HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 10/10
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10
HIGH RECOMMEND - 8.5/10
RECOMMENDED - 8/10
RECOMMENDED - 7.5/10
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10
SPY X FAMILY Spy X Family is the big new show of the year, not just the season, it's something that has the internet caught up in a storm. The show is set in the country of Ostania who is in something of a Cold War with its neighbour Westalis. In order to keep peace in the world Westalis' spy agency WISE sends their best operative, the spy known around the world as Twilight, to Ostania in order to stop Donovan Desmond from starting a war between the two nations. WISE created Operation Strix for Twilight, he was to create a fake family, have his child enroll at Eden College, become an Imperial Scholar, meet and get close to Donovan Desmond through this, and stop a potential war. In order to kick this off though, he needs his fake family, posing as psychologist Loid Forger he adopts a young girl named Anya, whom the orphanage seems desperate to get rid of. The reason being, and no one knows this, is Anya is an ESPer and can read people's thoughts so she can come off incredibly odd; there are a lot of times this comes in handy later on for the Forger family though. Twilight got a daughter now he needed a wife, he found one in Yor, a good civil servant girl who was worried about people thinking she was a spy because she was in her 30's and not married; she didn't have to worry about the spy thing, just the fact that she's the Thorn Princess a world renowned assassin. So a spy, an assassin, and an ESPer all living in the same house as one of the oddest families you could possibly imagine. Needless to say this is a show that is much better watched and experienced than me telling everyone what happens per episode but it has amazing performances by the voice actors, great animation, awesome music to go along with it, it's just an amazing show and it blew me away. Like I said, this is a show best experienced, in order to get the jokes and action and sappiness first-hand. My biggest takeaway is I can't wait until Part 2. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 10/10 SHIKIMORI'S NOT JUST A CUTIE This show was another one like Spy X Family that had the shit hyped out of it before the season started. Coming off of My Dress Up Darling, everyone wanted to see if the screenshots and trailers of this Shikimori girl could provide a new "girl of the year" in anime. Well, it provided as such. I think what makes Shikimori an interesting character is that she's never portrayed as a helpless girl that needs help with everything. In fact, it's the opposite, it's her boyfriend Izumi that is more of the damsel in distress. She comes to his rescue all the time from the smallest things to major things that happen; her friends, her classmates, and even Izumi often reference how she comes across as the Prince Charming more often then not. Like I said, Izumi has to be rescued a lot, and that is because he has tremendously bad luck like if something bad is going to happen, it will happen to him, and it always did to the point that his childhood was miserable. That all changed when he met Shikimori (there's an episode about it so I don't want to give it away) but these two come off as perfect together, she saves him all the time and is always there for him and her goal was to re-invent herself as a cute & cool person for high school, which Izumi saw before anyone else. Their side cast in the show are their best friends: Nekozaki (an athletic and competitive crazy girl), Hachimitsu (a lazy shut in), and Inuzuka (a very chill guy and someone that Shikimori sees as a rival for Izumi's affection even though the two are just best buds). Then there's one other important character that I can't speak too much about without blabbing about the story. Each side character brings a great part to this series and honestly, if you don't have great characters who compliment each other, then a slice of life show (which is also a rom-com but still) doesn't play out well. The show is beautifully animated, well acted, the music fits perfectly, I just genuinely enjoyed this show. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10 TRAPPED IN A DATING SIM: THE WORLD OF OTOME GAMES IS TOUGH FOR MOBS As someone who's played dating sims. both the guy with girl choices and the girl with guy choices, this was a show I had to check out. Totally worth it. Basically a guy is forced to play and beat an otome game (dating sim where you are the girl and there are routes for all the guys) for his sister, getting all the routes and ends, before she gets back because she wants to hear all about it. He stays true to his word and does it, but when he goes outside to take a break, he trips down his stairs and well.....dies. He wakes up as an incredibly insignificant "noble" in the world of the otome game he just played; a mob character, whose life it is to just be in the background. Unfortunately, with the knowledge of this entire world, that's not exactly what happens. Despite his claim to always being a mob character, he consistently involves himself in the lives of the otome games story. He is confused though because Olivia, the games female protagonist, ISN'T the lead and it's some small girl named Marie; what he doesn't know is that Marie also came from his world and has the same knowledge so she just managed to insert herself in the same role that Olivia was in and make the Prince and his crew fall in love with her instead. Well, Olivia becomes fast friends with Leon for Bartfort, and you can obviously tell there is something there on both sides but Leon specifically says in his head he won't make any kind of move because he's just a mob character and Livia is supposed to be with one of the five main guys. He also then steps up and becomes champion for Angelica Redgrave, who was the Prince's fiancee, and all she wanted was for Marie to stop twisting his thoughts; again getting involved in main character plots even though it wasn't a mob's place. The thing is, he uses the games knowledge to get through so many obstacles that should be impossible for someone in his station to get through; and it leads to him progressing higher and higher in the noble ranks because he passes off the credit to others but the high ranking families know exactly that their sons haven't done anything and it's all Leon's doing. The show is full of a lot of funny moments, a lot of great things, some mech fights if you like that, some romance, and I really enjoyed the show. HIGH RECOMMEND - 8.5/10 THE GREATEST DEMON LORD IS REBORN AS A TYPICAL NOBODY A reincarnation of a Demon Lord anime, which I don't know if it's a full on trend yet but with this and Misfit Academy I see that it could become one. The thing is I really like the reason behind the reincarnation of Varvatos into Ard Meteor; having to kill his only friend because she was cursed, he couldn't take the loneliness and died to be reborn in an age where he'd be able to make friends. Which he does when he's a young lad, Ireena, a young elf girl that has no friends and seems rather ostracized from everyone but becomes attached to Ard when he saves her. Fast forward to their joining a magic academy, seeing a young succubus girl Ginny, being bullied he decides to confront the bully in a duel. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't expecting his reincarnation to be so soon that his teacher would be one of his former subordinates, who almost immediately figures it out, when she sees him use a massive spell called Giga Flare and double casts a protection spell on the kid he used it on; apparently no one has double casted since Varvatos' era and no one has used that spell except him. Things and knowledge he had no idea about. Then moving forward another of his subordinates, Sylphie, is told by another of his subordinates that Ard is Varvatos and so she joins the academy to test this out; he tries to dispel the notion but in a sword fight he basically gives himself away. There are a lof of enemies Ard has to deal with in his secret form, where he merges Ard with his best friend Lydia's soul to create a "new Varvatos" that he can use, some of which you don't expect to be enemies and some that are very clearly world destroying enemies. You find out a lot about each character along the way based on small stories they are told and you find out the most about Ard/Varvatos when they are sent to the past when Varvatos is still alive and so is Lydia. I urge anyone who likes fantasy shows to give this a shot, especially if you like that overpowered magic and Demon Lord stuff. RECOMMENDED - 8/10 LOVE AFTER WORLD DOMINATION What if you were a Power Ranger and you fell in love with and then started a relationship with your worst enemy ?? That is essentially the premise of Love after World Domination. Fudo, the Red Gelato "Ranger" of Gelato 5, falls in love with Desumi, the "Reaper Princess" of Gekko their mortal enemies. At first, she thought he was teasing him when he asked her out, tricking her because she had never had romance experience but after proving his sincerity they made it work. By constantly "fighting" each other during the Gelato 5 vs Gekko battles, Desumi and Fudo only have one or so regular dates, most of them are tricking either Gelato 5 or Gekko to going to an amusement park or whatever so they can sneak off with each other. It's a very sweet story of a meathead guy who's shown no interest in love in his life until the one person he finally does just happens to be one person he is ABSOLUTELY not allowed to. It's a Romeo & Juliet situation but HOPEFULLY if this has a light novel or manga that it really doesn't end the same way that story did. This story right now just has Desumi and her other Princess series friends doing things and Gelato 5 doing things and coming together in typical super Sentai battles fashion. I'm a BIG sucker for romance/rom-com shows and this one's funny mix of that Sentai thing makes it hilarious. All the characters are great in it on both the "good guys" and the "bad guys" side; honestly, if there wasn't such a "need to take over the world" from Gekko I could easily seeing them all work together as friends (even though a few of them are monsters). RECOMMENDED - 7.5/10 DATE A LIVE IV One thing I heard from a person whose opinion on anime I respect a lot because he's one of the people that got me into it, to the extent I'm at now anyways, is this he asked, "Do people actually still watch Date A Live??" Well the simple response is yes, a lot of people still watch Date A Live because this is Part 4 and spoiler (but not really a spoiler) but they immediately before the credits of the last episode just say Date A Live V in big font.....so there will be more. I think that the series is fantastic, yes it has some fanservice but I wouldn't expect a show where the hero, Itsuka Shido's goal of saving girls called Spirits by sealing their powers via their affection towards him to not have some. The nice thing about Date A Live is that while it can be considered or is considered a harem style show, it actually has a great story to it, and that is something that is incredibly rare. Date A Live IV was fantastic, each season they introduce new and interesting Spirits and they are always so creative and unique. This time we have Sister aka Nia Honjou, who is actually a famous mangika; she was captured by the bad guys DEM Industries, who tried to Invert her so they could use her powers for evil. Nia has the ability to use her book Raphael to find out just about anything she wants, which is extremely powerful. Then we meet Zodiac aka Mukuro Hoshimiya, who is a Spirit that is floating aimlessly in space and has shut herself off from the world. She has the ability to use her key and close off people's thoughts and other interesting abilities and movements. To me though, the stand out moment of this season is we find out more and more about Tokisaki Kurumi's plans and desires, why she wants to devour Shido, and I have to say that it is AMAZING and I love it. It's also why I can't wait until Date A Live V. So besides the great new story, this new season of the show has a completely new art style, some people might hate it but I love it; the colours pop, everything is vibrant and it is very pleasing to look at. It's a great new addition to the show. The other thing about this season is that they new Spirits are both acted incredibly well, their voice actresses do a great job bringing out these neat personalities. Though I'm just super jazzed about all this new stuff to do with my favourite character Kurumi. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10 KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR -ULTRA ROMANTIC- We start off the show with another banger of an opening theme song by Masayuki Suzuki, who's obviously huge in Japan, but what I love is that they've gotten him to do ALL the seasons of Kaguya-sama Love Is War. Let's move forward though, Ultra Romantic is the 3rd season of this super popular show, one that I really like myself. The comedy this season has ramped up even more than past seasons, the jokes are funnier, the moments are better. There's been new characters introduced like Shijo Maki, a relative of Kaguya, who make for interesting situations and more great comedy or serious spots depending on the situation. I like that more and more characters play a bigger role, Hayasaka has a huge role this season moreso than previously, as well as Shirogane's dad and his sister Kei. The biggest thing this season go around is that love actually seems to be in the air. We find out that our boy Ishigami has a massive crush on Tsubame, his senpai and leader of different clubs he's been in, but he sees her as rather out of his league and doesn't know how to proceed until being pushed by of all people, Kaguya, to make a move when he's ready. To do something before you regret never doing it. Which is something you can tell both Shirogane and Kaguya seem to understand this season, that high school is flying by and their just wasting it doing the silly games they've done over the past 2 seasons rather than just confessing and dating. The way the end plays out is great and having personally read the manga, I know where it's leading but I really like the anime and the way they've brought it to life; I always enjoy seeing pages brought to life. It's funny, sweet, great to watch, just enjoyable as a series. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10 THE RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO: SEASON 2 The Rising of Shield Hero returns with its second season following the adventures of The Shield Hero Iwatani Naofumi, this time with his name clear of the things in season one and being treated like the true hero he actually is, he sets off to meet Queen Melromarc along with Raphtalia, Filo, and new party member Risha (a former member of the Bow Hero's party). She tells Naofumi that one of the Sacred Beasts of the world, the Spirit Tortoise, has awakened prematurely and is now on a rampage and causing mass devastation; he agrees to help, while the three other Cardinal heroes refuse to help out. Armies of the world unite to take on the Spirit Tortoise, whom we we find out is being controlled by someone thanks to the Tortoise's familiar Ost Hourai. She becomes something of a temporary party member and speaking of temporary party members, who Naofumi's group finds in the tortoise, is even more surprising because they "team up again" with L'Arc, Therese, and Glass; surprising because last time they met they were told the next time they'd have to kill each other. The only way to truly stop the waves is for the Cardinal Heroes of their worlds to invade and kill each other, is what we knew about this beforehand but that has to be put on hold. Those 3 came to look for the man causing these problems, the Book Hero, Kyo Ethnina. After Naofumi and company battle him, they chase after him into his world, unfortunately this splits the party up; Filo is lost, Raphtalia becomes small again, and all of them are Level 1 again to top it all off they're locked in an inescapable prison. They find all this out from the Hunting Hero, Kizuna Kazayama, who's been stuck there for a couple years. Naofumi manages to get them all out and the race to stop Kyo is on. Raphtalia is seperated from them after this, she then becomes a hero herself, unintentionally after meeting L'Arc, Therese, and Glass while in prison. The show picks up the pace and the action this season, there's more grand set pieces, the story broadens it's scope with the new world the heroes went to, you see things you didn't expect, all of our favourite heroes get a boost, some new people become more important, it's a great season and I'm looking forward to the continuation whenever that is. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10
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We are now off to the current seasons roundup of anime, as we speak we're into the Spring 2022 season of the anime so I've been watching that and also I have to apologize to all, my articles have been non-existent since work got more intense. Now that I'm going to have the summer off, I'll be able to pick up my article writing to normal. That being said, here's the anime roundup for the Winter 2022 season and damn there were some bangers this season; like it was just an amazing season with new hits and things I've grown to love and can't wait for more and the return of some killer anime from the past. Let's start with one of my favs of the season............ MY DRESS-UP DARLING The most popular show of the season, was also my favourite. My Dress Up Darling is the story of a loner boy, named Gojou, who's passion it is and goal in life is to make hina dolls and his chance encounter with the most popular girl in school, Marin Kitagawa, who has a crazy secret. She wants to cosplay. They run into each other when they're both trying to use the sewing machine at school; Gojou to make hina dresses and Marin to make a cosplay dress for herself. After seeing that Gojou knows how to sew, she desperately asks him to make her Shizuku cosplay, which after a bit of convincing he decides to take on. He learns all about the eroge that it's based on by playing it, he takes everything so seriously that source material is important to him, and obviously playing an eroge when his grandpa walked in on him was a surprise. Gojou finds out Marin needs it within 2 weeks and nearly has a heart attack knowing how hard it is to sew things, but knowing that he wants her to be happy, he pushes through his tiredness and makes it for her. Thrilled she goes to her first cosplay event and from there not only do more cosplays follow but so does a blossoming romance. At least from Marin's side for now. That is what I liked the most about the show is how wholesome it is, it never really tries to be super raunchy, it never does anything dumb, it is just a really wholesome story about a quiet, loner, dorky boy who is passionate about something he loves meeting an energetic, outgoing, popular girl who is passionate about something she loves and they work together to make something they both love. Then it just so happens that ACTUAL love is a side effect of it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 11/10 ORIENT What I can guarantee is going to be one of the next big shonen series going, Orient is the story of Musashi & Kojiro two boys from a small village in a world controlled by Kijins and Oni. This world has been taken over by these creatures and humans have come to accept them as their gods and rulers, beings that they must bow down too. The exception to this rule is those who become Bushi, people who have fought against the Oni and Kijin since they first appeared. Kojiro was born the son of a Bushi by birth and was treated like an outcast by everyone for it, everyone except for Musashi, who made plans for the two of them to both become Bushi like Kojiro's dad one day and fight the oni. Not thinking that Musashi was actually serious until realizing that he used his time becoming a "miner" in the oni mines to train his swordsmanship skills. They fight oni and kishin together for the first time before being saved by a Bushi band and that's when they decide to take off from their town, forming their own Bushi band, eventually being joined by a girl who left her band named Tsugumi. The world being established so far in the anime isn't just that the oni are bad but also that there is a group of people who are hunting the Obsidian Goddess, a woman who is able to control all nichirin swords which are those controlled by Bushi. This goddess happens to reside in Musashi, whether fortunately or unfortunately for him in that regard, because it makes him a massive target in this world but also someone who has a hidden ability to become extremely powerful. It's a show that I find gives off great vibes, there's lots of humour, great fights, all of the characters are well put together, and it has one important thing to me: if you can cause me to start reading the manga because I can't wait to find out what happens next HIGH RECOMMEND - 9/10 LIFE WITH AN ORDINARY GUY WHO REINCARNATED INTO A TOTAL FANTASY KNOCKOUT GASP AN ISEKAI SHOW !!! However, with a really funny premise so it intrigued me from the beginning and when I gave it a watch I loved it. The reason being is that this time it wasn't your typical power fantasy isekai like 95% of the shows out there, it was a show where the main hero is actually a dude who got drunk, was upset about not getting any girls, and said wow if I was a cute and short blonde girl I'd be like a god. His best friend Jinguji who was there with him said that he was talking nonsense, he was a fine person, things will happen surely. Soon after, they're both transported into another world. Jinguji is there as his usual self, business suit and all, but Tachibana is exactly what he mentioned he could be a god as; a cute, small, blonde girl. As they arrive in this new world, they come across the Goddess of Love who sent them there and she's so unpleasant that they just constantly insult her, and she takes exception to this and puts a curse on the two of them. The curse is simple; they feel heavy romantic feelings for one another, the only way to break the curse is to defeat the Demon Lord. Well, needless to say that they want to break that curse as fast as possible because it becomes very apparent, very quickly that moments do happen that makes them feel romantic towards each other and they have to pull back from that very quickly. They spend their time going from being worshiped in a small village, to traveling around beating up bandits, destroying the worshipped deities of groups of people, fighting the Demon Lord's soldiers, or dealing with the whims of a whiny princess of the kingdom. I really like this take on isekai anime, it's honestly a funny combo rom-com show with more of a heavy emphasis on the comedy of course, everything else is spot on about it too. HIGH RECOMMEND - 8.5/10 IN THE LAND OF LEADALE This is a weird isekai but not an isekai, this is the story of Cayna, technically a character in the VRMMO world of Leadale. She was bedridden and potentially going to die and unfortunately during a power outage, she did, but Cayna somehow woke up in the world of Leadale but now it was a living and breathing world. It's in this living and breathing world that she now finds herself as her high elf character, the "Silver Ringed Witch", feared throughout Leadale for the past 200 years. Then top it all off with the fact her three "kids" that she bought with real world money to be NPC children for her are actual people now and they are all prominent members of the royal court, Cayna's life is strange to say the least. It all starts off with her awakening in a small village, one that treats her so well that she ends up moving there and after saving the life of a guard she goes on a trip to become an adventurer in the royal capital. Where she of course meets her three children: royal builder Kartatz, royal academy headmaster Mai-Mai, and high priest Skargo all of whom are thrilled to see her. What I like from there is she goes on simple adventures so it's not a super complex show, what provides most of the enjoyment is how interesting the characters are; each one of the characters provides an interesting and fun vibe to the show and that's what makes the best slice of life shows work, even though this is sort of an isekai slice of life. RECOMMENDED - 8/10 MISS KUROITSU FROM THE MONSTER DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT One of those shows that I started watching to see what it was and ended up loving because of the premise, the humour, the everything about it. What's the show about you ask ?? Good question. It is the story of Miss Kuroitsu, an ambitious scientist who works for the monster development department of Agastia, a group trying to take over the world. Her job, along with her boss Dr.______, is to develop monsters to fight against Divine Swordsman Blader. Essentially it's the everyday life and trials of someone who develops monsters that face off against different sentai fighters. It's great because how often do we just see Power Rangers/Super Sentai where we just go, "oh they're cool, time to beat on those monsters", do we truly understand just how hard it is for people to make those monsters on the other side ?? Do we understand the feelings of the monsters when they fight, when they lose, or what they do on their off time ?? It is an AMAZING concept and it hooked me. Then we take a look at the crazy amount of humour in it, it's perfect, you have an incredibly powerful monster in Lord Megistus who treats this like any other 9-5 job and makes sure that the employees are taken care of properly, that people are hired properly, and that monsters are developed to fight Blader properly. We have an executive board made of top ranking monsters: an agoraphobic spider-woman, Lady Camula is a vampire that loves idols, Uncle who is a master spy but also a creepy guy to women, and so many more personalities. There are rival factions, there's other ranger types, there's magical girls, and more. My favourites though are the monsters that Miss Kuroitsu develops. One was set to be a very tough wolf boy, with incredibly strength and toughness to take on Blader, but Supreme Leader thought he wasn't cute enough so last second they had to put the brain of Wolfy into a female body; of course he's super pissed because in simulations he was this jacked wolf boy but is now a petite wolf girl but with none of their thoughts changed. And obviously develops a massive crush on Miss Kuroitsu. Then there's Cannon, who they were going to design to be a massive mechanized chicken robot, but budget restraints left him a giant fluffy chicken with a gun. Miss Hydra, who they wanted to be an actual tough Hydra girl but ended up again not being cute enough, so that had to change, and budget cuts meant they constantly had to scale back how many heads she could have. She develops a big crush on Cannon. Melty, a chocolate girl made of defective chocolate. And others, they are all unique. The show is just so awesome and I love it. Also one of my favourite parts is the theme song, which is below, absolute banger maybe my favourite of the season. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9.5/10 ATTACK ON TITAN: FINAL SEASON Attack On Titan's Final Season Part 2 started and I was looking forward to them finally wrapping up the show and seeing how they animated the end of the show since the manga had ended quite awhile back by the point this debuted. Well, long story short they didn't finish and we can expect a Final Season Part 3 in 2023. Let's look at what did happen however, first things first the opening theme for this part is an absolute banger, like 100% it is one of the beset openings for Attack on Titan ever, but the accompanying video is hilarious because they basically just say "fuck if you haven't read the manga by now just fuck yourself and read it we're showing what is going to happen." I loved it. Then we will talk about several things but I don't want to go too much into it because I feel this show is better watched than explained. Why do I feel that ?? Because Attack on Titan has been getting CONSISTENTLY BETTER over the years and the fight scenes and other action has been absolutely amazing, even the simple talking scenes are conveyed so great. They also make sure to put so much weight into the relationship between Zeke and Eren. My favourite part of this, which I knew was going to happen because I read the manga, but is the team up of almost the entire main OG crew. Annie and Reiner joining back with Mikasa, Armin, Connie, and Jean to put a stop to Eren (with the help of others of course). But it's just amazing, MAPPA studios absolutely outdid themselves with putting the manga pages to life; that's what I really see is the manga pages coming to life, moreso than any other version of Attack on Titan. I hate having to wait until 2023 for the rest, I also hate that they broke it up into this 3rd part in the first place when only 2 parts were promised. Regardless, I'm looking forward to the wrap up of Attack on Titan, whenever that is. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 11/10 DEMON SLAYER: ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT ARC The show was absolute fire, this second part of season two was great to watch, it was CRAZY to see the fight unfold between the Upper Rank demons and Tanjiro & Usui. The fight scenes were amazing, like only ufotable can pull off animation that's such a perfect combo of movement, colour, intense action, and music. The way the studio has been able to adapt the manga is BETTER than I could have hoped for. I don't really have a lot to say about this show other than watch Demon Slayer in general but this second season is absolutely amazing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 10/10 ARIFURETA: FROM COMMONPLACE TO WORLD'S STRONGEST - SEASON 2 I was super stoked that there was a second season of Arifureta being released. It was a series I was super into when it first came out, while I didn't read ahead or anything I definitely wanted to. I wanted to find out what happens to Nagumo, Yue, Shea, Tio, Miyu, and Kaori (and to a lesser extent the classmates too). Basically, Arifureta Season 1 had a great setup with solid world-building, great characters, and an interesting plot and premise. It’s an isekai with an overpowered main character yes, but unlike your Kirito’s or Rimuru’s, Nagumo basically was a wimp who had to go through unimaginable tragedy to gain power. Now on his quest to beat the other Great Labyrinth’s and gain enough power to beat a mad God, you’d figure it was in order to save the world or something, but no it’s just to get back home to Japan. Nagumo does have a tsundere side where even though he pretends he doesn’t care about his classmates or this world they currently reside in, he does care. What I love about this season is that the action kicks up even more than before with several different fights that happen. They attain the power of three more labyrinths in this season, which I can only assume makes them all crazy powerful. There is also a massive conspiracy that happens in the royal capital that involves basically everyone, but if I get to into what happens in it then I ruin the fun. Needless to say there is a lot that happens, a lot of action, a lot of fast paced things and it sounds like I’m repeating myself but in a show like this I can’t go too much into what happens in the fights without ruining the fights. Anyways, I was pumped to watch Season 2 and am going to enjoy the rest of it as it continues. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 10/10 THE CASE STUDY OF VANITAS Well the first season of The Case Study of Vanitas may have happened in the summer, but this current season happened and the only reason it caught my attention was seeing this Jeanne X Vanitas in lists of "best couples of the year", so I caught one clip on YouTube, and was like.........I need to watch this show it seems hilarious. And then I had 24 episodes to go through this season, two seasons worth of an anime, and I loved every minute. The Case Study of Vanitas is a tale of two stories almost, the story of a vampire named Noe who was tasked by his teacher/father figure to find out more about the Book of Vanitas. And that of Vanitas, a human who uses the Book of Vanitas, something most vampires are terrified of to heal vampires that have been cursed. The reason that vampires are scared of this book is that all vampires are born under the Crimson Moon, however, there was one vampire by the name of Vanitas born under a Blue Moon and she was bullied relentlessly until she put a “curse” on vampire kind and said that her book would be able to steal a vampires true name. To steal a vampires true name is akin to killing that person, they become cursed and grow to have an uncontrollable bloodlust that leads them to attack random people until they become disfigured with the curse. Vanitas, the human, does not use the book that way however and uses it to do the opposite, it is able to uncover a cursed vampires true name and return it as well. Though he explains to Noe that if he must he will put a vampire to death in the way the book was designed if their curse is too far gone. They pursue this quest all throughout Paris and the French countryside, finding and curing those who are cursed. They meet several interesting characters during their journey, my favourites being Jeanne, a vampire whose job it is to kill both cursed vampires and humans and Roland, a paladin from the Church, tasked with hunting vampires. Jeanne’s stickler to the rules up until she meets with, deals with, then eventually falls in love with Vanitas is priceless; she is a tragic character and also one that is funny and enjoyable to watch. Roland on the other hand if a goofball who was dead serious about killing Noe and “saving” Vanitas from him until he saw how much they genuinely got along, then it confused him to the point that he decided to just observe and appreciate it. He becomes an interesting comedic relief character but also can be a serious aide to Vanitas and Noe. I don’t want to give away what happens in the last few episodes because it reveals a lot about the plot but I highly suggest watching this; also I didn’t go too in depth about their visit to the French countryside or other big plot points as it just ruins too much. The aesthetic is great, the art great, atmosphere great, characters are amazing, voice acting is top notch, and I may get into the manga to quench my need to know what happens next before Season 3. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – 10/10 SHE PROFESSED HERSELF PUPIL OF THE WISE MAN The story of a VRMMO that gets turned into real life, which now that I listen to it, I've heard that as a premise so many times now. Well, each one tends to have a different side premise and in this case it's the story of a VRMMO that's servers stop functioning so everyone that was playing has truly resigned to the fact that this is a real world now and that NPC's are real, the damage and suffering are real, etc. The thing about our main character is that, he a wizard named Danbilf, is one of the Nine Wise Men that protect their kingdom; problem being, he was messing around with a specialty mirror item to change his appearance just before the servers crashed and he went from grizzled old man to young girl. The king of the country (Danbilf's real world best friend) finds it hilarious that he's become this little girl that seems like just the type Danbilf thought was cute. Problem is, after the servers went down, the Wise Men scattered and now the kingdom is in danger; with only 2 of the 9 around, Solomon sends out Danbilf to find the others; he's given one condition though, he has to go by the name Mira and say that she is the pupil of Danbilf and not the man himself. It's from this point forward that Mira goes on several different adventures in an effort to find the other Wise Men, not actually finding any during the series but coming close, and I'm sure she does/will in the manga or if they do another season but it was a very fun show to watch. The characters are designed nice, the show is beautifully coloured, the voice acting is fantastic, all of the stuff that makes a great show is there and I do hope for a second season. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 9/10 THE STRONGEST SAGE WITH THE WEAKEST CREST Strongest Sage With The Weakest Crest is a typical reincarnation story, so not an isekai persay, just a great sage named Gaius who reincarnated several times over his life to try and receive one of the four crests that he desired. He managed to receive all of them several times, but finally reincarnated himself into a boy named Mattias who would grow up to have the crest he wanted. However, it was deemed as the Crest of Failure during this current age; the reason being is that between Gaius' death and reincarnation demon's managed to weasel their way into the human world and weaken them by putting shackles of good crests, deeming them failures, by teaching humans that wordless spellcasting was terrible, and more. These are things that Mattias finds out during his first few weeks at his new academy. Along with his love interest Lurie, her best friend Alma, and Iris the Black Dragon, they set out across the country to save their kingdom from the demon menace. They power up and learn more and more about just how deep the rabbit hole has gone about the demon corruption in their country. It's a show that is just for simple enjoyment is what I found, something I'd like to see more of but won't be sad if I don't. RECOMMENDED - 7.5/10 THE IRREGULAR AT MAGIC HIGH SCHOOL: REMINISCENCE ARC OVA If you ever wanted to know the story of what Miyuki and Tatsuya were like prior to the events of Irregular at Magic High School Season One, this is a solid OVA. It basically just explains what things were like when the two of them were young and there was one surprising thing; Miyuki was scared of and hated Tatsuya. She didn't see him as a brother or even just her bodyguard, just merely a scary person that she disliked a lot. Considering her adoration, to an almost sexual desire, of Tatsuya during the regular events of Irregular at Magic High School you might wonder just what the hell happened. Well long story short, saving Miyuki and their mother's life, Miyuki finding out why Tatsuya has no emotions except for her after what their mother did, everything that happened. That's part of the reason Miyuki grew so attached to Tatsuya. It's nice to kind of get a background into just how Tatsuya became the way he is and Miyuki the way she is. RECOMMENDED - 8/10 (A MUST FOR IRMHS FANS THOUGH) |
AuthorThere's not much to say about me other than I'm an avid gamer, comic reader, sports fan, etc. just passionate about things I love. Archives
October 2022
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