Makeine’s comedy is on point. I also find it really funny that the production team made a calorie tracker and relationship chart that updated with each episode on the website. I like Yakishio because shes an outstanding athlete and yet is so close with the literature club. She even takes Komari running which is nice nod to how close she is to the rest of them. She’s the purest of the lot and is supportive of Ayano and his girlfriend, knowing that they are a good match for each other.

I watched episodes 6-8 at one shot, so I’ll cover all of them in this post. The whole Ichigaya plotline, with him having scammed them of 10 billion (?) yen but still being a good guy who wanted to make the console port a success felt really contrived. The scam bit I can buy, but if he cared about the console port, then wouldn’t that make it not a scam? That said, I am willing to accept it as a plot device because it does its job.

A present for a warrior who has tried their best. What a way to end of the episode. I didn’t think I would be writing another post on Frieren so soon but here I am. Not only did his brother treat Stark as family, he also acknowledged his efforts and told Stark to run because he wanted him to live. The realization that his brother didn’t view him as a failure but someone who was trying his best changed the way he remembered running away from his hometown.

Frieren’s battle with Aura was an example of how a strong setup can make for an amazing payoff. At the end of the day, all the fight came down to was the single instance when Aura decided to use the scales and ended in a couple of minutes. Instead of jumping straight into it and ending the episode there, half of the episode was spent justifying why the demons didn’t know how strong Frieren was, and another half hyping up the eventual reveal.

I stumbled upon this in the “critically acclaimed” section of Netflix so I went in with some expectations. Sypnosis The movie tells the story of the growing relationship between Josse and Tsueno. Josse is a disabled girl, cooped up at home by her grandmother after an incident which almost left her badly injured. Tsueno is a university student who works as her caregiver after he saved Josse from said incident in a chance encounter.

I went into this anime thinking it was going to be another CGDCT anime with narrative themes similar to K-ON! and Hitori Bocchi. It turned out to be that and more, having good animation, music, humor and a good lead with character development. Despite being a SoL CGDCT anime, Bocchi the Rock’s animation goes a step beyond simply adding colour and movement to the source 4-koma. It goes a step beyond, with backgrounds which set its locations apart from the usual classroom/ clubrooms and a mixture of unique and dynamic framings.

Having watched more of the anime it really gives off Monogatari series and Shaft feels. The Monogatari series also had a few locations they commonly used as backdrops with no other characters except the relevant ones in the scene. It also had a mixture of comedy and supernatural elements, with the supernatural elements often being dangerous. The exorcists in that show also aren’t all powerful but do have some ability to help the protagonist with their supernatural woes.

I chanced upon Itookashi some time ago, a one-shot about a genius mangaka who could do nothing but draw. After realizing that she did not have her life together, her editor told her to get her life in order and return to school instead of drawing manga because it was the only thing she was capable of doing. Years later, she returns looking much brighter than before, apparently having found something she wanted to do (from what I gather from her synopsis in Dagashi Kashi).

Spy x Family returns with its second cour, and a new family member! I really enjoyed the first cour of the anime with its mixture of cute family fluff, humor and overall great production. Episode 15 marks the end of the first arc of the new cour in which Bond was introduced and the gravity of tensions between the East and West were fleshed out. Bond is introduced as a subject of Project Apple with future sight, leading to Anya taking an interest in him.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is a manga that is close to my heart because it was introduced to me by a friend a long time ago. It was for this reason that I was really excited when I saw that it was getting an anime adaptation. Watching it now I can really understand how childish the desire to destroy the world is and how it is a coming of age story for the protagonist.