My Spring 2024 Anime
Jul. 12th, 2024 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kristenskWow, the spring anime season was good. I watched three series, one I'd been anticipating and two that weren't even on my radar.
First, "Kaiju No. 8". I've been following the manga since it started, and it's a great, fun series with a likeable cast. The anime adds to it some truly awesome action animation and great music. Plus, watching the story's beginning has reminded me how I was hooked in at the start. It's a fantastic show, and I'm happy a second season has already been announced.
Then, there's the shows that I picked up by chance, "Tonari no Yokai-san" and "Wind Breaker".
I thought "Tonari no Yokai-san" was going to be my relaxing show. Just a gentle, Miyazaki-esque drama about a little village where humans and youkai or other supernatural beings live in relative harmony. Plus the bonus of getting to explore such a charming world through the eyes of Buchio, a former housecat who, as he was dying of old age, wanted to stay with his loving family so badly he transformed into a nekomata, a two-tailed youkai cat with shape-changing powers. The show was so much more than I expected. Yes, Buchio was adorable and my favorite character. But, beyond that... Firstly, it's not just the one village - it's an entire world where humans and the supernatural co-exist. We get to see beyond Japan with a brief trip to England, and there's even a (real world style, not sci-fi) space station crewed by humans and other beings. Secondly, well, I won't spoil it. But, the show went places I didn't expect, brought me to tears, and resolved just as it should. (And, no, I don't expect more of this one. It's apparently adapted from a manga that only has four volumes.)
Then, there's the season's surprise favorite, "Wind Breaker". I don't-- How did this happen?! I was promised some great fight animation, so I went in for what I thought would be one episode of an otherwise uninteresting delinquent show. I mean, there weren't even any superpowers! Yet, somehow, I watched and loved the entire season. The animation is stunning with full-bodied fights executed in-camera and each character given a unique fighting style. But, it's so much more than that. The cast is great, each introduced character instantly standing out and almost all of the Bofurin crew having some charm. The lead, Sakura, is especially endearing. Granted, it helps that he reminded me heavily of early Rin from "Blue Exorcist" ;) ...Though he's definitely more of a classic tsundere with that instant blush of his whenever anyone is kind to him. It was a joy to watch his character grow across just thirteen episodes, and I can't wait for the already announced season two!
First, "Kaiju No. 8". I've been following the manga since it started, and it's a great, fun series with a likeable cast. The anime adds to it some truly awesome action animation and great music. Plus, watching the story's beginning has reminded me how I was hooked in at the start. It's a fantastic show, and I'm happy a second season has already been announced.
Then, there's the shows that I picked up by chance, "Tonari no Yokai-san" and "Wind Breaker".
I thought "Tonari no Yokai-san" was going to be my relaxing show. Just a gentle, Miyazaki-esque drama about a little village where humans and youkai or other supernatural beings live in relative harmony. Plus the bonus of getting to explore such a charming world through the eyes of Buchio, a former housecat who, as he was dying of old age, wanted to stay with his loving family so badly he transformed into a nekomata, a two-tailed youkai cat with shape-changing powers. The show was so much more than I expected. Yes, Buchio was adorable and my favorite character. But, beyond that... Firstly, it's not just the one village - it's an entire world where humans and the supernatural co-exist. We get to see beyond Japan with a brief trip to England, and there's even a (real world style, not sci-fi) space station crewed by humans and other beings. Secondly, well, I won't spoil it. But, the show went places I didn't expect, brought me to tears, and resolved just as it should. (And, no, I don't expect more of this one. It's apparently adapted from a manga that only has four volumes.)
Then, there's the season's surprise favorite, "Wind Breaker". I don't-- How did this happen?! I was promised some great fight animation, so I went in for what I thought would be one episode of an otherwise uninteresting delinquent show. I mean, there weren't even any superpowers! Yet, somehow, I watched and loved the entire season. The animation is stunning with full-bodied fights executed in-camera and each character given a unique fighting style. But, it's so much more than that. The cast is great, each introduced character instantly standing out and almost all of the Bofurin crew having some charm. The lead, Sakura, is especially endearing. Granted, it helps that he reminded me heavily of early Rin from "Blue Exorcist" ;) ...Though he's definitely more of a classic tsundere with that instant blush of his whenever anyone is kind to him. It was a joy to watch his character grow across just thirteen episodes, and I can't wait for the already announced season two!
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Date: 2024-07-12 02:23 pm (UTC)A couple of friends recced Kaiju No.8 to me as well, I'll have to give the anime a shot when I have time to settle down with it... probably a fair amount of time since I've heard many episodes end in cliffhangers 😂
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Date: 2024-07-20 05:14 pm (UTC)And, I'm excited to get a random Wind Breaker comment! (Sorry it took me a whole week to reply. Life got a little crazy.)
--(I really need to find or make myself a Wind Breaker icon haha).--
I wanted a Wind Breaker icon for this post. But then, I started trying to find the perfect screenshot and realized I'd be weeks late if I waited on choosing the Best Sakura Face.
--This show has been such a lovely, delightful surprise this season and I ended up reading every volume of the manga I could get my hands onto afterwards.--
The manga is definitely on my wishlist. Which is perfect timing with two older series I'm following wrapping up.
--A couple of friends recced Kaiju No.8 to me as well, I'll have to give the anime a shot when I have time to settle down with it... probably a fair amount of time since I've heard many episodes end in cliffhanger.--
Yeah. I can't remember every cliffhanger, but the final three or four episodes are definitely best viewed in one go.
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Date: 2024-07-27 02:54 pm (UTC)I hope you enjoy the Wind Breaker manga as well if/when you get to it :D
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Date: 2024-07-15 06:43 am (UTC)As for "Kaiju No. 8", besides the climax of the dub getting disrupted for two weeks by Failureroll's bad scheduling choices, I have to say it suffered from the exact same problem as "Solo Leveling". After a whole season of excruciatingly slow buildup, it only just felt like it was finally getting to something *really* good when it ended. I wonder if this could have anything to do with companies drawing things out more to avoid outpacing a show's source manga. Not that I object to generating more content for good shows... but I do like anime to be able to get to the point a little more briskly. (Maybe because so many of my favorites have been one-cour wonders that only had 12-13 episodes to deliver every bit of their impact.)
(Unfortunately, the third series you mentioned was not dubbed. Par for the course, as the summer schedule yet again continues Failureroll's pattern of prioritizing isekai and generic fantasy for dubs over almost anything with truly original ideas. *sigh*)
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Date: 2024-07-20 05:26 pm (UTC)I do love how it was both a cliffhanger and a sort of full circle with the former loner Sakura now leading his team off to battle.
--...I think I might just be an Umemiya fangirl now.--
Umemiya is definitely my second favorite after Sakura.
--I wonder if this could have anything to do with companies drawing things out more to avoid outpacing a show's source manga.--
Possibly. The manga is on chapter 111, but, as is common with action-heavy series, fights that take up pages and pages in the manga are reduced to a few minutes when they start moving. Just 12 episodes moving slowly blew through roughly 39 chapters. Although, I also suspect the show was always intended to have 24 episodes and the break in-between is give the animators time to keep the quality up.
--Unfortunately, the third series you mentioned was not dubbed.--
Sadly, it wasn't dubbed, and I have a sinking suspicion I'll never see it on home video either. *sighs*