This Town Needs an Anime

Just a guy who watches a shit-ton of anime. If you are immune to sarcasm, we're probably not going to get along.

[stillinaincrad]

logged into Tumblr for the first time in almost two full calendar years, every post in my feed is about trans and I don't follow a single one of them.

Apparently anime fandoms have taken an unexpected turn since 2022 if this is the algorithm now.

[andmaybegayer]

I saw this big damn mulberry hawkmoth outside my room and I told it "you better not wander into my room and then fly around all night rattling against my blinds and shit" well guess who apparently doesn't speak English.

[stillinaincrad]

as long as your name isn't Hoshijiro it should be fine

[stillinaincrad]

it's been a while since I have seen anything new that caught my eye. I really enjoyed Spy X Family, but other than that, seems like almost everything I've been digging on this year has been sequels. And some of those were only moderately tolerable at best (lookin' at you, here, Hataraku Maou-sama! Serious weaksauce compared to original)

So, imagine my surprise when I finally watch two new shows and I already want to snuggle with both after just the first episode...

Shinobi no Ittoki

Animation? Top-notch. Writing? Top-notch. Kousetsu? Top-notch.

verdict:

Chainsaw Man

How long have I been saying that nothing viceral and dark is celebrated in anime anymore? I don't think this one is going to have much in the way of depth or psychology like these used to, but hells yeah I'm all-in on this one. Have been since I heard about it, was not disappointed with the first showing. Hoping that trend continues.

verdict:

[stillinaincrad]

so much outstanding

[stillinaincrad]

calling Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo (Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World) degrading to women is an insult to things like internet porn and 1950's advertisements that actually are degrading to women. Debasing might be a better word.

What was the working title of this one, 'I Bought You So Now You're Going to F--- Me'??! I couldn't even make it past that episode. It just got too creepy and too vile for me.

The light novel series it's based upon ran in circulation for most of a decade so am hoping this is all on Passione - a studio I already have issues with - but yeah, this is not a good show. Not at all.

[stillinaincrad]

Ains Ooal Gown:

Me:

[stillinaincrad]

What the hell did I just start watching LOL

[stillinaincrad]

Can you follow Tengoku no Tobira, the Cowboy Bebop movie, having never seen the series? You probably can. It won't make nearly as much sense, but it could happen. Can you understand Fate/Stay Night having never seen Fate/Zero? All of us did, since Fate/Zero came out after so yeah - I would never suggest it now, but you'd fare just fine if you did.

And you may think that the pre-series episodes to The Ancient Magus' Bride would fall into the same category, and you may be right, but there is no way feasible to get the same experience out of the series without the shellshock and wide-open wounds of the 'Those Awaiting a Star' OVA. The irony, of course, is that the OVA starts in an already established story and might feel foreign, like you're jumping into the middle of something, but it is a flashback that is borderline required imo. I cannot believe CR took these down and only has the series now. It is a totally different vibe without the George Foreman-level punch in the jaw of those three episodes.

I'm sure you can watch the series without seeing the OVA first and it makes sense, but you're literally robbing the best part of the relationship between Chise and Ainsworth if you don't understand the absolutely crushing misery and desolation that came before. It wholly changes everything.

I just went back to rewatch the series again for the first time since it came out and even only a few episodes in it's nowhere near the same. It's so very not fair to the story.

[stillinaincrad]

Man, I got SUPER excited when I saw this today at Best Buy. Immediately hopped online to read the reviews, and sure enough - is the new dub/soundtrack/gentrified version.

If I can ever find the original series for a non-absurd price, I am •dying• to watch it again, has been too long. I just can't do the edited-for-snowflakes version that is out now.

[stillinaincrad]

[stillinaincrad]

I kept scrolling past Engage Kiss in the simulcasts because to be completely honest, the title sounded dumb. I assumed it was another of these trope-y, horribly unoriginal romcoms with no personality at all. Then I happened to read the intro while I was looking for something new to watch, and decided to give it a shot since it sounded interesting.

I'm not going to say that it's anything overly great, it is trope-y as all get out, but it's got some good writing to it, and manages to intertwine some pretty heavy personal tragedy in with the slapstick. I did not expect layers when I first started it. There are parts that go a little overboard, especially with the over-cliched triangle that's going on, but even that has begun to take on dimension and breadth. I've been pleasantly surprised at how many times I've been surprised by something I originally assumed was horribly formulaic - most of the time it happens just like you think it will, but then those few times it doesn't has been what has kept my attention.

All in all, the first few episodes are all that's up so far, but it has been a pretty good time. Yet another title added to my watchlist.

[stillinaincrad]

Me trying to scroll past the video I just watched

Tumblr:

[g-u-b-the-observer-91011]

Overlord Spoiler

[noirestardust]

[shanks]

[karin-miyoshi]

[loserwhowatchesanime]