#....can you tell why rinne is like. a vibe to me now
Photo
Every time I draw Mamagi it does AoE damage (I am also in the area of effect)
Lighthearted bonus:
#enstars#hiiro amagi#rinne amagi#i don't know if this is a bad time to be amagi-posting given that hiiro's fs2 just dropped but. oh well#also this might be the last thing i draw for a bit because i am in the final stretch of this semester#if you sent in a request. i will get to it and thank you for your patience#anyways i know i'm kinda being like 'haha rinne mama's boy' which like. yeah but also sometimes--#--sometimes you're an adult in their 20s and like. yeah sure you're technically an adult or whatever but you still feel like a kid yeah?#and sometimes you just maybe want your mom to help you when you're lost or confused or when you need someone to tell you it'll be okay#but you won't get that for whatever reason#sincerely: an adult in their 20s#....can you tell why rinne is like. a vibe to me now#anyways i'm not saying mamagi dying was a necessary evil but if hiiro and rinne had an adult who actually loved them at home they probably-#-wouldn't have left and we wouldn't have the main story#if she was alive today tho she'd be going to their lives sorry i don't make the rules (yes i do)#if she ends up being exactly like the rest of their village in some future lore i'm gonna be so sad.#she'd throw hands with niki's parents#imagine leaving your sons behind because you straight up died (couldn't really do anything about that)#meanwhile your son's boyfriend's parents just. up and left him because they could#also posts with her will be tagged mamagi#if you read all that <3#mamagi#she'd adopt all the bees and alkaloid too#imagine if they got their singing skills from her#also mamagi 1 rinniki shipper (also does not care it's not legal)#rinniki
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Summer Rain: Sick in the Rain 2
Writer: Beanosei
Season: Spring
Characters: Niki, Rinne
Niki: “That’s my line, stupid.”
Studio, 1 week after
Niki: Mogu mogu mogu (eating a snack)
Niki: (The director and everyone welcomed me back with open arms. Even if I’m not that good of an actor…)
Niki: (Weird though…How did they know I would agree to finishing the movie before I even told them?)
Niki: (...Nee-san…Don’t tell me you were conspiring with them~)
Rinne: Niki, are you ready?
Niki:! Yeah, coming, Rinne-kun.
Niki: (Rinne-kun looked happy when I told him and the others that I’ll finish the movie.)
Niki: (He never asked why, just laughed and told me to get into costume.)
Niki: (Maybe Nee-san is right. He looked excited again during filming. Is it really because of me?)
Niki: (Sorry for not noticing, Rinne-kun)
Rinne: See you in a bit, Niki~ (he walks off)
Niki: (With my return, we managed to finish filming all the remaining scenes.)
Niki: (And now it’s down to this one. The penultimate scene. The one where our characters kiss-)
Niki: …
Niki: (It’s not like it’s a real kiss! Director-san said it can be a fake kiss and with camera angles they’ll make it look real!)
Niki:...
Niki: (But why does that seem…so wrong now?)
Niki:...
Niki:Urgh!! AAAGh!! Why is this so difficult!!
Niki: Oh! Sorry, Director-san. I’m okay!
Niki: Yeah, I’m ready.
Niki: (I’ll worry about the fake kiss when it comes to it! First we have to get to that part.)
Niki: (Okay, so I have to run around in the fake rain, looking back and forth for Rinne-kun’s character. When I find him I need to freeze, then turn around and try to escape.)
Niki: (My character panics about taking that initiative.)
Niki: (breathing heavily as he runs)
Rinne:...
Niki: (Rinne-kun’s character grabs my arm before I can escape. Pulls me in and catches me as I trip and fall against him.)
Niki: (And then he says the lines-)
Rinne: “Why won’t you listen to me? What are you so afraid of?”
Rinne: “If you keep running, you’ll get lost in the storm. It’ll sweep you away in an instant.”
Rinne: “I’ll lose sight of you. I don’t want that to happen.”
Niki: “…”
Rinne: “Well?”
Niki: “I…”
Niki: (and then I…What was I supposed to do?)
Niki: “...”
Rinne: “...”
Niki: (Rinne-kun…Looks ethereal like this.)
Niki: (He’s looking at me with such soft eyes I…I think I need to do this)
Rinne: “!”
Niki: (Oh wait I didn’t stop like I was supposed to- I actually kissed him…!)
Niki:...
Rinne: “... I’m so glad I fell in love with you.”
Niki: “…”
Niki: “That’s my line, stupid.”
Rinne: “…”
Niki: “Ri-”
Niki:! (is suddenly kissed)
Niki: “I thought you wanted to wait for marriage, nahaha.”
Rinne: “I couldn’t wait anymore.”
Niki: (I can hear the staff screaming. Looks like the director is crying. Same for the Assistant director.)
Niki: (Nahaha…people really are into this, huh. Sorry for being stupid, everyone.)
Niki: (Rinne-kun’s still looking at me so sweetly…I could melt. He’s blushing so cutely too~)
Niki: (Rinne-kun, you really are a good actor. Being able to keep your cool right now. I think I might combust~)
Fade out niki cg
Niki: (whispers) Kohaku-chan and Himeru-kun are looking impatient. Kohaku-chan just rolled his eyes at us.
Rinne: Don’t care~ (moves in to kiss him over and over again)
Niki: (Rinne-kun’s kisses taste like honey. I feel like I’m getting addicted to them.)
Niki: (We should probably stop- No one has turned the fake rain off because they’re too busy whispering between themselves.)
Niki: (We might get sick.)
Niki: (But…I don’t want this to stop. Nahaha.)
Niki: (Please…Drown me in your honey, Rinne-kun.)
Translator Note:
Heart-catching Raindrop: slower, more melancholic. about never giving up on your dream (love) even in the rain, no matter how much it evades you
uses the same motifs as heartbeat honey drop except key-changed. think yoru ni kakeru vibes
Song used in the movie (instrumental)plays during the emotional last scene, gets an actual duet song for the movie credits (official mv comes out later)
[Back][Next]
[Masterlist]
(all cg art by sana @nguyenfinity )
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Cherry Blossoms' Devilish Magic
< The summer a year prior, Crazy:B’s dorm room in the former Starmony Hall >
Rinne: ….Wooo! Kohaku-chan’s dead last for this Daifugo!
Roll out the punishment game! C’mon now, it’s finally time for Kohaku-chan to tell us his secret ♪
Kohaku: A secret, huh…
T’tell the truth, I ain’t that fond of cherry blossoms. They give off this real eerie vibe to me…
Rinne: Oioi. To hate cherry blossoms despite being named Oukawa, ain’t there a limit to false advertisement?
Can’t ya hand over somethin’ else? Like your first lover and whatnot!
Kohaku: One secret’s more than enough. ‘S not like I’m here to provide entertainment for Rinne-han anyways.
Crazy:B’s gonna get dissolved the way it is now, so I’m simply followin’ yer orders to disclose more of myself before that can happen.
HiMERU: Still, it’s rather unexpected.
For Oukawa to consider cherry blossoms eerie, that is. HiMERU had considered you to be the type of person detached from feelings such as fear.
Kohaku: That’s what I should be sayin’. Whenever I look at Himeru-han an’ his work as a solo idol, you seem like some flawless superhuman.
Niki: That’s right. Just from mentions of him, HiMERU seems perfect.
At first, I thought you were quite the peculiar guy~ But when you started showing off your more human parts, I felt a sense of kinship with you!
HiMERU: You are just as much of a “peculiar guy” as I am.
Enough talking about HiMERU already. Oukawa, why is it that you consider yourself unfond of cherry blossoms?
Rinne: ….Ahh, I thiiink I get it!
Kohaku-chan, did ya get traumatized from a cherry tree branch stabbin’ ya as a kid?
My hometown was overflowin’ with nature as I grew up, so I get ya reaal well ♪
Kohaku: As though I’d have a cutesy reason like that.
The reason I’m no good with cherry blossoms is ‘cause o’ the impact a book I borrowed from my older sister way back then had on me.
Niki: ….A book?
Kohaku: Mmhm. It was a fantasy book, but it was just a tad bit scary
It was set in an era where forests of fully bloomed cherry trees were considered somethin’ to be feared —- A bandit lived in a mountain pass where cherry blossoms bloomed.
One day, that bandit kidnapped a beautiful lady from a town.
But as that lady taught the bandit ‘bout all kinds of new values an’ the vastness o’ the world, the bandit started listenin’ to everythin’ she says.
She started orderin’ him to move to the town an’ kill people, to which he complied.
Eventually, the bandit got tired o’ such deeds an’ moved back to the mountain pass an’ went under the frightenin’ cherry blossom tree, which was in full bloom—
Havin’ been exposed to the cherry blossoms’ evil, the bandit ended up murderin’ the lady with his own hands.
Niki: Ehhh…. What’s up with that story, it sounds pretty bad for education…?
You shouldn’t be letting little children read stuff like that just because they’re bored. Just hearing that story gave me goosebumps!
Kohaku: Ain’t that right. My sis is a real bothersome one, no?
Ah well, in its own way, it was pretty interestin’ when I read it, especially with no other entertainment bein’ around.
But yeah, I’ve thought that way since then.
There’s somethin’ mystical ‘bout cherry blossoms; a power that can turn people insane.
That’s why, if I could learn t’overcome cherry blossoms—
‘Round that time, that bandit might’ve been enticed by the cherry blossoms’ devilish magic, which turned him insane.
Rinne: Nahh. If there’s any reason for turnin’ insane, it’s gotta be that.
Kohaku: Hm…?
Rinne: The bandit must’ve developed some feelings for that gal with unmatched beauty after spending some time with her, right? It’s an emotion that goes far beyond likes, dislikes, and so on.
I know that feeling real well ♪ It’s what y’all call “love”!
Kohaku: Love...?
Yer an imbecile. Who the hell’s gonna become a murderer for love?
Anyways. Let’s think of what we’re doin’ from now on.
Crazy:B’s got one chance left to stay alive as unit... Even if we’re bein’ a disruption everywhere, we wanna celebrate our freedom, right?
There’s still so much o’ the world that’s filled with all kinds o’ interesting things, after all!
After all it took for me to grasp this freedom, there’s no way I’m lettin’ things end here….♪
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous | Masterlist
#the end ♪#thank you for reading this story! i hope this makes you appreciate double face a bit more
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Chill Yellow - Chapter 4
Location: Seisou Hall Common Room
Characters: Tsukasa, Hokuto, Keito, Rinne
TL Note:
Enka, or more specifically, modern Enka is a genre of traditional Japanese music.
Rinne: …………
Hokuto: All right, I’ve brought the villain over.
Rinne: …Hey, what’s the big deal, Kita-san?
Hokuto: Don’t give me a weird nickname. That sounds like it belongs to an Enka[*] singer.
Rinne: Aren’t ya more like a horse? Should I call you Black instead?
Keito: So you meant Amagi-senpai, I see. I had almost forgotten about him.
Tsukasa: I see. Rinne Amagi-senpai certainly fits the bill. He’s the person I’ve been told over and over by my upperclassmen to not get close to.
Rinne: Oi oi. Why do you all gotta be so rude? You call me out here just so you can say whatever you want to my face?
Anyway, aren’t you all treating me kinda sloppy? I don’t think I give off that kinda vibe.
Hokuto: We’re not treating you like that. If anything, we called you here because you’re the perfect person for this.
Rinne: Hey, didn’t you say somethin’ like, “I brought the villain over.”, in the beginning…? That’s even worse coming from you.
Well, whatever. Could ya hurry up and tell me why you brought me here? I ain’t free. I lost to a strong guy yesterday, so I’ve gotta rematch comin’ up.
Hokuto: ? A strong guy? Are you going to fight someone?
Rinne: Nope~? There’s a new machine at my usual pachinko place.
All the other guys have been hittin’ jackpot after jackpot, but it was like somethin’ wrung all the luck outta me yesterday.
So I’m gettin’ revenge!
Tsukasa: Oh! So this is the bad behaviour we should aim to imitate…!
Rinne: Why do I feel like you ain’t actually complimentin’ me…? I definitely don’t feel an ounce of respect.
Keito: Don’t mention things like pachinko or a new pachinko machine to people younger than you. I’m always telling you to be a good role model as the eldest here, aren’t I?
Rinne: Say whaat!? I just answered ‘cause he asked me why, so who do you think you are, God!? It wasn’t my fault!
Hokuto: Hasumi-senpai, wait. It would be troubling for us if you were to correct Amagi-senpai’s misbehaviour.
Keito: Oh, right… Come to think of it, that was our goal today, right?
Rinne: So what the hell is that goal?
Hokuto: Right, actually…
Rinne: So ya wanna learn the behaviours of a villain in order to act as one!?
Hokuto: That’s right.
Rinne: (Sheesh, that’s so stupid… Why do I hafta get caught up in somethin’ so annoyin’. Looks like I’ve got no choice but to take a hard pass and take revenge for yesterday instead.)
Sorry, but get someone els–
Hokuto: Please, Amagi-senpai. Help us out.
Tsukasa: Please guide us.
Keito: I’m asking as well. Can you help us?
Rinne: …Huh?
(Hmm. What should I do…?)
(Well, whatever. I thought it’ll be a pain in the neck, but it might be interesting playin’ with these three idiots.)
Alright. Fine. I’ll help ya out.
Tsukasa: R-Really!? Thank you so much, Rinne Amagi-senpai!
Rinne: It’s no biggie. Well, I’ll turn a blind eye as to why you chose me to represent a villain.
My heart is deeper than the Mariana trench, so ya better be grateful.
So? Got any idea as to what kinda training we’re doin’?
Keito: Let’s see. Why don’t we go over the definition of a villain first? It seems everyone’s idea of a villain is quite different.
The meaning of a “villain” is… “someone who always commits bad acts.”
Tsukasa and Hokuto: ……… *Looks at Rinne and nods*
Rinne: Oi, you guys. Don’t look at me when he said that.
Alrighty, now that we’ve checked what it means to be a villain, let Coach Rinne-kun decide what kinda training you guys are gonna be doin’!
Let’s head out to the pachinko parlour!
Keito: You idiot. Hidaka and Suou are still students. There’s no way I’m going to allow them to go as long as I’m alive.
Rinne: …Hey, weren’t you aimin’ to be a villain?
Keito: You cannot break the laws. How incorrigible.
Rinne: Ugh~...
Alright, Imma give you some time to think. How ‘bout you think of somethin’ evil to do and then do it in real life? Then I’ll take a look and evaluate you guys.
Hokuto: I see… Alright, Let’s split up for now. We’ll come up with a bad deed and carry it out.
← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂ Next Chapter →
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Amagi Hiiro: What to Don on Stage (5* Feature Scout) - Chapter 1
Season: Autumn
Location: Hiiro, Niki, & Hinata's Room
Hiiro: …………
Niki: Otouto-san, you really look like you’re concentrating on something, you know. Do you have some sort of drawing to do for homework?
Hinata: We’re in the same class you know, so if we had homework, we’d be sitting at the desk doing that.
That’s why I thought that Hiiro-kun was doing something of his own volition but…?
Hiiro: I thought it would be alright if I didn’t tell you two. I’m working out a drawing for my personalized outfit, so it’s nothing to be embarrassed about if someone sees it.
Hinata: Oh? It’s finally your turn to get a personalized outfit?
Hiiro: No, I still haven't been approached by Anzu-san yet, but since Aira completed his outfit the other day, I’m the last of Alkaloid remaining.
It made me happy thinking about everyone in our unit completing their personalized outfits, so I’ve been trying to think about it for when it comes my time.
I’m still in the middle of figuring out what an idol is, so in order to not cause trouble when it’s my turn, I thought it’d be better to make preparations now.
Niki: Isn’t that a handsome way of thinking~ I haven't even bothered to think about my own. ♪
Hinata: Ahaha, that’s so Shiina-senpai~♪
Now then, now then? I wonder what kind of vibe Hiiro-kun’s drawing of his personalized outfit has~?
Hinata & Niki: ……..?
Hiiro: This sort of image gives me the most self-confidence, don’t you think?
Hinata & Niki: ……I don’t know how to say this, but it really feels like Rinne-senpai (-kun).
Niki: When Rinne-kun came and revealed his personalized outfit, I’d say it was like, all dazzling and stuff.
Hinata: It’s not you Hiiro-kun, but I’d say that such a chic outfit looks better on Rinne-senpai, you know?
Hiiro: You two are sharp, aren’t you? It’s true that with this drawing, I was using Nii-san’s personalized outfit as reference. If you’re an idol that stands out, I’d imagine that it would be good to have a flashy outfit.
I’m sure Nii-san also had that in mind when he was working with Anzu-san.
If the result is something that flashy, I’m not sure if a costume that stands out this much should be the objective “right”......
Hinata: For idols, standing out is…Should I say, it’s important to attract attention, of course.
But since this is your personalized outfit and all, I’d be delighted if it was something more Hiiro-kun, you know?
Hiiro: I see…
Location: ES
The next day
Hiiro: ……So then, even though I came up with a good idea for my personalized outfit, it was unpopular with Hinata-kun and Shiina-san, wasn’t it?
I would love to hear everyone’s opinion on this!
Aira: That’s what I thought when you got in touch with me so quickly. Well, I can understand why you’d want your colleague’s opinions.
Hiiro: Anzu-san, too, thanks for the advice. I’ll look forward to working with you when it’s my turn for a personalized outfit!
Tatsumi: Hm? At last, do you want to be next to make an outfit?
Mayoi: That is to say, we will have a complete set of Alkaloid personalized outfits. Fufu, I cannot wait……♪
Aira: See, even Anzu-san seems to be interested in Hiro-kun’s idea. Hurry, show us.
Hiiro: Yes. This is it.
Tatsumi & Aira: ……?
Hiiro: Ah, I recognize this reaction. Hinata-kun and Shiina-san both had the same reaction, as well!
Mayoi: Hi-Hi—
Hiiro: A baboon?
Mayoi: Hiiro-san has been completely dyed in the color of the city……!
Tatsumi: Oh my, Mayoi-san’s feeling is certainly correct.
Aira: Contrary to Mayoi-san’s utter shock, I was over here chilling out.
Anyways, Hiro-kun, I want you to tell me everything you were thinking.
Hiiro: ……Yes, it seems I have caused you all some frustration. I see that from Anzu-san, as well.
Tatsumi: Don’t be discouraged. To respect the entire point of an idol being a performer, it’s respectable that you wanted an eye-catching outfit.
Mayoi: Isn’t that right…… I apologize for the surprised look, I just couldn’t help but notice that the outfit didn’t have the typical Hiiro-san pure, rustic simpleness to it……
Aira: Yeah, right. I’m not saying this right, but I think that a Hiro-kun walking out in such a gaudy outfit like this is just lacking in character.
If you were to actually dress up in this, what feeling would you even try to give off?
Hiiro: What feeling would I want to give off? Here, if I went like this……?
Hiiro: ……… (Sends a fashionable pose in Mayoi’s direction)
Mayoi: Aah, not like this! It’s still too early for meeeeee!
Aira: Too early for what, exactly?
Hiiro: Hm…… Every time I see your reactions, I am beginning to fully realize that whatever I drew was not objectively ‘right’.
Tatsumi: Nevertheless. The decision of a personalized outfit is not up to us, but instead to Anzu-san.
Your plan to use Rinne-san’s outfit as a reference was an earnest desire, so I must respect that much.
Aira: Guess so. For me, I also proposed an outfit with the idea of, “I want to wear it, too!” to Anzu-san. If you think you’re really wearing it from the bottom of your heart, I can’t stop you.
……But, but you know. A personalized outfit is such an exceptional occasion, but I assume you know that already?
Hiiro: Yes. Thanks for teaching me that. It is something so special that only one certain idol can wear it.
Mayoi: That’s why we all….We all really didn’t want your special outfit to be mimicking that of someone else’s personality.
I know it sounds selfish though……
next →
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Werewolf - 2
Writer: Nishioka Maiko
Season: Summer
Proofreading: 310mc (JP)
Translation: Bella & hyenahunt
Rinne: You ain’t talked at all, Sazamin. Ain’t that sus? You tryin’ to keep somethin’ from us?
[Location: Seisou Hall Common Room]
Sora: (Hehe ♪ Dazzling-oniisan and Shinobu-chan are the werewolves this time, huh~?
Yuu-chan’s the seer, and Master’s the medium.
As for Ei-chan senpai, Jun-chan-senpai, aaand Gambler-oniisan —
—they're all villagers. Sora’s got a good grasp on the situation!
This is gonna be an interesting game, huh~♪ Sora’s looking forward to it!)
Is everyone ready~?
Morning's come~. Please start!
Natsume: AlRIGHT. Tenshouin-senpai — or rather, the old fart is a wereWOLF. Everyone, vote to hang HIM...♪
Shinobu: Wha!? That's how you're going to start things off!?
Eichi: I object, Sakasaki-kun. Not only to the name you gave me, but even more importantly — why decide I'm a werewolf without any investigation whatsoever?
I’d like to hear your grounds for accusation, at the very least.
Natsume: Because I say you ARE? As you’re the worst person HERE, you old FART.
Eichi: How heartless. I’m a genuine law-abiding villager, you know? Hanging me would do nothing but put the villager faction at a disadvantage.
Shinobu: C-Could the two of you hold on for just a moment...
Yuta: Sakasaki-senpai and Tenshouin-senpai, please calm down!
Shinobu: (Yuuta-kun...! That's Yuuta-kun for you, coming to the rescue. The game can't keep going like this, so those two have got to be stopped!)
Yuta: I mean, if we're doing this based on sheer villain vibes, then a certain someone fits the bill even more. Isn't that right, Rinne-senpai? So yeah, let's all vote him out ♪
Shinobu: You too, Yuuta-kun!?
Jun: Both of your grudges are seriously on full display, huh. This ain't even a game anymore.
Rinne: Hold up, don’t just go decidin’ shit on your own! Ya boy’s one of them goody-two-shoe villagers too, yanno!?
Y'know, with the way he's makin' such a fuss to get me, a villager, hanged… Maybe Yuta-kun's actually the werewolf here.
Yuta: I'm a villager, alright! I swear to God I really am!
Rinne: I don’t trust a single thing that comes outta that mouth of yours. All you gotta do is change one li’l thing and your name gets pretty damn close to Judas, don’t it? [1]
Yuta: Excuse me!? My name's Yu-u-ta! And for the record, it's a tall order asking anyone to trust you!
Hiyori: Say, Jun-kun? Is the game supposed to play out like this?
Jun: Not in the slightest.
Hiyori: Hmm, that so?
Alright, I'd like everyone to stop and listen to me! At this rate, we're not going to get anywhere, are we? First of all, why don't we come out with our various roles?
For your information, I'm an innocent villager of the highest social standing, of course!
Eichi: Well, it’s just as Hiyori-kun says — senseless arguing will only waste time. I don’t have that much to spare, you know?
As for me, I’d like for the seer to reveal himself. We don’t have enough evidence otherwise.
Of course, staying hidden is a viable option, but… we’d simply have to start hanging people at random in that case. That wouldn’t be ideal for either faction, now would it?
Shinobu: Mmm... You've got a point there...
Well, I'll come out with it, then. I got the role of the "seer".
The first villager identity the GM told me was Tenshouin-dono.
Eichi: Fufu. That’s proof enough of my innocence, isn’t it? Too bad.
Natsume: TCH… But we still don’t know whether or not Shinobu-kun’s telling the TRUTH.
Yuta: Huh? W-Wait a minute! I'm the real seer!
And on that note, the villager I learnt of was Sakasaki-senpai.
Natsume: HmMM, well, it is true that I am ONE.
(Heheh. I’m not just a villager THOUGH.
I’m the “medium,” though I have to hide THAT. My very existence spells trouble for the “werewolves” who try to deceive everyone else in this PHASE.
After ALL, I can speak with the DEAD.)
NOW, isn’t that STRANGE? For there to be two “seers” HERE... That is to say: one of you is a sham — a werewolf in sheep’s cloTHING.
Yuta: Seriously~? I'm the real deal, though...
Shinobu: N-No, I am?
Jun: Hm? Speaking of which, aren't any other roles gonna out themselves? I guess it's typical for the "medium" to stay low, huh? I'm a villager, for the record.
Eichi: Ah, I see. With that, all of us have outed ourselves. Now - what shall we do?
Rinne: There’s nothin’ else to do but hang the two seers one after the other, yeah? The real one might bite the dust, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get the werewolf too.
Hiyori: I do wonder about that? As it stands, these two are in a gray zone ready to be hanged at any time. I believe it's worth noting that we could get even more information from actively leaving them alone!
After all, should we choose the wrong one to hang, it'll be a breeze for the werewolves to control the flow of the game.
Rinne: Man, you can think that way all you want, but that just looks like you’re a werewolf protectin’ his packmate, y’know? Hiyori-chan?
Hiyori: I'm fully prepared to be suspected for speaking up, of course. But it's precisely because I'm innocent that I can come out and say all this, you know!
Rinne: Whatever you say. By the way, I’ve been wonderin’ about somethin’...
You ain’t talked at all, Sazamin. Ain’t that sus? You tryin’ to keep somethin’ from us?
Jun: Wha!? You've got the wrong idea, man. I'm just overwhelmed by your combined enthusiasm.
Rinne: Then lemme make it a li’l easier for you. Tell us whatcha got, Sazamin!
Jun: Hmm... I guess I'd agree with Ohii-san here...
It's true that the more info we have, the more likely it'll be for us to get confused in this game, but if we let 'em live I feel like it'll be easier to find the second werewolf as well.
Watching out for who tries to protect each other is gonna prove to be important, I feel.
Hiyori: Yes, yes, Jun-kun. That's exactly it!
Sora: (Haha~♪ Dazzling-oniisan and Shinobu-chan sure are amazing at this, huh~? They’ve got the appearance of being villagers down pat!)
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Translation Notes:
[1]: Rinne’s nickname for Yuuta is Yuta (ユタ), which, upon adding a dakuten to the last syllable, transforms it into Judas (ユダ) of Biblical traitor fame.
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#hiyori tomoe#jun sazanami#sora harukawa#natsume sakasaki#shinobu sengoku#yuta aoi#rinne amagi#eichi tenshouin#enstars#ensemble stars#enstars translation#s: werewolf#era: !!#type: scout#status: complete#hyenahunttl
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I don’t see it being talked about here, so I get to ramble about Crazy:B and Honeycomb Summer so buckle in, its going to be a ride
Quick disclaimer. This is the first time I’m doing something like that and I am simply coming from this as a fan and not as a professional. Some of the things I say might be wrong. And thats okay, I invite you to DM/Ask me questions, correct me, and even have a discussion with me. I’m very willing to learn from things I’ve done wrong and I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this as well. The main purpose of this post will be to analyze Crazy:B’s growth through MVs with really low quality screenshots as my evidence/to make your reading experience more tolerable. I’ll also be speculating as to what might come going forward for the unit so if that interests you skip to the smiling Nikki screenshot near the end. So with that out of the way, have a smiling HiMERU and Nikki, get some water, and lets start.
So one thing ive always noticed with the previous Crazy:B MVs is the distance each member has with each other. This is most prevalent in Crazy Roulette, as the only real contact anyone has with each other is HiMERU and Rinne in that one “Bet. Omae wa dou da” part. In formation transitions, the space they give each other is pretty wide which in itself isn’t that big of a deal but it’s more common to have quick and snappy transitions with minimal spacing in a faster paced song such as Crazy Roulette. This especially holds true in the chorus but Crazy:B seems to be going for a more “Rile up the crowd” approach to both keep up their image as a party unit and allow their members more time to transition into the next formation
Even in shots where usually you’d expect the to be back to back with each other, they have a large gap between them as if there’s supposed to be a third member filling that space. (Note that Kohaku seems to be guilty of this the most. I think that this just speaks more to Kohaku’s impression of idols at this point in the story and the reason why he even entered the idol world in the first place.)
Even in the one scene of physical contact, HiMERU looks almost sad, wistful even, before putting on a stage smile. In HiMERU’s solo section, his face if very much melancholic and maybe even a little bit regretful. One can play it off as his lyrics have quite the somber tone as it is a lull to help increase the hype when the chorus comes around again, but wistful seems a bit odd when talking about having resolve and taking into account the general party like atmosphere of the song. Keep it in mind because it’s a reoccurring happenstance throughout these three MVs
The distance between the members is especially interesting as Crazy:B’s image is that of a wild and well, party like fun unit where the audience can just loose themselves in the adrenaline and hype. Their songs have a very rave kind of feel, the type that would get you on your feet and hopping around with your friends, so why would a unit like with such a party like vibe that keep there distance? Perhaps its because they are a newly formed unit so their approach of “Interact with the crowd” is better for them as it allows them to take more breaks, alleviate a lot of the pressure of dancing on stage, and it builds a loyal fanbase through constant fan interaction. Though it’s still very obvious from this one MV that Crazy:B is a unit made out of convenience and they’re not having any true fun while up on stage. Their smiles appear forced and it’s like they’re simply moving in accordance with the choreo. The only one who remotely looks like they’re having fun is Rinne, who lets himself go wild. We’ll see more of that in Be the Party Bee
Overall, Crazy Roulette sets up what Crazy:B is at the start of the main story. You can see that they are very individualistic and probably aren’t doing this for fun, simply out of obligation with the only exception being Rinnie. Despite being more polished and more technically impressive, they lack the unity that Alkaloid has. It’s a very good base for Crazy:B to grow from, and they definitely improve throughout the next two MVs
Okay now that we’re finally done with analyzing Crazy Roulette, have a picture of Kohaku smiling. Go drink your water and maybe stretch a bit before we move on
Be the Party Bee starts off with a weird formation with very little symmetry but then again its Crazy:B, thats pretty on brand. It’s important to note here that the distance between everyone is noticeably lessened, there’s more physical contact between members, and the group seems all the more relaxed. The MV came out around the time the final main story chapter was released (If I’m wrong about this please correct me) so it’s around the end of Crazy:B’s unit arc. It makes sense for them to be pretty comfortable with each other at this point with all the shenanigans they went through.
Rinne especially goes off in this Live with very exaggerated motions. He’s all over the stage, kicking cheering and being very Rinne. You see some of this in Crazy Roulette but its in Be the Party Bee that his off the wall enthusiasm is on full display. He’s a beacon, drawing everyone’s attention to himself but he also passes off the baton to everyone else, giving each member the attention with his crazy antics. Its subtle but also really embarrassing on the recipients’ side, but its there none the less. It’s pretty interesting change from his more self-centered character that was showcased in the main story (Side note, I haven’t read the mains story. At all. If this is wrong please tell me). This side of him comes into play in Honeycomb Summer as well.
There’s still some tension in the group though with them still not feeling super at ease with each other. Distance is still present, and though it is much less than what it was in Crazy Roulette, you still have a sense that these members still aren’t all that comfortable with each other yet. You can see this in shots where the group is required to get into each other’s personal space. But at this point, they have a on stage dynamic that resembles a well thought out shuffle group that meshes well together.
Speaking of shuffle groups, it’s interesting to see how Nikki acts during Date Plan A to Z (The whole MV is interesting in of itself but I won’t speak too much about that. If anyone wants me to make a post on it tho i won’t be opposed) His movements in that MV suggest that he is very much used to someone invading his personal space in the middle of a Live coughcoughRinnecoughcough (Note how he leans back from Natsume as if he’s anticipating him to come closer) and thus acts pretty reserved from the other members of AtoZ. But you also get a very real and genuine smile from him which also implies that up till this point, idol work was an obligation and he didn’t find much joy in the people he worked with but with this new shuffle group, he’s found that being an idol can be genuinely fun. Perhaps its because he was working with Rinne this whole time, working with a whole new group of people, none of which are Rinne, is a new experience for him and he finds himself genuinely enjoying being an idol. Seeing as AtoZ happens after the main story, I hope that we see how being in a shuffle group affects how Nikki interacts with his unitmates in the Heat Haze
One last thing to note about Be the Party Bee is actually HiMERU. His movements during both Crazy Roulette and Party Bee are noticeably more restrained than the other members. It’s more glaring in Party Bee as the unit works more as a team than as individuals. The most obvious section of this happening is during a tradition space where the team breaks off into two groups and fool around for a bit to get into position. Nikki and Kohaku pull this off spectacularly and their little pokes at each other seem fun, high energy, and playful. HiMERU on the other hand, focuses solely on getting into position, barely doing anything to Rinne’s attempts to provoke him into the same playful energy. There are other parts where we get an idea that HiMERU is holding himself back, but this is the most noticeable one. My speculation (hah) is that it also ties into why he looks so melancholic in Crazy Roulette, but we’ll never know what happens in canon until HappyEle gives us some lore crumbs
Overall, Be the Party Bee showcases how Crazy:B is slowly learning to work with each other and mesh together into a cohesive unit. They’re still far from perfect and each member still goes off and does things on their own but overall they have a very different feeling from Crazy Roulette
So we’re halfway done, I’m still surprised that you’re here still reading spontaneous ramblings of someone who looks way too closely into MVs. Good job, go stretch, maybe rest your eyes for a while, drink some water, eat something, do whatever you need to take a small break before continuing. Here’s a smiling Rinne as motivation to rest a bit before we move on.
Now we talk about Honeycomb Summer. Honestly its probably one of my favourite ones just because it shows how much Crazy:B has grown as a unit and as characters. From the get go, you can immediately tell how relaxed everyone looks with giant grins on their face and very energetic movements. You really get the idea that they’re having genuine fun being up on stage. And that to me is the best thing any idol can do, is have fun on stage. Because if your performance is brimming with love and fun, your audience knows it and it makes everyone so much happier. And thats my favourite part of being an idol, to make someone’s day just a little bit better, to make them smile. To everyone them that the world isn’t as awful as you think it is.
The first 25 seconds is just them having fun, and though there is still distance between them, its the type of distance that the performers make for each other so that they’re free to play around, not the type of distance that is made because you are unfamiliar with someone. Everyone participates in this play, when previously it was either very choreographed or it was Rinne being Rinne. How do I know it’s not choreographed and its Crazy:B genuienly having fun? Look at the way each member moves. Each move, though uniform, is injected with personality. Nikki is free flowing, energetic, powerful, and bouncy. HiMERU is calm, measured and precise. Kohaku is wild yet still contained, hitting his moves with calculated power. And Rinne is, well he’s his normal off the wall, noodly, playful self.
One thing that has been pointed out a lot by the IG community is Rinne and Nikki’s dynamic. In Party Bee, Nikki was caught up in Rinne’s pace and was dragged along for the ride looking very visibly uncomfortable and put off. Obviously Rinnie invading Nikki’s personal space wasn’t in the choreo and Nikki, being someone who as of the writing of this post doesn’t seem to have that much experience as an idol and with ad-libbing things on the fly, doesn’t really know how to deal with it other than grimace and hope for the best. Honeycomb Summer provides us with a delightfully amusing face as Nikki’s reaction to Rinne’s repeated attempt to throw him off his game. This, my dear readers, is what we call “The neutral face of displeasure”. Is the face of a man who has let his friend get himself into yet another stupid situation and he’s the going to have to apologize on the behalf of his friend. Again. Nikki shows a “Here we go again” type of expression throughout Rinne’s actions, which is quite interesting given that his reaction during Party Bee was nervousness and surprise. Considering that he and Rinne have worked together before the formation of Crazy:B, I have to wonder if Rinne’s antics are a recent development thus Nikki’s surprise as Rinne must have pulled off similar tricks before.
We can clearly see Nikki’s growth and maybe desensitization with his antics when Rinne tries to elicit another reaction out of Nikki. Here, he ends up smiling a cute exasperated smile and its a nice moment where Nikki has grown close enough with Rinne that he can guess when he is going to pull off his ridiculous stunts. The reaction very well may be staged though with how much time was given to highlight such a face,
What comes next is yet another showcase as to how far Crazy:B has come to trust each other and enjoy each other’s company. Before, it was only Rinne causing chaos, mostly to Nikki, yet in this segment Kohaku and Rinne team up to lovingly bully HiMERU and its the best. Its. its everything I’ve ever wanted and more. I have a full gallery of the group’s antics right here (since I can’t embed every picture into this post, it would get way too long, but i adore this moment) but I can’t even begin to express how great this is when it comes to showcasing Crazy:B’s current dynamic. At this point, the unit is close enough to each other that they feel at ease to fool around on stage. These clearly aren’t staged as they seem to follow the choreo yet there’s aspects that seem very organic such as HiMERU’s small jab at Kohaku with his admittedly very cute smile and Rinne barging in on the two’s play. This is further backed up by how awkward HiMERU and Kohaku’s choreographed movements are, as if the performance barged into their moment. Even HiMERU and Rinne’s exchange is very reminiscent of Rinne’s antics during Party Bee though HiMERU handles these provocations in vastly different ways from Nikki. These small moments are organic, fun, and a small window into what the current dynamic between the unit is like.
The chorus certainly doesn’t disappoint either with so many good story telling beats. Throughout the chorus its very evident that Crazy:B is still a unit of individualists, though these individualists have learned to work together to create a performance that they alone as one person could never hope to create. They each get a chance to sing a small solo but their movements tell a different story, one that meshes very well with the whole. Instead of riling up the crowd like they did in Crazy Roulette, the unit instead uses their dance to entice the audience, sticking to the center of the stage and preforming as a collective, very rarely moving to the wings. That transition from individual to collective is such a satisfying change, and it speaks to how Crazy:B has developed trust with one another, knowing that the unit is there to cover if they ever make any mistakes.
Arguably, the best thing about this MV is the sheer number of genuine smiles that are on their faces. I have around 30 screenshots of just their smiles, a portion which can be found here, and the rest I’m willing to share if anyone just asks damn it. The amount of precious and pure smiles in this performance is staggering that my measly 30 screenshots is a simple fraction of how many beautiful smiles there are. For the first time, you get the feeling that they’re having fun up on stage. It really reminds me of Knights and their own growth and how they came together as a unit as well. In terms of growth, Crazy:B has gone through probably the most alongside Valkyrie and their progression from an individualistic and fragmented group made out of duty and convenience to a family is such a joy to watch
Here’s the curious thing through. HiMERU still keeps his distance away from anyone. Even in the group shot, he isn’t as close with anyone as everyone and shies away from Rinne’s attempts at invading his personal space. Notice how HiMERU is right beside Rinne in the first screenshot, but quickly moves forward very quickly even through its clear that Rinne is attempting a hug. Even in the second screenshot, as they invade Kohaku’s space, HiMERU still keeps his distance, simply poking his head in to follow with the choreography while Rinne and Nikki bounce towards Kohaku. (Though this is can also be explained as HiMERU respecting personal space, something Crazy:B isn’t all to fond of doing in general) Nonetheless, its clear that he is enjoying himself, and his movements are much more energetic and expressive compared to the previous performances, he’s still more conservative when compared to the other members.
One final observation I had was how down to earth Rinne could be at times. At some points, he seems lost in thoughts, acting like HiMERU at times. These are very few, only appearing twice if I’m not wrong, but they are followed with Rinne “harassing” his unit mates. This leads me to believe that there is something on his mind and his heart isn’t fully in the performance. I have no idea as to the reason why this may be the case, but I hope it’s addressed in the coming event. I’ll talk about about my own hypothesizes in the next segment though
Finally, we’re finished with Honeycomb Summer. I thoroughly enjoyed the MV and it was absolutely brimming with so many details that make me so excited for the coming event. The growth showcased in this one performance is phenomenal and awe inspiring. I’m really impressed by the people who modeled and programmed the MV, it’s no easy feat to create such subtle expressions and dynamic movements.
Okay, so we’re in the final stretch here. I’d like all of you to take a moment to listen to your body and attend to anything you need to do. Maybe stretch a bit, drink some water, talk with someone, take a small break. Nikki is cheering you on as we enter the final segment.
Alright so this final section will be my thoughts on what’s going to happen in the future. The main topic on the table will be: So what I am hoping to see in the new event? bc let’s be real, HappyEle likes to throw us curveballs, we won’t actually know what happens in these events until the come out
My first and most selfish wish is for Shuffle Units to be addressed and how being in AtoZ affected Nikki. Looking at both Honeycomb Summer and Date Plan A to Z, Nikki is genuinely happy in both instances. I’d love to see how being in AtoZ made him realize that how he can help change his own unit into an environment that he can genuinely have fun with.
On that note, something that would be really cool would be Crazy:B teasing Kohaku over his partnership with Mikejimaman and being a part of Double Face at the same time with Crazy:B. I’d also like to know how throwing GFK off the stage flew with the rest of the idol world, but we’re most likely not getting that haha.... Actions have consequences guys, I just want to see those consequences come into play.
Something else I’d love to see is Hiiro and Rinne, how their new dynamic has impacted them and the people around them, and how they themselves interact with each other on a daily basis. I’d like to think that Rinne’s odd behavior in the MV is because he’s hit a snag with Hiiro, but we won’t know until the event actually comes out
Finally, can we please have more HiMERU lore. For all the guessing I’m like to do and digging I do in accordance to my own experiences, seeing things that I remember and speculate both becoming canon and getting jossed from hell to back is something i eagerly look forward to. Please HappyEle give us the HiMERU crumbs. They probably won’t though, considering that we recently got a HiMERU feature scout and some lore there :p
And with that, we have reached the end of a very long post. I don’t blame you if rn your expression is like Kohaku or HiMERU, it was very long for the both of us. I think I’ve said all that I wanted to, so any closing thoughts would just be reiterations of what was already said earlier. All I have to say is, Thank you for sticking through this long post, please ask me any questions you might have, and I hope y’all have a good day.
Thanks~
#enstars#ensemble stars#Crazy:B#Amagi Rinne#Rinne Amagi#Shiina Niki#Niki Shiina#Oukawa Kohaku#Kohaku Oukawa#HiMERU#mv analysis#my post#long post#analysis
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Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live: Kirakira My☆Design (RL) Chapter 7, 8, 9 English Translation
(So I like tumblr's new beta text editor since it saves time, but it doesn't support moving images... So I'm putting screenshots of Yuuhi and Amane up here so people know what they look like)
RL Chapter 7: Let’s Deco an Amazing Shop
Ann: Sorry to keep you waiting!!! Please enjoy the Poppun Fruit Cake! Haah~ Thanks to Player, we’ve been getting more customers. We’re super busy, but it’s really fun! I guess I have to work even harder!
Momo: Ann! Get 10 of the dessert special for me!
Ann: Hey Owner, instead of eating, you should be helping us…
Momo: Tasting the desserts is an important task too! The one in charge of customer service is… the manager, so I’m sure Naru will do a peachy keen job!
Naru: …
Momo: Hm? Naru! Are you listening!?
Naru: Hmm…. hmmmmmmmm…
Ann: Naru, what’s wrong!? You’re staring a hole into your sketchbook.
Naru: Oh, sorry! I was just focused on something… hm…
Ann: Is something bothering you?
Naru: I want to design a new display for Prism Stone… but I can’t come up with a single idea!
Ann: I get it. You wanna change the vibe of the shop, right?
Naru: I want to design an original display unlike that of any other shops.
Ann: Original? Then why not get Player to help?
Naru: Great idea! We should get Player-chan to My☆Deco the shop!
Ann: And you really like decorating, right, Naru? If you combine both of your powers, you’ll definitely be able to deco Prism Stone into an amazing shop!
Naru: Yeah! Player-chan, would you deco the shop with me?
Choice: Decorating looks fun! / You’d be better off doing this alone
Naru: Yaaay! I’m so happynaru that we can My☆Deco together!!! I’m sure that by working together, we’ll be able to use our power to do some great decorating!
Momo: Your power will go up by using My☆Deco with Naru!
Naru: Then… Let’s My☆Deco, Player-chan!
(mydeco with 2 charms. Up until now we could only use 1 charm iirc)
Naru: So cool! We were able to use two My☆Deco charms!
Momo: Your My☆Deco power has evolved, Player!!!
Naru: I’ll think up a display with this cute My☆Deco stone! Decorating with you has given me a lot of new ideas! Oh yeah! Why don’t you put on a prism show with this My☆Deco stone?
Ann: Ooh, yeah! What a yummy idea! You’ll be able to perfectly match the vibe of the shop’s new display! It’s settled, Player will be putting on today’s show! With your My☆Deco coord…
Naru: Let’s! Prism show!! Happynaru!!!
(prism show)
Naru: Great work, Player-chan! That was a super, super, suuuuper Player-ish show.
Ann: The sparkle from wearing your own original My☆Deco stone’s coord really is great!!! Power up your My☆Deco even more, and make even more beautiful coords so you can put on even more sparkly shows!!! Well, id I’m not gonna lose to you, I’ll need to make even more new desserts!
Naru: I’ll also deco a lot more displays!
Momo: Gimme mo-more dessert!!!
???: ...hot…!!
Naru: Huh!? This voice…
??? (Ito): …
Naru: Ito-chan!!
Ito: The person who set off this flaming-hot atmosphere… seems to be you. But… who are you?
RL Chapter 8: Cool Rock is High-Spirited!
Ito: …
Ann: Hey, Ito… Stop glaring at Player.
Ito: Huuh!? I’m not staring at them!
Ann: Well, it sure looks like you are. Just stop looking at them like that…
Naru: You do look kinda scary right now!
Ito: Huuuh!? Scary!?
Naru: EEP! Sorryyyy!
Ito: Well? Do you think I’m scary too!?
Choice: Yes… you’re scaring me… / Nah, you’re not scary
Ito: Not scary… yeah. I’m not scary…!
Naru: Ah, Ito-chan looks happy! She’s smiling~
Ito: I’m not happy! And I didn’t… smile…
Ann: Ahh, that’s it. You’re just interested in Player then, Ito!
Ito: I… wouldn’t say I’m interested in them…
Ann: Heey, if you’re interested in them, you’ve gotta introduce yourself properly!
Ito: ...I’m Ito. Suzuno Ito. I’m in charge of makeup in Prism Stone. ...Pleasure. Your last show was hot.
Naru: Did you see Player-chan’s other shows, Ito-chan? They were amazing, right?
Ito: Uhh… Player’s definitely shown their strengths with lovely and pop, but…
Naru: What? Is there something you’ve been curious about?
Ito: Well… I’ve just been thinking that Player could put on an even hotter show… if they learned about a style with a different power to lovely or pop…
Ann: Hey, that’s great!
Ito: Huh? Great???
Ann: Teach Player all about the power of cool, Ito!
Ito: Huh!? You want me to teach them about cool’s power!? I can’t do that…
Naru: It’ll be fine~! If you let Player-chan see your rocking cool power, they’ll be able to put on a flaming hot show~!
Ito: Rock… Well, I guess Player putting on a rock show wouldn’t be too bad. But only if you’re able to keep up with my passionate rock. Player… do you have three cool stones? Okay, it looks like you do. Got it… In that case, let’s start your Seventh Jump Challenge. I want to feel your passion for rock, so this time you’ll be challenging High-Spirit (norinori) mode. Jump the cool Seventh Jump and get 1800 carats, and your rocking cool, hot heart should awaken. ...Now, it’s time. Think you can keep up with my rocking passion? Heartbeat heat!!!
(prism show)
Ito: …
Naru: What? Whatwhatwhat? What’s uo, Ito-chan…? You’re glaring at Player-chan again… Why??? It was a really good show, wasn’t it~?
Ito: ...hot…
Naru: Ah! She smiled!!!
Ito: Player… You were able to keep up with me. That was a cool… and hot… prism show.
Naru: Yaay, Ito-chan looks really happy!!
Ann: If you’re so happy then you should be complimenting them straight away~
Ito: Sh… shut up! I mean, um… It certainly was a hot show… But it’s only the beginning… Rock is really deep, after all…
Naru: Ooh~ So you think Player-chan will be able to put on even better shows in the future?
Ann: You really can’t be honest with your feelings~
Ito: Sh… shut uuuuuuup!!!
Momo: Why are you shouting and messing around!?
Ito: Momo-owner… We weren’t…
Momo: This is what I hear when I specially come to bring you guys some good news…
Ann: What good news!? Hurry up and tell us, please!!!
Momo: Momomo… It’s this!!! The prism show tournament ‘Dreaming Session’!!! It’s the commencement announcement!!!
Naru: Tour… tournament!? Whaaaaaaat!?!?
RL Chapter 9: First Tournament, Dreaming Session!
Momo: Momomo! Are you all surprised? The prism show tournament’s starting! And that tournament’s name is… Dreaming Session!
Naru: Dreaming session, huh~
Ann: A tournament sounds fun!
Momo: Of course! And Prism Stone will be entering! If we get good results in the tournament, Prism Stone’s popularity will go up and up!!!
Ito: ...But… who’ll we enter?
Momo: I… haven’t thought about that yet!!!
Ann: You haven’t… Get a grip, Owner!
Momo: Quiet, quiet! You can all decide who’s entering!!
Naru: Who’s gonna represent us in the tournament… Hm…
Rinne: ...tournament…
Naru: Rinne-chan! What’s up? Do you wanna enter the tournament?
Rinne: ...no… Player… tournament…
Ito: You think Player should enter?
Rinne: ...Player’s… sparkly…
Ann: I think that’s a good idea too! There’s a load of people who wanna see their passionate show… and the tournament’s a place where your growth is measured. Player, you should test your current strength in the tournament!
Naru: I agreeeeee!!! You should enter Dreaming Session, Player-chan!
Choice: I’ll enter! / This is pretty sudden…
Ann: You’ll definitely do well in the tournament with that drive! And maybe… you’ll even win!
Momo: Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to get Player registered!
Naru: I can’t wait for Dreaming Session!!
Ann: Until then, let’s practise as much as possible together!!!
Rinne: …
…Several days later…
Ann: It’s finally the day of Dreaming Session!
Naru: Woah~ There’s a lot of entrants and a lot of audience members!
Ito: It’s really lively and hot here.
Ann: It’s your turn soon, Player. Are you ready? Do your best out there!! -Wait, huh? Isn’t that…
Yuuhi: Is that… Player-chan! Konnichihello!
Naru: It’s Yuuhi-chan from Cosmo☆Sisters!
Amane: Amane is also present. It’s pleasant to see that all of Prism Stone’s esteemed staff are here together.
Naru: Are you guys entering too?
Amane: No, we are not entrants. We are simply…
Cosmo: Here to see the fashionable stars who are entering the tournament.
Naru: Cosmo-chan!?!?
Ann: Woah! The real Houjou Cosmo!? What an aura…
Cosmo: You’re entering the tournament, Player? Hm… make sure to use the power of My☆Deco. What kind of stylish show will you show us… I’m cosmically looking forward to seeing it. Laters.
Naru: ...They left.
Ann: Even your rival Houjou Cosmo came to Dreaming Session! Use this opportunity to become even more popular! Well, looks like it’s time to perform. Let’s go to the stage!
Rinne: ...Player… definitely… awaken… wings of courage… Make your heart take flight…
(prism show. Rinnes whole wings stuff is just her telling you to do a prism live)
Naru: Amazing, amazing!!! That was the most sparkly, wonderful show you’ve ever done! You’re amazing, Player-chan!!! ...Wait, huh??? Something’s on your back…
Rinne: ...Your heart’s wings… have awakened…
Ito: Wait, these are… Prism Feathers!?!?
Naru: Player-chan got them in their first tournament because they worked hard and built up their confidence! These Feathers are so pretty… and sparkly… They really suit you!
Cosmo: ...How nice.
Ann: Houjou Cosmo!?!?
Cosmo: That was a very cosmic show. I felt your… fashion power.
Amane: Oh, it seems the results shall be announced shortly.
Yuuhi: I can’t waaaait to find out who won!
Cosmo: “Who won”? You shouldn’t have to wait for the results to know the winner… The most radiant show was… Player’s, right?
Live broadcast: The winner of Dreaming Session is Player-san!!!
Naru: Woah! You really won your first ever tournament!!!
Cosmo: ...Congrats. From now on you’re going to be a lot busier. Why? I’ll tell you when we see each other again. ...Seeya.
Yuuhi: Sayonarabyebye!
Naru: Cosmo-chan knew that you won before the results were announced…
Ito: She’s a really cool girl. Houjou Cosmo, huh…
Ann: Now let’s hurry up and go back to Prism Stone so we can celebrate! What’ll I make~?
(something flashes past)
...zoom…
Ann: ...huh??? Did some green thing… fly past us just now??
Rinne: ...Kappa…
Ann: Kappa!?!?
Momo: Who are you calling a kappa!?!?
Ann: Momo-owner!? Oh, so the kappa was just Momo-owner…
Ito: But… the kappa just now was green…
Ann: Yeah, you’re right… What was that…?
Momo: Who cares about some stupid kappa!? We need to hurry back to the shop for our dessert party!
Ann: I guess you’ve got a point! We need to celebrate Player’s victory and their feathers awakening!
Naru: Yeah! Let’s go!!
Ito: Ahh…
Rinne: ...Player… do you like… kappas?
Ann: Hey, Player! Hurry, hurryyyy!
Rinne: ...take flight… with your wings…
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Watashi to Kanojo no Synesthesia
Synopsis: https://januvatl.tumblr.com/synesthesia
"uu..."
Potsun Potsun.
Kotsun Kotsun.
The noise resounds about the room as though it is trying to cause disorder. (TL note: Cause of her synesthesia)
...I hate the rain.
I've always been bad with the rain.
The rhythm of the raindrops always gives me the feeling as though it is slowly blotting out and corroding my existence. I especially hate it when it is like this, with the sound excessively reverberating about the room.
“Nn...”
On days like this, I will burrow into a futon without fail. Shutting my eyes in the darkness and focusing on the fragrance of the pillow.
The thick futon cuts off the sound, shutting my eyes allows me to disregard the colours, and immersing myself in the smell causes my awareness of the synesthesia to slip away. (TL note: unsure here 匂いに没頭するこ��で音色を意識から外す)
By taking refuge in this futon capsule, I can protect myself from decaying. I won’t survive otherwise.
“...nyafuu”
Lured by the comfort, I spontaneously leaked out a sigh.
…..aa, so warm naa…
Yielding myself to the warmth in an experienced manner, I was just about to properly indulge myself when I feel my body getting shaken from outside. This is obviously an attempt to hinder my sleep. And this hindrance comes with a loud voice as a bonus.
“What are you doing? Fugaku Kisara chan?”
“Why the full name, Rinne Kokone chan”
“No reason in particular. By the way Kisara chan, isn’t this my futon?”
Of course I know that, that’s why I’m enjoying it. My own smell isn’t interesting at all. That’s why Kokone’s is good.
Nevertheless, her voice is as fluffy and sweet as ever. When I hear her slow “orange voice”, I feel super sleepy…
“.....gu”
“Aan Kisara chaaan, please don’t fall asleep?!”
“Ha….This human lullaby music box!!”
“What does that mean!?”
Although I can’t see her face, her expression is bound to be one of extreme bewilderment right now.
Having known her for so long, I can tell this much even without seeing it myself. Yet for the same reason, I also end up knowing stuff I don’t wish to know.
“As for why I’m sleeping….that’s because Kokone is here….”
“Please don’t say such ambiguous words with that look on your face!”
“There’s no evidence of me making that look when I’m completely covered by the futon…”
“I’ve known you for such a long time, of course I can tell what look you have right now!”
Tch. It seems we share the same advantage. With her words and shaking intensifying, my sleepiness was driven away. Reluctantly, I crawled out of the futon.
As light illuminated the room and restored my vision, I grimaced.
“Aa----”
-----The world is so ‘gray’.
An alarm clock with the design of a character popular with girls nowadays, a wardrobe with dresses that are meaninglessly decorated with frills, a dresser littered with cosmetics and a contrastively neat study desk.
Anything and everything reflected upon my eyes are black and white, a monochrome world.
An unpleasant sight isn’t it.
Everything has been completely swallowed up by the rain.
The world before my eyes that’s been devastated by the colour of gray seems as though it is trying to break me apart.
“Good morninggg, Kisara chan”
In this world of gray, only Kokone has a vibrant colour.
Soft and full lips the colour of sakura, sleepy looking softly drooping blue eyes and a smile that gives off a fluffy feeling like cotton candy.
Her fluffy and wavy blond hair extends past her shoulders, and shakes with the tilting of her head as though it is dancing.
Good complexion, a gentle vibe, sufficiently bulging soft looking chest, and a cute dress with many frills.
From top to toe, a complete bishoujo. (TL note: pretty girl) Flawless beauty as though she is a well made french doll.
The girl before my eyes, fluffy and extremely adorable is completely different from me, with my pallid skin, nasty expression and flat chest.
The difference in girl power is evident. She stands on the opposite end of the spectrum, with her unmatched beauty.
Without any feeling of envy, I called out to her.
“Morning, Kokone….do you need something?”
“No no, that’s my line….why are you in my futon?” (TL note: Kokone uses “boku” to refer to herself which is less feminine compared to “watashi” that Kisara and most girls use)
“I thought you knew but….I hate the rain. That’s why I was in your futon to block my sight, hearing and smell.”
“Somehow the last one seems new...ehehe”
Breaking out a smile like soft boiled eggs once again, Kokone laughed. (TL note: Don’t ask me why orz 半熟の卵みたいな笑顔)
A sweet smile that seems to have plenty of sugar added in. A warm orange-coloured laughter that sounds like birds chirping-----
“------upu”
“Kisara chan?”
“Sorry, I feel sick….”
“....again?”
Orange mixed with a little blue , the result of worry added to amazement.
Her “voice” paints over the gray colour, and it really does put me at ease. However, my mind can’t handle the sudden change to the world, making me nauseous.
…..A troublesome body, same as ever.
My legs got tangled but Kokone caught me and I somehow managed to avoid falling down.
In my current posture, while thinking to myself that the black hair that entered my field of vision looks so gloomy, I shake my head.
“Are you alright?”
“Un...thanks Kokone”
While wringing out a word of gratitude, a single word comes to mind.
…..’Synesthesia’
The triggering of a different sense organ in response to a stimulus. For example, seeing the colour red and getting the feeling pain. For example, eating something sweet and getting the feeling of a round shape. For example-----hearing the sound of rain and seeing the colour gray.
“.....too much gray”
Even amongst those with this condition, mine is special. Due to extreme sensitivity, it’s at the extent of overwhelming my very soul.
The sound of rain, the sound of thunder and even human voices-----they swallow up my heart, the sight before my eyes.
The type of synesthesia where sound invokes a colour is known as ‘Chromesthesia’, while it seems that many who suffer from this have perfect pitch, I do not have such an ability.
It’s just that I hear colours.
It’s just unpleasant.
It’s just that.
“Kokone…..speak, continue….let me hear your voice….?”
Imploring, entreating her.
The only one I can rely on now is her.
Even my own voice is a muddy blue----as though I’m drowning.
While gathering up Kokone’s soft, fluffy hair and fragrance as well as embracing her, I called out to her.
“Nee, Kokone...please….”
“U--n…..if you give out more sweetness, I’ll think about it ♪”
“Fuyu?!” (TL note: Probably short for fuyukai desu, Kyoukai no kanata’s Kuriyama Mirai catch phrase. It means unpleasant.)
“The current Kisara chan is so sweet….just a little more, okay..?”
“U,uu….”
I give up.
As seen, this is her shortcoming.
The current voice, a transparent orange colour----truthfully and seriously so.
I am feeding her synesthesia.
Kokone’s synesthesia is “Lexical-gustatory synesthesia” (TL note: sound to taste).
To her, all sounds are food.
Every sound is able to trigger her sense of taste.
In other words, to her, hearing is the equivalent of eating.
“....Kokone”
“Eeh~ The current voice is bitter~ Are you making fun of me, Kisara chan?”
Narrowing her deep blue eyes, her voice drops by one octave.
Even without relying on the colour of red I feel, it’s evident that she’s discontented.
“Y, you don’t have to get mad with that super red tone of voice! Don’t you normally like eating this voice as well?!”
Kokone and I differ in that she doesn’t have like nor dislike any sounds. She’ll eat all sounds with relish.
In comparison, I get sick from hearing stuff, with the exception of a certain range of sound.
One who’s a glutton for sound and one who’s weak to them. That’s how the two of us are like.
“Kisara chan’s normal voice has a tasty bitterness, the sound of rain has a sweet cider-like taste but….for now, I want to hear Kisara chan’s sweet voice…?”
“The rain has a cider taste….I imagined it to a more water-like taste though.”
“Ki~sa~ra~cha~n~?”
Changing the topic to delay things was my plan but it didn’t work.
The colour I feel from the voice has left from the red zone and has the colour of black mixed in.
That which I hate most, black sounds.
“Hik….”
“Ah...sorry, Kisara chan.”
“Th, this, glutton devil….baka….gusu…”
“Ah, this verbal abuse, the bittersweetness is delicious….”
“.....the worst”
I’m really frightened over here yet she’s in ecstasy over my voice. Really the worst.
But, this is why Kokone----there is a balance, and we are together like this.
Her gluttony is dangerous.
That’s why my existence is necessary.
I am terribly unstable.
That’s why her existence is necessary.
She will nibble at even screams and killing intent.
Should she feel inclined to-------the thought ’wanna eat’ entering her mind, she may end up hurting someone. Kokone stays true to her appetite, making her all the more dangerous.
In comparison, I dread both screams and killing intent.
Voices filled with negative emotions have always seemed to be like the pitch black colour of the bottom of wells.
Hence I act as Kokone’s restraints, and in compensation, I receive her pure-----transparent desire-filled voice.
This is our abnormal relationship.
Codependence----abnormal codependence.
Synesthesia----abnormal senses.
Duet---abnormal sonata. (TL note: 共奏曲で――狂奏曲。 Help D:)
“....♪”
I hear a song.
While being embraced tightly by Kokone, I hear a humming next to my ears.
“Nn”
Her breath brushes against my ear----
“Ha, a…..”
-----The world is trembling with brilliance.
Her singing is adding colour to the world.
Painting out the gray, swallowing it completely.
The colours of the world are increasing, becoming vibrant.
“Nn...Kokone”
I called her.
My voice is a sakura colour mixed with blue.
Proof that this is the only way for me to get some peace of mind.
A colour that Kokone would feel sweet.
“....♪”
With sweetness acting as fuel, her humming got louder, releasing vivid colours.
Tempo changes and vibrato, every time ‘shakuri’ and ‘kobushi’ takes place, the scenery becomes ever more vivid and beautiful. A magic-like transformation.
(TL note: テンポの変化やビブラート、『しゃくり』や『こぶし』が起きるたびに、景色はより鮮やかに、美しくなる. Are shakuri 『しゃくり』 and kobushi 『こぶし』 musical terms?)
More.
I want to see more.
“Nn, Kokone….please, more----”
----Give me more of this beautiful world.
Fill my heart up with colours.
Since I will sate your appetite as well.
Let your voice resound more.
In this manner of painting out the rain, continue humming.
◇◆◇
“Nn….Kokone, I’m alright now…”
The sound of rain can still be heard.
While the sight of raindrops striking the window still brings about a feeling of depression, it is now way way better.
In front of the monochrome filter, I believe a beautiful world has spread out.
So I raise my head, in this grey world, for the sake of living.
“Ehh~ I still want a little more~?”
While shaking her hair and frills, Kokone tilted her head.
Truly a glutton, this troublesome girl.
“It’s fine to eat sounds, but you have to properly eat your meals as well.”
Synesthesia is after all just a sensory input.
While sound can stimulate her palate, it can neither fill up her stomach nor can it provide nourishment.
At the end of the day, her synesthesia is only just a linking of senses.
For the sake of living, she has to eat actual food.
My existence is also to ensure that she eats actual food that she is indifferent to.
“Che. Alright….It’s fine if I properly eat my meal righttt?
“Yeah. I understand that you dislike it….but you have to eat, okay?
The reason Kokone doesn’t like eating actual food is because of the sound of eating. Chewing, swallowing, and scraping of cutlery, the cacophony of such sounds evokes different tastes.
Even when she eats chocolate, the sound of chewing triggers a different taste due to synesthesia. This causes mayhem in her mind it seems.
Even so, she gave a nod to my words.
Despite the reluctance, she agreed with the movement of her head.
This is why I move for her sake.
In this colourless world.
“Ne….is there anything you wanna eat?”
For the sake of seeing her warm voice colours.
It might be unusual, but it’s mutual.
We, are together for the sake of sharing sounds.
◇◆◇
“Kisara chan, this tamagoyaki is salty…” (TL note: rolled omelette that’s supposed to be sweet)
“....That’s because of the synesthesia. Eating something changes the taste.”
“Ueeeh~, really…?”
“Really. Really really….uwa, what’s this saltiness. Super nasty”
“It leaked out! Something incredible just leaked out!!”
----It seems the world I wish for is still quite far off.
#syosetsu#yuri#synesthesia#watashi to kanojo no synesthesia#heartwarming#one-shot#short story#translated novel
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Summer Preview 2018!
New Post has been published on https://animeindo.org/blog/2018/07/01/summer-preview-2018/
Summer Preview 2018!
After a scorcher of a spring (and an unusual delay in the previewing process—sorry about that), the summer season is looking down right sleepy. Are anime studios trying to get people to go out into the sticky Tokyo summers? Those monsters! Fortunately there are a few stars lurking amid the sleepers, which means outside activity will not be required. Some of the biggest headliners are hotly-anticipated sequels, from the split-cour continuation of the lich conquering hero protagonist of Overlord III, the return of the glistening swimming boys of Free! -Dive to the Future-, the final season of Gintama, and the third season of the world-shattering hit Shingeki no Kyojin. There are plenty of promising new adaptations as well, such as the crime thriller set in 1980s New York City BANANA FISH, adaptations of the acclaimed Front Wing visual novel ISLAND, the supernatural comedy romance Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san, and a look at the more, uh, dedicated side of love with Happy Sugar Life. There are fewer originals, but I’m keeping my eye on several, including the absolutely bonkers Planet With, a supernatural stint with pretty boys in London in Phantom in the Twilight, and the other anime with jaegers and vampires by the name of Sirius the Jaeger. There’s always more anime to watch, so join us as we tell you all about it. This is the Random Curiosity Summer 2018 Preview!
This season we’ll continue using the Excitement Levels we introduced last year. Don’t recall why? Because trying to anticipate how a show is going to turn out is a fool’s errand, but we can definitely tell you how excited we are! Just remember that these levels reflect our own subjective excitement for each show, and do not necessarily reflect how each will pan out. For more information, check out the Overall Impressions section at the bottom, which includes an expanded explanation of each category and a list of all shows by excitement level.
Disclaimer: Back in ye olde year of 2012—which is practically ancient history now—previews were done by a single writer, Divine. Since none of the current writers are bonkers enough to take time off of work and/or school to solo this thing, we’ve divided everything up among our staff (Choya, Guardian Enzo, Pancakes, Passerby, Stilts, Takaii, Zaiden, and Zephyr) in order to maintain the quality of this preview. We will try to point out what appeals to us in each series, in the hope that it will help you determine if it coincides with your tastes.
Disclaimer #2: Please note that this list does not reflect all the series airing this coming season. It is meant to be as comprehensive as possible, but omissions have been made for shows that stray from the anime norm or seem to be oriented toward young children. Please check out MOON PHASE for complete listings, syoboi for specific air times, and Fansub DB for a list of potential sources for each series.
I’d also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the entire Random Curiosity crew for working together to finish this preview. This past season has been rocky for everyone, and we ran into several unexpected roadblocks while working on this post that were the cause of its horrific lateness (sorry!), but everyone banded together to get it done. I love you all, and you rock. Special thanks go to Xumbra for encoding the PVs; Zephyr for doing early prep work; Stilts (that’s me!) for editing, people wrangling, and formatting; Cherrie for doing the rest of the formatting, links, and etc; Passerby for proofreading and the shorts section; Takaii for gathering the images; and Zaiden and Pancakes for being swiss army minions who jumped on any extra tasks that were needed last minute. Also, thanks to everyone who wrote previews, which was most of us. For a more Enzo-centric point of view, give a gander to the LiA summer preview for a second opinion on many of these shows.
Finally, thank you to all of you, the readers and community of Random Curiosity. Thank you for sticking with us when the site went down, thanks for having patience while we were working on this preview, and thank to everyone who keeps coming back, even amid the doldrums of the mid-season views/comments slump. We really appreciate everyone who stops by to read, no matter how infrequently, but those who drop by during a sleepy week of episode sevens surely do boost our spirits something extra. We wouldn’t keep doing this if it wasn’t fun, and it’s fun because of you, so thank you, thank you, thank you. Now, on to the anime!
Technical Note: The chart below is ordered by the date and time that the shows premiere. The links in the schedule will take you to a series’ corresponding entry and the “Top” links on the right will bring you back. You can also use the back/forward buttons in your browser to jump between links you’ve clicked. All times are given in a 24-hour, relative-day format where times are extended to show which day they belong to. For instance, Friday morning at 1:30AM would become Thursday at 25:30 to show that the episode aired late Thursday night.
Preview by Takaii
Based off one of the longest running manga out there, Baki returns to the small screen via Netflix with a new 26-episode adaptation revolving around the “Most Evil Death Row Convicts” arc from the manga. An arc that, as the name implies, involves some of the deadliest people on the planet who have reached the point of being so powerful they’re trying to die. Which is why when it’s revealed that the star of the show, Hanma Baki (Shimazaki Nobunaga), is training to be stronger than the Strongest Man in the World (his dad), these deadly convicts take this opportunity to travel to Tokyo to challenge Baki in hopes that he’ll be able to completely and utterly destroy them. And when you have the world’s deadliest convicts coming for you, you’ll need a group of friends to watch your back, which luckily Baki has from his travels in the underground fighting scene. Together Baki and his friends will band together to take on these foes with their lives on the line.
I have mixed feelings about Baki. On one hand it has a really unique aesthetic that gives off JoJo vibes but, once you get past the cool factor of insanely skilled buff dudes fighting each other, is there enough substance to keep things interesting? That said, I think action fans and people looking for a fun time of watching insanely strong fighters beat the living crap out of each other will be in for a surprise. For Baki, I think its success will revolve around just how well its showrunners are able to adapt its premise from manga to anime. Luckily, with 26 episodes to work with and a plethora of source material to supplement everything that’s going on, it feels like this series has a lot of good things going for it. Even if the art style isn’t your thing (I wasn’t loving it at first either), Baki might be something to keep on your radar for some unexpected fun.
Watching This: Takaii, Zephyr Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Zephyr
From studio feel. comes an adaptation of the Front Wing visual novel Island. Set on an island called Urashima, the story revolves around a series of misfortunes which have led the island to cut off all contact with the mainland. As Urashima falls into decline due to an unwillingness to abandon tradition and a suspicion of the mainland as the origin of a mysterious disease, a lone man washes ashore. Claiming to be from the future, Setsuna’s (Suzuki Tatsuhisa) arrival creates a stir as the island’s inhabitants recall a local legend telling of a tragic love between a boy named Setsuna and a girl named Rinne. With his arrival, individuals with both names are now on the island, making others wonder about the legend’s significance and the role the daughters of the Urashima’s three great families will play in saving the island. Kawaguchi Keiichiro (Hayate no Gotoku!, Minami-ke Tadaima) will direct the series and Arakawa Naruhisa (Outbreak Company, Sousei no Onmyouji) will handle series composition.
Following in the footsteps of the award winning Grisaia franchise, Island is the most recent Front Wing work to receive an adaptation, as well as an official English release of its source material. While I haven’t had the chance to read the visual novel yet, the general reception seems to be good and the fact that they’re taking a chance by releasing it in English without using Kickstarter hints at a novel they feel will succeed on its own merits. A well-received source doesn’t always translate into a good adaptation, however, and I worry whether Island will suffer from the same issues the Grisaia adaptations had early on, given that Island is similarly lengthy (30-50 hours to complete). I’m optimistic given the staff’s experience and the source’s reception, but with the visual novel’s English release coinciding with the anime, there is an alternative to consider if you want the full experience as originally intended.
Watching This: Choya, Guardian Enzo, Pancakes, Passerby, Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: High
Preview by Takaii
Badminton fans, rejoice! Hanebado! is a new sports show devoted to demonstrating just how amazing a sport badminton really is. The setup is simple. Enthusiastic high school badminton coach Tachibana Kentarou (Okamoto Nobuhiko) ends up in a sticky situation where his new team dwindles to just a few members. With his back against the wall and the future of his new team (and career) at stake, he has a chance encounter with a student named Hanesaki Ayano (Ohwada Hitomi). A girl who, though at first glance you would never guess, has the physical skill and aptitude of an Olympian. With the key to saving the badminton team in sight, Kentarou tries his best to convince Ayano to join, only to be constantly shot down. However, with a once in a lifetime athlete right in front of him Kentarou refuses to give up, and inadvertently gets the ball rolling when he tricks Ayano into accompanying him and the team to a training camp.
Hanebado! is definitely a tough series for me to pick apart since there are so many things that I both love and hate about it. When it comes to sports anime, I have fairly easy to satisfy requirements: fun and memorable characters, a story that integrates something more than just the journey to the finals, and a shtick or two that you can only do with whatever sport you’re focused on. In Hanebado’s case though, there’s this strange vibe about it that doesn’t pull me in like other shows have, the biggest of which has to be coach Tachibana’s extreme drive to get Ayano to join the team. Unlike other shows where a surprise star player appears to help the team kick things into gear, Hanebado is odd in that it disregards all of its other players in favor of making Ayano feel like this mythical creature that they must have to find success. Sure, as we make our way through the first few chapters of the source material the characters realize that people are people and not URs in a game, but even then it feels like there’s a certain human element missing. That said, I’m hoping the transition from manga to anime means the material can be tweaked to sell the stronger points of the story while downplaying all the negatives. If you’re looking for a badminton show that has a fun group of characters, you won’t go wrong taking a peek at Hanebado.
Watching This: Choya, Takaii, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Pancakes
After a devastating nuclear war left the world completely ruined, humanity came together and united through the efforts of the World Government. Sweeping away the ashes of the old, the World Government helped rebuild society, but in the process stripped away all semblance of freedom, regulating down to the smallest of actions and banning personal ownership of any and all weapons. Such tyrannical rule, however, is not without its critics, with a small resistance group called the Kijuushi emerging to fight back and recover humanity’s freedom. Arming themselves with antique guns left behind as art, these fighters inherit the “spirit” of their weapons during battle, becoming incarnations of the very guns they now valiantly wield. The Kijuushi don’t know if this power and their determination will be enough to prevail in their struggle, but they will do whatever it takes to see their mission through.
At face value Senjuushi is a funny one to look at. Based on the mobile game of the same name, this one is an eclectic mix of post-apocalypse shenanigans and Upotte-esque anthropomorphism which runs Enlightenment aesthetics and an all-male cast against a backdrop of authoritarian dystopia. Or in other words, SukaSuka without the fantasy-romance. Especially the romance. Given Senjuushi’s mobile game origins and the quality of similar adaptations, it’s a total crapshoot what manner of story we wind up with, but with a unique military flair and a largely dark plot, the show easily has all the pieces needed to truly surprise. It’d be best to hedge bets as to any dark horse proclamations, but if Senjuushi can stick to seriousness and minimize the structural flaws plaguing similar series like Norn9, it stands a good chance at being one of this season’s more unique fantasy offerings.
Watching This: Pancakes Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Stilts
Back Street Girls is the story of three young yakuza who screw up big, causing their boss to lose millions. Normally said yakuza would have their fingers chopped off, but he decides to have mercy on them since that wouldn’t bring back his money anyway. Instead he gives them a choice: become idols or die. With the decision quickly made, the three men are sent to Thailand for sex reassignment surgery and are promoted as an idol group. Back Street Girls follows the men girls of Gokudolls Nijigumi as they navigate their (unexpectedly successful) careers while trying to hide their true identities from their fans, as well as battle the frustration they feel at having to live two lives they never wanted, both on and off stage.
This is another of those shows that make you say, “Only in anime!” The idea is absurd, but it’s the presentation that will determine whether you want to watch this. First, check out the promo videos. The animation is atypical, and has more in common with a grimy yakuza comic than a slick anime, idol-based or otherwise. The switching between male and female seiyuu for the main characters leads to some fun, though the entire premise has this aura of such depressing frustration and dread that—well, your mileage may vary. It’s a comedy, after all, so what tickles your tongue is unique to you. The main characters are hapless and depressed, but easily riled up and quickly led astray. It’s a heady mixture, and I can’t think of anything else quite like it. Other stories where characters are unwillingly genderbent usually plumb the premise for drama, for the idea is anxiety-inducing to many. Back Street Girls goes in for dark humor instead, so whether you’re on board for that sort of ride is up to you.
Watching This: Choya, Passerby Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Zaiden
You might have heard about Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, the story of an unlucky man who found himself gambling in life-and-death games aboard an illegal cruise ship. Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa is an off-shoot of Kaiji’s dark adventures, focusing on Tonegawa Yukio (Morikawa Toshiyuki), a middle manager who works at the evil whims of business magnate Kazutaka Hyoudou (Tsukayama Masane). In this precursor to the events of Kaiji, Hyoudou is an extremely wealthy individual who enjoys preying on desperate debt-ridden individuals, and orders Tonegawa to set up secret death games involving these unfortunate victims. Despite the morally objectionable nature of such a task, Tonegawa must now collaborate with his subordinates to create these death games, in order to keep the president in a good mood. Otherwise, considering the volatile and sadistic temperament of Hyoudou, the kind of retribution they might receive would be nigh unimaginable.
Madhouse takes charge and have reunited with veteran director Sato Yuzu to continue their work on the Kaiji franchise. However, we should pay particular attention to the original mangaka. I’d highly encourage those who are put off by the art style to give this a chance, because any work by FKMT has substantial depth in its relentless cynicism, which typically levies scathing commentary on the state of society. Fukumoto Nobuyuki (affectionately known as FKMT) takes a back seat as a creative influence this time around, leaving most of the story to his successor, Hagiwara Tensei. Consequently there will be a difference in tone compared with other FKMT works, although the dark humour remains ever-present, alongside the distinctive art style. If it continues along similar lines to FKMT’s previous works, this series won’t be for the faint of heart, as it will strive to showcase the worst in humanity. People get horrifically betrayed to their dooms, greed rules beyond ordinary comprehension, and some individuals take warped delight in seeing people cry and beg for their lives. Pretty disturbing to say the least. But if this is something you can stomach, Tonegawa’s adventures may prove a morbidly engrossing account that keeps you at the edge of your seat.
Watching This: Zaiden Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Zaiden
The pectorals of young men glisten to the symphony of youth, gleaming with a wet masculine charm, just as they’re about to dive into the swimming pool. That’s right, our boys in speedos are back, and who isn’t excited for Free’s triumphant return? Dive to the Future looks to continue the story of Iwatobi Swim Club’s members: Nanase Haruka (Shimazaki Nobunaga), Tachibana Makoto (Tatsuhisa Suzuki), Hazuki Nagasaki (Yonaga Tsubasa), and Ryuugazaki Rei (Hirakawa Daisuke). Of course, things are never complete without Matsuoka Rin (Miyano Mamoru), Haruka’s eternal friend and rival where swimming is concerned. Join the group on their journey of self-discovery and friendship through the wonderful world of competitive swimming!
There is very little to be gleaned from the visuals and trailers for this sequel, with KyoAni guarding against any leaks that could be considered spoilers. However, it seems apparent that many new characters will be introduced, which suggests a far greater focus on the competitive aspect than ever. As a guy who watched Free! for the competitive swimming, and who felt really invested in the narrative of Haruka vs Rin from the first season, this is exactly what I want from the series. Also, there is absolutely no doubting that KyoAni will put up a visual stunner for everybody to enjoy, even if the content is not to your taste. If you’re new to this series and it caught your interest, I highly recommend marathoning the first two seasons, as well as the movies. But it will be important to note that Utsumi Hiroko left KyoAni after directing both seasons of Free!, which means that the third season will be helmed by another. She’ll be replaced by Kawanami Eisaku, a veteran who directed the Free! movies Take Your Marks, Timeless Medley, and Starting Days. Whether he can live up to his directorial predecessor is one thing, but I’m sure Free!’s loyal fanbase will love this third season no matter what. All that’s left is to wait and see the exact kind of future we’ll be diving into!
Watching This: Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: High
Preview by Choya
A beautiful girl from Italy named Euphrosyne (Hayami Saori) had been zombified and kept in the basement of a university building for one hundred years. One day during summer vacation, six undergraduate college students accidentally disturb her slumber and steal the “Secret Stone” which maintains her body’s integrity. After they run away, a maid named Alma (Ogura Yui) confronts Euphrosyne to tell her to kill the six students to regain the stone. But as she starts to kill the students, she encounters unexpected counterattacks from them.
Much like Euphrosyne, this series had quite the slumber itself. It was the year 2012, when Kadokawa originally announced the anime adaptation in June and streamed a promotional video a month later. Since then, no new information about the series came out until April 2018, when this anime adaptation was announced for the summer season. Studios Stingray and Gonzo share double-duty as they produce the newly re-announced anime. The story sounds unique as Euphrosyne goes on a violent, dark, and comical—yes, comical—manhunt against college students that rustle through her belongings and wake her up. The set-up is akin to many slasher films, yet the focus on Euphrosyne gives us the chance to see it unfold from her perspective as she must kill her way toward the path to her own survival.
Watching This: Choya Excitement Level: Limited
Preview by Stilts
Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san is the story of a boy who looks like a girl, and a slightly perverted woman with huge boobs. Shiina Aki (Kitamura Eri) is the boy; back home he was constantly treated like a girl due to his feminine looks, so he decided to move to Tokyo for middle school to change himself. Sunohara Ayaka (Satou Rina) is the woman; she’s the kindhearted caretaker of the dorm. Add in the three female members of Aki’s school’s student council who are also living there, and Ayaka’s busty little sister, and the liquor store owner, and Aki’s older sister, and others, and it looks like Aki is going to have a lively time in his new Tokyo life with the girls of Sunohara-sou.
This is a fun little manga, all the chapters I read were charming, goofy, and made me smile, but the killer selling point is the anime’s staff. I don’t usually focus too much on the studio in charge of production, because it doesn’t matter as much as you think, but combine Silver Link’s house animation style with a bevy of talented, experienced, and just damn damn good staff members with a history working at Silver Link (that helps), and that’s a recipe for success. Oonuma Shin is the chief director. Shimo Fumihiko is on series composition, and just stop and look at his resume right there! I needn’t go on, and I shan’t, save to say that everyone has worked on comedies, romantic comedies, and/or Silver Link productions I highly enjoyed, and for many of them Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya is among that list, which means they’ve worked together as well. Add on a solid source material, luscious animation, and a great seiyuu cast, and I see all sorts of reasons to get hyped up. But of course, this is still a creature of its genre, and I don’t expect it to subvert our expectations and become the next trope-shattering apple of critics’ eyes. I do expect it to execute on the source material faithfully, though. I’m looking forward to this one, and I hope you’ll join me when it premieres as well.
Watching This: Choya, Guardian Enzo, Passerby, Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Stilts
In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Sakamoto Takuma (Mizunaka Masaaki) was known as the Demon King due to his overwhelming power, equipment, and skill. Offline he was less impressive, as a NEET with crippling social anxieties and a deep hatred for riajuu (normies), but that’s neither here nor there. In game he was unparalleled—until one day he was summoned to another world with the exact appearance of the game. There, he meets elf Shera L Greenwood (Serizawa Yuu) and pantherian Rem Galleu (Waki Azumi), who both claim to be his real summoner. Takuma is targeted by enslavement magic—but it backfires! His Magic Reflection ring activates, and the two girls are turned into his slaves instead. Now Takuma, in the guise of Diablo, is in a world where he possesses unparalleled power, but he doesn’t have any social skills to speak of. In a panic for how to talk to a real girl, he falls back on the only thing he knows how to do: act the like the Demon King he roleplayed in the game! this is the story of the Demon King (acting) that would soon inspire the world, and his adventures as he takes the alternate world by storm with his absolute strength!
Here’s your isekai light novel adaptation of the season. That might sound dismissive, and it’s true that if you’re skeptical of isekai stories you’re probably not going to be won over by this one, because the parts of the source material I read were rife with the usual tropes. The key to a good isekai story, though, is to lean into the wish fulfillment while making the main character not feel like an insufferable Gary Stu, even if they have the power of one. It’s not easy, but series like Death March show it’s possible by focusing on different elements. Here it’s the Demon King roleplay, where Takuma/Diablo becomes trapped in his persona because he doesn’t know how to operate without it, and the whole setup would be totally depressing if he wasn’t also really powerful while being constitutionally unable to exploit people with his power most of the time. Also the promos show off a whole bunch of ecchi, so it has that going for it. My feeling is that this won’t rock the world, but the animation is nice, the story is undemanding, and series composer Fudeyasu Kazuyuki has one helluva resume. Maybe it won’t light the world on fire, but it could be a fun little story. If you’re predisposed to isekai stories, nothing I’ve seen so far should dissuade you from giving this a watch.
Watching This: Pancakes, Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Zaiden
The Heroine (Kimura Haruka) is your average girl, who randomly receives an invitation to become the princess of a world powered by energy generated from the dreams of its inhabitants. One day, the dream world is attacked by a dream eater, sending many princes into a catatonic state. Haruka must now rescue their dreams in order to wake them up. Let’s accompany the heroine on her adventure to save the princes and prevent the dream world from being destroyed by the malevolent dream eater!
As of now there is no detail on the production team aside from the entirely novice studio GCREST in charge, so I’ll have to sell you the premise based off its source material. Yume Oukoku to Nemureru 100-nin no Ouji-sama is a smartphone puzzle role-playing game that has the manservice dialed up way past 11 as a way of enticing its female demographic. Seeing how it ranked as Japan’s 15th favourite game in the Otamart poll at the end of 2017, I would say it did a pretty good job of meeting that goal. To give you an idea of what it features, demon princes are chained up in shirtless glory, while having a tendency to blush if you take the time to appreciate their exquisite physique. Might I also add that there’s a shota witch, and even a splendid tsundere snow prince? Sounds too good to be true. Fujoshis from all over the world must be delighted with this summer entry, and whether your best boy made it or not should be somewhat alleviated by the good selection you’ll still have to choose from. As they say, different strokes for different folks.
Watching This: No one yet Excitement Level: Limited
Preview by Passerby
1985, New York City. A series of puzzling suicides are baffling the NYPD. But down in the Bronx it is not the law that holds sway, but crime, and mafioso Papa Dino Golzine (Ishizuka Unshou) rules. He is intent on killing off any investigation into these suicides for good, literally, being quite comfortable with murdering whomever pokes their nose into this suspicious business. This heavy-handedness piques the curiosity of Papa Dino’s 17-year-old adopted son and charismatic gang leader Ash (Uchida Yuuma), especially when he is given a vial of a mysterious substance and an address in the dying breaths of one of the syndicate’s latest victims. Pieces start to fall into place when Ash comes across Okumura Eiji (Nojima Kenji), a Japanese photojournalist assisting on a piece on New York’s street gangs. Perhaps the suicides are related to a story from the Vietnam war. Towards the end of the war, one American soldier had gone mad, gunned down his buddies, and then fallen comatose. In brief moments of consciousness he can be heard muttering one thing to himself, over and over: ‘banana fish’.
Banana Fish is based on a manga of the same name by Yoshida Akimi, and boy is it old. 33 years old. That means that it’s from a time when a manga can be considered ‘shoujo’ just because there are gay men in it. Perhaps things aren’t much different now and a target demographic is a target demographic, but don’t be so quick to pigeonhole Banana Fish. At its core it’s a hard-boiled crime drama with a gritty, twisting plot that will keep you gripped. Sure, the cast is basically all male and Free! director Utsumi Hiroko is heading the project, but overall it should be a show with wide appeal. It could well carry itself by quality alone; in addition to the director, we have the accomplished Seko Hiroshi on series composition, and animation studio MAPPA has been doing lots of excellent work. If all else fails, it’s a mature story set in 80s New York City, which is rare enough to stand out. All in all, with all the good things that have been lined up, this is a perfect season for Banana Fish.
Watching This: Guardian Enzo, Passerby, Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: High
Preview by Pancakes
In the modern world there existed a widely popular MMORPG called Union, and in it a famous party named Subaru. Composed of a bunch of elementary school friends, Subaru did what no one else could, pushing boundaries and exceeding game limits by taking advantage of Union’s unique “Sense” system. At least, until catastrophe struck. After Subaru member Kuga Asahi (Omori Nichika) died while inside the game, Union was shut down and the remaining Subaru members drifted apart. For Subaru’s vanguard Amou Haruto (Takanashi Tengo), this proved devastating, and he spiraled into a six year state of depression which only ends when a classmate convinces him to try Reunion, Union’s rebooted sequel. Reunion, though, winds up being more than simple rehabilitation when Haruto stumbles across Asahi in the game world. Shocked, confused, and more than a little dubious, Haruto doesn’t know whether to believe his eyes, but with Asahi before him once again, he’s determined to find out what’s really going on.
You like alternate worlds? You like mystery? Want more than simple save the world? Well boys and girls, Shichisei no Subaru has you covered. Compared to the recent wave of similar series, SnS takes its thematic cues from .hack and AnoHana, effectively offering up an alternate world murder mystery complete with personal struggles, dealing with regrets, and more than a little drama. It’s your tried and true character-driven story, meaning the game world and its mechanics will play second fiddle to the trials, tribulations, and love triangles of the Subaru cast. SnS’s writing will naturally determine how well it works in practice, but with the talented Yoshioka Takao handling the series composition and Lerche having a good deal of fantasy adaptation experience, a train wreck is probably not on the cards. It may be too soon to bet on it rising to the level of Re:Zero and company, but if there’s one alternate world story to pay attention to this season, this is it.
Watching This: Pancakes, Zephyr Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Choya
Based on the episodic psycho horror adventure game also known as “Angels of Death”, the premise focuses on Rachel Gardener (Chisuga Haruka), a young girl who wakes up in the basement of an abandoned building. Without any memories of what happened to her or where she is, she wanders the building, dazed and lost. That is, until she encounters a sickle-wielding murderer covered in bandages named Zack (Okamoto Nobuhiko). Although they are initially adversaries and they only form a bond based on a strange promise they made with each other, Rachel eventually finds herself learning more about her own identity as the two unravel the secrets behind their imprisonment.
There’s something special about a property that can go from being a freeware game made on RPG Maker to becoming a full-on franchise that is highly inspiring. It’s easy to get a soft spot for indie horror games like this series, where you can create genuinely creepy imagery in a game made by a handful of people with easy assets and talented writing, so it must be exciting to have been involved with the original and see it blossom into an anime series with a high-profile studio and seiyuu lending their talents to the work. It’ll also be fun to see how the anime adapts the story, as the game thrives on the unnerving feeling of diving deeper into the building to witness one terrifying, trippy scenario after another with every new secret revealed. The trailer has an edgy atmosphere to it, but its indie horror cred gives it an eccentric, quirky vibe that is bound to bring a far more amusing and freaky experience to this anime.
Watching This: Choya, Passerby, Zephyr Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Takaii
In a world where there’s an anime for just about every sport, in comes Harukana Receive, a new beach volleyball anime that’s going to tackle the intricacies of playing a high-intensity sport on sand with only a third of the players you typically have in a regular volleyball match. For those out of the loop, beach volleyball has a vastly different playstyle compared to indoors volleyball. With a total of four people on the court (two per team), the matches have a different feeling as the players not only compete against each other but the elements themselves. From constantly changing wind speeds to the sand shifting under their feet, it’s almost like you’re watching an entirely different sport.
In Harukana Receive’s case, the story revolves around Oozora Haruka (Yuuki Kana), a second year high school student who has just moved to Okinawa, and her cousin Higa Kanata (Miyashita Saki), who is also a second year student. The two end up becoming partners and play beach volleyball together after Haruka unintentionally takes on a challenge from the current high school national champions. All of which might sound like a pretty standard setup for a sports show, but let me dive into a few points that might help turn your mind around. Just like every other successful sports anime, Harukana Receive understands that it takes more than great “action” moments to grasp a viewer, and there’s a lot of supplemental material to help you learn to love and/or hate characters. One big selling point is the focus on not being the right size for what you want to do. Be it the struggles of being tall and unable to find clothes and shoes, or being shorter and constantly worrying that you’re bringing your partner down due to your physical limitations, the human element thrown into the mix is definitely one we see quite a lot of. The other huge factor (at least for me) is how a show looks and based off of the PVs, and it looks beautiful. From the thickness of the lines to the choice of how eyes are stylized, all the way down to the sound effects whenever a volleyball is smacked—this show will, if nothing else, be fun to watch. All-in-all, this is shaping up to be a great looking sports show that has a lot more than just eye-candy going for it.
Watching This: Choya, Stilts, Takaii, Zephyr Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Takaii
Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro is a wild show that revolves around our titular character Miyamo Chio (Oozora Naomi), who without a doubt will end up in some kind of wild situation on her way to school. With each day starting out pretty rough, since she tends to stay up way too late playing computer games, it’s not atypical to find Chio trying to parkour her way around town à la Assassin’s Creed or roughing up a tough biker dude in order to show him how to get back on the straight and narrow. That said, Chio has one major weakness and it’s her need to not draw the attention of others. So when it comes to things that you and I take for granted, like interacting with another human being, Chio ends up doing the wildest things to try (usually in vain) to stay hidden.
In a nutshell, Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro is kind of like the realization of the fantasy anyone who’s ever commuted to school has had. A fantasy where you wish your everyday mundane walk or ride to school could turn into something so much more than just simply … going to school. Instead of just letting societal norms, life, or even reality boss you around, you look any of the three straight in the eyes and tell them that you’re about to do your own thing since you refuse to be late. Honestly, I’m not quite sure how the source material did it, but there’s so much charm oozing from this one that I can’t wait to see it come to life. No matter who’s watching, you’ll be able to see some part of yourself in Chio since she’s such a well fleshed out character. Be it regretting staying up late playing games, being unable to mingle with others because of your social anxiety, or wondering whether or not you’d be able to punk out a rough looking guy because you’ve committed to your act, there’s something for just about anyone here who’s looking for a fun time out of a show that’s managed to take something we’ve all done before and enhanced it through the power of the medium its being adapted to. If you’ve been looking for a comedy that’s a little different from your typical fare, Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro is definitely for you!
Watching This: Choya, Passerby, Takaii, Zephyr Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Stilts
Ongaku Shoujo follows the titular 11-member idol unit organized under Pine Records. Despite abysmal sales numbers, producer Ikebashi and the girls are trying their best to up their game. They decide what Ongaku Shoujo needs is a new member who can be a catalyst for success, so they start holding auditions. That’s when the soon-to-be legendary group meets a girl named Yamadaki Hanako (Fukagawa Seria).
Ongaku Shoujo (TV) was spawned from the short film of the same name, originally produced by Studio Deen for Anime Mirai 2015. The original followed two of the twelve girls from this iteration, though the story is completely different and the character designs have changed so much I can’t tell which is whom, so I don’t think seeing the original is necessary. Or even helpful—it may be more confusing than anything, if those two are only the same in name and seiyuu. That leaves this as a mostly-original series, which means we don’t know much. It’s an idol story, certainly, in the striving-for-greatness sports anime mold, which has always been my favorite type even if we’ve been getting a glut. The staff isn’t chock full of experience, though they are promising, which can be said for several of the seiyuu as well. Animation looks fine, with no hint of CGI so far, though maybe they just left that out of the trailers. The issue with this show is that while it looks perfectly serviceable, it’s not doing a lot to suggest itself either. If you like idols or JPop, then certainly give it a shot, but I can’t say much for everyone else. We’ll have to see if it surprises once it begins airing.
Watching This: No one yet Excitement Level: Limited
Preview by Zaiden
What exactly goes on inside your body? Trillions of cells carry out their jobs to keep us alive, but Hataraku Saibou puts a spin on this concept as the human body is treated like a microcosm of human society. And since we’re talking about the human body, these cells never get a moment of rest. Supplying oxygen to your body parts? Red Blood Cell-chan (Hanazawa Kana) can handle that. Policing out germs and viruses? Let White Blood Cell-kun (Maeno Tomoaki) put them in their place. And little Platelet-chan (Naganawa Maria) makes sure that your body is fixed up shortly after incurring an injury. Between keeping clear of antigens and delivering proper materials to various parts of the body, there is an oddly relatable story in the daily lives of these cells, filled with character and personality that are reflective of the roles they play.
Hataraku Saibou is a manga by Shimizu Akane about all the wonders of the human body, told through an anthropomorphized perspective, with cells characterised as being humans themselves. (Editor’s note: something something Osmosis Jones.) Suzuki Kenichi has been tasked with directing this adaptation, and upon closer inspection, Drifters and Stardust Crusaders both stand out as impressive on his portfolio. So there will definitely be a wildcard type of expectation, provided that action between white blood cells and foreign pathogens take the spotlight, which isn’t too far-fetched when the immune system serves as the focus for the series. That said, I have mixed feelings about the how the series composition might turn out. Kakihara Yuuko presents a worrying flip of the coin, since her scripts can either make a whole lot of sense (Chihayafuru S2, Gakuen Babysitters, Tsuki ga Kirei) or make absolutely no sense even with a great source material (Orange, Unbreakable Machine Doll), with practically nothing in between. Will this be a hit or miss? That’s hard to predict right now, but going by recent track records, this should turn out fine. Even if you dislike biology as an academic subject, keep an open mind and you may be pleasantly surprised by Hataraku Saibou.
Watching This: Choya, Guardian Enzo, Zaiden Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Pancakes
Suou Yuuto (Sakai Koudai) is just an ordinary boy in an ordinary world. He lives life to the fullest, has plenty of friends, and retains a healthy taste for all manner of urban legend. It’s the latter which winds up wreaking havoc on his life when Yuuto joins his childhood friend Shimoya Mizuki (Uchida Aya) in testing out a local myth. After taking a selfie in front of his community’s divine shrine mirror, Yuuto finds himself whisked off to a Norse-influenced world in the midst of war, with only a solar-powered smartphone for help. This phone, however, gives Yuuto all he needs to find a place for himself in the local Wolf Clan, rapidly rising through its ranks to become its king and suzerain. Now protector of the clan and overlord to several powerful Einherjar, it falls to Yuuto to not only rescue his adopted people, but help save their world from fated destruction.
If there’s one constant for anime these days, it’s that every season will feature an alternate world story adaptation or three, and Hyakuren no Haou continues that time honoured tradition. This one sticks close to the well-trodden formula: we’ve got the overpowered main character, the deus ex machina device, and the ever essential harem of pretty girls to round everything off. It’s your quintessential wish fulfillment story, but HnH does have some things that help set it apart. Unlike Isekai wa Smartphone, problems in HnH are largely solved through Yuuto’s own ingenuity rather than any smartphone shenanigans, and Norse mythos in place of the usual fantasy story and setting gives a good foundation for interesting plot and characters. The main concern is that, with Kobayashi Kousuke being a novice director and Takahashi Natsuko of Isekai wa Smartphone fame handling series composition, we may not be too likely to see much thematic imagination. HnH certainly has the pieces needed to be an entertaining ride, but until we can see it in action, expecting the usual alternate world hijinks is a pretty good idea.
Watching This: Pancakes, Zephyr Excitement Level: Limited
Preview by Choya
This surreal gag comedy centers around three friends as they play games with each other. Kasumi (Kohara Konomi) is studious at everything but English and a natural at games, but has built up a hatred for them after years of losing to her older sister and being made to do chores with every loss. Olivia (Nagae Rika) is an American girl who was raised in Japan, but pretends to be bad at Japanese. The pig-tailed Hanako (Kino Hina) has a bright personality and enjoys observing games, but has a hard time becoming the normal person she aspires to be and consistently loses against the other two girls. Together, they take on traditional hand games, board games, card games, and anything in-between.
What makes this series stand out as a promising comedy is how looks can be deceiving. The artwork and premise seem like they could fall under a cozy slice-of-life, up until you dive into it and find out how eccentric, hilarious, and clever the chapters get. They weren’t lying when they said it was, above all else, a surreal gag comedy that just happens to be about cute girls bonding. One of the aspects of the show that’s intriguing is the character of Olivia, considering how many anime with Americans or Westerners have them either as side characters or as people in the background as opposed to being in the front seat. It will be cool to see how deep they get into the games they play and if it will be the type of series to indulge and geek out over how fun they can be.
Watching This: Choya, Passerby Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Stilts
Kuroi Souya (Abe Atsushi) lives a peaceful life despite having no memories of his past. But one day, the world is attacked by huge unidentified floating objects that cause a panic (and look like giant cats with five arms, three ears, and a giant back-nose). Soldiers are sent to stop them, but they desert and head home to their families. Then seven heroes arrive to fight the unknown threat, by first flying through the sky in a flash of light and then enveloping themselves in giant robot frames. Souya is dragged into the fight by the cat-like Sensei (Koyama Rikiya) and gothic lolita Ginko (Izawa Shiori). Is this the time for Souya to join the heroes and fight for humanity? No. Apparently he has to fight off the heroes instead.
Coming to us from Mizukami Satoshi (Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer), Planet With is a story only manga and anime could tell. Not because other mediums couldn’t do it, but because they wouldn’t even think to try. The first two chapters of the manga, released in advance of the anime, are bizarre. They weren’t the weirdest thing I’ve read in a manga—that’s a hard prize to win—but Planet With is scratching that itch. The whole thing is a big ol’ “Wait, WTF!?”, which should make for a fun first few episodes even if I have no idea what it will settle down into after that. What I can say is that this was an original I wasn’t all that interested in prior to previewing it, but now I’m intrigued, dammit. Because I want to know why Souya is fighting the heroes—even he doesn’t fully remember—but also because this is a story I can’t get anywhere else. Anime is good when it’s serious, funny, flirty, or mysterious, but it may be the best when it’s flat out weird. That’s the flavor you can only get here. The main character getting swallowed up for a cabbage-eating cat in order to manifest the mecha to fight off the heroes? You have my attention!
Watching This: Guardian Enzo, Passerby, Zephyr Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Choya
Set in an alternate history where aliens conquer late-Edo period Japan and outlaw carrying swords, Gintama is centered around three characters: Sakata Gintoki (Sugita Tomokazu), an eccentric samurai equipped with a sharp blade and an incurable sweet tooth; Shimura Shinpachi (Sakaguchi Daisuke), a teenager who aims to help out his older sister Tae and keep Gintoki focused on important matters at hand as his apprentice; and Kagura (Kugimiya Rie), a skilled girl with a violent past who finds normalcy in sharing Gintoki’s bad habits, eating pickled seaweed, and taking care of her massive dog Sadaharu. Together, they set up shop in Gintoki’s apartment room as Yorozuya, an odd-jobs company that would do just about any freelance work to cover their monthly rent. Along the way, they form a rivalry with the local police force, meet old comrades from a bygone era, and face off against the dreaded PTA. Will unforgettable bonds be forged through blood, sweat, tears, and laughter? Is it really the final season!? Because I have some ideas to keep the show on-air. We have them fight vampires that consume souls, visit the Land of Tea, or get trapped on an island for an entire arc. I can mail out the scripts I’ve written if you’d like! If that doesn’t sound appealing, take year-long hiatuses every two episodes to play Id*lm@ster or Dr*gon Quest. Please Pierrot, it’s all I have left!
After a brief hiatus, Gintama is back in gear to wrap up its final season. In the process of writing out the synopsis of the anime, it became increasingly difficult to cope with the idea of bidding farewell to Gintoki, Shinpachi, and Kagura. It’s been a highly enjoyable shounen series to follow with how much fun it has with its humor and parodies of pop culture, and how well-done its action sequences and drama have been. Gintama truly is one-of-a-kind because of how it manages to be hilarious with its comedic chapters yet engaging and dramatic with its serious segments. As the story ends, it will be interesting to see what culminates in this last season’s efforts to unite the cast against a common foe, bringing an end to the conflict that stands in the way of their peace. Will their send-off be a tongue-in-cheek wave goodbye or a bittersweet reminder to be less sad that the series is over and happier that the series happened? Hopefully, Gintama’s curtain call will be something special and will give the wonderful cast that’s grown over the years a worthy farewell.
Watching This: Choya Excitement Level: Established
Preview by Pancakes
From the manga of the same name, Jashin-chan Dropkick tells the epic tale of a little demon girl named Jashin (Suzuki Aina) and her struggle to return home. Abruptly summoned to the human world one day, Jashin finds herself in a dilapidated apartment owned by gothic lolita Hanazono Yurine (Omori Nichika), a university student with the taste for the arcane and a serious love of horror. While Yurine summoned Jashin, she had no idea how to send the half-snake demon back, and with Jashin as equally confused over her summoning, both girls wind up forced to live with one another. At least until Jashin comes up with the bright idea to kill Yurine in the hopes that’ll send her back home. Now locked in a constant fight against death, Yurine must find a way to ship Jashin back to where she came before her cute summoning experiment ends up blowing her to hell.
Oh boy do we have a fun one here. If it wasn’t immediately obvious, Jashin-chan Dropkick is pure slapstick comedy, effectively mashing together the likes of Binbougami ga!, Gabriel Dropout, and the monster girl series of the season into one seriously outrageous and gut busting package. Emotional damage, physical abuse, and a whole host of hilarious situations are on feature here, and that’s before getting into Yurine’s terminal case of goth-infused chuunibyou. How well it works will of course come down to personal preference and one’s taste in humour, but with over nine volumes of material to adapt and some equally ridiculous side characters to feature (Medusa, you timid cutie pie, I’m looking at you), Jashin-chan Dropkick will not be lacking for raucous entertainment. It may not be setting any new comedy records, but if you’re in need of a good laugh this summer, Jashin-chan Dropkick more than has you covered.
Watching This: Choya, Pancakes, Stilts, Zaiden Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Choya
Ai (Matsui Eriko) is an ordinary girl and a dancer whose friend, Machi (Shibasaki Noriko), is superior in her knowledge and dancing abilities. Despite finding Machi’s talent to be disheartening, Aya discovers her secret: the existence of the Aguu, palm-size entities who grant those who hold them talent far beyond those of anyone else. Machi is trapped in her role as a “Seamstress” who makes Aguu, but Ai pushes to rescue Machi by becoming a “Savior”. Because Saviors have been fighting Seamstresses for generations, Ai now finds herself needing to face Machi to free her from the Aguu.
Aguu: Tensai Ningyouhas potential to be a neat supernatural anime. A concept where talents can be given to someone by possessing supernatural entities offers up numerous possibilities on what shapes the people who have them and how they use the talents. The characters’ abilities are put to the test, and their strengths must go beyond what the Aguu can grant them to become either Seamstresses or Saviors. Other factors play into the anime’s intrigue as well, such as the story’s origins as a manhua, the versatility of Studio DEEN as of late, and the character design’s refined yet artistic flair. You might just want to grab onto the Aguu for keeping up with multiple anime by adding this one to your watch list.
Watching This: Choya, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Zaiden
My favourite café in London would be the Rainforest Café next to the Trocadero, because it’s such a vibrant and fun place that brings back happy childhood memories. However, word on the street is that a new establishment has opened up for a very particular niche of customers. Café Forbidden is a mysterious café that only opens at night, where handsome men work to serve coffee, while upholding their duty as guardians of the boundary between humanity and the supernatural world. Bayrou Ton (Hanazawa Kana) is our lead heroine, and a girl who came to London as an international student. After a sequence of unpredictable events, she finds herself accidentally stumbling into Café Forbidden. Her subsequent encounter with the supernatural will be sure to alter the trajectory of her life, as she plunges into a world filled with magic and conspiracies.
If I gave Phantom in the Twilight a chance, it would be down to the fact it is set in my home city, and Kana-chan is voicing the protagonist. Kunihiro Mori has an uninspiring CV as director, but Maruto Fumiaki’s involvement in the series composition gives me cause for hope, given his track record as the writer of SaeKano and White Album 2. We have some aesthetically pleasing character design and the music is guaranteed to be a blast thanks to TOMISIRO, who is highly acclaimed for his role behind Macross Delta’s legendary music score. But since there’s so little that’s been revealed about the premise, it’s difficult to predict how well this might turn out, even with what seems like a highly capable staff on paper. If I had to guess judging by the few trailers, there will be a dose of reverse harem for all the fujoshis out there. So if that’s the kind of thing you enjoy, or simply wouldn’t bother you, then it could be worth checking out Phantom in the Twilight for its considerable dark horse potential.
Watching This: Choya, Passerby, Zaiden Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Choya
In this light, antique mystery, high school girl Mashiro Aoi (Tomita Miyu) finds herself working part-time at the “Kura” antique shop nestled in Kyoto’s Teramachi Sanjou shopping district after running into Yagashira Kiyotaka (Ishikata Kaito), the grandson of the store’s owner. The polite yet hot-tempered Kiyotaka is known as the “Holmes of Teramachi” for his keen intellect in solving mysteries within the town, often due to his experience with antiques. With Kiyotaka’s talents as an apprentice appraiser and Aoi’s sharp eye, they solve odd cases together related to antiques and items brought to them by various clients.
True to any anime involving the word “Holmes”, we are taken into the realm of mystery in this anime. However, the tone is calming and light, allowing the show to take on an identity of its own as a charming, mellow, and lighthearted mystery anime. Much of the tone comes from just how cozy the artwork looks, with warm colors and bright lighting, as well as its traditional setting in the elegant, refined city of Kyoto. The chemistry between Kiyotaka and Aoi should also provide for some engaging material as they work together to solve mysteries and learn more about each other. There are other cast members that join along the way, but it will be the mysteries that these two work to solve that will make for a nice relaxing mystery anime.
Watching This: Guardian Enzo Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Pancakes
In the year 2138 after a crazy twelve year run, the leading MMORPG game Yggdrasil is finally set to shut down. Scheduled to turn off at midnight, everyone but the elder lich Momonga (Hino Satoshi), one of Yggdrasil’s strongest wizards and head of the powerful clan Ainz Ooal Gown, has called it quits, leaving him alone to ride the servers until they turn dark. Rather than being thrown out as expected, however, Momonga is shocked to discover he’s still conscious as his character, and more importantly, unable to log out. With all player functions unusable and only the loyal NPCs of Ainz Ooal Gown present with him, Momonga decides to find out what happened the only way he knows how: by taking over this newly transformed game world.
That’s right boys and girls, Papa Bones is back for more. After a successful second season largely spent fleshing out the world building of the first, Overlord surprised quite a few with its sly split cour announcement and reveal that some of the best arcs of the light novel series would see full adaptation. For a show unapologetically devoted to slow but steady development it’s the best possible outcome, particularly with another full cour to work with and the story poised to show (finally) Momonga’s conquering spirit in action. How far we actually get with this new season is an open question, but with all cast and crew returning significant shakeups shouldn’t be expected, and with Madhouse remaining at the helm you can bet any fights will get the royal treatment. While everyone will have an opinion or two on Overlord at this stage (Lizard arc says hi), if the series continues to remain faithful to the light novels and adapts the next set of arcs in the order expected, this season stands a very good chance of being the best material it has put forward yet.
Watching This: Pancakes, Stilts, Zephyr Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Passerby
The year was 1268. Kublai Khan was growing restless. He was the Khagan of the Mongols — the supreme emperor, the King of Kings. His enlightened reign had swept through northern China and pressed Korea into vassalage. But still the western hordes did not respect his rule, and still the Chinese Song dynasty put up their futile resistance. And now, some island nation to the east dared defy him, too. Twice the great Khan had sent emissaries to Japan, offering them his mercy in return for tribute. Twice he had been rebuffed. They test the limits of his magnanimity, but Kublai Khan was no fool. He knew that to conquer Japan he will need a sizeable navy, one his empire could not afford presently. But in six years, he will be prepared. In six years, the Mongols will bring theses islanders to heel. And Japan will also need to prepare, as exiled samurai Kuuchi Jinzaburou (Ono Yuuki) knows all too well as he comes face to face with the Mongol invasion. For the first time in history, the samurai will need to stop their political infighting and come together in their country’s defence. It is here that they can truly call themselves warriors of Japan.
For a medium so rooted in Japanese culture, there aren’t really all that many anime about Japanese history. Those that are seem mostly preoccupied with the Sengoku Jidai or the Bakumatsu. This is not to fault those shows, as those times make for some great stories, but when an anime goes out of its way to explore other periods we should pay attention. In particular, the Mongolian invasion of Japan is quite relevant for anime fans like us, for it forms the basis of much of the samurai mythology. Samurai basically just fought each other for political power and oppressed the occasional peasant, but the idea that they are the martial face of Japan finds its roots in their defence against the Mongols. And more: the katana came out of this war, as did the idea that Japan was sacred ground that could never be successfully invaded, as did the now familiar word ‘kamikaze’. Now, I don’t know how historically faithful Angolmois will be (perhaps not very, since the first war was basically just Japan getting thrashed until a freak typhoon swept the invasion away). I don’t even know how good Angolmois will be (series composer Yasukawa Shogo is experienced enough, but director Kuriyama Takayuki is completely fresh). But the PVs look good, the show is promising, and the setting alone makes Angolmois worth checking out this season.
Watching This: Pancakes, Passerby, Stilts, Zaiden Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Choya
A reboot of a gag manga by Akatsuka Fujio, this anime will bring the misadventures of Bakabon (Irino Miyu), his father (Furuta Arata), and his family to a contemporary setting. The story follows a dim-witted boy named Bakabon, an elementary school student who enjoys causing mischief and working part-time to give his mother a birthday gift. His partner in crime is none other than his father, who eventually becomes a central character in the series as the mastermind of the harebrained solutions to otherwise simple tasks the two are involved with. Along with Bakabon’s child prodigy brother, his patient mother, and the devious people that live nearby, the family has their work cut out for them if they want to stick together without getting themselves hurt.
Much of the enthusiasm for the show comes from the resurgence of interest in Akatsuka’s work after two seasons of the highly successful reboot of Osomatsu-kun emerged. Now Pierrot is working their magic again with a modern take on Bakabon’s manga 18 years after its last adaptation aired. On top of a very talented seiyuu cast, the big question will be how the anime will depict the family, as Osomatsu-san went the extra mile by transforming six children identical in looks and behavior into 20-year-old slackers each with their own abhorrent personalities. While it’d be easy not to take as many liberties given how everyone seems to be the same age as before, it’ll be interesting to see if this adaptation shares the distinction of bringing a bawdier sense of humor to the series.
Watching This: Choya, Passerby, Zaiden Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Passerby
Tokyo, 1930. Vampires! That’s basically the gist of Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger, the latest anime original offering from the studio P.A. Works. Apparently, vampires had always existed and had long steered the course of human history. But, there is push-back. An organisation styling itself as ‘Jeagers’ has been rooting out the vampires sequestered within human society. One such Jaeger is a young man named Yuliy (Uemura Yuuto), who happens to be a werewolf. Vampires destroyed his hometown, and now he kills them in the name of vengeance. He and the crew of Jaegers he joined have been chasing one clan all across the globe, finally cornering them in the far ends of the Orient. Here in Japan, the vampires seek a mystical artefact, the Ark of Sirius, with which they will be able to regain their rightful place as the rulers of the world. Whatever conspiracy the vampires are hatching means little to the Jaeger; their hunt continues apace. But even these skilled professionals need to be careful. When the prey are so deadly, it is all too easy for the hunter to become the hunted.
It’s always risky to make too many predictions about an original series. They are, by their very nature, untested, and where Hollywood likes putting the entire movie in a trailer, anime studios instead have a predilection for surprise. Which is great, and we should always encourage experimentation, but sometimes experimentation creates the cure for cancer and other times it sets the lab on fire. While P.A. Works is a studio that puts out a lot of good work, now and again they also manage to make Glasslip (which I will unfairly never let them live down). The most useful prognostication we can do, really, is based on who’s actually making this show; after all, almost any premise is viable so long as it’s matched with skillful execution. The most notable name on that front is director Ando Masahiro, who’s worked on quality anime like Akagami no Shirayukihime and Sword of the Stranger. And, hey, have a look at the PVs. Engrish aside, Sirius the Jaeger simply looks good. If there’s one thing anime does well, it’s stylish period pieces, and 1930s Tokyo, post-Modernisation but pre-War, is an ideal period for style. So at the very least we should have a snazzy action thriller on our hands, and if Sirius the Jaeger aims to be more, that’s just a bonus.
Watching This: Guardian Enzo, Pancakes, Passerby, Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: High
Preview by Stilts
Part of Bushiroad’s latest mixed media project, the Shoujo ☆ Kageki Revue Starlight franchise centers on Starlight, a song and dance revue troupe loved throughout the world. Aijou Karen (Koyama Momoyo) and Kagura Hikari (Mimori Suzuko) made a promise with each other when they were young that one day they would stand on that stage together. Now the girls are 16 years old, and Karen is enthusiastic about the lessons she takes every day, holding her promise close to heart. Meanwhile Hikari has transferred schools and is now far away. But the cogs of fate turn, and the two are destined to meet again. The two friends, along with other Stage Girls, will compete in a mysterious audition to gain acceptance into the revue.
When I first heard about this, I thought it was another idol thing. Then I watched the preview, which has dramatic music and a series of on-stage sword fights, and now I don’t know what to think. This is one of Bushiroad’s mixed media things, which is usually a red flag—and still is, but the really money grubbing-sounding 2.5D live action concerts have already happened, so maybe they’re trying to earn the next round of exploitation with some good storytelling. We can only hope. The trailer animation fluctuates between pretty close-up shots and more cartoony remote shots, while the seiyuu are primarily new faces. My big question is whether the story will be worth our time, and the over-serious trailer has really thrown me for a loop. If this will be super serious, I don’t know if I can hang, but those sword fights were stylish as heck. I’m conflicted. I may have to give the first episode a peek to see what this thing’s about.
Watching This: Passerby Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Zaiden
It is 1991, the height of popularity for arcade gaming in Japan. High Score Girl goes back to to relive this nostalgic period through the perspective of 6th grader Yaguchi Haruo (Amasaki Kouhei). A social outcast at school who doesn’t care about his education or chores (much to his mother’s dismay), Haruo would rather spend time playing Street Fiighter II at the local arcade, earning him the epithet “Beastly Fingers Haruo”. But one day, he gets served a sequence of humiliating defeats. His classmate Oono Akira (Suzushiro Sayumi), a rich honour student who looks totally out of place in an arcade, demonstrates her skills as a top-class gamer. She goes about wrecking scrubs using her mastery of Zangeev, in what can only be described as complete and utter domination. Having lost to Akira seven times in a row, and keen to end her 29-win streak, Haruo resorts to cheap and dirty tactics using Guyl. Not only do these underhanded measures fail, they also provoke a well-deserved punch and a kick from the otherwise demure Akira. This incident serves as a rocky start to their dynamic relationship, as she brazenly follows him from arcade to arcade after school, while he marks her as a rival who must be defeated. As they continue to face off, they build a fierce reputation which precedes them wherever they go.
After surviving a lawsuit from SNK Playmore for infringing the copyright for King of Fighters, I’m truly glad to see High Score Girl bounce back and receive an anime adaptation. The magnum opus of mangaka Oshikiri Rensuke, we can look forward to a coming-of-age romantic drama/comedy that examines the unique relationship between its main characters. Outside of their passion for arcade games, as well as having violent tempers, Haruo and Akira are pretty much polar opposites. I can’t wait to see how their seiyuu bring their petty squabbles to life, while catching the nuance of their feelings for one another via subtle interactions. J.C. Staff has entrusted Yamakawa Yoshiki with directing, a stalwart of the industry who has a fantastic record on many beloved shows (B: The Beginning, DanMachi, Little Busters). I’m expecting the sound direction to be stellar with the inclusion of Aketagawa Jin, and the series composition is in the experienced hands of Urahata Tatsuhiko (Kyoukaisen, Monster, Tsurezure Children). With a fantastic premise and excellent staff, I’m highly optimistic for this adaptation of High Score Girl, as it looks to be nothing short of a guaranteed hit.
Watching This: Choya, Guardian Enzo, Pancakes, Passerby Zaiden Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Pancakes
Based on the collectible card game of the same name, Lord of Vermilion takes place in a near-future Tokyo rocked by the extraordinary. After a mysterious high frequency sound and red mist knocks several thousand unconscious in the suburbs, Tokyo is forcibly quarantined until those affected miraculously awaken six days later. A rapid return to normality, however, is nowhere in sight, as strange incidents begin plaguing the relieved city while numerous high schoolers start discovering powers long hidden within their blood. Called Hero’s Blood Weapons, the affected teens know little of this power besides its attraction to others possessing the same, and that its awakening is likely due to the “Great Resonance” that disrupted Tokyo so much. Now caught up in a situation growing stranger by the moment, these kids will soon find themselves involved in a struggle where their futures and lives are all on the line.
Card adaptations in anime typically go one of two ways: using the game mechanics as a plot device in of itself (Yu-Gi-Oh), or treating it as flavour in a thematically “different” story (WIXOSS). In this case Lord of Vermilion looks to be the latter, focusing heavily on its conventional fantasy plot of prophecies, fates, and gods with little involvement (if any) of the game mechanics central to its name—don’t expect too much in the way of gritty urban fantasy card battling here. For a card game with minimal lore such a strategy is quite ambitious, but should LoV successfully replicate WIXOSS’s ingenuity in a fantasy-action format, it stands a good chance of being pretty damn impressive. Plus having Kodomo no Jikan’s Sugunuma Eiji serving as director doesn’t hurt either. Scepticism is always recommended when it comes to any type of game adaptation, but should LoV manage to pull off what few game adaptations have managed before, it could easily be one of this season’s biggest surprises.
Watching This: Pancakes, Zaiden Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Passerby
Matsuzaka Satou (Hanazawa Kana) is a model high school girl. She is smart. She is pretty. She is popular. The problem is, her parents passed away when she was young and she has never understood love. So she flits from one boyfriend to the next, saying yes to anybody without care for commitment nor reputation. But one day, she decides to put an end to her frivolous lifestyle. She had fallen in love. Specifically, with a little girl named Koube Shio (Kuno Misaki). To Satou, there is only one thing to do: kidnap Shio and start a new life devoted only to her. Satou makes preparations. She puts in the hours. She saves up money. And in her life with the innocent Shio, she finds bliss. But despite Satou’s efforts, there still seems to be so many people who get in her way. So many rotten souls who don’t understand her love. And that just will not do. Love is sweet. Love is bright. Love is beautiful. It is the highest calling and Satou will do any ugly thing for its sake. It doesn’t matter whom she hurts, how much blood is on her hands, whatever sins she commits. All can be forgiven to protect her happy sugar life.
Happy Sugar Life is an adaptation of a manga of the same title by Kagisora Tomiyaki, and it is this title that we should be paying attention to. In our cynical, post-modern age, not even the fluffiest cute-girls-doing-cute-things slice-of-life would dare call itself something as saccharine as ‘Happy Sugar Life’. Such titles must either be shameless or ironic, and Happy Sugar Life is, for better or worse, the latter. It is not ‘happy’, not ‘sugar’, and the body count disqualifies the ‘life’. Protagonist Satou is a crazy yandere of the highest calibre, but while a criminal sociopath may usually have a villainous role, here one kind of has to root for her, simply because those around her are even more broken — or, perhaps, are not broken enough to have Satou’s steely-eyed clarity. Despite this, and despite Satou’s relationship with Shio being genuinely sweet at times (and making for morbid juxtaposition), Satou’s life is an oncoming trainwreck. But it’s a trainwreck from which it’s hard to tear one’s eyes away, and it makes for a fascinating look into the obsessive and self-destructive ways of this thing humans call love. I’m a tad concerned about the adaptation, though, as neither directors Kusakawa Keizo and Nagayama Nobuyoshi nor writer Machida Touko have particular experience making a show like this, and their actual experience can be dubitable. But the voice cast is star-studded and the premise itself can be enough to carry the show. Happy Sugar Life is genuine psychological darkness, beyond just gore or torture, and that is the kind of twisted mirror worth facing from time to time.
Watching This: Choya, Pancakes, Passerby, Stilts, Zephyr Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Zaiden
Kitahara Iori (Uchida Yuuma) begins his studies for mechanical engineering in the sleepy seaside city of Izu, where he spent his childhood holidays visiting extended relatives. He envisions a fulfilling college life, complete with beautiful girls and good friends. But upon moving into his uncle’s diving store, named Grand Blue, he is met by an inexplicable sight: a dozen or so rowdy and naked upperclassmen, who just happen to be hankering for a freshman victim to join the university’s diving club. After being forced to sign up, there’s just one small problem: Iori doesn’t know how to swim! But is that really an issue when the club’s activities mainly consist of being naked and getting drunk? We’ll soon see. With a new best friend in Imamura Kouhei (Kimura Ryohei), an ikemen otaku who is open about his fetish for little sisters, and his tsun cousin Kotegawa Chisa (Anzai Chika) to look over him, he shouldn’t have problems passing through the crazy ordeals that come his way.
I’m amused that this manga got the greenlight for an anime adaptation, considering that the age of drinking is 20 in Japan, a threshold that most of the characters do not meet in spite of their copious drinking habits. But it seems that Grand Blue might have gotten by on a narrow technicality, with the author claiming that it falls under the ‘isekai fantasy’ genre as follows: Isekai – A world in which the age of drinking is different than the real world; Fantasy – the existence of demi-humans who can chug high-grade alcohol in one go. Even if all else fails, just claim that they are drinking Oolong tea – flammable Oolong tea! But as a big fan of this ‘diving’ manga, you won’t catch me complaining too much, even if all the controversial stuff ends up getting censored. Grand Blue (not to be confused with Granblue Fantasy), is the creative lovechild of Inoue Kenji (writer of Baka to Test) and Yoshioka Kimitake (artist of the Amagi Brilliant Park manga), which means it was destined for spontaneous ingenuity. What sets it apart from most slice-of-life stories is a setting and cast that often go under explored within anime: college and college students. While there are no overt sexual acts on display, talk of it is rampant between the characters, and excessive alcohol consumption occurs irrespective of the time in the day. But don’t let this distract you from the fact that Grand Blue is a diving manga at heart! While the characters don’t spend every waking moment underwater, effort is clearly put into preparing for trips, getting licences, and getting important information about diving techniques and risks. I cannot recommend Grand Blue enough, and if you decide to give it a chance, you will be in for an intoxicating treat.
Watching This: Choya, Stilts, Zaiden Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Zaiden
Fuyuzora Kogarashi (Ono Yuuki) has been possessed by ghosts since childhood, granting him spiritual powers. But it has mostly been a source of trouble, leaving him destitute and wishing for a better life. In his pursuit of cheap accommodations, he stumbles across Yuragi-sou, a boarding house with an urban legend behind it. Formerly a popular hot spring inn, it is rumoured that the spirit of a murdered high school girl haunts the place. Kogarashi doesn’t think this will be a problem for him and agrees to become a tenant, immediately setting out to banish this evil spirit. But the ghost turns out to be a dorky 16-year-old girl named Yunohana Yuuna (Shimabukuro Miyuri), who is cute and well-endowed. Instead of exorcising her, he agrees to help her overcome the lingering regret that binds her to the living world, which means they will continue living together in a room for the time being. Soon, Kogarashi discovers that the inn is a hotspot for more supernatural activity than he expected, meaning that his daily life certainly won’t fail to excite!
As a rookie mangaka, Miura Tadahiro wrote a series I really liked called Koisome Momoji. I started following his subsequent releases, and after three years of failing to land a long-term serialisation, he struck gold with Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san, which has been dubbed the spiritual successor of To Love-Ru. This is a weighty claim it fully lives up to. Back in the days, tosh (of Shokugeki fame) was once an assistant to Miura, which should speak to Miura’s credentials as an ecchi artist. And while there’s a lack of timey wimey sci-fi aliens, the supernatural serves as an adequate replacement for the ecchi shenanigans, generously laden with misunderstandings. However, the staff is questionable. As well as having limited experience in the role, Nagasawa Tsuyoshi’s only success as a director came long ago, with Haiyore! Nyaruko-san in 2012, whereas the recent Clockwork Planet sticks out as a sore thumb. Koyasu Hideaki barely has any series compositions to his name, and most of them weren’t memorable. Fortunately, I’m expecting the musical score to be pretty good with both Kikuya Tomoki and Aketagawa Jin on board, so there will definitely be awesome accompanying tracks for the actions scenes. Regardless of staff concerns, I’d say it’s pretty difficult to mess up such a simple and honest premise, where action and fanservice are both tinged by spiritual elements. Expect Yuragi-sou to be a complete package of supernatural fun!
Watching This: Choya, Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: Optimistic
Preview by Passerby
Cities have historically been dangerous places. Packing so many people and their dwellings in one place invites both disease and disaster, and back in the day one of the statistically easiest ways to lower one’s life expectancy was to move to the city. This was no less true for Tokyo, especially before it was called Tokyo and was instead called Edo, the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. We may take for granted our modern public health infrastructure and emergency services, but the people of old Edo had little recourse against Japan’s infamous earthquakes and tidal turbulence. In fact, in the Fukugawa ward, fires and floods were so common that, rather than anachronistically invent fire insurance to protect their assets, residents decided to outsource their material possessions. Instead of buying their own pots and futons and clothes — things that will weigh them down when fleeing — they rented them from specialised shops. In Tsukumogami Kashimasu, one such shop, the Izumaya, is run by Okou (Komatsu Mikako) and her younger brother Seiji (Enoki Junya), but their humble store deals in more than mundane household appliances. According to Shinto mythology, man-made items can, after a century of abandonment and disuse, gain life as spirits called ‘tsukumogami’. The sibling can see and talk to these spirits, and sometimes even rent them out to customers. Some of their clientèle have some unique problems, and perhaps can be aided by just a bit of supernatural assistance.
Wow, two-thirds of the shows I preview this season are period pieces. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing. Period pieces are one of the more interesting ways to learn history, as long as you consider learning history to be more than just memorising dates. And it is. History is nothing without culture, and that’s what Tsukumogami Kashimasu, based on the novel by Hatakenaka Megumi, provides. As a bonus, the supernatural elements also gives us a look into the mythology of the era, and if any of you are Tolkien fans you’ll understand the fascinating interplay between culture, mythology and language. Besides all the needlessly high-brow stuff, Tsukumogami Kashimasu looks to be a charming little show. Sure, neither director Murata Masahiko nor screenwriter Shimoyama Kento have particularly impressive records, and Telecom Animation Film is not an industry titan by any stretch, but the execution challenge of Tsukugami Kashimasu is not particularly high. It’ll be a pleasant slice-of-life with a dash of the supernatural mixed. Can’t really go wrong with those.
Watching This: Choya Excitement Level: Average
Preview by Zaiden
One year after the second season of Isayama Hajime’s blockbuster manga, Wit Studio returns with the third instalment of Shingeki no Kyojin, a prospect that is bound to excite anime fans worldwide. The series takes place in a world where monstrous creatures known as Titans have put humanity on the brink of extinction, with the last vestiges of civilisation retreating behind walled off cities. Following one hundred years of peace, the sudden arrival of a new Colossal Titan leads to the destruction of the city’s outer walls. And on that day, mankind received a grim reminder that they lived in fear of the Titans, disgraced to live in these cages called walls. Having survived the initial onslaught, two children – Eren Yaeger (Kaji Yuuki) and Mikasa Ackerman (Ishikawa Yui) – find themselves at the centre of the fight for humanity’s survival as they join the Survey Corps, a military branch in charge of exploring and reclaiming territory outside the city’s protective walls. At the end of season two, in the face of despair, Eren awakens a power deep inside of him that the Titans seem to be after. Can he use his newfound ability to pave a way for humanity to prevail, or will it spell the end for civilisation as our characters know it?
For those that need an explanation, after its first season in 2013, Shingeki no Kyojin became one of the most popular and recognizable series of the last decade, briefly rivaling the likes of One Piece in terms of sales. As stated by Zephyr in his preview for S2, it rose to fame on the backs of its blade-wielding protagonists, nightmare-inducing enemies, and dramatic plot twists. This was a series whose opening sequence alone inspired a wave of memes and recreations, and it blew up to a point where it was impossible not to stumble onto something Titan related even if you weren’t watching the show. The third season announcement immediately followed the end of the second season, with Wit Studio and the same staff returning for a slice of the action. Consequently, there’s no reason to expect anything different outside of continued success for this franchise, even if some of the hype has cooled down in recent years. As someone who keeps up with the manga, the upcoming arc wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. But with a focus on political machinations that rivals Game of Thrones, in both complexity and brutality, I’m sure my sentiment won’t be shared by the majority of fans.
Watching This: Guardian Enzo, Pancakes, Passerby, Stilts, Zaiden, Zephyr Excitement Level: High
Preview by Passerby
Japan has a problem the supernatural. Vengeful ghosts haunt public places, mischievous spirits pester honest citizens, and all manner grotesque beasts pose dangers for civilised society. Mundane law enforcement is not equipped to deal with these supernatural crimes, and thus a new ordinance is passed: to punish magical crimes, one needs magical laws! And obviously, to prosecute magical laws, one needs magical lawyers. Duh. Enter Muhyo Torou (Murase Ayumu) and Kusano ‘Rouji’ Jirou (Hayashi Yuu). One is a young prodigy and merciless executor of the magical law. The other is his friend/apprentice/lackey. Together, they fight crime! Specifically, they run the creatively named Muhyo & Rouji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, where they take on cases brought to them by concerned victims. In this capacity Muhyo is not just a lawyer, but also the judge, jury and executioner, deciding the fate of the spirits he exorcises. Most only need be banished or sent on their way, but there also exists true evil, and there’s only one thing to do: condemn it straight to hell.
The original Muhyo to Rouji no Mahouritsu Soudan Jimusho manga by Nishi Yoshiyuki ended back in 2008, clocking in at a healthy 18 volumes. Now in 2018, a good ten years after, it’s getting a sequel, which means it’s a good time to launch an anime adaptation of the first series to drum up publicity and get new fans up to speed. Which brings us here. The actual story is something of a cross between paranormal mystery and human drama, in which some mundane conflict inevitably leads to a supernatural problem and both need to be resolved jointly. That’s a common enough premise in anime and brought us hits like Bakemonogatari and Mushishi, though in this case it’s a significantly simpler narrative spiced with some magical legalese that brings up themes of tempering justice with mercy. It’s also very ‘shounen’, having strings of monsters-of-the-week that must be defeated with magical powers. Appropriately, we have a shounen director Kondo Nobuhiro in the big chair and Naruto screenwriter Suzuki Yasuyuki on series composition, and they are workhorses who should do well with Muhyo & Rouji. It’s set to be a good time, and if you’ve been interested in the new manga this year there’s scarcely a better way to catch up than a round of anime.
Watching This: Guardian Enzo Excitement Level: Average
Technical Note: As of the Fall 2016 Preview onward, short one-cour series that are being broadcast with irregular duration times (under the 24 minute per episode norm) have been separated from the main preview into their own section. This is to account for the increasing number of short series and to allow for ease of viewing for those who have a preference for one type of series over another. While the list should be complete, two notes: we have excluded shows intended for younger audiences, and there are short series that have been announced very close to the start of a season that may not have made it onto the list. If you notice an anything missing, incomplete, or incorrect, please feel free to point it out in the comments or e-mail Passerby directly.
Technical Note: OVAs are sorted by the date they are released. For series that have multiple episodes coming out over the course of the season, please refer to the Notes column for additional dates. More information on each OVA can be found on their respective websites, including promotional videos in some cases. Movie premiere dates are not included since they don’t mean a whole lot to viewers outside of Japan. BD/DVD movie releases are, however. This list is likely incomplete and will be updated as more titles surface (usually by the next season’s preview). If you notice anything missing or incorrect, please feel free to point it out in the comments or e-mail one of us directly (Stilts, Zephyr).
Once could be a fluke, but twice is a pattern. After recent summers have been surprisingly strong, it was something of a surprise when summer 2017 rolled around with a relatively weak line up, but now that summer 2018 has pulled the same trick, we shouldn’t be surprised. Yes I, Stilts, the eternal optimist, am a bit down on this anime season. Not because there’s nothing good to watch—there’s always something fun to watch—but because there’s not much of it, and because few shows seem to be reaching for the stars. Maybe the studios tired themselves out in spring, and now they’re unloading their more sketchy offerings. Maybe there are a ton of sleeper hits lurking amid these premises, and time will prove them out. Or maybe everyone didn’t want to compete for attention with Shingeki no Kyojin. Whatever the case, there are still good anime to be had, we all just may need to dig deeper and give more series a chance, or finally work on those backlogs we’re all lying to ourselves about all the time.
As for levels, we’ll continue with the Excitement Levels introduced last year, which includes four main levels plus Established for special cases. Our goal with this change was to make it easier to use the top and bottom of the scale, and to take away the incentive to hedge our bets—after all, we’re not saying these shows will be good or bad, we’re just saying how excited we are. Exciting things can be flawed, and unambitious things can be fun! Hopefully this guide will help those of you with limited time understand which shows to try first, based on our preliminary examination of each show’s staff, seiyuu, and source material. Failing that, it’ll give you another reason to laugh when we get all hyped up about a show that ended up failing in spectacular fashion.
As usual, these levels were arrived at by our regular (and reliably shady) “Excitement Council” of Passerby, Zephyr, and yours truly, Stilts. While we’ve gone to great lengths to consider multiple viewpoints and not get swept away by their own proclivities, these aren’t predictions, and shouldn’t be taken as such. Take these labels with the requisite helping of salt.
Note: Lists are sorted in alphabetical order.
High excitement shows are the ones we’re truly pumped about. These are the shows we want to watch the most, and which we think have a good chance of being exemplars of their kind — or at least come close. Shows in this category might be sequels to excellent anime, adaptations of highly regarded source material, projects with stellar pedigrees, or even originals that just light up our minds. They don’t have to be perfect, but they do have to feel like something special. If you consider yourself a casual fan who only gets your toes wet every season, then these are the shows we feel you should most keep an eye on.
Optimistic shows are ones that we’re hopeful will be really good, and which we have good reasons to think they might be. The underpinnings of these are generally strong, with a lot to suggest in each of them, but with one or two elements that give us pause and keep our enthusiasm from boiling over. They still have most of the makings of very strong series, though, and many stellar anime will arise from this category. If you’ve exhausted all the High shows, or want to delve deeper into your favored genres, check out these as well.
Average excitement shows look middle-of-the-road to us. They could be good or they could be bad, but they don’t provide much immediate indication that they’ll be amazing in retrospect. This is often the case with shows that are firmly ensconced in their genres’ tropes, or which overly rely on some of anime’s overused plot devices. It can also apply to shows that seem deeply flawed, with elements that could make them amazing, but with so many potential pitfalls that we’re not getting hyped up. However, in many of our experiences these shows still provide a great deal of entertainment, and may turn out a lot better than they appear. Personal taste comes heavily into play, so your mileage will vary.
Limited excitement shows are ones that we simply aren’t all that excited about. They often don’t seem to be striving for much, and choose to focus on more frivolous aspects such as senseless humor and fanservice. Other times they’re doing the same thing we’ve seen a thousand times, with few mitigating signs that they’ll rise above their tropes. That doesn’t mean they’re the bottom of the barrel and shouldn’t get any consideration, but simply that they’re not doing a lot to suggest themselves. Keep in mind what kind of show they are, though, and you might find something you enjoy amid this cohort.
Established shows are any series that has aired for more than 40 episodes or has been previewed three or more times. This can include anything from never-ending shounen and decade-spanning dramas to that quirky comedy that keeps getting renewed season after season. The only commonality is that they’ve aired a lot of episodes, and that they’re the kind of show that most viewers will want to catch up on all the previous content before watching the new. Spin-offs and remakes don’t automatically qualify, since they’re considered new series.
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Refs, DOPS, and Ops Are Botching the NHL Playoffs
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are the busiest time of year for everyone in the hockey universe.
The players are subjected to a two-month grind and the media has to feed the beast on a daily basis. Arena workers, some of whom are pulling double duty with the NBA playoffs, are putting in overtime. The people who work for teams doing things like booking travel and coordinating schedules have to be ready for multiple scenarios as series conclude. Everyone has more to do during the playoffs.
Well, almost everyone.
While mid-April is the start of a hectic stretch for most, it seems that referees, along with the NHL's Player Safety and Hockey Operations departments, have already checked out for the off-season. They still don their uniforms or suits, but they may as well be on a beach. The work that was getting done during the regular season is piling up during the postseason, and no one at the league office seems to mind. They're still around, but they're long gone.
So: who out of those three groups is doing the very least in their jobs? I've ranked them in descending order, from the busiest, and therefore least damaging, NHL employees to the worst.
Oh look, a beach ball. Photo by Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
3. Officials
If you've watched a full NHL season, you know that the standard of officiating changes from the regular season to the postseason. A penalty is a penalty in the regular season; in the postseason, a penalty is a penalty depending upon the score of the game, time remaining, how many power plays a team has had, and which Fall Out Boy song played during the most recent stoppage. These are the excuses we've come to accept from officials as beaten-down consumers of the NHL product.
It seems like that standard has fallen even lower during this year's playoffs.
There are certain penalties referees have always had to call, like the delay of game for puck over the glass. That one remains a staple, but other usually sure things, like high-sticking infractions, have disappeared. Referees apparently have become so derelict in their duties that eating a stick is no longer an automatic penalty. Now it depends upon all those contingencies that used to apply only to hooking and tripping.
Go through some of the non-calls in just the conference finals: Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne playing the puck outside the trapezoid, Ryan Johansen cross-checking Ducks defenseman Josh Manson through the boards seconds before the Predators' tying goal in the final seconds of regulation in Game 4, and, most recently, Tommy Wingels delivering an elbow straight to the face of Scott Wilson.
As bad as officials have been, though, they at least have put in some work during the playoffs—or at least, they've put in more work than the next group on the list.
2. Player Safety
We're still working along the lines of the same unspoken agreement we have with the officials, but instead of game situations dictating penalties, it's star or series status that determines if an illegal play will merit supplemental discipline. If you sense that referees don't want to influence the outcome of games with a two-minute penalty, that feeling is 30 times greater for people doling out suspensions—or not, as the case may be.
It's either that, or NHL players have been so well-behaved in the playoffs that there has only been one suspension-worthy offense in 79 games. Who can be sure which is the truth?!
That single suspension was the result of DOPS succumbing to pressure last month to give the Blue Jackets' Matt Calvert one game for cross-checking the shoulder/neck/head area of Tom Kuhnhackl during the final minute of a blowout. They let it leak through friendly media types that there would be no punishment, but then had a change of heart and decided on having a hearing for Calvert.
Matt Calvert after cross-checking Tom Kuhnhackl, which would eventually earn a suspension. Photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The latest outrage took place on Sunday afternoon. It was a 7-0 game between the Penguins and the Ottawa Senators when the Senators forward Tommy Wingels, with intent and malice, delivered an elbow to Pittsburgh forward Scott Wilson's head. The violation was as clear as day, but DOPS decided against suspending a depth forward for an elimination game. If that doesn't get you out of bed on a Monday morning to work, not much will.
But even with referees turning a blind eye to crime like a corrupt cop in a mafia movie and Player Safety more interested in doing literally anything besides holding a hearing, only one person has made the NHL look worse over the past six weeks.
3. Colin Campbell
I mean, who else would it be, really?
Hockey Operations, not Player Safety, handles things like Anaheim Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf shouting a homophobic slur at someone on the ice during Game 4 of the Western Conference Final last Thursday. We're all adults here, so: the word in this case is "cocksucker." The NHL was vague when it came to explaining the specifics of the incident, and we don't know who was on the receiving end of the word. What we do know is it was serious enough that an on-ice official (this is why they are third on this list) felt compelled to report it to the league, and the league felt it was worth a $10,000 fine.
Getzlaf in Game 4. Photo by Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
In a similar situation during last year's playoffs, Andrew Shaw of the Chicago Blackhawks received a one-game suspension for screaming the word "faggot" at officials.
As my Twitter mentions this past week so tactfully explained, there is no other interpretation when it comes to the word Shaw used but, as numerous internet people insisted on pointing out, the act of sucking cock is not limited to men; women do it, too. Therefore, Getzlaf screaming "cocksucker" on the ice was not a gay slur, and that's almost definitely why the 64-year-old Campbell deemed the word "inappropriate" instead of "homophobic." In conclusion, per these Twitter linguists, everyone who is mad should find a safe space in Cucktown or whatever.
Even if you believe that Getzlaf's word exists in an ambiguous place, you can't tell yourself that's what happened here. An official heard the word and felt it was used in a manner that rose above the Motherfucker/Asshole Standard and deserved punishment. And the only way that word would deserve punishment in the eyes of the NHL is if it used as a homophobic slur. Therefore, it absolutely has to be treated exactly the way Shaw was treated last year.
That doesn't just mean the NHL dropped the ball by failing to suspend Getzlaf one game; it dropped the ball by not using the incident as a chance to educate Getzlaf, other players, fans, and really anyone about that specific word and why it's on the same level as the word Shaw used. It's clearly needed.
I had never thought of this word as anything but your average swear word. But it's not. It's more than that. And maybe Getzlaf didn't know that, either. We'll never know based on his apology, which is the kind you give when you accidentally say, "Shit, we're out of fucking beer?" at a children's birthday party:
"Obviously a situation like that, where I'm on the bench by myself, frustration set in. There was obviously some words said, you know, not necessarily directed at anyone in particular. It was just kind of a comment. I got to be a little more responsible in the word I choose."
"Definitely as a father, as somebody that takes a lot of pride in this game and the respect for it, it's tough to see somebody refer to it as what TSN did. I didn't mean it in that manner in any way. For that to take that route was very disappointing for me. I do accept responsibility and I accept the fine. We talked to the league and I understand that it's my responsibility to not use vulgar language. Period. Whether it's a swear word or whatever it is. We've got to be a little bit more respectful of the game, and that's up to me. I accept that responsibility and we'll move forward."
So while Shaw showed genuine remorse for what he did, Getzlaf had a more "boys being boys" vibe to his postgame apology, and that was only an option because Campbell and the NHL didn't do their job. Instead of someone pulling aside Getzlaf and saying, "Hey, I know what you think you mean when you say that, but if just one person feels you're demeaning a homosexual man (or a straight woman, really) when you say that, you need to knock that off," the NHL simply washed its hands of it and moved forward.
And that's Campbell's fault. Yeah, there are other people who share blame, but Campbell had the opportunity to raise the issue and decided against it. Maybe it's because he's like most straight men and has never given that word and its repercussions a second thought. You won't find a better argument for having more diversity inside NHL offices to raise these sorts of issues, before they become a public embarrassment, than that.
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Refs, DOPS, and Ops Are Botching the NHL Playoffs published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
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Pretty Rhythm: My☆Deco Rainbow Wedding Chapter 21+22 English Translation
(Only 2 more to go after this! Also Ayami says fuck)
Chapter 21: The Bonds of Symphonia
Penguin-sensei: It seems that there are conditions to qualifying for the Rainbow Cup!
Ayami: What kind of conditions?
Penguin-sensei: That condition is…
Ayami: Yeah?
Penguin-sensei: Ahem. What shall I do? Shall I say it now? Maybe I’ll keep it a secret for a while longer~!
Ayami: Oh, for the love of god, just tell us already!!
Mia: Eep!! Ayami snapped!!
Karin: Ayami snapping is galactically scary!
Ayami: Hurry the fuck up and tell us, you piece of shit penguin! ...Please and thank you!
Reina: Slapping something cutesy on the end can’t hide the fact that you’ve snapped!
Ayami: Teehee☆
Penguin-sensei: Ayami, you are certainly formidable! I suppose I shall give in to my fear and tell you. The first condition to qualify is to have a reasonable chance at winning. Secondly… you must wear a Symphonia Coord!
Mia: A Symphonia Coord!?
Penguin-sensei: That’s right. Player hasn’t acquired a Symphonia Coord yet, correct?
Choice: I might have one…? / I don’t have one
Penguin-sensei: Please don't joke at a time like this~! In that case, you cannot appear in the Rainbow Cup.
Reina: That’s not fair! Player’s worked this hard to fill the Rainbow Charm and everything… Once they get the power of feminine and star, it’ll be completed!
Penguin-sensei: Troubling indeed…
Karin: That’s it! Why don’t we just loan Player one of our Symphonia Coords!?
Ayami: I get it! That’s a great idea! Player-san, will you accept one of our Symphonia Coords?
Choice: You shouldn’t offer something like that so lightly… / Will you really loan one to me?
Mia: Of course, I knew you’d say something like that! I won’t give over my Symphonia Coord that easily!
Reina: Mia! Why are you bullying Player!
Mia: I’m not bullying them! It’s just… if they’re not wearing a coord they got themself, it won’t really feel like them on stage. Hehe!
Reina: Mia… I get it now.
Mia: If you really want to borrow one of our Symphonia Coords… you have to defeat Prizzmy☆!!
Karin: Wow, you seemed like a galactically mean person for a minute there!
Mia: Hu~ haaah~ haaah~ haaah~! Ooookay! I’m pumped up now!! I’ve always wanted to go up against you after you improved, Player! Let’s go, Player! Sparkling no matter when! Prizzmy☆!
(prism show)
Mia: Haaah~... You’ve really improved, Player! This was waaaay more exciting than the last time we competed. You’ve done lots of prism shows, after all. Lessons, too. Every day we’ve spent together was reflected on the stage! Here. It’s the Symphonia frame. Take it. With this, you can My☆Deco a Symphonia Coord! We can give you our precious coord because we trust you, so take care of it, okay? Win the Rainbow Cup like kaboom~... and create the Rainbow Wedding!
Reina: I’m so glad….. Player…… You can finally enter the Rainbow Cup!!
Mia: Huuuh!? Reina’s crying!?
Reina: I mean… I always see Player working hard… So yeah, I’m super happy right now!
Ayami: My memo also details how hard Player-san has been working!
Karin: Show us your galactic smile at the Rainbow Cup, Player!
Mia: This Symphonia Coord contains Prizzmy☆’s and your feelings as one. When you wear this coord, think of us beside you. Believe in your bonds with Prizzmy☆!
Reina: Huh? The Rainbow Charm is… lighting up!?
(we got the feminine charm)
The power of the femimine coord returned to the Rainbow Charm!?
Ayami: Why, though? It’s not like Player took a Coord Rank Test…
Penguin-sensei: That is because the Rainbow Charm reacted to the power of your friendship. All of you hold Player close to your kind hearts, and your feelings of friendship caused feminine power to overflow. For you foolish rowdy kids to hold feminine power… I’m so moved~~!!
Mia: That’s great, Player! Now all that’s left is the power of the star coord that Rinne has.
Reina: To compete against Rinne, you’ll need to pass the qualifiers first. Good luck, Player. May the power of prism be with you!
Karin: Prism with me!
Ayami: Prism with you!
Mia: You’ll definitely be number o~ne in the Rainbow Cup!!
Chapter 22: The Final Battle! The Curtain Rises on the Rainbow Cup
Mia: The Rainbow Cup has finally started! First of all, you have to pass the qualifiers.
Karin: Your Symphonia Coord looks great on you, Player!
Reina: Believe in our bonds. Enjoy performing to your heart’s content, okay?
Ayami: We’ll be cheering you on!
Hye-in: Player!!
Karin: Hye-in!! And everyone else from PURETTY!
Hye-in: We made it~! We ran so we could make it in time to cheer for Player!
Reina: Huh? You ran all the way here… Isn’t it pretty far away…?
Hye-in: It’s fine as long as you consider it a lesson! Right, guys?
Jae-eun: Munch munch… I want to munch munch on the vibes some more…
Chae-kyung: Hye-in’s stamina is celebrally hyper…
Shi-yoon: Ya~y… I’m so glad we made it. Player-san, you got this…
Karin: Hey! Everyone in PURETTY’s gone past their limits!
So-min: That’s fine! We just went a bit too far.
Reina: Oh, you’re here too, So-min?
So-min: Of course. We came to cheer for Player without waste!
Hye-in: Paiting, Player!
Kaname: Player~!!
Rizumu: Kaname!! Don’t jump at them!
Kaname: Ahahaha! So very sorry~!
Reina: All of the senior Pretty Top talents have come to cheer for Player!
Serena: Of course! Player, It’s almost time to perform!
Kanon: We’ll be doing our best to cheer for you.
Mion: Congratulations on finally reaching the Rainbow Cup.
Rizumu: If you win the qualifier, you’ll be able to face off against Rinne, who has the power of star!
Aira: Finish the Rainbow Charm and create the Rainbow Wedding… I hope this dream comes true for you soon!
Karin: If you have this many people supporting you, you’ll be able to work galactically hard!
Mia: Shine as bright as you possibly can!
Picock: Player, it has been a fairly long time since we last met.
Mia: Picock…!
Picock: There is no point in being so guarded, be at ease. All I wish for is to speak with Player.
Mia: Are you fine with talking to Picock?
Choice: I’ll hear Picock out / I’d rather not…
Picock: Thou truly art kind. I wish to speak to you about Rinne.
Mia: You wanna talk about Rinne…!?
Ayami: Ah! A huge cheer came from over there…
Announcer: The promising rookie prism star Rinne! WIth an amazing show, she has passed the qualifying round with flying colours!
Picock: Rinne has been smiling a lot more frequently as of late. This has been the case ever since you performed the Aurora Rising for her. I had fruitlessly endeavoured to awaken Rinne’s star power… For accomplishing what I could not, I thank you, Player.
Mia: Wha-... what’s going on? Picock’s suddenly become nice!
Picock: Now that that has been said… Best of luck in the qualifying round.
Mia: Wait a minute! What’s up with Rinne? Who exactly is she!? Tell us, Picock!
Picock: Well…
Reina: Player, it’s your turn to perform!
Mia: Huh… But right now’s not the best…
Picock: We shall finish this conversation following the conclusion of the qualifying round. If you wish to know the truth about Rinne, thou must pass the qualifier. As the one chosen by the Rainbow Charm, show us thine power!!
(prism show)
Mia: The results are coming out now! Congrats! You passed the qualifier! And that means… the next one is the real thing! Everyone who was cheering for you looks super happy too!
Picock: ‘Twas a wonderful show. As expected of the one chosen by the Rainbow Charm, who possesses the power of My☆Deco…
Mia: They qualified, so now you’d better continue what you were saying last time. Y’know, about Rinne’s secret…
Picock: I suppose I did promise. Please calm down, I shall tell you everything. Whether you believe me or not… Rinne and I are not of this world.
Mia: Huh…!? What do you mean??
Picock: Before I realised it, I had reached this world. However, Rinne and I… had no recollection of why we had come here, nor where we were from.
Mia: You couldn't remember where you were from?
Picock: Indeed. All that we remembered was our names… and Rinne’s seven-hued metamorphosis. We endeavoured to recover our lost memories… however, by using her seven-hued metamorphosis, Rinne buried her true feelings, and so was incapable of recovering her memories. Then, we heard rumours of the Rainbow Charm. Using Rinne’s seven-hued metamorphosis to complete the Rainbow Charm... And, once she had the powers of the seven coords, Rinne would don the Rainbow Charm and become her perfect self… This was our plan to recover her memories.
Mia: I get it. You wanted to dye Rinne’s heart with the power of the coords.
Picock: Hence our efforts to acquire the Rainbow Charm from you. However… right now, your power is needed to save Rinne…
Mia: Huh…?
Rinne: Picock… So you were here?
Mia: Rinne…
Rinne: Player! And Mia too…
Picock: It seems we have spoken for quite a long time. Farewell.
Rinne: We’ll see each other again on the final stage, Player. See you…
Mia: Final stage, huh… Well then, let’s go! To the stage you're betting everything on!
#pretty rhythm#pretty rhythm aurora dream#pretty rhythm rainbow live#pretty rhythm dear my future#pretty rhythm 3ds#mdrw
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Pretty Rhythm: My☆Deco Rainbow Wedding Chapter 7+8
(We keep getting Picock-blocked and I am not here for it)
Chapter 7: Aiming for my Modelling Debut!
Mia: Woah! So this is where they do photoshoots for magazines, huh?
Ayami: There’s a lot of beautiful models around here…
Reina: Player’s debut as a model has me super excited!
Mia: I wonder what kinda shoot this’ll be, I can’t wait to find out!
(Camera flash)
Mia: AAAH! The flash is way too bright!!
Mion: Hehe, I got a nice candid.
Karin: Mion-san!?
Reina: You’re the cameraman today, Mion-san?
Mion: Yup. Since we’re all teammates with Pretty Top, I thought I’d be the best at capturing your natural reactions!
Karin: Even if we are teammates, having you take our pictures… it’d make anyone galactically nervous!
Mion: Really?
Karin: Yeah! (Crying but in the anime, not-serious way)
Mion: It shouldn’t make Player nervous. Hey Player, you can show me your prettiest smile, right? You’re not too nervous?
Choice: Yes, I’d be happy to!/I’m a bit nervous, actually…
Mion: Hehe, I thought you’d say that! Our photoshoot is for a huge magazine feature on prism stars.
Reina: Woah, that’s so cool! Your modelling debut’s going to be in a magazine feature!
Mia: I’m so jealouuuuuus!! I wanna be in a magazine tooooo!!
Mion: Yeah, yeah, fine. Mia can be in the shoot next time. Player, I’ll be taking pics of you performing a prism show, okay? Go get changed… wait, huh?
Reina: Is something wrong?
Mion: That rookie over there, she’s been looking at Player this whole time…
(Rinne appears)
Rinne: Player…
Mia: Ah! Rinne!! Why are you at the photo studio?
Picock: So you are all gracing this studio with your presences as well…?
Mia: Eugh, Picock! You’re here too… Well, Player has a photoshoot right now so don’t try to get in their way!
Picock: I would never dare to get in their way. Rinne is also partaking in a photoshoot, and is quite busy.
Mia: Really? Why’s Rinne doing a shoot?
Picock: It. Is. A. Secret!
Mia: What difference does it make if you tell us or not!?
Picock: Regardless, Rinne shall be featured in a much more prolific magazine than Player.
Mia: Really…? In that case, there’s no way Player will lose to you guys! Player, put on the best show you can and become a waaay better magazine model than Rinne!
Rinne: I want to see… Player’s prism show…
Mion: Hehehe. I’m not too sure what’s going on here, but it looks like things are getting fun! Player, make sure you show me the most heartfelt smile you can!
(Prism show)
Mion: Nice smile! I got a lot of great photos! You looked like you were really enjoying yourself during your show. I also started smiling while taking your pictures!
Rinne: Your heart… was sparking! Player really is my…
Picock: It seems that you’ve gotten ahead of us this time. Ah! I cannot allow this, we do not have enough time to be messing about with these people!
Mia: What do you mean ‘these people’!?
Picock: Coocoocoo! There shall be a surprise awaiting all of you tomorrow morning.
Mia: Huh? A surprise? What’ll it be?
Picock: You shall know tomorrow morning. It is now time for Rinne’s photoshoot. We are leaving!
Rinne: Okay… See you later, Player.
Reina: That Rinne girl has a pretty weird vibe.
Karin: Yeah, and that peacock on her shoulder was weird too…
Mia: Pretty sure Rinne and Picock are after the Rainbow Charm.
Mion: I see. Do you know why?
Mia: I have no clue… Though maybe that ‘surprise’ Picock mentioned is related? What’s gonna happen tomorrow? I wanna know!!!
Chapter 8: You’re my Rival!? Rinne’s Letter of Challenge
(In a bedroom, which I assume is the player’s?)
Karin: I’m glad the photoshoot went so well! Maybe you’ll become super famous now!
Reina: What did Picock mean when he said there would be a surprise tomorrow?
Mia: Yeaaaah, I’m sooo curious!!
Ayami: Oh, Player-san!
Reina: What’s up, Ayami?
Ayami: The TV! Please put on the TV!
Reina: The TV…? Why?
Ayami: Just hurry up and turn it on!
Mia: Yeah, yeah. The TV is… on!
Reina: What the…? “Press conference regarding a huge new prism star’s debut”!?
Karin: Woah, there’s a whole lotta people there!
Reina: This many people at a prism star’s debut is unthinkable…
Ayami: Oh! It’s starting!
Television: And now, the prism star who can change her image based on her coord… Rinne’s debut shall now commence!
Mia: RINNE!? Huuuh!? Rinne’s debuting as a prism star!? Why would Rinne’s debut be this popular!?
Reina: Shut up, Mia! The rest of us can’t hear!
Mia: But… I’m surprised!
Ayami: Rinne’s about to talk!
Rinne: Hello… I am Rinne. From here on out, I will be aiming to reach the top of the world of prism shows… I am the prism star chosen by the rainbow to bring forth the Rainbow Wedding!
Interviewer A: The Rainbow Wedding!? Do you mean the legendary coord that has never been seen before?
Rinne: Exactly. However, my rival currently has the Rainbow Charm that I require.
Interviewer B: You mean to say that a star has appeared who has the Rainbow Charm!?
Interviewer C: Rinne-san, please tell us the name of your rival!
Rinne: My rival’s name is… Player!!! You’re watching, aren’t you, Player? I will beat you and complete the Rainbow Charm! No, I must! I will definitely defeat you!
(Back to the bedroom)
Reina: ...damn, that was chilling.
Mia: Her character changed again, huh… She became a cool character this time. And she called Player her rival. Why does she want the Rainbow Charm that much!?
Penguin-sensei: Hey, Player! What’s the meaning of this!? Pretty Top’s been getting flooded with calls about “Rinne’s rival, Player”!
Mia: Woahhh! She’s created a huge fuss!
Pengun-sensei: We don’t have enough time to respond to everyone…
Mia: Player, we should go!
Penguin: Please go to the Prism Future Arena at once! There are a bunch of places to hide there, now hurry!
(The gang goes to the arena)
Mia: Haaaah, we somehow made it here… wait, huh?
Rinne: Player…
Mia: Rinne! What the hell was that press conference!?
Rinne: Player… are you angry?
Choice: I’m not angry/Why the hell did you say all of that!?
Rinne: I’m really sorry. I hurt your heart… But I need the Prism Charm no matter what. Seven-hued metamorphosis… Change! Cool!!!
Rinne: Player…
Mia: Ahhh! It’s the same cool character as before!
Rinne: I will defeat you and acquire the power of the seven coords! If I don’t, then I’ll... always be empty! (Okay so. It may be ‘it will always be empty’ referring to the Rainbow Charm, take this one with a grain of salt because it was unclear to me at least)
(Prism show)
Mia: AH! The Rainbow Charm!
Mia: You got the power of the cool coord…
Rinne: …Player…
Picock: It was useless…
Rinne: Picock, I’m sorry.
Picock: It’s alright, you do not need to apologise. Player, it seems that you really are a star befitting of being Rinne’s rival. However, Rinne is yet to awaken her true power.
Mia: No way! You mean she can improve even more!?
Picock: This time we just wished to see how much you’ve grown as a prism star. I have prepared a stage befitting of a true battle between Player and Rinne. That stage is.. The Rainbow Cup!
Mia: Huuuh!? The Rainbow Cup hasn’t been put on for forever!
Picock: That is correct. However, now that two stars chosen by the rainbow have appeared, the Rainbow Cup has been revived.
Rinne: The winner of the Rainbow Cup will acquire the Rainbow Wedding.
Picock: Please perfect your My☆Deco in order to compete in the Rainbow Cup!
Rinne: …
Picock: Farewell.
Mia: They left… “Aim for the Rainbow Cup”, huh… Rinne seemed kinda sad. Being able to change her personality with the seven coords is amazing, but who is the real Rinne?
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