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kythed · 3 years

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haikyuu!! + where they take you on your first date

yes, i have a soft spot for akaashi, how could you tell?

karasuno

sugawara koushi: one of those clay painting places. he tries to paint your face on a mug-- it ends up looking like a purposefully offensive caricature, but you appreciate the gesture.

azumane asahi: takes you thrifting because he thought it would be aesthetic. the only clothing you two buy is a set of XXL galaxy cat t-shirts.

nishinoya yuu: chuck-e-cheese.

hinata shouyo: an action movie. he won’t stop chattering and making side comments the entire time, but it’s kinda cute. tries to pull the classic yawn-over-the-shoulder move and accidentally spills his popcorn on your lap.

kageyama tobio: invites you to watch one of his volleyball games. it’s not your ideal first date, but the rare smile he flashes you when his team wins makes up for it. he is incredibly sweaty when you go out to eat afterwards, though.

sawamura daichi: a bowling alley. he’s a shit bowler but pretends to be an expert just so he can get close and “teach” you the proper form. he also really likes the overly greasy bowling alley pizza for some reason.

tanaka ryunosuke: italian restaurant. he pronounces gnocchi like “guh-no-chee” and pitches a fit when they don’t offer bottomless breadsticks like olive garden does. before leaving, you slip the poor waitress an extra five for the inconvenience.

yamaguchi tadashi: a butterfly garden. coincidentally finds out he has a deathly phobia of flying insects that same day. you don’t end up staying very long.

tsukishima kei: a natural history museum, but not in a cute way-- you just tail him for three hours while he silently stares at fossils and refuses to hold your hand.

nekoma

kozume kenma: a duck pond near his house. he thought it’d be nice to feed them stale bread, but it turns out there are only very large, very angry geese there. you watch in horror as the largest one chases him around the block.

haiba lev: an amusement park. brags that he never gets sick on roller coasters before vomiting on your favorite sneakers after the first ride. it’s up to you whether or not he gets a second date.

kuroo tetsurou: finesses his way into the country club without paying. you two obnoxiously cannonball into the pool and eat too many free nuts until the concierge chases you out.

yaku morisuke: the skate park. he doesn’t actually know how to skate so he sits on the board and hangs on for dear life while you push him down the ramp as hard as you can. you can honestly say it’s one of the best first dates you’ve ever been on.

inuoka sou: ikea, mostly to purchase matching ikea bucket hats. also forces you to take a picture of him in the kitchen section for flexing purposes.

shiratorizawa

ushijima wakatoshi: a book store. he’s not much of a reader but he thinks the way you open every book just to inhale that new book scent is funny. buys you five hardcovers and refuses to be paid back.

tendou satori: an open house for a multi-million dollar villa. you pretend to be wealthy newlyweds and eat the complimentary charcuterie while chatting up a real estate agent. halfway through the conversation he switches to a british accent and blows your cover.

semi eita: takes you to a ballroom dancing class in the park. all the other students are elderly couples that smile warmly and “aww” when he dips you. he may or may not drop you on purpose at some point.

tsutomu goshiki: the animal shelter. he’s allergic to dogs and has a runny nose the entire time but muscles through because he likes how excited you get to pet them.

shirabu kenjirou: mini-golfing, but he swings like it’s regular golf. ends up launching a ball into one of the little windmills’ blades and breaking it. he subsequently gets banned for life so you win by default.

aoba johsai

oikawa tooru: a cafe. orders straight black coffee to prove his maturity. you can see him grimace with every bitter swallow so you mercifully trade your maple latte.

iwaizumi hajime: the beach. is it just so he can show off his glorious, glorious pecs? maybe. but you’re not complaining.

hanamaki takahiro: costco. you play hide and seek in between the aisles and get free samples. he accidentally startles a small child into tears after lodging himself in between two bags of rice to hide.

matsukawa issei: hiking. you two get lost on the way down and end up having to call the forest service to get rescued by rangers.

kunimi akira: the backseat of his car (it’s an SUV).

inarizaki

miya atsumu: an arcade. does that thing with the ticket wheel where he lifts up the cover and stops it on the 1000 ticket slot. is also surprisingly adept at skee-ball.

miya osamu: tells you to get dressed for a fancy dinner. when he picks you up you find out “fancy dinner” in osamu language means two pbj’s on a picnic blanket in the park and a game of cards.

kita shinsuke: the planetarium. he’s fascinated with the stars and pays more attention to them than he does to you, but it’s cute how wide his eyes get when the entire milky way comes into view.

suna rintarou: a wendy’s drive-thru, and you’re not even mad about it— he somehow manages to make a frosty and fries seem classy.

fukurodani

akaashi keiji: the aquarium. he has an endearing fixation on the hermit crabs and unsuccessfully tries to hide his excitement when the tour guide lets him hold one on his palm. you now have a picture of him smiling at the crab as your lock screen.

bokuto koutarou: a hedge maze. it takes you two hours to escape, and you only manage to get out because he kicks a hole in one of the hedges and crawls through.

konoha akinori: the farmer’s market. purposely buys way too many bananas as an excuse for asking you over tomorrow to help him make banana bread.

date tech

futakuchi kenji: tries to seem sophisticated by taking you to see a foreign film. it ends up being so raunchy that he can’t even look you in the eye when the credits roll.

koganegawa kanji: axe throwing. is incredibly embarrassed when you manage to hit the target and he can’t. claims he’s just “going easy” on you but his scowl says otherwise.

aone takanobu: tandem bike riding. his greek god quads provide more than enough horsepower, so you can just sit back and relax.

other

terushima yuuji: a lookout. it’s too cloudy to see the city lights so you have a contest to see who can spit the farthest over the edge.

sakusa kiyoomi: invites you over for dinner and a puzzle-- he’s more comfortable in his own home. the atmosphere is almost relaxing, and dare I say… romantic? he does get frustrated when you keep trying to fit edge pieces in the center, though.

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popmusicu · 3 years

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My favorite soundtracks from video games

Monkey Island: Main theme

What a suspenseful beginning. The slow buildup, the soft bongo, light percussion, and then.....BAM!!! All these beautiful instruments come together to create one of my favorite video game intros. It perfectly encapsulates the Monkey Island games and their aesthetic. In a humorous game inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride, what better soundtrack could there be than this, a so-called “pirate reggae” style of music?

Secret of Mana: The Color of the Summer Sky

Fun and sweet town tunes are a staple of RPGs, Dragon Quest, Illusion of Gaia, Super Mario RPG, etc, they all have them. But what makes Secret of Mana’s special to me is nostalgia. This was one of the first games I played and actually got really far in it without my siblings' help. All of its music and locations are so special, but the first time i heard the town theme stands out. Going from the wild fighting monsters to this warm and colorful village feels great, it immediately puts you in a cheery mood and even the shopkeepers can’t help but dance to it.

And it becomes even more special when contrasted to Phantom and a Rose, the sad theme that plays when you’re forced to leave the village.

Katamari Damacy: Katamari Mambo

I recommend this soundtrack for when you feel tired, I'm almost 100% sure it will give you energy.

The whole Katamari OST is something truly unique, and that’s because that was the intention of the music director Yuu Miyake. He and his team had complete control of the sound design in the game, so they focused on making whatever sounded good and fitted best. This resulted in a shibuya-key style album with jazz and samba influences that features vocals by many j-pop artists and anime voice actors.

I love this album so much, every song is so different from the last one, but they still all feel cohesive. My favorite has to be Katamari Mambo, something about it is so addicting to listen to. Ka-tama-ri Mambo de~

Doom: All of it

You are the Doom Slayer, woken from your slumber and in a mission to brutally destroy every demon that crosses your path. The soundtrack that accompanies you in your journey? Industrial Metal.

It’s just perfect.

Breath of the Wild: Stables and Kass‘ Theme

Breath of the Wild is probably my favorite game of all time, and the sound design is one of the many reasons why I love it.

The stables theme is so soothing and comforting, when you hear it you immediately know that you’re safe and there are people around. Every time I traveled to a new location and suddenly heard the guitar and bongo I got so excited because I didn't expect a stable to be there. Like when i was in the snowy mountains, low on health and thinking that i was all alone and about to die, but then i heard the stable theme and rushed to get there. It really helps cement the idea that while it seems like Hyrule is desolate, there are still small communities here and there, doing their own thing.

Super Mario Galaxy: Rosalina in the Observatory 2

This game makes me emotional, even though it’s not very plot heavy (because it’s a Mario game), Rosalina’s backstory impacted me a lot when i first played this game years ago. Going into the observatory and hearing this song before knowing the whole story is nice, but listening to it knowing what happened adds something more emotional to it for me. The fact that the ship and the Lumas became Rosalina’s home make this song bittersweet. The observatory is where she tells her story of being left alone in the galaxy which is very sad, but it’s also where the Lumas gather around and remind her that she’s not all alone after all. And i think this tune encapsulates that feeling, a little melancholic but hopeful and uplifting, and i really like it.

Life is Strange: Mountains - Message to Bears

Every time I play this part of the game and this song starts playing I tear up. I love this song not because it makes me happy or feel good, but because of the pressure it puts on my chest. The rapid beat and overwhelming instrumental simulate the anxiousness you feel when desperately hoping that Rachel is alive. And the lyrics only add to that feeling; they repeat, over and over, a promise to run away to something better or at least different, but in the end it stays as only an unfulfilled promise.

Ib: Game Over

The song’s name is actually El Sueño de la Muñeca by Agustín Barrios. I just think it’s so random that the creator of the game decided to use this as the game over theme. It’s such a nice guitar composition and i’m glad i found out about it through Ib.

Silent Hill 4: The Room: Drops of shame and The Suicidal Clock Chime

Paranoia in song form. Two great compositions by Akira Yamaoka for a pretty good game (in my opinion). The atmosphere in these songs is so suffocating, it emanates despair and the feeling of someone being near. The soundtrack of Silent Hill is a pretty big reason for me not finishing the games, I get too scared. But I love listening to the OST whenever because it makes for good background music.

Animal Crossing: K.K. Metal.

Of course, animal crossing is known for it’s amazing songs, especially the ones by the humble superstar K.K. Slider. He’s given us bops such as Bubblegum K.K, Stale Cupcakes, Rockin’ K.K, among others. All of them performed on guitar and accompanied only by his beautiful vocals.

So what does he do when performing a metal song and he needs to shred like on an electric guitar but he doesn’t have one? He sings the arpeggios. And it would be the cutest thing ever, except him howling right after wins the prize.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja 5: Opening Theme

In the beginning I said the opening of Monkey Island might be my favorite game intro, but actually, the Ultimate Ninja 5 OP is a strong contender for the top spot. That piano and ominous deep vocals in the very beginning used to be my favorite thing about this game, and i would actually close and open the game just to see the intro cutscene with naruto emanating red light and transforming into his four tailed fox. And then there’s of course the explosion of classic naruto action music, but mixed with something darker and some beautiful piano melodies.

Pokemon Sun and Moon: Abandoned Thrifty Megamart

This was a really cool part in Pokemon Moon. The song by itself would sound good, but very normal and typical, so the effects make it so much better. The background supermarket static effect is great, and also the fact that from time to time the sound will stop working in one of your earbuds is a fun touch. It all makes for the perfect song to a spooky part in the game where at the end of the section you find the best pokemon of all creeping on you, Mimikyu.

Touhou Project 8: Imperishable Night: Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke and Immaterial and Missing Power: Doll Judgement

Touhou has too many good songs, but for the sake of not making this 4k words long i decided to only include two.

Fujiwara no Mokou is my favorite Touhou character and her theme song is equally as cool as her. A little soft and forgiving in certain parts, but fast and exciting in others. Like all Touhou enemy songs it perfectly fits her attack patterns and is incredibly rhythmic and catchy. I also really like the arrangements fans make of this song, they’re so talented and transform these themes into something so different.

And speaking of arrangements, IaMP’s Doll Judgement is a jazz version of Alice’s original theme exclusive to the fighting game. When i first played IaMP and heard this version i had to search for it on youtube because i liked it so much. It’s so smooth and a little theatrical, and it keeps the sound that made the original such a classic for fans, so much so that i might even like it better than the original.

There are many other songs from video games that i love, but i don’t think i can mention them all without making this post 10 pages long, so i’m going to leave it to here.

-Violeta Silva

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miragablog · 7 years

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Top 10 Mahou Shoujo Shows for Babies (Part 2)

Now let's move onto Majokko, or Witch Girl...

Mahoutsukai PreCure

Junior High student Mirai Asahina is your typical tween. Between spring break, She goes out and spots a mysterious object fall into the park close by. Inspecting the area Mirai bumps into a novice witch by the name of Riko.

Scouring the human world for a magical gem known as a Linkle Stone the duo are thrown into unwarranted conflict with the minions of a dark sorcerer.

Ah Pretty Cure, the untamable cthulian beast that haunts my every nightmare.

Being WAY behind in the franchise myself, I can't honestly speak on how great this season is comparatively to others.

What I can say however is that, as far as Majokko Mahou Shoujo goes Mahoutsukai Precure is a fun entry into a rarely explored subgenre.

Watching Mirai and Riko’s friendship blossom and Mofurun just be- Mofurun is a pleasure enough but combined with cute, bright visuals and varied transformations I fell head over heels for Mahoutsukai.

Like everybody and their mother has said, Pretty Cure has some solid Sakuga and Mahoutsukai isn't missing out on any of it.

Say what you will about the toy hole Bandai has created for the franchise or its scattered quality since Futari Wa Pretty cure. I’ve really enjoyed what i’ve seen so far.

If you’re into some sweet witchy goodness and looking for an accessible entry point into the Pretty Cure franchise, Mahoutsukai may just be the broom ride you need.

Kobato

Kobato Hanato is a naive, young women with a wish to travel to a certain place.

Through helping others, Kobato must fill a magic jar with “konpeito” to see her goal come to fruition.

With the help of a talking stuffed dog named Ioryogi, Kobato can grant her wish, so long as she doesn't fall in love with somebody she heals, of course.

I have to be really upfront here, this is the first title i’m revisiting out of the list. A show has not made me cry so early on since Skip Beat, and that's saying something.

Kobato’s visuals are breathtaking, adapting Clamp’s wonderful character designs with a detailed level of care.

It's ridiculously rare to see a show so faithful to the source materials intent like this nowadays.

The soundtrack is this dangerous mixture of heart wrenching and nostalgic that just ruins your tear ducts.

One of the main perpetrators for this being Kobato’s character song, Ashita Kuru Hi or “The day that will come tomorrow”. Going right by Aozora and Tuxedo Mirage on the “cry like a little bitch” playlist I have tucked away.

Genre-wise Kobato harkens back to the themes of early mahou shoujo, where magical girls were just young women with otherworldly powers.

There are no transformations, no magical weapons- just a weird girl and her surly companion, solving the mundane problems of broken people.

Forewarning that the show is slow paced and if you wanting something with a little less emotional weight to it, this may not be a great fit.

However, If you’re looking to jump into a pool of your own tears while enjoying some fantastic old school Mahou shoujo, Kobato is the girl for you.

Ojamajo Doremi

Doremi Harukaze is the “World’s Unluckiest Pretty Girl”. That’s at least what she believes. Fascinated with magic, she stumbles upon a mysterious shop run by a creepy lady, Majo Rika. Doremi being the smart cookie she is deduces that Rika is a witch that, due to a curse must keep her identity a secret. Promising secrecy, Doremi is in turn taken under the witch's wing as an apprentice and hijinx ensues.

When finding Ojamajo Doremi, I got the reminiscent feeling that I could've watched it on something like 4kidz, with a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles and my kitty in my lap before school.

Like a mixture between Tokyo Mew Mew and Digimon, I love the shows infectious energetic vibe.

While most works in the genre do deal with the maturation process of young girls, Ojamajo feels quite believable with how it presents its cast. Doremi acts like a curious third grader and the adults around her and her classmate all feel around their own age.

The strange part that makes Ojamajo Doremi is its unorthodox transformations, with the girls literally putting the witches clothes on and the power of their weapons being limited. I LOVE this aspect of the show as it lends to grounding the setting even further into a fantastical reality.

If you’re into cute kinetic comedy and watching some wacky little kids become witches then I highly recommend watching this adorable slice of Majokko.

Magical Angel Creamy Mami

A up and coming Pop star in a milky galaxy, Yuu Morisawa is a sassy, fun loving girl with a pension for mischief; shirking responsibility to go play in the neighborhood.

However her cat like curiosity lead her to encounter extraterrestrial beings from beyond the cosmos, whom bestow upon her the power to transform into a teenager for a year.

With the help of her companions, Nega and Posi, Yuu can't just save the day but has to balance a life as an idol and actress!

If you want something really different from typical Mahou Shoujo, I highly recommend Creamy Mami. Not only does it play with some light sci fi themes but presents beautiful pastel art and a energetic cast, brimming with strange characters.

It is still very much of its time, airing in the early 80’s but that doesn't hinder its beautiful charm.

Aliens are rarely seen in a genre like Mahou Shoujo and having them utilized in such a quirky manner makes Creamy Mami stand out. Other than watching Madoka for the first time, This was the most recent instance of me feeling uneasy while watching a show in the genre.

One thing that has Creamy Mami in my graces is its bubbly retropop aesthetic, invoked by a soundtrack chucked full of songs that can only make me want to go to a karaoke bar in Akihabara and dance the night away.

Whether or not you're into the retro aesthetic, Creamy Mamis a cool, poppy experience for anyone with a sweet tooth for fun.

Show By Rock!

Cyan has always regarded herself as a ordinary girl, despite her musical telent. Without the confidence to join a band, all her dreams seem for not. That is until shes transported to world of Midi City where everyday is a concert and everyone wants to be a pop star. Scouted by a ragtag recording company, Cyan is thrusted into the world of music and must fight evil with the power of song!

As one of Sanrio’s recent properties, Show by Rock surprised me and many others with its nutty, Jodie and the Pussycats take on Mahou Idol.

Music being a driving force in establishing critical moments for any show, it’s important for the image songs to stick out in show of this kind. And Boy oh boy do I love every sugary, Jpoppy moment of Plasmagica’s discography.

The property being based off a rhythm game lends its soundtrack to a diverse blend of Electronica, Pop, Visual Kei, Indie and Folk rock- I could keep going for FUCKING DAYS DUDE.

And I know what you're wondering, “But Mirage the show looks like it's mostly CG? Isn't that bad?”

CG is a tool that can enhance and lift up a adaptation, or bastardize the intent of a work and piss off its fanbase.

Yet Show by Rock sits at the lucky impasse of not being based on a prior written property but a video game, diverting any kind of expectations people have of the work.

That is not to say the CG is horrible however.

In fact I think Show By Rock presents one of the best exercises in overt 3d modelling currently standing, in an industry full of PS2 models and- (Abunai Sisters) What. What the fuck is that?

Then again im talking about BONES and when BONES picks up a property, it's bound to turn some heads.

( Also uh if you don't get down with this sweet lesbian subtext well uh im sorry man we cant mix. I mean there’s bad taste and then there's hedonism. )

JPOP, Fujoshi bait or hell even Hello Kitty- Show by Rock catches you off guard with its unorthodox presentation but eventually reels the audience in with the power of music.

Definitely worthy of your time and maybe a APK download. -\owo/-

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And so I get to the bottom of my beginner recommendations. Next video is already in the works, gunning to be either a more Shoujo oriented analytical piece or a Mahou Shoujo history lesson ^o^. Thank you all for your patience on this. Life got in the way, as it does but with some new soundproofing and a recent switch to premier (after this vod) i'm looking to make the next video a tad more focused on one subject.

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pod7 · 7 years

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Fall Anime* 2016 Lightning Review

*Just the shows I watched of course

Shows Included: 3-gatsu no Lion, All Out!!, Bernard-jou Iwaku, Bishoujo Yuugi Unit Crane Game Girls Galaxy, Cheating Craft, DAYS, Drifters, Fune wo Amu, Getsuyoubi no Tawawa, Kaijuu Girls: Ultra Kaijuu Gijinka Keikaku, Keijo!!!!!!!!, Kiitarou Shounen no Youkai Enikki, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, Nanbaka, Nazotokine, Nobunaga no Shinobi, Occultic;Nine, Okusama ga Seitokaichou!+!, Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Sousei no Onmyouji, Soushin Shoujo Matoi, Stella no Mahou, Teekyuu 8, Tiger Mask W, To Be Hero, Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Watashi ga Motete Dousunda, WWW. Working!!

A really mixed bag this season, though a much better season than the summer!

3-gatsu no Lion As expected of SHAFT, a great character driven coming-of-age story that is practically flawless. I really enjoy any time the three sisters are on screen, but I also appreciate the appearances that his step-sister has made. She’s just sympathetic enough that you feel bad for feeling bad for her, but she’s also cruel enough to make you tense up the moment she comes on screen. The one thing I don’t like about this show is the thing it seems to get the most hype for, which is it’s intro song. I just don’t feel like it fits the attitude of the show. Otherwise though, yet another home run from SHAFT. Series continues! Highest recommendation

All Out!! This isn’t the best show, I wouldn’t even say it’s better than DAYS, but it was enjoyable enough. If the retired pro player turned coach hadn’t of shown up, I might have dropped it, truth be told. Once he shows up the, the season really picked up. The show is continuing, so hopefully that upward trend is here to stay. Series continues!

Bernard-jou Iwaku I’m not much of a book nerd, so a lot of this was lost on me, but there were still some great laughs to be had. If you’re into science fiction and novels in general they have a lot of interesting factoids about books and you could probably pick up some good recommendations from it. 7/10

Bishoujo Yuugi Unit Crane Game Girls Galaxy The series got a budget this time around, so it was actually pretty well animated (for flash), and they were able to have a lot more detail as well. I loved the inclusion of Dark Cherry, they were great foils to CRANE GAMU. It was more of a nonsense comedy this season, as opposed to “crane game tips as brought to you by an idol anime” that the first season had. Ended on a pretty wild note with Kyouko and Rei seemingly becoming a couple out of nowhere, though in hindsight they make a great pair. 8/10

Cheating Craft A really weird show, like, it would be hard to even explain what it is without being incredibly vague. The characters were great, especially the home room teacher. One of several shows this season that had some surprise GL in it. 6/10

DAYS I still think that the coach from this team would have been fired already, for letting someone that inexperienced play in such important matches. I also feel like the show contradicted itself quite a bit; they said that all the starters are starters because they are out for themselves, but they were willing to play with a no-experience player AS A STARTER. Maybe it’s just a sports thing I don’t understand, but every time someone said “it’s not your fault” I was audibly saying “no, it really was!” Ubukata was great, but I feel bad for Tsukushi’s childhood friend basically getting zero screen time after the first episode. I would have liked for Tsukushi’s mom to have been more of a factor in the show as well. For a sports anime, it was good, but there were a lot of things I had problems with. 7/10

Drifters It’s a cool concept, of course, but I worry about the execution of it all. This great nation of Orte that some of the characters wish to protect was founded by Adolf Hitler, who is supposedly a Drifter, which makes him a good guy by default, since that’s what the protagonists are. If I need to spell out why that’s fishy at best, then you need to go back to school or at least watch the History channel once in a while. I also would have liked to have seen at some point in this season some kind of selection process for why someone ends up a Drifter and why someone ends up as an End. If the Black King isn’t Merlin, I will be incredibly shocked, because he’s the only historical figure I can think of that would also be excusable as such an all powerful deity type figure that can give other people powers, as well as using alchemy. I love the harsh art style, it fits the attitude of the show quite well. As a history nerd, I think it would be really funny if Teddy Roosevelt showed up with the Rough RIders to go ham on the Ends, but will just have to see what the next season holds. 8/10

Fune wo Amu I had originally thought this would be a much different series. After the first episode I actually looked it up to see if it was going to be something I’d actually be able to watch three episodes of without falling asleep. The synopsis I read was pretty misleading, though it may have been for the live action adaptation that came out before; it basically said that the protagonist would be tasked with defining “love”, and through that he would complete this dictionary and learn to live life to the fullest and so on. Unfortunately, for the animated adaptation at least, that’s pretty much a lie. He realizes he has feelings for his landlord’s grand-daughter, and then four episodes later they’ve been married for over a decade, her as a successful chef, and he on the cusp of completing the dictionary. It felt like they cut out an entire third (or even half) of the story just to fit it into 12 episodes, which was really disappointing to me. It wasn’t bad, but I felt like it could have made it’s point about seeing things through and the importance of words a lot clearer with just a few more episodes. 7/10

Getsuyoubi no Tawawa I’m kind of surprised that this show didn’t get a lot of shit, to be frank. It’s everything people love to guffaw about when it comes to anime; a large-chested girl who is too young for the guy she is talking to in most cases and is doing everything but dragging him to a love hotel. I’m not even sure what this would be categorized as; I wouldn’t call it a romcom, because there weren’t really any gags or jokes to it, and if you just call it a romance then people expect drama when there wasn’t any of that either. So... if you want to see a well-endowed girl flirt with nameless, faceless men for 12 episodes, this is the one for you. 6/10

Kaijuu Girls: Ultra Kaijuu Gijinka Keikaku There isn’t really much to say about this show other than if you like kaijuu and chibi/SD characters, you’ll probably like this show. If it had been more than a five minute show, I think it would have become boring, because they don’t really end up doing that much over the course of the season. Just a short, silly comedy about girls learning to use powers, basically. 7/10

Keijo!!!!!!!! I really want to compare this to Valkyrie Drive, because it was good, but... it was just a little too much. If they had dialed back the ecchi during the times they weren’t in a match, I think it would have had a greater comedic impact when it came to the action. Instead towards the end it was like “wow they are laying it on thick this episode.” Still, I salute them for just going all out with it. I usually complain about “boring sports” anime needing to rely on silly gimmicks for their characters to make the show more interesting, but Keijo already had it’s silly gimmick in place, so the super moves/abilities weren’t far as far fetched as say, a mahjong player that does better because there is a full moon out that night. The foley artists should be commended specifically for this show, they did an incredible job. 8/10

Kiitarou Shounen no Youkai Enikki This show came and went by in a flash. I didn’t even realize it had ended until I started writing this; it didn’t have a very definitive finale I guess. if you’re into Japanese folklore/yokai/bakemono/etc, but also are okay with those characters used in a comedic setting, you should give this show a shot. 7/10

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku I don’t really know how to feel about this at this point. The character design bothered me a lot in the beginning, and by the time I got used to it, other problems sprang forth. It was another one of those “subversion of the genre” mahou shoujo series, which has become a genre on it’s own at this point because so many people are doing it. Out of all the girls, Swim Swim’s arc was the best, though I wish they had explained why she had her super OP power (since most of the others depended on what they wanted to do or their personality, seemingly.) It was also interesting that in the end they kept their powers, even though they broke their communicators from Fav, which was a nice change of pace. 7/10

Nanbaka This was a very strange show. At first I thought it was going to be like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure because of the aesthetic, but instead it was just a fun gag show about a larger than life prison. Of course the highlight of the show for me was once again, Yuu Kobayashi as the warden, stealing the spotlight in a fairly minor role. I think I enjoyed it more as a comedy, because towards the end it gets pretty serious with some action mixed in too, and it just felt kind of like “Okay let’s get back to the gags now.” Overall though a pretty entertaining show. 8/10

Nazotokine An OL who works as secretary to the CEO of a major company finds excitement in her every day life, but suddenly gets sucked into a weird dimension where she is tasked with solving puzzles in order to go back to her normal life. Unfortunately, many of the puzzles involved Japanese words I didn’t know, so I was basically just watching for the performances (thought the two or three that didn’t I was able to solve.) A good premise, I think it could have been fleshed out a lot more. It seems like the kind of thing that was based off of a mobile game or even just a series of puzzle books. I just thought it was funny that this and Tiger Mask W aired in the same season because in TMW they show New Japan Pro Wrestling all the time, and in Nazotokine during one episode they go to an All Japan Pro Wrestling show. Would like to see more but I doubt it will happen. 8/10

Nobunaga no Shinobi A nice, short gag comedy about a little ninja girl who is super effective with her work but kind of a ditz otherwise. A cute show that can be surprisingly bloody, but most of the time it’s just goofball type humor. Series continues!

Occultic;Nine The first third and last third of this season were okay, but the middle part was really boring and a lot of the side stuff going on felt unnecessary. Spending so much time on the little girl practicing black magic and the guy using astral projection just to have a way to explain how time passes for you as a scandium ghost was a little much. The cast wasn’t particularly relatable either. I did like the reveal of the person who was going around “deleting” the ghosts, though, and the FBI with psychometry was really great (would have preferred to see the story from her perspective honestly.) It felt like someone who wrote a Persona teamed up with a studio that wants to be SHAFT. 5/10

Okusama ga Seitokaichou!+! Wasn’t a fan of this season as much as the last one. It felt like they had a meeting and said “Okay, the framing is established with season one, so now we can just go all out with erotica!” The problem was is that, they can only go so far, so showing what is basically the same thing over and over with just different characters makes it lose any ecchi power it may have had originally. 6/10

Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan An absolute joy of a show. I would not mind if I was still writing about this show in these season wrap-up reviews this time next year, it’s that good. Nendou-kun has grown on me a lot as the show has gone on, and Teruhashi has become my favorite character I think. 10/10

Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume I started to have the same problem with this show that I did with Saki (the mahjong anime), wherein they feel like the characters or action aren’t strong enough, so they have to give the players these goofy gimmicks that are beyond ridiculous. I really could not stand the green-haired yandere chick in this show, and was incredibly happened when that mini-arc ended. The beginning third of the show, I can understand people being perturbed at the lack of sport in this sport anime in favor of so much ~moe, but I think the episodes after the practice match arc are a great example of the show at it’s best, with a great balance of moe and sport. It’s not for everyone, but it has a fun, memorable cast. Reminded me quite a lot of KanaMemo, actually. 8/10

Sousei no Onmyouji Well, I would say the ride was fun, but it really wasn’t for the most part. The first arc of the show was pretty good, then they had a lovebirds arc which was horrendously stupid, and then it got into more action again and it was fine for a while but then you could tell the original writer started stalling at a certain point and it was really obnoxious how so little of what was going on week to week felt like it mattered in the grand scheme of things. It was like the series couldn’t decided to be a supernatural action show or a romcom, and you can’t really half-ass doing both when you have a masterpiece like Katanagatari out there. It had promise, but just took way too long to deliver, if it ever will. Dropped

Soushin Shoujo Matoi I don’t know if I’ve just watched too much anime by now or what, but I felt like I had seen this show a hundred times already. Nothing felt new or refreshing. It’s a very pretty show, at least, so I watched it all the way through, but I don’t think I’ll remember the name of this show next week, let alone next year. 7/10

Stella no Mahou I was a little worried about this show at the beginning because of how babyish the protagonist was, but she matures pretty quickly, and the remnants of her babyness become part of her charm. This felt like if you mixed Yuru Yuri and Wakaba Girl together, which is a pretty good combo. It also reminded me a bit of Saekano, even down to the girl in charge of music getting the least screen time. I would like to see another season of this but I think it would need to move about more into a more serious mood, like maybe they decide to debut at Comiket for real this time and put everything they have into a new game. 9/10

Teekyuu 8 I always love Teekyuu content, if you’ve followed me for a while then you know that quite well. 10/10

Tiger Mask W What knowledge I DON’T have from never having seen the previous Tiger Mask anime, the knowledge I have of him as an IRL pro wrestler and the current Japanese wrestling scene and attitude has made up for anything I would have otherwise missed. If nobody noticed, Monopoly is meant to be the WWE, and New Japan’s partnership with this series is a pretty clear showing on how they feel about WWE’s current move to basically create pro-wrestling colonies on other continents. There’s a lot of other BTS politics involved, but it’s interesting to see it as fodder for what amounts to a kids’ show. The main problem I have with the series so far is the inconsistency in violence and how much is tolerated. One of Tiger’s early foes causes him to bleed profusely and beats the piss out of him, but he says his match with Tiger the Dark was his hardest yet and he was barely even scratched. Also, a guy with a sword shows up in one episode, which is just bad, since he can never realistically use it (even in a cartoon setting.) Series continues!

To Be Hero I haven’t read anything about the behind-the-scenes of this series, but it would not surprise me in the least if it was a jab at One Punch Man. The dialogue is the star of the show here, with every character getting at least one really great monologue. The ending was actually pretty touching for a show about a guy that got superpowers from taking a dump. 8/10

Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari This show was great, but towards the end, it felt kind of forced. It had a great thing going, and then it was like they thought, “Wait, Poco is still a tanuki?! Crap, what are we going to do?” I think this would have been better served about a guy reconciling with his decision to go to Tokyo, and having a son he didn’t know about to deal with in the process. Maybe Souta left for Tokyo for the same reason, but while he was there, he dated a foreigner, and they broke up, which lead to him getting into a rut at his job, and then finally moving back home to take care of his father’s effects post-mortem, where he finds his dad had taken in the child his girlfriend never told him about. SOMETHING like that. There was also a great missed opportunity I think with Nakaji and Rinko. One of Nakaji’s problems in the season is that his parents are hounding him about getting married, so what if he hadn’t been even looking because he was having an affair with Rinko? It honestly felt like that’s where they were going with it to me. She tells him he should stop smoking, and he eats her cooking despite knowing it’s bad, and then when she tells him she’s pregnant, it just honestly felt like that scene was written out as her telling him it’s his, and he’s the first to know she’s pregnant. It was also kind of disappointing that Udon didn’t really have all that much to do with the show, despite being in the title. Kana Hanazawa’s character is about as big of a red herring as you can get in this kind of show, as well. It’s cute and genuinely funny, but could have been much better and poignant in another world. 8/10

Watashi ga Motete Dousunda I imagine the manga won’t end the same way the show did (assuming the manga continues from there), but I think the writers of the show ended it the best way they could. Say what you will about the comedy based around liking gay fiction (admittedly exploitative fiction) making you a weirdo, but I feel like when it came to Nishina, they treated her respectfully, even showing her as a true rival, an equal, amongst the other suitors that Kae genuinely considered. That in itself should be celebrated. Yuu Kobayashi is easily top 3 seiyuu for me, so any show that she is the focal point is always one that I will enjoy all the way through. 9/10

WWW. Working!! I had a pretty big falling out with the main Working!! series, but there were several things that I did enjoy about it. I’m happy to say that those things are present in this spinoff as well, not only that, but I feel like WWW does it even better. In the main series, several of the characters were a pain in the ass with no payoff, but in WWW, they wrap up everything nicely in one season, without any characters feeling annoying or worthless. My favorite, as per usual, was one of the characters with the least amount of screen time, Kisaki. Of course, the manager was my fav character from the main series, and since they share many traits, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. It almost felt like this was a reboot in retrospect, considering how similar some of the characters are to the main series cast; they were just written better this time around. 9/10

#fall anime 2016 #anime review #anime #review #lightning review

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