Bungo Stray Dogs dispelling the idea of ACAB right now, one grand conspiracy at a time. This is how it should be in the real world though. If cops are doing bad things, the good cops should stand up en masse. I’m sure it’ll happen any day now.
This is what good cops look like.
I promised last week that I’d talk a little bit about the opening right now, so let’s do that. It seems to be a rock track called ‘Tetsu no ori’ by Granrodeo. Granrodeo has made some banger openings for shows like Kuroko no Basket en even Nanatsu no Taizai, but this song isn’t quite hitting for me. The intense imagery looks fine, with an interesting looking background, but it’s not really telling us anything. We do still get to see yet more of Akutagawa in this opening, I wonder when he’s finally going to show up because we got pretty much baited last season.
Reflected in his sword is something that was crucial about his past.
Moving back to the show itself, the gang reunites inside Lucy’s ability and Atsushi is beyond happy to see that both Ranpo and Kunikida are – at least – alive. Kunikida’s unwavering beliefs are back, although they were definitely shaken up for a while. And with even Yosano being safe, they can heal Kunikida’s hands as well.
It’s good to see them back in action.
We switch perspectives to the Hunting Dogs headquarters where Fukichi is being asked to help create a counter terrorism organization. Having a strong military police has never gone poorly in life, hasn’t it. Fukichi immediately calls it a dream and doesn’t like it. Quick interjection, I saw the Dutch flag at the UN meeting, so we’re being represented by this. The idea doesn’t seem to be perceived very well. At least not initially. Fukuchi’s appearance moves them enough to definitely change a few opinions. The people are literally weebs for a real person. One thing I’m starting to learn is that the hunting dogs probably aren’t bad guys at all. I thought a lot of that throughout season 1, but I feel like I was misunderstanding what they were doing. Either way, Fukichi speaks to the UN about this new defense force.
Fukichi has built such a great reputation for himself. He’s almost universally loved and respected.
It’s easy to forget that this universe that the story takes place in is extremely fragile. Fukichi points out the coins in people’s wallets but there’s many people out there who could do massive damage if they so desired. Even some of the less prominent members of the Armed Detective Agency could probably take out half a city if they wished to. Can I just say that Fukichi calling this new organization the Army of Mankind has to be up there with the worst names for organizations? It sounds like someone a five year old would call their imaginary army with which they’re fighting aliens. He does seem to convince a majority of the people in attendance at least, so that’s good. Oh, did I mention that Ranpo is there too?
Sometimes a little bit of trust is all it takes.
Ranpo and Fukichi first met at the founding of the Agency, where Fukichi was – you guessed it – also drunk. But he was close to the Agency’s leader, and that’s why Ranpo has been sent here. He asks Fukichi to be on the same team, but his arguments seem to not work. They smuggle Fukichi out of the country. I love how Atsushi has fully figured out Ranpo and the way he thinks. Ranpo figures out who Kamui is just in time to try and escape him. I literally just said that I finally trust the Hunting Dogs, can I catch a break. I really ought to stop doing these posts because I’m simply embarrassing myself and showing that I have no skill in predicting mysteries. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that Akutagawa will show up in this episode as well. That’ll really make a fool out of me. Although as of right now it still feels weird to me that Fukichi would be the leader of this massive terrorist organization just to get Fukuzawa back on his team. Maybe there’s still more to it than we’re shown at this point.
Sometimes to restore old friendships we do a cheeky little bit of global terrorism.
Now the big question becomes, what will Atsushi do here. Fukichi even lures him in with the page, which is obvious bait. Atsushi has to run here, but he realizes that if he does manage to fight and win he’ll be in a great spot. Even though Ranpo tells him to run, Atsushi leans towards fighting but is immediately crippled. He has the tiger’s ability, of course, but he is in a very tight spot right now. I also really think that this would have been a better spot for the first season to have ended. This feels like such a pivotal moment while at the end of season 1 we really didn’t know anything yet. Also, make sure to watch until the very end of this episode, because things are about to get very interesting.
Guess who’s back? Back again. Akutagawa’s back. Tell a friend.
I don’t want to imply that I’m still half awake, but I just tried to title this document by editing the url and not the post title. I caught it in time though. Crisis averted. Speaking of crises, when the previous season of Bungo Stray Dogs ended, things were not looking particularly well for the cast. Even though I wasn’t going to do these weekly episode discussions any more, due to needing to focus on writing other things, I did promise I’d cover the rest of this series when it came out. So that’s where we’re at right now. I’m pretty excited for what’s to come, if I’m honest. So if you’re like me and you want to dive into this world once more, please join me in these weekly threads, which will probably be the last ones I’ll do for a while. Let’s get started.
I have heard about people writing and drawing using their feet before, so it’s technically possible
Now I would be remiss if I didn’t give you a small recap of what happened last season, since we do kind of jump into the middle of a story arc. An organization only known as V or Five has been terrorizing the Armed Detective Agency and just the general population. One of their members and presumed leader, Fyodor, is currently in jail. Dazai is also in this same sci-fi looking jail. In the meantime, his organization – which officially goes by The Decay of Angels – is working out some grand conspiracy with the help of a powerful book that allows you to write things into reality. Using this book, they’ve made the world think that the Detective Agency is a group of terrorists which has led the military police group The Hunting Dogs to chase them. Fights and chaos ensue and the members are on the run. All of this culminates in a showdown in a flying casino where Sigma – a member of Decay of Angels – rules. Tachihara of the hunting dogs now believes that the Agency is innocent, so things might be changing sooner rather than later. That was a lot, but if you’ve seen the show it should be enough of a reminder.
Sigma is still around, I’m actually happy about that since I feel like his character’s story isn’t done yet.
I honestly don’t remember if Kunikida was confirmed to still be alive in the previous season, but it’s good to see him either way. He gets asked to join the hunting dogs so they’ll heal his missing arms. Turns out he didn’t get out of it unscathed. Since I’m already going long on this post I’ll save the opening sequence for next week. We also learn that it’s about time for Yosano’s execution and on top of all of that a sniper is aiming at Kunikida. Things still look just as bad as ever, I’m sorry for my earlier optimism.
Speaking of things that look bad, Sigma awakens, being saved by Nikolai from almost certain death. These Decay of Angels folks are really hard to kill. Nikolai explains the trick to his fake death, but Sigma doesn’t quite understand why he didn’t die right there, as the plan was. Friendly reminder that Nikolai is completely insane and is apparently now planning to kill Fyodor. Silver linings, I suppose. Atsushi has collapsed in the middle of them planning their next step and it turns out he’s basically poisoned at this point. When he gets back up he confesses to knowing where the page is. Sigma seemed to have imprinted the information into Atsushi. Whether he did this willingly or not is another question. It turns out he might not be poisoned but just overwhelmed by information. We learn where the page is. It’s in the hands of the Angels’ leader, Kamui.
The final boss
We move back to Kunikida who luckily sees the sniper in time. The sniper wasn’t alone though, and here we see Kamui for the first time, gassing Kunikida. They’re wearing a gas mask though, so who knows who they are. The voice at leasts sounds masculine. According to Atsushi, his goal is to kill everyone in the Agency, but Kamui walks off with Kunikida still alive, and someone targets Yosano while she’s already on her way to being executed. It doesn’t seem to tell the full story. Either he wants to do some sort of ritualistic execution or he has other plans. Fukuzawa is the next big target, but he seems to know who Kamui is. Tell us then, don’t leave us hanging like this. Meanwhile Fyodor and Dazai are playing games in the prison to stifle their boredom. It can’t get more laidback than this, although I’m sure there’s more to it.
Really making great use of their time here.
Some small part of me was hoping this Kamui figure was someone from the agency, but I didn’t dare have hope after having my hopes crushed so many times in the previous season. It turns out that Ranpo had been planning some things behind the scenes and has now freed Fukuzawa. Is it really comeback time? But if Atsushi felt like Kamui was in the middle of an assassination who was he assassinating? Or was Ranpo’s plan so good it even tricked Atsushi’s sixth sense. I have questions, but I’m sure we’ll get answers as time goes on. It makes me wonder if Kamui really does look like how Ranpo looked here, or if he’s different. And of course Poe was involved. I did think the phone looked suspect. Their friendship – or lack thereof – will always be a joy to watch.
Poe with the “please notice me, Senpai” energy.
We then switch to a completely different scene. There’s a press conference about to be held by the son of KS Company’s president. No clue who that is, but I’m guessing they’re about to be important. The people attending are talking about how big of a deal the terrorist attacks by the Armed Detective Agency are. And this lady brings up a good point, what would their motive be? We see Ranpo at the conference, probably instead of whoever was supposed to be here. Now the question is if this is real Ranpo or a fake. Seeing as he’s defending the agency, it looks to be the real Ranpo. Ranpo finally reveals the truth to the public in an over the top manner, like we’ve come to expect from the guy. He asks the people to think for themselves and not from the position of being a cop. That makes sense, knowing how the text on the page would work. I am kind of sad that this was a split cour. I think this episode would have hit much harder had it been right after episode 13 of the previous season. But maybe that’s just me. I ended up writing a lot, I hope you all enjoyed my ramblings and you’re just as excited for this show as I am. Thanks for reading.
It’s summer. The season of sunshine and being outdoors. The season of eating ice cream and reading on the nice chair. It’s the season of, you guessed it, code red weather alerts. When I woke up this morning I heard the rain – it’s the 5th of July as I’m writing this, by the way – and after I went back to sleep my phone started making a noise that will wake up even the deepest of sleepers. I suppose at least I should take solace in having my alerts for national emergencies set up correctly. But we’re not here today to talk about the dreadful weather, we’re here to talk about some of last season’s anime. And I have thought. Most thoughts are positive ones. So prepare yourself for a lot of strong recommendations. I already talked about Ousama Ranking last week, so check out that post if you’ve missed it. And without further ado, let’s look at three anime that may or may not be worth your time.
A galaxy next door
For some reason this show got the song Numbness like a gingerstuck in my head. I think it’s to do with the name of this show being Otonari no Ginga. ‘Ginga’ and the way the lead singer of Unison Square Garden pronounces “Ginger” are very similar. Sometimes it’s just that simple.
I’m no expert in biology, but I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone – man or woman – who has a glowing stinger sticking out of their body.Oh my bad, it’s not a stinger, it’s just a G-pen… Yeah right!
Speaking of simple, this show is a very simple show at its core and I wish it was a little bit more simple than it is. Ichiro is trying to support his two younger siblings while working as a manga artist. His parents passed away and he’s been taking care of them ever since. Then one day, Goshiki Shiori arrives at his doorstep, wanting to be his assistant. He accepts, since he needs an assistant, and the two start working together. Then, completely accidentally, he touches her stinger and they’re now bound in a contract. You see, Shiori is a princess from a strange island tribe and they have a stinger. They also can contact each other telepathically over short distances. Besides that they just seem like a bit of an odd group of people, but not that different from humans. The two develop a relationship over the course of the series and then wonder if the stinger is partially responsible for their feelings.
I see that Japan is still hard at work trying to convince a generation of otaku that children are adorable and a good idea to get.
I think the subplot of the stinger was my least favorite part of this show. I’d much rather have the same story but her parents disapproved purely because she is a princess or something. I don’t think the fantastical elements add enough value to take me out of the realism of what is at its core a very tender and fun romantic show. Ichiro is an extremely kind person and Shiori is a force of personality in her own way. And the kids are adorable. Fumio and Machi are Ichiro’s younger siblings and they’re both very thoughtful for their age, but not in a “I’m 10 but I’m written like I’m an adult kind of way.” They’re much more just very patient, which is likely due to the cards they’ve been dealt in life. Fumio is very quiet, but he’s kind and attentive. Machi is much more open about her emotions and often speaks for the two of them. To make a long story short, I really enjoyed watching this show every week. It’s fun, romantic and wholesome and I’m glad I watched it.
My love story with Yamada-kun at level 999
We’re all gamers. We understand what it’s like to be at our computer all day talking to someone’s avatar or profile picture. Then we meet them, or see their picture, and they are different from their icons. I for one like to play as female characters in MMOs a lot. That’s always been my preference. But I also like people calling me by my real name, makes it easier and more personal, and there’s nothing wrong with sharing your (first) name. I haven’t ever randomly ran into a guild member after getting broken up with and then realizing that; oh no, he’s hot.
I’ve been watching anime for almost 15 years at this point (man, I’m getting old) and I don’t think there’s been a single Kana-boon song in front of a show that hasn’t been a complete earworm. I don’t know they do it, but every song they produce is just a banger.
Well, Akane has. She meets Yamada at the perfect moment and wakes up in his room after he helped her home when she was drunk. Yamada seems more annoyed by her presence than anything else and you can’t blame the guy. Some drunk woman grabs on to you and won’t let you do what you wanted to do. They quickly find out that they are from the same guild and although Yamada was raised well and he’s a polite young man, he doesn’t want to deal with the hassle that Akane brings. But she’s a very social gal and doesn’t let him get away. The two do become friends pretty quickly as the show goes on.
‘Why won’t this annoying drunk leave me alone, I just came here for a gaming event, not to deal with this crap.’
Where this show shines is on two fronts. The first one is how funny some of the side characters are. Eita is an absolute joy to watch in every single frame he’s in and Kamota-san reminds me of some of the older people I’ve played games with throughout the years. Kind and supportive. Akane’s friend Momo is great too in how self-absorbed she can be at times. Not every person is always there for you, but that doesn’t make them bad people. We all have our own lives. The second thing is a particular scene which I won’t go into too much detail in, but if you’ve seen the show you’ll understand. There’s a little bit of a devious bait and switch in one of the early episodes that puts Akane in a dangerous position. The way the rest of the cast properly deals with this and has respect for the sort of scenario it is, without exaggerating any part of it for drama made me really happy. It just takes itself seriously in a good way.
You’ve nailed it, Yamada.
This show was not as good as some of the others that aired this season, but it was still extremely enjoyable from start to finish. Would recommend it, just like the first anime we walked about today.
Otaku Elf
There is one more anime I want to talk about today. And it’s a show I almost didn’t give a shot. I saw the premise of an elf being a god that’s been prayed to and taken care of and is also an otaku, and didn’t think it was going to be any good. But I wasn’t watching a lot of shows yet, so I figured I’d give it a watch for at least one episode. I’m glad I did because I was immediately hooked. Let’s start with talking about my favorite thing in this show, which is something I’ll be listening to for a very long time: The opening theme.
I wonder who this lovely woman who comforted Koito on the day of her mother’s funeral is. Any guesses? Are there any mature blond women in this show? There’s a blond woman, but mature…. maybe not.
The song is called Kien Romance and it’s by Nanawo Akari. It’s an absolutely fantastic track with all sorts of interesting instrumentals that I’m not knowledgeable enough about to point out. But there are flutes and what I would guess might be a shamisen? I don’t even know, but I do know that this song lives rent free in my head. Every time the episode would come up I’d be happy just to hear the opening.
No one’s allowed to enter the inner sanctum. Except Koyuzu because she’s kind. And the Amazon delivery lady because at this point it would just be silly to pretend you don’t order twelve packages a day.
But an anime is more than just its music, even though it is a vital part of it. The anime itself tells the story of Elda and Koito. Koito is a young shrine Miko who is taking care of Elda, who is housed in this temple. Elda has been around for centuries and she’s always been taken care of by the shrine Mikos here. But she’s also a big introvert and has become a bit of a slob and an otaku over the years. Despite all of this, Elda is kind and caring and when she really needs to be serious and mindful, she definitely is.
Koito is your typical young teenager. Worried about her looks, busy with school and she has a bubbling personality on top of all of this. She comes from a complicated family structure and is very mature for her age, seemingly due to necessity. We meet several other characters throughout the run of this show and by the end of it we have a solid supporting cast. The highlight of this show is definitely the relationship between Koito and Elda. In the absence of parents, Elda has almost taken on this role herself, even though at times I wonder if she has the proper maturity. But like I said earlier on in this post, Elda is very kind and caring. She consoles Koito when she needs to and she makes sure the young girl is doing okay. And whenever Elda is going through something difficult – which is generally just relative to the life of an otaku – Koito is there to repay the kindness. If I had to use one word to describe this show, it’d be pleasant.
I’m unsure what to call the animation style used in the ending song, but I can tell you I really like it. For an ending sequence, at least.I wonder if they’re sponsored by Red Bull
And there you have it. Three shows from the Spring 2023 season that I thoroughly enjoyed. I realize that these reviews are a little bit longer than some of the other ones I’ve done for this format, but these shows were all excellent and deserved a little bit more attention. I’ll try to keep the next round a bit more short and sweet, but for now I hope this will give you something to watch in the upcoming summer months. If you enjoyed these recommendations, please leave a comment down below and as always; thanks for reading!
Anime: Ranking of Kings: Treasure Chest of Courage Studio: WIT Episodes: 10 Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Disability
Remember him? Of course you do, how can you ever forget this lovable little royal.
When I made my top 10 series of 2022 I put Ranking of Kings at the very top. We’re now halfway into 2023 and looking back on it I think I still stand by this choice. The artstyle, the music, the characters and even the story itself were all fantastic and I still remember how I spent every week waiting for a new episode to come out. So when a “sequel” was announced I was immediately excited. This excitement dimmed a little bit when I learned that it consisted more of side stories and extra content instead of a direct sequel but I was still pretty excited. Then I forgot about it for a little while until it started airing recently. Today, let me give you my thoughts on it. This review will contain spoilers, but no major spoilers. If you are planning to watch any sequels to the first season I suggest you watch this show since there are enough important events that you’d be missing out on. With that out of the way, let’s dive in.
This episode – as well as some others – was great to fill in some of the gaps in the first season. We all know that Queen Hilling suddenly appeared with Anne at her side but we never got much of an explanation as to where she came from. Now we know.
This series definitely starts off slow. We dive into some side stories about things that the characters from season 1 went through that didn’t quite make the cut. These stories range from encountering strange creatures we’ve never seen before to Boji and Kage living their lives in the underworld with Despa. We get a little bit more Kage being happy with his mother, which is heartbreaking knowing what will happen later and we get some silly competitiveness amongst the big four. My favorite stories are the ones that are more emotional. This show has always been about disability representation and seeing these characters being loved and cared for is just such a joy to watch. The cast have reprised their roles again and everything from start to finish feels just as polished as the first season does. I do prefer the original season, especially when it comes to the opening and ending themes. They’re fine for this series, but they’re not as amazing as Vaundy’s Hadaka no Yuusha. We do get treated to Aimer’s Atemonaku as an ending theme which is a great nostalgic sounding song, but I feel like using Aimer for your soundtrack is unfair at this point. I firmly believe she’s one of – if not the – best singers currently making anime themes.
Okay, I’ll be honest. I cried when I realized that Daida had learned sign language so he could communicate with his brother. His character was so incredibly complex in the first season, with trauma and expectations, and watching him grow has been a joy.
Moving on to the final episode. If you haven’t seen this show, this final episode seems to pick up the story in a more serious tone than some of the previous ones. We ended season one with Boji giving up the throne to his brother and going on an adventure to find Kage. The two reunite and start a journey to go “wherever they want.” But there were more things happening at the end of season one. One major thing that happened was that Desha won the Ranking of Kings. His goal has been to save his brother, Ouken, from the curse that’s made him into a soulless, immortal warrior. He seems to be successful in his task in this episode and we get Ouken back. Everything seems to have a cost though. Ouken deals with a god who was going to harm the people inside of the building where the winners are taken. Who they all are isn’t really explained yet at this point, but I am very pleased we’re getting a sneak peek at a potential second season. A second season might still be far away though, looking at the source material. When Ouken finds out that his brother has lost his memory, he immediately starts preparing to fix this. What a good man.
Guess who’s back? Back again! Ouken’s back! Tell a friend.
All things considered, I’m very happy with what we got. It wasn’t a full sequel yet, but to fill in the time between seasons this was a fantastic way to flesh things out a bit more that didn’t have me bored one bit. I hope you enjoyed this season as much as I have and thank you for reading.
Man oh man, did I think I was going to just pretend this wasn’t happening. But unfortunately we live in a world where a One Piece live action is happening and there’s nothing we can do about it. Live action adaptations of anime have a pretty bad track record, I personally can’t think of a single good one, but I can think of several bad ones. When I heard how closely Oda was working with the project I had a little bit of hope but now… I’m not sure. Either way, let’s look at the things this trailer tells us.
First things first, we see a shot of the Going Merry, presumably being worked on or built at that point, and Luffy is aboard. I think the guy who plays Luffy looks fine, but it all looks a bit too much like a cosplay. I’m also curious – and this is just a small nitpick – if the strap on the straw hat is there from the very start or not, since I’m pretty confident Nami attaches that for him after Buggy steals the hat and damages it during their encounter. Also, if Buggy doesn’t sound like a dying seal in the first arc that’ll be disappointing, his voice actor is fantastic at portraying how unstable of a character he is.
Luffy tells us he wants to be the king of the pirates, the usual. We then get a nice shot of Luffy sitting in his iconic spot on the sheep head of the Going Merry while Baratie pans up in the background. Up until now I have zero complaints about this trailer if I’m honest. It looks about the way you’d expect and you can even see other ships next to the Baratie, which is a nice detail. I do wonder if the Baratie had that many floors in the manga, but it’s ultimately irrelevant.
We move on to a lovely shot of a town with the big navy building where Luffy Meets Zoro central. I like the touch of blue in the building, it really makes it immediately recognizable. I feel like the ground around the fort was much more flat in the manga and anime but again, that’s just a difference from the source material and not a bad thing per se. We’re 21 seconds into a 103 second video and so far I have no real complaints. That’s a good start – especially for a live action adaptation.
Zoro is introduced and he looks about as edgy as you’d expect. I’m not sure I like the look of this fortress all that much, but I wonder if they should have given his hair a more muted color. It looks like a cosplay wig, and keep this comment in mind since we’ll get back to it later on. I’m not sure who the guy with the red mohawk is that is fighting Zoro. He’s not from one of the first arcs, maybe they’re introducing a different character for the story? I also can’t tell what island that is supposed to be. None of the early islands had bamboo forests like that as far as I know. Having said that, aesthetically that’s a pretty good scene. So far my biggest worry is that they’re going to be faithful to the manga in some places and go their own way in other players and they’re not making the right calls for which is which. I don’t think I like the fact that they’re sticking to very ‘anime’ hair colors. Make Nami a more natural redhead and give Zoro a darker green haircut and they look much more like real people.
Going back to my nitpick, it seems like Luffy has the strap on his hat before he meets Nami as he has it when he’s fighting the big sea monster. The CGI here looks fine, I have no issues with it. The pink ship we see next is Alvida’s I believe, and there’s even a barrel in the water which might be what Luffy is in at the start of the story. We don’t see Alvida here but we get a shot of Buggy the Clown on meth. Holy crap he looks so weird, I don’t like it. Buggy to me is a goofy character. He makes some very funny facial expressions and is one of the earliest characters to go completely wacky. His power also requires a wacky character, I think it would look far too eerie on a more psychotic clown. In the manga and anime he has no white face paint and although his lipstick goes past the lips, it looks very deliberately applied where he now just looks terrifying.
Zoro and Nami’s bickering makes sense this early on but Luffy picking up on social cues??? That’s just weird to me. I hope I’m not insulting any actors, but Sanji looks older than the rest so far. The actor is 27 after a quick google and he does not pass for a teenager. Usopp on the other hand looks great. I was worried about him the most since he’s such a unique looking character but they’ve decided to not go with the nose and I think that was a great decision. Out of the cast so far I think he looks the most believable.
We then get a shot of Luffy’s Gomu Gomu no Pistol, which he even yells out definitely not sounding suspicious or anything. He fires it at, presumably Alvida, who instead of looking like an ugly old hag, is just some woman. Her entire thing is that she’s this large, unattractive woman but I feel like they didn’t want to go there, so they just made her look normal. But I had to go frame by frame to get a good look at her character, so it’s hard to say.
All things considered I don’t think this trailer looks terrible. I don’t think it’ll be good, but I have some level of hope. Just not a lot. But maybe you disagree, I’ve definitely seen different opinions on the internet. I just think that the things that make One Piece so good don’t translate well to live action. It’s too goofy, but the goofiness works because of its format. That’s why it can get away with being goofy while talking about extremely sensitive topics like dictators, death, poverty, health care etc.
But yeah, let me know what you think of the trailer. I know I’m for sure going to watch the show, and I’ll let you know my thoughts when it comes out in late August. Until then, thanks for reading!
I’ve talked about Japanese musicians on this platform a decent amount already and I even did so recently when talking about strange band names and song names. You can check out my post Numbness like a ginger for that. In that post I talked about a couple of groups, one of which is a band that goes by the name Bump of Chicken. They’re one of my favorites – among a few others – and after hearing a song of theirs again today I felt like I really wanted to talk about them a little bit.
Bump of Chicken is a band with four members who have their origin in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Apparently they’ve been performing since 1994 when they were still children. Their alternative rock sound is quite popular in Japan with most of their singles charting in the top 10 whenever they’re released. They’ve also done the music for several anime, games and other media projects. Because I’ve been a big fan of them for quite a while, I’d like to just quickly talk about a few of their songs.
And what better place to start than with Hello World, the song through which I discovered them. I think what drew me into this song the most – and this isn’t really that much praise for the song itself – is the visuals of the Kekkai Sensen opening theme. This song played at the start of this anime for an entire season and the visuals are stunning. I remember just being in awe at the slow sunset that opens up the song only to reveal a bunch of photos. And then the photos turn into a much bigger image that shows the entire city??? Brilliant. I fell in love with every part of this song very quickly. How the rips in the different imagery reflect the pictures used before and then we get a collage of pictures of Leo getting ready for the day as well. The catchy part of the song plays in front of the main character spinning around as the supporting cast dances around him. And for those who didn’t quite catch it, the sign does say Nightow, which is a reference to the author of the Kekkai Sensen and Trigun manga. But this is only the start of our journey into their music.
I wouldn’t hear much more about them until I watched what became my favorite anime of all time: 3-Gatsu no Lion. The first opening to this hauntingly beautiful story of a depressed shogi prodigy is preceded by Answer, another amazing song by Bump of Chicken. Because before this anime ever aired, we had a music video called: March comes in like a lion meets Bump of Chicken. The song itself is called Fighter and was inspired by the original manga by Chika Umino. The author then wrote a short story for Rei Kiriyama to accompany the song and that’s how this video was born. It’s a fantastic project and it only makes sense that when the manga eventually got adapted into anime it would be accompanied by the sound of Bump of Chicken. I’m guessing that the four guys that Rei walks past on the bridge are representative of the band members of Bump of Chicken. This show would go on to get a few more amazing opening songs that definitely match up and even surpass Answer, but thematically I think this was the best one.
Let’s move on to December of 2020. We’re now knee deep in the pandemic and any hope I had left for society to become normal has long gone. After having struggled with my content marketing course and not bothered with finishing it my outlook on advertisement has gotten pretty bleak. I think that there are people who can create art while also trying to sell a product, but they’re exceptions. Look at people like Sam Riegel who does entire stories that take several ads in a row to get to a conclusion and sometimes even have unmentioned B-plots of him slowly turning into a sunflower. It doesn’t make much more sense if I give you more content, trust me. We also have the hosts of podcast The Yard who just come across completely unhinged when talking about any product they’re advertising, making the ads much more enjoyable to listen to than they would be otherwise. But there’s only one advertisement that has ever made me tear up. I know that sounds insane, but hear me out. Shinsekai is the song that is used by Japanese candy brand Lotte. The song and accompanying music video is an advertisement for the candy brand where a young boy and girl both grab the same chocolate and the girl lets him have it. He then comes across her again and gives it to her after which she snaps it in half and they all share the chocolate. Of course our young man is head over heels for the girl immediately but this opening just has so much style. Who knew advertisement could be so enthralling. I’ve watched the music video dozens of times and I spot some cool references every single time. If I lived in Japan I would 100% buy this chocolate and I wouldn’t even feel bad about it for a moment. One quick thing I want to mention is the characters in the advertisement behind the young boy and girl being invested in what’s happening in front of them, all leaning in to see. Like, are you kidding me? That’s absolutely brilliant. This ad is single handedly restoring my faith in the market. I’m sure that won’t backfire.
I recognize that I’ve been talking for far too long already so I’m going to wrap things up. If I go through my spotify there’s a ton of songs that I’ve liked by them and I could recommend each and every one to you but that will just be overload. So instead let me recommend one final song: Acacia. Just like with the Lotte advertisement, we have another advertisement here. This time it’s for Pokemon. Bump of Chicken is far from the only artist who’s made a song for Pokemon, with Ed Sheeran and Post Malone also coming to mind, but like with much of their music, it’s extremely pleasant to listen to, and the animation is fantastic as always. Bump of Chicken has worked with many other projects and seems to be deeply entwined in other media for years now, assumingly because they enjoy the media as well. Just indulging in a trip through some of their best music videos as I’m writing this blog post has been an absolute joy and I recommend you do the same. Thanks for reading.
I’ve been doing quick reviews for anime for a while now, and it’s one of my favorite kinds of posts to write. Now, writing about the manga you read in the past month/week/quarter isn’t exactly a new idea, but many of my ideas aren’t new. Better to steal a good idea from someone else than to think of a bad idea on your own. Then again, the best case scenario is to think of a really good idea yourself, but that’s a lot harder to do. So for now, let’s do what others have done before me, and talk about some manga. These reviews will contain some spoilers for the volumes in question, so if you haven’t read them, beware of that. I won’t go too deep into them though, so you can skim them if you’re mildly curious about if these manga might be for you. Let’s start with a banger.
The Breaker Volume 5 (Final)
I’m going to be honest with you all. I’ve read the first part of The Breaker a total of four times by now. Out of all the manwha I’ve read, it’s my favorite. I haven’t read a lot of Manwha, admittedly, but it’s also better than many of the other manga and webtoons I’ve read. The Breaker Volume 5 concludes the first big story arc, where Goo Moon Ryong clashes with the Union. Shio gets fatally wounded by a sniper and we learn a little bit more about the machinations in the background of this Story. What’s most interesting here, funnily enough, is the ending. It sets up the story for the second season really well, which we’ll dive in once those volumes get translated. That’s right, they’re up for translation too. What an exciting time we live in. I won’t say much more about this volume so as to not go into big spoilers, but I do love how the clash between the main characters and the union of Murim happened. It was very impactful, left a deep scar, but also opened up for future possibilities. And next part we get Jinnie, so that’s exciting too.
Wave, listen to me Volume 9
Oh Minare, I want you to step on me. I mean, what? Ignore that part, that’s not why I read this manga, I swear. I’ve talked about Wave before, a long time ago. You can find that post here if you’re interested. When this became an anime I was almost immediately interested in the story. Minare is such a fun character to follow. She’s so different from most main characters I’ve seen. She’s complex, she’s kind of an asshole for most of the story and she just does not have a filter at all. She’s vulgar and over the top and makes all the wrong choices, dragging everyone around her down to her level. But she’s also slowly starting to warm up to radio, and with this video we get some great character development from her and Chishiro, especially in the later chapters. Something strange is going on as well and I honestly can’t wait for the next volume. I’m liking this part of the story better than some of the previous chapters. Especially when the gang was captured by that cult I thought the chapters were very hit or miss depending on the chapter. This time around I think I’ve enjoyed every chapter. The only big piece of feedback I can give is the fact that some pages have so much text that this might as well be a book. I like to call this the Hunter x Hunter problem. I wasn’t the one who first used that term, but I do think it’s apt. Now I’m sad about Hunter x Hunter being ended for the time being. Look what you did!
Laid-Back Camp Volume 13
After being wounded by the end of Hunter x Hunter it’s time for some healing. And I know just the manga for that! Laid-Back Camp – or Yuru Camp – is back with its 13th volume. We have a bunch of individual camping journeys this time around that do end up with meetings as they tend to do. There’s really not all that much I can say about this manga that I haven’t already said. It’s a very enjoyable, very relaxing read. The characters are fun, the setting is fun and the only thing that would improve this manga is animation and music. Luckily we have an anime to watch if that’s what we crave. We had our first nice day of the year here, where it was 20 degrees and sunny. It was a little bit windy which was unfortunate and the very next day it started to rain. But I did spend that afternoon outside reading this volume, and it was very pleasant. I recommend that if you do pick this one up, you do the same. Either that or cozy up by the fire in fall or winter while you watch these girls have fun in the outdoors. I’m already looking forward to the next volume, that’s for sure.
I was initially going to cover more manga, but I got distracted with other things and didn’t read as much as I initially planned. I’m also still working on figuring out where to buy manga from next, so for today I’m going to leave it at that. I have a job interview in a couple of hours and I’m not really in the headspace to write more. Wish me luck and thanks for reading!
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.
Opal Kaharis 