Ohayotaku

Just finished JJK S2 Ep5, which means it is now on hiatus for almost a month. Was not aware of this & kind of a bummer. But also kinda makes sense since these 5 eps were a prequel to the movie (JJK 0), which was a prequel to season 1. So when the series resumes, we should finally catch up with Yuuji, Nobara & Megumi (was glad they at least made a brief cameo in the post credit scene this week).

One of the better new shows this year IMO, though I currently have it on hold after the 1st cour while I check out some other things. Honestly thinking of setting Helck aside unless the next ep changes my mind. It’s sense of humor isn’t working for me most of the time (kinda like Mashle from last season). And even though a more serious side of things is implied, I’m starting to lose patience. Likewise, not sure if I’ll stick with Dark Gathering. Of the new series this season Zom 100, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero & Undead Murder Farce are probably the ones I enjoying most, though there are several others I haven’t sampled yet (taking things a bit slower on seasonals than I had recently)

The second half of season 1 introduces some shonen elements that point to a bigger picture, but the sense of humor & cartoonish elements remain central throughout the 3 seasons currently adapted. While I can see this turning off a lot of viewers, I personally find it refreshing & enjoy the series a lot as being unique. Unfortunately there’s no word on a season 4 even though season 3 ended several months ago.

Rewatched Jujutsu Kaisen 0 . Having just finished Satoru & Suguru’s backstory in season 2 really made it more impactfulI. I still prefer Yuuji over Yuuta as a protag though.

For me “favorite” “bimbo” is an oxymoron. By my definition just being scatterbrained, naive or dense doesn’t qualify. A bimbo’s stupidity & behavior has to be to such a degree that it makes them unlikeable for me. Prime Examples: Hakufu Sonsaku from Ikki Tousen Power from Chainsaw Man There are a couple characters I actually do like that I could see some people labeling as bimbos (though I tend to think of them as genki baka ) Ami Tsuruga from The Cafe Terrace & it’s Goddesses (as a character I find her antics funny/entertaining, but as a person IRL she’d be annoying as hell ) Hana Yurikawa from Mieruko-chan And then there’s Carol Olston from Tomo-chan is a Girl who actually isn’t as clueless as she acts outwardly Ah yes, a HIMbo ^ That’s Helck, btw (though it’s heavily implied he has a hidden agenda)

Nancy Makuhari (Miss Deep) from R.O.D. The girls from Princess Principal Reiner Braun from Attack on Titan Amarao from FLCL

Finished Steamboy & have mixed reactions to it. Visually & animation wise it’s a masterpiece. Really amazing that the movie is almost 20 years old, but also really sad that so much of the CGI in anime today is still awful. The writing & characterizations however are largely a mess. It’s clearly a tribute to the steampunk genre. Likewise it wants to give a positive view of the potential & sense of wonder of scientific advancement while also being critical & satirical about society’s weaponization & commercialization of technology. Unfortunately it felt incoherent far too often. And while the ending montage clearly was supposed to offer a glimpse of the characters’ futures, I honestly didn’t understand most of it.

Was a bit disappointed in Another’s ending as things really went of the rails in the last couple episodes. The biggest criticism though is it didn’t develop the characters enough to have the emotional impact that was needed. The next requirement for the viewing challenge I’m participating in is for an anime series/movie from before 2013. I’ve opted to go with Steamboy (the full length subtitled version). https://myanimelist.net/anime/565/Steamboy

https://myanimelist.net/anime/11111/Another https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2176165/

I’ve heard some good things about it but thinking I ‘ll wait for it to finish it & binge it instead of trying to follow it weekly. I needed a supernatural themed anime I could finish over the next week as part of a viewing challenge. Started Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, but didn’t really like it. So switched to Another & enjoying it more.

Summer 2023 Nominees Undead Murder Farce OP Ruroni Kenshin (2023) ED

My overview of the Spring 2023 season https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2103859&msgid=69467489#msg69467489

I recently finished Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch from Mercury & found it reasonably enjoyable, though I doubt it meets your qualifications for serious scifi (if you decide to give it a try there is a special prologue ep you should watch before the main series https://myanimelist.net/anime/52168/Kidou_Senshi_Gundam__Suisei_no_Majo_-_Prologue Despite some positive feedback I found Heavenly Delusion https://myanimelist.net/anime/53393/Tengoku_Daimakyou pretty meh, largely because it left most questions unanswered & no word on if it will be continued. I’m planning to watch Summer Time Rendering soon which has the time travel tag, but also the supernatural tag instead of scifi, so thinking it may be more Noein than Steins Gate. I think the last scifi anime that I really enjoyed was 86 but I think I remember you saying you don’t consider mecha to be serious scifi

Finished The Dangers in My Heart . The first episode was kinda offputting, but thereafter the MC’s chuuni edgelord mannerisms get dialed back considerably to where he’s more awkward than anything & it winds up being a rather cute & funny romcom. A little less than halfway through Heavenly Delusion. Pretty strange series with things switching back & forth between 2 separate but connected settings & cast of characters. Got to admit the twist at the end of episode 2 caught me by surprise. Saw Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind at the movies/cinema this afternoon. Some newer anime fans might find the character designs & animation dated, but very nostalgic for me very similar to the period when I first discovered & became fascinated with anime. One of my favorite Ghibli films & heroines.

I’m generally not a fan of the shounen genre. Of the “Big Three”, the only one I had any fondness for was One Piece & I still burned out on it after about 150 episodes. There are some popular titles I still enjoy (My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen) but it would be rare for me rate a shounen title as a 10 (does Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood count?) Some of the ones I really enjoyed that don’t get mentioned as often are Soul Eater, Buso Renkin and Ushio & Tora. I think probably the biggest trait of shounen that ruins things for me is that they tend to drag on too long.

Lunch (or is it supposed to be Launch?) from Dragon Ball Escanor from Seven Deadly Sins Wolfgang Grimmer from Monster Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn from Sailor Moon Himari Takakura from Penguin Drum

Finished Insomniacs After School. It wound up being a really sweet love story between two highschoolers struggling with personal baggage that keeps them up at night, finding solace in the night sky & each other. At times it felt like something tragic was being foreshadowed but it ended without ever being confirmed or denied. And I’m fine with that. My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Level 999. I actually had a fairly high opinion of this series for much of the season, but sadly it fizzled out in the last third or so. In the end, I just couldn’t feel any romantic chemistry between the two leads. I can definitely see them as more than just gaming buddies, definitely IRL friends & even confidants, but not as a romantic couple. This is a real problem considering that the final group of episodes really focused on trying to sell that idea, to the point that it made the series less enjoyable overall. I still found it worth watching & found the various character interactions funny & entertaining, also a good art style & like the OP. But disappointing that it couldn’t make the love story engaging in the end. Going to give The Dangers in My Heart another chance largely due to the fact that it remained one of the season’s higher rated series. I generally don’t let popular opinion have too much of an influence, but since my initial reaction was one & done, it probably deserves at least a bit more consideration.

“Crazy to think that somebody found & connected different constellations out of this mass of stars. Were people from the past just really bored? Guess they were the same as us, huh? You know, I bet that the people who created the constellations also couldn’t get a wink of sleep and just stared up at the stars every night.” - Isaki Magari, Insomniacs After School

Watched a couple “Special Episodes” that serve as prequels for upcoming series & seasons respectively Fate Strange Fake sets the stage for an upcoming full series, though the debut date is unknown. While I’m skeptical it will supplant Fate Zero as my favorite/most epic entry in the franchise, it seems to offer more potential to do so than the other entries I’ve seen. I would recommend watching Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia or at least being familiar with that chapter of the FGO online game as it offers additional insight into a very personal rivalry between two of the characters. Mushoku Tensei: Agent Fitz the main characters (or even Roxie) don’t appear at all in the episode, but it does address the unanswered question of what happened to Sylphie in the aftermath of the Mana Disaster. Being Mushoku Tensei, there has to be a certain level of lewdness. But I actually felt like season 2 can start in earnest next week with this one plot point finally given some development. Ryza no Atelier watched the double length premiere episode. I’ve seen some complaints online of it being boring, but I personally I found it charming & refreshing. Too many fantasy adventure series have young and inexperienced protagonists becoming heroes with the fate of the world on their shoulders right from the start. And the recent trends of MC’s who are OP and/or have unique knowledge from a previous life just makes it worse. So I found it refreshing to have them actually portrayed as sheltered adolescents from a village with isolationist traditions who simply want to go places they’ve never been & see things they’ve never seen before. And struggling even against the weakest enemies. And there’s already hints that the “boring” village they’ve spent their lives in may have secrets they never imagined. I actually hope it doesn’t rush their growth too much. Only complaint is that the camera does seem to focus too much on the female lead’s thighs.