Month: October 2024

That Time I Sped-ran the Terminator Movies

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And developed a skepticism of A.I.

Regular viewers will know that in the animanga space, I’m fairly okay with keeping up with series, especially when they merchandise and franchise out like Naruto or Dragon Ball. In the west, however, this gets trickier and more challenging for a number of reasons. Reboots/remakes/retcons, etc., screw with canon so much that it starts to look like a hentai doujin with some of the most accursed tags. Franchising itself, I highlighted just now, but it’s not always done neatly or with a solid plan. For example, Star Wars is the champion and great-grandfather of all references. People are insane enough to catalog every single reference to George Lucas’ brainchild, but what makes this an insane task specifically for this franchise is George Lucas getting in the way of his own vision by constantly remaking everything. Creatives tend to be this way, as I would know, but I’d probably not be this uptight about my own projects.

There are a few series whose franchises I’ve followed with full or near-consistency to say that I approach expert level knowledge. Those three are Deadpool, the reboot Planet of the Apes trilogy, and the topic of this post, Terminator. But while Merc with a Mouth and Upright Apes were more gradual, I started to follow the Terminator franchise more closely around 2014.

I don’t recall specifically what brought this on, but I think it might have been a rumor of sorts of an upcoming movie at the time, the fifth one in the franchise and on reflection one of the least warmly received sequels probably since 2009’s Salvation, Terminator: Genisys.

If I was a cynical asshole, I’d probably write up a snarky review about how the franchise only exists because Arnold made it so in the 1980s, his absence in Salvation proves that he was the adhesive holding it all together, and his return in this one is both a proof of concept while also reminding us that glue eventually ages too. Both harsh and what it would look like if not written by a fan but a critic looking to get paid for every character in their document. But I’m vaulting over the USS Theodore Roosevelt on this one.

The sudden confirmation of another movie made me want to play catch-ups, hold the mustard, on the franchise and I did so in an era prior to my current methods of pirating. Pre-adpocalypse, YouTube let you get away with nearly anything visual media-wise though some artists’ estates and family were hook-deep into the copyright claim booth (or I’d remember being able to listen to Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing at the time), but my first way to look into the franchise was on YouTube, right next to a now deleted channel that had the full length version of Saving Private Ryan. It’s still possible even now to find channels daring to upload full- or seemingly full-length versions of the original 1984 movie, but be careful. Sometimes editing tricks are used to get past the censorship and burn away minutes of your life.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day couldn’t be found on YouTube so I went to a now-defunct torrenting site to watch it. The fate of that site is one shared by several, taken down in a global effort to crack down on piracy. Did it lead to arrests? I didn’t care honestly. Watching movies without spending the pennies to do so was still a challenge for me personally, but I kept trying. I did it with 300 and would nonetheless keep doing it until I discovered services like Tubi and was able to pay for Netflix.

Then of course there was Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines which came out when I was about 4 years old. So technically, this was my introduction to the series, considering I watched it at a babysitter’s house at the time. Rewatching it at 16 and comparing it to the last two films, it was a decent addition to the series as a whole, but not as good as 1 or Judgment Day.

All things considered, I think the third film is looked on two harshly. Dark Fate tried to rewrite it starting here and personally I don’t think Rise of the Machines deserved that. Salvation, however…

I’m exaggerating, but if I had to use a metaphor, if Terminators 1 and 2 were the exciting points, 3 is the midpoint before Salvation starts going down hill, and gradually. I admit that I’m a bit biased here largely because I was watching them all in rapid succession in the lead up to Genisys. Hell, I’d caught up to all the movies long before it was ready for a theatrical release and by the time it released, I once again relied on the dark powers of piracy.

I saw it the following year when I was 17. I don’t remember the trailers spoiling it for me as much, but putting the major plot points, twist included, is almost never a good sign. But I pushed on through and to recap all the movies (spoilers, but it shouldn’t matter anymore):

  1. Terminator 1: cyborg is sent back to kill the mother of the resistance. The resistance has the same idea and sends an agent back to save the mother (and also father the leader of the resistance)
  2. Terminator 2: cyborg is captured and reprogrammed by the resistance to save the leader as a child when the same thing is tried again with an even deadlier model. Mom is also there, in an asylum, “why are you booing me, I’m right” style.
  3. Terminator 3: leader of the resistance afflicted with trauma at the killer cyborgs trying to kill him all his life, another one is his guardian and they try to destroy SkyNet at the source. Love story subplot, chased by Terminatrix, Terminatrix fails, but SkyNet lives on in backup hard drives (I can’t remember it that well)
  4. Terminator 4: full-blown war, leader of resistance sees to combat meanwhile death row inmate is lethal injectioned and transformed unknowingly into a cyborg to get close to the leader but deviates from its mission purpose, leader almost dies but the deviant cyborg/ex-death row inmate saves him at the eleventh hour, SkyNet is disturbingly patient
  5. Terminator 5: resistance ongoing, SkyNet’s next trick is to kill the leader and make a cyborg of him, meanwhile father of the resistance goes back to 1984 as usual (fanservice detected) to find that the timeline’s been f[dial-up modem]ked very thoroughly, they go back to the present (2017) to fight with better weaponry (I think), the Golden Gate Bridge falls for the millionth time in history (it happens a lot in action movies for some reason), cyborg leader of the resistance is defeated, SkyNet still operates…

…and thus was born an effort to rewrite the damn movies. Or at least that’s what the media thought at the time. Dark Fate was the franchise’s last ditch effort at recapturing the magic and to do the third movie justice since it doesn’t fit as neatly into canon as one would’ve hoped pre-release, but the efforts were in vain.

As a fan of the series, Genisys was the let-down that keeps on letting down. It started out well but the grave got so deep, Satan needed to come up and tell the funeral directors that that’s not how grave digging works. I don’t wanna be harsh on the Terminator franchise, the concept does still play on a lot of fears and anxieties, many of which are becoming true 40 years later, but to see where it is now is disappointing. The only thing I have to show for it now is an uncanny apprehension for anything A.I. It took me longer than normal to even try using chatbots and I treat them like Wikipedia or r/AskReddit most of the time. I guess I’m just still testing it. For what it’s worth, if you’re going to go into the franchise yourself, watch the first 3 movies and then maybe go watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series.

And then finish it off with the R-rated uncut version of Robocop 1 and 2 for more sci-fi action gore.

Shimoneta, High School DxD, and Monster Musume: Horny Trio

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The three that carried me in community college

Yonks ago, I mentioned an upcoming post that was initially meant to be just another double bill, but it occurred to me that there was a third series that I felt was appropriate to lump in with the other two. These are the three anime that I watched all through college:

  1. Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
  2. High School DxD, and;
  3. Monster Musume

And we’ll go through them one-by-one. The titles of each should be a giveaway but just in case: each of these series contains sexually suggestive themes, language and imagery. Reader discretion is advised.

Shimoneta (2015):

Another anime to get its start in the world of early 2010s light novels, Shimoneta’s concept is exactly as it says on the tin. All language of a sexually suggestive or provocative nature is illegal and if uttered, the speaker(s) is/are arrested by the Decency Squad, a specialized morality police unit whose purpose is to track down and subdue anyone who dares utter such obscene words.

How do they know people are saying s[poop]t, f[moans]k, and ass? By the collars around their necks. They’re designed (read: programmed) to monitor different trigger words, I suspect, by way of detecting the movements of the mouth when certain words are spoken, sort of like how most YouTubers, TikTokers, etc. have to censor/monitor their own speech to keep from the Demon of Demonitization at bay. (Side note: f[plastic wrap]k the algorithm for doing that to our favorite creators.)

One such character is the protagonist, Tanukichi Okuma. He’s a brand new student to Tokioka Academy and a witness to the indecency of another character he meets later: Blue Snow, real name Ayame Kajou. Ayame takes the alias of Blue Snow whilst on a crusade to dismantle the shackles of this dystopian system of policing speech by way of challenging the response time of the Decency Squad. Under normal circumstances, suggestive language is how you get slapped on the dick (or in Ayame’s case, the tits), but she evades that by dialing a number on her cellphone that deactivates the collar on her neck for three minutes a day, letting her unleash a bevy of inappropriate sayings.

Based on her appearance here, Ayame adopts a Clark Kent persona when around others only to don a mask (a pair of panties, yes, really) when it’s time for her 180 seconds of lewd infamy.

The series isn’t just a man vs society conflict at play, there’s an actual antagonist in the series and she starts off as innocent and pure until the following happens to her:

Channe: Khánh Senseii Anime Kiss

The birth of the villainess of this series. Anna Nishikinomiya begins the series as the class president of Tokioka, but after a mishap in one of the episodes, Okuma plants a kiss on her by accident. If she had any knowledge of even romance, she’d probably have a normal reaction, but this unleashes metaphorical and literal floodgates. She conflates love with lust and 85% of the scenes that she’s in is a display of female-on-male sexual assault/rape. I’m not kidding.

Obviously, it’s played for laughs in the series and there’s a lot to be said about societal discourse surrounding male victims and their female perpetrators (a discussion I’m not qualified to talk about on a blog based on entertainment, but would have no problem entertaining in mixed company), but without getting too dark and focusing mainly on the central theme of the series, Shimoneta is a display of the consequences of policing morality and human behavior. If you’ve been on the internet for quite some time, you may recall an era when cancel culture went haywire and a small fraction of forum posters chastised trolls online to hell and back for a few racy comments here and there. Not that it was unwarranted, the internet around the time of the GamerGate controversy was an interesting time to be on the internet, but interspersed with genuine policing were impromptu witch hunts conflating ignorance with curiosity, and this went beyond just suggestive or provocative commentary, lest we forget the cultural appropriation vs appreciation argument that was prevalent at the time. Though these days, the conversation has moved towards intentionally ignoring sex organs, due to a variety of factors that have massively influenced the internet. Sorry, digressing.

In Shimoneta’s case, it proves how difficult at the least; Sisyphean at the most such a task of policing even speech can be. Not to mention a shortfall that accompanies the series from start to finish about how to go about this. You’ll notice that speech patterns themselves are the main crime, not the physical aspect itself. Now, there would still be procreation which this world would likely allow for survival’s sake, but another conversation can be had about how conspiracy to commit is addressed more seriously than an actual crime in this world.

This blog from 2018 has more to say about Anna herself and with a finer brush than the broadstrokes I employed here.

Having said all that, I still recommend this anime for anyone wanting a closer look at an example of how bad overpolicing behavior can get or if you just wanna see the most athletic Japanese school girl in the world hunt down the object of her “affection.” Beware her homemade cookies, IYKYK. Now onto:

High School DxD (2012-2018)

My personal favorite for being R-rated and uncensored, the light novel ran from 2008 to 2018, ending around the same time as the anime’s fourth season. Whereas Shimoneta’s content is light on explicit nudity and fan service, High School DxD throws the censorship to the wind. Back during the Funimation days, the English dub played up both the nudity and the jiggle physics. From threatening to get naked to actually getting naked; I like the progression so far.

In High School DxD, Kuoh Academy recently transitions into a co-ed school for the new schoolyear. A few male students enroll, likely taking advantage of the 8 to 1 ratio of girls to boys in the hopes of scoring big before Kuoh fully integrates. One of these boys is a massive pervert and otaku named Issei Hyoudo. He initially fits the bill of a stereotypical otaku in all but appearance. Body pillows, an alarm clock with different anime girl archetypes waking him up every morning, an extensive hentai and porn collection shared with his two other friends, and a MIGHTY NEED to get some titty.

It just so happens that one particular set of breasts happens to belong to this devilishly gorgeous redhead, Rias Gremory. More than just a sight for sore eyes, Lady Rias is a fierce fighter and one to defend those she cherishes to her dying breath. Outside of battle, she’s a kindhearted young woman, compassionate, and reliable. She’s the head of Kuoh’s occult club, thinly masking her connection to the paranormal as a devil herself and making great use of the common tropes associated with angels and demons/devils: angels are depicted as bone ugly to ward off evil while demons are depicted as drop dead gorgeous to tempt mankind into following their id. In an ironic twist, the series depicts devils as more heroic than the beings they fight against.

As much as I make that sound like an engagement wearing the clothes of praise, there’s an actual plot behind the plot here. It takes a lot of cues and tropes from the Christian bible with the concept of angels, devils, and fallen angels. Following the devils, their depiction seems more sympathetic in the series as the factions do have a fair share of shady and unscrupulous characters. The overall plot plays up the biblical angle with the fan service going into overdrive, so Rias, Issei, and the Occult club are all (knights) in service of Satan, or in this case, in service of one of those appointed as a satan. To quote Anton Szandor LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, “if you’re gonna be a sinner, be the best sinner on the block,” and it seems that Issei is guaranteed to live up to those ideals.

The juxtaposition of magical action and theological babble with T and A and convenient panty shots is what kept me going until about halfway through the fourth season. When it comes to censorship, normally I’m an opponent depending on the company I’m with. Throwing out f[crunch]ks, s[footsteps]ts, damns, asses, and other such forbidden words in a room full of bureaucrats allergic to the sun makes you seem immature compared to a gathering of mobsters, gangsters, or even servicemembers, all things considered. I censor swearing and nudity here for presentability and professionalism, but seeing as I’m writing about a trio of anime that joke or outright show you uncensored boobs, if it wasn’t for the presentation, this whole blog would have no reins. Before we move on to the third and final series I want to talk about, let this ending convince you to watch High School DxD if the above hasn’t already:

Channel: SE NPAI

And last but certainly not least:

Monster Musume (2015):

A harem series like High School DxD but appealing to even more fetishes while also putting the protagonist in a tricky situation like Shimoneta, though with a different context. The plot of this horny adjacent series is that monster girls of various mythical origins are enrolled in a program not dissimilar from foreign exchange student programs in real life and one of the people who is accidented/voluntold into the program is regular human person No. 4986 Kimihito Kurusu.

One of the coordinators, Agent Smith, mistakenly sends a lamia (snake girl) Miia to his house to take care of her under the the circumstances that they refrain from conflict or copulation. Easy rules for Kurusu to follow considering the consequences, but as the series goes on and more and more monster girls share a roof with the man, his physical restraints are put to the test seeing as these women are physically capable of bending him like straw. More than once, he’s been grievously injured through accidents as none of the girls are even remotely aware of their gap in human endurance and their own strength.

Basically, it’s the equivalent of swapping Kratos, a character of pure strength and raw anger with Lester the Unlikely from his titular game. Kurusu exists in a world where monster girls damage him even without the promise or threat of snu snu, and yet, he’s not that kind of guy to engage in his temptations. Using Okuma and Issei as a scale of unfortunate to pervy, Kurusu is definitely closer to Okuma, yet we can put in a different category for him specifically seeing as how he doesn’t exactly live to fulfill is silly desires. He’s a blank slate of sorts that the viewer may put themselves in the shoes of.

Monster Musume has the makings of a horror show without the horror. It’s a harem romcom slice of life with horror elements featuring a protagonist who simply wants to live the most normal life allowed by this society, but is forced to share not only this world, but his dwelling with a harem of monster girls he’s forbidden from touching intimately because the agent that f[piano]ked him is functionally identical to Aqua from KonoSuba.

Don’t let the Matrix reference fool you, she’s not as efficient as those clones. But she does look good in a suit.

Another thing worth mentioning is that while the other two series in this post began as light novels, Monster Musume is a manga first, with a spin off light novel series that also got an anime adaptation: Monster Girl Doctor.

Take these three as my recommendations for when you think there’s too much wholesomeness to go around and not enough lewdness. There’s the possibility of getting muscled by the thirstiest girl in the world whilst on a crusade to curtail censorship; a harem of lovely ladies whose tits shake even when still; and a harem of lovely mythical monster ladies who’d each be wife material all their own if it wasn’t for the rules.

Whatever pirate site you watch your anime on (don’t worry, your secret is safe with me), give these all a watch if you haven’t done so already. And if you’ve seen them, see them again! Do it!!

In Soviet Russia, Waifu Confesses To You

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She doesn’t know you’re also fluent in Russian

Summer romcoms have seen a boost as of late as seen by the evidence below:

Credit: Gigguk

The sussy sisters suspiciously spouting sexually suggestive sayings was far from expected, but also far from uncommon. Yosuga no Sora fans and Coffin of Andy and Leyley fans know what’s up. In this case where a romance anime has comedy and a sussy imouto, I present to you Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian.

The most interesting thing about this is that it may or may not be responsible for a new -dere type. For those who’re new, -dere in Japanese is a onomatopoeic term for “lovey dovey” or “fawning over someone.” The suffix refers to the type of affection displayed by the love interest. The most common types being:

Tsundere – where the love interest feigns disgust while secretly wanting you to lust after them (think: playing hard to get on hard mode)

Deredere – where the love interest wakes up with you on their mind, erection notwithstanding and counting down the days where they wake up next to you as a loving spouse

Kuudere – where the love interest acts distant and uninterested but keeps a heart-shaped locket with a picture of you inside, longing for the days where you two can be one; and

Yandere – where the love interest only thinks of you and no one else and you yourself better not think of anyone else or you’ll lose other people you care about in your life. It’s not the obsession that can lead to complete disaster, it’s the suspicion that this obsession isn’t reciprocated that makes yanderes so dangerous.

In the case of -dere types, the origin of this archetype–RoshiDere–is a derivative of the light novel’s Japanese title: Tokidoki Bosotto Roshiago de Dereru Tonari no Ārya-san. RoshiDere is a romcom about a highschooler named Masachika Kuze and his budding relationship with a childhood friend Alisa Mikhailovna Kujo. Being half-Russian, Alisa and her sister Maria have the distinct honor of being hafu characters. Short summary: a hafu is anyone of partial Japanese dissent, as in only one parent is Japanese (alternately known as half-Japanese).

There aren’t very many characters of this kind in most Japanese media, but there are a few that stand out, some of which you probably didn’t think about.

Japanese dad, British-American mom (that the fandom keeps forgetting; his knowledge of the English language is not a surprise whatsoever).

Plot-wise, Alya-san is a bog standard romcom but nearly functions like a harem anime of sorts all things considered. Circling back to -dere types, Alya the Russian GF is the chief RoshiDere, but sometimes has her tsuntsun moments.

Not that locking a character into a specific archetype makes them a one-trick pony, but the course of the anime opens viewers up to multiple different sides of the characters. Call it the benefit of a small cast, the creators can focus on a small band of misfits as opposed to tripping over their own two feet trying to make the audience fall in love with everyone else. Shortfalls plagued by a lot of Shonen manga, especially My Hero Academia and Naruto.

For what the characters do in the series, Alya’s an overachiever with the beauty to match her brains while Masachika engages in the otaku lifestyle watching the best series of all time until 3AM (obligatory: he just like me fr), leaving him the narcoleptic, sleepyheaded underachiever and the subject of Alya’s romantic teasing. She thinks she’s being coy by speaking русский язык (Russkiy yazyk), but little does she know Masa-kun is no stranger to the Russian language. As a matter of fact (spoiler), she’s not the first girl to speak it to him, having had a childhood friend from Russia itself. So her passing her flirting off as snide remarks is merely her footing herself in the mouth.

To my knowledge, the only other person who knows his bilingual fluency is his sister, Yuki Suou, as seen in this clip:

Credit: Momka Weeb

I haven’t read the light novels yet (will I? Maybe I will and write about it [patrick_scheming.jpg]), but I imagine a scene where Alya shouts in Russian, Masa-kun walks up to her, translating outloud and Alya’s cool and confident demeanor shatters under the weight of her crush’s knowledge of her native tongue.

Not so much as a gotcha, remember she has tsundere traits and will likely be upset that he knew and didn’t reciprocate up until that point, but part of me can’t help but be the fly on the wall who witnesses that encounter. Gonna pop some popcorn real quick, BRB.

Away from the main events of Russian Girlfriend Problems, Masa-kun’s sister, Yuki, is the Queen of the Otaku vying for the Degeneracy Crown currently resting on the head of one Sydsnap.

Link to her channel if you’re interested.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWH4JkQWioU3vTAritHDnAA

It’s explained that Masa’s and Yuki’s parents divorced and went to live separately. Yuki grew up as a quasi-aristocrat being viewed by the school as rivaling Alya academically, but Masa-kun knows how she’s like behind closed doors. A hardcore otaku who makes numerous references, points to the camera Deadpool-style, and wears her otaku flag on her sleeve. Don’t let her perception of innocence deceive you, she’s actually a cunning young lady and wanted for theft of every scene she’s in:

If the romance between Alya and Masa is the main course, I think we can safely call Yuki’s shenaniganry as the appetizer or dessert. It’s a cutesy little series that has a lot of fun with the premise and the use of multiple languages, that I haven’t seen really since Golden Kamuy, and considering that series takes place mostly in Hokkaido and Sakhalin (with flashbacks to the Korean peninsula where the Russo-Japanese war was fought), that part goes without saying.

Alya Likes to Flirt in Russian is available on Crunchyroll and other streaming sites of questionable legality. If you can stomach the ads, Crunchyroll is the way to go. If you have the cash to spend and can go premium, by all means. And for those of us, who are learning the right lessons from One Piece, HiAnime, AniWatch, and similar piracy sites are still up as of writing this. Enjoy them while they last, especially HiAnime which appears to have caught the eye of the U.S. government.

This week’s YouTube recommendation is NFKRZ.

https://www.youtube.com/@roman_nfkrz

Run by Russian-born Roman Abalin, NFKRZ is a channel that makes videos on Russian life, life in the former Soviet Union along with personal anecdotes sprinkled in. It’s a hybrid vlog/semi-documentary commentary channel that sheds light on this part of the world, often dispelling popular myths of this region with personal anecdotes having grown up in the city of Chelyabinsk (which is close to Kazakhstan). The link to his channel is above.

The Elusive Samurai Anime Review

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A burgeoning franchise based on medieval Japan

Long time subscribers (and newcomers who’ve searched the archives) know how I feel about history and even Japanese history as a weeb. I’d been following this series by Yusei Matsui since the first chapter was licensed for English by Viz Media in late January of 2021. After three years, about 17 volumes (plus more to follow), an anime adaptation, and figures set for release sometime next year; of all the things that could’ve happened to this series, franchising was probably the last thing I expected even for promotional purposes. Then again, this isn’t the first series to get a boost in merchandise time of debut notwithstanding.

Save for the OVAs and the lost 2007 movie, 25 years is a hell of a wait for a proper adaptation.

I’ve already written about the time period Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi takes place in, but as a refresher and to catch newcomers up to speed: between 1180 and 1185 in the Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto clans, the Minamoto won out and established the Kamakura shogunate in the namesake city of Kamakura where it would be under the de facto rule of the Hojo clan, a Minamoto ally by the 1330s. The retired Emperor Go-Daigo plotted with Hojo clan retainers, the Ashikaga, with the purpose of returning control of Japan from the shogunate to the imperial court.

Following these plans initially, the Ashikaga betrayed the Hojo and led a siege spearheaded by the Ashikaga brothers, Takauji and Tadayoshi, with the purpose of mass elimination of the Hojo clan.

Of course, they had retainers of their own, Ogasawara Sadamune, Ichikawa Sukefusa, Nitta Yoshisada, and several others who rally to the Ashikaga cause. All but one of the Hojo survives, Tokiyuki, who carries more value as the heir to the previous ruler or shikken Takatoki compared to his half-brother Kunitoki, whose mother was a concubine.

These people all did exist in Japanese records, but English-language sources are scarce and my Japanese isn’t proficient enough to try to search through the original sources to look more into their personal lives, but as a spoiler, Hojo Tokiyuki made it all the way to the 1350s running endlessly from the forces of Ashikaga Takauji, escaping until his eventual capture and execution by forces loyal to Ashikaga in the Spring of 1353.

As for Go-Daigo, well Ashikaga seemed to have used the opportunity to betray the Hojo to also betray the emperor. Paying lip service to the idea of a civilian-run government, Go-Daigo’s Kenmu Restoration as it’s known these days was short-lived and Ashikaga implemented the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1336 until it eventually collapsed during the Sengoku era, paving the way for the last shogunate, Tokugawa, until 1868. Never trust a traitor. Though the entire time of the Ashikaga’s brutal rise to power, there were technically two courts in the north and south of Japan which is why this era is also known as the Nanboku-cho period and why there are two sets of emperors whose claim to legitimacy is dubious.

I remember reading about the anime adaptation last year, prompting the first ever full-length post about it the day of. Now that it’s here, I can finally share my thoughts on the adaptation. Clover Works pulled out all the stops to bring this series to the small screen. I’m almost 26 and in all my years as a weeb, I’ve never seen a more beautifully animated piece of media, not even when Toonami pranked us years ago by showing the original dub of Masaaki Yuasa’s 2004 film Mind Game.

Some sore spots exist with the use of CGI in select scenes in the anime, but they don’t really do anything harmful to the overall plot of the series. I admit, I was worried slightly with how much attention other anime were getting around it especially with regular updates on Reddit, but then again, a single social media forum isn’t and shouldn’t be seen as the poster child for all discussion on media, least of all anime. Healthy discussion does exist, but with how big anime has become, I think it’s time for the medium to go back to its roots as showcased in late 90s-early 2000s discussions are concerned, namely, a small group of friends, enthusiasts and connoisseurs (with a strict member limit) who meet up and talk about the latest series and other anime news. Reddit and Twitter are cramping anime’s style, you know?

Following on from that point, if you want more evidence that social media is more curse than blessing, I made a discovery about seven or eight episodes in. I didn’t know this at the time, and I know better than to share misery, but in the first episode (spoilers again), there’s a scene where the chief of the Suwa Grand Shrine, Suwa Yorishige, pushes Tokiyuki off a cliff to join his family and be killed, when he shows his max experience in evasion and makes it back up the cliff, he flies into Suwa’s arms, and angrily tells him that he could’ve died down there. Though angrily in this context may not be what you imagine.

Matsui’s pride in femboy characters strikes again, as a disturbingly noticeable percentage of Japanese Twitter saw this scene and exploded with… excitement. I’m not responsible for this scene, but I still feel an apology is owed to someone. Maybe Shinzo Abe’s ghost for all of that excitement going into crumpled up tissues and not the rest of the population for procreation. Sorry, was that vulgar? Have a meme.

Pictured is my reaction to Japanese Twitter’s “awakening.”

Eh, it counts as engagement, so success? I’m still collecting and reading the manga, which I encourage you to do however you see fit. Follow along with the anime (which ends the 1st season at chapter 31), continue in the manga, or if you’ve done/are doing that, then wait with me for the figures to release. Time’s on our side.

On a final note, I heard rumors that a second longer season was in the works. We’ll have to wait for confirmation on that.