You really should have researched your opponents at least a little bit first.

I'm pretty stoked Kakegurui received a second cours. Like the anime's first season, it's a fairly straightforward adaptation of the manga. As you might expect, the visuals are not quite as detailed as in the manga, but the show does benefit from a good deal of scenery chewing by the voice cast. Although the manga is a tough act to follow, the anime is still quite striking. Naturally, regardless of the medium, the absurd gambling-obsessed school and the ridiculous stakes at risk remain quite entertaining.

Tone it down just a little bit, Yumeko.

There are eight volumes of the English-language licensed manga out so far. The printed volumes themselves are a little larger than usual, as with the Golden Kamuy and the Tales of Wedding Rings books. Accordingly, they are a little more expensive, but still worth it to me. The Mary-centric spin-off manga is also licensed, incidentally. I haven't been reading that one, but I'll probably start. After all, Mary is Best Girl.

Have gun. Will travel.

The Summer 2019 anime season is upon us. First out the gate is Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e (To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts), an adaptation of an ongoing manga by the author/artist duo known as Maybe. Unlike the manga, the entire first episode and nearly all of the second episode provide background information for the primary characters first. The tail end of the second episode picks up where the first chapter of the manga actually begins, and the preview for episode three at least suggests the show will now be more straightforward about adapting the manga. I generally prefer when an anime isn't bound to its source material scene-for-scene. Being too rigid can be counterproductive from a storytelling perspective simply because anime, manga, and text have different advantages and limitations. You'd think this would be painfully obvious, but anime adaptations fail often enough that I'm genuinely relieved the MAPPA production seems to have put at least a little thought into this.

Also a childhood-friend romance.

To be honest, the Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e manga itself is merely all right. I have purchased all eight volumes currently available from Vertical, and I do enjoy it, but I'm also predisposed to like most of Maybe's work. The mix of seriousness and humor work for me, although the anime probably won't necessarily reproduce the more comic expressions that I enjoy from the manga. Incidentally, I also enjoy Maybe's other ongoing manga, Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari (Tales of Wedding Rings), a double-isekai harem comedy with plenty of cheesecake and blue balls. The manga has been available via the Crunchyroll's manga jobbie for some time now, but hard copies published by Yen Press are also in print.

The glow-in-the dark covers are a nice touch.

The Dimension W anime ran for 12 episodes during the Winter 2016 anime season. I liked it a lot more than I was expecting—specifically, good enough that I started buying the manga. It took four years, but I have the final (16th) volume now. This took a bit longer than I would have liked, but the manga itself was still ongoing when the anime ended. (The manga completed in June 2019.) Ideally, there would be less time between when an anime ends and when its source material wraps up. I, for one, would much rather watch original anime or adaptations of properties that have already concluded, but those types of shows do seem to be in the minority. At least four years no longer seems like an extraordinary amount of time to wait after an anime stops airing before finding out how the series ends. I'm not sure if that's necessarily a good thing, though. I have to admit it's a little troubling to notice how fast years seem to whip by now.

Iwanaga is not a chuuni. She's probably just re-adjusting her eye.

Although I really enjoyed the In/Spectre (Kyokō Suiri, or Invented Inference) anime, I was surprised at long the "Steel Lady Nanase" arc lasted. (Specifically, it takes up the entire rest of the cours once it starts.) I'm reading the manga now, and these volumes include afterwords by the original author that shed light on the situation.

Despite appearance, Kuro is also not a chuuni. He is tsundere for his own girlfriend, though.

Kyokou Suiri was originally one book. This received a manga adaptation which spanned six volumes. The author claims he gave the mangaka essentially full control over the visuals and a lot of latitude to apply appropriate changes while adapting the book to manga form. This hands-off approach seems to have worked, as the manga proved popular enough to inspire the original author to write more stories (while lamenting the Invented Inference title no longer really fit the subject matter of the later material).

Iwanaga is wearing a school uniform because one of the stories takes place while she was in high school.

Notably, the original author (Shirodaira Kyo) wrote the subsequent material as short stories, rather than collaborating with the mangaka (Katase Chasiba) to produce scripts for the manga, reasoning that doing things differently at this point could inadvertently disrupt the chemistry of whatever it was that made the manga adaptation of the original book turn out so well. Well, he wasn't wrong. The five volumes following the "Steel Lady Nanase" arc are at least as good, if not better.

Rikka's not dead, she just looks like that.

As you may have guessed, the In/Spectre anime is itself an adaptation of the manga, and not a separate adaptation of the original book (which I've not had an opportunity to read). As adaptations go, it's very close, really only moving the arc with the giant snake so that it takes place before the Steel Lady Nanase arc instead of after it. I don't know if there are any plans to produce a sequel to the anime, but there is certainly enough source material to support one. All of the subsequent stories in the volumes I've read are shorter than the Steel Lady Nanase one, but at least three of them are long enough to span multiple episodes. Thankfully, the longest of these concluded at the end of volume 11, instead of with a cliffhanger leaving the reader waiting until the release of volume 12—that one won't be out until the end of August.

Despite offering a double-action mode, the original CZ 75
only has a single-action safety instead of a decocker.

Originally, I was mostly ambivalent about Rico from the Gunslinger Girl anime, but I liked her character a lot more after reading the manga. In any case, I am a big fan of her CZ 75 pistol, though. This is a full-size all-steel service sidearm. It's not quite as heavy as a Colt 1911 Government Model, nor as large as the Beretta 92 series, but it is pretty big compared to more contemporary alloy or polymer options, such as the many compact striker-fired handguns that seem to be more popular now. CZ's own offering have diversified quite a bit in the decades since the 75's introduction.

I like the turtleneck.

In the context of Gunslinger Girl, Rico's CZ 75 is an older "pre-B" model identifiable by the shape of its hammer and the rounder trigger guard. There are transitional models, so the surest way to tell the difference is the absence of a roll pin in the slide. This change was introduced with the CZ 75B model as part of a redesign to add an internal safety that blocks the firing pin unless the trigger is also pulled. (This should prevent the gun from discharging if dropped on its hammer, or if a sear fails, etc.)

Rico also has a threaded barrel for her CZ.

Rico somewhat implausibly hides her CZ 75 under her coat while working in Florence in episode seven. I say implausibly because Rico is a pretty small girl, and I would expect a pistol that big to pooch out a bit, but I guess this is what makes her a pro. In comparison, Triela's ability to conceal a Sig Sauer P230SL under her jacket is much more realistic.

I can see why you might not think so, but Rico says she likes it here.

I think it's also worth noting that—in both the manga and the anime—Rico appears to have intact memories of her life before becoming a cyborg. I think this is unique to her among all of the girls, and it's not clear to me why. Possibly I've just forgotten, but I don't believe it was ever explained. It's not particularly important, I suppose, but it does make her different from the other girls.

She does get beat a lot, though.

Somehow, I've now written four "guns of Gunslinger Girl" posts for this blog. In addition to Triela's P230 mentioned above, I also have posts for Henrietta's P90 and Triela's shotgun. I should probably get around to re-watching the show at some point.

You sure seem pleased about your incredibly ineffective attempt at hiding.

I don't remember how I first encountered Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu (The Dangers in My Heart), but summaries of the manga set it up for failure. First of all, it's a middle school romance depicted from the male protagonist's point of view, and he seems obsessed with murder fantasies? That ought to be three strikes right there. Nevertheless, I'm really glad I gave it a chance and trusted in the strength of its reputation. Appropriately, the series is about subverting expectations and not rushing to judgment based on one's superficial impressions of others. There's no small irony here that the anime may fall victim to this very practice among potential viewers who might turn away too quickly.

This turned to be a lot funnier than I was expecting.

BokuYaba is also about not letting insecurity limit one's own potential. As it turns out, the male lead is not some Potato-kun. Nor is he some sort of mental case. Rather, Kyoutarou pumps up his chuuni levels and tries to role play as a psycho. However, he does this internally. He tells himself these things as a defense mechanism to explain why he's a pariah at school. But he's not outwardly different enough to actually be an outcast. His classmates haven't rejected him; he's merely withdrawn from them. He's not an edgelord; he's a cringelord who's too self-critical. Anna's inadvertent intrusion into his self-described sanctuary away from other people is the catalyst for the changes in how he perceives himself and others.

I like how Yamada popped into this scene seemingly out of nowhere like an actual ghost.

Here, too, is where I was afraid Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu would stumble. There is no shortage of anime and manga involving some TOP FUEL GENKI beauty who, for no clear reason, takes an aggressive liking to a painfully introverted and cowardly schmuck who ends up being an incredibly irritating point-of-view character. Thankfully, The Dangers in My Heart is not one of this lot. The friendship that develops between Kyoutarou and Anna feels natural and relies heavily on interactions that are shown rather than described. The characters in this series are insightful and often intuit that what those around them say (or are unable to say) and what they mean don't always align. The series refreshingly avoids plots based on stupid misunderstandings.

Tiny pictures are the way of love.

I'm not sure how far the BokuYaba anime will advance, but I expect it would require a two-cours run to catch up to with the manga. After all, there are more than 100 chapters already. The first two episodes of the anime covered the first 11 of these, so maybe the anime will adapt about half or two-thirds of what's out so far? I suppose that's not a bad amount. It certainly includes a number of highlights where characters have revelations about things they suddenly see with more clarity. I'm consistently impressed by how good the manga is at depicting these types of moments. I also like the anime adaptation so far, so I'm hopeful it will prove adept in these specific areas as well.

Power is great.

Chainsaw Man (the manga) first caught my attention via a flood of Reze fan art years ago. I didn't know who that was, so I Googled the character and crashed straight into spoilers. I didn't really care, because I don't generally read shounen manga. Consequently, my first real exposure to the title came from its anime. I enjoyed it, but I lacked context for the complaints I kept seeing about it. I wasn't even able to determine if those anime complaints from manga fans were widespread, or if they were due to an overly vocal but ultimately small segment of readers.

She's not wrong.

After watching the anime (which didn't even get far enough to introduce Reze, by the way), I uncharacteristically went back and read all of the manga and now I'm caught up with weekly-ish releases. The manga now ("part two") feels a lot different compared to the manga before, and I'm once again seeing a variety of complaints from fans who want it to be more like how it was before. I can't tell this time either if I'm only encountering the gripes of a loud minority, but at least I have context for it now. As far as how I view the manga, I suppose it departs from the stereotypes that I typically associate with shounen manga? Maybe that's why I still enjoy it and the new characters. All you Reze fanatics are mental cases, though. She's not that good.