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I have been doing a lot of traveling lately, so I have had the opportunity to chill out with some anime to unwind after a day of slowly turning into a zombie while traveling along the US Interstate system. It has allowed me to catch up on a bit of a backlog. I mentioned it briefly in the last thread, but to give some more thoughts on them…
Zombie Land Saga Season 2
I finally finished this up after getting halfway through this season ages ago and having it linger. Overall, I think this season lives up to season 1. It took the opportunity to showcase some of the girls that weren’t as important in the first season. I do think the historical lore they presented this season was a bit weird. However, it was a good chance to showcase Yugiri in her element.
The final 10 seconds of the finale really raise a lot of questions. Questions like how on Earth there can be more story to tell? They have announced that a movie is in production to continue the story, so time will tell. Hopefully…(cries in Yuri on Ice)
Apothecary Diaries
After finishing ZLS (see above), I started watching The Apothecary Diaries. I have really enjoyed my time with this show (currently about halfway through). I have seen a lot of people compare this show to House. I haven’t watched too much House, but I would compare this show to a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. Maomao is applying logic, deductive reasoning, and some educated guessing to solve mysteries (usually medical in nature) in the imperial court of ancient China.
One thing that I didn’t like about the show is how it deals with indentured servitude. I understand that it is based on historical China…but it just feels weird how easily all the characters, especially Maomao herself, simply accept how she ends up in service to the palace. We never hear about any kind of effort by her acquaintances outside the palace to track her down or anything.
In any case, I have been really enjoying the show despite the previous paragraph. The mysteries have been interesting and the solutions been fun. Something that can make or break a Sherlock-style mystery is how the mystery unfolds. In this regard, the way that this show drip feeds you the clues and then has a big reveal feels very Sherlock-y.
The other aspect that makes this feel like Sherlock is that Maomao is always smarter than you, the viewer. The way the story is told, Maomao always figures things out and then only later will you the viewer catch up as it is revealed to the other character. We are the metaphorical Watson that she is explaining how things are elementary. She is always the smartest person in the room. I am just waiting for a rival, Moriarty-like character to appear to challenge her intellect as an equal.
Weekly ranking roundup:
- Anime Corner - Full Results - Weekly Winner: Date a Live V
- Anime Trending - Full Results - Weekly Winner: Date a Live V
- Reddit Karma - Weekly Winner: Mushoku Tensei
Credit to /u/Abysswatcherbel for making the chart for reddit karma and /u/Nooble5 for the Anime Trending chart.
Date a Live tops 2/3 charts again this week. Its a show that has very strange rankings. It is a perennial chart-topper except on reddit, where it languishes down at #25. Even flipping back through the past week of posts in this community, it doesn’t have much in the way of upvotes or comments compared to some other shows. I wonder if it is just an audience difference between the different sites, or if there is a concerted effort among the fanbase to rank high on certain charts.
Finally got a bit of time to watch. Wrapped up a couple and making slow progress on a few.
Villainess Lvl 99: Finished. I really enjoyed this one. I think it peaked around halfway, and the ending isn’t quite as strong, but still a great chill and fun story.
7th Time Loop: Finished. Liked this one a lot too. Again, peaked about halfway. The ending felt a bit complicated and didn’t quite land as well as I’d hoped. But still fun and silly and felt like you knew everything was going to turn out fine, even if you didn’t see how.
Mushoku Tensei: Still great.
An episode or two of a bunch of stuff. Jellyfish Can’t Swim At Night, Whisper Me A Love Song, Spice and Wolf, Konosuba S1 (catch up), Slime-San S2 (catch up), Trigun OG (catch up), X-men 97.
Not sure about the hype for Date A Live. I haven’t watched any. Not sure it’s for me. Anybody got a sell for it?
I just watched a bit of the original Trigun for the first time recently as well. I hadn’t realized how goofy it was. A lot of the visuals and talk I had had seen/heard about Trigun was about the gunplay and action. However, watching the first handful of episodes, it is a slapstick comedy most of the time with only brief flashes of action. I think the humor definitely feels a bit dated sometimes, especially in how Vash seems to always be trying to pick up girls. Been enjoying it so far though. I have been watching it with my wife, so probably only 1-2 episodes per week going forward.
Waiting a bit to see what shows actually hold, but currently only watching Spice & Wolf and Kaiju No. 8.
Spice & Wolf is perfect and is following the LNs almost exactly from my recollection.
Unfortunately Kaiju No. 8 is boring as hell. Despite having immense power capable of one-punching kaiju into showers of blood, the MC has spent 90% of their screen time being functionally useless. It’s just such a weird way to write an MC. I get 1 or 2 episodes, but nearly half of the 12 episode run? The pacing needs to pick up 10x. I’m not kidding. We should be seeing kaiju getting bodied every episode. The slow burn it’s trying to structure itself around is not happening at all. Boooooooooo. Pick it up!
I haven’t been watching Kaiju, but I do know the protagonist is in their 30’s. So, maybe that is a reason that so many anime protagonists are in their teens; so that they have enough energy for the constant action? Just wait until they sleep in an awkward position and wake up sore for an entire episode. I may or may not be speaking from experience.
I have been enjoying Spice and Wolf so far as somebody that has gone in blind. Really glad that it is running for two cours as the pace has been leisurely so far.
