Truly a “this should have been an email” situation.

I think everyone and their grandma posted this screenshot. As an example of what hooked them and maybe about why they like this seeming disaster of a human being.

Big glasses

Girls rock

I was wondering why they panned down her dress but immediately realized it was to transition up into her uniform. Lmao. THat’s cute.

My sweet child, you were named after the two bravest people I know. Chihaya idolmaster (who’s brother is dead) and Anon of 4chan fame. Anon won so many debates back in the day. You have no idea.

You have to understand something. IT TOOK A LOT OF PRAISE on the timeline for me to check out a CGI idol show of all things.

Every other ‘transfer student’: uwu, I am late so I can’t make friends

Anon-chan: let me pick my target and I will become friends with them. Ambitious.

Okay lmao I love how she’s just a bit calculating in how she wants to live her new life.

OMFG lmfao this girl.

Holy shit she sure does want the limelight. Lmfao incredible choice for an MC.

Useful image.

Stop! If you give Jeff Bezos your info and live feed, you’ll stop being anon, Anon-chan.

This is definitely more of the real high schooler spirit than the average anime try hard.

You just know that the aquarium otaku is going to have a cursed time.

Oh, she’s just a collector of things. Relatable.

I like how they illustrated the injury to her leg by making it shinier/redder even at a distance. Yeah it is cgi but hey continuity.

LMAO

She says this but you know internally she’s just like LOL NO WAY why would I care about your astronomy.

LMFAO holy crap her ability to read the room is NILL (though she did complain about the depressive vibes earlier).

SHE JUST WANTS A MASCOT?? Lmao she’s a pos, I love it.

WHY DID THEY SETUP THIS SHOT

Also kinda interesting that Anon chose to drag Tomori to karaoke when she saw Tomori was sad. I figured she was too self-centered for that.

Also amusing that we don’t get to see the karaoke at least not immediately.

I did not realize twintail girl was from a different school then the others? Also this hug was funny. Like such a dramatic action to the smallest show of melancholy. It isn’t your fault Saki-chan is FUCKING DEAD (playing piano somberly in the wind ensemble’s room probably without permission).

People who say this after being unable to stop a breakup are definitely 100% guaranteed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Oh it is the place Anon was told to go advertise at (which she shrugged off as being too much work for a school band). Guess the girl with the temper earlier is here making some coffee.

lol she talks like my (hikikomori in spirit but actually has a job) brother.

I am glad she’s a coupon lady. Also that she isn’t even necessarily aware there are coupons and has to look for them, I think.

I thought this was going to be a counseling session, BUT DO YOU JUST WANT GOSSIP ANON????

Omg Anon

I know she starts speaking from experience here to herself here, but GODDAMN. I think we could all do with a friend who’s just like you fucked up, try again bitch. Also Anon is 80% cuter in that closeup. They employed the latest in Computer Graphics technology to get that smile and fang just right.

Okay let’s be real. Anon had every right to laugh/be shocked at that. Tomori you are a gullible dumbass.

Holy shit, the stupid drama. The fact that Anon grabbed her too. She ain’t putting up with no bs.

Love how she considers Tomori a friend despite thinking of her as a mascot just a bit earlier.

And Lmfao what the fuck Taki. 

Love how she keeps causing problems and running from them.

Lol that sure was an incredible first episode. I can see why everyone on my timeline all of whom love disaster girls is in love with this show.

Cute ending. I hope I get around to episode 2 someday. Not going to lie having legs in the preview is helping.

Not too sure what I can quickly type up here, but here’s a quick life update!

Life is still the same. I have been busy with my photography stuff so I haven’t done much weeb stuff sadly. Pokemon Violet is a lot of fun! And I have been taking my time playing it.

Maybe I shouldn’t link tweets given how the website could die any day.

I am still into vtubers. I don’t really follow streams religiously but will almost always be watching clips or clicking into streams.

Stray webcomic recommendations

I like writing recommendations for dumb web comics because it is relatively easy but obviously I didn’t this year, so here are a random bunch I have been reading. I am not too sure of my categorization so really just try everything below in my opinion.

Good

Archmage Transcending Through Regression

BJ Archmage

Legendary youngest son of the marquis house

Absolute Sword Sense

Very Good

Poison Eating Healer

Academy’s Undercover Professor

The Novel’s Extra (Remake)

Swordmaster’s Youngest Son

I obtained a Mythic Item

Infinite Mage

Legend of Asura – The Venom Dragon

Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

SUPER GOOD MUST TRY

Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return

Ending Maker

Some anime I saw

I barely saw any anime this year despite really wanting to watch more. Uwu

Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu

I can’t remember if I finished this, probably not but Ninym is so hot/cute. I was watching a bit of it just for her and her ship with Wein.

Shikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja

The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest is dumb adventure shit, but you know what. I consume that like regular grocery store bread.

Leadale no Daichi nite

Gah, I really wish the animation and general visuals of Leadale were good. An overpowered elf lady adventuring around is entirely my jam. Still I did enjoy what I saw.

Spy x Family

I still need to finish S2, but hey I like it!

Shikimori-san

It was nice enough but felt like a one trick pony the few episodes I saw. That said I recall it becoming cozy.

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai

I think I need to finish Aharen-san but this was a lovely anime.

Gaikotsu Kishi-sama, Tadaima Isekai e Odekakechuu

Like a lot of isekai I can’t entirely recommend Skeleton Knight in Another World because it has a few very questionable assault scenes early on, but after those it is a pretty reasonably fun watch. At least in part because the protagonist works to free slaves not hire them which honestly is appreciated….(also the opening just completely bops so hard).

Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de

I never finished this, but Love After World Domination was a really fun cute romance. Main girl hot. Main boy hot. And it is great they are a couple from the first episode.

Kinsou no Vermeil

Watched most of this with the classy crew. It’s all right.

Do It Yourself

I am 1 or 2 episodes behind the end, but this is a lovely relaxing show. I wish I had the attention span for stuff like this but please give it a watch.

Renai Flops

The classy watch. Wild, dumb but still fun horny show.

Stuff I really want to see

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

Watched an episode or two. Seemed really good.

Bocchi the Rock

Everyone loves Bocchi the guitarist with anxiety. I am sure I would love it too.

Ya Boy Kongming!

Like holy shit this opening is so good and the protagonists are hot. I need to watch this someday.

Princess Connet Season 1&2

I liked what I saw of S1 but from what I saw on the TL, S2 is really good.

Machikado Mazoku

I need to watch Season 1 so I can watch Season 2 of this classic.

Yofukashi no Uta

A cute show about a vampire and a human that has good sakuga. What’s not to be hyped about watching someday.

Mob Psycho

I need to watch Season 2 so I can watch Season 3, but Season 1 is one of my all time favourites.

Tensei Shitara Ken Denshita

The sword isekai manga is great (what I read ages back). Someday I should try and watch the anime.

Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita

I am a fan of the manga and liked the one or two episodes of the anime I saw. Look forward to seeing more!

I don’t have many anime or manga related updates. I haven’t watched much lately sadly.

I have been playing the FGO Lost belt 6 with translation (I’m late I know… I already missed the sequel event) and it is so good! Incredible writing.

I started Trials of Mana which is a remake of a 1995 classic and thus far its been fun! The Princess lady I picked is hot which is important.

https://twitter.com/ReisengRath/status/1475713398386360321?t=DNUnX_JcbHovWSaISvMP0Q&s=19

Oh and of course I have been super into vtubers. Have you seen the new NijiEn boys? They are so good. I actually really like all of Nijisanji English tbh. It’s such a fun group of entertainers.

There’s so much anime to catch up on this year but alas I’ve been too preoccupied with work and my photography nonsense to do much else. Wish I didn’t have to work lmao.

Apologies for the boring blog post I’m on a phone, my pc is busted but hope any readers understand that my thanks for occasionally checking in on this blog are genuine. This now 11.5 year old blog is one of the few things I have made by myself in myfe so sucky as it is it is all me and I continue to be happy it exists.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2022 goes great for yall!

Short Answer: No

Long Answer: No, but for many they occupy a similar entertainment niche. Depending on the vtuber stream, you can put then on in the background like you would have a fluffy or middle grade anime (arguably vtubers are even better for this as they can easily be audio only). You can also put some vtuber streams on in the foreground for more brain absorbing entertainment.

Furthermore vtubers (the popular ones) and anime often occupy a similar social community bubble. Want to fit in? Just tweet about vtubers and you’ll have friends in no time (this claim is not guaranteed).

Anyway this is my “I am sorry no posts for the past few months. Someday I will make more posts…” post. Go watch Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. The second season just finished and it is so heartwarming and soul filling and so good.

Just look at him.

Am I just going to copy in some random images of Yang and call it a monthly post? You betcha. Yang would appreciate my laziness.

Tbh it is actually impossible to not like Yang. He’s relatable, intelligent and unknowing to him and him alone, also just really charismatic. He makes for an incredible protagonist to this long running series since he knows not only of the folly of war, but the politics that brings it about and all he can do is struggle in the system doing his best to keep as many of his subordinates and peers alive as possible.

I still haven’t finished LoTGH, but these first 22 episodes were worth it for the blue boy alone. (I love Reinhard and Sieg’s relationship too. It’s a great show.)

Reasons to watch Iruma-kun

Iruma-kun is a cute round boi who’s very good natured and sweet and I love him

There is a good ship between the Student Council President and Iruma-kun

I love the entire cast

(except the perverted bird demon but hey at least he’s on screen less than MHA’s grape guy and less grating too.)

It has a fantastic way of cozily resolving conflict and drama

When it looks like things are about to get tense or real or sad, somehow this anime just pulls the rug under you and just solves it….Iruma in particular looks like a soft baby who’d spend every episode crying…but when things get real, he doesn’t? He just stands up and does what he can. SUCH A GOOD BOI.

Evil Iruma-kun is hot as heck

Technically he’s not even evil. He’s still a good boi. He’s just more confident and I love him. BUT ALSO LOOK AT HOW HOT HE IS. I LOVE HIM.

It is a show about a heavily mistreated human boy finding family and friends amongst demons.

GOD I LOVE IRUMA’s FOUND FAMILY

HOW COULD YOU NOT LIKE THESE THEMES???!

Spoilers for S2 ahead.

My tweet that made me think of writing this post.

I am used to adaptations of stuff I like ending up not great. Often they are visually uhh not great or just adapted to the medium well. For the most part Slime looks great and its bounciness makes great use of the animated medium.

But, the end of season 2….felt at times to be either rushed or perhaps just missing the beat I needed it to land.

There are some small scenes from the manga that are skipped over. And while skipping some small moments might hurt the character development of a few characters, stuff can be skipped in the interest of streamlining the story. Whatever.

The bigger problem is that the anime couldn’t for whatever reason add the gravitas I felt some moments required.

There are a fair examples which could have done with more time or better rhythm so to speak, but the one that really stood out to me and upset me the most was Raphael’s entrance.

As the monsters of Tempest are falling asleep getting ready to evolve, Benimaru does his best to stay awake because he knows he needs to protect his Slime master. And as he is about to collapse, Raphael appears and gently informs him it is okay to sleep and thus Benimaru collapses.

The anime and manga cover the same scene, but it feels like the manga drawn by Kawakami Taiki does so much better a job at eliciting awe in me. After the skill level up scene (which I feel the anime does a fantastic job of by the way), the anime just rolls right through this Raphael part.

Some boring, very cliche music starts. The monsters collapse. There is some shock in the humans. The pacing does not change. Raphael appears out of a big glowy thing and stands up. Benimaru smirks for some reason. Benimaru collapses. All of it feels pretty lackluster animation wise too; a shame for a show that did that so well thus far.

The scene almost feels like a normal throwaway scene when to me at least, this scene (along with Megido) were the climaxes of this arc. They were the moments that should have made me stand up and scream in excitement and yet I struggle to even rewatch the Raphael bit. I find it so uninteresting….the music especially feels so off place and there is no sense of cohesion between the visuals and the track.

The fact that there was no specific track (perhaps a Gregorian chant) that started when we first see Raph feels like such a missed opportunity. Maybe that’s why the manga worked so much better for me, because I could just imagine what everything sounded like…Well that’s partly true but in truth, the paneling work in the manga is just perfect. It is a fine example of how you can do superb, unforgettable moments in just a few pages.

If you have only seen the anime, here’s how the manga does it.

I could reread this scene hundreds of times and still get teary-eyed. I don’t want to watch the animated version again.

By showing Raphael from Benimaru’s perspective, the manga grounds the reader. There is no big glowy entrance. You are concerned for Benimaru and are as awe-struck as he is when Raphael shows up. flows so naturally. Of course Benimaru is the last to collapse. Of course he holds on for his Lord. Of course Raphael comforts him and tells him to sleep. It may be a similar sequence of events, but almost none of that comes through in the anime. Gah!

Apologies for the rage post. Typing this made me even angrier. BUT I WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS OKAY. Most likely, the production had problems this season. Upon rewatch I noticed just how static the above scene was. I am sure the staff wanted to make it better but the hard deadlines made it tough.

Recently with a group of friends, we watched the whole thing and damn if it isn’t just so much fun.

Where to start….

Well Ben-to is an anime where our protagonist along with other classmates and peers fight for the half-price Bento at the convenience store. That is the summary in a nutshell.

It is a silly premise, and Ben-to takes it all the way with background controversies, turf wars, ancient history, possessive psycho lesbians (a bit overdone on this front tbh). To top it off, the fights are incredibly fun with respect to choreography, the soundtrack is incredible and in some episodes, the direction is super top notch.

Minor Flaws

Ben-to kind of shows its age in some of its humour. It is not that it is explicitly offensives but there is some silliness with like a guard threatening to insert batteries up our protagonist’s bum or Shiraume um assaulting Oshiroi etc. But I still enjoyed the general tone of the show. That may just be my bad taste lol.

Mostly Fun Horny

Look I am known to watch uhh classy shows and while Ben-to does not qualify, to be honest I enjoy this kind of late 2000 horny camera angle show. It is not panty shots, which I find kinda boring, but occasional pans to legs, boobs or neck bones and you know what, I love it lmao.

I could draw an exception for some of the Shiraume – Oshiroi scenes cause honestly I dislike that kind of fanservice, but other than those, you know….

I love how the show actually makes fun of itself here by always showing that Brunette girl’s chest and never her face until the final episode. It is a funny runny gag.

Occasionally Incredible Direction

The show takes its concept so seriously that sometimes it really pulls out all the direction chops and it is a lot of fun as a result. While episode 09 itself is not really related to Ben-tos themselves, and the final half of it kinda questionable (see previous Shiraume complaints), the pans and zooms, the surreal sound effects, the music and so on at the beginning of the episode are so good.

Episode 10 for example doesn’t have the same high art shots, but god if the fight choreography isn’t ridiculously good and even incredibly painful. What a good show. Clip 1 Clip 2

Episode 12 had some banger sequences leading up the climax too.

Soundtrack

God, the music is such a bop in this show. Fantastic soundtrack.

An absolutely stunner VA cast

Look at that list, incredible voice actors.

The Senpai relationship is very nice

I like a lot of the relationships in Ben-to from the rivals who show up every episode to the cousin-cest (look I am sorry) to the fujoshi (I am sorry), but my favorite is obviously the one between Sato and the Ice Witch.

Sato has the hots for her (and I mean girl Killua hot tbh), but the respect and admiration he shows her and the guidance (ON WHICH STORE TO FIGHT IN FOR EXAMPLE) she provides him is just really nice? The ending of the anime with them eating eels together is so sweet. GAH, my shippers heart can’t handle it.

A shame that I have heard the source material kinda uhh let’s just say does not do this relationship justice, but hey I have the anime and my head-cannon….

Just the audacity of it all

Here we have a show about a bunch of goofs throwing punches, fighting for discounted food and somehow this show never lets that get old. The conspiracies and the occasional lore drops are incredible too lmao.

I love silly concepts that get the full proper fun treatment.

It’s hard to put into words, but Ben-to is just a really fun show and honestly I’d really enjoy watching more of it.

Aside: I found it very cute that I had 11 episodes (out of the 12) downloaded on my hard drive from back in 2011. Man, I have been watching anime for a long time huh.

Let’s go back in time to 2015. I was getting ready to wrap up school. I had a job offer from my final internship and if I accepted it, I’d get a nice big paycheck working for <EVIL TECH COMPANY> in the US. My primary hesitation at the time was that something just didn’t feel right.

I didn’t want to grow up. I had an inkling that once I settled into a job, that’s all I would do. All of my personal ambitions, goals etc would just be tossed away as I came home too tired from work to do anything. There was a feeling in me that if I just followed the easy path, nothing interesting would come out of my life.

So, I made the bold, but very reckless decision to turn down that job offer and make a last second u-turn towards Grad School. My good friend at the time even questioned me, “are you sure? Usually folk who go to grad school plan for it years ahead not as they are about to graduate?”. He was right, of course.

I had no idea what I wanted, no direction, just an inkling that I did not want to leave school yet. During my more euphoric Undergrad moments, I had felt close to some grand understanding; a feeling that I could join the disjoint threads around me if I learned just a touch more. Empowered by that weird brain feel, I signed away my easy life.

I want to make it clear here that I was only able to make such a reckless call because I come from a well off family, so even without a job, I’d be able to survive (albeit not terribly lavishly). I am aware that’s a luxury few can enjoy.

Unfortunately, partly due to how late I was and partly due to carelessness on my part, my leads at my Alma-Matter did not pan out and I graduated school without any acceptances from a Grad Program for the next term.

The Summer passed and so did Fall and everything was up in the air. Looking back on it, I was kinda down at this time. It was supposed to be the best time of my life, no school, no job, just games and anime and yet I rarely partook in either of those.

Eventually though, an application was accepted and I got to start Grad School in 2016. Nervous, but excited I headed off to Montreal in January 2016. It was a good 6 hours away from my family, so I wouldn’t be home much, but I told myself that wouldn’t be a big deal, after all I was in a different country for 4 months before. Silly me. I had no idea the following 2-3 years would be the most lonely of my life and I am still eternally grateful to my twitter friends for providing me with at least 1 social outlet.

Plenty of folk try Grad School and flunk out usually for a good reason or another. Many folk simply can’t afford to stay in school, others struggle under heavy workload and some get stuck with absolute dipshit Supervisors.

I don’t really have much of an excuse to be honest.

I started off okay enough, wading in the waters, hanging out in the lab, but I found the atmosphere incredibly suffocating, so just chose to spend most of my time in my lonely apartment. For 2 years, I juggled classes and “grad research” and by juggled I mean did the class homework and spent no time at all on actual grad work due to a lack of self-motivation.

By some miracle, I finished my courses during those 2 years, but despite extending my time for a 3rd year, I could not make any progress on my Grad thesis. You could not even call it half done. Maybe it was never even started.

I can’t really pinpoint what went wrong. Maybe it was just laziness on my part. Maybe it was the fact that my supervisor really didn’t care much for my project, so barely provided direction. Maybe it was that I never sought direction either. Who knows.

Montreal…was a lonely place. I spent all day cooped up in a rundown apartment. I went out to lectures, to cafes to relieve my down mood, but that’s about it. On many days, I’d feel too sick and unwell to do anything (only later did I realize that your stomach health is very closely tied to anxiety and depression) and the day would just pass in a flash.

It felt like I just had enough time for my class assignments and while I wanted to spend the rest of my time on my thesis, I never could. Instead, I passed by the time thinking I had to do work, but not doing any either. I wish I had fun

It would have been so much better if I just shrugged off of my responsibilities and just played games or watched anime all day, but when your brain is anxious about undone work….you get nothing done, not even fun stuff.

I remember once going back to my apartment during that 3rd year (since I was spending most of that year at my parents) and it was perhaps the most depressing night I was conscious of. That may have been the first time where I realized ‘ah, maybe I am actually not well’.

To rope us back to the title, every time I felt overwhelmed (which at some point felt like every other day if not daily), I would look for manga: isekai, fantasy, romcom, basically anything in my wheelhouse of easy to read and hard to put down.

It’s hard to describe, but being completely absorbed in something completely cleared my mind and I always felt so much better after. Sure, by the time I looked away, it would usually be too late to do any work and it would only pile up for the next day, but if I would have been incapable of doing it to begin with, then I might as well clear my head and feel better.

Whenever I felt down, I just had to find a manga I could be engrossed with. I kept doing it unconsciously and it was only much later (when I read a tumblr post of all things) when I learned that one way of relieving anxiety and panic attacks is to find something completely engrossing that distracts you away from it.

Somehow, some part of me had developed a self-defense mechanism of seeking out manga when the rest of brain was malfunctioning. I do not know how, but I am super grateful that I somehow developed that habit. It may have been a waste of time from a productivity sense, but I am sure I’d have been much, much worse off had I not sought out manga to clear my brain fog.

And that’s where this post comes in. To this day, I love manga and I am eternally grateful that a medium which can so consistently capture my heart exists.

Apologies for the downer, but don’t worry. Some 2.75 years after starting grad school, I finally started seeing a doctor and while I was initially very surprised to learn that yes I was actually depressed, I have become much better since. Sure, I still occasionally have a blue night, but they are less common and I recognize them and can shrug accordingly.

The combination of medication, some therapy, giving up on grad school, landing a decent job, jumping deep into my photography hobby has helped me feel so much better.

I wasted 3 years, and to perhaps a lesser extent the 5 preceding years in Undergrad, but now finally I feel like I am living. It is just unfortunate that I am almost 30 (it is my birthday today >_<), but now finally feel like I am living the life I should have lived at 23.

I don’t regret my decision to not take a job straight after school or anything, mind you. I have many regrets, but I still feel that would not have been a good path. And in truth, the 3 years in Grad School may have been fruitless, but I feel I developed my politics and sense of self the most during those blue times.

Unfortunately, beyond the wasted time, I can’t really say I came out any better. At some point, either in those 3 years or right before, my brain broke. I wasn’t the best in school, but I could do my work. I could focus on something for more than a few minutes at a time, but since then, I have lost my ability to do so. Starting things feels so hard now. Even things I enjoy like anime or games are so hard for me to start now.

To top it off, I have only just begun to get over that dreadful feeling of always thinking there is something I need to do. When you are in grad school, working completely on your own schedule, there is always something you should be doing. There is no off switch unless you are very disciplined. So while I didn’t do any work, I always felt like I should have been and that kept me from having fun. Somehow that stuck with me.

It took a while before I started to accept that my post job hours are truly my own and I can do W H A T E V E R I want. Even now, I often have so many fun things to do, but I still occasionally find it hard justifying doing them. I am getting better though!

But, despite all of that, despite the ups and downs and fractures in my brain, somehow, I still love reading manga. When I have nothing to do or am unsure of what to do, I find myself looking up manga out of habit. Sure, I never read anything that takes actual thought or effort and generally stick to fluff or dumb self-insert fantasy, but I still love it.

And that’s how I have concluded that for me, whether I read more or less, manga will always hold a really special place in my heart. Today, tomorrow, and till the end of time.

Sorry for the downer post, but I have wanted to document this on my blog for a long time and well I figured that my 29th birthday is as good a day as any. Thanks for hanging around friends, here’s to many more years of good times ahead.

Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai!

Technically this finished airing end of December 2019, but I can’t remember if I finished watching it then or right after in January.

Gah, I might not have finished Season 2, so hey some more anime to watch… lol

Either way I really like Bokuben because it is just really dumb romcom fun. I am very, very, fond of how attractive the cast is. They all have their uhh charm points so to speak, lol.

Kyokou Suiri

I never did finish In/Spectre, but always wanted to. It is really, really, really cool!. I love these kinds of boy meets girl meets paranormal anime even more so when the boy doesn’t really have an ordinary past himself.

The 8th Son? Are you kidding me?

I think this is one of the few anime I finished this year, which is honestly kinda embarrassing, but it was one of those years where silly unambitious isekai were the easiest things to consume (tbf for me every year is like that)m so I watched all of this with my brother. It is fun enough honestly and I will absolutely swallow up the next season when/if it airs.

Would I recommend this anime about a rich mage boy who gets a wife and 2 concubines by the end of S1 to others? Eh, probably not lol unless you are just like me when it comes to brain dead entertainment.

Ascendance of a Bookworm

I didn’t finish bookworm, but came pretty close. I definitely enjoyed watching this with my brother. I have read a bit of the manga years back and the anime delivered in most aspects. It is a nice solid watch that grips you with the small, incremental progress Myne makes towards her goal of writing books.

Also, I think episode 08 of Bookworm may be one of the best anime episodes to have aired this year. It is worth watching the previous 07 (still good!) episodes of the show just for episode 08.

Episode 08 is a fantastic, emotional episode. Myne reveals her secret and while that alone isn’t the most remarkable part of it, her accompanying conversation is just gut wrenching and incredible.

In the latter part of the show it starts getting a bit weird with some healthy child labor and capitalism, so I kinda just never finished it lol. I don’t think that should detract you from starting the show, my interest just waned a touch; I wasn’t actively upset by it or anything.

Tower of God

I am like one of the few people who had fun with Tower of God and it is only because we are big fans of the webtoon. The anime isn’t the best adaptation to be honest. The animation isn’t superb and they don’t try to improve any of the problems early on in the webtoon. Still, if you like the manga, the anime is a worth fanservice watch. I honestly want more seasons because it gets so good later on.

Princess Connect! Re:Dive

So screencappable it is impossible to insert just one image

The main reason I did not finish PriConn is that I liked the episodes so much, I started saving them and well when you start that, you never finish…

Either way PriConn (based on the hit Cygames mobage) is a really fun show. I genuinely love the 3 girls. Karyl and Pecorine … are hot and cute and everything good. Kokkoro is a funny mom with great faces too.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

God, I love Bakarina. Very excited for Season 2. Go watch Season 1! This anime has the unique advantage of also being a good adaption with superb faces and stuff. What a fun fun fun show about an absolute dumbass and the harem she forms unknowingly.

Dokyuu Hentai HxEros

This is a silly but fun ecchi show I watched with the classy crew. Our protagonists get stronger through ero powers and they must fend off an enemy who feeds on erotic energy. I don’t think I finished this, but what I saw was good dumb fun.

Hanyou no Yashahime

Thoughts here…..I need to catch up and finish this someday. I think I watched like 6 or 7 episodes and have enjoyed it thus far.

Strike Witches Road to Berlin

I haven’t actually seen any Strike Witches preceeding Road to Berlin but I have really had fun watching this classic classy show with the classy group. At times it is really dumb ecchi hijinks (which are funny) and at other times it is got some serious action and drama. It is a fun, good mix! The girls being cute helps too of course.

So yeah, there you go.

I did also watch some anime in our group chats like Macross Delta and Symphogear, but yeah as far as anime goes, 2020 may have been my least productive year ever. Which is almost contrary to what you’d expect given we’ve been indoors most of the year. I blame a bunch of stuff like being busy moving locations, my photography hobby, work and my recent complete devotion to vtubers.

All things considered, 2020 has been a decent year for me in that work went well, I got really into photography, bought a house etc, but as a whole 2020 has been a terrible year and far too many people have died or lost someone this year. I genuinely hope 2021 is a better year, because I think all of us could really do with wiping 2020 off of the calendar. Stay safe my friends, and Happy New Year.