We took a little bit of a hiatus but here’s volume 6. Before we dive into it, I do have to say I’ve read it in batches over a long time so some of my memories of it are a little bit spotty. I’m going to try my best to cover it properly though and I’m keeping it short because although this was a pretty fun volume when all was said and done, not terribly much happened.
We pick up right at the end of the previous volume. To give a quick recap, Lawrence joined forces with Eve to make a massive amount of money but was betrayed at the very last moment. Luckily he came out of it alive and with enough funds to buy back Holo from the slavers he’d given her to as leverage. A messy situation all things considered but the two are still alive and not completely broke. Holo is furious at what Eve did to Lawrence and vows to get her back. And so our two main characters set off to the harbor to find a ship that can sail them further north, after Eve.
Quickly finding a ship, captained by a man named Ragusa, they make their way upstream. At a toll stop they encounter a young boy, Col, who has been swindled and is trying to get on a boat with papers he bought that turned out to be false. Luckily, Holo and Lawrence decide to help the kid out and pretend they know him. Thus Col joins Lawrence and Holo on their journey north.
Arguably not a lot happens in this volume. Holo and Lawrence grow closer, which I can go in depth about, but is more fun to read for yourself. Col shows that he’s a clever kid and has a bright future ahead. Ragusa kind of wants him as an apprentice but Col shows no interest.
There’s a sunken ship in the way which causes a lot of the ships to be stuck and our friends have to take a break. Lawrence even has to walk through some fields to make room on the ship for a while. Joined by Col on this walk, they talk a bit here and there before meeting up with Ragusa at the sunken ship. The merchants and sailors try to get the ship out of the water, but it’s a massive waterlogged ship so of course they can’t get it out.
After a night of partying instead, they all wake up hungover. Col, Holo and Lawrence have a talk about gods, and how they’ve been looking for the fossilized leg of a dead wolf god. Holo and Lawrence both realize there’s probably more truth to this story than Col thinks. Their conversation gets cut short by some strange sounds that are identified as a ship getting loose and about to crash into the other ships. All the sailors jump up to deal with it quickly though, with Ragusa in the lead.
After saying goodbye to Ragusa and Col, they continue their journey towards Yoitsu where they will eventually part ways. After a little bit Col comes after them to join them. They agree and show him Holo’s true form which definitely scares him. He then tells them the secret behind the missing coins. And now our duo has become a trio.
I didn’t enjoy this volume as much as some of the earlier ones if I’m honest. I’m still going to read the next one, because it consists of side stories which could be interesting. But let me know how you felt about this volume. Did you think it’s getting a bit repetitive too, or is that just me? Either way, thanks for reading!
We’ve made it to episode 3, aptly titled “Village of Hollows.” And we immediately see a whole legion of creepy crawlies. Majikaja, who introduced themselves briefly last episode, is leading them towards where they need to go. Nanachi explains that the forcefield isn’t present in this village, so they can ascend the stairs without issue. We get a quick nod back to Bondrewd, the Sovereign of Dawn, who was a major antagonist in the previous arc, before we make our way into the place where Prushka is. This was the first hint in the manga for me that this arc was going to be weird. Prushka is being chiseled away at, but when Reg jumps to defend the whistle, Riko says that Prushka strangely doesn’t seem to mind. The whistle as it was isn’t her true form, and the creature working on it is changing it to have the right value. That word is going to be important so keep track of it.
“Because the stone’s not in its true form” – Kaja
Kaja explains their real body consists of smells, and this is just a vessel they’re using. Second hint for me that this arc is weird. And now we’ve arrived at the circus of value, hahahaha. Sorry, I’ve been replaying the original Bioshock and the vendor machine boldly exclaims that. What I meant to say is that we’ve arrived at the market of value. Reg’s noticed the trend as well. Riko finds a part of her mother’s letter but she’s told to turn herself into value. The symbols on the money, Nanachi notes, are the same as the threatening symbols on the threat letter they received. The person who wrote that assigned value to Nanachi and Riko, as if planning to pawn them off, but not to Reg. Riko is way too unbothered by the strange things happening around her. In a sense it’s clear she was made for a journey like this in how easily she adapts to the craziness around her. We get introduced to a bunch of vendors and Kaja explains that hollows’ bodies have the shape of their desires. Meinya jumps on the head of one hollow who proclaims “maaa” and then very quickly kills Meinya.
Squish
That’s what it seems like but after some quick inspection Nanachi shows that it’s fine. Just a bit hurt by the squishing. The discussion is interrupted by a scream which Kaja refers to as the balancing. The hollow known as Ma quickly runs away in fear. Ma is caked up by the way, which is a strange sight to say the least. THey get enveloped by strange tentacles that take things straight from their body to balance out the attack on Meinya. The customs hollows have are very different from Riko’s sense of justice. There is no such thing as subtlety in the way they deal with things. It’s a very interesting way of looking at things. Oh, and Ma gets part of their body brutally torn off. This place is pretty metal. Riko quickly switches gears and tries to talk to the locals. They’re looking for a bed and breakfast and Riko learned the word for it. With Kaja bidding them goodbye, they move on.
This scene is freaking brutal. Poor Ma.
They’re led to what looks like an inn of sorts and the innkeeper just kind of blindly stares at them and takes some of their money. The rooms look pretty good, the toilet and the food less so. There’s also insects everywhere. Riko takes some shots at Nanachi’s cooking and they eat the awful looking but surprisingly edible food. Should not have done that, should not have done that. The author’s obsession with little girls pooping has quickly returned. I’ve been saying for months this season is going to be weird and I’m even reminded of exactly how weird it is. A commotion outside catches the attention of Reg and Nanachi. Kaja explains that it must be Faputa, the embodiment of value. Faputa can go anywhere and usually isn’t seen. Reg goes to see Faputa. Here we finally meet Faputa, princess of the hollows and her bodyguard. Once again it confirms for me that the human expedition from Volume 8 is important, as we’re shown a quick flashback to the young girl that they picked up at the edge of the abyss. Having now made their way to the hollows, we’re shown a little bit more from their story, although not much. There isn’t much room to look at the splendor though, since the hollows they found are almost immediately attacked.
The creepy stalker from last episode is revealed.
So that gives us the conclusion to this episode. Like last time, this covers more of Volume 6 of the manga, with a hint of Volume 8 in the last minute of the episode. Can we all pour one out for Ma who just wanted to play with Meinya and ended up watching all their prized possessions destroyed before being shredded to bits. The village of hollows don’t fuck around. Where the first two episodes were fairly tame, this episode really started upping the weirdness that I’ve come to know from this manga. At some point the manga went from a curious and cool idea to a challenge of how weird can it get before people lose interest. I think that’s the reason I’m still reading this manga. It’s so incredibly bizarre and I’m pretty sure the author has some issues with the way he likes to portray little children but at the same time it’s also such a compelling story that I can’t look away. And the show’s popularity makes me think I’m not the only one. Enough rambling from me though, I’m already looking forward to next week’s episode. And as always, thanks for reading.
I remember thinking when I first watched Bleach that the Soul Society wasn’t very believable. It was this authoritarian run place where the rich elite did whatever they wanted while the poor suffered. No branch of government seemed capable of communicating with other branches and half the people in leadership positions were basically sociopaths or downright violent idiots. It’s now 2022 and when I look at the ruling class in many parts of the world I’m starting to think that Soul Society wasn’t nearly as unbelievable as I thought it initially was. And it’s a good thing that Soul Society is such an uncoordinated mess because if not for that there is no way Ichigo’s group would have been half as successful as it was. But let’s not jump too far ahead.
What an absolute queen. The fact that it’s been ten years does not excuse me forgetting she exists.
The crew lands in what is basically the slums after going through a strange tunnel that connects Soul Society to the real world. We’ll see quite a bit more of this tunnel as the story continues but for it did its job. The gate into Soul Society proper is guarded by Jidanbo, a massive soul reaper wielding two axes. Without too much issue, Ichigo manages to defeat him and he turns out to be a pretty reasonable guy. A loss is a loss and he opens the gate for Ichigo and crew. Unfortunately they’re not lucky enough to just waltz into the premises. Instead they’re met with one of the Captains of the Seireitei: Ichimaru Gin. He’s a creepy looking dude who’s always smiling like he’s scheming something. His Zanpakuto is able to extend at rapid speeds and he pushes everyone out of the gate, firmly shutting it, without much issue. He doesn’t finish off the intruders though, I wonder why that is.
The gang is now in need of a plan to enter into the Soul Society proper, which is guarded by barriers that they need to get through. Luckily, Yoruichi has some contacts in town, one of which is Shiba Kukaku. I forgot about this character completely if i’m honest but immediately fell in love with her design again. If memory serves, she doesn’t appear much later on, but hot damn does she look stunning. Ichigo and the gang need to train with special orbs and pour their spiritual energy into them so they will help them pierce through the barrier. How are they going to be sent to the barrier? That’s simple, we put them into a massive cannon and just launch them. Sounds good? Great, let’s do this!
Ikkaku was my favorite character for a while in early Bleach.
After making their way through the barriers, all hell breaks loose as the 13 squads are on high alert because of these Ryouka intruders. This is where the severe lack of communication comes in handy, because everyone’s just doing their own thing, allowing Ichigo and friends to make their way through the streets fairly easily. Ishida shows off his new gears and bullies a soul reaper. Ichigo and Ganju, who is Kukaku’s brother and joined them to help out, fight the two joint third seats of the eleventh squad: Yumechika and Ikkaku. Ikkaku is a great character, he’s a brute with an awesome fighting style and Ichigo has a tough time against this opponent but manages to beat him in the end. Ichigo brings up Urahara during the fight and there’s a moment of recognition on Ikkaku’s side. We know that Urahara has soul reaper abilities and was rejected by the gate to Soul Society, and now we know that he is a known person in the Soul Society. Ganju beats out Yumechika with trickery and the two then head towards where Rukia is. Ikkaku told Ichigo where to find her, but later also tells Zaraki Kenpachi, the eleventh squad captain, where he sent Ichigo. They find a squad four member who helps them out through the sewers and before long Ichigo and Ganju find themselves in front of Abarai Renji once more, who is defeated by Ichigo after a drawn out battle. Renji tells Ichigo to save Rukia and we get a flashback of their past where it shows their life in the poor Rukon district before joining the soul reaper academy.
Renji gets bullied quite a lot this arc. It’s to atone for being a dickhead early on.
Meanwhile the thirteen captains aren’t sitting still either. Some of them are moving about town and trying to find the intruders while others seem disinterested or are just doing their own thing. Ichimaru Gin, who we talked about earlier, is also under suspicion of doing some treacherous things but we don’t learn much yet about what this could be. The meeting is cut short regardless because that is the moment where Ichigo and friends entered through the barrier. We do see some of the captains. There’s thirteen in total, as the name implies. I’ll go over all of them when they become relevant to the story, so for now just know that most of them are very cool and one of them has the same voice as Edward Elric and also gets made fun of for being short. He’s great by the way. Moving on, and bear with me since this post is getting long already.
This fight was so cool back in the day and, spoiler alert, still is!
Things escalate very quickly from here on out. First Sado runs into first division captain Kyoraku Shinsui and gets defeated easily. Kyoraku is a very laid-back person who doesn’t want to put in too much effort. But he recognizes Sado’s resolve and fights him seriously at the end, defeating him with ease. A moment after that fight ends he gets the news we as viewers already know. Aizen Sosuke, captain of the fifth division, has been murdered. We don’t have much time to process this as viewers because we dive straight into Zaraki Kenpachi fighting Ichigo, dealing him a grave wound in the process. But why does his Zanpakuto’s human form appear before him? This is the first good look we get into Ichigo’s Zanpakuto. From his flowing cape he summons a bleached (get it) looking version of Ichigo to help him out. They’re working together, with the old man being called Zangetsu and the other Ichigo seeming to have their own will yet also being a part of Zangetsu. After this second wind Ichigo pushes Kenpachi quite a bit and the latter has to remove his eyepatch. Keep in mind he’s supposed to be the strongest captain of the strongest squad. So barring Yamamoto Genryuusai he’s probably the strongest Soul Reaper in the Seireitei. Either way, his second wind isn’t enough to secure the victory and instead the fight ends up in a draw.
It’s the artist formerly known as Zangetsu! He’s here to personally help our boy Ichigo out!
Next up we see Ichigo retrieved by Yoruichi who reveals her (that’s right, her) real form. Turns out she’s a very attractive woman and former leader of the stealth squad. Ichigo then runs off to help Hanataro and Ganju fight against Byakuya but before he’s allowed to do so, Yoruichi intervenes. Due to her interference and Ukitake being present, the worst case scenario is avoided. Ichigo now starts his training to unlock his Bankai, the second state of release that a Zanpakuto has. Elsewhere, Ishida uses his trump card to fight the captain of the twelfth division, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, defeating him but giving up his powers in the process. After being given the antidote to Kurotsuchi’s poison he goes towards Rukia but is quickly defeated by the captain of the ninth division, Kaname Tosen. With Sado, Ganju, Ishida, Inoue, Rukia and Renji all caught in some way by the Soul Reapers, we start the second leg of this arc. I wanted to cover quite a bit in this post because things quickly ramp up from here on out. I’ve left out a few details that I will talk about in the nex post, it just makes more sense to move these around a bit. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I’ll see you next week for the next installment!
One of the coolest characters in this show. No doubt about it.
Here we are, episode two of the new Made in Abyss is out. I have my volume 6-8 at the ready behind me to see if I can keep track of what’s been moved around, assuming there is anything. You can find my discussion of last week’s episode here. I talk about what changes were made in the order and my thoughts on them doing so, if you’re curious about that. If not, strap in with me for episode two!
Riko and Meinya are ready for whatever comes their way.
The squad has only just arrived in the sixth layer and Riko almost immediately gets into trouble. Luckily it’s nothing major but it does show that the ground there isn’t walked on too often, seeing as she falls through it with ease. And just like that we jump into the opening, that wasn’t there last week. We see a nice cut of Riko and friends arriving, juxtaposed against the sages and their group arriving. It really gives a sense of adventure and it’s making me realize how much darker the black and white makes everything seem. I’m sure it’s going to get plenty dark as this arc continues, but the lack of color makes everything more eerie I think. Anyway, the opening music is fine but it’s not particularly memorable. I don’t really remember the opening from the first season either. What I do remember is the soundtrack and just like with the first season, Kevin Penkin is on board as a composer for this one too. He recently featured on the Trash Taste Podcastthat I listen to at work and gives some great insight into his process there if you’re interested in that stuff.
I love this parallel the show makes, very well done. So many great little moments in the opening.
From here on out it’s really a mystery what they can find. It is interesting to hear them talk about creatures who can move in all dimensions unbothered by the curse. That immediately gives me the hope that there is a way to negate the curse and freely travel the abyss. It’s probably how Riko’s mom brought her to the surface. The gang finds some strange creatures and their eggs before being barraged by a firestorm of poisonous fire. Riko’s enthusiasm is still endless as they prepare and eat the aforementioned eggs. Riko gets nostalgic about her home and the friends she left behind and they decide to write them a letter. I don’t think the letter is making it all the way up though. The scene ends with a quick look at a character I’m very excited to see more of, spying on the gang.
That’s a bad omen if I’ve ever seen one.
The gang wakes up to some serious creepy problems. Someone managed to retrieve their failed mail balloon, circumvent their protection and leave a threatening letter as well as steal Prushka which was on Riko’s person. Things go from zero to a hundred very fast. They go on the pursuit. Not only that, this person apparently took some of Riko and Nanachi’s hair and then sewed it into the corpse of an animal. We’re reminded that the Abyss doesn’t mess around and isn’t a fun place for a jolly adventure once more. It’s the quieter moments where I’m already starting to notice how much the OST is adding. It’s already so good and so memorable. Just listening to it improves the atmosphere. Across a bridge they see the same symbol that was on the threatening message, so they decide to head there as the music and the sound effects get more ominous. With that in mind they cross the hauntingly beautiful bridge as their adversary watches them from afar.
“If your fears can take shape and manifest in your body then couldn’t your wishes also take shape and become reality?” This line is taken directly from the manga and for good reason, it’s very powerful.The sheer scale of it all has me in awe. It’s impressive that Reg picks up the voice they hear from that distance.
After crossing the bridge and pushing past a barrier we find ourselves at the capital of the unreturned, the golden city, the village of hollows. Strap in folks because things are about to get weird. We meet Majikaja who speaks a combination of broken Japanese and a language completely foreign. They’re in a village surrounded by strange creatures. This episode seems to cover the introductory part of this arc, until about halfway through chapter 40 in early volume 6. We’ve had no more jumps around in the content like last time, but I do still think it’ll be a boon to watchers to have already met Belaf, Wazukyan and Vueko ahead of the rest of the arc. It also makes it so that the opening theme animations make sense. All in all there’s not much I have to add to this episode’s discussion. It’s faithful to the manga, hauntingly beautiful in a way that the manga can’t be without color and sound and makes me very excited to see more of the capital of the unreturned. But for that, we need to come back here next week and do this all over again. Thanks for reading!
Nice to meet you too Majikaja, what a fantastic voice cast choice, they sound so gentle.
A lot of genres seem to eventually get into a groove of sorts. Writers figure out what works and what doesn’t and they adjust their stories to fit the mold. That’s fine and will create many amazing stories. If I’m completely honest with you, that’s for sure what I’m doing with my own story, Hesitant Hero, that’s being posted here weekly (shameless plug activated). Of course everyone gives their spin to it, myself included, but there’s safety in following the norms. But when all is said and done and all cards are on the table sometimes all you need to do is flip the table, yell at everyone else in the room and leave to go do your own thing. Who needs certainty and a working formula when you can instead have an utterly ridiculous setup and execute on it brilliantly.
I love her, she’s the best!
Ladies, gentlemen and others, I am of course talking about the recently finished Paripi Koumei (Ya Boy Kongming). Zhuge Liang (Kongming) is a famous tactician from the three kingdoms era. After living his life advising his lord he is about to die. His only wish is for his next life to be a more peaceful one. A moment passes and Kongming suddenly finds himself in a completely unfamiliar place surrounded by all sorts of strangeness. It turns out his wishes have been heard and he was transported, as a younger version of himself, to modern day Shinjuku. That’s right, our esteemed tactician finds himself in the party center of Tokyo with no idea what’s going on. Luckily his wit is quick and he manages to fit in almost immediately.
This scene somehow reminded me of Carole & Tuesday. The quiet musical moments are the best ones.
Making fast friends with the local drunks and quickly figuring out this is the future, he finds himself in a local club where he hears the bar staff, Eiko, perform a song live. Kongming is enthralled by her music and vows to help her conquer the world. And of course the manager of this club is a massive history nerd, because why wouldn’t he be. The two hit it off and Kongming makes quick friends with Eiko. Together they set off to perform on bigger and bigger stages with the goal of world peace.
This show has to be the easiest to take screenshots from, just the opening more or less suffices.
To do this they must first get some recognition. Kongming is an expert strategist when it comes to war, but do these skills also translate to managing a singer? Well, Eiko is talented but she’s far from done with her career. There’s some things they’re going to need and Kongming is on the job. Each episode gives us a little bit of three kingdoms lore, which is a neat addition. Kongming is a quirky person that is just a joy to see on screen every single time. Eiko’s design is gorgeous and I like her singing a lot although she does keep singing the same song over and over again. One thing that a different musical anime; Carole & Tuesday, did really well is add in new songs regularly. I understand that this would take a lot more effort, but I feel like it would have enhanced the show.
Nanami Kuon is one of many amazing supporting characters and has an amazing voice.
The second half introduces several fun characters and a competition to get a ticket to a big stage. I won’t talk about it much more than that because of spoilers. The animation and art are fine, nothing to write home about but some of the dance scenes are pretty decent. Idol shows do it better, but this isn’t a show you watch for the crazy animation quality so I’ll allow it. What really, really stands out, and is the main reason I picked up this show in the first place (and I’m sure I’m not the only one) is the opening song. The song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” by Queendom is an entrancing eurobeat inspired song that just makes you happy. I’ve linked the song here because unfortunately I’m not a talented enough writer to put into words how amazing this song is. It’s accompanied by beautiful animation and just steals the show. The ending is amazing too and it just wrap this show up in a blanket of musical awesomeness.
We can’t forget about the history lessons put here and there to supplement the story.
If Spy x Family wasn’t airing this season, Ya Boy Kongming would have been my pick for anime of the season without a doubt, so I’ll give it an honorary anime of the season award instead. Easily an 8 or 9 out of 10 show for me, and if you haven’t seen it yet I hope this review has convinced you to go watch it. This isn’t a show you’ll forget about, but one you’ll keep thinking back to years after you’ve seen it. Thanks for reading!
My oh my it’s here and I still don’t know how to feel about it. I recently finished this arc of Made in Abyss in the manga, seeing that the English volumes are a little bit behind the Japanese ones for obvious reasons. I think Made in Abyss might be the only manga I’ve ever read where I’m not quite sure what I read but I am sure it made me feel something. Immediately hopping into the episode we’re introduced to our three sages: Wazukyan, Belaf and Vueko. One thing to note, in the manga these characters are introduced in volume 8. The Made in Abyss anime season covers volumes 1-3, where the movie covers volumes 4-5. This means the anime is changing the order of things a little bit, but I think it makes sense to have this introduction at the start of a season. It’s at the start of a new volume as well in the manga. We’ll see how it pans out in the long run though.
This scene has definitely been toned down in anime, it felt more brutal in the manga for sure. I think we’ll see that a lot.
Vueko has quite the traumatic past, being abused by the man she lived with, before joining up with Wazukyan and his people after giving him the compass. The man who was with her had this compass and found it on a charred ship with strange corpses. The compass points somewhat down and the theory is that if you get to where it points straight down you’ll find the golden city at the bottom of a large pit. Wazukyan sets out with a fleet of ships to find the island the Abyss is on and after losing every single other ship their ship luckily makes it to the island where they find a massive pit at the center of it. This is of course the Abyss we know from the previous seasons that Riko, Reg, Nanachi and Prushka are traveling down into.
Introducing the remaining two sages; Belaf(left) and Wazukyan(right)
After the title card we find ourselves with the locals on the island, trading and talking with our travelers. Vueko trades her compass for help from the village chief. Here we learn that the Golden City is also called The capital of the Unreturned (Shourou). The villagers tell the sages that the city exists but you can’t return from it. On the edge of the pit they’re joined by a little girl who’s seemingly been exiled by the tribe. She has tattoos that indicate she can’t bear children and is thus exiled to the pit. Vueko pleads to allow the girl to travel with them and Wazukyan seems to be high most of his life and doesn’t really care. Not long after the first victims start to fall and we learn that the abyss has a curse. This refers to not being able to go up as soon as you go down into the abyss. Scary place.
We travel past some of the highlights we saw in season 1, which is cool to see. And then we hard cut to Reg and Riko in the same place. I didn’t see that coming, but what a great cut. Going back to my first paragraph I think they made the right decision to move things around a bit. The entire first 17 minutes of this episode cover just a single chapter but I think it’s done well. I remember thinking in the volume that it was going super fast and I wasn’t following along properly and it seems like they tried avoiding that here. In the volume we also see more of the sages’ journey at this point, but it seems like we’re back at volume 6 now.
Poor thing.And we’re back to the main cast.
I’ve missed these little rugrats and I can’t wait to see them return to their journey in an animated form. Riko now has Prushka with her in whistle form. She’s now officially a white whistle although down this deep I suppose no one really cares if you should or shouldn’t be there. We descend through the sea of corpses which immediately gives off that creepy vibe that Made in Abyss is famous for. I can’t stress enough that this series is hauntingly brutal. As to highlight the insanity we immediately jump to a scene of Riko pooping. I can never tell if this series is messing with us or not, it’s just weird as hell all the time. We see Meinya again, who was Prushka’s pet and is now traveling with the group. And just like that we reach the exit of the sea of corpses and are well and truly in the thick of things. We’ve made it all the way to the so-called golden city, the capital of the unreturned. I’m going to wager a guess and say this anime covers up to the end of volume 10, which is a total of five volumes. Doing that in 12 episodes seems unlikely, so I’m guessing there will either be 24 episodes or two separate cours of 12? I couldn’t find a concrete answer to this on google, but otherwise they would end season two in the middle of a story arc.
The haunting sea of corpses
And there we have it, episode one of the new season of Made in Abyss. It’s been a little while since I did one of there episode review series, but they seem to be popular on other bloggers’ pages and although I didn’t want to just do this for any random show, because there’s already people who do this better than me, I did want to do it for a show I’m this invested in, because I have the manga sitting right behind me. Let me know what you think of the first episode, and if you like that I’m talking about the manga alongside it. Don’t worry, I’ll not put any spoilers in here and only talk about changes from the manga and which volumes/chapters things line up with. As always thanks for reading and I hope to see you all again here next week!
From the very first moment this show started I was immediately transported back to my early anime watching days. In particular I was reminded of one anime that is very near and dear to my heart and I should definitely rewatch in the near future; Barakamon. The setup is similar in a way, but very different in other ways. A young man goes (back) to the countryside to work on a craft and ends up having to take care of a young child. But I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. Let’s talk a little bit about this season’s standout slice of life anime: Deaimon.
He’s a little bit over the top, but he’s a good egg.
Nagomu has been living and studying in Tokyo for a while but returns home to his family’s Dagashiya – traditional candy store – when he learns his father has been hospitalized. Ready to finally take over the family business, he finds that this position is going to someone else. A young girl called Itsuka, who has been left with the family to take care of by her father. Nagomu doesn’t let it get to him and instead slowly – and with slowly I mean blink and you miss it, this man’s optimism knows no bounds – becomes a father figure for her. The story follows the two characters and their bond that’s slowly growing over time as well as several fun and interesting side characters.
Deaimon hits that sweet spot where it can be dramatic and griping without ever feeling oppressive. Some drama slice of life shows can feel oppressive in how dramatic they get. That isn’t a bad thing per se, but not always what you want out of a show. Sometimes it’s nice when you know any problems get resolved pretty quickly. Nagomu is a very likable character, Itsuka is a likable yet also believable character (children in anime can often feel overly mature for their age which takes me out of the story). The side characters are fun and it’s just a nice watch. I highly recommend this one folks.
Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road
It’s the Isekai flavor of the month, ladies and gentlemen. In a world where otherworlders are considered a plague because they end up getting too powerful and go crazy after a while, the church of the land spends its time killing any new people summoned to avoid future catastrophes. Menou is one such priestess and she’s tasked with killing the two newly summoned high schoolers. The first boy gets killed very quickly and efficiently. The second girl gets fatally stabbed without much issue too. Except this girl has the power of time control. And when she dies, time just reverts to before she is killed. She can revert time for herself and for the entire world, from the looks of it.
The real stars of the show
Thus we end up following Menou as she tells Akari that she’s bringing her to the central church and then a sanctuary where she’ll be safe, while secretly she’s trying to find a way to kill her. This show often feels like it’s trying to do something interesting but doesn’t do it well enough for it to actually have any impact. If I were to venture a guess, the heroes didn’t go crazy on their own and caused catastrophes but instead were driven to do so by an outside force. But since this is a 12 episode show, we don’t ever get to that point. I found Momo and the princess’ little side story that we’re presented with from time to time a lot more interesting than the main story. Momo being Menou’s understudy and the princess just being a wildcard trying to figure things out on her own. All in all I stuck by this anime for the entire season because I knew it wasn’t going to overstay its welcome too much. If you’re on the fence about this one, I recommend just skipping out on it, it’s not all that great in my opinion.
Love after world domination
If it isn’t Romeo and Julliet for the millionth time. Fortunately for us, this version of the tale is done surprisingly well and is highly enjoyable. Fudo is a member of the prestigious super hero organization of Gelato 5. He is the Red Gelato, which is clearly a spoof on the power rangers. Meanwhile Desumi is a member of the evil organization Gecko, where she is known as the merciless reaper princess. These two organizations often clash in spectacular battles that the media covers regularly. What’s not covered is that during a lot of these fights Desumi and Fudo sneak away to go on a date together. Sometime after they first met they ended up liking each other and started dating while hiding it from everyone else. Hilarity ensues.
Oh my god I love her design so much.
These shows ride or die on how likable the cast is and how witty the humor is. This could have very well been an extremely underwhelming show but because both of the main characters are lovable idiots but not so dumb that it gets grating, the show instead just becomes fun to watch. There’s your regular misunderstanding, there’s people finding out and there’s even some interesting side characters, mainly on Desumi’s side of the story, that help flesh out the entire story. The main focus is the romance of the two main characters which is growing steadily. They secretly go on dates, learn more about each other and Desumi even invites Fudo over to her dorm room which is in the center of Gecko territory. There’s hijinxes at school where several of Desumi’s coworkers also go to school, and we even have a visit from Desumi’s family, which includes a sister who used to look up to her but is going through a phase right now. All things considered this fun, light hearted anime does what it set out to do pretty well and doesn’t overstay its welcome at all. I highly recommend it if you’re look for a rom com this season.
I promise you that you’ll fall in love with these two very quickly, they’re such fun characters.
And there you have it, folks. Three more shows reviewed, with a few more coming. Let me know if there’s any other shows you’d like to see a quick review on. I have some shows planned for a longer review instead, so this might be the last one for this season, but I expect to watch more shows next season. I’ll probably have enough room to do two of these for just sequels alone, the season is going to be absolutely stacked with Overlord, The devil is a part-timer, Rental Girlfriend and even more Dr Stone. Are there any new shows I absolutely shouldn’t skip out on? Please let me know in the comments down below and as always, thanks for reading.
Whenever I do (quick) reviews I tend to exclude sequels. Mainly because most people have either chosen to watch or not watch the original of the series. This time around I had an opinion on three sequels this season that I wanted to get out, so I figured I’d combine them. I’ll try and avoid major spoilers for all of the titles involved but I will have to talk about some things to convey my opinion. These reviews are of the series so far and if I think they’re worth watching. Now without further ado, let’s get to it.
Kaguya-sama: Love is war – Ultra Romantic
The third season of Kaguya-sama feels very similar to the first two seasons, which is good or bad depending on how much you liked the first two seasons. A quick anecdote about myself. I watched early Kaguya-sama right after I got rejected by a girl. I wasn’t very good about dealing with that situation and felt very sad at the time. At that time, watching this convoluted romantic comedy was extremely painful so I dropped it early on. When season 2 was announced I gave the anime another chance and found the first season to be pretty decent. I was in a different headspace at that point so it was fine then. This isn’t particularly relevant to anyone, but I just felt like sharing it.
I know that this image says nothing about the show per se, but it’s a nice shot and has no spoilers. It’s from the ending, which is very good as always.
Kaguya-sama tells the story of Shinomiya Kaguya and her fellow classmates and friends. She’s going to a very prestigious academy where most students come from affluent backgrounds. Kaguya has fallen for the school president, Shirogane Miyuki, who in turn has fallen for her. The story is set up around the thought that whoever confesses their feelings first loses the war. Hence the title. The characters spend three seasons dancing around each other in an attempt to not share their feelings while desperately wanting to share their feelings. Misunderstandings galore. What makes the show bearable for me are the characters of Fujiwara Chika and Ishigami Yu. The main cast isn’t really that interesting to me. It gives me a similar feeling to the TV show Friends. It’s fun for a little while, but eventually you realize everyone’s just being a terrible person. No one is particularly likable and I find myself not really rooting for anyone. Chika is mostly comic relief which is actually quite funny at times and Ishigami’s pessimism, although very extreme, does kind of resonate with me. I think my favorite character over all is Hayasaka, who serves as Kaguya’s maid and gets embroiled in a lot of her bullshittery.
The titular Kaguya. Her design is very well done and absolutely adorable, but half of the show I just can’t stand her as a character.
The show does end on a high note, and I did enjoy the final episode more than I expected. To be honest with you, I’d already written my review of it and had to go back to add this tidbit in. The final episode surprised me and it seemed unfair not to mention that. All in all, I’d say Kaguya-sama does what it wants to do extremely well and if you like season 1 you’ll like the sequel seasons just as much. It’s not my cup of tea per se but it’s good enough for me to keep watching it. If you want a solid romcom with interesting characters then you should give this one a watch. Also, the opening themes are certified bangers and extremely memorable.
Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part III
I first discovered Bookworm when a good friend of mine recommended interesting Isekai manga to me. The one I ended up picking up was bookworm and I read it for a little while before dropping it. The manga felt a bit slow. The anime on the other hand has a better pace going for it. Bookworm follows Myne, a young girl who has a dangerous sickness that only nobles can help cure. It’s more complicated than that, but let’s keep it simple. Being a bookworm in her past life, even going so far as to die when bookcases crushed her, she felt bad not being able to read books in this new world. So the young girl set out on a quest to make her own books in a world where they’re not readily available. Things unfortunately don’t quite go as easily as she would hope. Many things stand in Myne’s way. Luckily she quickly finds some allies along the way but when the people who wield a lot of power are the ones in your way, maybe things won’t go as you planned. Her childhood friend becomes a close ally and so does her father and a local merchant. Myne has taken over from the real Myne, so to speak, who died of her illness and then Myne’s soul from our world took over the body. Really sad when you look at it that way.
Myne is regularly casting strong prayer magic since she has such talent for it. I wonder if the story will eventually see her become her own person as opposed to a tool for the people around her. I think that would be a cool direction to go but I doubt it.
Still, Myne is determined to succeed in her quest to make books. I think what I really enjoy about Bookworm compared to other Isekai shows is that it’s really unique and that in a lot of situations the main character is fairly powerless. Not always, and when Myne is at her best it’s super satisfying to watch, but in many situations a small child is only going to be able to do so much. Myne is likable and the complicated political structure of the world she lives in is very interesting and well thought out. With this show I think it’s safe to say that it gets better as the seasons continue. The scale in season one is quite small but as things progress everything gets more intertwined and by the end of season three we’re at the center of a political mess that’s not easy to escape. The political aspect of this show really sells it for me so the fact that we keep seeing more of it is a definite boon for the series. If you like drama, isekai and politics this is the show for you. The artstyle and animation are not great in my opinion, but it’s not too distracting either. I think anyone who is at least curious after this description should give the show a watch.
The Rising of the shield hero 2nd season.
I was listening to the Trash Taste podcast on spotify while I was working the other day. The episode in question had a guest; Kevin Penkin. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he’s an Australian composer who is most famous for doing the soundtrack for Made in Abyss as well as Rising of the Shield Hero. Except I’d forgotten that he also did Shield Hero. So needless to say I went through some of the OST and it’s really good. Which is fortunate for my opinion on the show because the rest of it is not really good. Let’s dive into the third and final show for the day.
The rising of the Shield Hero follows Iwatani Naofumi, who is summoned to a fantasy world as the Shield Hero. One of four Cardinal heroes tasked with saving the world from waves, which are enemy invasions. Early on in the show, Naofumi gets betrayed by the princess of the kingdom and very quickly becomes alienated and ostracized by everyone. With a useless shield as his powerful weapon he quickly starts despairing. Fueled by anger, Naofumi decides that buying up slaves is his best plan to get stronger and thus he comes across Raphtalia, a young demi-human who becomes his first party member. He trains with her and she quickly becomes stronger and they develop a bond. They’re joined by several other female (see the pattern?) party members which includes an angelic bird lolicon character who is extremely annoying. The first season of Shield Hero isn’t even all that bad. I suppose in hindsight the signs were there already but back when I watched season one I didn’t think it was a bad show. I enjoyed the first half a lot and although the second half felt a bit more forced, I was excited for season 2 to start.
Yeah, it’s like that I guess. It’s one thing to have the slave owner try and moralize their actions as being one of the good ones (which is still a very false narrative) but to have people just say they want to be slaves is psychotic and bad writing in my opinion. If it were explored as a serious mental health issue on her end later it’d be different, but it’s not.
Then season 2 started and I realized very quickly that this wasn’t a good show. At least not the kind of show I enjoy. The characters weren’t particularly interesting to me and I realized that the show really struggles with figuring out if slavery is good or bad. I think the show thinks it’s good, which is really weird to watch unfold. It does that thing in anime that I hate, which is constantly taking characters away from the main party. It can be done well, like in One Piece’s Enies Lobby arc, but most of the time it just feels forced, annoying and is done to create tension knowing it’ll all end up alright. Shield Hero falls very flat on several points this season and at this point I think there’s just better Isekai shows out there. It’s hard to suggest the second season but I still think season 1 is worth a watch. Early Shield Hero was quite enjoyable and like I said early on, the soundtrack is very good.
I just wanted to highlight that this has to be the dumbest person I’ve ever seen in anime, it’s impressive how stupid this guy is.
And that’s all I have to say about that. I considered putting Komi-san in this review too, but now that I’ve gotten to this point the review is already super long and that just feels like overkill. Komi-san is really good, just go watch it. I already talked about it here. As always, this is my opinion, I know people like different things, so if you’re unsure watch the shows to see for yourself. Thanks for reading!
So for those of you unaware, Bo Burnham recently posted an outtakes video to his special “Inside” It was a lot of material that just wasn’t used during the special but still interesting to watch. I watched the entire thing and thought it was pretty funny, but obviously it didn’t have the same kind of quality as the special itself. It did give us two new songs though, which I want to take a quick moment to talk about.
First let’s talk about the song “Five Years.” Five years tells the story of a relationship that’s still going strong after five years. It talks about the small things in a relationship that can be annoying. The first example given is about sharing food. This is a huge pet peeve of mine that I struggle with. I have no issue with sharing with others per se. But if I expect to have a certain amount of food/drink for myself and then that changes, that can really annoy me. If I know there’ll be people, I’ll just get more food/drinks to cover everyone. So I’d like to think it’s less selfishness and more dealing with expectations. Am I weird for that? Bo doesn’t seem to think so, at least.
I also love the spider joke about feminism. I’m terrified of spiders as well so if a partner told me to be a man and deal with it I’d tell them to piss off as well. Maybe more politely than that.
What’s most interesting about this song to me personally, which is a bit off-topic, is that I’ve seen many reviewers say that it’s reminiscent of Drake’s music. I can definitely see why that is, but even though I think Drake’s music is extremely overrated and very uninteresting I do like this song a lot. I suppose it’s the comedy and Bo’s voice that make it click for me, but I thought it was interesting that I liked it even though this style of music really isn’t for me generally.
The little voicemail at the start of the song is funny as well, with Bo expressing the feeling we often get when people ask questions. Why didn’t you Google it yourself? I don’t know most things, and a search website is your best friend in that case. Can I just say that the ability to quickly search for any information is just incredible. My dad had to fix the kitchen walls before adding in a new kitchen and he just put up a guide on Youtube and voila. It’s crazy. The internet and its borderline unlimited library of information has to be the most impressive advancement we’ve done in a while.
All in all, this song is great but I can see why it doesn’t fit in the special itself. I think Bo’s idea behind it was to describe a relationship while being inside, but it feels more general than that, if that makes sense. This song doesn’t feel like it’s part of the greater narrative of inside. It’s just describing a relationship in a normal time. All of Inside’s songs are more relevant to the pandemic in my opinion. Still a very solid song.
The second song released is the very melancholic “The chicken.”
The story talks about a chicken, unsurprisingly, who is unhappy in her life. She has big dreams but she’s a mother of two and stuck in this relationship. The husband’s screams give me the idea that it’s not a happy relationship. She makes her great escape.
She then crosses the terrifying road between her and her dream. It’s left ambiguous what happens to the chicken, if she makes it across or not.
I’m not feeling this song as much as the other one if I’m honest. The message doesn’t really jive with me and the song itself isn’t my style either. I think out of all the songs we’ve heard from the special and the outtakes, this is probably my least favorite. I’ve seen other people say this would have been a great addition to the special which I think is cool. Art is dead, I mean subjective, so it’s only logical that people have a different opinion on things. At the end of the day, Bo decided this song was good enough to release but not as a part of the special itself. I think that was probably the right decision.
I can go for a few years on the content that Bo gave us with all of this. I even ordered some of his new merch, which I’m very happy about. It’ll arrive next month. Quick tangent, but why the hell do American websites show prices before taxes? It’s so dumb. Once you factor in VAT and shipping the price almost doubles. Is this how they trick people into buying more expensive things than they want or can Americans just do quick math in their head and add the VAT? Over here in Europe the price on the ticket is the price you pay. Oh well, I don’t buy from the US a lot so it’s rarely an issue, but that makes it that much more of a surprise when it does happen.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the two new songs by Bo. He’s one of my favorite, if not my all time favorite, comedians, so I’m always very happy when he uploads something. There’s more songs from the album on Spotify as well but I feel like the videos add so much more that I only considered talking about the ones on Youtube today. Let me know what you think about them and as always, thanks for reading.
There have been a lot of romantic comedy shows that follow a similar template lately. There’s a guy and a girl, and the girl almost always has a quirk of sorts that makes her unique. It’s a pretty simple concept that’s fairly popular. Uzaki-chan from Uzaki-chan wa asobitai is constantly teasing our main character, Nagatoro from Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is flat out bullying her senpai, Aharen san from Aharen-san wa Hakarenai speaks at an extremely low volume and Komi from Komi-san can’t communicate has a communication disorder that makes it so she can’t speak and gets social anxiety.
Now I won’t argue that any of these shows is better than the others. I have my opinions on this, but I also feel like a lot of it depends on your personal preferences. I know that Nagatoro is very popular and well received but I couldn’t stand watching the show at all. I’ve also heard some reviewers say that Komi-san gets boring quickly which I would disagree with. But seeing as that’s the show we’re talking about today I figure that doesn’t come as a surprise to you.
It’s a very strange feeling to have, doing something perfectly normal but worrying that you somehow did something wrong.
Komi Shoko is a beautiful high school student that everyone looks up to. Her presence changes the entire atmosphere in a room. She’s so impressive that she doesn’t even have to speak up for people to understand what she’s trying to say. Well, it’s of course not as simple as it seems. Komi-san can’t speak because of her communication disorder. It’s kind of similar to a form of social anxiety which makes it so that she can’t speak at all and gets anxiety when spoken to. There are many disorders in this vein and it’s a different experience for every person, but I think for those of us who have struggled with social contacts in the past, Komi can be very relatable.
The story follows Tadano-kun, Komi’s classmate who is the first one to really figure out what Komi is struggling with. Komi really wants to make friends in high school, at least a hundred, and Tadano-kun is her first friend. Not only that, he’s completely committed to helping her make even more friends. They quickly add more people to the group which include the hyper social Najimi-kun, the sociopathic popular girl Yamai Ren and the masochistic girl Akari. From there on out their high school life continues and they start adding more and more people to their friend group. The school they’re a part of only allows interesting students, whatever that means. Most of the students we meet during this show are quirky at the least and insane at the most. There’s a guy who’s just a ninja, there’s a girl that wants to compete with everything and as the story progresses we also meet Katai-kun who is very intimidating looking even though he’s super shy on the inside and looks up to Komi as a paragon of social skills. Yeah, the show has it’s fair share of misunderstandings, but in my opinion it never gets overdone to the point where it becomes annoying.
The driving forces that make this anime shine, at least in my opinion, are the relationship that slowly develops between Tadano and Komi, as well as the depictions of the situations that Komi struggles with. I want to dive into one of the scenes the anime covered because as someone with social anxiety that one hit a little bit too close to home.
This is not okay, and you know it.
As many of you who read my blog regularly know, I’m autistic and social skills didn’t come naturally to me. I’d like to think I’m reasonable at them now, I’m teaching high school so I need to at least have the basics down right? In this particular scene, Komi is going to the library to pick up a book. She’s however unsure about the procedure for checking out the book and taking it with her. So instead she just kind of wanders around while thinking up a plan, unsuccessfully. I legitimately felt my heart sink during that scene, since I’ve been in the exact same situation when I was younger. Wandering around a place gathering up the courage to talk to someone or deal with a situation is one of the most relatable experiences I can think of when it comes to my social anxiety and I just feel like Komi-san nailed this feeling. I’d like to think the author themselves has experienced some form of this social anxiety because I’d find it very impressive for someone who’s never gone through these kinds of feelings to write something that feels so real and accurate.
There was no need to call me out like that, okay?
Unfortunately, not everything about this anime is great. I mentioned the sociopathic popular girl Yamai Ren earlier during the review. She’s very much obsessed with Komi and for me the character definitely crosses the line several times. To give an example, early on during the series she kidnaps Tadano to keep him away from Komi. There’s more she gets up to, but I just find her extremely creepy, annoying and it kind of takes away from the otherwise fun and relatable vibe that the show has going for it. Even though it deals with anxiety, I find it very calming to watch this show most of the time. If you’re like me and you have a history of social anxiety, I highly recommend Komi-san can’t communicate. With its second season being well underway and in my opinion going strong and being even better than the first season at times I think now is a good time to get into this series.
We all did, Tadano, we all did.
But let me know what you think in the comments down below. Maybe you don’t like Komi-san at all and find it very unrelatable, or maybe you even feel uncomfortable watching a story about a subject like this. I’m very curious to hear your opinions. And as always, thanks for reading.
Opal Kaharis 