Interesting, there's not a lot of episodes so I might just dabble and see how it goes.
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Anime |OT| Fall 2019 - Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
- Thread starter Printer Paper 8 X 11
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Aikatsu on Parade 1
So Raki's immediate stand out traits are being spacy, getting lost easily, and ignoring do not press buttons. This is the person that's going to be leading the journey into new dimensions? I'm more interested in her big sister, who is apparently an evil mad scientist who has unlocked the secrets of the multiverse through the power of holographic idol technology. And I thought last season was nuts. Nothing much yet since it was all setup in the Friends universe with the actual hook only coming in the last few minutes. But I think Aine/Mio just declared idol war on Yume/Koharu, so that's something. Speaking of Yume, definitely pumped to get more of her. More Stars is always good. ED is a nice nostalgic callback to Idol Activity, and more importantly contains Shion. Praise be they remembered her. Not sure what to expect other than cross-universe idols interacting, but if they can nail that they've got me hooked.
So Raki's immediate stand out traits are being spacy, getting lost easily, and ignoring do not press buttons. This is the person that's going to be leading the journey into new dimensions? I'm more interested in her big sister, who is apparently an evil mad scientist who has unlocked the secrets of the multiverse through the power of holographic idol technology. And I thought last season was nuts. Nothing much yet since it was all setup in the Friends universe with the actual hook only coming in the last few minutes. But I think Aine/Mio just declared idol war on Yume/Koharu, so that's something. Speaking of Yume, definitely pumped to get more of her. More Stars is always good. ED is a nice nostalgic callback to Idol Activity, and more importantly contains Shion. Praise be they remembered her. Not sure what to expect other than cross-universe idols interacting, but if they can nail that they've got me hooked.
OP
OP
I can't remember what I was doing in Fall of 2014 that made me not watch Psycho Pass S2, but I still thank it to this day.
☝️ those overreactions I was talkin about lol.
If PP was a 9, then PP2 is like a 6 or 7 dose of filler if you enjoyed the world. Its like the last third of Death Note. The Sunagakura support arc that finished the massive Naruto filler hell. Looks worse when compared to what was supplied previously but in a vacuum better than the typical junk that comes out every season.
Just try the PP.
If PP was a 9, then PP2 is like a 6 or 7 dose of filler if you enjoyed the world. Its like the last third of Death Note. The Sunagakura support arc that finished the massive Naruto filler hell. Looks worse when compared to what was supplied previously but in a vacuum better than the typical junk that comes out every season.
Just try the PP.
I really wasn't that bad. It wasn't good, but it's still more watchable than 80% of series that come out *shrug*
It's very easy to be disappointed in it compared to the first season though.
:P
my scores for the two seasons
so I fully agree lol
It's not an overreaction to dislike something, as far as I know.
Speaking of disliking something: I forgot that at one point I was watching Fairy Gone. Got completely distracted and fell off. Since season two is happening, I thought I'd pick it back up. I'm...liking it more than I remembered. Back then it was just a decent portion of junk food when I had nothing else to watch.
Is this show good or bad oh no.
Anyway, moving on from that, this season in general is fantastic.
Speaking of disliking something: I forgot that at one point I was watching Fairy Gone. Got completely distracted and fell off. Since season two is happening, I thought I'd pick it back up. I'm...liking it more than I remembered. Back then it was just a decent portion of junk food when I had nothing else to watch.
Is this show good or bad oh no.
Anyway, moving on from that, this season in general is fantastic.
Oh shit. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...wave-listen-to-me-manga-gets-tv-anime/.152001
Is it just me or is this what the Blade of the Immortal anime should look like?
Is it just me or is this what the Blade of the Immortal anime should look like?
Elfen Lied 1: Selective amnesia, how I missed you! Things: unique title sequence*, nice backgrounds, Jouji Nakata, and it's quite graphic. There's donuts too:
—————
* NSFW
Body count: 23
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* NSFW
Body count: 23
I don't understand why they have those stupid circle shadows in the characters' sceleras. It doesn't look to be in the manga either.
cencoroll 2 slapped
@aniplex please give atsuya uki more money
you are braver than the troops for this one sir
@aniplex please give atsuya uki more money
you are braver than the troops for this one sir
dis gon be gud.Elfen Lied 1: Selective amnesia, how I missed you! Things: unique title sequence*, nice backgrounds, Jouji Nakata, and it's quite graphic. There's donuts too:
—————
* NSFW
Body count: 23
I liked Elfen Lied when it aired. And then I got a little older and realized how it wasn't very good lol.Elfen Lied 1: Selective amnesia, how I missed you! Things: unique title sequence*, nice backgrounds, Jouji Nakata, and it's quite graphic. There's donuts too:
—————
* NSFW
Body count: 23
I didn't get as early a start on this season as I wanted thanks to work. Anyway, here's some first impressions:
SEASONAL DEBUTS
Kemono Michi: Rise Up 1
What happens when you take the perverted, sophomoric humor of Konosuba and transplant it onto a pro wrestler whisked away to a world where he can indulge his animal fetishes a little too transparently? You get an isekai comedy that actually works! Kemono Michi comes from Natsume Akatsuki, the author of Konosuba, and it doesn't take long to figure that out. A lot of the same hallmarks that made Konosuba funny, from its lampooning of RPG cliches, to its awful, selfish cast, to its often unapologetic inclusion of some very well executed low-brow humor; they're all present in Kemono Michi. But where as in Konosuba a lot of that felt like it was a deliberate construction designed to poke fun at other stories of its type, Kemono Michi feels like it leans in a lot more into the kind of bizarre pro wrestling scene in order to make its humor feel more consistent.
Animal Mask so far feels far more consistent in his presentation than Kazuma did early on. Even the slightest amount of context for his wrestling persona makes his frankly idiotic decisions in the earlier parts of the episode feel understandable given his own incredibly extreme values. This ties in with his fighting style, which not only uses wrestling in a land where swords and sorcery is the norm (which is already novel) but because he just wants to be friends with animals of all kinds, he defeats them through, *ahem* heavy petting. This weird mesh of wrestling identity with an unhealthy, arguably perverse, obsession makes for some really engaging comedy that doesn't feel like it's relying on Akatsuki's past work to be funny, all while maintaining all the things I enjoyed about Konosuba's presentation of terrible people doing terrible things to get by.
The question right now is will the show maintain its momentum? Konosuba was very loose in its construction, which meant it had a lot of avenues it could develop into. Kemono Michi is far more specific in how it builds out its main character, and it runs the risk of falling down the line of gimmick territory much more quickly because of that. But I'm willing to keep going with Kemono Michi after such a strong start. Here's hoping it does not disappoint!
Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious 1
Speaking of Konosuba, here's yet another show that has nothing to do with the creative team on it but feels heavily, almost criminally, inspired by its take on RPG conventions. But if we're being honest, the one thing that feels ripped out of Konosuba here the most is the way all of these jokes on beats and mechanics are presented to the audience: Cautious Hero's protagonist and resident "useless goddess," Listarte.
I don't really think it's an overstatement to say she makes this show. Between the frankly absurd amount of faces they gave her in this first episode combined with Aki Toyosaki's incredible voice work, she becomes the lynch pin that holds the jokes together. Since Seiya is a through-and-through straight man, her goofy, overly animated personality is what the show needs to keep momentum in its scenes and drive the energy along that Seiya could easily sap away by being so wooden in comparison. It's a good dynamic, and even in this first episode the breakneck pacing doesn't feel out of place but rather something that feels in line with Listarte's scattershot and hyper-active personality.
In a way, though, Cautious Hero's problem going forward is going to be the same as Kemono Michi's: will this get old? Given how much work they put into Listarte's animation and performance in the first episode, I'm inclined to imagine the show will have legs, but without that effort I worry it will drop off. But for now, I'm on board to see more of this glorious trainwreck ahead.
Ascendance of a Bookworm: I'll Do Anything to Become a Librarian! 1 - DROPPED
While this is the first isekai in a while that I recall which forces the protagonist into a situation where they are technically worse off than they were in their last life, I don't think it's enough to really get me invested in its story arc. The premise might be more novel than you're average isekai, sure, but the production is painfully dull for material as dry as this is right now. Though the flashback sequence to Myne's previous life felt like something you'd see out of a Madoka Magica knock-off, most of the rest of the episode has such a dull, flat composition and muted color palette that did nothing to either draw you into the world or at least give it a characterization in line with Myne's view of it. The slower than dirt pacing combined with the workman-esque production make for an experience that was unable to engage me despite its somewhat unusual setup among isekai.
OreSuki: Are You the Only One Who Loves Me? 1 - DROPPED
Huh... that was... remarkably unfunny. Given the way some people were talking about this show, I was thinking we were in for a riotous time, but honestly I think this was played too low-key for it to work as intended. The joke here is the dichotomy between how a lot of "nice guy" protagonists (ala Shirou Emiya) act and how a regularperson incel would react in a similar situation. The trouble comes from the fact that Joro is just not all that different from one personality to the other. Yes, he gives the impression of being a doormat, but secretly he resents all these people using him: what a shock!
For a premise like this to work, I feel the dichotomy between his personalities really needed to be larger. If there was anyone I could picture working as the protagonist here, it's Kazuma from Konosuba (god, how many times can I bring up one show in a season?!). Anyone who's seen Konosuba knows Kazuma's an scumbag through-and-through, but his circumstances allow him to wear that on his sleeve rather than having to conceal it like Joro. If the rift between what our impression of Joro was originally and what he turns out to be in reality was larger, perhaps that would've landed better. It doesn't help in terms of casting that while Daiki Yamashita is doing an admirable job here, he's already played a more crude, rude dude as Narancia in Golden Wind earlier this year, and his performance there outshines what he's giving here in OreSuki.
IDK, with a combination of humor that feels unwilling to take the kind of necessary risks to make the most of its "Jekyll and Hyde" protagonist and really obvious presentation that saps any energy out of the jokes it has, I think I'm fine with passing on OreSuki.
After School Dice Club 1 - DROPPED
It's hard for me to believe a show about high school girls playing the kind of analog board games that I'm into would end up striking out with me after just one episode, but I think that comes from a couple of key ideas that popped up during this episode that feel abrasive to my own opinions on the medium.
There's nothing particularly wrong with After School Dice Club from an animation perspective. It's not a remarkable production, sure, but in that regard if you're looking for a CGDCT series, this will do the job (and likely nothing more). But my issue comes more from the philosophy of the writer in approaching some board game tenants which I simply can't agree with. The first thing is that the manager of the store doesn't seem to be too interested in making sure these girls, who are obviously new to the hobby, manage to learn certain tenants that are common in board games. Things like area control, calculating probability, and risk management are all central themes in a lot of games, not just Marrakech. For those coming to the hobby for the first time, German-style economic and abstract game design will seem rather foreign because most common board games people identify with don't utilize them (or don't utilize them well), meaning the significance might be lost on new players until they're past a point where they can recover. While new players might lose their first handful of games they play, if taught well they can flourish after an initial adjustment. However, the manager seems to only want to win and nothing else; it makes you wonder why his shop is so devoid of customers.
The second issue is that After School Dice Club has a strange, somewhat romantic view on "quarterbacking." For those unfamiliar with the term, it refers to the idea that when playing in a team game, one person (usually someone with more experience in the hobby or with a particular game in question) tells the other team members what to do, effectively making their teammates board game components and taking away their decision making process as players. This is a problem that often gets talked about as pushing a lot of newer players away, again because much like not teaching them properly, it doesn't let them develop any real skill by taking away any possibility of them learning through making mistakes. Losing a game should not be something that people feel is a bad thing; as long as you learned something for future games, any session can be worthwhile, especially if it lead to you having a good time with the company of family, friends or strangers. Sadly, winning is the only thing After School Dice Club seems to put any value on, and it's that friction between the writer's values and mine that are pushing me away.
Azur Lane 1 - DROPPED
Speaking as someone without any real significant attachment to Azur Lane other than appreciating its share of quality designs, I was mostly hoping for some decent material here given that the Kantai Collection anime, while strange in a number of ways, provided a decent format for how an adaptation this weird could work in an animated format. However, despite being quite similar in overall structure, I can't say I found Azur Lane nearly as engaging for a few reasons.
I think the biggest thing lost is some sense of grounding. People complained a lot about the choice to make Fubuki the point of view character in the anime, but by centering the entire show around her perspective, it made you connect to the world and characters much more easily than if they had hopped from ship girl to ship girl like they do here. In this episode alone, we see this conflict through the eyes of the Prince of Wales, Unicorn, Ayanami, Cleveland, Javelin, Kaga, and Enterprise. That's too many, and often we're put into the shoes of someone we don't know at all, robbing us of any emotional attachment to the attack. The surprise attack on the harbor should be chaotic, and if we had followed a point-of-view character throughout the episode, the chaos of the assault (and the heroics of other ships seen at a distance) might have made a bigger impact. Instead, we see a highlight real of all the action from whoever needs to be involved, and while that's good for action spectacle, it saps the storytelling of any chance to engage the viewer beyond recognizing their favorite ship girls.
All that said, I think I would've given all this a pass if the action had been amazing, but again I think it took away the wrong lessons from Kantai Collection. That anime's action may not have been the most exciting, and as a representation of how the battles work in the game (which are thoroughly abstracted due to it being a strategy title), it ended up working even if visually it wasn't the most exciting because there was some kind of grounding to the logic of their rigs. Despite using similar rig set ups, there seems to be little logic in how these ships actually function in regards to their real world counterparts. In Kantai Collection, all the CVs were archers, because they had to "launch" their planes. In Azur Lane, some CVs also use bows, but others just have runways that they materialize fighters on, and others use... burning ninja scrolls? It's the "rule of cool" over consistent logic, but it also makes it tougher to gauge what a ship's role is looking at them because there isn't some internal logic governing how they work. Again, this might not bother everyone, but it did make me less interested since it often felt like they just kind of threw these encounters together and that's why they didn't flow particularly well together.
IDK, maybe I'm being overly harsh, but Azur Lane didn't strike me as being as well planned out as Kantai Collection's anime adaptation. That was kind of my base line for watching more because I'm not invested in the property, so I think I'll go down with my ship here.
Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia 1
So... it's finally here: the Babylonia adaptation everyone has been clamoring for since the seventh singularity debuted in Fate/Grand Order at the end of 2016. For those on the outside, I can understand the confusion and trepidation that an adaptation of a mobile game's story chapter might bring, but having played Babylonia for myself near to a year ago in the English version of F/GO, I don't think it's a stretch to say it's the best Fate story Nasu has primarily written since Fate/Extra CCC. While it can be argued that the reverence for it might be overblown simply because it came after many much more mediocre stories before it (save Camelot, which is getting its own two-movie adaptation), the fact is that it stands on its own as a wonderful tale of the end of days, tying in a lot of interesting and fresh characterization for Gilgamesh, bringing the larger conflict of first part of F/GO to a climactic high, and creating some of the most well remembered moments in the game's history.
I wouldn't blame anyone going into this series without more than the episode zero that came out a month ago to not really glean any of that, though, as this episode of Babylonia makes it clear that this is primarily an adaptation aimed squarely at fans already familiar with the source material. While I think that's a mistake personally speaking as this is one of Fate's better narratives in some time, I understand the difficulty in skipping six other singularities worth of overarching story and lore details to start here. They would either need to have made a start similar to that of Unlimited Blade Works to get everyone up to speed, or they could skip it and get to the meat of what everyone watching would care about, and they chose the latter. I don't really envy them that decision, but I appreciate that it doesn't waste any time. Babylonia is very long by the standards set by F/GOs previous singularities, so here's hoping they maintain a good pace to get through all the available chapters in a mere 22 total episodes.
Production-wise, I saw some encouraging and worrying signs this episode. The battle sequences continue to be the highlight as they were in Apocrypha, with Mash, Ishtar, and Enkidu putting in wonderful displays of their varied and overwhelming power (something that will become a bit of a common theme throughout Babylonia). In addition, there's a lot of love and care put into small sequences like Da Vinci's entrance or Ishtar's landing, which gives me a lot of hope for how some of the singularities more iconic moments will be conveyed in later episodes. That said, I do think that the CG on the Uridimmu (the demonic beasts that attack our heroes throughout the episode) was a bit poor looking, and outside of some of the more notable vistas, the background work was kind of plain as well. If they are saving themselves for future episodes set in Uruk or in... other locations, that's understandable, but in comparison to the battle sequences, it's a shame to see some other parts of the production lacking a bit.
So far, indications are good that this will be a solid show for a fan like me, though I do find it a bit sad that it isn't more welcoming for those who have less experience with the source material. If anyone is interested in learning more about the basis of the overall conflict Babylonia is a part of, Fate/Grand Order: First Order is a perfectly watchable if relatively unremarkable OVA that adapts F/GO's prologue. In concert with Babylonia's episode zero, it would do a decent job of catching you up on the most important things to know while leaving some surprises in store that will make Babylonia's story a little more affecting.
Now, bring on next week; it's time for us Welsh boys to get a chance to shine!
Africa Salaryman 1
Well, that was weird. I had some hope that this would turn out well, and I got most of what I was hoping for in this first episode. As something that feels inspired in equal parts by Aggretsuko and Pop Team Epic, Africa Salaryman is a weird show that ALMOST manages to feel more than the sum of its part, but seems to fall short in a way that I'm still trying to parse.
There's a lot to like here, especially on the production end. While the show certainly looks like it was made on a shoestring budget/tight timeline, there's a lot of craft in how the sometimes awkward CG is utilized, and more creative license in the animation department with sequences that feel like they've come out of an Adult Swim show or something. It can be truly impressive at times, and the visual artistry on display is the reason to get into Africa Salaryman.
Once it gets to trying to say something, though... that's were it feels like it falls apart a bit. I don't necessarily mind this being a show about three weird office workers and their shenanigans in this anthropomorphized world, but it often makes me wonder what exactly it's trying to say. Unlike Aggretsuko where the message is clear and the protagonist can waver between sympathetic and inflammatory, it's hard to find any redeeming qualities of Toucan, the character we spend the most time with in this first episode. He's a conniving, selfish, quick-tempered douchebag no matter how you look at it, and seeing him get his is funny, but ultimately I fail to see any real point in any of these stories about him other than showcasing how terrible of an individual he is. That might be funny for a while, but if they keep making this a series of one-off comedy focused stories about these characters that don't have much thematic resonance or connectivity, I could see this getting old because none of them feel particularly well rounded enough to carry the show on their misadventures alone.
Babylon 1-3
Good god, how do I even talk about this show?
Let's start by talking about the smaller points before addressing the elephant in the room. Through and through, this is a really good political thriller. I've spoken about how much Cop Craft disappointed me on that front for the few arcs it tried to tackle with that particular theme, but this is an excellent serialized thriller throughout these first few episodes. Unexpected in its developments, superbly well executed from a visual front (the interrogation scene in season two is a highlight from this year as a whole), and respectful of its audience intelligence, Babylon is everything I could want from a modern thriller. While the animated treatment over a live action one doesn't make as much sense early on, there are some clever developments relating to one specific character that feel like they make the most of the medium in really fascinating ways, but to say more would ruin one of the series' better earlier developments.
So, if I'm gushing about Babylon this much in comparison to most of the other things I've watched, then what's the problem? There's a development in the latter half of the third episode that re-frames the events of the rest of the series up to this point, and it hinges on one particularly thorny topic that is sure to cause distress to most people:
Suicide.
Babylon posits that its villains, such as they are, wish to reform society by re-shaping our understanding of death. To that end, the big statement at the end of the third episode is a public endorsement of this new perspective by a collection of people who all wish to die and eventually do leap to their deaths from the tallest structure in the city while being encouraged to do so by the villains who are now capable of giving them the political freedom to make that choice. I don't think I have to explain why this is difficult subject matter to delve into. Suicide is still a very controversial topic in modern society, and due to its often inevitable ties with depression and mental healthcare (or lack thereof), any treatment of it comes with a certain level of expectation in regards to the gravity of addressing it. The end of the third episode is certainly a statement, one that has the weight you would expect, but also one that speaks to those who might already be in a troubled place in their lives and vulnerable to that kind of suggestion.
Babylon is an excellent thriller and probably my vote for the best new show airing this season, but it's also one that feels like it actually needs to come with a significant disclaimer and warning about its content. The ideas its playing with are captivating, but taking about the morality of suicide can be very dangerous for a certain audience of people open to the suggestive nature of its villains' philosophy. Will Babylon manage to maintain its qualities in pursuit of these themes? I don't rightly know, and I feel it would be irresponsible to suggest so, especially given it's an adaptation of a story by Mado Nozaki, author of Kado: The Answer (and I already see one element that might take this toward schlock like that ended up being toward the end depending on how it's handled). Babylon has a lot going for it but a lot to prove at the same time, but I can't deny it's the most captivating show on this season, if not always for the best of reasons.
CONTINUING SERIES
GeGeGe no Kitaro 76
I see we're still continuing on from the end of the last cour with the aftermath of the Four Generals arc, eh? Given this is the beginning of the last cour, I suppose I can't be too surprised, though I hope they can finally make good on some serious potential on a two-cour arc that feels like it had nothing to say in comparison with the much stronger one-off episodes in between. That said, having a youkai that uses political power and sheer capital to build an army of supporters through extortion, blackmail, and terrorism isn't a bad pitch for this last arc... except that I have my doubts about how Kitaro will be able to handle this kind of material.
While they've handled difficult topics in the past, most of them are societal or psychological issues, not political ones. Every time they've addressed politics in a serious manner, Kitaro's position as a kid's show rears its head, and it loses the kind of teeth necessary for a real political thriller angle to operate without compromise. Take one of the earliest scenes, where the new seasonal villain tries to buy off a politician to get land grants for a scheme. The politician doesn't budge, and leaves for another meeting. As soon as he gets in his car, a bomb that looked big enough to take out half a block in Tokyo goes off. However, immediately following this, a news reporter talking about the bombing declares that the politician and his driver survived this enormous explosion, making you wonder if that was an accident or if this villain is willing to hurt people but not kill them to get his way.
This kind of sloppiness in terms of motive might be compelling if it felt like it was intentional, but rather that dialogue feels like something that would allow the plot development to happen in a show for the age rating Kitaro has rather than a conscious script-writing choice, because given the way the scene played out, there's absolutely no way that guy should've survived. And because I'm now doubting the convictions of the new villain because of how that scene played out, his machinations in the rest of the episode feel confusing rather than mysterious.
Stuff like this makes me worry about the tone of this last arc of the show. I still think there's some good material as this youkai uses the tools of the human world against them and against Kitaro (after all, nothing's better than a villain you know is guilty but remains untouchable because of red tape), but I still worry if the team that wrote the core narrative of the last couple arcs can make this work the way I feel it needs to in order to reach its potential because so far I'm not feeling it.
Vinland Saga 13
Well then... that is a bombshell. Askeladd's motives have always remained a bit of a mystery; as much as he liked making a profit, it was clear that unlike his miser of a father, he was more interested in something else, but we could never really know what. But now, a lot of his decision-making ever since he heard about Canute's capture has made much more sense.
I realize that much of this episode won't necessarily play all that strongly to those who don't have a good grasp on just how different the various groups inhabiting the island of Great Britain were at the time. The Welsh aren't really a part of any other ethnic group in the region, being both distinct from the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts. Since they were isolated by the Atlantic but still shared an enormous land border with England, the Vikings could have picked them off relatively easily as they didn't have anywhere they could go. This is primarily why the Welsh made a lot of concessions to the Viking invaders, and the Vikings never had enough of a base in England to make a campaign across England to Wales in one year (primarily because Wales is a thoroughly mountainous region in comparison to England, which would have made it difficult to conquer quickly for a force that had to leave Great Britain every winter).
Askeladd's plan ties into this historical conceit rather gracefully, while finally giving us some concrete answers about why exactly he is the way he is. Of course, there's a chance that everything he's saying is something he's "borrowed" from someone else, and all of this is a lie he's fabricated up, but it seems like more effort than would be worthwhile if that was the case (especially given how difficult a language Welsh is to learn, but that's besides the point). But for the first time, I have a feeling Askeladd's being honest about his intentions, grand as they are, but how he plans to turn Canute into someone capable of making such a dream a reality is the more interesting question here.
Speaking of Canute, it's nice to finally see him pushed by Thorfinn enough for his shell to crack. It's been clear for a while that he often chooses not to speak not only out of fear but also due to a lack of experience at what his role pertains. When he lets loose, his tongue is fairly sharp and he proves himself rather quick witted, but despite his obviously antagonistic relationship with Thorfinn, he's still the only one who's managed to break his silence just in time for an arc about Askeladd forcing Canute to grow up to be king. I look forward to Canute and Thorfinn bickering like brothers in the future.
SEASONAL DEBUTS
Kemono Michi: Rise Up 1
What happens when you take the perverted, sophomoric humor of Konosuba and transplant it onto a pro wrestler whisked away to a world where he can indulge his animal fetishes a little too transparently? You get an isekai comedy that actually works! Kemono Michi comes from Natsume Akatsuki, the author of Konosuba, and it doesn't take long to figure that out. A lot of the same hallmarks that made Konosuba funny, from its lampooning of RPG cliches, to its awful, selfish cast, to its often unapologetic inclusion of some very well executed low-brow humor; they're all present in Kemono Michi. But where as in Konosuba a lot of that felt like it was a deliberate construction designed to poke fun at other stories of its type, Kemono Michi feels like it leans in a lot more into the kind of bizarre pro wrestling scene in order to make its humor feel more consistent.
Animal Mask so far feels far more consistent in his presentation than Kazuma did early on. Even the slightest amount of context for his wrestling persona makes his frankly idiotic decisions in the earlier parts of the episode feel understandable given his own incredibly extreme values. This ties in with his fighting style, which not only uses wrestling in a land where swords and sorcery is the norm (which is already novel) but because he just wants to be friends with animals of all kinds, he defeats them through, *ahem* heavy petting. This weird mesh of wrestling identity with an unhealthy, arguably perverse, obsession makes for some really engaging comedy that doesn't feel like it's relying on Akatsuki's past work to be funny, all while maintaining all the things I enjoyed about Konosuba's presentation of terrible people doing terrible things to get by.
The question right now is will the show maintain its momentum? Konosuba was very loose in its construction, which meant it had a lot of avenues it could develop into. Kemono Michi is far more specific in how it builds out its main character, and it runs the risk of falling down the line of gimmick territory much more quickly because of that. But I'm willing to keep going with Kemono Michi after such a strong start. Here's hoping it does not disappoint!
Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious 1
Speaking of Konosuba, here's yet another show that has nothing to do with the creative team on it but feels heavily, almost criminally, inspired by its take on RPG conventions. But if we're being honest, the one thing that feels ripped out of Konosuba here the most is the way all of these jokes on beats and mechanics are presented to the audience: Cautious Hero's protagonist and resident "useless goddess," Listarte.
I don't really think it's an overstatement to say she makes this show. Between the frankly absurd amount of faces they gave her in this first episode combined with Aki Toyosaki's incredible voice work, she becomes the lynch pin that holds the jokes together. Since Seiya is a through-and-through straight man, her goofy, overly animated personality is what the show needs to keep momentum in its scenes and drive the energy along that Seiya could easily sap away by being so wooden in comparison. It's a good dynamic, and even in this first episode the breakneck pacing doesn't feel out of place but rather something that feels in line with Listarte's scattershot and hyper-active personality.
In a way, though, Cautious Hero's problem going forward is going to be the same as Kemono Michi's: will this get old? Given how much work they put into Listarte's animation and performance in the first episode, I'm inclined to imagine the show will have legs, but without that effort I worry it will drop off. But for now, I'm on board to see more of this glorious trainwreck ahead.
Ascendance of a Bookworm: I'll Do Anything to Become a Librarian! 1 - DROPPED
While this is the first isekai in a while that I recall which forces the protagonist into a situation where they are technically worse off than they were in their last life, I don't think it's enough to really get me invested in its story arc. The premise might be more novel than you're average isekai, sure, but the production is painfully dull for material as dry as this is right now. Though the flashback sequence to Myne's previous life felt like something you'd see out of a Madoka Magica knock-off, most of the rest of the episode has such a dull, flat composition and muted color palette that did nothing to either draw you into the world or at least give it a characterization in line with Myne's view of it. The slower than dirt pacing combined with the workman-esque production make for an experience that was unable to engage me despite its somewhat unusual setup among isekai.
OreSuki: Are You the Only One Who Loves Me? 1 - DROPPED
Huh... that was... remarkably unfunny. Given the way some people were talking about this show, I was thinking we were in for a riotous time, but honestly I think this was played too low-key for it to work as intended. The joke here is the dichotomy between how a lot of "nice guy" protagonists (ala Shirou Emiya) act and how a regular
For a premise like this to work, I feel the dichotomy between his personalities really needed to be larger. If there was anyone I could picture working as the protagonist here, it's Kazuma from Konosuba (god, how many times can I bring up one show in a season?!). Anyone who's seen Konosuba knows Kazuma's an scumbag through-and-through, but his circumstances allow him to wear that on his sleeve rather than having to conceal it like Joro. If the rift between what our impression of Joro was originally and what he turns out to be in reality was larger, perhaps that would've landed better. It doesn't help in terms of casting that while Daiki Yamashita is doing an admirable job here, he's already played a more crude, rude dude as Narancia in Golden Wind earlier this year, and his performance there outshines what he's giving here in OreSuki.
IDK, with a combination of humor that feels unwilling to take the kind of necessary risks to make the most of its "Jekyll and Hyde" protagonist and really obvious presentation that saps any energy out of the jokes it has, I think I'm fine with passing on OreSuki.
After School Dice Club 1 - DROPPED
It's hard for me to believe a show about high school girls playing the kind of analog board games that I'm into would end up striking out with me after just one episode, but I think that comes from a couple of key ideas that popped up during this episode that feel abrasive to my own opinions on the medium.
There's nothing particularly wrong with After School Dice Club from an animation perspective. It's not a remarkable production, sure, but in that regard if you're looking for a CGDCT series, this will do the job (and likely nothing more). But my issue comes more from the philosophy of the writer in approaching some board game tenants which I simply can't agree with. The first thing is that the manager of the store doesn't seem to be too interested in making sure these girls, who are obviously new to the hobby, manage to learn certain tenants that are common in board games. Things like area control, calculating probability, and risk management are all central themes in a lot of games, not just Marrakech. For those coming to the hobby for the first time, German-style economic and abstract game design will seem rather foreign because most common board games people identify with don't utilize them (or don't utilize them well), meaning the significance might be lost on new players until they're past a point where they can recover. While new players might lose their first handful of games they play, if taught well they can flourish after an initial adjustment. However, the manager seems to only want to win and nothing else; it makes you wonder why his shop is so devoid of customers.
The second issue is that After School Dice Club has a strange, somewhat romantic view on "quarterbacking." For those unfamiliar with the term, it refers to the idea that when playing in a team game, one person (usually someone with more experience in the hobby or with a particular game in question) tells the other team members what to do, effectively making their teammates board game components and taking away their decision making process as players. This is a problem that often gets talked about as pushing a lot of newer players away, again because much like not teaching them properly, it doesn't let them develop any real skill by taking away any possibility of them learning through making mistakes. Losing a game should not be something that people feel is a bad thing; as long as you learned something for future games, any session can be worthwhile, especially if it lead to you having a good time with the company of family, friends or strangers. Sadly, winning is the only thing After School Dice Club seems to put any value on, and it's that friction between the writer's values and mine that are pushing me away.
Azur Lane 1 - DROPPED
Speaking as someone without any real significant attachment to Azur Lane other than appreciating its share of quality designs, I was mostly hoping for some decent material here given that the Kantai Collection anime, while strange in a number of ways, provided a decent format for how an adaptation this weird could work in an animated format. However, despite being quite similar in overall structure, I can't say I found Azur Lane nearly as engaging for a few reasons.
I think the biggest thing lost is some sense of grounding. People complained a lot about the choice to make Fubuki the point of view character in the anime, but by centering the entire show around her perspective, it made you connect to the world and characters much more easily than if they had hopped from ship girl to ship girl like they do here. In this episode alone, we see this conflict through the eyes of the Prince of Wales, Unicorn, Ayanami, Cleveland, Javelin, Kaga, and Enterprise. That's too many, and often we're put into the shoes of someone we don't know at all, robbing us of any emotional attachment to the attack. The surprise attack on the harbor should be chaotic, and if we had followed a point-of-view character throughout the episode, the chaos of the assault (and the heroics of other ships seen at a distance) might have made a bigger impact. Instead, we see a highlight real of all the action from whoever needs to be involved, and while that's good for action spectacle, it saps the storytelling of any chance to engage the viewer beyond recognizing their favorite ship girls.
All that said, I think I would've given all this a pass if the action had been amazing, but again I think it took away the wrong lessons from Kantai Collection. That anime's action may not have been the most exciting, and as a representation of how the battles work in the game (which are thoroughly abstracted due to it being a strategy title), it ended up working even if visually it wasn't the most exciting because there was some kind of grounding to the logic of their rigs. Despite using similar rig set ups, there seems to be little logic in how these ships actually function in regards to their real world counterparts. In Kantai Collection, all the CVs were archers, because they had to "launch" their planes. In Azur Lane, some CVs also use bows, but others just have runways that they materialize fighters on, and others use... burning ninja scrolls? It's the "rule of cool" over consistent logic, but it also makes it tougher to gauge what a ship's role is looking at them because there isn't some internal logic governing how they work. Again, this might not bother everyone, but it did make me less interested since it often felt like they just kind of threw these encounters together and that's why they didn't flow particularly well together.
IDK, maybe I'm being overly harsh, but Azur Lane didn't strike me as being as well planned out as Kantai Collection's anime adaptation. That was kind of my base line for watching more because I'm not invested in the property, so I think I'll go down with my ship here.
Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia 1
So... it's finally here: the Babylonia adaptation everyone has been clamoring for since the seventh singularity debuted in Fate/Grand Order at the end of 2016. For those on the outside, I can understand the confusion and trepidation that an adaptation of a mobile game's story chapter might bring, but having played Babylonia for myself near to a year ago in the English version of F/GO, I don't think it's a stretch to say it's the best Fate story Nasu has primarily written since Fate/Extra CCC. While it can be argued that the reverence for it might be overblown simply because it came after many much more mediocre stories before it (save Camelot, which is getting its own two-movie adaptation), the fact is that it stands on its own as a wonderful tale of the end of days, tying in a lot of interesting and fresh characterization for Gilgamesh, bringing the larger conflict of first part of F/GO to a climactic high, and creating some of the most well remembered moments in the game's history.
I wouldn't blame anyone going into this series without more than the episode zero that came out a month ago to not really glean any of that, though, as this episode of Babylonia makes it clear that this is primarily an adaptation aimed squarely at fans already familiar with the source material. While I think that's a mistake personally speaking as this is one of Fate's better narratives in some time, I understand the difficulty in skipping six other singularities worth of overarching story and lore details to start here. They would either need to have made a start similar to that of Unlimited Blade Works to get everyone up to speed, or they could skip it and get to the meat of what everyone watching would care about, and they chose the latter. I don't really envy them that decision, but I appreciate that it doesn't waste any time. Babylonia is very long by the standards set by F/GOs previous singularities, so here's hoping they maintain a good pace to get through all the available chapters in a mere 22 total episodes.
Production-wise, I saw some encouraging and worrying signs this episode. The battle sequences continue to be the highlight as they were in Apocrypha, with Mash, Ishtar, and Enkidu putting in wonderful displays of their varied and overwhelming power (something that will become a bit of a common theme throughout Babylonia). In addition, there's a lot of love and care put into small sequences like Da Vinci's entrance or Ishtar's landing, which gives me a lot of hope for how some of the singularities more iconic moments will be conveyed in later episodes. That said, I do think that the CG on the Uridimmu (the demonic beasts that attack our heroes throughout the episode) was a bit poor looking, and outside of some of the more notable vistas, the background work was kind of plain as well. If they are saving themselves for future episodes set in Uruk or in... other locations, that's understandable, but in comparison to the battle sequences, it's a shame to see some other parts of the production lacking a bit.
So far, indications are good that this will be a solid show for a fan like me, though I do find it a bit sad that it isn't more welcoming for those who have less experience with the source material. If anyone is interested in learning more about the basis of the overall conflict Babylonia is a part of, Fate/Grand Order: First Order is a perfectly watchable if relatively unremarkable OVA that adapts F/GO's prologue. In concert with Babylonia's episode zero, it would do a decent job of catching you up on the most important things to know while leaving some surprises in store that will make Babylonia's story a little more affecting.
Now, bring on next week; it's time for us Welsh boys to get a chance to shine!
Africa Salaryman 1
Well, that was weird. I had some hope that this would turn out well, and I got most of what I was hoping for in this first episode. As something that feels inspired in equal parts by Aggretsuko and Pop Team Epic, Africa Salaryman is a weird show that ALMOST manages to feel more than the sum of its part, but seems to fall short in a way that I'm still trying to parse.
There's a lot to like here, especially on the production end. While the show certainly looks like it was made on a shoestring budget/tight timeline, there's a lot of craft in how the sometimes awkward CG is utilized, and more creative license in the animation department with sequences that feel like they've come out of an Adult Swim show or something. It can be truly impressive at times, and the visual artistry on display is the reason to get into Africa Salaryman.
Once it gets to trying to say something, though... that's were it feels like it falls apart a bit. I don't necessarily mind this being a show about three weird office workers and their shenanigans in this anthropomorphized world, but it often makes me wonder what exactly it's trying to say. Unlike Aggretsuko where the message is clear and the protagonist can waver between sympathetic and inflammatory, it's hard to find any redeeming qualities of Toucan, the character we spend the most time with in this first episode. He's a conniving, selfish, quick-tempered douchebag no matter how you look at it, and seeing him get his is funny, but ultimately I fail to see any real point in any of these stories about him other than showcasing how terrible of an individual he is. That might be funny for a while, but if they keep making this a series of one-off comedy focused stories about these characters that don't have much thematic resonance or connectivity, I could see this getting old because none of them feel particularly well rounded enough to carry the show on their misadventures alone.
Babylon 1-3
Good god, how do I even talk about this show?
Let's start by talking about the smaller points before addressing the elephant in the room. Through and through, this is a really good political thriller. I've spoken about how much Cop Craft disappointed me on that front for the few arcs it tried to tackle with that particular theme, but this is an excellent serialized thriller throughout these first few episodes. Unexpected in its developments, superbly well executed from a visual front (the interrogation scene in season two is a highlight from this year as a whole), and respectful of its audience intelligence, Babylon is everything I could want from a modern thriller. While the animated treatment over a live action one doesn't make as much sense early on, there are some clever developments relating to one specific character that feel like they make the most of the medium in really fascinating ways, but to say more would ruin one of the series' better earlier developments.
So, if I'm gushing about Babylon this much in comparison to most of the other things I've watched, then what's the problem? There's a development in the latter half of the third episode that re-frames the events of the rest of the series up to this point, and it hinges on one particularly thorny topic that is sure to cause distress to most people:
Suicide.
Babylon posits that its villains, such as they are, wish to reform society by re-shaping our understanding of death. To that end, the big statement at the end of the third episode is a public endorsement of this new perspective by a collection of people who all wish to die and eventually do leap to their deaths from the tallest structure in the city while being encouraged to do so by the villains who are now capable of giving them the political freedom to make that choice. I don't think I have to explain why this is difficult subject matter to delve into. Suicide is still a very controversial topic in modern society, and due to its often inevitable ties with depression and mental healthcare (or lack thereof), any treatment of it comes with a certain level of expectation in regards to the gravity of addressing it. The end of the third episode is certainly a statement, one that has the weight you would expect, but also one that speaks to those who might already be in a troubled place in their lives and vulnerable to that kind of suggestion.
Babylon is an excellent thriller and probably my vote for the best new show airing this season, but it's also one that feels like it actually needs to come with a significant disclaimer and warning about its content. The ideas its playing with are captivating, but taking about the morality of suicide can be very dangerous for a certain audience of people open to the suggestive nature of its villains' philosophy. Will Babylon manage to maintain its qualities in pursuit of these themes? I don't rightly know, and I feel it would be irresponsible to suggest so, especially given it's an adaptation of a story by Mado Nozaki, author of Kado: The Answer (and I already see one element that might take this toward schlock like that ended up being toward the end depending on how it's handled). Babylon has a lot going for it but a lot to prove at the same time, but I can't deny it's the most captivating show on this season, if not always for the best of reasons.
CONTINUING SERIES
GeGeGe no Kitaro 76
I see we're still continuing on from the end of the last cour with the aftermath of the Four Generals arc, eh? Given this is the beginning of the last cour, I suppose I can't be too surprised, though I hope they can finally make good on some serious potential on a two-cour arc that feels like it had nothing to say in comparison with the much stronger one-off episodes in between. That said, having a youkai that uses political power and sheer capital to build an army of supporters through extortion, blackmail, and terrorism isn't a bad pitch for this last arc... except that I have my doubts about how Kitaro will be able to handle this kind of material.
While they've handled difficult topics in the past, most of them are societal or psychological issues, not political ones. Every time they've addressed politics in a serious manner, Kitaro's position as a kid's show rears its head, and it loses the kind of teeth necessary for a real political thriller angle to operate without compromise. Take one of the earliest scenes, where the new seasonal villain tries to buy off a politician to get land grants for a scheme. The politician doesn't budge, and leaves for another meeting. As soon as he gets in his car, a bomb that looked big enough to take out half a block in Tokyo goes off. However, immediately following this, a news reporter talking about the bombing declares that the politician and his driver survived this enormous explosion, making you wonder if that was an accident or if this villain is willing to hurt people but not kill them to get his way.
This kind of sloppiness in terms of motive might be compelling if it felt like it was intentional, but rather that dialogue feels like something that would allow the plot development to happen in a show for the age rating Kitaro has rather than a conscious script-writing choice, because given the way the scene played out, there's absolutely no way that guy should've survived. And because I'm now doubting the convictions of the new villain because of how that scene played out, his machinations in the rest of the episode feel confusing rather than mysterious.
Stuff like this makes me worry about the tone of this last arc of the show. I still think there's some good material as this youkai uses the tools of the human world against them and against Kitaro (after all, nothing's better than a villain you know is guilty but remains untouchable because of red tape), but I still worry if the team that wrote the core narrative of the last couple arcs can make this work the way I feel it needs to in order to reach its potential because so far I'm not feeling it.
Vinland Saga 13
Well then... that is a bombshell. Askeladd's motives have always remained a bit of a mystery; as much as he liked making a profit, it was clear that unlike his miser of a father, he was more interested in something else, but we could never really know what. But now, a lot of his decision-making ever since he heard about Canute's capture has made much more sense.
I realize that much of this episode won't necessarily play all that strongly to those who don't have a good grasp on just how different the various groups inhabiting the island of Great Britain were at the time. The Welsh aren't really a part of any other ethnic group in the region, being both distinct from the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts. Since they were isolated by the Atlantic but still shared an enormous land border with England, the Vikings could have picked them off relatively easily as they didn't have anywhere they could go. This is primarily why the Welsh made a lot of concessions to the Viking invaders, and the Vikings never had enough of a base in England to make a campaign across England to Wales in one year (primarily because Wales is a thoroughly mountainous region in comparison to England, which would have made it difficult to conquer quickly for a force that had to leave Great Britain every winter).
Askeladd's plan ties into this historical conceit rather gracefully, while finally giving us some concrete answers about why exactly he is the way he is. Of course, there's a chance that everything he's saying is something he's "borrowed" from someone else, and all of this is a lie he's fabricated up, but it seems like more effort than would be worthwhile if that was the case (especially given how difficult a language Welsh is to learn, but that's besides the point). But for the first time, I have a feeling Askeladd's being honest about his intentions, grand as they are, but how he plans to turn Canute into someone capable of making such a dream a reality is the more interesting question here.
Speaking of Canute, it's nice to finally see him pushed by Thorfinn enough for his shell to crack. It's been clear for a while that he often chooses not to speak not only out of fear but also due to a lack of experience at what his role pertains. When he lets loose, his tongue is fairly sharp and he proves himself rather quick witted, but despite his obviously antagonistic relationship with Thorfinn, he's still the only one who's managed to break his silence just in time for an arc about Askeladd forcing Canute to grow up to be king. I look forward to Canute and Thorfinn bickering like brothers in the future.
#1 on my list of 'this will never get an anime' goes to this lol.
Elfen Lied 1: Selective amnesia, how I missed you! Things: unique title sequence*, nice backgrounds, Jouji Nakata, and it's quite graphic. There's donuts too:
—————
* NSFW
Body count: 23
Is there a patreon I can donate to.Elfen Lied 1: Selective amnesia, how I missed you! Things: unique title sequence*, nice backgrounds, Jouji Nakata, and it's quite graphic. There's donuts too:
—————
* NSFW
Body count: 23
For the medical treatment costs.
Nice, I'm a Samura fan and I was waiting until the manga finishes to read it.
How was the first episodes of Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?
I read volume 1 a few days ago and it's really funny.
I read volume 1 a few days ago and it's really funny.
Zeta Gundam 33
I just love this show. The Ghost of Zabi returns with the arrival of the Axis and Haman Karn. She's got Mineva, daughter of Dozle, working as her indoctrinated puppet. Char revolts immediately at the sight of a child being pawned by fools that live in the past. He makes some bold statements too, declaring that he had never once betrayed anyone. Garma might disagree with that, you know, if he was still alive. But Char makes it clear; he has always, always worked for himself. Which is a thing that causes concern, especially to Reccoa.
And by the way, just what are you doing lately, Reccoa. This flirting with death might be your nature but it's going to get you killed. Oh, that preview for next episode. Oh.
Oh.
I just love this show. The Ghost of Zabi returns with the arrival of the Axis and Haman Karn. She's got Mineva, daughter of Dozle, working as her indoctrinated puppet. Char revolts immediately at the sight of a child being pawned by fools that live in the past. He makes some bold statements too, declaring that he had never once betrayed anyone. Garma might disagree with that, you know, if he was still alive. But Char makes it clear; he has always, always worked for himself. Which is a thing that causes concern, especially to Reccoa.
And by the way, just what are you doing lately, Reccoa. This flirting with death might be your nature but it's going to get you killed. Oh, that preview for next episode. Oh.
Oh.
I remember being really into Elfen Lied back in college when I was still discovering how much anime was actually out there. It was probably the push towards violence and nudity more than anything else that got me invested, mainly because it was so different than what you'd get out of western animation. Then again, we all make early anime mistakes by getting into stuff like this or Green Green.Elfen Lied 1: Selective amnesia, how I missed you! Things: unique title sequence*, nice backgrounds, Jouji Nakata, and it's quite graphic. There's donuts too:
—————
* NSFW
Body count: 23
Hey, you should totally do a watch of Green Green next. Please don't do this for your own sanity
Iruma-kun 01
Good silly fun. Though I am a sucker for jokes where a completely overwhelmed individual fumbles forward and accidentally earns the respect of their peers.
Wonder if we ever see the parents. Must be bad if Iruma isn't even surprised they sold his soul to the underworld.
Demon school anthem was great lol.
Ahiru no Sora 01
4 cours huh
Hard to make much of it since it was mostly just delinquents beating up the protagonist because he is short(?)/ and wants to play basketball. The friendly delinquent even let him get beat up before intervening! Textbook 5v1 defense at the end.
Good silly fun. Though I am a sucker for jokes where a completely overwhelmed individual fumbles forward and accidentally earns the respect of their peers.
Wonder if we ever see the parents. Must be bad if Iruma isn't even surprised they sold his soul to the underworld.
Demon school anthem was great lol.
Ahiru no Sora 01
4 cours huh
Hard to make much of it since it was mostly just delinquents beating up the protagonist because he is short(?)/ and wants to play basketball. The friendly delinquent even let him get beat up before intervening! Textbook 5v1 defense at the end.
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Not great? Just kinda boring production and lame humor.
I don't really like anything from this season so far but at least Chihayafuru is still coming? SAO will be good too.
Elfen Lied 1: Selective amnesia, how I missed you! Things: unique title sequence*, nice backgrounds, Jouji Nakata, and it's quite graphic. There's donuts too:
—————
* NSFW
Body count: 23
You have my condolence.
Psycho Pass 2 has the time effect where people liked it when it aired but years later people come out of the wood work randomly to express their inauthentic feelings, see this happening now on gaming side about Uncharted.
Lesbian Jet Skiing Episode 1:
There is no heterosexual explaination for so much of this. For example, that is not a peace sign those two girls were flashing. Also, what exactly are the rules of this so called sport?
There is no heterosexual explaination for so much of this. For example, that is not a peace sign those two girls were flashing. Also, what exactly are the rules of this so called sport?
It's got Death Note Syndrome.
The first series was really good, but then when you get to the later stuff (second half of death note, psycho pass season 2) it's a very clear step down in quality so people like to trash it, forgetting that much like the second half of death note, psycho pass 2 is still better than 80%+ of anime that comes out. it's just not great like what came before it.
Looks like her soul entered Myne's body at the moment she died of sickness.
Attack on Titan 44
I actually already read manga spoilers so I know where this is going, but it's still interesting to see this season turn from straight post-apocalyptic survival into military intrigue.
Still, knowing what's coming, I'm probably not gonna watch season 4.
I was gonna get around to the manga at some point. I guess I ran out of time. Maybe I could still read ahead after this anime is done.
I actually already read manga spoilers so I know where this is going, but it's still interesting to see this season turn from straight post-apocalyptic survival into military intrigue.
Still, knowing what's coming, I'm probably not gonna watch season 4.
I was gonna get around to the manga at some point. I guess I ran out of time. Maybe I could still read ahead after this anime is done.
Yeah, I did seem like that was what the fading voice scene was about. I guess it's sad either way.
As someone who was around these threads when it came out, I want to be clear that this is wrong. (Of course, even the first season of Psycho-pass got an at best mixed reception from this community at the time.)
So uhh... Beastars is a *googles genre*
"Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Slice of Life/Romance/Mystery/Psychological/School Life/Shounen" story with anthropomorphic animals (Zootopia) and a cultural divide between herbivores and carnivores. The main character is in a drama club at school and is the object of fear, distrust and hatred but learns that his classmates have their own insecurities.
I'm so lost. The OP is really jazzy though.
"Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Slice of Life/Romance/Mystery/Psychological/School Life/Shounen" story with anthropomorphic animals (Zootopia) and a cultural divide between herbivores and carnivores. The main character is in a drama club at school and is the object of fear, distrust and hatred but learns that his classmates have their own insecurities.
I'm so lost. The OP is really jazzy though.
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