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.

Anime ATM 62 Kuzu No Honkai

I think the first time I saw this anime was from watching this one girl's YouTube reaction channel. I honestly watched the first 2 minutes and clicked out because reaction videos aren't really my jam, but I thought I'd give the anime itself a shot. PSA this is definitely NSFW. This has some pretty adult themes and psychological issues that need to be worked through which might be a bit different from the genres of the other anime I've reviewed. AKA if you're smol plz don't watch

OMG I JUST CHECKED THE RATING OF THIS ANIME AND IT'S LITERALLY RATED R OML PLEASE DON'T WATCH THIS IF YOU'RE A CHILD

Honestly the only reason I watched this in one sitting is because in my dorm the floors alternate gender, but last night our RA put on an event inviting guys to our floor and they were all gathered in the lounge. That would've been fine except for the fact that everyone stayed in there for over 5 hours and the lounge is on the way to the bathroom and you know your girl isn't about walking around in front of boys in her robe. No way. So I was trapped in my room, unable to take my shower...for the second day in a row. I want to slam someone through a wall.

{Spoilers}

So, as I was saying before, this show is definitely marketed towards an older demographic. It revolves around this girl Hanabi and at first she seems pretty normal. She has a crush on this older guy who happens to be her neighbor, family friend, and teacher, Kanai-sensei. And Kanai-sensei unfortunately likes the music teacher Minagawa-sensei who is an actual snake. She has no remorse or empathy for any other person and has her own harem at her disposal just because she can. The BS at the end that she changed for Kanai-sensei is a complete and utter lie because he even said himself that she doesn't have to change her ways, that she could continue cheating on him and he wouldn't mind. And the only reason he liked her in the first place is because she has long hair like his mom. Oedipus complex anyone? And that's not even the most wild part because it's hinted at that he might like Hanabi too because when he and Minagawa went out for drinks, when Minagawa fell he said "Hana-chan" not Akane's name. But when Hanabi confessed he politely turned her down because he's a decent human being, at least compared to Minagawa.

If you thought that that whole thing was a mess, so was Hanabi's relationship with actually everyone. She was so weak. She found self-worth and "happiness" through the validation of other people and when she lacked that and companionship she fell into a downward spiral of depression. Please try and defend her to me. Sure she's just an ordinary high school girl who succumbed to her weaknesses and couldn't find help for her psychological issues, probably stemming from her daddy issues, just kidding that was a total shot in the dark don't kill me, and that led to this whole attention craving thing. That mixed with her lack of relationship experience which led her to believe that whatever was happening between her and Mugi was alright and the fact that Minagawa stole her first love from her all led to a wonderful mental breakdown in which she took advantage of her only friend Ecchan's love for her because she was lonely. She comes to a kind of realization when she is asked for relationship advice by two girls in her class in which it's revealed that she does have a somewhat moral compass and believes in the power of love. But this is negated when she starts going out with one of Minagawa's toy for some sort of self-validation even though Mugi said that they could actually go out. If you can't follow what I'm saying it's because I can't really believe what I've just watched.

Don't get me started on Mugi. Mugi is just a hot mess. He can see through Minagawa's complex spiderweb but still lets himself get trapped in it because she's his first real love. There was that senpai in middle school that stole his adolescence and I think that's what really messed him up. He saw physical contact as the level of intimacy people should be on, not necessarily using words. That's why he took advantage of Noriko, because he thought that all people wanted from him was just his looks and his body (Thank god Noriko woke up from her daydream though).

After 11 episodes or so, Hanabi and Mugi actually have a conversation instead of trying to get into one another's pants. They could've done that from the beginning, but really they were just dumb teenagers who both had psychological trauma and coped with it as best they could. They certainly didn't do it well and both of them have a long way to go, but at least they both know that they were looking for real love the whole time. Honestly the ED was a little misleading because it was about parallel lines, but parallel lines never intersect. It was more along the lines of intersecting lines that meet once, but never again. Or maybe the message here was about how they never did intersect because of their psychological issues.

Overall I think if you can get past the ecchi and how stupid all of them are, it's hypocritical I know because I'm just a bystander, it's a pretty good watch. It's especially fun if you like watching snakes. But the snakes don't improve and they continue being snakes. Everyone's still trying to figure out who they are. There's not really a happy, clean ending. The art was overexposed to the point where it hurt my eyes, so turn down your brightness if you watch it. This won't really make you happy watching because all you're doing is playing audience to someone else's suffering. And the storyline isn't very straightforward. And it's easy to tell that it's a manga adaptation. And their eyes usually look like they're dead, but maybe that was purposeful. I don't know, it was an interesting watch, but also a painful one. I just want to lay this one to rest.

This was such an obvious lie it brings me so much pain because it was such a toxic relationship, but that was the best they could manage? Ugh.

They're so unhealthy, but don't they look so cute? Like the couple where if you didn't know anything about them you'd say they made a good couple?

The awakening of a snake!!!

Ecchan tried her hardest :(

yEAH we could tell you've got a lot of problems

Here's some nice art that deceived me into thinking this would be pure and beautiful *bitter laughter*

Yeah, it turned out to be a mess.

Anime ATM 61 Hyouka

So, fun fact, as of the date I'm writing this post on I'll have been at school for almost an entire week. It's crazy thinking I've been on my own for such a long time-ish now, but at the same time all of the habits my family has drilled into me has stuck. I guess they did their job well, huh? Just thinking about how much I miss them makes me almost tear up, but you've got to be uncomfortable to grow right?

Another fun fact would be that I thought that there were 25 episodes in this season. Spoiler alert: there's only 22. Get REKT! Just kidding, the only one wrecked was me because I thought there would be another episode after, but there was nothing. Feelsbadman. Side note, won't it be funny looking back at this as a phase in my life where I said all of this millenial colloquial slang and in a few years it'll be irrelevant?

{Spoilers}

So I heard about this anime from my friend. It was a bit of a role reversal because usually I'm the one recommending anime to him so for him to recommend this to me was like the student becoming the teacher type situation. I mostly started this because what I assumed to be the main couple was absolutely adorable, or at least I gathered as much from the screenshots he sent me. I didn't really know what I was getting into. I've watched some similar anime with mystery in it like Haruchika, but this is definitely more of a mystery genre.

There's a ton of different arcs in here. They're all so well crafted that to describe them in words would be like someone leading you through an underwater maze blindfolded. You're holding your breath, you're surrounded by facts, and you have no idea where you're going, but Hotarou is leading you through it all. There was just something about the way that Hotarou formulated his hypotheses and explained them, along with the visuals with really funky art, that made everything really easy to understand. He made it easy to focus and be engaged. It really got the wheels turning, in a good way. Because of the sheer number of arcs I think it'd be easy for you to fall in love with each one of them. There's a variety of arcs that have varying levels of proximity to the characters like when they had to figure out the mystery behind the anthology Hyouka, which is incidentally the name of the whole series. I would have to say that the arc behind the name Hyouka and the mystery behind Chitanda's uncle was my favorite in terms of how emotionally provoking it was. It was the story of a hero to be sure, but with a twist; maybe a better way of describing it would be a figure headed hero? But honestly every arc left me breathless. They were all so well-thought out, so well-planned that I had no idea where the next arc would leave.

The absolutely most frustrating and messed up arc was the mini Valentine's arc. Satoshi is a complete jerk for breaking all of Mayaka's hard work into pieces just because he couldn't confront them. Okay, I admit that at first I thought he didn't reciprocate Mayaka's feelings because he was gay for Hotarou. I mean sometimes he would look at Hotarou with this look that was actually envy, but come on, it's just a thought. But anyways back to the mini arc. It was horrifying. It was terrible. But it was also justified in a way. These characters definitely aren't perfect. None of the main characters are. That's what makes them all the more lovable and relatable. Satoshi acknowledged that Mayaka was a wonderful girl and that he was lucky to be her love interest. But he also didn't want to sacrifice the journey he was on to bettering himself. It might sound like an excuse, but he really did want what was best for everyone, even if he did have a roundabout way of explaining it. Everyone was mad and shocked and it was honestly a really heartbreaking moment. Maybe in the future Satoshi will be able to be proud of who he's become and have a healthy mindset, but even so I hope that their relationship stays intact.

On the topic of imperfect characters, I think that's another admirable reason to enjoy this series even more. Besides the beautiful art, the two great OP's and two ED's, beyond the complexity of the mysteries and how well thought out the plot was, beyond the fun times of the Classics Club's shenanigans, was the people the story revolved around. None of them were perfect. I mean, let's start with the main protagonist: Hotarou. He seemed like he was content with his grey, energy efficient life and he was talented at deducing mysteries, insanely talented. And most importantly, he was humble about his talent even though it was the one thing he was definitely light years beyond anyone else in. Even though he tried to keep a low profile, tried to play his talent off as "just getting lucky" when Irisu-senpai called him out on his humility and called him special, you could see his perspective shift. He was shaken by it. And he made his own deduction about how class 2-F's film should end. And then he regretted it when he realized that it didn't go the way that the writer had intended it. He's definitely not the perfect detective and he beats himself up when he realizes it. He's pure and kind-hearted and when he realizes that he's capable of living a rosy high school life like his friends seem to it just makes you warm and fuzzy inside. It seems like a common theme with these characters to come off as perfect, I mean all of their facades are pretty foolproof for anyone that's not paying attention. I mean look at Chitanda. She's smart, comes from a respected family, kind, caring, loved by everyone, and tries her best. There's no flaw to be found. Except that she's chosen to be that way, or maybe she was molded to be that way because of her upbringing. She's not like most of kids that go to her school, she has to constantly be aware of how everyone views her and has to follow rules of decorum that are frankly above the heads of anyone that isn't the elite. And while that comes with its perks, it's also a shackle that ties her to this place. She doesn't have a choice in the matter. Her future's set into stone, no matter what all paths lead back to this town. So she's chosen to be optimistic and to never get mad, but that also means that she's probably had to hold in a lot in order to live the semblance of a life of freedom. And she's not the only one putting up a facade to fool people; Mayaka's doing something similar. She doesn't get as much screen time as the main two or even Satoshi I think, but in the school festival arc, that's definitely her time to shine. She had to bottle things up to keep things civil in her Manga Society, when inside she wants to just express herself. She wanted to cosplay, but she was too embarrassed to let everyone know that she was into manga and her fellow club members didn't really get that. They were hostile towards her and she tried not to rock the boat too much. Even though she seems like such a tough girl, that's definitely a front for a manga-loving, Satoshi-loving girl (heh, sorry had to put that in). Speaking of Satoshi, he's totally fake. Just kidding, he's a lost kiddo like the rest of us just trying to come to terms with himself and really try to better himself. He sees himself as a database, but honestly he's a lot more than that. He's a flamboyant ray of sunshine that underestimates himself, that lets himself be outshone by Hotarou. He definitely sells himself short; it's because he knows a lot of somewhat irrelevant trivia that they're able to solve some of the mysteries in the first place. His inferiority complex gets in the way of him actualizing his full potential and so does his belief that he's just average. All of them are so pure and lovely and so complex that it's hard not to want to give an in depth analysis like this to anyone that'll listen.

Something I found kind of odd was they had classical music as BGM. Like I'd understand if it was ya know a classical music focused anime. But it was kind of out of place. Maybe it was like a reference to Classics Club? Or maybe that's a mystery in and of itself. There's a lot to analyze if you're a fan and you wanna use that noggin to crack some Hyouka mysteries of your own. Like the mystery of Tomoe the enigma that just randomly came back from her world travel. Or why they didn't ask Eba about the ending of the mystery film. And that's just a few.

Overall I'd say you definitely have to watch this anime. This is definitely not just some fluffy shoujo or slice of life or high school anime. This has depth. It has complexity. It has great characters with so many facets to discover and observe. It's gripping and keeps you watching like 18 episodes in one sitting, not like I did that *averts eyes*. There's so much to enjoy and it's one of a kind to be sure.

P.S. I watched this on my computer because somehow school wifi works better on my laptop? So excuse if there's weird things floating around the edges

This is my life motto as well tbh

What is this roast??

Too much LSD

I had initially screenshotted these for the aesthetic and I realized that it was Hotarou unconsciously looking at life through a rose colored lens and then reverting back to his greyscale one. Well done production team well done

OFC he does!!!

Just look at this foreshadowing~

Spoiler she is actually asdfghjkl;

This arc really made me miss my sisters

OML every time she says this it's game over for Hotarou. It's his weakness, the puppy eyes Chitanda version

And this is why Hotarou and Satoshi are best friends

So this was from episode 10 and that was when things got really intense. Because Irisu-senpai is actually really complicated. Also you never get to see Tomoe's full face. It's all very full of mystery. And when Irisu is messaging Hotarou's sister the music just fit really well and it was wild. I lowkey have a theory that the sister was just orchestrating everything, that she's an even better detective than Hotarou.

Mayaka's room is my dream room

This might've been my second favorite arc

I thought Tanabe was a cool guy but then he did the whole thing and I respect him for his ingenuity, but I also kind of feel eh about him meddling at all

Awh Mayaka's face after Satoshi praises her is so pure

Where do I get an XL eggplant plush is my question

Except you're more than just a database you asdfghjkl;

AWHHHH

Omg his face. He's so fond of Chitanda it just shows on his face

the FACE of true love

The true Oujo-sama

Me every day tbh??

It took me a solid 10 minutes to calm down because it was almost a ship, but he had to be like that and I get it, but it's still ugh

T^T one day Mayaka

And we end with Hotarou's rose colored world in which this is basically a marriage proposal, but where's season 2 with them being all cute please come out with a season 2