20 Question Weekly Review Week Ending 25th March 2018

How goes it? SO MANY OF MY SHOWS ARE ENDING AND I AM FULL OF FEELS.

Okay there, Mr. Caps, settle down, compose yourself… I’m good, I’m fine, I just have so many emotions!

Right so did you want to talk about them here? Well I’ll keep full season reviews to their respective posts, and of course I’ll have a run down of all the Winter 2018 anime in a seperate post at the end of the month, but I can talk about episodes on their own…

Well okay then, how was the seasonal stuff this week? A Place Further Than The Universe wins best of the week, and it wasn’t even it’s finale (that comes next week) it was so raw and open and emotional, I was a wreck. I don’t care who you are or what kind of anime you like you need to watch that show. Slow Start teased Eiko x Teacher for the last time (but hopefully not the last time—if you know what I mean). Everything else was as expected.

Oh and didn’t Marchen Madchen come back from it’s hiatus? —I don’t want to talk about it!

Cool, so th— Wait! I almost forgot Dagashi Kashi 2, damn this show keeps going from strength to strength, it started out as this silly show about Japanese snack foods and has slowly but surely morphed into a compelling character drama, yes I said drama, things got pretty damn dramatic here, but I’m still pissed off it’s a 12 minute per episode series instead of 24 minute one like the first season.

—Kay… So what other anime did you watch? I started watching a bunch of other Winter 2018 anime that I, for whatever reason didn’t start as week-to-week shows, so basically playing catch up! I started Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, Kokkoku and The Ryuo’s Work is Never Done! I have very complicated and varied thoughts on all these shows, but that will have to wait ’til I review them! Also I started Amanchu in preparation for its 2nd season that starts soon!

Busy busy! But lovin’ every minute of it!

So any anime merch this week? Did you see the week before? No… no merch for a while.

Fair enough, what about manga then? *exceptionally high voice* mmm maybe just a little!

Uh-huh… how many then? Okay, so maybe like twenty—

TWENTY! I thought you were unemployed?! And I thought you were SHUT UP!

Ugh, fine just tell me what you got… Right, so: Bloom Into You 3 & 4, Dragonar Academy 1, The Flowers of Evil Omnibus 1, How To Build A Dungeon: Book of the Demon King 2 & 3, Hybrid x Heart: Magias Academy Atraxia 1, Kaguya-Sama Love Is War 1, Magicka Swordsmen and Summoner 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 1-4, Murcielago 3, Nameless Asterism 1, No Matter How I Look At It It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular 4 (finally have all of them!), Shomin Sample 3 & 5 (2 & 4 should be here next week), Testament of Sister New Devil: Storm 1 and Val x Love 1.

Nearly ran out of room on the bed! Wait, did I make that joke already?

Yikes! You weren’t kidding were you?! I never joke about manga; serious business.

Uh-huh. And what manga did you read? *nods* I read, Bloom Into You 2 which keeps getting better. I’m really looking forward to how far their relationship goes! I read Dragonar Academy 1, which was great fun but I’m just annoyed that I only found out after that volume 3 is next to impossible to get a new copy from ANYWHERE online. Also a couple more chapters of the No Game No Life light novel, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 1, yes the anime is better but I just wanted more of this adorable and hilarious series in my life. I also read No Matter How I Look At It It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular 4, top quality as always and I read Testament of Sister New Devil: Storm 1 which wasn’t as smutty as I was hoping lol.

You perv… Hey, at least I can admit to it!

I don’t think that’s a good thing… But at least I’m honest!

Mmm… Anything else? Uh, I don’t think so.

Site news? Not as such, just gearing up for Spring 2018 anime season, but I’ll have a full post about it at the start of April once it’s announced which streaming services everything is airing on.

So how would you rate the week ending 25th of March 2018? Emotionally not so great, there were a lot of ups and downs, but with regard to anime and manga it was terrific! Thank you for reading and have a good week!

10 Best Anime OP’s of Winter 2018 – Listing Compulsive

For a minute I thought about making a new blog just for this subject but I realised, that just because a lot of my content is reviews in the 20 Question Format and my blog is called Anime Q and A, didn’t mean I couldn’t shake things up a little. So begins the blog posts under the ‘Listing Compulsive’ banner, they will be countdown style lists where I count down from 10 to 1 my best (or sometimes worst) things related to anime and manga. Also it should go without saying but like all lists these picks are subjective, we all have different tastes so if you don’t agree with me feel free to state why in the comments, it’s always interesting to read other people’s opinions!

The subject of this list, as you can no doubt tell is The 10 Best Anime OP’s of Winter 2018, and to make this list as comprehensive as possible I decided to listen to every anime opening credit song from this seasons crop of shows. Obviously I’ll try and divorce my opinions of the show from the ranking of these songs because it is solely about the music, not the visuals of the opening and certainly not the quality of the show attached to it. I’m also only listening to the version of the song as it plays over the credits, not the full-length song! Music is important, especially to anime, a single great song can inspire you to watch it, whether because of how much it pumps you up, or because how cute it sounds, or maybe it’s just an amazing song fullstop. All were the case with the songs that made it into this list and so with those parameters laid out let’s count down the 10 Best Anime OP’s of Winter 2018!

*Note: I tried to be as thorough as possible, however I may have missed some! Excluded from eligibility are shows that have a different opening every episode, or shows that have an opening 30 seconds or under.*

Number 10: “OVER” by Little Glee Monster from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Boruto? I love Mexican food!

I gotta be honest with you, I’ve never seen a single episode of Naruto, or Naruto: Shippuden or whatever the hell Boruto is. But this song is a straight up toe-tapper! It’s captures the kind of wonder and spirit of adventure that a lot of great Shonen theme songs have.

Number 9: “Colors Power ni Omakasero!” by Colors☆Slash from Mitsuboshi Colors

“Mitsuboshi JUMP!”

As much as I tried and I mean tried to make this list impartial and not influenced by the show itself, I admit this pick and the number two pick I couldn’t separate from the show. But it’s hard when you have the voice actresses singing the song and so you remember all the good times from the show and you can even begin to pick out their personalities in the lyrics.

Number 8: “FEELING AROUND” by Minori Suzuki from Ms Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles

Anyone else hungry?

The beat in this song is so damn infectious, and then when the chorus hits, just magic!

Number 7: “KISS OF DEATH” by Mika Nakashima x Hyde from Darling in the FranXX

Shame they couldn’t put such a good song in a better show.

Proof of the power of a great song, I dislike the show immensely but absolutely LOVE this song; it’s like a James Bond opening from the future! It’s sexy and stylish and just plain cool.

Number 6: “SHINY DAYS” by Asaka from Yuru Camp.

Partially English chorus? Don’t mind if I do!

Even if the opening few seconds are a bit too close to sounding like a Jackson 5 song the rest of it is pure joy and happiness, it just makes me smile!

Number 5: “OH MY Sugar Feeling!!” by Ayana Taketatsu from Dagashi Kashi 2

This song is a sugar high in music form.

It’s not as much as an earworm as some shows on the list; you won’t be humming it in the shower like SHINY DAYS, but while you’re listening to it is quite literally a high. It’s high speed, high intensity and high fun!

Number 4: “The Girls Are Alright” by saya from A Place Further Than The Universe

Nothing cold about this heartwarming tune!

I love the progression in this song, the fact that manages to fit such a quiet, almost contemplative opening, then build, then build then finally explode into that addictive chorus is pure art.

 

Number 3: “Flashback” by MIYAVI vs. KenKen from Kokkoku.

 

I-spy an anime with a super cool OP.

Such is the power of this particular song that it made me buy an Amazon Video subscription just so I can watch the show that this cool, head bopping song came from. Maybe the show will actually be good too? Either way the song still rocks. Also, the fact that it doesn’t sound like any other opening this year is also a massive point in its favour.

Number 2: “ne! ne! ne!” by STARTails☆ from Slow Start

Kamuri too precious. Must protect at all costs.

Yup! I’m a sucker for songs sung by the show’s voice cast, whether it’s cute girls like in Yuru Yuri or the whole damn class like in Assassination Classroom, I just think they’re so fun, and this is among the most fun this season! Also, hearing Kamuri sing her parts is just too precious for words!

Before the winner is announced here’s a couple of Honourable Mentions: 

Honourable Mention: “Azalea” by Nano.ripe from Citrus

Catchy as hell song, plus I really like the vocalists more rough sound, nice change from all the higher pitched cute girl songs.

Honourable Mention: “Psychomachia” by Yousei Teikoku from The Seven Heavenly Virtues

I don’t watch this show, but I will (pervert, etc), though I admit I didn’t expect death metal for an opening to an ecchi show. I have a soft spot for death metal because of my youth. Also it technically is ineligible because it’s only 30 seconds long, hence why it’s in the honourable mentions.

Honourable Mention: “WiSH VOYAGE” by IDOLiSH7

I’m not sure what boy band this song reminded me of, but I had a good time listening to it all the same, which is strange because I don’t like boy band music, must be because I don’t know what they’re saying that I enjoyed it more. This and “Azalea” just missed out of the top 10 but were worth highlighting all the same.

And now, my favourite favourite Anime OP of Winter 2018 is:

Number 1: “urar” by Chima from Hakumei and Mikochi

When I decided to do this list, even though I said to myself I would be open to songs from shows I wasn’t watching, I didn’t ever think that one would make it to the number one spot. That should go a long way to selling you on the strength of this particular track. I’ve never watched the show and yet it’s OP is Number 1! It’s whimsical but it has a mysterious dark edge to it that I find irresistible. There were parts of the song that reminded me of my favourite band Radiohead, at other times my favourite live action US TV-show Twin Peaks (composed by Angelo Badalamenti) but even without those musical parallels it’s just such a beautiful song, that honestly made me feel something, even though I had no idea what the song or the show it is attached to is about. But that’s the power of music, to be able to forge connections by sound alone.

And that’s the list, but stay tuned because while it is indeed a great season filled with great songs, there’s also 10 more songs to talk about, the worst OP’s of Winter 2018 coming soon!

The Mystery Blogger Award – Untold Questions

Another award huh? I’m as surprised as you are!

Does this mean I get a pay rise? No.

*grumble grumble* So what’s the award? Well *copy and paste* “It’s an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion.”

And you won that? Shut up, I’m totally amazing.

I think you mean we’re amazing, we both won the award. Yeah yeah yeah…

So these things have rules right? What are they? Award logo in blog. List rules. Thank who nominated me. Tell the reader 3 things about myself. Nominated 10-20(!) people. Ask your nominee 5 questions with one weird or funny question. And share a link to one of your best posts.

Right so who nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award? It was Auri! Of Manga Toritsukareru Koto! Thank you so much, this means so much to me!

Indeed! So now I need to ask 3 things about you? Or is it about me? Things get confusing when there’s two of us? The only thing that’s confusing is that you still think you’re a real person and not a construct of my mind.

*completely ignores remark* I suppose we’ll just get you to answer the 3 things about you, I like to keep up some anonymity… Right… So 1^st thing about me is that I’m Australian, I don’t know if that’s some big secret or not, but I think I’m like the least Australian Australian there is, I’m pale, I don’t drink beer (only the finest bourbon for me thank you very much) and I have zero interest in sports! That’s probably already counts as 3 things but I’m going to keep going because I like talking about myself. 2^nd thing is despite studying Japanese for 5 years through primary and high school; I can barely speak it at all! *sad face* I wish more of it sunk in but being a writer, I’m so connected to the English language that Japanese just seems so hard by comparison! Sure I can recognise and say all the hiragana and know what a lot of words mean, but it’s still a slow process. 3^rd thing kind of ties into that previous point, because I am a writer, a novelist actually… except all my novels are unpublished. I’ve got one that I’m very proud of that got rejected by a lot of publishers, so at the moment I’m just deciding whether I self publish on Amazon!

Well that was all very interesting, I had no idea you were Australian? *sigh* sure you didn’t.

Right, and so now Auri has asked you some questions now in VN form? What does that mean? Ah, Visual Novel! You know it’s weird that you happened to chose VN style questions because just last night I was working on a 20 Question Anime Review for an anime that was based on a VN! Spooky! (P.S. A million points to the person who correctly guesses it!)

Right. So these questions look like they can’t be asked by me, because they’re about me. So how are we going to do this? What should I do? You go away and do something boring and heteronormative and I’ll bring out the ‘ol copy paste!

1. One day you wake up and find your yet to be named construct of mind making you breakfast. How would you react? And also how’d you imagine him/ her to look? (I assumed he’s a he…but…I don’t know so…)

Making me breakfast, huh? Just wearing an apron and nothing else? No wait, ugh! I’m not into that, he’s unfortunately male. He’s basically me if I weren’t into anime and was boring and liked to judge me for being into cute girls. Basically your typical male, although he’s a bit more friendly. I don’t know why I didn’t make him female. I guess I don’t think of women as being as judgemental? How would I react? Well I’d be annoyed that he’s using my kitchen, I do all the cooking here!

1. After your first interaction you decide to sit down and eat the breakfast first. As you eat, when you try to start a conversation you realise that you can only talk if it’s an answer to a question he asks. Your thoughts on this?

Makes sense, I’m shy in real life and generally only answer when spoken too unless I’m with really close friends. Oh no these answers are getting serious!

1. And of all the days possible this is when you have an important party to attend. You decide to manage the situation how? You can call it damage control!

A party?! Well I guess I’ll have to get ol’ Question boy to follow me around and ask me questions that allow me to still talk to people, assuming he’ll cooperate! Either that or I do something stupid, like say the theme of the party is a silent party and everyone has to communicate through non-verbal gestures. That’d work right? (You can totally tell I have lots of parties…)

1. Somehow you manage to finish the day off without any major upsets. (The minor ones however do include ignoring your friend asking about you and managing to get him/ her upset). You’d end the day with…..

Heavy drinking.

1. Well that’s the end of one of the weirdest day in the year! He’s disappeared for now, but would you get back at him on the blog? If so how?

I’d find a replacement. Preferably a cute girl, so that when they appear in my life again it’ll be more pleasant when they’re just wearing an apron… Wait did I say that out loud?!

Right. I’m back from reinforcing gender stereotypes, everything all good here? Don’t you ever appear to me in real life, okay? And if you do please for the love of god wear some underpants.

I’m so confused right now. You and me both.

Right… So now you have to nominate your ‘best post’, that’s awfully subjective isn’t it? I know, all my posts are my best posts!

Let’s reign in the ego a bit, which one will you pick? *drum roll* going all the way back to my third ever 20 Question Anime Review it’s my review of ‘Dagashi Kashi’, 2 views, zero likes! And I was really proud of this review! Not that I blame anyone for not having read it, it was in the early days after all! But in all seriousness I think it’s still a very funny review, even if I hadn’t gotten all the kinks worked out. I think it was this particular review where I realised, yes, this is fun and yes this is what I want to do with my time.

Cool, I can get behind that. So who are you going to nominate it said you had to do 10 right? Yeah I don’t think I’m going to nominate 10, I feel like it’d be rude to bother that many people, besides, these posts take a long time to write!

But you had fun, doing this yeah? Of course!

So don’t you think other people might have fun? Fine… how about 5 nominees! My nominees for the Mystery Blogger Award will be:
Lina @dorislina
The AniMessenger @theanimessenger
Jenn @jeancorntunnel
Irina @drunkenanimeblog
Raistlin0903 @raistlin0903
Don’t feel obliged to do it if you don’t have the time though! Just know that I think your work is super and deserving of an award. And if you weren’t nominated don’t think that means I don’t think your blog is less deserving, I just didn’t want to hassle too many people! I’m still all new to this awards stuff!

And the five questions you want to ask them?
1. Do you think you could survive on a remote tropical island with no one else around? What about for 7 whole days?
2. Do you enjoy seeing live music and concerts? If so who was your favourite artist that you saw live?
3. You can have a body pillow (dakimakura) of any anime character? Who is it of?
4. Name an inanimate object, suddenly you’ve got the magical ability to create one of these items per day, what is it?
5. Now you’re trapped on a remote tropical island, with your favourite musician you saw live, the actual anime character brought to life that you wanted as a body pillow and that power of yours from question 4. What do you do for the next 7 days?

Fair enough! Any last words? Wow that sounded sinister!

I meant for the post. Right, well thanks again for Auri for nominating me, this has been really fun! And thank you all for reading!

20 Question Weekly Review Week Ending 18th February 2018

So we’re doing another one of these, huh? And so soon after the first. They’ll be happening every Monday(ish) from now on, last weeks was only later in the week because I had the idea to do it later in the week. Besides, lots of anime and manga related things this past week to talk about!

And some personal stuff? Yeah sure, and some site news too.

Let’s start with something other than what currently airing anime you watched, since I’m guessing it’ll be the same as last week. Very astute, also correct.

So you got some anime merch last week? How’d you know?

Well if I didn’t know I couldn’t ask you questions and this whole blog format would be unsustainable. True. And yes! I did get some anime merch from amazon.co.jp. I got myself a Rias Gremory ‘High School DxD Born’ tapestry and an ‘Amagi Brilliant Park’ noren (Japanese door curtain) both for my anime room.

I have no shame.

I’ve yet to divide the curtain yet as it requires cutting the curtain down the middle, I don’t trust myself to do it right.

Cool. And you got some new manga this week too? Yes, here’s a picture because I mean you don’t really need me to write out the titles right?

I should be sponsored by Seven Seas Entertainment considering how many of their manga I buy!

I’m sure we’ll manage, thanks. Um… I do notice a common theme with those covers though. Oh yeah?

Lot of ‘cute girls’, huh? I know what I like.

Fair enough, what manga did you finish reading last week? Well I read Volume 1 of ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life’ which was expectantly cute and occasionally funny but as expected for a 4-panel manga was lacking in a satisfying story to carry my interest. Unlike most manga, which I read in a single sitting it, took three separate days to finish it.

Not much of a recommendation. Well I’ll probably read the other volumes just because I like the characters and universe so much, but it’s nothing special.

What else? I also read Volume 1 of ‘Sundome’, which is a delightfully twisted and considerably erotic tale with a much darker art style than I’m used to but I still enjoyed it a lot. But, my favourite thing of the week was Volume 1 of ‘Yokai Girls’, very much my kind of thing, monster girls + really inappropriate humour and situations + Akihabara set = love it! Definitely not for everyone, so I can’t really recommend it unless you’ve got a dirty sense of humour and like lots of really detailed fan-service… ahem.

No context for you! Unless I decide to review manga one day.

As expected, I suppose. So copy/paste what new anime you’re watching from last week just change the episode number? Pretty much. Episode 7 of: A Place Further Than The Universe, Citrus, Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, Marchen Madchen, Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles, Pop Team Epic, Slow Start, Yuru Camp. And episode 6 of: Dagashi Kashi 2, Darling in the FranXX and Mitsuboshi Colors.

Still the same scores/opinions as last week? Kind of. Slow Start had a phenomenally interesting episode 7, which I talk about at length here. Pop Team Epic #7 was a bit more consistently funny that previous episodes, I loved the live-action ‘Hellshake Yano’ bit, very well done. Dagashi Kashi 2 Episode 7 introduced new characters and went heavy with the plot, which makes it all the more annoying these are only 12-minute episodes. Marchen Madchen Episode 7 went full deus-ex machina, but whatever I still like it enough to keep watching. Citrus episode 7 amps up the drama and is heading in all kinds of fun directions. Other than those everything else is of the same quality as last week.

Even if you don’t like the show, it’s worth watching this ‘segment’ alone.

Good to hear! Any other anime you watched this week? Yes, lots! Finished season 1 of Haikyu!! Expect a review in a couple of weeks. Binged all of Classroom of the Elite and wrote a review, expect a review of that one very soon. And some other things that I’ll keep secret for reasons…

Is it hentai? It’s not hentai.

Sure, sure. So what’s new in your life? Time to get personal, huh? Well I’ve been a bit down lately, due to not having a job. Money is rapidly becoming an issue. So I’ll have to do something about that soon.

But what about all the things you bought? Well not that I need to explain myself to you, but birthday money + selling things on eBay in order to help finance my anime/manga spending habits.

Fair enough! And you mentioned something about blog news? Well not so much ‘news’ as just housekeeping. First of all big thanks to my followers, I’ve hit 25 followers which is honestly very nice and I appreciate everyone who likes and comments on my reviews. Secondly, I’ve been nominated to do some blogging awards, which is very humbling. I probably won’t do them for a few weeks though as I’m going to have to make a ‘miscellaneous’ blog section on the site to accommodate them but I don’t want it to seem like it’s just tacked on, I want it to feel like it belongs within the context of the site.

Anything else? Well I know I promised these weekly reviews wouldn’t impede on the daily ’20 Question Anime Reviews’ but these seem to take a lot longer to do than normal reviews. So there may come a time when Monday’s only have a Weekly Review blog and not both. But not this week! So expect a review later today!

Okay then, so how would you rate the week ending the 18^th of January? With regard to anime and manga it was good often very good, personally not so much, but hopefully things will turn around soon! Thanks for reading!

20 Question Weekly Review Week Ending 11th February 2018

What’s this?! A new weekly feature of this website, exploring my previous weeks’ anime/manga related experiences. It’ll be posted every Monday and cover the previous week up until the Sunday (I’m posting this one late because I only got the idea to do this on Thursday). The blog will also contain some shout outs and personal thoughts because apparently people are kind and generous and actually want to know things about me *shy shuffle*

Okay, cool, I guess I can get into this? Do I get paid double for doing this job too? No.

Pfft, fine. So what new anime did you watch last week? Well… a lot to be honest, this ‘Winter’ season has been pretty damn good for slice of life. Which is, I’m sure most of you are aware, is my favourite genre. Of last week’s newly aired anime I watched episode 6 of: A Place Further Than The Universe, Citrus, Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, Marchen Madchen, Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles, Pop Team Epic, Slow Start, Yuru Camp. And episode 5 of: Dagashi Kashi 2, Darling in the FranXX and Mitsuboshi Colors.

It was just a button! Silly Hana.

That’s a lot! Pfft, that’s nothing. There’s some people who watch every new anime. That’ll be me one day, hopefully.

What’s stopping you? Crippling depression. Not enough hours in the day. And, um, personal stuff…

Personal stuff? Spill! Well, I turned 30 on the 9^th. It’s weird because I simultaneously don’t feel 30 and also feel like a hundred million years old.

Big deal. People are having birthday’s every day. Oh and my grandmother died two days later.

Woah, this took a turn for the dark, sorry for your loss and all but maybe not ambush the good people who bothered to read this with such things? Hey, you wanted me to spill!

So, what’s your verdict on all those shows you’re currently watching? And succinctly please we don’t have all day… Hmm, okay. All of it is really good (I mean otherwise I wouldn’t still be watching, right?) I usually don’t release preliminary scores and I don’t make a decision on the score out of 100 like I have for my reviews until completing an anime. But I will for the sake of these weekly blogs give a score out of five stars for the series as it currently stands, so bare in mind these scores could change by the end of the season.
A Place Further Than The Universe ★★★★★
Slow Start ★★★★1/2
Citrus ★★★★1/2
Mitsuboshi Colors ★★★★1/2
Yuru Camp ★★★★1/2
Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles ★★★★
Dagashi Kashi 2 ★★★★
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san ★★★★
Marchen Madchen ★★★★
Darling in the FranXX ★★★1/2
Pop Team Epic ★★★

Even Japanese girls don’t like durian! Hard to believe when they still like natto.

Cool, any other non-new anime you’ve started/continued watching last week? Up to episode 10 of Haikyuu!! It’s not really my thing but I certainly see the appeal, there will be a review of it up once I’m done with it, be rest assured of that. Also finished Made in Abyss.

Oh yeah? How’s that show? Remember when I mentioned the ‘crippling depression’ above? Yeah, that show’s partially to blame…

Huh, that powerful then? *slow nod*

And I see we’re talking about manga now? That’s like anime except book, yeah? Sure… “anime except book” let’s go with that…

Shuddup. So what are you reading? Well I’ve bought quite a lot, but last week I read Volume 1 of ‘A Certain Scientific Railgun’ and Volume 1 of ‘Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary’.

An irl photo! All the manga I received last week.

Verdict? Well, ‘A Certain Scientific Railgun’ has its charms, its more focused on world building than I expected (which is good!) but at the expense of character development (which is bad). I can see me continuing with it even if I find it hard to tell the difference between the two main girls, which is a big problem as far as I’m concerned. But ‘Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary’ omg, I LOVE it! It reminds me a lot of ‘Interviews With Monster Girls’ which I’ve only seen the anime, but loved a lot, except Nurse Hitomi has a lot more cheeky comedy and innuendo, plus the characters are all so unique and interesting. I instantly bought the other 6 volumes on [popular book website] and will read them with glee once they arrive!

Well this was all very nice, but what if I have more questions for you, beyond the allotted 20? Then wait ‘til next week you impatient bastard.

AHAHA! (I was meaning what if the readers have more question, don’t go alienating them already!) Oh, um sure if you have any questions just come and add me on twitter.com/Cactus_Matt I’m the kind of person who always has twitter open so unless I’m asleep chances are you’ll get a quick reply! Or comment below, either way works!

Anything else you want to add? Of course, I’m only new to the blogging scene but already I’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness of the wordpress anime blogging community. Specifically I want to shout out Irina @drunkenanimeblog, who was there from my fourth day on the site and kept liking my content and thus spurring me on despite very few views. Then came @raistlin0903 who reblogged me and still comments like a persistent cheerleader! And @chizurue who championed me on twitter loudly!

But wait; didn’t the last two people only start to do those things the week after the week ending the 11^th? Ah… well yeah, but this is the first blog of this type so credit where credit’s due and all that… I just wanted to thank some people is all… Plus there’s way more people before and after the aforementioned that deserve a shoutout, I’m just still trying to get to grips with this whole thing…

Fair enough. How would you rate the week ending 11^th of February 2018? An emotional roller coaster, as much as that is a cliché, I don’t think I’ve ever felt such dizzying highs and worrisome lows. Nevertheless, I am out the other side and thinking of the future and can’t wait to see what comes next for this blog, for anime and manga and for my life.

Well that was the first of my 20 Question Weekly Reviews! Let me know what you think, what should be changed, what else should be discussed? Also, don’t worry, the normal 20 Question Anime Reviews will still come out daily, these will not interrupt the regularly scheduled reviews! Thanks for reading!

Dagashi Kashi – 20 Question Anime Review (Minor Spoilers)

What’s the show? Dagashi Kashi (2016).

Gesundheit. No, that’s the name of the show. It means ‘cheap sweets candy’, which is also what the show is about.

The show is about candy? And savoury snack treats too, specifically Japanese ones, the kinds you’d find really cheap at a corner store in your youth.

It’s not just about that though, right? Well, if by that you mean does it have human characters to interact with the candy, by talking about it at length and consequently ingesting said candy into their bodies via their mouth holes? Because yes it certainly is about… more… than just…

Hello? Are you still there? You didn’t really answer my question, you just kind of tailed off. Shidare Hotaru; nice oppai.

Wow, okay. That came out of nowhere? Who is she? She’s like that trope that a lot of people get annoyed about, you know the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ except this one isn’t remotely interested in the main character Shikada ‘Coconuts’ Kokonotsu, an aspiring manga author. She only has eyes for Dagashi and is there to convince ‘Coconuts’ to run his father’s Dagashi store so she can take said parental figure to come work for her company. And then there’s the owner of the local café, Endo Saya, Coconuts’ childhood friend who is totally in love with him, but he doesn’t see her as anything other than a good friend. Or does he?

Okay good, so there is a plot. Unrequited love triangles, following your dreams or following tradition. Yeah I can see the appeal. No, sorry, I think you misunderstood; this show is literally… just… about… candy.

But what about all that about running his father’s store and the café owner? I’m sorry, is the show called ‘How To Deal With Parental Expectations and Suddenly Attractive Childhood Friends?’ No, it’s called ‘Dagashi Kashi’ and it’s about candy and Hotaru has NICE OPPAI.

Are you okay? You seem kind of stressed… Oh, I’m stressed…

Talk to me, why are you stressed? After watching twelve, 25 minute episodes of Dagashi Kashi I feel like I know more about Japanese candy and snacks than I should! I feel like it’s pushed out actually important information out of my brain like how to perform CPR and trigonometry and what my grandmother’s face looked like and has replaced it with the history of milk caramels, how to eat kinako-bou and how to tell the different varieties of fugashi apart while blindfolded!

Sounds kind of like a series of commercials made into a TV show? Sometimes, yeah! I mean it’s not that it isn’t entertaining. Hotaru makes for a mesmerising ‘host’ of sorts, without her the food segments of this show would be insufferable but she makes them downright charming. Her enthusiasm about dagashi snacks is infectious!

So it is really all about candy. Huh. Then what about all that character stuff you mentioned before? That’s all window dressing. Which is a shame because that’s when the show is at its best, it’s around about the final three episodes when it starts integrating the shameless candy promotion into the narrative much more effectively, at which point it starts to feel like an actual television show. ‘Coconuts’ and Saya have such history and chemistry together that you want them to be together even if Hotaru is…

Best girl? Oh, totally best girl. Even though she is quite possibly the most mentally unstable person in an otherwise pretty grounded universe.

Any other characters worth mentioning? Wow, it’s almost like this question was planned so I could specifically mention it! Ha ha ha… Yes, Shikada Yo, ‘Coconuts’ father and owner of the Dagashi shop. He is comic relief personified, in all the right ways. There’s seldom a moment where he’s on screen and I’m not at least grinning.

So you recommend the show then? Even with its faults? I may have overstated the so-called ‘stress’ this show caused me. It’s jarring to watch a show and suddenly find yourself in a commercial for candy and snacks, but it’s also within character and within universe, and it’s not nearly as intrusive as it probably sounds. In fact it makes it downright charming, though a part of that is undoubtedly just the Japanese coming off as so sincere and passionate when talking about food. I can’t even imagine this show in English.

It does have an English dub though? I dare you to check it out! Go on, I’ll wait. …Fine.

[Several Minutes Later] How was it? Nope! Never again! Hearing an American talk passionately about food is about as jarring and unnatural as hearing a British person talk about sex or an Australian talk about politics. Just, no!

It’s not as bad as the Food Wars dub though? Ugh, nothing is as bad as that.

So, recommended? Sure! As long as you’re not one of those people who have a conniption over product placement.

Final score? Like a bottle of ramune on a hot summer day, satisfying, not perfect but still pretty damn good. 79 out of 100.