Lurker > Robazoid

https://archipelago.gg/room/vrwSllMkS8usZF6MNqpZbA

There's the async, have fun everyone! Remember to refresh the room if you play at odd hours because it goes dormant after awhile if no one is playing.

As for me, there's apparently a problem with HK at the moment and we need to download the latest files from a pinned message on that channel in the Archipelago discord. I tried doing that but it still won't let me connect. Hopefully this is something I can figure out and not a problem with the world I generated and uploaded. Let me know if anyone else has errors with their games.

Here's the current list, we'll start in about eleven hours and twenty minutes! There's still time if anyone else wants to join.

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Reg (SMW)
3- Reg (OOT)
4- MrSmartGuy (Pokemon)
5- MrSmartGuy (LTTP)
6- Alchav (Pokemon)
7- Elina (OOT)
8- Elina (Pokemon)
9- Rose (HK)
10- Rose (LTTP)
11- KommunistKoala (SMW)
12- AriaOfBolo (Pokemon)
13- Lolo (HK)
14- Lolo (???)
15- Lolo (???)
16- Lolo (???)
17- JeffreyRaze (LTTP)
18- JeffreyRaze (SMW)
19- Mewtwo (OOT)
20- Mewtwo (Pokemon)

Now taking sign-ups for the next async on January 14th! I also forgot to mention here, but they added another new game (Lufia 2: Ancient Cave). Start telling me yaml settings or sending them to me if you want to participate

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)

We've had some good progress in every game so far, but only Lolo's SMW is finished. I have about 17 more actual checks in my Hollow Knight, mostly locked behind shade cloak or in the Abyss.

https://archipelago.gg/room/PTEFDX2hQfqfAr0ZhVqirw

There's the room link. Remember that it'll go dormant after two hours of inactivity, but all you need to do is refresh the room link page and then you can play again.

Let me know if you have any problems with those download patch files or with connecting. This is my first time hosting a game that I generated myself rather than using the website. I apologize if there are any issues!

Otherwise, have fun everyone.

We'll start in about fourteen and a half hours! Since we're over twenty games, I'll need to generate the game myself and then upload it to the website (website has a 20 game limit). I've tested this and it seemed to work. Hopefully there are no problems

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Chrono007 (SMZ3) some changes
3- KommunistKoala (SMW) yaml received
4- KommunistKoala (Pokemon) yaml received
5- RoseChevalier (LTTP) yaml received
6- RoseChevalier (SM64) yaml received
7- AriaOfBolo (Pokemon) yaml received
8- Reg (LTTP) yaml received
9- Reg (Pokemon) yaml received
10- Mewtwo (Pokemon) yaml received
11- Elina (LTTP) yaml received
12- Elina (OOT) yaml received
13- HBJDubs (SMW) yaml received
14- mask1n (Pokemon) yaml received
15- JeffRaze (Timespinner) yaml received
16- JeffRaze (LTTP) yaml received
17- MrSmartGuy (Pokemon) yaml received
18- MrSmartGuy (LTTP) yaml received
19- Lolo (???) yaml received
20- Lolo (???) yaml received
21- Lolo (???) yaml received

The list for December 3rd continues to grow! (Elina is a friend of Rose's who joined in the discord server, for anyone who doesn't recognize the name)

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Chrono007 (SMZ3) some changes
3- KommunistKoala (SMW) yaml received
4- KommunistKoala (Pokemon) yaml received
5- RoseChevalier (LTTP) yaml received
6- RoseChevalier (SM64) yaml received
7- AriaOfBolo (Pokemon) yaml received
8- Reg (LTTP) yaml received
9- Reg (Pokemon) yaml received
10- Mewtwo (Pokemon) yaml received
11- Elina (LTTP) yaml received
12- Elina (OOT) yaml received
----
13- HBJDubs (???) will send reminder on Friday if necessary

Here's the list so far

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Chrono007 (SMZ3) some changes
3- KommunistKoala (SMW) yaml received
4- RoseChevalier (LTTP) yaml received
5- RoseChevalier (SM64) yaml received
6- AriaOfBolo (Pokemon) yaml received
7- Reg (LTTP) yaml received
8- Reg (Pokemon) yaml received
----
9- HBJDubs (???) will send reminder on Friday if necessary

I mostly nominated it because Max from the video game Life is Strange thinks its one of the best sci-fi films ever made, but I remember enjoying Spirits Within myself too! Granted it came out when I was a kid and I haven't seen it since then, but, still. It really was a technical marvel when it came out, and one bit of the ending managed to stick with me all these years when the main guy says he finally believes, right before sacrificing himself. It wasn't super amazing or anything, but I think it gets too much flak just because people blame it for killing the old Square.

Anyway, glad you watched it! I'll try to think of another movie

By popular demand due to the new games, out next async is on December 3rd! Start sending me yamls or letting me know about setting changes.

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)

I started watching and got caught up on Gundam: Witch from Mercury. It's okay so far, I guess, but I have one complaint that probably shouldn't bother me as much as it does. I'll spoiler tag it. Spoilers as of episode 7 I guess, but I don't reference any actual plot events, this is just about an overall character relationship.

The one thing I'd heard about this before I started it was that it had a potential yuri relationship. I am very disappointed to see it doesn't actually have one at all. Neither of the main girls are even hinting at being seriously interested in each other. One of them has even already fallen for a dude in the lamest way possible. Normally this wouldn't bother me, I mean the only anime that actually have yuri are the ones that come right out and say they have it. I'm just really not liking the constant teasing "you're my bride/groom, look at us being cute with at each other in the OP and ED, when you check the Gundam subreddit you only need to scroll down a few posts before finding yuri fanart of us gazing longingly at each other" and meanwhile the show is a straight-as-an-arrow harem dating sim where the main girl is more likely to get with any of several dudes than she is with her supposed bride.

I didn't know it existed until just recently! I'll probably watch it at some point soon

I definitely won't say it's as good as the anime series, but I thought the Laid-Back Camp movie was fine. Watching the characters hang out was more than enough for me. I accepted the need for a bit of drama just to give the movie some structure, too. Plus it wasn't super dramatic drama. I would've hated it if the girls had a big fight or if Chikuwa died of old age or something like that.

The biggest problem with it was that it wasn't like the future Nadeshiko imagined in the first season (the one where she was a billionaire CEO of a company that revolutionized camping and she showed up in a flying tent)

EDIT: Also I imagine the MAL score will drop over time. The only people who've watched it so far are the super-fans like me who gave it a 10 just for not sucking.

Laid-Back Camp movie is out on Crunchy. I watched it. It was very laid-back and nice.

Thanks for the manga info, everyone. So far I've found quite a few things to read on a certain website someone from here had told me about awhile ago. It seems safe (I've read a few chapters of Yotsuba&! there so far, at least). It doesn't have everything, but there's more than enough to get me started! If I start becoming a big manga fiend, maybe then I'll start looking into more physical stuff.

Speaking of Yotsuba&!, I'm sad the author is dead-set against it ever getting an anime because I think it would be fun as an anime.

https://archipelago.gg/room/SpafDu6cRBS93QCCgr8UbA

There's the room, have fun everyone! Remember to refresh it if you play at odd times because it goes idle after two hours of inactivity.

The cutoff is roughly nine hours from now

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- MrSmartGuy (LTTP) yaml received
3- MrSmartGuy (Slay the Spire) yaml received
4- Reg (SM64) yaml received
5- JeffreyRaze (Timespinner) yaml received
6- JeffreyRaze (LTTP) yaml received
7- AriaOfBolo (LTTP) yaml received
8- Lolo (Super Metroid) yaml received
9- Lolo (Hollow Knight) yaml received

I was at the bookstore today with my mother because her birthday is coming up so she was picking out presents. I spent a long time glancing through the manga aisle, and I figured it was finally time I gave reading one a shot! The last time I showed interest in manga some nice people gave me some links, but I like having something physical in my hands, at least for these first few to see if I even enjoy the medium.

I got the first volume of The Demon Girl Next Door, because I've seen the anime so it'll be a good test. I also randomly chose the first volume of A School Frozen in Time because it sounded neat. I've literally never read a manga before, despite how much anime I've watched, so I'm kind of excited.

I'm taking sign-ups for the next async on November 12th. Archipelago will likely be updating soon (on their discord, someone on October 26th said it would come out 'soon'), and it'll include some new games, but for all I know that could still be weeks away so I don't want to wait for it. If there's a lot of interest in any of the new games when they release, maybe we can have another async! For now, either send me yamls or let me know your changes if you're interested.

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)

Bump again

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80212771

There's the new topic, feel free to fill this one up with nonsense. As always, thanks again for following along, everyone!

Demon Girl Next Door might not be a romance, but there's nothing wrong with shipping Shamiko and Momo!

Anyway, just a warning to everyone, I might need to take a few days off soon. Whenever I picked something to rewatch, I often chose a 10, 9, or high 8 rather than a low 8 or a 7/10. This has finally become a problem. There are a bunch of anime coming up in the next few days that I still need to rewatch. I literally just finished 66 and 65 today. Both 62 and 61 have two seasons I still need to get to, then 59 has one season. Thankfully, the next one I need to watch after that is 49, followed by 38. (These are all tentative rankings that might shift around once I've rewatched them).

In short, I might need to take a day or two to finish the ones coming right up. Once I get past this bottleneck, however, it'll be smooth sailing! I'll do 66 and 65 on Monday, 64 and 63 on Tuesday, and then I'll see where I'm at. I apologize for having to do this. I didn't watch as much as I intended to these last few weekends.

67. D-Frag
https://myanimelist.net/anime/20031/D-Frag
Winter 2014 (12 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.52/10
Best Character: Shibasaki Roka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9I21T1LgAw

Premise: Kazama Kenji, a high school delinquent, finds out that hes no match for the Game Development Club. The clubs eccentric girls, including Shibasaki Roka, coerce him to join.

The Good: D-Frag is a comedy anime about the Game Development Club. Its an offshoot from another club of the same name that takes things a lot more seriously. Roka and the others were so insane that they didnt fit in over there, so they broke off and made their own. The humor in this is over-the-top and often meanspirited, which describes a lot of comedy anime I ranked in the 4/10s (Konosuba, Sabagebu, etc). However, D-Frag handled it in a way that I really liked. For as crazy as things could get, it all worked because Kazama was such an effective straight man. Lots of times there were wacky things happening while he shouted punchlines, and I enjoyed those gags a lot. Roka was my favorite character because of her fire attacks and darkness elements, but I also really liked Takao, president of the real Game Development Club.

The Bad: I unfortunately couldnt rewatch this because its still on Funimation. I dont remember it doing anything terrible. Theres a chance it deserves to rank slightly higher, but, since I couldnt refresh my memory on it, I dont know for sure. I do remember that one of the board games they played was about space pornography, and I was disappointed to learn that it isnt a real thing because it was amazing. I wanted to play it.

Overall: D-Frag was a hilariously over-the-top anime about a wacky club. Kazama was a great straight man for the zanier characters like Roka to play off of. The style of humor used in this isnt usually my favorite thing, but D-Frag handled it so well that I wound up enjoying it a lot.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
66: This anime failed to take over the brain.
C100: This character has been talking to their right hand.
65: This anime is on the run after a failed assassination.
C6: This character trains in their dreams.

68. The Demon Girl Next Door
https://myanimelist.net/anime/39071/Machikado_Mazoku
Summer 2019 (12 episodes), Spring 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.65/10 S1, 7.89/10 S2
Best Character: Yoshida Shamiko Yuuko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCBdGYf06kQ

Premise: Yoshida Yuuko wakes up morning having suddenly grown horns and a tail. It turns out her family is descended from the Dark Clan, and shell need to defeat the local magical girl from the Light Clan to remove a curse on their bloodline. The only problem is, Yuuko is super weak!

The Good: The Demon Girl Next Door is a comedy about an ineffectual demon girl trying to defeat a super-powerful magic girl. Yuuko (who decides to go by Shadow Mistress Yuuko, which is shortened against her will to Shamiko) has grown horns and a tail, but otherwise her transformation didnt bring any special powers. Momo, meanwhile, was strong enough to save the world once, and now she just wants to live a normal life. A lot of scenes involve Shamiko trying to challenge Momo to a duel of some sort, even though she has zero chance of winning. Momo, taking pity on her rival/friend, usually ends up training Shamiko as an excuse for them to hang out. The two of them have a fun dynamic, but I thought this anime improved a lot once the supporting cast grew, especially in the second season. I enjoyed all the scenarios that used different combinations of fun characters like Shamikos statue with the spirit of her ancestor, her supportive younger sister Ryouko, magical girl Mikan who is cursed with bad luck, and so on.

The Bad: I thought the first season became a little repetitive. Too much of it was Shamiko trying to challenge Momo to a duel and getting tricked somehow. Like I said above, though, that became less of an issue later in the first season as the supporting cast grew. The second season was also a huge improvement that focused more on the lore of the town and Shamikos powers, so I enjoyed it a lot more. Still, that weak half of the first season held this ranking back a bit.

Overall: The Demon Girl Next Door is a fun anime about how sworn enemies wind up becoming friends. The setting has surprisingly deep lore with various fantastical people and things that happened there in the past. The best parts about this were the various comedic situations that arose with different combinations of characters. The Momo/Shamiko friendship was great too, as Ill cover in the character write-up below. The only thing holding this back was that I thought parts of the first season were repetitive and weak, but, even then, it wasnt terrible.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/1/3/AABz_zAADz05.jpg

CHARACTER: Yoshida Shamiko Yuuko (The Demon Girl Next Door)
https://myanimelist.net/character/170466/Yuuko_Yoshida
Voiced by: Kohara Konomi
TOP 100 RANK: 70th

SPOILERS FOR THE DEMON GIRL NEXT DOOR

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_91veZybkA4

When Yuuko woke up one morning with demonic horns and an expressive tail (its a ton of fun watching that thing move in various scenes, its like a window into her mood), she was given a mission to end the curse that has plagued her family. All she needed to do is defeat a magical girl. Thankfully, she met one right away when Momo saved her from being hit by a truck.

Shamiko has low strength, low stamina, and somehow even less magical power. The only ability she gets early on is to change forms in a crisis, but her new clothes are a skimpy outfit seemingly meant for a succubus. They mostly just embarrass Shamiko, and any increase in power seems marginal at best. Momo, meanwhile, can transform so fast theres a timer in the corner of the screen counting the nanoseconds. She stops a speeding truck. She catches an entire tray of dropped food before any of it hits the ground. Their difference in power couldnt be greater.

Luckily, Momo takes pity on her enemy and mostly just wants to be friends. I love the dynamic between them, even if I thought too many of their early interactions were Shamiko challenging Momo to a duel only to get tricked. Shamiko plays up her demonic persona a lot. She really tries to be evil. Shes just really, really bad at it. It turns out that a lot of her demonic powers work on the subconscious. She can enter peoples dreams and wield some powerful weapons when shes in there. Shamiko mostly uses this to help people, which flabbergasts Momo when she learns of it because she can come up with dozens of evil uses for the ability without even thinking about it.

Over time, Shamiko becomes enamored with the idea of turning Momo into her vassal. Momo isnt even fully against the idea, except it would mean limiting herself to much less magical power. The two begin helping each other through various situations, even though they should be enemies. Momo temporarily falls to darkness a few times without hesitation. Shamiko pledges to help protect the town to take some of the strain off Momo. My favorite part of The Demon Girl Next Door was all the zany situations that came up with the large cast of characters. Still, the growing friendship between Shamiko and Momo was always an important core of the story.

I'd rather post a full list at the start of the next topic (which should begin around the top 60 or 50 or so), but I just finished updating my ranking spreadsheet! The full list is available on the first tab.

Ranking: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T2EPEpQ4K17ZP_HXtYfm5uGTWG9I8_gI5AixegBRto8/edit?usp=sharing

I liked Mieruko-chan a lot. It rarely scared me personally, but I found it fascinating to watch the story of a girl living in a real-life horror movie where she wasn't allowed to flinch at any of the jumpscares.

Yeah I'm going to have to skip today as I feared. I'll be back with more write-ups tomorrow! My apologies, everyone.

The Little Lies We All Tell episode two was great, and Do It Yourself and Bocchi the Rock are both still good.

But, god damn, Raven of the Inner Palace ep 4 blew them all out of the water. It's such a beautiful anime in so many different ways. I love the way it's blending the supernatural with real, emotionally human stories. It has drama but not melodrama. It's great so far. If it stays even remotely as good as it has been, it'll be my anime of the year (granted only Birdie Wing is really competition on that front since Summer sucked and I've only seen two anime from Winter).

I just watched my 5000th anime episode! It was episode 3 of Do It Yourself, which is a massive upgrade from my 2500th episode (which was one of the Brave Witches episodes). This is all according to MAL, which counts everything as an episode and doesn't include any rewatches.

Now I begin my long journey to 10000.

Thanks for the input, Martin. I'll keep doing it how I've been doing then, but I'll definitely be mindful about spoilers at the start or end of a paragraph.

MacArrowny posted...

You should've mentioned the music IMO. It has one of the best OSTs of any anime.

I'm usually bad at remembering music unless it's super terrible or super amazing. You are right though, the OST in Scorching Ping Pong Girls definitely enhances the experience. I rewatched the video I linked for the character write-up with music in mind and it's neat how it keeps changing with the mood of the scene.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
76: This anime feels like a loser because it still plays with dolls.
C51: This character is wearing the clothes of a character from a different anime.
75: This anime is sinking deep underwater.
C75: This character doesnt know how to swim.
C8: This character introduced themselves with a whistle.

Tomorrow is our first day with three characters, oh boy. Also my first top ten character (the previous highest revealed so far is Hanekawa at 13). That's another anime/character ranking matchup at 75, too! I swear I didn't set up any of those on purpose.

I posted the character write-up for Scorching Ping Pong Girls the way I already have been today because that isn't the kind of anime with huge spoilers, but I'm still open to ideas on how to avoid accidentally spoiling people if anyone else has thoughts on it. Some of my favorites have some real awesome spoilers and I'd hate to accidentally ruin that for anyone.

77. Scorching Ping Pong Girls
https://myanimelist.net/anime/33031/Shakunetsu_no_Takkyuu_Musume
Fall 2016 (12 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.06/10
Best Character: Tsumujikaze Koyori

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LDe0g0A1Tk

Premise: Kamiya Agari dreams of leading her schools ping pong team to Nationals. Then a new student joins, and Tsumujikaze Koyoris passion and skill threatens Agaris position as team ace.

The Good: Scorching Ping Pong Girls is a cute girls sports anime. My favorite part about it is how it adds almost fantastical powers to a real-world sport. Nothing they do is impossible, but its stylized to the point where one player freezes time to calculate optimal trajectories. Another has their backspin represented as a whirlwind forcing the ball to the side. Its always fun to watch. Even though I know nothing about ping pong, SPPG also does a good job explaining the intricacies and lots of little techniques. Watching them learn how to use forehand smashes vs backhand, or how different rubber on the racket impacts the ball, is always neat. The cute girls have some surprisingly intense matches. Ill talk more about Koyori below, but shes the kind of energetic character I love. Its neat how she manages to bring out the best in her opponents.

The Bad: This tells a fine story with what time it has, but this really needed additional seasons. While anime telling only part of a story and then urging viewers to head to the source material is nothing unique, Scorching Ping Pong Girls handled it in a particularly clumsy way that left it feeling incomplete. The last few episodes continue introducing new rivals with no resolution to them. The final episode even has a montage of unique teams Ill never see. Its disappointing.

Overall: Scorching Ping Pong Girls is a great cute girls sports anime. If it had been given another season or two, I really think itd be seen as one of the standouts in that subgenre. As it stands, I just need to content myself with the one good season we received. Koyori is a wonderful character, and her relentless enthusiasm definitely made my heart race!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/3/2/AABz_zAADyOE.jpg

CHARACTER: Tsumujikaze Koyori (Scorching Ping Pong Girls)
https://myanimelist.net/character/139364/Koyori_Tsumujikaze
Voiced by: Hanamori Yumiri
TOP 100 RANK: 65th

SPOILERS FOR SCORCHING PING PONG GIRLS

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkbCQz_6bfE

Tsumujikaze Koyori is a new addition to the ping pong team. She gets attention early on when its revealed that she reached prefectural semifinals at her old school. The best the teams current ace ever managed was city quarterfinals. Agari, who until this point lived for the adulation of being the best, is immediately terrified. For her part, though, Koyori isnt trying to steal the limelight or knock anyone down. Her passionate love for the game is all about bringing out the best in whoever she faces, because thats what makes her own heart race.

Koyori is amazingly shy most of the time, usually cowering behind Agari and communicating just as much with her expressive pigtails as she does with her stammering voice. However, once she starts playing ping pong, and especially once she starts feeling the doki doki of an intense match, the real Koyori comes out. She has a broad skillset that lets her counter others no matter their strength. Its fun watching her break down an opponents previously unbeatable strategy, forcing them to find something new and gain a new appreciation for the game in the process.

I like how genuine of a person she is. Theres an arc in the middle of the season where, when questioned by an opponent, Koyori begins to wonder why she plays ping pong at all. She soon realizes there doesnt need to be some grand meaning behind it. Koyoris heart races when shes fighting a strong opponent, and she dedicates herself to making their heart race too. Thats all there needs to be.

Her final match point against that opponent, Kururi, is the video I chose for this. Kururi had just been using the same unbeatable shot over and over. Then Koyori finally managed to beat it, and, after a bit of panicked soul-searching, Kururi finally tries something new. Koyori manages to counter that too, but Kururi still comes out of the match loving ping pong even more than she did when she had one boring, unbeatable shot. I think that perfectly encapsulates the kind of person Koyori is. Win or lose, shell bring out the best in her opponent. That video also showcases the wonderful visuals Scorching Ping Pong Girls used for the matches, which I enjoyed a lot.

Dang, I'm sad to hear MHA falls off so hard. I thought S3 was weak but it wasn't terrible. I'd hoped it would recover, not get worse!

78. My Hero Academia
https://myanimelist.net/anime/31964/Boku_no_Hero_Academia
Spring 2016 (13 episodes), Spring 2017 (25 episodes), Spring 2018 (25 episodes), Fall 2019 (0/25 episodes, unfinished), Spring 2021 (0/25 episodes, unfinished)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.92/10 S1, 8.14/10 S2, 8.07/10 S3, 7.93/10 S4, 7.42/10 S5
Best Character: Midoriya Izuku

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1FdEBTJXus

Premise: Despite how much he wants to be a hero, Midoriya Izuku has no superpowers. Then he meets All Might, the greatest hero of them all, and Izuku finally gets a chance to prove himself.

The Good: My Hero Academia is a superpowered battle anime that mostly follows one class in a hero training school. Izuku is the main character and hes easily my favorite, but a big draw is the large cast of zany characters with even zanier powers. Theres gravity-manipulating Uraraka, explosive Bakugou, frog girl Froppy and those are just the heroes! There are just as many villains going up against them, each with a unique ability that must be approached in a unique way. Since he spent most of his life idolizing superheroes but having no powers of his own, Izuku focused on researching superpowers and coming up with counters. This makes a lot of battles fun, because while he receives All Mights super strength very early on, Izuku doesnt have the strength to safely wield it yet. He needs to approach each battle smartly if he wants to win, and Im a big fan of fights where theres more going on than just hit the guy really hard.

The Bad: I still havent started the fourth season or beyond of MHA, and I havent rewatched anything for this write-up so my memories arent fresh. Thats mostly just because its such a huge commitment, though. Its 113 episodes not even counting the sixth season that just started airing. I mostly just remember that the first and second seasons elevated MHA into my favorites, and then the third season had some problems with pacing and plotting that made it not as good. It might just be because I watched that one while it was airing, though. MHA is the kind of show I prefer to binge. Sorry I cant give more concrete bad feelings. When it came to ranking this anime, I just felt kinda meh about it, but I still remembered enough good things to slot it in here.

Overall: My Hero Academia is an awesome superhero anime. Im not the biggest fan of superhero media, Ive only seen like two Marvel movies, but this anime still easily managed to win me over. Izuku is a friendly and relatable protagonist, and his power is strong enough to be useful while still having limitations that make his battles genuinely tense. The rest of the cast, whether theyre a friend or a foe, all have interesting powers too. I had some problems with the third season, but mostly Im just waiting until more episodes pile up so I can binge them all at once.

I decided to check out Raven in the Inner Palace. I spoke too soon about that Lies anime being my favorite of the season. Raven is definitely a contender. I love supernatural historical stuff like this. The stories in the first three episodes have all been genuinely compelling on their own and full of world-building when taken as a whole. The Raven Consort and the Emperor are both good characters too. My only complaint so far is that I swear all the non-emperor guys look exactly alike and I can't tell them apart at all. I kind of wish I'd continued ignoring this until the end of the season because I really want to watch more right now.

Anyway, I wanted to watch at least ten non-sequel shows each season, but I'm stuck at eight. I just can't bring myself to start any of the isekai or romance ones, not until they're finished and I can hear whether they suck or not. I do plan on watching Chainsaw Man and that Gundam Mercury one once they're finished, so I guess this season ranking will have to do for now. My Master Has No Tail is the only crappy one so far, and even it's at least a 3/10 because tanuki girl is still cute. The farming anime is somehow managing to not suck but I wouldn't call it good. Akiba Maid War ep 2 was a letdown but I'm still hopeful it'll go interesting places. Everything above that is varying degrees of good to great so far.

Raven of the Inner Palace (3 eps)
The Little Lies We All Tell (1 ep)
Do It Yourself (2 eps)
Management of a Novice Alchemist (2 eps)
Bocchi the Rock (2 eps)
Akiba Maid War (2 eps)
I've Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills (3 eps)
My Master Has No Tail (1 ep, not caught up on it)

NFUN posted...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=16CKjELxHhg

Thanks for linking to this, by the way! It was great. Columbo is a better detective than L confirmed

COMING UP TOMORROW:
78: This anime has no special powers whatsoever.
77: This anime couldnt reach the top of the ranking to become the ace.
C65: This character wanted to make everyones hearts race.

79. Steins;Gate
https://myanimelist.net/anime/9253/Steins_Gate
Spring 2011 (24 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 9.08/10
Best Character: Makise Kurisu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd7BILZcYAY

Premise: Okabe Rintarou thinks of himself as a mad scientist, but his latest invention does more than even he imagined. After accidentally sending a text message into the past, the future hangs in the balance.

The Good: Steins;Gate is a sci-fi drama about an eccentric scientist who accidentally discovers time travel. Im a huge fan of time travel in all its forms, and this anime explores a lot of neat things with it. Okabe and his friends are unwittingly at the center of a pivotal moment in history. How it all plays out will have huge ramifications on the future. Theres a shady organization thats after them, a supposed time traveler posting online, and their own efforts to test the limits of their D-mail machine, and its all interesting. Okabe is an okay protagonist, but my favorites were Kurisu (as Ill cover below) and Mayuri, who only just missed my top 100 characters.

The Bad: I first read the Steins;Gate visual novel years ago, and I think it was a lot better than the anime. Dont get me wrong, the anime is good, but it doesnt have the alternate endings and it cant replicate the VNs pacing. Otherwise, while I like Okabe overall, hes still the biggest problem in Steins;Gate. I would like this so much more if he were a little bit smarter. Hell send a D-mail into the past to test something, then everyone starts acting funny about the thing he was specifically trying to test and it still takes him a stupidly long time to realize that, hey, maybe the timeline has changed. That was the thing you were testing, Okabe! It gets annoying at times.

Overall: Steins;Gate is an excellent time travel story. I preferred the visual novel, and both versions run into some problems where Okabe is being an idiot, but those flaws are minor in comparison to its strengths. The plot is intelligent, and the twists make sense. The cast is all great too, even Okabe whenever he isnt being dumb. Mayuri and Kurisu are both top-tier, but only one of them made it into my top 100 characters.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/4/0/AABz_zAADyE0.png

CHARACTER: Makise Kurisu (Steins;Gate)
https://myanimelist.net/character/34470/Kurisu_Makise
Voiced by: Imai Asami
TOP 100 RANK: 59th

SPOILERS FOR STEINS;GATE

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_VDWZkBYbo

The video is a bit long, but it covers lots of reasons to like Kurisu. I wont bother repeating all the times she was supportive or hilarious in her frequent playful conflicts with Okabe. For so much of Steins;Gate, the viewer is focused on how to save Mayuri. Shes the one we see die over and over, and the one Okabe agonizes over how to save. With all that trauma and chaos across the world-lines, its easy to forget the first big change they made from the initial timeline. Kurisu was stabbed in that first timeline, and now it appears Okabe will need to return to it. Effectively, he needs to make a choice about which of the girls to save.

Mayuri is his childhood best friend, and he cant stand the trauma of losing her again, but over the course of the story hes also fallen in love with Kurisu for all the reasons stated in that video. She often seemed annoyed by him, but she liked Okabe a lot more than she let on. And now, the moment theyve both realized it, she has to die. Steins;Gate does such a good job making the viewer care about both characters that Mayuri vs Kurisu is a legitimately agonizing choice for us as well as Okabe. Luckily, Kurisu helps make the choice easier. She encourages Okabe to go back to how things were, and thats what he ultimately does. I really like that about Kurisu. It takes a lot of strength to take a leap into the unknown that might end in your death, but shes mature enough to know it has to be done so she strives to make it as easy on Okabe as possible.

Its heartbreaking watching Kurisu die and that heartbreak is what makes the actual ending so satisfying. Another Okabe from that timelines future, one who went through these events yet could never accept them, has found a way to save her. I love the creative use of time travel here, where Okabe changes the whole situation without changing what his past self saw of it. He uses his own blood to make it look like an unconscious Kurisu was stabbed, which preserves the events of the timeline. Then things can move forward towards a brighter future, one without SERN and one where both Mayuri and Kurisu survive. And then it ends with the two of them finding each other again, as if their love transcended time itself. Im a sucker for that kind of stuff, so the ending of Steins;Gate was amazing.

First episode of The Little Lies We All Tell was really good! Not sure how much it'll appeal to everyone (the current 6.56 ranking on MAL isn't the best sign) but I enjoyed it a lot. If it maintains that level of quality, it'll easily be my anime of the season. The only real competition there so far is Do It Yourself, though. I thought the second episode of Akiba Maid War was super meh.

80. Death Note
https://myanimelist.net/anime/1535/Death_Note
Fall 2006 (37 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 8.62/10
Best Character: Yagami Light

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdGOV8FX6F4
(Sorry for the ancient video, but it was either this or one that was 60 FPS)

Premise: Gifted highschooler Yagami Light finds a mysterious notebook on the ground. It turns out to be a Death Note with the power to kill anyone, and Light begins using it to kill criminals.

The Good: Death Note is a psychological thriller about the battle of wits between Light, wielder of the Death Note, and the various people in law enforcement attempting to capture the person behind a supernatural killing spree. His main foe is a masterful detective known only as L, and he and Light quickly zero in on each other and begin enacting schemes to come out on top. I really enjoyed their psychological duel. The supernatural aspects of the setting were also neat. The various rules and abilities that came with the Death Note kept things interesting, and they were always set up in advance, so nothing felt like random or unjustified. A lot of the supporting cast is great too, including Ryuk, Misa, and most of the police detectives.

The Bad: Im one of the many people who thinks Death Note becomes terrible towards the end. I cant talk about it much here because it involves a lot of spoilers, but the final arc of the anime is awful. Death Note was the first anime I ever watched, over a decade before I watched any others, and the ending bugged me the first time. It bugged me even more when I rewatched it a few years ago. That time I knew what was coming and looked for any foreshadowing that might help justify it. There wasnt anything. The ending of Death Note simply sucks.

Overall: Death Note is still a unique and creative anime with a lot of awesome moments, but the ending sours it a lot for me. This show had pulled out so many intelligent gambits, and for it to stumble so many times towards the end is such a letdown. Light is still great, as Ill cover below. Still, if I ever rewatch this again I know exactly what episode Im going to stop on.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/6/1/AABz_zAADyCB.jpg

CHARACTER: Yagami Light (Death Note)
https://myanimelist.net/character/80/Light_Yagami
Voiced by: Miyano Mamoru
TOP 100 RANK: 69th

SPOILERS FOR DEATH NOTE

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iakNquyYQwA

Im sure plenty of people over the years have written about Death Note and Light a lot more thoroughly and intelligently than Id ever manage. Since I didnt rewatch this for the ranking, I wont try to summarize every plot point. Ill just talk about one of the big reasons why I like Light as a character. Ive always been a fan of amnesia in fiction. I find it endlessly interesting to compare how a person was versus how they are without their memories. A courageous person can become cowardly after a lifetime of being beaten down, for example, but without those memories holding them back their true self can resurface. Its an interesting way to examine a character and the impact of nature vs nurture on how they came to be.

In one of his many gambits against L, Light utilizes amnesia. He disavows ownership of the Death Note and loses all memories of ever having owned it. He does this partly to prove his innocence, because he planted a false rule that an owner of the Death Note would die if they didnt use it to kill someone every thirty days (I really hope Im remembering that right). Still, it was a risky plan, and thats what made it so amazing. Light needed to perfectly predict what every single person would do over a long period of time, including the equally intelligent and unpredictable L. One of the people whose actions he needed to predict was also himself. It was so awesome watching this all play out the first time, never quite knowing what Lights plan was.

Without his memories, Light begins earnestly helping the investigation team. It was interesting to see the kind of person he couldve been if he never came across that cursed notebook. Light couldve truly been a force for good in the world, and all of that is shown here. Thats what makes it such a tragedy when that side of him dies the second he touches the notebook again. His memories return, and theres no battle between good and evil within his psyche. The good in him is gone forever and only Kira remains. That whole memory arc is still one of the best things Ive ever seen in fiction. It examined Light from so many interesting angles. I just with the final arc with Near had been even half as good. Maybe then the ending wouldnt suck.

Pretty much everyone is finished now! Here's the spoiler log. Thanks again for participating, everyone. I had fun.

https://archipelago.gg/dl_spoiler/vx60WTsbSOGrxgJdp4kVdg

I'm thinking November 12th for the next one, but as always I can shift that around if another day works better for more people.

89. In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki
https://myanimelist.net/anime/50338/Kunoichi_Tsubaki_no_Mune_no_Uchi
Spring 2022 (13 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.18/10
Best Character: Tsubaki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vGjof0118M

Premise: In a remote mountain village, Tsubaki is one of many young girls training to become ninjas. They arent allowed any contact with men, but Tsubaki is starting to get strange feelings.

The Good: In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki is a cute girls comedy about a clan of ninja trainees. There are twenty or so different characters, and only a few of them get any real characterization. This is mostly a gag anime, though, so having a bunch of different archetypes is fun for all the jokes that come with them. Tsubaki is curious about men and often gets flustered whenever the topic comes up, but nobody has any real information so her attempts to learn more always end in hilarious misunderstandings. Otherwise, shes one of the most competent ninjas, which helps her keep track of the quirky characters who get in all sorts of trouble. The animation is surprisingly good. I wouldnt call this an action anime, but some of the mock battles look damn impressive. My favorite parts were all the jokes from the ninja training and their powers, like shapeshifting, weapons, traps, and the ability to jump super high. It was a fun setting full of fun characters.

The Bad: This anime doesnt do anything terrible. Its mostly held back by the basic characters. This is a gag anime, so character development and dramatic story arcs shouldnt be the focus. I still felt that there were too many characters for me to get attached to any of them. Even in other gag anime I can care about the cast and learn more about their relationships with each other. Aside from Tsubaki, no one in this really stood out beyond a good joke or two involving them.

Overall: In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki was a lot of fun for the ninja training antics. I also liked Tsubakis misadventures in trying to learn more about men. It was cute and innocent, and it gave her a nice driving goal without ever dominating things. A lot of the gags had nothing to do with men, after all, and she was the voice of reason in those. Then she could be funny too if the topic of men came up. There were a lot of nice character dynamics. Id have preferred it if some of them had more development, but overall this was a nice comedy anime about ninjas.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
88: This anime cant seem to get where its going.
C85: This character stayed up all night playing video games.
87: This anime is willingly turning itself into a servant.

90. Love Lab
https://myanimelist.net/anime/16353/Love_Lab
Summer 2013 (13 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.32/10
Best Character: Mizushima Sayori

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTgG8P6HeMc

Premise: The esteemed Fujisaki Girls Academy forbids romance, but some girls cant resist the allure. The student council, including the graceful Maki Natsuo and the wild Kurahashi Riko, begin researching romantic situations in secret.

The Good: Love Lab is a cute girls comedy about examining romantic cliches. Riko is viewed as the wild kid at her preppy middle school, but she desires love just as much as any other girl. When she catches the seemingly perfect Maki practicing kissing with a pillow, the two decide to team up to run what they call love labs to prepare for their future relationships. A lot of the humor comes from Maki, usually graceful and elegant, turning into a love-obsessed crazy person behind closed doors. She also lacks in common sense. When practicing the old bump into a cute boy on the street meet-cute trope, for example, she sprints around the corner at full speed because, logically, its a lot more romantic if one of them gets hurt and they need to tend to each other.

Riko is the more level-headed of the two, but she exaggerated her own romantic experiences when they first met and keeps digging herself deeper to keep up with that lie. Its a fun dynamic, and the other three student council members are a welcome part of it too. My favorite was Sayori because she always knew everyones secrets and liked to troll them. For an anime about girls practicing romance, theres also surprisingly not much yuri-baiting or fanservice in this. They all like boys, and their love labs are always innocent rather than lewd. Unlike a lot of cute girls anime where there are literally no boys anywhere, this also actually has a few side characters who are guys, which is nice.

The Bad: I mentioned above that Riko initially lied about her romantic experience, and that subplot is easily the weakest part of the show. She avoids every opportunity to come clean to Maki and the others no matter how many times she thinks that she should. Its given way too much focus, including a few full episodes, for something that really shouldnt be that big of a deal. I also want to mention that theres one short gag involving blackface. As a white Canadian, I didnt personally find it offensive (I actually really liked the joke. Riko opened the door, saw Maki in blackface, and then she closed the door immediately). It wasnt hard to find a bunch of twitter users who were angry about this, though, so I at least wanted to mention it!

Overall: Love Lab is a cute anime about girls practicing romance. All five of the main characters brought something fun to the dynamic, and I appreciated that it wasnt just a bunch of yuri teasing (though I did think a few times that all of their problems would be solved if they just got with each other). It really captured that innocent middle school age where people desire love but have no idea what it means or how to get it, and a lot of the jokes were legitimately hilarious.

91. Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness
https://myanimelist.net/anime/48779/Deaimon
Spring 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.59/10
Best Character: Matsukaze Kanoko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmxK3lbGkKE
(Couldnt find Op or ED, linked full OP song)

Premise: After a decade away, Irino Nagomu has returned to his familys sweets store. There he meets Yukihira Itsuka, a young girl abandoned there by her father who the family has taken in.

The Good: Deaimon is a slice-of-life about a goofy but good-natured guy doing his best to earn back his place at his familys store. The cast includes his grouchy father, more accepting mother, various coworkers, and of course Itsuka. She was left there by her dad but was taken in by the family, to the point where they consider her a daughter and heir to the store. There are small plots in each episode, but thankfully Deaimon never gets too melodramatic with them. Nagomu is such a good dude that he doesnt even care that Itsuka is heir rather than him. Hes been away in a band for a decade and doesnt know as much as her, so it makes sense. Instead of jealousy or rivalry, he dedicates himself to being a kind of surrogate father. Itsuka also isnt just some vapid cute girl (shes nothing like Yaeka from that awful Yakuza Babysitting show, for example). Shes more mature than Nagomu in a lot of ways and resists his efforts. Still, deep down, its clear that shes still a kid, and she comes to appreciate him. My favorite character was still Kanoko, Nagomus ex-girlfriend. They only broke up due to what turns out to be a mutual misunderstanding, so it was nice seeing them interact because they still got along. There was also a wary distance between them, though. It was a unique dynamic and I really liked it.

The Bad: There were a few individual episodes I didnt love, but those were harmless. I guess the biggest flaw would be the situation with Itsukas father. It makes sense that she thinks well of him because shes a traumatized kid who can only make sense of it by assuming he had a good reason for leaving her. I just wish the other characters talked about him like the scumbag he is.

Overall: Deaimon is a nice anime about a sweets shop where a good guy tries to be there for a little girl. Nagomu and Itsuka have some heartwarming interactions. The whole show is just full of good feelings and fun characters. I enjoyed watching it every week while it was airing.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
90: This anime was caught kissing a pillow.
89: This anime has never seen a man in its life.

(I really need to stop forgetting the tomorrow hints on weekends. I edited them in quick this time, at least!)

MacArrowny posted...

I mean, it has one 12 episode cour now, and another 12 episode cour in April. Not sure I'd call that a ton of episodes.

This is also the only Gundam that stars a female character, so I figured it'd appeal to you more than the others.

That was my mistake. I looked up that Iron Blooded Orphans one someone mentioned, saw it had 75 episodes on Crunchyroll, and assumed all Gundam shows were long. Of course it turns out I was just confused by Crunchy stupidly sorting dubs as separate episodes, so it's only 50. I'll definitely watch this new Gundam at some point, it just feels like the sort of show I'd prefer to binge once it's finished.

pyresword posted...

Akiba Maid War: Strong contender for worst episode 1 ever and honestly I don't know what else is even in the running.

Dang. I've seen some truly awful first episodes, so this is a harsh criticism! I really enjoyed it, but I can see how the thing you complained about could ruin it for people. Personally, I'm hoping the future episodes go a direction where the main girl gets more onboard with what's going on.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Not gonna watch Gundam?

That's gonna have a ton of episodes apparently, so I'll wait on it. If all the Gundams truly are unrelated, I might start with one that's already finished at some point (I still have a huge backlog of stuff to watch at the moment though, so not yet!)

92. Konohana Kitan
https://myanimelist.net/anime/35241/Konohana_Kitan
Fall 2017 (12 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.51/10
Best Character: Yuzu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjzRUQ4gb7o
(Couldnt find OP or ED, linked full OP song)

Premise: A fox girl, Yuzu, begins working at Konohanatei, an inn located in a village for spirits. She learns how to serve guests, which often include humans who wandered to the other side.

The Good: Konohana Kitan is a supernatural slice-of-life about fox girls running an inn. A lot of it is a comedy with Yuzu being cute and clumsy. Shed often have a goofy expression on her face with her diamond-shaped mouth hanging open (example: https://imgur.com/uvQgPf7). She tried her best no matter what, and she was definitely my favorite. Most of the episodes were stand-alone stories about the guests they had that day, and a lot of those were great too. Some involved supernatural beings there for work or comfort, others involved human spirits who often didnt even know where they were. Those stories managed to stay lighthearted while still packing a decent emotional punch, which is impressive. I liked the haunted doll one the best.

The Bad: Other than Yuzu, the rest of the main cast in Konohana Kitan is pretty basic. None of them are bad, but Ive seen so many different cute girls slice-of-life at this point and all of them were such standard archetypes. Theres the serious one who becomes Yuzus best friend, the tomboy one, the girly one thats gay for the tomboy none of them had anything I havent seen in several other anime. Konohana Kitan was among the first anime I ever saw, and it impressed me a lot then. When I rewatched it this year, it wasnt nearly as fresh, and its ranking fell as a result.

Overall: Konohana Kitan has a great main character in Yuzu and several great episodes. The supernatural aspect always added emotional weight while still managing to be a lighthearted tale about the guest and their reasons for being there. I thought the rest of the main cast were too standard, but that doesnt matter as much when theyre just playing a part in a nice story. As a slice-of-life anime, Konohana Kitan is still one of the better ones Ive seen.

Hazy and dreamlike is a good way to describe Aria, and I don't mean that in a bad way! I remember a few individual episodes, but for me it's mostly a blur of little moments from the beginning to end. It felt like how I remember my own life, which is a mark of praise for a slice-of-life anime.

I'm also glad I didn't get attacked for disliking Araragi in Monogatari, and a few people even agreed with me! I was expecting that to be more controversial because I know a lot of people really like him.

Watched a few more first episodes (and one second episode)

My Master Has No Tail episode one wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't good either. The rakugo section was by far the worst thing about it, which doesn't bode well for a rakugo anime. The tanuki girl was cute, at least, and I enjoyed watching her fail at tricking people. That post-credits thing where she painstakingly explained the rakugo performance was awful, though, and I hope they don't do that every episode. It was already bad the first time, but explaining the jokes like that still somehow made it worse.

Bocchi the Rock episode one was fine. Hitori was a fun character, I like how she isn't instantly opening up and making friends. While she's really good at guitar, she also still has a lot to learn about playing with other people. Minor spoilers I really hope she reveals that she's the youtuber they were talking about. Like, there's no reason at all to keep that a secret, so if she just never says anything about it until the end of the season that's going to really bug me.

I also watched two episodes of I've Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills. I'm glad it isn't an isekai, but at the same time... why isn't this an isekai? Dude is leveling up and looking at video game menus and you're telling me this is just some fantasy world? In any case, I had fun with the first episode when I was imagining him as a guy playing an RPG with some minor farming minigames, and he kept ignoring the main quest to focus on that (I've been there, I once spent several hours in the middle of FFVIII playing Triple Triad). Then he didn't do anything farming related at all in the entire second episode, which sucked. I hope the farming isn't gone, that was the only thing this anime had.

I've watched enough now to tentatively rank them:

Akiba Maid War
Management of a Novice Alchemist
Do It Yourself
Bocchi the Rock
I've Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills
My Master Has No Tail

Other than The Little Lies We All Tell, which hasn't started yet, I'm not sure what else from this season I'll even watch (not counting sequels). I thought about that Bibliophile Princess one but it looks like a melodramatic romance, so I dunno. If anyone else finds a good anime this season, let me know!

Whoops I forgot to post the hints for tomorrow.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
92: This anime wandered into a supernatural inn.
91: This anime was abandoned by its father.