Anime Updates Gaiden

I'm discontinuing the Anime Torah Year project since I've decided that was a lame idea, to put Torah in the name of a Tag that was usually not gonna be talking about Biblical Stuff.

Instead I shall henceforth use the tag Anime Updates Gaiden (Gaiden means Side Story in Japanese) for just keeping the blog update on what I've been watching, both Seasonally and at random, separate from major projects.

There is no promised consistent upload schedule.  I'll generally be trying to keep ti weekly but it may sometimes take longer, or may up doing some quicker.

Anime updates for mid September

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links.

https://myanimelist.net/profile/KuudereKun

https://twitter.com/KuudereKun888

HigurashiSotsu episode 12 has brought in Lore from the Rei OVAs. Episode 15 of Million Lives Isekai was okay. Hamefura X episode 3 wasn’t bad. I also watched on HIDIVE the Girls Und Panzer fanservice OVAs and Legend of The Heroes: Trails in The Sky, which were both very good for what they are. And later also Btoom!. Realist Hero episode 4 was enjoyable. Battle Game in 5 Seconds episode 3 was very good actually, this might be the current show I’m most interested in so far. The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent episode 7’s Dub finally became available. This really does feel like a Shoujo Anime regardless of however they might be officially marketing it. Slime Incarnation season 2 episode 39 was another Council of Elrond Episode. I enjoyed it. I also watched To Heart from 1999, which was an early TV Anime adaptation of an early Slice of Life High School Harem Visual Novel, and from the same Studio that was doing Pokemon and had done Wedding Peach and Berserk. Making it a pretty important if often now overlooked piece of Anime history.

Anime Summer Chaos continues

 The Tonikawa OVA was good.

HigurashiSotsu episode 11 was…. Entertaining.

The second episode of Million Lives Isekai season 2 was fun.  I was right last week, they are definitely playing into the Seven Samurai similarity.

Episode 2 of HameFura X was really cringe.  I’m starting to think a second season for this show really wasn’t a great idea.

Episode 2 of Battle Game in 5 Seconds was good, still annoyed at having another Het character named Yuri.

The last episode of Rick and Morty season 5 opened on what I feel pretty confident in calling a Vampire Hunter D reference. I guess they know a bit more about Anime than I gave them credit for after the Voltron episode.

Episode 38 of Slime Incarnation was pretty good.

The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent Simuldub seems to have taken two straight weeks off.  I have to say the "Simul" part doesn't really feel accurate anymore at this point.

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links.

https://myanimelist.net/profile/KuudereKun

https://twitter.com/KuudereKun888

Ending Anime in August by getting Summer Simuldubs started

The Saints Magic Power is Omnipotent episode 6 was okay.

Some classic Anime I finally finished recently are Excel Saga, the original Berserk, and Princess Tutu.  All are good at what they set out to do but none are likely to ever be among my personal favorites.

Episode 10 of HigurashiStosu started out really frustrating but then did something I genuinely wasn’t expecting.

I watched episode 13 of I’m Standing on 1,000,000 lives, and I guess I’d forgotten just how genuinely emotional this particular Isekai was trying to be.  I also get the sense this first arc for season 2 can be considered a little Seven Samurai inspired.  As a Dub watcher I’m amused by the accent choice for this island’s natives, ones that usually equates to Osaka in Dubs but this Island setting has me thinking they might be speaking Okinawan in the Japanese.

The first episode of HameFura X (My Next Life as a Villainess season 2) was fun.

SSSS.Dynazenon episode 8 has a sort of Deadpan sense of Humor going for it that worked surprisingly well.

The last episode of season 1 of 86 was pretty good.  There was even kind of a Prequel Meme in it.

Episode 3 of Realist Hero was also pretty neat.

The premier of Battle Game in 5 Seconds was pretty engaging.  Lisa Ortiz's new voice is not what I was expecting though.

Well I’ve started the second part of Slime Incarnation season 2, it’s back to being fun and amusing. 

Anime updates for August

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links.

https://myanimelist.net/profile/KuudereKun

https://twitter.com/KuudereKun888

Darwin’s Game was enjoyable but not anything special. I tried to give Fena Pirate Princess a shot and it just didn’t work, having a MAL page doesn’t keep it from being just as inauthentic as Avatar and Castlevania. Grimgar was the first time truly doing the 3 Episode Rule. I decided to force myself to watch a full 3 episodes even though I really wasn’t enjoying it. Now the thing is I have no actual criticisms, as far as can tell the show was succeeding at being exactly what it wanted to be, and for many it might be exactly what they want more of from Fantasy Anime. But for me it’s just dull and boring. Moriarty The Patriot’s first season proved quite enjoyable, I hope season 2 gets dubbed before the year is over. The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent episode 5 was good. Ya know I really have to wonder what watching this show in Japanese was like given how the Japanese word for Saint is the main character's name. Obviously diegeticlly Japanese is not supposed to be the language of this world, nonetheless much of dialogue of this show in Japanese must basically sound like “Is Sei is The Sei?” I decided to watch Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike. It’s not like most Anime Films, it has no Anime series, but isn’t a true stand alone either. It’s the opening arc of an ongoing Manga, and as such it’s pretty decent. HigurashiSotsu episode 9 was a shore to watch. I really hate this arc, but I’ve become determined to always be able to say I’ve watched all the Higurashi Anime that exists. So I assume these new characters in SSSS.Dynazenon episode 7 are the same ones form the sequel hook of SSSS.Gridman. Episode 10 of 86 was interesting.

Summer Anime is slidin along

Godzilla Singular Point was great.

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent episode 4 was very good.

I watched all of Wonder Egg Priority including the Special now that it’s Dub is out.  I enjoyed it from the start more than I expected to, I really don't think it was fair how it was called another discount Ikuhara, it’s not like Revue Starlight at all.  I love most of it but I am iffy on that ending.  If there’s a season 2 or a movie I’ll watch it.  The first 7 episodes are perfect.

I watched HigurashiSotsu episode8 of course, and this take on this arc simply makes me uncomfortable.

Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time doesn’t make any sense at all.  But it is an infinitely more satisfying ending then what this franchise was stuck with before the Rebuilds.

SSSS.Dynazenon episode 6 was good.  But when are they going to explain why the “Kaiju Eugenicists” are called that? I’m starting to wonder if any Anime Writers know what Eugenics even is beyond having something to do with the Nazis and thus is a word to associate with villains.

I finished So I’m A Spider, So What and it was pretty fun.  I hope it gets a season 2, but I also hope season 2 can manage itself better and avoid the dragging Animation quality the last stretch of season 1 had.

Episode 9 of 86 was pretty damn good.  It almost felt like a final episode.

Episode 2 of Realist Hero was also alright.

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

Anime in August

 I finished Love, Chunibyo and other Delusions, the entire franchise, or everything I could watch Dubbed on VRV anyway.

Episode 7 of the current season of Rick and Morty was a Voltron parody, sorta.  It really annoys me how much old shows like that are still the face of Anime to a lot of mainstream society.  I felt copying how the Speed Racer dub sounded was annoyingly out of date when South Park did it for their Pokemon parody.  And my experience there is why I’m not gonna take this parody’s word for it that that’s how Voltron sounded.

The dub for the first episode of How A Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom also went up.  This is my third time watching an Anime where I had already read at least some of the Manga.  I have read very little Manga in general and I often make a point to only do Manga I doubted would ever get an Anime.  This one I had been prompted to read because BeneathTheTangles wrote something on the Light Novel, but I don’t always read what they talk about either.  I’d read only 11 chapters, maybe that equals 11 episodes, I’m not sure.

It did not look how I expected, the MC’s face looks like a generic early 2010s Hentai protagonist.  The Voice Actors sounded fine.  The truth is I barely remember any of the details of what I read so I don’t feel qualified to critique it as an adaptation, which is good because I don’t like doing that anyway.  I do recall like Smartphone it will go explicit Polygamy, which I do want more of, but I don’t want them to always be Polygynous.

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent episode 3 has convinced me this is probably the most Shoujo Isekai we’ve had since the 00s.

Watched the first episode of Dragon-Maid season 2, and I do not like where this is going.  I decided to Drop it.

I watched HigurashiSotsu episode 7, and I’m not looking forward to having to sit through another version of this storyline.

So I’m A Spider, So What’s finale was delayed a week, which is a bummer.

Episode 8 of 86 was pretty great.

Summer Simuldubs are starting rather slowly.

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

It seems like The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent is going to be one of those every other week Simul Dubs.

I finished Sankarea and it was good.

In/Spectre are pretty darn good, a truly unique kind of mystery show.  In an odd way perhaps the most accurate Sherlock Holmes I’ve seen in Anime yet.

I feel slightly disappointed by episode 6 of HigurashiSotsu, there was no actual conservation between Rika and Mion.

The penultimate episode of So I’m A Spider, So What was kind of irritating.

Episode 5 of SSSS.Dynazenon was enjoyable for a Beach Episode.

I watched the first 7 episodes of Love, Chuibyo and other Delusions and found them fun.

Episode 7 of 86 has a twist of sorts.  

I like the idea of doing one of these shows and revealing the “Republic” righting against the Evil Empire to be Racist Ethno State.  But I’d like to see that in a grander story exploring the Empire as well.

Anime in July

 HigurashiSotsu Episode 5, Kill First, then ask questions of the dead body. 

I realize the old Deen Anime probably also gets accused of Sexualizing the violence done to it’s female characters, but that’s more a product of how some of the most misguided SJWs will call anything sexualized so long as the characters are attractive at all.  

Gou and Sotsu however really truly are sexualizing their violence too much, and that really struck as I was watching Mion strangle Shion.  Now a more standard critic of Sexualized Anime content was probably complaining about this already in scenes with Satoko.  But it’s precisely because I acknowledge Loli as fundamentally detached from reality that I really didn’t care much there.  It’s because Shion is the kind of Woman i find attractive in real life, both in looks and personality, that I felt a little bothered by the show trying to turn me on as it killed her.

In episode 22 of So I’m A Spider, So What, I'm still liking the CGI.

Episode 4 of Dynszenon was okay.

Episode 6 of 86 was decent.

I watched 6 episodes of Sankarea, it’s certainly interesting.

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

Anime Update: Shifting out of Spring and into Summer

So I’m A Spider, So What episode 20 was pretty good.

Well I’ve watched the first 2 episodes of SSSS.Dynazenon and I am interested.

86 episode 4 was decent.

Episode 1 of The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent was quite intriguing.

HigurashiSotsu Episode 4 “find a more pleasant way to go next time” this is the timeline where she drowns in Poop Water.

In episode 21 of So I’m A Spider, So What the production value seems to have taken a drop.  Which is really odd for an episode that’s about an epic battle.

Episode 3 of SSSS.Dynazenon was pretty amusing.

On a whim I decided to watch the first episode of Shuffle! on Hulu using my recently purchased Nintendo Switch in handheld mode.  I was intrigued by how it went 10 minutes, seeming like a normal Highschool Anime with no fantastical elements and then just casually talks about the Gate opening in background exposition and shows us a student with long ears, just like that.  I’m also amused by how these “gods” and “demons” are just Elves with slightly different Ears.

So in episode 5 of 86 I’m not even sure I followed what was going on.  So the “Empire” they’re fighting had already fallen this whole time?

July has Arrived, Anime Updates

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

So I’m A Spider, So What Episode 19 was pretty interesting.

I decided to put 300Slimes On Hold for the time being.

Episode 3 of 86 was good, still not sure how sold I am on the show yet.

And I watched the first two episodes of HigurashiSotsu.  It seems we’re getting an Answer Arc for each Gou Question.

The more I think about it the more I’m not sold on the necessity of seeing this timeline again.  I know before Stosu starting people were mocking those who said full Answer Arcs aren’t needed insisting “of course there’s more to it then just Satoko injects everyone” and yes there is, in this case it’s Rena having the same issues already explored in the original show.  

The information that is new to us Anime only fans seems to me like it was probably always in the Visual Novel, among what it’s fanatics complain about the Deen Anime cutting, and if so seeing it now has vindicated by belief that everything Deen cut was not as good or important as they think it was.  The attempt to make the Gold Digger a bit more sympathetic this time I also just rolled my eyes at, everyone already got that the story of Higurashi approves of Vigilante Justice, it adds nothing.

The second Gou arc is like it’s original counterpart the one worth revisiting the same timeline from a different POV.  Seeing Mion’s POV for a change is the actually new thing I’ve been waiting for.  Sotsu would have grabbed me quicker if it’d started there.  And after that I just want to get back to where we left off before jumping into all this backstory, let Satoko explain the rest in an evil monologue or something.

So I randomly watched the first episode of Ultra Maniac on the TCL Channel app that was recently added to my Roku TV.  I’m afraid I’m simply not interested in Anime that is this much of a SitCom.

Update July 7th: Episode 3 of  Sotsu was pretty fine actually.  I was relived that wrapped this arc up in only a 3rd Episode.  So hopefully the next Arc will be what I've been waiting for.

Things are changing for Summer 2021

Combatants Will Be Dispatched episodes 5-6 were enjoyable.  But I think this show might be a little outside my taste in certain areas.

I finished the second season of Slime Incarnation and it was fine.

Okay as of episode 3 I think I’m about fed up with Full Dive.

So I’m A Spider, So What Episode 18 was very interesting.  The whole sequence with baby Sofia revealing these reincarnations have fully developed self awareness as infants is kind of scary in a way.

The religion stuff can get confusing, both worship the same Goddess it seems but only one references the Goddess in what they’re usually called.

So I've been pretty sure for a while now that the SpiderChan and Shun storyline take place at different time periods.  But in this episode when they’re cutting aware from either main group it makes me very confused about when we currently are.

I’ve decided to drop both Combatants will be Dispatched and Full Dive.  Maybe I’ll give them a second in the future but they certainly aren’t what I like to watch weekly.

I think I’m starting to get a little bored of 300 Slimes.  I like Slice of Life and Isekai, but I think usually not at the same time.

Episode 2 of 86 was interesting.  Now that I know more of what the premise is, I can watch it more properly.

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

86 got off to a rocky start with me.

On June 20th I watched the first episode of 86 since it’s Dub has finally dropped, and I’m a bit confused.

So as the episode started I assumed this was about an unnamed Drone and suggesting their A.I. have become genuinely self aware.  And I was thinking of commenting on how that is one way AI are used as Slaves in fiction that is not applicable to real world Slavery, since actual Slave societies know better then to army or militarily train their Slaves.  For example, regardless of what revisionist Lost Causers will tell you, the Confederacy strictly forbid Slaves from serving in the army.

So when the reveal came at the end that the 86 are actually Humans, I could now only think about the impossibility of this speculative scenario.  Ancient Rome would have members of peoples they conquered serve in their Army, but that service gave them citizenship.  

I don't know if the show intended to mislead me on the A.I. thing or if that was just my brain jumping to conclusions.

More Spring Seasonal Anime for 2021

 I watched the first episode of that Full Dive VRMMO Anime and it was pretty intriguing.

So I’m A Spider, So What episode 16 begins with exposition about how everyone reincarnated was given a form that suited their personality.  Then later in the same episode we are reminded that the Red haired girl was Assigned Male At Birth back in Japan.  So I think they just snuck in some Trans representation.

300 Slimes episode 3 was very good.

Combatants will be Dispatched episode 4 was amusing.

Slime Incarnation season 2 episode 11 was very good.

Episode 2 of Full Dive was also pretty entertaining.

Record of Ragnarok is a really Ugly looking show, so I couldn’t even finish one episode of it.

So I’m A Spider, So What episode 17 was excellent, this show is proving to be quite awesome.

Episode 4 of 300 Slimes was fun.

Anime Seasonal Simuldubs for June 2021 so far

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

So I’m A Spider, So What Episode 15 was okay.  It’s interesting how SpiderChan’s story takes place at a different time period because those who reincarnated as humans still had to wait till they were teenagers in order to be able to do anything.

The second episode of 300 Slimes was pretty funny.

I tried Dragon Goes House Hunting, but it really isn’t what I’m into.

I watched the first 3 episodes of Combatants Will Be Dispatched, they were fun but I don’t know if it’ll keep my attention.

To Your Eternity is good, but it’s not a show I want to watch.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as A Slime season 2 episode 10 was kinda dark.

MahouShouJune Week 1, including Sailor Moon Eternal initial thoughts

Well I started my MahouShouJune Anime viewing on the first of the month by finally watching the first episode of Action Heroine Cheer Fruits.  It was not what I expected but it could be a fun show.

I watched the first episode of To Your Eternity and it was interesting, not sure I’ll watch this one to completion but I think I might know who to recommend it to.

I decided to check out the first two episodes of Mysterious Nile Girl Thutmose on YouTube, a Live Action Toei Tokusatsu Superheroine show that aired in 1991.  It’s predecessor in the Toei Fushigi Comedy Series from 1990 La Belle Fille Masquee Poitrine created by Shotaro Ishinomori I’d already watched the first two episodes of on YT sometime last year, since it’s now a well documented influence on Codename Sailor V and Sailor Moon, both the Manga and 90s Anime.

This show looks interesting, some of the Music feels like what you’d hear in a vaguely Egyptian themed Video Game level or dungeon.  And it has some special effects that feel right out of Ghostbusters. But it’s also amusing to me how when you combine the Toku Transforming Hero formula with an Egyptian theme, you definitely wind up with something that looks like you could put it in the Fawcett/DC Shazam mythos.

I then watched episode 15 of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, this and Corrector Yui I'm taking my time going through.  I feel like I’d enjoy it more without the Sinbad character.  The reason I prefer this to the other 90s Magical Thief show Saint Tail is having a girl playing the Zenigata role which suits my Yuri bias.  The only thing I conceptually prefer about Saint Tail is that it has more of a Robin Hood element.

Speaking of Corrector Yui, I could not finish episode 5.  First of all I may just have to accept that I actually dislike this Dub cast.  But more so this episode’s moral quickly started feeling like the worst fake environmentalism.

The main event for this post however is that I watched both Sailor Moon Eternal movies as soon as I could on June 3rd.  They were very good, the difference between this version and SuperS is night and day.  Everything frustrating about the 90s Anime version is gone.  Yet I still can’t help but feel like this version could have benefited from at least a half hour or so more runtime.

The Dub while having the same cast as all the prior Viz Dub content was approached differently.  Now they’re including Honorifics, which is generally my preference, but seeing them suddenly included here after all of Crystal not using them felt a little jarring.

May The Anime be With You

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

I watched both Re;Zero movies and they were pretty good.

On May 27th I watched Eden on Netflix and it was great.  Japan is starting to finally get good at CG Animation between this and the Lupin film from December 2019.  

Spoilers for Eden in the paragraph below.

The twist I liked was how unlike other SciFi stories with a premise like this.  The idea that Humans need to be wiped to save the world didn’t originate among some AI deciding it "Logically", but originated with a Human.  Only a Human would ever be arrogant enough to think Humans are inherently harmful.

So I’m A Spider, So What episode 14 was a pretty dope episode.  I suspect Sofia might be SpiderChan.

On May 30th I watched the English Dub of the first episode of I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 years and Maxed Out my Stats.  It was pretty fun, and already planting seeds for Yuri.

Anime Update: Steins;Gate, FMA, ReZero, Haven's Feel and more

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

I finally watched the Steins;Gate Missing Link OVA since the English Dub for it finally popped up online.  And I also started FullMetal Alchemist 2003.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 2 episode 9 was more of the Council of Elrond.

My first goal watching Fullmetal Alchemist was to complete the first 28 episodes, which is what Mother’s basement said is the break off point for when the original show departed from the Manga.  I then finished it and found it pretty good.

So I’m A Spider, So What episode 13 was pretty good.

I watched all of Re:Zero season 2 and it was great, I think I enjoyed it way more than I did season 1.

I watched Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa and liked it. I shared some thoughts on one of my Tumblers.

https://theshadowmenlounge.tumblr.com/post/652191488707543040/i-dont-understand-the-hate-for

I also got to watch Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel III Spring Song finally, it was great.

Anime Update so far in May 2021

First here is the introductory post for this series.

https://jmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2021/04/anime-torah-year-introduction-post.html

Adachi and Shimamura episode 11 is basically the chronicle of Adachi becoming a full on Simp. So I’m A Spider, So What episode 11 has me wondering if it was in fact SpiderChan who killed Julius? Attack On Titan’s final mid season finale was okay. And it’ll be next year before it really finishes. I’ve also been watching some Azumanga Daioh and have now finally completed it. It’s a fun show. I also started Bubblegum Crisis and watched all of Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl which was great. Silme Incarnation season 2 episode 8 was really good, I am legit excited for where the show is going now. I completed Azumanga Daioh, Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl and Pretear, they were all awesome. Adachi and Shimamura episode 12 was very good, the show is completed now and I’d say it’s more than decent.

April ends for Anime Torah Year

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear’s final episode was frustratingly melancholy.  The show was fun but I don’t think I’ll feel compelled to watch a season 2 if it gets one.

Adachi and Shumamura episodes 9 and 10 were okay.

So I’m A Spider, So What Episode 10 was very good.

Attack On Titan season 4 episode 15 was very revealing.

During episode 9 I decided to put Tropical-Rouge! PreCure on hold.  Nothing wrong with it but I have personally started to get bored of the formula for now.

SlimeIncarnation season 2 episode 7 was very good.  The plot is truly starting to thicken now.

I decided to watch the first 4 episodes of Record of Grancrest War on Netflix, it’s pretty interesting.

I checked out episodes 16 and 17 of the HigurashiGou Dub, they were pretty good.  I think Ayu has gotten better at her Dark Rika voice and now I wish they could back and redo the scene from episode 7.

It’s been announced that the Sailor Moon Eternal films, Dubs included, will drop on Netflix on June 3rd.  So that has me excited.