in the first weeks of 2025. This will put Me & Roboco as the 2nd oldest series in the magazine and its only a 5 year old title.

Quick thoughts rundown of numerous long runners that concluded this year: 1) Edens Zero - Basically FT in space, could have ended better but I liked the adventures 2) Call of the Night - The kind of romance story you could only get from Kotoyama, loved the atmosphere 3) Twin Star Exorcist - Finally one of the long running Jump SQ series ends after 10 years. Didn’t hate it, but still long past its prime 4) Orient - Got better as it went along. Shame the objective switched to finishing the serialization after it went monthly 5) Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable - Hokkaido Gals are indeed adorable. Very heartfelt harem series with a lot of color pages to enhance key scenes.(Best girl was Sayurin) 6) Jujutsu Kaisen - The battles were 10/10, the plot was confusing nor reached its peak for me. 7) Oshi no Ko - Great journey and I think the ending is misunderstood. Ruby has surpassed Ai by being more relatable to her fans. Everyone knows her mom and brother are dead, so they find her performing with a smile to be endearing and inspiring. 8) My Hero Academia - I wrote a long piece on this ending Looking at the Jump graveyard, as always we lost a couple of series that I thought had promising potential. Mamayuyu’s Yoshihiko Hayashi is a mangaka to remember for the future. Their design work and page compositions are already far beyond the skills of a rookie. He only needs to make his writing easier to understand. Green Green Greeens from Kento Terasaka was surprisingly endearing despite some writing faults. It was about discovering how a new passion can completely change your life. Martial Master Asumi from Kawada was just too cultured for normal readers to understand with character writing that was perhaps too nuanced for a shonen audience. And finally my favorite series to die early, Cipher Academy from Nisioisin and Yuji Iwasaki. It was another instance of “Nisio still has it”. Weaving character development and world building through puzzle solving is the most Nisio thing ever. Solving the puzzles on your own as a reader wasn’t important, the hook was how the characters approached each one. However, that did sort of defeat the purpose of having puzzles in the first place.. Overall it lasted just over 1 year and finished the story fairly conclusively. Iwasaki’s art was crazy good and I hope they find themselves drawing on a major hit someday.

Bonus Section:  Catalog reading 1) Fire Force - I should have finished this sooner. It has very strong highs late in the series and tying it into Soul Eater is a fun touch 2) Bakemonogatari - Oh Great was maybe a bit overly ambitious in trying to bring all the Hanekawa arcs together, but they are still one of the best weekly artists around. Very much a unique take on the story that differs from the anime and original LNs 3) Tokyo Ghoul - Its alright and I got what Ishida was going for. I’m simply glad to check it off after all these years. 4) MHA: Vigilantes - This is definitely one of the best spin-off series I’ve read to a popular main story. It holds up surprisingly well on its own while expanding the MHA world in substantive ways. The upcoming anime will be a must watch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Looking to 2025: The future's looking good for Weekly Shonen Jump. Kagurabachi has risen to become a new flagship title for the magazine. Osamu Nishi and Shiro Uzasaki have teamed up for Ichi the Witch. A manga about the first male witch in a world where only females are supposed to have magic. Ichi overcomes challenges in absurd ways and Uzasaki’s art has already reached new highs within these first several chapters. I’m excited to see how the story unfolds. Tokyo Revenger’s Ken Wakui also showed up in Jump and his series is pretty decent. Astro Royale a yakuza story about unifying the gang after an apocalyptic event. Himaten looks to be holding its own. I hope the characters can become deeper overtime. Nue’s Exorcist is a series that still exists. Kill Blue is an underrated title in the magazine that has grown on me a lot. I will be hoping that Tsutsui Tashi’s Syd Craft: Love Is a Mystery can defy the odds and survive. Weekly Shonen Jump also has plenty of anime to pump out throughout the upcoming year. I hope the Witch Watch anime gets the series more traction. I’m weary of Sakamoto Days from the trailer so far, so we’ll see. Akane Banashi is on deck for an anime announcement next. Please Please Please be in good hands. Jump+ is doing fine by coasting along with anime based on the hits from the last several years. Kindergarten Wars will likely join the ranks by the end of 2025. Girl Meets Rock is doing well, but I think in the grand scheme they’re in a hit lull right now from the new titles. Cheers to another year in the books!!

[houkagokappa]

I went to Desucon Frostbite this weekend :3

The head organizer commented that it was their 10th year attending Desucon events, and that's actually true for me too, Desucon Frostbite 2014 was one of the first cons I ever attended (never forget and please let me forget).

I always attend the opening and closing ceremonies. This year they did a small performance spoofing Death Note and sentai stuff, which was well made as usual and I'm always impressed by, considering the performers are volunteers and not professionals.

This year's guest of honor was composer and musician Yasuharu Takanashi. He held a concert on Friday night together with Finnish metal musicians I feel some amount of national shame not knowing, because they seemed like fairly big names. I'm not big on metal music, but it's always nice listening to live music, and it was fun to get something to do on Friday night, since most con activities don't start until Saturday. I also attended Takanashi's panel on Saturday, and although I wasn't familiar with the music he composed to Naruto or Fairy Tale, he was an entertaining guest (comes with the profession, some writers/directors they've had in the past have been a little awkward). Me and my friend spent the entire time hungering for a Show By Rock!! mention, as he had apparently worked on that as well, but alas it wasn't brought up and we didn't dare ask him about it during audience questions.

As for other programs, I attended a lecture on character and clothing design in Suisei no Majo, which was really nice and informative. I haven't read any staff interviews on it, so I didn't know anything about the designing process or the people behind it and it was fun to learn about it. I also went to a lecture on analysing yuri, which was disappointing, since it contained little to no actual analyzing on what makes yuri "yuri". They made a lot of jokes about the famous Iori Miyazawa "Yuri Made Me Human" interview and I would've loved to hear their takes on the whole "yuri of absence" concept, how much truth or weight we should put on it, why the yuri classification matters, or if it even matters, considering the freedom and joy of your own interpretations vs. the importance of representation and author intent, or how expectations and readings differs in the West compared to Japan, etc.. Their lecture was on the shorter side and went over some common misconceptions over terminology and reader demographics, which I guess was nice, although I feel like (or at least hope) most people in the room would already be aware of those. Overall I think the lecture description might've been at fault here, because it gave me the impression there would be more actual discussion and analysis on these topics/I misinterpreted what the lecture would be about. At least people seemed to enjoy the jokes.

Then, me and my friend always attend the AMV contest, and this year I left the contest happy, because for once all of my favourite AMV's got honorable mentions or won some of the prizes! The audience favourite award usually goes to some humor video I don't care for, but this year it went to a PMMM video I actually really, really liked!! My other favourites were the PMMM/SKU mashup which worked surprisingly well, and another SKU one. Same series, but very different AMV's lol.

Another tradition I have is to drink the official Desu Drinks, although I should stop because they're small, expensive and not that interesting anymore (Kill la Kill takaisin!!!!). This year I drank "Beck", which contained Finlandia, ginger ale and a slice of lime. It was good, but not "10,50€ good". For Saturday's dinner we went to one of the Indian restaurants that was still operating in Lahti (restaurants DO NOT stay open there). The food was pretty basic, but good, as expected from a place like this.

I brought my Monogatari itabag with me, because I wanted to celebrate the recent Off Season and Monster Season announcements (plus it's fun to use my itabags, and it's quite practical to have a big bag with me even if it weighs a ton lmao). As for merch, I bought Farwell to my Alter by Nio Nakatani at the con flea market for very cheap, and then I FINALLY got my hands on the first volume of March Comes in Like a Lion. I've been wanting to get it from my local shop, but they've never had it when I've been there to look for it. I'm suuuuuper happy to have it in my hands!!!! Then I bought one roll of washi tape from the artist alley with adorable long-tailed tits and plum blossoms. I suppose it's good I didn't spend that much money this con, although there was more manga that tempted me (why must River's Edge be 20€ ugh, maybe next time).

I was also happy to briefly see and chat with some of my kimono friends, and then I finally met up with @akroglam who I've been mutuals with for ...7 years? That was a lot of fun, although I felt like a stalker for all the "I saw that on your twitter/tumblr" comments I made :P

And here you have it, my diary entry for the Desucon Frostbite weekend. Thanks for taking the time to read it :)

[traumaturgic-arts]

Katsuragi

"'Return your thoughts to yesterday,' or 'Cherish the remains of today.' Nothing more." This is my Limbus OC, based on the primordial Japanese yuri story collection Hana Monogatari, and in particular, Yellow Rose within that collection. I think I was able to emulate the game's style decently enough. :) If you're interested, I'll put more info below. Gotta let the brain juices flow somewhere, after all, and why not here?

Particulars: Resentful, regretful, hallucinatory Base E.G.O.: Bouquet of Two Dandelions

Weaponry: - たんぽぽ [Dandelion], an unremarkable sword by most metrics. It's well kept, but worn nonetheless. - 菊花 [Chrysanthemum], a horticultural weapon once wielded by Katsuragi's Office-mate. It's alive, and requires constant care to remain potent. Katsuragi takes better care of this blade than herself, most often, tending to it like a child. It's to the extent that she refuses to even wield the blade in combat, as if afraid that it would shrivel up when fed with blood. Physical Traits: - Katsuragi has dandelions growing from her throat, the roots seeping through flesh and leaving disconcerting marks. It's as if she herself is concrete, the flowers taking bloom where they certainly should not. They began to grow shortly before she became a Sinner; they confer pain and suffocation, but never enough to grant death. - Katsuragi is unable to cease crying. It no longer serves as a means to indicate sadness, but instead is an unbearable, constant reality. The tears water the dandelions around her throat, too, constantly making them continue to grow and giving the appearance of morning dew upon their petals.

Interaction: - Katsuragi, to women, is generally amicable. The Sinner will put on forced smiles, as if faintly attempting to appear a normal citizen of the City. It's simple to see through this, though, and even a fool can tell by the way this woman speaks to the air itself that she is not speaking to them, but an imagined individual. Still, she'll end up answering any questions given to her, and will generally complete any tasks without much complaint. They're distractions from her endless reminders, so why shouldn't she? - To men, however, Katsuragi holds a severe grudge. In most cases, she will merely remain silent, leaving the vicinity and parting with glares. If that is not an option, it is likely for her to speak in venomous terms. Any interaction is minimized by her, and it is clear to others who speak after such incidents that her mood drops considerably upon near every instance of interaction. - Katsuragi can mainly be found engaging in acts of gardening, writing, and sword sharpening. Her passion is in explaining the positives of flowers, yet she seems to willfully avoid mentioning the commonly discussed 'flower meanings'. If that philosophical idea is brought up, she will swiftly redirect the conversation. - Katsuragi's poetry is appropriately flowery, but frequently very sour in tone when one reads below surface level.

Additional Notes: - Katsuragi was formerly a member of the mildly prolific Radiant Flower Office. The Office remains active. - She is literally made based on a primordial yuri influence, of course she's gay. - At some times in the night, others may hear her speaking to herself, laughing and sobbing intermittently. Nobody knows when she sleeps, as the noises persist until the morning comes. - Her former home was within the Nest of V. Corp. I headcanon Valence Corp as a place where union, in every sense, is the most important aspect of life. Its Singularity is not particularly important to Katsuragi, but I made it a small ring that allows one to eliminate the concept of distance in a straight line. The Nest's streets are tailored for using it, with long stretches of open road devoid of cars. - The only consequence of the Singularity in terms of Katsuragi is that she seems unable to comprehend distance on a conceptual level. If you tell her what a kilometer is, she'll simply be confused. Thanks for reading to the end. Have a chibi Katsuragi, and have a nice day. :)

[lmskitty]

Hello, this is just ask for fun...

Favorite female character :

Favorite male character :

Favorite animanga :

Animanga you are currently enjoying :

Animanga that exceeded all your expectations :

Unpopular animanga you really love :

Favorite romance :

Favorite action animanga :

Favorite fantasy :

Favorite sci -fi :

Favorite drama :

Favorite comedy :

Favorite anime movie :

Next in your watch list :

Next in your read list :

Favorite antagonist:

Thanks if you want to answer, Lex....

I've tried to stick just with animanga for this! Thank you for the ask my love!

Fave female character: MaoMao from Apothecary Diaries

Fave male character: Gojo!!

Favourite animanga: this is so hard!!! I'm gonna pick Jujutsu Kaisen cause it's my current obsession

Animanga you are currently enjoying: Delicious in dungeon!!!

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter for manga!

Animanga that exceeded all your expectations: Ore Monogatari (ITS SO GOOD)

Unpopular animanga I love: Dai Dark. I wish more people knew it it's so good

Favourite romance: Yuri on Ice

Favourite action animanga: one punch man!!!

Favourite fantasy: super enjoying Fluffy Paradise at the moment!

Favourite sci-fi: Space Dandy

Favourite drama: Beck

Favourite comedy: Azu manga diaoh

Favourite anime movie: Jujutsu kaisen 0

Next in your watch list: Bungou stray dogs

Next in your read list: PTSD radio

Favourite antagonist: Garou from one punch man!

[medea10]

My Review of My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999

Humor me. Who else thought this was going to be a sequel to Ore Monogatari (My Love Story) where Takeo and Yamada go all the way? I can’t be the only one with that sick thought. Okay completely unrelated anime, let’s see what you got.

Akane Kinoshita is out with her boyfriend Takuma…and she gets dumped. Yep, not even 30 seconds into the first episode and she gets dumped. He’s leaving Akane for a girl he met in an online game that he and Akane were playing together. After the breakup, Akane went on the game she got into because of her ex and went on a killing-spree of monsters. Just then, she meets another player named Yamada who looks like Saitama if he had a weird afro on. It takes him two minutes just for a simple reply. Akane gets annoyed and basically tells him off. After some time from the breakup, Akane decides to go to this on-site event for the game she was playing. Never mind getting freebies for the game, she’s going merely for the fact her ex might be there and wants to flaunt the goods to make him regret leaving her.

Things did not go according to plan. Akane trips and falls down on her way to stalk her ex. The person she bumped into is a handsome young man of few words. Akane realized that this mysterious boy is that Yamada she met in her game prior to this event. Well, Akane is face-to-face with her ex. What does she do? Lies and says Yamada is her boyfriend and even bribes him to keep up the farce. Yamada is quite aloof and can be blunt with the things he says…if he says anything. But what Akane doesn’t know is that Yamada is a pro-gamer.

While the boyfriend lie is merely for whenever Akane’s ex is around, Akane has a nice friendship with not only Yamada, but his inner circle as well.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Even though this was a Crunchyroll exclusive (in association with Aniplex of America), this didn’t see a dub until a good six months after the series had started. Normally, I’d be concerned. But this did happen during the actor’s strike, so I’ll think no more on the matter. And that’s all I’ve got here. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Akane is played by Inori Minase (known for Rem on Re:Zero, Prushka on Made in Abyss, Makinohara on Bunny Girl Senpai, Ruruka on Danganronpa 3, and Hidomi on FLCL: Progressive)

*Yamada is played by Kouki Uchiyama (known for Soul on Soul Eater, Yurio on Yuri on Ice, Rui on Demon Slayer, Shigaraki on My Hero Academia, Ikuya on Free!, Ichijou on Nisekoi, and Yuuki on Shiki)

ENGLISH CAST: *Akane is played by Abby Trott (known for Nezuko on Demon Slayer, Shizuka on Zom 100, Machi on Hunter x Hunter, Veronica on Seven Deadly Sins, Inui on Aggretsuko, and Fou on Fate/Grand Order)

*Yamada is played by Stephen Fu (known for Weather Report on Jojo’s Pt. 6, Naofumi on Shield Hero [season 2+], Douma on Demon Slayer, Henry on Black Clover, Kaname on Darwin’s Game, and Pax on Mushoku Tensei)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: No, it’s not Runa. As much as I love to dunk on those little girls who latch onto the hot character and glare at the obvious main attraction, I actually hate jerky ex-boyfriends who quickly dump their girlfriends over trivial shit more. Yeah, Akane’s ex can kick rocks for all I care. While we only see him two times in the whole show, his breakup with Akane really messed her up.

SHIPPING: Yamada is oblivious when it comes to females. He didn’t even know a girl was confessing to him in the second episode. There’s no way in hell he’s going to fall for Akane. Never mind, dragging her drunk ass to his home in the first episode. As it turns out, Akane and Yamada had quite the cute friendship for the greater majority of this season. And as the series progressed, several of their friends were all for them getting together (even if the two characters aren’t going to do so). But we have to remember that Yamada is going to do what Yamada does. He can be blunt and slow to respond. Yet he somehow acts differently when it comes to Akane. The blunt and slow responses are still there, but he almost acts on a weird impulse at times with her.

Elsewhere, Yamada is quite the favorite around school and elsewhere. There are so many girls at his school that think he’s cute. And then there’s Runa! A lot of insecurities to unpack with this little one. But the fact that she at first wanted to keep Yamada all to herself and push Akane on some rando guy really speaks volumes. That action of Runa’s almost landed her on my dislike category. But I left her off because I grew to like her throughout the rest of the series. She even became a Akane x Yamada shipper. I thought it was adorable when she tried to have Akane bump into Yamada while eating a piece of toast.

But what about Yamada’s silent classmate, Yukari? And what of the girl from Yamada’s past that liked him? The girl from Yamada’s past is someone we’ll never see again. Yukari on the other hand…well, that’s a topic for the ending.

ENDING: Does Akane like Yamada for real? That’s a pretty big question for her as she kinda sees him in a new light after Yamada took care of her when she was sick. There is one big thing that seems to be holding her down and that’s the way things were left off between Akane and her ex. As most people do when they’re dumped, they go through a myriad of thoughts to narrow down what they did wrong. However, she still wants to tell Yamada how she feels. It’s just that the timing never seemed right with the two of them.

Meanwhile, let’s move onto Yamada’s silent classmate, Yukari. We see her a few episodes towards the end of the season. She’s on speaking terms with Yamada in class. And she recently joined the FOS guild that Akane, Eita, and Yamada are in. Her reasons for joining the video game guild were to of course get closer to Yamada. And in the second to last episode, Yukari let it slip out to Yamada that she likes him. Oooooh, right before Akane got the chance to. I sure hope the hint Eita dropped about Yamada about to get confessed to will make a dent. I think it did!

Yamada meets up with Yukari after the confession. Yukari spills everything out and admits how long she’s liked him and every reason in the world she likes him. And Yamada still rejects her! It wasn’t like those airhead replies he gave to the other girls that used to confess to him. This was genuine as he even says that there’s another. Yukari knows it’s Akane and he confirms. Called it!

The guild met up for a dinner with special food and drinks. Eita thought it’d be perfect for Akane and Yamada to have some alone time during the dinner. Things didn’t go according to plan. Yamada was late to arrive. And by the time he showed up, Akane was drunk. Déjà vu from the first episode. Yamada drags her to her home and that’s when Akane asks if he likes her. Yamada says yes. And to make sure that this is real, he promises to remind her when she sobers up that this is true.

Yamada x Akane is official!

This was a cute story despite how things started. It’s not like we haven’t seen similar things happen in other animes. Akane wasn’t even trying to become Yamada’s girlfriend after that time in front of her ex. It was just a sweet friendship that eventually blossomed into a relationship in the end. I always respect a story like that. One has to wonder if the anime will continue with a second season or if it will stay as is with the happy ending given in the 12th episode. By the looks of things, the manga is still on-going with at least 100+ chapters at the moment. I honestly think that the anime will stay with just this season. Well, if you’re looking for a cute slice of life, romcom, maybe check this out. It’s a short series.

Crunchyroll has every episode for streaming.

[boymagicalgirl]

1, 4, and 17 for the ask game!

Thank youuu

Top 5 reads of 2023

ok my memory of when I read stuff is shit so if some of this is from late 2022, oopsies.

-Glass no Kamen (1976) Amazing art, gripping plot, questionable age gap romance but I can overlook it for a homoerotic rivalry between Maya and Ayumi

-Kanata Kara AKA From Far Away (1991) A riveting shoujo isekai with a level-headed and calm protagonist. I liked how Noriko actually had to learn the language and how the language barrier impacted her in the first bits of the story. I also liked the slow bond developing between her and Izark

-Kakeochi Girl (2018) peak fiction. I wished Tazune was more fleshed out cause it felt like he was more there to push things along but I liked the nuances of rekindling a romance with your unhappily married ex-gf from high school and how messy and beautiful that can be.

-California Monogatari (1978) do you like Banana fish and Akimi Yoshida's work? read this. Now. The tragedy and realism pulled at my heart strings ngl but it was still amazing. The characters felt so human and real and I couldn't stop reading.

-A-A' (1981) I wasn't expecting to like this so much but these short stories were all so compelling and it really shows Moto Hagio's prowess at writing sci-fi.

4. An Underrated Gem

Man that's hard. I'd argue Wedding Peach. Because of the timing of the anime and the designs for it being changed to be more like Sailor Moon, it was often handwaved away as a Sailor Moon rip-off. However, the art is very charming and the battles are really cool to read while still being easy to follow. The plot isn't super deep or anything but you wanna keep reading and see what happens to Momoko and her friends and I like the outfit designs in the manga more than the anime.

17. A Manga you didn't expect to like.

A lot of older yuri pleasantly surprised me. Some older shoujo, especially short one volume stories, don't really have time to develop their characters so things kind of fell flat for me. However, Moonlight Flowers and Maya no Souretsu didn't do that. Moonlight Flowers was similar to Kakeochi Girl but decades before and the art was breathtaking. I like the focus on adult women. And Maya no Souretsu, while melodramatic and sadly ending hetero, was still intriguing mystery and horror and I wished Maya and Reina well.

[fzzr]

What I'm Watching, Fall 2023 Anime Season

New Stuff:

16bit Sensation: Another Layer - I hate making galge in the current industry, so I got sent back in time to the 90s to make galge then. Wacky concept, let's see where they go with this.

Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta (My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer) - An overpowered fantasy character series, but this time it's heartwarming fun.

Boushoku no Berserk (Berserk of Gluttony) - If Eminence wasn't getting its second season right now, this would be my pick for edgy trash of the season. As it is, I'll enjoy some bottom of the barrel sludge with an overpowered edgy MC and no subtlety.

Bullbuster - Provisionally watchable. You take what you can get with mecha sometimes. This one is about fighting ugly cg giant beasts but also deployment was delayed until liability coverage was confirmed, and further by the broken printer.

Hametsu no Oukoku (The Kingdoms of Ruin) - I'm concerned this will turn into a lot of indulging in violence against women as shock material, but continuing with it for now since the setting raises some potentially interesting questions.

Hoshikuzu Telepath (Stardust Telepath) - Cute girls doing (psychic) friendship things? It's probably nothing, but I'll give it a try.

Kimi no Koto ga Daidaidaidaidaisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo (The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You) - Now this is garbage! After a double meet cute comes a double confession and double acceptance of same. A shenanigans-type romcom where a poly harem end is supernaturally enforced, and I am here for it.

Konyaku Haki sareta Reijou wo Hirotta Ore ga, Ikenai Koto wo Oshiekomu (I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness) - Not that kind of naughtiness! No ecchi tag! Kinda looking like a nothing show, but I'll give it some more time.

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries) - This one is starting late, so actually a placeholder for if I get to it later.

Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su (Shangri-La Frontier: Crappy Game Hunter Challenges God-Tier Game) - Another full-dive MMO game, but this time it's about a dude who is just having fun being a minmaxer and speedrunner. No angst, just a side of very light romance. Imagine a show about games also being about having fun!

Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) - This one got started fast, so I'm already several episodes deep. Tagged in advance as the likely show of the season, it's a slow and thoughtful show about a near-eternal elf mage learning to understand the fleeting humans in her life. Very much a "vibes" show.

Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantoudai kara Hajimaru, Hime no Tensei Gyakuten Story (Tearmoon Empire) - We Have Marie Antoinette At Home gets to re-do her life after getting the guillotine. I'll go with it for now, why not.

Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki (A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life) - Did this trick me into watching a cooking show? Maybe. It's fine I guess.

Undead Unluck - This is excellent. So much fun. David Production was the right studio for an anime where a character climbs buildings by severing his own limbs and use the force of them growing back for propulsion.

Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou. (I'm in Love with the Villainess) - Yuri Villainess? Sure I'll take it. Looks fun.

Sequels

Dead Mount Death Play Part 2 - More of the excellent edgy reverse isekai from earlier this year.

Dr. Stone: New World Part 2 - New World part one shaped up in the second half, so here's hoping they keep that momentum.

Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! 2nd Season (The Eminence in Shadow Season 2) - Yessss. Eminence was the highlight of the excellent Fall 2022 season and I am super ready for more.

Spy x Family Season 2 - Oh boy, time for more Anya antics!

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Season 3 - More horse girls? Don't mind if I do!

Ongoing

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (2023) - It's Rurouni Kenshin again. Actually nevermind, I'm just not going to continue with this.

Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto (Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead) - This one is mostly done, just keeping track since it ran over a season.

Hall of shame (Shows I dropped after just one episode):

Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijou (The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch) - Meme about weird that it happened twice for adopting a daughter you found in the woods. This one is about a 200 year old loli and her 16 year old daughter with giant anime tiddy. Pass.

Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki no Monmon (The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess) - Dog Days meets Liar Liar? I liked those things, but together, nah.

Bokura no Ameiro Protocol (Protocol: Rain) - Didn't even get through the first episode of this one. Painfully ugly and awkward. If you're going to make a show about a fake esport, make the fake game look good and make the players not play it like shit.

Keikenzumi na Kimi to, Keiken Zero na Ore ga, Otsukiai suru Hanashi. (Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me) - Again dropped halfway through the first episode. Just such a drag. Not worth it for the trash.

[shaddy-bee]

i like ur blog a lot, do you have any favorite manga or anime?

Oughhh,,, So like, picking favorites is HARD. And I've been watching anime and such for like.... a long ass time so there's a lot that are just not coming to mind rn (stillr egret not keeping a list with MAL, anyway) For manga, a lot of the ones ive read recently are like, cute yuri stuff, which are fun ofc (waiting for more Dark Knight with claws in my knees), but it's hard to rememeber my favorite ones rn,,,, I love Houseki no Kuni lots for tons of reasons tho. A lot of the written stuff I read these days falls under like, web novels more than anime tbh and all,,,, For anime uhhh. I'll just start listing ones I really really enjoyed. Steins;Gate Soul Eater Psycho-Pass Apothecary Diaries Hunter x Hunter (need to read this manga frfr) Chaika Coffin Princess Blue Eye Samurai Cowboy Bebop Mob Psycho 100 Frieren Watamote,,,, Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions (aaaaaaaaaaaaaa) Mushishi The Whole Monogatari Series (Kaiki Deishuu my beloved) Violet Evergarden Vivy Zankyou no Terror (Dare ka, umi wo n-) WAIT WAIT NO Kurau Phantom Memory Kurau wins. Sorry not sorry.

[joyce-stick]

how do you think different characters except Araragi and Hanekawa would wind up interacting with Hachikuji if they got lost and bumped into her?

Okay look can you not give me questions that amount to "could you write a fanfiction for me please." I don't feel like writing your fanfiction for you. This isn't a Monogatari fandom askblog.

I don't know. It didn't happen. Nisio sure likes writing the more Monogatari he said he wouldn't write, so maybe one day it will happen. If I have any idea worth sharing, I'll just post it myself unprompted, or maybe you'll find it on AO3 one day. Please find someone else to ask. Or ask me something else. Ask me some shit post meme question about how hot trans women are when they shoplift. Ask me about Bang Dream yuri doujinshi. Ask me my opinion of a movie or a game or something maybe. I'm good at opinions. Or write a story of your own. Idk.

[asphodelical]

The Great Anime Rewatch of 2024 - Part III

Nekomonogatari: Black

First watched: January 2013, original airdate Rewatched: January 2024

Original rating: 8 New rating: 4

I was only a few days off of watching this precisely eleven years later. Monogatari has always been a series whose strengths and weaknesses are on full display, and committing to both. For Nekomonogatari, its few episodes are filled with frivolous nonsense that feels like a waste of time: the little sister pandering, and the conversations that go in circles or last too long. And considering how Nekomonogatari was supposed to focus on Hanekawa, she’s not really in it much. Hanekawa has never been my favorite character in the series, and this didn’t help endear me to her at all. Also I’m just tired of seeing teenage anime girls being so sexualized. Finally, I had to dock points for Hanekawa idiotically stating, “People who aren’t blood related can't truly love each other.”

__________________________________

Owarimonogatari

First watched: December 2015, original airdate Rewatched: January 2024

Original rating: 5 New rating: 4

I guess even my teenage self was growing weary of the Monogatari series by this point, even if I didn’t have the knowledge or vocabulary to explain why. Now I can say that its cast is growing too big and I don’t care about any of the new additions. I did not remember Sodachi and Gaen’s existences, and I still think Shinobu is overrated. I know people adore badass, buxom female characters that are trapped in a younger/more innocent form (Nel from Bleach and Moka from Rosario+Vampire immediately come to mind), but it’s never been a trope that I’ve cared for. 

I was originally going to watch Tsukimonogatari, too. But considering how far my goodwill for the series has plummeted, I’m going to end it here. As far as the Monogatari series goes, I will stick to the first two seasons. They are all I need. But it will be a long time until I go anywhere near this franchise again.

__________________________________

Aoi Hana

First watched: May 2011  Rewatched: January 2024

Original rating: 7 New rating: 5

Aoi Hana was one of the few yuri anime that wasn’t exploitative, fetishy, or queerbait. Since the author of Aoi Hana is the same woman who created the whole transgender story of Wandering Son, it makes perfect sense.

As much as I want to like Aoi Hana, I just don’t find its characters memorable. (The same goes for Wandering Son.) It’s also really slow. I think it would’ve been better as a condensed film adaptation. I only lasted six episodes. However, I am interested in reading the author’s other works. 

__________________________________

Black Lagoon & The Second Barrage

First watched: June 2011, August 2011 Rewatched: January 2024

Original rating: 8, 8 New rating: 5, 5

With the utter failure of my rewatch of the bloodbath that is Future Diary, will Black Lagoon fare any better?

I watched the dub because most of the English cast are all Canadian, and Canada churns out some of the best voice actors. More Canadians in anime dubbing, please?

First season - I wasn’t feeling it until episode nine when Roberta entered the story. (The whole submarine-painting escapade was the low point for me.) The comic timing as the Lagoon calmly hides under a table during a bar shoot out was so good. I also found myself enjoying a lot of the music, particularly whenever it sounded Mediterranean. Rock is way more boring than I remember (fuckin’ morality pet), Revy is more static than I remember, and Benny….exists. Dutch is cool, though. With the exception of the CG for some of the vehicles, most of the animation has also held up. The first season was just alright to me, but the English cast and localization did a lot of heavy lifting. (Docking points for having a white lady doing a bad Asian accent for Shenhua.)

Second season - So. The twins. Still the highlight. And I called it quits five episodes in. I’ve had my fill. This is not the kind of show that’s good to marathon for me—it’s better suited to a weekly popcorn flick that you forget about almost immediately after. But I’m not doing that. Again, massive credit to the the English cast and localization team for a damn good job. 

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Spice & Wolf

First watched: July 2011 Rewatched: January 2024

Original rating: 5 New rating: 4

‘Animeconomics’ and Holo defined Spice & Wolf. I only recall being bored (I was only seventeen when I first watched it), and thinking Fukuyama Jun was woefully miscast as the main guy. I still feel that way, so I dared to watch this in English. Maybe listening to Holo’s economic lessons in English will help my enjoyment?

I feel like so many female voice actresses fall back upon the acting choice of high and mighty/snobbish/know it all route, and then use it for every fucking line. (Colleen Clinkenbeard, Marisha Rey, Brina Palencia.) No, it doesn’t make me like you or the character. It’s annoying, and much more intolerable in my native language than hearing it in Japanese. And Lawrence has the personality of a wet log. 

However, Spice & Wolf is most interesting when Holo and Lawrence are using their knowledge and wits in the harsh landscape of merchants and peddlers. The bits where they’re being chased and attacked? Get that shit out of there. In a story like Spice & Wolf, you know everything is going to resolve itself quickly. There’s more tension in making bad deals or getting swindled. I’d almost be better off listening to the education bits audio only, since the visuals are woefully uninteresting. I lasted six episodes and furries still make me uncomfy.

[class-shoujo]

“Applause” (1992(?)) by Kyouko Ariyoshi

Status: Finished, Volumes: 1, Chapters: 3(?)

Synopsis: 

“Bruges”: Secrets of a 15 year old missing persons case come to light when a group of girls decide to engage in a mystery solving role playing game based on said case.  

“A San Francisco Story” / “San Francisco Monogatari”: Yuuko goes to a pride parade in San Francisco for the first time while her friend takes care of her sick girlfriend. 

Review: I can confidently say that the two short stories contained within “Applause” are not only the most heartbreaking and moving manga I have reviewed on this blog so far, but that they are now among my favorite comics and media as a whole. Period. End statement. “Bruges” deals directly with the history and associated anguish of same gender love captured in early Yuri Tragedies, as well as the anguish many real same gender attracted people have experienced, whereas “A San Francisco Story” acts as a more confrontational look at Class S and girls culture homosocial relationships and how it impacts an adult who grew up with that. In both cases “Bruges” and “A San Francisco Story” act as both a loving homage to the micro genres they are made in response to while also upheaving and healing the baggage associated with those tropes in a grounded yet bold and brave way. The relationships and emotions in both stories are complicated and multi-faceted, yet fully contained in the context of these Yuri shorts. I was and still am quite shocked at how full, rounded, complete, and moving both “Bruges” and “A San Francisco Story” come across for essentially both being one shots, and despite the fact that I am craving more by the mangaka Kyouko Ariyoshi, I feel completely comfortable leaving both stories where they concluded. “Applause” exists beyond the confines of the ‘wholesome’ vs. ‘unsafe’ yuri debate and rather than ignoring the dangers and trauma of same gender attracted women it actively tackles these topics and recreates pure beauty. If you have love in your heart read “Applause”. If you’d like to have love in your heart read “Applause”. If you have given up on love read “Applause” anyways, maybe it will give you hope.

Additional Points: 

+ Point for well weaved A and B plots.

+ Point for strong character designs.

+ Point for meta commentary on the yuri genre in a constructive manner.

+ Point for making me cry.

+ Point for detailed and nuanced discussion of gender and gender presentation.

- Point for a confusing ending to “A San Francisco Story”. (I believe this is a translation issue).

- Point for other entries in this series being about impossible to track down.

Rating: 10 / 10 (Masterpiece)