Anime ATM 71 Himouto! Umaru-chan R

I started this anime as my "treat yo self during winter break show" even though, technically, we hadn't even taken our finals before break anyways but like *bitter laughter* Anyways I guess you could call it my "treat myself for waking up at 5 everyday for like 12 for work bc I need money as a poor affffff college student." Wow I wish I could get money off of binge watching anime, but sadly that's not a thing yet T^T I guess next best thing would be making money off this blog? Ahaha in my dreams bois. I watched all of this one Youtuber's videos and now I'm starting to talk like them. I'm losing myself. I also just took my last final today so you know your girl's not in a good place.

{How can there be spoilers in a fuwa fuwa slice of life *cough DDLC cough* anime?}

Alrighty, so if you haven't watched the first season of Umaru I'd say it'd be better if you watched the first season to get some insight into say something like why Kirie calls Umaru sensei or why Sylphin doesn't know that Umaru is UMR, but other than those sorts of details you don't really have to. Although, thinking about it, why would you watched the second season before the first one? Eh, but who am I to judge? *thinks back to when I tried to get into Fate/Stay Night (who knows what order those are supposed to go in? I went through so many blog posts and such on how I should watch it, but I never got a clear answer so I watched like 4 episodes and abandoned it sorrymasen)*

I'd say that this season definitely got a lot deeper than I was expecting. The first season was a lot of really cute slice of life scenes and Umaru just being Umaru, but this season we got into a variety of different themes and miniature arcs. You got to see a lot of character development as the main four, Umaru, Sylphin, Kirie, and Ebina, got closer together as friends and started to hang out more. Of course there's a lot of cute and calming slice of life aspects of it like the summer fireworks festival or ringing in the new year together, but there's some nice little themes and nuances going on. For example, Kirie has this internal turmoil and self-doubt that anyone with social awkwardness or social anxiety feels on the daily with doubts of if their friends actually like them and if they can trust the people around them to support their dreams. As time goes on she starts to realize that her friends do genuinely like her and that she's surrounded by people that will support her pure af dream to be a storybook author. The theme of friendship really carries through in all of them as Taihei observes that Umaru has changed from being a lazy hamster that just wants to stay home and game into someone that genuinely enjoys going out and playing with her friends. As far as Ebina goes, she's been the constant pure character during the whole duration of the show and she continues to be the one that you can't help but love and support, especially in her crush on Taihei a little bit. Things got especially emotional between Sylphin and Umaru/UMR. Like the mini arc of the two of them going to the old shopping mall with the tiny amusement park on the rooftop. Sylphin knew that the place was closing down, but she wanted to make happy memories with UMR before it closed down. And in that moment Umaru realized that the memories that they made together would outlive any location, that no matter how much their surroundings change, the feelings and memories they experience together will be immortalized. I know that's super duper cheesy and an overused trope I guess in slice of life anime, but I think it's a nice sentiment to keep in your heart no matter how times are changing. I'm such an emotional sock it's disgusting (lol do you get the ref?).

Another theme that kind of goes too far, but is also kind of touching as someone that has siblings is the theme of family. You see a lot of different and kind of unclear relationships between each of these girls and their older brothers. All of them have the older brother-younger sister relationship, but each have their own dynamics. Like Ebina and her brother who left to chase his dream and now she's been searching for him in Tokyo. It makes you wonder why he never contacts his family and leaves them to worry about him. Or Kirie and Bomba. Their dynamic makes it seem like they're not close, but from what I can see, it seems like they actually are really fond of each other. Bomba wants to dote on Kirie, and though Kirie is really awkward, it seems like she doesn't actually hate him, but is instead unsure of maybe how to express her feelings. Sylphin and Alex have an interesting dynamic. Because it seems like when they were younger they were close, though Alex did leave her to live in Japan, but now it seems like they've got the perfect otaku sibling dynamic. And Umaru and Taihei have the most followed relationship as this whole show revolves around Umaru. I think their dynamic has evolved over time with Umaru realizing how much her brother does for her, and also how much Taihei's life revolves around Umaru. If she didn't leave a mess or was adept at cooking, he would never have anything to do. Eventually Umaru realizes that she can do things for her brother, like get him a Christmas present, that his nagging isn't for nothing, like playing in moderation with her hamsters, and that he's extremely kind. To be honest, the whole sibling jealousy of Hikari and Umaru over Taihei reminded me of when my siblings were young and I wanted a lot of attention. I wasn't neglected or anything, but it just made me realize that no matter how unrealistic it is for someone to be smart while living off of cola and potato chips and playing Wii, there's something to be found, some commentary on the human condition that slice of life does so well. j

One thing I have to note is the mild incestuous vibes I got. Maybe it's a cultural difference between Japanese and American culture, but something didn't really sit right with like the OP or maybe how Ebina saying Taihei reminded her of her brother, but she also had romantic interest in him? I dunno, something about the nuances were a bit off. But I don't think it really detracted from the anime as a whole. Just something to note.

Another kind of minor thing that struck me was Taihei. He was the top of his class and studied super hard, but he didn't have a dream which is why he ended up as a corporate worker. I mean there's definitely nothing wrong with earning an honest living like that, but I guess in my mind I always thought that if you were smart you could do anything. But I guess you need to be smart and have a vision for the future in order to move forward. That really got me thinking about why I'm trying to get a degree and what I should strive for. I'm still relatively young, so I think it's foolish to work blindly and hard without a goal. Don't let the system steal your soul~

Overall I'd say it's a really fun and lighthearted show. I really enjoyed the OP and ED. Just the quirky little Umaru ways are super fun and I was singing parts of the ED to myself for a while. It's really cute and has a lot of different characters with different personalities to enjoy. It's not hard to get into at all and it leaves you feeling really happy. I feel like since most of my Anime ATM's are slice of life anyways you could say they all end the same way, but they're just nice to watch and soothe your soul with. Yep. That's all from me today. I hope your day, your week, your month, your year, your life is going well and that it only continues to get better with a dream in mind and a lot of laughter.

OMF I just had to screenshot this bc it's true about every sports anime. Reminds me of KnB

When someone gets you a present and you appreciate it, but you didn't really need a 5 LB chocolate bar???

Same. TBH while I'm at uni I tend to crave a lot of burgers...but beef is energy inefficient oof

I wish that I could play Wii and become successful in life ahah

I'm sorry, this is Umaru. I didn't come here for deep life contemplation

Um, bread is on the food chain. Leave her alone. Also Hikari's eyes like this lowkey freak me out. They remind me of the goldfish people in Kiznaiver

Ahahaha...will college teach me how to not be awkward?

Take care~

Anime ATM 52 Orange

Do you like the new title? I thought about it while I was driving as a way to sort of "dole out" my opinions and thoughts on anime with an appropriate label kinda like an ATM machine. I came up with this all on my own and I'm quite irrationally proud of it.

Funnily enough I had already read the entire manga (in less than a week if I remember correctly) a couple years back and it was the first manga I read that actually brought me to tears. I remember feeling a mixture of distraught, relief, pain, and just a bittersweet wistfulness for the same chance to change my life. Not that anything that important or changeable could've happened if a letter from my 10 years older suddenly appeared. Because it took me on such an emotional roller coaster it's been one of my favorites and one of my treasures. That's why I was so hyped for the anime adaptation. And I know that I'm definitely late on the game, but when this came out I was looking for a part time job (at the convenience store lol jk) and working on college applications so sorry that this is actually so behind the hype. Also as an added bonus, an acquaintance of mine really enjoyed the live action adaptation of this, but I'm not one for live adaptations so if you're curious you could go watch it and tell me your thoughts.

The funny thing is is that if I had had a manga review blog before I could've written a long, in-depth analysis that I had before. I had this long revelation in a chat with my friend who has no idea what the heck I'm talking about when I read/watch anything and rant to him about it and it was a really long and passionate rant. But I no longer have that rant, unless I want to scroll through over 10,000 messages looking for it. Oh well, just know that I once had a deep and burning fire in my soul.

{Spoilers}

One of the problems I often have with books that are turned into movies is that there's certain things that are lost in translation or are overlooked and not put in due to time or budget constraints. Personally I felt that Orange was a perfect example of how anime adaptations should be. It was just how I remembered the manga to be, but enhanced with voices, motion, and color. 

From the get-go I was already so invested in Kakeru and Naho. And when I saw Suwa it just reminded me of why I found the manga so sad. But I think the story itself gives a satisfactory solution: parallel worlds. In a way, this is a bit of a sci fi piece, but only just a little bit. They dabble with the idea of black holes and time travel and if the passage of time was something that could be fragmented into an endless list of side-by-side occurring possibilities or if there was only one future and fate that could never be overwritten. I see it as the creator believed in the different parallel worlds more because that lent itself to the possibility and the popular question of "what if?". It was beautiful in it's own way how there were so many flashbacks between the 26 year old group and the 16 year old group. I don't remember that many being in the manga, but if there was then excuse my memory, I'm getting old. If you tried to look at the anime from the point of view of someone watching it for the first time with no context it would seem overwhelming and confusing, but that's fun in it's own way. It gives you time to puzzle through what's happening and the changes that happen in 10 years that makes the two sets of people different. 

If I'm being completely honest with you I really enjoyed the compromise that parallel worlds gave. There was a story where Suwa got his happy ending with Naho and another where Kakeru ends up living and making Naho happy. The friendship between everyone is just out of this world. I know that even without the letters they would've been just as close, but a little more naive and careless. And it's their spontaneous and carefree nature that leads to Kakeru permanently ending his life. With the letters it made the original group of five a little bit more self-aware and also a bit more awkward. But ultimately I'd say those letters served their purpose and led to a happily ever after. They were able to be proactive and take charge. You could argue that all this did was change someone else's life, but it's kind of comforting that if in a parallel world something different happened, that a different course was taken. But in all of the cases, there were certain things that stayed the same, like how Kakeru brought the other five together as a call to action, to fight for the happiness of their friend. Sorry, this is probably very convoluted, but I just have to express these thoughts before I lose them. I think I take the Suwa approach; if it's happened in another life no need to replicate it in another, let another person have his shot. It makes me sad because this Suwa's feelings were real and they should be validated, but Kakeru really needed someone to be his pillar of support. Suwa is the best boy (in this anime at least).

If the bond between the six of them wasn't as strong as it was, it wouldn't have made as much of an impact. I think the playful dynamic between all of them solidified the bond and gave you something to root for if you weren't already invested in Naho x Kakeru or Naho x Suwa. Take for example Azusa and Hagita, together the two of them were excellent comic relief, especially Hagita. In the episode they went to the shrine and Naho and Kakeru commented on each others scarves and Hagita chimed in that he was also wearing a scarf or how Kakeru let Naho listen to his music but not Hagita both of which were funny instances and a nice touch. In addition the dynamic between Takako and Azusa in relation to Naho was something of mothers watching their child grow, like when Naho didn't understand that Kakeru wanted to hold hands with her (super cute ugh I love fluff like that) or when they were super happy that Kakeru got his reward for coming in first in the relay :3. 

I wanna just add though that the OP and ED aren't great. The OP feels a little bit out of place as if they were trying to do a nice artsy montage, but with the music and the leaf overlays it didn't really vibe with me. And the ED made me a bit sentimental, but it wasn't knock your socks off, blow your brains out kind of good. And if you're shallow and you care about art you might be vaguely bothered by the art style. When I watched the first episode with my friends they said the eyes were creepy, but I think the art style's just grown on me so it looks normal? Haha no one said anime was realistic.

This definitely isn't your regular fluffy slice of life high school anime. It's got drama. It's got love triangles. It's got dry humor, aka Hagita. It's got angst. It's got a bit of sci fi and the butterfly effect sprinkled in. There's a bit of a lot of different things which makes it an excellent watch and equally wonderful read. I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a different kind of high school anime and perhaps a thought provoking one as well. Also the last episode was really rare and refreshing. First off, the season is 13 episodes long instead of 12 and secondly the thirteenth episode is close to 40 minutes! It's crazy cool, jam packed with drama and feels, and just leaves the sensation of a bittersweet kiss fading from your lips (not that I've actually felt that, but it's like in movies when you see it you kinda know how it feels? Just me? Kay).

Okay this just kept playing throughout one episode and I really don't understand what's happening but it's really funny

Look at him sadly smiling and hiding all his pain. Ugh he tried so hard to keep it in and preserve the happiness his friendship with everyone gave him and then tried to tell his Tokyo friends but they were mean to him and that montage of his troubled mind episode was so painful ugh.

This just made me so angry because he started dating that senpai for her looks and she dated him for his reputation and status and it just left a sour taste in my mouth because of how unhealthy they were and reminded me, and should remind everyone, to date someone because of something else besides their physical features or trying to gain something if you can.

Montage of Takako and Azu being the absolute best friends to Naho and how great of a duo they are

Hagita is such an underrated character. You might go as far to say that he's unnecessary. But he's the reason Kakeru didn't take his bike. He helped to make Kakeru laugh. He's Azu's love interest. He was a part of that super great relay race. He should be more recognized. He even kind of protested against changing anything in case it messed everything up, just in case there wasn't a parallel world and instead just the one which made him seem like the least kind, but as seen in the first picture he cares as deeply for Kakeru as the other four. Plus his 26 year old self is super cute without glasses. >3<

Montage for Suwa because he's so precious. Look at the bottom picture when his beloved Naho thanks him and he's so touched you can see his tears and it shows that real men cry and show their feelings. And the middle one where he's trying to reassure Taka and Azu that he's okay with letting Kakeru have Naho in this reality. And the top one where he wants to hug Naho and confess, but he also prioritizes Kakeru and he's just the most selfless and amazing person.

Romantic isn't it? It makes me really happy that Naho could be happy with Kakeru. *satisfied*

This was really touching. As I head off to college I hope my friends and I still stay as friends and don't grow distant. Wishful thinking, I know *watery smile*

The sports episode was super tense, let's be honest, but it was also super funny because the boys didn't wanna be honest about how kawaii their girls were 

Signing off with this one because it's adorable

Manga Ramble 18 Chocolate Cosmos

Whenever my parents come into my room while I blog I feel really awkward. Because even though I'm going to college in the fall and I have a job and I'm by no means the proverbial child living in their parents' basement, I still feel like it when I blog. Heh.

One thing I noticed when it comes to older manga is that they're more predictable and cliche. Well, in some senses. If I had to define this manga in a single phrase I'd say that it's Daytime Shooting Star but with a happy ending if you know what I mean. While I'm definitely not saying anything against Daytime Shooting Star because I frickin loved that manga, the ending surely shook me to the core. In this manga the protagonist Sayuki has a lot of romantic idealizations that don't come true because she has a strict appearance. However when she's on the beach she has a chance encounter with a handsome stranger who awkwardly enough...goes to her school...and is her teacher. How she didn't recognize that dude as her teacher I have no idea, but hey he's cute. But everyone else seems to think he's cute as well which makes it hard for her to get close to him. Even though she makes every effort to get close to him, it seems like he will never reciprocate her feelings. Except he does. Because this is entirely unrealistic because the only thing that sets her apart from the other girls is that encounter on the beach. But I suppose all shoujo manga romances have to be based upon something similar anyways. To feed the fantasies of all the teenage girls. And so they get together and live happily ever after. That's the easy summary anyways.

Of course there's some maybe love triangles and some hints at other relationships. For example it seems like Sayuki's senpai or her senpai's older sister might've been Katsuya's past lover or perhaps even current love interest. This suspicion only lasts a chapter to be frank. A more subtle but more constant love conflict is the maybe love between Yuushi and Sayuki with the whole childhood trope and all. But that's addressed with Sayuki laying her old feelings for Yuushi to rest and Yuushi being the great guy he is and saying that he's okay with her dating another guy. It would've been a cute relationship. But it also would've been like Daytime Shooting Star and leave me scarred forever. They had me there for a second, they really did.

To address why I thought this was like Daytime Shooting Star but with a better ending it has to do with the premise and how it was resolved. While there was the whole drama with other people being involved in the romance, it boiled down to the teacher and the student. And while there was the whole drama with what if they were found out that was quickly resolved with Yuushi's sacrifice. So it was a more simplified version of the plot. Not to mention that the teacher and student actually ended up together. I'm still amazed at that. I thought the whole reason they avoid the route of the teacher and student actually ending up together is legal reasons. But huh go figure! (Just kidding, it's just speculation since I've read other manga where the teacher and student end up together, it's just a more rare outcome is all)

Overall it's a pretty short read. It's only 16 chapters long. The plot is easy to follow and the character mentality is easy to relate to. It's simplistic and ends happily. Not too shabby at all. I recommend reading this if you're in the mood for something lighter and happy.

This was just a little extra, but it was so funny and innocent I had to add it in.

Yuushi shenanigans

Yuushi x Hagiwara sensei

"Yuushi is very pure" :') smol

"I was shy in middle school" Man I love Yuushi

Lookit this happily ever after

Breaking the fourth wall and it's glorious. It feels like when you stick until the end of the movie and there's a little silly outtake. Those are some of my favorites.

Anime Blurb 43 Honobono Log

Oh boy, oh boy. While perusing Youtube for admittedly too long, I stumbled upon a video about anime that are lesser known. And man am I glad I did. This anime was so surprisingly refreshing and light that I couldn't help but genuinely smile.

{There's no way to have spoilers if there's no real plot}

So when you take this anime at face value it doesn't look like much. It's 10 episodes exactly 2 minutes apiece. And while that doesn't seem like a lot, the creators have a way to make it seem like exactly enough time to tell an endearing little blurb. It's very slice of life in a short time frame. It follows the lives of different couples and just a little scene about their relationship or there's also this family with the cutest little girl. It's really quite simple, but there's just something so endearing about its simple drawing style. There isn't very much background drawing at all so you're totally focused on the character interactions and their little gestures. It's so simple that a child could enjoy this, but it's also complex enough that someone older could get a little something out of it. For example they could realize there are different ways to approach your significant other when they're upset, that it's best to just enjoy the little things in life, or to just want to spend time with each other just sharing an umbrella in the rain.

Honestly, in this case the simplicity works so well. My favorite was the little girl and her gum drops. My heart melted at her childish antics and her voice actor was so cute!! A close second would be the girl that had just broken up and her friend coming over to comfort her. At face value again they seem so simple and basic, but there are so many layers to all of these. The execution of being able to transport someone in 2 minutes is magical. It's almost like taking a 10 minute nap and feeling like you've slept for hours. Miraculous, rare, but when it happens it's the best feeling.

If you couldn't already tell I'd highly recommend it. Altogether it's like watching one episode of anime. There's really nothing to lose here. It's a bunch of short stories and no way you could be left at a cliffhanger. It's sweet, simple, satisfying.

You get this basic screenshot both to intrigue you and also if I were to screenshot any actual scene I'd give away most of the episode which is no fun