glilimith

And we finally have our complete love triangle! At least, I would guess as much based on the OP and ED. Their vibes are very different, but Shouma seems like he's potentially just as dangerous as Kirishima and has a similar lack of common sense.

Meanwhile things seem pretty tense among the leadership, and I imagine things are about to get very messy as soon as people start feeling like there might be opportunities to climb the hierarchy.

Oh, I forgot to mention. I watched Blue Miburo, but it was bad in a pretty boring way, 1/5, but I got a little bit distracted while watching it and wanted to share.

The main character's voice sounded familiar, so I looked it up and found out he's played by Umeda Shuuichirou, and there's a reason I recognize his voice. He's been around for a few years, but during the summer season he played the main (or one of two main) characters in three different shows: Sempai is an Otokonoko's Makoto, Shoushimin's Jougorou, and Makeine's Kazuhiko. Then, this season the same: Loner Life's Haruka, Puniru's Kotarou, and Blue Miburo's Nio. I'm not too familiar with voice acting, but that seems like a lot of work two season in a row?? lol

Makoto did also say that in the same scene, but I largely take the "I'm a boy" comments with a grain of salt, since much of that often reads as "I'm amab" or "I'm supposed to be a boy". I'm also not sure the egg prime directive applies to fictional characters*, though I'd definitely be using he/him if Makoto were a real person, yes, lol.

*There are a bunch of reasons for this but one of them is that the nature of storytelling is that each person's understanding of a story is a little different because no medium perfectly relays what's in the author's mind into our minds, so we each get our own personal Makoto in our own heads. Mine is definitely a girl (egg) but I don't really fault anyone for coming to different conclusions (unless they're for transphobic reasons, lol)

I haven't read the manga, but in the anime the only time I remember Makoto saying they don't want to be a girl is when they say something along the lines of "I don't want to live as a boy or a girl, I want to live as me". They read to me as pretty obviously someone not done with their gender journey, with a lot of internalized transphobia. And judging from their reactions from people reading them as a girl, I'd guess they'll end up transfem (whether girl or nb).

My new season has sort of settled in. I think I've cut down to things I'm pretty likely to finish, and I've decided on the anime I'll be showing to my friends (every season I pick out around 6 for them and they choose 3 of them to watch together). The tasting menu this time is 365 Days to the Wedding, Acro Trip, Dan Da Dan, How I Attended an All-Guys Mixer, Let This Grieving Soul Retire, and Yakuza Fiance, with a bonus option to rewatch Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, since the new season (this winter) is coming out after five years and we don't remember what happened, lol. I'll also be recommending Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, which, like Chainsaw Man before it, would absolutely be on the agenda if I had the stomach for it, but I'm much too squeamish.

I'm also personally following Nina the Starry Bride and The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor for some shoujo trash, and Ranma 1/2 for some tsundere nostalgia.

Meanwhile, my friends and I finally finished our shows from last season! Here are my thoughts:

It's clear why Takahashi was the queen of romcoms for so long. It's easy to make a couple who bicker all the time but ultimately end up together anyway, but it's a lot harder to nail that type of relationship where you can tell that they bicker because it's an easy and comfortable dynamic that doesn't require any emotional risk from either side.

@[email protected] did rikka post this automatically? From the timing it looks like yes, which probably means there's a bug in her manual-only posting.

It seems like this show plans to really dig into what marriage is and the different meanings people give to it. ~~Is this more birthrate propaganda?~~

The romance between our leads is progressing faster than I expected it to, which is weird to say when the premise is that they are already engaged, lol.

We finally see our first glimpse (outside of the OP) of girlmode this time, but not for long, lol, as it seems Suo prefers to flirt as The Prince. I understand that the premise sort of requires it, but it's hard not to read into the kings boymoding at every opportunity as them Doing Gender. For Kohaku, especially, the masculinity people expect from them seems so at odds with who they are and what they like, I would expect them to girlmode whenever possible if they don't have some gender stuff going on.

@[email protected]

(yes)

Hana has the attitude you really need for fishing: happy to be there, happy when anything is happening, eager to eat whatever you happen to find. Fishing is not a hobby that goes well for sore losers, lol. Also, I'm curious what that setup the one loan shark was using to catch the crab - it sounds like it's for catching shellfish, which I always find to be cool little guys whenever I happen across them.

After 3 episodes, this one hasn't really grabbed me, for whatever reason. At this point I could see the storytelling quality going either way (and as an original, no one has the answer to that yet), so I think this is where I depart, but I'll probably poke my head back in later in the season to see if that's a decision I will regret (though that kind of mistake is easily fixed, lol).

How the hell did Grandpa get so strong?

did you stick around for the after-credits scene?

They really know their audience with that bait and switch on the training arc. I was fully ready for them to spend all season getting into different kinds of trouble while practicing for their big race, since that's the Jump formula, but I guess we don't have time for that. I think it bodes well for how much escalation we'll get by the end, lol.

Also, I'm wondering if Granny's hairdo has a practical purpose. When I saw it I couldn't help but remember the thing about focusing your spiritual power out of the top of your head and I wonder if her hair helps her do that or if there's even something hidden in there.