Did you generate this comment with a LLM for irony?

Thanks for the recommendation.

Meta

May we please have a tag for community discussion posts like those from @molave@reddthat.com? Perhaps have one for episode discussions and one for news too. It would help with filtering of posts on Photon.

Can we also have a tag to indicate that there are spoilers in the tagged post? Sometimes, people want to talk about the content of anime they have watched freely, outside of episode discussions. Spoiler-tagging a post allows people to be warned before seeing the comments.

Past Seasons

I completed Haikyuu!! season 1 over the past week. Instant 10 / 10.

Only this anime can get me as hyped up as Umamusume: Cinderella Gray.

Writing-wise, Haikyuu is basically the volleyball version of

On a more meta note, I think sports anime are the best suited to the shounen demographic. Other forms of shounen anime have tropes that I find annoying, but these tropes actually make sense in the context of sports.

For example, in many battle shounen, the hero tend to let the villain walk away instead of finishing them off when they had the chance. The villain would then live to fight another day. It’s so stupid because the villain would cause so much preventable suffering later. I’m sure it’s because they want to reuse the same character instead of coming up with a new one, but that’s just an excuse to justify subpar work.

This is not a problem in sports anime because even if the stakes are high, it would almost never be a life-or-death situation. There is no real villain. Even if the protagonist lost to their opponent because they failed to end the match decisively, it is alright - they can get their revenge in a subsequent match. Nobody is really getting hurt.

Another genre that I dislike when targeted at young boys is romance. I read somewhere that young boys don’t have much experience being in romantic relationships, so they relate to “the chase” better. I wholeheartedly agree.

My watching experience tells me that the protagonists of such anime take multiple seasons to get together and once they get together, the story ends. Personally, I find it too frustrating.

This is not a problem in sports anime at all. The focus of relationships is on friendship and camaraderie, something that shounen are more than familiar with.

This is just NTR: The Episode

Poor Ajisai got caught in the crossfire and got NTRed too. (Don’t forget that she reciprocated Renako’s “confession”!)

Lastly, this scene makes for a excellent meme template:

If you consider just the first two panels, it can be an anime-version drop-in replacement for this template:

Banner:

@rikka@ani.social

When?

Probably when I got back into anime.

Previously, I was more of a casual anime viewer, just watching anime that are highly popular (e.g. SAO), those that my friends recommended (e.g. Infinite Stratos) or just the few that caught my attention (e.g. Gundam 00). That most memorable one from that period is Toradora!, so I shall consider it my previous top one. I haven’t seriously thought about it back then TBH.

What got me back into anime was Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, around the time season 2 was airing (and not long before joining Lemmy).

My initial impression - based on the synopsis and pictures - was: man, how far has Gundam fallen to pander to its audience, focusing on cute girls in their school life instead of its core themes of war and politics. I picked it up just to pass time, with the intention of dropping it at the drop of a hat once I lose interest. But I never did.

The prologue immediately had me reevaluating my preconceived notions and biases. It reminded me that I should not judge a book by its cover; that I should probably try more anime out instead of being so selective.

The main criteria for determining if an anime belongs in my top 10 / favourites are

1. my enjoyment of the whole story
2. how many times I rewatch it
3. its personal significance to me

I enjoyed WfM a lot, I replayed various scenes and episodes (and sometimes whole episodes or even seasons) many times, and most importantly, it got me to check out around 300 anime between then and now.

Naturally, it has to be my top one anime.

I’d say Umamusume: Pretty Derby season 2 put up a good fight for the number one spot recently. Ultimately, the personal significance factor of WfM is just too strong.

Still, I can’t but noticed that I have a very specific taste based on just my top 3:

If not for personal significance, any of my top 3 anime can be top 1.

Those that I find the most useful are those that I (and likely many others) tend to take for granted.

For example, fuzzy logic may very well be used in electronics that involve temperature control - fridge, aircon, rice cooker, water heater - under the hood.

Another one is CSP (constraint-satisfaction problems) solvers which tend to be used in scheduling softwares. A possible use case is public transportation.

There are probably lots more AIs working behind the scenes that benefit everyone, but don’t get the coverage because they are just boring tech now. People may not even consider them AI!

I appreciate these AI for making my life so convenient.

no one has said angel beats

earlier

Probably Murai In Love

Pretty much all other anime in my top 10 / favourites and rest of my 10/10s either

• received high ratings, or
• have significant number of people talking about how good they are

While it was airing, Murai In Love’s rating did not even reach 60% on AniList.

Also, hardly anyone is singing its praises. Honestly, I have forgotten what got me to check it out in the first place.

But its slapstick comedy aligns perfectly with my sense of humour and got me to laugh one of the hardest while watching a show.

How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?

It is more of an educational, CGDCT sports anime than ecchi IMO (but the ecchi moments are definitely there).

Second half of the episode is stupidly funny.

Solid advice that the main character of another anime airing this season could use:

Banner: they knew what they were doing with this camera angle

Banner: isn’t this scene a reenactment of the shota and big tiddy anime girls meme?

@rikka@ani.social

For reference:

Also, new reaction image:

That old geezer being among Mai’s suitor (i.e. having confessed to her before) is sus.

Edit: just realised that Mai keeps track of everyone (or just lot’s of people) who has ever confessed to her. Scary.

Banner: unprotected handholding

@rikka@ani.social

This Season

Hot Take 1

Possible lukewarm take, given its surprising popularity:

Comparing based on just the first 3 (edit: now 4) episodes, I am enjoying There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… the most out of the airing anime that I’m following.

This is despite it being a stacked watchlist, with entries like:

• Dan Da Dan
• My Dress-Up Darling
• Rascal does not Dream of Santa Claus
• Grand Blue

The plot and characters feel kinda trashy, but it’s so entertaining. Personally, I find that it gives off similar vibes to A Complicated Sibling Relationship 4-Koma. It’s like a dumpster fire on a rollercoaster.

Hot Take 2

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is my third drop of the season.

It’s not like it is bad or anything. However, an anime has to stand out from the rest if it wants to keep my attention.

4 episodes in, it has the same cookie-cutter, standard, vanilla plot typical of most other romance anime (e.g. The Dangers in My Heart). Once you have seen one, you have seen them all.

An amazing execution could have make up for its ordinary premise, but with a slow-burn romance that takes forever to develop, I got bored out of my mind. I’d rather spend my time watching past top-rated anime.

Past Seasons

I finished watching 3 amazing anime last week, all deserving of a score of 9 / 10.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin

I think this may be the best entry point into UC (i.e. mainline) Gundam.

All the other Gundam anime throw you into the war right away, then reveal the politics driving the war bit by bit.

The Origin did a 180 on the above formulae, showing the politics first, and various events in chronological order in the lead-up to war.

Doing so takes the focus away from the cool robots and instead be in-your-face with its core message: war is bad.

It helps that it has a relatively short runtime, compared to the 50 episodes of a typical Gundam anime.

The revenge subplot reminds of Vinland Saga. In their quest for revenge, the vengeful caused so much collateral suffering. All it does is maintain the cycle of hatred and violence.

BanG Dream! Ave Mujica - The Die is Cast -

This anime is a band anime just like how Grand Blue is a diving anime. (In case you haven’t watch Grand Blue, it is not really about diving.)

My experience with Umamusume: Pretty Derby season 2 tells me that it is possible to jump straight into the “sequel” if its story is only loosely connected to its prequel. This heuristic worked; I was able to follow the story despite dropping BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!! after the first few episodes.

Most importantly, Ave Mujica was able to keep me hooked and wanting for more. There are so much twists and drama (though it can get quite edgy at times). With its focus on the entertainment industry, I find that it is way more similar to Oshi no Ko than any other music anime.

Regarding the characters, those girls need serious psychiatry aid / therapy / counseling.

I was finding it odd that the girls’ parental figures are rarely shown given some of the their circumstances. They should have been the first level of support. Turns out,

just like in Oshi no Ko.

No doubt these kind of events happen in real life and these anime are being meta about it. Unfortunately, this kind of drama is so captivating.

Thankfully, this anime is fiction (I hope).

Apocalypse Hotel

I’m not sure how to describe this anime, except that it is very good. It does a bit of everything and does them well.

It reminds me heavily of Frieren. I guess viewers who want more of Frieren sans the fight scenes would enjoy Apocalypse Hotel.

Plan-to-watch

I am going to start watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The thing is, I would rather binge a show, or at least finish up a plotline by watching a few episodes at once.

How should the episodes be split up?

For example, I would consider Frieren episodes 18 to 28 to be an arc, and episode 23 to 26 to be a mini-arc within this arc.

Seika’s transformation reminds me of Maple from Bofuri.

I am curious to see how Seika can nullify Reia’s curse without turning out to be overpowered.

Isn’t the premise of The Student Council President is the No.1 Host that of Maid-sama?

Is it just me or all victims of Puberty Syndrome - besides Sakuta - are ladies?

Bonus:

The heck. Thanks for letting me know. I was so sure I clicked on anime_irl too.