Ambient Irony

They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them.
If Hitler invaded Hell, I would give a favourable reference to the Devil.

Thursday, September 12

Manga Notes

I haven't been watching much anime the last couple of months, after a several-month binge where I pretty much caught up on things.

Just recently, though, I have started reading some manga online, and when I say some, I mean a metric poot-load. The problem with it being online is that it's all there and you can always just read one more chapter and there's about a million chapters.

I've probably forgotten some but my recent post sub-heads have been breadcrumbs so I should be able to get most of them.

Anyway, read and recommended:

Komi Can't Communicate - this started it, because I kept seeing Komi memes and didn't know who she was

So I'm a Spider, So What? - not sure how I tripped over it except that its very popular right now
Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the Dungeon - just found this one while browsing and it's, well, read a couple of chapters and see what you think
Melt Away Mizore-chan - just found this one while browsing and laughed my butt off

Dungeon Nursery - apparently this one was abruptly cancelled, but the author pulled off a near-perfect ending anyway
Sword Dad a.k.a Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita - the adventures of a piece of cutlery and his catgirl daughter

Read and pretty decent:

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear - bears within bears
A Returner's Magic Should be Special - isekais within isekais
Her Summon - the story isn't amazing, but the art is beautiful and the world-building is interesting

Read and meh:

The one with the dimension-hopping teenage girl con artist

Farming Life in Another World

Potion loli - no it's not actually called that

I can't believe my wife is a hot redhead queen in a fantasy world and I had a month to prepare before getting isekai'd

S-rank Drop Hero

Magical word magician guy

Avoid:

The one where the kid's mother twin-strikes everything

The one where the hero comes back to Earth after defeating the demon king with all his powers intact

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:52 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Sunday, June 16

June Anime Update

Just keeping track of what I've watched this year.

Dirty Pair TV & OVA

Endro!

My Roommate is a Cat

Hinamatsuri

Iroduku

Bunny Girl Senpai

Sakura Quest

Golden Time

Chunibyo (1 & 2)

Danmachi

Non Non Biyori (1, 2, and movie)

Merc Storia

Inari Konkon Koi Iroha

Hanayamata

Akanesasu Shoujo

Netoge no Yome?
Noragami (1 & 2)

Recovery of an MMO Junkie

Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R

My Hero Academia (1, 2, 3, and movie)

Rising of the Shield Hero (currently airing)

It looks like rather a lot when you put them all in one place.

I'd recommend most of them too, with the exceptions being Netoge, which simply isn't very good, the first half of season two of My Hero Academia, which you just have to bulldoze your way through somehow, and Golden Time, which is a beautiful adaptation of a very weak story.

We're getting more of Danmachi, Non Non Biyori, and My Hero Academia later this year, so I'll be following those closely.

And now I've run out again. Have to scan back and find those recommendations.

I think I'll give Log Horizon a try. It sounds formulaic but is supposed to be well done.

Update: It is indeed formulaic but well done, except for the opening theme which is terrible. (The ending theme is much better; they should have just swapped them because everyone skips the ending theme anyway.) I hope people are getting reincarnated as the heroes speculate, otherwise it's a bit grim.

Update 2: You know what? They should steal the opening theme from Akanesasu Shoujo. Would work perfectly for this. Need different animation, yes, but still.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Thursday, May 16

Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha And A VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Also known as Inari Kon Kon.

I was scrolling through AnimeLab (Australia's equivalent of Crunchyroll) and stumbled over this. Five seconds into the opening credits I was hooked.

The sound is a little distorted on that video; the actual theme sounds better. But that's probably why it's still up on YouTube. The only other version is 240p.

There's also a trailer, which is very nice but does contain spoilers.

Fortunately the spoilers shouldn't spoil your enjoyment, because the quality of this show lies in how it does things as much as the story itself.

It's a little predictable, sure (if like me you've watched entirely too much anime), but it also gets everything right. Including the ending. There's an OVA that was released in the Blu-Ray collection, but it fits in at episode 5.5 or thereabouts, so it's just a little more story and doesn't change the ending at all.

It's very short - just ten episodes - and I would have liked more, but I'm glad for what we got.

What's it about? See the opening credits, and the trailer if needed. It's exactly what it says on the tin.

Four leaf-tailed squirrel foxes out of four. Highly recommended.

The anime apparently only covers half the manga, but it does put an ending on the end, so if they were to do a second season it would have to be a Non Non Biyori style equel, speaking of which -

VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Five nyanpasus out of four.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Monday, May 13

Akanesasu Shoujo

Remarkably uneven, but it sticks the landing.

Not sure how to rate this one. The ending is perfectly in sync with the beginning - not predictable, but the mood and outcome, which problems get resolved and which do not, and how they get resolved - exactly fits.

But the path it takes to get there is not one describable by mere language or mathematics.

As for the costume designs, well....

https://ai.mee.nu/images/EscapedFromMorningMusume.jpg?size=720x&q=95

Most of it isn't like that, though.

Oh, what is it about? The girls in a high school radio club (not the broadcasting club, their bitter rivals) play along with this urban myth that if you tune in to a certain frequency at the right place at the right time - 4:44 PM, specifically - you can pick up radio broadcasts from other places and other times.

It never works, of course, and none of them really believes it. Then snow bunnies show up, and you end up with chocolate bananas and eight headed dragons and gun horses and also a serious drama about how taking personal responsibility for things outside your control can be as destructive as avoiding responsibility for your own actions.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:05 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Saturday, April 13

Anime March - April 2019

I've been watching more anime than usual, starting when I was flat on my back for a week with about 97 fractured verterbrae or something.

Dirty Pair TV, then the original OVA series. Endro!, which is a bright and enjoyable bit of fluff. Then I Can't Believe My Best Friend's Sister's Roommate's Cat is an Autistic Psychic Alien Yakuza Battle Robot, which may actually have been different shows that have run together in my memory like that time I put the red t-shirt in with the towels. And now Colourblind Timetravelling Granddaughter Witchfriends. If you have a wide-gamut / HDR screen (or even if you don't) give that one a shot; the artwork is amazing.

I watched one or two episodes, or sometimes half or a quarter or just the opening credits of some others. There's still a lot of mediocrity and outright trash you have to sift through for the gold. Irozuka Sekai no Ashita kara is gold.

I've now moved on to Bunny Girl Senpai, which is better than one might expect from the title.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:44 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Thursday, December 13

Poot

I found that great live performance of the Nuku Nuku opening song by Megumi Hayashibara from last year and it's gone already.

Whoever is doing that needs to be launched into orbit via steam catapult.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:46 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Saturday, October 27

The Great Passage

Was poking through things today looking for something to watch. I know there are some good shows airing right now, but I prefer to wait until there's a full season available.

And I tripped over The Great Passage a.k.a Fune wo Amu.

I didn't look it up, just watched the first episode cold. That was the right decision.

This won't spoil anything, but will give you a feel for it.

You've probably guessed just by looking at it that it's Noitamina.

Here's the opening, which I quite like too.

There's a lovely scene in episode two that just involves two characters sharing a glance, but speaks volumes about their personalities and history and also has perfect comedic timing. They don't need to say a word. I won't say who or why or what, but you'll know it when you see it.

Give it a try.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:30 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Thursday, August 30

Reindexing

So, I took a break from what I was doing - which was building indexes - to watch some Index II, having just finished Railgun. And I wondered if anything was happening with the series, or if it had ended a few years ago with Railgun S.

Turns out...

Index III starts airing October 6.

I read it for the articles.

It was announced a while ago, but I genuinely did not know that when I started watching the show recently.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Sunday, August 26

Toaru Majutsu No Index

Just finished watching this - only took me ten years.

It's good for the most part, but the pacing is terribly uneven. It ploughs through six volumes of light novels in 24 episodes, but some of them take up six full episodes, while one is dispatched in just two. And because of that the story never entirely jells. (Also partly because the story is complete nonsense.) The first arc - which is given the most time - definitely works the best, but even that is somewhat rushed.

Those quibbles aside, they do manage to do many things well. Every character in the rather busy opening credits is shown, fleshed out, and placed in context in the respective halves of this first series. Except for the maid girl, who is mostly still just a caricature, and Uiharu and Saten, who are major characters in Railgun but I don't recall ever seeing in Index, not even in the background.

Onwards and Railgunwards!