Winter 2025 Anime Season Wrap-Up

It was a good winter anime season, at least the shows I watched, and looking ahead, spring season might be even better.

But first, a wrap-up of the winter shows. I'll talk about the spring season in my next post.

Blue Exorcist’s Blue Night arc was as tragic as expected, as it revealed the twin’s origins and the true story of their mother, father, and adoptive father. I was more moved than I thought I would be, even though most of what happened was fairly predictable.

The series has always been slightly insane regarding its wild use of Catholic iconography and symbolism. Rin and Yukio are literally sons of the Devil after all, but even so, the story plays fast and loose with its outsider view of Christianity. And then that’s combined with the paranormal aspects, and the True Cross Academy for that high school feel, and suddenly you realize that Blue Exorcist is actually more multi-layered than you thought it was. The academy setting and the protagonists being teenagers fools you into seeing it as your usual shounen story, just set in a weirdly religious environment. And with the main characters being the Devil’s sons.

The Blue Night arc has Rin going back in time to find out the real facts about his and Yukio’s births.

Their mother Yuri Egin was an orphan who, as it turns out, was targeted by the Devil when she was still young. She stumbles upon Shiro Fujimoto, Rin and Yukio’s jiji, the one who later on more or less raises them with the help of monks and the rest of the staff. Shiro has run away from the academy, having been one of those students who were experimented on under Mephisto Pheles’ orders, but he is captured and returned to the academy. The academy discovers that Yuri has the potential to become an exorcist, and she is accepted as a student.

Shiro and Yuri, friends who frequently quarrel on the outside, are in love with each other but can never quite admit it. Meanwhile, through some plot complications that I had trouble following, the Devil is being held captive at the academy. He is a handful to deal with, and the only person he emotionally relates to is Yuri, who taught him when he was young.

By the time Shiro acknowledges his love for Yuri it’s too late, as Yuri has already committed to become the Devil’s lover in an attempt to pacify and prevent him from destroying the world.

The upshot of this trip to the past is that Rin sees the sacrifices that were made by a whole lot of people, Yuri especially, so that he and Yukio could survive. And Shiro’s sacrifice in raising the boys also finally makes sense. It never did before this, as all we saw was this old irascible priest, basically, who seemingly was stuck raising these two kids for an unknown reason.

Blue Exorcist’s Blue Night arc ends on a cliffhanger, but not the kind you resent. More like, yes, it makes sense to end it here and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I watched Momentary Lily because it was a GoHands production. GoHands was the producer of K, sometimes called K Project, one of my favorite animes.

Momentary Lily was... okay. I mean, it was certainly no K and I wasn’t expecting it to be, based on the premise and the previews. It’s about a gang of young women who survive the apocalypse, and who are somehow gifted with incredible sci-fi type weapons to fight the “Wild Hunt,” huge mecha-ish monsters that enforce whatever new order now exists in the world.

Momentary Lily suffers from pacing issues. For the first seven episodes, it’s what you’d expect. The young women - teenage girls, actually - spend their days fighting the Wild Hunt, running from the Wild Hunt, hiding, and foraging for canned foods to make meals with. Meal prep is a running theme in the show, as the main character, Renge, loves to cook and eat meals with her new friends.

Two things happen in the first few episodes that hint at the mystery at the core of the story. The blonde-haired Yuri, who seems like a main character, unexpectedly dies at the end of Episode 2. Another issue is that Renge can’t recall any of her memories. Her body also heals miraculously, without treatment.

It’s not until Episode 8 that the truth begins to be revealed. When it is, it’s not a bad plot twist, but more hints could’ve been dropped sooner, and the fact that they waited so long means that the first seven episodes felt aimless. The visuals are pretty - the GoHands team are masters at character design - but this time, the story simply wasn’t that engaging.

Which brings me to Unnamed Memory, season two.

I already knew I would enjoy Unnamed Memory’s second season regardless of whether they explained everything that happened at the end of the first season. The first season was a wonderful slow-burning romance with a huge payoff in Episode 11, as Tinasha and Oscar married in a beautiful ceremony.

It was in the first season’s final episode, Episode 12, where the jaw-dropping reversal happened. One should always be wary of fantasy stories where magic is a thing. Meaning...

Meaning that everything that came before then got wiped out, reversed, in that final episode. ARGHHH

So season two begins with the characters starting over from scratch, essentially. The characters are beautiful and the writing was so good in the first season, that I had no worries that this season would go awry.

And in fact, it didn’t go awry. Basically, as this is a fantasy romance story, the characters had to fall in love with each other all over again, just in a different time period and with a few things that were changed.

And they did. And... as it turns out, this wasn’t their only time that they had a do-over, not hardly.

Here’s the thing. Magic on its own, with rules, okay. Time travel on its own, with rules, okay. Both magic and time travel... there are no rules left that mean anything.

The first season’s end saw Oscar go back in time when he touched a certain magic orb. And Tinasha - who retains the knowledge of what happened in their other relationship in season 1 - in season 2, she has to proceed with Oscar knowing that he doesn’t remember her from that time, and is under no obligation to fall in love with her again.

Most of the plot tension in season 2 comes from this. Along the way, Oscar gleans that he loved Tinasha in another time and that he made a certain sacrifice to save her.

The story’s antagonist, Valt, is from the mysterious Time-Reader clan. We don’t get how critical his role is in the overall story until fairly late in season 2.

He appears to be resetting time, or causing new timelines to form, or something... maybe I’d lost focus or stopped caring by the middle of the season, because I wasn’t clear on it. But finally, near the end, in Episode 11, he comes out with it.

And it’s a huge info dump when he does. Basically, it was this:

TINASHA: Valt...? Did you transport me here?

VALT: Yes, I did. It was for a reason.

TINASHA: What reason?

VALT: Well, let me tell you why... and explain my powers... and what I did to you before... and the significance of it... and...

Okay, I’m exaggerating, but not by much. The scene goes on for long minutes as the two stand facing each other and Valt explains about the Time-Readers and what they do and what Tinasha must do for him in order to save her kingdom of Tuldarr, etc.

It’s amazing, but this continues into the beginning of the final episode, Episode 12. More truths are revealed, including about Oscar, about whom it’s been hinted from the beginning that he also has the ability to use magic.

The bottom line is, the series ends well, or at least decently, in a story sense. The different timelines are stopped, leaving one new timeline that can’t be interfered with. Oscar and Tinasha find each other in that timeline and it’s implied that they’ll fall in love yet again.

My point about magic and time travel in fantasy stories is that we need to be told earlier than the final few episodes not only what is going on, but also what the parameters of the magic and time travel are, what can and can’t be done, and how to counter those abilities. Otherwise it’s a free-for-all where anything can happen, simply because we are told so.

It felt like the producers thought they had a season three coming, only to be told around Episode 9 that they would have to wrap the story up in season two instead. At least, I hope that’s how it happened, otherwise I don’t know why the end was so rushed.

But would I recommend Unnamed Memory despite its flawed final season? Yes.

At its heart, Unnamed Memory is a solid romance. The characters truly love one another; you can feel it. Each is drawn to the other again and again through time, realizing that the other is the only one for them.

Again, the character designs are wonderful. And the seiyuu for Oscar, Yoshiki Nakajima, has a great voice, very masculine and yet velvety smooth.

Another reason to recommend Unnamed Memory is that Tinasha and Oscar are equals in status and power. Oscar is the King of Farsas, while Tinasha is the most powerful witch, and in at least one timeline she’s also the inheritor to the throne of Tuldarr, her own kingdom. I love stories where the characters, whether romantically involved or not, are equals and have to respect each other.

I’ll probably rewatch Unnamed Memory in future. Actually, I would consider buying the DVDs if they’re ever released in the U.S.

Finally, Dragon Ball Daima, a holdover from fall season, came to an end in the middle of this season. The series had a rushed feeling at the end, similar to Unnamed Memory, but sadly, I think we can guess why.

Akira Toriyama passed away in the midst of developing Dragon Ball Daima. I don’t know whether he had figured out the ending or if he’d had the time to fully work through the details. Regardless, I enjoyed Dragon Ball Daima. It is an addition to the Dragon Ball canon universe and to Toriyama-sensei’s memory that is entirely worthy of both.

The Winter 2025 Anime Season

It’s a good start to 2025 with a solid winter anime season! Not only are some excellent series continuing on from fall 2024, but there are some choice new titles arriving soon.

But first... a wrap-up of the fall season.

Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War arc concluded with a bang-up episode. This was the third cour of four and it featured some of the best fight scenes in the series, including one with creepy Mayuri and an electrifying (pun intended) Yoruichi scene right at the end. And in case anyone actually thought a certain character had betrayed Ichigo and crew (... as if!), the final episode put that idea to rest.

The fourth and final cour of the Thousand Year Blood War arc, “The Calamity,” doesn’t have an air date set as of yet.

Blue Exorcist finished its Beyond the Snow Saga arc and last Saturday launched right into the new Blue Night Saga arc. Finally, the story is delving into Rin and Yukio’s parentage, a subject that has been a mystery up to now.

I’ll admit that I don’t normally find Blue Exorcist deep or hugely absorbing, but this arc will likely be an exception to that. The brothers’ relationship is the story’s most compelling element and what happened in their family’s past will explain a lot about their dynamics.

Alas, The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup Semi-Finals ended and the next season doesn’t appear to be on the horizon. PoT is an old favorite and I hope the next season won’t be too far off in the future.

I am slow-watching the Shinsengumi anime Blue Miburo, and I just finished Yakuza Fiance, which I wound up liking more than I expected. The characters are all violent and weren’t easy to relate to at first, but the main couple is engaging and there’s even a bit of love triangle energy between the girl, Yoshino, her yakuza clan’s big-brother type Shoma, and Kirishima, the semi-psychotic teenager from a different clan whom Yoshino is engaged to. There’s clearly more to the story than what was covered in 12 episodes, so there should be a second season coming along at some point.

And Dragon Ball Daima is continuing into the winter season! It’s wonderful to have a fresh Dragon Ball episode each week.

Which brings us to the new anime season.

Anime stories with tons of cute girls isn’t usually my thing, but I’m making an exception for Momentary Lily.

The reason is the animation studio. GoHands made K (aka K Project), one of my all-time favorite series, and on that basis alone I’m happy to at least give it a try. K featured a beautiful use of color in its production art, as well as some of the best male character designs I’ve ever seen in anime.



But the winter anime I’m looking forward to the most is...

Unnamed Memory was my favorite series of spring 2024. A romance story between a crown prince and a powerful witch set in a fantasy world, it featured solid romance, gorgeous character designs, interesting side characters, basically everything I enjoy in a story.

The anime’s first season reached its climax in episode 11, which should have been the happy ending, and it would have been if not for the episode that came after. I don’t want to spoil anything, but as a reminder magic is an element in the story and let’s just say that certain complications arose in episode 12 that necessitated at least a second season to put everything back the way it needs to be.

And finally, there’s a movie being released at the end of this month that I hope Crunchyroll or somebody has the good sense to license.

The original Rose of Versailles series has been on my to-watch list for about twenty years, or as long as I’ve been an anime fan. It’s a classic and I put it on my list because everyone said it was good, but I never knew until recently what made it different from any other shoujo/romance story.

The story description from Udon Entertainment for the manga:

“Oscar François de Jarjeyes is a young noblewoman raised as a son by her father. As commander of Marie Antoinette's palace guard, Oscar is brought face-to-face with the luxury of King Louis XVI’s court at Versailles. Joined by her servant André, Oscar is privy to the intrigue and deceit of France's last great royal regime.”

Yeah. Oscar is a woman masquerading as a man. It’s not just the gender-switch aspect that attracts me but also the seiyuu casting.

Oscar is being played by Miyuki Sawashiro, the sexiest female voice in Japan (as voted by the fans), and Marie Antoinette is played by Aya Hirano, one of my favorite seiyuu. She was Haruhi Suzumiya in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kaoru in Zettai Karen Children and its fantastic spinoff series The Unlimited, and Misa Amane in Death Note, among many other roles.

I’ve always admired Hirano’s talent and drive. She studied voice acting in New York and had her own rock band for a time. In recent years she has decentered voice acting, but hopefully Rose of Versailles will put her seiyuu career back on the map.

There are other new and newish anime series that are maybes to add to my currently watching list, but we’ll see how much time I have for them. I’ve got plenty to watch as it is. ;-)

Donghua Lands in the West - Master of Diabolism

Donghua is landing in the animesphere, big time.

Crunchyroll has uploaded the first two seasons of The Master of Diabolism. Following on the heels of Heaven Official’s Blessing, this is another Chinese animation entry - and boy’s love to boot - that looks poised to succeed in the west.

The description of the story from Crunchyroll:

After attaining the state of immortality, Wei Wuxian’s rule descends down the demonic path of Mo Dao. Ultimately, his reign of terror is overthrown, but the tumultuous fall leads to a chance for redemption. 13 years later, Wei Wuxian is reincarnated and reunites with his former classmate, Lan Wangji. Together they’ll unravel the mysteries of the supernatural world and forge an unexpected bond.

If you read Chinese light novels and/or manhua (manga), this description probably sounds familiar. That’s because The Master of Diabolism is actually based on a well-known boy’s love light novel series and manhua series that has been available in translation from Seven Seas for some time.

I’m not sure why they changed the title to Master of Diabolism when the English language novels and manhua were already known as Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, but there it is.

And if you were wondering just how popular this Chinese boy’s love stuff is... take a look at the 4.9 stars from over 7,000 ratings for Grandmaster vol. I. These stories, in English translation, are doing better in the west than Japanese boy’s love stories have ever done.

I’ve added Master of Diabolism to my Crunchyroll watchlist but who knows when I’ll get around to it. I’m still absorbed in the fall season releases, most notably Blue Exorcist, Dragon Ball Daima, and The Prince of Tennis II U-17 World Cup Semi-Finals. Those are my favorites of the season. I’m also slow-watching Blue Miburo and Yakuza Fiance.

It’s been an excellent anime season. In particular, Blue Exorcist has started a very serious story arc with high stakes for the protagonist twin brothers. Dragon Ball Daima is just a delight and PoT II U-17 World Cup Semi-Finals is a welcome return to a nice enjoyable story universe for me.

Even better, the upcoming winter 2025 anime season looks amazing so far. I’ll post about my watchlist come January but I already have a number of picks. 2024 is ending strong in terms of anime and 2025 will be starting just as strong.

The Fall 2024 Anime Season and What I Will Be Watching

The Fall 2024 anime season starts next week - and it looks like it’s going to be a very good one. :-)

First, I basically skipped the summer anime season. I was busy writing and publishing a new book, Daredevil Prince, and getting ready for GayRomLit, which took place the week after Labor Day Weekend.

I may have to go back and see what I missed. But here comes fall season, and there’s going to be a lot to watch starting in just a few days - so here is my watchlist.

Part 3 of Bleach’s Thousand Year Blood War arc returns on Oct. 5. It’s been a year since Part 2 ended and I think we’re all ready for this one.

I haven’t read the manga so everything that happens is a surprise to me. I mean, I’ve heard a few things about how the characters end up (... and who with) but that’s it. I’m especially looking forward to this part because there’ll be more of Ishida in it. Uryu Ishida is one of my favorite Bleach characters and I always thought he was underutilized in the story, so more Ishida is a good thing.

Dragon Ball Daima is a new canon story set soon after the end of Dragon Ball Z. Something has happened to Goku and friends and now they’ve all turned into children!

Just... just look at this image of little kid Goku and LITTLE KID VEGETA.

There’s not a lot of story description available yet but those who are going to watch the series (which includes me) don’t really care, because... LITTLE VEGETA!!

Blue Exorcist returns on Oct. 5. I always enjoy watching the brothers Rin and Yukio, along with their friends from the exorcist academy, fight demons and that shadowy organization of villains. This fall, the series will cover the “Beyond the Snow Saga” arc, and in January 2025 we’ll be getting “The Blue Night Saga” arc that will finally reveal the secrets of Rin and Yukio’s birth (they’ve never revealed this up to now). So it’ll be six months of nonstop Blue Exorcist and I’m on board for it.

Believe it or not... The Prince of Tennis is coming back!

I’ll freely admit that I’ve lost the string as far as where the series is now. Years ago - and years after the original manga/anime ended - a new series, The Prince of Tennis II, began. If I remember correctly it’s about a competition that takes place the summer after the original series ends (in other words - they’re still not even in high school yet), but I don’t remember anything else about it really, even though I watched it.

Still - it’s Prince of Tennis - and even if I can’t remember much about this continuation story I still love these characters, so I will be there on Oct. 2 when Prince of Tennis II U-17 World Cup Semifinal begins airing on Crunchyroll. :-)

And finally... the description of this one initially put me off. Even though I write romance and “dark romance” is big now (dark romance usually meaning Mafia characters or biker characters with intense, violent, or otherwise dark elements to the plot), personally I don’t care for it.

... Until I heard who plays the main character in this anime.



IT’S HIM THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN VOICE

It’s Kaworu from Evangelion

Athrun Zala from Mobile Suit Gundum Seed

Cho Hakkai from Gensomaden Saiyuki (this is the role that made me fall in love with him)

Gaara from Naruto

... and Katsura from Gintama

It’s Akira Ishida, one of the OG seiyuu of the grand era of long-running shounen series and owner of one of the best voices in all of anime.

Even after all these years, it only took about three seconds to recognize THAT VOICE. And so despite my qualms about the story (and that old old character design - seriously, look at the art!!), I will be there on Oct. 7 to give Yakuza Fiance a chance. It’s Akira Ishida, I can’t help myself.

Funimation Finally Dies and Mid-Season Check In

Funimation’s streaming site will shut down as of April 2.

This is a good example of what happens when the assets of one division of a company get transferred to another division of the same company. The move of Funimation’s anime shows to Crunchyroll was announced back in February of 2022 and as of the time of this writing - there are still titles on Funimation that haven’t been moved to Crunchyroll yet.

I wrote about this in this blog post and also in this more recent blog post. It’s kind of hysterical that there are still straggler series left on the Funimation site, but since both Funimation and Crunchyroll are owned by Sony, I suppose one could have predicted this. Clearly Sony didn’t feel any urgency to get this done.

Anime News Network has a good article on this: Funimation App Shuts Down. In particular, I recommend reading the comments, as several people there posted lists of the titles that are still on Funimation.

As to how this worked out on the Crunchyroll end, when I recently logged in to Crunchyroll I got a pop-up window asking if I wanted to sync my Funi and Crunchy watchlists together. The window was unnecessarily dramatic (“Once you hit the button, the change is PERMANENT”).

I hit the button and waited. When it had taken effect, I scrolled down to look at my watchlist and it appeared that everything had transferred over from my Funimation account, including the not-so-important-to-me series that were on my Funi watchlist that I’d forgotten about. I haven’t logged in to Funimation in months but I’m fine with not bothering to check that account anymore.

I mean, really - enough. They’ve had two years to finish this. I stopped paying for Funimation last year when I made sure my favorite series had been ported over to Crunchyroll already. Some commenters to the ANN article cited above expressed doubt that everything would get transferred over by April 2 - and I don’t blame them for thinking that way.

I could go on about this, but I remember the old days when one’s favorite series was hard to find on the internet and one had to perform desperate YouTube searches and - when that failed - look for, ahem, gray streaming sites.

There’s that angle, but another and more sobering perspective is the antitrust one. Sony owns Crunchyroll, and now Crunchyroll has all of Funimation’s streaming assets and also Right Stuf’s catalog of anime merchandise. Not to mention the biggest anime catalog in North America and probably elsewhere too, basically, everywhere that isn’t Japan. I kind of hope that everything doesn’t get sucked up by Crunchyroll, because having competition and alternatives is a good thing.

As to the winter anime season - I’m still enjoying all of the series on my watchlist: Blue Exorcist, The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Fluffy Paradise, and Meiji Gekken 1874.

Blue Exorcist has the same feel as it did years ago back when season two aired. It’s a good shounen story with likable teenage characters. Demon Prince is a pleasant paranormal/shoujo/reverse harem show and Fluffy Paradise is a cute escapist fantasy.

Meiji Gekken 1874... well, it’s still violent (lol). I’m hanging in there with it though. I just enjoy seeing the juxtaposition of the fading Bakumatsu era with the brash, westernizing Meiji era. You really get a sense in this series of the discombobulation the Japanese must have experienced during those times.

My grandparents, believe it or not, were born in the Meiji era. All four of them emigrated to Hawaii (then a U.S. Territory before it became a state), where my parents were born. These eras in history may seem long ago and faraway but they really aren’t. I’m a descendant of Meiji-era Japanese people. The street scenes and architecture in Meiji Gekken depict Japan as it was when my grandparents were growing up there.

I don’t just love anime for itself - for the art of it - but also because it is a link to my own past, my ethnicity and my ancestors. I tend to forget this most of the time in my enjoyment of anime simply as an art form, but a show like Meiji Gekken helps me to remember.

Winter 2024 Anime Season - Anime Fan Revival!

Happy new year, welcome to 2024... and I am welcoming myself back to anime fandom. ;-)

I’m back in the groove of watching weekly anime episodes. I didn’t plan for it to happen, but certain winter season anime series have proven appealing enough that I’m in the game again.

But first - the leftovers from 2023.

I finished up the last few episodes of Heaven Official’s Blessing’s first season. A number of commenters were wondering if Xie Lan and Hua Cheng might actually get, uh, physical, as in maybe at least kissing each other?

Alas, it’s Chinese danmei. Despite some suggestive cover art for the novels, I fear we’re never going to see any direct romantic activity between the two. I am hopeful though, if only on the basis of the lovely covers on those sequel books:

And I still have to watch season two, which aired last fall.

I thought I’d finished Bureau of Paranormal Investigation last year but it turns out I didn’t. So I watched the final few episodes of season one… and was honestly impressed. It finished strong in terms of plot, action scenes, and character development.

Well... I could complain about a certain character who basically disappeared for most of the season, only to reappear at the climax like the ultimate DEUX EX MACHINA to save the day.

But even with that, it was a very good finish for this series and I hope more seasons are on the way.

Which brings us to the Winter 2024 anime season. I’ve picked an old familiar series as well as three new series to follow this season.

I’ve been out of the loop for a while, not even visiting Anime News Network every day like I used to. So I didn’t know Blue Exorcist was coming back.

Blue Exorcist is one of those series that I put in a certain tier. It’s up there with Haikyuu, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Durarara, Nurarihyon no Mago, and Polar Bear’s Café, among others. These are anime series that I enjoyed a lot and if I see that they have a new season, I’m like, “Oh, Blue Exorcist. Good.” It goes on my watchlist and I definitely watch it. In other words, it’s not “I’ll try this out” but a definite watch.

As opposed to the tier above it, which would be Gintama, K, The Unlimited/Zettai Karen Children, Hakuouki and certain others which would precipitate an immediate scouring of the internet for when the series will start airing and does it have the original seiyuu and what story arc will the season cover, etc., etc.

(And before you start... I know Gintama is technically finished, but hope springs eternal.)

In other words, I have a god tier of anime that I would drop anything I was doing in order to watch. Blue Exorcist is not in that tier, but it’s on a high-enough tier that it went on my watchlist without question.

The setting is a magic academy and the main character Rin Okamura is the son of Satan. Uh, yeah. It’s a long story, but he is a positive and good-hearted protagonist. What keeps me hooked on Blue Exorcist is the complicated relationship between Rin and his younger brother Yukio. There’s history there and a lot of tension, but also love and friendship. It’s the element that anchors the story with emotional resonance and depth.

On to the new additions.

Well, this is an unusual choice for me given my anime viewing history. I don’t normally go for cutesy kids or animal shows. Sometimes I’ll make an exception for stories like Shirokuma Café (Polar Bear’s Café), but that series tempered its cuteness with some adult perspectives and sensibilities.

Akitsu Midori, a 27 year-old office worker, dies of karoshi (overwork). In heaven, she meets Kami-sama (I don’t need to see the credits to recognize Shinichiro Miki and his breezy tone), who asks her how she wants to reincarnate. Akitsu only has one condition: she wants to be able to pet fluffy animals!

So she is reincarnated in a fantasy setting on another planet as Nema, the young daughter of a duke and duchess in a kind and loving family that stands next in line to inherit the kingdom. And magic exists. And there are fluffy animals... many fluffy animals.

I’m liking Fluffy Paradise so far because - while it’s definitely more cute than serious - there’s also the beginnings of an adult storyline. As we are introduced to the royal court politics, we can see there are some potential villains around.

But the fluffiness appears to be the main factor still. Maybe I just need some fluffiness in my life...

The comments under the first episode of Demon Prince of Momochi House were comparing it to Kamisama Kiss and... Fruits Basket. I never watched Kamisama Kiss so I have nothing to say about it, but Fruits Basket is another matter.

Back when I was first an anime fan, I was totally and completely into shounen anime. Whenever I watched shoujo anime I would get irritated at the girl characters’ high-pitched whispery voices, and their submissive/passive natures irked me. I found nothing to like or admire about these characters and so I turned away from shoujo very early on in my anime fandom, including Fruits Basket, despite it being a favorite of many.

I wanted to see Ed and Al battle Envy and Greed, and Ichigo fight the whole Soul Society to save Rukia, and Naruto and Sasuke duel to the death at the waterfall in the Valley of the End. I found no excitement in watching teenage schoolgirls and their petty fights, their jealousies and scheming.

Later, I found this prejudiced opinion of mine contained a lot of holes. I loved Noir, for example, and even a series like Madoka Magica could hold my interest with its strong plot and characters. I never saw the original Sailor Moon but I did watch Sailor Moon Crystal and enjoyed it.

Still, I’ve always leaned towards the shounen and - of course - yaoi and boy’s love. But I realized something when I watched the first few episodes of Momochi House. And that was... REVERSE HAREM.

Of course, I already knew what reverse harem stories were before this. Hakuouki could absolutely be considered reverse harem, as well as a show like Hiiro no Kakera. I’ve enjoyed reverse harem animes in the past like Ouran High School Host Club and others.

But Hiiro no Kakera in fact highlights the reason why I stopped seeking out reverse harem animes to watch. There’s a tendency in reverse harem to have all the bishounen protect the sole female protagonist... who then remains passive and more of an observer in her own story than an active protagonist with agency. Hiiro no Kakera was especially an offender in this regard since the protagonist had immense paranormal powers of her own, but she always hung back and let her boys fight to defend her (and get severely injured), which irritated me to no end.

And if I’m being honest, Hakuouki had the same story dynamic... but with absolutely gorgeous male characters - so I let it slide. ;-) (Plus... the Shinsengumi as vampires. Who could resist that?)

Back to Momochi House. Himari Momochi discovers that her late parents left something for her in their will: a house in the countryside.

Once in the house, she finds that it’s already occupied by Aoi and his two retainers. Aoi is a wispy, delicate teenage boy with paranormal powers and the other two are similarly gifted spirit beings. The three try to convince Himari to leave but she’s determined to stay, despite the house being attacked by her family line’s spirit nemesis.

As it turns out, Aoi came to the house as a boy and was gifted with his spiritual powers. However, what came with the ‘gift’ is that he is unable to leave the house and its grounds, and the memory of his existence has been erased in everyone who knew him in the outside world.

So the plot twist - and motive for Himari to continue living there - is that she wants to free Aoi from his paranormal curse and be able to leave the premises again. That works for me, and also Himari is pretty spunky. She’s very active and determined, not passive at all. And of course... there are already hints of romance between her and Aoi.

This was a roundabout way of saying that maybe I was too hasty in rejecting Fruits Basket all those years ago. It is, after all, a reverse harem show. I’ll have to consider putting it on my maybe-watch list.

Finally, there is Meiji Gekken.

The Bakumatsu is my favorite Japanese historical era and my second favorite is a tie between the Warring States era and the Meiji era.

Meiji Gekken 1874 is a political thriller. I’ve only seen the first two episodes but I’m already loving the art direction. The Meiji era was when Japan started incorporating some of the architecture, technology, and clothing of the outside world, and the juxtapositions of the two worlds makes for fascinating visuals.

The thing is... from the first episode it was violent... like, really violent. As in, the first time we see Shizuma Origasa, the main character, he’s literally killing someone. Granted, it’s a flashback to a battle in the Boshin war, but still.

It’s a new era and Shizuma, a former samurai, is offered a job on the police force after stopping an assassination attempt on a government official. Much political intrigue (and scads of violence) ensues.

This show is like watching the Meiji era come to life. We’ll see how it goes. I may not stick with it due to the violence, but the visuals are truly captivating.

Fool Me Three Times!

What do the following three characters have in common?




Yes, this is another seiyuu adoration post. ;)

I generally don't get caught flat-footed anymore by seiyuu surprises. I've been an anime fan long enough now that I know who most of the big-name seiyuu are, and can recognize at least some of their voices when I hear them.

Recently, though, I was startled to find out that the three characters noted above are all voiced by the same seiyuu, Nobuhiko Okamoto. My surprise came from the fact that I've watched Bakuman, Ao no Exorcist (Blue Exorcist) and two seasons now of Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi but didn't make the connection that Okamoto voices all three characters.

His voices as Eiji in Bakuman and Kisa in Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi are the most similar in sound. Eiji is a hyperactive teenage mangaka who makes weird noises like sound effects as he draws, and at first seems like a potential enemy of the two main characters. Very soon though in season 1, Eiji is revealed to be a sweet-hearted supportive character, one who's willing to see all of his assistants become his rivals and competitors so long as they produce wonderful art and stories.

Kisa in Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi is quite a different role. Kisa, despite being diminutive and having a baby face, is actually the oldest character in the series at age 30. Feeling his age among all the pretty young(er) things in Tokyo, he develops what he's sure is a doomed crush in season 1 on an impossibly handsome bookstore clerk named Yukina.



Yukina has a kind and cheerful personality in addition to his staggering good looks, and Kisa can hardly believe it when Yukina begins to pursue him. The Kisa-Yukina episodes in the first season are filled with Kisa's inner monologues about how he doesn't know how to love anybody and that he's too old anyway, etc., et al - to the point of self-loathing.

Season 2 sees Kisa and Yukina weathering a crisis, with Kisa's misunderstanding when he sees Yukina with a young woman. He tries to dump Yukina before Yukina can dump him but fortunately for true love Yukina is stubborn and determined enough for the both of them, and the end of season 2 sees Yukina moving in with Kisa.

Okamoto has a young-sounding voice, one just made to play teenage shonen heroes - and young men in love. Here's one of Kisa's character songs from Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi:



As Rin Okumura, the lead character of Ao no Exorcist, Okamoto plays the teenage son of Satan who trains to become an exorcist so that one day he can defeat his father. His voice as Rin is considerably lower and more macho than as Eiji or Kisa, and I somehow managed to watch him as Rin for 25 episodes without connecting him with these other characters in Bakuman and Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi that I was also watching that same anime season.

Okamoto even has a distinctive voice: he's not one of those seiyuu that has a voice that is kind of bland and indistinguishable and whom I can never recognize without looking up the cast list. So, really, it comes down to the usual thing; like so many other seiyuu in anime, he is simply wonderfully talented.



I'll look forward to being fooled again by Okamoto in future series. ;)

Blue Exorcist - Anime Review

Ao no Exorcist or Blue Exorcist has finished its first season, and I have a few thoughts.

Blue Exorcist at first seems like a well-made but mostly derivative pastiche of Shonen Jump-ness. There's the hero, Rin Okumura, and his younger twin brother Yukio, both raised by a priest whom they consider their father. One night their father kills himself. He does this to thwart Satan, who has taken over his body. Satan isn't done, however. Because, actually, Satan's two sons are Rin and Yukio, and the devil wants to come out into the world to play.



Blue Exorcist is representative of a unique strain of Japanese manga and anime: stories that involve Christian figures and imagery, but in very unexpected and somewhat (to us) shocking ways.

Fifteen years ago, a curious young woman was attracted to Satan. Knowing who he was, she nonetheless became his lover and died shortly after giving birth to twin sons. Shiro Fujimoto, a priest in the True Cross Order, adopted the boys.

Rin, the first twin to emerge, is strong but Yukio, the second twin, is weak and sickly, so Satan's powers are absorbed solely into Rin's body.

After their priest/father's death, Rin and Yukio enter True Cross Academy, a school for exorcists run by "Mephisto Pheles," a "Knight" of the Vatican(!). It's implied throughout the series that Mephisto is Rin and Yukio's older brother.

Rin discovers that Yukio has secretly trained all his life to be an exorcist. Despite the fact that he is the inheritor of Satan's powers, Rin wants to become an exorcist and defeat Satan.



Blue Exorcist works as your standard shonen anime, but obviously the religious aspects give it a certain something else. Just the concept of the Son of Satan as an otherwise ordinary teenager and the hero of an adventure story is a little out there to us westerners. When Rin activates his powers - his "Satan" powers, I guess - a kind of blue electricity crackles around him, he grows horns, and a forked tail emerges.

Like in Fullmetal Alchemist, one of Blue Exorcist's strengths is its development of the relationship between brothers Rin and Yukio.



Yukio actually seems a little cold at first. He initially blames Rin for their father's death, as the priest had been defending Rin and their monastery when Satan attacked, but as the series goes on we see that Rin and Yukio are closer than they first appear. Rin is a screw-up, a near-juvenile delinquent when we're introduced to him. Yukio is the quiet honor student, the "good" son. But each is willing to sacrifice himself for the other and by the end of the series, we believe in their bond.

It's hard to know what to say about the Christian images and references. I think in general that such things are absorbed by the Japanese through their own cultural filter in ways that we non-Japanese can't really understand. Some might find it bizarre, even offensive. I choose to see it as another case of the Japanese doing their own interpretation of the symbology of other cultures, which they're perfectly entitled to do, and in their own way. If westerners can do their own interpretation (more projection I would say than interpretation - but who's quibbling) of samurais, geishas, Buddhist monks, etc., then the Japanese surely can offer up their own fantasies of our iconic symbols.

Blue Exorcist is a successful franchise in Japan and the manga is ongoing, so at least a second season seems in the cards. I'll look forward to watching more of this shonen anime - with a twist.