You and I are Polar Opposites

 Time for some slice-of-life comedy anime, the traditional ones of popular class girl and nerdy boy...

 

Except this one has a twist!

 

The series is not a 12 episode run-up to how this unlikely pair gets together, but instead right from the get go the popular girl, Suzuki, confesses her feelings to the nerdy boy, Tani, and they start dating.  The fun thing this creates is what usually happens in a second season of this sort of anime series: the path of a developping relation as a young couple.

 

Let's say it skips the intro season as such...

 

The series follows the regular cute adventures as such of the young couple, but also how their totally opposing personalities of an extravert and an introvert start to come closer to each other, even if it at times causes some misconceptions between them.  It also put the focus at times on their group of friends, and how they struggle with starting feelings for others.  This brings the group along all the traditional events in these sorts of series, like summer festivals, school trips and the likes.

 

So all in all, this series isn't that revolutionary for the genre, yet in a way it is.  Due to the protagonists already being a couple after episode one, it lifts some of the restrained boundaries you usually get as two people grow towards each other, yet don't seem to realise they love each other.  These two are very much in love, meaning while the settings for the events are the same as in all other romantic series, the dynamics are different.  And that makes it fun to watch without feeling like just another "more of the same".

 

Fun little series for sure and worth the watch! 

Apocalypse Hotel

 We found our mojo again, and binging anime is back on the menu after a year of slacking mostly!

 

And the first one to catch up on, was Apocalypse Hotel, a fun and innocent series that came out past winter season. 

 

And the adventures of the robots running Gingarou Hotel where perfect to get back going, with it's positive vibes and lovely bright pastel colours.  It takes place in the far future, where humanity has fled Earth into outerspace due to a condition called the Inforunium Pollution, making the air poisonous.  But the hotel keeps running on robots, let by Yachiyo as the manager and going through a daily routine for no customers.  Then one day an alien books a visit, but after that it takes another 50 years before a family of Tanuki refugees takes semi-permanent residence in the hotel.

 

This family (who are, slightly put, perhaps a bit disfunctional) slowly integrates into the hotel, the daughter even joining the staff and eventually running the hotel as Yachiyo goes to outer space to advertise for humanity that they are open.  While they go through a lot of happy (and sad) moments together while catering for both the hotel and the guests, a human finally arrives.  It turns out the air is still making them sick, but they can visit for short periods thanks to a cure that very first guest left behind all those years ago.

 

This is just one of those anime series that gives a good feeling over it's 12 episode course.  It's innocent, though it does deal with family issues like marriage, birth and even death, but generally puts a good feeling smile on your face.

 

Certainly a fun accidental discovery for this year! 

My Dress-up Darling volume 10 - Shinichi Fukuda

 Well, manga (and basically, reading) has been on a low level the past 3/4th of a year, due to, well, things.

 

But we are picking up the pace again, and the first volume I read this year is the 10th book of My Dress-up Darling, because what better way to start again then a dose of Marin, right?

 

Her gentleness, hidden geekiness for the school beauty, kindness and affection for Gojo are just so enjoyable for some light reading during the busy night shifts.  And in this volume, we learn that not everyone in the group likes each other as much as it appears.  But never the less, they decide on doing a group cosplay of a game called Coffin, and they set out to make it a fun experience.  

 

During a movie night, trainservices go down and Gojo spends the night over at Marin.  She panic's as she fears and hopes it will finally happen between them, but Gojo, being the gentleman that he is, doesn't pick up on the signals, and he takes care of her.  But Marin decides that once their current project is over, she will finally ask him out and confess she likes him far more then just as a friend!  In the meantime, Gojo learns from Akira how to make props, while Juju will be cosplaying Black Lobelia by suprise with the support of her team...

 

It is a strange series, it keeps having you hooked, yet barely anything happens in this slice-of-life manga about cosplaying fans.  And still, it is enjoyable, and definitly worth to keep reading.

 

Even though I'm going into the final 5 volumes now, so it might be completely done by the end of the year... but it has been a great fun ride then nevertheless! 

Usagi Drop Specials

 Following the anime from Noshi's list, Usagi Drop, I went on and also gave the specials a viewing.

 

Because you know, completeness sake and that also means I actually saw more of it now then she did, hihi.

 

Containing 4 short feature episodes of 5 minutes each, this is the fun "in between" episodes stuff you get on your BluRay release, and they are all good for that innocent little smile that this series brings to one face.

 

In these shorts, we see Rin learn about marine life, how they prepare for Santa Claus and his reindeers, how a storm dampens their plans to go see the spring cherry blossoms and how they go together for the summer festival.

 

Short, innocent and highly enjoyable, and it doens't need to be anything more for some feel goodness... 

 

 

 

 

Usagi Drop

 The next on the list of anime's from Noshi to be watched, as we try to get some decent numbers in in the end for this years challenge, Usagi Drop is a slice of life series.

 

Numbering 11 episodes, this series aired all the way back in 2011, so let's go!

 

First things first though, darn it has a catchy opening and a beautiful end theme music!

 

After hearing of the death of his grandfather, Daikichi gathers with his family at his house, learning that in his old age he still conceived a daughter, the now 6 year old Rin.  As his family wants to put her up for adoption, Daikichi decides he will take her into his care instead.  With the help of his cousin Haruko, he registers her for nursery school, though he still keeps her a secret at work.

 

At his parents house, while visiting there with Rin, he learns of a maid named Masoko, who is also listed in Rin's health booklet.  At work he requests a transfer to better combine with his changed personal life situation.  At school, Rin befriends a boy named Kouki, and Daikichi meets his single mother Yukari later on.  He calls Masoko and arranges to meet with her.  She explains she gave Rin up due to her work as an artist being to demanding, and Daikichi gives Rin his surname to prevent possible castigation from classmates.

 

To celebrate her entrance into elementary school, they bring a flagrant olive tree, just like the one planted for his birth, back from his grandfather's place who had put it there for Rin's birth.  Haruko shows up at Daikichi's place, telling him about the issues between her and her husband and family, but after staying over for a few days and venting to her cousin she returns home.  Masoko in the meantime occassionally looks at Rin in secret to make sure she is doing alright.

 

When a typhoon hits, Kouki and his mom stay over for dinner at Daikichi's, but Rin comes down with a serious case of stomach flu, and Yukari helps him to nurse her through.  Yukari herself has come down with a cold though, and Daikichi helps her out by looking after Kouki in return.  On the return from a family gathering, he reflects on his first year with Rin...

 

A very highly enjoyable series for certain, and worth the time to watch!  I can really recommend this series, and it has been one of the better ones I viewed this year so far, so go check it out. 

 

 

 

 

Food Wars volume 10 - Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

 It's cooking time with the next volume in the fun Food Wars series!

 

And this time, it starts with the conclusion of the quarterfinal by the Master of Spices, who beats his opponent and advances.

 

So that means the main part of the volume will tackle the fourth and final quarterfinal, between the eldest of the Aldini brothers and Mimasaka, who tries to get under his opponent's skin by insulting his younger brother.  They agree on making it a Shokugeki, putting Aldini's knife on the line.  Mimasaka turns out to be a trash character, caring only about winning, but Aldini gets back at him by engaging the "duello" etiquette.  If he wins, he will have Mimasaka bend the knee and publically apologise.

 

But Mimasaka has stalked Aldini for weeks, copying his recipy and adding some of his own variations, and Aldini suddenly gets an idea to add something extra to his recipy, using his special olive oil he always keeps with him for luck.  Inventing a new flavour of lemon curd on the spot, this has never the less been countered by Mimasaka even before he thought it up.  As a result, he beats Aldini, taking his knife from him in what turns out to be his 100th Shokugeki victory.

 

Soma and Mimasaka have a talk, as they will face each other in the semi-finals.  Mimasaka proposes a new Shokugeki, but to the dismay of his friends Soma raises the stakes astronomically,  putting his future as a cook on the line against Mimasaka having to return all 100 knives.  He then even tells him what he will be making, as Mimasaka would find out soon anyways by his stalking behaviour.  

 

In the meantime, a young student from the journalism course joins Soma, wanting to put him in the spotlight as he is considered the underdog against Mimasaka, and they go visit Erina to taste his dishes...

 

So the contest is heating up, and while we know Soma will win as there are still 20+ volumes in the series to go, it'll be fun to find out just it will pan out exactly. 

Touring after the Apocalypse volume 4 - Sakae Saito

 Time to enjoy another volume of this series, and it's mysteries as to why an apocalypse took place to start with...

 

... maybe this fourth volume will offer some more answers, and what Youko's connection is to this all?

 

The girsl travel to the Oarai seaside, sleeping in the abandoned and stranded ferry that used to bring passengers to Hokkaido, as Youko has a vivid dream of how it used to be back in the days.  Strolling around, they find a huge fishtank, still filled and a big, strange creature living inside it, it's own ecosystem having developped over the years.  Returning to the seaside, they enjoy a freshly caught meal while gazing over the ocean.

Their next stop is Nikko, along the Irohazaka winding roads, which contains no less then 48 hairpins and stunning views.  After visiting a waterfall and the Nikko Toshigu shrine, they move on, but Airi thinks she hears a high pitched sound.  Their journey leads to the Yoshimi Hundred Caves, and the apparent source of the sound.  Airi wakes at night, witnessing an abandoned car driving off a cliff, pebbles rising into the air and a mysterious black orb appearing.

The orb follows her, swallowing her right before she reaches the caves and transporting her to outer space.  From here, she can see Earth, before waking up.  Thinking she experienced a vision, believing aliens visited the caves 1500 years ago to build them with the help of primitive humans.  They climb to the top, seeing a UFO take off, apparently communicating to Airi they should be back at this location in 100 years.

 

In Ogano, Youko has another dream in which she visits the Oshiko biker shrine and it's many biker related places, dreaming of fresh pork cutlets, but waking up she finds Airo made bento in some of the typical gas tank boxes from the city.  As they stay near Shirakaba lake, they make preparations to travel the Venus Line.  This road is said to have fantastic views, but a thick fog descended and made the journey dangerous.

Instead, they decide to climb Mount Mitsunime to enjoy a fantastic sea cloud view, before going to Karuizawa Station, where Japan's biggest shopping mall was located.  In here they go scavenging, enjoying some cosplaying while doing so, but then an earthquake is felt.  They go on, and barely escape a build up of volcanic gass, Youko passing out.  As Airi tries to drag her to safety, a car approaches, and the person stepping out stating the rumours are true, and there is still a human left...

 

And so the book ends, with more mystery, because not only who is this person, but as we know Airi is an android, what does he mean by "a" human left?  Let's hope volume 5 will lift some more tips of the veil of the things going on behind this seemingly innocent road trip story...

Food Wars volume 9 - Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

 Awright, time to pick up Food Wars again, as I now obtained a few volumes to continue reading this excellent series about cooking.

 

Which intrests me by topic alone already, and I haven't regretted reading any of the previous volumes either. 

And it begins with the conclusion of Soma's quarter final cook-off versus Alice Nogiri.  When it turns out he used... convenience story candy in his recipy, the judges are totally flabbergasted.  Alice is corrected on her faulty assumptions of a bento box by the dean, her own grandfather, as she is soundly defeated by Soma.  In the meantime, Megumi is preparing for her own quarter final, in which she will face Ryo Kurokiba, Alice's assistant, in a ramen themed challenge.

 

As Megumi reflects on her practice dishes, using ingredients from her home village.  But Alice confides in her that her opponent also knows the seaside well, as she met him years ago when he was still a young bloke and already in charge of a diner for dockworkers.  He was a real prick back in those days, but of exceptional skill, seeing the kitchen as a battlefield.

 

He serves a ramen dish inspired on a french fish soup, impressing the judges, while Megumi brings a crystal clear broth made of scallops and vegetables from the Aizu area in Japan.  After a tense duel, the dean selects Ryu as the winner, but Megumi bows out of the contest under applause from the crowd.  The dean admits to himself that this class might just be diamond generation, as the survivors so far prepare for their cook offs.

 

Soma meets the last qualifier, Subaru Mimasaka.  While he looks like a big, rough biker, he is actually a really relaxed guy.  While the third quarter final is based around hamburgers, putting Hayama against Hisako Arato, the spice master against the medicinal chief, Soma, Aldini and Megumi get to watch the contest in Subaru's waiting room, witnessing how Hisako makes a burger from turtle meat.

 

But what will Hayama put up against her dish?  That is something to look forward to in volume 10 of this highly enjoyable manga series...

Aggressive Retsuko season 3

 Time for some more cute SanRio... with not so cute stories.

Retsuko remains a fun series, so it's time to have a look at season three.

She has discovered the joy of virtual reality gaming, where she lives a live with a unicorn prince charming.  Her hobby costs a lot of money, and while looking for a way to get some extra income, she gets in a car accident by accidentally reversing.

Her collegue in the meantime also buys one, and quickly is amazed as well by the game system.  Retsuko meets with her "victim" in the caffe, to make a settlement.  Anai takes a very drunk Haida home to his place, introducing him to his girlfriend.  Retsuko's victim, Hyoudou, gives her an extra job she was looking for as an accountant, as he brings her to a concert of the idol group OTM.  Here she is hired to become a manager of the group, her pay serving to pay of the debt of the car accident.

The star of the group, Manaka, though is a very arrogant and unlikeable girl, treating Retsuko as her personal maid.  She realizes that as the band makes no profit, this will be a long job to get them on profit course.  She is send to collect an open debt, as she tells Washimi that she has a debtproblem due to her own fault.  Wahimi wants to loan her money for the debt, but she refuses, bending double on both her jobs to get out of her pickle.  In the meantime, Haida meets Inui on the workfloor, taking a liking to each other.

She sells her VR set in order to pay of a piece of the debt, as well as trying to start a social media channel.  Starting to press their own buttons, this also works off a lot of the merchandise costs, as well as making an official channel for the group.  In the meantime, Retusko is starting to have fun in this additional job she is doing, and actually getting paid for it.  This gives her the feeling she finally got paid in life for something she feels like she actually earned it.  She gets seen by Hyoudou in the karaoke, as Retsuko tapes a fresh episode for her own channel.

 

This inspires him to have a demo made for the OTM Girls in a metal style, and replacing Manaka in the lead with Retsuko.  She refuses, making Manaka sing the metal version during their concert.   But last moment, Retsuko does jump on stage, giving birth to "aggressive Retsuko".  But it turns out to be a success, the band selling out at various underground concerts and their profits rising.

Inui keeps getting closer together with Haida, who has been following Retsuko to find out what exactly is going on, even meeting with her ex-boyfriend to get relational advice.  He is in doubt between his intrest in Retsuko and Inui's intrest in him.  Haida goes to watch one of her concerts, as the girls are taking lessons to learn music instruments for the band.  He takes his grievances out with Fenneko, when he gets a message from her, to help her out learning to play guitar.

 

 

But she is being stalked by an OTMGirls fan, who takes pictures of her all along the way.   Inui comes to his house, but finds a tissue of Retsuko in the bathroom, and leaves for home, saddened.  Retsuko's boss finds out she is in OTM, summoning her to his office.  He wants to lend her the money so she quits the group, but she refuses as she sees them as friends and they chase a dream.  

She stands up to her boss, stating it is not his business as it is a private matter.  Haida seeks out Inui again, in order to apologise.  At the next concert she meets her biggest fan, aka her stalker, who scolds her for her music and says she is out to steal money from her fans.  He keeps following her, tacking and uploading a heap of pictures even to the place she works.  He follows her after work, attacking her with a cutter knife, but Haida interferes and smashes him down.  Inui helps him, realising he has made his choice.  

During a dream in the hospital, she realises it made more of an impact on her then she thought, and as she reflects back on her past, she knows she has to make the best choice for herself.  Haida takes her out for karaoke, trying to bring her back to her old self.  She tells him Haida doesn't know her at all, so het starts singing metal to her.  Reawakened, she knows what path she wants to follow...

This was another fun season of the anime, and one I will continue watching on and off for that fun little break in the anime roster for sure. 

Asumi-chan is intrested in Lesbian Brothels volume 3 - Kuro Itsuki

 After the previous reads about the art of painting, next on my list was another volume in the art of girl love making.

Because yes, it is part three of Asumi's adventures to find her childhood crush, who works as an escort.

Though it starts with a bit of a downer for Asumi, as she looks at her bankaccount and sees in the detail the costs of her explorations.  She looks for a more hours job during the summertime, when Nanao, the girl she went to the movies with, meets her in the classroom where she is  having lunch.  As Asumi needs money for a limited edition box she ordered, she accepts the offer of Nanao to move in with her for a while as a live-in maid.

Due to a miscommunication, they end up together in the bath, washing each others backs.  This makes Nanao uncomfortable as she tries not to look to hard at the naked Asumi.  Nanao, thinking Asumi has a leeching boyfriend and starting to feel love-sick, asks her to stay longer on the last day, with Asumi agreeing.  Yet Asumi has also made a reservation at a brothel to reward herself for a week's hard work.

 

She experiences for the first time a hot lube massage with the girl, Rita. Three days later, she goes out again, Nanao who is developing a craving for her following her again.  She sees she meets another woman, with whom Asumi goes to a hotel with.  In there, they make love in the private swimming pool of their room.  Nanao gets convinced she is however a call girl at the hotel, that has to work of a huge debt...

They set a date to go to the beach together, but unable to supress her curiosity, Nanao makes a reservation herself with a lesbian brothel, and a girl she is convinced is Asumi to find out the truth.  Asumi herself has a date that results in the art of suckling in the meantime. Ouna tells her about her days she briefly worked in a lesbian brothel herself...

So, while the main story didn't really advance in this volume, an interesting side-arc is developping.  Will Nanao give in to her feelings for Asumi, and will Asumi notice, let alone respond, to them?  That will be something to discover in the next volume.

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Special: Japanese Hospitality

 An anime I discovered thorugh Noshi, I think series is awesome fun and well, cute.

So after watching all the seasons, all that remained was the special episode after season 2, Japanese Hospitality.

Taking place after Kanna's trip to the United States, the friend she made there, Chloe, comes over to Japan.  Meeting up at the airport, the group is taking her on a sightseeing trip along Tokyo, "expertly" guided by Tohru and joined by Kobayashi and Ilulu.

 

Starting out in Akihabara,  they travel there by train, meeting with Fafnir and Aida to play a VR game and get some gachapon.  As they need to go look for food, they meet up with the foodie of their group next, Elma.

Returning home, Saikawa runs in on them, and they soon befriend each other as well.  They show her their school, going for a swim in the pool there.  Back home the girls pass by Ilulu's store for some japanese candy, before going to the summum of japanese hospitality, traditional dressed fireworks play during a lqte night bbq on the roof.

This was a fun special episode, that showed a lot of the typical japanese activities and cultures in a fun style.

Blue Period volume 12 - Tsubasa Yamaguchi

 Summer break, and his part-time teacher job, are over, so Yatora prepares for his second year at TUA (Tokyo University of Arts).

And that also means it is a return for me to the beloved manga, one I truly enjoy reading.

 

Arriving back at the university, he runs into Maki.  She has recollected and refocussed herself, and transferred to TUA through sculpture courses.  He also meets her friend Fuu, whom he had briefly ran into in the past together with Yuka.

 

As they get to meet their new teachers, one of them, the refined Inukai, is kind of a big name as he is one of the vice-presidents of the school.  Afterwards, he returns to Maki, getting to know people actually not in the oil painting course like himself.

But then Inukai gives them their first assignment, making no less then 500 drawings in two weeks time.  Yatora struggles to find a concept to tie them all together though, as he drops by Maki in the sculpture atelier and seeing the piece she is working on.  He seeks advice both from her as from his friend Yakumo to motivate himself to get started on the assignment.  But on the train home, he just starts drawing people he sees, and having found his concept does this for the whole 500 drawings.

During review, Inukai tells Yatora that he needs to focus less on himself and take a broader look at art that others have been creating as there next assignment is all about "guilt".  Running into two other students he met at maki's, he joins them to visit Fuji-san.  She runs an art collective called No Marks, and he lends a hand setting up for their exhibition.  As he misses his last train back, he stays over for the night at the collective.  The next morning, he learns more about her, like how she views museums.  As he learns her insights on the evolution of art, he decides he will attend the event No Marks is running the evening after, getting a fresh view on art in the process.  And he learns his end of the first year work actually made an impression on her.

 

 

Thinking over his art, he has skipped school for 2 weeks now, staying over at No Marks.  But he gets ever more comfortable in the group, their shared house style and people, and especially Fuji's opinions and views on art.  He even starts doubting if TUA is actually the right place for him, and when he finds a ticket to a solo artist that is self-taught, he goes to see the exposition.  There he sees Inukai as well, but the professor doesn't seem to recognise him.  

He realises he is falling in love with art and wants to become part of Fuji's circle.  But then his fellow TUA student, who made him doubt if the school was something for him or not, unexpectantly tells him he won't be visiting No Marks anymore without sharing his reasoning...

What influence this will have on Yatora and what decision he will make we will hopefully find out in the next volume of this highly enjoyable art manga!

My Dress-up Darling volume 9 - Shinichi Fukuda

 Let's revisit our favorite otaku girl Marin, in the 9th volume of this cosplay slice-of-life romance series!

 

And Marin is all to happy to tell people about "her" Gojo.

 

 

Like the employees in the beauty salon she frequents, but then one of them makes a reward she seems to have put on a little weight.   During her shoot later on though, she gets the same remark.  She finds out it is indeed so, yet is amazed Gojo doesn't bother with it, offering to resize her costumes a little.

She suprises Gojo as she bought an expensive camera he had been wanting to buy, as he remains suprised by Marin's force of will, but also her impulsivity.  Trying out the new camera they are amazed by the quality of pictures they can make with it.

Visiting a cosplay event to try out the new camera instead of participating themselves, Gojo wants to learn how to make props for costumes.  He has arranged to that end to meet up with Akira-chan, who writes online tutorials on the subject, while Amane is meeting Marin.  But it turns out Akira-chan is a woman, and she thought Gojo was a girl...

 

 

Learning about camera angles, Marin and Suzuka meet up with Gojo and Akira, to invite them to an afterparty.  But this causes Akira, who was open with Gojo, to suddenly fall silent, unnoticed to the others.  Gojo has a feeling though he met her somewhere before. 

They all go out together to eat, when the plan is formed to do a group cosplay based on the videogame Coffin.  Marin calls JuJu-san to make sure they get to six people for the event, as all the others she knows chime in to do it.

And so another instalment ends of this loveable series, and hopefully soon I will find the time to read and catch up on the series some more as it remains something relaxing after a busy day.

Blue Period volume 11 - Tsubasa Yamaguchi

 Time to revisit our favorite manga about art, with the next volume of Blue Period.

And Yaguchi starts to realise he needs an income as TUA is an expensive course.

He reacts to an advertisement, and to his amazement comes out at his high school art teacher, Saeki-sensei, who also runs art courses for children.   He is assigned the group of 3 to 5 year olds for his day, but one of the kids clamps him up in a discussion about Picasso.   This causes him to study more on the artist, and Haru asking about him.  They go together to an open exhibit, where he teaches Yaguchi the points of Picasso's art and cubism.  Learning how expansive Picasso was as such, as he makes a paralel with the anime shows he saw as a kid.

This makes him decide to look at art with his own eyes from now on, instead of guided by opinions, while as a return favor Haru asks him if he can join the teaching job as he is intrested in the art children make.  He joins miss saeki's class as a teacher as a result, and while Yaguchi bonds with the parents mostly, Haru and his braids are a hit with the children.

Yaguchi learns that one of the kids, Miku, is partially colourblind.  Miss Saeki arranges a field trip to the park to teach about colours and how everyone sees the same colour differently.  But when Shoya's mum comes to pick him up, she barely cares about his art that he made, making Yaguchi realise this might be the reason why the kid is unmotivated in class.  As he talks with Shoya outside the class, he finds out he loves to draw mecha and forming a bond Shoya starts to blossom open in artclass.

Saeki tells the children that in april, for the end of the course, they will rent a small gallery to hold an exhibition, with the children able to show off their artpieces.  Haru asks wether Yaguchi wants to consider joining him on a trip to Europe next year in order to visit various special exhibitions.  Back in class, he notices that Sae, a young girl who attends a lot of different extra classes like art, swimming and more might be reaching her limits, as he sees how her art is changing.

In two weeks, Studio Saeki's art class exhibition opens, and the children start the preparations.  During these practice presentations, Sae breaks down and starts crying as she thinks of herself not good enough in anything she does.  Haru goes to visit her and together they make a collaboration piece to giver her a breather, but when her dad, with the best intentions, wants to rip the piece in two to give each a half she quits the art class as well as all her other classes, her parents realising they have been pushing her to hard.

As the exhibition begins, Sae and her dad come to watch and wish Haru the best of luck with his studies, although he believes he isn't made out to be a teacher.  Their part-time job comes to an end, as holidays are over and Yaguchi returns to TUA campus to start his second year...

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii OVA

 Known as "Wotakoi" for short, this was a series I discovered during last year's anime challenge and which I thought was good, innocent fun.

So with the three part OVA being out there, with some more fun of the geeky collegues who found each other on the workfloor with their mutual otaku intrests.

 

Hanako and Tarou are going to see a 2.5D show in the theatre on a date, about high school volleybal. This being something they shared when they where younger, as Hanako tells the others about those days.  Initially seeing him as a rival, she takes a liking to him when he teaches her some volleybal tricks.  They grow closer to each other, as she tells them how they started dating.

 

 

Kou in the meantime initially struggles with making friends, let alone male ones, as a result of her introvert personality.  She goes to visit with Nao,  but as she retires stressed out, Nao seeks help with Narumi and Hirotaka.  They guess she is in an online game, logging Nao in to find her.  They connect ever better, vowing even to be friends forever.  

Hirotaka and Narumi have to join a company trip, something he doesn't really looks forward to, asking Narumi for help.  Even though it isn't a disaster and they actually have some fun on the trip, they all revell on the moment they get back home and enjoy their regular intrests again.

So this was a fun OVA series of a good series, and had some really funny, and relatable, moments for otaku in the working life.

Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable!

 Okay, I got this series in my Winter Anime League, for some reason I think / hope this could be the new My Dress-up Darling.

And if not, I at least got to watch a series filled with jokes and adorable girls.

When Shiki Tsubasa moves to Kitami City, he meets a "gal" or gyaru (a popular japanese subculture) at the freezing busstop.  Barelegged, she is waiting in the snow for the bus.  She is called Minami Fuyuki, and he immediatly is intrigued by her.  They take the bus together, as he tells her he moved from Tokyo just that day, reminiscing how nobody knows him yet.  They seemingly attend the same school, and she immediatly attaches herself to him in the cold... and he is so stricken he forgets to get on the actual bus, arriving to late at school.  

They are in the same class, where he learns he must bring his jacket or a blanket as he isn't used to the cold, but as she makes flirty remarks he doesn't know how to react to her extravert personality, especially when she invites him over to her house a day after they met.  Later on, he repays the favour after going on a kind of date with her to the Winter Festival, but as they have an awkward talk inside a snow fort, his grandma overhears them and draws wrong conclusions.  Yet when she sees Tsubasa smile over at the house, she decides to give Fuyuki a chance.

 

 

During a skying trip with class, Fuyuki tells Tsubasa she wants to get to know Akino, a closed-in gyaru in class, better.  As bith Akino and Tsubasa are the big beginners in the sky-class, they spend the day together and Tsubasa breaks into her shell, learning she is a gamer at heart that tries to fit in but is afraid of talking with people.  Later during a blizzard, after he met Fuyuki's mom, who sees her daughter brighten up near Tsubasa, they visit the shopping mall with Akino.  Fuyuki and Akino bond, and Fuyuki teases Tsubasa later that night as she takes a bath. 

When they all go out for karaoke night, the topic of Valentine comes up as it is rapidly approaching.  Akino wants to try to make chocolates for the first time, and is aided by Fuyuki, but an accident during the phone call ruins the latters chocolates.  This causes her to burst out in tears with Tsubasa, but he comforts her playing her favorite cheer-up song on the piano.

After a study party he hears from her mother she was all talks about what he did for her, as he spots a beautiful yet slightly odd girl in his neighbourhood.  This turns out to be Rena, the prettiest girl at school and winner of various pageants, and she lives next door to him.

 

 

Distracted by all the girls, his grandmother tells him that unless he ends in the top-10 ranking he must return to Tokyo.  Rena, who also happens to be the school's number one student, tutors him in exchange for a date if he achieves his goal.  He ultimately comes in third in the exams rankings, but as he and Rena go out he tells her he wanted to reach his goal to stay close to people he started caring about a lot.  But Fuyuki's mom spots them on their walk in the village.  Fuyuki and Akino follow them as they go to the arcade and a movie.  Having a drink later, Rena shares her insecurities with Tsubasa, but the others barge in as he tells Rena how important they are to him.  Fuyuki's mom arrives, taking them out for a Yakiniku dinner, after wich Fuyuki tells Tsubasa that his next date must be with her.

But White Day is arriving first, and tsubase helps Matsuo make up to Fuyuki and Akino for some mean things he said during Valentine's.  He goes smelt fishing with Tsubasa, only to find Fuyuki present on the lake as well.  Though they have a great time, Tsubasa comes down with a serious cold and Fuyuki comes to his place to take care of him.  He feverishly holds her hand, the next day wondering he imagined it all, while Fuyuki wants that feeling to last forever.  

As spring, and the new school year, is around the corner, Fuyuki fears she might no longer be in the same class as Tsubasa, a fear that proves unfounded as they are all classed together again.  Matsuo nominates Tsubasa as class president, and Fuyuki becomes his vice-president.  Later, she confides with him she did that to spend more time with him, and asks him to keep one day free during Golden Week for her, as she has to tell him something.

As the day comes, she takes him away from Hokkaido.  Here, they go enjoying various little things like driving karts, taking a friendship picture at a shrine, and enjoying the blossoming of the sakura fields with some icecream.  As Tsubasa gives her a friendship bracelet, he chickens out to tell her his true feelings, but she takes the word.  The important thing she had to tell him was that she is going abroad to study make-up.  When the day arrives, Tsubasa finds her hairpin in his backpack.  She had put it there after they had rented a hotel room on their day out due to the train no longer riding, but she had snuck out during the night.

He convinces himself to bring it back to her, arriving just in time before she boards the airplane.  As he tells her he will be waiting for her no matter how long she will be away... she tells him it's only for two weeks.

This was a fun innocent series, and some nice relaxing evening entertainment.  Just like Dress-up Darling, it just has that attraction that wants you to watch that next episode for reasons you can't put a finger to, and that makes something nice and enjoyable in my book.

 

 

Blue Period volume 10 - Tsubasa Yamaguchi

 Aaaah Blue Period, how I enjoy thee!

And already we come to the 10th volume of the series, having moved well beyond the excellent anime adaption now, and the finals of Yatora's first year at TUA coming up.

During a talk with Takahashi, he asks him if he likes making art, a question to which he hadn't espected the reply he got, and is seriously taken aback by it.  All Takahashi would really like is that people would get to know the real person he is, and  not just the one based on the assumptions they make judged on his talent for art.

Takahashi has a talk with one of his teachers about the end term project, while Yatora struggles on deciding exactly what he would like to do.  When visiting the school's rabbit pen, Takahashi relaxes, and actually starts to bond with Okamoto, another boy in his class that he never really noticed before, playing Pokemon and the like.  At home, he rebukes his mom for the first time ever, and these internal struggles with himself result in him blowing up the bridges again that he was starting to build.  

When Yatora, kind-off out of guilt initially, asks him out for an all nighter, he is amazed Takahashi actually accepts the proposal.  Arriving in Shibuya, they visit firstly an art exhibition by Konatsu Ono, a famous conceptual artist that will be a guest lecturer at their finals piece presentation.  As they go museum hopping, yatora realises for the first time what it is to really "feel" art.  Glad he could spend this evening out with Takahashi, he has a firmer idea what art is to him, and he changes his end of the year project so late in, deciding to make a painting instead of the 3D structure he wanted to create, working on it throughout the new year.

 

 

And then the reviews are about to begin! To his own suprise, he isn't burned down in the comments.  He has created a painting of the sportsbar he and his friends frequent.  And while Takahashi gets critiqued for his work, he rebukes the teacher to drive home the point behind his painting.  Yet in the end, they all pass and are allowed to progress to the second year of TUA.

Takahashi starts rebuilding the frail bridges he had been building before, the commentary on his piece having opened his eyes somewhat.  Yatora starts looking for a part-time job, and as he calls the number on a flyer he found for an art assistant, he gets his high school teacher miss Saeki on the other end of the phone...

This is kind of what I love about this series, you have your two main characters who are vastly different, and as they walk the path of their career, the supporting cast keeps changing, like it does with real people during the course of the years.  I'm curious what the next instalment shall bring, something I will be finding out in the not so far future!

Aggressive Retsuko season 2

 Time for some more hilarious situations with our favorite death metal loving Red Panda!

You would almost forget she is from the SanRio stable of cute little figures...

Having to deal with her co-workers, she also has her mom to take into account when she sends her a totally outdated style little dress.  Her mom comes over to visit, looking to find her a husband and arranging a date. 

While the date isn't a total disaster, her new collegue is.  While he looks like a nice guy, he sends her constantly messages on her cellphone with rules and regulations of the office which he finds are being breached by her training of him.  At a night out with her friends, she starts pondering to get her driving license.  She confronts him, and tells him how incompetent he actually is.

But then they have to man a foodstall for charity together, as she practices car driving.  But Anai keeps making himself impossible, also harassing her collegues with his rulesmongering.  But when the foodstand fails, he comes to the rescue making a far better yakisoba then Retsuko can.  

 

 

As her moms keep trying to couple her, Retsuko ponders more and more what she actually wants to do in her life.  As her mother sends her to a dating party, she meets one of her collegues there.  When she passes her driving lessons, she wants to tell it to a guy she met in class, Tadano.  But he never came back to the lessons, and later that night in the karaoke she has the discussion about marriage with her acquintances, as well as the day after at work, and realises she should have asked his number.

But he isn't the unemployed slacker he seemed to be, actually being a designer of an AI system for company assistance, and he comes to Retsuko's work to present the system.  When he sees her walking down the street, he catches up with her and go for a coffee.  He still plays the poor person in front of her, and they go for some ramen as he takes her on a date... revealing who he truly is to her.  An idealist that wants to change society by ending people to have to go to work as she falls head over heels for him.

 

 

She even joins him on a business trip, but her boss appears there as well to her dismay.  But that doesn't stop her dreams of a happy future with Tadano at all.  He doesn't want to marry though, even as he declares he wants to be with her forever.  She gets advice on how to handle it from the most unlikely of sources though, her boss Ton, realising it might not work out with Tadano and she takes him to karaoke.

This was another fun series with some good laughs, and it remains a cute drawing style after all. 

Touring after the Apocalypse volume 2 - Sakae Saito

 I enjoyed the first volume of this series, one I discovered rather accidentally, and so I picked up volume 2 and see how the story continues.

So time for more touring and sight seeing in Japan... after an apocalypse razed it completely!

 

And the first stop of the tour takes us to all to known Akihabara, as Youko and Airi follow the mysterious radio signal they picked up at the end of the first volume, looking for other survivors of the disaster.  Indulging themselves in taking pictures with costumes found in an abandoned Cat Maid cafe, they discover the animals of the nearby precint's zoo have migitated into the Akiba area, even encountering a tiger close by.

 

But when they locate the place of the transmission, they find out it is an AI that is playing the music and making the programmes, created by the last DJ of the station as his legacy.  Not wanting to make this for nothing, they attach speakers to the system so the nearby area, including the animals, can enjoy the music now as well, before moving on with their roadtrip.  As they stop at the Tone Canal for some laundry and all, and Airi telling Youko she likes travelling more then the shelter, a strange feeling becomes Youko as she sees how big the full moon looks on the night sky.

Travelling onwards to Chiba, they arrive in Kisarazu as they suffer from a flat tyre.  When a serious storm hits, they race to safety, making it barely in time, yet Youko keeps having a strange feeling.  Sheltering in Umihotaru, Youko dreams of how the place used to be, but when they wander the place it all matches, down to a coin she dropped under a vending machine in her dream.  When a horde of famined rats appear, they need to make a run for it, but as they escape Youko receives a phone signal for just an instant, seeing there is a message from her sister.  But as she curses for having immediatly lost the signal, Airi seems to have short circuited and topples over...

And that concludes the second volume of this series, and one I must say I really like so far.  Soon I'll be reading volume 3 for sure and see how this develops!

The Quintessential Quintuplets OVA specials

 Well, I guess I'm kind of a sad panda as I write this.

Because with these two specials, it is all over and done for one of the anime's I really enjoyed the past years.

The Quintessential Quintuplets, the story of 5 siblings all crushing on their tutor and only one ending up his bride was a fun, relaxing series of two seasons and a great movie, adapted from a 14 volume manga.  And that is exactly what this miniseries of 2 OVA episodes contains: the (few) chapters that where omitted from the manga.

Wether it is the sisters babysitting, or Nino and Futaro visiting the former's employer in hospital, it also contains a large part that was cut from the movie, being their visit to a waterpark as was seen in the first bits of said movie.  

But perhaps the most deep hitting chapter that was not adapted in the anime, probably to keep the suspense a bit more up, is the one where Yotsuba is by her own in her favorite retreat, a swing on a playground, and admitting to herself that she is also in love with Futaro, and we all know how the story went between her and the past they shared without realizing it at first.  Except... Yotsuba knew from day 1 when they meet at school that he is the same boy she met five years earlier.

So this was a fun wave out for a great series, well worth the watch.