I got into this show a few weeks after it started airing because initially the artstyle seemed a bit childish. What I didn’t realize is that this artstyle gives the anime a charm that you don’t really see in other shows that much. It both looks adorable yet believable at the same time. And it definitely looks unique. Let’s talk about what makes this show tick and why I believe you should watch it.
The boy and his friend
Let’s start with the story. Ousama Ranking follows Bojji, a young prince who doesn’t hear or speak and is made fun of for this reason. He lives in the palace with his father, his stepmother and his halfbrother. His father is unwell and one of the two boys is going to be the next king. Bojji is first in line by age, but not everyone is equally okay with the handicapped boy becoming their next king. Queen Hilling seems to prefer Daida, her own son, as the one to ascend the throne. She meets with the four great warriors protecting the kingdom and they get to an agreement.
While all this is happening, Bojji meets a member of the shadow clan named Kage. He’s a non-human character who seems to be young as well, just like Bojji. We’re never told Kage’s age, and it’s hard to guess, but he appears to be young and his backstory isn’t particularly long. What it is, is very good though. Three episodes into this show and I was completely emotionally invested. Kage and Bojji set out on a journey together with Domas, the master swordsman and Hokuro, a soldier. During this entire mess there’s a conspiracy brewing in the palace as well.
Look over there, it’s the plot progressing
The strength of Ousama Ranking lies in its characters and their dynamics. These are complicated people who feel very real in their convictions. They make mistakes, they hesitate, they pick the wrong side and come to regret it, or they pick the right side but this isn’t clear for a while. This makes trusting certain characters difficult and betrayals that much more convincing when they do happen. And underneath all of this are the workings of Miranjo, the girl in the mirror. What is she planning with Prince Daida? Mirror, mirror on the wall, are you the villain of them all? You’ll have to watch the show to find out.
Let’s give a quick talk about the production side of this show. I already mentioned that it has a unique style and it works so well for this kind of story. It gives it an almost fairytale aesthetic although this is one of those fairy tales that’s a little bit more for adults than for small children. The openings and endings of this show are also stellar. The music throughout just fits perfectly and the production is just superb.
Don’t make me cry all over again.
I don’t think there’s too much left for me to say about this show without diving into the story, which I will do in another post, except that it’s well done, has a very good ending, and leaves you wanting more. I loved every second of this show without a dull moment and I’m sad it’s over. I will definitely rewatch this show, probably very soon, and I highly recommend everyone else to give it a watch too. Join me next week for a deep dive into this show’s story and as always, thank you for reading!
It’s that time of the year again. Where one season of anime seamlessly blends into the next one and you need to start figuring out what you want out of the new season before you’ve fully looked at everything you’ve missed the last season. Well worry not, I’ll give you five shows that just finished that you should watch. Six if you count next week’s review of Ousama Ranking, but that show deserves an entire post dedicated to it. As usual, I’ll be ignoring sequels for this post, so if you’re a big fan of Attack on Titan or Realist Hero then you’re in the wrong place since I will not be talking about those. I didn’t watch a ton this past season, but some of what I watched was very good, so let’s not waste anymore time and let’s get to it. As usual, this post will contain some spoilers, but nothing major that ruins the story.
Slow Loop
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence and we’ll never see Koharu again.
I’m a sucker for a good slice of life. Yuru Camp is one of my favorite manga and anime. It’s peak slice of life. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the more mediocre slice of life shows. Not every show has to be a perfect hit. Slow Loop is just that. A nice, good slice of life show that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The story follows Hiyori, a young girl who loves fishing as she meets another girl called Koharu. They meet on the pier because Hiyori is meeting her new step family and she’s fairly nervous. By a wild coincidence, Koharu is also meeting with her new step family today. Who would have thought those two events would be happening at the same time, what a coincidence! What? Oh, it’s the same family? Turns out they’re step siblings now. With very different personalities the two still hit it off immediately and Hiyori starts teaching Koharu all sorts of things about fishing. Koharu is a great cook and prepares the fish they catch. This story goes into experiencing loss and does a wonderful job of making the episodes feel light most of the time yet serious when it needs to be. The characters are believable and fun to watch, and I think fishing and camping are some of the most slice of life-esque things I can think of, so it makes perfect sense to write a story like this. Contrary to Breakwater club, which aired a while back, this show was actually a real joy to watch and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants something slow paced to watch.
My Dress-Up Darling
Are you sure you’re not just thirsty?
There’s not a lot I’ll have to say about this show I think. It was everywhere you’d look. Easily one of the most popular shows of this season, if not in a while, that isn’t a sequel. Dress-Up Darling follows Wakana Gojou, a high school student, traditional doll appreciater and all around loner. One day he gets talking with his classmate Kitagawa Marin, who’s one of the popular people in class. She spots him sowing and is immediately interested in getting his help with her hobby. Turns out she’s really excited about the idea of cosplaying. Seeing him work with fabric so expertly makes her want to rope him into her hobby. Gojou doesn’t exactly have the charisma to decline and capitulates easily. Soon he’ll have a half naked girl in his room being measured for her first cosplay. The two very quickly fall for each other, and it’s easily the highlight of the show to watch Marin fawn over Gojou. She’s such a fun character. I will have to be honest about this show. Where it shines is definitely the animation quality and the fan service. If that puts you off, or is just something you’re not interested in, then this might not be the perfect show for you. Even if you’re a little on the fence though, I would still recommend giving it two or three episodes. It’s well made from start to finish and really fun to watch. One of the shows I was looking forward to the most each week.
Akebi’s Sailor Uniform
This show’s art is so pretty, holy shit.
Akebi’s Sailor uniform is a slice of life show about Akebi Komichi, who grew up in a rural town and went to a tiny school. Now she’s going to a prestigious junior high school with the goal of making many friends, since she didn’t have any growing up due to there simply not being any other kids. She wanted to go to this school because her mom went there too and the uniform they wore back in her day was this adorable sailor uniform that Akebi absolutely loved. She had her mom make her one only to find out on the first day that the uniform has since changed. The headmistress still allows her to wear it though since it’s technically an official school uniform and she can see the obvious excitement to wear it in Akebi. The show follows Akebi making friends with her different classmates who are all eccentrics in their own way. This show gets really wholesome towards the second half and I was definitely emotional during some of the episodes. In a good way of course. But there’s one thing I haven’t talked about yet.
In the previous paragraph for Dress-Up Darling I talked about how the animation was good. That show is being handled by studio CloverWorks. And so is Akebi’s Sailor Uniform. And they performed amazingly on this show. The animation is very, very good but it’s still outshadowed by the art. Some of the frames in this show look like pure art. I’ll put some examples below this post, but this show is gorgeous from start to finish and it really elevates it to the next level. I highly recommend this show as well.
Sabikui Bisco
How are you not immediately arrested when you look that menacing.
Akaboshi Bisco is currently a wanted criminal. It’s never quite explained what his exact crime is but the epithet of maneater kind of speaks for itself in this case. He’s what people call a mushroom keeper, a clan of archers that shoot mushrooms and cause havoc all over. They’re all considered criminals for spreading a disease called rust. When he gets to the sprawling metropolis that is Imihama things start to get a bit weird.
Meanwhile doctor Milo, aptly named doctor Panda, is helping out people deal with the rust situation best he can. He’s trying to find a cure to help his badass sister Pawoo with her case of rust. Pawoo is a motorbike riding pole swinging badass of a woman that quickly gets into a fight with Akaboshi. Through a stroke of chance, Akaboshi and Milo end up traveling together after this, in their attempt to find a cure for the rust pandemic. Meanwhile Imihama governor, Kurokawa, is working behind the scenes to make our main characters’ lives as miserable as possible. I do wonder why that is.
The main thing that anyone should consider when watching this show, is the other show it reminds me of. You see, there was a little show called Dorehedoro a few seasons ago that was just absolutely crazy. There were coincidentally also a bunch of mushrooms in that show, just like there are in Sabikui Bisco. The aesthetics are similar in that it’s a more gritty, weird show. The characters are a bit out there, the art has rough edges to it, and there’s crazy stuff happening like a crab as a mount, people living in the husk of a giant titan and a government department wearing bunny masks. It also spawned the now famous clip of Gigguk giving his approval of this show seconds before the trailer takes a turn for the weird. If you like the idea of a strange show with a lot of heart, then this show is perfect for you. Highly recommend it.
Police in a pod
You poor, innocent thing.
Out of the five shows I’m writing about today, this is probably the most memorable. The female officer Kawaii is about done with working at the police force. She’s only just started but it’s just not what she thought it was going to be. Right as she was about to give up she met her new female superior officer, Fuji Seiko. Together they go back on patrol as Kawaii decides to give it another try. With an entire police force on their side they face everything from the most mundane to the most extreme crimes.
See, she’s got ulterior motives!
And that immediately gets me to where the show shines. This show gets really dark and confrontational. The first half can be something silly that involves our characters being overworked, bored or just messing something up in general. And then the second half they get called in on a very real suicide attempt, a deadly car crash or a sexual assault case. Then the next episode has two grown men play out the sexual assault case which is obviously something that has to be done but also quite comedic in the way it’s being portrayed. And this show doesn’t hesitate for a moment when it jumps from a joke to something extremely serious. It’s given me borderline whiplash at times where I’m laughing one moment and just looking on in shock the next. The anime is based on an ongoing manga by Miko Yasu. It has almost 200 chapters and it’s on my plan to read list now. From what I’ve understood, the author used to be in the police force and takes a lot of inspiration from her time on the force. I think that’s what makes this show feel so real. This show definitely requires some warnings in that it has serious content like sexual assault, death and suicide, but if that’s something you can watch then I highly recommend you to give this show a watch. It’s definitely something I’ll think about for quite a while, and there’s a lot of shows that don’t stick with me at all, so that’s saying something.
And those were five out of my six recommendations for this season of anime. With the next season quickly upon us I’m finishing up watching what’s still left and next week I’ll be talking about my absolute favorite show that just finished airing; Ousama Ranking.
But what about you? Do you think there are any great shows I missed? Do let me know in the comments down below and as always; thanks for reading.
I watch quite a lot of anime. Not as much as some people do, but definitely more than most do. Throughout the years there have been quite a few shows that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed that I feel like I don’t really hear people talk about. Maybe because they get forgotten overtime, maybe because a lot of people didn’t actually watch these shows, or perhaps there was some other reason. While I work on some of my bigger posts that I hope to get ready in the next couple of weeks, let’s take a moment and appreciate five anime that I’ve watched throughout the years that I would recommend. I hope there’s something here for everyone!
Flying Witch
Year: 2016
Studio: J.C. Staff
Genre: Slice of Life, Fantasy, Comedy, Iyashikei
Runtime: 12 Episodes
Similar Shows: Yuru Camp, Non Non Biyori, Barakamon
She’s sitting on a bench just staring. That’s the kind of pace you can expect from this show.
15 year old Makoto Kowata is a witch in training. We follow her adventures as she learns the ways of becoming a witch. She has a familiar, a sister and several cousins. The different characters flow into the story now and then while Makoto practices with different aspects of being a witch. Whether this is flying around on a broom, alchemy or something completely different. Makoto approaches life at a slow pace and so does this show. If you want something to relax and enjoy without having to really think much about anything, this show is great.
Akagami no Shirayuki-Hime
Year: 2015
Studio: Bones
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Drama, Shoujo
Runtime: Season 1 (12 Episodes) & Season 2 (12 Episodes)
Similar Shows: Arte, The Ancient Magus Bride, Utawarerumono
I forgot how young these characters looked/were. I guess that’s anime.
Akagami no Shirayuki-Hime follows the titular Shirayuki, a young woman with beautiful red hair. She’s trying to live her life in peace, running a pharmacy but unfortunately gets spotted by royalty. Refusing to become his concubine, she goes on the run, running into yet another prince who does treat her well. They end up becoming friends and she moves into his castle which brings a whole host of different issues with it. The show follows the steadfast Shirayuki as she finds her place amongst high society while retaining her own morals and way of life. It’s a show that just breathes good energy and I enjoyed every second of it.
Beelzebub
Year: 2011
Studio: St. Signpost
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Shounen
Runtime: 60 Episodes
Similar Shows: Fairy Tail, Jujutsu Kaisen, The Devil is a Part-Timer
Sometimes you just gotta split a man in half, can’t be helped.
Going through the list of anime that I’ve seen throughout the years, Beelzebub hit me like a wave of pure nostalgia. An extremely funny manga and anime that never got the love it really deserved. Beelzebub follows Oga, a delinquent high schooler who finds a strange man floating down in the river. The man splits open and reveals a baby inside; Baby Beelzebub. Beel immediately locks onto Oga as his new parent and now Oga has no way of getting rid of Beel. Not only that, if Beel gets too far away from Oga, he shocks the poor guy. The trouble doesn’t end there because Beel’s maid, Hilde, also shows up to make Oga’s life more difficult. The delinquent must now deal with not only the baby and his maid, but also the other delinquents at his school.
This manga and anime were both extremely funny. The humor was solid and the action was very fun as well, with the main cast being overpowered most of the time, leading to hilarious situations. Unfortunately the author’s other work was not as good and got canceled pretty quickly, so we’ll have to do with just Beelzebub for now, but it does come highly recommended.
Carole & Tuesday
Year: 2019
Studio: Bones
Genre: Drama, Slice of Life, Music
Runtime: 24 Episodes
Similar Shows: Nana, Your Lie in April, Beck
Teardrops of the loneliest girl.
Carole & Tuesday as a story was never really that amazing. I liked the message it was trying to convey, but it did so a bit awkwardly. When actually watching the show I much preferred the early episodes where we watch two young girls from very different backgrounds meet, become friends, and make music together. Carole lives in an apartment above a shop and does odd jobs around town to make money as well as perform on the side of the street. Tuesday ran away from home because her mother’s parenting was too constricting and cold. They move in together and start making music together. Did I mention they’re on Mars? The story revolves around their music and them getting better at it together, finding a manager and performing for small crowds. There’s a whole political story going on as a side-plot. It’s not amazing, but it’s functional. The main draw of this show is the music. It’s almost three years old at this point and I still find myself listening to some of the tracks regularly. The music in the show actually evolves and there’s a whole album worth of songs accompanying the story. They hired great singers to do the songs as well and it all sounds very polished. If you need one song to convince you, I suggest the song Round & Laundry. It’s from early on in the show and it’s a real bop. Forgettable story, amazing soundtrack, good watch altogether.
Gabriel Dropout
Year: 2017
Studio: Doga Kobo
Genre: Slice of Life, Comedy, Fantasy, Angels
Runtime: 12 Episodes
Similar Shows: Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Umaru-Chan, Lucky Star
One of the most relatable characters in all of anime.
Gabriel was at the top of her school in heaven. Now she has descended to earth to do… what again? It turns out human technology and video games managed to turn her into a lazy NEET in the span of mere days. She quickly becomes a lazy slob of a person and thus the most relatable kind of character. The rest of the cast consists of some demons and angels that also came to earth and their shenanigans. Satania the borderline Chuunibyou demon trying to be evil and failing spectacularly will never not be funny. I liked this show so much, we turned some of the characters into emotes on Discord and the Vigne emote is the one I use by far the most. This show is very funny, has great characters and is an extremely solid watch.
And there you have it. Five anime from the past few years that I would urge you to watch. None of them are the very best of the best, but all of them are good enough to be talked about and remembered. Let me know if you want me to do more of these. I’ve seen a ton of “good” shows that get forgotten over the years because of the staggering amount of anime that gets produced now, so I’d love to share some of them with you all, and perhaps get some new recommendations in return. Thanks for reading.
As of writing this, we’re 8 episodes into the second season of Vanitas no Carte, or the Case Study of Vanitas. That means I’ve watched twenty episodes of this show. And yet I’m not invested in the story at all. It just doesn’t really interest me that much. For those unfamiliar with Vanitas let me give you a quick, mostly spoiler-free, rundown. Vanitas no Carte follows the titular Vanitas, who is a human doctor. At some point in his life he got the illustrious Book of Vanitas. It was a book from a famous vampire. This book allows him to help vampires that are letting their instincts take control of them, the so-called curse bearers. On his journey he meets a vampire called Noe. Together they run into more trouble than the average toddler in a toy store. On their journey they come across several characters that are important to the story, including Jeanne (definitely not D’arc), several Chasseurs, an organization fighting vampires as well as some prominent vampires.
Off to an interesting start. We’ll see the colors blue and black a lot throughout this show.
If that description is a little bit vague then that’s because looking back on twenty episodes of this show, I’m still not really sure what kind of story it is trying to tell. Everyone seems to have their own subplot, character personalities seem to be all over the place, and it feels very anime, if that makes sense. Some stories thrive on their realism, and some stories thrive on them feeling fictional. How everyone sort of knows each other and gets embroiled in the same problems. That’s not a bad thing, by the way. Durarara has everyone’s lives intermingled and I absolutely love Durarara. Many good shows do this. But it shouldn’t be a replacement for the plot. Every week I see the episode appear online and think to myself; do I still watch this show? But then when I do I always find myself enthralled. And that’s what I’d like to talk about today. The aesthetic qualities of Vanitas.
The illustrious book of Vanitas in all of its blue glory.
Vanitas no Carte has a certain style. A pizazz. (I just really wanted to use that word.) It speaks to a sense of fashion and glamor that I don’t really have in my daily life. These are all extremely pretty women and extremely handsome men. Sure, many anime have that, and since it’s not a genre that I tend to watch a lot, there’s a very good chance that there are shows out there that do this kind of thing better, but everything just kind of pops when I watch it. From the opening to the ending. To the cat that looks like it has more class than I ever will. To Roland and Olivier casually sitting at a cafe in Paris while our main characters stroll past them. Paris is massive, it’s not a place where you just casually spot someone you know easily if you don’t live there. But it feels like everything is interconnected. And everyone is dressed like they own the place. The outfits in this show almost make me feel bad about sitting here in sweatpants and a hoodie. It’s cold, okay, leave me alone.
All jokes aside, it’s shows like Vanitas that remind me how many different facets there are to a good story. And when it comes to visual storytelling, the way your characters shine on the screen is very important. If there’s not a single character in your show, male, female or otherwise, that I want to be stepped on by (don’t judge me) what are you even doing? You’re wasting my time here. (It’s Domi, for those wondering, and it’s not even close).
Don’t judge me okay, just look at her.
This show makes me wish I could rock an outfit like Olivier does. And Jeanne looks absolutely amazing too. Hell, even Noe looks fantastic with his white clothes and hat. This show just screams style and class and it’s just enthralling. I’m generally someone who watches shows for the story or the action. And I think that’s why the rest of Vanitas falls so flat for me. There’s not a lot of interesting action and the story doesn’t quite interest me personally. But it’s the pure style that keeps me watching. I want to see these characters in motion, I want to see them talk to each other and find out what ridiculousness they get up to.
Imagine being able to rock a hat like that.
So if you’ve reached this point and you’re still wondering if this show is worth the time, then I’d say yeah, probably, I don’t know, I’m not your dad. Watch the first two or three episodes. If you like what you see, I promise it keeps getting better. I think season two has better moments than season one so far. The introduction of some of the chasseurs in this season has really built up a bigger cast, and Chloe is adorable too. It’s a fun show. It’s got great aesthetics and sometimes that’s all you need. Thanks for reading.
I have to admit that I’ve struggled to write this post properly for a while now. I think this is at least my fifth draft. I don’t know why, it’s a topic I’m passionate about, but I just can’t get it written in a quality way. Perhaps this is the one. And if not, you’ll never see this.
What I want to do with you guys today is have a look at my 5 favorite sports anime. In doing so I want to find what makes each of these anime tick in an attempt to figure out the genre. I’m hoping to do this for other genres as well. Find the things that the good entries in the genre have in common. So let’s not waste any more time and dive right into the first show on the list.
Kuroko no basket
Look at our shadowy boi, so edgy early on in the story.
The first sports anime I ever watched was Kuroko no basket. With its first season airing in 2012 it was right at the perfect time. I started watching anime in 2010 and by 2012 I’d started watching some seasonal anime. I was also playing basketball weekly at the time, so it was a sport that interested me. I remember even one of my friends who wasn’t into anime at all was watching it. He’d only seen Hajime no Ippo (which probably would be on this list, if I’d watched it) and now this. And Kuroko no Basket did not disappoint. It follows the titular Kuroko who joins the Seiren high school basketball team. As a lesser known member of the generation of miracles, a group of six players who dominated the scene for years, he’s hoping to prove his worth with a new team. His counterpart and partner in crime is Kagami, an extremely talented player who wasn’t a part of the generation of miracles but quickly gets close to their level. The other members of the generation of miracles have each gone to their own teams and are now there to block the road to winning it all. It’s a pretty simple setup but it works wonders. The main draw of this show is the insane basketball match-ups. Everyone on each team is talented from the get go so it’s not a story in which you’re rooting for the underdog. Not in a classical sense. The generation of miracles are definitely set up to be the stronger players, but they always seem beatable. On top of that, the animation, especially in the final season, is pretty amazing and it helps sell the show for sure.
Haikyuu
They’re all such dorks and I love it!
Where Kuroko no basket was my first introduction to shounen sports anime, Haikyuu was the most polished attempt at it that I’ve seen to date. Following Hinata Shoyo who joins his dream team Karasuno, this story is far more of an underdog story. Hinata is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his idol, the little giant. A very talented and successful player who, just like Hinata, was short. Early Haikyuu feels a bit slow, maybe even too slow for my taste, but it does so to set up its characters and prepare you for the rest of the story. What Haikyuu does really well is make you root for the main cast. They each have their own story, their own talents and their own goals. None of the main players feel like a filler character and even some of the bench players have great story arcs. Kuroko definitely seemed to sideline some of the characters a bit more, but Haikyuu doesn’t do this at all. Unfortunately, not all of Haikyuu has been adapted into anime yet and the slow pace of adapting a little bit every so often is making it difficult to stay invested. What Haikyuu absolutely nails is the music and the hype. The opening themes are absolutely fantastic and they add to the hype. When they start playing during important moments in the show you can just feel yourself get excited. I found myself liking the characters in this show more as well. They’re more relatable.
Ace of Diamond
Sawamura is the main character but he’s useless for such a large part of the show that it’s almost embarrasing.
So far we’ve had good characters, good animation and good music as the main selling points for a good sports anime. Ace of Diamond is on this list for a few good reasons. Let’s dive into some of them immediately.
For starters, Ace of Diamond is long form. It has close to 200 episodes as of right now and the latest season was fairly recently so the odds of more coming in the future is definitely still there. Having a show run for a long time allows you to develop things much more slowly and have a lot more plot points running. It also allows for the team losing. This is very important since in Haikyuu and Kuroko no Basket the games ended up being fairly predictable. The fun was in how the main team would win, and not so much in if the main team would win. When it comes to Ace of Diamond, I find myself wondering if Seidou is going to win or lose almost every match. Tournaments end prematurely and dreams are crushed because a sudden rookie beats them, or there’s an injury. In the real world sports can be unpredictable and the favorite doesn’t always win. The same is true here and it adds a whole layer of depth to the show. The senpais actually graduate before the show ends and new players are added from the first years. It follows Sawamura and his classmates from year 1 and onward and there’s a real sense of progression.
The second thing that Ace of Diamond does wonderfully is have a large cast of returning teams. It’s cool seeing them face the team that beat them last time again, and maybe win this time. Or take revenge for said team because they got beaten before the rematch could happen. It makes for a much more complex story that has layers to it. Out of the three shows we’ve talked about so far it is definitely my favorite, but there’s two more entries coming so hold your horses.
Run with the wind
Run with the wind is a 2006 novel by the author Shion Miura. That’s right, it’s a novel. Not a light novel, web novel or manga, but a regular old fashion novel. Those still exist? Either way, this means that the feel of the show is a lot more mature than most shows I’ve watched. That could say a lot about what I generally watch, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole.
And so it begins.
Run with the Wind tells the story of Kurehara Kakeru, a former runner who starts his life at the college dormitory. There he finds out that the reason the place was so cheap is because everyone is automatically enlisted into the Hakone Ekiden team. This is a yearly relay event where people run large distances in teams. Haiji, the person leading this team, now has the extremely difficult job of persuading all of the other members living at the dormitory to actually join his team and then go on and complete the Hakone Ekiden.
The show is centered around running as a running theme (I’m so funny), but it definitely doesn’t focus on it too much. Run with the wind is a character study. Every person in this show has something going on in their life that they need to deal with. Nico-chan-senpai has been struggling with quitting smoking and getting on with his life. King has been searching for a job unsuccessfully, Prince needs to come out of his shell and stop reading manga the entire day without interacting with the world. And Haiji really wants to run the Hakone Ekiden with his friends, even though he has a leg injury. Watching this crew grow closer and closer as one by one they become interested in running, or at the very least in being part of the team and this all culminating in the beautifully complex race at the end of the season has to be one of the most heartwarming things I’ve ever seen. It’s truly taken a well established genre and expanded on it in the best way. It knows how important characters are and builds them up from the ground. That’s why it’s on this list. But we’re not done yet.
Chihayafuru
A friend pointed out to me ages ago that this show has a lot of fanservice and it definitely does, just not in the traditional sense.
I discovered Chihayafuru purely by chance. I was watching an anime opening compilation on youtube, as one does, and the first opening played. The song is called Youthful by 99radioservice. They’ve since done the opening themes for other Chihayafuru seasons as well. Their songs have a very calming quality to them that made me interested in them and thus I ended up watching what would become one of my favorite anime of all time.
Chihayafuru is a show about Karuta, a Japanese game/sport in which you need to slap poetry cards that match with the poem being read out. It’s a competition to get the most cards at the end of the game. I don’t care about the sport at all. But I liked the character designs and soon found myself liking the characters too. Chihaya has some issues for sure. I’m still not convinced that the things she does to convince her schoolmates to join the Karuta club aren’t intimidation and bullying. She’s a very headstrong person with a lack of social awareness. But the music and the atmosphere just sell the show to me. I find this one the hardest to explain out of the shows listed, but I do know something resonates with me.
Conclusion
God, writing “conclusion” as a heading makes me feel like I’m writing a school essay but for the sake of keeping everything neat and tidy I’m going with it anyway. The point of these lists are to figure out the things that make a show within a genre. Let’s list the things that stood out from these shows down below:
Good animation
Team dynamics
Well written characters
Unpredictable matches
Underdog story
I think that’s all of the important things. Funnily enough, I think Ace of Diamond has all these qualities except for good animation. Chihayafuru lacks none of these, now that I think about it. I don’t know if the animation is amazing by any stretch, but at the very least the art looks really good. So what does this mean for the sports genre?
Obviously it’s not a super simple mix of sugar and spice to get the perfect anime, but I do think it means something when several good shows have these characteristics in common. Either way, I hope this has at the very least served as a good list of sports anime to watch. Let me know if there’s shows or qualities I’ve missed out on in writing this post. Thank you for reading.
This season of anime hasn’t impressed me too much. There are obvious winners in the sequels of Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer. Ousama Ranking is still ongoing and has earned a special place in my heart already. But when it comes to new shows airing this season I haven’t been too impressed. I debated on if I should make this post or not, which is why it’s so late. I decided to go over five shows that I’m enjoying after all, some of which are really good. Without wasting any more time, let’s get to it.
Akebi’s sailor uniform
Akebi has long dreamed of wearing the beautiful sailor uniform that her mom wore to school. Now that she’s been accepted into the prestigious Roubai Private Academy that dream has come true. There has however been a bit of a mix-up, and Akebi finds out that the school uniform has changed since her mom went to school there. Fortunately, the school has no problems with her wearing the sailor uniform anyway since it has been an approved school uniform in the past, so why would they decline it now. We follow Akebi and her classmates who are all definitely a little bit strange. Cloverworks is handling a lot of shows this season, but they’re definitely letting some of their talented staff work on this one since some of the frames look absolutely gorgeous. This would probably be a very forgettable show if it looked average but because it doesn’t it stands out a lot and I would recommend giving it a shot if you like slow slice of life shows.
I swear she looks so much like Marin from Dress-Up Darling. Regardless, really shows the artists talent working at Cloverworks. Makes you wonder what went wrong with some of their other IPs. Ahem, Promised Neverland.
My Dress-Up Darling
If there’s one show I expect most of you to be aware of already, it has to be dress-up darling. This show is also being handled by CloverWorks and similar to Akebi-chan looks very good. The story follows Hina-doll crafter Wakana Gojo as he gets roped into making cosplay outfits for his classmate Kitagawa Marin. He turns out to have a real knack for it, having so much experience on making doll clothes, and the two quickly start getting along. Marin is a very outgoing person whereas Gojo is quite reserved. The characters are fun, the animation is good and it’s just shaping up to be a very wholesome romance show. It kind of reminds me of Smile down the runway but so far I think this is the better of the two shows. If you enjoyed that anime, you might like this and if you’re already watching Dress-Up Darling you might want to check out Smile down the runway too.
I think we all feel the same right now, Marin.
Police in a pod (Hakozume)
Probably my least favorite show of the five listed here, but it did still make the top over some other shows I’m watching this season, so that has to count for something. Police in a pod is about a young police officer Kawaii who is about to quit the force when she gets a new coworker who’s also a woman. Maybe she doesn’t want to quit quite yet. The show takes one a few serious topics but also gets silly at times. It often feels like I’m watching a less good version of Uramichi-Oniisan. It’s similar in its comedic style but I feel like I’m not nearly as invested in the characters. It’s still an enjoyable watch most of the time, and I do like watching these women put some men in their place when it’s well deserved. If you liked Uramichi-Oniisan, check this show out as well.
This scene was so sadistic but so deserved, it kind of sold me on the show as a whole.
Sabikui Bisco
There’s a very funny clip of Gigguk watching the trailer for this show and being very excited to watch it, only to be horrified a second later when he unpauses the trailer and watches Milo use his mouth to take some sort of parasite from someone else’s mouth. So yeah, that kind of set the tone for me for this show, but it looked interesting enough so I decided to watch it after all. And I ended up being pleasantly surprised by it. The story follows Milo Nekoyanagi, a doctor who is curing people from rust caused by mushrooms. Except he soon learns from Akaboshi Bisco, a wanted man nicknamed the man-eater, that this isn’t true. Mushrooms actually help against the rusting. Bisco is hunting for a rust-eating mushroom that would help purify all rust. Milo decides to join him after their encounter in hopes of curing his sister who also suffers from the rust. This show has a very similar vibe to Dorehedoro in that it is weird, silly and extremely over the top. The scene from the trailer was still very weird though if you were wondering, context doesn’t make it much better. Either way, if you like over the top shows like this I’d highly recommend giving Sabikui Bisco a shot.
I think she does, just a hunch.
Slow Loop
To end this list on a rather slow note I have another slice of life show to recommend. Slow Loop tells the story of Hiyori, whose dad passed away years ago. Her dad used to love fishing and he passed this love down to Hiyori. One day Hiyori is fishing on the beach and she meets a girl called Koharu. Hiyori is nervous because her mother’s new husband and his daughter are moving in with them that day. Koharu is also nervous because she and her dad are moving in with his new wife. What a coincidence that they both have such a similar thing happening at the same time… wait a minute! So Koharu and Hiyori are no stepsisters and the two quickly bond over fishing. We met some of their other friends and it’s just a relaxing show. The show does talk about the newly formed family a decent amount and doesn’t gloss over it to get to the fishing, which I really appreciated. It makes the characters feel way more grounded than they otherwise would. Not an amazing show by any means but if you like slower slice of life shows this might be right up your alley.
What a bizarre coincidence, I wonder if the two events are related.
And that’s really all I have to say about this season. I’ve just finished Demon Slayer as of writing this and that’s still rolling around in my head with how amazing it was. Ousama Ranking is still the best thing currently airing and I’ve also been watching BLack Clover which is probably more fun than 4 out of 5 entries on this list. If we can take a detour to non-anime for a moment, The Legend of Vox Machina, an animation based on a D&D show by Critical role, is currently airing on Amazon Prime and it’s very good. As a fan I was kind of hesitant it would be way too pandering and a bit slow, but they really nailed the shift in medium. This does mean there’s been a lot of changes from the story I first consumed as a podcast, but that’s very much a good thing. Highly recommend it, the animation is done by studio Titmouse who is behind The Legend of Korra as well, so you know it looks good. And that’s all from me, thanks for reading and see you next season!
I’ve been wanting to write about Black Clover for a while now. The shonen anime based on the manga by Yuki Tabata has finished already, although a sequel is very much possible seeing that the manga is still going in full swing. I’ve been reading the manga weekly for a very long time now, since not too long after it started publication. I’ve also tried watching the anime when it first came out, but like many others got turned off by the over the top voice acting for Asta. Asta is voiced by Gakuto Kajiwara. Kajiwara has done fantastic work as Shinra Kusakabe in Fire Force, Gobta in Tensura and Tadano in Komi-San. I didn’t even recognize his voice in Komi-San, but it’s very fitting to the character. Having said that, Asta was one of his first, if not his first big role. And I think it really shows in the first few episodes. Maybe it’s the lack of experience, maybe it’s the voice direction, maybe Asta was just supposed to be really annoying in the first few episodes, but it made it so I kind of lost interest. Early this year I decided to give the anime another shot, since the manga is very good right now. And my oh my has it not disappointed. Let’s talk about it.
Mimosa Scary
For those unfamiliar with Black Clover, it tells the story of Asta, a highly motivated orphan boy who wants to be the Magic King one day. The Magic King is the leader of the Magic Knights and alongside the regular King is the most prominent figure in the Clover Kingdom. Unfortunately for Asta, he doesn’t have any magic. He’s just a peasant orphan boy with no talent. But that doesn’t stop Asta. What do you do when the universe and fate are conspiring against you? You work out. Then you work out some more. Then you get sad, dejected and work out some more. You cheer yourself up and work out even harder. Seriously man, you need to slow down. Your muscles have muscles of their own at this point. When it’s time for the grimoire ceremony, where hopefuls get their grimoire to use to cast magic, Asta is not chosen. Not only that, his brother and fellow hopeful Yuno gets the four-leaf clover grimoire, an extremely rare thing to happen. Down on his luck Asta runs into trouble and soon he gets picked by a completely black grimoire. It has a Black Clover on it and allows him to summon a sword that nullifies magic. Get it, Black Clover, like the name of the series? Ignoring the on the nose title drop, Asta and Yuno both apply to join the magic knights. Yuno is picked by half the squads and joins the prestigious Golden Dawn. Asta ends up joining the Black Bulls, the worst squad. And this is where things get interesting.
You see, Black Clover is stupid. It refuses to acknowledge any responsibility it might have towards improving on the shonen genre. It just sticks it’s heels in the sand and does the same old thing that shonen shows have done for ages now. And my word, does it do it perfectly. Black Clover isn’t reinventing the genre, it’s not making you think deeply about things, it’s not doing anything new. It’s just the good guys fighting the bad guys, or misunderstood guys. The Black Bull Captain’s motto is basically to surpass your limits right here and now. No logical power-ups, no boring training arcs. Just get good. To put into perspective how silly this show is, I want to talk about a scene I just watched the other day. This will contain some mild spoilers and reveal a Black Bull member that only comes into the story later. I’m assuming most of you reading this have seen Black Clover at this point but if you haven’t, just go watch it. Trust me, it’s very good. Is all of that clear? Excellent, let’s talk about the Black Bull’s base.
During one of the bigger story arcs of Black Clover, where the souls of elves are reincarnated into several of the Magic Knight members, the gang find themselves all converging around the Black Bull’s Base. Here they find out, and in the case of Asta already knew, that there’s a sickly person in their base called Henry, who is also a part of the Black Bulls. Henry has a strange disease that makes him suck up the magic power of nearby people. He needs the power to survive and can’t turn it off. So he stayed in the depths of the base, sometimes taking a bit of magical energy from the other Black Bulls. He uses this power to turn the base into a giant mecha. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. He is the perfect support character. And just like that there are multiple Black Bulls that seem to be designed to be great utility to move the story forward. Charmy can replenish magic power with her food, Grey can turn materials into others to help the groups. Vanessa can basically change the flow of time and Finral is a fancy uber. It’s genius to make a cast like this but what makes Black Clover even better is that all these characters get their own arcs and are full-fledged members. They’re not just a bit of utility that’s there to use.
Basically what I want to say about Black Clover is that shooting your anti-magic main characters out of a giant mech that’s piloted by a guy who speaks at a rate of four words per hour to just headbutt the crap out of your enemies might be the most stupid thing I’ve watched in a very long time and I love it. As much as I love diving into deeply complicated shows that have important character motivations and deep meanings, very few things beat watching an all out brawl with characters that are just pure fun to watch. Black Clover does this perfectly. If you want a shonen to watch, Black Clover should be high on your list. Thanks for reading!
As is to be expected, this review contains some spoilers of both seasons of Mushoku Tensei. Avoid if you don’t want to be spoiled!
I wrote this post about Mushoku Tensei in March of last year, after the first season had ended. My thoughts were that it was a gorgeous looking show with fantastic animation and very promising world building. I also talked about how I do not agree with some of the behavior of the main character. Obviously I took into account that you’re not supposed to root for Rudeus at this point in the story, but I still found that it took away from how good the story was.
So now that almost a year has passed and we’ve had a second season of Mushoku Tensei, let’s revisit by far the most popular topic on this blog (I’m not exaggerating, I’ll upload something on a day and then that new post will get less views than the Mushoku Tensei one, you all love that topic don’t you?” So revisiting seemed like the right thing to do. And my opinion on the show has definitely shifted into a direction, although perhaps not as much as others, from what I’ve been seeing.
Rudeus is becoming a better person.
I really enjoyed season two of Mushoku Tensei. The story of Rudeus and Eris slowly growing closer as they face danger again and again is great to watch. The family slowly getting together is wholesome to watch and Rudeus grows by leaps and bounds this season. He starts facing his trauma head-on more and more until eventually he doesn’t seem to be shackled by it nearly as much. And then Eris breaks his heart and crushes his spirit all over again. The story takes our protagonists across several continents and they visit several strange people. They say goodbye to Ruijerd and finally say goodbye to each other. In one way or another.
We first find Paul and Norn as they were looking for the rest of the family as well. Paul and Rudeus get into a fight but eventually make up like the grown adults they both are. Rudeus then goes on his way to find Lilia and Aisha. This goes poorly initially but with a little help from the gods, quite literally, he ends up figuring things out and saving both of them. Now all that’s left is Zenith, Rudeus’ mom. She seems to be in a whole lot of trouble though, and I can’t wait to see how that is going to get resolved.
Yeah, I would have found this funny a decade ago but now it’s just rough to look at.
Now for my opinion on the more questionable parts of this show. The part of this post you’ve all been waiting for, I suppose. Rudeus is still problematic. I bet he even has an Aladdin costume in his parents’ attic. All mediocre references aside, he’s still a grown man in a child’s body at time sexually assaulting other minors, wearing strange women’s underwear on his face and all sorts of highly morally questionable things. Even the scene between him and Eris at the end of the season was questionable, but since it was at least consensual and the laws of their world are probably very different I’ll let it slide. Rudy has definitely grown as a person. His willingness to make up with Paul, his behavior around Eris and other women is better than in season one.
This is not a teenager, this is a grown man.
As someone who did not read the source material for this show, I still have hope that he ends up turning into a half decent person by the end of it. I have no issues rooting for a flawed person as long as they show progress. And Rudy definitely does so. I think he’ll be all right next season in finding Zenith.
And that’s really all I have to say about this show. I wasn’t even going to talk about it initially if not for the fact that it seems like people really like the topic. I think Mushoku Tensei is a very good show, crafted with much love and skill by talented creators. I think the characters are flawed and some of Rudeus’ behavior definitely crosses a line. I think the show could do a better job addressing this. But overal I think Mushoku Tensei is a very good show and if it keeps up this quality as the seasons go on, it might go down as a classic. Definitely one of the better Isekai to come out. Not as good as The Hesitant Hero though, you can read a new chapter of that here every Thursday. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it!
I won’t lie, Lum is the reason I wanted to watch this, that is a very striking character design.
I’m sure everyone who’s watched anime over the past decade and dove into the culture has seen some characters pop up from time to time that they don’t really recognize. One of these characters for me was Lum. Lum is a from a show called Urusei Yatsura (Those Annoying Aliens) that I had never heard of before. I’ve always liked her design for, ahem, obvious reasons, so recently I decided I would give Urusei Yatsura a watch. I got into anime in 2009 and admittedly I’ve seen very few shows that aired before then. So one of the things I wanted to do in 2022 is give some older shows a chance. I might come to regret that, since it’s been a rough start.
Urusei Yatsura tells the story of Moroboshi Ataru, a perverted young man who just wants to have his own harem. With no real personality traits other than being loud, obnoxious and constantly sexually harassing every woman in sight, it’s hard to like this character at all. Lum paints a more likable picture, although not by much. She’s an alien who’s challenged Ataru to a game of tag for the fate of the earth. Afterwards they promise to marry each other, although it’s clear from the start that Ataru isn’t planning to keep this promise.
I dropped this show after 10 episodes, which was already more than I could stomach. The music is grating to the ear and I’m not a fan of the voice cast either. The animation is fine, especially considering it’s a 40 year old show, so I’m not going to deduct any points for that. I didn’t manage to find a singular likable character. Most of the cast was aggressive, selfish and didn’t listen to any of the other characters. The only person I could somewhat relate to was Ataru’s dad, who just wanted to read his newspaper and be left alone.
Announcement for the 2022 adaptation. I will give it a watch but I don’t have high hopes.
It does make me curious about the aging of older media. As morals shift into the modern world, and things that used to be strange and even illegal become more acceptable, like gay marriage, trans rights, gender equality and many other rights, how poorly do some shows age? I’m in the camp that we can’t blame old media by modern standards, but that doesn’t mean it’s not cringe worthy to watch sometimes. Watching Urusei Yatsura feels like watching a let’s play from 10 years ago. Did I like it at the time when it first came out? Definitely. Do some of the jokes make me cringe when I watch it now? Absolutely. Some things aren’t meant to last through time and from my experience watching this show, it’s not an exception.
Now the reason I’m writing this is because right before I started watching this show, I heard it was getting a new adaptation in 2022. It will be produced by studio David Production, of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fame. I’m extremely curious how they will handle this show. The material is extremely dated, and some of the humor wouldn’t fly at all in 2022. And rightfully so, in some cases. Now anime isn’t always politically correct, which is fine, but I think the audience that enjoys this kind of content is shrinking quickly. I will definitely give this new version a watch, just to do a comparison. My hope for the show is that they take the core plot and make a more modern take on it with more likable characters. I’m not having high expectations, since I’d rather not get disappointed, but a version of this show where the characters are actually somewhat relatable could be very good. It could have a similar style of humor to shows like Arakawa under the Bridge, for example.
My question for you readers, have you seen Urusei Yatsura, and if so did you enjoy it or not? Are there any other old anime (from before 1990, for example) that you would recommend I watch? I’m open to suggestions. Let me know in the comments down below and thanks for reading!
When I watched the first episode of Aquatope it definitely piqued my interest enough to keep watching, but it wasn’t at the top of my list of shows that I was waiting for. It just seemed like a pleasant slice of life show with cute character designs. And that is definitely true, but there is more to this show. Let’s dive into the fishtank and explore why this show worked so well.
As usual, these reviews contain spoilers, and I plan to dive quite a bit into the story of this one, so be warned. If you’re just here to see if you should watch it, then yes, yes you should.
The opening really nails down the general atmosphere
The plot of Aquatope is fairly straightforward. Fuuka is a young idol and actress who gets overwhelmed by the job and the city life and flees to the countryside. There she meets Kukuru, who has been running her grandfathers’ aquarium; Gama Gama, for a while. They quickly become friends and Fuuka starts working at the aquarium too. As the season progresses we learn that the aquarium is about to go under because it’s old and no longer profitable. Of course Kukuru and her friends try everything they can to make the aquarium more lively. They think of events, spruce up the front of the building and even visit a local hospital with a small exhibit. Throughout all of this though, the decision to close Gama Gama permanently has already been made.
It’s a nickname, but we rarely hear her real name 🙂
Maybe one third into the story, Gama Gama is visited by Haebaru-san, an eager employee of Tingaara, a different aquarium. She’s heard stories of the legend that is Kukuru’s grandfather and is eager to learn, but ends up disappointed by having to learn from Kukuru, who is less than happy to help her out. They don’t get along at all. I thought this was just a small arc that never really properly got resolved, but it turns out it was a setup.
You see, what I didn’t realize, and I’ve mentioned this in another post as well, is that this show had 24 episodes, and not 12. So when Gama Gama actually shut down instead of magically got revitalized, I was very surprised by this. I also thought it was a great way to push the story forward. Things don’t always go as planned, and as much as we can dream, some good things must come to an end. Thus Fuuka leaves for Tokyo again, and Kukuru is very sad.
The two split up for a little while.
And then the second half of the season starts, and this is where I think the show shines. Fuuka comes back very quickly, with less than an episode having passed. That was a bit strange, but with a runtime of 24 episodes I’ll cut them some slack. There also wasn’t much story to tell while the characters were separated. The cast then goes to work at Tingaara (I’ve seen different spellings of this aquarium, but this is the one I’m sticking with), where Haebaru-san is also still working. The second half focuses on several of the characters at their new workspace.
Do I think this show is perfect? No, I don’t think so. I’ve seen very few shows that I thought were perfect and even some of my favorite shows of all time (One Piece, Tensura, Kageki Shoujo) have their flaws. But it was very refreshing to watch a drama show where the big issue set up in the first half never actually got resolved. Life isn’t always fair, and Aquatope reflects that. Situations change, things are out of reach and eventually we all have to move on with our lives. And it also shows us that this doesn’t mean everything now sucks. After a rough patch, most of the people from Gama Gama end up in an equal or better place, and by the end of the story everyone is satisfied with their lot in life, having learned quite a lot along the way. I highly recommend you give this show a watch!
This was such a satisfying final episode, very well done!
Opal Kaharis 