Fall 2020 So Far – Anime Voyage

All right. Time to actually talk about anime on this anime blog, yeah?

This is something I’d meant to get done earlier today. Unfortunately, circumstances being what they were, I wasn’t able to begin editing the upcoming episode of Bulletoon on time, so I wound up doing pretty much all of it today. For those unaware, it’s an exceptionally long process which I try to get started with on Friday evenings and finish throughout my Saturdays. That didn’t happen, so apologies for this delay. But I’m still gonna post it and, hey, it’s still Sunday on the West Coast as I begin writing this… take that. Now for the anime. First of all, you can check out our first post of this season’s Anime TKO on the main site if you’d like my opinions on the first episodes of the 8 shows there. Just as a refresher, those would be and the quick cliffnotes on my thoughts pertaining to the first episodes:

• DanMachi Season 3 – A solid reintroduction to the world with an effect, albeit tame start to the primary conflict of the season, or at least one arc.
• Golden Kamuy Season 3 – Picking up right where we left off with an entertaining bunch of incredibly manly idiots… and Asirpa is missing… again.
• Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon – It’s a setup episode that jumps around through time confusingly and feels almost more like an episode of its parent show than the show we were actually promised.
• Akudama Drive – It’s good, flashy fun. I just don’t care about anyone but the main girl and fear for her life and/or sanity, considering who created it.
• Jujutsu Kaisen – Actually a very solid introductory episode that conveys pretty much all the information it needs to for the future while more-or-less being a good, contained story in its own right.
• Assault Lily: Bouquet – It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s pretty to look at, what more can you want? Well, perhaps something a bit more original. But it being a slightly better Toji no Miko is fine, so far.
• I’m Standing on a Million Lives – It’s not the stock isekai I was expecting, has a fairly interesting set of rules, looks better than it honestly had to, and manages to chuckles, here or there. Not a bad start.
• Moriarty the Patriot – A really strong opening episode, managing to have a single contained mystery for its runtime, which is hard. It was engaging and did pretty much everything that could be expected of it.

Since writing the post, which you can read HERE, I’ve caught the second episodes of Yashahime, I’m Standing on a Million Lives, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

My thoughts on those are actually pretty positive. I think Jujutsu Kaisen did a great job of building on its initial episode by efficiently (and amusingly) introducing us to the greater world the series takes place in, with the school and some nifty lore. I also like how the series establishes a goal for itself, right away. I genuinely do wish more series would do that instead of just dumping us in a world for the characters to stumble into things.

Yashahime did, with this episode, what I think it should’ve done in the last one. I honestly think they should’ve just shown us all that setup in some broken up glimpses into the past, or some such, rather than an entire, dedicated episode. This one introduced us to our leads, though I do maybe wish it’d moved a little faster. The thing with the family getting kidnapped felt a tad forced, considering we’re never really told why Towa gets into these fights. These “bullies” were a little on the eye-roll-inducing side. Other’n that, though, fun stuff all around.

I’d say the award for most improved episode would go to I’m Standing on a Million Lives, which actually saw a bit of character development taking place. I would say that this dude has some seriously cosmic luck, but he’s an isekai protagonist. What else is new? Either way, the episode felt a lot better than the previous one in terms of its storytelling. The previous one felt like little more than an obligatory introductory episode. While some of the development here was a tad forced, I wouldn’t call it bad, really. Not yet, anyway.

Voyager’s Personal Watchlist

Currently, I’ve only taken the time to check out two shows not on the TKO list. I’ll check out Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, when I get a chance. But right now I’ve just watched Tonikaku Kawaii (2 episodes) and Adachi to Shimamura (1 episode). This is entirely because my second favorite genre is Romance and I’ve been sorely lacking in that department, lately. Since Kaguya-sama’s second season ended, I haven’t really watched any. So now we have a Rom/Com about marriage, I guess, and a Yuri Slice-of-Life.

I liked them. Tonikaku Kawaii is… well… cute. And funny. Not a whole lot else going on there, though. Adachi to Shimamura is pretty tame and chill. Some of the tension in the episode felt kind of manufactured. I didn’t really grasp what the issue was, but maybe that’s just my not being a high school girl. I dunno. Social norms were never my strong suit. That aside, it was fine. Nothing that blew my socks off. None of the performances or internal monologue grabbed me immediately, like they did with Bloom Into You. But nothing turned me away from it, really. So we’ll see. I don’t think this one’s a drama. I think it really is supposed to be just a Slice of Life. So it’ll probably be a sweet time.

And that’s everything, for the time being, I guess. It’s late and I have to work in the morning, so I’m not feeling up to going and grabbing a bunch of pictures at the moment. That’s also why I didn’t format this post in such a way as to split it up by show, like I normally would. Next time, I’ll do all that. Think I’ll do these posts regularly on Sundays. I need to get into the habit of blogging again, so it’ll be good help. In the meantime, thanks for reading.

Stay safe, Stay healthy, Stay Awesome!
Voyager