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beneaththetangles · 26 days

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More than 60 anime will be competing for your attention this spring, and a whole host of them are highly anticipated sequels, with a number of new series in the list as well. Let me just list some of the sequels from returning anime (or continuing from the winter: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (season 3), Mushoku Tensei (season 2 part 2), Demon Slayer (Hashira Training arc), Konosuba (season 3), Urusei Yatsura (season 2) The Duke of Death and His Maid, My Hero Academia (season 7), Tsukimichi (season 2 continued), and two that our staff are particularly looking forward to—season three of both Sound! Euphonium and Laid-back Camp.

That’s not to say that there aren’t a plethora of new series as well, many of them based on manga or light novels we’ve reviewed, some very highly like Unnamed Memory, A Condition Called Love Gods’ Games We Play, Mission Yozakura Family, and possibly the most highly anticipated new series of the spring, Kaiju No. 8. The assumption (perhaps better termed “hope”) is that these adaptations will do justice to their source material. But for others, we’re going in blind. Wild cards like WIND BREAKER, Re:Monster, Mysterious Disappearances, A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics, Jelly Fish Can’t Swim in the Night, and Train to the End of the World—some of which are originals—are sure to surprise us, hopefully in a good way!

Other shows we’re looking forward to are long-dead productions made alive again as part of the recent trend to resurrect classics, including Black Butler -Public School Arc- and Spice and Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf, which has already gotten chatter on our social media timelines. There are also other assorted series premiering, like Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again, yuri series Whisper Me a Love Song, The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio, and so much more!

We’ll help you keep track of all these shows with our first impression pieces. Please keep checking back as we make updates, click on the links below as we develop this post, and let us know what you’re thinking in the comments!

Enjoy!

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animepopheart · 3 years

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Do you have any advice for a Christian struggling with anxiety about multiple things? Like small things and big things anxiety? Counseling or anxiety medications are not options because tried both already.. I don't want to be a burden to my family and I want to be useful to God.. I really related to that article Laura Grace (I think that's her name?) wrote on Beneath the Tangles about Zenitsu awhile back..

Thank you, Twwk!

Hey, there. Thanks for reaching out, and for the kind words about Laura's Zenitsu article.

Honestly, I don't have a lot to offer you in terms of how to work through your anxiety. I've been thinking a lot about the roles that Christians have when they're in a place of authority, and although it's not as concrete as a church role, leading Beneath the Tangles gives me a loud voice, and I don't want to use it willy nilly. I don't want to hurt others. I certainly shouldn't give advice about working through anxiety when I lack expertise.

But about being a burden to your family and desiring to be useful to God—that I can speak on. I want to encourage you by saying that the earlier is very unlikely to be true and the latter will happen despite any weaknesses you have.

Anxiety runs strong in my family, both from above and below. And yes, sometimes I get impatient with family members, but "burden" is totally the wrong word. Working through such conditions and issues can be challenging for sure, but that's the role of a family. That's love in action.

As for doing things for God, he will use you despite any conditions you have. Personally, I struggle with OCD, have a tendency toward addiction, and lack self-control, and besides don't excel in any arts and lack charisma and other aspects that make one popular. But God has been using Beneath the Tangles despite all this. I think like a father who loves to see his child succeed in something despite limitations, God is the same.

Keep humbling seeking him. Follow him. Love him. Pray. And God will lead you into service. Take care, Anon!

#christianity #anxiety #zenitsu #demon slayer #anonymous

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beneaththetangles · 22 days

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First Impression: Re:Monster

If you were resurrected into another world, would it matter what form you were born into? Would you immediately give up on this second life if your new body was that of a monster? Would you be disgusted if your clan enslaved human women? Or would you do what’s necessary to survive with this second chance at life? Tomokui Kanata, brutally killed in his human life, is reborn as a goblin in a fantasy world where he not only retains his memories but discovers that an ability he had in the war zone of a world he once inhabited—”absorption,” which allows him to gain the abilities of whatever (or whomever) he eats—has followed him as well. With this power, his intelligence, an ability to level up, and a couple of comrades, Gobrou will make sure that this second chance doesn’t go to waste.

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beneaththetangles · 22 days

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First Impression: Gods’ Games We Play

The gods are bored—very bored. So to alleviate the tedium, they have decided to challenge humanity to games. The system is pretty simple: the gods give some humans powers known as Arises. These humans, known as apostles, can use their Arises in the games, which take place in “Elements,” a dimension in which the gods live. The more a human wins, the more of their Arise they can use in the real world, which comes in handy in exploring this realm’s savage lands. Lose three times, however, and you lose your abilities entirely. But win ten times, and you participate in a “celebration.” Fay Theo Philius, the greatest rookie apostle of this generation, is aiming for victory—and he may just be helped along by Leoleshea, a former god discovered in a glacier and who is dying to play these games against the gods herself.

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beneaththetangles · 4 months

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12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 6: Toradora’s “Holy Night” Is Anime’s Christmas Carol

I’m a Christmas music nut. I listen to holiday songs throughout the year and once Thanksgiving hits (I wait until then so I don’t wear myself and others around me out), it’s pretty much Christmas songs all the way through to the 25th. My favorites tend to be those that are carols or otherwise worshipful, like Silent Night or It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. While the world celebrates Christmas as being about family, peace, goodwill, and presents, these songs remind me that those blessings are often byproducts of the holiday’s true meaning, and more the result or glimmer of the Hope that came to bring us salvation that first Christmas Day.

Here at Beneath the Tangles, our little contribution to the Christmas season is this series of 12 Days of Christmas Anime posts. I won’t lie—it can sometimes be a challenge finding Jesus in episodes of anime that tend to focus on parties and romance (though a few series unexpectedly get it right). And Christmas songs in anime? Well, when old-time carols are used properly, they can indeed convey great meaning. But what of newer Christmas songs and, even more specifically, anime original ones?

Toradora, one of my favorite anime and a series that really helped convert me from normie into otaku through the depth of its story and the realism of its characters, actually features such an original Christmas song. It’s not a carol and it’s not in any way about Christ, but this romantic song is a fun addition to a series that balances laughs with heartache.The Toradora Christmas episode is really three episodes long. The main episode in that run (which we’ve focused on already on Day 3!) begins to push the story toward its conclusion by focusing on hurt feelings, mixed signals, and sad Christmas Eves. Amid the pain, Taiga and Ami give an unexpected performance at the class Christmas bash, featuring a song that I can only presume the two wrote themselves!

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beneaththetangles · 7 months

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First Impression: The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch

When the cute witch Alyssa stumbles upon an abandoned human baby in the middle of a forest, she immediately falls in love and decides to raise the girl. Sixteen years later, Viola has grown up, way up, to the point that other villagers believe that she’s the witch and Alyssa is her apprentice. But make no bones about it, Alyssa is the more mature of the two. Viola spends most of her time accompanying her mother on trips, pleading for gifts—including a creature that she’ll be able to magically summon—and acting very much like a child, even throwing tantrums in the streets. Thankfully, Alyssa is full of patience, kindness, and love for her daughter, who in turn is viciously possessive of her mom. These two make for quite a tandem!

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beneaththetangles · 6 months

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Untangled: Is It Okay for Christians to Watch Illegal, Pirated, or Unlicensed Anime Steams?

Our good friend, Kenneth See, sent us a question recently about watching anime through unlicensed means. My response, edited here for clarity and with some additional insight, might be helpful to other Christians who are struggling with this question.

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I want to pick your brain on something: anime piracy. Is it a sin to watch anime on a pirate site? What about anime that is no longer distributed? Finally, do you think that if one were to pay the Japanese outlet for the anime being pirated, that it would be okay since you ARE paying for access to the media? I’m trying to wrestle through this and want to hear others’ opinions and what scripture has to say.

Those are great questions, Kenneth. A few years ago, I would watch anime mostly by legal means but still pirate what I didn’t want to pay for (with a somewhat guilty conscience), episodes of new series that hadn’t yet been licensed (feeling somewhat less guilty), and those no longer in distribution (feeling hardly any guilt at all). But since then, I’ve been convicted not to watch anything pirated, and we as a staff are committed to only develop content when we access it through legal means.

It starts in scripture, as you alluded to. Romans 13:1-2 is pretty clear about following the law of the land:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

In the U.S., that’s fairly easy to follow, and the same can be said with Japan and much of Europe. If those countries indicate that the media you’re watching, reading, or playing is illegal, we can almost turn our thinking caps off and just follow the law. Other countries are a little more, shall we say, lenient on allowing piracy. So maybe this verse doesn’t quite apply in the same way, though you would then need to think through international copyright law if you’re focusing specifically on the Romans verses.

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beneaththetangles · 10 months

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Letter: Why We Won’t Be Covering the Rurouni Kenshin Reboot (And Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Watch It, Either)

Dear Friends,

The new anime season is just around the corner! And one that stands above the rest for fans of a certain generation. Running for two consecutive cours and premiering July 7th, the new Rurouni Kenshin anime is the latest classic series from c. 2000 to receive a reboot. The original was a precious show to me (as was the original manga), which made it all the harder when I decided that I wouldn’t be tuning in. Neither will Beneath the Tangles be generating any content related to the series beyond this letter as we seek to best live out the principles we espouse and encourage you to deeply consider the entertainment you consume.

But before I explain further, let me take you back to 2002. Though I’d grown up in the church and in a Christian family, I’d only recently come to understand the weight of what Christ did for me on the cross and how truly amazing his grace is. I was learning about Christ as the living Savior and not just the wonderful teacher I’d grown up reading about. He had come alive to me.

I was reading the Bible voraciously, but I was also learning about Christ from others, namely, writers like Philip Yancey, C.S. Lewis, and John Piper. And though I didn’t realize until I started Beneath the Tangles, I was also forming my conception of Christ from non-Christian media that helped illustrate biblical principles in ways that were imaginative and unexpected. Two characters from anime illuminated Christlike actions to me in particular. Yep, you guessed it—they were from the two recent reboots, Vash the Stampede (Trigun) and Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin).

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beneaththetangles · 8 months

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Horimiya and Scripture: The Missing Pieces

It surprises me to admit that one of my favorite shows this season has been Horimiya: The Missing Pieces—surprising because viewing the original series was a frustrating experience for me. That “first season” skipped much of the in-between material in the manga, which is now being animated in this “second season.” Without all the “missing pieces” in the original anime, I was left with only the outline of the tale and without a deep connection to Horimiya and its characters. But with this new season filling in the blanks, I’m getting to know Hori, Miyamura, and the rest of the gang more intimately. And that’s not all. As I’m seeing how these two seasons fit together, I’m also being reminded that in my personal relationship with God, I also need to “complete the story” so I can grow closer to him.

But first, back to that original viewing of Horimiya. Having heard great things about the manga, I was so excited when the anime aired. The first episode came along and I loved it; I watched it multiple times following its premiere. Hori and Miyamura were so lovable right from the start. The animation was so pretty, the music was lovely, and the supporting characters seemed fun, too.

But by about episode five, I realized what all the manga readers surely already knew by that point: the Horimiya adaptation was rushing through the material to complete the series in just one season. What resulted was a series that I ultimately found cold. There wasn’t enough time baked in to get to know and care for all the supporting characters or to connect as deeply with the main ones as I would have liked. Additionally, the lack of flow made the series feel spacey and distant.

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beneaththetangles · 4 months

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First Impression: The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

Rentt Faina is in the second-lowest class of adventurers, bronze, despite working in the profession for a decade and training another ten years before that. But he likes his life and as someone who lives cautiously, he can survive well enough with the pay he makes while also avoiding major dangers in the labyrinths. That is, until he gets ahead of himself one day after discovering a secret passageway in the Labyrinth of the Moon’s Reflection, and comes face to face with a terrifying dragon. The creature promptly eats him, but Rentt awakens to find himself alive, or at least, undead, and in the form of a skeleton creature. You know, the kind that’s super easy to kill in fantasy games. As he tries to decide what to do in this new form, Rentt remembers that monsters can evolve, and so he makes it his goal to turn into a ghoul, an undead creature covered with skin, so that he can perhaps return to town without being destroyed by those who consider the undead to be taboo. But he has another goal, too, one that he won’t give up: to become an adventurer who can save nations—to become a mithril adventurer.

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beneaththetangles · 4 months

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First Impression: My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered

As Yogiri Takatou dreams of his violent childhood, violence surrounds him once again. But no worries for Takatou, who must be wrested from his sleep by Dannoura, because he has an ability that will help the two survive in the world they’ve apparently been isekai’d to with their classmates. Except that the vast majority of their classmates are no longer on the bus that drove them into this fantasy dimension. You see, they’ve already abandoned Takatou, Dannoura, and two others lacking in magical abilities. The rest were given the “Battle Song” system, which installs a “gift”, by the deadly sage Shion, and they decided to go on their first mission while leaving the others to die on the bus as sacrifices to a wyvern. Little does anyone suspect, including returning classmates who mean who take advantage of Dannoura, that Takatou has an OP ability—to bring instant death on whomever he wishes.

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beneaththetangles · 4 months

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First Impression: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 2nd Stage

The first day of the second term is about to begin for Tomozaki and the rest of his crew, which means new goals given by Hinami as he continues to play this game of life. And so, the second season of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki begins with Tomozaki having progressed through the game quite a lot; he’s no longer “bottom-tier,” as demonstrated by all the greetings he receives on the first day back from friends who are “winning” in the game of life. Tomozaki spends the rest of the term’s first day observing interpersonal relationships, discovering that Nakamura and Izumi are now officially (but secretly) a couple, and witnessing the shy Hirabayashi being harangued by Erika Konno into becoming the class’s girls’ captain for the upcoming sports day. That last bit sets the stage for a new goal that Hinami gives Tomozaki: to get Konno motivated for the sports tournament. In a most RPG way, Tomozaki will have to use strategies—”items” he discovers, information about Erika’s weaknesses (primarily from Yuzu), and advice he’s given (the most significant from his lazy coworker, the newly introduced Gumi)—to win this game. It won’t be easy, but Tomozaki is motivated. And as the episode ends, he announces that he has an approach to achieve victory.

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beneaththetangles · 4 months

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12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 1: The Angel Next Door Knows the Christmas Blues

A study from late last year discovered something many of us know intimately to be true: Christmastime can be incredibly lonely. The survey indicated that 55% of Americans are “experiencing sadness and loneliness during the holidays.” While it’s perhaps helpful to know that the majority of Americans may be feeling like you are, it’s little consolation—what someone in the doldrums of the holiday blues would rather know is how to get out of them. Unfortunately, I think many of us just avoid gatherings and other hallmarks of the season instead of finding an answer. This is where The Angel Next Doors Spoils Me Rotten comes in, providing a surprisingly biblical response to winter sadness by showing that avoiding the holiday isn’t the answer; what we need instead is even more of Christmas and the relationship it brings.

Christmas arrives relatively early in The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. Near the end of episode three, Itsuki and his girlfriend, Chitose, convince Amane to let them have a Christmas Eve party at his apartment. The pair assumes that Amane will be alone, so it’s a perfect opportunity for the lovebirds to spend some time together (Itsuki’s father disapproves of his relationship with Chitose) and hang out with their friend.

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beneaththetangles · 4 months

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12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 3: Toradora, Clannad, and My Love Story on the Anilujah Podcast!

For today’s post, we’ll actually be throwing it to another blog (and podcast…and videocast). I joined our friends, Josh and Rebecca of Anilujah, recently to talk Christmas anime! We chatted about Christmas episodes of Toradora, My Love Story, and Clannad, as well as other holiday stuff. I encourage you to watch the episode below!

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#Anime #Anime Podcasts #Christianity #Anilujah #ToraDora #My Love Story!!#CLANNAD #ToraDora!#Ore Monogatari!!#Podcasts #Anime Article #Anime Blog #Articles #Christian Anime #Christian Otaku #Author: TWWK #Youtube

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beneaththetangles · 4 months

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Catching Up with Voice Actor Marisa Duran

One of our very favorite people in the whole world is Marisa Duran, a voice actor who burst onto the anime dub scene in 2021 as the voice of Kyouko Hori in Horimiya and has continued to land roles in popular and acclaimed series like Hell’s Paradise (Sagiri), Remake Our Life (Eiko), and Shadows House (Lou/Louise).

This past weekend, we found a chance to catch up with Marisa at Anime Frontier, where she was attending as a guest. We chatted* about her work this past year, holiday plans, and of course, Horimiya!

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Twwk: As the year draws to an end, what are the highlights of 2023 for you?

Marisa: Oh my gosh, 2023 was so good to me! I had like a shonen protagonist role on my bucket list, which I always imagined would be a young boy, for some reason. But then I got an email that said, “Hey, Mike McFarland is interested in casting you as Sagiri in Hell’s Paradise,” and I was like, what?! So that was a huge blessing.

And then even just attending conventions, actually, was something that I guess was a goal I didn’t even realize. I know so many people kind of set out with that in mind—the financial aspect of it and how beneficial that is. But for me, I always set out with the expectation of just wanting to connect with people. And so the financial aspect of it has definitely been helpful, but just having the chance to connect with fans in person and hearing what these stories mean to them has been an incredible blessing.

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beneaththetangles · 5 months

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Donate to BtT Today and Win a Deku Hallmark Keepsake Christmas Ornament!

Deku the halls this Christmas season with a Deku Christmas ornament from Hallmark’s Keepsake collection! We’re giving one away to anyone who donates today as part of our annual campaign drive. We’re looking to raise $250 in one-time gifts by next Friday and reach $250 monthly of sustained giving by that date as well. If you give today, whether with a one-time gift or as a monthly giver, you’ll be entered into the drawing for this awesome Deku!

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