Anime ATM 108 My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Fun fact, the manga this anime was based on was my introduction into the subgenre of shoujo/josei isekai. This was either the first or one of the first plots I discovered with this sort of concept and I fell in love. That's why when I heard it was going to be adapted into an anime I was super excited. In fact, when I saw that it was airing during finals week, I was super tempted to watch it and forget all about my obligations, but I refrained. Instead I watched lots of clips on Youtube that people were posting. Honestly, that was both a good and bad decision. Good because I didn't just binge watch all of the episodes that were currently out and sacrifice my grades. Bad because lots of those clips just featured the highlights of the episodes and since I've already read the manga which covers everything in the anime so far, nothing was super novel. It was really nice to see all of the characters brought to life.

Overall, it was a pretty good adaptation. It's definitely got that otome game, shoujo sparkle flair to it. And if you turn your brain off of all the cringy parts or the fact that some of the lines in the show are just so that everyone gets a line in a scene or just so that nothing is ambiguous, it's a really nice show. But some parts are a little bit too self-explanatory or it's just to give a certain character more screen time. Also, since they're otome game characters, their backstories pretty much follow the cookie cutter otome game character's background story and character so there's no real surprises. What I'm saying is that it was a really nice and cutesy show, but there was no real spice. And as I was watching, i realized that you know what? It's okay to not be super over the top and have all these crazy subplots going on. Especially since the whole concept itself of an otaku girl being reincarnated into a game as the villainess instead of the heroine is pretty unexpected. That paired with the fact that Katarina is seriously Disney princess material; she's super kind, hardworking, pretty, ditsy to a fault, loyal, courageous and almost any other naturally attractive quality, makes it enjoyable to watch in and of itself.

Also, I should mention I watched 9 episodes in one day and then finished it off in the next day. It was that addictive. Honestly speaking I think the first episode was the best, but I think it was the best just because I had been anticipating watching it for so long. It's like when you're super hungry so your food tastes extra good, not necessarily because the food itself is out of this world. This isn't to take away anything at all from the anime. The concept of it is amazing. It's great sometimes to take a step away from this world and escape for a little while; especially with the state of the world today. It was nice to take a break from job searching. It's getting kind of exhausting trying to sell myself.

Second favorite episode might be episode 6 which was all about summer break. LOL even though I complain so much about things not having a plot, somehow I really liked that episode. But they're all good in their own way of course. Just some wholesome show with an accidental reverse harem :')

Anime ATM 106 Asobi Asobase

Truthfully I got really lazy and almost forgot I watched this show altogether. Good thing it's the first thing that pops up on my "Plan to Watch" list on MAL. 

Nowadays what gets me to watch anime/read manga is when clips or screengrabs are recommended to me on IG or Youtube. Otherwise I haven't really been watching much LOL I'm always too distracted by Animal Crossing or job searching. Very sad. Oh, also I've graduated from college so theoretically I should have more time to watch anime, but that hasn't been the case so far. I think I've just been really anxious over adult things like the looming start of paying back college loans and the fact that there aren't a lot of jobs I'm qualified to do. But I'm sure things will work out eventually. 

Asobi Asobase is definitely a breath of fresh air and a nice escape from the everyday troubles of life. The humor is pretty ridiculous. It's kind of like Nichijou on crack. But also kind of scary. It follows a main trio of girls: Hanako, Olivia, and Kasumi. They're part of the Pastime Club which isn't really a club because they don't have enough people, but they have fun together doing things like kendama or playing in a kiddie pool inside. There's a lot of inhuman screaming that goes on, mostly from Hanako and a lot of the times I found myself turning off my brain just to watch. Not in a bad way, but just in a "it's necessary to suspend your belief and knowledge of reality" in order to really enjoy this show. At least, that's what I felt when I started watching. I'm definitely not confident in saying anything beyond that this is a comedy anime of middle school girls doing interesting things. 

If you like really strange humor and you enjoy slice of life antics where there's no real plot, but just lots of crackhead behaviors exhibited, this would be a good anime for you. Maybe don't watch it out loud though, someone might be really disturbed by Hanako's inhuman screams. 

Anime ATM 102 Tsuki ga Kirei

Well, we can thank the corona virus for one thing. Since we're in social distancing/quarantine/self-isolation/shelter in place or whatever you want to call it, I've had a lot of free time this spring break. Of course since we're not going back to physical university and I've moved back home indefinitely, truly I've had a lot of time to contemplate whether or not I should keep posting on this blog. Because I schedule these to come out every week, actually I haven't been writing blog posts for somewhere over 3-ish months? That's a little scary isn't it? And actually I've been finishing some manga and webtoons that I've been following, but I never really wrote a blog post about them just because I felt like I had nothing really interesting or valuable to add to the conversation. However, I remembered recently that the reason I started this blog was more so for me to document what I watched and what my feelings were for myself. And so, I probably won't update this blog weekly, but rather just whenever I finish a series and I want to talk about it? Or we'll have to see. Maybe because of the corona virus I'll be really bored and just watch lots of stuff I want to blog about. Also, I'm grateful that we've come so far that most people have forgotten about this cringy blog. Phew.

Anyways, here we go with another Anime ATM! 

{Spoilers, but it's just really fluffy romance so you know what'll happen approximately}

Okay so recollect your feelings and sentiments from middle school. You're awkward. You don't know what you're going to do with your future. You have big aspirations but don't know what to do with them. You're not quite mature enough to be considered a full-fledged teenager or young adult, but you're also not a baby. 

Now, transport your middle school self to Japanese middle school with the same sentiments and you're in the middle of 2 love triangles. And that's Tsuki ga Kirei: The Synopsis. You're welcome.

Just kidding, in all seriousness I think it encapsulates what it means to grow up as an adolescent and not really know what you're doing. It's a really sweet romance between two unlikely middle school classmates and their awkward and mellow relationship. And then there's 2 love triangles with an unrequited love for each of them. Yikes. 

So there's Akane who's this really shy and anxious middle schooler. She's on the track and field team because she really enjoys running. On the track she seems really cool and graceful, but off the track she's super anxious and easily embarrassed. 

And then there's Kotarou. He's a soft-spoken, gentle kind of guy that's lost in his head a lot. He thinks in quotes from serious classical literature authors and sticks by what those teach him about life and love. He aspires to be like these authors and also writes serious literature for writing contests, although the results are often disappointing. 

The two fall in love despite not having a whole lot in common. Or rather, Kotarou confesses to Akane out of the blue after exchanging a few words and having a few interactions. And then Akane agrees, but I can't remember if she ever said she liked him back. She just said that she wanted to talk to him more...which is close enough? 

And their whole relationship highlights some of the troubles you have when you're in middle school and you don't want anyone to know you're dating so you keep it a secret, but also you can't really meet each other because you normally wouldn't have anything to do with one another but love is a funny thing. Also you're both middle school students so you can't go on legitimate dates because neither of you have money. 

But despite all of this, the show is really endearing. I think it's pretty true to the realities that middle school romance has to come to terms with and it's overall really sweet. 

The one thing I didn't really like was Akane's track friend Chinatsu. This girl was so pushy and insistent on confessing to Kotarou for closure even though she could tell it made Akane uncomfortable. And just the whole thing whenever she would interact with the two of them like in the amusement park episode, that was really bad. But also, I think if you were in a similar situation, you might have a different opinion and be able to empathize with Chinatsu. But even this was pretty realistic because if your friend does fall in love with the same guy, it's not always pretty. Thank goodness Akane was mature about it and didn't turn the whole show into a soap opera. 

One kind of random thing I enjoyed about the show was all of the little short clips at the end of some of the episodes. They played after the ED and showed other characters and their little side stories which I found to be endearing. 

I chose this anime as the first one to watch after a long time because it had a pretty high MAL rating. i will say that the scenery B-roll shots were beautiful and I enjoyed how they told a full story going from middle school romance and then at the very end showing through their LINE messages how they stayed together and ended up getting married, but I'm confused on how it got such a high score. I would say it's really cute and pretty realistic (idk though I'm no love expert so :) ) but I'm not sure I would recommend it just because I feel like there's more engaging romance stories out there? But I mean romance doesn't always have to be engaging, exciting, or a whirlwind romance. Some people prefer when it's more of a slow-burn which I totally get. In that case, I think that you would really enjoy it. 

One other thing, if you do end up watching the anime, please keep an eye on Akane's drawstring knapsack. I swear in every episode it's a different size. But maybe I'm just crazy. 

Okay, bye! Until next time~

Anime ATM 91 Itsudatte Bokura no Koi wa 10 cm Datta

So we've moved back into the dorms and for some reason it feels more sad than when I first moved into these dorms for the year. Probably because I saw my family for such a long and uninterrupted period of time. That, plus the fact that I watched the Black Mirror movie made me both sad and scared at the same time. What better way to remedy this dual-negative feeling than to watch some shoujo?

{Spoilers, but not really because it's such a short shoujo series}

So first of all, this series is only 6 episodes with each episode being your standard 23 minutes. So that should already give you an idea of how easy it is to binge if you're like me hehe. And obviously you can't expect a whole lot in this 6 episodes, I mean you can only flesh out characters so much in this little amount of screen time, but what they do give you is pretty standard.

The basic story line goes something like this: there's a group of three boys in the Movie Club shooting their graduation film project and there's a group of three girls in the Art Club and there's mutual love between all three pairs. No love triangles here folks. All six of them are graduating soon. The story revolves mostly around one main couple: Haruki and Miou, our beautiful spring couple. As many high schoolers in shoujo are, these two are in mutual love, but are too awkward to realize. This story goes along with their gradual romantic relationship progression as well as an unexpected, but extremely foreshadowed twist. When Miou was small, she almost drowned in a river, only to be saved by someone. She can't remember who it was and she isn't allowed to meet him up until the last summer of high school. Delighted to finally meet this hero who saved her life, Miou ends up in front of the Serizawa family grave and meets the realization that the man who saved her was Haruki's older brother. This led to an immovable grief and guilt within Miou and she shut herself off from everyone. However, she is able to overcome this guilt through her friends' support and can finally face Haruki who was battling his own doubts as well.

I can't relate too much to this scenario, but if you're a younger sibling and you've got someone you really look up to, maybe this is something you're familiar with. You idolize your older sibling so much that you end up following what they do and end up cultivating a passion for something that questionable wasn't even of your own volition. Or that's how it'd be if you didn't get the whole story. And that's addressed in the series when prompted with the question "Why can't you have the same dream as your older sibling?" which is pretty valid. And I'll leave it at that because it's a solid stand-alone point.

You know though, their sibling relationship was super cute.

But once these individual characters have overcome these personal hurdles, it's time to graduate high school and embark on future endeavors. There's nothing quite as liberating and saddening as graduating high school. The tracks have been lifted and you're free to blaze new trails for yourself (in a very American exceptionalism and buying into the whole idea of moving westward because of manifest destiny ya know). And that leaves Haruki off to pursue film in America and Miou with her dreams lying in Japan. The two separate and if it wasn't your traditional shoujo you would have doubts of if they would stay together beyond these high school years. Hehe, but it is your traditional shoujo so of course after actualizing their dreams, they reunited and lived happily ever after.

asdfghjkl; this scene really got me. It's full of their dreams that have nothing to do with one another except for that small corner. But is that one feeling going to last those 7 years they're apart?

One thing I really enjoyed about the series was how serene it was. It had its ups and downs yes with the characters' emotions turning into a storm at some points, but those scenes where Miou and Haruki were sitting on the stairs and just sketching out ideas and illustrations side-by-side and other kind o mundane moments, there would be this serenity that would just be present in those moments. And it was really quite calming. I think as life gets more hectic, we tend to appreciate these moments more for their simplicity and presence rather than to be wowed by big things. Or maybe I'm just an old soul lol.

If you're looking for a short and sweet watch that isn't a waste of your time like other short series are, I think this could be a good fit. It's definitely a good fix for if you're craving that sweet shoujo feel and if you just want to reminisce on high school life and stuff like that. It's not anything super new or novel, but sometimes you just need that traditional shoujo stuff.

Anime ATM 80 Karakai Jouzu no Takagi

If you look at any list of anyone's top 10 shoujo anime I've probably watched it. And so I asked V what fluffy anime he's watched recently in order to perhaps satiate my need for fluffy things. In the process of watching this I realized that as much as I like shoujo and slice of life, I've been avoiding shows with actual plot which is rather disappointing. So I'll probably watch something with actual substance one of these days. Who knows when though because school is becoming more of a chore T^T

{Once I finished writing this I realized how much it starts repeating when all I review is slice of life. RIP}

{LOL no spoilers bc slice of life}

This show is definitely a blend of Nichijou and Momofuri. It's got that playful and innocent nature that is most of Momofuri, while still having a toned down version of the eccentric nature of Nichijou. The show revolves around two groups of people in middle school. One of them is a boy and a girl, Nishikata and Takagi and the other is a trio of friends Sanae, Mina, and Yukari. Sanae, Mina and Yukari portray more of the traditional slice of life, comedy, and school life aspect of the show. They are often the comedy relief of the show and are often doing random things, mostly at Mina's expense. The three of them have a timeless quality that you can find steadfast through the genre.

The more interesting aspect of this show I found was the dynamic between Nishikata and Takagi. Takagi incessantly teases Nishikata in and out of class. At one part it gave me a little bit of Tonari no Seki kun vibes when Nishikata was making a jack-in-the-box to try and shock Takagi, only for it to backfire in his face quite literally. Takagi often takes advantage of how easy it is to read Nishikata and uses that as well as his short-sightedness to prank him. As someone older than these kids and seeing the antics of middle schoolers it's easy to see how Takagi is more mature and definitely likes Nishikata, whereas Nishikata doesn't really understand his feelings and instead focuses on trying to oust Takagi at her game of teasing him. That's basically the whole series. It's a beautiful thing really, to see their friendship grow and subtly progress throughout the show. 

One thing I find funny is that usually they're in English class when all of this happens. And a bulk of the show actually happens before and after school with Nishikata and Takagi walking together. And it's also funny seeing the two sides of middle school life, the kind of romantic life with teasing the people you like and also the childish fun that you have with your friends. It's pretty nostalgic thinking back to those middle school days.

Overall, if you're looking for a fluffy 12 episode anime this is it. It's got a lot of doki-doki moments, as well as, ironically, a shoujo parody inside, which is pretty funny considering this definitely has shoujo vibes. Or perhaps it isn't shoujo since it's from Nishikata's perspective, but instead in a more general sense it's just romantic. It's also relatable and heartwarming all at once. Just listen to the OP and if you're anything like me you'll probably be hooked. Fingers crossed anyways that you enjoy~

Me thinking about everything I've ever wasted time on. Honestly Mina is me. She's the type of person to try something new and it usually turns of disgusting just for the experience. :( whenever I order a new drink it usually turns out disgusting and sad, but it was an interesting experience I can never get back, which in its own way is valuable as well (me trying to justify buying so many expensive drinks or clothing that I do not enjoy but like trying lol)

RIP when people catch you doing embarrassing things and commence teasing you about it for about two thirds of an eternity

Mina's pretty dramatic, but at the same time this is really relatable. I remember at the end of my summer break, as I was finishing packing for college I realized that summer break wasn't coming back, that even when I come back from college I'm just going to work and go to summer school in order to graduation, so it was a pretty sobering experience realizing that that was the end of basically my childhood. Not to be dramatic or anything, but in essence that's what happened. :( I miss being a kid.

I present to you: the Evolution of Takagi and Nishikata's Relationship (abridged)

It's kind of painful how clueless Nishikata is sometimes

I think it's cute how towards the end they started showing more of how Takagi felt. Because before we just had to sort of infer from the instinct that when a girl teases a guy at that age it's a good sign that she likes him, especially since she always talks to basically only him and knows him pretty darn well. But it's just super cute seeing her as well, that her heart is also racing and it's not just her playing with him, but also because she genuinely likes him as well.

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 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 64 Tsure x dure Children

The manga's still going on, but I couldn't help but watch the anime once it was finished for the season. I just feel so completely wholesome and fulfilled after watching it. I know that probably sounds ridiculous, but there's just something so cute about the whole thing.

{There can't be spoilers if everything ends happily ever after with no plot twists and all your ships set sail right?}

Every episode is comprised of smaller episodes that follow the manga's format where every short chapter features one pair and whatever they're getting up to. It's not really organized in any other way besides that. I think that lends itself to being more engaging as you get a taste of the different dynamics between the different couples, but also makes it harder to form connections of fondness for them beyond a shallow level. But of course there's nothing wrong with that. Especially when all the couples are so cute. There's honestly no couple that I dislike. All of them have their problems and they're never portrayed like the perfect couple. They have problems with communication, with pressure about pacing, and overall just the discomfort that comes with having no experience. It's this portrayal of innocence that makes it so cute to watch, just witnessing their first springs and the different ways their romance unfolds. I don't want to get into the specifics of each couple because that completely ruins the point of you watching it since I don't give any explicit spoilers so I just think you should watch it and bathe yourself in the purity that is this show.

I can't say that it was the best quality anime in terms of like art or music budget. There was no ED, and the OP was alright, but this is understandable considering every episode is around 12 minutes anyways. The timing of the episodes is dangerous because it's so easy to just binge it all. Not like I did that...of course not. I'm a respectable, responsible college student. Ahaha okay don't follow my example, but it is an extremely easy watch. I was really in it just for the cute relationships. I had this stupid smile plastered on my face for most of those two or so hours. It was a good use of time I assure you.

Overall I definitely recommend you watch it. There's no stress. It's a happy time. It's so pure and there's so much awkwardness that just makes life seem like it's not that bad and you can keep going with your life. And there's guaranteed to be a character like you in there. It's got some good representation of different people in different types of relationships like the secretly jealous ones, the ones that go through a lot of misunderstands, ones with a bad sense of timing. And it's in perfect sync with how relationships nowadays are especially with smartphones and texting. Ya know, the hip and cool stuff. It's just really really really charming. 

OMG look at his face so pure ugh

asdfghjkl; how could he just not know??

T^T friendship is so close yet so far from what she wanted

How does badger badger mushroom even relate??

 

Why did I relate so much to this sequence?

Relationship goals. TBH if I were to be in a relationship I'd want to have a dynamic like this.

His friend is such a savage, but at the same time the actual best wingman besides Yo-chan

HE'S SO CRINGE WORTHY BUT SO RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY

This is gonna be me I swear

Me @ all my friends

Me when my friends tell me about awk occurrences (especially since we all started college at different places :') ok that actually made me really sad Imma shut up now)

Why are you still here? Go watch it!

Anime ATM 63 Konbini Kareshi

Let this be a lesson to you all that newer doesn't mean better. If you told me that this anime came out in the early 2000's, to be quite frank I would believe you. It just wasn't a pleasant experience. If you told me that this was your all-time favorite anime then I would immediately recommend you watch more. This isn't to bash on your preferences, I'm just trying to expand your horizons.

This was part of my beginning of college binge. Nothing much has been going on, I think I took all easy classes this quarter which was a mistake I didn't realize until like right now, so I've just been chilling and watching a lot of anime. I think I'm going to join the anime club on campus so you might get some reviews in the future that don't have screenshots or not as many because in club we watch anime too so...yeah. Besides that I'm kind of lost on the whole college scene~ (<--that was such fake cheerfulness, I apologize in advance)

{Spoilers, but like not really???}

When I read a little online blurb about this it seemed really lighthearted anbd pure, a great recovery anime from the disturbance I recieved from Kuzu no Honkai. Unfortunately to me it read more as a bland series rather than something fresh and fun. I was under the impression that it might be a set of different stories, but instead it revolved around two main couples. The other couples interacted on an extremely shallow level and left a lot up to your own inference that they ended up together and lived happily ever after. Honestly the characters themselves were so shallow and inconsistent that I had to google their names. It's also because three of their last names started with M: Mishima, Mihashi, and Mashiki. So the main pairings were Mishima x Mashiki and Mihashi x Honda. And that would've been alright if their characters were consistent and somewhat novel. But they weren't. Mishimi was your run of the mill shy protagonist that seems very caring and concerned, but somewhere along the way he just got a lot more stoic. There were a lot of scenes with just staring interspersed with a lot of blushing smiles. And he was fixated on the Merprince book. Mashiki was your run of the mill female protagonist who's a bit ditzy, super kind and cheerful, and she's secretly sick. *cough* Nagisa from Clannad *cough* Just kidding that's obviously not the only one where this scenario occurs, but it just seemed very convenient and it didn't go into a lot of depth because usually if you had a sibling who died you'd have a lot of trauma surrounding the incident, but Mashiki seemed pretty fine until her armor broke down, if you're trying to validate them. Again with the characters that are pretty cookie cutter and standard is Mihashi. She's your typical soft tsundere and this one kind of makes sense because she literally is drawing all her romantic experience from the shoujo manga she reads. So one point for these people. And then Honda is that sporty, flirty guy that seems to have a lot of fun, but has a dark and edgy past aka he doesn't recognize his mom's remarriage and runs away from it. There's not a whole lot of depth. 

Honestly if you asked me what I was watching it was a whole lot of fluff, a thrown together plot, and not a whole lot of substance to watch. It was kind of painful to be honest. It wasn't what I was expecting and there wasn't any super big shockers except for Mashiki's twin's death and how that was Mishima's shallow first love as a kindergartner. Whoopee. Maybe I'm being too harsh on it, but I really can't find a reason as to why you'd want to watch this anime over many others that have the same-ish premise, minus like all the scenes at the konbini, executed in a better fashion and with deeper characters. Don't kill the messenger, these are just my scrub opinions. So, watch this if you want to fight me on how bad or good you thought it was, but I'd say you're better off finding another one to watch.

Hmm..this made me kinda happy. What if the whole anime was this style?? Omg trippy

*snickers* the best scene though

Eh, it's cute I guess?

He's so selfish, but I guess it comes from his mom remarrying without asking him. But honestly he just liked her because she has different expressions and was kinda interesting anyways so I don't really approve of this relationship??

Focus on school!

This just doesn't do it for me

I mean I guess this is kinda cute out of context if you didn't watch the painfully slow/inconsistent development

The way they panned out in this scene was totally strange and different from the rest of the series. I mean there was a lot of face panning, but this was just weird.

Study!!!

See? If you just thought this you'd come to a similar conclusion as me. It's too bad really that it happened like this.