If you’ve been following this blog along for the past few years, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of slice of life shows. Shows in which the plot doesn’t really move forward at all, but characters just kind of exist in the world they live in. What’s vital to the success of these kinds of shows is how interesting the world they live in is. This can be achieved by creating compelling characters, a world you want to explore or a vibe that just makes you feel at ease. If anyone ever figures out how to create good vibes consistently, please teach me. This does bring me to today’s topic: Ousama Ranking (Ranking of Kings). This was my favorite show of 2022 and right now it has a spin-off season in Treasure Chest of Courage. Three episodes have aired so far and I think that’s enough to give my thoughts on it, for those of you who might still be on the fence about watching it.
It’s more Ranking of Kings, what’s not to like?
Let’s start off with the obvious question; do you need to watch Ousama Ranking to be able to enjoy this spin-off season? Well… Yes, that’s probably for the best. A lot of these scenes take place during things that happen in the first season, and although none of it is hard to grasp on its own, it’s one of those scenarios where there’s really not much here if you’re not already invested in this world and its characters. If you’re considering watching this spin-off without watching the first season, then I think you’ve got your priorities wrong. But now you’ve gone away for a day or two and watched the first season of Ousama Ranking, should you watch this spin-off?
Ever accidentally come across an oasis of strange creatures that don’t seem to follow any logic?
Let’s get the intent of this season out of the way. I knew there was more Ousama Ranking coming, but hadn’t done all too much research. It was only after I read some posts online that I realized this wasn’t a direct continuation but more a side story filling in gaps in the story of season 1. I was a little bit disappointed, but I also immediately had to think of the spin-off for Tensura, which quickly became one of my favorite shows of all time. So with that in mind I gave the show a try and I was pleasantly surprised. So far it hasn’t blown me away nearly as much as Tensura’s spin-off did, but that’s a hard one to follow up. What did immediately catch my interest is the fact that this show actually seems to fill in some gaps in the main story. The first episode didn’t get this through nearly enough to get me invested, but by the time we’ve reached the third episode, we’ve gotten solid insight into several of the characters in this show, learning things we didn’t know before that are 100% relevant to the main story. To give a clear example of this, we had no idea really who Ann was in season 1, and why she suddenly showed up alongside Hilling. Here we learn that she was an adventurer that used to travel with Hilling when she was still an adventuring cleric, before becoming queen. We pretty easily accepted this fact in season 1 as something that just kind of happened, but getting more insight into these two characters and what they mean to each other was definitely a pleasant bonus.
I’m sorry, but Bojji showing off a book to baby Daida is so stupidly adorable that it’s almost unfair. I loved this scene.
With all of that said, I think it’s pretty obvious what my recommendation is. I enjoyed every second of Ousama Ranking and I’ve so far been fairly invested in this spin-off too. If you like Slice of Life shows and if you liked the first season of this one, then I think you’ll like this show as well. The voice acting is as solid as ever and the enchanting art style from the first season has been converted to the second season. I admit I almost exclusively watch subs, but if you’re a dub person the Kage is once again reprised by the very talented Sungwon Cho (ProZD) and his voice is amazing. All in all, I figured I’d talk about this show because I think the first episode left something to be desired and people might have dropped it after that, even though it immediately got much better in the second episode. Are you watching this show? What do you think of it so far? Let me know in the comments down below and thanks for reading.
I know that we’ve already done two of these at the tailend of the winter season, but I watched a whopping 28 shows that season which means there’s still things left to talk about. If you missed the first two quick reviews I did, you can find them here and here. If you’re all caught up then let me take you on one last trip through four shows that I watched last season. I will say these are some of the shows I didn’t enjoy as much, so my opinion on them will probably be a bit less positive. With all of that out of the way, let’s get started.
Farming Life in another world
Okay, I lied, it’s back to enjoyable anime whether you like it or not punks! Farming life in another world adds to the genre that I love of shows where not all that much happens and everyone just kind of has a good time partying in a strange world. Hiraku dies and god sends him for a second chance in a world filled with monsters. He was accidentally sent to a dangerous region but with his almighty farming tool he has it easy. One of the dumb reasons I laughed at this show’s first episode is because it reminded me of the golden hoe in minecraft. I used to watch Roosterteeth back in the day (like seven controversies ago) and they’d make fun of the gold hoe from time to time since it’s an item that’s pretty useless but it has hoe in it so it’s funny. I’d like to think we’ve all matured since then but I wasn’t raised a liar. Hiraku is joined by many people, vampires, angels, elves, dragons and many more. They all just kind of get along though and live the easy life on a farm in the woods. Watching this show feels like playing Stardew Valley. If that doesn’t convince you, nothing will. Having said all that, it’s not a memorable show by any means. I can name several shows that do the same concept better and if you’re looking for something that will stick with you, this isn’t it. But coming home from a long day and watching twenty minutes of farming and living it up is pretty nice, so I’ll leave the decision up to you.
The good news is: you’re not ill.
In/Spectre 2nd Season
I enjoyed this show a lot more than I expected I would. I remembered the main duo very well from the first season, since they’re peculiar characters to say the least, but I can’t say the plot stuck with me particularly well. Two episodes into the second season I was definitely interested again. Kotoko is still very much a crazy character. She’s scary when she wants to be an horny when she wants to (which is often. Kuro is stoic but not in a boring way. I especially enjoyed the Yuki Onna sidestory that went for a few episodes. Unfortunately the murder mystery arc didn’t grab my interest at all. Barring a few outrageous comments from Kotoko that made me laugh out loud, I just didn’t care for any of the characters involved in that mini arc. It does paint a picture of a fun manga series that I might pick up in the future. Check it out if you like eccentric characters and fantasy mysteries. It has two seasons by now, so there’s quite a bit of content.
She fits into the trope of looking young but being older, but she’s actually mature because she’s an adult. It’s a weird character and I’m not sure I really mind in this case. I’ve known people like this, they can be a hassle at times to deal with.
The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady.
Gee, I wonder if this one’s based on a light novel. The title kind of explains it all, not much left to say. This show didn’t really grab me all that much but I think it’s a very good case of Isekai done wrong. That doesn’t mean that the isekai done wrong is making the show bad. What I mean by that is that I don’t think the Isekai-aspect of this show adds any value to it. Euphyllia could just as well be from this world and not much would change. As a matter of fact, I don’t even remember what about this show was Isekai? Perhaps it was mentioned in the first episode and then never touched upon again? Either way, Euphy and Anisphia are fun characters on their own, but the attempt at a romance just didn’t feel natural to me. For starters, Euphy is just very forceful and sends the wrong message about how things go, but I just didn’t see anything between them. In my head they were more akin to good friends, but maybe I’m just bad at parsing this information. I wouldn’t recommend this show per se, but if you like a fantasy story about girls, perhaps this could be up your alley.
I was looking for a good screengrab to represent this show but instead I came across a very relatable one. The most exhausting days teaching are the ones where I’m barely teaching and instead doing administrative work all day.
The angel next door spoils me rotten
I thought I was going to like this show. A wholesome romance between two neighbors sounds right up my alley. But I think I’m either getting jaded or this show just didn’t hit the right notes for me. I found a lot of their relationship growth to be grating to watch. Maybe it’s the whole “we’re basically dating for like nine out of twelve episodes but refuse to actively admit to it.” schtick that I’m getting bored of. I don’t know. The characters in this show just didn’t do it for me. I feel like a lot of the drama that got set up early in the show also never actually got resolved, we’re just sort of expected to forget it. My guess is that the source material might cover a lot more and this stuff is saved for later in the story, but as an anime it just didn’t hold up for me. There were better romance shows in this same season.
They’re like 14 but behave like a married couple. Always struck me as a bit odd.
And I think I’m going to keep it at these four. The rest of the shows were so not interesting to me (or sequels, which I try to avoid for these most of the time), so this is what you’re getting. That means I’m done with the winter season and need to think of new content soon. Shit. I’m joking of course, I already have some plans. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’m planning to rewatch some shows I haven’t watched in (almost) a decade to see how they hold up. I’ll get back to you on those. It’s May break after all, and I’ve earned. But now that I’ve covered a total of 15 shows (here, here and here), let me know if I’ve missed anything from the winter season that you recommend to me. You be the blogger now! Anyway, thanks for reading.
When I watch new anime at the start of a season, I tend to give a lot of different shows a start. Often a show will start off really fast and as the season progresses you realize that there might not be as much substance as you would have liked. On the flipside of this coin are the shows that start off boring and might pick up steam later. Unfortunately I will have likely dropped those shows before they ever get off the ground. Much more rare are those shows that start off slow while still grabbing your attention. Shows that don’t burn bright from the very start but show that there is potential if you just give it a shot. Not every show that starts like this actually lives up to its potential, but the few times it does you get a well written show that takes their viewer seriously and respects their time. Mononogatari – or Benevolent Spirits – is one of those shows.
The blonde woman in the middle is voiced by Sawashiro Miyuki, if that doesn’t convince you to watch this then I don’t know what to tell you. Her voice is so, so pleasant to listen to.
Mononogatari follows the story of Kunato Hyoma, a young exorcist that deals with spirits that are called Tsukumogami. He hates these spirits with a passion after one of them killed his older brother and sister several years ago. His grandfather sends him to live with Nagatsuki Botan, who is a girl his age that lives with a bunch of these spirits. It’s a form of immersion therapy to put it bluntly. The story follows Hyoma’s life at the Nagatsuki household where he interacts with these spirits and the other people involved in this strange part of modern society.
Perfectly hit the nail on the head.
I am planning an in-depth post about Tsukumogami tomorrow, but to give you the short explanation, they’re spirits that house in objects. The reason they stay in these objects is because the owner really cares for this object and uses it often. Eventually they turn into spirits that still hold the properties of the objects they live in. In this world, they also gain access to fighting power that is similar to the sort of object they live in. To give an example, there’s girl who is a mortar and pestle, and the wheel that’s used to grind the herbs turns into her leg, which she can then fight with. It’s pretty straightforward but you can get creative with it.
The reality is that working together with spirits isn’t always easy. There’s an air of hostility that’s hard to get past.
As this anime was airing, I noticed that the ratings weren’t particularly high – not terrible, just not amazing – and it wasn’t being talked about a ton. I think this is mainly due to its slow start. Hyoma also isn’t your typical protagonist and it shows. He’s a very serious person and he is very stalwart in his convictions. Botan on the other hand is hesitant in a lot of things and for good reason, her life hasn’t always been easy. We follow these characters through realistic character growth that is rare to see in anime sometimes. I think this contributed to the lower ratings. Mononogatari takes its time exploring its setting and building up its cast.
Hyoma has very strong convictions but his hatred of Tsukumogami has clouded his judgement and made it so he thinks he can justify violence.
The selling point for me personally is the concept of the Tsukumogami. It’s a type of Japanese myth that I find absolutely fascinating. The idea that taking good care of your stuff so that one day it might have a spirit move in because of the bond you form with your important things is super cool and it’s something I really want to explore in my own storytelling as well. It’s done very differently from how I would approach it here, but that’s also what makes it interesting. Mononogatari is a complex tale of humans and spirits trying to live together that really takes its time exploring what it means to have this distinction and doesn’t rush anything through. The supporting cast is diverse and well written and the mysteries are only just starting by the time the season ends so it leaves you wanting for more. If you’re still not convinced to watch it by now, then I don’t think there’s much more I can say. If this is an anime you’re even remotely considering watching, please give it a shot. I think you’ll enjoy it. Thanks for reading.
It’s time for a second round of quick reviews. I might even do a third round after this, but I’m still undecided on it. Some of the shows I watched weren’t very interesting and it feels a bit weird to talk about a bunch of sequels. Most people will either already know what they think about those shows or not want to get spoiled for later seasons, both are fair. But we have enough material for this second round so let’s get to killing. I mean parenting. I mean writing.
Buddy Daddies
I already talked about Buddy Daddies once early on in the season when I was just getting into this show. Buddy Daddies is an anime in the same vein as Spy X Family. Two hitmen get saddled with a four year old girl after they kill her father and her mother shows no responsibility for the child whatsoever. She even sent the girl to go find her father on her own, knowing he’s probably not the most innocent of people. Now Kazuki and Rei are stuck raising this child and they’re taking it very seriously. Well, Kazuki is, Rei is much more of a slacker but he’s good at games so he has that going for him. The two have to navigate their dangerous job as well as dealing with a young child. As we go through the series we learn how to raise a child, we process deep seated trauma and we deal with taking over the family business. This show is surprisingly packed for such a short runtime and it feels like a complete package from start to finish. In all honesty, I think I might have enjoyed this show more than I did Spy X Family at times. I think the over the top suspension of disbelief of Spy X Family can get a bit tiring at times and although this show isn’t exactly steeped in realism, I believe these characters way more than I do Loyd and Yor. All in all this was one of the most surprising highlights of this season and if you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend that you do.
He is your dad! He’s also about to put a gun to your head, so I wouldn’t be too excited about having found him.
Blue Lock
I already talked about the crazy title of the second ending of this anime in this post. It’s called Numbness like a ginger if you don’t want to read another post right now. But weird naming sense aside, Blue Lock is probably the most unique sports show I’ve seen in a while. A lot of shows that use sports as their main narrative focus on people bonding, becoming better together and overcoming different problems in their life through their sports. It’s a way of storytelling that I absolutely adore when done well, and for that reason I believe everyone should see Run with the Wind at least once. But Blue Lock isn’t about that. Instead it focuses on the darker, more competitive side of humanity. Take Ao Ashi from a couple of seasons ago, and mix it with the Hunger Games and that’s how you get Blue Lock. A man by the name of Ego (voiced by the legendary Hiroshi Kamiya) has invited a few hundred strikers to a facility called Blue Lock. They get the offer to stay at the facility for the foreseeable future and partake in a high stakes training camp where the weak get eliminated. This leaves us with a bunch of egotistical (see where it’s going) strikers that want to do whatever it takes to become the best striker. The players treat Blue Lock like it’s a life or death scenario because to them it is. It focuses not on teamwork and overcoming problems but instead devouring each other to become the very best. The main character starts off pretty boring but as the show goes on he becomes a much more fun character. Early on the side characters outshine him quite a bit. One thing I do appreciate about Blue Lock is that even though it’s silly and kind of insane most of the time, they take it seriously enough to at least address this by having Ego-san attend meetings with the people paying for this project as they wonder why they let this crazy person do as they please. But it does seem to work so far and with a second season in the works I think this is a good show to catch up on if you like the sound of it.
This entire thing is purely bias and bullshit, but at least Ego is honest about it from the very start.
High Card
When I was a child, I used to play this game where I would have a magic watch that when activated let me see a whole different world around me. This watch would allow me to use all sorts of strange super powers against monsters and ninja. You know, normal lonely child stuff. High Card kind of takes that childlike wonder about super powers and expands on it. The power in question in this world comes from playing cards. There’s fifty-two in a set, and at the start of the series someone steals them from a palace and they get distributed throughout the world. We then go to Finn, a young orphan who is in desperate need of money. In an attempt to make some money with gambling he gets himself stuck in a dangerous situation. There’s several people with these cards in the casino and soon he’s embroiled in the center of it all. Before he knows it, he’s working at a car store which is just a front for an organization that is trying to collect these cards for the crown. Finn meets several other card users here and works with them as they’re trying to deal with bad guys with cards. It’s a pretty straightforward show but the power system is somewhat interesting, the characters are fun and the worldbuilding is just well thought out enough that it keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next. The series ends on a good note as well and they’ve quickly announced that there’s a sequel in the work. If you like some modern superpower action, this show is a great recommendation.
That is a weird question to ask, but weird times call for weird question.
Campfire Cooking in another world with my absurd skill
From the title alone I think this is probably based on a light novel. Most manga have shorter titles although that could be different for sure. We see a lot of different Isekai shows throughout the seasons and I think I’m going to start watching a few less. Some of the ones I did watch this season were rather disappointing. Campfire cooking, on the other hand, had me engaged for most of its runtime. Three people were summoned to a fantasy world to save them from danger. But two of them were heroes and the remaining one seemed to be just some strange salaryman who could use Amazon Prime from any location in this new world. So he quickly takes his leave with some limited funds and a pat on the back and sets out on his own. His goal is to just slip under the radar so he won’t have to work for the king and can just live a relaxed life. Mukoda has quickly realized how incredibly convenient his new powers are. So he sets out on a journey and quickly enough he’s approached by the legendary Fenrir, who is curious about the man’s strange cooking. Fenrir becomes his familiar in exchange for free good food and the two set off on their adventure. From here on out it’s just a combination of the legendary beast defeating any and all enemies with ease and Mukoda cooking him some chicken nuggets as a reward. It’s a relaxed and humorous story and I found it very amusing to hear Miri’s voice actress from Buddy Daddies (earlier in this post) back as the slime Sui. Once you know it, it’s easy enough to pick up on but it’s still a different enough voice. They quickly make many friends by defeating dangerous monsters and Mukoda even gets involved with some of the worlds’ gods who want offerings from him because he can order donuts on a zero second cooldown. I think this is a very simple idea for a story but it’s often the simple ideas that work the best, as long as you execute them well. If you want your seasonal relaxing Isekai show, this is one of two options you can pick. I’ll talk about the second option in an upcoming post, so stay tuned for that.
‘Huh’ sums up it pretty nicely actually, I’ll leave it at that.
Handyman Saitou in another world
When looking at reviews for the source material of this show, you get mixed results. Some people absolutely love it while others seem more confused by its chaos. The way the show flows makes me think it’s based on a 4koma manga, short four panel stories put together into a larger narrative, but I don’t think that’s the case. This series is very different. I flip flopped from episode to episode on whether I think that is a good thing. Regardless. Saitou was a handyman back in Japan and he suddenly finds himself in a fantasy world. It’s a much more gritty and dangerous world than a lot of the ones we’re presented with in Isekai and that makes some of the goofy characters it has more grounded. Not only that, throughout the series we actually learn quite a bit about why Saitou was summoned here, how he could possibly go back and what is going on with the travel between worlds. But in this strange world, Saitou teams up with old, forgetful wizard Morlock, Burly swordswoman Realza and tiny cleric Lafanpan. The four go through dungeons and meet with other adventurers. There’s a bunch of side stories going on all at once, but I think the main reason this show feels so strange compared to many other Isekai shows is in its lack of formula. A lot of shows feel very formulaic. Everytime I watch a new Isekai, I feel like I’ve seen three others that are similar. With Handyman Saitou, I can’t really liken it to anything else I’ve seen. It’s weird, it’s chaotic and it feels strangely real at times. Not my favorite show of the season, but definitely one I’ll remember fondly because of how strange it could be at times.
99% of the time, Morlock looks like a confused old man but in the 1% of times where he gets his act together he is the real deal. There’s a reason his name is known.
And there you have it, five more shows and my thoughts on them. Everything I’ve talked about today gets a passing grade from me so it’s up to you to decide if it’s something you want to watch. And if you did enjoy any of these shows, let me know in the comments down below. Thanks for reading.
As we reach the end of the winter 2023 season it’s time to start talking about the shows that aired during this season. I watched way too many shows this past season, to the point that I was regularly behind on schedule and had to binge for a few hours to try and catch up again. It was also a season that was filled with delays, with several shows going on hiatus and some still being on hiatus. As I’m typing this I just learned that the second season of Bofuri will be on break again next week. It’ll at least finish in April, so it’s getting a better treatment than Uncle from another world did. But we’re not here to talk about either of these shows. If you didn’t watch thirty different shows like I did, but still want to know what is worth watching, I’ve got you covered. Over the next few weeks I’ll be telling you about all the shows I watched this season and what I thought of them. Well, most of them, some aren’t worth talking about or have been covered by many others already. Now then, let’s get started.
Kaina of the Great Snow Sea
One thing this show does really well is portray just how vast and empty the world around them is. Most of humanity has long died by this point, and there is a lot of unused – and unusable – space.
If I were to tell you that my favorite part of this show was the opening theme then that probably isn’t giving you a ton of hope. To be fair to Kaina, the opening is an absolute banger. Sang by one of my favorite Japanese artists: Yorushika. As far as I’m aware, they’re not normally featured in anime, so I was very surprised when I instantly recognized them. My favorite song by them is Hitchcock which you should definitely give a listen. Moving on from the music, the story falls a little bit flat for me. I like where they’re going with the worldbuilding, that part is interesting to me. Kaina lives in a treetop above the clouds but needs to help Ririha, a princess from the great snow sea, down below. They have to fix the war between two nations and find a legendary tree that should have water. The characters in this show are great. I don’t dislike any of the protagonists. I do think the bad guys are extremely one-note and the way the story ends is pretty disappointing. Overall I wouldn’t really recommend this show, but it has some interesting ideas so if that’s all you need then who am I to stop you.
Onimai: Oniichan was Oshimai
Mahiro is already enjoying the change in body and clothes. Mihari is probably enjoying it even more.
When I first read the plot description for this series I didn’t think I’d end up liking this show half as much as I did. I expected it to be aimless smut. A high school girl who’s also a mad scientist has turned her NEET older brother into a young girl in an attempt to fix him. Yeah, I thought it was a stretch too. Although the early episodes explore genderbending quite a bit, once the show really hits its stride is when it starts becoming more wholesome. Mahiro goes to school, makes friends and really comes out of her shell. It is kind of weird that this is a teenage boy in the body of a little girl, which is why I initially worried about this show. But it ended up being really nice. The supporting cast is great and watching this young girl slowly come out of her shell and become a more happy person is a kind of sweet journey. Not the best show this season but also not nearly as trashy as I expected it to be. If you were on the fence about this one, I recommend you give it a shot after all.
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale
Probably the best thing about this show is the way it looks. It’s gorgeous from start to finish which does a good job of hiding some of the other issues that a lesser quality production would stumble over.
So hear me out. What if we made a romance story, but the guy is a slave. I swear I’m getting so sick of this slavery being a big plot point in anime lately. Have Japanese authors just accepted that the only way to reach any form of romance is by literally enslaving one of the parties and forcing them to be involved? It’s so crazy. This show would have still worked if Challe was just a mercenary. The only thing that would have changed was that the writer actually had to think about any roadblocks for our characters as opposed to just default to literal slavery every single time. Seriously, this show has a lot of good for it. The art is gorgeous, the characters are fun and the idea of an artisan running into blatant sexism isn’t the most original in the world but it’s also not so overdone that I’m bored of it. Anne Halford is trying to become a Sugar Artisan so she can send off her mother who unfortunately passed away before the story starts. On her way she buys Challe, who’s a fairy and a slave. They slowly befriend each other and get rather close after a while. They run into a lot of trouble on their way, mostly with jealous men trying to undermine Anne. It’s a gorgeously animated show that really misses the point when it comes to the story. It is getting a second season though, so if you do get into it, there’ll be more than enough content for you to watch.
The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
The character designs in this show are really well done. Not just for Fuyutsuki and Himuro, but also for many of the other characters.
Sometimes when I write a story I spend hours thinking of a clever title for the story. I’m starting to think that these authors – or at the very least the people translating – just stopped caring at a certain point. He has ice powers so let’s call him ice guy and then make a pun on that and voila. Fuyutsuki isn’t even cool, so it makes no sense. She’s not cool in the sense of being a skater girl and also not in her interaction, she’s really kind to the people around her. Just a little bit introverted at times. The story follows a bunch of coworkers at a company in a world where people are descended from mythical creatures. There’s a lady with fox ears, a guy who’s descended from a phoenix and our main character, Himuro, is descended from a Yuki-Onna, or snow woman. Whenever he’s excited snow starts to appear around him, thus he has to temper his emotions quite often. He quickly falls in love with his coworker, Fuyutsuki, who is kind and lives alone with her cat. From there on out the story is a fun romance story with a great cast. Unfortunately, like many romance stories, the plot progresses at a pace slower than a turtle with a broken leg, but if you go into this show already having that expectation then it does quite a lot of things right. And it’s also refreshing to have adults in a romance show as opposed to high school students. I stopped being able to relate to high schoolers well over a decade ago, so give me a show like this any day of the week.
Tomo-Chan is a girl?!
Tomo explains how the show works for those who are still confused.
It is tomboy season and Tomo is at the peak of the movement. This four panel manga that came out on a daily basis for several years was a staple in my life while it was going on. I remember how it would go on a hiatus regularly – which is fair enough – and we’d all just be waiting for its return. The fact that Tomo-chan got an anime was a total surprise to me as I had mostly forgotten about it. I will quickly admit that I was a little bit hesitant when this started its run. When I enjoyed this manga I was a lot younger than I am now. There are shows I liked ten years ago that I couldn’t sit through now and vice versa. Besides that, it was a four panel manga and a lot of those – in my experience – don’t translate amazingly to anime. But after a mediocre first one or two episodes this show really hit its stride and it quickly reminded me why I liked it so much. It’s a classic romance story where the childhood friends are both in love with each other but neither are willing to take the first step. It takes forever for any progress to happen but Tomo-chan shines when it’s being over the top. Aizawa Tomo was just one of the guys growing up. She’s strong, works out, does martial arts, has relatively short hair and for a part of their friendship Jun thought she was a boy. When she showed up in a skirt to school he was definitely surprised. They stay friends and we meet several of their other friends which include the scheming Misuzu, the bubbly Carol and the awkward Misaki. We follow their journey as Jun and Tomo grow closer and this anime covers the entire manga so we get to the ending that left us manga readers satisfied. It’s a little bit rushed at times, it could have probably done with an extra half a dozen episodes to make it even better, but we get what we get. The animation and art style aren’t good or bad, it just does its job. If you even think you like tomboys or romcoms then this is definitely one you should take a look at. I am very happy it got an anime.
And there we go, five anime done, another bunch to go in the next few weeks. This week’s pick was a bit of a mixed bag, but I don’t feel bad about the time I spent on any of these shows. There’s something good in every show. If you’re going to only watch one out of these five, I’d go with Tomo-Chan, but it also depends on what genres you like. But that’s just my opinion, let me know what you think in the comments down below. Thanks for reading.
Here we are then, the final episode of this season. What I was expecting from this series run time has come true and they’ve already announced a fifth season. Not only that, but it’s coming out this summer! That’s something really cool to look forward to. It’s not technically a split-cour series, but it might as well be. Either way, knowing that we probably won’t get a significant conclusion today, but also being aware that this isn’t the end, let’s temper our expectations and dive into the final episode of this season!
But grandma, what murderous energy you have.
We ended the last episode with the Hunting Dogs getting attacked by the gambling addicts in the flying casino. Sigma wants to make sure his project stays safe. Tachihara got stabbed and hit in the head by a bat, but we’ve learned at this point that these people aren’t going down easily. We’ve already seen Teruko grow stronger so watching her turn into an old lady here is no surprise at all. I just wonder where Tachihara is. Oh, that explains it. She can use her power on other people too and turned Tachihara into a small child. And as I’m typing this, we get an explanation of her power as well. What a terrifying opponent, she can just age you to the point where you’re no longer a threat. This does make me wonder how old Teruko is. It might be one of those things where she’s actually a thousand year old woman and not a young girl. We’ll see.
I’m sorry, but can you at least draw a face on the characters?
We get a little bit more information about Sigma. As I kind of expected, he’s not a real person per se, but someone spawned from the book. Three years ago, to be precise. So at some point in the past, the Decay of Angels had access to the book and might have lost it since then. Now they’re using one page of iit again. Teruko makes it to Sigma and gets handed the key to the controls. We cut away to Atsushi and Kyouka making their way through the casino. The two splitting up worries me, but Atsushi has to hurry if he wants to be in time to join the standoff between Sigma and Teruko, who just disabled Sigma’s weaponry. Sigma gets the upper hand though and aims the discount dominator at Teruko who still manages to overpower the ability. She destroyed her own eardrum to stop the damage from being as severe. Oldest trick in the book
That’s pretty hardcore, not going to lie.
The Hunting Dogs have a mentality much like Akainu from One Piece. Absolute order at the expense of everything else. If someone is considered a criminal they will be taken down, no matter the cost. It’s this iron determination that allows them to be so scary and undertake dangerous operations that need monthly repeating. Sigma pulls Teruko off of the but she manages to catch back on. Atsushi then saves Sigma. I was half expecting him to save Teruko, but he quickly reminds us that Sigma is their way to find out where the page is. We also learn he stabbed the police chief. Sigma is kind of painted as a victim, and to an extent he is being used by Fyodor. On the other hand, he is a dangerous terrorist trying to undermine all of society and use coins to blow up the country. So we can only spare so much sympathy. Things aren’t going smoothly still for Atsushi, as someone flies up to them, probably sent by Fyodor. I’m not sure I know who this person is, but at this point there’s just too many characters.
Shouldn’t have gone into the dollhouse, that was a pretty bad move.
It did strike me as strange for them to save Sigma. The Hunting Dogs will now be even more convinced that the Agency are bad guys. A video reaches Tachihara of Atsushi explaining the plot, but apparently Fyodor has written a line into the page that no one will trust the Agency. And of course we learn that both of the Mafia executives are perfectly alive. I do want to make it very clear that this is disappointing. I know this is a shonen series and the stakes often end up being extremely low for any real named character, but at least the old executive should have died here. Tachihara probably cared for them more than he was willing to admit and i’m going to guess that his special power somehow lets him circumvent the page’s words, but come on, have some respect for the viewer here. If every “death” is fake, the reader will stop being invested. Game of Thrones ran into this problem where early on everything had consequences and later on characters would just walk away from lethal damage like it was just a papercut. Shonen does this way too often and it shouldn’t keep getting away with it.
I’ll be honest, I did quite like this guy, so I don’t mind him still being around, but it does feel cheap.
Oh, that’s the point of this all. That’s some great writing, I love this. Fyodor:All law enforcement and investigative bodies that happen upon evidence of the Detective Agency’s entrapment will dismiss it without consideration. Of course this would disappear for Tachihara when he realizes he’s not a hunting dog but a member of the port mafia at heart. I like his story arc a lot, it’s complex but not in a contrived way. He just really loved his brother and let the rage get to him. Even like Hyoma from Mononogatari he is still a reasonable person. The Mafia believes in the Agency because it knows the Agency all too well. They can’t be terrorists, they’re the most annoying goody two-shoes that exist and they’ll either come out proven innocent or die in the fight. I love how Dazai’s master plan is just “Humans are too unpredictable” We also get to find out what happened to Nikolai. He didn’t die after all and is probably going to either save Sigma or perfectly finish him off.
And we get some closure on this part of the story to round off the season with.
A very solid cliffhanger that would have made me very angry if not for the fact that we already know we’re getting more of this story soon. I’ll cover the next season right here on this blog so subscribe if that’s something you’re interested in. All in all I think this was one of the better seasons of this show, and that’s saying a lot considering it’s been pretty good for most of its runtime. I definitely should invest in the manga in the near future, I’m pushing it higher up the list of priorities. Thanks for reading.
With the winter season nearing its finale, and my weekly anime count dropping drastically before peaking again in about a week from now, let us take a look ahead.
To be a little bit more specific, there’s a sequel coming out in the spring season that I’m hoping to draw some attention to. That’s right, after five long years we’re finally getting a sequel to one of my personal favorite stories: The Ancient Magus’ Bride(Mahoutsukai no Yome).
Our main characters, the thorned one and Hatori Chise.
As I’m preparing this blogpost, I’m seeing a lot of negative reviews for the show. It seems quite a few people had strong thoughts on it. Nonetheless, it has a 4.2 star rating on anime-planet, which means that a few critics aside, the first season was received rather well. For those of you who’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll know that this is far from the first time I’ve talked about this series. As a matter of fact, I’ve covered most of the manga volumes in depth on my blog. I’ll leave a link to those here for those interested. Now for those of you who haven’t seen the first season and want to consider if it’s worth their time, and those of you who have seen the first season but would like a little bit of a refresher before diving into the sequel, let me catch you up to speed. As is to be expected, this post will consider spoilers for the first season of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. With that clear, let’s get to it.
Chise is a young girl who has been able to see and interact with creepy spirits for as long as she’s been aware. This has caused serious problems for her family and left her abandoned and alone. At wits end and with no real plans out, she decides to sell herself to the highest bidder. You see, someone with her powers is extremely valuable in the world of fae and magic. At her auction, an old sorcerer with the appearance of a horned skeleton outbids everyone by a long shot and brings her home. This would be Elias, who has chosen Chise to be his bride and his apprentice. Hence the name, The Ancient Magus’ Bride. Elias takes Chise with him from Japan to the British countryside where they start their life together.
Chise is what we call a Sleigh Beggy. A Sleigh Beggy is a special kind of creature that has almost endless potential with magic but also destroys themselves easily in the process, making her a ticking time bomb. Elias is socially awkward on steroids. Being the strange creature that he is, having normal human interactions is beyond him and a lot of the story focusses on their awkward relationship. Elias is a monster and almost childlike at times, but he’s also caring, even if he doesn’t quite understand those feelings. Chise on the other hand cares more about others than herself and once she gets out of the depression she starts this series in, and slowly comes into her own, she will regularly risk her own safety for the sake of others. This becomes a theme throughout the show. Chise gets a lot better mentally, but I wouldn’t say she’s ever in a mentally healthy state. I think a lot of the bad reviews – not to sound arrogant – are from people who didn’t really understand how complicated these two characters are. And I will say the manga is probably a better medium to communicate this in.
It’s Harry Potter and the prisoners of Azkaban!
Now to quickly explain the main story of the first season so you’re ready for the sequel. If you’ve read enough and don’t want to be spoiled because you’ll watch the first season after this, I suggest you skip this paragraph. If that’s you, I appreciate ya, and enjoy the show. With that out of the way, Chise and Elias’ relationship and them teaching each other is the main focus of a lot of the first season. They meet different characters which include other sorcerers, a priest, a witch and several fae creatures including some very important ones. Chise gets herself cursed by an evil undead sorcerer called Cartaphilus. He’s been cursed a long time ago and is trying to adjust his own body. They manage to deal with the problem and put him to sleep for the time being, but it leaves Chise with much damage to herself. The problem does seem to be solved for the time being. As the promotional material for the second season already shows us, the cast is about to grow in size. I’ve read most of the upcoming arc already and let me tell you, I’m excited. It’s been five years, so I’m worried a lot of people will leave this series be, due to the long break, but as someone who’s been keeping up with the manga recently I really urge you all to give it a watch. Thanks for reading!
Hey folks, glad to have you here. I’m feeling very under the weather right now. I think it’s a flu or something, but regardless of what it is, the room is spinning ever so slightly and my entire body hurts. If today’s post is a little bit shorter or less coherent I apologize. I do welcome the distraction of doing some writing and watching a good anime, but I don’t expect the same quality as normal. With that out of the way though, let’s dive into the second to last episode of this season of Bungo Stray Dogs.
Whenever these kinds of moments happen in a story I always wonder if there’ll be an example where they mess up and accidentally kill someone instead of just intimidate them.
We get some looks into both parties getting ready and then are greeted with Fukuzawa and Genichiro drinking in a prison cell. They’re old friends after all but Fukuzawa refuses to give in to Genichiro’s demand for surrender. The other hunting dogs are already hot on the tail of the Armed Detective Agency’s tail. They know about Lucy and are putting pressure on the cafe manager. I want to quickly point out the irony in them telling the manager to treat the Detective Agency fairly after having had multiple attempts on their lives. None of them probably successful, seeing what kind of story this is so far, but in universe that’s not relevant. Offering a fair trial at this point is probably a lie.
Excuse me? There’s a flying hovercraft casino that’s absolutely massive? That’s crazy. We’re introduced to Sigma – which is not their real name – who we’ve seen in the opening already. I was wondering when this character would show up. Taking bets on if they’re with the Decay of Angels or not. Aren’t they alongside Nikolai in the opening? We’re also introduced to what is more or less the dominator from Psycho Pass. That’s a lot of technology to introduce this late into the game. If this guy is with the Decay of Angels then him not working against Lucy is probably part of their plan. He could also still be unrelated. He looks like a goofball, but in this show that doesn’t say much. I’d also like to take a moment to say that Teruko kind of reminds me of Tanya Degurachev. Crazy little girls are terrifying.
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Metal, Plane.
So it turns out there’s more to Sigma and the casino than meets the eye. That’s not unexpected though. We shift to Tachihara spotting Atsushi. But seeing him like that right after Sigma talking about dealing with the Hunting Dogs makes me think it is probably some sort of illusion. Either way, Tachihara busts open the door to see for himself. How wrong I was on this being some illusion by Sigma. He’s back in his office being distraught at the fact that Tachihara finds his coin collection. I’m sure this is all legally obtained tender though and he shouldn’t have to worry right? There we go, it’s revealed that Sigma and Fyodor are coworkers which all but confirms that he might be with the Decay of Angels. Whether he’s one of the main five, we’ll have to see.
Do you reckon these function like those giant hamster balls you use to play soccer with and run into each other?
An explosive coin and they have tons of those. That’s a big reveal. Sigma is on that sigma grindset though. This is some epic music though. Sending an airplane full of explosives isn’t enough to kill these hunting dogs, that’s pretty insane. How are they ever supposed to be defeated? Atsushi is planning to team up with the hunting dogs. Together they’ll stop Sigma, get the knowledge of where the page is and win some faith back. We also learn that Sigma is a man with amnesia and this strange technologically advanced flying casino didn’t exist until the page was used to will it into existence. That’s a bit more logical than it just always having been there. It seems like a pretty big deal to just appear in the story this late without proper explanation.
Things are heating up inside the casino. A big casino like this is always a good place for an action story, It reminds me of that one One Piece movie.
Dazai and Fyodor talk a little bit more about things. Fyodor praises Sigma, his mediocre man who is desperate, and says he’s dangerous. As if to prove that point, Sigma makes sure everyone in the casino turns on the Hunting Dogs by promising their debts to be wiped. Tachihara gets stabbed as a result. If only you had a powerful doctor that could heal any injury. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it? Having said that, I’m sure Atsushi and them will jump to the rescue and the Hunting Dogs will have no choice but to take the help. I can’t imagine this show is ending in another episode, so I’m very curious about the season finale. I’m expecting the announcement that more is coming soon, if not it’ll be a very disappointing end to an otherwise good season. I’m going to go back to bed now, thanks for reading.
We all like to imagine what it’s like to travel to a strange fantastical world and live out our fantasies there. This could be living the hero life or living on a farm without anyone bothering you and just vibing in the countryside. But what we don’t often think about is the possibility that this life in a strange world isn’t forever. Or more specifically, not everyone who gets sent to a strange world wants to stay there. The same can be said for Uncle. I am aware that he goes by several names but for the sake of this review we’ll stick to just calling him the role he fulfills. Uncle was sent to a strange world and then spent his time there adventuring and searching for a way back. He eventually found his way back to earth, where he was released from the hospital almost two decades later. The world has changed since he was whisked away and it is now up to his nephew, Takafumi and his old friend he just rekindled with, Fujimiya, to help him get used to life on earth again. Of course, they’re also extremely curious about his stories about this foreign world. So let’s talk about this show, its problems and what it brings to the table in today’s review of: Isekai Ojisan – Uncle from another world.
That is one hell of a way to introduce a character to the story.
Let’s start with the problems, get those out of the way. This show doesn’t look particularly good. Part of that is the style, which I think is fitting to the kind of story it’s trying to tell, but not particularly appealing to me personally. A lot of the characters are kind of ugly – by design – but it does turn me off at times. Other times it’s used for comedy and works pretty well. I’m trying to not sound harsh because it’s something I did notice, but it’s not an issue. Having said that, the animation quality is definitely unimpressive. It’s not an action heavy show and even when there is action, the action isn’t the point of the show, so it’s not a high budget fluid motion spectacle. And the big issue it has, and the reason why this review didn’t happen half a year ago, is its delays. Isekai Ojisan started airing in summer of 2022 and only finished its run in March of 2023. For a series with 13 episodes, that’s a very long hiatus inbetween. To be more specific, there were a handful episodes, then it went on break, then it had another handful episodes and then after a long break the final episode aired in March. I remember really enjoying most of this show, but with how much time passed I wasn’t as invested in the finale as I would have liked. Production issues happen and it sucks much more for the people involved in this project than it does for me, but it is a shame.
He even comes with his own personal bag of holding, that’s pretty useful.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s talk about the reasons why I’m talking about this show, because despite its production issues, I still think it’s a good show. Considering anyone who hasn’t seen this show yet can watch it in one go, that becomes all the more true. Isekai Ojisan looks at the Isekai genre through a unique lens. It treats the arguably weird guy that spent all this time in a foreign world and became even weirder as an actual weird guy. It’s not the first anime where the main character isn’t popular, but it does execute it well. Uncle isn’t unpopular due to his actions per se, but it mainly comes from his lack of social awareness. He meets all these interesting women and he just couldn’t be more unaware of his own social etiquette. The characters back in the normal world who watch his memories back with him have more character progression and debt than you’d expect from a show like this and it does wonders for the story. You actually come to like them and that’s a big boon.
Gee, I wonder why you’re particularly worried about this part?
All in all, this show is too good to sleep on due to its production issues. I doubt it’s going to be in anyone’s top 10 for the year, but I feel like it deserves better than the bad luck it got. It’s funny, it’s got heart and it does the things it wants to do well. If you do check this show out after my recommendation, please let me know in the comments what you thought. And as always, thanks for reading.
It turns out that what he lacks in social skills he makes up for with fighting skills.
Before we jump into the madness that this episode will highly likely be, let’s give a little bit of a quick recap of the recent events. The Armed Detective Agency is suspected of murdering a bunch of people, due to a scheme by the Decay of Angels, also known as Five or V. I falsely thought that they might be the same people as the Hunting Dogs, who are currently chasing the Detective Agency, but I’ve since changed my mind on this. The Port Mafia and the Guild have both given aid to them, both expecting something in return from Yosano, the medic of the agency. During their attempt to escape from the Hunting Dogs the port mafia lost one of their executives and was betrayed by another; Tachihara. Tachihara turned out to be the final Hunting Dog and we left the episode with him getting revenge for his dead brother, who Yosano tried to save during the war but couldn’t. Wow, that was a lot, and we haven’t even started yet. But now that we’re all caught up, let’s get back into it.
What a pleasant look back at a friend, I’m sure no one will ruin it by threatening him or something.
We start the episode with Mushitaro in denial about his current state, and then quickly being broken out of prison by Atsushi and Kyouka. They threaten him, which is probably going to backfire. Not a second has passed before he does his best to get them noticed by the guards. They’re in bad luck, because Sakaguchi Ango has surrounded the bank. He used to be spying in the Port Mafia for the government, before he was found out. He’s back to working with the government. I do like that in a story with mafia and crazy murderous organizations, it’s the government branches that are probably the most scary. It’s a good thing Mushitaro has a stupidly overpowered ability to use. There’s a showdown in the vault between Ango’s people and Mushitaro, Kyouka and Atsushi. They pull off a pretty simple trick with relative ease. Shame on you, Ango, for falling for that. It is nice to finally get full circle on Mushitaro’s character and his relationship with his old friend.
It’s a big misunderstanding that Mushitaro thinks Ango leads some organization that he doesn’t. Fyodor has really managed to string everyone and keep them where he wants them.
I can’t help but notice a trend that as soon as one character slowly walks away from the other characters something bad is about to happen. It’s a choice they keep making and it’s unfortunately getting a bit predictable. Both Atsushi and Kyouka haven’t recognized this trend yet, so they get hit by sleep darts. It turns out they hadn’t fully lost Ango at all. Woah, what a plot twist. Dazai and Ango were still communicating with each other. They’re still on the same team after all, they both work to preserve peace in the town. He explains all of this to our friends, but it’s good to know that Ango is working against Fyodor. Fyodor also lied to Mushitaro about who Ango is. This is a pretty big development, so I’m somewhat worried things are about to go really bad. Then again, after the last episode they deserve a break. They go into Lucy’s special power where she’s hiding from danger. Ango is currently protecting her. He also reveals he only worked with the Seventh Agency to help out his friend Dazai. Ango’s a good guy! Obviously this hits a soft spot in Mushitaro.
So that’s how Dazai is managing to communicate with his allies. Now we just need to figure out how Fyodor does it. But who is Fyodor communicating with? If it’s so vital he keeps in contact, does that mean that’s to keep the Decay of Angels moving, or is it in some way instructing the Hunting Dogs movement?
The terrorist organization, Decay of Angels, is comprised of five members. The demonic Fyodor and jester Nikolai, as well as two more extremely talented Gifted. And one founder who manages them.
Mushitaro goes on to explain a lot about what their goals are. They want to use the page to erase the state. They still have one side of the page left and are planning to use it in ten days to cause another tragedy. We still do not know who the leader of the Decay of Angels is. Atsushi and Kyouka are happy that there’s ten days left to fix things. If they steal the page back and fix the Agency’s reputation then all the problems are solved. I am worried that next week’s episode is called Bungo Hound Dogs. And I doubt it’s a reference to the famous Elvis song. But that’s a week from now, let’s enjoy an episode where for once things didn’t go horribly wrong. Two weeks left on this show, but I’m very curious to see where this season ends and if they announce a sequel. I can’t see it ending in two episodes, but I’ve seen weirder endings in my time watching anime. That also means I need to decide what to watch next season and speak along with. Maybe the new Dr. Stone season? There’s many options so I’m open to suggestions. But as always, that’s been me, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
