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ladyloveandjustice · 9 months

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Spring 2023 Anime Overview: Yuri is my Job!

Premise: Hime Shiraki is a high schooler whose life goal is to be always cute and loved by everyone so she can achieve her dream of marrying a millionaire and living the easy life. Who cares if that means she has to lie and pretend? But then she’s roped into working at a café. The waitresses of the cafe playact as students from a fictional all girl’s school from a famous novel that focused on ‘romantic friendships’ between schoolgirls. (It’s a Class S yuri café basically. They put on a show that has the vibes and premise of Maria Watches Over Us for customers.)

Hime’s already great at acting, but she’s flummoxed by her co-worker Mitsuki. Mitsuki acts like a doting upperclassman when they’re in front of customers, but the second they’re off the clock, she’s harsh and cold to Hime. Hime is determined to make Mitsuki like her, but Mitsuki may be more than she appears…

At it's core, Yuri is My Job starts out seeming like a fun gay comedy boasting a cast full of quirky lesbians, but then reveals itself to be a complicated and fascinating examination of performance- as it intersects with queerness, girlhood, and the desire to be "likeable" and "cute," The girls at the cafe "perform" romantic friendships with each other- these friendships that they perform are uncomplicated, cute, and consumable to an audience. But the real relationships they have with each other are much less "safe" and much more complex, and the drama they deal with as real people often interferes with the "act".

Hime's entire life is about putting on a performance to seem likeable and acceptably cute to everyone, and she's terrified of seeing that performance fall to pieces. Mitsuki, in contrast, struggled as a child because she COULDN'T acceptably fake that "likeable" cuteness. She was too honest, too blunt and awkward, too "real". Most queer people know the stress of having to put on an act and hide your real self to be acceptable, and YIMJ explores this wonderfully with these characters.

It's not just Hime and Mitsuki,the rest of the cast struggles too. Kanoko is so invested in her role of "supportive best friend" and being the only one Hime drops the act around, she's also suppressing her real self and her real romantic feelings for Hime. As a result, she becomes possessive, jealous, and expresses her feelings in secretive, unhealthy ways. The irony is that she believes in order to access Hime's "real" self, she has to put on her own mask. She can't picture a life outside her role as pining best friend. The pining, obsessive (sometimes in just a mildly quirky way, sometimes not so much) lesbian best friend with an unrequited crush is a well worn trope both in yuri and non-yuri anime-think Tomoyo from CCS- but YIMJ examines the trauma that comes with that and how suppressing a part of yourself to play a role might feed into that obsessive behavior.

Meanwhile. we have Sumika, who is VERY invested in the romantic friendships of the cafe, and had come to believe real romance is toxic and ruins the purity of those relationships. She panics when confronted with the reality of queerness and when she sees two coworkers enter a blatant queer relationship. Sumika's whole deal is maybe the most fascinating at all, and makes a lot of sense if you look at it as a critique of Class S, "pure" yuri, and the fucked up world of internalized lesbophobia.

In recent years, there's been more yuri critiquing the trappings of "Class S" yuri. Class S is yuri that straddles the line between 'friendship' and 'romance', typically taking place in an all-girl's school sealed off from the rest of society, with an either unspoken or spoken implication that the lesbianism is just a transient phase and all the girls will eventually renter the "real world" have to settle down and marry a man.

There's been some pushback against these ideas, obviously. Bloom into You, Run Away with me Girl and many other yuri examine how harmful 'just a phase' rhetoric is towards lesbians. Flip Flappers famously had the episode where the girls were caught in a creepy Class S school that led them on an endless cycle where nothing ever changed and the days were horribly repetitive. Yurikuma Arashi also gave it's (somewhat muddled) critique of Class S. And it's impossible to fully analyze Yuri is my Job without seeing the skillful critique of Class S that's woven into the narrative.

The trappings of class S aren't confined into the world of manga- the idea that lesbianism is just a phase, that girls expressing real romantic or sexual desire toward each other is toxic and sullies the purity of sisterhood, that it's okay to be a LITTLE gay with your gal pals but you can't cross that line!!!- all of that is part of the stigma real queer women struggle with and sometimes internalize. So when we consider Sumika''s terror of actual "romance" invading the cafe and ruining the sisterhood, her ideas that romance must be toxic, her belief that the cafe is this safe space sealed off from the rest of the world where girls can be a little bit queer, but they musn't let the actual problems and messy realities of romance invade- it's not just a Class S critique, it's about a mindset most queer women are familiar with and have to struggle to unlearn. And seeing Sumika grapple with this makes her a very real and wonderfully realized character. And the manga will only continue to go further with those themes.

But Yuri is my Job doesn't just work as a nuanced examination of queerness- it's also a well told drama full of wonderfully fraught relationships. It's fun to see the growing romances and the sweet connections growing between the characters, as complicated as they are. The backstory reveal that explains the tension between Mitsuki and Hime is top tier drama and relationship writing, and there's also a good dose of comedy to keep viewers entertained. Watching this web of relationships become even more tangled, and discovering the baggage all the girls carry is a good (and sometime heartbreaking) time. They're well-done characters. If you enjoy fucked up girls and don't mind a touch of soapy melodrama, you're in for a treat. These girls are a MESS, but a fascinating one.

I should note that it's also very easy to read these characters as neurodivergent- Hime having to craft a "facade" just to socialize regularly, while Mitsuki very obviously struggles with social cues- well, Vrai wrote a whole article on this with their article What role are you playing? Communication, queerness and nerodivergence in Yuri is My Job, so I'll leave that to them.

Yes, Yuri is My Job has all this amazing nuance...and there's a half an episode where Mitsuki's boobs bounce a bunch. It contains multitudes. The episode does touch on both Hime's obvious fascination with what Mitsuki's packin' and the struggle big chested women face when just wearing normal clothes is seen a "lewd"- but YMMV on how it's resolved. They definitely centered Mitsuki's pain (and Hime's thirst), but also mined it for mild comedic fanservice, and the ending is more "we found a good compromise" than the pure "fuck people for sexualizing you in a normal outfit because you have big boobs, wear whatever you want" message that people might want.

I also saw a lot of people get frustrated with how hard everyone is on Hime in the early episodes when she's new to the job- this pretty much stops after episode 3 and the attitude toward her is fully explained, so please give this four episode watch to fully see if this show is for you. (But of course, if you don't like to see girls sometimes expressing attraction in suppressed, unhealthy ways (eSPECIALLY Kanoko), no matter how it's ultimately examined thematically, this isn't the show for you.)

Overall, the YIMJ anime was a faithful adaptation of a wonderful manga- unfortunately, I worry that we'll never get the season two that gives us some of the best moments of the story so far. But hopefully seeing it will inspire you to check out the manga and see how hard this story can go! It's definitely a special one, and I really recommend it.

#yuri is my job #yuri is my job!#watashi no yuri wa oshigoto desu!#watayuri #watashi no yuri wa oshigoto desu #spring 2023 anime #anime overview #my reviews #yuri #anime

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animebw · 10 months

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Short Reflection: Oshi no Ko

I have a serious bone to pick with Oshi no Ko.

To be clear, I don't mind that Oshi no Ko is s bad show. Bad shows are a dime a dozen, its not special in that regard. I don't even mind that it's a bad show that got absurdly popular. Again, not an uncommon occurrence, I've learned to live with the popular consensus among anime fans being very hit and miss. No, what chaps my hide about this misguided misfire is that it's the worst kind of bad show: one with delusions of grandeur. It's a self-indulgent piece of pandering wish fulfillment that's convinced itself it's a Deep, Complex masterpiece telling Hard Truths about society while perpetuating all the sins it claims to be criticizing. And while it may have somehow pulled the wool over the eyes of everyone else, I've watched enough anime to see through its plastic facade to the squirming rot underneath. This show is lying to you, and unlike the thesis statement it makes in its first episode, this lie is the lowest form of love I can think of.

And I was excited for Oshi no Ko at first! I've always struggled with idol anime because they can never seem to drop their packaged, plastic facade of perfect little angels chasing their dreams to address anything resembling real emotion. So the promise of a more honest take on the genre exploring the reality of the entertainment industry as a whole, warts and all? Written by the author of Kaguya-Sama, which I've finally come around to appreciating as a masterpiece of the rom-com world? And a bonkers 90 minute opening episode suggesting an adaptation that would go all the way to make this series shine? Yeah, I had high hopes for this one.

And then the first minute of the show had two separate jokes about the protagonist being a pedophile.

Gotta tell you, when I heard Manga fans hyping this one up to high heaven, I was expecting something a little less blatantly unsalvageable than that.

After that, I spent most of that bloated first episode in slack jawed disbelief. Was I really sitting through another Mushoku Tensei reincarnated pedo baby plotting? Why was I being subjected to jokes about who gets to suck their teen mom superstar idol's breast milk? It was almost a relief when the same obsessive stalker who initially took the protagonist's life came back to finish off his new mom, setting him and his similarly reincarnated sister on a seemingly much more interesting path. But by then the damage was done, and the cracks that had formed in Oshi no Ko's foundation would only grow larger and more obvious as it settled into its proper story.

Funnily enough, though, the most obvious warning sign in that first episode wasn't the pedo baby nonsense. No, it was its handling of Hoshino Ai, the aforementioned teen mom superstar idol who got two superfans reincarnated as her twin babies before being murdered by a stalker. For a show claiming to portray the dark reality of the entertainment industry, there isn't a single thing dark or real about Ai. She is a relentlessly perfect plastic mannequin of a person, never once showing herself to be anything less than upbeat, bubbly, and inoffensive. Not once in the three years we spend with her before her death do we see her sulk, throw a tantrum, or express any emotions besides peppy and cheerful. If there’s anything resembling a real girl underneath her facade, we don't get to see it, not even when she's alone with her babies with no one to judge her. This show wants to pull back the curtain on the uncomfortable truths of this industry, but it doesn't even have the guts to pull back the curtain on its most important character and risk turning off an otaku fan base who can't conceive of women as complex individuals with complicated inner lives. And sadly, that cowardice is very indicative of how poorly the show will handle its themes moving forward.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Following Ai's death at the climax of the first episode, Oshi no Ko's real story picks up ten or so years later, with her now-teenage children Aqua and Ruby going to a special high school for aspiring entertainment industry professionals. Here they're able to meet fellow creatives and pursue careers in film, television, music, YouTube, and more behind and in front of the camera, all to follow their respective goals of tracking down their mother's killer (Aqua) and following in their mother's footsteps of becoming a beloved idol (Ruby). Thus the stage is set for a walking tour behind the scenes of all corners of the business, exploring the truth behind the shining mask of perfection the entertainment industry so often wears while slowly building up the mystery of who the twins' father was, and why he seemingly arranged for Ai to be killed. A solid setup for the story to explore its ideas in an engaging way, but as always, a setup is only as good as its execution. And no matter how many monologues its characters spew about the true nature of the industry, Oshi no Ko consistently fails to be anything more than plastic and shallow itself.

The biggest issue, sadly, remains Aqua himself. Even after you get over the whole reincarnated pedo baby angle, he is just the most miserably emo edgelord to be around. He's a mopey, brooding bore who looks down on pretty much everyone around him, but the show constantly insists on portraying him as cynically honest, the one clear-eyed adult in a cast full of kids. Which, considering how female-heavy the rest of the cast it, gives the whole show a creepy, paternalistic vibe. So many of Oshi no Ko's "realistic" portrayals of the industry's scumminess essentially boil down to a naive, inexperienced girl getting in over her head and finding herself in some sort of physical or emotional peril, only for this Light Yagami wannabe to swoop in and save her with the power of his Experienced Adult Man Perspective. There are times when it clearly wants to touch on how particularly rough girls and women have it in this scummy, sexist industry, but it undercuts itself every time it turns their struggles into yet another excuse for the one prominent dude in the cast to show off how much smarter he is.

And yes, in case you even needed to ask, of course the majority of these girls fall in love with him. You've got Kana Arima, a foul mouthed former child actor who's implied to have nursed a crush on him ever since he humiliated her on set years ago by being do much naturally better at acting than her to the point she broke down crying. There's Akane Kurokawa, a sincere good girl who falls for him after he saves her from suicide (more on that later) and otherwise exists to be tortured by some of the most laughable backstory retcons ever put to screen (She's an unprepared novice to the industry! Just kidding, she's a member of a prestigious theater company! Just kidding, she's a child actor who's been part of this industry her whole life!). There's even, believe it or not, his sister Ruby, who in her past life was a terminally ill child in love with Aqua's past life, her physician at the time. He even jokingly promised to marry her when she turned 16, which could have passed as a tragic, knowingly futile promise to comfort a girl who had no chance of living that long, but considering how things ended up... yeah, let's just say I am dreading what happens when Aqua and Ruby discover each other's previous identities. Honestly I almost hope they just say "fuck it" and take the plunge into Incest Lake, just to break the brains of everyone who's convinced themselves this show isn't a trash fire.

It also doesn't help that the dialogue is pretty uniformly terrible. Characters speak in tangled, overwritten declarations and explanations that never read as something a real person would say but also aren't stylish enough to pass for the kind of purposefully exaggerated back-and-forth exchanges that define, for example, the Monogatari series. It seems to think if you just drop a lot of monologues about how dangerous and unfair the entertainment industry is, that will compensate for the relative lack of real danger and unfairness in its actual portrayal. I'm not asking for a Perfect Blue-style pitch black perspective, but there are barely even shades of gray here, to the point it almost feels like the show's lying to you. There's a moment where Ruby and her aspiring idol group exclaim that a collective dressing room they share with a bunch of other bottom-tier idols is "packed like sardines," except the room we're shown has plenty of breathing room and empty space. This show flat out lies to your face, in contradiction of the visuals its showing you, to make the girl's situation seen worse than it actually is.

But let's circle back to Akane and get attempted suicide, because her focus episode is, in my opinion, the one moment where Oshi no Ko actually manages to live up to the expectations it set. Short version, Akane's on a reality dating show with Aqua and a bunch of other high schoolers, and her attempt to make herself more of a presence at her manager's request results in her becoming the target on an online hate mob who takes one bad thing she does and uses it as an excuse to harass her relentlessly. As someone who's seen too many stories like this play out in real life- overwhelming, self-righteous hatred from complete strangers who've convinced themselves your one minor infraction justifies ruining your life- seeing Akane succumb to the tidal wave of insults and threats until she tries to jump off a bridge was one of the most powerful experiences I've had in all of anime this year. It's masterfully directed, impeccably edited, and brutally, unforgivingly honest about how life-ruining this kind of negative online attention can be. It's hands-down the best episode of Oshi no Ko, and if the rest of the show had been as brave as this episode when tackling its subject matter, I'd have no problem singing its praises alongside everyone else.

It's also, sadly, a perfect representation of why this show is so fundamentally broken.

Because when you take a step back and look at the whole picture, as incredible as this episode is in isolation, its only real effect on the plot is to give Aqua yet another helpless admirer to fall I love with him seemingly as a matter of course. Akane's suicide attempt, as gut wrenching and heartbreaking as it is in the moment, only exists to give the reincarnated pedo protagonist another teenage girl to fawn over him. And considering how much inspiration this plot line draws from a real-life suicide tragedy in Japan, to call it nauseating and disrespectful would be the understatement of the century. The real victim's mother certainly seemed to think so, as she held an interview expressing anger that her daughter's tragic fate was being used as free source material without even consulting her first. And if you were hoping Oshi no Ko fans would react to this response with empathy and nuance, showing how much they took away from this arc's message about the evils of online harassment by refusing to participate in it themselves... well, let's just say I truly envy your optimism.

But really, isn't that the most fitting representation of this show's failure? It claims to showcase and criticize the exploitative nature of the entertainment industry, only to exploit real life tragedy for entertainment itself, and its fans react to this ugly truth by becoming exactly the kind of evil the show they claimed to love was warning them against. It's a perfect storm of hypocrisy that reveals just how shallow and craven the whole affair is. Oshi no Ko is not deep, it's not complex, and it's certainly not challenging. But it IS good enough at superficially appearing to be those things to attract a fan base that wants the ego boost of being seen as liking Mature(tm) stories about Serious Issues(tm) without actually being challenged to leave their comfort zone of pandering wish fulfillment. And the second something actually challenging does show up to demand they face an uncomfortable truth, they reveal just how unwilling both they and the show they love are to grapple with the ugly reality they claim to represent.

Is that harsh? Definitely. Unfair to the vast majority of Oshi no Ko fans who love the show without being gross and weird about it? Probably. But I can't be honest about this show without being honest about how miserably it betrays the very foundations of its stated goal. Ironically enough, Oshi no Ko is its own worst enemy, the greatest embodiment of everything it's trying to speak out against. It's a stupid show pretending to be smart, a cowardly show pretending to be brave, hiding cheap convictions with cheap edge and cringeworthy harem bullshit in hopes it can avert your eyes from the truth. But peel back that plastic layer of corporate sheen and it's every bit as shallow and hypocritical as the industry it claims to criticize. It's as hollow as Hoshino Ai herself, hiding its inner emptiness as best it can and hoping its beautiful lies will make you love it regardless. And if lies are indeed the greatest form of love, then Oshi no Ko must be the greatest lover of all. Me, though? I'll take something honest and uncompromising over an insincere fake like this any day. And I give this first season a score of:

3/10

Yes, this is the worst show I watched to completion this season. No, I'm not sorry about it. If you want to know what actual good shows I kept up with, keep an eye out for my seasonal reflection coming next week!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #oshi no ko #spring 2023 anime #spring 2023 sr

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jjs-brainrot · 1 year

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Alright, Otaku Elf is indeed a show about an Otaku Elf.

...I’ve watched one episode and I’m already starting to become a bit obsessed tbh. It’s way cuter and funnier then I was expecting the concept to be.

Also I’m hoping Dungeon Meshi drops in either of the next 2 seasons just so I can see a bunch of end of the year “best girl” lists contain 2 failgirl elves...

#otaku elf #edomae elf #dungeon meshi #anime #simulcast #spring 2023 anime

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tetrix-anime · 1 year

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27 Spring 2023 Anime I'll Be Posting

See welcome notes here. Also check out My Anime Goods blog for anime merchandises (e.g. figures).

#spring 2023 anime

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ecargmura · 9 months

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My Love Story With Yamada-kun At Lv 999 Is A Romance You Should Definitely Watch (Anime Review)

If there’s a studio that can capture romance well, it’d be Madhouse. The way they animate romantic scenes in anime is immaculate. I absolutely loved My Love Story!! And how romance was animated in Cardcaptor Sakura and Bibliophile Princess (which I still need to finish). My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv. 999 is a prime example of well-animated romantic scenes and fluffy, colorful animation.

My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv. 999 is a shoujo romance story between gamers. 20-year-old college student Akane Kinoshita gets dumped by her boyfriend one day as he fell for another girl over the internet. In an attempt to get him back, she attends a game event, trips and meets a handsome guy named Akito Yamada who picks up her shoe. Akane learns three things about him: 1. He’s Afro Yamada from FOS, the game she plays and the focus of the event she is attending; 2. He’s a well-known gamer that her ex-boyfriend ignores her when he sees them together; 3. Yamada is an 18-year-old high school student. Does that stop Akane from falling for him? Nope. She falls for him because that is the point of the story!

I’ll address the elephant in the room first. I’ve seen people on social media berate the age difference between the two leads because one is a college student and the other is a high school student. 18 and 20 isn’t a big gap, contrary to Twitter’s belief. A two year age difference is nothing special. There are a lot of pairs with a two year age difference. There’s no difference in maturity levels as both characters are mature in their own ways. There is nothing problematic with this story or the characters. If you think a two-year age gap is weird, then maybe you’re the weird one…

In all honesty, I really like the premise of having gamers fall in love. In today’s society, gaming is the trend, so it was clever of the author to ride on that and to make a romance out of it. I think the way this story was written is actually crafted well from a writer’s perspective. Akane isn’t shown to be a nerdy gamer; she plays games casually and is fashionable and pretty. It shows that anyone can play games and it shows in Episode 3 where Akane meets up with her guild members that aren’t Yamada in real life. They range from a handsome bespectacled 19-year-old college student Eita who catfishes as the guild master Rurihime, his gremlin younger sister Runa who’s in middle school and strawberry farmer Takezo Kamota who’s much older than all of them. It shows that anyone of all ages can enjoy games and that there’s no shame in doing so.

Sure, there are conflicts every now and then like Akane not being over her boyfriend, Runa getting jealous and protective over her circle of friends that she had to trick Akane, and Yamada’s classmate Tsubaki having a crush on him, but they all get resolved efficiently and without the need to drag out time. I actually like that! Sometimes, shoujo and romance animes can be hard because some conflict drag out and ruins the flow (I’m looking at you, Kimi ni Todoke with your Kento/miscommunication plot point).

The characters are all nicely written for a romance anime. Akane is a twenty-year-old girl and a college student. While she is the older one in her relationship with Yamada, that doesn’t mean she’s mature. She has problems and issues that most young girls face like not getting over rejection, being overly trusting and overthinking. People would think, “Oh, you’re an adult, you have to start acting like one”. Adulthood isn’t all sunshine and rainbows as people might expect and Akane proves that. College students are dumb and a mess; I would know because I was dumb and a mess at that age. I also like the fact that she does have dating experience. Akane, in general, is a fun character and a good shoujo lead; I think wasted/drunk Akane is the most hilarious thing ever. I love that she has different outfits! They’re all so cute and a few look like something I’d wear casually!

Yamada is rather mature for a high school boy. However, as a gamer, he’s rather unrealistic because most gamers I’ve seen are loud, constantly online, and probably lacks a love interest. How often do you see a tall, handsome gamer who treats women well? How often do you meet such a gamer guy outside of gaming? Despite his rather unrealistic qualities, I do think that he and Akane match well because of their personality differences and just how kind and respectful they are to each other. Yamada is only awkward with romance and girls because he had hurt someone in the past and doesn’t want to step out of his boundaries to hurt anyone again. I guess my only gripe with Yamada would be that he’s voiced by Kouki Uchiyama who’s voiced dozens of characters similar to him so it’s to be expected that he’d voice this guy too (this is the fourth anime I’ve seen that has him in the cast; three of them are the same character with black hair and one is a marmot); it’s not a bad thing to be typecasted since it is a job for voice actors. I do like Uchiyama a lot! I just feel like it’s to be expected in a way?

I do like how Eita has the qualities to be the second lead, but he’s not. He’s mainly in the story to be supportive and help our main duo get together. He’s a long time friend of Akito’s. Eita’s probably my favorite character in this anime because of how entertaining he is. When his identity as Rurihime is revealed, he goes on and on about his relationship with Rurihime (he just likes playing as a female character in general) and doesn’t think him being a catfisher is weird. Yeah, you do you, Eita! I do like how he’s a good big brother to Runa; he scolds her when she does something bad, but he is generally caring and supportive of her. He’s also somewhat of a big brother to Akito since he’s a year older than him. Eita is a vital character in this story because he’s the reason why Akane is in the guild and why Akane and Yamada eventually got together.

Runa looked to be a romantic rival at first, but she’s just a lonely girl with no friends. She’s protective of Yamada and such because she doesn’t want change in her life and just wants things to be the same. Although the prank she played on Akane was bad and dangerous, she does get Akane’s forgiveness by becoming her friend, which Runa enjoys and appreciates. She’s a definitive younger sister character with her snark and sassiness. She’s also a very timid character as she gets nervous easily. I’m glad that she is someone that I got to warm up to in the anime and that she doesn’t continuously play pranks on Akane to kick her out of the guild. My only gripe with Runa is that her game avatar doesn’t appear once in the anime. What does it look like? I want to know!

Kamota is the last of the major Chocorabbit guild members (before Tsubaki’s arrival) and is the oldest. He’s such an adorable character. I think the fact that he’s an older character, thus has so many connection makes realistic sense. If you don’t know, being an older Asian person means you know practically everyone in your community; my parents are like this as they practically know a lot of people in the Korean community where I live. He was yelling at the creepy suit guy in Episode 5 (voiced by OnoD) and telling him that he has a lawyer friend was peak. He’s also hilarious in the FOS world where his character is a tiny fuzzball, but when in battle, he grows ten times bigger and becomes the OP-est member. It’s a waste to not see what his avatar’s powered up self looks like.

Of the side characters, I think Momo is my favorite because she’s so supportive of Akane. While she does envy Akane at times, it’s more of a friendly kind. She’s always supportive of her and is her biggest emotional support when things look bad for her. I do hope she gets the boyfriend of her dreams.

Okamoto and Tsubaki are Yamada’s friends from school. Tsubaki’s role is that she has a crush on him, but is also a gamer. She joins Chocorabbit a bit later in the anime and does get along with Akane. Okamoto is comic relief. I do want to see more of his friends, honestly. They do seem like good people for Yamada to hang out with them constantly.

The voice acting is pretty good since they get a good mix of well-known voice actors in the cast. Inori Minase and Kouki Uchiyama play the leads while Natsuki Hanae, Ai Kakuma and Nobuo Tobita are the supporting cast. That’s pretty solid all around. I think the two most standout voice actors are Ai Kakuma and Nobuto Tobita. Kakuma has two roles in the anime: Rurihime and Runa. The fact that she voices both characters differently shows off her talent. Rurihime has a cute tone befitting an avatar while Runa is soft-spoken with a lot of snark and grouch. Tobita’s voice as Takezo is really good. He voices him adorably but when things get dire, he changes his tone to a deeper one. I really liked the way he voiced his avatar character the most.

The music in the anime’s good. The music used in the romantic scenes is so soothing and brings out the vibe so well. The opening and ending songs are good too! You can’t go wrong with Kana-boon!

There’s nothing I particularly disliked about this anime, which is good! I totally recommend this anime to anyone wanting to watch romance animes. Heck, this has become one of my favorite romances now. I’m glad I was able to watch it and enjoy it! I think there should be more college-themed romances or even gimmicky ones like gamers falling in love. This is the last of the Spring 2023 animes I’ve watched, so I’m glad to finally be able to review this. What are your thoughts on this anime if you have seen it?

#my love story with yamada kun at lv999 #yamada kun to lv999 no koi wo suru #Akane Kinoshita #Akito Yamada #Eita sasaki #Runa Sasaki #Takezo Kamota #Yukari Tsubaki #Momoko Maeda #romance #review #gaming #gamers #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal #shoujo anime #spring 2023 anime

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444lpblue · 1 year

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One word. Cute.

#oshi no ko #spring 2023 #spring 2023 anime

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rizumuj · 11 months

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These romance anime I'm watching have been so cute & wholesome 🥹🤎

(The Dangers in My Heart)

(Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible)

#Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu #the dangers in my heart #kubo san wa mob wo yurusanai #kubo won't let me be invisible #kubo-San wa mobu o yurusanai #kubo San wa mobu wo yurusanai #romance anime #cute anime #wholesome #lovely #need this in mlm #spring 2023 anime #hope both get a second season #cute couples #kubosan #kubo san #bokuyaba

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spacevixenmusic · 1 year

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Another Spring 2023 anime I've started watching: My Home Hero

Following the recent trend of anime titles about being a family in a world of thieves, spies and assassins, this one opens up with a story about a dad finding out his young adult daughter is dating a shitstain son of a yakuza boss, ends up hiding in her closet right before he lets himself in the front door, and decides to kill him in a fit of rage. Shortly after, his wife also walks in, sees the murder scene, and immediately suggests they hide the body. Neither of them are sorry for killing the bastard, but now they have to figure out how to hide it from their daughter and the criminal organization who will inevitably find out soon.

It's so rare these days to watch an anime with a primarily adult cast, and especially one so stylized. I'm definitely eager to see more from this one!

#my home hero #spring 2023 anime #this season is off to a bangin start

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hairunowa · 1 year

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Skip and Loafer OP 「Mellow」 by Suda Keina. https://youtu.be/PJirQlsWemk

#skip and loafer #skip and loafer anime #sukirofa #skip to loafer #skip and loafer gifs #mitsumi iwakura #iwakura mitsumi #sousuke shima #shima sousuke #anime #gifs #anime gifs #hairunowa #スキップとローファー #spring 2023 anime

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anisongoftheday · 28 days

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Hell's Paradise Opening

Ｗ●ＲＫ by millennium parade and Sheena Ringo

#hell's paradise #jigokuraku #anime music #spring 2023 anime #anisong of the day

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ladyloveandjustice · 10 months

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Spring 2023 Anime Overview-Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 2

In my review for season one of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, I praised the show for being a compelling sci-fi full or intrigue, centering a well developed queer romance between the robot-piloting protagonist and all around precious girl, Suletta Mercury, and her fierce fiancé, Miorine Rembran.

But having been burned by anime before, I said I would hold off on recommending the entire show until it finished, and crossed my fingers tight that season 2 wouldn’t drop the ball.

The great news is that I can now wholeheartedly recommend the show. The final season did not drop the ball. It remained a great watch, the romance and relationship development continued to be worthwhile and excellent, and it was consistent with the strengths of the first season. It wasn’t perfect, which I’ll get into, but it was very good. Whether you’re here for girls in love, robots wrecking each other, tense battles between opposing political factions, or morally-horrifying moms on a revenge spree, you’re in for a treat.

The shocking last moments of the first season have some great relationship fallout, and the series delves into how Suletta was truly brainwashed by her mother. Miorine’s struggles to come to terms with the bloody legacy she’s inherited and her relationship with Suletta can withstand such a thing. Suletta grapples with her mother’s deception and her own individuality. Both are compelling arcs that built upon the groundwork the first season laid and lead to some nice relationship drama.

(Also, the credit sequence was awesome.)

The parallels between the two girls really pop this season as they both have to confront their mistakes, shoulder their sins, and see if they can move forward with the other. You really see how they mirror each other, and how they need each other. The romance ball isn’t dropped and becomes even more textually explicit, with Suletta explicitly stating she's into Miorine and no one else and eagerly anticipating the wedding, while Miorine also makes her intentions with Suletta very clear.

The second season is also a lot faster paced than the first, delivering tense and heartbreaking episodes one after another and leaving you on the edge of your seat. A lot of the conflicts that had been building from the first episode came to an explosive crescendo. Those bombs dropped and the carnage was wonderful. It was exciting, we saw more sides of the conflict, spent some time on earth, and got to see some unexpected depth in several characters. And yes, there were approximately a million more Utena references, some that made me laugh out loud.

However, this season wasn’t perfect. I was already having a little trouble following all the different factions and agendas in the first season, and this season exacerbated the problem. And while some characters got great roles, there were just so many. That meant a lot of them didn’t have any space to develop or even serve a clear purpose. There were a lot of characters I was excited to see do something, who the show built up as super ominous and meaningful and...then they did nothing. As funny as it is that several characters can be summed up as "s/he did fuck all the whole show and then bounced, king shit", it's also a letdown.

And this season really threw into focus how many of the more distinctive supporting characters were barely explored. Suletta’s bond with Earth House was a major plot point, but we barely know anything about most of them so it doesn't hit as hard as it should. Even Chuchu, who was one of the more developed ones, felt under-served as fan favorite. For instance, there were several bits where she entered the battle and it was treated like a big deal…and we didn’t even get to see her fight, presumably because the show didn’t have time. And it was worse for other characters- I couldn’t even tell you the names of most of the girl squad working with Shaddiq. They all had such potential as characters, I wish we'd gotten more of them. Things that should be impactful the narrative, like Miorine's dad and the consequences to his actions and what it means for their relationship, were barely explored (not that I'm all that interested in him, but it was weird after the emphasis the first season put on it).

No major balls were dropped in the conflict between the Spacians and Earthians, but it also felt like it got lost in the shuffle at times and I felt like the show could have had a clearer ideology. The “war is bad” and “exploitative corporations are bad” came through loud and clear, but it felt like some threads could have been followed up on more.

In hindsight, I was also disappointed how much of the season Suletta and Miorine spent separated- some of that was plot relevant, but some of it was just clearly so they could learn exposition separately, and considering how important the relationship was to the show, it felt like a waste.

A good chunk of screentime was also waited Guel’s brother, Lauda. While Guel’s arc was solid and he’s the character who changed the most throughout the show, his brother and his tendency to blame any woman Guel was standing near for all their problems was not compelling (Nanami did it better). So it felt like there was a conflict involving him just to give Guel something to do during the fighting and tie a bow on things. Even the characters involved admitted what happened was kind of dumb, and I would have liked to see one of the more interesting unexplored characters get development instead.

The finale was especially rushed, and while there were cool moments, I couldn’t really describe how the battle was fought, and even one of the characters in the show admits that certain plot developments don’t make sense. I also couldn’t tell you exactly how exactly the villain’s big plan worked, which is kind of important!

You just had to be like “oh okay, well, pretty lights, stuff happened, don’t know why that was a thing, that was the power of love I guess, I’ll just soak up the vibes.” Which isn’t the end of the world, a lot of anime does that, but it stuck out because all the battles before that had their fantastical mechanics (mostly) clearly explained, There were also several reconciliations I would have been more okay with if the show had spent more time on what the messy process of repairing that broken trust looked like, but because it didn’t, it felt unearned.

And finally, the show spent a lot of time talking about a huge romantic event and in the end we…didn’t see it. It’s made clear it happened off screen, but the fact we didn’t see the event the show itself made such a big deal about felt like a let-down and even a bit of a cop-out, if I’m being honest. I get that outside forces may have been responsible, but it doesn't change my disappointment.

Basically what most of the complaints amount to is that I really enjoy this show, but I feel it needed to be longer than it was. At the very least, the events of the final episode could have used two episodes to unfold, so everything could be fully developed, and we could fully see how the characters ended up where they were. But ideally…Gundam series are typically 50 episodes, and I feel like this show might have been better served as a show of that length (or even 37 episodes/3 seasons). This show had a huge cast, a huge world, and a lot going on. I think we needed to spend a lot more time with the characters to get to know their backstories, personalities and agendas. I would have loved some “filler” episodes focusing on a minor character, or Suletta and Miorine going on a disastrous date.

However, overall I was satisfied with the ending. I came out feeling like a winner. It was fun, a lot of the characters ended up where I wanted them to be, and I liked how things turned out. There was an acknowledgement that a corrupt system of war profiteering and exploitation could not be taken down in one stroke, but that our heroes were going to keep fighting. I dearly want a slice of life following all these people at the end of the day, and my investment in the characters is a sign of a job well done.

The show also continued to treat it’s array of fat characters with respect, and it had some good disability representation as well, highlighting some disabled people leading fulfilling and joyful lives.

I really wish G-Witch could have been the absolute best version of itself. But the version we got is still pretty great. I definitely had a fantastic time with the show, was often touched by it, and I’ll carry the excellent characters with me for a long while. The textual romance between two female leads in a mainstream franchise like Gundam is a monumental achievement, and the show handled the relationship well. I hope its success opens the door for more like it. We deserve more stories like this- stories of all genres where queer people are important and get to go on grand adventures, are protagonists, are a normal part of the setting, where we see the kind of people anime usually ignores (fat people, non-Japanese people of color, queer people and disabled people...) are treated with respect, where the story embraces all even as it explores injustice. G-witch is an important step, and I’m sure it will be remembered fondly for years to come. And I sure wouldn’t say no to an OVA to fill in some of the blanks.

#mobile suit gundam #gundam the witch from mercury #gundam suisei no majo #mobile suit gundam: the witch from mercury #gundam witch from mercury #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #my reviews #anime overview #spring 2023 anime

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animebw · 1 year

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Premiere Season is upon us again! And as always, there is too much goddamn anime to watch. I’m still waiting on Oshi no Ko, Uma Musume S3, Sacrificial Princess and the Ranking of Kings OVA, and my schedule is already stuffed. This is gonna be a heck of a spring season.

Ancient Magus Bride Season 2: Is this the first studio Wit anime to get an animation upgrade after leaving for a different studio?

Birdie Wing Season 2: Friendly reminder that if you are not watching Lesbian Golf Yugioh, you need to be watching Lesbian Golf Yugioh.

The Dangers in my Heart: Probably the worst case of “horrible opening scene to an otherwise surprisingly good show” I’ve seen in a long time. Make it through the first episode of this one, trust me.

Demon Slayer Season 3: #LetNezukoOutOfTheBoxYouGoddamnCowards

Dr. Stone Season 3: I still can’t get over how all the female characters look like mutant frog Barbie dolls. What even is character design.

Gundam Witch Season 2: THIS NEW ED GIVES ME L I F E

Heavenly Delusion: Instantly one of the most absorbing worlds and mysteries in all of anime. Do not fucking miss this one.

Hell’s Paradise: Ah, so we’ve found our next Perfectly Fine Shonen Action Thing That Certain Fans Are Going To Be Unbearably Obnoxious About, haven’t we?

Insomniacs After School: The rare case where I’ve read the manga before the anime came out! And trust me, you need to read this manga, it’s so good.

Konosuba Megumin: A Konosuba spinoff about the only character good enough to stand on her own? Sounds good to me.

Magical Destroyers: Feels like a forgotten mid-2000s Hiroyuki Imaishi show. Not sure if that’s a compliment or criticism yet.

Mashle: Mob Psycho 100 without the creative animation or strong sense of humor. Big disappointment for how much it was hyped up.

My Clueless First Friend: My only drop thus far. Not a bad first episode, but thoroughly mediocre, and there are too many better rom-coms this season to justify its existence.

My Home Hero: Is this show bad, or just interesting but awkwardly executed? Jury’s still out.

My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999: So the director of My Love Story is directing another shoujo rom-com called My Love Story, and if that doesn’t immediately tell you that you need to be watching this one, I don’t want to know you.

Otaku Elf: No idea what this is trying to be so far. Probably second drop if the second episode doesn’t click better.

Skip and Loafer: girl help my serotonin receptors are overloading

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion: please let the production not collapse please let the production not collapse please let the

Yuri is my Job: Oh god, I’m going to spend this entire show cringing so hard, but it better be worth it.

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cherry-valentine · 11 months

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Spring 2023 Anime Season

Here’s what I’m watching!

Dr. Stone Season 3 was probably the series I was most looking forward to. The basic setup is this: a mysterious green light spreads over the entire world, turning all human beings into stone. Thousands of years later, teenage genius Senku awakens from his stone prison and decides to save all of humanity, bringing them back to the modern scientific age in the process. Unlike most popular shounen series, the focus of the story is notably not on fighting, action, training, chasing a dream, or even “the power of friendship”. It’s very much centered on Senku and his allies rebuilding society, recreating important scientific inventions, exploring, etc. There is some action, even some fighting, but the long stretches without either manage to be entertaining and, at times, thrilling all the same. The show also makes a point of telling us that physical fighting ability is definitely not the only thing that determines how strong or useful a character is. Senku himself is physically rather weak, especially when compared to the characters who can fight. But he’s super intelligent. There are characters who are good at lots of various things and are considered strong and important even if they wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight. I feel like this sets the series apart from other anime that focus so strongly on power levels and such. This season’s plot focuses on the characters exploring an island with a different village of people living on it, ones who might hold the secret of the petrification beam that swept over the earth thousands of years ago. The animation is great. The male character designs are great. The female character designs… not so great. I’m just not crazy about how the mangaka draws women. They all have enormous eyes that are drawn way too far apart. It’s a strange visual. But that’s a minor complaint. The music is fantastic, with my favorite ending theme of the season. If you haven’t tried Dr. Stone yet, you owe it to yourself to fix that mistake.

Hell’s Paradise is a series I was very excited to try. I’ve had the first few volumes of the manga on my Amazon wishlist for like two years now but never went ahead and bought them. The story is about a mysterious island that’s said to hold the elixir of immortality, but no one has come back from it alive. A group of dangerous death row prisoners are offered pardons if they can go to the island, find the elixir, and return with it. They’re accompanied by members of a clan full of government executioners who are highly skilled with the sword. The main character is Gabimaru, a notorious ninja assassin who was betrayed by his village and just wants to make it home to his beloved wife. This simple desire to be with the woman he loves makes Gabimaru easy to root for. The secondary protagonist is Sagiri, the executioner assigned to Gabimaru, and she’s where my main problem with the series is most clear. In the first episode, Sagiri is a stoic, badass swordswoman who is unfazed by Gabimaru’s seeming immorality and is so skilled that he’s legitimately afraid of her. She was quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite characters of the season. But then episode two comes along, and suddenly Sagiri is weepy and frightened and being derided as weak by her peers. We also get several of these shots that are supposed to represent her fear but are just images of her naked body being clawed and groped. I’ve never seen a character get nerfed so fast. Episode three restores my faith in her. Episode four has her being weak again. And so on. It’s a bizarre roller coaster that creates a very uneven experience for viewers who were excited to have a badass heroine. There are other female characters, though most of them are also used for fanservice. As it currently stands, Sagiri is back to being badass, so who knows how this will turn out? Aside from that issue, the show is pretty good. The animation and design work are gorgeous. The opening theme is easily the best of the season. The creature/monster designs are unique and interesting. It’s definitely worth watching, but I still wish Sagiri’s character had been a bit more consistent.

Kimetsu no Yaiba Season 3 is, as I understand it, the second movie broken up into tv episodes the way the Mugen Train movie was done last season. I haven’t watched this movie so this is all new content for me. As usual for this series, the production values are sky high, with breathtaking animation and incredible music. I’ve said it many times before, but Kimetsu no Yaiba’s strength really is in its gorgeous presentation. The story isn’t bad by any means but it is fairly standard shounen fighting anime fare. But it’s not just the animation and music that elevate the show. The design work, for the characters as well as the various demons and weapons and settings, is fantastic. The fight choreography is top notch. It’s all the little details, it’s the voice acting, it’s the beautiful colors, it’s everything coming together to make this series so damn watchable. To explain what I mean, the first episode of this season was a double length episode, but I watched it and had no idea until I later skimmed the comments. It was double length and it still felt short. That’s how you know something is highly entertaining. High on my watch list.

My Home Hero is a compelling cat and mouse game. It follows Tetsuo, a seemingly average middle aged father who finds out his daughter is dating an abusive yakuza thug and decides to take matters into his own hands. He ends up killing the boyfriend, and the rest of the series is about his attempts to keep this fact hidden from both his daughter and the dangerous yakuza family that is searching for answers. What follows is a tense, thrilling roller coaster. Tetsuo is a kind and caring father who looks like an unassuming salaryman, but he has a ruthless, cunning side to him that comes out when he needs to protect his family. He’s physically weak but incredibly intelligent and armed with a lifetime of reading mystery books. His only true ally is his wife Kasen, who is just an absolute delight. She never questions Tetsuo’s motives and doesn’t even bat an eye when he tells her he killed someone to protect their daughter. She just rolls up her sleeves and gets to work on helping him dispose of the body. She proves to be a strong asset, as her creativity and fearless nature get them out of trouble several times. The way the couple works together as a team is honestly very heartwarming. Even if they’re working to cover up a murder. The show has one major flaw, however, and that’s the animation. While it’s definitely not the worst I’ve seen, it’s certainly not good. I’m assuming it had a low budget. But it says a lot about the quality of the writing that this is one of my favorite shows this season despite the subpar visuals. Highly recommended.

Skip to Loafer is a sweet and gentle palette cleanser after all the intense shows I’m watching throughout the week. It’s a high school slice of life series about a country girl named Mitsumi moving to Tokyo to go to a better school and meet new friends. Mitsumi is well meaning, smart, and ambitious, but she’s also easily distracted and a bit clumsy (not in the usual cutesy way, but in the accidentally puking on her teacher on the first day of school way). Her life could be summed up as one of those “expectation vs reality” memes, but a big part of her character arc is understanding that things not going according to plan is not necessarily a bad thing. The supporting cast is made up of interesting characters that manage to be unique without being exaggerated caricatures. Most important (narratively) among them is Shima, a handsome and popular young man who seems aloof and carefree, but of course there’s more to him than that. His relationship with Mitsumi is one of the main plot points of the series. It’s also worth noting that Mitsumi lives with her aunt Nao, who is a trans woman. From what I’ve read/heard, Nao has been well received and counts as positive representation. She’s a funny, cute, engaging character who is never reduced to a stereotype. The show overall has a calm, soothing feel to it, with pastel colors and peppy music. Recommended.

Best of Season:

Best New Series: My Home Hero

Best Opening Theme: Hell’s Paradise

Best Ending Theme: Dr. Stone

Best New Male Character: Tetsuo (My Home Hero)

Best New Female Character: Mitsumi (Skip to Loafer)

#seasonal anime #anime reviews #anime recommendations #spring 2023 anime #dr stone #kimetsu no yaiba #my home hero #skip to loafer #text

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