Animes I am currently watching
It's always the same, really. I think I am finally over anime and stuff, then I go to a con or prepare a cosplay and I am thrown head first back into my addiction. Damn it. Anyway, these are the animes I am currently watching.
Free! Eternal Summer
The gay swimming anime got a second season and I am still so happy that this thing exists. It's unabashed fangirl/fujoshi bait, there are still people who are crying over the objectification of men in that show (OH REALLY) and my hetero side loves being pandered too. Really. The stakes are a bit higher in that season and since Rin as the main antagonist is no longer available (instead we got happy-smiley-flirty-smirking Rin and IT'S THE BEST THING EVER CAN YOU PLEASE BANG ALREADY) they are exploring the characters' relationships to each other a bit more. That means that we not only get to see Haru and his questionable relationship to life and water in general but also discover more about Nagisa's rather tragic background, Rei's feelings towards his new group of friends and of course Makoto coming to terms with friendship and future fishes feelings.
(gif from here)
By which I mean they killed off my OTP for good and I am supersad about that and although I only like Makoto/Haru only when it's one-sided and bitter, THAT DIDN'T MEAN I WANTED MY HEART TO GET TORN OUT OF MY CHEST BY EPISODE 6 AND THE WHOLE STUPID "I was jealous of Rin"-THING. REALLY, ANIME. THAT WAS UNNECESSARY.
No.6
I already finished that one and... uh. I still have so many questions left?? The story is about a young boy, called Shion, who lives in a dystopian society. Due to his exceptionally high intelligence he is allowed to live a life of luxuries and indulgence in the district of Chronos but that changes when he helps out a convict on the run. Shion later witnesses a crazy case of people-dying-by-huge-wasp-crawling-out-of-their-neck-related death and since the government doesn't like people going around hating on wasps, they try to capture him. Nezumi, his convict-friend, rescues him though and takes him to West Block, a city of outcasts and lowlifes where they now spend their time together, trying to find a cure for the wasp-plague all while Nezumi is tsundere until it hurts and mocks Shion's idealistic outlook on life.
The anime is so beautifully drawn and I think that's what drew me in and kept my attention because I am not really fond of dystopian visions in my media otherwise. The story is probably nothing new and most of what actually makes that society dystopian has been done before -and better (a 'Fahrenheit 451'-like ban on books, "Soylent Green is people"-like mountains of dead people and every oppressive government ever).
(gif from here - be careful though, the source mentions a huge spoiler! Not that the pic itself isn't one but since you don't know the characters yet WHO CARES)
Nonetheless, the animation is amazing, the pacing well done, the action sequences outstanding - and it has a queer love story which is not the focus of the main plot. YAAAAAAAAAAAY! \o/ It is rather open ended though as in the protagonists reach their goal but that creates a whole bunch of other problems to deal with (mainly civil war, immigration, racism... what the hell, make another season just about that, okay) and the relationship between Shion and Nezumi is dragged out a lot, what with Nezumi's constant "People are bad, kill them all"-attitude and Shion's happy-go-lucky-personality
Nonetheless I liked it (the ending also hit one of my bigger story kink buttons) - and I hate wasps even more now. xDD.
Tokyo ESP
"Is this X-Men but in Tokyo?"
Yeah
it
is.
His powers include mind-control. Whodda thunk it.
Or not really. Tokyo ESP deals with ESPers, people with ... yeah, okay, mutant powers, who battle against each other because one group wants to life a normal life among humans and the other wants to rule them. Sound familiar? Yeah it is. I mean look at the first two pictures, if that isn't a nod to Wolverine and Charles Xavier! Rinka, the protagonist, (3rd picture) who has the same powers as Kitty Pride (and that makes for a lot of fucked up dynamics in my head) and is some sort of messiah for the I-don't-wanna-kill-people-ESPers.
It is not a blatant copy of X-Men though, especially the way the powers are distributed is quite different from Marvel's weird attempt at biology.
Very different. Yes the penguin with the shark arm is related to that. No, I have no clue why.
The anime is action-packed and rather bloody - or that's what I thought when watching the first episode where everything is really dark, dangerous and gritty. The second one has Rinka working in a Starbucks and battling against a Black Widow-rip off with almost no explanation as to why we are suddenly in a flashback.
(pics all from here) Gurrl, how does your overall stay on though.
I do love the anime, the characters are well-rounded, the power dynamics are perfectly screwed in the bad guys' favour (so far) and the action sequences are really well done and thrilling. Let's see how the story progresses.
Love Stage
This is a Shounen-Ai anime based on the manga of the same name. It's... every cliché about BL stories packed together in one fun sugary ride and I love it to death (there is of course the problematic assault scene because no show can go without one apparently - OH COME ON YOU DAMN IDIOTS!), but the animation is just so cute to look at and I do love the characters and their weird relationship to each other.
Click to viewAaaaaand that's it. I think. (I already mentioned dramatical murder in the last entry).
I am thinking about picking up Princess Nine as well - a 90'ies sports anime about an all female baseball-team... for reasons connect to femslash and not at all to sports. =DDD