Anime ATM 101 Kimetsu no Yaiba

Confession time: I put off watching Demon Slayer until maybe three weeks ago because it's rated R on MAL and the last time I watched something rated R on MAL was ReZero and I couldn't sleep for days after. And because I love myself and didn't want to not be able to sleep again I refrained. I was pretty adamant about not watching it, but I was eventually persuaded because my housemates said they would watch it with me.

{Spoilers, but so many memes are out there you've probably seen the equivalent of the anime}

For the first couple of episodes, my housemates would say "warning" before any blood showed up. And for the first half of the season I was super disturbed. But I figured that you know I'm 20 years old now so I should be able to handle it now. I'm a strong independent woman and I can for sure watch gore and demons no big deallll. And even though I watched the entirety of this season, I can't say that I could handle anything more gore-y. Already this was kind of hard to watch at some points. *wheeze*

So, as we all probably know at this point, the concept of Demon Slayer is that there's this boy named Tanjiro who's really hardworking and wholesome. One day he goes to town to sell firewood to provide for his family and comes home to his whole family slaughtered and his sister Nezuko who "survived" but is now a demon. RIP the most cute checkered family :(

With a crazed Nezuko in tow, Tanjiro runs into Giyu who's the first demon slayer he's encountered. Because apparently in this world, demons aren't commonly encountered and most people don't even know about their existence. With Giyu trying to kill the only surviving member of Tanjiro's family, Tanjiro stands up against him to protect her and earns Giyu's respect I guess? So then off Tanjiro and Nezuko go to Urokodaki's house for Tanjiro to train to be a demon slayer. All the while Tanjiro's training for the Final Selection where he would go, as the name would suggest, to the final trial for him to become an official demon slayer to avenge his family.

The arc with Urokodaki and all of the children that he trained to go to the Final Selection that died was a really well-emotionally developed story line. It showed the anguish and difficulty people that want to become demon slayers must take and how it's not without risk. And I think that even though the demons are so ugly, they juxtapose the demon slayers so well in making their feats even more impressive. (LOL if this sounds terrible it's because I'm exhausted and my apartmentmates are playing MarioKart behind me)

One of the charms of Demon Slayer is how well-developed all of the characters are. Even though Tanjiro could come off as "holier than thou" because he's so wholesome and genuinely compassionate towards everyone around him, it wasn't ever annoying or overbearing. This is probably because the man's work ethic is actually insane. And the way that he cares for Nezuko is really amazing like he just carries her in the wooden box on his back for miles and miles even when he's injured.

Because the season is 26 episodes, I kinda feel reluctant to go through each of the arcs. But they linked nicely together with only a few filler episodes in between that felt more like a welcome reprieve for our heroes to rest up while they trained for the next battle instead of a complete waste of time. And every time they were in the middle of an arc and the episodes would end it would be almost a given that there was a cliffhanger. That's one of the reasons I was happy to binge the show because the cliffhangers weren't too bad on my part. Especially during the spider arc that went on for what seemed like forever, it was handy that all of the episodes were out by the time I started watching.

As I finish up the season, V has actually just started it (honestly one of the only times in this day and age that I'll have watched a show before him) and he says that the first two episodes outline a plot very similar to Jojo. Personally I haven't watched Jojo, but even so, this is amazing.

Especially the final fight with one of the Lower 12 when it was Tanjiro and Nezuko against Rui, visually the whole fight sequence was amazing. In general, the way that they animated the show was so engaging and beautiful, it was hard to tear your eyes away from the screen.

As all shounen hero anime go, a lot of this show was about personal growth and development to defeat the bad guy. However, it was so interesting to watch with all of the interesting and unique characters like Inosuke with his pig head and Zenitsu with his awesome lightning power but cowardly nature. And the Hashima! They're so cool! Everyone is honestly so cool in this show because of their power/specialty. So no I didn't get bored with the endless cycle of personal growth, probably because Tanjiro is so hardworking and the gore kept me on my toes.

Overall, I think this was the most hyped anime of the season and it was well-deserved. It also has this season's best girl, cutie Nezuko who really stole the show. But just the way that they would animate the characters with vacant eyes were super cute as well hehe. And Kanao!! Such a cutie!! It was a good balance of cool powers and fight sequences, scary gore scenes, and engaging characters.

It was refreshing to watch. It's been a long time since I thoroughly enjoyed a show and couldn't put it down this way. It reminded me once again of why I fell in love with and started watching copious amounts of anime in the first place.

Honestly I'm kind of disappointed in how unable I've become in conveying how amazing this show was and I should've allowed myself more time to just soak in how impactful the show was, but alas I just jumped in headfirst. So, just know that even if my review is quite brief and all over the place, I genuinely enjoyed watching Demon Slayer. It was especially cute to watch it together with my housemates hehe.

Anime ATM 99 My Hero Academia S1

Hallo everynyan! It's Christmas Day today, but I'm writing this waaaaay in advance. It's currently the first of August and I'm just procrastinating on my summary document for my internship. But Merry Christmas anyways if you celebrate and otherwise Happy Holidays!

{Spoilers}

After telling myself I would watch BnHA for who knows how long (maybe 2 years at this point?) I finally sat my butt down and binged it in like two days. It wasn't super hard since it was only 13 episodes and each of the episodes nicely led into the next which made it really easy to binge. The thing is with overhyped anime is that sometimes I get overhyped myself for how epic the anime is going to be and then when I watch it it's not all that people talked it up to be. For sure it was an amazing anime that kept me on my toes, but after seeing so many protagonists in hero stories having to work their way up, it kinda felt the same as the others. This is not to say that my opinion is a hard and fast one, feel absolutely free to change my mind lol I'm flexible, but I'm just saying it didn't absolutely knock my socks off. Then again, my specialty isn't in shounen hero shows really anyways? So honestly just discount my opinion. It's not hate though so please no flames this holiday season!

As we all know at this point, Boku no Hero Academia is about a little boy named Izuku. He lives in a world where abilities known as Quirks materialize in people in their childhood. Unlike the majority of the population, Izuku was born Quirk-less and is the butt of basically everyone's jokes. This young boy is heartbroken as he dreams of being a great superhero like his idol All Might. He wants to go to the prestigious superhero school called UA, but his chances of getting in Quirk-less are slim.

Being the fanboy he is, Izuku constantly watches different heroes and writes down all of his observations in notebooks he keeps on heroes. One day he runs into some trouble and is saved by his idol All Might. Desperate to get to know him better, Izuku ends up discovering All Might's secret. He's actually a critically injured hero that can only transform into his super buff self for 3 hours before having to revert back to his scrawny normie self. He tells Izuku that no matter what he does, without a Quirk there's no way that Izuku could become a hero. Heartbroken, Izuku almost gives up on his dream. However, he finds his frienemy Bakugo caught in the middle of a villain attack and rushes in to save him while other heroes stand back helpless. His heroic action inspired All Might to train young Izuku to inherit his powers.

One thing led to another and Izuku is now a student in UA's hero course where he's with a bunch of other super cool kids that have crazy powers like levitation or literally having your calves turn into engines. And each of their Quirks has limitations that keep them from being super OP...for now.

Most of the story takes place inside UA so there's no slice of life to be found. Not even any after school going to karaoke for these kids :(

The plot thickens as Izuku tries to control the power All Might has given him and everyone comes face-to-face with a group of villains that threaten the peace. Because it wouldn't be a spicy enough plot in a superhero comic if there wasn't a cohort of villains that are a looming threat.

I think as I watch the other seasons on BnHA it'll be interesting to see how things unfold in terms of how All Might's power decreases, how Izuku deals with his insane power, and how each of the characters introduced will continue to grow as heroes. One kind of gripe I have with these kinds of shows is the sheer number of characters. It's overwhelming when each of them is given their own little spotlight to shine, and then inevitably their backstories and their full character's won't be fleshed out. That in itself is pretty disappointing. Then there's the whole deal with names haha. I thought I was pretty good with names, but honestly there are too many characters each with their own Quirk (I can remember the Quirks better than their names though). To memorize them all would be insane. Props to you if you've done it though just after the first season.

In general I wouldn't say that the hype is undeserved. I do think that it was an engaging and very stimulating watch with the battle sequences especially. I'm curious to see how Bakugo changes as a character since he seems especially villainous I guess.

Overall I would recommend the series just for the hype if you're into that. Just know that if you're a completionist like me, there's 3 more seasons currently to watch so you've got that to look forward to/to be overwhelmed by. It wasn't anything special though. It's your hero story with a formulaic villain enemy and underdog hero trying to make it. What makes it more interesting is everyone's Quirks and how they're used. I look forward to how the plot continues to unfold and how the characters grow, but if you didn't get "glowing review" vibes from this, I hope you kinda get the gist of why it's not like that.

Anime ATM 89 Cells at Work

Hello hello I'm back atcha with another anime review. To be honest, I finished this anime more than three weeks ago and I remember very little of it, heck I even forgot to review it at all because of midterms, but here I am now, on the other side of midterms, with a sub-par review just for Y-O-U!

As all my anime reviews nowadays start, I watching this anime because of V. I have absolutely no idea how he has time to watch anime what with his major and such, but that's a problem to contemplate at another time. Honestly most of my brainpower when not thinking about the classes I'm currently taking is focused on thinking about my major/prospective minors and perhaps studying abroad? I'm also gunning to graduate in three years, so really we'll just have to see. I love feeling absolutely overwhelmed by work :)

{Spoilers, but it's more of an educational anime meant to teach you about human body biology and specialized cells in your body so there's not a real plot}

So this anime, like my spoiler notification tells you, is pretty plotless. It's not like my usual slice of life anime that have no plot. This is more because it's about teaching you about like macrophages and killer T cells and fun ways to memorize these different cells and their functions rather than the tradition by-the-textbook method. I think in terms of an effective form of education it did a pretty darn good job as an overview of the cells in your body as well as the different viruses and bacteria and afflictions that your body goes through like food poisoning, heat stroke, blood transfusions, and cancer. I could also imagine this as a good reminder to be kind to your body and to appreciate it for all of the hard work it does for you. Imagining all of those little personified cells inside your body fighting against infections and trying to keep your body alive is pretty endearing and is a pretty good motivation to keep treasuring your body.

Overall, it's just super pure. All of the cells have such enigmatic personalities that makes it fun to watch. Like if you've seen any clips of Cells at Work it'd probably be of the platelets which are so pure or of the main character red blood cells. Oooof did you know that she's a sickle cell? That fact is pretty sad, but she's such a pure girl. Besides the characters themselves though, it wasn't a very dynamic watch in that it was the same sort of series format of something like everything is fine until a problem in the body arises and then the cells have to band together to fix the problem and in the end the body is saved by the hard work of the cells. I was talking about this show with my roommates and friends and the ones that finished it said that they did so because it was really pure, and the ones that dropped it said it was too repetitive. So there's two kinds of viewpoints here. If you're not taking any cellular biology/introduction to biology classes and you're not looking for just a show to relax to, this show might not be for you. Otherwise though I think it's a pretty cute and chill watch.

{Haha the wifi in my new dorm is absolute trash so I had to watch a lot of this in like 480p which isn't really conducive for good anime screenshots, so sorry there's no screenshots this time either}

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 79 Gabriel DropOut

It's the first week of spring quarter and I'm already dying under the stress and anxiety that come along with a fresh start and no idea what to do with my future. In terms of academics I have a lot of struggles, but my personal life is definitely one to be grateful for. Honestly, because it's the beginning of the quarter I don't feel much motivation to do anything as the workload hasn't hit hard yet, but it's looming. 

Anyways, Gabriel DropOut! V had recommended it to me for the longest time and I've always put it off because the screenshots he sent me we alright, but didn't give me enough motivation to actually watch it. So I put it off, but with the new quarter starting I wanted a nice fluffy 12 episode anime to start out with. And it definitely doesn't disappoint in terms of the fluffy factor. Also there was this one point in which V and A both asked me whether Vigne or Satania was the better girl and I'm happy to report back that I've come to the conclusion that Vigne is best girl.

{There are no spoilers in slice of life let's be real}

If I had to say what this show is a mashup of I'd say it's got the Umaru vibe with the girl who has two different personalities, one being a lazy homebody and the other one being perfection personified, encompassed by the character Gabriel. And it's also got the bizarre Nichijou vibe with the slice of life content with the home life, school life, reoccurring shticks, and an endearing friendship dynamic. And it's got a little bit of that parodied fantasy life with demons being not so evil and angels being not so pure that Konosuba kind of has with its misleading and comedic characters. Now that I look at that I think I've summarized the whole of Gabriel DropOut if I'm being honest.

One thing that was reoccurring and was the premise of a lot of the irony present in this series was the stereotypical worldview of angels and demons. As angels you would expect Gabriel and Raphiel to be perfect and as demons you would expect Vigne and Satania to be conniving and evil. However, to everyone's surprise and to comedy lovers' delight, this is not the case. In fact to classify the four of them into their given archetypes would be pigeonholing their entire personalities. It's laughable that a self-proclaimed archdemon Satania would be scared of a dog that steals her melon bread every day (one of the more frequent reoccurring shticks) and that she would fall for the tricks of a demonic infomercial channel. It's endearing how pure and caring Vigne is, though she's supposed to be a demon. It's a bit strange seeing Raphi and her sadistic side taking pleasure in Satania's foolishness. And it's the most jarring to see the introduction of the series with Gabriel graduating at the top of her class and starting off her studies in the human world off swimmingly and then fall into the world of gaming and microtransactions and living a life of decadence. I think the most pleasure in watching a show like this beyond all of times Satania becomes the butt of everyone's jokes and laughter is how human Gabriel DropOut makes these characters. If they followed the stereotypes and the one dimensionality that could've been this show, it wouldn't have been as comedic or ironically funny as it ended up being.

Honestly speaking though, it's just a nice show to unwind with. There's not a lot of thinking involved and it just makes you feel really wholesome and pure watching it. Unfortunately I don't have any screenshots. With these kinds of shows I feel like most of the time I just want to screenshot the jokes or their faces, but it's not really as funny out of context than it is when you're watching each arc and laughing along with them in a live action manner. So for the sake of that I decided it'd be better for you just to watch it on your own and laugh about how relatable the characters are and enjoy each of the arcs at your own convenience. 

I'd recommend watching this if you're not really looking for a high commitment anime. This kind of anime is one I'd say is best to watch when you need a little bit of happiness in your life. There's no real lesson to be learned, but it's just nice watching a show with so many relatable moments and cute girls lol. I'd recommend watching with a friend actually, they don't have to be into anime or anything, but it's a lighthearted watch that'd be fun to watch with others. I say that partly because I watched two episodes with E and then another 3 or so with V and it was a really nice bonding experience. Ye. 

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!