Long weekend...

Looking for a good kdrama or jdrama to watch...I think I've watched so many that the new ones look so bland.

Anyway, finishing up some anime...




Owarimonogatari S2 1-3! resolves the open story items up to this point; Araragi's death in Koyomimonogatari, Hachikuji who ended up in hell, Oshino Ougi's identity, and Hanekawa's search for Oshino Meme. This actually seems like a good end to the series as the season ends with Araragi accepting his weaknesses/dark side and graduating high school. It's pretty impressive that the novels go on to his university and young adult years. So after ten years, the anime has only gone through about half the author's intended novels. The narration, wordy conversations and fanservice get a little tedious, but at the core, the characters are interesting. I'm also fond of the stylized backgrounds. It'll be interesting to see how they can keep the series fresh going forward. ~7/10 rating~ the date with Senjougahara was cute. The wiki page is helpful since the jump in timelines and the wait-time between each season makes following all the details confusing.



Kizumonogatari Tekketsu, Nekketsu and Reiketsu movies! Finally got around to watching these. These are basically prequels to the whole Monogatari series. It tells the story of how Araragi saves a vampire, Kiss-shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, who later becomes Shinobu, and how he gets his vampire powers. The movie takes the stylish sets, gore and pervertness of the tv series and ramps it up even further. There's more action as there are three vampire hunters who try to kill Kiss-shot and Araragi. I usually find Hanekawa pretty uninteresting eye-candy only existing for the male audience, so her overwhelming presence in these movies was fairly annoying. ~8/10 rating~ for an overall decent prequel trilogy...the action scenes were probably a 9; plenty of blood splashing for all.

Catching up...

A lot of this season's anime have really pretty characters...with pretty clothes...



Katsugeki Touken Ranbu 2-10! New pretty boy characters are constantly being thrown into this story. And while consistently very pretty, it's moving sort of like an RPG now rather than a show with a plot. The mindless demons aren't really doing anything for the show. In episode 7, we get introduced to Unit 1 who have much stronger members than Unit 2 who are basically the main characters. It would be nice if there were 'bad guys', but we find in episode 10, that the anime is really about the character's internal struggles with being time travelers who try to prevent distortions in history based on their master's decisions whether they agree with them or not. The writers are terrible at conveying the plot.



Ballroom e Youkoso 2-9! Generally speaking, the set-up of the show isn't unique. There's the hard-working, naive, main character; the strict, but knowledgeable teacher; overly-serious & talented rival(s), and possible love-interest. The above-average production with its exaggerated facial expressions comedic and otherwise along with the stylized dancing scenes probably make this show stand out. Unfortunately, none of the dances were animated in full. They relied mostly on still frames. In episode 3, Tatara stumbles into a competition. The set-up was a little too obvious, but the tension and portrayal of stage fright were pretty brilliant. Tatara's feelings are portrayed well; you feel indirect embarrassment with him. The show moves quickly as Tatara starts an amateur competition with Makoto against her brother and Shizuku.

Hitorijime My Hero 2-9! Episode 2-3 focuses on the dense idiot and moody, quiet guy. Of course, the moody one forces a kiss(and more off-screen) on the dense one. Episode 4 turns its focus back on the older brother turned teacher and main character who of course, is an excellent cook. The anime does a nice job of creating some semblance of a story out of the almost-PWP manga. Wish they had aged them up to college students, but it's a nice, fluffy BL love story with some really funny moments.

Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou 2-9! The parallels to Natsume Yuujinchou are numerous, but this show has a more slapstick sort of humor. A lot more supporting characters/Inaba's neighbors are introduced in episode 2. Inaba also develops supernatural powers. I read some of the manga to see if this was supposed to be a shonen anime, but it's not. It is a supernatural slice-of-life story. Inaba's dorm is eventually fixed and he moves out of the yokai apartment...but naturally realizes he misses the place and returns. There's an odd BL aura around his best friend that I think is supposed to be humorous, but is cute...I guess. In episode 6, he acquires a tarot book a la Cardcaptor Sakura and is able to command the creatures inside. I think the show tries to be a parody of the magical book shows?...but doesn't try hard enough for the laughs.

The leaves are falling

Pretty sure these two shows stuff each episode with a whole volume's worth of story.



Shoukoku no Altair 2-8! It's a little tough keeping track of all the characters and their loyalties, but it's fast-paced, and still fairly interesting. After the fallout of helping his friend in a border town and preventing war, Mahmut loses his Pasha position for not realizing what the higher-ups really wanted. He then becomes a spy for Zaganos Pasha and travels to other countries. While I think many of these characters are based on real historical figures from the Ottoman Empire, the anime moves much too quickly for any history to be learned. It rather focuses on Mahmut's ability to gain experience and knowledge.



Knight's & Magic 1-10! Not sure why that apostrophe is there in the title, but hey, it makes it easier to google? The story was originally a web novel which got picked up as printed light novels, then manga, now anime. A modern day programmer who is admired by his coworkers is killed in a car accident after a busy day. As he dies, he laments over the fact that he cannot finish building his toy mechs. He is reborn as a young boy in a medieval world where knights, magic and mech exist. He takes to his new life quickly and enthusiastically. It's not an original set-up as there are plenty of anime with otaku boys who get stuck in alternative fantasy worlds, but Studio 8-bit produces top quality anime, and the main character, Ernesti (Eru), is quite adorable and likable. There's no dwelling over his past life. He excitedly focuses on building mechs to defeat demons and the enemy kingdom.

School is back in session...time for a new season of anime:
Inuyashiki: A middle-aged man becomes a younger man. The actor, Kanata Hongou, will be voicing the main (young) character in the anime and playing the same character in the upcoming live-action movie.
Houseki no Kuni: Genderless people are made up of gems...weird.
Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou: the day-to-day lives of a couple little girls who are the last survivors of humanity.
Black Clover: the 'pre-teen boys who beat each other up' show of this season
Juuni Taisen: from the author of the Monogatari series.
Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series: Another welcome remake.
3-gatsu no Lion S2: more please...when can I see the live-action movie?