Five episode check in.

First, SNAFU.

Main girl is a massive bitch, blah blah.

I’ve never wanted a character to die so badly. She’s contributes nothing to the team except nasty comments. I only have such huge feelings about this because as the show is going now, it’s going to completely justify her behavior and that she’s 100% in the right to make those comments about protagonist. The protagonist himself is in his loner position due to his own actions, and by this point he seems to be massively depressed with no self-worth, that main girl helpfully piles onto him.

Fuck I hate her.

Miner promises this will get good, but as of now, I highly doubt I’ll get anything from this show but bitterness and hatred for the most worthless character I have ever watched for these anime shows.

Initial review 2/10.

Next is anime Count of Monte Cristo.

It’s good! Protagonist is dumb, but he gets a star for trying, even if it’s running in the other direction. It has captured my interest and I have an urge to devour the entire series at once, which I will politely withhold. Count is obviously the main draw, and he’s great, and while the animation isn’t the best, it’s creative and I like the story and I’m just really enjoying it guys.

Can’t wait until it takes off the breaks.

Initial review 7.5/10.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go watch Count's lol OP on repeat. This is my life now.

 

Of course the show that Vira picks has to have a random masturbation scene and of course it has to be the episode I'm not watching in the privacy of my own home.

 

Today was somewhat of a special day. It took me a solid 16 months, but I've finally completed the very first anime that I've ever watched.

Koi wa Ameagari no You ni was... probably not the best gateway anime that I could have picked. The premise of a love story between a forty-five year old divorced manager and a 17 year-old schoolgirl isn't going to fly well and it took me an age to accept that as a premise. However, the latter episodes of the show were actually quite thought-provoking, touching upon themes of nostalgia and our yearning to capture our youth and hold onto it forever in a unique and interesting way. Although it's not my favorite show by any metric, it held my attention well and, well, let's just say that it only took me about a week to finish the latter half of the show (which... I guess is an indicator of how poorly the first half went over for me.)

6/10

The real question is... do I read the manga?

 

2 seasons of Oregairu later, and I've grown to better appreciate my social life. It's 6 AM and I haven't slept yet, so I won't do a normal full review, but suffice to say that unless you absolutely despise SoL, give it a shot.

 

I'm somewhat surprised by the Quintessential Quintuplets. The show actually wasn't half bad, and I could enjoy the comedic moments and the fluff even if I cringed quite a lot too.

 

After finishing the Onimonogatari arc of the Monogatari Series Second Season, I can say without hesitation that the series is the second best series that I have ever seen.

Honestly, the way Nisio Isin writes is thematically very close to what I myself would like to produce one day, and I'm jealous of his ability to write as well as he does.

 

It was a good series and I watched the whole thing, there were just a handful of things that annoyed me rather than aided in my enjoyment, and I could tell they were intentional. I'll spoiler it, since it's a long series and at least for me it would be ruined if I read this.

Spoiler

I could not for the god damn life of me figure out why they put Hanamonogatari in the middle of the series when it necessarily reveals that a few of the characters survive the end. I had to assume the characters were all in a groupchat or something because they knew way too much about each other's lives; it was like anything known by the audience was also known by most of the characters. I can't count the number of times the characters kept standing around talking for like ten extra minutes when they said they had to go. Araragi learns he's going to the lowest circle of hell and his reaction is like 'cool'.

 

I've only Zoku Owarimonogatari left.

Monogatari as a whole is a sprawling epic with some of the highest highs in anime. It also has some low points, which definitely detract from it.

Spoiler

I don't necessarily think that Hanamonogatari was misplaced, since it really only reveals that Araragi and Senjougahara survive. Considering that I watched the show after Zoku came out, it was obvious that Araragi was going to survive Owari 2nd Season.

That being said, Monogatari is definitely a very difficult show to watch, if only because it's very confusing to keep track of timelines and the start is not particularly inspiring. There are certainly good parts in Bake-Kizu-Nise-Neko(B) but there's nothing incredibly inspiring about them.

Still, MG Second Season sold me that all the time I put into it was worth.

I mean, the amount of foreshadowing and Chekov's Gun that you see is nothing short of incredible. Moreover, the author really takes the time to develop every single one of his side characters. I mean, up to this point, Sodachi has only one arc and she's like, third best girl?

It's difficult to get into, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone just starting with anime, but

9.5/10

 

Angel Beats! was disappointing. I suspect I'm ten years too late to enjoy it, but it just doesn't spend enough time on its characters to be sad. I felt that it made the story into a love story between Kanade and Otonashi too late, so there was very little development and it felt forced and fake. I didn't find it sad because I couldn't find myself invested in the characters.

Maybe it would've been sad to me when I was younger, or had watched less anime.

6/10

 

Some stuff I watched lately:

Oregairu Kan was a very nice ending to a series that I very much enjoyed. I may or not be biased because of how it ended, but i think that it deserves its place as the defining high school SoL of the last decade. Oregairu as a whole probably just misses out on my top five of all time, but is well within the top ten.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is actually pretty funny and has some great introspective moments. Stylistically, it's very easy to tell that the author is the same as Bunny Girls. The individual characters and their growth throughout the series remains his biggest strength.
That being said, sometimes I sit there and wonder to myself what even is the point to the story. There are long stretches where it seems as though the story has lost the thread of what it wants to tell the reader. I've four episodes left, we'll see how I feel by the end of it.

Horimiya is the definition of a coffeehouse fanfic with lightspeed relationship development, a whole lot of cheesy jokes, and some classic "don't judge a book by its cover" themes. But it works, because it's enjoyable and fluffy and everything nice about a coffeehouse fanfic. I'd say watch it, it'll make you feel better while you're stuck in isolation because of this pandemic.

 

Did they make an anime out of Horimiya?

I remember reading it and enjoying it a lot, until it started becoming random nonsense about second and third-rate characters. The main plot appears to end at one point and then the series just meanders, but until that point it's really good.

Sakura-sou was trash that I had to drop after 6 episodes.

 

To go a little more in-depth, Horimiya's adaptation is a 13 episode adaptation that is currently airing this season. The director has stated that Horimiya "ends" in episode thirteen, implying that there will be no continuation and therefore the anime will have some sort of natural conclusion. I do believe that it will end with the end of Hori and Miyamura's relationship resolution, as the manga beyond that is the meandering with other characters that you're referring to. Either way, it's probably my AOTS.

I firmly believe Sakurasou is better than Bunny Girl, but I'm probably in the minority there.

 

Also, since Nemrut stopped doing seasonal threads, has anyone seen QuinQuin S2 or Neverland S2?

I've been leery of both, albeit for different reasons. Neverland because I heard it diverged from the manga and not in a good way. QuinQuin because of how the manga actually ended.

Also considering watching Jaku-Chara, but that's pretty far down the priority list.

 

It's okay to have shit taste.

 

At least I have taste buds!

 

The Devil is a Part-Timer is a getting a second anime season in celebration of it's 10-year anniversary.

I never thought I'd see the day. What's next? A NGNL 2nd season?

 

I'll take a FMA:Brotherhood style reboot for Soul Eater with Fire Force's animation quality, please.