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medea10 · 8 months

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My Review of Carole and Tuesday

How did I get into this anime? I’ve been wanting to watch this anime for the longest time. It’s just that when it first came out it was in ‘Netflix jail’. And not just regular Netflix jail, “Japanese Netflix jail”. After it was finally released, I found myself caught up in other ventures like Komi-san, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Violet Evergarden. I know, I sicken myself for that.

It’s important to note that in this story, people have the capability to live on Mars and the planet is now a terraformed, human-thriving place to live. We have AI technology to thank for that. Okay, now I see the connection to Shinichiro Watanabe directing this anime. I’ve been wondering for years why the genius behind Space Dandy and Cowboy Bebop would do this.

We start the anime with a young girl named Tuesday running away from home with nothing but her guitar and the clothes on her back. She leaves her affluent family behind and ends up in the metropolis Alba City. There she meets a keyboard player named Carole. Carole has been on her own her whole life. During the day she’s at part-time jobs (that she usually gets fired from) and at night, she plays the keyboard. Carole and Tuesday’s meeting was fate. They both connected when they jammed together. After playing on a stage for a few minutes, someone recorded their surprise performance and uploaded it online. The video became a viral sensation and caught the attention a man named Gus who wants to be the girl’s manager.

Aside from seeing the misadventures of Carole and Tuesday, we occasionally see things about a famous model named Angela. She has aspirations of hitting it big in the music industry as well and goes through all kinds of trials to be on par with all the AI generated music these days. But of course, Angela isn’t the main focus of the story, Carole and Tuesday are. They don’t even meet for real until the 8th episode. But Angela who already has name-recognition feels a little threatened by the mellow melodies of Carole and Tuesday. Let’s watch these talented ladies make some music!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As I said before, this was indeed nabbed by Netflix back in 2019. Sure, it’s no problem now. But count back four years and you’ve got months of pirating or waiting depending on your patience. It eventually aired and as a collective everyone moved on to the next big thing. In later years, it looked as though Sentai Filmworks licensed it as well. Is that what Sentai is going to continue doing? Are they going to take every single Netflix anime series, license it, and redub it? Legitimately asking here! They just did that to Kakegurui. If they do, for the love of God, please don’t let them redub over the songs. And thank you Netflix for not trying to butcher the songs. I always get worried when watching a musical anime that it’s going to happen. Long story short, I loved both the sub and the dub. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Tuesday is played by Kana Ichinose (known for Maki on Kaguya-sama, Maaa on Made in Abyss, and Yuzuriha on Dr. Stone)

*Carole is played by Miyuri Shimabukuro (known for Inca on Fire Force and Yuuna on Tsurune)

*Angela is played by Sumire Uesaka (known for Nagatoro on Miss Nagatoro, Shalltear on Overlord, Chloe on Miss Kobayashi, Dekomori on Chunibyo, Aya on Tonikawa, and Mitsuki on Yuri is my Job)

*Gus is played by Akio Ootsuka (known for InuYasha’s father on InuYasha, All For One on My Hero Academia, Rider on Fate/Zero, Gouhin on Beastars, Kyouraku on Bleach, Blackbeard on One Piece, and Skull Knight on Berserk 2016)

ENGLISH CAST: *Tuesday is played by Brianna Knickerbocker (known for Rem on Re:Zero, Kanao on Demon Slayer, Filo on Shield Hero, Akane on Durarara, Wiz on Konosuba, and Misha on Misfit of Demon Academy)

*Carole is played by Jeannie Tirado (known for Lutz on Ascendance of a Bookworm, Norman on The Promised Neverland, Fana on Black Clover, Kanae on Tokyo Ghoul :re, Riko on Love Live Sunshine, Zera on Fairy Tail)

*Angela is played by Ryan Bartley (known for Allister on Pokemon Journeys, Ram on Re:Zero, Takechiyo on Yashahime, Yuna on SAO, Yusa on Charlotte, Futaba on Magia Record, and Gilda on The Promised Neverland)

*Gus is played by Jason Marnocha (known for Samurai Sword on Chainsaw Man)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: Mamoru Miyano or not, I don’t like Ertegun. To be fair though, there are a lot of Mamoru Miyano characters I hate. Look, the point is I don’t like this guy.

Yeah. His first couple of appearances left a nasty taste in my mouth. Even when it seems like he’s a better man with Carole and Tuesday after losing all his money, I would always be suspicious of the guy. At least with Cybelle, we never see her again after the shady shit she did. This guy, we see up until the end of the series.

SHIPPING: Tuesday sure has had her fair-share of love interests. Well, she had one. But Cybelle was too much of a stalker fan. We actually see another stalker who loved a singer too much here too. But because it’s Angela, they took care of things before she was shot on stage. The Cybelle thing kinda got crazy when she gave Tuesday a hickey and set off a booby-trap that injured her. Yeesh, this woman!

But then we see Tuesday seem a little interested in an investigative reporter named Kyle. She doesn’t have to say anything, her facial expressions and the redness of her face says it all. But one night, she was planning to give him a gift and sees him kissing another girl kinda shattered her.

Now if there’s anyone with an interesting love life that we only see a little bit of is Gus’s. Probably because of his prior marriage to Marie…who is now marrying another woman. This show is totally rep’in the LGBT+ community and I’m lovin’ it.

GUILTY PLEASURE: Yeah, I really like that Mermaid Sisters song.

Admit it to yourselves. The second you heard that song, you found yourself humming it the rest of the day.

HALFWAY POINT: Before the midway point, Carole and Tuesday made it onto the hit reality-competition show Mars Brightest. If I were to explain it, it looked like an American Idol, The Voice, America’s Got Talent mish-mash. The girls made it through to the top 8 out of over 200 contestants. But they were up against some really talented singers including several influencers plus Angela who is doing her singing debut. Their non-use of A.I.’s with their music might seem like it would cripple their chances of winning the competition, but the judges and the audience have fallen in love with the duo. It wasn’t an easy ride here. Before their semi-finals match, a disgruntled Tuesday fan set up a booby-trap that burned her arm. Cybelle was all kinds of red-flags and I pray that’s the last I see of her.

After the semis, Tuesday is kidnapped. Tuesday’s mother (Valerie Simmons) orchestrated this to bring her back home. Tuesday’s mother is a politician and in the middle of an election to become the leader of Mars and doesn’t need her “disobedient” child causing mayhem in the middle of a crucial campaign. Thankfully, Carole, Gus, and Roddy were able to break in and bust Tuesday out (with some help from Tuesday’s brother). Unfortunately for Carole and Tuesday, this bust-out happened on the day of the Mars Brightest finale and they had to hurry up to the studio to perform live. The good news was they made it in time. The bad news, they were disqualified for not being present during the broadcast. But they were allowed to perform despite being disqualified. Their performance was so moving that they were actually given a record contract.

Gus however put an end to them getting a contract from that Mars Brightest judge Catherine. Gus has been in the business a long time and would feel it would be better for the girls if they had a little more freedom when it comes to their music. And so, they all go on a journey for an elusive producer named Tobe. They lured this secret guy out and after scaring the shit out of everyone with an axe, he agreed to help the girls produce.

I know I should have put this in the sub/dub section, but I fucking love John Snyder’s voice. No one ever says anything about this guy and he plays a grizzled, old fuck better than most voice actors. But aside from that, we’ve also got Tuesday’s mother waging a war on illegal aliens in her presidential campaign, a stalker getting a little too crazy for Angela, and Ertegun being financially bankrupt.

ENDING: It’s been well established at the beginning of every episode that Carole and Tuesday were going to cause a monumental moment that will cause a seven-minute “miracle”. So, it should go without saying that the girls hit it big by the end of this series. But what do we have to look forward to before then? Angela’s agent Mr. Tao being arrested. Angela’s mother having a heart attack. Carole and Tuesday working on an album. An Angela A.I. clone. Carole’s friend detained for being an illegal alien. The Mars election. The Grammy’s. All of that happening within the final couple of episodes may seem too much, but I think it all ended quite nicely.

First, let’s get to the Angela stuff. Everyone still sees Angela as the golden child in the music industry and nearly everywhere else. Mr. Tao expanded that by creating an A.I. of Angela. His experiments do go really in depth and can get unethical. Added pressure from her mother Dahlia hasn’t helped her one bit as it just gave her severe stress. Angela ends up getting hooked on pain killers and other medications. But a sudden collapse from Dahlia changed everything. Angela learns from Dahlia that she isn’t really her mother but loves her regardless and then she dies. Angela was a wreck at this moment and still attends the Grammy’s to perform. She gets the Best New Artist award and performs…I think.

I’m not sure if she actually performed or if it was all in her head. Angela’s psychosis almost went to Perfect Blue levels. What we are sure of is that she collapsed on stage as she overdosed on painkillers. Angela’s mental state was out of control that we don’t know if she’ll ever sing again.

The Mars election has been a big thing since the halfway point. Tuesday’s mother Valerie has been climbing up in the polls with her controversial illegal immigration stances. Truth be told is that, she doesn’t really support zero tolerance deportation, that’s her campaign manager pulling those strings. Her manager is not only behind the support for deportation, but also devised a terrorist attack and blamed it on illegal immigrants. Tuesday’s brother Spenser has been trying to save his mother from making a big mistake by continuing with this election any further. Spenser thankfully wasn’t alone as he was with that journalist that Tuesday took a liking to, Kyle.

As for Carole and Tuesday, these two ladies have really been riding their luck and it’s been going pretty well for them. They were able to write the last few songs for their upcoming album, they were nominated for a Grammy, and a notable singer wants to sing with them at the award show. Crystal was a singer the girls have met once before and now she wants to perform with the duo at the Grammy’s. And it was a success!

The girls are happy here, but they can’t help but notice the state of Mars and what could become of it. Tuesday’s mother could become the leader and put in a military state. Carole may never see her friend Ezekial again. Not to mention Angela’s slight fall from grace. The duo wants to do something. They plan with their closest allies to come up with a one-night performance. Gus, Ertegun, and the rest will get in contact with people they can trust. All Carole and Tuesday have to do is write the perfect song to unite everyone who will listen. Easier said than done! Although, this series has shown that these girls were able to make lyrics and music and having it turn out successful. Will it work? We get a conclusion in the final episode for most issues surrounding this series. Valerie listens to her son and drops out of the election, but not before telling off her campaign manager. Mr. Tao got his revenge on some enemies. Tao also paid Angela a visit and gave her a little bit of closure. Both he and Angela are genetically engineered children.

And as for this special moment, many special singers came for this occasion. There were big superstars like Crystal. Past acquaintances from the Mars Brightest competition like Pytor and GGK (not Cybelle thankfully). A singer from back in the day, Flora. And even…Desmond?! I thought Desmond died! And best of all, Angela came too. It seems she’ll go back to singing for fun, like when she was a child. Carole and Tuesday brought those feelings back to Angela with their songs.

All of these artists together on one stage. This was the seven-minute miracle. This song united all who listened. And at the end, we get the message that this’ll be continued…

gasp

In your memories.

D’oh! Cock-tease! I came in thinking I was going to love this anime. I was not disappointed in that department. Netflix has a reputation for putting out hit-or-miss animes. This is definitely one of the best…after Violet Evergarden.

First, I want to talk about the music. Nowadays if the anime is a musical, the character’s seiyuu will do the singing. And that should be an expectation when I see big names like Maaya Sakamoto, Mamoru Miyano, Megumi Hayashibara, and Sumire Uesaka. But there were different singers for nearly every song. I don’t think I’ve heard this since watching NANA and I love it. Another unique thing I saw with Carole and Tuesday was that the girls did not have a spat that almost breaks up the group. We did not see that at all. These girls got along and did their music.

Next…this anime got really current with a lot of things. Yes, I know this anime is set a possible century from now…and for some reason Instagram still exists, but it can still feel relevant. Music is mostly done through A.I. influence and nowadays, it’s starting to look a lot like that. Everything is now thanks to things like A.I. generated art and Chat GPT. And of course, the big thing that stuck out at me was politics. I am in no way an expert in the subject. That wasn’t even my major in school (although coming really close to minoring in poli-sci). I’m just a regular U.S. citizen that keeps up with the news. Seeing the portion of the anime where Tuesday’s mother is talking about cracking down on illegal immigration on Mars really strikes a chord. Yeah, pretty much every administration has their way of dealing with that issue and all of them really did a really lousy job.

I’m pretty sure this anime was making a point with what the Trump administration was doing with the MICE officers. Pfft. I know this really stands for Mars Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but seeing officers wearing uniforms that say MICE on it, I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. Another bit that was struck during Carole and Tuesday was when it came to artistic freedom. Yeah, this is another thing that I’m noticing a lot of recently. Political figures cracking down on what artists can and can’t do or make an example of. Nowadays, I’m seeing certain states ban books, songs, and other such things. Seriously, just because Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton sing about rainbows, that needs to be banned? Tennessee, do better! And Florida, you’ve never been good. Just do the whole world a favor and drop in the ocean.

Yeah, I’m gonna stop my rambling here. This anime has been a treat and I encourage anyone who loves music to definitely check this out. Netflix has the whole series available for streaming. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to crack down on some Bungo Stray Dogs.

#anime review #carole and tuesday #carole #tuesday #angela #ertegun #mermaid sisters #gus #valerie simmons #tobe

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medea10 · 1 year

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My Review of Spy x Family

How did I get into this anime? Out of the many, many, many sequels I had on my plate for the spring 2022 anime season, I knew I had to see this one. Fans have been pumping this anime up nearly a year in advance as being the next big thing. Too bad the fandom died once Chainsaw Man reared its head. Crunchyroll started to promote this anime months in advance too. So here I am!

Twilight is a secret agent who keeps the peace. He is the master spy of Westalis and will happily prevent any kind of turmoil between Westalis and their neighboring country Ostania. Twilight has been able to do all of his tasks flawlessly. His next mission might be his most difficult one yet. In order to investigate this one politician, he must infiltrate the prestigious Eden Academy. In order for this mission to be a success, Twilight must embark on the toughest challenge of all. Twilight must start a family. Twilight (despite his handsome face) is more of a married to his work kind of fella. Even the whole thing about having a fake family seems a little too much.

So, Twilight adopts a fake persona, fake name, a woman to be his fake wife, and a kid to be his fake daughter. At this point, Twilight will be known as Loid Forger. First, he adopts a daughter from an orphanage. Anya is a six-year-old with an unbelievable power. She’s an Esper and can read peoples minds. As for the wife, he picks a ditzy City Hall worker named Yor. And yes, she has a secret as well. Yor is a secret lethal assassin. And she’s okay with posing as his wife so that people around her stop being suspicious of her being a single woman over 25. But Loid asks Yor to be his wife so that he could get Anya into Eden Academy. That school prefers the two-parent household. And of course, for Anya’s well-being!

There you have it, a spy, an assassin, and an Esper start a family and play house.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As I said before, Crunchyroll got first dibs on this anime early on. I think they recognized the popularity of the manga and thought this would be their big cash cow of the year before the next cash cow came six months later. They were even faster than normal releasing the dub to this. It was even leaked less than a week from the Japanese premier. The popularity of this series is downright insane. Although I will stick to the Japanese version! Nothing against the English cast, but I just prefer Atsumi Tanezaki voicing Anya. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Twilight/Loid is played by Takuya Eguchi (known for Cheren on Pokemon BW, Takeo on Ore Monogatari, Kakeru on Fruits Basket 2019, Shuuji on Tokyo Revengers, Ryouma on Love Stage, and Julius on Re:Zero)

*Yor is played by Saori Hayami (known for Shinobu on Demon Slayer, Shouko on A Silent Voice, Yotsugi on Monogatari, Anju on 86, Yumeko on Kakegurui, Himawari on Boruto, and Sachi on SAO)

*Anya is played by Atsumi Tanezaki (known for Uo on Fruits Basket 2019, Futaba on Bunny Girl Senpai, Juno on Beastars, Emilia on Durarara, and Mujika on The Promised Neverland 2)

ENGLISH CAST: *Twilight/Loid is played by Alex Organ (known for Makishima on Psycho Pass, Arima on Tokyo Ghoul, Decim on Death Parade, Norway on Hetalia, and Doranbalt on Fairy Tail)

*Yor is played by Natalie Van Sistine

*Anya is played by Megan Shipman (known for Mare on Overlord, Keimi on One Piece, Hanamaru on Love Live Sunshine, Momo on Fruits Basket 2019, Yuzu on Citrus, and Takitsubo on Index/Railgun)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: I think everyone can come to an agreement with this one as we rise up to cheer when this guy got socked in the face!

Nobody makes Anya cry!

SHIPPING: So, is this fake family going to work? Can a spy and an assassin put up an honest front in public without giving an inch? I mean they’re both very good at their work, but even this is a stretch.

It might be too soon to be tossing around love when it comes to Yor and Loid. Respect for each other, yes. But when you get the kiss scene brought on by Yor’s brother Yuri, yeah, these two aren’t ready for real. Yor was going to slap Loid, but thankfully it was Yuri that got the blow. Unfortunately, this does happen again and this time Loid was on the receiving-end of that knock-out slap. But if we’re going to talk about obvious crushes, why don’t we talk about Damien?

Too bad Anya thinks you’re such a shit-head.

We don’t really get much in the shipping category after the first few episodes. I mean, once you propose with a grenade pin in front of an explosion, there’s no way you can outdo that. But things took a wild direction during part two when Fiona Frost came into the picture. Apparently, she was originally going to be Loid’s fake wife for the mission if she wasn’t on a long mission of her own. So, once she returned to town, she wanted to do away with Yor and become Loid’s next wife. And that’s because she LOVES him. Not Loid Forger, but Twilight, the spy. And yes, this is a notice-me-senpai woman. Loid was Fiona’s senpai! It is literally a notice-me-senpai moment!

ENDING TO PART ONE: Loid’s mission has been going along okay. He managed to find a wife and child and have that child get accepted to that prestigious school in order to make nice with the son of the elusive politician. But Loid now has a new thorn in his side that comes in the form of a jealous brother-in-law. It would be enough for Loid to deal with Yuri’s unhealthy jealousy of his sister’s marriage. As it turns out, Yuri is part of the secret police set to detain and force confessions on those considered to be a spy in the country. Worst of all, Yuri knows the existence of a spy named Twilight and has vowed to catch him. But we’ll probably deal with more of this as the series progresses as a whole.

Meanwhile, Anya is having her own problems at school. She knows getting along with Damien will lead to world peace (eventually). Problem is she finds him to be a shit-head and the face she makes around him has launched a bajillion memes. As we all know, the first day of school ended with Anya earning this school’s version of a demerit because she socked Damian in the face. Not just that but Anya’s test scores are really bad. A lot is riding on her succeeding at this school. On the plus side, Anya did gain some attention in her class’s dodgeball game against another class with the world’s biggest 6-year-old.

Seriously, what are they feeding this kid? I’m convinced this isn’t a first grader and that he’s an undercover narc.

But Anya earned notoriety when she saved a kid from drowning. Anya’s psychic ability was able to aid her with that and she was able to help the lad without seeping out the secret about being an Esper. Because of this moment, the school gave Anya a ‘Stella’, the one honor Eden bestows upon the best and brightest. And she will receive a puppy…later! We did catch a glimpse of the future furry friend that’ll become a Forger in part two. For now, it’s time for a trip to the aquarium. Mostly, this trip is just for Loid to keep up appearances in front of the neighbors so they don’t think he’s cheating on his wife or something shady. Loid was also doing spy work during this outing. Okay, that’s it for Spy x Family’s first half.

*three months later*

PART TWO: Anya gets a doggy!

Like I said prior, Anya is getting a dog as a reward for saving another kid from drowning. And just like the rest of the members of the Forger family, this dog has a special quirk as well. He has future sight or something like that. This dog was put through some experiments and this was the end result. Also, he’s a dog that’s being used by bad guys as a ‘bomb dog’. The first couple of episodes were dedicated to Anya and Bond. It was kinda thrilling with Anya escaping danger, Yor unknowingly beats up the bad guys, and Loid just being kick-ass.

After those episodes just comes the usual stuff you would expect these characters to do. Loid is on some mission that turns into something else. Yor can’t cook. Anya gets bad grades. Mr. Scruffy-head can’t get a date. Yuri is an idiot with a sister complex and apparently the hardest working stomach in history. But things do pick up when we meet Fiona Frost (a.k.a. Nightfall). There seems to be a lot of people out here with some major secrets that could contradict and conflict with others. Adding Fiona was just asking for trouble given her feelings towards Twilight.

Oh right, Twilight is Loid. Did you guys forget that?

ENDING: Nearing the end of this season, we’ve witnessed a few moments that could be considered a special moment, but were just bait-and-switches. Adding Fiona as a character brought on a lot of drama as Yor does feel intimidated by her. We even got a scene of Loid and Yor alone together to sort things out. And by sort things out, Yor got shit-faced to a point where you need subtitles for the subtitles, she was that fucking wasted. Oh, and Loid got knocked out by Yor. Not just anyone can knock out the world’s best spy. But the world’s best assassin could.

I often find myself wondering if Loid and Yor could be anything other than a fake couple. Loid is only using Yor (and Anya as well) for the sake of his long-term mission. And Yor is kinda sticking around so that she doesn’t get in trouble with the secret police because they find single women suspicious. Yor has a lot to hide too. But we often get scenes where these two characters get close to each other. Unfortunately, those scenes are followed with Yor giving Loid a big smack down. But then we get this touching scene where Loid remembers his mother due to hearing Yor sing a lullaby. I’m conflicted with these two! Maybe more will progress in the future.

Oh yeah, Loid and Fiona dressed incognito in a tennis tournament the episode prior. There’s such irony with these two posing as a fake couple here. Whatever! I’m still on Team Yor!

The final episode, we finally meet Donovan Desmond. This is the man that Loid has been waiting to get close to and investigate for the mission. The one man that could make or break the peace between Westalis and Ostania.

This guy…he looks like a lobotomy victim. He has a face that a bad guy makes before Bugs Bunny blows them up with dynamite! I stand by what was just said.

Eden Academy is having a gala that has an attendance of the elite; famous people, successful alumni, politicians, and others. This includes someone like Donovan Desmond. He’s a powerful politician and is Damian’s father. This is Loid’s chance to speak to his target. Loid was able to come close to the Desmonds in the guise of finding a charm that belongs to Anya and formally apologize for Anya’s behavior when she and Damian got accepted to Eden. Their meeting was short, but at least Loid was able to meet the elusive politician. He’s rarely in the public eye and even his own sons barely see him. Well, just meeting him in an informal fashion isn’t going to cut it. Loid and the spies must do what they must to keep the peace. So, there’s going to be more stories from the Forgers. Guarantee it!

One week before the finale, there was a formal announcement that not only Spy x Family was going to return in 2023 with a second season, but they were also getting a movie. Well, I am beyond excited here because I loved this series. Yes, I felt a lull and hit a wall while watching the second part. I’m just going to say the stories between getting Bond and meeting Fiona was that point for me. For others, I honestly thought that people fell out of the Spy x Family anime once Bleach and Chainsaw Man came out during the fall season. Thankfully, these animes didn’t air on the same day. One thing that I would like to see more of that I felt kind of a lack of throughout the series is seeing Yor in action. I mean besides watching her in regular settings where she does something out of the ordinary. I want to see more of Yor in assassination mode in an assassin mission. I feel like I only see Yor in action during the opening and ending themes.

But that’s my small want from the series. I gotta give the kudos to the collaboration between Wit Studio and Cloverworks. The animation was amazing. I was surprised at how much I loved this anime going into it. I fell in love with nearly all of the characters. Yes, even odd-wads like Yuri and Fiona. I’m looking for all the upcoming projects Spy x Family has and will give a full recommendation for just about anybody. I know that sound kinda broad, but this anime has a little bit of everything that could satisfy many folks. It has action, comedy, and schmaltzy drama on occasion.

If you would like to watch Spy x Family, every episode is available for streaming on both Hulu and Crunchyroll.

#spy x family #anime review #loid forger #twilight #yor forger #anya forger #damian desmond #fiona frost #bond forger

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