Obvious spoiler warning for the Blue Period anime.
Blue Period will probably not end up being my number 1 anime of the fall 2021 season. I’m not even positive it will be in the top 3. But before I get completely distracted, I do want to talk about it a little bit. Not so much a proper review, but just a good old-fashioned rant about something I really enjoyed.
Because Blue Period blew my mind. I didn’t expect to enjoy this anime half as much as I did, but as someone who values art highly, watching shows like this always makes me feel a sense of pride. It’s as if it’s reaffirming that what I’m doing is something good. Writing is a very different art from from painting, of course, but it’s still art. Pouring your thoughts and emotions and ideas into a project for others to see is the second best feeling there is. The best feeling is when other people then turn around and see what you meant. As I’m growing older, I’m gaining more understanding for literature, even though I initially didn’t like it much. I think an issue with literature is that not every teacher is good, or willing, at explaining that it’s an extremely subjective course. My latest literature teacher was this over enthusiastic French man who only spoke French and English, no Dutch, but he would basically let you derive whatever meaning you wanted from the books we read, as long as you could defend it. And I aced his course. Other years I struggled so much, but once I realized that it’s all subjective I started to excel.
But enough about that, I want to gush a little bit more about what I liked. When Yaguchi cried tears of joy when Yotasuke acknowledged his skills I cried with him. When Yaguchi wasn’t super confident that he was even fully through it made me laugh because I could understand where he was coming from. I absolutely adore his friend group who were made out to be these borderline delinquents at the start of the show but turned out to be the best bros out there. His parents, his teacher, his senpai, everyone showed how proud they were. And that rush of inspiration he got during the exam, the stress he felt, it all felt so real.
And I haven’t even talked about his friend Ryuji/Yuka (the show uses both names regularly, so I’m mentioning both here) and their story arc. Seeing a character like that in an anime is fantastic. Japan isn’t exactly known for being particularly progressive on this issue, so I found it a breath of fresh air to have a character like that in the show that wasn’t just there score points, but felt like a solid part of the narrative.
If I want to give my final thoughts on this show, assuming I won’t revisit it in the future, then it’s as follows. Blue Period is a very well written drama show with realistic characters and a believable storyline. It doesn’t avoid any important issues but faces them head-on. I don’t believe I’m speaking out of turn when I say that this anime should appeal to most people who consider themselves an artist, and to many who don’t as well. It made me laugh and cry, which not every anime manages to pull off, and it is a show I don’t think I’ll forget anytime soon.
It’s already almost November, and with the spooky season soon behind us it’s time to get cozy and start preparing for the cold winter. At least over here it still gets a bit cold in winter, although not as much as when I was younger. Damn you global warming. But it’s still a good time to bring out your candles and your mood lighting, make a hot drink and snuggle up to watch your favorite anime. And what better to accompany it than the best of the new season. And I’ll help you out by recommending 5 shows that I think are worth your time. This isn’t the first time we’re doing this, you know what to expect, so let’s open the door to a new season!
I’ve played so much D&D I would 100% check that door for traps
A Quiet life in the Countryside
I don’t even have to look it up to know that this anime is a light novel adaptation, seeing as its full name is Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside. That’s definitely up there with some of the longer names for shows, but I don’t think it’s a record per se. The anime follows Red, brother of the hero and former member of the hero’s party. He was kicked out by one of his teammates, much to the chagrin of some of the other members. He then decides to go chill in the countryside and become a pharmacist. Not long after is he joined by Rit, who is a princess and a former member of their party. She left the house so as to avoid a fight over the throne and keep the peace. Together they set up shop and they get along well. What I appreciate about this show is that not only is it not an unnecessary Isekai, it’s also featuring characters who seem fairly mature. Last season had a similar anime, but it just felt underwhelming because of the characters to me. This seems to flow a lot nicer, and I adore Rit and Red’s interactions already. Definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a nice flowing slice of life fantasy!
Shiawase~~
Blue Period
I’ve always had a soft spot for art. And I take the term art very broadly. Classical art isn’t quite my thing, but I am very jealous of people who can draw amazing things, or play instruments. Maybe I should learn to play an instrument at some point. Putting that aside, Blue Period follows Yatora’s journey from a complete beginner in art to aiming to get into art school. What pleasantly surprised me so far is the interesting array of characters. They all seem very different and believable nonetheless. The drama hits you hard from the very start, and I won’t spoil anything, but I’m a big fan of Ruka as a character already. I hope we get to see a lot more of them. There isn’t much to say about this show, it’s good, it’s interesting, and it makes you feel really invested immediately. Definitely give it a watch if you like a good drama show.
Art and literature are vague as hell and so subjective that it’s difficult to relate sometimes.
Taishou Otome Otogibanashi
This show is just undeniably adorable. Tamahiko gets disowned by his father after he loses the use of one of his arms in an accident which also takes the life of his mother. He gets sent off to a family vacation home in the countryside. He also gets sent a bride, because this is early 1900s Japan, so anything goes. His bride is a few years younger than him, but not by too much. I’ve seen weirder shows for sure. What I really like about this show is that not only is it very laid-back, but the characters so far seem to act their age. They’re very much still a bunch of children thrown into a strange situation and making the best they can out of it. Yuzu is undeniably mature for her age, and Tamahiko and his sister, Tamako, who shows up in episode 22, also show that they grew up in a household that was cold and unloving. I definitely want to see more of this, and I’m curious to see the introduction of the other characters in the opening.
Take your time and enjoy!
The Faraway Paladin
I wasn’t sure if I was going to include this show initially because the first two episodes, although interesting, didn’t really wow me per se. The third episode felt a lot more solid, and I thought it was cool to finally see what this prologue of the series was leading towards. Will grew up in a ruined city, raised by three undead creatures. Gus the ghost, Mary the Mummy and Blood the Skeleton. Of course, because it’s 2021 and this is an anime, Will has his memories from before reincarnating, and it so far seems to be completely irrelevant except for the fact that he was conscious for the first few years when he was a baby. I don’t even remember the circumstances around his death in the first place, that’s how forgettable it was. Having said that, everything that happens after that moment has been good. The worldbuilding has been slow but interesting, and the three undead caretakers seem to have very interesting personalities as well. At the conclusion of episode 3 we see things kicking up a gear in speed and at this point I’m definitely invested. If you like fantasy shows, give this a shot since it definitely looks promising!
You’re telling me Will is not a skeleton? Spooky month ruined.
Komi-San can’t Communicate
So I’ve seen images from this manga pop up for a couple years now, and it’s always piqued my interest a little bit but not enough to pick up the manga. I do know that it’s been quite popular, so when I heard it was getting an anime it definitely stayed on my radar. I don’t know what platform is picking this up, since with my very limited availability of anime over here I generally sail the high seas out of necessity. It also seems that the websites where I usually watch shows don’t upload it on a proper schedule yet, so it’s been a bit hard to come by. Having said that, I am enjoying it so far!
I know that feeling, Komi.
And that really is all there is to it this season. I know there are some good sequels airing right now. I’m personally watching Mushoku Tensei, Demon Slayer, Isekai Shokudou and more, but I tend to keep these posts to new shows as much as possible. I’m not watching a large amount, but I’m catching up on some old shows as well, so I don’t have a large “stalled” list going into the new year. Are there any shows I didn’t talk about that I should? Let me know in the comments, and I hope I helped you find some shows to watch!
With the first anime season now finished, and volume 12 of the manga being translated into English already, Eden’s Zero is looking like it’s here to stay. And it’s good! I just finished volume 12 of the manga myself, which included chapter 100. Time flies so fast. I wrote about the manga right before the anime started airing and back then I recommended it for sure. You can read my thought from back then here.
I wanted to come back to this series because a lot of people might be thinking about picking up the manga after season 1 of the anime, and they might be on the fence. So I wanted to give my quick thoughts for those on the fence.
If you liked Fairy Tail or Rave Master you’ll like Eden’s Zero, that’s a no-brainer. If you are unfamiliar with either series, or didn’t particularly enjoy them, should you still pick up Eden’s Zero? Yes, absolutely! It has its flaws, but it feels like Mashima has learned from his previous projects and is improving as an author. Not to mention, there are many parallels between Eden’s Zero and the ever popular One Piece, and Mashima is not only aware of this, but he leans into it. Without going deeply into spoiler territory, in volume 12 there was a scene that you can find in One Piece as well, panel for panel. It made me a little bit emotional.
I don’t have too much more to add, other than read Eden’s Zero if you can, it’s an absolute blast. The characters are fun, the story is fun and the world it’s set in is full of endless possibilities and it draws strength from that. I’m also curious as to what you all think about Eden’s Zero. Did you like the anime? Or perhaps you’re also reading the manga, and keeping up weekly, or on a volume by volume basis. Do you like it, and do you agree that it has potential? Let me know in the comments down below and as always, thanks for reading!
I love doing these quick reviews, but I generally prefer talking about shows I would recommend in these. I know there’s merit in objective reviewing and showing both sides of the coin, but that’s not what I like to do. Not when writing a review, at least. I like to just gush about the shows I really enjoyed. So there are definitely a few shows I’m skipping out on. Some I will talk about in a larger review, but that’s for later, I’m in no rush. Today I want to talk about two shows I enjoyed, and one that I enjoyed less.
Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan
There is a running theme in a lot of modern anime about people being stuck in a rut, unhappy in their life and all around miserable. I suspect this is because they want to make anime relatable, and what’s more relatable than the feeling that you’re wasting away your precious time on earth doing a job you don’t enjoy just so you can afford basic necessities! Uramichi Oniisan tells the story of the titular Uramichi who works as a gymnast in a popular children’s television show. Together with several others, some of whom he’s known since college, they film episodes with the children and do songs and other skits. You’ve all been children before, you know the drill. On stage they are very professional, but their inner thoughts come leaking out from time to time, which is very funny. But at its core, Uramichi Oniisan is about living your life the best you can, and doing what you can. They may not be happy, but they all take pride in their work, and appreciate each other’s companionship. Each of the main characters in this show is relatable in some way, and that’s what makes the show so good. I had a blast watching this, even though it hit painfully close to home sometimes. I highly recommend Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan!
That’s the moral of the story right there!
Peach Boy Riverside.
What an interesting premise this show had. I had it recommended earlier on this season as well, as shows to watch out for. Too bad that shortly afterwards I completely lost track of what was going on. For some reason the director decided to air the episodes out of order. I’ve seen some people say on reddit that it added to the suspense, but I hard disagree with that. I just felt like I missed episodes for most of the season and was constantly confused about what was going on. I mean no disrespect to the show and its creators, but a seasonal anime that doesn’t particularly stand out as amazing doesn’t take up enough space in my memory for me to remember every detail properly when you give me them out of order. I just want to sit down, unwind and watch humans kill ogres. Instead I need to do university level math to figure out which part of the timeline we’re at. Not to mention that the final episode was not final at all, so it just left me wondering what I just watched. And that’s the sad part. In about a month or two you can ask me what Peach Boy Riverside was trying to say, and I probably couldn’t tell you. Something about ogres and humans wanting to coexist except they don’t actually want that? Either way, I’d suggest skipping this one.
You only say that because you didn’t see her command a bunch of freaky eyes.
Bokutachi no Remake.
So I praised the writing of this show early on, and this is another case of me speaking too soon. Although phrasing it like that makes it sound a bit harsher than I mean it. Bokutachi no Remake was a very enjoyable show, but I feel like it was bumbling towards the story it was trying to tell a bit awkwardly. The early episodes were great. Our main character gets sent back in time (which is a premise I adore, by the way) to live the life he wanted to live but never did. As someone who only found out about their autism late in life, I feel like going back in time armed with a lot of the cognitive behavioral therapy tricks I’ve learned over the years would make things very different. But enough about me. Halfway through the season the story takes a certain turn I won’t spoil for those of you who want to watch it, and after that it always felt a bit forced to me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, and it could very well just be a personal thing that other people have no issues with. Regardless, this show has a lot to like, and the voice actress for Shinoaki has such a soothing voice that I could listen to it on loop. Even though it wasn’t perfect, I’d still definitely recommend this show. The first half is really, really good!
That’s a very random chair, just next to the runway.
It’s that time of the season again. We’ve just finished up the summer season anime, and it’s time to take a look back at what we watched and if we would recommend it to other people. I didn’t watch a great amount of new shows this season. At least not new ones that ended. But I have watched a couple, and I would like to talk about some of them for a bit. So without further ado, here’s what I thought of the Isekai shows that aired this past season.
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
Well, this one seems to have hit the mark at least.
Souma has been summoned from modern day Japan to help a Kingdom that’s on the verge of collapse. Upon appearing he is crowned king and the previous ruler retires. Souma however, being from modern day Japan, isn’t exactly the kind of hero they expected to summon. He’s not a warrior, or a powerful mage or some great hero. He’s just a bloke that’s pretty clever, to put it bluntly. He uses his wit and social skills to convince the people around him, and recruit the right people for the right job. So far it seems to be a success. He has been able to gather allies, team up with multiple parties that were slightly adverse to a new king, and stave off the danger. A lot of my issues with this show retain more to my personal stance on politics. Souma feels very manipulative in the way he deals with people. A lot of his victories feel kind of cheap, almost as if all he does is manipulate the people around him into wanting to work for him. Maybe I’m too harsh on this show, but I struggled enjoying several of the episodes. I’d write this one off as a generic Isekai show with potential in the long run.
Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles
And that’s how this entire season feels. There wasn’t enough time to properly develop the story.
Seirei Gensouki follows orphan Rio, who gains memories from his life on earth where he, as Haruto, died in a freak accident. He was on a bus that got hit by a train. It’s borderline comical in how over the top it is. Either way, his memories slowly fuse into one person. After accidentally saving the princess he is allowed into the local magic school where he is mostly looked down upon. After getting into trouble he flees town and goes to visit the elves and spirits in the forest. He then moves to Yagumo, which seems to be more Japan-inspired. I mentioned this in the image caption, but Seirei Gensouki feels like it has a fun story to tell, but just doesn’t get it out quite right. It also suffers from Kirito-syndrome, where the main character is somehow the coolest, most powerful person in the room. I’m a big fan of overpowered characters, but they need to have a good flaw. I found Kirito in the later seasons of SAO quite fun. He had to go through trauma to become more of a believable character. Rio/Haruto seems to breeze through life, collecting waifus wherever he sees the opportunity. I might buy the novels at some point to see if my suspicions that they have better pacing are true, but there’s several other novels higher on my wishlist, so it’ll probably take a while. For now, I would recommend this show, but set expectations accordingly.
Oh dear, it’s self-aware
Putting all jokes aside, when I started watching this season’s batch of anime I did not expect Tsukimichi to be along some of the more enjoyable shows. Just like Seirei Gensouki and Realist Hero it runs into some issues with its pacing. At this point in the reviews you might have realized that I am an absolute sucker for good world building and would not mind spending several episodes on one discussion about an upcoming fight (Looking at you, Tensura). Regardless, I’m not one to shy away from good action and some solid banter either, and Tsukimichi delivers on both. Makoto is sent to a new world, but the goddess in charge thinks he’s too ugly and banishes him to live with the demi-humans. It’s a bit harsh, but he does end up with some great companions because of it. He quickly makes servants out of two of the greatest creatures in the area and they start building up an empire in a pocket realm. Unfortunately for Makoto, things don’t go well since although he’s still very much connected to the goddess, she doesn’t like him. Tsukimichi suffers from some of the same issues as the other two shows, as I mentioned, but I feel like it flows a bit better overall. Not to mention, the story hooks seem more interesting than in Realist Hero, and I love both Tomoe and Mio’s designs. All three of these anime show potential, but none quite seem to hit the mark. Regardless, I’d still recommend Tsukimichi, if only for the absolute banger of an opening theme. I can listen to that song all day!
But how did you enjoy these shows? Or are you not a fan of Isekai shows in general? I think the genre is coming into its own overtime, and we’ve left some of the bad ones behind us now. (that or I’m just not watching the bad ones). Either way, leave a comment on what you think down below and as always; thanks for reading!
My keyboard is in need of cleaning. I’ll be honest that I haven’t really done so often. I’ve cleaned the top of the keys regularly of course, but underneath it looks less appealing, so to speak. The main reason why this is of importance is because my “o” key regularly gets stuck and gives twice the input. So if you see some weird double O’s in this text, I apologize in advance. I’ll try to fix most of them if I spot them. At worst it’s a minor inconvenience. Speaking of minor inconveniences, Clayman ended up being even less impactful than I expected. His entire story arc seemed to revolve around no one actually wanting to work with him, and it turns out even Frey and Milim weren’t actually on his side. I’m starting to almost feel bad for the guy, if I’m honest. If only he didn’t see the one final chance he was given as an opportunity to do even more damage. At this point he’s being manipulated by everyone involved. If only he listened to his few allies in the Moderate Harlequin alliance.
Beretta undid one of Clayman’s creations so fast it wasn’t even seen.
I’m going to keep this review short, since I’ll be doing an extensive review of the entire season next week (which should come out on Friday instead of Wednesday or Thursday, so do keep that in mind). The main thing they did this episode was show the different fights. Shion is seen kicking ass against Clayman, so that Rimuru doesn’t even have to make his hands dirty. Veldora entertains Milim, and both him and Raphael are shushed when they try to tell Rimuru that Milim is not actually mind controlled. Rimuru wins Raphael back a bit this episode, but I do think he needs to be careful about constantly pissing off the all knowing voice in his head.
Bring your niece to work day?
Clayman, now no longer having any allies in range, gets manipulated one last time, this time by Raphael. For a moment I thought that maybe Raphael was offering him some sort of deal outside of Rimuru’s knowledge, which would have been a fascinating development to the story, but alas, it was something done with Rimuru’s knowledge, to set up for the next stage of the fight. In next week’s conclusion we’ll probably watch Rimuru comfortably defeat Clayman, and then the story goes back towards the status quo. I can’t wait to see what’s next in the volumes, but we’ll have to be patient for that. It does bother me a little bit that we are heading fast towards an “all was well and they lived happily ever after” situation. I do like my stories to be a little bit more gritty than this. There seem to be no consequences to any of the bad decisions made, and everything always goes Rimuru’s way. That’s obviously a shonen hallmark at this point, so it’s nothing new, but it’s something that shows like Demon Slayer and to an extent Jujutsu Kaisen do extremely well. There’s bigger stakes involved when characters actually die when they are killed (I’m looking at you, literally every character in One Piece besides the two obvious exceptions). Regardless, I thought this episode was good fun, but it wasn’t as mind blowing as I would have hoped. Next week is the conclusion and although I’m sad to see it go, I am looking forward to finding a new show to discuss weekly. I might do Demon Slayer’s new season, but I’m not sure about that yet. I want to do something that’s only one cour, because I’m eyeing up JoJo Part 5 as well, that’s coming in Winter. Let me know if you have any suggestions for what to keep up with during fall in the comments down below, and I hope to see you here next week for the conclusion of this show.
So this man was Carrion after all, and Raphael was about to point that out to Rimuru when he shushed her.It’s kind of sad that they did actually all care about each other.
After two months and nine episodes of build-up, we’re finally here! It’s time for Walpurgis. This episode covers the debate itself and sets up the fight that we’ve been waiting for all season. Let’s go through it step by step and I’ll give you my thoughts. First we are once again introduced to all the demon lords present. I gave the entire list last week so I’ll spare you a repeat.
Our small slime is all grown up and scary looking now.Clayman is not as intimidating as he likes to think
To favor a more lengthy episode we skip the opening this week, which I never have qualms about, even if the opening is a banger. Clayman tells the banquet his made up story about how he is the victim and his poor subordinate Myuran (I’m still not sure how to spell her name) was murdered by Rimuru. Not only that, he implicates Milim as the main aggressor towards Carrion. It’s basically a long story about how he’s never done anything wrong without showing any proof.
Rimuru telling it like it is
Rimuru explains his side of the story and shows some footage of Clayman’s people being abused and then quickly defeated by Rimuru’s people. His biggest arguments include Myuran not being dead, Yamza being turned into a small Charybdis and the clowns speaking about the plan being bad and how they shouldn’t have been involved. The clowns mention Yuuki (I presume) but don’t name him. Raphael tries to explain to Rimuru what is going on but he dismisses her too quickly as usual. He basically has an all knowing ally that keeps shushing. Clayman keeps stringing lies to defend himself but this can now only end in a fight.
The big showdown is happening
Guy Crimson creates a barrier for the two groups to fight in, and they both squad up. Rimuru has less people but when he tries to call on Beretta the barrier is already there. A lot of the fights seem fairly evenly matched, except for Rimuru versus Milim. The latter being on the attack the entire time. Clayman barely has to get his own hands dirty as he lets his minions fight everyone. Rimuru is trying desperately to figure out how to make Milim snap out of it, but once again he doesn’t listen to Raphael and thus misses out on important information. I get that we like skipping the hints in the loading screen, but Rimuru should really stop doing so.
Just let the all knowing voice in your head finish her sentences
The last important bit of this episode is that we learn about Noir, or Diablo, being even more powerful and important than we already thought. Him and Beretta are from the same demon family and from what I could glance, Diablo might even be of a similar stature to Guy. It makes me even more curious about Diablo.
Beretta speaks her mind
The last point I want to make, and I feel like I’m repeating myself, is that I really enjoyed the long set-up. I’m seeing this season get very bad reviews and I feel like it’s unwaranted. This anime is slower than some other shonen shows, but I think the shows that jump from action to action to action get painfully boring after a while. I think good build-up is needed to make for good fights. Else there is no narrative weight. Now we have all of the information we need to be fully invested and I’m a big fan. It makes the pay-off that much more satisfying in my opinion.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, who shows up to save the day:
It’s everyone’s favorite tsundere ancient dragon!
My opinion on this show is clear by now, do you all agree that it’s been a fun ride to get here, or are you more on the side of some of the reviews I saw, that things have been too slow? I’d love to know your opinion! And of course, I hope to see you all here again next week. Hopefully it’s not as warm out by then, because it took my all to find the energy to write this!
Things are finally advancing quickly, after a very enjoyable, but slow start to the season. Since this episode really set the stage for the upcoming discussions, I think it’s for the best to look at this episode a little bit differently than normal. I will be skipping around through what happens today, so bear with me.
Veldora’s attention span has passed, back to manga
Shuna, Hakuo and Soei go to Clayman’s castle to take control of it while Clayman is at Walpurgis. The person guarding the castle is Adalman, the wight king (not the white king, like my subtitles said). He has an army of undead. Unfortunately for him, he is a bad match for Shuna, who not only uses holy magic that is very effective against the undead, but she’s also angry right now. She realizes after a while that Adalman used to be a priest, and we get a small bit of insight into his past. He used to believe in the god Luminus, but was turned into an undead creature by the former/recently returned demon lord Kazareem (the blonde lady that was with Yuuki and Laplace a few episodes ago.) He ends up being no match for Shuna. As a matter of fact, after Shuna inadvertently undoes his binding spell, he asks to be brought to her “god” as in Rimuru.
All the other ogres are very strong, so it’s no surprise that Shuna is far from a push-over, but that was amazing.
I like analyzing the deeper meaning behind things. I would never say I’m particularly good at it, I had to resit some of my literature classes in uni several times before I got a passing grade, but when the source material is interesting to me, I do enjoy looking for hidden things that might be there on purpose, or are there just by coincidence. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of Clayman’s people fall so easily. Yamza was an opportunist that was ready to run as soon when things went south. Tear, Footman and Laplace seem to be on the same team as him mostly because they have a common leader figure in Kazareem, but none of them seem to really trust Clayman or think him competent. Frey seems to have been lured in by promises of power by Clayman, but without her help he would have never been able to brainwash Milim. Even the followers of Milim seemed fine with jumping ship when it got to it, and now we learn that another one of his lackeys, Adalman, was only there because he was bound by his own past, and not because he actually wanted to work with Clayman. I think it’s fitting that all of his allies go down easily when he never bothered to give them a good reason to work for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Clayman himself goes down easily after Rimuru figures out how to get Milim back in control of her own mind.
One more for the fanclub, and a pretty strong one at that!
And that brings us to the last part of this episode, that mixes in with the discussions had early on; the start of Walpurgis, the demon lords’ banquet. Misery, one of Guy’s maids, picks up the different demon lords and brings them to the discussion table. And here we meet all of the other demon lords, some for the first time.
Guy Crimson seems to be the oldest demon lord in attendance and from what we’ve been hinted at is probably the strongest person in the room. He seemed like a nice bloke when he was talking to Leon in a previous episode though.
The giant demon lord, Dagruel. We know very little about him except that he’s seemingly very powerful and his footsteps are loud enough to cause light tremors.
The Vampire demon lord, Valentine. I’ve highlighted the people in his party as well, because Rimuru pretty much confirms that the maid (the one on the left, the blue haired on on the right is Rain, Guy’s maid) is the stronger one there. So she is probably the real demon lord that Veldora pissed off ages ago.
I’m grouping Dino and Ramiris together for this one, since we know a lot about Ramiris and very little about Dino. All we know is that they’re on friendly terms. Dino is the lazy one that Ramiris spoke about earlier this episode. He seems like a nice person so far. Ramiris we’ve met so many times that I don’t need to talk about her much here.
We’ve already met Frey in a previous episode, when she put the mindcontrolling necklace on Milim. I do have to wonder what her endgame is, since there’s no way she believes Clayman can keep Milim under control right? There has to be another layer to this. That or she’s just not very smart, which is also a possibility of course. Shion does mention that the lion looking man behind her could be Carrion, since he looks like beastfolk. I wonder what’s up with that. Raphael seems to agree, but Rimuru shuts her down too quickly and she hmmmpfs away.
Leon Cromwell. The man, the myth, the bellend. He is the one responsible for Shizu’s condition and then death. He doesn’t seem to harbor any real emotions about the situation. He seems to have a very clear moral code, although not one that’s particularly good. The two don’t get off on a great start though, but Rimuru does get invited over to his place for a discussion. If he leaves here alive. That’s not ominous at all.
Last but not least, we have Milim, wearing her mind control necklace, and Clayman, the main villain of this arc. I wonder if that magical looking fox is like the conch in Lord of the flies or something completely unrelated. Either way, as soon as Clayman disrespects Milim, which he’s obviously doing to make a show out of his control over her, every other demon lord in the room looks on with disapproval.
With Carrion missing, that’s all 10 demon lords that are expected to attend, in attendance. The only ones not included her, that we know of, are the female vampire that is with Valentine, who might be the real powerful one as well as Demon Lord Kazareem, who is presumed dead at this point in time. Rimuru doesn’t count yet since he became a demon lord only after this meeting was called, but he was still invited, so that’s nice of them.
I hope this brings everyone back up to speed, I sure could use the reminder of who everyone involved was. Next week’s episode is called Walpurgis, and with all the fighting seeming mostly out of the way, we’re finally going to get into the thick of it. I can’t wait to see what kind of politics happen here. The fights, although they looked better this week, don’t interest me a great deal this season, I’m all here for the politics. Who is on whose side, who is going to fall, and who is going to rise. I also, upon further thought, don’t think the guy behind Frey is too directly related to Carrion, seeing as a large part of Clayman’s plan is to convince everyone that Rimuru killed Carrion and has to die for that reason. Or perhaps that is the way in which Frey is going to show her real colors. Maybe she holds a grudge against Clayman and has been working with him to betray him at the last second. Or I’m totally wrong, but that’s the fun in this, is it not? I am glad I got this review out in time, since it was an absolute banger of an episode, and I hope to see you all here again next week!
Edit – It’s very late and I can’t seem to figure out the formatting around some of the demon lord images. I apologize that it looks a bit chaotic and I hope to get back to this post to fix it at a later date.
There are a lot of things that can make a show good. One Punch Man was elevated to new heights by Studio Madhouse’s fantastic job animating it. One Piece’s worldbuilding makes you believe there’s truly a pirate-infested ocean out there. Konosuba wouldn’t be half as good without it’s amazing comedic timing. But as a writer, there is one aspect of media that will always hold a special place in my heart. And that is the quality of the writing. A lot of shows have decent writing. This current anime season has shows like Seirei Gensouki, Remake our Life and Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan. All these shows have, in their own way, solid writing. But one show has been a step above the competition for a little while now, and with episode 8 it reached excellence in it’s writing. And that show is Kageki Shoujo!!
So I bet even the people you think are amazing are just as worried as you are.
For those of you who aren’t watching this show yet, let me give you a quick rundown of the plot. Watanabe Sarasa is a bubbly young girl that has just made it into Kouka Kageki High School. Kouka is an elite acting school that trains young women to get ready to act on the big stage. Sarasa and her classmates all work hard at becoming better actresses and each character goes through their own issues. What’s made the show stand out up until this point is how real it is willing to get. We’ve dealt with sexual assault, eating disorders and stalkers so far, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more of the darker parts of the acting world will come up in future episodes. But episode 8 didn’t focus on anything as severe as those. Instead, it focused on one of the side characters, Hoshino Kaoru, and her personal struggle with expectations and anxiety.
Up until now, Kaoru has been 90% sass.
We haven’t learned too much about Kaoru up until this point. She’s one of the few characters that hasn’t seen much screen time so far. The twins have shown their difference, Yamada has had her struggle with food, and Sarasa and Ai are sharing the spotlight as main characters so they’ve been much more developed. Kaoru (and Sawa, who I’m sure will get an episode at some point) are still a bit of a mystery at this point. That changes with this episode as we take a moment to travel back in time to before Kaoru made it into Kouka. Her grandmother was a famous Kouka actress and her mother was with the troupe as well. Kaoru always knew she wanted to do the same and we’re shown that she’s a hard worker. When it’s hot out, she’s walking with an umbrella to avoid getting suntanned. She has more muscles than I ever will and she’s practicing her entire summer vacation away. On one hand I want to reprimand her for working too hard, but on the other hand I can only be impressed with people who are this driven to follow their dreams. Living her life like this has made Kaoru a bit of an outcast. But Kaoru isn’t the only one who’s under the pressure to perform.
Kaoru wants to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps and Tsuji wants to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
To keep a long story short, the two get along well and develop an interest in each other romantically. The interactions they have are built up very well for a relationship spanning only one episode and it takes no effort to believe that these two like each other. Unfortunately Kaoru gets a realization towards the end of the episode. The pressure they feel is different. And Tsuji’s moment of weakness, so to speak, scares Kaoru greatly. She immediately runs away from the situation. It looks like she pushes him away out of a sense of dislike of his line of thinking, but I don’t think that’s fully it. Tsuji wavers and thinks for a moment if being compared to his brother and becoming as good at baseball is really what he wants for himself. Kaoru doesn’t waver. But the thought of giving up has surely crossed her mind at some point, seeing as this is her fourth and final attempt. Even her grandmother told her that she was free to choose another career path if she wished. So now Kaoru recognizes the legitimacy of Tsuji’s wavering and it makes her very anxious. So anxious that she would immediately push the boy away, out of fear for having to confront the option of giving up.
There’s no shame in wavering, or even giving up. But there can be a lot of anxiety when it comes to this. I remember when I had a time in my life where I stopped writing. Initially it wasn’t a big deal, it was just a break, but after a while I realized I wasn’t progressing my dream in any way and it caused me serious anxiety. I remember crying and telling myself that I might not have it in me after all. It devastated me. Seeing Kaoru burst into tears after having a similar realization hit me very deeply, and I couldn’t help but let out a few tears myself.
I am struggling to put into words how deeply I relate to this sentiment. I still have chills.
I was worried the show was going to leave us hanging and the ending to Kaoru’s backstory wasn’t going to be satisfying. She chose her dream over the wavering Tsuji, and although I do feel a bit bad for the guy, it ended up working out alright in the end. Not every relationship is meant to last, or even to start properly at all. Sometimes meeting someone and then parting ways after a little while will be enough for that someone to have a profound effect on your life. It’s those people that you meet and never forget that make you who you are, that drive you to strive to be the best you can be. And fortunately, Tsuji hasn’t forgotten about Kaoru and their arc gets resolved in an extremely satisfying manner.
A letter to a love lost but not forgotten.
If there is a particular note I want to end this on, it’s that we all have our anxieties. Some of us might be more anxious than others, or perhaps anxious more often. Other people’s anxieties might seem small and unimportant to us, but they mean the world to the people facing them. And every day we wake up, face our anxieties, and push on towards our dreams. It’s okay to struggle, it’s okay to waver and if something is too far out of reach, there is no shame in giving up. We can’t always reach our goals, but what we can do is face our anxieties head-on and give it our absolute all to show them what we’ve got. Your hopes and dreams and anxieties are your own experiences. And your experiences are an invaluable part of who you will one day become. Never forget that.
Maybe I’ll even tell you that I was in love with you.
It’s summer everyone! How are you celebrating this lovely time of year where the weather is great and everything is fine? At least that’s what I would be asking if the world wasn’t still on fire. The Delta variant is scary and the weather has been a weird disaster with flooding in the south of the country and humidity that makes me lose the will to do anything. Luckily the anime season is doing well, which somewhat makes up for it. Today I want to highlight five shows that I think everyone should be watching this season. I will not include sequels like Dragon Maid or Tensura, nor will I include left-over shows like Eden’s Zero and Shaman King. I’m also trying to keep the selection a little bit diverse, so I’m not recommending you four different Isekai shows. With that out of the way, let’s get right to entry number 1.
1: Seirei Gensouki
Although I said I wouldn’t include multiple Isekai shows, I am including this one. In an almost comedic twist, our protagonist, Haruto Amakawa, is riding a bus, so he won’t get Isekaied by it. Pretty clever right? Well, not really, since a train slams into the bus, presumably killing everyone in the vehicle. If it wasn’t so overdone it would have been a shocking scene. He now wakes up as Rio, a small boy in the slums of the capital city. What’s interesting is that although he gets the memories from his life on earth, he seems to feel a lot more strongly about his life in the new world, where he spent seven years as Rio. His main goal so far seems to be Rio’s goal in life, and not Haruto’s. If this was the only thing interesting about this show, I’d write it off as a generic isekai and call it a day, but there are already multiple cases of people who came from earth. The opening song gives it away as well, but there looks to be more afoot. Episode 5, which is the last one I’ve seen as of writing this, even introduced a plot point that could be very fun to explore. If you’re looking for a good Isekai to watch, I think this one is the better one airing this season.
2: Uramichi Oniisan
Have you ever felt like life isn’t going quite right? Have you ever felt like your job is crushing your soul? Do you ever wonder how you got to this point in life? So has Uramichi, the host of the kids television show Together with Maman. This show follows the titular Uramichi, who’s character is massively improved by the amazing voice work of Hiroshi Kamiya (Trafalgar Law in One Piece, Yato in Noragami, Izaya in Durarara, Araragi in Monogatari and many more). Watch as he slowly loses his mind while trying to keep it together. Uramichi Oniisan is funny in how painfully relatable it is sometimes, and it shows characters that feel very real. It’s not a show I could binge watch for a very long time, but for a weekly dose of cynicism it is perfect.
3: Peach Boy Riverside
I won’t lie, this show confuses me a little bit. It seems to be making a point that I’m not getting. Sally, the princess of the Kingdom of Aldraic, follows a young man called Mikoto after he saves her kingdom. Mikoto is also known as Momotaro, a brutal ogre-slayer. After witnessing his violent displays, she still decides to travel. What confuses me about this show is how abrupt it seems to jump from one story element to the next. There’s a time jump here and there, and cities are casually wiped off of the map. Beyond all that seems to be a subplot with an immortal rabbit woman, an ogre turned human and Sally’s power, which seems to be similar to that of Mikoto. Confusing as it all is, I do find myself enjoying this show every week, and that’s why it’s on this list. It also wins the medal for the most awkwardly placed fanservice, which is not really a compliment, but not everything has to be.
4: Bokutachi no Remake
RE:Life is back and this time it isn’t sponsored by a social media platform. Well, that’s not quite what’s happening here, but the concept is similar. Our main character is not in the happiest place in life, and even though he’s definitely someone who puts in the effort, it has so far not paid off in life. After his recent job was cut he came back home to wallow in his sadness. There he suddenly reverts to 10 years back in time, and decides to go to art school after all. He then meets several of his favorite artists, before they even became famous artists, and together they live their life through school. The goal? To follow your dreams and be successful this time. He also meets his old boss, and I’m willing to bet good money that she’s also gone back in time with him. The characters are very likeable in this show, and if you need a reason to watch this show beyond that, Shinoaki, my favorite character, is voiced by the wonderful Aoi Koga (known for Kaguya in Kaguya-sama) and is an absolute joy to listen to.
5: Kageki Shoujo!!
Although I wrote this list in no particular order, I wanted to end with my absolute favorite show of this season so far, and a strong candidate for anime of the year. Early on people likened this show to Revue Starlight, a show in the same genre that aired a few years ago. I quite enjoyed that show, but it wasn’t nearly as well-written as Kageki Shoujo has been so far. This show is quite brutal in its depiction of an elitist drama school. This is a ruthless world these people are getting into and the teachers reflect that. And they do so in a realistic way, and not in a “look at how evil these teachers are.” You even get some insight into their reasoning and it makes sense. Sort of. I will give a fair content warning, this show handles some pretty touchy subjects like sexual assault, PTSD and eating disorders. And that’s only 5 episodes in, so this could definitely get worse. Sarasa is an absolute joy as a main character and if you’re not rooting for her success 2 minutes after introduction then I don’t think we can be friends. Definitely check this one out if you like drama as much as I do. And I think that’s all for this list. There are definitely a lot more shows I’m watching this season, and not everything can make the list. Is there any show you think is really good and should be on this list? Let me know which show and why. And as always, thank you so much for reading!
Opal Kaharis 