Anime ATM 70 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya + a little food for thought

Interrupting regular broadcasting with a little introspective blurb 

1/2/18: It's the start of a new year. I schedule these ahead of time for the sake of consistent weekly uploads, but honestly I have my ups and downs in terms of the amount of anime/manga I intake. Lately I haven't been watching much because even though I'm on break from school (technically, lol fuego) I've been working 6 days a week some days and the rest of the time I'm trying to help out around the house and spend quality time with my parents. Going away for college made me really appreciate all the good food, listening ears, and overflowing generous hearts my family and friends have, as cheesy as that sounds. It's a good thought to keep in mind: no matter how rough life gets, there's always someone (or a couple someones if you're lucky) there to cheer you on and give you lots of love. Gah I'm grinning as I write this. Who am I? When did I become so cheesy?

And we're back! So a bit of background, a couple years ago, I wanna say like two or three years back, I picked up this anime to watch as a recommendation from my friend. I think I had just finished Golden Time and was looking for a new one without any real notion of what I wanted my next watch to be. He said that it was really good with an interesting plot and I tried to get into it. Maybe it's because aliens and the supernatural don't normally pique my interest, but I never got into it. I watched until the infamous endless eight and couldn't deal with it anymore. It didn't occur to me that you could just skip through the endless eight and jump straight to when things got different back then so I just dropped it after that. That was one of the only anime I ever left uncompleted...until now. 

I picked this one back up again because I think I'm stuck in some sort of KyoAni funk. Literally everything I watch is KyoAni; I swear I am the most hardcore softcore anime watcher with not even a bit of exaggeration. Well, okay, it was partly because of KyoAni, but mostly because my friend V was watching it and had only amazing things to say about it. And that made me feel like I was missing out on something amazing. So I picked it back up. Side note, I remember when V used to not like anime that much, but he's slowly becoming a super big anime watcher. Seeing his growth is really interesting and I wonder if he would start a blog as well? :3 He's also the only reader on this blog anyways teehee~ 

{Spoilers?}

One thing I'd like to note as a little tidbit is that there's a difference between the order that the episodes were originally aired and the order in which they come chronologically. Which begs the question if the ending which was a nice satisfying shutting of a book was the real ending...or is there no real ending because Haruhi never wanted there to be an ending to her story and her SOS Brigade in the first place? In general I think there's a lot of potential that I'm sure has already been thoroughly sifted through in terms of conspiracy theories and hints that were dropped that indicate the real end of the story, if Haruhi was really the god of the whole world, or something like what happened to the future Mikuru? There are a lot of questions that were left unanswered which can be mulled over more in some sub reddit thread I'm sure. 

I think in terms of many anime nowadays it's easy to compare them to this or that anime because of whatever character or whatever plot device they use, but something about The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya makes it such a standout that you can't really compare it to any other anime. Maybe it's the mix of slice of life and supernatural, but that was also done by Kotoura-san. Maybe it's the manipulation of time, that's been done by multiple anime, that's literally a whole genre of time travel. Maybe it's the wild girl who does what she wants, Chuunibyou. Maybe it's the lackluster MC who's kind of bland to the point where he's only ever known as Kyon, Oregairu. So as you can see there's a lot of similar anime, but something about the mix of all the characters and all the quirky arcs make it hard to truly say it's similar to any other anime without compromising some part of the series which makes it so special. 

Something I'd like to point out though that's really annoying is Kyon's obsession with Mikuru. Like sure she's lovable and clumsy, but he's such a teenage boy about it. She's cute and like a helpless little lamb at the mercy of Haruhi the wolf, but I thought the whole thing was a little baseless. Maybe Kyon was just being chivalrous or maybe it was puppy love. There's a whole list of reasons validating his crush, but in my opinion it was a bit unnecessary.

Let's talk arcs. These arcs were so bizarre I'd like to applaud whoever came up with them. Because they do follow some of the cliches that are found time and time again in school life/slice of life anime like the sports festival, the cultural festival, the summer club activities, and the everyday after school club activities where they drink tea (K-On!), but there's this deviation that they make, driven by Haruhi's spontaneous nature that makes it interesting to watch. I think the arcs and their almost random nature that keep you on your toes and keep watching. 

Haruhi herself is such a wild card. While Yuki and Koizumi are hard to read and just go with the flow, Haruhi fights the current and makes her own path. Whether she's really god or not is another story. Who knows if it's really her or the world was just meant to be like that? The chicken or the egg? She's extremely admirable because of her outgoing nature and how she doesn't care about what other people might think about her, but I don't think that's the only thing that makes her so interesting as a character. I think it's also because you can see how she's flawed and how she has her own weaknesses and quirks that make her such a multidimensional character that you can't help but watch and admire. 

In general this show kept me on my toes and while I wouldn't say it's my favorite or I'd keep watching it I'd definitely say this is a unique watch with a lot of ideas that keep the wheels in your head turning just thinking about them. There's a lot of conspiracies to be made. I think something that would be fun would be watching it with your friends and talking about what you think about certain concepts. Like an anime watching club version of a book club? 

I remember when V was watching this and he flipped out over this part. If he hadn't told me about that too I'd be likewise shook, but I was expecting it as part of the endless eight.

I didn't come here for deep thoughts about my existence on this planet??!!

The Nichijou cat?

I sent this to V so many times I think he hates it now

Is it a frog or a rabbit?

This was a nice, peaceful ending. It was a satisfying end in a wholesome, heartwarming way.

Anime ATM 69 Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

If I'm being honest I haven't watched a whole lot of anime these days. It's ironic because I'm in anime club at my college, so you'd think I'd be watching a lot more, but maybe deep down I know I have to be productive so I'm trying to stay away from anime. And then ironically at anime club I stumbled across this jam. How my club works is that we pick a show to watch episodes of from the current season and then the week is also themed like "shounen" or "slice of life" to give people exposure to a lot of different genres. So for the slice of life themed week we watched Daily Lives of High School Boys, or DLHS. I was hooked.

{Spoilers; JK this is slice of life}

It's like a lot of slice of life/comedy shows where there's not a whole lot of plot, but it's just a bunch of daily gags that revolve around a set of characters. I think the way it's executed so effortlessly and naturally is what makes it so funny. It has a diverse range of jokes from ones about awkward social situations, random embarrassing things that happen, unfortunate encounters, and satire commenting on different genres like the whole mini arc of "High School Boys and Literary Girl." Ah yes, that one's one of the most entertaining continuing jokes that happens throughout. It's hard to really hit the nail on the head here with why exactly it's so funny, but it's got a great variety of jokes for everyone to enjoy.

The vibe of the show reminds me a lot of Nichijou, but a less domestic and gentle Nichijou with commentary on the humanity of robots like Nano or anything like that. It was a lot more different in the sense of the kinds of jokes they were making at some points which is kind of the difference between high school girls and boys. So if you want more of Nichijou, but more ridiculous and sometimes more idiotic I think this would give you a lot of laughs. My friend V and I Rabbitted some of the episodes together and throughout the whole thing we were laughing and holding "L's" to our foreheads as the normal, highly educated citizens we are.

Can we just give a shoutout to the part of the show that's the secret star: Funky Lives of High School Girls. Like that was actually ridiculously funny. Well maybe I thought that because I've watched K-On and it was totally a rip-off of the whole K-On series and the movie as well. But it was just funny seeing an overly aggressive K-On with some insinuated romance.

All jokes aside, ahaha did you like that transition?, I think DLHS has a lot to offer in terms of insight into the transience of high school. Because there would be a lot of the time where there would be jokes about how the seasons were going too fast, or how there were so many characters randomly introduced way past halfway through the show, or how they only paid attention to the interesting points and not always the dull test taking or the monotony of a part-time job. I think that was commentary on the way we look back on high school. The seasons seemed to go way too fast when you think back on it, you could never tell when someone new would come into your life unexpectedly and shake up your world, and you don't really remember the suffering of everyday life and how you would fall asleep in class and instead remember the times you fell out of your chair laughing with your friends. I think DLHS really rings true for people that have finished high school or are going through high school, just in different ways. It's kind of interesting thinking about it like that instead of just some lighthearted anime only for laughs. It's so well-thought out that I just thought someone should talk about it even though it's been so long since the anime came out. I mean even thinking about the OP, once you watch through the entire season you come to realize that it was actually foreshadowing of everything to come. Literally the whole season was just Tadakuni's dream before the first day of school! And in the OP it said something along the lines of how the story was just a preface for what's to come which it really was. I'll just leave you with that thought.

Another interesting thing to note is the setup of the last episode. It went from ED backwards to the OP which gave me a full circle kind of feeling. And honestly the whole scary-fast transition from when they were all second years and then all of a sudden they were graduating really shook me. But that's just another depiction of how fast graduation really sneaks up on you. It's kind of weird thinking back on those times even remotely fondly, but I do miss going to school and seeing all my friends in one place without having to organize anything or being able to go home every day and eat good food. So, wherever you are in life, cherish the present moment.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I came here for some mindless laughter and comedy and ended up with some high school nostalgia, some feels in episode 12 and a pleasant experience in general. If you like the slice of life genre you probably have already watched this, but at least you can think about it a little bit more. Or if you haven't given slice of life a chance yet I think this is a really easy and fun watch.

LOL this is me and all my friends when we try to give each other any type of advice

Yui? Guita? Mio? Is that you K-On!?

wHAT Do yOu waNt to bE wHen YoU groW up?

My favorite part is when she's like Oh girls that cause trouble for guys are the worst but she literally chased Hidenori all over town just to tell him that the guy she was talking to was just a classmate

His dad calls him glasses but Hidenori's older brother also has glasses?

asdfghjl; preach

Okay this part actually made me tear up because when you're a kid you have all these endless aspirations and when you grow up you realize just how hard some of this stuff is like why can't we just stay small and endlessly determined? Who's fault is it? Is it anyone's fault? It's easy to blame someone for ruining your life or something preventing you from actualizing your dreams, but it's probably not their fault. Even though Yoshitake's an idiot, he's a cool and funny idiot. He's a hero in my heart.

And then it starts an endless loop of high school :')

Anime ATM 68 Shokugeki no Souma Season 2

Don't you just love when you forget you've watched an anime and then you rewatch it and it seems really familiar but you just continue watching it all the way through and go "oh yeah, I did watch this!"? Because that was me. I forgot that I finished watching it because I remember starting to watch it, but had no idea how it ended.

{Spoilers??? Idk man this is a cooking competition bildungsroman so take it as you will}

Anyways to summarize this whole season it would just be a continuation of Souma's growth. And the finale of the Autumn Tournament. What made it so interesting to watch though was how intense those food reactions were. I forgot how crazy it got and so when it got to that point I was like "oh yeah, that happened." Maybe my memory is just bad, but it did enhance my rewatching experience so there's a plus. So plot-wise, nothing much happened. I think the real star was the character development.

Obviously this is all based around Souma and his personal growth, but it also has a reflection into the lives of other chefs, or just other people in general. I think that this show sends out a really important message that just happens to be about food. Certainly there's a lot of good food techniques you can pick up from this and inspire a few people to take up cooking as a profession or to learn to cook some good quality food for themselves, but it's also the learning process. Each and every one of them has something to learn and glean from one another. They all have their specialties, but they also incorporate other people's specialties when necessary to diversify their food. I think this show has a clear message about not just food and the general blanket statement that satisfies the definition of a bildungsroman, but also the growth that occurs with the hunger to learn. A lot of times I think we think about learning and growth and improvement as "Oh I can do this, but I'll never be as good as Person X over there" and that mindset of comparison is so detrimental to the learning process. That's why it's good to exemplify an underdog, a diner boy, someone who everyone disregards as worthless because he doesn't have a pedigree. Souma's not that guy that's been necessarily shaped into a winner, but it's his hunger to learn and improve that's been pushing him and helping him through his failures. And it's his general charisma, his eagerness and friendliness that are tools that he utilizes to make the most out of his experiences at Totsuki.

I could say a lot more about the other characters and each of their individual quirks, but honestly I think the main takeaway is to aspire to be like Souma. Especially now that I'm at university I can definitely say that the hunger to learn is the best motivation. Stay hungry, stay curious.

Would it be a season without some Erina angst?

Do you see what I mean by ridiculous? I can't get the suppon burger out of my head like I don't know if I want to try it but ???

Smol Souma when everyone underestimates him :(

Okay I know they're supposed to be kinda enemies since they're all vying for the elite 10, but they're so cute as a lil trio of friends

Me whenever my friends ask me how school's going

Me in any social interaction saying absolutely anything whatsoever

LOL "cheeky youngster style"

Time to go watch season 3 buh-bye!

Anime ATM 67 Dive!!

I've been in university for over a month now. It's kind of surreal thinking about how the first night I sobbed my eyes out and how it felt like I was the only one lost and alone. I'm still a little bit lonely and I'm still a little bit lost. But I have this feeling that it'll all work out. I think you just have to put all the effort you can into things and they'll reward you in some sort of way. Is that cheesy? Of course it is, but I think we all need some reassurance at times that it'll be alright, if not now then someday down the road.

On another note ~

My friend really hyped this anime up so I was expecting some Free/Haikyuu level sports anime camaraderie and pure boys ok? But maybe it's because my tastes in anime is changing, maybe it's because only sports team anime really gets me hyped, or maybe it's something else I can't entirely express yet.

{Spoilers?}

It starts off promising with Tomoki discovering diving through his hero, also love interest let's be honest here, Yoichi. They've got a nice analogy going on with the diving structure as a concrete dragon to be conquered. And then they've got the whole improvement through necessity to save MDC and to better themselves. It's pretty good, pretty standard. And then at the end when they've made it to the Olympics or are going off their separate ways it gives a nice transition to the second season. To be honest I doubt there'll be a second season. The water sport with cute guys niche has been filled and there wasn't a whole lot of hype around this.

You've got your standard characters. There's the cool boy prodigy Yoichi who's pretty cutthroat when it comes to being number one. But he's got this stupid side of him that's a result of him only ever focusing on diving. We get to see that for the one filler episode. And then you've got your wild angry boy Okitsu with Kagami from KnB's eyebrows kinda. He reminds me of Kagami too with his insistent, bullish nature and his body shape I think. His back injury was a minor plot twist; maybe it's because I wasn't super invested that I just thought it was kind of sad, but it wasn't that compelling. And then you've got the happy-go-lucky small boy Tomoki. He's the underdog among the three junior high boys, but he's special. Which predictably makes his friends Ryo and Reiji undergo some changes with the changing power/superiority dynamic among them. I'm happy Ryo found basketball and Reiji became more determined in his quiet way. And then you've got the new coach who brings a breath of fresh air to the club Coach Asaki who really rallies the troops.

As you can see it's pretty predictable. There's some funny moments. It just didn't do anything for me maybe because of the underlying competition between all of them because diving is a solitary sport. Maybe it was the added factor of not knowing much about swimming and having all of these numbers and such being thrown at me left and right without knowing any of what was happening made it hard to enjoy. It just fell flat for me.

Overall, if you like guys in speedos that are all scary ripped I think you'd like this. If you like predictable, cliche storylines (no shame, I enjoy a good show like that every once in a while) this is also for you. There's some good little bits and pieces, it just wasn't the best thing I've ever seen. LOL sorry if this Anime ATM was a bit flat, it's just this show wasn't bomb. I remember the days where I used to love every single show, now those days are fewer and far in between. *dramatic spotlight*

I was in it at the beginning for Chikuwa

What a pure boy :')

My friends @ me when I do something stupid

Me @ my friends when I go back home I bet heh

These character introductions were good though. I was thoroughly entertained during this portion.

Me trying to brush off any mistakes or bad karma or anything weird that I didn't mean for to happen

Bringing flowers for his special someone :3

Same.

Anime ATM 66 Nichijou

It's your girl here back with some more super old, not even mainstream anymore, but still a classic anime for you! I'm actually writing this during Halloween weekend which is low-key wild at my university. I honestly just wanted to have a regular updating schedule and the aesthetic of weekly uploads was an option so like...everything you read is from the past this is a time capsule *twilight zone theme*

{There can't be spoilers because all of it is comedy and slice of life}

If someone asked me to describe Nichijou I'd say it's somewhat of a 4-koma manga to anime adaptation. That's the feeling I get from it. It's a lot of short little blurbs that mainly follow three high school girls, a robot girl, an 8 year old professor and a talking cat. But there's also a manga turned anime adaptation inside that. And there's short, profound thoughts in there. And then you add in the romance, comedy and fantasy. And then you have Nichijou. If you've watched it you know how hard it is to all-encompass a show like this into a succinct sentence.

Something that makes this anime relatable is the dynamics between the characters. You don't have to be a robot or a BL mangaka to relate to these people. The way they interact with one another is like how I interact with my friends in all seriousness. For example:

Exhibit A: Us in a shared class trying to pretend like our lives aren't falling apart

Exhibit B: When I show my friends a new clothing/hairstyle I like and them trying their hardest not to roast me

Exhibit C: When I'm fed up with my friend's stupidity and have to go off on them because they just don't understand or them to me or any combination of roasts

Exhibit D: Fondly calling each other idiots

Exhibit E: Pretending to listen to them while sleeping/Trying to keep calm and not hit them for saying stupid stuff

Exhibit F: Something I say to my friends all the time. Hi all! There's the door.

Exhibit G: Loving them even when they're completely useless

I'm sure you could've related to one of those, or at least I hope you find someone with whom you can share a dynamic like this because it's really nice. You might think I'm a bit harsh, but I swear all of this is with good intentions and out of love and fondness. And even if you can't relate to this kind of friend dynamic I'm sure you could relate to Nano. She's so pure and she just wants to fit in, but with her key and her randomly disconnecting body parts it makes it kind of hard to pretend to be a normal girl. 

Honestly it was things like this that really got me into it

Yukko is the kind of friend everyone should have; she doesn't care that you're a bit weird and sees your flaws as something amazing.

I don't think I'm doing a very good job of selling this anime. It's just so random and perfect if you've got literally the shortest attention span like me. There's some different kinds of humor like really long winded jokes and gags for all different people so some parts might not be as funny as others, but overall it's just a really great time. I think one of the best gags in the entire show is the girl my friend V and I refer to as "Ehhh-chan". She's just super relatable because she goes through all of these "wtf" situations and all the while is super alarmed and confused. But who wouldn't be going through all the weird stuff she's been going through?

And you can't forget the romance bits of course. They're so random in this slice of life comedy dynamic, but I think the creator's approach to romance is really soft and silly and a bit different from anything else I've seen.

My question is what does Mio see in Sasahara and secondly why is his neck ruffle made of tissues? 

Asdfghjkl; this was so pure

Awh Tachibana and her tsundere love with Sasahara. And also her sister's reaction oml

Also there were a lot of random moments with scene panning or incredible action shots like Yukko chasing Mio or the paper football scene between Mai and Yukko. Those were wild. You've just got to watch those and see for yourself. My friend V told me that Nichijou had an extremely high production cost because of those incredibly high quality scenes that were so random and out of place with the animation style and general style they're going for, but I'm here for it. I enjoyed how extra everything was.

If you're a super awkward person I think you can say that Yukko is the most relatable of the main trio of Mai, Mio and Yukko. 

The voice acting in this scene was so good. The voice acting overall was so good like I usually don't notice but her strained voice made me laugh so hard and just what was happening to the principal overall was questionable yet so funny.

All of us everyday

Me when I see all the work I have left to do, look at my grades, look at how my grades are comprised of 2 midterms a final and an essay like how??? Looking at life in general

I've literally told all my friends this one story about this guy I kept making eye contact with and was like heh I'll never see him again and literally the next day I find out we're in the same club and it's so awkward because I literally word vomited at him saying sorry for being creepy and then he walks away because obviously saying that is creepy and then I find out he's friends with my friend and we have an awkward lunch together. Lovely.

And then there's a ton of just "WTF" moments. A lot.

This was the point at which I committed myself to watching all 25 episodes. This beautiful moment when Yukko told Mio that pressing the fire alarm button wouldn't do anything and she just pushed the button. A true comedic tragedy.

I kind of want a sibling dynamic like between Mio and her sister, but I feel like my sisters and I are already weird enough.

I thought this was so funny for some reason. Sakamoto-san is great

BWAH HA HA

Just thought you should know that Nichijou was legitimately sponsored by Snickers. That's the wildest most random sponsorship I've ever heard of.

How is this a crow?

Why is there a gun in this book? It was such a nice little story and then it got to this point.

Sakamoto is me

 And some really weird, yet touching montages.

You gotta watch it to see these nice montage scenes 

I think Mai is the most underrated. Mio and Yukko are more explosively out there, but Mai is the subtly quirky one like when they went camping and she let her fish go "Releaseeee"

Side note: At some points I thought the student adviser was really annoying, sorry if you thought she was cute, and Hakase was so clingy and annoying, like I get that she's 8, but still. Just my opinion please don't kill me of those types of personalities really float your boat. 

This is so heart-warming and pure awhhh

I hope I succeeded in persuading some people to watch all 25 episodes if you haven't yet watched this classic. There's a lot of jokes I didn't include and a lot of scenes where even if I put in a screenshot you still wouldn't get the same nuances and feels as if you were to watch it. Also the second ED really gets me. Like there's the iconic OP with the jump cuts, but the second ED just makes me feel serene and wholesome. It's some quality relaxation. Seriously. I would watch this as something to fall asleep to sometimes because that's the only place I've been able to squeeze it in with clubs and all my readings :(