It’s week five, and things are just trucking along now. Pretty much all of my shows are away from the potential drop bubble at this point, leaving me with a bunch of stuff I’m really enjoying watching each week. Some shows are getting better by the week, others hitting some rough patches, but overall there’s nary a one among them that I’m not excited to watch each week. And that’s the way a weekly schedule should be.
Gakkou Gurashi, Episode 4: Although this week episode wasn’t quite at the same level as last week’s standout offering—Kurumi’s race to the cars, in particular, felt pretty flat to me (production limits starting to show here a bit)—the strengths of Gakkou Gurashi remain the same: strong visual direction, a really dark sense of humor, and a lot of good creative choices. The overall structure of anime right now, the “how did they get here?” concept, is working really effectively because it plays off our already established knowledge of the anime’s present time status quo and cultivates a sense of dread because you know, YOU KNOW—anybody who shows up in the past who isn’t in the present time…well…yeah. And because Gakkou Gurashi keeps settling down at the time at the moment of the disaster, we’re almost constantly in a state of wondering when things are going to go wrong. When will the elevator rise…and what will be inside?
Classroom Crisis, Episode 5: Aww man, a beach episode? Classroom Crisis, you should be better than this! Actually, as far as beach episodes go, this one definitely fell on the better side of the trope—which isn’t say that much, but at least it’s something! As per the Classroom Crisis form, the show had a few little twists on the tropes, but it’s also still engaging those tropes. I wish it wouldn’t, but since it did, I’m happy to see that there were a pile of little pieces that made the things I’ve seen over and over again go down a little bit easier: Sera and Angelina drinking together, Iris terrorizing Nagisa on the road, the trap the girls set up for the peeping boys, A-TEC singing the show’s OP on the bus, and Mizuki’s endless smiling faces. All in all, it wasn’t a terrible way to kick off the “Nagisa slowly finds himself acclimating to the A-TEC students” thing that was inevitably going to happen, but a beach episode is still a beach episode. Hopefully Classroom Crisis got it all out of its system this week.
Durarara!! x2-2, Episode 5: After long last, we’re finally starting to get into the real meat of this season’s story—and the effects are immediate and very positive. Durarara!!‘s greatest strength has always been in its ability to juggle a ton of moving parts, letting them cross paths and then go their own ways, and then having them them cross new paths. With Mikado already in action, Kida starting to move, and even the impossibly static Anri trying to address the changes she’s sensing around her, all the other players on the field suddenly seem more dynamic and purposed in their movements. Another element here is this episode’s choice to fracture the narrative by characters, rather than by time (as we saw with Akabayashi’s episode), which absolved this episode of the somewhat traditional storytelling feel that has “plagued” many episodes of the new season. Durarara!! simply isn’t just one character’s story—it’s the story of this city—and when an episode understands that, it’s almost guaranteed to be good.
Gatchaman Crowds insight, Episode 5: Well, the citizens of Japan have steered themselves right into what you might call a real pot of poo. Electing Gelsedra is, to anyone in this show with any brains at all—Riziumu, Jo, Hajime, Rui, and even Berg Katze—obviously a really bad idea. Even Tsubasa, although she can’t say it yet, seems to recognize this instinctively. And yet, here we are with the first alien prime minister in the history of the country. The really interesting thing here is that, although Tsubasa and Gelsedra rushed to save Rui’s life and stop Riziumu, they’ve essentially adopted the practical effects of his theories on human beings as their own. Elected by the whims of the masses, they will most certainly feel the heat of the masses’ whimsy when the tides shift. That is to say, things around about to get really bad in Gatchaman Crowds insight before they can get better—and through all of this, Hajime (the incarnation of the first season’s philosophies) has stay silent. Will she ever make her move? Or will Berg Katze exhaust her to the point where she can no longer be a voice?
Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, Episode 5: At this point, I think it’s pretty safe to say that Shirayuki-hime has become my favorite show of the season. Led by Masahiro Ando’s continually excellent direction and Michiru Oshima’s impossibly beautiful OST (an element without which the show simply wouldn’t be the same), Shirayuki-hime is walking the delicate line of lowkey, feel-good character relationship development without falling into the twin traps of stasis or being boring. This is a very carefully, thoughtfully constructed show, and the attention to detail that’s clearly gone into the production at all levels (writing included) is paying off big time as the characters continue to grow and reveal more of themselves to the audience and to each other. Best of all, Shirayuki-hime continues to play with shoujo standards like the guy standing over the girl with her back to a wall and undercutting them with Zen’s genuine admiration and respect for Shirayuki. I love it.
Overlord, Episode 5: Overlord continues to impress me by the simple fact that it continues to be entertaining and not suck. Yes, I know it’s a low bar, but with all the potential pitfalls Overlord could fall into, avoiding them with pretty solid consistency is impressive and has made it a genuinely interesting watch each week. The plotting and use of new side-characters before we know anything about them weakens the sense of suspense a bit, but thanks to some sillier moments (mostly revolving around Nabe this week) Overlord‘s stayed away from being so self-serious that the slower pacing starts to drag. The anime has done a really admirable job of making this whole story feel like a fun adventure, even when it just involves throwing people around bars and meeting new teammates at the guild, so I’m pretty sold on watching this one through the end even if it never gets into the “let’s conquer the world!” part.
Short Takes~
- Gate, Episode 5: I have to stick it out for another week because there is a battle coming next week and maybe Lelei will get to do something cool? Otherwise, this episode was kind of bland thanks to too much princess backstory and not enough of things actually moving forward. I’m not watching Gate for sob stories. I’m watching it because I want to see cute anime girls curb stomp some bad guys.
- Ushio to Tora, Episode 5: An episode notable for a lot of reasons, but Nakamura showing up big time was by far the best highlight of the episode. She and Ushio have even better chemistry and Ushio and Tora do, and Nakamura clearly knows this boy she likes really well—and she’s willing to make sure he stays the boy she likes, and the boy he is.
- Miss Monochrome S2, Episode 5: Another week of Miss Monochrome, another really mean joke at the expense of our poor android idol.
- Working!!!, Episode 5: Can you feel Inami x Souta becoming more and more real by the episode??? I can, and I’m delighted. Delighted, I tell you!
- Castle Town Dandelion, Episode 5: Please, let’s stay away from the subtle or not-so-subtle incest undertones. Misaki and Haruka work well enough on their own without having to blush at each other. Also, I quite liked Misaki’s internal conflict this episode—for a 4koma anime, I think it handle things really well.
Mage in a Barrel 
From the writing on the first cup o’ joe dept;
Akagami no Shirayukihime ep5; In which we are shown how talented Shirayuki is, and how selfless – and how dense Zen can be in missing how she’s feeling and what she’s going through. Zen’s not a bad guy by any means, and though he does try, he’s a little self centered and thinks of things more in the abstract and that trips him up. The details and nitty gritty of his role as Prince, of his love for his Kingdom, and of his feelings for Shirayuki tend to escape him. He’s trying to overcome this, but he doesn’t know how… In some way’s he’s a much more interesting character than our titular heroine, who sometimes tends a bit towards being two dimensional.
Castle Town Dandelion ep5; Not watched this week.
Classroom Crisis ep5; CC finally remembers that, at least in part and in theory, that it’s a show about schoolkids – and serves up a trope and stereotype laden school trip beach episode. Frankly, this was the last straw. Dropped.
Gangsta ep5; We finally learn about a crucial bit of backstory – and wow, is it a doozy. And, as they say, it changes everything – particularly about the difference between the what the relationship between main characters looks like and what it actually is. Soylent Green may be people, but Twilights… are not. Gangsta continues to amaze me with the depths to it’s storyline.
Gate ep5; Another slow(ish) episode, the second in a row, but it all pays off in the last few minutes. The Princess has actually been kinda isolated and insulated from the real world by her status, and though she got an intimation last week of how that has mislead her, the point was driven home this week with a thermonuclear powered hammer. Very Interesting. /artiejohnson /showingmyage
The IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Second Series ep3; No comment this week.
Million Doll ep5; Another ep of actual plot progression, even if I’m not entirely sure what’s actually going on.
Miss Monochrome 2 ep5; Poor Miss M… a setback on her road towards becoming a Super Idol. But, as always, she takes it in stride.
My Love Story ep 17; One of Takeo’s friends has feelings for one of Yamato’s friends (who actually reciprocates) and they decide to play matchmaker… which blows up in their faces both in the failed matchmaking and in how the relationship that ultimately evolves exposes the holes in theirs. Yamato’s personal insecurity is going to lead to difficulties again I think…
Non Non Byori Repeat ep5; Once again, another one hit out of the park… If anything, Repeat is actually a better series than the original, though I suspect our familiarity with the characters goes a long ways towards that as it allows the producers to ring the changes a bit.
Overlord ep5; A bit slow this week, but necessary to set the stage for next week… I’m actually starting to enjoy the pacing of Overlord, managing to not go so slow as to be boring, and not so fast so that they have to gloss over the finer and deeper points. It’s very clear now, and very interesting, that even though they’re not in Kansas (err… Yggdrasil) anymore it’s still very much a gamified world. Is the whole thing Momonga’s hallucination?
Sore ga Seiyuu! ep5; In which the Strawberry Princess is revealed to actually be a real girl with real warts (and not entirely unfounded!) worries. OTOH, it was also another week where the plot was largely driven by one of MC’s insecurities. Seriously guys, the show is charming and fairly well done, but it’s tending towards being a bit of a one-trick-pony.
Wakaba*Girl ep5; No comment this week.
Working!!! ep5; Sigh Another “Inami x Souta, 2 steps forward, 1.999999999 steps back”. They’ve knocked off a decimal place, but that’s not saying much. Though really, as mostly a slice-of-life comedy, I’m not sure the shows core dynamic can stand much more of a change without drastically changing it’s nature.
In other news…
A very close friend passed unexpectedly last week, and I needed something to fill my mind… and the complete silliness of Girls und Panzer (along with some Jack and coke) perfectly filled the bill. I originally though of Strike Witches, but my lovely lady was watching as well and I didn’t think the fanservice would set well with her, and some of the tragic backstories wouldn’t set well with me in the frame of mind I was in.
Dai-san Hikō Shōjo-tai Dai-ichi-wa (The Third Girls Aerial Squad Episode 1); Dangit… now I really want that to be a real show. Though it was tropish in spots, it was done very well overall. There was a “series PV” included (which we saw part of in ep 17 of Shirobako itself), and they nailed it – all the footage was from ep1 just as it should have been. The sad part is, PA Works put more effort into this one OVA than they did to all of Glasslip.
LikeLike
Sorry about your loss !
Some thoughts ! Not on every show but some
Non-Non Biyori / I agre e S2 is nailing it big Time / remember using the grass blades as an instrument / I miss that
Gangsta is amazing / It almost needs a different genre ! All the different factions and The Three Laws
Gate / They had to introduce Pina as she is a major player ! / It still has to really kickout but they arent rushing the story / Itami is quick on decisions and the CMDR yeaals at him! / Oh they have to go meet the Govt of Japan as they have been summoned!
Yes Shirobarko was anazing / Third Girls Aerial Squad / BTW they killed the Blue-ray charts with Volume 7 with 13,000 ! So do the girls get to do their own anime / do we get spinoffs of Exdous and or Third Girls Aerial Squad ? They should do all three yeah !!
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
First off—I’m sorry for your loss. All the best to you guys and your friend’s family.
I do agree with you that Zen is perhaps a bit more interesting than Shirayuki herself, but their interpersonal dynamic is just so good that I can’t really fault either of them individually as characters. It’s fluffy, but it’s also kind of radical in the amount of trust it displays between the two characters.
And oh geez how can Non Non Biyori possibly be better than it was in its first season? And how can I hope to handle that?
LikeLike
Thanks.
LikeLike
I will compare notes on your shows / Post my Top Favorites which I expanded to 20 easier for me ! BTW RANK 11-20 are hard to place for now !
There are some shows I take a different view but that is always IMO !
SPECIAL NOTE And how about Shirobarko / Volume 7 sold over 13,000 copies WK 1 / amazing we dont get any hints of a second season or spinoffs of Exdous or Third Aerial Girls Squardon ! The new special is cool because you get all the hard work that was done in the anime !
Gakkou Gurashi, Episode 4 RANK 4 / I kinda hold this a little higher / The backstory with Miki and Kei was so emotional > BTW the ED and the song deserve some high marks ! Also overlooked is the realitly of running out of supplies ? The girls went along with Yuki easily because it was the truth! / And Kurumi just armed with a shovel is just a hero IMO > No ( guns ?? ) super powers and or magic ! Just a gutsy girl . Amd Megumi I cant spoil darn it XD
Classroom Crisis, Episode 5 RANK 24 / Just when it was getting better The Beach episode which I dont mind bur the anime needs a boost withe story!
Durarara!! x2-2, Episode 5 RANK 10 / Yes much better I moved it up a couple of spots !
Gatchaman Crowds insight, Episode 5 RANK 14 / I am yet to be all super impressed with S2 ! Yes the political / media frenzy is too real! With or without crowds the mondless sheep just go along ! Almost sounds like Farenheit 451 banning crowds !
Akagami no Shirayuki-hime Episode 5 RANK 12 / Why do I have this so low ?? Shirayuki alone makes this show Go ! Do I bump it over World Trigger which still amazees each week! And into the Top 10 that’s hard right now!
Overlord RANK 36 / Another tha I need to bump up / I said that last week too ! XD
Gate, Episode 5 RANK 6 / We had to introduce Pina because taks really wiil be with her ! / Please dont give up on this / Rory has yet to really shine / and so much more not to spoil but thre Govt wants too see Itami and Company ! / Itami stiil doent get enough credit for his quick decisions which gets him in trouble with his CMDR.
Ushio to Tora, Episode 5 RANK 39 / I watch enjoy but just not overwhelmed !
Miss Monochrome S2 RANK 28 / Another funny episode stuck in my Brutual Tier 2
Working!!!, Episode 5 RANK 5 / My Top 5 is set for now but a very good episode
Castle Town Dandelion, Episode 5 RANK 13 / I agree with you about the incest but that is Just one of Misaki’s clones however Part 3 (“Eight of Misaki”) is Brilliant homage / parody even Bibilicial ( I am surprised you overllooked that !! ) Of course The Religious 7 Deadly but probally more of a homage to Seven Deadly sins anime which a lot of people said !
Even more intersting Misaki’s name to the idea of the clones from A Certain Scientific Railgun S and ( Mikoto Misaka )?? Very cool thought indeed just brilliant IMO !! Just ponder that for awhile !
EPISODE(S) of the WEEK
Week 4 / 5 Split
Non Non Biyori EP 4 / “I Made a Teru-teru Bouzu” One of the best episodes from both seasons
Snow White with the Red Hair EP 4 / “From the Small Hand, a Burgeoning Concerto Resonates” A great life lesson episode!
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace EP 5 / “Caterpillar” What a tragic sad episode for Kagami / but it happems too often in the real world!
School Live EP 4 / “Outing” Miku’s backstory and the girls trip for supplies start!
Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma EP 17 /”The Seductive Karaage” The Home Town is having problems !
Castle Town Dandelion EP 5 / “Summer Vacation” / “Online Secret” / “Eight of Misaki” Just a cool Ep especially about Misaki
Baby Steps EP 18 / “Visualize the Pressure” What a finish between Ei-Chan and Ide
The Heroic Legend of Arslan EP 17 / “The Duel Before the Gods” A edge on your seat episode1
Gangsta. EP 5 / “Sanctions” A very intense episode
TIER 1 Top Favorites There is a lot of Moves / probally all season !!
Weeks 4 / 5 Split
2 WAY TIE FOR FIRST So many good episodes IMO / Some Tweaks
1 Non Non Biyori Repeat CR / Great S2 will be hard to dislodge from #1
1 Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX / S3 Staying in step with NNB
3 The Heroic Legend of Arslan ONGOING / A great anime just keeps me glued
4 Gakkou Gurashi! READING MANGA See ABOVE
5 Working!!! 3 / Wagnaria!! 3 See ABOVE
6 Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri READING MANGA See ABOVE
7 Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma ONGOING READING MANGA Still running strong
8 Gangsta. This was intense
9 Baby Steps 2 ONGOING READING MANGA The maych with Ide finally drwas to a close
10 Durarara!!×2 Ten See ABOVE
11 World Trigger ONGOING
12 Akagami no Shirayuki Hime / Snow White with the Red Hair See ABOVE
13 Jokamachi no Dandelion / Castle Town Dandelion See ABOVE
14 Gatchaman Crowds Insight See ABOVE
15 Rokka no Yuusha / (Heroes of the Six Flowers) Kinda of settled in to who isnot one of the Six Braves
16 Sore ga Seiyuu! / Seiyu’s Life ? Amazing VA in Yuri H cameo BTW THE ED segnent dedicates and sings the song dron The VA’s anime
17 My Love Story / Ore Monogatari. ONGOING Still fun to watch
18 Ultimate Otaku Teacher ONGOING Very underrated show / great life lessons
19 Himouto! Umaru-chan / Very funny She is night and day
20 Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace / what a twist to this story / Inspector Kagami was the 20 Faces who killed criminals that kept commtting crimes and let go for insanity > After his sister was killed he basically took out a bunch and was caught! But is there another ??
LikeLike
I remember reading that there won’t be a second season of Shirobako because the director’s schedule for the foreseeable future is completely full. Makes me sad. 😦
LikeLike
There’s a lot of people who want a second season of Shirobako, and I certainly wouldn’t mind one… But I don’t see where they could go with the story without repeating themselves. As much as I loved the series, the repetition they already had bugged the heck out of me.
LikeLike
Well, anime naming things/people/whatever after the seven deadly sins isn’t all that new a concept (FMA, for example), so I retain my right to be somewhat less than impressed with the reference. 😛
LikeLike
I am kinda taken a back that you only used part of my fun with CTD / I know you cant answer everything but to only include what I said about the parody with this show and leave my 2nd reference “” Even more intersting Misaki’s name to the idea of the clones from A Certain Scientific Railgun S and ( Mikoto Misaka )?? “””( even if the reference is just coincidence ) is just trying to make your point stick ?
You liked all the parodies in Nyarko which is way more lustful than this !
Sorry but( very annoyed ) but I an tired of a legal website that has been horrible and getting worse ! I cant go on the website / watch anime etc ! I may just drop my sub and go dark side ! If another site revamped and is better why cant the other! So I am in a very bad mood !
This may be my last post for awhile here too ! It takes me well over a hour to do this and feels more like a chore lately ! I rather watch anime which has become a pain like I said !
LikeLike
First off, I’m apologize for not responding to your comment more fully. I tend to respond to comments all at once, which is a bad habit, and sometimes things slip through the cracks. So, I’m sorry about that.
With regards to the Mikoto Misaka reference, that does seem somewhat less likely as a direct parody for Dandelion to me, but it certainly could be!
I’m guessing the website that you’re talking about is Crunchyroll? I’ve also been having problems there & it’s
been frustrating.
Finally, while I’d certainly miss your comments if you stop posting for a while—I truly do read every word—I definitely understand you wanting to take a break if it feels like a chore. This should be a fun place, not somewhere you feel obligated to come each week!
LikeLike
I was in such a bad mood that little things got to me ! Because I could’nt watch anime for awhile I got carried away with nitpicking / but all is good ! Well except for the headaches that people are having / Enough said
And here’s why not only School Live had an interesting episode they Top the ANN the anime most to watch when it wasnt even on the radar before the season started !
LikeLiked by 1 person
I decided to drop Shirayuki this week. I realized that I had no real desire to watch it at all. There’s nothing wrong with it. It just bores me.
Also dropped Charlotte and Aoharu x Machinegun. I enjoyed both shows, but I just don’t have time for as many shows as I was trying to watch. I might go back and marathon them after the season is over depending on what kind of response they get once they’re finished.
I’ve also decided to just put off Durarara’s 2nd season until it’s finished. It’s a show that works better marathoned, imo.
So that leaves me with a watchlist I’m exceedingly happy with:
Actually, I Am: This so continues to be fun and hilarious. Class Rep is obviously Best Girl.
Overlord: I really like the introduction of Nabe. The pacing felt a bit disjointed this episode, but I’m eager to see what happens next.
OreMono: This show continues to get better and better. Takeo and Yamato have made some real progress with their relationship. Thank God for Suna always being there to help out when Takeo is particularly dense. Thanks to him, they finally had their first kiss!
Rinne: The inner workings of the spirit world continue to be revealed as the fight against the Damashigami (and Rinne’s unscrupulous father) continues. Still lots of fun.
School-Live!: Oh man, I knew Megu-nee wasn’t real anymore. This episode seems to confirm it. I’m both eager and apprehensive to learn the story of what happened to her. It’s probably going to be a feels roller coaster.
Food Wars: One episode behind, but the camp arc was a lot of fun. I enjoyed Soma’s struggles and the reappearance of his father.
GATE: lol, seriously? Pina Co Lada? Anyway, I enjoyed this episode better than the previous boring one. It set up some interesting conflict, and saved the show from the drop list.
Prison School: This show is freaking hilarious. I am officially a Gakuto fan. Anyone who goes that far just to achieve his goal has my respect.
Ushio and Tora: Got way behind on this show. Now that my schedule is a bit freer I intend to catch up.
Fairy Tail: Starting to get caught up with the new eps. Finished Sun Village Arc and started Tartaros Arc. It’s getting very exciting again.
Working!!!: This episode was SO GOOD. I feel everything starting to come together. Souta, stop resisting and give into the adorableness that is Inami!
Rokka no Yuusha: The plot thickens! I thought I knew who the 7th was, but now I’m not sure. We’re getting to know the characters better and they’re all suspicious in different ways. Adlet is still my boy though.
Gangsta.: Just when you thought you understood the relationship between Worick and Nic a whole bunch of flashbacks and cryptic conversation hits you with uncertainty. And poor Alex. I hope someone helps her.
Arslan Senki: I’m still behind on this one, but starting to get caught up. This one is more enjoyable when you can watch 2 or 3 eps in a row.
That’s still a lot of shows, but I don’t see myself dropping any at this point. I’m enjoying all of them immensely.
LikeLike
Oops, forgot Castle Town Dandelion. Another enjoyable episode. I totally sympathize with Misaki.
LikeLike
And that’s the best place to be!
Also, I forgot to write about it, but you’ll be happy to hear that I watched the latest episode of Rokka after hearing good things about this week’s installment, so while I haven’t officially undropped it yet, I am caught up. The episode as a whole was a bit mixed for me, but overall I thought it was really snappily paced for just being a bunch of silly character designs talking in a blue box.
Also, also, I’m super glad to have another Inami x Souta shipper on board here! They’re a good couple!
LikeLike
lol It’s funny. I’m actually starting to have doubts about Rokka. Because I looked into the LNs and realized this season is only going to cover volume 1 and there’s probably never going to be another season. And there’s no official English translation of the LNs (the fan translation in progress I found online is painful). So I feel like… should I continue this, knowing that I might never get the full story? Sadly, I come upon this dilemma way too often. (Akatsuki no Yona, but at least the fan translation of the manga is good.) Oh, the struggles of loving foreign media. Maybe I should learn Japanese.
LikeLike
I personally thought Volume 1 was good enough to be standalone with an implied resolution (as long as you don’t read the epilogue). Similar to how in other mystery novels where the main goal of the author is to say, go to the U.S. to meet his wife after being separated for years, but is stopped because someone has been murdered on the plane he took and he has to solve the mystery to see his wife. The novel ends with him calling his wife at the airport saying that he’ll see her soon. Volumes 2 of Rokka would be like the the man taking a taxi to return home but gets involved in another mystery which he must solve to return home.
LikeLike
So I’m back from vacation, but for various reasons I’m now immersed in looking for a new job. Everything’s fine and I still have my old job. I’m just seeing what’s out there for someone with my skills and experience, and I’ve already found a few openings that seem promising. But applications and interview prep and all that stuff takes a lot of time, as you know, which means less time for anime watching, and that means making some decisions.
Decision #1, I made up my mind that I am going to set Charlotte aside until after the season. I definitely want to finish it, but I don’t have time right now.
Decision #2, I suddenly realized earlier today that I actually haven’t watched Ore Monogatari in about four weeks, since around the time you stopped blogging it. So I’m going to put that on hold as well. I still want to finish it (and I did finish volume 3 of the manga, so I’m a little ahead of where I left off with the series), but for now that’s also going to the back burner. The fact that I went that long without even thinking about it means that’s obviously not where my head is right now.
So that means the only weekly show that I’m still watching is Food Wars, which is still as fabulous as ever. And since you’re NOT watching that, it’s not going to give me much to talk about in these posts for a while besides backlog stuff.
So, on to the backlog stuff!
I’m now up to episode 45 of Cardcaptor Sakura. I believe the “second season” ends with episode 46, so I’m happy with my progress there.
I also finished a re-watch of Lyrical Nanoha season one yesterday. That hadn’t been in my summer plans, but I just got my hands on a near-mint boxset of Nanoha A’s for a really good price (really good compared to the $200+ that sellers usually want for it these days, anyway). Of course, now I have to watch it to make sure the DVDs are all in good shape while I’m still inside the return window. And of course, I couldn’t possibly jump straight into the second season without watching the first season first. So that was that. Now I can start watching my new A’s DVDs this weekend.
I’ve also been reading the manga of Magic Knight Rayearth – this is a copy of the omnibus edition that Dark Horse released a few years ago, which is pretty nice. I watched the TV series a very long time ago, but I can’t remember much of it and I don’t even know if I finished it or not. So reading the manga after all this time has been like getting the story almost brand new again, except with a jolt of “Oh yeah, now I remember that!” mixed in every once in a while. Anyway, I’m enjoying it quite a bit. It’s also kind of funny to see the main characters get sent to this alien fantasy world and then try to make sense of all the bizarre things they encounter by using RPG mechanics and tropes to give themselves some context. MKR debuted in 1993, so I guess the “gamification” trend in anime and manga was already beginning even 20+ years ago.
LikeLike
Whoo boy, the good old job search—best of luck to you! I hope you’re able to find something fulfilling and worthwhile!
Down to one weekly anime a week, though! Whoa! Very grown-up of you 😛 Or something…
You’re watching/reading some real throwback stuff there in your backlog! Pretty cool—if I do say so myself.
LikeLike
Good luck on the job search! It never hurts to take a look around, just in case.
Backlog and In Other New stuff is good IMO, keeps things from getting stale.
LikeLike