anime catchup
I realized the other day that I haven't posted on any anime in a while, even though I've been watching some.
Akatsuki no Yona and the second season of Kamisama Kiss I did post on a bit, I think. Both seasons covered parts of the manga that I'd already read, and pretty faithfully. Yona switched up the order of a few things, and KSK added some stuff to wrap up the season, but those were the main changes. If you like either manga or liked the first season of KSK, you'll like them. Yona is probably my favorite new anime in a while.
Wolf Girl and Black Prince is about a compulsive liar creates an imaginary boyfriend so she can one-up her friends when they talk about their boyfriends, and shows them a picture she took of a random boy when they demand proof. It turns out the boy goes to their school, and he agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend if she'll be his obedient "dog." It's weirdly addictive and I spent the first half of the season condemning myself to a Feminist Pit Of Shame for liking it so much. About halfway through, it gets the awful setup out of its system and become a more typical shoujo romance. Pretty much, I liked it and will probably eventually read the manga, but can offer no real justification.
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, which is based on a VN that I haven't played, though I did watch the series from several years ago, which followed a different game route, and the prequel series, Fate/Zero. I'm mostly watching for Rin and Saber and Rin/Archer and Rin/Saber. And Ilya and Sakura, but they aren't in this one much. This one has a more interesting plot than the first series and some impressive animation at times, but also does some things I'm meh about. It's pretty enjoyable, though. It just finished airing, but I have a couple episodes to go.
Fairy Tail is my endless shounen comfort series. That's about it, really.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which I've started several times over the years, but only made it a few episodes in each time. This time I powered through it for the Magical Girls panel and Wiscon and...still am not a fan. I get why it's popular, it's brilliantly constructed, it does what it wants and the art direction is amazing. I just don't like it. It's brutal deconstruction for the sake of deconstruction, and it's deconstruction that is deliberately NOT for the target audience (young girls). It removes the empowerment of the genre but doesn't build anything up in its place, and way too much hangs on BUT TEENAGED GIRLS ARE JUST SO EMOTIONAL. And, as tends to happen with Urobuchi, an awful, abusive system is set up and he draws attention to it and has his heroines aware of it, and...leaves it in place to continue to be an unchallenged, horrible system indefinitely.
I am glad I finally watched it and I'm glad the people it works for have it, but it wasn't for me.
Shirobako is an anime about making anime. Like most PA Works shows, it's laid back and slice-of-life. It isn't about the dream of making anime, it's about the work and the tedium and repetition, about working with creators and getting all the different views on the same page. And it's especially about how you won't make it in the anime industry unless you really, really love anime. It's a meta series, though it doesn't rub your face in it. One of the most telling bits is probably early on, when the producer of the anime they're working on in the first half announces that they have to completely rework the main character's personality, because girls will identify with her, and boys won't like her enough. It actually wrapped up a month or two back, I just haven't watched the last few episodes yet.
Ore Monogatari is a shoujo series about Takeo, a huge teenaged who looks like a thug but has the heart of a marshmallow. He always reaches out to befriend people, but they always prefer his standoffish, handsome, friend, Suna, including all the girls Takeo likes. When he saves a girl named Yamato from a groper, he assumes that she, too, likes Suna, but she actually likes Takeo, who is now trying to matchmake Yamato and Suna. It's hilarious and so sweet I'm in danger of getting cavities every episode. The manga it's based on is by the writer of High School Debut, which gives you an idea of what to expect.
Not anime, but since last Friday, I've watched the first 60 episodes of Soo Baek Hyang, The King's Daughter, a Baekje-set sageuk. It's a daily drama, so the episodes are only 32 minutes each (35 once you factor in hulu's commercials) as opposed to the normal hour+. I was off work for a couple days last week, which accounts for a decent bit of that episode count, though. It's my 4th sageuk in a row to have the "secret princess" theme (well, I suppose Hwajung is actually a "lost princess" plot, as opposed to a "secret princess" plot, but still!) I swear I'm not seeking the theme out. The series follows the general sageuk formula that MBC seems to like.
It's incredibly addictive, though I haven't quite figured out how to put why I love it into words, aside from blathering a bit about the fake!cest in IMs. It's 108 episodes total, and I may just set all my other shows aside until I finish it.
Though, may I just say that it seems to be trying to win an award for the slowest slow burn ever? I'm sitting here going "OMG, you two, we're over halfway there! Make at least SOME progress before plot things come out and you spend who knows how long thinking you're half siblings!"
Akatsuki no Yona and the second season of Kamisama Kiss I did post on a bit, I think. Both seasons covered parts of the manga that I'd already read, and pretty faithfully. Yona switched up the order of a few things, and KSK added some stuff to wrap up the season, but those were the main changes. If you like either manga or liked the first season of KSK, you'll like them. Yona is probably my favorite new anime in a while.
Wolf Girl and Black Prince is about a compulsive liar creates an imaginary boyfriend so she can one-up her friends when they talk about their boyfriends, and shows them a picture she took of a random boy when they demand proof. It turns out the boy goes to their school, and he agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend if she'll be his obedient "dog." It's weirdly addictive and I spent the first half of the season condemning myself to a Feminist Pit Of Shame for liking it so much. About halfway through, it gets the awful setup out of its system and become a more typical shoujo romance. Pretty much, I liked it and will probably eventually read the manga, but can offer no real justification.
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, which is based on a VN that I haven't played, though I did watch the series from several years ago, which followed a different game route, and the prequel series, Fate/Zero. I'm mostly watching for Rin and Saber and Rin/Archer and Rin/Saber. And Ilya and Sakura, but they aren't in this one much. This one has a more interesting plot than the first series and some impressive animation at times, but also does some things I'm meh about. It's pretty enjoyable, though. It just finished airing, but I have a couple episodes to go.
Fairy Tail is my endless shounen comfort series. That's about it, really.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which I've started several times over the years, but only made it a few episodes in each time. This time I powered through it for the Magical Girls panel and Wiscon and...still am not a fan. I get why it's popular, it's brilliantly constructed, it does what it wants and the art direction is amazing. I just don't like it. It's brutal deconstruction for the sake of deconstruction, and it's deconstruction that is deliberately NOT for the target audience (young girls). It removes the empowerment of the genre but doesn't build anything up in its place, and way too much hangs on BUT TEENAGED GIRLS ARE JUST SO EMOTIONAL. And, as tends to happen with Urobuchi, an awful, abusive system is set up and he draws attention to it and has his heroines aware of it, and...leaves it in place to continue to be an unchallenged, horrible system indefinitely.
I am glad I finally watched it and I'm glad the people it works for have it, but it wasn't for me.
Shirobako is an anime about making anime. Like most PA Works shows, it's laid back and slice-of-life. It isn't about the dream of making anime, it's about the work and the tedium and repetition, about working with creators and getting all the different views on the same page. And it's especially about how you won't make it in the anime industry unless you really, really love anime. It's a meta series, though it doesn't rub your face in it. One of the most telling bits is probably early on, when the producer of the anime they're working on in the first half announces that they have to completely rework the main character's personality, because girls will identify with her, and boys won't like her enough. It actually wrapped up a month or two back, I just haven't watched the last few episodes yet.
Ore Monogatari is a shoujo series about Takeo, a huge teenaged who looks like a thug but has the heart of a marshmallow. He always reaches out to befriend people, but they always prefer his standoffish, handsome, friend, Suna, including all the girls Takeo likes. When he saves a girl named Yamato from a groper, he assumes that she, too, likes Suna, but she actually likes Takeo, who is now trying to matchmake Yamato and Suna. It's hilarious and so sweet I'm in danger of getting cavities every episode. The manga it's based on is by the writer of High School Debut, which gives you an idea of what to expect.
Not anime, but since last Friday, I've watched the first 60 episodes of Soo Baek Hyang, The King's Daughter, a Baekje-set sageuk. It's a daily drama, so the episodes are only 32 minutes each (35 once you factor in hulu's commercials) as opposed to the normal hour+. I was off work for a couple days last week, which accounts for a decent bit of that episode count, though. It's my 4th sageuk in a row to have the "secret princess" theme (well, I suppose Hwajung is actually a "lost princess" plot, as opposed to a "secret princess" plot, but still!) I swear I'm not seeking the theme out. The series follows the general sageuk formula that MBC seems to like.
It's incredibly addictive, though I haven't quite figured out how to put why I love it into words, aside from blathering a bit about the fake!cest in IMs. It's 108 episodes total, and I may just set all my other shows aside until I finish it.
Though, may I just say that it seems to be trying to win an award for the slowest slow burn ever? I'm sitting here going "OMG, you two, we're over halfway there! Make at least SOME progress before plot things come out and you spend who knows how long thinking you're half siblings!"