Lurker > Robazoid

93. Aria
https://myanimelist.net/anime/477/Aria_the_Animation
Fall 2005 (13 episodes), Spring 2006 (26 episodes), Winter 2008 (13 episodes) plus 4 OVAs
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.68/10 S1, 8.18/10 S2, 8.49/10 S3
Best Character: Mizunashi Akari

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EIULHTeTrk

Premise: On a terraformed Mars, now called Aqua, many companies offer tours in gondolas on the canals. Mizunashi Akari is training at the Aria Company and often practices with her friends.

The Good: Aria is a slice-of-life, and there are only a handful of anime Id classify as more laid-back than this one. It mostly follows Akari as she trains to be an Undine (the name given to people who give tours on gondolas). She practices with her friends Alice and Aika. They have different mentors as well as their own strengths and weaknesses, and they often help each other improve. I liked all of them, but this isnt an anime for complex character arcs or dramatic stories. Its an anime to watch when you want to sit back and relax. There are several episodes that venture into fantasy or the supernatural, but it always remains whimsical and lighthearted.

The Bad: While I enjoyed Aria for its relaxing aura, it never resonated with me as much as I know it did for other people. If I compare this to Amanchu (another anime based on works by the same author), Aria was much more consistently good. Amanchu had lower lows, but also much higher highs, and I preferred that in the end. Aria never did anything wrong. It was just always fine, and that didnt leave me with anything to latch onto to justify ranking it higher.

Overall: Years ago, I watched Aria one episode a day for almost two months. It was the perfect anime for that. The slice-of-life stories were always fun and lighthearted, making them a perfect companion no matter what kind of day Ive had. Akari and her friends became a part of my routine. When the ending came, I was left with a melancholy feeling. I was sad that the journey was over. I said above that Aria was consistently fine, but that isnt a bad thing! It was nice to have an anime like this, without drama or big twists, to simply watch and enjoy.

Congrats on the quick victory! I've gotten most of my checks in Hollow Knight, but there are a few I can't get and I need one more dreamer mask to beat the game.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/8/0/AABz_zAADwhc.jpg

CHARACTER: Hanekawa Tsubasa (Monogatari)
https://myanimelist.net/character/22055/Tsubasa_Hanekawa
Voiced by: Horie Yui
TOP 100 RANK: 13th

SPOILERS FOR MONOGATARI

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1AUvGH8G_c

Since I didnt rewatch Monogatari, this write-up wont be as good as Hanekawa deserves. However, I gushed about her a bunch when I first watched it, and those thoughts are on the archive website. I did my best to recreate my epic journey of falling in love with her. If any of this is wrong, I either misunderstood when I was watching or misinterpreted it during writing.

Hanekawa was already my favorite character after Bake, but it was the Kizu movies where she really started climbing into my all-time favorites. Throughout all the vampire craziness Araragi went through, she was playful, cheerful, insightful, and constantly supportive. The only bad part was the breast fondling scene, which was too much and went on way too long. I blame Araragi for that, though. Hanekawa was amazing, and I couldnt understand how a guy could go through an adventure like that and then wind up falling for a completely different, vastly inferior girl.

On some level, Hanekawa seems to have the same confusion. The Tsubasa Cat arc introduces her bottled up feelings for Araragi. Thanks to a cat spirit thats possessing her, the stress takes the form of an alternate personality (I think?) called Black Hanekawa. She gives Araragi a choice: either date her to eliminate that stress, or he can die. Though he acknowledges he owes her his life, his relationship with Senjougahara means he doesnt want to do either. He chooses a third option, having his vampire shadow seal Black Hanekawa away. This only delays the inevitable.

Next came Tsubasa Family. It dealt with the question I had before, about how Araragi could fall for anyone other than her after all they went through in the Kizu movies. This arc was where all the pieces of her character clicked together for me. It made me realize the two of them getting together wouldve been awful. Araragi holds her to an unrealistically high standard (symbolized by the way he literally cant touch her when shes in her cat form), and that isnt a good basis for a relationship. For Hanekawa, given her abusive home, she wouldve only been using Araragi to escape it. One line that stuck out to me in Bakemonogatari was when she said something to the effect of, or course she fell for him, he couldve saved her with his new vampire powers. The real meaning behind those words didnt click for me until she embraced a cat spirit to escape her family in this arc. It didnt need to be Araragi. Hanekawa just wanted a way out, no matter who or what. If she got into a relationship simply for that, it wouldnt have been fair to either of them.

The Tsubasa Family arc also gave her actions in the Kizu movies a new perspective. Hanekawa is someone who does what people expect of her. For almost anyone, what she did for Araragi in the Kizu movies wouldve been monumental. For Hanekawa, it was just her going through the motions of the image she has of herself. Its the same reason why she buried a cat that she found, because that was what she was supposed to do. There really was nothing deeper to any of it.

Then we have Tsubasa Tiger, easily the best Monogatari arc. I liked how Araragi was barely in this one, and not just because I hate him! Hanekawa really needed to come to terms with herself. Her friendship with Senjougahara has some great interactions, like the one where she points out what Hanekawa liking every flavor really means. Shes suppressing what she truly wants, all in order to stay pure because thats whats expected of her. Ignoring those parts of herself is whats spawning monsters like Black Hanekawa and a supernatural tiger as outlets to handle the stress, and thats the final thing she needed to get past. Hanekawa accepts everything about herself, and finally earns a place for herself in her own home by demanding a room from her abusive family.

Theres also the moment shown in the video I linked for this write-up. When Araragi finally shows up, Hanekawa confesses to him. She shares the feelings she had once suppressed to not cause a fuss. Given his relationship with Senjougahara, its far too late, and the baggage they wouldve brought into it wouldve made dating a bad idea regardless. Hanekawa still confesses, because those feelings exist no matter how wrong or illogical, and it isnt right to ignore them. Araragi turns her down, because of course he does. But thats okay. Hanekawa gets to cry, and then she can heal. Thats how its supposed to be. (And, frankly, she can do better than Araragi.)

Theres a lot more I could say, but this is already long enough. I loved Hanekawas arc, or at least my interpretation of it. She comes a long way over the course of Monogatari, and it made her one of my all-time favorite anime characters.

94. Monogatari
https://myanimelist.net/anime/5081/Bakemonogatari
Summer 2009 (15 episodes), Winter 2012 (11 episodes), Fall 2012 (4 episodes), Summer 2013 (26 episodes), Spring 2014 (5 episodes), Fall 2014 (4 episodes), Fall 2015 (12 episodes), Winter 2016 (12 episodes), Summer 2017 (7 episodes) plus 3 movies
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 8.34 S1, Im not listing all of them
Best Character: Hanekawa Tsubasa

My Hanekawa Figure: https://imgur.com/W8TYEd4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9b0BKGCr3I

Premise: After surviving a vampire attack, Araragi Koyomi was left with certain abilities. When he realizes Senjougahara Hitagi is afflicted by something strange as well, he resolves to help her.

The Good: Ah, Monogatari. This was tough to rank because I have so many conflicting opinions about it. It has lots of genres (romance, supernatural, action, mystery) but this anime isnt so easily defined because its unlike any other story Ive ever seen. Its sprawling, divided into numerous arcs. At the most basic level, Araragi usually helps a girl with a supernatural problem. In the first story (which isnt the first chronologically its a series thats even complicated to figure out how watch!) he helps Senjougahara with her mysterious weightlessness, for example.

There are lots of deep themes, and even while watching it I felt like lots of it went over my head. Even for confused viewers like myself, however, Monogatari is so stylized that its still fun to watch. It has beautiful animation and art. Even the most straightforward scenes are filled with things like still frames of text and lots of jumpy cuts from strange angles. Monogatari is a unique series, and when its good its really damn good. Hanekawa and her arcs were my favorites, as Ill cover in her write-up, but I liked most of them.

The Bad: When Monogatari is bad, its really damn bad. This series has enough arcs that are all so different from each other that it manages to hit the entire scale of 1/10 to 10/10. Tsukihi Phoenix is one of the worst things ever, and no one can convince me otherwise! That toothbrush episode should be erased from reality. Thankfully, there were only four arcs I considered bad, so its easy to ignore them and give Monogatari a decent ranking. The thing that mainly holds it back is that I hate Araragi. Yes, I enjoyed this in spite of its main character. There were times where his self-sacrificing nature made things compelling, but hes also an annoying pervert who sexually assaults all the ladies, including a little girl.

Overall: Monogatari was difficult to rank, difficult to describe, and difficult to fully understand. Still, it was also worth the effort! I dont like Araragi, but there are countless wonderful stories worth watching despite him. Even at its absolute worst, Monogatari had stylized animation that was interesting to see. And when it was good, like in the Hanekawa arcs, it was one of the best things Ive ever seen. I think everyone should give Monogatari a try just for the experience of watching it alone.

Anyway, Ive also included my story arc and character rankings. I didnt rewatch Monogatari for this ranking (its way too long to rewatch on a whim) but I posted these after I first saw it. I guess potential spoilers for character and arc names for anyone who hasn't seen this and wants to go in fully blind.

STORY ARC RANKING
Tsubasa Tiger > Kizumonogatari > Tsubasa Family > Hitagi End > Tsubasa Cat > Suruga Devil > Mayoi Jiangshi > Shinobu Time > Ougi Dark > Mayoi Snail > Shinobu Mail > Suruga Monkey > Hitagi Crab > Nadeko Medusa > Ougi Formula > Mayoi Hell > Hitagi Rendezvous > Yotsugi Doll > Nadeko Snake > Sodachi Lost > Sodachi Riddle > Karen Bee > Tsukihi Phoenix

(Tsubasa Cat and above were all amazing and then it's a steady downfall in quality until we reach the bad tier at the Sodachis and below.)

CHARACTER RANKING
Hanekawa > Shinobu > Kaiki > Ougi > Hachikuji > Ononoki > Kanbaru > Senjougahara > Nadeko > Tsukihi > Sodachi > Karen >>>>>>> Araragi

One of the first things I sent was a Plasma Beam for Chrono! Hopefully that helps you survive wherever the random starting location puts you.

https://archipelago.gg/room/3GQSNdXcRk2ImZsdN0_eRg

There's the link, have fun, everyone! Only change from the last list was MSG with a LTTP.

Remember to refresh the room link page if you play at odd times because it goes dormant after two hours of no activity.

The rough write-ups for 94 and C13 are almost 1700 words, lol. Time to see if I can edit that down (though 100 words of that is arc and character rankings which I guess shouldn't count)

EDIT: 1350 words, not counting arc/character rankings or the really long opening where I list all the seasons. Good enough I guess. I guess I just have to accept that some of these are going to be way longer than others.

The cutoff is 24 hours from now

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Reg (LTTP) default
3- Aria (ChecksFinder) default presumably
4- Chrono007 (Super Metroid) a few changes
5- Koala (VVVVVV) yaml received
6- Mewtwo (OOT) yaml received
7- Lolo (Hollow Knight) yaml received
8- HBJDubs (SA2) yaml received
9- JeffreyRaze (Hollow Knight) yaml received
10- JeffreyRaze (ChecksFinder) default

Watched first episode of Akiba Maid War. I'll be shocked if this doesn't end up being my personal anime of the season. Within the first minute a maid gets gunned down and that really set the tone. It was great.

I watched the first episodes of Do It Yourself and Management of a Novice Alchemist.

Do It Yourself has a unique artstyle that I liked. The main girl seems fun too, though I hope she gets less clumsy as the season goes on and it isn't just a bunch of repetitive "lol she spaced out and made a mistake" jokes. Still, it seems like a nice anime so far.

Management of a Novice Alchemist, aka Atelier the anime. I've played one and a half Atelier games so I'm pretty much an expert on cute girls opening an alchemy shop. First episode was mostly setup, but the main girl seems fine. I'm also a sucker for alchemy so I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

I finished Call of the Night. It was the very definition of style over substance. It was pretty and well put-together, but there wasn't anything there. Ko is one of the most boring characters ever, Nazuna is one of the most annoying characters ever, and whenever they were together they brought out the worst in each other. Why are all the ladies instantly falling for a literal fourteen year-old kid with no substance. The only part that I understood was Ko's struggle to fall in love with Nazuna, because nothing about her was worth falling in love with. There were a few points where it felt like the writer himself realized nothing about this was compelling, so they threw in some new twist with no build-up and no payoff. This whole anime was just a kid wandering around at night asking himself the same mundane questions over and over. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of it.

Save My Stain

...Okay no that would be a bad idea. I can already imagine the kinds of horrible stains people would nominate (I would personally back chocolate stains. Nothing gets chocolate out!)

Finished a few more Summer anime. Just Lycoris Recoil, Call of the Night, and Shine Post left

Dropkick on my Devil S3 was surprisingly good! I didn't remember enjoying S1 this much a few years ago, but I watched S2 and then S3 recently and they were awesome. The cast grows with each season, and with that the potential for humor grew too. I really enjoyed how many jokes played with the fourth wall, and Jashin-chan was always a hilarious scumbag.

Prima Doll was very good, but not as good as it could've been. I liked the post-war setting and the robot characters and the tone, which often alternated between funny and heartwarming and sad. It was just missing something in bringing those elements together, I guess. Still easily one of the best anime of this exceedingly crappy season.

Luminous Witches was the best Witches anime by far, but it still wasn't great. It was serviceable as an idol show, but anything to do with the war or witch powers really dragged it down.

The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious (still has one episode left but I don't care, I'll talk about it now) was super duper boring. It was the same jokes and situations over and over and over. Both the maid and the boy sucked. The side characters mostly sucked too. Another maid showed up near the end and she was angry and had pointy teeth, she was at least fine I guess.

The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting was terrible, oh my god. Most of the show was trying to be sweet but only felt hollow instead. Then sometimes it got stupidly dark in a way that didn't mesh with the rest of the anime at all. I was counting down the minutes of those last few episodes just waiting for it to be over.

Summer 2022 ranking of stuff I've finished (three more to go):
Dropkick on my Devil S3
Prima Doll
Teppen
Parallel World Pharmacy
Phantom of the Idol
Luminous Witches
The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious
The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting

I stand by my feeling that the magical stuff was one of the best parts of the show. They could've done more concrete stuff with it, sure, but it led to some beautiful visuals and had a lot of neat symbolism.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
102: Punching this anime negated its special powers.
C22: This character has an encyclopedic knowledge of the forbidden.
101: This anime pulled a bunch of junk one-stars from the gacha.

103. The Aquatope on White Sand
https://myanimelist.net/anime/46093/Shiroi_Suna_no_Aquatope
Summer 2021 (24 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.51/10
Best Character: Misakino Kukuru

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su4N7i1f2oY

Premise: After quitting her idol career, Miyazawa Fuuka travels randomly and winds up at the Gama Gama Aquarium in Okinawa. There she meets Misakino Kukuru, the young director who will do anything to save the aquarium, and the two grow closer by sharing their broken dreams.

The Good: The Aquatope on White Sand is a slice-of-life drama about trying to keep a broken-down aquarium from closing. Its a basic premise, but it has additional elements that I absolutely loved. One is the relationship between the leads, Fuuka and Kukuru. Kukuru was my favorite for having a relatable dream and struggling to accomplish it, even to the point of going too far sometimes. I like Fuuka too. Shes lost everything, to the point of traveling randomly because she cant bring herself to go home yet, and then she stumbles into a place and meets a person who gives her life new meaning. Its a beautiful story, and I loved both of their character arcs.

The other element that I loved was a supernatural one. You can see it in the video for the Kukuru write-up below if you dont mind slight spoilers from near the end of the first episode (if you do mind, skip the rest of this paragraph). Fuuka is looking dejectedly into the fish tanks and then they start overflowing, quickly sweeping her up in an impossible rush of water. She finds herself floating for a moment surrounded by beautiful sea creatures. After the vision ends, Kukuru confirms it wasnt just symbolic visuals or something Fuuka imagined. It was something else, something real, and its a big reason why Gama Gama is so special. That element of magical realism instantly got my attention. I love stuff like that. That three-minute scene endeared me to this old run-down aquarium and told me that Aquatope was going to be a special anime.

The Bad: Aquatope was indeed a special anime for the first half, at least. If it ended at episode 12, this would be a solid 9/10 in my top thirty. The second half kind of ruined it. I wont get into too many details because the massive tonal shift is a spoiler (you can read my Kukuru write-up if youve seen the anime or dont care about spoilers). All Ill say is, this is another anime original by PA Works, creators of Shirobako and Hanasaku Iroha which Ive already ranked. Both of those featured miserable workplaces, but the second half of Aquatope beats both put together.

Overall: This was difficult to rank, because depending on whether I focus on the wonderful first half or crappy second half, my opinion on Aquatope fluctuates. In the end, I leaned towards my positive feelings. It tells a beautiful story of two girls growing closer through a shared commonality of broken dreams. There are wonderful themes about respecting life, what truly matters most, and coming together to overcome adversity. The second half feels needlessly bleak, but this is still an excellent story thats worth experiencing.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/8/3/AABz_zAADvQP.jpg

CHARACTER: Misakino Kukuru (The Aquatope on White Sand)
https://myanimelist.net/character/191197/Kukuru_Misakino
Voiced by: Itou Miku
TOP 100 RANK: 29th

VIDEO LINK (from first episode): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0szADOrs1Q

SPOILERS FOR THE AQUATOPE ON WHITE SAND

After losing her parents at a young age, Kukuru lived with her grandparents and grew up at the Gama Gama Aquarium. It makes sense why shed be so intensely attached to it, but the visions people sometimes experience there add another element. They allow her to glimpse her parents again, however fleetingly. When it looks like Gama Gama is shutting down, Kukuru struggles to save it. Thats when she meets Fuuka, a kindred spirit when it comes to broken dreams (though Kukuru hasnt given up on hers yet, no matter how hopeless it seems). The early parts involve her training the new girl, and there are some bumps along the way. Kukuru isnt perfect and can be intense about looking after the sea creatures. They soon grow closer regardless, especially because Fuuka is one of the few who truly believes that Kukuru can save Gama Gama.

Reality doesnt always bend to the power of dreams, however. Despite moderate success with things like sea creature exhibits or creative ice treats, there simply wasnt any hope of saving Gama Gama. Kukuru is forced to face that fact at the worst possible time, right before a massive typhoon blows through Okinawa. She responds in a way I found both compelling and relatable. She essentially throws a tantrum, barricades herself in the aquarium, and refuses to come out for anything or anyone. Fuuka only finally gets in by agreeing to join Kukurus last-ditch protest.

Sadly, they both soon have much bigger things to worry about. The typhoon causes massive damage, including cutting the power. Suddenly, the lives of all the sea creatures are at risk. Kukuru only manages to save them by accepting everyones help. The next morning, Gama Gama is a ruin. Kukuru has lost her important place but shes also found a way to accept it. Shes realized that the lives of the sea creatures are more important. Theyll be better cared for at the new aquarium, Tingarla, opening nearby. Kukuru decides to go work there, and Fuuka leaves for an acting career. Their dreams are gone, but life goes on and new dreams await them. It was a beautiful story. Aquatope shouldve ended there.

Since it didnt, Ill complain about the second half. First, Fuuka doesnt leave. All that wonderful character growth where she accepted losing her idol career but shifted to acting gets thrown out the window because the writers cant let one of the main characters naturally exit the story. She needs to come back and work in an aquarium for the rest of her life. Kukurus job at Tingarla is also incredibly frustrating. She gets put in marketing instead of a caretaker position like shes used to. I couldve accepted that if it were handled well. There are good reasons to see another side of business, especially since money is what ultimately safeguards the living creatures.

Her new coworkers are over-the-top assholes, however, and her manager is the worst of them all. He dumps a gigantic pile of paper on her desk. Buried at the literal bottom is a task Kukuru needed to complete right away, which he of course doesnt mention otherwise. Hes just such a caricature of a bad boss who sets her up for failure over and over. Its miserable to watch. Kukuru would be so happy working with the fish, but instead shes drowned in work she has no passion for and constantly insulted by the worst boss imaginable. Her workload even forces her to miss visiting Gama Gama one last time before its torn down. I nearly dropped Aquatope at that point. The first half had realistic roadblocks for her to struggle against and learn from. The second half was being miserable towards her just for the sake of it.

Luckily, Aquatope won me over near the very end. Kukuru manages to settle into her role, and having an awareness of all aspects of running an aquarium makes her a likely candidate to take it over in the future. I understand why it made sense for her to go into marketing rather than stagnating in a comfortable role she already knew. I just think the writers couldve gotten there without putting her through hell. Kukuru also finally has another vision of her parents, proving that they werent tied to Gama Gama after all. Their spirits will be with her wherever she goes. Aquatope kind of sucked in the second half, but at least it ended with a nice sentiment.

104. Celestial Method
https://myanimelist.net/anime/23209/Sora_no_Method
Fall 2014 (13 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 6.76/10
Best Character: Noel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovc0PpxTVBQ

Premise: A group of five friends are broken apart when Komiya Nonoka moves away. Now she has returned and strives to bring everyone back together, along with figuring out their connection to a strange girl named Noel and the massive flying saucer thats loomed over the town for years.

The Good: Celestial Method is a drama about friends coming back together. A mysterious girl named Noel seems oddly eager to help them, and shes somehow linked to the UFO hovering over the town. I liked the setting. The flying saucer is pretty and gives an otherwise typical small town some flavor. More than anything, however, its the concept that resonated with me. Im a sucker for stories about old friends reuniting. Its always fun comparing how they were in the past vs how they are now, and heartwarming whenever they manage to overcome interpersonal drama. This isnt the greatest example of that, as Ill cover below, but I still enjoyed it. The strange girl Noel really carried the story whenever it started to drag, too. Who or what she was kept me engaged the whole time, and she was also very cute and fun as a character.

The Bad: I like stories where friends come back together, but Celestial Method isnt written as deftly as it could be. A whole bunch of their problems could be fixed if everyone just sat down and had a conversation. Theyre fractured more because of misunderstandings than any real hurdle they need to overcome. I blame that on Komiya having forgotten everything about her time with them for some reason. I usually like amnesia plots, but here its only included so she has to recall what happened with her friends bit-by-bit rather than solving everything right away.

Overall: Celestial Method is a nice anime about friends coming back together. Id have preferred if the reason for their schism was more substantial. The fact that Komiya could fix most things right away if she didnt have amnesia is a letdown. Still, Noel was always cute and fun to watch even when everything else was slow. The central concept of friends reuniting also appealed to me, which made me more willing to forgive Celestial Methods flaws.

I just finished writing 103 and C29 in advance and the two of them combined are over 1300 words long, LOL. I think it's natural for these to get longer when it comes to my favorites since I'll have more to say, but this is the rare anime where there's a lot I wanted to gush about and a lot I wanted to complain about. I just hope a few people enjoy reading it!

Less than a week until the next async on October 8th! Time to start the sign-ups.

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)

(I apologize for the super late third write-up. Weekends have been bad for me lately!)

105. Kokkoku
https://myanimelist.net/anime/36548/Kokkoku
Winter 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.00/10
Best Character: Yukawa Juri

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhBA6ynorvc

Premise: When Yakawa Juris nephew is kidnapped with a ransom demand for money the family doesnt have, they use a mystical stone to stop time. A hostile group follows them into the frozen moment, however, and there are things about this strange world that none of them understand.

The Good: Kokkoku is a supernatural drama set almost entirely in a single moment. I really love the mysterious concept of a stone that can freeze time. Various members of the Yukawa family head into the world of Stasis thinking itll be a foolproof way to stop some kidnappers, but of course it isnt that easy and not everything is as it seems. An impressive amount of history about the setting gets explored throughout the season. There are unknown rules and weird supernatural aspects to the world. Its just such a unique concept, and the kidnapping plot is an excellent way to explore it because the stakes are clear right away and remain important even as things start getting weirder. I liked pretty much all the characters, but Juri was my favorite.

The Bad: The pacing felt a bit disjointed at times, though not enough to ruin the story or anything. The much bigger problem was that some things came down to blind luck or deus ex machina, which is always unsatisfying compared to the characters smartly figuring a way out of their predicament.

Overall: I really enjoyed Kokkoku for its unique premise and the fact that it tells a self-contained story while still exploring all the weirdness of the setting. Sadly, there are times where the pacing is off, and the writing often relies on luck to make things work. Its still a solid anime, but this is the kind of thing that couldve jumped into my personal favorites if it were handled a bit better.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
104: A flying saucer looms over this anime.
103: This anime is on the verge of closing down.
C29: This character will do anything to save the place they love.

106. Land of the Lustrous
https://myanimelist.net/anime/35557/Houseki_no_Kuni
Fall 2017 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 8.40/10
Best Character: Phosphophyllite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9MuI4gfyiA

Premise: Crystalline beings called Gems inhabit the world and defend against the mysterious Lunarians. Phosphophyllite dreams of fighting too, but its the most fragile Gem of them all.

The Good: Land of the Lustrous is an action/battle anime set in a strange fantasy world. There are gem-people of all different kinds, plus weird angelic beings who come from holes in the sky to break the gems and steal them. The animation is CGI, and while I didnt find it as impressive as most people did, it is very pretty and unique looking. It works well for the battles especially. The story mostly follows Phos, a young fragile gem who wants to fight but cant. I remember their character arc being interesting. The gems store memories in parts of their body, which means their growth isnt exactly linear. I also liked the poisonous Cinnabar a lot, though they werent as big of a presence in the season as Id hoped, they were a good driving force for Phos.

The Bad: The first season of Land of the Lustrous simply doesnt tell enough of the story. It does a good job with introducing the strange setting, and with Phos, but then it ends without really going anywhere substantial. Ive been waiting for a second season for five years now that will put all the things it set up to good use. Im beginning to fear it might never come.

Overall: Land of the Lustrous has unique CGI animation, a delightfully strange world, and a great main character in Phos. This feels like one of those anime where, if it got another season or two, it could easily become one of my favorites. Sadly, the story doesnt go far enough and by the end I mostly just felt disappointed. This would be less of a problem for people who are willing to read the source material, but Id rather keep hoping for another season someday.

Oooh, yeah that was definitely weird. I think I blocked that episode out in my memory.

I don't remember what happened in episode 11 specifically, but I thought the final arc of the show was one of the best parts! It leaned more into the romance hurdles, which was my favorite part.

107. Love After World Domination
https://myanimelist.net/anime/48643/Koi_wa_Sekai_Seifuku_no_Ato_de
Spring 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.50/10
Best Character: Magahara Desumi

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

Premise: Aikawa Fudou leads the Gelato 5, a group of heroes who battle the evil organization Gekko. However, hes fallen in love with Magahara Desumi, Gekkos Reaper Princess!

The Good: Love After World Domination is a romantic comedy with lighthearted action. The Gelato 5 are basically the Power Rangers, always thwarting the evil Gekko. Fudou, musclebound leader of the Gelato, falls in love with Desumi, who is an incredibly strong enemy fighter but also a cute girl with no experience in love. I really liked how quickly they started dating. Anime usually ends the instant the couple gets together. I always found the stuff that comes after, like truly getting to know one another or overcoming relationship hurdles, to be far more interesting than the will-they-or-wont-they. The hurdles Fudo and Desumi face are humorously absurd, like pretending to battle whenever someone is watching or scheduling Gekko attacks at date spots. They still face typical relationship woes too, like jealousy or misunderstandings. Both Gelato and Gekko are filled with fun characters, including several quirky evil princesses. Desumi was still my favorite for how cute she was, and how sweet her and Fudou were together.

The Bad: There isnt anything egregiously terrible in Love After World Domination. I suppose the main thing holding it back for me is that it focused a lot more on the comedy than the romance. There is character growth and some heartwarming moments, but this is primarily a Power Rangers spoof. That was fun, but it can only carry something so high in the ranking.

Overall: Love After World Domination is a fun anime with a heartwarming romance between two supposed enemies. Fudou and Desumi are cute together, even if the goofy conflict theyre in makes things difficult for them. The action scenes are solid, and the romance is good. This is still primarily a comedy, and, while I enjoyed that aspect, it wasnt enough to rank this any higher.

I just hope Disney announces what they're doing with Summer Time Rendering soon.

I finished Parallel World Pharmacy. I thought it was alright. The main character is just too hilariously overpowered to really be compelling. Still, he's going up against diseases and those are tough to fight even with his abilities, so I guess it balances out. I also find battling diseases to be compelling, so I enjoyed it well enough.

Summer 2022 ranking of stuff I've finished (seven more to go):
Teppen
Parallel World Pharmacy
Phantom of the Idol

The MAL description has a similar line

"Needing only one holy maiden, the prince declares the other girl as the Saint, leaving Sei to her own devices."

Whether Sei winds up being the chosen one or not, initially they don't think she is so my premise summary is valid imho

th3l3fty posted...

what

the entire point is that she is the chosen one but got ignored because the other girl was prettier

It becomes clear pretty early on that Sei is the Saint, but the premise early on is that she was summoned by mistake and they think the other girl is the chosen one so I went with that. I don't think it's 100% confirmed Sei is the Saint until like halfway through the season.

121 isn't one I rewatched, just one that was ranked slightly too high so I'm shifting it down now while I'm moving things around anyway. I will strive to not change anything in the ranking again (other than finalizing airing anime once they all finish and at the very end when I add in recommendations)

I'm actually going to need to take today off too. Finishing stuff up took longer than I expected it would today. I could do the write-ups now, but my concern is mostly that I'd planned to watch two seasons in what's tentatively ranked 117th this weekend and I didn't have time to watch any. I need tonight and tomorrow night to finish that up. I apologize again.

Why are they calling Caped Baldy "One Punch Man"?

Ramza 13: Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018) featuring Mothra

Ramza 12: Kaiju Bunraku (2017) featuring Mothra

I heard we were supposed to do more extra saves. Luckily Mothra has been in a few more movies

Ramza 11: Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) featuring Mothra

another save just in case

SockoressKnight posted...

but it's a sports/idol show. I can't imagine there are many people at that cross-section

Well you have my attention, at least. I'll definitely watch it at some point!

I unfortunately had something come up today, so I was unable to do anymore write-ups. I hate to do this, but I'll do 119 and 118 tomorrow and then continue from there. I think I've been keeping a pretty good pace, but there are bound to be a few scheduling stumbles in a project as big as this!

Thanks as always for the comments, everyone. Sorry for only posting one today.

120. Nyarko-san: Another Crawling Chaos
https://myanimelist.net/anime/11785/Haiyore_Nyaruko-san
Spring 2012 (12 episodes), Spring 2013 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.01/10 S1, 7.23/10 S2
Best Character: Nyarko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Wk_XWWa9E

Premise: Yasaka Mahiro is rescued from an alien monster by a girl named Nyarko. It turns out that she is an eldritch horror too, Nyarlathotep, and she winds up moving into Mahiros house!

The Good: Nyarko-san is a comedy that takes inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. I was hyped when I first heard of it since I love eldritch horror. Also, while its no secret that anime can and will turn anything into a cute girl (historical figures, animals, zodiac signs, warships), it was still neat to think itd happened to Nyarlahotep of all things. While this anime didnt do as much with the idea as it could have, it was still lots of fun! Its a mixture of a few genres. Theres fanservice and romantic comedy and occasional action where Nyarko battles horrors from beyond understanding. I mostly enjoyed the slapstick of a purposefully bland guy, Mahiro, suddenly living with zany roommates. Nyarko was my favorite. Her over-the-top lust for Mahiro was fun. Despite how powerful she was, he could always fight her off by stabbing her with forks which was a nice running gag. I also liked the slight twist that Kuuko the Cthughan was obsessed with Nyarko and not the main dude, which kept it from being a harem.

The Bad: Since the H.P. Lovecraft inspiration was what drew me in initially, I was a bit disappointed that Nyarko-san didnt do more with it. It felt like eldritch horror was a coat of paint rather than something that set out to adapt anything from those works, if that makes sense. Nyarko is a Nyarlathotepian, but she couldve been any random alien and it wouldnt change much. I enjoyed catching the references (Carcosa Computer Entertainment, aw yeah). It just wasnt as much as it couldve been.

Overall: Nyarko-san is an over-the-top anime with many moods and genres. I mostly enjoyed the slapstick where Nyarko was ultra annoying and Mahiro would stab her with forks and then Kuuko would get jealous. I also liked the references to stuff from H.P. Lovecraft, though Id have preferred if it was used for more. This was still a fun and zany anime.

Ramza 10: Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) featuring Mothra

https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/xmlzlp/rascal_does_not_dream_of_bunny_girl_senpai_new/

I was disappointed when I came back to anime at the start of the year and saw that there was no news of Bunny Girl continuing. Glad they finally announced something (though I guess it isn't clear yet if it's a new season or a movie. The Bunny Girl movie was the last time I was in a movie theater lol)

Ramza 9: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

Ramza 8: Rebirth of Mothra I, II, and III (1996, 1997, 1998)

Ramza 7: Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla (1994) featuring Mothra

Ramza 6: Godzilla vs Mothra (1992)

Ramza 5: Destroy All Monsters (1968) featuring Mothra

You could pretty much copy SMFFFC exactly and have a fun contest, in my opinion. 100 entrants decided by nominations. Any Pokemon or canon Pokemon character

Venonat 3: Butterfree

because I subscribe to the theory that Venonat originally evolved into Butterfree because come on they look so much alike and Venomoth looks like Metapod.

Venonat 2: Venomoth

I liked all of those things in C&T (the ending, the crush on the older guy (he was quite dreamy after all) and even the little robot episode). Anything to do with them was great because they were both such strong characters imo

Yandere Ayumu isn't even best Ayumu! (That would be her telling Yohane to burn in hell on her birthday, as WhiteLens reminded me of awhile ago)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/3/9/AABz_zAADsNz.jpg

132. Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club
https://myanimelist.net/anime/40879/Love_Live_Nijigasaki_Gakuen_School_Idol_Doukoukai
Fall 2020 (13 episodes), Spring 2022 (13 episodes)
My Score: 5/10, MAL Score: 7.52/10 S1, 7.73/10 S2
Best Character: Nakasu Kasumi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mefHQA2fGzg
Bonus, favorite song from the mobile game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzzFg13Xyjk

Premise: Second spinoff series from Love Live. When Takasaki Yuu and Uehara Ayumu see a performance, they fall in love with idols. However, the idol club at their school has disbanded!

The Good: Nijigasaki is easily the worst Love Live anime (I still havent watched Superstar), but it has a lot of good points. Its a solid idol anime with lots of great songs and fun characters. Kasumi is the best girl in the whole franchise, and Ill talk about her in the write-up below. Yuu was an interesting character too. None of the other Love Lives have a manager help everyone out without wanting to be an idol themselves. There's also had a good story with the girls working with everyone to put together a school idol festival all around the city.

The Bad: My favorite thing in both Love Live and the spinoff Sunshine was how all the girls came together and interacted as a group. Nijigasaki had a bit of that, but the twist with these girls is that theyre a bunch of solo idols who occasionally collaborate, not one cohesive unit. In some ways thats a good thing, such as allowing for focused character episodes. Sadly, with so many of them being absent while other characters were in the spotlight, a lot of the girls wound up feeling underdeveloped. The first season also had a dramatic Ayumu arc that I absolutely hated.

Overall: Nijigasaki may be the worst Love Live, but I enjoyed the other two so much that it still lands almost exactly in the middle of my ranking. As much as I disliked some of the drama in the first season, it didnt ruin the anime for me. While Id have preferred it if the girls were all together more often, it was still nice seeing them act solo. Overall, this was a fun idol anime.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/4/AABz_zAADsNk.png

CHARACTER: Nakasu Kasumi (Love Live: Nijigasaki High School Idol Club)
https://myanimelist.net/character/176603/Kasumi_Nakasu
Voiced by: Sagara Mayu
TOP 100 RANK: 80th

My Kasumi Figure: https://imgur.com/hHli1Z7

VIDEO LINK (no spoilers, just a song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUv2QSYEdhk

SPOILERS FOR LOVE LIVE NIJIGASAKI

I really enjoy that song that I linked to above. If you look up the lyrics in English, the whole thing is Kasumi quashing her doubts and hyping herself up as the cutest and best girl ever, which I think describes her in a nutshell. Unlike a lot of top 100 characters, Kasumi doesnt have a big dramatic arc. Theres character growth, sure, but mostly I love her because shes so much fun.

In the beginning, shes the only member of the School Idol Club remaining after it disbanded. She refuses to let the drama between everyone destroy her dreams. She steadfastly holds onto the club room and even steals back the clubs sign from the student council room. When Yuu and Ayumu join, theres a brief storyline where Kasumi tries to mold the new idol into her own image of what an idol should be (ultra-cute), rather than letting Ayumu do what works best for her. Thankfully, Kasumi realizes what shes doing quickly and stops. They win back the clubs old members, gain some new ones, and put on a wildly successful School Idol Festival.

Like most of the girls, Kasumi only gets the occasional focus episode. However, as the clubs leader (on paper) shes present for all the big decisions. Even when shes just an extra in a scene, shes always a joy to watch. Kasumi believes that idols must be as cute as possible, and she strives to maintain that image. However, shes also competitive and a sore loser, which gives her a hilariously unearned ego. Its a lot of fun watching Kasumi try to rise above the others, mostly because shes hilariously terrible at it. I mean look at this short video of her trying to win games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpt1ayj20ks

In conclusion, Kasumi is a fun character because she strives to maintain a cute image, but her huge ego and attempts at being devious always undermine it. As much as she hates the nickname Kasukasu (which apparently translates roughly to not quite), it is fitting. She wants to be the cutest, to be number one, but she cant quite get there. Even in failure, however, she manages to be cute and hilarious, so in a way she achieves her goal, at least for me. She may not be my number one character, but Im sure shes happy to at least be my favorite Love Live character.