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probablyevilrpgideas · 8 months

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I started thinking about Boris' story from the isekai I was posting chapters of here and what that story might be. Starting with who the necromancer who created him was.

I pretty much immediately decided it was a necromancer character i created awhile ago, and got a short chance to play, Kerila/Nisharven. They have a very distinctive appearance I created by melding together visual cues from xenomorphs, Yzma, The Sassomancer (props to @kadabura for such a cool character), and then added some of my own "way overthinking things" to, like how they actually style their hair like that. While Nisharven didn't have a particular race when i created them, Kerila was a githyanki.

I had recently watched a video talking about the Gith (tho i strongly disagree with Pointy Hat's taste, but then I'm an avowed xenophile, so), and decided i definitely wanted to use some of the Gith/mind flayer lore in Boris' backstory.

There's a small problem with that, but a fairly easily surmountable one- WotC claims the Gith and mind flayers as "Product Identity." Which is bullshit, because neither of them originate from D&D. The Gith were created by Charles Stross for a White Dwarf article, and the name was pulled from an old GRR Martin story. Mind Flayers are just starspawn of Cthulhu with the serial numbers and wings filed off. The Gith/Illithid war takes from a book by Larry Niven. So, I personally consider them fair game, since they represent a history of artistic theft. I just need to call them something different and make a few differences.

And given that I actually think about how fantasy species and cultures function, that's easy to do.

Which is a long ass prologue for what I actually am making this post to talk about:

How To Create Truly Alien Cultures

Mind Flayers are described as utterly alien in mind and body. They see themselves as the apex of life, superior to all other life, and as destined to rule the multiverse, creating order under their rubbery grasp.

They see "lesser" lifeforms as only fit to be food, brainwashed thralls, or, essentially, breeding stock. They believe that they are giving these creatures "a gift" when they eat their brains.

These two things don't fucking compute.

This "we are superior to you, and true order can only be found if you submit to our rule" bullshit is all too fucking human. If this is your take on illithids, they're not alien, they're Nazis with squids for heads and slightly more complex justifications.

But, I read up on the canon, because there's this inherent tension between "we eat brains" and "we reproduce by putting our larva in brains." I wanted to see what the existing lore was to see if I needed to square that circle. I don't. A mind flayer only *needs* one brain a month because they actually primarily subsist on the psionic energy of the brain. A mind flayer who can might eat one or two brains a week, but in general they eat a brain every couple weeks, along with other things, such as organs other than brains, which are like healthy snacks to them since they contain the non-psionic stuff their bodies need.

But the lore also contains the seeds to actually start making them genuinely alien.

Let's start with the thing I remembered and didn't need the lore to refresh my memory on- for an Illithid, the Good Ending of life is for their brain to be put in their home elder brain's pool to become one with it. Every Illithid, no matter their personal goals, unless they've gone rogue or something, is aiming for an afterlife where they become one with the ruler of their personal community. That is Illithid Heaven.

Now, the things I needed the lore to remind me of-

When an Illithid consumes a brain, they receive the memories, personality, etc of the person whose brain they eat. The mind of the victim is absorbed into the Illithid's own mind.

There is one major point of lore I discard, the idea that illithids have no gender and instead individually lay one or two clutches of eggs in their lifespans. Like, I'm here for genderfuckery, but if we're going to make aliens, let's fucking make aliens. Have the tadpoles spawn directly from the elder brain through budding.

This is how you make the "brain consumption is a gift" thing work from the mind flayers' perspective!

The Cycle of One and Self

Ok, so, first you have to step into the webbed, two-toed feet of a mind flayer. You value your individuality, but also long to return to the elder brain which spawned them. For you, your individual life is but a short time in which you serve as a node of the community, to accomplish its goals away from the pool.

Further, you absorb non-illithids into your number when you eat. You don't see the act of consumption as an end of that person, you see it as helping them ascend to be part of a greater whole, which you likewise wish to ascend to. Your brain and mind is a way station for those who were not spawned from the Great One and are not destined to become extensions of it through ceremorphosis.

Now, we can understand this way of thinking, from an academic sense, but it's substantially non-human, in a way that "you are lesser beings and must be controlled by us superior beings" isn't. It gives the illithids a philosophy and a pathos that a person can almost sympathize with, but not, because to accept that perspective, one must sort themselves into "food."

This isn't a whole genuine alien mindset, but it's a good start. A much better start than, say, "look they just do things that seem random, but that's because we don't understand them." There's a logic, however abhorrent or frightening. It actually makes internal sense and isn't just "this is a thing we don't like to think of historical human actions, so it seems alien to us."

#dungeons and dragons #d&d #dungeons & dragons #fantasy #rpgs #illithids #mind flayers

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layeredwanderings · 1 year

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Going back over my logs of EastEast. A lot of thoughts below the cut. Edit: Fixed the uh. text duplication. I think.

Thoughts on characters:

Camille [17] is “a Corpse from the Neck Down” and yet most of Doc Slaughter’s notes on her focus on her psychological issues. Is this just something normal there. Ria [R5] tries to control/destroy reality to avoid the inevitable pain of being disappointed. #girl.

Not sure who “Ms Closer” and “Ms Flower” are. Unless Flower (who “says Reality is an Illusion”) is Ria? Unsure, though - in MHT3, Slaughter says there’s no artifact presence among her clients. And in MHT1 she says that Closer and Camille are both paying for the same work... maybe Closer is a friend of Camille’s who wants her to get therapy?

Neville [R2] is actually doing well and just getting therapy because “you never know”. His twin Devona [R4] has problems, albeit relatively normal ones. Not sure if they actually are twins, or just friends and are called “The Twins” for some reason.

Someone called “the Killer” refuses therapy, and Doc Slaughter is more curious about their fear of being known than the whole being called The Killer thing. (Then again, her own name is Slaughter... but names and titles are probably different things.) I wonder if this character and “The Eye Killer” are the same or different.

Doc Slaughter will get deported from “this layer of Reality” if she interacts with Witherby [R1]. Wonder why that is. Also, is he the only one who doesn’t commit tax evasion? Or just the only one who has anything to file taxes on? :thinking: Possibly similar to him, Doc Slaughter isn’t supposed to think about Vik or, presumably, she goes all weird in some sort of way. Are they a living cognitohazard or does she just have a weird thing about something to do with them?

Yongki [I1] [47] got his mind completely wiped every time he saw his own reflection in a mirror, until the Captain showed up. Kinda fucked up. Is the 47 the number of times it happened while Slaughter was treating him? Is the Captain his roommate or headmate? A few things imply the latter.

Parker [21] knows he’s in an isekai setting, and has hopped multiple universes. And has no impulse control. Get this man some ADHD medication stat. He has a “proclivity towards deep tunnels into the earth”... I have no idea what that means but it sounds fun. Minecraft.

Khana [I3] is pretty much a Beholding avatar, whose coping strategy is violence. He seems like an interesting character.

The concept of this “Shambling Horror” guy [C-003] is interesting. I think at some point I read something in which Slaughter mentioned that the Horror was wearing her face? Could be wrong on that, though. She also says that "Lesser" horrors don't have the ability to fit into society better than anyone else. His partner Tyrfing has some interesting aliases. "That Guy With The Sword, That Guy With the Worm Babies". Wonder what his deal is.

Overall, the characters that interest me the most are Yongki, Parker, and Camille. I'll have to keep reading through the site for more.

Thoughts on other things -

“The 12 Call To Me.” I wonder what this means.

Slaughter says “The Whispers Within me call for Ronin.”

She casually mentions "a few minutes of lost memory" upon questioning the Captain a bit too hard... is that normal for her, or one of his abilities?

All of her patients have been in this universe for "centuries" before she arrived, and she mentioned something about "Loop[s] of the Spiral". Timeloops?

The patients all worked for a corporation that benefited from "Employee Trauma associated with Containing Horrors." I wonder if Horrors here includes the Shambling Horror guy or if he's just called that. There’s someone named Wanda [Last Name Unknowable], and someone named “Not-A-Minotaur” so clearly names are just weird in this setting.

#User: Pilot #zampaniosim #EastEast #if the readmore on this post doesnt work im going to bite something #writing this up as a distraction from my current struggles with Unity. why is animation so got damn finicky #been nice to read something other than Lovecraft. I've decided to read all his writing for some godforsaken reason and like #I understand how he became so influential in the field of cosmic horror #but also the dude literally could not stop being racist for five minutes. and his writing style started getting annoying #around the 45th time he described somethign as unnamable or by briefly listing everything that it wasn't #not that those aren't useful techniques. but theyre better used in moderation

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tlaquetzqui · 3 years

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So a piece of “writing advice” I came across was to have your character want something, and then, right when it seems they’re about to get it, yank it away.

Which…what? “Haha, it looked like things were leading up to a satisfying payoff but they didn’t, I’m so brilliant for subverting your expectations!”

That’s just asking the reader to fantasize about eviscerating you. Like that as you stand there with your chitlins uncoiling onto the ground, you hear them, with the part of your awareness that’s not too busy dying, say, “Haha, it looked like you were going to make it to tomorrow with your innards on the inside, but you didn’t, I’m so brilliant for subverting your expectations!”

#god i fucking hate plot twists for the sake of plot twists #MAYBE this meant like at the beginning and then have the character have to recover from it #but honestly a twist like that right at the beginning is only better for having wasted less of my time #that's also one of the lesser problems of isekai #that you establish the protagonist in this world and THEN send them to another #just have them be from there you idiot #even andre norton had that problem in the first witch world novel #and she was the first female sfwa grandmaster #and that was back when that meant something #never waste your reader's time

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rieindiegames · 4 years

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Can you tell us a bit about the landscape or weather in the game and how humans and demons deal with that? ☺

LORE TIME! Keep the lore asks coming!!!

There are three primary locations to chat about in IseKai! The Realm is split in equal halves. Humans occupy one side and demons the other. However, there’s a central circular portion of the land on equal parts of the Kaimana Kingdom and the Demon Kingdom, this is known as Neutral Territory. The Kaimana Kingdom: The Kaimana Kingdom is one half of the entire Realm. Landscapes on the mortal side are forgiving. There’s a rich agriculture industry in the westernmost and southern Kaimanian regions which are more tropical in climate. Most of the forests were cleared for housing and business purposes. The weather is mild year-round. Summers are warm without being punishing, and temperatures rarely drop below freezing. Snowfall is rare, with winters being colder once every 60 years. Kaimanian people fear demons and have few-to-little magical enhancements in their society. Due to how magic is obtained in the Realm it is illegal for mages to do business anywhere in the kingdom. It’s a human only society with screenings at all ports and gates to keep out demons and other magicals. Since the violation of the Neutral Pact, the Kaimana kingdom has suffered significant economical damage and natural disasters are rampant on the kingdom’s outskirts. There are severe droughts in the western regions, flooding in the seaside regions, and storms ravaging the south. The longer balance goes unrestored, the more unrestrained the weather becomes. Many Kaimanian citizens are clinging to the crown for stability throughout the crisis, which has solidified the single supreme authority of Emperor Callus Kaimana. He’s run an effective propaganda campaign and scapegoated the kingdom’s problems to demonic existence. The Demon Kingdom: The Demon Kingdom, also known as Daemochis, is the other half of the entire Realm. The landscape on this side is treacherous for mortals. Many of the plants are carnivorous or release hallucinogenic fumes that are lethal when exposed to for too long. Its abundant forests are uneven and confusing, often giving way to powerful rivers, steep hills, or cliffs. The climate shifts drastically from region to region. There are mountain ranges mortals cannot hope to visit, deserts, lava fields, and vast oceans. All are occupied by various demons who adapted to these extreme conditions. Unlike Kaimanian people, lack of oxygen, water sources, or radical temperatures don’t affect a majority of demons. However, you won’t find aquatic inclined demons living in deserts and vice versa. Powerful demons are the most adaptable while lesser demons often live and die in the same region. Since the violation of the Neutral Pact, demonkind has also suffered drastic weather changes like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and various destructive rain types like fire and acid. Luckily, demon society is advanced and makes use of magical items, enhancements, and foreign items from other worlds. Demonic clothing is always enchanted to withstand drastic temperature changes. Neutral Territory: Neutral Territory, also known as Aequus, is the magical epicenter of the Realm. Those who live in Neutral Territory rarely leave, as it’s said a strange phenomena cares for the needs of its residents. People who visit refer to it as a tranquil and angelic place in terms of weather and climate. Since the violation of the Neutral Pact, the land has become uninhabitable and inhospitable. (Can’t share further details due to spoilers.) Hopefully I’ve answered your questions!

#iseKaiChosenThrone #otome game #lore #ict

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curemoonliite · 5 years

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Magical Girl Recommendations

You might have noticed by now that I post a ton of magical girl stuff, so I’d like to share the love by recommending some of the ones I like. Since a ton of people have already seen Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica, this list will focus on some lesser-known series.

Cardcaptor Sakura: An archeologist’s daughter finds a mysterious set of cards in a book on her father’s bookcase, but once she opens it, they disappear. These cards have mystical qualities and minds of their own, so it’s up to her to find them and learn to harness their power. Recommended for fashion buffs (has the most costumes out of any magical girl series), fans of rivals-to-lovers tropes, and wizard-type characters (since Sakura has a ton of spells at her disposal by the end)

Precure: The plot and characters change every season, so you can start whenever! It’s mainly about girls chosen to save fairy worlds alongside the human world, but it’s rarely as simple as that. Twists can include new characters, reformed villains, and even some tragic pasts. But two things remain constant: the Precure will always fight for love and happiness, and they’ll always dole it out with plenty of kicks and punches. Recommended for Power Rangers/Super Sentai fans, people who like martial arts movies, people who like close female friendships, and people who wish the Avengers stayed friends in the MCU (there are crossover movies with over 50 girls, so eat your heart out, Infinity War)

Shugo Chara: If you’ve ever felt like people don’t see you for who you really are, this is the anime for you. In this show, kids gain powers through eggs that contain sprite-like creatures formed from the people they really want to be. So transforming means showing your true self, which is extra hard for Amu, a fifth-grader with three eggs and no clue who she wants to be. (Relatable at any age.) Recommended for psychological types, people who don’t know what do with themselves, people who like magical boys, and people who crush on anime characters. (Seriously, I haven’t heard of anyone who hasn’t crushed on a Shugo Chara character at some point.)

Magic Knight Rayearth: From the authors of Cardcaptor Sakura, this story tells of three girls from different schools who find themselves trapped on an unknown world called Cefiro. Their mission seems fairly simple: fight the monsters, get new weapons, save the princess. But the twists are devastating—so much so that you may never look at a RPG the same way ever again. Recommended for RPG fans, isekai fans, and general sword-and-sorcery high fantasy fans. The manga is short but sweet, so it’s good for a quick fix.

Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne/Phantom Thief Jeanne: A mysterious young thief has been spotted in mansions and museums all over town, and all anyone knows about her is that the art she steals is instantly replaced by paintings of angels. But Jeanne, the thief, doesn’t do it for crime—she does it because she’s the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, tasked with exorcising demon-possessed paintings. Along with her rival/partner, Sinbad, she’s out to protect Japan from demons while she wrestles with her own—since her parents abandoned her when she was young. Recommended for fans of darker MGs, religious themes, heist stories, tragic backstories, and oddly enough, Miraculous Ladybug fans. (From what little I know of ML, Ladybug and Chat Noir remind me of Jeanne and Sinbad a lot.)

Tokyo Mew Mew: Aliens have come to invade Earth, not just because they want the land, but because they believe humans have been polluting it. To counter this threat, five girls are infused with the DNA of endangered animals and must find a way to protect the earth from both aliens and humans. Pretty simple, but also quite fun. Recommended for fans of ‘90s environmental cartoons, catgirls, more lighthearted superhero stories, and romance.

Mermaid Melody: Lucia is one of seven mermaid princesses who can use song-based attacks. In order to save the world’s oceans, she must find the other six princesses and rescue mermaids that the villains have captured, all while she slowly falls in love with a human boy. But, as she comes to discover, this love is fated to fail, since mermaids turn into sea foam after falling for humans. Recommended for fans of tragic romance, idol singers, and cheesy mermaid stories. (It’s not personally my thing, but I know plenty of people like cheesy mermaid stories.)

Wedding Peach: With its almost cloying cuteness, crazy costumes, and more, Wedding Peach isn’t for everyone. But it is, if nothing else, a guilty pleasure about the power of love. Momoko and her friends are reincarnated angels sent to Earth to protect love itself—as demons have recently begun to attack lovers and spread hatred. In the meantime, of course, the three angels must tackle their own fair share of love issues. Recommended for romance fans and lovers of wedding fashion.

Corrector Yui: I’m still working on this one, but the premise is gold—a fan of magical girl stories ends up transforming into one herself. The only problem is that, in her futuristic society, she’s a cyber-themed magical girl with no knowledge of the Internet or computers. Outdated but endearing. Recommended for fans of cyber settings and the good old fashioned “fighting villains inside the computer” plot.

Kamichama Karin: Karin is your ordinary magical girl ditz who’s going through a rough spot in her life until she meets two mysterious cousins, one of whom has a similar ring to one her mother gave her before her death. As fate should have it, these rings give their bearer the power of the Greek gods—and there are dark forces who want that power for themselves. Recommended for Greek mythology fans, Percy Jackson fans, and lovers of the jerk with a heart of gold romance trope.

#magical girl stuff #cardcaptor sakura #precure #shugo chara #magic knight rayearth #kamikaze kaitou jeanne #tokyo mew mew #mermaid melody #wedding peach #corrector yui #kamichama karin #magical girl #mahou shoujo #my post #long post

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deltaengineering · 4 years

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Fall Anime 2019 Part 4: also, he has a gun for a head

Beastars

So here’s the CG anime that everyone for some reason decided way in advance would be the best show of the season, more or less by default. I was very skeptical of this for a multitude of reasons. First of all, that is a bad name for a show and you can’t convince me otherwise. It’s actually even worse because you’re supposed to write it in all caps, but I refuse. Second, it has a terribly on the nose conceit in which all sorts of animals live together in a high school setting and it’s all metaphorical ‘n shit. The main character is a wolf but get this, he’s actually all sensitive and quiet! Yeah, this is definitely rated D for Deep. And finally it’s by Orange, the CG studio that got an inordinate amount of acclaim for making Houseki no Kuni, the show that everyone thinks looks great and finally made CG anime worthwhile (actual real fact: HnK does not look great most of the time and CG anime was worthwhile well before it).

But enough about my preconceptions since Beastars is... pretty good, actually. If you ignore the setting, which is indeed terribly on the nose. And there’s not much else to say about the story so far besides it. However, it looks significantly better than Houseki no Kuni because it actually has really good character animation throughout instead of a one-minute action scene with flashy spinny camera tricks every other episode. The directing’s strong too, even if the show conspicuously mainly consists of obvious manga panels. I’m still not too hot on the animal stuff but the general writing seems to be sufficiently competent it would work simply on a character level. So I don’t love it, but it seems solid enough to see if it goes somewhere with its “Zootopia but also Beverly Hills 90210 but also they eat each other sometimes″ plot.

Rifle is Beautiful

Remember the whole “anime about some assorted anime girls joining a club doing an oddly specific activity” thing? This is another one of those, and now it’s about air rifle sports shooting. Except it’s not about air rifle sports shooting because that’s apparently way too violent, so they use rifles that look like exactly like air rifles but are actually based on lasers or really bright flashlights (they can’t keep their bullshit straight between scenes, sorry) instead. I just don’t think “girls doing activities” anime should blatantly misrepresent their subject matter like that, you know? With the possible exception of idol anime that is, ain’t nobody who wants to hear about that shit. Apart from that it’s nothing special, so if you are really into air rifles and wish to watch an anime that’s not about those, knock yourself out. It goes through a whole “club needs 5 members” arc in the first half of the first episode, so I really can’t say where it goes next. Nowhere much, I would guess.

Oh right, there’s one more thing: They frequently render the bodies in CG and the heads in traditional drawings, and they do it every time when they’d actually have to draw a rifle otherwise. It’s a weird effect that I think I haven’t seen anywhere else before, and it’s not great but also not terrible. And it’s the most interesting thing about the entire show.

Kabukicho Sherlock

“Let’s take a bunch of public domain characters and put them into a hip modern setting” seems to be its own genre at the moment, and not only because the BBC did that with S. Holmes, Esq. already. Obviously this show is influenced by that (besides other public domain namedroppers like Bungou Stray Dogs), mostly in Watson and his relationship with Sherlock, but Sherlock-san is rather different here; he’s neither the classic Victorian bohemian nor the abrasive sociopath of the BBC version, and tends more towards a bumbling 90s pop culture version of autism and/or general wackiness here. These two are surrounded by a bunch of campy transvestites for some reason, and I’m not quite sure whether I’m supposed to find this particular stereotype offensive or empowering this week, but it sure is annoying. And it has the same character designer as Joker Game, so if you like chiseled, angular anime men, you’re in for a treat here - even if they tend to wear a lot of makeup and dresses sometimes. I don’t know man, it seems sort of okay-ish for the most part but it’s neither as funny as they think, nor as weird as they think, nor is the murder of the week intriguing at all. Oh yeah, he’s hunting noted public domain character Jack the Ripper. Because of course he is.

Shin Chuuka Ichiban!

I am told this is the sequel to episode 19 of a 52-episode anime TV show from 1997. Okay. I am also told to not dare watch this without the important setup therein, which makes me think I should pay less attention to what I’m told because understanding Shin Chuuka Ichiban and its backstory is not hard at all. Kid is superawesome cooking champion in ancient China and goes around clowning on lesser cooks, got it. It’s not a complicated setup and it’s not a complicated genre either: This seems to be mostly about sick shounen cooking duels. Besides the setting, the main difference between this and Shokugeki no Soma seems to be that SnS goes for ridiculous and Chuuka Ichiban goes for epic - which is to say that it fancies itself emotional as well. Apart from that it’s what you’d expect from a cooking shounen, big moves, big reactions, huge twists and so on. One notable thing is that this show looks really, really nice. Production I.G seems to be establishing a sideline in taking stuff from the 90s and updating it with smoother animation and shinier lighting, while keeping the overall look intact; They did it for Mahoujin Guru Guru, and this looks much the same. Still, I’m just fundamentally not really interested in what appears to be a very straightforward cooking shounen from the 90s.

Assassins Pride

Straight from the Department of Chuuni, we have this light novel masterpiece about a cool as fuck teenage assassin who teleports behind u and nothin personells fools all day. He then meets a princess he’s supposed to off but just kinda decides not to, probably because she seems to be smitten by his m’lady act. Now he has to use his sick skillz to keep them both alive. It’s awful and terrible and no good and also kind of adorable. This truly is the most 13 AND A HALF MOM years old anime in a while, and it’s not even isekai! The writing’s just so amateurish and corny you can’t help but smile when princesses exposit their backstory for no reason while being accosted by pumpkin monsters (without knowing that Awessassin McCooldude happens to be listening in, which is certainly convenient). Or when the episode ends with the man just reading the synopsis of the show out again, in case you were too fascinated by this plot to pay attention to what it’s about. Yeah I’m not going to watch this in a thousand years, but it sure made me chuckle. Your mileage may vary.

Mugen no Juunin - Immortal

Speaking of 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔢𝔡𝔤𝔢, another anime adaptation of Blade of the Immortal appeared! You know, the manga for the cultured and historically minded guro fan. The first episode of Blade of the Immortal runs with this and is an arthouse production that someone most definitely directed the shit out of. I don’t think I’ve seen this much directing since, well, Sarazanmai, but “Ikuhara amounts of directing” is pretty much the idea here. And most of the time it even works! The quickly edited, disorienting style gives episode 1 a feeling closer to horror than to a cool swordmen action show, and that really brings out the best in the material, which is grotesque splatter bordering on the comical - It’s somehow a better Junji Ito anime than the actual Junji Ito anime. I think it tries too hard in a few places, but at least it does try.

But then I watched the second episode and that one’s a fairly conventional splatter-comedy swordin’ anime. I am not at all pleased with this development. The third episode was better again and seemed to split the difference between 1 and 2, even if it mostly uses the tricky editing to save on effort in the action – I would much prefer actually readable fights and the wacky mannerisms in the more psychological stuff, thank you very much. Based on episode 1 I thought we might have something special here, but as of episode 3 I’d already merely call it pretty decent. I guess I’ll still stick with it but man, that’s a real bummer.

No Guns Life

No Guns Life is a neo-noir thriller about a guy who has a gun for a head. That’s fuckin rad and exactly the kind of silliness I am totally down for. He also has a gun for a hand, and there’s also some battle nun’s who carry revolvers with two cylinders, so in short I think the title is false advertising. This sounds very wacky (and it is), but it also takes its noir very seriously, down to details more wannabe neo-noirs tend to neglect (like being set right after a big war). The look and feel is pretty excellent, with sharp design and high-contrast artwork, and the music goes all in on the moody saxophone as you’d expect. And there’s some really adorable “look mom, I’m writing” stuff about how Man With Gun For A Head really “needs someone to pull his trigger” and so on (which is, as the astute reader might remember, at the back of his head). It feels like a throwback but then I can’t really think of many 80s/90s shows like this, so it’s actually more like the sort of faux-retro idea Trigger/Imaishi would come up with on a lark. Trigger/Imaishi would, of course, make a far worse anime out of it, so it’s all good. Well, it has some pacing problems and as always it’s a fine line between amusingly camp and not so amusingly camp anymore, but No Guns Life seems to have enough real qualities that it can probably stand on its own even when its conceptual gimmick eventually doesn’t suffice anymore. I give it a two gun’s up.

Hoshiai no Sora / Stars Align

And finally, here’s an anime about middle schooler softboys playing a tennis just as soft as themselves, while being henpecked by the elites on the girl’s team. This is not an “actual” sports anime though: for starters, it’s not based on some shounen manga and is an anime original with quite some staff pedigree instead. It’s also more of a character drama that already goes to some surprisingly real places by the end of episode 1, reminiscent of the recent and quite good Run with the Wind. Furthermore, it looks delicious, with minimalist but distinctive and varied character designs and animation that’s both extremely detailed for a TV anime and also not trying to shove that fact into your face with flashy stunt cuts. In short, this show seems very simple at first glance but every aspect of it just oozes quality. If nothing else, it’s already worth watching just for the excellent ending sequence where the characters show off their “best” dance moves and the chunky student council president dunks on everyone. This one caught me by surprise and it’s an easy pick for most promising show of the season.

#anime #impressions #Beastars #Rifle is Beautiful #Kabukicho Sherlock #Shin Chuuka Ichiban!#Assassins Pride #Mugen no Juunin - Immortal #No Guns Life #Hoshiai no Sora #stars align

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 4 years

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Maou-jou 1

I sampled this manga with what’s called a “Viz sampler”. I only ever seem to find those at libraries, so I’d assume only they and bookstores can get those.

…Twilight looks like Maou Sadao (Hataraku Maou-sama!).

“Dawner”??? I can read katakana, ya idjits. His name is Akatsuki. Update: The translator must’ve gone, “Dawn is a girl’s name. Let’s tack on an -er so it looks like a guy’s name.”

Aw, Hiro Shimono is Akatsuki. If it were Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, we could’ve gotten a Kirito joke out of it.

Oh! 快眠 (Kaimin) = good rest, literally “happy sleep”. Hence this is the nation of Goodreste. I see.

The lightning effect is soooooooooo cool! *eyes glitter at the particle effects*

I’m gonna die from cuteness from all the teddies and seals!

The little fanfare is so cute and the yokudekimashita reminds me of my days playing the arcade game Bomberman (which had a flower sticker much like this one). I wanna see this get a dub and succeed on all its merits! It’s basically my baby already…bar the fact it took a bit to work up to the first good bit of comedy.

The teddy demons are called Debiakuma, a pun on kuma (bear), devil and akuma (devil). Lessee…After “lesser demon”, there’s more text…“Fluffy bears that can be also used as pets. They give in easily to temptation. A lot of them live in the demon castle, so the princess likes to gather their fur, dye it and spin nice cotton out of it. Warning: A lot of them will either run away or call you their friend./Occasionally act as friends for the princess.”

LOL, I recognised that voice of the Scissors guy straight away…although I didn’t know who it belonged to. That’s Suwabe. (It doesn’t sound like Suwabe, I would’ve thought it to be Takuma Terashima or something.)

Aw, the Japanese version is more boring this time. It’s just Scissor Magician (in the singular for both).

*hears Scissors Demon going -ageruwa”, which is a feminine sentence ending…that’s Suwabe trying to (voice) act effeminate???!!!

These trumpet sounds never get old.

LOL, Siberian huskies dressed as Russians…

Okay, my turn again: Hari means needle, toge means thorn. Next to “His stomach is soft”, part of the subs are cut off due to Funimation’s hardsubs, but I can read “he is proud of his defence” on the 2nd line, “is the type to not refuse when relied on” on the 2nd-last line and “his favourite food is strange bird chawanmushi” on the last line.

I love how parts of the castle are upside down for no reason at all except to look cool…architects must hate that, though.

I hadn’t heard of “seesaw battles” until now. but the metaphor does make sense...kind of.

What about changing the mattress? Update: She does do that…kind of.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Kirito was under my nose all along! Damn Demon Kinggggggggggggggggggg!

Kamina glasses on one of the background trees! Cute tapir! Ahhhhhhhh, it’s so cuteeeeeeee!

Anyways, that’s a fun show. Not as fun as HypMic, but still fun after it gains momentum.

Munou na Nana 1

I remember seeing spoilers for a twist at the end…let’s hope I don’t anticipate it. That would kill the entire anime for me.

The message actually says something about how the island is a nest for enemies of humanity.

There’s the ice narcissist I saw in the promo stuff, right on cue. I’ve never heard of his voice actor Hiromichi Tezuka before, although he does sound like Hiroshi Kamiya or someone much better.

Why do I get the feeling once the title character arrives, even Nanao will get powers…? Or maybe Nana is the catalyst for Nanao’s powers awakening or something? (Just realised having a Nana and a Nanao together in the same anime is confusing…)

Subbers spelt “noblesse oblige” wrong, unless it was deliberately done as such.

I predicted the “duke it out” line.

There’s a menu on the wall of the restaurant.

Maybe Nanao’s “talent” is his leadership stat or something?

Or maybe even Nanao is an enemy of humanity and doesn’t know it? (Sorry, speculation going into overdrive…that usually happens with superpower works like this for me, because I like to analyse them.)

Maybe Nanao can see the future, like the protag from Koi to Producer?

Technically, shouldn’t ice be weak against fire…? Or am I too used to the Pokemon system?

Called it! Nanao has a hidden power! (That reminds me: I still don’t know what Lucien’s (from Koi to Producer’s) power really is.)

Vigilantes is really good at exploring how people can expand on their own powers.

…wow, I heard rumours that the main character was going to die, but I’d pegged Nana to die, not Nanao.

Onodera is clearly important…maybe he was the one with the wind powers? Or was Nana lying about that?

…dude, the red eyes are kinda obvious that Nana is evil in some way, or at least really devious.

Grace of the Gods 1

All I really know of this is that it’s got slimes and it’s an isekai/SoL hybrid…That’s it.

…I am not, I repeat NOT, on board for a harem centred around an 11 year old!

Ryoma speaks with an unnatural amount of starts and stops, hence the caveman speak.

What’s Jil’s role in the party…?

Why would you even need to know 4 high-level skills? Isn’t it better to know all of them?

LOL, I knew the isekaid guy was meant to have a hard life so he could start over with slimes, but…stick Doppo in this and it’s basically the same thing. At least Doppo tries to resist his bosses behind their backs, this guy just did the whole gaman thing and look where that got him!

If he worked for a black company with no overtime and so forth, how did he know about a recent anime trend, eh??? Sounds suspect. Update: Unless he was thinking about 90s isekai, which still involved less reincarnation than this.

I noticed the gods have senbei (the rice crackers with the seaweed). Western-looking gods probably shouldn’t have senbei, unless…they did that to make Ryoma feel more at home?

Seriously, how does a guy with no overtime still have time for online games? Even if he were getting just ads for them, he probably wouldn’t have paid enough attention to be able to figure out what the cliches are, right? Either that, or the Dragon Quest system is older than I think it is.

Slimes don’t have paws…or hands or other appendages…to give…

…I’m not sure what to think there. Am I meant to think the slimes are cute? Am I meant to think the catgirls/animal girls are cute? The answer to those questions is “no”, so…eh.

IWGP 1

Basically, I chose this for associations with HypMic.

…the best first impression involves a CGI car. Of course. <- (sarcastic)

Given HypMic, I almost expected a rap battle…nahhhh…Rap battles don’t look so cool outside HypMic, man.

The owl is a pun. Fukurou (owl) matches ‘bukuro (bag, which is the 2nd character in “Ikebukuro”). There’s also an owl statue used as a meeting spot, much like Hachiko in Shibuya…(I learnt a bunch of things about the division territory through HypMic. Let me show off…)

I think the character designer for this anime also did Joker Game…that’s throwing me off a little. Also, they had a prime opportunity to use a Buster Bros song, so I’m still a bit miffed about that – this OP’s kinda standard. Update: The character designer is Junichiro Taniguchi – my insinct was wrong on him. He did Touken Ranbu Hanamaru’s character designs.

“Smoking kills” – Yuuuuuuuup. That’s true.

Why do I get the feeling all the male otaku will wanna bang Makoto’s mother (to put it lightly)…?

Curiously, the one who hates drugs in HypMic is Jyuto, who’s not from Ikebukuro Division at all. Hmm…

Yokoyama’s voice sounds familiar…but I’m not sure why. Update: If I had to guess, I’d say he’s Saito Soma or someone who sounds similar, so maybe Takuma Terashima, Daisuke Ono or something like that. Update 2: Takahiro Sakurai. See? I knew I knew that voice.

“Big Rei” (“Rei-nii”). That’s different from Ichi-nii (what Saburo calls Ichiro) and could also be goroawase for 02.

Uni of Tokyo is the most prestigious uni in Japan. It has quite the reputation.

…is it just me, or does Makoto have a piercing in his left ear? IWGP also happens to happily work with my existing character, although said character has a piercing in his right ear.

Zero One kinda looks like Uta (Tokyo Ghoul), LOL.

…and of course the girl has to rely on the dude. *sigh* Welp, we can throw drugs off the list for “things that count as TV-MA to Funimation” – IWGP is rated M (not 15+ explicitly, but that’s what it stands for normally) in my region.

This ED song…that’s the sort of song I was expecting from HypMic, Akudama or this.

Seems both Makoto and Takashi have earrings…maybe in both ears? Takashi’s are yellow, I could confirm that much.

…this is decent, but putting it up against its competitors is a bit harsh.

Crusade 1 (cont. from sneak peek - it’s in the title here because this is where it’s completed)

Turns out that preview was most of the episode…like “14 of 24 minutes” long.

Wait, how did Alice fall forward and end up in the princess carry pose? I remember having trouble with that when a character in a story of mine had the same problem.

…Iska-nii…(?)

That opera house looks pretty darn modern to me…

…eh…that was middling. Nothing any ol’ adaption of Romeo and Juliet couldn’t do, bar the CGI for the magic fight in the middle. (There was a fluffy griffin thing in the middle there, though.)

Akudama 1

Ume + Kimura and a cool urban aesthetic. Let’s go!

This is kinda Tron-like, eh?

Ooh, now it’s more like Cop Craft.

Kimura seems to use his gruffer voice more than his Ichiro voice, but Ume is actually worse on that fron with his ordinary voice…Welp, at least his ordinary voice sounds like it fits right in with the Courier. I almost expect an Ocean’s Eleven thing (or Now You See Me, since I’ve actually watched that) from this. Update: Turns out Kimura is the pompadour guy, not the fighter.

You can tell Ordinary Person is an okay person because she keeps saving cats. A bit cliché, but it’ll do.

Ohhhhhh…I can see where this plotline is going. Ordinary Person pretends to be Swindler to get herself out of this mess, but then she keeps getting involved with the Akudama. It’s a typical plot for a typical gal, common to insert a viewpoint character in series that require one, or a magical girl ally.

Wow, those missiles look like a**.

LOL, Hoodlum’s sentence is kinda measly in comparison to most of them. Plus, when he yelled, that sounded more accurate to Ichiro than Fighter was, so…yeah, sorry I messed up.

…Ordinary Person has some real bullseye…uh, eyes.

This could be a top contender…aside from the CGI, which does look a bit funky. I’m getting a death game vibe here, but I don’t know if that’s really the case. Also, it’s a lot of fun, but the possible intolerable thing here is Ordinary Person’s screaming – the pretense she has to keep up seems like it’ll fit right in though.

JJK 1

I read the manga once, dropped it and then read it again and didn’t realise why I dropped it.

Fushiguro has long eyelashes, tbh. Itadori comments on that at one point, I think.

Oh, it was a fish (carp) in the manga. I couldn’t figure out what the Japanese equivalent was just from the Kokkuri board.

This track club teacher is a bit of a freak, honestly. Meddling in kids’ affairs is probably illegal to some extent.

Itadori is known as “tiger” because the kanji for “tiger” is in the surname. Update: Also, the Czech dude Mirko was called “the Croatian tiger”, if a tweet I read is any indication.

I like how there’s more comedy in this one. They show the world records, so you have standards to compare Itadori against.

This is an almost beat-for-beat adaption, bar the slight comedy of the records being added (and not explaning who Mirko is). The contrast makes this better.

“People really can die.” – That’s summoning some real energy of “People die when they are killed.”

(Brief thoughts on the dog and cat short: I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. The picture of a realistic cat – someone’s actual photo of their cat?- that serves as a punchline never gets old and in fact, sometimes contributes to the humour.)

HypMic 2

LOL, TV-MA warning strikes again.

“Kore wa prologue/Hajimete no ippo/Fumidasanai yatsu ni wa/???? shinpo.” – The translation is really good for the bits I can read…the problem is I can’t read the bottom left corner. Update: The part in the bottom left is nai...That’s it.

…uh, even people from around the world can read 24 hour time??? You don’t need subs to read Arabic numerals???

…couldn’t you have just told Ichiro verbally, Saburo…? Update: Come to think of it, kids these days are more on their phones than ever, so it makes sense but also kind of doesn’t.

You don’t really need subs for laughter either…

I’d never heard of “pulling rank” before…hmm: “to use one's high position in a society, organization, group, etc., to order someone to do something or to get special treatment or privileges.”

…and here comes the F word here to mess with us again. Japanese nastiness is conveyed using words that might be considered “soft” in English, hence the sudden jump to use the F word a bunch, but the subbers could use some variety in their swearing. I mean, “dips**t” worked where it did because subbers made Samatoki go overboard with the F word, but…you could stand to use that more, maybe(?)

I like how even the Tenderloins guy rhymes where he’s meant to. It’s the prelude to a battle, after all. (He kinda looks like Kotaro from Zombieland Saga.)

…I freaked out for a second. I swore I saw a similar-looking restaurant (udon shop, located on the left of one of the shots) while in Japan. Also, we finally get to see Ichiro’s reputation at work.

…I still have no idea what a “steelo” is after all this time, but I didn’t realise I was staring at a part of Ore ga Ichiro until I saw it in context. Also, it was kinda derpy – but still really in character – for Ichiro to run to his destination with his arms up like the Glico man in Osaka (except he had his head down).

I get a weird feeling the subbers may have used the wiki translation because I’m using it as a reference and the language seems oddly similar for the most part…

The kick Ichiro does seems like it references the OP.

Notice the location is Nishiguchi Kouen…the West Gate Park. *raises eyebrows at the IWGP anime*

…oh! It occurred to me that the sign the BB do with their hands is…well, a lowercase B. (LOL, if you read my previous line funny, it rhymes.)

Gentaro doing the peace sign to his chest…that was random the first time, because it doesn’t seem in character, but then it does for Dice and possibly Ramuda, so Gentaro probably just chose to go along with it (“to add to his image as a rapper,” maybe…?).

Oh, Saburo has airpods in…those aren’t good for blocking sound, are they…?

Notice the owl on the…uh, café(?)…Ichiro goes to.

That one “holy shit!” made me laugh like a madman. Where it came from, I don’t know, but it was so random I had to laugh at it.

This makes me wonder…if you use a mic that’s different to your personal mic, does it produce the same speakers? No one’s ever addressed that before (much like how no one questions if magical girls always need the same transformation device – I wanted to make a plot on that someday, but I can’t seem to find a comprehensible way to pull it off…LOL, that reminds me, I even had a HypMic version of that featuring Samatoki at one point, but it probably makes even less sense than the standard one because it activates via physical contact. It’s notable – in my head – for Nemu’s version of the “power” being “Samatoki can’t swear, no matter how hard he tries”).

I’m pretty sure that round thing wasn’t part of Ichiro’s rings, ever. (…Unless that was the head of his spoon or something.)

…Microwave? (referring to the shot inside the hospital, which seems to be based off ARB)

The series normally transitions from BB -> MTC -> FP -> MTR, so it was interesting to see that shuffled up. Update: That’s if it has to have an order, but notably ARB breaks this standard a lot by assigning colours to each solo and then arranging interactions based on not repeating those colours (aside from the Sky High Tower event). With 4 things there are 4! = 24 possible combinations and 6! = 720 possible combinations if you count DH and BAT, so as we move forward with those 2 divisions...prepare for more shuffling.

…is Jiro gonna steal a ball? I thought it was just bikes anime characters stole. (LOL)

The mic changes the background, too, huh? Never expected that from more than the speakers.

…and of course, s*** explodes and the day is saved once again....by the Buster Bros!!! (LOL, but also *sigh*)

Hmm, so this anime’s real plotline probably involves this trio: Rex, Tom and Iris. They’re probably foreign in some way, judging by Tom and Rex. Maybe they’re aligned with a foreign government or something? Update: If you look at the credits, their full names seem to be Tom Whisper Weathercock, Iris Innocent Traiter (sic) (LOL) and…Taroumaru Rex…? (romanisations confirmed for all katakana)

Sadamezuka was voiced by the ubiquitous Kenjiro Tsuda.

It seems Cola Bintarou (aka Subaru Kimura) was on the case again today. He wrote the new song for BB, called RUN THIS CITY, along with Gesshoku Kaigi.

Of course, I’m going to keep this anime on my list...I’m just a bit worried about myself going forward, because I realised my ego got a bit inflated trying to defend the series from haters. I’ve never had a series where I’ve been a fan from the beginning that wasn’t already a known quantity for a while (Muhyo and Roji’s, Furuba). With Boueibu, I was discovering things alongside other people (or even later in a lot of cases) since it was anime-original.

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medea10 · 4 years

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My Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Yeah, this warning because apparently I curse more than normal here. That should give you a fun indicator of what you’re in for.

Is this a joke? Is Medea really going to watch a recent Isekai anime?

No joke. I am. Yeah, since just about every Isekai I’ve ever watched was made before the year 2012, I thought it was time. And in case you’re not hip to the lingo, Isekai is where a random person is transported to a strange world (different from their’s) and go on an adventure. Things like Escaflowne, InuYasha, Fushigi Yugi, Kyou Kara Maou, and to a far-lesser extent, Sword Art Online! But because I haven’t watched anything made past 2012, and haven’t watched things like Konosuba, ReZero, or Overlord, my knowledge is shit and I should be ashamed.

So I’m going to start with one of 2019’s best animes, The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Naofumi Iwatani was checking out light novels when he was transported into another world. But unlike many other Isekais with this similar setup, Naofumi isn’t alone.

He and three other boys (from alternate timelines of Japan) are transported as well to the kingdom of Melromarc. These four boys are going to be the saviors of the kingdom as the “Four Cardinal Heroes” where they must combat against these entities known as “waves”. However, Naofumi is seen as the weakling from the very beginning due to being the holder of the shield (and is now known as the “Shield Hero”). But it goes even further than that! The king of Melromarc immediately shows his disdain for the shield hero due to the previous shield hero doing something to him. I don’t know what, just fuck the king. The kingdom, the other heroes, and the people of the kingdom did just about everything to Naofumi to make him feel like trash. If he was on fire, they wouldn’t even spit on him to put him out!

Being the lowest-level weapon user, no one will join his team and even if they did…they would swindle him, set him up for failure, and spread the worst lie you could ever lie about. But Naofumi can’t return home due to all four weapon users must be there until they defeat the waves. So Naofumi is stuck in a new world where literally everyone hates him or fears him.

That is until he buys a slave (named Raphtalia) and their EXP points can grow. Along the way, he obtains an egg that hatches into a filolial (later named Filo) who has the ability of turning into a human female. And every now and then, the second princess of Melromarc (named Melty) will come along with Naofumi. Trust me, she’s the nice one in that family.

Let’s watch the struggles and rising of the Shield Hero!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: So this is licensed by Crunchyroll (but I think FUNimation dipped it’s cookie in this milk). I know these two companies divorced some time ago, but FUNimation sees no problem piggy-backing off of Crunchyroll when they get a hit. And yes, this got an English dub and because of that, YES I watched the whole thing dubbed! Done by the good folks in L.A.! I gotta say this was a well-done dub. Well, they did one thing right by hiring Erica Mendez to play Raphtalia. Just about everything Mendez plays is friggin’ gold! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Naofumi is played by Kaito Ishikawa (known for Kiawe on Pokemon SM, Genos on One Punch Man, Mitsuo on Golden Time, Urui on Tokyo Ghoul :re, Sakakibara on Assassination Classroom, and Rinne on Kyokai no Rinne)

*Raphtalia is played by Asami Seto (known for Officer Jenny on Pokemon SM, Mado on Tokyo Ghoul, Young Yukiatsu on Anohana, and Shizu Delta on Overlord)

*Filo is played by Rina Hidaka (known for Last Order on Index/Railgun, Ririchiyo on Inu x Boku SS, Kohane on xxxHOLiC, Silica on SAO, Nemesis on To Love Ru: Darkness, and Urara on Food Wars)

*Melty is played by Maaya Uchida (known for Norman on The Promised Neverland, Rikka on Chunibyo, Rui on Domestic Girlfriend, Frenda on Railgun, Yoshino on Food Wars, Irina on High School DxD, and Yusa on Charlotte)

ENGLISH CAST: *Naofumi is played by Billy Kametz (known for Jousuke/JoJo on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part IV, Osomatsu on Mr. Osomatsu, Metal Lee on Boruto, and Galo on Promare)

*Raphtalia is played by Erica Mendez (known for Ryuko on Kill la Kill, Haruka/Uranus on Sailor Moon redub, Emma on The Promised Neverland, Nico on Love Live, Yuuki on SAO II, and Tsubaki on Your Lie in April)

*Filo is played by Brianna Knickerbocker (known for Rem on Re:Zero, Akane on Durarara x2, Arisa on Love Live, Anna on The Promised Neverland, Iori on Charlotte, and Erica on Berserk 2016)

*Melty is played by Jackie Lastra (known for Conny on The Promised Neverland and Selka on SAO: Alicization)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: I know I’m gonna have fun with the next category, but I think I spent most of this series hating on several people where I forgot to pick a character I liked.

Well folks, I gotta say that I loved Raphtalia. And after her, Filo! Then Elhart, Queen Melromarc, Melty, and Fitoria! With the exception of Elhart, it’s all women! That’s rare! Don’t worry, there’s one woman that has received a restraining order from this category. On with the worst!

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Y’all know what’s coming!

DISLIKED CHARACTER: Prior to watching this series, I have gotten several warnings about one particular character! Princess Malty or Myne, whatever people call her. This woman is despised throughout the anime community and even going so far as to say she’s on “horrible character” status left only to infamous characters like Griffith, Makoto Itou, and Shou Tucker. And I’m like, “WOW, what did she do, kill a pope?” I mean seriously, how bad could she possibly…?!

*one episode later*

FUCK THIS BITCH: Oh this bitch can burn at the stake for all I care! Yes, everyone else who treated Naofumi like shit can go jump off a bridge. Because I hold no sympathy for towns-idiots that treat a hero with no respect (as I’ve said before with One Punch Man and Dragon Ball Z)! But Myne just took that zero respect and pushed it to a crispy 425 degrees of fuck-roast! In the first episode, she seemed genuine with pitying Naofumi because no one would join his team. That didn’t even last a whole day. Myne ends up faking a rape by lying to the kingdom that Naofumi sexually assaulted her.

Faking a RAPE!

Faking a FUCKING RAPE!

Bitch, this is 2019 (I KNOW IT AIN’T THAT IN THIS KINGDOM, I’M JUST FUCKING PISSED). Faking a rape is a big, fat, NO-NO!

After he spends the little money he had on her to buy equipment, she double-crosses him by setting him up for immediate trouble and switches to the Spear-Hero side. Well fuck you too, you skank! Have fun with your dickhead Spear Hero. And may that be the last time I ever see you!

*several episodes later*

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! You cheating, lying, slut! Just when you think she can’t possibly get any worse, this bitch takes worse and shoves it off a fucking cliff. As if faking an assault wasn’t bad enough, screwing townspeople for your own gain is another story. She would take over a whole town and give no fucks if it’s destroyed by her or her fuck-face spear-hero. Add to that fuck-cake, every time you run into Naofumi, you find some way to screw him over time and time again. This bitch tampered with a fight between the shield and spear hero so that Naofumi could fail and they could steal his only team member away from him! You have your father, the church, your dickhead boy-toy of yours, and the royals wrapped around your little finger. Myne just continues to be worse than tainted peanut butter. I wish she would catch the worst STD imaginable and die a painful death!

*several more episodes later*

AAAAAAAH gabba da da ffuuuu worble BITCH FACE gararba fruznuss SET FIRE plskay adkkin aidnnlwjsnda UP DONALD TRUMP’S ASS galidamdh amoiejwm wwwaasosoh A POPCICLE! FUCK! AAkajrriaja DIDIA LEJHE KLHAEHAE FYUEEajejioqih3hv SSLLSHE3V ADKDKDDHEI333!!!!

Oh, you do not want a translation from my…whatever the fuck I just wrote. Just know that Princess Malty or Myne is worse than hemroids up the ass. I can’t believe this woman is still around, breathing and shit. Also, I’m tempted in re-writing my Top 10 Least Favorite Anime Character list because Myne would definitely be at #4 after Griffith from Berserk.

Okay…Okay…I think I’m calm now.

WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE CUT THIS FUCKING CUNT’S HEAD OFF LIKE A CHICKEN IN CHINA TOWN?!

Now I’m calm! Now then…

ANYONE ELSE WHO NEEDS TO DIE IN THIS SERIES?: So obviously I hate Bitch and Trash (Myne and the King). And I have the same kind of respect for the townspeople who treat Naofumi like shit. I ain’t got time to be dealing with townsidiots again. But if there was anyone else that should get a mention of how much I want for them to be set on fire and I’ll just sit there drinking my ginger ale, it would be Motoyasu.

Now by no means do I hate him more than Miss Bitch over here. But I hate him on the same level as Shinji from the Fate series (which is now teetering on my top 10). I question why he’s still alive and why no one has introduced his face to a jagged boulder. Unlike the other heroes Ren and Itsuki, this guy has got a vendetta against Naofumi from the get-go. And this was like before the sexual alligations came about. After that incident, this fuckturd tries at every turn to make Naofumi’s life worse than it already is by stealing away his crew and challenging him every chance he gets. And when he’s not doing that, he’s screwing over the townspeople and doing very little to be a “hero” (which is his freakin’ title). Then again, Ren and Itsuki aren’t great heroes either, it’s just I really need to lay into Spear-Dick for the shit he’s done.

SHIPPING: Hmm…aaaaahhhh….eeeeee…urrrrggggh…

Naofumi x Raphtalia: I know Naofumi doesn’t see Raphtalia as a romantic partner and more as a partner on his team, but Raphtalia doesn’t see it that way. She is 100% loyal to Master Naofumi. Who could blame her? Naofumi saved her from a lifetime of enslavement and cured her from an illness she’s had for years. She’s grateful and every other hero is crap in her eyes! She’s worshipped the shield hero since she was younger when she would hear stories about the shield hero. So imagine her worry every time Naofumi talks about going back to his home world, she gets horribly upset. Me being very skeptical here, I can’t really imagine this going any further than team partners. I can’t see at the end of the day Naofumi staying in Melromarc forever or Raphtalia somehow returning to Naofumi’s world when all of this ends. So for now, I’m just going to see where this takes us.

FUNNIEST MOMENT: Whenever Motoyasu gets conked in his frank-and-two-beans by Filo! If anyone deserves to be whammed in the nuts, it’s Motoyasu.

SADDEST MOMENT: I don’t usually mention sad moments in anime anymore, but one moment touched me and that was episode 15 where we learned a little more about Raphtalia’s past. Raphtalia, even after losing her parents in a wave attack, she tries her best to keep a smile on her face. But shortly after that, she and many other demi-humans were taken away from their homes and sold off to a nobleman. This is when we see some pretty inhumane moments where Raphtalia and many of her friends are whipped for the fun of it, starved to death, and sold off to traders.

In this episode, we learn about a few of Raphtalia’s friends (Keel and Rifana) from her younger days. The day Raphtalia got sold off, it looked like Rifana was teetering towards death. When the Shield Hero’s party came to rescue the surviving demi-humans (like Keel), Raphtalia went to see if Rifana could possibly be alive. And if the disturbing picture of Rifana’s skeleton doesn’t churn your stomach, I really don’t know what will. God damn, that was just messed up!

I CANNOT TELL A LIE, THIS ANIME HURT: I know I have sadistic tendencies and take joy in the misery of others. But I seriously cannot enjoy any second of the humiliation and degredation given to Naofumi. And it was because of the abuse put on the Shield Hero that made me feel sick to my stomach just watching all this happen to this guy. I thought it would last for a few episodes at the most, but it carried on a lot further than I imagined. Almost to the very end! And every episode you put on, you just wish for some kind of karma to kick in or for one more person to be nice to Naofumi or something, anything to happen!

But because the king has a vendetta against the previous Shield Hero, Naofumi has had to pay a heavy toll by having every horrible crime or offense thrown at him including rape, murder, attempted murder, cheating, witchcraft, and treason. AND HE COMMITTED NONE OF THESE OFFENSES! So you spend just about 20 episodes watching this poor boy having to go through this hell. I can’t even imagine having to go through this kind of torment and some of these moments make me ill in my stomach and quite pissed off. So like I said, this anime hurts to watch.

ENDING: As it turns out, the kingdom is corrupt under the rule of the king and his daughter, Princess Cunt (yeah, BIG shocker there). How corrupt? Well, they were in cahoots with the church that had their own religion praising only 3 of the Heroes (guess which one they don’t praise)! That was until the pope decided that everything must be wiped away because they are “unclean”. That includes the monarchy, the heroes, and their crew! Thankfully, they were able to put an end to this cult, with a little help from the true leader of Melromarc, Queen Mirelia of Melromarc. She finally shows herself and her powers on the battlefield. And now ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the moment everyone and their mama have been waiting for.

JUSTICE IS SERVED: With the queen’s return, come some harsh sentences to her own family. Her husband, the king and her daughter, Princess Malty! I gotta tell you, seeing these two in chains makes my heart so happy. The king was guilty of summoning the four heroes prematurely and causing a lot of harm to the kingdom of Melromarc with the church. Then the queen puts a seal on Myne’s chest, giving her unimaginable pain whenever she lied. That still didn’t stop the bitch from lying! In one swoop, it’s proven that Naofumi was innocent the whole time and that the king and princess were worse than period cramps. And for their crimes, THEY ARE SENTENCED TO DEATH BY GUILLOTINE!

FUCK YEAH! BRING IT ON!

CUT THEIR FUCKING HEADS OFF!

Yeah…unfortunately for my blood-lust self, that didn’t happen. Instead, Naofumi stopped the queen seconds before blood was to splatter. Claiming that the princess and king should be stripped from their titles and must go through life with new names! The king will be named “Trash” and Malty/Myne will be named “Bitch” (or “Whore” when she’s traveling). Okay, I guess it’s all good. With that, the church of the three heroes is abolished and handled a lot better than I thought.

But seriously Queenie, was it really, REALLY a good idea to keep your daughter alive? I know she’s your own daughter and you felt severe hesitation (in the anime) before calling for her execution. But for fuck’s sake, literally a day after she’s spared from the guillotine, she’s poisoning food meant for her sister Melty, Naofumi, and his friends!

IN THIS AFTERMATH: Now has Naofumi finally obtained acceptance throughout the kingdom? Yes and no! Yes, it’s true that the people of the land respected Naofumi after all he’s done. It’s just that some of the other heroes and castle men who still treat Naofumi with such disrespect. The queen wishes for all four heroes to be treated equally and to get along so that maybe they can defeat the waves without too much trouble. Hell, the queen of the filolials also said the same thing! I think Ren and Itsuki have kinda been on board with this for a while (even if they are kinda dickish about it). It’s just that Motoyasu’s still a condescending dick to Naofumi! Sigh!

FINAL WAVE ATTACK: Final one for now! On their way to another land, Naofumi ends up getting chummy with two travelers (L’Arc and Therese).

We meet these fuckers three episodes before the finale.

They’re bad guys, aren’t they?!

Something like that! Yeah, the next wave attack was coming up real quick. And the heroes have to go up against Glass again (the woman who caused a lot of trouble in the midway point of the series). But it turns out L’Arc and Therese are in cahoots with Glass. But it gets really…complicated here!

Glass and L’Arc are both fan and scythe heroes from another world. And they’re destroying the waves on this side along with destroying the people of this world to prevent catastrophy in their world. Yeah, finale time guys! How many parallel worlds and heroes are there?

READ THE LIGHT NOVEL!

Fuck me! Well, Naofumi and the other hammy heroes were able to stop the wave attack once more. And we even get to watch Queen Melromarc in action again! In this aftermath, Naofumi gets a new member on his team. Yes, it’s another female, but at least this one is older than all the other girls that hang with him (making this a little less ewwwie). Rishia was abandoned by Itsuki’s team for…reasons. So she’s going to join Naofumi after she helped in the last wave attack. And we get some last-moment hopeful scenes as we see things that give me hope for people in this series. Raphtalia’s old friends and homeland is getting back into the swing of things and Naofumi will take control over the land. And we wait for this promoted second and third season Crunchyroll swears by. Seriously guys, when are we getting more Shield Hero?

DON’T KNOW! READ THE LIGHT NOVEL AND STOP ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS!

If you can’t already tell, I liked this series! Yes it was unbelievably painful to watch certain things where all of these people gang up on Naofumi and screw him eight ways from Sunday, but I guess good stories have a little struggle. Except here, it’s a lot of struggling! It was an interesting tale and is giving me a little hope for the Isekai genre as a whole. Will I get into all the other recent ones so I can one day watch Isekai Quartet? Don’t get too cocky! I’ll stick to this and maybe head on over to Konosuba later on.

Rising of the Shield Hero was definitely a tale and I highly recommend it. It’s just that if you’re prone to anger when it comes to absolute injustice, half of this series might be a little unbearable to handle. But there were several great moments (particularly from Raphtalia) that kept me going with this series.

Especially episode 4! Best episode of the series! Her undying devotion for Naofumi was definitely one to behold! I can’t wait to learn more about these different kinds of worlds, kingdoms, and heroes in the upcoming stories. In the meantime I will await for these seasons two and three Crunchyroll assures us are coming…They are coming right? You guys weren’t just blowing smoke up our asses in the last CRX convention, right?

READ THE FUCKING LIGHT NOVEL, YOU AUTISTIC TWAT!

I can’t do it! There are too many chapters!

Currently, both FUNimation and Crunchyroll have the entire series subbed and dubbed.

Okay, great stuff! What’s next on my Amazon/Netflix…or Crunchyroll licensed anime!

Magical Girl Site?

Oh fuck. I heard about that first episode. This is gonna hurt.

#the rising of the shield hero #anime review #raphtalia #naofumi iwatani #motoyasu kitamura #malty melromarc #myne #filo #melty melromarc

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beneaththetangles · 6 years

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First Impression Summer 2018 Wrap-Up

The Summer 2018 anime season is now well underway, so here is a post wrapping up this season’s “first impressions.” In case you’re late in starting the anime season, here are all the full first impressions we have written this season, listed in alphabetical order:

Angels of Death

Chio’s School Road

Free! – Dive to the Future

HANEBADO!

Harukana Receive

Holmes of Kyoto

ISLAND

The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar

Working Buddies! 2!

In addition to the above shows, the team has also watched various other shows which caught our interest but we may not have gotten around to writing a first impressions post for. As such, to finish things off this season, we will present a First Impressions Digest for those other shows.

MDMRN

I’m not watching a lot this season, mostly HANEBADO! and Working Buddies! 2! (see my first impressions above). I’m still, as always, hyped to continue watching Ninja Girl and Samurai Master (Nobunaga no Shinobi). It’s a lot of fun as it delves into a period of Japanese history that I know very little about. Also, it’s a short – and I love shorts. They’re comfy to wear. Honestly, one of the shows I was most hyped for this season, High Score Girl, isn’t getting a proper legal release during this season in the west. It’s formal, US premiere will be two episodes at Otakon. So, guess I’ll be waiting and see if anything else strikes my fancy this season. Hopefully all of you (and my fellow writers) have some good suggestions for me.

stardf29

First of all, if you haven’t already, go watch the first season of Encouragement of Climb. It’s only 12 3-minute episodes, so it won’t take long, but within that is a very nice tale of friendship and mountain climbing. I bring this up because Season 3 of the show started this summer, and it is every bit as wonderful already as before. Unfortunately, Season 2 isn’t available on Crunchyroll at the moment (I should note that starting in season 2, the episodes become 12-minute episodes, and with 24 such episodes in season 2 it’s effectively a full-length show at this point), but if you liked the first season and find some way to watch the second, Season 3 looks to provide even more mountain-climbing goodness.

Cells at Work! is my jam. I’ve always been interested in the workings of the human body, and shows like The Magic School Bus were cornerstones of my childhood, and now we have human biology and edutainment show mixed with anime goodness and this show is pretty much perfect for me. It’s especially fun to see how various parts/functions of the human body get represented, such as how the platelets are all little kids, which is both meaningful (actual platelets are much smaller than red/white blood cells) and absolutely freaking adorable. Also, Red Blood Cell x White Blood Cell may be my favorite ship this season…

As the resident idol girl guru I suppose I’m contractually obliged to watch and comment on Music Girls… uh, it’s super-cute. 10/10 character designs. Girls seem to be fun but the first episode doesn’t do much to notate their quirks. Plot isn’t much but the “twist” at the end (which I saw coming because Hanako isn’t the first idol with that particular “problem”) does give potential for some interesting material. It’d be nice to see more of the producer and Hanako’s parents as well as how they seem to know each other. But really I’m just here for the cute girls, which is nothing unusual for me.

Speaking of idols, though, there’s also the new season of The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Theater! Will they spring another surprise voice on us this time? Who knows…

NegativePrimes

Whereas the spring season proffered a few very top-notch series (amidst the clamor of the lesser-quality riffraff that are an essential part of the anime ecosystem), the summer promises a fair number of decent-but-not-amazing shows. So I’ve tasted quite a few dishes at the feast set before us, and have not yet settled upon those which I shall dine on all the way until the dessert course. Though I have eliminated the occasional concoction that is not to my liking. (All links are to Crunchyroll.) To wit:

Calamity of a Zombie Girl: (Actually a film, not a series.) Do you like lots and lots of crushed and dismembered people with your naked zombie girl fantasies? Then this is the movie for you! Otherwise, not so much.

Mr. Tonegawa Middle Management Blues: Season 3! Would it have hurt them to put “Season 3” on this, so as not to totally confuse me?? Anyway, morbid corporate humor is good for a chuckle. Not sure if I’ll stick with it.

How not to Summon a Demon Lord: Alternate title, “How to have an ecchi isekai hero withoutblack hair!”

Angels of Death: Alternate title, “Twitch streamer play horror visual novel!” Alternate alternate title, “Amnesiac protagonist based on a video game #1!”

Working Buddies! 2!: Everything that Anime-Gataris aspired to be and fell short of! Well, ok, not quite; but this first episode was pretty darn meta! Child-friendly yet profound, absurdist humor at its finest. And they kept the existential koala bear! I’m so happy!

The Journey Home: Delightful, family-friendly story about three bugs trying to make it home. It’s A Bug’s Life meets Incredible Journey… IN SPACE!!!

The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar: Alternate title, “We have the longest anime title of the season, and no one will remember it!” Alternate alternate title, “In the same world with my smartphone!” Ok, this one I think I will stick with, as it promises an intriguing twist on the isekai genre. Be forewarned about the lewd jokes.

Cells at Work!: Possibly the most enjoyable show of the season. Certainly the most educational!

Asobi Asobase – workshop of fun: High school girl situational comedy at its finest and most horrifying.

ISLAND: Alternate title, “Amnesiac protagonist based on a video game #2!” Marketing slogan, “This time with more lolis!”

Planet With: Who needs acid? I’m definitely following this mind-trip!

Holmes of Kyoto: Alternate title, um, “Holmes of Kyoto”. I mean, that’s pretty much exactly what it is. Will continue to give this one a shot.

Phantom in the Twilight: A story about a vampire guy, a human girl, a werewolf third wheel, and it has “twilight” in the name. Need I say more? Ok, actually, this one might be pretty good. Will give it a try.

Hmm, I guess I’ve made more decisions than I realized! Notice the absolute dearth of sports anime on my list: No Hanebado, Harukana Receive, etc. By the time I was into the Hanebado opening, I had lost all interest in it. Just not a sports anime guy.

How about you? What are your thoughts on this new anime season! Sound off with what you’re watching and your hopes for the season in the comments.

#Anime #First Impressions #Summer Anime 2018 #Articles

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