Anime Wrap Up #13

August is a plan. The best planned month in a while, since I get to watch ALL the shows I prioritized for AWC challenges.

Given that is still summer vacation, I might be able to squeeze more in. I have some regular priority watches, I am feeling like rewatching Bungou Stray Dogs and NO.6 and I would love to watch something from Makoto Shinkai. Not to mention I have yet to finish Aoashi. 

We'll, we'll see what I can fit in this one month!

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Aoashi

Aoashi is a sports anime, with focus on a dream of Ashito Aoi to become a professional football player. 

My dad loves football and plays regularly, my brother used to play and obviously more boys and men in my family play and watch the matches. I never liked football. It is my least favorite sport of them all, to be honest. Grown men chasing after a ball, being dramatic over a fake injury. Fun. 

But Aoashi made me tolerate it. I thought it would be really boring and bad, but this anime surprised me. By it's quality. Practically no use of CGI, little to no blurry shots with disproportioned bodies, fresh animation that stays consistent thorough the series. It is obviously not perfect, and the character design and art missed depth for me, but it was a decent watch.

I was disappointed by the story though. Despite it being a ports anime, the focus was on one singular character who found friends, fought his own feelings, and battled through the issues life threw at him. He had to learn how to be a team player, how to refocus and what having feelings for others meant.

While I enjoyed the aspect of Ashito having to change his position form "forward" to "full-back". It was rather inspiring, seeing that on the TV. What happened, simply put, is that sometimes, to reach your goal, you have to change the method you'll achieve it with.

All in all, I do recommend Aoashi to those, who ran out of sports anime. But if you are just starting with the genre, look for something else. This isn't that great.

7/10.

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Heike Monogatari (The Heike Story)

This is another example of a star-quality anime that missed the mark caused by not knowing Japan's history too well.

Heike Monogatari is a brilliant historical war anime, talking about a musician that can see the future, helping the Heike clan during the times of civil war. It has psychological weight, with deep dive into fates of some of the main characters, it's gore-y, dips into politics and shows the life of many different living classes in 12th century in Japan.

Beautiful and original art style and animetion I can best compare to a mix between Doukyuusei and Kaguya-hime no Monogatari, with great music (especially the opening) and some of the most impactful quotes I've heard in a while.

I promise you, I will see that this story lives on.

 Yet... I could not enjoy it and I cannot give it a full mark. Just like Inu-ou. It wasn't bad, but it could have been so so much better with some history knowledge. So this is basically an advice for you: have a short study session before watching either of them. Even Wikipedia will be enough. Just to have some sort of a insight as to what would happen, how the world worked and what you're actually watching.

Otherwise... well, it made me kinda disappointed and upset that I could not enjoy something so beautiful and fun.

5/10

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Haikyuu REWATCH 

Haikyuu!!: Sainou to Sense (Haikyu!! The Movie: Talent and Sense)

This movie was one of my favorites. We got all the usual stuff - emotions, growth, cute babies, relationships and love for volleyball... and Bokuto.

There were blurry pictures and lots of tears, and even more laughter.

This is the movie where Karasuno wins a match against Aoba Johsai (Seijoh). It was very very exciting, the thrill I felt was incredible and it reminded me exactly why I like Haikyuu. I cannot wait to watch more sometimes soon. Two more OVAs and then the final series. Very excited to finally end this part of my anime journey - it was long overdue.

Anway! Great movie, good recap, and I am very very happy that I got to see Bokuto, at least for a while. The next movie will be bombastic.

I'm giving this movie the usual score:

9/10

Haikyuu!!: Concept no Tatakai (Haikyu!! The Movie: Battle of Concepts)

The most intense movie of them all. Even if it was a recap, they chose the scenes so well... there were all I remembered and loved and I was honestly speechless. This was the first movie I was focused on since the beginning to the very end, even signing along with the ending.

Of course, some things could be made better. For example, the "one point can be worth hundred points" quote could be explained before Hinata said it, to make the impact of those words better.

But it was brilliant, and everything a Haikyuu should have. I am very pleased with this, and I am giving it a score of

9/10

[These shots are EVERYTHING.]

    

    

[People on the internet made a HUGE fuss about this girl. When Suga noticed she wanted to talk to Daichi, he pulled Asahi away with a smirk. And fangirls WENT WILD over "he is so jealous" "trying to hide his broken heart" "she has no chance against his husband". It was hilarious!]

    

[My love.]

Haikyuu!!: Tokushuu! Haru-kou Volley ni Kaketa Seishun

Basically a quick overview of the final matches before the spring tournament, that re-introduce characters and retell how the matches went and who won. Had I known about this sooner, I would probably not rewatch all of the movies, but good for me.

If you're looking to catch up before the TO THE TOP series, you only need to watch this.

9/10

Haikyuu!! Riku VS Kuu

Have you ever felt desperate because you didn't know which team to cheer on? Well, worry not! These two episodes are what you needed!

Focused on matches between few of the schools, this short OVA is a key to seeing all our favorite schools in the Spring tournament. Nekoma and Fukurodani both advanced, and so we'll keep seeing them in the future!

[LOOK AT MY BOY!!!]

    

This is the first media in which the "new" art style is used, the one that is "closer to original art style from manga". It was a big change for me at first, but I like it and I am glad they kept it. The boys look sharp as ever... and Kuroo looks damn well in white.

9/10

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Hitorijime My Hero

I watched this for the first time back in the day, when I had my BL obsession. I remember liking it and having fun watching, wanting more and more.

This time around, rewatching it after 400 anime and... getting some brain in my empty head... I can tell that this is awful and everything is wrong with this.

The quality is bad, simply awful. The animation.. almost doesn't exist. It's like moving a paper puppet. One of the characters has a habit of petting hair - but half the time it looks like he isn't even touching the hair.

Most of the anime's budget went into Kousuke - his face, to be exact. That man looks ALWAYS sharp. They knew what they were doing. He is the hottest of them all, plus a taboo - since he is a teacher.

    

[Look at the difference.]

The main couples are: childhood best friends that fell out of touch, and a student and a teacher. To be fair, the student did not know his crush was a teacher but... we learned a long time ago: either drop the feelings or change schools.

And if you thought, the childhood friends romance is safe and sound... WRONG. One of them gives the other an ultimatum: either have sex with me, or we won't talk again. Which is pretty shitty on it's own... but then he forcefully pushes himself onto the other - kissing him, touching him, giving him a bath and so on.

On the topic of kisses, both of the couples' first kiss is a non-consensual one. Or at least it's "dubious consent". How did I like this?

Not to mention, all these sexy comments that make the "fujoshi" scream, but if you were told that, it would not be that sexy.

"Please be gentle with me..."

"I don't know if I can do that."

or 

"It hurts..."

"You made me wait this long. You can at least handle this much, can't you?"

Sir. What? Excuse me, what. Not cool and not hot. And definitely not sexy.

With that, at episode 7, both couples are established and dating. AND most of the conflicts are resolved. ...or so you'd think.

[This is a very very valid point.]

Towards the end, I remembered why I loved the series before.

The scene where they exchanged rings was for my dramatic teen ass who loved teacher x student romance too much.

You can judge me all you want, but I was around 15 and we all know, at that age you do stupid shit.

I don't know. My conclusion is: not the worst out there, but I guess if you have standards, this won't be for you. If you are a yaoi/BL fan, defo watch this. It's one of the least problematic shows out there, it has pretty cute characters and good romance twists.

But if you're not a BL fan, then don't watch this. Seems like a waste of time.

My score:

7/10

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Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu (The Dangers in My Heart)

I hate this. With passion. With every fiber of my being.

MC is a bad person which is covered under this edgy personality he has, and the boys around him are drawn like typical teenage boys - only ever talking about masturbation and sex.

I thought, okay, what can you do. And I was ready to forgive this completely, when I noticed that we got a plus-sized character. Awww!

BAM DREAMS SHATTERED

She is there only to talk about wanting to loose weight and the boy who has a crush on her is a chubby chaser - in other words, he is only attracted to her because of her weight and he wants her to be fatter.

When he confesses about this attraction to his friends - they make fun of him and mock him.

So they used a fat girl as a means of comedy, and a target of jokes. Good job, really great. -_-

Do you know what else I disliked? The MC is trying so hard to make it look like he is better, by shitting on other boy characters. BUT HE IS THE SAME.

Or during the "personality test" that was supposed to determine how girls are in bed. He spent two scenes bitching about the boys, and saying the test was fake and made by some weirdo... only to IMMEDIATELY believe the test when Yamada touches him.

To all those who liked this show:

And this was ridiculous as well:

    

Earlier that same day:

    

    

    

Dude, you were right there....

And then they tried to sneak this one:

    

    

It's just... so shitty.

People reached out, when I commented on the show negatively, saying I should give it a bit longer, since it gets better. It did not get better in episode 2, episode 3 tried to fool me by being romantic, the mood changes around the 6th episode. There is bigger focus on the "being in love" part, however the horniness stays - in case of MC and other boys. And the whole oversexualization toned down around episode 9. TONED DOWN, not disappeared. And towards the very end, the MC stepped up and "changed", becoming honest with his feelings and cherishing Yamada as a person, not just as a sex fantasy.

So, conclusion: this was shit, but they changed genres halfway, and focused on romance, which made the show more bearable.

4/10

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Koufuku Graffiti (Gourmet Girl Graffiti)

This show is made my some weirdo who gets hard on cute girls and good food.

    

[See what I mean?]

The show is quite boring - two girls practically living alone in a huge house, of which one loves cooking and the other loves eating.

And ofc, on their way through the anime they discover other friends who are excited about food as well.

Again, visually it looks great, the girls have cute fashion sense and it does work as  CGDCT. 

My biggest problem might be the inefficiency. They made an anime about food, but gave us little to no instructions to how to actually cook those foods. We just got fed food porn - it looks great, you kind of want to taste all of it... but other than seeing the girls die from happiness, you get nothing.

There is a difference between relaxing anime with no plot, and just a boring show that gives you nothing for 12 episodes straight. 

Don't even make me mention the scene when two girls ate vanilla ice cream in a warm bath together. Are you kidding me??? That had no business being there. This show is for degenerates.

The series did not get better. We sure did get one or two moments when they actually showed how to cook something, but the story gave us random milestones (New Years, Changing schools, Summer camp-ish episode)... all of them were flat, boring and uninteresting though.

Just.... no!

Story, characters and the weird se*ualization = bad. Art, animation, design = good.

4/10

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SPY×FAMILY CODE: White

I said all that needs to be said in my review. 😋

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SK∞ (SK8 the Infinity)

SK8 is another example of original anime done right. With great characters, amazing designs, good animation and a plot line no other anime would be ashamed for, it makes for a great show that captured my heart.

Opening and Ending songs for SK8 are incredibly good, the main villain is AWFUL but we got some of clichés as well...

Overall, SK8 is an anime that everyone should give a try.

The only thing saving you all from a Cherry or Langa screenshot spam is that this was a simul watch with chickem and I was way too focused on her commentary to take any. ...You all got lucky this time around!

I already wrote a review about this show, so why not check it out? 

Reki is a simple boy, passionate about skateboarding and making skateboards. One day, a new transfer student comes to his class and the two became great friends.

Reki introduces the world of skateboarding to Langa and the two become a part of a new world - meeting new friends, their nemesis and discovering how fragile bonds can be, when something you love is at stake.

Story filled with action, laughter, tears and holding your breath awaits for you in just 12 episodes. This series works great as a standalone story, so when you finish, all your answers would be answered. 

I think that's a pretty damn good deal!

For more, click here: 😁 !

8/10

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Yuru Camp△ (Laid-Back Camp)

Yuru Camp has always been sold like this incredibly awesome show with no plot but a bunch of adorable girls.

The first episode did not really do it for me - a slow start that introduced two characters. Do you really need 23 minutes to say "the blue one is quiet and outdoorsy" and "the pink one is clumsy and a dreamer"? I don't think so.

But visually it is pretty - I always enjoyed pretty backgrounds, and since this is an anime focused on nature, you cannot really go wrong with it.

As for the first season, it was very slow and nothing happened. The girls got together in an outdoorsy school club, taught us about how to camp and what to look out for (although, they did that as Japanese girls, so it might not work like that for us in other countries) and... they were cute.

I liked the opening, I found the anime relaxing... but as for a story, it lacked. Which makes this "not great not bad", and it's just your average anime. And my average score is

7/10

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Kami Kuzu☆Idol (Phantom of the Idol)

This show... I was skeptical about. But it turned out to be a blast right from the start.

Our main character is a male idol called Yuuya Niyodo, who HATES his job. One day, when his boss threatens to fire him, he meets a cute idol girl Asahi Mogami.

This girl... turns out to be a ghost.

Being passionate about the job of an idol, she enters Yuuya's body, and sings and dances instead of him - while the guy just collects his paycheck.

Bizarre comedy can start!

It looks like an anime from early 2010's, which means the quality is a perfect balance of "we did what we could and it looks hella decent" and the CGI is noticeable but not THAT different from the usual quality.

The animation is as smooth as it gets, and we have ridiculous flowers and emotion pictograms floating around.

I must say, I love the main characters. Yuuya is a proper dirtbag, telling Asagi all kinds of lies to make her take over his body... but he is entertaining.

And Asahi is my love. She is so adorable, she has a big giant heart and she's so fun. 

One little detail I appreciate is that Asahi's legs are see-through, to underline she is a ghost. It's like a little reminder, since the rest of her body is normal.

Also! Her color scheme is like a dessert for eyes...

One negative: no one ever comments on Yuuya looking into the void, or talking to himself. They completely ignore it.

But then again - we got a beautiful character development from Yuuya, which surprised me. It didn't come out of nowhere exactly, but it was such a... surprise, the way you SUDDENLY realize something. Whoa.

All in all, Kami Kuzu idol is a very casual, fun anime that doesn't try to reach for the stars but does keep one line of quality through the whole 10 episodes. It won't disappoint.

And since I liked this so much:

8/10

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Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-hen 

(Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc)

And there is more, omg! August really did go well! I am watching this on 12th of August...

Anyway! I started this with my brother around the same time I finished the previous season. But we kind of had a lot to do, and then my brother decided he no longer wants to do this. So I am watching alone.

This series keeps the usual quality, and the usual... questionable choices. The biggest problem with Demon Slayer in my opinion is that they spoil the whole show during the opening music. I mean... come one. I am actually curious about the story, why are you telling me what exactly will happen?

[I do love Nezuko in this form. The... leaf pattern (??) is SO COOL]

Still, it was just regular season following the same pattern - hey, this is the demon they'll fight. Hey, this is/are the hashira that will help our MC. Oh and here, have all the sad backstories!! And so on.

And, obviously, the impossibly stupid writing and things that couldn't happen even in a supernatural world.

    

[I can forgive a lot. But this is too much.]

I would like to point out one thing that will never not be funny to me, when it comes to this show:

vs.

    

...how is this the same show??

To give this show a conclusion: it was pretty good, keeping the standard and the pattern of previous seasons. My favorite season of them all is still Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-hen. That, for some reason, made the most sense and I am Rengoku's devoted follower.

[Would this not make him permanently deaf?]

The previous season had it's weak spots (lots of them)... Alas, this season is, for me, even worse than the previous one. While in this season I did not mind writing, I disliked how they basically killed two upper rank demons in just a span of one or two days. They didn't take a break from fighting at all.

But that is nothing new, is it? 😂

    

    

[What a hottie.]

And this was a nice semi-meta moment:

    

The last episode was good though. Tanjiro having to decide between saving Nezuko or finishing the demon was top notch suspense.

A man is his own greatest doom. 

Oof.

8/10

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Tenki no Ko (Weathering with you)

Another Makoto Shinkai masterpiece, another simul with Anton. One would not hope that we would actually get together for this. 😂

Anyway!

This story followed the usual pattern as well - two powerhouses of teenagers, saving the world and becoming close in the process. The soft romance, slice of life and great comedy, alongside with awfully depressing twits and turns... and then a little piece of hope, reunition and the dumb smile on one's face while RADWIMPS pull your heart out of your chest. (And you're thankful for that.)

Tenki no Ko is just another 10/10 movie, that should be 8/10 if I was being honest, but I am just that much of a sucker for these kinds of stories. It is lovely, how beautiful of a universe Makoto Shinkai can create, the mix of supernatural and everyday troubles.

I do want to make some point I took during the simul watch, so enjoy that commentary while I flood you with lots and lots of screenshots.

First of all, I finally noticed a very important thing about Makoto's work. The visuals are always ON POINT, absolute 100/10. And the characters are... 7/10 at most. They have the "same face" syndrome, and aren't as sharp as the backgrounds.

Compare:

    

    

[This was so stupid.]

Another thing is, that Makoto's work usually take teenagers for main characters, or heroes if you will. I do love it - because part of me still thinks my teenage self knew a lot about the world and how it should work. Part of me knows, that my teenage self said things that should have come out of old person's mouth.

It's still silly though, when a 16 year old say something like this:

    

    

Silly, but so impactful...

[She was so beautiful here.]

For the first time, I picked on a certain symbol that was used. Usually I am too mesmerized by the last moments I don't even think. But this time...

When Hodaka first met Hina, and wanted to save her, she pointed a gun at the man who was beating him and shot the gun, but pointing to the sky.

When he tried to find Hina in the end, and was cornered again, he did the same. Point a gun at someone who was trying to capture him, then shot up and use it to run away.

I thought it was soooo well done, and it fit so nicely. You never actually want to hurt anyone. You'll just do anything to meet your goal.

    

The movie ends with a beautiful reunition that made me rewatch the last parts of Kimi no na wa. I looooved this movie. And I loved this song too:

    

Three more things.

1) this is such a messy home, but I honestly want something like this:

2) these lyrics:

3) THE BEST CAMEO IN THE WORLD THAT MADE ME SCREAM

    

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. babies 💕

Biased

10/10

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Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

This anime I tried to finish 3 times. So I put it in dub and played Minecraft while watching this. It didn't grab my attention for a long long while.

But in the end, it was good enough to put Season 2 on my PTW.

Kuma Kuma... is your ordinary "MC gets pulled into a game where she lives her life to the fullest". There is nothing exactly original or unique about it.

The MC is happy about being in the game, she meets new friends, beats up overpowered monsters... 

I hated the characters and the plotlines of every episode - but visually it is one of the cutest, most beautiful CGDCT animes out there. It just looks so nice!

Not to be all negative, I did like the touch of Yuna (the mc) teaching others about burgers, fries, pizza... But even that was stretched into "I will invest and help these poor people, so they can sell this, because even though I am a pro at it, I want to be an adventurer and not a restaurant owner".

Yuna was doing a lot of good deeds... but how does a 15 year old shut-in know about investing into orphanages because that's the way of making eggs a more common commodity, and will bring down the overall price of eggs that only the rich can afford.

I just... I don't buy it.

6/10 

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Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san (Teasing Master Takagi-san)

Just when I thought I will never find a good high-school romance, that is adorable and cute, and fun and BELIEVABLE, without being oversexualized... just seconds before I gave up for good... I found this show.

It is adorable! The whole show is build on girl teasing a boy, and them inevitably catching feelings for each other. 

Together, they go through all our favorite tropes - test of bravery, riding a bike together, seeing who's taller, doing homework, going out, talking about anime... They are just very very cute.

Since this show is 3 seasons longs, I doubt we will get an actual romance for a while. But sometimes teasing and shipping is more fun than actually seeing them in love.

I liked this, this was very decent!

And because I feel generous:

8/10 

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Umi ga Kikoeru (Ocean Waves)

Umi ga Kikoeru is a Ghibli movie, which surprised me. And kind of disappointed me. 

I expected a lot from this studio. And it only half-delivered. This story was sold as follows: "two best friend are in love with one girl". I thought, whoa, this might be eeeextra interesting.

But it wasn't.

The best friends in question are just two classmates, that share an opinion about a cancelled school trip. We don't see them interact much at all, except in the beginning where the male MC Morisaki says the gayest thing ever about the other boy.

After that, I always thought of Yutaka a bit differently from my other friends.

They don't seem to be exactly in love with he main girl MC Rikako. Of course, they say it - but we all know, the real feelings are those we see. Not those we hear. This girl is just spoiled as hell, and drags Morisaki along with her problems, daddy issues and free spirit. The love story between them - if there is any - is extremely boring and not done in a good way. Personal opinion.

On the other hand, Umi ga Kikoeru LOOKS INCREDIBLE. The art style, the animation, the backgrounds. The details are... oh my god. It's visual porn on it's finest.
So I guess... To be completely fair...
6/10 ?

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Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa (Castle in the Sky)

Laputa is a movie that is somehow important to me. And I am not talking about the value of the anime itself.

It's more about the conditions under which I watched this.

As per usual, a Ghibli movie means a simul with my roommate A. The thing about this movie is... A is no longer my roommate.

On 23rd of this month, I finished the first part of college, and that means A and I will move in life differently. While I am going to continue in a few weeks in another city, she is taking a break.

But. We know we are too good of friends to let that stand between us. And we agreed to try and watch this. We watched this through Google Meet, and it was hillarious.

A. loved it - she rated it 11/10, while my rating stands wobbly at 8/10.

I liked Laputa, and I think the quality is incredible for a movie this old. Everything about it is... really amazing.

I loved the main characters - a boy and a girl duo that save the world together, and the supporting characters (mainly Dora, the pirate mother, and the old grandpa from underground). It had great (though a bit generic) villain, beautiful art/animation styles and the music was simply top noch.

What I minded was the ending. It seemed... wrong, to me. From the way they "saved" Laputa, to the end when the two kids flew... god knows where. It kind of ruined the appeal to me.

But I cannot take off more point - Laputa was really a beautiful movie, and a small masterpiece.

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╰─  · 𓆩🌻𓆪 ·  ──────────╯

On a day, I finished August with more than I could ask for. 

Apart from finishing ALL my anime goals, I defended my bachelor's thesis, had my cat cuddle me EVERY MORNING and some nights and overall, I was... really happy with August.
Despite all the bad things, it was good and it was fun. I am ready for September, and hopefully it will be better than August.

Wish me luck :) And see you in a month!