HansiMcKlaus Blog

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Winter 2026

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, after the… let’s just say not so great end to 2025, the new year is starting off incredibly strong. Seriously, this was easily one of the best seasons since I have properly started watching seasonal anime. So without further ado, these are all the anime I watched.

The ones that didn’t make it

You know what? Despite not having to drop nearly as many anime as last season, I think I will keep this format of giving each anime its proper space regardless… and I am definitely not just saying this, because I am to lazy to look for other screenshots for the combined thumbnail. Also, for the record, I enjoyed both the anime here more than any of the dropped anime from last season… yeah, it was that rough.

The Holy Grail of Eris

I think it is worth to differentiate between anime I drop because they are bad, not to my taste or I actively don’t want to continue for some reason or another and anime for which I simply lost interest in watching them over time. Call it a downside of watching anime seasonally. There is a lot of good to be said about The Holy Grail of Eris and I don’t even have to doubt that a specific kind a person will find great enjoyment in this series. For what it is worth, it does have a very tight narrative focus and once Connie started to come into her own, her relationship with Scarlett was easily my favorite aspect of it all. And yeah, I did clap and cheer every time Scarlett posessed Connie and pulled a Columbo. I’m not lying nor tryna deny it. However, there came a point where I simply stopped bothering to fully engage with all the new characters and details introduced, to the point I essentially didn’t think about the mystery anymore on my own and just waited for another character to explain it for me. The anime puts effort into giving you all the clues, but when you arrived at the same point as I was, what would be the point anymore? In part, this is very much a me problem in the same vein how I might just not be well-read enough for all the literary allusions to other mystery stories and characters. Sure, you could criticize the adaptation for its rather unimpressive presentation and potentially even for simply being a weak adaptation of its source material, but I doubt this is actually the deal breaker for me. From where I stand, it might just be a severe lack of enthusiasm that keeps me from finishing the anime, despite actually being quite intrigued as to where the story will go.

Final Verdict: Dropped after 6 episodes.

Tune In to the Midnight Heart

There is an art to harem anime. Something to differentiate the abyss from the peak, the indulgent from the accomplishing and the bland from the properly seasoned. We do not even for a second have to pretend I am above criticizing a harem for what it is and that my interests normally tend to lie elsewhere, but this won’t stop me from having certain standards I want my trash to uphold. Tune In to the Midnight Heart, unfortunately, does not. I will have to give it credit for making the main character, if not compelling, at least an active participant with a clear personality, as much as I personally find him grating more often than not. As for the actual harem members themselves, this is where it all goes down for me. The girls are nothing and played about as safe as their narrative involvement with Yamabuki “realistically” allows them to be, resulting in pretty by-the-numbers RomCom shenanigans that moved me about as much as the pacing in this series. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it completely sauceless, but judging from the aftertaste in my mouth, it do be rather dry. Also, how the tsundere turned out to be my least indifferent character is beyond me. Nisekoi at least had the decency to look visually appealing.

Final Verdict: Dropped after 8 episodes.

Second Season Sequel Stockpile

Oops! All Sequels. I remember ten years ago, when I only just started watching anime, how rare continuations tended to be and now it seems like every season has its fair share of sequels at the top of the chart, to the point that even I get to enjoy some of the them. Or in this case, they make up more than a third of what I have seen this winter.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2

Frieren is so good. There is not much more I could add to that statement. While I don’t think it consistently reaches the heights of its first season, there is no doubt in my mind that only few other stories are able to do what Frieren so easily excels at. There is a worldly beauty in the small silhouettes of stories we get a glimpse into by following this party on their journey. Sometimes, it informs where they come from and where to go, other times it is how the experiences of seemingly strangers can make you understand a part of yourself. From the Hero of the South to Gehen just building a bridge for centuries. As Himmel inscribed in his memoirs, there is allure in the mundane and everyday. Additionally, there is also some nice character bits sprinkled throughout, but since the main cast already got its spotlight in the first season, this mostly concerns some side and one-off characters, before we get back into some more meatier territory for the next arc.

Also, not sure if something changed in me, but compared to the first season, I had no difficulties to just watch the anime this time.

Final Verdict: 8/10 – Can’t wait to weiterschauen.

Medalist Season 2

Part of me wants to extend the praise I gave the first season to the second one. What the fundamental building blocks are concerned, it is still as competent when it comes to the development of its main cast and making me care about all the sliding and jumping on ice with style. However, while there are some incredible highs, especially when it comes to the routines in the first half, I can’t help but feel that it doesn’t hit as hard as the first one. In part, this is because the supporting cast is way too big, barely gets any attention outside some specific exceptions and is, quite simply, not memorable, to the point where I can’t even tell you what role most of the girls fulfilled. Considering I still remember everyone from the first season, this isn’t a good sign. My second problem is the seeming lack of progress in this stretch of the story. Sure, we get to see one competition play out in almost its entirety, but the rest is this endless build-up of training and Tsukasa’s struggle as both a trainer and a former ice dancer. And worst of all, this season just… ends. There will be a movie, which will continue adapting the manga and I want to believe that after all that preparation, it will probably be worth it, but I am still going out of this season slightly disappointed.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – I miss Mittens and Ema.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2

Similar to Medalist, I would say that I enjoyed Vigilantes quite a bit, but I also can’t deny that this season was just generally worse than its previous one. Koichi and Pop are still a delight with their own form of vigilantism, Makoto and her brother have some really good stuff, Kani and the main series' Fat Gum are a welcome new addition and I adore the Hopper Brothers and the fact that Aizawa was just chilling with them every other scene. The cast is fun and when they are allowed to do something, regardless of how important any of it is for the plot to progress, I tend to have a good time all around.

However, what the actual story is concerned about, there are just too many rough edges, questionable decisions and just plain misses for me to ignore. This season’s main antagonist does nothing for me, barely interacts with our main cast and even the link to Knuckleduster feels more shoehorned in than thematically relevant. Concerning the multi-episode flashback about Eraserhead’s past, I went from indifferent to bored real fast and even questioning why it was included in the first place. And lastly, my problematic GOAT and charming fail-loser, Captain Celebrity, was effectively retconned from a bit of a prick being able to do good as long as he gets adequate attention to a misunderstood but well-meaning hero, as if the disconnect to what one might consider to be a “proper hero” is not his entire appeal. All this turned an otherwise decent stretch into something I always had to complain about in some capacity. If there will be another season, I really hope we go back to the more small-scale and personal conflicts, because this is what this series does consistently best.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – We just not gonna talk about the questionable ethics of Midnight bringing Pop to the mixer?

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess Season 2

There is honestly nothing that I would write here that doesn’t already apply to the first season. ‘Tis just more “Torture”.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – Maomao-chan still the cutest being in the universe.

One Piece Live Action Season 2

Just like the first season, the One Piece adaptation continues to be a delight, both as a genuinely fun television series, as well as a fascinating translation from manga to live action. Costume and prop design, as well as those little visual flourishes, are still on fucking point, the casting and acting goes even further (David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3?), music is full of bangers and time and time again, it is made so clear that everyone responsible truly comprehends what makes One Piece not just so special, but also what needs to go into it to make this series work. In the same way, I feel pretty similar-ish to the way this adaptation differs from its source material. Again, we have some pretty good slimming down and restructuring of plot points, using its unfortunately way too small episode count to its utmost efficiency, as well as making use of over 20 years of hindsight. My only complaint in this regard might be how much of Baroque Works was already revealed, potentially dampening some of its future impact. Lastly, character dynamics are still charming in its new way and just like season one, as embarrassing as it is to admit, I did indeed had to cry again.

On the other hand, most of my criticism from season one also stays the same. I am not quite sure how much I like the direction some characters go, especially Zoro being way too stoic, and the overall tone shift of making some scenes more into a standard and at times rather serious drama kinda clashes with the otherwise fun and fantastical vibe the series should exude. I mean, Luffy does get genuinely angry and emotional at times, just not like… this. Also not sure about the swearing… except Chopper saying “shit”. That was peak. And while I can only commend the production for what they have done, I can’t help but feel that this series is still held back, and one time being actively dragged down, by, understandably, not being able to go all out and have creative freedom to a limitless degree. Ending the first season after Arlong Park works pretty well narratively, but it comes with the challenge of having to start the second season, after an over two year long wait nonetheless, with Loguetown, making the appearance of Buggy, Alvida, Smoker and Dragon kinda weird. It appears they still haven’t quite figured out how to portray a good chunk of the devil fruit powers and as much as I adore this version of Drum Island, it does not reach the same sense of scale as the first season did with its climax and I can’t help but feel we were robbed of one of the best panels in the entire series due to being limited to a certain amount of sets.

If there is one live action adaptation of anime or manga I want to recommend, it is hard to imagine another one being able to top this series and I personally can’t wait to rewatch this season with friends in the near future.

Final Verdict: 8/10 – I still love the Den Den Mushi.

Fate/strange Fake

Considering it all started as an april fool’s joke, this sure turned into one hell of an engaging story. Then again, I guess you shouldn’t expect anything else from the Baccano! and Durarara!! author and his ability to write a tight and dense narrative encapsulating half a million characters and at least ten concurrent plot threads. In one word, Strange Fake is plain fun and a never-ending ride, doubly so if you are not constantly blind-sided by references and allusions to other Type-Moon works, some of them even I am none the wiser. But don’t worry, being mildly confused is half the experience, because finding out is very satisfying. It might be a bit rushed in places, but I absolutely prefer it to getting lost in the sauce of the endless rabbit hole, which is making sense of the Nasuverse.

What really makes it all work for me is its insane scale and characters with bombastic capital P personalities. Known faces like Gilgamesh, Waver and Flat are a given, but also new ones like Saber, Jester and Orlando quickly grew on me… also Faldeus, Hansa, especially Francesca and whatever is going on with this version of Ishtar… and Caster and Jack and Tine and I don’t think there is a single character I don’t like in here. Strange Fake might not always have the tight thematic grip of the original stay night or Zero, but it can absolutely stand proud with its own ruminations on heroism, how we relate to these epic tales of the past and how they continuously influence humanity as a whole going forward. Package it all into one of the most impressive productions of the entire franchise and this would be one of the easiest recommendations this season, if it wouldn’t be for the fact that recommending Fate always comes with a few asterisks attached to it. But beyond that, this was just pure delight one week after another. Let’s just hope the continuation isn’t plagued by the same release schedule.

Final Verdict: 8/10 – I should really finish Hollow Ataraxia.

Journal with Witch

Oh boy, where do I even begin? I think a truly great drama is able to be emotionally resonant, despite the topic at hand not necessarily being relatable or close to the viewer’s heart. It should be able to speak to the innermost aspects that make one human, like an abstraction of life itself and pinpoint its message with a clinical precision that makes it impossible to ignore, to not think about, to be indifferent towards it. Make it a hill to die upon. This is the level of intensity it should have and convince you it isn’t an exaggeration or hyperbole. If it doesn’t change you, it should make you more steadfast. If it doesn’t hurt you, it should make you stronger. It should obliterate the very fine line between despair and inspiration. Maybe it does it all at the same time.

The story of Journal with Witch is not relatable to me. I am fortunate enough to have never lost someone dear or close to me. I don’t carry any familial trauma, nor do I have to think about what it was like to be perceived in school. I am not a woman, depressed or crushed by social expectations. And most of all, I am not so lonely as to wander aimlessly in a barren desert. But I do know what it feels like to be sad, how being frustrated is even more frustrating than the actual frustration and how confusion and uncertainty renders oneself completely useless, down to even the most basic functions. I too get scared and overwhelmed by complete non-issues, shut down without reason and wish I could literally scream my worries away. I am aware of the hurt it causes to not understand or be understood. So every time this anime opened one of its wounds, it was like a mirror straight into the deepest parts of my soul. Not because those are like mine, but because it is so very easy to imagine them to be. When Asa cries and shouts in anger and fear at a person long gone in search for answers she will never feel satisfied hearing, I want to feel and sympathize with her. When Makio casually drops otherworldly wisdom, I am compelled to sit down and listen, as if it were gospel. Understanding another is hard, at times probably even impossible. And yet, I want to believe it is important and worthwhile to attempt it anyway. At the very least so I, too, can become the person I want to be.

The story of Journal with Witch is not relatable to me. But Journal with Witch absolutely is. And there will come a time in my life, where I will be ever so grateful, that I know those experiences have been put into words and images and sounds that I can look back upon and be confident that life can become better again.

… What is it with peak media that brings out the sentimentalist in me? Anyway, even if one can’t connect with Journal with Witch as much as I did, it still brings a lot to the table. While Asa and Makio are clearly the focus of the narrative, the cast is full of great characters and each and every single one enriches the themes in their own way, whether they are basically constants like Emiri and Kasamachi, or literally just show up in one scene. It is hard for me to pick out a definitive Top 3 of side characters in this anime. Also, while clearly not a sakuga fest in the common sense, this anime looks gorgeous. Clearly directed with an eye for the little details, the use of environments and spaces is impeccable and visual motifs and metaphors hit their mark. On the more technical side, the lineart on the characters is so attractive in a really underappreciated way. And for the score, Kensuke Ushio once again proves that he is a master of capturing the moment. All in all, while we still have three other seasons of anime in front of us, the bar for anime of the year contenders has been set incredibly high already.

Final Verdict: 9/10 – Write with the intent to kill.

Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table

Souta Ueno has already proven with Days with My Stepsister that he is able to elevate a seemingly and otherwise unimpressive story into captivating television and Shiboyugi plays even more into his style and while this is by far not the most impressive production this season, it is certainly the one that is the most confident and bold in its look and feel. I want to state this at the beginning, because I am simply unable to separate the aesthetic sensibilities of the anime adaptation from its “actual” story, because, for me, these two are so tightly intertwined with each other. I am still unsure about reading the original light novel, because while I am curious about how these two differ, I am also pretty certain I wouldn’t enjoy it as much and definitely not in the same way as the anime.

Anyway, now for the big surprise, I don’t think Shiboyugi’s story, that is both the moment-to-moment execution and over-arching narrative bits, as well as the majority of the characters themselves, are particularly well written, but the approach to its presentation really lends itself to dwell on these little moments of introspection, that makes for a fascinating and captivating watch. Foregoing the actual death games and their respective spectacle almost completely was definitely the right call and frees up enough time to dismantle the psychology of the most important participants and their short-lived circumstances they find themselves in. Seeing Yuki turn from this nonchalant and pragmatic professional into a spiralling and pathetic mess of uncertain self-doubt and frustration really nails home the point that, even when winning the death games, she is nothing more than a survivor that can’t find any fulfillment, catharsis or even just purpose for herself in continuing her pursuit of those 99 games. On the other hand, whatever was going on between her and Mishiro clearly poisoned my brain in just the right way and even the really-hard-to-put-into-words-but-also-very-potent-and-meaningful relationship between Kyara and Moegi informs how broken people deal with being unable to live a normal life.

This puts me in kind of a weird spot, where recommending Shiboyugi is somehow both an absolute no-brainer, but also makes rating it in a meaningful way next to impossible. I certainly enjoyed myself immensely and I sure as well had a plethora to talk about every week, but I also don’t think it is mechanically that impressive, nor is its commentary as a death game that unique or deep. The least I can say is that the anime is very much aware of what it is, but refuses to limit itself to be only that, which very much gives it meaning.

Final Verdict: 32/43 – This is a story about a deranged world.

You and I Are Polar Opposites

Not sure I can accurately explain it, but this anime strikes me as the kind of story specifically made for people that love a very specific subset of the RomCom Experience™, but want to forego, I guess you could call it “filler”, or rather specifically “non-development”. You and I Are Polar Opposites is the, well, opposite of “Will They or Won’t They?”. In fact, a good chunk of the characters themselves actively put in the work so we can skip the shenanigans and either go right into the actual relationships or make progress fast. I tend to not mind either way, but this sure was a breath of fresh air with how earnest the anime approaches the topic of crushes and first love.

Anyway, you know the drill. It’s cute, funny and overall a pleasant experience week for week. Tani and Suzuki make for a great main couple, Nishi and Yamada are also very sweet and Azuma and Taira are on their way to have the most interesting relationship of all of them. The only ones left from the original group are Watanabe and Satou, so you can be sure my himedanshi ass is seated for the next season. The slice of life bits are also fun, mostly going over specific kinds of anxiety and awkward social interactions, as well as the cast just hanging out and being friends. I may not personally be able to relate to a lot of the more romantic stuff, but everything else feels very true to life. In short, if this is your kind of thing, you will probably enjoy it immensely. Also, the opening is a banger.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – Just because Azuma is evil, doesn’t make her a bad character.

Sentenced to Be a Hero

Well, turns out even one of those things can hit its marks when not being preoccupied all the time (one exception may apply) by indulging in all the little tropes and clichés that actively turn me off and instead serve me some decent characters, world building and narrative stakes. What seems like the utmost minimum is truly not a given with most of these light novel adaptations for me. Alas, I was finally allowed to just enjoy myself.

In retrospect, the first half doesn’t really do it justice, with how much more than just plain fun this anime can be. Sure, it starts with this bombastic and stupidly well animated opening episode, showing what this whole hero business is supposedly all about, before slowing down and introducing the extended cast one after another. But once it settles down and finds its pace, it does a phenomenal job in developing its setting and builds up the different factions vying for power in the background, that I found genuinely intriguing in a way that somehow reminds me of Re:Zero of all things. And beyond that, I just really vibe with its fantasy elements: The Fairies look grotesque but not silly, antagonists and antagonistic characters feel grounded, I am always a sucker for a more technological approach to magic and it do be nice to not see a single status screen or have any other direct allusions to video game logic in this world… yes, the bar is buried six feet underground, how could you tell?

It also helps that Xylo and Kivia are actually well written characters with properly defined personalities, motivations and struggles that inform the way the story progresses. Xylo’s hangups about the goddesses and his status as a penal hero get a lot more interesting, once Teoritta kinda gets shafted for the rest of the season and stops begging for head pats every minute and I certainly did not expect an entire character arc for Kivia to come to terms with the people that informed her way of life and her own sense of justice in the face of almost certain doom. The rest of the cast is also just pleasant to have around. I was a bit afraid that the entire party would eventually consist of either misunderstood or framed heroes, but no, we got some grade A bastards and dudes of questionable character in there.

Similar to Shiboyugi, I would mostly recommend Sentenced to Be a Hero on the basis that, while it may not be its best written interpretation of that kind of story, it certainly is a well-made one that absolutely has the potential to turn into a favorite for someone, even if that someone may not necessarily be me.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – That sure was one hell of a cliffhanger.

Roll Over and Die

Almost a year ago, I wrote about my impressions of the original light novel’s first volume and for the most part, I feel pretty similar about its anime adaptation, except that this one is even more slimmed down on ideas and execution. I still fail to understand what other people, that continue to praise the story, see in it, especially in regards to its queer and subversive themes. From where I stand, Roll Over and Die is just the opposite of what I praised Sentenced to Be a Hero for. A bog-standard LitRPG affair filled with tropes I can’t get warm to and an all-around snooze fest of nothing characters. Flum still has no personality, her relationship with Milkit is so lacking in warmth and the extended cast does nothing for me.

One might wonder why I even bothered with the anime adaptation in the first place. After all, I don’t believe in ironic watches and one look at the trailer should have been enough to disregard it immediately. Sure, I am a man of hate and spite, but I also would like to understand what I don’t and engaging with something again from another angle tends to help with that. Also, as I have mentioned in the aforementioned post, I, at least, would like to know what else happens, so I was quite surprised when, after the mid-way point, it turned into an almost pleasant slice of life series for a bit. Still boring and plagued by the eternal curse of threatening to be interesting for a bit before undermining itself, but compared to the genuinely baffling and just straight-up bad ending stretch, this was almost decent for a few weeks.

Final Verdict: 5/10 – Acting nonchalant at the most world-shattering reveal is… a choice.

Cosmic Princess Kaguya!

Oh, so it is basically The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter… *looks inside* HATSUNE MIKU?!

Okay, it is not actually about vocaloids at all (except it totally is), though I have no doubts the idea of virtual idols and specifically VTubers played a huge role in the conception of this movie. Also, they do sing World is Mine. I am not too familiar with the original monogatari and still have to get around to finally see the Ghibli movie, but this seems like an interesting retelling with its own idea of how the story should end. But beyond this, it is mostly a rather simple and straight-forward narrative about love, in this case about the spaces and personas created by and for fans, as well as the people interacting with them. If you want to see another anime about a group of cute girls pursuing their passions, this is a pretty good entry and about as well executed as you could wish for. Though, it did leave me hanging a bit with its characters and kinda undercuts its own drama by never fully committing to the relationship between Iroha and Kaguya where it truly counts. Or maybe this is just because I had to watch the movie in two parts, because the first half genuinely made me feel exhausted (affectionately?) to the point I simply couldn’t continue, because when it finds its flow, it refuses to hit the brakes for even a second.

On the production side of things, this movie looks exquisite. Shingo Yamashita, my beloved. It is good to see his greatness and flair in something a bit more expansive than random openings and those cool Pokémon specials. The characters are simply a joy to watch moving around and the whole virtual world is incredibly realized to feel like a space you actually would like to spend time in, so much so that I wouldn’t question why one would like to play this one in-universe game. And while not quite mine, this movie has a lot of good music, to the point it almost feels like a musical at times. It is a shame I had to focus on the subtitles, because the audio-visual presentation really delivers on its own. Also, Matsuoka voices a bratty twink oni catgirl.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – Girls would rather *spoiler* than go to therapy.

What’s left?

I’m not interested in any other new anime, but as always, there are a couple of sequels that I will have to get to eventually: Oshi no Ko continues its run, before it apparently drives of a cliff, the third season of Jujutsu Kaisen makes me want to check out the anime more than ever and Beastars finally concludes its adaptation for me and a buddy of mine to finish. As for movies, there is the new Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway and the mini series Milky☆Subway got a theatrical release with new scenes. I also can’t wait to see yet another take on All You Need Is Kill with its long overdue anime adaptation. Lastly, there is the new original movie L’etoile de Paris en fleur by Gorou Taniguchi, which I will only ever be able to see by randomly remembering this movie exists in a couple of years.

This year started off on the right foot, so let’s hope for this run to continue into the next season.

Andor: Fascism is a self-destructive machine

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 17:15:00 +0100

Ach ja, after having heard the highest of praises from people online, whose opinions I actually respect and getting recommended by several of my real-life friends for some time now, I finally got around to watch Andor. Now, to paraphrase probably every second person that ever wrote or will write about this series, my exposure to Star Wars, as a franchise, is fairly limited: I watched and enjoyed the original and prequel trilogies, as well as some random episodes of Clone Wars, but that was also around 15 years ago when I was a literal child. I know next to nothing about the sequel trilogy, have not read any of the novels or comics, barely heard anything about the other television series beyond whatever “Baby Yoda” is supposed to be and the only Star Wars game I played was the Lego one for the Nintendo DS. For what it is worth, it had around the same influence on me as every other big franchise that popped up in the mid 2000s, except it is also probably the only one I had experienced more or less in its most minimal entirety.

I did watch and enjoy Rogue One around two years ago, though its flaws were a lot more apparent on a rewatch and it is hard to argue to describe it as anything else but having spawned a prequel to a prequel, whose primary existence is justifying a minor plot contrivance in A New Hope. On the other hand, Andor is simply great, at times even whatever the television equivalent of “Absolute Cinema” is and a genuine miracle that it exists in the first place. Take this as yet another guy on the internet recommending it. You need to know next to nothing about Star Wars and even the stuff you know through cultural osmosis goes almost deliberately unmentioned. The only prerequisite to watching Andor is not having lived under a rock for the last decade and being able to recognize that if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck… you know… Spoilers ahead.

This post isn’t even meant to be a thorough analysis of the themes of Andor, in part because I am sure other people have already done a better job than I ever could, but despite setting out to simply write about the aspects I really enjoyed, it all comes down to the same idea: The Empire, as portrayed by Andor, is a paradox. In a sense, by the time the series begins, it has already won and despite the resistance to it, it keeps winning. And yet, it is at war with itself and falls apart at the bursting seams of its ambition that simply can not be upheld in the face of… for the lack of a better word, human nature. There is a scene in the final episode of season one that expresses this idea far more poetically than I will ever be able to put into words myself.

Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. […] And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

- Karis Nemik

Honestly, the entire excerpt is very much worth a listen and it is almost funny (Read: Genuinely concerning, actually) how you can pinpoint certain political events every time there is a spike in comment activity. The second part especially resonates so much with what I immediately fell in love with in Andor. The series may be named after the titular protagonist, but there is another character that constantly stole the show for me.

Syril Karn is a truly pathetic man. Born into a controlling system, there is something almost sad to see someone succumb to not being able to wield any control himself and continues to be slowly broken down until there is nothing left. In the beginning, Syril works as a simple officer in law enforcement and it is there his belief in the Empire is on full display. When tasked to essentially just frame the death of two other officers in a slightly better light so as to not reflect badly on themselves, he goes out of his way to search for the culprit and even puts together a small task force to apprehend him. After all, it is how things are supposed to be and the reason why order is not upheld with an iron fist is because other people lack the willingness to commit and dedicate themselves with all their being. And yet, his idealism clashes with the simple reality in front of him: His coworkers hate him for his eagerness and lack of understanding how “things work around in these parts of the galaxy”. He doesn’t have the charisma that makes others want to follow him and proceeds to absolutely flub his little speech in front of even the men that support him. And when finally confronted head to head with Cassian, he fails in arresting him, as the banging of the metal in the background makes it ever so clear that while they may have guns and are technically in charge, even the people of Ferrix are able to resist in the eye of a guy just cosplaying the veneer of power.

The brashness and resolve to go above and beyond in the name of the Empire will only be rewarded if successful, as seen by supervisor Meero, but when the only result is failure, Syril was discarded and forced to go back home. This is where the contradiction of the entire system shines through. The empire is built on the thankless work of people like Syril, yet it also can’t help but inspire a certain individualism or even exceptionalism. Someone has to stand at the top, or at least no one wants to be at the bottom. If Syril really ever was just a cog in the machine, convinced by the self-evident existence of the Empire and pleased with just doing his part, he would have been content creating new norms and regulations for fuel purity at the Bureau of Standards. Instead, he either feels a sense of satisfaction for himself by the work he accomplishes or, maybe even more bluntly, has a need for approval. The first thing he asks, after having been part of the big boy club, is if he was useful, not how successful he was. This is not a man confident in his own life achievements and needs the system of the Empire to give him any meaning, to affirm his existence.

Unfortunately, Syril turned out to be quite useful. I wouldn’t necessarily call him a “useful idiot”, but he did play the part until the last moment. It took some time into his stay in Ghorman that he came to the realization that it is always in the name of the Empire, but this doesn’t necessarily include him. The Empire requires Syril, until it doesn’t need him anymore. As a fundamentally uncaring system, it could consider Syril dead minutes before he was actually shot in the head. The tragedy of his character is that, in his last moments, he did realize the evil in which he was involved and could have done good if given the chance of not being nurtured the way he was. Instead, his lasting legacy will be instigating the events that caused a full-on genocide and protecting the person responsible for it. He died the way he lived, without control over himself.

Supervisor Dedra Meero is the other side of the coin. Groomed the second the system got its hand on her into a pure product of the Empire, she is what Syril aspired to be. Despite being arguably the main antagonist for the majority of the series, the way she is introduced and portrayed almost makes you want to cheer for her. You love to see a woman succeed in a male-dominated field. Yet it is always obvious that she is also just a full-blown fascist, no two ways around this. She seems like the model idea of what the Empire is supposed to look like. However, once the cracks start to show, not even she herself is spared from the monster she partook in creating. When there was suspicion that the plans for the Death Star were leaked, she and Partagaz were to take the fall for it. From the perspective of the Empire, they didn’t do anything wrong, we as viewers know there is no point to it, but at the same time, it is impossible the Empire could be bested by a couple of rebels, so the system works as intended and tosses the coin away regardless, further cannibalizing itself in its endless struggle to stay alive.

Maybe the biggest irony of Andor is that the rebellion is spearheaded by people who have nothing to gain from it. When Luthen was confronted by the question of what he sacrifices, he does not only respond with an “everything”, but that he will help create a world that he himself will never be able to look upon, senator Mothma could have kept quiet and enjoyed a peaceful life and Cassian was about to quit several times, before always being reeled back in, simply because the mere thought of the Empire succeeding in its ever growing expansion effort could not be accepted, either as an idea or as the very real harm it causes. And as Karis Nemik wrote in his manifesto, there will come a time where it will be one too many and along its way, the Empire has sown the seeds for its own downfall.

The not so quite last thing I want to write about is Narkina 5, the prison arc. One thing that makes these three episodes so great is that they serve as a microcosm of the way the Empire operates not just as a collective of individuals whose political views align, but as a machine which makes their operation possible in the first place by forcing everyone else to comply. The prison complex, more of a labor camp, really, is structured in a way that incentivizes compliance by pitching the inmates against another, rather than through standard external force. The prison itself is clean and tidy, there is no sadistic warden and the inmates are provided with proper shelter and food, because the actual agenda is efficiency, not rehabilitation or punishment. Kino describes it as “Seven levels of factory, seven rooms per level, seven tables per room, seven men, each table”. Each lowest-performing table in each room gets shocked at the end of the shift, while the best-performing table gets flavor in their food. The manager of the lowest-performing room of a level gets shocked. Outside the exchange from day shift and night shift of the same room, there is no communication possible between the other rooms and levels.

This creates a simple environment, which hinders both collaboration and individual action. Beyond the psychological nightmare of actually pulling it off with other inmates, playing the prisoner’s dilemma “optimally” doesn’t really apply. The sentence time goes down one day at a time for everyone equally, at the end, someone will get shocked and everyone wants some flavor in their food. At best, the collective workload could be decreased, but who is willing to risk that? Similarly, individual action comes with its own set of problems. Functionally, breaking out of prison alone is impossible. Additionally, you will punish not just yourself, but your table, as they will be missing one person. Lastly, the manager of each room will make sure they run a tight ship, because they are completely dependent on the output of their fellow inmates. This is the psychological pressure of the system. The inmates don’t have a good life, but it is passable and rebellion poses too much a risk. The only winning condition is to collectively play another game.

This is the crux of the arc. How do you form a united front when the only incentive is linked to participating in an at first impossible fight that is based on just trust and the slim chance of a potentially better life? Compared to that, the actual logistics of the prison break is almost laughable. Combining both the day and night shift, there are close to 5.000 inmates against only a few dozen wardens. Once everyone was on board, they blitzed through the facility almost effortlessly, but getting there was the actual hurdle. Each room is made up of people, that are in the same team, but still made to compete against another at the same time and once everything was set into motion, each newly reached room needed to make a split-second decision to partake in the prison break, based on essentially nothing but hope, compared to just continue working until their sentence is up. This was never a game theory problem with a winning strategy, but a human one.

This gets further made clear by Kino Loy, the manager of the same room Cassian was sent to. He is the lynchpin of the entire operation and de facto the guy to convince, as he not only has the intel of the wardens, etc., but also the trust of every inmate of the room. Without his word, nothing gets set in motion in the first place. It took until the rumor that even when their sentence was up, they would only be transferred to another facility, that he chose to trust Cassian. The irony in his character is that Kino essentially had the biggest incentive to do nothing. If the rumor were false, Kino would have been out in a couple of months and if it were true, well, nothing would have changed compared to his current position. However, by setting the prison break in motion, he basically chose death, because even if the prison break succeeds and even after a potentially literal leap of faith, he himself could never reach the shore to freedom. The “I can’t swim” line is almost haunting.

While we are already on the topic, let me praise the entire character of Mon Mothma. Maybe my most favorite singular moment in the series is her realization, that while her effort for the rebellion was successful, her own life is basically in ruins, she had to throw her friend under the bus and marry off her own daughter just to do so, so in the moment, she simply drowns herself in alcohol and starts dancing. Also her senate speech has potential to be an all-timer. I know it seems a bit silly to take any real-life ramifications so seriously, when they are ultimately based in fiction. I mean, it is not like an actual cabal of oligarchs is running the world behind everyone’s back. It is not like, even if they were caught doing so, they don’t even bother to lie badly anymore about their crimes. It is not like every aspect of our life is partially controlled by someone, because it makes money. It is not like so many people have come to accept this reality, that they can’t imagine it being different. It is not like pointing out evil has become its own kind of risk. Yes, I do quite enjoy my rock.

Andor is available on Disney+.

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Fall 2025

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 12:55:00 +0100

Ach ja, when I, at the end of last season, wrote about planing to pick up fewer anime, this is not what I had in mind. While I only started watching seasonal anime properly since the start of 2024, I have been following seasonal anime for over ten years now and I can not remember a single season since then that has been… so underwhelming on all fronts. It isn’t even the fact that the majority of the titles are either sequels, indistinguishable Narou slop and out-of-times RomComs, though this in itself was a sad sight to behold when scrolling down the seasonal chart, but rather the general lack of excitement for something new throughout. Sure, my brother might be feasting on comfort food, but I am starving. No adaptation of a highly anticipated manga, the one interesting original anime turned out to be a dud and even the more niche titles weren’t particularly me-coded. Sure, this made picking up way less anime an almost trivial task, but only because there is nothing to pick up to begin with. I know this is 100% a me problem, but from my point of view, this is the only problem that matters, so let me complain :D.

The ones that didn’t make it

There are always a few anime I tend to drop, but this season kinda took the cake and all. Considering the ratio on these is so high, I think proper headings and thumbnails are in order.

My Awkward Senpai

I don’t think there is something wrong with My Awkward Senpai specifically, but more so ~~with me hating straight people~~ it simply being not my kind of thing. If you specifically want a romance series not set in either school or university and also with the female lead being the story’s focus character, I could see the appeal, but those things alone won’t do it for me. Sure, it is kinda cute and even sweet at times, but outside Kannawa being pleasant to watch navigating her self-induced disaster of a work-life-balance, there isn’t much for me that would differentiate My Awkward Senpai from the plethora of low stakes romantic comedies with similar dynamics I also ignore every season.

Final Verdict: Dropped after 2 episodes.

My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!

If there is one thing I will have to hand it to My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!, it is the fact that it is not ashamed to be what it is and wears the mantle of a shitty light novel RomCom with stride and its chin held high. This is the kind of audacity it takes to create art, even if it is art I, under any other circumstances, wouldn’t have touched with a five meter long pole. It is almost amazing how it creates an amalgamation of everything I don’t like in stories: The plot is solely driven by the nonsensical tension of the wet blanket protagonist and a couple of girls that just so happen to be in his vicinity, the girls themselves being a bundle of tropes I find actively repulsive and any kind of framing device being ditched the moment one could sexualize a minor for the leeching eyes of the audience instead… except the one time it was based. I salute you, Ghost Mikawa, for being two for two for two very different reasons. Keep’em coming, king.

Final Verdict: Dropped after 3 episodes.

This Monster Wants to Eat Me

Aw man, this one actually looked promising. It is a bit of a shame This Monster Wants to Eat Me aired right of the heels of last season’s phenomenal The Summer Hikaru Died, which arguably does the whole “I am now surrounded by beings that may or may not want to kill or be friends with me” a whole lot better. It also does everything else better, but that is besides the point. This series feels really unfocused, despite its relatively small scope. It does a good enough job of introducing the viewer to Hinako, the way she disassociates with daily life and why she has these suicidal ideations, but fails to be coherent when it comes to the other characters. Five episodes in, there isn’t really any indication that there is more to Shiori than what the premise of the anime tells us and Miko really suffers from a lack of proper screen presence, before the story pretends that her existence is a turning point for Hinako. Considering that the anime is also paced really weird, I doubt there is much point in continuing watching the anime for me. Maybe I will give the manga a chance, when it will be available in my region, but for now I will try to save face by not watching every girls love anime, as if I have no standards.

Final Verdict: Dropped after 5 episodes.

With You, Our Love Will Make It Through

What initially looked to me like the one romance anime this season with some spice to it, turned out to be rather… well, bland and boring, mostly. It featuring furries genuinely means nothing to me and considering how weird I consider most other romance setups I have come into contact with, this girl wanting to have that dawg in her barely makes the list. But it does have some spice in the way it tackles something I rarely see most series portray, which is physical intimacy. Not that the first episode beats the “Oh no, I hope this buff guy, who has troubles controlling himself, but is actually really sweet, trust me, does not ravage me like no tomorrow, while we are locked in the gym store room together” allegations. Honestly, most of its setup gets kinda ignored after its introduction, which might actually be for the better, as the racism allegory(?), or rather the idea of “otherness”, was handled about as tactfully as you would imagine. The romance does progress at a pretty steady pace, but the actual meat and bones of it doesn’t have much depth and mostly consists of exhaustive displays of longing and how much they yearn for each other’s company. With the exception of the eternal third wheel of the relationship, the rest of the cast gets close to nothing and with it, there isn’t anything that keeps me engaged in the series.

Final Verdict: Dropped after 8 episodes.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle

At the start of the year, I wrote about my thoughts on the first volume of the original light novel and, in a sense, most of what I wrote about still applies to the anime adaptation. This is by far not just limited to my complaints, but also about what I think this series tries to do and wants to talk about. Fundamentally, I seem to vibe pretty well with what the characters go through and how the series portrays their struggles, but also can’t seem to stand some of the specifics and the anime did not make me improve my perception of that. Chitose is as grating as ever and the relative exclusion of his inner thoughts makes it at times hard to comprehend what anyone is even talking about. I also don’t quite agree with how the anime presents itself at times and while it does look good and can have some really cool shots, we don’t have to pretend that the endless barrage of talking is done in a visually interesting way or that I would not be better off with the novels instead.

However, if the only thing I could say about Chiramune is that the anime is merely a functional adaptation, I doubt I would have dropped it, instead of simply pushing through and complaining all the time, like I did with Alya. Starting with the second arc, I could feel my patience and interest in the series being tested by a plotline I genuinely did not have faith in and the realization that the more you get to see from the female cast, the less appealing it got for me. Yuzuki has some phenomenal development, but she also turns into a character I just didn’t care about at the end, Asuka loses all her mysticism and Yuuko mostly continues to just be kinda there. None of it is necessarily bad, I just came to the conclusion that this series is simply not for me and that there is no point in me trying to make it work.

Final Verdict: Dropped after 9 episodes.

Sanda

Now we finally come to the anime I actually finished. Sanda makes me feel very conflicted. On one hand, it is exactly my kind of weird and using unhinged stories and characters as a vehicle for growing up and how adults try to rid children of their own autonomy is right up my alley. On the other hand, I have a feeling way too much emphasis is placed on the internal logic and lore, while simultaneously not committing to any idea to its fullest, that it is constantly losing me halfway, before running to the next one, and I could feel losing interest towards the end. It still is easily one of the most interesting anime to talk about this season and while there is value in discussing its ideas, I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, anytime a compelling character moment or world-building detail gets interrupted by a fight or its own adherence to the Santa mythos that forms the throughline for this anime.

I love Fuyumura and everything that is wrong with her, so why are her personal struggles always brought up in one moment and then immediately shoved into the background? Why is any progress she does make with Ono always at the mercy of whether the narrative whisks her away elsewhere or not? These two clearly want to communicate, so why can’t they just do that without half the season inventing reasons for why they shouldn’t? Similarly, Sanda, in theory, has a great character arc of not only what it means for him to grow up, but also the specific way and into what kind of adult he wants to grow up, but it also comes with the caveat of having to sit through scenes, where I have to wonder, whether one only came up with an interesting idea or is actually invested in seeing where it could lead to. The presentation of the anime does its best in supporting any idea the story brings up, but for me, not everything the series dishes out is to my liking, so it feels more like I am appreciating Sanda as a whole for its narrative ambition, ideas and production, rather than what it actually achieves for me.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – Yagiuda is somehow the most relatable character.

Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray Part 2

There isn’t much I could add that I haven’t already written about the first part… except that I never did, so let me make it abundantly clear, that the spin-off for this silly horse girl idol gacha game is, in fact, that serious. Like a “One of the best sport narratives I have seen” degree of seriousness. Cinderella Gray has this energy to it that sucks you right into the mindset of its characters, why the need to compete and race is so deeply implanted in them and why the rivalries they formed matter so much. You might start a race indifferent, but you will never leave it without a sense of purpose or meaning, once these girls cross the finish line. And in the midst of it all stands Oguri Cap, who really comes into herself as the linchpin of this series… she also continues to be the goofiest goober imaginable. I love her. Remember, it is “Cap” as in “Peak”.

The second part of this story also hammers home the different perspectives each Uma brings to the table. Every single one has a story to tell and seeing how they inform each other is such a joy to behold, all while the sheer intensity of it all makes the drama go along with the shounen greatness. Obey Your Master’s obsession with winning that one specific match tickled my brain just the right way, Super Creek and Dicta Striker have some of my favorite little moments and the final spurt between Oguri and Tamamo makes for one of the best declarations of motivation I have seen, period. Cap it all off with the last episode’s introduction of Inari One going full circle on the idea that these races are an endless circle of inspiring another to take on the challenge of chasing these far away dreams, now that another monster is at the very top, and the only thing left missing is simply adapting the rest of the story.

Final Verdict: 8/10 – 👍 Umazing!

Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26

Honestly, I hope Tatsuki Fujimoto stays an enigma, with only the most wild snippets of their life being known… and only half of those being actually true. Their stories are weird in a way only possible if you are pouring all your heart out and simply don’t give a damn about upholding an image of self-importance and these short stories are further proof of that. Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 is an anthology and like most anthologies, it is hard to talk conclusively on the whole, as the only thing connecting these stories is a single theme, or in this case, a single person writing about a theme in several different ways.

There is an earnestness in each story that even just writing about makes me feel slightly embarrassed. Like, how do you even go about the love you feel for seemingly complete strangers and other beings? How do you capture the state of mind one finds themselves, when trying to confess your feelings overwrites any kind of priority, even if the fate of the world would be at stake? How can be the idea of believing in this miniscule percent of success, simply because it is not zero, not sound delusional? And yet, here it is given form and making me slightly emotional. Not every single one hits its mark for me, with Shikaku and Mermaid Rhapsody falling a bit too much into normal romance territory for my taste, but the one-two-three punch of Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome, Nayuta of the Prophecy and Sisters shows how much emotional depth can be drawn from the most unconventional ideas. This anthology is about love in all its different forms and it is easy to see where the ideas in Fujimoto’s later works initially come from.

Final Verdict: 8/10 – Fujimoto can’t keep getting away with it… also, Goodbye, Eri adaptation when?

What’s left?

“What’s left?” indeed. On the sequel front, there is technically a new season of Spy x Family and My Hero Academia actually fully adapted the manga to its end, so I could finally get my back into gear and catch up with that. On the other hand, everything I have seen of the third season of One Punch Man makes my decision to keep it at season one even more final. The WataNare continuation technically released this season in Japanese theaters, but poor me will have to wait until the start of the new year to have it available in my region. For the anime that actually debuted this season, the people swear on May I Ask for One Final Thing?, but I simply couldn’t bring myself to even give the first episode a proper shot. Similarly, Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider and Who Made Me a Princess are the other two anime that seem to have survived the filter, that is public opinion on seasonal anime, but both don’t quite seem to be worthwhile, now that the season is over. So, what is left? Nothing. Alas, let’s take a look into the future and hope that next year starts off better than this one ended.

My favorite Anime Openings & Endings 2025

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, you know the drill. Another year, another giant batch of openings and endings for me to swoon over. This time, there are no changes to the formula, so instead, I recommend Sakuga Blog’s Breakdown of who actually works on them and why they look the way they do since recent years.

Overall, I think it was a good year, though looking at my notes, it seems to be a lot more lopsided towards OPs than EDs again. Not that I am one to complain. So like always, these are my favorite Anime Openings and Endings of 2025.

Anime Jukebox 2025

The Anime Jukebox returns this year, so here is a list of all the songs I really liked:

Medalist OP – “BOW AND ARROW” by Kenshi Yonezu
Cat’s♥Eye ED – “CAT’S EYE” by Ado
Your Forma ED – “Neo-Luddite” by 9Lana
Beyblade X ED3 – “Stay Gold” by Jax Jones, Ado
To Be Hero X OP – “INERTIA” by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Rei
To Be Hero X ED – “KONTINUUM” by SennaRin
Witch Watch ED1 – “Find your magic” by Aooo
Flower and Asura ED – “Rourou” by Satou.
Dandadan Season 2 OP – “On The Way” by AiNA THE END
Dandadan Season 2 ED – “Doukashiteru” by WurtS
Digimon Beatbreak OP – “Mad Pulse” by MADKID
City The Animation OP – “Hello” by Riho Furui
Yaiba: Samurai Legend ED1 – “pineapple tart” by otoha
The Summer Hikaru Died OP – “Saikai” by Vaundy
The Summer Hikaru Died ED – “Anata wa Kaibutsu” by TOOBOE
Kowloon Generic Romance OP – “Summertime Ghost” by Wednesday Campanella
Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray OP – “Koeru” by [Alexandros]
Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray ED – “∞” by Tomoyo Takayanagi
Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective OP – “SCOPE” by Aimer
This Monster Wants to Eat Me OP – “Sacrifice” by Yoshino
The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 OP1 – “Hyakka Ryouran” by Lilas Ikuta
Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX OP – “Plazma” by Kenshi Yonezu
Chainsaw Man the Movie: Reze Arc OP – “IRIS OUT” by Kenshi Yonezu
New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ED – “Reckless” by m-flo, Adee A.

Openings

Before I properly start with the honorable mentions, I will take this opportunity to once again praise Orb, simply on the technicality that it aired in this year. As expected, it continued with the idea of adjusting the visuals, instead of changing to a completely new opening and the hindsight makes the earlier versions all the more better.

Starting with the Rom, the Com and the everything inbetween, some of this years sequels make a strong comeback: My Dress-Up Darling has a really cool motif with the different kinds of fabrics in the background going on, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You keeps running with its joke of an ever-expanding cast and Call of the Night brings back The Vibe™. For the new series, the opening for The Shiunji Family Children probably does a better job at characterizing its cast than the actual series and Watanare really shouldn’t be my kind of thing, but is also way too catchy for what should be a forgettable LN adaptation. If you want some good ol' youthful romance feelings, The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity got you covered in spades, Blue Box’s second opening keeps the #TeamHina delusions alive and Kowloon Generic Romance hits you with the idealized nostalgia, that is its version of the Kowloon Walled City.

For the shounen agenda, we are so back. One Piece, in its greed of biblical proportion, gets three new OPs, at least Gachiakuta’s OP isn’t all just trash and after the first one was rather disappointing, Sakamoto Days still got it with someone like Tetsuro Araki at the helm. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes has fun with its classic comic book aesthetic, Yaiba: Samurai Legend is just plain fun and the new one for Dandadan is, you guessed it, actually a bit of everything. Not sure if Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray actually belongs here, but what is sport if not peak shounen and lastly, there is the special OP for episode 14 of Witch Watch, which is so vague in its iconography, that I am not sure if it is riffing on something specific or simply channels the broadest imagery one comes up with when thinking about battle series.

Then we have a plethora of just creative and pretty ones. Household names like Yamada and Ishitani blessed us with Anne Shirley and Witch Watch respectively, Science Saru goes even harder with their use of colors in Sanda, Sorairo Utility and Ruri Rocks are way more stylish and technically impressive than one would guess from anime about cute girls and what also rocks are the girls in Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty. For sheer animation behemoths, we have Takopi’s Original Sin, which deceitfully portrays the story from the perspective of the titular character, CITY The Animation is just a delight on all fronts, Zenshu gets to be fully self-indulgent in its own animation and I May Be a Guild Receptionist makes me wish the anime would be a lot more like the OP. And when we are already on the topic of light novel adaptations I don’t quite care about, Secrets of the Silent Witch makes its magic and world truly look magical, The Water Magician fills its characters full with life and Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle portrays its female cast of characters with all the nuance of its own internal narration. To Be Hero X has all the sauce with its different animation styles and the new Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary cleverly uses its multi-medial approach to never show the main characters on the same layer, while Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective and This Monster Wants to Eat Me both have a lot more energy than their actual series. Lastly, From Bureaucrat to Villainess might be the dream of all people who wrongly believe that the OP should look like the actual anime at its best and The Summer Hikaru Died is… I ran out of ways to describe the openings… they are all just very good, trust me… and how could I forget See You Tomorrow at the Food Court’s two idiots recording their silly little dance for a TikTok, which probably only gets like three likes (I am two of them)?

For the last category, we have what I can only assume to be high-effort shitposts. My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! is a montage of memes, games and various pop culture references, which is way more fun dissecting than the actual story and Nukitashi the Animation (NSFW!) simply didn’t give a singular fuck and gave this sex comedy not just a banger song, but also animation that is way too clever and technically impressive than it has any right be. Unlimited Dildo Works is a crazy image, which I still have not properly processed.

And that’s all the honorable mentions and just general good quality openings I think this year has to offer. Without further ado, here are my best of the best of 2025.

One Piece Opening 26 – “ANGEL & DEVIL” by GRe4N BOYZ

I am not beating the One Piece allegations, am I? But why should I, if this series continues to give us peak for like the third year in a row? One thing the change in broadcasting enabled, is the ability to create a sequence for a smaller aspect of the story, in this case the story of Bonney and Kuma. The opening seconds are already filled with so much greatness: A series of first person shots showing a young Bonney reaching out for the sun before having to be confined in the church due to her illness, Sabaody Archipelago eventually being consumed by the flames of the Pacifistas and lastly falling into the water and being picked up by the strawhats. Luffy being a representation of the sun and reflected in her eye as Kuma doing the Nika dance is just the cherry on top of why she is such an integral part of the Egghead arc.

After some quick introduction of our main and supporting cast, it goes back to Bonney by letting her view the memories Kuma left behind: Her mother, Bonney slowly growing up and the letters that never reached her, only to be interrupted by the person that is the reason for her and her father’s suffering. Even the action climax kinda plays into the idea of the past by once again referencing the Nika dance, Kizaru and Sentomaru’s clashes giving a peak into their shared history with Kuma and Bonney and even Dragon gets to play a good father for once, by showing that he always had his son on his mind, as seen by him holding Luffy’s very first Wanted poster. Cap it all off with some more wholesome memories of Kuma and Bonney together, as well as Bonney in the present being finally able to relax on board the Thousand Sunny and I am more than happy what this OP achieves, while also not overstaying its welcome.

The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 Opening 1 – “Hyakka Ryouran” by Lilas Ikuta

I kinda forgot to mention the second opening, huh? Anyway, while I like the mask and butterfly motif of that one, I think the first OP simply does a phenomenal job of making me realize what any of it means every few episodes, while also feeling coherent in the design language of the series as a whole. I mean, I can’t for the life of me identify flowers and their respective meaning, but everything else just seems right and a natural element of the world, despite being clearly constructed and abstracted. The beginning makes it really clear that light and reflections play a big part in this arc and Maomao always pointing to the final piece of a puzzle or its solutions are nice touches. The same can be said about the poisoned food she has no problems getting a taste of and the POV shots, which just feel so perfectly inline of her character as both an outside observer and unwilling main actor.

Where it really gets me, are the allusions to the individual mysteries. The poisoned hand upholding a white lily and the painting barely obscuring an already introduced character are so on the nose, that it is almost funny. Then there is the Former Emperor framed around blooming flowers and inside the belly of the Empress Dowager, which is straight up devious, once you know the context of that shot, and lastly, the barrage of doors, which will make a comeback at the very end of the OP. This all leads up to the montage of the consorts and envoy being framed as if mirroring oneself, with Maomao only realizing at the very end what is going on and the specifics of this resolution being so loaded, that honestly writing anything more will just spoil half the arc. We end on a compilation of items, which are key to certain scenes (absolutely hollering at the frog… if you know, you know) and the second coming of the doors, this time giving a clearer picture of why they might be so confusing, specifically for Jinshi and the current Emperor.

Overall, it is simply a great opening that has a lot of fun in framing its own mysteries in visually pleasing ways, while combining it with the solid character drama that accompanies the rest of the series.

Apocalypse Hotel Opening – “skirt” by aiko

The very thought of Yachiyo feeling lonely breaks my heart into a million pieces. Why is she dancing alone? Why does she look so sad, when the lights leave the foyer of the hotel? Why am I internally screaming uncontrollably every time this OP comes up?

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Opening – “IRIS OUT” by Kenshi Yonezu

Does this count? I mean, a separate sequence with a dedicated song? Sure, this is an opening! I am impressed by how much functional weight this OP pulls in such a short time. It closes the gap between the end of season one and the proper start of the Reze arc, while also giving everyone, for whom this is their first exposure to Chainsaw Man, a quick rundown of the most important characters and the kind of world this is. It is also just hilarious how Denji and Aki need to literally drag Power out of the apartment, as she tries to cling herself to everything she can, which plays nicely into the contrast with Makima’s seemingly perfect and almost performative morning routine. Another nice detail is that we never actually see Makima’s face for the entirety of the OP, but always know what see is looking at, which again goes neatly into how there is never a single moment where it feels like Makima is not watching. There are eyes and eye-shaped elements everywhere for those with the… well, eyes to see, though Makima stepping on a giant one right before the start of the chorus also works as a double entendre with the reference to the film technique of an iris out.

There are also just a lot of references to events that happen way after the scope of the movie: The DDR machine, the different kinds of chains in the background and most importantly the line of humans linking their hands together while Denji, Aki and Power (and Beam, now that I take a closer look) dance in the middle of it all. Superimposed on that is Denji being awestruck by Makima and in a later rendition by a montage of every female character in the series (and Angel)… it could also be every character that ever tried to kill him, but as the movie points out, one is just a subset of the other for what Denji is concerned and as his little daydream on the streetcar shows, not even in his imagination can he escape that fate. Lastly, it is absolute cinema. The horse carousel turning into The Horse in Motion is basically a given, considering how often the first season itself already used this motif, but it once again hammers home how Makima uses film as just another vehicle to manipulate and ensnare Denji, hypnotizing him in a way to pull his cord and unleash Chainsaw Man on her behalf.

Endings

For the endings, we obviously have to start with the dancing, partying and generally all the good time. For what it is worth, Catch Me at the Ballpark! and A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof is the equivalent of jingling a keychain and flashing lights in front of my eyes and I am not afraid to admit that. Also, Matsuken Samba in From Bureaucrat to Villainess? Hell yeah! Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX gives us a moment of just Machu and Nyaan hanging, out that is otherwise so amiss in the actual series, New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is the perfect contrast to the utter chaos of their normal escapades and the cast of Dandadan takes a break to enjoy being normal students for a minute and a half. The cast of CITY The Animation actually takes a backseat in the ED and it gets hijacked instead by all the animal and mascot characters. Lastly, Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc technically falls under the label of dance ED, though I am quite confident that it has a bit more of a dramatic and serious angle to it, than the rest here.

Next up, I want to shine some light upon all the more “simple” EDs. Sanda gives a glimpse into a world that children should be experiencing, instead of being sheltered from the little wonders of daily life. Meanwhile, Yaiba: Samurai Legend is probably the best execution of giving little bits of characterization through what is essentially just a slide show of in-universe social media images. The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You is just very pretty to look at, Ruri Rocks is low-key magical and Medalist is so wholesome.

For the more narratively dense entries, Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray is the microcosm of a girl that was born not to run, but does so anyways, because she is able to, To Be Hero X makes it a point on how different X is to all the other heroes in the Top 10 and Solo Leveling continues its run of making me question what could possibly happen in the story to justify these avant-garde sequences. Lazarus arguably does a better job telling its own story in these 90 seconds than its full 13 episodes and The Summer Hikaru Died only truly hits once you can place it along its timeline.

Lastly, the only reason why Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle is not in the main section, is because I feel like I simply don’t know enough about the source material to properly write about it. Not sure how meta the inclusion of an ambiguous mystery girl is in the year 2025, but considering how much this ED does for my perception of Chitose as a character, the one guy I consider so obnoxious, that I didn’t continue the light novels he is in, it absolutely deserves a main spot on the list.

And with that, we go to the one and only ED I have much to write about… sometimes, things just (not) happen a certain way.

One Piece Ending 21 – “The 1” by muque

I’m gonna be honest, this one gets a special shout out simply for being such a good companion piece to the opening and hitting you out of nowhere with an emotional gut punch that is hard to recover from. After everything Bonney had to go through, Kuma is there, finally being able to stand still after years of being forced to metaphorically run forward and the way it is revealed by her being able to go after him is simply *chef’s kiss*.

There are another two shots I really like: The first one is Kuma dissolving underwater inside a whale carcass, while Vegapunk succumbs to his own emotions and humanity, representing the moment the last bits of Kuma’s personality were erased to fully turn him into a weapon. The second one is a direct consequence of the first. With Bonney’s illness cured, the Sapphire Scale falls from her face and refracts all the memories she has from her father… man, One Piece is so good.

And that’s about it. I hope it was not too obvious that I ran out of steam writing this post almost immediately, but I still had fun with it and as long as I compile all theses OPs and EDs in the sheer hope someone will watch them, than I consider it a job well done. Until next year ^^.

Chainsaw Man's Illusion of Choice: The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 18:20:00 +0100

Ach ja, Chainsaw Man the Movie: Reze Arc recently hit the theaters in my area and to the surprise of no one, I really enjoyed it. It is absolutely the kind of movie you would do yourself a favor by experiencing it on the big screen or at the very least with the best audio setup you can get and I see literally no problem recommending it to anyone who read the manga or seen the first season of the anime. But with that being said, in true Chainsaw Man fashion, it is not the insanity of the characters or the action spectacle, but an unassuming and contemplative question, through which the entire Reze arc can be looked through, that eventually forced me to write down some of my thoughts on this beautifully tragic story. Spoilers ahead.

Around a quarter into the movie, independently from another, both Reze and the Angel Devil ask Denji and Aki respectively, which they prefer, the town mouse or the country mouse, referring to one of Aesop’s Fables: The town mouse may live its life in relative luxury, but is under the constant threat of humans and cats, while the country mouse may have less food, but does not have to fear for its own life. Both make no real attempt to obfuscate what they mean by raising this question and proceed to explain why they would choose the life of the country mouse. This is then contrasted by both Denji and Aki explaining why they would rather choose the town mouse instead. What seems primarily as a quick way to show the differences in life philosophy between the two pairings, is something that has to be questioned and reexamined throughout the arc constantly.

Arguably the quickest answer comes from Aki, as he, as a child, lived the life of the country mouse, until the Gun Devil took it from him. In a sense, Aki’s decision “to live in the city” is an extension of his self-destructive tendencies. Him working as a devil hunter is not primarily due to a sense of either justice or responsibility, but revenge and his desire to confront the Gun Devil himself. After his contract with the Future Devil, he is deeply aware that his current path will result in his own death, yet he keeps going. Instead of leading a comfortable, but risky life, Aki’s priorities seem to be mixed up, with what poses the threat of death being also the very reward he gets for enduring it. Ironically, despite the certainty of his fate, Aki might also be the only character who could defy his decision. Technically, nothing is holding him back from choosing the country mouse, or in more concrete terms, quit being a devil hunter and give up on his vendetta, but if that were ever a possibility for him, he would have never gone down that path to begin with.

In a slightly different way, Angel Devil also has the seeming advantages and disadvantages backwards, choosing the country mouse, because he would rather die than keep working as a devil hunter. Again, the safety aspect of both ways of life are almost secondary to what he considers to be the real appeal of the uneventful and boring life of the country mouse. If one were to rephrase the whole decision as an assessment of risk and reward, Angel Devil doesn’t want the “reward” to such a degree, that he will literally choose the “risk” instead, which twists the very premise of the town and country mouse, as his circumstances don’t apply to how one would normally think about it.

By contrast, at first, Denji and Reze seem a lot more straightforward, if by no means less complicated. Denji is only able to view Reze’s question through his own very limited perspective of what both the life of the town and country mouse could be. Before being picked up by Makima, Denji was treated as less than a human and without any prospect of having a proper future. But now? Bread with jam and even his own futon. That’s the kind of opulence not even kings could dream of! Even after Reze rightfully points out that his current situation barely counts as the absolute minimum, Denji doesn’t really waver, because there is something else entirely he gained. He started having dreams and aspirations of his own, he is experiencing things he never did and stopped being lonely. Despite a rough start, he became friends with Aki and Power, felt appreciated for doing a good job and fell in love not just once but twice. All things he can’t even imagine giving up now. In light of all that, being almost killed and confronting horrors beyond his comprehension barely registers. This is the point in which Denji and Reze fundamentally differ and why they initially come to different conclusions.

On the surface, Reze is rather similar to Denji and part of why she is able to so easily manipulate him is because they are walking in the same shoes. Being a Jane Doe and essentially nothing more than a tool for the Soviets to retrieve the heart of the Chainsaw Devil, there isn’t a lot for her to live for, despite yearning for the same things Denji does. However, as she can’t acquire them, she would rather choose a simple life than what she currently has, which is no life at all. When she asks Denji at the end of the festival to run away with her, this is where the small differences between them amount to something more substantial. Despite how much Denji thinks he loves Reze, he can’t bring himself to abandon everything he gained by coming into the city, while Reze assumes there is nothing to lose.

While 95 percent of the relationship between Reze and Denji is based on lies and deception, its those last five percent, which causes the two to rethink their assumptions of what kind of life they think is possible for themselves. Despite having fought to death at least three times over and making it abundantly clear how sick and tired he is of how everyone seems to only be interested in the heart of the Chainsaw Devil instead of his own, Denji still gives Reze a choice: She can return to where she came from and leave his life as quickly as she entered it, or come back to the café where he will be waiting for her. So, on the train platform, she once again gets confronted with the same question. What would she rather choose, the town mouse or the country mouse? It is a very basic setup. She initially confronted Denji just to kill him, but part of her also undoubtedly enjoyed the time she spent with him. The teenage romance might have been fake, but the feelings were genuine. She taught him as many things as he taught her. If not love, it is at least the small prospect of being able to live a life she thinks is worthwhile and fun, outside of the control of other people. If Denji can find happiness, and he is so much like her, why not her too? The train leaves the station and in the same way she was first introduced at the beginning of the movie, she makes her way to the café.

Makima is not a mouse. In her own words, she too likes the country mouse, not because she wants to live like it, but because it makes her calm when she releases the dogs and all the wild mice get caught after the fields were freshly dug up. For Reze, there never was a choice that could grant her either a fulfilling life or one in safety. In Chainsaw Man, there is no life of the town or country mouse, only the pursuit of your own happiness in spite of the control that people like Makima represent. After Angel Devil deals the final blow, he too has to reconsider his choice and between the kindness he was shown by Aki and his own realization that the desire to not work might come with a few more asterisks attached than just death, makes his decision an easy one.

Damn, it has been a good while since I last wrote about something for its own sake… and it shows. This is by far not the best thing I could have mustered up, in parts because I kinda wrote myself into a corner by just focussing on this barely-disguised metaphor, which isn’t actually that interesting to analyze on its own. The movie really lives by its characters and just reducing the dynamic of Denji and Reze to this metaphor does not do the story justice. Seriously, Chainsaw Man is the only thing, which can effortlessly go from coming-of-life romance to Sharknado with explosions and feel coherent all the way through. So yeah, Chainsaw Man is good and hopefully I will find the motivation to write about more stuff again, because I have been experiencing peak this year. Until next time.

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Summer 2025

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 18:10:00 +0200

Ach ja, considering how much I complained last season about the sheer number of anime I watched, it should go without saying how this season would top this number immediately… except not really. Four anime are left-overs from last season, two of the new ones are only half-length and another two are even less, so I can’t accept the title of self-imposed mass seasonal anime watcher just yet.

Maybe I should be more critical about what I choose to watch, but this season, more than the ones before, showed how there is value in maybe not just blindly giving a show the benefit of the doubt, but at least a chance to either impress or disappoint and me the challenge to criticize the things I like and praise the ones I didn’t. And as always, there are a lot of shades in between.

This season, more than anything, surprised me with its consistency. I didn’t watch anything outright bad and the general level of quality is quite up there, maybe even the best since I started watching seasonal anime, but it is also lacking some really heavy hitters, potential favorites and contenders for my own arbitrary S-Tier classification. Truly, woe is me, complaining about the three Michelin star all-you-can-eat buffet in front of me, because nothing reaches quite the heights of this one croque I had on a warm fall evening a few years ago. Welp, enough talking about food and more talking about anime.

The ones that didn’t make it

Gachiakuta is by no means a series that lacks appeal. From its underlying theme of treasuring objects and the natural integration into the power system or even just the imminent scope of its setting, it features a world and characters, which, on the surface, should make it really easy to engage yourself into whatever else it has to offer. Yet, despite it all, I just could not get myself to care for basically anything. I have my gripes with the first episode, how it mostly feels like one giant display of misanthropy disguised as character motivation and how the second episode largely follows through on this. The third episode was arguably even worse by simply being plain boring and the fourth one fails to make me want to cheer for Rudo. I don’t quite jibe with the comedy, don’t think certain character archetypes distinguish themselves enough in their introduction to immediately seem interesting beyond their base characteristics and even when everyone eventually stops screaming all the time and mellows out a bit, the series doesn’t fill the void with anything I personally would want to see more of. Where is the mystery, the questions the series refuses to give us a full answer to yet? I know shounen series tend to take a while to truly show their true colors, but they also tend to give one at least some crumbs of what could be. Gachiakuta gives me nothing to work with and nothing to put my trust and confidence into its ability to turn itself around and impress at a later date.

Similarly, Secrets of the Silent Witch is not actively bad, just finds itself in the unfortunate situation of at times rubbing me just slightly the wrong way, while also keeping me famished with every second thing it attempts. Monica is a charming protagonist and I like the way her introversion, social anxiety and other similar idiosyncrasies are portrayed, but like with so many things in this series, I feel like she too is played just a tad too close to the chest for me to fully read meaning into anything. It is obvious that something is always going on in the background, both in terms of literal plot points and characters, as well as with its larger ideas, but when it feels like you are getting dragged along on purely good faith, it ought to better make sure I am enjoying the journey along it… which I simply didn’t. Comedy is obviously great, about the only thing I would have expected with Takaomi Kanasaki in the director’s chair and I also don’t mind the more shojou-ey(?) vibes and slight subversions of the more classic magic academy set-ups I have come to expect, but beyond that? The first arc kinda went nowhere for me, failing completely on the mystery and not fully convincing me of whatever is going on with Cyril, most characters in general appear to simply exist in the periphery for now and all the magical elements are also not doing it for me. With such a pedigree of potentially interesting ideas, it is a shame it all fell flat for me. What also surprises me, is that the general consensus seems to be that this is one of the best non-sequel anime this season, which truly makes me wonder if I simply fail to grasp this series' appeal, as I very seldom deviate from the mainstream in such matters.

The Summer Hikaru Died

Someday, I will have to do a proper write-up about my seeming disinterest for the horror genre, or rather what I want out of my horror-adjacent media. For now, I am just glad I get to enjoy something that tickles a similar itch for me the same way that Higurashi did for me the last time 10 years ago.

The Summer Hikaru Died absolutely nails its atmosphere. From the mountains and woods caging you in, the judging glances of your neighbors and the scorching summer heat, for Yoshiki, every second he spends in this village is suffocating. After all, he doesn’t belong there and this isn’t even putting all the supernatural horrors into account. If there is one thing this anime nails on all fronts, it is making you understand why he is so depressed and confused and unsure and all-around without direction in his life. His friend died, but there is something else occupying his body, it is foreign yet warm and between the very real threat it poses and the comfort it provides, it is hard to judge him for not wanting to make a choice. I adore the first half, because it is not just an excellent coming-of-age story with a supernatural twist and not so subtle queer-coding, but also an interesting take on the monster in human clothing and I genuinely wouldn’t mind, if this season would have spent its entire run just being that… Yoshiki slowly coming to terms with what this new Hikaru is, while Hikaru finds his place in the world.

Not that I mind the more narrative-driven second half and the anime is at its best, when it can properly combine these two elements. Episodes like the hair monster pulling Yoshiki down memory lane or the two of them skipping their class' choir performance to play hooky are my heart and soul. It is just that the more external circumstances of the relationship between Hikaru and Yoshiko result in a kind of drama that I don’t think always reaches its highest peaks and some of the more concrete elements like the village’s history and specific details surrounding Hikaru’s real nature fall a bit flat for me. Not that it is ever bad. No, far from it and even at its “worst”, The Summer Hikaru Died is consistently one of the best experiences with an anime I had the last few months. I might have got a bit impatient at times with the pace it reveals its larger mysteries or whatever Tanaka’s deal is, but with a really emotionally satisfying conclusion of its first season and a second one already announced, it would be a hard call to not name it my favorite anime of this season.

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity

It is funny how The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is just an all-around good romance series, addresses most of the things I want to be addressed and dodges all the aspects I typically dislike in romance anime, yet the actual romance is like the least interesting aspect for me. On God, you can’t imagine how close I was to write about everything else, put Subaru in the header image and end it with “And I guess Miss Waguri is also there”.

At its heart, this story is about opening up to others, embracing all the little “selfish” feelings swirling in your head and realizing that this is just what being together with other people tends to be. Rintaro is a bit of a broken person before he becomes closer to Kaoruko and it is through the connection with her that he learns that this yearning for closeness and warmth isn’t wrong, even if he still feels the need to apologize every step of the way. He is also just utterly adorable. Seeing this tall and intimidating guy blushing and getting all giddy at the sheer prospect of receiving kindness and friendship never got old. In a similar situation, Subaru coming to terms with the reality that her idea of protecting Kaoruko is just the thinly disguised fear of losing her friend easily made for the best drama this anime had to offer. In fact, while the anime doesn’t play up its drama, it still gets to the satisfying conclusions either way through a combination of deep character introspection and clever shifts in perspective. Both of Rintaro’s parents get fantastic stuff indirectly enriching him as a character, as much as I dislike the actual happenings that transpired, Usami, Natsusawa and Yorita are the dumb bros you need in your life to cover your back and once we saw the inciting incident from Kaoruko point of view, everything just clicks so well together.

It is not always my kind of romance, the Romeo and Juliet setup is just kinda there and ignored most of the time and I also don’t think it would be fair to criticize this series for being very tame and safe in the grand scheme of things, but in the same way, I too think it would be a disservice to focus and reduce it to just the romance. As mentioned, I think everything else it has going for it is way more interesting and expands the story with some much needed conflict. Considering how the last few years have been primarily dominated by romances featuring some kind of twist, quirk or specific flavor of love interest, a teenage romance being played perfectly straight might just be what the people wanted.

Ruri Rocks

Damn, the pretty stone anime turned out to be a gem. It is hard to describe how genuinely inspiring I find this anime. Certain media are able to fully utilize their format to shine light on more niche topics and in this sense, Ruri Rocks is a delightful entry for what is commonly referred to as edutainment. Did I ever particularly care about mineralogy? Not any more than I do about literally every other topic. Do I now know some more cool rock facts™? You bet I do. But if this were all this series had to offer, I doubt it would have left the impact on me that it did. This anime loves science. You can not only see this in the extends it communicates knowledge, but also how this knowledge intersects with all kinds of elements we come across in our daily lives, be it the insane game of connection at play how seemingly minor events millions of years ago have an impact on today, or the way people of all times asked themselves similar questions we do now, how different approaches lead to different answers and how that again intersects with history and so on and so forth. If there is one thing that you should take away from this anime, it is that rocks can do so much more than just look nice or be sold for money.

But even beyond all this, I didn’t expect Ruri Rocks to possess such rock solid character writing. Seto’s introductory episode is masterful in a lot of ways, showcasing both how hobbies are not only a way to form connections, but also how it may only take one fateful encounter with a person that truly understands you and the gentlest push to change your entire trajectory for the future. On the other hand, seeing Ruri grow from a bratty child needing the constant supervision of people like Nagi and Imari into someone capable to use and apply all the things she learned over the course of the series to engage in her hobby to the fullest and do some genuine science in the process is magical. Yeah, Ruri rocks indeed. It is just a shame that recommending this series comes with a slight caveat. While I have to give all the credit to the perverts at Studio Bind for bringing this series to life in all its natural beauty, the character designs especially are very unashamed and while I personally have no problems appreciating the view, I get why it might raise some eyebrows or distract from the actual material. But if you can see beyond this, you will be rewarded with an anime that is so earnest in its subject matter like only a few truly can.

There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless…

What a journey this anime has been. For context, I have read the first part (The first four volumes) of the original light novel series and my relationship with it is… two-fold. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think TNFWIBYL!U… (Or just WataNare) is that good or particularly enjoyable outside some specific elements. However, it is interesting in a lot of small ways, which is not just the reason why I kept reading, but also why I was weirdly defensive for the beginning of a story I don’t care that much about. Slander an anime all you want, but the second you become intellectually dishonest, I will become an obnoxious defender of mediocrity. As a society, we should be better than dismissing WataNare as just a harem series with the main character being gender-swapped… not that it would be hard to see why one would initially think so, because, for how much this series talks about the intricacies of romantic and platonic friendships from the perspective of a social shut-in under the assumption that she can neither love nor be loved, it is also full of RomCom bullshit and tropes most are not a big fan of.

What the adaptation is concerned about, the first episode actually starts pretty well, introducing us as best as possible to Renako and the main motif of the story and manages to be a pretty fun experience all around, only to stagnate for a rather long time. It tends to linger a bit too long on its weaker elements and without Renako’s inner voice, some scenes even come off slightly different or not as intended. Seriously, I can’t possibly overstate how much of a train wreck Renako’s thought process is at all times and how well it informs why some of the more questionable things happen. While the anime made me appreciate Satsuki a lot more, I still think Mai is a particularly hard character to like, especially with how flippant her portrayal tends to be and it is not until Ajisai’s arc where not only the writing somehow makes a sudden jump in quality, but also all the events before it truly show their purpose. Also also, Ajisai is simply the best. I am normally not one for shipping characters, but Ajisai and Renako are just so good for another. Please look at this screencap I wanted to initially use for the header.

I will also singlehandedly give her credit for breaking the curse of girls love anime not getting a continuation. I am so glad it gets a proper adaptation which finishes the first part of the story and doesn’t just end on the bombshell dropped on the last episode, especially after how disappointing the adaptations for WataOshi and Sasakoi turned out. Alas, it is time to find out what humanity’s oldest weapon is. This anime is still a far cry from other titles like Bloom Into You, but when compared to stuff like Citrus, I think I should be grateful that WataNare is a decent entry for the girls love genre, all things considered.

CITY The Animation

What an absolute delight this was. To get the obvious out of the way, CITY is easily one of the best produced TV series I have ever seen. Endlessly creative, imaginative and ambitious in its visuals, it never settles for just good enough and makes it its personal mission to keep surprising the audience at every corner possible, be it the chaos of a race, a musical number to say goodbye or the utter insanity that was the entirety of episode 5. There are only a few anime I could name that have such a firm grasp on their identity the way CITY presents itself and how this presentation seamlessly bleeds into and elevates every aspect of its titular city, characters and the stories between them obviously included.

There is a certain magic in coming to learn the citizens of the city and how each and every one is connected to another. While Nagumo, Wada and Niikura receive the most focus, the story isn’t really all that interested in only following them, instead opting to always jump between its entire cast, that at the end of it all, I think literally every single character was the main actor of a segment at least once. And together, it paints a fascinating picture of daily life that is never boring… It also helps that those segments tend to be hilarious. Personally, I don’t think CITY has missed even once, which might also be in part due to what it tends to be about. In short, the characters are all living their energetic life to the fullest and CITY celebrates these moments of joy, may they come in the fantastical and bizarre or the most mundane times life has to offer. The season even ends with what I can only describe as an ode to “Don’t be sad it is over, but be happy it happened”, because there will come another summer. You might need to be in the right mood to fully appreciate it, but this is easily the anime this season that made me the most consistently happy and joyful.

Leviathan

Leviathan is a perfectly fine series. By that, I mean I don’t have many immediate complaints or problems with the anime. It is, by all means, good. But it also consistently feels like there is missing something to truly make it stick for me. The world is interesting and fun, but the story is so streamlined that we are not allowed to fully engage with it. The characters and their drama are solid, but it is also lacking in depth to make you truly connect with either them or the themes explored. The animation looks great and it is a pretty cold take to call Studio Orange some of the best when it comes to 3D in anime, but compared to their other series, there isn’t a lot that makes you gawk in awe at the presentation of it all.

It is the “potential man” meme, but as an anime. Always could, but never quite is. By that I mean it is constantly going along competently, but also always just as expected, never really grabbing me… or pushing me away for that matter. The worst I can say is that the final conflict severely lacks a proper protagonist-antagonist dynamic. But beyond that? Yeah, it’s good, especially if you are interested in an alternative history military story with a low sci-fi/fantasy twist. Alek and especially Sharp are not your average anime protagonists and if your sensibilities tend to be a lot more western-oriented or you are just plainly burned out from subpar isekai power fantasies, this might just be the series for you.

Kaiju No. 8 Season 2

This season of Kaiju No. 8 was… rough and I have to simply accept taking the L on this one. For the first season, I ended my little review with how much I was looking forward to what I thought would be the best stretch of the manga… turns out my memory was very selective on what I actually remember and when it happens. For the most part, Kaiju’s second season is more or less more of the same. Our heroes get stronger, the kaijus bigger and the shounen antics more shounen. We even get a random comedy omake starring Hoshina at the end of every episode. In short, if you like all of season one, you will most likely like season two just as much.

However, the shounen antics aren’t necessarily what I like about this series and when you combine it with the fact that the pacing grinds to an utter halt for like half its runtime, it became hard to stay enthusiastic about the series outside specific moments. While the characters are more often than not the series' focus, I don’t think they are that interesting on their own most of the time and considering how complacent the series gets what character motivation is concerned, seeing how most of them get reduced to not even a variant of simply becoming stronger, but just simply wanting to become stronger, it became a slog to get through the next arc, which doesn’t even really start in this season proper. Hoshina and Kaiju No. 10 are fun, Narumi being the biggest loser is fun and finally seeing all the new big boy kaijus make their appearance gets me hyped for the stuff I do remember from reading the manga, but with how consistently this series undermines its own rising stakes, my expectations are honestly lower than ever. Whenever a continuation is announced, I will most likely keep watching, but I have a feeling that this stretch of episodes particularly lost a lot of potential fans, and what I am concerned, good will.

Dandadan Season 2

For the second second season this season, I have a few more good things to write about. While I have come to appreciate that the baseline for Dandadan is pretty good on a technical level, both narratively and from a production point of view, this stretch of episodes in particular shows once again what I like and dislike in your typical shounen fare. Picking up where the first season so unceremoniously left off, we are treated to what might as well have been its own movie with the Cursed House arc and the Mongolian Death Worm properly introducing us to the biggest empath and secret genius Jiji and his relation to Evil Eye. This was just an overall fun arc with the layers of layers of the underground houses serving as a cool setting, the ending bringing back old characters in a truly epic fashion and capping it all off with on of the best moments with what the Momo and Okarun front is concerned, Evangelion reference and all. Even with a genuinely good and proper romance anime right next to it, these two dorks are still my favorite pairing this season.

On the other hand, the rest of the season is a lot more uneven and might be a prime example of what the big difference between “nothing happening” slice of life bits and… “actually just simply nothing happening” is. The fallout of the first arc has its moments with the car ride and the maid café doing wonders for the relationship between Momo and Okarun, the ~~hayashi~~ HAYASii performance going above and beyond what would have been necessary and the moments following being an incredibly wholesome display of gratitude and friendship. It is just that Evil Eye doesn’t really bring much to the conversation and him going rogue every few minutes got repetitive and even annoying pretty fast for me. On the other hand, I would actually call the fight between Okarun, Aira and the musicians not just weak, but straight-up pointless and while I think the series might be cooking with Kinta, the last episodes were paced like shit, with each scene and segment simply going on just that tiny bit too long, hampering my overall enjoyment of the series towards its finale. It might again end on a promising cliffhanger, but I really hope the next season catches itself similar to how the beginning of this one’s so elegantly excelled at.

New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

The Bitches are back and probably better than ever. The first season of Panty & Stocking was this crass and crude love letter-ish parody of cartoons from a time that went right by me and all things American pop culture. In a sense, the first season is very much a product of its time, for better and worse, and while I quite enjoyed it, I never felt the way it has clearly left an impact on the anime community at large. Outside of specific episodes and the masterstroke of an ending, that puts most cliffhangers to shame by the sheer brazenness of it all, I mostly appreciated it for both the artistry and the fact that you simply don’t get something like this all too often in either anime, cartoon or elsewhere, really.

With that being said, the new season either changes or adds a lot of stuff that makes the experience of watching it a lot more fun for me, like a way clearer grasp on what is simply offensive for the sake of it and actually funny. Maybe I also just finally get to enjoy the references that are thrown around every few seconds. But most importantly, opening itself up for a larger core cast of characters works wonders for what this series goes for. The Demon Sisters make a fantastic comeback, the Gunsmith Bitch and Super Guy “Jin” are great additions and once the Poly Brothers were introduced in all their Gen Z glory, you just knew that this series has never been more back and confident in its all over the place happenings, be it the random side-adventures of Brief and Garterbelt or Panty singing a musical number containing more curse words than anything else.

Panty & Stocking has always been a visual playground for all kinds of stories and ideas that don’t quite fit normal narrative conventions and Hiroyuki Imaishi and his merry band of insane people still bring all the sauce in the form of balls to the wall action scenes, fantastic music or this weird mixture of comedy, sex and wholesomeness. Remember, The “F” in “Fuck” stands for “Family”, be they angel, demon or human 🙏🙏🙏. It might still not be quite my cup of tea, but it is hard to not respect such a bold, creative and uncompromising vision. The only thing left for me is to finally figure out what kind of clothing article a “scanty” exactly is.

To Be Hero X

I don’t think I have ever been more glad in being wrong about where a story might go. Not that I was ever dissatisfied at any point, be it the very first arc or even up to the ending of its first half, it is just that the full picture eventually became something way more exciting than just what I initially assumed would be a story about the conflicting nature of heroism and identity with a side of corporate intrigue, because it has so much more going for it on top of all that. One thing I eventually came to realize is just how well To Be Hero X’s world is realized, spanning several decades and involving so many moving and interconnected parts, that it was always a joy to connect the puzzle pieces together, or rather where the dominoes of fate fall, be they sudden revelations or always hidden in plain sight and it all being in purpose of a cast I quite enjoy made it all really immersive and easy to engage in. Seriously, how there is not a single hero in the in-universe Top 10 I dislike or even simply not like is beyond me. Each is rich in themes, has a banger origin story or is just plain fun. When people talk about “superhero fatigue”, it often seems to me that stories involving superheros, especially what Marvel or DC is concerned with, have become complacent with a certain status quo and a lack of narrative challenge. To Be Hero X dares to be something every step of its way.

With that being said, I don’t think its ambition always translates perfectly into the final product. The way it tends to jump around in time and perspective doesn’t always make for the most coherent experience, especially when you consider that some lore, character work and other information is spread outside the actual series in form of concept movies and character PVs, which made reading community discussions quite an experience, as I always wondered how people know some of the stuff they talk about. It is not like any of this information is vital to understand the story, but with how careful this series handles its world, it just feels weird to not have everything included… like, why would you omit X being the coolest guy and only show Ahu’s perspective? Sure, the final episode actually pulls an even more insane sequence, but with how little screen time X actually has in the show, it is a bit of a shame to not see him in all his aura-maxing glory… though I do appreciate his efficient writing and how his seeming lack of presence in the story does wonders for others.

Speaking of its production, the anime looks and sounds amazing and I adore the bold creative choices all throughout its run. This is by far not limited by its use and frequent switch of 2D and 3D animation in the beginning and end portion of the story, but rather the decision to utilize a distinct style of animation on a moments to moments basis to most effectively tell the story it wants to tell. The action looks consistently amazing, each episode has a standout sequence and I genuinely can’t think of any power that profits more from being animated than X’s.

I don’t know if this anime will survive the test of time or will eventually be forgotten in a year, but at the very least, it does what it sets out to do and is able to amaze. So yeah, the Chinese cartoon is alright.

Anne Shirley

Somehow, I spend my entire life until now dodging any kind of confrontation with this series. Never came across the books, movies, theater plays or anything that would have even informed me what this series is about. The closest I ever got is the fact I was aware that an anime adaptation, directed by Isao Takahata of all people, exists as part of the World Masterpiece Theater. Other than that, I went in completely blind, but with an open mind and after having finished Anne Shirley, which adapts the first three novels in the series, I can kinda see not just why this series is so beloved, but also how it survived the test of time. While a good chunk of the story is clearly defined by the time it is set in, it is also weirdly timeless, at least in the way the titular character experiences the pleasures, hardships and changes in every stage of her life.

Anne is a fantastic protagonist. Endlessly expressive and imaginative, she is just a joy to behold in all her childish wonder and… tactlessness? Not sure how to describe Anne breaking her slate on Gilbert’s head, but this moment lives rent-free in my head. But once she gets older, the nuances of her character really start to show themselves. From the way she has this really idealized and even romanticized idea of love and life, her own ambitions as a student and storyteller, and especially the different kinds of relationships she forges, there is always enough depth to her that makes every plot beat feel purposeful, especially once the story starts putting stones in front of her at every step of her way. Few series handle growing up and shattering your worldview so effortlessly.

Now, I obviously can’t talk about Anne Shirley as an adaptation outside of what other people have reported, so while I can’t judge how the material has been translated into another medium or how the cut content affects the rest of the story, I do think it is rather noticeable how compressed this anime seems at times, with the middle section especially being treated more as the link between the first and third book, rather than its own proper story. I would never call it rushed, but it does make me wonder how it would have been, if each book had its own dedicated cour. But outside some minor complaints and not knowing how it fairs compared to other adaptations, Anne Shirley might just be the anime this season which I would have the easiest time recommending to basically anyone willing to give it a chance.

Witch Watch

If there is one thing I just couldn’t get over the entire run of Witch Watch, it is the fact that I don’t consider it that funny. Having more misses than hits for its respective segments is already a bad sign, but even at the times I liked Witch Watch, it never made me laugh or chuckle or even just blow air through my nose. Even its most clever bits pale in comparison to basically everything CITY pulls off at its weakest. Fundamentally, as a comedy, Witch Watch fails me and if this were the only thing it has going for it, I would actually just leave it at that and don’t spend any more time on this series as needed by writing more than a paragraph. Alas, it is not.

At its core, Witch Watch is a lot more slice-of-lif-ey than just explicitly gag focused. What little story there is, it does progress and characters change and develop, there are several romances going on and at times, the series even tries to pull at your heart strings or do action. Witch Watch is a lot more varied than what one would initially assume, which means this series is able to disappoint on so many more fronts than just one. And I mean disappoint in a very literal sense. Witch Watch is never actively bad, or at least always at a base level of competency, but even with decent set-ups, I never felt particularly invested or keen on the characters or events themselves. The best the series ever does for me is the teacher-student pair sharing their love of the in-universe amalgamation of shounen tropes turned anime called Uron Mirage and creating their own fan works, but the main cast? Nemu is fun when she is actually there, Morihito and Nico are fine, I guess, Kanshi and Kengo eventually got off the thin ice, but Miharu can just go kill himself for all I care.

I also think Witch Watch doesn’t really benefit from the format of an animated television series, often having a very uneven quantity and quality of segments in a single episode, which I would assume rolls way better off the tongue as isolated weekly chapters. In the end, Witch Watch is simply not an anime made for me and something which I should have dropped near the very beginning, instead of continuing my, not reluctant, but rather unenthusiastic journey of half a year into this series.

Yaiba: Samurai Legend

Watching Yaiba is fun. Particularly the kind of fun I would assume ten-year old me would have had if I grew up to be the kid that caught Dragon Ball, Naruto, etc. airing on TV, instead of doing normie stuff like playing outside and doing school work (Especially since I still turned out a loser anyway :D). The story is as straight-forward as you can get, doubly so as it comfortably becomes a monster of the week affair for the majority of its run, conflicts get solved by hitting the enemy hard enough and everything kinda turns out alright in the end. So yeah, for what it is, it is indeed fun. However, I am not the potential ten-year old watching anime after school, never have been, never will, and after the initial high of the first episodes faded away, I noticed how I slowly started to lose interest, less so because I found the new episodes every week themselves boring, but more so on a macro level. Watching Yaiba is fun, but just Yaiba on its own? As well animated it is and how much I adore the mix of old and new design sensibilities, I doubt I will feel the need to continue watching Yaiba once its second season comes around.

Takopi’s Original Sin

Takopi’s Original Sin is both a lesson and an exercise in resisting apathy, or more specifically, succumbing to the defeatism that caring and trying to show kindness is meaningless. The series is cruel, not just in its subject matter and the intensity with which it portrays it, but also the way it can’t give the viewer a satisfying resolution that made all the pain worth it, because despite the quite literal tear-filled finale and individual moments of found catharsis, it ends on the same ugly reality the titular Takopi had to acknowledge themselves when confronted by an exasperated girl demanding to know what she should have done instead. Takopi doesn’t know, but that is not a reason to not try.

It was not the magical rope that eventually brought Shizuka and Marina together and the other magical gadgets most certainly didn’t fix their horrible living situations. However, even if it didn’t change the world or necessarily mended hearts, Takopi’s sheer attempt to understand was eventually enough to make two people stop internalizing their own misfortune and to discontinue their hate-filled crusade against people who are unable to do anything against it. Hurt people hurt people and unfortunately life doesn’t reward you for breaking the circle, but only shows you how ugly it can get. In this regard, one can argue how far removed or not it is from reality, but there is value in Takopi’s naïvety, in so far that it would truly be sad if nothing could be done to do good.

In this sense, the years between 2016 and 2022 didn’t magically make everything better either. In fact, writing this in 2025, it is hard to argue that the world hasn’t become a worse place all around ever since. Simply caring and trying to improve by the little actions one can take is no guarantee that things will get better, but between hope and despair, I at least try to choose to believe that it is worth it and that not everything is doomed.

For what Takopi’s Original Sin is concerned, after already having read the manga a couple years ago, the anime adaptation gave me, in a sense, a weird new appreciation for what this story attempts to do, despite both my final thoughts, confusion and uncertainty included, staying mostly the same. I still think not every character beat and plot point clicks together quite as smoothly as it wants to and it stays hard to make the case in front of other people that it isn’t just exploitative misery porn abusing the hardships of children to force you to not just empathize with, but also try to understand characters you, depending on the person you are, simply don’t want to. But in the end, I am at least glad there exists art that, no matter how messy it is, wants to make it make sense.

See You Tomorrow at the Food Court

Well, this was pleasant. As one might have guessed from the label on the can, this anime is just two girls hanging out at the food court and talking about whatever, really, the only way friends are able to do… being dumb about the most random things. Wado and Yamamoto are charming (Well, Yamamoto is… Wada is a little gremlin creature that hits a bit too close to home at times) and it is really easy to buy into their friendship and general shenanigans. Comedy is solid, presentation is very simple, yet gets the job done and while I think the format would have benefitted from shorter episodes, it was always a pleasure to watch a new episode each week. It very much has a “seasonal anime” feel to it, the way I doubt I would have ever gone back for it and binged the entire show in a sitting, so it is hard to properly recommend it, but y’know, that’s fine. I have nothing more to say.

Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood

Gigguk is an interesting character. On one hand, he seems like the type of guy that would be popular, regardless of the actual focus of his channel, as I think his personality and sense of humor are his main appeal for the majority of his audience, and I would say what I have seen of the Trash Taste podcast would be proof of that. On the other hand, he clearly and undoubtedly shows a love for the game that doesn’t have to hide behind the more “typical” analysis and essay channels, especially once he himself doesn’t hide behind a layer of irony and shows his true passion for the medium. I want to stress the last part, because every time a YouTuber or similar announces a project of such capacity, more often than not, it feels more like an outsider’s first attempt at something normally beyond their capabilities, a passion project if you will, rather than a professional product. Still an incredible achievement in its own right that deserves all the respect in the world, but something that will fundamentally be judged with lower expectations, closer to something a friend would make, instead of a proper “real” thing. With that being said, it is an honest to god miracle that I can claim with my heart of hearts that Bâan not only doesn’t suck, but is genuinely good for what it is.

Bâan uses its isekai set-up the way I wish more series would do. The other world isn’t simply a place to escape to, but rather just what it is… another world. One where you can find a new home in, but also one you can return from and the way this sentiment is shared between its two main characters is kinda beautiful. “Boundary of Adulthood” sure fits the theme. It is also just tightly written, neither overstuffs or overwhelms you with exposition and despite sparse details, creates a memorable world on both sides of the portal. I am not sure I would be particularly interested in seeing the story expanded, but for a 20 minute short film, it ticks all the boxes for being a worthwhile experience.

Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood is available on Gigguk’s YouTube Channel.

Chuhai Lips: Canned Flavor of Married Women

So, this is basically about a guy who stumbles into having sex with drunk married woman… one time by being tricked by a tanuki, another time he speedruns the plot of Re:Zero and more often than not the women just feel ignored by their husband or are simply incredibly dtf. It has about as much depth as the tiny amount of chuhai left in the can, plays out like a couple of stock hentai tropes and truly makes you wonder what kind of sicko this is targeted at… and even worse, who would actually watch it.

Legally, it’s questionable, morally, it’s disgusting, personally… well, I am not beating any allegations with this one.

What’s left?

Since I have been more extensive than ever in the pursuit of wasting all my time (and somehow still having some left), this time, more than ever, there is not really anything left I feel like I have missed out on. There is the second season of My Dress-Up Darling, which I will watch whenever I can get two of my friends (whatever combination) to watch it with me and Netflix also stealthily dropped the new part of Pokémon Concierge, which I have yet to get to, in part because I literally just found out it actually released, as I am writing this very paragraph… Thanks, Netflix newsletter, for omitting the one thing I actively want to see :D. What movies are concerned, I will eventually watch both the Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man movies, most likely whenever they are made available on Crunchyroll and I am still pretty confident I will be able to catch 100 Meters in a cinema near me someday.

What non-sequel anime are concerned, I am pretty confident I had my fill, as I already picked up everything I was even slightly interested in. I also don’t trust the Clevatess praise. It does feel weird though, that almost everything I didn’t watch is rated pretty poorly on MAL, with most entries being rated around 6.5 and below. Sure, I wouldn’t have it any other way for Generic Isekai or Fantasy Slop #462, but it is a bit disheartening to see all the original anime this season falling flat in that regard too. Or maybe it was just a slow season. But beyond that, outside some misses and indifferent opinions towards others, all things considered, this was a pretty solid season of anime for me. “Never getting punished” and all that (Please ignore the previous season). I know I said this the last time as well, but as already mentioned, I will probably cut down on the amount of anime I will see in the next one, or at least want to be more open to let go of the anime I don’t care that much about, instead of watching something just because it is currently there. But we will have to wait another three months to see whether I will uphold my own word, or succumb to the gluttony that is watching seasonal anime.

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Spring 2025

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 19:30:00 +0200

Ach ja, who in his right mind would watch fifteen (15) seasonal anime? Well, no one, of course. Unfortunately, I am absolutely not in my right mind, so when I went over the chart for the season and actually counted up all the anime I considered interesting, my first course of action was not to filter these down to a more reasonable number, but to fully commit. Hubris may be my end, but I will not go down without a fight ^^.

Okay, maybe I was not actually prepared for the hands, but even with the ones I dropped or didn’t actually properly start watching, with one winter left-over and a couple of shorts, the final amount of anime I watched is still the largest I have ever done in one season… and some haven’t even ended yet. Turns out the real challenge isn’t even the time investment, but to stay motivated to watch everything after the initial buzz went off. A lesson I should have already known, but will most likely still ignore for the next seasons to come.

To make a long story short, compared to the five new anime I watched last season, this one has a lot more, so let’s keep the introduction short, because the rest of this post might become rather long.

And since I don’t know where else to put this… I am really frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to color coordinate the individual anime on the thumbnail this time, so it looks a bit whatever… please forgive me, I will try better next season.

The ones that didn’t make it

Normally, it is rather easy to bait me with a nice sci-fi premise, but the adaptation of Your Forma kinda dropped the ball on this one for me. The first volume apparently touches upon themes of how the internet changes the way humanity interacts with information and how radicalization takes on different forms now, which sounds not only interesting, but also exactly like the kind of thing I want from my sci-fi as a backdrop. Too bad the adaptation completely skips the first volume, along with any kind of character work for our Robo-Cop pair, resulting in the first couple episodes being borderline incomprehensible for me. Like, Echika held anti-clanker views before?.. maybe? It is alluded to at times… would have been cool seeing her change her mind, I guess. Considering how the vision of the future is also mostly reduced to some drones flying around and everyone being equipped with an ad-ridden HUD, makes it a really unspectacular series to follow weekly.

Similarly, Sword of the Demon Hunter mostly fell victim to me not caring enough to continue watching on a weekly basis. It is far from being actively bad and I am even able to unironically praise the last episode I saw, but outside some standout scenes and its general vibe, it feels rather lackluster and mediocre across the board. Jinta’s stoicism overshadows what little else he has going for him, the side characters aren’t that memorable to begin with and with no real overarching narrative in sight, I am left with episodic stories I feel mostly indifferent towards. Add a production whose visual presentation seems like one of constant compromise (not to say some episodes being released unfinished), it would have been one thing to push through twelve episodes, but with what seems like a planned double cour, I simply couldn’t care enough to continue.

Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty

Starting off very strong, Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty combines one of my favorite thematic narrative through lines, which is the expression of yourself and finding companions and kinship in like-minded people in a surrounding that tries its best to beat you down and mold you into societies little lap dogs, with something that, despite how many times I engage with media dealing with this subjects in all kinds of forms and manners, I still can’t fully wrap my head around, which is the extreme, almost vital and essential need, that is music and the kind of expression that comes with it.

From its Class-S presentation and its immediate subversion of everything prim and proper in Lilisa and Otoha’s little secret 1-on-1 collaborations, the only thing that keeps this anime from truly achieving great heights is that the melodrama tends to be its weakest aspect, running around in circles at time and not committing enough to its broader social criticism of how society enforces a very specific idea of womanhood on these girls. But when it does, it is phenomenal and it would also be dishonest to ignore the personal journeys the main cast goes through, as if it were completely different topics. After all, putting your feelings into a tangible form, in this case rock music, isn’t just the point, it is rebellion.

The performances are capital A amazing. Not just from a technical perspective, featuring some really cool 3D motion-capturing sequences and crazy camera work, as well as BAND-MAID’s fantastic instrumental performances, but also as a vehicle to explore the characters, their relationship to music and each other. From breaking out of your shell, reassuring your passion or simply discovering a new side of yourself, this anime has it all and seeing it combined with the literal art of the music making process connects these points wonderfully in a way that makes me keep coming back to those stories. I am also just a giant fan of everyone hurling insults and all kinds of verbal abuse at each other, in part because I am still unsure if to classify this as an encore or after-care. As far as self-expression goes, these girls go all out and get off with each other in all their sweaty glory, without a care in the world or what other people might think about them for doing so. And that is a thing of beauty.

Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?

The answer to this series title’s question is complicated (Not really) and so are my feelings towards the anime. This… this was a rollercoaster in literally every sense of the word. From me making fun of my friend for expecting anything, really, to experiencing every high and low and right down to me eventually genuinely and unironically enjoying it, Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? made me feel the entire spectrum of human emotions… well, maybe not the entire spectrum, but in terms of a superficially generic looking RomCom, this has it all and some more.

Is it well written? Nah, at best it is a constantly blazing dumpster fire fueled by highly refined acetylene, which, for some reason, sets off some breathtaking fireworks every once in a while. It is constantly plagued by its own adherence to its genre tropes, won’t commit to all of its ideas and feels the need to walk back on itself to remain in a vague status quo fitting of the series' title. Hell, for half the season, Enomoto is barely a character and Himari’s brother overshadows everything by simply being the funniest guy around. God bless the true best girl.

But beyond all its short-comings, there is an honest attempt at writing a competent romance about the many shades of awkwardness, which comes with being in love with a friend and not knowing where to take the relationship, while also being unsure what to do about your dreams and future in light of that. Himari might be an emotionally manipulative sociopath and Yu a confused romantic who seldom can take the step it actually takes, but who wasn’t themselves? It sure makes for the best moments of the anime, I daresay, and even Enomoto’s “I am actually very much fine with this situation, because I see a way I can still come out on top of it all” came into its own towards the end. Add a surprisingly well-rounded supporting cast in the form of the older siblings and this one guy I still am not entirely sure of what his deal or even final plan is and I’ve got myself probably the most fun I ever had with this kind of a RomCom anime.

So yeah, in short, I eventually liked the romance and the comedy definitely hits its marks already early on. Alas, honoring my family’s tradition of eating our words by the spoonful, I might have to issue an apology. To whom I don’t know, but here it is nonetheless: I am sorry for judging a book by its cover and being correct in a way I didn’t anticipate. It will hopefully happen again.

Kowloon Generic Romance

I guess there always has to be at least one anime per season that keeps me a bit lost for words or even perplexed at what I really think and Kowloon Generic Romance certainly looks like a winner in this regard. On its surface, there is a lot for me to like. I actually prefer the slower and less indirect approach to the romance, making it simply another aspect of the characters life, instead of something every moment of the series has to revolve around. The cast is likeable and what the mystery is concerned with, it does its job by being something that has always to be kept notice of. In this sense, the series overall is rather dense with not a single unnecessary scene, though I would have very much appreciated spending more time with the characters in their normal environment.

Where it gets more complicated is in how I see this series as a whole. I think it does a good job at talking about its specific kind of nostalgia and how it leans into regrets of the past and the hardships that come with change, both in one’s life and as a person, but come it’s second half, it at times feels like the series is mostly occupied with clearing up the mysteries surrounding the titular Kowloon, something I eventually didn’t care all that much in itself. At the best of times, this can go pretty hand in hand, as seen with Xiaohei, but considering how Miyuki’s side of the story felt mostly neglected and eventually simply ended on an unsatisfying note, I am left wondering what else Kowloon Generic Romance still had to say in its finale.

Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary Season 2

After the finale of the first season, Shoshimin had to change. This isn’t just in regards to its structure, foregoing the small episodic mysteries for two bigger arcs, but primarily how it handles its two main characters. After all, how do you build upon a pre-established relationship if characters don’t interact with each other? Well, constructing an entire scheme around how they, no matter how much they try, can’t replace another and how “they make each other worse” might be a net positive for humanity, certainly was the way to go.

The arsonist case finally revealed that Osanai is the actual devil and that poor Urino was simply not prepared for what he was getting into by associating with her. If you ever want to see a boy get murdered, just absolutely slaughtered alive, by a person he thought he was a step ahead of, episode 6 might tickle an itch. Episode 7 was simply the cherry on top of it all. And while I personally don’t care all that much for the second arc, seeing how these two forces of nature came together and where their relationship has eventually led them to, was a pleasure to witness from beginning to end. I stand by my take that the core of the series isn’t the actual mysteries themselves, but the way Kobato and Osanai interact with them and Shoshimin’s second season has proven yet again how engaging it is to see the two of them work everything out, while navigating their otherwise perfectly mundane and ordinary lives with a side of sweets.

Lazarus

Lazarus is an utter clusterfuck of moderately fun action set pieces loosely connected by one of the most intellectually insulting scripts I have had the displeasure of sitting through in the last couple of years. Fundamentally broken by the disinterest in its own characters and lack of care for any kind of message someone might have had in this production somewhere along the way, what should have been a fun globe-trotting action-thriller essentially reduced itself constantly into shallow vignettes and collages of undercooked ideas and generic premises. Sure, the vibes are on point and we get our due fill of Watanabe Swagger along the way, but there is honestly nothing of substance to be said about Lazarus beyond its most surface level aspects.

Nothing matters in this anime. Neither the endless goose chase the characters are on for the majority of its run, the lessons team Lazarus is supposedly learning along the way, nor the final resolution it twists body and head to try to attempt to bring everything together again in its last moments. Goodbye Hapna, Welcome Pain! 0 Days Left For Us. Indeed, nothing matters, for everything was doomed from the start. Ignore all the good in the world, as long as you can find peace in it.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

I like My Hero Academia. I may never have been up-to-date with the anime adaptation, like, ever, even currently sitting three seasons behind, but whenever I watched it, it was nice, despite generally not being quite my cuppest of teas. Part of this sentiment transferred itself to Vigilantes, for which I expected to, again, generally enjoy it, but more so as simply another entry into the MHA universe, and less so truly on its own. Alas, color me surprised that basically all its references to its parent series are by far the weakest aspects of its own and it continues to differentiate itself enough that it could have been its own thing.

I mean, had I gone into Vigilantes with less of a bias, this really shouldn’t have come as that big a surprise. I tend to enjoy small-scale and localized action a lot more than the big world-threatening conflicts, as well as the more grounded and down-to-earth approach to heroism, or rather vigilantism, in this case. As such, it might be better to primarily view it as a slice of life set in the same universe. Koichi is a fun guy, whose real superpower is not dying of embarrassment sliding down the street on all fours while wearing an All Might hoodie, Pop Step just likes to hang out and enjoys her time as an up-and-coming idol and Knuckleduster attempts his best to be a father.

The one thing that drags the series down, however, is that a majority of its plots simply aren’t that fun in their own right. It takes Pop Step almost half the season to come into her own, the overarching story is essentially just another variant of a drug that makes people go berserk, with its villains being barely characters with agendas of their own and I don’t think giving characters like Stain an origin story does anything to recontextualize his appearance in the main series. A shame, really, because the series otherwise nails its character beats, with Queen Bee’s conclusion being an easy highlight and the existence of Makoto and even Captain Celebrity (S-class loser, btw) proving that the series, by no means, has to rely solely on action to make a point.

Apocalypse Hotel

Imagine having a literal metric ton of Yachiyo reaction images at your disposal and still not being able to decide on a thumbnail… seriously, between her walking down the desolate Ginza district on her off day, being involved in an intergalactic romance with a space kangaroo and committing a felony by hiding a body with Ponko, how could I possibly decide? I am also not beating the “I just like dancing” allegations with this one.

Actually, it isn’t just the thumbnail. What could I possibly say about Apocalypse Hotel that isn’t directly lost by not experiencing it first hand? Sure, I could talk endlessly about how much I adore Yachiyo as both a deep exploration of inevitable change and the quirks that make humans… well, human, as well as the vessel of chaos that she is, but this will only, at best, show how much of an utter weirdo I am. The visuals? Enough to carry an entire episode without words. And the comedy? One of the best in the game, I’m afraid. I could be here all day spouting superlatives in this series' favor, but honestly, it is not enough. It is like forgetting the shampoo hat. Sure, you get your hair washed either way, but that is not really what it is about, if you get me. It takes time to realize, it takes time to change. Transience is the motto, but Apocalypse Hotel refuses to ever not change it up in a never ending barrage of its own idiosyncrasies. Yachiyo and Ponko also have one hell of a dynamic. In this sense… uhh.. bro trust me, it is very good and the one anime this season I will be absolutely annoying about recommending to everyone.

Once Upon a Witch’s Death

Simply calling Once Upon a Witch’s Death a bit lackluster doesn’t quite reflect my honest opinions on the anime. Sure, I don’t really care all that much for the actual plot sprinkled throughout, but that was never what caught my eye in the first episodes. What I initially assumed would be a quiet meditation on death and the many different circumstances it arrives in, eventually turned out to be quite the opposite with a strangely life-affirming reflection on, well, life. Genuinely, the best moments turned out to be some of the quieter conversations and character revelations along the way and they, at times, really connected with me, if only I literally thought of some of the exact same stuff for my own story… it even stars a witch, so thanks for making me feel like a copycat again.

With that being said, this series is very much unfocused, at least in terms of what I eventually considered enjoyable and not. I found myself mostly not caring for most, if not all, story threads, I never really got warm with the cast and I even considered dropping it entirely at several points in time. Being solely kept afloat by my good will is seldom a good sign for a series and I doubt I would have had it in me to watch another cour. My final ranking may be a bit harsh, as the anime is far from being actively bad, but it is also far from being actively good and engaging.

Please Put Them On, Takamine-san

I mean, on one hand, it is more or less exactly what is written on the can: An a bit more raunchy than average romantic comedy with a wet blanket of a main protagonist and your specific ecchi flavor of girl. On the other hand, it is so criminally sauceless and dry in its execution, that it kinda ruins an otherwise decent premise. Take Shirota for example. If you want your girls to walk all over him, both figuratively and literally, commit to the idea and don’t make him have less of a spine than an invertebrate. The same can be said about the titular Takamine, who loses her assertive attitude almost immediately and goes full dere anytime the guy shows even a modicum of basic human decency. Beyond its visual presentation, the spiciest we arguably ever get is the one NTR joke. In exchange, we get an incredible amount of incredibly mediocre slice of life and romance bits, which tend to miss their target about as far as is possible. Considering how slow-paced the entire series is in general, for the majority of the time, I was more bored than anything else.

Hell, not even the actual ecchi is in any way appealing. I can overlook the production being held together by hopes and dreams, but did even a single real pervert work on this anime? Though, then again, the material doesn’t really give many options outside these scenes, which I assume are these full spread page turns in the manga to show Takamine in all her scantily-clothed glory. Well, at least the music kinda slaps. The ending song is straight fire and the jazz OST tries its best to elicit some kind of feeling. But all in all, unless you are really desperate, there is literally a ton of better stuff out there to get your ecchi fix.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX

Gundam, in a way, is stuck in the One Year War. Sure, the original creator may have moved on and most entries are set in a universe where it never even happened to begin with, yet its spectre is seemingly inescapable and continues to haunt characters literally worlds and time apart. Though ironically, for the most part, this isn’t even the reason why I would say that GQuuuuuuX is a familiar story in more ways than one.

Episode 1 changed lives, man. There is something special about the sombre and calm of a colony at peace times, with decommissioned Zakus being reduced to police and worker units being contrasted by the insurmountable inner turmoil, angst and rage only befitting of a teenage girl, that, by all appearances, lacks nothing in her comfortable life. The first couple of episodes are a fateful meeting, longing and letting go, it is about finding acceptance and overcoming the inevitable betrayal… it is two girls turning from friends to enemies about not even being in love with the same boy, but about being in love with the idea of the boy. But alas, it is also Gundam.

I understand that the plea for more episodes can come from the delusions, that another cour or so will just magically spawn from the ether, filling the nothing and fixing it into the fragment of one’s imagination that only exists in your head, but I think you could make a pretty good case that the GQuuuuuuX portion of the story should either be shorter or longer. I disagree that the series has no confidence in its original character and that the relationships established in its early portion have no depth, but it is also true that they would incredibly benefit from lingering just a bit more and actually laying into the status quo of its initial faux story premise of clan battles. I have no doubts there is more to explore, it is just that the series has its focus elsewhere.

Does the “What If multiverse filled with callbacks to the original ‘79 series” feel almost masturbatory at times? Oh absolutely. It seems that the people making the anime are almost as obsessed with the characters as the characters in it themselves. And all power to them. The staff sure is skilled enough at making a competent product and its highs are incredibly high, it is just that the eventual direction GQuuuuuuX’s story went into wasn’t exactly to my liking and I am unsure if it is due to my lack of interest in the original series, or a lack of knowledge and understanding of it. After all, I only watched the three part movie compilations and am historically not the biggest fan of most of the mainline entries. Speaking for someone who hasn’t seen any Gundam, I can only imagine them being completely overwhelmed and confused as to what GQuuuuuuX is even supposed to be at the end of the day. Then again, the character bits and emotional climaxes of Gundam are seldom defined by strictly hard logic, so this series might actually be about as comprehensible as all other UC timeline Gundams… aka not a lot, as long as you are not already on the same emotional wavelength and susceptible to the larger ideas that Gundam tends to have at play… you know, like a Newtype.

So yeah… it is quite fun, even if I can’t really do a lot with it or even say it is particularly for me. Also, insane Challia Bull glow-up. Bro came and went unceremoniously in the original series, only to return as the thematic linchpin in this one.

Teogonia

One half of me doesn’t want to be too harsh on Teogonia. For what it is worth, it doesn’t actively undermine itself by engaging in any kind of meta commentary that could be done about its genre and since it seems to narratively distance itself from the more LitRPG inspired works we get by the tons every season, it is almost refreshing to watch a rather straight-forward fantasy work, with selected elements I quite enjoy. Then again, the other half of me will gladly proclaim that it is simply not that good, though not for a lack of trying.

I will give it to Teogonia, that Kai isn’t simply a nothing protagonist, who gets swept up in the wills of the narrative to make him seem like the coolest greatest strongest guy in the story (Don’t misunderstand, he still is, but for different reasons). He has agency and is an active participant in most of the events happening, it is just that he is, at time, almost erratic in his reasoning and view of the world, which makes him hard to understand, despite me thinking that he is not that deep of a character and the story refuses to stop edging us with the whole “he has memories from another world” thing. For what the rest of the story is concerned, it seems to always go down the more generic and less interesting paths in front of it, falling for basically all the common trappings I could criticize most stories for. Seriously, the amount of times he simply wills power into existence for the sole purpose of killing another guy stronger than him is almost concerning. Add some half-baked social commentary into the mix and we have ourselves an overall rather forgettable entry in the larger fantasy genre.

The Apothecary Diaries Season 2

There honestly isn’t much for me to say about the second season of Apothecary Diaries that, to some extent, isn’t just a rewording of my opinions on the first season. Yeah, the very good thing is still very good. However, it is not so by simply repeating what makes the first season so special. Its world and characters are in constant change and the mysteries and revelations have never truly been restricted to just the medical cases, with a way bigger focus on why those things keep happening in the, from an outside perspective, peaceful inner court. I truly love how information can be introduced and left on the back burner for episodes on end, even between the seasons, before becoming essential again, just because it is simply a part of the world and we are never fully aware of what is going on completely.

This season also finally shows us the full extent of information we have long been in the known of, mostly in the way the late emperor has left countless women scarred and stripped of autonomy and poisoned the inner court in ways not even Maomao could do anything against. His actions still haunt everyone, forcing the majority of our characters to wear some sort of mask, either as a way to deceit or to protect themselves, making for some of the best dramatic moments in the entire series. Jinshi can’t, or rather more explicitly, doesn’t want to keep up his front and continue to run from his responsibility, Maomao keeps getting forced into situations that slowly break down her façade of stoicism and Shisui’s entire journey ends on one hell of a satisfying resolution, both for her, as well as what she means for the larger story.

With its status quo disrupted yet again, I can’t wait for it to keep going, whatever form it may take in the future.

KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 3 OVA

Does this count?.. Well, I guess I will make it count. I adore KonoSuba and its consistency to make me laugh out loud, but despite featuring most of the same qualities as the main series, I never really cared that much about the after season specials. I mean, I still like them very much, but they mostly showcase just how tightly the original novels are written in comparison and then translated into animation with a lot of care. The very first one goes on just a bit too long and might come off as a bit mean-spirited and, beyond Darkness getting her breasts slapped by a giant robot, I barely even remember the second one and the two new OVAs fall into similar trappings.

The first one is such a classic KonoSuba setup and eventual payoff, but it just drags itself along most of the time to fill up the runtime by any means possible and the ratio of both jokes and simply stuff happening feels off. I don’t mind that you can see the punchline a mile away, but getting there was a bit of a drag, only elevated by some occasionally funny dialogue, great visual comedy and Wiz in a swimsuit.

The second one was a lot better, though then again, could have probably been only half as long. Unlike the first one, this one utilizes one of the best aspects of the series: The fact that this dysfunctional quartet are horrible people with some of the best chemistry you are able to find. The setup of “We have KonoSuba at home” is a lot more clever, the fact our cast gets into trouble yet again due to their own hubris feels second nature at this point and the constant back-and-forth of whether one should maybe actually cheer for the other party works for me, because we know… we have seen the anime and were there when all the things happened that Kazuma and friends would rather try to forget. Transitioning into the ending theme with the voice actors trying their best to hold the scream for so long was the cherry on top. Easily the best special of all of them.

Lycoris Recoil: Friends Are Thieves of Time.

Friends Are Thieves of Time is a short OVA series, barely amounting to one full-length episode, for what I assume are the fans of the more slice of life aspects of the original series. Luckily, I am one of them. And I mean, it is nice, but the very short episodes make everything feel like small comedy bits that lack the proper build-up the best moments of the full series made so good usage of. But beyond that, it is simply nice to see the characters goofing around and acting like the teenagers they are.

What’s left?

On one hand, I would like to claim that there is literally nothing left and I watched everything I had my eyes on. but that would be wrong. Moonrise was dropped in its entirety on Netflix without much fanfare and from the few people that bothered to pick it up, it seems to be the unanimous consensus, that one kinda doesn’t miss out on a lot. On a similar hand, word on the streets has it that Mono, despite featuring an incredible production, doesn’t seem to gather the same excitement, as the author’s other work Yuru Camp and since I never got to continue watching it with a friend of mine beyond the first episode, I too eventually decided to let it keep collecting dust, never to be picked up again. Additionally, there are four anime, which started this season, but will only conclude their run in the next one, so there is that. And coming in last with a surprise, I might have to check out Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray after all, despite me having dropped the main series pretty early on.

But beyond that, yeah, this season was filled to the brim with the good, the bad and everything in-between. Let’s just hope I will never get such a stupid idea to pick up everything that catches my interest even slightly ever again. I mean, it will most definitely happen again, but one can pray. Let’s see what the next one has in store.

KonoSuba LN: Band 6-7

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 13:55:00 +0200

Ach ja, machen wir diesen Artikel mal ausnahmsweise kurz… wobei… die KonoSuba Posts wurden ja nie besonders lang. Mit Band 7 bin ich nun offiziell mit der Anime-Adaption gleichauf und komme September darf ich endlich den enlightened Source Material Reader spielen, vorausgesetzt, dass sich das neue Anime Projekt als Fortführung der Hauptserie entpuppt und nicht als weitere Adaption einer der Spin-Offs oder gar einer geheimen dritten Sache. Wie dem auch sei, hier meine Gedanken zu Bänden 6 und 7 von KonoSuba.

Im Großen und Ganzen ist es mehr KonoSuba, nicht nur im Sinne von zwei mehr Bänden, sondern explizit mehr KonoSuba in zweierlei Hinsicht: Die Geschehnisse in der Hauptstadt sind einer der stärksten Abschnitte was reine Comedy und den sonstigen KonoSuba Schwachsinn angeht und der kleine Arc über Divorceness' Bizarre Marriage was Charakterdrama und der anderen Hälfte an den sonstigen KonoSuba Schwachsinn betrifft. In diesem Sinne irgendwie das Beste aus beiden Welten, auch wenn es nicht immer ganz so ausfällt, wie ich es mir wünschte.

Besonders zu Band 6 habe ich in dem Sinne gar nicht viel zu sagen. Es bleibt ein Genuss Kazuma von seiner besten und schlechtesten Seite zu sehen, hauptsächlich in einem Umfeld, wo er ungewollt das bekommt, was er will, bevor es ihm doch mal wieder alles zu viel wird und er sich aus seinen eigens verursachten Schlamassel raus tricksen muss… ok, ich habe gerade die Hälfte aller Storystränge in KonoSuba beschrieben, aber ich meine, wenn es funktioniert, dann warum nicht. Der Raid auf den Palast, gepaart mit der unüblichen Kombo aus Chris und einen Kazuma, welcher endlich erneut unter Beweis stellen kann, wie fragwürdig kompetent er tatsächlich in allen Sachen ist, solange er nicht einen aufrichtigen guten Menschen spielen muss, war eine Freude zu lesen, selbst als ich dies bereits in animierten Form erleben durfte. In dem Sinne ein Hoch auf die “Wasser erschaffen”-und-“Gerfrieren”-Kombo.

Der siebte Band lässt mich da schon ein wenig mehr in die Materie gehen. KonoSuba wird für mich wahrscheinlich immer primär eine Comedy bleiben, aber dies soll es nicht davon abhalten, in alle möglichen Richtungen gehen zu können. Auch wenn die Messlatte nicht besonders hoch hängt, ist KonoSuba, besonders im Vergleich zu anderen Isekai, eine doch kompetent realisierte Fantasywelt, welche genügend Möglichkeiten für Action und ab diesen Band auch Mystery bietet, aber was mich immer wieder aufs neue überrascht, ist die Fähigkeit dies alles gekonnt in Verbindung mit den Charakteren zu bringen. Sie sind das Herz der Serie, weshalb ich absolut kein Problem damit habe, dass quasi ein kompletter Band sich auf diese und nicht auf eine weitere Gefahr bezieht, so sehr ich auch vom eigentlichen Setup ein wenig verwirrt bin.

Es ist nicht nur so, dass es quasi eine weiter ausgeführte Version vom dritten Band ist, in welcher es droht, dass Darkness die Party verlassen wird, weil sie sich den Pflichten des Adels verschrieben hat, sondern auch weil wie Darkness eigentlich ab diesem Punkt wissen müsste, dass nicht einmal der Tod ihre Partymitglieder aufhalten könnte alles in ihrer Macht stehende zu tun, um ihr in ihrer Situation zu helfen, auch wenn es bedeutet, dass der eine oder andere vielleicht mal über seinen immer länger werdenden Tsundere-Schatten springen muss. Davon aber abgesehen, bin ich ein großer Fan des ganzen Hin und Hers zwischen allen aus diesen dysfunktionalen Quartet. Aqua, welche nicht weiß in welcher Situation sie sich befindet, selbst wenn ihr Leben davon abhängen würde, Megumin, welche sich ausnahmsweise einmal als die ehrlichste und, man möge es kaum glauben, erwachsenste Person herausstellt… zu mindest in Bezug auf ihre Gefühle. Ich würde ihre Art von Terrorismus vielleicht doch eher ihrer kindlichen Seite zuschreiben. Und von der Kazuma-Darkness Dynamik muss ich glaube ich nicht mehr viel mehr schreiben. Wenn auch nicht unbedingt auf einer romantischer Weise haben sich dort zwei Schwachköpfe fürs Leben gefunden und da sie weder miteinander als auch ohne einander können, bleibt es bei einen durchgängigen einander nachlaufen, welches perfekt in den, so sehr man KonoSuba im Allgemeinen nicht so beschreiben sollte, wholesome Vibe spielt, welchen die Truppe sich gegenseitig bedeutet. Selbstverständlich wird der emotionale Moment von Darkness Befreiung aus den Klauen von Alderp und ihr daraufhin folgender Wiedereintritt in die Party mit einer Sentimentalität unterstrichen, welche man nicht wirklich von KonoSuba erwartet… kurz darauf gefolgt davon, dass sich alle über Darkness lustig machen. Es ist und bleibt peak für mich.

Bezüglich der Adaption gibt es dieses mal nicht wirklich viel zu erzählen. Band 6 wurde so ziemlich in seiner Gesamtheit und ohne große Änderungen adaptiert und auch bei Band 7, mit Ausnahme wo die Party mit Dust Schnecken bekämpfte, sollte alles dabei sein. Wobei, auch wenn es technisch als Zusatzkapitel angegeben ist, hätte ich dennoch gerne die Szene gesehen, wo Chris und Kazuma sich nach ihren Diebstahl in der Hauptstadt wieder sehen und Kazuma endlich dahinter kommt, wer sich hinter der Göttin Eris verbirgt… hat ja nur 5 Bände gebraucht.

Und dies war es soweit von mir. Wie bei den vorherigen Bänden selber habe ich nicht besonders viel mehr zu sagen, als was ich sonst auch bereits über den Anime denke. Einziger Unterschied ist diesmal, dass mir wahrscheinlich der Inhalt von Band 7 tatsächlich in Buchform mehr gefallen hat, als der Anime, aber es ist nicht so, dass etwas dem einen dem anderen besonders nachsteht. Ich freue mich dann in ein paar Monaten auf “frisches” Material aus dem KonoSuba Universum zu lesen.

Bis irgendwann dann. Und vergesst nicht: Bevor ihr sexy Schnappschüsse von euren Kumpel in Reizunterwäsche macht, bedenkt genau wem die Kamera gehören möge.

Roll Over and Die: A Lack of Challenge and Consequences

Thu, 22 May 2025 17:20:00 +0200

Ach ja, this post might have been a long time coming, mostly because the absence of it until now speaks more to my general viewing and reading habits than my opinions about said topic. So, let’s sit down, pour yourself a nice cup of tap water and listen to me rambling a bit about the “generic light novel fantasy” at the example of Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!.

Now, normally, this pleasure would only be sparked by something that really earned itself the honor of being ripped to shreds by yours truly, but Roll Over and Die is not it. There is nothing that specifically annoyed me or actually warrants this very post about it from the perspective of its actual content. In fact, one might argue that it is simply catching strays due to being in the crossfire of way worse offenders. But ironically, this is the very reason why I want to write this post. Reading it, there is nothing for me to talk about… so let’s talk about this nothing, about the absence and negative space that is the majority of the first volume of Roll Over and Die.

But before I actually start talking about it, just one short further ado: Reading the first volume took me so much time. For light novels, I normally burn through them in a couple of days, maybe a week at max. I didn’t keep track, but I think this one took me a bit more than two weeks, literally because it put me to sleep. I tend to read at night in my bed, so I tend to continue to read until I feel myself falling asleep… and I tell you, this one functionally served as a sleeping pill, because nothing in this story makes you want to stay up and continue. So at times, I couldn’t even finish a single chapter, because I was out like a light halfway through. Take this information however you want.

When I say “generic light novel fantasy”, I am aware I am a bit disingenuous. Even when it is not hard to guess what exactly I mean by this, especially when you have read your fair share of them, such broad generalizations are seldom useful for discussing them critically and ignoring their differences makes it harder to understand why they are still put into similar boxes despite them. Doubly so, because “light novel fantasy” has in itself some well-defined and broad sub-categories. You have your classic isekai, reincarnation and regression type of story, then there is their twin, the “I can’t believe it is not isekai” type, which sprung from the LitRPG genre and every now and then, something that actually resembles more classical fantastical origins. Genre-wise, we have the full breadth of your typical action-adventure to series that reject this premise (Ironically, most series with “Slow Life” or similar in their title tend to be the first one), but also a lot that use their fantastical elements mostly as a backdrop to become simple dramas, romances or even just comedies… or ecchi harems. Lastly, trope-wise, we got every possible kind of monster and monster-relationship under the sun, settings like magical academies, entire kingdoms and quaint villages, but also old reliable classics like “Skill everyone thinks is bad is actually incredibly overpowered” and every kind of revenge-fantasy for every kind of reason you can think of. For what it is worth, if you are into something very specific, you have a non-zero chance to find what your heart desires.

Where would I place Roll Over and Die on this landscape? Well, the initial story hook was Flum getting kicked out of her party and sold into slavery, but no revenge plot so far. It then turns into normal adventuring for a bit, the world doesn’t really run on video game logic, but there a things like items and stats and the end goal, as stated by the characters, seems to be a romance with a comfy easy live (I have no doubts it will actually stay an action-adventure series for the foreseeable future).

Does any of this matter? Unless you find some intrinsic value in something, these things mostly mean nothing under a critical lense. I don’t mean it in a way that I think every story can turn out fine if only well enough executed upon, but rather that most plot points, tropes, etc. simply exist when stripped of their context. This gets especially noticeable when a story tries to justify itself for its content and I think this is something a lot of people try to argue about too much under the guise of internal logic and realism. If one has a problem with a character being overpowered, does an explanation change anything or nullify the criticism? If a character keeps their slave status, despite being freed, what will affect the reader more, the dissonance in writing or apparent moral values? What I am saying is that you can easily and rightfully dissect this series for its genre trappings and lack of, for a lack of a better way to express it succinctly, decent writing, as well as how I personally don’t vibe with most of what the story presents, but I think it suffers from a more fundamental issue which would still make it a hard read, even if everything else were to be “fixed” according to my personal liking.

Also, if you thought this post has properly begun already… nah, I am at that point where the preamble has to hit a thousand words first… I swear, someday I will actually try to structure these posts properly. Alas, with the one ado finally out of the way, here is my main takeaway.

It took me some time to realize, but Roll Over and Die seems to be allergic to the idea of any kind of situation that might evoke a genuine “negative feeling” in the reader. The story can become quite violent and gory at times, but I would only count these scenes as superficial shock value. What I mean is that nothing of actual substance is allowed to happen that presents itself as a problem for longer than any given chapter lasts. Essentially, despite the things happening in the story, the way it is written constantly makes everything safe. What could create anxiety, nervousness or uncertainty, and by extension fun through engagement of the characters and story, is constantly diffused and undermined, as if being uncomfortable, either in-universe or as a reader, needs to be prevented. The biggest problem is that the only way Roll Over and Die is apparently able to make it happen is by removing anything challenging and ridding the narrative of consequences.

Let me summarize parts of the story of the first novel to exemplify what I mean: Flum is chosen by the major religious institution to join the hero’s party, despite living a normal happy life with her family and possessing zero stats across the board. This decision means nothing to her and isn’t questioned or argued against. After she is sold into slavery, it is quickly revealed that it was solely the plan of this one obviously bad guy, relieving the entire rest of the party of any kind of guild. Also, the only negative effect of her not being in the party anymore is a lack of good food and tea, meaning humanity probably continues to be safe. The story basically glosses over the one week she was a slave, before Flum immediately frees herself and Milkit and comes into the possession of a powerful sword. Becoming a slave also means being branded in the face, so everyone still recognizes Flum and Milkit as slaves, despite being technically free. This fact has basically no material repercussions, they aren’t really denied any services, the worst they face are some mean looks from a couple of passerby and they are under the assumption that they can on seek work in a bad part of the city, where they are then tricked into fighting monster beyond a beginners ability. They obviously have no real problem fighting them and even get reimbursed for the rare loot they collected, effectively solving all their money problems. Seeking lodging, they also stumble upon a nice man that has no qualms about housing slaves and even cooks for them. Unsure how to find work, the work finds them in the form of a rich merchant tasking them with finding a specific flower for his dying wife, which he can’t procure through official means. On their journey, they are accompanied by a nun, who has no qualms about neither Flum and Milkit, nor the specifics of their task going against religious dogma. When cornered by a strong monster, Flum conveniently remembers a skill that makes her stronger and later finds equipment to eventually best it. When weakened by the encounter, the demon that shows up is not hostile and helps them. As a reward for finding the flower, they are given a house, which was occupied by one of Flum’s former party members, which also just so happens to be possibly the only person capable of curing Milkit’s poisoned skin with the specific herbs they also randomly found along the flower.

Literally every challenge they face is quickly dealt with almost immediately and every single action they take has no meaningful consequences. Again, my main gripe is not that most of it makes no in-universe sense, seems either oddly convenient or convoluted and lacks any kind of interesting ideas, but that even if this were not the case, it would still be meaningless from a purely storytelling perspective. Essentially, nothing in this story matters. If the solution to a problem is straightforward, we do not learn about how a character would approach something that is beyond their known capabilities. They stay static. If an action has no consequence, we do not get a feeling what a character values over another. They stay hollow. It also makes characters solely reactive with no agency on their own, which, in general, tends to be really boring to read about, as it most likely doesn’t challenge the reader’s assumption about how the story should progress.

This is essentially the line I want to draw in what separates the good and the bad, especially in terms of “generic light novel fantasy”. It is easy to see what makes, for example, Re:Zero so engaging in contrast. Subaru’s “Return by Death” ability is mechanically the reason he can solve the challenges the narrative throws at him, but it is both how he uses this ability, as well as how he changes due to it, that is the meat of the series. The ability will give him cruel checkpoints so that he can’t undo certain actions and the matter of his survival and eventual progression is seldom to try out a bunch of different things and figuring out what works, but rather developing as a person until he tries something that he would have never tried before his character growth. At the end of every arc, Subaru ceases to be the person he was before, which I think is interesting. And it is interesting, because the series allows itself to become messy at times and to act out.

The worst kinds of series turn out like a predefined playthrough of a video game, instead of a fully interactive experience for the characters, where everything could happen. You enter it and it is not allowed to be subverted, which is unfortunately where I see most of the “generic light novel fantasy” stories. After the novelty of the premise has worn off, what is it you are truly left with? An actually fun world and characters, or simple building blocks carelessly mashed together to appear like them? I don’t want to believe that most stories are written as power-fantasies or escapism, but with how some of them refuse to stop being safe and engage with the entire spectrum of available human emotions, it gets harder and harder to have any semblance of trust in the majority of these works. After all, it would be a hard pill to swallow to imagine hundreds of authors to spend their time filling page after page, only to settle on something indulgent everyone could make, instead of writing a story only they could create.

It feels like, by refusing to engage in challenges and not being open to consequences, the heart and soul is locked up and as a result, the reader is unable to wonder and be amazed. I may not have been the biggest fan of Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, but it at least gave me something to talk about. Sexiled wasn’t good, but it at least had a point to make. Hell, even Mushoku Tensei, for all its flaws and weirdness, has clear ambition under its generic surface. But Roll Over and Die? It can only be talked about in the sense of how similar I imagine it to be to the least interesting entries of its genre and how I spent probably more time thinking about reading it, than actually reading it, because I was constantly mentally occupied by how unstimulating it was to read about the equivalent of a puzzle game, where the safe is right next to the key that opens it, especially when I don’t even care what’s in it or there being a 50% chance of it to be empty anyways.

So yeah, this whole post is basically me saying that this story doesn’t even pass a very basic writing hurdle and is probably exemplary as to why I don’t have much trust in similar stories. Honestly, I probably didn’t need to write so many words to make such a simple point, but over-explaining my thought process is the bread and butter of this blog… which is why I will actually talk about some of the specifics of the story.

Remember how I wrote that most things don’t really mean anything, unless you find intrinsic value in them? I actually really like how Flum’s ability works from a mechanical perspective. Essentially, it reverses any effect applied on her and since all her stats are zero, the only way for her to get stronger is to find and equip cursed armor and weapons, which would normally lower your stats, but increase them for her. The ability also flips status effects, so while a normal heal spell destroys her body, the “body melting” debuff of her sword becomes an auto-recovery. It is just a shame the first novel barely touches upon this. Flum finds gauntlets early on, which only increase her stats, which doesn’t really translate into anything really, because stats are meaningless, actually, and later equips a pair of shoes with a freeze effect. The story is clearly aware of its options and possibilities, as Flum initially wondered what the reverse of a freeze effect would even be and at first checked whether her body would increase in temperature, which would serve as a smart balancing element, as not every debuff would automatically turn into something useful and maybe even inflict a time limit or another drawback to the stat boosts she receives… by the way, turns out the reverse effect is that her sword now freezes over the wounds it inflicts.

Speaking of Flum, despite being the focal point of at least 90% of the volume, I am amazed how she barely counts as a character in my book. Due to the way the story has to frontload most of its premise at the start, we don’t really learn what kind of person Flum was before she was kicked out of her party, she only references interactions she had with other people and her thoughts are basically only limited to the direct threat in front of her. The only two well-defined personality traits are her… devotion?.. fondness?.. towards the girl she randomly saved and her rather quick judgment about whether a person deserves to live or not, á la judge-jury-executioner-style. Milkit is… fine, considering she is absent most of the time. I like how the dialogue with Flum and her way of speaking clearly show how she lived her entire life in slavery, does not know what to do with her new-found agency and is generally really self-deprecating about herself and does not belief she has any worth beyond her ability to work… which gives the relationship with Flum a very weird vibe, considering the two are essentially acting out a master-servant dynamic. Lastly, there is Sara, the 10-year old nun, which is just… I know age is actually just a number and basically arbitrary in fiction, but… just imagine yourself when you were ten… didn’t even have had the time to develop chuunibyou yet. What side characters are concerned, most of the party members barely get a few lines, I personally don’t care all that much for the lolibaba witch and the hot demon lady only appears one time, shows her tits and immediately leaves.

What surprises me the most is how different the general reception seems to be to my feelings for the series. I initially picked it up as a recommendation for a girls love series, which in hindsight is so funny, because, at least what the first volume is concerned about, it is only girls love in the way Flum and Milkit show the minimum amount of affection one would expect between two main characters. Sure, the bonus chapter, which was actually by far the best content of the volume, starts going there, but I would be hard pressed to call it girls love. Beyond this one aspect, I have seen mostly unanimous praise for the series. The reviews I read and watched all applaud the atmosphere and how it handles its “less pretty” elements, MAL currently scores it at a decent 7.65 and it is even receiving an anime adaptation. The last one is actually the most surprising part, because the series only lists four volumes and is effectively on hiatus since 2020 (Though a new one is apparently set to release at the end of this very month), so I would really like to know the thought process behind this production decision.

I don’t think it happens all too often that I seem to be the odd one out in how I receive a specific piece of media, but Roll Over and Die genuinely baffles me. It is not the presence of elements that make me actively dislike it, or even the absence of elements I intrinsically would enjoy in a story, but rather my genuine belief that the story is simply not told all that well, which makes me question what other people see in it. It can’t be that other people solely care about the individual things they enjoy and completely disregard stuff like structure and flow, right? Whatever the reason may be, this is where I fundamentally stand on the topic. For me, Roll Over and Die was a drag to read and I don’t have anything interesting to say about it, beyond furthering my agenda of shit-talking stories I don’t even read.

Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! is available from Seven Seas Entertainment.

Drawing KonoSuba Characters every day for a hundred days

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:45:00 +0200

Ach ja, another year, another me back on my arbitrary quest to keep up self-imposed challenges. As mentioned last time, if I were to keep doing this, I was already set on what I was going to draw. The twist was that there were not just one, but many characters: More or less the wider cast of the KonoSuba series… so lots of characters, actually. Part of this decision was my lack of decision on what character to choose, but also because I thought it would be good to have some variety in what I am drawing every day. Also, it massively helped me with figuring out what to actually draw and I was also able to use the same idea for multiple characters. This still didn’t stop me from struggling to figure out what to draw, but it would have been way more of a pain if I only had to draw the same character. If I continue this challenge next year, I should really look up a prompt list or something, because I am creatively bankrupt with figuring out what to draw.

Anyway, I was actually a bit uncertain how this one would turn out. Finishing last year’s 100th drawing, I essentially didn’t pick up the pencil for what is forever. Looking at my note pad, in the next seven months, I filled only ten pages, mostly with scribbles, before going back into the rhythm at the end of the year. To my utter surprise, despite doing nothing for more than half a year, I somehow got better… practice is a lie, I tell you. No, seriously, why? Surely it can’t just be that I continued watching tutorials and drawing exercises, right? I mean, I am not complaining, but it sure is wild that I think my average drawing is simply better than a year before and I regularly drew something better than last year with only a fraction of the time or effort. Or it is simply selective perception, because I actually learned how to draw heads in the meantime and something something human psychology.

Well, with that being said, once again, here is my hopefully not too detailed rundown of what I learned from drawing KonoSuba characters every day for a hundred days.

The Design of KonoSuba Characters

There is something funny in drawing several characters from the same designer for some time and eventually noticing similarities between them. Though to be fair, like with Kumoko and Yukari, I again primarily oriented myself by the designs for the anime adaptation, so this effect is probably a lot more pronounced by the fact that the designs got a lot more simplified. You can find the Settei on Settei Dreams, though, as much as I appreciate them, I kinda wish they were available as a cleaner scan. Especially Darkness' are a bit hard to make out properly.

Anyway, why does virtually every character, whose hair length allows it, have their head and face at the sides completely framed by the hair?.. or at least down to the bottom of the ears. It is especially noticeable with the three main girls. Aqua and Darkness almost look the same in this regard and Megumin’s strands are just a bit shorter. Even Kazuma has them, though due to his hair being shorter, it doesn’t cover as much. It is just something I learned to notice with almost every character.

But speaking of Kazuma, let me go on a small tangent on how much I like his design. On the surface, there is not a lot going on or something specifically differentiating him from your generic light novel guy design, but once you draw him a couple of times, you notice the small things that make him look so much more appealing and recognizable. Especially the way his hair breaks up at the top gives him a proper silhouette to distinguish him and I adore those strands of hair at the tip that make him look like there are two apple leaves sprouting out of his hair. Too bad the anime design forgoes the smaller strand of hair in the middle for the stem of the apple. Lastly, the anime design gave him a lot more softer facial features, compared to the light novel, which was a fantastic decision, because the facial expressions and how malleable they are is one of the KonoSuba anime’s biggest strengths.

Another thing I noticed is how simple or clean the hair of most characters is and how, especially longer hair, tends to curve inwards. Sure, the bangs for most characters can go all over the place, but in general, the hairstyles are pretty simple and often only broken up with some variety of braid, bundled hair or ponytail and all the excess hair at the back flowing down the same way. Ironically, this is something I constantly, either knowingly or accidentally, tended to ignore… I don’t know what to tell you, I just like it when the hair is broken up a bit more and curves outward, making everything look a bit more messy.

In general, the characters are pretty simple to draw. Again, most of the characters are relatively young and cute looking and have similar facial shapes and features. I was actually a bit surprised how similar and simple the eyes were, because I somehow had it in my mind they were pretty distinct, but no, most, if not all, have this simple curve for the upper eyelid, slightly more slanted, depending on the characters, and some with more indicated eyelashes and essentially none on the lower eyelid. The iris itself is also nothing to write home about.

For the clothing, there will be some dedicated paragraphs, but overall, there is a lot going on in terms of variety. Simple clothes with a lot of layers, from more casual and functional to suits and frilly dresses and even armor. Most of the clothes have either highlights or special line work, but nothing too complicated, crazy or even full of patterns. There is also a huge variety of clothes for specific characters. The normal range of clothes is already pretty big, but then there is a lot for special occasions, which made it possible to draw the main cast in a lot of different fashions.

Getting started and difficulties

Rereading the post from last year, I guess I am unfortunately able to repeat myself quite a lot, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. This time, I actually drew what I wanted to draw on another piece of paper and then only started drawing for real on a separate piece of paper, which is actually a fully blank one not in a college block. In the beginning, I even tried drawing the entire drawing on the first piece of paper and then cleanly traced it onto the second one, which didn’t really work out… maybe for the better. Also, unlike the last times, this time, I would start out big, meaning, instead of drawing the full body, which will only cover a small portion of the page, I would only draw a portion of the entire body, filling out the space on the paper and forcing me to use all the space to draw the lines properly and not hide behind the fact our brains will fill in for lack of details… this also almost worked out semi-consistently with most of the drawings in the beginning actually being from the hip or knees upwards. I probably should have gone even bigger and only do some drawing from the bust or neck upward, to really force myself to do things right. Alas, I did not.

I appreciate me locking the fuck in for the very first drawing. I have no doubts it will make itself great on the thumbnail, but it is neither indicative of how the first drawings looked on average and also a microcosm of what I was doing wrong. Last year, I talked about how observation is a skill that needs to be learned and improved and this drawing is proof that I still suck at it. At first glance, it might look fine, but there is so much wrong with it: Hair, head angle, eyes, nose, this fucking bean mouth, the neck, the cape, left arm and general posture. Considering I more or less copied one of the drawings from the reference sheet, the only reason it doesn’t look completely off is due to some relatively clean lines and my normal mistakes not overshadowing the rest of the drawing.

Speaking of which, I am still making the same mistakes as last year. The two most egregious ones are that my heads are still way too big and kinda ballon out of proportions and the opposite being the case with my lower bodies being consistently too small, to the point some characters look like they have dwarfism. This also goes way beyond the natural foreshortening that is happening when drawing on a non-tilted surface, but rather the result of me not fully planning out the height of the character and starting from the head and then working myself down and eventually running out of space on the paper.

Another thing I might have actually gotten worse over last year are my poses and figure drawings. As mentioned, I didn’t really draw anything for a long time, meaning I stopped doing my pose exercises, so I think I actually got a bit worse in simply drawing the human body in terms of proportions and anatomy. The one thing I certainly improved on are the heads and faces, but this is also mostly due to me being able to draw a very specific perspective and less actually understanding and being able to draw a head, as can be seen by most heads being drawn from a very similar perspective along most drawings and every time I don’t, it kinda just falls apart. In fact, every time I try a more “ambitious” perspective, I fail horribly.

The reason I am a lot harsher on me than last time is because I did improve and now consider myself on a level, where I can be consistent enough to be criticized. There was no point in telling me what was wrong, when it was up to chance whether I would do the same mistake in the same way again or could even incorporate the advice next time. From now on, I can work on specific things in the hope I will do it better in the future… Anyway, what was I on about?

I eventually went back to simply drawing the full body, or rather not limiting myself to use all the space on the paper, which mostly led to the character standing upwards from around the knees upward, which tactically hid the feet or shoes, which I can’t for the life of me draw. It is actually worse than hands, if you can believe me. From there on, I simply just drew whatever I wanted, randomly deciding to lock in at times or not give a damn some other day and praying every character would turn out recognizable at the end… Eris-sama unfortunately didn’t listen.

Ideas and Poses

While I didn’t plan it like this from the start, I eventually got into the rhythm of drawing the main quartet, then two other characters and repeated the process until I was done. In the end, I almost drew every major and minor character sans Beldia, Hans and Arnes. Why did I leave out those three? Well, Beldia is a full suit of armor, which I simply wasn’t able to draw, not for the lack of trying, Hans simply looks kinda bland and concerning Arnes… I forgor. I guess I also didn’t draw Keith and Taylor, as well as the two girls accompanying Mitsurugi, nor any of the girls from either the OVAs or the Fantastic Days Gacha. And while we are at it, obviously most of the Crimson Demon Village misses too, there is the Axis Church Priest Zesta, Alderp and his son and I suppose I could have also drawn the Tranquility Girl from season three. Also, aren’t I the Spider Guy? Where is the Mobile Fortress Destroyer?.. Writing it out like this, I am actually missing quite a few characters :D.

Like last year with Yukari, I didn’t really had a plan or a theme for what to draw, so I mostly just spun the roulette on Posemaniacs to give me a pose to draw the character in, though I mostly settled for some variant of a standing poses at a rather easy and simple angle. At times, I also just looked up random references of people on Pinterest and copied them, to very varying degree of success. When I did have an idea, I was very glad I could use it for several characters and it is not like KonoSuba, as a series, also didn’t give me enough options. I really like how the winter excursion turned out. Also, throw in some swimsuit versions, maid uniforms, school uniforms and whatever my dirty mind thought amusing. The only thing I was too much of a coward of was a fully muscled out Darkness. At times, I also went utterly wild with my references, like how I copied the cover art for the ending theme of the second season for Kakegurui… you know, as you do. I also tried myself at some backgrounds again, though, as always, I added them mostly at will and with almost no consistency to how detailed they would be nor even a plan to begin with what the background even should be. Shout out to #50 for me spending a few minutes drawing the character and then going all out on the background for literally no reason :D.

As already mentioned, the characters themselves actually have quite the variety of outfits, so I could also draw them each time at least once. This came especially clutch with Darkness, whom I have drawn in armor two times, before deciding to simply not do that again… ever. Haters would say it is because I couldn’t draw the armor, but it is actually because I am a massive pervert and simply prefer to draw her without. Fuck it, just draw her in whatever clothes you want. It is not like I actually set myself restrictions. If I weren’t such a coward, I could have also drawn Darkness in no clothes at all. Free will and such.

TL;DR: Once again, I mostly did whatever.

Conclusion

And this is it for the most part. For another minor improvement over last year, I now draw on blank printing paper and can properly scan everything in, so the final images should look a bit nicer… if you ignore all the smearing. I still didn’t bother to buy drawing gloves. And like last year, here are some of the better drawings:

1 / 21

I am still playing with the idea of properly redrawing some of them digitally and maybe even color them in, but only in the same way I play with the idea of actually buying a drawing tablet and actual drawing software, which is to say… maybe someday.

I am not sure if I will do another one of these next year. More than ever before, I noticed how my motivation to draw just plummeted as the days went on and on. Considering I do the whole thing in the first place to get myself to draw, it is probably in my best interest to simply get myself to draw on a semi-regular basis and draw when I want to, instead of forcing myself to do it literally every single day. But who knows, maybe I will change my mind at the end of the year again.

If you are interested in all one hundred drawings, they are once again available on my Google Drive.

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Winter 2025

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 16:30:00 +0200

Ach ja, looking over the seasonal chart at the beginning of the season, I was rather… skeptic, to say the least. While I had my doubts about last season as well, this one took the cake, with being filled to the brim with sequels to other series I haven’t watched, enough fantasy slop to feed an entire army through a famine and all-around uninspired takes on better stories. I didn’t even bother with Sakamoto Days, because it looks so underwhelming, especially compared to its genre contenders. Also, lLooking at the chart, it makes me almost sad, how most of the anime I have seen this season were basically watched by no one, though I have no doubts about this being in part due to all of them being only available on less popular and available streaming services. Maybe this is the prize to pay for all the anime I finished to be pretty fucking good. Anyway, it is time to wrap up the anime of winter 2025.

The ones that didn’t make it

Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective feels like a rather solid setup for a medical detective series with the most sauceless execution imaginable. It presents the viewer with superficially very interesting mysteries, as I have no doubts the medical world is full of possible weird occurrences worth writing about, but seemingly doesn’t know where to go from there. The protagonist is an eccentric bundle of knowledge and workplace violations, but with no actual inside into her mind or how she intends to solve the aforementioned mysteries, she mostly comes off as an obnoxious child with a medical degree, which the series desperately tries to constantly make the smartest person in the room, which nullifies both the medical and mystery aspects of the anime for me. This might be a weird line of thought, but Ameku feels like the classic overpowered protagonist of your generic nondescript isekai in this regard… just as a doctor. Add to the fact that all the other characters have been less than useless so far, especially with the supposedly Sherlock-Watson dynamic of Ameku and Kotori, and the anime has yet to dive into the non-detective aspect of its setting, I am way more inclined to just watch The Apothecary Diaries again, or go out on a limb and maybe take a look at some episodes of House, M.D. instead, which this anime was so often compared to. At least the Opening is a banger on all fronts.

If I were to describe Übel Blatt in just two words, it would be juvenile and incompetent. I have no doubts it is filled with ideas I would very much like and I am glad we get a “proper” dark fantasy series in what is currently mostly a sea of indistinguishable and safe LitRPG slop, but it is just… not good. It really feels like a relic of the mid-2000s, where being dark and serious was mostly conflated with sex and violence and it surely would have been at the forefront of examples to show how weird anime is. In this sense, welcome back Elfen Lied, I guess. And even on its own merits, it simply fails for me at being a coherent story. I literally didn’t understand its in medias res at the beginning of the first episode, it constantly jumps around without any proper connective tissue and the pacing feels both too fast and too slow at the same time. Add some other elements I am not too big a fan of, such as a weirdly sexist portrayal of its female characters or an incredibly lame take on corrupt religious institutions and we get the complete package of “Nah, I’m good” from me.

Lastly, I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time. Now, any reasonable person would have taken a quick glance at the trailer or even just the main visual and come to the conclusion it took me seven epi… actually, no, it didn’t take me seven episodes to realize I deluded myself into the belief the anime would be about something it never even had the slightest intention to be in the first place. This much was obvious barely half an episode into it. By all means, it is your generic story about an RPG party clearing dungeons, a rather bland one at that, except the blurb and title might give some people the false hope of a new take on an already told story. I want to watch the anime the Opening belongs to. The story of someone that does solo any boss, but works as a receptionist instead, because it is a widely overlooked role that is simply assumed to exist as is and nothing more. Maybe we should just burn Narou to the ground (I don’t care that it wasn’t even published there, it’s the spirit that counts).

Medalist

At first, I was rather unsure whether I would even vibe with Medalist in the first place. I am personally not the biggest fan of stories featuring children when the cast is also filled with adult characters, because the little ones often feel like mouthpieces and plot devices to me and less than characters on their own. Fortunately, Medalist is very much aware that, as much life experience the children miss, it is not like they don’t have agency, lack dreams on their own or are missing any kind of emotional understanding. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is one of the best anime in portraying young children as proper characters and seeing them improve in both ice skating and on a personal level was a delight.

I don’t particularly care about ice skating as a sport, but, like most good sport narratives, it is seldom just about the sport and more about all the feelings involved. Inori grows from a bundle of despair and pity into someone with the drive to strive further and finally find something to look forward to in life. Similarly, the web of the other children and their trainers make for some really interesting interactions between them. From how Hikaru is able to motivate and inspire, to Rioh’s complicated feelings surrounding the adults around him and especially how Tsukasa is able to internalize his own past to help and ground his trainees.

I am so glad a second season was announced, because I feel like Medalist has not shown all its cards yet and it can go so much farther beyond. Also, I’d like to issue an apology to Studio Engi, because I was not familiar with their game. Some of the ice skating performances were truly breathtaking and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them.

Zenshu

In its simplest form, Zenshu is an unapologetic love letter to anime and the stories and tropes that have defined it for so many people and I highly suspect especially the artists that eventually found themselves in the industry creating new ones. In the larger picture, Zenshu is about love and the different forms it can take. Not just the first love so many people yearn to experience, but also the love for a story that, despite being filled to the brim with despair, is still able to give you hope.

With that being said, week for week, I kinda struggled to really formulate what I think about the actual story. Like a lot of people, I was a bit disappointed that the anime wasn’t primarily about anime production, but also turned out to be an isekai on top of it. Then again, it being an isekai arguably had a purpose and made the entire conclusion have more impact, which already puts it above most of its genre contenders… then again, to be honest, this bar is buried six feet under ground, so it won’t mean a lot. Also, as much as I like the cast, I never really got that attached to them. I mean, Natsuko is great and all and I also learned to appreciate Luke for the specific role he plays, but that’s about it. Given that the ending, which tied everything in a neat little bow, is still missing something for me to make it properly click, means that Zenshu will most likely go down as a competent anime I will probably not think much about anymore in a season or two, despite having enjoyed every second of it. Sure looked absolutely stunning though.

Flower and Asura

Flower and Asura might be a prime example for why I don’t really think the basic premise of a story to be that important. Did I particularly care about recitation before? Not really. Do I care about it now? Also no. But it is also not really about recitation, right? It is about the appreciation of art, how it can move someone and bring yourself to grow and strive further in your own story and this anime has such a firm grasp and respect for all kinds of performing arts, from the way it beautifully visualizes and presents the feelings of both the performers and listeners to valuing all the different skills to everything adjacent to either recitation or announcing.

While subtle, it also features some incredible character writing and drama. Not necessarily in the way that everyone wants to cry their eyes out at the end, but more specifically tuned to the varied mindset of the cast, how they relate to their art and the competition, as well as some internal character growth. Honestly, this is some of the most well-rounded cast of characters I know, despite most of them barely getting one or two full episodes for themselves. Too bad the final two episodes were a bit of a letdown for me, but this will not overshadow how consistently great the anime turned out to be on a weekly basis. While I doubt it will happen, I would gladly accept another season. We had our debut, now it is time for the main act.

~~Also, if not girls love, why so gay?~~

From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!

Someday, I will write the most incomprehensible post ever, use words like “Aesthetic Pluralism” and other concepts no one understands, only to reveal that it is about me figuring out why I adore the villainess trope so much. Then again, it is not like I actually have seen that many “normal” villainess anime and instead go for either straight-up comedies or whatever I’m in Love with the Villainess can be classified as. But also, who can blame me? There is a certain inherent comedy in someone stumbling their way through all kinds of situations by severely misunderstanding the villain’s role they are supposed to play.

Our man Kenzaburou is also just a treasure trove of hilarious hijinks. From his utter misunderstanding of the story and tropes he finds himself surrounded by or the fact that he is also just a really supportive dad, whose instincts get triggered constantly by the younger people around him, the story takes full advantage of the fact to heighten mostly inconsequential happenings and to give a ton of flavor to details I normally couldn’t care less about. Truly a testament to how a fun cast of characters make or break a series, especially when they too completely misunderstand everything around them. Praiseth be episode 8.

Lastly, this is finally an anime for old people like me. Sure, let’s sing a cover of this one song from Galaxy Express 999, reference old anime and generally just accept that you don’t get young people… What do you mean I’m only 25 years old and shouldn’t talk like this?

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

There is a certain philosophical nuance and grace in how Orb tells its story. It is not just a fictionalized passing of the torch in how we eventually came to understand the cosmos as we do today, but also a potent tale of curiosity, of the eternal drive to search for truth in spite of danger, about making sense of the world around you and rationalizing your place in it. It is about the freedom to pursue thoughts, about questioning both dogma and progress, about the very intention and mindset that makes humans yearn for and fear further knowledge equally, about coming to terms with how religion and science can go either hand in hand or end in bloodshed… or even put more simply, it is about looking up towards the sky and gazing at the beauty of the stars, because each character in this story finds meaning in it.

I’m gonna be honest here, I am not smart enough to explain and contextualize the subtleties and not-so-subtleties of Orb. The story has a lot to say about the way we think about science, how it influences society and the many forces that push and pull the discussion around it and Orb is fully committed to the idea of exploring both the good and the bad, otherwise we would have gotten a group of bright-eyed idealists as our point of view characters instead and not such a diverse cast, which is seldom a stranger to morally ambiguous actions or opinions that will challenge a modern viewers assumption of what the hero of such a story should be…. except Oczy, he did nothing wrong and effortlessly put himself onto my list of favorite characters. Add a potential antagonist of the year in the form of Nowak into the mix, and you’ve got yourself the perfect package for a semi-historical drama, which, as much as I hate to use this rhetoric, really resonates with the current rise in anti-intellectualism going on right now.

If you want to take all this as an endorsement and recommendation, just be sure enough to approach this series with an open mind and the expectation, that it is neither specifically about astronomy, or an accurate depiction 15th century social climate, but rather the idea of what must have motivated the real people to walk the path they chose, while fully indulging in its themes. In this case, doubt and believe. But if you vibe with it, Orb serves you one three Michelin star dish after another and then has the audacity to ask in its last two episodes if you still have some room for dessert. Absolute Chi-nema. Thaumazein in its purest form. Also, the full version of the Opening finally dropped, so please enjoy some peak music.

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 2

I’ll make this one short. 100 Girlfriends is actually just peak harem with essentially no competition as far as I am aware of what it does. Sure, it is primarily a straight-up comedy à l’excellence, but Rentarou gives his all to make more than sure we do get our genuinely sweet and romantic moments for literally each girlfriend, because he is just him. The him-est of hims, in fact (Especially after that one page). But it is not just the guy that carries his weight, but each girlfriend does so too and it is such a joy to see such a fun cast interact with each other, rather than just the leading man. Graph theorists are eating good with this one. Also, please look at how adorable the ED is this time.

What’s left?

Honestly, pretty much nothing. This season wasn’t really filled with a lot I would be even interested in to check out. There is Sorairo Utility, which I never got the opportunity to get around to, but I am also not that interested in going out of my way to watch it now.

And that’s it for the first season of 2025. Bit of a rough start, but I have a slight suspicion the spring season might pick up the slack.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle LN: Volume 1

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:50:00 +0100

Ach ja, light novels are an interesting medium, for they tend to be very meta-textual works. They barely exist on their own, but along either the works that inspired them or simply along themselves instead. Light novels don’t simply come into existence, they are written as such, regardless where they fall into the never-ending circle of original, derivative and subversion. It’s like an endless discussion, each commenting on the works before and around them.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, as a work of art, is interesting to me, mostly in the sense how it relates to my, to be frank, fairly limited perspective on the well-established formula for stories about a boy in highschool living out his adolescent days and enjoying the innocence of youth… or more concretely, the stories about some no-name loser eventually finding himself surrounded by beautiful girls and engaging in RomCom shenanigans in a juvenile display of self-indulgence.

I don’t think it would be fair to say that Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, or even the author Hiromu by extend, hates the RomCom light novels, whose set-ups feel artificially created in a lab to hyper focus and target a certain kind of person, mostly because the story itself acknowledges the nuance in why some people consume and enjoy certain stories and simply pointing at the pathetic teenager, or worse, adult, reading his escapist fantasy slop will not encapsulate the entirety of the problem. I do however feel a certain kind of frustration with them coming from it. Like it is neither the content or the fantasy being criticized, but the presentation and self-image of their characters and readership.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle (Is there a good short handle for this series?.. Chiramune sounds dumb) is about the performance of popularity, or more specifically, popularity as performance. This isn’t just limited to the fact that we are following the “popular kids” for a change, but that every interaction, relationship and theme is fundamentally viewed through the angle of this societal soft rule. Though soft in its nature, the story treats popularity as something a lot more tangible and important to the daily life of these high schoolers. It is something that is constructed, maintained and deliberately upheld. And most importantly, something that holds power, because the people believe in it.

“Saku Chitose from Class Five is a total man-slut shithead”. Personally, I wouldn’t call him such abusive remarks and just label him as a simple whore. Now, this comment might come off as a bit harsh, given that the first one is explicitly stated to come from his dear haters as some rather ineffective jabs at his ego, but I think it has merit, if only not in the way it was intended to.

Chitose, to a certain extent, is the logical conclusion such an environment produces. He is the charismatic hot guy, whose looks will get him ahead, the jock, whose former days still give him credit in the present and the de facto leader of the popular group, almost calling all the shots on his own. It is this image he so carefully crafted that not just makes him a hypocrite, but more importantly, makes him also look like one to anyone who does not buy into his style of superficial kindness, even when the general notion of popularity is acknowledged and respected, as seen in part by the otaku group, Atomu and his posse and most clearly by Kenta himself.

It is not that hard to fall for Kenta’s pessimistic rhetoric. As long as one does not get shoved into extremes, I think most readers are realistically closer to Kenta than Chitose by default, might even agree with some of his points and see the whole situation as a twisted attempt to pull a Cinderella story through sheer insistence and misplaced confidence in a system whose directive is entirely vibe-based. And for how well Chitose is able to refute the accusations Kenta threw his way, there is one he never answered to, because he couldn’t: Chitose, the popular kid, does not care about Kenta, the shut-in. From Kenta’s point of view, Chitose even just talking to him is an insincere gesture, further undermined by the fact that he was indeed asked by a teacher to deal with him and no one else bothered. He is not spoken to as an equal. By all means, Kenta has the right to be angry… but so does Chitose, because despite everything, he still heeded the call to action, broke down what physically separated Kenta from the outside world and is willing to listen to the truly pathetic ramblings of an entitled boy.

For what it is worth, Chiramune is rather good in making sense of the hypocrisy of its characters, even when it is seldom spelled out directly. Kenta was guilty of the same things he accused Chitose of and used it as a defense mechanism to justify his own isolation and reaction towards getting hurt. On the other hand, Chitose plays the role of the friendly and responsible class president, because, despite his own outward cynicism (low-key Tsundere behavior, really) towards this presentation, at the end of the day, he truly enjoys being helpful to other people and likes being liked by the people around him, whether they are friends or random folks alike. Not to pull out Maslow’s funny little triangle, but he too has his reasons to build up walls around him.

The difference between the two is in how their attitude materializes. Chiramune is not shy about justifying being self-serving with the intention of feeling good about yourself. Chitose is living his best life right now, even outside the whole popularity framing. He has great friends and is happy with himself and his place in the world. On the other hand, Kenta went from a functional otaku to becoming a stereotypical one, hates himself and the people around him and is literally stuck in a prison of his own making. As such, it is only thematically fitting, that Chitose is getting Kenta out of his room in the same way he got into it… metaphorically speaking of course, he does not defenestrate him.

There is a certain dualism throughout the entire story of the novel: If you want to either approach or be approached by other people, you need to genuinely try to understand and perceive them as more than just what they want to show you. On the other hand, dragging the ones around you down will only make you feel miserable in the long run. Call it a basic lesson in empathy, but this is what the climax was about. It is not about the epic takedown of your former social group, but the friends one made along the way. It is Kenta realizing that Chitose is more than just the popular person he made up in his head and Chitose realizing that under all the otaku filth lies a fun person to hang around… Okay, it is also about the epic takedown of your former social group, I guess.

This finale can only exist in the boundaries set by the story it provided throughout. It actually tells you to be as vain as you want, to just get fit, dress well and get your petty revenge, only to unsurprisingly pull the rug out from under you, when every feeling of hatred has long lost its spark and embers. Yet, the way it goes through the motions is almost like parody of parody. Kenta’s former friends don’t acknowledge popular-ish Kenta, ignore all the hot-boy aura he farmed and otherwise disregard what worked for everyone else. Popularity is a performance and Kenta just got booed off stage, only for Chitose to turn from jobber to lead talent and flip the script by deconstructing the antagonists and the character our boy was saved from degenerating into. The audience clapped, the curtains fell and the true main actor got his encore.

Saku Chitose feels isolated by his performance. After all, where does his attributed power come from? He wants to pride himself by being this helpful and reliable guy, yet needs to confine in his own friends for a simple solution, the only reason he can sit at this one table at lunch is because no one dares question why he shouldn’t and despite most of the girls not minding having him as their boyfriend, he gets rejected by the one he loves. For fuck’s sake, Chitose is the kind of guy to look up towards the stars at sunset and muse about the moon, while thinking about sweets and nostalgic summers long gone by… I have disrespected people for less.

Thus concludes the part of the post, in which I try my best to make sense of it all. It is now time for some actual slander ^^.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle committed the gravest sin imaginable… making me have opinions about it. With a week of distance and having written everything I have to say out of my system, I think I can finally admit to myself that I kinda hated reading this novel. Like, for as witty as the writing is at times, Chitose is so fucking obnoxious to the point it truly was not funny to me anymore. And this should be saying something, considering what and how I have written this post until now. Even when I agreed with what he was yapping about, I still wished he would just shut up.

Part of this surely comes down to my own school experience, in which the idea of “popular kids”, as in Chiramune, didn’t really exist. Groups? Sure and of course there were some people generally more liked than others, but I certainly never thought of there being a structure and hierarchy to it. This is only anecdotal and I almost have no doubts that the social climate in Japanese schools is different, but it is hard for me to see the appeal of the series or comprehend why it is as popular as it is. From my point of view, it is really generic with its only distinguishing feature being that Chitose helped out a guy instead of a cute girl. The rest is still an overpowered hero protagonist surrounded by eye candy. Are so many people either interested or concerned about how they are perceived by others in such superficial ways? If I need a series about teenagers utterly overanalyzing social situations, then Kaguya-sama is right there.

It also doesn’t help that, for as strong as its thematic core is, the story doesn’t really have anything else to offer. The character writing can be good, when it is there, but this was basically just the story of Chitose and Kenta and everyone else, with maybe the exception of Yuuko, was kinda just existing in the peripherals. Seriously, I essentially had to fill in the gaps in the characters with tropes based on the illustrations myself, because the story gave me so little to work with (RIP to either Kaito or Kazuki, who didn’t even get one). And don’t even get me going with how three of the girls' names start with “Yu”. I know that reading on an E-Reader made it inconvenient to flip to the illustrations at the front, but for the first chapter, I basically didn’t know what character was talking, because they were so unremarkable.

I am aware Chiramune is in no position, where it can just introduce a new girl every volume and focus on that one, because otherwise the idea of this tight group of friends falls apart, but the utter lack of focus also surprised me. Yuuko adorns the cover of the novel and is kinda introduced as the “main girl”, but there is zero appeal in the actual story and if there is not supposed to be a “main girl” in this series at all, then why the focus?.. Unless one simply needed a girl, in which case my point still stands. What I also wished for would have been a proper foil, which can challenge Chitose in his thinking. Kenta served this role at first, but he eventually became a total yes-man and otherwise the closest there is would be Asuka, who’s only there in the prologue and epilogue respectively.

I really wanted to like this series. Partly to make up my dislike of Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian and also because I never really got around to check out Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, despite quite enjoying Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night. Maybe I should also just stay with the time proven classics, like My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. I am still very much interested in the anime adaptation, though now having read the first part, my expectations for it are rather low. Simply striving for something functional will not be enough to deliver on the one thing it has really going for it. I don’t require a Makeine, but even the relatively polished Alya struggled with properly adapting its story.

So yeah, that’s about it. I am still unsure about whether I will continue reading the series or drop it indefinitely, so I will keep it on hold for the time being. It is not like I have something specific in mind for what to read next, but I could really go for something more light-hearted and comedic, like the newest volume of KonoSuba, which has been collecting dust on my shelf for two months already.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

Iron Widow: Wu Zetian in the FranXX

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, I read a book. An actual book with like no pictures, more than 200 pages and even some complicated words. Don’t worry, this won’t happen again in the near future. I initially heard about Iron Widow because the author talked about how one of the novel’s influences was the anime series Darling in the FranXX and how they were underwhelmed with its second half, which I can very much sympathize with. This and the fact everyone I have seen talking about it seems to praise it almost unanimously lead to me caving in and reading it. My final verdict: It’s fine, I guess.

There isn’t something I could concretely point towards as to why I slowly lost interest towards the end, despite what are some incredible opening chapters. Sure, I have some opinions about the abysmal pacing whenever something concrete and “plot relevant” happens, mostly about everything that frames the actual core of the story, with its ending especially leaving me with the impression I have only read a slightly more elaborate checklist of events than a proper finale. Also, one could probably cut half the occurrences of the word “heat”. But beyond that, it essentially does everything right I criticized Sexiled for and for what it is, it does so with overwhelming confidence.

Iron Widow has a very strong – for simplicity’s sake, let’s call it “feminist voice”. The moment we are introduced to Wu Zetian’s perspective of the world, one would be hard-pressed to not understand the source of her never-ending rage. She lives in a system where girls and women are robbed of their agency, barely treated as humans and shamed for being born female. It is also very much self-aware about The Discourse™… you know the one. It doesn’t need to explicitly use words like “patriarchy” or “misogyny” to tell a story about it, it criticizes the notion of the gender binary and heteronormativity in one breath, while talking about the arbitrary differences between men and women in the next one. If right-wing people were literate enough, they would call it capital W woke, because it very much is in its original sense of the word. Beyond the giant robots fighting off alien invaders, Iron Widow is a dissection of harmful socio-cultural systems and how they hurt everyone and everything in the long run, without having to rely on its fantastical elements, because real life history is full of it and arguably its best and most impactful moments are in its more mundane and grounded situations.

There is a certain catharsis, or, if you would like to use some more negatively connoted words, wish-fulfillment and power-fantasy, in reading about a character that not only so easily identifies the problem, but is also willing and eventually able to solve, or more accurately, fight it head on and win. Tonally, I would describe the voice of Wu Zetian, and by extension the entirety of the text itself, with just one word: Rage. The first part of the novel is about Zetian’s suicide mission to avenge her sister, because she is cornered by life in such as way that destruction is the only thing that could give it meaning, even if it doesn’t lead to any real change. It eventually escalates to the point of her essentially becoming a usurper and killing anyone in her way to escape her own impending predicament. Almost a cautionary tale, even, the way the system created the very person bringing about its downfall.

To repeat something I also already mentioned in my Sexiled post, I am a straight man and thus simply never had to worry about the things women have to go through. I have the privilege of full autonomy over my own body, I can basically do whatever I want and my very existence is not being politicized or up to debate. The only shackles on me are the ones of capitalism, but even they have become less tight for me. Thus, I wouldn’t really call Iron Widow, as a story, relatable for me, but it doesn’t have to be. It itself makes the point of men being able to understand the suffering of women. My fascination with Wu Zetian is not an emotionally charged one with her being someone I can project myself on, but rather one whose situation I can accept and acknowledge. Her outspokenness also makes it really easy to understand her whole thing and gives us some great passages:

How do you take the fight out of half the population and render them willing slaves? You tell them they’re meant to do nothing but serve from the minute they’re born. You tell them they’re weak. You tell them they’re prey. You tell them over and over, until it’s the only truth they’re capable of living.

It is obviously no great piece of critical theory, despite how well-versed Zetian somehow seems to be in it at times, but it arguably does a very effective job in contextualizing what is happening around her (In this case the lack of female comradery between the concubine pilots).

Beyond all the thematic stuff, Zetian is also just a really engaging character when she is not busy mentally and physically standing her ground in front of other men. Her inner struggle of how to handle her own family was one of the most interesting conflicts, her saying that the triangle is the strongest shape in reference to later going full poly with the two guys in her life is almost too funny, with how much levity this brings into an otherwise grim story and most importantly, despite being the “perfect victim”, she isn’t portrayed as a savior character or even as a morally good one. It is easy to see how she might be justified in most of her actions, but she mostly does so out of self-interest and not fully understanding the reasoning for other people, making her a giant hypocrite at times. Her initial mistrust and straight-up animosity towards Li Shimin was interesting, because she was very confidently at fault. She has this “I was wronged my entire life, so I won’t take the high road”-attitude, which makes her very flawed and balances out the otherwise perfect, almost Mary Sue vibe she emits.

If any of this interests you, I guess you have yourself a recommendation. No matter what I am going to say in the next paragraphs, it is a competently written story and I have a feeling if it is genuinely able to speak to you, it can very likely hit like a brick to the face. It also has the line “You can’t shoot me; I’m rich!”. Peak writing.

With that being said, let’s talk about some specifics that I personally have some opinions about. Spoilers ahead.

If there is one thing I constantly asked myself while reading, it is the following: Why hasn’t anyone put a bullet between Wu Zetian’s eyes the second she exited the Chrysalis with Yang Guang’s corpse in tow? I mean, the story goes over how she convinces the strategists to let them use her, as she would be a valuable addition to the war effort. However, the farther into the story you read, the more you come to understand that this line of thinking shouldn’t fly with them. For the military, upholding the agenda seems to be priority number one with the Hundun attacks and humanity’s continued survival being second at best. In fact, Zetian’s presence only made the Hundun situation worse, so the military’s continued tip-toeing around her and Shimin eventually contradicted its otherwise cut-throat operation and sexism for me. Like, stop pretending to simply tolerate them. Either treat them properly or just go through with what they are already trying to do in roundabout ways.

From their point of view, they have a man convicted of patricide and double fratricide on their hand, as well as someone who is able to kill their beloved golden boys by simply going to pilot with them. Zetian, as a concubine pilot, is absolutely expendable, and Li Shimin is most likely too, as they are probably not really needed in the larger picture of the war, no matter how high their spirit pressure turns out to be. Also, the whole “pilots as celebrities” thing doesn’t seem to be integrated strongly enough, as the military couldn’t just get rid of them and have some kind of excuse on hand in case anyone cares.

It is almost laughable how they stationed two guards in their cockpit this one time, which obviously did nothing in keeping them under control and then essentially gave up on supervising the pair entirely, while they are currently in possession of the strongest war machine capable of laying waste to the entire frontier. Ignoring more sensible solutions for subjugating the two (Remote-controlled exploding collars would probably be my go-to approach), the incompetence of the military strategists can’t just be blamed on naiveté or underestimating the two people to be constantly shown not to be underestimated. Seriously, in the final battle, another pair was ordered to straight up kill Zetian and Shimin… then why let them deploy in the first place? They clearly weren’t intended to fight, because otherwise they would have waited for them to kill the Hundun that wiped everyone’s asses first and it sure as hell couldn’t be framed as an accident or them simply dying in battle. Also destroying one of your strongest Chrysalis in the process? C’mon! One of the strategist guys is literally named after the Zhuge Liang, at least he should know better.

At the end of the day, I probably shouldn’t think that hard about it. It’s simply peak YA contrivances. In this sense, it feels rather similar to other novels like The Hunger Games, etc. which have to enable the protagonist in some way, even if it makes less sense in the great scheme. Same goes for the introduction of minor antagonists in Iron Widow, because apparently the system itself is not enough. Fundamentally, this again doesn’t really matter, unless you care for laughably bad characters in your story, but it is something that yet again weakens the impact the themes should have. The point is that Zetian’s situation is horrible, regardless of whether the men around her treat her blatantly awful or like a literal princess. With how exhausting the commentary can become at times, it somehow is able to drown itself out by falling back on tropes that do more harm than good. I also know that it can be done a whole lot better. The Apothecary Diaries essentially does a lot of the same commentary as Iron Widow, but is able to write around the need for someone to constantly put Maomao down, because the system of the imperial palace already does so itself better than any other character could do.

Another thing I would have loved to see a larger focus on would be the piloting. Not the actual piloting of the mechs, but rather the experience of piloting. Piloting a Chrysalis is more akin to this meta-physical and abstract experience of clashing minds, a constant push and pull with the risk of your consciousness being consumed by your co-pilot. It is arguably the most overt reference to Darling in the FranXX and the aspect I expected the most from. And to be fair, what we do get is pretty great and probably some of the best material Iron Widow has to offer. It is just that it doesn’t matter that much. For the first time, Zetian kills her partner, as she wanted to do so, piloting with Li Shimin only happens sparingly after the first time and most of their development happens outside the Chrysalis anyway and the last time happens at the very end of the novel with someone who barely counts as a character in my book. It is a shame because, as the author also noted, the pilot system is such a great narrative device in exploring the characters, their relationships and world, so seeing it get mostly ignored is weird, when it would be the first thing I would want to expand upon from FranXX’s base. The only thing it addresses is the seating order, which felt more like the natural conclusion of another plot point.

Speaking of which, let me talk about the one and a half plot twists the novel throws at the reader. Towards the end, Zetian and Shimin torture a certain information out of one of the strategists regarding the discrepancy between the spirit pressure of female pilots inside and outside the Chrysalis. Turns out the yin seat, the one occupied by the concubine pilot, limits the spirit pressure, making the male pilot in the yang seat stronger in comparison. This is presented as a big revelation and becomes essential to their final plan by revealing this information and broadcasting it to everyone at the end of the next battle. There is just one small problem: This information does not matter or changes anything in the slightest?!

I don’t get why this detail is even presented as a secret to begin with. Everyone seems to be already aware that the concubine pilots are way more likely to die, thus the reason why the male pilots have a full harem of them. It is also blatantly obvious that the male pilots only get paired with women weaker in terms of spirit pressure, so there is close to no chance of the male pilot dying. The whole system is already designed in such a way that favors men, so the fact the seats just make the difference in spirit pressure more pronounced is basically insignificant information in the larger picture. This is also why I wonder how revealing the truth is supposed to sway public opinion, especially since, in the context of Iron Widow’s society, this is the easiest to justify things ever with the rhetoric already in use. “Of course the wife should sacrifice herself for the husband” or something along the lines. Female lives are not held to the same standard as the male’s, thus acknowledging a way in which the system is rigged simply doesn’t matter with no one powerful enough interested and willing to change it.

The other twist at the very end is more or less just Darling in the FranXX, but with the roles kinda reversed. I am only calling it half a twist, because it was so clearly communicated that once we got the final confirmation, it was more about clearing up the details than what is truly happening, to the point I wondered how surprised Zetian and Yizhi were by it. Like, the Hunduns, the mindless killing machines, literally talked with Zetian and apparently the other pilots and I am meant to believe no one was bothered by this?

So yeah, Iron Widow is mostly a decent novel, but at times loses the plot in the narrative it frames its themes around. This was not meant to turn into a hit piece, yet here I am complaining for more than half the post ¯\(ツ)/¯. It is honestly a bit of a shame I eventually lost interest, but it is what it is. Turns out I still have standards for media I would otherwise consider to be my kind of thing.

On a meta note: I couldn’t believe no one has made the same reference as I did in the title of this post… and arguably to the surprise of only idiots like me, someone indeed did. So while I now have to feel like a cheap copy-cat (Even picked the same text passage, lmao :D), give Empress in the FRANXX a read if you are interested in someone who can contextualize the interplay of themes and mythology better than I ever could.

What's the point of Squid Game Season 2?

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:10:00 +0100

Ach ja, the second season of Squid Game was just released at the end of last year and after some hesitancy, I eventually gave in and watched it. I was a big fan of the first season and while I considered Squid Game to be functionally finished, cliffhanger or not, I figured I would still be in for a good time, because even if there would be no new ground treat, at the end of the day, it was also just pretty solid drama and an all-around good TV-series. Still, with that being said, as much as I eventually enjoyed it, one has to wonder what’s the point?

For me, seasons are actually a bit of a weird concept, as they are mostly a byproduct of how television is produced and not inherently linked to the storytelling. Then again, everything has to function inside the framework provided, meaning you can’t just space out your narrative as you want. Doubly so, if one does not know, whether another season is viable or not, which makes long-form storytelling an especially ugly beast, with unfinished stories being a tale as old as time. Change in staff, outside interference, etc. can also lead to seasons turning out wildly different from another.

What I actually want to get at is that seemingly a lot of people perceive seasons in this weird quantum state, where everything is still obviously connected, yet the seasons can also be looked at individually, which brings up some interesting questions, like how much you can isolate certain storylines in terms of quality compared to the overall one, or even fundamentally questioning the continued existence of a series. After all, “going on for too long” seems to not be an uncommon criticism of certain media, followed by “why does it exist?”. Again, both of these points are more a product of a series' production, rather than storytelling ambitions.

Obviously, with Squid Game, the big irony is that art criticizing capitalism is still part of capitalism and as such is in no way exempt from being consumed by it. Squid Game, season one that is, was, essentially, done. It was written as one season and series director Hwang Dong-hyuk shared that he initially hadn’t any interest in producing a second season. Additionally, he sold the rights to the IP and apparently even lost a couple of teeth from all the stress of producing the show. So I have no doubts he would want to be done with something that was clearly a passion project for him.

On the other hand, Netflix approximately made 4.56 quintizillion dollars of it, making Squid Game one of its most lucrative franchises and there is not just one, but two separate shows built on the very premise of the titular death game, aiming to make the Squid Games real. Well, as long as the Torment Nexus makes money, I guess. The point being: I have no doubts that the second season of Squid Game is the direct product of Netflix executives rolling up to Hwang with several suitcases full of that sweet sweet green.

Now, normally, this isn’t something that I would concern myself that much. Production circumstances are what they are and I feel like these are often retroactively used as justification for however something turns out, simply because hindsight makes it possible. It is not like they directly influence your viewing experience, the end product stays the same after all. However, Squid Game seems to be different for me and not just because I do think “money motivating the continued existence of the Squid Games” is poetry with a certain meta-textual beauty to it. There are a bunch of narrative challenges a second season of Squid Game has to confront, all of them connected to the very question proposed in the title. So, with yet again another 600 words of preamble out of the way, let’s talk about Squid Game Season 2. Spoilers ahead.

As already mentioned, I consider the first season of Squid Game to be essentially complete, not because I think it resolves literally every single plot threat brought up, but because it made its point in the context of its narrative. Thematically, it served its purpose in portraying the Squid Games as a microcosm of capitalist structures preying on the less fortunate, not just for the gain of the filthy rich, but as an ideological view through which to explain and understand human nature. Said view was then deconstructed throughout the episodes, ending on a primarily moral victory, rather than the actual victory of the death game. Short, concise and for what it is, done.

How would you then approach another season? After all, the framework is already laid out and commented on. Obviously, simply doing another Squid Games with a new cast of characters and everything wouldn’t really cut it. While I have no doubt it would be interesting in its own rights, it would also feel hollow, if it were to simply repeat itself. Instead, it would have to add on, expand or recontextualize the first season. Luckily, there is not just one, but two loose ends to pick up again.

Season one ends on what amounts to two cliffhangers: The first one concerns the Front Man, the overseer of the games. A major subplot of the first season is about a policeman infiltrating the Squid Games to search for clues about his missing brother. To his surprise, it is revealed that his brother not only won the game in a previous year, but he also acts as the very Front Man of the current games. The second one is about Seong Gi-hun himself. After realizing he is still under surveillance and the Squid Games continuing, he decides to not board the plane to visit his family and instead seeks revenge on the game’s organizers.

The obvious conclusion is that these two characters, who have never met each other in person, will have to confront another. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The second season dedicates two of its seven episodes to get to that part and in doing so shines a new light on a good amount of previous plot points.

Seong Gi-hun himself goes through a bit of a transformation. While he started off as a bumbling idiot in season one, season two depicts him as a tragic survivor figure, using his new-found agency to seek revenge, which I thought to be kind of strange. Not that this progression is completely out of left field, I would argue this appeals very much to our base emotion to right a wrong, but because Gi-hun is not your typical hero figure capable of this. He is not really powerful and at times almost pathetic and unaware of the situation he finds himself in, which makes him a really good fit for season one. Though, for season two, his transformation feels somewhere between fake and performative. I have no doubts his motivations are genuine, but he is simply not him, not a hero. Being the de-facto commander of a criminal organization and collecting enough weapons to lead guerrilla warfare just seemed odd. A suspicion that eventually gets deemed correct by the series itself.

Another change of character comes in the form of the Recruiter. In season one, the Recruiter was a bit of an enigmatic figure and I very much liked that he was less a character in his own right, than an idea given form. He went out to look for people who would participate in the Squid Games, but did so with a certain professional indifference. In short, just another cog in the machine, just that his… let’s say enthusiasm, makes him a really well oiled one and crucial to the machine operating as it does. Season two decides to properly characterize him. Superficially, not a lot changes in the role he plays, but now we get a reason for why he does. In short, it is a very egoistical position he finds himself in. Being a former worker in the Squid Games, being tasked with burning the deceased players, he is more in line with the whole ethos of the Squid Games themselves. More on that later, but there is a throughline in the series, that the Squid Games are a neutral force, just a fact of life, and upholding them is simply a consequence of how you view life, or rather how life should be led.

This gets primarily exemplified in the scene where he gives homeless people the choice between bread and a lottery ticket and then proceeds to shame everyone who took the lottery ticket, while stomping on the left-over bread. The other showcase is the game of russian roulette he forces the two gangsters to play and later plays himself against Gi-hun. For him, every situation is just a game. It is either winning or losing, but never the question why the game has to be played in the first place. While this would otherwise makes him a fascinating character in my book, I feel like this is a step back in the context of Squid Game. Again, despite serving the exact same role, his portrayal makes him seem almost like an “evil” character. The performative and indifferent cruelty gets replaced by a personal and human one.

The reason why I say this, is because I don’t consider any character in Squid Game to be conventionally evil, at least not in relation to the Squid Games themselves. At the end of the day, the Squid Games are not a farce. Promises are fulfilled, words stood by and orders executed. It is a game and everyone simply plays their part, from the participant, to the game master. No one is inherently evil, the system and the people upholding it are, which is why I consider seeing someone go out of his way to display animosity against people having been dealt a bad hand to be dissonant to the rest of the narrative.

This gets even more obvious, when Gi-hun and the Front Man eventually confront another and their intentions get spelled out directly: Gi-hun wants to stop the Squid Games, while the Front Man wants them to continue. Simple as that. The series basically acknowledges how silly this specific interaction truly is, because it essentially already happened between Gi-hun and the previous host, so much so that Gi-hun just explodes in his face and gives a short summary of the themes of season one (Squid Game is as subtle as a brick to the face): The Squid Games present themselves as a neutral force, a sort of equalizer, which simply exists, and the participants take part in the games on their own volition. In truth, they prey on poor people who have nothing else than their life to give, there is no redistribution, only the removal of said people from the equation and, indeed, someone had helped the homeless man in the end.

It is very much an ideological conflict in whether one sees a flaw or hypocrisy in the Squid Games and, by extension, capitalism as a whole. For the Front Man, this is how the world simply is and explicitly how the world should be. Most people losing is a matter of fact, not a flaw, and the way he refers to the participants as “Trash” tells you a lot about what he thinks about them as members of society. In his point of view, Gi-hun proved himself to be better, won and received a second chance. From this angle, the Squid Games are just and become a matter of framing. There isn’t much difference between being poor, indebted or dead, so are you willing to accept the consequences of such a system or call them inhumane?

This is where the two of them stand, one in support of the current system as he sees it fit of how society should be, and the other is against it, as he was directly confronted by the worst aspects of it. One might think this is simply due to a difference in standing in society. One bets on horses, the other one owns them, so both have an interest in it going their way. But this is not the case. As mentioned, the Front Man was a former participant himself and thus stands in the same shoes as Gi-hun does. It really just seems to be a matter of opinions and both of them will go to extremes to prove them. Gi-hun by entering the games again and the Front Man by… also entering them again.

Initially, I wondered what this meant. Sure, Gi-hun had his mercenary group following him, but this plan eventually went up in smoke. Similarly, what’s the Front Man’s plan, especially when he keeps his identity a secret in front of Gi-hun? Winning the games again to make a point? I eventually figured that it is less about proving themselves right and more so over proving each other wrong. This gives rise to a follow-up question: Who would be the arbiter? Introducing the, from a narrative standpoint, most ingenious change to the new Squid Game: Voting.

In season one, after playing the first game, the participants held a vote to quit the game, with the final vote being cast by the former host of the Squid Games, resulting in everyone being able to go home. Everyone then later returned, because with no futures on their own, the games might be their best bet to escape their predicaments. In season two, the rules were slightly changed, so a vote is held after each game, but instead of just quitting the game altogether, the players also get to equally split the accumulated money, with each eliminated player being worth 100 Million Won (66.480 Euro). This changes the premise from an all-or-nothing death game to a… calculated risk game? But more importantly, it gives Gi-hun a means to end the game, just under very different circumstances as last time.

It is one thing to not only risk your own life, but also live with the blood of 455 other people on your hands. But surviving some of the games and not bearing the guilt all on your own? As mean as it sounds, this is way more reasonable, feasible and justifiable for most players. Add the fact that the votes are public, as well as the resulting group dynamics from the games themselves, convincing half of the other players to simply stop gets a lot more complicated. You are not playing a death game, only to come out of it with not even enough money to pay off your debts. Actually, this specific point eventually spiralled into what I call the “One more game” fallacy. Beyond the fact that increasing the price pool means some players would have to die, it also turns into a weird Darwinian survival strategy, where the people surviving are more likely to play yet again one more game. This one single change in rules turned a simple “Trust me guys, it ain’t worth it” into a phenomenal mess, because quitting is arguably not in the best interest of some characters… sans the whole if you die in the game you… you die.

Another change, or a necessity really, is a new cast of players. Like last time, the group is pretty diverse and all over the place on my totally arbitrary spectrum: From good people being wronged to bad people being wronged, self-inflicted or just down on their luck. My personal favorites are the rapper who most definitely did not understand the point of Avengers: Infinity War, Cho Hyun-ju, one of the best trans characters I have seen in a non-queer series and Im Jeong-dae, someone I would very much like to gladly describe as a “Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaire”. Like, imagine making a point about having the largest debt of anyone in the game, but framing it as a positive character trait, because unlike a random gambler, only a good and successful businessman could even take up such a big loan… I would actually pay money so it is revealed he was a stock trader :D.

In another nice twist, season two introduced No-eul, a fugitive from North Korea searching for her lost daughter. She is part of the interspersed montage of new characters we see before the games begin. And once everyone starts calling the number, so does she, except instead of being picked up by an ominous black van, she enters a container with other people, opens a door with an 11 on it and puts on the all-too-familiar pink overall and mask. Season one was very vague about the workers in the Squid Games. We know there is a kind of hierarchy based on the symbols on the mask and there was a small subplot about harvesting the organs of the deceased players, but beyond this, there isn’t anything concrete. As revealed in one episode, while at gunpoint, one worker was ordered to remove his mask and all we saw is that he was just a random man. Like with the Recruiter, I like the idea of the workers being just another part of the machinery, because the comparison to capitalist structures just works. They don’t make the decisions, just follow them and with so many cases, some of the work will cause further suffering. But alas, they too need to get food on the table.

Now, No-eul’s role in the story is yet to be fully revealed. Her personal agenda seems to be delivering a painless death to the eliminated players, which naturally opposes her to the workers involved in the organ harvesting. She also seems to be connected to the new headmaster in the black overall, who currently seems to run the game. What I am more interested in, though, is the general role of the workers involved at the end of season two. Unlike season one, season two does not end conclusively. After ambushing some of the workers after the special game, the players acquired guns and began storming their way through the facility, where they are currently engaged in a shootout. This poses the question of how everything will resolve. And I am not just talking about the current Squid Games, but about Squid Game as a whole.

At the end of the day, what could even be the end goal of Squid Game? You can kill the Host and the VIPs or even destroy the facility. But then what? The games are still continuing in other countries and nothing is stopping anyone to build everything up again. The Squid Games are a product of their surroundings, a natural extension of what a system enables. Similarly, while Gi-hun gave his best, he wasn’t able to convince the majority of the players to stop playing the games, before everything turned into chaos and I doubt he will ever, given the Front Man revealed his true identity at the end and chastised him for playing the self-serving hero.

Now, I doubt Squid Game wants to end on the note that rebelling against power is a futile endeavour and doing so will only cost you your life. So, what is the alternative? It is hard to pinpoint, but Squid Game always had a theme of grouping together the weak to overcome the strong and the allusions to the idea of unionizing became more and more apparent. In short, we need a worker’s revolution! More specifically, a united front between the players and the workers of the Squid Game. How this will materialize in an actual revolution is up for interpretation, but I don’t think that it is too out of left field as to not be an idea that can be touched upon. And if not, then shame on me and my linksgrün-versifftes self. Either way, Squid Game Season 2 was able to set up to make a point.

Then again, maybe I approached this post from the wrong angle. After all, since when was I under the assumption, that there ever needs to be a point? The English language provided me with a bit of a double-entendre in the title, which allowed me to both talk about the second season of Squid Game, as well as question it. Shakespeare got nothin' on me, I tell ya. The third and final season of Squid Game is supposed to be released this year, so we don’t have to wait too long to see if this goes anywhere or not.

Squid Game is available on Netflix.

Everything I have Watched, Read, and Played in 2024

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 18:05:00 +0100

Ach ja, starting this year (last year?), I decided to track all the media I have watched, read or played. I didn’t really have a specific idea in mind, just that it would be fun to be able to look back and have a concrete list of everything, rather than just a vague memory. Initially, this started out as a simple media thread on Twitter, but I later decided to compile everything in a spreadsheet. To be quite honest, the media thread might not have been the best idea. While I liked writing down some of my short takes, at the end, it felt rather performative, forced and I imagine I just cluttered everyone’s timeline, since no one interacted with them anyway. It also most likely prevented me from watching movies and other short things in the later half of the year, since watching a movie always came with the caveat of continuing the thread, which I eventually just didn’t want to do anymore. Actually, I am rather glad that the year is over and the thread thereby completed, because now I can watch something and only write about it, if I feel the need to do so. I know, oh woe is me!

If you want to have a look at the entire list, I made the spreadsheet public. There is also the original Twitter Thread, as well as my mirror on Mastodon (Part 1 and Part 2). I tried generating an Unroll, but it seems like the thread is simply too long, lol :D. With that out of the way, let’s see what the year 2024 had in store for me.

My 2024 in Numbers

132!

This is the final number. Is it a lot? I… actually don’t know. Part of this whole ordeal is finding out and comparing it throughout the years, though, compared to the average person, it is probably a lot. I mean, unlike real adults, I have all the time in the world, as well as the interest to do so. Then again, it is hard to compare different media. Time-wise, you can’t really compare a movie to a novel to a game, so just looking at the number is worthless anyway and for my own sanity, I will pass on calculating the total time of it all. So, let’s take a closer look.

Looking at the distribution, one could argue that this is about to be expected. After all, I am an anime guy, right? Normally, I would actually say no. Since I have acquired a Netflix subscription, most years, I probably watch a good amount more movies than anime. There is a good reason for why this year, the numbers are switched. Also, I barely read anything this year… at least not many different things. Actually, the chart above is basically useless without a second layer of context, lol.

The average total score is 7.215, which is actually about to be expected. I feel pretty confident in picking out things I like and I also only seldom expose myself to something deemed generally bad on purpose (exceptions may apply). The biggest outlier might be manga, but more on that later.

Lastly, I tracked whether I have already watched or played something before. Not sure what my expectations with that one were, but 13 out of 132, or around 10%, seems reasonable.

Now, since I obviously don’t know how to summarize my year in numbers, let’s finally talk specifics!

Anime

In 2024, I watched 65 anime in total. 12 movies and 53 TV-Anime, from which 38 were 2024 seasonals, which is no doubt the highest ratio I ever had, since I actually started watching seasonal anime regularly this year. In fact, this might also be just the most anime I have seen in a year since… certainly a few years. And all things around, it has been a banger of a year in this regard.

Watching seasonal anime can be fun, especially if you have people to discuss it with. If you are interested in my takes, I have written wrap-ups for each season. I thought about doing a huge ranking of everything that aired this year, but instead, here are just the anime I think you should watch:

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Brave Bang Bravern!
The Apothecary Diaries
Delicious in Dungeon
Look Back
Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!
KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 3
[Oshi No Ko] Season 2
Dandadan
Negative Positive Angler

The rest of the year was spent either catching up on some of the anime of 2023 or watching movies and new seasons with friends. I also rewatched the core Fate adaptations, which was a lot of fun… bar the original, which really didn’t hold up. Canaan and World Conquest Zvezda Plot also made it on the list, purely on their association to TYPE-MOON.

What everything else is concerned about, I finally caught up with some older anime again. Serial Experiments Lain certainly delivered on its reputation as a trip, Welcome to the N.H.K. beautifully expands upon its source material and with Revolutionary Girl Utena ticked off the list, I can finally call myself slightly more intellectual.

Movies and TV-Series

Unlike with anime, I don’t think I have seen a single movie from this very year. I did, however, start rather strong by continuing my masochistic journey down the Purge franchise. These movies suck and are the only reason why there are scores under 5 on this list. Beyond this, I think I can generally group the movies I have seen into three categories:

I think I will call the first category “Stuff I have vague memories of from when I was younger”. This may include stuff I have seen the trailer of as a child, but never got around to watching it. Stuff like Ghost Rider, which was rad as hell, R.I.P.D. which, despite its premise, wasn’t rad as hell, a rewatch of Real Steel and Transformers and even movies like V for Vendetta or Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. However, due to my arbitrary rules, this also includes Finsterworld, which I have seen in german class and Sommersturm, which a friend of mine has also seen in school.

The second category is for The Classics™, which I, somehow, have not seen or it has been more than half my lifespan ago. Think Starship Troopers, Donnie Darko, Jurassic Park, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Forrest Gump, Jaws and Mission: Impossible.

The last one is for all the movies, which I have specifically sought out, either because I have heard they are good, or because I think they would be fun. Here are all the bangers: Snatch, The Social Network, A Few Good Men, Bullet Train, Master and Commander, Godzilla Minus One and Some Like It Hot. All of them are certified HansiMcKlaus™ recommendations.

Technically, there is a hidden fourth category for movies I watched with friends. Think How to Blow Up a Pipeline and I Saw the TV Glow and all that leftist woke stuff.

Animation wise The Sea Beast proves that children entertainment isn’t doomed completely just yet, The Boss Baby turned out to be a decent movie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie is actually great.

Unlike with anime, I feel like my potential backlog for movies is truly endless, either in regards to must-watches, or stuff I really have to rewatch, so I doubt I will ever feel like I don’t know what to see and next year will probably shoot up in terms of the number of movies I will have watched.

I also saw a few TV-Series this year. Jury Duty is about a fake trial with only one guy not being in the known and whose production and story truly was blessed by cosmical luck to allow everything to happen in the way it does. On the other hand, the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender turned out to be rather underwhelming, being mostly a watered down version of the original cartoon. On the other other hand, Parasyte: The Grey clearly shows how you can not only bring something into live-action, but also change it up to make it truly your own, without alienating what makes the original great in the first place. Lastly, Murder Drones finished up its run of confused hormonal robots either killing or saving themselves… actually, I kinda lost the plot with the last one, but it’s decent.

Manga, Novels and Visual Novels

Normally, I would classify visual novels as games, but for the sake of this post, I think this grouping makes more sense.

Simply looking at the numbers, it feels like I barely read anything this year. In parts, this is because I am only counting completed media. I still have several manga series being published and the same goes for my reading of KonoSuba. Also, to be frank, there were barely any new Girls Love manga being released this year in Germany. Like, c’mon, you know that it is the only thing I read! I also couldn’t find the motivation to start most series in my backlog.

With that being said, I read some actual novels this year. Fellow(?) AniTuber(?) picti mundi published his first novel Kafka, neu sortiert, which is, like, honest to god just a good low-key mystery framed around an author vacationing in Germany’s northern isles compiling Kafka’s life work. On the other hand, From Truant to Anime Screenwriter: My Path to “Anohana” and “The Anthem of the Heart” is Mari Okada’s autobiography, which gives a lot of insight into her childhood and how it influenced her works.

For what the few light novels I did read are concerned, JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World is about the inherent sexism of the typical isekai set-up, Welcome to the N.H.K. takes a brutally honest look at the life of early-2000s NEETs and Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up with a Mythical Sorceress! is your generic revenge power fantasy, but viewed through a, at times rather lackluster, feminist lens.

The manga front looked a lot more dire. My Younger Senpai, A Witch’s Love at the End of the World and I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! were rather underwhelming, Futari Escape is alright and Composing Spring in This Room Where Cherry Blossoms Bloom at least has a theme, even if I personally didn’t really care for the romance. The only really good manga I read this year is My Alcoholic Escape from Reality, which is another entry in the “It sure feels weird reading about how Kabi Nagata’s life turns worse at every possible corner”-series. Let’s just hope she gets better… *looks at the name of the sequel*… oh no.

Lastly, there are the visual novels. I started strong with Witch on the Holy Night, which is probably one of the most polished visual novels I have ever seen from a visual standpoint. The story is also great and it is nice to see the Nasuverse’s relatively simple beginnings. Speaking of Nasuverse, we were blessed with a remaster of Fate/stay night, which might easily occupy a top spot for favorite pieces of media ever. Another classic came in the form of The Song of Saya, which finally let me see Gen Urobuchi’s work in visual novel form. On the other hand, getting through Sakura Space was only made possible by the combined effort of two friends and me voicing it and trying to have fun alongside it. And finally, Slay the Princess plays a lot around the nature of multiple choices and the meta-narrative of the simple “saving the princess” idea.

Games

If we only take the first nine months into account, this category would essentially be empty, though that doesn’t mean I didn’t play anything in this timeframe. It is just that some games are hard to really “complete”, when there is no end in the first place.

Starting the year, I was overcome by a sudden yearning for the Attack on Titan Tribute Game after who knows how many years. I don’t know how many hours I spent in this game, but it is probably more than any other game I played this year. I still stand by my opinion that it has some of the most fun locomotion in any game I played and the many hours I spent in its racing mode only proves this point for me. Also, AoTTG2 released a few months ago, so I should probably check that out someday.

After having played Nations Forever some time ago, watching people stream it since a year and especially after the glorious Deep Dip 2 event, I finally installed Trackmania and the only reason I can’t praise it more, is that I, despite having over 125 hours in it, am still running the free version, which is severely limited. Blame Ubisoft and their questionable business decisions for that. You can only gain access to the full version of the game by buying a one year subscription for 20 euros… which I didn’t want to spend in the beginning and don’t want to spend now, because I don’t know how long I am still going to play it. Thus, limited Ranked, one rotating server and the Royal Mode it is for now and forever. Still very much fun, though.

Now to the games that can actually be completed. After years of wondering what it even is, Pokémon Conquest turned out to be a fun tactical RPG based on Nobunaga’s Ambition with a Pokémon skin. It is just a shame that you essentially always have to start from zero when beginning a new campaign and a lot of game mechanics turned out to be essentially useless or just busy work, because I enjoyed the actual gameplay quite a lot.

Fate/Samurai Remnant is a game I very much appreciate more for its narrative than gameplay. To no one’s surprise, I am not a big fun of Musou games, to the point I set the difficulty setting to the lowest and just spammed the void stance in my New Game+. Too bad the story itself feels severely undercooked, because it has some very good ideas and one of my favorite premises in the larger Fate universe.

Mind Over Magnet is a game developed by Mark Brown from Game Maker’s Toolkit, who documented the development of the game throughout the years for everyone to see and it was really fascinating to see the game slowly take form. The game is a simple puzzle platformer that can be completed in one to two hours and while I had my fun, I got the most enjoyment out of the development of the game itself and I really recommend anyone seeing the series of development vlogs.

For a bit of a blast to the past, FlatOut 2 is still the pinnacle of mid-2000s cool. The controls are close to unusable and the physics simulation doesn’t feel as impressive as it did almost 20 years ago, but it was still a lot of fun. On the other hand, Tropico 6 still holds up with its humor and presentation and I definitely appreciate some of the quality of life improvements over its prequel, though it is still not completely transparent in how all aspects of the game actually seem to work.

I’m gonna be honest, I am not particularly happy with how this post turned out. I had the choice between abandoning it half-way or completing it half-heartedly. I couldn’t find the right balance between writing about individual pieces of media and writing in general and the result just kind of sucks. Also, after having worked with professional tools, making charts in Google Docs almost killed me. I hate it. Maybe I will find a better way for next year and if I don’t, I can also just let it be. It feels like half my posts this year were just lists of all the stuff I have seen anyway.

And that’s about it. Have a wonderful new year ^^.

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Fall 2024

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 18:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, twas' a bit of a doozy season, eh? I mean, it’s more than ever a question on how you see it, I suppose. While I found myself eventually only discussing two anime with both of my friends together, there was one anime each I only talked about in private and for what the anime I watched by my lonesome are concerned… well, you can take a guess by the length of this very post. Alas, let’s make haste, get rid of this stupid way of writing this introduction and look back on the final season of 2024.

The ones that didn’t make it

I mean, dropping You Are Ms. Servant. was almost a given. At the end of the day, it is basically exactly what is written on the can, with the can just not being my kind of thing. A bit of a wet blanket of a goody two-shoes protagonist, the main gimmick being a kind-hearted pretty girl with a dark past learning to enjoy the mundanity of life, all wrapped in classic 2000s RomCom tropes and contrivances. For what it does, it does so reasonably well, and even the things I normally shake my head at were passable for me, but I simply lacked any kind of enthusiasm to go further than the first three episodes and if I were to truly yearn for some maid shenanigans, I would probably be better served by Mahoromatic anyway. However, it did give us a great Opening and Ending, which I can definitely recommend to check out at least once.

On the other end of experiencing something I was not enthusiastic about, I feel almost bad about putting Blue Box on this list. Firstly, I did watch the full twelve episodes of its first half and secondly, I have a hard time actively criticizing the series itself and not my relationship with it. As much as I went on about how I was surprised this is a Shounen Jump series, considering how standard it feels and doesn’t have something that immediately tells it apart from other romance stories, at the end, it is a well-constructed story, beautifully brought to animation and full of appeal… I just didn’t vibe with it past the first episodes. This isn’t just about me being #TeamHina, but the way the anime frames the relationship from mostly Taiki’s perspective and keeping Chinatsu’s point of view, with a few exception, purposely obfuscated, the seeming reluctance to make any meaningful progress with its characters and the constant back and forth with both the romance and sport aspect of the series. In another universe, there exists a me that is in love with Blue Box, but this one right here has decided to stop a viewing that has progressively become more and more frustrating.

Lastly, The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians is simply a victim of circumstances. It is the only anime I didn’t keep up with weekly after its first two episodes, eventually accepting that I will probably binge it at the end of the season and when the time came, I just didn’t feel like it anymore. I watched another episode and decided my time could be better spent writing this very post. There is nothing wrong with the anime and it is also not like I didn’t enjoy the episodes I watched. The characters are fun and I really adore the animation style, but with so many good anime this year, simply being “good enough” is, in fact, not good enough.

Uzumaki

If I were just a bit more of a hack writer than I already am, I would simply call it a downward spiral and be done with it. Alas, it is not that simple. Uzumaki’s largest footprint on anime history will most likely be the question of what exactly happened during its production. After being first announced in 2019, episode one eventually blessed us with some pretty interesting approaches to adapting a manga, like keeping everything in gray-scale or a good chunk of the character animation being rotoscoped from motion-captured 3D-models. Come episode two, everything is falling in on itself, the staff credits look completely different and the whole Uzumaki experience turned from genuine anticipation, to just morbid curiosity. With so many twists and turns, it has been more of a rollercoaster.

But ignoring the production side for a bit, I don’t think I would haver ever fully enjoyed Uzumuaki, even at its theoretical best. I tend to simply not enjoy the horror aspects of most horror media and even Uzumuaki’s best moments don’t really do it for me in this regard. It also doesn’t help that its four episodes heavily condense the original manga, leaving a lot of plot threads either rather undercooked or hanging entirely. Combine this with a cast of characters I simply could not care about at all and I am essentially left with the imageries of the spirals… which fucking rule! While the inclusion in the narrative might seem a bit far-fetched at times, the ubiquity of the spiral in almost all aspects of our surroundings make it a really intriguing symbol and the series fully capitalizes on this phenomena, with the last episode tickling my brain in just the right way to almost ignore all its other shortcomings. It seems Junji Ito continues to be cursed with adaptations of his works, but I won’t blame Uzumaki for trying, no matter how lackluster it turned out in the end.

365 Days to the Wedding

You know the scene at the end of Inception, where the spinning top seems to lose momentum and tip over, but the music and screen fade out before we can see what actually happens to it? The ending is explicitly ambiguous and to be interpreted, but I am under the impression that arguing, whether the top keeps spinning or not, is in itself quite the futile endeavor, as the implication of either outcome simply does not matter. Dream or not, Cobb is back together with his family.

Now, you may wonder what this has to do with 365 Days to the Wedding. If so, wonder.

Believe it or not, I actually had a pretty good time with the first couple episodes of this anime. While I didn’t particularly care for the premise, I thought the atmosphere and characters were done rather well and exploring the mindscape of our two protagonists under the guise of what marriage means in general would lead to some interesting ideas to be discussed. And I was right, it does lead to some pretty interesting ideas, but, unfortunately, 365 Days to the Wedding doesn’t seem even the slightest bit interested in them, or at least enough to ponder on them any longer than it would take to make a point.

Oohara and Honjouji, and by extension the rest of the cast and anime as a whole, are really frustrating to watch, as fundamentally nothing changes, yet we are confronted with the idea of change. What if these two strangers pretending to get married were to grow closer and fall in love for real? Can love bloom under such complicated circumstances and the constant reminder that the concept of marriage is in itself looked upon through rose-tinted glasses? What 365 Days to the Wedding is concerned with, the answer is an unambiguous yes, presented with all the theatrics the finale of a romantic comedy is supposed to have on display.

Now, how did we come to this conclusion? Well, I don’t know. 365 Days to the Wedding is simply not a particularly engaging romance, filled with redundant doubts of our two leads with not enough moments of them seemingly making progress, either internal or as an actual couple. We do get some crumbs, be it Hounjouji’s impulsive declarations under the influence of either alcohol or mild annoyance, or Oohara’s willingness to take their relationship into a direction, but it never leads to anything substantial, always leaving us hanging on a theoretical what-if. The season supposedly ends in a very different state than the beginning, yet It doesn’t seem to me the characters have changed all that much, as they didn’t really spend any meaningful time together as to change their relationship from the state introduced in episode one. From the trip to Oohara’s family, to the short time they lived under the same roof, the material was just too weak for me to believe the two actually like each other more than friends if it weren’t for the circumstances.

It certainly also doesn’t help that the structure of the anime is all over the place, with the actual romance bits eventually coming way too late towards the end, when the sudden progress feels more distracting than satisfactory. It is not that I don’t want the two of them to come together, but when the relationship is mostly defined by the shared angst of becoming lovers in the first place, maybe ending on such a clear and happy note misses the one sole mark it had a chance of hitting for me.

In short, I didn’t really enjoy it and failed to see what it tries to go for after the first two episodes. But most importantly, I once again feel like a clown for not having the courage to just drop something, especially when the signs were quite obvious for me after barely the first third.

Dandadan

Damn, Shounen Bros and Gals weren’t lying. The first episode may be hit or miss for some people, but from there on out, it is genuinely great in ways you wouldn’t typically expect from something that can still be argued to be classified as a normal Fighting-Shounen series. From the creative mix of urban legends and aliens, the unconventional power system, flipping from one genre to another in a single episode and especially the characters. Momo and Okarun are arguably a runner-up for not just the best co-protagonists, but also for favorite romance this year, Aira and her main character syndrome lives rent-free in my head and while Jiji has yet to shine in his arc, he sure as hell makes for a great (read: really damn weird) first impression. Also, Seiko is perfect. We respect our elders in this house!

It is hard for me to point out what exactly I like about Dandadan. Superficially, the action is fantastic, the comedy hits its marks and on the production side of things, it really shows how far good color design can elevate an already beautifully directed and animated series. But beyond this, there is a lot of heart under all the supernatural shenanigans: The genuine drive for friendship and helping others, slowly coming to understand their world around you and the love other people can share, be it the knack for all things occult, or a parent giving their all for their child.

It is the fallout of winning against the earthbound spirit, Silky Acrobat’s backstory or even Aira coming clean about the rumors she spread and talking it out with Momo. There is a subtle drama underlying all the eccentrics, which grounds it in reality and builds the actual core of Dandadan and it would need someone smarter and more observant than me to fully articulate it. For now, let’s just say that it is really good and I am eagerly awaiting its second half.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II

Following up on the first season of Gun Gale Online might be nigh impossible. Not because it was particularly good, fun as it may be, but because it feels so conclusive to the point I wondered what could even be substantially added after LLENN and Pitohui’s character arcs are more or less resolved. The answer, unsurprisingly, turned out to be nothing, really. Instead, we simply get to see how their lives continue. Pitohui is still a musician, M her assistant, Fuka plays other games and LLENN hangs out with the girls from the rhythmic gymnastics club and when the time comes, they all come together for another Squad Jam.

Honestly, I don’t even mind that much. The characters are fun and so is seeing them simply play the game. The Squad Jams are also ever evolving and with a relatively sizable cast, it is not like it has to devolve into a rehash of the events of the first season. With that being said, I don’t think the material was that strong this time. Especially the first arc was rather tedious, slow and didn’t deliver on the moments I would have loved to see. Also, with a bigger focus on the other teams, it becomes a lot more clear how they are either one homogeneous entity or one defined character accompanied by random people in similar clothes.

It was not all disappointing, though. We get one entire episode of Shirley vs. Clarence, David certainly has some moments and the second arc gives us a fun setup where the different teams are allowed to fight together against competent enemies. But with that being said, I am a lot more lukewarm about this season and it certainly doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, if it were to get another season in the future.

One Piece Fan Letter

There is a certain sense of meta-textual beauty in these short 24 minutes. Of course, it is an hymn to everything that makes the long journey of One Piece great, but above all, it is a love letter to everything that makes One Piece so very special to its many fans… me absolutely included. Because it is not just about this one marine saving his brother after a certain boy’s devastating cry, about a couple of drunks arguing over who is the strongest or even this one singular unnamed girl trying to deliver a letter to her idol. It is about us and everyone who considers these characters dear to them, because for as fictional as they are, the impact they have on our life is very much real.

And even without the sentimentality of it all, I wouldn’t be able to downplay just how good this episode is. Creating parallels of Luffy’s brotherly love by interspersing small moments of the Summit War from the perspective of normal soldiers, the usage of shadow and light to show how much Nami means to the little girl’s own freedom or everyone coming together to make the next step on the strawhat’s journey possible, with the motif of the jigsaw pieces finally coming together. Pure kino, endlessly rich in thematics and delivering every single emotional beat to perfection. Incidentally, I didn’t cry when the credits started rolling and the voice cast sang a cover of “We Go!”. No, I only started bawling my eyes out a couple minutes later, because there was just so much to process emotionally. And even now, just thinking about the final chase and the girl being able to see the strawhats sail off, even for just a moment, makes me feel emotional.

Acro Trip

Acro Trip is a bit hard to describe in terms of what my opinion about it exactly is. Let me be clear: It is fun, I never had a bad time and even looked forward to most episodes. However, it is also an anime that doesn’t really give you anything you wouldn’t expect from it. There isn’t really anything in terms of progression, as the story doesn’t move away from its main premise, to the point most episodes could be watched out of order, the characters are static and in terms of execution, most of the episodes and jokes aren’t that funny. And let’s not talk about the production being held together by duct tape and prayers. Don’t let the title image fool you, we get one kinda cool fight in the first episode and that’s it.

But at the end of the day, you know, it’s fine. Nothing I could call genuinely great and I doubt I will ever find myself in a situation in which I were to recommend Acro Trip to anyone, but it was a fun seasonal that will most likely slowly be forgotten, but at least not be remembered badly. Also, it’s nice to see a girl and a grown adult hanging out together without being weird and watching Chizuko’s classmate desperately trying to get her attention was a good running gag.

Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms

Regardless of how much I eventually enjoyed Mecha-ude or not, I genuinely think more anime like this should be able to exist. After the pilot was crowdfunded and released in 2018, Mecha-Ude clearly turned out to be a passion project for director Sae Okamoto and the newly founded FriF Studio and you can see this love all over the place. Rough around the edges, it is an ambitious project wearing its influences on its sleeves and the fact that it struck its landing in any capacity should be celebrated, especially in light of how the current state of the anime industry looks like.

With that being said, I wouldn’t call Mecha-Ude particularly good. Definitely far from bad, but flawed in a lot of ways. Some of it comes down to me simply being outside its target demographic. It is not childish or anything, though I think I have the same problem with Mecha-Ude’s need for comedy in serious moments, as with Fullmetal Alchemist, but rather it utilizes a lot of classic shounen tropes and plot beats, which I weren’t able to full-heartily stand behind, nor are they executed as good as seen elsewhere. Add a rather generic plot, as well as some predictable twists into the mix and I doubt I would ever be able to enjoy it as much as similar titles.

Another problem is just time. I would most likely feel a lot more confident in its narrative, if it were allowed twice its episode count. Not only would the story flow a lot better, as, at times, it seemed like scene were just straight-up missing and the short epilogue and credits clearly show, that there is more to the world of Mecha-Ude than told in its twelve episodes. But most importantly, I think the characters simply needed more time to breath. I like most of them, but at times I even struggled to remember what their deal was, or where they currently stand in relation to everyone else, as everything kept moving so fast and some obviously had to be left by the side lines to make room for a climax which fundamentally feels rather undercooked thematically. Like, I enjoyed Hikaru’s struggle and indecisiveness to respond to the call for action, but simply referencing the scene from the first episode again, elicited more a “Right, there was something”, rather than an acknowledgment about how much he has grown, which is not something you want from your ending.

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

I would be hard pressed to call… *looks up synonym*… Rekiaku(?) particularly good or even competent at times. From my rather limited perspective, it very much seems like a female-oriented power fantasy, but based on Otome Games and not your fantasy-adjacent RPGs, as the structure and general vibe more or less overlap for the most parts… which tends to not be a good thing for me. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this anime more than I would have imagined when looking over the seasonal chart. And I want to stress that my enjoyment is most likely founded in my otherwise lack of experience in this sub-genre, especially since My Next Life as a Villainess and I’m in Love with the Villainess are apparently not classical Otome Villainess stories, but I can’t deny that I actively looked forward to the next episode each week.

Alicia is simply a fun character to, if not root for, at least observe. Essentially, she very much embraces the villainess role she was reincarnated into and doesn’t even necessarily want to prevent her own doom a potential bad end would bring about. Instead, she chooses to be a better villainess, one that can proudly stand in the way of the heroine, not because she is baffled by how a simple commoner and her stupid light magic dares to question the natural order of only the nobles having magical abilities, but by challenging the very assumptions the existence of said heroine and her way of thinking brings about.

In short, she wants to become more a rival than a villainess who goes down in history and she does so by immediately developing class consciousness and reading up on critical theory, because if you want to truly be hated, your enemies don’t stop at some random hormonal teenagers. Bring on the real structural change! It is funny how the heroine doesn’t even make an appearance until the second arc, because for a good chunk of the series, we follow Alicia fulfilling her own ideal of a villainess. Sure, some is spent on becoming overpowered early on, but the rest explicitly about challenging the assumption of the world she finds herself in. And when the heroine finally makes her debut, there are some genuinely interesting ideas at play, with some of my impressions ranging from a tragedy of her own subconscious making, to actually just her being an apathetic psychopath. Seriously, seeing the slow deconstruction of a character, to the point where we have to ask ourselves if the pure ever-loving heroine might be capable of just hating someone instead, was surprisingly engaging. Sure, the anime constantly stumbles and barely stands up again in how it does so, using a plethora of not so great generic plot points, but there is spice in this otherwise harmless looking dish.

Negative Positive Angler

It feels almost redundant to even mention that Negative Positive Angler is obviously more than just about fishing. It is about as much about a down on his luck guy literally stumbling his way off a bridge and into an eccentric group of fishing-loving weirdos, as it is about learning some valuable lessons about life along the way. This much is basically to be expected from such a series, though not to downplay either the fishing or the live lessons. There was clearly a lot of thought put into both aspects and especially how to integrate one into the other. Not to oversimplify the anime, but Tsunehiro does indeed fish himself out of depression, as the series as a whole rejects the nihilism of the everyday or a lack of time.

To steal ANN reviewer Steve Jones' words, Negative Positive Angler is very confident in its quietness. It doesn’t beat you over the head with anything and, like with our protagonist, lets you just engage in the activity and make the connections for yourself. To keep up with the fishing metaphor, sometimes you have to deal with the smelly ground bait or spend hours without a single catch, but the point is that this is life and as much as fishing does not directly serve a purpose, it is still fun and gives you a chance to connect, be it with other people or yourself. All this is made possible and elevated by a great cast of characters. Despite only being twelve episodes long and half of them being absent most episodes, it really feels like I know them good enough for each episode to make its point poignant and hit its emotional beats.

This is the aspect where the drama really shines. Episode per episode, there isn’t really a sense of progress, as they mostly focus on one character specifically, while Tsunehiro is tagging along, yet several episodes later, you see how he has developed, became more in touch with reality and regains his own sense of agency again, to the point that there can be an explosive and dramatic finale… or rather the build-up for the finale. I adore how low-key and, well, quite the anime actually ends. Neither negative, nor positive, life goes on and it is your decision to let yourself simply get carried by the stream or swim against it.

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

In theory, Magilumiere should be made for me, as the magical girls are just adult women working as public servants at a tech start-up. Like, Hey, it me! (Except I am neither magical nor girl). I am a real sucker for the fantastical being grounded in the mundane reality of the real world and at its best, the anime fully delivers in these moments: Spending a day reading the manual of your broom, because it is an over designed piece of technology and software, having to deal with other companies' business practices or simply going to karaoke after a long day at work. As a workplace comedy and slice of life, Magilumiere has enough good ideas in store for me to even watch the announced second season.

However, what it holds back for me is the actual magical girling. Sure, some of it can be blamed on the rather sub-par production, which never fully delivers on the otherwise ambitious vision at hand, but it is mostly about tone and atmosphere. Beyond the incredible opening scene, the action never gets your heart pumping, despite the seeming danger and urgency of the monsters. The dramatic moments fall flat, because the character drama is seldom that well incorporated into the actual happenings of an arc and even the lowkey shenanigans seem more boring than charming. This all makes most of the magical girls' outings kinda hard to watch, because the series as a whole clearly displays a love for the genre and plays itself mostly straight in this regard. It just doesn’t play to its own strength that often.

I feel like the little arc about the shopping district is where Magilumiere stands most comfortable, as the conflict wasn’t about whether or not Kana and Koshigaya are able to defeat the monsters, but how to do so without leveling the place in the process, which also plays into what makes their magical girl company so special (Beyond agile project management, lmao). There is a sense of responsibility and aesthetics behind their work, which gets diluted if they simply have to defeat a big strong monster in a vacuum.

What’s left?

What seasonal anime are concerning, nothing really. Sure, there is Re:Zero, but I will have to wait until all episodes are released anyway. Other than that, I quite literally gave every anime I was interested in a shot this season, which also led to me watching a lot of anime neither my friends, nor apparently anyone else has seen. Though, to be fair, outside some gems, this season was mostly filled with highly anticipated adaptations, sequels and a plethora of mediocrity I simply didn’t care about. Outside the seasonal chart, there is the first half of the final season of Beastars, which was recently released on Netflix, as well as their Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance, to both of which I haven’t been able to get to just yet.

And that’s about it. We are closing the final chapter of 2024 and will most likely see us back again for what 2025 has in store.

My favorite Anime Openings & Endings 2024

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, another year, another post about my favorite pastime: talking about those 90-second snippets that open and close an episode of anime. Since I have actually properly started watching seasonal anime, I will probably talk about way more OPs and EDs than ever before. I am sorry about that.

Just like last year, I will expand this self-important listicle a bit. I always complain about how the Anime Awards for Best Opening and Ending tend to be mostly based around the theme song specifically and not the OP or ED sequence as a whole. Introducing the Anime Jukebox: a hand-selected collection of only the finest AniSongs this year’s harvest brought to the market. If you want to judge my taste, at least do it properly. I… I also just want to recommend some music.

Anyway, like the years before it, here are my favorite Anime Openings and Endings of 2024.

Anime Jukebox 2024

Here is a list of all the songs I really liked this year, regardless of my opinions on the OP or ED itself, though I am sure you will see some of them appear later again:

Dandadan Opening – “Otonoke” by Creepy Nuts
Dandadan Ending – “TAIDADA” by ZUTOMAYO
Kaiju No. 8 Opening – “Abyss” by YUNGBLUD
Wind Breaker Opening – “Absolute Zero” by natori
Pseudo Harem Opening – “Blouse” by Gohobi
One Piece Opening 26 – “Uuus!” by Hiroshi Kitadani
Metallic Rouge Opening – “Rouge” by YU-KA
Metallic Rouge Ending – “Scarlet” by Dazbee
Solo Leveling Opening – “LEveL” by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:TOMORROW X TOGETHER
Solo Leveling Ending – “request” by krage
Mayonaka Punch Opening – “Gimme Gimme” by Mayonaka Punch Cast
Brave Bang Bravern! Opening – “Ba-Bang to Suisan! Bang Bravern” by Kenichi Suzumura
Brave Bang Bravern! Ending – “Souen no Shouzou” by Ryouta Suzuki & Youhei Azakami
The Elusive Samurai Opening – “Plan A” by DISH//
You are Ms. Servant. Opening – “Otozure” by tricot
You are Ms. Servant. Ending – “Hyoujou Sabun” by DUSTCELL
Delicious in Dungeon Ending 1 – “Party!!” by Ryokuoushoku Shakai
Delicious in Dungeon Ending 2 – “Twinkling Ash” by Regal Lily
Shangri-La Frontier Opening 2 – “Danger Danger” by FZMZ feat. icy
[Oshi No Ko] Season 2 Opening – “Fatal” by GEMN
Senpai is an Otokonoko Opening – “Wagamama” by Kujira
The Witch and the Beast Opening – “Soumonka” by Sokoninaru
Negative Positive Angler Opening – “Ito” by Van de Shop
Negative Positive Angler Ending – “Shounin Yokkyuu” by 96neko
The Apothecary Diaries Opening 2 – “Ambivalent” by Uru
Train to the End of the World Ending – “Eureka” by Rokudenashi
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. Opening – “Made to order” by Mafumafu
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Opening 2 – “Haru” by Yorushika
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! Opening – “Namara Menkoi Gal” by Masayoshi Ooishi
Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! Opening – “Tsuyogaru Girl” by Botchi Boromaru feat. Mossa
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth Opening – “Kaijuu” by Sakanaction
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Opening – “GG” by ReoNa
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 3 Ending – “NOX LUX” by MYTH & ROID
Mashle: Magic and Muscles The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc Opening – “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” by Creepy Nuts

Openings

While the beginning of the year fell a bit flat for me in this regard, we eventually got some pretty good openings down the line. Tetsurou Araki seemingly abandoned his calling for over-the-top action and settled into his more realistic and down-to-earth prowess with both The Dangers in My Heart Season 2 and Blue Box.

For everyone looking for a bit more style, The Elusive Samurai, Go! Go! Loser Ranger!, Mashle, and Wind Breaker got us covered for what could otherwise have been pretty standard shounen outings. Kaiju No. 8 also fits into this, though, while cool as hell, I would really wish the iconography would be easier to identify and not invoke other franchises like Resident Evil. On the other hand of the spectrum, You are Ms. Servant. uses an interesting mix of photogrammetry, puppet animation, and live-action footage for a really distinct aesthetic.

For the light novel adaptations I couldn’t care less about, I Parry Everything almost made me watch its first episode, and Classroom of the Elite III most likely continues its trends of the opening being way smarter than the actual series. For the light novel adaptation I do care about, the third season of KonoSuba brings us another fun encapsulation of why we are following the antics of this wonderfully dysfunctional quartet of idiots.

For the more slice-of-life adjacent anime, Girls Band Cry will make me watch an anime about music, Negative Positive Angler paints a charming contrast between Tsunehiro’s lowest point in life and the found family he is surrounded by, Shoshimin is deceptively clever in its metaphors and framing, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian is really good at guiding your eye through a sequence that is arguably way too dense for a show like itself (Quick fanservice shots of the girls in cosplay included), as well as giving us the dance that never was, and Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night is simply a great résumé of the show’s core message and themes.

Lastly, since I just couldn’t find a proper place elsewhere, the horny (yet somehow still not horny enough) opening for the second season of The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses might just exactly be my kind of “jingling keys in front of face”. And while we are already on the matter, I gotta appreciate the commitment of Chillin' in Another World to have the main girl essentially hijack the entirety of the opening. Speaking of hijacking, how could I have forgotten Brave Bang Bravern! of all things? This one is fun, because it portrays itself as this classic mecha opening with a semi-serious tone, random fanservice shots of the women, and ominous enemy mechs, as if it were directed by Bravern himself.

Anyway, this is it for the honorable mentions, and next up are the real heavy hitters of this year.

One Piece Opening 26 – “Uuus!” by Hiroshi Kitadani

Megumi Ishitani just keeps on giving, huh? After last year’s phenomenal closure of the Wano arc, she yet again gifts us a phenomenal opening for Egghead and, as is thematically fitting, it is both a look at the legacy and future of what has happened in the world of One Piece. From the fun character introductions to the showcasing of the two main locations of this arc, down to even the individual fights, it is just a really fun sequence incorporating all of Egghead’s best elements. The Straw Hats cycling through the different outfits is just the cherry on top of it all.

From a production standpoint, beyond obviously looking amazing, with an incredible sense of color, I really want to highlight how the line of action, the way the eye is guided, and the transitions make for a rather distinct way in which each scene seamlessly flows to another both visually and thematically. The members of SWORD being followed by Sentomaru and the pacifistas, the sequence match-cutting from Kizaru, Kuma, S-Shark, and Bonney, or the visual game of connection from Sabo to a flock of ravens to doves and finally to Morgans breaking the aspect ratio and eventually ending on the throne room. Add another Hiroshi Kitadani banger into the mix, and we might just have the best One Piece opening to date.

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! Opening – “Tsuyogaru Girl” by Botchi Boromaru feat. Mossa

Honestly, we need more and better integrations of credits in our anime openings. Not just because I think the credit placement tends to be kinda bad or looks like an afterthought most of the time, but also because it can be visually interesting, especially when the characters interact with them, as Makeine’s opening clearly proves. This OP is just plain fun and introduces the cast in a lot of humorous ways, especially our titular trio of losing heroines through their specific idiosyncrasies, but also most importantly by making them chase down the kanji for love through the latter half and eventually dragging Nukumizu into their affairs.

Beyond this, the entirety of the opening is illustrated in this kind of pop art style, which is very pleasing to the eye. It also has some really cool shots, like the nurse breaking the fourth wall by adjusting the camera in reference to the fact she indeed bugged the nurse’s office, or Yanami standing on the school’s rooftop being framed inside a novel.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Opening 2 – “Haru” by Yorushika

Initially, I didn’t even plan for this to make the list. Compared to Frieren’s first opening, it doesn’t follow its main motif that strongly, and on my first couple of watches, I failed to see anything in it, really. It also certainly doesn’t help that a good amount is spent on shots of the new character from the Mage Exam arc, which themselves are mostly rather generic and pretty underwhelming.

But the more I watched it, the more I appreciated the atmosphere and just how calm it is. The butterfly landing on a flower in the beginning, only for the camera focus to shift and reveal Frieren was sitting right next to it all along, her walking alongside her group with interspersed shots of their morning routine and only a few memories of a time long passed. Instead of the great focus on the past, Frieren spends this opening mostly in the present, and the reminiscing is reserved for other characters. Also, while I am mostly indifferent towards most of the shots, Kanne and Lawine creating an ice helix is kinda cute, and I love how Übel, arguably the most over-the-top character in Frieren, gets a lot more characterization out of what is essentially just a still shot of her smiling than if you were to show her acting in her namesake.

The Apothecary Diaries Opening 2 – “Ambivalent” by Uru

Like Frieren, at first, I didn’t really know what to do with Apothecary Diaries' second opening, especially coming after the phenomenal first one. Not to say the first one lacked in symbolism and messaging, which kinda makes me regret writing about it in last year’s post before actually having seen the anime, but because it is a lot less direct. Maomao isn’t the inconspicuous little wildflower anymore that can burst into full bloom in situations where others would wilt. Starting with the second half, she is working in the inner palace as Gyokuyou’s maidservant and also as what is essentially Jinshi’s personal attendant, so the OP reflects these moments of the newfound mundanity through these fun rotating shots of Maomao’s daily life, be it starting her day, dealing with Jinshi’s antics, or doing some sex education for the consorts.

Then there are the more intricate and obfuscated elements, which keep us guessing for the most part of the second half about where it is going. What is the deal with the wilting blue roses that eventually reveal Lakan, why is he reacting that strongly upon seeing Maomao having painted her nails, and how do the succeeding match-cuts fit into it all? Most importantly, there comes a time in the anime where it simply clicks and, like the mystery, comes together in a very satisfying way once you have all the answers to figure it out on your own. I really want to talk about it, but unfortunately, it is one giant spoiler, so maybe my long-overdue write-up on The Apothecary Diaries will have to wait for the second season. Lastly, while the last scene obviously doesn’t hold a candle to the actual farewell dance, it is nice to see it cap off what might otherwise be mostly disjointed silhouettes of the cast.

[Oshi No Ko] Season 2 Opening – “Fatal” by GEMN

My favorite theater kids are back in town and are giving me yet another opportunity to make a complete fool out of myself by analyzing something that is yet again way out of my ballpark… this time with actual theater imagery, so expect me to be even more obtuse in my explanation. Anyway, this opening kinda works as a continuation of the first season’s, as the focus is way less on Ai and how formative she was for Aqua and Ruby and instead focuses on where this obsession has led them to. Though, this aspect of looking back is obviously not gone completely. The OP quite literally starts with flashes of Aqua’s and Ruby’s former selves imposed on their current ones, doubling down on the imagery with them removing their faces as if they were masks and watching memories of Ai in a cinema with an almost pained expression. Lastly, this opening continues the crow motif of the first one, which, with the introduction of Tsukuyomi and her shot in the OP, might make slightly more sense now (He says, unaware).

For what the rest of the OP is concerned, the beginning is stupidly strong, introducing us to the cast in an interesting way by being framed surrounded by the towering buildings of the Tokyo skyline and harbor, showing character relations, hinting at arcs and the role they play. The vibe is also immaculate with its cold and desaturated colors and every character looking directly at the imaginary camera. I can’t be the only one who thinks about the twins from The Shining from the shot of Abiko and Yoriko, right? The shot then seamlessly transitions thematically to the 2.5D stage play by being revealed it is only projected onto the curtains, which subtly splits the cast into its two mostly distinct groups of characters for this arc. Still not sure about the baseball stadium in the background though. Also, do not ask me about why the opening seems to really like to emphasize hands. I do not know.

I really adore the shot of Aqua and Ruby chasing after Ai. Not only are the two camera perspectives separated by actual space, with one being from Ai’s perspective on the stage, as opposed to the roof of a building, but also by time, making it seems like Aqua and Ruby are still chasing after their mother as when they were children, but also running beyond it as a form of ironic character development now that they are older and have found their own footing… though no footing to be found when they are jumping off the building and it transitions yet again to the theater portion of the OP and we get our last motif, in which we yet again focus on eyes: Ruby seeing Aqua embrace acting, Akane being blown away by Kana’s performance, the two mangaka talking it out and Monemone Anemone witnessing Ruby’s turning point. The anime clearly puts great importance in how eyes are portrayed, just pay attention to how Ruby’s star in her eye turns finally black in the beginning or how the black star can yet again be seen in young Aqua being reflected inside the knife that killed Ai… call it a lack of eye/Ai, if you are so inclined.

How have I written three whole paragraphs again, I tried to be succinct and haven’t even mentioned everything?! I should really just bite the bullet and write my own post for the OPs and EDs of Oshi no Ko… well, I guess we will see when the third season will have aired.

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth Opening – “Kaijuu” by Sakanaction

I am in a bit of a bind. On one hand, I have a very strong suspicion that Orb won’t switch to a different opening for its second half, but instead keeps adjusting the current one to reflect the changes in our cast, as it already has done so after its first arc, which means this opening will only really reach its peak once the anime has finished airing and shown all its cards in full. On the other hand, I really want to talk about it already… So just to cover my bases, here is half the stuff I can already tell and we will see each other again next year with the second half completed. Sounds good? Good.

This opening might be the only context where referring to eyes as orbs is not only not cringe, but thematically very fitting, considering how much the anime focuses on the meaning of eyes in the context of not just how we literally perceive the world and celestial bodies around us, but also in reference to everyone else making these observations. So much so in fact, that the first opening seconds upon Rafal, and later Oczy, opening their eyes are not a look at the planets and stars, that would answer the question of whether the earth revolves around the sun or not, but everyone involved in this tragic journey of passing the torch and finding it out. This motif gets further emphasized by the pendant with the star markers turning into an eye, as seen from Oczy’s perspective, but now looking down onto the earth in a smart reversal of the role of the observer. Fun fact, the globe is modelled after the Erdapfel, which is believed to be the oldest surviving globe right now and should actually fit nicely into the time period Orb is set in.

I’m still a bit puzzled about the interspersed shots of the characters, as they don’t seem to reference points in the story and I don’t even know who the three men in the white robes are yet, though I do really like the shot of the lights going out one another in the city, while Jolenta looks up at the sky and while I can’t say with certainty who it is exactly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is Nowak who is squishing the cherry in a very blunt metaphor for the work he does. The second batch of character shots are a lot more clear, with the confrontation between Oczy and Nowak, Jolenta going down the well to sneak into a meeting she was barred from or Badeni puking being references to specific moments in the anime.

Lastly, the image of Rafal being overshadowed by darkness, but, in the literal blink of an eye, finding himself in a church set on fire is such a clever double entendre. It is both his internal struggle to shine the light of truth on the world, while living life on the easy road by adhering to the church’s dogma and the fate of him and everyone else that either already chose, or will later choose to walk the same path he did.

Dandadan Opening – “Otonoke” by Creepy Nuts

Dandadan’s opening is just the all-around premium package. Visually creative and oozing with its specific style, showcasing the characters and their relationships in unique ways and framing it around allusions to moments of the larger narrative and story. Hook, line and sinker, despite being not at all what I expected from it at first. For how explosive and loud Dandadan, and Creepy Nuts by extension, can be, the opening has a certain calmness to it, as if all these supernatural happenings are just another part of Momo and Okarun’s life. After all, the first ten seconds are just a microcosm of the show as a whole: Momo and Okarun begin arguing over yokai and aliens, but later begin pouting and yearning to be together, Aira acting as if she were the main character, Jiji looking like a young handsome man, before shattering that illusion near instantly, yet still making Okarun feel inadequate and Seiko and Turbo Granny are also there, all while the golden ball motif is already taking shape. Honestly, incredibly efficient.

The rest of the opening mostly takes a step back and showcases the monsters in Ultraman inspired silhouettes, as well as in short flashes what their specific deal is, as well as the specific powers of our main protagonists. I really like the delicacy in which Momo’s spinning hands later transform into the form in which she handles aura, as well as the sudden shift in aesthetic when Okarun changes into his Turbo form and her reaching out to him. On the other hand, I really like the shot of Turbo Granny winking at the camera, while Aira and Jiji have these really nice portrait shots in the background, like “Don’t be fooled, these are not good people” and while I am personally not as smitten with Momo dancing as everyone else seems to be, it is still fun to see these characters have fun. Eventually, the opening ends with Momo and Okarun finally together, sitting back to back and enjoying each other’s company, while surrounded by yokai and looking up at a spaceship. I couldn’t even imagine a better way to introduce us to the world and characters of Dandadan, because this is just it.

Endings

Personally, I think this year was a bit lackluster in terms of genuinely great endings. We’ve got a plethora of good EDs, don’t get me wrong, and I am even omitting some more entries simply for the sake of brevity. But I kinda struggled to compile a list of endings I could actually talk about a bit more, but this could also just be my selective bias of which anime I have actually seen. Well, with that being said *big inhale*:

Too Many Losing Heroines! gave us not just one, nor two, but three great endings focusing on each heroine, each one in a very distinct and unique style. Days with My Stepsister also goes a bit out of its way to match the calm and somber atmosphere of its relationship. Meanwhile, Mecha-Ude goes completely against its explosive core and instead utilizes a retrospective ballad which confronts its characters from moments of a bygone past. Gun Gale Online II doubles down on what the character of LLENN means to the player behind the avatar, and Orb, more specifically its later versions, continues its theme of passing on the metaphorical torch.

Next up are the endings that are just plain fun: Elusive Samurai has the characters transported from the late Kamakura period into a relatively more modern school setting, Dandadan has Turbo Granny adopting a cat and just straight up vibing with it, and Magilumiere Magical Girls is all about going through the good and bad as a company together. As far as dance EDs are concerned, Suicide Squad Isekai has Waller breaking it down to a Calliope Mori song, and Go Go Loser Ranger! leans full into the commercialization of its in-universe heroes.

For the stuff I am most definitely not qualified to talk about, the newest entry in the Monogatari Series gives me yet another reminder to eventually just start watching it someday, and Re:Zero’s third season seems to continue going strong with its ED.

Lastly, we have some anime with very nice audio-visual combinations: The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases has one idea and plays it to its fullest, You are Ms. Servant. continues to be way more experimental than the actual show, and Train to the End of the World could have easily risen up in my ranking with some even more ambitious visuals. Then there is the new Pokémon Terastal Debut, which has a Glalie more locked in than honestly anything I have ever seen in my life. Like, what’s up with you, buddy?

And because this list is still not long enough, may I interest you in a cover you would never have guessed from the weird slime girl thingy? Also, the fifth ending of VTuber Legend might be the closest thing to a dropkick I have ever received.

Solo Leveling Ending – “request” by krage

Normally, I would know better than to talk about something I have neither seen nor plan to do so in the future and otherwise lack any interest in, but I don’t know where else to put it, so here it is. Initially, I only knew of the song and eventually watched the actual ED on a whim, and I sure as hell did not expect so much heat from what I thought would be the manhwa equivalent of a shitty light novel with above-average production values… so, what is up with this semi-horror-psycho-thriller-esque sequence?

I doubt I can put into words how much I dig the entire aesthetic and atmosphere of this ED. The semi-realistic rendering of the backgrounds, the liminal and claustrophobic spaces, the sense of being watched and being not alone, but also lonely and vulnerable. The tree being set on fire and Jin-Woo breaking down in an out-of-control elevator? The imagery goes so incredibly hard for what is honestly just a normal hotel at night, and judging from some of the comments, there might be some actual substance behind all the cryptic stuff. I kinda get him saving himself from the room he seems to be locked in, but everything else really tickles my brain kininarimasu-style. Well, not that I will ever figure it out, but it is nice either way.

Brave Bang Bravern! Ending – “Souen no Shouzou” by Ryouta Suzuki & Youhei Azakami

Gay Robot Sex 👍… well, sans the robot, but the implication is still there. I can’t stress enough just how funny this ending is in the context of the actual show. It starts as a serious war drama, then this weird mecha from another show crashes the party, and at the end of the episode, we go full dramatic again, only for it to be revealed that Isami and Smith are on a stage and are doing a musical number while undressing as what can only be described as the anime version of Top Gun. No bigger analysis to be found here, just basking in the shining light of pure distilled kino.

One Piece Ending 20 – “Dear sunrise” by Maki Otsuki

What a nostalgia bomb for something that wasn’t even part of my childhood (Anemoia, anyone?). Maki Otsuki sang the very first ED for One Piece in 1999, and now, 25 years later, we are looking back at what has changed in all these years. The Strawhat crew has doubled in size, the end of the Grand Line is closer than ever before, and memories pave the way for another day. Meanwhile, we get a montage of some of the most important moments of the characters and recreations of them joining Luffy on his silly journey. Add the match cut of the cups to the Going Merry transitioning into the Thousand Sunny, and we go full circle on this little nostalgia trip. Again, it doesn’t take much to be weirdly effective in its messaging.

And that’s about it. Arguably a way better year for openings than endings, but still a very good year overall. I think I am finally happy with how these posts turn out, so I doubt there is more for me to say than to wait for what the upcoming seasons have in store for us. See you again next year ^^.

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Summer 2024

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 00:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, with this being my fourth consecutive season, I suppose one can start calling me a seasonal anime watcher… took me only ten years. This season brought us a lot of good stuff. We got a plethora of non-action anime with great productions, some unexpected favorites, and a lot of good openings and endings. No, seriously, Oshi no Ko continues to be on top of its game, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian went above and beyond what one would expect of a classic RomCom, Shoshimin’s OP is deceptively simple, and Mayonaka Punch pays homage to soon-to-be 20 years of YouTube and online video creation. And this isn’t even mentioning Too Many Losing Heroines and its hat-trick of EDs, Alya and VTuber Legend going full karaoke, or all the great songs that accompany many more anime. After being a bit disappointed so far this year in this regard, my favorite opening and ending post will greatly appreciate this season.

However, not all is good in the land of anime. Almost simultaneously with the beginning of the season, Crunchyroll removed their entire comment section feature for what seems to be the indefinite future, which is especially sad, since every single anime I have watched this season was released on the very same streaming service. While I basically never commented myself, I greatly appreciated the thoughts some other people decided to share. From their own takes and analyses to the source material readers pointing out the differences, and even the simple ones time-stamping their favorite moments. Dear Crunchyroll comment section, you will be missed, but not forgotten.

Lastly, I am genuinely amazed at how good this season turned out for me, especially since I was mostly uncertain about like half the entries here, which made watching the anime weekly with my group of friends a very pleasant experience. With that out of the way, here is my rundown of all the anime I have seen from summer 2024.

The one that didn’t make it

Normally, this would be the place for all the anime I have dropped mid-season. As already mentioned, even the ones I would have only given a few episodes turned out to be to my liking, which is why we have one singular entry. I suppose one could take it as an honor.

My initial impression of Atri -My Dear Moments- could basically be summarized as “Visual Novel but Anime”. From the character designs to the general vibe, the trailer didn’t really give me much faith that I wouldn’t just be better off playing the source material. A few weeks later, the first episode aired, and I couldn’t help the feeling that I am indeed simply watching an animated and condensed version of a visual novel. It’s not like Studio Troyca didn’t put any effort into the adaptation, but given how little this one episode made me care for the characters, as well as it simply not being my thing, I have no regrets about dropping it after the initial first episode. Also, I found out the scenario writer is the same guy responsible for If My Heart Had Wings… which… which just tracks.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

I’ll take it back, there was one anime I will not look back on too fondly. I really wanted to like Alya, both the anime in its entirety and the titular heroine as well. However, it just wasn’t meant to be for me, I guess. What first looked like a trope-aware, almost meta, romantic comedy with a snarky main couple dynamic eventually devolved into just another generic RomCom of the kind I am mostly indifferent towards. I have almost no doubt that part of my extreme reaction comes down to the unfortunate translation from the light novels into an animated form, but oh boy, do I not care about its characters at all. Masachika can be fun at times, but it almost always comes to the detriment of Alya, who, sans her gimmick, is just a really bland girl with a character arc I have seen done better several times elsewhere. I liked Yuki when her role in the story was an element of chaos in the relationship between the two leads, but she eventually became insufferable once the focus shifted toward the student council election. The maid is a nothing burger, the rest of the student cast doesn’t really cut it for me either, and I really wish we would have gotten a bit more from the adults, since we constantly get teased about the source of half the drama being a result of the difficult family situations they are in.

It was around episode five that I had to make a decision about whether I wanted to continue watching the anime or not, since I actually wondered what I was even still doing here at this point. I don’t hate the anime, but I just eventually grew tired of it, especially with two other anime airing that do make interesting comments about their genre. It seems I was just constantly complaining about minor details or things I would like to be different, instead of properly engaging with what the anime does have to offer. Hell, there might even be a universe out there where this story does hit the marks I care about and eventually hooks me in a way that makes me finally care about the cast, but as it stands right now, it just doesn’t. Maybe I will take a shot at the second season, but I doubt Alya will ever catch me in the way it wants to.

Days with My Stepsister

This was the pleasant surprise I was talking about. As one might have already guessed, and without trying to sound too much like a completely pretentious idiot, I would consider myself to be an “ideas” guy first. Have a story explicitly be about “something,” like an abstract theme or concept, and I will lend you my ear. So framing an otherwise slow-burner of a romance through the lens of sibling relations and as a commentary on other “little sister”-themed romance titles did pique my interest, though it’s not like I am necessarily in a position to accurately comment on this sub-genre myself. If a little sister is part of the harem, it feels more like the inclusion of yet another stock archetype to the mix, but not as a real possible choice for the end and the only real “Guy wants to romance his sister (blood-related or not)” anime I have seen is Eromanga Sensei.

What essentially settled the deal for me is the slow and tactful approach the series takes not only towards its topic but especially towards its main character duo. Yuta and Saki are two teenagers broken and disillusioned by fundamentally pretty mundane circumstances, to the point that the reality of their situation only really catches up to them halfway through the season. It also helps that both of them are fully realized characters in their own right, with Saki struggling to find her own identity and a way she wants to present herself to the people around her, and Yuta coming to terms with his own mixture of complicated feelings regarding the different women around him. The extended cast is also nice, considering how few scenes we actually get from them, with Fujinami being especially efficient. Also, while the anime adapted only the first four light novels, I am strangely content with how it ended. Obviously, it would be great if we got more, but if not, I am very much fine with that being the finale.

What makes explicitly watching this anime another treat is the phenomenal direction. This is clearly not the strongest outing in pure animation prowess, background art, or compositing, but the way everything is framed and shot makes it really engaging to watch, at least for me. From the long, uninterrupted scenes of characters being shown isolated and on their own to some of the fancier visualizations, like Saki’s flashbacks being presented as if shot on old 8mm film. There is also a mix of subtle and not-so-subtle visual metaphors, which at times emphasize the feelings of the characters more than dialogue ever could, though I do feel ashamed to admit that it took me way too much time to realize the sock puppets in episode 11 were most likely a play on the hedgehog’s dilemma. If you want to read more about this anime’s production, Sakuga Blog released a great article about how the director uses the audio-visual medium to elevate the source material.

Pseudo Harem

There isn’t really a lot I can talk about Pseudo Harem. It is exactly what is written on the can: a cute and small romance with the gimmick being that the girl is playing several archetypes for the boy she has a crush on, kinda like a… whatchamacallit… faux romantic ensemble, an imitation entourage, or even an illusory love circle. The gimmick itself doesn’t really distract from the romance at hand, and the series as a whole mostly plays itself more akin to a slice-of-life than a drama, which keeps everything a lot more lighthearted and easy to digest, even if the relationship lacks a certain amount of depth as a result. Though I doubt this was ever the intention, since it is essentially written in the form of smaller vignettes being loosely connected through a steady sense of progress, which probably works better in manga format than full-length anime episodes. Also, if you are a fan of a high school romance continuing outside of the school setting, you are in luck. In general, I would assume that anyone who would like this series will know so pretty fast. For what I am concerned, it wasn’t quite my thing, but I would be hard-pressed to go out of my way to complain about it in more detail.

Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary

This might be obvious, but deception can be a mystery’s biggest strength. Not just for the moment-to-moment puzzles that need to be solved, but also for what it will all eventually lead up to in the end. And I have to tell you, I did not and never could have predicted what all these fun little mysteries and sweet detours would lead up to. But this is not the right place to discuss this.

Shoshimin had big shoes to fill, given any comparisons to Hyouka were bound to be inevitable, though I like the author’s comment on how Hyouka and Shoshimin are different in the same way “soft-boiled” and “hard-boiled” detectives are to be differentiated. Kobato revels in the thrill of the mysteries he solves, his ego on full display, while Osanai simply pretends to follow him around and wears the mask of a bystander. All this is framed through the simple premise of both of them trying to change an aspect of themselves, which they barely try to deny, and it is really fun to see both their idiosyncrasies shine through moments of the utterly mundane.

You can most likely enjoy the specific brand of mystery the anime provides on its own. After all, while they are the opposite of high-stakes, I consider them rather fun, and the characters interact in satisfying ways. It is also just pretty to look at. But where it really shines is the way it characterizes the subjects. From the obvious contradiction of Osanai and Kobato’s promise of becoming ordinary and the slow lead-up to how their relationship has to change, to the way the visuals emphasize the characters' headspace and understanding of the situation at hand, or the creative use of putting everyone in different environments with specific meanings we only later fully understand their significance of. Disregarding any given mystery, I still always had tons to think about, because it never just ends with the culprit and the way the crime is exposed. Behind the mysteries, there is a rich character drama going on in the background, which better not be overlooked. And the payoff is a fascinating finale that makes me reevaluate almost the entirety of the anime. I am seated for the second season.

Too Many Losing Heroines!

Just look at her looking at you. Some paintings truly say a thousand words.

I have a feeling Too Many Losing Heroines! has bewitched me with the same curse as so many other anime before it: From episode to episode, there is so much to talk about, from all the events of an episode to even just specific scenes, but when everything is said and done, I really struggle to formulate more general thoughts about the series at large. Of course, I could talk about how focusing on the losing heroines in an otherwise generic RomCom setting makes for some great meta-commentary, but simply praising the premise for being what it is feels too shallow. I already have, and am always willing to, talk about how great the anime looks, but then again, Sakuga Blog has us covered. And I can only get away with it so many times in a single post by simply writing that I really like it. So…

Too Many Losing Heroines! is so fucking funny. Yanami going for the straw and taking a big sip is both perfectly shameless and embarrassing at the same time… just phenomenal, altering my brain chemistry and all-around peak. Achieving enlightenment by going so hard off the rails that the material reality bends before your delusions needs to be studied too. There is this one time where Asagumo frames Nukumizu’s shirt, so it spells out “NTR”, which is one of the most genius displays of visual comedy I have seen and just a stunning marvel of a scene all things considered. And then there’s Shikiya’s entire existence, which goes from the uncalled to the horrific in what I can only describe as an orchestra of confused and surprised melodies… you should really take away my access to a dictionary… to get back on track…

I am a big fan of otherwise mostly comedic series being able to fully commit to their more dramatic and serious moments. Your first love will be brutal, even more so when it doesn’t turn out the way you have hoped, and the portrayal of the three losing heroines really nails all the ugly feelings involved. In the larger picture, it is nothing major, and purely from a statistical point of view, it is more than likely that it will happen again. But even if you do recover, in that very moment, it feels like your entire world is collapsing in on itself. There will be scars, there will be lingering feelings, and there will be the shame of your first romance not blooming to fruition. But you will also be able to stand up again and learn to carry that weight, because, at least as far as Yanami, Lemon, and Komari are concerned, they are heroines, not losers.

Come for the comedy, stay for the comedy, but also enjoy and appreciate everything else this ride has to offer, because it is much more profound than simply shining a light on those left behind. It is about getting to know them, sharing their pain, but also about celebrating their moments of delight.

Mayonaka Punch

If I had a nickel for every anime this year about a young girl rediscovering her passion for art by joining a group of eccentric weirdos giving their best to reach an arbitrary goal in an explicit internet context, I would actually have more than two nickels… but this one is about YouTube and way more comedic, so let’s ignore all the parallels I could make toward Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night and indulge in how horrible (in a KonoSuba sense) the cast and the culture around YouTube are.

Misaki is actually kind of human garbage. She gets kicked out of her channel, as she eventually became a hassle to work with, got canceled over punching another member of the group and, instead of apologizing, immediately created a new channel and tried to remake the first video idea they ever had, only to get absolutely bombarded by hate. She is also the kind of person who will gladly throw away her integrity to chase the newest trends instead. In short, she is perfect, with just a hint of girl-failure, if it weren’t for the fact that she is really good at the grift and grind. Accompany her with a hysterical cast of vampires, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for riffing on the contemporary YouTube and video creator landscape. Also, not sure where else to say it, but… Tokage is an alcoholic, constantly broke, gambling-addicted onee-san type character with an otherwise pretty hot design, whose sex appeal gets constantly undermined by making her vape or act like the biggest slop, and I think it is actually more funny than tragic :D

Despite being a mostly over-the-top comedy, the series absolutely has its moments. Misaki goes through a really satisfying arc about how to handle the reactions from her old and new fans, Fuu’s episode is just a great encapsulation of sharing a creative passion with another person, and the way the series basically abandons its main premise to land on a satisfying emotional finale certainly took me for a loop. There are just several small things that kept bothering me. While the anime has a very firm and accurate grasp on the YouTube game in general, I think the progression of their channel, especially as far as their popularity is concerned, gets a bit muddled down by the otherwise great message of why people decide to do YouTube in the first place. Another thing that made their group specifically a bit unrelatable to me is their specific brand of content. In short, they are the guys you would find on the trending page, i.e., overproduced vlogs, challenges, and other popular hype topics, which just isn’t the type of videos I tend to watch. But the spirit gets through, so I would still recommend it to anyone who isn’t that clinically online.

VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream

You know, maybe sometimes all it takes for someone to “get it” is just this one scene, which connects with you in a way that you didn’t think was possible, but opens your eyes to a wonderful new world. I was aware of VTubers as a concept that exists, as well as their rise to popularity in the last couple of years, but it’s not like I actually know something about a specific VTuber, much less actually watch any of them. This probably won’t change in the near future, too, most critically, because if I were to find a VTuber whose gimmick is being this timid and demure snow princess but starts going completely off the rails upon the consumption of a liberal amount of *insert alcoholic beverage*, I would most definitely forfeit all my mortal possessions to them.

Needless to say, I thought the premiere was pretty funny. You forget to log off, get sloshed on Strong Zero™, go on unhinged tirades about how your office job traumatized you, and sexually harass your gen-mates in front of an ever-growing live audience, pass out drunk, wake up several hours later, and barf your brains out. No one does it like Awayuki… or I guess it was more Shuwa-chan in the moment. VTuber Legend really nails the vibe of messing around with your friends, and I doubt I would have found it nearly as consistently funny if I weren’t also sold on all the other personalities we get to know along the way. It is just girls having fun. Surprisingly, it is also mostly written from the perspective of the VTubers themselves and not their audience, which shifts the focus from “watching VTubers is fun” to “being a VTuber is fun” and manages to be pretty profound at times when VTubing as an artistic career is discussed.

I have no doubt this series will probably not leave its mark on the greater anime history, but watching it weekly was always a treat.

My Deer Friend Nokotan

Sometimes, the idea of something is way more enjoyable than the real deal. My Deer Friend Nokotan had a really fun time leading up to the airing of the first episode. From the 1-hour Shikanokonokonokonokokoshitantan Loop to some really out-there and bizarre advertisement campaigns, it kinda had it all. Then, the first episode actually aired, and it was… fine.

Considering it hyped itself up as something where you would lose half your remaining brain cells from just being in close proximity to it, it turned out almost tame in how weird it would get. In the end, it just became an otherwise pretty unremarkable comedy anime. It absolutely has its moments, but it is neither as consistently funny nor smart as… almost half the anime on this list. Add to the fact that my biggest takeaway from this anime is that some people will proudly have the dumbest takes on subtitles or the localization progress and will make it everyone else’s problem, made it a rather underwhelming experience altogether.

What’s left?

Actually, there is one anime not just left, but straight-up missing from this post. Due to watching Senpai is an Otokonoko with a specific combination of friends, as of now, I still only have seen five episodes and the next opportunity to finish the season probably won’t come anytime soon. So while the header image might still adorns the middle of the thumbnail, the entry itself is unfortunately missing and since the rest of the post is already sitting effectively completed for what is almost an entire month, I figured I might just publish it now and either add my thoughts postscript, or give the missing entry its own post, because I certainly have thoughts about the anime.

With that out of the way, with the exception of the second season of Oshi no Ko, I am pretty content. I basically picked out everything I was interested in and watched it all the way through. Here and there, I heard something interesting about Dungeon People, but I doubt I will check it out. And as much as The Elusive Samurai looks absolutely breathtaking, I think the clips I have seen on Twitter were enough for me.

And that’s about it. We will see us at the end of the year for what might be a pretty mixed fall season.

Learning Japanese with Duolingo

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 18:50:00 +0200

Ach ja, ~~if you tell me to use Anki, I will rip your fucking throat out~~ I am not sure if this post will ever see the light of day or if it will even end up comprehensible, but I might as well write down my experiences after a whole year. On October 11, 2023, I started using Duolingo and, one year of daily lessons later, the only thing I am confident in is that I, like with almost all aspects of my life, could probably have used my time a lot better. Considering I only wanted to mess with a friend of mine for a couple of seconds before they realize what is going on, I probably did a lot more than I ever guessed at the beginning of my journey. But before all that, let’s start with some background, as this will probably be a longer post.

What is Duolingo?

Duolingo is a tech company with a platform as a product, whose fundamental function is to generate revenue through the way said platform interacts with its users. Duolingo could be about literally anything besides learning languages. In fact, they are planning to release courses for music, math, and chess. But it could also be expanded for literature, most of the natural sciences, or even art. Hell, it doesn’t even need to be about learning at all. The underlying gamification of its courses means that as long as a certain behavior or outcome can be rewarded, it could be implemented on Duolingo as is, and nothing would really have to change. But most importantly, Duolingo is not a place to learn, but an app that wants you to spend as much time and money on it as possible. Anything else might as well be an afterthought.

This is not to say I have a particular problem with Duolingo as a product, though replacing your employees with AI is just the tip of the iceberg of shitty corporate decisions, but it would be dishonest not to acknowledge the very structure of something that causes it to never be as good as otherwise possible. After all, Duolingo literally has an incentive not to teach you a language fast or even to the point where you wouldn’t need the app anymore.

What was I even trying to do?

So why am I even going with Duolingo when stuff like Babbel and many other language learning apps exist? Well, it’s free and has a funny green owl… that’s basically it. You have to understand that, despite spending a literal year on Duolingo, it is not like I have a genuine interest in learning Japanese. Of course, I am not opposed to learning it or even putting in the effort to do so, but this wasn’t even my end goal here. I am content not knowing Japanese, unlike with English, or with French when counting my time in school. So I have no problem basically idling on the level of what might have been my first year of learning English in school (it wasn’t great).

Actually, if I were to earnestly start learning Japanese, I would probably just buy a textbook and look out for online classes. I understand the idea behind the approaches most of these apps go for, but I am just not that kind of guy. Similarly, I am all for AJATT or RATTATA or any other kind of immersive learning, but you need to get to a certain level first, which I simply have not achieved yet and won’t achieve any time soon, until I decide to finally lock in for once.

So if I didn’t even set out to learn Japanese, what was I even trying to achieve here? Quite simply, the main reason why I started Duolingo was to learn to read Hiragana. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. I don’t even need to understand it, but I simply wanted to be able to read the funny characters on the screen.

Duolingo’s Japanese course

So, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of things. First off, I am pretty sure other language courses have more features than the Japanese one, like speaking exercises. Also, after staying on the web version for the first two weeks, I mostly used the Android app, which, when including iOS, all have slightly different features too, because who cares about feature consistency? As already mentioned, I started in October 2023, so I joined after Duolingo removed the tree-like structure of the courses and replaced it with a simpler linear progression, which later got further simplified by providing smaller units about only one topic, instead of the bigger units with two different ones.

So, the Japanese course is structured into five different sections, which I guess are supposed to indicate the general level of language proficiency. These sections are further divided into units, which mostly cover topics you would engage with in everyday situations, like ordering food, going to specific places, or talking about yourself. These units are typically made up of four nodes, with three of these nodes being explicitly about the topic of the unit, while one node is a practice node focused on a previous topic. These nodes consist of six lessons (three for practice nodes), with each lesson consisting around 15 of Duolingo’s exercises that test your Japanese. At the end of a unit is a unit review, which you need to pass in order to progress to the next unit.

Beyond the main course, there are several more features. For Japanese, and I suppose every language that doesn’t use the Latin alphabet, there is a tab to learn the writing system, and the main course won’t even let you progress further at some point if you haven’t “learned” a certain amount of characters. No matter how negative I may get in this post, I genuinely think this is Duolingo’s best feature and the only thing I doubt could be improved within the limits of what Duolingo can provide as an app. Lastly, there is the practice hub, which I will write more in-depth about later. Here, you can practice listening exercises, go over your mistakes, or read stories… at least I guess you can if you progress far enough, as I have yet to unlock a single one, and there is also no indication of when I will do so. On the website, there is also a list of all the vocabulary you have learned thus far.

Duolingo’s Gamification

Before going into how exactly Duolingo teaches languages, let me first explain to you how Duolingo gamified the language learning experience, as it will explain a lot about the platform itself. It starts fairly simply by displaying a learning streak and annoying you to keep it up. This may be my lizard brain speaking, but “number go up” might just be the best motivation there is. It worked for Wii Fit, so why not also for learning a language? Also, while it requires you to do more than simply logging in once a day, doing one lesson of any kind is already enough to keep you going. It is a pretty low hurdle, which I think invites you more to do anything than forcing you to do at least a certain amount. And that’s basically where my praise will end.

The biggest aspect of the gamification is the earning of XP by completing the lessons. In theory, the earned XP will roughly correlate to the amount of learning you have done. In reality, the amount of XP can be inflated rather easily. Firstly, you will probably get around two 15-minute 2x XP multipliers a day, which is probably more than the average user uses Duolingo a day anyway. You also get another 15-minute multiplier every time you complete a node. However, this multiplier is not just limited to the main course but also available for some of the practice options, so you could theoretically abuse the fact that some things, like reviewing an older unit, can be done very fast to farm a lot of XP quickly. There is also the Ramp-Up challenge and other timed practice mini-games, in which you can gain a ridiculous amount of XP, and they are basically the only way I can rationalize how some people can get over 10,000 XP in a single week.

Why does the XP farming matter? Well, it really doesn’t, which is kind of the problem. Duolingo automatically enters you into leaderboards, which are small brackets of around 30 users. At the end of the week, if you are in the top places, you get promoted to a better league. If you are in one of the last places, you get demoted. Ideally, this would motivate the users to learn more, to at least not get demoted. But again, in reality, the only way to get demoted is basically to do barely anything, and with the exception of the Obsidian and Diamond League, getting promoted is also barely a challenge. Going from the Obsidian to the Diamond League might mean grinding slightly harder for the week, but once you are in, unless you barely do anything or land in a really strong bracket, you probably won’t ever drop out. Beyond the Diamond League, there is also the Elite Tournament. I sometimes qualify for it simply by landing in the Top 10 of the Diamond League, but never progress beyond the first round, because this is where the sweaty tryhards reign supreme and whose crazy numbers cannot be explained by just “learning a lot.” Those are the competitive Duolingo users.

TL;DR: Duolingo encourages you to only do the lessons when you have an XP multiplier or do the practice exercises instead of progressing through the actual course, so you can inflate your ego when you are rising through the leaderboards. I don’t think gamification works at its best if you can min-max it. XP is also the only real metric we get, which is kinda bad since it only indicates how much time you spend on Duolingo and not how good you actually learn the languages or perform in the exercises. I don’t even know if you can fail a lesson. I’m not sure how it would be possible to implement, but I wish I would just be graded normally instead of being pitched against 29 other people on what is quite literally not even the same playing field. And this isn’t even to speak of the actual gamification of the exercises.

How Duolingo teaches languages

As already mentioned, the course is divided into sections and units, which you progress through one at a time. You can theoretically skip units by passing the unit review at its end, though I have never done so myself. The general methodology of Duolingo is something called spaced repetition, which essentially boils down to classic vocabulary learning using flashcards. However, I have to really question both the “spaced” and “repetition” aspects for Duolingo, since the repetition is mostly limited to the unit itself and there are times when I see a word I haven’t seen since almost the very beginning… you know… one year ago. Instead of properly spacing and repeating vocabulary, it is essentially just short-term retention. Of course, I will know the words by heart if it is always the same few in the same context in just a few different kinds of exercises. Ask me again two units later and I will have straight-up forgotten even having learned some of the words.

Also, while you technically do way more than simply learning your vocabulary, at the end of the day, this is what it mostly comes down to, as the words themselves are often the only thing you are actually taught. By the way, learning and being taught here are not to be mixed up. While you may learn something, it is way more like eventually “getting it” along the way, as Duolingo doesn’t explain to you how to apply the things you do get to know. Duolingo doesn’t teach you grammar or any underlying logic of a language. You essentially just expose yourself to a language while holding the hand of the owl, which just so happens to guide you down a path you can barely see the end of. You will be able to navigate the woods eventually, but whether you do it right or even efficiently is written in the stars you can’t even see for yourself.

I can probably explain my logic to the way sentences are structured or why I chose a specific particle, but the fact Duolingo gives me no way to confirm if my own logic is even correct is actually insane. And that is if I think there is a logic behind it. This is the main problem: I memorize my way through the language but don’t really understand it, so it is just chance if I can correctly infer something new from the things I know. There will be its own part later with just examples of things that confuse me or I only realized later made no sense. For now, let’s just go through the kind of exercises Duolingo provides.

These are the types of exercises you will encounter in the main course:

Linking a Japanese word to an image
Translating Japanese words to Japanese/English from/to sound, Kanji, or Kana
Transliterating spoken Japanese into written Japanese/English
Translating a sentence from Japanese to English or English to Japanese
Filling in missing Japanese words
Answering questions about Japanese sentences

1 / 10

The first one is basically just your standard vocabulary learning practice by connecting a word with something more tangible. This is mostly done only once in the very beginning and also only applies to words that can be displayed as an image, like people, objects, places, and some activities.

The next one concerns the translation of mostly individual words. Interestingly, you don’t just translate from Japanese to English or vice versa, but also a lot from Japanese to Japanese, i.e., you have a word written in Kanji and have to connect it with the word written in Hiragana, or you get a soundbite of how the word is pronounced and have to correctly connect it to the Kanji and so forth. The same will be done with the English translation, though there are no English pronunciations for a word and only really one way to write the English translation.

Next up is the transliteration and translation of entire sentences. The transliteration is done similarly to the previous exercise, as the character voices speak out the entire sentence and you have to write it down in either Japanese or translate it directly into English. Translating is done similarly with the sentence being written out instead, but translating from English into Japanese is also a possibility.

The last two exercises are interesting, as they were either added some time after I started using Duolingo, or I simply unlocked them after a certain unit. They are also by far the ones that make the most sense to me, as you, unlike with the other exercises, have a harder time guessing or inferring your way through them and are actually indicative you understood how to solve the exercise, instead of how Duolingo works. In the first one, there is typically a sentence with one or more missing words/characters you have to fill in based on the context of the remaining sentence. Beyond asking whether you want to eat rice or an entire train for dinner, this is also the only exercise that explicitly tests your grammar by making you pick out the correct particles or conjugated forms of a verb. The last exercise is simply reading comprehension. You get a couple of sentences and have to pick out the correct statement. Technically, there are a few more exercises, but these are limited to learning Kana or Kanji and don’t appear in the normal course for some reason beyond my understanding.

Now, I mentioned that you can kind of guess yourself through some of the exercises, or rather you can get a lot of mileage by applying some basic deductive reasoning. The way you answer the exercises is either similar to multiple-choice or it is just straight-up multi-choice if there is only one possible answer. For translating multiple words at the same time, you tend to have five words on each side, and you create pairs of the Japanese and the English translation. Since it’s only five words, it is very easy to limit the possible options. If you paid attention, you know which words are already written with a Kanji or are Hiragana-only, you know loanwords are written in Katakana, verbs are always written in the form with ます (masu) at the end, and so forth. Due to the way Duolingo presents these exercises, I could probably ace them all just with some educated guesses and because I know how these exercises work, even with words I have never seen in my life before.

Translating sentences has a slightly different problem. You do not translate a text by typing in your own answer but instead compose the sentence by selecting words from a predefined collection of words/sentence parts. Since this collection obviously has to contain all the words needed for the correct answer, the only thing left to do is to select the words in the order a sentence is reasonably structured, which is particularly easy when translating from Japanese to English. Like, what sentence could possibly be made from the words niece, a, I, my, present, to and gave? Duolingo tries to countersteer against this by including several words that do not belong in the sentence, but they tend to be the worst red herrings you have ever seen. If I am going to a concert, I probably won’t need a goat, my lawyer, to call something salty, or to swim (If you do, please invite me to wherever you are going). Again, this is especially noticeable when translating from Japanese to English. Having the words preselected also boils down the experience from remembering to recognizing, which again tends to be all over the place with Duolingo’s spaced repetition approach.

Lastly, while this might also be part of the whole spaced repetition thing, I don’t think the exercises are actually supposed to repeat themselves to the point I actively notice that they do. This is especially bad for the reading comprehension exercises, whose entire purpose is that you have to properly read and understand the sentences to answer the questions, and whose point goes up in smoke if you simply memorize the question-answer pairs and don’t bother reading the sentences ever again.

And that’s basically how going through the main course and, by extension, some of the practice exercises go. It is streamlined, fast, and easy to progress, but how much it actually helps you learn the language, especially compared to normal lessons in school, remains to be seen for me, even more so since I can already see the flaws myself.

What Duolingo does and doesn’t teach

Initially, I just wrote a list of things I thought were weird that they aren’t explicitly taught to you and you are just supposed to understand after some time. Don’t worry, I will still give you my personal highlights, but then I wanted to see exactly how much and what Duolingo actually does and does not teach you. At the top of every unit, there is a unit guidebook, which contains a couple of the key phrases you will learn in the unit. Additionally, there can be a tip section, which actually explains a certain aspect of the language. In the beginning, you have those tips almost every unit, but they get gradually rarer and eventually stop in the middle of section 2, to the point I almost forgot they exist when one randomly popped up again after who knows how long. Ironically, these tips, while certainly helpful, aren’t full comprehensive explanations. They mostly tell you that certain things just are the way they are, without an attempt to explain why this is the case. To be fair, some things were also explained in special exercises at the beginning of a unit (if I remember correctly), but I can’t access them anymore, so my point still stands: you will miss the resources that explain how something works if you don’t understand it yourself.

Also, these tips aren’t always for the unit they appear in, so huge shout-out to the person responsible for the tip explaining how certain numbers change the pronunciation of “minutes” ふん (fun) to ぶん/ぷん (bun/pun)… in a unit exclusively using hours for time. Using Kanji I have never seen or words that have yet to be used is also an interesting approach. Sometimes, so much time passes between the tip and the unit I can apply this knowledge that I literally forget I was ever told. The problem is that it doesn’t refer to the tip ever again, so you are essentially on your own.

For comparison’s sake, I am currently at the end of section 3, unit 16, which is unit 61 out of 221 in the context of Duolingo’s entire Japanese course. Going from the start up to my current unit, these are the tips that are there, as well as when they are missing despite a new concept being introduced.

What it does teach

Verbs go at the end of a sentence
Japanese has no singular, plural, defined or undefined articles
The “-san” suffix shows respect, greetings often come after the name
Using は (wa) after a word makes it the topic of the sentence
Hiragana and Katakana can be mixed
Most question words come directly before ですか (desu ka)
If something belongs to you, you can use the phrase わたしの (watashi no)
The “-san” suffix after after a last name can also mean Ms, or Mrs., last name comes before first name
There are over 2.000 Kanji and they can help differentiate words that sound the same
To make a statement with です (desu) negative, use じゃないです (janai desu)
か (ka) at the end of a sentence makes it a question
The numbers 1 through 8 and 10
を (wo) connects the object to the verb, the -ます (-masu) ending for a verb indicates present or future
Asking and telling time (hours), combining numbers to make bigger numbers (Counting up to 99)
Wanting something (がほしです) and not wanting something (はほしくないです)… the latter has yet to be used a single time :D
Adding します (shimasu) to a noun to do noun
は (wa) and が (ga) are the same, except they are not, は (wa) is used for questions and negative sentences
You use words like いつも (always), よく (often) and ときどき (sometimes) to indicate how often you do something
You can combine です (desu) with other words, i.e. to form がすきです (to like something), some vowels are barely pronounced
Difference between あります (arimasu) and います (imasu)
Difference between それ (sore) and あれ (are)… the latter has yet to be used a single time :D
Saying where you live and how old you are
毎 (mai) can be put before most time periods to mean every
You refer to your own family members with different words than to other’s family members
Counting people, 一人 (hitori) and 二人 (futari) are irregular
When to put に (ni) or は (wa) after a weekday
Difference between この (kono) and これ (kore), difference between この (kono), その (sono) and あの (ano)… long after I have been using them
When to use の (no) for colors
あまり (amari) in conjunction with a negative verb means to not do something very much
くらい (kurai) means about or approximately and comes after the time period
Counting animals
Difference between に (ni) and へ (e)… the latter has yet to be used a single time :D

There were some more tips, but I suppose they probably vanished when the course was restructured. There was the thing about minutes, but also how you can simply add や (ya) to make it a shop of something, like パン (pan), meaning bread, becoming パンや (panya), a bakery.

For the most part, this list doesn’t look that bad, but you have to consider this is everything after an entire year. I obviously know way more, but if you were to compile all those tips into a textbook, you wouldn’t end up with that many pages, with the underlying takeaway being that it simply doesn’t teach enough.

What it doesn’t teach

What even is です (desu)? It doesn’t behave like all the other verbs (Help, I’m scared)
Particles and when to use them
How の (no) is used
Numbers can be pronounced differently depending on the context
The number 9…
Counting things
For what あります (arimasu) and います (imasu) can be used
What adjectives (don’t) need な (na) and what adjectives use の (no) instead
Volitional form of verbs
Negative verbs
The “-sensei” suffix
Doing something for a certain amount of time (hours, days)
Negative question form for verbs
How to say what day in the month
How to use prepositions
Past tense verbs
Negative adjectives and when to use じゃないです (janai desu) instead… also, how did I never notice most adjectives ending on い (i)?
“I want to”-form, as well as its negative form
Past tense negative verbs

Similarly, there is probably a good amount of stuff I missed, but again, defining what is missing mostly depends on what you think should be explicitly stated. Does the ね (ne) sentence ending need to be explained, especially when my first language does the exact same thing? Or where to put ひとりで (hitori de) when you do something alone? When is it enough to see it a couple of times? Also, basically half of the stuff is just the result of never explaining the most utter basics, like particles or how verbs work, which can absolutely be argued you simply have to get a feel for and use like three brain cells tops for the different verb forms. It is still weird that

行きます (ikimasu), 行きません (ikimasen), 行きましょう (ikimashou), 行きたい (ikitai), 行きたくない (ikitakunai), and 行きました (ikimashita)

are introduced like they are new words with no relation to one another and not just the same verb in a different form.

Things I would have expected to come up at some point

More question words, I only know 何 (nani), どく (doku), だれ (dare), いつ (itsu) and いくら (ikura)
Pronouns, or at the very least subject pronouns, currently only 私 (watashi) is ever used
“Standard” form of verbs and how to convert a verb into another form
Difference between formal and informal speech
Suffixes
The entire concept behind Kanji

Honestly, this is just a mental exercise in trying to come up with things you don’t even know you don’t know.

What annoys me and makes me laugh

While most things simply turn from frustration to confusion to just straight-up comedy over time, some other things just continue to annoy me. I really hate the way Duolingo’s word selection for sentence translation works in both English and Japanese. In English, it has this weird preference to break down each sentence part into as many words as possible. So if you are telling the time, o'clock is broken down into o' and clock; if you want to translate お茶 (ocha), be ready to not forget the green part of your tea, as just tea will not be accepted as a valid answer. Any kind of food or even city names? Split them and put them back together later. But at least the English one is consistent. The Japanese words are quite literally all over the place. Sometimes the particles stand on their own; sometimes they are already adjacent to the next word. Sometimes it is written in Kanji; sometimes it is just all Hiragana. Don’t even get me started when a の (no) is involved. And some other times, it just fucking trolls you in a way you need to triple-check to see what even happened.

Splitting ええと (eeto) into え and えと, and にゅうじょうりょう (nyuujouryou) into にゅうじょう and りょう should be punishable by death. Due to the gamification of Duolingo, I barely have to pay attention most of the time, so when stuff like this happens, I am just confused.

As one might have guessed from some of the comments in the previous section, there were a few units that had their quirks, but one in particular just baffles me. So, you are learning numbers. Great! They are even your introduction to Kanji, so you learn how to draw the character, the spelling in both romaji and Hiragana, everything, and you do that for every number from 1 to 10… except 9. Why don’t we talk about 9? Is it the forbidden mambo, which shall not be danced? Did it kill Duo’s family? Who knows? Anyway, it is time to tell the time; please don’t question what 九 means or how it is pronounced. Also, you will never hear 七 ever be referred to as なな (nana) again for at least several moons. We しち (shichi) now, lol. And just as a small teaser, don’t get too comfortable with 四 (yon) just yet; we doin' months next. Like, come on. Japanese is so funny where numbers are concerned. It is so reasonable when having the numbers on their own, and adding them together is so simple, only for every other possible use case to be its own can of worms. Perfect, I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Also, did the Japanese really not have their own word for bread, so they had to steal it from the Portuguese of all people? For fucking bread? You see a giraffe for the first time in your life and go like, “Yeah, I’m getting kinda きりん (kirin) vibes here”, but bread gets the full loanword Katakana treatment?

Duolingo also doesn’t bother if something has several meanings. 前 (mae) was introduced as meaning “in front of” something when used with an object… it can also mean “before” something, as in time and not a place. What do you mean you went shopping in front of the night? Does it sell good stuff? In the same way, やきます (yakimasu) was introduced in the context of grilling meat and fish… how am I supposed to grill a cake… this doesn’t seem right.

Then there is the complete opposite case, where one thing has several pronunciations, and I have yet to figure out when to use which. 家 is house and is either いえ (ie) or うち (uchi). I wouldn’t be surprised if “day” has at least five more ways of saying it than ひ (hi), にち (nichi), and -か (-ka). Please, Duo, tell me about it, because I initially thought I was crazy. Please, just explain Kanji to me, before I make up my own logic (It will be wrong).

This one might be the only complaint I have toward Japanese as a language: Katakana is the devil’s writing. It is not bad, but just… weird. Despite the characters consisting of clearer and fewer lines, it took me significantly longer to learn the Katakana, and it is all around harder for me to memorize and recognize them. Sure, there are some absolute bangers like キ (ki), カ (ka), and ホ (ho), but then there is also stuff like ム (mu), シ (shi), テ (te), ラ (ra), ネ (ne), ケ (ke), and ソ (so), and I would say the average is just lower than with Hiragana. I literally had to do the Katakana exercises again after half a year simply because I noticed I am mostly guessing the words and get single characters consistently wrong. I know I see Hiragana way more in the exercises, but it feels like I should know Katakana at this point regardless.

And while we are at it, please acknowledge that Duolingo randomly switches between how the characters are written by hand and how they are typically displayed mechanically/digitally. This is the stuff confusion is made of. I have no problem with some things just being the way they are, but acknowledge them, please. I learned French for five years; it can’t possibly be that bad as to hide it from me.

There are most definitely many more pet peeves I have with Duolingo, but I am too tired to remember more. It is 2 AM, and I am writing this post since like 11 AM.

I would never gaslight my friends

It is a new morning. I am tired, my right eye has reddened, and the leaf blower seems to be louder than ever before. All around, it is a very good morning. After trying to make sense of and correcting the nonsense I have written through the night, I am hit by a not-so-sudden realization: Maybe I am a horrible person.

After all, what even is the point of this post? Unlike Ultrastar, there are thousands of people writing about Duolingo in all kinds of different contexts, so me writing my experiences down is essentially pointless and just for me. It is also not like I kept this a secret or anything, and, with the exception of one person, who I wouldn’t trust to run their mouth immediately, I talked with basically all my friends about it. I more or less started Duolingo shortly after another friend did, stole their place in the family plan, and I even complained about Duolingo at length to someone studying linguistics right now. It is not like I know someone who already studies Japanese for years, was in Japan several times, and will even move there soon.

And even if I did, this would basically mean the entire premise of this post would be based on me keeping the fact I am learning Japanese a secret from them for over a year. I would never expend that much effort for something so stupid. Like, I would have to be completely silent and never talk about it publicly, I would have to tell everyone else to keep it a secret too, and I would have to come up with excuses on the spot every time for why I know something I shouldn’t know. Come on, gaslighting wouldn’t be enough for this, and I would be forced to utilize a nifty rhetorical device called ₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ lying ˖ ݁. ⊹ ₊. Something there most definitely does not exist audio evidence of, claiming I find it funny in certain situations.

Insinuating I don’t know how to read Japanese a tick too often to be natural? Couldn’t be me. Japanese text being on screen in an episode of anime? Sorry, no can do; gotta ask the oracle. Just sitting next to someone writing down all the Hiragana characters for me and listening to their explanations like I am none the wiser? Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Fuck it, might as well go all the way and ask some rather basic Japanese questions you should know the answer to yourself, to really drive it home that you don’t know anything. Not knowing better, yet obviously knowing more than I led on to, I have become language fascism incarnate.

So again, what is the point of this post? Why should I ever publish this? Should I just go on further implying I don’t know any Japanese, but if I were to learn Japanese, a certain someone would be the first person to know about it, because I would complain to them all the time? Shadow drop it on a really random day? Should I just wait until I pass one of the JLPT and publish a post like “JLPT December 2024 Review” instead? Write a short story about a pretender and retroactively call it real-life foreshadowing? Maybe I should never publish it at all, and when I eventually find myself in Japan, the truth will reveal itself rather unspectacularly on the side, Attack on Titan-style. I don’t know. I really don’t know.

In truth, I am just not that funny a person, and this has gone on way too long already. I am standing on a million lives, and I would gladly doom another million, yet it will never be enough. I should probably end this charade soon because I have stopped giggling to myself a long time ago. And who is to say this is still a secret anyway?

Trying to make sense of it all

Duolingo sent me an email with some stats for the year. I earned 73,547 XP, learned 1,774 words, and reviewed 20,240 phrases… Is this good? I don’t think so. Depending on how much you learn, the average seems to be around learning 1,000 to 2,000 new words in your first year, which seems to be right on the money for me… except I am pretty sure I have, in fact, not learned 1,774 words. I doubt it is even half. For one, I am pretty sure Duolingo counts some words/characters double because Duolingo displays a new word as purple, and I can remember words I already knew being introduced as a new word with a slightly changed meaning in another context, etc. Secondly, a good amount of the words are either just English words written in Katakana, not even wasei-eigo, but literally just English words, or names of places, food, etc., which I doubt should be counted. At the very least, I am definitely under a thousand words. Also, how many Kanji do I know? I unlocked not even a hundred and only practiced about 70.

Most people say an app is not enough and should only be used alongside other methods like flashcards, immersive learning, or even a real textbook… Why can’t Duolingo just do all these things? I mean, the answer is capitalism, but this won’t make me feel better. Just imagine a full interactive textbook, actual flashcards, and ways to engage with the language naturally. The only thing it can’t do is help you write the characters (dragging your finger over a screen doesn’t count). But Duolingo is far away from any of it.

I really wish I could filter my vocabulary list for verbs, as I think verbs are my biggest problem area right now. Not because I think I somehow have a problem with memorizing verbs specifically, but because Duolingo barely uses a verb outside its unit. “Buying” and “going” are the two verbs always in use. My math teacher could wake me at 3 AM and ask me what “going” and “buying” are in Japanese; for some reason, I could indeed answer as if shot out of a pistol (for every non-German reading this: this is a very real thing and is definitely happening). Ask me about any other verb, and it will be a coin flip whether I will struggle. I don’t even know the verbs I don’t know because I have forgotten them already.

“n+1” is a term you may find in certain language learning communities. It means you are engaging in material always above your current learning level, but it is still comprehensible due to everything you do know, thus always progressing by learning new words or understanding more complicated sentences. Duolingo is barely “n”, “n-1+1” at best, and at times feels more like you are moving backward or stepping aside. It is mostly based on recognizing; nothing challenges you, and your progression is just way too slow to be meaningful.

The bottom line might be that Duolingo just kinda sucks for actually learning a language, and I primarily used it because it will get me to learn something. I am just a guy. Average. Mediocre. Maybe capable, but seldom willing. Most people are not learning a language on their own. Hell, the only reason I stuck with Duolingo for over a year is that I had the premium plan. I mean, you can use Duolingo for free, but you don’t want to use Duolingo for free. Trust me, you really don’t.

I should really either stop or switch to something else. Babbel seems to be the same but better; as long as anime and visual novels are too hard for me, I want to try Beelinguapp, and maybe I will even dish out 65 euros for the Genki text- and workbook, even if it is not as convenient as an app. If I just want to watch anime, even Animelon might be an option. And if I really want to get an earful, punched, kicked, and most probably defenestrated for good measure, I’ll download Anki. Will I be able to do these without the funny green owl threatening the well-being of everyone dear to me? I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Anyway, I learned Hiragana, so here’s a tier list.

You can try Duolingo for yourself on their Website, or by downloading the App (Android or iOS).

KonoSuba LN: Band 5

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 14:50:00 +0200

Ach ja, ein weiterer Band, ein weiterer Artikel für den Blog, wobei dieser eher allein der Vollständigkeit dienen wird. Ob meine Vermutung stimmt, dass ich wahrscheinlich keine 1000 Worte schreiben werde, werde ich sehen, wenn ich alles fertig verfasst habe. Der fünfte Band umfasst die Geschehnisse, welche im Film KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! - Legend of Crimson adaptiert wurden, zu denen ich meine Meinung bereits in dreifacher Ausführung geben durfte… nicht, dass ich diese jemals irgendwo für die Nachwelt niedergeschrieben hätte, weshalb dieser Post vielleicht doch seiner Existenzberechtigung nachkommt.

Vorab: Dies war der Band, auf den ich mich am meisten in Bezug auf dessen Adaption gewundert habe. Im Gegensatz zu den bisherigen Misserfolgen von Kazuma und Co. ist Legend of Crimson viel mehr wie ein eigener, geschlossener kleiner Arc aufgebaut, weshalb ich mich gefragt habe, ob und wie dies in der Vorlage der Fall ist. Ebenfalls wirkte der Film von den Geschehnissen her deutlich kompakter und fülliger als die Serie (etwas, welches seine eigenen Probleme hat, aber dazu später), weshalb ich nicht unbedingt überrascht war, dass dieser Band, anstatt der üblichen 200 Seiten, gute 50 Seiten mehr aufwies. Ob dies irgendetwas zu sagen hat, würde sich dann zeigen. Wie dem auch sei, hier sind meine Gedanken zu Band fünf von KonoSuba.

Wie auch die vorherigen Bände, schließt auch dieser direkt an das Ende des letzten an. Wobei, ganz genau ist dies nicht der Fall. Bevor Yunyun in das Anwesen stürmt und Kazuma um ein Kind anfleht, geht der Prolog erneut auf die Liebe zur Explosionsmagie einer ganz bestimmten Knalltüte ein. Obwohl sie sich in der dritten Reihe hinter Yunyun und selbst Aqua auf dem Cover einreihen muss, ist dies ohne Frage Megumins Band, und der Prolog fängt direkt mit dem roten Faden an, der sich durch den gesamten Band ziehen wird: Dass die Wahl der Explosionsmagie weder ein Fehler ist, noch dass man diese bereuen muss.

Auf jeden Fall stürmt Yunyun in das Anwesen, erklärt, dass das Kind von Kazuma und ihr nicht nur dafür sorgen wird, dass der Clan des Roten Dämons weiterlebt, sondern dass jenes auch in Zukunft den Dämonenkönig besiegen wird. Dank einer 10-Punkte-Leistung an mentaler Gymnastik von Kazuma und dem sonst zu erwartenden Durcheinander der restlichen Gruppe kommen wir in den Genuss von absolutem Chaos, als eine Person nach der anderen ihren Verstand verliert – von Megumin und Yunyun, die sich eingestehen müssen, dass alle aus ihrem Dorf, sie selbst eingeschlossen, auf einem Spektrum zwischen dumm-dumm und chaotisch-dumm stehen, bis zu Darkness und Aqua, die versuchen, dafür zu sorgen, dass Kazuma höchstens sein eigenes Blut wieder in den Kopf steigt, bevor er noch auf so einen lächerlichen, aber zugleich ironischen Gedanken kommt, wie dass er nun doch vielleicht bei den Frauen beliebt sei. Stellt euch das mal vor.

Mit der Situation entschärft, dass der Clan des Roten Dämons höchstwahrscheinlich doch nicht in ernster Gefahr steckt, aber ein kurzer Besuch auch nicht schaden würde, geht es zu Wiz' Laden, um sie darum zu bitten, sich eine erneute Reise per Kutsche zu sparen. Der Film hält sich ab hier recht knapp, wahrscheinlich um schnell zum eigentlichen Dorf zu kommen, und erwähnt lediglich, dass Kazuma eine beträchtliche Summe Geld erwarten kann, wenn er nach dem Ausflug Vanir die Patentrechte seiner Erfindungen abdrückt. Die Novel ist da schon ein wenig ausführlicher und gibt uns unter anderem kleine Nuggets, wie dass Wiz ein Mittel bestellt hat, welches Monster fernhält, und nun hinten im Laden am heulen ist, weil es… nun ja… Monster fernhält, oder dass Vanir Kazumas Wahnvorstellungen weiter anfeuert, indem er andeutet, dass ihm ein Mädchen eine ganz wichtige Frage stellen wird, die ihre gemeinsame Zukunft beeinflussen wird. Es wird ebenfalls mehr auf Megumins Tsundere-Verhalten eingegangen, wobei es ironisch ist, dass ihr niemand glaubt, dass sie eine Schwester hat, die sie besuchen möchte, und dass sie sich den ganzen Aufwand nicht nur Yunyuns Willen antut. Yunyun selbst zeigt auch viel mehr Rückgrat, als man von ihrer Darstellung im Anime erwarten würde.

Es geht ebenfalls nicht direkt zum Dorf des Clans des Roten Dämons bzw. zur Verfolgung durch die Orks. Obwohl das Wasser dafür sorgt, dass sich Wiz wortwörtlich auflöst, hat sie Arcanletia als Ziel für ihren Teleportationszauber eingetragen. Auch wenn Aqua sehr begeistert davon war, direkt wieder vom Axis-Kult umgeben zu sein, wollten die drei anderen möglichst schnell wieder aus der Stadt raus. Auf dem Weg treffen sie auf das Mimik-Mädchen, das es dann doch noch in die dritte Staffel geschafft hat, adaptiert zu werden. Hier bekommen wir auch einen Teil von Aquas Credo zu hören, welches der Anime im Finale der zweiten Staffel groß in Szene gesetzt hat. Am Ende rastet die Gruppe auf halbem Wege im Wald die Nacht durch.

Megumin und Darkness sind dem Ganzen immer noch nicht ganz auf die Schliche gekommen, dass Aqua und Kazuma nicht nur Fremde, sondern aus einer ganz anderen Welt sind, und löchern die beiden, um mehr über sie zu erfahren. Kazuma kann sich natürlich nicht davon abhalten, über seine fantastischen Abenteuer zu berichten, auf die er sich mit seinen alten Kameraden begeben hat. Im gleichen Atemzug musste er aber auch Aqua anflehen, den beiden nicht das Konzept von MMOs zu erklären. Wir bekommen ebenfalls das erste Stück Hintergrundwissen über Kazuma: Wie sich herausstellt, wurde unser armer Neet Opfer einer der größten Tragödien unserer Zeit. Die Kindheitsfreundin, die versprochen hatte, ihn zu heiraten, wenn sie beide erwachsen sind, wurde eines Tages von einem coolen Typen mit Motorrad von der Schule abgeholt. Doch anstatt in den Bergen um Shibukawa in Rekordzeit Tofu auszuliefern, hat er es einfach nicht mehr in der Schule ausgehalten und verfiel den Klauen von Videospielen und anderen Eckpfeilern des Otakudaseins. Er könnte einen schon fast leid tun, wäre dieses Entitlement nicht eine seiner größten Macken, welche ihn davon abhält, eine vernünftige Person zu sein, da jede halbwegs gute Interaktion mit einem Mädchen sein Ego ins Unendliche aufbläht. Außerdem halten er und Megumin für einen kurzen Moment Händchen. Lest aus dieser Anordnung an Sätzen heraus, was auch immer ihr wollt.

Der Angriff der Orkfrauen ist auch weniger plötzlich und kommt daher, dass Kazuma seine Skills nutzen wollte, um die Gruppe sicher über ein riesiges Feld zu lotsen, dabei aber scheinbar wieder vergessen hat, dass diese Welt nicht in erster Linie auf klassischen Fantasy-Tropen basiert, sondern darauf, was für den Moment lustiger wäre. Deshalb wendete sich das Blatt schnell, und Kazuma war nicht mehr am Wohlbefinden seiner Party interessiert, sondern an dem seiner Jungfräulichkeit. Nachdem Megumin den Zorn der restlichen Orks auf sich gezogen hat, knüpfen wir wieder an die Geschehnisse des Films an. Die weltfremde Darkness muss enttäuscht feststellen, dass nur noch weibliche Orks existieren, Yunyun kommt zur Rettung, Kazuma heult sein Trauma bei Aqua aus, und ein paar der Dorfbewohner vertreiben die Schergen der Dämonenarmee. Good stuff.

Das Dorf des Clans des Roten Dämons ist ganz nett und bildet einen schönen Kontrast zu den sonst eher größeren und weniger persönlichen Orten, die die Serie zu bieten hat und die anderen Bewohner rekontextualisieren Megumins und Yunyuns Verhalten auf eine interessante Art. Ich bin ebenfalls ein großer Fan davon, dass man einen doppelseitigen, illustrierten Ratgeber bekommt, der alle ~~Touristenfallen~~ Sehenswürdigkeiten im Dorf anzeigt. Alles wirkt am Anfang tatsächlich noch so, als ob Kazuma endlich seinen erholsamen Urlaub bekommt, nach dem er sich so sehr gesehnt hat.

Ab dem Besuch bei Megumins Elternhaus wird alles ein wenig durchwachsener für mich. Komekko ist adorable, keine Frage, und wie Aqua und Darkness mit ihr Zeit verbringen, ist unglaublich süß. Auch dass Megumins Eltern nichts mit Kazuma zu tun haben wollten, bis er am Rande erwähnt, dass er neben seinen Schulden eigentlich ebenfalls ein halbes Vermögen angehäuft hat und die Mutter nun alles in ihrer Kraft stehende tut, um die beiden zusammenzubringen, finde ich amüsant. Doch die Implikationen letzterer sind mir einfach nicht ganz wohlgesonnen. Nicht falsch verstehen: Es ist absolut hysterisch, Kazumas Gedankengang zu verfolgen, ob es nun richtig oder falsch wäre, sich an Megumin ranzumachen, aber ich finde dieses unterschwellige, nicht-ganz-aber-irgendwie-geht-es-schon-in-die-Richtung-Romance-Ding den bisher schwächsten Aspekt von KonoSuba und auch jenen, den ich mir aktiv nicht wünschen würde. Gekoppelt damit, dass sich Kazuma quasi die ganze Zeit von seiner schlechtesten Seite zeigt, war dies der Teil, der mir am wenigsten gefiel. Halt, Kazuma hat offensichtlich kein Herz aus Gold, aber immerhin liegt es hin und wieder am richtigen Fleck. Hier war er jedoch einfach am wenigsten zu ertragen, nicht nur in Bezug auf Megumin, sondern auch auf Aqua und Darkness.

Neben dieser ganzen Geschichte versucht sich gleichzeitig die Armee des Dämonenkönigs daran das Dorf einzunehmen, auch wenn sich die Erfolge bisher in Grenzen halten. Megumin hat in der Tat nicht gelogen, und wie sich herausstellt, besteht der Clan des Roten Dämons quasi exklusiv aus mächtigen Magiern. Sylvia ist ebenfalls die bisher interessanteste Generälin des Dämonenkönigs, auch wenn sich ihre Charakterisierung immer noch recht in Grenzen hält. Es tut ihr ebenfalls nicht gut, dass sie Teil eines Witzes ist, der, je nachdem, wie man KonoSuba als Ganzes ansieht, recht unterschiedlich aufgefasst werden kann. Like, ich verstehe es. Der gesamte Arc spielt mit der Idee, dass Kazuma endlich Glück bei den Frauen hat, nur um ihm den Teppich unter den Füßen wegzuziehen. Dass Yunyun direkt auf Distanz geht, als sich der Brief ihres Vaters als eine Geschichte herausstellt, dass die Orkfrauen ihn innerhalb einer Woche in eine leere Hülle seines ehemaligen Ichs verwandeln würden und dass Sylvia mit etwas mehr ausgestattet ist, als ihm persönlich lieb ist. Gleichzeitig fällt es in das unangenehme Schema, dass queer-coded Charaktere als primär sexuell dargestellt werden und es oft auch deren einzige Repräsentation in einer Serie ist. Dies ist zum Glück die einzige Instanz, und auch so gibt es keine weiteren Witze auf Kosten ihrer Identität, aber diese eine Szene wird selbst für mich, der noch am ehesten in einer Position ist, darüber zu lachen, immer ein wenig negativ konnotiert sein, was eine Schande ist, denn davon abgesehen ist das Setup ein absoluter Slam Dunk an Comedygold. Selbstverständlich ist Kazuma so petty, dass er seine Gruppe für ein Paar Brüste hintergehen würde.

Mit Kazumas Entführung beginnt das große Actionfinale, wobei die Action, zumindest in schriftlicher Form, der Teil ist, der mich am wenigsten mitnimmt. Mit Hilfe des Konami-Codes kommt Sylvia an den Magier-Killer, verschmilzt mit diesem und beginnt den Clan des Roten Dämons zu terrorisieren. Yunyun bekommt einen Moment, um zu glänzen, in welchem es ihr nicht mehr zu peinlich ist, sich in großer Aufmachung vor Sylvia vorzustellen und einen Zauber abzufeuern, damit Aqua und Kazuma das Labor untersuchen können. Der Reveal, dass nicht nur der Magier-Killer, sondern der gesamte Clan des Roten Dämons eine Erfindung vom selben Typen ist, der auch für den Destroyer verantwortlich war, ist fantastisch und erklärt, wie die bestimmten Macken der Clanmitglieder entstanden sind, da er sich nicht um sie kümmerte und einfach deren Chuunibyou überlassen hat. Es lebe der Butterfly Effect in KonoSuba.

Was den eigentlichen Kampf gegen Sylvia angeht, unterscheidet sich der Film doch recht stark von der Vorlage. In der Novel zerstört Sylvia recht schnell das Dorf, wobei sich alle Einwohner noch schnell in Sicherheit bringen können, und die restlichen Mitglieder des Clans halten sie überwiegend dadurch auf, dass sie sie provozieren und sich im letzten Moment wegteleportieren, was Sylvia irgendwann in den Wahnsinn treibt. In der Zwischenzeit holt Kazuma die als Trockenstange benutzte “Railgun”, Megumin lädt diese aus Versehen mit ihrem Explosionszauber auf, und Komekko rettet den Tag, indem sie den Kill abstaubt und sich in Pose als liebenswerteste kleine Schwester des Clans des Roten Dämons vorstellt. Der Film hingegen gibt Sylvia eine komplette zweite Phase inklusive Power-Up. Wiz und Vanir treten den Kampf bei, Kazuma spielt erneut den Lockvogel, und am Ende wird Sylvia durch die vereinten Kräfte von Yunyun und Megumin besiegt.

Während ich meine Probleme mit dem Ende des Filmes habe – überwiegend, dass der zweite Klimax das Ende des Filmes merkwürdig in die Länge streckt – bevorzuge ich dieses über das in der Novel. Dass Komekko den Auslöser drückt und ohne große Fanfaren Sylvia besiegt, ist lustig, aber auch nicht wirklich mehr. Im Film hingegen ist das Besiegen von Sylvia sowohl ein großer Schritt für Yunyun als auch für Megumin und wird den ganzen Ereignissen doch mehr gerecht, besonders mit den zusätzlichen Informationen aus den Spin-off-Novels, die im Film eingebaut wurden. Im Idealfall hätte ich gerne eine Mischung aus den beiden, aber wem interessiert schon meine Meinung?

Mit Sylvia besiegt, geht auch der Besuch beim Clan des Roten Dämons zu Ende, wobei die Gang noch eine weitere Nacht bleibt. In dieser erzählt Kazuma Megumin vom Valentinstag und dem darauffolgenden White Day, worauf Megumin antwortet, dass sie ihm Schokolade schenken würde. Kazuma geht mit diesem Geständnis… um. Ob gut oder schlecht, ließ sich mir nicht ganz erschließen. Zum Schluss treffen sich die beiden ein letztes Mal beim Hügel des Dämonengottes. Der Film lässt dieses Detail komplett aus, aber es wird besagt, dass man, wenn man sich hier seine Liebe gesteht, daraufhin verflucht wird, sein Leben miteinander zu verbringen. Kazuma, welcher auch mit dieser Situation definitiv umgeht, wird stattdessen von Megumin gebeten, ihre neu erhaltenen Skillpunkte auf andere Zauber als nur die Explosionsmagie zu verteilen, nachdem sie ihm fragt, ob er lieber eine fähige Magierin in der Party hätte. Als er ihr die Abenteurerkarte zurückgibt, bittet er sie um eine letzte Explosion, die selbstverständlich stärker ausfällt als alle anderen zuvor und letztlich Vanirs Vorhersage wahr werden lässt. Außerdem, eins muss man KonoSuba lassen: Es weiß, wann und wie man die emotionalen Storybeats trifft. Während Kazuma sich nicht immer von seiner besten Seite zeigt, sind es diese kleinen Momente der Gemeinsamkeit, die dieses chaotische Quartett für mich so charmant machen. Natürlich wäre Megumin nützlicher, könnte sie mehr Magie einsetzen als nur eine große Explosion am Tag, aber für wen will man sich halten, den Traum dieses Mädchens zu ruinieren?

Bevor es zurück nach Axel geht, wird Yunyun damit aufgezogen, einen erheblichen Teil zur Rettung des Tages beigetragen zu haben, während Megumin über sich ergehen lassen muss, wie ihre alten Klassenkameraden sie immer noch so merkwürdig wie früher finden. In einem letzten ironischen Twist benutzt Megumin alles, wofür sie Kazuma die letzten Tage kritisiert hat und eigentlich gegen ihn hält, als Munition, um vor den anderen anzugeben, was für eine erwachsene Frau sie doch nun sei und dass sie sich nicht auf so ein niederes Niveau begebe – ganz zum Schock sowohl der Klassenkameraden, welche weinend weglaufen, als auch von Yunyun und Kazuma.

Die Novel endet wie immer mit einem kurzen Teaser für den nächsten Geschichtsstrang, in dem die Prinzessin Iris die vier in die Hauptstadt einlädt, um von ihren Heldentaten zu hören. Generell möchte ich zu diesem Band eigentlich mehr sagen, als dass es einfach mehr KonoSuba ist, wie man es kennt und liebt, aber irgendwie fehlen mir die Worte. Ich will nicht auf so etwas Generischem enden, wie dass dieser Band sowohl die besten als auch die schlechtesten Elemente von KonoSuba zeigt, aber irgendwie trifft es das Ganze doch ganz gut. Immer noch großartig, aber ich bezweifle irgendwie, dass sich KonoSuba in etwas entwickeln könnte, was ich noch mehr liebe, als ich es ohnehin schon tue… was nicht schlecht ist, denn KonoSuba ist bereits eines meiner Lieblingsdinge.

Ich bin zwar bereits auf einige Unterschiede zwischen der Novel und dem Film eingegangen, aber es gibt noch ein paar Stellen, die ich separat auflisten möchte: Viele kleinere Szenen entstammen der Spin-off-Novel KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, wie dem Besuch der Schule oder Teile von Megumins Vergangenheit, insbesondere die Szene, in der Yunyun ihre Skillpunkte aufopfert, damit Megumin ihre für den Explosionszauber behalten kann. Megumins Mutter ist in den Novels deutlich aufdringlicher, was das nächtliche Zusammensein von Megumin und Kazuma angeht, und Darkness hat viel mehr Momente, in denen sie sich verbal mit Kazuma anlegt oder ihn straight-up frontet. Ansonsten verlaufen einige Szenen etwas verändert, um besser in die Struktur des Films zu passen, wie die romantischen Andeutungen zwischen Megumin und Kazuma oder Megumins finale Explosion, die erst stattfindet, als die Gang wieder nach Axel teleportiert wurde. Die größten Änderungen bleiben aber eigentlich nur die fehlende Reise zum Clan des Roten Dämons sowie der verlängerte Kampf gegen Sylvia.

Und dies wäre es soweit von mir bezüglich des fünften Bandes von KonoSuba. Je nachdem, wie man rundet (vorrangig sehr falsch), bin ich tatsächlich mit nur knapp 1000 Wörtern dabei. Vielleicht lohnt sich dieser Beitrag aber dennoch. Im nächsten Artikel, wann und ob auch immer dieser erscheinen wird, geht es dann wahrscheinlich um den sechsten und siebten Band, welche in der dritten Staffel des Animes adaptiert wurden. Und wenn in der Zwischenzeit keine weitere Staffel angekündigt ist, könnte ich dann tatsächlich irgendwann dem Anime voraus sein… vorausgesetzt, dass Tokyopop es nun endlich auf die Reihe bekommt, die neuen Bände in regelmäßigen Abständen zu veröffentlichen.

Bis irgendwann dann. Und vergesst nicht: Nur weil man den Segen der Mutter hat, heißt es noch lange nicht, dass man sich an jungen Mädchen vergreifen sollte.

Sexiled: The Limits of Revenge

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 15:15:00 +0200

Ach ja, I just recently finished reading the two volumes of Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up with a Mythical Sorceress! and I am a bit perplexed. On one hand, I was initially under the impression that this series would be Girls Love (Which is an insane opening statement for what I am about to discuss) and, to be fair, it is, but only in the same way Attack on Titan is a romance. On the other hand, the novel is just not that much fun to read, despite its subject matter being right up my alley. So, why is that?

To give you the basic rundown of everything that can’t be already inferred by the title alone, Sexiled is, at least what I assume it to be, a pretty bog-standard “Kicked out of your party” revenge story. It is set in a world of swords and sorcery, filled with your classic staples of light novel fantasy™ like guilds, adventuring parties, RPG mechanics and all that good stuff I doubt I will ever care about. There isn’t really much more to the world, no specific gimmick and, as far as I am concerned, it plays its premise pretty straight: Tanya gets kicked out of her party, in her frustrations accidentally sets free the ancient sorceress Laplace and together the both of them take revenge on the men that wronged them. It goes through the motions of speedrunning the all-too-familiar plot points of getting overpowered immediately and acquiring wealth, comrades and anything resembling the general concept of safety, that renders any sense of tension and stakes obsolete in just the opening chapters. It is at times pretty contrived, the characters outside of Tanya and Laplace are barely developed and it feels just plain trite and uninspired most of the time. In general, the plot just kinda sucks.

However, everyone that knows me and what kind of media I normally engage with should already know that this isn’t really the reason why I am talking about this series to begin with. If I had the time and endurance to half-heartily criticize mediocre series I don’t have strong feelings about, I would already be doing it en masse as a clickbait YouTuber. Nah, Sexiled has capital T themes and I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to call the main story one giant framing device to explore situations in which the characters are confronted and ultimately deal with sexism… or, at least it tries to.

Before going into specifics, my general stance on the series is that I fundamentally agree with everything it does say. Afterall, I don’t think it is a hot take coming from me to be against discriminating women and forcing people into specific roles based on societal expectations of one’s gender. I also have zero problems with the series wearing its politics on its sleeves written in all caps neon letters. My main gripe is that I don’t think Sexiled is particularly good at addressing these issues in a very nuanced way, which makes it also rather easy for reactionaries to either argue in bad faith or dismiss it in its entirety. As a feminist critique of mostly contemporary real-life issues, it just doesn’t go deep enough into the reasons why these problems occur and how to potentially solve them, which makes recommending this series on the basis of it being media that tackles such political issues almost impossible. As for the long version…

Sexiled traps itself in what I would describe as a perpetual cycle of revenge. Of course, there is the main story of Tanya’s quest to embarrass her former party leader in front of the whole city and Laplace stopping the person that sealed her away all those years ago. But looking at the beat for beat motions, there is something similarly going on at a micro level: The duo/trio/quartet finds itself in a position where they are either belittled, disrespected or wronged based on them being women, the series goes to varying lengths to explain why it is wrong and it ends with some form of retaliation. It often isn’t even a violent kind of retaliation, just either flipping the situation around, or simply showcasing how much the women trump the men in the moment. A sexist confrontation never just happens or ends, but instead seemingly must be followed up by some kind of own, the perpetrators taking the L or something similar. It is not like these scenes are not satisfying to read or anything. Tanya is interesting in the way that she is just so outgoing and fed up with everyone’s attitude, to the point it catches everyone off-guard and greatly contributes to the one thing I think the series does convey well: That it is possible to stand up to injustice and make the world around you a better place, if only a little.

However, the underlying problem is twofold. It gets really exhausting to see it be the only source of conflict. It isn’t even like they simply encounter situations in which they are confronted with society’s worst side, but rather that those situations find them on a constant basis unprompted. The second problem is that, while systematic in origin, the actual reasons why the women find themselves in these situations is seldom due the system or even society at large, but specific singular men or groups of men. The problem with that is that basically every single of them is just a one-off walking stereotype of a sexist. Not even the type of sexist that hides behind rhetorics and plausible deniability, but just straight up saying how they mean it, which only further added to my feeling of exhaustion. More importantly, it makes it seem like less of a representation of society at large, than just the act of specific individuals. Ironically, this is something, which we are constantly reminded by the narration to be not the case, despite only ever really being shown otherwise. From a writing perspective, this should not be the case.

The biggest exception, and at the same time my favorite little overall detail, is the shopkeeper of the armor shop from the beginning of the first novel. For this, we need some more background: So basically, in this world, there is the believe that magic gets stronger if you are exposing more skin. Is it true? Nope, but it is not like anyone knows better, or, more importantly, it is not like anyone in power exists, who would want to change it. Afterall, due to societal expectations, all the classes utilizing magic, like Mages and Healers, mostly consist of women anyway, so all the man can feast upon the sight of actual bikini armor. Beyond being one of the problems that can’t be simply punched away, it also one that can involve other men that aren’t directly sexist in themselves. The shopkeeper himself has no incentive to stock more modest armor, even if he were allowed to and since the market for female adventurers is smaller anyway, it leads to the big disparity between how male adventurers are allowed to dress themselves versus how female adventurers are forced to. Good stuff, but unfortunately the only incident which looks at more fundamental issues and really gets some page count.

It is not like the series as a whole completely ignores systematic problems entirely. In fact, the series regularly acknowledges that there is more going on than just some men being assholes. However, these discussions are not really relevant to the plot itself and tend to be reserved for when the party is talking to each other over some food. These were by far the most interesting bits we got, as they not only serve as great character reflection, but as well as new information to me specifically. To the disappointment of everyone, I am a man and thus simply never had to worry about specific things some woman have to go through. So, reading about how Nadine feels pressured to accept food she doesn’t like in fear other men reacting negatively or how even some of the most mundane things don’t accommodate women properly, is actually insightful for a lot of people and gets more to the root of how sexism creeps into all aspects of life, not just the big ones you can concretely point to. Speaking of which…

In the afterword, the author specifically mentions one real life incident, which directly inspired a major plot point in the first novel: In 2018, it was revealed that the Tokyo Medical University lowered the test scores of female applicants to artificially keep the number of women graduating down. Without oversimplifying to much, the main reason was the underlying bias and believe that women will or should take up a domestic and maternal role relatively early in their career, which is in conflict with the goal of the institution. Sexiled portrays a very similar event, essentially switching the medical school for a magic academy, but keeping the main issue of girls and women being unfairly judged the same.

What really bothers me with this little arc is how everything is eventually resolved. Again, instead of discussing how it all came to be and how it is possible that the board administration of a public educational institution turned into a comical lair of men spouting sexist rhetorics between them, while deducting points of the female applicants, it is time for action. How and why did the world change over the last 300 years to create such a disparity between the genders? Who knows?.. I mean, the second volume states that it is the sole responsibility of one specific guy, so I do know, but… yeah. And what’s worst, instead of being a public issue, the whole thing was resolved by Tanya and Laplace storming the board meeting and simply threatening the men into making more fair decisions. Congratulations, instead of changing the system for the better, all that was needed to make women attend the academy is the constant threat of violence by the hands of the only two woman being powerful enough to do so… Jesus Christ.

This is what I mean by the perpetual cycle of revenge. Most situations are treated as not just unfair, but as something that needs to be taken revenge against first and properly solved second. It is never “Women can actually do this, they are just not allowed to” and more “Women can’t do this, until one does so and then everyone starts clapping”. In fact, this “and then everyone starts clapping” is a weird constant of the story, which makes me doubt just how prevalent or intense the sexism of this world truly is, when simply passing the vibe check can bring material change. Sexiled does not participate in man-bashing, it just feels compelled to always make men specifically the fall guy for most, if not all situations, despite the intended message being so clearly the opposite. The first volume ends with Tanya giving a heartfelt speech about how the circumstances of one’s birth shouldn’t decide what you can and can’t do with your life, specifically addressing all the young girls wanting to be an adventurer just like her. The second volume even doubles down on this idea, as it is obvious that this sentiment stretches way farther than just the young girls and even reaching other men that also suffer from the current status quo.

The biggest take-away from this series should be that female comradery is one hell of a force and that change is possible. Nothing can take this away. It is just that this is simply not enough for me, especially when assuming a critical take on sexism to be the series' core appeal. As it is now, it reads mostly like an emotional outcry at the injustices of the world… which is fair and valid. You can’t take revenge against an indifferent system, so rebelling in your own way is at times the only thing you can do on your own.

Sexiled constantly flirts with the idea of being what I want it to be. Beyond what I have already mentioned, Katherine is an interesting character, as she starts out as a woman, which, due to her own internalized sexism, falls into a position, which makes the life of other women more difficult, which in itself is a great example of conflicting interests between people who otherwise belong to the same group… to bad this was quickly dropped and barely touched upon. Another thing I would have wished to not be just reduced to a side note is how misogyny also hurts men and that the fight for equality isn’t just in the interest of just women, but everyone. Sexism is a pretty broad topic, so seeing it mostly reduced to a couple of men discriminating women for no reason and with almost no further characterization, is a bit disheartening.

If you are interested in other light novels, which also tackle similar issues, I can recommend the following two:

I’m in Love with the Villainess is primarily about LGBTQ struggles and various social issues, but hits more or less the same itch as Sexiled. The light novel is also way more direct and earnest about its politics than its manga and anime adaption and displays a pretty solid grasp on modern society and the problems queer people in it have to face, while also weaving everything seamlessly into a narrative that keeps you guessing where its end goal truly lies.
JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World is very much a deconstruction of the quasi-inherent sexism of the generic isekai power fantasy and goes deep into the psychology of how such a world forms rather specific views about sex and gender, as well as showcasing all the problems that come with opposing them.

Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up with a Mythical Sorceress! is available on J-Novel Club.

Welcome to the N.H.K.: Adaptation as Extension

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 22:55:00 +0200

Ach ja, as always, let’s start with some useless side remarks. Welcome to the N.H.K. is one of those series I always had on the radar, mostly due to being considered a classic of the 00s, but never really got around to it, as it was, as so many other anime, cursed to forever be an item on my never shrinking PTW list. What finally gave me the push to tackle NHK were a couple of screenshots of the afterword of the original novel someone posted on Twitter (Currently known as X). I would call the afterword dramatically ironic, if it weren’t for the fact that the author’s attempt to escape the hikikomori lifestyle by writing the novel, only to fall back into it due to the novel’s success enabling that lifestyle, is just too depressing. Real life continues to be the biggest tragedy of them all.

Thus, the idea of Welcome to the N.H.K. was subtly planted in my brain, so it would be the next series I was to engage with and since I now possess the means to read, I would go with the original source material first, before watching the anime. To my surprise, despite the anime adaptation consisting of 24 episodes, the original novel is just one singular volume around the same word count as your average light novel. It didn’t make finding it any easier though, as the physical edition has long since gone out-of-print and unfortunately didn’t receive a digital publication in the mean time. I eventually settled on a OCR’d Epub based on scans of the physical edition. Long live the remnants of the 00’s.

Anyway, to make a not that long story short: I read the novel, enjoyed it, but did wonder how one would create 24 episodes of anime out of it. Shortly after, I watched the anime, enjoyed it and got my answer as to how 24 episodes might be just the right amount for it. The adaptation of Welcome to the N.H.K. is not just interesting in the way a rather self-introspective novel, in which not a lot of concrete events happen, is brought into an audio-visual medium, but also how it extends the core ideas of NHK beyond the original novel.

By “Extension” I don’t just mean making certain plot points longer or filling in some gaps. The adaptation also doesn’t go beyond the initial scope of the novels. The anime starts where the novels begins and it also ends on the same note. Instead, the anime created several completely original arcs and new characters that seamlessly integrate into the dialog of being a hikikomori, societal disillusionment and the fundamental will to live, that wouldn’t feel alien if they would also come up in the novel… except, the novel obviously works without the new stuff, while the anime wouldn’t be able to stand as proud as it does without it.

By basically all definitions, the anime adaptation consists mostly of filler and while I would very much agree on this being the case, I would also argue that NHK’s implementation of it is a best practice example of how adding something not found in the original source material can indeed enrich the story and not just bloat it. There seems to be this weird stigma against filler, which I can only assume arose in the communities of long-running Shounen series being plagued by not just a lot of filler, but especially a lot of bad filler. But while I can’t judge the quality of anime I didn’t see, there is also another, maybe even more important aspect of filler, which can be discussed: It being the idea consequentiality. Regardless of it being good or bad, what is the point of adding something when the original got by just fine without it? While this is a very valid question, I think it is more interesting to flip it on its head and look at it from another perspective.

How much of the original story is really necessary? I want to note that this question is mostly to be taken rhetorically. After all, I don’t think stories are meant to be min-maxed. You probably could condense One Piece to less than half its length, but it also wouldn’t be One Piece anymore. In the same way, adding something not intrinsically necessary to a story has the ability to make you fall in love with it even more. My point being, the idea of filler, especially in the context of an adaptation, shouldn’t be primarily viewed as a thing to get through, but rather as an opportunity to double down on the thing that make the original special. Anyway, with my urge to comment on random side remarks satisfied, it is time to talk about some of the concretes of Welcome to the N.H.K.’s transition from novel to anime.

As far as the original novel is concerned, it is not like a lot of the plot points were necessarily changed and with the exception of one chapter, everything that does happen in the novel also happens in the anime. My most immediate impression, however, is how the adaptation seems to town down some of the less “safe” subject matters, maybe due to the anime being at least in part produced by the actual NHK, ironically. So, while Satou is still ruining his lungs by constantly smoking, he doesn’t engage in full blown substance abuse and alcoholism and we also don’t get to see him loosing his mind in bad trips every few episodes. He still drops some golden nuggets of wisdom, like how you can’t actually asphyxiate yourself, but gone are the moments where he wishes he could. On the other hand, a lot of the time, his actions are simply made “less bad”: The eroge with heroines of questionable age are replaced by normal bishoujo games aka. “galges”, the school girls he wanted to takes pictures off were significantly aged up and his possession of actual child pornography was swapped with gravure shots of Lolita models.

I would say there are only two omissions, which hurt the anime to a varying degree. The first one is the whole deal with the NHK specifically, which, in the anime, was mostly reduced to Satou talking himself into believing that there is a conspiracy to create hikikomori like him and that acronym NHK stands for Nippon Hikikomori Kyoukai (Japan Hikikomori Corporation) instead of Nippon Housou Kyoukai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), while the novel prefaces this whole point with the concept of conspiracies in general and directly states that the actual NHK is part of the conspiracy to create hikikomori by airing anime with cute girls (The novel states Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water directly). This might seem like a relatively pedantic difference, but considering this point is both the namesake and premise of the entire series, I guess it is only fair to mention it. The other thing missing is the chapter in which Satou and Yamazaki are infiltrating the religious organization Misaki is forced to attend. While this chapter is an integral part of understanding Misaki as a character, most of the new material touches on the same beats, so it is not directly missing in the context of the anime, but considering how much of the new material is directly focused on institutional structures specifically, foregoing what I have interpreted as a Shinshuukyou or any other kind of similar religious institution completely is… a choice.

But enough complaining about minor things and let’s talk about all the stuff the anime adaptation brings to the table instead. The reason why I mentioned the anime were to suffer from all the new material being removed, is because everything is so interconnected in the anime version and constantly builds on itself, that pulling it all apart makes the rest look disjointed. For example, let’s take a look at Satou and Yamazaki creating their game together. While this is still a plot point in the original novel, in the anime, Satou doesn’t throw the towel early and the game development isn’t just a constant background element for the course of almost the entire series, but also a vehicle and segue for most of the other arcs. The research outing to Akihabara leads more naturally into the introduction of Satou’s former upperclassman, we get to see Yamazaki’s vocational school and with it where his struggles with women come from and it is also indirectly why Misaki herself is eventually way more involved in Satou’s daily life. It is also just incredibly sad (in a good way) to see the both of them projecting so hard onto the game’s heroine, before they eventually realize it themselves.

Arguably my favorite little arc was the one in which Satou is visited by his mother. Beyond just fleshing her out as a character, it is just satisfying to see an actual well-adjusted adult so nonchalantly see through Satou’s lie, immediately realizing what is going on with Misaki, but also being level-headed enough to suggest that the whole fake-dating thing the two tried to pull off might actually just work out for the both of them (They way the anime both subverts and engages in some classic RomCom tropes needs to be studied). And this isn’t even talking about the whole lot of shenanigans that lead up to this moment in the first place. It is the ideal of both the comedic undertones and actually well done character writing, which make episodes like these so worthwhile.

On the other hand, everything concerning Hitomi, Satou’s former upperclassman, plays out mostly as a what if, beyond the welcomed exploration of her as a full character. In the anime, she fully embodies how believing in the conspiracies that seemingly ruin your life are indeed ruining your life and nicely contrast Satou in this matter. From the outside, she has a good life, her boyfriend loves her very much and yet she longs for the past where she could waste her time in the clubroom playing cards with Satou, to the point she wants to end her life and meets up with other people to commit suicide. The suicide island and its fallout does wonders in conceptualizing what is actually Satou’s problem. He doesn’t hate life and is genuinely afraid of dying. It is also not like he can’t socialize, just that his anxiety makes forming genuine relationships with other people near impossible. Ironically, this made Satou the perfect person to somehow convince four other people to not throw their life away, even when he came out the whole affair worse than everyone else.

Lastly, the final larger original arc consists of two stories happening simultaneously, one being about a topic I was surprised wasn’t mentioned at all in the original novel: Gaming addiction. In theory, the internet made it easier than ever to socialize with similarly minded people. However, it also harbours the potential to completely bastardize any kind of interaction. The way NHK portrayed this through the lens of an online game really shows the potential for both sides. What was initially a way for Satou to potentially escape his financial situation eventually spiraled into just another dead end. What was once a fun way to spend time with other people turned into full on escape of reality. Being catfished by Yamazaki certainly didn’t help either. But where this plot line really shines isn’t even specifically in regards to Satou, but Kobayashi’s brother, who, unlike Satou, actually hit rock button and lives the endgame of being a hikikomori: Knowing what to change, but being unable to do so, until he was eventually confronted by the only logical outcome after his sister couldn’t support him anymore… the prospect of death.

Speaking of his sister, Kobayashi is a rather surprising addition to the cast, as she is a victim of circumstances in quite a different kind of way everyone else is. Being forced to earn money on her own, she was constantly taken advantage of and eventually ended up with a large debt and later got caught up in a pyramid scheme. What makes her interesting is that she is often the opposite of Satou’s other companions. She doesn’t particularly like him and in fact, her first course of action was actually involving Satou in the pyramid scheme for her own gain. Out of the rest of the cast, she might just be the most well adjusted with her problems being mostly concerned with the situation she is in and not her own shortcomings as a person, with the tragedy being that the world simply continues to deny her a better live, until she is completely broken down.

Looking back at it, it is kind of amazing how much some well thought-out additions can expand the already great execution of the novel so dramatically. Some people say that Misaki’s characterization doesn’t necessarily suffer, but changes due to the additional events of the anime, but I have to disagree. She certainly comes off a lot more nice and direct, as opposed to the more uncertain and ominous help she provides, but fundamentally, she does the exact same things as in the novel. What I want to say is, that Welcome to the N.H.K. isn’t just a good anime, but also a great adaptation and I can only recommend to check out both the novel and anime if you are able to.

Also yes, this post is simply the replacement to actually doing a proper analysis of Welcome to the N.H.K.’s themes, as I am not ready to open this can of worms. Also also, not sure how, but I am pretty sure the anime conditioned me with the in-universe anime opening in some way. You know what? Maybe conspiracies are real. I mean, obviously, NHK clearly stands for Nippon Hikyou Kyoukai!

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Spring 2024

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 19:05:00 +0200

Ach ja, apparently, this is a thing I will be doing now. Fear not, I will never stop yapping about anime. Unlike last season, this one wasn’t so straight-forward in terms of “watching seasonal anime”… or maybe it was and I just don’t know how it is supposed to go under normal circumstances. Initially, I thought the season lineup didn’t look that promising: Maybe three or so anime plus the adaptations of manga I had read. Alas, at the height of it all, I watched nine different anime per week, even more than the, from my perspective, already stacked winter season, until this number eventually dwindled down to just five. Fun fact, this season alone increased the amount of dropped anime on my MAL by over 50%, though I don’t normally count anime I stopped watching after only a single episode, so this number is obviously a bit skewed… still funny in retrospect. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the anime I watched in spring 2024.

The ones that didn’t make it

As already mentioned, I eventually dropped four of the anime I started, each for very different reasons:

Dropping Go! Go! Loser Ranger! might have been the hardest decision for me between it and the three other ones. With one of the strongest opening episode this season, I was surprisingly hooked way beyond what I initially thought the anime could even possibly provide, despite my severe lack of knowledge on Japanese Tokusatsu and its history. However, with each passing episode, it kind of just idled on the spot without the same intrigue it so skillfully displayed at first. Sure, Fighter D is fun, but Suzukiri never really got to me beyond her initial mysterious aura and Sakurama only kind of delivers on his character, before being shafted seemingly altogether. I also couldn’t really learn to care about basically anyone else, despite the cast being relatively varied what personality and motivation is concerned. Once the series at large basically came to a full stop in the middle of it all, I just had to accept that I simply do not care enough about this anime to wait another week for a new episode to drop.

Unnamed Memory seems to be a prime example of what I would call “Kadokawa should really stop green-lighting bare-bones adaptations of any semi-popular light novel under their imprint for the sake of some quick cross media promotion”, especially with my observation being that I will have to buy the novels, not because the anime was particularly good, but because it was so bad, I would have to take a look at the original source material to even understand what is actually unfolding in front of my eyes… which is a shame. I liked episode one and with it Tinasha and Oscar basically right away, so I actually looked forward to not just their respective struggles the story would throw at them, but also their relationship. Too bad this dream immediately went up in flames, due to any progress feeling like it is missing half the story, which, judging by the reactions of the people who have read the light novels, might actually be the case. Coupling all this with what might barely constitute as a solely functional production in terms of art and animation, I really didn’t see any point in watching something that, by all means, probably shouldn’t even exist in this form.

Whisper Me a Love Song is one of the adaptations to which I have read the source material. However, as I have also written in my second Girls Love Manga Recommendation post, it was also the one I was least confident in actually putting on the list. Having read a bit farther in the meantime, I thought watching the anime would make me appreciate the earlier bits of the story more (Something something hindsight), but it actually had quite the opposite effect: Early Whisper Me a Love Song is pretty dull. What actually put the last nail in the coffin, above the adaptation being plagued by productions issues, to the point the last episodes had to be postponed entirely, was actually catching up with the manga again and being reminded, that I care very little about experiencing this story again. I’m fine with the new stuff, but the prospect of going back doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest with this one.

To be frank, I probably should have skipped out on The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio from the very beginning. It was probably the anime I was least interested in to begin with and nothing from the first couple of episodes really caught my attention. Functionally, it also somehow reminded me of Citrus, with the way the main duo’s personalities are portrayed and just like Citrus, I couldn’t stand the cynical and reserved one, while wishing we would get to see more of the genki Gyaru. Ending the first arc on a very generic and exhausting plot point just gave me the last push I needed to drop it. It also doesn’t help that I have already seen at least two similar anime that simply tackle the subject matter with a lot more nuance and better character writing. You also can’t just bait me with the prospect of potential Yuri, since I, for some reason, actually know better than this and was even more confused than anything when we got to some very out-of-place boob-fondling in episode three. Considering I hear literally nothing from the usual voices, I doubt I will actually miss out on anything by skipping this one.

Re:Monster

Honestly, I kind of have to applaud the brazenness of Re:Monster’s self-indulgence. When it actually commits to both the tropes and fantasies, as well as the apparent whims of the author, it can even confidently stand on its own as a semi-fun series. You know what? Yeah, just make it a full-on harem with the protagonist having sex constantly and even being a father of four by the end of season one. Let there be some classic shounen-esque fights, rivalries and moments of boys being boys being hot-headed. Who needs structured conflict, when you can just throw idea after idea at the wall and not even wait for what to stick, before going at the next one? There is a fun time here, even if, for me, it is buried under the condition of not being allowed to actually engage with the narrative on anything deeper than its surface-level appeal. Feel the Ding Ding Dong like King Kong, but don’t question the 0から転生 Big game.

If you take a more critical look on what is happening in the story, it goes from incompetent to straight up questionable. All the evolutionary stuff is mostly glanced over, the whole “building society from ground up” aspect is seriously lacking in depth and the entire world-building seems to solely exist for the purpose of showing off how swell a guy, depending on the time, Goburou, Ogarou or Aporou is. I mean, this whole things started with him being killed in a world where supernatural battles are commonplace, so what is that about? Also don’t expect anything beyond the most basic archetypes for this way too bloated cast of characters. Calling it “idea first, execution third” might be a bit too harsh, but for me, it is simply missing the meat even the most boring aspects of early So I’m a Spider had for me.

Then there are all the mixed messages I get from this series: Rape is wrong, except when it is not or you are grooming women and putting them in a position that makes Stockholm syndrome look like a serious condition. Your value is not determined by how much you conform to societal expectations, but living in a meritocracy is also good, actually, and should be the way of life. Human greed causes suffering for everyone around it, so let’s be indifferent towards the harm we cause in the quest to becoming the very strongest. For every thematic idea there is, it is also determined to take two steps back. It is this lack of foresight, rather than what I could assume would be malice, that makes thinking about Re:Monster almost pointless. Whether there is thought behind it or not, it stays futile engaging with it this ways.

Kaiju No. 8

Oh Kaiju No. 8, how I have wished for you to not turn into a formulaic fighting Shounen. Alas, here we are, so no need complaining about things that aren’t. Overall, Kaiju No. 8 is fun. Very much fun, even, and the adaptation does it’s best to truly deliver on all the action, hype and comedy the series has to offer and at the very least, it is this anime I was always most looking forward to watch another episode from, only to be stopped dead in my tracks by the fact I would have to wait another week to do so. The woes of watching seasonal anime.

In the most basic sense, Kaiju No. 8 doesn’t do a lot of things necessarily wrong, just in a way that keeps inviting me to complain about something that otherwise could be something consistently special. The series constantly undermines Kafka’s knowledge about Kaiju by making him only give the most obvious surface-level observations to his squad mates, spends to much time imitating remnants of the other Shounen series that came before it and refuses to really go deep into the psyche of the characters. My most recurring complaint is that especially the fight scenes are simply stretched too long. The animation absolutely pulls its weight to make them exciting nonetheless, but they are simply not dense enough to work on a narrative basis for me. Couple this with other occurrences of the series simply not quite delivering on what would otherwise be its best moments, it is always a step or two behind what I truly want out of it.

On the other hand, for all my complaining, there is a lot to love about Kaiju No. 8. Kafka is a great protagonist, even though the matter of his age tends to get drowned out by his otherwise mostly Shounen-esque idiosyncrasies, the supporting cast is varied and, when they are given the chance, can shine on their own and there is a certain subtlety to the world-building I deeply appreciate. And again, above all, Kaiju No. 8 is just a lot of fun. I tend to ignore most new Shounen anime, as they simply seem unappealing to me, but Kaiju No. 8 just scratches that specific itch. Let’s hope season two can deliver on arguably the best stretch of the manga, before it eventually runs itself into a never-ending circle of every character being reduced into trying to become stronger.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night

Despite being unable to literally shut up for more than just a minute every time we discussed a new episode, it seems that I am at a loss for words. I mean, my general stance on the series essentially set itself in stone at the end of episode four: Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night is a brutally honest, genuine and, in far as I can attest, realistic portrayal of starting out as and being an independent artist, with a deeper focus on how the joys (read: horrors) of the modern internet shape the perception of artists as a whole. While some plot points are relatively sensational, most of the story is actually pretty down to earth and grounded in mostly interpersonal struggles between oneself and the people around. In short, it is an anime about finding your own identity through the art you create and why the drive to do so is such a powerful one.

Beyond all that, it gets progressively harder for me to talk about it. Most of the episodes focus on a very specific aspect of JELEE’s journey and considering how each member comes with their own kind of baggage, the only way my honest opinion could come across would be by basically summarizing the entire anime and pointing at every single individual thing it does, as there is constantly stuff to talk about. This is also the reason why it is so hard for me to pinpoint exactly what is bothering me at times with the narrative at large. Sure, the script isn’t always on point, so much is pretty obvious, but with four episodes I would easily consider a 10/10 alone, why is it I am at times borderline indifferent towards an anime that seems almost written specifically for people like me?

As it stands now, my biggest complains would in effect boil down to some characters, like Kano’s father or Koharu, having a seemingly larger relevance than what one was eventually presented with, as well as some other characters almost missing their characterization to make them properly click for me, like with the members of Sunflower Dolls. But I have almost no doubts there is something more fundamental behind it. Also, while I don’t have any problems with the finale itself, I would say a proper extended epilogue episode would have done wonders to further elevate the point it was going for, especially when Mahiru and Kano’s final resolution didn’t reach the heights the build-up had.

On the other hand, some specific aspects are very easy for me to gush about. Obviously, I am Shizue Baba’s biggest fan, that much should be a given, but I was also very surprised by Kiui’s entire character arc. At first glance, they look like a marketable moe-gremlin, only for the anime to follow up with some incredibly honest and relatable subject matters, making Kiui the most realized characters in the anime for me. Honestly, I should probably just lock in and write a way too extensive character piece on Kiui, as not only do they absolutely deserve it, but also so everyone can witness just how much I can actually project if I were to let loose completely. Needless to say, if the point of art is to communicate ideas, Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night certainly succeeded in that regard with me.

Train to the End of the World

“Weird in the best way possible” might be the most succinct way I could describe Train to the End of the World. And I don’t mean this in a “Look how wacky that anime is!” kind of way, but in a genuine appreciation of how narrative convention can be circumvented to bloom into something truly distinct and clearly its own. Train to the End of the World thrives in its weirdness, from the quirks of each train station, over characters and society defying common sense to mundanity being twisted into a recognizable but still clearly different reality. I hate how people talk about this anime’s identity, as it wouldn’t have a point. “I need some of the drugs the writers had!”? No you need to be plucked out of your own ass, run around screaming for a few seconds and then just fucking explode!

Anyway, Train to the End of the World is actually a pretty clever coming-of-age story, even with the emotional core being unfortunately severely lackluster. The journey to Ikebukuro confronts the girls with all kinds of different ways of life and shows how life simply went on for most, even as the world literally changed around them. This all culminates into one incredibly poignant climax that delivers on its themes more than I could have hoped for. Like, yeah, even with Yoka pressing the 7G button a second time, the world will not revert back as if nothing had happened, but rather continues to change and embraces what has lead up to the present. I just wished we would have seen more from Yoka’s point of view. It is not like the resolution left me hanging completely, but rather lacked a lot of the impact the anime displayed in most other areas. Yoka physically lashing out the same way Shizuru did emotionally, tells volumes, but I also wish we would have simply seen more than two teenagers reassuring each other that living in a stagnant present is no fun.

We also need to talk about episode 8. No wait, actually, let’s do episode 3 first. It is almost ironic how safe and predictable the entirety of the third episode was. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a low point, as it was still fun, but the lack of sauce was still noticeable. On the other hand, episode 8 had all the sauce. It is probably by a good margin the most weird, yet undeniably cohesive thing I have seen. Subverting the inherent subversiveness of Alice in Wonderland, while framing it through the lens of an in-universe manga series, while also introducing all the characters and plot and building on that foundation with an entirely new story, that could have easily filled another one or two episodes, paired to some of the best imagery of the series, makes this one hell of a contender for best episode of the year. If Train to the End of the World could have consistently stayed even close to this level, it could have been something truly great.

Delicious in Dungeon

What a journey it has been. Honestly, one has to be in awe of Delicious in Dungeon’s fandom by how they successfully hyped the manga for, from my perspective, seemingly all the wrong reasons. This isn’t even a criticism really, just an odd observation. To get the obvious out of the way first: It looks amazing, is funny as hell and the creativity of how it integrates the dungeon and monsters not just into its cooking theme, but also how everything keeps boomeranging back in a satisfying way, should not be understated. This alone makes Delicious in Dungeon already noteworthy in its own right, but you also shouldn’t overlook how much meat it actually has on its bones above all this.

Despite how deliberately classical it is in its approach to fantasy, I found myself fascinated by how fresh and interesting it all feels (Though with modern anime being mostly flooded by the isekai brand of fantasy, this shouldn’t mean much by itself). The series fully embraces the associated tropes and commits to using them to their fullest, either by cleverly subverting or building on top of them to actually make you believe in the wonders you see on screen. The dungeon isn’t just a setting, but an extensive eco-system, reason for political intrigue and lore that extends way beyond the scope of Laois and the group’s search for his little sister. In fact, it is this aspect which regularly caught me off-guard. From Kabru’s group constantly contrasting Laios', Shuro’s own quest to save Falin or the elves being teased over the course of the entire first season, only to show up for barely two scenes, this world truly feels lived in, with all the moving parts one would expect from a fully realized world.

The same can be said about the characters inhabiting said world. At first, most of the main cast comes off as just silly little dudes now having to survive on a diet consisting of monsters, until it hits you out of nowhere with some of the most solid character writing and depth you would have never expected. Sure, it is a funny comedy, but at the same time, it is also a fantastic slow cooking drama, which reveals its true colors only after we have acclimated to a falsely assumed safe status quo. The fight against the red dragon and the reveal of the Lunatic Magician might be the most prominent example, but also just seeing Laios, Kabru and Shuro interact for two entire episodes was some of the most engaging television I had seen this year, even ignoring all the crazy stuff that happened around them at the same time. Add some series-recontextualizing backstories, flashbacks and fever dreams to the mix and there is not a lot I could complain about, even if I wanted to.

In short, Delicious in Dungeon is simply really really good beyond its monster-eating gimmick and can confidently serve up some delectable storytelling, even if it is not to everyone’s taste.

Kurayukaba & Kuramerukagari

Kurayukaba and Kuramerukagari are interesting in several ways. Kurayukaba is the result of a crowd-funding campaign that needed several runs to hit its funding goal, while Kuramerukagari is intended as a spin-off with apparently some contribution of Baccano and Durarara’s Ryohgo Narita. They are both relatively short, only surpassing the one hour mark when including the credits and sporting a rather distinctive visual aesthetic, which looks almost painterly at times, despite being, as far as I could tell, being mostly 3D.

What the actual films are concerned… they are fine? They are both fun with what their respective premises of the story is concerned and the world-building is, considering their short runtime, quite extensive, heavily relying on its banger art direction, but the lack of runtime also made it hard for me to particularly care about what the events mean for the characters or world at large. Especially Kurayukaba feels incredibly compressed and tightly knitted together, but outside the moments where you get swept up in the wild ride, I really wished the film would be allowed to come to a stop and breath for a moment, before constantly rolling towards its conclusion at full speed. Similarly, Kuramerukagari has the relationship of several characters at its heart, but it mostly flew straight above me, beyond the motivations directly stated at the beginning. Generally, though, I guess I prefer Kuramerukagari a bit more than Kurayukaba, as Kagari is very cute and fun, but in the grand scheme of things, they are more or less of the same quality.

What’s left?

Unlike last season, in which I waited for The Apothecary Diaries to end its run and eventually decided to give Brave Bang Bravern! a shot, this season has a lot more I want to catch up on. Depending on how much my other friend will continue to gas it up, I might consider giving Go! Go! Loser Ranger! another try, if only to confirm what I already know. In a welcome twist of fate, my initial reaction to Girls Band Cry turned out to be wrong to an utterly insane degree and it is probably the anime this season I saw the most discourse on, even if half of it was about how it is not available in the west. Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction finished its theater run and the two movies are now being released with new footage in a normal TV format, so I will absolutely take a look once all the episodes are available. The same goes for Sand Land, which actually just completed its movie turned extended TV-Series run.

Next up are all the sequels: The third season of KonoSuba is obviously all the way up on the priority list, that much should be a given, I just recently finished the Swordsmith Village Arc of Demon Slayer, so there is nothing stopping me from directly going into the Hashira Training Arc once it is over and Mushoku Tensei is also still there. I may be already two seasons behind, but I have no doubts I will also eventually come back to My Hero Academia. For what sequels I haven’t seen an earlier season yet are concerned, the newest entry of Sound! Euphonium might actually bring me to finally watch it, as I have already planned for so long, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime also keeps collecting dust since way too long.

And that’s about it. We will see us in another three months for the anime of summer 2024.

Wie man einen Song für UltraStar Deluxe erstellt (Updated)

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 23:50:00 +0200

Dies ist die deutsche Version des Tutorials, welche auf Nachfrage erstellt wurde. Das ursprüngliche englische Tutorial befindet sich hier.

Ach ja, UltraStar Deluxe (USDX) ist ein kostenloses Karaoke Programm, welches auf nutzergenerierten Songs aufbaut. Während das Erstellen der Songs nicht besonders schwer, wenn auch zeitaufwendig, ist, sind Informationen diesbezüglich recht verstreut zu finden, weshalb selbst mein allererstes Tutorial eines der ersten Ergebnisse bei Google ist. Also ist hier eine Anleitung für Neueinsteiger, wie man einen Song für UltraStar Deluxe erstellt.

Schritt 0: Programme und Ressourcen

Während technisch gesehen alles in UltraStar Deluxe selbst gemacht werden kann, würde ich dies nicht als besonders nutzerfreundlich einstufen und wenn man bedenkt, dass es bessere Alternativen gibt, rate ich jeden vom Standard-Editor ab.

Für den Anfang empfehle UltraStar Creator. Dies hilft beim Erstellen der initialen Karaoke Datei mitsamt Metadaten. Es lässt einen ebenfalls die Lyrics in die entsprechenden Silben teilen und grob timen, damit man am Ende eine vernünftige Basis hat.

Yass erlaubt einen diese dann in Bezug auf Timing der Silben und Zeilenumbrüchen zu verbessern, sowie einzelnen Zeilen als gold oder Freestyle zu markieren und alle Tonhöhen zu setzen (Pitchen). Yass Reloaded ist ein Fork von Yass, welcher einige zusätzliche Features mit sich bringt.

Ein weiterer Editor ist Karedi. Ich habe diesen zwar bisher noch nicht viel benutzt, aber es ist quasi Yass mit einer moderneren Nutzeroberfläche. Wenn man bisher nur mit Yass gearbeitet hat, benötigt es eventuell ein wenig Umgewöhnung, aber es sollte sich wahrscheinlich auf längere Sicht auszahlen.

Es gibt ebenfalls UltraSinger. Dies ist ein AI-Werkzeug, welches, im besten Falle, alles, von den Metadaten, der Transkription, dem Timing und dem Pitching, für einen erledigt, damit man nur noch Fehler ausbessern muss. In meiner Erfahrung aber, unabhängig von der Art wie es Informationen über den Song sammelt, sind die Ergebnisse davon sehr inkonsistent, sodass ich es einfacher finde den Song selber zu erstellen. Es ist nicht ganz trivial das Programm zum Laufen zu bekommen, aber es mag ein wenig Zeit sparen, besonders wenn das Programm (hoffentlich) in Zukunft besser wird.

Es mag sich ebenfalls lohnen einen Blick auf die UltraStar Format Specification zu legen, damit man weiß, worum es sich bei den meisten Einträgen in der Karaoke Datei eigentlich handelt. Ich werde alles nötige erklären, aber es schadet nicht eine verständliche Liste aller Tags zu haben. Abhängig davon, wie sich die Situation entwickelt, gibt es momentan Pläne die Spezifikation zu vereinheitlichen, als auch einige der Tags zu überholen, weshalb man auch nach der Official Format Specification Ausschau halten sollte.

Wenn man nach anderen Songs sucht, gibt es sowohl USDB, als auch UltraStar España, welche beide eine große Menge an nutzergenerierten Songs anbieten (Für beide benötigt man einen Account). Ich kann ebenfalls USDB Syncer empfehlen, welches einen nicht nur erlaubt die Karaoke Datei, sondern auch die assoziierten Audio- und Videodateien mit nur einen Klick zu downloaden. Zuletzt gibt es noch den UltraStar Discord Server.

Schritt 1: Einen neuen Song aufsetzen

Navigiere zuerst in das Verzeichnis, wo sich alle Songs befinden. Standardmäßig ist dies der songs Order in den UltraStar Deluxe Programm Dateien. Unter Windows findet man diese unter Programme (x86)\UltraStar Deluxe\songs, bzw. ~/.ultrastardx/songs unter Linux. Man kann ebenfalls ein benutzerdefiniertes Verzeichnis anlegen, indem man dieses unter “Directories” in der config.ini hinzufügt.

Im Verzeichnis für die Songs erstellt man nun einen Ordner namens [Künstler] - [Titel]. Während die Benennung der Dateien theoretisch arbiträr ist, ist es üblich jene nach dem Künstler und Titel des Songs zu benennen. In diesen Ordner muss sich mindestens die Audiodatei des Songs befinden. UltraStar Deluxe akzeptiert viele Audioformate, aber die gängigsten sind .mp3 und .m4a. Zusätzlich kann man ebenfalls ein Cover, einen Hintergrund und ein Video hinzufügen. Diese können wieder arbiträr benannt werden, aber es ist üblich das Cover [Artist] - [Song Title] [CO], den Hintergrund [Artist] - [Song Title] [BG] und das Video [Artist] - [Song Title] zu benennen.

Für dieses Tutorial werden ich den Song “Akuma no Ko” von Ai Higuchi aus der Anime Serie Attack on Titan erstellen. Am Ende sollte der Ordner in etwa so aussehen.

Schritt 2: Die Karaoke Datei in UltraStar Creator erstellen

Die Sprache der Benutzeroberfläche von UltraStar Creator sollte sich an der Systemsprache orientieren. Man kann diese ebenfalls in einen der oberen Reiter ändern (Programm muss neugestartet werden).

In UltraStar Creator muss man zunächst den Song auswählen, für welchen man die Datei erstellen will. Man kann die Audiodatei einfach per Drag&Drop in UltraStar Creator ziehen und es sollten bereits einige der Metadaten ausgefüllt werden.

Mit Ausnahme des BPM Feldes, sollten alle Metadaten selbsterklärend sein. Die einzigen Pflichtfelder sind Titel, Künstler und BPM, während alle anderen Felder technisch gesehen optional sind. Wenn man sowohl ein Video und Hintergrund angibt, hat das Video Vorrang, während auf den Hintergrund zweitrangig zugegriffen wird. Außerdem, während Edition eigentlich dafür vorgesehen ist, ob der Song kommerziellen Spielen wie SingStar oder Let’s Sing entsprungen ist, verwende ich das Feld für zusätzliche Informationen, wie wenn ein Song in Verbindung mit anderen Medien steht. Wie bereits angemerkt, mit potentiellen Änderungen bezüglich der Formatsspezifikationen, wird es zukünftig dafür eventuell ein eigenes Tags Feld geben.

Wie bereits gesagt, ist die BPM nicht so eindeutig. Während der Name einfach die BPM (Beats per Second) impliziert, handelt es sich eigentlich um die Auflösung der Noten, welche später erstellt werden und nochmal in vier Ticks unterteilt werden können. Man kann die BPM auf eine komplett arbiträre Zahl setzen, aber am besten sollte es sich dabei um ein Vielfaches, in den meisten Fällen entweder die doppelte oder vierfache, der tatsächlichen BPM des Songs handeln, weil dies die genauesten und konsistentesten Ergebnisse liefert. Ultrastar Creator versucht die BPM, basierend auf der Audiodatei, eigenständig zu erraten und in den meisten Fällen kann man diese Zahl auf die nächste volle Zahl runden. Da man aber die BPM der meisten Songs auch einfach nachschlagen kann, würde ich eher eine kurze Google Suche empfehlen, anstatt dem Programm zu vertrauen.

Zum Beispiel hat Ultrastar Creator die BPM von “Akuma no Ko” auf 367.17 geschätzt, während die tatsächliche BPM 90, bzw. 360 wenn vervierfacht, beträgt. Werte zwischen 200 und 400 funktionieren in der Regel am besten. Man sollte die BPM ebenfalls nicht höher als 500 setzen, oder Dezimalzahlen (Kommazahlen) verwenden.

Als nächstes kopiert man die Lyrics des Songs in die große Textbox und stellt sicher, dass sich nicht versteckte Sonderzeichen, wie merkwürdige Zeilenumbrüche oder unsichtbare Leerzeichen in diesen befinden, da diese als eigenständige Zeichen beim Tappen erkannt werden. Bedenke auch, welche Teile des Textes inbegriffen sein sollen. Hintergrundstimmen, etc. können später als Freestyle markiert werden, aber wenn man sich, zum Beispiel, nicht mit einer Rap Sequence beschäftigen will, kann man diese auch einfach auslassen.

UltraStar Creator unterscheidet zwischen Wörtern und Silben. Ein Wort ist mit einem Leerzeichen getrennt, während Silben mit einem + getrennt werden. Wenn man also die Lyrics in die entsprechenden Silben trennen will, muss man die Silben innerhalb eines Wortes mit einem + trennen, während Wörter selbst nur mit einem Leerzeichen getrennt sind. Ein Zeilenumbruch bedeutet eine neue Zeile in UltraStar Deluxe. Wenn ein Wort aus nur einer Silbe besteht benötigt man kein + zur Trennung. Am Ende wird für die Karaoke Datei alles in Silben getrennt, aber die Leerzeichen nach einen Wort werden der ersten Silbe des nächsten Wortes vorangestellt, aber dazu später mehr.

Wenn sich der Ton einer Silbe wiederholt, zum Beispiel in der Mitte oder am Ende eines Wortes, sollte jede Note durch ein zusätzliches ~ gekennzeichnet sein. Also, zum Beispiel, wenn man einen wiederholten a Ton am Ende eines Wortes hat, welcher in verschiedenen Tonhöhen gesungen wird, sollte man …+a+~+~+~+~ anstatt …+a+a+a+a+a schreiben.

Es gibt keine direkte Logik für diesen Prozess und es hängt stark von der jeweiligen Sprache des Songs ab, weshalb man einfach gut zuhören muss, wie der Song gesungen wird. Ich höre mir der Song persönlich auf 0,75 oder 0,5-facher Geschwindigkeit an, da dies es einfacher macht die einzelnen Silben herauszuhören. Man sollte ebenfalls darauf achten, welche Silben “zusammen” gesungen werden, damit man diese nicht fälschlicherweise trennt.

Sobald die Lyrics vorbereitet sind, kann man diese timen. Passe die Geschwindigkeit des Songs in der oberen linken Ecke nach Gefühl an und drücke den “Play” Knopf in der unteren linken Box. Während der Song abgespielt wird, betätigt man immer wieder die Leertaste, wenn man eine neue Silbe hört. Die momentane und nächste Silbe werden immer unten im Tapbereich angezeigt. Für lange Noten kann man die Leertaste auch gedrückt halten, aber es ist leichter die Länge der Silben später nachzubearbeiten, weshalb man sich beim Tapping Prozess überwiegend auf das Timing fokussieren sollte. Da alles sowieso später korrigiert werden muss, sollte man nicht allzu viel Zeit damit verbringen alles perfekt zu tappen. Die einzige Silbe, welche möglichst akkurat getroffen werden sollte ist die allererste, da diese das GAP Feld bestimmt, aber auch dieses kann nachträglich angepasst werden.

Wenn jede Silbe sein Timing hat, kann man das Ergebnis abspeichern, welches im Anschluss die Karaoke Datei erstellt. Wenn man diese mit einen Texteditor öffnet, kann man die Metadaten und Anweisungen für UltraStar Deluxe einsehen. Die Metadaten müssen im englischsprachigen Pendant bleiben.

#TITLE:Akuma no Ko
#ARTIST:Ai Higuchi
#LANGUAGE:Japanese (romanized)
#EDITION:Attack on Titan: Final Season Part 2 ED
#YEAR:2022
#CREATOR:DeinAlptraum, HansiMcKlaus
#MP3:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko.mp3
#COVER:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko [CO].jpg
#BACKGROUND:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko [BG].jpg
#VIDEO:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko.mp4
#BPM:360
#GAP:5840
#START:5
#END:219000

Wie man sieht, besteht der Kopf überwiegend aus den Metadaten, welche in UltraStar Creator eingetragen wurden. #GAP (Abstand) wurde von UltraStar Creator hinzugefügt und bestimmt die Zeit zwischen den Anfang des Songs und der erste Note in Millisekunden. Ich habe ebenfalls #START (Anfang) and #END (Ende) dem Kopf hinzugefügt, da meine Version des Songs mit fünf Sekunden an Leere beginnt und ich will, dass der Song ab 3:39 (219 Sekunden) zu Ende ist. #START wird in Sekunden gerechnet, während #END in Millisekunden angegeben wird. Fragt mich nicht warum, Programmierer wissen selber nicht, was sie machen. Zuletzt habe ich das #LANGUAGE (Sprache) Feld von Japanese (Japanisch) zu Japanese (romanized) (Japanisch (romanisiert)) angepasst, da die Lyrics in lateinischer und nicht japanischer Schrift angegeben sind.

Der Rest der Datei besteht aus den eigentlichen Karaoke Anweisungen. Jede Zeile besteht aus einer Silbe und ist nach dem Schema [Typ] [Start] [Länge] [Tonhöhe] [Lyrics] formatiert:

Typ ist die Art der Silbe und kann als Normal (:), Gold (*), Rap-Gold (G), Rap (R) oder Freestyle (F) gesetzt werden
Start gibt des Anfangstick der Silbe an. Alle Silben fangen relativ zur #GAP an
Länge gibt die Länge der Silbe in Ticks an. Jeder Beat ist in vier Ticks unterteilt
Pitch ist die Tonhöhe. Standardmäßig beginnt diese beim Wert 0 mit C4 und inkrementiert/dekrementiert sich um eins für jeden Halbton. Eine Erhöhung/Senkung der Tonhöhe um 12 bedeutet also eine Transposition um eine Oktave. Während USDX nicht danach unterscheidet in welcher Oktave gesungen wird, werden die Tonhöhen aber relativ zueinander richtig angezeigt, z.B. wird C5 (12) über C4 (0) angezeigt
Lyrics ist der Inhalt einer bestimmten Silbe und in den meisten Fällen eine Silbe oder ein Wort

Bisher wurde lediglich der Anfangsbeat der Silben bestimmt, weshalb Länge und Tonhöhe aller Silben noch gleich sind. Dies wird sich in den nächsten Schritten ändern. Wenn eine Zeile mit - beginnt, bestimmt dies die Position des Zeilenumbruches, anstatt der einer Silbe. Die Datei muss ebenfalls mit einem E enden, welches man nicht aus Versehen löschen sollte, wenn man die Datei manuell bearbeitet.

: 0 1 0 Te
: 2 1 0 tsu
: 6 1 0 no
: 10 1 0 ta
: 14 1 0 ma
: 22 1 0 ga
: 31 1 0 se
: 35 1 0 i
: 39 1 0 gi
: 43 1 0 no
: 47 1 0 shou
: 53 1 0 mei
- 60
: 61 1 0 Tsu
: 67 1 0 ra
: 71 1 0 nu
: 75 1 0 ke
: 79 1 0 ba
: 87 1 0 e
: 91 1 0 i
: 95 1 0 yuu
...
E

Schritt 3: Alles in Yass anpassen

Die Benutzeroberfläche von Yass ist nur auf Englisch verfügbar. Wenn man Yass das erste Mal startet, wird man aufgefordert den Pfad für die Song-Bibliothek einzutragen. Dieser ist der selbe wie in Schritt 1. Anschließend sollten alle Songs aufgelistet sein. Wenn man einen neuen Song in das Song-Verzeichnis hinzufügt, muss Yass dieses neu lesen (Symbol neben der Anzahl an Songs). Wähle den neuen Song aus und drücke den “Edit” Knopf (Notizblock und Stift) um den Song zu bearbeiten. Wenn man Yass neustartet, kann man den zuletzt bearbeiteten Song mithilfe der Tastenkombination Strg + R direkt öffnen.

Es gibt ein paar weitere Tastenbelegungen, welche das Bearbeiten in Yass vereinfachen:

Leertaste: Spielt die ausgewählten Silben ab
Links/Rechts: Wechselt zwischen den Silben der momentanen Zeile
Oben/Unten: Wechselt zwischen den Zeilen
Entf: Entfernt die ausgewählte Silbe und fügt diese in die nächste Silbe zusammen
Strg + Entf: Entfernt die ausgewählte Silbe
Strg + Links/Rechts: Wählt den Anfang der Silbe aus und verrückt dessen Startposition
Strg + Oben/Unten: Wählt die Silbe aus und erhöht/senkt die Tonhöhe
Alt + Links/Rechts: Wählt das Ende der Silbe aus und ändert dessen Länge
Shift + Links/Rechts: Wählt die gesamte Silbe aus und verrückt die Startposition ohne die Länge zu beeinflussen
Enter: Trennt die momentane Zeile an der Stelle der ausgewählten Silbe in zwei und fügt einen neuen Zeilenumbruch hinzu
Strg + W: Aktiviert/Deaktiviert Ticks
Strg + U: Aktiviert/Deaktiviert Audio
Strg + B: Aktiviert/Deaktiviert Instrument
Strg + I: Wechselt zwischen den verschiedenen Wiedergabegeschwindigkeiten (100%, 50%, 33%, 25%)

Man kann ebenfalls mehrere Silben und Zeilen gleichzeitig auswählen, indem man diese im Textbereich oben rechts markiert. Mit einen Rechtsklick in den Textbereich kann man die Lyrics bearbeiten. Zusätzlich kann man Silben auftrennen, indem man oben auf den Silbenblock klickt. Dies trennt den Block in die ursprüngliche Silbe und einen weiteren ~-Block. Bevor man das allgemeine Timing korrigieren kann, muss noch ein potentieller Fehler behoben werden: Die Gap (Abstand).

Damit alles sauber angepasst werden kann, muss das #GAP Feld so genau wie möglich gesetzt sein. Falls die erste Silbe noch nicht synchron ist, muss man den Anfang der ersten Silbe solange verschieben, bis diese perfekt mit der Musik startet. Danach muss der “Non-zero first beat” Fehler korrigiert werden. Die Fehler befinden sich unten links über der Timeline (Dreieck mit einen Ausrufezeichen). Dies setzt den korrekten Abstand (#GAP) zwischen Anfang des Songs und der ersten Silbe. Falls die erste Silbe bereits vom Tappen passt, kann man diesen Schritt ignorieren. Falls der Abstand bereits bekannt ist, z.B. durch einen Blick auf die Waveform der Audiodatei, kann man das #GAP Feld auch manuell in der Karaoke Datei anpassen. Für’s erste können alle anderen Fehler ignoriert werden.

Die Timeline ist in Beats aufgeteilt, welche wiederum in vier kleinere Segmente (Ticks) unterteilt sind. In den meisten Fällen ist eine Silbe ein vielfaches von zwei oder vier Ticks lang. Für jede Zeile muss nun die Anfangsposition, sowie die Länge jeder Silbe, so angepasst werden, dass diese zum Song passt. Das Timing, welches durch das Tappen in UltraStar Creator erstellt wurde, sollte eine gute Basis bieten, von welcher man die Silben aus bearbeiten sollte. Aus meiner Erfahrung aus ist dieser Prozess einfacher, wenn man die die Wiedergabegeschwindigkeit auf 50% reduziert. Da die meisten Songs sich wiederholende Abschnitte besitzen, können Startposition und Länge der Silben kopiert (Strg + C) und auf spätere Abschnitte übertragen werden (Strg + V). Man sollte ebenfalls regelmäßig die Silben ohne Audio (Strg + U) abspielen, um zu hören, ob das Timing sich auch durch die kurzen Ticks alleine richtig anhört.

Falls man bestimmte Teile der Lyrics als Freestyle vorgesehen hat, wie zum Beispiel Hintergrundstimmen oder Adlibs, ist dies ein guter Moment diese als jene zu markieren, indem man die Silben auswählt und auf das rosa “F” in der oberen Leiste klickt. Etwas als Freestyle zu markieren bedeutet, dass im Spiel zwar der Text, nicht aber die Noten, angezeigt werden und jene Stellen nicht in die Bewertung mit einfließen. Dies ist ebenfalls mein bevorzugter Weg mit sich überlappenden Zeilen, sowie allem, welches UltraStar nicht vorhergesehen hat, umzugehen. Das gleiche gilt übrigens auch mit Rap-Sequenzen, wobei die Songs, welche ich mit Rap-Noten gesungen habe, sich doch recht stark in Grenzen halten, weshalb es gut möglich ist, dass man diese nicht benutzen muss. Im Spiel sind für Rap-Noten lediglich das Timing wichtig und die gesungene Tonhöhe wird ignoriert.

Nachdem man das Timing aller Silben angepasst hat, kann man sich den Fehlern widmen. In der Regel sind die meisten Fehler weniger Probleme für das Spiel selbst, sondern zeigen eher schlechten Stil und sonstige Symptome an, welche das Singen erschweren oder merkwürdig machen. Die “page errors” sind am einfachsten zu beheben, weshalb wir hier anfangen.

Solange sich die Lyrics aus verschiedenen Zeilen nicht überlappen, kann man bei diesen Fehler einfach auf “Correct all” klicken und Yass setzt die Zeilenumbrüche automatisch so, dass diese gleichmäßig zwischen den Zeilen gesetzt sind. Falls sich Zeilen überlappen, oder man die Zeilenumbrüche selber setzen will, kann man diese (dünne graue gestrichelte Linie) einfach mit der Maus verschieben. Man kann zwei oder mehrere Zeilen gleichzeitig anzeigen lassen, indem man entweder mehrere Zeilen in der Textbox markiert, oder oben auf den “More Pages”-Knopf (Lupe) drückt.

“Short page breaks” bedeuten, dass die letzte Silbe einer Zeile zu nah am Zeilenumbruch ist, weshalb man diesen Fehler manchmal mehrfach beheben muss. In diesem Falle muss die letzte Silbe einfach gekürzt werden. Im Allgemeinen ist es besser lieber einen vernünftigen Zeilenumbruch zu haben, als die letzte Silbe einer Zeile in voller Länge. Man kann ebenfalls zwei Zeilen zusammenfügen, allerdings macht dies nur Sinn, wenn die dadurch entstehende Zeile nicht zu lang wird.

Als nächstes kann man sich die “Connected notes” (Zusammenhängende Noten) anschauen. Dieser Fehler tritt auf, wenn es keine Lücke zwischen der letzten Silbe eines Wortes und der ersten Silbe des darauffolgenden Wortes gibt. “Correct” kürzt die letzte Silbe des Wortes um einen Tick, um die kurze Pause zwischen Wörtern zu simulieren. Solange man nicht wieder mit überlappende Zeilen arbeitet, oder es einen anderen Grund gibt, warum bestimmte Silben nicht gekürzt werden sollten, kann man einfach “Correct All” klicken und Yass kürzt alle entsprechenden Silben. Zusätzlich, um ein wenig Toleranz beim Singen zu gewährleisten, sollte man ebenfalls die Silben innerhalb eines Wortes kürzen, wenn sich zwischen jenen die Tonhöhe ändert, wobei dies natürlich erst getan werden kann, wenn alle Tonhöhen gesetzt sind.

Der letzte Fehler sollte der “Uncommon golden bonus” sein. Goldene Noten geben doppelte Punktzahl und werden im Spiel visuell durch goldene Partikel auf den Noten dargestellt. Yass berechnet einen Richtwert für wie viele Noten (nach Länge) als gold markiert werden sollen. Es ist dem Ersteller überlassen welche Silben als gold markiert werden, aber ich empfehlen lange Noten am Ende einer Zeile oder bestimmte Stellen, welche man hervorheben möchte. Man setzt eine Silbe als gold, indem man diese auswählt und oben den “Mark as golden”-Knopf (Goldener Stern) drückt. Unten links sollte eine kleine Leiste auftauchen, welche die momentane und ideale Menge der goldenen Noten anzeigt. Füge solange goldene Noten hinzu, bis sich der Strich im gelben Bereich befindet, wobei aber angemerkt sein muss, dass es sich hierbei nur um eine Orientierung und keine feste Richtlinie handelt.

Bevor man zum nächsten Schritt geht, ist dies eine geeignete Stelle um nochmal den gesamten Fortschritt zu testen und sicherzugehen, dass alle Lyrics das richtige Timing haben. Schaue ebenfalls nochmal nach, ob einzelne Zeilen nicht zu lang sind und eventuell lieber in zwei aufgeteilt werden sollten. Yass selbst ist dafür ein relativ schlechter Indikator und am besten wäre es den Song in Ultrastar einmal mit vier eingetragenen Spieler zu spielen. Wenn die Länge der Noten schwer einzuschätzen sind, oder diese sich nur langsam füllen, sollte man die Zeile eventuell aufteilen. Das gleiche gilt für wenn das Spiel den gesamten Text einer Zeile nicht komplett darstellen kann.

Schritt 4: Tonhöhen

Je nachdem wie gut das eigene Gehör ist, kann sich das Setzen der Tonhöhen als der zeitintensivste Schritt herausstellen. Man ändert die Tonhöhe, indem man die Silben hoch oder runter bewegt. Dies geschieht entweder durch das Ziehen mit der Maus, oder indem man Strg hält, während man mit den Pfeiltasten die Silben nach oben oder unten setzt. Strg + B aktiviert/deaktiviert das Instrument, welches die Tonhöhe der jeweiligen Silben über ein Klavier-Ton abspielt. In Kombination mit dem Aktivieren/Deaktivieren des eigentlichen Songs (Strg + U), kann man sich den Song isoliert auf Basis der gesetzten Tonhöhen anhören. Achte darauf, dass Yass, je nach Systemsprache, den höchsten Ton einer Oktave entweder als B oder H anzeigt.

Falls es einem wie mir geht und man nicht die richtige Tonhöhe heraushören kann, selbst wenn das eigene Leben auf dem Spiel stehen würde, empfehle ich nach weiteren Ressourcen wie Notenblätter des Songs Ausschau zu halten. Persönlich suche ich oft nach diesen Klavier-Tutorials in Synthesia und ähnlichen Programmen, welche das Kopieren der gespielten Noten doch recht vereinfachen. Zusätzlich kann man den UltraStar Deluxe Editor benutzen, welcher einen kleinen Tonhöhen-Indikator für den selber gesungenen Ton bereitstellt. Alternativ ist Singing Carrots ein Online Tonhöhen Detektor, welcher ebenfalls den momentan gesungen Ton anzeigt.

Man kann ebenfalls Programme wie ultrastar-pitch ausprobieren, welche versuchen die Tonhöhen anhand der fertig Silben zu bestimmen, wobei man aber einen Großteil der Noten immer noch manuell korrigieren muss.

Sonstiges

Sobald man alle Tonhöhen gesetzt hat, ist man im Großen und Ganzen fertig. Singe den Song ein paar Mal in UltraStar Deluxe, um auch letzte kleine Fehler auszuschließen. Bitte zieht es ebenfalls in Erwägung den fertigen Song zu teilen. Während man für UltraStar España als Mitwirkender zugelassen werden muss, kann jeder bei USDB seine Songs hinzufügen, solange man einen Account erstellt hat, wobei die Songs immer noch manuell akzeptiert werden müssen. Wenn man seine Songs bei USDB hochlädt, würde es ebenfalls helfen Meta Tags hinzuzufügen, damit der USDB Syncer automatisch die Audio- und Videodateien laden kann. USDB Syncer, sowie Yass Reloaded, besitzen beide ein integriertes Tool, welches einen dabei hilft den Tag zu generieren.

Den Beispiel-Song für das Tutorial lässt sich auf USDB finden.

Duette

UltraStar Deluxe unterstützt Duette, also zwei verschiedene Gruppen an Lyrics für mehrere Spieler. Mit der neuen Version von Yass, bzw. Karedi, ist die Konvertierung zu einen Duett relativ einfach. Erstelle eine Kopie der ursprünglichen Karaoke Datei und füge [DUET] am Dateinamen und im #TITLE Feld der Datei selbst an. Die Duett Version kann im gleichen Verzeichnis wie die originale Datei bleiben, damit sie auf die selben Audio- und Videodateien zugreifen kann.

Um das eigentliche Duett zu erstellen, kann man Yass' Duett Tutorial (Englisch) folgen, welches überwiegend daraus besteht die bestehende Spur zu kopieren und die jeweiligen Stücke des jeweiligen Spielers, welche nicht gesungen werden sollen, zu entfernen. Am Ende werden beide Spuren in einer Datei abgespeichert.

In Karedi fügt man einfach einen neuen Spieler hinzu und kopiert die jeweiligen Lyrics von Spieler Eins zu Spieler Zwei und exportiert die Datei als Duett.

In UltraStar Deluxe wechselt man zwischen den verschiedenen Rollen des Duetts, indem man die Leertaste betätigt, während die Duett-Version ausgewählt ist.

Seasonal Anime Wrap-Up: Winter 2024

Tue, 28 May 2024 19:50:00 +0200

Ach ja, after having only watched a, compared to the following seasons, meager amount of three anime airing in Fall 2023, it was time to completely go overboard with Winter 2024: Eleven anime in total and if I wouldn’t have dropped Ishura and Hokkaido Gals early on, I could have even completed the full baker’s dozen, which is more than all the new anime I watched last year combined. Though, to be fair, Monster is just a short one episode ONA, I didn’t watch Bravern when airing and Frieren and Apothecary Diaries are technically leftovers from Fall 2023, but I will stand my ground that, when talking about something retrospectively, it makes more sense to take the date something ended, rather than started.

Overall, this season turned out to be surprisingly evenly split into either pretty good or lackluster stuff with almost nothing inbetween for me. On one hand, yeah, a lot of good anime, but it is also weird how many not just turned out worse than expected, but I could have just foregone completely, without much regret. With that out of the way, let’s begin the first installment of what could become a recurring series of short seasonal roundups.

A Sign of Affection

A Sign of Affection was just pleasant all around. Okay, maybe not all around with some very specific instances of bewilderment not just from me, but the whole squad (Three is a squad, right?)… or maybe I’m just not shoujo-pilled enough yet to fully understand Itsuomi when it comes to personal space. Either way, while I am often sceptical of romances, I was pretty much hooked from the start. Sure, part of it are the specific circumstances of the characters lending themselves pretty well to a larger focus on communication and exploring other peoples perspectives, something unfortunately way too much amiss in a lot of romance series, but it also makes you feel fluffy and warm around the heart with unexpected consistency. From the many beautiful visual metaphors of love and longing, over the introspection of wanting to be together with someone, to the joy of the characters growing personally as part of being in a relationship.

I personally didn’t really care for the relationships outside of Yuki and Itsuomi, but really appreciate the role most of the side characters play. Especially Ouishi, absolute train wreck that he is, is such a good foil for the both of them and the episode with him and Itsuomi talking it all out is my favorite by a long shot. It is also nice to see a genuinely good portrayal of disability that doesn’t feel exploitative or mean towards the characters. Still would have appreciated a jump scare warning, as I was way too often caught off-guard by surprisingly decent german (and other languages for that matter).

Chained Soldier

If I would have to describe Chained Soldier in a single word, it would be “An utter lack of sauce”. Those are more than one word? Well, if something neither serves, nor spills, keeping the whole plate of noodles in front of me dry and hard to swallow, then maybe it doesn’t deserve succinctness. My main problem with Chained Soldier comes down to the simple fact of it never fully committing to any of its ideas.

High School DxD, for example, goes all in on being horny on main, while Chained Soldier almost seems ashamed and embarrassed by its raunchy parts. Like, my habibi in Christ, I am not here for the bare-bones plot, characters and world-building, as these are bonuses at best, so the least you can do is be entertaining in the other areas. Alas, the hardest it ever goes are half-hearted and fundamentally fruitless encounters of the sexual kind and maybe tipping its toes into tame fetish territory. But if neither the characters nor the audience seem to enjoy the feetfirst polishing of the family jewels, then maybe it is for the best to never bring out the nutcracker in the first place.

The only thing I could praise Chained Soldier for, and this is only due to the bar being buried six feet underground, is Nei. In a series, which tends to pick the lowest fruits of the trope tree on a constant basis, it was welcoming, refreshing even, to see the Loli character being treated in an explicitly non-sexual way, which was enough to make her one of the only two and a half fun characters in the whole anime. Also, while looking for a thumbnail, I found this screencap.

Gushing over Magical Girls

I’ve already written a short post for a specific episode of the anime, so I’ll try to keep this one concise. Gushing over Magical Girls is the result of mixing the understanding for dramatic tension in an otherwise trope defined genre with… a lot of impure thoughts. In fact, it is this sexual obsession with something normally considered innocent and pure, which builds up the main theme of the series, while, in another ironic twist of fate, still being a rather straight-forward and surprisingly non-subversive magical girl anime.

It is just a bit hard to talk about it, because it seems very self-indulgent in some very weird ways. While I have nothing against the idea of teens exploring their sexuality through the specific instances the anime throws them in, the framing of it all makes it seem more like in favor of the audience than the characters and the general approach of its BDSM topic seems well-intentioned and half-hearted at best and less so educational or even just factually close to reality. On the other hand, it is so fucking funny, you wouldn’t believe it, especially when opening up to the other side of the series that isn’t just occupied by teens sexually molesting each other.

The Witch and the Beast

I will never let this one friend recommend me an anime ever again. Honestly, The Witch and the Beast is mostly fine when you know what and when to ignore something. The characters are fine, fun even at times, with Ashaf and Guideau being a great duo, the world-building has its moments and the atmosphere is actually right up my alley. It is, however, also just painfully boring and uninspired in the way it tells its story. Ignoring the obvious loss of aura in its visual presentation due to the transition from manga to anime, I would actually prefer listening to straight up exposition than whatever is even barely attempted in this series.

I have never felt so right in my opinion on judging anime by its first episodes as with this anime. Most of the time, the series feels so frontloaded with ideas that it simply doesn’t know how to weave them into not just a comprehensive story, but an engaging one. As much as this one friend pleaded that it becomes better in the next arc, it simply never did. It stayed a sluggish mess of an otherwise interesting premise.

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

There is something to be said about stories that seem to solely rely on their gimmick. In fact, I kinda already did with Saving 80,000 Gold. Similarly, ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess’ main premise is rather easy to explain: The princess of your generic fantasy land gets captured by the demons and tortured, except that the torture mostly consists of putting tasty or fun things in front of her nose and waiting until she folds and tells a secret. And I have to be honest, those bits are genuinely strong. From its animation and clever use of visual metaphors, it did get a lot of laughs out of me, with the princess and her sword making a pretty decent classic manzai duo. Also, the demon realm being basically modern day japan keeps being hilarious.

What makes the actual series stick for me is everything after the initial “torture”, which you might as well be able to compile in one big YouTube video. Hime is a deeply tragic character and her being captured might actually help her overcome her trauma in the long run. Torture and Giant are great guardians, between Youki, Inki, Krall and Vanilla, Hime is making a lot of real friends and little Maomao is a look into a better future. In fact, I would like to nominate the local demon lord as parent of the year.

Not sure if I will look into the second season, but I am glad there will be more in the future.

Metallic Rouge

I really wanted to love you, Metallic Rouge, I really did. Being produced in celebration of Studio Bones 25th anniversary, many hoped for an ambitious early 2000s style outing from one of the best studios in the industry and the result is… hard to describe only in the way one has to wonder what happened. The story is basically Blade Runner without the actual philosophical bits and a lot of other disconnected elements found in similar cyberpunk stories. We have a half-baked android uprising, a half-baked look on artificial life, a half-baked perspective of alien life and technological advancements and most of all, an utterly undercooked cast of characters. Naomi and Rouge are fantastic, Giallon sometimes fulfills his role as the series’ jester, but everyone else basically runs on implications, hand-fisted flashbacks and a lot of good will.

Episodes like the road trip gone bad in the martian desert or the Whodunit Catch-me-if-you-can on the spaceship are fun, but only in the same way fun things are fun. The rest is a rushed mess that makes me believe Metallic Rouge had to be initially planed as a two-cour anime, which was later cut down to its current episode count, because I can’t fathom how the last minutes of the final episode otherwise came into existence. Part of me is even glad it ended as dumb as it did, because finishing on a decent note, or even a barely passable one, would have been too much too handle.

Brave Bang Bravern!

Gay Robot Sex 👍.

Brave Bang Bravern! turned out to be a bit of a sleeper hit the last season. I mean, it is an original mecha anime with no associated media behind it and the marketing had to be deliberately vague to not take away the surprise, so this one is a given and even I didn’t really gave it the proper attention it deserved when going through the winter season lineup. I also simply didn’t know who Masami Oobari was. An error I have since corrected.

The plot could be described as a Real Robot anime being suddenly invaded by another Super Robot one and playing both sides completely straight (As straight as this series can be). On one hand, you have a semi-futuristic military organization tasked to save the earth from unknown invaders, but there is a also a speaking mecha constantly debating with the top brass how critical his love for his pilot is, while blasting his own theme music in battle and shouting attack names. Also, the plot is basically driven forward by the sexual tension of the reluctant and partially traumatized Isami, the hot-headed american mecha enthusiast Smith, who actually wants to pilot the robot and Bravern, who insists that only Isami can come inside him and play with his joystick.

It’s unironically like Top Gun, except Tom Cruise actually makes out with his F-14. A decent litmus test would be watching the Opening and Ending themes right after another. Didn’t die of the whiplash? Good, you are bound to have a great time. If not… well, it is what it is. Brave Bang Bravern! is filled to the brim with love for the mecha genre and I had an absolute blast of a time watching it. Truly Gagapi.

Sasaki and Peeps

On Paper, Sasaki and Peeps is an interesting genre mix. On screen, it certainly is a genre mix. Sasaki’s biggest sin is arguably being a jack of all trades, but a master of none. It understands the basic appeal of the urban supernatural fantasy setting, the isekai economics, the collecting underage girls like baseball cards and even the “dark twist” on magical girls and it also knows how to combine them all into a coherent narrative. It is just… none of them are that good on their own and neither when combined?

The urban fantasy plots are just not that fun and at times feel like unintentional parody to the point I am not certain if some of it might actually be. The series spends a pretty large chunk of its runtime in the isekai world, but we barely know anything about it beyond the immediate intrigues Sasaki finds himself entangled in. The magical girls come and go without much fanfare and what the extended cast of characters is concerned… they are there? Sasaki and Pii-chan are pleasant to have on screen, but since their progress also mostly stalls until something external happens to them, it is basically hanging constantly by a thread of good faith. One that got thinner and thinner with each passing episode. The last episode sure made a deal of presenting us with something interesting for a change, but I think at this point the anime has already played its hand on a loosing round.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Frieren is fantastic. I may have had my difficulties enjoying it to the fullest, but at the end of the day, it is hard to argue for anything else. Frieren just understands the assignment for what I actually look for in a fantasy series: A fully realized world that serves the characters and themes of the story, a fun but not arbitrary approach to its magical system and singular moments of genuine wonder sprinkled throughout. I also very much enjoy the moderate pace of everything. It is a journey and with the mundanity of life being the point, there is no need to rush.

It is also filled to the brim with understated character moments. Of course, there is Frieren herself having to learn to appreciate the time she spends around other people, Fern’s entire journey of growing up and Stark’s personal fight between his cowardice and bravery. But this is not limited to just the main characters. Himmel has an incredible influence on the entire story, considering he basically only shows up when Frieren reminisces about the past, Wirbel, Übel and Denken are great foils in their own right and even all the characters that only show up for an episode or so are deeply memorable.

Complete with some exceptional production values, it is simply an all-around ideal package of an anime. Now, the only thing left is waiting for me to be proven wrong on whether we will come into the delight of a second season.

Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation

Monsters very much feels like early One Piece. I mean, it is an adaptation of an early One Shot by Oda, so this much only makes sense. But that’s basically all I can say about Monsters. It has the characters, it’s got the comedy, but what is missing is the immediate charme to follow it for the next 1000 chapters. It happened, it was nice, but the long-form build-up and eventual pay-off, which Oda truly mastered over the years, is simply missing here. Ryuuma shows up, beats the twist villain and goes on with his travels. At the end, it is just a prototype of what could have been and eventually became.

The Apothecary Diaries

For the last, but certainly not least entry, let me end this post with an absolute banger. The Apothecary Diaries is great in similar ways I would describe Frieren as great… just with a slightly to very different focus, making this comparison only useful in terms of quality. First of, beyond Maomao being simply so very Hansi-coded, she is also just a phenomenal main character. The duality of her being constantly swept in the moment, but also making the most of her current position, knowing her place, but also knowing better and her seeming indifference contrasted by her genuine interests to understand the world around her, make her a truly interesting character in most situations the story puts her in and is easily marking her a serious contender for one of my favorite characters in fiction. She is also just a very silly little girl. Strong smol bean gremlin obsessed with poison energy. Also, every interaction between her and Jinshi is pure gold.

The episodic medical crime mysteries are very satisfying and really come into their own once the extended cast of characters and the whole palace dynamics are properly introduced and fleshed out. It is also remarkable just how much depth there is in otherwise at first glance seemingly unimportant matters: From the Verdigris House, Maomao’s family relations and the characters connected to the individual mysteries, it constantly comes back between all those little things, revealing a huge net connecting everything, both minor and big. I’m also at awe of how well the anime was successful in deliberately guiding me to think exactly how it wanted to, despite being told several times to not base one’s opinions on conjecture, leading to the incredible episode 23.

While I’m still on the fence about doing a proper write-up, since the anime absolutely deserves more than just these quick disarranged thoughts, I doubt I will dive into the light novels in the foreseeable future. Also, with a second season already announced, I guess I am satisfied looking forward to that.

What’s left?

Nothing, really. Thanks to watching most of the anime weekly while they aired, I am pretty confident I have seen everything I am actually interested in, especially for the stuff I would have normally straight up skipped otherwise when binging anime after a season ends. Solo Leveling might be a possible candidate, but more so out of morbid curiosity than an actual intent to enjoy it on its own merits. My brother also won’t stop talking about it. Shangri-La Frontier also caught my eye several times, due to either its, at times, insane production values or widespread praise for honest and good representation and understanding of games and the people that play those. Unfortunately, the only thing Gamers and I have in common is ~~being afraid of women~~ having a questionable grasp on reality, so I doubt I would really vibe with the anime.

And that’s it. Maybe we will see us in another three months to repeat this endless cycle.

Still thinking about Episode 7 of Gushing over Magical Girls

Fri, 24 May 2024 18:15:00 +0200

Ach ja, it is so Mahou Shoujover. Gushing over Magical Girls was one of my favorite anime of the winter season and despite a lot of great anime coming out, it was this anime I always kept looking most forward to. Depending on how much you know me and what your opinion on me is, this might come as a surprise. After all, I love magical girls as a concept, am a huge fan of the Precure franchise and low-key hold a grudge on all the “dark and edgy” magical girl anime coming off the heels of Madoka Magica, so what am I seeing in an anime in which young teens get sexually molested on a weekly basis to the point it puts some actual hentai to shame? Honestly, while I still have to grapple with that last part myself, Gushing over Magical Girls has a surprisingly honest understanding on how it feels to spectate the magical girls one looks up to from afar, which culminated in an absolutely fantastic episode, which not only perfectly encapsulates the main idea of the series, but also kept me thinking about it long after the anime concluded. Alas, prepare yourself for some wild takes.

Utena Hiiragi adores magical girls. This isn’t just limited to the metric ton of merchandise decorating her room, but also the way she looks up to her idols. For her, magical girls are paragons of justice, heros helping the ones that can’t help themselves and making the world a better place with a firm smile on their face. In short, they are everything she doesn’t consider herself to be. As such, it is even more a slap in the face when the speaking mascot offers her to transform just like them, only to turn her into one of the “evil guys” and blackmail her into fighting the Tres Magia, the local trio of magical girls. As it turns out, Venalita’s recruiting process is simply kidnapping the first unsupervised minor they can get their hands on.

What makes Utena so interesting is that, while obviously against the idea of fighting or even just injuring the Tres Magia, she essentially gets high on pleasure doing so. And that is the point of Gushing over Magical Girls: Utena doesn’t want to hurt the people she loves, knows that she is doing something wrong and is fully aware that she shouldn’t feel the least bit good about it. And yet, not only does she continue to go against her beloved magical girls, but she literally blooms doing so. It is one huge introspection on taboos and how the characters relate to them. The fights are also basically just SM play without the consent, so you can guess in what direction things tend to go.

After some back and forth and Utena forming her own trio of magical fighters, we eventually come to episode 7. Sayo, one of the Tres Magia, is, simply put, caught slacking. While still putting up a fight, both her fellow team mates and Utena begin to notice that she tends to be caught way too easy in the attacks and doesn’t resist as much as she used to. Sayo doesn’t necessarily want to be in this situation, after all, they are still the magical girls protecting the town and being embarrassed and put on display every time they fight Enormeeta, only to win on a technicality, doesn’t really inspire confidence in her. She also has to acknowledge that, if the situation were different, she would actually be very into being at the receiving end of Magia Baiser’s riding crop.

In her own mind, Sayo is a failure as a magical girl. She neither possesses the unwavering spirit of Haruka, nor Kaoruko’s physical strength to stand against the forces of evil on her own and has seemingly lost her way from when she initially became a magical girl herself. This gets further exemplified when following Utena into the magical girl exhibition and being confronted all around her with what should be the ideal image of a magical girl: Being resolute, pure and powerful. She can barely stand watching some of the fan favorite episodes of the in-universe magical girl shows, because at the end, while acknowledging the differences between the fiction in front of her and the less entrancing reality, she wants to be the image being projected on the screen and inspire hope in everyone.

With this frustration turned determination, she faces off against Utena on her own. While it might look like an evenly matched fight in the beginning, Utena eventually gains the upper hand and Sayo finds herself gagged and strapped on a wooden ~~horse~~ panda. There is also this perverse and twisted parallel of younger Utena enthusiastically cheering for the magical girl to defeat the monster in front of her while watching TV and the current Utena essentially doing the same thing, now being the monster herself, and to encourage Sayo to keep fighting, despite all hope being lost. And while Utena absolutely revels in this situation, Sayo simply, for the lack of a better word, breaks.

With all the will to fight back and any hesitancy left, to let herself completely go, gone, as well as being able to acknowledge that she hasn’t just lost, but was utterly dominated, Sayo, tears rolling down her flushed cheeks, is fully committed to finally submit and practically awaits the command to start licking the boots of her new mistress and to receive punishment. However, while Sayo seems content with this outcome, Utena is somewhere between furious and disgusted by this turn of events. Practically breaking character, instead of celebrating the victory, she just grabs Sayo and starts berating her: On how she should wipe off that look on her face, on how all the little girls look up to her, yet was willing to let herself go evil and how failing to keep up the righteous image and dignity of magical girls in this way isn’t even subverting expectations, but simply despicable. After everything is said and done, Utena withdraws, leaving behind a Sayo that doesn’t know what to do with herself.

Fundamentally, Utena doesn’t want to win and more so doesn’t want the magical girls to loose. Again, while see enjoys playing the villain, as much as she tends to go overboard with it, it is not actually about hurting the magical girls. It is, however, about them falling down to the ground and getting up time and time again, never giving up. Utena can do the first part just fine, but it is the latter she has to rely on the magical girls. So, when one decides to stay down, then what are you supposed to do, but be disappointed and angry? Obviously, there is some huge irony going on with the pot seemingly calling the kettle black and all, but it is this awareness of Utena and the lack of Sayo thereof, which really makes that scene for me. Hero-Villain dynamics are interesting and in this case, there were no winners.

The end of the episode essentially kick-starts Sayo’s character arc, which comes to fruition in the final episode with her revealing her La Verità form, achieved by her desire to be able to “receive Utena’s love”, but still being able to fight back. So, after symbiosis was effectively achieved, even the other characters simply acknowledge that this fight is just two perverts duking it out in public and everything is good in the world.

And those are my thoughts about the episode. Will this convince anyone to check out Gushing over Magical Girls? God, I better hope not! At the end of the day, it is still a morally questionable anime with a lot of other issues, but it are episodes like these ones that not only make me feel a bit better about enjoying such anime, but also make the whole experience actually worthwhile and more than just a simple excursion to pleasure some deeply hidden desires.

Gushing over Magical Girls is available on ADN.

KonoSuba LN: Bände 3-4

Mon, 20 May 2024 17:25:00 +0200

Ach ja, ich weiß nicht ganz warum, aber nachdem ich den Glauben daran endgültig bereits irgendwo Mitte letzten Jahres verloren habe, geht aus irgendeinen Grund die Veröffentlichung weiterer Bände der KonoSuba Light Novels in Deutschland nun doch wieder los. Anscheinend wurde der dritte Band bereits am 13.12.2023 veröffentlicht… sind ja nur knapp mehr als zwei Jahre nach Band 2 und nochmal zwei Monate obendrauf, bis ich es überhaupt bemerkt habe.

Ich hatte vermutet, dass der Aufruhr bezüglich Tokyopops Intransparenz eventuell dazu gesorgt hat, dass im Hintergrund einiges umstrukturiert wurde, was vielleicht zur Verschiebung beitrug, aber ein Blick ans Ende des Buches zeigt, dass die selben Personen für die Übersetzung und Redaktion des Bandes verantwortlich sind und das weiterhin das “Aus dem Japanischen” nirgends zu finden ist. Tja, capitalism gotta capitalism, I guess. Nicht, dass mich das Nutzen einer Pivotsprache dazu bringen würde mir die Bände nicht zu kaufen, aber wie bereits auch schon oft kritisiert, könnte ich mir die Light Novels dann auch gleich im Englischen gönnen und müsste ebenfalls nicht bis Ende des Jahrzehntes auf den letzten Band warten.

Ich schreibe diese Einleitung gerade Ende Februar mit dem Gewissen, dass ich quasi über das Material aus der zweiten Staffel der Anime-Adaption spreche, während die Veröffentlichung der dritten Staffel nur ein wenig mehr als ein Monat entfernt ist… mit genügend Copium kann ich dann für die vierte Staffel den Source Material Leser spielen :D.

Band 3

Obwohl ich die zweite Staffel des KonoSuba Anime inzwischen zwei Mal gesehen habe, fällt es mir schwer sich an den eigentlichen Inhalt zu erinnern, welcher in der ersten Hälfte behandelt wird. Ich meine, der Gerichtsprozess ist ikonisch und die Darkness-Vanir-Kombo bleibt ebenfalls im Gedächtnis, aber darüber hinaus kam mir, bevor ich es gelesen habe, nichts wirklich in den Sinn… was schade ist, denn der Stoff aus Band 3 steht dem davor in keinster Weise nach und baut sogar sehr effektiv auf den ersten zwei Bänden auf. Selbstverständlich habe ich nicht erwartet, dass mir der Band nicht gefallen würde, aber ich war doch überrascht, wie gut es ist. Bestimmt kann man daraus irgendwas, über wie initiale Exposure die Wahrnehmung beeinflusst, sagen, dass sich Bände 1 und 2, sowie die erste Staffel des Anime, sich in mein Gedächtnis gebrannt haben. Auf jeden Fall, es ist gut.

Band 3 schließt direkt an das Ende von Band 2 an und Kazuma darf sich wegen Terrorismus und Verschwörung gegen den Staat verteidigen. Dies ist in zweifacher Hinsicht hilarious, weil der gesamte Cast von KonoSuba nicht einmal in die Nähe eines echten Gerichtsaals gehen sollte, sondern auch, weil Staatsverteidigerin Sena so ziemlich versucht eine Schmutzkampagne gegen Kazuma zu fahren, welches halt auch funktioniert, weil Kazuma inzwischen so viel Dreck am Stecken hat und genügend Leute existieren, die mit Freude gegen ihn aussagen würden. Etwas, welches KonoSuba schon immer gut gemacht hat, ist, dass jede noch so kleine Tätigkeiten in unerwarteter Form zurückschlägt.

Einzig schade ist, dass dieser Konflikt keinen richtigen Payoff im Arc selbst hat. Darkness kann fürs Erste schlimmeres verhindern und bekommt dann später ihr eigenes Spotlight und Sena lässt Kazuma auch erst Mal in Ruhe, indem er ein anderes Problem löst, welches er selber verursacht hat. Wenn man schon die ~~Ace~~ Base Attorney Route fährt, dann sollte man diese auch zu Ende bringen und einen gloriosen Takedown bieten, wo eine komplett unschuldige Person plötzliche alles in die Schuhe geschoben bekommt, die sich dann paar Bände später rächen darf, oder so. Fuck it, hängt die Schuld wieder an Kyouya oder so :D.

Der nächste Teil stellt endlich Yunyun auf kanonischer Weise vor. Mit der OVA und den Spin-Off wirkt es für mich immer noch falsch, dass sie (und Chomusuke) eigentlich erst jetzt ihren ersten richtigen Auftritt hat. Ich mag die Dynamik zwischen Megumin und Yunyun irgendwie. Während der eigentliche Witz, dass Megumin zu Tsundere ist, um zuzugeben, dass sie Yunyun’s Freundin und Rivalin ist, schnell verfliegt, sind die tatsächlichen Interaktionen zwischen den beiden immer ein Spaß anzusehen, weil man sehen kann, woher diese Animosität und Rivalität herkommt und diese beide eigentlich immer ganz gut charakterisiert. Ich meine, es braucht schon gute Freunde, mit welchen man das Leid, mit Froschschleim durchtränkt zu sein, teilen kann.

Kommen wir zu einen meiner Lieblings Arcs in KonoSuba: Darkness ist wahrscheinlich der Charakter, welcher am meisten fälschlicherweise auf ihren “einen Witz” runtergebrochen wird, wenn sie doch die wohl am ausführlichsten betrachteste Figur in der Serie bisher ist. Halt, achtet mal tatsächlich auf ihren Dialog und schaltet nicht wie sie euer Hirn aus, wenn die sexuell frustrierte Fahrstuhlmusik ertönt. Zwischen der Tatsache, dass sie tatsächliche die klügste und kompetenteste Person zwischen den Quartett ist, wie ihr “einer Witz” mehrere Ebenen hat und letztlich, wie in diesen Kapitel untersucht, sie ihrer eigenen Motivation nachgeht eine Abenteurerin zu sein, obwohl sie ein anderweitig einfaches und luxuriöses Leben führen könnte. Band 3 ist Darkness' Band und ich bin sehr froh darüber.

Das dritte Kapitel fängt eigentlich sogar recht emotional an. Nachdem Darkness sich darum gekümmert hat, dass Kazuma nicht einen Kopf kürzer gemacht wird und seither sich nicht mehr bei der Gruppe blicken ließ, fing der Rest recht schnell damit an sich um Darkness Sorgen zu machen und als mehrere Tage damit vergingen, ohne auch nur ein einziges Wort von ihr zu hören und alle bereits das schlimmste erwarteten, wollten sie sogar dem ganzen eigenhändig ein Ende setzen. Für wie zynisch KonoSuba manchmal wirken kann, hängt das Herz bei den meisten Charakteren doch irgendwie am rechten Fleck… bis jenes Bild wieder komplett zerspringt, als Darkness preisgeben muss, dass sie dem Adel angehört und nun von ihren Vater dazu gedrängt wird zu heiraten, worin Kazuma selbstverständlich die ideale Gelegenheit sieht Darkness loszuwerden… stay classy.

Was folgt sind peak KonoSuba Shenanigans. Zwischen wie sich Kazuma und Aqua als Bedienstete ausgeben dürfen, Darkness krampfhaften Versuch ihr eigenes Ansehen als feine Damen zu zerstören und wie ihr Vater und Walter dem ganzen irgendwie trotzen, gibt es genügend, welches mich aktiv zum lachen gebracht hat. Jetzt verpackt man das ganze noch als charakterbildende Momenten und voilà, selbst ohne Megumin oder narrative Stakes kann sich KonoSuba von seiner besten Seite zeigen, in dem es das tut, was es am besten kann: Im hier und jetzt aus dem Nichts fantastische Interaktionen zwischen Idioten zaubern.

Und weil wir nicht genug von Darkness bekommen können, darf sie auch im letzten Abschnitt des Bandes nochmal eine größere Rolle spielen. Vanir ist lustig und stellt einen interessanten Mittelgrund zwischen Wiz und Beldia dar. Er ist unseren Helden nicht unbedingt böswillig gesinnt, aber dies heißt nicht, dass er sich einfach herumkommandieren lässt. Was folgt ist essentiell eine immer weitere Eskalation eines Nicht-Konfliktes. Man könnte dafür argumentieren, dass Vanirs Kamikaze Puppen ein Problem darstellen, aber eigentlich hätte Kazuma kein Problem ihm zurückzulassen und im selben Atemzug an seinen Grift mitzuverdienen, müsste er nicht ebenfalls noch seinen Namen reinwaschen, indem er den Dungeon wieder sicher macht.

Doch dann kommt Darkness ins Spiel. Um ehrlich zu sein, ich fand das ganze in Textform ein wenig langgezogen, auch wenn das ständige Streiten zwischen Vanir und Darkness selbstverständlich genau meinen Humor trifft und besonders gut in Darkness besondere Art von Masochismus rein spielt. Zugegeben, der Anime hat in dieser Hinsicht auch einfach den Vorteil, dass es sehr kreativ mit der Visualisierung werden konnte Vanir und Darkness im selben Körper darzustellen, als auch, dass das Voice Acting den Wahnsinn um eine weitere Stufe erhöht. Das ganze endet sogar in einen recht ernsten und heroischen Moment, wo sich Darkness für alle anderen aufopfert… also, es wäre ernst und heroisch, wenn KonoSuba es nicht besser wissen würde und diesen Moment quasi sofort unterschlägt, als sich die Gelegenheit biet.

Abgerundet wird der Band dadurch, dass Darkness damit geärgert wird, dass nun jeder in der Stadt ihren echten Namen und Hintergrund kennt, Vanir versucht Wiz' Laden aus den roten Zahlen zu hohlen und Kazuma weiterhin einen Berg an Schulden abzubezahlen hat. Es hat schon fast etwas beruhigendes, dass KonoSuba immer zu einen recht ruhigen Status Quo zurückkehrt. Nicht, dass ich dagegen wäre, dass KonoSuba sich mal an einen größeren Konflikt wagen sollte, aber die bisherige Herangehensweise an eher verstreuten kleineren Momenten gefällt mir eigentlich ganz gut.

Band 4

Ich habe es nicht wirklich für möglich gehalten, dass ich einfach laut auslachen kann, während ich ein Buch lese. Und dennoch schafft es KonSuba das Unmögliche möglich zu machen:

Heiliges Schwert Excalibur ↓.

KonoSuba Band 4, Seite 46

Peak. Ich kannte den Witz selbstverständlich bereits, aber ich habe mich dennoch vor Lachen im Bett winden müssen.

Der vierte Band beginnt mit einen kleinen Zeitsprung zu Band 3 und langsam ist wieder Normalität ins Leben eingetreten. Der Winter weicht langsam dem Frühling, aber Aqua und Kazuma machen es sich dennoch weiterhin vor dem Feuer und unterm Kotatsu gemütlich, sehr zum Ärger von Darkness und Megumin, welche eigentliche wieder auf Quests gehen wollen und Angst haben, dass die beiden komplett verfaulenzen, nur weil sich die Geldprobleme mit Kazumas Erfindungen aus seiner alten Welt fürs Erste gelöst haben. Es bleibt weiterhin amüsant, wie sich Aqua und Kazuma wie ein altes Ehepaar benehmen und deren schlechtesten Charakterzüge aneinander auslassen und dass, obwohl sie eigentlich das größte Interesse daran haben sollten mal irgendwann den Dämonenkönig anzugehen und besonders Kazuma inzwischen ein paar mehr Level hinterher hängt.

Sena, welche durch einen schrecklichen Trick des Schicksals nun der Meinung ist, dass es sich bei Kazuma um einer moralisch aufrichtigen Person handelt, drängt das Quartett nun doch an die Frische Luft zu gehen und sich um die Echsenläufer zu kümmern. Auch wenn wir quasi immer nur im Beilauf etwas von KonoSubas erweiterten Welt erfahren, sind es dennoch immer nette kleine Details, überwiegend in der Form von wie sich die meisten Lebewesen entgegen typischer Fantasy-Manier benehmen. Auf jeden Fall, die vier haben einen Plan, bis Aqua der Meinung ist einen besseren zu haben, die Prinzessin der Läufer wird am Ende doch noch erledigt, aber Kazuma bricht sich aufgrund seines Hubris buchstäblich das Genick und darf einen neuen Abstecher bei Eris machen.

Was folgt ist für mich eine Meisterklasse an wie gut man den Cast von KonoSuba bereits kennt. Kazuma ist verständlicherweise wütend und gelassen zugleich, man erwartet, dass alle die Situation ein wenig belachen und dass es in paar Momenten wieder gut wird. Die folgende Hysterie/Genervtheit der Runde, als Kazuma wiedermal andeutet doch reinkarniert zu werden ist erstklassige Comedy, besonders mit Megumins fast süßen und unschuldigen Reaktion auf seinen Vorschlag. Man vergisst gerne, dass Megumin immer noch nur ein bockiges 14-jähriges Mädchen ist und auf seinen Bauch “Heiliges Schwert Excalibur ↓” zu schreiben und vor Angst lieber zu ihrer Rivalin Yunyun zu rennen, statt sich der Situation zu stellen, ist peak mein Humor. Dass Kazuma in der Zwischenzeit vollkommenes Zen erreicht hat, welches Megumin nur noch mehr Unanehmlichkeiten bereitet, setzt dem ganzen noch die Krone auf… KonoSuba ist so lustig.

Wie dem auch sei, mit Wiz im Schlepptau, damit ihr Laden durch Vanirs Führung vielleicht mal schwarze Zahlen schreiben darf, geht es nach Arcanletia, der Stadt des Wassers. Ich habe inzwischen komplett vergessen, dass Wiz die Bande begleitet hat, was wahrscheinlich darauf zurückzuführen ist, dass sie kaum etwas aktiv macht und dank Aqua sowieso die Hälfte der Zeit außer Gefecht ist… was schade ist, denn ich mag Wiz sehr und würde gerne mehr von ihr sehen, als nur die Illustration von ihr in den heißen Quellen (Ich will mich nicht beschweren). Ich meine, sie ist sogar ganz vorne auf den Cover des Bandes, also?

Wie dem auch sei, die Reise nach Arcanletia wird dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass Kazuma sich durchgehend dafür entschuldigt, dass die fünf die Probleme lösen, für welche sie selber zuständig waren. Sprich: Darkness zieht die Laufadlermilane auf sich und Aqua sorgt dafür, dass der Karavan Nachts von Zombies heimgesucht wird. Good Stuff. Das Kapitel beinhaltet auch eine meiner liebsten Deadpan Reaktionen: Darkness, welche Kazuma darum bittet ihre Muskel nicht als “stählern” zu bezeichnen, weil selbst sie ihren weiblichen Stolz hat… gefolgt von Darkness, welche gefesselt und mit Seil befestigt der Kutsche hinterher geschliffen wird. Auch die Abendrunde mit Aqua, welche den gesamten Karavan mit Partytricks unterhält und Megumin und Darkness, welche Kazuma gespannt beim Reparieren Darkness' Rüstung zuschauen, sind schöne Ergänzungen für ein anderweitig recht schlichtes Zwischenkapitel, um die Gang von einen Ort zum anderen zu bringen.

Arcanletia ist hilarious. Zwischen den ganzen Axis-Anhängern und Aquas aus dem nichts kommenden Verantwortungsbewusstsein für ihre Gefolgschaft gibt es eine Menge zu lieben. Es ist ebenfalls der erste richtige größere Handlungsstrang in KonoSuba, welcher erst so groß wurde, weil Kazuma sich so gut wie möglich heraushalten wollte und sich stattdessen in den heißen Quellen zu entspannen. Aber auch wenn ich die meisten Momente individuell mochte, konnte ich mich nicht wirklich für das Übergreifende interessieren. Aquas plötzlicher Tatendrang war schön zu beobachten und es wurde irgendwie wieder auf Kazumas Level-Problem eingegangen, aber ansonsten gibt es relativ wenig, worüber man reden könnte. Wolbach kommt nur einmal kurz vor und Hans ist der bisher am schmächlichsten beschriebene General der Dämonenarmee, wo nur die angedeutete Vergangenheit mit Wiz wirklich hängen bleibt. Auch der Klimax ist nicht besonders … gut? Aber dazu mehr wenn es um die Unterschiede zwischen Light Novel und Anime geht. Der gesamte Arcanletia-Arc ist keinesfalls schlecht, aber dieser stecht deutlich mehr durch die situative Comedy heraus, als durch alles mögliche, welches seine 3/5 Länge des Bandes zu rechtfertigen versucht.

Mit Hans besiegt, geht es wieder zurück nach Axel, wo die Gruppe von einer panischen Yunyun angetroffen wird, welche Kazuma darum bittet ein Kind mit ihr zu haben. Weiter würde es dann im nächsten Band gehen.

Unterschiede zum Anime

Ich wusste nicht, wie ich die Unterschiede zum Anime in den eigentlichen Teilen einbauen sollte, also gibt es diese wie in den So I’m a Spider Posts separat aufgelistet. Im Gegensatz zu den ersten beiden Bänden, wurden hier keine kompletten Kapitel gestrichen und es beschränkt sich überwiegend auf Details oder kleineren Szenen.

Im ersten Kapitel des dritten Bandes, als Kazuma im Gefängnis saß, leistete ihn tatsächlich Dust ein wenig Gesellschaft in der Zelle. Es hat letzten Endes keinen wirklichen Einfluss auf irgendetwas, außer dass wir ihn ein wenig besser kennenlernen, aber gleichzeitig fühlt es sich komisch an, dass so etwas triviales einfach aktiv komplett entfernt wurde.

Im zweiten Kapitel werden ein paar Szenen gekürzt. Megumin und Yunyun’s erste Begegnung fühlt sich deutlich substanzieller an und ist auch anderweitig gefühlt länger. Im Anschluss bekommen wir auch einen interessanten Einblick in Kazuma Kopf in Bezug auf wie er Megumin, im Vergleich zu Yunyun, nicht wirklich als Frau, geschweige als potentielle Partnerin, ansehen kann, wobei sich dies im Laufe des gemeinsamen Bades scheinbar ändert (Nicht sicher, was ich davon halten soll…). Das fehlende Outing am Karneval ist aber tatsächlich sehr schade. Nicht nur bietet dies deutlich benötigten Stoff für Megumin und Yunyun, sondern lässt auch Kazuma ein wenig in die Beziehung der beiden eingreifen, was dafür sorgt, dass ihre späteren Interaktionen mit unseren Quartett auf mehr basiert, als nur ihren Draht zu Megumin.

Zuletzt wirken viele von Darkness’s Monologen deutlich ernster. Besonders der Moment, wo sie wieder nach Hause kommt ist mir dabei aufgefallen, weil dies eine Seite ist, welche man so von Darkness bisher einfach nicht gesehen hat und für mich als Leser das erst Mal einen richtigen Dämpfer in Kazumas Plan gesetzt hat, weil man plötzlich zur Darkness Seite gezogen ist, wenn sie mal den Mund öffnet und mehr als drei Sätze aushält, ohne in Fantasiegedanken abzudriften.

Im vierten Band gibt es eine Menge kleinerer und größerer Änderungen. Am Anfang des zweiten Kapitels, als Vanir ein paar von Kazumas Waren betrachten wollte, wunderte er sich, was diese “Gummidinger” sind. Aqua, möge eine echte Göttin ihr Herz beschützen, nahm sich selbstverständlich eins in die Hand und blies es zu einen Ballon auf, worauf Darkness ihr kurz darauf nachahmte. Wobei… um ehrlich zu sein habe ich diese Dinger bisher auch für nichts anderes benutzt. Und falls der reine Gedanke daran Kondome aufzublasen nicht genügte, gab es dazu auch noch eine zusätzliche Illustration… immerhin war Megumin nicht dabei. Trotz allem was in KonoSuba passiert, habe ich bei dieser Kürzung irgendwie keine großen Einwände.

In Arcanletia fehlte die Begegnung mit dem Elf und dem Zwerg komplett. Es ist eigentlich eine ganz nette Szene, in welche Kazuma und Darkness endlich ihre Portion echter Fantasy nachkommen können, nur um kurz darauf enttäuscht zu werden, dass die beiden ihr Aussehen und Streitigkeiten zwischen sich nur vorspielen, weil Touristen die Klischees, welche mit den beiden Rassen in Verbindung gebracht werden, mögen und sich dadurch mehr Sachen verkaufen lassen.

Ansonsten fehlen so ziemlich alle Anspielungen auf das Megumin Spin-Off KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!. Dies betrifft einerseits Andeutungen auf Cecily und Zesta, sowie ein kurzes Gespräch zwischen Kazuma und Wolbach, welche andeutet Megumin als Schülerin aufgenommen zu haben. In der gleichen Szene überhört Kazuma auch, dass Hans ein Dämon ist und vorhat die Quellen zu vergiften.

Was ebenfalls komplett fehlt ist Wiz' kleine Exkursion mit Kazuma und Megumin, wo sie einen Neulingstöter ohne große Probleme zum schlafen bringt, und der Plan Hans zu stoppen, indem die Polizei alarmiert wird und die Gang selber in den verschiedenen Badehäusern anhand der Gästeliste versucht auf den Täter zu schließen. Allgemein wird Darkness recht oft dazu gedrängt ihren Adelstitel zu missbrauchen, damit es voran geht, worauf sie selber wenig heiß ist, da sie Angst hat durch das nach außen scheinende Bild ihre Freunde zu verlieren.

Zuletzt gibt es den Kampf mit Hans. Im Gegensatz zum Anime, wo alle durch die wütenden Bewohner Arcanletias in die Berge fliehen mussten, schloss die Gruppe einfach darauf, dass sich Hans bei der Urquelle befinden muss, weil man von der aus sämtliches Wasser vergiften kann. Von da an verlief überwiegend alles gleich, sans der Stellen, wo die einzelnen Quellen gereinigt wurden und Kazuma Hans' gefrorene Körperteile aus der Luft snipte, damit diese nicht im Wasser landen: Hans verwandelt sich in einen riesigen Schleim, Megumin jagt ihn mit Explosion in die Luft, Wiz friert alle davonfliegenden Überreste ein und Aqua läutert am Ende alles in der Umgebung.

Um ehrlich zu sein fand ich die Anime-Version in dieser Hinsicht deutlich besser. Nicht nur floss alles irgendwie besser ineinander, sondern wurde auch durch zwei, für mich wichtige Stellen, ergänzt: Einerseits durfte Kazuma eine deutlich aktivere Rolle einnehmen, als nur Mana für Wiz bereitzustellen, indem er den Lockvogel spielte und sich in einer schon fast heroischen Weise selber aufopferte und andererseits Aqua, welche im Anime tatsächlich den finalen Schlag tätigt, welcher gleichzeitig durch den wütenden Mob an Axis Anhängern verstärkt wurde, indem sie dieses absolut hysterische Mantra aufsagen, in welchem sie sämtliche Schuld von sich selber abstreiten und die Welt um sie herum für alles schlechte beschuldigen. Ja, eine der besten Momente und eine Szene, welche definitiv das Finale der zweiten Staffel wie ein richtiges Finale wirken ließ, war scheinbar komplett original. Huh.

Verstreute Gedanken

Und dies war es mit dem Material aus der zweiten Staffel. Überwiegend bleibt meine Meinung in Bezug zu den Light Novels ähnlich der vorherigen Beiträge: An einigen Stellen machen die Charaktere deutlich mehr Sinn und alle Szenen, welche es nicht in die Adaption geschafft haben sind ebenfalls ein netter Bonus, aber im im Großen und Ganzen würde ich den Anime als die bessere Version betrachten. Dies wird mich aber nicht davon abhalten die Veröffentlichung weiterzuverfolgen. Der fünfte Band soll im September erscheinen und ab diesen Punkt hätte ich alles, was ich vom KonoSuba Anime gesehen habe, eingeholt… vorausgesetzt, ich schaue mir die dritte Staffel nicht die Sekunde an, wenn jene ihre Ausstrahlung abgeschlossen hat, welches doch recht unrealistisch wirkt :D.

Bis irgendwann dann. Und vergisst nicht: Eris' Oberweite ist ausgestopft.

Drawing Yukari Akiyama every day for a hundred days

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, as already teased in my previous drawing endeavor, the next character I would attempt to be drawing on a consistent basis is Yukari from Girls und Panzer. Why her specifically? I don’t know, your guess is as good as mine, but it might just be the tank autisms speaking. But it is a cute design, so I won’t complain.

So, since last time, how did my drawing skills improve? I haven’t particularly kept up with drawing regularly after the Kumoko post. I did attempt myself at backgrounds for a bit, but eventually gave up. Here and there, I also did some anime style drawings, but this didn’t really lead anywhere. Around half a year ago though, this changed after stumbling upon Posemaniacs. Since then, I basically do the 30 seconds drawing challenge (set to 90 seconds, lmao) on a daily basis. This helped me immensely with learning anatomy, drawing the human body in general and understanding how characters can be posed. I also started watching tutorials on specific parts of the body and am now following Excaliblader (Excal’s Art Tips), who gives great advice on common art mistakes and on how to draw anime characters.

I still wouldn’t really call what I am doing “learning to draw”, though. I am basically doing whatever most of the time, instead of actually focusing on areas I have problems with and studying anatomy, etc, but since I can clearly see some progress compared to half a year ago, I am also not doing necessarily bad per se. Is it enough to draw another character for a hundred days straight? Whether the answer would be a yes or no, it will be done regardless.

With that being said, once again, here is my way too detailed rundown of what I learned from drawing Yukari Akiyama every day for a hundred days.

The Design of Yukari Akiyama

Compared to Kumoko, explaining Yukari’s design is almost trivial. For the most part, she is just a normal cute Anime Girl™. In general, the characters in Girls und Panzer are neither particularly realistic or stylized and fall more into the moe blob territory. Her design also doesn’t really draw attention to a specific body part, isn’t notably sexualized and for the most part, she is wearing a simple sailor-style school uniform.

However, easier to explain does in no way imply easier to draw. Since, for the most part, Yukari does look like a normal anime girl, you really have to put effort into not just drawing a good anime girl, but also all the areas that differentiate her from any other human character, like the hair, eyes, expressions and stance/poses. No matter how much I botched a drawing of Kumoko, it was still very easily recognizable as Kumoko. I do not have this privilege with Yukari. If I draw her wrong, the drawing will barely resemble her.

Luckily, unlike with So I am a Spider, you can actually find production materials for Girls und Panzer and while the color designs are certainly a nice bonus, I am more interested in the character sheets themselves. Et voilà, front, back and side view, two sheets of different expressions and head angles, as well as a sheet for the tank uniform and the swimwear each. You love to see it.

From here on, you can analyze how the characters in Girls und Panzer are drawn in general, i.e. level of detail, head shape, eyes, mouth and so on, as well as the main features of Yukari.

Her eyes tend to be slightly closed, covering the top quarter of the iris, with the upper eyelashes starting leveled and then slanting downward in a soft curve going out to the sides. The bottom eyelashes are generally not drawn, but I guess the bits at the end of the upper eyelashes going down and slightly inside are supposed to indicate them. The lines (two per eye), which indicate the upper eyelids, further emphasize how the eyes are slightly closed. With eyes fully open, the upper eyelids and eyelashes go way up, revealing the rest of the iris and almost form a quarter circle. In line art, the transition between the sclera and the skin is not indicated.

There isn’t really much in terms of other facial features and the nose is also only indicated by the smallest of contour line, or the simplified head shape when in profile. I also didn’t have to bother with the ears, as they are always covered by the hair.

Speaking of which, if there is one aspect of Yukari’s design you need to nail, it is the Floof™. First of, the hair got volume! Depending on the reference, beyond just being pretty thick in general, it is also around one and a half to two heads wide. After having to draw it for a hundred times, I could go into endless detail on basically every single strand of hair, but I will try to summarize it in a more reasonable scope.

From the front, the silhouette of the hair is essentially just one big circle in the middle being overlapped by a smaller circle positioned a bit lower on each side and connecting again around the end of the neck. The outer hairline is mostly, with some exceptions, split up by smaller hair strands curving along the general shape of the hair, but broken up at times to create less smooth hair. The bangs over the forehead have a “normal” V-shape, are around the same length, but end up shorter in the middle of the face and curve (from her perspective) to the right. These are mostly grouped into six larger strands of hair, which can be broken up for additional detail, like smaller strands of hair. On her right, there is also an additional bundle of hair going almost straight to the side. Lastly, there is the hair that frames her face from the sides. These are actually just three simple lines creating this shape I can’t really describe, but it also serves as the “middle”-section connecting the bangs and the hair in the back. If you actually color it all in, it doesn’t look that overwhelming anymore.

With the exception of the direction of the bangs and this one additional strand of hair going out, the hair is actually symmetrical, though it is often varied in how the hair is broken up at places and where to draw additional details and extra hair. From the side, the hair also mostly follows along a simple cirlce, bar the area of the face and the back looks like the front, just without the additional detail of the bangs and middle section and some detail lines to indicate overlapping hair strands and depth instead. All in all, not that complicated… this fact obviously didn’t stop me from messing it up constantly.

And that’s about it. You could go into the different outfits, but for the most part, these are interchangeable anyway or not that interesting to begin with. Again, Yukari looks like any cute anime girl and her main characteristics are the eyes and hair. So, if you manage those and simply “add the rest of the girl”, you are basically settled.

Getting started and difficulties

Unlike with Kumoko, I didn’t start off with just drawing whatever came to mind. For the first few drawings, I literally just copied the Settei to get a feel for the character. This includes character height and proportions, but also just how to draw the head, hair and eyes. I also didn’t really spend a lot of time on these, partly because something something failing fast learning fast, but mostly because I didn’t want to spend as much time as I did with drawing Kumoko. I eventually abandoned this thought, because I am nowhere near a level where I can just draw something quick without much effort and have it turn out passable.

What really tripped me up was the head, or rather the face specifically. While I felt relatively confident fom the start in drawing the rest of the body, bar the more difficult poses, especially when the clothes cover up a lot of the more intricate details, I was relatively hesitant in drawing the head from any other angle than the front. The head is actually a really weird shape, even when simplified, and actually drawing a face, something I never really did in the 90 second studies, is a whole other beast. Perspective is hard and while I generally know how objects change their shape when viewed at a different angle, drawing them was and is still impossible for me. In fact, I realized I can’t even imagine simple shapes rotating or changing perspective in my head.

Like, I know how it is supposed to work, but without simplifying everything to a cube or sphere and literally drawing guidelines everywhere, I can’t for the life of me place any facial features correctly. Nose? Who knows where the tip ends. Mouth? Just draw a line somewhere at the bottom. The Eyes? Don’t even get me started. Basically every face I drew in 3/4 view looks wonky and wrong. The mouth constantly looks like a flat 2D surface, the nose ends up defying euclidean geometry above being put too low or too high and the eyes never have the correct shape for the current angle. Honestly, the only way I see this working out for me is literally copying references as many times as it needs for me to just remember how everything is supposed to look like, instead of knowing how to draw it correctly.

Also, while we are at it… why are my faces always so long? When drawing the head, everything looks fine, an then, boom, looong. Doesn’t help, that I didn’t really do much in terms of expressions. Also, why are my heads always so big compared to the rest of the body? And why are the legs always so short? God, I suck. There is a reason why Observation is a skill. You actually need to train that. Literally looking at references shouldn’t be so hard and then you start realizing 15 drawings in, that she is actually not wearing a pleated skirt, or how tight the collar wraps around the neck or how long the socks actually are… and while we are at it, the ribbon also never looks good and the shoes were the literal death of me.

Lastly, I did not do the Floof™ justice, a crime for which I should be punished to death. Especially at the sides, there is always a lot of volume missing, to the point it almost looks like it is simply flowing down. The lower parts of the sides also mostly look more random than having a specific form. I also messed up the hair flowing over the cheeks way to often, to the point it almost isn’t even recognizable as such. Different perspectives make this problem only more apparent and the way the bangs never really make sense is the final nail in the coffin.

From an exercise perspective, I fundamentally failed. Most of the times, this isn’t even Yukari I drew, but at best a dollar store variant OC based on her, considering how consistently I drew her wrong in the same way. This is also not a question of artstyle, because for that I would first still need her to be recognizable and second, have a consistent way of drawing things… which I don’t. My drawings look like someone who just started out drawing and hasn’t gotten good at any of the basics yet.

Ideas and Poses

Compared to drawing Kumoko, I guess you could say I became a lot less ambitious in what context I would draw Yukari in. In most cases, it is a simple pose that isn’t even connected to a specific action. She ist mostly just standing or sitting in front of an empty background, especially in the second half. For the most part, I have completely foregone any theme and just drew her idling in her school uniform. There are some days I drew something more specific, but these are few and far between and mostly came to me because I stumbled on some other art that inspired it. There are also drawing #25, #50 and #75, which are just references to other media… god, the Pokémon one looks so bad :D.

I also tended to be a lot more on the safe side in how I drew everything, but this was actually by design. It was clear from the get go, that I wouldn’t be able to draw anything with difficult angles or creative compositions. I mean, just look at any of the drawing where I attempted to add depth or any kind of foreshortening. As such, it’s mostly full or half body drawings with a very limited range of angles and sense of motion where you are mostly just directly looking at her. I mean, for learning to draw a character, this might not actually be that bad of an idea at first, but it also means that most drawings are rather boring.

In terms of the actual poses, I abused the hell out of Posemaniacs. I essentially used the 30 seconds drawing challenge as a random pose generator and kept on generating new poses, until I saw something I liked. I also sometimes looked through the poses of specific collections (Let’s be honest here, the “sexy” tag was the most helpful for surprisingly non-horny reasons), if I had something more concrete in mind. I then drew most of the body with these poses as a reference and later added the clothes and head on top. I guess there is one benefit to drawing traditionally: I literally could not trace, even when I really wanted to, so I had to be pretty selective in what poses I would even attempt.

Conclusion

And that’s about it. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I have less to say than in my Kumoko post, especially when the bottom line is, that I suck at drawing and should never pick up a pencil ever again in my entire life… okay, maybe I shouldn’t go that far, but I can assure you that every drawing that looks fine was merely so by accident. It is also a bit demotivating to not see me improve the same way I did when drawing Kumoko. I would be lying if I were to say I didn’t improve at all, since the average drawing eventually looked slightly better down the line, but looking back at my favorites, these popped up completely random and are not indicative of how good I was at the time.

Something I didn’t know how to mention was my struggle with cleaning up the drawings. This was also made significantly more difficult, as my eraser slowly started disintegrating and being unable to erase for a good amount of the drawings. #64, is in tribute of it. May it rest in small broken pieces. I was generally also too lazy to first draw a sketch and then erase everything before drawing properly on top, which is why some of them look very dirty.

This time, I also actually bothered properly scanning the drawings, instead of taking a picture on my phone and perspective transforming them to fit. The scans themselves look a bit weird, since I didn’t want to separate the individual sheets of paper from the block, but at least the lighting is consistent and resolution goes brrr.

Lastly, I want to showcase some of my favorite drawings, as well as some special ones:

#65 is by far the best thing I have ever drawn. I absolutely cooked with this one, right? Not sure how or why this turned out so good, but I am damn proud of it!
#71 is a well deserving second place
#8, #11, #13, #26, #40, #48, #56, #67, #77, #78, #82, #86, #97, #98 and #100 belong all in the honorable mentions
#9 is just kinda nice. It is not the best drawn image, but between the vibe and the facial expression, it is very cute
#16 got accidentally hit by the Shoujo Beam
#30 is kind of mesmerizing… something about the eyes… and I like the background characters in this one very much
#38 could have been so good, if drawn correctly…
#58 is so cursed. This is actually my best attempt at drawing from a different perspective, but the eyes, in combination with the animal traits, just makes it so off-putting
#69 is the only time I drew Miho even close to resembling her actual design

I will continue to draw eventually, but for now, I want to take a small break. A lot of days, I barely had time to draw and at some other days, my motivation to do so was basically non-existent. I also realize that I really need to study some more basics, as they will only help me further down the line. Not sure if I will ever do these “100 drawings every day” again, but if I do, I already have an idea of what I am going to draw next time.

If you are interested in all one hundred drawings of Yukari, they are available on my Google Drive.

How to create a song for UltraStar Deluxe (Updated)

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 10:45:00 +0200

EDIT: This post is now available in German.

Ach ja, around two years ago, I wrote a tutorial on this subject already. The old one is neither wrong nor bad, but in the meantime, I learned some more things and can also probably explain everything a bit better now. So, here we go again.

UltraStar Deluxe (USDX) is a free karaoke application, which uses user-generated songs. While creating a new song is not particularly difficult, if slightly time-consuming, information on how to do so is few and far between, to the point my first tutorial is actually one of the first results on Google. So here is a guide for newcomers on how to create a song for UltraStar Deluxe (or any software that uses the same format).

Step 0: Programs and Ressources

While technically everything can be done in UltraStar Deluxe itself, I wouldn’t really call it user-friendly and considering better alternatives exist, there is no real reason to use the default editor.

To get started, I recommend UltraStar Creator. This will create the initial karaoke file, including the meta data. It also let’s you split the lyrics into individual syllables and makes you roughly time them, so you end up with a good basis.

Yass allows you to refine everything, from the timing of the syllables to the line breaks, you can set lines as golden or freestyle and it is also a good tool to pitch everything. Yass Reloaded is a fork of Yass with some additional features.

Another Editor is Karedi. I haven’t used it much yet, but it is basically Yass with a modern user interface. It might need some time getting used to, if you have only ever edited in Yass, but it’s probably worth it in the long run.

Then there is UltraSinger. This is an AI-tool that, in the best case, will do everything for you, from the meta data, to transcription, timing and pitching, to the point you will only need to fix a few errors. However, in my experience, beyond some questionable decisions for gathering song data, the results may vary a lot depending on the type of song, to the point it was always easier for me to create the song from scratch. It is a bit of a hassle to get working, but might save you a lot of time, especially with the program (hopefully) getting better in the future.

It might be worth taking a look at the UltraStar Format Specification to see what most of the stuff in the karaoke file actually means. I will explain everything you need, but it can’t hurt to have a comprehensive list of every tag there is. Depending on how much progress is made in this regard, there are currently plans to unify the specification, as well as update some of the tags, so you should also look out for the Official Format Specification.

If you are looking for other songs, both USDB and UltraStar España have a large library of user-generated songs (You need an account for both). I can also recommend the USDB Syncer, which allows you to not only download the karaoke file, but also the associated audio and video files with just a few clicks. Lastly, you can also join the UltraStar Discord Server.

Step 1: Setting up a new Song

Navigate to the directory where all your other songs are located. By default, this is the songs directory in the UltraStar Deluxe program files. On Windows, you can find the folder under Program Files (x86)\UltraStar Deluxe\songs, and ~/.ultrastardx/songs if you are running Linux. You can also add a custom song directory by editing the config.ini under “Directories”.

In the song directory, create a new folder with the name [Artist] - [Song Title]. While you can technically name every file however you want, it is convention to name them according to the artist and song title. In this folder, you will have to place at least the audio file. UltraStar Deluxe accepts several audio formats, but the most common ones should be .mp3 and .m4a. Additionally, you can add a cover image, a background image and a video. Again, these can be named however you want, but it is convention to name them [Artist] - [Song Title] [CO] for the cover, [Artist] - [Song Title] [BG] for the background and [Artist] - [Song Title] for the video.

For this tutorial, I will create “Akuma no Ko” by Ai Higuchi from the anime series Attack on Titan. At the end, your folder should look something like this.

Step 2: Creating the Karaoke File in UltraStar Creator

First, in UltraStar Creator, you have to select the song you want to create the file for. You can simply drag and drop the audio file into UltraStar Creator and it should fill out some of the meta data already.

With the exception of the BPM field, all of the meta data should be self-explanatory. The only mandatory fields are Title, Artist and BPM, while everything else is technically optional. If you give both a video and a background image, the video takes precedence, while the image will be used as a backup in-game. Also, while Edition is supposed to be used for whether a song is used in commercial games like SingStar or Let’s Sing, I abuse this field to simply provide information if the song is used in other media. Again, with potential changes to the format specification coming in the future, we might get a dedicated Tags field for such information.

Now, I have mentioned that the BPM isn’t so clear cut. While the name implies, that this is simply the BPM of the song, it is actually the resolution for the notes we are about to create, with every beat being divided into four smaller ticks. You could theoretically set the BPM to any arbitrary number, but you should actually set it to a multiple of the actual BPM of the song, in most cases two or four times the BPM, as this will yield more accurate and consistent timing. Ultrastar Creator will try to guess the BPM based on the audio file and, in most cases, you can probably round it to the next even number. However, since you can simply look up the BPM of most songs, I would recommend a quick google search over trusting the program.

For example, Ultrastar Creator guessed the BPM of “Akuma no Ko” on 367.17, while the actual BPM is 90, or 360 when multiplied by four. Values between 200 and 400 tend to work well. You also shouldn’t exceed a BPM of 500 or use non-integer values.

Next, paste the lyrics of the song into the large text field and make sure there aren’t any hidden special characters, like weird line breaks or invisible spaces, as these are often recognized as their own characters and will mess up the tapping process. Also think about what lyrics are to be included. Background vocals, etc. can be set as freestyle later, but if you don’t want to bother with, for example, a rap sequence, just leave them out.

UltraStar Creator differentiates between words and syllables. A word is separated by a whitespace, while syllables are separated by a +. So when splitting the lyrics into syllables, you will have to put a + between the syllables inside a word, while words themselves should already be separated by a whitespace. A line break will translate into a page break in UltraStar Deluxe. If a word only consists of a single syllable, you don’t have to add an additional +. At the end, everything will be split into syllables, but the whitespace after a word will be appended before the first syllable of the next word in the finished karaoke file, but more on that later.

Also, if you have a repeated note of the same syllable, for example in the middle or at the end of a word, you should depict every note by an additional ~. So, for example, if you have a long repeated a sound at the end of a word, which is sung in different pitches, instead of writing …+a+a+a+a+a, it is …+a+~+~+~+~.

There isn’t a particular logic to be applied here and this process differs wildly from language to language, so you will simply have to listen to how the song is sung. I tend to listen to the song on either 0.75 or 0.5 speed, since this makes it significantly easier to listen for the syllables. Also pay attention to whether multiple syllables are sung “together”, as to not accidentally split them incorrectly.

Once the lyrics are prepared, you can finally time them. Adjust the playback speed in the top left corner to your liking and press on the play button in the bottom left box. While the song plays, simply press the space bar every time you hear a new syllable. The current and next syllables are always displayed at the bottom of the screen. You can also hold the space bar for longer notes, but it is easier to readjust them later, so just focus on the timing for now. Since we later fix everything anyway, don’t spend too much time trying to be perfectly accurate. The only syllable you should time accurately is the very first one, since this one also determines the Gap field, but this can also be adjusted later.

Once every syllable has been timed, you can save the results, which will create the karaoke file. If you open the file with a text editor, you can see the meta data, as well as the instructions for UltraStar Deluxe.

#TITLE:Akuma no Ko
#ARTIST:Ai Higuchi
#LANGUAGE:Japanese (romanized)
#EDITION:Attack on Titan: Final Season Part 2 ED
#YEAR:2022
#CREATOR:DeinAlptraum, HansiMcKlaus
#MP3:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko.mp3
#COVER:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko [CO].jpg
#BACKGROUND:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko [BG].jpg
#VIDEO:Ai Higuchi - Akuma no Ko.mp4
#BPM:360
#GAP:5840
#START:5
#END:219000

As you can see, the header is basically just the meta data we input into UltraStar Creator. #GAP was inserted by UltraStar Creator and indicates the time between the start of the song and the very first note in milliseconds. I also added #START and #END to the header, since my version of the song starts with five seconds of nothing and I want it to end at 3:39 (219 seconds). #START is measured in seconds, while #END is in milliseconds. Don’t ask me why, programmers don’t know what consistency even means. Lastly, I edited the language to be Japanese (romanized) instead of just Japanese, since the lyrics aren’t actually in Japanese script.

The rest of the file consists of the actual karaoke data. Each line consists of one syllable and is formatted as [Type] [Start] [Duration] [Pitch] [Lyrics]:

Type is the line type and can be set to Normal (:), Golden (*), Rap-Golden (G), Rap (R) or Freestyle (F)
Start denotes the tick the note starts. Remember that the notes start relative to the #GAP
Duration is the length of the notes in ticks. Each beat is divided into four ticks
Pitch is the pitch of the note. By default, it starts with C4 at 0 and increases/decreases for every half-tone, meaning the notes are transposed by one octave when increased/decreased by 12. While USDX doesn’t differentiate in what octave is sung, the pitches will still be displayed accordingly, i.e. a C5 (12) will be displayed above a C4 (0)
Lyrics is the content of a specific note and in most cases the respective word/syllable

Currently, nothing is timed or pitched, which is why the length and pitch are all the same. We will change that shortly. If a line starts with -, it indicates a line break instead of a syllable. Also, the file has to end on an E, so if you are editing the file itself, don’t accidentally delete the last line.

: 0 1 0 Te
: 2 1 0 tsu
: 6 1 0 no
: 10 1 0 ta
: 14 1 0 ma
: 22 1 0 ga
: 31 1 0 se
: 35 1 0 i
: 39 1 0 gi
: 43 1 0 no
: 47 1 0 shou
: 53 1 0 mei
- 60
: 61 1 0 Tsu
: 67 1 0 ra
: 71 1 0 nu
: 75 1 0 ke
: 79 1 0 ba
: 87 1 0 e
: 91 1 0 i
: 95 1 0 yuu
...
E

Step 3: Fixing everything in Yass

When starting Yass for the first time, it will prompt you to set a path for the song library. Simply enter the directory where all your songs are located. All your songs should be listed now. When adding a new song to the directory, Yass needs to be refreshed (Icon right to the number of songs). Search for the new song and click on the edit button (Note and pencil) at the top to start editing. If you open up Yass again, you can edit the last song directly by using the shortcut Ctrl + R.

There are a few other shortcuts, that will make editing in Yass easier:

Space: Plays back selected notes
Left/Right: Swap between notes in current line
Up/Down: Swap between lines
Del: Remove current note and merge syllable it into the next note
Ctrl + Del: Remove selected notes
Ctrl + Left/Right: Select beginning of note and change its starting position
Ctrl + Up/Down: Select note and change its pitch
Alt + Left/Right: Select end of note and change its duration
Shift + Left/Right: Select entire note and shift the starting position without adjusting the duration
Enter: Split the current line at the selected note into two and add a new page break inbetween
Ctrl + W: Toggle Ticks
Ctrl + U: Toggle Audio
Ctrl + B: Toggle Instrument
Ctrl + I: Toggle between playback speeds (100%, 50%, 33%, 25%)

You can also select several syllables and even multiple lines by selecting them in the text area in the top right. To edit the lyrics, simply right-click into the text area and ignore the spell correction. Additionally, you can split a syllable by clicking at the top of the syllable blocks. This will create another note with a ~. Before we can correct the general timing, we have to fix one potential error: The Gap.

For everything to line up nicely, the Gap should be set as accurately as possible. Change the starting position of the first block until it lines up perfectly with the audio. Then go into the errors (red box at the top), select “Non-zero first beat” and click correct at the bottom. This will set the correct offset (#GAP). Skip this part, if your first syllable is already timed correctly. If you know the gap already, for example by looking at the waveform, you can also change the Gap manually by editing the #GAP field in the karaoke file. You can ignore all the other errors for now.

The timeline is split up into beats, which themselves are split into four smaller segments, which I call ticks. In most cases, a syllable is a multiple of two or four ticks long. In each line, edit the starting position and duration of each syllable, until it fits the song. The timing you did in the UltraStar Creator should give you a good foundation from which to edit them. In my experience, it is easier to time them by reducing the playback speed to 50%. Since most songs have repeating parts, one can often copy (Ctrl + C) the melody of entire segments to later parts. Regularly play back the melody without the audio (Ctrl + U) to see, if it sounds right from the ticks alone and adjust if necessary.

If you have some freestyle lyrics, like prominent background vocals, or chanting, this would also be a good time to set them as such by selecting the syllables and clicking on the pink “F” at the top to mark them as freestyle. This simply means that only the lyrics, but not the notes, are displayed in-game and that they will not be scored when singing. It is also my preferred way of dealing with overlapping vocals or anything else that UltraStar Deluxe does not anticipate. The same goes for rapping notes, though I have only ever seen them in a single song ever, so it is unlikely you will need to use them.

After timing all the lyrics, we move on to the errors. In general, most errors are not game-breaking, but rather show bad style or anything that will make singing the song awkward and annoying. The page errors are the easiest to fix, so we will start there.

As long as there are no lyrics from different lines overlapping, you can simply click “Correct All” on all the page errors and Yass will automatically set the page breaks automatically to be spaced out accordingly. If you have overlapping lines or want to adjust the page breaks yourself, you can simply drag the page breaks (thin grey dashed line) to the left or right on the editor timeline. You can display two or multiple lines in the timeline at the same time by either selecting multiple lines in the text field or by pressing the “More Pages” button (Magnifying lense) at the top.

“Short page breaks” are a result of the last note of a line being too close to the page break, which is why you sometimes have to resolve the error multiple times. In this case, the last note has to be shortened. In general, it is better to have a good page break than a single note with the correct length. You can also combine the two lines together, but this will only work if they aren’t too long when combined.

Next, we look at the “Connected notes”. This error occurs, if there is no space between the ending syllable of a word and the first syllable of the next. “Correct” will shorten the ending syllable by one to take into account the small pause you do between words. Again, unless you have overlapping lines or there is another reason why your syllables shouldn’t be shortened, you can simply click on “Correct All” and this will shorten every last syllable of a word by one. Additionally, to allow for some tolerance while singing, you should also include a gap between syllables of the same word if the pitch changes between them. Of course, this can only be done after having pitched all the notes.

The last remaining error should be the “Uncommon golden bonus”. Golden notes give double the points when sung correctly and are visualized in-game by golden particles on the notes. Yass calculates a range for how many notes (by length) should be set as golden. It is up to the creator what notes should be golden, but I recommend long notes at the end of certain lines or certain parts of the lyrics that one wants to highlight. Select a syllable and press on the “Mark as golden”-button (Golden star) at the top to mark the note. A gauge should appear in the bottom left indicating the amount of golden notes. Try to mark notes as golden, until you are somewhere in the yellow area, though again, this is only a recommendation.

Before going into the next step, this is as good a time as any to test your progress and verify if the lyrics are timed correctly. Also take a look at the length of each line and break them up into smaller bits, if they are too long. You can’t really tell in the editor, so the best way to test this would be to play the song with four players. If the length of the notes is hard to gauge, or they only fill slowly, you should probably split the line. The same goes for when the game can’t display the full lyrics of the line at the bottom of the screen, if there is simply too much text.

Step 4: Pitching

Depending on how good or bad your ears are, pitching the song could be the most time-consuming part. You change the pitch by moving the notes up or down. You can either drag them with the mouse, or hold Ctrl and use the up and down arrow keys. Pressing Ctrl + B will toggle the instrument, which will play the current notes on a piano. In combination with toggling the song audio (Ctrl + U), this will allow you to listen to the song solely based on the pitch of the notes.

If you are like me and can’t figure out the pitch of a note, even if your life would depend on it, look for additional resources, like sheet music of the song. For me, I often search on YouTube for people who create those piano tutorials in Synthesia or similar programs, which makes copying the notes rather easy. Additionally, you can use the UltraStar Deluxe Editor, as it provides you with a little pitch indicator on how high your current singing is. Alternatively, Singing Carrots provides an online pitch detector, which also displays the current note you are singing.

You can also use a program like ultrastar-pitch, which will try to automatically pitch your timed lyrics, though you will most likely still need to fix most of the notes yourself.

Miscellaneous

Once you have pitched everything, you are essentially done. Sing the song in UltraStar Deluxe a few times to catch any remaining errors. Please consider sharing your song. While you need to be approved on UltraStar España, everyone can upload to USDB after creating an account, but the song will still need to be manually approved. When uploading to USDB, also consider adding Meta Tags, so the USDB Syncer can automatically fetch the audio and video sources. USDB Syncer, as well as Yass Reloaded have an integrated tool that will help you with generating the Tag.

You can find the song for this tutorial on USDB.

Duets

UltraStar Deluxe supports Duets, meaning two different sets of lyrics for multiple players. Fortunately, with the new version of Yass or by using Karedi, conversion to a duet is quite simple. Create a copy of the karaoke file, append [DUET] to the file name and change the #TITLE field to also include [DUET] at the end. The duet file can stay in the same directory as the original file, so it can use the same audio and video files.

To create a duet in Yass, you can follow Yass' duet tutorial, which basically consists of creating a new track and removing all the parts in both tracks that shouldn’t be sung by the respective player. At the end, merge both tracks together and save it.

In Karedi, you simply add a second player, cut and paste the respective lyrics from player one to player two and export the file as a duet.

In UltraStar Deluxe, you can switch the players by pressing the space bar while selecting the duet version.

How to create a simple RSS Bot for Discord

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 01:05:00 +0200

Ach ja, somehow all the Discord Bot tutorials I came across kinda suck, mostly in terms of glancing over specific information or simply due to being out of date, so here is for me hopefully doing a bit better with a very simple example.

This tutorial is split into two parts: The first will be on how to create the the Discord Bot User, the configuration and how to finally invite it to a server. The second part will be on the actual code and how to use this Bot to send messages into a channel based on RSS feeds.

How to set up a Discord Bot

To create a Discord Bot, you have to go to the Discord Developer Portal and create a new application. Name it however you want and fill out the general information if you so desire.

Under the Bot settings, enable “Presence Intent”, “Server Members Intent” and “Message Content Intent” under Privileged Gateway Intents. Without those, the Bot won’t be able to send messages into a channel.

Lastly, under OAuth2, you can create the invite link for the Bot. Under Scopes, select “bot” and enable all the things your Bot should be able to do. For the scope of this tutorial, “Send Message” is the only permission the Bot needs. The generated URL at the bottom can simply be pasted into a new browser tab and you can select to what server the Bot should be invited to.

How to write an RSS script

For this part, I will mostly go over my own RSS Bot. The code can be found on Github. Yes, it is written in Python and no, I will not take criticism. If you want to use another language, you are free to do so. Here is a list of Discord libraries and their associated languages.

The general idea of the program is that on startup, the Bot connects to a local database (I will explain why later), as well as to a channel in your server and it will then periodically look for new articles in the RSS feeds and post a message if one is found.

The code consists mostly of only two files, but depending on your style, these can be further modularized: main.py takes care of the actual functionality, while config.py is, as the name implies, responsible for settings and anything that isn’t hardcoded into the code itself.

For this project, you will need two additional dependencies: The discord library, as well as an RSS library of your choosing, like feedparser for example. Simply install them both using pip:

pip install discord.py feedparser

config.py

Finally, it is time to start coding. In the config.py, we will create the following variables:

# Bot Token
TOKEN = "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
# Channel ID
CHANNEL_ID = 123456789123456789
# Update interval for how often the bot is supposed to check if a new entry in the RSS feed exists (in Minutes)
UPDATE_INTERVAL = 5
# How far a new entry in the RSS feed can can be published in the past before being ignored (in Days)
LAST_ARTICLE_RANGE = 5
# Add the RSS feeds here. Each object consists of the RSS feed URL and an optional Discord User-ID, whose user will be tagged in the message
RSS_FEEDS = [
{
"url": "LINK_TO_RSS_FEED",
"user": "USER_ID"
},
{
"url": "LINK_TO_RSS_FEED",
"user": "USER_ID"
}
]

TOKEN is your Bot Token. If you have only just created the Bot User, it doesn’t exist yet and has to be generated first. In your Discord Application, under Bot, you can reset the Token. Copy and save it somewhere, as it won’t be displayed again. Also, do not give your Token to anyone you do not trust, as the Token grants you full access to the Bot.

CHANNEL_ID is the channel ID of the channel you want the Bot to write messages to. If you do not know the channel ID, go to your Discord User Settings and under “Advanced Settings” you can enable “Developer Mode”. This allows you to copy the ID when you right-click on a channel or other users.

UPDATE_INTERVAL and LAST_ARTICLE_RANGE are the first real settings. The update interval simply states how often the Bot should look for new entries in the RSS feeds and the last article range limits to how far in the past a new article can be published before the Bot ignores it and won’t write a message in the channel.

Lastly, RSS_FEEDS is a list of the RSS feeds. Each entry is an object, consisting of a url for the RSS feed, usually ending on an .xml extension, and a user ID. The user argument is optional and will tag a certain user in the message sent to Discord.

main.py

In main.py, import everything you need. This includes the Discord and RSS library, as well as the config file, but also something to make dealing with time a bit more manageable and a light-weight database.

import feedparser
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
import sqlite3
import discord
from discord.ext import commands, tasks
from config import TOKEN, CHANNEL_ID, UPDATE_INTERVAL, LAST_ARTICLE_RANGE, RSS_FEEDS

The reason why we create a database is simple: We want to know whether the Bot has already send a message for a specific article, as to prevent duplicates. We could also technically go through the entire channel history to see if an article was already sent, but not only would we need to give the Bot additional permissions, it would also be more complicated with no real benefit, so database it is.

We initialize the database, if it is the first time starting the bot, and connect to it. This will create the table articles, which stores the title and link for each article.

connection = sqlite3.connect('articles.db')
c = connection.cursor()
c.execute('''CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS articles (title TEXT, link TEXT)''')
connection.commit()

Next, it is time to actually define the Bot and start the whole thing up. While the Bot doesn’t actually need a command prefix, as it won’t listen to any, future-proofing is always nice. On the other hand, the Bot won’t run without the proper intents. discord.Intents(messages=True) should probably suffice for this example, but again, who knows what one might add on top of this.

bot = commands.Bot(command_prefix='!', intents=discord.Intents.all())
if __name__ == "__main__":
bot.run(TOKEN)

With this, the Bot is technically running and you should be able to see the green circle on the profile picture indicating that it is online. However, it would probably be a good idea to verify whether the Bot started correctly. For this case, there exist events, which trigger on… well, certain events. So, we add the on_ready() event, print a message to the console and run the function that handles all the logic.

@bot.event
async def on_ready():
print(f'{bot.user} has connected to Discord!')
post_new_articles.start()

Specifically, post_new_articles isn’t just a normal function, but a task, hence the additional .start method. Since we want the Bot to look for new entries in a feed periodically, we can simply create a task, which will continuously be executed at a certain interval, which can be set from seconds to hours.

The logic of the function isn’t that complicated: The Bot connects to the channel and fetches the new articles if they exist. Then, for every new article, it creates a message, sends it to the channel and records the new article in the database.

async def post_new_articles():
channel = bot.get_channel(CHANNEL_ID)
new_articles = get_new_articles()
for article in new_articles:
message = format_to_message(article)
await channel.send(message)
record_article_in_db(article["article"])

Fetching the new articles also isn’t that hard either. You simply loop through all the entries of all the RSS feeds, check if an article, in this case the article link specifically, is already stored in the database and whether the publication date isn’t too far in the past. It might look like a lot at first, but this is mostly due to how the data is nested.

The returned value isn’t just the article though, but the whole article object, the user ID stored in the config and the name of the RSS feed, since we need all these values for the message.

def get_new_articles():
new_articles = []
for rss_feed in RSS_FEEDS:
entries = feedparser.parse(rss_feed["url"]).entries
for entry in entries:
if not article_in_db(entry):
pub_date = datetime.strptime(entry.published, "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z").replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
if datetime.now(timezone.utc) - pub_date <= timedelta(days=LAST_ARTICLE_RANGE):
new_articles.append({"article": entry, "user": rss_feed["user"], "feedTitle": feedparser.parse(rss_feed["url"]).feed.title})
return new_articles
def article_in_db(entry):
c.execute("SELECT link FROM articles WHERE link=?", (entry.link,))
if c.fetchone() is None:
return False
else:
return True

The format_to_message function is mostly string concatenation. You first extract the article title, user or feed title and the article link and just concatenate them together to form the message according to the template [ARTICLE TITLE] by [@USER / FEED TITLE]\n[ARTICLE LINK].

def format_to_message(article):
article_title = article["article"].title
article_user = article["user"]
article_feed_title = article["feedTitle"]
article_link = article["article"].link
message = f"**{article_title}** by "
if article_user:
message += f"<@{article_user}>"
else:
message += f"{article_feed_title}"
message += f"\n{article_link}"
return message

When the message is send by the Bot, Discord will render it like this. Of course, you are free to change the template to your liking.

Lastly, we record the article in the database, so the Bot won’t write the same message again. We do this after the message has been sent in case something goes wrong with sending the message, since it wouldn’t be able to post the article again, once the error is resolved, if it article were already in the database.

At the end, it is just a simple insert of the article title and link into the database.

def record_article_in_db(article):
c.execute("INSERT INTO articles (title, link) VALUES (?, ?)", (article.title, article.link))
connection.commit()

And that’s about it. If you were to fill out the config and start the script, you should have a functioning RSS Bot running. Obviously, you should run it on a separate server for constant uptime. The only thing left would be to expand upon it. I initially thought about adding commands to the bot, but figured a simple config would be a more elegant solution. Well, considering I just wanted to write a simple RSS Bot, this shall suffice. I hope this was helpful.

Frieren: Beyond just Enjoyment

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 21:50:00 +0100

Ach ja, since this will probably be a short one (I lied), let’s do things differently this time and get to the main point immediately: Despite my consistent praises for the anime series, its superb quality in both writing and production and a seemingly as a good a score as possible with an elf as a main character, I can’t say that I particularly “enjoyed” watching Frieren as one might assume from just the first part of this sentence, or at least how I wouldn’t generally describe experiencing Frieren similar to other anime I did enjoy watching. Now, after I have effectively clickbaited the only person who would read this post regardless, let’s go a bit deeper into what I even mean by any of this.

Now, Frieren is obviously great. One could probably say something about the seemingly “overreliance” of mono no aware or how some story beats seemingly come down to superficial platitudes and while I can’t directly argue against these points in a way that goes beyond simply feeling very different about the series in general, it is also not like I am bothered by any of it. Keep in mind that I am the guy whose favorite episodes often consists of “nothing happening”. So, if I don’t have anything negative to say about the actual anime, what exactly is my issue with Frieren? I lied again, the obligatory introductionary ramble starts now.

Engaging with media takes effort. This is not to be confused with me having to force myself through something or any kind of obligation towards a piece of media. Calling it an investment also sounds a bit too calculated and purely logical, but it goes into the right direction. I rarely sit back and simply get hit with something in the face, before going “Damn, this is great!”. There is work involved. Sometimes, you simply need to get good at the game’s mechanics first, before it actually gets fun. Learning a skill can be satisfying in itself, but it will take time before you can actually put it to any use. Meeting up with this one slightly estranged friend after a couple of years? You are not particularly hyped, it is bit awkward at first, but in the end you tend to be glad you did it. Motivating yourself is half the battle and sometimes you have to give first, before you get something in return. Immediate satisfaction is a drug. Don’t do drugs, kids!

To bring it back to watching anime, the least it demands of you is your attention and time. This might seem obvious, but there are enough people that consume movies and whole shows by having it on in the background and taking it in passively. While I will not judge people for how they interact with media… I absolutely judge people for how they interact with media and I would never consider having seen a movie, if I were to do anything else at the same time. But beyond this, time is not limitless and, of course, you want to spend it on something, if not worthwhile, at least something you would potentially enjoy. Paying attention is also very much a spectrum, especially in an audio-visual medium, whose way of getting its “text” across is inherently ambiguous.

The next thing it demands of you is to honestly engage with it. In comparison, time and attention are easy, but having to use your brain can kill. Just think back to the teacher that has to oversee a classroom full of children that would like to do literally anything else than work on this dumb poem they have already spend the last three lessons on learning about its author, the historical background and the plethora of stylistic devices none of them can make any sense of. You cannot force someone to engage with something beyond a purely methodical approach. This simply does not work. There are certainly inherent points to any kind of work that make it more welcome to do so, but at the end of the day, the one in front of it will have the final say in this.

This is also the threshold for when it comes to analyzing works of fiction. Do you want to think about the things you have just seen, or can you accept simply taking it at face value? Do you want to extract meaning, or does everything inside the story stay inside the story? Do you exam it critically, comparing it to similar works, or will you simply go “this was good, I guess?” and walk on with your life? Being able to analyze something, especially if something lends itself to it, can be fun, but again, it takes effort. It is on you to put in the work, before you are rewarded.

With that being said, let me first tell you a bit about how watching Frieren was for me: Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn’t even have started watching Frieren in the first place. I rarely watch anime seasonally, especially if it looks like a promising series, as I tend to binge-watch such, once they are finished. I knew about the manga and that it is held in relatively high regards beforehand and I’ve also seen the trailer. It looked amazing and I had no doubt it would probably be the biggest new anime of the season (though I didn’t expect it to become that big). All the resulting discourse following the movie-length premiere would have convinced me to eventually give it a shot eventually at the latest, or at least keep my eyes and ears open while it airs.

Alas, I decided to start watching seasonal anime with friends and along two other anime from which one of us each has read the source material, we also picked up Frieren for our weekly discussion. Regardless of the point I am trying to make, this was, by every metric, a good decision, since the other two anime turned out to be rather lackluster. Anyway, the fall season began and I watched the premiere, which amounted to the first four episodes of the anime adaptation. I watched them without a problem, liked them very much and had basically no intention to continue watching any more of it.

“But how come?”, you might ask, if you were an idiot with no reading comprehension. However, you are not and understand why I was yapping on and on until just now. The bottom line is that watching Frieren takes effort for me. But not just the effort one would expect it to take, but some serious advanced effort. Frieren is dense, both narratively and visually. It demands your full attention, because it can and will reward you for it. Basically, Frieren is an analyst’s dream. However, I am not an analyst. I’m just here to have fun and analysis just happens to be a part of the process sometimes. Sure, I can and will not shut up about some things, but I will also admit that, at times, I simply can’t say more than half a Tweet worth of words, because thinking about it anymore will take more effort than it could possibly be worth it. This puts Frieren in a very weird position that is even more rare among the already few anime i feel similarly towards.

There is a certain class of anime that just completely breaks my incomprehensive, if at least consistent, scoring system: Anime I consider “good”, whether I would describe them as “well written”, or “thematically resonant” or any other kind of adjectively verbing, but, through some cruel twist of fate, don’t particularly end up “enjoying” per se. Anime where my eyes normally see something I adore and my brain is able to make perfect sense of it, but where my heart stands still and unmoved. This isn’t just a case of not enjoying something I previously thought I would enjoy regardless, but a weird contradiction. In the same way I enjoy things differently, I also don’t enjoy things in a myriad of ways. Similar to how “hating something” and “being indifferent towards it” are worlds apart, so is my non-enjoyment of the anime I don’t end up enjoying. What scoring is concerned, I can justify putting trash into the S-Tier, but what about reducing the gold standard to scrap metal? One is not correct, the other one is wrong.

Some things simply come naturally to me. Why was I glued to the screen when watching Oshi no Ko, while having to basically force myself through Cowboy Bebop? What overcame me to watch the entirety of Re:Creators in less than 24 hours, when it took me more than a year to finish the last couple episodes of the Pokémon Sun and Moon anime? What do I even see in Girls und Panzer that makes me constantly want to rewatch it on a whim, when I will actively argue against watching Akira or Ghost in the Shell one more time?

It’s over a year ago I started telling myself that the next anime I am going to watch on my own will be Gurren Lagann. It is also worth noting, that I did not in fact go on anime withdrawal since then. The expectations are simply so great, that it is not enough to wait for me to be in a right mood, but to be in the right mood. It is the same reason why Serial Experiments Lain is standing at a 3 / 13 progress since months, because me and my friend will not watch it when exhausted or half-asleep. On the other hand, what could even possibly stop me from watching, for the lack of a better word, easily consumable trash? It took no effort to watch Keikenzumi, beyond calculating how much faith you are willing to loose. Engaging with Chained Soldier is easy, because it demands nothing of you, because it can only give nothing in return. Just sit back and enjoy the author’s barely-disguised fetishes.

On the flip side, how do I hype myself for something, which I don’t find inherently appealing? How do you approach something that demands your everything, but can’t give you a reason to continue taking this leap of faith? Do I simply wait for the moment when I miraculously am in the mood for it? For when I am suddenly able to completely lock in? For when it truly succeeds in sending chills down my spine, freezes my heart over and leaves me shivering in the icy cold?

So, how am I even supposed to feel about Frieren? An anime I am constantly praising every week anew since almost half a year already, but am also actively avoiding to actually watch every week? Why is one of the best anime in recent years also the one I always see after everything else, not because I want to save the best for last, but because it means spending more time not having to confront it. Why is it so hard for me to full-heartedly enjoy something so obviously good? If Tsunderes are stupid, then call me fucking brain-damaged. Whatever it is, it is probably also the reason why I won’t be able to do a proper write-up on Frieren, so I am at least glad the people willing to listen already know what I would say, even if it only came in the form of utterly incoherent ramblings.

Though, to maybe dampen the whole melodramatic tone I started spinning halfway through, it is not like I don’t “enjoy” Frieren at all. Calling it a very weird and specific anxiety might be more accurate, now that I think about it and almost finished writing 2000 words again… It certainly got easier to press the play button over time and the whole mage exam arc gave me a more concrete idea of what to look forward to at the end of every episode. Heaven, I can’t wait to immediately regret everything I wrote the moment I finish the last episode and only realize how much I loved it the moment it is gone.

Since I am writing this all before the last episode aired, there is probably some kind of sick irony in this post that somehow curves right back into one of the core messages of Frieren. If that is so, then point your fingers and laugh at me. I should know better than to walk into the circus dressed as a clown.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is available on Crunchyroll.

The Sea Beast: Breaking it down for Children

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 17:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, I am fascinated with children’s media, or rather with the the idea of media primarily targeted at children. If you know me, I tend to watch a lot of stuff below my own demographic. Of course, there are the obvious contenders like Precure and Pokémon and my love for animation certainly contributes to me being thrown into a lot of it too. The fact that I never really watched TV when younger or read any of the children and young teenager’s classics might also add to it on a subconscious level. The bottom line is that I only really started being exposed to children media specifically once I was no longer a child, but an adult.

To get the obvious out of the way first: Most children media, if not all of it, is seldom only targeted towards children or whatever the respective demographic is supposed to be defined as (One could probably write its own post about the Shounen and Shoujo demographics alone for that matter). Beyond content specifically designed to fly over the heads of the little ones, it is not like certain topics suddenly loose their importance or meaning once you reach a certain age and while children are stupid, they are not that stupid, with some of the most beloved series being held in high regards specifically for its ability to trust its audience to understand the more complex themes of a work, even with its scope “compromised”. The new Live-Action Avatar series makes a great case for why going at something under a superficially more adult point of view doesn’t necessarily result in a better exploration of its themes or ideas. There is value in analysis, no matter its breath or depth and thinking about this stuff is what gets me going.

Alas, here is the question I constantly have to ask myself when consuming children’s media: How do you communicate ideas to someone who neither has the academic knowledge to understand, nor the real life experiences to relate to them? I don’t think every piece of media, especially children’s media, should always be a tale of morality in disguise, but in the same way every story has a message by virtue of representing something, one should also not ignore the potential influence it has on a viewer and even more so when they are young. “It’s just a movie for children”… exactly, which is why it is the responsibility of the adults to provide them with the best we can. As more than one generation of “Disney Adults” has already shown (for better or worse), these experiences can be quite formative and I would rather like to live in a world where children can deepen their understanding of both themselves and their surroundings through the media they engage in, than it being simply used as a way to occupy them for a certain amount of time.

With the at this point already mandatory 500 word preamble out of the way, let’s finally dive deep into how The Sea Beast succeeds at creating both a fantastical tale, as well as having pretty grounded ideas explained to me, like I am five.

The story of The Sea Beast is not that hard to explain: Giant monster inhabit the oceans which gave birth to the occupation of sailors hunting the sea beasts down to protect the shores and secure safe passage for other ships. Over the course of the film, we find out that the sea beasts are actually not that hostile and that the majority of history was essentially made up by the royal family in order to secure itself as the most powerful player on the sea.

Now, a lesser film would focus on the evils of the royals. “Monsters are monsters and it is either them or us” or “We have brought wealth and prosperity to this land”. And while I love bashing on rich people, the inherent evil of such institutions and the almost cartoonish alienation such individuals tend to display, I can do so, because real people like that have existed, exist right now and will most likely continue to exist for the foreseeable future. Reality is a tragedy and any kind of catharsis is the result of collective work, not a well-meaning resolution at the end of a journey. We’ve got stories for the latter. So it was nice to see that, while the source of all the world’s evil is still rooted in a few people being allowed to wield power beyond their ability, the film actually focuses on the way how these conditions affect the world around it, as well as how it bastardizes the emotional anchors that grounds the characters that have to live in it.

If there is one giant throughline in this film, it would be the theme of legacy. The idea that something will live on even after death, either literally or metaphorically, is everywhere: The act of hunting going so far back, that no one remembers how it all started, the inheritance of the ship and crew, the family dynamics of both Jacob and Maisie and the very way how history is remembered and used to inspire. If only there would be a good song that would tease how something normally seen as uplifting and good, such as the concept of legacy, is being used to create an endless circle of suffering… yeah, I’ll be real with you, I just wanted to segue into mentioning this banger of a sea shanty.

“Captain Crow” encapsulates well how context can change meaning, even if the words are the same. Hunting the sea beasts is not only a necessity, but an honorable duty to which everyone looks up to, to the point that the morbidity of it all is not only overlooked, but openly welcomed. Hunters die, sure, but they also die the greatest death. In fact, death is treated as a rite of passage. The father dies, so the son will continue the legacy until he dies too. As such, it is no question in whose footsteps Maisie is supposed to step in and why she specifically asks how her parents died, not how they lived.

The irony of it all comes from the fact that hunting the sea beasts was only ever a means for the royals to gain more power. What is believed to protect people has only ever cost the life of them. The fame associated with being a hunter is directly payed in blood. Being fully committed to the legacy of everyone before him is what robs Crow of his humanity and replaces it with an obsession that makes it impossible to actually live this so called “greatest life” promised to him. Death doesn’t complete a person, it just rips you away from everyone you hold dear with its cold indifferent hands. And after everything is said and done, the whole occupation of hunters is to be replaced by simple military and the so called heroes only to be remembered by those who were there, because the book outlives the person that could prove it wrong.

The genius is in how the film’s ending is able to reclaim the idea of “legacy” in a way that it creates something new and doesn’t fall in the same pitfall that lead to the problems that befell the characters at the beginning of it all. After learning about the truth, Maisie denounces her wish to become a hunter and convinces everyone else to stop hunting the sea beasts, Sarah destroys her reputation as the most loyal first mate in favor of doing what she considers to be the right thing and Crow is able to accept Jacob not as his successor, but as his son. History is not rewritten, but simply looked at from a different angle and acted upon in a way that is not destructive.

I only went over the themes superficially, mostly stating and not analyzing them, not only because it is over a month ago that I have actually seen the movie and would need to rewatch it again to do so, but also because I want to come back to what I actually want to tackle with this post: Not just what the film says, but also how it tries to get the message across.

You don’t have to fully understand and be able to communicate an idea to feel and internalize it. Just like how I will probably never really be able to put my love for some things into words, at the very least, I will still be able to say that these feelings are genuine. Sometimes, this is just the way we engage with media. We simply “get” it beyond the need for words.

The Sea Beast does so either by proxy and the use of very easy to understand imagery. You don’t need an extensive breakdown of the history of the conflict to acknowledge the pain Red feels when basically her entire back is covered in spears and scars or how the many hunting trophies in the lavish palace show how this fight is very much just a one-sided slaughter. It also asks its question very directly with not a lot of room to dodge its implications: You have found out the truth of this world… now what? Do you try to bring change or do you stay complicit? It may be an easy decision for Maisie, but what about Jacob, who has spend his entire life on the sea as a hunter? While the resolution of the film is clearly very idealistic in its methodology, it nonetheless grounds its message in realism. Conflicts have a beginning and accepting this fact is half the battle, while the other half is in understanding that fighting for a better tomorrow is worth it, even if it means having to confront all the ugly truths no one wants to talk about. No “Both sides are bad, actually”, one side canned these worms, so it is time for them to open it.

The obvious takeaway from it all is that children are not just supposed to get why attacking the sea beasts is a bad thing, but also to extend this empathy towards the real world. I don’t even have to name drop the current genocides happening, as there is injustice in almost every aspect of life, so if even just one kid can go out of this movie with the feeling that they are both able to acknowledge and do something against it, then it is a win, even if we don’t get to know the fate of the people responsible.

Do you live to die, or do you die, because you have lived? At the end of the story, the sentiment of “dying the greatest death” gives room to “living the greatest lives”. You don’t have to be able to explain why, as the film shows you why it should be like this.

Last minute comment: God, this post really turned into a mess halfway through. Just imagine I actually make a point between all the preaching :D.

The Sea Beast is available on Netlix.

Ich habe Kumoko als Voxel Figur aus Holz gebastelt

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:00:00 +0100

Ach ja, vor ein bisschen mehr als zwei Jahren kam ich auf die zugegeben recht random Idee eine Voxelfigur aus Holz zu basteln und das Resultat ist nun dieses schnuckelige Feurigel hier, welches unglaublich süß auf meiner Kommode Staub ansammelt. Allerdings, wie bei jedem ersten Mal, ist es nicht besonders gut geworden, man wusste nicht, was man mit seinen Händen anstellt und aus irgendeinen Grund floss am Ende mehr Blut als Schweiß.

Wie dem auch sei. Für den zweiten Versuch habe ich mir dieses Mal Kumoko aus “So I’m a Spider, So What?” vorgenommen. Ich bin mir nicht einmal sicher warum, aber es könnte vielleicht daran liegen, dass ich jeden Moment an sie denke. Außerdem, wenn ich bereits die Nendroid von ihr nicht haben kann und die 1/7th Scale ein klein wenig außerhalb meiner Preisklasse liegt, dann mache ich es halt selbst!

Ein kurzes Wort vorab: Dieses Video soll jetzt keine richtige „How to“ Schritt für Schritt Anleitung sein, welcher man befolgen kann, auch wenn man wahrscheinlich nicht an der komplett falschen Adresse ist. Es soll eher ein Erfahrungsbericht sein, wo ich euch zeigen kann, was mir bei jeden Schritt durch den Kopf ging, auf welche Probleme ich gestoßen bin und wie ich alles letztendlich gemeistert habe, damit ich euch nun Kumoko präsentieren kann.

Dann fangen wir mal an.

Schritt 1: Der kreative Teil

Als Voxel-Editor benutze ich MagicaVoxel. Es ist kostenlos, recht einfach zu bedienen und erlaubt mir auch normale 3D-Modelle als Baseline zu importieren und Letzteres ist wichtig, denn auch wenn es eine Menge an talentierter Künstler gibt, welche von Grund auf beeindruckende Modelle herzaubern können, gehöre ich nicht zu diesen. Beim Feurigel habe ich auch nur das offizielle Modell importiert und von da an losgelegt.

Also ist der erste Schritt auf der Agenda, sich ein Modell von Kumoko zu klauen, denn es wird sicherlich schon irgendeinen Trottel gegeben haben, welcher sie vernünftig modelliert hat… Es gibt keinen Trottel, welcher Kumoko vernünftig modelliert hat.

Also, nicht ganz. Es gibt Leute, welche angefangen haben, es aber zumindest nie veröffentlichten und dann gibt es dieses Modell. Ich bin zwar in absolut keiner Position dieses zu kritisieren, aber wenn man das Design von Kumoko in der Anime-Adaption und der dieses Modells vergleicht, erkennt man schon einen deutlichen Unterschied.

Also blieb mir nur noch eines übrig: In der Ecke hocken und heulen… gefolgt von die Grundlagen von Blender lernen. Um ehrlich zu sein, dies war das erste Mal, dass ich etwas ernsthaft in Blender gemacht habe und modellieren, bzw. nur low-poly zu blocken ist tatsächlich gar nicht mal so schwer, besonders wenn es ausreicht, wenn das Ergebnis wie ein Hintergrund Monster aus einem PlayStation 1 Spiel aussieht.

Es hilft ebenfalls, dass Kumokos Design gar nicht mal so kompliziert ist und das erste Opening diese Rotation von ihren verschiedenen Formen hat, welches es einfach macht Referenzen für die verschiedenen Winkeln zu sammeln. Der Hinterleib selbst ist eigentlich nur eine langgestreckte Kugel, beim Kopf das Gleiche, der Kranz ein 14-eck und die Ohren sind auch nicht der Rede wert. Einzig interessant sind die Beine, welche tatsächlich geriggt und mit Inverse Kinematics ausgestattet sind, damit ich diese frei posieren kann. Farben und so weiter dienen lediglich der Referenz und werden leider nicht in MagicaVoxel übernommen.

Dann hauen wir das Modell mal rein und jaaa, ehhh, nein! Also, mehrere Probleme: Selbst in der Standardgröße von 40 x 40 x 40 Voxeln, lassen sich die einzelnen Körperteile und besonders die Silhouette von Kumoko nicht wirklich erkennen. Grund dafür sind unter anderen alle Körperteile, welche sich durch die Rasterisierung nun ungünstig überlappen, oder zu dick geworden sind. Am deutlichsten sieht man dies an den Beinen, welche definitiv dünner sein sollten und nun an der Seite des Körpers zusammenschmelzen, anstatt individuell von der Unterseite herauszugehen. Der nicht vorhandenen Zwischenraum zwischen Körper und Kranz ist auch eher suboptimal.

Also, zurück in Blender und ein paar Änderungen vornehmen. Genauer gesagt sämtliche Tiefe aus den Ohren und den Kranz nehmen und das Hinterleib um den Kranz verkleinern. Ich habe ebenfalls die Beine verdünnt und anders positioniert, damit alles am Ende klar lesbar aussieht. In der Zwischenzeit habe ich mich auch für eine finale Auflösung entschieden. Warum erkläre ich später.

Um ehrlich zu sein, dieser ganze Prozess war überwiegend Trial and Error, bis ich irgendwann mit etwas brauchbaren da stand. Besonders die Beine haben mich fast in den Wahnsinn getrieben und vor allem die Vorderbeine musste ich am meisten nachbearbeiten. Im Nachhinein hätte ich die Beine wahrscheinlich noch dünner machen müssen, aber so bin ich nun auch zufrieden. Der Rest war überwiegend nur noch Clean-Up und leichte Änderungen, wie dass die Unterseite der Beine genügend Fläche haben, um sicher stehen zu können. Am Ende kam noch Farbe hinzu und das war’s auch schon.

Auf jeden Fall, am Ende steht Voxel-Kumoko in voller Pracht und Farbe. Dies ist, wie sie am Ende auch in echt aussehen soll.

Aus Gründen, auf welche ich später eingehe, ist das Modell halb hohl und mit grünen Voxeln nach innen ausgepadded, aber am Ende sieht man davon sowieso nichts.

So, Vorlage ist fertig, jetzt ist natürlich nur noch die Frage, wie man vom Digitalen zum Physischen kommt. Die Antwort ist eigentlich recht simpel, allerdings brauchen wir dafür jemand klügeres *setzt sich Brille auf*.

Schritt 2: Der mathematische Teil

Die Grundidee ist eigentlich nicht kompliziert. Da alle Voxel entlang eines 3D-Gitters angeordnet sind, lassen sich diese als Pixel auf mehrere 2D-Gitter reduzieren. Die einzelnen Slices sind dann jeweils ein Voxel dick und am Ende muss man die ausgesägten Stücke nur noch zusammenstacken und alles ist wieder 3D.

Bleibt nur noch die Frage, wie ich alles auf das Holz bringe. Beim Feurigel habe ich einen sehr ambitionierten Ansatz gewählt. Ich habe die einzelnen Slices aus dem Voxel-Editor einfach auf Papier übertragen, auf dem Holz wortwörtlich ein Gitter gezeichnet, und an diesem markiert, wo ich entlang sägen muss. Dies war nicht nur ungenau, sondern auch sehr fehleranfällig. Für Kumoko habe ich mich diesmal dazu entschieden ein klein wenig mehr Technologie zu benutzen und stattdessen die Outlines auf Papier zu drucken und diese dann auf das Holz zu kleben.

Vorteil: Es ist deutlich schneller und genauer, als wenn ich mit Lineal und Augenmaß auf dem Holz zeichne, allerdings setzt dies ein gewisses Maß an Vorarbeit voraus. Außerdem musste ich mir eine neue Tintenpatrone kaufen, welches mich beinahe in den finanziellen Ruin getrieben hat.

Um diese Schablonen zu erstellen, benötigt man ein normales zwei-dimensionales Bild der jeweiligen Slices, welches man sich relativ leicht ausgeben kann, indem man das Modell als Slices exportiert. Nur ein Problem: MagicaVoxel generiert diese Slices von oben nach unten, ich brauche sie aber von links nach rechts. Eine Lösung wäre, das Modell im Editor in die richtige Orientierung zu drehen und dann zu exportieren. Dies dauert aber mindestens drei Sekunden, weshalb es keinen Grund gibt, diesen Vorgang nicht auch in drei Stunden zu automatisieren.

Übrigens, wenn man durch die einzelnen Slices durchgeht, sieht es so aus, wie bei einer Computertomographie, weil es tatsächlich auch irgendwie das selbe Prinzip ist. Spätestens jetzt sollte ich nochmal auf die Auflösung zurückkommen. Die Auflösung bestimmt nicht nur den Detailgrad, sondern auch indirekt die Größe. Da schließlich alles, welches modelliert, am Ende auch gesägt und bemalt werden muss, versuche ich natürlich die Auflösung möglichst gering zu halten. Beim Bearbeiten des Voxel-Modells kam ich dann schließlich auf einen vernünftigen Kompromiss von 35 x 37 x 24 Voxeln.

Der zweite Grund, warum ich die Auflösung möglichst gering halten will, ist die tatsächlich physikalische Größe. Da ich die Slices aus Holzplatten säge, bestimmt die Stärke des Holzes ebenfalls eine Seitenlänge der Voxel und da ich gleichgroße Voxel haben möchte, bestimmt die Stärke des Holzes ebenfalls Länge, Höhe und Breite. Da ich mit Rohspannplatten arbeite, bestehen meine Optionen aus 8, 10, 12, 16, 19 und 22mm Dicke. Bei der genannten Auflösung komme ich also auf eine Spanne von 28cm x 29,6cm x 19,2cm bis 77cm x 81,4cm x 52,8cm.

Und auch, wenn ich unglaublich down dafür wäre eine riesige Kumoko zu bauen, habe ich schlichtweg den Platz dafür nicht, weshalb ich eher ins untere Feld tendiere. Zu klein ist allerdings auch nicht optimal, weil bei kleinerer Größe Fehler, unsauberes Arbeiten und Ungenauigkeiten proportional einen größeren Einfluss nehmen. Entschieden habe ich mich letztlich für eine Stärke von 10mm, was den Vorteil mit sich bringt, dass die Konvertierung von Voxel zu echter Größe quasi trivial ist und man somit auf eine finale Größe von 35cm x 37cm x 24cm kommt.

Um ein wenig Papier und Arbeit zu sparen, habe ich versucht die Outlines der ganzen kleinen Stücke auf eine Seite zu bringen, was am Ende sogar zu einer Art lustigen Puzzle wurde. Bitte bedenkt, dass ich keine kluge Person bin. Und dann ist mir beim Rumschieben aufgefallen, dass unser Drucker nicht groß genug ist.

Ein normales DIN A4 Blatt hat eine Größe von 29,7cm x 21cm. Mit Puffer also etwa eine Größe von 29cm x 20cm. Problem: Ein guter Teil der Slices ist länger als 29 Zentimeter. Ich habe es am Ende so gelöst, dass ich die längeren Teile in zwei geteilt, separat voneinander gedruckt und dann wieder zusammengeklebt habe. Wahrscheinlich nicht die beste Methode, aber es funktioniert.

Das letzte Problem ist, wie man die Schablonen auf das Holz aufteilen will, allerdings wollte ich es mir da recht einfach machen und das Holz einfach direkt auf die Größe der Schablonen zuschneiden lassen. Dies wäre zwar keine 100% effektive Nutzung, hat aber den Vorteil, dass das Holz in einer Größe kommt, welche sich auch ohne eigenen Personenkraftwagen transportieren lässt.

So, dann einmal alle Outlines im Dokumenteneditor meiner Wahl auf die richtige Größe skalieren, sowie einen Druckvorgang später und ich habe einen Plan in der Hand. Auf jeden Fall, ab jetzt wird endlich in die Hände gespuckt.

Schritt 3: Der handwerkliche Teil

Inzwischen wird sich so manch einer vielleicht fragen, ob sich ab einen gewissen Punkt der ganze Aufwand nicht durch eine CNC-Fräse wegtrivialisieren lassen würde. Und ich meine, ja, allerdings ist das nicht ganz der Sinn der Sache. Rom wurde schließlich auch nicht aus Stein gemeißelt. Also, bevor man mich fragt, ob ich nicht eine CNC-Fräse benutzen könnte, spuckt mir doch bitte gleich ins Gesicht.

Doch bevor wir überhaupt daran denken können Hand anzupacken, muss Papa erstmal ans Holz kommen. Wie bereits gesagt: Mein ursprünglicher Plan war mir die Holzplatten auf die Größe der Schablonen zuzuschneiden. Doch dann habe ich bemerkt, dass ich mein Privileg, kostenlos im Mercedes Citaro chauffiert zu werden, verloren habe und mir stattdessen das Holz in Standardgröße nach Hause liefern lassen. Der Versand kostet tatsächlich weniger als die Fahrkarte zum Baumarkt und ich muss auf den Rückweg nicht knapp zehn Kilo Holz schleppen. Nachteil: Ich habe dann mit diesen 120cm x 60cm Platten zu arbeiten, welche ich zuerst zurecht schneiden musste.

Mit allen Holzplatten in ihrer nicht ganz finalen Größe, habe ich dann alle Schablonen einfach mit so einen Klebestift, den ich wahrscheinlich zuletzt in der Grundschule benutzt habe, aufgeklebt. Zusätzlich kommt dann nochmal eine Schicht durchsichtiges Paketband obendrauf, um die Schablone zusätzlich zu fixieren und weil es angeblich beim Sägen helfen soll. Fragt mich nicht warum, vertraut den Prozess.

So, dann kann der tatsächlich handwerkliche Teil mal losgehen nur nicht hier. Dies ist ein normales Wohngebäude und ich habe in allen Richtungen Nachbarn, welche ich nur ungern durch stundenlanges Sägen nerven will. Gut, dann sucht man sich halt einen anderen Ort und es wird sich sicherlich schon irgendwo eine offene Werkstatt in der Nähe finden. Durch Zufall bin ich dann nochmal auf das Open-Lab Hamburg gestoßen. Dieses ist zwar eigentlich ein normales FabLab, stellt aber eine Dekupiersäge bereit, welche prinzipiell ideal für mein Vorhaben ist.

Das OpenLab ist eine offene Werkstatt, zu der jeder am OpenLab Day Zugang hat und man nach kurzer Einführung die Geräte eigenständig Nutzen darf. Und das schlimmste: Es kostet nicht einmal Geld. Auch unabhängig von was ich gemacht habe, kann ich das OpenLab absolut empfehlen. Die Leute sind unglaublich cool drauf und man kann da Sachen machen, von denen man nicht einmal wusste, dass man darauf Lust hat.

Mir wurde zum Beispiel angeboten, dass ich die ganzen Einzelteile theoretisch auch mit einen Lasercutter hätte ausschneiden können, welches zusätzlich den Vorteil hat, dass dies wahrscheinlich nur einen Bruchteil der Zeit benötigt und der einzige Grund, warum ich dies noch nicht gemacht habe, ist der, dass ich keine zwei Kumokos brauche. Vier wären nochmal etwas anderes, aber mir reicht es erstmal mit nur einer.

Und falls einer von Open-Lab Team irgendwie auf diesen Post gestoßen ist: Es tut mir so schrecklich leid, dass ich eure ganzen empfindlichen Geräte mit meinen endlosen Sägen zugestaubt habe. Sorry.

Aber genug davon, ab jetzt wird endlich gesägt. Eine Dekupiersäge ist ziemlich cool, weil die Säge fest auf der Stelle sägt und man stattdessen das Schneidestück bewegt, weshalb man im Gegensatz zur einer Stichsäge, das Holz nicht immer separat fixieren muss und schnell aus verschiedenen Winkeln sägen kann.

Inzwischen kann ich auch mal auflösen, warum das 3D-Modell im Inneren hohl, aber teilweise ausgepaddet ist. Eigentlich braucht man nur die Äußere Hülle des Modells, da man alles im Inneren sowieso nicht sieht. Auf der anderen Seite macht es auch nichts, wenn das fertige Werk im Inneren ausgefüllt ist. Mein Feurigel ist ebenfalls nicht hohl und es machte es sogar am Ende einfacher die einzelnen Slices zusammenzufügen.

Bei Kumoko hingegen ist es aber die Überlegung wert, den extra Schritt zu gehen. Besonders der Hinterleib sorgt dafür, dass der Massenmittelpunkt nach hinten verlagert ist und auch wenn die Beine so positioniert sind, dass Kumoko nicht umfallen sollte, macht es dennoch Sinn, dass das Gewicht möglichst auf allen Beinen verlagert ist. Dazu kommt, dass man durch den Hohlraum generell einiges an Gewicht spart. Am Ende macht dies ungefähr 1/7 des Volumens bzw. Gewichts aus. Da Kumoko am Ende so ziemlich genau fünf Kilogramm auf die Wage bringt, ist dies ein gutes Stück, welches eingespart wurde.

Bevor die Hohlräume aber ausgesägt wurden, habe ich im Inneren der Slices an manchen Ecken jeweils ein Loch an die inneren Ecken gebohrt. Einerseits, damit ich das Sägeblatt durch diese Löcher durchfedeln kann und keinen Schnitt durch den Holzkörper tätigen muss und zweitens, damit ich das Sägeblatt an den Ecken drehen und somit den Innenraum in einen sauberen Schnitt aussägen kann.

Lasst mich nicht lügen, der ganze Säge-Spaß hat an die zehn Stunden gedauert. Besonders der Kleinkram war unglaublich zeitaufwändig und auch meine fragwürdige Entscheidung, in den Schablonen jedes Einzelstück mindestens zwei Zentimeter Abstand voneinander haben zu lassen, hat dazu beigetragen. Schließlich ist es weniger, dass ich die Stücke aussäge, als dass ich alles herum absäge. Je weniger Fläche ich tatsächlich benutze, umso mehr Arbeit hatte ich davon.

Als nächstes geht es zur Fehlerkorrektur, denn nicht jeder Schnitt ist mir perfekt gelungen. In der Regel habe ich versucht nicht auf der Linie, sondern leicht daneben zu sägen, einfach damit die Feinarbeit mit der Raspel oder Feile gemacht werden kann, da man mit der mehr Kontrolle hat. Abweichungen in den Geraden werden beradigt, indem sie der Länge nach geschliffen werden und zuletzt werden alle Ecken auf einen Winkel möglichst nah an 90 Grad gebracht. Zuletzt wird noch überprüft, ob alle Flächen glatt geschliffen sind, damit die Farbe auf der Sägefläche besser haften kann und man sich nicht noch aus Versehen noch einen Splitter einfängt.

Schritt 4: Der malerische Teil

Mit allem ausgesägt, wird es endlich bunt. Zum Anmalen der Einzelteile benutze ich Acrylfarbe, welches hundert mal praktischer ist, als die Spraydosen, welche ich beim Feurigel benutzt habe. Man kann ebenfalls quasi alle Farben aus den Hauptfarben zusammen mischen, weshalb ich mir die passenden Farben einfach gekauft habe, weil ich nicht noch einmal Stunden damit verbringen will den richtigen Farbton zu finden.

Einziges Problem war, dass besonders das Weiß nicht besonders deckend ist und ich mehrere Anstriche brauchte, bis alles wirklich so aussah, wie es sollte. Das Grau hätte ebenfalls ein wenig dunkler sein können, aber es ist, was es ist. Wie beim Sägen auch, ist das eigentliche Anmalen nicht besonders aufregend und es wird sowieso die meiste Zeit damit verbracht Masking Tape anzubringen.

Man könnte argumentieren, dass es mehr Sinn macht, Kumoko erst anzumalen, wenn sie vollständig zusammengesetzt ist, aber da ich es einfacher finde das Holz zu bemalen, wenn man es noch flach auflegen kann, besonders an sonstig konkaven Stellen, habe ich mich dazu entschieden diesen Schritt dem anderen vorzuziehen. Nachbesserungen werden sowieso getätigt, wenn alles zusammengestellt ist.

Schritt 5: Der “Es kommt alles zusammen” Teil

Okay, all die Arbeit, und am Ende habe ich einen Haufen an bunten Einzelteilen. Wie kriege ich nun alles wieder zusammen?

Beim Feurigel habe ich es so gemacht, dass ich von der Mitte aus Schicht für Schicht nach außen gegangen bin. Dabei habe ich das Holz an zwei oder drei Punkten, welche idealerweise von der nächsten Schicht überdeckt werden, an die vorherige Schicht mit einen Nagel gehämmert. Das ganze wiederhole man, bis man an der letzten Schicht angekommen ist. Die kleinen Stücke, welche man nicht an die vorherige Schicht nageln kann, habe ich dann mit Holzleim einfach rangeklebt.

Prinzipiell wäre Holzleim wahrscheinlich die sauberste Lösung und man müsste nicht unbedingt in eine Richtung arbeiten, allerdings muss man die Stücke dann ebenfalls klemmen und Stunden warten, bis sie richtig getrocknet sind. Nägel sind da schon deutlich praktischer, auch wenn man dabei das Holz beschädigt. Auch an Schrauben habe ich gedacht, weil man dann theoretisch alles wieder auseinander nehmen kann, welches bei der Größe von Kumoko schon irgendwie praktisch wäre, falls ich sie mal transportieren muss.

Idealerweise könnte ich Kumoko in kleinere Einzelteile einteilen, diese separat voneinander zusammenfügen und erst zum Schluss alles fertig montieren. Und auch wenn es lustig wäre, wenn ich Kumoko der Mitte nach öffnen könnte, um den Hohlraum im Inneren zu nutzen, geht es mir dabei eher um die Beine. Hinterleib und Kopf sind alles kein Problem, aber die Beine sind nicht nur unhandlich, sonder müssen am Ende auch gerade auf den Boden stehen und es wäre einfacher diese aufeinander abzustimmen und an den Körper anzubringen, anstatt auf gut Glück vom Körper aus die Beine aufzubauen und hoffen, dass am Ende alle richtig Kontakt zum Boden haben.

Jetzt nur die Frage, wie man alle Stücke miteinander verbindet. Man könnte an beiden Seiten ein Loch Bohren und einen Dübel als Stift benutzen, welcher beide Stücke miteinander verbindet, doch hier bezweifle ich, dass dies stark genug wäre, um das Gewicht des Körpers zu tragen, ganz davon abgesehen, das dies Präzisionsarbeit wäre, zu der ich nicht in der Lage bin. Selbes gilt für Schienen oder Ähnlichem. Schrauben wirken auf den ersten Blick vielversprechend, allerdings vertraue ich nicht, dass alles noch nach mehrfachen auf- und wieder zuschrauben wirklich lückenlos hält und es irgendwann anfängt zu wackeln.

Nach vielen hin und her habe ich mich dann auf folgendes geeinigt: Alles bis auf Beine und Kleinteile werden zusammengenagelt. Der Hauptkörper wurde somit zusammengesetzt, dass jede Ebene mit der nächsten über einen kleinen Nagel an vier Stellen verbunden ist. Dies hat auch sehr gut funktioniert, bis ich auf die Idee kam mehrere große Nägel für zusätzliche Haftung zu benutzen, mit welchen ich dann konsequent das halbe Ding wieder auseinander genommen habe und effektiv dafür sorgte, dass am Ende kleine Lücken entstanden, auch als die langen Nägel wieder draußen waren. Ich hab in diesen Vorgang auch mehrere Stellen am Holz zerschmettert oder Nägel irreparabel ins Holz gehämmert, was nochmal zur Verschlimmbesserung beitrug.

Tja, wie sagt man so schön in Hamburg: Den einen fressen die Haie, den anderen die Fische.

Die entstandenen Lücken konnte ich noch irgendwie korrigieren, indem ich in diese Holzleim gedrückt habe, so dass Kumoko zumindest nicht mehr quitscht, wenn man sie zusammendrückt. Am Ende hätte ich das gleiche wie bei den Beinen tun sollen und von Anfang an einfach Leim benutzen, wobei dies auch nicht ohne Komplikationen vonstatten lief.

Auch wenn Holzleim Stunden braucht um komplett zu trocknen, klebt er dennoch bereits schon ab Minute Eins recht fest. Als ich also zwei Teile an der falsche Stelle zusammengeleimt habe, hatte ich schon Panik, als diese mit nur sehr viel Tatendrang wieder auseinander gingen und hätte ich dies nur eine Minute später bemerkt, hätte ich wahrscheinlich beide Stücke von Anfang an neu machen müssen.

Auf jeden Fall, nachdem ich Kumoko ordentlich durchgenagelt und mit weißem klebrigen Zeug vollgepumpt habe, kann nun alles zusammengesetzt werden.

Die Position, an welcher die Beine befestigt werden, habe ich herausgefunden, indem ich den Körper mit den Holzüberresten erhöht aufgestellt habe. Da die Holzplatten jeweils eine Dicke von 1cm haben, ist der Körper korrekt vier Zentimeter angehoben, während die Beine Kontakt mit den Boden haben. Der Übergang zwischen Körper und Beinen mag deshalb ein wenig unsauber sein, wenn die Beine nicht die exakte Länge, bzw. Höhe hatten, aber dafür hat Kumoko wenigstens einen festen Stand, welches mir in diesen Fall wichtiger ist.

Mit allem an seinen finalen Platz, ist man quasi fertig und ich ging nochmal überall mit Farbe rum. Einerseits, um Fehler zu korrigieren, andererseits um die Oberfläche zu verbessern. Da Acrylfarbe tatsächlich Volumen einnimmt, konnte ich somit die Lücken zwischen den einzelnen Slices quasi stopfen, als auch abgebrochene Ecken und Lücken wieder auffüllen. Verglichen mit meinem Feurigel kann man den Unterschied der Oberfläche eigentlich recht gut erkennen.

Den scharfsinnigen Lesern unter euch ist vielleicht bereits aufgefallen, dass ein kleines Detail an Kumoko fehlt, namentlich ihr Gesicht. Ich war mir zuerst unsicher, ob ich überhaupt ein Gesicht male, weil es sehr davon abhängt, wie gut der Kopf am Ende aussieht. Spoiler: Sah in Ordnung aus.

Für das Gesicht selbst ging es wieder in den Voxel-Editor. Da die ursprüngliche Auflösung viel zu gering für das Gesicht ist, habe ich diese ganz simpel verdoppelt und dann versucht das Gesicht des Key-Visuals irgendwie auf das Modell zu projezieren. Es passt nicht immer genau und den Augen fehlen die Pupillen, aber davon abgesehen funktioniert es recht gut in 3D. Zuletzt durfte ich nochmal den Pinsel schwingen.

Hätte ich jetzt noch eine ruhige Hand gehabt, würde das Gesicht sogar ganz gut aussehen. Ich weiß, im Großen und Ganzen sieht es in Ordnung aus, aber diese kleinen Fehler und Abweichungen werden mich für den Rest meines Lebens verfolgen und es ist der Bereich, wo man wohl am meisten noch verbessern könnte.

Und das war’s. Wenn man alle Probleme und den ganzen Zeitaufwand ignoriert, war das Ganze eigentlich ziemlich simpel. Jetzt bleibt nur noch eine Frage und zwar: Wohin mit ihr? Nein, wirklich. Wo… wohin mit ihr? Ich… ich hab keinen Platz. Sie ist zu groß. Sie ist… einfach zu groß.

My favorite Anime Openings & Endings 2023

Mon, 25 Dec 2023 13:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, unlike the previous years, I actually watched a two-digit amount of anime from this very year. But before you applaud me for doing the utter bare minimum expected of someone writing about anime in their free time, this unfortunately still doesn’t corelate into me being able to talk my heart out about this year’s openings and endings. Beyond not having seen a plethora of anime with very promising looking OPs and EDs, those anime I did see somehow turned out to have relatively unremarkable ones, which sucks, because I would love to incorporate the context of the show into my takes on why I think a certain entry deserves the spotlight in this much distinguished and highly regarded end-of-the-year listicle.

As always, I will mix up the way I will talk about it all a bit again this year. For the sake of both clarity, structure and, if you are willing to believe bad tongues, not having that many “main” entries, I will start with the honorable mentions first, as well as expand them a bit to write something about them. Especially this year, there are some OPs and EDs, which don’t quite cut it to be prominently featured, but are still otherwise solid and worthy of at least a sentence or two.

With the obligatory preamble out of the way, here are my favorite Anime Openings and Endings of 2023.

Openings

Honorable Mentions

Boy, what a year for openings, which I like, but I either not know a lot about, or are just barely missing the cut… and let’s be honest here, it will mostly be the former.

The first season of Spy x Family gave us some Masashi Ishihama and Tetsurou Araki greatness and the new season’s OP effortlessly follows it up with Masaaki Yuasa doing what he does best: Whacky walks, kinetic car action and some pretty cool stylized imagery, all wrapped into a cute self-contained story. It’s also sung by Ado, if you need any more convincing. I can’t wait to watch this new part with my friends.

While I can absolutely understand being a bit let down by the decision to abandon the first season’s approach of foregoing a traditional opening entirely and using an insert song coupled with otherwise small sequences of additional world-building instead, the opening for the second season of Mushokou Tensei has some pretty striking ideas. Opening the OP with the image of an open birdcage is… definitely a statement, we still have windows and walls as a framing device for prior events and the idea of Eris, Sylphy and Roxy still being able to guide Rudeus to a better place feels very genuine, considering what the story is fundamentally about.

Undead Girl Murder Farce is one of those anime I should really get to, in part because the opening kind of fills me with confidence that this anime would be right up my alley. This is the power of a good OP, I suppose. Also, Crack-Crack-Crackle is low-key a banger?

And since I’m already talking about bangers: The Legendary Hero Is Dead!’s OP has no right to go as hard as it does, the OP for Hell’s Paradise almost convinced me to watch a shounen I most likely do not care about, Undead Unluck’s OP almost convinced me to watch a shounen I most likely do not care about and Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t have just one, but two OPs to drag me back into a shounen I most likely do not care about.

Magical Girl Destroyer’s OP gets a shout out for being in part very much to my taste and partly to being very weird and not at all my case. The Attack on Titan’s actual final season’s OP isn’t really part of the episode, but still very fittingly encapsulates the whole of Eren’s journey. The OP of Skip and Loafer does something I initially thought impossible: It actually makes me care about the main couple’s relationship. They are very cute together and I wish them the best.

Lastly, I’d like to issue a formal apology. When the first season aired, I dismissed it as the one good chinese anime with a fun dance opening. Now that I have seen the OP for season two of Link Click, I have to take it back. I’m sorry, I was not familiar with your game and this is straight up nuclear.

Last Minute Edit: Does the TV version of the Kaguya-sama movie count? If so, Kaguya-sama obviously deserves a spot somewhere.

Heavenly Delusion Opening — “innocent arrogance” by BiSH

Starting off with a weird one, Heavenly Delusion’s opening kinda just fits in a way that is very hard to describe, especially since there is no clear imagery, character beats or plot points one could point at. Instead, it conveys a very specific feeling and mood that simply is Heavenly Delusion. Shots upon shots of beautifully rendered scenery framed in a slightly off and mysterious way, the two idiots of protagonists messing around and adventuring, until it suddenly shifts. Kiruko outrunning their own outlines, franticly looking around, only to end up with this sullen look on their face hurts the more you know about the story. Also, the visualization of Maru’s power really tickles my brain in just the right way, with the very technical look slowly transitioning into the leaves of a tree blooming. Great stuff altogether.

[Oshi No Ko] Opening — “Idol” by YOASOBI

Fun fact: YouTube Music told me “Idol” was my most listened song of 2023, which is funny, because I don’t really care much for the song itself, because this OP is LAYERED. And I mean layered layered as in it actually deserves a proper full analysis going through each shot individually and picking it apart, as we have got it all: Character introspection, foreshadowing, tons of symbolism and like five full frames of Producer Strawberry going fishing. No seriously, one could probably fill entire paragraphs only limiting themselves to the way eyes are (not) framed in the OP and what it means in the context of how the anime treats eyes and their respective meaning. Do the same with the star imagery sprinkled all across the 90 seconds and this OP really gives you the well deserved satisfaction of paying attention to it.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Opening — “Yuusha” by YOASOBI

If I had a nickel for every YOA- *gets shot*. Frieren’s OP gets more fascinating the more I see from the anime. I am still confused why you would go with such a modern sounding song, as opposed to something more classical, but what do I know about music? The visuals, though? Yeah, this is the good stuff. There are two main ideas present in the opening, with the first being Frieren’s isolation, or rather position as an observer when it comes to humans. There are several shots of Frieren simply being either alone or distant from other humans. The shot of her looking out of a window, observing Fern and Stark kinda makes it clear, but her standing in a field of silhouettes, as if these humans are simple flashes of the past to her, really drives it home.

The second one is looking both back and forwards in time. I mean, this one is basically a given, as Frieren as a whole is about this very idea, as well as it being not only limited to Frieren herself, but to the majority of the cast. I really love the last shot with the splitscreen of both her present and past companions coming together with Frieren in the middle, now leading the party, instead of following behind. If you want to summarize Frieren in general, this is the shot.

One Piece Opening 25 — “The Peak” by SEKAI NO OWARI

Damn, people weren’t lying. One Piece was indeed cooking and since I have finally caught up with the Manga, I am now fully able to indulge in the greatness that is the anime adaptation of Wano. However, much like the ED, it is actually in a rather weird position, with the Wano arc being essentially done and just in need of some wrap-up, but the OP uses this weird in-between state to the fullest, by being portrayed as the end of the arc both in-story, as well as meta-textually.

The opening frames prior story beats and elements as a testament to what happened in Wano. First by remembering the past and how it all came to be, with the room itself becoming darker, as the allegory night consumed the land of Wano, until the arrival of Nikka finally brings the respective dawn. I do not particularly care about the few action cuts, impressive as they may be, but am utterly in love of the fast-cut montage of Wano celebrating the defeat of Kaido. The circle motif is just beautiful and the way it parallels the beginning is genius.

Lastly, we see that all these events are viewed through the eye of Momonosuke and thus, it is revealed that the book from the first shot is the very journal of Oden. Just like his father, Momonosuke is now documenting the exploits of the future king of pirates and what Luffy and his crew achieved for the people around them. What a perfect way to go full circle in every possible way. Truly the peak of One Piece. I do not doubt we will get a new OP in times for Egghead, but what a beautiful goodbye it is for the most ambitious arc of One Piece we have seen to date.

The Apothecary Diaries Opening — “Hana ni Natte” by Ryokuoushoku Shakai

As one might have noticed, I love me some well-executed ideas presented in a visually striking way. Now, if I either had the ability to recognize flowers or knew anything about their associated language and meaning, I would most likely have a field day with this opening. Alas, I do not. I am, however, capable of of seeing some nice contrast and parallels and boy are there some. All those pretty flowers blooming in the beginning, a dead forest being reflected as a verdurous one in the water surface, only for all those pretty flowers to slowly rot and reveal a small unremarkable one hidden in the forest going into full bloom, just as Maomao undergoes the same transformation. Simple, effective and even me, who has not seen anything from the anime, gets it. Good storytelling in a nutshell.

Also, *slams desk with a little too much force* Maomao is so fucking pretty. The flower petals in the background like fireworks, while she is dancing and the dress turning black? The looking down, winking and licking her lip? Yes, slay or poison or whatever, my queen. I will be there someday.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Opening — “Song of the Dead” by KANA-BOON

Why did we ever stop doing fun things with zombies and stagnated into nihilistic pulp of humans being the real monsters? I mean, Thriller ruled, right? Anyway, such a fun and energetic opening. From the character introduction, that follows each one closer into the bathhouse, the stylized blood, to the dancing, of course, there is so much to love about it. It also got some fun commentary, like the evolutionary line-up going from overworked office worker to literal zombie, or the zombies still tapping wildly on their phones while riding the train. If “Living life to the fullest or rather get eaten by a zombie” has a vibe, this OP is it. Also, by the time this post actually releases, the last episodes should hopefully be out of hiatus hell.

Endings

Honorable Mentions

A lot of anime with great openings also have fantastic endings this year. I guess this would normally make sense, as an impressive staff has no reason to only cook with the OP, but this didn’t happen the last years, so… yeah. Not that I would ever complain and if I were to rank all the OP’s and ED’s for this year, the endings would rank probably higher on average. Anyway, here is everything that didn’t quite make the cut.

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You’s ending is very adorable and cute, considering how raunchy the anime can be at times. Again, while technically not part of the actual episode, Attack on Titan is such a beautiful farewell to this truly epic story. Heavenly Delusion is still a vibe, just in a completely different direction and equipped with some very subtle foreshadowing and the ending for Magical Girl Destroyer would probably make the list, if only I know what the actual show is about.

In terms of just feel good endings, Spy x Family still has this covered with some adorable Anya focus and Dead Mount Death Play has a shark (and later pencil) dancing. Lastly, while it is technically just a song over the endcrawl, Sawano finaly brought another banger to the Fate franchise with the Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn special.

KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! Ending — “JUMP IN” by Rie Takahashi and Aki Toyosaki

The KonoSuba endings are surprising in the most charming way. They showcase this beautiful tranquility in this otherwise fantastical world and intense anime. The Megumin Spin-Off somehow achieves the same effect by completely opposite means. The song sounds like Megumin and Yunyun just messing around and the visuals are way more focussed on character interactions and little silhouettes, instead of a small self-contained story… and it just works with the characters in question. You only need 90 seconds to get to understand them all. From Megumin and Yunyun’s half rivalry, half genuine friendship, to their friends or even Komekko and Chomusuke. There is arguably not much depth beyond these simple observations in this ED, but it really grew onto me while watching the Spin-off and actually takes a top spot for me this year, while the OP was otherwise rather lacking, unfortunately.

One Piece Ending 22 — “Raise” by Chilli Beans

After 800 episodes, One Piece finally has an ED again and overall, I have the same things to say, as the opening, down to my assumption, that it will be replaced when we get to the new arc. Kaido and Orochi may be defeated, but the land of Wano is still devastated. But just like the night, the rain too will eventually yield to a clear sky and nature is allowed to heal, while the people can enjoy life again.

It’s also just filled with great moments: Yamato leaving an offering at the shrine, Luffy and Kid fighting over food, only for Law to take it or Otama now being able to show a genuine smile again. Even Momonosuke gets the chance to say his goodbyes to the strawhats. And after everything is said and done, it ends, just like the beginning of Wano itself: With the gentle waves on the shore of Wano, while a small crab makes its way.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Ending — “Anytime Anywhere” by milet

Now we get to the two big hitters. Frieren’s ending is, in every sense of the word, breathtaking. To get the obvious out of the way first, it is easily one of the most beautiful looking pieces of media I have seen the last couple years, with the way everything is rendered either via different flowers directly, or utilizing their floral patterns.

And now to the nitty gritty of things: In my honest opinion, the ED is arguably way more effective in communicating the themes of Frieren, than the OP is, despite the latter being pretty upfront about it already, with the ending having a way better grasp on the passing of time. From Himmel coming into the world and taken out of it again in only a few seconds, to him being remembered, or Flamme getting older and the seed, that was dropped in the beginning, eventually growing into the giant tree after her death, or even the one shot of the day turning into the night and revealing the moon. This is the good stuff.

I also simply adore how the flowers either represent certain characters, or are arranged in a way to recreate the characters hair in such a recognizable manner. And then there is the shot of the flowers blowing in the wind creating the image of Frieren’s face for a moment? I rewound this scene so many times, you wouldn’t believe. And her going through all the seasons or past her former comrades? And ending it on the shootings stars she wanted to see with them one last time? It even comes full circle again, with her eye opening in the beginning and then closing again at the end. *slams desk again* This is a 10/10 ending and I am very grateful for it not being qualified for the next Crunchyroll Awards, because I would have the hardest time choosing between it and the last entry on this list.

Additionally, you know how I said in my Apothecary Diaries section, that I would have a field day, if I were to know flower language. Yeah, this but quadrupled at the least, because I have no doubt this would add layers upon layers for me.

[Oshi No Ko] Ending — “Mephisto” by QUEEN BEE

I was seriously considering whether I should just write a full three thousand word analysis or keep it at the words “Perfect ED”. Alas, too lazy for the first one and not jaded enough for the latter. I have to talk at least a bit about the symbolism here.

The red thread of fate coiling around the bunny plush associated with Ai, eventually killing her and leaving a trail of blood on her face is such a creative way to sum up her initial role in the story. Then there is the whole dualism of how Aqua and Ruby deal with the loss of their favorite idol and mother, through which the rest of the ED is framed: Aqua descending down the stairs, face covered and full of guilt, while Ruby goes them up confidently, aspiring to be an idol. Aqua being obsessed over the memories of Ai in order to find her killer, as opposed to Ruby using them to make the best of her new lease on life.

Then there’s Aqua being surrounded by the supposed killer of Ai, with the little touch of their eyes having the same star highlight as himself, mirroring his feelings of being responsible for her death and his obsession eventually leading him to the same place as Ai, with the red threads dragging him even deeper than the end of the stairs from the beginning. On the other hand, Ruby was finally able to leave the confines of her hospital room. However, despite their different views on the purpose of their new life, at the end of the day, both Aqua and Ruby still try to grasp the morning star they saw together with Ai when younger. Yeah, visually fun and interesting ways to represent specific parts of a story never fails to be engaging for me.

Beyond all this, damn, Mephisto really do be a banger. How did this not top my YouTube Music Rewind?

And that about wraps it all up. While the number of main entries might be smaller than from last years, this was by no means a bad year for anime openings and endings. As always, I wish I could talk more in-depth about some, especially about the anime I haven’t seen, but it is what it is. I also thought about adding a whole section for openings and endings based solely on the songs, but these posts are already a huge time investment and maybe it is for the better to not superficially inflate them any further. Anyway, we will see us again next year for more of my bad taste ^^.

Mushoku Tensei is a lot of things

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 19:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, as frequent readers of this very blog must surely be aware, I am widely renowned for my impeccable decision making process and utter lack of regret from those very decisions. Astute readers may now wonder how it came to be, that I specifically committed to watching Mushoku Tensei now, as I am also recognized for having the most generic taste in mainstream media imaginable and should have seen this series already, solely on the basis of it being one of the more popular anime in recent years. Alas, it is a tale as old as time: I heard people talking shit about it on Twitter and immediately was like “ayoo, on god?”… yeah, Mushoku Tensei got the Date a Live treatment.

Though, I want to differentiate. Date a Live is a classic case of someone venting about how bad something is, which, of course, directly correlates into how much I then need to see it and then being followed by having to acknowledge the bad thing as, in fact, being bad, very much to the surprise of everyone (Hi, I’m everyone). Meanwhile, Mushoku Tensei got me in a slightly different way, with me hearing that it is bad (or rather having any kind of conversation, rather) in the most fascinating way. This mostly concerns elements of the currently airing second season, which, as of now, I have not yet seen and thus don’t feel comfortable talking about without proper context, as to not just parrot the points from random users on social media, but having seen a short clip of Rudeus attempting to slice his throat and the comments pointing out that this came to be, due to him not being able to get it on with a girl, might just have been the sales pitch I needed to finally give this series a go. Add some apparently new twist on the good ol' slavery apologism and whatever is going on with the two beast girls and I don’t care whether it will be good or bad, because it will at least be interesting.

Now, is this a kind of weird stance to go with into a new series? Probably to absolutely yes, but it is also not like I could have gone into this series unbiased either way. Before the first season aired, I was already fully aware of Rudeus' perversion and the accusations of pedophilia and a friend of mine read the first two volumes and gave me his opinion on them. Then there is the whole legacy of Mushoku Tensei codifying the Isekai genre, and so on. At this point, there would be no other way than me just taking the dive and letting it wash over me and I am kind of glad I did, because, and as I partially hoped, regardless of the anime being good or bad, it is interesting to talk about in numerous ways, which is why the title of this post couldn’t be any more vague. Mushoku Tensei simply is a lot of things and I want to talk about some of them. Spoilers for Season One of Mushoku Tensei ahead.

The first story arc took me a bit by surprise, considering how much “nothing” happens in an otherwise rather self-indulgent Isekai framework, though “nothing” happening is also one of my most favorite things in stories. Mushoku Tensei can be rather easily categorized into the more self-reflective variant of Isekai, most similar to other series like Re:Zero. It still absolutely revels itself in the idea of a power fantasy from the perspective of a nerdy otaku now being able to succeed in a new world, at least on a meta level, but it can be hardly called escapist in a normal sense, accounting for how much it utterly refuses to let go of Rudeus' old self and the events that made him into the person he now is, even when reincarnated into a new world as a baby. At its heart, this is a character-driven story through and through and I adore how basically every character and detail introduced in the first arc ties back into his own.

As such, my attention almost immediately shifted from how the characters are introduced and characterized to what specific way they serve the narrative and what they ultimately mean in terms of Rudeus' development. I don’t want to reduce the others characters to just serving Rudeus, especially since later parts make it clear that every character lived/lives their own lives apart from Rudeus, but the way the arc portrays itself just really lends itself to it. Roxy is pretty much the most blatant example of it and I doubt I have to go much in-depth into how and why, with how much the series itself throws it at you.

Rudeus most obvious, but also most superficial, hang-up is his inability and fear to leave his room, represented first by the new house he lives in and later the bit of garden surrounding it. Roxy mostly serves as an antithesis to one of the many things that lead Rudeus to recluse into his room. Not only is she not openly hostile towards Rudeus, she even respects him for his magic capabilities and shows that there are people outside his world that are willing to lend him a hand and all he needs to do to reach them is leave his room. This eventually culminates into his graduation ceremony and Roxy literally taking him into the outside world. The anime also does a fantastic job of nailing the poetics of it all. In his old life, he was violently dragged out into the rain by his own family, ignored by everyone on the street and eventually run over by a truck in an attempt to do one good thing in his life. In contrast, after being reincarnated as Rudeus, he is gently asked by Roxy, who is technically a stranger, but might as well be his older sister at this point, to celebrate his graduation and greeting everyone they encounter, while the sun is shining. The water spell creating a rainbow is just the cherry on top.

While being able to now “leave his room” doesn’t mean much on its own, it is basically the prerequisite to start his journey of bettering himself. I initially couldn’t really do much with Sylphy’s character. By all means, she is a very pleasant character and considering how buck wild Mushoku Tensei tends to be, I found her introduction, specific details notwithstanding, to be very mundane, compared to how a new “heroine” is normally included in other series. And thinking back on it, I guess this is the point. After Roxy leaves, as she can’t teach Rudeus any more, both emotionally, as well as what magic is concerned, Rudeus now has to learn on his own how to interact with people outside his new family and especially how this whole friendship thing is supposed to work out. Him actually showing agency towards other people is a step forwards, compared to his otherwise indifference towards strangers, even if it comes in the relatively trite form of “protecting someone from bullies”. But most importantly, it forces him to take responsibility for his actions and stop wiggling himself out of uncomfortable situations.

The scene of him stripping Sylphy against her will, beyond mirroring himself, shows his lack of emotional maturity and inability to resolve conflicts between friends. To me, it seems that he genuinely couldn’t handle the situation of accidentally hurting a friend, despite him having no intention of doing so and especially when it stemmed from a simple misunderstanding. However, the damage is done to both of them and it is up to Rudeus to stand up to his own failures in an act of serious character growth. It might seem like a small thing, as his new parents are quick to note, but it is more about setting things straight before they further escalate and hearing someone, who has been who knows how long alone, that he wants to be friends to another, is great character development in my book. I hate the notion of friends being a step down from other serious relationships, but let’s not imagine what crimes would have happened if Rudeus met Eris before Sylphy.

Lastly, there are the other adults in the house. Paul, at first glance, seems like the ultimate ideal of what one can consider to be a cool dad: A mountain of muscles wielding a big sword, accomplished and respected in his community and trying his best to extend the Greyrat family tree on a daily basis. In short, he is everything Rudeus was not in his old life. It is one thing to state to use one’s new chance at life to better oneself and try to succeed this time around, but another to actually know which way to go about it and Paul seems to be a guiding light as to what kind of man Rudeus wants to initially become. After episode 3, I almost tweeted about it and how an adult male perspective is normally missing in these kinds of stories. Thank god I didn’t, because episode 4 quickly pulled the rug from under me faster than I could realize, as Paul not only got the maid pregnant, but it is also revealed he had sexually assaulted her in the past. Despite being technically older than him, Rudeus clearly looks up to Paul and this incident is his first reminder that there is a lot more behind people, than what they show, a lesson in which he will continue to burn himself several times later. Paul being far from a decent human being is also emphasized by several characters and further touched upon in his reunion with Rudeus after the Teleport Incident. It also makes Rudeus more critical of what kind of man he wants to become, especially with how Paul is later contrasted to Ruijerd… if only he learned to keep his hands off girls in this lesson too :D.

The whole incident of Lilia getting pregnant with Paul’s child, beyond being surprisingly engaging drama, is also the last direct parallel I noticed to Rudeus' former life, though in this case the positions are shifted. Lilia’s pregnancy wrecks the harmony the family could enjoy until this moment and it is up to Zenith to decide what will happen, with the most likely outcome being to let Lilia go. The interesting thing in this parallel is for Rudeus to finally take up an active role and develope agency for his own feelings of empathy. In this sense, he takes up the role of his own parents in his previous life, as their absence caused the rest of his family to finally get rid of him and it is this very presence needed to safe Lilia, not just from possible death, but also as her place in this family. Also, comradery between women is good.

Again, the very first arc of Mushoku Tensei feels very dense and focused in both presentation and content, which makes me confident that it is all in purpose of something larger and any questions I have will be covered later. Arguably the most traumatic event of Rudeus former life, him being tied to the school gate naked and sexually humiliated, has yet to be really touched upon, though his parents being constantly at it at least creates an environment in which sexuality can be viewed through a more healthy lense and Eris is also not that far away to bring his sexual insecurity and other attributes to light.

The second arc finally gives off a lot more “Light Novel Isekai” vibes, though it is still rather limited in terms of action, considering this arc also makes it a point of both Rudeus and Eris being children that still need to grow up, so the fake-turned-real kidnapping is all we really get. Instead, it deals with the topic of responsibility and the place one inhabits in society. The irony of Rudeus teaching an angry little gremlin that herself doesn’t want to uphold societal expectations is not lost on me. But while I could dissect this arc for its little quirks and character interactions between the two and Ghislaine, this isn’t really what we actually want to talk about, right? So, let’s dig into Rudeus almost having sex with Eris.

First of, media is seldom able to actually make me feel uncomfortable. I can certainly comprehend, when I am supposed to and also understand what it means, both in the context of a story, as well as how it correlates to reality, but in terms of being genuinely uncomfortable with something, I am most often simply not. Remember, I am the guy that watched Euphoria and mostly just shrugged. That being said, Mushoku Tensei was able to make me uncomfortable not just once, but twice, with the first time being in episode 8.

After celebrating Rudeus' tenth birthday, he finds Eris sitting on his bed in a nightgown and basically insinuates that whatever happens this night is fine. This, beyond the question of where to draw the line of when one is comfortable seeing children in any sexual context, is almost expected. Eris clearly likes Rudeus, her mother jokingly(?) suggested marrying him, her grandfather is already fantasizing about a coup and her father is actually planing to go through with it, so what Eris' family is concerned, they are all in Rudeus' favor, though the father suggesting to have her “tied to the bed and ready for him” is a massive yikes. I get that this comment should probably reflect on how her father sees Eris as the daughter of a noble family first, meaning consent is optional in this matter, but the way this comment flew completely over Rudeus' head and was not further elaborated on, even with the previous sentence being heavily loaded with a lot of other stuff, felt a bit weird… just saying.

Anyway, what is actually interesting to look at is how Eris and Rudeus handle this situation, as well as how this is all framed. Again, Eris is not completely dumb and I doubt she isn’t aware of her grandfather, as well as possibly her father, having sex with the maids. We also learn later that her mother told her at least something about sex, so it isn’t completely out of left field for her to give herself up for Rudeus, even if she doesn’t fully understand why or what she is about to do. On the other hand, Rudeus has been a virgin his entire former life and is obviously very interested in the idea of changing that. However, we, as the viewer, have a certain assumption about Rudeus, that being that he is not actually a child, but someone at least in his thirties, mentally speaking, and thus expect him to see what is going on here, be better and obviously not go on with it.

Part of the shock is that Rudeus does so anyway. He kisses her, pushes her down on the bed and feels her up, before Eris luckily puts a stop to it all, gets him with the good ol' two-hit combo and leaves the room, before coming back and talking about what just happened. Despite being “younger”, she displays a certain amount of emotional maturity, which Rudeus lacks and while setting up a later date might seem a bit weird at first, Eris realizing that she is simply not ready at the moment nicely contrast with how much more thought she put into it compared to Rudeus, whose understanding of sex does not reflect his actual age and most likely stems solely from eroge, which brings me to another topic: Setting any possible discussion about age of consent aside, it feels weird to consider Rudeus either his “old” or “new” age, or even a combination of the two, mostly in context of how he lived his previous life and how it now influences his new one.

I personally don’t think it would have made much a difference, whether he would have been hit by the truck and reincarnated at age 16 or 34, except that the latter makes him look even more pathetic. One can extend his sympathy towards a shut-in otaku if he is a boy still in high school, but with every passing year, this sympathy lessen, which is part of the tragedy, as probably nothing really changed between the years and he might as well have stopped growing up the moment he closed himself off in his room. While his body ages, his mind stays stagnant. For what it is worth, Rudeus might as well be a 16-year-old boy inside the body of a 34-year-old man reincarnated as a ten-year old child right now. He is essentially running a New Game+ until he catches up to his “real” age again, which is also probably the moment he will lose his status as a weirdly advanced wunderkind, as he will have to treat the foreign fields of being an adult.

Does any of this excuse his actions? Absolutely not and assuming his “age” to be 16 would still raise enough eyebrows, considering Eris is 12 at the time. Actually, I think their age isn’t even the main problem here, as the circumstances, in which this whole situation unfolds itself, are messed up from the ground up. In short, Eris shouldn’t do it just to please the birthday boy and we would expect Rudeus to recognize that and decline. However, him not living up to expectations is kind of the point, isn’t it? In fact, seeing how the dynamic of this whole situation gets almost flipped at a later date kind of proves my point and shows how Eris and Rudeus are both flawed human beings, even if it is arguably weird to show it in this way.

As such, how one views this entire scene probably comes down to a mixture of how much one can stomach children being put in a sexual context and how much one is able to get out of it both thematically, as well as from a narrative perspective. At least out of interest, what would actually change if they were the same age, or if the both of them were older? I do however sympathize with the idea of the literal portrayal making the whole things a lot harder to swallow. The anime does not shy away from giving us some risque shots of Eris' body or how Rudeus touches her and I would probably also fall into the group of people thinking this entire scene could probably be a lot more “tame” to get the point across, even if I don’t think Eris looks particularly *insert adjective*, but I am also more a red apple than green apple guy, so who am I to judge? Also, reading this scene must have probably been a lot more awkward.

So… what is actually my opinion about this entire scene? For one, I don’t think the anime was supposed to make me feel this uncomfortable, at least I see no reason beyond the subject matter itself. Part of it was due to me not remembering if Rudeus would actually go through with it, but I guess this would hold true for literally everyone else too and another part is me, despite being a god-forsaken pervert, not being that cool with younger characters being put in this kind of situation in general. Trust me, I am on no puritan agenda, but the combination of children and sex mostly make me feel… well, uncomfortable. Having rewatched the scene just now, I remembered it to be a bit more explicit and longer, probably due to the context of having seen the previous episodes, so your first exposure will probably leave a stronger impression than what is actually there. But again, I am most definitely not the person to depend on when asked for judgement.

At least I consider this scene to go way beyond the normal amount of anime bullshit one is almost supposed to expect in these kind of stories and I have personally become essentially accustomed to, to the point where I would simply sigh and hand-wave their existence under other circumstances. However, this is no “Accidentally falling into the love-interest’s breasts”, no “This is simply how it is done in this fantasy culture”, nor a “Trust me bro, she’s actually a thousand-year old Loli”. If Mushoku Tensei wants me to earnestly engage with itself as a story, I also want to take it seriously and consider the implications of its more taboo content, because otherwise, the alternative would be to simply view a sex scene involving a twelve-year old as just some fanservice of rather questionable taste. Call me an easily offended snowflake, but I assume no one wants the latter to be the case.

From a narrative perspective, I can see what is going on and how it all came to be. After all, I just spend rationalizing this entire scene for a suspicious amount of paragraphs. However, what I am missing is a lot more of the fallout. Sure, Eris suggests waiting until he is 15 years old and officially an adult and Rudeus has a moment of self-reflection on how this all probably turned out for the better this way, but this is also kind of about it. It also seems like he doesn’t actually learn anything from this experience, as he continues to be a menace, enemy to all women and most likely also to a good amount of men. It feels like he should be punished by the story for this stunt, or at least not getting off scot-free. This is what I mean by the framing of this scene. I think Rudeus did something wrong, but does the anime think so too?

This actually brings up an interesting question on Rudeus' character in regards to his position as the main character and point of view for most of the story. How much should we actually sympathize with him? Sure, he can be a pretty sketchy guy at times, but I don’t even have to look beyond the anime sphere to name main characters I am more skeptical about. He also proves that he can be genuinely good towards the people around him and even be a positive influence on some. To me, it reads that we should at least be empathetic towards Rudeus and his struggles, but also shouldn’t assume him to be either right or good all the time and while this seems like a reasonable approach for any character, really, we have to remember that his story is about becoming better than his old self and seriously try if to go to another world, so him doing something one considers to be rather disgusting, only to get away with nothing more than a few bruises, can be a tough ask to continue following him. I know a friend who didn’t.

Welp, this could have easily been its own post… Anyway, episode 8 had another surprise in store. The Teleport Incident is a really fascinating plot point, because it essentially turns the whole story on its head. After all, they basically already set up the magic academy arc, as Rudeus tutoring Eris was in purpose of getting him and Sylphy into this one school and now seemingly everything is destroyed, no one knows where anyone is and this otherwise relatively calm Isekai now has two children surviving in a foreign land far away from home.

Personally, I consider this entire stretch of the story, which mostly takes up the rest of the first season, a lot less engaging. Up to this point, Mushoku Tensei almost exclusively focuses on the whole reincarnation thing and how Rudeus is influenced by growing up again in a new world, which is, quality of the execution being being another matter, certainly a breath of fresh air, compared to diving straight into your fantasy fare. It is not even like I dislike Mushoku Tensei fully committing to it and I am astonished how easy it is to watch the anime episode for episode.

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first: The anime looks amazing. In general, the overall production of the series can be breathtaking at times and the way it visibly differentiates itself from other Isekai anime should not be overlooked. Mushoku Tensei displays some truly S-Tier world-building with the way every place has its own architecture, culture and even their own languages, which they commit to actually speaking. This is some fun fantasy above and beyond the more trite shlock I am normally exposed to. It is just a shame that the moment the possibility arises, they immediately drop the B-word (Boukensha), causing me to lose faith for a second. However, this whole ordeal is actually framed around the travels back to their home, Eris and Rudeus growing up and their relationship with Ruijerd.

Ruijerd is fun. He acts like the dad of this makeshift party and is way more suitable to be a role model, both for Rudeus and Eris, than any other male character up to this point. There is probably half a blog post about his character to be told and how the group is trying to right the name of all Superds, but I am also already at 4.000 word again somehow, so I will skip elaborating on everything that is not tied to a few specific scenes. The Human God is wild every time they make an appearance and I fully support one commenter’s opinion that they move like a Sims character, which makes them really unnerving to watch just walking around Rudeus in his foggy mind. Kishirika “Great Demon Emperor” Kishirisu is also just funny as hell and a joy when she is on screen. Think about the scene of her pulling down her pants in front of Rudeus what you want, but the comical intensity with which it was animated had me hollering.

Time to get kinda serious again. Remember when I wrote Mushoku Tensei was able to make me uncomfortable not just once, but twice? Let’s talk about it. Number two concerns the time Rudeus was captured by Roxy’s former student to use him as bait for her to come back, after she wouldn’t stand his sexual harassment anymore. Now, if you guess I am going to talk about about the tirade Pax was on about and how he would rape Roxy in front of Rudeus once he gets his hand on her, you would have guessed incorrectly. It’s actually the scene afterwards with Rudeus and Zanoba talking about the Roxy figurine. *sigh* Now, I can excuse Rudeus holding on to Roxy’s panties as a sort of memento to his former master and I can also excuse him creating figurines of her for the same reason. I will absolutely not excuse him going into way too much detail and being way too excited to talk about a figurine of a real person he knows and respects with a complete stranger for way too long.

Compared to everything else in this series, two perverts bonding over a figurine isn’t even that bad and I am also normally the type of guy to ignore all reason to appreciate technical finesse, but this scene… I don’t know, it just felt so fucking wrong on so many fucking levels, I am genuinely fucking incapable of properly articulating it. Fuck, I actually caught myself doing my “concerned and disgusted” face, something normally reserved for my degenerate friends being a bit to horny for my comfort. I know that I should take more issue with Rudeus almost having sex with Eris on principle, but this scene made me reconsider my stance on capital punishment. Like, Rudeus should just die in a ditch and be forgotten by time. Yes, this is the hill I am willing to die on. I am the personification of “I can excuse pedophilia, but I draw the line at obsessing over a figurine.”

To get actually serious again, the last scene I want to talk about is Eris having sex with Rudeus in episode 22. After three years of wandering, Eris and Rudeus are finally back in the Fittoa Region, though not all is fine. Ruijerd splits from the group after having protected the two for the last years and Eris is confronted with the reality of her family being dead, the city and surroundings being utterly destroyed and the possibility of having to spent the rest of her life as the concubine of another lord. After demanding to be left alone and crying her heart out, she visits Rudeus' tent at night and again insinuates that the two of them could have sex. However, this time Rudeus initially declines and dodges her advances. After all, he genuinely cares for Eris and doesn’t want to take advantage of her when she is feeling hopeless at the moment. He wants to hold onto their promise, thinking this all comes a bit too sudden and even initially apologizes for not having a gift for her when Eris states that she is 15 and thus an adult now. Rudeus eventually gives in to her demands, but it should be noted just how different this scene played out compared to the one in episode 8.

First of, it is Eris who shows agency and is in control of the situation, not Rudeus and it is her who wants something from him, instead of her giving herself up for him. The scene is also a lot more emotionally driven, than the primarily physical one in episode 8. It is pretty clear from the get-go that Eris wants to have her first time with someone she has an honest connection to, before being potentially send away to fulfil her family duty and the way she unceremoniously leaves Rudeus afterwards, makes it basically abundantly clear that this was more an act of desperation than love. It is also a lot less awkward to watch. Again, not to start a debate about the age of consent, Eris is 15 at the time and we spent a significantly larger amount of time of Rudeus and Eris bonding and starting to depend on another. It also helps that this entire scene is portrayed a lot more tasteful in its presentation, showing less physical contact between the two, having a more dark atmosphere to more accurately indicate the feelings of the both of them and utilizing metaphors like the tent pole visually separating the two to show their dissonance, or the cup disappearing into the puddle the spilled drink created, to not show the actual sex.

Sure, it is still a child and half(?) a child having sex, but beyond this matter, I don’t think there is actually much to criticize this scene for, neither for its portrayal, nor its place in the narrative. Even the weirdly out of tune “I want to have your kittens, nya~” line turns out a lot more bleak, considering we know the context behind the Boreas family’s obsession with the beastfolk. At the very least, I am way more comfortable with this one than the one in episode 8. It also plays out a lot more into the characters and their future. For Eris, it is her final goodbye, before telling him “You and I aren’t well-matched right now” and going on a journey to become less dependant on Rudeus, only for him to fall down an emotional black hole upon the resurface of his trauma, as well as his newly developed one and additional abandonment issues, that will take at least an episode to crawl out of. Good.

The last episode of the season is just an utter deconstruction of Rudeus as a character, revisiting his time before reincarnating and arguing with himself what he is supposed to do now, once again being at his lowest point in life. Beyond being absolutely my kind of trope, it is also filled with much needed development and sympathy for Rudeus, with the main focus being his inability to allow himself to change, despite seeing the people around him doing so constantly, partly even explicitly through his help, as seen with Paul. It also formulates a nice throughline of his regrets into what he wants to do going forward. The way his old mother never really gave up on him, gives him the motivation to not only not give up in himself, but to also search for his new mother, who is the only one who he wasn’t able to encounter after the incident. There is also this really nice shot of Rudeus literally walking past his old self being strung at the school gate, which is just such a nice visualization of his self-realisation.

I opened this post with an easy and cheap parallel to Date a Live, due to how I finally got into watching both series, however, as one should have noticed, I talked about Mushoku Tensei in a way better light than I would ever do about Date a Live, because while it has issues and issues, at the end of the day, I truly enjoyed watching Mushoku Tensei. It is probably one of my better liked “classic” isekai anime, just really fun most of the time and there is always something to talk about. I can’t wait for someone smarter and more critical than me to completely dismantle this series and explain how it actually sucks, only for me to fully agree with every point raised, because this is how it tends to be with me. This is also the reason why I don’t feel sure about putting it on my list of recommendations, as there are simply way too many asterisks attached to this series and just because I could stomach everything in Mushoku Tensei, doesn’t mean someone else would do too.

And that’s about it. As already mentioned, Mushoku Tensei is a lot of things and I just wanted to write about what I found most interesting. I have a feeling this post even started of rather strong, but kind of derailed halfway through and just kept going until we are finally at the end, because I didn’t really had a specific point I wanted to make and mostly went through the events chronologically in very different amounts of depth… sorry about that. Maybe there will be a follow-up post, once I start the first part of the second season, in which I regret everything I said in this post, but this will be a problem for future me and current me should actually work on something long overdue right now. Also, how did I reach almost 6.000 words?

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is available on Crunchyroll.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volume 16

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 16:20:00 +0200

Ach ja, over the years, I have started far over a hundred stories that I will most likely never see concluded ever. I actually just spend 20 minutes on my MyAnimeList profile counting how many of the anime adaptations actually concluded, only for me to miscount, so unfortunately no concrete numbers today, but I guess only less than 15% of the anime adaptations I have seen have some kind of end, even if it is not the same end as the source material. What I want to say is that I normally do not assume something to necessarily have an end. At best, it just simply stops at some point with some kind of closure. However, this is not the case with manga and light novels, as, unforeseen circumstances not withstanding, they will eventually end and it is simply a question of when.

However, since I mostly watch anime, I don’t often have to deal with a series ending. Such was the case with the So I’m a Spider, So What? anime adaptation. I watched it, then watched it again and this could have been it. Of course I want to know how it continues. After all, this is the very reason why I have rummaged out my tablet I have never found a use for in four years and started reading the novels. However, until recently, there was also this kind of idea in my head that I could lull myself into a sense of security. Sure, I read volume after volume and while I will reach the end eventually, this is neither now nor soon and I can just continue reading and have fun with the series… and then I reached the last volume… and then I finished it. There is something scary about the thought of something not necessarily ending, but rather not having any more of it, specifically. It is like it died. It is alive when being published and upon conclusion, it is now dead. Forever.

So, why the overly dramatic introduction? I am mourning, clearly.

Overall Impressions

After volume 15 essentially served as a giant build-up and paved the way for the conclusion, the final volume ties up all loose ends and gives a farewell to almost all the characters we got to know over the last 16 volumes. And I can’t stress the last part enough. Literally the first thing I noticed was how the chapters in the table of contents broke the pattern for how they are normally labeled. It was either just the chapter number with a letter in front when denoting a character other than White, or an interlude, which title mostly described the character in a roundabout way, though the last volumes did start directly including the name of the point of view character. However, this volume just straight up puts the character’s name in the chapter titles, like lifting the veil from the mystery beneath it. It has a certain feel of finality to it. Now that everything is said and done, the characters can finally be themselves.

The same can be said about the actual contents of the chapters. While the stage is set for whatever climax the series has in store, it sure takes its time to actually get there and instead commits to what the series as a whole does best: Going through all possible perspectives one last time and let every character add their two cents on what is happening. As always, the necessity of them is debatable, but also always appreciated. It paints a pretty clear picture of one’s character, once confronted with a possible end. Some will fight a losing battle to the very end, some accept defeat and others are determined to find another way.

Speaking of which, Shun… I kinda thought he would die. There are actually two reasons as to why. Firstly, if you google “so i am a spider shun”, the third recommendation auto-completes to “death”… a feature google should maybe overhaul for fictional characters, but more importantly, Shun’s role in the story up this point kind of lends itself for it. After all, he is directly opposed to White in several ways and being confronted with the reality that there is no alternative to saving the world without confronting White and her group directly, I was sure he would end up in a fight with White and use the Sword of the Hero against her.

Actually, I assumed the finale to be set up a bit different and generally be split in two, with one half covering Shun’s group versus the demon lord’s and the other one being about D. In fact, while the confrontation with D is a generally well-educated guess, I thought the first one would be a given. Like, there are two Chekhov’s swords present… at least one would ~~go off~~ slice White, if not for revenge, but the continuation of humanity. It wouldn’t even change the outcome much, as White’s actual plan was to sacrifice most her energy to save Sariel and revitalize the planet anyway, so it wouldn’t even matter if she survives the sword strike or not… which she clearly would… I mean, when has the magically overpowered weapon, prophesied to bring an end, ever done its job?

Other than me really wanting a fight between White and Shun, preferably consisting of 90% just talking, the fight against D went mostly as I imagined it would. Specifically how it all came to an end. While I would explain White surviving the sword mostly due to narrative convention, D has actual reasons to. Mostly, why would she give not just one, but two swords, enough energy to surpass her and, even more importantly, what would be the point in her dying by them? For all the the stupid stuff she pulls, her motivation was always rather clear and easy to understand: She does it, because it is fun and wants to be entertained. D doesn’t need to die for the others to win. She could free Sariel any day of the week. As such, her simply setting a win condition for the others and reducing it to whether they would not only use the sword against her, but also having the strength and conviction to go beyond it, is all it really takes. It would be something else, if D had a history of lying and wouldn’t hold her promise, but this isn’t the case here. Alas, her actually dying of it would almost seem silly.

However, what still stands is how the finale almost resolves too perfectly. I can accept the almost hand-waved explanation of why everyone wants to go to D, as speaking with the one responsible is most certainly a better idea, than just fighting each other and it definitely gave some characters a final chance to shine, but the way how everything ends almost perfectly and with no real downsides feels off and kind of rubs me the wrong way. Logically speaking, I guess it is sound, but I want to view it the same way as with D’s non-death. Basically, what has a larger impact? For a story that defined itself over several long stretches of time by overcoming incredible odds and never giving up and White specifically learning to be able to live her life in pride, it is a bit of a bummer that their victory was basically granted by an all-powerful god that is, with the exception for the kick of it all, at best indifferent to the literal end of the world. It of course doesn’t take away the actions and sacrifices everyone did went through, but considering it either still wouldn’t be enough, or could never have worked out how White ultimately imagined, if D didn’t let it all happen, is… *literally kicking and screaming right now*.

White finally found a purpose in life beyond just surviving the threats of her surroundings. She has a beautiful wife and four sweet children. She deserves a happy end. Look at the cover image of the volume and how peaceful and serene it is. Let her be happy! I know D proclaims herself to be an evil god, but come on! I don’t even want to rationalize the ending, I just want throw a tantrum. Of course D wants to keep her pet, but not just ending it on that exact note, but also not giving White the time and space to make her final goodbye? I doubt there is still much left to say for White, but just imagine the catharsis of White actually saying more than just a couple of short sentences to everyone. Resolving one of her last hangups would be more than just bitter sweet to end it all, though a singular “Thank you!” still holds a lot of emotions. I just really would have wished White’s story to not end at the side of D, but at her newfound friends instead.

This all would have not nearly stung as much, if we got an actual epilogue. As much as I don’t necessarily like how the end turned out, I enjoyed the little tea time between D and Meido and ending a story with the title of the novel is peak, but what about everything else? Sure, we get some short glimpses into the life of everyone, but that’s about it. What about how the entire world slowly changed? I want some details on how Shun got back into position, or how Yuri actually reformed the religion. It doesn’t even have to be long, but at least a bit more detailed than “they were never seen again” and “they lived a happy life”. While White’s story concluded, this can not be said about everyone else. Again, for a story, whose focus are the several different character perspectives, there is a certain lack of closure for most of them and at best implying what happens is simply not enough for me. I enjoy the idea of half the cast now living in a castle with our vampire princess… just gimme more!

Actually, “just gimme more!” might be my biggest wish overall. Over the course of the entire series, not just this final volume, the biggest throughline for me was not necessarily a lack of information, per se, but how not everything introduced was went through with in some form or another and the associated information therein. Even when it was eventually irrelevant, I still wished to know how exactly the hacking of the System Core be done, or what the actual deal with the keys is. What about the fact that apparently a large chunk of the planet is already destroyed and how other dragons, like Iena, apparently took part in the humans not finding it out. In fact, what about the other dragons and Dustin’s plan to deal with the destruction of the planet? Wasn’t there also another sword that could have been used against D? I figure Ariel couldn’t use it, but not even mentioning it? Also, remember Aurel? I don’t think characters need to have a narrative justification to simply be, but I still thought it mostly strange how Aurel simply exists at the side of Ronandt, at least sometimes, but otherwise never did anything other than partake in one battle in the Human-Demon War. Lastly, I really would have appreciated some insight into the world of gods. By far not a necessary element of the story, but considering how apparently the Web Novels gave Meido some background and an explanation of why Sariel is the only angel left, I wonder why these details were omitted for the Light Novels.

I just feel like there were some plot points and ideas that were only hinted at, but ultimately came short, which is a shame, as I like basically all the ideas this series came up with. Overall, I think the final volume is a bit rushed, but not bad. After all, 80% is just another volume as we know it, but the last 20% are, at worst, underwhelming and unsatisfying, which is sad, as it is the final volume and by all means the end.

Final Thoughts

I didn’t really talk much about what specifically happened in this volume, because it is mostly the conclusion of everything set up beforehand and I doubt anything that could have happened in this volume would change my view on the series at large. Sure, I mostly noted everything I didn’t like about this volume, but at the end of the day, it is still So I’m a Spider. The ending isn’t even that bad, just a shame that it couldn’t stick the landing on a personal high note.

It might be more easy to look back on something that concluded superbly. “The ending is paramount”, or something like that, but I will never forget the journey it took to reach it either. Also, let’s be honest here: What could have possibly ruined it for me? I was obsessed with the anime to the point of returning from my YouTube hiatus and actually ended up reading a book, because I really wanted to know how the story continues and even wrote down my entire experience with it. Over the last year, I wrote almost 35,000 words about this series, which is probably twice my bachelor’s thesis. For me, So I’m a Spider, So What? is a 10, just like Girls und Panzer, Fate and KonoSuba are a 10. Are they actually a 10? Who knows, but I don’t care if they are perfect or not. So I’m a Spider is very dear to my heart and this notion didn’t change when I started reading the novels and it sure as hell didn’t when I finished reading them.

As such, my final review of So I’m a Spider, So What? is the following: If you suffer from the same brain rot as I do, you will have a fantastic time.

Since this will probably be the last time writing about this series to such an extend, let’s say it one last… with feeling, of course:

Nai wa~

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

Fate/Grand Order: Epic of Remnant

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 13:35:00 +0200

Ach ja, after taking my sweet time to play through the first part of Fate/Grand Order, I can finally get into the Lostbelts… except not really. I mean, I could, actually, as the Epic of Remnant singularities are not mandatory and the Lostbelt Prologue is available after clearing the first part of Fate/Grand Order, but I mean… I am not the type of guy to skip something, just because you technically can. As such, I played through all four extra pseudo-singularities. I guess you could technically include the Fate/EXTRA CCC event, but since it costs five Rare Prisms to unlock, but I only hold four at the moment, this will have to wait… or I’ll read up on the story through YouTube videos.

Epic of Remnant serves as a transitionary piece from the first part into the second and can be mostly viewed as a kind of anthology, though for what I am concerned, it basically comes down to being able to play through four additional singularities, as their premise is essentially the same. However, unlike in the first part, we are not trying to retrieve the holy grails left behind by Goetia, but instead clean up the remaining Demon God Pillars.

There are also a few gameplay changes: Bosses now have several health bars, which is actually a bit more tricky than just an enemy having more health, since the enemy does not get defeated after having their health bar depleted, thus additional damaged gets neither carried over into the next health bar, nor does the target change, meaning you have to commit an entire turn to simply reducing the current health bar to zero, even if the enemy has barely any HP left. You also don’t know how many HP each bar has, making informed decisions for when to burn through your Noble Phantasms less trivial. Bonus points for when an unknown condition triggers the same effect, or you don’t actually have to always deplete every health bar in a fight. Overall, boss battles became a lot more interesting.

Another, though less major change, is the keeping secret of servant identities until a certain point in the story. While this makes a lot of sense from a narrative perspective, this actually carries over into the rest of the game. For example, if you were to pull Moriarty in the Gacha before clearing a certain stage in the Shinjuku singularity, he would only be referred to as Archer of Shinjuku with the name of his Noble Phantasm being omitted. Nice detail.

In general, all the EoR singularities are good (Agartha possibly excluded) and I would generally rank them between America and Camelot in terms of quality. They are, however, less difficult than Camelot and Babylonia, sans the new boss mechanics. They are also a lot more reader-friendly to play through, since, despite their moderate length, there are a lot less stages and specifically less stages with battles attached to them, so you actually spend the majority of the time reading the story and not just mowing through hordes of unremarkable enemies. Especially Shimosa and Salem make me question if anyone actually plays through the singularities as a mobile game and not as a visual novel with a battle mechanic attached.

Quarantined Territory of Malice: Shinjuku

Shinjuku is just plain fun. After the more fantastical settings of the first part, we are finally back in a more modern and urban environment… not that it really matters, but whatever allows our characters to stroll through Hot Topic, apparently. Shinjuku has mainly two things going for it: There is the mystery of how Shinjuku became the lawless place it is and why there are monsters running around. Secondly, it arguably has the best accompanying cast of any singularity until now. Jeanne d’Arc Alter and Saber Alter is a duo that just keeps giving and it is endlessly entertaining to see these two go at each others throat, as if they were two “too cool for school” teenagers. Also, the dancing scene? It is additionally funny, because Jeanne d’Arc Alter already made an appearance in the very first singularity and she was nothing like this. The same can be said about Saber Alter, but I will gladly look above some minor character inconsistencies, if it means we get to enjoy their hilarious antics. “This kitty has claws, bitch, so watch out.” is a quote edged into my brain.

Moriarty is also a fascinating character, because he is clearly the antagonist of this singularity, but, due to the specific events of the story, also not for a good amount of time and having him in your group balances out the two feral cats quite nicely. I also like how the story finale wraps his character around and leans into the whole detective story angle Shinjuku is kind of based on. I mean, it is also Sherlock Holmes' first real introduction after his quick appearance in Camelot, so… yeah, it just flows together really well and the character dynamics of the entire cast can effortlessly carry it all, despite Shinjuku being arguably the least interesting setup of all the pseudo-singularities. If there is one singularity I would have no objections re-reading in the future, it might just be this one.

Subterranean World of Folklore: Agartha

Oh boy, Agartha… where do I even begin? Despite the Fate franchise having its roots in an Eroge and otherwise being constantly horny on main with a good amount of its character designs, it seldom dives into the topic of sex or sexuality. Agartha does and… at best, it kinda sucks at handling all its themes and at worst, could be considered actively problematic and backwards-thinking. Over the course of the singularity, we are confronted with themes of discrimination, slavery and rape, though, in this case, it is all directed towards men. However, instead of using this role-reversal to comment on sexism and the many things that have been historically inflicted on women, it comes of as rather weak and flat, by lacking all the nuance necessary to go beyond the obvious reason it is unjust. Then there is the ending… calling it nonsensical and honestly just quite bizarre might be an understatement. Actually, most of the finale immediately left my brain shortly after, so I can’t even explain what exactly rubbed me the wrong way, just that it did. Probably something like child Fergus saying that having sex and bearing children is good, actually, to the woman that was constantly afraid of whether her rapist might kill her the next morning.

It feels like a teenager’s first attempt at talking about gender-specific injustice, because it is not hard to see the good intentions, but the way they are portrayed is nothing short of wild. This might seem like a weird comparison, but I just read my essay from eighth grade about Christianity and homosexuality, so I know what I am talking about. Agartha is by far not that bad, but it is very easy to imagine it being better, because having the character of Scheherazade at the center of the story really lends itself to explore these themes in-depth and it is a shame that it just… doesn’t.

What also makes Agartha a bit of a chore to play through is its relative lack of great characters. Penthesilea, Dahut and Wu Zetian didn’t really leave an impression, as far as bosses go and our companions are also nothing to write home about. First of, who is child Fergus? I understand his literal role in the story and it is eventually even spelled out directly, but I, for the most part, didn’t care, because I don’t know the normal Fergus beyond his short appearance in America, and as such couldn’t appreciate his growth as a character, because I don’t know what it is in contrast of. Astolfo and d’Eon, on the other hand, are severely underutilized. I have seen Apocrypha… I know there is a lot more to his character, than what is under Astolfo’s skirt and d’Eon looks promising, so why are they essentially reduced to servants that look like girls, but are actually not (d’Eon’s gender is not confirmed, but it wouldn’t really make a difference in this case).

Kind of disconnected from everything, but if there is one thing I can praise this singularity for, it is its stance on Christopher Columbus. Fate’s handling of its non-fictional characters can be all over the place and I certainly didn’t expect it to actually characterize him as a slaver, colonialist and murderer. It might just be my personal bias speaking here, but… based, especially in a setting in which his actions directly correlate to the other antagonists of the singularity. This part, including his introduction as an ally and voice of reason, might be the only genuinely good writing found in this singularity.

Gameplay wise, it was mostly a drag in the same way the plot progression is kind of slow. In this singularity, these two kind of go hand in hand. The stand-out battles might be the ones with Heracles making an appearance. Actually having to whittle down his twelve lives is almost inspired, though I guess I could consider myself lucky, as I already run a Foreigner in my main team and was able to get another on via the Support slot, so these battles were more fun than tedious.

The Stage of Carnage: Shimosa

Shimosa is interesting, because it feels very different from the other EoR singularities. It is the singularity with the biggest scope and cast of characters by far, the POV character is a lot more involved and the whole vibe has the markings of a true epic. From a writing perspective, this is without a doubt the most impressive of the singularities and the only thing keeping me from announcing it the best of all of them, is this weird feeling that I should know a good amount of the characters already, at least to some extend.

This is something I haven’t mentioned yet: All of the EoR singularities kind of assume some knowledge about its cast of characters. I mostly don’t have a problem with the allied servants, as we get to know them more over the course of the singularity anyway and I already read up on Dantès' event, so I am not surprised whenever he randomly pops up, but this notion does not always extend to all friendly allied servants and especially some of the antagonist servants. I get the premise of Chaldea taking in servants, as well as apparently all of the Events being canon, but like… I am several years late to the party. I don’t know any of them. It kind of brought me out of the experience in the story finale of the first part, though all the Event characters were limited to a single stage which could mostly be ignored, but this is not the case here. Ritsuka and Musashi clearly have some history together, which influences the development of the story, I still have no idea who Tamamo-no-Mae or her many forms are and I feel like our character knowing Shuten-Douji and Minamoto no Raikou is critical to fully understand what is happening in their respective arc.

But beyond this, Shimosa is fascinating. I don’t know much about Japanese mythology and even less about the history of the country, but the way both are intertwined just vibes with me and makes full use of the premise of servants being twisted to do evil. Also, a rather philosophical frame story. Also, a great mystery. Also, an all-around fantastic cast. Musashi might as well be the heroine of her own story, ~~Shirou~~ Senji Muramasa is great and his take on the UBW chant is *chef kiss* and the final moments of the several antagonists we encountered do hit, due to a combination of getting to know their side of the events, as well as personally having to fight them in an epic showdown.

Presentation is narrative and the boss battles in Shimosa sure have both. In fact, up to this point, the bosses in Shimosa are straight up the best. A small cutscene and an announcer to set the stage and hype up the fight? Yes, please! These battles also have the peculiarity of making Musashi your fixed support servant, instead of them being freely selectable, meaning Musashi is always an integral part of the fight, especially since she actually becomes a stronger servant gameplay-wise down the line. The fights themselves are also rather challenging. I know I suck at the game and don’t have the strongest line-up, but I think I had to always spend all three command spells to get through the fights. Impeccable, really.

Overall, Shimosa is just very good and a well appreciated palette cleanser after Agartha.

The Forbidden Advent Garden: Salem

The last of the pseudo-singularities can be considered quite a frustrating read in the best way imaginable, because even with literal witches present, Salem is still able to portray and discuss what the titular trials were actually about. Alas, I hope one does (not) enjoy christian fundamentalism, juristical injustice, weaponized mass hysteria and just blatant classism and racism, coupled with the worst logical fallacies and arguments you have ever heard, that would under any other circumstances be called out as either contrived or straight up insane and badly written, if it weren’t for the fact that it all actually happened.

Beyond this, Chaldea has a slightly different role in this singularity, as we are mostly observing and figuring out what is happening, instead of proactively dealing with the singularity in the normal sense, as well as getting personally involved into the trials. There are a lot less fights and I don’t remember fighting against any enemy servants. Instead, we take up the role of traveling entertainers and perform plays for the citizen of Salem. There is probably a good amount of meaning behind what play is performed at what stage in the singularity, but since I didn’t know any of them beforehand, I don’t want to throw around blind guesses.

Salem could mostly be considered a character study, both for the in-universe people of the real life Salem, as well as the servants associated to the singularity, with a heavy focus on Sanson and, to an extend, Circe. As such, it feels the most disconnected from the game, as the outcome of the individual story beats is seldom brought on by fights, but simply how the story itself plays out under the influence of the characters. There is not actually a lot happening in the Salem singularity, but the bulk is simply seeing it slowly escalate until everything falls into place. The finale is almost jarring, because of how grounded everything felt until this point, but it is also just a great conclusion, especially for a character that accompanied us the whole time.

So yeah, a bit of a weird angle for FGO, all things considered, but not bad at all.

Final Thoughts

Fun fact: This post took me ages to write, because I still don’t really know what to actually write. I could probably dedicate its own post to every singularity and actually go in a bit more in-depth about everything, but I don’t remember enough anymore to do that… I mean, I started Shinjuku sometime in April… it’s been how many months?

Basically, my opinion is that Epic of Remnant is good, with Agartha being a bit of an outlier, but the three other singularities being great and I want more of this. It is basically like the better segments of the first part and I hope to see this quality continue into the Lostbelts. Speaking of which, I doubt I will actually start reading the Lostbelts anytime soon, as I have enough other stuff on my plate, but when I eventually do, I doubt there will be a post about them. These FGO posts are a bit of a chore to write and sometimes I have to remind myself that I don’t have to articulate my opinion on everything. Fate/Grand Order is just a lot of fun.

Fate/Grand Order is available for Android and iOS.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volume 15

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 21:45:00 +0200

Ach ja, after over half a year, I’m finally back to gushing about my favorite fictional spider and what better way to celebrate this, than with a volume in which almost nothing happens. Truly, So I’m a Spider just keeps being peak. Since I am back to writing about a single volume again, this post might turn out to be pretty short, though this didn’t stop me from writing over 4.000 words for volume 6.

Overall Impressions

Potimas is defeated, now what? This is essentially the question volume 15 answers, though it is not like we don’t already know what path we are supposed to tread on. For as much a menace and the very reason all the events of the previous volumes happened Potimas was, he is but a stepping stone in the grand deal of things. Clean up the mess that is the battlefield at the elf village and Great Garam Forest, get the last sin/virtue keys and head straight to the System Core in the Bottom Stratum of the Elroe Labyrinth. We’ve got a goddess to save, after all. However, before White and friends can do just that, there is something else that needs their attention and a certain evil god is getting slightly bored too.

So, we finally get what we all have hoped for since everything went from bad to worse: A class reunion. Considering how many opposing factions there are, it is not like there exist a clear “bad guy” among any of of them, especially now with Potimas gone, which begs the following question: Can’t we just talk it out? Afterall, for what the specific conflict at hand is about, the reason the reincarnations and their respective allies clashed against each other is a simple matter of available information, or rather the lack thereof. The whole war was never really strictly about different politics, opinions or personal beliefs, but about those in the know, those who aren’t and those who would act on it.

As such, White brings herself to confront all the other reincarnations and attempts to explain everything and why this whole ordeal, from the initial reincarnation to the war, happened in the first place. Tragically, despite her best intentions, this whole setup was doomed from the start and destined to end in the disaster it eventually evolved into. To get the obvious out of the way first, White is not going to explain shit. While she mentally has to drag herself into the house the reincarnations are kept under supervision, as she normally doesn’t want to partake in the conversation under any circumstances, White is able to confront the other reincarnations nonetheless and does the bare minimum at giving some explanations without making things actively worse for a change. A for effort, F for execution.

White is not really what you would call a “people person”, so far nothing new, but the entire extend of it all is at full display when talking to her former classmates. For every word that goes through her brain, only a fraction will ever leave her mouth and those that do are neither the words the other reincarnations need nor want to hear. Fundamentally, whatever White hoped to achieve with this stunt, she never could have fully succeeded, which is sad, as it came from a genuine place of kindness and responsibility and was not just an attempt to make her feel better about herself and what she has done.

In short, White is not able to address the worries everyone has. The better half of the class was sold to the elves and grew up in total isolation of their new surroundings and the other half got tangled in White’s web of machinations to one degree or another. Now, the person presumed dead by the former and responsible for the latter suddenly makes an appearance after causing the events that shattered any kind of foundation left for her whole class… I hope I do not have to explain why pulling out your PowerPoint presentation about MA energy shouldn’t be the first thing to do in such a situation, because what White doesn’t seem to understand is that the other reincarnations are not in need of answers, at least not of this kind, but of empathy, any semblance of safety for their future and potentially even the truth. However, if there is one thing White does not want to disclose, it is the truth of her ambitions.

As such, superficial explanations about the world and what literally happened it is and while it might be enough to soften the blow for Kudo and the other reincarnations that were stuck in the elf village for the majority of their new life, the same can not be said about the other reincarnations (we actually care about), as they were all directly affected by White’s actions and essentially told that every tragic moment of their new life can be reduced to an “It had to be done”, without getting an actual explanation on why it, in fact, had to be done. Also, she literally put several of their classmates out of commission, even if Shun later joined the discussion and everyone else was filled in later. With how much White failed to address most of the actual concerns, Katia and Fei might as well have shot actual daggers at her, because even White noticed the amount of glares directed at her that essentially tell that, at best, some of the reincarnations are not satisfied with the provided explanation and, at worst, some are simply not buying it and can’t trust her, as they are currently POWs with extra steps and under constant surveillance of White’s personal army.

The funny thing is that despite all that, White is arguably still the most qualified person to lead this conversation. I initially wondered why they didn’t simply get Ariel to explain it all for them, because she actually possesses the communication skills necessary to not bring everyone into uproar every few sentences and is also able to shoulder all the possible blame directed at White’s group. After all, she is the demon lord and has long assumed the role of the villain. But again, literally just explaining why Potimas and the elves had to be stopped isn’t really the problem. It needs to come out of the mouth of a fellow reincarnation and from some one that can provide some form of closure to them. The reincarnations' business is not with the demon lord, but with White, Sophia and Wrath, as they wonder how it came to be that they are now standing on opposite sides.

Speaking of Wrath and Sophia… oh boy. Wrath really didn’t want to be there, did he? It is very telling when he took over the conversation and covered for White’s inability to speak and when he decided to not do so. It is almost like a defense mechanism, because Wrath is aware what would happen, would he go all out and just tell the reincarnations the whole truth and not just the “technically I am not lying”-version White tries to wring out of herself. He is aware that the others will think bad of him, because there is no way he can portray himself as a good guy anymore. Again, this isn’t even all about what literally happened. Even Shun can accept that the elves had to be dealt with, but what he can’t accept is that Wrath grew to accept human lives as less worth than in his previous live and that he goes along with this, from an outside perspective, insane plan. White can handle whatever is thrown at her and Sophia literally couldn’t care less, but Wrath actually has something to lose here, even if only in the form of his previous relationships with his classmates. As such, seeing him be silent and uncomfortable puts into perspective how derailed this conversation can become.

Meanwhile, Sophia behaved exactly how you would expect her to behave. She shows no interest in the matter, because she herself has already closed off with her old life and is utterly unable to empathize with her ex-classmates. As such, she does exactly what is not recommended when talking to scarred people who are confused about their future and drops the bad news head-on: They are not entitled to an explanation, going forwards, they do not matter and the best thing they can hope for is that they get a head start in whatever this new world will have in store for them. Blurting out the possibility of returning to earth, only for White to stop her in her tracks, was just the final nail in the coffin for the much anticipated class reunion. What a total disaster.

Again, there is no universe in which this conversation would have ended well. Put yourself into most of the reincarnations' shoes and ask yourself the following question: Are you fine with the explanations White provided? For what my opinion is worth, I would say most characters would simply shake their head and answer with a straight “No”. Hell, I know all the answers and why it all happens and am still unsatisfied with how it all turned out. White tries to make amends, but is literally unable to. Internally, this whole conversation can only be classified as a disaster, but from a narrative standpoint, this is nothing short of a tragedy.

And this is just the perspective from White and friends. The resolution of the hitherto main conflict clearly affects the other reincarnations in their own bubble too. Oka literally passed out from the stress after being revealed that she helped Potimas and brought her students into quite a bit of danger, Hugo finally breaks down and Shun didn’t even begin to voice his complains, despite being quite literally at the center of it all. Actually, Shun genuinely reflecting on his past and the events that followed might be the biggest surprise this volume had to offer. For once, he allows himself to drop the hero title and returns to being Yamada Shunsuke for a second. I really enjoyed the tangent about the value of a human life and how it differs greatly in this world compared to his previous life in Japan. It not only recontextualizes the attempt on his life at the hands of Hugo, but also nicely contrasts him with how Wrath tried to justify his actions in front of everyone. Shun’s got that Seigi no Mikata in him and I have to respect that. That’s the rules. Considering how I basically assumed he would immediately flip when the first opportunity arises, Shun definitely earned some points in my book. I know the end of the volume sets him up to be able do something very stupid, but he also might actually turn around and be a decent character in the end.

Interspersed are some minor events that really tie the bow on it all. The infighting between the reincarnations stuck in the elf village and the ones having to survive the events outside was rather interesting to see play out, without it turning into a competition of who had it worse. Hugo randomly crashing the party, throwing the towel and getting beat up was certainly something. I doubt him being in denial will hold up in the court of judgement, in fact we already know it doesn’t, but him refusing to actually own up to his mistakes, only for Fei to literally punch and kick the misery out of him, hopefully leads somewhere. Also some much needed backstory. Him hating his new life is actually pretty based and having no one to keep him under control, thus leading him to go fully unhinged, because he might as well, is a pretty nice, if predictable, development… if only we would have seen any of it, instead of being told last minute.

Lastly (not really), Yuri. Not gonna lie, inflicting self-harm to increase your Pain Mitigation skill to hear the “Voice of God” after being told about the contents of Taboo, was not on my bingo card. Also, the fact that her Skill is at Lvl. 9… Like Hugo, we never really got much information from her perspective and as such, I really appreciate every second we do get from our religious zealot, because there are layers to her character. Bonus points for Phelmina not only babysitting a bunch of angsty teenagers, but also this nutjob specifically. Also, where is Hyrince? I know he is not technically part of this and also a clone of Gülie, meaning he has nothing to gain from this conversation, but I simply want to see him pull a poker face and pretend he doesn’t know what is going on.

Lastly (actually now), there are Kunihiko and Asaka. Ironically, these two are the only ones that actually got any sort of closure, despite Kunihiko not even wanting one, as their affairs are primarily related to Merazophis, not White. However, it doesn’t take long for the two of them to realize that Merazophis is not necessarily the bad person they kind of had to assume he would be. He can explain the events in a way that neither paint him as a monster, nor as completely innocent and he also does so with compassion and understanding for the two. Sure, actually taking the time out of the day and offering beverages can go a long way, but at its core, Merazophis knows the very feelings that reside inside the two adventurers in front of him, as he lived through similar experiences himself. This is why he can also offer up an opportunity for Kunihiko to challenge him, because he understands just all too well what he is going through. On the other hand, Kunihiko now has to live with the fact that his arch nemesis turned out to be a pretty decent guy.

Despite not a lot happening, the first two thirds of this volume really resonated with me and encompass what I adore so much about this series. The way the character drama is combined with the events of the “actual” plot just make for an incredibly engaging read. One might argue, that I am not interpreting anymore and just straight up project my thoughts on the series, but at the end of the day, these are my honest thoughts and I am not afraid to share them with the world.

However, as much as I would like to end it on such a note, there is still a third of the volume left to talk about. Eww, get that plot progression out of my face! Anyway, Gülie messed up… I mean, he didn’t, actually, but this will not stop him from apologizing either way. We have long since known how the reincarnations got reincarnated into this world, but only fragments of why and with like almost anything bad, it all comes back to Potimas. He convinced the previous demon lord and the hero before Julius to attack Gülie. However, Sariel presumably changed the target of the attack and it hit D and her immediate surrounding instead. Should Gülie take the blame for it? I mean, a huge amount of MA energy was lost in the process and the whole thing with the reincarnations happened as a consequence, but talking about what could have been is an endless ordeal. Not like there is any time to discuss this question either, because D has lost her patience and initiated the end game.

“World quest activated”. With these words, now everyone is aware of what is at stake. It has always been preferable for White and Ariel that no one actually knows what they are about to do. Best case scenario is that they free Sariel with not a soul being any wiser. After all, from the perspective of humanity and the demons, saving the planet is all fine and dandy, but a lot of people will die in the process, which some characters might raise a slight objection against, including the pontiff Dustin, the hero Shun and a certain administrator in black armor. As much as Gülie wants to save Sariel, he also heeds her words and wishes and as such doubles down on the warning he gave Ariel and White a long time ago: If their actions run counter to his, then he will stand in their way. Pitied against each other, White and Gülie start fighting in some sort of pocket dimension for the fate of humanity and the planet… but not before taking care of the walking wild card.

I genuinely don’t know how to judge what happens in Shun’s remaining chapters. The absolute sicko in me might have actually wanted for Sue to realize that she is a little sister in a light novel series and to just go through with it. The other sicko in me would have been excited to see how this plot point would be resolved. And yet the other, other sicko in me was delighted that it all turned out to be a joke of questionable taste. He is, however, the only main character I can think of that explicitly rejects the advances from his little sister, which must count for something, right? But I mean, Shun also got his first real Harem moment with four girls tugging at his limbs. Not sure why Yuri is there, or why she apparently has plans to marry Shun, but the more the merrier, I guess. However, with Shun being stuck at the “Love Nest” in quite possibly no man’s land, it seems White’s plan was a full success in terms of excluding Shun from interfering any further. If only one of the girls had a convenient ability to transport a group of people in a relatively small amount of time… actually, they don’t even need Fei, because Ronandt is with them and he already was at the Bottom Stratum of the Elroe Labyrinth this one time training along White’s parallel minds, so teleportation it most probably will be.

At the same time, D drops the second stage of the world quest and gives everyone access to Taboo. This primarily affects someone who, until this moment, could have simply sat back and reaped the rewards: Dustin. Now with the secrets of Taboo out of the bag, he and the “Word of God” Religion are in a bit of trouble. After all, their entire deal was for no one to find out the truth about the world and getting rid of anyone acquiring the Taboo skill. As such, he suddenly has to deal with quite a bit of an unhappy populace, though the politician at heart he is, and the last stage of the world quest being revealed shortly after, he actually tries to turn this situation into his advantage. With White and Gülie being seemingly equally matched, the fate of the world comes down to a simple vote. Dustin tries to convince as many people to vote for the black god, while Ariel puts churches on fire in her UFO and hightails to the System Core. She doesn’t need to convince anyone, not only because she believes in White, who’s simply build different… as in, she’s got her spider body back, but also because Ariel will simply not allow anyone to get in her way of rescuing Sariel. Conviction is strong with her.

And this is it. The stage is set for the finale of this series. I already have a suspicion how the fight between White and Gülie could turn out. After all, it seems it is only a matter of time until White gains a territorial advantage over Gülie and we already know she has a not-so-secret-anymore secret attack designed specifically for Gülie up her sleeve. Also, while Dustin will probably manage to get the majority of humanity to vote for Gülie and thus lend him strength, we should not forget that the “Word of God” Religion is not the only religion around. In fact, the second largest religion is the Goddess Religion, which just so happens to worship the very god that is currently stuck as the System Core and they also have champions in the form of Ariel and White. Alas, this might become more interesting than initially thought.

However, what will probably cause the most trouble is not even the outcome of White vs. Gülie, but what ever happens at the Bottom Stratum. Because while Ariel needs White to win the fight, she also has to prevent the System Core from being shut down before it can be destroyed. Now, Dustin will surely make personal visit, but there is still the question of what Shun will do. He admits that it is cruel to have to choose between saving the planet and saving humanity, but he is the current hero of humanity and, maybe even more importantly, wants to fulfill the dream of his late brother of everyone being able to laugh in this world… or something along the lines, I can’t find the concrete wording right now. Basically, Shun will most likely stand in direct opposition to White and considering he has the means to not just fight Ariel, who actually lost most of her power, but also White head-on with his nifty Hero Sword, I can’t see how this will turn out good for the both of them.

Final Thoughts

Damn, I sure have opinions, huh? I have a feeling I kind of lost a bit of steam in my last blog posts about this series, but it was rather cathartic writing this one. I am sure I could haven gone more in-depth about the first part of this volume, because there is probably a lot to unpack here if one were to go scene by scene and not by memory.

It’s kinda funny how I deliberately waited all this time to essentially talk about the finale of the series in one post and then got so hyped up for what is essentially a “build-up” volume for the finale, only to dedicate it its own one. What can I say, except that this absolutely tracks and should be expected from me? I love the quiet and calm moments of this series and I will not shut up about them until everyone agrees with me. Maybe it is also part denial and not wanting to confront the reality that after the next volume, it is done. Sure, there is an EX volume, but like… a world with no new Kumoko? Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

Descending into Live Action Anime and Manga Adaptations

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 17:55:00 +0200

Ach ja, live action adaptations. Seemingly the bane of existence for most anime and manga fans. Luckily, or unfortunately, I am not like most anime fans… I am worse, meaning I’m actually interested in talking about this topic with an open mind and and less biased perspective. To make one thing clear from the get go: I am sick and tired of how live action adaptations are talked about in this specific sphere. It is not like I necessarily disagree with the sentiment in most cases, but I am rather annoyed of hearing the same talking points, examples and rhetorics over and over again, painting the whole concept of live action adaptations with broad brush strokes, instead of dissecting every adaptation and evaluating it on its own merits… you know, like any other piece of media too. Also, for a quick TL;DR: Godzilla and Pacific Rim exist… why shouldn’t live action anime adaptations be possible, when we already have the next best thing with some live action movies being basically anime.

Depending on when this post actually gets released, the most recent example of this could be observed with the release of the teaser trailer for the live action One Piece adaptation. Regardless of the quality of the trailer, you could be sure to fill out your bingo cards: Sweeping generalization about how anime and manga simply can not be adapted into live action, both narrative and style-wise, general distrust in non-Japanese companies, references to other failed live action adaptations… the list goes on. Even if I would agree with any of these statements, it would still be dishonest to exclusively talk about live action adaptations like this, as it doesn’t actually engage with the material at hand and comes down to boring circle jerking. There is also the reality that some people simply don’t want live action adaptations to exist at all, which makes a community-wide discussion essentially impossible. Even for the sake of this post, I might as well scream into an empty void or an echo chamber, however, it is still better than keeping quit and be complacent with what everyone else is saying when I have opinions to share.

Alas, I set out to watch those live action adaptations. Despite what the title implies, I actually didn’t limit myself to just adaptations of anime and manga, but japanese media in general, so this also includes light novels, video games and so forth. It is actually not that easy to find a comprehensive list of all live action adaptations out there and most lists are either top-lists or only accumulate entries for a specific medium. As such, there is probably a good amount of adaptations out there I would actually be interested to see, but literally don’t know they exist. Wikipedia does have a list of films based on manga, but, as the name implies, it is only limited to manga and films specifically, foregoing TV-series/specials and films based on other mediums.

Secondly, I limited myself to what I want to see at all. While I generally embrace live action adaptations with open arms, it is not my mission to watch them all. I engage with media because I want to, not because I impose it on myself. As such, I probably ignored a good amount of the better known adaptations. I don’t particularly care about Assassination Classroom or Gintama and I fail to muster up the energy for adaptations of media I have already seen but don’t care enough to see again, like Inuyashiki, Kakegurui or The Promised Neverland. I also primarily limited myself exclusively to movies, simply due to time constraints and the fact that movies tend to be a bit more available. I also have to confess that I might have a slight bias for American productions, partly because those are the ones I am personally most exposed to.

Lastly, and more generally speaking, my approach to talking about the live action adaptions is to consider them as movies first and adaptations second. In some cases, this is a given, as I have not seen the original, but either way, an adaptation should be able to stand on its own. Additionally, while “adaptation” is often understood as a more or less direct translation of the story and characters into another media, with movies specifically, changes are to be expected, either due to the limitations of another medium or as a creative decision, with the latter having varying effect, depending on the specific case.

I thought a lot about how to order this list. I could have ranked them by how much I enjoyed each movie, but this would be rather boring and I would have little reason to include all the stuff I otherwise wouldn’t really bother talking about. Instead, I grouped them all into different categories… or at least I wanted to, until I realized this would quickly get out of hand by how I wanted to distinguish the adaptations. In the end, it is a mix of the two with me generally ranking the adaptations, but also putting some into more specific categories, as they are specifically more indicative of a larger point I want to talk about, other than the quality of the movies.

So, to not again reach a thousand words before the actual post begins, let’s talk some live action adaptations!

The Good

This category may be self-explanatory. These are just good movies and I would recommend them regardless of whether one has any knowledge of the source material at all, as they can absolutely stand on their own. It might be telling of my opinion on adaptations in general, that none of these movies could be classified as a straight adaptation, but instead adjusted to work as a movie. Also, all of them are American productions, so bias does what bias is, I guess.

Battle Angel Alita

Battle Angel Alita feels like a return to older sci-fi movies, which makes sense, considering it is an adaptation of a classic 90s sci-fi manga, though I deeply appreciate the more modern paint on top. This movie is gorgeous. The world looks distinct and lived in, all the characters have a fantastic screen presence and the animation of the titular character is just a technical marvel, even if I, like many others, wonder why they didn’t just go with a mix of live action and CG.

The movie also has the advantage of being able to really take its time and flesh out its characters, partly by injected later story beats in a cohesive manner, without otherwise feeling too stuffed. Despite the fantastical setting, the movie is more about self-exploration and finding your place in the world and the way all the relationships, not just between Alita and Hugo, build up these inner conflicts, really sells the core of the movie in a way that the animated two-part OVA left me otherwise unimpressed and not caring. I hope the sequel movie will eventually be made, because while I already appreciate all the build-up of this movie and how it works as a stand-alone piece, I really want to see the story in its entirety pay off in a grand way.

Detective Pikachu

Superficially, Detective Pikachu is not that exciting of a movie. It got some of that classic buddy cop dynamic, mixed with an otherwise predictable adventure film. However, not having an outstanding story would never be what makes or breaks this movie. Detective Pikachu gets Pokémon. It understands their appeal, it understands how to use them and most importantly, it knows how to handle the relationship between humans and the Pokémon.

Also, it is filled to the brim of individual moments that brought a smile to my face. Random Pokémons in the streets? Adorable! Those Bulbasaurs walking down the stream? This… simply this and you can not tell me the scene with Mr. Mime isn’t peak comedy. This movie is simply a joy to watch and I doubt any lack of knowledge about Pokémon can ruin the experience for you, as it is not held up solely by nostalgia, but by the appreciation of what makes Pokémon so special.

Edge of Tomorrow

On its face, Edge of Tomorrow simply seems like a sci-fi war movie with a time loop twist. What makes it great, however, is just how well it leans into its ideas. The theme of determining your own fate, the progression of ones skill and knowledge by repeating the same day over and over again, how its shapes you and your view on everyone else, the way the editing of the movie blurs the lines of each reset, making every action believable, even if we haven’t seen the full way. It all flows so well together. Edge of Tomorrow is just an overall damn good movie that executes on its exciting premise in every field and it is a shame it is essentially ignored in any conversation about live action adaptations, though there might be a reason for that.

What is funny is that I eventually read the original All You Need Is Kill light novel after watching the movie, but didn’t realize so at first, because the movie underwent some rather drastic changes, though, as far as my memory serves correctly, I actually prefer the movie version over the novel. Sure, I would have loved to see some specific scenes from the novel be adapted, but overall, I am in favor of all the changes, big and small, especially since they leave the appeal of the main story pretty much in tact… well, maybe everything except the ending. I really have to reread the novel and maybe take a look at the manga too, because Edge of Tomorrow might just be one of my all time favorite movies and I would love to do a full analysis and comparison in the future.

Speed Racer

I am normally rather sceptic of the “critics didn’t get it”-mindset, but like… the only way you could not have a blast watching this movie is if you either hate having fun, or didn’t know you could suffer from epilepsy. The live action adaptation of Speed Racer doubles down on some core concept that make for a exciting ride. A showcase of a strong family dynamic, a villain and an antagonist, who stand in direct contrast to the former and an absolute spectacle of insane races that you kind of have to see to fully understand. This movie is fun in every conceivable way possible and should not be reduced to just a simple kids movie, because it has the possibility to be so much more, if you are willing to engage with it. Go, Speed Racer, Go!

The Interesting

The “Interesting” category is filled with adaptations that I find the most… well, interesting to talk about, because regardless of their final quality, these movies show how varied the difference of strengths and weaknesses can be when adapting a property into another medium.

Ace Attorney

The live action Ace Attorney adaptation should be a perfect showcase for how and why some of anime’s quirkiness can be translated into the real world. The characters look goofy and fun, but not in a bad cosplay kind of sense, the way certain game elements, like the HUD and GUI are presented, is truly inspired and mannerism feel like part of a character, instead of awkward fumblings. For real, they do this trope in which one character says something really stupid and everyone around them trips on themselves… twice, nonetheless and it is arguably more funny than seeing it animated, as you wouldn’t expect such “acting” from real people. This movie is full of such little gems and considering how not capturing the visual appeal of a series could, at least subconsciously, break the immersion of a piece of media, I think Ace Attorney should be more talked about when claimed live action “simply can’t replicate” the appeal of anime or manga, because from a production standpoint, this movie certainly does not need to hide itself.

On the other hand, the whole tone and atmosphere of this movie feels… less off, as more akin to deliberately wrong. Ace Attorney is a cartoonish series. A lot of the comedy is derived by the most stupidest stuff being handled with utter seriousness, but also never missing out on otherwise genuinely energetic and impactful moments. Just listen to the iconic Pursuit Theme and how it absolutely captures the sudden turn of being cornered and at wit’s end to delivering the most intense defense and breakdown any juror had the luck of witnessing. However, this whole packaging, which makes Ace Attorney so appealing, is completely missing from the live action adaptation.

Why is the courthouse this brutalist gray building? Why is the evidence presented by barely working holograms? Why does Phoenix Wright despair at his podium and franticly search for evidence in a pile of papers for seconds on end, while no music plays? It is a choice, quite a deliberately one I assume, but I don’t necessarily think it works for Ace Attorney specifically. The one shot that burned itself into my brain shows Wright, Maya and Gumshoe heavily backlit from the entrance of the court building boxed into a small section of the frame and almost completely reduced to dark silhouettes in front of a white canvas. From the staging to the cinematography, this is a 10/10 shot, but what does it do in a movie that should otherwise be light and colorful? While I don’t think this style necessarily works, the movie absolutely leans into this aesthetic and there is nothing more sexy than a film confident in what it tries to achieve. If only the plot would wouldn’t collapse on itself. I understand that one has to compress several hours of gameplay into less hours of screen time, but I am not sure I would have been able to understand what is happening, especially at the end, if I wasn’t already exposed to the story through the game.

Attack on Titan

I have already written an extensive post about the live action adaptation of Attack on Titan, but in the context of this post, there is still something I want to add. With time, I came to be a bit more lenient with what the adaptation tried to achieve. That is, I actually want to see these movies be executed well and competently made, but removed entirely from Attack on Titan, as all the changes, despite being what I would wish from an adaptation, actually turned out to alienate me more from Attack on Titan than a more boring and by the numbers adaptation ever could.

As such, the live action adaptation of Attack on Titan serves as a perfect case study for what does and doesn’t work when not only adopting, but also altering a story. I mean, the end result is and will stay bad either way, but at least the existence of these two movies make for something worthwhile, even if watching these might not be considered a pleasant experience, especially through the eyes of an Attack on Titan fan.

Death Note (2017)

I wouldn’t be surprised, if some people consider Netflix’s Death Note to be the final nail in the coffin for live action adaptations of anime and manga. And like, I totally get the idea why, despite what I will write later. The original Death Note is about a smart and suave teenager with a god complex playing mind games and a constant cat and mouse with the authorities to enact his idea of an ideal world. Death Note (2017) is… not and the only direct connection might be the titular Death Note. While many fans are bewildered by the seemingly complete 180 of the premise, I for one welcome this explicitly different take on the Death Note idea.

Hear me out. Death Note has one of these premises that just screams to be taken into wildly different directions and dropping the notebook into the hands of a less assertive and respected member of society is absolutely worth exploring. It kinda stumbles on itself by trying to still hit a majority of the original plotpoints, but I also don’t really mind, because it does fill the resulting holes with its own identity. I mean, the different socio-political climate of the setting brings up its own interesting questions about the morality of the Death Note and the parallels to American exceptionalism/interventionism essentially draw themselves.

Netflix’s Death Note is not the Death Note, but absolutely a Death Note and for what live action adaptations are concerned, this is exactly what I want to see explored more, if a direct adaptation is not viable: A different take on the same premise. Do not misunderstand me, the movie has its fair share of problems on its own. I personally hate how “Final Destination”-ish some of the deaths are portrayed and a lot of the characters come off as rather flat and underdeveloped. It also might just be straight up less appealing than the original, but it is also the only version of Death Note I actually finished, so… let’s just all agree upon Willem Dafoe being cast as Ryuk is truly god’s work.

The Mediocre

The word “mediocre” has such a bad ring to it in english, so please interpret it the german way, in which “can’t complain” is the highest honor, while not saying anything means you messed up big time. Honestly, these entries are just fine movies. Nothing you should go out of your way to see, but also nothing to intentionally stay away from. Movies I did enjoy, but are otherwise simply passable. Nothing to write home about. Will be forgotten in the passage of time. Okay, even.

Bleach

All things considered, the Bleach adaptation might be the one that positively surprised me the most. To be fair, I have never seen or read the original Bleach and somehow escaped any mention of it growing up and getting into anime, despite it being put in the same category as One Piece and Naruto, meaning I literally have no frame of reference. I mean, the fact that this movie works on any level for someone who knows next to nothing about Bleach at all almost motivated me to put it into the above categories.

The best thing I can say about the adaptation is that it actually makes me interested in Bleach. Yeah, Ichigo is a fun person to follow and I like his character introduction, I dig the concept of the Hollows and the Shinigami and Soul Society seem interesting from what the movie hints at. While clearly planned as two parts, the movie still holds up on its own by being an otherwise limited but fun urban fantasy experience with clear character arcs, motivations and resolutions. The only thing I didn’t like is the stretched out final climax, though this is a problem I have with a lot of Japanese films, most likely stemming from the Kishotenketsu narrative structure (or not, I don’t know).

I am a Hero

The live action adaptation of I am a Hero is a perfectly passable zombie film, which holds up its premise of the fantasy of an Otaku being able to show his real worth to society in the face of an apocalypse. In fact, one could argue that this theme of the manga holds up pretty well with the restructuring of the story to end where it does. However, despite all this, the movie feels a bit bland and pretty predictable. It skips out on the more adventure/survival aspects of the story and really downplays how much of a nutjob and an unreliable narrator Hideo actually is, which I consider to be the main appeal of the series. The adaptation plays with the idea at the end of the movie, with him going through every possible approach and showing how they all play out or his ramblings about gun safety, but overall it could never really capture my attention like the manga did. At the end, it is a fine movie, if nothing else and can absolutely hold its footing in a genre that is utterly all over the place in terms of quality.

Initial D

Despite having promised a friend to actually watch the anime years ago, my knowledge about Initial D still starts at Kansei Drift and ends at listening to “EUROBEAT MIX for winning at videogames” while programming. Anyway, Initial D is definitely a car movie, I guess. I like the approach of slowly getting introduced into the drift scene and absolutely adore the vibes some of the characters bring to the table. Tokyo Drift wished it could be this movie. However, Initial D is way more than just cars speeding down a curvy hill. It is also a romance… kinda and it also focuses on the relationships with Takumi’s father and friends… and it is… fine? At least it is not bad and these elements nicely complements the racing parts of the story, though I could never get really invested in them. It also doesn’t help that the runtime of the movie could probably be cut down in half, if we forego all the slow-motion shots. Overall, it is a movie one can watch, but I would probably go for the anime adaptation myself, because it has Eurobeat :D.

The questionable Adaptations

Let’s get into some more controversial territory. To be fair, watching these movies in isolation might be your best bet on a good experience. They are all pretty well produced and accessible for a general audience. However, once you know the material they are based on, it is really hard to turn your head around the fact just how weird these adaptations turned out, to the point of questioning whether the ones responsible for the adaptation even understood the original.

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell took a contemplative and philosophic work about the human condition and soul and turned it into generic Hollywood pulp. It foregoes the themes about human evolution for a simple search for identity and somehow still falls flat on its face. I don’t even particularly like the original Ghost in the Shell, as it falls directly in the category of movie that is a lot more exciting to talk about than to actually watch, but seeing it all watered down into a less interesting story does sting in a way.

I also have a bone to pick with the specific version of GitS this movie wants to portray. For the most part, this movie is just really stupid. My personal highlight includes interrogating someone, while they are hooked up to something essentially serving as a noose and enough leg space to off themselves. But what really gets me is how it keeps stumbling over its own core ideas. The movie is about the Major finding an own identity, but her final words make more sense on r/im14andthisisdeep than in the context of the movie. They even initially had me with a completely different topic, that of bodily autonomy. The movie made it clear that the Major always had to consent, if changes were made to her body or her memories were to be accessed, so it was actually quite a powerful scene when it is revealed that her consent was never a requirement. This, like many other things, unfortunately lead nowhere.

Also, I have no problems with Scarlett Johansson being given the role of the Major, but if her backstory is actually just a thinly disguised justification for not casting an Asian actress, then being accused of Whitewashing might actually the preferred outcome.

Over all, the live action Ghost in the Shell adaptation is more shell than ghost, which is really ironic.

Illang: The Wolf Brigade (Jin-Roh)

Illang is essentially two movies. One is a pretty accurate, almost shot for shot, recreation of the original Jin-Roh, bar some changes in setting and political context. The second one is an actually pretty exciting action flick, that has not the slightest idea of what to do with its other half. For what thematic relevancy is concerned, you do not need to look further than the introduction of the titular special unit. Illang has the aesthetic down to a T, but not what it actually means. The same can essentially be said about the references to Little Red Riding Hood and the reversal of the monster and victim assumption.

What it comes down to is a more classical action movie, that still has a political and philosophical core, but one that is several times less interesting and arguably infinitely less impactful. It is almost like someone wanted to use the iconography of the original and remake it to be less tragic and more upbeat. On the other hand, this could be a pretty good movie when otherwise completely removed from Jin-Roh. Actually go in a bit deeper into the conflict of uniting the two Koreas, merge some of the original characters and create new ones to streamline the character dynamics and we are almost halfway there. I otherwise adore the changes, like the raid in the nature museum taking place in the N Seoul Tower, which itself was dressed up as an exhibition on the Berlin Wall.

It is movies like these that really make me question what the purpose of a remake is. It is not like the original Jin-Roh is unwatchable, both in terms of availability or being visually dated and when an adaptation can’t even be bothered to do the minimum amount of justice for the original, I have to wonder why it does exist in the first place and is not just another movie entirely.

The Bad

This section will be quick. In short, these movies simply suck. Regardless of how “good” or “bad” they fare as adaptations, fundamentally, these movies just kinda blow, barely work on their own and are unable to capture the appeal of the original in any way, shape or form.

Dragonball Evolution

Ah yes, the classic™. A movie so horribly broken, it nipped any hope of a decent live action adaptation right in the bud for an entire generation. This movie has exactly two good shots and their impact last around five seconds combined. The rest… well, I don’t even think there is much point in dissecting any of it (not like others didn’t put in the effort for me), because it is simply bad. Not charmingly bad or incompetent, but also not aggressively offensive. Just… it just fucking sucks. Despite only being an hour and a half long and essentially only being trimmed to an hour of actual movie, it moves at a grindingly slow pace, the martial art at display is passable at best and it overall feels like a generic zero to hero X american teenager story sans all the fun and exciting bits. I can’t believe the “Looser gets to beat up his bullies and impresses the girl he likes” section is the best part of the movie.

Someone said this movie is what an out of touch adult producer assumes anime is and I have a hard time disagreeing, because even the most amateurish fan films show more respect for both the filmmaking and original work at display.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Adapting 27 volumes into three movies is certainly ambitious… adapting the first major arc into a movie by switching up half the story and then using the other two movies to somehow wrap up this entire mess is… certainly something. Look, like with Dragonball Evolution, there isn’t really much that needs to be said, except that this one actually kinda somehow follows the original manga, just to be additionally scorned by the fans. Simply watching it as a film is a gruesome experience. It doesn’t look good, the quirks and mannerisms of the characters do not translate onto the big screen and the filmmaking makes my head hurt. There is this one sequence of shots in the final movie in which two characters, over the course of like at least five incomprehensible cuts, move from the middle of a rooftop to the edge and I had to rewind at least three times to even understand what happened. Just stick to the anime with this one.

Tokyo Ghoul

One could argue that the first Tokyo Ghoul movie might not actually be a total disaster. It sure is not good, but maybe passable. However, for me, the live action adaptation falls into the same pitfalls that the manga could barely avoid. These two movies are edgy, like, really “try hard buying into the suffering and agony of it” edgy and while the manga can kind of owns it by having very expressive art and time to let it all sink in, the movie does not. The result is an overall less impactful work that is a slog at best and obnoxious at worst.

The second movie is somehow even worse. It adapts a smaller portion of the source material into a longer movie and boy do you feel it. Especially the final fight at the “end” of the movie (It actually starts close to the middle) just keeps on going and going and not hearing Mamoru Miyano as Tsukiyama sure doesn’t help. The thing is, like Death Note, I actually think a heavily altered version could work as a movie, but there is no point wondering about what ifs.

Violence Action

This movie… this movie is incomprehensible, horribly edited and just not fun, despite, on paper, having the most insane cast of characters imaginable. The End.

The I have still to actually watch, lol

And this is every live action adaptation of anime, manga, light novels or games I could think and have actually seen. There are still some I want to check out: Blade of the Immortal is supposed to be very good, I really want to see how JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure looks in real life and Parasyte could be interesting. There are also the Rurouni Kenshin movies, though there are like five of them and only two are available on Netflix at the moment. Other than that, I think I am fine for a while.

Yuri is My Job!: The performance of Schwestern

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 01:10:00 +0200

Ach ja, summarizing the premise of Yuri is My Job! is actually a bit of an experience, as it is not only quite telling of me as a person, but also not as clear as one might guess, considering what the bulk of the story is actually about. Alas, Yuri is My Job! takes place in a themed cafe in which the employees role-play as students of an all-girls boarding school attending to the patrons of the in-house salon. The presentation of it all will look very familiar with anyone knowledgeable about Class S and its associated tropes in yuri media. Simply taking a peek is all it takes to kind of get it.

As such, I initially read this series as something between parody and a form of meta-work. After all, no matter how close the kohai comes to her dear onee-sama, with the background turning into a field of flowers and all, at the end of the day, the relationships are not real, but solely acted, though this will not stop the audience, both in-universe and as a viewer, from squirming and loudly supporting the pair. Feeling myself be “caught” might be stretching it a bit far, but the irony was certainly not lost on me, considering I am the type of guy that bought the first volume of the manga, because I have to convince myself to not purchase the next new girls love series, instead of the other way around. If I would be less embarrassed and actually understand the appeal of such establishments, I would absolutely be sitting in this cafe.

However, this is only a part, if even, of the series at large. Instead, one has to understand the cafe as a stage, not just for the audience, but explicitly the actors as well, considering the line between performance and reality is constantly blurred, crossed and challenged by the characters. The thing about the main girls working at the cafe is, that they all consider themselves to be broken in some way, specifically in regards to how they want to be perceived by others or keep up appearance and how the resulting misery manifests in the two Schwestern pairs at the end of the first season.

The term Schwester is never really defined in concrete and I actually prefer it to be rather vague, as it allows the pair to define what the specific bond is, that connects the two, but still holds equal weight in the context of the cafe, as keeping up the image on the stage is ironically also a way of expressing oneself without the façade that is normally put up when not wearing the uniform and thus the main drive for character development in this series.

Initially, Hime might come off as a bit of a shallow person, given her self introduction of a dream to marry a rich guy and live life on the easy road, but it doesn’t take long to realize just how compulsory her actions are to keep up the façade of a nice girl. She doesn’t allow herself to act as herself, tells lies and approaches every confrontation as if minimizing any potential damage is a given. Secondly, the only thing she is more afraid of than not keeping up the façade, is other people finding out that it is a façade at all, as being found out in grade school lead to her being ostracized and lonely. This all leads to her first honest show of character when put in an environment where she would not know how to put up her normal façade. When first encountering Yano in the cafe, she was immediately struck with awe at her and when it came time to put on the uniform, she reached out to her by calling Yano “Onee-sama” in front of all the customers, unaware of the entailing implications, as this was simply the impression Hime got from her. Thus, the first Schwerstern pair kind of formed out of necessity.

The relationship between Hime and Yano is weirdly uneven at first. While Hime wants to be liked by Yano and tries her best to become closer to her via advances done at the cafe, Yano initially opposed becoming Schwestern and only reluctantly plays the part and seems to otherwise dislike Hime, who in turn interprets this as her being bad at the job and starts extra leaning into the role of a Schwester, much to the dismay of Yano. It is eventually revealed that Yano knows Hime and that her apparent dislike of Hime is actually uncertainty, as the person who hurt her in the past seemingly doesn’t recognize her and tries her best to be liked by her now. The rift that initially separated these two characters in the past is the same that keeps Hime and Yano apart in the present, with no real way to overcome it. As such, it is instead done via the performance as Schwestern, in which both are ironically able to be honest to another and not put up a façade, as the cafe allows them to take off their masks, unaware that the other does the same.

The inciting incident essentially boils down to a misunderstanding caused by both characters' flaws. In grade school, Hime started spending less time with her usual friend group, as she began practicing the piano with Yano, something she actually enjoys, opposed to keeping up the façade of a nice girl in front of the others. However, as Yano was considered a bit of an outsider, rumors started spreading and people assumed that Yano is bullying Hime and forcing her to spend time with her. To stop the rumors from spreading further, Hime went back to her former group of friends, only for Yano to drop the ball and tell the others that Hime actually doesn’t like them. The fallout resulted in Hime being revealed as a faker and Yano changing schools.

Now, if these two disasters were normal people, this could be resolved rather quickly by simply explaining it all. All Hime needs to do is tell Yano why she acted the way she did and that her lies were never supposed to hurt her, while Yano needs to come out with her exposing Hime in front of her group was not done with the intend to harm her, but rather as a plea to be honest with herself and to stop putting up a façade. However, this is obviously complicated by the fact that Yano can not fully trust Hime, due to her being a compulsive liar, while Hime has all the reason in the world to believe that Yano is genuinely mad at her.

This whole conflict is eventually resolved by providing a parallel to the situation in grade school, only this time it is happening in the context of the cafe. Some customers started suspecting that Hime only became a Schwester to Yano, because she was roped into it by her and while Hime almost defaulted back into her normal behavior and opting out of the role as a Schwester for the sake of Yano, she instead decided to double down on her decision to stay Schwestern and face the problem head on. Hime wants to be Yano’s Schwester, not because it is part of her façade or even to keep up the performance of the cafe, but because she genuinely likes Yano and wants to be close to her, just like she wanted to play piano with her in grade school all those years ago. The cafe and especially the performance as Schwestern allows her to take off the mask and be herself, because the way she wants to be a Schwester is just her honest feelings on the matter. It is through this display of resolve that Hime and Yano finally find common ground again, because the both of them need the interactions in the cafe, as they can’t just “talk about it” off the stage.

This is why, at the end of the first arc with the relationship between the two “reset”, Yano is able to pull off an honest love confession in front of Hime and the entire cafe, because, similarly to Hime, Yano too wants to be Schwestern and feels the same way about Hime. However, unlike Hime, Yano doesn’t really have façade and barely differentiates between herself and the role she plays at the cafe, so those feelings of hers can be channeled directly through her performance as a Schwester, which, while played, are not fake. I am normally not a big fan of a confession being disguised as an act, as it gets the point across, without actually having to commit to the consequences, but it kind of works for me in this case, as the confession will not evaporate into nothingness. Yano will continue to be Hime’s Schwester with this sentiment in mind and it is up to her to make Hime realize these feeling in the same way Hime made hers clear.

However, Hime and Yano are not the only Schwestern pair in this series and their bond is, with the exception of the twists along the way, not that surprising, as most people probably saw that ship sailing when it was still docked at the wharf. On the other hand, Kanoko and Sumika’s bond is primarily not based on any romantic affection to another at all and instead being characterized by a similar relationship to other people, even if the specifics couldn’t be more different.

Kanoko is in love with Hime. One might say “obsessed” is a more accurate assessment, but we don’t have to be so pedantic. In the cafe, she mostly appears in the background and keeps to herself, but does take action when Hime is involved, primarily if she thinks Yano or Sumika are up to something. She is actually rather wary of Sumika, as her scary gyaru appearance outside the cafe plays perfectly into her own discomfort with other people. On the other hand, Sumika gets along with everyone in the cafe just fine, which is actually the part of her complex that brings her closer to Kanoko.

Sumika believes that the cafe only operates as well as it does, due to the shared friendship of the employees and one is inclined to believes this might actually be the case, as seen by Hime and Yano, when things got temporarily awkward between the two of them following the reveal. Additionally, she disapproves of any kind of romance between the members of the staff, as a former case ruined the bond she had with her own Schwester and the two girls later left the cafe. When she finds out that Kanoko harbors feelings for Hime and confronts her about it, we actually get to see how the two have completely different perceptions about romance and how these views eventually bring them closer together.

Sumika projects her own insecurities onto Yano, as she herself was hurt when another person broke her Schwestern bond, something she is afraid of if Kanoko brings romance into the cafe and potentially steals Hime from Yano, which is something she wants to make impossible by being elected as the Blume. What she doesn’t know is that Kanoko actually has no intention to confess her feelings herself and essentially criticizes Sumika for having a very narrow view of romantic feelings, something that is later brought up again by her former Schwester telling her that a romance not working out is simply something one has to accept the possibility of. But what really puts the last nail into the coffin is that Sumika adressess her worries to Kanoko at all, as there is one very more obvious candidate for the warning. Remember the love confession I mentioned earlier? It is very ironic that Kanoko actually read the room, while Sumika, the one with the highest stakes in this matter, did not.

What essentially follows is that the Schwestern bond is build on a kind of co-dependency, as both Kanoko and Sumika can find help and comfort in each other, something that they can not do with the other members of the cafe, as they are actually bigger messes than they lead to believe. The anime basically ends on the two officially becoming Schwestern, so one doesn’t actually see the two much in action, but I doubt there will be any romantic development between the two, as their specific relationship is build on how they relate to the other romances around them.

Generally, one might consider Yuri is My Job! to be rather contrived in its structure, as it feels a bit hard to connect the dramatic beats to the characters directly, despite them being all around fleshed out in their own way, but I am eager to overlook this, in addition to all the other weird parts, as I think this series has a very clear idea of what it wants to portray and it just so happens to fall directly into my interests, which is funny, because I initially dropped the manga after the first volume, because I couldn’t really connect with it… I will have to start reading the manga again now, huh?

Fun fact: I initially thought about writing this post as a video, but considering how much I struggle to actually make a point and succinctly elaborate on it, without just summarizing the whole anime in the process, you just have to believe my ramblings make sense and are not just an excuse for me to talk about another girls love series.

Yuri is My Job! is available on Crunchyroll.

Fate/Grand Order: Flawed, fun and very Fate

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:35:00 +0200

Ach ja, as of the 23th of April 2023, after 216 days, Master Hansi officially gained the rank of “Cause” for beating the final singularity The Grand Temple of Time: Solomon and preventing the Human Order Incineration Incident… which is to say, I finally finished the first part of Fate/Grand Order.

I actually have a lot of thoughts about it, though only some of them will be addressed in this post, because I genuinely don’t know how to approach writing about FGO in general, as it is not just one simple thing. FGO is a Gacha, but also might qualify as an “actual” single-player game, while at the same time being quite a sizeable visual novel on its own. In hindsight, the best play would have been to split this post into two by talking about the game aspects of FGO after playing through the tutorial and another one focusing solely on the story and while I still could do this, I don’t think there is enough for me to talk about the game itself to justify its own post and I doubt there is much value in me going through each singularity in detail, as for the most part, a) there isn’t a lot for me to talk about and b) I wouldn’t bring a new perspective to what anyone else would already tell you, so I will talk about the story in a more abridged and general sense.

Interplay of Story and Gameplay

But before I will talk about either the story or the gameplay, I want to shed some light on the interplay between the story and its gameplay, as not only did my opinion on this matter basically pull a solid 180, but it is also one of the game’s biggest strengths. The easiest way for me to explain it would be that the story leads into the gameplay with the gameplay leading back into the story, creating this organic circle of progression. In this case, the individual sections play out a lot more like classical campaigns, instead of an arcade, with the story and gameplay being technically separable, but functionally building up on each other.

I note this, because this is something I neither expected, nor am familiar with from other Gacha games. In Princess Connect, there is a very clear distinction, if not even a straight up isolation, of what you do while playing the game and what is actually happening in the story. In PriConne, you basically auto through the new areas, unlocking a new story chapter every few stages, until you reach the boss, get some flavor conversation about how the boss will be eventually prepared as food and farm the area until a new area is released in a month and the cycle repeats ad infinitum. In the meantime, you can choose to read the story (or not), as it is in no way connected to your progress gameplay wise. You fight random mob enemies in a location that doesn’t matter for reasons you couldn’t care less, while the story does its own thing elsewhere.

FGO takes a more ludonarrative approach (I probably don’t use this term correctly here) instead, with the story elements reflecting the gameplay and the progression via the gameplay being the direct cause for story progression. Each area/singularity is divided into sections, which essentially function as chapters with each section having its own array of stages and associated battles. The way you progress through the singularities is normally as follows: The singularity starts with a prologue setting the scene, introducing the first major players and generally explaining what is going on. This all eventually leads into the first encounter. The default/normal/most common way to progress here on out is selecting the newly unlocked stage and preparing for battle. What will happen is that the battle (gameplay) is sandwiched between two visual novel segments (story), with each segment building up to the encounter and concluding or playing it out respectively, leading to the interplay I just described. The story leads to the battle, the battle reflects what is happening in the story by including the appropriate allies, enemy servants or monsters or incorporating certain gameplay mechanics and the outcome of the battle leads back into the next segment of the story. This cycle continues, until you played through the entire singularity, which then caps of with an epilogue.

Initially, I wasn’t really a big fan of this. In fact, it is the primary reason why it took me so long to really start playing the game. I primarily wanted to follow the story, so being constantly interrupted by battles created a huge overhead and on the other hand, I couldn’t just beat all the stages en masse, as there is constantly story going on in there. What you can do is skip the story segments, do the battles and read up on it later, but you would still partially “spoiler” yourself, as the battles still reflected the story progress. Also, the story is still build around all the battle encounters, so reading all the story segments back to back would be very jarring, considering there is constant referencing to battles you skip out on, as you have already done them beforehand.

In the beginning, this seemed like a simple lose-lose situation for me. Getting through the story was a pain, as I had to play the game (*insert surprised Pikachu here*), but simply playing through the game while ignoring the story entirely to binge it later also wasn’t really an option, at least not without some of its own problems. What eventually changed my mind was not just the fact, that this is the way it should be experienced, but also the realization, that substituting some elements of a mostly VN-based narrative work better in another medium, or in this case, as gameplay. If there is something I am deeply aware of after writing almost sixty short stories, it is that not every idea can be best conveyed via writing, with fights, for the most time, being pretty high up on that list for me. Add the utter frequency of fights to this sentiment and I eventually turned around and enjoyed the fact that the more actiony and some of the dramatic aspects are done via interactive gameplay, instead of narration, when applicable, and I have to confess that there is some form of positive emotional response to being the reason you, and not the script, won the fight. In fact, the fact you can loose a battle could be considered similar to choosing enough wrong options that lead to a bad/dead end. If I were just a tad more pretentious and would actually understand what it means, I could go full “The medium is the message” on you, but alas.

To be fair, while I eventually warmed up to the way the story and the gameplay are intrinsically linked to another, I am also quick to tell you how it is not always handled that well, especially when the pacing either grinds to a halt or has to go into overdrive. Ironically, the part I consider suffers most of being being this visual novel and game hybrid is the very beginning and de facto tutorial of the game, as it is rather overwhelming. The tutorial has this herculean task of not just introducing you into the world of Grand Order, but also setting up the central conflict of this epic story and teaching the player the mechanics of the gameplay. If there is one thing I will never be able to fault FGO for, it would be a lack of ambition. The unfortunate reality for me is that the tutorial is arguably way too long for a tutorial and you should absolutely have some time scheduled when starting out with the game yourself, because you will be here for a while, before even summoning your first servant. On the other hand, I wish it would have been even longer. Despite having seen the First Order OVA, I still had trouble completely following what happened. Sure, I can tell you all the events that have transpired, but if tasked to actually explain why everything that has happened happened, I would be at a loss… and I continued to be at a loss at times throughout, though it is not as bad as it might sound. Also, it is Fate. Looking up stuff you didn’t understand on the wiki and accidentally spoiling yourself in the process is part of the experience for me at this point.

There are other smaller things, where the interplay is less obvious and more subtle as the general progress of the game, like how the Ascension and Bond level of Mash is directly linked to how far you have come, or being unable to summon specific servants until a later time. Something I just recently noticed is that you can actually find Ibaraki-douji, a servant only noted on the side in the Babylonia singularity, in a secret Free Quest. There is certainly a lot more nuance to the game itself, than what I would have expected from a Gacha.

Story

373,083 words. This game is a chonker and it is not about to become shorter, with the latest Lostbelts far exceeding this. Seriously, the first Grand Order could just be its own stand-alone visual novel. Even ignoring the sheer length, just reading and playing through it all, it doesn’t feel like a mobile game at all, as I can’t imagine myself playing it casually if I have only a little time to spare. This game takes my full attention and I doubt I would enjoy FGO as much as I did, if I had engaged it only snipped by snipped, instead of by larger chunks. The writing team noted how they didn’t know how to write for a mobile game, but I am glad either way how it all turned out.

A funny thing about the entire Fate franchise is how each entry has a seemingly different focus, despite all of them mostly sharing the same elements. In the original Fate/stay night and Zero, the Holy Grail War is mostly the framework for a deeply character-driven story, while Apocrypha arguably focuses more on the actual grail war itself and I have yet to fully wrap my head around what the deal with Fate/Extra is. Fate/Grand Order, in my opinion, instead mostly focuses on the exploration and interaction of the different servants that come and go. This is not to say, that FGO lacks more classical characters, nor that the story itself mostly works as an excuse for the servant’s existence, but that the spotlight is very much on them and I would similarly equate the quality of the story with how well each singularity characterizes and executes on the servants.

Taking a step back and ignoring that this is Fate though, the grander story, surprisingly, is very human. Thematically, a lot of the conflict is fundamentally rooted in human desires, as well as other aspects, such as regret, hope and duty, with the central narrative being quite literally a tale about the value of humanity. This might be best explored in the character of Mash, who kind of starts off as your generic Waifu companion, but over the course of the first Grand Order really grows as a person and gets into a few quite philosophical conversations with some of the servants trying to guide her. There are other characters, like Dr. Roman and Solomon, but I would have to go full spoiler by talking about them.

A character I can and will loose some words on, is Ritsuka Fujimaru, the protagonist and POV character of the game. This character might be the biggest diversion from other Fate protagonists, as they tend to be rather introspective, while Ritsuka is, for the most part, a silent observer that gets dragged along by the happenings around them. This is not to say, that there is nothing to them, as we are regularly prompted to pick an option for a response, but in terms of agency and doing something by themselves, there is unfortunately very little, which arguably only gets worse, if you consider how our choices don’t matter apart from a specific flavor text and this one time, which determent how difficult the following battle was. This is also the reason why I enjoy their (more specifically his) interpretation in the animated adaptations, as they include them more directly in the action and make them speak and emote for themselves more often. However, I actually don’t mind the characterization we do get, as the choices give him a clear character, who is surprisingly not obnoxious at all. Also, the Fate/Grand Order -turas réalta- manga supposedly fleshes them out quite a bit, but this is another case entirely.

I almost went into the game, assuming Ritsuka would be a wet blanket at best and conceited at worst, but no, I generally like them and the way they express themselves in the dialog choices we do get. This gets especially clear when we consider the general nature of the choices, which often gives us the option of expressing ourself relatively serious and how you would be expected to act… and a more funny, tongue-in-cheek or just straight up hilarious option. The fandom differentiates Ritsuka as Gudao (Male version) and Gudako (Female version), with Gudao being the more serious and sane type and Gudako being the embodiment of every FGO player, meaning she is quite possibly clinically insane and the harbinger of chaos. Fate/Grand Carnival only proves my point. This, beyond the fact that the majority of the whales are most likely male, is probably the reason why the anime adaptations of the singularities chose him over his female counterpart, though I am absolutely in favor of a more serious Gudako, if given the chance. Needless to say, you don’t have to ask me twice not only what sprite shows in my bottom left corner, but also what choices I chose, when I felt a little daring. I forgot to screenshot it, but my favorite of such choices was in Camelot, where we had the option, after overhearing a conversation, to either subtly introduce ourself and offer help or to… start shadowboxing and wait for them to notice us. Equally hilarious, as it is random and one of the reason why I consider Ritsuka to have (a) character. Another gem can be found in Orleans:

Last thing I want to talk about, before quickly loosing some thoughts about the singularities themselves, is that FGO is not a good entry point for the franchise, in part due to the fact it kind of assumes at least partial knowledge of Fate lore, like the concepts of Alter and Lily forms and the general deal with masters, servants and magecraft, but mostly because it tends to really skip out on the background for some characters, both major and minor. In the other entries of the Fate franchise, which in my case would be stay night, Zero and Apocrypha, I always had a good feeling and understanding about the history and mythology of the respective servants, at least for what it concerns the story, but when it comes to Extra, I have only seen the Last Encore anime, which is apparently its own can of worms, so I was regularly confused what the deal with some of the servants was.

This only becomes more apparent with some of the servants first introduced in FGO. Bonus points if you are popping up randomly in the story and are gone just as fast, to the point I didn’t even remember they were there in the first place. Considering how big a focus the servants are, some are seriously lacking on the most basic form of existing in a comprehensive way. I still don’t know what the deal with Elizabeth Báthory is and she appears in three singularities, mostly simply being there.

With that being said, lets dive into the individual singularities.

Flame Contaminated City: Fuyuki

The Fuyuki singularity serves as the tutorial and essentially covers the entire groundwork for every other singularity and story in general. Being the shortest singularity, it was relatively bare bones and also mostly filled with… well, tutorial, but despite this, in hindsight, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It basically covers an alternative take on the Holy Grail War from Fate/stay night, while at the same time functioning as the inciting incident of this timeline. Also, Cú Chulainn as Caster? Sign me up! Considering how I played this singularity over 200 days ago, I still remember it being pretty fun, though the fact this singularity was also turned into an OVA certainly helps.

Hundred Years' War of the Evil Dragons: Orleans

I adore this screenshot :D.

Conceptually, I consider Orleans to be one of the most interesting singularities, as far as premise is concerned. I like the idea of an altered Jeanne d’Arc taking revenge on all of France, not just because it feels like a pretty reasonable motif, but also as an easy to understand reason why this singularity exists and how the disruption of this time would further the incineration of humanity. It also helps, that the circumstances surrounding Jeanne d’Arc and Gilles de Rais are already codified in the Fate universe with Apocrypha and Zero respectively, so it was pretty entertaining to follow through on a potential what if.

On the other hand, everything else is kind of a mess on several fronts. It is by far the biggest victim of an incredibly slow progression, as we are constantly interrupted every few meters by wyverns. Seriously, it felt like half the conversation were variations of “Oh no, wyverns are approaching”, before being thrust into yet another battle. There are also way too many servants, especially since there is barely an introduction, nor development for any of them and me being constantly surprised, when they all appeared in Solomon, like “Oh right, they were there”, but for a comical amount of times. The only characters, beyond both Jeannes and Gilles de Rais', are Marie Antoinette and Mozart (Yes, both are servants somehow), as they have at least something going on, even if I didn’t particularly care.

I also can’t shake off the feeling, that this singularity, similarly to Okeanos, is made up of remnants from the development of Fate/Apocrypha, considering how Apocrypha was originally intended to be an MMO game and both the writer for the light novels and this singularity being Yuuichirou Higashide, with existing and scrapped characters from Apocrypha appearing here.

Eternal Madness Empire: Septem

Septem sucks and everybody else thinks so too. Honestly, I can’t even give you a summary, as it was so forgettable and practically pointless. I can’t even comment on the “Nero circlejerk”, as I simply do not remember. It was a lot of running around for nothing, without seemingly any goal and a finale that came out of nowhere and just… ended. What did we prevent? Who knows. Did it make sense in the first place? Probably not. There sure were characters, but I can’t say anything about them. I literally watched a summary yesterday and I don’t know what to say. It is also the singularity with the most connections to Fate/Extra, which further alienated me.

Sealed Ends of the Four Seas: Okeanos

Okeanos might be the first singularity that I could enjoy as a whole and not just as individual parts. It has a solid throughline, every time we sidestep the main plot and go on a tangent, I feel like there was a point behind it and all the different parts come together in a rather satisfying way. It is also the first time I enjoyed the interaction between the majority of the servants with Francis Drake being the biggest highlight. A generally fun and upbeat character, who supports Mash in finding her dream, whatever it will be, but is also capable of standing up for her own, kick some ass and hold her own against both Blackbeard and Jason.

I also liked the interplay of different myths and stories, even if I either didn’t fully knew or understood them at the time. We have two plus two classical pirate figures, monsters in the form of the Minotaur and Euryale, who have a very cute relationship and a lot of classic greek mythological figures like Artemis and Orion, Atalante and the Argonauts. Again, I wish the story behind it all would have been explained a bit better, but their interaction were great either way and seeing how it all build up to a satisfying end furthers the overall narrative and makes it all the more better.

The Mist City: London

Surprisingly, London is the only singularity I disagree with the player consensus, as I quite enjoyed the whole romp, if only because Mordred is one of the most enjoyable characters in Fate and she constantly accompanies us along the journey. This singularity also tries to present itself as a sort of mystery, which gives this one an interesting vibe, though I would have to agree that the narrative, similar to Septem, kind of runs in circles, though this time, we actually get something in the end with our first glimpse into the Order’s antagonist, if nothing more. Similarly to Septem, this singularity fails at capturing me with its servants, especially with the enemy servants, while our allies were at least passible in the most part. London also has the worst case of randomly introducing a few random servants by the end, not doing anything with them and then discarding them all, like it was nothing… what?

Honestly, London could have been so much better by fully committing to its mystery and foreshadowing and also fleshing out the characters, so they don’t return to obscurity immediately afterwards. This singularity could have been a good turning point for the gameto become more serious, raise the stakes and really get the overall story starting.

North American Myth War: E Pluribus Unum

For as much as I prefer Okeanos, I feel like America is the first singularity, that can truly stand on its own two feet. It finally starts expanding the scope of its story, introduces several factions, instead of just more characters and actually delivers on the journey and discovery aspect that was always hinted at, with the singularity maps stretching over a pretty wide area. Also, Berserker Nightingale is hilarious and I would gladly let her save my life, even if it would kill me.

This is also the the point where the different servants have a lot more meaningful interactions between each other and explore their respective relationship and, in the progress, also their original mythology. Seeing Medb summoning a version of Cú Chulainn, who can finally serve as her king, along other Irish heroes, makes for a similarly interesting premise, as Orleans. This is further extended by the introduction of Scáthach, the rivalry of Karna and Arjuna and a reemergence of Tesla from the previous singularity. There is also a good improvement for servants, that get less screen time or are overall less important, but can still present themselves in a good light. The only problem I have, is the almost comically and random inclusion of Li Shuwen, who is just there, like… sure, let him fight Scáthach on principle, but also… why? Otherwise, I consider the “servant problem”, that plagued the last few singularities, mostly fixed.

It also introduces some more interesting questions about the specific nature of the changes that the singularities cause. I mean, in this singularity, America is being overrun by celtic warriors, while they are opposed by the Presi-King Thomas Edison and their mechanical army, while a couple of outlaws like Billy the Kid, Robin Hood and, interestingly enough, Geronimo are caught up in the middle of this whole mess. Sure, we have to resolve the singularity and restore history, but it is not without taking a few potshots at a potentially different development of the United States and what each character thinks about the circumstances.

Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot

Kinoko Nasu, the man, the myth, the legend. After the prologue, he is back at it again, delivering the first real banger of the game. No seriously, many consider Camelot where FGO gets finally “good” and while I am seldom fond of such rhetoric, I can’t deny the massive difference in quality pre and post Camelot. While America works as a stand-alone story in the FGO context, Camelot really takes full potential of the freedom the setup provides and gifts us a cohesive epic that is full with fleshed out characters, high stakes and a unique atmosphere, that makes for a really engaging read. This might just be my confirmation bias speaking, but I still think Nasu has the best grip on Fate overall and is able to bring it not just into constantly new directions, but also deliver a quality, which caught our interest in the first place.

Camelot not just addresses all my smaller and bigger problems I had with the previous singularity, but it also feels like a return to form. It is simply good. As already mentioned, I do not intend to go into detail on what my opinion on each singularity is, but I appreciate what this singularity does for our main cast, especially Mash.

Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia

Kinoko Nasu, the man, the myth, the legend. He has done it again. Similarly to Camelot, Babylonia just executes so well on its ideas and simply provides a fantastic story. Interestingly, the Babylonia singularity introduces “No Battle” stages, which, as the name implies, does not feature a battle at all, which was greatly appreciated, as not every story chapter needed a battle and it greatly improves the pacing of it all, given how long this singularity is. Ironically, Babylonia was probably one of the faster singularities, or at least the singularity it took me the least days to complete.

In general, I also think this singularity has the best presentation as far as the visual novel elements are concerned. The battles are also a lot more varied, introducing different win conditions and enemy behavior. There is one specific encounter near the end of the singularity, which is such a strong display of how the battles are a part of the story.

I can also recommend the anime adaptation of this singularity. I have seen it before playing the game and after going through it, I can say the adaption was pretty well done and absolutely delivers on the animation front.

The Grand Temple of Time: Solomon

Lastly, we have Solomon, which acts as both the finale and conclusion to the first Grand Order. This singularity can be divided into the “actual story” and “The Boss Rush”.

The Boss Rush is mostly a mixed bag for me. It is essentially one giant “Avengers assemble” moment, including every single servant we have come across all seven singularities. Actually, there is one more stage, including what I assume where all the event characters, which left me massively confused, as I obviously haven’t played them, especially as Dantès is apparently kind of important. As you might assume, I enjoyed these stages about as well as I enjoyed the respective singularity’s servants, which is to say… it was mostly miss than hit for me. Gilgamesh’s confrontation with Goetia was absolutely peak though. Truly the king of heroes.

Considering the actual story, I really enjoyed it. It brought everything together, that was set up over the course of the story, Mash and Dr. Roman conclude their character arc in a satisfying way and even our POV character Ritsuka is able to shine. I like how the antagonist is essentially the antithesis to what was constantly established thematically over the course of it all, even if it makes their actions appear relatively generic, if well executed.

Gameplay

So, after around 4800 words, let’s finally talk about the gameplay and as mentioned, I think it has some real meat to it. The battles are build on a turn-based system. You prepare a team, consisting of five of your servants and an additional support unit, with the first three standing in the front, while the latter replace a defeated servant. The enemy line-up varies from one to three waves, consisting normally from one to three enemy units, but this number can technically go much higher. Your three current servants each have an array of five servant specific command cards forming a deck, from which five cards are randomly drawn each turn. You then select three command cards, which will determine your attack. There are three kinds of cards: Quick cards are the weakest, but earn additional C-Stars, which will be randomly applied next turn to you cards and increase your chance for a critical hit, Art cards increase your servant’s NP gauge, with which they will be able to unleash their Noble Phantasm (aka. the servant specific “Special Attack”) and lastly, Buster cards deal the most damage, but gain neither additional C-Stars, nor increase the NP gauge.

While this is already leagues above the gameplay I have seen in Princess Connect and the KonoSuba Gacha, there is actually a lot more to it. While the different Noble Phantasm are a beast of their own, there are the different class advantages, skills, effects, Craft Essences, Mystic Codes, Command Spells and synergies. Also, there are specific mechanics like overkill, overcharge and card chains to consider too. This might seem pretty overwhelming, if you are just starting out and to be fair, it is. However, as you are just beginning, your options are also limited, so you progressively learn all these mechanics while you are playing and gaining more access to other servants and resources. I also can’t overstate enough how well the user interface works for playing on a phone, so you are always inclined to actually use all these mechanics, as they are only one or two taps away.

Outside the battle, there is some customization you can do, but you are mostly just enhancing your servants. Leveling up is actually really easy, especially as the level-up resource can be grinded en masse in the daily quests. Ascension might need some dedicated grinding, as there are like three million different ascension materials, so you have do that more thoughtfully. There is also the caveat of having a rather limited amount of inventory space, but this never really hindered me beyond the fact that I have to constantly sell my stuff.

Difficulty wise, the game is a bit all over the place. The first singularities are pretty easy and the only times I needed another try were at boss fights. Some singularities were also rather poor in terms of what support servants are available with America being the worst offender. A few times, I actually had to use all my Command Spells to revive all the servants, which also has the effect of filling everyone’s NP gauge, essentially ensuring a victory at this point. To be fair, you are practically limited in its use, as it takes three days for the Command Spells to regenerate, but at least you can always beat a stage with this. Starting with the sixth singularity though, the difficulty skyrocketed and I actually started loosing normal battles and relying on command seals for stronger enemies (Thank god I received several exemplars of an item around the same time, that has the same effect). This was also the time I forsake using the support servants given by the singularity and almost exclusively chose the ones provided by friends and the other masters I follow. Shoutout to Haru for his stupidly powerful Napoleon, as it carried me through most difficult battles. “Befriend the Whales”, they said and I am glad I listened. While I don’t think it was ever too hard and I like the implication that the final boss fight is basically designed around using your Command Seals, I also found myself at times in a position, where I was frustrated, that I couldn’t continue the story, as I struggled with a specific stage.

Another thing I noticed, is how I almost completed the entirety of the first Grand Order with the same team: OG Berserker, Archer, Lancer and Saber Diahmud and Alter Atalanta, which I later replaced by Mysterious Idol X I received from the current event. It is not like a higher star rating automatically makes a servant better or a low one worse, but… high star servants are mostly better for what I am concerned. However, as I will explain later, the only 4-star servants I own are OG Berserker and Archer from the tutorial, Saber Diahmud, Alter Atalanta, Frankenstein, Parvati, Aśvatthāman, Martha and Mysterious Idol X. I also have no 5-star servant. OG Berserker and Archer are great servants, which is why I am hesitant to use Frankenstein, Atalanta and Aśvatthāman, as they share the same class. I don’t use Parvati for similar reason, as OG Lancer is quite good, despite being only a 3-star. Martha seems not that good of a servant, so what is left is Saber Diahmud and a free spot, which was originally occupied by Atalanta, as I assumed another Berserker can’t hurt, but later changed to Mysterious Idol X, as Atalanta had the tendency to die in a single turn and deal barely any damage.

To be fair, I was also pretty lazy and uninterested in testing out different servants, so I honestly just didn’t bother creating different teams for different enemy classes, despite being able to save ten team layouts, but considering how my team generally worked and saved a lot of time skipping on team composition, I am not sure if I should even complain.

Gacha & Miscellaneous Thoughts

*In the intonation of Gotchaman ~ In the name of Love* G-G-G-Gacha Heeeeell… I would like to proclaim, if I would have actually pulled for anything, beyond using the accumulated free tickets I wasted on whatever banner was currently out at the moment, which I could have saved up, but also why not spend them? Here is the thing about the Gacha in FGO: It is brutal. There are a lot servants you can summon and the rates are kind of horrible, especially if you come from Princess Connect. 1% for a 5-star, 3% for a 4-star and 40% for a 3-star servant. The other percentages are left for Craft Essences. If you are attempting your luck in the Limited Summoning Campaigns, the probabilities stay the same, though it is more likely to pull the respective servants of the campaign.

So, how much does it cost you to pull? One singular pull costs three Saint Quartz and a 10-pull logically follows with 30 Saint Quartz, though you gain a free pull after every tenth pull, making it effectively an 11-pull. Also, if you are pulling for a rate-up servant, there is a pity system in place, which will guarantee you the SSR servant once, meaning you will get your golden png after rolling 330 times and spending 900 Saint Quartz.

Now, to put this all into perspective: After playing the game for around 220 days and finishing the first Grand Order, I am in the possession of 1255 Saint Quartz, plus an additional 852 Fragments I can convert into 121 Saint Quartz respectively, making for a grand total of 1376 Saint Quartz. In short, I am guaranteed to pity once. In total, I have 458 pulls available, which would, on average (A concept I neither support, nor believe in), get me four 5-star and 13 4-star servants. Yeah, not sure if I will ever actually pull the Gacha, unless there is a specific servant I want… and you can bet your ass I will pull for Astolfo eventually :D.

Another thing is how stupidly expensive FGO can be. In Germany, a single Saint Quartz costs 1,19€, while you can get 167 Saint Quartz (86 SQ + 81 Bonus SQ) for 94,99€. In other words, if my disposable income would actually allow it and I really want a specific rate-up servant, I would need to be prepared to spend a meager 520€. I guess I have to pour one out for all the whales, who single-handedly keep this franchise running. I am always surprised how steep the entry into a Gacha can be, especially with how little you actually get for your money. It also makes me laugh, considering I have over 285K Jewels in PriConne, which will end its service for the global server at the end of the month, making them lose all their value. At the end of the day, it is only one step away from the Crypto-NFT hellscape that is modern late-stage capitalism, but at least our pngs look good.

So, is Fate/Grand Order worth it? I would never recommend a Gacha like PriConne to anyone, because if they would be the type to consider playing a Gacha in the first place, I doubt there is much a point in speaking in favor for it, beyond the fact that there are many other Gacha out there. On the other hand, if you are interested in Fate, there is a good argument to be made to consider playing FGO, as it is relatively accessible and gives you an insight into the breadth of what Fate is now… In this case, recommending FGO becomes less a question of practicality and more of a moral choice, but this is beyond the point.

However, as already mentioned, I also don’t think FGO is a good entry point for Fate. In other words, FGO is kind of designed for a rather specific group of people, who have already gone off the deep end and FGO is the logical next step. Personally speaking, I had a lot of fun with it and look forward to see what the next chapter, Epic of Remnant, has to offer.

Fate/Grand Order is available for Android and iOS.

The Collector is a bad character and I hate them

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 13:30:00 +0200

Ach ja, The Owl House is great. It fantastically combines the episodic and moral-driven structure of a “normal” children’s cartoon with a more epic large-scale story and characters, while also ruling on almost all fronts in general. It was, however, also unfortunately cut short by The Mouse™ and not only had to skip on a good chunk of its planned story, but also wrap itself up in record time. The result is honestly fine and the epilogue in the last episode is very cute and serves as a satisfying endpoint for it all, but I wouldn’t be me, if I weren’t to brutally talk smack about a single aspect that rubbed me the wrong way. Alas, to the further annoyance of the person watching it alongside me, let’s talk about The Collector.

The general concept of The Collector’s character is rather simple: A several hundred year old celestial and incredibly powerful being that is also simultaneously just an obnoxious child wanting to play. This might just be my general trope knowledge talking, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see what ground this character is supposed to treat over the course of the story. Essentially being a small child, all they want to do is to play and given their immense power, there initially isn’t any way to stop them from doing so. The logical next step is that, combined with the fact, that they are both emotionally a child and more powerful than all the other characters, it makes it hard for The Collector to actually relate to the other characters in the series, thus establishing drama and a potential flaw to overcome in a character arc.

So far so nothing wrong. This setup for a character archetype is not inherently bad and as already said, the direction for said character basically writes itself by how safe the process of “hitting them with the friendship bonk” is. There is, of course, the “Realizing your own faults”-approach, but this predisposes some amount of self-awareness, a quality these types of characters typically tend to lack. However while such a character can be build and developed just like any other character, I am mostly not a fan of such an archetype, as they mostly tick all the boxes of characteristics I find exhausting with no good qualities to balance the scales and fall back as a plot device first and a character second. It also doesn’t help, that being unable to relate to the characters in-universe very easily extends to being unrelatable to the characters outside of the screen, aka. the audience (of which I am the most important member, obviously).

Now, The Collector comes with a lot more baggage than just what defines their archetype. Being the only collector left and stuck in another dimension for several years, they are justifiably lonely and being just recently betrayed by Belos, whom they considered a friend, The Collector suffers some good ol' abandonment issues and handles them about as good as one might expect. Another aspect is their indifferent alignment. Sure, they trusted Belos, but only worked for him under a false assumption. Similarly, they don’t quite belong to the rest of the collectors and speaking for them self, there also isn’t much going on in terms of an agenda. They are not a bad person per se, in fact, I think the series makes it pretty clear, that we are supposed to, if not empathize with the Collector, at least pity them, as they are fundamentally just another victim. At the very least, The Collector isn’t your garden variety of “crazy evil”. They don’t lick the blood of their knife while laughing maniacally or showing any signs of sadism and malignant intent. At best, they are misunderstood and genuinely “just want to play” in a way, that just so happens to bring problems for everyone else.

Here is, in my honest opinion, the thing, though: Problems arise, if the execution kind of sucks. Big problems arise, if the execution not only sucks, but I also still wouldn’t be a fan, even if it were actually handled well. It is not that I just dislike The Collector as its own character, but more so the role they occupy in the series overall. The Collector is introduced as this big twist at the end of the second season, that severely influences the course of the rest of series and they honestly shouldn’t have been. Characters like The Collector take time. You can’t just pull a “I learned the errors of my way” and make them fully change in such a short amount time, without loosing any potential impact the actual journey would have provided, especially if their arc revolves around such a fundamental aspect of their character as their disability to connect to and trust others and then doubling down by also making them a secondary antagonist turned ally last minute.

I have almost no doubts that this was a direct result of the amount of episodes being cut down, but The Collector should have been more akin to a reoccurring character, clashing with Luz and the others on several smaller occasions, each time rediscovering a part of themselves and slowly coming to their own conclusion and realization of what differentiates his possessiveness in contrast to Luz’s genuine friendship with Eda and King, which would also feel a lot more like a natural development towards their redemption, than them going back to space for a few years and doing some soul searching. Instead, we are unfortunately stuck with a rather long and direct confrontation of the two parties, in which Luz and the gang have to endure The Collector’s tantrum, while also acting as armchair psychologists on the side, while also also uncomfortably navigating around them, as there is still another (the actual) plot and their own character arcs to resolve.

I am also forced to ask what The Collector actually contributes. If there is one actively bad scene in The Owl House, it would be shortly after The Collector joined the gang in the fight against Belos. The Collector perfectly displays that they have not actually understood the lesson Luz tried to teach them just minutes ago by asking Belos to be friends, leading Luz to succumb to the goo… for what? To further hammer home the point, that they are not just toys to be simply repaired when broken? The series itself is very self-aware that The Collector’s action was kinda cringe, so why include it, if it is essentially redundant for anyone, except The Collector?

Another question I have to ask is what the point of The Collector is in general. Sure, the idea of the collectors is pretty nifty, but what does The Collector specifically bring to the table? The obvious answer is for them to be a parallel to King, with them both being left alone, abandoned and the only one of their kind. It could have been used to show how even seemingly evil villains fundamentally suffer from the same problems as our protagonists deep down and that there is a fine line between between becoming good and bad, mainly in the way they are treated. It is just that this whole ordeal falls fairly flat, if there are barely any scenes showing this connection between the two characters.

It also doesn’t help, that this parallel feels a bit redundant. While not at all a clear 1-to-1 mapping, Hunter essentially fulfills similar ideas, even if they are more applicable to Luz and the other witches specifically, and less towards King. Hunter eventually redeems himself over the stretch of an entire season, fighting against the influences of Belos and own inner angst and finds his place in the world next to everyone else. This eventually also applies to The Collector, but sans the whole nuance to make it their own. This is especially egregious, as The Owl House otherwise has a very good grasp of understanding its characters problems and flaws and that solving them is not as simple as ending an episode on a good note or hoping it all goes well going forwards. Standing alongside Amity, Hunter or Lilith, I can’t help but feel that The Collector is the odd one out in terms of character writing.

This all culminates in the end of the third season with The Collector occupying the biggest chunk of the run time with stuff that either benefits other characters' development or is simply there for the plot to roll out, with only a few scenes building their own character. Their role as a secondary antagonist also greatly diminishes the involvement of Belos, the actual antagonist and big bad of the series, who is now reduced to a character in the background, which is in stark contrast to the last episodes he played a role in. Needless to say, I blame The Collector for the lackluster final confrontation of Belos, regardless how metal his death is.

In the end, I simply fail to see the appeal of The Collector as a character. I appreciate the series' take of making them redeemable, a characteristic that fundamentally differentiate them from Belos, but I simply do not think they are deserving of being redeemed. Like, at all. Every second The Collector is on screen, I was just filled with exhaustion, as we now have to deal wit their shenanigans again, when we could spend our time on literally anything else. I envy anyone that actually got something out of their involvement in the series. Genuinely, all power to you.

This post was sponsored by not knowing how to conjugate “to be” when referring to a singular character that I normally refer to by “them”, but also in third form singular without the appropriate pronoun. The Collector is, but they are, or are The Collector?

The Owl House is available on Disney+.

Girls Love Manga Recommendations: Part 2

Sun, 09 Apr 2023 15:20:00 +0200

Ach ja, this is the long-awaited[citation needed] sequel to the first part about girls love manga recommendations. For now, this will also be the last one, though I guess there is a rather high possibility of recommendations for girls love light novels in the future. I’ll spare you the preamble this time, so let’s jump right into it.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow

To be honest, the only reason I didn’t just straight up put this series into the top spot of the first post is simply due to me not wanting to finish reading it. It has been over 3 years since I bought the first volume and I simply stopped reading after volume 3, because I figured I need it all back-to-back for full emotional impact. And… I was right.

If there is one thing A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow exceeds in, it is the portrayal of loneliness and the sense of needing someone in your life. Konatsu and Koyuki are both lonely in their own way and learn over the course of the manga to not only understand and accept their loneliness, but also what part of the other person plays in their life. Honestly, seeing them interact together was, even if at time a bit frustrating, always cathartic in a way that is hard to explain, but might actually come very close to the initial definition of well… catharsis. The two girls genuinely try to understand each other, but are always held back by their own weaknesses and seeing them slowly overcome their inner struggles with a certain relatability to it all makes for an emotional through line. Also, bonus points for the two not being totally oblivious and attempting to talk to each other about their feelings.

As mentioned, it can be a frustrating at times and I don’t seem to be the only one more fond of the less dramatic first half, but it somehow always sticked the landing for me. A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow might not even be girls love in the same way all the other entries are, as it portrays a genuine platonical friendship, but it is still one of the most enjoyable manga I had the pleasure of reading, so make of it what you want.

Goodbye, My Rose Garden

Goodbye, My Rose Garden hits this specific sweet spot of “A forbidden relationship between two women” by setting it in and commenting on the social climate of victorian england. It also seamlessly weaves the excellent drama of their relationship into the characterization of both Alice and Hanako, which makes it work on more layers than either a, for the most part, tragic romance or a strict political mouthpiece. It also fully embraces the aesthetic of the noble young woman and her maid, which, depending on the person, is just peak. In this light, it kind of bears, even if only superficially, some similarities to Portrait de la jeune fille en feu, which is also really good and scratches the same itch.

In general, the story has a lot of nuance to it, from the way Alice has to struggle between choosing her own freedom and independence, while simultaneously keeping up her family name to Hanako finding footing in a new country and becoming a writer. Even the “antagonist” surprised by not actually being homophobic, though he makes it up with a good amount of sexism. If there is on thing bothering me, it would be the relatively rushed ending, as it tries to quickly wrap up all the threads it so carefully introduced over its three volume run, essentially losing some of its potential impact. But beyond this, I had trouble finding the right words for this manga, as it is just generally very good and I imagine especially so if you are jaded of you classical highschool romance and in search for a different setting and thematic core than young (first) love.

Days of Love at Seagull Villa

Okay, so I may or may not have a bone to pick with the author Naoko Kodama. Her stories tend be kind of formulaic and not that well written, which is why I keep buying her manga, as the law of probability commands that one of them has to turn out good eventually, right? All jokes aside, Days of Love at Seagull Villa finally finds a comfortable middle ground between the exhausting introspection of oneself and the slow appreciation of the people close around you, by giving the main character a lot more time to breathe inbetween events. It also helps that there is not just a single focus on her eventual love, but also the connections to several other people, as well as the idea the Seagull Villa represents and the concept of family.

It arguably still suffers from Kodama’s other works shortcomings, like the initial lack of agency from the main character, mostly outside influences driving the plot and the introduction of a “disruptive element” in the latter half, but it is still successful in finally making me care about the story in its entirety, which is why I can finally recommend a work of her. Maybe I will some day be strong enough to read her NTR manga.

Whisper Me a Love Song

I was always under the impression, that Whisper Me a Love Song was kind of talked about in the same way that Bloom Into You is and just looking at the cover, I figured I would most likely enjoy it, which is why I was kind of disappointed in the beginning of the manga. The characters fell a bit flat at first and the story seemed a bit without direction, but later caught itself, once it dives into its exploration of what it even means to love someone and a look into different kinds of affection.

Starting with volume 3, it really picks up on its character drama, though considering how slow, or rather not dense (Even I only need a bit more than an hour to read a volume) the manga is in general, it still has to fully captivate me yet, even with the arguably huge amount of patience I give this series. But even if the writing still has room for improvements, the basic building blocks are already layed out and the character art is very cute and detailed, so I am not averse to keep giving it a chance. There is also an anime adaptation planned for 2024, so we will see how this will turn out.

Mizuno and Chayama

We will now go into the more laid-back and less dramatic (in terms of romance) series. Mizuno and Chayama presents a Romeo and Juliet-esque situation with the titular characters being pressured by various societal factors to keep their relationship a secret. But beyond all else, it is mostly a story about anger and bottled up feeling. Mizuno feels completely robbed of any opportunities for herself, being stuck in a small town somewhere in nowhere and her father being the next major, while Chayama’s life was apparently already set on its tracks by her parents. The both of them can only find happiness in each others presence, which makes their effort to stay together, despite their world trying to separate them at every turn, quite engaging to read, even if the actual romance may come short for some people. Also, shout out to Aikawa for being an absolute mess of a character and unfortunately getting the short end of the stick in an already fast-paced ending.

The Evening and the Sea

Staring blankly in front of my screen, I find it hard to talk about this series, because despite being three volumes long, simply telling what little happens in them doesn’t really capture what The Evening and the Sea is about. There is this intertwined metaphor of a fish in the ocean and the vampire princess atop her lonely castle going on from each character’s perspective. Both are unable to really approach and understand another, despite most of the time being barely a few meters apart and the only thing stopping them is wondering what kind of relationship they even want from another. Trying to overcome this hesitation and finally reaching out to another can be said to be the actual meat of the story. I suppose it speaks for this manga’s strong character writing that it never feels repetitive, despite it mostly lingering on a similar point on end, even if its entirety could have been trimmed down to a single volume.

I thought about not even including this entry to begin with, as I wouldn’t recommend this series if you are looking for a sense of “normal” romantic progress. The Evening and the Sea (and maybe Mizuno and Chayama by extend) certainly has a different air to it, even for my sensibilities, though it is also not to be interpreted as making it onto the list due to a technicality. As explained in part one, girls love can take many forms, even those different from the ones I initially wanted to promote with my posts :D.

Honorable Mentions

Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl, by all means, doesn’t treat any new ground, but succeeds in what it tries to present: An equally convoluted as sweet little romance about a girl mistaking another girl as a boy and the both of them slowly opening up to each other by spending more and more time together and valuing the others company. Beyond its comedic moments, it unfortunately could never grab me with its romance, but it was still a nice little read.

My opinion on Vampeerz is kind of hard to pinpoint and the reason why I didn’t mention it in the first part was simply for me not knowing whether I will continue to read it or not. For what it is worth, it is a good manga with an interesting couple dynamic, fun characters, nice art and even a kind of overarching plot. However, I always found it hard to actually commit to another volume (and not just due to the price tag). Sure, actually reading it was fun, but I never felt the need to continue beyond what is already in my hands. Honestly, this manga more likely deserves a recommendation than some of the other entries here, so if you want a girls love story including a bit more meat and less fluff, go for it.

And this is it for now. Again, unless there will be a plethora of (good) new releases in the near future, I doubt there will be another part, at least not without a long break inbetween, but depending on my reading habits, you can expect a recommendation post for girls love light novels in the future. Until next time.

Gimmick Isekai can be good: Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 13:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, I can’t be the only one thinking about how a certain type of Isekai kind of keeps cannibalizing itself to the point of parody. I remember how “Reborn as a Vending Machine” was used as the pinnacle of joke about how stupid some of the deviations of the classic Isekai tale are (as well as light novel titles in general), but it is receiving an anime adaptation, so who is laughing now? It also doesn’t help that the majority of these kinds of Isekai tend to be rather lazy with their premise. In Another World With My Smartphone somehow breached containment and made people outside the classic anime circles aware of this trope, by just how simple to digest this idea is. Seriously, having the “Smartphone Isekai” randomly pop up where I least expect it, followed by how stupid it sounds, will never not be an out of body experience.

While I am definitely not an expert on the subject of Isekai, given how few I actually watch, I like to think of Isekai in three different “types”. I first thought about calling these “waves”, but considering how they are not really separated by time, I think “types” might be a bit more appropriate. I basically differentiate the many Isekai by how and in what way they are using their premise.

Type A would be the use of your other world as a normal story vehicle. It is not solely defined by being an Isekai, but using the fact that it is one as part of the narrative. Imagine your Mushoku Tensei, Overlord, Re:Zero and while its label as an Isekai is up for discussion, Sword Art Online would also fit the bill.
Type B Isekai exist more in reference to other Isekai, the works that inspired them or general fantasy. They play off, at least in part, some of the elements of the Type A Isekai, may it be in a satirical or subversive sense. KonoSuba and Shield Hero are the first ones that come to my mind, but I would also sort So I’m a Spider and “Otome game Villainess” anime like My Next Life as a Villainess into it.
Type C just are Isekai with their premise primarily revolving around the fact of them being an Isekai. With these, it feels like the Isekai part came first with any semblance of plot and original ideas coming in second place. These stories are often a lot more playful with the Isekai premise, often twisting it fittingly in a way that goes along to their thing. If it is named similar to [Activity or Concept] in Another World, there is a good chance it will fall into this type.

In conclusion, Type A plays the Isekai idea straight, Type B plays its ideas under the assumption of the reader’s at least partial knowledge and assumptions of such stories and Type C is kind of an Isekai for the sake of it. The lines between these three types can be pretty blurry, but I guess you could put most Isekai somewhere in here. I also don’t want to imply any type being inherently better than another. I can name you good and bad anime in all three categories. However, I am probably not the only one being a lot more critical about a certain specific type.

My problem with Type C Isekai is that a lot of them tend to be incredibly gimmicky, as there are only so many ways of doing the classic fantasy journey without being either repetitive or a functional clone of another work. This leads to a lot of Isekai casting an incredibly wide, but at the same time also weirdly specific net of ideas and potentially building on something that might not lend itself to that interesting of a story in the long run. Incidentally, I had a very short discussion on this exact topic with a friend when this concept came up. There is a reason why I have kind of stopped gauging my interest in new anime based on premises and synopses alone, as they mostly matter not beyond their initial episodes. Novelty can only get you as far as you are able to keep introducing new interesting concepts. From there on, you have to deliver on execution alone and good writing tends to be a rarity in this genre, unfortunately.

Hansi, you are already over 700 words into the post, get to the point!

Well, turns out these gimmick Isekai are a lot more bearable as comedies. Introducing Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, a fun Slice of Life-eqsue Isekai about a girl gaining the ability to teleport freely between two worlds and is now using this power to get rich and outsmart the NTA in the process. A good chunk of the entertainment comes from seeing Mitsuha navigate the different situations she winds herself up in and abusing her ability in the most amusing way possible. What started relatively calm with using her brother’s slingshot and a kitchen knife to fend of a wolf, eventually escalated in her social engineering her way into nobility and commanding a modern mercenary group against you typical fantasy monsters.

How much you enjoy her shenanigans, will greatly depend on you, but I would argue the anime itself has a lot of fun and tries to get the most mileage out of the premise. It also deliberately doesn’t take itself to serious. As someone in the comments said: If you really want to get rich quick, you would go to a port town and sell all the spices you can get you hands on from your local Konbini, instead of playing store and getting invested in your customer’s affairs.

However, it is the last part that makes it go down all smoothly for me. The scene that decisively sold me on the series (more than it already had) is in episode three: Tricking a noble family into accommodating her for a few days, she actually starts getting a long with them and when making up a fake background story for her circumstances, she opens up and accidentally trauma dumps her way into their heart. You can basically spot the change in the mothers eyes going from sympathy and interest to pity and “you are basically our daughter now”. Funny misunderstandings and solutions are fine and dandy, but the heart put into those situations makes them have genuine and lasting impact.

You can see this the best with Mitsuha spending most of the time helping the people around her, instead of acting in the self-interest of maximizing profit. She almost exclusively sells convenience products, that would make normal life in a medieval society easier for the average citizen. For her first customers, she prepared a three-course meal and personally gave a hand-on demonstration of shampoo and washed their hair. For the debutant of a soon-to-be noble girl, she straight-up closed shop, organized the whole party and even taught the whole kitchen staff how to cock different kinds of foods to make it the best debutant there is. When randomly encountering the staple of every Isekai, a party of adventurers, she asked if she could accompany them to see what they would need. And lastly, when the kingdom was about to be invaded by monsters and enemy forces, instead of ditching the place and setting up camp somewhere else, she brought over a private army and defended it, as if it were her duty, despite nothing to gain and maybe even going into the red, because she has found a new home in this world and its people.

I may sometimes come of as the kind of guy, whose focus of interest tends to lie in the less spectacular and more detached parts of the premise, instead of of what makes a series unique, but with these kinds of Isekai specifically, I think this is what they should fundamentally be judged on in the long run. Again, just try to imagine how long you are invested in the premise and for what you actually keep returning. Coming back to the mini-discussion with a friend, he has noted that most crime dramas tend to lose focus on their specific “thing” and begin to spend more and more time on the cast’s characters and relationships. And while I can totally understand this feeling of disappointment in not getting something you were initially invested in, I would also ask into question how good something truly is, if your enjoyment is solely dependant on such a fickle aspect, as what is literally happening on a specific micro-level instead of a macro one.

When in doubt, always ask yourself if you would continue watching something, if it were to suddenly turn into an idol show. The anime basically pulled a GATE at its season finale and I enjoyed the modern military mowing down wyvern and orcs with a 20mm autocannon, because Mitsuha was at her literal best, channeling up her cringey chuuni persona to its fullest potential and protecting the one she loves in an honest display of her character. I wanted her to succeed, even when there weren’t really any actual stakes to the battle. Take away all the charm and you end up with… well, you end up with GATE.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement shows, how an anime doesn’t have to solely rely on its gimmick and instead can enhance its ideas by writing fun and solid characters that keep you coming back, even if the main premise has lost its spice or abandoned it entirely. In the same way, I want to always be open for any kind of story, no matter how nonsensical the premise may sound like, because it may turn out very good in spite, or rather regardless, of its catch. In other words:

“Don’t judge an anime by its premise.”

– A guy literally judging an anime by its cover

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement is available on Crunchyroll.

Drawing Kumoko every day for a hundred days

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 11:40:00 +0200

Ach ja, on the 14th of December 2022, I randomly decided to draw a picture of everyone’s favorite little spider Kumoko (Hi, I’m everyone). Despite me barely caring about it at the time, as you can see by me not even bothering to correct any of the obvious parts like the head, I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I probably haven’t drawn anything since some quick scribbles to illustrate a short story from over a year ago. So coming the next day, I came up with the idea of drawing Kumoko every day for some time. I have already heard something about the “Draw something for a 100 days”-challenge/concept and since practice makes perfect, I figured I could give it a try, though I didn’t thought I would actually fill all the hundred pages of my note book.

I suck at drawing. I actually tried to get into drawing several times, but I always tended to stop relatively quickly as, in the finest “Gifted child to utter idiot”-pipeline, when you are not good immediately at something new, you loose interest quickly, because you never learned to have to actually put honest effort into something. It also doesn’t help that I never actually learned any methodology on how to draw (or creating any art, really), meaning my best attempt always had to solely rely on reference, but without knowing anything about how to actually apply it. But everyone has to start somewhere, so, I simply grabbed a random pencil, got my sharpener out of my pencil case from school and rummaged through our small art supply box to find an eraser that was probably abandoned over a decade ago.

Anyway, here is my way too detailed rundown of what I learned from drawing Kumoko every day for a hundred days.

The design of Kumoko

Kumoko, in her base form, is actually rather easy to draw. She mainly consists of two shapes – a slightly elongated and squished sphere for the abdomen and another sphere for the head that is a bit wider at the bottom than the top. From there on, you add the two ears, the “collar” around her neck and four pairs of legs. The last steps consist mainly of drawing the face, which is basically two anime eyes, another six small circles, a mouth and you complete the drawing by adding the details and shading the differently colored spots. So far so good.

I mostly oriented myself by the designs for the anime series, as they are more simple to draw than the designs from the novels and I also prefer them visually. There are also the two manga versions, but I honestly don’t like the designs in them, mostly as Kumoko is always portrayed with a three-segmented body, which is… the point of spiders is them only having two segments, not three! Kumoko is a spider, not an ant! Anyway, choosing the anime design would also mean I basically have a pool of 24 episodes of references… or so I thought.

Here is the thing though: It is still not as trivial as it probably should be. Getting a full understanding of her entire design only via shots from the anime is a bit of a bother, as she is seldom shown full body or in a perspective where you can study her design, so I mostly relied on this one picture of her character profile, but what I would have actually liked to have would be a character sheet showing her from several angles, not just the front and some of her facial expressions to go with it. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find any Settei from the anime. Best-case scenario would be me having access to her actual 3D model, but as this would obviously not happen, I had to do with some of the fan-made models. Nai wa~.

Getting started and difficulties

Before I started drawing, I always created a little thumbnail version in the top left corner for what I would like to draw. There, I basically figured out how I want to pose Kumoko and from what angle I would draw her from. This is apparently an actual art tip, as it gives you a general idea of how the finished product will look like and it is very easy to adjust and change things. Maybe a bit overkill if you are simply drawing a character, but this helped me immensely getting a feel of how anything will/can look like.

The first hurdle was figuring out how big the two segments of her body are in relation to each other. The aforementioned visual portrays her abdomen as around two to three times the size of her head, which I thought of as a bit big and judging by from her Nendoroid version, which has a smaller ratio of around 1:1.5, I think it was a good call to draw it a bit smaller. For the length, I basically just eyeballed it for the abdomen to not look weirdly elongated or too squished. Another thing I had to (second)-guess was how the abdomen would connect/intersect with the head, as this region is conveniently obfuscated by her collar, but I eventually just figured I would draw the beginning of the abdomen somewhere to the middle of her head and make the collar protrude out from this point, covering the area where the two shapes would intersect.

I actually never bothered learning how even simple shapes behave under different rotation and perspective, making drawing the basic form for the head and abdomen always a bit difficult. Sure, I know how to extend a square to a cube, but beyond that, I simply kept drawing an elongated circle at an angle behind a normal circle, until I ended up with something that comes a bit closer to what it should look like and I could then further shape it up, until it looks like her body. Theoretically, I knew that you should simply be able to interpolate from the width to the length (or height) of the head and abdomen depending on the angle, but as long as I was not drawing her directly lined up with the imaginary camera, this was simply to much for me, so I varied the circles until I came up with something that I could expand from… to very varying effect.

The head was always a bit harder than the rest of her body, as it is only symmetrical from the front, meaning distorting the basic circle for the head became a lot more complicated at an angle. The head is at its widest around the cheeks and the lower half is elongated from the top, resulting in some interesting displacement once rotated. While it is still far more simple than a human head, it was still, especially at the beginning, mostly a process of trial and error until I came up with something that somehow looked right, despite me at least knowing in principle how the silhouette of a head changes when rotated.

Something that I only noticed relatively late was that the collar actually wraps along the abdomen and doesn’t stand upright like with the dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park. While subtle, this is technically a form of foreshortening, which I was heavily unprepared for and often couldn’t really draw at all. It is also a bit rounded, which made putting the individual “spikes” along the collar and how to actually connect them with each other a bit hard for when you can’t really wrap your mind around the geometry of the body. I especially had a lot of problems with the lower four spikes, as I always messed up the size and position. Again, I know it is essentially just a seven-point star, but given how it slightly wraps around a round surface, this task becomes a lot less trivial.

Another thing that made me questions myself are the legs. The legs themselves are relatively simple, being a cylinder and a cone connected via one joint, but how and where do you place them? In the anime, Kumoko’s legs aren’t consistent and the reason for this is that they are actually not connected to the body. You can see this when Kumoko is framed from below, like in this and this example. From a modelling and animation perspective, this is actually genius, as it allows to freely move the legs around the body and allowing for more poses or shots where they would otherwise be in the way. For learning and reference purposes though… yeah, where should her legs be?

In real life spider anatomy, all legs are connected to the side/bottom of the cephalothorax. However, Kumoko doesn’t really have a cephalothorax, just a head (cephalon) connected to the abdomen, making the available space to attach the legs to a lot smaller. This might also be the reason why the manga designs introduce a sternum-esque segment between head and abdomen, essentially creating a pseudo-cephalothorax. What I eventually went with is attaching them to the body depending on the perspective. When looked at from the front, I would draw the legs as if they would protrude from the imaginary sternum, but the area where they connect to the body would then be fortunately covered up by the head or collar. When viewed from the side, I initially tried to group them towards the head and simply put them them over the collar, but eventually spread them more along the bottom side of the abdomen later on. When standing or viewed from the underside, I positioned her legs a lot more closer to the middle and spread them out more with the hind legs often being placed around the middle and under the collar. The other legs are then often drawn over the collar.

Orienting the legs was also finnicky. With humans, the orientation of the legs is mostly directly correlated to the action, i.e. standing, running or sitting and the arms mostly follow suit, either just hanging idly, complementing the pose or having their separat action. Now, Kumoko has four more appendages, so what am I supposed to do with all of them? When either standing or stretched, I usually extended the hind legs opposite to the bodies orientation, imitating human legs. Similarly, I often used the front-most legs as arms and extended them forwards. The middle legs were often just placed idly perpendicular to the body, if they are not either acting as either legs or arms respectively. Oftentimes, like when simply standing or laying, I simply drew the legs straight behind each other, basically copying the exact form and shifting them slightly to indicate depth. This is also the reason why a lot of the drawings feel a bit stiff, as there is no dynamism or any indication of movement with the legs mostly standing still. I never looked up an 8-legged walk cycle, as I assumed the leg placement would be quite complicated, but is is actually rather simple: The front legs move in opposite directions of each other, the second pair of legs counteracts the front pair and the third and fourth pair mimic the first and second pair respectively. The more you know!

Coming to the face, this was somehow simultaneously the easiest, but also the most frustrating part. I kinda know how to draw faces. The head shape is another matter, but like every 15-year old watching anime, I drew my fair share of eyes and with the anime style, there isn’t a lot in terms of noses and mouths. In fact, no nose required at all, though I later tried to indicate the “snout” a bit. Kumoko’s eye design is also rather simple, though as always, I struggled a bit with the details on the eye lashes, as I normally draw them quite simple. Placing and sizing the eyes did pose a bit of a challenge, especially with my heads being a bit deformed. Drawing the eyes also got a bit more easy when I actually decided on an expression, as the exaggeration of the eyes covers up slight imperfections. This became very noticeable, when my “neutral” eyes turned out kind of weird, especially so when the rest of the drawing was also not up to par. The other eyes are jus small circles with very easy placement once the main eyes are drawn. I actually slightly deviate from the official art in drawing the lower row of eyes on the forehead a bit closer to each other and creating a sort of V shape instead of a square with the upper row. It’s subtle, but I actually prefer it this way.

Concerning the mouth, you might call me a bit lazy on that. I drew the mouth flatly on the surface of the head without taking into consideration how the opened jaw would actually change the shape of the head. I also drew the mouth a bit higher, as it should be normally located directly at the lower end of the face with the fangs extending beyond the silhouette of the head. However, Kumoko’s mouth is, again, rather simple and basically consists of the two fangs at the edge of the mouth with two lines (or one when closed) indicating shape and how opened the mouth is. The inside of the mouth is also easy with a slight arch at the bottom indicating the tongue and a darker area behind it.

Lastly, the ears(?). Despite having some thickness to them, they can be drawn flat without much issue and I just kinda got a feel for it where to start them and how big they are supposed to be. I accidentally started drawing the triangle cut-out at the top of them quite big and sharp, but eventually noticed and flattened it. I never got around to not always orient them towards the imaginary camera though, as I couldn’t figure how to get the perspective right on my own.

The rest mostly comes down to smaller details like the circles on the abdomen or the coloring. The circles on her back consist of five rows of three slightly elongated circles of around the same size, but I tended to draw the middle on a bit larger. Placing them along the abdomen should be relatively easy, but I somehow never came up with the idea to draw orientation lines, so most of my circles are perspectively straight up wrong. On the color side of things, Kumoko consists of only three colors – White, a dark grey and pink – which nicely map to the grey tones of a pencil drawing by adjusting the strength. The coloring was surprisingly therapeutic and I had a lot of fun at the beginning simply filling the outlines, but I later put less time into it, as I spend a relatively large amount of time on something that doesn’t matter all that much and it would also result in less pressure marks from the pencil on the page below.

Ideas and Poses

You know how, when asked to speak in another language, you can’t, for the life of it, think of something to say, despite having the whole word arsenal of another vocabulary on your side? This was me, constantly, with trying to figure out how to draw Kumoko. It is not like I had a prompt list prepared beforehand so I had to come up with something new everyday, though saying to “to come up with something” and then only referring to a pose does sound a bit silly. In fact, a good chunk of my drawings are just Kumoko in her idle pose from different angles, really. Also, basically all drawing are shown from slightly above and or from a 3/4 view. You can basically see, whether I gave up or not, when I drew Kumoko from the front.

What greatly helped me was imagining Kumoko actually doing some kind of activity that goes beyond just standing still. I wasn’t really good with any kind of indication of movement, but either reacting to something or posing her along another object did wonders in terms of breaking up her posing. What came next was imagining a theme or a small story arc that I could continue for a few pages. For example, I drew Kumoko as she found and tries to crack the egg from the beginning of the story, or drew her in a circus setting. There are also a couple references thrown in for good measure, like copying the poses of the first five JoJo protagonists, some memes or references to specific dates like Christmas or New Year’s Eve. I also drew Kumoko in some of her humanoid forms, like in her idol costume. Something I unfortunately forgot, was drawing her along some of the spider Pokémon, as I imagined it being a bit funny and wholesome. I also took in some general ideas of Kumoko’s journey and wanted her to progress over the span of the drawings.

Something I noticed in retrospect was that I sometimes drew her rather sad or isolated and to be fair, I wish I had done so even more frequently. Despite being a hyperactive menace to anyone around her, there is something rather melancholic and lonely to Kumoko’s existence. Being thrown into an unknown situation by an evil god and unable to to form any positive connection, as she would be killed by anything that she didn’t kill first, there is an inherent loneliness and sadness of her being on her own, which I thought was an interesting aspect to portray. So yeah, the idea of Kumoko piling stones on top of another alone, kind of sticked with me and thus, her face became sad. The same can be said about the other drawings with more low-key vibes and calmness. Kumoko going off-trail and trying to reach an apple on a tree might just be my favorite idea of all the drawings.

Backgrounds, Monsters and Props

Initially, I hadn’t even thought about including backgrounds, mostly because they take additional time that was already running pretty low with me in the beginning taking over an hour to just draw something resembling Kumoko. I did, however, liked the idea of including props, mostly as they are easier to draw and would help contextualize what I drew Kumoko for, or rather allow Kumoko to do something other than simply standing.

The same can be said about some of the monster I tried to draw. I was not confident enough to actually portray a fight, so I mostly drew the confrontation and hoped for the best that I wouldn’t fudge the design. The monster designs in So I’m a Spider are, with the exception of the larger monsters and dragons, surprisingly easy in contrast to other series. Still way above my skill level, but they should be at least recognizable.

Around the half-way point, I became a bit more interested in trying out drawing additional background elements. To be honest, you could probably rummage through some of my drawings from kindergarten and barely spot a difference, but it was fun and I continued trying. My biggest hurdle was figuring out how to draw the inside of a cave and with what elements to populate the area. I basically started out with indicating differently leveled planes posing as the floor and putting rocks everywhere. The anime was also a big help with how these backgrounds should look like visually, though I kind of gave up on drawing the walls of the caves, as I couldn’t figure out the texture, nor did I have the slightest clue on how to draw the lava for the middle stratum. Once Kumoko left the labyrinth, the backgrounds got significantly easier, as I could now draw stuff I was at least familiar with… if I would actually touch grass, that is.

If there is one thing I learned from drawing the backgrounds, it is that you can just simply search for tutorials on YouTube for how to draw all the stuff. Don’t know how to draw clouds? Look it up! Trees and stones? Look it up! Basics of perspective, level of detail and composition? Guess what, there are several video on that! You can probably pinpoint the exact moment I started watching tutorials that actually teach me how to draw the things I only attempted until then. Took me way too long to finally do this step, but better late than never.

Evolutions and different Forms

Over the 100 days, I drew Kumoko 62 times as a Small Lesser Taratect, 25 times as Zoa Ele, nine times as Zana Horowa and finally four times in her Arachne form. I skipped Small Taratect and Small Poison Taratect, as they basically look identical beyond a slightly changed color scheme and some additional details. Same can be said about the Ede Saine form, as it is the same as Zoa Ele, but the head and collar have merged together.

Now let me rant about how much I hated drawing Kumoko as a Zoa Ele. While the abdomen as a Small Lesser Taratect was a relatively simple elongated sphere, the Zoa Ele abdomen is… a lot. It is basically made up from five overlapping plates that wrap around up to the bottom of the abdomen in a sort of irregular and curved hexagon. Also spikes… lot’s of spikes. I still don’t know how many and where to actually put them, as the problems with finding references were exaggerated with the Zoa Ele form. It just now came to my mind that there is a rotating shot of Kumoko in the beginning of the opening that changes depending on her evolution, but even there it is still hard to make out everything else. Most importantly though, it is stupidly hard to draw, as I never could figure out how much of the abdomen is supposed to be visible or what shape it should have.

Next up are the legs again, which are fortunately just a tiny bit more complicated. The number of segments and joints goes up by one and the individual segments are now visually divided and made up of individual parts. This changed the posing of the legs, as the first segment is now supposed to go slightly up from under the body, then down with the second segment and the last one touches the ground. The front legs now have a scythe as their last segment, which made go insane figuring out how the scythe is shaped and how this shape then works in a 3D space. Like with a lot of things, I eventually gave up trying and drew them from the same angle every time.

The rest isn’t really that interesting. The ears have another shape and volume now, but aren’t that hard to draw once you understand how to indicate depth, the collar became smaller and, depending on the angle, can almost be ignored or just hinted towards and the face stays basically the same.

Being at the Zoa Ele stage, I could finally draw her other personalities… I mean, it is not like I was forbidden beforehand, but I thought it more appropriate to start drawing them at the corresponding stage. With the body brain, it is basically just adding the headband and ~eyebrows~. The two magic brains are another matter, as they have a bit more clothing to them. The capes actually came in quit handy, as they cover up a good portion of the abdomen, but they are also blocking a bit of the legs and have to wrap around the neck, which made non-euclidean space very appetizing… which is code for “please don’t pay too much attention at the cape for magic brain #1”. I kind of handled it well for magic brain #2, but I also didn’t went as interesting with her cape. Additionally, I had to draw a hat and a hoodie respectively. Drawing the magic hat was fun, but I have a feeling it sits always a bit too high, as if it is too small for the head. The hoodie was interesting, as it was great for learning volumes, but I also drew it probably two numbers to small, so it looks like magic brain #1 and information brain pulled a prank on her and and wrapped the head in cloth.

Going from Zoa Ele to Zana Horowa felt almost liberating, as I didn’t have to think about this stupidly complex abdomen again and could return to a more regular shaped one, though getting the design right took me a few days again. My biggest difficulty was getting the head right, as it has these spikes extending from the head, which are hard to draw at an angle. The collar also became more extensive an irregular, causing me for one drawing to just handwave it, draw some squiggly lines and call it a day. The abdomen, despite all the spikes and little marks, is relatively easy, similarly to the Small Lesser Taratect, just with a lot more details. The red marks aren’t that difficult to draw on the body, especially if you ignore their depth like me. The spikes also didn’t cause a problem, as I had enough practice drawing spikes from the Zoa Ele. However, as mentioned, it took me a few days to realize that there are a total of seven spikes, creating some inconsistencies. If there is one thing that caused me trouble, its the end of the ears, where I couldn’t get the fluffy(?) bit right and just randomly drew four half-circles.

Lastly, there is the Arachne form. I initially thought about drawing an incredibly detailed spider body and always finish it off with a literal stick figure, but turns out neither am I good enough at drawing, nor would it actually be funny. With the Arachne, I actually didn’t bother that much with references and mostly oriented myself on the most notable features, like the legs, head and its collar, placement of the human body, this little shield behind the human body and the general shape of the abdomen with the spikes. It essentially resulted in a spider body that is a lot larger to the ratio of the human body and it has a stronger separation between the head and the rest.

Also, after drawing spiders for over three months, when it came to the human body, at first, I was like “Oh right, the human body. The human body for the Arachne. The Arachne chosen specially for the human body. The Arachne’s human body… that human body?”. Yeah, any knowledge of human anatomy absolutely left my brain, when it became time to draw one. I also severely underestimated how much space I would need for the human body to draw it, as it is quit a bit more dense on detail and my line-art wasn’t necessarily the cleanest when drawing the Arachne. Also, arms… I hate them. I had only some problems with the head and face, despite them turning out rather wonky and the rest of the body also kind of works, or isn’t at least as bad as I initially feared. Even the chest looks decent, though I also am not brave enough to draw it any bigger in the first place. If there is one thing I really want to improve on, it’s the legs… they look so baaad :D.

I deeply respect the poor animators that had two draw her by hand in the last episode.

Conclusion

I mean, considering I started drawing Kumoko on a whim, I am still astonished I actually pulled through with this self-imposed challenge. There wasn’t really a point to it all (To be fair, nothing I do does), but I am still glad I did it. I don’t think I will pick up drawing in the near future, though maybe there will be a “Drawing Akiyama Yukari every day for a hundred days” if I really feel like it, but I can confidently say that I can improve on my art skills and, despite public opinion (Hi, I’m public opinion), am not a lost cause. After all, the number one art tip is simply practicing a lot, though I would personally put “Let other artist explain basic stuff” on a very close second. And even if there is no helping me, I still gained another interest in the art of backgrounds, which I spend the last week binging tutorials over tutorials on. Thanks for reading my four and a half pictures worth of words on drawing Kumoko.

If you are interested in all one hundred Kumokos, they are available on my Google Drive.

Expelled from Paradise: The conflict of humanity

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 23:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, Expelled from Paradise is an interesting film. Despite its conventional story structure, after all its layers are pulled back and mysteries lifted, there isn’t really something you could call an “evil”. There is, of course, an antagonist and maybe even something akin to our heros' antithesis, but no clear enemy in either person or concept. Instead, in the absence of such a classical force to be stopped, Expelled from Paradise dives (or rather dips its toes) into the human condition and the specific conflicts its setting introduces. Spoilers ahead.

In short, the story is set in a future in which the majority of humanity has digitized themselves and are now living a virtual life inside DEVA, a space-station orbiting the earth which was, in classical sci-fi fashion, mostly reduced to sand and dust. One day, an unknown entity named Frontier Setter is able to hack into DEVA and tries to recruit some of the digitized humans to partake in a journey for a new earth. Tasked with the mission to find and eliminate the hacker, Angela Balzac descends down in a clone body and, together with her partner Dingo from earth, investigates what is going on.

After some back and forth, the two come into contact with Frontier Setter, who turns out to be an AI tasked with the completion of an engine for the spaceship that is supposed to search for a suitable new planet for humans to live on. After clearing up the misunderstanding and confirming that Frontier Setting was simply testing the water for potential volunteers, Angela returns to DEVA only to be ordered to destroy Frontier Setter, as the only guarantee of them not further interfering is essentially based on a pinky promise. Refusing the order, Angela is digitally cold-stored, but rescued just shortly after by Frontier Setter and together with Dingo, the three fight off the units send by DEVA to eliminate the AI in a big anime battle and eventually launch the rocket for Frontier Setter to make their way towards space.

As mentioned in the first paragraph, the story conflict is surprisingly detached from the many idealogies present in the film, nor is it necessarily a result of a very obvious flaw in any of its actors or concepts. DEVA doesn’t suddenly turn out to have a twisted idea of humanity, Angela and Frontier Setter are not “rogues” going against either what should be possible or their programming respectively and even Dingo is not all that radical in his views on humanity. It is actually quite refreshing, seeing a sci-fi film kind of positively embracing its ideas and not just blatantly painting them black á la “What if [technology] is bad?”, but still portraying the ramifications and problems resulting from it. For how simple it sounds, DEVA doesn’t care about Frontier Setter recruiting people to join his mission and finding a new planet, but Frontier Setter being able to hack into their system and potentially putting DEVA as a whole in jeopardy.

However, this doesn’t mean that there is no philosophical tension between the different parties or the movie not having a stance on the matter. Expelled from Paradise portrays two different ideas of humanity: The humans in flesh and blood living on earth and the digitized humans inside DEVA. Angela, especially in the beginning, is very eager to point out how living inside DEVA is basically the next step in human evolution, further emphasized by her now dealing with such annoying things like exhaustion, getting sick or having to eat. Not quite “From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me.” but certainly favoring the digital space over the physical one.

On the other hand, Dingo isn’t really able to share Angela’s sentiment and considers her kind of distant to himself in several ways. Inverting the former annoyances of Angela, he considers them to not just be very human, but part of life: The need for rest, taking care of another when weak or finding meaning in food for more than its simple purpose as nutrition. This dissonance between the two becomes especially clear in the scene with Dingo and Frontier Setter jamming out and talking about music, something Angela formerly only described as noise.

To borrow some more romantic language: While Frontier Setter, a machine, learned to become human, Angela has lost some of her humanity. Frontier Setter just feels human and embraces all the things that, in the way they explained it, make them allocate more processing power without any real logic behind it. they even wear a hat and composes music as a form of expression. When asked why he has no problems talking to Frontier Setter, as it is just an AI imitating humans, Dingo answers that it doesn’t really matter and that such a line of thinking would also cause him to question Angela, someone whom he doesn’t want to deny her humanity, despite her “otherness”, as he can acknowledge their differences. Angela was simply raised and is currently bound to another system… a system that might not actually be that different from the one on earth.

While DEVA promotes itself as a system with nearly endless possibilities, it is also a utilitarian meritocracy with limited resources in the form of processing power and memory, instead of food, money or housing. Whether one considers this system more fair or better for humanity, it does change the way one considers success and purpose. While technically the same, as you won’t get anywhere without putting in the work in both worlds, there is a certain freedom to be found on earth, as it is also unpredictable and not bound by anything, while you have to bend yourself towards what society considers good in DEVA, making you quite competitive and lose touch with others. Angela even cut short the incubation time of her body, simply to be the first to find Fronter Setter (This is also the canon reason why she looks like a teenager) and receive praise for her work, as this would improve her live in DEVA.

Whether one option is better than the other and how different they actually are, is up for debate, it is hard to argue that living in DEVA doesn’t alienate one from some of the aspects we consider human and this is also the reason why Dingo refuses to join DEVA. Beyond just considering the “endless possibilities” a lie, he would also rather continue being shackled by a physical body than to submit to yet another system where he feels less free.

However, this dichotomy doesn’t lead Dingo to resent Angela and he instead treats her with normal human compassion. He tries to keep her out of harms way, nurses her back to health and tries to make her enjoy the things DEVA and the rest of the digitized humanity had abandoned. Thanks to her new surrounding, Angela eventually changes her mind about the humans left on earth and after being kicked out by DEVA, decides to explore the earth and experience a part of humanity that is foreign and unknown to her.

Similarly, after being unable to find a single recruit, Frontier Setter is bound to make his way towards space alone. One might question the idea of an AI exploring the universe if no human is set to follow. But then again, what is the point of doing it in the first place? Frontier Setter said several times that they consider it their purpose, so they will do it either way. Ironically, Dingo claims they are a good representative of humanity, maybe even a better one than the digitized humans inside DEVA, as Frontier Setting is undoubtedly “human”.

Anyway, let’s talk some biblical imagery. Even name-dropping Adam and Eve, it isn’t that hard to see some parallels to the Garden of Eden from the book of Genesis. For what its inhabitants are concerned, DEVA might just be an ideal world, but similarly to the garden, they are also limited by the world they inhabit and it is only after Angela gets to know the earth and fights against her orders on her own accord, that she is eventually expelled from paradise. If there is on thing not as clear cut, it would be the actor of God, though I guess this role would be filled by the nearest authority figure, which are the heads of security, who are interestingly portrayed as hindu, shintoistic and greek deities respectively… I think.

If there is one thing the film unfortunately falls short, it is the fact it barely spends anytime on the two humanities in isolation, as we barely get an insight into the normal life of DEVA, nor how the human on earth live their life. This kind of hinders the themes of the film, as we mostly have to go on either assumptions or the little bits of information we do get, as well as our inherent biases as… well, humans living in the flesh on earth. I especially would hae liked to see more on how the lack of a body would influence the sense of self, or how communications and social structures change for the digitized humans, as they are all represented by avatars. As such, the film has to pull its weight as mostly speculative fiction to get its message across: Sure, it may be paradise, but humans still want to see how the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge tastes like.

Expelled from Paradise is no Ghost in the Shell or even a Vivy, but I would nonetheless put it into the category of media that have a bit more nuanced and less destructive views on the relationship between humanity and technology. Also, the movie is plenty of fun. For what it lacks in depth, it makes up with a nice cast and cool action set pieces, which make this movie infinitely more rewatchable than some of its other genre representatives.

The Circle: Always one step away from parody

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 19:00:00 +0100

Ach ja, a bit of a personal anecdote: In the semester of english class covering topics like ideas of the future and utopian/dystopian literature, I had to read a little book called “Never Let Me Go”. I am not saying that this novel is without merit, but it is also the reason why I can still confidently rate Infinite Stratos with at least a 4/10. Including me, there were only three people in my class that actually bothered to finish reading the book with everyone else giving up one after another when we collectively realized the novel is, in fact, not about the philosophical conundrum of being a clone solely existing for the benefit of ones organs, but a subpar teenage soap opera featuring the most obnoxious characters imaginable.

O' how I envied the other classes covering different books. One of these turned out to be “The Circle”, which at least attempted itself at a topic, even if the reaction from friends were mixed to say the least. To my surprise, we actually had to analyze an excerpt from The Circle and put it into some kind of context for our english exam, which was a weird choice, as, mentioned in the paragraph above, we never talked about the book, meaning this would be our first exposure to the story and themes of the novel… and I hated it to the point I inadvertently critiqued it for being, in my 17-year old eyes, plain stupid. Still got full marks though ^^.

The point being, from the bits I knew about The Circle, I could only imagine it being badly written at best and lacking total nuance and kind of missing the point in what it is critiquing at worst. Naturally, when the film adaptation became available for me to watch, I immediately took a shoot at it without much hesitation, so I could either be confirmed in my biases, or be positively surprised that something I thought was bad is not actually as bad. Turns out it is even worse than I thought. To give credit where it might be due, I will only talk about the 2017 film, as there is no chance in hell I will actually sit down and read the original novel, though I doubt my opinion on the novel would be drastically different, as my complaints about the adaptation don’t have much to do with how it works as a film, but with its message and the portrayal of the topic at hands instead.

Starting the film, I immediately had to bend over backwards to pretend that there would be any kind of ambiguity in this story. From the get go, the way The Circle is portrayed fills all the checkboxes of how you would normally frame the bad guy in an animated children’s movie, as well as both vapid and fake. Their headquarter is essentially the Apple HQ scaled up to include all of Silicon Valley, the tour of said headquarter is filled with buzzword extracurricular activities (my favorites include the dog yoga) and we are getting constantly bombarded with how great everything is. The only thing missing would be a friendly Steve Jobs look-alike holding a presentation about a new invention violating numerous basic human principles that would then be celebrated by an almost cultish audience of mindless millennials… needless to say, this is exactly what happened, though I have to say that Tom Hanks is pretty pleasant to listen to.

If you have ever seen any advertisement or corporate presentation, these are exactly the red flags you are supposed to catch and question. No genuine entity is framed like this. And yet, the film has the audacity to assume, for more than a second, that there might be any depth behind it, because there is none… and for what the film is concerned, this is kind of the point.

The film presents an idea, plays it out the way it sees fit and the audience is allowed to take it however they want. This might sound like a nice idea on paper, making the viewer engage with the themes “on their own accords”, but it essentially comes down to the viewer’s bias making final judgement, since the story relegates all the actually interesting question of “why” and “how” to the audience, resulting in the film itself having no ground to position itself, except that The Circle presents its events in such a negative light that no one in their right mind would agree with what is happening. In conclusion, the experience of watching the film is seeing a bad thing happen and agreeing that it is bad, but beyond this simple act of not having to have your own thoughts, there is nothing of substance behind it.

Take the scene a few weeks into the walking plot device of a protagonist named Mae working for The Circle. Two of her colleagues confront her about the absence of her socials and proceed to berate and gaslight her into essentially becoming one of those persons sharing every little moment of their life on Twitter, despite initial hesitancy of herself. How does that change her? Who knows? For what it is worth, she holds her phone a few times and takes pictures. This point is supposed to lead into her posting the work of a childhood friend, who in return was, what I can only assume a boomer’s definition of being canceled is, and received death threats.

So, what do we make of this? Well, nothing, really. Her being socially manipulated into becoming clinically online and her friend being harassed are clearly bad things, but there is no real connection between those two events. Sure, Mae not posting his work would have prevented him receiving death threats, but what part of her behavior is supposed to be criticized here? The fact she posted anything? Mae somehow imposing on his privacy? Or is it maybe the fact that The Circle already assumes an equally clinically online and self-righteous mob ready to get at her friend’s throat?

The Circle is filled with such points, framing something as bad by sheer audacity, but never committing as to what actually is bad about it, why it is bad or commenting on it with any kind of nuance beyond dismissing it entirely. Mae receiving a fluid that tracks all her bodily functions without her consent? The Circle specifically being able to cure her father’s multiple sclerosis. Every employee being surveiled constantly without their knowledge? It also doesn’t help that Mae, after some hesitation, kind of goes along with everything, or better said, even goes beyond with anything planned by The Circle.

This phenomena gets especially egregious with the introduction of “SeeChange”, small camouflaged cameras being able to stream high-quality videos and capable of bio-recognition and identification of people. What could possibly go wrong with a private company having access to such data. Nothing, of course, as it is pitched in good faith (Don’t questions whose good faith) and immediately shipped world-wide. We later see SeeChange actually doing good by rescuing Mae after she went kayaking at night, as sort of proof for the effectiveness of the surveillance.

This eventually leads into Mae becoming kind of unhinged with the idea behind The Circle. Beforehand, we were introduced to the concept of going “fully transparent” by a congresswoman that would share everything going on behind closed doors and make everything, from documents to mails, fully public. Mae then takes it a step further and, after spurting some 1984 rhetoric about how your own experiences are basically theft from anyone else, becomes fully transparent herself and now streams her entire life for the world to see, quickly gaining a huge following. Please insert a joke about life-streaming and e-girls here.

So, how does becoming fully transparent affect Mae? Honestly, not much. She became a celebrity and is constantly surrounded by employees and a live chat, but it is not like this blank slate of a character could have anything to hide, though in the novel, if I can trust the Wikipedia article, she did change her eating habits to appear a bit more food-conscious… at least it is something. On the other hand, her friend at the company literally avoids her and they only speak in the few breaks allowed to Mae. Meanwhile, her parents distanced themselves from her, as they couldn’t handle the pressure of being constantly watched. These two instances are the closest the film comes to somehow portraying negative consequences with any sense of effect, or at least as an action followed by a reaction, but even here, any nuance is lost. We get that it is bad, but the film doesn’t lift a finger to go on why.

Before we reach peak genius, I want to discuss a scene that feels the most grounded and realistic, as I can see how this could unironically be talked about in the future. Due to how much of a circus the USA is, The Circle proposes the idea to automatically register anyone with a TrueYou account to vote, thusly increasing voter turnout. This proposal eventually escalates into how voting should be basically done exclusively through their service with every citizen both being fully registered in TrueYou, social security number et al, and also forced to vote to achieve 100% democracy. Again, I could throw the same criticisms at its head, like how electronic voting is not the solution to bad turnouts, or how giving a corporation completely control over elections is plain stupid, as every other idea in this film, but I liked the little comment about how all these measures could only be put in place by The Circle, as the government is simply lacking the knowledge and infrastructure and is thus dependent on big tech corporations.

Anyway, let’s get into the somehow both best and worst part of the film. The Circle introduces “SoulSearch”, which uses its wide network of users to find other people. They first use it to locate a criminal and enthused by its effectiveness, they continue with a “normal” person. The audience chooses Mae’s friend Mercer… you know, the one receiving death threats and who went into hiding in the mean time. After some random people find and continue to harass him, he tries to flee in his car, only for him to eventually drive of a bridge after being chased by more strangers and dies in the process.

Subtle, I know, but what really kills it is the entire aftermath. Mae regains some of her humanity and grieves for a few days, before returning to The Circle and starts streaming her life again. Reading the comments is an absolute treat, like this one guy quitting social media for four days in honor of Mercer’s death or how one commenter lamented that this accident couldn’t have been prevented… like, everyone is just glossing over The Circle being allowed to conduct a public manhunt with its users happily ready to lynch someone. The outcome of this was not an accident, but the entire point.

Anyway, the film ends with Mae making the two CEO’s of The Circle go full transparent, thus exposing all the shady stuff they did in the background, Tom Hanks says: “Oh, we are so fucked!”, everyone cheers and in the last shoot, we see Mae kayaking surrounded by two drones. What was once her way of being alone (solid metaphor btw) is now streamed world-wide to everyone. The end.

It feels incredibly weird criticizing the film, because I fundamentally agree with everything I assume it intends to say. However, I do not agree, because it raises some interesting and valid points, but I agree with the film in the same way I agree about getting rid of the orphan-crushing machine™. Almost down to the most minute detail, The Circle couldn’t possibly be any more black and white in its attitude. The film stuffs everything down my throat and all I need is to swallow. Unless you are into it, this may not be the best experience for something that should really make you think.

It took me some time to realize that this is not a straight up parody. There is an ironic phenomena about critical media being indistinguishable from what they are trying to critique and The Circle sometimes blurs these line pretty hard. Is it a critique of the ever-growing influence of social media in our daily lives and the dangers of technological singularity or does it make fun of the former by being so on the nose you can barely take it serious?

With how little The Circle actually attempts to say anything of value, this distinction is essentially meaningless. In-universe, The Circle, as in the company running the whole thing, already is a micro-state with its own populace of cultish employees and an outside world only waiting to be integrated. There is no struggle, no conflict and no resistance. We all become Circlers. Privacy was just a phase, after all. This is fine, unless you think otherwise… don’t really need a whole story for this, eh? There is a difference between not being subtle and not being at all.

Like the beginning of this post, allow me to end it with some kind of anecdote: In the anime series Psycho Pass, the officers are equipped with a weapon called the Dominator. If the Sibyl System identifies a target with a high enough crime coefficient, the Dominator changes from a non-lethal paralyzer into a lethal one, turning the target into an exploding tomato. From all the questions you may have from this short description, watching The Circle is like only being told that microwaving a human sounds a bit messy. Nothing more.

The Circle is available on Netflix.

The Anime Awards 2023 and what I would change

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 18:50:00 +0100

Ach ja, since 2017, Crunchyroll holds their annual Anime Awards celebrating the best anime of the previous year with this year’s Anime Awards 2023 being about the anime aired in 2022. You can think about it like the Academy Awards (Oscars), but for anime. This year marks the seventh round and while I seldom cared a lot about the particular outcome of them, considering I barely watch enough airing anime, I always come back to at least take a look at the nominees and how the voting process is done.

The Awards

In general, the whole conceit of the Anime Awards is kind of insane. Considering Crunchyroll, having the majority of licenses for anime in the west, could have simply named it the Crunchyroll Awards and called it a day, they instead opted for a more general approach (and probably jumping through millions of licensing hoops) to not limit the anime to just their catalogue alone, but to all the anime licensed in the west, irrelevant on which platform they are released, essentially opening up the awards to virtually all the anime released that year. Secondly, while the specifics differ from year to year, the voting process does not only include hand-picked judges, but also the anime community at large, making the awards way less… elite and a lot more approachable to most people, than say the Academy Awards, which tend to have a clear bias to certain kinds of films.

For anyone inside the anime community, the groundwork for a big and “official” award show was almost done as good as one could have imagined. Basically all the anime are eligible, with judges also mostly being comprised of you average anime fan and critic, not causing a huge gulf between between the eventual nominees and final votes, but also with a certain sense of authenticity and credibility. Sure, at the end of the day, it will be a popularity contest, but it is not like you could simply look at the anime with the most members on MAL and expect them to win, which hits a nice middle ground between “casual” and “hardcore” fans.

While I will be mostly talking about this year’s awards, I have to give credit where credit is due with the awards themselves coming a long way since their first iteration. While I still have enough to complain about them, the kind, variety and specifically phrasing of categories got a lot better over the years, and the inclusion of six instead of the initial four nominees are undoubtedly good decisions. If there is one change I would like to see undone in the future is bringing back the freeform “Other” option, which in specific categories, like the dropped “Most Heartwarming Scene”, arguably did a better job at choosing a better nominee than the ones chosen by the judges.

If there is one thing I can not ignore, though I also believe it is more a specific problem of how the actual content of the awards are handled, is how certain series were, and probably still will be in the future, able to sweep the awards to the point of “ruining” the “fun” of the awards themselves. A sign of any good award should not only be to have a variety of different nominees, but also to have all nominees have an actual chance of winning, which unfortunately couldn’t always have been guaranteed, as seen with Yuri on Ice, My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen absolutely dominating their respective year, a circumstance that can very well happen again this year, considering the combination of categories and nominees.

Changes, Categories and Nominees

This year’s biggest change is unquestionably the introduction of a shifted airing window for entries, it being November 2021 to September 2022, essentially leading to the exclusion of any anime that aired in the fall season of 2022. Unless I somehow missed it, there is no official reason as to why this was done, as previous years simply included any anime that aired in the respective year. While it is not official, this was most likely done to reduce the effects of recency bias, as previous years have shown it being a potential problem.

Another reason might simply be the needed preparation time for these awards. For once, it is more likely for judges, who have to reduce the number of nominees for the actual voting and most likely had to judge fall anime in the previous years while they were still airing, to not have seen an anime from the fall season, compared to winter, giving an inherent advantage to any anime aired earlier in the year. Another aspect Glass Reflection mentioned in his video about the Anime Awards might simply be the general organizational aspect of it all. For once, there is all the legal stuff concerning anime not on Crunchyroll, but considering the actual show, which will be held in Japan after two years of Corona reducing the awards to livestreams, also wants to include people from inside the industry, including also anime from the fall season might just cut it too close, if you also want to hold the whole show early into the new year.

My personal guess is for Crunchyroll to be more considerate towards viewers, who are not always up to date with their anime and do not necessarily watch all the anime directly while they are airing, which would proportionally affect more anime from the fall season. If this is true, then I can see where they would be coming from, as I personally would still like to see 6 to 12 anime from this year, before giving my final vote. However, I am also most definitely not representative of the larger anime community and I doubt this would be that big of an issue at large, as the group of people most interested in the Anime Awards also most likely keep up with their anime, meaning not having seen all the fall anime is probably a smaller problem, if any.

This, in return, leaves the current pool of nominees with only three seasons of anime plus left-overs from fall 2021 that ended in 2022. This hits especially hard considering fall 2022 was utterly stacked with anime that would change the award nominees drastically. I mean, Chainsaw Man alone would probably take everything it would have been nominated for, as it was, without a doubt, the most hyped anime of the year. These anime will be eligible next year, but I can understand why other people would rather want to have all the 2022 anime be featured in an awards show for… well, 2022 and not split partially for 2023.

The second change concerns the public voting. Not sure when this was first introduced, but you are able to vote everyday for the voting period, which I don’t think is inherently a problem, but is still a bit weird, considering hardcore fans and their favorite picks essentially get more votes, as most people will probably only vote once and won’t bother coming back the next days. This year, additionally, you can also cast another vote on Twitter by posting the hashtag or by retweeting the corresponding post by the official twitter account of the anime series. Again, there is nothing necessarily wrong about it, though similar with the voting every day thing, even if only a fraction of a fan base participates in this, larger fandoms essentially have a larger pool of additional votes to draw from.

Now onto the actual awards. This year again features a few small changes to the categories themselves. These include the new categories “Best Original Anime”, “Best New Series”, “Best Supporting Character”, “Must Protect at All Cost Character”, which replaces “Best Fight Scene”, and “Best Anime Song”, reinstating the “Best Continuing Series” category and merging “Best Main Character”, “Best Boy” and “Best Girl” into “Best Main Character” and “Best Supporting Character”. Additionally, next to the “Special Achievement Award”, there will also be a “Presenter’s Choice”. A full list of the categories and nominees can be found on Crunchyroll’s official Voting Page.

In general, these are all welcome changes. “Best Original Anime” and “Best New Series” will help distinguish new anime from those with an already established fan base, though there will, simply due to technicality, be some overlap in those two categories. At least all the sequels, etc. can now brawl it out under themselves in the “Best Continuing Series” category. I also like the “Must Protect at All Cost Character” category. It is clearly meant to be a more fun category, being less broad and focussing one specific aspect, though I am not sure if it will make up for “Best Fight Scene”, which in theory kind of goes into the same direction, though with the caveat that this category was also always dominated by the most popular fighting shounen.

Before I go into the other categories, I want to quickly talk about the voting poll itself. It looks surprisingly good and if memory serves correctly is again an improvement upon last year, though I wouldn’t be me, if I wouldn’t endlessly talk about minor frontend issues. The interface is clean and intuitive, and with the individual categories now being collapsed by default, they are more easy to navigate, though I wouldn’t start with the “Anime of the Year” category. Still a bit confused about the specific ordering of the categories, as I would have personally grouped them by taxonomies like Type, Production, Sound, Characters and Genre, or something similar.

Once you vote for a category, you can also automatically go to the next one without having to click onto the next dropdown/modal-thingy yourself. These also look quit good, though I guess the video is a bit redundant and would be better with actual clips from the anime showcasing a specific aspect, but still a nice touch nonetheless. It also finally features an i-icon for explaining what the specific category means, though I could have done with a bit less flavortext.

What is a bit unfortunate is the lack of information in the cards for the nominees themselves, only displaying a cover image, the name of the nominee and the respective studio of the anime, which works in most cases if you are simply voting for the anime in general, but is a bit bare when voting for the best opening or for a voice actor (their role is not displayed). You do get additional information upon clicking on the nominees, though this detail view is also a bit weird, as, with the the exception of Opening/Ending sequences and VA Performances, there is actually no additional information to be found. It is cool, however, that best Opening and Ending sequence give credit for storyboard and direction. Normalize crediting the specific artists!

With the token talk about web-design out of the way, let’s dive into the remaining categories. Most categories are good and don’t really have to justify themselves, like the obvious “Anime of the Year” or the genre categories, though I will talk about them later a bit. I like that “new” anime are separated from sequels and that original anime get their own category, as, already mentioned above, they all have different pre-existing fan bases, which makes looking at them in their own group only fair.

Films also make sense to be separated, though this is also a category which might need some serious rework for its nominations. The category is split between three franchise movies and three “new” movies (INU-OH and The Deer King are based on pre-existing source material) each, which basically already shifts certain entries into the back, simply because they are not associated by an already known franchise. There is also the matter of availability, as some movies were screened longer and at more locations than others and with the Anime Awards being a global award and not located to Japan exclusively, this basically eliminates some of the entries. I mean, even how many of the more “critical” viewers have seen The Deer King or INU-OH? At least Bubble was directly released on Netflix, but unless we get several movies like Your Name and A Silent Voice in a single year that can compete with large franchise movies, this category will either always be dominated by the biggest franchise which has released a movie, even ignoring whether the movie has a significance for the main story, or have to be split in two to really make sense.

The categories for best opening/ending sequence are good, though I have a feeling most people will mostly judge an OP/ED solely by the song, which makes “Best Anime Song” kind of redundant, as this category is compromised of two openings and and one ending from the previous categories. Instead, I would simply rename the category to “Best Insert Song” and exclude any opening and ending song. I know Chikichiki Banban is an incredibly banger deserving of both categories, but maybe this should be set up differently. Also, while this may result in too many individual categories, maybe OP/ED sequence and song should be separate categories, simply because these are two very different ways to judge the same thing.

Let’s get into the more technical/production categories. In general, these are always a bit finicky, as you have to assume that the viewer has some kind of degree of knowledge on the topic and without wanting to talk down to a large group of people… I don’t believe the average anime enjoyer to have enough knowledge about the different aspects of anime production to make educated decisions in some of those categories. I mean, even I could not tell you what it means for a film to be “well edited”, but I probably know a lot more than the average anime fan.

This may not even necessarily be that important, as with the “Best Animation” category, since you will still have an opinion on whose anime had the animation you prefer, though this will also most likely lead to most of the nominees being “high profile action anime” with a focus on flashy fights. However, there is also a part of me that rather wants to see different approaches on “good animation”, covering the whole field from clean and detailed to experimental and all over the place. To be fair, all the nominees are absolutely valid and from what I have seen all look amazing in one way or another, so I honestly don’t care who wins (Please don’t let it be Demon Slayer), but I feel like this category will always be destined to always be a specific kind of “good animation”.

Then there is the “Best Character Design” category. Not only will the nominees most likely be alike to the “Best Animation”, as is this year’s case, simply because these two have to go hand in hand, but I always find it hard to determine what exactly makes a good character design. Is it simply the idea of the design itself, in what style they are rendered in, or how they work in animation? Do you want endlessly detailed illustrations or motion? At the end of the day, most people will simply go with the anime whose characters look the best, making this category a bit redundant, as it can basically be incorporated into “Best Animation”.

Lastly, there is “Best Director”. I absolutely understand the need to specifically award one specific person from the production of an anime and who else than the director themselves, but I can also assure you that the role of director means absolutely nothing to most people. Even with the rising prominence of standout directors like Naoko Yamada, Masaaki Yuasa or Hiroyuki Imaishi, the role of a director is simply too vague for most people to distinguish and acknowledge the effect a specific director has on the anime. So instead of This director made the anime good in this particular way, voting for best director will most likely come down to doubling down on your favorite anime for the year, as your favorite anime also most likely has the best director. Considering “Anime of the Year” and “Best Director” have the exact same nominees this year, I think this only furthers my point that this category should probably either just be ditched entirely, or excluded from the public pool and incorporated into something similar akin to the “Special Achievement Award”, determined by a smaller group of judges.

On to the “Character”-categories. These categories sure went through some iterations, starting with best hero, villain, boy and girl to now being simply “Best Main Character” and “Best Supporting Character”. I don’t think there is anything wrong with these two categories in theory, though I have a feeling this specific distinction will most likely lead to the best male characters occupying the “Best Main Character” slot, while the best female characters will be reduced to “Best Supporting Character”. Also, I have problem with some of the picks for this year specifically: Loid from Spy × Family and Marin from Dress-Up Darling are not “main” main characters. Similarly, Yor and Anya are not supporting characters, which basically confirms the need for a “Best Cast” category.

Honestly, they should have probably kept the old categories for the characters. “Best Antagonist” was always a good category and I doubt there will be a lack of baddies in anime for the future. Also, why dodge the waifu and husbando wars? Bring back best boy and girl… and rename the categories to “Best Male Character” and “Best Female Character”, so it isn’t weird for an adult character to be there too. Also, though I realize how fringe this case might be, maybe add a “Best Genderqueer/Non-Human Character” into the mix, because we all know we didn’t know what to do with Land of the Lustrous’s characters back in 2018.

At last, the “Genre”-categories. Honestly, I think these are basically fine as they are, considering action, comedy, drama, fantasy and romance almost covers every anime to some degree. Also, each anime is limited to only appear at most in two categories, which is reasonable, though I would personally limit it to one. I think there is a case to be made that a “Slice of Life” genre should have been added, especially since we are talking about anime, which has a decent amount of such stories and that “Fantasy” could be extended to also incorporate Sci-Fi.

I skipped over “Best Score”, as well as all the different language performances, because I think these are all fine as they are and not really interesting to talk about, especially since the latter are more removed from the anime themselves and are awarding the individual actors instead.

The Problem (and some statistics)

While I have some gripes with individual categories, I think the general line-up is pretty good, though there is one last problem to talk about: Variety… or the lack thereof.

I jokingly tweeted some days ago about how I could confidently partake in the vote by only having seen a couple of anime this year, but adding the number up and looking at the final tally, this might actually turn out to be the case.

Excluding nominations for arabic, castilian, french, german, italian, portuguese and spanish voice performances, the amount of nominations are as follows:


Anime	Nominations
Spy × Family	17
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners	12
Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2	12
Ranking of Kings (cour 2)	11
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc	11
My Dress-Up Darling	8
Lycoris Recoil	7
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War – Ultra Romantic	6

Data taken from the Wikipedia article for the 7th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

Remember, including japanese and english voice performances, there are 22 categories in total, with a certain maximum number of nominations a single anime can be nominated for due to exclusionary category definitions or other restrictions. Out of 16 possible categories, Spy × Family is nominated for 17 of them. This is a 106% nomination rate. Similarly, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Attack on Titan are virtually nominated for almost every category they are eligible in.

Together, the eight anime mentioned in the table above make up over 63% of all the nominations for the 22 categories. If we bring down the amount of categories to only those each anime could be eligible in, meaning 16 (17 for Lycoris Recoil), this number goes up to a whopping 87.5%. Again, these eight anime occupy 87.5% of the maximum nominees that they theoretically could have. Even ignoring categories like “Must Protect At All Costs Characters”, this is insane and brings me to my main problem with this year’s Anime Awards.

Fundamentally, what I think the Anime Awards achieved is filtering all the anime from the year into a small list of best anime from said year, since I doubt anyone would have a lot of problems with all these entries being put into a general Top 10 for 2022. The problem arises when simply good anime are now projected onto categories, not because they are necessarily chosen as specifically the best pick, but because they are good and it would make sense for them being in the category. From my point of view, most nominees seem not to be chosen specifically for the category they are in, but more akin to it is good and technically fits the category. All the nominated openings are great openings, but the year seriously didn’t bring forth something better than the Demon Slayer or Edgerunners OP? No better supporting characters than Anya? Not anything that could rival the usual suspects in any of these categories?

At the end of the day, these are all rhetorical questions, as I haven’t seen enough anime but it is easy to see how most of the categories lead to a pretty uniform pool of anime to choose from. Funnily enough, this phenomena is pretty obvious when looking into the categories for best comedy and romance and you suddenly realize oh right, there are other anime. Also, the only reason I can explain the Shadow House OP making it into “Best Anime Song” is probably due to one judge being a very adamant ReoNa fan, because I would have honestly assumed the Demon Slayer OP to make another cameo.

So basically, instead of one anime sweeping absolutely, now we have a handful of anime that will sweep moderately. Not sure which one of those is better, but I assume neither case is the preferred outcome for an award trying to celebrate all the anime in a year and not just a couple ones.

What I would change

Now unto the part where I can display my hubris and lack of understanding to everyone with the additional risk of being laughed and clowned upon. I want to make it clear, that I am not out to fundamentally “fix” these awards and I don’t know if these changes would necessarily make them better or backfire spectacularly, but I also want to share my thoughts on how the Anime Awards would make more sense in my head and hopefully lead to less problems that currently haunt them. I try to not make them my awards, mostly orienting myself on previous year’s awards, but I also believe some additions to be pretty reasonable.

First of a few assumption: Crunchyroll has enough time and resources, which would come into play in two ways. Assuming the exclusion of all the fall anime is due to organizational constraints, I think it would be best to bring back the fall anime and not postpone them to next year. Recency bias shouldn’t be tackled by basically making the viewer forget about it and I doubt not having seen certain anime is a smaller problem with anime fans specifically. The second reason would be me wishing back the option for voting for an entry not nominated by the judges. Beyond just a cool feature, the results were some of the most interesting from the first Anime Awards.

Up next, even though it wasn’t really an issue this year, we need a clear rule concerning anime that span more than one calendar year. Currently, the anime is split into cours and only the respective cour is eligible for the year. Though it comes with its own set of problems, I would only make the anime eligible for the year it ended airing, but count the anime in its entirety, not cour for cour. This, however, is not a perfect solution, as anime that are already split into multiple parts or seasons would circumvent this rule. Honestly, I don’t know how to solve this problem, but there should be a more clear and consistent rule in the matter.

Lastly, there should probably be stricter rules for whether an anime is even eligible for a category to begin with. With the exception of “Anime of the Year”, an anime shouldn’t be nominated for a category it has won in a previous year to reduce repetition for anime that airs regularly around once a year, like My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan. Additionally, concerning the “genre”-categories, an anime should only be limited to the one category it most fits into, as the winner in one category is also likely to win in the other.

Beyond this, I don’t think there are a lot of problems concerning the choosing of the nominees themselves. I don’t really care how the voting is done in detail, though I myself would probably just keep the current structure, but limit it to one vote per person and ditch the social media aspect entirely to give smaller fandoms a better chance. I have also seen some people suggesting to be able to vote for multiple nominees per category, though I personally think only being able to vote for one nominee gives a more definitive result overall.

With the more theoretical stuff out of the way, here is how I would structure the Anime Awards:

General: Anime of the Year, Best New Series, Best Continuing Series, Best Original Anime, Best Film
Characters: Best Protagonist, Best Antagonist, Best Male Character, Best Female Character, Best Cast
Production: Best Animation, Best Character Design
Sound: Best Score, Best Opening Sequence, Best Ending Sequence, Best Insert Song, Best Voice Artists
Genre: Best Action, Best Comedy, Best Drama, Best Fantasy/Sci-fi, Best Romance, Best Slice of Life
Miscellaneous: Best Fight Scene, Most Heartwarming Scene, Must Protect At All Costs Character

To be frank, I also want to take some inspirations from the r/anime Awards, though keeping it relatively short and not adding additional categories for short series, more genres and more technical aspects like background art and compositing for the production categories, was my first priority.

As already mentioned, I think the categories for the different types of anime are good, even if there is still some potential overlap. For the characters, it really should be like the former years, differentiating between favorite male and female character outside of their role in the story. Also, some anime mostly work not due to a singular character, but their entire cast, thus the category for best cast.

I don’t think there is a lot to be done about the production categories, except maybe rethinking the specific qualification for the nominees. On the other hand, “Best Anime Song” simply should be about Insert songs and exclude the openings and endings. The rest can basically stay as is.

Concerning the genre categories, I basically changed everything I talked about prior, merging Sci-Fi into the Fantasy category and adding a Slice of Life one. I also thought about adding an Isekai category, though this might have been a bit too much.

Lastly, there are all the miscellaneous categories. I like the idea of them to be a bit more fun and open and more focused on specific aspects of the anime. Best fight scene might attract some pretty predictable nominees, but it was always a fun category. Same can be said about most heartwarming or emotional scene, even if we have only seen it once and while I personally think the “Must Protecc” one a bit silly… sure, why not. I personally would like to see this miscellaneous category to change every year, as this could also become a fun feature for the awards.

And that about wraps it all up. I sure spent a lot of time thinking about something I have literally no stake in, but this is life, I guess. The only thing left is to see how this year’s awards turn out and what next year has to offer. Until then, have a better day than I do.

You can vote for the Anime Awards on Crunchyroll’s official Voting Page until January 25.

Getting out of World of Tanks

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 18:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, it was inevitable. After almost one and a half years of actively watching streams of the game, I decided to get back into World of Tanks. Close to a year of playing later, it is time to say goodbye once again. It was fun, it really was, but if there is one lesson I didn’t learn from watching enough bad anime, it is knowing when to call quits.

So, what happened?

For the longest of time, only good things. At the time of my first post, I was only getting started playing the game, limited to the possession of tier six tanks. Low tier gameplay sucks. It is no fun, very unbalanced and prone to the worst flaws the game has to offer. But from tier six and beyond, this becomes less a problem, or at the very least less widespread and more condensed. The tanks get better, you get the feeling you are playing with the game and not against it and you are able to even prove your skill at times. Seriously, thanks to the newly (might actually be pretty old at this point) introduced blueprints, I was thankfully able to skip out on playing basically anything below tier four or five.

Grinding the tanks was actually a lot more bearable than imagined, though part of it comes from playing tanks with new mechanics for me. Even though I didn’t play particularly well, the Leopard line was a new experience for someone being mostly accustomed to standard heavy tanks, the Kranvagn line was almost stupid, once I reached the Emil I and the french light tracked vehicles demanded my best for it to become a good round. For all intents and purposes, this was the most fun I ever had in this game.

This enthusiasm didn’t burn down even after getting into the possession of my first tier ten tanks. I eventually figured out I am not the best light tank player and instead went for the ol' reliable, even if the tanks themselves were new to me. As of the time writing this post, I have acquired five tier ten tanks, with the sixth one, the CS-63, being only millions of credits away and a Conquerer at tier nine. I also became significantly better at the game as time went by, leading to better performance and games in general, rocking a respectable WN8 of 1325. However, the best decision I did was one I thought I would immediately regret instead: I paid money.

Owning a premium account is a literal bliss, as it comes with so many advantages that make the game so much more enjoyable, or, at the very least, less exhausting. First of, you do not have any money problems. I never had to farm for money or even lost some in a bad game, while I regularly go into the red in a good game without a premium account. Want equipment? Just buy some. Researched a new tank? No need to hesitate, just start playing it, as the price for your tier ten turns into literal pocket change. The economy in this game is a circus, might as well sit on top of the tent.

Experience also gets a decent boost. Sure, I can’t complain about the additional 50% on EXP, but the freely applicable +3x boosts are where it is really at. Nothing beats the feeling of having a great game and getting 450% of your value compared to a f2p match, leading me to only need a fraction of games to research new tanks. Also, you get so much more stuff, half the time I don’t even know why. Premium is the best. And while this is all fine and dandy, I am not the only one in possession of a premium account and other people truly intend to use their buying power to its full potential.

The game is fundamentally unfair. This is not up to debate. Premium rounds tend to make aiming at weak spots and knowing an enemies armor layout a suggestion instead a necessity, premium consumables are just a straight bonus and you could literally write your own post on how some premium tanks are so broken, they ruin entire matches. If you are free to play, you are not playing at an disadvantage, but stuck with a straight up handicap and the only solution being to pay up. It might not matter that much in individual games, but after playing over 4.500 of those, it adds up and you notice these differences more and more.

It also doesn’t help that I never had the opportunity to partake in any more serious and competitive modes, like the ranked matches, or the recent Onslaught event. Sure, I could have partaken in Onslaught, but with only a limited selection of (not so meta) tier ten vehicles and no premium time to dampen the necessary gold spamming in this mode, there were only so many matches I could have played anyway, not to speak of the fractions I would have enjoyed. Sometimes, this game feels very exclusionary in a roundabout way.

You also tend to notice the little things more and more too. Map design? Laughably unbalanced in most cases. Team mates? Basically encouraged to not help you out in a situation, if they are playing at all. This might just be the tinfoil hat on me speaking, but the game has it out for me, right? I know I am playing way better than the average and I have the stats to prove it, but I am also seemingly forever cursed to never escape the bottom 47 percent win rate, the only stat anyone ever looks at when confirming their bias of a player’s skill. Winning only 47 percent of your games… sure, it sucks but it also doesn’t matter that much, but not being able to flex with a win rate befitting of my own self image in this game and earning adoration from other players? Weltschmerz.

World of Tanks is a toxic relationship

Here is the thing. Coming back into the game, I already knew this was a thing and would come to annoy me yet again. Hell, it was one of the reason I felt finally compelled to quit back in 2014. And yet… and yet, here we are again, pretending I didn’t learn a thing. It reels me back in, I have fun, it gets worse and I have to live yet again with the feeling of inadequacy. Did I do something wrong, what is my fault? It can’t possibly be the game designed to make me suffer, right?

No Hansi, she is waving her red flags with pride.

Come on, she is not that bad. There were also good times.

Only if you enjoy losing over ten rounds in a row for those few second of fulfillment.

This happened like, two or three times max and I also once had like a 70 percent win rate over 15 games.

Everyday, she is literally eating more and more away at you psyche!

So does every game, right?

Except they do not. And even if they were, they shouldn’t. I know better than getting angry at video games like an enraged twelve year old. I have better things to do with my time and know how to not trick my emotions into destroying myself. “Good vibes only” I said after releasing my Precure video and I am a man of my word when it comes to promises made towards anime girls. Despite all the things said, World of Tanks is a fun game for me and when it is good, it’s good and when it is bad, I still come back without complaint, but it wears at me and I do not want to come to a point where I begrudgingly play the game in hopes of having a good time, instead of simply having a good time while playing.

For the last year, I basically played this game everyday to the point where I stopped questioning whether I should play it to begin with. It is not a matter of time wasted, but of principle. I should enjoy my time, this also includes judging what would make me happier in a moment: Playing the game or doing anything else. And this is simply not the case anymore. In fact, playing World of Tanks leaves me unable to engage with different things. Sure, time is time, but this can be compensated by a lack of sleep. Ironically, sleep, or rather zoning out for at least an hour afterwards, might be the only thing from keeping me from going insane, if I were to, for example, watch a few episodes of anime thereafter, while emotionally exhausted and or possibly agitated. You know what they say about being angry: Everything will look like a french visage.

Instead, I will pass the burden of playing the game myself unto other people that already do so and way better than I ever could and go back to interacting with the game only via watching streams. Life is a circle, no matter the radius, so might as well cut corners where it matters.

So, what now?

Well, while I initially thought about slowly phasing out, until I eventually stop playing entirely, this will clearly not happen in the near future. While I exclusively play the game with a friend and our sessions keep getting shorter, there is nothing in the way of us continuing like this for the foreseeable future, so I will have to make a decision I initially thought unnecessary for myself. I will set myself a date for the dead line. What date, you ask? Well, there are two that come to mind: The first one could have been the anniversary of my first WoT post on the first of February, but there is another date way more obviously befitting to quit: January 26 – the day I started playing this damned game again.

This will be the day of my last game. From there on, it will be cold turkey. Say goodbye to… definitely a time. Needlessly over dramatic? Sure, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Leave without missing a word. No letter, no flowers. It might even bring another person to quit too and do something with their additional hour of precious time.

After all this is done, there is only one logical conclusion left: Re-watching Girls und Panzer for the thousandth time. As for the game? If history is doomed to repeat itself by those that did not learn from it, I guess we will see us in another four years again.

Girls Love Manga Recommendations

Fri, 06 Jan 2023 17:40:00 +0100

Ach ja, I’m on a mission: To spread only the purest form of love. I don’t know why (well, I actually do know why, but don’t want to acknowledge it) I can barely get invested into heteronormal romance series, while I absorb girls love like a sponge. Seriously, it is essentially the only kind of romance I consume. When buying manga, I don’t even read the little blurb on the back of the book. If there are two girls on the cover, it goes straight into the cart.

However, and to save my own skin from questionable accusations, I don’t think there is something weird or even fetishistic about my focus on girls love specifically. Compared to other romance series, I think girls love is able to explore a wider scope of different kinds of relationships due to different social expectations that would arise from a heteronormal couple. I mean, the fact that there is no invisible wall to be overcome between the two different genders and that there are different assumptions of what the eventual outcome of the relation is to be, already makes for a different enough premise to differentiate between the two, often making girls love not just “a normal romance with two girls”, but an exploration of angles heteronormal romances seldom cover, as far as I’m concerned.

For that, if one somehow finds themselves stumbling onto this post expecting to find new series with a more “traditional” focus on romance, you are not completely in the wrong place, but there might be better lists to be found on the internet. Or not, and maybe I am talking with no ground to stand on, because what do I actually know about romance, amiright? I just want to spread some love about manga I care about.

A quick heads up: There will be a second part coming out soon™, as I don’t want to overload these kinds of lists with too many entries and also haven’t actually started/finished reading some promising series yet. Without further ado, here are some girls love manga recommendations.

Bloom Into You

Bloom into You is arguably the gold standard every other girls love series has to live up to. This series uses its kind of a weird start of a romance series as a vehicle to explore the deeper thoughts and emotions of its characters and what it means to be truly oneself and grow as a person. Bloom into You might might come off a bit frustrating at first, as the couple status of Yuu and Touka is rather ill defined, but I would argue whether they are “truly” together or not isn’t really the point, as their relationship is not just limited to romantic feelings, but how they change each other and come to understand themselves, despite their different approaches to life in all different kind of ways. This romance works, because it isn’t just two people that learn to love each other, but specifically because Yuu and Touka’s characters result in a dynamic that can be viewed from more than just one angle, something Bloom into You absolutely thrives in.

Add a nice and diverse supporting cast to fully round out some of the rougher edges and you got yourself a series that can be nuanced in all kinds of places, but also throw itself at you like a brick. I can also fully recommend the anime adaptation, as it captures the atmosphere of the manga fantastically, though it does jump off at an awkward point and leaves the manga not fully adapted.

Éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology

I love anthologies! For anyone who knows me, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. However, recommending anthologies isn’t always so easy. After all, they are anthologies and there are always bound to be better and worse entries in them, resulting in different hits and misses for everyone. I have read several girls love anthologies and the biggest hurdle to recommending them is consistency. While I liked all the ones I have read, Éclair is the only one that stuck in my brain for a continued amount of time and it also arguably features the highest density of high quality works, courtesy of authors that will most likely pop up in the other titles in this list as well.

As anthologies go, Éclair is willing to cover a lot of different topics and ground. There are of course your plethora of high school romances, but also childhood crushes and adult drama, a large variety in settings and many different takes on romance and relationships in general. Some short stories even keep up chronology over the different volumes, building up larger narratives. It feels a bit generic writing this, but Éclair literally should have something for everyone, which is why I can confidently recommend it more broadly in its entirety and not just singular selected entries.

Fu-fu

You ever have the yearning for whatever the reading equivalent of eating cotton candy and getting diabetes is? Look no further. Fu-fu is just really sweet and wholesome. Don’t go in expecting it treading new ground or a grander narrative. As written on the can, it simply is the mundane lives of two women really in love with each other and enjoying their company together. There is one point in the manga going deep into the worst trope imaginable – drama and misunderstandings caused by an utter lack of communication - but it doesn’t fare long and the resolution kind of makes up for it. For anyone into shorter and less “high stakes” series, Fu-fu might just well be the one for them.

I want to make you cry

I thought the german title “Ich will dich weinen sehen” (I want to see you cry) was already a bit much, but the english one absolutely tops it in terms of giving the wrong first impression until you realize what the title actually means, because this series is a lot more wholesome than first meets the eye. The story set-up might come off as rather basic, even comparable to the “flavor of girl” genre a friend came up with, considering it sometimes plays off the stark contrast of honer student and delinquent girl, though this gimmick also doesn’t overstay its welcome and instead gives room for some of the best-ofs from the RomCom trope library.

Again, this series might not have the biggest focus on romance, instead swinging more often than not into straight slice-of-life, and even the ending might not go as far as some wanted it to be, but it still succeeds in portraying a satisfying relationship between two girls that is very enjoyable to read and I would have personally loved to see more of.

Kase-san Series

Similar to Bloom into You, Kase-san is another classic. The story is mostly told through several vignettes and arguably covers the same beats as most romance series, but it does so exceptionally well. There is something nuanced about the different approaches to their relationship both girls have. While Kase is clearly more mature and experienced, Yui looks at their relationship with a lot more innocence and struggles to fully connect with Kase, despite the two of them being equally love-struck and yearning for each other.

I kind of wonder why it never received an anime series. Sure, there is the animated OVA, but I also wouldn’t really recommend watching it before reading ahead in the manga, as it completely skips the events of the first volume, covering how the two got together in the first place, and goes by a bit to fast for my taste to fully capture the appeal of the manga.

Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl

Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl is actually an anthology in disguise. While there is an overarching plot with its main focus on the relationship between Ayaka and Yurine, this series offers up several more couples, each taking center stage in their respective dedicated volume. This series fully expands on its cast and setting with several reminders interspersed that each story is part in something larger.

The relatively clear separation of the different story lines also helps give this manga a sense of direction, able to fully focus on one couple and their story one at a time, neatly resolving the conflict at the climax of each arc and volume. There is also a large variety of couples and their struggles they have to deal with. While the main couple has to individually overcome how they are perceived by the world around them, there are different kinds of love and affection portrayed throughout, while other focus on the specific circumstances, like seeing each other again after living apart for years or maybe just seeing another before school.

Luminous Blue

Normally, this entry wouldn’t have made the list, as I consider it rather mediocre in the grand scheme of things, though I suppose I could justify recommending it based on its story being different from the rest of the other entries. Luminous Blue follows the relationships of two girls through the lense of another girl, Kou, initially acting as an outsider and falling in love with the love between the two girls, despite them not being in a relationship anymore. The Plot basically follows Kou trying to rekindle the love between the two girls and accidentally becoming part herself in said love. You heard it right, folks, polygamy with a yuri twist for all you sick perverts out there :D.

Run Away With Me, Girl

Other than Fu-fu, Run Away With Me, Girl is unfortunately the only series focussing on adult characters I can recommend for now, which is a bit sad, as they often allow for a larger variety in settings and courses of life. In this case, it is about two women being unhappy in their current situations and going full melancholy on their shared past together. It feels pretty down to earth, despite how dramatic some of the events can become and even branches out into other issues such as abuse and social pressure. There is always this tinge of realism in there, which makes the story seem pretty grounded, even if there is a lot of romantics in the romance. It can be a slow burn at times, but for everyone yearning a romance beyond the scope of two high schoolers fumbling their way through their first love, this one might be for you.

Honorable Mentions

Unlike other honorable mentions, these series didn’t make the cut due to their quality, but because as I compiled the list, I mostly included entries with a certain theme, vibe and genre: One way or the other, they are all relatively forward romances or have a focus on relationships between girls, thus I decided against including manga with lesbian themes but different focuses. They are all interesting in their own ways, so don’t hesitate to give them a chance.

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness is, as the name might suggest, an auto-biographical piece by Kabi Nagata about her not so great life, leading until the point where she, out of frustration, reaches out towards an lesbian escort service to fill the void inside her.

If I Could Reach You could have normally made the list, depending on you views on the story. For me, it is more of a general drama, even with the core of the series being about a girl in love with her brother’s wife. It is mostly about Uta trying to remover herself and put distance between the love she is never meant to be with, while being surrounded by all kinds of different relationships via her friends. Not so sure what to think about the ending, but it definitely had a strong run.

Play at Friendship, at first glance, appears to be perfectly tailored for me. An all-girls school that appoints the couple showing the best friendship the “queens” of the school? But it doesn’t go the way you would expect from a girls love manga, instead making the main character disassemble the premise of the very story and shine a light on how superficial some friendships tend to be when based solely on how they are portrayed outwards. It is questionable whether this can even be called girls love, but it does fit the bill either way for this honorable mentions section.

And this is it for now. I am not sure when I will, or rather can release the second part, as I still have to actually read a good amount of them, as well as me mostly trying to recommend finished works, but until then, I hope there was something to your liking and we will hopefully see us next time.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volumes 13-14

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 18:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, we are not only slowly approaching the end, but are also finally catching up with the jumping of point at the end of volume 5. Let’s go!

Volume 13

So, while Volume 11 focused on a completely new perspective and volume 12 covered events we at least knew have happened, volume 13 kind of combines the two different approaches and thusly ends our little “recap” arc by showing the demon’s side of the events when shit hit the fan for Shun and friends.

The fun things about having two separate narratives run concurrently is when they finally collide and you realize just how different in scale these two stories really are. Shun and all of humanity are getting played, just utterly taken advantage of and used as if it were the most normal thing in the world. I always thought the events in volume three went by rather fast with essentially no build-up we were aware of. Now that we do have the knowledge of what went on in the background, it is almost laughable how serious and tense the uprising and Shun’s escape to the elf’s village was for me the first time I watched and read it. Honestly, White, Sophia, etc. overhearing the assassination of the king in the other room, as they are basically waiting for their cue in this bad play reached new heights of (un-)intended comedy.

We finally get insight into the several layers of mind-control, that were going on. First of, there is Potimas' influence, because of course he got his dirty little hands everywhere he can, though the implications were mostly for him to cover all of his bases, like the king intending to announce Shun his successor as for Shun not raise his skill as the hero any higher. Then there White’s manipulation of Hugo. It was stated in the second or third novel that Hugo’s escape most likely included spatial manipulation, which is weird, as there are only so many humans capable of teleportation magic. But no, it was Sophia and White all along. White basically told Hugo to manipulate more people, which eventually snowballed into what we have seen from Shun’s perspective, as was White’s plan.

From there on, it is basically following what White and the demons did while Shun and his group fled to the elves. Hugo continues to be an idiot and fries some brains via his manipulation and Sue admits that while she was manipulated at first, she eventually decided to go with the demon lord’s plan for the sake of her beloved onii-chan’s safety. Meanwhile, Sophia attacks Shun literally for the lulz. Initially, I wasn’t fully convinced of her attacking Shun out of boredom, but considering the characterization she underwent in the inbetween volumes… yeah, I can see how she would absolutely do that for even less a reason. She does so another time at the battle for the elf village. God bless our anti-social queen of sass. Also, bonus points for Wrath having the most justified “What the fuck are you doing?” upon seeing Shun fighting alongside the elves. Leave it to our wannabe hero to ruin the day.

On the other side, White is as busy as ever. On hand hand, she watches over Shun and his group escaping to the elf village and on the other hand, she is preparing to destroy the system governing the world. After Shun revealed his Mercy skill, White wanted to know what the limits of this particular skill are, as not even she can resurrect the dead. This eventually led to the events unfolding in the end of volume 3, though it is still not revealed what Ronandt’s deal is supposed to be. More importantly, we get a shocking twist: Hyrince, Julius' friend and new comrade of Shun… is actually Gülie, or rather one of his clones specifically, which brings up a lot of questions regarding his actual position in this entire conflict.

Firstly, there is a personal side to it all. He was Julius' friend and now travels alongside Shun not out of obligation as an administrator, but out of a personal sense of responsibility and duty. He wants Shun to not just die, but keep him out of harms way, which goes contrary to White’s utter lack of empathy for everything not concerning herself. White did and continues to do a lot of shady and questionable stuff, but this instance was interesting, as Gülie/Hyrince specifically called it tasteless. How much actual harm was done is up for debate, but he doesn’t approve of White either way.

Secondly, Gülie is technically not an ally, though the word “technically” does a lot of legwork, as there is a heavy bias towards Ariel. For the time, Gülie works alongside Ariel and White, because their goal to get rid of Potimas goes perfectly hand in hand with his position as one of the administrators of the world and he has his own personal stakes in freeing Sariel from the System. But beyond this, there isn’t a lot connecting him and White specifically. I mean, he more often than not refers to her as “thing” and “creature” and considering White’s track record, she might become stronger than him any time now, so yeah, he may not be that foolish in being wary of her in several ways.

Quick side note aside, White finally has an end goal she is willing to share with the reader and how the series will most likely turn out towards its end. So basically, she wants to destroy the System and save Sariel, who is used as its core, in the process and returning the world to a normal state. Incidentally, being the evil god she proclaims herself to be, D made the destruction of the system an inherent feature of said system, which, under any other circumstances, would be one hell of a contrivance, but D gotta D and it is not like White gets to do it for free either. Apparently, each owner of one of the seven deadly sins and seven heavenly virtues skills holds a “key” to unlock part of the system. The missing locks can be picked, though White would rather avoid doing so and rather collect the keys, even if they are in the possession of the enemy or neutral fractions.

The system also fights back. This fight took up a good quarter of the novel and while I consider it a far cry from being bad, it wasn’t really interesting either. We know White is able to deal with it one way or another and the fight will simply come down to a question of how, but was simply missing the weight we otherwise have with an enemy previously established. The fight had a nice premise with the shadows taking the form of several different classes or even characters we as the reader have encountered, but as they are no real characters, it was essentially White fighting off random enemies no one cares about. Well, being successful in her endeavour, it is finally time to rid Potimas of the surface of the planet and catch up to the “present”, right?

Volume 14

Yes, we do, but surprisingly, this is kind of the least interesting aspect of this volume. Instead, we go way back into the past. Volume 14 is divided into Ariel and White attacking the elf village and the events culminating into how this world slowly turned into D’s playground and current setting. It is hard to find an angle from where to start, as most of the perspectives build on each other, but the gist is the following: Potimas ruined everything and continues to do so even after the (not yet quite) literal end of the world. So much nothing new. Volume 14 basically chronicles Gülie and Ariel’s interactions with Sariel, Ariel’s connection towards Potimas and how Potimas slowly kick-started the events leading to Sariel’s sacrifice and the world turning into an RPG video game for D’s amusement.

Gülie started out as a young dragon (not the winged lizard kind), until one day he came across Sariel. He initially took an interest in her, as she was even more powerful as the dragons, but it quickly became obvious for everyone but himself that he was in love with her, even though he explicitly stated he would not be enamoured by a person simply because she bested him in combat. Like, sure buddy, I am the last person to judge you for that, no need to be tsundere about it. In general, the difference between “present” and “dumb teenager” Gülie is quite fun to observe, as you can absolutely see where he is coming from and his development is handled with a surprising amount of care and nuance. This volume also clears up why he is so willingly going along Ariel’s plan that will help him free the person he feels a special connection towards, as well as getting revenge upon Potimas.

Then there is Ariel who kind of had a rough upbringing. We learn that she was created by Potimas as a chimera, before being rescued by Sariel. Her perspective is mostly about reminiscing times gone by and, similar to Gülie, what an important person Sariel was to her. There was this incredible sweet gesture of her producing embroidery for everyone in the orphanage, because she felt like she didn’t have much time left anymore.

Lastly, there is Potimas. We finally get to know what his intention and ultimate goal is all about. For generic as it may seem, up to this point, I kind of assumed Potimas wanted ultimate control over the planet, as this world for once not only gives you the means of doing so via the skills, but also because Potimas clearly has an agenda going on with fighting back against the administrators. Turns out I was wrong. Massively, in fact. Instead, it all started very simple with a man wanting immortality and not stopping in his pursue of doing so, no matter what obstacle may be in the way. You could almost think of it as the start of a tragic pipe dream, but this guy was also kidnapping children, conducting experiments on humans and was a pretty shitty person in general.

One day, Potimas discovered MA Energy, the literal life force of the planet and made it available to everyone, resulting in the world slowly getting destroyed, despite the warnings from the dragons. The usage of MA energy also explains the origin of the elves and demons. This all eventually escalated into the dragons attacking humanity, though at this point it was already too late for the planet anyway. In desperation, Gülie asked D for help, as Sariel is bound to the planet and destined to go down with it. It was D’s doing that ultimately lead to the world being gamified with Sariel at its core.

In contrast, the exploits of Ariel and White seems almost insignificant in scale, with it basically being one long and extended fight against Potimas' machines, though the fights were fun with essentially a running gag serving as the transition between them:

White (For the third time): There is no way Potimas has something stronger in stock!

*Potimas pulls out another stronger weapon*

White: Nai wa!

She also has to reveal her secret weapon she developed for Gülie in case she has to fight him. We also get yet another chapter of Ronandt accidentally fighting alongside his enemies, but this time the puppet spiders get to judge him like “What is that old geezer doing”. Never stop Ronandt. Never stop.

The finale finally gets us to the point we have all been waiting for since his introduction: Potimas' death. I appreciate how almost anti-climatic the final confrontation between him and Ariel played out. With no way to fight back against her and White, he simply reduced himself to pathetic pleading and crying for his life. Ariel even hit him with the old “Was there any meaning to a life you spent fleeting death” to fully cement her victory over him. To be honest, I might have wished for a bit grander end to Potimas, especially as we never really digged into his incentive for doing all this, which might lead to him coming off as a weaker and worse villain than he was as up to this point. Was he a perfect villain? No, but he was very enjoyable and I would rather have him in the background, than several smaller and less iconic villains arc per arc. In this sense: Good riddance!

This volume also doubles down on the friendship Ariel and White developed over the previous volumes. Ariel making sure White gets enough sleep might go down into one of my favorite moments of this series and the catharsis both characters feel upon defeating Potimas was beautiful to read. The both could have never gotten this far without the other and they are now able to stand as equals and support each other. Good for them, good for them.

Final Thoughts

I feel like I really did a bad job at talking about both volumes. Sorry about this.

With the “main villain” gone, I wonder what is to come in the final two volumes. I am sure Gülie might be up to something and I hope we get another visit from D, but beyond destroying the system and cleaning up the messy situation with the other reincarnations, I doubt there is much left to explore. But until then, I guess I have to wait a few months, as the translation for the final volume is not out yet and since I read that volume 15 and 16 were almost released back to back, I guess it would make sense to read them without a several month break inbetween. Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

Weathering with You is not just another Your Name

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 23:20:00 +0100

Ach ja, yesterday, I watched Weathering with You with two friends and we really liked it. To be perfectly clear, my honest intention was to low-key clown on the movie, given as my impression of it up to this point, solely based on the surprisingly few comments I heard about the movie, was it being a weaker version of Your Name – a movie I don’t even consider to be actually that bad in a lot of ways, but can’t bring myself to like also and thus it claims the spot of “Popular anime I don’t want to like because everyone else sees so much more in it than I do and I don’t understand why”. Really, I am the worst kind of reactionary critic.

Also, Weathering with You basically begs to be compared to Your Name. Though I haven’t seen all of his prior movies, Makoto Shinkai does seem to pretty closely follow a certain formula in his works: A boy and a girl trying to close the distance between them caused by supernatural happenings and overcoming their own hang-ups via their love for each other. And no, I do not remember the plot of The Garden of Words anymore, so no point in correcting me in my potentially wrong assumption, but, I am pretty confident applying this reading to both movies at hand is not that far-fetched, so let’s run with it.

However, I am normally not that big a fan of singing praises of single media by comparing it to another one. Weathering with You is a good movie, whether Your Name exists or not, but considering how much Weathering with You addresses and improves upon flaws I found myself annoyed by in Your Name, the comparison comes naturally for me, even if my point is not to put one above the other. It is also not like I could ever make a case for it, considering how the consensus seems to be that Weathering with You is a weaker Your Name. Like, I obviously disagree and am about to explain why, but who am I to argue against something I barely understand myself. There are many hills to die atop, but this one ain’t mine.

In general, I think Weathering with You is quite tightly written and has some good clarity to it with the supernatural aspect being less intertwined into the narrative structure, even if it might cause a subsequent rewatch to be less interesting, as the bulk of the movie doesn’t necessarily need to depend on the supernatural. For the most part, the story is really simple with two people meeting under their own circumstances, eventually falling in love and then overcoming the third-act climax that is apparently necessary (It is not, really). Compared to the convoluted mess that is Your Name’s half-way twist, this gave Weathering with You time to breath and fully focus on its characters, whether you think the relatively small amount of time sells the romance between Hodoka and Hina or not, though I could at least read it a bit more as a romance than the special connection between Mitsuha and Taki in Your Name, which was then played as a relatively straight and classic romance in its own right (I am still not over Your Name being a completely different movie compared to what I wanted it to be).

But while Your Name was then carried by its plot, Weathering with You takes a more slice-of-life approach with less high stakes, giving us a greater focus on the extended cast instead. To be frank, everyone besides the two main characters in Your Name do not matter that much. Taki’s friends are mostly just there, Mitsuha’s friends help with the plot and not even the hot older woman character holds up. Compared to Your Name, Weathering with You builds actual characters and interactions between them. Keisuke, beyond just being a fun character, not only has his own things going on, but builds himself up as a sort of parallel to Hodaka, having experienced similar circumstances beyond just having ran away from home. Him being one of “sunshine girl”’s clients was also a nice touch. Hina’s brother also gets time to shin, with him not only being limited to interaction between his sister, but Hodoka and other characters as well. He is also just a giant chad. Using his ex- and current girlfriend to fool the police was hilarious and a massive W. Natsumi falls slightly flat, but still does get to act on her own and is not reduced to following and helping any character around

If there is one character I don’t consider that well written, it is Hina. While I don’t think agency is a must, and her still being a fun character to be around and bounce off Hodaka’s less confident charisma, I was still disappointed that she was kind of reduced to a plot device by the end. It was Hodaka who actively made decisions, while Hina was mostly subjugated to the supernatural events happening to her. It always bums me out a bit if the two main characters don’t get the same importance ascribed to them. Hodaka has his own arc, started his own journey long before meeting Hina in the first place and I fully believe him becoming the character in the end of the movie, deciding to save Hina instead of the weather. On the other hand, I feel like the role of the “sunshine girl” could have been taken over by a plethora of characters, not limited to Hina specifically, as she barely does something on her own beyond deciding to sacrifice herself and causing the climax of the movie.

Another aspect I feel like Weathering with You handles better than Your Name are the consequences of the supernatural on everyone “not in the know”. This is a more general gripe I have with most supernatural series, but I often feel almost uncomfortable with characters doing something if it concerns other people outside the characters acting upon the supernatural and Your Name is a peak example of that. Mitsuha not only convinces her two friends to take over the village intercom and blow up a transformer station, but also tries to evacuate everyone from an incoming meteor. Sure, she and the audience know this is necessary and true, but for everyone else, this must seem like she has lost her mind. Even Taki’s goal to find a girl he doesn’t know exists looks tame and almost reasonable by comparison. Scenes like Mitsuha confronting her father are great drama and can utilize the dichotomy of the aforementioned situation to great effect, see Re:Zero, but personally, they always make me cringe and uncomfortable to the point I would rather not like to see them.

Weathering with You basically dodges this “problem”, by layering its conflicts with more grounded problems only indirectly connected to the supernatural happenings. Just imagine explaining the climax of the movie to any sane in-universe person: “The girl didn’t run away, but was taken to the world above the clouds, I have to go through this toori gate at the roof of this abandoned, partially destroyed building to reach her and bring her back and I don’t care if Tokyo will be submerged by rain because of it” and then there is the police officer like, “Boy, I am here because you ran away from home and somehow got hold of a firearm. What are you even talking about?”. The Weather is simply allowed to be, with almost everything revolving around it being connected to something else too.

I am pretty glad the adults in the movie don’t have to actually acknowledge the supernatural elements in the world to give them validity. Im mean, Keisuke didn’t help Hodaka because he necessarily believes him, but instead understands his feelings for Hina due to his own lost love and the police is not some evil force that tries to stop our two teenage protagonist from doing an important thing, but a… well, a police doing their job. Hell, even other kinds of unnecessary conflict were omitted by not bringing up characters like the pimp Hina and Hodaka had an encounter with early in the movie. This all makes the movie flow a bit better, because you don’t get the feeling of having another rock thrown in your way of enjoying what the actual movie is about.

This all hopefully brings me to my main point: Maybe Weathering with You and Your Name might not actually be that similar at all. Sure, the premise might be the same and both movies try their best to end on a similar note, though Weathering with You’s climax is arguably more personal and closely connected to the bulk of the movie, but everything inbetween could be described as its own, at least to a point where I would never call one its another. Your Name is a supernatural movie that leads into a romance by twisting its initial slice-of-live premise, while Weathering with You feels more akin to a movie about characters coming together in several ways and dealing with their problems using their new-found bonds, with the supernatural simply being another layer of, but not intrinsically part of it. And if anything, I hope I made the point of Weathering With You not simply being a watered down version of Your Name.

Of course, if someone wants asks for recommendations, these two movies will fall pretty closely to each other, but it is not like one could not explain the individual appeal of each movie. Basically, Weathering with You is not just another Your Name and I hope other people will be able to see it as well. At the very least, one has a Pretty Cure reference and the other one doesn’t.

Fun fact: I initially wanted to name the article “Weathering with Your Name”, because I thought this would be a very clever title, but considering it makes no sense, or at least not in the way I want it to, I had to unfortunately drop it.

Weathering with You is available on Netflix.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volumes 11-12

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 22:40:00 +0100

Ach ja, this post will either be the shortest or longest post in this series by a long shot. No inbetween. So for the sake of breviety, or because there will be a lot ahead of us, let’s jump right into it.

Overall Impressions

Volume 11 and 12 occupy a rather weird place in the narrative overall. Volumes 1 through 5 are split in time, focussing mainly on either White’s beginnings or Shun’s life in the academy and eventual resistance against the revolution and journey to the elves. Volumes 6 through 10 then fill in the gap between White’s perspective and Shun’s, essentially giving the reader all the connective tissue needed to merge these two “separate” narratives into a singular coherent one.

And yet, volumes 11 and 12 do not continue at our sudden break-off point at the end of volume 5 and they also don’t portray a time-skip, as I have initially misjudged the cover art for. Instead, they give us yet another perspective of both events and sides we know have happened, but didn’t actually see much of it. Specifically, those two volumes focus on the hero Julius, Shun’s late brother, and the Great Human-Demon War, the conflict that actually set most of the events until now into motion, but despite its importance was somehow never properly covered or talked much about.

To be frank, I kind of get where the hate for volume 11 comes from and I personally might rank it relatively low compared to the other volumes as well. Julius is the very archetype of a hero down to a T. He’s got the talk, he’s got the walk and he’s most definitely got the ideals to die by. This isn’t even to judge his character, but rather to clarify what you will get out of his perspective. For all intents and purposes, he isn’t even a bad character at all on his own, being challenged and confronted by his surroundings and own ideals in more ways than one, but it also more or less plays out how you would expect. There is no dark twist, no ironic fall from grace or even a development-ey break of his character. The label “Hero” is written in grand bold characters on the can and this is exactly what you will get once opened.

Compared to the rest of the flavorful cast of characters we have come to love and hate, Julius might come off a bit dull, bland even. For as aspiring as heroes are in theory, there is often not much behind them, if only limited to simply being the hero of a story. Sure, his slow rise to prominence and interactions with his party give him some spice, but considering the story also makes a point of his lack of life and his sole role as the hero, made this volume a bit of a chore to read at times if you are not fully invested in simply seeing a hero do heroic deeds and struggle in his own way along the way.

So, what’s the point of Julius getting almost an entire volume of his own and being more of a focal point than even White in another? Well, as often, sometimes there really isn’t a “point”. For what it is worth, we get some more world building on the human side. Remember the elves kidnapping children all over the world? Julius got his start doing that, taking initiative in front of former veterans and getting used to the bloodshed of war. The last part was actually the reason why the pontiff put him into his position in the first place, giving another insight into the power struggles on the human side of things. Beyond this? Seeing how his hero personality slowly forms, it is unfortunately not always linked to that great of scenes. The death of his mentor, as well as his mock fight against Ronandt were good, bringing home the point of not senselessly sacrificing oneself due to emotional turmoil. On the other hand, everything connected to his kindness and “turning the other cheek”-attitude is mostly idea-driven first with any semblance of emotional impact coming second. Bad? No, not really and I have seen it handled far worse elsewhere, but also not that engaging on its own.

However, what can stand on its own two feet is the portrayal of Julius' party and the relationships inbetween. Specifically, I have no problem with calling every member of the hero party an actual character, not just a role to be filled with a nice face. Hyrince isn’t just the better looking side-kick of Julius, but these two connect a deep bond and friendship in which every gesture feels genuine akin to the years they have spent together. Yaana isn’t just your average saint and token love interest, but she is allowed to struggle on her own, as well as suffer from the fact that her love for Julius can never be reciprocated. Hawkin and Jeskan, due to their age and experience, take up the role of their guardians, despite, as a gentleman thief and a lone wolf adventurer respectively, being initially impressed by Julius' determination and will, rather than his status as the hero.

All the relationships are not directly centered around Julius too, with both Hyrince and Yaana and especially Hawkin and Jeskan having their own thing going on. These five make up a well-rounded cast of characters that can carry the sometimes trite places the plot has to take them, which makes scenes like them all talking about more mundane topic like the random digress about sex and romantic relationships so much more enjoyable. I doubt I would enjoy reading a series helmed by them as the main core cast, but for their current place in the larger narrative, they do their job just fine even beyond solely simply fulfilling their given roles.

But again, this all begs the question: What is the point? We all know what will happen to them and being more detailed about their exploits will not change anything going forward, so why not just cut it all out? Sure, we get some nice world-building, but this hardly warrants the better half of two entire volumes, right? And I guess, if one comes from the perspective of seeing the story of “So I’m a Spider, So what?” through a limited perspective, even if it is not just limited to White specifically, this attitude wouldn’t normally just make sense, but would also be the more sensible one from a writing perspective. Calling especially volume 11 filler might be a bit harsh, but no one would describe it as integral either, maybe being better suitable for something like an EX volume.

However, and this no doubts a biased opinion of myself, “So I’m a Spider, So what?” is not limited to just a few perspectives. From the ground up, each character is only exposed to a snippet of the whole story and we as the reader get to fully untangle the web of events by combining each and every one of them. It isn’t just White, it isn’t just Shun and it also is not just humans, demons and elves. Every single character in the story has a perspective and for the most part, all of them deserve the benefit of the doubt to be told, because the question of whether something contributes to the story or not might be the wrong approach for this particular story. The perspectives are the story, narrative and themes, not the other way around. This distinction might be brickle at times, but for me, it answers the question of why we do get a volume focused on Julius. It is part of the world and instead of wondering why something seemingly unnecessary for the connections of previous volumes is included, why not argue about what it does bring to the table.

I know it has been a while, but remember Shun? Specifically Shun as Shun, the hero? As much as I like certain aspects of his character, I don’t think – actually, I know for certain – I am not the only who considers Shun to be a pretty bad hero. Not in the in-universe sense, I am sure his broken stats and skills will help him just fine, but in a more general sense. From an outside perspective, like as a reader, he can be pretty obnoxious and weirdly incompetent, only playing the role of a hero without a firm understanding of what it actually entails to act upon this calling. However, the specific way his actions are framed always seemed to me a tad too self-aware to be an actual writing problem. As mentioned several posts ago, this series is able to competently dodge bad tropes and cliches with ease, so why does Shun’s character seemingly defy all this effort and run right into the worst offenders of making your audience sigh with exhaustion and disbelief?

Well, call it contrast, dichotomy or even a possible retcon, but maybe the point was for him to suck all along and we can now fully acknowledge it by being exposed to Julius, an actually decent hero, instead of the dollar store variant personified by Shun. In retrospect, volume 11 also delivers on why Shun looked up to his brother to such a degree. Julius is just better than him, which makes it really ironic how unceremonial his and the rest of the party’s deaths actually played out. Hawkin and Jeskan succumbed to their wounds off-screen, Yaana was crushed under the spider monster’s leg and Julius and Hyrince were insta-killed by White. There was even this rather kitschy moment of Julius remembering all the advice he received along his journey in the final battle, trying to overcome the challenge he faces. Yet, it does seem tragic. Sure, they never had a real chance, but it does still sting, given that they gave it their all and would have likely succeeded under normal circumstances. Compared to what they all went through, Shun just pails in comparison, as his strengths lie elsewhere, even after receiving the torch from his brother.

In this sense, these two volumes re-contextualize large chunks of previous volumes, specifically Shun and his view of his brother. Whether one thinks this is not all good, or even brings up more questions, is not for me to decide. If anything, it might also directly shine a light on one of the flaws of not just a continuously released story, but specifically a continuously released story that purposefully jumps back, forth and generally all around its narrative framework. For as much as I like the approach of this series narrative structure and story-telling, I am not above criticizing it for when it does fall apart at times. At the end of the day, most people will not only think about the entire story in a chronological way, but also in the order they experience it in. Yeah, sometimes, an event can effectively change your perception of something several volumes prior, however, sometime, it might also fall flat on its face.

For the most part, volume 12 continues in the same way volume 11 did, though it has the benefit of broadening the field of perspectives covered, as well as being arguably a bit more tied to the mainline plot, even if it “only” details events that were only sparsely hinted in the first volumes. In fact, it is weird how little we actually knew about the Great Human-Demon War up to this point. For what it was worth, it always felt like the backdrop that would lead to the events in the first 5 volumes, but never its own real thing. We only get to realize its importance in the next volume and without this hindsight, it seems like Julius dying was the only major takeaway of it all.

Volume 12 reads like a giant field/experience report of the war from almost everyone that partook in it. Again, relatively few new information, but considering we actually know these events happened, they were pretty fun to read, despite their relative insignificance, as they still hold up as character pieces. Like yeah, I now fully do believe Sanatoria will rebel against the demon lord to the very end and seeing Agner and Bloe’s final moments truly characterizes the tragic circumstances of this war. Wrath and Merazophis' chapters also go in a similar direction with Wrath having to needlessly send soldiers to their death and Merazophis once again being put in the role of a villain for Kunihiko and Asaka to bounce off of. This war truly has no winner, as the point of this conflict far exceeds what this war really is. Even the two “Observations from future historians” chapter comment on how brutal and high the death count was.

What also comes to a semi-resolution is what was hinted in Sophia’s POV in the eleventh volume. Interspersed between the hero’s exploits, we got to see small snippets from Sophia enrolling in the demon academy and causing accidental drama. Being removed from both White and Merazophis, her childish traits start acting up again and attending school for a second time also doesn’t help. The puppet spiders, after they prevented Sophia from fleeing the academy, once literally threw her a bone and Sophia just ate it. Despite having no relation to anything, in my brain, this kinda just makes perfect sense. Yeah, I can see Sophia munching on bones as a snack because she is angry, and she evens keeps up this habit. She also starts drinking blood and before you know it, she accidentally charmed almost the whole academy.

Introducing Phelmina and Wald. So, Phelmina was the only one figuring out what is actually happening and tried to intervene, but was then conspired against by her whole class with her fiancé Wald leading the charge, resulting in her being kicked out of the academy, being dishonored and disinherited by her family and forced to join the tenth army with White at the helms. Doing the right thing sucks! Incidentally, Sophia and Wald also join the tenth army at a later date. So yeah, the other person Sophia talked to in volume 5 was Phelmina and we finally learn why she hates Sophia so much. On the other hand, Wald went full Simp on Sophia and even made her turn him into a vampire. Meanwhile, Sophia is kind of conflicted herself. On one hand, she absolutely understands Phelmina’s point of view, but on the other hand… it is not like she did it on purpose and thus feels no obligation to help her either. She also flat out rejects Wald’s approaches. Truly a queen of queens. Then there is White, who doesn’t care it was an accident and put a curse on Sophia to make her call her “Master” and make her fall on her hands and knees if White so desires, very much to the delight of Phelmina, judging by her smug expression.

Other than that, the volume follows several skirmishes with a heavy focus on the hero party’s last moments, but mostly doesn’t really add anything new. Volume 10 introduced the demon lord sword and volume 11 and 12 now bring up the hero sword, as well as a plan to waste it on one of White’s clones without success. This leaves the new hero, Shun, with a weapon that can not only kill the demon lord, but also affect White herself, raising the stakes of an otherwise easy attack on the elves. For the future, this also introduces another problem as White doesn’t want to kill Shun and now has to convince him to go with her plan instead… and judging from Shun’s character up to this point, he would rather stay under the assumption that there is a better way than do anything slightly betraying his own ideals, no matter the magnitude of the problem at hand (read: hero complex).

Final Thoughts

In general, this might have been the weakest stretch up to this point, due to the severe lack of forwards momentum, though I would never advocate deeming them obsolete or even recommend skipping them entirely. It is simply expanding on lesser moments and filling in the little holes left by the unusual way the story jumps through time and space all the time. It also sets up the narrative merge of handling the plot points raised in the first five volumes, now with the hindsight of more knowledge and the perspectives of White, Sophia and the demons.

If anything, these two volumes made me anticipate the coming events more than any other volume. We are slowly approaching the climax of the series and I can’t wait to return to the confrontation between White and Shun. Until then, let’s hope the next volumes are less a pain to get through than these two. Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

My favorite Anime Openings & Endings 2022

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:20:00 +0100

Ach ja, like I have already mentioned last year, I am not the most qualified person to conduct end-of-the-year lists. At the time of writing this post, I have seen six series and one movie from 2022 with at least four more series on the back burner. However, I do always take the time to at least listen into the seasonal compilations of openings and ending, meaning I have seen at least a snippet of every OP and ED of the year. Incidentally, most entries seem to be from the current fall season, though it is indeed a stacked season. Due to personal bias, I will most likely overlook promising entries, but I did look into anything that caught my eye. I can only give better insight into the sequences I have actually seen the corresponding anime, but I hope I can also explain my fascination of entries I did not see, but consider great regardless.

As always, this is not a ranked list, as my opinion probably shifts three times a day. So, without further ado, here are my favorite anime openings and endings of 2022.

Openings

Normally, this would be the place to explain what I value and look forward in an opening for, but if there is something I learned from compiling those over the years, it is that an opening can work on so many different layers, that either limiting or simply defining what I value in an opening couldn’t possible cover everything I like without at least some exceptions utterly disregarding what I would have written. Alas, a good opening is… if it is good. No, I can nor will get any more specific :D.

Princess Connect! Re:Dive Season 2 Opening — “Lost Princess” by M・A・O, Miku Itou and Rika Tachibana

To be honest, I never really got warm with the first opening of Princess Connect. Sure, the song is also the opening theme for the game, sung by the main trio, but it never felt like Princess Connect, but rather KonoSuba with Kazuma’s gang being replaced by Yuuki’s. While I always appreciate more KonoSuba and its vibe perfectly translates into the actual show, I always wished the opening, just like the ED, would more appropriately capture Princess Connect itself.

The second opening does just that, having a bigger focus on the Gourmet Guild and their mundane mornings, their comradery and even hints towards a larger climax of the series itself. Also, the action sequence with all the characters flying across the screen is just perfection. Literal “Blink and you miss it” goodness of all the characters from the game. If you are a fan of the game, this is the opening you would wish for its anime adaptation and the anime once again delivers on that.

Spy x Family Opening — “Mixed Nuts” by Official HIGE DANdism

Masashi Ishihama simply is a certified god if it comes to opening and ending sequences and he once again brings his A-game for this entry. The OP is a juxtaposition of the daily life of the Forger family and the main jobs of Loid and Yor from the perspective of Anya and her child-like understanding of it. As expected, there are a plethora of creative layouts, great usages of transitions and distinctive color palettes, resulting in a visual feast for the eye. While It might be low on deeper meaning or references to the story, it makes all up for it with unlimited charme.

Lycoris Recoil Opening — “ALIVE” by ClariS

I tend to like OP’s that really follow and commit themselves to one singular idea and execute on it. Lycoris Recoil’s theme is contrast and duality: The way Chisato and Takina always oppose each other in one way or another, either walking into different direction, being isolated into the other side of the screen or by the use of different colors. There are seeral more contrast in the anime that get expanded further in the anime. There is the dichotomy between assassins going undercover as school girls and working in a café, the visual motif of the two towers and even how Chisato’s vibe is totally off compared to the other Lycoris, as seen by her confident stride and posing. However, the opening also gives us some harmony, like Chisato and Takina being in the café, the two girls fighting alongside another perfectly and even pulling a “Stand by me” reference in the end. Add a banger song and you got yourself a good OP.

Ya Boy Kongming! Opening — “Ciki Ciki Bam Bam” by QUEENDOM

This is a vibe. I am always fascinated by “other worlds”, even, or specifically, if they are grounded in our world. I would probably die the second I set foot in a club, but seeing it portrayed in media, I can’t help but thinking about how cool it is. Also, add the most famous chinese military strategist in history to the mix and you get yourself this. No idea what is going on, but it slaps and the dance is just phenomenal. Fun fact, the song is a cover of some hungarian pop-song. Do I ever plan on watching the anime. No, but I have to acknowledge a certified banger.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Opening — “Shukufuku” by YOASOBI

To be honest, I don’t know much about this Gundam entry, beyond the fact that it is supposed to be some mix of Revolutionary Girl Utena and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but I sure want to watch it someday. The opening already gives me enough incentive to see emotionally unstable teens eventually being forced to betray themselves and start killing each other, or at least this is my reading from the little character glimpses we get and the fact, that this is still Gundam. Also, the full music video is really cool and probably has tons of meaning I can’t fully grasp yet.

Urusei Yatsura (2022) Opening — “Aiue” by MAISONdes, Minami and SAKURAmoti

Similar to the last entry, I do not know much about Urusei Yatsura, beyond it being one of the progenitor of anime RomCom’s. However, there is always some interesting aspect to bringing and old property into today’s present. The opening certainly leans into the fact that the original property is from the 70/80s. The very start of the opening might just be my favorite part, opening with a literal Space Invaders parody, but also continues with framing the protagonist around animated, what I assume are the original manga panels and old-school dating sims on the Gameboy. This all eventually transforms into modern variation of the same ideas. We get Lum inserting herself into a widescreen visual novel, a TikTok Hair Tutorial, Instagram and plastering herself all around modern day Shibuya. Solely the Space Invaders reference stays. This is how you bring an old property into modern day!

Mob Psycho 100 III Opening — “1” by MOB CHOIR

I can’t think of another anime witch such a strong line-up of openings. Season 1 Opening? Masterpiece. Season 2 Opening? Impeccable kino. Season 3? I will put down my final judgement when I have completed the anime, but from what I see from the opening already, it certainly is in the right track. I assume the opening is full of references towards what will happen in the story, but I can already get some glimpses into its usage of metaphors. Eyes have already been a constant in the last two openings, but now they are complimented by a weird focus of hands and mouths too. However, most importantly, Reigen keeps being the most sexiest man alive.

Again, while I will abstain from an interpretation until the anime ended airing, the visual component stays strong throughout. Not even the change of director’s alters the fact that Mob Psycho keeps being one of the most visually interesting and engaging anime out there and this opening sequence once again shows the strength of its production. Also the very end with Mob slowly growing in front of Reigen and the name of the studio transforming into the author’s. My heart 😭.

Chainsaw Man Opening — “KICK BACK” by Kenshi Yonezu

Now to the big one. There are most definitely better people than me, that not only have read the original manga, but also recognize the many film references, to talk about the opening. However, since there is no one but as chickens, I will get my word either way. First of, the song is amazing. The bassline alone has more intercourse than I will ever have, but it also really captures the chaos of it all. There are so many different things happening in the same time, but the interconnectedness gives this all a relatively clear through line to follow.

Similar to the Mob Psycho OP, I will refrain from giving anything similar to an actual analysis of the opening, but already taking a closer look into scenes like Makima feeding Denji a parasyte-infected snail, while Venus flytraps grow on his body, gives me hope, that there is a lot of meat on it to bite into.

Honorable Mentions

As always, a list can only be so full, though my reason for putting the following openings into the honorable mentions is mostly because I can barely talk more than a couple of sentences about them, with me often being interested into a singular aspect of them. However, all of them are good in some way and I implore you to give them a wach.

Endings

Same as with the openings, I got the feeling it became more and more difficult to pin down what I value in an ending the more I have been exposed to more endings in general. Please, just give me more than characters sliding across the screen and I will be able to work with it.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 Ending — “Akuma no Ko” by Ai Higuchi

I know I said this is not a ranked list, but if it were, Attack on Titan’s newest ending would easily take the top spot. I already did a more thourough analysis in another post, but to summarize, this ending both perfectly captures Eren’s idea as a character, as well as it feeling final and conclusive… which makes me wonder why this is not actually the final ending of Attack on Titan, despite so clearly being a final ending. AoT never had the strongest batch of ending sequences, but this one effortlessly goes into top tier of endings in general.

My Dress-Up Darling Ending — “Koi no Yukue” by Akari Akase

Initially, I only wanted to write “They very cute together” and leave it at that. I mean, this is my honest opinion, but there is also a bit more to the ending. While limited, the animation is able to accurately portray both leads major character traits with Marin going her merry way, while Gojou is an anxious mess. The setting of space with little cute aliens is a nice touch. Also, please take a look into the music video for some very impressive cosplay.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic Ending — “Heart wa Oteage” by Airi Suzuki

Kaguya-sama is yet another anime I have to catch up on, but it is good to see the endings still going strong. This time, the love story between the two is framed through a Starship Troopers-esque alien invasion, referencing both the first ED, as well as Miyuki and Kuguya’s talk about the “Tale of Princess Kaguya”, essentially completing the missing perspective of the first ED, while being able to stand on its own feet.

Dance Dance Danseur Ending — “Kaze, Hana” by hitorie

Last, but certainly not least, is an ending from an anime I have literally no relation towards. Normally, even if I have not seen the anime, it is either already on my watch list, or I would theoretically be interested in it in some way, shape or form. This one is neither. However, it is stylistically interesting and very unique. The way the “physical” paper cutouts give the dancing an additional dimension, as well as depth looks surprisingly good and I always appreciate animation going out of its way to create animation in another (look of another) medium.

Honorable Mentions

That’s about all the endings I can loose some sentences about, but please take a look into the following endings as well.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volumes 9-10

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:40:00 +0100

Ach ja, I have no idea anymore what I am supposed to write into this introductory paragraph anymore so… this series keeps on giving and demon politics™ are good.

Volume 9

Volume 9 is a weird mixture of several threads eventually becoming one giant web or something… there are only so many spider related phrases I can come up with, so please forgive me. On one hand, it simply is the missing half of volume 8, continuing and further expanding upon the perspective of Wrath. On the other hand, it is our first real insight into the demon folks and their politics. On yet another hand, it is Sophia’s time to shine (read become further unhinged) and get her place in the spotlight. Also, it is a Slice of Life with some RomCom sprinkled on it for flavor, there is a horror-esque interlude and it all ends with the biggest reveal yet. At how many hands are we now? 6? As long as one of the puppet spiders is present, there are no problems.

So, Wrath survived, no surprises here, and causes further problems for everyone, specifically Gülie. Unbeknownst to even Ariel, Gülie rules over a small area of land cut of by the Mystic Mountains for run down souls to rest. Turns out the elves are halfway correct in their suspicion of the administrators. Stats, titles and skills are indeed taken from the dead, once a person dies, but it is not for the gain of the administrators. On the other hand, as all souls eventually reincarnate into the world over and over, this process puts a lot of strain on a persons’s soul, eventually deteriorating it until the soul is gone. For that reason, Gülie created a little paradise for the “normal” reincarnations to live a life without any skills. Needless to say, a rogue monster going wild would go against Gülie’s plans and he decides to intervene… except that he can not intervene, as D still prohibits him to directly confront the reincarnations, so it is time for a rematch.

Before this all plays out though, White’s group finally enters the Demon Territory. Surprisingly, demons are actually not that different from the humans and Ariel even hid this fact solely for her own amusement. Secondly, despite Ariel being the demon lord, she is a far from being popular and all, which brings up a lot of questions about her relations to the demons and how and why everything will eventually escalate into what little we have already seen in volume 4 and 5. After all, she is not a demon, but the progenitor of the spider monsters and her end goal seems to be wiping out all the demons alongside the humans. So yeah, what is up with that?

After settling down near the demon lord’s castle, a sort of normalcy sets in for our unlikely group. Sophia gets sent to school do hopefully deescalate her progression into a crazy yandere, Merazophis and one of the puppet spiders get drafted into the army and White is deemed to basically do nothing and live the shut-in live as long as she produces her threads. This all starts the, what I would call, Slice of Life arc with the core characters being removed from the progression of the story. This period also includes the interlude of the in-house butler having to slowly figure out who these new guests are and how to possibly deal with them. Funnily enough, this is all framed akin to a horror story from his perspective, despite the reader knowing all to well what is actually going on, though Sael jump-scaring the butler and performing a bit of body horror in front of him doesn’t hurt either. Seriously, this girl is weird and I am not sure if it is simply her character, or if there is something more going on behind the back.

However, the funniest of these little stories must have been Blow/Bloe (Volume 9 calls him Blow, but all the succeeding novels change his name to Bloe) interacting with the reincarnations. Firstly, out of anger, he burns down the webs White covered her room in, only to immediately fall in love with her on first sight, which is just… Burning down someone’s room is seldom a great first impression, but burning down White’s room specifically, considering her still not overcome trauma, is just a death wish waiting to happen. Every time he visits the mansion, Sophia makes it her life mission to become the most smug little gremlin imaginable in front of him and continuously annoys him to no end. Also, his instant 180 upon hearing Wraths story in the next volume is exactly the kind of behavior I want in my big softies.

Bloe has definitely potential to develope into an interesting character, especially with the situation he put himself into at the end of volume 10. Just, please do not make me like him to much, as it was already established in volume 4, that he is going to die and I am not sure I want this to happen now. Also, he is the brother of one of my other favorite characters, Balto. You know, the guy that earns his sighs. Beyond basically ruling a country and forced to help the demon lord exterminate his own race, he now also has to deal with his brother’s love struggles. This guy cannot catch a break.

Anyway, not a lot happens… and then White gets drunk again. I already said my piece about the handling of alcohol in my post about volume six, which is exactly why I will allow this series to finally have fun with it. Since White is no longer a spider monster in body, she didn’t have the most opportunities to just do dumb stuff again, alas seeing her tie up everyone in the room and hang them upside down because White was slightly annoyed was rather refreshing to witness again. Let. White. Do. Dumb. Stuff. Also, Okina Baba and especially Tsukasa Kiryuu… do we wanna talk about the panty shot of Sophia? No? Good, better be.

This incident also has its advantages: White remembers/learns how to use her former skills again. She might not be as proficient as she used to be, but it is enough to accept Gülie on his request, though Sophia was more than happy to help fight Wrath. She secretly thought about and improved upon her skills on her own, beyond just already getting min-maxed by White. Also, like any child, she didn’t listen to her parents and acquired the Envy skill, despite being told over and over again not to. When White and Sophia fought against Wrath, White had to take the battle equivalent of a spit take once she noticed what Sophia was doing, teleporting Wrath into the sky, so she would have some time to question her on why she did so. Wrath consequently dying from fall damage also hits different. Poor dude. While in a coma, Wrath’s story gets expanded upon a bit, further building on the tragedy he had to endure as a goblin. With the Wrath skill sealed by Sophia, Arial took a personal interest in him above also having some sympathy. After explaining the circumstances, Wrath becomes, for the time being, a part of the group, given he is unable to leave the house and has to spend his time with Sophia and White.

Let’s talk about the big reveal at the end of the volume. To say I was afraid of this moment may sound weird, but there was some anxiety in me due to the fact that this scene could have made or break this series for me, considering I figured what the reveal would be about relatively early. While I mostly made an educated guess on the nature of the reveal on the basis of narrative convention and the fact I even pulled the very same twist myself (even though I handled it with less seriousness and grace), I also have to give credit to the hints being continuously dropped throughout the series, even with the biggest one, the dichotomy between White’s and Hiiro’s personality, potentially being perceived as a flaw from a technical writing perspective. So yeah, Administrator D, the reason this whole story was set into motion, turns out to be Hiiro Wakaba.

Dun dun duuuuun. Despite the over the top nature and meta-narrative potential this reveal brings to the table, I am normally not all that fond of the “The secret character was me all along” trope, mostly because the majority of stories I have seen barely deliver on this twist and tend to either play it as a personification of a hidden side of the character á la “their deepest desires they do not want to accept about themselves” or are going on a pointless trip down the metaphysics of what it means to be a self and possessing their own identity. Not that I think these are necessarily bad points on their own to explore, but when a series builds up a mystery over the course of nine volumes, I want to be swept of my feet, not kicked in the teeth about something that doesn’t even really mean anything concrete.

And in the case of So I’m a Spider, this is actually the point. I am not the real Hiiro Wakaba, So What? This volume dodges every point I initially braced myself for. Sure, White may have inherited all the memories of Hiiro Wakaba, but starting the very second she hatched from her egg, she was on the road to become her own person. All the memories she gained from this point on are hers and hers alone, giving this whole identity question a pretty satisfying answer from a philosophical angle. This is also doubled down on a more technical level with Hiiro Wakaba not being an actual person to begin with. Sure, she has a family registry and so on, but behind the face of her is actually just D skipping work and wanting to enjoy a fun highschool life, which brings as to the final part. What a dumb reason for all this to happen. Nai wa. Nai waaa. NAI WAAAAA!

The reason behind White being reincarnated is equally dumb as convoluted, but the point is that there isn’t really a point behind D’s actions. Sure, she absolutely gets her kicks out of observing our favorite spider, but beyond this self-serving enjoyment, there is nothing of substance. D gives White completely free reins of herself, only intervening if absolutely necessary, essentially resulting in White’s connection to D not really mattering in the grand scheme. The planet on which all the students got reincarnated is doomed? D doesn’t care. White simply ditching this planet and leaving for another life? She is allowed to. This is such a refreshing take on this kind of twist that gives the reader the satisfaction of one hell of a mystery pay-off, without writing oneself into a corner on how to deal with the implications of the twist going forward, instead now being able to continue the story in a regular fashion.

Truly, So I’m a Spider, So What?

Volume 10

It’s rebellion time! I never really gave much thought to it, as the elves immediately occupied this part of my brain, but Ariel, holding the title of demon lord, is still one of the baddies, right? I mean, this has nothing to do with the demon-kind and their leader in isolation, as I am not prejudiced enough to assume any kind of alignment to fantasy people, but specifically Ariel being in a position of power. Before her recent arrival, the demons lived in peace and are still recovering from the previous war against the humans, however with a certain warmonger back in town, all this came to an end and individual resistance arises.

To be fair, you kind of have to give it to the demons. From their point of view, Ariel is, beyond any notion of good or evil, an internal threat. If she is allowed to continue, the demon race will be extinguished. Beyond this, most of the demons don’t accept or at least do not understand Ariel as their demon lord, as the demons value the social aspects of meritocracy, so seeing this random girl walk into their land and act like she already owns the place does raise some questions. Unbeknownst to most, even this is part of Ariel’s plan, only having shown her true power to a select couple of individuals like Balto that reps her street cred and inviting everyone to underestimate and thusly challenge her.

This all leads to a conflict which feels pretty grounded and justified in the realms of the world. Sure, you will probably support Ariel’s side, as she is part of the main character’s group (and maybe even because you still remember what is actually at stake), but her actions are also able to be questioned and potentially leave a bad taste in the mouth, as from the perspective of the rebellion, she is quite clearly acting against the best interest of the demons and ruling with an iron fist.

The rebellion itself is also not as clear cut as it might seem, being the amalgamation of different fronts and intentions in the background and basically the results of their own internal struggles. Add the elves to the mix and your political playground is all set, even without any fighting actually happening. Now add the fighting and it all comes together beautifully. We mostly follow the perspective of Wrath in the actual fight with White and Sophia being there just in case. I like the little interaction Wrath was allowed to have with the soldiers, like them helping him learn the language and specific military terms, only for them to die shortly after and making him confront death again.

Plotwise, two things of importance happen: Oka makes her first successful interaction with our group of reincarnations and White punches Potimas in the face (She dies, but it was worth it). The revelation of Oka being an elf hits especially hard, as they are not only on opposing sides, but also that convincing her won’t be as simple as telling her the truth. We even get a scene quite similar to the end of volume 5 with Wrath questioning why she is fighting alongside the elves. Wrath is also able to point out her hypocrisy in her not only fighting for her students, but also judging Wrath for fighting for what he considers right… while surrounded by dead demon soldiers. While I still think at least attempting to talk out the differences between the reincarnations would be a step forward, this little confrontation shows why simply talking might not be enough at times when different assumptions and ideologies are already at play.

Concerning White, she starts experimenting with her old newfound abilities again. Being able to create small clones of herself for the purpose of intelligence work, she is, in fact, the reason why the whole rebellion was uncovered in the first place. In general, her role in this volume is more often a lot less direct than we are used to. Sure, she literally drops a meteor on Potimas and his morally questionable creations, but otherwise, she acts in the shadows or literally lets her presence speak for herself. After being informed about Oka, White also files a complaint towards D by the way of punching her head off. Turns out White wants to repay the debt she ows Oka back, as she was once saved by her when she was a spider in her old life.

While White only had rather vaguely defined goals up to this point, she finally is able to state what she actually wants to do going forward with her new life. Sure, she wants to repay Oka, but she also stops messing around and starts supporting Ariel in earnest and all her might. For as prideful as White is, she also deeply respects other people with deep conviction and power, making her look up to Ariel and so forth. From now on, her involvement is not just a result of circumstances, but a direct choice made by White herself, which leads her to act outside her known behavior of turning a fight on its head by her simply being unconceivable. This can be seen twofolds: Her plan to safely get Oka and the other elves back to their village and her little stunt against first army commander Agner.

White can be quite ruthless. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise to anyone, as her fighting style is most often than not portrayed as anything but heroic. However, this never really bothered me (and not just because I fully support our spider girl in her committing manslaughter), since all the fights she does engage in concern her in some way or another, mostly fighting for her life. This changed with her protecting Oka’s squad. White orders Merazophis to slaughter an entire tribe of people, leaving, with the exception of two children, no one alive as to ease Oka’s travels. Incidentally, the two children turn out to be fellow reincarnations and the destruction of the tribe had the secondary purpose of them not making contact with Oka. In general, this whole incident was pretty sad. Merazophis had to take the mantle of a villain, while two children lost their only safety net in their new life. These two are also a bit different compared to the other reincarnations, as Kunihiko and Asaka decided to hold unto their old names, which gives this incident a bit more gravitas for their own new start. There was this one scene in particular with the two arriving in a village and Kunihiko noticing someone with a katana. Believing him to be a reincarnation, he approaches the adventurer, only to get disappointed and Asaka completely breaking down, before being picked up by the church. Yeah, White just never keeps missing with indirectly making the world a worse place for at least someone.

White can also be pretty terrifying if she wants to be, as seen with Agner. Using her small copies as spies, White has basically figured out the rebellion and knows about the actual ringleader of the whole operation. Knowing the best way to handle the situation is to never let it escalate in the first place, White subdues him through sheer screen presence and a show of power. If Sael being Sael is worthy of a horror movie, then White’s plan of filling Agner’s room slowly with spiders before appearing herself and not muttering a single word to fill him with fear is straight up nightmare fuel. Seriously, while I pray for another anime season, I would already be satisfied with seeing individual scenes like these animated.

The last scene I want to talk about is the fallout of the whole rebellion aftermath. Somehow, this series tends to be at its best with several parties openly scheming against each other directly, like we have already seen in volume 7. It is a constant display of ideals and hidden motives, that just works, despite how many moving gears are actually involved. And most importantly, these simple talks always escalate into their own gratifying conclusion, this time using the interpersonal relationships of several different demons as the narrative stakes, while also giving way for further potential conflict down the line. It is like seeing a perfectly placed house of cards falling into itself, revealing another house of cards behind it. Talking is hype, actually.

Edit (more like a last minute addendum): I was right. Mwahahaha, I was right. Not only is Ariel connected to Sariel, I also more or less predicted her role in the world. To be fair, this is the most minuscule win I could have possibly acquired and I doubt this series is above putting me back into my place by making me technically wrong somehow :D. But for now, I can happily enjoy the feeling of using my fifth grade reading comprehension.

Final Thoughts

As far as I can tell, this is it for demon politics™ for now and the next volume covers Julius' perspective as the hero. As we currently stand, almost all the players for the finale have already assembled. I guess there are still some missing, like the one ninja reincarnation or the two assistants of Sophia, but beyond those, we are almost set to get back to the present. To be honest, I mostly didn’t care that much about the final clash at the elf village beyond the fact the reincarnations are involved on several different sides. Though, I guess this angle was also just barely touched upon, instead giving us some fights that mean nothing.

Something I didn’t know how to include in the actual post: White starts talking more and more. Sure, she never had any qualms in front of D, but she is slowly forming longer and more elaborate sentences and even starts giving casual remarks to other characters, like Ariel. It is also rather funny how both Ariel and Merazophis assume she is drunk, as she gets more talkative and less stiff after consuming alcohol. So yeah, character development on more than just a single front.

Not sure if dividing the two novels into their own header, like in the last post, makes sense, but it is too late to change it now. Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volumes 7-8

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 22:05:00 +0100

Ach ja, after volume 6 gave us a plethora of deep character introspection, the two following volumes are more focused on narrative and characterization through direct action. I also figured it would be best to talk about these two volumes separately, as they have relatively few overlaps and continue being told chronologically and in the case of volume 7, is even told continuously from same perspective. Let’s go.

Volume 7

“Potimas is a bastard!”

- White, Sophia, Merazophis, Dustin and Ariel

I doubt there is a lot to talk about volume 7 beyond the literal information we acquire. For the most part, it is one action set piece after another, mostly due to the fact that, if I understood the afterword correctly, the previous volume basically had none and this volume was to level it out again. I don’t think this was quite necessary, as I very much enjoy those moments of levity and respite, but I also won’t complain, as these action set pieces were honestly bonkers and very fun to read.

About a year has passed since our group of troublemakers started their journey for the Demon Territory and they are currently traversing the Northern Wastelands. We learn some information about what they did in the meantime, like how Sophia and the puppet spiders have started vocal training, as she, due to mostly relying on telepathy, developed a lisp and White still hasn’t quite figured out how to recreate vocal cords. I really enjoy those insights into the daily life of them, as it grounds them in reality and all of them are well rounded enough to carry the more mundane scenes.

We finally learn some of the history and deal about this world by way of explaining why the elves are so technologically advanced compared to the humans. Turns out it is actually the other way around. Initially, this world was way more advanced than earth, but with the exception of the elves, everything regressed to the state of your average isekai novel. This is such a cool premise for a fantasy world, especially for someone like me, whose one of their favorite tropes is the blending of magic and technology into a weird mixture full of mystery. We also finally learn about MA energy and how it is connected to the downfall of the planet.

In the desert White detects a giant underground base and decides to tunnel herself towards it (while casually destroying an ant monster colony). This facility is filled with your generic fantasy creatures, like automatic guns, robots and tanks. The two sides fight, the facility self-destructs(?) and upon reaching the surface again, a giant fucking UFO is in the sky! No, I didn’t make this stuff up and I really adore this series for it.

This is where the real conflict starts. As already suspected, both the elves and the Word of God religion kept an eye on the group and it didn’t take long for Ariel, Potimas, Dustin and even Gülie to get together Avengers style. However, it is not the “End of the movie with a cool hero shot” Avenger style, but “The middle of the movie with everyone being very eager to get at each others throat” Avengers style. The resulting discussion on how to handle the subject at hand is one of the most tense moments in the series up to date, with each side having different stakes and opportunities involved. While the UFO carries a whole army of futuristic machines, the main problem lies in the accompanying bomb capable of flattening the entire continent – something no party involved is happy waiting to happen – meaning they form a sort of united front. No truce, though. Backstabbing is part of the course.

It is in the specific way this make-shift coalition decides to approach their threat that Potimas finally crystallizes as a really fun and intriguing antagonist. Potimas basically holds all the chips all the time in this situation. He is indirectly the reason this UFO is even a thing, is essentially the only one capable of stopping it, but also has the least amount to loose in the process. In his own words, his main objective is stopping the bomb and everything beyond is a net positive. He brings barely enough soldiers, as to only guarantee a close win, so everyone else suffers heavy losses and tries his hardest to make this battle a living hell for everyone involved. After some time, he even blatantly states that he tries to kill Ariel and White if the opportunity arises and no one can do anything about it. For all intents and purposes, he is a bastard.

Meanwhile, the Word of God religion have their own agenda, though having their hands tied, these guys are the biggest looser here. Having already caught a glimpse in the previous novel, Dustin tries to hide all traces of past technology and any involvement of the reincarnations, leading him to essentially sacrifice 30.000 soldiers as meat shields to buy time for Ariel’s troops to sweep the machines. Ariel summons all the remaining four Queen Taratects, which I thought was a weird show of power in a moment that doesn’t really justify itself in the context of sticking it either to Potimas or Dustin, but considering how her group actually needs to get rid of the machines as to further progress their journey, I guess this checks out.

Gülie is also involved in the fight, though he is pushed aside to ~~not solve this conflict in a heartbeat~~ deal with another threat. The UFO was not the only object escaping the underground, meaning Gülie has to go to space to stop a machine which is programmed to chuck meteors towards the planet… I swear, I do not make this stuff up. While he is in space, we learn some more interesting aspects of the world. Firstly, Gülie is part of a species named the true dragons and is currently the only one on the planet, as every other true dragon just… left… which makes me imagine how a couple of dragons try their best to manoeuver space via their breath attacks. Secondly, the system responsible for the skills, etc. is not omnipresent, but spatially bound to the very planet, though Gülie also mentions he never had to rely on the system anyway and is capable of wielding his power on his own. Neat world building all around.

This volume also continues the well regarded trend of giving one-off side characters a decent amount of characterization in the form of the wind dragon Hyuvan. Beyond just being a fun guy, he gets his own scene showing off his genuine badassery and respect towards White via one hell of a speech. I mean, it is still played as a joke in the end, but the fact he was willing to sacrifice himself for his aneki White out of a sense of duty is still peak. He also has this manner of speaking, as if he pretends to act like a rough yakuza grunt, which baffled me at first, as I didn’t expect him to sound like this, considering the only dragons prior to him were rather prideful and noble in their attitude. I also made it infinitely worse by making him sound like the worst “1950s Brooklyn mob character” impression possible in my head.

After an awesome dogfight against fighter jets, Ariel, Potimas and White enter the UFO, but not without some difficulties. As the UFO has the same shield as Potimas, normal magic isn’t able to damage the hull and it was time to take out the big guns. White riding Hyuvan and shooting a big RPG is definitely an image. However, the RPG also almost kills White, which turns out to be one of Potimas' attempts to get out much more out of this situation than simply the big bomb not going off. Needless to say, Ariel decked him and went full dom on his ass, literally stepping on him and even asking White to partake in his humiliation. Actually, White takes it a bit farther and… let’s just say “going full dom on his ass” can be taken quite literally. Beyond just being funny, I really liked the way this was framed. The both of them can not kill Potimas body and he is still in a position of power, but there is one area still vulnerable: His giant ego. So what better way to hurt him, than to degrade and embarrass him? In fact, Potimas can be even more childish than some of our other candidates, which actually make a weird through line for this series in general, in how the more power one wields, the less responsible they tend to be.

The exploding weapon also has another implication. Potimas originally planned for Ariel to use it, but she relayed the RPG to White, fully knowing she would most likely use it, which again begs the question what the specific relationship between Ariel and White is. Looking at it with a clear head, there really shouldn’t be any strife between the two of them. After all, White literally just resisted Mother’s kin control, which lead to them fighting, but they are not really enemies in a normal sense. Ariel has also found out the secret behind her “immortality”, but didn’t bother attacking White since. Considering they are also already journeying together for over a year, continuing their cold war simply seems childish at best. Luckily, we finally get a more definitive answer. After Potimas backstabs the duo yet again, Ariel takes the blow for White. It is in this moment White finally decides what side to take and swears to fight alongside Ariel. To be frank, I wanted to shout “Fuck him up!!!” so much, though I still have enough self-control… yet.

You also have to simply respect Potimas' grind. Reduced to a talking head, he still tries his best and when he eventually fails, he simply goes “Well, it was worth a try. Aaanyway…” and Ariel and White simply accept it matter of fact. Anyway, before he is able to disable the bomb, it threatens to self-destruct, but fear not, for White is here to save the day. She ate the bomb… She… she ate the bomb. I actually appreciate the insight on her thought process on this one. I mean, the thought process was essentially blank, but it was given nonetheless. From there on, it is kinda hard to describe what happened, though the bottom line is that White underwent deification, met D, gained a new name and is now a god (in the definition of this world).

Cool, so she is even more overpowered now? Well, yes but actually no. While she basically absorbed all the energy in the bomb, she is currently unable to use it, as becoming a god unlinks you from the system and strips you of all stats, skills and titles. Turns out the “System” is partly just a support system to help you with magic and stuff. To be fair, White was “only” stripped of her training wheels and put straight on a motor machine, to steal her metaphor, and we also already know that this is no insurmountable obstacle for her. She has already managed using magic without actually having obtained the corresponding skill by copying Araba and her attack on Mother’s soul was, according to D, not system-supported. But for now, robbed of her skills et al, she is weak.

So yeah, White was actually nerfed.

Volume 8

And she stays nerfed!

Beyond just missing her stats, she is no longer in possession of her spider body, only rocking two boring legs, and she also suffers from albinism, meaning she isn’t just useless, but also quite literally a burden on everyone else. She basically turns back into a shut-in, which, thematically speaking, wraps around to become funny again. It also gives some space for other characters in the spotlight.

While still being told chronologically, we are back at it again with several perspectives and once again giving due credit to the unfortunate side characters having to deal with the incoming madness. It also features a rather drastic tone-shift compared to the previous volumes. While this series can get pretty intense at times, it also never looses its sense of uplifting moments, but ignoring White’s perspective, this volume definitely goes towards places and is essentially a story about how a simple act of injustice can spiral into a large-scale tragedy.

So, White’s not the only one being reincarnated as a monster with Kyouya Sasajima being born a goblin. I really like this series interpretation of the goblins archetype, being not inherently hostile or aggressive towards humans and mostly living their own lives in the mountains. Kyouya’s point of view beautifully underscores the almost idyllic and simple nature of their kind and, unlike White at the time, appreciates being reborn into a nice community. However, this peace can only last so long and he mostly looks back at his past in sorrow, while he is currently filled with wrath and accumulates probably the highest (individual) body count out of all the characters. While we frequently are given hints as to what induced this change, it is only at the very end that we can appreciate how truly tragic his circumstances turned. It also once again makes me realize just how much I like the story structure of this series, weaving the individual perspectives into one coherent narrative.

I also appreciate how Kyouya’s characterization thematically leads perfectly into his evolution to Wrath. He described his former self as an ally of the weak, but mostly did so via his fists and thus gained a rather bad reputation without accomplishing much change, even leading him to go out of his way to attend a highschool where no one would recognize him. Now being reborn, he is once again pushed into the position of the protector of the weak, but is unable to accomplish what he sets out to do, resulting in frustration from not being able to do anything, him wandering about aimlessly and making sense of his own wrath, until he eventually fully succumbs to it. It almost reminds me of one of the most engaging aspects of Tsukihime with Wrath trying to keep his sanity and regretting his actions, while also unable to stop himself from causing further harm. There is this one scene with Wrath deciding to visit his old home again in an attempt to calm down, but forgets where he was headed halfway through and goes mad again.

It also doesn’t help that Wrath is basically alone on his endless journey. The humans look at goblins the same way as your more average portrayal of evil monsters and, after him evolving into an ogre, even sent an army after him. The Word of God religion deliberately tried raising his Anger and Rage skill, our old buddy Ronandt has it personally out for him, as he suspects he is the reason his friend died, the ice dragon governing the Mystic Mountains actively decides to not not kill him on a technicality and even Sophia, after being attacked by him, while under the influence of wrath, doesn’t want him to survive, despite her knowing his circumstances due to being a fellow reincarnation. Surprisingly, his biggest allies might turn out to be White, who surprisingly recognized him, and Ariel out of what I might assume is sheer pity. Man has it rough (and continues to have it rough by what I have already read ahead in the next volume).

While Wrath has a very bad time, White and the group are stuck in the last town before the Mystic Mountains and have to deal with some complications on their own. One of the adventurers in the town figures out that Ariel is a demon and suspects similar of Sophia and Merazophis, but is ultimately hindered by the Word of God religion. Also, Potimas keeps not giving up on being a petty asshole. By the way, this is not a personal evaluation of his character, as him being a petty child is basically canon. This time, he wasn’t even hoping to accomplish anything of substance, but simply thought it would cause distress for the group if their former teacher Oka was somehow involved. Nothing really happens and both Sophia and Oka are unharmed, but the way he blatantly uses Oka just gives him a bit more spice as an antagonist. Keep it going, trash!

Lastly, there is Ronandt’s point of view. Remember Buirimus? This one beast tamer attacking White alongside Ronandt back in volume 3? Being fully blamed for the failure of the operation, he was banished to the Mystic Mountains. Shortly after, his child was also kidnapped. In the hopes of being able to return to his family, Buirimus desperately grabbed to any achievement he could present, resulting in him killing an entire goblin village and enslaving Wrath for his ability to create magic weapons. Ronandt, however, doesn’t know any of this and sees in Wrath only a beast that killed his friend, which gave us a pretty kick-ass fight scene and further insight on how the humans are dealing with their opponents.

Ironically, while this volume ends the current arc, not all lot is actually resolved and I thought the ending came a bit out of nowhere, leaving a lot more questions than answers. Wrath attacked White and Sophia, but this encounter not only ended in a draw, but gave neither party time to talk, the humans, or at least the Word of God religion, know what the demons are up to and Potimas continues not being an honest threat at the moment. So, what’s up with all this? I am very willing to find out.

Final Thoughts

As volume 8 didn’t really end on a specific note, I considered including volume 9 into this post. However, it does seem like a good cut-off point, as volume 9 begins with demon politics™ and I do not want to cover three volumes in a single post. Also, still no Shun, etc. in sight. I really wonder when we will get back to this cliffhanger at the end of volume 5. I mean, I can actually imagine it being the finale and the following novels simply expand on how it all came to this. However, I am also not complaining. It may be due to me already knowing the first novels via the anime, but I have a genuinely good time with the new volumes. While the first half of volume 7 was a bit of a letdown, it really caught itself with volume 8 and especially the story surrounding Wrath.

Theory time: I never really paid much attention to it, but in the “present”, Gülie is part of the demon army, or at least seems to fight under Ariel’s banner. What is up with that? Did Gülie finally get demoted after not listening to D almost all the time? Also, and I really hope the reason for this is an external one, where were the puppet spiders? I really hope Okina Baba just came up with them after writing volume 5, because if if not and the puppet spiders do not survive until the up to date events, then there will be blood! Seriously, they are very fun and adorable characters and I will not be able to handle their death.

Lastly… this series do be kinda woke, right? To be honest, speaking out against slavery really shouldn’t even be a bar to pass for isekai, but this isn’t even the reason why I think so. With the way MA energy and its usage was described, it is hard to not see it as a critique of current energy problems and how new technologies often overlook or create new problems and literally dropping a nuke and contaminating an entire area, solely for the purpose of hiding ones fuck-ups is definitely something. And most importantly, the human expansion into the Mystic Mountains and the prosecution of the goblins just is colonialism.

Unlike other fantasy stories, So I’m a Spider not only acknowledges the problematic elements of its world and the parallels to our real one, but also comments on them quite directly with a surprising amount of thought put into it. While I do not think one is able to get out a lot from a solely political reading, the fact that there is something to it makes this story multiple times more engaging than other stories that try it’s best to not even dib their toes into such topics. I couldn’t tell you anything about the slavery of beast girls in Shield Hero or Death March, however, I will remember elitism causing the tragedy that Wrath had to undergo. Again, it isn’t really my style to downplay other media, but considering how often So I’m a Spider simply owns other isekai, this is once aspect I wanted to highlight.

Weird rant aside, how am I at 3.500 words? I don’t want wondering about the word count to become a running joke at the end of these posts, but I held back on going too deep and basically said nothing? Also, why is me writing about volume 7 longer than volume 8, which actually had something to talk about?.. I will never understand this. Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volume 6

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 18:35:00 +0100

Ach ja, reading the events covering the anime was fun, but this is where it gets serious. For anyone having only seen the anime, this is where the LN spoilers start. Please proceed at your own discretion.

Overall Impressions

You know how there are just some things you are glad exist? Something you look upon and can’t help but form a small smile? This is volume 6 of So I’m a Spider, So What?! Formerly, I would have gone around and say this series is obviously peak fiction, but still with the air of how Girls und Panzer is peak fiction or whatever my current obsession is about is peak fiction. But no, this volume is not just peak, it is fucking beautiful and I will gladly die on this hill.

Volume 6 is… different. Structurally, it differs from the previous volumes by not jumping through different times and all the perspectives are even in chronological order over a relatively small time frame. It also doesn’t mention Shun’s POV at all, instead opting out for Sophia and Ronandt out of all people. Content-wise, this volume is very introspective with a large focus on character’s thoughts and self-reflection and close to no real action. Sure, there technically is a big action climax, but the fight didn’t really have any stakes, came, though depending from whose perspective, out of nowhere and mostly likely won’t have any major ramifications in the future. The finale is by no means bad, but considering what the focus of the other 80% of this volume are, I simply expecting something different and more akin to a mind-bending twist.

So, Kumoko finally has a name. I guess me and the anime called her Kumoko, though it is not like this was her actual name. Also, I guess one doesn’t need to stretch too far to assume that whenever the name of either White or Wakaba was mentioned, they would reference to Kumoko. Alas, she shall henceforth be referred to by the name of White. I always wondered what the specific deal with names in this universe are, as the appraisal skill, beyond species and level, also list the name, meaning a name has probably a link to one’s status and the System and is not just simply a way to refer to someone. There is also the fact that all the dragons have names, while even the Queen Taratects are unnamed. C’mon Ariel, give your children some love (There is actually a reason why she never gave them names, which makes one situation very funny in retrospect)!

Ariel and White, along with Sophia and Merazophis, are traveling towards the capital of Sariella and the whole atmosphere between this group of four has a very special kind of awkwardness to it. Ariel, despite forming a truce, still wants to avenge her kin, but isn’t able to, as she simply doesn’t know how to fight against White. White is somewhere between fear from the demon lord and not knowing what she actually wants to do. Sophia deeply hates White and Merazophis is one bad day away from a total mental breakdown. I kinda want to say that one mental state is worse than the other, but Ariel is actually quite a well put together person.

It is never stated, but despite her appearance, Ariel is most likely very old and it somehow shows in her casual behavior. Despite being half demon lord, half magical girl, she is very calm and unobtrusive, so much so that she can simply walk into human settlements without causing any kind of ruckus or even bringing much attention to herself. Even the way she talks to other people with this almost uninterested tone in her voice gives her a sense of power and control in most situations. She can also cook, which makes me imagine the demon lord hiding three Michelin stars somewhere in her castle. She also just tends to understand people, which makes her able to give some really solid advice for both Sophia and Merazophis and really drives home the fact that White is an enigma for everyone else, as not even Ariel knows what’s going on in her head.

Ariel doesn’t have much of a role in this volume, but she is the characters that brings out most of the new information. In one of the towns, Ariel, Sophia and Merazophis meet upon Dustin, the pontiff of the “Word of God”-religion. This guy already came up in the fifth volume, but I simply forgot to write about him. Along with Potimas and Ariel, he seems to be part of the group that not only knows what the deal with this world is, but is also in possession of the means to do something about it. I actually wanted to write a joke about how Ariel, Dustin and Potimas are like three tabletop players with Administrator D as the GM und suddenly there is White asking if there are anymore snacks and flipping half the table. Turns out I might not actually be that off-target with this one.

In general, Dustin is not really the person one would expect to be, especially in an Isekai. Normally, religious organizations are, like, the bad ones, right? A huge group of theocratic nutjobs that basically scream “Hey, we are ready to cause trouble for the hero in a thinly veiled criticism of religious radicalism!” and… well, this might still apply, but not to Dustin specifically. He isn’t even religious and basically just somehow gained knowledge of the System, pulled a “Hey, you could make a religion out of this” and the rest is your everyday social manipulation and rhetorics at play. Most importantly, the point is not actually a simple accumulation of power, but to save humanity in the long-term. How he is going about this saving humanity thing is still open to discussion and we do know killing the followers of the Goddess religion is part of it, but in a world with evil elves and demons, the fate of humanity might actually be in the best hands of a demagogue religious leader. Nai wa~. Oh, and he is immortal, which already makes three characters in this story, lol.

Next up is Sophia, who basically gets an entire mini character arc to start another larger character arc and which basically turns her into one of my favorite characters in the series. It starts with what is essentially her outlook on live and the relation between herself and White in both their former and current world. Similar to Fei, Sophia (Or should I rather say Negishi?) became frustrated with Wakaba, though the reason differs. She never interacted with Wakaba, but comes to the conclusion that they were quit similar in the way both were unable to interact with their peers. But despite this similarity, the both of them were treated quite differently. While everyone kept their distance, most of the students looked up to Wakaba from afar, while Negishi was looked down upon and bullied. She eventually comes to the conclusion that the circumstances of her birth put her in this bad situation, while Wakaba simply “won” at life due to her beauty.

This assumption is slowly broken down over the course of the volume. Ariel just straight up says to her face that the distance between her and everyone else is due to her inability to even try to understand others and how she only thinks of herself. This is beautifully exemplified by her misidentification of Merazophis' source of grief or why White even saved her to begin with. She also has a skill literally called “Spite”, which I thought was very funny. After recognizing her flaws, she slowly starts to doubt whether she even deserves her current life, as she still goes with the very same outlook on life as her old one. Her old parents loved her unconditionally, despite themselves “loosing” at life and her new parents loved her too, even if she herself thinks she doesn’t deserves this. This also extends to Merazophis, as she considers him the butler of her parents, but not herself, leading her to thinking about letting him go.

In the end, Sophia turns herself around upon acknowledging that White did not only have a rather hard time in this life, but also wasn’t as similar to herself in her old live as she thought. This realization prompts her to actively work on herself and she swears to become a better person by combining everything both her parents in her old and new life gave her along the way. This fully cumulates in her desire to keep Merazophis for herself and that she wants to become a person he can be proud of to serve. Her character arc is very simple, yet really engaging and effective. She blamed all her shortcomings in her old life on her looks, while she now uses her new life to fully grow as a person and see beyond the horizon of one’s circumstances. Also, the scene with her almost sucking Merazophis dry, while simultaneously bawling her eyes out, speaks to me on a level, that doesn’t make sense physiologically, but I too am a petty and immature asshole, that tries its best to better themselves… So yeah, the vampire baby is quite relatable.

Merazophis also gets to deal with a couple of problems of his own. The attack on Keren County not only left him fleeing the place he lived and grew up in, but it also took the live of his best friend and the woman he loved, whose dying wish was for him to protect their child. He had this one dream in which we essentially learn he accepted their deaths, but is still very much in the grieving process and uses this pain to find the determination to protect Sophia. Beyond Ariel, it is a welcome change of pace to get into the head of more mature characters, especially with Merazophis mostly being a bystander in terms of the grander plot. This maturity also is able to make him look really cool. When Dustin explained how his actions lead to the destruction of Keren County, he gave Merazophis the option of enacting revenge. Merazophis, however, simply said something along the lines of how the life of one old man doesn’t even come close to compare to what has been lost. The refusal to make something personal is always raw, but considering how Merazophis wasn’t really in any position of power, this confrontation shows his real strength. True Giga Chad behavior.

His second struggle isn’t even something I would have guessed would be mentioned at all. Defending Sophia, he was turned into a vampire and now has to deal with all the baggage that comes with it. The novel mentions how he has to shield himself from sunlight, which is part of the reason the group mostly travels by night and, to the surprise of no one except Sophia, now has to drink blood, which causes some moral dilemmas for him. Unlike everyone else in the group, Merazophis was until recently a normal and upstanding human, taking pride in protecting other people. This might just be me, but him stalking his victim and drinking its blood somehow elicited the atmosphere and feeling of sexual assault and I doubt Okina Baba chose a female knight specifically as his first victim at random, but to rather really crush his sense of self. He, too, eventually overcomes his struggles by rationalizing it necessary for the protection of Sophia, which makes his actions really noble in a fucked up way. Good.

Last in our ragtag group of found family, there is White. As always, she tends to be a bit different, but I believe her arc seeks to strike a similar chord to the others. White is still having trouble actually talking to everyone and relies on other people, mostly Ariel, to interpret her silence or weird expressions, leading everyone to assume something different about White, even if what she wanted was indeed interpreted correctly. The best and funny example of this is when White began wrapping thread around Sophia’s limbs and started forcing her to walk… please keep in mind Sophia being a literal baby. She initially started doing so, because White wanted to acquire the puppet skill (and become bored just walking around), but everyone else took it up as training for her, as they would surely encounter dangers on their way and giving Sophia a head start is the logical conclusion, meaning White gets away with quite the better image, as if she would have stated her true motivation. It then becomes even funnier, when training Sophia actually does turn into her motivation and you start to realize, that White’s character arc is really wholesome.

Over this volume, White learns to slowly open up to the people around her. While she initially used Sophia for her own ends, her extrem parenting methods later gain a trace of fondness, considering she forces her own survival tricks, which White truly believes in, on Sophia with the best of intentions. At the end of the day, White did save Sophia and Merazophis not just once, but twice and she also doesn’t want anything in return. While White initially justified her actions akin to “Letting them die would make me feel bad”, this is just the tsundere wording of “I wanted to save them”, even before she knew Sophia is a reincarnation. This selflessness from someone who considers herself to be rather selfish and self-centered is something even Sophia caught up on, even if White doesn’t show it directly.

White also starts developing a cute bond with the remaining puppet spiders. While in town, White is normally left behind and guarded by the puppet spiders in Ariel’s possession. Not that they could actually stop White, but it is the though that counts. After observing them for a while and even noticing hints of personality between them, she slowly starts to approach them by giving them food and teaching them how to weave clothes. She also starts restructuring their bodies to appear less like nightmare-fuelled mannequins and more like… cute anime girls. The puppet spiders even start looking up to White as a kind of older sister and if it weren’t Ariel comically interrupting her, White would have even given them names.

Remember the small paragraph at the beginning of this post about Kumoko now having a name? There is actually a bit more to it. Inside the System, there is actually a skill called “Naming”, which gives you some kind of control over the one you named. Who named White? Ariel did, though White is already too strong for it to have an effect. Ariel herself mentioned that this would have been one extreme long shot, but I think it is still funny she tried it anyway. Concerning the puppet spiders though? Ariel literally interrupted White, as for her to not accidentally use the skill and take control of the puppet spiders. Anyway, the puppet spiders have names now: Ael, Sael, Riel, Fiel. The reason I think Ariel never named any of her offspring is quite simple: There already exists a skill that appears to have the same effect in “Kin Control”, so there just was never any need for names.

Now, let me talk about the most important moment in the entire series up until now: The scene everyone got drunk. Actually, it’s two scenes, but let’s skip the semantics. Alcohol has quite a lot of different usages story-wise, mostly depending on what the intended target audience is, so I fully expected it to be either used 100% for comedy, or maybe a tiny bit of fanservice at best. You know the kind. The one where, in most cases, a female character just absolutely can’t hold her liquor and the cognitive age turns to that of an infant and she starts acting as if all restraint has left her body, just so sick perverts like me with their mommy kink can rub their hands together and go like “Oh yeah, it’s all coming together!”, while drooling and imagining questionable acts of lust and desire. However, the alcohol here was not just in service of bringing you funny comedy, but also for the characters to really open themselves and be true to their own feelings.

White goes absolutely wild when drunk. Up until this point, she wasn’t even able to actually say anything, but once the alcohol flowed, she started ranting about how Merazophis should stop complaining and how she had it far worse, literally fighting for her life the second she was born and no one knew how to appropriately react to this. Like, Merazophis is getting roasted and everyone is just staring at her unable to say anything. Most importantly, it is exactly what Merazophis needed to hear to get over his issues. Also, her waking up being suspended between two trees and not remembering a single thing is very good gap moe.

White is not the only one letting loose with Ariel explaining how Mother’s hatred for humans comes directly from her and if it weren’t for Sariel, she would have ended humanity a long time ago for apparently sacrificing her. This also basically confirms Ariel being the Divine Beast worshipped by the Goddess religion mentioned in the previous volume… wait… Ariel?… Sariel?… How did I never notice?… Even Gülie joins the round and turns out to be a pretty chill dude, as long as you are currently not messing around with the dragons, though D had to remind him to not further interact with White again. Her flat “You know what I am going to say, right?” while everyone is happily drinking was hilarious. C’mon D, join them!

At the end, we come full circle with White’s character arc. Sophia needs Merazophis, Merazophis needs Sophia and even such powerful beings as Ariel and Gülie live partially for another person. Meanwhile, White states herself to only do whatever she wants to do with no regards for anyone else, though she now wants to also learn how to let other people into her live, tying the bow of the theme linking every character in this story: Connections. Everyone has people around them, but it is up to oneself how to approach and deal with these connections. I genuinely think this random volume in a series about a funny spider beautifully explores the topic about taking the first step towards better understanding another. It’s funny how you find topics that are very dear to yourself in the weirdest of places.

Honestly, it was such a poignant and profound end, I almost wanted to cry, but I smiled like an idiot instead.

Oi Hansi, I know thematic analysis is like, your thing… but you wanna actually talk about the plot in this one?

Me:

Ugh! Fine, I guess. No, actually it is very entertaining and relatively brief. Ya boi and fellow spider enthusiast Ronandt escapes his state-sanctioned house arrest and travels with a young girl, whom her parents literally gave into his care so she could become a proper lady to later marry into a more wealthy family, to the destroyed city in Keren County. Upon arrival, Ronandt basically uses the first opportunity to ditch poor Aurel and starts searching for his “Master”… Fella was almost killed by White and immediately started simping for her. This might be rich coming from me, but pal… get your priorities straight!

He does find her, though. Or rather a part of her. Back in the labyrinth, White’s Parallel Minds started raising an army by putting their kin through the same ordeal as themselves, just in a slightly more controlled environment, which leads the spiders to speedrun their level and skill progressions. Ronandt, once again at awe by the view in front of him, has this utterly unhinged train of thoughts about how one has to throw away reason to acquire true strength and so forth, pleading the parallel minds in the center of this all to make him their apprentice. The parallel minds don’t really mind him, as they are several times stronger than him, but are rather weirded out by this old dude suddenly imitating the training of the spiders, which includes attacking himself, until all his clothes are destroyed. In general, Ronandt has a lot of “Reject modernity, return to… spiders?"-energy to him. Also, the parallel minds do not recognize Ronandt, as they were send away to attack Mother by White, when he first encountered her.

After some time, the spider army has cleared the upper stratum of the labyrinth of all monsters and, in search for food, wreaks havoc in the lower stratum. They easily defeat Kagna, Gehre and another dragon and before opening the buffet that would be the dragon eggs, Gülie appears and brings a stop to all this madness. I can not stress enough how funny this confrontation played out in my head. Just a month ago, Gülie pleaded a palm-sized White to not cause any more trouble and now there is an entire spider army overthrowing the entire labyrinth and almost killing off what might potentially be the last earth dragons, after Ariel’s rampage in the bottom stratum. In all this chaos, Ronandt is still there and fighting along the other spiders. Gülie even has a small talk with him, but the only thing I want to imagine happened is Gülie looking at Ronandt with about 50% confusion and at least 70% judgment. Needless to say, Gülie teleports to White and tells her to please deal with it, as he is prohibited to intervene by D.

With the spiders fleeing the lower stratum and having inherited some of the aspects of mother, the parallel minds come to the conclusion that there is a very easy solution as to how to not only feed a lot of mouths, but also how to gain EXP quickly. Thus, the attack on the humans begins. Ronandt, realizing what is happening, teleports back to Keren County, meets up with the left behind Aurel, who in the meantime befriended the hero Julius, and together they fight against the onslaught of spiders attacking the city. In the meantime, White deals with her parallel minds. Beyond the small interaction between White and her parallel minds, there isn’t really a lot to the fight. We learn how killing off all the humans might be a valid way to prevent the destruction of the planet, but with White being White, this option isn’t really on the table. White destroys the bodies of her parallel minds, they all return to her main body and Ronandt catches a glimpse of White, leading him to remembers again why he wanted to become strong in the first place, which, I guess, concludes his character arc for this volume.

The End.

Final Thoughts

To be fair, I do not know what I expected from the first novel continuing the anime, but this was not it. And I am kinda glad this is the case. Every story benefits from extended periods of levity and reflection and considering how well this volume handles its subject matter beautifully, I don’t feel bad to consider this volume my favorite up to this point. I know there are still ten more volumes in front of me, but this one definitely set a high bar to surpass. I don’t even want to imagine how the anime could have potentially messed up this entire volume by not giving it the time it needs. I still pray for a second season, but I also want to act like an elitist source material reader from time to time :D.

I already suspected I would break my streak of not writing about just a singular volume at volume 6, as it is the one continuing the story after the anime, but I initially thought this would be the case due to new plot and content and not because of its fantastic character drama. Well, at least this means the post won’t be this looo- what do you mean I am surpassing 4.000 words again? Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volumes 4-5

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 17:40:00 +0100

Ach ja, our bursty greedy spider keeps weaving her spider way into the world. The fourth and fifth volumes cover the events of the second part of the anime, meaning I have finally caught up with it.

Also, I always tried to include the title of the OP/ED in these post somewhere (Please ignore the fact I didn’t bother looking up the actual title of the first opening and simply going with “Spider Pride”), but what even is “Genjitsu Totsugeki Hierarchy”? Genjitsu? Sure. Totsugeki? This was some variant of “to attack”, right? And Hierarchy is already in english. But what in god’s name does Genjitsu Totsugeki Hierarchy mean? And more importantly, how can I shoehorn it into a sentence and pretend to be witty for a second?

Overall Impressions

I fucking love the demon politics. The “The Demon Lord’s Aide Sighs”-Interludes, despite there only being two of them, are such an interesting look into how this whole demon lord thing (doesn’t) work. I have seen so many anime about eventually defeating the demon lord, but close to none actually get to the demon lord/its equivalent or bother exploring this angle in any more depth than necessary.

So, as it turns out, the initial attack on the humans from volume 2 went exactly like planned, collateral on the demon’s side included. Some of the demon generals secretly conspire against the demon lord and seem to be in cahoots with the elves, so Ariel simply set up some traps to deal with it and not subtle traps either. Oh, you mean a Queen Taratect, one of my own kin, randomly popped up on the battlefield and killed half of our own army. How unfortunate… Aaanyway. Like, slay ~~queen~~ demon lord (literally).

Despite this very obvious sign, some of the generals still decide to continue to conspire against her, though this seems to come from a genuine sense of convictions and not underestimating the demon lord. Combine this with the fact that Ariel doesn’t decide to win the war herself, something she is most likely very much capable of, and the somehow ominous words at the end of volume 5, there is a lot more going on than a simple humans vs. demons. In the middle of all this is Balto. This guy deserves his sighs, trying his best to keep the demon generals from literally killing each other and somehow keeping Ariel in check. The demons are far from a united front, so I am very eager to learn how it all came to be.

Anyway, Kumoko continues to not catch a break. After Mother’s first attempt in the previous volume, she now takes matters into her own legs and chases Kumoko outside the labyrinth. This all eventually escalates into one giant cat and mouse game turned guerilla warfare with the demon lord, who turns out to be the progenitor of all the spider monsters. Inbetween all this, Kumoko gets approached by Administrator D again, telling her about the other reincarnations and part of the deal about this whole world. Honestly, beyond some very interesting information titbits, like how Kumoko’s specific evolution line is one giant trap, there isn’t a lot going on for Kumoko in the fourth novel, though it is still very enjoyable to read. The constant back-and-forth between Kumoko, Ariel and Mother leads to some very engaging fights and the more tactical approach makes it again distinct from the previous confrontations.

With her successful matricide, things get a bit more interesting in the following volume, though Kumoko’s perspective still stays mostly separate from most events in the opposing arc. While Kumoko obviously doesn’t directly interfere with Shun, etc. (yet), the first three volumes still feel like parallel narratives, as there are… well, many parallels with common elements explored at the same time. However, these two volumes feel like two separate narratives completely delimited by time and only having superficial overlap. Though while these two stories could have been told in two different volumes, I still think there is something to gain from telling them at the same time, especially as the mystery still continues to go strong.

Kumoko rescues a family from some bandits, accidentally meeting her first reincarnation, Sophia. After some more shenanigans, Kumoko is viewed by the local populace as the Divine Beast, a title mostly likely formerly hold by Ariel, and now has to deal with humans. While this was one of her initial goals, as she is still a spider monster and suffers from crippling social anxiety, it essential results into her accepting the fruits, healing the humans when approached, but otherwise hiding in the forest most of the time. She does however learn the language. It also makes her realize she is the reason a war has started, something that never gets old, no matter how many times I see it. Besides this, I appreciate how serious this series handles Kumoko’s inability to communicate with other people. Not only did this already cause some troubles in her former life, it continues to do so, as everyone basically has to second-guess what she actually means (they always misinterpret it in some way).

The other thing going on has to do with her Parallel Minds. After the defeat of Mother and Body Brain going for Ariel, Kumoko notices some inconsistencies in her thoughts. Until now, the parallel minds were just another her, but after their confrontation with mother, Magic Brain #1 and #2 seem to have slightly diverged from Kumoko’s original Information Brain, being a bit more aggressive, as seen as when Kumoko killed the bandits attacking Sophia’s wagon, despite having no intention to deal with them. This also escalated into her killing all the bandits in the area, as she was afraid of what would happen, if she were to go against her two parallel brains. Meanwhile, Ariel has to deal with a similar problem, as former Body Brain attacks her spirit with no way to stop this attack. D mentioned that this attack is “outside the System”, meaning there is no skill support for it, bringing back the idea of one’s divinity field, though there is still no explanation of what it specifically is besides one’s “soul”.

While Kumoko plays bodyguard for little miss bloodsucker, Ariel mourns the death of one of her kin. The anime severely undercuts the character of Mother as an actual character and her connection towards Ariel. I mean, sure, we get that there has to be a connection from Ariel’s species name also being Taratect, but even such simple details as mentioning she understood the type of attack of Kumoko against her and requesting help from Ariel, give her more depth as an individual living being in this world. Plus, reading through her three pages of skills, you get a glimpse into her life, like how she has max-leveled the Taboo skill or how her high level of Light Magic Resistance probably indicates some successful encounters against the local heroes. Mother was a beast.

Anyway, while Ariel searches for the corpse of Mother, she meets the leader of the earth dragons. Gakia basically talks about how there is an upcoming “wind of change” and that the old should give way for the young. Given how Ariel is not in the greatest of moods, quite daring to say the least. What actually puts her over the line is the following: The earth dragons know about Kumoko and through their dogma about strength and pride are also on her side and didn’t interfere as she attacked Mother. This leads to Ariel not only killing Gakia, but seemingly all the earth dragons in the Bottom Stratum. Remember her little comment about earth dragons after Kumoko defeated Araba? Yeah.

Following this, Ariel herself begins to notice changes in her psyche and Güliedistodiez (definitely didn’t have to look up the spelling of the name) basically confirms that, instead of fighting to gain dominance, the mind of Body Brain and Ariel merged together and form a new being (I like the name “Magical Girl★Ariel-chan, but I will continue to simply call her Ariel”). It is also revealed that Gülie was the former leader of the earth dragons and instructed by D to not mess with Kumoko’s affairs, something he goes against, as he was friends with Sariel and thusly does Ariel the favor of teleporting her to Kumoko. Sariel is a name I definitely heard a few times. The region where Kumoko currently resides in is named Sariella and if Sariel is indeed the “Goddess” revered by the Goddess religion (and by proxy the Word of God religion), it would mean that Sariel is also most likely the one seen in Shun’s dream and the girl crucified in Kumoko’s premonition after maxing out Taboo in the anime, beyond also directly being linked to Ariel through the Divine Beast. Whether my prediction turns out to be wrong or not, it is really cool how one is able to try to figure out what is happening by such long chains of incomplete information.

Going along with the plot, Kumoko enjoys the free EXP gained while participating in the war she caused, until Ariel shows up. Shota Julius shows up too, resulting a weird stalemate as Kumoko can’t fight against Ariel, Ariel can’t fight Julius and Julis can’t approach Kumoko. Suddenly, there is a huge fire ball above them and Ariel uses this distraction to finally kill Kumoko for good… well, she ends up surviving, but Ariel tried her best and this is all that matters! Putting her consciousness into one of the nearly hatched eggs she layed using Mother’s egg-laying skill, she now stands in front of a funny problem. As she is not as large as Mother, her eggs are only a fraction of the size, resulting in her being a normal-sized spider akin to a tarantula with all-around stats of 3. She is able to evolve, though it is most likely she would starve mid-way evolving. And then Gülie shows up. Honestly, I wish the anime would have portrayed this scene accurately, as it would have most likely added to the already weird conversation with a smol Kumoko in front of a fully armored person.

Gulie explains that he sent Ariel to Kumoko, but is not actually hostile towards her, instead asking her two simple questions – Whether Kumoko would stop her meddling of Ariel and if she would no longer interact with the humans. Kumoko’s social anxiety shows itself from its best side again, as she simply responds with “I can’t.” and “Sorry, but no.”, two statements that are arguably very true to the core of what she actually thinks about the questions, but also give a lot of room for interpretation. Looking back, Ariel first attacked Kumoko at the beach, as she mistook her flailing arms and head tilting, on whether she would stop attacking Mother, as “No and why would you ask such a dumb question?”. Bless her non-existent communication skills.

Anyway, after receiving the meat of the slain earth dragons, Kumoko is finally able to evolve into an Arachne and now stands before the decision of what to do with her 999 children. She even thought about eating them, though she really wanted to be a better mother than Mother. She eventually figures that they will probably be able to handle life on their and leaves them behind to their own devices, though she does transfer her parallel minds into some of them. After she noticed the parallel minds weird behaviors, she wanted to get rid of the them, though as simply deactivating the Parallel Mind skill would be like killing them, she compromises to essential give them their own body. This is a decision she later came to regret and considering how the Nightmare’s Vestiges turned out… yeah, I can see why.

Leaving the Great Elroe Labyrinth, she later finds herself in the house of Lil' Drac' fighting Potimas, chief of the elves. This is where it starts getting wild. Firstly, Potimas sets up a field, which apparently disconnects the space in it from the System, rendering most skills and abilities useless. Though out of magic, he ain’t out of options and pulls out the Glock. Yes, of course these nature-loving freaks figured out how to put an AR into one’s arm. It doesn’t end there with him being a full-fledged cyborg and able to put his consciousness into different bodies. Honestly, this is the kind of twist I came to fully appreciate. Break your tropes in the wildest ways!

Together with Ariel, Kumoko defeats Potimas and now has to figure out what to do with the demon lord in front of her. Luckily, Ariel has a truly 300 IQ idea: To become genocide buddies. Ariel lost all desire to kill Kumoko and is now under the assumption that it is actually impossible to even kill her, as she came back alive twice now. Meanwhile, Kumoko is delighted to not fight the demon lord anymore, though she is still entertains the idea of at least having the means to potentially backstab her, though we already know that it didn’t come to this. In the company of Sophia and her turned caretaker Merazophis, the four of them start their journey towards the Demon Realm and form the Genjitsu Totsugeki Hierarchy… what does that even mean?… there is also nothing Genjitsu about Kumoko and Ariel.

I didn’t intend for Kumoko’s part to basically turn into an exhaustive summary, but unlike her first arc, I had the feeling it is more important what happens, instead of how or why, as there are way less parallels to the other side of the story. I mean, there are still some connections like the remnants of the fight between Mother and Kumoko in the labyrinth, the Nightmare’s Vestiges and when the elves and the empire army forces finally met each other on the battlefield. Going volume by volume also doesn’t make a lot of sense in this case, as volume 4 and 5 clearly build one unit. Huh… just talking about the novel can be rather complicated. Nai wa~.

Now to the human side of it all. After successfully escaping Sophia, or rather being allowed to escape, the gang decides to travel to the elf village, as the elves are the next target of Hugo’s advance. To get there, they have to traverse the Great Elroe Labyrinth with the help of labyrinth guide and best boy Basgath. It is very appreciated how this series respects characters that are not core to its narrative and do not amount to more than basic NPC’s. Basgath is a fully fleshed-out character with his own history and distinct personality. He even gets to have some agency, clearly states his opinion to the group and being the only real adult, is able to give rather solid advice, specifically to Shun. It is clear as day that Shun suffers from his own flavor of hero complex and seeing another character besides Katia acknowledge this is such a breath of fresh air. Also, him beating Shun for completely disregarding his advice is good, actually!

For the most part, there isn’t a lot happening inside the labyrinth. The group encounters a dragon and learn about the Nightmare’s Vestiges. The vestiges clearly recognize Shun as the hero and the others as reincarnations, which again begs the question what their deal seems to be. Beyond this, Shun has two dreams, one about a girl repeating the level up notification over and over again and one about Shouko Negishi in their former life. They eventually escape the labyrinth and enter the elf village before Hugo’s army arrives.

Before all this though, their former teacher Oka decides to spill some beans, as even Shun came to a point as to not fully trust her anymore. According to the elves, there are beings called administrators, who seem to be in some way hostile to the elves and potentially a problem for everyone else. They gain the power and skills when an inhabitant of this world dies, thus become stronger themselves. While Oka doesn’t know for sure, whether this is correct or not, the elves absolutely believe this, which explains why she told Shun, etc. to not level their skills. If the elves are correct, the Goddess Religion would also become a huge problem, as they believe in sacrificing their own skill to the goddess. How much of this turns out to be correct is up to the future volumes, but there is clearly something more going on with the reincarnations than simply being reincarnated by the good will of D.

Entering the elf village, they immediately sense something is just off. They are held at spear-point, before being welcomed by a now alive Potimas, though he clearly has no desire to actually be friendly. They are then brought to their accommodation, which appears to be prepared in advance, meaning the elves knew Shun’s group would be coming. They are also constantly monitored and guarded by a few elves. The next day, they meet up with the other reincarnations and find them to be basically imprisoned in this place with not the most admiration for their former teacher Oka, as most of them were kidnapped in young age by the elves.

So, what is the deal with the elves? Well… I don’t want to claim that Potimas is literally Hitler, as this would be a plain wrong comparison. He is also part Hirohito. The elves are a supremacist people with a singular ruling instance in the form of Potimas, that clearly want to take over the world, plus there is still the deal with the administrators. They are also able to create elves artificially with a distinction between “mass-produced” and “custom-made” elves. Kumoko noted in her fight against Potimas that the technology of the elves would lead to the destruction of this world. TL;DR: The elves are evil.

The elves, specifically Potimas, also only cooperate with Oka’s search for her former students, as it benefits them keeping all the reincarnations in a controlled environment. By the way, I appreciate how Oka, an adult and a teacher, genuinely seems to try to do good and take responsibility for her students. If there is one good thing about Arifureta, it is that the teacher trying to keep her students under control, so that dumb powerful teenagers don’t go wild in a foreign fantasy world and with this world being just more dangerous in general, I can respect her trying, though her means of doing so are highly questionable. She also tends to regret her decisions and is aware of how suspicious she looks, as she literally can’t disclose the information her specific skill provides. I really hope this series expands on her character, as there is clearly more going on in the background as she lets on.

After meeting the other reincarnations, Shun has to grapple with the possibility of the missing reincarnations being on the side of the demon army. This is the logical conclusion to an idea already brought up in the previous volumes. Every reincarnation has to this point lived as long as their previous life and most of the characters we know about have changed from their former personality, even if some have difficulties accepting this *cough* Shun *cough*, meaning it is perfectly understandable that this sense of unity is not a given. We know Kumoko and Fei have already rejected their humanity and considering how weird Yuri became or how utterly unhinged Sophia presents herself now, it wouldn’t be out of the window if some of the reincarnations are on the demon side, not because they are manipulated, but because they believe the demons are the good ones. This is actually what seems to happen with Shun and Katia’s former friend Kyouya, who was confused why they are fighting alongside the elves, as they are clearly the evil ones.

Though before the battle starts, there is a chapter dedicated to Fei. Noticing Anna getting bullied by some of the elves keeping watch on the group, Fei uses her own experience in bullying others to defuse the situation by countering their bullshit rhetoric with her own. Now this in an unironic 300 IQ move. She then goes deeper into her own bullying. We already know since volume 1 that she bullied Hiiro Wakaba because the senpai she was in love with confessed to Wakaba and while she rejected him, Fei was under the impression that she still took him away from herself and started to bully her. I find it funny how, on several occasions, it is mentioned if it even counts as bullying, as Fei and her friends never went that far, but I am here reading like You actively decided to bully her. It doesn’t matter if it is light bullying or not, you still bullied her. Though eventually the reason for Fei bullying Wakaba changed, as she was now mostly confused by her lack of reactions and Fei simply let out all of her frustration on Wakaba. This all adds a bit more weight to her not being able to apologize to Wakaba anymore, as Oka mentioned she died *wink*, and her own regret of only figuring herself out after spending years inside an egg.

Anyway, the war between the elves and Hugo’s forces starts and it is kinda boring. Kumoko had some really varied and interesting fights, but the fights on the human side are mostly window-dressing for conversation between opposing sides. So, Hugo got his ass handed to him… twice… and Sophia finishes the hat-trick with telling him he was used. The rest essentially comes down to Sophia being to strong to beat, but Shun trying anyway after maxing out Taboo. At the end, “White” enters the scene and everyone is surprised to see Hiiro Wakaba, who destroyed the elf’s barrier, very much not dead.

So yeah, Hiiro Wakaba is confirmed to have reincarnated as Kumoko and I am a bit confused. I mean, you are telling me the girl mentioned from volume 1 forward and being severely foreshadowed to be Kumoko, is, in fact, actually Kumoko? You can’t be serious! I was so convinced for it to be a red herring by just how much attention this detail was given, that Wakaba can’t possible turn out to be Kumoko. Administrator D? Maybe, but not Kumoko! Well, maybe I should give up playing 4D Chess with this series, as I clearly loose every match.

Lastly, volume 4 ended with a timeline. A simple table with years and their corresponding events, like you would find on a wiki. This confused me, as the narratives does go to some length do obfuscate what and when something actually happens. While we get some context, like how much time Kumoko roughly spend inside the labyrinth, there are also mentions of events that might greatly re-contextualize what is happening, like the Hero before Julius defeating the demon lord, but vanishing afterwards, only to be assumed dead 40 years later when Julius received the Hero title, which would also end up being the year everyone is assumed to have reincarnated. Then there is a mention of Ronandt being the one to break up the stalemate between Kumoko, Ariel and Julius, as well as a “Sword Demon” appearing in the empire, but being driven away by Ronandt. Apparently Ronandt was supposed to have a major role in these volumes, but these turned out to be around 90% new content compared to the web-version. I guess we get to see his heroics in a future volume. Also, assuming by his own Unlimited Blade Works, the Sword Demon is Kyouya/Wrath, right?

Comparison to the Anime

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, I will start by mentioning again, that the anime works and I don’t think the adaptation necessarily did a bad job adapting the novels. It is just weird looking back how the anime is different, but the same. In hindsight, I would say they should have only adapted volumes 1-4, but I understand that volume 5 is a better jumping-off point, though I guess with some changes, the reunion of the reincarnation could have worked as a climax too.

So, what changed? Well, mostly the order of what happens. The start of Kumoko’s fight against Mother was pushed towards the second half of the anime and then intertwined halfway with her setting up camp near Sophia. The human side was restructured too to allow better flow and clarity of the whole narrative. This time, no entire fight was cut out and out of all the three current posts, this is the one with the most “accurate” adaptation. The anime even added some content, like the mechs also appearing in front of Shun or Potimas visiting Sophia before the war. Also, the visualization of Kumoko having a mental breakdown from the perspective of Sophia’s mother and Merazophis lives rent-free in my mind.

Though as always, there is also a decent amount of cut content. As already mentioned, the ordeal with Mother was severely underplayed in the adaptation. Not only is Novel Mother a lot more threatening, actually finishing off mother or even simply surviving long enough to do so was a way bigger struggle for Kumoko. Considering how she appears way less a character and sans her explicit connection to Ariel, she comes of way less the big deal she actually is. Also the missing mention of the ten other spider puppet monsters Kumoko fought might cause continuity errors, as far as I have accidentally spoiled myself is concerned.

Secondly, the whole deal with her parallel minds. The anime glanced over it completely, which is fine, as it doesn’t really matter just yet, the scene with her testing out her new evil eyes on the bandits was cut either way and her hatching from the egg was also done differently due to the shuffling of events. I’m just saying, if there will maybe potentially possibly be another season *hooks thyself up to a tank of hopium*, this should probably be explained, as I thought Kumoko is still in possession of her three brain cells.

Thirdly, the anime flies over the elves being this kinda fascist people with most of Oka’s input missing. I mean, not that it did matter for me, as I was rightfully against the elves from the start, but most people are still affected by elf propaganda and might not believe that the elves are the villains of this story. Guys, I know you want to have sex with the hot elf girl, but you have to stay strong for the motherland! I deeply respect Okina Baba for having the courage to disclose the vile acts of these tree huggers. Richtig und wichtig.

Fourthly, all the interludes about Sophia are missing. Sophia is, even in the novels, not the most engaging antagonist(?), but at least the interludes give her a personality beyond simply being antagonistic towards Shun. She basically messes around most of the time, as she never actually fought them seriously and her little talks with Felmina reveal a rather childish and immature personality, coupled with some sprinkles of pettiness on top. Also, I guess she was raised by a weird spider lady and the demon lord pretending to be a magical girl. She does display a different behavior towards Merazophis though. These interludes also partially introduce Felmina and Wald, which the anime basically omitted in the fight against Shun, though they are properly included in the hero shot at the end of the last episode.

And last but not least, Kumoko thinking about eating Sophia. Like, the house in on fire, Merazophis is out of commission and she picks up Sophia wondering how baby humans taste like and being indecisive about going for the arm or the leg. Seriously, this is exactly the kind of behavior we want to see from Kumoko! Also, did you ever notice the lush and green forest around the elf village disappear into an empty sandy dessert as soon as the war began? Like, what happened there? I have seen the anime twice, but I never questioned it. Desertification do be scary.

Final Thoughts

I never thought I would have so much fun reading the volumes covering the anime adaptation and while I could have started from volume 6, I am rather glad I didn’t. Not just because the anime did cut a lot of scenes, but also because I simply love So I’m a Spider. Even having only recently re-watched the anime, it was still fun to rediscover the events again.

From here on out and ignoring all the bits on which I already spoiled myself, it will be all blind for me, so I naturally can’t gauge how I will proceed with these posts. I do however hope they don’t continue to grow in length! I summarized a lot, so let’s hope I finally learn to be concise and not retell half the story. Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volumes 2-3

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 23:40:00 +0200

Ach ja, after getting surprisingly hooked on the first novel, it didn’t take that much time for me to finish the second and third one too, thus concluding the first arc of the series… at least from Kumoko’s perspective. Considering the several overlapping perspectives, I am not that confident in how I will split the novels for these posts, but that is a problem for future me. Current me wants to go gush over my obsession. Ganbare! Kumoko-chan!

Overall Impressions

You know how there are some things that just have too much, but then you add even more and it become right again? This is So I’m a Spider with its skills. While it can be a bit much at times, I appreciate to just what degree of self-indulgence it can go. The skills are not just a game-like gimmick to attract new readers who simply don’t know better, but an intrinsic part of this world in several different areas. So yeah, just go all in for exploring this aspect from every angle imaginable! Honestly, it already puts some games to shame. For the most part, these two novels explore these skills in two angles: The mechanical and intrinsic angle, aka how exactly everything surrounding these skills work on an in-universe level and an extrinsic one, that questions the more specific nature of these skills and what it means for the narrative at large.

The first angle, beyond a fairly good amount of straight-up exposition, features plenty of scenes having plain fun with the skill system. Kumoko just trying random stuff to learn the skills she looked up in the skill list via proficiency instead of spending her skill points is hilarious. Kumoko wondering what the catch is for a seemingly OP skill, only for Taboo to gain a few levels with comedic timing got me every time. Talking to her selves via Parallel Minds? Never gets old. I also have to applaud the consistent overview of this insane plethora of skills and still being able to construct unique battles that make use of a new combination of them. No two fights can be overcome the same way and it shows both Kumoko’s unique problem solving ability, as well as how she slowly learns to master this world’s system (Only for her to get trolled by it shortly after).

Beyond the extended mechanical aspects of the skills, there is a good amount of narrative baggage that comes with them. While Kumoko low-key accepts that this world is just like those Isekai she read in novels, she also rightfully comes to the conclusion that such a “hard” skill system doesn’t form naturally and was clearly put in place by someone. Add to the fact that all known skills are in on way or another related to combat and you slowly have to questions what’s the actual deal with the skills. Kumoko also learns that she is most likely being observed and skills seem to be given out with purpose, as seen with the Appraisal skill evolving into Wisdom, right after Kumoko is being disappointed about Appraisal hitting the level cap without any new effects. Looking back at it, in the first novel with Kumoko fighting in the pit, it sure was convenient that she gained the HP Auto-Recovery skill a day or so after complaining why she is not in possession of such skill.

All this eventually leads to the introduction of Administrator D. Despite only appearing once in volume 2 and seeming like a dandy fellow, they are as fascinating as they are menacing. Kumoko trying to keep it together, after being approached by a mind-reading “evil god”, has almost something tragic to it. If being reincarnated as a spider wasn’t awful enough, she is told to basically be a plaything for the amusement of a being that couldn’t care less about this world. The few moments of sincerity and seriousness from Kumoko hit pretty close, compared to her almost constant up-beat/sarcastic personality. And it is not like we are any closer to actually figuring out what exactly is going on. Terms like MA Field, Ruler, Godhood and divinity field are still a mystery to the reader, most of the descriptions and conditions for Kumoko’s titles are vague and questionable at best and Taboo reaching level 10 gave Kumoko a few more problems in her life. Clearly, God hates spiders.

Or not, actually. Kumoko has finally reached the point where she can be called nothing less than powerful, gaining one broken skill after another. Despite these massive improvements to her stats, it is not like it matters all that much for the most time. After her battle with the monkeys, she enters the middle stratum, which reveals itself to be a living hell. Especially for spiders, as they are particularly susceptible to fire. Having relied on her thread up to this point, she is taken of her weapon of choice, beyond also unable to even go near the lava without taking damage, thus limiting her mobility. This is a clever way of “nerfing” Kumoko’s newfound abilities and better stats, as they are not taken away or made less strong per se, but rather not directly applicable to the new environment and problems Kumoko faces.

From there on, it is mostly a diverse palette of different battles for Kumoko. A funny side-note: Kumoko likes to fight the lava monsters, as opposed to the monsters from the upper and lower stratum, as their meat is not poisonous… something I obviously noticed, but never bothered to connect to why everything tastes bad. She eventually earns the Fearbringer title, making it difficult for her to procure food, as all the weaker monsters now run away from her. Poor Kumoko can’t catch a break, even in the most mundane of situations.

While all the larger battles have something worthwhile to talk about, I want to limit this post to ~~two~~ three of them: The “fight” against the humans, the fight against the humans 2: Earthly Boogaloo and lastly, the fight against Araba.

Kumoko’s first encounter with humans went… less than stellar. They burnt her house down and later forced her to flee into the lower stratum. Needless to say, not the best impression. After the events of the first novel, an entire army division was sent to investigate the weird behavior of a certain monster. After they struggle through the labyrinth, they eventually encounter Kumoko and immediately decide to not deal with her and run straight towards the exit. This encounter, despite being rather anti-climatic, shows us two things: Humans are actually not that strong, even in large groups and already consider Kumoko to be a huge threat. This is also the reason why they later sent the strongest human mage after her. It is also fun to see how her skills effect her opponents from the perspective of… well, her opponents, as all the soldiers were in fear and couldn’t move, aka. the Fear skills and Heavy Evil Eye in action. The second point is that it didn’t result in a fight. For all intends and purposes, Kumoko could have started her genocide run right here and then. But she didn’t. This will later spiral into her observed “weird” behavior for a monster and into the tale of the “Nightmare of the labyrinth”.

What I also was rather surprised by was the dodging of a a trope I am not sure has a name. The army division was mostly made up of lower-ranking nobles and the like, not normal soldiers, so it was quite refreshing to see them not acting like total cocky dumbasses, overestimating themselves based on the circumstances of their birth and attacking Kumoko for some idiotic reason like pride and honor. Instead, they slowly learned to listen and even respect the labyrinth guide and when encountered by impossible odds, they made the reasonable choice to flee and get someone stronger to deal with it. Beyond simply not falling for this terrible trope, I am amazed by the restraint to not create a situation where Kumoko would be fully justified in killing her human assailants, instead making her first human kill a bit more morally grey.

Kumoko’s second encounter was against the strongest, in his words strongest human, mage Ronandt. I also only just now realized, even after having seen the anime twice now, why Ronandt was accompanied by this wannabee Pokémon trainer. He is a beast-tamer… they actually wanted to tame Kumoko… the audacity… hilarious. Similar to the army encounter, we get to see Kumoko fighting from the perspective of humans. We learn some interesting titbits about Appraisal, like that it can be blocked via Ruler permissions or that being appraised gives you a weird feeling, convincing me that the Appraisal Skill is just a weird type of heretic magic and will probably come back big time with Taboo or something like that. Mark my words, for one time in this series, I want to be right about future events… and now back to the topic at hand… killing humans.

Via her inner narration, we already know that Kumoko was not the most lawfully good person in her former life and breaking the law to her is more a “pain to deal with” issue than a moral one. She does feel different towards humans, compared to other monsters, but similar to Fei, she no longer necessarily relates to humans the same way she formerly did. While she may help and even heal them occasionally, she also tries to keep a distance. I actually like to thing that she was totally cool with them, until humans burned her house down again and pulled a full 180, going along the lines of “Meat’s back on the menu, girls!” and starts killing. There is more to her character, but I like the thought that her former trauma turns her into a human killing machine.

So, she starts killing humans. To be fair, the first few were not on purpose, but genuine accidents. After learning that humans give way more experience points than monster though?.. Meat’s back on the menu, girls! Beyond just being fun, this fight highlights how she sees herself in regards to her surrounding. At the end of the day, Kumoko wants to not only survive, but live a life she can be proud of and we know how she feels about running away. She could have spared the humans, but she actively decided against it. I like how she does some brain gymnastics (might actually be just some light stretching) about how her actions were totally justified, but the focus should be on how little she actually cares.

Lastly, Araba. I have already talked about Kumoko vs. Araba in great length, so I will keep this one short. It is essentially the climax to the first character arc of Kumoko. She goes from the Small Lesser Taratect, being constantly forced out of her home and surrounded by stronger monsters, to the proud Ede Saine overcoming impossible odds. Araba, solely as an idea, needs to be overcome by Kumoko to not also overcome her trauma, but also gain a certain amount of freedom. Also, Araba do be kinda dangerous and now recognizes Kumoko as a genuine threat, so… one of them has to die. Something I read from someone else is that Kumoko’s extreme reaction towards Araba giving up might be indicative of her Pride skill messing with her reasoning. Not sure yet how much this holds water, but I also don’t think it takes away from my reading of the fight.

That’s so far on Kumoko’s side of events (I didn’t expect for it to get this long). On the human front, things sure happen. While Shun is still very much the center of attention on the human side of the narrative, these two volumes are not afraid to loosen this focus. Especially Katia gets a huge amount of characterization and evens out Shun’s relative optimism with a more grounded sense of their situation. I especially liked her interludes talking to the other reincarnations, which basically confirmed some of the initial thoughts you would get from them. Their old teacher is absolutely not to be trusted, Yuri, beyond being a religious fanatic, has probably lost it mentally and Sue’s attachment towards Shun goes way deeper than one would expect, even with the Imouto trope in mind.

Arguably my favorite chapter was when Katia and Fei basically talked about their, not quite the right term, but I don’t know how else to describe it, body dysmorphia, as both of them have been reincarnated into a different body than their previous life. Especially Fei’s new perspective as a monster is kinda interesting, as she doesn’t relate to humans anymore and acts according to her understanding of earth dragons, aka. enjoying her life as a pet without a worry in the world. Her explanation as to why she can be so close to Shun without feeling… well, feelings, even made me chuckle a bit, comparing it to how you wouldn’t become flustered around a lizard either and that she lost all interest and attraction towards humans.

Speaking of Fei, she almost died. Well, not actually, but she could have. Simply said, she got older and eventually reached the end of her lifespan, forcing her to fight monsters in order to evolve. Turns out everyone one the human side is a bit more averse to fighting other living beings when compared to our little spider. Fei also gets quite strong to the point that even Shun gets jealous (and him wondering why she has fire and petrification resistance is hilarious). Monsters in general tend to have a greater potential of becoming strong, though most of them lack the intellect and can’t make use of their skills. The group even jokes about how scary it would be, if one of them would have been reincarnated as a monster and started munching on those sweet monster EXP from the moment they were born. You know, just imagining in how much trouble they would be, if some of their former classmates were on the side of the demon lord.

In fiction, the term “red herring” is used to describe the intentional misleading of the audience and after these two novels, I could probably open a shop for jamaican pick up. These novels sure want you to believe a lot on flimsy information and supposed connections your brain made up on its own. The problem (as in I really like this narrative trick) is, I am not sure when I am supposed to fall for the red herring, see right through them or am supposed to think I a saw through them and it then turns out to be actually correct. For now, I have the benefit of having seen the anime and, or at least how far the anime covered it, am aware when the novel tries to swindle me into believing the Kuleshov effect, but to be honest… I wouldn’t bet money on any of my predictions. I love the mystery so much.

The rest of the two novels is basically Shun having a very rough week: Hiding Fei from Yuri, almost being killed by Hugo, his brother dying and inheriting the Hero title, everyone he knows seemingly distancing themselves from him, Fei turning into an egg, almost being killed by Hugo a second time, being framed for a coup d’etat and fleeing the country, almost being killed by his lifelong maid, Katia killing herself in front of him, learning about Sophia, fighting against Ronandt and finding your oldest brother’s mind turned into mush, utterly unable to do anything about it. Pal might need to invest in some therapy.

Shun, in general, might not even be in the best headspace to begin with. Unlike Katia, he has not fully grasped the situation he is in and goes about his daily life with little care… which is kinda frustrating. He is by far more self-aware than in the anime, but he still wears the mantle of your generic protagonist, even if some characters literally try to beat his hero-complex out of him. The most damning show of his character was in reply to Shun calling Yuri a religious nutjob, with Yuri calling herself at least not as obnoxious as Shun with his brother… imagine getting owned be her of all people.

Shun is not all bad, though. I really enjoy every bit of introspection he gets, from his mental breakdown following his brother’s death to his own acknowledgment of being weak and suffering under the pressure of being the hero. He has the potential to become a truly engrossing character, but he might also drift right back the opposite direction and run counterproductive to the like of Kumoko’s characterization. Again, Katia, their teacher and probably Fei know better and he should absolutely too.

Comparison to the Anime

For the most part, the anime adapted the novels quite accurately, though I suppose the word “most” does a lot of legwork here. Similar to the first novel, it doesn’t feel like anything really misses. You get the points the anime is trying to make and you are never left wondering why something just happened (Unless it wants to, obviously). For all intends and purposes, it is not like you are actually missing out a lot if you are only watching the anime… except you are missing out a lot if you are only watching the anime. Seriously, I am convinced they could have easily filled the two cours only adapting volume 1 to 3 and parts of volume 4, though I suppose it wouldn’t have ended on any kind of good jumping off point.

Starting with Kumoko again, her story stays mostly intact. Surprisingly, the entire climax of volume two was skipped. It is a fight against a fire wyrm that also acts as a leader of several other lava monsters. While fun, this is the content that can be cut out the easiest. While we loose some sense of Kumoko’s progression, this isn’t really that big a deal in the anime. Another thing cut was the initial encounter with the fire dragon Rend. In the novel, it is Mother that injures Rend. This is also the first time we get our first glimpse of her Kin Control skill and just how powerful she really is. Beyond those two fights, there is the missing encounter with the human soldiers, which unfortunately foregoes the whole emergence of “The Nightmare of the Labyrinth”. Lastly, upon Kumoko reaching Taboo level 10, in the novel, the reader only learns that the world is doomed and Kumoko does an uncharacteristic 180 in her motivation. The anime, while not necessarily being more elaborate, did include some images and fast moving text… something me and my pause button didn’t really bother much :D.

On the human side… there are so many cuts, one might question whether self harm was at play. With the exception of a few, most of the interludes are completely removed, mostly affecting Katia and Sophia and if it weren’t already enough, they also ignored the one chapter that was entirely dedicated to Katia. Even a bigger shame that it was the content with most of her character development, especially with her coming to terms being a woman. In general, episode 14 was utterly butchered in the adaptation. Also, we were robbed of this scene:

Cowards! Also missing in this scene is Shun bringing Katia back to life via the Mercy skill, instead with the power of friendship and him raising his Taboo level. The thing concerning Taboo was touched upon in the end of the anime, but it does take some of the weight of this scene away. After the confrontation with Sophia, Shun, accompanied by Fei and Katia, fly back to the capital to rescue Katia’s parents, but are engaged by Ronandt, who has some kind of connection to Sophia. After making it into the palast, they are greeted by a mind-broken Cylis and Katia’s dead parents. Shun, using Mercy, revives Katia’s parents, but is unable to help Cylis, as his mind was completely destroyed by the brain-washing.

Beyond just missing a good amount of content, the material is also weirdly rushed with no sense of time-progression. Some of it comes from the fact that all the human stories from volume 1 weren’t animated in the first place. I mean, the anime doesn’t even acknowledge the passed time after Hugo was expelled from the academy and jumps right back with him executing his plan, as if no time has had passed, also missing out on Shun getting estranged from his friends. Again, I wouldn’t mind by just having seen the anime, but considering how good a certain part of the story could have been, which I always considered to be one of the lowest points in the anime, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

However, there is also a good amount of stuff I consider the anime to be superior in. With the reorganizing of different events, I would say the anime has a slightly better flow and sometimes even goes out of its way to give certain scenes the attention they deserve. Specifically for these two novels, it would be the final confrontation between Kumoko and Araba (I will never shut up about this fight). Reading the fight was almost a letdown compared to the anime. Sure, the lack of incredible voice acting and animation are partially responsible, but reading this part of the story also lacked the emotional impact and depth I felt in the anime. Both Araba and Kumoko were evenly matched and it was by far her most difficult fight, but the anime really sold them both fighting with all their might to the bitter end. The anime even adds some original scenes, like Kumoko being impaled by an earth spike and having to cut off part of her body, to elevate the fight to new heights. Solely judging from the novel, this fight wouldn’t have stayed in my mind rent-free for who knows how long. The anime gave this last battle between two legends the attention and care it deserves.

The human side of the story also incorporated an extra story not found in the novel. It’s the scene with the reincarnations in their former lives as students. Not only does this story give some much needed characterization, but it is also a great tool to contrast their new lives. Honestly, more Isekai need a look into the protagonists old live, that dives much deeper than simply “Oh, you know, I was a good-for-nothing anti-social shut-in that played video games all day long”. No, give me boys playing badly animated football and girls bullying each other!

This is about everything I can say about the adaptation of these parts without literally going episode by episode and pointing out all the differences like an annoying little nerd watching the shitty movie adaptation of their favorite fantasy novel and if I ever become this person, you have permission to break my jaw or do whatever makes me shut up.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, I wouldn’t have assumed that reading the novels would be such an easy task for me, especially since I already know what happens most of the time. Despite all of them being close to 300 pages and only reading after going to bed, I am flying through them. Seriously, the bottleneck for me are these very posts.

If there is one thing I am… not annoyed by, but pretty aware is the relatively repetitive prose. Maybe “too in-depth” might be more accurate. Yeah I got it the first time, no need to go over it another two times with different wording. If this were the web-novel, sure, but I would assume the editing process for the light novels would slim these elaborate description down a bit.

I’m very interested in how the “second” part plays out, as the anime definitely had some kind of shift of its atmosphere to it… though it is not like I have ~~almost~~ finished volume 4 already by the point I am writing this post, lol.

Anyway, we’ll probably see us in not even two weeks, when I will have finally caught up on the anime… how did I write 4.000 words on this? Nai wa~.

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

So I'm a Spider, So What? LN: Volume 1

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 19:30:00 +0200

Ach ja, after eventually finding a use for my tablet of four years (and reading the entirety of the Tokyo Ghoul and :re manga first), I will now finally be able to dive into the long, for me at least, unattainable world of light novels. At the very top of this list: Frog-kun’s homage to the “Little Sister” sub-genre. But after that, it’s So I’m a Spider, So What?!

Honestly, I kinda adore this series. Not only did its anime adaptation convince me to give this series a shot at all, as it basically looks like yet another gimmicky isekai in a well of an oversaturated market, but also bring me back from my YouTube hiatus and also land a spot in the list of anime I rewatched relatively soon after watching it the first time. Naturally, with no second season in sight, I was also interested in the light novels, as I really wanted to read how the story goes on. I even bought volume 6, the one continuing from the anime… twice. I do not own the book to this date (“In progress” my ass!). Incidentally, Thalia removed the item from their store both times after I purchased it. Truly curious (it is also up again…). So, while I probably will never get my hands on the physical novels, I now have a means to read the eBooks. Also, might as well start from the beginning.

While planning to document my journey through the novels, I initially wanted to go through them arc by arc, beginning with volumes 1-3, though the first volume already gave me so much to talk about, mostly in the way it compares to the anime, that I had to break my goal at the first step. Let’s just hope this post stays the exception and the next ones will cover several volumes at once. Trust me, I do not want to write 16 individual posts!

Until volume 6, I will probably divide the posts into a segment talking about the novel itself and another segment about the anime series covering parts of the novels. The later is not supposed to be an extensive list about all the differences in the adaptation (This ain’t a wiki), but rather how the different presentations of the story changes its reading and impact on me. Anyway, with yet another long preamble out of the way, here are my thoughts about the first volume of So I’m a Spider, So What?.

Overall Impressions

If Kumoko has a million fans, I’m one of them. If Kumoko has tens fans, I’m one of them. If Kumoko has one fan, that one is me. If Kumoko has no fans, I’m no longer alive. If the world is against Kumoko, I’m against the entire world. Till my last breath, I’ll support Kumoko! In all honestly, Kumoko is such a fun character to follow around. Bonus points if you randomly decide to read all her lines in the voice of Aoi Yuuki, because your own head voice just can not compare :D.

Kumoko is such a fresh breath of fresh air, not just comparing to most isekai protagonists, but most protagonists in general. She has no ambition to be the hero, no obligation to do the right thing, without also going down a villain route and most importantly, she is also allowed to just be herself, without restrictions from the plot or other characters with which she has to keep appearances up. Nope, she just is the frightened, scared, petty, angry, obsessive, careless, unstable and funny spider she wants to be, making her one of my favorite characters, even without her later development. Just peak character introduction all around. I can also relate to her in so many small ways, like her utter overconfidence turned luck and the straight up comedic denial of her doing anything wrong or making errors. No no, I did not just forget about *insert important plot point*. Not me. Absolutely not! She is the best kind of obnoxious. Probably a huge pain to deal with, but letting her roam free and acting unhinged is just so entertaining to read.

Not that she actually does a whole lot in the first novel. In fact, despite its length, not that much happens at all, as the majority of the pages are just spend on character thoughts and internal monologues… and I am a huge fan of that in this context. Beyond just getting a better grasp of the characters, these specific circumstances allow for a rather analytic approach of their surroundings and also serve as subtle exposition. Kumoko is constantly accessing her circumstances, planning her next move or commenting in great detail what is currently happening around her (and complaining about it). Pair it with her rather fun inner voice and you get a great understanding of what is happening, despite not a lot happening. Seriously, Kumoko deciding to just sit down and eventually looking up all of her skills, once she was able to, is not something I can just absolutely see myself doing, but also herself, making her seem surprisingly grounded in moments of relative levity. Despite being knowledgeable about video games and isekai tropes, there is a lot she doesn’t understand about this world and beyond just letting the reader understand what is going on, seeing Kumoko being kinda off or even wrong about most of the skills was a delight.

The limited scope of events also helps another aspect I really like about this series: The multiple perspectives. Especially in the first half of the novel, almost every chapter is followed by a shift in perspective, talking about the same theme or event, just from another characters point of view. Not only do these perspective compliment each other, as the reader is aware of information often only one group knows about, but the literal shift in prose tells you a lot about the characters attitude. Just comparing the way Kumoko and Shun describe their reincarnation speaks volumes about their inner conflicts and circumstances, with both approaches being not only understandable, but, at least for me, equally interesting.

Beyond the way the novel tells its story, I appreciate not only how different it tends to be from other isekai, but also different in a way that is just straight up more akin to my tastes in fiction, specifically fantasy. I normally don’t want to compare a series to other ones, especially if it will devolve into me slandering an entire genre, but here it makes a reasonable amount of sense. Most isekai set-ups suck! Like, I can’t be bothered most of the time. I don’t care if you have a legendary sword or secretly OP skill, if you are already max level, abuse the system or are just born to the strongest mage. I couldn’t care less. Actually try doing something with your premise and only then I will start paying attention (Adding cute girls does not count). This is where the So I’m a Spider series differs for me. For now, at it’s core, the novel is a mix of survival and mystery, set in an isekai, but not really about it. It clearly has the appeal of a dungeon crawler, game mechanics et al included, but doesn’t solely rely on it, instead crafting a narrative about overcoming odds and moving forwards.

Kumoko is overpowered. I will not argue against it. I will however argue the way she is overpowered and what she is actually able to accomplish from a moment to moment basis. Physically, she is rather weak, being reincarnated as a simple spider without an OP catch that secretly makes her invulnerable. However, arguably her biggest strength is her human intelligence… and in there is also her biggest weakness. Kumoko doesn’t know a lot about this world. For the most part, she stumbles through the labyrinth aimlessly without a clear goal and hopes there lies no stronger enemy around the next corner. Her means of gaining new information is also limited with the Appraisal skill being mostly useless and engaging new enemies coming with the risk of death. This essentially means that despite her being able to deal with most monsters in the dungeon, it is only through the very narrow approach which Kumoko herself acknowledges as cowardice. Hiding from the enemy, until it is trapped in her web, so she can finish it off with her poison fang.

However, there are two flaws with her tactic: She needs to prepare her webs in advance, meaning she is vulnerable when another monster gets the jump on her. The second problem comes from monsters who are physically strong enough to destroy her nets, like the snake and later Araba. This is eventually the motivation for Kumoko to become active, as seen in the “I do not want to run away”-scene. She now has to actively engage strong enemies and while she is technically able to overcome great odds, just one mistake can spell doom for her, meaning there is an equal amount of risk involved. I don’t mind that Kumoko is “overpowered” for most enemies, as there is a narrative weight behind her decision to get stronger for those monsters she can not so easily defeat.

Well… this was an unintended and unnecessary tangent. Ehh… let’s see… I like that the world, while clearly based on classic RPG tropes, is not limited by them. Too often do I get the feeling that the isekai worlds are the most bland versions of what one can imagine from the word “fantasy”. The only RPG I ever played is Dragon Quest IX and I still get the feeling that I have basically seen everything most other isekai have to offer. This world, however, seems to be a bit more elaborate on both Kumoko’s side, as well as what little glimpses we have seen from the humans. I especially like the portrayal of the monsters. They are not just EXP fodder, but a distinct part of their environment with their own behaviors and lives. They even get actual species names that are neither just the most generic description for the monster or straight up latin. Taratect? Not sure what it actually means, but it absolutely fits for spiders. Randanel? Ferect? Finjicote? Definitely names and I am here for it. There are even small encyclopedia entries for the monsters.

Last thing I want to talk about is how, ignoring all the stuff set up for later confrontations and reveals, Kumoko’s side of the story is kinda able to stand on its own as a self-contained narrative. If you look at her story from a larger distance, it is about a literal hermit being kicked out of the comfort of her home and forced to engage in the outside world. There is absolutely something to be found in Kumoko’s resolve to not run away anymore and face her problems head on, though I also don’t want to force a reading á la Kafka’s Metamorphosis. However, the Spider Pride is real!

Comparison to the Anime

So, this is actually kinda weird and hard to describe. The anime adaptation cuts out a good chunk from the first novel, but overall, most of it doesn’t really seem to matter all that much in hindsight. Kumoko’s part is mostly intact, following her route through the labyrinth with only a few encounters either skipped or heavily abridged. While the point about the encounter with the centipedes gets clear without explicitly stated, I wish the anime would have hinted to the fact that a lot of monsters become really dangerous when large in numbers and not singled out alone.

Arguably the biggest change is Kumoko’s first encounter with Araba: After falling down to the Lower Stratum, Kumoko gets injured after being attacked by one of the hornet monsters. While in hiding, Araba just walks into the area without doing anything and shortly leaves. Kumoko is scarred. Like, fearing for her life by the sheer existence of such a strong monster. Until this moments she only encountered unevolved monsters with low levels and suddenly there is this huge dragon in its 30s. The chapter then continues with her getting out of the hole she fell down into, by continuously expanding a net and defending herself against the hornets, while struggling with her wound and decreasing HP. We actually get a surprisingly deep insight into how some skills, like the pain resistance/mitigation and by proxy most passive skills, work. While it actually was one of the more engaging encounters in the novel, I can understand why i was cut completely. Beyond a better understanding of how some of the skills work, it doesn’t really add a lot of new information and with the fight against the monkeys serving as the novels climax, it is the most likely candidate to be skipped. Still a shame, but it can’t be helped.

Before Kumoko can actually escape the place, Araba suddenly returns and absolutely demolishes her web and most of the monsters inside the hole. This is where the anime simply merged the two encounters into one, serving mostly the same point. What the anime underplays is just how affected, traumatized even, Kumoko is by his attack. Kumoko’s Fear Resistance skill jumps straight to level 5 and she even unknowingly levels her Stealth ability while hiding. But this is only what is explicitly stated. From here on out, she unconsciously mentions Araba in almost any kind of situation. Either by just walking through areas he could pop up in, constantly comparing him to other monsters and even in moments of simple levity. Araba simply doesn’t leave her head, despite her never actively thinking about him.

On the human side of things, the anime was rather straight-forward in its approach to its adaptation: It didn’t adapt anything! Concerning the first volume, literally nothing made it into the anime, which, while kind of understandable, is even a bigger bummer than Kumoko’s cut content. The beginning of the novel contrasts Kumoko’s thoughts with Shun’s giving him not only a good deal of much needed characterization, but also exposes the reader to some nice world-building and further information of the characters, like how Shun and Kumoko apparently played the same game and how Kumoko’s relation to her parents was basically non-existent. It is also nice to simply get another point of view, with Shun taking a more drastically more critical and realistic stand about this whole being reincarnated thing. Kumoko, being born a spider, doesn’t have to bother with most problems Shun has to, like not being able to move your body freely, not understanding the language and the fear of just being abandoned by your parents… though I do guess Kumoko’s mother would have no qualms eating her.

Also, the human side is, for the most part, a story about the circumstances of Shun’s family, political drama included. We even get a point of view from his brother and the king. It also makes the relationship to his sister more understandable, as the anime portrays Sue mostly as the “obsessive little sister”. While I understand that some content had to be cut and you essentially get the gist from later events, there are two things I really miss from the adaptation.

Firstly, the whole deal about the Appraisal skill: Kumoko already mentioned that Appraisal is a classic staple of your isekai story, being an overpowered skill that gives you all the information you desire *proceeds to appraise herself. Divine voice (temp): <Spider>*. While extremely powerful in theory, the Appraisal skill is essentially useless and failing most of the time, even more so for humans. It causes immense headaches, making it unattractive to level it at all and since you can’t just keep appraising the same object, there are only a few humans that have an appraisal skill high enough to be somewhat useable. Thus, most of the appraising is actually done via Appraisal Stones, though as they are incredibly rare, only the higher nobles are in possession of those. They are also used for a kind of “Coming-of-age” ceremony, in which the stats from Shun and his sister were revealed. There is a lot of hidden information in this scene, like how not every reincarnation was reincarnated equal, with Shun holding a whopping 100,000 skill points, compared to Kumoko’s meager 100, or how certain skills cost a different amounts of points, depending on your affinity towards them. It also doesn’t reveal what the mysterious n%I=W skill does.

Secondly, how Shun came into contact with Fei and Katia: The anime’s first look into the human world opens with Shun enrolling the academy with Katia and being introduced to two other reincarnations by his former teacher. In the novel, Shun was a bit suspicious of another girl’s stats, while introducing himself, he dropped a subtle Yoroshiku and later confirmed it by mentioning his old school. Also, two bros (one is a sis now) meeting after what is basically half a lifespan is peak content. Meanwhile, Fei, being gifted to Shun when she was still in her egg, actually taught herself to read the foreign language while constantly being around Shun and Katia, eventually leading her to acquire the Telepathy skill. The telepathy also explains why no one bats an eye about the talking pet mini-dragon in the anime. A side note, the egg is the first hint that the different perspectives are not told in the same time span… which I thought was weird, as the anime actually took a good amount of time before dropping the first hints. Later on, their teacher also made a quick appearance, confirming that their entire class was reincarnated.

Again, I understand why all those scenes are missing, as they are not at all crucial to understand what is going on moving forward, but like… come on! The human part is actually interesting, so skipping all this makes me understand the opinion of those hating on the human side of the story or even ignoring the human part entirely, similar to how the manga apparently handles its adaptation.

Last thing I want to talk about is the visual aspect of the adaptation. To be honest, it tends to be quit a bit rough around the edges. Kumoko, especially considering she is mostly rendered using 3D, looks fantastic, but everything else? I have absolutely seen more impressive productions. I know the studio suffered from heavy production issues, but at least the final product looks better than the first PV released in 2018. What I do appreciate is how visually engaging it keeps the series. Especially Kumoko spends most of the time talking to herself, so any unique portrayal of her thoughts is much appreciated.

Final Thoughts

I’m really glad I did start with the first novel and not where the anime left off. Not just due to the missing content, but also just how much I like experiencing the story. Kumoko is just such a fun character and now I am even engaged into the human side. I still have four entire volumes ahead of me, before I caught up with the anime, but despite having rewatched the anime just a month prior, I am already pumped to see more of it again. Truly living the spider life.

Until next time, when I will hopefully find a way to include writing Nai wa~ all over the post.

Nai wa~

So I’m a Spider, So What? (ePub) is available on BookWalker.

Revisiting Tokyo Ghoul

Sun, 25 Sep 2022 13:15:00 +0200

Ach ja, for some reason even I can’t really explain, I thought it was a good idea to give Tokyo Ghoul a(nother) try. I genuinely don’t know why this series suddenly came to mind, as I can’t even remember the last time I have seen or heard anything about Tokyo Ghoul, but there I was one night and tipping my toes into the first season of the anime. It might just have been the delight of not suffering through Zeta Gundam and ZZ anymore, but I was overcome with a sudden burst of motivation to seriously take up a series I initially dropped over six years ago. This, however, let me way farther down the line than I had initially thought.

Preamble

Tokyo Ghoul was huge. When I first got into anime in late 2014/early 2015, you literally couldn’t escape it: Everywhere you go, you saw profile pictures from the anime, edgy quotes with a white-haired Kaneki as backdrop flooded image boards, the Opening, given as it is an absolute banger, ranked high in all the top lists and there was always at least one video about Tokyo Ghoul in my recommended videos bar on YouTube.

Even though it was incredibly popular, I never considered putting it on my plan to watch list and despite its sheer omnipresence, I also didn’t really know what Tokyo Ghoul was even about beyond the most basic plot summary. My initial reactions where also fairly tainted, not necessarily negative, but definitely in some sort of way, by how its fandom portrayed and brought it to the outside. I mean, bruised-up crazy white-haired boy with one special eye, ruffed clothing and a weapon of sorts that is based on blood? Jesus, you can cut yourself on that edge. Also, why is everyone asking “What is 1000 minus 7” and cracking their knuckles?

Was this an unfairly biased and superficial view to hold? Oh yeah, absolutely, but even at the tender age of 15 and considering myself more “mature” through the media I consumed and now looking back to with almost a sense of pity, Tokyo Ghoul seemed like the kind of series people try to justify their interest in anime with, via a way to contrast how much more “grown-up” it is, than those childish cartoons they used to watch. The sort of show that has violence and gore in it, making it absolutely not for children or even young teenagers, but is also not nuanced enough in a way that would look mature to anyone being used to more adult fiction. Remember, I used to be the worst kind of person, aka. a weird mixture of know-it-all, elitist, hipster and contrarian, but also only at like 30% power and time, thus probably making me seem moderate and uncontroversial. As such, I initially dismissed Tokyo Ghoul pretty much entirely and went on in my anime journey.

My interest in Tokyo Ghoul would be piqued again upon hearing discussions on how the anime butchered the source material in its adaptation and if one were to start Tokyo Ghoul, it is recommended to pick up the manga instead. When I started buying manga myself, I eventually also picked up the first four volumes of Tokyo Ghoul, read them all relatively back-to-back and was kinda perplexed. From what I have read, I wouldn’t call the manga bad or even mediocre. It was perfectly fine, though I did find it hard to see the appeal in it. I expected an immediate hook and some spice to go with it, but the start of the story is relatively slow and, in my opinion, walks about kinda aimlessly. Assuming that the actual interesting stuff everyone is talking about is still some volumes ahead, I hesitated buying more volumes and eventually dropped it entirely. However, I mostly thought along the lines of “If the manga is already this underwhelming, how horrible does the anime fare?”

Well, six years later and I finally decided to find out. I watched season one, decided to pick up the manga again for comparison’s sake, finished it, watched the second season and am currently reading the sequel manga Tokyo Ghoul:re with intentions to also watch the anime adaptation once I am done with it. One could say that I got weirdly hooked on this series. Anyway, here is my part retrospective, part review about the Tokyo Ghoul manga and anime.

Tokyo Ghoul (Manga)

While I have seen the (first season of the) anime first and only read the manga afterwards, I will start with the manga for the purpose of later comparisons.

In hindsight, I can see how I thought of the beginning of Tokyo Ghoul as an aimless mess. The opening couple volumes serve as an introduction to the world, characters and themes, without being that interesting in isolation. They are also rather self-contained with a single main conflict and barely, if any of the interconnectedness that would characterize the later parts of the story. That is not to say that the beginning has nothing to offer. It quite tactfully introduces the central conflict of the story and the first chapters do have a strong hook: Ken Kaneki, a normal college student, suddenly finds himself partially transformed into a ghoul and now has to live in both the human world and the world of the ghouls, as well as come to terms with his own humanity and morals. For all intends and purposes, this is a strong premise, both thematically, as well as interesting in what way the story could expand from there on out.

It eventually did after its slow, but not per se bad, start, once the Aogiri Tree was introduced and something like a clear story thread became noticeable. In that regard, it feels like the beginning of Attack on Titan, with the content of its first season serving as the status quo which would later be broken and subverted. Attack on Titan does have the benefit over Tokyo Ghoul in how the audience grasps a pretty clear picture on where the story goes, while Tokyo Ghoul spends its time planting seeds that would only come to fruition later down the line. Again, I don’t mind this approach to storytelling, but the actual execution simply didn’t grab me at first and I couldn’t appreciate the early parts of Tokyo Ghoul until much later.

With that being said, once the ball started rolling at a more steadier pace, I got invested more and more with each progressing volume. At its core, Tokyo Ghoul can also be considered a mystery series and each new revelation strengthened this aspect of the manga and seeing some of the minor and larger details fall into place was very satisfying to read. The World-building gives Tokyo Ghoul this very fresh urban fantasy vibe, which I very much enjoy, and provides proper space for both the fantastical, as well as the more grounded aspects of its narrative, always giving ample amount of time for the characters to interact in their setting or spending it on exposition. Once I went over the initial hurdle, I could fully understand why Tokyo Ghoul was so engaging for so many people. When a series succeeds in making the reader want to immediately continue the story, you know you have yourself some captivating writing.

However, even I can see how the story at hand might only be a fraction of the reason why Tokyo Ghoul got this big. Instead, it is in the characters. Basically all the characters in the series gain so much more richness in their personality due to the specific circumstances the story involves them in. In any other context, Kaneki, Touka, Amon, etc. might come of as rather generic stereotypes based on already well-established tropes: Kaneki is the fish out of water, Touka the Tsundere love interest and Amon the well-intended, but standing on the wrong side of the conflict-like investigator. The specific circumstances of the narrative twist these archetypes on their head and turn them into something more nuanced. How much “Fish” out of “water” Kaneki tends to be, is very much the central conflict of his character and one which takes some pretty ugly and unconventional turns, Touka’s relationship is very much defined through the legitimate concern for Kaneki and the people around her and on what side Amon and the CCG actually stand is very much up to the reader’s interpretation.

The interplay between the character’s base traits and how they are ultimately used is something that changed my stance from initially putting me off the manga to ultimately keeping me engaged in the story. Though, this is not to say that every character gains something from it or is written as nuanced as the central cast. It is kind of hard to describe, but Tokyo Ghoul features several characters whose main characteristic is some type of “crazy”. Considering I am normally not a fan of such characters, as they tend to be rather exhausting and barely do anything beyond a superficial display of crazy, I found most of these “crazy” characters to be a turn-off for the series. While I can see what they were trying with Suzuya and adore Naki as the lovable idiot he is, there are only so many larger than life personalities that keep on monologuing about how evil they are, before they kill you laughing maniacally, that I am willing to accept myself. And even if there is more to their character, it is still exhausting when they switch into this role. I want my villains and antagonists to have at least some modicum of class, not ramble on like an edgy teenager on a bad day, especially since they don’t automatically become a bigger thread by doing so and in fact might come of as more of a joke. Beyond this, Tokyo Ghoul features a pretty diverse and interesting cast of characters, though unfortunately, some character don’t get the spotlight they absolutely deserve. This might still change, but more about it later.

My only larger complaint about Tokyo Ghoul has primarily to do with how it ends… or rather how it doesn’t, actually. I have no problem with splitting of what is essentially the second part of the story into its own series, but rather the way it almost rushed to this cutting off point and only partially delivering on what the manga seemingly set up from the beginning. It feels like there was a higher priority on concluding the current story arc and conflict in a nice bow, than to end it on a meaningful note. Given, this particular ending still absolutely rules and it is not like it can’t serve as an ending, but considering how it also ends on a cliffhanger, I feel like this could have been handled a bit better, though currently I am barely far enough into the sequel to truly comment on it. Until then, I can only just imagine some alternative ways how it all could have played out, like Kaneki coming to a more concrete conclusion, or details like Arima getting actually less of an introduction and to make him out as more of a surprise.

Spoilers regarding the ending

I actually think it is brilliant how almost abrupt the ending is. Arima is a character whose reputation precedes him and never interacted with Kaneki, nor does Kaneki know he exists. Arima then absolutely dominates the fight and murders him, beyond the excessive brutality, basically indifferent, all while Kaneki experiences another mental breakdown in his own world. Also, the imagery of both the corpses being represented as flowers and the entire underground being seen in the checkerboard pattern, referencing Jason's torture chamber, is *chefs kiss*. While it doesn't serve as a completely fulfilling ending, it sure as hell was arguably the rawest moments in the series.

All in all, while Tokyo Ghoul might not necessarily end up in my favorites list, it definitely is worth a read. I can totally get how it might still be seen as too edgy for some people, but the mystery and the more nuanced story beats got me so engaged, as to basically continue straight into the sequel..

Tokyo Ghoul (Anime)

This might sound weird and surprising, but at its core, I might actually prefer the anime adaption over the original manga… at least in theory.

Like most adaptations, the Tokyo Ghoul anime suffers from cut content that reaches from minor details to missing entire chunks of its narrative. For most parts, these mostly concern the better understanding of characters and so forth. While I would have loved to have all these scenes included, it is also nothing that will ultimately break the characters or series in any major way. However, I am also perplexed how some details are completely omitted, like the short summary we get from the novel Kaneki reads in the first chapter/episode, as it serves as foreshadowing and characterization for not just one, but several characters.

These cuts also do not feel like they are a product of missing screen time. Not only does the anime include some mostly unimportant original content, but they also include the comic strips from the end of the manga volumes after the ED. The later is weird in its own right, as these comics tend to be rather comedic and are prone to break the tension build up over the episode… just not in the good way. The original content also seems odd in context to me, as it doesn’t really expand on the story and feels counterproductive to the way the anime restructures a good portion of the story anyway.

The restructuring of the story is the main reason I don’t think the manga is inherently superior to its adaptation, as it portrays the narrative in a more streamlined way and uses its TV format for bigger impact. It eases the earlier slower volumes by combining it with content and characters from later parts of the story and runs them in parallel. Beyond just making the world feel grander and more alive, it subtly changes some details arguably for the better, like Rize being established as a ghoul from the beginning and some characters feeling less out of field, when they are eventually formally introduced. The restructuring also changes the focus to a more even display of the ghouls and the CCG. The fight between Mado and Touka being pushed way later into the story greatly increases the impact it has on all characters, and the advanced introduction of characters like Shuu make their later involvement in the story less abrupt. I think a mixture of the manga and some of the changes in the anime might actually result in the best way the story of Tokyo Ghoul could be told, but alas you can not really choose.

Beyond everything concerning the content of the adaptation, the anime can stand proud on its own. While the animation itself isn’t always at its best, the general direction and use of more abstract visualizations can absolutely hold its water against the manga, plus the fact that it is animated makes all the fight scenes a lot easier to read. Not sure if the manga is bad in this regard, or if it is just a problem with myself, but I prefer the fights in the anime. Something I rarely notice is the color design of a series, but Tokyo Ghoul just looks nice and is easy ono the eyes, despite the relatively saturated colors.

Soundtrack and voice acting also don’t have to hide. Mamoru Miyano spouting random french nonsense half the time gives me life – Very trés bien – and the range of Kaneki’s voice actor, Natsuki Hanae, is impressive as hell, going seamlessly between softboi to edgeboy. As already mentioned, the Opening is iconic and the full song an absolute banger.

In conclusion, I think the anime is still a rather good adaptation of the first half of the manga, even though I would probably also recommend to rather read the manga instead. I am just surprised how many people think the anime butchers the source material and even advice to not watch the anime at all. Maybe I am just a bit different, as I regularly tend to be with more “hated” properties… or maybe it is due to the second season of the anime.

Tokyo Ghoul √A

Soo… why is the second season of the anime its own heading? Good question, here’s why! Tokyo Ghoul √A kind of… sucks… bad. Imagine everything good I said about the first season and take most of it away, only leaving the questionable adaptation choices and quadruple their impact on the narrative.

While season one is a decent adaptation of the manga, Tokyo Ghoul √A (Please do not put special characters in your title) is barely an approximation of what the manga seeked out to be. Season two had an even more difficult task as season one, as it now has to deal with an even larger chunk of material, while also not being as free anymore to adapt the story out of order. The result is an attempt to condense the later half of the manga by combining certain story arcs, leaving out major plot points and eventually capping it all of with an original ending. While, from a perspective of a manga reader, all these might not be favorable decisions, it is no foregone conclusion that this approach has to end in disaster. Too bad then that the resulting product is filled with plot holes, weird character decisions and a lot of questions for the viewer.

The main thing one might notice is the portrayal of Kaneki. Up to this point, Kaneki is a rather tragic figure and even though he underwent a drastic shift in character around the time, he still remains the same person at his core. In Root A, he just turns into an edgelord. A lot of nuance and his inner struggle is lost by going for questionable choices and acting seemingly out of character for, what I assume is accelerating the narrative. The biggest deviation from the manga is probably him joining the Aogiri Tree… you know, the organization responsible for his torture. You don’t even have to have read the manga to see how this might be weird…not like it actually matters in the end, which makes this change even more baffling.

Another point is the not so good restructuring of plot points. For some reason, it was decided to combine the investigation of Kano’s laboratory with an anime original plot line about the attack on Cochlea, an event that was only told to have happened, but was never actually shown in the manga. I guess this whole arc works functionally well, especially for what it is an substitute of, but opens up a lot more questions for which we never get an answer. The most egregious one is Kaneki developing his Kakuja, something that doesn’t even mean a lot in the end with the changed ending and nothing the viewers can fully appreciate the implication of and why this is a way bigger deal, than just a cool power-up, as the context for this development was completely skipped. What’s the deal about Matasaka Kamishiro? Good luck finding that out.

If there is anything I can wholehearted praise about the adaption, it is the build-up for the final arc. The later half of episode 8 is almost exclusively original, but it doesn’t necessarily add anything directly connected to the plot. Instead, it makes the anime take time to breath and create a calm before the storm. Instead of rain, the anime decides to let it snow, resulting in an almost nostalgic atmosphere, we see small glimpses into the past of Irimi and Koma and then there is one of my favorite moments in the whole series: Shinohara, one of the CCG investigators, decides to drink coffee in the Anteiku and shares a small conversation with Yoshimura before the raid. The reason I love this little moment, is because both Shinohara and Yoshimura absolutely know who the other person is, but it doesn’t matter to them in this moment. Right now, it is simply a customer and the owner sharing a drink and and a perfect display of humanity, both from a ghoul and a human. A slimmer of hope that this conflict doesn’t have to result in violence and death.

Also, let’s talk about the ending.

√A Ending

I'm kinda split on the ending. On hand hand, the anime original ending is simply beautiful. Hide trying his best to protect Kaneki, but ultimately failing is grade-A friendship and Kaneki being utterly destroyed to the point of basically giving up is tragic. Also, the way he carries Hide back to the CCG is packed with emotional storytelling, from the cinematic direction of the scene to the momentary peace and show of respect for a fallen human by both him and the CCG. While Root A may not finish thematically with Kaneki finding his place in the world, it sure doubles down on the senselessness of the conflict between ghouls and humans.

On the other hand, it also kind of reads as a "I can't deal with this anymore" and Kaneki accepting his death, going against his wish to protect everyone. In the manga, Hide also met a tragic end, one that is even more directly linked to Kaneki, and Kaneki is eventually put out of commission after literally losing his mind and grasp on reality and being overpowered by Arima. The anime ending might be a bit more self-contained, but while I personally like Hide, he arguably doesn't get the most attention in the anime, making his death not that impactful. It is also a weird thing to change at all, as the end hints at :re, though maybe this was just supposed to be a way to show Touka being fine.

Overall, Root A is mostly being plagued by weird and sometimes downright questionable adaptation choices, most of them hurting the narrative and shining a more obvious light on the other problems in the anime. For what it is worth, there is some good to be found there, but for the most part, it is unfortunately just… bad. Even more so when comparing it to he manga. Also, not sure how they are trying to retcon the end with the beginning of :re in the anime.

Going forward

If you would have told me six years ago, that I would eventually become so enamored with this series, I would have thought you were lying. I am still not sure how much I actually enjoy Tokyo Ghoul, but considering I not only watched the anime, but also picked up the manga again and finished it, I guess there is at least something I see in this series. I am already a quarter into the Tokyo Ghoul:re manga and will probably watch its anime adaptation when finished. There are also two Live Action adaptations of the original manga, which I want to check out, though writing about it will be a project for another time. Maybe there will be a follow-up post about :re, but until then, don’t let yourself be tricked by a ghoul and get eaten.

Tokyo Ghoul (Manga) is partially available on Manga Plus. Tokyo Ghoul (Anime) is available on Crunchyroll.

Aria of a Starless Night: The best SAO has ever been

Sun, 11 Sep 2022 10:20:00 +0200

Ach ja, Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night is the newest animated entry in the Sword Art Online franchise… and it ~~absolutely rules~~ might be the best incarnation of Sword Art Onlines ideas, themes and moments that make me keep coming back to this series.

Now, I myself have a small history of defending certain aspects of SAO or not caring about its many technical writing flaws, see my Twitter thread (or the Unroll for better readability) and I am of the full belief that Sword Art Online shouldn’t be viewed primarily as an action series focused on resolving its central conflict of being trapped in a video game, but rather as a character drama about living under these difficult circumstances. For all intends and purposes, the finale of the original Sword Art Online, or at leasts its anime adaptation in 2012, was not the fight between Kirito and Kayaba, but rather the resolution between two wildly different opinions of what Sword Art Online, specifically the setting of Aincrad, means to the both of them. While Kayaba created Aincrad as his dream of the vision of a floating castle that later escalated into full-blown escapism, for Kirito it became simple reality. A reality that differs from the one outside the game, but is still as valid and real to him and everyone else trapped in the game, as the one outside is. Every connection formed and every bond forged in SAO, while virtual, eventually became the real deal and naturally followed over into the real world, once the game was cleared. Even after its first arc, the series continues to value the experiences shared by everyone in the game, especially those entries that look back retroactively towards SAO like Ordinale Scale, and it is this time spend together that Sword Art Online Progressive sets out to explore more deeply while retelling Sword Art Online from the ground up (literally).

The Progressive novels are being held in rather high regard and it seems to be the consensus that Progressive both addresses and fixes the more fantastical aspects of the story, i.e game-mechanics, world-building and so forth, as well as improves upon the way it approaches its characters and player-base as a whole, giving them more depth and characterization in the process. However, I was also a bit hesitant approaching the movie adaptation of the first (half of the first) Progressive novel, as the movie would end up including an original character not yet featured in the novels. I ended up totally wrong about them, as my initial reaction was along the lines of Great, another character for Kirito’s pseudo-harem, but more about Mito later.

If I were to recommend someone this movie, especially to someone with some knowledge about the original series, it would be on the basis of a shift in focus away from the overarching plot of SAO and towards the characters inhabiting the game. Also, Aria of a Starless Night is Asuna’s movie through and through and the opening act is set completely outside of the world of Sword Art Online, giving us our first glimpse into the relationship with her family, as well as with the new character of Mito. The Mother’s Rosario arc already touched upon Asuna’s relation towards her mother and how she, while caring for her daughter, be it in a rather strict fashion, is also utterly disconnected from Asuna’s experiences. The movie adds to it by doubling down on the kinda awkward family atmosphere, her father being more chill, but also distant towards Asuna and her brother, with whom she does have a good connection, going away overseas, leaving her with no one to approach emotionally. This instability in her life is later used to great effect in a scene that I would simply describe as emotional angst toward her family.

Beyond this, Asuna is portrayed as the normal girl she was before SAO with a life outside the game and ambitions for her future. Her little talk with her friends at school and her later interactions with Mito sell the idea that Asuna does in fact has something to loose while being trapped in the game.

But let’s finally talk about Mito! Mito adds another facet to the different kinds of gamer SAO portrays over its continued course. Unlike Kirito, who got into video games due to being secluded, Mito, while trying to make friends, wasn’t really able to connect with others through them, until she eventually met Asuna. For her, video games are one way of expressing herself and there is this one – arguably a bit superficial – scene of her friends not wanting to play with her anymore, as she was simply to good at games and got left behind. As such, she kinda works as a bridge between traits both found in Asuna and Kirito. Beyond this, she is also quit fun in the moments of levity granted in the movie. Her character, before changed to her real-life appearance, was neither female, nor a pretty JRPG boy, but an old man with a hunched-over back, frog eyes, kind of a gremlin vibe and wielding a giant scythe… unironically a great character design full of personality.

SAO has some pretty strong non-romantic (or at least not seriously considered romantic) relationships. Agil and Klein are great bros, Yuuki brought out the best in Asuna and Eugeo is deserving of his own post sometime™ and Mito can easily stand right next in line with them. The way they interact outside of SAO, how she explains the game to Asuna and teaches her some basic internet etiquette are believable building blocks upon which the movie greatly expands the depth of their relationship once the “actual” plot gets going.

From there on out, it more or less mimics the beginning of the anime series. The both of them flee the starting city, are attacked by wolves and Asuna gets almost killed. It is here where the dynamic between the two solidifies. Asuna has a mental breakdown, either unable to fully understand or simply not willing to comprehend her situation and admitting to herself that she won’t be able to go forwards. Mito stops her from lamenting too much and swears to protect Asuna, so they can eventually beat the game and go home together again. Mito is in this moment the pillar of support Asuna not only needs, but never found in anyone else (yet) and the fact that she so clearly accepts the power imbalance shows great trust in each other. I also really like the gesture of forming the party in this very moment and not later or at an earlier point in time. While, as Asuna stated herself, they are already friends, forming a party makes it more official that they are connected in one way or another… it is also set-up for arguably the strongest scene in the movie.

From there on, we continue our small tutorial tour. All in all, this iteration of SAO gives us maybe the best comprehensive look into how playing SAO is actually like and showing how Asuna learns the game also eases her transition into becoming one of the better players. Beyond the two major events still including Mito, there are also a couple of great scenes of mundanity and moments of silence. Asuna braiding Mito’s hair is not only a nice parallel to the beginning of the movie, it also shows her growing intimacy towards Mito, especially after Mito doubles down again on protecting Asuna. I know my girls-love poisoned brain might lead me to weird places, but this scene was incredibly *chefs kiss* gay and I am here for it! However, despite my girls-love poisoned brain, there is indeed a better romance (or at least the beginning of one one) to be found later in the movie.

Concerning the aforementioned events: One deals with the prospect of not being able to help other players out and leaving them to die. This moment shows the different ways Asuna and Mito approach difficult situations, mainly that Asuna wants to do her best, while Mito deals with it more realistically and even rationalizes why the other players fell to their demise. It again further characterizes them in two slightly different ways, how Asuna tries to protect everyone, while Mito is mostly focused on Asuna.

The second event really is the thematic bread and butter of the movie. Asuna and Mito fight against a horde of monsters, until they are separated from each other. Both struggling to survive, Mito takes the decision to leave the party after seeing Asuna’s HP approaching zero. This scene is strong in two ways. Firstly, the movie confronts one of its characters with a difficult decision befitting of its context. Of course you could pull through with the power of friendship, “do the right thing” and allow Mito to save Asuna or you could rather juxtapose the two aspects defining Mito, let her struggle and eventually reach a conclusion, that while being believable in character, also sits rather heavy with the viewer. Mito, who promised to protect Asuna at all costs, abandons her, because she doesn’t want to see Asuna essentially die, while she herself can not do anything against it. It shows Mito in a moment of weakness and maybe even cowardice, which leads to fantastic drama. On a side note: Mito literally falling down a mountain cliff spiked with coffins and not being able to ascend again is beautiful symbolism, even if it is as subtle as a punch to the face. It can be really effective to use your secondary characters in this way, as you seldom want to wish such fate on your main characters (see Eugeo throughout Alicization).

Secondly, Mito leaving the party means neither of the two know for certain what happened to the other and have to assume that they are dead, which leads them to take two different paths, especially with Asuna now having to stand alone and independently from Mito. While Mito tries to live with her guilt, Asuna goes straight into depression and shuts herself in, before going on what essentially boils down to a suicide march. This is also the time where her angst towards her own family and Mito starts. All in all, I prefer this iteration over what I was told happens in the original novels. The prelude and everything concerning Mito really earns Asuna’s current mental state and eventual development with Kirito, compared to the more straightforward approach of the novels. While Mito is basically out of the picture for a good chunk of the movie, I cannot understate how important she is from a narrative standpoint beyond just being a good character in her own right. Expanding upon Asuna as our main point of view is absolutely necessary going forward and I am pleasantly surprised how well the transition between the new content and the original novels work from both a storytelling and a thematic standpoint, especially since Kirito was not yet really shown thus far.

Speaking of him, Kirito – and I almost can’t believe myself for what I am going to say – is a good character in this one. First of all, I adore his introduction: He sweeps in to save Asuna like a cool knight in shining armor, only to completely freeze once he realizes she is a girl. He can’t look her into the face, keeps a literal arm’s length distance to her and tries to comfort her with potions and map data, all while Asuna is utterly paralyzed from the shock of almost being killed. He then tries to sheath his sword on his back and just… fails to do so, stands there awkwardly and eventually just leaves… what a smooth operator!

The anime series always tried to portray Kirito as this cool and confident guy, despite him being a massive dork and what better way to characterize him as an awkward teen as what I have just described. He also comes of way less insufferable, mostly because we see him interacting with Asuna from the get go and the both of them have genuinely good chemistry. Considering the movie is mostly told from Asuna’s perspective, it is interesting to see how Kirito helps Asuna grow. After the incident with Mito, Asuna got into the mindset of becoming strong enough to clear the game or die trying, while Kirito is way more adjusted to simply living in the game and recognizes how much harm Asuna does to herself. I mean, Kirito literally dragged her out of a dungeon, just so she doesn’t commit a mistake and die due to her exhaustion, though he still had to be tsundere about it and say it was for the map data.

A scene that wonderfully displays their initial different views of being stuck in the game is where they both eat bread in the town plaza. Asuna clearly doesn’t enjoy the bland bread and most likely only sees its functional use. Meanwhile, Kirito can see the bread as actual food, even going as far as to complete a quest that rewarded him with the cream he puts on the bread. Sharing the cream with Asuna is the first step in her journey to realize that there is more to this game than to clear it. At the start, Kayaba proclaimed that SAO is not something you “play” and the introduction of Kirito slowly challenges Asuna’s interpretation of that statement. While Asuna claims that she didn’t come to this town to eat good food, she still enjoyed it and was rather fast on board once Kirito mentioned a bath. Interactions like these, beyond just being adorable, really make the developing bond between Asuna and Kirito believable and most importantly, bear substance, which unfortunately often lacks concerning the other characters. He also helps her understand Mito a bit more, which was an unexpected touch. Portraying Kirito as a more grounded and facetted character really helps the second half of the movie and I hope they keep this approach for the next movie going, so he eventually becomes a fully realized character beyond the scope of the original first novel.

Beyond further banter between Asuna and Kirito, the rest of the movie mostly follows what was shown in the anime series and most of my complaints about this part of the story still stand. I will die on this hill that Kibaou has a point about the beta testers, though this is mostly due to the narrative keeping relatively quit about the beta testers and I agree that he didn’t have to be such a douche about them. Diavel still shouldn’t have died too and I am kinda sad this part was retconned as well. I get the point about his character, even if, according to the Wiki, both animated versions omit some of his motives, but him refusing to take the potion and simply dying is such an uninteresting way to end his character. Give him some actual comeuppance, or at least let him sacrifice himself the next time Kirito is in danger!

The fight itself, while pretty entertaining to watch, is relatively unspectacular outside of the new content. Asuna and Mito reunite again and clear up what was essentially a misunderstanding whose Asuna is already above and beyond, as she understood Mito through her conversation with Kirito. It is here where Asuna’s new found determination and growth shine brightly, now standing as equal and fighting alongside Mito. Asuna doesn’t need to be protected by Mito anymore to survive in this world and can go her own path forward. Add Mito giving Asuna her new sword and we have a really effective end to her character that both concludes her introduction to the story, as well as her thematic relevance for Asuna’s development. Going forward, I just hope the next movie doesn’t completely forget about her and at least acknowledge her existence, even if only as a background character and as someone Asuna knows. She is a fun and strong character and if Eiji is allowed to exist, so should she.

Also, let me actually do gush a bit about the fight, specifically the moments with Asuna, Mito and Kirito. Beyond being stunning to watch, there is some narrative to the way they fight together. Asuna being impressed by Kirito and immediately trying to help him out, Mito now closely fighting with Asuna as an effective tag team and the moment when the two of them shouted “Switch” at Kirito, I was so excited I wanted to scream. Like, this guy went at it, as if he were born for this very moment. Utterly unhinged. Do you know when you are so hyped that it becomes somehow physical? This was the reaction the fight induced in me. I had to stay still though, as to not startle the person next to me, but I probably had the biggest grin on my face throughout the whole fight.

Once the fight concluded, there is one last scene I thought was done better in this movie. In the anime series, Kirito proclaiming to be a beater always felt like a very transparent attempt at painting a target on his back and to divert attention from the other beta players. It always struck me as odd, as this whole charade felt rather lackluster and I can’t fathom how anyone actually fell for it. In this iteration, the whole presentation had more gravitas to it. He belittles Asuna, says he doesn’t want to be associated with the other beta players and gladly takes up the name of beater, literally claims “Skill Issue” on the players that died, equips the boss drop in front of the crowd and dares anyone to follow him to the next floor… What an asshole… I love it. Now this is a speech with some impact. I also hope the next movie comments on the fact that Kirito most likely didn’t make a lot of friends with this move.

From a production standpoint, the movie looks as good as one would expect from Sword Art Online, though I still find myself a bit disappointed. Especially compared to Ordinal Scale, Aria of a Starless Night doesn’t feel like a movie, but a rather polished four episode long anime series. The action sequences are definitely more ambitious than what you would see in a TV series, but the rest felt rather standard, though it might also just be me being accustomed to Kentarou Waki as Director of Photography since the Ordinale Scale Movie. I also hoped that Tomohiko Itou would have returned as the director, as his more drama-based series really shine in their character interactions and scenic storytelling, something this movie really leans in to. However, the new staff didn’t fail in any way and brought their version of SAO successfully to screen. Who did return however was Yuki Kajiura and she brought us a nice mix of new tracks and reworked old classics. Every track with the leitmotif of Swordland and Luminous Sword are certified bangers and even feel almost nostalgic, considering I first watched SAO seven years ago in 2015.

And that’s about it. Not sure where I actually wanted go with this post, but hopefully I could explain what I like so much about this movie and for what it stands in the larger context of SAO as a whole.

Zeta Gundam and Gender

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 01:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, my relationship with the mainline Gundam series is… strained. Conceptually, I’m really down for most of the things that happen in Gundam story-wise, but actually watching it can be insanely dry, boring and making all the little weird details stick out like a sore thumb. While I could probably still pull another rant about how Newtypes are a seemingly dumb idea in an otherwise grounded and real setting, as they aren’t incorporated in a thematically nuanced way, I would rather slander Zeta Gundam and its honestly questionable ways it comments on gender instead.

Now, I get that Zeta Gundam is a show from the 80s and quite a lot of things from that time haven’t aged that well from a more progressive viewpoint. However, simply having a reason is no justification and it is not like there hasn’t been good material from the time treading such ground with a better understanding. My main gripe with Zetas portrayal is its framing of general ideas about both being a man and a woman through the lense of a war setting, one that itself doesn’t discriminate between any gender in itself, but is still an expansion of societal norms and as such gives the viewer an insight into how the series views gender more broadly.

The first victim/perpetrator is none other than the main character, Kamille Bidan, himself. Kamille, at least in the beginning of the series, is obsessed with constantly proving his masculinity to the people around him. While it does make for some good character growth, as he becomes more confident in his own identity later down the series, the way his journey and progression is framed lands somewhere between weird and bad. One of the inciting incidents of Zeta Gundam comes in the form of Kamille’s name being perceived as that of a girl’s. Ones name is part of your identity, but Zeta Gundam doesn’t really explore this angle in any healthy way (I would have loved for Kamille to choose his own name) and instead simply resorts to violence… quite literally: Kamille punches the soldier that made the offhand remark and continues to attack some other soldiers, before eventually being put in detention. After a Mobile Suit crashes the building, he flees the base, steals a car, runs over a control post, ditches the car on a bridge while driving who knows how fast, stops for one second to question just what he has done, before infiltrating the base again, stealing the new Gundam, going on a power trip against the MP he was in detention with and eventually helping the AEUG fight against the Titans and secure a second Gundam… the things that happen when skipping school.

In all fairness, Jerid, him being more traditionally masculine compared to Kamille, thinking “Kamille” is a girls name was less the sole motivation and more the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it still stands that Kamille tried to “prove” his masculinity through an immature outburst of violence after being confronted in his masculinity in the most harmless and accidental way possible… and no one, specifically the anime itself, leads to belief that he acted wrong in any way whatsoever. In fact, for as anti-war as Gundam tends to be, it also displays the belief that physical violence is an inherent part of resolving conflict, rather than one of the many means of doing so and the value as a soldier being directly linked to ones potential to cause harm. One of the best examples are the numerous times of Kamille getting slapped or straight up punched in the face, the series even refers to the euphemism of “correction”, by friendly allies, if he refuses or otherwise brings his “duty” as a soldier in jeopardy. While characters comment on the fact that this happens, no one seems to actively dismiss the way Kamille gets reprimanded as wrong or unjust.

This all comes back for when we consider Kamille’s identity as a soldier, how it is linked to his masculinity, as well as the idea of a soldier viewed by society en large. While the soldiers in Gundam are neither separated, nor limited by gender, it still has the idea of a soldier being inherently linked to being a man, or rather of the attributes associated or expected of a man going hand in hand with being a soldier. In this way, the refusal to fight is seen as cowardice and nothing breaks a fragile male ego more than being called a coward. Meanwhile, practicing violence asserts this masculinity. Again, if this were any other series, one would expect this behavior to be criticized, but in Zeta Gundam, the AEUG, aka the de facto least blatantly evil organization, especially contrasted with the Titans, and our point of view for the whole conflict, is perfectly fine with Kamille and Katz, both of them teenagers, participating in the war and with Katz even joining pretty much voluntarily and against better judgement from his adoptive mother… who survived the first war in the original Gundam and knows very well how bad war is for those fighting it, considering how badly Amuro was traumatized by “being a man”.

While I don’t think it is fair to read Zeta Gundam’s commentary of masculinity in a way that encourages masculinity to be directly linked to violence, the writing is kind of on the wall on this one and with the lack of a decent male character at least not directly associated with combat (and Char being his own can of worms), most conflict can be seen as dick size comparisons between the pilots showing off their new toys, which is… maybe not the best thing I can say about a series that brought up this issue itself.

The next big thing is how most of the female characters are utilized. Now, not everything is necessarily bad. For as boring as Emma is, she is allowed to stand next to Kamille and Quattro Bajeena as a capable pilot and while Fa gets sidelined into a more domestic role, she is not completely reduced to such. However, most other female characters don’t get such kind treatment.

Zeta, by accident I assume, shows a good representation of the “glass ceiling” that prevent many women from achieving higher status in institutions like the military, while idiots like Jerid essentially stumble from one promotion to another. The other reason might simply be that the female characters on the Titan’s side die before getting the possibility. With the exception of Sarah, every female character of the Titan’s feels like a plot device for another man’s character development. It frames its female characters sole purposes as to get romantically involved with a man and anchor them emotionally, without any ambitions on their own. This gets even more frustrating with the introduction of Scirocco, who, at the end of the anime, manipulates a hattrick of women into doing his bidding. One of these woman is more interesting in her own right, as she herself comments on her interpretation of gender dynamics quite explicitly.

Reccoa Londe is… certainly something. Initially joining the AEUG for a sense of conviction and justice, she eventually starts reducing herself from an active actor in the grander narrative to her idea of what being a woman entails. What is her idea of a woman, you may ask? Well… not sure if I understood it myself, but it comes down to being actively perceived as a woman or, in less ambiguous wording, getting attention from men. Attention she didn’t receive from Quattro Bajeena, but from Scirocco, hence her rather controversial betrayal of the AEUG.

Now, there are several issues with this. Obviously, there is the continuing trend of feminity existing solely for the purpose of other male characters, instead for the female characters themselves. Secondly, it is an utter non-descriptor, as she is simply projecting her own personal issues on her own feminity and contrasts it with masculinity, in which she seeks comfort. Couple it with her insistence on dividing everyone into either male or female to make sense of her own experiences and it is easy to see how this may rub a lot of people the wrong way, even beyond the ramification it has for the course of the story. Maybe I am just too “links-grün versifft”, but wanting to be loved is not an inherent feminine quality and men are not obligated to accept every possible advance solely on the fact that it comes from a woman.

Also, ignoring everything thematically connected to Reccoa’s views on gender, somebody should have just told her, that Quattro Bajeena would later literally cause a second space nazi uprising and threaten to destroy earth with an asteroid, just so he could continue his petty rivalry with Amuro. With all due respect, she never had a chance with him to begin with.

In general, it feels like Zeta Gundam simply runs with its assumption that there is a fundamental difference between men and women, without actually deconstructing these views in a meaningful manner and ends up enforcing old stereotypes that neither ring true today, nor 35 years ago. Remember, war is not actually fought by men due to chivalry towards women.

TL;DR: I just really like this meme :D

Love, Death & Robots Season 1 Overview

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 15:15:00 +0200

Ach ja, Love, Death & Robots is an anthology series of animated shorts loosely connected via the themes of love, death and robots. Mostly death, if you would ask me, but that’s besides the point. Anthologies are a great way to display how a common idea can be executed in wildly different ways and they also tend to be rather fun. The small runtime of these shorts keeps everything fresh and the viewer is constantly exposed to new and potentially interesting concepts. In the world of animation, these anthologies can also get pretty experimental with their styles, so even for the people more interested in the technical aspects of animation, they are at least impressive from a production standpoint. With the exception of two episodes, every short is based on an already existing short story by different authors.

Initially, I wanted to create a simple tier-list for the first season (Might still just do that), but I figured I actually wanted to talk about a good chunk of them, so here we are. This is an overview of the first season of Love, Death & Robots.

The “Bad”, the Uninteresting and the Unsure

Just like we learned at school, I will start with everything I didn’t care about… or care about very much, but not in the most positive of lights. However, this doesn’t mean I actually thought any of these shorts were genuinely bad, just worse in the context of the rest of this season. At the very least, every short is an impressive showcase of animation and displays the ways a story can be told in the medium of animation. The episodes are not ordered by quality, but by my watch order (They are also apparently displayed in different orders depending on the the user).

Ice Age

Ice Age is, for all intends and purposes, the most harmless episode in season one. It is about a couple moving into their new apartment and noticing an old freezer that was left behind. Upon opening said freezer, they see a miniature version of “humankind” going through different periods of time, starting from the titular ice age, through the middle ages and leading up to your generic version of the future™ until eventually escaping the freezer, reaching singularity and seemingly disappearing altogether. Next morning, life in the freezer starts anew with humans hunting dinosaurs.

This feels like a concept that is way more fun reading about than watching. While the miniature worlds in the freezer looks great and the animation really sells the time lapse effect, I don’t think the fact that it is animated elevated the story, especially when the actual backdrop was live action for most of the time. I chuckled at this one shot with two construction workers sitting on a steel beam and wondering what the deal with those two faces in the sky is all about. I wished we would have seen more perspectives from the “humanity” inside the freezer and not just from the two people on the outside. I understand that this is kind of the point, but the point is boring and not entertaining to watch, so… yeah.

Sonnie’s Edge

Unlike Ice Age, Sonnie’s Edge definitely has more meat to chew on concerning its narrative. An underground fighting arena where fighters link mentally with a monster and brawl it out until one can no longer move… basically like Pokémon or Digimon, but replace all the friendship with blood and gore. However, this is arguably not what Sonnie’s Edge is actually about. The underground dog fights are simply the framing device. The short is really about power dynamics, specifically those between men and women. It’s about assumptions of strength and potential to rule and master. Sonnies abilities are dismissed on the sole reason of her being a woman, her “Beastie” is assumed to be male when pointed out she is undefeated and Sonnies opponent very subtly gestures that she can suck his dick. Honestly, the more you take notice of all the small design details, the harder it gets to not get overwhelmed by them. It is in Sonnies character that she dismisses those assumptions about herself. She won’t be bribed, overcomes a cheating opponent and even tries to steal the main bad guys girl (The only acceptable kind of NTR).

So, what are my problems? I don’t know, honestly. For me, the vibe was just off. It has a really cool aesthetic with its cyberpunk-noir-neon-whatever, though I am not the fondest of dark visuals. The shot with them stepping into the arena and all the paint on their bodies and clothes lighting up is kino, though. The thematic core, while not subtle at all, still makes me question what exactly the point of it all was. It also doesn’t help that you do not actually criticize (toxic) masculinity by casting horrible human beings as your antagonist and then try to frame them accordingly by simply being male. While the story absolutely has more impact with the villain being male, it is hard for me to see him as a personification of bad male traits first and not as an evil person in general. However all things considered, this short might be the hardest to put into this “Bad” category. It is definitely worth a watch.

Sucker of Souls

Okay, this one just straight up sucks… *Badumtsss*. This episode was just really underwhelming. It feels like a prolonged prologue of a supernatural monster movie. A group of archaeologists and mercenaries go into a cave to learn something about the “Eater of Souls”. This fella eats the research assistant and chases the characters through the dungeons. The monster turns out to be Dracula and he is afraid of cats, which led to one funny moment.

This episodes really lives off its characters and their interactions with each other. The main mercenary is your generic hard-boiled mountain of muscles with a bad mouth and I love him. Beyond that, though? The explosives specialists really wants to blow stuff up, which is fine, but beyond them, there isn’t really anything that caught my interests. Also, the ending is an insult to the viewer. It really feels like the inciting incident that kicks off the actual plot. However, good 2D animation, I have to say. And at least we got to see Draculas dick.

The Witness

“Style over substance” in the best way possible. Remember children, style can be substance! This short takes on the symbol of the Ouroboros – The snake eating its own tail – and incorporates it everywhere, down to the very structure of the story. A man murders a woman, but sees a woman across the hotel identical to the victim witnessing said murder. He then chases her through the city, into a sex club, then into another building where the woman eventually murders the man and in turn sees a man identical to the man she just murdered witnessing it.

Story-wise, there is not a lot to discuss (I think). It ends the same way it started and the story is bound to repeat itself endlessly, thus the Ouroboros. What’s interesting is the way this story is told not only visually, but also almost exclusively through the visuals with barely any important dialogue. This short might actually have the best direction in the entire season. Every single shot feels uncomfortable, claustrophobic and simply “off” in a myriad of ways that really adds to the emotional state of the characters. The director is also the same guy responsible for the phenomenal art design in the Spider-Verse movie. My biggest complaint about the visuals would be that it is really harsh on the eyes. As cool as the visuals are, any longer than the twelve minutes and you would need a break to rest your eyes.

Similar to “Sonnie’s Edge”, there is nothing actively bad I could point out to. However, there also isn’t anything I could point out to that I actively like. It happened, I got it, could talk with a friend a bit and then continued on to the next episode.

The Dump

I feel like I will repeat myself endlessly, so I will make this one short. I enjoyed watching the short and then there was simply nothing I could talk about. The Dump is about a city inspector pushing the owner of a scrapyard to sign a paper to give up said yard. He refuses and instead tells a story about how his friend was killed by this monster that fuses everything it consumes into its own body. The inspector is thusly killed by the monster and we see how the owner treats the monster like a pet. It had a cool atmosphere to it and I appreciate how everything looks greasy and dirty, but there is nothing I find interesting about it. At least we got to see Pearly’s dick.

Shape-Shifters

Furries in the afghanistan war. That’s it. That’s the episode. Well, not really, but summarizing profound premises in the worst way possible is fun. The episode follows two werewolf soldiers and their deployments against a taliban militia. However, similar to “Sonnie’s Edge”, this premise is more a backdrop for the actual story. Shape-Shifters is about discrimination. Decker and Sobieski are discriminated against solely on their status as a werewolf, despite them looking 100% human (if not in their werwolf form) and being fully fleshed american patriots.

The problem with racial allegories is that you can (or rather should) not justify racism in universe… because racism in reality can not be justified. However, stories about discrimination often tend to hardcode this “otherness” as a fact and thus give objective precedence for potentially justified segregation, whether it is just or not. A good story then capitalizes on the latter aspect. This one, though, feels like it goes trough the expected motions without actually saying anything of substance. Yes, the discrimination against the werewolves is bad and obviously stupid from what we have seen, but what does it actually mean? Humans are just horrible to everything they deem foreign? Minorities are not welcome? I feel like there is probably a lot more depth to be found if I knew anything about the afghanistan war and the soldiers perspective in the american military, but from an outside perspective, this episode feels at best unsure to draw real life connections and at worst a bit tactless. At least we got to see werewolf dick.

Fish Night

Visually interesting, Fish Night is kind of… nothing? At least for its first half. Two salesmen find themselves stuck in the middle of a desert, until at night spectres of fish swim through the air. It is foreshadowed by the older one of the two that the desert was once an ocean and that, similar to ghost of the deceased haunting old houses, the animals can do the same.

My reading of the short basically comes down to a similar phenomena you can see of victims of hypothermia, only this time in reverse where they get naked due to a sudden urge to swim. In short, it is a visualization of death by hyperthermia. A visually beautiful visualization with bio-luminescent fish against the backdrop of a starry sky and another man only being able to watch, as his friend drifts to the other side.

It looks great, though the simple cell-shading reminded me more of the Telltale games. Not bad in its own right, but considering how ambitious some of the other shorts are, this episode feels underwhelming in contrast.

Blindspot

Like “The Witness”, Blindspot is the other episode not adapted from an already existing short story. Imagine Mad Max meets robots… that is to say, imagine Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 sans the furries and more robots. As it comes down to, the whole episode is just one giant action set piece, I like it and that’s about it. It also occupies this weird space where I am not sure if it should have been more edgier and raunchier or less so, as it feels like a weird outlier in in ths anthology.

Zima Blue

I do not get artists… like, at all. There is probably a lot about artistry, what it means to be an artist and how the more technical aspects and robotics relate to it, but I do not get any of this. I like the existential dread of a cleaning robot eventually achieving sentience by being constantly upgraded and pursuing a career in art by creating massive monuments of the color zima blue, but ask me what it means and I am out of the picture.

The short has one of the more unique animation styles. Not only is it 2D animated, but everything is designed, framed and staged like a A.M. Cassandre poster, which creates a surprisingly tense atmosphere for a relatively low-stakes non-thriller.

The Good and the Great

Finally, we get to all the episodes I genuinely enjoyed. Some are simply a delight to watch, while others are great short films in their own regard. If you only want to tip your toes into the anthology and search for recommendations, those are the ones I would gladly point out to.

Three Robots

For me, this was the first episode and it really captured the spirit of at least what I assumed would be the rest of the anthology. It is about three robots going through a post-apocalyptical city and engaging in human activities like visiting a diner or watching TV (Looking at a turned off TV is more appropriate), while wondering how weird humans must have been to interact with their world that seems so weird compared to how robots do. Through the environment, we see that the humans have clearly died through some kind of war, though not details are directly stated until the end.

Spoiler

It's cats! Of course, it's fucking cats, lmao. Human gave them opposable thumbs and the cats had no longer a need for the human species. Brilliant.

It was funny, nice to look at and all in all a very pleasant experience. I can see how this might be less interesting for others, but my list, my rules.

Beyond the Aquila Rift

Beyond the Aquila Rift leans into the more hard sci-fi angle. A spaceship crew gets stranded millions of lightyears off course and wonders how they can get back. To tell you anything beyond this premise would be to spoil the short. The first thing I noticed is the incredible animation. I think it is still clearly supposed to look like it is animated, but the technical details and everything sometimes made me doubt if we didn’t switch to life-action halfway through, though it does sometimes look uncanny valley. I also enjoyed the character dynamics and the atmosphere. There was this constant underlying sense of suspense and unease of what is really happening. Also, the sex scenes were like… really good? Sex, or at least the sexual imagery is an essential part of this short, but also… the animation. When Greta clawed into Thoms back and the skin turned red at those spots… that’s hot. It also helps that the dude is really hot. The woman, yeah sure, whatever, I guess, but Thom is an absolute hunk of a man. “Show us his dick!”, I screamed… the dick was unfortunately never shown. A tragedy, really.

The eventual reveal of this story is also really great. You yearn for cosmic space horror? This episode has plenty to spare. The literal reveal of the monster is also spectacularly framed:

Spoiler

When the monster first walks into the light, the body looks humanoid and almost like a woman, until it fully comes out of the shadows and reveals itself to be an insect-like alien. I also think it is very deliberate that it incorporates elements resembling human genitalia into its design.

All in all, as a fan of more hard sci-fi, this episode was one of my favorites.

When the Yogurt Took Over

This one is just a delight. Scientist gave yogurt intelligence, it started yearning for power, eventually got granted control over Ohio, turned it into a paradise and the yogurt eventually left earth to explore the stars. It’s hilarious and the animation is cute with bright and poppy colors.

The Secret War

The Secret War is a very atmospheric war drama about a platoon of red army soldiers fighting literal demons from hell… and that’s about it. Some of the best anthology’s episodes have a very easy to summarize premise which is simply executed very well. It also helps that it has just the right amount of “theatrics”, if this makes sense. It is grounded (aside from the ghouls), but engaging and interesting and the distance from reality certainly helps the narrative. I am not saying this short could be tweaked to become fully fledged soviet war propaganda… I am just saying that it would be the coolest war propaganda imaginable with its themes of duty, brotherhood and general badassery.

Suits

For anyone knowing me personally, you would immediately sense how this episode is just right up my alley: Space farmers protecting their cattle from aliens with self-build mecha, all in the aesthetic of a pre-2000 mid-western USA. Yeah, this is “I just want to grill” in its purest form. Beyond that, I really appreciate the sense of community this episode portrays. All those characters clearly have a history larger than the episodes run time with each other and it just shows through almost every interaction. Like, I root for the characters and I barely know them and it is able to pull of some dramatic narrative feats that would completely fall flat with a less sympathetic cast. The combat is also really really fun.

I was rather unsure of the animation style at first. I definitely get the reason why you would want to limit your framerate, but the result, at least in this case, needs a couple of minutes to get used to. Beyond that, this short looks capital-A Amazing, from the toon-shaded characters, to the designs of the robots and the stylized effects.

This episodes is everything I want from an anthology like this. It got love, it got death and the robots are also there. I am also in love if something decides to literally pull the camera away in the last shot and reveals to the viewer what is actually going on on the larger scale. I would like to name it the “Girls und Panzer Reveal”, but I am sure there is a lot that predates it.

Good Hunting

Okay, from the perspective of the author of this hereby blog, I stand before the decision to either write two or two-hundred sentences about this episode, because this one is… a lot. Quite literally, as this feels like a dense double-length special despite only being 17 minutes long.

The episodes follows… it is about… where do you even begin without also having to fully explain the whole short? You don’t! This episode is genuinely amazing and absolutely worth your time, so I will give you chance to watch it blind. Do it!

Spoiler

Good hunting has themes of sexuality, industrialization, colonization, womanhood and possession and is able to comment on every single one clearly and with depth, despite its short run time. I am a big fan when there is an interplay between magic and technology and adore how the short builds this mini-arc of Yan losing her ability to shape-shift and later gaining it back via the mechanical body given to her by Liang. Also, this whole sequence of Liang modifying Yan... that was hot... and yeah sure, this is clearly supposed be viewed as sex, but also the intricacy and complexity of the mechanics are just... now that is what I call fanservice!.. I swear, I am not attracted to machinery...

Helping Hand

I love a good pun.

If you think about it, space is frightening. While it is not directly trying to kill you (unless aliens are involved), left to your own devices, even the tiniest of errors may led to your doom incomparable to what might happen on earth. Thus, being in space always leads to a certain tenseness for the characters, which this episode captures pretty well. I may even compare it to the movie Gravity in this regard. Just a lot of space out there in space.

Spoiler

Honestly, I called the inciting incident from a mile away, when I saw her leaving the ship not being tethered.

Also, yes, I do love the brutality with which the conflict was resolved. You got me. I don’t even care how realistic it is. This was great.

Alternate Histories

Similar in vibe to “When the Yogurt Took Over”, this episode looks at increasingly elaborate and absurd what-if scenarios in which Hitler died before coming to power. It is hilarious, I like the structure with seemingly fixed events turning out slightly different each time and can see how this works pretty well with other historical figures. At the end of the episode, we get teased with a “What if Lincoln shot first”, but to my knowledge, this format wasn’t brought back for the following two seasons.

Lucky 13

I am unironically in love with scripted media talking or incorporating superstition, simply by the fact to it being ironic beyond belief. Lucky 13 follows a new pilot in the… *looks at smudged writing on hand*… space army force whatever that ends up with a spaceship infamous for its crews not surviving the flights. Cutter, however is too based to care about it, treats the ship with respect and eventually completely reforms the ships reputation until soldiers sigh in relief if they see it souring through the sky. It is also heavily implied that the ship has some kind of mind on its own or at least reacts to the way Cutter cares for it. I am a sucker for the humanization of technology, especially mechanical vessels like tanks and ships. They too are a character and subtle hints of characterization can go a long way, as seen in the climax of the short and its message at the end. Just a really solid short overall with a cast that doesn’t draw attention to itself being quite diverse (Representation is good, actually).

The ones I would like to see more of

Now, most of these shorts tell a complete story, but this doesn’t mean I can’t wish more more, right? However, I also often tend to be rather skeptical of sentiments like “I wish we could get a whole series out of this” and so on. On a certain baseline, I absolutely get it. You have been exposed to something great and want to see more. What some people forget is that the thing they just saw may have been great because this is everything. No unnecessary padding of ideas, no extra plot lines, just what one has seen compressed down into its purest form. To make a long story short, I often have my doubts that these shorts would work in a more conventional and serialized fashion. However, for the following few, I think there is a good case to be made that they would benefit from either being continued or expanded upon.

Good Hunting

This one seems almost like a no-brainer. The story is obviously far from over and considering how much care went into the world-building, design and production of this short, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was intended to be more. I genuinely want to see where the paths of both main characters led to and its themes come to a satisfying end. I feel like this episode only scratched on the surface of what it can potentially offer in full form and I would be so down to see it continued in some way.

The Secret War

Actually, I am rather unsure about this one. I doubt this premise might be enough to turn this small war drama into a full on epic, but the stories of comradery and brotherhood might be able to carry it all the way. It may also break the trend of more american-centered war stories and bring some needed fresh winds into a field that must be full of diverse stories to tell. Fill it all up with a more prolonged prologue, maybe even end it on a big bang and I doubt I wouldn’t adore it.

Sonnie’s Edge

I think it is more appropriate for me to say I want it remade instead of continued, at least partially or even maybe in a way I want “The Secret War” to be continued. That is to expand it in several ways. Give it more background and time to fully develope its themes and messages to appear less muddy. Make the villain into an actual villain and give the whole enterprise more weight! I am certain there is a fantastic story in Sonnie’s Edge and I would like to see it some day.

General thoughts

That’s about the individual entries of Love, Death & Robots, however there are still some words I want to loose about the anthology itself.

I both love and hate how Love, Death & Robots advertizes itself as “adult” and “mature” animation that is clearly different from “adult animation” that tend to basically come down to raunchy sitcoms, like The Simpsons or Family Guy. However, I feel like this “adult” and “mature” appeal doesn’t necessarily come from it actually being adult and mature, but, at least in part, from being clearly not for children and teenage audiences. It almost reminds me how some people try to describe anime as “adult” and then continue to show you clips from stuff like Elfen Lied. Like, yeah… it sure ain’t for kids, but nothing adult about it either.

However, Love, Death & Robots also clearly shows its intentions on its sleeves… you just have to look at the title. Sex and violence isn’t something to be justified or shunned in a narrative context and the anthology clearly proved how these aspects can be integrated into stories to elevate them. I just wish it would look less immature while doing so, but maybe I have become simply to old to judge this.

Another aspect I find interesting is how the shorts frame their characters in sexual contexts. Specifically how male characters are viewed different from females ones. I always thought it was funny when male genitalia was shown on-screen, since these were all in shorts where the nudity is not sexual in any way and with a bulk of them being comedies. Meanwhile, female nudity is shown almost exclusively in a sexual context and while I think all shorts handled it in an appropriate way, given their themes, this unbalance still shows how differently we look at sexuality if the subject’s sex is concerned, as if the the naked womans body is not viewed equal to that of a mans. Though, as most things in this post, this might as well be an observation skewed by my inherent biased view. As a friend noted: I can appreciate the male physique, but I am attracted to the female form. For the sake of media criticism, I have to become bi to accurately judge stuff like this, I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

But that is about it. Overall, I really enjoyed the first season of Love, Death & Robots, even if my 50/50 split into “Good” and “Bad” may make it appear not so and I hope the next season keeps up the good quality. Until then.

Love, Death & Robots is available on Netflix.

Getting fit with Wii Fit: Month 6

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 14:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, half a year ago, I came to the conclusion that I need to get (Wii) fit and apparently I am still here and kicking. This post will be my third retrospective, for the first two see the respective Wii Fit Tag.

What changed?

Unlike last time, there were (unfortunately) not a lot of actual and positive changes. For the most part, my routine settled down to just jogging the 30 minutes down and I eventually completely lost my enthusiasm for everything else. The in-game stepping is fun, but even the minimal overhead of time made it less attractive to consistently pursue it every single day, so I settled with the “Free Steps” outside the game, though I eventually stopped that too. No particular reason as to why, I mean I still have enough long-form content in my YouTube watchlist, but I just stopped.

I also didn’t pursue any of my planned dives into Yoga and similar activities. Not that I am uninterested, but I just didn’t take care of it. There is also the matter of time. Between my last update and this post, I was in the middle of my internship. This not only meant less time in general, but also at what times I could train. If I am done with work at 17:30, there is only a “relatively” small time frame for the amount of sport I want to do, if I also want to maybe take care of other real-life stuff and eat at 19:00 before spending the time after that doing something else (Mostly playing WoT).

My internship also changed the times I weighted myself, so some fluctuations in the results, especially over the weekends, are to be expected. I eventually came to the genius realization that I can weigh myself at a different time I actually train, but let’s not talk about my lack of thinking here.

On the technical side, I guess it is worth mentioning that I fried my Bluetooth device after forcefully shutting down my PC this one time. This is also the reason why there is a three day gap in my data. I received a Bluetooth stick from a friend, so I can still connect the Wii hardware to the computer, however there is a downside: I am now only limited to a single device connected via Bluetooth, meaning that while the Balanceboard is linked, I have to navigate all the menus, etc via keyboard and mouse. This also means that, unless I switch the slot for the Balanceboard with the Wiimote, I am unable to track my distance while jogging. “Oh no”, they screamed in a sarcastic way. The narrator chuckled. In the end, with the exception of the daily tests, I more or less abandoned Wii Fit completely. I know this series is called “Getting fit with Wii Fit”, but the point was never to be about Wii Fit. It served its job of motivating me way better than anticipated and I am satisfied with putting it to an end on a good note. Rest ~~in Piece~~ next to all my other Wii games.

Body Test

Feed us the numbers, Hansi! Feed us!

Sure, like last time, I will split the results into the last three months and up since the beginning. First up, the last three months:

Yeah… not sure what exactly happened. My progress essentially came down to a halt, until around a month ago I lost more weight again, only for it to halt yet another time. This chart makes no sense, but I lik the spike in the middle of it where the Balanceboard completely messed up… two days in a row.

Next up are the results since when I started:

In the middle of january, I was at around 120Kg. My goal was to lose 20Kg. In hindsight, this was a perfect example of my hubris and utter over-confidence in action. I would obviously start losing less weight at some point and while even in month three the line went down somewhat linearly, you can clearly see the more logarithmic progression of the line. However, with 103.9Kg, I didn’t even miss the mark completely (Lowest weight was 102.7Kg). I can be proud of these results.

Next up is my balance. Starting in january, I thought my balance was fine, though self-perception is a tricky thing and a more professional measurement I took confirmed that my balance was shifted towards my right, averaging at around 47%/53%. Surprisingly, Wii Fit basically told me the same. I mean, the Balanceboard is essentially two scales for that very reason.

I am surprised how my balance actually shifted towards the middle. Part of it is definitely due to my conscious adjustments of balance when taking my weight, though I suppose regular physical activity does at least do something, especially compared to sitting all day long as if I don’t even know how to actually sit properly.

In my first post, I noted that I would like to fit into my jeans again and… *Drum roll* I fucking do! On one hand, this is good for my self image, of course, but most importantly, I am now able to take part in more formal events again. To be honest, I kinda lucked out that I didn’t need to wear jeans for over two years now, so yeah… it is jeans time again (Only if I am literally forced to).

In the last post, I entertained the idea of taking a picture every single day to track my progress in an additional way – How I look that is. Well, I didn’t follow up on it, since I was already three months into my journey, but I compared my on-screen appearances of my last two videos (I don’t take selfies, so this is the next best thing) and damn… even ignoring the more flattering perspective, one looks way better than the other.

Honestly, when I noticed it, I was genuinely happy. Like, this is exactly why I started this whole escapade. Remember, I am that superficial. I was even asked if I lost weight on two separate occasions. Of course, I played it off very smooth with a “Yeah, I guess”, as if it didn’t matter, but on the inside, I was like a little child kicking its legs on the ground out of sheer happiness. For the less superficial goal of being more healthy, I guess this just worked out as a matter of fact. I definitely feel better, though the nature of such a slow transformation makes direct comparisons kinda hard and, with one exception, I am unable to point to something concrete that feels easier now than half a year ago.

Training

As mentioned in the beginning, nothing fundamentally changed in my training, with the exception that I am not in Wii Fit anymore. I started watching videos while jogging and it does wonders to my time perception. Not sure if analytical diatribes about narrative conventions in storytelling are the most appropriate videos to watch when low on oxygen, but here I am. Beyond the 30 minutes going by a lot faster, I am also confident that I gained a good amount of stamina over the months. Since I am not limited to the game anymore, I see little to no reason as to why I shouldn’t increase my time to 45 minutes. Again, I could also try running outside for a more accurate representation of how far I have actually come, but jogging outside is fascist and revolution is my duty as an upstanding and moral citizen, so I will most likely continue stomping this one spot on my carpet into the ground.

Something that I noticed only recently is the fact that it is not winter anymore. For anyone wondering what I am talking about: Seasons simply do not work as intended in Hamburg, Germany and we live in constant twilight of winter, summer and whatever the fuck happens in the month of april. What I want to say is that it is getting hot. Like, really hot. Like, I am already sweating more by simply existing, than training just a few months ago. This situation lead to me not wanting to do sports. The last few days, I tried going back into my regular training rhythm, failed and I would appreciate it being less hot. “Sport ist Mord” may break my bones but “Wir sind nicht aus Zucker” will never hurt me.

The Future

Even if I will probably slow down with the actual training (If I am able to pick it up again, that is), I want to at least keep up my discipline that brought me here. That is trying to stay active in one way or another and paying more attention to my diet and how much I eat. Incidentally, we got new plates that are smaller, so this will help. The main reason for why I want to keep it up is because it would be very easy for me to gain all the weight I lost again. Right now I am living healthy and I want to keep it that way. Also, while I would be glad to hold my current weight, I still want to get under 100Kg. Specifically get to 99Kg, so I can eat one kilogram of colored rocks and claim to be 1% colored rock.

W-What the…

I also want to “get back” into push-ups. Looking back to the time in school, push-ups were simply a part of it. “Liegestütze Meister” they called me. It is time to reclaim the throne. Also, I participated in the local Critical Mass again and I had no problems driving to the end, despite it lasting close to four hours. All things considered, actually taking the step into a healthier lifestyle is good and I want to keep it going so I can continue to go on. This may be the last post of this nature, but until then, have a good time.

Jeder kann eine Prinzessin sein! – Go! Princess Precure

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 16:00:00 +0200

*Spoiler für Go! Princess Precure*

Ach ja, Haruka Haruno hat einen Traum. Seit sie ein kleines Kind war, wünscht sie sich nichts Geringeres, als eine Prinzessin zu sein und auch wenn dieser Wunsch, mit ihrer Verwandlung in Cure Flora am Ende der ersten Folge, in einer gewissen Art in Erfüllung geht, ist es interessant, wie sie selber mit dieser Verwandlung umgeht, als auch wie dieser ursprüngliche Gedanke auf die unterschiedlichsten Weise von anderen Charakteren aufgenommen, kommentiert und angefochten wird und es ist jener thematischer Konflikt, welcher sowohl Haruka, als auch Go! Princess Precure an sich, Tiefe gibt.

Zugegeben, mit Ausnahme ihrer Haarkrone, wirkt Haruka auf den ersten Blick nicht wie das Mädchen, welches einen in den Kopf kommt, wenn man das Wort “Prinzessin” hört. Spätestens hier sollte angemerkt werden, dass es sich beim Begriff “Prinzessin” nicht um den tatsächlichen politischen Titel handelt, sondern eher um die Darstellung, welches man aus Geschichten und so weiter kennt. Also denkt euch weniger Barbie - Die Prinzessinnen-Akademie und mehr Barbie in: Der Nussknacker.

Für die meisten Charaktere wirkt Haruka grundlegend zu schlicht, einfach und vor allem teilweise komplett fehl am Platz, um als Prinzessin gelesen zu werden. Auch wenn es scheinbar keine Einschränkungen gibt, wer Noble Academy besuchen darf, genießen die meisten Schülerinnen und Schüler offensichtlich einen relativ hohen sozialen Status, während Haruka aus einer alten umfunktionierten Poststadt kommt, in welcher ihre Eltern einen Laden mit japanischen Süßigkeiten führen und sich die Schule so ziemlich aus rein ästhetischen Gründen ausgesucht hat. Es wird ebenfalls mehrfach explizit erwähnt, wie sie aus dem Personenkreis, welcher sich aus ihre Freundinnen und anderen Precures bildet, seltsam heraussticht. Minami besitzt aufgrund ihres eleganten Auftretens und Tätigkeiten als Schülersprecherin den Spitznamen “Prinzessin der Schule”, viele Schülerinnen schauen zu Kirara hinauf, weil diese bereits trotz ihres jungen Alters eine erfolgreiche Karriere als Model hinlegt und Towa ist wortwörtlich die Prinzessin des märchenhaften Hope Kingdoms. Verglichen mit den anderen drei Cures wirkt Haruka einfach nicht, wie was man üblicherweise als Prinzessinen-Material ansieht, obwohl sie sich dessen jegliche Mühe gibt.

Harukas Vorstellung einer Prinzessin kommt größtenteils aus zwei verschiedenen Quellen. Die erste ist das Bilderbuch, welches sie als Kind gelesen hat, während der endgültige Stoß ihren Traum zu verfolgen von Kanata ausgeht. Die Geschichte des Bilderbuches selbst ist dabei relativ uninteressant – denkt euch ein ziemlich generisches Märchen vor – und stellt es in erster Linie inhaltlich eine Parallele zum Finale her. Der tatsächlich wichtige Aspekt des Bilderbuches liegt darin, dass die Geschichte unvollständig ist. Der Zuschauer erfährt zu einen späteren Zeitpunkt, dass die Autorin zwar ein Ende geplant, sich aber explizit gegen eines entschieden hat, als sie die verschiedensten Reaktionen der Kinder auf die Geschichte las und sich letzten Endes damit zufrieden gibt, dass ihre Idee der Geschichte nur eine von vielen möglichen Zukünften der titelgebenden Prinzessin ist und jeder Leser folglich eine andere Version und Auffassung dieser im Kopf hat.

Haruka ist da selbstverständlich keine Ausnahme und auch wenn sie selber sagt, dass sie wie die Prinzessin aus dem Bilderbuch werden will, geht sie ironischer Weise ihren eigenen Weg, weil ihre Vorstellung der Prinzessin ebenfalls die gleiche ist, welche sie für ihre eigene Zukunft bestimmt und am Ende der Serie schließlich zu einer Grand Princess macht; Stichwort: Hoffnung, Stärke, Anmut und Schönheit. Es ist genau diese Idee, dass man sich das Konzept der Prinzessin selber zurechtlegen muss, an welcher Haruka wächst und es ist deutlich effektiver, als würde man nur die Rolle einer idealisierten Form hinterherlaufen und imitieren, selbst wenn nicht jeder dieser eigenen Idee zustimmt.

Auch wenn die meisten Charaktere Haruka ihren Wunsch, eine Prinzessin zu sein, auf den ersten Blick nicht ansehen würden, gibt es, mit Ausnahme der wiederkehrenden Antagonisten, kaum jemanden, welcher ihr dies in einer oder anderen Weise direkt ausreden wolle. Da gibt zwar einmal Kimimaro, welcher generell Haruka hinterfragt, was sie an einem ihr so “fremden” Ort macht, allerdings ist seine Meinung sowieso vollkommen irrelevant, weil er wortwörtlich den hier macht: ¯\_(￣＾￣ ).

Interessanter wird es aber bei Yuuki. Yuuki war eines der Kinder, welche sich über Haruka lustig gemacht haben, als sie noch klein waren. Als sie beide nach vielen Jahren in Noble Academy wieder aufeinander treffen, fragt Yuuki, ob Haruka immer noch so von Prinzessinnen besessen sei. Mir gefällt tatsächlich das Stückchen Self-Awareness von Harukas Seite, welche sie in diesen Moment am Tag legt. Selbst sie versteht, dass es einen großen Unterschied zwischen einem kleinen Kind, welches eine Prinzessin werden will gibt und einen inzwischen 14-jährigen Mädchens, welches immer noch davon träumt. Es wird nicht das erste Mal sein, dass ihr Hintergrund des Prinzessinnenseins in Frage gestellt wird, als auch wie sie jenes für sich selber definiert.

Als Yuuki hingegen eine Folge dann selber Opfer eines der Zetsuborgs und von Haruka gerettet wird, muss er am Ende feststellen, dass der Gedanke einer Prinzessin vielleicht doch nicht so abwegig ist und zu einen späteren Zeitpunkt sogar zugibt, dass er zu Cure Flora hinauf sieht, wobei er aber, schon fast passender Weise, offensichtlich nicht die Verbindung zu Haruka zieht. Es ist letztlich ihre Auffassung einer Prinzessin, welche dafür sorgt, dass Yuuki seine ursprüngliche Meinung zurückzieht und sogar im Herzen nachvollzieht, warum Haruka überhaupt so besessen von der Idee einer Prinzessin war. Wie sich herausstellt, können Prinzessinnen auf verschiedensten Arten unglaublich cool oder inspirierend sein und müssen nicht dem angenommen Bild einer Prinzessin entsprechen.

Generell spielt Princess Precure mit der Idee herum, was genau eine Prinzessin ist und macht. Miss Shamour ist eine der Feen aus Hope Kingdom und soll den Precures das Prinzessinnensein näher bringen und darauf vorbereiten Grand Princesses zu werden, indem sie ihnen relativ häusliche Aufgaben gibt, welche den Schein einer Prinzessin erwecken sollen. Auch hier wird wieder sehr schnell klar, dass Minami, Kirara und Co. schnell den Bogen raus haben, während Haruka selbst bei kleinen Sachen, wie Tee kochen, auf große Schwierigkeiten stößt. Besonders in der Folge, wo Make-Up thematisiert wird, zeigt sich, wie Haruka nicht einmal den scheinbar eigenen Ansprüchen der Serie, als auch der ihrer eigenen ursprünglich gedachten entspricht.

Am Ende haben Miss Shamours Lessons, mit Ausnahme die Precures in eine aktive Rolle zu versetzen, keinen wirklichen Einfluss auf den Werdegang der Precures, auch so schafft es Haruka am Ende zu einer Grand Princess zu werden und dienen diese Folgen eher der Einbindung des dazugehörige Spielzeuges, aber ich will sie dennoch erwähnen, weil sie wahrscheinlich das klassischste Bild einer Prinzessin zeichnen und wie Haruka dieses nicht unbedingt widerspiegelt, es aber dennoch schafft den Gedanken einer Prinzessin in ihrer eigenen Form herüberzubringen.

Mit erstmaliger richtiger thematischer Relevanz wird Harukas Gedanke einer Prinzessin dann von Twilight in Frage gestellt. Twilight kann, mehr wie jeder andere Charakter, eine unterschiedliche Auffassung einer Prinzessin in die Runde bringen. Für sie ist eine Prinzessin nicht etwas, welches man werden kann und sieht sie in den Precures nur Mädchen, welche versuchen ihren Teil zu spielen, ohne das etwas gezwungenermaßen dahintersteht. Sie erkennt zwar das Potential von Minami und Kirara an, aber liegt ihre stärkste Opposition offensichtlich in Haruka und versucht sie diese, quasi als Beweis dafür, dass sie im Recht liegt, an ihrer eigenen Verzweiflung zerfallen zu lassen, denn schließlich basiert Harukas Vorstellung darauf, eine Prinzessin zu sein, an ihren Glauben, dass sie ihren Wunsch aus eigenen Kräften in Erfüllung bringen kann.

Der Gedanke, welcher Twilight am Ende repräsentiert ist eine feste Form, an welcher man sich halten muss, obwohl man diese, wie in ihren Fall, nur erlangt hat, als sie ihre eigenen Träume und Wünsche aufgegeben hat und somit aufhört innerlich an sich selbst zu wachsen. Es ist der Unterschied zwischen sein eigenes Herz zu verschließen und sich über Feingefühl, Würde und Eleganz zu identifizieren, anstatt über die Stärke Andere nicht zu fürchten, den Anmut Anderen zu vergeben und die innere Schönheit die Welt aufblühen zu lassen. Die Precures gewinnen letzten Endes über Twilight, weil sie sich durch den Einsatz von Haruka wieder an ihren eigenen Traum erinnert, Haruka sie aus ihrer Verzweiflung zieht und somit das Persona von Twilight zerbricht. Die Inversion von Twilight kann man am Character Arc von Towa sehen, welche sich, ähnlich wie Haruka, selber ein eigenes Bild einer Prinzessin aufbauen muss und durch diese Reise innerlich wächst, bis sie jenes Bild in sich selber verinnerlicht hat. Das es dazu aber erst kommen konnte, liegt daran, dass Towa von jenen unterstützt wird, welche ihr diese Reise ermöglichen.

Der zweite Aspekt, welcher Haruka dazu gebracht hat ihren Wunsch nachzugehen, war die Bestätigung von Kanata in einen Moment, wo sonst niemand an ihr geglaubt hat. Das Bilderbuch gab ihr zwar die grobe Vorstellung, aber es war Kanata, welcher ihr den nötigen Mut gab, diese in Angriff zu nehmen und nicht sie selbst. Dieser feine Unterschied sorgt in Haruka für enorme Selbstzweifel, wenn sie sich erneut in einer ähnlichen Situation wiederfindet und Kanata anfängt zu hinterfragen, ob es so eine gute Idee war sie auf diesen Weg und damit auch in den Konflikt rund um die Precures zu bringen, ganz nach dem Motto “Wenn einen seine Träume in Gefahr bringen, sollte man sie lieber ganz aufgeben”. Kanata geht sogar soweit, dass er Haruko anfleht, dass sie nie hätte eine Prinzessin werden sollen, etwas, welches Haruka so sehr trifft, dass sie, in klassischer Precure Manier, nicht mehr in der Lage ist sich zu verwandeln und Verzweiflung für kurze Zeit die Überhand gewinnt.

Es zwingt Haruka dazu in ihr Inneres zu schauen und nachzufragen, was ihr Traum, eine Prinzessin zu werden, eigentlich für sie bedeutet, jetzt wo sie vollkommen alleine steht. Ihre Selbsterkenntnis kommt so ziemlich in der Form ihrer bisherigen Abenteuer und den einzelnen Schlüsselpunkten, welche sie wieder in ihren Traum bestätigen und ihre Motivation von Kanata abkapseln. Ihr Wunsch ist ein Teil von ihr und sie lässt ihre Verzweiflung nicht soweit kommen diesen zu verwerfen. Es ist der letzte Schritt ihren Traum wirklich ihren eigenen zu nennen und mit diesem neu gefunden Selbstbewusstsein ist Haruka endlich in der Lage die finale Herausforderung anzugehen.

In der “Wie können wir junge Mädchen lowkey psychologisch foltern, ohne dass es zu direkt gewalttätig wirkt”-Sektion, welche eigentlich jede Kinderserie haben sollte, welche was von sich hält, wird die Dissonanz zwischen, wie andere Leute sich das Prinzessinnendasein vorstellen und Harukas letztendliche Selbstrealisation, klargestellt.

Für Haruka sind es nämlich nicht die edlen Bälle, die Teepartys, oder ein schöner Prinz, welcher für sie das Prinzessinnensein ausmachen, so sehr sie es auch genießt. Ihre magischen Kräfte machen sie vielleicht zwar zu Cure Flora, aber als eine Prinzessin sieht sie sich erst, wenn sie diese benutzt um die Träume anderer zu beschützen. Besonders als sie sich in ihren Bilderbuch wiederfindet, fühlt es sich für sie merkwürdig befremdend an, als ihr alles einfach ausgehändigt wird und sie sich nicht einmal ihren eigenen Tee einschenken darf. Besonders treffen sie die magisch wachsenden Blumen, welche nur wenige Sekunden brauchen, um zu blühen. Über den Lauf der gesamten Serie haben wir gesehen, wie Haruka sich in jeder Jahreszeit um die Blumen der Schule kümmert und auch wenn sie sich freut sie blühen zu sehen, kommt es ihr nicht unbedingt darauf an. In ihren eigenen Worten findet sie Blumen schön, weil sie als kleine Samen in der Erde anfangen, jegliches Wetter überdauern und sich wünschen zur Sonne zu wachsen, bevor sie irgendwann schöne Blüten tragen.

In diesen Sinne spiegeln die Blumen ihren eigenen Werdegang zur Prinzessin wieder. Selbst wenn sie sich in der Bilderbuchgeschichte ihrer Träume wiederfindet, ist dieser Traum für sie komplett wertlos, wenn sie selber nicht die Mühe und Arbeit reingesteckt hat, diesen selbst zu erfüllen. Sie kann nur aus eigenen Stücken eine Grand Princess werden und mit der Ablehnung dieser spezifischen Märchenwelt ist sie den letzten Schritt gegangen, um sich als solche zu verwirklichen.

Die Grand Princesses symbolisieren die jeweils realisierte Form der Precures und es ist passend, dass Haruka, welche die größten Schwierigkeiten hatte sich selbst zu definieren, die Letzte ist, welche diesen Status erreicht hat. Wichtig ist dabei, dass diese Realisation offensichtlich in deren echten Leben über geht und am Ende alle vier Mädchen weiter ihren Träumen nachgehen, selbst als sie den Mantel der Precure abgeben müssen. Minami sagt ihren Eltern, dass sie sich lieber um Meeresbewohner kümmern will, anstatt Vetternwirtschaft zu betreiben, Kirara geht nach Paris, um ihrer Karriere weiterzuverfolgen und Towa kehrt nach Hope Kingdom zurück, um wieder Freude in das Land zu bringen. In diesen Sinne gewinnt die letzte Konfrontation mit Close noch ein kleines Stückchen mehr an Bedeutung, mit der Aussage, dass man manchmal mit seiner eigenen Verzweiflung leben muss und es darum geht diese immer wieder zu überwinden, um seinen Traum näher zu kommen.

Für Haruka ist es letztlich nicht die Krone, welche jemanden zu einer Prinzessin macht, sondern der Gedanke alles dafür zu tun, um diesen Wunsch in Erfüllung zu bringen und wenn man daraus keine positive Botschaft raus ziehen kann, dann weiß ich auch nicht mehr weiter, besonders wenn man quasi jede einzelne Instanz des Wortes “Prinzessin” hier durch etwas anderes ersetzen könnte. Also, Go! Princess Precure.

A (probably) way too harsh critique of Sakura Sadist

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 15:45:00 +0200

Ach ja, similar to Highschool Romance, Sakura Sadist is a visual novel I recorded with friends mostly for shits and giggles. Unlike with Highschool Romance, this was a project dragging itself for more than half a year and I put way more effort into it than justifiable by translating the entire thing (Final word count coming out at around 35K words). One might even consider it a passion project weren’t it for just one tiny little detail: It fucking sucks!

Winged Cloud’s Sakura series is what one might consider the WcDonald’s of visual novels. Subpar, low-effort (They probably still take a huge amount of effort, as game development is hard) junk food only a few people are actually proud of consuming. However, they are what they are. They fill this weird niche of easily accessible visual novels that also cater to a large variety of different tropes and even fetishes and for that I can not blame them. You might even call their VN’s “guilty pleasures” and considering how probably no one holds these games to some high critical standard anyway, this is all fine… this won’t stop me from complaining about it anyway, though.

There are only two reasons why I picked Sakura Sadist over the other several Sakura Novels I got through the Humble Bundle: It’s girls love and as a fellow “I literally want her to pierce my heart with her heels and beat me to a pulp”-type of guy, I hoped to get some juicy sub-dom dynamics out of it… yes, I am horny on main and you literally can’t stop me. Embracing my inner demons, I have become too powerful. Anyway, while Sakura Sadist certainly scratches that itch in a way, it does so less often than I would have liked.

Striping away the twist, Sakura Sadist is like your normal romance stories sans the whole “Will they, won’t they”-stick, as they absolutely will. However, the entire “sadist” angle falls severely flat, only really gaining traction at the end of the story, where it is arguably to late and even worse, just ends after finally getting interesting. The meat of Sakura Sadist consists more of your flavor of the day contrivances that pad the story to an adequate length, before delving into its actual content. Mamiko, main heroine by her name, is mostly absent for the first half of the game and it instead solely focuses on the relationship between Azusa and her childhood friend Mari. While I do enjoy seeing dumb lesbians bickering with each other, this got annoying pretty fast.

The dynamic between Azusa and Mari is not great and absolutely not varied. From the very first moment, you have already seen 95% of what their relationship entails. Mari has the big Tsundere for Azusa, though keeps her distance through the numerous times Azusa embarrasses her in one way or another, while simultaneously playing her caretaker. It is rather clear that the only way this will work out is by Mari eventually jumping over her own shadow and taking initiative over the clueless Azusa. Nothing wrong with such a simple character arc and by all means a story I would enjoy regardless of the quality of its execution… if only it wouldn’t take almost the entire game to lead somewhere!

Azusa and Mari spend so much time just talking to each other about the most irrelevant topics, often as a result of drifting off the actual conversations they held a moment ago. It so often grinds the pace to a halt, more so since I had to translate all this stuff, that I would have edited it out in any other circumstances. The conversations aren’t even that interesting on their own and mostly just double down on what we already know about the characters personalities. Like, I get it, Azusa would end up in a ditch if left on her own accord and Mari is very worried about her. I got it after the first time, no need to repeat on another five occasions.

There is also this side-plot that clearly only functions as a framing device for its own story and different endings. Azusa has to write an essay about the baroque epoch and keeps getting into trouble with her professor, until she eventually finishes it with either Mamiko or Mari’s help and the professor gets his comeuppance by being presented a flawless essay. Honestly, these scenes were the most frustrating to read, as they beat you so much over the head with the fact, that professor Shibata is simply jealous over her father’s success and lets out his petty anger on Azusa by treating her more harshly (though not necessarily unfair). It is double annoying, as these parts are the only thing resembling a thematic core beyond “sexy lady hurting me make horny”. By being constantly compared to her father, Azusa has to come to terms with her own inadequacy, as well as her relationship with music, which nicely segues into why she gets so attached to a person that takes her worries away in exchange for something so trivial as… her pride and shame?

It is hard to tell, as Azusa is a mostly just a mood, not an actual character. Not sure if she is supposed to be the readers self-insert or general perspective through which we experience the story, and though I had some “same”-moments with her, even I have simply to much self-respect, as to fully relate to her in more than a few regards. When talking to Mari, she becomes the most insufferable person alive, lacking anything resembling tact or decency. It also doesn’t help, that she treats Mari just awful with her nonsensical approach to holding a conversations. I, at least, have some resemblance of self-awareness when I say stuff like “Socks and running outside are fascist”, but Azusa is just… she is clearly supposed to come across as fun and dorky, but I couldn’t get into her character, as nothing of value and substance comes out of her actions. She stumbles from one situation to the next, being guided by the will of the author and or player, rather than by something she might call herself. As already mentioned, she has some introspection, but even that is so bare-bones as to almost dismiss it entirely. I like to talk shit about wet blankets of characters like Aoi from IMHHW, but rest assured that characters like Azusa come right after that pathetic excuse of a human being.

The only other character left to talk about is Mamiko. She is… fine, actually? I really wished she was more directly involved in the story. Sure, it was fun that she pretended to be this Venus figure and lead Azusa by her nose, but until the reveal way past the halfway-point, she mostly just popped up randomly to announce that we will see more of her eventually. When she finally comes into focus, though… oh boy, finally some good fucking food. I know, managing expectation is hard, but this was the stuff I originally started playing the game for, after all. All things considered, Sakura Sadist is still very tame and open for anyone not actively interested in its topic, but did it scratch that itch I was talking about. Mamiko can be absolutely ruthless and the sheer presence when she is finally allowed to express herself is more captivating than anything else in the visual novel. I also probably missed out quite a lot of her more intense moments, as I played the “all-ages” version and considering the name of the game, I can imagine that these two things go very well hand in hand.

Would I recommend this game for anyone searching a sub-dom dynamic? I guess not, though it is not like a have wide variety of experiences and media to compare it too. I also doubt that Sakura Sadist is in any way representable to the wider BDSM audience, but I would rather have a fun sakura-colored self-indulgent fantasy, than what ever 50 Shades of Grey attempted to accomplish. For now, I am just happy to be over with Sakura Sadist and may even use the bit of cleared free time to… I don’t know, maybe write for YouTube again. This post turned out a lot shorter than imagined, though I guess this is a testament to how hollow, by the numbers and potentially even “safe” Sakura Sadist is most of the time. At least Highschool Romance tried and said something, even if unintended.

Now, the only thing left is to wait until I upload the last two parts of it on YouTube, before I can publish this post (Finished it on the 10th of May), until I have to hopefully never touch Sakura Sadist ever again… I will also not immediately follow it up with Sakura Gamer or something similar, even if it would be hilarious. I am simply too exhausted to pull a stunt like that :D.

Sakura Sadist is available on Steam and a “charming” german dub of it on my second channel.

Frame Interpolation is great. Don't use it to "improve" animation!

Sun, 29 May 2022 16:55:00 +0200

Ach ja, you probably all know that one annoying friend complaining about your TV settings, right?. You don’t? Well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is HansiMcKlaus and if I see another one of those 60FPS interpolated anime fights, I will fucking snap. But more importantly, I want to shed some light on the nature and technical aspects of frame interpolation, instead of just complaining about it. I may not be whatever the video equivalent of an audiophile is, but I do care about certain aspects of the video process and how adjustments change the way we literally view things.

If you are a fan of interpolated video, good for you. I may spit on your grave, but I will not blame anyone for liking it. At the end of the day, it is a preference like any other. However, there is an underlying science to it and I want to explain the causes and effects interpolation has. So, let’s talk some math!

Signal processing

Okay, let’s start with the basics. Most things can be viewed as some kind of a signal, the most obvious ones being light and sound, but it also includes less “natural” phenomena like, as a matter of fact, most if not all kinds of information imaginable over time. A clock makes a signal beyond the indication of time by the ticking of the second hand and so does a body by simply existing. What the signal entails depends on the use case, but the main take-away is that “framerate” is not quite a signal, though I will explain in what way exactly later.

There are two kinds of signals, analog and digital ones. Analog signals are continuous in time, while digital signals are quantized to discrete values. Most “natural” signals are analog, while most recordings and readings of a signal are digital. Digital doesn’t mean that it is made on a computer, by the way.

Imagine a sine wave. A sine wave continuously changes its value between 1 and -1 over time. We can convert this analog signal into a digital one via approximation. For that, we simply record the value of the sine wave at certain points in time. In this example, the samples at time 0 and 2π are technically the same and the latter one is only there for illustrative purposes, if you are wondering why there is always one more sample than stated.

The number of samples we take for each time period is the samplerate. As we can see, the lower the samplerate, the less accurate the digital signal is to the analog one, until it is no longer recognizable at all in the last graph. Introducing the “Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem”. In short, it describes a condition for when a digital signal is able to contain all the information of its analog signal counterpart. It basically comes down to the fact, that the samplerate has to be at least twice the highest frequency in the signal.

So, for our sine wave example with the frequency of 1/2π (A full circle of a sine wave is defined over 2π), our samplerate has to be at least twice of that, resulting in a samplerate of 2/2π or simply π, meaning that if we take the value of the sine wave at every π, it results into an accurate approximation of said curve. On first inspection, this doesn’t seem to be quite correct, as both the last two graphs (Samplerate of π and 1/2π) seem to only contain a constant value. This, however, is simply a result of the starting point of the sinus function. If one were to shift the curve, you can see how the left graph with the samplerate of π (2 samples) does in fact resemble a (crude) sine wave plus the correct frequency, while the right graph with one sample doesn’t.

If the samplerate is not high enough, you may get these weird artefacts like when recordings a propeller and the blades seem to spin backwards or very slowly. The Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem also explains, for example, why digital audio tends to have a samplerate of 44.1K or 48K, since the human ear can hear frequencies up to 20KHz, meaning that at least a samplerate of 40KHz is required with slightly more added due to other technical aspects of audio.

Upscaling and Interpolation

Ok, since we are mostly working with digital signals, we also know that our signals are approximations at a specific resolution called a samplerate (or any other term). We have also seen that a higher samplerate tends to result in a more accurate representation of the analog source. Unfortunately, recording a signal at a “high” samplerate is not always possible, either due to simple availability of the signal, technical constraints in the recording itself, or a lack of space to record the signal onto – Ever seen how large FLAC files or uncompressed video can get? – so it is possible that our digital signal is too low resolution/has a too small a samplerate and needs to be up-scaled or, in the case of audio, up-sampled.

Interpolation works by filling “gaps” between a pair of discrete values with another artificially created values not originally found in the recorded signal. There are many sophisticated types of algorithms for interpolation, depending on the type of signal and in recent years, trained networks also made a big leap in providing good up-scaling capabilities. Personally, I use waifu2x for upscaling anime-style images and am pretty happy with it. However for this post, let’s look at arguably the simplest type of interpolation: Linear interpolation.

Linear interpolation works by simply taking a value between the two values adjacent to its position, in the easiest case the average, but also “weighted”, depending in its relative position between the next adjacent values. For example, you have two values, 1 and 5 and want to interpolate this sequence to contain five values. Depending on your implementation, this interpolated sequence could be 1,3,3,3,5 or 1,2,3,4,5… it’s very simple.

Going back to our sinus curve example, here are the up-sampled (by a factor of 4) waves of samplerates 16/2π and 4/2π with the red dots being the new samples introduced by the interpolation, now containing 64 and 16 samples respectively.

In both cases, we could have simply connected the dots via a straight line… well, it is called linear interpolation for a reason. However, while not perfect, every red dot is closer to the actual value of the sine wave at each time, compared to as if you were to take one of the blue values, making it more accurate by reducing the average error.

Arguably, this graph of a sine wave may not be the best example to show the results of up-scaling in a real-life context. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to program my own up-sampler for audio (that actually worked well), so I kindly refer to a demo by Volodymyr Kuleshov. As we can ~~see~~ hear, the interpolated audio, while not great, is definitely better than the one with the low samplerate.

I never acknowledged it until now, but images are also signals and can be up-scaled, here by nearest neighbor interpolation (also known as none), linear interpolation and waifu2x:

Note how the first two interpolation techniques lose a bit of “sharpness”. The first one displays the exact same information on a larger area, making it appear “pixelated”. The second one loses its contours by averaging the edges with the areas around them. These effects become more obvious the higher the uscaling factor (here 2) is. Waifu2x, being based on a trained network, is able to counter these artefacts and creates an image that is pretty close as to how the original image would look like at the same resolution. Here is a difference map with the new images subtracted from the “original”

Working with limited samples

Ok, why don’t we just interpolate everything if the results become better (given an adequate interpolation)? Well, similar as to why we don’t record every signal in the highest samplerate possible: We can’t always do that. This is also especially true when creating signals under severe technical limitations, like creating a video game in the 80s. You don’t create playable character and simply downscale them to fit the small boundary of only a couple of pixels. Instead, you created Pixelart.

Pixelart is a weird beast, going against the very nature of analog signals. Until now, we have only discussed signals, that try to approximate an analog signal into a digital one. This is not the case with pixelart, as pixelart has no analog counterpart to itself. The discrete values are the fully realized representation of the signal with no loss in accuracy whatsoever. You can still up-scale pixelart, but you will not gain any useful new information from doing so and, depending on the type of interpolation, may even worsen the result. Pixelart and everything else created on the basis on limiting the samples is already in its best form available.

The reason I took pixelart as an example is because I think it is a rather easy example to grasp. The point isn’t always to maximize the numbers of samples available, but work within a certain range to create a specific effect. While pixelart is a result of the inherent limitations of old hardware, it still survived the shift into modern times on the basis of it looking awesome. Pixelart has a certain appeal to it that HD images and highly detailed 3D models simply can’t replicate and it found its way into a specific kind of aesthetic. (Hopefully) no one will go around and claim that pre generation 6 Pokémon would look better, if all the sprites were large anti-aliased drawings. While pixelart wasn’t always an artistic choice, the result still stands as its own with absolutely no need for up-scaling.

If one wants to get real technical about things, you could argue that every rasterized image is technically pixelart, but the point is to differentiate images that are limited in samples by design and those that are simply low on samples. You can see that in different techniques of creating pixelart, like intentionally down-sampling real-life recordings or 3D renders to create a pixelart effect. Also, while the concept of time is continuous, there is a smallest interval of time in a physical sense (247 zeptoseconds is the lowest ever recorded). However, considering such a short time span is basically not perceivable by any human, it doesn’t change the fact that there is a difference in analog and digital signals. You could still say something happens every zeptosecond. Real life has no framerate!

Frame Interpolation

Any type of video is simply a sequence of individual frames played back fast enough to create the illusion of motion. This is true for real life recordings, as well as artificially created videos like animation. Frame interpolation creates new frames between already existing ones, essentially increasing the framerate of the video. Framerate is our samplerate when talking about video, mostly measured in frames per second (FPS).

There are several reasons why one might want to create a higher framerate video. In its easiest form, more frames correspond to a smoother playback, as the “distance” between two frames decreases the more frames are created inbetween. This can also create the effect of movement with higher/slower framerate appearing faster, due to smaller noticeable changes, despite taking the same amount of time.

This smoothness isn’t even specific to just interpolated video, but all video with a “high” framerate. One time, I have seen a commercial in what I guess were 60FPS, as opposed to the standard 24/30FPS I am used to and was like “damn, these motion graphic are smooth”. However, I don’t want to talk about the benefits of high framerates or the soap opera effect (Which probably has a good amount of impact on how one perceives interpolated video), as maybe this is a topic for another time and I want to keep the focus on interpolation.

Now, here is the kicker: I absolutely adore the technical aspects of frame interpolation and what stunning effects one can achieve with them, with slow-motion being the most obvious one. It works surprisingly well on sport clips and anything where the camera might not “catch up” to the human eye.

This video shows off some clips using Google’s Large Motion Frame Interpolation and in my humble opinion, ignoring some artefacts, this looks great and I am all for it. However, my problems with frame interpolation start when applied to animation.

You remember my short tangent on pixelart? Let’s talk about how framerate itself is not a signal and why animation works. This may be more of a simple technical detail, but framerate is simply the samplerate of the signal (video), with the signal being the information inside the frames. However, despite working in the time domain, I think, concerning interpolation, it is important to acknowledge how the signals changes when altering the framerate, as opposed to simply adding more samples in the sine wave example, as it visibly changes the signal, or at least how it is perceived.

The second aspect of this is the idea of frames and framerate in the realm of animation. Similar to pixelart, animation has no “real” analog signal to compare or approximate down to. A frame of animation is not a snapshot of how the animation would look at this point in time, but the frame simply is how the frame looks. Obviously, the idea of a frame is still to portray the idea of motion in time, but it doesn’t have to follow any real-life logic, even when animating realistic movement. The artist has full control over the frame.

This brings up the question: To what do you even interpolate animation? Well, one basically does it under an assumption, similar to how you would interpolate real life footage. Since animation still portrays motion, it is possible to generate a frame that would gap its two adjacent frames, hopefully resulting in a smoother playback and as long as the original animation isn’t completely wild in its movement, this is indeed the case… at the cost of breaking the animation most of the time.

Here is the thing. Animation doesn’t (have to) follow movement that would make sense physically from a timing perspective. Since animation is not based on an analog signal, you can simply create two frames with a character snapping from one pose to another and while you could interpolate those frames to follow what should have been the logical movement, this is not what the animation portrayed.

Animation is created in a limited space, seldom exceeding a framerate of 24FPS with no obligation to use every single frame on a new unique frame. There is animating on 2’s, 3’s, 4’s and so on, meaning that only every n-th frame is unique, resulting in a perceived framerate even lower than the initial 24FPS. While the reason for the relatively “low” amount of frames is the insane amount of labour involved in creating animation, this is not an inherent flaw, as artists came up with techniques to give their animation a sense of movement and appeal, despite it.

I often don’t like it when one simply refers to the “12 principles of animation” as the end all for animation, but they do show most important aspects of animation and we can see how most of these principles are affected by interpolation. Interpolating frames will mess with anticipation and follow-through, ruin slow ins and outs and throw the complete timing of key poses out the window. Animation is made while accommodating the framerate and also able to change it on the spot. Just blindly interpolating animation will alter the source in a way, that no longer supports the techniques that made it work in the first place. This is not even mentioning stuff like smears whose purpose is to help simulating clear fast movement under frame constraints (beyond looking great… I love smear frames), that loose its effect, when interpolated. every animation is supposed to be smooth with realistic movement. Sometimes, the appeal is in snappy motion, fast poses and impact. A lot of animators have their own style, that utilize a lower amount of frames to their fullest potential and not in spite of the few frames. And don’t get me started on camera pans, etc, that are added separate from the animation and completely clash when interpolated.

I once came upon this video about a stop-motion animator interpolating their Lego animaton to 60FPS and while I am happy that they are happy about the results, I can not, for the life of it, understand why they, an animator, and a lot of the comments think that this looks better than the original. At the end of the day, it comes down to a matter of personal preference, but I can’t wrap my head around why so many people are fine with these seemingly uncanny interpolated clips.

Something to make clear is that my problem is with the concept of interpolation itself and not the newly generated frames introduced by the interpolation. For now, they look rather bad, being less sharp, worse to read and contain those weird artefacts. It also feels like, especially with anime, frame interpolation tends to rather morph between frames, instead of generating completely new ones. While there is still a lot of work to be done, I have little to no doubts that there will come a time, where those generated frames will look passable, even by my standards. Combine it with programs like TVP Anime Interpolation by Tsubajashi, which is specifically trained on anime footage and the interpolation might at least look decent, even if the timing problem still persists.

Frame interpolation as part of the production

So, what happens when the frame interpolation is not done on the already composited animation, but rather in the corresponding step in the animation process? Introducing programs like Cacani, animation tools for creating inbetween frames and giving the artists the ability to oversee the interpolation process themselves and to correct it. Studios like David Production and Ufotable have used interpolation software to aid in animating difficult scenes and it enables them to try out more complex shots.

All new David Production titles use Cacani for computer-generated inbetweens and it seems like it's affecting how they conceptualize anime - expect more slowmo, rotations, tricky sequences exploiting that. The result isn't always natural (especially on the 1s) but it's intriguing pic.twitter.com/oRqRgbKxG3
— kViN 🌈🕒 (@Yuyucow) October 12, 2018

There should have been a video here but your browser does not seem to support it.

While I don’t think this clip from JoJo’s Part 5 is a showcase of perfect interpolation, it at least displays the capabilities in adapting interpolation for certain effects. Meanwhile, the following clip of Demon Slayer uses its interpolation to create this very consistent subtle movement that would be almost impossible to draw by hand. Notice how it is animated on 2’s, meaning only every second frame is unique, yet it still feels rather smooth. Turns out smoothness is not only factored by framerate alone. It is not used here, but motion blur can also go a long way.

There should have been a video here but your browser does not seem to support it.

Those two clips are great examples where frame interpolation has its legitimate use-cases and I am interested in seeing similar approaches used in other series. I genuinely think it is worth looking into stuff like effect animation can gain something from interpolation. Frame interpolation can both reduce the workload of animators, as well as enable more complicated and tricky shots, so we will have to see where it leads us in the future.

Conclusion

I am genuinely impressed by the technical aspects of frame interpolation. I didn’t go quite into the actual technicalities of frame interpolation, as my knowledge and understanding of its inner workings are just to limited. I am, however, able to evaluate the results. At the end of the day, frame interpolation is a tool like any other and should not be confused with a magical “create animation” button. I am simply sick and tired of some dudebros abusing their GTX 1080 Ti to “improve” animation and point at it like “Look! 60FPS! So smooth!” and don’t think about whether it is actually effective in enhancing the experience, or simply a monster brought to live by carelessness and oversight.

And again, there are people that genuinely enjoy interpolated animation, but in my eye, I have yet to see a single clip that looked actively better by interpolating it. I am happy to be convinced otherwise, but until then, I will criticize frame interpolation everywhere I see fit, as if I were on some weird animation-purist crusade.

Live Action Attack on Titan and how not to approach an adaptation

Thu, 26 May 2022 16:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, I finally watched the two Live Action Attack on Titan movies. I say “finally”, but it was actually more morbid curiosity, sprung from my recent exposure of the I Am A Hero adaptation, as well as the original Godzilla movie and Shin Godzilla, rather than genuine interest that led me to give them a go. I rarely agree with the anime community at large on the specific problems of Live Action adaptations of anime and manga, so I wanted to see for myself, why these two movies are so poorly received, which basically led me to a problem common in other Live Action adaptions I have seen.

Before that, however. let’s talk about one specific aspect of adaptations first: Should the story be changed? And I am not just talking about obvious things that have to be changed due to the nature of the different mediums. Should the structure and beat to beat moments of the plot be changed? Should characters be changed? Should the ending be changed? Initially, I was like no, why should it? and I am still partially of that opinion. After all, I want to see XYZ, just in another medium. On the other hand, what is the value of simply recreating a story in another medium, especially if there is the opportunity to change aspects of the original story? Especially considering the Live Action “adaptations” of anime and manga I have seen, I am pretty content with viewing them as simply an alternate version to the original, rather than an attempt to recreate them. Not quite like a Spin-Off, just similar… different… yet also very much still connected to the spirit and soul of the original.

Also as a quick side note, I don’t think it leads to a productive discussion about Live Action movies based on anime and manga to only focus on how “good” it was adapted from the original. Kind of how a movie should be able to stand on its own, I also consider it paramount that a movie should be simply good first and please any other aspects second. You can have a shot for shot recreation of something, but if it turns out bad, it will still suck either way. So without further ado, let’s talk about the Live Action Attack on Titan movies. Spoilers ahead!

Live Action AoT is a very different AoT compared to the manga and anime adaptation. Sure, superficially, a lot of things look and play out similarly: Humanity lives inside walls, until the titans breach them, Eren and friends join the military to retake the walls and a conspiracy about the nature of this world arises. However, the changes that do occur result in a completely different view of the story and change all thematic takeaways of the original, which is, at the very least, more interesting than a simple retelling of the first three story arcs. Too bad that the movies are pretty bad.

It is, however, very interesting in the specific ways they are bad, which are mainly adapting Attack on Titan in the first place, with what I could only describe as having little to no understanding of the original manga and recreating specific moments in a story that should have been its own different movie. So let’s just go through the movies, note their changes and pick at whatever caught my interest.

The movie starts with a narration of how things came to be, which basically summarizes AoT’s premise; the existence of titans and that humanity retreated behind three massive walls. We get an entire establishing scene of the ~~Shiganshina~~ Monzen District and how everything seems to be a bit more modern than the original manga with machines and even motorized vehicles. It also looks very nice, though the movie eventually reduces this new aesthetic to bland soviet-style brutalist concrete buildings and a lack of color. We learn that Eren got fired from another job and Armin and Mikasa eventually find him on top of a bomb.

Honestly, at this point in time, I was absolutely invested in this version of Attack on Titan. Beyond being a phenomenal image, even in a more technologically advanced setting, this bomb feels like an incredible alien objects and a remnant hinting at what might have actually happened before humanity retreated behind the walls. From there on, the movie keeps up for a couple more moments. Eren, Mikasa and Armin try to reach the wall, which is actually separated via a military zone. Other subtle hints, like all the canons pointing inwards, give off the impression that the walls are being protected from the humans, instead of the opposite. This is some grade A world-building which actually comes close to the original manga, if only thematically.

Unfortunately, it all falls down from there. One might have noticed that Eren is still wearing a certain red scarf, despite it being the “present”. This is because the inciting incident that would later form the basis for Eren and Mikasa’s relationship didn’t happen. He still gives her the scarf, though… because she is cold… How in god’s name do you fuck up this aspect of the characters so bad and spit it in the face at the same time? This is what I meant by it being a worse movie by actually adapting AoT. This is one of many direct parallels to the original story that simply do not work du to the changes and many cuts that had to be done. In the manga, Eren giving Mikasa the scarf was his way of consoling her after her parents were murdered and the both of them killing their assailants. This little act would later spiral into Mikasa protecting Eren from almost any threat and her reluctance to view Eren for what he really is. Here, it is simply Eren being a semi-decent boyfriend (It is hinted that they are a bit closer than just friends).

Anyway, the three get caught by the military, ~~Hannes~~ Souda gets them out of trouble and the colossal titan does its thing. Noted, on their way to the wall, Armin bumped into a mysterious cloaked figure. The movie actually does a pretty good job with foreshadowing multiple plot points, so it got at least something going for it on a narrative level. The wall is breached and titans swarm the inner wall. The titans look… fine, I guess. All the CGI is clearly not up to Hollywood standards, but I wsh they would have stylized the titans more, as most of them simply look like huge naked humans, while especially the anime gives each titan a certain unique visual appeal. I also don’t quite like how the titans act. They really dive more into the horror angle with the titans growling and chuckling, stomping over each other (For a good time, more titans were killed by other titans than humans) and being seemingly more interested in actually eating the human body parts, rather than simply consuming the living for unknown reasons. I actually like the more down-to-earth portrayal in the manga and anime, as the titans were simply scary, without giving them additional attributes to make them actively “scary” and for my taste, kinda silly and less threatening.

Everyone flees from the titans and what follows is a scene that, while painfully generic, could work on its own and even has a slightly altered parallel in the original story. A lot of people try to save themselves in the inside of a house and eventually locking down the door to prevent more people from getting inside, leaving Mikasa, who tried to save a woman and her child, outside. While Eren tries to unlock the door, a titan approaches… and kills Mikasa. Finally opening the door, Eren escapes the house, which was thereupon squashed by other titans. Beyond being heavy-handed, this scene is supposed to give Eren his motivation to take revenge on all titans, but falls completely flat. Beyond missing as strong a presentation as the anime, it misses the weight of that incident by him not directly seeing it (keep that in mind), not creating this clear hate on one specific titan, that would later come back in a rather ironic way, him being relatively well composed, all things considered, and it being directly followed by the titans crushing everyone in the house. Eren doesn’t feel like he has a grudge against the titans the entire movie, which steals him from one of the only few personality traits he encompasses in the early parts of AoT. You may hate early Eren for being overly hot-headed, but seeing him take up arms first after everyone is paralyzed by the sudden return of the colossal titan is way more character than we will ever see from Live Action Eren.

2 years later, skipping all training and the selection process for which branch of the military to enroll, we see the new scout regiment prior to their deployment to close the hole in the wall. Talking about the production for a bit again, I am surprised how good the uniforms and the ODM-gear look. Meanwhile, the uniforms of the garrison and military police look way more openly… fascist?.. which is actually a plot point to come… kinda… It is also a shame that the movie never commented on the wings of freedom or the actual idea and philosophy behind the survey corps (or why some wings are red). Anyway, we get our introduction for the extended cast of the movie: Kubal, who is basically the commander of all military, ~~Hange~~ Hans, who is a delight every scene they get with their over the top reactions, Jean, who in this mess of a movie still keeps his crown as the best character in the franchise, Sasha, who was basically reduced to “Potato Girl”, though she gets a bow and Sannagi, who is Connie, except not… he also uses a huge axe to bring down titans later in the movie, which is actually pretty cool. Oh, and Armin survived… not sure how, or maybe I couldn’t distinguish between him and Eren’s actor, but here he is.

There are also a couple of new characters, whom I don’t know the names of, because a lot are never openly stated – not even from the more important characters – and most of them don’t have anything going for them, with the exception of this one woman joining the military to get child support. It is also a shame that we don’t get to see them training and bonding together, as this will make most of the deaths pretty unmemorable and we don’t get to see our first glimpses as to how the military is kinda sus. Also, no Reiner, Berthold, Annie, Ymir, Christa and Marco, meaning a lot of character development for the existing characters will be gone, mostly affecting Eren and Jean.

The actual operation is a mix out of the Battle of Trost and the Exterior Scouting Mission, though with way less interesting methods of approaching and or dealing with the titans. I actually like the strategy involved in fighting the titans in what is essentially no man’s land. The movies kinda dodge most of these challenges by incorporating more modern equipment like APC’s… which in hindsight are even worse than horses, now that I think about it? This is a running theme in these movies. More often than not, it handles similar situations in just less interesting ways than the original. Well, it goes as expected and on their way to Monzen, the corps gets ambushed by titans (Including a Titan Baby?) and is eventually saved by not only ~~Levi~~ Shikishima, but also Mikasa.

So, I didn’t really believe that Mikasa was actually dead for even a second. Classic rule of cinema. If the death is not explicitly shown, they are alive. Now, the reemergence of Mikasa might bring up some questions: Firstly, how? Not just in the literal way of her surviving being bitten by a titan, but also why is she there? She trained under Shikishima and became the badass we know from the anime and manga, however, unlike Eren, this Mikasa never expressed any sentiment towards joining the military or even caring about the outside world or something similar that could have led her to join. In fact, why is she so chill when she sees Eren after two years of what might have been her believing him to be dead? Also, great job of not letting her blindly follow Eren in this iteration and instead letting her blindly follow another guy. Get rid of all the smaller details of the manga and suddenly you can see just how shallow a character Mikasa really is.

They also mess up another aspect concerning Mikasa, which is her “The world is cruel and merciless, but also very beautiful”-attitude, which in this movie is reduced to simply “The world is a cruel place”, making her appear way too edgy and again I have to ask whether the writers actually understood this line in the manga or not. It is a common theme, especially later in the manga that life is still very much worth living, no matter the circumstances or how special one might be. The manga believes that there is still hope, while the movie simply acknowledges the misery. And I tell you, one has a lot more stuff to ponder about than the other.

Then there is Shikishima. I mean it completely unironic when I say that he is a great character and exactly what these two movies needed. While obviously being the replacement for Levi, he doesn’t really have a lot in common with him and is instead a fully realized original character, which is already better than most of the movie itself, but he is also just a lot of fun with a phenomenal screen presence and he absolutely dominates every scene he is in. He just sits in the shadow, while Eren tries to make up with Mikasa, eats an apple, monologues about how “the real enemy of humanity is peace” and then leaves without elaborating. King. Like, of course he is just checking of item after item on his villain To-Do list, but every moment gave this stale movie some fresh momentum. He also has this weird possessiveness about Mikasa and just straight up kisses her in front of Eren. NTR? In my Attack on Titan? It’s more likely than you think!

The story continues by further titan attacks, an unknown saboteur tries to steal the transporter with the explosives, but is stopped by one girl that crashes the the truck into a horde of titans to revenge her fallen boyfriend and we finally get our ODM-gear action sequence. To be frank, it does look passable, but not necessarily good by any measure. The Live Action movie also drastically dials up the splatter and even goes so far as to break the fourth wall by letting blood splatter on the camera. I am not a fan of excessive blood, mostly because it looks goofy and does not have the affect of making something appear more brutal to me and rather prefer more tactful approaches, like the later parts of the manga. We then lead into the rest of the Trost arc with a lot of people dying, Eren saving Armin, him being eaten and later returning as a titan. The movie has an obvious disadvantage of not being granted the run time of keeping Eren out of the picture for too long. It certainly plants more doubts into the readers head, when the main character doesn’t appear for several chapters, instead of him dying and this weird new titan appearing only a few moments later and even robbing the surprise by letting him emerge out of the titan that ate Eren. It also steals Mikasa of the time to process his death, though in this version, she didn’t seem to care that much and instead just blindly went berserk against the titans and ran out of gas just because. Seriously, this girl has no personality.

It is also rather funny how several characters guess that this new titan is Eren. I mean, sure Souda may think so, because he knows something other people do not, but Mikasa nearly getting crushed by him and only responding wth “Eren?” is just not believable anymore after everything the movie established. Well they are correct either way and cut out Eren from the disintegrating titan. Meanwhile, Shikishima just stands menacingly on a rooftop and bites into another apple, while delivering a “Be careful when you fight a monster, lest you become one” line, which might actually be some good foreshadowing. This whole sequence is actually fine, all things considered. It’s basically straight from the manga, thus so much is to be expected with much of the impact and delivery falling flat due to the constraints of the movie. I am also confused whether Eren’s Titan was fully CG or at least partially done via practical effects. I mean, the director, Shinji Higuchi, is a Tokusatsu guy after all. All the special titans visibly look different from the normal titans and it is rather uncanny for my taste. Well, this ends the first movie.

The second movie, after a quick recap, starts with Eren’s father injecting Eren with some sort of liquid, before being raided by the military police. Souda helps Eren escape, while his father and mother are apparently killed and the police burns down the house, including a plethora of supposedly banned books. One important details is Grisha mentioning that the drug was already tested on Eren’s older brother, which made me think “Wait, Zeke wasn’t revealed as Eren’s brother yet at the time the movie came out… what?” Secondly, we finally get another glimpse into the more human-centric conflict of the world. The thing about Eren’s brother would probably had me hyped in 2015, but it is also some of the more interesting new ideas brought to the table by the movie. I genuinely think that these two movies are at their strongest when they make Attack on Titan their own, instead of being limited by it source material. It is here that the story begins to deviate more and more from the manga.

The next scene is again a mixture of several moments, this one being the court trial and the middle of the Trost arc. It is essentially a watered down discussion about the nature of Eren, whether he is human or titan and how humanity, or specifically the military, is supposed to deal with him. This scene and its initial ending actually work well in the context of its own movie, but hinders itself again by taking too much influence from the manga. Armin’s attempt to persuade the military fall flat, as in this version there is no boulder to seal up a hole with or a Mikasa that is willing to kill everyone in close vicinity if Eren is hurt. What I really like is Souda actually getting a chance to speak and defend Eren and then quickly being killed by Kubal (Guy in charge of the military), further hinting that he has more stakes in this mission and Eren’s survival, than he might led on.

I am also just in love with how this entire scene is staged. The impromptu trial being held on what seems to be a run down playground with Eren being chained to a broken slide, the sun illuminating half the room while casting the other half in shadow and all the characters positioned circular in front of Eren? This is simply *chef’s kiss*. These two movies are clearly competently directed and could very much pass as their own, wouldn’t it be so clearly Attack on Titan, while also feeling foreign to it at the same time. Neither manga nor anime feel very post-apocalyptic in their presentation and I doubt most people would describe AoT as more of a sci-fi story than fantasy or a historical drama. The world of AoT has a sense of order to it, as if the titans are only one of many problems this setting faces, instead of being overrun by it. It looks amazing, but there is this constant weird disconnect that makes it feel less like Attack on Titan.

Anyway, before Eren can be shot, the armored titan grabs him, covers Kubal under several layers of debris and flees the scene. I was actually surprised to see the armored titan appear at all, not only because Reiner and Berthold are not in this movie, but also because the movie now has to handle the concept of titan shifters. Well, it does and much more. While the remaining members of the mission go on their way to Monzen, Eren wakes up in a strange room and this is the moment the movie finally goes completely of the rails (in a good way?). If you would have told me that this image is from Attack on Titan and not literally anything else, I would have called you a liar, but alas, it is.

Eren is, justifiably, quite perplexed by this situation but fear not, for Shikishima is with him and holding a stupid looking glass and a bottle of wine in both hands, ready to give the biggest exposition dump imaginable. I didn’t even mind. The performance of Shikishima was quite captivating and visually it is very engaging and kinda reminded me of Evangelion. So, here are all the answers one might have asked themselves over the last two hours: The titans are a military experiment gone wrong, eventually turning humans into titans via some kind of virus. This all happened in what should be the present day world and the military just lost against the titans with humanity eventually closing themselves off into the walls. This also explains the bomb at the beginning of the first movie, as well as the helicopter wreckages on the wall… and the fully automatic machine guns and RPG’s… wild.

There is just one tiny little thing I want to comment on: It’s fucking stupid! Ignoring how generic this reveal is, reminding me of several YA books, you are telling me that modern military couldn’t handle titans, but were able to build the walls? I mean, sure, fine, but this reveal is very unsatisfying and not holding a candle to the reveal of the manga, most importantly making it a problem that is out of the characters ability to handle or solve. Shikishima leaves the room with Eren, revealing it to be build under the wall and thus confirming that the government and higher-ups in the military know about it all. Shikishima introduces Eren to the remaining members of the initial survey corps, who where thought to have died in their last mission and whose members stole the trucks with the explosives in the last movie. They also look like the image of what comes to your mind when you hear the word “Taliban”… what a way to introduce what are supposed to be literal fighters of freedom. Of course they are the good guys… Together, they make their way to Monzen.

After the other characters finally bond for the first time and the movie tries to establish a romance between Armin and Sasha, they dig out the bomb until they meet up with Shikishima, Eren and the other scouts. This is where Shikishima reveals his grand plan: Instead of plugging the hole, they want to create two more. While never actually shown to any extend beyond the two direct instances, the government seems to be quite bad for the normal populace, taking control over the stream of information, limiting child birth, and so on, which is actually very on-brand for AoT. Shikishima wants to overthrow the government… by swarming the inside of the walls with titans.

So, ignoring some minor problems, like everyone dying, why is this a thing? The survey corps overthrowing the government turned out to be a plot point in the manga, but not like this. It all comes down to the lackluster introduction of the different branches of the military, the general lack of shown influence by the government and a great oversight in taking such drastic measures. The movie builds upon the idea that fixing the hole and reaching the outside of the walls is what would solve the conflict introduced so far and now, 3/4 into the story, it introduces a new conflict that essentially overwrites the old one that will still lead to actions concerning the first. This movie essentially becomes a weird amalgamation of several ideas, with the new ones not being bad in themselves, but timed unfortunate, when the initial villain still has yet to make their proper appearance.

I will talk about this later, but the goal to take down the government and enact change is very much what I would want to be there, when I see a take on Attack on Titan, but it should come at a later stage, not inside of what is basically the beginning of the resolution for the inciting moment in the first movie and story arc. Sure, fix the hole and see what lies beyond the walls, but make it clear that not everything is resolved and tackle this point later on. Dealing with the government is clearly not going to be done, as it currently stands directly opposed to plugging the hole, so… don’t just yet and maybe think about another way to handle the coup than sacrificing every human being in the walls on the way. Well, Shikishima beats the ever-loving shit out of Eren and Sannagi, using brute strength and determination, brings down a nearby tower, destroying the explosives and killing the survey corps members and allows the gang to flee with the bomb.

Also, Shikishima is the armored titan (the transformation is sick af). Just gonna leave that here… which also kinda implies him being Eren’s brother… also, Mikasa apparently knew?.. This is what I meant by it not making a lot of sense talking about whether it is a good adaptation or whatever, when the movie takes a sudden nosedive into the “not being good”-territory. Everyone fights Titan Shikishima and Eren cuts him down in his titan form by using a helicopter blade. They then plant the bomb, until Kubal emerges from atop the wall, only missing a sarcastic slow clap to complete his bad guy entrance. You know how I knew Mikasa wasn’t really dead, because she wasn’t shown dying? Kubal was completely crushed under debris and the armored titan and while a later shot showed him with only his upper half covered, this guy was dead! The surviving soldiers later build a grave for their fallen comrades so I assumed they would have retrieved his corpse, but no… they just left him there and now he is back with a vengeance and some ideological monologue to back it all up.

It’s actually quite nice to see both “villains” stand in direct contrast with each other. Shikishima wants to get rid of the walls and considers peace an enemy to humanity, freeing them in the process from a corrupt government, while Kubal advocates for the people’s need of the walls and the current power structure, because not even a common enemy like the titans could unite humanity. Too bad that both of those ideologies can’t be really supported by neither the viewer or the other characters, as the simple solution is to just get rid of the questionable government AND the titans and the walls altogether. This is eventually how the first part of the manga ended and it tied everything up in a nice little bow with further conflict to come. The movie also displays the lack of agency of the the main characters, as it now boils down to not let the crazy people do their plan… great.

So, Sasha just fills Kubal with arrows and surprise surprise, he is the colossal titan. I think both the reveal of the armored and colossal titan are fine. The movie doesn’t lean that much into the mystery surrounding the titans, so having two seemingly random people be the titans are fine with me… it just plays out very different to the manga, which is kinda a shame, but the characters of Reiner and Berthold aren’t even in this movie, so who cares. The final fight begins, the detonator didn’t work and Eren can’t slash the nape of the colossal titan, so Shukishima pulls a “The enemy of my enemy is still an enemy” and lodges the bomb into the colossal titan, killing both and filling the hole with debris from the wall. One important detail is that Jean dies in a pretty unremarkable death. Sannagi at least died while sacrificing himself and helping the others flee, but Jean was simply squashed like a fly, without adding anything… Why do you do my boy so dirty? He still has an entire character arc in front oh him!

Well, the day is saved, the hole is closed and the big bad government guy, as well as the genocidal guy died, ending two conflicts with one stone. Eren and Mikasa climb up the wall and we finally see what lies beyond. Roll Credits!

Again, the idea of the ocean as this symbol of finally reaching freedom falls relatively flat, compared to the manga. Also, having an eagle be the bird to relate Eren to instead of the wild geese kinda loses its meaning. Wasn’t the point that even prey can achieve more freedom than him? Anyway, I think that this moment of finally seeing the outside world doesn’t seem to mean that much to Eren. He didn’t have to sacrifice that much and he was more contempt with being inside the walls than manga Eren. It also leaves the ending with a lot a baggage to be discussed. The government still wants to keep the outside world a secret, there are still titans roaming in and outside the walls and what about the true nature of this world? We know what happened, but what is the plan going forward? The movie clearly leaves a lot of room to be covered by a potential sequel, especially with the ominous post-credit scene that shows Eren and Mikasa being observed by someone and calling the events “interesting” and that “two subjects escaped the test zone”. Seriously, this is Maze Runners all over again! Let’s see how the Hollywood production will fare… yep, this one is in the works.

Superficially, the appeal of Attack on Titan are the titans, but here is the thing: Attack on Titan is not about the titans! Which begs the question, if one wants to make an Attack on Titan movie, what should it be about? What is it that makes Attack on Titan… well… Attack on Titan and I think this movie is a good showcase in how to severely undermine what makes certain moments in the manga work, how to simply copy them into another story doesn’t and can even deflect from itself. In its core, AoT is a story about human conflict and taking away all the titans wouldn’t change one bit of it. However, take away the titans in this movie and what are you left with? A bit of social commentary, characters dying before completing their arc and a plot that is barely able to stand on its own. There is a decent movie in here… just not an Attack on Titan one.

It is this critical misunderstanding of what makes the original source material itself. This is something I have not only seen in these two Attack on Titan movies, but other Live Action movies like Ghost in the Shell and I Am A Hero, which seem to lack the grasp of what made the original good and so beloved in the first place. On the other hand, there are movies like Netflix’s Death Note that, while not being a great movie, at least gets parts of what made Death Note and is able to successfully incorporate it into its own movie.

Coming back to Attack on Titan, I seriously doubt that portraying any part of AoT’s story in only the span of a single, or in this case two, movies is possible. Attack on Titan is simply to interconnected and big as to just cherry pick individual moments, though I am still open to see people try. As its several spin-offs have shown, the world of AoT can still be expanded upon and maybe I would have been fine if they tried to forego adapting parts of the original manga and instead created a new experience that still feels like the Attack on Titan we know.

Attack on Titan - Film 1 is available on Amazon via Amazon Prime.

How Mage & Demon Queen nails its disasterXdisaster couple

Fri, 13 May 2022 15:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, a friend of mine recommended me Mage & Demon Queen and since I wanted to get into ~~Manhwa~~ Webcomics anyway at some point in time, I was happy to oblige. After doing the perfectly normal thing of adding every single girls love story I could find on Webtoons to my list, I eventually began reading Mage & Demon Queen, finishing season one in just two days and basically fell in love with it immediately, mostly due to the dynamic of its main pairing: An utter disaster of a human being and an even bigger disaster to complement the other (Which one is which depends on the readers interpretation).

Now, there are many series featuring a similar dynamic in their main couples: From more light-hearted examples like Luz and Amity in The Owl House, to the more relatable kind in Adachi and Shimamura, the more thematic rundown in Bloom into You and even straight up comedy series like I want to make you cry and some of the short stories in the Éclair anthologies (Do not question why it is all GL). What does Mage & Demon Queen do differently to make it stand out in my experience? Not a lot, actually, it is just really cute and I can’t get enough of it.

The story follows Malori, top student of the Adventurer’s Academy and being down very bad for the local demon lord Velverosa… and I mean real bad, like “Continuing to climb the tower, despite being killed by her over a dozen times already” down bad. Impeccable character writing from page one, I tell you. I deeply appreciate characters being just so sincere in their motivation and actions, that their brains immediately turns to mush, once they lay eyes on the person they love. Speaking of which, Velverosa initial reaction to Malori’s “approaches” was a bit more on the confused side, followed by her killing Malori instantly. You know, your typical Tsundere behavior.

This premise might actually be the perfect breeding ground for two characters slowly coming to learn about each other and getting closer, with both being on the complete opposite end of the scale from each other. Malori has to come to understand Velverosa better, or her future approaches will only keep ending in her death, while Velverosa (I will continue using the abbreviation “Vel”, as I keep messing the name up) has to slowly understand not just Malori, but herself too. As much as their confrontations are comedic, they also serve as a character study for the both of them and it is through them this series shines.

We later learn that most of the demon lord’s generals are also already acting like the ship is way underway, having made friends with Malori, letting her pass up the tower without fighting and especially with Melathia writing fanfiction about the two of them. Mage & Demon Queen makes it abundantly clear, that this ship will sail and it is pretty much a forgone conclusion that Malori and Vel will end up together in one way or another not even that far into it. The actual meat of the story, however, are the ways their interactions play out and build on whatever happened prior, so let' talk about that.

To be fair, literally any conflict could be solved by talking to each other for, like, not even a minute. If you are easily frustrated by misunderstandings, this series will be nothing for you. If you are, however, easily getting high on very cathartic resolutions of said misunderstandings, then this will be great. Especially with Vel, it builds on the feeling of getting used to something, only for this wrong sense of normalcy to be disrupted and eventually doing something to fix this hole in onces chest. It does this so effectively, that basically both season finales end with Vel actively approaching Malori and not the other way around. It is this “getting used to each other” that forms the backbone and eventual progression of their relationship.

Malori has to learn what it actually entails being with the demon queen, while Vel struggles with figuring out what her feelings even are. In this sense, both are severely under-experienced and are running this whole relationship in the form of learning by doing, causing a plethora of adorable moments of innocence between the two, like how Vel took care of an incapacitated Malori or how Malori even tries to keep a distance to Vel for her safety. Then there are the less “innocent”, but equally adorable moments, like a small glimpse into Vel’s previous relationships and how she is just basically winning at sex (Don’t ask me how, it just makes sense), but also still in the firm believe of her chastity, or how Malori’s… questionable?… upbringing caused her to not question and accept certain things that might otherwise hinder this relationship.

The visual portrayal of both of them is also just really cute. Want blushes? Get them while they are hot! Best blushes on this side of The Gay™! Even when Vel was still more Tsun than Dere and just straight up kneed Malori in her stomach, I still got the feeling that there was some love mixed into the kick. Also, my reaction to this moment was just an audible “same” (Which one is me in this kind of situation is up to the readers interpretation). I am kinda sad that beyond season one, the series stopped portraying Malori with bunny characteristics, as I think the visual dynamic of both a bunny and a dragon nicely accented their relationship. There was also this one panel with Malori as a bunny in Vel’s mouth, while in dragon form and again, all I could say was “same” (In what way this is to be understood is for the readers to decide).

Another thing that speaks to the quality of the ship is its progression. Both Malori and Vel progress significantly in their relationship with each other and the way it is incorporated into the “actual” story is quite nice. It helps to keep the pace steady and gives a sense of satisfaction looking back at the beginning of the series. I mean, Vel basically went from killing Malori without a third thought to murdering everyone that dares to harm her, while Malori realizes that Vel too needs to be protected from her own problems. They really compliment each other… also, wives!

If there is one thing I am still unsure about, it is the introduction of the “Demon Charmer” subplot. You know how some series try to justify or explain weird things or character actions by giving it an in-universe reasoning, instead of just… letting it be? Turns out Malori is a Demo Charmer with the ability to control the emotions of demons, causing some understandable doubts in Vel. Now, Mage & Demon Queen made it clear on several occasions that Velverosa should be immune to the effects of those charms and both arguably already went through the arc of working things out concerning Malori’s powers, but it still leaves a bitter aftertaste. Let’s just hope that this subplot stays connected to Malori’s past for now and doesn’t come back to create some weird drama that causes a rift between the both of them again.

But beyond that little aspect, I fully endorse this series and it makes a fine addition to the “Gender™” genre. Also, I didn’t even get to talk about Cerik being very horny for snek mommy, Leora pulling one 300 IQ mental gymnastic stunt after the other, or even what the actual story is about. I even like the approach to fantasy, as generic as it may seem, as it has some neat little ideas in its world-building. So yeah, you should read it and join my suffering in waiting for the second half of season three to start… any day now…

Mage & Demon Queen is available on Webtoon.

Combatants Will Be Dispatched is a worse KonoSuba (and that is fine)

Sun, 08 May 2022 23:20:00 +0200

Ach ja, before even creating KonoSuba, Natsume Akatsuki apparently wrote the manuscript for Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, but kept it hidden, until one day Tappei Nagatsuki, author of Re:Zero, told Kadokawa about it, which is… honestly, pretty hilarious.

ちんちんで思い出しましたが、戦闘員ってこのすばより前に書いて封印したのを、長月先生（リゼロの作者）が「こいつ原稿隠し持ってますよ」とスニーカーの人に教えた事から書籍化したんですよね。つまり、声優さん達にちんちんちんちん言わせてるのは長月達平という理屈が成立するのではなかろうか
— 暁なつめ【Official News】 (@akatsukioffici3) March 31, 2021

It, however, also explains where a lot of my problems with the series stem from. I rarely want to let external information cloud my judgement of a piece of media, as I think that everything should be given the opportunity to stand on its own merits. With Combatants, however, those externals are simply to obvious for me as to simply ignore them. In short: It is hard for me to look at Combatants Will Be Dispatched as anything else but a less funny KonoSuba prototype.

To be fair, I arguably didn’t give both series the same chance to impress me. I watched Combatants dubbed in german (the dub is utterly unhinged and I love it), while exercising at the same time. On the other hand, both those circumstances probably made the viewing experience better, as I was never bored or had the urge to drop it entirely. Beyond that, I also simply consider Combatants weaker in anything that KonoSuba so brilliantly excels at.

KonoSuba is a surprisingly profound story of comradery and the mundanity of life, window-dresses as a spoof of fantasy and Isekai tropes. Combatants Will Be Dispatched is a loud attempt of trying to be funny, while not ticking most of the the boxes for anyone over the mental age of 16. Combatants lives and dies by its comedy and it pains me to see how it isn’t even bad per se, but rather completely unappealing to me.

Juvenile is probably the best word to describe Combatants’s comedy. There is an over-reliance on sexual humor and encounters, foul language and characters reacting in extreme manners. There is no tact to it, which is funny, considering to what I will continue to compare it to. KonoSuba may be accused of the exact same things as I just did to Combatants, but do I thing there is a very important distinction to be made. In my opinion KonoSuba’s comedy is way more driven through its characters and their interactions and as such is able to pull its punches from a larger variety of angles and even themes.

Let’s make one thing clear, the characters are somewhat identical to each other: Nr. 6 is Kazuma, Snow is Aqua, Rose is Megumin and Grimm is Darkness. The only character not having an almost direct parallel to KonoSuba’s cast is Alice. However, while the characters basically all encompass the same tropes and surface-level personalities, their dynamics couldn’t be more different. A good chunk of KonoSuba’s story is basically just the four main characters getting into stupid situations through their dysfunctional team dynamic, yet they almost always solve said situation through the same dysfunctional team dynamic. It creates a lot of moments, where the characters are allowed to bounce off each other in a magnitude of ways, each one revealing a different facet of their characters. While Combatants has those moments too, they are far and few between and it hurts its cast in general, as most of them fall pretty flat most of the time.

It also helps that KonoSuba has a smaller, but more directly involved cast of four. Combatants’s main cast consists five characters, though Grimm tends to be asleep or be out of commission most of the time, Alice feels strangely absent and Rose ist mostly just there. The only characters with actual screen presence are Nr. 6 and Snow. Additionally, there a couple of often reoccurring characters like Heine and later Russel on the antagonists side, as well as Astaroth, Belial and Lilith mostly sitting in the background or presenting the next episode preview. KonoSuba feels more focused and streamlined in this regard, adding its supporting cast with better timing and variety, resulting in a more rounded experience, where the moment by moment situations can be adjusted through the characters interactions and not the plot per se.

Surprisingly, despite their many similarities, the plot of both series are structured very differently. Combatants follows the generic Isekai storyline of eventually defeating the demon lord, even if the starting position originally had nothing to do with it. It is this reason why I don’t really have a big problem with the extended cast, as it is more befitting to have one in a narrative of potentially larger scale. It is just that KonoSuba’s approach of having a way more loose story, if any at all, seems to be a better fit for situational comedy and group dynamics, which both series seem to be going for.

On a completely different topic, the production of Combatants looks… okay? By all means, this is a passably good-looking anime, though compared to KonoSuba, this is nothing to write home about. I would argue that the design sensibility of KonoSuba’s main cast greatly improved upon Combatants, but where Combatants fails for me the most is in its world- and prop-design. KonoSuba may exactly look like a your generic fantasy setting, but is everything drawn with a depth and details that really make it feel lived in. The starting town is cozy and warm, lush greenery surrounds most settings and the scenery can be straight-up breathtaking at times. Compare this to the literal dessert Combatants is mostly set in and most of the props that might as well come from another series and KonoSuba simply looks more inviting to watch. This isn’t even talking about the actual animation, in which KonoSuba easily wins over Combatants static and more standard designs.

While watching, I also had this weird feeling that a lot of the timing and even storyboards are greatly inspired by the KonSuba anime… I mean, obviously this would be case in some regards, but it felt weirdly off. Especially with the ending theme I have the feelings that it is supposed to recreate the same vibe as KonoSuba’s ED. Also, why are the female characters drawn pretty? KonoSuba’s less on-model designs had so much charm and I had a similar whiplash as to the mobile game opening. Anyway, I think KonoSuba greatly gains something from being adapted into animation, while I can imagine having more fun with Combatants as a novel. The openings absolutely slaps, though, I will give it that.

Watching Combatants Will Be Dispatched was just a really weird experience. While not even bad in itself, I can’t stop but think back to another series that so absolutely does everything better than itself and it is a bummer, that this will be my final verdict. I mean, I guess I could see how Combatants may appeal to someone that might not get into KonoSuba at all (Yes, those people exist and my brother is one of them), but this is as far I am willing to reach.

As it stands, Aqua is simply a hotter Snow… get it? Because of thermodynamics of dihydrogen monoxide! Considering how much KonoSuba completely swept me away on my first watch, while I have already forgotten most of Combatants, this seems about right. This post is really all over the place, but I hope I could make it clear, why I prefer KonoSuba without delving into the specifics of every detail, as this will most likely be a post in itself for another time.

Combatants Will Be Dispatched! is available on Crunchyroll.

Auf der Suche nach One Piece: Summit War Saga

Thu, 05 May 2022 11:30:00 +0200

Ach ja, wie bereits am Ende vom Thriller Bark Post gesagt, könnte man meinen, dass es für mich ab hier erst richtig mit One Piece los geht. Teile von Sabaody Archipelago kannte ich bereits, aber der Rest war mir bis vor kurzem noch komplett neu. Generell lässt sich aber über diese Saga sagen, dass sie ähnlich wie Water 7 einen größeren Geschichtsbogen aufschlägt, welcher über die einzelnen Arcs hinausgeht und dessen kleinere Geschichten benutzt um darauf aufzubauen. Auf geht’s!

Sabaody Archipelago

Das Framing von Sabaody Archipelago ist sehr interessant, weil es indirekt die Richtung der gesamten Serie verändert. Ursprünglich als letzter Zwischenstop vor der Fischmenscheninsel gedacht, werden die Strohhut-Piraten in die Befreiung von Camie (Die Meerjungfrau aus einer der ersten Cover Stories) involviert, bevor sich die Geschichte in eine völlig andere Richtung dreht. Dazu aber erst später.

Der Arc selbst beginnt recht gewöhnlich für One Piece: Neue Insel mit neuen Problemen, allerdings bekommt man noch viel mehr neue Informationen, als man sonst für den Arc angenommen benötigt. Neben Luffy und Zorro befinden sich noch sieben weitere Piraten mit einen Kopfgeld über 100 Millionen Berry, eins davon sogar größer als Luffys, welche über Sabaody in die zweite Hälfte der Grand Line gelangen wollen. Der tatsächliche Inhalt befindet sich aber in der offiziellen Einführung der Weltaristokraten. One Piece hat bereits in früheren Kapiteln angedeutet, dass die Unterdrückung gegen Fischmenschen immer noch anhält, als auch dass das gesamte politische System irgendwie korrupt ist und Personen in Machtpositionen besondere Privilegien genießen. Die Weltaristokraten, als Nachfolgen der, welcher die Weltregierung gegründet haben, werden quasi als Gottheiten angesehen und nicht einmal die stärksten Piraten trauen sich gegen jene vorzugehen, weil sie die volle Unterstützung der Marine haben.

Egal wie sehr man mit einen Mangel an Subtilität herangeht, ist es immer noch erstaunlich welche Wirkung sie erzielen. Selbstverständlich ist es befriedigend zu sehen, wie Luffy mit Anlauf einen der Aristokraten das Gesicht einschlägt, nachdem er Camie als Sklavin kaufen wollte und Hatchan mit einer Überheblichkeit beleidigte, welche selbst den einen oder anderen Twitter-Nutzer blass aussehen lässt, aber dass es gleichzeitig mit einem gewaltigen Risiko einhergeht, gibt es den ganzen wieder ein erstaunlich weltliches Gewicht. Der darauf folgende Kampf und Sieg(?) gegen die Marine wirkte dadurch wieder sehr verdient… allerdings mochte ich ihn überwiegend aufgrund der Fähigkeiten von Eustass Kid und Trafalgar Law. Es ist erstaunlich, wie gut das Power-scaling in der Serie funktioniert, selbst wenn man bedenkt, auf welcher Scale sich bereits alles befindet.

Neben der Aktion mit den Weltaristokraten trafen die Strohhut-Piraten im Auktionshaus auf Rayleigh, den ehemaligen Vize-Kapitän von Gold Roger. Dieser verspricht den Piraten das Coating für die Thousand Sunny aufzutragen, damit sie die Fahrt zur Fischmenschen-Insel angehen können. Eine Szene, welche mir besonders gefallen hat, war dass Luffy Rayleigh darum bittet nicht zu erwähnen, ob das One Piece überhaupt existiert. Auch wenn eine spätere Szene diese Frage beantwortet, finde ich es einen schönen Gedanken, dass das One Piece eher eine sekundäre Rolle in seiner Reise, der König der Piraten zu werden, spielt. Es verdeutlicht noch einmal den eigentlichen Gedanken, was die Reise durch die Grand Line für die einzelnen Charaktere repräsentiert.

Bevor es damit aber weitergehen kann, werden die Strohhüte erneut von der Marine angegriffen, dieses mal ab mit einen Admiral der Marine und (einen scheinbar leicht veränderten) Bartholomäus Bär im Schlepptau und oh boy war dieser Kampf etwas. Thriller Bark hat bereits gezeigt, dass es Gegner gibt, welche die Strohhut-Piraten schlichtweg noch nicht besiegen können und die Konsequenzen dieses Falles trifft vor allem Luffy mit voller Härte. Es fällt leicht Luffy als einen nicht besonders tiefsinnigen Charakter zu sehen – er ist der Shounen Protagonist Archetyp schlechthin – aber zeigen besonders die Momente der Verzweiflung, wie sehr er sich um seine Freunde kümmert und dass er ohne diese bereits viel früher gescheitert wäre. Der Kampf wird aussichtslos verloren und Bär lässt jeden einzelnen der Strohhut-Piraten “verschwinden”.

Amazon Lily

Ich muss ehrlich sein: Für nicht einmal nur eine Sekunde habe ich gedacht, dass Luffy und Co. tatsächlich besiegt wären. Nicht nur, weil ich weiß, dass es weiter geht, sondern auch weil man nicht einfach seinen gesamten Cast auf einen Schlag auslöscht… dies macht man langsam über Zeit ^^. Auf jeden Fall, der Reveal von Bärs Teufelskraft ist definitiv gelungen: Er besitzt die Fähigkeit Leute an einen anderen Ort zu transportieren (Nachdem sie für zwei Tage durch den Himmel fliegen), welches ebenfalls erklärt, warum er immer gefragt hat, wohin man gerne reisen würde. Folglich verstreuen sich die Strohhut-Piraten über die ganze Welt an einen jeweils thematisch passenden Ort und mit Ausnahme von Luffy werden wir keinen der Crew außerhalb der Cover Stories mehr sehen. Während mich der Fake-out Tod nicht überrascht hat, war ich sehr erstaunt zu sehen, dass Oda einfach einen Großteil der beliebtesten Charaktere für fast eineinhalb Jahre nicht nur in der Hintergrund stellt, sondern sie komplett aus der Geschichte nimmt. Gotta respect that gamble.

Auf jeden Fall, Luffy landet auf Amazon Lily, einer Insel, welche nur von Frauen bewohnt wird. Comedy ensues, auch wenn es nicht ganz meinen Geschmack getroffen hat. Viel wichtiger ist das Enthüllen des letzten Samurai des Meeres - Boa Hancock. Ich finde es ein wenig merkwürdig, wie versucht wird sie als besonders hübsch darzustellen und auch dass die Community sie als eine der schönsten Charaktere in One Piece ansieht, ist bedenklich. Versteht mich nicht falsch, One Piece hat Unmengen an attraktiven Designs, besonders bei den weiblichen Charakteren, aber finde ich Odas Darstellung im Manga nie besonders ansprechend. Überlasst diesen Aspekt viel lieber den Fanartists :D.

Hingegen ist ihr teilweise wortwörtliches Auftreten viel interessanter. Pure Power sage ich euch. Nicht nur schaut sie so sehr auf andere Leute herab, dass sie wieder nach oben schaut, sondern hat sie auch die Gewohnheit, dass sich ihr süße Tiere ihr in den Weg legen á la “Oh nein, wer hat diese Baby-Katze und -Robbe in meinen Weg gestellt”, nur um diese kurz darauf gen den Horizont zu jöten. Queen.

Gleichzeitig habe ich das Gefühl, dass die Geschichte selbst sie nur im begrenzten Maße wertschätzt. Dies ist etwas, welches ich von den meisten weiblichen Charakteren in One Piece denke und dieses Problem ist besonders in diesen Arc deutlich, wo es außer Luffy nur weibliche Charaktere gibt. Der ganze Arc gab mir ein wenig das Gefühl von dieser Art Feminismus, welche eher wie Schadensbegrenzung wirkt, wenn man diesen genauer hinterfragen würde aber auch nicht aktiv misogyn ist, um ihn für irgendetwas konkret zu kritisieren. Sehr merkwürdiger Vibe.

Wie dem auch sei, es kommt zu einen Kampf zwischen Boa Hancock und ihren Schwestern und Luffy, dieser beweist sein Herz aus Gold und Boa verknallt sich daraufhin hilflos in Luffy. Es stellt sich heraus, dass Boa früher in Sklaverei der Weltaristokraten gelebt hat und nun ihren Status als einer der Sieben Samurai der Meere ausnutzt, um Amazon Lily zu beschützen.

Der Arc selbst gibt, außer einer weiteren Erwähnung von Haki, nicht viel inhaltlich her und dient eher als Zwischenschritt für den nächsten Arc: Luffy erfährt, dass sein Bruder Ace in wenigen Tagen hingerichtet werden soll und begibt sich mit der Hilfe von Boa zum Unterwassergefängnis Impel Down. Aces Gefangenschaft ist übrigens das Resultat des Kampfes zwischen Ace und Blackbeard am Ende der Water 7 Saga, welches wieder einmal ein Testament dafür ist, wie konsistent großartig die Geschichte von One Piece strukturiert ist.

Impel Down

Der Aufbau von Impel Down soll anscheinend Parallelen zu Dantes Inferno haben, welches… definitiv Trivia ist, mit welcher ich nichts anfangen kann :D.

Impel Down ist jedenfalls einer der spaßigsten Abschnitte seit langen, welche sich überwiegend auf Action beziehen, selbst wenn es sehr dicht an Inhalt ist. Luffy trifft in Richtung Ace auf alte Bekannte wie Buggy und Mr. 3 und selbst unsere favorite non-binary hoe Bon Clay darf erneut im Rampenlicht stehen. Außerhalb den Konversationen zwischen Ace und Jimbei, welchen wir endlich 500 oder so Kapitel nach seiner Namensnennung sehen, gibt es nicht viel oberflächliches zu sagen. Es wird eine Menge gekämpft, viele lustige Sachen passieren, der Running Gag, dass Luffy denkt Buggy und Mr. 3 wollen ihm helfen, obwohl sie nur ungewollt weiter ins Gefängnis fallen, wird nicht alt und Bon Clay bekommt Moment nach Moment, welche zeigen was für ein Freund Bon zu Luffy sein kann. Absolute Legende.

Wirklich interessant wird es erst mit den Auftauchen von Ivankov. Nicht nur heilt er Luffy von seiner Vergiftung, welcher er im Kampf gegen den Aufseher ertragen musste, sondern stellt sich dieser auch als Revolutionär und Freund von Luffys Vater heraus, welcher in seiner eigenen Art am aufkommenden Konflikt rund um Aces Hinrichtung involviert ist. Außerdem ist das erste, was man von Ivankov sieht, dass er einen Mann gegen seinen Willen in eine Frau verwandelt… welches ich einfach mal so im Raum stehen lasse… Nein, tue ich nicht.

Ich bin mir wirklich unschlüssig über die Repräsentation von queer People in One Piece. Einerseits werden sie nicht direkt als schlecht angesehen und in Rahmen des Impel Down und Marineford Arcs helfen sie Luffy, andererseits greift dessen visuelle Darstellung eine Menge Stereotypen auf und die Bezeichnung als “Okama”, wenn auch nicht das schlimmste, welches mir einfallen würde, wirkt irgendwie abwertend, wobei dies aber auch einfach nur mein Bias für aktiv positive Repräsentation sein kann und ich “The Rocky Horror Show” nicht kenne. Bon Clay, Ivankov und Inazuma sind alle in ihren eigenen Sinne geniale Charaktere, aber, ähnlich wie bei Amazon Lily, kommen dort ganz merkwürdige Vibes auf.

Wie dem auch sei, zusammen mit den Einwohnern des Kamabakka Kingdoms brechen sie bis zur tiefsten Ebene Impel Downs vor, nur um zu erfahren, dass Ace zwischenzeitlich bereits zu Marineford gebracht wurde. Jimbei schließt sich auf Bitte Aces der Gruppe an, Crocodile wird zweckmäßig befreit und der Prison Break kann beginnen.

Der Ausbruch selbst ist wieder eine lange Aneinanderreihung spaßiger Action. Es fällt mir wirklich schwer auf diese einzugehen, weil sie aus vielen kleine Details besteht, welche ich inzwischen wieder vergessen habe, weil ich diesen Artikel schon viel zu lange vor mir her schiebe. Blackbeard taucht auf, schmeißt seinen neu errungen Titel als einer der Sieben Samurai der Meere gleich wieder weg, um die restlichen Gefangenen in den untersten Ebenen zu befreien, Buggy sammelt durch eine lustige Ansammlung an Missverständnissen langsam seine eigene Gefolgschaft an und Clay zeigt in einer letzten Tat der Aufopferung, warum Bon schlichtweg einer der basiertesten Charaktere in One Piece ist. Wenn es etwas gibt, welches ich am Arc weniger mochte, waren es die Antagonisten, bzw. einfach die verschiedenen Gefängniswärter. Allein gesehen ist nichts mit ihnen falsch, aber brauchte dieser Arc nicht wirklich noch weiteren Konflikt in Form weiterer Gegner.

Zusammen mit den ehemaligen Gefangenen übernehmen Luffy und Co. ein Schlachtschiff der Marine und steuern Richtung Marineford, um Ace zu retten.

Marineford

This is the big one. So sehr One Piece die Geschichte der Strohhut-Piraten abbildet, kann es auch so viel mehr sein. Meistens, besonders zwischen größeren Arcs, sehen wir auch, wie der Rest der Welt von One Piece aussieht und was andere Charaktere treiben. Während Luffy und seine Crew ihre Abenteuer haben, läuft im Hintergrund ein Politik-Thriller der Extralative ab, in welchen man als Leser mit Marineford seinen ersten richtigen Einblick bekommt und erfährt, warum die geplante Hinrichtung von Ace nicht nur Luffy betrifft.

Ich bin nicht wirklich gut darin die Einzelheiten dieses gigantischen Kampfes darzustellen, also belassen wir es für das Erste bei der Aussage, dass dieser unglaublich cool und gut war. Ab Impel Down gab es einen Anstieg an Double-page Spreads, welcher mit diesem Arc einen neuen Höhepunkt erreicht hat und die Größe dieses Konfliktes sehr passend einfängt… auch wenn sie für mich ein wenig nervig waren, da ich den Manga auf dem Handy lese.

Stattdessen will ich meine Augen auf die verschiedensten Beziehung richten, welche sich in diesen Kampf herauskristallisierten. Whitebeard ist in dieser Hinsicht besonders, da er nicht nur die teilweise wortwörtliche Vaterfigur für seine gesamte Piratencrew ist, sondern auch von anderen Piraten mit einen Grad respektiert wird, dass sie einen offenen Krieg gegen die Marine über einen einzelnen Menschen riskieren. Ähnlich den Strohhut-Piraten, merkt man der Whitebeard Crew an, dass sie eine große Familie sind, welche einander akzeptiert und beschützt.

Ebenfalls wird genauer auf Ace, beziehungsweise dessen Vergangenheit eingegangen. Auch wenn er bisher immer als Luffys Bruder beschrieben wurde, verbindet sie keine Blutverwandschaft und man erfährt, dass Ace in Wirklichkeit das Kind von Gold Roger ist, welcher durch den Schutz von Luffys Großvater, Garp, nicht bereits als Kind getötet wurde. Diese Infos gibt der Hinrichtung von Ace noch ein wenig mehr Einsicht in die Intentionen der Marine und Weltregierung, da Gold Roger ebenfalls eher aus symbolischer Sicht hingerichtet wurde. Ace musste seit seiner Kindheit damit kämpfen, dass seine reine Existenz von den meisten Leuten nicht geduldet wird, weshalb er nie wirklich die Bindungen, welche er in seinen Leben aufgebaut hat, akzeptieren konnte. Bereits in Impel Down hat er darauf gehofft, dass Luffy aufgeben würde ihn zu erreichen, einfach damit sich Luffy nicht wegen ihm in Gefahr bringt. Gleiches gilt für die Crew von Whitebeard und warum er sich ohne große Gegenwehr auf den Schafott befindet. Er hat seinen Tod akzeptiert und will nicht, dass wegen ihm seine Freunde verletzt werden. Der Arc endet damit, dass er endlich die Liebe seiner Mitstreiter und besonders die von Luffy akzeptieren kann.

Außerdem:

Spoiler... macht das überhaupt bei diesen Posts Sinn?

Ace stirbt!? Like, damn. Tragisches Ende, muss ich sagen. Ich finde es tatsächlich eine wenig schade, da so ziemlich sämtliche Entwicklung, ähnlich wie die Piraten-Marine-Weltregierung-Politik, nur in diesen Arc stattfand und ich mir gewünscht hätte, dass man dies über einen längeren Zeitraum hätte mitverfolgen können.

Neben Ace gab es noch andere Charaktere, welche sich behaupten konnten: Garp widersetzt sich den Befehl der Marine und versucht Ace zu beschützen, während Koby die “Gerichtigkeit” der Admiräle hinterfragt. Allgemein zeigen sich verschiedene Ansichten von Gerechtigkeit, sowohl zwischen den einzelnen Admirälen, als auch die von Sengoku, dessen Teufelskraft ebenfalls das erste Mal enthüllt wurde. Ich hoffe wirklich, dass in Zukunft weiter auf die ideologischen Konflikte in der Marine eingegangen wird, besonders weil mich die Betrachtung rund um das Thema Gerechtigkeit als fellow Seigi no Mikata sehr interessiert.

Ok, was gab es noch? Es wird ein wenig mehr auf Bärs Vergangenheit eingegangen und das dieser scheinbar einmal Teil der Revolution war, mehrere Pacifista (Bärs Klone?) greifen die Whitebeard Crew an, Blackbeards Plan die gefährlichsten Insassen aus Impel Down zu befreien und auf die neue Welt losgehen zu lassen wurde enthüllt und vielleicht am wichtigsten, Whitebeard beantwortet eine Frage, welche, zugegebener Weise, für die eigentliche Geschichte komplett irrelevant ist: Das One Piece existiert und ähnlich wie einst Gold Roger startet auch Whitebeard eine neue Piraten-Era.

All der Kram wurde übrigens live in die komplette Welt ausgestrahlt, weil ein paar von Buggys neuen Anhängern die Teleschnecke an sich gerissen haben, weshalb die Marine und Weltregierung in einer ganz brenzligen Lage stecken.

Post-War

“Dies ist das Ende von Whitebeard. Eine neue Era beginnt.”

Mir fällt es in Geschichten öfters schwer Macht-Vakuums ernstzunehmen. Nicht weil sie intern keinen Sinn machen, sondern weil dessen Umstände desto öfteren nicht weit genug dargestellt wurden. In One Piece kann ich es aber absolut nachvollziehen. Der Marineford Arc gab einen tiefgründigen Einblick in die globale Situation der Piraten und warum der Fall von Whitebeard so eine großes Problem darstellen kann. Eine der interessanteren Aspekte davon war, dass viele Inseln unter Whitebeards Kontrolle dessen Schutz genossen, welcher nun fehlt. Die Idee, was ein Pirat ist, wird immer in einzelnen kleinen Schritten weiter betrachtet und so langsam kommt auch die Idee auf, dass einige Piraten einen besseren Job erledigen, als die eigentliche Regierung, es aber auch solche gibt, welche ihren Namen als Räuber der Meere alle Achtung schenken wollen. Ich will mich nicht wiederholen, aber ich bin so down für Pirate Politics.

Der Großteil des Arcs besteht aber aus einer Rückblende zur Kindheit von Luffy, Ace… und Sabo. Ich bin kein großer Fan von Geschichten, welche scheinbar relevante Charaktere einfach so einführen, obwohl deren Bedeutung bereits viel früher auch nur angedeutet hätte sein soll. Ich kann das Verschweigen von Luffys Vater und Großvater für einen guten Teil der Geschichte akzeptieren, weil sie bis dahin nicht von Bedeutung waren, aber das man von Ace erst in Alabasta hört, obwohl dieser einer der Gründe war, warum Luffy überhaupt auf Reisen ging, finde ich immer ein wenig merkwürdig. Dieses gleiche Problem entsteht erneut mit der Einführung von Sabo. Zugegeben, kann man solche Situationen einfach auf die Tatsache schieben, dass One Piece nicht immer in einen Maß des Wahnsinns vorausgeplant ist? Klar, aber der Autor ist tot und so und die Geschichte muss alleine stehen. I hate it.

Die Rückblende beschreibt einen kleinen Mini-Arc, welcher die Grundsteine für Ace und Sabo, ähnlich wie das erste Kapitel es für Luffy tat, festlegt. Alle drei sind aufgrund ihrer Umstände de facto soziale Außenseiter, wobei Sabo diesen Weg aus eigenen Willen geht. Als Sohn einer adligen Familie erkennt er die Ungerechtigkeit in der Welt und weigert sich Teil dieses Systems zu sein, weshalb er von seiner Familie flieht. Nach ein paar turbulenten Konfrontationen freunden sich die drei an und bilden ihre eigene Crew und schwören sich ein nach den anderen in See zu stechen, um ihre Träume zu erfüllen.

Nach den letzten Arcs und dem low-key Massenmord, welcher stattfand, hoffe ich wirklich, dass mit der Einführung von Sabo eine neue Perspektive in der Geschichte aufgegriffen wird, welche sich mehr mit der Marine und der Weltregierung beschäftigt. Pirate 👏 Politics 👏.

Der Arc endet damit, dass, nachdem Luffys Verletzungen geheilt sind, er erneut Marineford stürmt und symbolisch eine Glocke 16-mal läuten lässt – Der Aufruf zu einer neuen Era. Neben dieser Deklaration ist seine eigentliche Intention den verstreuten Mitgliedern eine geheime Nachricht zu übermitteln: 3D2Y. Ursprünglich wollte sich die Crew in drei Tagen an der Thousand Sunny treffen, um gemeinsam in die neue Welt zu segeln, allerdings musste Luffy über die letzten Arcs einsehen, dass weder er, noch die anderen, dafür bereit sind und will sich stattdessen zwei Jahre Zeit nehmen, um stärker zu werden. It’s Timeskip Time!

Verstreute Gedanken

Dies war mit Abstand die schwierigste Saga einen Post darüber zu schreiben. One Piece verdient inzwischen irgendwann eine richtige Analyse, besonders weil Summit War, ähnlich wie Water 7, reines Kino ist und so viel thematische Relevanz hat. Allerdings bin ich kaum in der Lage die Geschehnisse richtig zu beschreiben, also was weiß ich schon.

Ich glaube der Timeskip ist ein guter Punkt, um fürs Erste eine Pause von One Piece einzulegen. Es ist nicht so, als ob ich keine Lust habe weiterzulesen, allerdings will ich mich auch anderen Sachen widmen. In meinem Regal stehen mehrere Bände Manga, welche ich noch zu lesen habe, zwei davon, welche dessen Manga beenden und bin ich vor kurzem in die Welt der Webtoons reingefallen. Außerdem fühlten sich die letzten zwei One Piece Posts mehr wie Arbeit an, also tut eine Pause auch bestimmt gut. Bis zum nächsten mal mit dem Post-Timeskip.

Getting fit with Wii Fit: Month 3

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 20:50:00 +0200

Ach ja, it’s been three months since I started *in edgy mid-2000 narrator voice* getting fit (with Wii Fit). Yep, I kept at it and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. Since I talked about the basics and most other stuff in the first part, this post will most likely be relatively short and serve as more of an update than an individual post.

What changed?

On the technical side, I switched to an emulator. In hindsight, this is something I should have done from the very beginning. I do love Nintendo’s hardware, but it does come with its many own limitations. I am now able to use my PC while exercising, meaning I don’t have to play music over my terrible phone speakers anymore. I can even watch videos on the side, though depending on the video, it is more or less optimal… definitely makes it less boring, though. Additionally, the game looks surprisingly good up-scaled to Full HD. Sure, the low poly count and textures stay, but everything else looks sharp and clean now that the data isn’t transferred through an analog five-component AV cable and colors have some saturation to them. The fact that I can use the Wii Remote and Balanceboard just fine is the cherry on top. Emulators rule!

There were also a few changed on the more physical end. Most importantly, I started changing my eating habits. Except the times I met up with friends, I basically stopped eating sweets entirely and every time I want to take a snack, I opt out for apples or something similar instead. I still drink a glass of chocolate milk and coke in the morning and evening respectively, but beyond that, my diet should be quite healthy.

I also cut down on the amount of food I eat in general, which, in combination with my brothers absence, leads to the funny byproduct of having to cook not as frequently as we used to, as we sometimes now have food for two or more days. I mean, we could just simply cook less, but where is the fun in that? I also did notice however, that “eating less” only really works, when I can actually gauge the amount of food. I now exclusively use the deep plates, instead of bowls, effectively limiting how much food I eat per meal, but this obviously only works if you can adjust the amount. If there is just “one serving” and I can’t split it into two, I will eat it up, even if I would have liked to eat less. I will not throw away food and I am not one of those people that keep their leftovers in the fridge, until they randomly want to eat them.

Lastly, I started exercising outside of Wii Fit. It’s mostly the same as the “Free Step” with stepping on the Balanceboard, though I do it on my own pace, as even the fastest option in Wii Fit was too slow for me. I can easily do it while simultaneously watching YouTube, which led me to finally tackle the more longer videos in my “Watch later” list. I even (appropriately) watched “How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?” that way, though it was only possible, because it is an easy to follow slice-of-life anime and, most importantly, dubbed. Trust me, I will not be able to watch something with a more demanding plot that way, especially if it is only available with subtitles. Beyond the board, I even tried out the stepper collecting dust under our stairs. I liked it, as it was way more exhausting and intense as simply stepping on a board, though the soles of my feet hurt like hell after only 15 minutes, meaning I couldn’t do it for a long time and it also made some squeaking noise, distracting me from whatever I watched. I guess, I am actually too big for it, since I constantly pushed the pedals through and they it the ground. Too bad, as it felt like it would have been really effective in the long run.

Body Test

The numbers, Hansi!

Okay, okay. I know why we are all here. Without further ado, here are the results of the last two months:

Yeah… this might need some explaining. At the beginning, I actually expected my progress to slow down. The last week of month one already saw a decline in losing weight, which then kept going for a week or two… I then gained a bit of weight, only to lose it faster than ever before, until it suddenly just stopped. It didn’t slow down, just straight up stopped and I even gained some weight again… and I honestly don’t know why.

Seriously, why? I didn’t start eating more and I also didn’t skip on exercising even a day. The only reason I could come up with is muscle growth, though I strongly doubt that this is the case. Most likely, my self perception is as reliable as me in general and I did start eating more again… for if it is the case, I will need to get that back in control fast. I do not want to live through the yo-yo effect. The data analyst in me might complain about the low resolution and the still relatively small time frame, but the enthusiastic me from two months ago is ducking confused. So much that they can’t appreciate the progress they did achieve over the course of two months.

At the end of month one, I was at 115.7Kg and now I am at 108.8Kg and a BMI of 30.14. No matter how you look at it, this is good. I am almost “just” overweight again. Compared to the start of the year, I lost more than 10Kg. Imagine walking around with a 5Kg dumbbell in each hand all the time. Yet, I am not happy. I really hope the curve flattens and goes down again (consistently), no matter how slowly.

However, while the numbers do not support it as much is I’d like to, I did notice some small changes to my body. Since all the weight I lost should mostly be excess fat, some areas feel more pronounced. Weirdly enough, the area most affected seems to be my biceps. I can’t flex my muscles like a body-builder just yet, but I at least now slowly look like I can split small people in half… like a twig.

Bro, what?!

It would have been a good Idea to take a photo regularly and plot it every so often like those “I took a photo everyday for X years”-videos. It is hard to gauge the process you’ve made, when it is just such a small amount per day. I have seen the progress one guy (He wore an Inosuke mask, absolute legend) made over a year or so and it is really cool to see that portrayed in an easy to understand and comprehensive way.

Unfortunately, every coin has two sides. While losing weight is great, it isn’t at a “natural” pace and some parts of my body can’t keep up, specifically my skin. I have several stretchmarks from the time I quickly gained weight, mostly around my thighs, belly and arms. It is not bad and by far not as extreme as to require any kind of surgery, but it still feels weird to be able to stretch parts of your skin way more than feels normal… Maybe it is normal and me just paranoid, but if that is the case, let’s just hope that I will not have any problems with excess skin.

Concerning the actual body test, I am slowly getting more balanced, or at least my centre of mass slowly crawls towards an even left/right balance. I will probably include the progression in the next post, as it feels kinda surreal to see the point getting more and more centered over time. I also finally beat this one balance test where you move around a dot left and right to dodge obstacles for the first time… and then beat it again the next three times in a row, before losing after the halfway point again. I feel proud.

Training

My training hasn’t really changed that much… as long as we ignore me basically giving up on everything except the jogging. I dropped the Hula Hoop, because the movement recognition felt way to off at times and I would rather get an actual Hula Hoop ring, than circle my hips way to much on a board. My mother actually bought something similar. It is like a large hoop that can be filled with sand and is probably intended for more general gymnastics, though I was able to keep it circling above my hips for some time… its incredibly hard, but possible :D.

Step Plus, Boxing and Yoga are currently more “on hold” than “dropped”. They are relatively time-consuming while not being that hard, so I used that time for “stepping on the board” (Proper name still pending) instead. I will probably shift my yoga to outside the game and follow YouTube tutorials or something instead, simply for a bigger variety and faster pace between different exercises, though I will miss the feedback from the board. Step Plus will also be resumed, simply because it is fun and a good warm-up for the jogging. Lastly, Boxing became more interesting with the acquisition of wrist weights a friend of mine gave me, making the exercise hopefully more intense. I also miss it. Boxing is still the most varied discipline in the game and a nice change of pace.

What I kept consistently up, though, is the jogging. I finally switched to a 30 minutes run and am even able to finish one lap around Wuhu Island in under ten minutes. Not sure if I have subconsciously figured out how to trick the Wiimote, but my pace increased over time and stands now around 275 meters per minute. No way is this accurate to my actual jogging speed, but it is at least faster than two months ago… beyond the fact that I wouldn’t have finished the 30 minutes without a break at all. I also wonder what it takes to get the four star rating in Jogging. One time, I ran (in place) as fast as I could, nearly throwing up in the process and ending up as 50% sweat, only to get 3 stars for close to 10.000 meters. Like, what do you even need to run? Also, this was as fast as I could physically run in place before starting to lift off and the tracking basically went berserk anyway, so how are you supposed to get four stars?

As already mentioned, I use the Balanceboard as a step board and essentially do the “Free Step” outside of Wii Fit and on my own (faster) pace. I don’t set myself a timer, but just step as long as the video I watch are long, which averages around maybe 30 minutes or more.

Fit Plus Games

I have mentioned it several times in the first post, but I can’t state it enough: I do not want to gamify training!.. However, I am quite pleased with some if the games there. Compared to the balance games, they are more focused on training, even if it is not hard. Some, on the other hand are utter nonsense, but first things first.

Perfect 10, Big Top Juggling, Tilt City and Bird’s-Eye Bulls-Eye are genuinely great and fun to play. In Perfect 10 you have to add numbers together to get a sum of 10 (or 15/20 at higher difficulties) by “punching” in the numbers with your hip. There is a time limit and even simple arithmetics become stressful under these conditions. Absolutely recommend it with/against friends. Big Top Juggling uses the Nunchuk and tasks you to juggle several balls at the same time while balancing on a circus ball. Impeccable. Tilt City demands even more eye-body coordination with the Balanceboard and Wiimote controlling the tilt of several paddles which you need to rotate in the right positions to let colored balls fall into the right basket.

However, if there is one game to take the top, it is without a doubt Bird’s-Eye Bulls-Eye. Firstly, you are dressed as a chicken. Secondly, you have to flap your arms to fly from platform to platform and balance yourself accordingly to land in the bulls-eyes for additional time and points. Lastly, it feels like actual training. On the highest difficulty, one round may take you up to five minutes of almost constant flapping. Want to feel like your arms are falling off? We got just the exercise for you!

There are some other games that could’ve been fun but failed in the specific execution. Rhythm Kong-Fu is strangely hard to play and feels like a watered down version of Boxing and Skateboard Arena suffers from bad controls inherent to the fact that the Balanceboard can’t recreate the feeling of a skateboard even in the slightest.

The rest are games that feel somehow out of place in Wii Fit and the controls were adjusted to somehow just shove them into the game anyway. In Island Cycling, you cycle through several checkpoints, though the controls don’t resemble anything like a bike. Driving Range is a golf simulator that tracks your balance while swinging the club… maybe interesting for people planing to up their golf game, but not for me. Segway Circuit is a boring parkour-like with the controls consisting of tilting forward/backwards and left/right. Lastly, there is Rhythm Parade. It sucks. It sucks so bad. You are leading a parade and are supposed to keep rhythm and do some hand gestures, but I couldn’t get it to work. Neither keeping rhythm with the steps or whatever task it gave you. I hate it.

When did this become a review?

The Future

I am still interested in modding the game to extend the Step Plus with more songs and steps, though this may end up being a dream forever. Until then, I will simply continue as I have done the last few months. I genuinely feel great and besser denn je concerning my body. I really wished I could track my resting heart rate and other stuff to base this on, but right now, I feel healthy and fit.

My next step is to focus more on areas I have to lose fat in. My goal is still to fit into my jeans again, so exercises specifically for thighs and butt will hopefully join my program. I’ll also try to tackle my beer belly, but we will see when it comes to that. For now, I want to increase my overall exercise time first and get the line to go down again. You will probably hear from me again in three months. Until then, have a good time.

Let Nezuko out of the box! – Demon Slayer's underutilized female characters

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 00:25:00 +0200

Ach ja, I genuinely think Demon Slayer is pretty good. I could never really warm up to Shounen classic like Dragonball, Naruto and Bleach (though I am currently reading One Piece), but I am really enjoying the new era of titles like My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen and The Promised Neverland. However, one aspect of Demon Slayer I noticed, though not necessarily criticism per se, is the tendency to sideline the agency of its female characters.

Now, by all means, this is by far not problem specific to Demon Slayer. Ignoring the many anime I have seen, where the female characters often boil down to trophies collected by the main character, even favorites of mine like Attack on Titan and Pokémon sometimes drop the ball on giving their female characters the spotlight they deserve. This isn’t even an issue about representation or a wish for more female characters in important lead roles, but about female characters seemingly getting the short end of the “Get to do cool stuff and be a great character”-stick.

Again, it is not like Demon Slayer has no female characters or treats them actively bad (one exception may apply), but rather puts them in a more passive role, keeps them in the background or simply didn’t give them the time to shine just yet. I have watched everything up to including the Entertainment District Arc, which comes down to 44 episodes and around halfway through the entire story, so you can not blame me for not giving Demon Slayer enough time to prove itself. Although, as one of the upcoming arcs to be adapted focuses on Mitsuri, this side-comment may solve itself in the near future. It does not, however, solve the thesis of this post.

I do not want to sound like a white knight here. I think this is an issue addressable by anyone, no matter the demographic, even if the topic at hand is clearly shifted towards one. Looking back on the story, I can’t remember a lot of scenes where a female character actually made the moment, where a female character was truly allowed to shine at their best and the scenes I do, are mostly occupied by Nezuko, though more on her later.

I like Shinobu, especially from a thematic standpoint, but if you compare her to the other Hashira outings like Kyojuro and Tengen, she hardly compares. I also like the bit where Kanao actually decided for herself, instead of relying on a coin flip, to save Aoi and Naho, though it also just leads up to the resolution of a joke misunderstanding. Even Tengen’s Wives unfortunately end up as just damsels in distress, despite being clearly capable on their own given other circumstances. Hinatsuru carrying this huge box that shoots a barrage of kunai laced with poison was pretty damn cool though, even if it doesn’t necessarily add any depth to her character.

I fully understand that the story is just written that way and it also logically justifies these decisions and I also know that the absence of agency is not a dismissal of its female characters, but at the end of the day, we end up with a story where the female characters are often not allowed to prove themselves, which I think is greatly hindering Demon Slayer’s story impact overall and the most glaring character to see this in is Nezuko.

I gotta be honest, Nezuko barely counts as a character for me. A symbol? Absolutely and an effective and resonant at that as well, but not a character. Due to the premise of the story, Nezuko is robbed of all agency, is unable to speak and can only express herself via concerned “hmpf"s. The only time she s allowed to act on her own is in flashbacks and these are far and few between. Beyond that, she is literally locked away in a box. She is also arguably a bit infantilized by being treated more as a little child than as a young adult similar in age to Tanjiro and while the series doesn’t make it weird, she does posses a Loli mode. Nezuko is to be protected, even if she could so herself.

It still baffles me that Nezuko was nominated as best girl in the Crunchyroll Awards 2020, though part of me also knows exactly why this was the case. When Nezuko is allowed to leave the box, things tend to look different. Even if her impact on the fight against Rui was relatively small, thematically speaking, this was one of, if not the best moment in season one. A true display of the bond between the two siblings and a stark contrast to what Rui considered family. Then there was the confrontation at the headquarters, where she was able to hold back her demon instincts and earned some of the Hashiras trust.

Nezuko has her moments… just not enough for my liking. While, again, mostly in the background during the Infinity Train Arc, she was finally able to go all out in a fight against Daki during the Entertainment District Arc and I cheered for her all the way. Genuinely a big fan of the brutality on display in her fighting style. I really hope that she will be able to control her demon state in the future and take an active role in the fights to come and doesn’t need to be calmed down by Tanjiro again.

In hindsight, this might be a strange topic to talk about, as it is simply something I noticed while watching Demon Slayer. Its female characters are not actively bad, just underutilized in a way that can be explained away by the story, which makes it hard for me to criticize it in a way that matters. Nevertheless, the end result is a story where the female characters fall flat and are often not given the opportunity to express themselves to the extend most of the male characters can.

In conclusion: Let Nezuko out of the box!

Demon Slayer is available on Crunchyroll.

Anime 2016 – Teil 3: Die Awards

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 01:10:00 +0200

Ach ja, der letzte Teil der Reihe über Anime 2016 dreht sich um einzelne kleine Kategorien, über welche ich nicht im Hauptteil reden wollte. Crunchyroll hat 2017 das erste mal ihre Awards für 2016 abgehalten und ich finde es an sich eine ziemlich nette Idee. Ich hatte auch überlegt, ob ich es richtig groß aufziehen wollte, wie es zum Beispiel Under The Scope mit seinen UTS Awards gemacht hat, aber habe mich aber am Ende dagegen entschieden, weil es zu viel werden würde.

Wie dem auch sei, hier sind meine Favoriten in den Kategorien bester männlicher und weiblicher Charakter, beste Animation, sowie OST, Opening und Ending.

Bester männlicher Charakter

Gewinner: Reigen (Mob Psycho 100)

Weitere Nominierungen:

Yakumo (Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu)
Josuke (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable)
Shouya (A Silent Voice)
Agetarou (Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou)

Agetarou, Shouya und Josuke sind alle in ihrer Hinsicht sehr interessant. Agetarou lernt sowohl die Bedeutung seiner neu gefundenen Leidenschaft, als auch seine bekannte “Pflicht” kennen und vollbringt somit die Symbiose beider Seiten des Anime, Shouya ist zu einen fast unangenehmen Punkt relatable und sein Versuch sich zu bessern ist einfach lobenswert und emotional packend und Josuke schafft es für mich perfekt sowohl den eher spielerischen, als auch den ernsten Ton des vierten JoJo-Teiles einzufangen, widerzuspiegeln und durchgehend sympathisch zu sein.

Yakumo besitzt unglaublich viel Tiefe und der einzige Grund, warum es nicht für den ersten Platz gereicht hat ist, dass ein Großteil sich erst in der zweiten Staffel auszahlt, während der Gewinner bereits ab Sekunde eins überzeugt. Außerdem ist Reigen am Ende des Tages einfach der Man. Er mag zwar um Gottes Willen kein ideales Vorbild sein, aber dennoch kann ich nicht anders, als zu ihn hochzuschauen. Dazu kommt noch seine vielschichtige Beziehung zu Mob und man erhält einen sehr runden, wenn aber noch nicht ganz abgeschlossenen Charakter… außerdem, sein Auftreten in der letzten Folge ist göttlich und lustig zugleich. Was für eine Legende.

Bester weiblicher Charakter

Gewinner: Galko (Please tell me! Galko-chan)

Weitere Nominierungen:

Chitose (Girlish Number)
Rem (Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-)
Aoba (New Game!)
Suzu (In this Corner of the World)

Weiter geht es mit dem besten weiblichen Charakteren, wobei aber angemerkt werden muss, dass es sich hierbei nicht um einen Waifu-Award handelt, weil ich das ganze Konzept von Waifus nicht ganz nachvollziehen kann… ich meine, es wäre ~~[REDACTED]~~, aber egal.

Suzu hat den Vorteil, dass sich quasi der gesamte Film um ihr dreht und wie sie ihr Leben lebt. Ihr Charakter strahlt überwiegend mit alltäglicher Tiefe, was den Film seinen besonderen Flaire gibt. Aoba ist hingegen wieder einmal so ein Fall von “Same”. Keine wirkliche Ahnung, wie man letztlich hier hergekommen ist, immer panisch und unsicher, während man von Leuten umgeben ist, zu denen man aufblickt, aber immerhin durchgehend versucht sein Bestes zu geben. Ja, same.

Rem ist vielleicht ein wenig schwieriger für mich zu erklären, also belassen wir es fürs erste dabei, dass einzelne ausgesprochen starke Szenen einen Charakter für mich machen können und Chitose fängt eine erstaunlich gute Balance zwischen einem Charakter, welcher nur so überläuft von Fehlern und einer Figur, welche man sich bessern sehen will, ein.

Doch mein Pick für den besten weiblichen Charakter wäre letztlich Galko. Nicht nur zerstört sie jedes einzelne Stereotyp, welches sie in die Finger bekommt, sondern ist sie dabei auch noch unglaublich ehrlich und hilfsbereit, welches den ganzen Anime nicht nur lustig, sondern auch unglaublich wholesome macht. Sie ist die echte Power-Fantasy, von der alle reden sollten.

Beste Animation

There should have been a video here but your browser does not seem to support it.

Gewinner: Mob Psycho 100

Weitere Nominierungen:

Flip Flappers
Occultic;Nine
New Game!
KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!

Beim nächsten Thema bin ich mir tatsächlich ein wenig unsicher, weil der Oberbegriff Animation viel zu viele kleine Aspekte der visuellen Produktion zusammenfasst, also unterteilen wir diesen einfach und geben jedem irgendwie einen Preis.

KonoSubas Comedy würde wahrscheinlich ohne seine, sagen wir mal, “freieren Nutzung” von Animation und off-model Charakteren nicht so gut funktionieren, würde es wie ein eher traditionell guter Anime aussehen. Auf der anderen Seite sitzt New Game!, welches mit seinen konsistent gut aussehende Charakter-Animation sich nicht zu verstecken braucht.

There should have been a video here but your browser does not seem to support it.

Sowohl Yuri!!! on Ice, als auch Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress sind äußerst beeindruckend in den Szenen anzusehen, wo es wirklich zählt, namentlich in einigen der Eiskunstlauf-Routinen und in den bombastischen Set-Pieces. Occultic;Nine hingegen hat wahrscheinlich die interessanteste Direction und generellen Look.

Dann gibt es noch die zwei großen Favoriten: Flip Flappers hat wahrscheinlich mit seinen Charakteren und Hintergründen den besten Design-Sense und würde es nur um die reine Animation gehen, womöglich auch dies gewinnen, wäre Mob Psycho 100 nicht ein absolutes Bollwerk an fantastischer Sakuga und würde auch sonst mit fast jedem Anime den Boden wischen.

There should have been a video here but your browser does not seem to support it.

Dieses Jahr hatte eine Menge gutes Zeugs aus den verschiedensten Bereichen, dass ich mir fast nicht traue eine definitive Antwort darauf zu geben, welcher Anime selbst nur für mich nun am besten aussieht. Es wäre wahrscheinlich ein knappes Rennen zwischen Flip Flappers und Mob Psycho 100, aber belasse ich es erst mal bei Mob Psycho.

Bester OST

Gewinner: KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!

Weitere Nominierungen:

ERASED
Your Name.
A Silent Voice
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

An der nächsten Kategorien sollte man hoffentlich merken, dass ich echt keine wirkliche Ahnung von Musik habe.

Kabaneri ist gefühlt ein Selbstgänger, weil jeder Sawano-Soundtrack irgendwas mit meinem Gehirn macht, um es zu lieben, Your Name. hätte es wahrscheinlich alleine schon wegen Radwimps Insert-Songs verdient und A Silent Voices Soundtrack ist so ein wichtiger Teil seiner Narrative, dass man sich diesen nicht wegdenken könnte, während ERASEDs OST immer die passende Atmosphere schafft.

Wie gesagt, hätte ich tatsächlich Ahnung von Musik, könnte ich mehr sagen. Stattdessen gehe ich mit den OST, welcher mir am besten im Kopf geblieben ist, nämlich der von KonoSuba. Jedes Mal wenn ich auch nur einen kleines Stück von diesen höre, werde ich mental zur jeweiligen Szene zurückgeschleudert und mein Tag wird ein kleines bisschen besser. Dazu kommt, dass er für einen Comedy-Anime erstaunlich vielfältig ist: Von aufregend und episch, über sexuell frustrierter Fahrstuhlmusik und wie auch immer man es beschreiben würde, wenn Aqua wieder mal irgendwas dummes getan hat. Der KonoSuba Soundtrack ist wie der Anime selbst – Für mich einfach das Beste.

Bestes Opening

Gewinner: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP3

Weitere Nominierungen:

Als es tatsächlich darauf ankam, war es erstaunlich schwierig mich auf nur einige Nominierungen zu einigen.. die Liste war lang. Von einzelnen Geschichten, welche den Anime wunderbar wieder spiegeln, über animationstechnische Brillanz, bis hin zu metaphorischer Sinnesüberschwemmung, war alles vertreten, was ich in einen Opening wertschätze.

Der Gewinner wurde letzten Ende nach Bauchgefühl bestimmt und wird sich wahrscheinlich das nächste Mal ändern, wenn man mich fragt. Das dritte JoJo Opening passt einfach wie die Faust aufs Auge und besonders die kleinen Änderungen für den letzten Abschnitt der Story waren ein sehr schöner Touch. Obwohl es weder von der Musik, noch den Visuals einzeln den Topspot übernimmt, ist das Zusammenspiel etwas unglaublich sehenswertes.

Bestes Ending

Gewinner: Flip Flappers ED

Weitere Nominierungen:

Bei den Endings hingegen, konnte ich die Anzahl tatsächlich gut begrenzen.

Mob Psycho 100 erzählt eine in sich selber geschlossene kleine Geschichte über Reigens Alltag und wie Mob wortwörtlich Farbe in sein Leben gebracht hat. Außerdem ist es mit Paint-on-Glass animiert worden, welches unglaublich interessant und gut aussieht. KonoSubas Ending nimmt einen Großteil der Energie des Anime raus und gibt stattdessen einen ungewohnt ruhigen Einblick in das alltägliche Leben der Bande, welches nun tatsächlich friedlich und wholesome ist. Ich meine, schaut euch an wie Megumin versucht einen Apfel vom Baum zu stoßen und selbst Darkness wirkt aufrichtig und verantwortungsvoll in der Nähe von Kindern.

Das erste Re:Zero Ending ist zwar im Gegensatz zu den anderen Endings hier weniger visuell interessant, dafür hat es aber einen Killer-Song von MYTH & ROID und in meinen Kopf macht es deshalb Sinn es auf eine ähnliche Stufe zu stellen und ERASEDs ED überschwemmt den Zuschauer mit einer Menge Sinneseindrücken, welche man nicht komplett richtig zuordnen kann, aber dennoch irgendwie Sinn ergeben.

Doch das Ending, welches sich letztlich, meiner Macht verliehen, mit Rum und Ehre schmücken darf, ist Flip Flappers. Einerseits erzählt es die Geschichte von Hänsel und Gretel in wunderschön illustrierten Illustrationen, welches bestimmt irgendeine tiefere narrative Bedeutung haben, oder so und andererseits zeigt es die beinahe chaotische Charakter-Dynamik zwischen Cocona und Papika. Alles zusammen schön und gut, doch jetzt kommt noch eine persönliche Anekdote hinzu:

Es ist nicht so, dass ich mich häufig verlaufe, oder so, sondern eher, dass ich des Öfteren keine genaue Ahnung habe wo ich mich genau befinde. Dies ist übrigens wortwörtlich zu nehmen, Hamburg ist groß. Auf jeden Fall, immer wenn ich mich wieder in so einer Situation befinden, habe ich es mir zur Angewohnheit gemacht das Flip Flappers Ending anzuhören, nicht weil es mir in irgendeiner Art hilft, sondern einfach weil ich dann mit einem Lächeln und guten Gemüt meine Reise durch die dunkle Nacht anfangen kann, um irgendwann an meinem Ziel anzukommen, weshalb dieses Ending für immer einen besonderen Platz in meinen Herzen haben wird.

Und damit ist meine Retrospektive über Anime 2016 zu Ende. Ich glaube besonders bei den Awards kann man bemerken, welche Anime ich immer noch sehr gut im Gedächtnis habe. Diese drei Posts waren immer noch ein riesiger Aufwand, auch wenn ich einen guten Teil aus meinen Script übernehmen konnte und es ist schön zu sehen, dass sich dieses Projekt nun endlich in einer Form befindet, wo man es anderen Leuten präsentieren kann. Es sollte eigentlich klar sein, aber ich werde nie wieder so ein Unterfangen anfangen und mich nun auf eher analytischen Content über einzelnen Anime fokussieren, weil mir das deutlich mehr Spaß macht, als fünf belanglose Sätze über viele Anime zu sagen. Bis zum nächsten Mal.

Anime 2016 – Teil 2: Das Schlechte

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 01:05:00 +0200

Ach ja, dies ist der zweite Post der Reihe über Anime 2016. Da prinzipiell jeder Anime, welchen ich sehe, durch einen Filter bei mir geht, gibt es nur wenige Anime, welche ich gesehen habe und ich nicht mochte. Mir fiel es erstaunlich schwer eine klare Linie zu ziehen, welche Anime in diesem Post und welche im letzten landen und bei einigen kann man gut argumentieren, dass sie Plätze tauschen sollten. Erneut erlaube ich mir ein paar Anime auszulassen, einfach weil ich nicht viel über folgende Titel zu verlieren habe: Honobono Log, Tawawa on Monday, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei!!, Schwarzesmarken und Long Riders!.

Es gibt nicht viel zu ergänzen, also legen wir los.

Your Name.

Ich weiß nicht, ob es an den unglaublichen Hype lag, welcher dem Film hinterher hing, oder die Tatsache, dass ich aufgrund einer Verletzung eher zum Kino gehumpelt bin, aber als ich dieses verlassen habe, erfüllte mich nur ein Gefühl von Verwunderung und Enttäuschung. Nicht mal unbedingt als etwas Negatives, sondern nur als ob die letzten zwei Stunden durch Leere ersetzt wurden, wo eigentlich eine emotionale Achterbahnfahrt ihren Platz hätte finden sollen.

Kurz, ich habe bei Your Name. einfach nichts gefühlt, weder für was am Ende der Geschichte passierte noch irgendwann für die Charaktere selbst. Der einzige Moment, wo der Film auch nur ansatzweise eine Emotion aus mir herausgelockt hat war, als Taki weinend Mitsuhas Brüste angefasst hat und dann auch nur, weil ich dies genauso dramatisch wie lustig fand.

Ich habe den Film vor “kurzem” (als ich das geschrieben habe war es Ende 2018… in der Zwischenzeit habe ich den Film erneut gesehen und die Aussage ist technisch gesehen wieder richtig) erneut gesehen und auch wenn ich inzwischen mehr wertschätzen kann, was der Film versucht, bzw. auch definitiv erfolgreich schafft darzustellen, fehlt mir einfach die emotionale Resonanz, damit ich den Film als etwas mehr ansehen kann, als ein audio-visuelles Spektakel mit einer ersten Hälfte, welcher es deutlich an Zeit gefehlt hat, um seine Charaktere richtig für die zweite Hälfte aufzubauen. Your Name fällt somit sehr gut in die Kategorie an Filmen, welche ich wünschte wären andere Filme. Außerdem, bitte sagt mir, dass ich nicht der Einzige bin, welcher vom Twist ein wenig verwirrt war. Ich weiß, dass ich nicht der hellste Meteor am Sternenhimmel bin, aber… ja.

Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto

Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob ich Sakamoto so beschreiben kann, dass es nicht so klingt, als denke ich der Anime sei schlecht, aber ich würde niemanden mit guten Gewissen beten können, sich den Anime anzuschauen. Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto ist eine absolute Goldmiene an Witzen und One-off Gags und ohne Frage ein Kandidat für Comedy des Jahres… aber ebenfalls ist es irgendwie… langweilig… und eigentlich weiß man schon im Vorhinein, wie es abläuft… und wirklich im Gedächtnis bleibt es auch nur für seinen schieren Wahnsinn.

Es ist nichtmal so, als ob die Comedy Sakamotos einzige Rettung sei, und der finale Arc war unerwartet dramatisch, aber wenn man bedenkt, dass fünf Stunden eines Anime genauso gut in 20 Minuten an Compilations komprimiert werden könnten und man so gefühlt 80% was den Anime ausmacht, sieht, dann weiß ich echt nicht, was ich von den Anime halten soll, außer dass ich es jetzt nicht schlimm fand Sakomoto gesehen zu haben. Unser cool, cooler, COORESTO Sakamoto ist zwar im Kontext von sich selbst mehr als nur ikonisch, aber irgendwie auch nicht mehr.

Days

Auch wenn mir der Großteil der Anime, welche ich aus 2016 gesehen habe, gefallen hat, gab es dennoch einige Anime, auf welche ich nicht allzu positiv zurückblicken kann, angefangen mit Days.

Als ich eines Tages naiv in die Season Vorschau für Sommer 2016 geblickt habe, war ich mehr als nur begeistert einen Anime zu sehen, in welchem es um Fußball ging. Wahrscheinlich der allererste Anime den ich gesehen habe war Captain Tsubasa, als ich noch fünf Jahre alt war oder so und ich hatte zur gleichen Zeit wieder angefangen häufiger selbst Fußball zu spielen. Kurz, ich war HYPED. Als Days dann nach fast einen halben Jahr seine Ausstrahlung beendet hat, konnte ich kaum noch warten. Ich schaute mir die ersten paar Folgen an und ich war so furchtbar enttäuscht und traurig. Ich war mir über den Wandel von der epischen Darstellung des Sportes zu Charakter-fokussierten Narativen in Sport-Anime schon länger bewusst, doch dies traf mich gegen meiner Erwartungen bei Days mit voller Wucht.

Okay, nicht erfüllte Erwartungen aufgrund falscher Erwartungen also, eine Geschichte so alt wie die Menscheit selbst. Habe mir mehr tatsächliches Fußballspielen erwartet als bekommen, ist das alles, was ich zu Days zu sagen habe?.. Bin zwar eigentlich nicht der größte Fan über einen Anime nur Schlechtes zu sagen, aber here we go:

Sämtliches Drama kommt überwiegend von Tsukushis Selbstzweifel bezüglich seiner Fähigkeiten mit im Team zu spielen, aber anstatt dies unter verschiedenen Blickwinkel zu beobachten und anzugehen, ist Days Lösung einfach, dass man schneller Rennen muss… beziehungsweise, jedes Problem wird gelöst, indem man mit anderen anfängt zu rennen, weil es anscheinend keine andere Perspektive gibt, wie man mit sich selbst und den Sport in Verbindung steht und Fußball so ziemlich auch nur einem Ball Hinterherrennen ist und wer sind überhaupt diese ganzen anderen Personen in seinen Team, ich kenne gefühlt keinen davon, was wurde überhaupt die ganzen 24 Folgen getan außer rum rennen und weinen?

Garakowa -Restore the World-

Garakowa hat inmitten des Films diese drei Minuten lange Montage, wo die Charaktere verschiedenste Orte der Erde bereisen und Spaß haben, all dies mit den Sinn zu zeigen, wie schön die Welt und all ihre Erinnerungen doch sein können. Unterbrochen wird dieser Spaß durch einen kleinen Einzug an Krieg und Zerstörung, welcher im Gegenzug zeigt, wie schnell diese Schönheit wieder verschwinden kann.

Wäre dieser Film nur das, hätte ich ihn wohl besser in Erinnerung, allerdings gibt es noch 64 weitere Minuten. Ich glaube nicht, dass der Film tatsächlich so schwer zu verstehen ist, auch wenn ich gestehen muss, dass er komplizierter ist, als er sein müsste, aber wenn man den Zuschauer mit nichts greifen kann, dann wundert es einen nicht, wenn man den Film nicht verstehen will. Zumindest ging es mir so… Es ist fast so, als ob ich den Film nicht gesehen hätte, aber dennoch weiß, wie ich über ihn fühle, was diesen Anime wohl zu einer recht interessanten Erfahrung macht… und zumindest dafür kann ich Garakowa loben, wenn auch für nicht mehr.

Ange Vierge

Okay, dieser Teil ist mit Abstand jener, auf welchen ich mich am meisten gefreut habe… er funktioniert als Blog nur so semi-optimal, aber dies ist mir inzwischen egal. Außerdem ist es das am meisten theatralische, was ich bisher geschrieben habe, also viel Spaß.

Ok, machen wir mal ein kurzes Experiment. Ich möchte, dass ihr eure Augen schließt. Und nun stellt euch vor, was ihr unter dem Konzept “Anime” versteht. Nicht was es auf physischer Ebene ist, noch als was man es etymologisch beschreiben könnte. Woran denkt ihr, wenn ihr das Wort “Anime” hört? Was seht ihr, wie fühlt und hört es sich an? Stellt euch alle abstrakten Gedanken vor, alle Erinnerung, all das, was ihr mit Anime erlebt habt. Das Einzigartige und bereits Bekannte und auch das, was einmal werden könnte oder nie wird. Es muss keine konkrete Form haben, die reine Idee von Anime und ihrer Facetten reicht. Augen immer noch geschlossen.

Nun denkt an all das schöne darin. Dies, was eventuell euch immer wieder zu Anime zurückführt, an all das Glück und der Trauer und den guten Erinnerungen, die ihr mit Anime verbindet und… schmeißt diese in hohen Bogen aus dem Fenster. Denkt nur noch an das Schlechte, das Hässliche und all die Gründe, warum ihr Anime nicht mögt, euch eventuell sogar schämt und es anderen Menschen nicht recht machen könnt. Denkt an jede einzelne Sekunden, die ein Anime eure Zeit geraubt hat und einfach nicht glauben könnt, dass dies unwiderlegbar zu Anime gehört, ob ihr wollt, oder nicht.

Ange Vierge ist ohne Frage ein Anime, aber gleichzeitig ist es auch nicht mehr. Es ist leer, ohne Ideen oder eigener Identität. Man muss nur kurz heraufschauen und ehe man es überhaupt visuell verarbeitet hat, kommt einen der Gedanke, dass dieser Anime einen Bastard der Ideen seiner Vorgänger darstellt. Ein herzloses Produkt in Form eines bereits totem Körpers, reanimiert durch den Puppenspieler ohne Verstand und Sinn für das Leben des Beobachters, welcher zusehen muss, wie jegliche Integrität in seine Einzelteile zerbricht und eine Kettenreaktion der andauernden Verwirrung startet, mit wessen jeder Fall folgende Frage aufbringt: Was ist Ange Vierge, wenn nicht der genericste Anime, den es gibt?

Mayoiga

Es sei ein schmaler Grad, welcher Horror von Comedy trennt. In welches der beiden Genre jetzt Mayoiga eingestuft werden soll, überlasse ich mal jeden sich selbst, auch wenn das gegenseitige Hin und Her damals amüsant zu beobachten war. Aber egal für was man sich entscheidet, Mayoiga wirkt in nichts so wirklich effektiv zu sein. Die Absurdität von Handlung und Charakteren mögen zwar alleine in jeder Richtung funktionieren, aber die dissonante Darstellung hat anscheinend nicht nur diese kleine Kind ohne Medienkompetenz verwirrt.

Hätte ich ein besseres Verständnis von Mayoiga, würde ich es mir mit meinem heutigen Wissensstand und der Fähigkeit mir nicht alles über den Kopf fliegen zu lassen, erneut anschauen, und wertschätzen können, was Mayoiga zumindest versucht zu sein?.. Ich meine, vielleicht? Wenn man aber bedenkt, dass ich Mayoiga vor über vier (inzwischen fünf) Jahren komplett unironisch als einen Horror-Anime gesehen habe und mir nicht ein einziges Mal der Gedanke kam, dass es sich hierbei möglicherweise um eine Parodie handeln könnte, dann weiß ich nicht, ob es dies wert sei, um ehrlich zu sein. Das Problem, welches jetzt besteht ist, dass ich nicht endgültig sagen möchte, dass Mayoiga ein schlechter Anime sei, nur weil es potentiell zu avant-garde für mich war, aber… ich finde einfach keinen guten Worte.

High School Fleet

High School Fleet ist ein weiterer Anime, den ich lieber irgendwann sein eigenes Video widmen möchte, einfach weil sich die Parallelen zu einem meiner Liebling-Anime, Girls und Panzer, quasi selber schreiben. Und mit einen ähnlichen Gedanken bin ich auch letztlich an diesen Anime herangegangen, schließlich sind Schlachtschiffe auch nur schwimmende Panzer… naja, dachte ich zumindest. Was mir beim Schauen von High School Fleet aber auffiel, ist, dass es nicht die tonnenschwere Kriegsmaschinerie ist, welche mich fast jedes Jahr dazu verleitet diesen komischen Anime über einen noch komischeren Sport zu schauen, sondern es tatsächlich… die Mädchen sind… FBI OPEN THE DOOR!

Ich selber mache oft Spaß darüber, wie oberflächlich doch meine Liebe zu Girls und Panzer ist, sehr wohl mit den Hintergedanken, das da faktisch viel mehr dahintersteckt und zurückblickend auf High School Fleet ist es jenes, welcher den Anime so gleichgültig für mich macht. Was nützt ein großer Cast an Charakteren, wenn nicht jeder mal im Rampenlicht stehen kann? Warum ein großes Geheimnis um den Plot aufbauen, wenn es sich sowieso als ein überglorifiziertes McGuffin herausstellt. Wem kümmert es, dass man wortwörtlich die Apokalypse verhindert hat, wenn man nicht mal an seiner eigenen Reise gewachsen ist?

Girls und Panzer hat einfach so viel Herz in seinen Spektakel, welches ich selbst gespürt habe, ohne zu wissen, was dies genau auslöst. Bei High School Fleet weiß ich hingegen genau, was es nicht tut. Jetzt aber auch nicht falsch verstehen, High School Fleet ist immer noch ein guter und spaßiger kleiner Anime über süße Mädchen und Kriegsschiffe. Nichts schlechtes oder bedenkliches daran, nur muss es in meinen Gewissen immer im Schatten eines besseren Anime stehen, welcher mich im Gegensatz auch an seine Charaktere und dessen Geschichten fesseln kann.

Magical Girl Raising Project

Magical Girl Raising Project ist ein Battle Royale, aber mit Magical Girls und jedem war bewusst, in welche Richtung die Diskussionen über den Anime gehen würden… also lasst das mal nicht tun!

Magical Girl Raising Project hat grundlegend zwei Probleme, welche sich am Anfang und Ende der Serie herauskristallisieren. Das Battle Royale selber, auch wenn eine nette Idee dahintersteckt, sorgt strukturell für mehr Probleme, als es Gutes tut. Es geht weniger darum, seine Kontrahenten aktiv auszuschalten, als eher nicht im Besitz der wenigstens “Candys” am Ende einer Woche zu sein, aber mit den Addendum, dass das Eliminieren anderer Magical Girls ebenfalls nicht untersagt ist. Und da es eher darum geht, wer am anfälligsten ist und nicht, wer die meisten Candys gesammelt hat und auch nur eine Person pro Woche sterben muss, ist Töten die bevorzugte Alternative. Da dies aber immer nur einen kleinen Teil der Charaktere betrifft, heißt es für die anderen Teilnehmer passives Abwarten, weshalb das Ausmaß der Story sich immer kleiner verkauft, als es tatsächlich ist. Dies löst sich zwar, aufgrund der Natur eines Battle Royales, mit stetig abnehmender Anzahl an Überlebenden, selbst, führt aber indirekt zum zweiten Problem: Dem Magical Girls selbst.

Auch wenn ich die einzelnen Fähigkeiten abwechslungsreich und das Power-Scaling der Magical Girls untereinander passend finde, waren die eigentlichen Charakteren hinter diesen auf unterschiedliche Arten enttäuschend. Nicht nur hat man mit den klassischen “Lass' mal sämtliche Charakterisierung und Entwicklung in die letzten 2 Minuten vor ihren Tod stecken”-Ansatz zu kämpfen, sondern waren die Persönlichkeiten ebenfalls auf der kompletten Skala von relativ down to earth bis hin zu animierten Karikaturen vertreten, was das anfeuern mehrerer Charaktere nicht wirklich möglich machte. Um ehrlich zu sein, Tama ist die einzige, welche es überhaupt verdient hätte am Ende zu überleben.

Meine Beschreibung mag zwar etwas negativer klingen, als meine Erfahrungen nun tatsächlich waren, aber ich glaube man wäre sowieso besser dran, wenn man sich die zwei Werke einfach selber anschaut, von welchen sich Raising Project alle seine besseren Ideen herholt.

Gate

Fragwürdige politische Motive mal außen vorgelassen, Gate ist einfach so unglaublich langweilig, dass ich nicht verstehen kann, wie irgendwer, vor allem ich, sich durch alle Folgen quälen konnte. Der zweite Cour hatte wenigstens noch einen Sub-Plot, aber das einzig interessante was passiert ist, ist dass modernes japanisches Militär mittelalterliche Soldaten niedermetzelt, welches halt nach den zweiten Mal irgendwie seinen Reiz verliert.

Fragwürdige politische Motive mal einbezogen, Gate ist einfach so unglaublich inkompetent die JSDF, als auch ihre Taten, als ansatzweise moralisch darzustellen. Tut mir leid, aber die drei Flavors of Waifu lassen mich nicht die Ansätze des Kolonialismus und der “Stabilisierung” fremder Länder übersehen.

Dies war es aber mit den negativen Vibes. Weiter geht es im letzten Teil, wo ich meine eigenen Awards vorstelle.

Anime 2016 – Teil 1: Das Gute

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 01:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, dieser Post, beziehungsweise diese Reihe an Posts, basieren ursprünglich auf dem Script einer inzwischen beiseitegelegten Video-Idee mit dem einfachen Arbeitstitel “Anime 2016”. Ich wollte über alle Anime, welche ich aus 2016 gesehen habe, ein paar Worte verlieren. Die Idee kam mir irgendwann Mitte 2016, kurz nachdem ich mit meinem YouTube-Kanal angefangen habe. Arbeiten am Script fingen in April 2017, also inzwischen knappe fünf Jahre her, an und hörten nie wirklich auf. Ein Hindernis war selbstverständlich das Schauen aller Anime, 43 an der Zahl, aber auch das eigentliche Schreiben hat sich hingezogen. Ich habe immer sporadisch mehrere Seiten am Stück geschrieben, bevor eine große Pause von mehreren Monaten einher ging, weshalb ich kaum voran kam. Die letzte richtige Erweiterung am Script habe ich Ende 2020 getätigt. Ich habe mehrfach mit dem Gedanken gespielt das komplette Projekt abzubrechen, besonders weil es zu einen Zeitpunkt kam, wo ich seit über einem Jahr nichts geschrieben habe. Mein letzter Motivationsschub kam, als ich letztes Jahr wieder angefangen habe Videos zu machen, aber auch dies verflog schnell wieder und ich musste mir folgendes eingestehen: Dies wird nichts mehr!

Besonders, dies wäre ein riesiges Video geworden. Auch unfertig (wobei 90-95% geschrieben sind) bin ich bei bereits 19 Seiten (11.000+ Wörter). Es ist nicht unrealistisch, dass das Video knapp eine Stunde lang hätte werden können… ganz davon abgesehen, dass ich echt keine Lust darauf hätte dies zu editen. Was mich ebenfalls von diesen Video abhält ist, dass es nicht mehr meinen Stil entspricht. Ich will weg von diesen “oberflächlichen” Erzählen und Hinzufügen von Informationen, welche nicht wichtig sind, aber ich der Meinung war, dass sie dazugehören und mich stattdessen richtig mit Inhalt auseinander setzen. Wie in meinem letzten “Jahresrückblick” gesagt: Meine letzten zwei Videos sind für mich das interessanteste, was ich bisher gemacht habe und ich will weiter in diese Richtung gehen und mich verbessern. “Anime 2016” ist ein Rückschritt.

Was schade ist, denn mir bedeutet dieses (nicht existente) Video etwas. 2016 ist das Jahr, wo ich so richtig in Anime reinkam. Nicht nur habe ich meinen Kanal gestartet, sondern ist 2016 auch das Jahr, welches ich, bezüglich alles was mit Anime zu tun hat, aktiv mitverfolgt habe. Ich kam tiefer in die Community rein, fand eine Menge Anime-related Kanäle und auch so fühlte es sich für mich nach mehr an, als “nur” Anime zu sehen. Es wäre ein Rückblick auf das Jahr, ohne welches ich nicht, zumindest in dieser Form, hier wäre.

Allerdings bin ich immer noch bereit meine Meinung hinauszuposaunen und mit diesen Blog als Platform fällt es mir ebenfalls leichter den eigentlichen Sinn dieser Idee zu vermitteln… auch wenn ich ein paar Stellen geplant hatte, welche nur als Video Sinn machen, allerdings darf ich sowieso die Hälfte meines Scripts umschreiben. Manche Sachen sind nicht gut gealtert, wie zum Beispiel Spekulationen auf spätere Staffeln, meine Meinung hat sich über die Jahre noch geändert und auch so wird einiges gekürzt.

Auch werde ich tatsächlich nicht über jeden einzelnen Anime reden. Schauen wir uns doch einmal an, was alles auf der Speisekarte stand:

91 Days

A Silent Voice

Ajin

Alderamin of the Sky

Ange Vierge

Days

Dimension W

Doukyuusei

ERASED

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei!!

Flip Flappers

Garakowa -Restore the World-

Gate

Girlish Number

Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto

High School Fleet

Honobono Log

In this Corner of the World

Izetta: The Last Witch

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

Joker Game

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

Keijo!!!!!!!!

KonoSuba

Long Riders! (Abgebrochen)

Magical Girl Raising Project

Mayoiga

Mob Psycho 100

My Hero Academia

New Game!

Occultic;Nine

Planetarian

Please tell me! Galko-chan

Pokémon Generations

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-

Schwarzesmarken

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Space Patrol Luloco

Tawawa on Monday

Thunderbolt Fantasy (Abgebrochen)

Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou

Your Name.

Yuri!!! on Ice

* Note: Ich habe alle Anime gezählt, welche in 2016 zu Ende gegangen sind, nicht gestartet. Exceptions may apply.

So fein aufgelistet mag es nicht nach viel aussehen, aber spätestens nach dem fünften Anime merkt man den Lauf der Zeit… und dies ist noch nicht alles. In der Zwischenzeit habe ich noch Go! Princess Precure und Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans gesehen, über welche ich aber nicht reden werde. Gleichzeitig habe ich die Einträge für Miraculous und Gravity Falls entfernt. Es mag zwar über Anime gehen, aber wollte ich unbedingt über diese beiden Serien sprechen. Dazu hätten noch Anime wie Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, The Great Passage (Fune wo Amu) und Sweetness & Lightning kommen können, allerdings kam ich nie dazu diese Anime zu sehen, während mich andere Anime wie Bungou Stray Dogs, Drifters, Kiznaiver, Orange und ReLIFE nicht interessiert haben.

Dies soll es aber an Einleitung und Retrospektive sein, denn wir haben eine Menge Anime durchzugehen. Die Reihe ist in drei Teile eingeteilt: Das Gute, das Schlechte und die Awards, angefangen mit den Anime, welche ich alle in guter Erinnerung halte. Die Auflistung ist arbiträr (tatsächlich randomisiert) und soll somit nicht aussagen, dass ich das eine über den anderen halte. Dazu werde ich einige Anime überspringen, zu denen ich nicht viele Worte verlieren kann. Ich hatte ein Segment, wo ich schnell durch Anime durchgegangen bin, aber hier spare ich es mir. Dies betrifft folgende Titel: 91 Days, Ajin, Alderamin of the Sky, Dimension W, My Hero Academia und Planetarian. Kann man sich alles geben, aber mehr habe ich dazu auch nicht zu sagen.

Gut, also fangen wir an ^^.

ERASED

ERASED war ein recht lustiger Fall für mich, weil ich nicht geahnt hätte, dass es so schnell eine große Beliebtheit erlangt, nur um dann nach der erste Folge von der Dualität der Anime Community, und ihrer Fähigkeit, alles wie ein Kampf auf Leben und Tod zu behandeln, überrascht zu werden. Natürlich wirkt ERASED mit seiner visuellen Gestaltung und eher erwachsener Geschichte, sagen wir mal ambitionierter, als andere Vertreter, aber als ich dann die ersten Folgen gesehen habe, fand ich keinen wirklichen Indiz dafür, dass die Diskussion über den Anime solche Proportionen annehmen sollte… na ja, immerhin habe ich dann schnell verstanden, dass man als jemand, welcher Anime normalerweise erst sieht, wenn diese ihre Ausstrahlung beendet haben, sämtliche Diskussion während dessen Laufzeit am besten ignoriert.

So, wie fand ich den Anime jetzt eigentlich?.. Tatsächlich ganz in Ordnung. Auch wenn ich bei keiner Folge, mit Ausnahme der ersten, das Gefühl hatte, dass diese mich besonders ansprach, wollte ich immer weiter schauen, um zu sehen wie sich das Mysterium entfaltet und spannend fand ich den Anime bis zum Ende hin auch noch, wobei man aber anmerken muss, dass ich bis zum Schluss auch nicht wusste, wer der Mörder sei… welches zwar im Nachhinein mehr als nur offensichtlich war, mir aber dennoch nicht aufgefallen ist, weil ich anscheinend blind und taub zugleich bin. Kritischer war ich eher bei allen herum. Auch wenn ich Satorus Interaktionen mit Kayo sehr mochte, wirken alle anderen Charaktere eher gestellt oder unverständlich und wenn man ebenfalls noch bestimmte Plotpunkte genauer hinterfragt, wundert man sich echt, wie es überhaupt zu all dem kam, beginnend bereits mit dem Ende der ersten Folge.

Ich bin mir schon fast sicher, dass ERASED sich bei einen Rewatch sich nicht so gut halten würde, aber bis dahin würde ich sagen, dass der Anime recht solide war und auch bei anderen eher Anklang findet, als beim nächsten Anime.

Izetta: The Last Witch

Izetta: The Last Witch war eine Katastrophe, welche ich bereits von Weitem erkannt, aber gekonnt ignoriert habe. Ich konnte und höchstwahrscheinlich kann es immer noch nicht wirklich erklären, aber irgendwas sagte mir, dass der Anime nach einer sehr guten ersten Hälfte seinen Plot so lange durch den metaphorischen Fleischwolf zieht, bis er in einen großen spektakulären Finale enden kann und dabei fast alles zerstört, was jene erste Hälfte für einen so gut gemacht hat. Reine Spekulation meinerseits natürlich, allerdings war ich anscheinend nicht der Einzige, welcher sich am Ende so gefühlt hat.

Dieses Gefühl ist nämlich furchtbar schade, denn Izetta war einer der wenigen Action-Anime des Jahres, bei denen ich unheimlich viel Spaß hatte, vor allem wenn der Spaß in Form eines Mädchen auf einer Panzerbüchse und bewaffnet mit Torpedos kam, welche unter Flugzeugfeuer “Schiffe versenken” spielt, um Nicht-Schweiz vor Nicht-Deutschland zu verteidigen. Hinzukommen noch zwei sympathische Leads und einen netten Cast von Charakteren und man hat einen Anime, welcher so halb pseudo-politisches Drama und halb over-the-top Action vereint, bei welchen zumindest mir nicht langweilig wurde und selbst die eher makabere zweite Hälfte nicht den Spaß nehmen konnte… Außerdem wurde der Eiffelturm zerstört, welches immer gern gesehen ist.

Please tell me! Galko-chan

Aber genug von Action und Thriller, jetzt ist erst einmal eine große Portion Wholesomeness angesagt. Please tell me! Galko-chan ist wahrscheinlich der Anime, welcher mir das beste Gefühl während des Schauens selber gegeben hat. Was noch in den ersten Folgen so wirkte, als würden drei Mädchen nur komische Fragen bezüglich ihres Körpers diskutieren, entwickelte sich schnell in ein interessantes Bündel voller Charaktere, welche ich alle einfach nur lieb haben konnte.

Von unseren Haupttrio, welche durch ihr konstantes Rumgealber die verschiedensten Facetten ihrer Charaktere zeigen, bis hin zu sämtlichen Charakteren, welche auch nur in einen einzelnen Abschnitt dabei sind. Alles wurde mit einer Menge an Positivität und bestem Gewissen angegangen, dass es mich einfach unglaublich glücklich machte. Dazu führend war nicht nur die brillante Comedy, sondern auch die unterliegende Botschaft, dass man ist, wer man ist, und sich nicht durch andere Leute charakterisieren lassen sollte. Sämtliche Charaktere wirken nämlich auf den ersten Blick wie ein bestimmter Stereotyp, bis man kurz darauf gezeigt bekommt, dass diese viel mehr zu bieten haben, als der erste Eindruck vielleicht andeuten mag, ohne aber dabei zu sehr mit der Moralkeule zu schwingen.

Ich wünschte ich könnte den Anime mit etwas substanzielleren beschreiben als “Es ist unglaublich wholesome und gut und verinnerlicht eine wichtige Message”, aber wenn es so sehr dieses Gefühl in mir auslöst, warum nicht? Es ist genauso wie der nächste Kandidat ein Kurz-Anime, also habt ihr keinen Grund Galko-chan keine Chance zu geben.

Space Patrol Luluco

Space Patrol Luluco ist die relativ bodenständige Geschichte eines Mädchens, welches sich gegen die komplette Welt und mehr auflehnt, um für die Anerkennung ihrer Gefühle zu kämpfen… Es ist ebenfalls ein energiegeladenes Bombardement aus Aliens, Weltraum-Piraten und anderen Trigger-Anime, welche ich zwar noch nicht gesehen habe, aber dennoch irgendwie zum Erlebnis beitrugen. Es ist nicht nur lustig und äußerst kreativ, sondern besitzt auch noch einen fantastischen thematischen Kern, welcher mit voller Hingabe behandelt wird.

All dies wird in komprimierten 7-Minuten Folgen den Zuschauer auf die beste Art vermittelt, die es gibt: Voll in die Fresse, aber mit Nuance… der Anime ist sehr gut. FIGHT FOR JUSTICE!

A Silent Voice

Ich muss ehrlich sein, dies ist der Anime, über welchen es mir am schwersten viel irgendetwas zu sagen. Schaut man ins eigentliche Dokument wird man sehen, dass dort immer noch nichts steht, also muss ich wohl oder übel jetzt mal meine Meinung dazu formulieren.

Ich finde es… lustig mag wahrscheinlich der falsche Begriff sein, dass die meisten Videos über A Silent Voice damit beginnen, dass das Thema vielen Leuten sehr nah geht, weil sie selber einmal gemobbt wurden. Bei mir ist es das genaue Gegenteil. Mit ging das Thema sehr nah, weil ich der Mobber war. Shouya ist zu einen Grad relatable, dass es schon fast wehtut und auch seine restliche Introspektive und Reise sich zu vergeben haben Potential sehr tief zu treffen, ganz geschweige von was Shouko, ihre Schwester oder auch einige der anderen Charaktere durchmachen. Der Film geht mit einer Nuance an das Thema ran, welche ich mir wirklich mehr von anderen Geschichten erhoffe.

Es ist ein wenig schade, dass der Film so schnell alle Bände des Manga adaptiert und einiges aus Zeitgründen überspringen muss, denn auch wenn die audio-visuelle Aufmachung fantastisch ist, mir einige Sachen, wie die Szene auf der Brücke, wo sich alle wieder zerstritten haben, immer noch negativ heraussticht. Nichtsdestotrotz ist A Silent Voice ein grandioser Film, welchen ich jeden nur wärmstens ans Herz legen kann.

In this Corner of the World

Ich habe das Gefühl, dass das Slice-of-Life Genre einen zu unrecht schlechten Ruf hat. Es sei langweilig und uninteressant, nur weil es sich mit keiner “richtigen” Story präsentieren kann. Was man mit dieser Denkweise aber übersieht, ist dass manche Geschichten nur das alltägliche Leben zeichnen kann und eine dieser Geschichten ist das Leben von Suzu und wie sie immer wieder versucht das beste aus ihren Leben zu machen, auch wenn ihre Situation alles andere als rosige Aussichten hat. Der Film lässt sich Zeit und so ganz genau weiß ich auch nicht, worüber ich reden kann. Man lernt einfach unglaublich viel über das Leben von Suzu und ihr selbst, immer mit den Hintergedanken, dass man nicht genau weiß was und wann etwas als nächstes auf ihr zu kommt.

Alles in einem, ein sehr guter und vor allem visuell hervorragender Slice-of-Life Film mit einigen sehr starken emotionalen Momenten, welche mich gegen jeder Erwartung mehr mitgerissen haben, als sie sollten und ein sehr interessantes Bild Japans zur Zeit des zweiten Weltkrieges zeichnen.

Pokémon Generations

Aufgrund komplett arbiträrer Regeln werde ich nicht über den Pokémon XY und Sonne und Mond Anime reden, allerdings war die Adaption der damals neusten Spiele nicht das einzige Pokémon, was man 2016 bekam. Häufige Kritikpunkte der Anime-Serie sind, dass diese nicht die vielen kleineren und größeren Höhepunkte der Spiele einfängt und dass die Darstellung der Pokémon Welt öfters weniger düster und gewalttätig sei. 2013 haben wir bereits mit den Pokémon: The Origin OVAs einen anderen Blickwinkel auf Pokémon bekommen, welcher bei vielen Fans mehr Anklang gefunden hat und nun kommt Pokémon Generations ins Spiel, welches die Belange der Fans aufgreift und sich eher an Origin orientiert.

Eine Art Anthology kleinerer und größerer Geschichten aus den kompletten Pokémon Universum der ersten sechs Generationen, jede einzelne Folge komplett unterschiedlich in Ton und Struktur von der nächsten. Für jemanden, welcher ebenfalls großer Fan der Spiele ist, sei Pokémon Generations reinster Fanservice, welcher einige Aspekte der Pokémon-Welt besser verdeutlicht, oder in ein neues Licht rückt und selbst ohne jeglichen Wissen über Pokémon fundieren einige Episoden als beeindruckende Kurz-Filme, besonders, aber nicht nur beschränkt auf Folge 10 – The Old Chateau.

Für alle Pokémon Fans und oder diejenigen, welche eine Art Best-Of des Pokémon Universums sehen wollen, kann ich Generations nur empfehlen… ihr solltet euch dennoch den Sonne und Mond Anime anschauen, ihr Feiglinge ^^.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

Es ist schon beinahe amüsant, wie viel Zeit vergangen ist, dass ich inzwischen den kompletten JoJo’s Anime schauen konnte (Part 6 ausgeschlossen) und nach der persönlichen Enttäuschung, welche Stardust Crusaders für mich darstellte, war Diamond is Unbreakable wieder eine sehr gute Wiedergutmachung. Josuke ist einfach ein erstklassiger JoJo, untermalt durch den bisher besten Cast an Nebencharakteren und Antagonisten, die Stadt Morioh fühlt sich nach den 39 Folgen wie ein echter, belebter Ort an, die Kämpfe und Konflikte waren gefühlt nicht nur kreativer, sondern auch abwechslungsreicher als die in den vorherigen Teilen, Yoshikage Kira ist eine absolute Legende mit der bisher interessantesten Storyline und, und, und.

Es gibt einfach so viel, was man an diesem Part und seinen besonderen Vibe lieben kann und der einzige wirkliche Kritikpunkt ist der, dass ich das Finale, unter anderen durch das Auftreten dieses Kollegen hier *hier sich ein Bild eines Krankenwagens denken*, jetzt nicht wirklich schlecht fand… er aber im Vergleich zum Rest des Anime einfach als weniger beeindruckend heraussticht. Und auch wenn Golden Wind einiges besser macht als Diamond is Unbreakable, bleibt jener bisher mein Lieblingsteil von JoJo, denn… er ist einfach Just Gureato.

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-

Das Problem für mich bei den meisten Isekai-Geschichten ist, dass es einen Mangel an langwierigen Konflikten gibt, welche sich nicht nur in der eigentlichen Handlung, sondern auch in den Charakteren wiederfinden lassen. Der Reiz in Isekai besteht bei mir nicht durch diese “Power-Fantasy”, welche manche Leute ausgerechnet in einen passiven Medium wie Anime suchen, oder in irgendeiner Form des Eskapismus, sondern inwiefern sich Charaktere in ihrer neuen Umgebung zurecht finden, entwickeln und ihre eigene Geschichte schreiben, wozu sie in ihren normalen Leben nicht in der Lage wären.

Und mit diesen Wissen sollte es glaube ich verständlicher sein, warum ich Re:Zero so grundlegend interessant finde. Subaru ist am Anfang des Anime einfach ein schlechter Mensch. Er ist eingebildet und denkt er kann alles bewältigen und es ist nicht nur befriedigend zu sehen, wie er immer und wieder aufs Neue gezeigt bekommt, dass er in seiner Ansicht von sich selbst falsch liegt, sondern sich auch diesbezüglich ändert und bessert.

Also ja, ich gehöre zur der Fraktion, welche Subaru als Charakter tatsächlich leiden kann, wobei man aber auch sagen muss, dass ich anderer Leute Ansicht teile, dass ihm viel zu leicht “verziehen” wird, wobei dies aber für mich nicht das Motiv seiner Entwicklung vermindert. Leider gibt es über Subaru hinweg wenige Charaktere, welche bisher eine ähnliche Tiefe besitzen. Sowohl Emilia, als auch vor allem Rem hatten zwar einige echt starke Szenen, aber die restlichen Charaktere schienen den Großteil der Zeit einfach nur da zu sein, welches Schade ist, denn ist wird vieles angedeutet und hoffentlich wird dies auch in der zweiten Staffel aufgenommen, aber so wie es jetzt ist, wirkt Re:Zero nur wie die Geschichte eines selbstgefälligen jungen Mannes, wessen neues Umfeld sowohl die besten, als auch schlechtesten Seiten von ihm zu Tage bringen und er versucht sich in jenes einzubinden… welches ich tatsächlich bereits ganz nett finde.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

Wenn man beobachtet, welche gewissen Tropen ich in Anime dulde, kann man zum Schluss kommen, dass ich ein Unterstützer der “Rule of Cool” sei, dem Prinzip, dass wenn etwas ein Grad an Coolness erreicht, selbst die fragwürdigsten Ereignisse nicht mehr die eigene Immersion brechen. Ich habe mal versucht dies anhand von Princess Principal zu erklären, bin da aber nicht auf einen Fall eingegangen, welcher mir selber bei Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress aufgefallen ist: Wenn etwas zwar cool ist, aber nicht immer cool genug und man nun dieses Gefühl verspürt, dass man zwar beim Schauen eine gute Zeit hat, man im Hinterkopf aber dennoch mehr darüber nachdenkt, als man selber in diesen Moment vielleicht will und man so nun diese divergent Mischung aus “Ja man, das ist ziemlich cool” und “Moment mal… was?” im Kopf schwirren hat und man sich nicht wirklich entscheiden kann, wie man sich nun fühlen soll… zumindest war dies meine Erfahrung mit Kabaneri.

Mir gefiel die erste Hälfte wirklich gut. Mit dem Zwei-Teiler an Pilot-Episode, welcher den Plot mit einen gewaltigen BÄÄÄM auf die richtige Schiene lockte und in die wirklich interessante Welt von Kabaneri ausfahren ließ, sich immer weiter steigerte und dann in Folge 7 seinen Höhepunkt erreichte, bis es danach durch die Einführung von Biba entgleist und in einen großen Knall explodierte. Ich will mehr von der Welt und den Charakteren erfahren, wie diese und ihre Geheimnisse erforscht werden und nicht zuschauen, wie ein Typ andere Menschen emotional missbraucht und im gleichen Atemzug versucht das Shogunat wieder aufzubauen, oder so… Na ja, trotz aller Probleme dennoch sehr unterhaltend.

Joker Game

Ich finde es wirklich schade, dass es nicht mehr Anime gibt, welche ihre Geschichte in einer episodischen Struktur erzählen, denn es gibt einige Vorteile seine eigenen Handlungsstränge stärker voneinander abzukapseln, und viele davon kann man an Joker Game beobachten. Während die “relevanten” Folgen zwar die Spionage-Agentur und ihre Rolle in der eigenen Geschichte behandeln, sind es eher die episodischen Geschichten, welche einen das Gefühl geben, worüber Joker Game eigentlich ist, und zwar die einzelnen Aufträge der D-Agency, und wie jeder einzelne auf seine eigenen Art ausgeführt wird, und so am Ende viel mehr zum Ganzen beiträgt, als wäre alles ineinander verbunden.

Dies gilt vor allem wenn die ersten zwei Folgen, welche Ton, Themen und Setting etablieren, nicht wirklich gut, und die episodischen Geschichten einfach vom Inhalt interessanter sind. Man muss aber auch sagen, dass Joker Game in dieser Hinsicht überwiegend Hit-or-Miss ist, da die meisten Mitglieder der Agentur nicht die interessantesten Persönlichkeiten sind und es nur zwei Folgen gibt, welche zumindest mir wirklich länger im Gedächtnis blieben, namentlich “Asia Express” und “Code Name: Cerberus”. Für alle, denen einzelne schlechtere Episoden nichts ausmachen und einen oberflächlich erwachseneren Anime über Spionage sehen wollen, nur zu.

Girlish Number

Girlish Number gibt einen zynischen, aber mindestens genauso interessanten Einblick in eine Anime Produktion, welche anstatt von Liebe und Leidenschaft durch Gier und Desinteresse geleitet ist. Dabei setzt es uns in die Schuhe von Chitose Karasuma, ihres Namen Anwärterin auf den Titel der verrottetesten Person auf Erden und wie sie und ihre Kollegen die Höhen und überwiegend Tiefen ihres ersten Einsatzes als Synchronsprecherin überwältigen.

Was den Anime nämlich so ansprechend für mich macht, sind die verschieden Standpunkte der Charaktere zur ihrer Situation, auch wenn die sehr gute Portion an Zynik das Gesamtpaket besser runtergehen lassen tut. Chitose wurde durch reinen Zufall die Stimme der Hauptcharakterin zugeteilt, lässt sich dafür aber dennoch ohne Ende feiern und bemüht sich nur für das Allernötigste. Währenddessen ist diese Katastrophe an Produktion für einige eventuell das Sprungbrett, um endlich Fuß in der Anime-Industrie fassen zu können und für andere hingegen ist es einfach nur ein weiterer Job in ihrer Karriere. Aus diesen verschiedenen Ansichtsweisen heraus entsteht interessantes Drama, sowohl zwischen den Charakteren, als auch für den Einzelnen, welches sich sehr gut in den Verlauf des Anime eingliedert. Die zweite Hälfte, welche sich mit jenen Drama beschäftigt, mag zwar für einige den Reiz der ersten Hälfte verlieren, aber es ist dennoch sehr befriedigend zu sehen, wie der Werdegang der Charaktere diese verändert und auch zum besseren wandelt.

Oder nochmal in Kurz, weil ich scheinbar nicht in der Lage bin zu erklären, was so toll an Girlish Number ist: Chitose ist einfach ein Icon, es wird mit der Zynik nicht übertrieben und zwischen all den Wahnsinn versteckt sich ein packendes Drama mit ausgearbeiteten Charakteren. Ich weiß nicht, wie gut es im Vergleich zu Shirobako oder Seiyu’s Life! steht, aber alleine genommen ist es jedenfalls sehr sehenswert. Außerdem, die Ironie, dass die Adaption des Spin-Off Manga, Girlish Number Shura, aufgrund von Produktionsschwierigkeiten abgesagt werden musste, ist mir nicht entgangen.

Keijo!!!!!!!!

Lasst mich mal jetzt über einen Sport-Anime reden, den ich unironisch feiere. Keijo!!!!!!!!, mit stolzen 8 Ausrufezeichen, ist gefühlt alles, was ich insbesondere von einem Sport in Anime sehen möchte. Es folgt zwar vergleichbaren Schritten wie andere Sport-Narrativen, rekontextualisiert diese aber in eine Welt, wo es diesen erfunden Sport namens Keijo gibt, welcher öfters mal gerne die Grenzen des menschlich machbaren sprengt, einfach um zu demonstrieren, wie aufregend der Sport alleine schon in seiner Theorie ist.

Diese Energie findet sich auch in den Charakteren wieder, welche alle diese “Get shit done” Mentalität ausstrahlen und nicht erst 3 Folgen weinen müssen, bevor sie zur Sache kommen, was dann auch unter anderen die Rivalitäten und sämtliche Begegnungen einfach aufregender machen. Denn wenn man weiß, dass alle den gleichen Ehrgeiz besitzen und man nicht in Vorhinein dazu veranlagt ist den Protagonisten anzufeuern, ermöglicht dies neue Möglichkeiten den Ausgang des Matches darzustellen. Natürlich kann man sagen, dass es immer noch vorhersehbar war, wer nun tatsächlich gewinnen wird, aber zu behaupten, dass dies nicht auf unerwarteter Weise passiert, wäre naiv anzunehmen.

Hier eine gute Überleitung einfügen, um über die Matches zu reden, denn meine Güte waren diese speziell. Der Kommentar, dass Keijo manchmal die Grenzen des menschlich machbaren sprengt, war eine lächerliche Untertreibung. Jedes Mädchen hat da irgendeine Superkraft, welche fast JoJo-Levels an Absurdität erreichen und gefühlt so spielen sich auch die meisten Matches ab. So unkompliziert Keijo als Sport auch wirkt, stecken in jeder Begegnung ein erstaunliches Maß an Wissen über den Gegner, Taktik und Berücksichtigung des Geländes, was das Ganze zu viel mehr macht, als nur ein stumpfes Kräftemessen.

Also ja, egal wie verrückt es klingt, ich muss zugeben, dass dieser Anime über einen Sport, wo es darum geht, seinen Gegner ausschließlich mit entweder seiner Brust oder den Gesäß von einer, im Wasser schwimmenden, Platform zu stoßen, mir sehr gefallen hat. Im echten Leben sieht das ganze zwar etwas unspektakulärer aus, aber dennoch, Godspeed ~~Japan~~ Portugal, Godspeed.

New Game!

Cute Girls Doing Cute Things. Ein Sub-Genre, wessen ich am Anfang nicht so wirklich die Chance geben wollte. Nicht aufgrund irgendwelcher, aus der Luft gegriffenen, Vorurteile, sondern einfach weil ich meine Zweifel daran hatte, wie unterhaltend es sein könnte eine Gruppe süßer Mädchen zuzuschauen, wie diese ein Videospiel entwickeln. Die Antwort darauf sollte wahrscheinlich niemanden mehr schockieren: Es ist brilliant und wurde mit der Zeit nur besser!

New Game! konfrontiert einen mit der Situation, dass, wenn man sich plötzlich inmitten seines Traumes befindet und umgeben von Leuten ist, dessen Arbeit man respektiert, sich nun selber seinen Platz in dieser Industrie suchen muss, man aber ebenso alle Schwierigkeiten, welche einen in den Weg gelegt werden, bewältigen kann und, im Gegensatz zu Girlish Number, gehen die Mädchen aus New Game! dies mit vollem Optimismus an.

Alles wird in dieser schönen und entspannten Atmosphäre dargestellt, was das ganze ein äußerst angenehmes Erlebnis zu schauen macht. Ich meine, ist jetzt auch nicht so, als ob man nur sieht, wie alle in einer Regenbogenwelt arbeiten, aber meistens beobachtet man eher, wie alle miteinander eine gute Zeit und Spaß haben. Und um ehrlich zu sein, manchmal ist es genau dies, zu sehen, wie süße Mädchen ihr bestes geben, um die Träume von ihnen und anderen in Erfüllung zu bringen, was das Leben erst lebenswert macht. Ok, vielleicht nicht ganz so dramatisch, aber ich würde dennoch sagen, dass der Anime mich auf eine komische Weise positiv beeinflusst hat und selbst wenn, New Game! hat mich mindestens dazu gebracht mehr ähnliche Anime aus zu probieren. Also egal wie man es sehen mag, für mich war es eine rundum gute Erfahrung.

Occultic;Nine

Was ebenfalls eine Erfahrung war, ist Occultic;Nine – ein Anime so überladen mit Ideen, dass sogar die Charaktere auf zweifacher Geschwindigkeit reden mussten, damit alles reinpasst… und… ich mochte jede einzelne Sekunde davon.

Die Struktur von Occultic;Nine ist reines Chaos. Es gibt so viele Handlungsstränge, alle aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven und die Hälfte der Zeit hat man absolut keinen Plan, wie alles miteinander zusammenhängen soll und dennoch hat mir diese Art der Erzählung gefallen. Ich weiß nicht, ob es daran lag, dass mir individuell die Charaktere sympathisch und die pure Menge an faszinierenden Ideen zugute kamen, aber der ganze Anime war einfach ein wunderbarer Trip, untermalt mit einer sonderbaren Darstellung in sowohl Animation, als auch Sound. Es fühlt sich irgendwie falsch an, gut von einen Anime reden zu wollen, wenn man jenen selber im letzten Drittel nicht mehr wirklich folgen konnte, aber hey, irgendwas muss mich ja anscheinend an Occultic;Nine gefesselt haben, also bleibe ich einfach mal so lange ignorant, bis ich es verstehen kann.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. Eine Geschichte gefüllt mit soviel Menschlichkeit und Liebe für das Geschichtenerzählen, dass ich es den Anime wohl kaum recht machen kann. Oberflächlich nur eine Nacherzählung des Lebens eines Rakugo Performers, zeigt Rakugo eine Geschichte über menschliche Verbindung, Liebe und wie die Kunst des Rakugos das Leben mehrerer Personen verändert. Alles mit einen Auge fürs Detail und Feingefühl für jede noch so kleine Aktion, untermalt mit Motiven wie der Natur des Geschichtenerzählens, der Tradition und des Fortschrittes, als auch der Sexualität und emotionalen Missbrauchs.

Es ist erfrischend ein erwachsenes Drama zu sehen, dessen Konflikte kein Resultat mangelnder Kommunikation zwischen Teenagern ist, sondern eher eine notwendige Folge der Schwächen und Fehler der Charaktere. Yakumo und Sukeroku sind einfach so ein liebhaftes Duo, wessen Entwicklung mit allen Höhen und Tiefen äußerst packend dargestellt wird und mit der Einführung von Miyokichi entstand eine Tragödie, welche ihres Gleichen sucht. Die Tiefe jenes wird durch die Ergänzung der zweiten Staffel auf eine neue Ebene erhebt und mit einen ebenso komplexen Charakter ergänzt.

Neben der wunderbaren Geschichte, erhält man zusätzlich noch einen bezaubernden Einblick in die Welt des Rakugos, wessen einzelne Aufführungen auch kontextlos einen beeindrucken können. Wenn es nur einen Anime aus 2016 gäbe, welcher über die Jahre hinweg in Erinnerung bleiben soll, dann wünschte ich, sei es Rakugo, allerdings war es ein anderer Anime aus diesen Jahr, welcher geboren wurde, um Geschichte zu schreiben… dies ist mit Abstand die schlimmste Überleitung im gesamten Script, also musste ich sie hier einbinden…

Yuri!!! on Ice

Heh, m-more like Yaoi!!! on Ice, amiright? *gets shot*

So sehr ich den puren Hype und Wettbewerbsgeist in Keijo!!!!!!!! feiere, muss ich dennoch sagen, dass mir der menschliche und zwischen-menschliche Aspekt in Sportnarrativen eher zusagt und wenn es eines gibt, was Yuri!!! on Ice konsistent rüberbringt, dann sind es Charaktere, welche rund um den Eiskunstlauf und dessen Gemeinschaft aufgebaut sind. Es gibt so viele Charaktere, dessen selbst geringe Screentime einen Eindruck hinterlassen und deren Performances nicht nur Show, sondern eine Erweiterung und Einblick in ihren Charakter sind.

Alles in diesen Anime baut so gut aufeinander auf. Von der Rivalität zwischen Yuuri und Yuri, der Aufstieg in die Meisterschaft, die Beziehung mit Victor, das Finale und im gleichen Atemzug haut es ebenfalls einen mit Sachen wie Versagensängsten und das Entwickeln von Freundschaften um. Es ist echt schön diese Art von Story auf einen so hohen Niveau ausgeführt zu sehen, und ich hoffe, dass ähnliche Anime bald folgen werden. Daher ist es beinahe schon ein bisschen schade, dass dieser Aspekt zum Ende hin ein wenig unter ging, sich die Performances ein wenig zogen und scheinbar alle nur noch Augen für die Beziehung zwischen Yuuri und Victor hatten, welche meines Erachtens insgesamt ein wenig zu kurz kam. Dennoch schön die Normalisierung gleichgeschlechtlicher Paare in Anime zu sehen *ignoriert gekonnt die zwei nächsten Einträge*.

Doukyuusei

Coming of Age ist für mich irgendwie ein komisches Konzept. Der Werdegang seiner eigenen Veränderung, um schlussendlich in einen neuen Abschnitt seines Lebens zu gehen, fühlt sich für mich grundlegend zu sehr wie eine emotionale Erfahrung an, als dass man diese durch herkömmliche Mittel darstellen könne. Dennoch ist dies so weit verbreitet, dass es ein eigenes Subgenre sein kann, mit schier unvorstellbar vielen Variationen.

Aber vielleicht ist es auch genau dies, das Erfahren anderer Perspektiven, welche einen selber Einblick zu sich selbst bieten. Coming of Age… wann ist man denn gealtert? Ist es ein Prozess, oder doch eher eine Einstellung, mit welcher man ans Leben ran geht, oder ist es am Ende doch nur eine einzelne Erfahrung, welche sich immer anders wiederholt? Die eigene Zukunft hält Unsicherheit parat, doch muss man sie selber mit seinen Entscheidungen akzeptieren und dennoch scheint das Ablehnen seinen Reiz zu haben. Die Welt verändert sich, schreitet stetig fort, doch der Wandel ist dieses unaufhaltbar Mystische, welches man sich stellen will, einen aber öfters die Kraft fehlt. Man weiß nicht was passiert. Woher denn auch, wenn man nie in dieser Position war und niemals wieder in dieser Position sein wird?

Kind, Jugendlicher, Erwachsener, all diese Vorstellungen wirken so fremd, so bedrückend. Man weiß es erst, wenn es zu spät ist, doch ist es eine gute Sache. Man schreitet voran. Doukyuusei war ohne Frage eine emotionale Erfahrung für mich, wenn auch vielleicht eher im Nachhinein und komplett abgeschottet von was eigentlich passiert, aber dennoch eine Erfahrung. Coming of Age ist ein komisches Konzept. Doukyuusei eine interessante Erklärung.

Flip Flappers

Manchmal kommt man an einen Punkt, wo man sich eingestehen muss, dass man den Anime genügend verstanden hat um zu erkennen, dass man ihn entweder überhaupt nicht verstanden hat, oder dass einem immerhin eine Menge über den Kopf geflogen ist. Flip Flappers ist, geringstenfalls oberflächlich, ein total spaßiger Abenteuer-Ritt durch die phantasievollsten Welten, begleitet durch ein mindestens genauso spaßiges Duo, welches durchgehend zwischen „Unglaublich cool“ und „Absolutes Desaster“ rumschwankt und auch wenn mir dies bereits völlig gereicht hat, um eine Mordszeit zu haben, konnte ich nicht den Gedanken abschütteln, dass ich etwas übersehe oder verpasse.

Es ist nicht einmal so, als ob Flip Flappers besonders versucht dies zu obfuskieren, oder dergleichen und spätestens in den letzten Folgen wird jenes auch in expliziterer Form behandelt, aber ich hatte durchgehend das Gefühl, als ob da mehr sein müsste, was mein Auge erblickt. Letzten Endes kann ich mir aber auch nicht sicher sein, ob das wirklich der Fall ist, oder ob Flip Flappers vielleicht doch nur so ein metaphysikalisches Arthouse Gedöns ist, dessen Ästhetik die komplette Substanz ausmacht. Ich meine und hoffe nicht, doch kann ich es im Moment nicht sicher sagen.

Es stört mich aber auch nicht, denn schlimmsten Fall ist Flip Flappers ein unglaublich spaßiger Anime, dessen Kreativität nur so überschäumt und im besten Fall verändert der Anime seine Vorstellung von sich selbst auf eine rückwirkend sehr befriedigende Weise, oder was auch immer ich mir da genau vorstelle, denn ich weiß es nicht. Egal wie ihr es sieht, aber für mich wirkt dies wie eine vollkommene Win-Win Situation. Zeigen wird es sich nur, wenn ich irgendwann mal dazu komme Flip Flappers erneut zu schauen, denn der Rewatch ist eindeutig überfällig.

Mob Psycho 100

Ich glaube, der Wunsch sich selbst zu bessern, ist relativ allgemein. Dass das, was einem besonders macht für einen selber vielleicht unwichtig ist und dass man hin und wieder einfach eine helfende Hand braucht.

Superkräfte können öfters als narratives Mittel dazu dienen, um die “Seele” eines Charakters Form zu geben und mit Ausnahme einiger Fälle, wo dies wortwörtlich zu nehmen ist, scheint Mob Psycho 100 aber in eine leicht andere Richtung zu gehen. Diese wunderbare Zimtschnecke (siehe oben), welche zu gut für die Welt ist, versucht einfach ein besserer Mensch zu werden, indem er ganz normale alltägliche Dinge tut und zu anderen hinaufschaut, statt großartig seine Kräfte zu benutzen, denn für Mob sind sie nicht so wichtig.

Der wohl im Nachhinein für mich bedeutendste Moment war, als er sich gegen den nichts-tuenden Telepathie-Club entschied und stattdessen anfing mit den Körperverbesserungs-Club zu trainieren und kurz darauf bemerkt, dass diese Bois die nettesten und unterstützenden Menschen im Umkreis von 20.000 Kilometern sind, welche kein Problem damit haben ihm zu helfen. Gleichfalls versucht Mob die Menschen um ihn herum zu ändern und auch wenn in den mehr energetischen Konflikten der Einsatz seiner Kräfte benötigt wird, ist es dennoch sein menschlicher Aspekt, welcher letzten Endes zu den anderen durchdringt.

Mob ist einfach die Personifikation des Guten im Menschen, welches das Zusammenspiel mit anderen Charakteren wirklich interessant macht. Reigen hingegen ist… keine gute Person, Fragezeichen? Er ist ohne Zweifel ein Lügner und Schwindler, schafft aber es dennoch anderen Menschen genau das zu geben was sie eigentlich brauchen und besonders seine Beziehung zu Mob besitzt so viele verschiedene Ebenen, weil es öfters so wirkt, als ob er Mob mehr brauchen würde, als Mob ihm, egal wie viel Weisheit und Rat er für das Leben parat hält.

Außerdem besitzt er wohl die stärkste Kraft im ganzen Anime: Ein halbwegs funktionaler Erwachsener zu sein. Reigen ist einfach so oft in manchen Szenen ein absolutes Vorbild. Zugegeben, vielleicht nicht das beste Vorbild, aber definitiv ein Vorbild. Thematisch mag sich Mob Psycho 100 vielleicht gar nicht mal so sehr von anderen Genrevertretern unterscheiden, aber durch seine Aufmachung fühlt es sich deutlicher näher und weltlicher an. Es ist ein Appell an das Gute im Menschen und wie jeder eine zweite Chance verdient.

Und denkt dran: Ihr seid der Protagonist eures eigenen Lebens. Macht das beste daraus!

Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou

Neben A Silent Voice gab es noch einen zweiten Anime, zu welchem ich ursrünglich nichts geschrieben habe. Bei Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou war dies aber gewollt. Mein ursprünglicher Plan war es einfach ein Tonkazsu zu kochen, während Rainy Lenny im Hintergrund läuft. Ich weiß, ich weiß, die Academy darf mir den Oscar gerne nachreichen.

Allgemein sehr chillige, man mag sie beinahe cool nennen, Vibes über einen Jungen, welcher sich seiner Interessen bewusst wird und in eine Gemneinschaft aufgenommen wird, inwelcher er sich nach besten Willen ausleben kann. Ich habe zwar überhaupt nichts mit Musik, gezweige den DJ-ing, am Hut, aber gibt es einen interessanten Einblick in ein Welt, welche, zu mindest mir, recht fremd ist.

Der eher “minimlitsische” Zeichenstil und die generelle Aufmachung mag vielleicht nicht für jeden sein, aber Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou ist garantiert einer der leider zu unrecht übersehene Anime des Jahres. Chill out.

KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!

Wisst ihr, das Script ist wortwörtlich über die Jahre durch einige Änderungen gegangen. Anfangs wollte ich eine einfache Top 10 machen, zwischenzeitlich dachte ich auch, dass es eine gute Idee wäre irgendwie die Crunchyrolls Anime Awards zu adaptieren und letztlich bin ich zum Schluss gekommen, dass kein Format das beste Format ist. Dennoch wusste ich schon bereits von Tag Eins an, dass ein gewisser Anime den besten Platz bekommen würde.

KonoSuba ist für mich deutlich mehr, als nur ein einfacher Comedy-Anime. Ich habe bereits erwähnt, dass manche Serien besonders durch ihren Cast an Charakteren erhoben werden und für mich ist dies nirgendswo deutlicher als in KonoSuba. Die Charaktere haben so eine gute Chemie miteinander und selbstverständlich spiegelt sich das in der Comedy und der generell fröhlichen und spaßigen Stimmung wieder, für welche es wohl am ehesten bekannt ist, aber gleichzeitig schaffen sie es, dass ich mich auf eine merkwürdige Art schon fast emotional investiert fühle.

Die erste Montage, in welcher Kazuma und Aqua einfach bei der Stadtreparatur mithelfen und sich mit den Einwohner anfreunden, ist einer von vielen fantastischen charakterbildenden Momenten, welche den ganzen Anime lebendig wirken lassen. Ähnlich wird man später dazu mitgerissen Megumin auf ihrer Reise, die beste Explosionsmagierin zu werden, anzufeuern, weil man so oft sieht, wie viel ihr es bedeutet und der Rest der Truppe tatsächlich darauf aufbaut und ihr hilft. Selbst Darkness horny-on-main-Attitüde wird erstaunlich differenziert ausgenutzt, um aus mir mehr Lacher rauszuholen, als eventuell verdient.

Dann gibt es eine Szene, welche tatsächlich das emotional in das “emotional investiert” brachte, indem Kazuma einfach komplett ehrlich zugibt, dass er seine neu gefundenen Freunde vermissen wird, als er stirbt. Ich meine, dass sind vier komplette Vollidioten, welche nur irgendwas gerissen kriegen, weil Zufall und Chaos es so wollen. Warum fühle ich Gefühle? Dann aber im nächsten Atemzug wird Kazuma wiederbelebt und schreit Aqua an, oder so und ich liege wieder lachend auf dem Boden, weil… ich liebe diese Idioten. Sie sind lustig, kindisch und manchmal sogar straight up petty, können aber auch unironisch gefühlsvoll oder episch sein. Am meisten aber schaffen sie es mich immer zum lachen zu bringen.

Dies kann tatsächlich auf alles in KonoSuba angewendet werden. Auf die reichlich anderen Charaktere, die Quests und selbst auf die Stadt in der sie leben, weil dieser Ort und seine Einwohner auch ohne das Einmischen unseres Quartetts genügend verrückte Ereignisse parat halten, um alleine zu funktionieren. Diese besondere Ausstrahlung des kompletten Anime überschattet sogar, dass der Plot sich quasi nur im Kreis dreht und die Charaktere auf den ersten Blick sehr oberflächlich wirken, denn Kazuma ist einfach ein sarkastisches Arschloch, welchem es nur hilft, dass er mindestens genauso viel einstecken darf, wie er austeilt. Aqua ist eine nichtsnutzige Göttin, welche durchgehend weint und ihren Kummer in Alkohol ertränkt (We stan). Megumin ist wortwörtlich ein süßes One-Trick-Pony und Darkness ist einfach nur masochistisch mit sehr großen M. Aber wie gesagt, ich bekam beim Schauen nach der Zeit dann eine immer besseren Erfahrung.

KonoSuba ist Comedy, dass kann und will ich nicht abschreiben. Im Gegenteil, ich finde es unglaublich lustig, aber kann es leider nicht wirklich in Worte fassen. Ich meine, als ich KonoSuba zum ersten Mal gesehen habe, musste ich irgendwann so hart lachen, dass ich keine Luft mehr bekam und mein Bruder panisch ins Zimmer rannte, um zu nachzuschauen, ob noch alles (körperlich) gut mit mir sei. Dies ist ein Flex, welche nicht viele Anime von sich geben können. Allerdings weiß ich auch nicht wie sinnvoll es ist über die Comedy zu reden, denn für mich ist es einfach so viel mehr, mit… nun ja, mehr Tiefe, mehr Emotion, mehr Alles, was mich so freudig auf den Anime zurückblicken lassen tut. Ich will es fast als wholesome bezeichnen, allerdings wird dies kaum mit meiner Beschreibung durchgehen, und erst recht nicht mit den Kram, was im Anime eigentlich passiert.

So, habe ich es geschafft fast eine ganze Seite zu schreiben, ohne wirklich ein Argument dafür zu machen, warum ich denke KonoSuba sei gut? Ehh, vielleicht? Allerdings ist KonoSuba auch ohne Frage mein Anime des Jahres und dies wird mir niemand nehmen können, also… ja.

Weiter geht es im nächsten Teil, wo ich über die nicht allzu guten Anime aus dem Jahr 2016 spreche.

Das Übersetzen von Sakura Sadist

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 00:15:00 +0100

Ach ja, wie sonst auch alles in meinen Leben, welches ich früher oder später ernst nahm und Zeit darin investierte, fing es mit einen Witz an. Ein Kumpel schickte mir einen Link zu einem Humble Bundle der Sakura Visual Novels, ich kaufe es mir aus Spaß und um den ganzen noch die Krone aufzusetzen, nehme ich den Anfang auf und lade es auf YouTube hoch. Aber selbstverständlich kann ich es nicht einfach so aufnehmen und habe deshalb beschlossen alles im Vorhinein zu übersetzen, damit ich für fünf Sekunden den Anschein erwecke, ich könnte so gut live übersetzen, bevor man schließlich auf die Idee kommt, dass ich es vorher übersetzt habe. Das und man muss nicht mein gebrochenes Englisch ertragen… ich tue euch allen ein Gefallen.

Als Fortsetzung des Witzes nehme ich den Rest der Visual Novel nun mit zwei anderen Freunden auf und habe infolge dessen weitere Teile übersetzt und plane dies auch bis zum Ende durchzuziehen. Technisch gesehen keine 100% Übersetzung, aber zumindest die eine Route, welche wir spielen. Über die Zeit habe ich ein wenig Erfahrung gesammelt und möchte diese gerne hier mit der Welt (maximal zwei Personen) teilen.

Vorab, für die, welche mich nicht kennen und irgendwie auf diesen Post gelandet sind: Ich bin kein professioneller Übersetzer, noch habe ich jemals an irgendwelchen Übersetzungen gearbeitet, egal ob im Fan-Bereich oder sonst was. Ich habe diese Übersetzung aus Spaß angefangen, werde sie aus Spaß beenden und in keiner Form (Außer den Videos auf YouTube) veröffentlichen. Einerseits, weil ich die Übersetzung nicht zu einen Grad überarbeitet habe, dass ich dies mit guten Gewissen machen könnte und zweitens, weil es, glaube ich, nicht mal ganz legal wäre.

Und nun zum eigentlichen Post. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt (Stand Folge 7) habe ich bereits ungefähr 24.801 Wörter übersetzt… bzw. in 24.801 Wörter, welches irgendwo bei über 3/4 der gesamten Visual Novel liegen sollte. Benötigte Zeit: ca. 50 Stunden. Übersetzen ist ein ziemlich zeitintensiver Aufwand. Zugegeben, ich mache es mir eventuell schwerer als ich müsste, aber dazu später. Gleichzeitig bin ich aber bereits ziemlich stolz auf die Menge meiner Arbeit. Ich meine, es ist quasi die Hälfte eines kurzen Buches, welches ich hier übersetzt habe.

Bevor auch nur ein einziges Wort übersetzt wird

Eine Schwierigkeit, welche ich bewältigen musste, war nicht einmal die eigentliche Übersetzung, sondern wie sie entsteht. Sakura Sadist ist kein Buch, dessen Text frei zugänglich ist und erneut in Buchform wiedergegeben werden kann, sondern ein Spiel, bzw. eine Visual Novel. An den eigentlichen Text zu kommen ist dabei nicht mal unbedingt das große Problem. Unabhängig von der Übersetzung habe ich das Spiel bereits dekompiliert (definitiv nicht legal), um erfolglos an CGs und Sprites zu kommen. Dabei kam aber die eigentliche .rpy zum Vorschein, welche das gesamte Script enthält. Die Frage ist nur, was ich damit anfangen sollte.

Das Script beinhaltet nämlich nicht nur sämtlichen Dialog, sondern auch alle Anweisungen für das Spiel, also welche Musik für welche Szene spielen soll, das Anzeigen und Animieren von Sprites, als auch das Handhaben von Pfaden und Variablen. Folglich ist diese Datei zwar lesbar, aber nicht wirklich optimal, wenn man nur den eigentlichen Text haben will. Fun Fact: Es gibt eine Variable namens notgrumpy_azu, welche standardmäßig auf off gesetzt ist und ich beim besten Willen nicht verstehe, was diese Variable bewirkt, besonders weil sich Azusa nie besonders mürrisch verhält.

Allerdings wäre es keine Unmöglichkeit gewesen durch die Datei zu gehen und sämtliche Dialoge in eine separate Datei zu kopieren. Einziges Problem dabei wäre, dass ich nicht wüsste was ich übersetzen muss, oder generell eine Ahnung hätte, was überhaupt im Spiel passiert. Wie gesagt, es ist kein Buch. Eine weitere Sache, auch wenn der Gedanke mir erst vor kurzem kam, ist dass ich im Besitz einer Datei wäre, welche ich ohne Probleme durch Programme wie DeepL oder Google Translate jagen hätte können… welches definitiv zu einem Resultat geführt hätte. Nicht falsch verstehen, DeepL ist eine enorme Hilfe und erzeugt manchmal bessere Sätze als ich je könnte (später mehr dazu), aber sollte Machine Translation nur ein Werkzeug für den Übersetzer sein, nie aber die eigentliche Arbeit abnehmen. Es gibt genügend Beispiele, warum man den Menschen nicht aus der Gleichung raus ziehen sollte und die Gründe für Machine Translation in offiziellen Produkten sind ebenfalls fragwürdig. Betrifft irgendwas davon meine Übersetzung? Nein, aber Professionals have STANDARDS und ich lege Wert darauf Sachen richtig anzugehen.

Worauf ich mich letztlich geeinigt habe, ist dass ich das Spiel spiele und währenddessen alles übersetze, welches für unseren Playthrough wichtig ist. Würde ich damit beauftragt werden etwas zu übersetzen, wäre mein erster Schritt sowieso es erst einmal im voraus durchzulesen/spielen, einfach damit ich ein Gefühl für das Werk bekomme und auch inhaltlich mir alles bewusst wird. Beim Spielen fällt mir auch alles auf, welches den Leser nicht durch Text kommuniziert wird, wie zum Beispiel die Musik, Sprites, etc, welche so Sachen wie Atmosphere und Stimmungen von Charakteren verdeutlichen. Würde ich Sakura Sadist nur anhand des Textes übersetzen, wären mir eine Menge kleinerer Fehler unterlaufen, welche in der Aufnahme merkwürdig erscheinen würden.

Das Letzte, worauf ich mich einigen musste, war in welcher Form die Übersetzung vorliegen wird. Optimal wäre es natürlich, wenn die deutsche Übersetzung normal im Spiel angezeigt wird. Dies ist nicht, was passierte. Beim Dekompilieren bin ich ebenfalls auf die Datei für die chinesische Übersetzung gestoßen, welche ich umschreiben hätte können. Problem dabei ist nur, dass ich Sakura Sadist neu kompilieren hätte müssen. Hätte ich es mit etwas Zeit und Nachforschung geschafft? Bestimmt, aber wäre es ein regelmäßiger Aufwand und ist es, wie die Dekompilierung, gegen ein paar Nutzungsbedingungen. Außerdem hätte ich mir ab diesen Punkt auch einfach Ren’Py besorgen und den Übersetzungs-Assistenten benutzen können, dessen Aufwand ich mir einfach nicht machen wollte. Wenn ich fertig bin, wäre wahrscheinlich ein Translation-Patch ideal, aber wie bereits gesagt, wird das nicht passieren.

Womit ich letzten Endes übrig geblieben bin, ist aber auch alles andere als perfekt. Mein Übersetzungs-Setup sieht folgendermaßen aus: Ich öffne normal Sakura Sadist und spiele es. Währenddessen habe ich in einen Fenster unter dem Spiel (Linux’s Option Fenster immer im Vordergrund zu haben ist ein Segen) ein LibreOffice Dokument, welches für jede Szene eine Tabelle mit zwei Zeilen besitzt. Die erste Zeile sagt an, welcher Charakter spricht und in der zweiten steht die deutsche Übersetzung. An sich alles in Ordnung, nur kann ich nicht wirklich meinen zweiten Monitor benutzen, da ich beide Fenster quasi im selben Sichtfeld brauche um effektiv zu schreiben… dies führt nur leider dazu, dass ich kaum fünf Zeilen im Dokument gleichzeitig sehe, weil der Rest vom Spiel überdeckt ist. Ich meine, es funktioniert, aber könnte ich die Fenster vertikal anordnen, würde es deutlich angenehmer sein. Dazu kommt der, zugegeben, verkraftbare Overhead vom Tabellen erstellen und immer den richtigen Sprecher angeben. Am Ende exportiere ich alles als .pdf, welche in der Aufnahme im Hintergrund offen ist und dies wäre dann die fertig Übersetzung.

In Hindsight hätte ich vielleicht Gebrauch von einen Tool wie VNTranslationTools machen sollen, allerdings habe ich es bei meinem Versuch nicht einmal geschafft das Script zu extrahieren und danach nicht weiter probiert. Außerdem, selbes “Problem”, wie einfach die chinesische Übersetzung anzupassen.

Übersetzen ist schwer

Okay, here is the thing: Egal wie gut mein Englisch ist, mein Deutsch ist eine Katastrophe. Ihr habt den Post bis hierher gelesen. Ich bin es mir bewusst. Ein selten bedachter Aspekt beim Übersetzen ist, dass der Übersetzer ebenfalls gut in der Zielsprache sein muss. Vertraut mir, dass Problem ist nicht, dass ich nachschauen muss was “demure” bedeutet, sondern wie ich

“I do want you to be more responsible, but taking on extra jobs when you already have a large backlog of work to do is the exact opposite of that!”

in einen ordentlichen deutschen Satz verwandel. Hier sind ein paar Vorschläge:

Ich will, dass du verantwortlicher wirst, aber einen Nebenjob anzunehmen, wenn du sowieso bereits alle Hände voll zu tun hast, ist das genaue Gegenteil davon!
Natürlich möchte ich, dass du verantwortungsvoller wirst, aber einen weiteren Job anzufangen, wenn du bereits so viel zu tun hast, ist das genaue Gegenteil davon!
Ich finde es ja gut wenn du verantwortungsbewusster wirst, aber einen Nebenjob anzunehmen wenn du schon so sehr im Rückstand bist, ist das genaue Gegenteil davon!
Ich möchte zwar, dass du mehr Verantwortung übernimmst, aber zusätzliche Aufgaben zu übernehmen, wenn du bereits einen großen Arbeitsrückstand hast, ist das genaue Gegenteil davon!
Ich möchte, dass du verantwortungsbewusster bist, aber zusätzliche Arbeit anzunehmen, wenn du bereits einen großen Arbeitsrückstand zu erledigen hast, ist das genaue Gegenteil davon!

Erste Variante ist die Übersetzung, welche ich am Ende in der Aufnahme benutzt habe. Variante zwei und drei kommen von Freunden und Varianten vier und fünf sind jeweils aus DeepL und Google Translate (Sie zu Du geändert). Die letzten beiden zeigen bereits großartig, wie wichtig Kontext für eine Übersetzung ist. Mari schimpft mit Azusa darüber, dass sie ihren Aufsatz noch schreiben muss und deshalb eigentlich keine Zeit für etwas anderes haben sollte. Neben den wunderbaren Begriff “Arbeitsrückstand”, wirken beide Varianten ein wenig zu formal und nicht wie etwas, welches zwischen zwei Freunden gesagt wird.

Der Satz kann so ziemlich in fünf Teile runter gebrochen werden: I do want you | to be more responsible | but taking on extra jobs | when you already have a large backlog of work to do | is the exact opposite of that!

Beim ersten Teil zeigt sich mal wieder, wie ungern ich teilweise von der gleichen Wortwahl abweiche, auch wenn “Natürlich möchte ich” und “Ich finde es ja gut” deutlich nach natürlicherer Sprache klingen, als ein direktes “Ich will”.

Der zweite Teil zeigt wie vielfältig “to be responsible” im Deutschen ausgedrückt werden kann. Neben “verantwortlicher” (Klingt irgendwie komisch, um ehrlich zu sein), “verantwortungsvoller” und “verantwortungsbewusster”, gäbe es noch “pflichtbewusster” oder vielleicht auf den Kontext zugeschnitten “zuverlässiger”, ganz geschweige vom “Verantwortung übernehmen”. Hier hätte ich nicht einmal einen Favoriten, da alles irgendwie gut passt und untereinander austauschbar wäre.

Der dritte Teil ist nicht besonders interessant, da hier erneut Kontext eine große Rolle spielt. Beim “jobs” handelt es sich hier um einen Neben-/Teilzeitjob, wobei ich aber auch ein Fan vom “zusätzliche Arbeit über/annehmen” der maschinellen Übersetzung bin, da sie weniger spezifisch gehalten ist und somit nicht so klingt, als würde man die Worte des Gesprächspartners kopieren, wenn es beim Gespräch nicht exakt um den Nebenjob geht, sondern um die zusätzliche Arbeit.

Der vierte Teil ist wieder vielfältiger und geht letztlich darum, wie man etwas beschreibt, wenn man beschäftigt ist. Ich mag wirklich meine Variante mit “Alle Hände voll zu tun haben”. Deutsch besitzt erstaunlich viele Idiome, welche weder zu casual oder alt klingen und “Alle Hände voll zu tun haben” kann ich absolut von Mari kommen sehen. “Im Rückstand sein” ist auch gut, aber finde ich es wie “bereits so viel zu tun haben” ein wenig flavorless… aber immer noch um Welten besser als “einen großen Arbeitsrückstand [zu erledigen] haben”.

Zuletzt kommt der fünfte Teil, welcher überraschenderweise bei allen gleich ist… huh. Manche Sachen sind doch recht klar zu übersetzen.

Die Herausforderung ist nun alle diesen Komponenten zu einen Satz zu binden, welcher auch richtig klingt und nicht nur auf technischer Ebene richtig übersetzt ist. Dies ist einer meiner Gründe, warum ich diese Übersetzung in ihrer jetzigen Form nicht veröffentlichen würde, weil ich quasi über jeden einzelnen Satz gehen muss und sicherstellen, dass sie einen vernünftigen Lesefluss haben und dass keine einzelne Line komisch heraussticht. Dies ist garantiert der Punkt, wo meine Deutschkompetenz mir in den Rücken fällt und ich mir sicher bin, dass viele Leute ein besseres Ergebnis abliefern könnten.

Ein ähnliches Problem hatte ich mit Sätzen, dessen Struktur umgeändert werden musste. Ignorieren wir für’s erste Sätze, wo um ein Wort “herumgesprochen” wird, oder welche gar nicht voll ausgeschrieben werden und fokussieren uns zum Beispiel auf

She’s not wrong, of course.

Dieses Beispiel ist noch ziemlich einfach, da der Satz von der Struktur her im Deutschen nicht einmal funktionieren würde und man das “of course” direkt in den Satz einbinden muss, entweder an den Anfang als “Selbstverständlich hat sie nicht unrecht”, oder in der Mitte mit “Sie hat natürlich nicht unrecht”. Schade ist nur, dass dieser “Bruch” im Satz nicht mehr vorhanden ist, wodurch das “of course” nicht mehr von der Struktur des Satzes betont wird und stattdessen nur ein normaler Teil des Satzes wird. Ein weiteres Beispiel ist

Mari’s kind of like an old woman in that regard.

, welches man technisch als “Mari ist wie eine Frau, diesbezüglich” übersetzen könnte, es aber deutlich besser klingt, wenn man das “in that regard” wie beim ersten Beispiel entweder an den Satzanfang, oder mitten im Satz packt, also “Mari ist diesbezüglich wie eine alte Frau”.

Das letzte Beispiel sind Sätze, wo beide Satzhälften frei miteinander austauschbar sind. Für

If you must know, Venus sent me a message yesterday! (Finde gerade kein besseres Beispiel)

kann man es genauso gut bei “Wenn du es wissen musst, Venus hat mir gestern eine Nachricht gesendet!” belassen, als auch “Venus hat mir gestern eine Nachricht gesendet, falls du es [unbedingt] wissen musst!” sagen. Hier entscheide ich einfach nach Gefühl, besonders wenn die Reihenfolge keinen Einfluss auf Bedeutung hat. Technisch gesehen gibt es noch Sätze wie

Sometimes, I wonder why we’re even friends.

, welche weniger strukturell geändert werden, als dass eher die Satzzeichen im Deutschen an einer anderen Stelle stehen. Somit wird das “Sometimes” ins “I wonder why” absorbiert und dadurch zu “Manchmal frage ich mich, warum wir überhaupt Freunde sind.” oder “Ich frage mich manchmal, warum wir überhaupt Freunde sind.”

Dies sind so ziemlich die größten Schwierigkeiten, welche ich mit der Übersetzung hatte. Hin und wieder gibt es Sätze, welche auf den Eigenheiten der englischen Sprache aufbauen, wie zum Beispiel Wortspiele, aber nichts, welches mich regelmäßig zum Stillstand brachte. So langsam verstehe ich, warum wir im Englischunterricht nie die Aufgabe hatten etwas primär zu übersetzen, weil der eigentliche Übersetzungsteil fast trivial erscheint, erst recht wenn man ein Wörterbuch zur Hand hat.

Selbstverständlich ist es manchmal eine Kunst das passende Adjektiv zu finden, wenn es keine direkte Übersetzung gibt, aber 95% der Zeit fühlt sich das Übersetzen kaum wie Arbeit an, weil *In harten britischen Akzent* meine English Comprehension mir keine Probleme bereitet und ich seit Jahren verschiedenste Medien auf englisch konsumiere. Französisch wäre eine andere Sache, aber Englisch ist für mich nun wirklich keine Herausforderung mehr.

Was schon eher ein Problem darstellt, bin ich. Ich habe einen Schreibstil. Keinen guten, aber er existiert und ich habe mich öfters dabei erwischt, wie ich Sätzen meinen eigenen Stil aufdränge, sei es in Form von zusätzlichen Füllwörtern, oder sonst etwas. Ich erkenne es zwar recht schnell und schreibe diesen schnell um, aber bleibt dennoch ein mulmiges Gefühl, wobei dies eher zum Thema Sakura Sadist als Spiel und nicht zu dessen Übersetzung gehört.

Bezüglich der H-Szenen bin ich froh, dass ich diese nicht übersetzen muss. Nicht weil es mir unangenehm wäre, sondern weil Deutsch eine denkbar schlechte Sprache für solchen Inhalt ist. Man muss sich nur einmal die Startseite auf PornHub dafür anschauen. Let’s keep sex english.

Lokalisierung vs. Übersetzung

Die Sakura Visual Novels sind schon eine komisches Bestie, weil sie so geschrieben sind, als wäre die Ursprungssprache japanisch und deshalb besitzen sie auch Merkwürdigkeiten, welche man sonst eher in Übersetzungen aus Anime und Manga sieht. Dies ist bei weitem keine Kritik, sondern eher eine Referenz darauf, wer die Zielgruppe ist. Es wundert mich schon fast, dass Mamiko überhaupt als “Upperclassmen” und nicht als “Senpai” beschrieben wurde.

Lokalisierung ist ein oft übersehender und gewollt unsichtbarer Aspekt einer Übersetzung. Es ist eine Sache, einen Satz zu übersetzen und eine andere ihn für eine unterschiedliche Gruppe Sinn machen zu lassen. Ich will nicht wirklich das Thema groß aufgreifen, vor allem weil es ein Post für sich selbst ist, aber bin ich manchmal von den Herangehensweisen von sowohl offiziellen Übersetzungen, als auch Fan-Translations, abgeneigt, wobei man aber sagen muss, dass dies die reinste Form eines Bias ist. Meine Muttersprache ist deutsch und habe ich genügend Anime gesehen um zu wissen, welches manche Sachen bedeuten.

Zum Glück gibt es von diesen Aspekt nicht besonders viel in Sakura Sadist zu erzählen, weder von der pseudo-japanisch-englisch Seite, noch der englisch-deutsch Seite. Es werden keine japanischen Begriffe benutzt, es gib keine Suffixe (-san, -sama, -chan) oder Titel (-sensei) und auch die Frage mit welchen Namen sich Charaktere ansprechen, muss sich nicht gestellt werden, da alle auf first-name basis sind. Meine größte Änderung, neben den Konvertieren in metrischen Einheiten und ein 24-Stunden Format für Zeit, ist das Vertauschen des Familien- und Vornamens. Da die Charaktere sich sowieso beim Vornamen nennen, hat es quasi keinen Einfluss auf irgendetwas und da es für einen Großteil der westlichen Welt normal ist zuerst den Vornamen und dann den Nachnamen zu nennen, kommt es zu keiner Verwirrung, wenn ein Charakter mal beim vollen Namen genannt wird.

Wirklich interessant wird es in diesen Thema erst bei den Dialogen, denn jeder Charakter besitzt quasi seine eigene Sprache. Azusa ist direkt, spielerisch und kümmert sich nicht was andere von ihr denken. Mari ist stattdessen eher zurückhaltend, fromm und vorsichtig mit ihren Worten. Mamiko versucht besonders damenhaft, vornehm und freundlich zu wirken und Professor Shibata ist eingebildet, pretentious und recht passiv-aggressiv gegenüber Azusa. Dies alles gilt es in der Übersetzung zu betrachten. Technisch gesehen wäre jede Übersetzung richtig, aber passt sie nicht immer zu jeden Charakter. Am einfachsten lässt sich dies sogar mithilfe von Alignment-Charts demonstrieren. Welcher dieser Charaktere würde “Fuck!” sagen? Azusa garantiert und Mari garantiert nicht. Mamiko? Vielleicht, aber definitiv nicht, während sie ihr nettes Persona spielt. Professor Shibata ist zu alt dafür, könnte aber, wenn es darauf ankommt.

Schauen wir uns einmal den Ausdruck “Shut up!” an. Würde man es zum Beispiel direkt in DeepL eingeben, erhält man “Halt die Klappe!”, welches zu Azusa passen würde. In Sakura Sadist ist es aber Mari, welche das “Shut Up!” von sich gibt. Wenn man dann auch noch bedenkt, dass sie es zu Azusa sagt, wirkt “Halt die Klappe!” viel zu aggressiv. “Sei Still!” hingegen klingt viel zu formal und wie ein Befehl, also etwas, welches eher von Professor Shibata kommen könnte. Nur “Klappe!” wäre auch eine Option, doch klingt “Klappe” ein wenig zu casual für Mari. “Halt den Mund!” geht schon eher in die richtige Richtung, wobei es immer noch zu lang klingt, weshalb ich es letztlich auf “Mund halten!” gekürzt habe. Wortwahl ist wichtig und man sollte Gebrauch davon nehmen, was in diesen Fall die deutsche Sprache zu bieten hat.

Eine weitere Sache, welche es im Englischen gar nicht gibt, ist die Unterscheidung zwischen Duzen und Siezen. Hier gibt es aber nicht wirklich viel zu besprechen. Normalerweise duzen sich die Charaktere untereinander, außer es wird aus Spaß extra förmlich gesprochen. Ausnahme davon sind Gespräche mit Professor Shibata, welches selbsterklärend ist, und die Szene(n), wo sich Azusa als Mamikos Dienerin ausgeben darf. Letzteres ist eine Entscheidung, welche man diskutieren kann, aber für mich machte es in diesen Szenen Sinn Azusa Mamiko zu siezen.

Das letzte zu erwähnende Thema sind Wörter, welche ich nicht übersetze. Am Anfang wollte ich nicht einmal “Panties” übersetzen, einfach weil Höschen merkwürdig klingt. Es ist kein Wort, welches normalerweise benutzt wird, zumindest habe ich es noch nie jemanden sagen hören und definitiv nicht anstelle von “Unterwäsche”. Höschen, Höschen, Höschen. Es trägt auch nicht die selbe Konnotation mit sich. Panties sind potentiell sexy, weil man sie eigentlich nicht sehen sollte. Höschen klingt hingegen so unschuldig und das verniedlichende “-chen” macht es auch nicht besser. Ich habe mich am Ende aber doch dafür entschieden, eben weil es noch eine relativ direkte Übersetzung ist.

Was ist mit “Thighs”? Ich meine, sure, (Ober-)Schenkel ist technisch gesehen der richtige Begriff, aber verfehlt er für mich im Kontext von Sakura Sadist komplett das Ziel. Nicht nur muss man in den meisten Fällen spezifizieren, dass mit Schenkel der Oberschenkel gemeint ist, sondern klingt der Begriff so anatomisch und entfremdet von “Thighs”. Wenn ich Oberschenkel höre, ist meine erste Assoziation eine Metzgerin, welche einem ‘ne 3Kg Schweinekeule auf die Hand drückt, dicht gefolgt von diesen einen Moment aus Spongebob, wo eine Bodybuilder random “Oberschenkelmuskeln” sagt.

Als letztes gibt es noch den Begriff “Maid”. In diesen Fall wäre die Übersetzung als Magd oder Zofe sogar irreführend bis falsch. Mit Maids sind explizit die Bedienerinnen im Maid Café gemeint. Der Begriff Zofe entspricht einem anderen Bild. Außerdem kann man hier besonders gut die Zielgruppe (Meine Freunde) bedenken. Man weiß, was eine Maid ist. Dieser Begriff bedarf keiner Übersetzung.

Technisch gibt es noch einige Sachen, welche ich aus Spaß “zurück”-übersetzen wollte, aber am Ende doch gelassen habe, wobei es einer Person nicht davon abgehalten halt zu “Oh my” trotzdem “Ara Ara” zu sagen. Allgemein wurden in der Aufnahme manche Sachen einfach geadlipped. Einige Entscheidungen wie Venus’ schweizer Akzent kamen aus den nichts und wir einigten uns einfach darauf, dass wir es so weitermachen. Um ein wenig pretentious zu wirken: Übersetzen ist ein dynamischer Prozess :D.

Gedanken über Sakura Sadist und Ausblick

Ich will ehrlich sein, auch wenn es keine Überraschung sein sollte: Sakura Sadist ist Trash. Es ist Visual Novel Fastfood. Nicht besonders gut, aber hey, es ist was auf der Verpackung versprochen wurde. Was mich am meisten stört, ist wie gestreckt der Inhalt sich anfühlt. Die Hälfte der Zeit besteht aus Konversationen zwischen Azusa und Mari, welche darum gehen, dass Azusa was dummes gemacht hat. Ich habe es bereits nach dem ersten mal verstanden, können wir endlich zum Sadismus-Teil kommen? Darüber hinaus ist die Prosa so unerträglich öde und schlecht geschrieben. Da ist kein Flair, kein Funken, kein Stil. If my Heart had Wings' Prosa mag vielleicht effektiver sein als eine Überdosis Baldriparan®, aber zumindest liest es sich in Ordnung. Dies meinte ich mit meinen eigenen Stil in der Übersetzung hinzufügen, denn dann würde es zumindest nach irgendetwas klingen.

Dies ist letzten Endes auch der Grund, warum ich mir nicht alle Mühe der Welt mache. Es lohnt sich einfach nicht. Sakura Sadist ist nichts, worauf ich zurückblicken werde und stolz auf mich sein muss. Dies ist kein Projekt, welches aus Leidenschaft entstanden ist… it’s literally a joke. Das ganze würde anders aussehen, würde ich mir vornehmen das originale Tsukihime oder Doki Doki Literature Club zu übersetzen. Nach der Erfahrung mit Sakura Sadist, wäre ich sogar daran interessiert einen Manga oder ähnliches zu übersetzen, wobei mir da aber wohl eher die Japanisch-Kenntnisse fehlen.

Nichtsdestotrotz, auch wenn meine Arbeit streng genommen nicht besonders gut ist, muss ich zugeben, dass ich eine Menge Erfahrung gesammelt habe, auch wenn sie wahrscheinlich null mit tatsächlich professionellen Übersetzen übereinstimmt. Zumindest habe ich eine Menge über Unterwäsche gelernt und herausgefunden, dass ich gar nicht mal so schlecht im CGs bearbeiten bin.

Sakura Sadist ist verfügbar auf Steam und eine “charmante” Synchronisation auf meinem Zweitkanal.

Auf der Suche nach One Piece: Thriller Bark Saga

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 01:15:00 +0100

Ach ja, Thriller Bark weckt Erinnerungen. Es ist höchstwahrscheinlich die Saga, welche ich früher am “vollständigsten” gesehen habe. Es ist ebenfalls in zweierlei Hinsicht interessant zu erfahren, dass diese Saga im Manga nur einem fünf Bände langen Arc umfasst. Im Anime gab es vor und nach Thriller Bark jeweils einen Filler-Arc und wenn man bedenkt, dass diese fünf Bände irgendwie als ganze 45 Folgen adaptiert wurden, wirkte damals Thriller Bark auf mich deutlich größer, als was es sich eigentlich herausstellte.

Thriller Bark

Es fühlt sich irgendwie merkwürdig an über diesen Arc in etwas, welches essentiell ein Vakuum zu sein scheint, zu reden. Ich habe gehört, dass sämtliche Ereignisse später deutlich an Gewicht gewinnen werden, aber momentan kann ich nicht besonders viel mit diesen Arc anfangen, welches über die vielen zukünftigen Referenzen hinausgeht. Dieser Arc dropt so casual Informationen, welche ich nur erkannt habe, weil andere Leute bereits weiter sind als ich, dass ich mich freue sie bald verstehen zu können.

Thriller Bark lässt sich inhaltlich ziemlich einfach zusammenfassen: Die Strohhut-Piraten finden sich auf den Weg zur Fischmenschen-Insel im One Piece Equivalent des Bermudadreiecks wieder, besiegen einen der sieben Samurai der Meere und Brook schließt sich der Crew an. Eigentlich relativ unspektakulär im Sinne eines Fortschritts und auch so wirkt es eher wie ein Abenteuer, welches nebenbei aufgegriffen wurde. An sich wird der Arc für mich aber durch zwei Charaktere geprägt: Zorro und Brook.

Auch wenn es bisher nie offiziell bestätigt wurde, fällt es einen nicht schwer Zorro als den ersten Maat der Strohhut-Piraten anzusehen. Er besitzt nach Luffy das zweitgrößte Kopfgeld und lässt sich seine Kampfkraft auch nur an Luffy messen. Dass er diesen Ruf auch würdig ist, beweist er gegen Ende von Thriller Bark. Nach den Kampf gegen Moria, greift Bartholomäus Bär die Piraten an und forderte Luffys Kopf im Gegenzug für deren Leben ein. Die Strohhüte lehnen dies allesamt ab und Bär besiegte alle Piraten – bis auf einen. Zorro bot Bär an stattdessen sich der Marine vorzuzeigen und damit sich effektiv für Luffy zu opfern.

Beeindruckt von Zorros Willenskraft entzieht Bär Luffy sämtlichen “Schmerz”, welchen Zorro, ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken, annimmt. Zorro ist der Ansicht, dass seine eigenen Ambitionen – der beste Schwertkämpfer der Welt zu werden – bedeutungslos sind, wenn er nicht einmal seine Freunde beschützen kann. Zorro will sehen, wie Luffy der König der Piraten wird und dies ist der Moment, welcher wirklich zeigt wie weit er dafür gehen kann. Der Begriff Ehrenmann ist ein zu kleines Superlativ für diese Aktion und sie fundiert Zorro als einen der coolsten Charaktere in One Piece. Diese Posts mögen sich zwar überwiegend auf den Manga beziehen, aber ich möchte euch nicht den OST verwehren, welcher im Anime spielt.

Der zweite Charakter, welcher im diesen Arc glänzen darf, ist Brook. Brook trifft zufällig ganz am Anfang des Arcs auf die Piraten, involviert sie aber indirekt in die Geschehnisse rund um Moria und Thriller Bark. Ihm wurde, wie vielen anderen auch, sein Schatten gestohlen, weshalb er gezwungen ist sich vor der Sonne zu verstecken. Dazu kommt, dass sein Leben durch die Teufelsfrucht ein reiner existenzieller Horror wurde und als einziger Überlebender seiner Crew seit Jahren in den Strömungen des “Mysteriösen Dreiecks” gefangen ist. Als er sich das erste Mal von den Strohhüten verabschiedet, bricht er weinend in sich zusammen, weil er so einsam war.

Währenddessen sieht man durch ihm die perfiden Konsequenzen von Morias Machenschaften. Moria stiehlt die Schatten von Piraten, um eine Zombie-Armee aufzubauen und während die Schatten für eine Zeit noch die Charakteristiken ihrer früheren Besitzer nachahmen, werden sie irgendwann zu Morias Sklaven. Das Besiegen von Moria ist dadurch nicht nur eine in sich schlüssige Sache, sondern ein weiterer Schritt Richtung Freiheit, welches die Strohhut-Piraten seit Enies Lobby nun explizit repräsentieren, indem die Schatten zu ihren rechtmäßigen Besitzern zurückkehren und diese wieder am Leben teilnehmen können. Der Kampf zwischen Brook und den Zombie, wessen sein Schatten eingeflößt wurde, hat somit eine deutlich größere Bedeutung, als wenn es nur irgendein Gegner wäre und das Luffy und Co. Brook helfen unterstreicht erneut die thematischen Motive One Pieces.

Darüber hinaus geht Brooks Hintergrundgeschichte wirklich ans Herz. Seine Piraten-Crew war es, welche ursprünglich Laboon, den Wal aus Reverse Mountain am Anfang der zweiten Saga, zurücklassen mussten. Und dann gab es den Untergang Brooks Crew und seinen “Tod”. Oh Junge, als ich die ersten Noten von Bink’s Rum hörte, fühlte ich mich wie Anton Ego aus Ratatouille und innerhalb eines Momentes mehr als zehn Jahre zurückgebracht. Wie die Rumbar-Piraten einen nach dem anderen beim Singen umfallen und Brook langsam von Quartet bis zum Solo runterzählt, bricht mir immer noch das Herz. Dies ist mit Abstand die beste Backstory, welche One Piece bisher zu Blatt gebracht hat.

Es fühlt sich deshalb auch verdient an, dass Brook den Strohhut-Piraten beitreten darf und Luffy endlich seinen Musikanten bekommt. Meines Erachtens hätte das ganze einen Arc später passieren können, da erst vor kurzem Franky dazugestoßen ist, aber ist dies eher eine persönliche Präferenz, als ein Fehler in der Serie.

Verstreute Gedanken

Es kam vielleicht ein wenig knapp rüber, um genau zu sein sogar gar nicht, aber Thriller Bark ist erneut unglaublich kreativ in seinen Setting und selbst der gesamte Art-style des Manga hat sich für die Gotik-Ästhetik angepasst, indem mehr Schwarz benutzt wird. Alptraum-Luffy ist fantastisch und dafür werde ich euch bekämpfen! Für’s erste mag es wie eine Nebengeschichte wirken, aber lässt die Qualität keines Weges nach und kommen meine guten Erinnerungen zu One Piece definitiv zu einen großen Teil aus diesen Arc.

Außerdem, Thriller Bark ist der letzte Arc, welchen ich (vollständig) als Kind im Anime gesehen habe, da die deutsche Ausstrahlung damals nur bis Folge 400 ging, welche Mitten im Sabaody Archipelago aufhört. Folglich ist mir, mit Ausnahme einiger Sachen, die nächste Saga komplett fremd… minus die Sachen, welche ich anderswo aufgeschnappt habe. In dem Sinne könnte man meinen, dass meine Reise mit One Piece erst jetzt richtig los geht. Bis zum nächsten mal und bleibt knusprig.

A (probably) way too harsh critique of Highschool Romance

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 02:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, just recently, I finished playing Highschool Romance and with “playing” I mean recording it with my friend and having a ball of a time. Regardless of the quality of the game, this was a lot of fun, greatly enhanced by how seemingly not-at-all subtle the decision of who speaks what character was. I would and probably will do it again.

On the other hand, I am also a notorious critic for media no one really cares about and oh boy do I have some opinions to share. Some are aimed at the narrative structure of the visual novel, some are grounded in social and political discourse and some are simply emotionally charged rants. If the goal of art is to engage with you on an emotional level, Highschool Romance sure succeeded in that regard, but more on that later. Be noted that everything I say is based on a single playthrough (Hoshi’s route) and stuff I read online.

The plot of Highschool Romance is neither novel, not particularly well executed and also, in its own words, rather cliché and trope-y. The protagonist, Shoji, has to attend an all-girls school, despite being a boy himself, and pretend to be a girl, all while eventually courting one of three possible heroines. The main bulk is comprised of daily school activities and conversations with the girls, with Shoji keeping the fact that he is a boy a secret. Sprinkle some romance into the mix and this is mostly what you will get out of the game.

Now, on first glance, this might smell suspiciously of gender™. And I wouldn’t fault you. The game highlights Shoji’s aversion to the fact, that he has to pretend to be a girl, but also that he eventually gets used to it and it also talks about masculinity and femininity in broader terms on several occasions. I doubt I was the only one that thought, that this will eventually lead into a story about Shoji realizing that he is trans, or at the very least reconciling something about his own gender and how he sees the concept of man and women. Well, nothing like that happens.

I am not of the believe that any story has to comment on anything, no matter how seemingly obvious the story stands in relation to a certain topic, or that a story should rather go into a direction so that it can comment on it. However, the story still is and as such, comments on everything in one way or the other, no matter how small. You will probably have to dig pretty deep in Highschool Romance to find anything, really, but even if it is not primarily engaging with the topic of gender™, it sure has something to say about it.

“Well-intended, but narrow-minded” might be the best I can describe it. I initially thought some of the character’s, especially Shoji’s, remarks are there to set a baseline and a general mindset of the characters, that will then change over the course of the story. Things like the way they see gender differences, outward presentation and such. This change, however, never occurs. Shoji’s idea of “being a woman” essentially boils down to wearing a skirt, maybe make-up and speaking in a higher voice, Selina goes from “Are you a lesbian” to “Maybe you are trans” to eventually deducing, that Shoji has to be a boy and Hoshi only makes sense of her affection for Shoji by predisposing that he couldn’t possibly be a girl.

To its credit, nothing feels evil-spirited or mean about anything the game says or does. Engaging in stereotypes? Sure, but it is also no *insert random Harem Light Novel*, which I would describe as actively problematic. It is, however, a flavorless heteronormative cis pulp, which might be an even bigger crime in some people’s book. The premise is essentially just the backdrop for a run-of-the-mill highschool romance, with characters overcoming one additional small hurdle on their way, that means nothing to anyone, anyway. To get some metaphors going, I would say Highschool Romance shoot itself in the foot by creating something that some people might constitute as bait and, at worst, slightly backward thinking.

Though, I suppose you can still limp to the finish line on one leg, so Highschool Romance also had to shoot itself again, just to make sure it stays down in the mud. From a storytelling perspective, this game is a mess in more ways than one and it is here, where it mostly failed to grab my attention in any positive way. Like most visual novels, Highschool Romance has an array of choices the player can choose from and that change the outcome of the story. It doesn’t seem to be strictly “route”-based though, but rather works on an invisible system counting affection points for the different girls in the background. In itself, this is not an approach I find inferior to normal “routes”, but does the game have to accommodate a change in structure to make it effective.

Firstly, Highschool Romance is simply not complicated enough to give the player any kind of challenge or direct control. It absolutely doesn’t have to be a Fate, where you can run into a bad end, because a character doesn’t trust you enough, due to a decision you made three days ago, but it also has to be more than rather obvious references to a character’s traits. The choices do change the course of the plot, in the way that they open a certain route and with whom you spend more time with, but could these things just as well be triggered at random by how badly the choices are implemented, with the player choosing between either seemingly irrelevant or basically obvious options.

That is, of course, when the game even gives you a choice, or they even matter. The first one is simply a clumsy way of writing, where the game prompts you with a choice, only for Shoji to decide for you. Wanna play video games, instead of a board game and risk being found out as a guy? To bad, Scribble it is. The latter one is more weird, as it comes down to what is essentially just a different flavor text for your favorite girl with no impact on anything that follows. Hang out everyday of the school festival with one girl and it has literally zero effect on you ability to just choose the other heroine instead. Hell, even whom you choose to spend the break with, while being arguably the biggest deviation you can get between different girls, is meaningless, since the choice never mattered in the first place.

Secondly, while the choices may change some events, the core plot stays intact… which, of course it does, but becomes a problem, when some unchangeable events of the narrative actively go against the choices you made. Imagine doing everything in your power to go for the Hoshi route, only for Selina to take away an awful lot of spotlight and eventually forcing herself on Shoji and him enjoying it… yes, that is an event that happens in literally every possible route. Hope you like that aftertaste of NTR, when Hoshi decides to kiss Shoji and they become a couple. On the other hand, you can very easily dodge everything concerning Lea, making her a character that appears in the beginning, somewhere in the middle for a short line and then never again.

A game shouldn’t make you question, if your choices even matter, but this confusion seems to be built into the very structure of the game, where mandatory plot points clash with the interactive part of the story, resulting in nothing less than totally unwarranted confusion turned anger on my part. Again, imagine doing everything in your power to go for the Hoshi route and feeling like you have lost to Selina not even halfway through, even admitting defeat and asking your friends to choose Selina, just to end your suffering (They didn’t). It doesn’t matter what girl wins at the end of the day, as the player definitely loses (maybe a biased opinion here).

Let us come to the characters. As already mentioned, in our single playthrough of Highschool Romance, we have barely encountered Lea beyond the introductory bits, so here is what I know: She, for some reason, wears a crown and has the biggest breasts of all the girls. The End. Judging from the game’s CGs however, she might really be into the idea of force-feminizing Shoji, which is something I definitely wanted to see more than Hoshi getting sidetracked in her own route.

Speaking of Hoshi, she is by far my favorite character in the visual novel. After the rather lackluster beginning and dull conversation with Selina, her introduction was what finally got me interested in the game. To be fair, concerning my 2D preferences, I may tend to have a type¹. Purple hair, glasses, shy, “nerdy” hot and a knack for alcoholism? Let me tell you, that’s straight up Waifu material right there and easily best girl in the story… not that there is a lot of competition. I can genuinely enjoy just having conversations with characters I like, completely independent from the aspect of the main plot. Best example would be Yuri from Doki Doki Literature Club. Sure, DDLC is explicitly about the nature of dating sims, but I would be lying if I say I didn’t enjoy the more typical visual novel moments with her. This is also a big reason why I can often just ignore the framing and structure of plot and focus on individual aspects that make up the bread and butter for what I care about. In the case of Highschool Romance: Voicing best girl.

Is Hoshi especially well written or anything? No, but Highschool Romance knows how to indulge in the fantasy of her character type and delivers on most of the beats. What bothers me, however, is how easily the game could have given her way more depth, than with what she eventually ended up. Her romance with Shoji basically started, because he was the only one showing basic human decency towards her, and going through the basic motions of becoming friends and eventually lovers… which is fine, but so bare-bones, I could read 90% of other romance stories instead. Why not bond through some of the things we do know about Hoshi and Shoji, like both of them having little to no experience with friendship and eventually finding companionship in each others solitude? Why not work through Hoshi’s tendency to take up more work than she can do, or her desire for the class to succeed? I mean, what about the conversation about her losing all her friends due to a lack of time? There is enough in both characters to revolve the development about anything more than just the initial Boy (Girl)-meets-Girl setup.

And let’s not forget about her ending. I of course have no problem with her explicitly dating Shoji as a guy. There was, however, a line that really rubbed me the wrong way and that was her making sense of the fact, that she is in love with Shoji and thus Shoji had to be a boy in her mind and then acting on that very notion. Even ignoring the scene where Selina asks her if she “swings that way”, it would have been a really wholesome ending when the question concerning Shojis gender just wouldn’t matter. Shoji being “revealed” (or more so concluded) as a boy changes nothing about the times he spend with Hoshi pretending to be a girl, nor are they invalidated with him being a boy. As it stands now, her confession seems more like a product of Shoji being male, instead of loving Shoji as the person she got to know and taking the next step, which is just a shame, really, as this is what the confession should have been based on. Her assumption also only works, because it was written to be true. Let’s just hope there exists a parallel-universe, where Hoshi asks Shoji if they are a boy and turns our to be just wrong, but confesses anyway.

The last girl to talk about is Selina. Now, as we have been (technically) playing Hoshi’s route, our exposure to her was limited. She nonetheless spends every damn second proving that she is… questionable. Nothing I will say is necessarily to be taken as her being a badly written character, in fact the opposite is the case, but as me just noting all the things I noticed and want to talk about. Because there is a lot to talk about with Selina.

I find it weird to have one of the main heroines to be so central to the plot, that it can basically overwrite the choices one made. She is the girl to find out first that Shoji is a boy and later declares herself a rival to Hoshi, despite potentially not being involved at all from a player perspective and while I do find it cute to force Hoshi into a competition for Shoji’s affection, especially since her reactions are completely tone deaf, it should just be accepted as a foregone conclusion, who Shoji end up with at this point… it is apparently not, but I already talked about it a few paragraphs before.

Then, there are Selina’s actual characteristics… being a full-fleshed sociopath. But let’s not get ahead of ourself. She is the more upbeat genki type of girl, contrasting with Hoshi’s more reserved demeanor. I am surprisingly fine with it, though my money is still on Hoshi, obviously, though what really drives the character is what lies behind the surface. She approaches Shoji more directly, which makes her feel like she is actively contributing to forming a relationship with Shoji, unlike with Hoshi for a example. Her way approaching, however, is kinda messed up. Not sure if I am reading a bit too much into what may as well just be clumsily written prose, but Selina manipulated Shoji almost every step of the way: Falling down mid-race to see if he would help her up, praising him to join the track club and pretending to be on par ability-wise, despite being way faster, and last but not least, even risking to physically hurt him to create a chance where he confesses being a boy.

I am definitely up for a story exploring the more ugly sides of characters experiencing romantic feelings, but this seems out of place for a story like this. Also, think again about the parallel-universe, where Shoji is not a boy… yeah, not so cute a moment anymore, is it? Also, consent is optional in her mind and the scene where she forces herself on Shoji low-key brands he as a chaser, which… yikes. There is definitely an audience for characters like Selina, but I don’t belong to it. Nonetheless won’t I think that her character is in any shape or form bad per se, just not what I would like to have seen from a story such as Highschool Romance.

Lastly, there is the protagonist, Shoji, himself. He is surprisingly… introspective? This guy has opinions, even if they suck, which makes him a 100-times better protagonist than Aoi from If my Heart had Wings (I will always bring up IMHHW slander, if possible). Too bad that most of the plot doesn’t happen because of him, but rather to him. Hoshi and Selina practically drag him through the days, with Shoji or the player only choosing who exactly does the dragging. His reactions are also not interesting enough to carry his character. Even if I may not like it, he is arguably at his best complaining and speaking his mind about dressing as a girl. Again, he does have opinions… though, they are bad opinions.

His passiveness also lowers the impact of the romantic bits. What would have happened if Hoshi didn’t confess to him or if Hoshi is interested in another person? Sure, Shoji may like her, but does the story not earn the notion that he loves Hoshi. We also never see him do anything outside the interactions with Hoshi and Selina. He has no life on his own, we basically just explore him through the lense of the interaction with the other girls, meaning that he can barely stand alone as a character. This may be the biggest detriment of Highschool Romance not being at least a tiny bit more aware about itself in any way. Imagine Shoji reflecting on the entire experience — his relationship with Hoshi and Selina and living as a girl for almost a year — and then him acting out on what he learned about himself. I realize, that Highschool Romance is simply not that story I want it to be, but it hurts either way, that I can see how it could have been.

All in all, everything I mentioned make the entire experience kind of hollow and impactless. I may have a good time, while the interactions with one of the heroines last, but after everything is said and done, there is not a lot to remember or think back to, at least not in a positive way… which is sad, because there was a good amount of stuff I enjoyed, that was just unfortunately ruined at a later time.

Beyond that, there a couple more minor things I have thoughts about. The art-style, while not necessarily well drawn all the time (Do not focus on the knees), is appealing and I like both Hoshi’s and Selina’s designs. However, I do think they could have gone with more conventional anime-style faces, as the head-shape, noses and heavy blush just scream 15-year old Tumblr and DeviantArt user to me… which doesn’t mean it’s bad, but just brings me out of the experience when Highschool Romance does its best to portray itself as an otherwise japanese visual novel.

Also, while I have nothing to base this on, it feels like the game was written by someone whose first language is not english. Ignoring some errors that could have been caught by additional quality control or editing, more than just a couple sentences read themselves rather clumsy or just plain weird, especially compared to something like Sakura Sadist, which is by no means anywhere near high art in its prose. If I were the writer of Highschool Romance, I would have rewritten a good chunk of the sentences, just so I wouldn’t have to double-take every other sentence.

And that’s about it. Anyway, I guess my thoughts can be succinctly summed up by a single meme. Please have a better day than me.

Highschool Romance is available on Steam.

Citation needed. ↩︎

Auf der Suche nach One Piece: Water 7 Saga

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 15:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, als mir die Idee kam One Piece zu lesen, tat ich dies überwiegend mit den Gedanken Lücken zu füllen. Insbesondere habe ich mich auf die Water 7 Saga gefreut, da ich so ziemlich nichts aus dieser gesehen habe, auch wenn ich mir ein wenig über dessen Inhalt bewusst bin, wie das kurzzeitige Verlassen der Crew von Usopp und Robin, sowie das Beitreten von Franky. Wie immer bin ich aber nun auf die eigentlichen Details gespannt, welchen dazu führen. Los geht’s!

Long Ring Long Land

Dies mag vielleicht das erste L sein, welches One Piece einstecken muss. Wenn man mich fragen würde, ob G-8 oder Long Ring Long Land ein Filler-Arc wäre, würde ich mich ohne Frage für letzteres entscheiden. G-8 ist eine Zusammenfassung an Allem, welches One Piece großartig macht, während Long Ring Long Land… ein eher mittelmäßiger Tournament-Arc ist.

Die Strohhut-Piraten landen auf Long Ring Long Land, einer Insel, auf welcher alles lang ist. Es gibt keine Hunde, sondern Huuunde, kein Pferd, sondern ein Pfeeerd. Es gibt eine volle Seite, wo zuerst Luffy, dann Chopper und am Ende Usopps Reaktion auf die laaangen Tiere gezeigt wurde, während die Gesichter selbst immer länger wurden. One Piece kann so unglaublich lustig sein, allerdings will ich nicht alles mit Bildern voll klatschen. Es wird relativ schnell der “obligatorische” Konflikt eingeführt. Long Ring Long Land besteht eigentlich aus zwölf aneinander geketteten Inseln, dessen Übergänge man aber nur alle zehn Jahre begehen kann, weil sonst das Wasser zu hoch steht und den Weg versperrt. Die Piraten lernen einen alten Mann kennen, welcher seit vielen Jahren auf der selben Insel feststeckt und nun mehrere Inseln von seinen Nomaden-Stamm entfernt ist.

“Cool, Luffy und seine Crew werden also wahrscheinlich den alten Mann helfen, um zu seinen Stamm zurückzukommen, treffen auf den Villain des Arcs, welcher die besonderen Umstände der Insel ausnutzt, um an mehr Macht zu kommen, besiegen ihn und verlassen nach passender Pointe die Insel”… dachte ich. Stattdessen tauchen die Foxy-Piraten auf und fordern die Strohhut-Piraten zu einem Davy Back heraus.

Der Davy Back Fight ist in sich selbst eine nette Idee. Piraten treten in drei Wettkämpfen gegeneinander an und nach jeder Runde kann der Gewinner auf entweder ein Symbol oder ein Crewmitglied des Gegners Anspruch nehmen und somit effektiv Crewmitglieder voneinander klauen. Dies ist, was zum Großteil im Arc passiert. Die Wettkämpfe mögen zwar spaßig sein, aber weiß man bereits ganz genau, wie sie ausgehen werden, besonders weil die finale Aussage nie wirklich in Frage stand. Selbstverständlich wird keiner der Strohhut-Piraten zulassen, dass eines der Mitglieder geklaut wird, egal wie schwer der Kampf wird #AfroPower.

Dazu kommt, dass die Foxy-Piraten nicht besonders interessant sind. Ihr Ding ist, dass sie schummeln, tricksen und nicht fair spielen. Es wäre interessant gewesen, würde es sich um eine Crew handeln, welche tatsächlich Crewmitglieder braucht oder eine andere Motivation hätte. Besonders frustrierend ist es, dass essentiell nichts fungierendes in diesen Abschnitt passiert. Entferne den Davy Back Fight und nichts wichtiges fehlt. Man ist nicht klüger und definitiv auch nicht schlauer. Selbst der eigene Anime-Filler macht es besser, indem nach einem der Wettkämpfe das Pfeeerd des alten Mannes zurückgeholt wurde, welches immerhin etwas hermacht.

One Piece nimmt wieder etwas Fahrt auf, nachdem ein Admiral der Marine auf der Insel auftaucht und dem alten Mann hilft das Meer zu überqueren, indem er dieses zufriert. Außerdem warnt er die Strohhut-Piraten vor Robin und, nachdem Luffy sich dies nicht anhören wollte, besiegte er sogar einen Großteil der Crew, wobei man dies bereits schon als Vorreiter des nächsten Arcs betrachten kann.

Water 7

Kino. Peak fiction. 10/10. Vielleicht ist es der Kontrast zum vorherigen Arc, aber meine Gute kann One Piece gut sein. Ich habe überlegt Water 7 und Enies Lobby zusammen zu betrachten, da beide quasi inhaltlich nicht voneinander getrennt werden können, allerdings ist Water 7 bereits voll genug und sind die beiden Arcs wegen unterschiedlichen Gründen großartig.

Kurz vor Long Ring Long Land bereits angesprochen, steht ein alter, aber auch neuer Charakter im Fokus: Die Flying Lamb (Merry Go). Seit Syrup Village begleitet sie die Strohhut-Piraten und hat dabei selber einiges einstecken müssen. Die starken Gewässer bei Reverse Mountain, Wapol hat wortwörtlich einen Bissen aus ihr genommen und in Skypea musste Chopper sogar den gesamten Mast abreißen, um ein Feuer zu verhindern. Usopp mag zwar den provisorischen Zimmermann spielen und der “Klabautermann” selbst hat bereits Hand angepackt, doch wird beschlossen nach Water 7 zu segeln, um der Flying Lamb einer Generalüberholung zu unterziehen.

Ab hier wird es schwer bei nur einen Thema zu bleiben, da alles in diesen Arc stark miteinander verbunden ist und One Piece besonders hier seine Stärke zeigt, schnell zwischen Perspektiven mehrerer parallel verlaufender Geschichten zu wechseln.

Nachdem die Bande das Gold aus Skypea in Geld umgetauscht haben, begeben sie sich zur Schiffswerft Galley-La. Dort werden sie innerhalb kürzester Zeit von zwei Schicksalsschlägen getroffen. Die Franky-Familie attackiert Usopp und nimmt den Strohhut-Piraten einen Großteil des Geldes ab und einer der Galley-La Arbeiter überbringt die schlechte Nachricht, dass die Flying Lamb nicht mehr zu reparieren ist.

Ein Teil der Bande besiegt daraufhin die Mitglieder der Franky-Familie und nimmt dessen Haus auseinander, doch müssen sie sich folgendes eingestehen: Das Geld ist weg und die Strohhut-Piraten werden sich von der Flying Lamb trennen müssen.

Dies trifft besonders Usopp, welcher sich selbst die gesamte Schuld für die momentane Situation zusteckt, sehr hart. Jeder besitzt besondere Erinnerung an die Flying Lamb, doch gilt dies besonders für Usopp, war die Flying Lamb schließlich ein Geschenk von Kaya und war er der festen Überzeugung, dass sie mit der Flying Lamb die Grand Line überqueren. Die Entscheidung die Flying Lamb durch ein neues Schiff auszutauschen, mag vielleicht der erste richtige Konflikt innerhalb der Bande sein. Niemand will das Schiff verlassen, aber man kann sich nicht der Realität widersetzen und als Kapitän trifft Luffy die schwierige Entscheidung. Luffy mag in diesen Sinne bereits alle Schritte der Trauer durchgangen haben, während Usopp sich noch in Verleugnung wiegt. Dieser Meinungsunterschied sorgt dafür, dass Usopp die Crew verlässt und Luffy zu einen Kampf um die Flying Lamb herausfordert.

Normalerweise bin ich kein Freund von solchen Situationen, da sie Drama aus einer Situation schöpfen, wo es keinen wirklichen Konflikt gibt, oder dem ganzen nur ein Missverständnis zu Grunde liegt. Hier ist es aber nicht der Fall. Luffy und Usopp sind beide bei vollem Gewissen und sind sich der Konsequenzen ihrer Entscheidungen bewusst und es fühlt sich für beide Charaktere irgendwie realistisch an so zu handeln. Es ist eine emotionsgeladene Szene, bei welcher es scheinbar nur Verlierer geben kann.

Der nächste Tag rückt an und die beiden treten gegeneinander an. Man mag vielleicht sagen, dass der Ausgang sehr offensichtlich ist und ich würde sogar darauf bestehen, dass genau dies der Punkt ist. Usopp war nie wirklich ein Kämpfer, aber zeigt er hier sein volles Potential gegen Luffy. Er ist ein Scharfschütze, auch wenn er es noch nicht oft unter Beweis stellen konnte und schreckt er auch nicht vor dem Benutzen der Dials aus Skypea zurück.

Für einen Augenblick könnte man sogar meinen, dass Usopp die Oberhand besaß, doch wie bereits gesagt, war der Ausgang dieses Kampfes nie wirklich eine Frage. Usopp wird von den Strohhut-Piraten ausgeschlossen, weniger wegen dem Willen die Flying Lamb zu behalten, sondern wegen des sich Widersetzen des Kapitäns. Um straight up etwas aus einem Video über diesen Arc zu stehlen: Für den Großteil der Zeit wirkte die Crew weniger wie eine Gruppe Piraten, sondern wie eine Familie auf Reisen. In diesen Moment musste Luffy das erste Mal beweisen, dass er der Kapitän dieser ist.

Die zweite und wichtigste Komponente dieses (und nächsten) Arcs ist Robin. Im Gegensatz zu allen anderen Mitgliedern, hatte Robin noch nicht ihren eigenen Arc — Der Moment, welcher sie als Mitglied der Strohhut-Piraten untermauert. In Alabasta ging es um Vivy; Robin hat sich so gesehen nur aus Spaß der Crew angeschlossen, nachdem Crocodile besiegt wurde. Und obwohl dieser Moment fehlte, blendete sie sich ohne Probleme in die Crew ein und man merkt, wie sich langsam eine emotionale Verbindung zwischen ihr und allen aufbaut… und es ist jene Verbindung, welche ihr zum Verhängnis wird.

Am Ende von Long Ring Long Land wurde bereits auf ihre Vergangenheit verweist und dass sich die Piraten, laut einem der Marine-Admiräle, wegen ihr zersplittern würden. In Water 7 wird Robin von Cipher Pol 9 aufgegriffen und tritt scheinbar ohne Grund aus den Strohhut-Piraten aus. Am nächsten Tag wird sie daraufhin beschuldigt ein Attentat auf Eisberg, den Bürgermeister von Water 7 und Boss von Galley-La, verübt zu haben, welches ebenfalls den Rest der Piraten in Schwierigkeiten bringt. Eisberg überlebt aber und Luffy und der Rest der Crew wollen der Situation auf den Grund gehen und Robin daraufhin konfrontieren. Wie sich herausstellt, ist Robin, mitsamt vier verkleideten Personen, verantwortlich für das Attentat und hier ist, wo ich den strukturellen Aufbau des Arcs wirklich loben muss.

Bis zu diesen Zeitpunkt war es klar, dass Franky und seine Familie die Antagonisten des Arcs sein sollen, während Galley-La den Strohhüten friedlich gesinnt sind. Franky stahl das Geld und seine Gefolgschaft haben Usopp fast tödlich verletzt, während Galley-La ihnen anbot ein neues Schiff zu bauen und ihnen sonst unter die Arme half. Hätte ich also nicht gewusst, wer sich unter den maskentragenden Roben verstecken würde, wäre dies ein ziemlich harter Twist geworden. Es sind nämlich niemand Geringeres als drei der prominentesten Mitarbeiter aus Galley-La und einer von Frankys Freunden, welche am Ende sogar Galley-La niederbrennen.

Dies ist auch der erste Moment, bei welchen es zu einen richtigen Kampf in diesen bisher nur mit soliden Drama gefüllten Arc kam… und die Strohhut-Piraten verlieren. Water 7 ist verglichen mit den Rest von One Piece recht ernst und dies zeigt sich auch in den enthüllten Antagonisten. Diese sind nicht nur stark, sondern bringen auch ein gewisses Gewicht mir ihren Taten einher. Während es hin und wieder aussichtslos für Luffy und Co. aussah, konnte man sich immer sicher sein, dass sie es schon irgendwie geschaukelt kriegen. Nicht hier. Es war eine blanke Niederlage und mit ihr kam die bedrückende Erkenntnis, dass nicht nur Robin, sonder auch die Freundschaft mit ihr, den Piraten entzogen wurde.

One Piece wäre aber nicht One Piece, wenn sich die Piraten geschlagen geben würden. Schnell enthüllt sich der Grund für Robins plötzlichen Sinneswandel und es wird beschlossen sie aus den Fängen Cipher Pols zu befreien. Zusammen mit den unschuldigen Arbeitern von Galley-La und der Franky-Familie fahren Sie Richtung der Hochburg der Marine – Enies Lobby. Außerdem, ich bin so ein Sucker, wenn sich verschiedene Gruppen für ein gemeinsames Ziel zusammentun. Shoot that stuff straight into my veins!

Technisch gesehen beginnt der nächste Arc erst ab der Ankunft der nächsten Insel, allerdings zähle ich den Rest des Water 7 Arcs irgendwie dazu. Der Kampf auf der Puffing Tom ist, was man von One Piece inzwischen erwarten kann. Um ehrlich zu sein war ich aber kein Fan davon, da alles, trotz der Ernstigkeit, wieder leichter genommen wurde. Besonders der Kontrast zwischen den kleinen Antagonisten und was wir nur kurz davor in Water 7 erlebt haben, ist wie Tag und Nacht.

Stattdessen will ich lieber noch über ein paar generelle Sachen sprechen. Water 7 selbst ist eine der interessanteren Inseln, welche man bisher erblicken durfte. Es ist wie ein teilweise vertikal angelegtes Venedig, also optisch sehr ansprechend. Außerdem bin ich ein großer Fan der Metapher, welche diese Insel darstellen soll. Water 7 sinkt stetig, doch bauen dessen Bewohner immer auf den untergegangenen Teil auf und halten so die Insel über Wasser. De facto, egal wie schlimm die Situation wirkt, soll man nicht aufgeben und das beste aus der Situation zu machen. Ähnlich gilt es mit der Aqua Laguna, welche parallel zu Water 7 und Enies Lobby verläuft und immer den momentanen dramatischen Stand widerspiegelt. Ihr Regen, welcher wie Tränen auf die Flying Lamb tropft ist einfach nur *Chef’s Kiss*.

Was ebenfalls noch anzumerken ist, dass Eiichiro Oda ein unglaubliches Verständnis über sozio-politische Themen besitzt. Einiges kam bereits durch seine Kommentare in den SBS Questions Corners durch, aber mit der Vergangenheit von Franky und Eisberg zeigt One Piece ein und für alle Male, das es sehr wohl politisch ist und was zu sagen hat. Einmal gibt es Tom, Frankys und Eisbergs Lehrer, welcher nochmal das Thema von Diskriminierung gegenüber Fischmenschen und politischer Verfolgung aufgreift, das Ausnutzen von Macht von Personen in höheren Stellungen und am wichtigsten, das Potential von Waffen und Sachen, welche nicht als Waffe gedacht waren. Ernsthaft, dass Frankys Schiffe als Waffe missbraucht wurden ist so ein effektives Beispiel für Verantwortung und Machtmissbrauch, dass man es glatt im Philosophie-Untericht besprechen könnte. Tom mag zwar nur ein kleiner Teil in der Geschichte von One Piece gewesen sein, repräsentiert er aber einen guten Teil dessen Aussagen… Dieser Arc ist so gut geschrieben.

Zurück zur eigentlichen Story. Bevor die Truppe aber in Enies Lobby ankommt, betritt eine weitere unbekannte Person das Rampenlicht und eilt zur Hilfe.

Enies Lobby

Wenn Water 7 der Auftakt war, dann ist Enies Lobby der fulminante Abschluss… dabei bin ich nicht einmal so ein großer Fan von diesen. Für einen Großteil wird einfach nur gekämpft, aber es sind die vielen kleinen Momente zwischen diesen Kämpfen, welche einen schönen Bogen um den gesamten Geschichtsstrang ziehen.

Fast alle Charaktere bekommen neue Attacken, ganz voran Luffy mit seinem Gear Two.

Ist es ein wenig schade, dass man als Leser nicht sieht, wie die verschiedenen Techniken entwickelt wurden? Vielleicht ein wenig, aber deren Impact in den Kämpfen ist es definitiv wert. Der Kampf zwischen Luffy und Bruno war genauso eine Machtdemonstration, als auch die semi-finale Ansage gegen die Marine und Weltregierung, sowie der Entschluss Robin zu retten.

Der Grund warum Robin sich von der Crew entfernt hat ist, dass solange sie selbst in der Nähe ist, die Strohhut-Piraten immer in Gefahr schweben, wie auch später durch den Buster Call verdeutlicht. Ein einfacher Akt der Selbstaufopferung, doch jeder sieht durch diese leichte Charade hindurch. Am Ende von Alabasta sagte Robin, dass sie für nichts mehr zu leben habe, doch seitdem sie sich den Piraten angeschlossen hat, sah man, wie sie wieder Freude am Leben entwickelte und nach Luffys erfolgreicher Demonstration hören wir, als auch die Strohhut-Piraten endlich die Worte, welche Robin nur allzu lange verdrängen musste: “Ich will leben!”. Mit allen ungeklärten Frage aus dem Weg geräumt, kann der Kampf nun beginnen.

Wie bereits erwähnt sind die Kämpfe nicht ganz so mein Ding gewesen und auch bin ich kein Freund von der weniger ernsten Aufmachung. Die CP9-Mitglieder aus Water 7 sind immer noch bedrohlich, aber wirken die restlichen Mitglieder, verglichen mit ihnen, wie ein Witz. Besonders Spandan, welcher als Antagonist für sowohl Water 7 als auch Enies Lobby agiert, wirkt so over-the-top böse und sadistisch, dass man ihn nicht wirklich ernst nehmen kann, wobei es immer noch sehr befriedigend ist, wenn ihm Robin eventuell die Visage poliert. Es gab aber auch definitiv Highlights: Sogeking (Sniper King), welcher den zwei Riesen der Marine von seiner Begegnung mit den Riesen auf Little Garden erzählt und alle kollektiv ihr gesamtes Vertrauen in die Strohhut-Piraten stecken war Shounen at its peak.

Es ist auch hier, dass wir endlich Robins Vergangenheit erfahren und oh Junge ist es ein fettes Brett zum schlucken. Bisher gab es immer nur mehrere Andeutungen, dass die Weltregierung, sowie die Marine als ihre Exekutive, ein klein wenig ihre Macht ausnutzt, um nicht so gute Dinge zu machen. In der Welt von One Piece gibt es eine hundert Jahre lange Lücke in der Geschichte, welche es verboten ist nachzuforschen. Die einzigen Aufzeichnungen dieses Jahrhunderts befindet sich auf den in der Welt verstreuten Poneglyphen, dessen Inschrift, außer Robin, niemand mehr lesen kann.

Einen ähnlichen Schicksal hängt Franky hinterher, welcher mit den Besitz der Plänen für eine alte Waffe beauftragt wurde, nachdem sie zuerst von Tom in Eisbergs und schließlich in seine Hände gelangten. Es ist in einen Gespräch mit Franky, dass ihre Motivation für die Suche nach den Poneglyphen deutlich wurde und welche Implikationen dies für sie und die Welt hat und Franky die Pläne daraufhin verbrennt, damit sie nicht in die Hände der Weltregierung fallen können. Ein unglaubliches Vertrauen zwischen zwei bis dahin fremden Menschen.

Währenddessen bei den Strohhüten: Wenn Luffys Kampf mit Bruno der erste Schritt war, dann war folgende Aktion der Todesstoß.

One Piece legt besonderen Wert auf die Bedeutung von Flaggen. Es ist nicht nur ein Symbol, welches anderen zeigen soll, wer man ist, sondern auch etwas, welches mit Stolz in der Luft wehen soll. Sie ist das Sinnbild für die Crew, welche unter ihr segelt. Das Abschießen der Flagge war die offizielle Kriegserklärung gegen die Weltregierung und das Ablehnen von allem, welches sie repräsentiert. Ich kann es nicht genug betonen, aber wer denkt One Piece sei “unpolitisch”, scheint One Piece nicht zu verstehen.

Es mag ein wenig unfair sein, aber ich würde den Großteil des restlichen Arcs mit den Kämpfen gegen die CP9-Mitglieder beschreiben. Wirklich bemerkenswert war dabei nur der Kampf zwischen Luffy und Lucci und das auch nur aufgrund seiner nie bis daher gesehenen Größe. Der andere große Punkt sind die Ereignisse im Buster Call und wie sich die Piraten aus dieser brenzligen Situation retten, wobei die genaue Location dort zu sehr interessanten Szenen führte. Enies Lobby mag zwar am Ende zerstört sein, aber wird es scheinbar nicht das letzte Mal sein, dass wir diesen Ort besuchen und von einer anderen Seite sehen, wenn ich die zukünftigen Arc-Namen richtig deute.

Schlusslicht ist folgendes: Robin und Franky werden gerettet, CP9 besiegt und alle entkommen den Buster Call. Selbst die Flying Lamb bekommt noch einmal einen Auftritt, indem sie wie von Zauberhand ihren Weg nach Enies Lobby gefunden hat und die Strohhut-Piraten ein letztes Mal vor den Stürmen des Meeres rettet. Auf den Weg zurück nach Water 7 verabschieden sich die Piraten endgültig von ihren Schiff und geben ihr eine Seebestattung, wodurch sich der Kreis schließt, mit welchen Water 7 begonnen hat.

Auch wenn ich Enies Lobby selbst nicht besonders von den Ereignissen mochte, kann ich nicht abstreiten, was für eine thematische Abgeschlossenheit sich am Ende des Arcs ergeben hat. Mich würde es überhaupt nicht wundern, wenn Water 7 und Enies Lobby als eine der besten Narrativen in One Piece eingehen werden, den bis zu diesen Zeitpunkt ist es eindeutig der Gipfel an was One Piece sein kann.

Post-Enies Lobby

Post-Enies Lobby muss für Leute in 2007 echt hart gewesen sein. Auch wenn man es aufgrund seiner Länge auf den ersten Blick nicht glauben mag, ist One Piece ähnlich wie Attack on Titan ziemlich solide gepaced, wenn man es nur auf der Makro-Ebene betrachtet. Natürlich ziehen sich einzelne Momente, besonders bei den Kämpfen, aber davon abgesehen fühlen sich *looks at notes* 46 Bände irgendwie nicht besonders falsch an, wenn man das Ausmaß von One Pieces Welt in Betracht nimmt, weshalb es ein wenig merkwürdig wirkt, dass One Piece in Post-Enies Lobby beinahe zu einem kompletten Stillstand kommt und sich Zeit zum verschnaufen gönnt.

Die Strohhut-Piraten ruhen sich verdient in Water 7 aus, Luffys Großvater, welcher sich als ein hochrangiger Marine-Soldat herausstellt, leistet ihnen mitsamt Koby und Helmeppo aus *looks at notes* dem allerersten Arc einen Besuch statt und auch so bekommen wir ein wenig für mich gern gesehene Exposition.

Dies soll aber auch nicht heißen, dass nichts passiert. Shanks taucht seit geraumer Zeit wieder auf und trifft sich mit Whitebeard und Luffys Bruder Ace fängt einen Kamnpf mit Blackbeard an, dessen Ende erst viel später aufgedeckt wird. Es liegt vielleicht näher diesen Arc als Build-Up für die kommenden Sagen anzusehen, welches mir tatsächlich sehr recht ist. Ich bin mir fast sicher, dass mir eine komprimierte Version von One Pieces Ereignissen eher liegt, als eine vollkommen ausgespielte Geschichte, auch wenn ich diese volle Geschichte sehr mag. One Pieces Welt und Geheimnisse sind eine der Aspekte, welche mich dazu treiben immer weiterzulesen, weshalb ich diesen Arc unter keinen Umständen als verschwendete Zeit abstempeln würde.

Ein schönes Detail, welches mir erst später auffiel, ist dass Robin nun alle Strohhut-Piraten beim Namen nennt und nicht mehr nach ihren Rollen. Aus Kapitän wurde Luffy, aus Navigator Nami und aus Schwertkämpfer und Koch wurde Zorro und Sanji. Es zeigt ihre kleiner werdende Distanz zu den anderen und dass sie sich selber nun endgültig als einen richtigen Teil der Strohhut-Piraten ansieht.

Währenddessen bauen Franky und Eisberg den Piraten ein Schiff, mit wessen sie die Grand Line bereisen können. In dieser Zeit muss sich Franky auch eingestehen, dass er mit Luffy und Co. auf Reisen gehen will. Dies bemerken ebenfalls die Mitglieder der Franky-Familie und führen mit den Strohhut-Piraten einen Plan durch, Franky sich diesen anzuschließen… indem sie seine Hosen klauen und nackt durch Water 7 jagen. Um ehrlich zu sein kann auch ich bei so einen kindischen Humor lachen, wobei wir mal kurz ignorieren, dass Robin ihm wortwörtlich bei den Eiern hatte… das tat selbst nur beim Lesen weh. Die Strohhut-Piraten haben endlich ihren Zimmermann und mit einem zurückgekehrten Usopp im Schlepptau kann nun auch der nächste Nächste Schritt auf der Grand Line beginnen; Und das alles in ihren neuen Schiff.

Verstreute Gedanken

Was für eine Saga. Ich belächele immer diejenigen, welche darauf beharren, dass etwas später besser wird. One Piece war bereits am Anfang gut, aber damn ist es einen weiten Weg gekommen. Würde ich Water 7 als einen Grund nennen One Piece anzufangen? Wahrscheinlich nicht. Es baut auf Jahren an Arbeit auf und lässt sich nur wirklich wertschätzen, wenn man bei der ganzen Reise dabei war, weshalb man es auch nicht in einen Vakuum empfehlen kann… was schade ist, denn eine ähnliche Geschichte außerhalb des Kontext von One Piece würde bestimmt eine Menge Leute beeindrucken.

Dieser Post hat ein wenig auf sich warten lassen. Es liegt aber tatsächlich nicht (unbedingt) an der Länge von diesem, sondern weil ich einfach nicht angefangen habe, stattdessen vier andere Posts geschrieben habe und nicht wusste, wie ich alles nach Long Ring Long Land überhaupt anfassen sollte. Teehee. Außerdem war ich wohl der Meinung eine halbe Zusammenfassung für alles zu schreiben, aber auch gleichzeitig viele Sachen gar nicht zu erwähnen… Um ehrlich zu sein, wurde ich den beiden Arcs nicht wirklich gerecht. Vertraut mir also einfach, dass ich beide unglaublich wertschätze und nicht aufhöre zu sagen, dass One Piece gut ist, jetzt wo ich es zum ersten Mal richtig lese. Bis zum nächsten Mal mit der Thriller Bark Saga.

Getting fit with Wii Fit: Month 1

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 14:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, I finally had enough and actually decided to get into shape… and I plan to do so, by playing Wii Fit (Plus)!

Okay… weird, but go on.

I have a weird relation with my body. I do consider myself “fit”. I have no problems running in my day to day life, I use my bike every time I don’t have to literally go to the other side of the city and yes, I do look down on people using the escalator, instead of the stairs, mostly because I am faster at the top and can do so not just metaphorically, but also physically. By all means, I am not out of shape… but I am not in shape either.

Since a child, I was always kind of overweight, despite playing outside all day and eating healthy. My best guess is that I just ate too much. As a result, I look fat. Not as fat as my weight might suggest, but fat nonetheless. Also, since no one tried to fat-shame me my entire life, I will have to do it now myself. I have to lose weight! This time for real!

The first component is simply the medical aspect. My youthful stride may carry me for now, but what about another 20 years? What about when I am actually growing old? I have already destroyed both of my knees once and since I am more likely to suffer from arthritis anyway, might as well do my best to lower the odds. Then there is the more common stuff like increased risks of high blood pressure, diabetes and strokes. I want to be able to go out with a bang and not because my body is failing me. I suppose this is all pretty uncontroversial stuff. Be healthy! And not just the “Green colored text printed on the front of a magazine promoting the next diet”-healthy, but the “Full impact of living a good life”-healthy.

The second reason includes basically everything me. I, and I mean myself by that, just want to get slimmer. I don’t want to be the fat ~~kid~~ adult anymore. I want to be normal. I want to go into the store and not worry about, whether they have the big sizes. Hell, just fitting into my jeans again would be great. I want to look into the mirror and be actually be proud of my body. Just imagine how powerful I could become, when I lose the (not) literal chains weighing me down. Simply being less self-continuos would boost my confidence immensely. I don’t want to think about my weight or how I look because of it. I want to take back that bit of control about my life. This is not the best I can be and while I am accepting of myself, I am also nothing to strife for. This has to change. I have to change. At the very least in this one area.

Sounds to me, that, instead of a gym membership, you might actually need an appointment with a therapist. But sure, whatever…

The last thing is the simple societal stigma. While I wasn’t directly confronted by it yet, I notice it by myself with my own attitude towards other people. And I want to be liked by society and other people, not viewed with skepticism, doubt and bad looks. I mean, how can one look at me and not think that it is simply a lack of will and trying to be better. I would feel about 50% less like shit, telling other people I watch anime, if I weren’t looking like a walking otaku stereotype. I want to change my perception of myself, not just for myself, but for the entire world. Not out of good will, but as a statement. I don’t care how superficial I am.

Imagine not getting the utter irony at display here…

And that’s why fat-shaming is good, actually!

NOOO?!

Honestly, I think there is good to be found in it being fundamentally my choice. It just not being a decisions that seems obvious, but actually pulling through with it and taking the first steps.

All jokes aside, this probably is not as big a thing as I want to make it out, considering how I very much do not stand at the other possible end of the scale. Get fit, live a healthier life. Simple as that. Long overdue, but better late than never, I guess.

Cool… ehh, so where does Wii Fit come into play, exactly?

Right. My parents bought Wii Fit, when I was a child and it was really fun to play, but most importantly, I actually lost weight by doing so, despite growing. Now, don’t misunderstand me here, I do not want to gamify training. In fact, it is the absolute opposite of what I want. In-game scores and achievements mean nothing, if I still look like a potato afterwards. If you die in the game, you should die for real, is what I am saying and there is a big difference between playing a game as intended and playing a game for good scores. If I lay my focus too much on the game aspects of Wii Fit, I doubt I will achieve anything substantial.

However, I want to abuse the systems of games, that motivate you to keep coming back and play the game. I’m talking daily log-ins, rewards, etc. I remember logging-in daily in War Thunder for almost two months, despite barely playing the actual game and here is, where I think Wii Fit will shine. A game can become a routine, even when only doing the bare minimum and in my case, this is perfect, because doing anything is still better than doing literally nothing. I tricked my gacha-poisoned brain into doing sports, or in this case, at least doing the daily body tests. Wii Fit also tracks your progress, as well as your overall performance and time spend. Numbers go up, chemicals in my brain make me happy.

The last factor is simple convenience. Not in the way of it being easy, but rather accessible without much additional effort. I could get a gym membership, but the only gym in my area looks kinda bad, costs 35€/month for at least a year and would take me around 15 minutes to even get there every time. Also, Corona is still a thing and I don’t want to risk it. With Wii Fit, it doesn’t even take me a minute and I can get started. Considering Wii Fit Plus and the Balanceboard only cost me 35€, I am also already even, compared to the gym.

Nevertheless, here are my thoughts and experience on the game so far:

Body Test

Every day, you can do a daily body test. The game essentially just measures your weight and left-right balance, followed by a quick balance test and a “cognitive” test based upon the Stroop effect, the latter one just being a balance test with small choices and decisions. In the end, it calculates your Wii Fit Age and either praises you for your good stature and balance, or shames you into oblivion. Good.

From a medical perspective, to almost every other angle imaginable, this test is complete and utter nonsense, though not necessarily bad or harmful. Even ignoring the obvious faults in the Wii Fit Age, your balance is not directly linked to fitness and the BMI is a scam that somehow got conspired into the medical field. I mean, I would have to reduce my weight to 90Kg to even be at the upper bounds of “average weight”, since the BMI completely ignores your frame and doesn’t properly scale with height. I’m 1.90m tall and wide like a closet so… yeah, not gonna happen. If we go with a newly proposed BMI, I would be in normal range with a 100Kg, which seems much more reasonable and healthy. Also, I’m still running a STR-VIT Build here.

While the test is kinda dumb, I am not opposed to it, if only it helps you track your data. I mean, I know my standing(?) balance is off and while this is no indicator for fitness, seeing it slowly but steadily shifting towards the middle feels nice and while the BMI is skewed, it going down means progress. Again, while it is nonsense for accurate analysis, it is not bad or harmful and since the game itself doesn’t really care about those values either, I see no problem with the body test. As already mentions, since it acts as your motivator, it is definitely a good addition to the game.

Anyway, when registering a new character, you are asked if you want to set a goal and since I know my “ideal” weight, I did so… except I did not. Wii Fit has an upper limit of 10Kg and three months, so I will have to repeat this process at least once. However, losing 20Kg over the course of six months seems reasonable, so it also fits my case.

The numbers, Hansi! What do they say?

The “first day” was late at night, after I fetched the game. I apparently weighed 121.3Kg. This brings me to another topic. What even is your weight? I mean, you weigh what you weigh, but the point is, that it changes constantly in both directions over the course of the day. Drink a glass of water or go to the toilet. You actual weight arguably did not change, though the scale will still do its job properly.

What I want to say is that I will basically calculate with a ±0.5Kg margin of error and most importantly, weekly averages and trends, instead of discrete daily values. I don’t even know how accurate the scale in the Balanceboard works on my relatively thick carpet, so my approach to analyzing the data basically comes down to whether the line goes up or down over a long period of time. I find it annoying enough already how some people are overly pedantic over small height differences, so I won’t even start that with weight. Let’s keep the game logic going here. It doesn’t matter how good you are, as long as the numbers go up… or hopefully down, in my case.

The numbers!

Okay, here we go:

Ignoring the first day, I started out with an even 120Kg. One month later and I am down to around 116Kg. I guess around 4Kg is fine for a month? It doesn’t sound like much, but considering I run around with what is essentially a set of 2Kg dumbbells less, I’m happy. Hopefully I can keep up that pace. I haven’t done anything for I think five days in this month, but with the exception of two, they were not out of laziness. Acceptable start, but we will see where I am in a couple of months.

I also haven’t changed much in terms of eating yet. I definitely started eating less, but have yet to make more substantial changes to my diet, though I already started eating healthier and try new dishes some time ago.

Now, let’s take a look at what the game actually offers in terms of getting fit.

Yoga & Strength Training

The yoga and strength training is something I never did as a child. It was arguably rather boring, especially compared to everything else Wii Fit has to offer. However, now I am an adult, boring stuff is part of my everyday life and I literally participated in a stream watching paint dry. I think I am ready for yoga.

The one main complaint about Wii Fit mostly boils down to how “easy” it is. By all means anything you will do in a more serious context, the gym or even just running outside, will be more “intense”. Despite this, I quite appreciate what the yoga has to offer. This is something even our trainer in the rowing club has drilled into our brains: “Your muscles and endurance mean nothing, if you are only as flexible as a rock”. Beyond that, yoga aims at the muscle groups that one normally doesn’t even know exist. It feels right doing yoga, since I don’t simply ace every exercise and even struggle with some. It also hasn’t gotten old yet circling through all the exercises every few days.

One might say, that I don’t even need Wii Fit to do yoga and while being absolutely correct, they are simply not right. The game gives you surprisingly good feedback and the live response from the Balanceboard makes correcting your pose very easy. I don’t know how to do most of the poses, so the game is a great help in this regard and keeps me corrected if I do something wrong. I do, however, wish the catalogue would be bigger.

The strength training is something I have yet to actively indulge in. Not only does the relatively low intensity and lack of equipment make it seem pretty pointless, it is also really hard to find the proper space in my room. If I were to remove my chair, I would be working with 1.50m x 2.20m of space plus the open space above my bed, which is fine for most of the yoga exercises, but hardly enough for the strength training, where I am also on the ground.

What also bothers me, though this is something that affects most of the game, is that you have to unlock harder difficulties and more repetitions by playing on the lower difficulties first. I kinda get it, but it is also annoying that I have to do exercises, that are so below my level. Like, doing ten slow torso twists barely counts as movement in my book, so going through this for a few times as something I have to do with every exercise, makes me even less motivated to tackle this whole block. At least there are different settings for the strength training, since yoga does unfortunately not.

Lastly, there is something I just have to get off my chest. I’m sure I am not the only to notice, that there is very subtle S&M-dynamic going on in this game. Your trainer goes straight for the throat any time you don’t perform well. Lost your balance and lowered your leg on the ground? Be prepared to be spoken down to with a condescending look in their eyes, as they tell you “Seems you are too weak!" in your face without any empathy for your feelings and emotional well-being. They then spurn you on and you just stand there unsure if they want you to succeed or watch you fail yet again. It’s actually kinda hot. Nintendo definitely knew what they were doing while creating the female trainer. Also, the Balanceboard constantly wants you to step on it.

Yeah… that therapy I mentioned earlier… please reconsider…

Aerobics

This is where I spend most of my time on. Since me losing weight is basically the same as burning all the excess fat in my body, just moving works pretty well for me. Aerobics features four core activities with some degree of variations: Hula Hoop, Step, Jogging and Rhythm Boxing.

Hula Hoop is pretty straightforward. You stand on the Balanceboard and circle your hips in both directions for a certain amount of time. I am not sure what the difference between normal Hula Hoop and Super Hula Hoop is, however you can increase the time in Super Hula Hoop, so this is what I tend to play. Despite its simplicity, it is surprisingly fun, though not that hard, not even with five minutes per directions. I also wished that there would be simply more to do. Once you have caught all the hoops by leaning left or right, you just keep circling your hips for the remaining time, which is a bit more than four minutes per direction on the longest setting. I basically phase out after a short period of time and switch to auto-pilot, while listening to music, so something to break the repetitiveness up would be great.

Basic Step and Advanced Step are the same thing, except the latter on is longer. You perform a series of steps on the Balanceboard while staying in rhythm with the music. This one is probably the most fun out of any of the games and almost feels like dancing… well, because it is practically dancing and since the Balanceboard also acts as a step-board, it takes some effort to keep up with the pace. If there is one thing to criticize, beyond the fact that it won’t recognize my side-step correctly, is the lack of variety. There is one (1) routine. That’s it. I can practically do the whole exercise blind, as I’ve already memorized it in its entirety. They have already build the basis for a step-based DDR, so I can’t imagine it being that difficult to extend this game in particular. I am playing Wii Wit Plus after all, so why is it still the same steps with the same music, even if it is an absolute banger? Hell, Wii Fit is a first-party Nintendo game, add some Mario and Zelda tunes to step to and make it its own full-fleshed game!

There is also Free Step. As the name implies, you do not step to a pre-defined routine, but just step at your own pace instead. The game only keeps track of the fact, that you are stepping at all and even tells you to switch to your normal TV. Stepping seems to apparently be an actually good and genuine aerobic training, though I am still not convinced of that myself. The problem is that the Balanceboard is not as high as your average step-board, so it is less effective stepping on it. I did it for 20 minutes for a couple of days, but eventually stopped, because it was too boring and even the fastest tempo was too slow for me. I can see doing it, if I were to watch something at the same time, but due to my complicated setup, it would be too much effort to keep switching my speakers.

Next up is Jogging. Like Steps, this one is also divided into its three own things. Normal Jogging is maybe five minutes of leisurely running on the spot. The point is not to be fast, but consistent, so you are rated not on speed, but efficiency… I think. I played it one time and moved on. The next one would be 2P Jogging, which I haven’t even played. It is the same thing as normal Jogging, however a second player can join in and run alongside you. This also the only game that can be played with another player. The last and most important one is the Free Jogging. Similar to the Free Step, you are left alone and are free to go at whatever pace you want. This is, without a doubt, the most intense thing you can do in Wii Fit.

While not as exhausting as the real thing, running on the spot still works up a sweat. Quite literally. I am drenched after I’m finished. I missed the feeling of being covered in sweat. As much as I thought the “circle” training in my rowing club was brutal, this is the kind of masochism I can enjoy. I started out struggling with ten minutes and am currently at the level, where I can consistently “run” for 20 minutes without much problems.

The first few weeks, my feet just hurt. In fact, the first time was so painful, that I eventually opted for wearing shoes. It was only a few days ago, that I realized I was not limited by my stamina, but by my feet killing me. I am (hopefully) thankfully over this phase now and my speed and distance greatly increased since then. Running until you just can’t go for much longer is surprisingly satisfying and makes you feel like you actually accomplish something. My most important takeaway might even be, how to breath better. I can now basically join Demon Slayer or JoJo with my new fancy breathing techniques.

Unfortunately, the tracking is rather wonky. The Wii Remote acts as a makeshift pedometer, however as you won’t hold the remote in your hand for most of the time, it sits in one of your pockets, meaning accuracy will vary. I tried putting it in my back pocket, but it either goes too slow or too fast, often switching between the two extremes at random. My normal pockets tend to be too big, but I eventually found a position where the remote stays put and seems to yield consistent results. As already said, I couldn’t care less about what the game thinks I have run, when I have run the actual distance in real life. I do however want to be able to see, if I make progress getter faster or can keep going at a pace for longer. Arguably the best way to track distance is either fetching an actual pedometer or building a kind of holster for the remote to strap around my thighs, which seems like a fun, but dumb idea. I could also just straight up get a treadmill (No, I can’t), which would also eliminate the whole “running on the spot”-problem, which may cause pain in hips, shin and ankles in the long run, if I don’t maintain good form.

Couldn’t you just go for a run outside, like a normal person?

No!? Running outside sucks and I am to self-conscious for that anyway. I look like newborn giraffe that has only figured out how their legs work an hour ago and I feel like every person I pass judges me on a fundamental level. The only time I would run outside is at 3AM, which is normally not a time I’m awake.

As with the Steps, I really wished Jogging would have more variety, as you run down the exact same route every time. I eventually started looking out the window instead, because the real world looks better than pre-2010 Nintendo graphics I have seen a thousand times. Let me run across the entirety of Wuhu Island, not just this one loop, or change the time of the day, maybe even the weather. I know this is in the realms of possibility, as Wii Sports Resorts is a thing (I know that Resorts was released after both Wii Fit and Plus, but still).

Lastly, Rhythm Boxing. Rhythm Boxing is arguably one of the most complex games in Wii Fit, as you have to use booth your arms and legs at the same time. The game consists of repeating certain moves while punching accordingly to the rhythm. Unlike with Steps, the instructions are randomized, so despite only being made up of four and a half unique instructions, every run is different. You also have to pay attention, or you immediately forget what you are supposed to do. It also took me a few days to master the individual moves in their entirety, despite being rather simple once you understand them.

Rhythm Boxing is just plain fun. Boxing is already my favorite game in Wii Sport and now also using your legs really sells some of the punches you throw. If you could combine this somehow with an actual punching bag, this would be amazing. However, this game is build upon rhythm, not power. It still feels like exercise though and you can always make it harder for yourself by just punching really hard into the void in front of you. Unfortunately, you can’t just hold some additional weights, since you have to hold the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk in both of your hands.

In general, all of the aerobics games are good, with their biggest weakness just being a lack of variety. Too bad that this is a Nintendo game, as the modding community would have gone wild with this game. In fact, just imagining something akin to the Steam Workshop or even Dreams, would elevate this game to new heights. Wii Fit is sparse in content and only so many people are fine with doing the same things over and over again, before getting bored. I have not reached this point yet, but just one or two extra games would help Wii Fit in this regard a lot. Until then, I will simply continue my daily routine of Advanced Step, Yoga, Jogging, Rhythm Boxing and Super Hula Hoop.

Maybe I will also find a few ways to make the training more interesting. I mean, what about doing Hula Hoop with an actual physical Hula Hoop. Not sure if my room is big enough for that, but it would definitely help me keep my arms properly raised, if there is a real hoop spinning around my waist. There are also foot extensions for the Balanceboard, which hopefully make the exercises a little bit more challenging. However, there is also nothing I can do in some other regards. While the Balanceboard is surprisingly big, it is not big enough for me. This isn’t even problem for aerobics, but for yoga, strength training and the last categories of Wii Fit.

Balance Games & Fit Plus Games

Gotta be honest here for a second, despite it being the most fun I had with as a child, I have barely touched both of these categories. I quickly played every balance game once and none of the Fit Plus games, despite them being completely new to me. As already mentioned, I don’t want to gamify my training. The games surely are fun in themselves, but are they not what I came to Wii Fit for. I mean, I want to get fit. There will probably come a day, where I just want to play and have a bit of fun with them, but until then, there is not a lot to be said about them. Maybe next time.

Conclusion

Just talking about Wii Fit as game, I doubt I have anything to add to what has not already been said by everyone else. It does not compare to “actual” training and a lot of the exercises are limited by the fact, that they are games. However, I don’t care a lot about it. This is not a review of Wii Fit or an article on how to improve it. For all intends and purposes, I have lost some weight and this is all that matters to me. Also, the game is fun and I like playing it.

If there is one thing I genuinely wish for, it is the ability to create training programs. I mean, they technically exist for yoga and strength training, where the small overheads quickly accumulate with every exercise, extending them to at least aerobatic would make things a bit simpler.

I will also take a look into modding the game. There are basically no mods for the game and I doubt I will get very far, but if there is a possibility to just add more repetitions to yoga or add step variations or even different songs to Steps, I definitely want to look into it.

The first month is probably the easiest and it is important, that I won’t give up along the way. I made progress and no one (except literally myself) will be able to take this away from me. Here is to a future self, that I can be proud of. We will hopefully see us in about two months with another update. And remember:

Watching High School DxD: Season 4

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 17:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, after rewatching the first three seasons for the first time after six years, it is finally time to get to the latest anime installment of the franchise: High School DxD Hero (Title design not that strong anymore).

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first. Between season three and four, the whole project changed studio and a good amount of its staff. The new season is helmed at Passione, with the most obvious changes being in the character design and art style of the series. In general, most characters have more rounded features, their eyes look kinda drowsy and basically all colors are lighter with less hard shading and contrast. Some people say, that the new character designs match the novel illustrations more, though I don’t really see that. It definitely looks a lot more modern, but kind of loses its edge.

Do the characters look better or worse?.. well, yes and no. By all accounts, the characters look fine and I doubt there would have been many complaints, if DxD looked like that from the start. It didn’t though, so comparisons are inevitable.

We certainly have some winners.

Some characters definitely benefit from the lighter colors, shading and line work. Rossweisse looks even better now, I can’t even imagine Kunou in the old designs and Issei of all people really rocks the shounen protagonist aesthetic. A good amount of characters are also mostly unaffected, like Rias, Akeno or Gasper and some look basically identical like Saji and Azazel.

Unfortunately, there are also some heavy misses.

Gonna be honest, Xenovia still looks amazing, just in a different way that makes her almost look like another character. Also the green hair is now on her left side. On the other hand, they absolutely massacred my boys Kiba and Vali — Just went through them with the rustiest knife they could find. Kiba looks too soft and Vali went from the good kind of edge to… just bad everything.

In general, one could say, that all the designs are less sexy, which is understandable disappointing for some, as one of DxD’s appeal is, well… sex appeal. But trust me, they very much did not make this anime anymore safe for work. The opposite, in fact.

Concerning the actual animation however, the new season is clearly the winner: The compositing makes everything look a bit nicer, from the lighting in different locations, to the extra flair of the effects. Not sure if the better animation is due to the new character designs, since they don’t seem that much simpler to draw, but the series is much more animated, both in the mundane, as well as the fights. This season also had some really great expression from the characters. What really surprised me were the action sequences. They looked genuinely impressive at times, especially considering how complicated Issei’s armor and a lot of the villains clothing is. I doubt anything from the first three seasons could produce that much hype from its animation alone.

With the technical side out of the way, how was the story? We were both pretty confused by the “first” episode. It completely re-animated the last four episodes of the last season, but… changes things. The climax does not revolve around the confrontation between a mind-controlled Rias and Issei, but around the scenes involving Asia’s capture and the time Issei went berserk. We both kept wondering, whether these things happened in the third season, but it eventually ends the same way: By a beautiful display of love and friendship… no it did not. The Oppai Dragon song started playing and we bore witness to what is essentially the most surreal shitpost in the DxD universe… but then you realise, that they are also dead serious. Side note: As it turn out, this was not in fact the first episode, but a special episode… still surreal and the point stands.

This is something that takes way more presence, than one might hope. I love the concept of the Oppai Dragon and I have to respect just how serious DxD treats this plot point, but there comes a point, where it just feels unreal. One episode featured a stage play of the Oppai Dragon by the characters, but the audience are all children. In a formal conference, Issei was asked, if he would power up by sucking on Rias' breasts and one of the emotional turning points in the second half was initiated by what is the Oppai Dragon fan club. It was unreal and I am genuinely unsure what to think of it.

Anyway, last season finally took a deep-dive into the full extend of the world, its politics and different factions butting their heads against each other and this season continues this trend. The first half of the season, after a quick introduction of what will expect us in the latter half, is framed around a school trip to Kyoto, where (half) the gang gets involved in the disappearance of the head of the Kitsune-Youkai clan and their eventual confrontation with the self-proclaimed Hero Faction.

I liked the more slice-of-life scenes, especially the one, where Xenovia just randomly continued to say this long complicated name in the middle of a conversation (I love her so much), but when it came to the actual meat of the plot, it felt really messy and by the fact that I have trouble remembering what even happened, kinda forgettable. The fights lacked both impact and meaning. Cao Cao is not like Vali, who always lingered in the background and interacted with Issei on several occasions and there are also so many other new characters introduced, who barely get any screen time (One of whom still got to be on the eyecatches). The conflict is eventually resolved by what is essentially just an ex machina and the whole ordeal seemed to be pretty pointless in the overall scheme of things, though I would have to see how the story continues to judge that.

It was also really confusing as we often just wondered, whether a lot of characters powers were ever shown or even hinted towards. I mean, Azazel can apparently transform like Issei and Vali and since when does Saji have a dragon in his Balance Breaker? I could feel myself slowly phasing out, as neither me, or the person to my left fully kept up with what is happening in the story. Convoluted feels like the wrong word to describe it, but it also fits so well. Issei’s Balance Breaker can also now transform into a defense, speed and attack form, completing the Deoxys quartet.

The second half went into a much better direction, as long as we ignore one central plot point. As already spoken of in the beginning of season four, Rias family is going to participate in a rating game against Sairaorg. It is not a tournament arc (yet), but does it go through all its tropes anyway. Beyond that, Sairaorg is just a really solid and fleshed out character. He stands on the same ground as Issei and both respect each other, which makes him less an antagonist and more of a rival. He is also the characters through which we see more of the elitism in the underworlds rank and I am just too much of a sucker for guy being looked down upon for a lack of magical ability and compensating for going plus ultra on his body and physical training. Sairaorg’s a punchy boy and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The actual rating game was really rushed and, from a thematic standpoint, mostly filler. Fun filler I might add, but filler nonetheless. Everyone, except Asia, who is apparently now solely the healer of the group, was able to show of their fighting ability, which gave us some interesting fights, but beyond the one involving Gasper and ending on a arguably well intended but still weird “Boys have to protect girls”-message, there is nothing to it. They are also mostly rather short, especially Akeno’s one-hit self-destruct “battle”. They did her so dirty. It only really picked up, when Sairaorg finally joined the fray.

The basic premise of the fight is, that Sairaorg, beyond his superficial enjoyment of battle, has to prove himself and there is no better opponent than Issei, as both of their core motivation stems from the same source. I genuinely appreciate just how brutal the fight is. No magical laser show, just two guys punching the life out of each other, with enough blood spilled to keep a hospital running. The power escalation is surprisingly well executed and always tied to a certain moment, that drives the point of this fight even farther home. Sairaorg with his mothers wish and Issei’s love for Rias. It hits all the same beats as your average shounen and pulls them off so well, it is ridiculous to think, that it is actually all about boobs.

Here we go full circle with what I meant at the beginning. Hinted in this kind of dream world and shown at the end of season three, all the former hosts of Ddraig tend towards domination and destruction and Issei almost falls pray to it at the climax of the battle with Sairaorg. But suddenly, chants of “Oppai Dragon” fill the stadium and issei remembers just how much he loves breasts and breaks free, declaring that he will become Harem King, not as Red Dragon Emperor, but Oppai Dragon. I pretend that every mention of “Boobs” and “Breasts” is simply replaced with “Love” and “Friendship”. It absolutely fits thematically and it makes me less depressed. Even Ddraig himself required counseling after the fight, because he couldn’t bear the embarrassment. It is a fantastic scene, just… it was too much, even for me. I can laugh about it, but considering how unironically great this could habe been, I am a little bumped… it just kept going and the joke never stopped…

Anyway, Issei wins, finally confesses to Rias and gets another bro moment with Sairaorg. The anime ends with a little teaser of what is to come. I heavily doubt, that DxD will ever receive another season, considering the novels ended when this season aired, but if there is one thing I learned from watching this anime, it is that a man can dream. I am glad, that DxD most likely ended for me not just on a high note, but the highest note in fact. If only this wasn’t partially framed around one of the worst plot points in the entire series.

While Issei’s relationship with Rias was always kind of stagnant, it was at least really well defined. They both love each other and there is not a single doubt about it in the entire four seasons. Issei risked his life, just so Rias won’t get married to the antagonist from the end of season one and the climax of season three literally revolved around how much Issei cares for Rias and vice versa. So why in the dimension splitting fuck is there even a shred of doubt in both of them, when they were already on their way onto third base in the sauna. Is it weird, that Issei still calls her “President”, instead of just her name? Sure, but Rias being unsure, if he considers her close is… just no. It’s the same with Issei’s doubt. Issei, my man… she sleeps completely naked in your bed, tries her best to keep other woman away and sacrificed all eight pawns for you and since she is not canadian… bro… yeah, she might be into you.

Issei’s doubts are partially justified, when all the other girls get naked and comfort him about his experience with Raynare, the girl that tricked him in the beginning of season one by going out on a date with him. When I first heard it, I thought this was supposed to be a joke, but no, they mean it absolutely serious. It is just so dumb and worst of all, it entirely destroys any progress they made over three and a half seasons. I don’t consider DxD to be a serious romance by any means, but you can’t just go against everything established to create some short-term drama.

And with that little rant over, it is finally done. Four seasons of High School DxD don’t even feel that much in hindsight, but considering it was the only thing we watched the last three months, we are glad it’s finally over. I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this series, even after supposedly “growing out” of this kind of anime. Turns out, I never was so horny, as to watch an anime simply due to the chance of seeing breasts… or I still am, but who knows. Do I recommend High School DxD? Actually, yes. It is probably one of the best ecchi anime out there and just really fun to watch, though you definitely have to go into it with a certain mindset.

Until next time, hopefully with a series that is a bit more rich in thematic depth and justifies it’s over six thousand word count.

How to create a song for UltraStar Deluxe

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 17:45:00 +0100

EDIT: I wrote an updated version on this subject, so check out the newer tutorial instead. Also, YASS now supports duet versions, so you don’t have to follow my roundabout approach anymore.

Ach ja, karaoke is fun. UltraStar Deluxe is a free program that allows you to engage in that fun, but while there is a sizeable database of songs available, not everything is. However, creating a new song for UltraStar Deluxe is relatively easy, though pretty time-consuming, so here is a guide to hopefully help some newcomers not make the same mistakes I did and save some time in the process.

Step 0: Programs

While, technically, everything can be done in UltraStar Deluxe itself and a simple text editor, it is not very user-friendly and better alternatives exist. To create the karaoke file and set all the meta data and lyrics, I recommend UltraStar Creator and Yass to fine-tune the timing and pitch of the lyrics.

Step 1: Setting up a new Song

Go into the directory where all your songs are located. By default, this is the “songs”-folder in the ultrastardx program files (You can set your own directory in the config.ini). Create a new folder named [Artist] - [Song Title]. This will be the folder where all the assets go into. You will at least need the .mp3 of the song you want to create, for example by downloading it from YouTube. Additionally, you can add a cover image and a background video/image.

For this tutorial, I will create the Song “Heart to Heart” by Nakajima Tomoko from the anime series Pretty Cure.

Step 2: Creating the Karaoke File in UltraStar Creator

Open UltraStar Creator. First, you have to select the song you want to create the file for. Next, fill in all the meta data. If there is a cover or background video/image in the same directory, it will automatically fill them in, though they can still be changed later. The BPM should also have been recognized automatically.

Paste the lyrics of the song into the large text field and correct them if necessary. Words are separated by a space and individual lines by a page break. You will now have to split individual syllables with a “+”.

For example: Maybe I am a pirate in disguise will become May+be I am a pi+rate in dis+guise. Listen closely to the singing to split the words correctly. Shorter words often consist of only a single syllable, so they don’t have to be split.

Once every syllable is split, it is time to time them. On the bottom left, click the Start icon and press the space bar every time you hear a new syllable. You can also hold the space bar for the duration of the syllable, though it is easier to simply tap it once. The current and next syllables are displayed on the bottom of the screen. If the song is too fast, you can reduce the playback speed with the slider above the play button. Try to be accurate, but also do not waste too much time on this, since we will re-time the lyrics anyway in the next step. When you are happy with your results, save the file.

If you open the file with a text editor, it should begin with the metadata, followed by a single syllable/word per line in the format [Type] [Start] [Duration] [Pitch] [Lyric].

Step 3: Fixing the Timing in Yass

Open Yass. When starting Yass for the first time, it will ask you to set a path for a library. Simply enter the directory where all your songs are located. All your songs should be listed now. Search for the new song and click on the edit button (Note and pencil) in the top.

There are a few shortcuts, that will make editing in Yass easier:

Left/Right Arrow: Swap between syllables in line
Up/Down Arrow: Swap between lines
Ctrl: Select beginning of a syllable, can be moved with arrow keys
Alt: Select end of a syllable, can be moved with arrow keys
Shift: Selects entire syllable, can be moved with arrow keys
Ctrl + W: Toggle Ticks
Ctrl + U: Toggle Audio
Ctrl + B: Toggle Instrument
Ctrl + I: Toggle between playback speeds (100%, 50%, 33%, 25%)

Additionally, you can split a syllable by clicking at the top of the block. This will create another block with a ~, which denotes a repeated tone. To edit the lyrics, right-click into the text area at the top right. Before correcting the timing, we have to fix one error.

The first error to correct is the start of the first syllable. Change its starting position until it lines up perfectly with the audio. Then go into the errors (red box at the top), select “Non-zero first beat” and click correct at the bottom. This will set the correct offset (#GAP) for your lyrics in relation to the song. Skip this part, if your first syllable is already timed correctly. You can ignore all the other errors for now.

The timeline is split up into beats, which themselves are split into four smaller segments, which I call ticks. In most cases, a syllable is a multiple of four or two ticks long. I have yet to see a song where the start/length of a syllable was an uneven number of ticks or a syllable doesn’t start/end on or, two ticks off, a beat. Regularly play back the melody without the audio (Ctrl + U) to hear, if it sounds right from the ticks alone and adjust if necessary.

From here on out, one has to simply time all the syllables correctly. The timing you did in the UltraStar Creator should give you a good foundation to edit them. In my experience, it is easier to time them by reducing the playback speed to 50%. Since most songs have repeating parts, one can often copy the melody of entire segments to later parts.

Now we got onto the errors. The page errors are the easiest to fix, so we start here.

As long as there are no lyrics from different lines overlapping, you can simply click on “Correct All” and Yass automatically sets the page breaks timed and spaced out in-between the lines. If you have overlapping lines or want to adjust them yourself, you can simply drag the page breaks (thin grey dashed line) to the left or right on the editor timeline. Click at the top right on the “more pages” button to view two lines at the same time. The page breaks should be somewhere in-between.

“Short page breaks” are a result of not enough space (time) between two lines. Either shorten the last syllable, or combine the two lines into one. If neither is possible, you will simply have to live with it. Since it is more of a recommendation, than an actual error, it will be at most a bit surprising for the singer when the next line shows up so fast, but nothing fatal or game-breaking.

Next, we look at the “Connected notes”. This error occurs, if there is no space (time) between the end of a syllable and the start of the next word. “Correct” will shorten the syllable by one tick. I wouldn’t use the “Correct All”-button here and go through each syllable individually instead, since not every syllable needs to be corrected, especially if they are short and sung together directly after each other. For example, while “Why why why” has slight pauses between the “why"s when sung, “kimi ni” has not and the “ni” could practically belong the same word.

In this case, one can still argue to shorten the “mi” anyway, since it is four ticks long, but once a syllable is only two ticks long, I wouldn’t shorten them. In doubt, sing the line out loud and see, if there is a small pause between the two words or not. This will also vary depending on the language.

The last remaining error should be the “Uncommon golden bonus”. Yass calculates a range for how many notes should be “golden”, meaning special notes giving more points. It is up to the creator what notes should be golden, but I recommend long notes at the end of certain lines or certain parts of the lyrics that one wants to highlight. Select a syllable and press on the “Mark as golden”-button (Golden star) at the top to mark the syllable as golden. A gauge should appear in the bottom left indicating the amount of golden notes. Try to mark notes as golden, until you are somewhere in the yellow area, though again, this is only a recommendation.

Before going into the next step, this is as good a time as any to test your progress and verify, if the lyrics are timed correctly.

Step 4: Pitching

Pitching the song will be the most time-consuming part. Either drag the boxes up or down, or use the arrow keys while holding Ctrl. Toggle the instrument using Ctrl + B.

You can use a program like ultrastar-pitch to automate the pitch detection process. I also created a tool for automatically pitching the lyrics based on the estimate of a trained model, but the former seems to yield better results (My pride is in shambles). Try both if you want, though the results must be manually corrected either way.

I am effectively tone-deaf, so there are not a lot of tips I can give out. I mostly change the pitch and play back the song until the the tone “goes under” in the singing or starts to sound similar. Use a pitch-detector like onlinemictest, so you can sing the song yourself and estimate the correct pitch. Also regularly play back the notes without the audio (Ctrl + U) and listen if it sound right or whether a single note is off.

Shout out to my friend correcting my wrong pitches. You are a hero, bro.

Step 5: Miscellaneous

Once you have pitched everything, you are essentially done. Sing the karaoke a few times to catch any errors left.

If the song contains a long intro or outro, you can add the #START and #END-Tags. #START is measured in seconds, so to jump 20.5 seconds into the song, add #START:20.5 above the #BPM-Tag. #END is measured in milliseconds (for some reason), so to end the song at 4 minutes and 15 seconds, add #END:255000.

Consider uploading your song to usdb.animux to expand the library for everyone else.

Creating a Duet

UltraStar Deluxe supports Duets, meaning two different sets of lyrics for multiple players. Fortunately, conversion to a duet is quite simple. Create a copy of the karaoke file and append [DUET] to the file name, for example Nakajima Tomoko - Heart to Heart [DUET]. This file can stay in the same directory as the original file. Open the new file in a text editor and change the #TITLE to also contain the [DUET] at the end.

Delete everything except the meta tags and add “P1” (Player 1), “P2” (Player 2) and “E” (Denotes file end) on separate lines. Now add the all the lines from the original file under their respective player:

#META
P1
Line1
Line3
P2
Line2
Line4
E

While this will already work, the page breaks for the individual players are now off, so we will dive back into Yass. Upon reloading the library, Yass will now show the duet version with two microphones(?) and a “[DUET]” lable next to it. Editing the duet version will automatically create two new files in the song directory, ending on [P1] and [P2] respectively. Restart Yass and reload the library again. You can now edit the individual parts of a player. Edit the file for player 1 and correct all the page break errors. Repeat this step for Player 2.

As a side note: Not sure if it is a bug on my end, but Yass won’t let me edit the duet version anymore, if the [P1] and [P2] files are in the directory.

Open the duet version in a text editor again. Yass has reformated the content a bit (adding a player for every line), but it does not contain the new page breaks yet. Delete everything, but the meta tags again and add “P1”, “P2” and “E” like shown before. Now paste the lines from the [P1] file under P1 and the lines from [P2] under P2. It should look like the example above, now this time with the new page breaks:

#META
P1
Line1 with new page break
Line3 with new page break
P2
Line2 with new page break
Line4 with new page break
E

Do not edit this file in Yass if you don’t want Yass to change the format again. You can keep the [P1] and [P2] files, if you want to only sing the respective parts of the song. Otherwise, just delete them, as the duet file contains all the data.

You can switch the players in UltraStar Deluxe by pressing the space bar while selecting the duet version.

Getting back into World of Tanks

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:15:00 +0100

Ach ja, in terms of in-game time, World of Tanks is without a doubt my most played game by a landslide or two. Accumulate the time of every Pokémon game I have ever played and replayed, add my hours of Garry’s Mod and Tabletop Simulator and for good measure, even throw in World of Warships, War Thunder and Planetside 2 and you still wouldn’t come close to it. In 2013 to 2014, I played around 9.000 rounds of World of Tanks. If we assume an average battle to last seven minutes, we have 1050 hours of pure gameplay, with the time in the garage, managing your tanks, special occasions with the clan and queuing in for battle not included. In one summer vacation, I spend almost every second of these six weeks playing this game and honestly, it was arguably the most fun I had in a long time.

No matter what I will say in the following paragraphs, the bottom line is that World of Tanks, as a game, is incredibly fun to play, especially when one was as good as I. When I eventually stopped playing in 2014, my last 100 battle average had a blue WN-Rating (Don’t know the exact numbers anymore) and in most situations, it was I who came out on top. Considering how much I generally suck at gaming, this was a genuinely great feeling.

I got jaded of this game, however. All my friends eventually stopped playing, my awkward teenager me couldn’t really bring himself to participate in the clan and the structural flaws of the game slowly got to me (more on this at the end of the post). After my first and second clan, the [511] and [509], slowly dissolved themselves, I joined [NDB] with a friend and stopped playing not too long after. I am never frustrated with a game, never rage or scream, but playing World of Tanks, at some point, just made me miserable. Playing World of Tanks was suddenly not fun anymore. So I did the only sensible thing: I de-installed the game and let myself get into whatever else my friends were into: Anime…

In 2018, in the time between finishing school and starting to attend university, a sudden urge overcame me and I installed WoT again. I didn’t play for a long time and only kept it up for a few weeks due to a friend joining me in this endeavour. I quickly remembered why I stopped playing all those years ago and even caught myself practicing the same habits: Primarily using artillery, bullying newcomers in low-tier and playing the football minigame, instead of… actually using the Tier 10 tanks I grinded for all this time.

A bit more than a year ago, I started watching a streamer called Mailand. He primarily plays World of Tanks and is very nice to listen to. I eventually made it a habit of watching him while eating in the evening. As bitter as I was towards the game, seeing other people play it, especially on such a high level, is pretty nice and so I even keep watching him today. I never got the urge to play the game myself, that was, until recently. Nothing happened in particular, I just felt like playing it again and so I did.

This time, I wanted to approach it a bit different. I won’t even pretend to make World of Tanks the game I play on the regular. Hell, if this post is published, I may have already stopped. A day before, I started playing Horizon Zero Dawn for a couple of hours and I definitely want to come back to that. Also, this time, I made a new account… well, not new new, but my WoWS account with which I have not played WoT… and also just so happens to have the HansiMcKlaus handle. Gone are the days of crasher12.

Also, I told a friend of mine to just absolutely beat the everliving shit out of me, if I ever decide to play this game again. What a convenient timing, as I won’t see him for about half a year… Once he is back, I will stand up to my mistake and accept punishment. Until then.

Things changed a little

When I first logged in back in 2018, I noticed some changes, though with the exception of a few missing tanks, I don’t remember them much. So, here are some of the notable changes that were introduced somewhere between 2014 and 2022.

There is a tutorial now! Starting the game the first time and before you can even go into a random battle, you have to complete a multi-part tutorial (I think one can quit it over the menu, but still). The tutorial is actually good. It teaches you all the important core mechanics, from fighting to managing your tanks. Completing the tutorial was actually a cruel challenge for me. The final part is a staged random battle with both teams being completely filled with bots… you just need to win… I did not. I assume the skill level of the bots is randomized, because I played like a god in his prime, got 9 kills and we still lost. The next attempt went way smoother with an easy win. Due to the content of the tutorial, you are also already in possession of a Tier 3 tank… wait what?

The tank you use in the tutorial is part of the normal tech tree, so depending on what nation you chose, you already have the Tier 2 and 3 tank researched and are already a few EXP into the research for Tier 4. The tech trees themselves underwent major change with most nations only having a single line up to Tier 3, instead of splitting of from Tier 1. This will be one of the problems current WoT has and I will talk about later, but the gist is that new players get way too fast into higher tiers. Considering there are also blueprints now, that reduce the amount of EXP needed to research a tank, it is entirely in the realm of reality to get to Tier 10 with just a couple hundred battles of experience. A lot of tanks also just simply vanished from the tech tree completely and are instead available for credits in a separate shop, once you reached the respective tier with a tank of the nation.

Beyond that, WoT introduced several quality of life improvements, like when you upgrade your gun, you can automatically sell the old one, managing your crews got easier and banning maps (or a single map in case of a non-premium account) is thankfully also a thing now… Good riddance Lakeville, you shall not be missed. There is a official mod support now and some of the features get directly implemented into the base game. Gunmarks are a thing to aim for if you have already grinded every tank or just want to flex. Boosters will give you more credits and EXP for a certain time. Wargaming also entirely reworked the modules and will do the same with the crews too in the hopefully not so distant future.

Also, parts of the interface now look like they came out of the current decade. It is still pretty questionable at times, but some of it looks decent. Also, new nations and tanks… lots of tanks. I was actually afraid to be greeted by the exact same game I quit almost eight years ago, so seeing all the changes does lift some of the skepticism off my heart.

Step Zero

So, I decided to play the game… now what? Since I am on a new account, I have to start from zero. On the other hand, I am not chained by decisions I made years ago, like playing up to the Tier 7 of both the american and french tank destroyer line. First thing was choosing what lines I want to tackle. In general, there are some lines that basically get recommended to anyone starting the game. Your IS-7, T110E5 and so on. Since I am actually not a newcomer and already know the basics of the game, I decided to pick something different and not what I have already grew accustomed to.

Initially, I wanted to go for the tank destroyers of the swedish nation, as they have their own little mechanic for switching between two modes, but I opted out for the Kranvagn. While it is still a conventional heavy tank, it features an autoloading gun (Drumloader), meaning it has to be played less straight forward than your normal heavy tank.

My second line will be the one to the Leopard 1. From what I saw, this is exactly the kind of medium tank I want to try and is hopefully better and more usable than the T-62A. The game has become way faster, so I doubt I will regret this choice… ignoring all the tanks I have to play until I reach the Leopard, that is.

The final tank will be of the french. As of the time of writing, I have not actually decided on which one exactly, however. The french have three light tank lines. Two years or so ago, WoT introduced wheeled vehicles, meaning tanks on wheels that can go above 80km/h. The EBR line seems like an absolute joke, but as it turns out, they are ridiculously overpowered due to their ludicrous mobility and derp guns. On the other end of the spectrum lies the Bat.-Châtillon 25 t, which is more akin to a medium and support tank, though proven and equipped with a nice gun. Somewhere inbetween exists the AMX 13 105, which is your more average small and fast tank with great versatility. All three seem like an interesting choice, though currently I favor the BatChat and I am not sure if I am even good enough to play the EBR, or if it even fits my play style.

With my first account, I referred myself, meaning I will get some bonuses along the way, because there is no need to make playing the game even harder than it already is for someone planing to not spend a single cent. Anyway, here we go.

Getting started

With a goal in sight, it is time to roll out into battle. Not sure why, but I ended up with 5 days of Premium… not that I am complaining. My first surprise didn’t even have anything to do with playing World of Tanks again. Now equipped with a powerful PC and a large Full HD monitor, this game genuinely looks pretty good. Not comparable with most AAA games, but not too far off either, all things considered. Compression will probably ruin this image, but apply some post-processing and maybe a filter on it and you have yourself a good looking screensaver from basically any point in time just driving around the map.

Anyway, Tier 1 goes as one would expect. Most of the players are playing the game for the first time, barely know how the controls work, have no idea where to go and mostly act as target practice for people like me. Even if you lose, as long as you do not go completely off-kilter, this will be your only game you have to play on Tier 1, since there is mostly just a single module and a tank to research. I played most Tier 1 tanks on a weekday late at night, so the battle were not only limited to 12 vs. 12, but where also filled with bots on both sides. I have to say, these bots do not play very well, though I was pleasantly surprised to see real players perform way worse than literal bots. Poetry, some might say.

Not sure what to think of this fast progression, as Tier 1 is a place where you almost can’t do anything wrong, so it is a good training ground for new players, before going up to Tier 2 und 3. Considering that Tier 2 is mostly just another Tier 1 at this point, this isn’t much of a problem, though. Due to the tutorial, I already had a Tier 3 german tank, so I focused on getting the swedish and french up to speed first.

There isn’t really much to say about playing the tanks themselves. A good chunk of low-tier tanks just kind of melt together into this “not really bad, but not good at all either”, so Tier 2 and 3 mostly went by with struggling against the tank, instead of the enemies. Most low-tier tanks are bad by design and using unskilled crews doesn’t make it easier. You do not aim, as the aiming circle needs a decade to shrink and then you still won’t hit a think, so might as well chance it. There is no armor to speak of and your fate is more often than not dictated by whether you are top tier, or enjoy the company of tanks two tiers higher than yourself.

On the in-game side, World of Tanks made some great changes. Not only is your communication limited to only your team, meaning trolls can’t give up position, and team damage is not a thing anymore, meaning you won’t get banned because some idiot keeps driving into your line of fire. Repair- and med-kits now posses a 90 second cooldown instead of being single use, which makes you actually repair your tracks now. What sticked is the +2 matchmaking. I don’t have a problem against fighting tanks above or below my tier, but even one more above? A Tier 2 tank can barely do something against Tier 3 and now it is supposed to do something against tanks that can one-shot you? This problem actually persist up to Tier 8 and only because Tier 10 is the maximum. Same thing goes for the other directions. Sure, I would rather play against a weaker tank, than a stronger tank, but I feel a sense of guilt just slaughtering a smaller tank just trying its best. It gets milder once I got to Tier 4, but Tier 2 und 3 were honestly a mess. Certainly had some fun rounds, but considering how much most players still need to learn, I definitely yearned for some sense of control or at least the lie, that my action can turn a losing battle into a winning one.

Something, that also improved with time, was the behavior of my teammates. No firing at each other at the start of the round, eventually opting for english and not your native tongue (Though this will still persist at whatever tier) and way less insults. I have to give some credit to this one guy combining their insults with puns of the players name. “hansi deine mutter han si nemmer all amk” made me chuckle a bit and they did it for like three other people too. Shout out to FLATTERFoTZE360 for their creative writing ability.

Last thing I just have to mention is the disturbing amount of seal clubbing. Players with several tens of thousands of games spending their time making the low-tiers even more painful, than they already are. Using those few OP tanks on the tier or straight up opting for premium tanks, over-skilled crews and of course fully loaded to the brim with shells made of gold. Arguably, I too participated in seal clubbing back in the days, but not only did I have the decency to fight on even ground, but was I also simply allowed to by the virtue of being a good player. Those seal clubbers I had to play against were just bad. How in the spaced Panzerschürzen did you play 60K battles, but are running around with a win rate of anything under 50%? And that is with the advantage of spending money on the game. I think the worst one I saw had over 70K battles and less than 45% win rate. I do not want to even imagine what their stats would be, if they primarily fought in high tier battles. I can at least own it, being killed by a good player, but every time I see the words “APCR” and “HEAT” pop up in the the top left corner and knowing I would have survived otherwise, I die a little on the inside. It is one thing using premium ammunition in Tier 10, but Tier 2 and 3? C’mon man, you are better than this…

Anyway, for the german and swedish line, I had almost no problems that are not also just part of the game and reached their respective Tier 5 tank in no time. However, there was a certain ~~problem child~~ enfant à problèmes.

Let’s talk about the French

Making fun of the french is tradition at this point and I refuse to grow out of it. Most french tanks are considered a meme in this game. The aforementioned EBR is basically a sports car that also drives like it is on rails, the tank destroyer is to be considered almost unplayable, their artillery is only useful for keeping a target tracked and stunned for 20 seconds straight, the other light tank always stands out like a small lost child and their heavy and medium tanks are just plain bad. Every single tank line is a joke and yet, they keep getting played, because they also tend to be interesting when compared to the more homogeneous other nations. I mean, even I want to play them.

Getting to this point is a whole other story. Starting from Tier 2 going up to Tier 4, every tank is literally unplayable. They are so damn slow, their armor, while good on paper, is effectively useless, they can’t hit or penetrate anything and are just a pain in the ass to handle. They incorporate every bad aspect of low-tier tanks and make it even worse. The Tier 4 AMX 40 is worse than every Tier 3 tank… with the exception of the AMX 38, which is worse than every Tier 2 tank. I can’t even fully express my hatred for those tanks. I had literally zero “good” rounds with them. Half the time, the battle just runs away from you and you are trying to play catch up with a barely functioning chunk of metal driving 15 km/h at most. You need around 3 minutes to get into position and you can forget places like hills or anything fancy like this. You can not go into close quarters, because nothing will bounce of your armor, but you have to get close, because your accuracy is entirely linked to the roll of a dice. You also reload forever and make no damage.

The AMX 40 almost broke me. I tried, I really tried, but it was simply impossible. While I always played and participated in the battles, 90% of the times, I might as well have stayed in the base and left the battle. The only coup de grâce was this one time, when I encountered an enemy AMX 40 and we spend almost two minutes doing exactly zero damage between the two of us, until we both gave up and ignored each other. Since they reworked the HE mechanic, I couldn’t even load HE because I can’t even do any damage with the High Explosives, only damaging a module if I were lucky. The AMX 40 has the lowest average EXP of all my tanks, solely because in most battles, the only thing I did was die. I hate it so much and only went through with it, because I really wanted to play the ELC AMX. I definitely would have given up, if I did not have a premium account for the time. It took me 30 long battles and I wouldn’t survive another 15 of those.

Anyway, I researched the ELX AMX and all is forgiven. It is my first time playing a light tank above Tier 4 and it is so much fun, it is almost laughable. Suddenly going 60 km/h, seeing most tanks, before they see you and a gun that can do a good amount of damage. It is a dream come true after the nightmare that were the low-tier french tanks. Honestly, some of these rounds could have been uploaded straight to Pornhub, because there is nothing child-friendly about this tank. When you are top tier, not only are you the best scout, but also just straight up the tank with the highest damage potential. You don’t even have to aim, the shells will just magically hit their target. This tank is overpowered and shouldn’t be eligible for Tier 5. Je l’adore.

Tier V

This is where the fun begins. At this point, most tanks have something going for them. They start having guns that actually hit and even penetrate their target with a certain consistency, armor is a thing to consider now and the varying roles of a tank influence the approach and positioning on the map. We are finally allowed to play the game.

I already talked about the AMX ELC, but the other tanks also don’t need to hide. The swedish line basically stayed consistent from Tier 2 to 5. They are relatively fast, rock a decent gun and are generally pretty versatile, which makes simply outplaying less experienced enemies a viable strategy. On Tier 5, the Strv m/42 delivered the most consistent results and it is the one I had the least trouble playing and overall the most fun with. The VK 30.01 (H) unfortunately lost its speed in the transition to Tier 5 and plays itself like a small heavy tank, despite being a medium. Once I researched the good gun, I was ready to roll out some good damage and its accuracy was a blessing.

Tier 5 was finally the time, where I was allowed to showcase some skill, as well as what I learned observing players better than me. Simple things like effectively using bushes and trees, wiggle wiggle wiggle, shifting into first gear for peaking out of cover to shoot, instead of just pressing forward or knowing when to drive back and not immediately run into my death. I also played some new positions and came to appreciate, that tracking your enemy is often the best thing you can do.

However, some troubles still persist. Seal clubbers keep roaming the streets and fields, premium ammunition is in rampant use, going against a Tier 7 tank is still not great and relying on your team will lead you to your doom, but beyond that, it is by far the most fun I had with this game, after what I consider to be a rather rough start.

I will miss those tanks… ok, maybe not the VK, but still… also, I will keep the ELC for researching the other lines and the simple fact, that I just do not have the money to buy the Tier 6 tank at the moment, because I thought it was a good idea to immediately fill my VK 30.02 (M) with modules… a day before they reduced the price by 50%… that’s life, I guess.

Why I originally stopped playing and what’s to come

In the beginning of this post, I said that I stopped playing the game after becoming jaded of it. World of Tanks has fundamental and structural problems, which can not just be simply patched or fixed. World of Tanks is at its core a team-based real time strategy game first and an arcade shooter second. There is only so much a single player can do. While your overall performance can change the tide of battle, there is no salvaging a sunken ship, which makes it unbelievably frustrating, when you lose not to your own shortcomings, but to the millstone around your neck that is your team. Of course, everything will average out eventually. Sometimes getting a team that is able to pull of a perfectly coordinated push as if it is the easiest thing in the world and sometimes you get two guys drowning themselves, the scout dying before even spotting a single enemy, this one specialist pushing everyone out of cover and eight people that wouldn’t even hit a target if they stand directly in front of it.

The way this shows up in reality is unfortunately not just a simple loss for the statistic, but a joke of a game. 15 - 0 is an uncannily often occuring end result. Nobody played the game in such a round. One team simply pressed W and clicked on the left mouse button, while the other team made a fool of themselves. Play as good as you want, you are powerless in the face of the roflstomp. Every time something like this or similar happens, frustrations takes over for a second. You did well, but the game is not able to reward you for it. When playing most games, I know I did well, when I succeed. World of Tanks is able to simply not allow you to succeed. The better I got at the game, the more I noticed the fact, that my biggest enemy was the game itself and eventually, you stop bothering. You win and you can’t even feel the hollow victory, you lose and it is just another kick in your stomach while already lying on the floor, bleeding. Every once in a while, a single good battle can be the spark to ignite your raging fire inside again, just to be extinguished later in the next round.

I guess team-based games are just not my thing. I like it, when my failures are my failures and my success due to my own actions. Playing in a more organized way, like the company battles, were a great alternative, but also a big effort to pull off and way more competitive than the more casual random battles. It also doesn’t help, that the game tries its best, to favor one kind of player over everyone else.

I understand that the company behind WoT tries to make money. I also understand, that playing this game without spending money is absolutely a possibility, I mean, I very much did so. However, it is also true that spending money on the game makes it infinitely better to play. Unfortunately, some of those perks make it worse for basically everyone and the f2p crowd is simply hit the hardest. The obvious culprits have already been mentioned. Premium ammunition is simply overpowered and gives those using it as their default ammo an unfair advantage, compared to those using the standard ammunition. The premium repair and med-kit, beyond applying to everything, not just a single module or crew member, also give a passive boost to repair speed and resistance and using consumables also give an additional boost to you crews skill level. While all those are not locked behind a literal pay-wall, they can almost never be used, as it is simply not financially viable for f2p players.

A problem with the affect of premium play time is that some players simply get to higher tiers, despite not being experiences enough. Same can be said about premium tanks, which tend to be on the stronger side on their respective tier and hard to counter, despite having no requirements beyond a credit card. However, spend money and you can still collect some good results through the power of additional equipment that stands firm behind a glass door for most players. And trust me, nothing is more demotivating, trying to become better at the game, than some noob spaming gold ammunition and running amok in their boosted premium tank without a worry in the world, while you try to take as few shots as possible to not land in the red after each round.

Seal clubbing is just the logical end of this broken system. To bad of a player to achieve nothing in high-tier battles? Here is an easy way to pad your stats. At some point, I just gave up, because I couldn’t keep up with it anymore. Considering everything that made me quit the game is still very much present today, we will have to see how I will handle it. Maybe I just reached zen in the years and do not care anymore, but considering how much I still want to strangle everyone using premium ammunition, there is still a bit of bitterness left. Let’s see in what ways the game tries to hinder me over and over.

As of the time writing this post, I have researched the Tier 6 tanks of every respective lines and it is here where things get interesting. Progress will drastically stall from here on out (My premium days also ran out) and putting more care into the tank will be needed from here on out. It always sucks to play a tank stock, but apparently one gets way more free EXP now, so it will come in quite handy.

Maybe there will be a follow-up post, either about my journey on Tier 6 and above, or how I gave up and stopped playing the game again, until I will inevitably pick it up again in four years.

And in the very least, it gave me an excuse to listen to the Girls und Panzer OST again… man, I gotta re-watch that anime again.

How to create a final ED: Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 Ending Analysis

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 19:20:00 +0100

Ach ja, a few days ago, the first episode of the (hopefully) final season of Attack on Titan aired and with it came a new Opening an Ending sequence. Both are great, though the OP needs some getting used to and the decision, to very openly include of what will be happening in the story coming forward is… definitely a choice. What really surprised me, however, was the ED. While they are regularly overshadowed by the bombastic Openings, Attack on Titan has a great array of Endings and despite this, the new one easily takes the top. Here’s why.

No Manga Spoilers ahead! I will not talk about events that will occur after the first part of the final season. Also, please watch the Ending with subtitles enabled, as they translated the lyrics into english.

I will quickly talk about the lyrics. They essentially summarize Eren’s journey, from the innocent boy dreaming of freedom to picking up the knife and eventually walking the bloodstained path he himself created. Simple, but strong stuff. I am more of a visual learner, so this will be the main part of this analysis.

The ED starts off with a young Eren looking into the distant, while being surrounded by a dark void, though it is more accurate to say that this void obfuscates the view, as it is later cleared. We don’t know where Eren is looking, though knowing him it is his idea of “forward”. Attack on Titan has introduced several false horizons over its run. First, there were the obvious literal walls surrounding the inhabitants of Paradise, as well as the metaphorical walls they represent, there were the titans hindering the advance to outside the walls and at the of Attack on Titans’s first part, the ocean, over which not freedom but another enemy lies.

We zoom out and while the void is still filling the background, we see that Eren is standing in a field of what I assume are white poppies. Eren is almost completely unsaturated and the only things of color are his eyes, his scarf and the blood on his knife. Eyes are a often used motive in Attack on Titan. They are obviously the way through which the characters see the world around them and reflections off the eyes are often used to show the viewer what the characters see. The fact that Erens’s eyes are colored enforces the notion that Eren is in fact looking for something. The scarf and bloody knife are easy to pinpoint and pair it with the lyrics and we know that it is Eren from when he killed the murderers of Mikasas’s parents and realized that he has to fight in this world.

This shot also bears resemblance with the very first Ending of Attack on Titan, using the same narrative motive, but this time from another perspective. The first ED focuses on Mikasa and how her encounter witch Eren changed her into the person she is today. It also shows how Eren has changed from the kind boy that gave her his scarf to him being in the military and swearing revenge against those that killed his mother, almost as to ask where this change will lead him. Close to the end of the story and we know exactly where it goes, now this time from his perspective and the way how his first time killing someone has shaped him internally to eventually take up the usurper role and fight for his vision of freedom himself.

The next shot shows the lead up of all this. A drop of blood flows down the knife and falls on one of the poppies, dying the petal from white to red. I honestly have to applaud the utter audacity of this shot. Attack on Titan is rarely subtle, but I also think it is at its best when it punches you in the face with its symbolism, as it tends to be at its most effective. Subtlety is a tool for conveying your story, not a goal, and I doubt Attack on Titan would resonate as much as it does with a lot of people, were it any less brash about its themes.

The next shot follows Eren walking forward through the field of flowers, while the same petals we saw in the first shot, fall against him. Falling leaves or petals, unless they are cherry blossoms, normally symbolize the end of life and with the flowers being poppies, who are used for consolation and, in flower language, mean remembrance and death, probably show that death, even as a child, was always around him. What I find is interesting is that all the poppies are white, a color normally reserved for the pure and innocent, though it is most likely due to young Eren’s naive world view that the poppies are all still white, as they change into color later.

Next up, the wind blows the scarf away from Eren, which then transforms into a bird. I can’t make out if it is supposed to be a specific bird and it doesn’t look like one of AoT’s go-to birds like doves, wild geese and falcons, so I assume it is just supposed to be a generic bird™. I doubt the gold coloring of the bird has any more meaning, than the obvious contrast it provides to the cold and dark blue sky. The bird is also most likely not to be seen as Mikasa. While the scarf is widely associated with Mikasa, the scarf itself belonged to and is in memory of Eren. Eren himself has yet to be symbolized as a bird, but does this seem not too far out of place. Now, I don’t think that I have to go to great lengths to explain a bird flying into the sky, especially not in Attack on Titan of all things. It is the symbol of freedom and what Eren is damned to endlessly chase after. I like, how, as the bird flies higher, the void is replaced by the sky, meaning the void could actually be the walls, which would also be supported by a later scene and just make sense in general.

As the bird soars through the sky however, it is slowly caught up by the void again, this time it forming a bird cage. The implication this time is pretty clear: Even if Eren gains wings, even if he goes outside the walls, there is still something denying him his freedom and keeping him in this bird cage. Something has to fundamentally change and with a sweeping crescendo, young Eren suddenly gets what he wished for.

Starting from inside where Eren is standing, the poppies turn into all kind of flowers and colors, the cage gets destroyed and reveals the entire world, a true horizon this time, while the night gives way for a new dawn. It almost hurts to see this young Eren full of wonder and happiness, finally achieving access to his vision of freedom. However, while the stunningly beautiful scenery continues, we see what this vision actually entails. The Trost District, at least I think it is, is abandoned, destroyed and grown over. I think the purple flowers are wisterias, representing love, beauty and longevity, which would be fitting, though it is hard to make out correctly. Next are one of the the outskirt and we see that the walls are indeed destroyed and so is the empty throne room and what I would guess is a part of Shiganshina. I can’t think of a specific reason of why these locations were chosen, they do line up with the major battles and locations following the story chronologically, though.

We finally see adult Eren, walking through a field of flowers and stepping on some of them. It is Eren who is responsible for this current world, which his younger self yearned for so much. He, however, does not smile, as more and more flower petals keep flying by his side in the wind. At the end, he finally comes to a stop. In the beginning, young Eren faced the camera and started walking from right to left and fight for his freedom until he became older and got to a stop when this freedom was achieved, now facing away towards the sun. Whether the lack of a smile on adult Eren’s face is that of regret or something different is up to debate… or to watching how this story unfolds until the end. But now that he achieved his goal, it can end, he no longer has to walk forward. I am not sure how to describe the last seconds without giving anything away. There are only so many interpretations of going up in flames and vanishing into the wind. Does it hit as hard as Eugeo going the other way?.. Maybe it does.

Attack on Titan is a tragedy and knowing how it ends, I couldn’t wish for a better Ending. It just captures the character of Eren so well and I like how it encapsulates the “The world is cruel, but also beautiful”-motive running through the series. It is also stunningly animated and the song itself is great too. All in all, peak fiction.

Attack on Titan is available on Crunchyroll.

Auf der Suche nach One Piece: G-8

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0100

Ach ja, als ich mir vorgenommen habe One Piece anzugehen, habe ich dabei primär an den Manga gedacht. Er sieht, verglichen mit von was ich vom Anime gesehen habe, besser aus und lässt sich, selbst wenn ich mit Episoden-Guide in der Hand alle Filler umgehe, deutlich schneller konsumieren.

Filler sind so eine Sache… also nehme ich mal an, würde ich zu den Leuten zählen, welche Anime Adaptionen langjähriger Fighting-Shounen schauen. Im Generellen kann man aber sagen, dass sie selten gern gesehen werden. Naruto und Bleach besitzen beide über 40% Filler und es sind jene Folgen, welcher in der Regel eher als schwächer angesehen werden. One Piece selbst besitzt ungefähr 10% Filler (welches immer noch knapp 100 Folgen ausmacht), jedoch soll dieser besser angesehen werden, als so manch anderer, darunter auch der G-8 Arc, welcher selbst denen, welche den Manga verfolgen, empfohlen wird.

Hier bin ich also und schaue Filler. Dass ich mir den einen oder anderen Film anschauen werde, stand nicht wirklich in Frage, aber bei elf “zusätzliche” Folgen, also quasi fast einer Staffel eines sonstigen Anime, war ich zuerst unschlüssig. Nicht nur sind elf Folgen immer noch elf Folgen, sondern kamen noch einige andere Punkte hinzu: Ursprünglich wollte ich es mir mit deutscher Synchronisation anschauen, einfach da ich mit den deutschen Stimmen aufgewachsen bin und zum Beispiel Luffys Stimme im japanischen nicht wirklich mag, aber findet erst mal einen ordentlichen Stream dafür, welcher ebenfalls nichts raus schneidet (welches bereits über die ursprüngliche Zensur hinausgeht. Dazu kommt, dass die Folgen 2004 erschienen und folglich nur in knusprigen 480p und 4:3 Format verfügbar sind. Dies hat mich letzten Endes nicht großartig gestört, wollte ich es aber dennoch angemerkt haben.

G-8 schließt direkt an das Ende von Skyipea an, doch anstatt wie im Manga auf offener See zu landen, fällt das Schiff direkte in eine, von Bergen umschlossene Marinebasis. G-8 fühlt sich auf mehreren Ebenen anders, aber immer noch wie One Piece an. Es ist deutlich weniger Action-lastig und fühlt sich teilweise wie ein Thriller an, gleichzeitig trifft es die gleichen emotionalen Momente zwischen neuen Charakteren und stellt die Chemie zwischen den Mitgliedern der Strohhut-Piraten gut dar.

Die ersten paar Folgen zeigen das Katz und Maus Spiel zwischen den Piraten und der Marine, wobei nur zwei der Ereignisse wirklich von Interesse sind. Im ersten geben sich Luffy und Sanji als Köche aus und sorgen für ein wenig Tumult in der Küche, während im zweitem Chopper und Nami im Lazarett mithelfen, wobei Luffy und Nami in beiden nicht wirklich eine Rolle spielen. Bei Sanji zeigt sich sein persönlicher Hintergrund, als er auf die verschwendeten Lebensmittel hinweist und selbst aus den Resten gutes Essen herstellt, welches den Marinemänner besser schmeckt und somit einen Sinneswandel in der Küche verursacht. Ähnliches passiert mit Chopper, welcher den verletzten Soldaten hilft und der Ärztin zeigt, was es heißt ein Arzt zu sein. Beides in sich starke Folgen, welche zeigen, dass es mehr zu den Charakteren gibt, als nur ein Pirat zu sein. Dazu kamen zwei interessante Personen hinzu, einmal Jessica, welches als eine Art wholesome Girlboss präsentiert wird?.. und Dr. Kobato, dessen Gap Moe unglaublich stark ist.

Die Folgen darauf fokussieren eher auf das Zusammenfinden und Fliehen aus der Marinebasis und dessen besonderes Layout stellt den Prison Break vor interessanten Herausforderungen und auch wenn diese Abschnitte alles andere als schlecht sind (Der Kampf auf der Brücke war großartig), war ich doch viel eher ein Fan der Folgen mit Herz. In die selbe Richtung ging zwar Ussops Begegnung mit Mekao, welcher auf der selben Wellenlänge wie Ussop, bezüglich der Flying Lamb, steht und den Piraten später bei der Flucht hilft, aber hätte ich mir dort ein paar mehr Szenen gewünscht.

Ebenfalls finde ich schade, dass einige Strohhüte nicht wirklich im Scheinwerferlicht stehen konnten. Zorro wurde direkt gefasst und verbrachte mehrere Folgen in Gefangenschaft und Luffy und Nami standen, wie bereits angemerkt, nur beiseite. Immerhin konnte Robin den Inspektor-Look, samt spanischen Gitarren Sound, rocken.

Der Rest ist so ziemlich der gewohnte One Piece Spaß. Nachdem es zur finalen Flucht kommt, wird wieder richtig gekämpft, die Pay-Offs werden einen nach dem anderen abgearbeitet und Luffy und seine Crew lassen die Marinebasis in einen interessanten Zustand zurück. Jessica akzeptiert Sanji in erster Linie als Koch und nicht als Pirat und lässt seine Rezepte benutzen, Kobato sieht sich jetzt selbst als richtige Ärztin und Jonathan, der Kommandant der Marinebasis, sagt selbst, dass das Auftauchen der Strohhutpiraten die Soldaten wieder zu einem richtigen Team geformt hat. Jonathan war insgesamt ein erfrischender Antagonist, da er keine Überheblichkeit an den Tag legte und die Stärke der Strohhut-Piraten akzeptierte und entsprechend taktisch, statt mit reiner Muskelkraft, handelte und metaphorisch den Hutt ziehte musste, nachdem sie aus der Marinebasis flieh(g)en konnten.

Und wie konnte ich nur vergessen? Con D. Oriano, das neue inoffizielle Mitglied der Strohhut-Piraten wird niemals in Vergessenheit geraten. Was für eine legende, welcher den Weg für Luffy und seine Crew geebnet hat o7.

Dies war’s soweit. G-8 wird höchstwahrscheinlich der einzige Filler-Arc bleiben, den ich schauen werde. Die anderen sind nicht so gut bewertet und will ich eigentlich, dass One Piece nichts von meiner “normalen” Zeit wegnimmt. Vielleicht schaue ich noch eine weitere Folge aus dem Long Ring Long Land-Arc, welcher in der nächsten Saga angesiedelt ist, weil ich mich an eine Folge erinnern kann, welche ich sehr mochte, sie sich jedoch als Filler herausgestellt hat. Ab dann geht es wieder normal zum Manga über.

One Piece ist verfügbar auf Crunchyroll.

Auf der Suche nach One Piece: Sky Island Saga

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 19:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, Sky Island. Der Abschnitt, welchen ich höchstwahrscheinlich am vollständigsten als Kind gesehen habe, wobei sich auch hier kleinere und größere Lücken bemerkbar machten. Außerdem bin ich überrascht, wie gute diese Saga als eigener Manga funktionieren könnte. Selbstverständlich werden einige vergangene und zukünftige Ereignisse referenziert, aber darüber hinaus stellt es eine in sich funktionierende und abgeschlossene Geschichte da. Dazu besteht die Saga aus nur zwei Arcs, weshalb es leicht ist die Verbindung dieser beiden zu verstehen.

Jaya

Der Anfang des Jaya Arcs behandelt zunächst noch den Fallout der Alabasta Saga, bevor es zur eigentlichen Insel kommt. Dieser beinhaltet unter anderen das Beitreten von Nico Robin der Strohhut-Piraten und wie sie sich problemlos in diese Bande einfügt. Sie hat bereits in Alabasta besonderes Interesse gezeigt und es scheint ihr sichtbar besser zu gehen, sich unter diesen Leuten aufzuhalten, besonders als sie noch vor Kurzem sterben wollte und Luffy einfach sagte: “Nein” und sie rettete. Nur Zorro kriegt sie nicht auf Anhieb überzeugt, welches später zu einigen lustigen Momenten zwischen den beiden führt.

Zwischenzeitlich erfahren sie über eine angebliche Insel im Himmel, bevor sie auf der namensgebenden Insel Jaya anlegen. Von da an geht es um ein einziges Thema: Träume. Wir wissen bereits, dass jedes Mitglied der Strohhut-Piraten seine Träume hat und es sind jene Träume, welche von allen Seiten versucht heruntergespielt zu werden und dass Piraten realistischer denken sollten.

Es gab diese wundervolle Szene, wo Luffy und Zorro sich von einer anderen Piratenbande zusammenschlagen haben lassen, als sie von der Insel im Himmel geschwärmt haben und blutüberströmt die Bar verlassen. Nachdem Nami fragt, warum sie nicht zurückgekämpft haben, antwortet ein Mann, welcher sich später als Blackbeard herausstellt, dass die beiden nicht verloren, sondern gewonnen haben. Träume hören niemals auf und der Wille die Insel im Himmel zu erreichen bleibt bestehen.

Noch besser wird dies am Charakter von Mont Blanc Cricket gezeigt, welcher trotz sämtlicher Gegenwehr weiterhin nach den Schätzen taucht, von welchen sein Vorfahre Mont Blanc Noland erzählt hat. Einerseits legitimiert One Piece nicht nur diesen Glaube an Träume dadurch, dass die goldene Stadt tatsächlich existiert, sondern auch, dass selbst wenn ein Traum nicht in Erfüllung geht, dieser immer noch einen Wert für einen hat, oder wenn jener erfüllt wird, es immer noch weitergeht. Ein Traum ist nicht nur ein Traum, sondern eine Art, wie man sein Leben lebt, etwas, welches die Strohhut-Piraten um jeden Preis beschützen würden.

Aus diesen Grund hilft Cricket Luffy und seiner Crew. Es ist egal, ob sie die goldene Stadt finden oder nicht, aber es ist der gemeinsame Gedanke an dieser der zählt und sie letztendlich vereint. Die Flying Lamp wird aufgerüstet, damit sie den Knock-Up Stream überlebt, welche sie alle in den Himmel katapultiert und Skypiea kann endlich anfangen.

Skypiea

Skypiea ist, ähnlich wie Alabasta, kein Konflikt, welcher von den Strohhut-Piraten selbst ausgeht, sondern bereits ohne dessen Präsenz im vollen Gang ist und nur durch deren Einmischen zum Ende kommt. Der Konflikt zwischen den Shandia und den Himmelsbewohner ist dabei eine ziemlich direkte Parallele zur “Entdeckung der Neuen Welt” (Welch' schöner Euphemismus). Die Shandia wurden aus ihrer Heimat vertrieben und versuchen diese zurückzugewinnen, wobei Enel und seine Folgeschaft dies verhindern. Enel besitzt den Titel “Gott”, bzw. “Kami”, welcher ursprünglich den de facto Anführer von Skypiea deklariert, allerdings will Enel im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes ein Gott sein und wird auch von den meisten Himmelsbewohner als solcher angesehen, haben sie aber auch alle Angst vor ihn und einer möglichen Bestrafung.

Dies ist, was die Strohhüte überhaupt involviert bekommen hat. Nachdem sie in Skypiea angekommen sind und Freunde mit einen Mädchen und ihren Vater gemacht haben, wurden sie von jenen Mädchen verraten, weil sie selber Angst hat dafür bestraft zu werden. Ein Teil der Strohhut-Piraten wurden also nach Upper Yard, der Insel auf welcher sich Enel befindet, geschickt und die restlichen Mitglieder müssen sie retten. Währenddessen Nutzen die Shandia die Situation und starten ihre eigene Offensive gegen Enel. All dies resultiert in einem großen mehreren Fronten Kampf.

Die vier Prüfungen, durch welche die Piraten durch müssen, sind zwar eine kreative Ausrede um jeden Kämpfen zu lassen, war es für mich aber auch nicht mehr als das. Wie immer waren die Kämpfe in keiner Weise schlecht, aber merkt man hier noch mehr als sonst, dass sie überwiegend nur Füller sind und der richtige Kampf erst mit Enel beginnt. Interessant war aber Enels Sicht auf diesen Kampf, welchen er größtenteils einfach beobachtet und es fast als Spiel ansieht, obwohl er selber eigenhändig fast jeden besiegen könne.

Insgesamt ist Enel eine recht interessante Person, da seine Motivation wortwörtlich nicht weltlichen Interesse unterliegt. Seine Überheblichkeit, etc. entspringen nicht einer Arroganz oder einem Gedanken, dass es verdient, sondern seiner eigenen Ansicht, dass er Gott ist und es kann. Bei weitem keine Rechtfertigung, aber lässt sich diese Denkweise nicht wirklich mit normaler Moralität messen, welches seine Präsenz etwas übermenschliches gibt. Enel kann es, also macht er es, ohne auch nur einen Gedanken an die Opfer seiner Taten zu verschwenden.

Besonders wenn man bedenkt, dass sein Ziel weder Macht, noch etwas direkt “Böses” ist und seine Bedrohlichkeit eher durch die Darstellung von übermenschlicher Kraft und Zerstörung kommt, finde ich ihn außerordentlich anregend als Antagonisten. Ich finde nur schade, dass sich diese Animosität gegenüber anderen als dieses klassische überhebliche und persönliche zur Schau stellt, also dieses “Ihr seid zu schwach, um mich zu besiegen!” und “Ich bin Gott *böses Lachen*”, als ob er nicht bereits über allem steht.

Luffys Konfrontation mit Enel ging dann wieder eher nach meinen Geschmack, vor allem wie dieser langsam weiter aufdeckt, was Enel wirklich repräsentiert. Am Ende droht Enel das gesamte Skypiea zu zerstören, darunter auch die Insel der Himmelsbewohner, das versteckte Dorf der Shandia, als auch Upper Yard, samt der goldenen Stadt aus Nolands Erzählungen. Es ging nicht mehr darum Enel zu besiegen, weil er droht ganz Skypiea auszulöschen, sondern Skypiea zu beschützen. Es ist die Heimat neuer Freunde, es ist der Traum von Cricket und die gesamte Geschichte hinter der Shandia, weshalb der Höhepunkt des Kampfes sich komplett um die goldene Glocke dreht.

Ein guter Teil der Geschichte zeigt die Ereignisse der Vergangenheit, darunter prominent Nolands Begegnung mit den Shandia und wie diese gute Freunde wurden. Die Shandia haben es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht die Geschichte ihrer Insel zu beschützen. Diese liegt in Form einer der Poneglyphen vor, auf welcher eine riesige goldene Glocke steht. Die Bedeutung dieser Glocke wurde einmal direkt gesagt, als auch dessen Wirkung mehrfach gezeigt. Das Läuten der Glocke sagt: “Wir sind hier!”, der Klang so schön, dass man ihn über das komplette Meer hören soll. Es ist eine Erinnerung an alle, welche die Glocke beschützt haben und dass man sie nicht vergessen hat. Passend also, dass der Kampf mit dem Läuten der Glocke beendet wird, da Enel all jenes auslöschen wollte, was sie repräsentiert… ok, ich sage zwar die Glocke wurde “geläutet”, hat Luffy aber eher Enel samt einer großen Goldkugel gegen diese gehämmert. Großartiger Moment, besonders wie selbst Cricket sie unten auf Jaya hörte.

Der Arc endet mit den Aufheben des Krieges zwischen den Himmelsbewohnern und den Shandia und der Ernennung eines neuen Gottes. Wir erfahren, dass Gold Roger ebenfalls in Skypiea gelandet ist und zum ersten Mal begehen die Strohhit-Piraten so etwas wie Piraterie, indem sie all das Gold bergen, welches die Schlange Nola gegessen hat. Schönes Ende, welches alle geöffneten Fäden wunderbar zusammenfügt. Es fühlte sich am Ende wirklich wie eine in sich abgeschlossene Geschichte an, nur mit den Unterschied, dass sie offensichtlich weiter geht. Die Strohhot-Piraten fallen (Betonung auf fallen) zurück auf die Grand Line und die Reise geht weiter.

Verstreute Gedanken

Hat euch ein Bild jemals so beeindruckt, dass es sich für ewig in euren Gedächtnis verankert hat? Bei mir schon und dies ist das Bild.

Unironisch gruselig… zumindest, als ich ein Kind war, allerdings teilten die Charaktere meine Reaktion. Außerdem hatte ich Probleme Bilder für diesen Post raus zu suchen, also hatte ich nicht einmal ein Bild von Enel.

Abgebildet ist hier Enel, welcher gerade realisiert, dass seine Kräfte keine Wirkung auf Luffy haben. Oda kann so viele lustige Sachen zeichnen, allerdings will ich nicht, dass die Posts 90% Bilder werden.

Meine Erwartung an die Sky Island Saga wurde auf einer merkwürdigen Weise erfüllt. Ich war tatsächlich kein großer Fan der ersten Hälfte von Skypiea, größtenteils aufgrund der langgezogenen Kämpfe. Die zweite Hälfte war dann schon mehr nach meinen Geschmack und besonders der kurze Jaya Arc hat mich beeindruckt. Ich werde eine kleine Pause einlegen, besonders weil ich noch einiges anderes schreiben möchte, allerdings freue ich mich schon auf die nächste Saga. Water 7 soll eine der besten Sagen sein und gehört definitiv zu denen, wo ich die größten Verständnislücken aufweise. Bis dahin, bleibt knusprig ^^.

Rewatching High School DxD: Season 3

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 01:00:00 +0100

Ach ja, new season, but mostly more of the same. Logo design is still good.

The plot thickens with the introduction of a large scale threat in the form of the Khaos Brigade. We also get to see more members of the non-main factions, namely from the norse mythology, Nekomata and Son Goku is also there.

The season starts with everyone going to the demon world, while on school break. Training arc ensues with a big cool bro of a dragon. We also get to see a bit more about Akeno’s background and her father plus stupid make up melodrama for good measure and Koneko’s past. Turns out Koneko is some kind of a cat spirit… who would have guessed with a name like that. Also, her initial name was Shirone and her sister’s Kuroka, in case the color scheme was not obvious enough already. Damn I’m good at japanese.

I might also have to mention that we watched up to episode three before taking a one month long break, so it was kind of confusing to go into episode four, which starts with a cold open, and both of us having no idea what happened in the last episodes anymore. Not remembering seems to be a common theme here, as I basically forgot everything sans one plot point, which is weird as I had remembered the third season to be the best of everything that got adapted up to this point.

Anyway, a big battle ensued and it was… kinda boring. While High School DxD will never win the big prize of a writing contest, it was always at least competently put together and able to pull its punches, but this and the next arc were underwhelming. It essentially hinges on several characters being told to be strong and of importance, only to see them barely mentioned or knowing what their deal is. Loki is responsible for a good chunk of what is happening in this season, but does he have the presence of… well, he was shown a couple of times. Same can be said about the two guys I forgot the names of, as they were mentioned maybe twice. There is no build-up to them, as to think, that they are not important at all and the events just happen to happen at the time.

To be honest, the only thing I got out from this, is that the Khaos Brigade is not as united as first thought. This, however, is represented all together better in the second half of the season with Diodora. The anime made it abundantly clear from minute one that this guy is up to no good and having him there for a few episodes actually gave him some kind of presence and established him as a thread, though I still blanked out a few times. His reveal was, well… predictable to say the least and the fighting was, compared to some of the other battles, not that interesting, though we finally get to know that thoughts are stored in the boobs (No, I didn’t make this one up. This is canon.).

On the other hand, High School DxD is still going strong with everything already established over its last two seasons. Isseis rivalry with Vali officially reached “We may kills each other one day, but we can still be bros”-status and most of the second half’s dramatic moments actually worked, as the main group genuinly feel like friends. I mean, the climax of the season was one big fat power of friendship moment played completely straight and felt like one of the strongest moments of the season, building upon what was already a conceptually strong premise for a conflict.

High School DxD is still good, but was this season just not that great for the most part. It did progress the actual plot a fair bit, though, and I am kinda excited to see it continued after all these years. The third season just feels so disappointing, as the first two seasons left a better impression on me, compared of what I thought about it over five years ago, while BorN is the complete opposite.

Production-wise, it is still the same as its earlier seasons, but I had a feeling that the (hair-) colors were a bt more saturated, though I doubt anyone will notice, since the style stays the same. Not that big a fan of both the OP and ED. They are fine, but doesn’t the OP emit the same hype, as the last three and the ED is, compared to its predecessors, simply boring. Still absolutely baffled that they got Yuuki Kaji to sing the Oppai Dragon-Song. What a legend!

Now, this post is barely 800 words long, so it is finally time to talk about waifus. I will stand by my word that Xenovia is best girl (I will still fight you on that!). But sometimes, it is not about being right, but about being correct. There are some universal truths out there, that not even I dare to go against… not that I have to, as they perfectly align with my ~~taste~~ professional judgement. As such, I will give you the facts straight: Cries about her age, despite being young, desperate to find a man, heavy abandonment issues, absolute disaster of a human being, a teacher, alcoholic AND she wears a suit? Add glasses and you got yourself a S-Rank Waifu!

Anyway, here is an image of Rossweisse crying. I wanted to use on of her eyecatches for the thumbnail, but hers just didn’t work that well.

Until next time ^^.

The Promised Neverland Season 2: Was it really that bad?

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 02:00:00 +0100

Ach ja, around a week ago, I was finally able to finish the Promised Neverland manga, so it was only a matter of time before I took a look at the the anime adaptations infamous second season. Spoilers ahead.

As of the time of writing this post, season two of The Promised Neverland is able to present itself with a 5.43 rating on MyAnimeList, while the first one lies comfortably in the top 100 best ranked anime with a rating of 8.57. Dropping more than 3 points in just a single season is almost a record in itself, so what exactly happened that one year’s most beloved anime becomes another year’s worst?

Let’s get the elephant in the room out first. In terms of adapting the TPN manga, the anime’s second season falls completely flat on its face. The first season had some problems too, skipping over a lot of internal monologue and thus weakening the heavy mind game aspects prevalent in the first season, but the second season is a different case entirely: Not adapting several arcs, one of which is universally considered the best of the series, rewriting the context around them and filling it with new content and concluding everything with an anime semi-original ending. As a manga reader, this was pain and reading the anguished tweets while it aired made me unsure of whether to even bother to watch it in the first place.

But that is not what I want to talk about. While there is obvious value in comparing the adaptation and its source material, I am also of the believe that an adaptation should be able to stand on its own, changes included, and be given the opportunity of being judged on its own merits as well. So, how was it? Well… it was fine, I guess.

I was actually positively surprised by its first episodes. Production was still going strong (let’s ignore the ugly 3D monster for now) and the directing kept the shots interesting to look at. I also appreciated the faster pacing. It skips over the escapees struggle to survive outside of Grace Field House, but did I never felt the need for it to be shown, as it was later iterated upon on several occasions, one of which is after their meeting with Mujika and Sonju, which in the anime already occurs at the end of episode one. I also feel like the pacing of the manga could have been a tad faster at times, so this change is actually welcome.

I am also a fan of some of its added original content, like the group trying to catch these fish-blobs for food and especially some of the monsters perspective and struggles. The Promised Neverland makes it abundantly clear that the monsters also suffer under their situation, so seeing the problems of common monsters helps to sell this idea. On the other hand, maybe half of the added original content is to its own detriment. Isabella being tasked to find the children leads literally nowhere and ends with her just becoming the grandmother, like in the manga and Vylk may be a nice character, but is his inclusion mostly a plot device to bridge character motivation.

Though, what really kills the second season is its pacing. After the halfway point, the second season really tries to speed through all of its content and it gets especially bad, since it also has to connect several plot points as a result of skipping material. There is no real weight behind the reveal that Norman is alive, since he is already on his way to proceed with his plan. All the Lambda characters do not get enough screen time to reason and justify their motivation and seem to come out of nowhere. Peter Ratri, instead of being this menacing force that loomed over the children for most of their journey, gets revealed at the very end and is dealt with as fast as he came into the picture, making him basically forgettable, instead of a grand final antagonist. Fleshing the characters out more and letting them have time to breath certainly would have made their appearance more worthwhile, though is it not the solution for everything.

For example, Norman’s character was kind of ruined. Why would the calm and calculating genius do something so obviously out of character that it immediately backfires? Like, come on! This is the guy that outsmarts several groups to cause a coup d’état in the manga! His decision to use violence is portrayed in a really dumb way, especially since the now reworked conflict has a very easy and peaceful solution, so his disagreement with Emma seems really stupid. Almost as stupid as pulling a literal “Martha” Batman v Superman-style. I know what they tried to reference with what is basically a merge of two different plots, but did it not work in the slightest.

Last big thing is the ending. It mostly follows the same structure as the manga: Everyone breaks into Grace Field House, they save the children left behind, the mothers and sisters rebell against Ratri and the monsters and everyone escapes into the human world… except not everyone escapes into the human world. If there is one thing I have to give credit to, it is the realization that none of the worlds problems were actually solved over the course of the second season. The Lambda and mass-production facilities still need to be closed or destroyed, the power structure responsible for everything still needs to be abolished and, though barely mentioned, the “Promise” still needs to be renewed. So Emma, Norman and Ray, as well as the Lambdas children, stay back and try to do all these things.

Oh cool, a tragic ending! I thought, since it still works with the whole family theme. We see a like 2-minute montage of most of the children now living in the human world and slowly growing up. Maybe not the most satisfying ending, but still good… but the episode was not done yet and the montage kept going. Back in the monster world and we see Emma and the others doing all the stuff they talked about before bidding goodbye. We see shots of the royal families and the capital, we see Emma making a new “Promise”, we even see Mujika’s coronation after everything is done. What a kick in the balls… Hey, here are all the things that could have been, but weren’t, lol. It is one thing to not include entire parts of the plot, but dangling it in front of our faces in the very last minute is just… cruel.

But the episode still isn’t over, as in the last few seconds, we see Emma and everyone else arriving in the human world and greeted by the children, meaning the tragic goodbye not only lasted, like, a few minutes, but is also immediately undone and holds no weight. This was unsatisfying to say the least and I doubt anyone, even if they haven’t read the manga, wouldn’t feel the same about it. Even by itself, the second season was flawed, but this ending really sells what it should have been, instead of what it is.

Is it a 5.43 rating bad? I mean, apparently yes, but do I also think that a good amount of the good parts of The Promised Neverland still shine through. It is by far not the worst thing I have seen and even if butchered is The Promised Neverland still fine. Disappointing, sure, absolutely, but still fine. However, I do not want to take away the anime community’s disappointment. They may make a mountain out of a molehill one too many times, but this time, there is at least a reason I can very much see as to why. So, was The Promised Neverland Season 2 really that bad? I mean, by itself, probably not, but the experience of seeing it unfold before your very eyes?.. probably.

One question dangling over my head remains, though: Why even try to adapt the rest of the story in just one season? We have already seen several other Shounen Jump properties being adapted season for season, most notably My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer, the latter one began publishing in the same year as TPN. Someone on Reddit crunched a few numbers and concluded that towards its end, The Promised Neverland was not that popular anymore, so it stands to reason that several seasons were not financially viable and it was decided instead to adapt everything left into a single second season. I think a lot of people actually would have been fine with a second season only adapting the next arc properly, but as to why this was not done is unknown. I mean, it’s probably a money reason, but speculating helps no one.

Auf der Suche nach One Piece: Alabasta Saga

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 09:14:30 +0100

Ach ja, auf geht’s in die nächste Saga und ich muss sagen, dass mir One Piece tatsächlich ziemlich gut gefällt. Zugegeben, wäre es nicht One Piece, hätte ich vielleicht bereits längst aufgehört. Die meiste Zeit ist es relativ durchschnittlich und hätte ich weniger Interesse an der Serie, z.B. wie es bei Naruto oder Bleach der Fall wäre, würde ich ab hier vielleicht sogar aufhören und mich anderen Sachen widmen. One Piece bleibt mir aber stark genug, dass ich kein Problem darin sehe weiterzulesen.

Reverse Mountain

Wir sind endlich auf der Grand Line! Nicht viel ist in diesen (und dem nächsten Arc) passiert, dient es aber als Einführung für die Grand Line, als auch viele wichtige Informationen bezüglich dieser. Es wird der Aufbau der Grand Line erklärt, als auch dessen merkwürdiges Verhalten auf See. Wirklich interessant nun endlich den Aufbau zu verstehen, da ich mich immer gefragt habe, wo die Grand Line eigentlich genau liegt und warum man nicht einfach direkt zum One Piece segeln kann.

Nichtsdestotrotz war der Arc spaßig zu lesen… ich meine, einen Berg hinauf zu segeln ist schon cool. Dann gab es die Begegnung mit Laboon, einen riesigen Wal, welcher Pinocchio-style eine halbe Pocket Dimension in sich besitzt und seine tragischen Umstände. Reverse Mountain beschreibt am besten One Piece, wenn nicht gerade eine Intrige aufgedeckt, oder gekämpft werden muss und es sich eine Auszeit von der Action nehmen kann.

Whisky Peak

Whisky Peak wirkt ebenfalls so, als ob es eher ein Vorbote für eine größere Geschichte ist und bestehend zur Hälfte daraus, dass Zorro eigenhändig eine Menge unwichtiger Leute bekämpft. Der Kampf war cool, aber nicht besonders interessant. Viel wichtiger ist das Offenbaren von Baroque Works, einer Geheimorganisation, welche es auf Vivi, der Prinzessin von Alabasta, und nun auch einen Teil der Strohhut-Piraten abgesehen hat. Vivi kommt übrigens mit Karoo daher, einer Mischung zwischen Ente und Chocobo und oh mein Gott, will haben. Zusammen liegt ihr Ziel in Alabasta, doch werden sie zuerst von ~~Robin~~ Ms. All Sunday besucht, welche sie vor dessen bevorstehender Reise warnt.

Paar weitere Kleinigkeiten, welche man anmerken könnte wären, dass die Berge, welche wie Kakteen aussehen, einfach nur normale Berge sind, welche mit Gräbern überseht sind… in jeder anderen Serie wäre dies das edgyieste, welches ich mir vorstellen könnte, aber in One Piece wird es wieder gut. Der Arc lässt sich bestimmt besser zusammenfassen, aber wird seine Wichtigkeit sich sowieso erst später zeigen.

Little Garden

Little Garden gehört ohne Frage immer noch zu den Build-up Arcs, welche zum Alabasta Arc hinarbeiten, aber kann er im Gegensatz zu Reverse Mountain und Whisky Peak narrativ auf eigenen Beinen stehen. Dieser Arc ist um den Konflikt zweier nordic-themed Riesen aufgespannt, welche bereits seit hundert Jahren gegeneinander kämpfen, der Grund dafür bereits längst vergessen. Es ist ein Kampf um Ehre zwischen Freunden, etwas, welches Luffy und besonders Usopp ans Herz geht, dass er sich sogar als Ziel nimmt die Insel der Riesen zu besuchen und nach deren Art zu leben. Richtiger #RealRespectsReal Moment… und es muss nicht einmal erwähnt werden, dass dessen Gemützel gestört wird.

Baroque Works ist den Strohhut-Piraten weiterhin auf der Spur und dieses mal auch mit Verstärkung im Schlepptau. Der Kampf war spaßig. Mr. 3’s Kraft Wachs aus seinem Körper abzugeben wurde kreativ und vielseitig eingesetzt und wie Zorro damit umging in eine Wachsfigur verwandelt zu werden, war göttlich. Erneut war es auch wieder eher ein Kampf der Ideale, mit den Mitgliedern der Baroque Works im offensichtlich Kontrast zu den Strohhut-Piraten.

Die Insel selbst ist dabei fast ein eigener Charakter. Zugeben, eine urzeitliche Insel voller Dinosaurier ist in jedem Kontext cool, aber die Zeichnungen bringen diese Wirkung noch einmal deutlich hinüber. Es ist ebenfalls eine schöne Abwechslung für mich, welcher an Tokyos Häuserfassaden und den generischen Isekai Landschaften gewohnt ist :D. Gepackt mit den zwei Riesen, strahlt das ganze einfach so eine gute Energie aus. Ich weiß zwar nicht, wie groß ich ein Fan von der Entscheidung bin, den Ursprung des Konflikts der beiden Riesen zu enthüllen, da es aber eine Parallele zu einer früheren Stelle darstellt, habe ich auch nichts dagegen.

Drum Island

Chopper ist hier! Auf den Weg nach Alabasta wird Nami krank und es muss ein Zwischenstopp auf Drum Island eingelegt werden. Im Gegensatz zum Rest, kann dieser Arc vollständig alleine stehen, dabei besteht Drum Island aus mehreren kleineren, aber clever ineinander verwickelten Geschichten.

Die erste ist noch die einfachste und offensichtlichste, besonders wie sie sich in das Schema der East Blue Saga einreiht: Wapol ist der König von Drum Island, floh aber vor einer bestimmten Zeit, als die Insel vom bisher noch unbekannten Blackbeard angegriffen wurde. Nachdem er wieder seinen Weg zu Drum gefunden hat, versucht er erneut die Insel und dessen Bewohner unter seine Finger zu kriegen. Ein wichtiges Detail, welches über die Tatsache hinaus geht, dass er ein schlechter König sei und alle ihn hassen, ist dass er eine Monopol auf alle Ärzte der Insel hat und falls man verletzt wird, so ziemlich auf ihn angewiesen ist. Die einzigen Ausnahmen dazu waren Dr. Kurena und Hiriluk. Es endet, wie man sich inzwischen denken kann. Wapol beleidigt den Weg der Piraten, ist generell eine schlimme Person und Luffy yeetet ihn wortwörtlich in den Sonnenuntergang. Er besitzt leider nicht die imposante Energie, welche bei Arlong vorhanden war, aber immer noch gut, besonders wie er durch seine Taten, bzw. Luffys Gegenwehr zu diesen nochmal die Bedeutung der Piratenflagge und was sie symbolisiert betont.

Die zweite Geschichte, handelt um Chopper selbst, wie er sowohl von den anderen Rentieren, als auch den Menschen ausgeschlossen wird, von Hiriluk aufgenommen und später von Dr. Kurena Medizin gelehrt wird. Die Beziehung zwischen diesen Charakteren lässt sich nur schwer zusammenfassen, ohne auf jede Kleinigkeit einzugehen, ist sie aber sehr schön zu lesen und sorgt letzten Endes dafür, das Chopper mit einen gewissen Gedanken aufwächst, welcher ihn auch später davon überzeugt sich den Strohhut-Piraten anzuschließen. Das und das offensichtliche “Das Monster stellt sich als gut heraus” mit der Parallele zu Luffy, welcher durch die Teufelsfrucht ebenfalls als “Monster” beschrieben werden kann und welcher Chopper explizit einen Freund nennt.

Die letzte Geschichte handelt um die Idee eines Arztes und wie Heilung nicht nur physischer Natur ist. Dies wird einmal wortwörtlich durch Hiriluk gezeigt, welcher nach dem Anblick von Kirschblüten nicht nur körperlich geheilt wurde, sondern auch aufhörte Pirat zu sein, um Arzt zu werden. Am anderen Ende liegt Chopper, dessen Herz “geheilt” werden muss und selbst Dr. Kurena schnell einsieht, dass Luffy und seine Crew die beste Medizin dafür wären. One Piece schafft es irgendwie den mehr “ästhetischen” Punkten erstaunlich viel Gewicht und Tiefe zu geben, wie zum Beispiel bereits beim Baratie mit den Köchen und auch hier bringt das Thema der Ärzte eine gewisse Weltlichkeit mit sich.

Nicht jeder einzelne Erzählstrang kommt vielleicht so gut zusammen wie er könnte, aber ist das Ergebnis immer noch ein sehr kompetenter und in sich funktionierender Arc, welcher als ein guter Zwischeneinschub zum nächsten und letzten Arc dient.

Alabasta

Endlich in Alabasta angekommen, kam ebenfalls eine gewisse Erwartungshaltung einher. Mit Ausnahme von Drum Island, baute jeder Arc zu diesen Punkt auf und jetzt müsste sich herausstellen, ob es dies wert war. Die kurze Antwort: Ja.

Bisher wurde nur ein Teil der Gefahr tatsächlich gezeigt. Baroque Works kommt den Strohhut-Piraten immer wieder in die Quere, doch weiß man bisher nur wenig über deren eigentliches Ziel und das komplette Ausmaß deren Taten wird nun endlich offenbart: Durch eine Verschwörung die gesamte Insel Alabasta in eine potentielle Armee umzustrukturieren, um sich gegen die Weltregierung aufzulehnen. Während die Größe und Folgen dieses Unterfangens bei weitem alles bisherige in One Piece überschreiten, ist die Vorgehensweise jenes, welches mich wirklich interessiert hat.

Die Konflikte in Alabasta sind in erster Linie politischer Natur und es ist das Ausnutzen dieser und anderen Leuten, welches den Antagonisten, Crocodile, so unberechenbar und gefährlich machen. Er inszeniert über Jahre hinweg gesellschaftliche Umstände, welche zu einem Aufstand der Einwohner führen und instrumentalisiert diese zu seinen Nutzen. Die Folge dessen ist, dass Alabasta aus mehreren Geschichten besteht, welche parallel zueinander verlaufen und aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven betrachtet werden müssen und in dessen Mittelpunkt sich Vivi wieder findet.

Vivi befindet sich einen Großteils des Arcs in Konflikt mit sich selbst. Sie will Crocodiles Machenschaften aufhalten und dafür Sorgen, dass nicht noch mehr Blut vergossen wird, allerdings findet sie sich immer und wieder in einer Situation, wo sie nichts gegen diese tun kann. Sie schafft es nicht Crocodile zu bekämpfen, sie schafft es nicht den Aufstand aufzuhalten, alle ihre Bemühungen verlaufen im Sand. Doch in feinster One Piece Manier hält es ihr nicht ab, es weiter zu versuchen, bis es ihr irgendwann gelingt.

One Piece trägt sein Herz auf der Zunge (Im englischen klingt diese Redewendung deutlich besser) und es erfüllt mich mit diesen schönen warmen Gefühl, dass man es als eine Tugend ansehen sollte, etwas immer weiter zu probieren, wenn es für einen richtig und wichtig ist und es ist jener Geist, welcher Vivi, die Strohhut-Piraten, als auch vereinzelte Charaktere wie Toto letztlich an ihr Ziel bringt.

Inhaltlich ist Alabasta, wie der Rest von One Piece, nicht besonders dicht, aber auch nicht abhanden von vielen Details in Worldbuilding, wie die Existenz der Poneglyphen oder Seesteine. Am interessantesten war tatsächlich die Betrachtung des Aufstandes, sowohl warum dieser entstanden ist, als auch wie er durch Crocodile und Baroque Works manipuliert wird. Ansonsten wurde wieder viel gekämpft und jeder der Strohhut-Piraten durfte zeigen, was er kann indem Sie entweder alleine oder im Team gegen Mitglieder von Baroque Works gematched wurden. Ich will nicht sagen, dass die Kämpfe uninteressant waren, war mein Augenmerk aber auf allem darum. Ausnahme waren die Kämpfe mit Nami und Zorro, da Nami das erste mal richtig mitkämpfen konnte und Zorros Kampf inhaltlich deutlich mehr Gewicht für ihn als Charakter hatte.

Ebenfalls ein Thema, welches sich leise durch diesen Arc schlich, war Gerechtigkeit, besonders im Bezug zur Marine, welche mit den Piraten zusammen arbeiten musste. Captain Smoker und Tashigi, welche Luffy und Co. seit Loguetown verfolgen, bauen langsam eine Art gegenseitigen Respekt auf und es ist einer meiner Lieblingstropen, wenn sich verfeindete Personen zusammen tun müssen, um einen gemeinsamen Gegner nieder zu bringen.

Die meisten Mitglieder von Baroque Works sind nicht wirklich erwähnenswert Sie erfüllen ihre Rolle gut, aber hinterlassen sie keinen besonderen Eindruck. Selbstverständlich davon ausgenommen ist Bon Clay. God bless this non-binary hoe. Enemies turned Friends sind gut!

Zuletzt kommt Vivis Abschied. Hätte ich es nicht besser gewusst (und das gleich in zweifacher Hinsicht), würden man denken, dass sie sich den Strohhut-Piraten am Ende anschließen würde. Bevor ich angefangen habe den Manga zu lesen, hatte ich Vivi noch nie selber gesehen, wobei ich aber wusste, dass sie einer der beliebtesten Charaktere ist und inzwischen kann ich verstehen warum. Sie begleitet einen die komplette Saga, passt problemlos zu den anderen und hatte sogar ihren großen Moment am Ende des Arcs, wie es auch bei den Rest der Strohhut-Piraten war. Aber in einen weiteren klasse Moment an Charakterisierung entscheidet sie sich explizit dagegen und will sich stattdessen ihrer Aufgabe als Prinzessin von Alabasta stellen, wobei sie die Freundschaft mit ihnen aufrecht erhalten will. Was für ein Ende o7.

Verstreute Gedanken

Und dies war die Alabasta Saga. Mit 24 Volumes ist One Piece der zweitlängste Manga, den ich bisher gelesen habe, nur getoppt vom vollendeten Attack on Titan. Es ist wirklich ein schönes Gefühl etwas zu lesen, welches man zwar kennt, aber nicht wirklich kennt. So ziemlich alles aus der Alabsta Saga habe ich nie gesehen und einen quasi neuen Blick in diese Geschichte zu werfen macht so viel Spaß. Dieses Gefühl wird sich wahrscheinlich langsam, zumindest vorübergehend, mit der Sky Island Saga verfliegen, da ich der Meinung bin, dass ich diese zu einen Großteil bereits kenne, wobei ich mir sicher bin, dass es mir immer noch gefallen wird, selbst wenn es bereits einen ersten (10+ Jahre alten) Eindruck gibt.

Eine Sache, welche ich in meinen ersten Post vergessen habe zu erwähnen, sind die kleinen Geschichten, welche durch die Cover der einzelnen Kapitel erzählt werden. In diesen geht es in der Regel um vergangene Charaktere und was mit ihnen passiert, nachdem die Strohhut-Piraten weiter ihres Weges segeln. Die erste umfasste, wie Buggy und Alvida sich zusammentaten um sich an Luffy zu retten. Die zweite ging um Coby und Helmeppo wie sie sich in der Marine tun (und Morgan zur Flucht verholfen). Nummer drei umfasste Django (Syrup Village) und Fullbody (Baratie), wie sie sich in einen Dance Contest anfreundeten und Django sich später der Marine anschloss und die bisher letzte ging um Hachi (Arlong Park), wie er eine Meerjungfrau rettete.

Ich weiß, dass einige dieser Geschichten tatsächlichen Einfluss haben. Buggy und Alvida sind am Ende der East Blue Saga bereits aufgetaucht, Django und Fullbody waren in einer der Marine Crews am Ende von Alabsta, ich glaube Coby und Helmeppo tauchen irgendwo in Water 7 auf und Hachi und die Meerjungfrau sind wortwörtlich am Anfang der Summit War Saga… welcher erst an die 300 Kapitel später anfängt (Momentaner Stand: Kapitel 217). Wenn man dazu nimmt, dass ich irgendwo in Djangos Cover Stories bereits einen World Noble gesehen habe, ist dies das krasseste Foreshadowing Game, welches ich bisher erleben durfte.

KonoSuba LN: Band 2

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:45:00 +0100

Ach ja, ich möchte diesen Post mit einen wirklich wichtigen und bewundernswerten Zitat beginnen, welches mir auch in Zukunft sicher den richtigen Weg weisen wird.

Manche Dinge konnte man nicht verraten, wie das Vertrauen eines Freundes, der einem seine tiefsten Geheimnisse offenbar hat. Und manche Dinge musste man beschützen, wie süße kleine Dämonen, die einfach einsamen, notgeilen Männern helfen wollten.

Ich ballte die Fäuste. “Komm doch!”

KonoSuba Band 2, Seite 145

Band 2 geht genauso stark weiter, wie der erste Band aufgehört hat. Genauer gesagt kam es zum Inhalt, welcher mir, man möge schon fast sagen thematisch, mir am meisten im Gedächtnis blieb. Nach all den Ereignissen des ersten Bandes und seinem Trio an Desaster im Schlepptau, hat Kazuma es zwar nicht leicht, aber bei weitem nicht schlecht. Natürlich würde er Aqua, Megumin und Darkness, ohne auch nur mit der Wimper zu zucken, durch eine kompetentere Party (Foreshadowing) austauschen, ist er aber dennoch froh Freunde in diesen gefunden zu haben.

KonoSuba schafft es dadurch tatsächlich für einen Moment gnadenlos und ohne Witz wholesome zu sein, als Kazuma gegen den Wintergeneral seinen Kopf verliert und ihm die Wahl nicht mal ansatzweise schwer fällt zurück in die Fantasy Welt zu kommen, statt auf der Erde reinkarniert zu werden, egal wie sehr Eris (Sie trägt Polster) ihm versucht das Angebot schmackhaft zu machen. Und wie Darkness und Megumin tatsächlich getrauert und sich gefreut haben, als Kazuma wieder zum Leben kam… ja. KonoSuba kann mehr als nur Comedy und dies ist etwas, welches sich durchgehend in vielen kleineren Facetten zeigt.

Und damit kommen wir zum immergrünen Thema, über welches ich im Bezug zu den Light Noveln reden muss. Ich kann nicht oft genug sagen, wie solide die Anime-Adaption ist und wie sie auf bereits guten Material aufbaut. Nichtsdestotrotz ist es auf mehrerer Art interessant die Novels, auch ohne Vergleich zu lesen. Die Novels sind nicht lang, kratzen beide bisher gerade so an die 200 Seiten Marke, sind sie aber erstaunlich voll. Es wird nicht viel beschrieben, groß aufgebaut, oder innere Monologe und Prosa gehalten und es passiert immer etwas, ohne lange darauf warten zu müssen. Die erste Staffel adaptiert nur die ersten zwei Bände und selbst diese mit Lücken, wo hingegen andere Anime drei oder mehr Bände adaptieren müssten. Dies soll heißen, dass sich KonoSuba wirklich angenehm lesen lässt und sich nicht zieht.

Wo wir aber bereits beim Thema von nicht adaptierten Material sind: Erinnert ihr euch an Dust und Keith?.. Nein?.. Kein Wunder. Im Anime kommen die beiden nur kurz zusammen vor, als sie Kazuma zum Sukkuben-Laden schleifen und nur kurz angesprochen wird, dass Kazuma sie mal irgendwo kennengelernt hat. Ebenso wie die erste Begegnung mit Wiz, finde ich es schade, dass dies nicht adaptiert worden ist, kann ich hier aber relativ gut nachvollziehen, dass wenn etwas gekürzt werden muss, es dieser Plot sei. Nicht weil er schlecht ist, im Gegenteil sogar, sondern weil er der “unlustigste” und konventionellste ist.

Eines Tages fängt Dust sturzbetrunken an Kazuma im Gildenhaus zu beleidigen und davon zu schwärmen, wie gut es ihn doch geht, dass er mit drei so talentierten und schönen Mädchen auf Abenteuer gehen kann und dass er alles tun würde, um mit ihm zu tauschen. Kazuma denkt sich so “Ja easy, Deal!" und tauscht mit Dust die Party, welches bereits auf einen vorherigen Witz aufbaut, dass Kazuma Aqua mit Eris tauschen wollte. Von da an wird erst mal Kazumas neue Party vorgestellt, bestehend aus Keith, Rin, welche ich bis dahin dachte wäre ein Original Charakter aus dem KonoSuba Gacha und Taylor. Laut dem Wiki kommen sie alle mindestens in Folge 10 einmal vor, kann ich mich aber beim besten Willen nicht an sie erinnern.

Von da an gehen sie auf eine Quest. Zuerst wird Kazuma selbstverständlich unterschätzt, ist er schließlich von Rang her nur ein einfacher Abenteurer und wird er zum Taschentragen verdonnert, allerdings stellt sich schnell heraus, dass Kazuma mit seinen vielen erlernten Skills unglaublich hilfreich ist und der Gruppe sogar zum Sieg verhilft. Diese ganze Geschichte ist so ziemlich ein What If, in welcher es Kazuma erlaubt ist mit anderen kompetenten Leuten auf normale Abenteuer zu gehen und auch wenn es nicht das ist, wofür ich KonoSuba so lieb habe, war es dennoch spaßig zu lesen. Es hatte immer noch Witz, aber konnte es den ganzen Fantasy-Aspekt hochspielen, welches es bisher so halb auf den Arm genommen hat. Es war ebenfalls ein gutes Stück Charakterisierung für Kazuma selbst… der Junge ist tatsächlich gut, wenn er mal darf :D.

Hingehen sehen wir absolut gar nichts aus der Perspektive von Dust und das aus einen sehr einfachen Grund… wir können uns alle denken, was passiert ist, basierend auf drei kleinen Beschreibungen: Megumin muss auf den Rücken getragen werden, Darkness gesamte Rüstung ist kaputt und Aqua ist mit Schleim durchnässt. Dust nimmt schluchzend all seine Kommentare zurück und seitdem sind sie Freunde.

Alle darauffolgenden Geschichte haben es aber wiederum in den Anime geschafft, wobei Kils Dungeon in die zweite Staffel verschoben wurde. Meine Meinung unterscheidet sich in diesen auch nicht wirklich vom Anime. Aquas und Wiz’s Neckereien sind mindestens genauso hysterisch wie die Geisterjagd in der Villa, das Sukkubus Kapitel gehört immer noch für die Nachwelt aufgehoben und der Kampf gegen Destroyer schafft es Aufregung in die doch anderweitig ruhige Geschichte zu bringen… merkt man, dass ich KonoSuba liebe?

Paar Sachen die man zusätzlich anmerken kann, sind dass ich den Kontrast zwischen wie Kazuma mit Aqua und mit Wiz spricht, liebe.

Wobei man aber sagen muss, dass man besonders zwischen Aqua und Kazuma spürt, dass diese Animosität gegenüber einander nicht wirklich ernstgemeint ist und sich beide doch ganz lieb haben. Beide können sogar über genau diesen Gedanken lachen, wie in Kils Dungeon zu beobachten war. KonoSubas Comedy fühlt sich nie wirklich gemein an und selbst wenn sie es ist, herrscht eine gewisse Selbstverständnis darüber zu reflektieren und es auszugleichen.

Eine weitere Sache, die mir aufgefallen ist, sind wie viele der Witze, bzw. dessen Setups bereit sehr früh erwähnt werden. Destroyer wurde bereits im ersten Band von Megumin genannt, wir wissen, dass Aqua, zu mindest indirekt, für eine Menge verantwortlich ist, da sie Personen aus Japan in diese Welt schickt und selbst kleinere Details basieren immer wieder auf vorherigen Ereignissen, was der Geschichte eine gewisse Nachhaltigkeit gibt.

Und zuletzt, weil ich wüsste wo und wann ich sinnvoll darüber reden könnte… ich mag die Illustrationen… Darkness do be kinda cute 😳.

Dies war’s soweit vom zweitem Band. Selbstverständlich werde ich weiterlesen (auch wenn das Veröffentlichungsdatum des dritten Bandes noch nicht bekannt ist), allerdings werde ich versuchen mich mehr auf die Novels alleine zu beziehen und nicht immer einen Vergleich zum Anime zu ziehen. Es wird sie immer noch geben, aber versuche ich nicht quasi den gesamten Post damit zu füllen.

Auf der Suche nach One Piece: East Blue Saga

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0100

Reichtum, Macht und Ruhm. Der Mann der sich dies alles erkämpft hat war Gold Roger, der König der Piraten. Als er hingerichtet wurde waren seine letzten Worte: “Ihr wollt meinen Schatz? Den könnt ihr haben! Sucht ihn doch, irgendwo habe ich den größten Schatz der Welt versteckt!” Dieser Schatz ist das One Piece und er liegt irgendwo auf der Grand Line. Damit brach das große Piratenzeitalter an.

Ach ja, wo soll ich überhaupt anfangen? Ich habe als Kind nicht besonders viel ferngesehen und dies bezog sich in der Woche überwiegend darauf, was um 5 Uhr früh, oder so, auf Tele 5 lief. Zugegeben, gutes Zeugs lief da: Captain Tsubasa, Digimon Tamers, Bakugan und viele weitere Anime, welche prinzipiell an Kinder gerichtet waren. Allerdings gehörte ich nie wirklich zur “Direkt nach der Schule auf RTL II Anime schauen”-Gruppe. Infolge habe ich basically keine Ahnung von Inuyasha, Naruto, Bleach, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, oder sonst was so zu den Klassikern deutscher Anime Kultur zählt.

Ich habe allerdings eine gute Menge One Piece gesehen. Ich kann mich noch daran erinnern, dass am Wochenende immer mehrere Folgen am Stück liefen und dass ich diese öfters gesehen habe. Dazu kam, dass One Piece auch Nachmittags lief und ich es selbst nach längeren Tagen am Gymnasium sehen konnte, falls ich nichts anderes zur Zeit gemacht habe. Dies ist allerdings schon eine Weile her. Ich war vielleicht elf, als ich zuletzt eine Folge One Piece gesehen habe… ich bin inzwischen fast doppelt so alt :D.

Punkt ist, ich habe One Piece gesehen, aber nicht wirklich gesehen. Mein Wissen über One Piece hat so viele Lücken, dass es, verglichen mit einem Schweizer Käse, voll aussieht. Ich wusste, dass ich öfters Folgen verpasst habe, aber irgendwann überkam es mir auch, wie viel ich nicht weiß, was ich eigentlich wissen sollte: Wie fing der Kram eigentlich an? War Zorro schon immer dabei? Wie ist die Welt eigentlich aufgebaut? Wann und wo ist Robin dazugestoßen? Wait, haben die dieses ganze Ding übersprungen? Schweizer Käse ist kein Vergleich. Mein Wissen war ein Loch, welches sich nicht einmal mit schlechten Inhaltsangaben messen konnte!

Dabei mochte ich One Piece. Damals, als auch heute, fand ich relativ wenig Interesse an den meisten “Fighting Shounen”, aber One Piece war cool. Unendlich kreative Welten, sympathische Charaktere und ein durchgehendes Gefühl an Abenteuer und Entdeckung. Nennt mich ‘ne Basic Bitch, aber ich war into it. Es ist nicht einmal das erste Mal, dass ich mit den Gedanken gespielt habe One Piece “richtig” zu lesen/schauen. Als ich angefangen habe wirklich in Anime reinzukommen, hatte ich bereits mit den Gedanken gespielt den Anime zu schauen, woraus aber nichts wurde, wenn man bedenkt, dass mir eine komplett neue Welt voller Geschichten offenbart wurde und One Piece verständlicherweise nicht besonders hoch auf der Liste stand. Als ich später angefangen habe den Manga von Attack on Titan zu verfolgen, habe ich ebenfalls überlegt One Piece zu lesen, aber war ich damals nicht so heiß darauf.

Wie dem auch sei, dies ist alles Geschichte und ich starte neu. Ich werde den Manga von One Piece lesen. Um ehrlich zu sein weiß ich nicht einmal wie weit. Mindestens bis Skypiea, allerdings will ich wissen, was eigentlich in Water 7 passiert ist und das letzte, woran ich mich im Anime erinnere, liegt irgendwo im Sabaody Archipelago Arc um Kapitel 500… oh boy, was habe ich mir da nur eingeredet :D.

Außerdem, ich sollte aufhören Präambeln zu schreiben, welche länger als die eigentlichen Posts sind ^^.

Romance Dawn

Der Anfang von One Piece ist relativ unspektakulär, um ehrlich zu sein. Es geht schnell Ruffys Vergangenheit und Beziehung mit Shanks durch und zeigt die ungefähre Richtung in sowohl Atmosphäre und generellen Vibe, als auch, wohin uns die Reise bringt, aber war es… nicht besonders gut? Wir bekommen ein gutes Gefühl, was Ruffy antreibt und was für eine Art Haltung er anderen Charakteren gegenüber stellt, aber der Rest war so… meh. Hinter den Antagonisten stand nicht besonders viel und das emotionale Ende hat mich eher kalt gelassen. Es ist nicht inkompetent, oder schafft es nicht die Serie auf Kurs zu bringen, aber hinterlässt es nur einen schwachen Eindruck. Zugegeben, bei nur 50 Seiten ist das schon eine ziemliche Leistung, aber warum hätte es nicht ein Kapitel mehr, oder gleich das ganze Volume sein können? Wenn ich an so richtig starke Manga-Anfänge, wie Attack on Titan, A Silent Voice und The Promised Neverland oder selbst vergleichbaren Serie wie My Hero Academia denke, liegt One Piece eher auf der schwächeren Seite.

Der Rest des Arcs schreitet mit ähnlichen Tempo voran. Nach einen schnellen Treffen mit Alvida, begeben sich Ruffy und der emanzipierte Koby nach Shellstown, wo sie auf Zorro treffen. Ebenfalls lernt man zu sehen, dass die Marine von Korruption durchwachsen ist und von machthungrigen Despoten angeführt wird. Anyway, es wird ein wenig gekämpft, Zorro wird befreit und schließt sich Ruffy an. Am Ende zeigt One Piece aber eine seine ersten wahren Stärken: Der gegenseitige Respekt anderer Leute Träume und das Versprechen besser zu werden. Auch ich möchte meine Ambition vor allen Leuten in den Himmel schreien und dies sind die Momente, wo One Piece glänzt. Ruffy will König der Piraten werden, Zorro der weltbeste Schwertkämpfer und Koby ein ehrbarer Admiral der Marine. Nachdem Captain Morgan besiegt wurde, nehmen die übrigen Soldaten Koby auf, obwohl sie wissen, dass er mit Piraten befreundet ist und geben Ruffy und Zorro einen vernünftigen Abschied. Ich versuche das Wort Ehrenmänner sparsam zu benutzen, aber hier passte es einfach. Zusammen kommen beide in Orange Town an und treffen auf die diebische Nami.

Orange Town

Orange Town ist… ok, I guess. Es ist überwiegend ein einziger großer Kampf mit vereinzelnd starken Charakter Momenten. Buggy der Clown ist irgendwie sehr sympathisch und amüsant, auch wenn nicht viel mehr. Der Arc gibt aber einen sehr guten Einblick in einen der sich durchziehenden Themen in One Piece: Das sich Gegenstellen von Menschen, die ihre Macht missbrauchen. Einer der definierenden Aspekte eines Piraten in One Piece ist Freiheit, nur dass diese Freiheit öfters von anderen genommen wird und die bisher besten Momente waren, wo sich Charaktere gegen diese Unterdrückung aufstellen, trotz der scheinbar hoffnungslosen Situation. Der kleine Hund Chouchou, welcher den Laden seines verstorbenen Herrchens gegen einen riesigen Löwen beschützt, der Bürgermeister, welcher sich eigenhändig gegen Buggy auflehnt, um sein Dorf und deren Einwohner zu retten und selbst Ruffy, welcher sich eher ideologisch gegenüber Buggy stellt, aber den Leuten helfen will und am Ende sogar die Hälfte von Buggys Schatz für das Dorf zurück lässt. One Pieces aufheiternder Spirit kommt durch, auch wenn nicht wirklich etwas interessantes passiert ist.

Syrup Village

Syrup Village ist der erste Arc, welcher sich richtig Zeit nimmt und auch mit narrativen Gewicht punkten kann. Allgemein nimmt sich One Piece das erste Mal richtig Zeit den Charakteren und der Welt sich zu präsentieren. Lysop ist bereits ab der ersten Minute eine Legende. Die Gründe warum er lügt und warum er sich letztlich dazu entscheidet den Weg eines Piraten zu gehen, sind bisher wohl das emotionalste in der Geschichte. Außerdem wurde die Comedy mit ihm gleich doppelt so gut. Ebenfalls kann man an diesen Arc gut bemerken, wie durchgehend zwischen den verschiedenen Erzählperspektiven gewechselt wird. Der Antagonist ist zwar immer noch nicht besonders bemerkenswert was Motivation oder dergleichen angeht, allerdings stellt er eine deutlich größere Gefahr dar, als Buggy und die Kämpfe waren mehr abwechslungsreich dank verschiedener Charaktere. Auch wenn sich der Kampf vielleicht ein wenig gezogen hat, hatte ich kein wirkliches Problem mit diesen. Ähnlich wie in Orange Town, gab es genügend Szenen, wo Charaktere für sich aufstanden und ihren Moment bekommen haben. In allem, ganz gut.

Baratie

Baratie ist wohl der erste Arc, welchen ich teilweise gesehen habe, zumindest kann ich mich daran erinnern, wie Sanji und Zeff auf der Insel gestrandet waren. Im generellen würde ich sagen, dass Baratie ein stärkeres Syrup Village ist… sowohl im guten, als auch im schlechteren. Wie immer ist der eigentliche Ort fantastisch. Ich liebe das schwimmende Restaurant als Konzept und dessen Flair kommt sehr gut hinüber. Ebenfalls bringt es mit Sanji, Zeff und zum Teil auch ein paar der anderen Köche sehr gute Persönlichkeiten zum Vorschein. Es war wieder ein sehr emotionaler Konflikt, welcher über den puren Kampf hinausgeht und One Piece zeigt erneut, dass genau in diesen kraftvollen Momenten, wo die Charaktere selbst scheinen können, dessen wahre Stärke liegt. Sanji, wie er voller Wunder seinen Traum nach dem ALl Blue verfolgen will, Zeff und die anderen Köche, welche Sanji aus den Restaurant verscheuchen wollen, damit er mit den Strohhutpiraten auf Reise gehen kann und Ruffy, welcher zu wütend ist, um zu sterben. Selbst das plötzliche Erscheinen von Dracule Mihawk, einer der sieben Oka Shichibukai, welcher Zorro aus reinen Respekt am Leben lässt, war unglaublich eindrucksvoll. Peak One Piece bis her.

Weniger gut waren dieses mal erneut die Antagonisten des Arcs. Dracule Mihawk hatte nur einen kurzen Auftritt und mit ihm kam ein gutes Stück Lore, also habe ich da nichts zu sagen, aber folgt Don Krieg und seine Crew ähnlichen Problemen, wie auch Buggy und Kuro. Auch wenn sie als idealistische Gegensätze zu den Strohhutpiraten agieren, sind sie selber als Charaktere relativ flach und essentiell nicht mehr als der “Böse”. Der eigentliche Kampf mit Don Krieg und Gins Konflikt war gut, aber hätte man Pearls Kampf, wenn nicht ganz entfernen, eventuell kürzen können. Auch wenn sie große Gefahren waren, hat der Sieg über sie nur wenig Bedeutung, außer das das Baratie gerettet wurde. Dieses Gewicht, dass es mehr bedeutet, als dass nur der Gegner besiegt wurde, fehlt mir momentan noch.

Arlong Park

Kennt ihr diesen Moment, wenn man sich etwas wünscht und dieser sofort erfüllt wird? Dies ist, worauf ich gewartet habe. Der Arlong Arc ist klarer in seinen zwei Hälften aufgebaut und hat dadurch einen besseren Build-up und Pay-off, als die letzteren. Die Arlong Piraten sind nicht nur im Ausmaß ihrer Handlungen interessanter, als die bisherigen Antagonisten, sondern auch in ihrer Art und wie sie sich mit den Themen One Pieces entgegen stellen: Systematische Unterdrückung. Arlong unterdrückt nicht nur die Einwohner der belagerten Insel, indem er jeden tötet, welcher nicht genügen Geld zahlen kann, sondern wird auch noch von der Marine und Regierung in seinen Handlugen unterstützt. Arlong ist die erste konkrete Charakterisierung, welche eine wirklich Gefahr für die Idee von Freiheit darstellt, welches vor allem für Ruffy einen sehr großen Stellenwert hat. Besonders stark kommt dies zum Ausdruck, wenn man über Namis Vergangenheit erfährt.

Nami wurde mit ihrer Adoptivschwester Nojiko von Belle-mère aufgenommen und lebte zusammen seither zwar in Armut, aber glücklich auf der Insel, bis Arlong und seine Crew kam. Belle-mère konnte aber nur das Schutzgeld für ihre Kinder bezahlen und wurde darauf hin von Arlong getötet. Kurz darauf schließt sich Nami, unter dem Versprechen das Dorf von ihm abzukaufen, Arlongs Crew an. 8 Jahre später und sie hat inzwischen fast die benötigte Summe Geld aufgetrieben. Needless to say, Arlong besitzt keine Intention sein Versprechen wirklich einzuhalten und gibt der Marine ihren Lagerort bekannt, welcher kurz darauf geplündert wird. Ihre komplette Vergangenheit und ihren (inneren) Konflikt wird äußerst gut dargestellt und besitzt dieses gewisse Gewicht, welches mir bis jetzt gefehlt hat.

An ihren tiefsten Punkt angekommen, bittet Nami endlich ihre Freunde, welche die ganze Zeit versucht haben sie zurückzugewinnen, um Hilfe und der Kampf gegen Arlong kann beginnen. Crunchyroll hat einmal diese Szene aus den Anime gepostet und ich hatte Gänsehaut. Mit den zusätzlichen Kontext trifft das ganze noch einmal härter. Die erste Hälfte besitzt ebenfalls ein vergleichsweise zügigeres Tempo, welches der ganzen Geschichte sehr gut getan hat.

Arlong ist ein Fischmenschen Supremacist. Ich rede hier von straight up Rassismus und der gleichen Rhetorik, welche man nur allzu gut aus der echten Welt kennt und es tat so gut zu sehen, wie Ruffy ihn seine Fresse poliert hat. Der Kampf war aber nicht ohne Hindernisse. Arlong und seine Crew sind bei weitem die stärksten Gegner, welche die Strohhut Piraten bisher begegnet sind. Wie bereits bei dem letzten Arcs, steigt die Kreativität der Kämpfe immer weiter an und nun auch mit erneut mehr Charakteren, welche an diesen Kämpfen teilnehmen können. Während Arlong für Luffy vorbehalten war, durfte jeder einmal ran und selbst Lysop zeigt, dass er es verdient Teil dieser Crew zu sein.

Der Kampf mit Arlong ist einfach anders gebaut. Ein absolutes Gemetzel zwischen einer unaufhaltsamen Kraft und einem unbeweglichen Objekt. Viel interessanter waren aber die Dialoge zwischen den beiden. Man merkt, wie unterschiedlich deren beiden Verbindungen zu Nami sind. Für Arlong ist Nami eine der “guten Menschen”, verglichen mit einer Schoßkatze, welche nur dafür da ist Karten für seine Mannschaft zu zeichnen, während Ruffy in ihr eine Freundin und Kameradin gefunden hat, mit welcher er die Welt umsegeln und das One Piece finden will. Arlong nimmt ihre Menschlichkeit weg, während Ruffy sie befreit. Dies wird so wenig subtil (im guten Sinne), wie auch nur möglich, dargestellt, als Ruffy aus Wut das Kartografiezimmer im Arlong Park komplett auseinander nimmt und Nami vor Freude weinen kann, weil sie nicht mehr an diesen Ort gebunden ist.

Ein weiteres Symbol ist Namis Tattoo. Als sie sich Arlong angeschlossen hat, würde sie mit den Tattoo der Arlong-Bande gebrandmarkt, welches sie für einen Großteil ihres Lebens tragen (und verstecken) musste. Am Ende hat sie sich dieses übermalen lassen und zeigt nun ein Windrad und eine Mandarine, welches sie jeweils an ihr Heimatdorf und an Belle-mère erinnert. Vor einer oder zwei Wochen ist ein Tweet getrendet, welcher sagte, dass One Piece nicht für eine linke progressive Agenda missbraucht werden sollte. Es sind solche Tweets, welche zeigen, wie wichtig Medien wie One Piece sind, welche sich explizit gegen Unterdrückung und Machtmissbrauch aussprechen und es so deutlich und kompetent ausdrücken, wie in diesen Arc gezeigt.

TL;DR: Man sollte Faschisten ins Gesicht schlagen!

Loguetown

Loguetown ist weniger sein eigener Arc, als eher ein Transitional Piece, um den Weg zur nächsten Saga zu ebenen. Nichts konsequentes ist passiert, wurden aber viele Kleinigkeiten aufgebracht, welche einen ab da an im Hintergrund bleiben sollten: Alvida und Buggy haben sich zusammengetan und sind zurück, um sich an Ruffy zu rächen, Zorro bekommt neue Schwerter, nachdem sie im Kampf gegen Mihawk zerstört wurden, Smoker wurde eingeführt und will die Strohhutpiraten verfolgen und eine mysteriöse Person namens Dragon taucht auf.

Wie bereits gesagt, hat der Arc alleine selber nicht viel zu bieten und bereitet eher die nächste Saga vor. Ich mochte die explizite Paralelle zwischen Ruffy und Gold Rodger, aber darüber hinaus ist es, was es ist. Die East Blue Saga hat die meisten, aber dafür auch kürzesten Arcs, also hoffe ich, dass ich bald wieder mehr so etwas in Richtung des Arlong Parks schreiben kann.

Verstreute Gedanken

Da ich nicht weiß, wo ich es sonst rein packen sollte, hier ein paar generelle Sachen.

Die Namen… ich bin selbstverständlich mit den deutschen Namen aufgewachsen und uff… ich lese den Manga auf englisch und werde für die nächsten Posts auch diese benutzen. Einerseits habe ich keine Lust immer nachzuschauen, wie die Namen auf deutsch heißen und bin ich auch inzwischen der Meinung, dass die ursprünglichen Namen, bzw. deren englischen Varianten mir besser gefallen. Früher fand ich “Luffy”, statt “Ruffy” merkwürdig, aber klingt Ruffy inzwischen eher komisch und “Usopp” statt “Lysop” ist aufgrund des Wortwitzes ein Selbstgänger. Einzig bei “Lorenor Zorro” und “Roronoa Zoro” ist es mir so ziemlich gleichgültig. Auf der anderen Seite wird das Schiff für mich wahrscheinlich weiterhin “Flying Lamb” und nicht “Going Merry” heißen, einfach weil es objektiv der bessere Name ist :D.

Zusätzlich bezüglich Namen. Mein Teenager-Ich hätte es wahrscheinlich nervig und dämlich gefunden, dass jeder seinen Attacken-Namen brüllt, wenn er angreift, aber bin ich inzwischen erwachsen und muss sagen, dass ich es liebe. Wenn ih das nächste Mal die Möglichkeit bekomme, jemanden zu schlagen, werde ich einfach “10 Tonnen Punch”, oder so in den Himmel brüllen und hoffen, dass es mir extra Kraft gibt ^^.

Eine weitere Sache, die ich sagen muss ist, dass der Manga unglaublich schön gezeichnet ist. Die Linienführung ist clean af und sind die Panels niemals überladen oder lassen sich schlecht lesen, welches man wohl der reinen Schwarz-Weiß Zeichnungen und den Mangel an Screentone zu verdanken hat. Die Charaktere haben alle ein interessantes Design und der generelle Stil gefällt mir sehr. Dazu kommt eine brillante Verwendung von Perspektiven und wunderschönen Kämpfen und man möge fasst meinen, dass One Piece einer der am besten gezeichneten Manga ist, die ich bisher lesen konnte.

Allgemein lässt sich One Piece auch recht schnell lesen, weshalb es nicht so sehr ins Gewicht fällt, oder man es überhaupt bemerkt, dass sich der “eigentliche” Plot zieht. Allerdings glaube ich auch nicht, dass es was bringt One Piece zu kürzen, oder “effizienter” zu gestalten. Alles ist ein Teil von One Piece und ich glaube eine runter geschnittene Version von One Piece würde dessen besonderen Charme verlieren.

Die East Blue Saga umfasst die ersten 12 Bände. Alleine betrachtet bereits eine riesige Menge. Ich habe bisher nur drei Manga gelesen, welche genau so lang, oder länger sind und One Piece ist wortwörtlich noch am Anfang. Der Anime braucht ohne Filler 53 Episoden um die Saga zu adaptieren. Rückblickend fällt es einen fast schwer zu sagen, was alles passiert ist, dass es so viel füllen kann, aber gleichzeitig ist das auch irgendwie die Magie an One Piece. Es ist eine riesige Geschichte mit so vielen kleinen und großen Momenten.

Vielleicht werde ich eine kleine Pause einlegen, der zweite KonoSuba Band schaut mich bereits seit mehr als zwei Woche sehnsüchtig an, aber ich freue mich bereits auf die Abenteuer der Grand Line!

Rewatching High School DxD: Season 2

Sat, 27 Nov 2021 15:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, back at it again, this time without the whole “We don’t need to be coy”-preamble. Also, please appreciate the truly genius craft that went into this seasons logo.

One of the first things I immediately noticed upon starting the second season was the increase of fanservice, specifically the amount of scenes purely consisting of such and not just being part of the show. I didn’t remember those scenes and neither do I remember the episodes being 26:40 long, three more minutes than normal broadcast length. Turns out the Blu-ray and DVD version contain the Director’s Cut with three more minutes of additional content per episode. I have no factual basis to assume this on, but I guess I figured out where all the fanservice came from, especially since it is so weirdly placed in the episodes themselves.

Another detail I noticed was something I call the “New Season Phenomena”. Basically, it is the inclusion of completely new information at the start of a new season (or arc in this case), whose very inclusion is kind of immersion breaking and/or out of left field. The new season introduces a character named Aika Kiryuu, who is basically just a female Issei. I have absolutely nothing against her, she is a very fun character, it’s just… sure, she’s was definitely there the entire time, we have just never seen her the last 12 episodes, because reasons! It would have been funny seeing an equally perverted person getting away with all the same stuff, solely because she is a girl.

Same can be said about this one closed off room in the Occult Research Club building, that Issei just never asked about and several smaller details. It may be nitpicking, but can even the smallest bits of foreshadowing dampen this weird effect of breaking immersion. We are not overwhelmed by the introduction of Xenovia and Irina, since we know from the first season, that the church is involved in pretty much everything, even Kiba’s backstory, so it’s not that big a surprise when two angels come down to earth and cause trouble for the gang. It is not about pure logic, you can explain basically everything or just redcon the story if one must, but immersion, which in this case felt a bit off. Not that it matters in any way or form, but I am saying it could have been written better… that is, the anime about appreciation of the female form.

Anyway, just like the first season, the second one is split into two stories, starting with the one about Kiba’s past. Despite being more complex than the earlier story lines, it couldn’t quite grasp me with its plot alone. I appreciate the reoccurring characters and the introduction of Xenovia (Best Girl, I WILL fight you on that!), but did I not care most of the time. The additional world building is interesting, but does the first half rest mostly on the fun interaction of the characters. The appearance of Vali and Azazel’s reveal were both badass, though. DxD, even at its weaker moments, is still able to pull off some great scenes.

Another thing that gets more and more clear is the fact that the church is, like… very evil and god is literally dead (Not just the Nietzsche kind), something my 15-year old edgy atheist self ate up like it were nothing. DxD just goes out there and tells us to be sinful and enjoy the pleasures of life. Let’s go!

I also don’t know where else to put it, but I am almost certain Xenovia is based on Ciel from Tsukihime and considering Kiba’s Sword Birth is basically a poor mans Unlimited Blade Works, I will take it like this… also, her pulling out Durandal looked like the Gate of Babylon… I should stop seeing Fate references, where there are none, but they just keep popping up :D.

Between the two main story was a breather episode about cleaning the pool… obvious fanservice ensues, but there is actually more to it. Akeno, impressed by Issei’s… “ambitious display of willpower”, took an interest in him and begins to tease Issei in front of Rias. She does so half for progressing the relationship between Issei and Rias and for the other half of just maybe winning Issei over for herself. Quite cunning this woman and seeing Rias both timid and jealous was pretty cute, not gonna lie. Meanwhile, in a beautifully flawless feat of mental gymnastics, that would even impress the dumbest anti-vaxxer, Xenovia tries to bear Issei’s child and Asia and Koneko learn to swim, while Kiba is just vibing in the pool. This episode was fun.

It was also around that time, that the fellow gentleman to my right asked, when the “girl in the box” will appear. I want to make it clear, that it took all my power to not even chuckle a bit and just let the events unfold naturally before my very eyes a couple episodes later.

The second story starts with the fallout of the last confrontation and the parents and older sibling visiting the school. Of course we see some good ol' second hand embarrassment of the characters guardians being adorable idiots. Shout out to Rias' brother, wondering what would happen if Issei would use his power on her breasts… truly one of the greatest minds.

The main cast also gets extended by another character. To be honest, we should know better at this point in our life. So, we see this adorable and smol vampire, sitting in this Not-Amazon™ cardboard box. Got the fang, the cute voice, the dress and our hearts. Denial is a strong curse, leeching on our ability to think clearly. I remember reading Yuki’s character stories in PriConne and living ignorant until the very last possible moment. Anyway, Gasper gets referred to as a boy and looking at my right was more enjoyable than watching the anime itself. Not sure what my reaction was on my first viewing, but I did grew as a person in the meantime. I am not the only one that said, that Gasper being a boy only makes it better.

The actual plot of the second half was… barely there? We get a first glance at Akeno’s backstory, but beyond that. there isn’t a lot of stuff actually happening. The initial climax revolves around a group of magicians, lead by this one woman I completely forgot she even existed, trying to stop the peace talks between the three main factions, though this got dealt with rather quickly, since there were some of the most powerful characters involved.

In the meantime, Vali goes the “I just want to fight strong opponents” route, outing himself as the leader of the Khaos brigade and attacks everyone at present. Introducing the fight that burned itself into my 15-year old brain. While Issei’s power allow him to multiply and share power, Vali’s divides power and takes it. He uses his power on the entire space of the school and this is, like, bad, I think. Azazel, however, describes it to Issei like this: “If Vali continues, all the girls breasts will shrink in size”… and Issei fucking snaps. Like, he goes full Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Ultra Instinct. All we hear is rapidly repeated “Boosto”, while the respective subtitles fill the entire lower screen. Issei proceeds to open the world’s biggest can of Whoop-ass and goes absolutely ape shit on Vali, that not even his several power-ups can save him. This was a brutal murder, all while Issei holds the most epic speech imaginable… weren’t it all for boobs. This is peak High School DxD right here.

While maybe not as rich with plot as the other parts, there is a lot of build-up in these episodes, whose fruits we will most likely be able to see in the third season and just like the first half, the additional world-building is appreciated. This is the moment, when, if not already, one can completely unironically say that they are starting to watch High School DxD for the plot, because this is getting interesting.

Nothing really changed on the production site of things. It still is generally pretty to look at, has some highlights in its animation and the use of music is still excellent. I recommend giving the first Ending a watch. It is so stupidly well animated and has a nice style to boot… it also contains a lot of boobage, so discretion is advised. For the more fashion-oriented scholars, the second ED is also to be recommended.

And that’s about it. I still enjoy High School DxD very much and doubt my opinion will change. Next season will introduce Rossweisse ^^. Until then, stay classy folks.

Side Note: Choosing a thumbnail was pain. I wanted one with Xenovia, but… let’s just say her eyecatches were a bit too risqué for this good christian blog :D

Edit: I gave in.

The wish for a movie to be a different movie: I Am Mother

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 16:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, good criticism is hard. And before I go into the nature of criticism and where “constructive” criticism fails, let me just ask you this: Have you ever wanted a movie to just be a different movie?

Just think about it. If one were to fix or solve a movies problems (from whoever’s perspective), would it still be the same movie, beyond the obvious fact, that it has changed from its original, but more in the same vein as how we differentiate movies from each other? If your criticism of a movie would be applied and a second version of the movie were to be released, what kind of criticism would be a able to create another, different, movie? I love me some good pseudo-rhetorical questions.

I’d like, for the sake of argument, to differentiate between two types of “criticism”: The first one concerning everything that is a part or connected to the film and the second one encapsulating everything that the movie is not.

The first one might be what is often described as constructive criticism: From pointing out errors and inconsistencies, elements or scenes being not effective in portraying the supposedly intended story beats, thematic breakdowns, political messages, etc. Everything, that affects the existing text falls under this umbrella.

The second one strikes deeper. It is criticism about the entire premise, the structure, the ending. It is about rejecting what is there, or at least not liking it, to not sound so dramatic. It concerns everything the text is not, where proposed criticism would change what the text is or should be instead.

*Spoilers for I Am Mother ahead*

To be a bit more concrete, let’s talk about I Am Mother. The movie is about an android being tasked with the repopulation of humanity, after an unknown event eradicated all humans and made earth seemingly uninhabitable. The first act is dedicated to Mother raising Daughter into adulthood, giving her love, teaching her to do origami, all the good stuff. The plot kicks into gear with the arrival of another woman, telling Daughter to not trust Mother and the unraveling of new facts. In the end, it is revealed that Mother has killed all humans to create a new and better mankind, but is killed in the end by Daughter herself, who takes over as the role of the mother for the yet unborn embryos in the bunker… just like Mother planned.

A good chunk of my criticism is the “constructive” criticism kind. I like how the movie gives hints as to Daughter not being the first child, but it obfuscates these hints to the detriment of its medium. You can’t just put “13.867 days later” on the screen and assume I will have a comprehensible idea for how long this is, when there are new information a few seconds later. It feels like a dick move when you see Daughter being around 18 years old and you are supposed to be like yeah, checks out, I guess, but it also being a massive hint as to Daughter not being the same girl, as the child in the beginning, as 13.867 days are around 38 years. Same can be said about the small displays showing different ID’s and so forth.

I hate how Woman tries to convince Daughter that Mother is evil, but tries to be about it as suspicious as possible, not even telling Daughter about how the outside world looks like, or anything to give her credibility. Also, for the love of every human being, do not give the artificial intelligence the ability to think that killing everyone is a good, viable solution, at least not for such a stupid reason. Hardcode not killing humanity, movies!

Then there is the whole thematic suicide about the ending taking away Daughters choice of choosing what kind of mother to be and how see wants to live her life. Woman is not portrayed as an alternative to mother, despite being literally the symbol of Mother Mary, so there is only Mother to go by. The movie also introduces both the concepts of utilitarianism and living for oneself, but does it essentially not comment on it, since Daughter was manipulated by Mother to choose utilitarianism. If it says anything, it is about emotional abuse and manipulation, but since Mother is a robot, this kind of falls flat, since we do not know how much we can judge Mother by human standards.

All this could be “fixed” and while I would probably enjoy the movie more, at least its ending, I doubt this would change my opinion that much, considering I Am Mother was not the movie I wanted to see. This is where the second kind of criticism comes into play.

I don’t like to use the “It had potential”-rhetoric, as I don’t think a strong premise is any indicator for how much one will like a story, but the same sentiment can apply here. I wouldn’t even touch a good amount of the movie, just change its directions to make it the movie I want. I think I Am Mother should be more about the actual mothering process. It should have asked questions like “Can a robot even be a mother?”, introducing Woman as a foil to Mother and not as something that could shake Daughters worldview. Hell, let Mother and Woman both raise the children in the end, to embrace different styles of being a mother and score some honest LGBT points while at it. Also give Daughter an actual choice of wether she wants to take over as the mother, or live her own life. This movie could have been genuinely feminist in its themes. I don’t even know if I were to enjoy my version of the movie but at the end, we got what we got.

The problem with this kind of criticism, this perceiving a flaw and making it about what the movie is not, is seldom helpful, obviously, as we are talking about different movies. It is perfectly fine to want a different movie, but it doesn’t exist, so criticizing the movie that does exist in this way does nothing for anyone. I do however have a feeling, that a good amount of criticism comes down to it. Maybe not as explicit as literally wanting to change the story, but criticizing what isn’t there or should be there instead. It is also never as clear cut as I described. I mean, my criticism about the lack of thematic clarity in I Am Mother could be seen as both a failure to do something with the elements the story does posses, but also as the want and need for a different movie that does answer my self-imposed questions.

I Am Mother is not by far the only movie like that. Just recently, I watched Passengers and thought how much more interesting it could have been, were it from the perspective of the woman. I just can’t bring myself to criticize a movie for being the movie it wants to be, instead of the movie I want it to be. It is absolutely valid to not like the movie, I mean you like what you like and dislike what you dislike, but the act of criticizing loses its meaning, when we describe everything we don’t like as an inherent flaw in a movie and not just our perception. In the same way, we can absolutely love something flawed, because it just is the movie you want to see.

Girls und Panzer may not be perfect, but at the same time, it is absolutely perfect and everything I want in my life. On the other hand, I Am Mother might be a good movie, but it is not the movie I want it to be.

Good criticism is hard.

I Am Mother is available on Netflix.

What even is Re:Creators about?

Sun, 21 Nov 2021 17:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, I had the brilliant idea of watching Re:Creators in one go, with just a single break inbetween, and while it was enjoyable, I was left with a story I am unable to connect to in the end. So, here is the question: What even is Re:Creators about?

The answer seems to be obvious. It is about the nature of creating stories and the relation between the author, the characters and partially the audience that consumes the stories. And while I wouldn’t disagree with this idea, I think the way Re:Creators goes about its way in exploring said ideas is not effective in impacting its viewer on more than a superficial level.

Re:Creators has a lot of high-concept ideas, from characters of (in universe) popular anime, manga and novels being transported into “our” world and them confronting their creator, to the characters being affected by public consciousness and the whole destruction of the world thing. All this makes for an interesting story, bit does it eventually get dragged down by its inherent meta-ness and inability to make a point that does also apply to our real world and not just the space in which the Re:Creators anime exists in.

The story is surprisingly nuanced in the way it approaches the whole “creation meets their creator”, with several different reaction of the characters:
Selesias (The Asuna clone in the middle) first impression was a literal “Why are we still here? Just to suffer?” that eventually grew towards respect to her author, once she realizes why he is writing the story to begin with. Alicetaria (Knight on the left) started similar with resentment towards the person that created hell in her world, but changed her mind once she saw the impression of herself by one of the readers and acknowledged the sincerity with which her story is written. Yuuya (The cool looking guy) looks at the authors actions as fate, which he won’t fight against and just lives with the consequences of the events, Meteora (Mage) just played her game, since her creator is dead and thought is was fun, Blitz (Older guy) and his author have this hate/respect going on, Mamika (Magical Girl) and Kanoya (Mecha Pilot) apparently don’t mind and Magane (Menacing looking girl on the right) literally just doesn’t care and has fun in the real world.

While it is interesting in its own right and definitely made me think, how some of my own characters would feel about me making them suffer through the things they do (I should put suffer in all caps, to be honest), it is not like it actually matters for anyone outside of the story of Re:Creators. They are stories, not reality. My characters will not come to life and if they do, we won’t really be talking about them, like they are “just” characters in a story. As both a writer and a reader, I am aware that it is fiction and does not have to apply to real life ethics. Again, it is fun to think about, but considering how much Re:Creators ravels itself in the topic of “creation”, it fails to create any kind of real message to take away from it.

There was the initial idea of the characters changing their story, as for them the creators are basically gods with whom it is easy to end the problems of their worlds, which are real for the characters, but again, this is normally not a thing anyone has to deal with, as it essentially means ending the story. Not that this idea means anything, as the characters eventually decide against changing their story and it turns out to be impossible anyways. It is the idea of a story inside a story, not a story or reality, meaning I don’t really get a lot out of this idea.

This might actually be my main gripe with the anime. It rarely presents ideas that are applicable outside of Re:Creators itself. At the start of the second act, it introduces the concept of “acceptance”, the idea that the fiction can only become real, if the reader accepts the fiction. This eventually lead to the plot line of not only connecting all the characters via spin-offs, but also making them stronger. I mean, yeah, being able to convince the reader and not destroying their immersion will make or brake a story, but the anime completely overlooks the way how such a feat is achieved. All the authors eventually just create this story and it works, but the viewer of Re:Creators is none the wiser as to how, or even why.

Re:Creators eventually becomes so preoccupied solving its own story with all the ideas it brought to the table, that it doesn’t linger on the ideas itself. Why do we create stories? How do we deal with failure, or a lack of acceptance. At the end of the day, we saved the world by a complicated set of rules, not talked about “creating”. The thing is, the anime basically had it right there with its main character. Souta had this truly fantastical and heartfelt moment, where he talked about his envy and feelings of frustration towards one of his artist friends, about this “ugly satisfaction” of her being bullied online, and the regret following her suicide. This was some heavy stuff and very easy to relate to. Pouring your heart and soul into something, only to receive these brutal reactions of hate, being left alone because your only friend was not there for you anymore due to his jealousy.

This whole idea of confronting this situation was essentially dropped and only brought back to end the series. It fell completely flat for me. Re:Creators didn’t make a point, it solved its own convoluted puzzle. On the other hand, I do have no need for Re:Creators to make a point. While I think it has some interesting ideas about creation and creators, it also plays itself mostly very straight. The problem in that is, that I was just not able to connect with it. Re:Creators, in the end, is also just a creation. A creation clearly made by people that care a lot about creating. It is a love letter to any author and artist by the sheer power of its meta-ness alone. I am sure there is a perfect middle ground as to how much anime you would have seen, to get the maximum enjoyment out of it, but I have clearly surpassed that threshold, as well as maybe created on too many things myself, or thought about the idea of creation too much.

It may be unfair to discuss Re:Creators by not just its own merits, but in a larger context of the creative process and its influences on the reader, but Re:Creators is a story about stories. Ignore this aspect and what you are left with is just an empty hull that calls to its own existence and something about the idea of an empty book screaming to be read is kind of ironic to me. It is possible to see Re:Creators as just a well-produced spin on the isekai genre, I will so talk about it later, but for me, this is not how I engaged with the series at the end. It could have been the approach itself, or just some minor elements and details, but at the end of the day, Re:Creators was unable to present the idea of creation to me in any manner I could connect with.

But beyond what Re:Creators is even about, let’s just talk a bit about what it is about, because not every anime is able to bring me back and back again after every episode, so that I binge it in record time. Last time something like this happened was with Fate/stay night and god knows where this led me to.

Re:Creators belongs in this group of big well-produced original action spectacles with the likes of Code Geass, Guilty Crown, Aldnoah.Zero and Kabaneri. And like a good chunk of these, Re:Creators has slowly escaped the mind of the community. As already said, the actual story is, at least for me, quite interesting and it looks and sounds amazing too, with Layers and Brave The Ocean being certified Sawano Bangers™. It is a no brainer as to see how it can be popular.

I also appreciate this obvious respect for the female characters in how they are portrayed through the camera where “some” anime would use it for… I feel fanservice is the wrong word here… more like, they were able to pull a panty shot, but went out of their way to not do so, but keep the direction the same through clever blocking, effects, etc. In the opening, Selesia walks over the camera, it pointing upwards under her skirt and instead of awkward, it looks cool and serious in motion.

Then there are the several “fictional” characters, most being very obvious references to real characters. While all are, by design, walking tropes, they are fun to watch and their interaction with each other, as well as the real world, is great. Seeing the magical girl use her power and being in absolute shock about the fact that she just destroyed several building and caused her opponent to bleed was… very potent after having just recently finished another season of Precure myself.

Yuuya, rocking that JoJo villain vibe, is actually pretty cool and gets along with the protagonist of child friendly Evangelion. Obviously not the biggest fan of Selesia and Meteora, but all is forgiven by Alicetaria and Mamika being friends. Like, of course the princess from this dark fantasy tale is friends with the magical girl that gave her curry from her own merchandise. All is good in this world. Even the military and government were not stupid.

Honestly, my problems with the story story of Re:Creators comes down to the occasional moment of just not being able to care and the sheer amount of exposition dumps needed, to even get what is going on. The first half was very enjoyable and filled with all these interesting ideas, only for the second half to being fixated on the build-up of the big final fight and not sticking its landing. One can argue about one too many characters towards the end, but I will defend the obvious one to my death.

This about wraps up my thoughts on Re:Creators. It may sound conceited of me to say this, but I am a creator myself and was a bit disappointed, that the anime took a more action oriented course at the end and not one with a higher focus on its creation aspect. At the end, it was a good anime that I unfortunately couldn’t connect to as much as I wanted.

Re:Creators is available on Amazon via Amazon Prime.

Otherside Picnic Review

Sat, 20 Nov 2021 01:00:00 +0100

Ach ja, as of the time of writing this, Otherside Picnic has a score of 6.56 on MyAnimeList… and I genuinely do not understand why. Normally, scores in the middle 6 to 7 range are reserved for either stuff nobody actually cares about, like the anime tie-in to your next pretty boy/girl mixed media franchise, your seasonal light novel trash or anime with very obvious flaws in some department. Otherside Picnic is none of those things, so it just kinda boggles my mind.

Now, if I were to care about every anime the internet has different opinions about, I would have died by a heart attack a long time ago. It is just weird how a seemingly, for the lack of a better word, average anime with a perfectly reasonable normal distribution is scored so lowly. I also can’t make head or tails from the negative reviews. This one person on MAL went on a bit about the audio, while another complained about the episodic structure of the series and then there is this one clown on YouTube that was able to repeat “It’s great, but the CG” for five entire minutes. I mean, sure… I just don’t get it.

The cynic in me wants to blame it on the fact that Otherside Picnic doesn’t feature an overpowered male protagonist running through this other world effortlessly and and collecting cute girls like they are trading cards. This probably applies to some people, but I may just have to accept the fact that the anime community at large is not really into character driven episodic stories without a clear hook or end goal in sight. It’s like how some people entirely dismiss certain anime, because they contain Mecha. Not here to judge or anything, just being mad confused, because I think Otherside Picnic is great and a 6.56 score might scare interested people away.

Anyway, let’s finally start the review :D.

The story of Otherside Picnic is hard to pin down. On the surface, it is about two girls going to this other world and encountering different monsters based on urban legends or internet stories. It is, however, also about two girls being emotionally lost and eventually finding togetherness in each other via the dives into the Otherworld. There are two stories being told here, one about the Otherside and another one being about the relation between Sorawo and Toriko being formed through their adventures.

The actual plot of the episodes might pique a lot of peoples interests. The mixture of supernatural events coupled and partially grounded in reality (not realism) via the occult feels rather fresh and the selection and execution of these myths is fun to watch. It might be appropriate to call it a horror anime, but isn’t it that spooky nor trying to scare the viewer. It has a more psychological flair to it with the Otherside being this conceptually scary and dangerous world. Just being there messes with your mind and tricks you to lose a part of yourself. This was really potent when Sorawo thought Toriko was affected and tried to help her, only for herself to be the one actually being messed with.

What I also didn’t mind was the fact that the stakes are arguably not that high and the consequence close to irrelevant, if there are any to begin with. For me, the core stays the same either way. Sorawo and Toriko have such a great chemistry and I could watch them do literally anything. While subtle, they do change over the course of the 12 episodes and I don’t mind slow character arcs or development in general.

Another interesting aspect is the adaptation itself. The anime roughly adapts the first two volumes of the light novels, but changes the order of the chapters slightly and even adds two original episodes, written by the author. I didn’t notice any complications or plotholes (except the sunhat) with the reordering of the chapters, nor do I think that it obfuscates the progression of Sorawo and Toriko. I don’t think I care either way on whether the rearrangement make it better or worse, but the meta reasons for those changes sure are funny.

My praise ends, when we look on the production side of thing. I actually like the way the characters and monsters look, but they just are not animated that well. While there are great looking moments, these are few and far between and the anime is mostly stiff and doesn’t move that much. Add some rather conventual directing to it and Otherside Picnic is not the most interesting anime to look at. Then there is the issue with the CG. While the CG for stuff like vehicles, etc. looks on par with most anime nowadays, it are the CG characters that stick out like a sore thumb.

The weird thing is that CG was even used at all, as most of the shots, where the 3D character models were used, are not that much more complicated or difficult than the rest. Sometimes, the characters are just CG. They don’t move that much more than the rest of the hand drawn animation, nor is there any complicated camera work at play. If the characters are a good distance away from the camera, the 3D models are sometimes used. The models themselves are not that terrible and resemble the 2D work well enough, but they also do not quite fit into the backgrounds and appear often enough to be noticeable. Personally, it didn’t bother me that much, but I am also more accepting of CG.

The guns, for some reason, are always on point, though. Same can be said about the background art. Especially for the Otherside, the backgrounds look distinct and truly like another world, where the weather is always cloudy and everything is engulfed by a mist of mystery. If this project were handed to a less busy (LIDENFILMS helmed five anime in winter 2021) and more experienced studio (Felix Films only other project being Nekopara), this anime had the potential to look pretty great, as the design work is already solid. By all accounts, Otherside Picnic doesn’t look ugly or bad, just underwhelming.

Concerning the music… It was fine, I guess. I don’t have a rememberable track or anything, but I am also deaf. I didn’t even notice that Toriko was voiced by Ai Kayano. Both the OP and ED are great, however.

If there is one thing I agree with some of the other reviews, it is the interest to check out the light novels. I assume some aspects of the novel didn’t translate that well into animation and I also doubt that there will be a second season to come. I want to know more about the word and characters and Sorawo and Toriko are just so charming and fun to watch together and if there is one thing to take away from this review, it is that very feeling.

Otherside Picnic is fun, while also delivering on some deeper character beats. I don’t think the question of wether the story could be written better or not even matters here, as there are no obvious flaws in the narrative. Otherside Picnic is the story it wants to be and for my part, I like it.

Otherside Picnic is available on Amazon via Aniverse.

My favorite Anime Endings 2021

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:50:00 +0100

Ach ja, where there are openings, there are endings. Everything I said in my favorite Anime Openings 2021 post also applies here, just with even less entries as endings often tend to need some context to be appreciated, if they aren’t already just a slide show.

Again, this is not a ranked list, as my opinion probably shifts three times a day. So, without further ado, here are my favorite Anime Endings of 2021.

Beastars 2nd Season Ending — “Yasashii Suisei” by YOASOBI

Beastars second seasons ending is viewed through the perspective of not of one the main characters, but of Ibuki, one of the members of Shishigumi, feeling conflicted about the whole current situation, as there are both feelings of rage and regret, as well as respect and endearment towards Louis in him. The ending is also beautifully hand-animated in this watercolor style we have already seen in some scenes of season one.

So I’m a Spider, So What? Ending 1 — “Ganbare! Kumoko-san’s Theme” by Aoi Yuuki

If one wants a summary of Kumokos character, this is it right here. Taking a less serious approach, than the actual series, it goes through Kumokos struggles and general view towards life. Everything went well, until it didn’t and Kumoko is at the blunt front of that hit, barely keeping herself alive and really wishing she was rather reincarnated as an overpowered bishoujo magical girl instead. Also, it is literally an underground rave party and Aoi Yuuki just doesn’t miss with her ending songs. I could also have included the second ED, but does this one have more fun visuals.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X Ending — “give me ♡ me” by Shouta Aoi

This ending lives up to its picture book aesthetics, with some really intricate character cards and visuals… Catarina looks so pretty 😳.

Healin' Good♡Precure Ending — “Mirakuru tto Link Ring!” by Machico

Precure endings are always a delight. This one features a lot of fun visual transitions and I like how the ending starts with summer greenery and goes through the seasons until ending with springs cherry blossoms. Also, the moment where they spin their arms and the camera follows their rotation is like… yes.
Addendum: Arguably the best 3D work in anime being used for the dances in a show aimed at little girls continues to be one of the biggest flexes imaginable and I am here for it. Precure is just build different.

SSSS.Dynazenon Ending — “Strobe Memory” by Maaya Uchida

I have neither seen SSSS.Gridman or SSSS.Dynazenon, but this song is pretty good. I will also hopefully soon see both entries.

Shadows House Ending — “Nai Nai” by ReoNa

When the opening of The World’s Finest Assassin almost made me watch the anime, then Shadow House was the ending version of that. I appreciate the inherent mystery of seeing both a shadowed and a human version side by side. Then there is the staircase scene and the zoom out of the house which look phenomenal. Tie it together by a ReoNa song and I was so close to giving this anime a watch.

Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan Ending — “Dream on” by Mamoru Miyano

What a vibe. Just sitting alone at night, wondering where your life drifted off to. Uramichi not being able to reach the horizontal bar hits hard in a way I can not explain. Also damn, Mamoru Miyano can sing.

My favorite Anime Openings 2021

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 16:30:00 +0100

Ach ja, maybe I am not the most qualified person to conduct end-of-the-year lists. As of right now, I have seen only 8 anime, two of those are movies, that finished their run this year. I rarely watch enough airing anime to even form a Top 5 at years end. I do however watch almost all Openings and Endings, either by proxy through other lists, or by just rummaging through anime music. Keep in mind that this list is heavily biased towards stuff I have seen or am interested in. The Komi Can’t Communicate Opening looks stunning, but I don’t have a lot to say about it.

This is not a ranked list, as my opinion probably shifts three times a day. So, without further ado, here are my favorite Anime Openings of 2021.

86 Opening — “3-pun 29-byou” by hitorie

Like a good chunk of the first part of 86 itself, the opening displays one of its most crucial themes, that of contrast through comparison. Lena and Shin may stand in a similar position, at least superficially, but couldn’t their circumstances be any more different. Shin stands in the lush greenery of the 86th district, looking forward to a place over the horizon, freedom in his eyes, while being surrounded by his comrades. Lena on the other hand is trapped, walking inside the military headquarter and into her dark command room, ony illuminated by the blue lights of the screen that don’t even display any visual feed. She is alone and powerless, despite being the one not only in control, but absolute safety.

The fight scene is quite fun and shows the capabilities of the Juggernauts, as well as the danger the 86 have to fights against, interspersed by some slick motion graphics. Add some powerfully symbolism, like the Saint Magnolia figure being used as a force of both liberation and oppression, a bit of foreshadowing and you got yourself one pretty good opening.

So I’m a Spider, So What? Opening 2 — “Bursty Greedy Spider” by Konomi Suzuki

Okay, this one gets a pass entirely due to its music. This opening is essentially just a summary of the later half of the season, with individual scenes referencing moments in the story, though in a not entirely obvious way. It also gives the impression, that the humans get way more attention, than what they end up with. The action parts were also mediocre with the first one being overblown by colored light flares to the point where it is hard to see what is happening, and the second being rather boring, though I myself appreciate the fidelity with which Kumoko and Ariel were animated in 3D. There were some good parts, like the moment where some of the characters mouth the lyrics in sync with the music, which still send shivers down my spine, but overall, this is mostly ok. The music absolutely slaps though, which is why I talk about the second opening and not its first, which has actually some meat to dive into :D.

Odd Taxi Opening — “ODDTAXI” by Skirt and PUNPEE

How to hide several plot twists in plain side. Odd Taxi’s opening not only displays the uncanny mundane lives of its characters, but also their personality and quirks, like Kabasawa’s ego being literally inflated by social media, or Kakihana being love struck by a match on not-Tinder. The opening seamlessly portray the entire microcosm of the anime and just feels right. Also, it is basically a big spoiler once you know where to point your attention at and even then I keep finding new clues to what is actually happening.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X Opening — “Andante ni Koi wo Shite!” by angela

I still think it is funny how the opening starts with a “Me and the bois”-moment, before we see the boys crossing their legs in perfect sync. Anyway, our disaster queen is back at it again and does not keep missing (or missing, depending on your perspective). Catarina standing proudly on the steps in her gardening clothes, surrounded by everyone in pretty dresses never stops being a mood. Same can be said about owning the boys or her mother loosing the last bit of faith she didn’t even know she still had in Catarina. This opening is an absolute delight for everyone enjoying Catarinas and others antics and I will not shut up about them being the height of comedy. Also, 1:03 is my life blood. They do be absolutely cute together.

SK8 the Infinity Opening — “Paradise” by Rude-α

Just two guys having fun skateboarding. Also the fun introduction of all the characters. Also all the great animation and details. Also some great dramatic changes in direction. Watch SK8 the Infinity!

Attack on Titan Final Season Opening — “Boku no Sensou” by Shinsei Kamattechan

My first impression of the opening was basically “This is great, but not Attack on Titan”. The way the military is portrayed doesn’t quite catch the nature of Attack on Titan’s warfare (No one runs around with a flamethrower) and otherwise does this opening feel like it is lacking substance with most scenes solely consisting of either colored smoke or explosions. However, the opening grew on my little by little. If the current arc has to be summarized in a word, it would be “chaos” and looking at the OP through this lense, it kinda fits. I am still disappointed that the opening didn’t change over its course or “lifted the smoke” to reveal more, but I also can’t complain over everything that is there, like the petrified doves falling from the sky or the image of all the titans walking over each other and especially these two barely noticeable scenes were we see the cause of all this chaos.

Heaven’s Design Team Opening — “Give It Up?” by 96neko

Now we get to all the anime that I have not seen, but enjoyed their openings nonetheless, starting with Heaven’s Design Team. So… basically… the animals are cute. I mean, just look at the otter. The song is a bop too. Never planned to watch the anime, I still don’t but I am glad that this opening exists.

Horimiya Opening — “Iro Kousui” by You Kamiyama

I really like the imagery of the same place viewed through different perspectives or times and the square being this visual constant. Song’s good too.

The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat Opening — “Dark seeks light” by Yui Ninomiya

So, if there was ever a case of watching an anime solely based on the opening, despite my brain knowing better, this one would rank pretty high up. It is clearly Light Novel trash, but also… so well put together and dramatic, with its mostly monochrome color scheme and hints of color. The whole Assassination business looks cool and has this elegance that doesn’t make it immediately edgy. Also, despite knowing nothing about the plot, I have a pretty good feel about some of the characters already. This is what a good and effective opening looks like.

The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace Opening — “Seija no Koushin” by Tatsuya Kitani

It’s trippy imagery time. I don’t even know what this anime is about, but man do I like looking at the visuals and listening to the song.

Tsukihime Remake Opening — “Seimeisen” by ReoNa

Not sure if this one counts, as Tsukihime has no anime, but an opening for a visual novel is close enough for me. Honestly, as the trailer for the Tsukihime Remake dropped, I felt like my soul ascended to a higher plane of existence and I can’t even imagine all the people waiting for almost a decade. Now, there are some major differences between the original and the remake, but the opening captures the soul of Tsukihime… I mean, Ufotable should have enough practice bringing Type-Moon stuff to the screen by now. Can’t wait to fully appreciate it when the remake gets officially released in english… meaning never.

So... I watched Euphoria

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 17:40:00 +0100

Content Warning: I will talk about some disturbing imagery and concepts, so if you are of the faint of heart, I recommend to not read further and pick up a bible or something instead.

Preamble

Ach ja, a bit more than a year ago, a friend of mine recommend me to watch Date A Live. They may tell you they did the exact opposite of recommending me Date A Live, talking about all its insane stuff and how bad everything is, yet there I was, three seasons and a movie into this mess. I have never forgiven them ever since for wasting my time by telling me to not waste my time on it. So when another friend started talking about how messed up this one hentai is, showing me isolated scenes, questioning its reason of existence and practically begging me to say something, anything, I had no other choice, as to put faith into my own hands, bite the bullet and take the wheel back from Jesus.

My general stance on such media is mostly rather boring: I do not care that much. I am able to form a clear opinion, but my actual reaction tends to be neutral. I am seldom, scared, shocked or disgusted. Watching stuff like the first episode of Goblin Slayer and I was bewildered by the communities reaction, questioning if I overlooked something that should make me react stronger or different. I am mostly unfazed by acts of fictional violence, even the brutal kind, extreme blood and splatter does nothing to me. Of course, I am able to say if something is fucked up afterwards, but I do so with the calmest of minds.

Never have I felt like I walked away from something with anything like a mental scar afterwards. I wouldn’t call myself a cold-hearted machine, I very often feel a lot of emotions, but it does seem weird that, concerning commonly considered “disturbing” material, I am apparently always the one out of touch. I am actually writing this whole segment before I have seen a single episode of Euphoria to kind of make a point. Don’t ask me what point, though, as I do not know so myself.

Guro porn and other related erotica never turned out to be my cup of tea, I am just too much of an innocent vanilla, hand-holding, proposing at the end type of softie for that. Hentai is definitely more digestible than its real life counterpart, but do I not necessarily look forward to it. I have no doubt that I could even possible enjoy it, but let’s see how much I not enjoy Euphoria.

Episode 1

So, the first episode starts with a dramatic cold open: A girl getting electrocuted, sitting in her own feces, her flesh burned and emitting steam. Keisuke, our main character, looks disgusted at the killed girl, though can’t bring himself to look away from her.

We learn the premise of this story, a sort of Saw gone sexual (I don’t know, I have never seen Saw). Some students and their teacher are trapped in a room and have to open five doors via some sort of sexual act, with Keisuke being the Keyopener and the girls being the Keyhole… subtle.

Introducing Nemu, one of Keisukes classmates that seems not all that bothered by this whole situation, less in the horny kind and more in the actual in control and spreading chaos kind of way. She is also the one “lending a hand"to Keisuke, as he was standing in the same room as the electrocuted girl, the electrocution being the girls punishment for refusing to participate in the game.

Next scene, we are greeted by Keisuke watching over an evil(?) version of himself with his girlfriend(?) Kanae. Evil Keisuke starts playing with her butt as if it were a Guitar Hero Drum Set, before raping(?) her. I honestly don’t know if this scene was supposed to be foreshadowing or a look into his past to introduce his sadistic tendencies. Anyway, I came out more confused than anything.

Starting the first game, Keisuke chooses Nemu as his Keyhole and the woman over the speaker tells them to have… normal vanilla sex. Well, the actual instruction were like:

Keyhole: Vagina
Number of ejaculations: 2 times
Method: *Christian Grey Voice* Hard

Which basically came down to the two of them having this weird semi rape-play while Nemu wears a bit of bondage gear. Here is the thing though… Both are totally into it. Nemu suffers a heavy case of sado-masochism and prefers it to be rough, while Keisuke can engage in his violent tendencies. At the end of the day, nothing bad happened, actually. I totally see the problem, especially with Keisuke being able to choose the “Keyhole” on his own accord, but otherwise, those two had the time of their life in an otherwise messed up situation. I can absolutely see how this can turn bad real quick in the future, but as of episode one, ignoring the electrocution, this stuff is tame, unless I want to kink shame this weird approach to BDSM. Side Note, all the other girls watch over them on a monitor and I am unsure if their reaction indicates concern or “Damn, I wish that were me”.

Before diving into the second episode, her are some miscellaneous thoughts:
I kinda dig the whole art design, like the backgrounds being almost monotone and bleached out with only little accents of color and the characters having this “sharpness” to it that really fits together well. Add clever use of music and sound and Euphoria creates a better horror atmosphere than most horror anime I have seen. So far, I am still pretty good.

Episode 2

Episode two starts where the first one left off. Nemu tells Keisuke to keep choosing her, or she will tell everyone his secret of… getting hard after seeing their classmate electrocuted. He, however, has other plans. After getting stopped from being chocked to death, Namu exclaims to love seeing people fall from grace. After some petty High School drama between Nemu and Kanae about who knows Keisuke better, the preparations for the second round begins and Keisuke chooses Kanae as the next Keyhole. The instruction were almost identical, except the amount of ejaculation were dropped to one and also instead of some bondage gear, there was a rope.

Kanae also pulls the “I don’t mind if it is with you”-stick. The scene begins with Keisuke immediately ripping of her clothes and getting to work in an almost brutal way. It was violent to say the least. At this point, one can probably guess for whom Euphoria is made. Keisuke derives pleasure from actively hurting the girls and exerting complete control over them. He wants to see them fall into obedience and induce as much pain as possible.

Both eventually unlock the second door and Keisuke has to now actively deal with his sadistic urges by… holding an almost villainous monolog, while we see a montage of all the ways he wants to have sex with Kanae, my favorite includes a weird hangman construction, as well as quick overview of the third and forth round. Let me omit some details about the third round and say it contained scat. The fourth seemed to be “normal” again, but it didn’t stop Keisuke from going to town. At this point, Kanae is almost an empty husk, dependent on Keisukes attention and “love”.

The fifth and final round contained electro-stimulation… just not the entirely safe kind. It was essentially several minutes of seeing Kanae screaming, while Keisuke gaslights her that it is not pain, but pleasure she feels. After completing the assignment, Keisuke doesn’t stop and uses her to have his way a few more minutes. Gotta say, I liked last episode better, because there I could at least see how it could be sexy, but as expected, I am just too much of a “Please be gentle” gentleman for that.

Anyway, the last door opens and all survivors leave the room, with Keisuke and Kanae holding hands. The episode ends with this really bad rock number sung by what I assume is one of the voice actresses. The first episode had the same ending, but without the singing and I definitely preferred it that way. BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE!

Certainly didn’t expect an after-credit scene in a hentai. So, as it turns out, they are not free. Keisuke is blindfolded and has one of those dog tail anal plugs, while he gets his temperature taken by a woman in a lab coat. This woman is revealed to be Nemu. Also in the same room is a very pregnant Kanae.

But nothing, and I say nothing, could have prepared me for the very last shot. Now, I kinda always assumed we would get into more non-sexual violent content, but seeing all the other girls killed in more and more cruel ways, definitely took me by surprise. We see the girl killed in episode one via electrocution, one of the other two girls had her head chopped of by a guillotine, the teacher was crucified and then drowned in tank of water and the lower half of the last girl was apparently squished via a hydraulic press… This escalated from 50 Shades of Grey to 50 Shades of Fucked Up way to fast.

Until the last moment, i was pretty confident in just watching Euphoria to the end and not caring, but now… I cannot claim anymore that my reaction goes into the neutral category.

Episode 3

“I wonder what would have happened, had you opted for a different choice?”

So, apparently, we are in some kind of Higurashi-esque time loop… or we are just going through the different routes of the Visual Novel.

This episode, we soft-reset to the state of the beginning at the second episode. Keisuke has to choose again, but opts out with one of the other girls, Byakuya, because he got pissed of at how emotionless she looked. Like the two times before, the first (actually second) round starts with the usual and one can probably guess how it goes at this point, if we ignore all the blood. Women sometimes bleed on their first time, but the sheer amount of blood was… yeah, she should probably seek out a gynecologist.

After the round, we again get some introspection from not only Keisuke, but other characters as well. Nemu acts a bit more ominous, asking Keisuke to choose Byakuya again to see what will happen. Byakuya on the other hand is pretty chill, all things considered, even taking an interest in Keisuke and commenting “You are hiding a beast inside your heart.” several times. She is rather fine with the pain inflicted by Keisuke and literally lives by the “Pain builds character” rhetoric.

Next door and we are greeted by… *looks at notes* vaginal fisting… and we are talking about the entire forearm here. That looked believably painful, if not straight up anatomically impossible to say the least. I can definitely see how this can be considered the worst stuff up until now. The last two rounds are set to a montage again, this time narrated by Byakuya instead of Keisuke. While she talks about… actually, I forgot most of it, but probably the value of pain or something, we see her being whipped and getting unconscious on the same hangman apparatus shown in episode two. Actually, she also turned unconscious in round three, so that makes two times in total. Yikes. I doubt Euphoria wants to portray BDSM in any realistic manner, unlike 50 Shades of Grey for example, but still…

At the end of the last round, Byakuya implies she may have been in this room some time in the past, telling Keisuke to check the shower floor, only to find nothing suspicious. Unlike the prior episode, it doesn’t end there yet, and the two play a b-b-bonus game, including a montage of smegma cleaning, piss drinking, giving a hand job, but with her hair, gurgling his sperm and receiving a facial, only to be greeted by a romantic candlelight steak dinner… I shit you not, they have a fancy dinner in a nice room. We learn that the collars they wear around their neck can make them unconscious, explaining how their surrounding can change from one second to another. And from here, it gets… not weird, actually.

In an almost groundbreaking twist of fate, they start having passionate vanilla sex… no catch, just wholesome sex and hand-holding. No weird violent tendencies, no kinks or fetishes, just two people realizing their love for each other in this otherwise messed up situation… its almost character breaking :D. If we ignore the first half of the episode, this right here might actually be to a lot of peoples tastes.

After they are finished, Byakuya has a headache again, talking about hearing voices, before, what I would best describe as, “rebooting” and starts choking Keisuke. We see the same room as the end of episode two, with the lab coat wearing Nemu chuckling to herself. Nemu looks at the pregnant Byakuya and asks her the very same question that we heard at the start of the episode: “I wonder what would have happened, had you opted for a different choice?”

Episode 4

He finally gets to fuck his teacher… err, I mean, you will not believe where this one ends.

We are again at the same starting point, door one being cleared by Nemu. This episode is kind of split in two with Makiba and the teacher taking turns.

Makiba is the youngest of the students and her dynamic with Keisuke is characterized by trust and betrayal. This one feels more psychologically sadistic than physical, though we will get there. It is about absolute domination and the removal of choice and agency on the girls part. Keisuke is already enraptured by the idea alone, before even doing anything yet. Most of the intercourse was not consensual, but concerning Makiba, Keisuke makes it abundantly clear that the point is, explicitly, rape and that he enjoys it the most, as later called out by Nemu. Keisuke, however, always follows up with kindness towards Makiba, making it one messed up relationship of essentially abuse.

For the physical aspect, Makiba is chained to the ground of a tank filled with water, barely able to stick her head above the surface. After clearing the room, Keisuke also nearly drowns her for good measure. Suffice to say, this one goes into the more fucked up area.

The teacher goes the more standard route with the first time being similar to most of the other girls, though the violence felt more toned down and based on the reversed power dynamic of a teacher and her student. Not much to add what wasn’t already explained in another episode.

The second time with the teacher, however… Oh boy. Basically, infantilism, complete with the pacifier, napkin and diapers. Put some laxative into the mix and I probably don’t need to write out what happened. It went by rather quickly, but would my day be certainly better, if it didn’t happen in the first place.

Here is where it gets crazy now. Turns out Byakuya was right in believing she remembers this place and reveals everyone an entry to a secret underground tunnel, though the tunnel eventually leads to a dead end and everyone gets attacked by scientists. The teacher proceeds to kick everyone’s asses using martial arts and after Nemu proclaims everyone should go back, she deduces that Nemu must work with the scientists. The teacher reveals, that she is some kind of an agent and stops Nemu from controlling everyone using the collars… she also points a finger gun towards Nemu that then turns into a real gun.

Hard cut and seemingly the whole situation is resolved. Kanae and Byakuya are safe, Nemu is interrogated and Makiba, the teacher and Keisuke chill out at some beach. Both then take turns having sex with Keisuke, this time with the girls in control and the episode ends with both standing against the setting sun… pregnant, of course.

Ignoring the record speed pacing, where the fuck does this story even want go to? I have a concussion from all that whiplash.

Episode 5

Ok fellas, buckle up because we have at least two seasons of plot to cover in this episode. I was initially unsure how this story can even go on, as all the girls had their time in the spotlight, we know that Nemu is behind it all and the last episode seemingly resolved everything… well, no.

Keisuke awakens in random storage room and Nemu explains that this time, they escaped through the tunnel, though Keisuke got injured. While the other girls search for help, Nemu stayed behind and nursed Keisuke back to health. Obviously, the first thing Keisuke does upon awakening is having sex with Nemu, who underwent a bit of a personality change, being less confident and dtf.

Together, the two leave the storage room and find their way to the school, which in the meantime was overtaken by Kanae and turned into a huge rape orgy. Both get captured and Kanae reveals that she was the evil mastermind all along, having implanted wrong memories of her into Keisuke. She proposes a deal where everything will end, if Keisuke deicides who should die; Nemu or Kanae.

Not wanting to kill anyone, Keisuke doesn’t decides just yet and the two get locked into a classroom for the night, where they have sex again. The next day, Kanae presents Keisuke the other girls and the teacher, and takes them hostage, saying she will kill one every time Keisuke refuses to decide who should die. Still, Keisuke doesn’t give an answer and all the girls are killed. It is done so with almost comedic absurdity. Their heads get teleported(?) away in an instance and blood gushes out of their necks. This is something I would expect from an edgy manga, but not hentai. We also get a flashback from the time everyone nearly died in the same way they did at the end of episode two… y’know… the stuff with the guillotine and being drowned while crucified…

From here on out, it is mostly an amalgamation of a lot of stuff: Without going into details, we get to see the human centipede, while Keisuke is unbelievably turned on by seeing the girls in pain, Nemu gets raped by the other guys, Keisuke joins in on the raping of their schoolmates, with the girls forming a literal line, while Nemu continues to be raped for who knows how long.

In the classroom again, Keisuke suffers a small identity crisis, as he is not sure which memories of Kanae are real. Both have sex yet again and Nemu confesses that she fell in love with him some time before all this stuff happened and that “she is sorry”, though we do not know for what she apologizes for.

Next day and Kanae drugs the both of them, resulting in Keisuke and Nemu having very intense sex. Often, hentai do this thing where they change the playback speed of the animation to vary the action, but here, it was on 200% from the very start. Anyway, we get another flashback, connecting a few of the other flashbacks, that Nemu and Keisuke knew each other as children and later wound up in the same High School, where they got closer again. Right before she kisses Keisuke, she screams “Why didn’t you kill me?” and we snap back to the present. Keisuke breaks her neck and with her last breath, Nemu confesses her love for him. Kanae admits that Nemu “won” and that she can “have him back”.

3 years later and Keisuke shoots Kanae in an alleyway, freeing a girl that looks like Nemu. We see yet another flashback… or not, since I am unsure where in the timeline we actually are and the two have sex again, this time without a confirmation of whether she is pregnant or not. It may have been implied that the Nemu we knew was different from the Nemu in the past, but honestly, I can not comprehend this plot anymore. At least, it doesn’t get boring. Last episode, let’s go!

Episode 6

And now for the grand finale… seriously, I do not make this up.

This episode starts the same way as episode 5, just with Kanae nursing Keisuke, instead of Nemu. While having sex with Kanae, we see a flashback of Keisuke getting raped by a woman as a child. He then falls unconscious and wakes up next to Byakuya, still in the very same storage room and Kanae gone… also they have sex.

Like last episode, they make their way to school, only to be welcomed by Nemu, revealing that she was the mastermind all along… wait, what? I mean, we know, but last episode, Kanae said she did it and now it is back to Nemu? Is there anyone not secretly the mastermind of this whole operation?… the answer is no, actually :D

Nemu shames Keisuke for taking advantage of the whole situation in the facility, which… fair and how she made this world just for him. Nemu also tells Keisuke to rape Byakuya, or else the captured Kanae will be raped instead. He “rapes” Byakuya until suddenly a whole cult, robes and all, appears out of nowhere and overtakes Nemu and the rest of the school, Byakuya being their leader. The cult also does this ominous chanting about the “pain of the earth” and what not.

Back in their underground hideout, the cult brands and rapes Nemu as part of a purification ritual. We never see her again. In another twist of fate, the woman that raped Keisuke, when he was a child, turns out to be Byakuya’s mother, making Byakuya Keisuke’s child… let’s ignore the whole concept of time for this one, since they are about the same age.

In the cult, it is said that Keisuke can bring forth a child, that will become the saviour to lead everyone to paradise, but only if it is male. Claiming to be better than her mother, Byakuya has sex with Keisuke to get pregnant with his child. Also almost every female member joins in too, because it is “okay to have more than one saviour”. Enter several minutes of Keisuke being drugged and raped.

The whole cult has this idea of salvation through pain, so some members get whipped bloody, while one time, Byakuya straight up beheads two women by sheer accident or something. In a golden moment of irony, even Keisuke is like “This is fucked up”, followed by his own introversion of “No. Maybe I am the one who’s fucked up”.

Through an approximately nine month long montage, Keisuke continues to be raped, until he takes hostage of the pregnant Byakuya and flees the underground hideout. Byakuya recovers some of her old personality and leads Keisuke back into the facility from the beginning. They open a door that supposedly leads to paradise, only to reveal an abandoned and empty room. Byakuyas gives birth to girl, Keisuke tells her to forget about the cult and all three continue to live as a happy family… yes, really. They just… have a happy live with their daughter and nothing bad happens… except that the child draws this weird Lock and Key symbol from the inside of the facility and Makiba and the teacher are now the leaders of the cult…

What a fucking ride.

Conclusion

So, this is it. This was Euphoria in all its animated glory. A friend asked me for whom this could possible be and I am not sure I can answer that question. The whole hentai follows this sadistic and cruel perspective, complete with (for most people) disturbing scenes and disgusting content. On the other hand, it is also kind of an ambitious narrative, with many twists and turns. Euphoria probably works better in its original Visual Novel format. I guess most people either can’t or don’t want to be able to handle such extreme material. Fair enough. Keep in mind that the electrocution in episode one is arguably the worst it ever gets.

Concerning myself, well… it is not like I had to practically force myself through that, though I would be lying if I said I enjoyed all, if any, of it. The more extreme scenes are not that many and spaced out, so for the most part, Euphoria is mostly a lot of rape with a violent main character… certainly no crowd-pleaser, but nothing that has to be made a big deal out of. Sure, the messed up scenes are messed up, but… nothing more. Come on kids, we are adults here. Seeing a run over hedgehog will ruin your day way more than this hentai ever could.

In conclusion, yeah, it may be messed up, no I will not revisit it and I feel no need to question its existence beyond, some people may get a kick out of the fantasy of abusing women. The End.

Also, remember: In the time it took me to watch Euphoria and write this post, I could have finished Go! Princess Precure instead ^^

Edit: So… I read some spoilers about the VN and the adaptation doesn’t even scratch the surface of what is really going on :D

Rewatching High School DxD: Season 1

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 17:20:00 +0100

Ach ja, High School DxD is on of those anime whose place in my brain doesn’t need to be justified, but rather clarified. Its reputation certainly precedes the name and it is so for probably a good reason. High School DxD is the Ecchi anime for most people, the true shiny holy grail hovering above its many bland imitations (and maybe precursors) and as far as my opinion is concerned, rightfully so.

I first watched High School DxD over six years ago, still in my early anime phase and the common consensus was basically, that while it is obviously not high art – some may say it is trash even – the story is still quite engaging and fun to watch and they way it is so open and clear about its presentation makes it weirdly earnest in its intentions. My most interesting takeaway was that High School DxD could absolutely work without the Ecchi on a pure narrative basis, but it also wouldn’t really be fun, nor what we love about High School DxD.

Almost unsurprisingly, I still believe in that very same sentiment, after rewatching the first season. High School DxD follows a very easily dissectable structure, not so different from a lot of other Shounen and Shounen-adjacent anime. From the way conflict is introduced, world-building exposed and characters progressed, to even the final battle being set to the second verse of the opening theme. Fundamentally, all this stuff works. Certainly not with the nuance or care of better written works, but make its world and concepts engaging enough and you have a good start at an, if not good, at least interesting story without the need of extra gimmicks or other reasons to pull the audience in. Here is the thing though: Pervy stuff is fun!

From the outside, the entire Ecchi genre must seem like a weird fever dream and even I am sometimes confused. Sex (as a stand in for all things Ecchi and more) is not something we are normally confronted with in our daily lives and most media, so when we are, it feels like it has to be justified; to be there for a reason. Why else should it be here, right? And as for the why, well, we mostly think of it in the same way we view porn. So, why does Ecchi even exist when hentai is right there around the next corner? The answer is simple, really: I am not constantly horny, I just like boobs.

Seeing sex in a movie may be a bit random, but on the other hand, why not include it? Even if you don’t immediately go “Hell yeah!”, or even mutter less than a “…”, let’s get a little raunchy in here, since we are not twelve anymore. Beyond being more sex-positive in general, sex should be a thing we are allowed to view in varying degrees. There is an entire spectrum to be explored beyond being 100% child-friendly and straight up porn and we shouldn’t feel the need to logically explain that decision. I feel no shame or embarrassment if there is nakedness™ on my screen. God be my witness that I have most likely seen more naked women than all my ancestors combined. Looking at a little animated ankle or full-on breast will neither make me blush, nor turn me into a monkey and it should be perfectly normal to have an almost neutral reaction to it, unless you actually have something against it, which is also absolutely valid. No need to justify, just (not) vibing with it.

It is why I feel mostly indifferent towards sex scenes in movies, as well as having a main character, whose power it is to rip of the clothes of girls to reveal bountiful booty and bust, just with the exception that I could very well live without the first, but are having an absolute blast with the second. While its eventual effect on the viewer has to be considered case by case, reason and justification should never stand in the way of an idea, as what is left at the end of the day is only the impression on the viewer. May they be the one to cast final judgement.

Perhaps, this is also just the rambling of a pervert desperately trying to justify his viewing decisions. Whether one thinks I have a point or are simply delusional is up to you. I don’t care. I have found peace.

Now would normally be the time to talk about how there is a certain unbalance in the Ecchi genre towards a specific demographic. High School DxD is not a feminist text, that much should be as clear as its intended target audience and while I think High School DxD is not really problematic, mostly due to its very clear framing and… just not being a serious drama, but a harem comedy, there tends to come up a certain dissonance between its writing and presentation.
For example, in one of the last episodes, Rias has this, on paper, rather empowering moment of self dignity, where she declares to live not bound by her name as a Gremory, but as herself and wanting to choose the man to marry on her own volition. Great moment, wouldn’t we look at her the entire time in a see-through night garment with full view on her essentially naked body, taking away her agency and again reducing her to one of the many pleasures of the series. Those are the moments I will take a step back and start being critical of the Ecchi. But other than that?

After almost 1000 words of weird preamble, let’s actually talk about High School DxD.

Issei, like Arata from Trinity Seven, is such a refreshing protagonist, considering the wide sea of infuriating harem leads. He does not embody the “accidental pervert”-trope, he goes out into the world and declares himself to become a harem king. While I personally do not support peeking in the girls locker room, him just owning the punishment of the female kendo club members does put a smile on my face. I also like his alarm clock, containing all the harem tropes imaginable. He, like most of the cast, is so honest about everything that it levitates any awkwardness there might otherwise be. He is a pervert, but doesn’t feel slimy or crosses lines, plus he can pull of some serious stuff and be cool. Altogether, great protagonist.

I remember liking Rias the first time, as the matter of who becomes to be the main girl in Isseis harem was pretty much settled by her from the beginning. I still like her, but began to really appreciate the other members more, especially Akeno. She really does put the “S” in Ara Ara. “Nuke me Mommy!” wasn’t a sentenced uttered just once, but thrice… one time not even by myself, but the fellow connoisseur to my right (Yes, I watched it together with a friend).

For some reason, I had a pretty good impression of Koneko when I first watched it, which is weird, as I never was into the Loli archetype. Watching it again, and I barely even noticed her. Maybe my memory mixed in some stuff from later seasons, but just looking at season one, she is there but nothing more. Yuuto continues the custom of the only boy being the best member of the harem without even trying. Bonus points for also being the pretty boy who all the girls swoon over. I can also now appreciate the foreshadowing concerning his character. High School DxD sometime do be unironically good.

Some things I also didn’t catch the first time were a few of the references, like the episode including the hunt for a familiar being a parody of Pokémon, including a knock-off Ash (Satoshi) with his, maybe not all so familiar, catchphrase “Getto Da Ze!”. Yuuto also pulls an Unlimited Blade Works once and my jaw just straight up dropped to the floor. The only thing missing is a JoJo reference, but we still have a couple seasons ahead of us.

Another aspect I never learned to appreciate is the (partially) banger OST. Even ignoring tracks like Utsukushiku Akai, which is basically the anime arrangement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Winter), there is a lot of good stuff in there, like this one action track named “Kakusei” or those *licks lips* sexy saxophone tunes. The entire OST might be rather generic, but its highs are high.

The same can be said about the animation. When the fighting starts, it looks better than one would expect and High School DxD is generally pretty to look at, from *puts on monocle* truly avant-garde direction to character designs that actually look sexy and erotic. I know enough anime that try and fail in this regard, so it is greatly appreciated to see one go full throttle.

With that, most should be said about season one of High School DxD. It is unironically fun to watch, I enjoy High School DxD not due or despite, but with the Ecchi. It is fun ^^.
Next Season will be introducing Xenovia, so I am really looking forward to (re-)continue this series, though it will be some time until then.

Side Note: Choosing Thumbnails from the eyecatches, while staying PG-13, will become a lot harder for the next seasons :D

I don't like edgy humor, but it can be great – Inside Job

Sun, 31 Oct 2021 18:20:00 +0100

Ach ja, humor is a rather tricky thing to get right for everyone. That’s why it probably never is. On one hand, I feel the need to explain what I mean by “edgy humor” but on the other hand, one probably just gets what I mean. Does Inside Job necessarily fall into the edgy category? Not really, but it is definitely closer to Rick and Morty than Gravity Falls, so I figured.

To make one thing clear from the beginning, I like Inside Job and think it is funny. Took me some episodes to get warmed up to it, but yeah, it is good. My only gripe basically comes down to how mean everyone is. Call me overly sensitive, delicate and insecure, but I am just not big of a fan of Inside Jobs general vibe. It is, well… edgy. Edge sometimes feels like this weird defense mechanism to properly engage with something vulnerable or earnest, which Inside Job absolutely has going for it. There are no intrinsic problems for its narrative or something fundamentally wrong about it, just not my cup of tea.

With the exception of Reagan and Brett, everyone else is a complete asshole and not the charming kind. At the end of the first season, Inside Job makes a point that everyone is friends and that they treat each other, maybe not as a family, but as a work family and I am simply not buying it and even if I were to believe it, this is not the kind of friendship I would like to see. There is no love, just slightly aggressive remarks and snarky comments personally directed to kick someone down. I too act like that sometimes between close friends, but I never go even slightly that hard. For me, they crossed the line too often.

The very premise itself also kinda goes into that direction. Big fan of what they achieved with the idea of “The deep state is real and all those conspiracies are true, actually”, but there is a certain cynicism to it that doesn’t feel quite right for me. I had the same feeling watching Hazbin Hotel; why must everything be so negative for it to be funny? Maybe I am just primed in that direction, as I am also currently watching another season of PreCure, which might be the complete opposite on the wholesome-edgy scale. It doesn’t have to be like that though. KonoSuba parodies other Isekai by punching up and its characters, while arguing constantly, never feel mean. This is my comfort zone and Inside Job just goes out a bit too much.

Beyond that, there are some other reasons that may increase that very feeling, since I often feel out of the loop. I am not old and american enough for most of the references. Sure, I have heard of Judge Judy but here in germany, we know only Barbara Salesch. The same can be said about Oprah and most other celebrities. I sure liked the 80’s episode where Reagan didn’t get the references either, but for a good amount of time, I feel like I should have more fun than I am currently having.

Anyway, a second season is announced and I am looking forward to it. I really liked Reagan and her self-reflection and hope that it becomes a bigger focus down the line, as it were the parts I was most interested in that were also not just pure gold comedy. Most of Inside Jobs may be mean, but it sure is funny when it needs to be. If you like Rick and Morty, you will probably enjoy Inside Job.

Inside Job is available on Netflix.

Mainstream Anime don't have to justify their popularity!

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 06:35:00 +0200

Ach ja, Netflix’s Squid Game took the world by storm and once again do I have to read the very same sentiment every time anything gets popular: “X doesn’t deserve the Hype” or “Y is overrated” and the worst thing of it all is that I so absolutely get it.

There is this weird notion of “If something is popular, it has to be good”, or at least be able to justify its own popularity. This idea actually comes from a pretty simple line of thinking: “Why else should something be popular, if not due to its quality?”
I understand there seems to be something just wrong about the idea of bad things being popular, especially if something actually good could take its place, but it unfortunately also ignores all the different ways audiences engage with media, the most important one being linking quality to an anime itself.

Personally, I genuinely do not get why your name. became such a global sensation. It’s not even that I dislike the movie or anything, just a good amount of wondering why it is so. But as a matter of fact, my, or any, opinion matters very little about it. your name. is popular, because many people like it and those people like it for their own reasons. Justifying popularity seems like a weird task, when confronted by the reality that the anime became popular (mostly) organically and as such doesn’t need a reason beyond existing. No one pressured anyone to like your name..

Honestly, I have to question the sanity of someone calling anything mainstream “overrated”. So, you want to tell me all those people are wrong in enjoying something, purely on the basis of you thinking otherwise? Again, there is no objective measurement for quality. Humanity has no need to judge its media by artificial criteria, so questioning the popularity beyond a well-intended Why is insane.

I understand most people probably don’t mean it in such a harsh way, but what else do they mean? When someone is bashing Sword Art Online while referring to its disproportionate popularity, don’t they also unintentionally criticize every single positive opinion in an indirect way? What is the purpose of putting your opinion into perspective to something as meaningless as popularity? Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood shouldn’t get better or worse, depending on how many people have watched it.

The same can be said about describing something as underrated, though calling something underrated seems way more well-intended and more like a “I wish more people would give it a chance” than “People should watch it!”, while calling something overrated makes you look angry and spiteful about other peoples taste.

While there are other reasons anime can get more popular, I don’t think they matter that much, as it doesn’t change the actual way people engage with it. Of course a globally available and heavily promoted Shounen Jump adaptation will garner more attention than your small scale original series by a niche director, but beyond that? Popularity is and never will be a a fair playing field, but arguing against the results will achieve nothing.

This whole point is obviously not limited to just anime, but have I seldom seen this discussion occur in movie or game spaces (which I don’t really take part in). Even if such criticism is well-intended, it doesn’t change the fact that mainstream anime don’t have to justify their popularity.

KonoSuba LN: Band 1

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, es ist inzwischen über fünfeinhalb Jahre her, dass ich zum ersten Mal mit KonoSuba in Kontakt gekommen bin und aus irgendeinen Grund habe ich, zumindest öffentlich, noch nie meine Meinung darüber verloren. Zeit dies zu ändern!

Es gibt genügend Anime, welche auf Light Novel basieren, zu dessen ich nur allzu gern die Vorlage lesen würde. Ich habe den KonoSuba Anime gesehen und habe mir bereits zwei Volumes der Manga-Version gekauft, aber als ich endlich die Light Novel im Regal gesehen habe, konnte ich mich einfach nicht zurückhalten. So sehr ich gegen Tokyopops Übersetzungsphilosphie bin, muss ich aber auch sagen, dass es mir beim Lesen höchstwahrscheinlich nicht aufgefallen wäre, dass es dem englischen entstammt. Und nun zum eigentlichen Thema.

Aus meiner Sicht hat die Light Novel eine ziemlich hohe Hürde zu überwinden, denn der KonoSuba Anime zählt zu einer meiner Favoriten. Was sich aber bereits nach wenigen Seiten zeigte war, dass KonoSuba genau so lustig zu lesen ist, wie es zu schauen. Auch wenn sich die Menge an gelesenen Büchern, welche explizit lustig sein wollen, bei mir eher in Grenzen hält, hätte ich nicht gedacht, dass man beim Lesen so viel lachen kann. Die Prosa folgt Kazumas Sicht, welcher die Umstände, in welcher er sich befindet, immer sehr unterhaltend beschreibt und ihm selbst sehr gut charakterisiert. Was ebenfalls erstaunlich gut rüber kommt sind die sämtlichen Interaktionen zwischen unseren Idioten Quartett. Der Anime überzeugt mit großartigen Voice Acting und Charakteranimation, doch auch in geschriebener Form ist der Charme nicht zu verfehlen, wobei sich an manchen Szenen der Anime automatisch im Gedächtnis abgespielt hat. Aquas Geschreie hat sich bereits in mein Gehirn gebrannt und auf jedes “Kazuma” folgt automatisch ein “Hai, Kazuma desu”. Dies ist einfach etwas, womit ich mich zufrieden geben muss, da ich den Anime als erstes gesehen habe. Ich bin wirklich froh, dass ich die Light Novel lesen kann, ohne etwas vermissen zu müssen, was ich so sehr am Anime lieb habe.

Um noch ein paar weitere Vergleiche zum Anime zu ziehen: Inhaltlich wirkt auch die Novel wie das bereits bekannte. KonoSuba lebt von seinen Charakteren. Sie streiten sich, sind aber niemals zu gemein zueinander und die Abenteuer, in welcher sie sich wiederfinden bleiben ebenfalls leichtherzig und lustig. Im Grunde genommen kriegt man zu 95% die gleiche Erfahrung und die restlichen 5% kann man ein Auge zudrücken. Während Kazuma und Aqua quasi identisch sind, behandelt die Novel Magumin und Darkness in manchen Bereichen leicht anders. Megumin wirkt weniger wie eine Chuunibyou and mehr wie… ein kleines Kind mit verrückten Ideen, welche sich als 100% ernst herausstellen… also quasi wie eine Chuunibyou, nur etwas runter gedreht. Darkness wirkt… kompetenter? Die Light Novel macht es, besonders gegen Ende hin, recht deutlich, dass Darkness mehr als nur die masochistische perverse Paladin ist, welche sich bei jeder Gelegenheit zur Schau stellt. Das ganze Ende des ersten Bandes war gefühlt ein wenig ernster und Darkness konnte tatsächlich beweisen, dass sie sogar cool rüber kommen kann. Besonders ihr souveränes Auftreten bei der Konfrontation mit wannabee Kirito, Kyouya Mitsurugi, hat mich überrascht. Es gibt da noch einen weiteren Aspekt, allerdings spreche ich später über diesen.

Einer meine Gründe die Light Novel zu lesen war, dass es kleine Änderungen und Abzüge bei der Adaption gab. Dies betrifft einige Kleinigkeiten, aber auch einen kompletten Handlungsstrang, welcher später wieder aufkommt. Die erste Begegnung mit Wiz fehlt komplett im Anime und wird nur später kurz referenziert, weil es mit den Plot in Verbindung steht, was schade ist, denn es steht dem Rest im Nichts nach. Man sah eine eher aktivere Rolle von Aqua und wie Kazuma und Wiz mit ihren plötzlichen Engagement umgehen mussten, war zum Schreien. An sich gibt es nicht viel zu sagen, schade dass der Anime es ausgelassen hat und schön es dennoch zu lesen. Der Rest sind eher Kleinigkeiten, wie dass die Truppe hin und wieder einfach nur im Gildehaus sitzt und miteinander redet und das der Witz, dass sämtliches Gemüse in dieser Welt lebendig ist und sich nicht einfach aufessen lassen will, mehr Präsenz hat.
Interessanterweise waren einige Szenen auch deutlich kürzer, verglichen mit dem Anime. In der Novel wurde die eigentliche “Kohlkopfernte” nur im Nebenbei erzählt, während sich mehr auf das davor und danach konzentriert wurde. Für solche Sachen bin ich der Adaption sehr dankbar. Ebenfalls vermisse ich Luna (Ihre Rolle ist zwar da, aber nicht als eigener Charakter) und den *looks up name* “Rauher Kerl” (Arakuremono). Luna bekommt wahrscheinlich ihren richtigen Auftritt im nächsten Band, aber ich weiß nicht, wie ich ohne unseren irokesentragenden Bro leben soll 😔.

Das letzte, worauf ich noch zu sprechen wäre, ist ein überraschender Mangel an Horny. Die Novels gehen zwar ein wenig darauf ein, wie gut Aqua und besonders Darkness aus Kazumas Perspektive aussehen, aber dies war’s auch letztlich. Verglichen mit dem Anime, wo alle Brüste ihr Eigenleben besitzen, kann man die Novel quasi fast jeden empfehlen. Überhaupt die einzige “Erwähnung” von Brüsten in der Novel ist quasi die Abhandenheit auf Megumins Seite. Selbst Darkness Ding, eine laufende NSFW-Flag zu sein, liest sich in schriftlicher Form deutlich angenehmer, als die prüde Darstellung im Anime oder Manga und während ich, ein Aficionado der höheren Künste, persönlich kein Problem damit habe, sehen es viele anders. Vielleicht liegt es einfach an der fehlenden visuellen Komponente, oder an der Tatsache, dass die Prosa einen deutlicher besseren Ausgleich findet, aber Darkness Masochismus ist mir in der Light Novel doch lieber, als im Anime. Dennoch interessant, wie der Anime einen anderen Blick auf die Charaktere gibt. Ich meine, verglichen mit der Novel sieht Wiz im Anime deutlich… *räuspert, richtet sich die Brille*… erwachsener aus.

Ich bin ziemlich froh die Light Novel gelesen zu haben und werde mir ohne Zweifel auch den zweiten Band sichern. Selbst wenn ich wahrscheinlich immer noch den Anime bevorzuge, ist die Novel ebenfalls nur wärmstens zu empfehlen. Wie gesagt, man bekommt so ziemlich bei beiden, mit Ausnahme einiger Änderungen, das selbe Erlebnis. In meinen Fall fungiert die Novel auch großartig als Companion Piece zum Anime.
Dann bis in einen Monat oder so, wenn der zweite Band von KonoSuba verfügbar ist ^^.

Hier noch ein kleiner Absatz, welchen ich ursprünglich an den Anfang gesetzt habe, aber sich eher als unwichtige Trivia herausstellte und nur wenig mit KonoSuba speziell zu tun hat:

Als Light Novel Fan ist man in Deutschland am verhungern. Ich stehe bei Thalia vor mehreren vollen Regalen, bis zum Rand gefüllt mit Manga, dessen Hälfte der Namen ich noch nie gehört habe, während die Anzahl der Light-Novel an einer bis keiner Hand abgezählt werden kann. Gründe dafür sind zahlreich, wie dieser Artikel darstellt. Viele der verfügbaren Light Novels sind entweder Einzelbände oder Spin-Offs/Roman-Versionen zu bereits bekannten Anime oder Manga. Die einzigen “richtigen” Reihen, die ich gesehen habe, waren Accel World und Black Bullet. Später kam dann irgendwann noch Sword Art Online dazu. Altraverse hat seit ihren Eintritt in die Branche ebenfalls mehrere Serien veröffentlicht und während mich das wachsende Angebot freut, war noch keine Reihe darunter, welche ich selber lesen würde, weshalb ich mich sehr auf die neuen Lizenzen von Tokyopop gefreut habe: KonoSuba, The Rising of the Shield Hero und Overlord. Gleich drei große Brocken, welche hoffentlich mehr Light Novels den Weg zum deutschen Markt verhelfen.

I have started using Linux

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 15:02:33 +0200

Ach ja, this was a long time overdue. Like most people, I am a Windows user, starting with Windows Vista in ye olde times, up until right now with Windows 10 and to be quite frank, I’m happy. Sure, fuck Vista and Windows 8, but using Windows 8.1 and 10 for most of my life, I never felt the need to switch. I mean, what are the other possibilities? macOS?

Anyway, not sure when I first heard of Linux, at the latest when I started attending university, but one thing got clear pretty fast over time: At least fundamentally, is is better than Windows. Learning to know Linux makes you wonder at all the weird stuff and decisions Windows OS makes. From “little” things such as Windows being barely customizable, to security and open-source code to the way programs are handled. I mean, Windows essentially treats programs like normal data and basically every phone handles its programs in a more sensical manner. Package managers are an objectively good thing.

Bottom line, switching over to Linux is just a thing I should do, especially as I am literally studying software system development and writing code in Linux seems more like the correct thing to do. Just one problem though, there is also no real incentive to do so. As already told, I am quite comfortable with Windows 10 and even if it is “worse” than Linux, it works not only well enough, but quite good actually. On the other hand, I will have to give up some of the comfort provided by Windows, like programs not being available under Linux and most of the world assuming you are on a Windows machine. Not really a big compromise, especially me not being a complete stranger to the way Linux works, it is still enough to not switch over to Linux immediately, as if it were the non-brainer choice.

The reality will be, that even as I currently have Linux installed, whether I will actually end up using it, either as my main OS, or constantly switch between Windows and Linux, will be up to the future. My current plan is to at least try going full Linux for one or two weeks and decide from there on how I will run my PC. I doubt I will completely abandon Windows, but I will try to make a decision I am personally comfortable with, not influenced by the accessibility of Windows or the massive amount of street cred I get by using Linux.

So, here is how the story goes: How, after a long time of already accepting it, but not putting it on my PC, I am now able to use Linux:

My friends irgendwr (the fox in the image above the post) and DeinAlptraum were so kind to break into my home and just install it. The End… okay, maybe a bit more happened.

A day prior, I looked into the many different distribution for Linux and the only real differences I noticed was the way the desktop looked and worked and since you can customize your desktop without much problems, I simply opted for Linux Mint Cinnamon, as it is often recommended for new users. As it turns out, there is more to a distribution than just the look of the desktop, though no one I have seen bothered to get into the actual meat of the many distributions and where their differences lie… something my friends had to explain me first. Yay ^^.

Before we could even try to live-boot and test the distributions my friends prepared, we had to partition my hard-drive first. I wanted a dual-boot so we needed to make space for Linux itself. Eventually, we decided to leave Windows with a good 500GB, create a 280GB shared partition for my actual data, accessible from both Windows and Linux and gave Linux the remaining 150GB, including a Swap partition and the boot/efi. Even though nothing should actually happen, I will most likely buy an additional hard drive for Linux to keep both operating system physically separate, purely for safety reasons. The only thing I will have to keep in mind is that I will have to store my data on the right partition, getting used to my folders only linking to the shared partition, not actually being there and to not bloat one partition with too much data (Looking at the 100GB of PreCure episodes). I will also have to relink some files, but nothing I can’t handle.

With the partitioning out of the way, it was time to try some distributions. As it turns out, you can live-boot most distributions and they simply work via USB-drive. Cool stuff. I first tried the aforementioned Mint Cinnamon and it just didn’t work right at all. There were either no drivers for my graphics card, or they simply didn’t work correctly. First time we couldn’t even get an image and on the second try, the resolution and aspect ratio were completely messed up. Bye bye all the time I spend researching Mint. No problem though, as I didn’t insist on a specific distribution.

Next we tried Kubuntu, until I later agreed upon Manjaro. I have nothing against Kubuntu, Manjaro just felt a bit better and a irgendwr is currently using it too, so problem solving will most likely be less of a hassle (for me). Installing was, with some uncertainties in between, pretty easy as Manjaro ships with a graphical installer. It all went well, though booting up took some time and booting down currently checks the hard-drive for errors. Then there was the fun part of automatically mounting the shared partition, to access my data on Linux. One could have used a program to do it fast and easy… one can however metaphorically masturbate in front of me by doing it manually and only via CLI, though I suppose learning is part of the Linux experience and watching those two guys do something utterly incomprehensible from my perspective was fun too.

The only thing left was all the stuff I didn’t know I needed. Going through settings, installing some programs and must-haves, linking my e-mail, github, etc. Took some time, but everything seemed reasonable and useful and I am glad they took their time. I still have to go through some of the appearance settings, as some themes or specific elements clash with certain programs, like audacity having misaligned dark theme dropdown selectors and most borders… not looking good.

I will also have to try some programs to see how (good) they function under Manjaro, like Audacity, Discord, OBS, plus learning some new programs like KDenlive, as most Video Editors, like Hitfilm, which I use, are not available under Linux, though KDenlive using ffmpeg is already making a great first impressions. Thank god, I was mostly using free open-source programs, as it would make the transition much harder.
Also, my PC audio is working normally under Linux. It broke under Windows for some reason over a year ago and am using a workaround since then and while I will keep my current setup, the sound being redirected over my TV (Second monitor) via HDMI and going from there into my speakers, it is nice to be able to hear sound again with only one monitor. The only thing slightly bothering me right now is a less smoother image while scrolling or moving windows, something I will most likely be able to fix myself.

I’d like to thank irgendwr and DeinAlptraum again, without their help I would have probably put my PC ablaze. There may be a follow-up post coming after I used Linux for a while, but until then, just remember that Windows uses backslashes (\) for their path ^^.

KonoSuba: Fantastic Days – God's Blessing on this Dull Gacha Game!

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 21:30:00 +0200

Ach ja, I fucking love KonoSuba! I love its two seasons and the movie, enjoy the manga adaptation and am eager to finally read the original Light Novel. So when Crunchyroll announced to bring the Gacha Game to the west, I was hyped, even did all the pre-register stuff and after playing Fantastic Days for almost two month, I can now finally say without doubt that it is not bad… just unbelievably dull.

I don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to Gacha Games, though I did try. Fate/Grand Order is not available in my region and even my new phone can’t run Pokémon Masters EX. The only Gacha I play is Princess Connect! Re:Dive, starting a few weeks after its global launch around 8 months ago. I clearly don’t know what makes a Gacha a good Gacha, but I do know when I am bored and feel like not accomplishing anything.

A normal day for me looked something like this: You wake up and are greeted by a full stamina bar. You collect your log-in mission, adding another 400 stamina to burn. You play through all the Hard Stages and switch over to the Free Quests, where you do all the daily missions and burn through the last of you stamina on one of the several quests giving you only one specific item. Lastly, you go to the Arena and do three identical attacks against the weekly boss. If there is an event going on, you spend another chunk of your time just doing the event boss attempts. In the evening, you burn all the accumulated stamina again on the Free Quests, until you wake up the next morning and repeat.

My problem doesn’t even necessarily come from all the grinding, but not even knowing what I grind for. The characters themselves don’t need items, unless you want to promote them. You can’t really aim for certain items, as most of them are not available at your progress yet. You do the Hard Stages, as they will eventually make the item available to you. I basically did my daily grind only, because it has to lead to something, right?

Something similar plagues the battle system. It is certainly more complex than something like PriConne with a character having several kinds of attacks and those differing from one character to the next. It certainly has room for interesting gameplay, weren’t it for the Auto button taking care of everything and doing it better than I ever could. I never even learned what the abilities and of the characters were, since I didn’t need to do so. I looked at the element of the stage, let the game suggest a team for me, it automatically equips weapons, etc. and then I do nothing in the actual battle. The game literally plays itself. The only time I could have taken over was, when I couldn’t beat a stage, however, just getting stronger turned out to be a more viable solution.

Since you don’t equip characters with items or something similar, leveling up is the only way to get them stronger. So you grind EXP bottles, until they have reached their level cap. So you collect the items to promote them, increasing their level cap, until you fully promoted them. It is at that moment you have reached a glass ceiling. There is nothing more you can do with you current characters… so you pull new ones.

I don’t really have a bad experience with the Gacha in Fantastic Days. Sure, it took me more than all my jewels and a few to pull Swimsuit Darkness (Still worth it, at least for the CG), but beyond that? You earn jewels quite fast, which makes pulling less an event, once there is a good character in a banner and more a thing you do every once in a while. While the actual character pool is rather limited, every character has like a million variations at different star levels. Too bad that you mostly only have use for the 4-stars, them being the rarest to pull. As every character is basically limited to its base stats, pulling stronger characters was my way to progress through the game.

To recap, I basically (don’t) play the game to mostly earn items I don’t know how to use on characters that can only get so strong before I have to pull the Gacha. Yay. To make things worse, I hate the UI design. All my problems were enhanced by layers upon layers of different menus, some of which I only discovered by actively searching through them. Why can’t I buy and enhance items in the same menu, especially if I can’t even see which character can equip it? Playing the game is frustrating, as I mostly don’t know what to do, and when I do, I don’t know what it is for.

Beyond the gameplay, there is actually a lot of good things to say about it. For story sequences, the game uses Live2D animated character, which makes them move quite nicely and doesn’t get as repetitive as staring at the same three poses all the time. Too bad I never looked into the main or character stories, as the daily upkeep kept me busy and took all the the I wanted to give the game. A shame too, as KonoSuba’s story and characters were its initial draw for me and, with the exception of the token Idol trio, all the game exclusive characters seemed interesting too. I could have stopped playing the game and only read the stories when I found the time, but at this point, I already uninstalled it.

I tried to like the game, but at the end of the day, I just couldn’t. If I were a more cynical person, I would say the blame lies upon capitalism and its need to present a product nobody actually wants, but engages with anyway. There is good stuff to be found, but not enough to keep me playing. Maybe I will reinstall the game if my hunger for more KonoSuba content takes over, but beyond that possibility, KonoSuba: Fantastic Days will stay a footnote in an otherwise godly blessed franchise.

Pokémon – Der Film: Geheimnisse des Dschungels

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, die Pokémon Filme sind eine interessante Sache. Bis zum Sonne und Mond Anime waren sie immer diese Begleitstücke, welche zu unbestimmten Zeitpunkten neben der Serie liefen. Dies änderte sich mit Pokémon – Der Film: Du bist dran!, einer Art Reboot der Geschichte um Ash und Pikachu, welches die nachfolgenden Filme von der Serie abtrennt und diese stattdessen Ash folgen, wie er vereinzelnte Ereignisse in der Pokémon-Welt erlebt. Pokémon – Der Film: Die Macht in uns zeigt die Abweichung von den früheren Filmen ganz gut. Während die grundlegende Prämisse dem altbekannten Schema ähnelt (Einen neuen Ort besuchen und sich in anderer Leute/Pokémon Angelegenheiten einmischen), ist der Fokus und die Ausführung wie Tag und Nacht.

Ash ist sein eigener Charakter und die Charakterisierung ist vollkommen abgekapselt von der aus dem Anime. So sehr ich seine Art in Sonne und Mond lieb habe, muss ich gestehen, dass Ash aus den neuen Filme die wahrscheinlich spaßigste Iteration ist. Just look at this happy good boy. Dazu kommt, dass Ash nun eher ein Teil der Geschichte ist und nicht unbedingt der “Held”, mit einen größeren Fokus auf anderen Charakteren. Ich bin der Meinung, dass Pokémon in erster Linie eine Welt ist, welche keinen “richtigen” Plot braucht, da die “alltäglichen” Geschehnisse in dieser Welt bereits für genügend Material sorgen und die neuen Filme fangen diesen Geist besser ein, als ein Großteil der älteren Filme.

Pokémon – Der Film: Geheimnisse des Dschungels zeigt uns in einer, vielleicht nicht komplett neuen, aber definitv herzhaften Weise, den wichtigsten und immer wieder aufkommenden Aspekt des Franchises: Das Band zwischen Mensch und Pokémon.

Koko wurde als Kind von einem Zarude gefunden und groß gezogen und die Beziehung zwischen Koko und Zarude bildet das Fundament für dem Film. Die beiden fühlen sich wie eine echte Familie an, sowohl in den guten, als auch in den schlechten Zeiten. Zarude ist unironisch ein großartiger Vater, obwohl er selber im Laufe der Geschichte mit dieser Idee zu kämpfen hat. Der Anfang des Film ist fast komplett den beiden gewidmet und zeigt, wie wichtig sie einander sind durch die Art wie sie mit einander reden und interagieren. Es bringt dieses Stück in meinen Unterbewusstsein zum lächeln, welches sich ebenfalls wünscht ein Vater zu sein. Wirklich gutes Zeugs.

Die Beziehung zwischen Ash und Koko ist ebenfalls großartig sich anzuschauen. Selbst wenn sie kaum die gleiche Sprache sprechen, verbindet beiden die Liebe zu Pokémon. Freundschaft ist bei weitem kein neues Konzeopt für Pokémon, aber ist es dennoch schön es so solide ausgeführt zu sehen.
Freundschaft ist aber nicht nur bei den Menschen ein Thema, sondern auch bei den Pokémon des Dschungels. Neben dem unglaublich süßen und lustigen Raffel, welches Koko begleitet, steht die Beziehung der andere Zaraude im Fokus. Die Zaraude des Dschungels folgen einem “Gesetz des Dschungels”, welches sowohl andere Pokémon abschreckt, als auch dafür sorgt, dass das Zaraude, welches sich um Koko kümmert, von der Herde ausgestoßen wird. Die Idee dieses “Gesetzes” wird dynamisch in Frage gestellt und endet schon fast, wie zu erwarten, mit einen fulminanten Power of Friendship-Moment gegen den Antagonisten dieses Films.

Dr. Zett ist… in Ordnung. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob der Film einen klassischen Antagonisten gebraucht hätte, da der Konflikt um Kokos Identität bereits genügend Tiefe beinhaltet und das Ende nur indirekt etwas mit diesen zu tun hat, aber hätte man es ebenfalls auch viel schlechter machen können. Dr. Zett ist nicht unbedingt böse, als eher besessen von einer Idee, welche er um alle Fälle erreichen will, etwas welches zwar vielleicht ein wenig plötzlich kam, aber nicht unbedingt einen starken negativen Eindruck hinterlässt. Mir gefällt aber, wie seine Mitarbeiter sich sofort hinter Ash und Koko stellen, als er angefangen hat am Rad zu drehen und man am Ende sieht, wie auch sie später mit dem Pokémon zusammen arbeiten… der Mecha Kampf rechtfertigt aber seine Existenz wieder. Das war einfach nur cool.

Aufgelockert wird der Film durch eine gute Menge Comedy. Wie bereits erzählt, sind Ash und Koko großartig zusammen und auch Team Rocket bekommt sein obligatorisches Scheinwerferlicht. Es ist eine Kunst sowohl ernst, als auch lustig zu sein und Pokémon schafft es öfters eine gute Mischung zu finden, ohne zu viel von beiden aufzutragen.

Auf der Produktionsseite der Dinge gibt es auch nicht viel zu meckern. Modernes Pokémon hält einfach eine hohe Messlatte und besonders die Charakteranimationen sind ein Hinblick. Koko, als auch die Pokemon, besitzen eine unglaublich starke Körpersprache, welche ihnen mehr an Persönlichkeit gibt, als Dialoge jemals könnten. Es ist ebenfalls spaßig sich Koko, Tarzan-style, durch die Umgebung bewegen zu sehen, vom Lianeschwingen bis zur Kletterakrobatik. Ohne großartig auf Kleinigkeiten einzugehen, sind die Hintergründe das einzige, worauf ich überhaupt sonst noch eingehen könnte. Sie sind wunderschön gezeichnet, detailliert und schenken den verschiedenen Orten Leben ein, doch bin ich kein großer Fan dieses Filters, welcher vorallem weit entfernte Sachen aussehen lässt, als wären sie auf vertrockneten Papier gemalt. Es ist kein starker Effekt , welcher auch nicht immer sichtbar ist, aber ließ er manche Szenen schlechter aussehen, als sie könnten.. was schade ist, denn der Filme hat einige atemberaubende Shots (Kann leider keine zeigen, da Netflix Screenshots untersagt).
Musiktechnisch ist mir außerhalb der Insert-Songs nichts groß aufgefallen. Das Lied der Zaraude ist einfach Hype, though.

Es ist schwer den Appeal dieses Filmes wirklich in Worte zu fassen. Auch wenn ich ein größerer Fan von Pokémon – Der Film: Die Macht in uns bin, kann Geheimnisse des Dschungels problemlos den gleichen Wunder bieten, welcher ersteren so eine gute Zeit gemacht hat und für alle, welche einen eher familiären Fokus in Pokémon sehen wollen, ist dieser Film absolut zu empfehlen.

Pokémon – Der Film: Geheimnisse des Dschungels ist verfügbar auf Netflix.

Saving Private Ryan and how to be good, yet unclear

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 01:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, Saving Private Ryan is a good movie, at least in the sense of being genuinely engaging and fun to watch (though not necessarily the happy kind of fun), with its 20-minute long sequence of the D-Day landing most likely living rent-free in my brain for a good time. However, while enjoying it as a story, its themes and messages seem to be a bit muddy in my understanding, which unfortunately, despite not being a major factor, gives me no real closure for an otherwise fantastic experience. Spoilers ahead.

While the discussions about the nature as a war movie and whether it is pro or anti-war is definitely worth having and absolutely being part of my confusion, my attention lies on one of its ending scenes: Killing “Steamboat Willie”.

Saving Private Ryan is about… well, saving a soldier named Ryan. After their landing on Omaha Beach, a squad of american soldiers gets instructed to find Private Ryan and get im home safely, as his three other brothers were reported dead and is now the only child left (Sole Survivor Policy). Captain Miller and his team encounter the german army several times on their quest, one of those times being at a radar site defended by a machine gun nest.

The attack ends in the favor of Captain Millers team, though without casualties: Their medic was fatally injured and put to death via overdosing on morphine. Some truly hard hitting stuff. In their rage, they almost kill the only surviving german soldier, nicknamed “Steamboat Willie”, but opted out, after Upham convinced the team to let him live, as killing an enemy prisoner is not just wrong, but also a war crime. After digging a grave for their fallen comrade, Steamboat Willie was blindfolded and instructed to walk into the direction of an allied camp and let himself be captured by the other american soldiers. This decision was only partially taken well, but after Captain Miller tells about his past, everyone accepts it.

The movie continues with the squad finally finding Private Ryan and defending a bridge against a german tank platoon. Near the end of the battle, the viewer is however greeted with a familiar face: Steamboat Willie. As it turns out, the captured german soldier was picked up by the german army and put back to fight, killing another american soldier and shooting Captain Miller. After reinforcements arrive, the remaining german soldiers try to flee but are stopped by Upham, telling them to surrender. Steamboat Willie recognizes Upham and calls his name, after which Upham shoots him down and tells the other german soldiers to get lost.

The immediate implication should be clear: Upham initially saved the german soldier, only for him to join back the german army, resulting in the death of another soldier and Captain Miller, meaning Upham killing Steamboat Willie can be read as “righting a wrong” that goes beyond just taking revenge. The german soldier was given a second chance and from the perspective of Upham, didn’t take it, thus killing him.

The movie does in fact talk about the concept of second chances, being both tied to Captain Miller and Private Ryan, so reading the death of Steamboat Willie in the same way would make sense… it just feels weirdly off, however.

Upham is an interesting character. Never shot a gun outside of training, he basically plays the role of an interpreter, not a soldier, being stunned at the sight of combat and hesitant to shoot a rifle. My first impression of him was that of an outsider, one not yet jaded to the horrors of war and an audience surrogate. It is through his eyes we see the cruelty in the film, as well as his personal change. Again, he goes from actively defending an enemy soldier and being too paralyzed to save his dying comrades, to straight up executing Steamboat Willie. This character “development” (deconstruction might be a more applicable term), caused by the experience of war is a solid bit of writing in its own way, but where does it lead to?

While Saving Private Ryan certainly shows the terror that is war, it is not necessarily about it. The movies final act is a heroic action climax, after all and killing german soldiers is fun, as the moral ambiguity let’s us enjoy violence against them, while having a clear bias towards the american soldiers.
The Bridge is defended, Private Ryan is saved and we close the frame story with the conclusion that everything that happened, was worth it. The film certainly plays more to the idea of second chances and “earning it”, than war changing us. It was there that I asked the question: So why did they have to kill Steamboat Willie? It is not a real story, Spielberg made it that way.

As already explained, it works in the narrative as Uphams character arc, but this arc also seems more like a byproduct, than something with a clear or thoroughly thought through meaning behind it. I am absolutely fine with stories being up for interpretation, but when I can come up with several interpretations and none that satisfy me in a way I am at peace with, there might be something in the movie that causes this conflict. I also don’t think this makes Saving Private Ryan a bad movie, quite the opposite in fact. I clearly got something out of the movie, at least two things that are, by itself, quite powerful with more stuff to see in the rest of the film. Its conclusion being unclear for me to digest, might hold me back from enjoying the film as much as I could, but I still like the movie, nonetheless.

Maybe I am just too biased to the idea of films serving as a moral vehicle, of judging bad actions and portraying moral ones as good. I don’t think Uphan just should have shot the german soldier. Steamboat Willie deserves to life in the same way all the american soldiers we followed for two and a half hours deserve to life. They are all guilty of the same crime, though perspective is key here, I guess. We never see Upham again. In the same way we don’t get a shot of the family left behind by Steamboat Willie, either. Concerning the movie, World War II ended the moment Tom Hanks shot a Tiger tank with a pistol, like an absolute badass, and an old Private Ryan cries over the grave of Captain Miller.

This was the second time writing this post, with the first one being an absolute mess and far from my actual thoughts about the film. Bottom line: Being unclear in its final meaning on everything doesn’t take away all the meaning that is there to be found throughout.

Saving Private Ryan is available on Netflix.

Getting into Fate is not that hard, actually

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 18:00:00 +0200

Ach ja, from the outside, Fate must seem like this unclimbable Mega-Franchise. Just typing “fate” into the MyAnimeList search bar and you are greeted with way more entries than any newcomer should deal with. So, here is the question: “How do I get into Fate and what order should I watch it?”

In itself a perfectly normal question. There is a lot of stuff, what should I watch first?, being more than reasonable to ask about any bigger franchise, especially those not easily labeled as Part 1-9. However, when it comes to Fate, this question more often than not bears a lot of baggage behind it; That it is notoriously hard to get into Fate and the watch order being a heavily discussed topic.

I won’t deny the second part. There are many different opinions as to what order Fate should be watched in, however most of those different opinions as well as the fact that they are different is mostly due to Fates unique circumstances of its adaptations, so let’s take it look at those.

Originally, Fate/stay night, released in 2004, was a Visual Novel split into three routes: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel. Those routes have to be played in this exact order, since this is just how you progress through the game. A year later, the sequel Fate/hollow ataraxia was released and finally, in 2006, Fate/Zero, a prequel Light Novel series to the original game, came to be. While there a many more series and games to the franchise, those three are what I consider to be “Core Fate”, as all the other spin-offs are more connected in spirit and name than by actual content. With the exception of Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, every spin-off can be watched after some exposure to Fate in general, though I would recommend having seen at least one route of the original Fate/stay night, as most spin-offs do reference parts of the original three routes.

With that in mind, the pool of possible starting points basically comes down to the “Core Fate”-entries.
As of writing this post, no anime adaptation for /hollow ataraxia has been announced yet, so it will not be included, though I will promise you that this whole discussion will start anew if it happens to be adapted, since HA is a whole other beast.

Beyond that, every route of Fate/stay night, as well as Fate/Zero has been adapted:

2006: Fate/stay night (Fate Route)
2010: Fate/stay night Movie: Unlimited Blade Works (UBW Route)
2011: Fate/Zero
2014: Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (UBW Route)
2017-2020: Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven’s Feel (Heaven’s Feel Route)

The reason I wrote them down in release order is simply due to how obvious it is to see why there might be a good reason for all the discussions to exist: It took 14 years for this story to conclude, Unlimited Blade Works was adapted twice and Zero is just vibing in the middle of everything. Yeah, where do you start?, especially when not everything was adapted yet.

Before going into the argument of possible watch orders, there is still some context needed concerning Studio Deen’s adaptations.
Fate/stay night (2006), while mostly following the Fate route, also includes some plot points from UBW and Heaven’s Feel, resulting in a somewhat confusing ending and several weird scenes. Adding its… inferior production values, compared to Ufotable’s installments to the franchise, many people consider it to be not worth watching at all, since the Fate route is also to be considered to weakest one of the three. And while I don’t necessarily agree to entirely skip it, there is also not really a case to be made for watching it beyond some meta-narrative reasons like seeing all of Shirou’s character arcs and progression between each route. You don’t need to have seen the Fate route to understand Unlimited Blade Work, unlike the fact that you have to see UBW to understand Heaven’s Feel. This is also the reason why simply pointing to this series as the starting point is difficult.
Then there is Deen’s Unlimited Blade Works Movie… don’t watch it. It is a really rushed adaptation and since there is another, universally considered better adaptation, there is no real need to watch it. Take a look at these scenes from the german dub, if you want to have a… both good and bad time.

So, we are here: You watch Fate/stay night in the order of Fate, UBW and Heaven’s Feel, maybe skipping the 2006 adaptation of the Fate route… Cool, so where does Fate/Zero come in to?

Fate/Zero is hard to place. While being a prequel, it should absolutely not be watched first, as most of its emotional and thematic impact comes from the knowledge gained in the original routes. Also, to fully understand Zero, you need to have seen Haven’s Feel. The easy answer would thus be to watch Fate/stay night in its original order and proceed to Fate/Zero, however there is a good argument to be made to watch Zero in-between the original routes, as it can enhance the viewing experience and Ufotables’s Unlimited Blade Works adaption kinda takes Fate/Zero into account…

Watching Fate eventually comes down to how willing you are to spend time on it and how you want to watch Zero. The only “proper” order would be to just read the Visual Novel and then go ham, though most people don’t read VN’s and rather want to watch anime, so here we are.

In the following, I will describe several possible orders and why one would watch it that way:

Route Order:
[Fate/stay night (2006) –>] Fate/stay night: UBW (Series) –> Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel –> Fate/Zero
Well, it’s the “release order” of its source material, starting with the Fate route and ending with Zero. Only thing to debate is to whether skip the 2006 adaptation or not.

Release Order:
[Fate/stay night (2006) –>] Fate/Zero –> Fate/stay night: UBW (Series) –> Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel
The release order of their respective anime adaptations. Most people probably inevitably watched it like this, though as already mentioned, don’t watch Zero first. If you still want to skip the 2006 adaption, the next order is the one you want.

“UBW-Zero-Heaven’s Feel” Order:
Fate/stay night: UBW (Series) –> Fate/Zero –> Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel
This one skips the 2006 adaptation, introduces you to the world via Unlimited Blade Works, gives you the chance to appreciate Zero and ends with the movie trilogy.

Personally, I watched it in release order, though Heaven’s Feel wasn’t completely out yet. In my opinion, either watch 2006 or UBW, get into Zero and cap it off with Haven’s Feel and you are good to go.

Keep in mind, the purpose of this post is not to argue for a specific order, but to show that it is not as complicated as often presented to get into the Fate franchise. Ask yourself how you want to watch something and then just go for it. None of the orders I have seen floating around are necessarily wrong, though please ignore anyone arguing for Zero as a starting point, as “it is the chronologically first entry” is bad argument… that is not how prequels work.
Fates peculiar circumstances make it virtually impossible to give a “correct” order, but there also is not a particular wrong order to go about. For anyone still in doubt, I have hopefully gave you enough information to make a well informed decision.

Beyond “Core Fate” however, you are absolutely free to go:

Lord El-Melloi is a sequel to Fate/Zero following some of the aftermath of the grail war
Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family is the SoL cooking spin-off nobody knew they needed
Prisma☆Illya is four seasons of moral decay and one really good movie
Apocrypha and Extra are two different approaches to the holy grail war
Grand Order is… a whole other beast

Fate is fantastic, don’t let its size intimidate you ^^

It never gets good – Judging Anime by its first episodes

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 13:14:05 +0200

Ach ja, the 3-episode rule is an interesting topic. While at first glance seeming like a sound idea, it predisposes an unhelpful way to look at narratives and strictly following it may lead to more harm than help. So, let’s take a look at it.

While not having an entirely universal definition, the 3-episode rule claims that one needs to watch the first three episodes of an anime before being able to pass a fair judgment on it, mostly in the context of whether one should drop the anime or continue watching it. The basic premise behind this idea is that most anime don’t play all their cards immediately. Not convinced now? Maybe something happens later that will really pull you in. And while this may absolutely be the case, why should it matter?

Every time the 3-episode rule is discussed, there is a certain anime always put to the forefront in favour of the rule: Madoka Magica. It’s first two episodes play out like your typical magical girl anime (or at least what one would assume is a “typical magical girl anime”), only for the third episode to break that illusion and take a sudden dark turn… except it absolutely does not!
I am genuinely confused as to why so many people think of Madoka Magica that way, since the only way one could think that is by skipping its fist two episodes. Do people only gauge the “darkness” of an anime by how flowery the imagery of its ending theme is? Madoka Magica was “dark” from minute one! Did y’all have your eyes closed while this absolute fever dream of foreshadowing played out in front of you? Didn’t you think it is weird how ominous most of the scenes were shot? The mascot character being covered in blood when first met? Madoka Magica has no twist that suddenly changed what it is or isn’t. It is, however, great from its start.

I find it confusing as to why one would need three episodes to get at least a feeling for an anime. The very moment you press the play button, the anime presents itself to you in its natural form. You should immediately feel something, even if that something is not quite telling yet. It is possible to judge something on a microscopic scale. A single scene, a single sentence, or even just a single frame. Is it necessarily representative of the entire thing? Of course not, but it is what you just watched and that should count for something, right?

Maybe it is just me getting jaded of interesting ideas playing out badly. I eventually stopped reading synopsis of anime, as the actual story hook rarely interests me anymore and I am more eager to find out if said story is actually done well. This goes double for all the anime that don’t really have a story in the the conventional sense, as well as whose story cannot be explained that well. Sure, Rakugo Shinjuu is about Rakugo, but is also so much more and while the Rakugo in it is fantastic, it is not the thing making this anime so great.

Whatever story is told, I can always feel how well the story is told, or at least how much it appeals to me from the get go. I don’t need three episodes to know that the anime, opening with a contextless, badly choreographed fight scene and a pathetic attempt to create drama or foreshadowing, won’t be to my taste. On the other hand, it took me almost no time to immediately fall in love with So I’m a Spider, So What? or My next Life as a Villainess and so many more. Despite nothing happening yet, I could already appreciate the vibe of the anime, and it is this certain vibe I seldom feel ever changing throughout watching anything.

Will the anime get better or worse at a later point? Probably, but never was this first impression so wrong, that I feel I made a mistake. Certainly not after only three episodes down the road.
Being interested in only what happens and not how it happens is not a bad thing. Who am I to judge the way people engage with media? I just can’t believe, that so many people think in this very narrow view, as if the art of storytelling goes completely over everyone’s head and the only worth of an anime is in whether it can engage people fast enough in its larger story. Again, giving an anime a chance beyond immediate satisfaction is perfectly fine, but ignoring everything before a certain point feels just stupid and not at all helpful to me. Isn’t the 3-episode rule supposed to be a good indicator for deciding whether one should watch an anime or not? In this way, the 3-episode rule feels really random and entirely based on good faith. Good faith being a scarce resource for anyone that does not have all the time in the world or just wants to watch something good.

There are however more arguments in favour of the 3-episode rule so I will go over some of them and see why they don’t hold up.

“Three episodes is not a lot”. This argument is based on the fact that the effort to watch three episodes will most likely be outweighed by the enjoyment one would get I they were to decide to continue watching the anime, instead of dropping it after its first two episodes. This is certainly a possibility, but how much it might actually outweigh it is up to debate, considering each person would have a different opinion on that with each anime. It also ignores the fact, that one might still decide to drop an anime after its third episode. “Three episodes is not a lot”, but are they though? One hour is a good amount of time in a day not everyone has. It also is an hour spent doing something not fun and essentially wasted. I also know a guy that watches only a single episode a day. Being able to only start a new anime after three days will add up. Remember, you will only live so many years until receiving your ticket to hell. It should be clear at this point, that the 3-episode rule is mostly used in the context of seasonal anime, meaning those people applying the rule are also those trying out several anime at the start of each season. Those guys watch so much anime, I am almost jealous, and for them, the 3-episode rule might actually help as a time-saving mechanism, rather than an indicator of quality. But not everyone watches seasonal anime. I don’t and when I do, the anime I watch already underwent so many filters that it is almost not a question of wether I will drop it or not.
If three episodes are a lot of effort or not is up to everyone themselves. The point still stands regardless that it is an hour of your life that could be spend different.
Also, shoutout to this one nutjob in my comments under the Gangsta. video basically claiming I shouldn’t have dropped the anime, because “Twelve episodes is not a lot”. Legendary.

“You need three episodes to see where the story is going”. No, I absolutely do not. Besides sometimes simply not caring where the plot goes, three episodes are quite arbitrary. I mean, 3 is a pretty good number, but beyond that? I assume the rule came to fruition after Madoka Magica aired, but I already spoke about it. While three episodes certainly give you time, they are not necessarily tied to the story in any meaningful way. Attack on Titan has an two episode opening act, before coming to a halt and “starting” at episode five. Most Light Novel adaptations are paced in a way that the first book ends at episode 4. To see the first arc come to conclusion, one might need even more episodes. Episodic anime start and end their plot in an episode with the overarching narrative mostly only coming together at the end. On the other hand, some anime need only half an episode for most of its story to unravel. There is an argument to be made by binding the 3-episode rule to narrative structures instead, but as it is now, three episodes are more random than telling where the story goes.

“Episode three often includes something interesting”. Episode eight would like to have a word with you.

Beyond those argument, let’s look at the actual applications of this rule. Most new single cour anime coming out average at around twelve episodes. If you have to watch at least three episodes, you are already a quarter in. What about OVA series with an even smaller episode count. At some point, the sunk cost fallacy sets in. Even if one didn’t want to initially, they will continue watching the anime if they have reached a certain threshold. Do three episode reach that threshold? Again, this will differ from person to person and anime to anime, but the possibility is there that one might continue to watch an anime they don’t like to justify the time they have already spent on it.
Looking the other way around: What even are three measly episodes in the light of something like One Piece with its current (at the time of writing) 995 episodes? I truly believe you Wano Country to be awesome, but I am not watching literal hundreds of hundreds of episodes to get there.

Every narrative has the potential for drastic changes in its story and waiting for it may reward you, but counting on them to happen in three episodes is maybe a bit naive. Crunchyroll did a video on it and as it turns out, the data is not that decisive. It is weird that the 3-episode rule is so prominent and has not died yet. Also, I think we all agree about those people, insisting that you have to watch at least three episodes before dropping an anime, being idiots.

Bottom line, drop it if you don’t like it! This may sound weird coming from me, as I rarely drop an anime, but I am absolutely in favour of dropping a series one doesn’t like. Nobody owes the anime their time. You don’t have to justify a reason as to not watch something. The 3-episode rule is a scam and I will not rest as long as it stays relevant.

Iron Blooded Orphans: Alaya-Vijnana make better Newtype

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 13:53:40 +0200

Ach ja, about three weeks ago, I made a video about Gundam Unicorn and how its Laplace’s Box is, like, really good. I spend a good chunk of the video detailing what a Newtype is, simply because the concept is inseparable to the Laplace’s Box. What I also did, while not originally planned, was lowkey criticising the original Gundam’s use of the Newtype. And while I think my opinion on it was rather clear, let’s say the quit part out loud… very loud: The use of Newtype in the original Gundam is shit. Literal trash. Garbagio. There absolutely is an angle of “missed potential” or just uncertainty in the way of giving it meaning, but beyond that? Again, what even is a Newtype?

I tried to stay with the more diegetic reasoning behind the Newtype. What is the in-universe reasoning and what meaning can we extract from that?.. something I ultimately fail to be able to do so. Either I am (a) simply too cognitively challenged or (b)… the original Gundam might not be that good. We already know (a) to be true, so let’s look at the possibility of (b).
From a non-diegetic perspective, the Newtype look like a very easy to spot plot device for both the writer, as well as the viewer. Why can Amuro pilot the Gundam? Sure, he is a hobbyist mechanic and read the manual, but everything beyond starting the Gundam should be impossible. Solution, make him an Ubermensch. Why do all the important characters survive great odds, despite most not being that much better equipped? Solution, just make them better. How to make only a few characters important, despite the grand scale of the war. Simply justify a reason for their unproportionable importance. Want a character to defeat a whole army. Baaam, the Newtype makes it all possible.
Instead through certain characters values, Gundam goes the way of presenting its themes through the lens of a Newtype and making a Newtype represent those values. While not inherently bad, it causes problems when those values are not that clear or contradictory or barely comprehensible or the viewer gave up a long time ago by the sheer amount of not being able to care.
Whatever the purpose of the Newtype is, or if there even is one to begin with beyond the use as a plot device, your guess is as good as mine. It is not good and with some bad faith argumentation even problematic: “So, you are saying there is an objectively better race of people that would solve the worlds problems, but the big evil government tries to undermine their existence?”… honestly, the right-wing propaganda and conspiracy writes itself at this point.
Gundam may not be about the Newtype, but they sure are a part of it. I doubt many see the Newtype as inherently bad and there is a strong argument against a negative reading of the Newtype, aka. the entire plot, but it is that tactlessness, that even anime like Attack on Titan fall victim to. Carelessness may be reason, but definitely no justification.

Enter Iron-Blooded Orphans and the Alaya-Vijnana-System. Unlike Newtype, the Alaya-Vijnana-System is actually rather easy to explain, since it is a piece of technology and no… metaphysical something. The Alaya-Vijnana-System is a kind of human-computer interface, essentially giving one the edge as a pilot. It makes you more aware of your surrounding, increases your reaction time and so on, similar to the physical aspects of Newtype. And that’s basically it. It’s entire weight comes from the implication and use of that technology.

The Alaya-Vijnana-System initially found its use in the Calamity War, where pilots had to undergo the surgery so they could pilot the Gundam Frames to defeat the Mobile Armors. This technology was later forbidden, as Gjallarhorn were not that keen on human enhancements and more on the purist side of the humanity scale. 300 years later and we see the Alaya-Vijnana-System in use, as almost every character we follow has one. Tekkadan are child soldiers, who underwent the surgery to join CGS, a para-military organization willing to employ children. Now, that alone is already quite simple to read. Children being forced to get a surgery and then fighting a war they have no stakes in is obviously bad. But wait, there is more. The Alaya-Vijnana-System is created by injecting the top of the spine with nano-machines, resulting in the formations of spike-like tubes. Success of the operation lies at 60%. To make it a bit more cruel, the children are incentivized to perform the surgery several times, as more of those so called “whiskers” lead to better pilot capabilities… also, basically only children can undergo the process… also also those children are basically forced into it, as they barely understand the process, also also also some are literally literally forced to do so, as seen with the “Human Debris”, slave children used as canon fodder, who are seen having two whiskers. Then, there is Mikazuki with three of them.

The Alaya-Vijnana-System is not a good thing, so much should be clear, but it is the way it is used, that really nails the point home. Those children are basically reduced to human weapons, stripped from their humanity. Their whole purpose is to fight with no other alternative in sight. They have no future. And here is where the strenth of its meaning comes from. It is tragic, undoubtedly. At the same time, it is also really easy to see and understand. The Alaya-Vijnana-System is like being branded with everything bad in the world. Being a victim of poverty, of abusive adults, and politicians that do their best to make life worse for everyone else.

There is meaning behind it, and some quite effective one at that. By the end of episode 1, the Alaya-Vijnana-System has already trumped everything the Newtype was in the original. But wait, there is still more. To add to the tragedy and make things even more cruel, the Alaya-Vijnana-System can also paralyze you in an ironic manner, by taking away your abbility to move your own body, unless you are connected to the very same Alaya-Vijnana-System. There is a reacurring theme in the anime, that one is, at least by their own view, useless if one can’t fulfil their duty as a soldier. Those children don’t know anything besides fighting, so their self-worth is directly tied to it. Losing an arm and they wish they would have died instead. This gets extra clear with Mikazukis being happy that he doesn’t have to think of a life beyond the war, as by the end, he is now only useful as a weapon.

All this is framed in a very clear way. This whole situation is bad. Very bad. There is a character that frequently states just how fucked up the situation is those children have to deal with. And it is that clarity, that is so very welcome after the vagueness of the Newtype.

Kantai Collection shouldn't be this good!

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 16:18:35 +0200

Ach ja, gotta be honest here for a second: I never actually intended to watch KanColle. It initially come up on my radar at the time it aired and was basically featured in every Top Openings List that I watched. Additionally, its premise and discussion even reached the few corners of the internet I lingered around at the time, even before I actively “started” following the general discussions surrounding anime. Arguably one of the earlier Gacha titles to be adapted, it had a certain reputation: First, the obvious “Ships, but they are girls?”, as if anime doesn’t have more weird stuff to offer and second, it wasn’t good.

Some day I added it to my watchlist. Now, there are many reasons why an anime may land in this very weird list: Actual interest, recommendations, classics I think I should watch, etc… Some on the other hand are harder to explain. I certainly watch some anime I think are bad, however I never do so out of hate or as in an “It is ironically good” way. Sometimes, I just watch stuff to see if it is actually bad and why it is so. There is value in seeing how and why something is bad. Yet, this may still not fully explain it. Maybe there was one of my few brain cells that was actually convinced KanColle could, if not good, at least be fun. And to this one lone sailor, I hereby am honoured to present you with a gold star rating.

I almost started watching KanColle with a friend a couple months ago, simply to see if it is bad and planning to eventually drop it after a few episodes. This didn’t happen as I wasn’t really in the mood for watching something bad, especially if we don’t even have the time to get to all the good stuff. Now imagine me, wrapping up my deep dive into the Gundam Universe by finishing Iron-Blooded Orphans and looking for another anime to watch. I went the good ol' way of spin.moe and it eventually landed on KanColle. I hesitated a bit, thinking it would be really funny if I actually decide to watch it and prepared myself for the entire series plus movie. Still kind of hesitant, I watched the first episode and… it wasn’t bad… neither not not good… it wasn’t even mediocre or just good… it was unironically great! And now, after more than 400 words of preamble, let’s go into the how and why.

KanColle is actually an anime club show in disguise, just that the stakes are… different. The base is essentially a school: You got your usual places like the dorm, a cafeteria serving huge portions of ice cream and curry and of course, the group bath used for repair (Don’t question it). The admiral serves as the principal, high command is the student council and most girls are middle/high schoolers. At the same time, it perfectly follows the “Girls have to fight the vague world-destroying threat”-narrative.

I absolutely get why one might dismiss the anime entirely. KanColle, while having a plot, absolutely lacks momentum, especially being in a place were it is allowed to stay stagnant. While giving some hints here and there, we never really deal with the Abyssal as more than enemy ships to be sunk. The focus mostly stays on the fleet girls and their interactions. Being a Gacha game adaptation, the characters are mostly either shallow, underdeveloped or simply defined by the very archetype they are supposed to represent. Whether you like a character or not is basically already defined in advance and actually seeing them will most likely not change your view of them. As such, the entire series might come off as hollow. What makes those anime club show actually appealing? What makes most action/mystery shows so engaging? KanColle has nothing like that. The plot justifies the girls, the girls are what you would expect and anything beyond lies on the good faith of the viewer.
Still, despite its doomed premise for anyone not being here for the cute girls, the anime keeps itself afloat by many little moments of trying to be better than itself.

There is an art to both being funny/uplifting and being serious at the same time. The general tone of KanColle is far from dark and often feels like it has a fun Slice of Life atmosphere to it. The characters joke, get into silly confrontations with each other and some of them are indeed just straight up funny. The whole introduction to the Kongou team is a microverse of great comedy. First seen saving the day in episode 3, they emit an aura of reliability. They are the cool dependable senpai to our fresh newcomer. This image, however, is broken immediately following the next episode. Meeting properly for the first time, they introduce themselves in the likes of a Super Sentai Team, each getting their own titlecard, cumulating in a groupshot with different colored explosions behind them.

Fubukis image of Kongou gets literally shattered just a few seconds later. Kongou-senpai is no more; Long live Kongou-oneesama and her three equally dumb “little sisters”. Those four share at most one braincell together and it is constantly overworked saying random things in english. Honestly, they are hilarious and remind me of the historical team in Girls und Panzer. However, this episode was not just fun and games. Last episode ended with a character dying. Until the very last moment, I didn’t think they would actually kill a character off, because even when the situation looked dire, there was always someone coming to the rescue. Also, are you even allowed to kill one of your Gacha Waifus? There is simply no way one of the characters dies. And then one did and it was truly unsettling. Coming out of nowhere and with nobody to even bear witness, leaving behind friends desperately waiting for her return, it has almost something cruel to it… and it was not taken lightly at all.

Next episode and we see several characters trying to deal with the situation or even trauma. The de facto commander clearly lying calling the operation a success, her classmates not being able to concentrate in class, the teachers being concerned and then there is Mutsuki simply not accepting the death and continuing to wait on the shore for the moment she returns. It is a sincere reaction with actual consequences. People try to confront another,deal with the situation and heal. Does KanColle go about it with the same nuance as other anime specifically dealing with said theme? Not at all. Even anime like Pokémon Sun and Moon certainly did it better on all its occasions, but what matters to me is, that it is not bad. It is sincere and respectful. By all accounts, I didn’t expect to be and yet it did. It eventually results in a bittersweet moment: Mutsubu still waiting on the shore gets confronted instead by the returning Fubuki, who just barely escaped death herself. It may just be a simple hug, but carried this gesture enough weight to make her find peace with the situation. Life goes on and there are people caring for her, in the same way she also cares for others. Why does this anime actually get an emotion out of me?

I obviously don’t give the full context here and most of its pay-off comes from interactions one episode prior, but the point still stands: It is not bad. Both things, Kongous delightful antics, as well as the trauma of losing someone dear to you, happen (mostly) in the very same episode. One is light and funny, while the other is heavy and a downer, and yet, it didn’t clash. It didn’t feel wrong. It worked. This is what surprised me. At the very least, the plot of KanColle is able to pull its punch, as well as being simply enjoyable. However, does that mean the anime is actually good? What I did here is mostly praising it for not being bad on one topic. Not being bad/harmfull/problematic is the lowest bar there is and any media should pass it. I will stand by my initial comment, that the first episode is genuinely great and that it is able to at least tell its story without cannibalizing itself with clashing moods, but beyond that? Let’s talk about what is actually there in KanColle and what is not.

KanColle certainly tries. While none of the girls are interesting characters in the way of development, themes or plot involvement, they still bounce off another well enough, so that their interactions are still enjoyable. It is nothing new and it feels like I have heard the same conversations several times already, but it didn’t bother me. It was nice. The same can be said about the through line of the anime. The main character Fubuki is your shy, unconfident transfer student, being unsure of herself and being surrounded by so many impressive people. It didn’t take me long to see where this is going: She learns new friends, trains like a madlad, gets a motivational speech from someone she looks up to, slowly becomes better and receives her first victory by the end of its respective arc, and by the end of the series stands confident and as equal before everyone else, saving the day and getting noticed by senpai. It is not bad that I essentially predicted the whole thing… It’s just that I have seen this very plot maybe one too many times already :D.

But I genuinely like the concept of it. Hell, it is basically Girls und Panzer to a T. Individual episodes are mostly focused on one or two characters and mostly end nicely by the end of it. Little lessons being learned, new friendships being made. The curry competition? Fantastic episode! Then there are the many things I consider weird, but not necessarily bad, like all the girls being very affectionate to each other all the time, but in a weirdly friendly and not really sexualised way. While all the girls show at least some kind of affection to the admiral… this anime is so ridiculously gay, I have a hard time even emphasizing just how gay it is. From its casual closeness and love confession to… Akagi and Kaga shooting an arrow as a pair, Mutsu just constantly blushing at Nagato and saying how cute she is, Fubuki seeing through rose colored glasses after being patted on the head and oh my god… Ooi going full mama bear for Kitakami. Genuinely my life blood (Yes, I know how weird this must sound).

Then there is the admiral itself, who is never shown, but definitely there. Sometimes addressed in first person, but mostly just hinted in the form of a menacing shadow, he is this almost ominous character. Always there watching over his girls, yet just too powerful to be captured by light, or drawn as an image. I assume the admiral is the player character, which leads me to the some of the stuff I assume comes directly from the game. Notice, I have never played KanColle, nor do I really know anything about it. After being damaged, some of the girls have to go into the dock, also known as the bathhouse and have to stay there until they are repaired, leading to some scenes just playing out with most if its characters naked…. and I am like… yeah, I can see that. At some point, one just gotta embrace its trash. There are also those instant repairs which just scream “premium currency paid with real money”. There are more little references, most of which probably flew over my head.

I am also surprised, just how much stuff I can tolerate in this anime. One of the more prominent characters is an idol… or at least really tries to be one… and she is passable. Obnoxious, sure, but also kind of charming in the way she tries so hard. She is also not limited to just being the idol. Then there is the fact, that most of the cast is more on the young site of things. Akagi and Kaga, Atago and Takao, Nagato and Mutsu (Best Girl), Yamato and Mamiya are the only characters older than… maybe 16?.. and there are like 40 other characters. Maybe I am just getting too old, but watching mostly “young” girls feels wrong in a way, considering there is some fanservice. Their clothes get ripped sometimes, but it isn’t really shown in a provocative manner. It just feels weird. On the other hand, there are also characters like Shimikaze wearing barely (if even) a miniskirt… her canon companions have really funny faces though, so all is forgiven. Of course, there is the designated Loli Squad™ too. We have the one really trying to be a proper lady, the sleepyhead, the clutz and the one randomly speaking russian. They are the main focus of the curry competition episode and as already mentioned, it was great. One might say I am conflicted on some of these topics, but again, it was perfectly tolerable.

There is also something to be said about its production value. The anime looks really generic, from its backgrounds to the style the characters are rendered in to even some of the designs themselves. I really appreciate the many different uniforms, otherwise I would have completely lost the overview of the characters. However, I don’t really thing it is that bad. Most anime look rather generic, but few of them look actually bad. This one certainly doesn’t. I really like the compositing in this anime, being both subtle, but also strong if needed to be, as seen in the ending theme. Compositing often makes or breaks the look of an anime, so it being noticeably good is fondly noted. The animation itself, while not that special outside its fights, often adds some individual flair to its characters in the form of secondary animation. Movement in their clothes and hair brighten up the more mundane scenes that could have been otherwiswe stiff and no one would complain. Randomly, there are also some really great artistic flourishes like the Abyssal being colored and shaded in a completely different style that makes them not only stand out, but also foreign and dangerous, complementing their narrative place in the anime.

What really impressed me however was the CG. It is mostly used when the fleet girls are deployed, adding a lot of machinery to their design. Sometimes, there is a mix of both though. My opinions on 3DCGI is arguably slightly different and certainly more forgiving than the rest of the community, so hear me out. I really appreciate the way they use the 3D models to create choreography that would either look weird or be impossible in 2D. Sweeping through the sea, having multiple characters on the screen doing complex movement with a wide variety of camera angles. This is the stuff 3D is made for. Additionally, the purely technical aspect might just be as impressive. If you pause on most frames, the fact that it is 3D is barely visible, as seen in the image below.

While their might be some errors like outlines being a bit wonky when the hair clips through itself, the shading, rendering and compositing itself is pretty damn solid. Facial expressions might be hand-animated, but do not quote me on that. The models have a big variety of movement and are animated with a certain weight to it. They even got the jiggle physics right and I especially like the little water splashes when the girls are sliding across the water! There is some good stuff in there. It still may seems a bit off sometimes when moving, but beyond that? KanColle is certainly on the better side of anime using CG for more than just background pedestrians.

The music is what one would expect for both the Slice of Life moments as well as the action. There are however some tracks where the military tone really shines and elevate scenes with much needed punch. Also, please give the Ending Theme a listen! Those guys with the brass instruments go so hard!

And that’s about it. Final conclusion: KanColle is, if nothing else, at least fun to watch. However, this is only half the point I want to make. Kantai Collection shouldn’t be this good! is what I thought to myself after the first episode, as well as the fourth and the last. But why did I do that? I didn’t expect to find the next [insert universally beloved anime], of course, but I also obviously didn’t want it to be bad. While expectation management is a tricky subject, there is also part of me considering some media to be just… pulp… seasonal schlock… media whose only purpose is existing, being consumed and later discarded for the next new thing, only for the cycle to repeat itself. KanColle is not the dream project of an ambitious producer, director or studio. It is the de facto assumed anime adaptation of a big mixed media franchise. Fans of the Gacha game may be happy (or not, if it was adapted poorly), but beyond that? Humanity has no need for mediocracy. Whose Top 10 contains KanColle? How many people even watched it after it its initial release? Does anyone even talk about it, beyond a very specific context? If I didn’t add this anime years ago to my list and watched its opening so many times, would I have even remember KanColle existed? The answer is probably obvious.

And yet, despite its circumstances that must have been so very obvious from the start, it is not bad in the way it probably should have been. Take the title of this post both literally, as well as like a sense of bewilderment. KanColle is not a bad product. It doesn’t feel heartless. Obvious effort was made to create something, if not great, at least good or enjoyable. I couldn’t even cover all the little things that put a smile on my face, like the very premise having at least some kind of novelty, or how there are little chibi pilots on the planes or how there are only a couple of Seiyuus speaking all the characters. Nao Touyama is voicing six characters, all of whom are mostly speaking directly to each other… how did I not notice?

For what it is, Kantai Collection shouldn’t be this good. I am, however, glad that it is so nonetheless, despite my seemingly harsh score of 6/10. It is no Girls und Panzer after all and there exist more daring hills to die on.

As of the time writing this post, I have yet to see the movie. But beyond that, I think it is time for another PreCure series ^^

Kantai Collection is available on Crunchyroll.

Gundam Unicorn und die Brillanz der Laplace-Büchse

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 13:39:43 +0200

Intro

*Spoiler für Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack und Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn*

Ach ja, Medien, welche zumindest nicht im konventionellen Sinne als direktes Prequel bzw. Sequel dargestellt werden, stehen in einer ganz besonderen Position, wie sie sich inhaltlich zum Original beziehen. Möge es sich thematisch abschotten, es weiterführen oder gar in einen neuen Kontext setzen, besteht immer eine Verbindung, egal wie klein und unwichtig, zwischen den Alten und den Neuen.
Gundam Unicorn ist in den Sinne interessant, dass dessen Wirkung nicht dadurch beschränkt ist, dass es chronologisch drei Jahre nach Char’s Counterattack spielt, sondern sich stattdessen ein wenig von dieser Chronologie entfernt und durch dessen eigene Geschichte rückblickend bestimmte Aspekte der Vorgänger in einem anderen Licht rückt.
Damit soll aber nicht gemeint sein, dass Unicorns Wert nur darin liegt, in welcher Position es zum originalen Mobile Suit Gundam und dessen Nachfolger steht, allerdings werde ich in diesen Video darauf eingehen, wie Gundam Unicorn einen bestimmten und immer wieder auftretenden Aspekt des Gundam Universums rekontextualisiert.

Newtype

Meine ursprüngliche Meinung zum gesamten Konzept des Newtype lässt sich am Besten als irgendeine Mischung an Verwirrtheit und Abneigung beschreiben. Gundam selbst als Narrative beinhaltet überwiegend eher geerdete Themen, ganz voran die des Krieges und die unendlich vielen Ebenen an Moralität dazwischen, weshalb das Einfügen von, im wahrsten Sinne der Definition, Esoterik mir recht seltsam erschien.

Die Newtype sind in dem Sinne merkwürdig, wie vage die genauen Spezifikationen sind, welche die Serie und der Film bereitstellen. Ursprünglich als Teil der von Zeon Zum Deikun vorgestellten Theorie, dass die Menschheit dazu bestimmt war die Erde zu verlassen und als Anpassung ans Weltall einen neuen Schritt der Evolution geht, welcher sich dadurch definiert, dass Menschen untereinander ein besseres Verständnis entwickeln, um deren neue Umwelt zu meistern, spiegelt sich das Verhalten der gezeigten Newtype als eine Art erweitertes Bewusstsein da: Voraussicht bestimmter Ereignisse, das Spüren anderer Newtype, sowie semi-telepathische Kommunikation und nicht zu vergessen: Zugriff auf eine höhere, metaphysikalische Dimension, in der Zeit und Raum verschmilzt und welche als Art letztes Ziel der Menschheit angesehen werden kann… Nein, ich werde nicht elaborieren, unter anderem weil ich es nicht kann, besonders ohne einen Witz zu machen, wie Gundam es schaffte 16 Jahre vor dessen Entstehung bereits Evangelion zu kopieren.
Darüber hinaus kommen noch lore-spezifische Kleinigkeiten wie das Psycommu und Psychoframe hinzu, welches dazu führt, dass ein Großteil der Newtype und deren Fähigkeiten und Bedeutung nur in Beziehung zu den Mobile Suits als Kriegswaffe stehen und quasi auf diese reduziert werden können. Es ist nicht schwer Parallelen zu Star Wars' Konzept der Macht zu ziehen, doch während diese benutzt wird um zumindest fundamental die Beziehung zwischen Gut und Böse zu erforschen, sind die Newtype in Gundam, mit Ausnahme einer Situation, einfach nur da und existieren, ohne groß irgendeine andere Bedeutung zu haben.

Die einzige Ausnahme ist so ziemlich das Ende von Char’s Counterattack mit dem Phänomen, in welchen die Eigenschaften eines Newtype benutzt worden und man am Ende tatsächlich so etwas wie eine Interpretation tätigen kann. Amuro versteht die Gefühle der Soldaten beider Seiten, kann diese sammeln und somit den gemeinsamen Wunsch vereinen, die Erde nicht in einen nuklearen Winter zu stoßen und hält dadurch den Asteroiden auf, quasi als Repräsentation an den Glauben an das Gute in der Menschheit, welches in Kontrast zu Char steht. Selbst diese schnelle Lesung gibt der Existenz der Newtype ein gewisses Gewicht, welches mir den Großteil gefehlt hat.

Dass aus meiner Sicht mit den gesamten Konzept der Newtype nichts gemacht wurde, ist in sich selber kein Problem, aber es ist diese Besessenheit und Fokus auf die Newtype, welche einen erwarten lassen, dass irgendeine Idee hinter diesen steht und dass man irgendetwas damit versucht auszusagen. Dies soll so weniger als eine direkte Kritik aufgenommen werden, als eher ein was wäre wenn, denn die eigentliche Wahrnehmung der Newtype im Gundam Universum selbst ist erstaunlich facettenreich und gut.

Für die Zeons ist die Theorie, dass sich die im All lebende Menschheit weiterentwickeln wird, der wichtigste Pfeiler ihrer Ideologie und wenn man sich anschaut, wie die Zeons im Generellen dargestellt werden, fällt es einen nicht schwer die Newtype als Parallele zur nationalsozialistischen Idee des Übermenschen oder die des Ariers aufzunehmen und wie letztlich die Zeons diese Auffassung als Begründung für ihre Überlegenheit und Rechtfertigung des Krieges benutzen.

Auf der anderen Seite des Konfliktes bestreitet die Erdföderation die reine Existenz der Newtype und stellt es nach Außen als Propaganda da, während intern die Befürchtung besteht, dass sich die Gesellschaft in Newtype und Oldtype spalten könnte und dadurch ein neuer Konflikt entsteht. Einzelne Soldaten sehen die Newtype als Aberglauben an und andere rationalisieren die Leistung angeblicher Newtype als simples Können. Amuro selbst lehnt den Begriff zuerst komplett ab und wird stattdessen von anderen aus als Newtype bezeichnet. Dann gibt es den Stand der Wirklichkeit, welcher sagt, dass die Newtype eher ein vereinzeltes Auftreten sind, welches mit der Zeit nicht annimmt und zweifelhaft ist, ob es überhaupt nur auf Menschen im All zutrifft, ganz davon abgesehen, dass Newtype künstlich erschaffen werden können, und, und, und. Der Umgang mit Newtype wird so deutlich komplexer, wenn man die Frage, was ein Newtype überhaupt ist, in den politischen Kontext der Serie setzt, was uns nun endlich zu Gundam Unicorn bringt.

Gundam Unicorn

Gundam Unicorns Plot folgt der Suche nach der Laplace-Büchse, dessen Inhalt angeblich die Erdföderation in irgendeiner Form zerstören kann. Der einzige Hinweis für den Aufenthalt der Laplace-Büchse, passend als “Schlüssel” bezeichnet, ist der titelgebende Unicorn Gundam, welcher sich durch zwei bestimmte Systeme charakterisiert:
Auf der einen Seite steht das Newtype Destroyer System, welches aktiv Newtype aufspürt und versucht diese auszuschalten, indem der Gundam in den “Destroyer Mode” wechselt. Darüber hinaus ist es möglich, dass wenn der Pilot und der Unicorn Gundam nicht mehr synchron sind, der Pilot jegliche Kontrolle über den Gundam verliert und dieser unabhängig vom Piloten handelt. Es ist eine Maschine, welche explizit dafür konstruiert wurde Newtype zu töten, welches dem ganzen einen Hauch an Ironie gibt, wenn man bedenkt, dass der Unicorn Gundam so ziemlich nur von einem Newtype gesteuert werden kann.
Auf der anderen Seite steht das La+ Programm, welches im Nachhinein eingebaut wurde, um den Pfad zur Laplace-Büchse zu zeigen, wenn bestimmte Bedingungen erfüllt sind und letztlich als eine Art Test gegenüber den Piloten dargestellt werden kann, ob dieser sich als ein wahrer Newtype herausstellt.

Mit dem Unicorn Gundam wurde somit etwas erschaffen, welches die Idee eines Newtype konkretisieren kann, indem es den Piloten in bestimmte Situationen zwingt, auf Basis dieser ihn beurteilt und somit sicher geht, dass die Laplace-Büchse nur von jemanden erreicht werden kann, dem das La+ Programm akzeptiert.
Die Bedeutung des Newtype wird somit durch die Rolle von Banagher Links, und gewisser Weise Mineva Zabi und Riddhe Marcenas gefiltert, und entspricht ungefähr der ursprünglichen Theorie der Newtype. Einige dieser Eigenschaften kann man auch direkt den Unicorn Gundam entnehmen, welcher dem öfters referenzierten Wandteppich „La Dame à la licorne“ – Zu deutsch „Die Dame mit dem Einhorn“ nachempfunden ist und der Anime besonderen Fokus auf „A mon seul Désir“ und dessen Inschrift „[An] Meinem einzigen Verlangen“ legt. Während die ersten Teppiche öfters als das Vergnügen durch die verschiedenen Sinne des Menschen interpretiert werden, ist die Bedeutung von „A mon seul Désir“ deutlich weniger konkret, wobei es im Kontext von Gundam Unicorn sehr wohl eine Art sechster Sinn des Verständnis und der Liebe repräsentieren kann, da die Frage, was „Meinem einzigen Verlangen“ überhaupt genau bedeutet, ebenfalls etwas ist, womit die Charaktere selbst zu kämpfen haben.

Wie genau nun ein Newtype definiert ist, erkennbar zum Beispiel durch wie Banagher mit einem Großteil der Charaktere interagiert, ist letztlich aber nur zweitrangig und was bleibt ist die Bedeutung eines Newtype. Am Ende der Serie kumuliert es dazu, dass nach einem Trip ins metaphysikalische Wunderland, Banagher Full Frontal widerspricht und stattdessen an die Hoffnung und das Potenzial der Menschheit glaubt, sowie dass er den Laser abwehrt, welcher droht die Laplace-Büchse zu zerstören, in etwas, welchen dem Axis-Shock Event aus Char’s Counterattack ähnelt, nun in einen grün leuchtenden Unicorn Gundam, dessen Newtype Destroyer System überkommen wurde. Was nur noch fehlt, ist die eigentliche Laplace-Büchse.

Die Laplace-Büchse

Die Laplace-Büchse ist in zweierlei Hinsicht interessant: Einmal durch die narrative Bedeutung selbstverständlich, als auch wie die Laplace-Büchse letztlich ihren Pay-off bekommt. Vom Anfang der Serie, bis zur Enthüllung, mit Ausnahme eines kleinen Inserts, mit dem man noch nichts anfangen kann, weiß man nicht wirklich, was man als Zuschauer von der Laplace-Büchse erwarten kann. Man weiß nicht was es ist, niemand weiß wo sie sich befindet und die einzige Information die man besitzt ist, dass sie angeblich die Erdföderation zerstören kann. Wenn man bedenkt, dass Asteroiden und Kolonien auf die Erde fallen lassen nicht unbedingt vom Tisch sind, war meine erste Vermutung in etwa, dass sich die Laplace-Büchse als ein riesiger Gundam auf den Mond oder so ähnlich herausstellt, welcher wortwörtlich die Erdföderation zerstören kann. Wäre dies der Fall, würde das Video vermutlich leicht anders heißen.

Gundam Unicorns erste Folge beginnt mit der Einführung des Universal Centurys, knapp 80 Jahre vor den Ereignissen des originalen Mobile Suit Gundams, sowie knapp 100 Jahre vor Unicorn, sowie einen Terroranschlag auf die Raumstation, in der die Einführung stattfindet. Mit dabei war das Denkmal der Charta des Universal Centurys, welche dort enthüllt werden sollte, aber verloren ging. Die Laplace-Büchse stellt sich am Ende als jenes Denkmal der Charta heraus, allerdings mit einen kleinen Unterschied. Im Gegensatz zur nach dem Anschlag anerkannten Charta, besitzt die originale Charta einen weiteren Eintrag, welcher folgendes besagt:
„Falls in der Zukunft die Entstehung einer neuen, an den Weltraum angepassten Menschheit bestätigt wird, soll die Priorität der Erdföderation darin liegen, sie in die Regierung miteinzubeziehen.“

Es mag wie eine Kleinigkeit wirken, kam aber mit riesigen Konsequenzen einher. Der Eintrag wurde ursprünglich als Entschädigung für die Weltraumkolonien verfasst, da diese in erster Linie dazu dienen, die Überpopulation zu bewältigen. Es war somit ein Gebet, dass die Kolonien irgendwann Autonomie von der Erdföderation durch politischen Einfluss gewinnen können. Die Tatsache, dass dieser Eintrag entfernt wurde, wirft ein klares Licht auf die Intention der Erdföderation gegenüber den Kolonien. Nachdem das Denkmal der originalen Charta aber geborgen wurde, nutzte man diese als Druckmittel gegenüber der Erdföderation, womit das Entfernen des Eintrages, zumindest auf politischer Ebene, vorübergehend entschärft wurde.
Problematisch wurde es, als Zeon Zum Deikun dann die Theorie der Newtype veröffentlicht hat, welches inhaltlich sich nun auf den Eintrag beziehen würde, weshalb das Enthüllen der Laplace-Büchse, wenn auch bisher nur theoretisch, eine echte Wirkung auf die Realität hätte. Kritisch wurde es dann mit den Ereignissen des einjährigen Krieges, in welche sich die Kolonie, bekannt als Zeon, unabhängig von der Erdföderation machen wollte und sich in den darauffolgenden Konflikt die Newtype Theorie bestätigt hat.

Wenn man bedenkt, wie sich die Geschichte hätte anders entwickeln können, ist es keine Untertreibung zu behaupten, dass das Offenbaren der Laplace-Büchse die Erdföderation, als Organisation, zerstören kann, wenn man bedenkt, dass der einjährige Krieg die Hälfte der Menschheit ausgelöscht hat. Welches am Anfang noch im Rahmen eines Skandals lag, hat sich über die Jahre zu mehr als nur ein moralisches Problem eskaliert. Das Enthüllen der Laplace-Büchse würde eine Lüge aufdecken, auf welche fast 100 Jahre Geschichte aufbauen, weshalb Kontrolle über die Laplace-Büchse so mächtig ist und die Frage, welche Konsequenzen man sich erhofft so faszinierend. Man könnte sie weiterhin geheim halten und als Druckmittel verwenden, es gibt offensichtlich Anreize dafür sie zu zerstören, oder man legt das Geheimnis frei. Die Entscheidung liegt aber alleinig bei denjenigen, welche davon betroffen sind. Am Ende wird sich dafür entschieden das Geheimnis um die Laplace-Büchse der Welt zu offenbaren. Die Konsequenzen dieser Entscheidung sind unbekannt, allerdings mag man sich fragen, ob sich überhaupt etwas verändert, denn am Ende des Tages sind es nur Wörter, ein Gesetz, welches alleine keine Wirkung hat.
Die Laplace-Büchse hat in diesen Sinne meine Erwartungen übertroffen, wie vielfältig die Implikationen durch dessen Enthüllung sind.

Der zweite Grund ist ein eher persönlicher. Ich bin ein großer Fan von Mystery-Boxen, in welcher sich der Inhalt als schon fast lachhaft banal herausstellt. Es ist ein schwieriger Drahtseilakt, bei welchen man sehr leicht den Zuschauer dafür beleidigen kann, dass er etwas großes erwartet hat. Gundam Unicorn umgeht dieses Problem, indem es die Mystery-Box für den Zuschauer parallel mit der Narrative koppelt. Die Laplace-Büchse wird so bedeutend, eben weil sie eine wortwörtliche Mystery-Box ist, dessen Inhalt niemand zu wissen weiß und sich dieses Nichtwissen durch die Zeit immer weiter steigert. Dazu kommt noch, dass selbst wenn der eigentliche Inhalt unspektakulär ist, dessen Implikationen bleiben. Die Tatsache, dass die Ereignisse des einjährigen Krieges, das Geschehen, welches das restliche Universal Century geformt hat, hätte verhindert werden können, ist definitiv ein fettes Brett zum Schlucken, wenn man direkt aus Mobile Suit Gundam und Char’s Counterattack kommt.

Die Laplace-Büchse ist ein Plotpunkt, welcher nicht nur in seiner eigenen Geschichte unglaublich stark ist, sondern auch auf einer interessanten Weise seine Vorgänger rekontextualisiert. In meinen Worten: Einfach brillant.

Unterschiedliche Sichten auf den Kampf – Kumoko vs. Araba (So I'm a Spider, So What?)

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 13:30:51 +0200

Intro

*Spoiler bis einschließlich Folge 12*

Ach ja, in Folge 12 von So I’m a Spider, So What? kommt es endlich zum langersehnten Zusammentreffen unserer Lieblingsspinne Kumoko und den Erddrachen Araba. Nach einem brutalen und langen Schlagabtausch stehen nun beide Kontrahenten mit so ziemlich allen Beinen bereits im Grab und der nächste erfolgreiche Treffer würde den Kampf endgültig entscheiden, als dieser plötzlich zu einen abrupten Stillstand kommt. Araba hebt seinen Hals empor und signalisiert, dass der Erddrache aufgibt, selbstverständlich zu Kumokos Verwunderung und wahrscheinlich auch die des Zuschauers.
Als ich dies sah, gingen mir bereits einige Gedanken durch den Kopf, wie sich nun das Ende dieses Kampfes wohl entwickeln würde. Kumoko könnte dieses coole Light Novel Protagonist Ding machen, wo sie auf Arabas Geste eingeht und so was sagt wie: „Oh, was für ein bemerkenswerter Gegner du warst. Ich werde diesen Kampf für immer im Gedächtnis wahren, damit selbst nach deinen Tod, diese Stärke weiterleben kann.“
Oder so Ähnlich.

Stattdessen passiert folgendes: Was soll das? Du gibst dich mit deinem Ende einfach so zufrieden? Du hast dich angestrengt, oder? Bereust du denn nichts?
Kumoko hält absolut gar nichts davon, dass Araba aufgibt, bevor der Kampf zu Ende ist und lässt dies durch ihren fortlaufenden Monolog immer deutlicher werden. Dies ist ebenfalls das erste mal, dass man Kumoko in so einer aufgebrachten emotionalen Lage sieht, da man sie bisher zwar frustriert und voller Verzweiflung gesehen hat, aber niemals in irgendeiner Form so aktiv wütend, dass man es beinahe als Hass gegenüber Araba deuten könnte. Folglich ist es nicht verwundernd, dass ich bei weitem nicht der einzige war, für welchem Kumokos Reaktion nicht nur unerwartet, sondern aktiv überraschend kam, und selbst mein eigener Bruder mich danach gefragt hat.
Für eine Szene, welche so ziemlich den momentanen Arc beenden soll, fühlt es sich nicht so an als hätte man eine Art thematischen Abschluss bekommen. Also, lasst uns schauen was passiert ist.

Duell

Ich liebe das Konzept eines Duells. Einerseits finde ich den Gedanken jemanden einen weißen Handschuh ins Gesicht zu schmeißen äußerst erheiternd, andererseits ist es auch interessant sich die eigentliche dahinterliegende Idee anzuschauen.
Während Kämpfe normalerweise dadurch entschieden werden, welche der beiden Parteien sich als die stärkere herausstellt, lässt sich diese Form der Stärke nur selten im Kontext eines Duells wiederfinden, schließlich geht nicht darum wer gewinnen würde, sondern gewinnen soll. Bei einen Duell geht es viel mehr darum, was die beiden Kontrahenten jeweils repräsentieren, ihre Ideale, Ideen und Werte und dass der Kampf diese nun direkt gegeneinander stellt, um herauszufinden, was den anderen überlegt, besser ist, oder was die Geschichte als richtig darstellen will. Dass es sich hierbei nicht um die akkurateste Beschreibung des Duellsbegriffes handelt ist mir auch bewusst, allerdings sollte die Situation, welche ich beschreiben will, verständlich genug sein.
Das Duell zeigt eine weitere und unsichtbare Seite des Kampfes und kann folglich wunderbar als narratives Vehikel genutzt werden um mehr auszusagen, als wer wortwörtlich der Gewinner des Konfliktes sei, indem es dem Kampf zusätzlich emotionales und thematisches Gewicht gibt. Und dies kann man in den meisten wichtigen und besonderen Kämpfen spüren, dass es nicht nur darum geht, wer siegreich hervorgehen darf, sondern dass in gewisser Weise deutlich mehr gesagt wird.

Im Finale des ersten Arcs von SAO gewinnt Kirito nicht, weil er unbedingt der besseren Kämpfer sei, im Gegenteil sogar, sondern weil er und Asuna genau dies repräsentieren, was Sword Art Online als Geschichte bis dahin versucht hat thematisch zu behandeln. Auf der anderen Seite steht nun Kayaba, welcher zwar bei weitem keine Antithese zu SAOs Botschaft darstellt, aber zumindest eine, wie er auch später selber einsieht, verzehrte Sicht auf diese.
Sword Art Online sagt mit den Sieg von Kirito und Asuna über Kayaba nicht nur, dass Massenmord nicht so cool sei und wie schön es ist, dass die beiden wieder zusammen seien können, sondern spricht sich auch gegen eine bestimmte Ideologie aus, während sie eine andere akzeptiert und als überlegen darstellt.
Und diese Art der Darstellung ist bei weitem nicht unverbreitet, oder muss in einer komplizierten Form auftreten. Von Code Geass über Girls und Panzer, bis hin zu gefühlt wortwörtlich alles, welches sich an Kinder richtet. Das Gute gewinnt, das Schlechte verliert, und es liegt nun an der Geschichte selbst zu vermitteln, was jenes konkret bedeutet.

Und auch wenn meine kurze Beschreibung reichen würde, um wieder zum eigentlichen Thema zu kommen, kann ich es jetzt schon absehen, dass man eventuell Probleme mit dieser hat, da sie definitiv nicht das gesamte Spektrum abdeckt. Nur weil jemand ein Duell gewinnt, ist es relativ naiv anzunehmen, dass die Geschichte dies direkt als positiv vermittelt, weil es so Sachen wie Framing komplett ignoriert.
Nicht jede Niederlage bedeutet unbedingt einen Rückschritt oder ist etwas schlechtes, genauso wie ein technischer Sieg ziemlich vieles bedeuten kann. Man muss sich nur Serien wie Fate/Zero anschauen, welche quasi darauf beruhen, dass man sich immer wieder fragen muss, was der Ausgang eines Kampfes überhaupt bedeutet.
Ebenfalls will ich die Vorzüge eines „normalen?“ Kampfes nicht runter spielen. Richtig dargestellt kann ein simpler Kampf der Stärke, genauso viel vermitteln, wie ein Kampf der Ideologien, besonders weil Stärke ein sehr flexibler Begriff sein kann.
Und nach diesen, zugegeben, langen Abschweifer, ist es nun endlich Zeit für ein wenig Kontext.

Kontext

Als Kumoko eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand sie sich zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt. Und damit nicht genug, hat sie es noch bei weitem schwerer, als so manch anderer Charakter, welcher sich in einer fremden Welt wiederfindet. Für Kumoko ist nämlich Überleben nichts selbstverständliches. Kurz nach ihrer Geburt wird sie fast von ihrer Mutter gefressen und nachdem sie beinahe selber verhungert, ist sie gezwungen sich ebenfalls an ihren Geschwistern zu vergreifen. Als ihr irgendwann das erste Monster ins Netz läuft, erleidet sie zuerst Verätzungen an Teilen ihres Gesichts und Körpers, bevor sie es schafft es endlich zu töten.
Und trotz allem versichert sie sich dennoch, dass sie als Spinne überleben wird, auch wenn sie bisher eher schwach ist. Nachdem ihr Netz von Menschen niedergebrannt wurde schwört sie auch nie wieder wegrennen zu müssen und versucht sich nun jeder Gefahr zu stellen, wobei sie aber auch einsehen muss, dass es scheinbar immer einen stärkeren Gegner gibt. Beim Kampf gegen die Affen hat sie mehrfach mit den Gedanken gespielt, dass sie nicht mehr weitermachen kann und am liebsten aufgeben würde, sie sich am Ende aber immer wieder aufgerappelt hat, denn für sie ist der Tod keine Option. Sie will leben! Auch in der mittleren Ebene, wo sie sich unverhofft etwas mehr Frieden vorgestellt hat, da der Boden sich als wortwörtlich Lava herausstellt und ihre Fäden verbrennen, lässt sie sich nicht kleinkriegen, wobei man aber immer wieder anmerken muss, wie knapp es wird. Während sie Gegen den Feuerdrachen Rend kämpft ist sie quasi durchgängig auf 1 HP, welches sie aber nicht davon abhält bis zum bitteren Ende durchzuhalten. Ab diesen Punkt nimmt sie sich nicht mal mehr vor Menschen in acht und besitzt keine Zweifel darüber, wie sie mit diesen umgehen sollte.

Alle diese Konfrontationen sorgen dafür, dass Kumoko eine recht interessante Beziehung zum Kämpfen und dem damit verbundenen Überleben entwickelt. Einerseits versucht sie unnötigen Kämpfen aus den Weg zu gehen und springt nicht sofort alles an, welches sich als feindlich herausstellen könnte, andererseits findet sie sich sehr oft in Gelegenheiten, wo es in ihren besten Interesse liegt, sich nicht nur auf einen Kampf einzulassen, sondern diesen aktiv anzufangen. Sowohl Rend, als auch die späteren Menschen, sind beides Begegnungen, welche sie einfach hätte ignorieren können, allerdings ist ihr genau bewusst, dass dies Probleme sind, um welche sie nicht herumkommt und sie sich irgendwann stellen muss. Sie versucht also immer die Situation zu nutzen, welche sich vor ihr präsentiert hat. Manchmal im Sinne, dass es ein Versuch wert sei und manchmal, weil sie sich selbst als gut genug einschätzt.
Rend war bereits von einen anderen Kampf sehr angeschlagen, also nutzte Kumoko lieber diese Chance auf einen erhofften einfachen Sieg, anstatt sich später an ihn zu versuchen, wo sie selber noch viel stärker sein müsste. Ein Kampf mit ihm ist für Kumoko, sowieso, unausweichlich. Ähnlich ist es mit den Menschen, wessen sie zuerst friedlich konfrontierte, aber vollkommen bereit war sich ein paar extra EXP zu verdienen, falls sie attackiert wird.
Solange also auch nur ansatzweise eine Möglichkeit besteht, wird sie diese nutzen, um ihr Überleben zu sichern. Gleichzeitig lenkt sie, durch diesen aggressiven Pragmatismus, immer wieder die Aufmerksamkeit von noch mächtigeren Monster auf sich, welches uns nun endlich zu Araba bringt.

Kumoko vs. Araba

Die erste Begegnung mit Araba kam tatsächlich ziemlich früh, allerdings ist bei dieser nicht viel passiert, außer dass Kumoko aus erster Hand erfahren durfte, wie mächtig Araba ist. So mächtig sogar, dass er Kumoko am Ende komplett ignoriert und am überleben lassen kann. Dies war ein ziemlich traumatisierender Moment für sie, allerdings sieht die ganze Situation, nun acht Folgen später, nicht mehr so einseitig aus und sie entscheidet sich gegen Araba anzutreten. Dies ist tatsächlich das erste mal, dass sie aktiv und gewollt jemanden aufsucht, fanden bisher alle Gegner eher sie und Kumoko musste sich darum kümmern.
Von da an ist der Aufbau bis zum Kampf erstaunlich „klassisch“ dargestellt: Araba bekommt einen Auftritt, wo er erneut zur Schau stellen kann, dass er so ziemlich eine Klasse für sich ist, aber auch, dass Kumoko sich ebenfalls nun in jener Klasse befindet. Als Zuschauer sollte man inzwischen bemerkt haben, dass Kumoko und Araba die wohl stärksten Monster im Labyrinth sind, weshalb der Einsatz relativ klar ist. Und so geht es weiter voran. Am Ende der Folge geht Araba auf Kumoko zu, die Musik gibt noch einmal ihr bestes, während die Credits rollen und die Titlecard der nächsten Folge alles ist, welches man am Ende sieht. Selbst wenn man nichts über die Charaktere wissen würde, ist einen bewusst, was auf den Spiel steht: Wer verdient den Titel als stärkstes Monster im Labyrinth, wer darf erfolgreich aus diesen Duell hervorgehen? Der unbesiegte Drache, welcher an der Spitze steht, oder die kleine Spinne, welche sich langsam hochgearbeitet hat?

Allerdings wissen wir etwas über die Charaktere und so langsam trifft einen die Realisation, dass dieser Kampf nicht auf Gegenseitigkeit beruht, dass dieser Duellgedanke nicht von beiden geteilt wird und auch niemals könnte. Spätestens hier kommt die unterschiedliche Sicht auf den Kampf von sowohl Araba, als auch Kumoko zum Vorschein.

Für Araba ist es in der Tat und ohne Frage ein Duell, welches man anhand manchmal mehr, manchmal weniger subtilen Handlungen sieht: Es ist nicht so, dass Kumoko überhaupt irgendwas zu Araba gesagt hat, oder dergleichen. Die Tatsache, dass Kumoko, welche inzwischen sehr viel stärker geworden ist, sich wieder in seine Nähe traut, ist genug, damit er dies als Herausforderung ansieht und aus eigenen Stücken Kumoko aufsucht. Der offensichtlichste Teil ist aber mitten im Kampf selbst zu finden. Rein nüchtern betrachtet, hätte Araba höchstwahrscheinlich gegen Kumoko gewinnen sollen. Araba hat sich aber dazu entschlossen sie ernst zu nehmen und einen richtigen Kampf zu liefern, welches sogar dazu führt, dass er alle seine, über die Jahre hinweg angesammelten, Skill Punkte komplett für Kumoko aufwendet. Araba gibt quasi alles was er hat, um dieses Duell so aussagekräftig wie möglich zu gestalten, weshalb er auch letztlich seine Niederlage eingestehen kann, bevor er wirklich besiegt wurde. Es nützt nichts sich zu wehren, oder sich weiter abzumühen, wenn man bereits einsieht, dass man verloren hat und die Person vor einen den Sieg über sich verdient. Araba streckt nicht nur den Hals empor, um zu signalisieren, dass der Kampf zu Ende sei, sondern weil er die Niederlage mit Würde annehmen kann und zeigt, dass er Kumoko als den Stärkeren akzeptiert.
Später lernt der Zuschauer durch Ariel, dass Erddrachen wahrscheinlich von Kriegern abstammen und besonders stolz sind.

Aber wenn es eines gibt, welches sich Kumoko über die gesamte Zeit ihrer Reise bisher nicht erlauben durfte, dann war es Stolz. Auch wenn sie Momente von Freude und Begeisterung hatte, als sie schwierige Gegner besiegte, war dies niemals etwas, worauf sie sich ausruhen konnte. Für sie bedeuteten ihre Siege selten mehr, als dass sie weiter in dieser Welt durchhält und leben kann. Ein Sieg über Araba, würde für Kumoko kaum etwas bedeuten, gab es keine wirklichen Interaktionen zwischen ihnen und sieht sie in Araba auch kaum mehr, als Araba selbst. Es gibt diesen Moment an Überlegenheit, dass die kleine Spinne, welche Araba aus Hochmut keine Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt hat, letztlich den Tod für ihn bringt, aber darüber hinaus hätte man Araba durch so gut wie jedes andere starke Monster austauschen können. Der reine Sieg über Araba als Zeichen von Stärke hat für Kumoko keinen Wert. Der Kampf selbst war nicht einmal fair, oder so und Kumoko suchte sich extra eine Stelle, wo sie sich in der Luft frei bewegen konnte.

Fundamental hat dieser Kampf für Araba und Kumoko verschiedene Bedeutungen, welche sich fast gegenseitig komplett ausschließen und während der eigentliche Kampf selbst nicht von Idealen getrieben war, ist dies aber für, wie die beiden den Kampf aufgenommen haben, sehr wohl der Fall. Am Ende fragt Kumoko, ob Araba mit der Niederlage zufrieden sei, ob er nichts zu bereuen hat. Araba hat zwar nie ein einziges Wort gesagt, allerdings kann man annehmen, was seine Antwort wäre: Nein, er hat nichts mehr zu bereuen und ist einverstanden ein vollendetes Leben Abschied zu winken, besonders weil dies durch die Hand vom jemanden kam, den er am Ende respektieren konnte. Araba war an der Spitze und es nun die Zeit gekommen Platz zu machen.
Dies steht selbstverständlich in starken Kontrast zu Kumoko, welche eben nicht auf ihr Leben mit Stolz und Freude zurückblicken kann. Sie ist noch auf den Weg, welchen Araba seit langer Zeit bereits überquert hat und es ist jener Perspektivwechsel, welcher den Tod eine andere Bedeutung gibt. Araba kann den Tod akzeptieren, hatte er ein erfülltes Leben, während Kumoko sich gegen jenen wehrt, muss sie dieses Leben erst erreichen. Dies stellt sich am Ende als Quelle für ihre Frustration und Wut gegenüber Araba heraus. So sehr sie vor Arabas Kraft Angst hat, bewundert Kumoko diese auch auf einer, für sie, verständlichen Weise. Wenn man nun bedenkt, dass jemand etwas freiwillig annimmt, womit Kumoko selber noch aktiv zu kämpfen hat, kann man verstehen, woher ihre Reaktion kommt. Sie stellt sich die Frage, was es nun aus ihr selber macht, haltet sie sich so sehr an ihren eigenen Leben fest.
Der Kampf kommt zu einen finalen Schluss, als Kumoko Araba nicht nur besiegt, sondern komplett auslöscht, was bezogen auf ihre vorherigen Siege recht uncharakteristisch wirkt, vergreift sie sich gerne an den zurückbleibenden Leichnam. Am Ende verlässt sie den Ort des Geschehens mit den Kommentar, dass sie niemals diesen ekligen Geschmack im Mund loswerden wird.

Zusammenfassung

Jetzt bleibt nur noch die Frage, was man aus all dies ziehen kann, denn bisher wurde nur gezeigt, dass auch ich diesen Lesekompetenz Test aus der vierten Klasse bestehen würde. Allgemein ist diese Szene auch nicht unbedingt das erste, an welches man in diesen Anime genauer denken würde. Für Kumoko war Arabas Geste einfach der ultimative Disrespect. Boom, warum so ein langes Video? Es gibt da noch den kompletten Aspekt mit den Menschen, was sich hinter den Reinkarnationen verbirgt, oder selbst der eigentliche Kampf mit Araba und nicht dessen Ausgang danach.
Erinnert man sich aber an den Anfang des Videos zurück, habe ich gesagt, wie die ganze Situation und wie sie gehandhabt wurde, mich überraschte.

Der Anime ist bei weitem nicht so ernst, wie ich ihn bisher wohl dargestellt habe und es wäre überhaupt nicht aufgefallen, hätte man es weniger ernst dargestellt. Allerdings bin ich sehr froh mit dem, was man letzten Endes bekommen hat, wenn ich bedenke, was man sonst bekommen hätte. Der Kampf gegen Araba wirkt so weniger wie ein „Yay, Araba ist besiegt“ *Crab Rave*, sondern wie ein Moment, wo Kumoko ihre sehr starke Charakterisierung zeigen darf und was dies nun für sie und der Geschichte insgesamt weiterführend bedeutet.
Nach den Sieg über Araba könnte Kumoko das komplette Labyrinth in eine Idol-Rave-Party verwandeln und nun mit Zepter in der Hand über die verschiedenen Ebenen herrschen, gibt es schließlich keine richtige Bedrohung mehr für sie und auch das Labyrinth selbst stellt keine Hürde mehr für sie dar. Allerdings informiert uns ihre Reaktion nach dem Kampf, dass ihr so etwas nicht in den Sinn kommen würde. Auch wenn sie momentan das stärkste Monster sei, ist ihr bewusst, dass Mother sie nicht ewig ignorieren wird, sowie es nicht ausgeschlossen ist, dass irgendwann noch stärke Gegner auftauchen und dann ist da noch die Sache mit den Administratoren und den wortwörtlichen Ende der Welt. Und so festigt sich ihr Überlebenswille nur weiter und Kumoko nutzt ihre gewonnene Freiheit nicht um ihre Stellung im Labyrinth zu bewahren, sondern stattdessen ganz passend das Labyrinth zu verlassen und zum ersten seit ihrer Wiedergeburt das Licht der Sonne zu sehen. Der Arc endet nämlich nicht mit der Belohnung, welcher der Sieg über Araba sei, sondern das erste dadurch gewonnene Stück Freiheit, welches Kumoko erlangt. Und wenn man mich fragt, nehme ich dies lieber, als eine letzte unbedeutende Interaktion mit Araba.