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cavesalamander · 3 years

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My brief thoughts on this season of anime!

Just a quick review of the ones I’d recommend and/or keep watching. I managed to find all of the below on Funimation or Crunchyroll or Youtube!

Horymia: (Yes) This is looking to be a very funny romcom slice of life style anime, and seems to be a fairly good one! Had me laughing a lot. The Main couple are a nerdy quiet boy who’s actually dumb as a sack of bricks using his disheveled appearance to hide his tattoos and piercings, and a popular pretty girl who’s actually a total homebody. Their friends seem to have a lot of potential to be fleshed out as the series progresses and I look forward to seeing how it goes!

So I’m a Spider, So What?: (Yes) Whooo another isekai (excited)! This time a girl and her entire class!? Get isekai’d in a massive explosion. The main character reincarnates as a trash monster in a dungeon and must fight her way up the food chain just to survive. Meanwhile her friends who have mostly reincarnated as Cool Humans or the occasional elf or baby dragon, have mostly found each other, and want to figure out what happened/why and if they’re all okay. It’s genuinely pretty funny, though leans a little too hard sometimes on the gamey aspects of this new world. I think it may get darker as it goes along too.

Mushoku Tensei: (No) Whooo another isekai (derogatory). 34 yo old man gets reincarnated and uses his worldly experience to Learn Magic Fast and creep on his mom and prepubescent tutor. If you can stomach that stuff, it actually has a fair amount of potential? It did set itself up to touch on some interesting stuff down the road, but I’m kind of Over the horny toddler/young boy trope and it kinda just seems like the protagonist is Just Awesome At Everything but not in a remotely charming way.

Cells at Work Code Black: (Yes) If you liked Cells at Work, this is that but dingier, and is able to tackle some darker themes - like what stress, smoking, drinking, and probably eventually STDs can do to your body.

Kemono Jihen: (Yes) I don’t wanna explain TOO much about the plot of this one because it looks to be a mystery series, and the first episode sets it up the characters very very well. A man from the city is called to a rural town where animals are being mysteriously killed and found rotting. He’s tasked with finding and killing the perpetrator, assumed to be a monster of some kind. It does the horror very well, and even in the first episode manages some twistyness.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter: (No) Even for a blatant fan service anime this one is just......... stupid. It might have a scrap of joy to it if the protagonist were anything other than a boring sycophant. His harem just all seems to be random girls who’s singular personality traits are to be in love with him in various stereotypical ways, that he just uses to min max his Cool Stats. But like, it’s not even self aware enough to make that into an interesting premise.

Sk8: (Yes) It’s a racing anime that seems super stylish and fun and very well animated. The protagonists have some cool chemistry already, and it really leans into the Underground Illegal Racing part of the fun - all the various characters who battle in death defying races through this abandoned mine, all have seemingly ordinary day jobs. Definitely worth a shot if that sounds up your alley.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies moved to a starter town?: (Probably) Okay so the premise is just there in the title and is actually pretty fun. Think: a random NPC who is considered pretty weak where the monsters are lv 50 moving somewhere where the monsters are scary at lv 5, shenanigans ensue. The MC boy is hilariously oblivious to the fact that anyone with a shred of sense can see he’s insanely over leveled to the area, and just trying to be nice and polite to everyone ^u^. The tentative nature of my recommendation is that it is kind of leaning harder on the Girls are Obsessed With Him train than is ideal. How much it depends on that as opposed to utilizing the premise to its fullest extent will have an enormous bearing on how fun the show is to watch going forward.

Ex-Arm: (Absolutely not but yes) It’s a fucking train wreck.

Heavens Design Team: (Yes) God decided to outsource creating animals to a team of angels, and works as a client giving weird ass requests for the angels to fill. Hilarity ensues, and it is peak edutainment to boot. It’s so much fun learning weird shit about animals, or trying to guess the animal these seemingly random train of failed attempts leads to.

Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist-: (No) It has a promising premise and some good moments. The main characters are solving these weird “diseases” that people get by finding the actual emotional cause and using magic of some kind to monkey paw it into a resolution. This could be really fun and interesting, but something about the execution just... falls flat? Like maybe it picks up as the season goes on but for now it’s not rly worth it.

Vlad Love: (Yes) I was going through the list of anime this season and was like wtf is this and literally just now watched episode 1. It’s about a girl with a blood donation kink and her vampire girlfriend. Literally. It’s rly funny and over the top ridiculous but like, gay vampires.

Back Arrow: (No) It’s like... fine. It’s about these two warring kingdoms surrounded by a wall with a mountain range between. They worship the wall as god, and occasionally get gifts from beyond it, in the form of mech suits they use to fight each other in. One day a boy shows up from beyond the wall in one of those suits and no memories of anything and he wants to get back. Which... could be promising I guess? But something about the show just didn’t grab my attention.

Skate-Leading Stars: (No) It’s like Yuri on ice if it was less gay and less well written I guess...? The first episode set up the Drama competently enough, but I just... couldn’t give a shit.

Project Scard: (No) For some reason part of Tokyo has been turned into a post apocalyptic hellscape where people just murder each other. They also have super powered tattoos and use them to fight each other. Animation is very similar to Handshakers - which is an Aesthetic that may not appeal to some. The first episode didn’t rly do much for me but I could see it going somewhere if it tries.

Wave!!: (No) Might have been a tentative yes if I hadn’t gone on and watched the second episode. First ep went hard with the queerbaiting cause they want to be the new Free! but with surfing, but Ep 2 just forgot all about that entirely. Dialogue is mostly boring and there’s like 3 sets, which becomes painfully obvious very quickly by ep 2.

Idoly Pride: (No) Literally looks like they ripped off the waifus of a bunch of other more popular anime and made an idol anime with the most basic ass idol plot. Nothing exceptional here.

Gekidol: (undecided) It’s an idol anime... set after a mysterious apocalyptic event? It’s mostly so far seemed intriguing as hell but not my jam. Mysterious craters destroyed parts of Japan, and its rebuilding and the MCs wanna bring light to the world. Maybe aliens exist? Idk! I’m intrigued.

I*Chu: (No) Another idol anime but this time it’s cute boys! Idk maybe this is a decent idol anime but it rly didn’t grab me and idol stuff isn’t usually my jam. I couldn’t tell anything exceptionally unique about this one from just the first episode.

WIXOSS Diva: (No, but) I don’t normally watch spin-offs of series but I didn’t realize until halfway into this that it was one cause Crunchyroll didn’t attach it to the core line. It’s like... magical girl battle idols in VR! Which honestly if you’re a fan of that it might actually be worth checking out.(edited)

Idolls!: (No) Another idol anime! But this one uses mocap 3d models. Phoned in plot line delivered by a weird tiki statue that tells the girls what to do. Seems extraordinarily low budget, and more just a way to sell music. The whole episode happened in a single set and was basically just... girls want to make it big as idols... oh no... gotta book a stage! Yay they got one! Now must get an audience! Like... ok

Hortensia Saga: (No but) Sword and sorcery fantasy setting that’s mostly sword, main character is a princess masquerading as a male knight alongside the son of her dead parents’s also dead bodyguard. The first episode is very lore heavy and felt kinda like the prologue to a video game. So it ended up feeling a little expository and trope laden, but it has potential. Seems a bit Game of Thronesy? Wasn’t like... bad or anything, so if it’s your thing you might enjoy it.

Otherside Picnic: (Yes) I think it’s gay first of all, two girls going exploring / treasure hunting / monster hunting in a bizarre mirror world to their own. Girls are cute, it’s very interesting premise and writing seems solid.

Wonder Egg Priority: (Yes) It deals with some HEAVY themes? But it’s... a bit of a psychological horror but in a way that feels very like it’s dealing with some of the real life issues. The main character girl comes across as neurodivergent, and it’s just... idk man the first episode was good and left me wanting more.

#Winter 2021 anime #Its of course flavored by my personal preferences but idc

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linneawritesstories · 4 years

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Review of Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs is the third novel in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series. I have also reviewed the previous two books, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow City.

This review may contain spoilers. This review contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission off of qualifying purchases made through the links on this page at no extra cost to you.

After the events of Hollow City, Jacob, Emma, and Addison on are on their own in their quest to rescue Miss Peregrine from the wights. And now the wights have the rest of their friends as well. With the help of the intrepid Addison’s Peculiar-sensitive nose, they are able to track the wights and their captives to the loop entrance leading to Devil’s Acre. They must pay for passage from a mysterious boatman, who warns them to trust no one and swears not to help them beyond transporting them safely to the shore.

Setting

While Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs begins in modern-day London, but by chapter two Jacob, Emma, and Addison are in Devil’s Acre. The exact year of the time loop is never stated, however, it was long before the invention of modern plumbing as its inhabitants dump their waste in the river. Sharon, the boatman, describes Devil’s Acre as containing, “Nasty things… Dreadful things. Vile things. Anything you like, so long as what you like is nasty, dreadful, and vile…” It is home to outlaws, mercenaries, and exiles.

Ransom Riggs’ talent for descriptive writing means that we get to see Devil’s Acre in sordid detail, from the stinking water of The Ditch to the flower boxes on Oozing Street.

Continue reading below or on my website.

Characters

I was pleased that Addison the talking boxer returned in this book, as I enjoyed him immensely in Hollow City. He is proud, courageous, and loyal to the point of recklessness, as indicated by how he charges off anytime he thinks Miss Wren, his ymbryne, is nearby. In fact, his pride and recklessness results in him often blurting things out, revealing that he is a Peculiar dog at inappropriate times, such as around Normals.

Jacob grows braver and more sure of himself. However, he retains his natural timidity, which means that he is cautious and doesn’t fall victim to the typical male protagonist brashness. If Jacob had his way, there would always be time to come up with a plan. That’s not his reality, though, so he has learned to be more flexible and to think on his feet as the series grows on. I’m very pleased with his growth from a bored, nihilistic teenager to a brave, selfless young man.

The brashness belongs to Emma. Emma has a strong sense of justice, which gets them into more than one mess. She can’t bring herself to look away from people being treated poorly, even for the sake of rescuing Miss Peregrine, who she loves like a mother. She is far more than a love interest, and does her part to advance the plot.

There were also a number of new characters introduced in this book.

Sharon

I knew from the moment we met our seven-foot-tall, hooded boatman that I was going to love him. He’s sarcastic, he’s morally-ambiguous, he’s got pet rats that he refers to himself as “daddy” to. I was guaranteed to like him. So I hope that he would stick around for more than that one scene, and sure enough Emma and Jacob were able to convince him to help them navigate Devil’s Acre. Sharon is a Peculiar, but his power is never explained. I, personally, am assuming it has to do with rat communication. Sharon is a nuanced, round character, and he is my favourite of the new characters in Library of Souls.

Mr. Bentham

The younger of Miss Peregrine’s brothers. The council of ymbrynes exiled him to Devil’s Acre for his part in creating the hollows. Bentham is weak both physically and mentally, often requiring his grimbear bodyguard PT to carry him around his own house. He has a checkered past of good deeds and bad, and neither Emma nor Jacob trust him despite the assistance he renders to them.

Caul

The older of Miss Peregrine’s two brothers. Caul, whose birth name is Jack, is the leader of the wights. While he appeared in Hollow City, we get to see more of him as a character in Library of Souls. Caul is sadistic and selfish, with no loyalty to his own men or his siblings. All Caul wants is to rule the world. To achieve that, there is nothing he isn’t willing to do. Torture children? Threaten his own brother? All fine in Caul’s book. While his motives aren’t complex, he is sensible enough to never put himself in harm’s way. He holds deep bitterness for his sister, Miss Peregrine’s, status as an ymbryne, which gives her great status in matriarchal Peculiar society. This seems to have factored in to his desire to rule Peculiardom as its king.

Mother Dust

Mother Dust is not a major character, but I feel she is worth mentioning. She is a healer in Bentham’s employ who gives Emma and Jacob a tool to help them infiltrate the wights’ fortress. To use her healing power, she has to rub her flesh into dust to sprinkle on wounds. This means that her power harms her each time its used. When Emma asked her about it, Mother Dust said through her assistant Reynaldo that this is how she was chosen to serve. The narrative implies that she has no tongue, so she never speaks directly. Reynaldo translates everything she says. Mother Dust might be French, as Reynaldo has a French accent.

Final Thoughts on Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

I loved Library of Souls from start to finish. It was one of those books that I was sad to see end, though I was satisfied by the conclusion. The first thing I did after reading the last page was excitedly tell all my friends how much I enjoyed the book.

I know that there are more books in the series, so I’ll definitely be picking them up. Library of Souls tied up the loose ends from the previous two books, so I’m curious about what the other books will be about.

Definitely recommended! However, there are applicable trigger warnings: torture, madness, human experimentation, unlawful confinement, slavery, drugs, needles, blood, injury, and child abuse.

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