big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

[lilboocorsola]

...In sadly "related" news:

Kyoto Animation fire: Arson attack at Japan anime studio kills 33

[Doppleganger]

Nakanohito Genome and Fire Force sound like they're set in the same universe, because the same voice actors play major roles. It's really surreal.

[Doppleganger]

Vinland Saga

A legendary manga makes for a really good anime. It's very gripping.

[Doppleganger]

Fire Force's direction seemed really familiar. It felt like Akiyuki Shinbo/AKA SHAFT work.

I looked it up. Not Shinbo. But one of his disciples, and the guy behind Mekakucity Actors.

This anime is like the lost sibling of Bakemonogatari.

[Loki]

Are You Lost?

A silly anime about four high school girls stranded on a deserted island trying to survive. One of them is Bear Grylls. It feels like a Discovery Survival Reality Show but replace Disovery and Reality Show with anime girls. The show is lacking in imparting survival knowledge to the audience, which feels like a huge loss. It's very basic and vague. Like, they say you need to stay out of the heat or potentially die as quickly as three hours, but they don't show how to build the shelter, a shelter just gets built. Dangerously, they make it seem easy to survive. The bulk of it is grossing out the audience with eating bugs or skinning and preparing a rabbit for consumption and other survival stuff.

[Doppleganger]

Five centimeters per second

I am physically repulsed by this movie. While it has beautiful visuals, the direction is jarring and the story is gross.

Rating: BAD

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Five centimeters per second

I am physically repulsed by this movie. While it has beautiful visuals, the direction is jarring and the story is gross.

Rating: BAD

What makes you say so? I think it's kinda slow and navel-gazing myself (which is rather disappointing since it was the first thing I wanted to check out once I had access to high-speed internet - specifically for the gorgeous visuals), but I'm curious what your thoughts were while watching.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

What makes you say so? I think it's kinda slow and navel-gazing myself (which is rather disappointing since it was the first thing I wanted to check out once I had access to high-speed internet - specifically for the gorgeous visuals), but I'm curious what your thoughts were while watching.

Visually:

The first problem was that the first story was disorienting, constantly changing perspective and backgrounds. While the visuals were very beautiful, they're the kind of thing that the audience needs to get soak in. Constantly swapping through such detail like a slideshow made me dizzy.

I also had a problem with the understated anime faces of the main characters being a sharp contrast to the hyper romanticized backgrounds. It clashed badly. Kimi no na Wa. and Ghibli films blended the characters better in the background, so they don't feel like cardboard cutouts superimposed on a photograph.

Story:

I thought the final act was repulsive. It is basically NTR, based on the fact that Tohno was in a dead-end salaryman job and Akari had basically forgotten him. Also, that it was the girl, not the boy, who moved on in the relationship.

The first act - if we could call these almost unrelated stories with similar named characters acts - established that Tohno/Akari were special people. They were drawn to each other due to being constantly shuffled between schools and unable to form meaningful friendships. Special enough to maintain contact with one another using the post office. Special enough to travel through train delays and snow to see each other.

Act II - for an inexplicable reason, Tohno is writing SMS to Akari but doesn't send them. It's not clear if he has no one to send them to, or if he is simply chickening out. He is clearly still focused on her. The rocketship is supposed to represent something out of reach - for both Tohno (Akari) and Kaede (Tohno).

In the final act, Akari has forgotten Tohno and has been banging another man. Gross. This isn't even necessarily real life, so get this NTR crack out of my movie! Meanwhile, Tohno is practically suicidal, dreaming of Akari but donating his body to another woman (which is cruel) and in a mundane job that he quits. Not pictured is the guy jumps in front of the train at the very end of the movie, after seeing Akari isn't there.

I'm all for tragedy. But tragedy is usually set in motion by some tragic flaw. There is no personality flaw here. Distance and correspondence might not even be the antagonist force like in Kimi no Na Wa. because of the texts that Tohno was writing in Act II. Moreover, the first act established that the two characters are special.

What's the moral here? Is it mocking When Harry Met Sally, saying that love and friendship cannot overcome the sex thing? Movies need to spell stuff out. This wasn't spelled out.

Back to NTR. NTR isn't just "cucking", it's also used as a substitute for actual drama or story resolution. That's all I'm left feeling after this. Confusion as to how Tohno ended up like he did, and anger at Akari's callous betrayal after the movie introduced her as a special person with a love that could transcend time and geography, then reintroducing her in act III as banging another man.

I hate NTR and wasn't expecting it in this. Then again, this predates the common use of the term, so it likely wasn't recognized as a cheap fill-in for proper writing that NTR usually is. I'm so sick of seeing this stupid emasculation drama in everything now, I didn't need it surprise popping up in a feature film.

My advice: don't watch this, watch Pokemon the Movie: Everyone's Story instead. That is a movie with the whimsy and artistry of a Ghibli film, and somehow manages to resolve seven character stories in a shorter time than Shinkai couldn't resolve TWO.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Story:

I thought the final act was repulsive. It is basically NTR, based on the fact that Tohno was in a dead-end salaryman job and Akari had basically forgotten him. Also, that it was the girl, not the boy, who moved on in the relationship.

The first act - if we could call these almost unrelated stories with similar named characters acts - established that Tohno/Akari were special people. They were drawn to each other due to being constantly shuffled between schools and unable to form meaningful friendships. Special enough to maintain contact with one another using the post office. Special enough to travel through train delays and snow to see each other.

Act II - for an inexplicable reason, Tohno is writing SMS to Akari but doesn't send them. It's not clear if he has no one to send them to, or if he is simply chickening out. He is clearly still focused on her. The rocketship is supposed to represent something out of reach - for both Tohno (Akari) and Kaede (Tohno).

In the final act, Akari has forgotten Tohno and has been banging another man. Gross. This isn't even necessarily real life, so get this NTR crack out of my movie! Meanwhile, Tohno is practically suicidal, dreaming of Akari but donating his body to another woman (which is cruel) and in a mundane job that he quits. Not pictured is the guy jumps in front of the train at the very end of the movie, after seeing Akari isn't there.

I'm all for tragedy. But tragedy is usually set in motion by some tragic flaw. There is no personality flaw here. Distance and correspondence might not even be the antagonist force like in Kimi no Na Wa. because of the texts that Tohno was writing in Act II. Moreover, the first act established that the two characters are special.

What's the moral here? Is it mocking When Harry Met Sally, saying that love and friendship cannot overcome the sex thing? Movies need to spell stuff out. This wasn't spelled out.

Back to NTR. NTR isn't just "cucking", it's also used as a substitute for actual drama or story resolution. That's all I'm left feeling after this. Confusion as to how Tohno ended up like he did, and anger at Akari's callous betrayal after the movie introduced her as a special person with a love that could transcend time and geography, then reintroducing her in act III as banging another man.

I hate NTR and wasn't expecting it in this. Then again, this predates the common use of the term, so it likely wasn't recognized as a cheap fill-in for proper writing that NTR usually is. I'm so sick of seeing this stupid emasculation drama in everything now, I didn't need it surprise popping up in a feature film.

...As an aromantic/romance-repulsed female who believes in "free will" over "fate" (see: my general dislike for the Zelink pairing + "curse" that binds all three Triforce bearers together; BotW only changes my mind specifically for how much the two relate over the weight of their cruel "destiny" and can find common ground in that - and even then I don't think Zelda or any girl should "owe" a guy anything for saving her life and/or being an emotional support), I have a lot of issues with what you just said. But whatever. Fact of the matter is long-distance relationships (not to mention childhood "puppy love") rarely work out in the long-term, whether romantically or platonically. If anything I'd say it's "NTR" in the other direction, with Tohno being so hung up on Akari's memory haunting him that he ignores his current girlfriend/other girls crushing on him. I have no quarrel with the movie's overall message of "moving on" when pining for the past becomes unhealthy, only in its execution. I similarly had zero problem with the ending of BokuMachi, and frankly it disgusts me more that so many think Satoru was (still) "entitled" to Kayo's affections for rescuing her as a kid despite being in a coma for 20 years. People's feelings change over time, and if it's not going to work out in the foreseeable future then either party has a right to walk away and find their own happiness, regardless of the other's circumstances. Everyone has their own life to live and do what's best for his or herself. Get over it (@those who think otherwise).

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

...As an aromantic/romance-repulsed female who believes in "free will" over "fate" (see: my general dislike for the Zelink pairing + "curse" that binds all three Triforce bearers together; BotW only changes my mind specifically for how much the two relate over the weight of their cruel "destiny" and can find common ground in that - and even then I don't think Zelda or any girl should "owe" a guy anything for saving her life and/or being an emotional support), I have a lot of issues with what you just said.

I don't understand how that connects. I generally have the same position toward Zelda - I do not like the fate element that binds Link and Zelda together while also keeping Link from every marrying her.

It's annoying that SS, BotW Zelda "win" the Linkbowl when ALTTP, WW Zelda are so much more deserving. Why does Zelda win now? Because Nintendo had a shift in philosophy due to new game makers who don't respect the established canon.

It would be like Galar Ash capturing 6 legends after 22 years of not catching one.

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

But whatever. Fact of the matter is long-distance relationships (not to mention childhood "puppy love") rarely work out in the long-term, whether romantically or platonically. If anything I'd say it's "NTR" in the other direction, with Tohno being so hung up on Akari's memory haunting him that he ignores his current girlfriend/other girls crushing on him. I have no quarrel with the movie's overall message of "moving on" when pining for the past becomes unhealthy, only in its execution.

Remember this is a movie, not real life. That was something I made sure to preface earlier. I don't go into an anime movie expecting real life, especially not with that setup. Such was a reason I thought Kimi no Na Wa. had problems - the final act about Taki and Mitsuha didn't fit with the story shown earlier. It was formulaic Shinkai pigeonholed into the story for late, cheap drama.

For NTR, like I said this story predated when NTR was well recognized and common. But Shinkai hits most of the tropes on the head in this (and Google backs me up):

-Tohno is the main character
-He and Akari love each other
-Tohno becomes a salaryman (a synonym for dead-end job)
-The female Akari moves on from the relationship while Tohno can't
-The move taunts the viewer by showing she is happy with another man, while Tohno is miserable

I agree that it sucks that Tohno's girlfriend was ruined by his lingering affection for Akari but he shouldn't really have had a girlfriend in the first place. That would imply he's moved on from Akari.

At least, I cannot sympathize with or imagine a scenario where distance-conquering love could be compromised by weakness like that. It's cruel to the girlfriend, and you have to question if what Tohno thinks is genuine.

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

I similarly had zero problem with the ending of BokuMachi, and frankly it disgusts me more that so many think Satoru was (still) "entitled" to Kayo's affections for rescuing her as a kid despite being in a coma for 20 years. People's feelings change over time, and if it's not going to work out in the foreseeable future then either party has a right to walk away and find their own happiness, regardless of the other's circumstances. Everyone has their own life to live and do what's best for his or herself. Get over it (@those who think otherwise).

I wonder if I will have a different view toward BokuMachi. I remember calling cuck back then but I'm not sure I'd do that today. There is WAY LESS IN COMMON with cliche NTR in that show than in others, not the worst of which is that Satoru was 20+ years old and basically a NEET, so his mental maturity would create a sense of programming/manipulation.

Anyway, I don't have a problem with "people's feelings change over time". I just don't think that Shinkai did anywhere close to a decent job conveying that in this film, visually or narratively. It felt like what he was building toward was quickly resolved with cheap NTR.

[lilboocorsola]

I think you're misunderstanding my stance on Zelink, or at any rate we don't see eye to eye on the subject. The idea of anyone "winning" or being "deserving" of someone's agreement to marry them already makes me uncomfortable, so let's just leave that alone. I don't wish to get too deep into philosophical debate, but my reason for bringing it up in relation is bc by emphasizing Akari's and Tohno's relationship as "special", you seemed to suggest they were some kind of star-crossed "soulmates" (a concept I don't subscribe to either). I personally don't believe anyone should be "beholden" to another; only that there are those who are objectively more compatible together (at any certain point in time).

Nor do I think "realism" should be withheld from fiction; part of what I like about animé is that it covers such a wide variety of topics - from the magical to the mundane (ex: "slice of life" stories). If one is simply searching for fantasy escapism, then yeah 5Cm definitely isn't suited to fill that brand. Tbf I don't think it's particularly good at "storytelling" either, in that it strives so hard for the "realistic" factor to the point of making the characters and dialogue supremely dull and tedious to sit through. (That was something Kimi no Na Wa did fix by introducing the first act as lighthearted and humorous to at least make the main protagonists more likeable.) But it is a very believable situation IMO. I just find it rather surprising/disappointing that you would consider Akari's apparent lack of "devotion" - going so far as to call it a "callous betrayal" - to a boy she knew at 13 years old the "grossest" element (instead of say, Tohno's own ruinous behavior as a result of relying on those tenuous past memories to self-medicate/run from current responsibility), and sincerely hope that kind of thinking doesn't extend to "real life", as it were.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

I think you're misunderstanding my stance on Zelink, or at any rate we don't see eye to eye on the subject. The idea of anyone "winning" or being "deserving" of someone's agreement to marry them already makes me uncomfortable, so let's just leave that alone. I don't wish to get too deep into philosophical debate, but my reason for bringing it up in relation is bc by emphasizing Akari's and Tohno's relationship as "special", you seemed to suggest they were some kind of star-crossed "soulmates" (a concept I don't subscribe to either). I personally don't believe anyone should be "beholden" to another; only that there are those who are objectively more compatible together (at any certain point in time).

Whether or not you believe in the concept shouldn't have any bearing on a movie. Japan has a traditional belief that memories reside in the soul - which is problematic if you know memories are stored in the brain and don't believe a soul exists. Fate/stay night and the Nasuverse operate on this dynamic which is completely removed from reality. But since that's the logic of that universe and it's consistent within itself, you have to roll with it.

I do think that Tohno-Akari were established as soulmates, but rather than work with destiny, destiny conspired to push them apart by shoving obstacles in the way of their romance.

Destiny ultimately succeeded. OK, that's fine. But the narrative presentation of this is just poor. I already went in to why the film fails - three loosely connected acts with an unclear message that doesn't recruit the visuals to aid the narrative.

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

Nor do I think "realism" should be withheld from fiction; part of what I like about animé is that it covers such a wide variety of topics - from the magical to the mundane (ex: "slice of life" stories). If one is simply searching for fantasy escapism, then yeah 5Cm definitely isn't suited to fill that brand. Tbf I don't think it's particularly good at "storytelling" either, in that it strives so hard for the "realistic" factor to the point of making the characters and dialogue supremely dull and tedious to sit through. (That was something Kimi no Na Wa did fix by introducing the first act as lighthearted and humorous to at least make the main protagonists more likeable.) But it is a very believable situation IMO.

I no longer think fiction should beholden to reality. I once did, but I forget where (maybe a few years ago) I heard a modern artist talking about the history of modern art and why it became so bizarre and abstract.

The bottom line was that modern photography was the end of realistic art, because no artist could reproduce reality better than a camera. So modern art started to explore things that weren't based on reality.

Reality became the basis for a romantic interpretation of what reality is.

I feel like this applies to fiction now as well. Writing has taken on the duty of presenting reality with a touch of magic. It's why disgusting films like the live-action The Lion King could do so well, and why reality television - real footage spliced together to form a narrative - is so omnipresent on television now.

When I was talking about the visuals earlier, I made sure to note they were romantic and not realistic. It's gorgeous and inviting, but it doesn't look like the real world at all. And if you step back and think about it, what is actually being romanticized - human infrastructure - is an ugly thing.

Do I think fiction should strive to be as realistic as possible again? In 2015, I thought The Martian was the best film I'd ever seen, creating a near-future based on real physics. But I read critics like the Red Letter Media guys calling it a bad movie, because it has a poor narrative and weak structure.

To me, that was like saying "reality has a poor narrative and weak structure" and I realized that what drew me to that movie was the touch of magic. I didn't watch that film because it was realistic, I watched it because I wanted it to be real.

And that revelation made me realize why I'm starved for good fiction/anime these days, and found some solace in Pokemon - too much of it is wish fulfillment, but if it's not my taste in wishes, it's obnoxious and I want to tune it out.

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

I just find it rather surprising/disappointing that you would consider Akari's apparent lack of "devotion" - going so far as to call it a "callous betrayal" - to a boy she knew at 13 years old the "grossest" element (instead of say, Tohno's own ruinous behavior as a result of relying on those tenuous past memories to self-medicate/run from current responsibility), and sincerely hope that kind of thinking doesn't extend to "real life", as it were.

To put into perspective why I found that scene offensive, consider the movie Bamboozled! by Spike Lee, which featured blackface characters trying to parody extreme racism.

The use of blackface was so overpowering nobody could take the parody seriously, so the movie came across as blatantly racist. Because Shinkai used stereotypical NTR tropes, I cannot see past its inclusion as anything more than cheap emotional manipulation. Especially with how common and popular NTR is at frustrating people in the amateur light novel/manga scene today.

One of the other tropes about NTR is that it's portrayed as a "twist". You have a routine love story them BAM! it ends in NTR.

That last one makes me cynical about the movie as a whole. Was the story intentionally loose to set up for an NTR end?
Did Shinkai just blow it and unintentionally wrote an NTR ending?
Did he include the NTR end knowing general audiences would eat it up?

I'm sure there could have been a way to portray the 'tragedy' in a different way from NTR, so Shinkai checking off the tropes just leave a bad taste and ruins any appreciation of the movie.

Some trivia from Google suggests that, no, this wasn't unintentional. Shinkai is apparently big into NTR.

Which is just utterly irritating, even if I don't even remember who those two characters are.

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

sincerely hope that kind of thinking doesn't extend to "real life", as it were.

To me, you shouldn't have to speculate on this, because I know NTR's origins are as an emasculation fetish and not from reality. It has as much real-world application as wondering if mermaids should be classified as people or animals.

Yes, a real-life NTR situation is possible. But the reason it's so common in fiction because it's probably the most degrading way to end a romance. The intent of use isn't because it's realistic. It's because it will trigger people more violently than an earthquake.

[lilboocorsola]

I don't really care to press this matter further, so I'll just leave with this:

[Doppleganger]

Awesome. That's exactly how I feel about things now.

[Loki]

I started watching O Maidens in your Savage Season. or Araburu Kisetsu no Otomedomo yo. and I think it's pretty great.

I kind of started watching it after a friend described how it has a scene where a girl walks into her childhood friend's room and accidentally catches him masturbating to a porno DVD. While this is a great hook of sorts for how silly and awkward the whole thing is, it's really been a great show so far for everything else.

The actual story of the show is actually about girls in a literature club who become curious about sexuality and begin to lose their innocence about it. They learn about falling in love and developing relationships, as well as understanding their peers who are already in relationships.

[Loki]

Fall Season 2019 for me:

Continuations:
Vinland Saga - Been enjoying it.

New Seasons:
My Hero Academia S4 - Upcoming season was my favorite arc in the manga.

New Shows:
No Guns Life - Future noir about a cyborg with a gun for a head. With recent cut down of cigarette depictions in media of late, it's kinda refreshing to see a new show with a chain smoking private eye.

Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo (OreSuki) - A twist on the harem where instead of the main character being the protag of a harem story, he's the guy's friend instead and he has to deal with all the pretty girls loving his friend instead of himself, so he concocts an evil plot to help both girls and then swoop in and take up whoever is left aside. But then his stalker threatens to expose him. It's pretty wacky and a nice subversion of the genre.

[Doppleganger]

I gave up some time ago and read the Vinland manga. It's really good but has some noticeable tonal shifts. When the story is set in England and Denmark, it's like the second coming of Berserk. But then the setting shifts to the Baltic Sea and it's...weird.

OreSuki sounds really fun, but the last time I heard something like that (ToraDora!) I got burned.

[Loki]

OreSuki isn't particularly good as of episode four. It had a decent 1 and 2, blows it load on 3 and is now kind of trying other stuff. I'll probably keep watching but I acknowledge it's probably not going to be super good after this point.

NEW: Psycho-Pass S3 - Kind of a surprised for me. I guess Psycho-Pass is the new GitS for Production I.G. and they start the new season with a one hour episode! And it threw me for a loop because almost all the old characters are seemingly gone except for the like last 2 minutes of the episode. Literally only 3 characters return before that. It was pretty jarring. I liked a lot of the older characters... New season has a weird, almost supernatural take to the series. Feels weird.

[Doppleganger]

Kumo desu ka, nani ka? light novel

I've read all the LN volumes and it's pissing me off so much.

This is my favourite manga right now and has been that way since around 2016. I read the light novel when I ran out of manga chapters and they were great. I didn't love everything, but 90% of it I liked.

There were a few changes in the manga, which is based on the light novel, but they were generally good. An example of positive changes:

...

In the web novel, Kumo wanders around the Elroe Great Labyrinth Middle Layer until she runs into the boss, Fire Dragon Rend. They fight just because they encountered one another.

In the light novel/manga, Kumo is near the exit, and her mother the Queen Taratect appears. Rend challenges the Queen Taratect with an army, and his army is destroyed and his HP halved. Rend is furious and humiliated by the defeat and attacks Kumo, who he sees as affiliated with her mother. Since Rend is faster than Kumo, she can't escape him and is forced to fight.

Why is this change good? It gives Rend a bit more characterization, and gives him better motivation as to why he fights Kumo.

...

The light novel screws around with some things in an attempt to make changes.

The first seemingly positive change is making the Queen Taratect (mother) more intelligent . Mother's cartoonish strength allows her to destroy the labyrinth to track Kumo on the surface, driving her back underground...and into a trap.

Later, Kumo becomes overconfident because of her Immortality skill and higher status, and challenges Mother in the Bottom Layer without a plan. She's immediately caught in a trap as the mother spider proves to be almost as clever as her, but we're denied a proper fight and a cop-out solution rolls through.

Then Kumo kills the Queen, which fundamentally changes the relationship dynamics between the WN and LN. Notably, with Demon King Ariel.

In the WN, Kumo originally hacked Ariel fearing that Ariel would take control of her using Kin Domination, which was the motivation for Ariel tracking her down. After Ariel killed her, Kumo used the Kin Domination skill to hack Ariel's five other Queen Taratects, attempting to unify with them. This would have given Kumo the stats to beat Ariel outright.

Kumo didn't kill any Queens. She took them over, and Ariel killed the already-eaten Queen's body (which was possessed by Kumo).

In the LN, because Kumo killed the Queen and wiped out almost all of the Queen's children, Ariel wants to kill Kumo out of revenge for her dead children. Even after Ariel's personality is tainted by Kumo's failed takeover attempt, she is still trying to figure out a way to kill Kumo.

There's no warm family dynamic between them now, only hostility, which sucks.

Another problem is Kumo's apotheosis. In the WN, Kumo stumbles upon an MA Generator in her attempt to recover her strength to kill Ariel. The dragons in the Bottom Layer stall Ariel while Kumo recovers her strength, and when Ariel finally tracks her down, Kumo deifies.

In the LN, the dragons challenge Ariel for no reason, then Gyulie sends Ariel to kill Kumo, and then Kumo recovers by eating the dragon corpses. Kumo deifies later after eating a bomb she stumbles on accidentally.

All these changes and they're all bad.

[Loki]

This anime winter season is pretty slim pickings, but we did get a Magia Record Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story.

Firstly, the style from the original series is back, which is kind of nice in a weird trippy way. But the girls have much less of a football head, which is a big improvement.

The story though... seems much less focused based on the first two episodes. In fact, from the first two episodes, we already have been given three plot lines. Yikes! I don't know what is going to happen and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. But bloating the storylines that don't thus far seem linked could be problematic.

[Doppleganger]

Winter 20 = worst season ever

NOTHING is good! NOTHING is worth seeing! No franchise starters. What franchise material there is aw-fool.

Did anime freaking die? Manga isn't in a better state! Did isekai light novels collapse too? Lazy bums.

[Connor]

Dorohedoro and Eizouken are both worth watching imo.

I'm content with the new Haikyuu season honestly.

[Loki]

I only watched some of Magia Record this season, I'll probably watch it all when it's done. I have been downloading My Hero Academia and ReZero Director's Cut, but I haven't been watching at all. Winter seasons tend to be a bit lackluster these last few years.

[Connor]

I do intend to watch Magia Record at some point. I played the game for a little while and the story seemed better than your average gacha phone game, and I like the property.

MHA is worth watching though some of the adaptation is uncharacteristically lazy. Still a very enjoyable watch, but something to keep in mind.

I am still undecided on watching the Director's Cut for RZ. I super enjoyed the first season, but I have a lot of other stuff in my backlog that I could be getting through before that.

[Doppleganger]

I checked those titles out but they didn't pique interest.

The anime "HANAKO's TOILET" had an appealing visual style, but the animation was disappointing and the plot...uninvolving.

I stand by that this season seems much weaker. Where's the one-off crazy show like tsuritama or Boku dake ga Inai Machi?

Re:Zero II might have been interesting except that I know the light novel has devolved into fanservice drivel AND it was delayed due to coronavirus.

Anime seems dead for now, except for Pokeymons, which is a tad bit boring.