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I like that they imprisoned her with her sword.
When I first heard about Torture Princess, I assumed it was some sort of edgy bullshit manga. Then, when I found out it's a comedy, it wasn't difficult to piece together what it's actually about. Later, when I learned it was getting an anime adaptation, I assumed it would generate a fair amount of buzz, since I had always heard the manga is popular. As it turns out, I dropped Hime-sama, "Goumon" no Jikan desu ('Tis Time for "Torture," Princess) after two episodes even though it was mostly fine.
Cordless phone.
I stopped watch Torture Princess because I assumed it would continue being mostly variations on the same basic joke. I'm sure this sort of thing can remain fresh if it's done creatively, but I'm not a huge fan of reaction-based humor to begin with. As a result, I got my fill of Torture Princess gags pretty much right away. It didn't take long for me to lose interest. There were some jokes that I liked because they did not follow the basic template of the main gag, but they weren't enough to keep me watching.
Where does she poop?
Still, I assumed the anime would be fairly popular with other viewers. And while I wouldn't call its current performance a failure, it at least doesn't seem to place highly in weekly popularity polls and whatnot. I also don't encounter much enthusiasm for the series in the corners of the Internet that I frequent. I suppose I should avoiding putting too much stock in that one particular metric, since I don't encounter much enthusiasm in those areas for BokuYaba or Frieren either, and those are my top two shows this season by a considerable margin. There's no question those two are popular, though. Torture Princess, not so much.
Posted in Hime-sama, "Goumon" no Jikan desu | Tags: Comedy, Dropped Shows, Food, Initial impressions, Manga, Season Introduction, Winter 2024 | Permanent Link
The dog still likes being on a leash despite having human intelligence.
You might expect this post to be a lament about the apparent decision to eliminate fights from the current iteration of Pretty Cure. Through four episodes, there have been no blows or searing energy beams. I've complained in the past when the franchise has reduced its signature violent content, but I'm also cognizant that there have now been 20 solid years of Precure beatdowns, so I'm not hostile to exploring other approaches. Besides, this is but one of the ways Wonderful Precure! departs from established conventions.
Go on, hug the shit out of it.
Specifically, the "pink" Cure and first to be called is a dog. And not an air-quotes dog the way Milky Rose is a rabbit, or Cure Beat is a cat, or Cure Wing is a bird. Cure Wonderful is an actual domesticated canine pet. (Well she at least also acquired a transitional human girl form at the same time.) She can also speak while in her original dog form now, too, although I discourage you from thinking too deeply about all the implications involved with a Cure who retains her original dog form and continues to do normal dog things, like go on walks. Does she still do other normal dog things? Like I said, we're probably best off not thinking about it. It's fine.
I think it's weird this cat's whiskers come out of her ears.
There's a cat, too, or will be one soon. So far, the only Cures are still the dog and her owner, but there's a cat and girl pair who are obviously due up next. There's also a rabbit and a boy who could potentially be mid-season additions as well, but I have not yet seen any confirmation that this is happening. Granted, I've not been looking either, but Pretty Cure as a franchise tends to be fairly poor at keeping future developments secret, and I'm adjacent to enough fans that I think I would have learned something by now if such plans were concrete.
I like how you're such a downer.
So how is Wonderful Precure! itself as a series? I guess it's all right. It's still too early to tell, but I can at least say I'm not discouraged by the lack of gratuitous violence. Don't get me wrong, I love me some gratuitous mahou shoujo violence, but there's room for trying something different, even if that means I need to actively avoid wondering if Cure Cat will still poop in a box or if Cure Dog will still need to wear a cone of shame while in her human form after she's spayed.
Posted in Pretty Cure (all), Wonderful Precure! | Tags: CATS, Initial impressions, Mahou Shoujo, Season Introduction, Ueda Reina, Winter 2024 | Permanent Link
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/115972798 by nyoro
< garamir> In that scene, she's blowing a monster-summoning horn to help her classmates level up. Nobody appreciates her help in this matter.
< garamir> Since she's a gamer, she power leveled her whole life and is now level 99. So her training method of "don't use safety equipment, grind dungeons solo, just heal your arm if it gets chopped off and don't be a baby about it" is not common.
I started watching Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa Ura-Boss desu ga Maou dewa Arimasen (Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord) because of the above fan art and subsequent explanation to my inquiry about it. Also, because I remembered the show stars a character named Dolkness, which is simply an incredible anime name. Okay, maybe as far as outrageous anime names go, perhaps Dolkness is not on par with something top-tier such as Chateau Dankworth, but it's still amazing. More importantly, Dolkness is attached to a show that I enjoy watching—something that can't be said of Chateau Dankworth's Koroshi Ai (Love of Kill).
The hero is late because she helped a stranger. Never help strangers.
I, for one, can't get enough of her Dolknessness. If I have any complaints at all, it's that Yumiella's internal voice doesn't sound like Power from Chainsaw Man. There's no reason why it should, but I'm amused that the possibility exists since she's voiced by Fairouz Ai. It's too bad that it would not match her character's personality. Most of the time, Yumiella is fairly laid back and generally doesn't get particularly excited. Her monotone way of speaking and her dead eyes are by no means unique traits, but I'm at least not tired of this gimmick yet.
Thigh gap.
I guess this means the various villainess-themed stories remain the last variant of isekai nonsense for which I still have any sort of appetite. I can't claim I like villainess-type isekai anime, but I do seem to end up watching a lot of them. This is not to say Akuyaku Reijou Level 99 is an underappreciated gem that I discovered late this season. (Cf. BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! from Summer 2023.) Dolknessness ~The Animation~ is all right, but it's probably not going to surprise anyone who's already developed some sort of sense as to what it's going to be like.
Posted in Akuyaku Reijou Level 99 | Tags: Initial impressions, Legs that go up to her neck, Light Novels, Magic School, Season Introduction, Winter 2024 | Permanent Link
Hard work is going to make you hungrier.
I've been hearing for some time from adjacent Internet sources how entertaining the Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon) manga is, so learning Studio Trigger would be animating the anime meant I was guaranteed to give it a try, even if I had to watch it on the Netflix. (I also continue to pay for the Netflix even though it irritates the shit out of me. Don't get me started. But I digress.) Through four episodes, it's nice—the animation in particular—but it's not really the sort of show I'd normally be watching.
Marcille looks like that because she's eating spicy food, not because she's sexually aroused.
I suppose I have at least some interest in a few cooking-related anime and manga, but it's clearly not one of the sub-genres that I'm passionate about, considering my muted reactions to fan favorites such as Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars!) and Yakitate!! Japan. Consequently, I'm really only watching the Dungeon Meshi anime because I enjoy Studio Trigger and because Marcille's reactions amuse me. I can't help but notice she gets worked up a lot more over things than Frieren, but maybe Marcille is only a little baby elf compared to Frieren.
Posted in Dungeon Meshi | Tags: Cooking, Food, Initial impressions, Season Introduction, Studio Trigger, Winter 2024 | Permanent Link
It's not a date.
Mato Seihei no Slave (localized as Chained Soldier instead of as Slave of the Magic Capital's Elite Troops) is a new anime based on the manga by the same author who wrote Akame ga Kill!. Consequently, you might expect it to be edgy nonsense (I mean that in a good way, okay), but it's more of a gratuitous fan service romp. I suppose I could characterize the manga as a guilty pleasure except I don't feel guilty about enjoying it. It's great, actually.
You're in the sort of anime where this happens, Himari. Deal with it.
Through three episodes, the anime isn't quite as good, mostly because (I suspect) this is the sort of thing that works better as manga than as anime. For one thing, there's something not right about seeing it in color—or at least in these colors. There is, also, the fan service, which does honestly come across differently animated than in manga form. Still, I'm generally in favor of gratuitous content, even if a show is forced to prepare a censored version for the delicate to go along with the uncensored version for general audiences.
See, just like Fullmetal Alchemist.
Oh, am I going to need to describe the premise? Fiiine. Chained Soldier is about women (well, teenage girls, mostly) with superpowers defending the world (well, Japan, mostly) against inhuman monsters. The leader of one of these groups has the ability to enslave these beasts, but it turns out her power works on humans, too (well, on one male human in particular, anyway). Naturally, payment is required in exchange for using this power. In principle, it's like Darker than Black (where a price is paid for using one's powers) or, uh, Fullmetal Alchemist (where, uh, you know, equivalent exchange). Same thing, honestly, except lewd.
Posted in Mato Seihei no Slave | Tags: Fan Service, Girls With Guns, Harem Comedy, Initial impressions, Manga, Plying Girls, Season Introduction, tsundere, Winter 2024 | Permanent Link
This anime bed is made of concrete.
I've been reading Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari (Tales of Wedding Rings) since it first came out a decade ago. It's honestly not an especially compelling story, but I got in at the ground floor because I like Maybe, the manga duo who also gave us Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e (To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts) and Tasogare Otome x Amnesia (Dusk Maiden of Amnesia). Wedding Rings is a fairly straightforward Hero v. Evil Menace fantasy story. It's also one of those deals where the hero's strength is bolstered by the power of polygamy. There are plenty of stories where magic abilities correspond with boner status (e.g., Dakara Boku wa, Ecchi ga Dekinai and Dokyuu Hentai HxEros, among others), but that's not quite what's going on here.
There sure has been a a lot of polygamy anime lately.
Still, the whole going-on-wife-collection-adventures thing sets the tone for what you can expect. I don't think the anime will attempt to cover the entire manga in a single cours, but I also have my doubts about the likelihood of this getting multiple seasons. Through two episodes, it's mostly just fine, although I'm less enthusiastic about it since most of what I liked about the manga is how it looks. In comparison, the Tales of Wedding Rings anime simply looks like, well, just another anime. I'm sticking with it, but I can see how anyone coming to the series with a blank slate may be somewhat unimpressed.
Posted in GIRL NEXT DOOR, Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari | Tags: Bend Her Over a Kotatsu, Built for Sin, Childhood Friend, Fan Service, GIRL NEXT DOOR, Harem Comedy, Initial impressions, Manga, Plying Girls, Romance, Season Introduction, Sex, Spoilers, tsundere, Winter 2024 | Permanent Link
I don't know what sort of voice I expected instead, but it wasn't that.
I started watching Sasaki to Pii-chan (Sasaki and Peeps) despite knowing basically nothing about it. Well, I knew Yuuki Aoi voiced a talking bird, and that was reason enough for me. And I guess I also knew someone convinced Frog-kun that it got better later. It turns out it's about a salaryman who is not at all phased that his newly acquired pet bird is a wizard from a different world. Oh, and magic also works in Japan. I guess there's no reason why it wouldn't.
You may remember me from such anime as 80,000 Gold, Etc.
Anyway, it feels as if I'm being pranked largely because of how the two leads are voiced. I'm at the point where I can't hear Tomokazu Sugita voice any character without, well, without it sounding as if it's just Tomokazu Sugita voicing a character. Additionally, Yuuki Aoi has given the bird an unexpectedly deep voice. You know how the cat in Machikado Mazoku (The Demon Girl Next Door) has a deep voice that's played for laughs? It's a similar effect, except played straight. The first episode is double-length, which is enough time to bring in the psychics who are part Japan's secret psychic government agency, and, it's like...are you putting me on?
How long have you been sitting there?
Anyway, I'm going to keep watching, and hope its focus on arbitrage diminishes a bit. I also don't want it to devolve into magic v. psychics battling. Okay, but then what do I want from Sasaki and Peeps? I suppose I want talking-bird adventures. And I suppose I'm also curious to find out how out-of-place the subplots involving the neighbor feel. I've seen people claim on the social-type media that she was an editorial addition glomming onto some sort of wayward teen girl trend, possibly inspired by HigeHiro. I see the source material (a light novel) is still ongoing, so I'm not expecting much from this anime. Maybe being elaborately pranked by it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
Posted in GIRL NEXT DOOR, Sasaki to Pii-chan | Tags: GIRL NEXT DOOR, Light Novels, Season Introduction, Seiyuu, Winter 2024 | Permanent Link
On the plus side, Ayako Doctrine invoked.
I've been buying the Mahoutsukai no Yome (The Ancient Magus’ Bride) manga for more than eight years. When I started, I didn't really think about how long I'd be reading it, let along buying it, but I do have volume 19 pre-ordered. I still enjoy it, but it's no surprise the story has evolved over that time. And when I say it has evolved, I mean it gained a magic school arc. This is also the focus of Mahoutsukai no Yome SEASON 2 Part 2, currently airing now. Seeing as how Chise is still a teenager, it does make sense to end her prolonged truancy. It's also providing more opportunities for her to interact with humans her age.
How you feel about Philomela will influence how you feel about the magic school arc.
Unfortunately, I—as the reader and viewer observing Chise's life of sorcery and mystical weirdness—don't care so much about the other humans her age. I mean, they're fine. A lot of them have had shitty lives, and some of them have exasperating hangups, as one might expect of humans in general and human teenagers in particular, but I don't find the sources of these tensions quite as engaging as one might expect. So yeah, I'm still watching the anime, and I'm still buying the manga, and I'm even still enjoying them both, but I do sometimes wish I could see what Silky has been up to instead.
Posted in Mahō Tsukai no Yome | Tags: 16-year-old love interests, Autumn 2023, AYAKO DOCTRINE, Magic School, Manga, May-December Romances, Season Introduction, Sequels | Permanent Link
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