Kare Kano vol 15

    In volume 14 Soichiro fell into the trap laid by his birth mother, a trap to force him into her life, after she nearly killed him 10 years earlier.  She manipulates him into being her obedient child, even when he struggles against her influence.  His adoptive parents fear for what this may lead to.  meanwhile Yukino recognizes that drastic change that has taken place with the man she loves but she it lost to understand what is going on.  She struggles with the reality of their relationship, from the very beginning and if she really knows who her boyfriend is.

    The memories begin to return to the defeated Soichiro.  Memories of oppressively hot summer days, locked in a dingy one room apartment, being beaten mercilessly by the person who is supposed to be his protector.  The desperation to be held and loved by her, even though she does nothing but hurt him.  The small child does not understand that his life is not how it is supposed to be yet he realizes that there is a connection he is desperate for, even if it is from the person who's hands show no mercy.  Soichiro, on the cusp of adulthood, realizes the world of deceit and punishment he was trapped in before his adoptive parents rescued him.  He realizes that he has worked hard to attain the level of happiness that was given to him without condition.  he has come to realize that he does not deserve to suffer any longer at the hands of the woman who tried to destroy him long ago.

    He can't bring himself to admit to what has been happening though, unwilling to face the disappointment in his parents, in Yukino.  He arrives home early in the morning, his parents are happy he has returned.  But when they broach the subject of he seeing his birth mother he looses his control and yells at them, fleeing their house once again.  He wanders dazed until returning to his senses, the only place left to go it Asaba's.  his best friend gladly takes him in but tells him that Yukino knows shes being lied to.  Soichiro punches him but this seems to relieve some of the tension.  After apologizing to his parents he settles in to stay the night, so he can unwind more before facing them to talk about his past.  Yukino arrives and forces her way in, knowing that he is there.  he confronts her, telling her she needs to leave.  An attack like nothing she ever expected from him.  Who is this man that she thought she knew?

    She confronts him at school but he tries to avoid the subject.  She is no longer beguiled by the fake him, she demands to know whats going on, what is truly in his heart.  He falls into his terrible memories, almost to the point of madness.  Asaba steps in to calm him down and they see him off to his house.  Alone, he begins to tell Yukino the outline of whats been going on with him, in the hopes that she can save him now that the cracks have opened up and the horror that was his early childhood have taken hold of the promising young man.  She is resolved to do what she can to rescue the person she loves.

    Yukino continues to confront Soichiro, as he continues to build a wall around his heart.  Asaba has told her a few details about his birth mother.  The thing that really concerns her is the truth behind her boyfriends feelings and motivations.  She corners him and demands answers to the questions that are burning into her soul.  She realizes that he has shut himself off from everyone and that he may never have really loved her like she thought.  He refuses to open up to her, to let her heal him.  He has become consumed by the memories of the abuse at his mothers hands.  He can not deal with a world that loves him.  He refuses to accept it into himself, believing he lacks the worth of that kind of love.  He realized that the moment he understood his mother had returned to check if her only child was dead or not was the moment he knew he could never truly love anyone again.  He sealed his heart to protect him from that level of pain ever again.  the day he almost died by his moms hands....the day his new parents brought him into their home and love.  A love he refuses to accept of give.  Yukino realizes that he may never truly have loved her like she thought he did and it begins to break her only resolve.  He was afraid of the world she opened up for her self, leaving him alone to his misery, shut off from anyone feelings.

  Even though he tries to push her away, Yukino continues to push him.  When she see's a severe, self inflicted wound to his hand, she immediately confronts him.   She fights against all of his excuses, forcing him to come to terms with the truth of the situation, the truth he refuses to see.  He wants to be done with everything, abandoned by everyone around him, so he can wallow in his misery and be fed upon by his inner demons.  He doesn't want to accept that people will let problems work themselves out.  Yukino continues to force him to realize that it will take much more than they have gone through to stop her from loving him and wanting to help him.  She begins to force open the dark shell he has tried to make his home.

Kare Kano vol 14

  In volume 13 the story turns to the inner demons facing Soichiro as he attains status and recognition.  He is haunted by the abuse of his extended family and the contempt they have for him.  He is driven to knock them down to earth as he attains success they continue to deny from him.  But as he works towards that goal he hides this vindictive darkness from everyone around him, fearing it will destroy the relationships with those he loves, especially Yukino

    As the end of their senior year nears, Yukino frets over what to do to celebrate.  She wanted to go on a trip with all of her friends, but everyone else is jumping so far ahead of her in life that no one will be around.  Instead Soichiro suggest they take a trip together, just the two of them.  Before Yukino can give him an answer an unexpected visitor makes an appearance in Soichiro's life.

    He returns home one afternoon to find a guest at their house but the guest brings painful memories bubbling to the surface.  Following his appearance on a daytime television show, Soichiro's mother decides, after all of these years, to reconnect with her abandoned child.  He rejects her immediately, not wanting to have any contact with the woman who abused him at such a young age and then left him in limbo until his aunt and uncle adopted him and raised him as their own.  She leaves the house but is not dissuaded, instead ambushing him at his school the following day.  He sends Yukino and their friends on ahead, without any explanation.  He hopes that he can settle this once and for all, expressing his great distaste with her.  She convinces him to take a ride with her, so that she can have a chance to explain things to him.  He relents, interested to understand more about the fate of his biological parents what could have lead to them abandoning him.  His adopted parents have tried to shield him from much of that so he has only been ale to guess from the insidious rumors of his extended family.  He was not even sure if either of them were alive any longer.

    His mother tells him that his father, Reiji, was illegitimate, a product of an affair between his grandfather and a much younger woman.  This marked him as an outcast, and much like Soichiro afterwards Reiji was tormented endlessly by the family.  Soichiro posits that his adopted father may have been the only protector that Reiji had.  He senses a sadness in him sometimes as if her is seeing the lost brother in the young man he calls son.  his mother shows him a picture of his birth dad and he sees the resemblance immediately  This truth only helps to compound the problems plaguing Soichiro, recognizing some of the hatred directed at him is stemming from his fathers existence in more ways than he originally recognized.  How much like his parents is he really?  He can't tell if his mother is being honest or manipulative.  Due to his distrust of her he suspects that he does not differ much from her in the way he has lied to people and manipulated them subtly his entire life.  he has perfected the lie of the upright and obedient son for his adopted parents, never revealing the true nature of his parentage as much as possible.  But it may all have been for nothing as his darkness has started to leak out.

    His mother convinces him to meet again, so that they may talk more about his origins.  He is drawn into learning more about the things that he believes made him who he is and agrees, but worries that he is only being manipulated by her.  He hopes that the truth will release him and he can be the person that Yukino deserves and that he wants to be.  She confronts him the next day, wanting to understand who the beautiful woman was that he was talking to.  He lies, saying it was a woman from the neighborhood and he decided to visit her house afterwards.  Yukino lets the question drop but realizes quickly that he was lying to her.  It changes her perspective of him and she worries what it really means.

    As he agreed to, Soichiro meets up with his birth mother after school, he tries to tell her that he has changed his mind and doesn't want anything to do with her after all.  He suspects she may not be forthcoming with the accurate details of his father and his birth.  She convinces him to at least give her a parting memory, dinner with her at a restaurant she already booked a table for.  He relents, willing to do whatever it will take to be done with her once and for all.  The dinner starts with a tailored outfit and ends with his mother, quite drunk, forcing him to accompany her to a club.  As midnight approaches he gives her an ultimatum and tries to leave her.  She traps him at this point, threatening to continue to show up at school, striking his fear of exposing any dark secrets to his friends.  She wants him back in her life and will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

    He struggles to hide that he is spending every moment outside of school with his mother, lying to his adopted parents and avoiding Yukino.  It doesn't take long before his aunt realizes what is going on.  She confronts Soichiro's birth mother and tries to break off their interactions.  He is lost though and continues to obey her demands, afraid of what ever it is that may be revealed if she were to be unleashed.  Yukino realizes right away that something is wrong but finds it difficult to confront him about it, instead she confronts the only other person who knows the 'real' Soichiro, Asaba.

    Asaba deflects her questions, teasing her a little bit, but also sparking a doubt with in her.  She is desperate to understand why he is lying and how long it has been going on.  She searches through their time together, more than two years as a couple.  In the beginning she was sheltered, with nothing outside of studying and her love for Soichiro.  She was afraid that she would lose to his deeper world and decided to become more worldly too.  She opened her self up to more people and more things, growing a group of friends that could be trusted and relied on.  But somewhere along the way her relationship with Soichiro got lost  She struggles to understand if it is something she did wrong or if there was a part of him that was a problem before she became a part of his life.  She wants nothing more than to understand why he is being the way he is and what it will take for him to truly be honest with her.

    As Souchiro tries again to break off contact with his birth mother emotions rage between them.  he realizes she is only after money, wanting to manipulate him to continue her lavish lifestyle.  She turns it around on him, bent on making sure that he cant he happy if she isn't.  In the midst of the altercation long repressed memories flood back...the boy Soichiro is lost again and the only thing he wants to reach out for is the only thing he loves...Yukino.

Kare Kano vol 13

In volume 12 Kazuma was finally able to confront Shibahime about his feelings, but only after he runs away from home and quits school to focus all of his attention on the band.  We also got a peek into the life of the friend groups background member, Rika and the complicated relationship between her and Aya's older brother.

    Youngest Miyazawa sister Kano struggles with being familiar with every popular senior in school due to their friendship with Yukino.  Everyone finds it both dazzling and obnoxious the casual access she has to those in the school that are deemed untouchable by mere mortals.  Her peers suspect she may be using their familiarity to her advantage when in reality she wants nothing more than to downplay their connections.  She prefers to sit in the background, unnoticed, able to go about her life the way they pleases her.  Yet it proves hard to remain anonymous when walking the halls and your older sisters friends continue to call out to you.  The real reason she chose to go to the same school is to be closer to her literary idol and another member of the Yukino friend group, Aya.

     As they move into the studious exam phase of their final year of childhood, Soichiro struggles with his relationship with Yukino.  His accumulating accolades build to a stark contrast of the darkness hes buried deep within himself.  The darkness caused by the abuse from his extended family purely on his natural parentage.  Due to his troubled childhood, at the hands of his cousins primarily, he has worked so hard to defy the stigma placed on his shoulders from his fathers downfall.  As he gains more and more attention from his accomplishments he is keenly aware of the spotlight that is being placed on him.  First his accomplishments in kendo, leading him to be one of the top ranked high school players in the nation.  Then his placing first in the national college mock exam, bringing media attention to him.  Surely his cousins and other relatives who have wished him nothing but ill will have noticed.

    He is able to learn what that attention has wrought as he and his parents attend a family wedding.  Now that there is an amount of praise being shown to him from outsiders he is sure the jealousy and venom from his relatives will surface.  The three cousins who terrorized and abused him as a small child approach him in private to unleash their attacks.  The jealousy of his achievements is twisted and spat on as they tell him he will never truly be a part of their world, given his lowly birth, regardless of his accomplishments and praise from the common folk.  He prepared for something like this and had been planning to show his hand to them once and for all.  One of them moves to punch him but he easily outmaneuvers the attack, surprising them.  He reminds them he is a well trained martial artist and they can't pull stuff like that on him any long.  At this point the careful facade he has crafted for most of his life is let go and he expresses his true feelings in regard to their relationship and the hardships thrust upon him by the family at large.  In stunned silence he dismisses their pettiness and false assumptions.  He warns them that he will do what ever it takes to assume the role in society he wants to, against their belittlement and terror.  He knows that their protector will not be able to save them forever and some day he will destroy them if he needs to.

    Soichiro struggles with the version of him that everyone expects or that he wants everyone to expect.  He wears a face of obedience and stoicism.  Doing everything he can to make his adoptive parents proud, never to disappoint or burden them.  he never wanted to come across as conceited or spoiled, never taking his situation for granted.  It is the version of him that caught Yukino's attention, lead her to at first see him as a rival and then as an equal, sensing the hidden persona with in him.  After they agreed to be their real selves and to not hide things from each other, he continued to hide the deeper darker part of himself from him.  He fears it would cause her to push him away.  That dark side is one filled with thoughts of revenge.  He deeply desires to pay back those who have hated him and shunned him all of his life.  He wishes to attain a position in society and his family where he will be able to unleash all of the terror and hatred that has been bound up within him.  He does not want this part of him to surface before the woman he loves.  So he continues to hide himself away, remain distant, almost unloving and aloof.  He struggles with this.  he sees his obsession with his family as a disease that will keep him from achieving the same level of greatness that Yukino will achieve.  He sees her and believes that she will continue to shine brighter and brighter, while he will dwell in the shadows, irrespective of any outward accomplishments he attains.

    Sensing something in his adopted son, Soichiro's father has a private conversation with him.  He wants to reinforce the pride that his parents have in him and how well he has done for himself and the love they receive from him.  Medicine is the family business and Soichiro has been prepared to take over his fathers hospital eventually, it is almost expected of him to do so.  Aware of the hatred much of the family has towards him, his father tells him that he should choose the path in life he wants to take, instead of being bound to any family expectations.  He understands that continuing on his course will not help him to escape the pain and suffering he has dealt with all of his life.  He has more than proven he cn do anything he wants to with his life and his father is releasing any shackles that may exist on him, telling him he should life for himself and no one else.  But could this change in direction be too little too late in the young mans life?  At this rate he is the top senior in the entire nation, with Toyko U as his college of choice.  He wants to continue going to college with Yukino, even if she against going to the same university as he.  What will he do now and how much longer will he be able to be close to the only person that matters to him?  How much longer can he keep up his false face under her persistent scrutiny and brilliant future?

The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya - light novel

   The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの直観) is the twelfth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This twelfth volume was originally released in Japan and in English in 2020.

Click here to read the synopsis of the eleventh volume, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 2. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

    After a break of nine years between this and the last volume of the series to come out we return to the world of the SOS Brigade with a series of stories.  The first one takes place just after the return from the ill fated winter mountain mystery retreat.  On the way back home from the retreat Haruhi decided that all five members of the Brigade would hit as many shrines as they could to ring in the New Year.  The first shrine they stop at to pray leads to a minor inconvenience as the strap on one of Haruhi's shows breaks, causing her to rely solely on Kyon to get out of the shrines grounds and meet up with the rest of the Brigade, nothing more than a bit of personal time between the two main figures.

     Next the story jumps to late May of the second year of high school.  A messenger from the schools mystery research club arrives with a stack of research material for Haruhi based on a passing glib remark earlier in the day.  Haruhi had asked the girl, also a recent transfer and classmate of she and Kyon, if there were any legends or mysteries related to North High.  Kyon and Koizumi count the timing of the delivery as in their favor given that Haruhi is not yet in the club room.  Instead of hiding the mountain of material freshly delivered from the overly perceptive leader, they decide to head off her ambition and come up with seven mysteries for her.  The four of them debate and conspire about different strange occurrences that could take place in the school, be explainable by skeptical means and be interesting enough to entertain Haruhi.  All in the name of preventing her imagination wrecking havoc across the campus out of her sudden urges to be mystified with localized legends.

    The third, final and by far longest story in this volume involves the members of the SOS Brigade and a guest, the aforementioned member of the mystery research club with the bizarre nickname 'T', partaking in an investigation instigated by Tsuruya.  Prior to Haruhi arriving to the literature club room, T and Koizumi are having a spirited discussion about mystery novels and the various methodologies of deconstructing their narratives.  Surprisingly, Nagato is also offering limited interactions in the conversation while Kyon sits by, bewildered by the level of nerdom the two transfer students are engaged in.  Their conversation comes to a natural conclusion with the arrival of the Brigade chief who immediately receives an email to the SOS Brigade website...something that has never really happened before.  The email is a request from Tsuruya to help her solve a mystery.  In a series of emails she provides anecdotes around her life as trophy daughter of a powerful business family, being dragged around to important social events for meet and great duties.  In each of the examples the Brigade begins to deconstruct any obvious clues to determine what the mystery may be, digging closer into the same principles of methodology that T and Koizumi had previously debated while getting an insight into the real life of their weirdly optimistic upperclassman.

    I wasn't sure what to expect with this volume for a few things.  The biggest was it being released nine years after the prior novel.  The other concern was how solidly the last novel wrapped up a really nice ending point for the franchise as a whole.  Sure, there are a few things that have been mentioned in passing that would elicit stories of their own, particularly around the pending cherry blossom viewing party at the Tsuruya residence and the mystery of the object unearth on her family mountain.  Yet neither of these things were expanded upon much in this volume.  Instead something I feared would happen, a series of potentially unrelated stories, a format I have come to dislike in Tanigawa's writing.  But my fears were unfounded.  This was a really enjoyable volume and the Tsuruya mystery portion was well done.  As it started to unfold I was concerned that some aspects of the mystery were going to be unfathomable by non-Japanese readers given a particular reliance on kanji readings that would not be apparent in another language.  As that part unfolded those fears were eliminated and the manner it was handled was quite enjoyable.

    The future of further stories in the franchise isn't entirely certain.  A thirteenth light novel volume is planned to come out in the near future, with two previously published stories and two new ones.  Beyond that though it's hard to tell.  I am not sure what resource there is to see what other stories have been published in magazines that could be compiled into future volumes beyond these next two.  Either way, this volume did not disappoint, especially given the almost complete lack of super natural elements to it.  I will wait to see what else may transpire, forever hoping for a return of an animated adaptation.

    Speaking of the anime, there is a final afterward in the twelfth volume in which Tanigawa reflects on the tragic and horrific loss of so many lives in the terrorist attack on the Kyoto Animation Studio 1 in 2019.  He speaks about brief memories of some of those staff members he spent time with during the course of the TV and movie adaptation process, unable to really express his grief for the senseless loss of life.    His words are worth reading and reflecting on.

The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 2 - light novel

   The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 2 (涼宮ハルヒの驚愕 (後)) is the eleventh volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This eleventh volume was originally released in Japan in 2011 and in English in 2013.

Click here to read the synopsis of the tenth volume, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 1. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow.

 

     We pick up seamlessly from Part 1 and the crisis facing Kyon and the rest of the SOS Brigade.  In one reality a strange new girl named, Watahashi Yasumi, has joined the club.  In the other reality Nagato is stricken with an attack coming from the rival alien entity being referred to as the Heavenly Canopy Domain.  In the reality with Watahashi, Kyon lazily goes about his days, relishing in the rest he's been able to get, in spite of the crazed exam Haruhi concocted for all of the applicants for the Brigade.  Something about the diminutive Watahashi doesn't sit right with him, but everyone with a know about the supernatural assures him she isn't someone to be worried about.  She is a whirlwind of enthusiasm and dedication to Haruhi's ambiguous plans for the future, the perfect accomplice in her madness.  But in the back of his head something is nagging on him about the lack of interaction with from Sasaki and the rival group.

    The rival group was the other Kyon's problem.  Haruhi continued to neglect club duties in favor of she and Asahina fruitlessly nursing Nagato back to health.  Frustrated with the lack of progress, the rival time traveler Fujiwara, forces his hand and gives Kyon an ultimatum.  He along with the rival ESPer Tachibana bring him to his own school in the evening, trapping him in Sasaki's version of closed space.  There he will have to choose the future of the world, who will control the powers of a god.  His level headed but reluctant friend from middle school of the whirlwind of absurdity that is the girl who sits behind him in class.  Factions outside of his control are trying to force him to bend to their will through making a choice between A or B.  He is resolved with his decision and can't understand how they can force the transfer of abilities between the two candidates but is at a loss for how to prevent any of it.  All he want's to be able to do is restore Nagato to her fully functioning self again and let her defeat the dangers posed by the rival alien interface.  Yet, he is alone with two of his three enemies...convinced the most dangerous one will appear at the worst possible time.  He will have to rely on his own stabilizes...of which he surely has none, at least not on the level of the strange beings hes spent a year with.  Backed in to a corner is he really able to do what he knows must be done?

    This third part of the story arc went by really fast and had an interesting resolution to it's climax.  Through hints and down right blatant signs, the nature of Watahashi was always known, but there was a bit of a twist in her background as well that was fun.  The story did wrap up quite satisfactory as well and leads one to wonder if there was a need for any further volumes.  Though, the next volume took about 9 years to come out and was released in 2020.  The concern then is how will the quality hold up for this grand 'conclusion' to the SOS Brigade?  Reading these last three volumes made me yearn for a return of the fantastic anime at the hands of Kyoto Animation.  I would love to see this story line play out in a two part theatrical release.  The prior volumes can be jammed into a single cour of of TV anime.  But this entire arc, of the rival factions trying to force Haruhi to give up her abilities needs to be on the big screen, with higher animation.

    In the end of the day this entire franchise is a absurdist romance store.  It all comes down to Haruhi having emotional attachment to Kyon and her being really hard at being honest to him and perhaps herself.  Its hard to tell given the entire story is told from Kyons point of view, and he has been quite ignorant of her emotions.  In this third part of the anti-Brigade arc he starts to admit some things to himself, about her and himself.  He is also given a teasing glimpse of a potential future but even then feigns ignorance in its implications.  At the center of everything, Kyon has to ensure that he likes Haruhi as more than a school compatriot and that he will be faithful to her.  But, as this is a story about crazed super natural happenings, that decision is literally weighed against life, death and the fate of reality its self.  Yet, he still tries to downplay the reality of her feelings for him and why she lashes out and behaves the way she does.  Yet, he also comes back to her really just being a normal high school girl, even if she isn;t interested in living the idealized version of that.  He knows, particularly after he experienced a world with out her, that he wouldn't want it to be any way.  Now he just needs to be honest with her...but what sort of world shaking effect could that have and would she even be willing to be honest if he was?

Next up, volume twelve, The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Winter 2024 First Blush

 New year means new anime.  Here are my initial thoughts on the handful of series' that piqued my interest that are starting this January.

Delicious in Dungeon

    If it wasn't for the fanatical responses to this series' first episode on the interweebs I would have slept on it.  This is a cute and amusing casual show about cooking up the things adventurers run into while traversing the dungeon of their world.  The show is based on a long running manga that has a lot of fans worldwide and Netflix didn't take any risks in producing it along with Trigger.  This is far from the usual course served up by that legendary animation studio and this may be the first thing to come from them that I will really enjoy.  I'm not a fan of Triggers usual design aesthetics, story styles or frantic pacing.  This amusing and darkly cute series is a far cry from the likes of Flip Flappers or Kill la Kill.

The series is being released weekly on Netflix.

Sasaki and Peeps

    Sasaki is a middle aged single man living a dead end life as a lowly wage slave.  He decides to get a pet one day, settling for a sparrow due to cash constraints and the bird speaking to him.  After he brings the small bird home he learns its more than meets the eye.  The tiny bird houses the isekai'd magic user from another world named Piercarlo.  Pi-chan makes and offer to Sasaki to better both of their lives.  Not seeing any harm does so and the bird teleports them back to its original world.  With his work knowledge and the magical abilities of Pi-chan, Sasaki quickly sets up and import/export business between the two worlds.  Then he runs into people in the real world using magic...calling themselves physics who drag him into their own hidden reality.

    I had no idea what this was going to be coming into it, but I was more than pleased with the initial double length first episode.  The premise is amusing and the main character entertaining.  It will be interesting to see how much trouble he gets himself into and how long it takes until his cover is blown in either world.  It also doesn't hurt that the voice actor for Sasaki is the same who voiced Gintoki of Gintama!

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Solo Leveling

    I had been interested in this property since Tower of God's anime adaptation came out and its name was talked about with the same regard as this manhwa.   I never bothered to look into it though and just waited until the long fated anime was released.  Well, this is definitely not the story for me.  The artwork as a bit bland and it seemed like little more than a power fantasy shonen action story.  It's hard to say what resonated for me with Tower of God...most likely the interesting world building that the story has.  But Solo Leveling lacked all of that and I lost interest in the first five minutes of the first episode.  I can't be bothered to continue on in the hopes there may be something that attracts my attention, I have too large of a back log of shows I know I'm interested in to watch.  Not everything that catches my eye can retain it.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

A Sign of Affection

    I am a fan of the lovely slice of live drama that is A Silent Voice, regardless of one of the main characters being deaf.  It was handled with care and attention, with a well crafted story.  Not knowing anything about A Sign of Affection and basing my interest in it purely on it being a love story with the main character being deaf.  Though, lets be honest, its a romance about college aged characters, so I am bound to be interested.  What really drew my attention though is curiosity around how the story will handle its hearing impaired protagonist and comparing that to A Silent Voice.  So far it's OK in that regard.  Our main character is a 19 year old college student, so she lives in a world where she has to be more reliant on herself than her family, even though she lives at home(maybe?).  I am not sure why she wears hearing aids though as it appears she is completely deaf.  I suspect she may use them as a flag to let people she encounters know she is deaf.  Perhaps they will explain that later in the story.  Anyways, so far it seems like her character is being treated with respect and not as a prop, but we will see how the story unfolds.  Also....I am not sure I like the newer aesthetic of romance stories where the male characters like K pop stars.  Changing times and popular sentiments will influence design so it is what it is.  I don't want to have an old man yelling at clouds moment because character designs I am familiar with are changing. I am also observant enough to understand why character designs would favor an aesthetic similar to K-pop or other current popular male trends.  This could be considered a mark of a story aimed at women/girls given the popularity in those demographics.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

 

 Mr. Villains Day Off

    A powerful commander in a coalition of beings bent on eradicating humankind takes his work very seriously.  Due to his dedication for his groups ambitions, he also takes his down time equally seriously.  On his days off he refuses to do anything that would amount to work, holding precious his mental and physical health.  So whats an alien invader bent on destruction supposed to do on his down time?  Self care, including visiting panda's at the local zoo.  He loves panda's and hopes to return them to a glory in the wild once humans are wiped from the planet.  Not even chance encounters with the defenders of humanity on his days off will make him break his personal rules.  This is a fun and cute show, but it will be interesting to see how well it can keep up this single gag through its entire run.  Though, the gag is a bit less defined than something like The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses.  It reminds me more of the antics and premise of The Way of the Househusband.  But, so far, its amusing and will probably remain that way for a while to come.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable!

    Tsubasa moves to a remote city in Hokkaido and ha to adjust to the vastly different reality of far northern Japan compared to that of Tokyo.  He makes the mistake of underestimating the distances between things in this part of the world and runs up stranded with a gyaru who braves the deep cold.  His first encounter with a live long resident of the frozen north warms up his heart but things get weird for him when shes the girl next to him in his new class the next day.  The gyaru, Fuyuki, hits it off with him right away, drawn in by the mystique of Toky, not realizing he was a social outcast back home.  This fish out of water has to contend with a new environment and dealing with a cute girl at the same time.  I didn't have too high of expectations on this one, given the character designs mostly.  Unrealistic character designs, on par with a standard anime version of a gyaru.  The first episode drags out tired fish out of water tropes and the characters aren't very believable as being anything other than caricatures.  This probably won't stick around my watch list for much longer.  

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

    Adachi is a 30 year old virgin salary man.  He dwells in a world of self pity and somehow his 30 years of abstinence have granted him the ability to hear peoples thoughts when he's in physical contact with them.  This new ability brings him nothing but misery and when he bumps into a coworker one morning it becomes significantly complicated.  The coworker, handsome and well liked Kurosawa is madly in love with Adachi.  He now has to navigate knowing something personal about someone close to him and reconcile if he's even capable of reciprocation.  

    This is a super cute and enjoyable story so far, it will be interesting to see how much thought is put into the progress of Adachi coming to terms with any mutual attraction to the man he initially pegged as a popular ladies man.  Beyond recognizing if he is even attached to him, he has to sort out his own internal doubts and hesitations regarding closeness to anyone, let alone a coworker of the same sex.  But, time will tell if this is a well crafted dramady or not.  So, far, I like it!

 The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Metallic Rogue

     This one was a last minute include.  Its an original sci-fi series to celebrate Bones 25th anniversary.  It deals with a future where humans live on Mars and artificial humans are a part of the landscape, but they are in mostly subservient roles and are limited by the Asimov laws of robotics.  The first episode started off pretty good.  Slick artwork, appealing character designs and the potential to be an interesting cyberpunk story.  Then in the back half of the episode it turns into a drawn out gaudy power suit combat display.  Before the fight between two characters there was scant information and the pace was quite hectic.  I figured that was fine, its not as enjoyable if everything is spelled out to the viewer like they were a ten year old.  But then the show spent five minutes with a pointless battle filled with even more pointless exposition.  What I mean by pointless is boring and disappointing.  I'm sure the dialogue and foreshadowing will be important as the series continues.  But I was so disappointed by the turn the series took I probably won't last past episode 3.  I figure, I will at least give episode 2 a watch as the first half of the episode was fun and interesting.  But I fear this will quickly turn into a disappointment.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Delusional Monthly Magazine

    I wasn't sure what to expect from this one either and I am not sure I will continue to watch it.  It has a weird artificial quality to its design and setting.  It's a fictional world that seems to combine modern and archaic aspects to it.  Either way...weird character designs.  The show was mildly interesting until what is possibly the main character, the editor of said monthly magazine specializing in fake stories of the supernatural and occult, transforms into a beast man.  I will give this one two more episode to make my final decision, there is something that is slightly interesting about this.  Heck, Appare-Ranman gave me the same vibes and that ended up being an enjoyable but pointless show.  But something about this one makes me think its aimed at little kids...

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Bucchigiri

    This was way more entertaining that it should have been.  Loser kid transfers back to his childhood city, ends up going to school in the delinquent cesspit.  Caught between two rival gangs in school, he ends up stumbling upon a genie who only wants to be paired with a badass.  The kid makes a wish to get laid instead of gaining power or wealth.  The genie is stuck for the time being causing the boy to have continuously miserable time.  When he gets caught in a honey trap and starts to get the shit beat out of him, the genie is finally invigorated by the kids declaration of loosing his virginity in the face of mortal danger.  This is the kind of absurdity that I appreciate.  The plot is weird, the characters are over the top and the animation and art direction is really fun.  Yeah, this is going to be amusing.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 1 - light novel

  The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 1 (涼宮ハルヒの驚愕 (前)) is the tenth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This tenth volume was originally released in Japan in 2011 and in English in 2013.

Click here to read the synopsis of the ninth volume, The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

    Unknown to him, Kyon and everyone else is existing in two parallel worlds.  In one of them Kyon's best friend from middle school, Sasaki, has her own ESPer, time traveler and alien representative.  The have joined up with the strange girl to attempt to transfer the godlike powers Haruhi possess to her, to ensure a safer future under a more reasonable deity.   Sasaki isn't so sure she is the right person to carry that burden or even wants it in the first place.  Everything hinges on Kyon, much to his bewilderment.  He and Sasaki are both resistant to the request and force the hand of the anti-SOS Brigade.  The attack comes in the form of causing Nagato to succumb to flu like conditions.  Haruhi jumps into action and takes it upon herself to nurse the alien back to health, wrangling Asahina into the task.  Meanwhile she tasks the two male members of the group to hold down the fort at the club room, in anticipation of any new members from the current freshmen.  Kyon knows that no amount of will power or home remedies via Haruhi will  bring Nagato back to her normal operational mode  Instead he recognizes this being an attack, most likely from the rival alien interface and confronts Sasaki's group about the attack.  But what leverage does he really have to convince three people of extraordinary abilities to listen to him?  Aren't they just tying to back him into a corner until he will relent to agree to their wild demands?

    At the same time, in the other reality, the Brigade is fielding a dozen or so potential candidates for new members.  Kyon is astonished at the level of interest their strange illegal club has drawn.  He is also leery of what strange rites of passage Haruhi has in store for the unprepared applicants.   Sasaki and her weird clique have stayed away and don't seem to be preparing for any sort of return.  Yet he is still uneasy, for an unknown reason.  One of the girls who is part of the applicants clicks something inside of him, a sense of familiarity.  He is quite sure he does not know her and has never met her, but that doesn't stop the tickle at the back of his mind.  Just to be safe he checks with the other members to see if there is anything unusual about her but to his relief none of the applicants are presenting as anything more than normal high school students.  All he has to content with is the absurdities that the fearless Brigade Chief will unleash in her random selection processes.  A process he suspects will result in everyone being rejects and the club going back to its standard five member status while the wile away the time before the next hiccup to her personality fires off.

    This, the second part of a potentially three part arc, followed the pacing of the last volume and burned slow and thought out.  It was really quite enjoyable over all and brings a new level of satisfaction to the world as a whole.  The two story lines, which switch off with each chapter, present a view point of how things could be different if given a change of behavior revolving around one point in time.  Where we saw the entirely different world in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, where Kyon was the only one how remembered the other world, this time we see both worlds independent of each other.  There are occasional hints that thinks may not be as they seem, particularly with some off side comments when Kyon and Koizumi converse.  Little hints that the world in which the Brigade is fielding a dozen new prospective members might not be real...more like a Matrix situation.  :Perhaps they are in a simulation.

    it will be very interesting how everything plays out in the second part.  These past two volumes have also been the strongest writing/story telling this series has seen in quite a while.  Tanigawa-san seems to have finally hit his stride with a cohesive and long range narrative, instead of going through various random story styles he fancies testing out.  I don't think this narrative will continue into volume twelve so this may be the last hurrah of the series from a really enjoyable perspective.  I'll have to enjoy the next volume for what it represents, possibly the last solid writing for the series for now.  I can't guarantee that the final volume will be as enjoyable as these past two were and the next one will probably be.  But, there is always hope for the apparent thirteenth volume?

Next up, the continuation of the Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 2 and possibly the resolution of this story line.

The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya - light novel

 The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの分裂) is the ninth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This ninth volume was originally released in Japan in 2011 and in English in 2013.

Click here to read the synopsis of the eighth volume, The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

    The new year has begun and Kyon is settling into being a second year student.  Not much has changed for his environment and circumstances though.  He is still in the same class as Haruhi and the SOS Brigade is carrying on as if nothing changed.  The group can't officially recruit new members from the incoming first years, but that isn't stopping Haruhi from doing just that, under the guise of recruiting for the literary club.  While the brigade chief is distracted, Koizumi informs Kyon that his people are again dealing with Haruhi's unstable emotions in the form of closed space.  He can't understand what has changed in the unruly girl to lead to the reversal of the past years calming events, even after its spelled out to him, he refuses to admit it.  The root of her current internal imbalance is jealousy.  Jealousy over a girl that accompanied Kyon as he met up with the others for a club outing on the final day of Spring break.  The girl, Sasaki, was a close friend of his during middle school and one that Haruhi views as a potential rival for Kyon's attention.

    Though Haruhi's reaction isn't wrong, it's just not for the correct reason.  On the morning of another planned SOS Brigade outing, Kyon wakes up early, hoping to finally beat her to the meet up.  He succeeds, but he wishes he would have slept in.  Instead of finding their normal stop devoid of other Brigade members he finds three girls, two he knows, one of which he has severe animosity towards.  In front of him, as if they were anticipating his arrival, are Sasaki, the rival ESPer that had kidnapped Asahina and a strange girl.  He quickly deduces that the mystery girl may be another artificial human interface, similar to Nagato, but likley from a rival faction of alien beings.  He is very uneasy about this as the enemies seem to bee gathering for something and are using his old friend.  The ESPer is introduced as Kyoko Tachibana and the strange girl is Kuyou Suou.  Kyon suspects that the rival time traveler he has higher levels for disdain for is nearby.  He learns that they have approached Sasaki and are on friendly terms with her.  Before he can learn any further details the other members of the SOS Brigade arrive...staring down their understood rivals.  Sasaki breaks the stale mate by ushering her group towards the train, giving Kyon and his group some space to calm down...but that may take more than just leaving for the time being.  After the days outing Kyon struggles with how to proceed.  But he wouldn't have to worry about that too much, given his reality is about to break off into two parallel versions of it's self.  Concurrently he would meet up with Sasaki's group in secret or not.  The Brigade would be awash with new members or it wouldn't and Haruhi would be coming up with a test for future prospects.  What could be going on and was this formed alliance of rival factions be the cause of the duality of events?

    This was a fun volume even if it was all set up for the next two volumes.  The past few stories have been building to the arrival of rival factions to work against the Brigade.  We know have the culmination and the basic understanding of their intentions.  They have rallied together under the concept that Sasaki is the one who should be in charge of modifying reality, not Haruhi.  They recognize Haruhi's ability and want to see it transferred to Sasaki, who is, in their opinion, far less likely to drastically change everything around them.  It is a self preservation situation for them, along with a conflicting ideology of godhood.  At the basic level it is a conflict of who's prophet is more deserving of their god like status...but with the caveat of one god not yet being of equal standing.  They have decided to approach Kyon, given his connection with Haruhi and his general unaffiliated status with any agency.  Yet can they overcome his devotion to his strange club mates?  Kyon, particularly after the incident before Christmas, has stated his intentions to maintain the status quo for as long as possible and is vocally resistant to their attempts to change his mind.  Yet he doesn't understand why they believe he has the ability to get Haruhi's abilities to transfer to Sasaki.

    Readers may get annoyed with the back and forth telling of the same time period in concurrent chapters in the second half of the book, but I was amused and entertained by it.  It broke up the monotony of linear story telling, bringing a new dimension to the series that it seems to have lost for a while.  This volume really makes me yearn for a return of the anime adaptation to see how Kyoto Animation would handle this, 'cus lets be honest, you cant have a Haruhi anime without KyoAni.  And given that Haruhi's voice actor, Hirano Ayo, has returned to acting following some pretty intense attacks by her 'fans'.  Plus given the live concert event that is taking place in early 2024, with Hirano in attendance....maybe this is a tease for a renewed series?  More than likely that is purely wishful thinking on my end, but I can dream can't I?  In any case, this volume returned the series to something that was fun and fresh, putting different twists on the way it tells the story.  Something that seems to have been lacking for quite a few volumes now.  Again though this volume was nothing but set up for the next two volumes, which will hopefully be entertaining.

Next up, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 1.

The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 2

 The Ancient Magus' Bride (魔法使いの嫁) is a super natural drama based on the manga of the same name by Yamazaki Kore.  The second season ran for 24 episode and aired in the Spring and Fall of 2023.  The review for the first season can be found here.

 

    Chise has convinced Elias to allow her to attend the alchemist college in London.  He agrees but also if they allow him to be a quest teacher while she attends.  The college is as far away from her life in the quiet hamlet as you can get.  It was established long ago by 7 prominent alchemist families, who still hold sway over aspects of the institution.  The massive underground complex holds everything one could possibly need regarding training children to harness their supernatural talents.  Chise's past experiences in school left little to be desired and she finds herself a bit of an outcast being the only enrolled mage, that she is aware of.  Fortunately the alchemist apprentice, Alice, who she has befriended, is also attending the school.  She and Elias have arrived at a dangerous time as powerful forces begin to move, intentions unknown.  Chise is thrown headlong into the chaos due to a few select coeds she has become close to.  Her roommate is a anti social serious girl named Lucy, who is one of the only surviving members of a powerful alchemist family.  Her family was ruthlessly murdered before her, only her estranged brother was able to keep her safe from the attackers and tries to hide her away as best he can.  

    Another girl that Chise is trying to open up to is a member of another great family, one who specializes in espionage and subterfuge.  The girl, Philomela, struggles with her place in the world as she is seen only as a tool for her grandmother ambitions...ambitions that could threaten the very existence of the academy and its attempts at organization and order.  A dangerous and powerful grimoire, housed in the college, is targeted by an unknown group.  After it's theft various people within the college are attacked, leaving them in a comatose state.  Believing the attack and the missing tome are linked, the school is locked down in an attempt to prevent the culprits escape.  It's a race against time to find the grimoire and contain the threat to the students and faculty. 

    I don't think I enjoyed the second season as much as the first.  The shift to a Harry Potter style setting seeming to collapse the world building into its self, limiting the amount of story that could be spun out.  While the first season was largely a collection of loosely related stories that were more to build the world and expose the viewer to a variety of folk lore, that exploration is what felt so special with the story.  Instead we are trapped in the narrative of the alchemist college, only seeing world building tied to the institution, instead of the wondrous world of the magus.  Not to mention the start of the second half of the season finds the characters actually trapped within the college as the plot unfolds around them.  The story shifts to being one of intrigue and conflict between the various alchemist families.  One aspect of the world of Ancient Magus Bride that is brought into focus more than in the past is the casual acceptance of slavery and indenture in the world of the alchemists and magi.  The great alchemist families have other families serving under them, families they use as they see fit, usually as servants and disposable assets.  While members of the lesser families may not like their situation, there is little in the way of resisting the entire patronage system that is fully entwined in their society.

    Aside from my dislike of the direction the story moved into, the show was good over all.  Artwork is middling for current standards, but it doesn't deviate from the original series.  My biggest complaint with the design was how dark many of the settings were done, making it a struggle to pick out some of the details.  Just how moody does an institution need to be?  The real strength of the show is the deep connection with European folklore made into living forces of the story.  While there is some fast paced action and physical/magical combat, this is really a story about the characters recognizing their place in a world where humans are not the apex predator.  If the story can shift its focus back to this dynamic instead of falling back on using inter-human conflict as the primary source of danger future series' will be greatly welcomed.  This season felt like a faltering in the way the live action adaptation of The Walking Dead faltered, where the aspects that made the story enjoyable were put on the back burner and the world building was reduced and focused on an aspect that came from a mostly natural place, instead of a mystical/super natural position.  The machinations of humans with an eye on power are easily understood.  Whats fascinating is exploring the space of humanity trying to exist within the fickle and alien motivations of forces that are neither malevolent or benevolent but are utterly over powering in their strength.

Both halves of this season were simulcast on Crunchyroll and are still available for streaming.

The year ahead - 2024

 This year marks roughly 18 years of this project existing.  It started around 2005 or 2006 on MySpace as an outlet to more easily disseminate information about new anime to my friend group.  After a few years on that platform much of the content was migrated to Blogspot in late 2008.  Unfortunately due to distractions and life in general, the content hasn't been consistent.  But 2024 will hopefully continue the momentum regained half way through 2023.

    There are some titles to look forward to in 2024 but more efforts will be directed at continuing the review of the growing backlog of light novel's and resuming the per-tankoubon review of Kare Kano that was started in 2020.  Once that is out of the way the thorough overview of the Suzuka manga will resume.  The marathon viewing of One Piece will resume and wrap up, hopefully in time for the recently announced remake by Wit Studio.  A number of series will see milestones of release that are important to this blog, such titles as Elfen Leid, Genshiken, Monster and Gantz that I want to revisit (or complete in the case of Monster).  The year has a lot of room for curated content along with the rolling reviews of new and old series!

Thanks for coming here and continuing to view this content.

My New Boss Is Goofy

 My New Boss Is Goofy (新しい上司はど天然) is a 12 episode slice of life comedy based on the manga of the same name by Ichikawa Dan.  The anime originally aired during the Fall of 2023.

    Momose Kentaro is nervous about starting his new job at an advertising firm.  He left his previous employer due to years of oppressive mental abuse at the hands of his supervisor.  The abuse has left him in a traumatized state, leading to ulcers and a break down of his own self esteem.  His first day of the new job is full of dread, as he walks on eggshells around his new supervisor, Shirosaki Yusei.  Momose struggles to understand Shirosaki's personality and defaults to him being abusive.  Shirosaki is a reserved person and his lack of excitement causes panic in the newbie.  He begins to suffer a panic attack, misreading his supervisors reactions as negative.  Out of concern for his new underling, Shirosaki rushes to get stomach medicine from a nearby convenience store only to bring him back period relief medicine instead.  This is the first of a continuing series of blunders Shirosaki makes, that help to ease Momose's concerns.

    As time goes on, Momose becomes more confident in his new roll.  Due to their close working relationship he spends a lot of time with Shirosaki, growing to trust and enjoy his strange boss.  Shirosaki is good at his job but suffers from rampant bouts of being oblivious.  He continually makes amusing mistakes and slip ups, from bringing unrelated items to work in confusion to being confused about aspects of a conversation.  While unreliable in that sense, he is good at his job and works in earnest to ensure his underlings work environment is one that fosters growth.  Even with a fresh start to his professional life, Momose struggles with the effects of his previous job.  He is reluctant to talk about it much with those around him, fearing it will change their opinions of him.  Instead his co-works and supervisors are incredibly supportive and encourage him to be the best he can at what he does.

    This is a cute and straightforward comedy.  It has some strong yaoi tones to it, but never goes in that direction.  The story's primary focus is the growing relationship between Momose and Shirosaki, who end up becoming 'hetero' life partners during the course of the show.  Another employee, who joins the firm for the same reasons Momose does and Shirosaki's direct manager, round out the primary characters.  Each of them have their own quirks and well defined personality traits.  Everyone is supportive of each other, with there being no actual drama outside of Momose's internal dialogue of doubt.  The series goes about putting the characters in normal situations and enhancing them with oddity and cuteness.  It's really a matter of, which either of the main characters admit they love each other, even though there are no overt tones to that being true.  

    The artwork is substandard in today's anime environment.  That may just be a product of the source material, but there is not a lot of detail in the art over all.  The characters are plan and unnaturally tall and thin.  Pretty boys in the style of a modern shojo manga.  If there isn't a marketplace for hardcore yaoi doujinshi around this story, I suspect its coming.  There is really not much to say about the show.  It's cute, the characters are amusing in their own right and it doesn't dwell much on repetition beyond Momose's ever present trauma.

The series was simulcast and is currently available on Crunchyroll.