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The Anime Thread

I watched the finale of Fruits Basket tonight. It was a really great series overall and I'm so glad my husband got me into it.

While the final episode did wrap up a lot of the side characters' storylines, I thought it had less of an impact than the previous episode and was just there to put a nice, neat bow on everything. I would have been very happy if it had ended an episode earlier with just a few shots here and there during the end credits to show where everyone else ended up.

I also feel very much the same as Rin in that I don't understand how everybody can just forgive Akito and move on so easily. I understand that that's Tohru's personality and she would befriend Akito, but I didn't expect everyone else to fall in line so quickly. I understand where Rin is coming from and wish Akito had more consequences for her previous behavior because it was really disgusting.
 
Few days ago, I watched episodes 11 and 12 of Fruits Basket and needed to catch up because I was on vacation. Recently, the last episode came in. Today, I'm going to cover episodes 10 and 11 and tomorrow for episodes 12 and 13. Let's go!

Episode 10: Few weeks ago, I forgot to post my thoughts on this episode here because I was preparing to go to the airport. Now that I am home, I am going to discuss the episode.
That was fascinating. There was fighting and Yuki yelled at Kyo, holy snap. Haru wanted a pizza lololol. Last but not least, Kyo loved Tohru, OMG aaaaahhhh! There were a lot of parts in the manga that missed in the anime, oh well. I'd say that this episode was a bit different from the manga.

Episode 11: I was happy to see the kissing scene again, omg omg! Saying goodbye, Kyo ripped his bracelet and Tohru was shocked, the story, wow that was kind of crazy! At the end of the episode, I thought, "Where is Yuki!?" That was in episode 12. Here is a small difference between the manga and anime.
In the manga, Akito said goodbye to everyone(?) and the curse was broken first and then the story of the God, cat, and zodiac banquet came after. In the anime, both got switched I assume.
 
Because Funi hates their customers, I now have to look up the amount of episodes in season 1 of Demon Slayer to see if I need to wait for a season set, or buy what's available now. With MHA and maybe Lucky Star, they released some eps in a season set or a episode chunks, then they'd release a season or series set, so to see the new stuff, you'd have to buy what you already bought with it.
 
I am really loving “Keep Your Hands Off Eizoken.” The art style and lush near future setting are really refreshing. I don’t buy anime blu-rays often, but I might have to do that with this series.
 
I am really loving “Keep Your Hands Off Eizoken.” The art style and lush near future setting are really refreshing. I don’t buy anime blu-rays often, but I might have to do that with this series.

Really love that one! I would have never watched it if it weren’t for some friends of mine. I’m just sad that the wait for a season two is so long. :/
 
Finished a few tv series recently. Can't wait for the summer season.

Mars Red: From start to finish, I had such mixed feelings. I was close to dropping it (like I did Joran: Princess of Blood and Snow) but I kept watching because I wanted to see how the conclusion would be handled. Mars Red, I feel, is an acquired taste. The anime tv series equivalent of an arthouse movie. Despite its premise, there is little action. Dialogue has a mildly disturbing habit of going around in ever expanding circles. It's as if the writer was afraid you'd miss the point... for the tenth time. Visually, it's very stylistic, with a retro feel and a limited palette of desaturated tones. Mars Red is a theatrical, slow-paced take on an alternate universe grappling with ill-fated love affairs and what it means to retain your humanity even when you become a vampire. It probably takes itself too seriously.

Nomad: Megalo Box 2: This sequel to Megalo Box is very satisfying. I love its introspective tone; we get so much character development, even for the supporting cast. Joe's rise and fall as a boxer, and eventually his redemption, makes for a mesmerizing, painful story. The pacing works very well with a tightly written script. Beautiful graphics, beautiful soundtrack.

Mashiro no Oto: The world of competitive shamisen is introduced through the eyes of an introverted prodigy who loses his passion for the shamisen after his grandfather, an accomplished performer, dies. I like shamisen music. To my ears, it has a very dramatic quality. And so I loved all the shamisen performances in the series. However, if you took away the music, the story becomes pedestrian. It's also unfortunate that the main protagonist, Sawamura Setsu, is not an easily likable character, having a very detached demeanor. The last episode ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. I think it's meant to hook you into picking up the manga. Which you may, but only if you have, somehow, decided that you care about Sawamura's future.

Bakuten!: Formulaic but endearing sports anime about competitive rhythmic gymnastics in a high school. This is the series I watch to feel warm, fuzzy feelings. (I must have at least one per season. Because everything else I watch makes me cry. Or rage.)

86 - Eighty-Six: I picked up this one thinking I'd drop it after a few episodes because any series about war, anime or otherwise, is just too depressing in my books. Against my own expectations, I couldn't stop watching until I'd finished because the story-telling is riveting. Love the ensemble cast. 86 is based on a light novel series. Fans of the LNs praised the adaptation for being faithful and well executed. If there's a sequel, I would not hesitate to pick it up.
 
Because Funi hates their customers, I now have to look up the amount of episodes in season 1 of Demon Slayer to see if I need to wait for a season set, or buy what's available now. With MHA and maybe Lucky Star, they released some eps in a season set or a episode chunks, then they'd release a season or series set, so to see the new stuff, you'd have to buy what you already bought with it.
I didn't buy MHA or Lucky Star. I bought season 1 of Space Dandy, then both seasons came in a bluray/dvd combo set.
 
I was supposed to post my thoughts on episodes 12 and 13 of Fruits Basket, but I was busy. Now, here are my thoughts on the last two episodes:

Episode 12: Yuki kissed Machi, another dose of OMG! The Sohmas were free from a curse, woohoo! Momiji called Kyo a cheater, a mix of wot and lolol. Akito wore the kimono, that was cute. Overall, that was nice and bit funny episode.

Episode 13: Ahhhh, the final episode. 😭
The big sendoff. Graduation photo appeared on the episode. Uo and Hanajima crashed Kyo and Tohru's date haha. In speaking of Kyoru, they held hands at the end of the episode. That was so sweet, I was going to cry! Was that their son, Hajime!? Overall, nice, but sad episode.

I am going to miss Fruits Basket because it was awesome! To be honest, I have seen the original version years before the reboot happened. Soon, I am going to reread the manga and see if there are any scenes that didn't appear in the anime (which there will be a lot). Also, I am going to rewatch Furuba (or Fruba) from the beginning later. ;)
 
When the manga was still coming out I was a big fan of Fruits Basket. I'd share the manga with my friends in elementary school. For some reason I lost interest and stopped buying the manga I think 2/3 volumes short of the last one. I have the old DVD too.

Maybe now would be a good time to sell off my manga 😅 Haven't decided if I'll watch the new anime or not, probably will at some point
 
Because Funi hates their customers, I now have to look up the amount of episodes in season 1 of Demon Slayer to see if I need to wait for a season set, or buy what's available now. With MHA and maybe Lucky Star, they released some eps in a season set or a episode chunks, then they'd release a season or series set, so to see the new stuff, you'd have to buy what you already bought with it.
This is bringing back memories of my frustrations in trying to collect box sets several years back. They would release the first disc with an almost empty box, then you had to keep checking back every month or so for the next disc to be released. Each disc would only be available for a limited time and if you missed it, you had to pay double or triple the price for it on eBay (if you could find it). We ended up with so many box sets missing one random disc. Very annoying!
 
This is bringing back memories of my frustrations in trying to collect box sets several years back. They would release the first disc with an almost empty box, then you had to keep checking back every month or so for the next disc to be released. Each disc would only be available for a limited time and if you missed it, you had to pay double or triple the price for it on eBay (if you could find it). We ended up with so many box sets missing one random disc. Very annoying!
I think I did that with .hack // Legend of the Twilight. Do you remember what shows those were? Funi might have them in a save bundle.
 
I think I did that with .hack // Legend of the Twilight. Do you remember what shows those were? Funi might have them in a save bundle.
My memory is not so good anymore. I'd have to dig around in the basement to find them all.

I know I'm missing discs from Ah! My Goddess. I believe Excel Saga too.

I think we finally got the last disc of Cowboy Bebop after much searching.
 
My memory is not so good anymore. I'd have to dig around in the basement to find them all.

I know I'm missing discs from Ah! My Goddess. I believe Excel Saga too.

I think we finally got the last disc of Cowboy Bebop after much searching.
Funi does have bebop now, was by Bandai originally, Their complete set doesn't have the movie. I don't believe the other 2 are in print by anyone anymore. I really like Excel Saga's kind of spin-off Nerima Daikon Brothers, despite the assumed liberties taken with the dub. A bit repetitive.

 
I just started watching My Hero Academia. I bought someone's dvd set for season 1-2 for pretty cheap and haven't gotten that far, but what I have seen has bee nice! I've never read the book and will probably just stick with the dub like I've done with Naruto and One Piece.

I'm kind of behind on the Funimation One Piece dub.
 
The amount of eps on DVDs here in Japan is so annoying. I've thought about renting out shows but when there's only 3 eps on each DVD even renting would add up 😅
 
I watched the finale of Fruits Basket tonight. It was a really great series overall and I'm so glad my husband got me into it.

While the final episode did wrap up a lot of the side characters' storylines, I thought it had less of an impact than the previous episode and was just there to put a nice, neat bow on everything. I would have been very happy if it had ended an episode earlier with just a few shots here and there during the end credits to show where everyone else ended up.

I also feel very much the same as Rin in that I don't understand how everybody can just forgive Akito and move on so easily. I understand that that's Tohru's personality and she would befriend Akito, but I didn't expect everyone else to fall in line so quickly. I understand where Rin is coming from and wish Akito had more consequences for her previous behavior because it was really disgusting.
I haven't read Fruits Basket: Another yet (for the longest time, due to marketing, I thought it was just the OG series rehashed, not a continuation), but from what I've seen, it does go into this a little

I've seen panels where Akito's son mentions how she never gets together with the other Sohmas when they all get together, which I suppose is her form of penance? I think there's probably more, because I've also seen panels of Kyo and Tohru discussing the curse/Kyo's family situation with their son in a way that makes it obvious Kyo is still working on his childhood trauma, and their son has a very sweet reaction to it.

As for Akito I've always been very torn on her lmao, but I agree with you, I understand where Rin is coming from. Suffice to say I think the older set was always easier on her because they knew she was being forced to pretend to be a boy and they knew how awful Ren was, and the younger Sohmas are still partly bound by the curse in their own way, even if it is broken, and that's why so few of them are as angry as we'd expect. I think Another came about partly to rectify this, but again, I can't say for sure since I haven't read it.

Sorry this was longer than intended and I kind of talked in circles, I have a lot of thoughts about Akito but am never quite able to articulate them the way I'd like lol
 
I haven't read Fruits Basket: Another yet (for the longest time, due to marketing, I thought it was just the OG series rehashed, not a continuation), but from what I've seen, it does go into this a little

I've seen panels where Akito's son mentions how she never gets together with the other Sohmas when they all get together, which I suppose is her form of penance? I think there's probably more, because I've also seen panels of Kyo and Tohru discussing the curse/Kyo's family situation with their son in a way that makes it obvious Kyo is still working on his childhood trauma, and their son has a very sweet reaction to it.

As for Akito I've always been very torn on her lmao, but I agree with you, I understand where Rin is coming from. Suffice to say I think the older set was always easier on her because they knew she was being forced to pretend to be a boy and they knew how awful Ren was, and the younger Sohmas are still partly bound by the curse in their own way, even if it is broken, and that's why so few of them are as angry as we'd expect. I think Another came about partly to rectify this, but again, I can't say for sure since I haven't read it.

Sorry this was longer than intended and I kind of talked in circles, I have a lot of thoughts about Akito but am never quite able to articulate them the way I'd like lol

I haven't read any of the manga so I only have the series to go by, but thank you for explaining what you know.

I do get that Akito didn't have an easy life either, so I feel bad for her in that respect. But there are certain actions that don't get a pass from me, like pushing Rin off the balcony or stabbing Kureno. Those were intentionally going too far no matter what Akito's own issues were. So, yeah, I guess I expected more repercussions for attempted murder than just Akito providing her own penance.

Today I watched the season 1 finale of So I'm a Spider, So What? I went back and forth on this anime. At first, it was my lowest priority among the season's anime and I probably could have dropped it at any time. But as the story progressed, I got more and more into it and although it was never something I would call a great anime, it was fun and I couldn't wait to see what Kumoko would get up to next. However, towards the end of this season, the quality started to lag. The animation looked shoddy for the last few episodes and I thought the way it left off was really odd, even though the big reveal didn't surprise me at all. If it gets another season, I might still keep up with it, but I'm back to feeling like it's a very low priority for me.

I've also started watching the latest episodes of Seven Deadly Sins that dropped on Netflix recently.
 
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