Anime ATM 97 ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka

Okay so funny story, last year around this time S and I hung out and we started watching this anime together. We got to episode 3, but I had to leave so we promised to hang out another time to finish it. A year passes and we always say that we'll finish it sometime. Finally, in a whole other country over, we finish the anime. The only problem is that for episodes 4 and 5 we were pretty confused because we (mostly me with my goldfish brain) had forgotten everything that had occurred up until that point. 

It was refreshing to watch an anime with someone else instead of in my room at 3 am alone. There's a certain charm to be said about being able to predict plot twists and try to unpack the mystery with what clues we were given in discussions as we watched through the show. There were definitely a lot of moments where we were probably really annoying to S's roommate, but truly this is an underrated show. 

I'm also really grateful to S for introducing me to this show. I definitely wouldn't have picked it out for myself because I wasn't a huge fan of the art or the little summary blurb that we found on MAL. And I'm not particularly keen about political shows either. But this show was surprising. It kept me guessing and wanting to watch more even as I was fighting sleep after a long day of sightseeing in Vancouver. 

{Spoilers}

Alrighty, so this anime is definitely like a proverbial ball of tangled string that you have to unpack. There's a lot that's revealed later on that really takes your mind for a loop.

But basically the story takes place in a country that's made up of 13 states and each one has a different attribute. Like one of them looks like Hawaii, another one looks like Arizona, and yet another one is definitely modeled after Las Vegas. And it's pretty neat to travel to each of these regions individually. The world-building in this one is definitely underplayed by the plot, but it was a very nice detail that made it seem like a more authentic world even?

The actual plot follows the central governing place of this country which is the kingdom of Dowa. The whole place is ruled by a monarchy, but the current king is getting real old so the problem is do we let this 20-something kinda dumb kid rule? This is where our main man Jean Otus (yeah all of their names are pretty much weird) comes in. At first you're kind of confused like how does this guy tie into the whole plot? He's a pretty flippant dude who has a penchant for cigarettes which are a rare item in the story. He works as an inspector/auditor for ACCA which is the police force in this world. He goes around and audits each of the different sectors and he's ridiculously good at his job. Along the way though, things start to get weird. There's rumors floating around about a coupe. And you're not quite sure who to trust because at certain points it seems as though there're multiple coupes. 

The plot continues to thicken when it's revealed that Jean and his sister are actually the children of Dowa kingdom's second princess who was disowned. So everyone sees Jean as a better fit for the throne than Schwan who's the 20-something year old prince. Poor Jean is thrown into the coupe plan as a seeming intermediary between the people of the different districts who want to see a new kind of leader and ACCA who fears being disbanded if Schwan takes the throne. 

Obviously there's a lot more nuanced stuff going on, but I sincerely doubt I could succinctly give a suitable summary for all of the stuff that goes on. There's a whole lot of spying, a healthy amount of double-crossing, and of course some spicy plot twists. 

In the end though, Schwan turned out to be an alright dude and everyone was okay with him being king. And it turned out the coupe was only because the corrupt dude Lilium wanted to take over the government and make his district super profitable. It all wrapped up very nicely if I do say so myself.

Someone I want to give a quick little blurb about though, besides my main man Jean is Nino. Literally this man's backstory episode was the single most iconic backstory I have ever witnessed. So, this guy is...how do I even describe his relationship? He works for the second princess's (Jean's mom) knight/aide Abend because his father was indebted to Abend. His father and his job was, once the princess was disowned, was to continue to survey the second princess and her family and report back with pictures and documents to the king and Abend. So Nino's whole life has been devoted to the royal family because of his father's tie. And it's honestly so sweet because at no point does it seem like there's any resentment from Nino towards his father for living this kind of life and kind of forcing him to live this life too. He's such a pure soul. And the best part was, when Jean entered high school, Nino's father thought it would be brilliant for Nino to go to high school too to get a closer interaction with Jean and such. The catch? Nino had already graduated high school. He was 25(!!!) and re-entering high school. Give this man a round of applause for his service. 

Overall I think if you like mystery and a little bit of thinking this would be a good show to watch. There's also a lot of mention of bread if you're really into carbs like me. It had so many unexpected twists and turns. The character interactions are beautiful. Everything comes together in the end so nicely and it's really satisfying. There's honestly nothing more of this show I could ask for!

Manga Match 84 Nekota no Koto ga Kininatte Shikatanai

Forget whatever I said about being over shoujo and moving on towards josei. I've come to realize that I might never grow out of shoujo. Is this a bad thing? Should I be concerned for my stunted maturity? I don't know. All I know is that when I drop my younger sister off at camp or swimming I always 100% of the time get mistaken by at least one teacher as her mother. So I must in fact look like a 38 year old soccer mom when in fact I'll only be 20 years old. How lovely. But that's another story.

{Spoilers}

The reason I say that I'll never get over shoujo is not just a gross blanket statement to cover up my lack of romantic maturity. In actuality, it was because I was so charmed by this manga. It's not like it wasn't anything I had never seen before...actually that's a lie. The story revolves around the constant mystery of what Nekota's face actually looks like. To everyone besides Mikiko, Nekota looks like a perfectly normal kid, but for some reason Mikiko can't see it? They never really explain why she wasn't able to see his head, which leaves you to wonder if it was fantasy or perhaps her coping with her mental state.

It was an incredibly touching manga. It wasn't anything ground-breaking, but there's just something about the innocence of childhood romance that really ticks all the boxes for me. The story itself starts when our main characters are all in sixth grade. They're all super small and really just children that have yet to experience growing up yet. And there's something really nostalgic about that feeling of being in elementary school and just having fun playing with your friends. It's especially heartwarming when you realize that it's Mikiko's first time making friends since she's constantly had to move and thus voluntarily(?) isolates herself from the other kids. So, at this school with friendly people and a cat-faced classmate, Mikiko is able to have fun playing dodgeball with everyone, giving out Valentines, and going on class trips together. Again, I know it's nothing revolutionary, but the way the story is told and the whole persona of Mikiko makes you fall just a little bit in love.

Lowkey though I read this so fast because I just wanted to see Nekota's face.

The most frustrating part of reading this manga was how close Mikiko always got to seeing Nekota's face. I mean we met his little sister who apparently looks like him, but it's not exactly the same thing. And it's not exactly crystal clear how Mikiko is able to see his face in the end, maybe it's because she realizes that Nekota was her childhood friend? Maybe it's because she realized her romantic feelings for him? In any case it's really pure when she realizes that she's loved him for so long without realizing it.

I think if you were their age and transitioning from sixth grade to middle school alongside them, it would be a really relatable experience. Like when Mikiko is going to middle school and she realizes how everyone's growing up and becoming different than when they were children and how she had to cope with that realization that nothing was stagnant. I think that's the thought we all have when we experience puberty and adolescence. There's this sense of inexplicable loss for something you didn't know that you had. But this opens up new avenues in their lives for each of the characters to discover a little bit more about themselves and to unpack their new-found feelings. Especially Nekota and Mikiko.

Honestly this manga really brought me back to how pure young love is. They're so cute with how they treat one another and the whole dynamic of their romance. It's hard to explain, so you should just read the manga yourself and develop the uwu's as well hehe.

Would I recommend this manga? For sure. It's got a really well-developed story with an energetic cast that you can watch grow up throughout the volumes. It's not solely about romance like some shoujo, but also has solid explorations of themes like friendship as well.

Anime ATM 96 March Comes In Like a Lion S2

You know, here's a funny story for you. I meant to start Boku no Hero Academia. I really meant to. Sincerely I had the page open on my computer and everything. But somehow one thing led to another (Netflix had the second season of 3-gatsu online) and then I ended up here. And along the way I reached nirvana. Just kidding! I just had an epiphany about how much I love these shows that are a blend of slice of life and a little bit of competitive spirit. It's like how I love Chihayafuru so much because of the romance aspect mixed in with everyone trying to become better at karuta. Same thing here, except because of Rei's origin story in terms of why he's so committed to shogi it lends itself more towards the exploration of what it truly means to be youthful and explores themes of family and security.

{Spoilers}

When I first started the second season, I'll be honest with you and say that it was mostly so I could just say that I finished the second season because I'm a completionist. And then when I started the season, I wasn't too thrilled. The pacing seemed a little bit off to me. It was kind of slow, and it didn't really engage me as I recall the first season having done to me. But somewhere along the line, I became so drawn into what was happening it was actually insane. I could feel my body tense as the show went on and I can't really tell you why. That was just my immediate reaction to the plot I guess?

Well I think first of all we should do a quick overview of the season. So, we start off with pretty much everyone from the cast of the first season. We've got our main boy Kiriyama Rei and his home away from home with the three Kawamoto sisters Akari, Hina, and Momo. Unfortunately this season didn't have as much of Momo much to my chagrin.

This season really explored themes of friendship and a more sensitive topic of bulying surrounding Hina. It was kind of an unexpected twist because when you look at Hina you see this really sweet and cheerful girl that wants everyone to get along. But because of her extremely steady moral compass, she ends up bullied for standing up for her friend Chiho. And it's a really humanizing arc that shows how bullying not only affects the victim. It affects the bully, the classroom, the families of those affected, and the teachers. The way that Rei's teacher heard Rei out and tried to explain why it was so hard to address the issue and how he got enraged at how Hina's homeroom teacher wasn't effectively addressing the problem really reflected how I felt inside about the issue. But at the same time it was a realistic portrayal of not really having the silver bullet solution to the problem. It was also really startling to see Hina's homeroom teacher becoming overwhelmed with anxiety to the point of collapse. I think we see teachers as somewhat of a teaching vessel and sometimes nothing more than a wealth of knowledge when in fact they're most definitely human too and affected by the situation just the same as wea re. And that was definitely a good reminder to treat people how you wish to be treated and to think about how consequential bullying really is. It broke my heart to see Hina visiting Chiho and to see how much she still struggled with making friends after what had happened to her.

The whole concept of showcasing bullying and how it truly affects everyone that's involved on a deeper level was really moving and powerful. I mean just seeing Akari's breakdown and how her heart broke for Hina and how she kept asking herself why Hina did what she did when she could've just kept silent and even wanting her to have kept silent really showed how her feelings were in turmoil. You can't help but root for Hina because her heart is so steadfast and she's not afraid to stand up for her beliefs, but seeing the aftermath and how shattered she felt at certain points like when they went on the class trip really makes your morals waver. This isn't to say that Hina didn't do the right thing, this is just to say that the mangaka did a truly brilliant job with this part.

A short aside for the episode with Rei and Souya. There was something satisfying about watching this episode. Maybe it was just because I like the rainy aesthetic. Maybe because a lot of it was just silence between the two. And it might have been because some of the mystery behind Souya was finally brought to light. But seeing the two on the train back home and ending up having to find shelter from the storm together was kind of heartwarming in a weird way. I dunno, watch the episode and tell me what you thought. Maybe I'm just crazy.

And an arc that doesn't really speak to my experience would be the epic match between our two favorite oldies. There's Shimada who we've already become familiar with as Rei's kind of mentor and our resident sickly boy who's got big dreams from the countryside still. And then we've got Yanagihara who's the oldest active Class A member that honestly came off as a joke when we first met him. We didn't know a whole lot about him until now. And now that we do know a little bit more about him, wow this guy's carrying a heavy burden. The imagery in this arc was so striking. To see this old man who's got to take so many medications and put on all of those pain-relief patches to play a match is a sobering thought. Maybe this is because usually in professional matches you think of a physical sport maybe where after a certain age you have to retire. Since this isn't the case with shogi, I guess you just don't think about the physical toll as much. But Yanagihara is honestly a real inspiration. All of the sashes that weigh him down as all of his friends stopped playing shogi, for him to continue playing not just for himself but also for all these friends as well, I can't even imagine the toll. And for him to come to the realization that although all of these sashes are somewhat burdens, that they're also something to have pride in and to embrace the heavy weight on his shoulders is really admirable. To love your friends that much and to carry on this legacy is something I can't yet relate to, but is definitely something to look forward to in the future I guess?

A real left fielder though was in the last episode where Rei visits his adoptive mother's house and they have this awkward relationship. It's not quite resentment, but I'm not convinced it's fondness either. It's kind of this weird limbo that was both awkward but heartwarming at the same time. The dream she had when he left and her perspective of how he grew up in their house was different from what we've seen from Kyouko, Ayumu or Rei's perspective and it was refreshing. But also sad don't get me wrong.

Overall, I felt like this season was definitely worth the watch. I wasn't disappointed by how things have turned out and progressed. If they make a third season I'll be looking for Hina and Rei's doki doki high school life together. There was so much depth and thought into the season and we've explored some exciting things throughout the show. You definitely don't have to know anything about shogi in order to fully enjoy the show. Yeah, so please if you have some time, try it out. It might seem a little slow, but it's a definite one for the soul and kokoro.

Manga Match 83 Liar x Liar

Yesterday I had a whirlwind day of going out of my comfort zone and socializing. It was mentally exhausting and I almost fell asleep on the train home, but it made me feel really great that I was able to overcome this thing that might seem like no big deal for most people. It's times like these that I really curse how bad my anxiety can get. I did a lot that day beforehand to mentally prepare, doing things like meditating, chores, and random things on my to do list, but I still had all of these useless worries. Hopefully in time I can learn to better manage these irrational anxieties.

But you're probably not here for check-ins on my mental health. You're here for manga. 

{Spoilers}

Wowowowow this was a pretty spicy one I'll have to admit. I started this one not thinking very much of it. I thought it was a cheesy title and a stupid concept. And then I ended up staying up until almost 4 AM reading it the first night. I finished all 70 ish chapters in 2 days. It was crazy. And it's honestly because lying and the consequential lies being snowballed towards disaster is just so addicting to read. It's frustrating, but also unbelievably addicting. This was lowkey like when I reviewed that True Love incest manga, except instead of actual incest it's step-siblings so it made me feel better inside for reading it. A little bit. I dunno, you can form your own opinion on step-siblings getting married and whatever, I'm not really sure how that sort of stuff works legally. 

Anyways, the story revolves around two step-siblings and their rocky relationship. Minato, our 20 year old college student, decides to take her friend Maki's old high school uniform out on the town. Tragically she runs into her step-brother Tooru who's the same age as her, and in the heat of the moment and embarrassed to be caught in a high school uniform, lies about her identity. Thus, Mina the second year high schooler is born. Tooru shockingly asks Mina out on the spot and seriously pursues her. This is definitely uncharacteristic of this guy that Minato's only known as a playboy that sleeps around and dates any girl that asks him to. And so, in her attempt to reform him, Minato plays Mina in order to demonstrate the benefits of dating one girl in a wholesome relationship. Unfortunately, along the way, she falls in love with him as herself. 

There's this whole arc of inner turmoil within Minato as she's coming to terms with her feelings for Tooru as her ex-boyfriend who she got along with so well, tries to form a rift between Minato and Tooru by calling their relationship disgusting. Obviously he only does this out of frustration and grief over how his relationship with Minato doesn't go so well, but it's a pretty painful arc. 

However, after the storm is always a rainbow. And so, Minato finally comes to terms with her love for Tooru. At the same time, she discovers that Tooru has loved Minato ever since they were children. In fact, when Minato reveals that she was Mina the whole time, he accepted the lie for what it was and loved Minato anyways. I'm not saying that this is how you should live your life by trusting liars and whatnot, but it was just a really touching scene.

Also shoutout to my girl Mika. Honestly Minato's pretty dumb. I don't know how she's gotten this far in life with how often she digs these tragic holes of lies for herself. Without Mika she surely would've crumbled a lot sooner, but Mika was always there to support her. 

My crappy synopsis was obviously super short and doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless you read the whole thing, but along the way Minato actually becomes really popular. With like 2 other guys. A sudden college debut some might say. And I think each of these separate arcs with the lies getting messier and messier and the whole thing spiraling into an unknown territory made the whole thing really interesting because you didn't have any idea where the story would go next. 

If you can handle a lot of frustration because our main girl is kind of an airhead and the tension that all of the lies and difficult situations she gets into I think this is a fantastic read. There's so much drama and so many layers to unpack. And so many fun memories that if you haven't gone to college yet, that you can look forward to in terms of finding a fun circle of people that enjoy similar interests as you. Or if you're in college or have since graduated from college, I think this is a fun manga that shows the shenanigans that we all get up to with our college friends in one way or another. There's lots of fun scenarios and characters in the manga. And I love how the mangaka chose to close out the last volume with some stories about other characters besides Minato and Tooru to give a more well-rounded feel to the series as a whole. It was good, really good.