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.

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.