Spy x Family - Season 2

 Spy x Family is a comedic slice of life espionage series based on the manga of the same name by Endo Tatsuya.  The second season originally aired during the Fall of 2022 for a total of 12 episodes.

 The following picks up where Season 1 left off, some spoilers may be presented below.

 

    Everything is in place for the mission to continue.  Loid's cover remains intact.  While still struggling to get Stella, Anya is still in school at Eden academy and is in constant contact with the targets son.  Yor, continues her secretive work as an assassin and has Loid as a cover for suspicion.  All is well, even if the mission Loid is undertaking is progressing slower than he would life.  Loid tries to smooth things over with Yor after she returns home late from work one night and appears to be in a foul mood.  In reality, she is desperately trying to conceal a wound she received in her last mission.  He takes her our for a date, in hopes of soothing whatever shes angry about.  the activities of the date make her seem more angry, given her continued discomfort and struggles with keeping her secret.  After the date we get to see some random adventures of some of the other characters as they go about their own isolated adventures.

    Yor's employer summons her for an important and prolonged mission as a bodyguard instead of an assassin.  They come up with a work cover that would allow her to be away from home for a period of days, as the mission takes place on a cruise ship.  In an unrelated event, Anya wins a pair of tickets to the same exact cruise, allowing them to join Yor.  The cruise is large and Yor will be in first class, while her family is stuck in third class, but that doesn't eliminate the possibility of crossing their paths in awkward times.  Yor's mission is to protect the widow and last remaining child of a powerful underworld crime boss who was recently killed.  One of his underlings has taken over the empire and is shifting its focus to different set of specialties.  He doesn't want any of the old bosses family to reclaim what he took and has set up a large bounty on the woman and her young child, large enough to attract killers from near and far.  Yor's boss owes a debt to the deceased crime boss and has assigned his best people to protect his widow as she makes her way to safety.

    This was a fantastic return to the series and kicked it off strongly with the first episode.  The next few episodes that showed random stories, usually with lesser characters, wasn't as enjoyable though.  The episodes long arc of Yor protecting the mafia boss though was the best story in the anime so far.  It progressed naturally, had a lot of variation in the story it told and the characters that were part of it.  It also doesn't hurt to have Yor as the focus of the story.  This season heavily favored the waifu-for-laifu, so there is no complaint on that end.  What these episodes didn't do was to advance the central plot of the story.  The final episode of the first season gave us a great moment when Loid and his target make contact, even having a short conversation.  Yet we get no further advancement in the Project Strix in these 12 episodes.  But, given the quality of the story we did get, that can be excused.  No word on when the next round of episodes will be airing, time will tell.

    Spy x Family is overall a well done series.  The artwork is good but not heavily detailed.  There is an air of sophistication with in its art deco style world.  The characters are all lovable and incredibly quirky.  Its strongest part is the story telling.  The story is a spy thriller but its always handled in a way that's humorous and humble.  The characters are confident in their skills and go about their real jobs with unwavering confidence.  There is always a heavy lair of absurdity and comedy in the resolution of the struggles, just believable enough to not break the spell of the story.  This season though made me realize that I enjoy Yor's stories the best and don't enjoy the plots that take place with in the school its self, even though that at the core of the story.  The multiple episode long arc showed that the story could survive quite well if it moved away from being episodic in nature.  I suspect the next season will return to advancing the goals of the mission, but will still be enjoyable and cute.

The anime was simulcast and is available on Crunchyroll.

Year in Review - 2023

    After being mostly absent for a few years, 2023 saw the return of more regular anime viewing and reviewing.  This year has brought a strong resurgence in romance anime, a favorite genre of mine, which kept me consuming more and more.  Unfortunately there is still a deluge of droll isekai stories.  But its hypocritical of me to be so harsh on them.  In the end, lots of series that fall under specific genre's come out, most of them don't make much of an impact but there are those few that transcend the mundane to garner attention from the community at large, at least for the season.  We all gravitate to the specific story types that are comfortable to us, I prefer low key slice of life stories above flashy battle oriented ones.

    The best series for me this year though is absolutely  Insomniacs After School.  I ended up watching the anime twice and reading the manga, which completed its story a few months after the final episode of the anime.  It was such a beautiful heart warming story.  It brought me a lot of emotions and was an absolute joy to experience.  I have a great desire to read the manga again and take my time, savoring it, as the artwork and story are beautiful and worth slowing down for.

 

   What really took hold this year was my deep dive into the world of light novels.  Since the anime adaptation came out I have been obsessed with the Rascal Does Not Dream story and finally read the original versions.  Once I was caught up I moved on to the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series, which has taken me a bit long than I would like to work through.  I have also bought a good amount of physical manga this year, given that my primary platform for legal e-reading, Crunchyroll, stopped hosting manga.  Skip and Loafer and Even Though We're Adults dominated my physical manga focus but the end of the year saw me get the last two volumes of City, which I will finally sit down and read.  I also need to resume my per tankoubon analysis of Kare Kano, that was stated near the beginning of the pandemic.  2024 looks to be a strong year for my consumption of physical manga and more e-edition light novels.  Once Haruhi is concluded I will move onto to the fantastic fantasy series Grimgar!

    The creation of the Netflix live action adaptation of One Piece had a profound impact on me.  After avoiding the series for over fifteen years, I decided to return to the anime of One Piece and as of this writing am half way through its run.  I would be further along if I had kept my daily pace of viewing but other things got in the way and I will return to that pace in the new year as well, hoping to catch up to the anime before the new arc begins.  While I have a generalized distaste and avoidance of shonen titles, One Piece has proven to be an enjoyable journey that I hope can maintain its wonder and allure.

    This year also so the anime adaptation of the fantastic 'fan fiction' by Irasawa Naoki, Pluto.  I read the manga years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, having little understanding of the source material.  The anime adaption did a fantastic job of interpreting the manga in motion and sound.  If only they would adapt 20th Century Boys!!!!

 

    Here are my top 10 favorite anime of the year, going from 10 to 1.

 #10

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

    Whats not to love about an off beat comedy following a disillusioned salary man who suddenly finds freedom to live his life for himself, following the collapse of civilization at the hands of the ravenous dead.  The artwork is great, the characters are memorable but this show was hit with significant production delays pushing the last few episodes all the way to the end of the year.  Still a good show, but the massive delay hampers some of the joy when you watched it as it broadcast.

 

 #9

Loving Yamada at Lvl 999 

    Romance anime outside of a high school setting are hard to come by and this one only partially does that, given its a story about feelings blossoming between a college woman and a boy about to finish up high school.  If you ignore the idea of an adult woman who can legally drink courting a 17 year old prodigy gamer its not at all disturbing.  I feel if the gender roles were reversed it might be a little more creepy...or turn into a classic shojo story.  Anyways, fun and easy to digest story about a woman who isn't sure she's ready to be an adult who is trying to reconcile heart break and rejection.  With both main characters not falling into the trope of unease, we get meaningful dialogue and less indecision drama.

 

 #8

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today

    A giant black cat resides in my house but is no where as cool as Yukichi.  This was a fun slice of life comedy about a terribly unkempt woman and her super naturally normal house cat/caretaker.  Animation oddities be damned, this was fun and comfortable and I would like to see more of it.

 

 #7

My Happy Marriage

    I don't normally get into period pieces, but the animation quality and chatter around the first few episodes of this drama drew my curiosity.  This retelling of Cinderella is amazingly beautiful and finely detailed.  But by the time its super natural aspect unveiled its self i was too deep to back out.  Yet, even with the down side of there eventually being conflict between 'wizards' over her hand the story remained strong and I can't wait for season two.

#6

 Skip and Loafer    

    In the beginning this felt like a story similar to my much loved Kare Kano, but morphed into something different and likeable.   While not the most remarkable romance to come out this year it is a lovely and endearing story about two misfits and their navigation around each other.  They spend the vast majority of the series not even considering romance and in the end of the anime that idea still seems ambivalent.  Its a really nice slice of life story that has mild romantic tendencies that takes a good look at life in the modern world.  It's cute, funny and lovable in all the right ways.

#5

Pluto

    This long needed adaptation of the fantastic manga series by Urasawa Naoki did. It disappoint.  It is essentially hardboiled detective fanfic of a classic Testsuwon Atom arc.

#4

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

    As I bring up anytime I can, I really don't like most fantasy anime.  But something about this melancholy show about  questioning ones own attitude to those around you is one of the best stories I have seen in quite a while.  I have really enjoyed the characters, the way the story is told and the artwork.

 

#3

 Horimiya Missing Pieces 

    Unlike the disjointed followup series for Raniking of Kings that put dropped plot lines and side stories from the original season, Missing Pieces is a really lovely return to Horimiya and the characters you love from the original story.  While it would have been amazing to get a continuation of the story from where it left off, this collection of loosly related side plots was fantastic and made me love the world of Horimiya even more.  This is such a fun story with a large cast of agreeable characters.

#2

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

    I am a sucker for Scott Pilgrim, deeply invested in the franchise since the release of the live action adaptation.  This new animated retell of the story propelled my love of this world even further.  With a fresh take at the original material, charting a new course with the characters while paying a lot of homage to the source comic, live action movie and fantastic video game.  Scott Pilgrim Takes Off may be the best thing to come out of the franchise?   Out of all of the east/west collaborative anime projects, this one feels like the most sincere.  It also doesn't help I'm such a rabid fan of the story in general.  But other notable series like Afro Samurai seem hollow and devoid to any substance in story and legacy.  Oh and it also doesn't hurt that this new story made incel talking heads explode when they suddenly forgot that Scott Pilgrim is woke as fuck to begin with.  Idiots.

#1

Insomniacs After School 

    This is hands down my favorite anime of the year and I pretty much spoiled it earlier in the post.  An amazingly lovely anime and equally lovely manga that ended too abruptly in my mind.  The premise of the title gets pushed to the side when the main characters establish a strong connection.  the side characters are enjoyable, the meandering plot is lovely...I can't speak bad about this series.  I just hope they produce an anime to tell the second half of th story, the part that really gets the water works in action.  I need to reread this lovely manga.

 Overall it was a great year, I power through some of the back catalog, discovered some new gems from the past few years and pushed forward into the new world of current shows.  Next year is shaping up to have a few interesting key shows, most notably the 4 part adaption of Uzumaki and the hopeful distribution of the second and third Rascal Doesn't Dream movies in North America!

A Girl & Her Guard Dog

 A Girl & Her Guard Dog (お嬢と番犬くん) is a 13 episode romance based on the manga of the same name by Hatsuhara.  The anime originally aired during the Fall of 2023.

    Senagaki Isaku lost her parents in a car accident when she was a small child.  She was taken in by her grandfather but the circumstance weren't the best for a young girl who just lost her parents.  He grandfather is the head of a yakuza clan and has little time or interest in raising the lost child.  Instead he appoints one of his underlings, Uto Keiya, to act as her parent.  Keiya is only ten years her senior but take son the role of caregiver with dedication and respect.  Growing up, it was hard for Isaku to hide her grandfathers occupation from the neighborhood and classmates.  This lead her to be isolated and lonely during her formative years, with only the stoic and obedient yakuza footmen as her only normal contact.  She decides to enroll in a high school far enough from home to remain anonymous, yearning for a normalized high school life.  She desires to fall in love and enjoy her time as a student, without the trouble caused by her connections to the underworld.

    To her horror, she can't escape the grasp her grandfather has on her life as she enters high school.  Her guardian, Keiya, has bribed his way into her school as well, posing as a first year student in order to keep an eye on the young lady.  Isaku begins to dwell on her relationship with Keiya, concerned that she is falling in love for the man who has been her guardian for the past ten years.  She tries to reject these feelings, wanting to be free from the yakuza when she is old enough.  Her dreams of living the life of a normal high school student seem to be a fantasy as she has to content with her guard dogs constant presence and her growing feelings for the older man.  To complicate her emotions, Keiya has become more open about feelings for her.  Isaku is uncertain if he is being truthful with his subtle confessions, or if they are coming from a place of duty towards her grandfather.

    The biggest issue with this story is the ick factor of a 26 year old man showing physical desires for a 16 year old girl he has been raising for years, even if that was more out of duty to his boss and his dedication to the yakuza family.  He shows an uncomfortable level of physicality with the much younger girl.  Its really a case of the inexperienced and naive girl who is in a position to be taken advantage of and used by the experienced and world older man, a bit creepy in my mind, regardless of your modern cultural position.  While the primary focus of the story is the evolving relationship between the two main characters, there are other layers involved.  There are moments in which Usaku's life is in peril, due to rival gangs identifying her.  This is the main reason Keiya is around her all the time, to act as a bodyguard.  Keiya was made a reliable and trusted underling long ago and her grandfather wholly trusts him with his granddaughters safety.  Keya does his best to keep the unsavory sides of his personality hidden from her, acting the roll of the cool prince while around her, only resorting to his unrepentant side when absolutely necessary.  In reality he is a ruthless gangster, who doesn't hesitate to take extreme physical action when needed.  Surprisingly, he is honest with her about his frequent sexual partners, of which he states he has no real connection with.

    Beyond the uncomfortable aspect of their age difference, the story isn't bad over all.  It is a modern shojo romance that blurs the line between the genre's standards and the influence K-drama's have had overall with programs aimed at female audiences.  The hallmark of K-drama's is quite noticeable with the story and character design.  Speaking of which, the production on this particular adaptation was less then stellar.  Character animation wasn't it consistent and at times poor quality.  Movements seemed unnatural in many segments and over all the artwork lacked depth and attention to detail.  Sad really, but it feels like the C team were called in to do this series, paying it little attention.

The series was simulcast and is currently available on Crunchyroll in sub format.

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses

 The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses (好きな子がめがねを忘れた) is a 13 episode slice of life romance based on the manga of the same name by Fujichika Koume.  The anime originally aired during the Summer of 2023.

 

     Komura Kaede has a crush on the girl who sits next to him, the reserved, bespectacled Mie Ai.  Komura's desire to be closer to Mie is helped along by her frequent reliance on him during school.  Mie is unnaturally forgetful and dramatically myopic.  That is, even though she is incredibly near sighted she usually forgets her glasses and struggles significantly at school.  She is unwilling to cause trouble because of her own failings and suffers silently at the back of the class whenever she is without corrective measures.  This has lead her to rely on Komura frequently to help her with note taking and material review.  Her eyesight is so poor as to require her to place her face mere millimeters from a textbook or notebook, to the point of potentially being legally recognized as blind.  Komura, being both considerate and infatuated with Mie, does whatever he can to help her.

    As Komura grows closer to Mie, he begins to understand more of her struggles in life.  Along with her persistent, self induced, vision issues, she is also forgetful related to other general aspects of her life.  His initial infatuation with her grows stronger as he transitions into her protector.  Mie begins to rely more and more on the helpful seat mate.  As time goes on she becomes more friendly with him, her actions suggesting that she has some level of mutual feelings for him as well.  As he grows closer to Mie, they begin interacting with each other more and more outside of school.  Komura is unsure if these interactions are influenced more by her growing reliance on him for help in her daily life or a growing relationship that may or may not be more than friends.  Both of them are guarded with their emotions, so it is difficult for him to translate their interactions enough to give him the confidence to express his feelings for her.

    This was one of two anime released in the Summer cour produced by GoHands.  Prior to the season I was only passingly aware of the studio, but didn't understand any of their...complications.  The artwork in the first few minutes of the opening episode was disquieting.  GoHands is used as an example of relying on CG too much for the production.  They also use unusual camera angles and templated in-between shots, particularly in scenes showing urban environments.  Movement of objects, such as vehicles and background characters can be unnaturally timed and repetitive in a way that sticks out.  There is a lot of detail in the art though, and the character designs for the primary figures is a large focus of the animation.  Particularly in the close-ups of Mie's eyes, which take on a hypnotic galactic life of their own.  There is an ever present sprinkling of dust motes that meander of their own accord in every scene with in the school as well, for not particularly clear reasons.  Mie's hair reacts to her motions with greater influence that is naturally possible, sometimes with numerous strands acting of their own accord, unbound by the laws physics.  

    The core plot device of Mie forgetting her much needed glasses/contacts is a bit of a one trick pony that is beaten to death over the course of the series.  Her level of meekness is almost supernatural as well.  But, there is something enjoyable about the blossoming relationship between the two primary characters.  Much of the dialogue of the story is done through Komura's internal monologue and the main characters direct interactions with each other.  Secondary characters play very minimal roles, to the point where they usually don't even exist in shots.  There is a welcoming sweetness to the course of Mie's comfort with Komura, coupled with his growing confusion about what their relationship really means.  Does she see him as a potential love interest or is she treating him more like a family member with how relaxed she becomes around him over time?  This is what much of he struggles with quietly, while doing whatever he can to help; her out, hoping to move her heart in the right way.  In the end, the cute innocence of the characters relationship is what made this show enjoyable, the premise became stale almost immediately otherwise.

    The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll and is available in sub only.

A Quick Look at the Winter 2024 anime season

 Soon after the New Year a new cour of anime will begin, bringing with it new and continuing titles.  Here is a quick look at ones that have made it to my list of things to check out in the first week or two of January.

 

Solo Leveling

    I was a fan of the Tower of God anime right from the beginning.  The manhwa Solo Leveling kept popping up in comparison.  I have waited for the anime to become a reality, not wanting to spoil anything reading ahead.  Time will tell if this can reach me like Tower of God did.   Still waiting on season 2 of that story and I should really get back to reading it.

A Sign of Affection

    Unknown entry, but it looks to be a mature romance with the main character being deaf and having to deal with the guy she suddenly likes struggling to communicate with her.  Could be good, probably won't be insulting to the world of the hearing impaired.

Mr. Villain's Day Off

    This looks absurd and cute.

Hokaido Gals are Super Adorable

    I don't have a lot of hope for this to be little more than soft fan service fodder, but I was surprised by Kimi Zero, so who knows.  Are gyaru coming back in fashion suddenly?

Cherry Magic?  Thirty Years A Virgin Can Make You A Wizard

    Could this be a more palatable yaoi version of the terrible 40 Year Virgin?

Delusional Monthly Magazine

    Hard to tell from brief descriptions, but this could be a mad cap farce of a story revolving around realty and uncertainty.  Worth checking out for being a unique concept among all the repetitive stuff this season alone.

Bucchigiri

   I have no idea what this is going to be about, but it could be incredibly absurd.

Fire Hunter - part 2

    The first series didn't hit my radar at all, but the synopsis intrigues me enough to check out at least the beginning.  Something about it makes me think of Shin Sekai Yori, and that is an amazing show that not enough people talk about.

The Winter cour tends to be less spectacular than Spring/Fall, but man, looking at whats pending for April...the next three months can't go quickly enough.  But, I will while away my time watching these and probably a few late comers as well as trying desperately to keep working on the enormous backlog of other anime that need to be watched.

Under Ninja

 Under Ninja (アンダーニンジャ) is a 12 episode seinen action series based on the manga of the same name by Hanazawa Kengo.  The anime originally aired over the Fall of 2023. 

 

    Under Ninja came to my attention due to the original author, Hanazawa Kengo.  An earlier manga he wrote that I read and highly enjoyed was I Am A Hero (I should probably write up the review on that at some point) and figured, 2 for 2?  I knew what to expect for the ugly realism in his character design, which was confirmed in the previews.  I figured the story would be pretty good since I Am A Hero was solid, even if it did get strange in the end.  The world of Under Ninja, or at least the way the story is presented, is unusual.  A viewer new to the story has no idea what anything means or what is going on for many episodes.  It doesn't help that the story continues to bounce between two different time periods roughly two months apart.  This confusion will probably turn many viewer off but I took it as a sign as something new and inventive.  How often do we see a story about ninja's that is full of obfuscation?  Sure you have hidden plots and gotcha moments in dramatic moments, but nothing like purposely obscuring the actual purpose of the story being told.  We are introduced to a series of characters, with only a vague sense of what position they are in, in relation to others.  Terms and ideas are rattled off by the characters without much of the self conscious narration that works to explain things clearly to the viewer.  The story and its players do not have compassion for the viewer and don't do things in ways that would make things easy to understand.  The viewer just has to keep watching as more things begin to make sense with time instead of being taught distracting lessons.

    The struggle comes in with some of the artwork.  In general the animation is fluid enough to hide its cg nature.  There are certain segments that are quite poorly executed and almost embarrassing in the process, detracting from the story over all.  Terrible choices aside, the story ends rather abruptly with quite a bit more questions showing up that need to be answered and no word of a continuation of the story in an animated form.  The story does end, with the primary focus of the show coming to a resolution.  That resolution isn't the most satisfying by standard means.  he show also ends with a series of new characters showing up with only a vague understanding of their relation to the previously known characters.  Execution was great, for throwing everything out of the window in terms of traditional exposition.  Too many are only comfortable with being spoon fed their entertainment which only has flashy visuals as its selling point.  This is not a show for everyone and can be a hard sell to many fans not willing to break out of their comfortable norms.  I enjoyed it and will need to pick up the manga and see how much of the story was left out and if it actually carries on after the strange ending in the anime.

    Under Ninja is available on Crunchyroll in sub.

A Place Further Than the Universe

A Place Further Than The Universe (宇宙よりも遠い場所) is a original 13 episode slice of life anime by Madhouse.  The series aired in the Winter of 2018.

 

     High school student Kobuchizawa Shirase only lives to step foot in Antarctica.  Her mother was part of a research expedition years earlier but died in an accident.  Shirase has been obsessed with going to the last place her mother was seen alive.  A girl in her school, Tamaki Mari, is fed up with her uneventful life.  When she learns of Shirase's goal she immediately jumps on to do it as well. Where the demure Shirase was charting her own course to fulfill her dreams, the spontaneous Mari rushes headlong into the daunting task, dragging Shirase kicking and screaming with her.

    Through her larger than life personality Mari ends up ensnaring two more high school girls into their wild dream of joining a research expedition to the loneliest continent.  One of the girls is an up and coming actor, Shiraishi Yuzuki.  Her manager and mother have a job idea for her to travel to Antartica and do a series of weblogs to help boost her status.  While at first unwilling to do so, after meeting the other girls and getting dragged into their enthusiasm she decides to do the job.  The final member of their group is a drop out who works with Mari at a convenience store who is trying to shake up her dead end life.  With the possibility beginning to take shape the greatest obstacle the girls need to overcome is to convince the expedition team that worked with Shirase's mother to include them in the next trip.  With her life's ambitions at her fingertips will Shirase and the other girls see it slip out of their grasp?

    There have been a fair amount of fun slice of life stories following a group of endearing girls.  A Place Further Than The Universe is no exception.  The only new ground it breaks is the scope of the girls adventures.  Instead of being a story of aimlessly wasted life around school and home these characters have a goal to make it to Antarctica as soon as possible.  For Shirase, the trip is an attempt to reconcile the loss of her mother, a confirmation of the finality of her loss.  The rest are a long for an absurd adventure that, through the wonders of fiction pull off.  In the end the girls grow as people, taking in not only the experience of the trip but of the bond of friendship.  This change of pace makes for a fresh take on this decades old story.  Along with being a slice of life comedy it also works as a primer for Antarctic exploration as the characters have to learn how to do things properly.

    There's not much more to say about this series.  Its a fun and enjoyable story with lovable but stereotypical characters.  The artwork is pretty well done and realistic in ways it needs to be.  The story does a good job of conveying the characters personalities and motivations and delivers an encapsulated story that doesn't leave the viewer wanting a continuation.  Being an original concept, that was received well enough keeps the hope alive that we will continue to see more original anime, many of which have been some of the most innovative in the industry.  This one though, doesn't bring a lot of new concepts to the slice of life genre, but is still enjoyable and worth the time.

 

    The series is currently available on Crunchyroll.

Pluto - anime

 Pluto is an 8 episode adaptation of the manga by the same name created by Urasawa Naoki.  The anime was originally released by Netflix in October of 2023.

    The push for equal rights for AI seems to be in peril following a series of murders and apparently terrorist attacks on prominent AI and humans directly connect with laws enacted giving AI more rights and freedoms.  Following the devastating murder of a robot hero from the recent 39th Central Asian Conflict, a beloved and symbolic robot named Mont Blanc.  Europol assigns its top robot agent, Gesicht, another veteran of the war, to head up the investigation.  When a similar murder of a human who was a key to the legislation granting AI rights dies in a similar manner troubling possibilities come to the surface.  The only way that Mont Blanc could have been destroyed in the manner he was, would be from the hands of another robot.  Evidence at the scene of the humans murder as well as similarities liking it to Mont Blanc's death point to the perpetrator being a robot as well.  The implications of this send a ripple through the investigation as by design robots are incapable of harming humans.  There is only one known case of it happening and the robot perpetrator has been in solitary confinement ever since.

    As more murders of humans and robots appear across the globe, Gesicht begins to suspect everything is tied to events from the war.  A war that was unilaterally fought against a despotic radical who was building a massive robot army and threatened to destabilize the region.  A group of the most advanced robots were brought together to fight against the rogue nations robot army, laying it to waste in no time, but causing great strife following the capture and imprisonment of he countries leaders.  It appears that something is exacting revenge on everyone involved in the war, particularly the robot heroes and members of a commission who investigated the illegal use of advanced AI by the shattered country.  Time is short for the detective as more and more of his war companions are being targeted and destroyed.  At the same time he finds himself the target of a powerful and hidden human supremacist group.  As the investigation into both problems continue in-continuities in himself begin to point to his own problems, problems that are being purposely suppressed by the agency he works for.  Can this lone representative of his kind overcome multiple existential threats to protect a future of unity and freedom for all?

    Since reading 20th Century Boys almost twenty years ago, I have been an avid fan of Urasawa's work.  I feel he is the best story teller in the medium of manga and his handling of this story helps support my opinion.  Pluto is derived from a story arc in the original manga for Tetsuwon Atom called The Greatest Robot On Earth...of which I still know little about.  All I can say for sure, if Urasawa took the ground work laid by the legendary Tezuka and crafted a fantastic modern detective story.  One that leans heavily on long established narrative tropes around artificial intelligence and its relation to humanity.  Another aspect, that could be heavily influenced by the unrest in the Mideast at the turn of the century is expressed in the narrative around war and its futility.  That ties into the overall anti war sentiment shared by Tezuka himself.

    The story its self is a by the book detective story with heavy classic sci-fi tropes.  Its not new territory, but it's done with the hand of a craftsman, much like Neil Gaiman's ability to breath new and interesting life into preexisting fairy tales.  The artwork is very particular to Urasawa's style as well.  He has a realistic and somewhat ugly approach to his character design, which is translated quite faithfully in the anime.  The animation in general is of a higher quality than you would find in a generic TV series, but it was not intended to broadcast.  My word as a fan boy is shallow though, so it's best for you to watch it for yourself and make your own conclusions.  I loved it and hope we get another project soon.

    The series is currently available on Netflix.

Oshi no Ko - part 1

 Oshi no Ko (推しの子) is an 11 episode drama based on the manga of the same name by Akasaka Aka with art by Yokoyari Mengo.,  The anime originally aired during the Spring of 2023.

 

    Hoshino Ai is an aspiring pop idol and the front of a moderately successful group named B Komachi.  Hey agency, a relatively new start up, Strawberry Production, announces that Ai has to take some time off from performing due to an undisclosed medical condition.  The condition...pregnancy.  Ai being pregnant causes a few problems the agency is trying to conceal.  The first being that Ai is only 16.  The second being the backlash the fan base would unleash on her for breaking the spell of attraction.  The agencies owner, Saito, secrets his client away to a hospital in a remote village, to help hide the pregnancy.  The gynecologist who meets with them unfortunately knows AI quite well, being a fan of her work.  The doctor, Gorou, had been introduced to the group and the love of idols in general from a terminal cancer patient a few years earlier.  The girl, Sarina had a significant impact on the young doctor and her death has led him to carry on her love of Ai and idols as a memorial.  Ai refuses to terminate the pregnancy, even after learning she will be having twins.  Saito pledges to support her as much as he can and helps keep her secret.

    The night of her due date, a strange man approaches Saito outside of the hospital, rambling about Ai being there and being pregnant.  Concerned as to why someone would know what is going on he chases the man into the woods only to be attacked and knocked down a cliff, falling to his death.  The next thing he knows is his perspective has changed to that of one of Ai's newly born babies.  He has been reborn as one of her twins, a boy she names Auqamarine.  He has all of the memories and knowledge from his previous life and relishes the opportunity to spend more time with the girl he worships.  Quickly he realizes that his twin, the girl named Ruby, is also a product of complete reincarnation and the woman that inhibits the babies body is a super fan of their idol mother.  Together the two infants work together to support and protect their mother as she returns to the world of celebrity.

    -WARNING- The rest of the overview of the series contains significant spoilers that will alter your viewing experience if you have not yet completed the extra long first episode.

 

    The return to work for Ai comes with complications, given the extreme effort everyone will need to put in to keep the existence of her twins secret.  Saito tasks his young wife, Miyako, with playing the roll of the twins mother when in public.  This will allow Ai to interact with them while outside of the sanctity of their apartment.  Miyako isn't sure about the arrangement and soon grows weary of tending after the babies, even though they are quite well behaved, being the embodiment of people who remember their previous lives.  They overhear a plan she begins to concoct to expose the secret for money, as a way to live comfortably and leave her husband.  The twins decide a desperate plan is needed and begin to act as if they are possessed by gods, forcing a mandate from heaven upon the beleaguered woman.  They instruct her to do everything she can to protect the safety and identity of the twins.  Without realizing the strange reality behind the situation she relents and the secret is once again under control as Ai begins to work on building a better future for herself in the entertainment industry.

    A few years pass and things are going well for everyone, with Ai branching out into other venues in the industry beyond being the front of an increasingly popular idol group.  The babies are now old enough to not raise too many questions with their mature behavior.  The director of a drama that Ai is cast in for a small roll shows interest in having Aqua act for him.  Aqua, having no interest in entering the industry, refuses.  The director contacts Strawberry Productions later, to offer a new acting opportunity for Ai, on the condition that Aqua also appear in the production as well.  Understanding that accepting this role could very well give his mother the break they are hoping for, he relents.  While on set he encounters a co-star, child prodigy Arima Kana.  Kana is spoiled and cocky and when Aqua's mature analysis of the directors intentions upstages her, the spoiled girl causes a commotion, teaching Aqua an important lesson when it comes to being a performer and how you treat those around you.  

    The role did what he hoped for and Ai finds more recognition and fandom, opening up more opportunities.  The director however wants Aqua to become an actor himself, sensing a quality in his approach that could be fostered into a successful career.  Aqua outright refuses to continue acting, wishing only to support his mother in her career and bask in her radiance.  But on the day of a performance that will be the hallmark of her raising career, the stalker who had tracked her to a remote hospital year ago has discovered where she is living.  He arrives, with a bouquet in hand, masking the knife and his intent.  He stabs the startled woman in the stomach, Aqua in the same room, and begins to rant about how Ai had lied to everyone and treated them poorly by becoming a mother in secret.  The betrayal of the obsessed fan.  Ai understands she is dying and offers an apology to the man as a representative of her fans, an apology for carrying the role of lying to the public so well.  A task that celebrities have to take on in order to appease the public, the lie of love.  The man flees, understanding the gravity of his actions.  Aqua is desperate to save his mother, knowing the dire situation she is in due to his medical knowledge.  But it is too late, their mother dies in front of them, parting them with her love.

     Aqua realized the stalker who killed his mother is the same person who killed him.  He focuses his grief and loss into drive to uncover the truth behind the stalker finding them.  Through analysis of the situation that lead to her death he suspects that someone close to her was the giving out information to the deranged fan.  Understanding how few people Ai ever had contact with, Aqua suspects the person behind everything is quite possibly the man who got her pregnant, a man who Ai refused to ever identify.  With this as his starting point he decides he will need to enter the entertainment industry to track this person down.  The fan who killed her committed suicide afterwards so he has zero leads.  He contacts the director who has showed interest in him and agrees to begin working with him, hoping in time he will be in proximity to likely candidates for the man who would be his father.

 

    The story skips ahead to twelve years later.  The truth about Ai having given birth to twins has remained a secret.  Saito abandoned Strawberry Production, leaving it to his wife to run.  Miyako has grown fond of the children and the tragedy of Ai's murder brings her closer to them.  They were quietly adopted into her family following Ai's death and she has raised them as her own ever since. At the same time she has taken over running her husbands abandoned talent agency, moving away from idols and onto other more lucrative opportunities in the ever changing entertainment landscape.  Aqua and Ruby are about to begin high school at a prestigious academy which caters to child performers.  Aqua has transitioned to being the directors secret assistant, learning editing and directing skills along the way.  His real intent is to find the man responsible for his mothers death and kill him.  Ruby has started to set her sight on becoming an idol herself and picking up where her mother left off.  

    That is pretty much the synopsis of the first episode, which is in reality the first three episodes that serve as a prologue to the series.  The rest of the series follows the twins as they pursue their goals.  Aqua is laser focused on uncovering the identify of their father, believing it will lead him to who gave information to the stalker who murdered her.  At the the same time he works hard to thwart his sisters attempts to become an idol.  Ruby, oblivious to her brothers dark path, moves forward like a bright light, eternally optimistic and cheerful.  She has complete faith in her ability to honor her mothers memories by carrying on her work as an idol.  She is also fulfilling the dreams denied her in her prior life, as the cancer patient and generally ill child Sarina.  Each twin understands that the other is a reincarnation who remembers their past life, but neither have talked about that to each other.  They do not know they were once doctor and patient in their past lives, a connection that has carried them into this life and has formed the basis of everything that motivates them currently.

    I was drawn into the series on two parts; the first being my misunderstanding that Yokoyari Mengo's role was only the original artwork and not the story.  The second due to the intense internet chatter around the show as it aired.  I am a huge fan of Yokoyari's previous work and had hoped for something similar.  While disappointed at first, the story stood on its own merits as an interesting and thought out journey that only took me half a year to return to.  Whats even more striking is the real author is the same who created Kaguya-sama Love is War.  A series I grew to dislike quickly and never returned to.  At the core of it, Oshi no Ko is a supernatural murder mystery.  The bulk of the story is more a product to highlight to struggles individuals who work in the entertainment industry face in the shadow of their public life.  Through the writing of the manga, Akasaka worked with many people he knows in various entertainment sectors to build an understanding of the problems they face.  According to an interview with him, many of the events depicted are inspired by things that have happened from his research or personal conversations with people.  This kind of representation isn't new though, the influential movie Perfect Blue is centered around the abuse and misuse of young pop idols.

    There is no resolution to the central plot in the first part of the anime, much of the narration spends time establishing other characters and expanding on the punishments tied to fame.  One sticking point is how well the twins have been able to hide their true parentage.  Its also astounding that someone so obsessed with killing the idol he holds dear did not spread the truth of her giving birth in the years between the first and second murders he committed.  Eventually the truth of their mother will come out, there's no way the author would dismiss that type of drama at some point in the show.  Its the weakest part of the story over all.  The idea that these two kids can avoid detection when they have the same legal last name as Ai and are being fostered by the owner of her talent agency..  What will really be interesting is how many twists will show up on the path to Aqua learning his fathers identity and then the path to uncovering who fed information to his mothers murder from there.  He is willing to sell himself wholesale to the devil to get to his end and his assumed strength of planning will likely be his temporary failure.  We will see a resolution to the central mystery and Aqua's revenge plot, the real question and what will make or break the story is what price will he have to pay in the end.  At some point the twins are going to tell each other about their past existences, putting a different twist to their relationship.  I eagerly await the second season but don't know if that will give us he rest of the story...I guess I will have to start reading the manga.

    The anime is currently available in sub and dub formats on HiDive.

Aiura

 Aiura (あいうら) is a 12 episode adaptation of the yon-koma of the same name by Chama.  The anime originally aired during the Spring of 2013.

    Amaya Kanaka is hyperactive, impulsive and dimwitted.  Iwasawa Saki is her stoic straight-man, tall, rational and underhanded.  Much to Iwasawa's desires, the two girls who naturally join up as a classic comedy duo, have to spend the next three years together in high school.  On the final day of spring break they meet a third girl that will be absorbed into their comedy routine, the innocent Uehara Ayuko.  Together the three immature high school girls move through their days absorbed in their own odd relationship or pranks and insults.  The primary trio isn't alone in their eccentricities.  Their homeroom teacher can't be bothered to care about the success of her students.  An English teacher leans into her youthful appearance, often going to work in the school uniform.  Kanaka's younger brother suffers with the trio's invasion of his bedroom to hang out, doing so only because Kanaka's own room is uninhabitable.  With out any purpose or direction the characters go about their strange lives, the butt of a greater joke of reality.

    I am a huge fan of the off bet school girl group slice of life comedies, like Azumanga Daioh, Ichigo Mashimaro, Minami-ke or Lucky Star.  Aiura doesn't disappoint when it comes to content and characters.  They are all lovable in their personality quirks and antics.  While it didn't exactly tread new ground, it handled a familiar formula quite well.  The biggest complaint is it is way too short, particularly when 1/3 of each episode is taken up by the opening and ending credits.  Given this series is 10 years old by the time of the this review, we will never see any more being made and I feel guilty for never knowing about it until recently.  I am glad that I found it finally, enjoyed the hell out of it and need to start pick up the manga!

    The anime is currently available on Crunchyroll in sub.

Suzume

 Suzume (すずめの戸締まり) is a feature length coming of age fantasy movie by Shinkai Makoto.  The original theatrical release was in November of 2022.

    Iwato Suzume is a junior in high school in a small sleepy village in Kyushu.  On her way to school one day she encounters a hansom stranger who asks her if there are any ruins with a door nearby.  The only thing she can think of is an abandoned resort in the hills outside of town.  She heads off to school, but something about the man pulls at her and she turns around, heading to the resort.  Once there she doesn't see any sign of the man but does see a strange free standing door.  Curious, she opens it, to find a vast landscape blanketed in the night sky beyond.  Entranced by the strange scenery she crosses the threshold only to pass through still in the ruins of the resort.  She crosses through again, still able to see the strange world through the door, but still remains in the hills outside of her town.  She stumbles on a strange statue embedded in the floor.  After pulling the object out it suddenly changes into a mangy cat and runs off.  Disturbed by the occurrences, she speeds back to school and sanity.

    Late to school, her friends question her disappearance but are interrupted with an earthquake warning on their cellphones.  Suzume notices black smoke coming from the hills and tries to point it out to her friends, but they are unable to see it.  As her concern grows, the smoke increases and begins to take the form of a snake.  Something about this is not natural and makes Suzume uneasy, particularly as she is the only one that appears to see it.  Suspecting it is related to what she found at the abandoned resort she rushes out of school.  Her suspicion proves correct and the growing black form in the sky is pouring out of the door she left open.  In the swirling darkness she sees the stranger, struggling to close the door.  With her help they are able to close it and the man uses a glowing key to 'lock' the door.  But they aren't quick enough, the black form has crashed to the earth, causing an earthquake to cause damage to the town.

    Suzume brings the man back to her house to threat a wound he received on his arm in the process of closing the door.  The town is shaken but it appears there was no real damage or injury.   As she is treating his wounds the man tells her his name, Munakata Souta, and that he is a 'closer'.  Closers are responsible for finding and sealing such doors across the country to prevent the giant worms from causing earthquakes.  As they chat, the strange cat appears, surprising them by speaking and instantly transferring Souta's consciousness into a small three legged chair from Suzume's youth.  The cat leaps away, with Souta (the chair) followed by Suzume, scrambling to catch it.  The chase brings them onboard of ferry that is departing from the town.  Before they can capture it, the cat leaps off of the boat, to the safety of a passing vessel.  Suzume and Souta in for a journey they can't stop, spending the time to formulate a plan.  The ferry will arrive in Ehime, hours away.

    Souta explains that along with the doors and the closers who track them, there are two keystones that are used to strengthen the seal between the real world and the world beyond the doors.  Souta suspects that the strange cat is one of the keystones, that has become unstuck from its defensive position.  He fears that the other keystone will not be strong enough to hold back the other side and the destruction it brings with it.  He has to capture the strange cat and find a way to restore it.  He hopes that doing so will also lift the curse it placed on him, turning him into Suzume's chair.  He doesn't want Suzume to join him, instructing her to take the return ferry back home, but she refuses, recognizing how impassible the task would be for an animate chair.  Before he can argue about it, she notices their cat has become popular in postings on Line.  Distracted by the chase, he puts his concerns behind him and they head off to follow the cat through the sudden stream of photos with it, the internet having named the cat Daijin.   

    It is a race against time as they chase the keystone across the country, closing doors it opens along the way and relying on the kindness of strangers to keep the chase going.  All the while, Suzume's guardian and aunt, is going crazy with grief at the girl she has been raising suddenly changing and running away from home.  Suzume understands any real excuses she could give her aunt wouldn't make any sense, but she doesn't have time to think about that, fearing her actions will bring great ruin and death to the country.  Something about the door and the world beyond reminds her of the time when her mother died, when she was four years old, a time that exists far into her memory and dreams.  These feelings drive her forward, coupled with her sense of quilt and responsibility, pushing forward until the task at hand is completed and she can return to her normal life.

    I regret not seeing this amazingly beautiful movie in the theaters when I had the chance...twice now!  I know better than to skip Shinaki films on the big screen as they are all amazingly crafted.  This is the most blatantly super natural of all of his films.  It is also the closest of his films to resemble a Studio Ghibli movie.  I have long disliked the idea that Shinkai has been frequently labeled the new Miyazaki.  Shinkai's films focus on personal relationships and feelings of loneliness and longing.  Miyazaki crafts, mostly, fantastical stories as veiled warnings for real world problems.  I consider Hosoda Mamoru to be more in line with the Miyazaki style.  Yet Suzume is very very Ghibli in style and story.  A fantastical allegory typing the great tragedies of Japan to a supernatural phenomena, which in its self is tied to personal responsibilities of a few individuals.  This is his letter of compassion to the victims and survivors of the Touhoku earthquake in March of 2011.

    As with every other film by him, this is strikingly animated, with realistic backgrounds and directing.  He and his team, truly make the best looking films of the 21st century, in my opinion.  Always focusing on unnaturally vivid and beautiful landscapes and skies.  All of his movies seem like love letters to the wild and quiet spaces of Japan.  Beginning with Your Name, the narrative of Shinkai's films have moved from lose and melancholy to hope and growth.  While I do savor depressing, tear jerk-er, drama's its better to see a sense of hope in his stories.  I suspect the changes in his personal life over the years have influenced the stories he tells.  Regardless of his themes being less suicidal in tone, they always share a common theme of the hero's path.  Shinkai's characters in many of his films find themselves unwittingly thrust into journeys that only they can take, with uncertain outcomes, only driven by their own conviction.  It was very stark and apparent with Suzume that this was truly a heroes journey style story when the title character, against all odds and sense of self preservation, is doing everything they can to prevent turmoil and destruction.  Suzume and Weathering With You are a shift in narration for him...not discounting Children Who Chase Lost Voices.  He may actually begin to resemble the mantle thrust on him years ago as the new Miyazaki.  Time will tell, but I will always welcome more beauty from him.

    Suzume is readily available in physical and digital formats as well as currently streaming on Crunchyroll.