If you’ve been following this blog along for the past few years, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of slice of life shows. Shows in which the plot doesn’t really move forward at all, but characters just kind of exist in the world they live in. What’s vital to the success of these kinds of shows is how interesting the world they live in is. This can be achieved by creating compelling characters, a world you want to explore or a vibe that just makes you feel at ease. If anyone ever figures out how to create good vibes consistently, please teach me. This does bring me to today’s topic: Ousama Ranking (Ranking of Kings). This was my favorite show of 2022 and right now it has a spin-off season in Treasure Chest of Courage. Three episodes have aired so far and I think that’s enough to give my thoughts on it, for those of you who might still be on the fence about watching it.
It’s more Ranking of Kings, what’s not to like?
Let’s start off with the obvious question; do you need to watch Ousama Ranking to be able to enjoy this spin-off season? Well… Yes, that’s probably for the best. A lot of these scenes take place during things that happen in the first season, and although none of it is hard to grasp on its own, it’s one of those scenarios where there’s really not much here if you’re not already invested in this world and its characters. If you’re considering watching this spin-off without watching the first season, then I think you’ve got your priorities wrong. But now you’ve gone away for a day or two and watched the first season of Ousama Ranking, should you watch this spin-off?
Ever accidentally come across an oasis of strange creatures that don’t seem to follow any logic?
Let’s get the intent of this season out of the way. I knew there was more Ousama Ranking coming, but hadn’t done all too much research. It was only after I read some posts online that I realized this wasn’t a direct continuation but more a side story filling in gaps in the story of season 1. I was a little bit disappointed, but I also immediately had to think of the spin-off for Tensura, which quickly became one of my favorite shows of all time. So with that in mind I gave the show a try and I was pleasantly surprised. So far it hasn’t blown me away nearly as much as Tensura’s spin-off did, but that’s a hard one to follow up. What did immediately catch my interest is the fact that this show actually seems to fill in some gaps in the main story. The first episode didn’t get this through nearly enough to get me invested, but by the time we’ve reached the third episode, we’ve gotten solid insight into several of the characters in this show, learning things we didn’t know before that are 100% relevant to the main story. To give a clear example of this, we had no idea really who Ann was in season 1, and why she suddenly showed up alongside Hilling. Here we learn that she was an adventurer that used to travel with Hilling when she was still an adventuring cleric, before becoming queen. We pretty easily accepted this fact in season 1 as something that just kind of happened, but getting more insight into these two characters and what they mean to each other was definitely a pleasant bonus.
I’m sorry, but Bojji showing off a book to baby Daida is so stupidly adorable that it’s almost unfair. I loved this scene.
With all of that said, I think it’s pretty obvious what my recommendation is. I enjoyed every second of Ousama Ranking and I’ve so far been fairly invested in this spin-off too. If you like Slice of Life shows and if you liked the first season of this one, then I think you’ll like this show as well. The voice acting is as solid as ever and the enchanting art style from the first season has been converted to the second season. I admit I almost exclusively watch subs, but if you’re a dub person the Kage is once again reprised by the very talented Sungwon Cho (ProZD) and his voice is amazing. All in all, I figured I’d talk about this show because I think the first episode left something to be desired and people might have dropped it after that, even though it immediately got much better in the second episode. Are you watching this show? What do you think of it so far? Let me know in the comments down below and thanks for reading.
I know that we’ve already done two of these at the tailend of the winter season, but I watched a whopping 28 shows that season which means there’s still things left to talk about. If you missed the first two quick reviews I did, you can find them here and here. If you’re all caught up then let me take you on one last trip through four shows that I watched last season. I will say these are some of the shows I didn’t enjoy as much, so my opinion on them will probably be a bit less positive. With all of that out of the way, let’s get started.
Farming Life in another world
Okay, I lied, it’s back to enjoyable anime whether you like it or not punks! Farming life in another world adds to the genre that I love of shows where not all that much happens and everyone just kind of has a good time partying in a strange world. Hiraku dies and god sends him for a second chance in a world filled with monsters. He was accidentally sent to a dangerous region but with his almighty farming tool he has it easy. One of the dumb reasons I laughed at this show’s first episode is because it reminded me of the golden hoe in minecraft. I used to watch Roosterteeth back in the day (like seven controversies ago) and they’d make fun of the gold hoe from time to time since it’s an item that’s pretty useless but it has hoe in it so it’s funny. I’d like to think we’ve all matured since then but I wasn’t raised a liar. Hiraku is joined by many people, vampires, angels, elves, dragons and many more. They all just kind of get along though and live the easy life on a farm in the woods. Watching this show feels like playing Stardew Valley. If that doesn’t convince you, nothing will. Having said all that, it’s not a memorable show by any means. I can name several shows that do the same concept better and if you’re looking for something that will stick with you, this isn’t it. But coming home from a long day and watching twenty minutes of farming and living it up is pretty nice, so I’ll leave the decision up to you.
The good news is: you’re not ill.
In/Spectre 2nd Season
I enjoyed this show a lot more than I expected I would. I remembered the main duo very well from the first season, since they’re peculiar characters to say the least, but I can’t say the plot stuck with me particularly well. Two episodes into the second season I was definitely interested again. Kotoko is still very much a crazy character. She’s scary when she wants to be an horny when she wants to (which is often. Kuro is stoic but not in a boring way. I especially enjoyed the Yuki Onna sidestory that went for a few episodes. Unfortunately the murder mystery arc didn’t grab my interest at all. Barring a few outrageous comments from Kotoko that made me laugh out loud, I just didn’t care for any of the characters involved in that mini arc. It does paint a picture of a fun manga series that I might pick up in the future. Check it out if you like eccentric characters and fantasy mysteries. It has two seasons by now, so there’s quite a bit of content.
She fits into the trope of looking young but being older, but she’s actually mature because she’s an adult. It’s a weird character and I’m not sure I really mind in this case. I’ve known people like this, they can be a hassle at times to deal with.
The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady.
Gee, I wonder if this one’s based on a light novel. The title kind of explains it all, not much left to say. This show didn’t really grab me all that much but I think it’s a very good case of Isekai done wrong. That doesn’t mean that the isekai done wrong is making the show bad. What I mean by that is that I don’t think the Isekai-aspect of this show adds any value to it. Euphyllia could just as well be from this world and not much would change. As a matter of fact, I don’t even remember what about this show was Isekai? Perhaps it was mentioned in the first episode and then never touched upon again? Either way, Euphy and Anisphia are fun characters on their own, but the attempt at a romance just didn’t feel natural to me. For starters, Euphy is just very forceful and sends the wrong message about how things go, but I just didn’t see anything between them. In my head they were more akin to good friends, but maybe I’m just bad at parsing this information. I wouldn’t recommend this show per se, but if you like a fantasy story about girls, perhaps this could be up your alley.
I was looking for a good screengrab to represent this show but instead I came across a very relatable one. The most exhausting days teaching are the ones where I’m barely teaching and instead doing administrative work all day.
The angel next door spoils me rotten
I thought I was going to like this show. A wholesome romance between two neighbors sounds right up my alley. But I think I’m either getting jaded or this show just didn’t hit the right notes for me. I found a lot of their relationship growth to be grating to watch. Maybe it’s the whole “we’re basically dating for like nine out of twelve episodes but refuse to actively admit to it.” schtick that I’m getting bored of. I don’t know. The characters in this show just didn’t do it for me. I feel like a lot of the drama that got set up early in the show also never actually got resolved, we’re just sort of expected to forget it. My guess is that the source material might cover a lot more and this stuff is saved for later in the story, but as an anime it just didn’t hold up for me. There were better romance shows in this same season.
They’re like 14 but behave like a married couple. Always struck me as a bit odd.
And I think I’m going to keep it at these four. The rest of the shows were so not interesting to me (or sequels, which I try to avoid for these most of the time), so this is what you’re getting. That means I’m done with the winter season and need to think of new content soon. Shit. I’m joking of course, I already have some plans. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’m planning to rewatch some shows I haven’t watched in (almost) a decade to see how they hold up. I’ll get back to you on those. It’s May break after all, and I’ve earned. But now that I’ve covered a total of 15 shows (here, here and here), let me know if I’ve missed anything from the winter season that you recommend to me. You be the blogger now! Anyway, thanks for reading.
Today we’re looking at the 15th Volume of One Piece. Last week we read about the conclusion to Mr. 3’s candle wax statue and this week we continue to finish up the little garden arc. It turns out both giants are still alive. Their weapons are old and haven’t been able to properly deal enough damage. It makes sense, if you don’t take care of your equipment for a century of course it’s going to wither and get weaker. It’s a miracle it didn’t break much earlier. Sanji continues his phone call with Sir. Crocodile and swiftly deals with the Unluckies who are sent to check up on him. Crocodile tells Ms. All Sunday – whom we’ve seen before – do figure out what happened and send Mr. 2 to deal with Mr. 3. Not a very efficient method of running an organization, if you keep disposing of anyone who’s even remotely underperforming.
We have a quick interlude telling us that Smoker and Tashigi are on their way to Arabasta to deal with whatever problem is arising there. There’s a rebellion happening and it sounds like Mr. Zero might be involved. The crew gets ready to depart with the eternal pose that Sanji took from the Unluckies. The two giants send them off by killing the giant sea monster that was keeping other people from leaving the island. The crew is now well on their way to Arabasta. I’m sure they won’t stop on the way there and run into trouble at all.
On their way to Arabasta, the crew runs into trouble. For starters, Nami gets sick and that’s pretty bad. It’s a good thing they’ve picked up Vivi because none of the other geniuses on this crew know how to handle anything that isn’t fighting. They try to find an island with a doctor, but all they find is Wapol and his pirate crew, attacking them. They’re looking for Drum island, which is an island with no name apparently. They make their way to this island after dealing with Wapol and there they get led to the village by Dalton, the village mayor. Drum is a snow kingdom and the only living doctor on the island is a witch apparently. We’re off to a great start. I love how Oda flexes his wacky world building here in Drum by having a bear that’s a mountaineer and apparently it’s polite to bow to this bear. Those kinds of lore things don’t have to be included in a story like this but the fact that they are makes it that much more fun to read.
In their unending wisdom, Luffy and Sanji decide to stroll up the mountain with Nami on Luffy’s back. To be fair, the alternative wasn’t much better but it still seems like an insane thing to do. They strap in and go on their way. Dalton then introduces a very important name to us: Blackbeard. Apparently the pirate named Blackbeard and four of his crew members invaded Drum Island recently and kicked out the king, Wapol. Blackbeard is a character that we’ll hear a lot about in the future, so we won’t talk about him too much, but it is cool to see how early Oda put in some of these characters. There’s a lot of lore happening already that we get to see again in chapters far in the future from what we’re talking about. But let’s go back to the present and continue with this particular volume.
I recently watched an episode of the Trash Taste podcast where one of my favorite political streamers, Hasanabi, was a guest. He talked about One Piece quite a bit and about how overtly political of a story it is. It kind of blew my mind that the guys on the Trash Taste podcast didn’t find this nearly as obvious, so let’s dive a little bit into that next week. For now, we get an explanation as to why Dr. Kureha is the only doctor on the island. The rest of them all work for Wapol who has just found his way back to the island.
We learn a little bit about Kureha and her assistant, a reindeer by the name of Tony Tony Chopper. They’re currently curing a child over in a village a little ways out from where the crew is. While Luffy and Sanji are fighting murderous rabbits on the snowy mountain, the doctor was so close all along. It seems pretty dire, especially when we look at a preview for the next volume where Luffy has bleeding hands and is scaling the rocky mountains. We’re learned a lot from this volume about upcoming characters and we are going to get so much more information soon that I can’t wait. Wapol is an important character in this world’s lore and we hear about him more times in the future.
The cover stories in this volume continue where we left off last time. Django is still just kind of hiding from the law, trying to get to safety. He keeps running into trouble but avoiding it. One nice bit of information we get in this volume is the fact that Kaya, Usopp’s friend, is an apprentice doctor. It ties in with the sort of island they’re at right now, with doctors missing. It’s nice that we hear about these characters through these cover pages. It’s often that characters get forgotten at the end of a story arc but Oda clearly does not forget.
That’s volume 15, I’m excited to explain why One Piece is a socialist manga next week, so get strapped in for that. But for now, I hope you enjoyed this little dive into One Piece and I would like to thank you all for reading.!
Today we’re jumping straight back into Little Garden. I didn’t like this arc too much at the time but I’ve recently started to appreciate it a lot more for what it is. It does introduce us to some very cool characters and the concept of giants. The legendary land of Elbaf is one that’s been mentioned countless times throughout the years as well, so with that all in mind, let’s have a closer look at the story that started it all off.
Dorry and Broggy quickly pick up where they left off. Luffy fights Broggy to calm him down, and although he knocks out the severely wounded giant with relative ease, the giant gets up again when the volcano goes off. This battle has taken a century. We learn that they were part of a pirate crew called the Giant Warrior Pirates and their bounties were 100 million each. They must have gotten stronger over the past century so that puts them on equal footing with most of the pirates we encounter for the next several hundred chapters. We also know that the great pirate era started with Gol D. Roger’s death, but we don’t get a ton of insight into how long before that period pirates have been prevalent. This shows us it’s been at least a hundred years and likely much longer. Fun fact, to check on this I went into the wiki and there’s so much data from SBS, movies, side projects and just general lore bits throughout the years that there’s a whole chunk of it that was new information to me. I’ve watched this show like three times and read the manga at least twice before. Crazy how much worldbuilding there is.
Dorry and Broggy’s fight ends rather unfortunately due to interference from Mr. 3, another assassin from Baroque Works. He has a wax power that lets him create wax from his body that hardens to a point where it’s impossible for these characters to break out of. He captures Nami, Zoro and Vivi and puts them on a large wax candelabra. Dorry and Broggy are both out for the count and Luffy and Usopp have been defeated by Mr. 5, who has returned together with his partner. At this point, things are looking pretty dire, but if I’m not mistaken there’s a certain crap-cook (god I hate how the official translations deal with shitty cook) still roaming the island unbothered.
With the power of being really pissed off, Luffy manages to get free and he, Usopp and Carue go to confront the Baroque Works members. A fight breaks out and although Mr. 3’s candle powers are very strong when you’re caught by surprise, they’re not as strong against a brute force fighter like Luffy, who just used the wax to smash into things himself. After some effort he manages to take out Mr. 3, only to be caught in Miss Goldenweek’s trap. Her ability is to paint emotions and if you step on them or have them painted on you, they have a brainwashing effect. You’d think with how little brains Luffy has it wouldn’t affect him, but it does quite well since he’s simple minded. The crewmembers on the wax candelabra are slowly being turned into wax statues as Luffy is drinking tea with Miss Goldenweek. Can we also point out that this assassin is basically a child? As much as Baroque Works claims to be a powerful organization, a lot of their numbered members are still pretty big idiots. Usopp on the other hand is clever where he might lack bravery at times and shoots Luffy to burn up the paint that’s brainwashing him.
Things start to turn a little bit with Luffy and Usopp together being able to free everyone. Vivi takes out Ms. Valentine and Zoro cuts up Mr. 5. We get everyone out safely with a bit of luck. Luffy and Carue chase the remaining two villains who have run off. Mr. 3 is all about being clever and getting out of there without taking any hits. He lures Luffy into a trap where he’s made many copies of himself with wax, planning to stab Luffy in the back when he attacks the wrong one. Fortunately, Luffy has good instincts and one-shots the right Mr. 3, knocking him out in one clean kick. I wonder if this is instinct or if these are the early warning signs of some sort of power Luffy might have. Either way, this makes it so the crew has beaten the Baroque Works assassins.
Oh, and remember that shitty cook we forgot about? Turns out Sanji got bored of waiting for his friends and in his effort to find them he stumbles across Mr. 3’s base where he has a tea break. Is Sanji secretly British? While he’s wasting time there, the Den-Den Mushi rings and he suddenly finds himself speaking to the big boss himself: Mr. 0. Solid volume reading it in hindsight but I’m still not the biggest fan of this island. The whole wax statues thing felt a bit contrived to me and the fact that it shows them being turned completely into wax and then still getting out always felt cheap to me. That’s not something you just walk away from without permanent lung damage I’m pretty sure. But this is how Oda wrote it. We also get some more Koby & Helmeppo this volume in the cover pages and we get a final cover page of Django (the hypnotist from Usopp’s arc) waking up after being taken out by the three kids that were Usopp’s friends. We get to see more of him in the next volume’s cover stories I’m pretty sure.
There’s my thoughts on this week’s volume. We’re slowly learning more about Baroque Works and the situation the grand line is in. This felt very tame compared to last week’s chapter 1079 that I read just the other day. Things have certainly ramped up in scale over the last two decades. It’s almost like I’m reading a completely different story right now, it’s so different. But I am still having a blast with it and that is the most important part. Thanks for reading and until next week!
It’s time for a second round of quick reviews. I might even do a third round after this, but I’m still undecided on it. Some of the shows I watched weren’t very interesting and it feels a bit weird to talk about a bunch of sequels. Most people will either already know what they think about those shows or not want to get spoiled for later seasons, both are fair. But we have enough material for this second round so let’s get to killing. I mean parenting. I mean writing.
Buddy Daddies
I already talked about Buddy Daddies once early on in the season when I was just getting into this show. Buddy Daddies is an anime in the same vein as Spy X Family. Two hitmen get saddled with a four year old girl after they kill her father and her mother shows no responsibility for the child whatsoever. She even sent the girl to go find her father on her own, knowing he’s probably not the most innocent of people. Now Kazuki and Rei are stuck raising this child and they’re taking it very seriously. Well, Kazuki is, Rei is much more of a slacker but he’s good at games so he has that going for him. The two have to navigate their dangerous job as well as dealing with a young child. As we go through the series we learn how to raise a child, we process deep seated trauma and we deal with taking over the family business. This show is surprisingly packed for such a short runtime and it feels like a complete package from start to finish. In all honesty, I think I might have enjoyed this show more than I did Spy X Family at times. I think the over the top suspension of disbelief of Spy X Family can get a bit tiring at times and although this show isn’t exactly steeped in realism, I believe these characters way more than I do Loyd and Yor. All in all this was one of the most surprising highlights of this season and if you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend that you do.
He is your dad! He’s also about to put a gun to your head, so I wouldn’t be too excited about having found him.
Blue Lock
I already talked about the crazy title of the second ending of this anime in this post. It’s called Numbness like a ginger if you don’t want to read another post right now. But weird naming sense aside, Blue Lock is probably the most unique sports show I’ve seen in a while. A lot of shows that use sports as their main narrative focus on people bonding, becoming better together and overcoming different problems in their life through their sports. It’s a way of storytelling that I absolutely adore when done well, and for that reason I believe everyone should see Run with the Wind at least once. But Blue Lock isn’t about that. Instead it focuses on the darker, more competitive side of humanity. Take Ao Ashi from a couple of seasons ago, and mix it with the Hunger Games and that’s how you get Blue Lock. A man by the name of Ego (voiced by the legendary Hiroshi Kamiya) has invited a few hundred strikers to a facility called Blue Lock. They get the offer to stay at the facility for the foreseeable future and partake in a high stakes training camp where the weak get eliminated. This leaves us with a bunch of egotistical (see where it’s going) strikers that want to do whatever it takes to become the best striker. The players treat Blue Lock like it’s a life or death scenario because to them it is. It focuses not on teamwork and overcoming problems but instead devouring each other to become the very best. The main character starts off pretty boring but as the show goes on he becomes a much more fun character. Early on the side characters outshine him quite a bit. One thing I do appreciate about Blue Lock is that even though it’s silly and kind of insane most of the time, they take it seriously enough to at least address this by having Ego-san attend meetings with the people paying for this project as they wonder why they let this crazy person do as they please. But it does seem to work so far and with a second season in the works I think this is a good show to catch up on if you like the sound of it.
This entire thing is purely bias and bullshit, but at least Ego is honest about it from the very start.
High Card
When I was a child, I used to play this game where I would have a magic watch that when activated let me see a whole different world around me. This watch would allow me to use all sorts of strange super powers against monsters and ninja. You know, normal lonely child stuff. High Card kind of takes that childlike wonder about super powers and expands on it. The power in question in this world comes from playing cards. There’s fifty-two in a set, and at the start of the series someone steals them from a palace and they get distributed throughout the world. We then go to Finn, a young orphan who is in desperate need of money. In an attempt to make some money with gambling he gets himself stuck in a dangerous situation. There’s several people with these cards in the casino and soon he’s embroiled in the center of it all. Before he knows it, he’s working at a car store which is just a front for an organization that is trying to collect these cards for the crown. Finn meets several other card users here and works with them as they’re trying to deal with bad guys with cards. It’s a pretty straightforward show but the power system is somewhat interesting, the characters are fun and the worldbuilding is just well thought out enough that it keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next. The series ends on a good note as well and they’ve quickly announced that there’s a sequel in the work. If you like some modern superpower action, this show is a great recommendation.
That is a weird question to ask, but weird times call for weird question.
Campfire Cooking in another world with my absurd skill
From the title alone I think this is probably based on a light novel. Most manga have shorter titles although that could be different for sure. We see a lot of different Isekai shows throughout the seasons and I think I’m going to start watching a few less. Some of the ones I did watch this season were rather disappointing. Campfire cooking, on the other hand, had me engaged for most of its runtime. Three people were summoned to a fantasy world to save them from danger. But two of them were heroes and the remaining one seemed to be just some strange salaryman who could use Amazon Prime from any location in this new world. So he quickly takes his leave with some limited funds and a pat on the back and sets out on his own. His goal is to just slip under the radar so he won’t have to work for the king and can just live a relaxed life. Mukoda has quickly realized how incredibly convenient his new powers are. So he sets out on a journey and quickly enough he’s approached by the legendary Fenrir, who is curious about the man’s strange cooking. Fenrir becomes his familiar in exchange for free good food and the two set off on their adventure. From here on out it’s just a combination of the legendary beast defeating any and all enemies with ease and Mukoda cooking him some chicken nuggets as a reward. It’s a relaxed and humorous story and I found it very amusing to hear Miri’s voice actress from Buddy Daddies (earlier in this post) back as the slime Sui. Once you know it, it’s easy enough to pick up on but it’s still a different enough voice. They quickly make many friends by defeating dangerous monsters and Mukoda even gets involved with some of the worlds’ gods who want offerings from him because he can order donuts on a zero second cooldown. I think this is a very simple idea for a story but it’s often the simple ideas that work the best, as long as you execute them well. If you want your seasonal relaxing Isekai show, this is one of two options you can pick. I’ll talk about the second option in an upcoming post, so stay tuned for that.
‘Huh’ sums up it pretty nicely actually, I’ll leave it at that.
Handyman Saitou in another world
When looking at reviews for the source material of this show, you get mixed results. Some people absolutely love it while others seem more confused by its chaos. The way the show flows makes me think it’s based on a 4koma manga, short four panel stories put together into a larger narrative, but I don’t think that’s the case. This series is very different. I flip flopped from episode to episode on whether I think that is a good thing. Regardless. Saitou was a handyman back in Japan and he suddenly finds himself in a fantasy world. It’s a much more gritty and dangerous world than a lot of the ones we’re presented with in Isekai and that makes some of the goofy characters it has more grounded. Not only that, throughout the series we actually learn quite a bit about why Saitou was summoned here, how he could possibly go back and what is going on with the travel between worlds. But in this strange world, Saitou teams up with old, forgetful wizard Morlock, Burly swordswoman Realza and tiny cleric Lafanpan. The four go through dungeons and meet with other adventurers. There’s a bunch of side stories going on all at once, but I think the main reason this show feels so strange compared to many other Isekai shows is in its lack of formula. A lot of shows feel very formulaic. Everytime I watch a new Isekai, I feel like I’ve seen three others that are similar. With Handyman Saitou, I can’t really liken it to anything else I’ve seen. It’s weird, it’s chaotic and it feels strangely real at times. Not my favorite show of the season, but definitely one I’ll remember fondly because of how strange it could be at times.
99% of the time, Morlock looks like a confused old man but in the 1% of times where he gets his act together he is the real deal. There’s a reason his name is known.
And there you have it, five more shows and my thoughts on them. Everything I’ve talked about today gets a passing grade from me so it’s up to you to decide if it’s something you want to watch. And if you did enjoy any of these shows, let me know in the comments down below. Thanks for reading.
Here we are then, the final episode of this season. What I was expecting from this series run time has come true and they’ve already announced a fifth season. Not only that, but it’s coming out this summer! That’s something really cool to look forward to. It’s not technically a split-cour series, but it might as well be. Either way, knowing that we probably won’t get a significant conclusion today, but also being aware that this isn’t the end, let’s temper our expectations and dive into the final episode of this season!
But grandma, what murderous energy you have.
We ended the last episode with the Hunting Dogs getting attacked by the gambling addicts in the flying casino. Sigma wants to make sure his project stays safe. Tachihara got stabbed and hit in the head by a bat, but we’ve learned at this point that these people aren’t going down easily. We’ve already seen Teruko grow stronger so watching her turn into an old lady here is no surprise at all. I just wonder where Tachihara is. Oh, that explains it. She can use her power on other people too and turned Tachihara into a small child. And as I’m typing this, we get an explanation of her power as well. What a terrifying opponent, she can just age you to the point where you’re no longer a threat. This does make me wonder how old Teruko is. It might be one of those things where she’s actually a thousand year old woman and not a young girl. We’ll see.
I’m sorry, but can you at least draw a face on the characters?
We get a little bit more information about Sigma. As I kind of expected, he’s not a real person per se, but someone spawned from the book. Three years ago, to be precise. So at some point in the past, the Decay of Angels had access to the book and might have lost it since then. Now they’re using one page of iit again. Teruko makes it to Sigma and gets handed the key to the controls. We cut away to Atsushi and Kyouka making their way through the casino. The two splitting up worries me, but Atsushi has to hurry if he wants to be in time to join the standoff between Sigma and Teruko, who just disabled Sigma’s weaponry. Sigma gets the upper hand though and aims the discount dominator at Teruko who still manages to overpower the ability. She destroyed her own eardrum to stop the damage from being as severe. Oldest trick in the book
That’s pretty hardcore, not going to lie.
The Hunting Dogs have a mentality much like Akainu from One Piece. Absolute order at the expense of everything else. If someone is considered a criminal they will be taken down, no matter the cost. It’s this iron determination that allows them to be so scary and undertake dangerous operations that need monthly repeating. Sigma pulls Teruko off of the but she manages to catch back on. Atsushi then saves Sigma. I was half expecting him to save Teruko, but he quickly reminds us that Sigma is their way to find out where the page is. We also learn he stabbed the police chief. Sigma is kind of painted as a victim, and to an extent he is being used by Fyodor. On the other hand, he is a dangerous terrorist trying to undermine all of society and use coins to blow up the country. So we can only spare so much sympathy. Things aren’t going smoothly still for Atsushi, as someone flies up to them, probably sent by Fyodor. I’m not sure I know who this person is, but at this point there’s just too many characters.
Shouldn’t have gone into the dollhouse, that was a pretty bad move.
It did strike me as strange for them to save Sigma. The Hunting Dogs will now be even more convinced that the Agency are bad guys. A video reaches Tachihara of Atsushi explaining the plot, but apparently Fyodor has written a line into the page that no one will trust the Agency. And of course we learn that both of the Mafia executives are perfectly alive. I do want to make it very clear that this is disappointing. I know this is a shonen series and the stakes often end up being extremely low for any real named character, but at least the old executive should have died here. Tachihara probably cared for them more than he was willing to admit and i’m going to guess that his special power somehow lets him circumvent the page’s words, but come on, have some respect for the viewer here. If every “death” is fake, the reader will stop being invested. Game of Thrones ran into this problem where early on everything had consequences and later on characters would just walk away from lethal damage like it was just a papercut. Shonen does this way too often and it shouldn’t keep getting away with it.
I’ll be honest, I did quite like this guy, so I don’t mind him still being around, but it does feel cheap.
Oh, that’s the point of this all. That’s some great writing, I love this. Fyodor:All law enforcement and investigative bodies that happen upon evidence of the Detective Agency’s entrapment will dismiss it without consideration. Of course this would disappear for Tachihara when he realizes he’s not a hunting dog but a member of the port mafia at heart. I like his story arc a lot, it’s complex but not in a contrived way. He just really loved his brother and let the rage get to him. Even like Hyoma from Mononogatari he is still a reasonable person. The Mafia believes in the Agency because it knows the Agency all too well. They can’t be terrorists, they’re the most annoying goody two-shoes that exist and they’ll either come out proven innocent or die in the fight. I love how Dazai’s master plan is just “Humans are too unpredictable” We also get to find out what happened to Nikolai. He didn’t die after all and is probably going to either save Sigma or perfectly finish him off.
And we get some closure on this part of the story to round off the season with.
A very solid cliffhanger that would have made me very angry if not for the fact that we already know we’re getting more of this story soon. I’ll cover the next season right here on this blog so subscribe if that’s something you’re interested in. All in all I think this was one of the better seasons of this show, and that’s saying a lot considering it’s been pretty good for most of its runtime. I definitely should invest in the manga in the near future, I’m pushing it higher up the list of priorities. Thanks for reading.
With the winter season nearing its finale, and my weekly anime count dropping drastically before peaking again in about a week from now, let us take a look ahead.
To be a little bit more specific, there’s a sequel coming out in the spring season that I’m hoping to draw some attention to. That’s right, after five long years we’re finally getting a sequel to one of my personal favorite stories: The Ancient Magus’ Bride(Mahoutsukai no Yome).
Our main characters, the thorned one and Hatori Chise.
As I’m preparing this blogpost, I’m seeing a lot of negative reviews for the show. It seems quite a few people had strong thoughts on it. Nonetheless, it has a 4.2 star rating on anime-planet, which means that a few critics aside, the first season was received rather well. For those of you who’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll know that this is far from the first time I’ve talked about this series. As a matter of fact, I’ve covered most of the manga volumes in depth on my blog. I’ll leave a link to those here for those interested. Now for those of you who haven’t seen the first season and want to consider if it’s worth their time, and those of you who have seen the first season but would like a little bit of a refresher before diving into the sequel, let me catch you up to speed. As is to be expected, this post will consider spoilers for the first season of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. With that clear, let’s get to it.
Chise is a young girl who has been able to see and interact with creepy spirits for as long as she’s been aware. This has caused serious problems for her family and left her abandoned and alone. At wits end and with no real plans out, she decides to sell herself to the highest bidder. You see, someone with her powers is extremely valuable in the world of fae and magic. At her auction, an old sorcerer with the appearance of a horned skeleton outbids everyone by a long shot and brings her home. This would be Elias, who has chosen Chise to be his bride and his apprentice. Hence the name, The Ancient Magus’ Bride. Elias takes Chise with him from Japan to the British countryside where they start their life together.
Chise is what we call a Sleigh Beggy. A Sleigh Beggy is a special kind of creature that has almost endless potential with magic but also destroys themselves easily in the process, making her a ticking time bomb. Elias is socially awkward on steroids. Being the strange creature that he is, having normal human interactions is beyond him and a lot of the story focusses on their awkward relationship. Elias is a monster and almost childlike at times, but he’s also caring, even if he doesn’t quite understand those feelings. Chise on the other hand cares more about others than herself and once she gets out of the depression she starts this series in, and slowly comes into her own, she will regularly risk her own safety for the sake of others. This becomes a theme throughout the show. Chise gets a lot better mentally, but I wouldn’t say she’s ever in a mentally healthy state. I think a lot of the bad reviews – not to sound arrogant – are from people who didn’t really understand how complicated these two characters are. And I will say the manga is probably a better medium to communicate this in.
It’s Harry Potter and the prisoners of Azkaban!
Now to quickly explain the main story of the first season so you’re ready for the sequel. If you’ve read enough and don’t want to be spoiled because you’ll watch the first season after this, I suggest you skip this paragraph. If that’s you, I appreciate ya, and enjoy the show. With that out of the way, Chise and Elias’ relationship and them teaching each other is the main focus of a lot of the first season. They meet different characters which include other sorcerers, a priest, a witch and several fae creatures including some very important ones. Chise gets herself cursed by an evil undead sorcerer called Cartaphilus. He’s been cursed a long time ago and is trying to adjust his own body. They manage to deal with the problem and put him to sleep for the time being, but it leaves Chise with much damage to herself. The problem does seem to be solved for the time being. As the promotional material for the second season already shows us, the cast is about to grow in size. I’ve read most of the upcoming arc already and let me tell you, I’m excited. It’s been five years, so I’m worried a lot of people will leave this series be, due to the long break, but as someone who’s been keeping up with the manga recently I really urge you all to give it a watch. Thanks for reading!
We all like to imagine what it’s like to travel to a strange fantastical world and live out our fantasies there. This could be living the hero life or living on a farm without anyone bothering you and just vibing in the countryside. But what we don’t often think about is the possibility that this life in a strange world isn’t forever. Or more specifically, not everyone who gets sent to a strange world wants to stay there. The same can be said for Uncle. I am aware that he goes by several names but for the sake of this review we’ll stick to just calling him the role he fulfills. Uncle was sent to a strange world and then spent his time there adventuring and searching for a way back. He eventually found his way back to earth, where he was released from the hospital almost two decades later. The world has changed since he was whisked away and it is now up to his nephew, Takafumi and his old friend he just rekindled with, Fujimiya, to help him get used to life on earth again. Of course, they’re also extremely curious about his stories about this foreign world. So let’s talk about this show, its problems and what it brings to the table in today’s review of: Isekai Ojisan – Uncle from another world.
That is one hell of a way to introduce a character to the story.
Let’s start with the problems, get those out of the way. This show doesn’t look particularly good. Part of that is the style, which I think is fitting to the kind of story it’s trying to tell, but not particularly appealing to me personally. A lot of the characters are kind of ugly – by design – but it does turn me off at times. Other times it’s used for comedy and works pretty well. I’m trying to not sound harsh because it’s something I did notice, but it’s not an issue. Having said that, the animation quality is definitely unimpressive. It’s not an action heavy show and even when there is action, the action isn’t the point of the show, so it’s not a high budget fluid motion spectacle. And the big issue it has, and the reason why this review didn’t happen half a year ago, is its delays. Isekai Ojisan started airing in summer of 2022 and only finished its run in March of 2023. For a series with 13 episodes, that’s a very long hiatus inbetween. To be more specific, there were a handful episodes, then it went on break, then it had another handful episodes and then after a long break the final episode aired in March. I remember really enjoying most of this show, but with how much time passed I wasn’t as invested in the finale as I would have liked. Production issues happen and it sucks much more for the people involved in this project than it does for me, but it is a shame.
He even comes with his own personal bag of holding, that’s pretty useful.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s talk about the reasons why I’m talking about this show, because despite its production issues, I still think it’s a good show. Considering anyone who hasn’t seen this show yet can watch it in one go, that becomes all the more true. Isekai Ojisan looks at the Isekai genre through a unique lens. It treats the arguably weird guy that spent all this time in a foreign world and became even weirder as an actual weird guy. It’s not the first anime where the main character isn’t popular, but it does execute it well. Uncle isn’t unpopular due to his actions per se, but it mainly comes from his lack of social awareness. He meets all these interesting women and he just couldn’t be more unaware of his own social etiquette. The characters back in the normal world who watch his memories back with him have more character progression and debt than you’d expect from a show like this and it does wonders for the story. You actually come to like them and that’s a big boon.
Gee, I wonder why you’re particularly worried about this part?
All in all, this show is too good to sleep on due to its production issues. I doubt it’s going to be in anyone’s top 10 for the year, but I feel like it deserves better than the bad luck it got. It’s funny, it’s got heart and it does the things it wants to do well. If you do check this show out after my recommendation, please let me know in the comments what you thought. And as always, thanks for reading.
It turns out that what he lacks in social skills he makes up for with fighting skills.
Before we jump into the madness that this episode will highly likely be, let’s give a little bit of a quick recap of the recent events. The Armed Detective Agency is suspected of murdering a bunch of people, due to a scheme by the Decay of Angels, also known as Five or V. I falsely thought that they might be the same people as the Hunting Dogs, who are currently chasing the Detective Agency, but I’ve since changed my mind on this. The Port Mafia and the Guild have both given aid to them, both expecting something in return from Yosano, the medic of the agency. During their attempt to escape from the Hunting Dogs the port mafia lost one of their executives and was betrayed by another; Tachihara. Tachihara turned out to be the final Hunting Dog and we left the episode with him getting revenge for his dead brother, who Yosano tried to save during the war but couldn’t. Wow, that was a lot, and we haven’t even started yet. But now that we’re all caught up, let’s get back into it.
What a pleasant look back at a friend, I’m sure no one will ruin it by threatening him or something.
We start the episode with Mushitaro in denial about his current state, and then quickly being broken out of prison by Atsushi and Kyouka. They threaten him, which is probably going to backfire. Not a second has passed before he does his best to get them noticed by the guards. They’re in bad luck, because Sakaguchi Ango has surrounded the bank. He used to be spying in the Port Mafia for the government, before he was found out. He’s back to working with the government. I do like that in a story with mafia and crazy murderous organizations, it’s the government branches that are probably the most scary. It’s a good thing Mushitaro has a stupidly overpowered ability to use. There’s a showdown in the vault between Ango’s people and Mushitaro, Kyouka and Atsushi. They pull off a pretty simple trick with relative ease. Shame on you, Ango, for falling for that. It is nice to finally get full circle on Mushitaro’s character and his relationship with his old friend.
It’s a big misunderstanding that Mushitaro thinks Ango leads some organization that he doesn’t. Fyodor has really managed to string everyone and keep them where he wants them.
I can’t help but notice a trend that as soon as one character slowly walks away from the other characters something bad is about to happen. It’s a choice they keep making and it’s unfortunately getting a bit predictable. Both Atsushi and Kyouka haven’t recognized this trend yet, so they get hit by sleep darts. It turns out they hadn’t fully lost Ango at all. Woah, what a plot twist. Dazai and Ango were still communicating with each other. They’re still on the same team after all, they both work to preserve peace in the town. He explains all of this to our friends, but it’s good to know that Ango is working against Fyodor. Fyodor also lied to Mushitaro about who Ango is. This is a pretty big development, so I’m somewhat worried things are about to go really bad. Then again, after the last episode they deserve a break. They go into Lucy’s special power where she’s hiding from danger. Ango is currently protecting her. He also reveals he only worked with the Seventh Agency to help out his friend Dazai. Ango’s a good guy! Obviously this hits a soft spot in Mushitaro.
So that’s how Dazai is managing to communicate with his allies. Now we just need to figure out how Fyodor does it. But who is Fyodor communicating with? If it’s so vital he keeps in contact, does that mean that’s to keep the Decay of Angels moving, or is it in some way instructing the Hunting Dogs movement?
The terrorist organization, Decay of Angels, is comprised of five members. The demonic Fyodor and jester Nikolai, as well as two more extremely talented Gifted. And one founder who manages them.
Mushitaro goes on to explain a lot about what their goals are. They want to use the page to erase the state. They still have one side of the page left and are planning to use it in ten days to cause another tragedy. We still do not know who the leader of the Decay of Angels is. Atsushi and Kyouka are happy that there’s ten days left to fix things. If they steal the page back and fix the Agency’s reputation then all the problems are solved. I am worried that next week’s episode is called Bungo Hound Dogs. And I doubt it’s a reference to the famous Elvis song. But that’s a week from now, let’s enjoy an episode where for once things didn’t go horribly wrong. Two weeks left on this show, but I’m very curious to see where this season ends and if they announce a sequel. I can’t see it ending in two episodes, but I’ve seen weirder endings in my time watching anime. That also means I need to decide what to watch next season and speak along with. Maybe the new Dr. Stone season? There’s many options so I’m open to suggestions. But as always, that’s been me, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
Volume 10. With a total of 104 volumes released that puts us at roughly ten percent of the story. It’s crazy to think that all of the East Blue Saga will eventually fit into ten percent of the story of One Piece. That’s less than some of the newer arcs cover on their own. Perhaps that’s part of why these early volumes are such a blast to read. The pacing is still very fast and it’s not the case where you can read the manga for a year and only experience the set-up part of an arc. But we’re not there yet, so let’s not think about that too much and instead dive into the second of three parts that make up the amazing Arlong Park.
Now that Buggy’s story is completely done we move over to Koby and Helmeppo as our cover stories. There’s not much to it so far, it just shows off their life as the lowest ranks in the navy. They do encounter Morgan – Helmeppo’s dad – as a prisoner. But they have been diligent so far, so that’s good for them. There’s also some cool cover art of Nami and the crew, so that’s neat. Luffy fights Moo Moo, the scary beast from the grand line that’s probably terrifying to normal people but doesn’t stand a chance against trained fighters. He does make the mistake of getting his foot stuck in the concrete which results in Arlong throwing him in the ocean stuck to a heavy mass. We then set off the three main fights of this volume.
Zoro fights Hachi and the two are fairly evenly matched. The main reason they are is because Zoro is still gravely wounded from his encounter with Mihawk. Once he gets access to all three swords it’s over for the octopus. It’s a good thing this isn’t the last we’ll see of Hachi because he’s a kind soul at heart, just got in with the wrong crowd. Kuroobi on the other hand is just a sadistic karate master. This is the first mention of Fish-man karate, which we hear about a lot more often throughout the years because it’s a very legit fighting style used by some people in the higher echelons of fighters. Kuroobi gets to fight our kicking cook and although it goes back and forth a little bit, with the fight taking a brief dive into the water, Sanji ultimately proves victorious.
Much more impactful is the fight between Usopp and Chu (Choo?). Usopp is a coward and we saw a little bit of that during his own arc, but we get more of his duality here. He is terrified of these fishmen, and rightfully so, but once he remembers why he’s fighting he builds up the courage to yell at the retreating Chu and endanger himself for his friends. He’s not a powerhouse like Sanji, Luffy or Zoro, he’s just a normal dude with a slingshot. The other three are monsters and he’s just some guy with big dreams. Yet when push comes to shove, he still fights. As many underhanded methods as he needs, he does defeat a fishman who are physically stronger than humans. This is something to be very proud of. Even if he is still a coward, he’s a brave coward which is much more valuable than a fearless brave person.
While all this went on, Nojiko and Genzo were busy keeping Luffy from drowning by stretching his neck. Eventually they manage to get him free with the help of Sanji and he finally gets to join the fight, taking over for Zoro who is struggling severely against Arlong. One thing to not forget is that One Piece, besides being cool and emotional, can be very funny at times. Arlong in his most serious manner asks Luffy what the difference between the two of them is and without batting an eye Luffy immediately shoots back with “nose.” If Buggy was here he’d lose his mind. With all of Arlong’s men down and out and all of Luffy’s friends severely hurt, it’s time for the big clash between human and fishman, pirate and pirate, Luffy and Arlong. But we’ll get to that in volume 11. As always, I really enjoyed this volume and I hope you did too. If you’re still reading along with this, would you like me to keep these mainly spoiler free or would you rather I go more in depth on some of the long term impact that these story beats might have. There’s some characters and things mentioned in this arc that come back later, but I’m hesitant to talk about it too much in case people come across these posts and haven’t read up to chapter 1000+ yet. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you for reading!
