Spring 2021

It's been a long and grueling couple of months - I was incapacitated by a cold, then a bizarre amount of work, and then another series of colds so really, I haven't followed much of anything this season at all. I would like to go back to revist some other shows that I didn't manage to get around to for sure, but yeah this is a pathetically short list. 

Finished: 

Shakunetsu Kabaddi

I actually REALLY enjoyed this show. Sports animes are definitely one of the genres I actually have a fondness for (despite my hate of actual sports) and despite this not really being on my radar at all, this ended up being a really fun watch. 

The schtick of this show is based off a sport called Kabaddi, which is like .... tag? but team tag? Wikipedia says that this sport actually originated out of India, so it's a pretty obscure sport that's pretty region specific. 

This show is hella fun though - the MC is a guy who used to be really good at soccer but got disillusioned by team sports and he gets recruited into kabaddi through a series of events, basically rediscovers his passion for team sports through playing kabaddi with his teammates. The fun parts definitely come from the character interactions - my favorite parts include Yoigoishi being blackmailed by Iura, Soma's girlfriend shennanigans, Ban's whole arc in general. The first half is definitely a bit more light hearted and fun, but once the battles start it gets a little more serious and less comedic - which is to be expected for sure but I definitely wished that more comedy was involved. For the moments that the comedy peeks through, I really love the show, but overall this is definitely an underrated and underwatched show - it really has all the makings of a fantastic sport anime, great characters, good comedy, riveting action and pretty decent quality of production too. I also quite recently tried binge watching Kuroko no Basuke and honestly, the complete lack of any attachment I have for any character even after 2 seasons is appalling - so this show really just puts that into contrast for sure. 

I really enjoyed this and I think it's definitely worth checking out if you love sports anime and haven't already!! I am hoping for a season 2 for this one, since theres not even an accessible manga for this. 

Bakuten!!

Okay so there's like, a scale of gayness with sport anime - on one end of the spectrum you have Kuroko, and Ahiru no Sora (both basketball animes? coincidence? i think not) where they're just. not gay. then you have like, the unintentionally gay anime so you've got like Kabaddi and Grand Blue not really gay, where like, if you SQUINT you might ship it - then like the mixpot of pretty gay, like Keijo!!! and Haikyuu, where they're like gay, but it's not really intentionally gay. Then you've got the queerbaiting shows, like... Free!! or Tsurune, which like, gay, and they KNOW the appeal is that theyve got bishounen intimacy and like at the very very end of the spectrum there's Yuri on Ice engagement kissing (which there should be more of.) (I feel like Sk8 might be in the Free! region but I'm undecided) 

Anyway, Bakuten sits between like, the Haikyuu and Free! spectrum of gayness, like, there are really no relevant girls involved and maybe there's sOME mention of a girl but they're really not important but they are really in the process of developing their relationship. 

Also there are like, two types of sport anime, which is like, either the SPORT (Kuroko no Basuke, Haikyuu) focus, or CHARACTER focused (eg. Hoshiai no Sora, Run with the Wind, 2:43), Unlike Kabaddi, Bakuten takes the character route where it focuses a lot of interpersonal relationships as well and how the boys develop as people and how it influences their interactions with each other - so a few of the boys get their time to shine. 

I really enjoyed Bakuten overall, the visuals are really pretty and the soundtrack is good, and the animation for the actual gymnastics is nice too - despite it being CGI and moving around so much it feels like a rollercoaster emulator - it's still nice to enjoy the dynamism of the action. Also i like gymnastics a lot. 

I only have very very minor gripes about this show which is that ONE episode where its stylized like a horror anime and at the very end THE MYSTERY OF THE GHOST GUARD IS NEVER SOLVED AND IT WILL HONESTLY HAUNT ME FOREVER WHY THE FUCK DID THEY PUT THAT IN OH GOD I HATE IT SO MUCH like fucks sake why did they not just go hahah yeah no it was just a prank or something please oh god and the fuckign cut scene after when the ghost guard turns around and smiles oh god its so chilling. okay yes thats my biggest gripe. 

i also wasn't a HUGE fan of the VA for the MC, who voiced Goshiki. I wasn't sold on his voice with the character. and I think there was honestly no need for them to put that drama about MC fucking up his wrist just before the big show - it just felt really unnecessary especially so close to the end, it felt like melted cheese on a cheese plate - the tension already exists and doesnt need to be reinforced with how high stakes it is already, there's no quick and thorough way to resolve it. 

Other than that, I do hope we get more of this (although I doubt we will) - it was another underrated show and underwatched and it was just a cute heartwarming show. 

Suraimu Taoshite Sanbyaku-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Reberu Makkusu ni Nattemashita

This is one I retroactively picked up and I really enjoyed this - think of this as like an isekai version of Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. With our MC who overworked herself, she gets reincarnated as an immortal witch and maxes out her levels. After news of her maxing out her levels gets out, she approached by a ton of different people, a dragon, slime spirits, an elf, a demon and a ghost (and more) and ends up having her own little family. This is one of those slice of life isekais (similar to kamitachi ni hirowareta otoko) where its more about being chill - even when things look like they could be bad, there's never really any high stakes or immediate danger. 

I enjoyed this, and probably more so than I did Kobayashi's dragon maid as well - there's far less of the weird noncon undertones in this show - and its super wholesome because our MC seems to be very invested and happy in her new life. Kinda love the vibes of all the female MC isekais this season for sure. 

Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu

Another female MC isekai! This is a bit different although its still very much a slow life isekai - the MC gets magically transported with another girl to save this world, gets kicked out by the prince who looks down on her for not being hot so he thinks shes NOT the saint to save this world but it turns out she is, but basically its just her being super powerful and living her life coming to realize she's the magical saint and then falling in love with this dude and .. i guess theres this thing about her saving the country too but it feels pretty secondary. 

this show is just really chill, theres nothing super special about it and it feels a bit like a dating sim but with one character you can pick only (commander hawke), but its sort of the hetrosexual monogamous experience of a woman in another world - it's super slow but super chill but at times the MC really frustrates me, although theres a kinda shitty very feminine/shoujo/josei kinda vibe where like, what its implicitly saying about women and their function and role in society is kinda... not my jam??? like, love a bishonen/ikemen, but like, damn its so overwhelmingly prescriptive with gender norms that it's a bit annoying to watch. I did enjoy the ride while I was on it for sure, but made me think a second about how weirdly gendered it was. 

After watching both of these i would like to make a public appeal to all anime companies to make a reverse harem with a MC like Ghislaine from mushoku tensei. Like cmon wheres my hardcore badass isekai lead whos like tatted up with huge tits and sex appeal and just cool and attractive to all men because of how hot and cool and accomplished she is?? I know it wont happen but I really fucking want it. 

Overall not a bad show but like, occasionally painful for me to watch. 

Ongoing: 

Tokyo Revengers

This uh - was a difficult watch for me. 

Dropped: 

Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui

Idk, a weird 30 year old playboy loser stalking a high school girl with bad animation? how about no. 

Bishounen Tanteidan

This has very monogatari vibes (SHAFT trademark) which was like, not bad or anything, but the intial premise just didn't really grasp me.