My Love Story With Yamada-Kun at Lv999 was a tremendously fun little romantic comedy shojo anime. After the last Shojo series I watched, Fruits Basket, went kinda hog on the melodrama, I was rather pleased to find that this series was a lot more pleasant and chill.
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As per usual, a couple times a year I like to watch a fanservice series or so to just sort of gauge the state of the genre. For the Spring 2023 season, I went with the Cafe Terrace and Its Goddesses, to see if it fares a little better than the last fanservice series I watched with Goddess in the title. The answer is very much “Yes”.
Read moreWe finish hacking through the Goon Squad.
Read moreWe have a seemingly straightforward map.
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This month is Disability Pride Month – so I’m going to talk a little bit about a few ways that I experience the world with my Autism.
Read moreThere are so many undead in this fight.
Read moreWe approach the top of the Hanging Gardens.
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Of the heavier anime series from the Spring 2023 season that I watched, probably the heaviest of them all was Heavenly Delusion (released on Hulu in the US and Disney+ abroad under its untranslated Japanese title of Tengoku Daimakyo). The series was one of the two from this past season that sought to build a couple of mysteries over the course of the season, with a varying degree of success. Also, a content warning for this series – it contains imagery of sexual assault.
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The first season of Tonikawa was a light, refreshing slice-of-life sitcom series that answered the question – can you have a funny sitcom when everyone in the relationship has already said “I Will”, and also they don’t have kids? The answer, it turned out, was yes. The question for season 2 is, “Can this story continue to maintain this momentum?” The answer, it turns out, is also yes.
Read moreIt turns out the cockatrices aren’t the only enemies with Petrify.
Read moreWe face off against some proper cockatrices.
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I’m continuing to get caught up with the Sword & Laser podcast books, with Children of Time.
Read moreWe manage to finish off this fight and continue our advance.
Read moreIt turns out these gardens have a lot of swimming pools.
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I’ve reviewed several anime series in the past about Otaku getting dumped on by society – Rumble Garandoll & Akiba’s Trip both put their focus on the social stigmatization of Otaku by larger Japanese society. Rumble Garandoll put its emphasis on more conservative elements of culture attacking Otaku based on ablism some of the more progressive themes in some Otaku-targeted works (which is not certainly monolithic – I’ve covered some more conservative works here). Akiba’s Trip’s climax called out the hypocrisy of the Japanese government touting anime and other media targeted toward Otaku as part of the government’s soft-power initiative on one hand, while often the same political party (and same politicians) who champion that initiative demonize otaku (either directly or indirectly) through their policies and their public speeches (like the whole “Herbavore Male” thing that was going on for a while). Magical Destroyers takes a different tack and focuses on otaku self-loathing.
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First off, hey! That title rhymes! Also, the second season of Tokyo Mew Mew New is a straight continuation of the plot, with the focus shifting with the Aliens no longer shooting for a slower, more gradual monster-of-the-week plan, and instead going for more spectacular plots, threatening Tokyo as a whole. On the mundane side of the plot, Ichigo’s relationship with Aoyama is now getting considerably more serious. And then there’s the whole matter of this new Blue Knight who keeps (Tuxedo-Mask-esque) coming to Ichigo’s aid. There will be some spoilers.
Read moreWe reach the first of the swimming pools in this dungeon.
Read moreWe reach the exit and clear the level out.
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It’s my 12th anniversary (more or less), so it’s time for my Summer Game Fest picks (since there’s no E3 this year).
Read moreWe have another bottleneck but with a few more troops on the field.
Read moreWe get progressively tighter maps, limiting the number of units that can be fielded.
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The Summer of JoJo continues with the first half of Stardust Crusaders – the Road to Egypt arc.
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The first season of Vinland Saga, which I watched when it was streaming on Amazon Prime, was a very fast-paced and dark period action series with some serious political undertones to it. The second season, which aired in the Spring 2023 season, maintains the dark tone, but with a shift in the focus of the story. There will be spoilers in this review.
Read moreWe have to cross a narrow bridge to proceed.
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