Review That Anime

[It'sOnRandom]

I looked through the forums and I couldn't really find a thread to review anime, so I decided to make one myself.

Thread Purpose:
Like mentioned in the paragraph above. Leave a quick review for an anime you have recently watched.

I recently have started watching Netflix's Original Series - "Great Pretender" (finished case 1).

Subbed or Dubbed: Dubbed

Review:
After constantly being nagged by one of my friends to watch this show I finally caved. This series is great so far, really fun and really smart.
The series follows Makoto Edamura, a modern-day, small-time con man in Japan, who gets swindled by French gentleman thief Laurent Thierry into following him from Tokyo to Los Angeles. Big twists happen in near enough every episode and you will be absoloute hooked if you give it a go.

Trailer:

 

[Possessed]

Mushi-shi: it's good.

 

[Jrzag42]

I just finished The Future Diary. I really liked the story, but it's plagued by some awful tropes and attempts at edginess that it can be uncomfortable at times.

I also binged Land Of The Lustrous the other day. This on the other hand had hardly any of my least favorite tropes, and was generally rad. Can't say I entirely appreciated the 3d animation though, but that didn't ruin it for me. Surely the best recent animated series about sentient gems with queer themes

 

[Jrzag42]

Baka And Test pops in my head every now and then, be it one of the theme songs or a particular scene. It was probably around 10 years ago now that I discovered it, and I thought it was the shit at the time. Looking back, it's full of some of my least favorite anime tropes, and I'm sure it'd be uncomfortable to watch now. But hey, it still holds a special place in my heart. It was one of the first animes I found on my own, the theme songs are really good, and it was probably the first time I saw gay characters on screen without it going over my head.

 

[It'sOnRandom]

Recently watched the first season of Demon Slayer. Cool story with some pretty cool charecters. Worth a watch.

Also not long since I started getting into AOT too. Very good show!

 

[Jrzag42]

Kakegurui - What if Rounders was a highschool anime? Okay so that's probably not the best comparison, Rounders is just my only frame of reference for gambling stories. Anyways, I don't know why stories about gambling manage to draw me in, I don't know shit about gambling irl. Maybe there's just something fascinating about finding strategy in a game of randomness. Anyways, I'm only 7 episodes into Kakegurui, but it's really got me engrossed. I'm always rambling on about tropes, and this isn't free of them, but it's not as uncomfortable as some other series. It's very over the top, with upsetting faces that give modern Spongebob a run for its money. Taking into account the characters, the writing, and the story, I'm not entirely sure what I like about this show. It's just neat.

 

[Jrzag42]

Kakegurui - What if Rounders was a highschool anime? Okay so that's probably not the best comparison, Rounders is just my only frame of reference for gambling stories. Anyways, I don't know why stories about gambling manage to draw me in, I don't know shit about gambling irl. Maybe there's just something fascinating about finding strategy in a game of randomness. Anyways, I'm only 7 episodes into Kakegurui, but it's really got me engrossed. I'm always rambling on about tropes, and this isn't free of them, but it's not as uncomfortable as some other series. It's very over the top, with upsetting faces that give modern Spongebob a run for its money. Taking into account the characters, the writing, and the story, I'm not entirely sure what I like about this show. It's just neat.

So I finished Kakegurui today. I still can't place exactly what I like about it, but in anycase I thouroughly enjoyed it and I want more. I really hope there will be a season 3, because there's definitely some loose ends.
I also watched the 6-part miniseries prequel, Kakegurui Twin. It was great, but the name frustrates me. In the main series there is a pair of twins with some mystery behind them, so by all means you'd expect them to be the focus of the series labeled "Twin". This is not the case, the twin characters don't appear for more than a minute, and I'm left wondering why such a title was chosen. Still though, it expanded upon one of the side characters that I grew to really like by the end of the main series, which is nice.
There is also a live action Kakegurui adaptation which I might check out. If it ends up being too faithful to the point that it's rendered redundant, then I probably won't bother to watch it in its entirety.

 

[Jrzag42]

Shaman King (2021) -
So, I just finished watching Shaman King finally, and it was amazing. Shaman King holds a special place in my heart as the first manga that I ever read from begining to end, way back in elementary school. There was an anime series back in the early '00s, but I never watched it when it aired. I sought out the anime after I read the manga, but gave up after an episode cuz it was a garbage 4kidz dub.
Flash forward to when the new anime was announced, I was so hyped. Then it released, I watched a couple episodes, and just kinda forgot about it. Finally, last month, it came up in conversation at work, I started reminiscing about the story, and decided it was time.
Going into it again, I was worried. The thought occured to me that the whole premise was cultural appropriation, surely shamanism is a specific spiritual practice that should be treated with respect, right? Well, I did a bit of research and found that "shaman" doesn't refer to a specific culture at all, it's a broad term that is used to describe a range of spiritual beliefs all over the world. So that cleared my conscience a bit. The term itself may be controversal, as it was coined by outsiders to describe things from other cultures they don't understand, but it's still a widely used term and I don't fault the author. In any case, it's not my place to decide what is or isn't offensive when it doesn't have to do with me. I ended up finding this show to be a great jumping off point to do my own research on the various cultures depicted.
Anywayss, the story itself is great. Loveable characters, interesting themes of morality, cool action, etc. There's lots of dying and coming back near the end, it's established early on but some may be turned off by the seeming lack of stakes. The ending itself can be seen as hokey and cliche but I loved it.
There's a sequel series that started airing last month in Japan coincidentally. I really hope it gets a US release soon.
Shaman King is not without its flaws, but I really recommend checking it out. Read a brief synopsis, watch the first episode, if you don't like it then that's entirely fair.