Silver Spoons and Spirits Abroad
I feel lIke I watched/read a bunch of stuff lately but all that comes to mind is...
Silver Spoon: a really good comedy/slice of life anime about a scholarly teenage boy who burns out during his middle school exams and so decides things will be easier at an agricultural highschool. I watched the first episode months ago and decided I wasn't in the mood, then devoured the rest of the two seasons in two days. It ends in one of those "pretty satisfying considering it's based on an unfinished manga" places.
Based on manga by Hiromu Arakawa, the author of Full Metal Alchemist, who grew up on a dairy farm, so it's very well written, funny, thoughtful, heartwarming and bittersweet. Much lighter and more domestic than than FMA, but it doesn't totally sugarcoat the realities of dealing with livestock and the academic/economic pressures facing the students. Like FMA it focusses very much on guys, but treats it's female characters pretty well and I found the level of heteronormativity bearable. There's two fat characters (a boy and a girl) who eat a lot and are somewhat made fun of but are also sympathetic and not defined just by their weight.
My main issue is that I think I'd enjoy it more as an ensemble story, I like the main character but I would be happier with more from the point of view of other characters (...ok yes, mainly the girls) Might be annoying for vegetarians, since it's discussed as an option occasionally but universally rejected.
Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho: Just read the first two stories so far (I've got it on the kindle for waiting in doctor's surgeries) I quite liked them, they had the same cute, funny, empathetic style as the other stuff by her I've read, and it was cool reading stories set in Malaysia. She can be a little twee, but there's some nice social commentary in there too.
Both of these have settings I know very little about, so I can't say for sure that they're true to life, but they felt it. Everyone feels like a person, which is something I love in fiction. They're also both genres I usually avoid (shonen slice of life and short stories)
This entry was originally posted at http://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/562236.html. There are
comments.
Silver Spoon: a really good comedy/slice of life anime about a scholarly teenage boy who burns out during his middle school exams and so decides things will be easier at an agricultural highschool. I watched the first episode months ago and decided I wasn't in the mood, then devoured the rest of the two seasons in two days. It ends in one of those "pretty satisfying considering it's based on an unfinished manga" places.
Based on manga by Hiromu Arakawa, the author of Full Metal Alchemist, who grew up on a dairy farm, so it's very well written, funny, thoughtful, heartwarming and bittersweet. Much lighter and more domestic than than FMA, but it doesn't totally sugarcoat the realities of dealing with livestock and the academic/economic pressures facing the students. Like FMA it focusses very much on guys, but treats it's female characters pretty well and I found the level of heteronormativity bearable. There's two fat characters (a boy and a girl) who eat a lot and are somewhat made fun of but are also sympathetic and not defined just by their weight.
My main issue is that I think I'd enjoy it more as an ensemble story, I like the main character but I would be happier with more from the point of view of other characters (...ok yes, mainly the girls) Might be annoying for vegetarians, since it's discussed as an option occasionally but universally rejected.
Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho: Just read the first two stories so far (I've got it on the kindle for waiting in doctor's surgeries) I quite liked them, they had the same cute, funny, empathetic style as the other stuff by her I've read, and it was cool reading stories set in Malaysia. She can be a little twee, but there's some nice social commentary in there too.
Both of these have settings I know very little about, so I can't say for sure that they're true to life, but they felt it. Everyone feels like a person, which is something I love in fiction. They're also both genres I usually avoid (shonen slice of life and short stories)
This entry was originally posted at http://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/562236.html. There are
comments.