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Category: Anime
Tags: Show Episodes

My Anime List

Watching anime is fun! Since I was 18 I've kept track of the shows I've tried to make an effort to record what shows I've seen. I would use one of the several sites which allow users to track their favorite shows and compare with their friends how many hours of their life they've spent re-watching Himouto! Umaru-chan together.

These sites don't allow you to comment (much) or think constructively about the things you've watched so I've instead opted for years to jot these things down in a text file on my terminal. This transcript of that text file will be roughly chronological (starting from the most recent at the top and working its way down) since I will add new sections as I watch more things.

I'll also append the approx. month I watched the show; that's so if you want to read some of my writing at the time you can do so!

Toradora!

Semi-serious highschool romance-comedy about the intricate relationships between 5 students in and out of school. Before I say anything else, a list of power rankings is in order:

  1. Kitamura Yūsaku
  2. Kawashima Ami
  3. Aisaka Taiga
  4. Takasu Ryūji
  5. Kushieda Minori

Refreshingly this show is not harem-esque, though sometimes it is dangerously close; the character keeping the whole show from falling into a non-magical Negima clone (there are far too many already) is Kitamura-kun; his presence and spirit and vice-class-president-vigor brings energy into the series which would otherwise be nothing more than dry romance and boring love.

What I especially love about this series is that no one character is perfect; the emotion stirred by the show arises from this very element, that combined with the show's unique approach to storytelling which seems to reflect the high-school setting by telling each arc in bits and pieces of fragmented conversations, phone calls, and late-night walks to the Lawson, it (the series) does an excellent job at conveying an interesting and complex high-school narrative brimming with innumerable subtleties, bundled emotions and warm feelings.

Golden Boy

This is a show about a boy on a bike; each OVA is a different, absurd situation which our MC (Kintaro) has to reason and charm his way out of; Kintaro is a former Tokyo Unviersity law student who, despite having every right to a law degree, has decided rather to tour Japan on his bicycle.

As he travels, Kintaro accumulates little bits of knowledge which he writes in his notebook; often his notebook is filled with comedic scribbling and playful notes about women, society, and work.

An excellent anime and rather dated (originally airing in 1995) I would highly recommend this as a light-hearted anime to make the most jaded of us smile as Kintaro peddles around Japan. And what about the English Dub?: it's highly recommended.

Urahara

It's a show about three girls defending Harajuku against aliens. They run a store called PARK; incidentaly there is actually a store named PARK in Harajuku which sells clothes, stickers, CDs and the sort. The store is run out of a really cozy space on the second floor of a squat little building.

The name comes from 裏原宿 (uraharajuku), the name for the slice of life right behind the JR Yamanote-line Harajuku station, full of fashion stores and basement restaurants and tea / coffee shops). It's really a wonderful place and you should visit sometime.

Urahara is light-hearted and fun! Pretty easy to understand and follow along; an entertaining way to pass the time learning about Harajuku and cute girls and aliens and parfait.

Gakkougurashi

Pretty much it's about girls who live at school. The catch is that everyone they knew a month ago is dead and they must survive by scavenging for supplies and entertaining each-other with moe-antics to stay alive.

Hot Takes

The most well-developed character here is hands-down みーくん (she's got the ashy hair) and the dynamics with her friend and her little dog 太郎丸 touched me on an emotional level.

PuriPuri Chii-chan!!

Little yellow alien fucks things ups and squeaks; it's a kids show so don't go in expecting anything more than that. I only watched it for the language content haha.

Narutaru Mukuro Naru Hoshi Tama Taru Ko

It feels a little like Pokémon but it's just really depressing; the manga is excellent and the anime is just as good at conveying its message: people who are just beginning to understand their moral stance (i.e. kids in the bloom of their life) are cruel and insufferable.

Art-style

Every character, regardless of his / her age, is over 8 feet tall and closer to ideal Greek sculpture than to the typical anatomy. I'd like to think that this only emphasizes the notion that these are kids playing with each-other's mental.

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

Super-gay dragon maid and her loli-dragon enjoy a cozy existence working for Kobayashi-san. I've already forgotten every single plot detail that may have ever surfaced in the show: actually I'm not sure there really was a plot.

All the warmness and cozy feelings are the most important aspects of the show. It's a wealth of feeling that's been explored in prior 癒し系 (iyashi-kei) but this modern interpretation of such an old genre feels refreshing.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

癒し系 (iyashi-kei) in the highest and most pure of all senses. YKK, Aria, and Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon form the basis of all the silent hype around 癒し系 anime in the Anglosphere.

A robot rides her scooter around the quiet ruins of Yokohama and the surrounding countryside. She meets other robots and plenty of nice people along her way. I'd strongly recommend checking this one out; if you enjoy it enough then check out the manga as well.

Keijo

Sports anime; girls fight each-other on top of platforms, each trying to knock the other off into the pool below and claim the title of Keijo. The super-move of every episode almost always has the MC swinging her ass around so if that picques your interest pick this one up.

Hot-takes

It's not a good show.

New Game!

Cute girls use computers and make a video game together; not a keenly realistic show (where's the market research? and the management?) but I'm not paying attention to how true-to-life my slice-of-life shows are.

Though the character development isn't particularly deep the scenes of Aoba-chan in a bear suit are cute(!) enough that I can let it slide. Still, I would appreciate some attempt at character exposition.

Hot-takes

Aoba-chan is the best girl.

Girls und Panzer

You'll get a kick out of this one if you passed 6th grade history class: there's plenty of references to such classic motifs like Russian Winter (it's cold), Nazis (they're bad), and Americans (they like to eat).

Hot-takes

If you're one of those little military otaku even you'll probably want to pass this show up: there's very little here other than cute girls. The characters are flatter than cardboard and show no more depth than "I want to protect my friends" or "I want to win!" The show focuses neither on the technicals of the tanks nor on the girls who drive them: rather it takes a 25/75 split of the two topics (in favor of drawing cute girls washing the tanks) which devalues the whole show overall.

Basically I could have watched this show half-asleep and still gotten the full experience and I think that's really the only appeal.

Kantai Collection

Boat girls.

Hot-takes

This one is worse than Girls und Panzer; I got into this show because I really like the dōjin art which comes out of Comiket every year but I quickly realized that the show is nothing like that art. Being only 12 episodes it's difficult to give all the boats even a little bit of screen-time. Consequently my favorite boat (i.e. Shima-kaze) only gets a hot five minutes of exposition in the show.

Back to the dōjin-shi I suppose.

Initial D: First Stage

RUNNING IN THE 90'S.

Hot-takes

Before I played Wangan Midnight I thought Initial D was the best racing game in the whole universe ever. There was a little Initial D Stage 3 racing game at the Boxcar bar + arcade downtown that I'd play every weekend. Despite the machine not sporting a card-reader (cards being the only way to save one's progress in the game) I still played this game all the time, albeit always running the time-trials in the stock cars.

Still, this show is very good even despite the atrocious fans it's found recently in the West. While still being about racing, tuning, and going fast (on the surface) this show also entertains a variety of conversations about love, friendship, and pursuing you dreams.

Aria the Animation

Imagine that all the best parts of Earth moved to a city called Neo-Venice located on a newly teraformed Mars and that nothing could ever go wrong and that every day was the best day: that's Aria.

When to watch Aria

That's all to say it's a really good show and you should watch it.

Ani tore!

Cute girls exercise with you! The keyword here is with, because while it is a cute little short about girls doing stretches and explaining the roles of various muscles and the importance of using them it doesn't have much worth if you don't actually do the exercises.

Is it relevant?

Only if you make it relevant. N-not that I use any of the exercises in my daily routine (baka!) but I think if one were to incorporate some of the girls' routine into one's regiment then one could diversify and enhance one's routine.

Ass, ass, ass

Yes there is plenty of ass... b-but that's not the point! The point is to exercise! And to practice proper form for all the stretches and exercises... Don't get the wrong idea or anything!

Yama no Susume

Girls climb mountains.

Sakamoto Desu ga?

A really cool guy does really cool things.

Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge

Sleepy...

Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou

A tonkatsu shop-hand explores the alluring night-life of club DJ-ing after making a late-night delivery run. He uses the skills he's learned from watching his father (the tonkatsu shop-keep) and working at the restaurant to thrive in this new night-life of digging at record shops, DJ-ing at clubs and exploring the social circles surrounding it all.

Very good; it's an enjoyable short and I recommend it.

Pan de Peace

Girls bake bread.

Hot-takes

This is actually a good short but nobody else seems to think so. The manga is only five volumes and it's super simple to read... I learned a lot about bread just by reading and watching this show.

There's not much that goes on here (but what could you ask of a 3-minute short).

Space Patrol Luluco

It's a Trigger-produced Kill la Kill clone.

Kill la Kill

It's Trigger and it's really good; extremely well-animated and paired with an exceptional English dub..

Haifuri

It's Girls und Panzer but with boats; also there are no Nazis and the fanbase is far less rabid; actually I'd be at a loss to place a dedicated fanbase with this show, it was not particularly popular despite being so remarkable (IMHO).

The show features Captain Misaki "Mike" Akeno (hereafter Captain Mike); of course the "Mike" is meant to be pronounced "Me-kay" as it would be in Japanese but I prefer "Mike" (as in "microphone"). Anyhow Mike pilots a cruiser and must dispell an apparent mutiny on a sister ship.

...and because they're on boats you get 2 beach episodes! Two! It's the show that Kantai collection should've been; with Haifuri you have the characterization and personalization of each girl (that which KanColle lacks) which makes each girl on Mike's boat (there are something like 30 shiphands) waifu-able and unique; Kantai Collection is just a pile of trash in comparison (poi)!

My roomate cites this show was one of the last bastions of the cute-girls-with-guns genre, a category which blends engineering and technical knowledge (involving the cruisers, gun measurements, shell trajectories, etc. etc.) with cute girls (the other series he cites is Girls und Panzer). I think it's generally a dying market for anime to pander here; judging by the (lack of) success this show had in Japan it seems that Otaku prefer playing video games rather (e.g. KanColle) with this kind detail-oriented design. Still it's a fine genre.

Gochuumon wa usagi Desu Ka?

Coffee-shop girls make coffee and cuddle and work.

Wow!

Wow! This show is really good. Like, damn... this show has all the details right for me: cute girls, coffee, cute girls drinking coffee, rabbits, architecture, interior design.

It's the best thing ever

It's the perfect show and I could watch 40 years of Gochiusa and not get bored because it's just that good. Every OP/ED is a master-piece.

Hidamari Sketch

Art-school girls live together in Hidamari apartments.

Hot-takes

The landlady is the best girl.

Personal Experience

The first time I watched this show I was in the student union taking a break from my math homework. It was the summer semester and along with run conditioning this math class was keeping me busy.

At the time I was having some weird seasonal allergies that made me feel awful; I took a Benadryl tablet to make myself feel a little less shitty and just sat back in the chair waiting for it to kick in.

Suddenly I remembered reading about Hidamari Sketch not too long before; I downloaded the show from Nyaa and started watching it... that's about the time the Benadryl really hit me and before I knew it I was zoning in and out of reality watching really cute girls talk about art and school and the Summer breeze. I'm convinced that I must've been there for several hours watching Hidamari Sketch and dozing off; I had all the episodes queued up and by the end of it I had watched all of the first season.

I packed up my math homework, dropped my computer into my bag and went home.

Ōya-san wa Shishunki

There's no way my landlord could be in middle-school!

Recommended to...

I recommend this show to everyone. It's high-octane and every episode is only a few minutes each.

Musaigen no Phantom World

Not good.

Sekkou Boys

Good.

Dagashi Kashi

A work that explores the world of Japanese candy; actually it's extremely underwhelming and you'll probably only watch it if someone forces you to watch it in a Clockwork Orange-esque fashion.

Hot-takes

Saya is the only good character in the whole series.

Ojisan to Marshmallow

I can't even remember watching this but I think it was pretty good.

Love Live!

A high-school idol group tries to save their school from being closed by singing a lot.

Hot-takes

  1. Umi
  2. Eli
  3. Honoka
  4. Nico-maki
  5. Rin
  6. Nozomi
  7. Kotori
  8. Hanayo

Tonari no Totoro

You could've told me this was a Disney film and I would've believed you.

Himouto! Umaru-chan

NEET hamster does nothing all day but is actually a cute and out-going girl.

Hot-takes

Himouto is cute; the hamster is not.

Rolling Girls

A group of girls travel around a future-Japan where heros fight for control of territory and power.

Music

The opening theme is 人に優しく, a track by the 90's Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts; this show introduced me to their music. The Blue Hearts are a perfect fit for the show which plays with themes of youth and coming-of-age.

Colors

Every shot in this show is so colorful. When the heroes fight each other the traded blows explode into multi-colored clouds of smoke and light. The bright color palette plays into the uplifting soundtrack so well; everything about this show is directed and motivated in the direction of youth and new excitement.

Feeling

I absolutely adore this show; the message it conveys about coming-of-age and the importance it places on friendship, compassion and understanding resonates with me more than I care to admit.

I would definitely recommend this show for its energy, passion, and killer soundtrack.

Angel Beats

It's hard to write about this show (as it's been a minute since I watched it); I picked it up because Porter Robinson's track "Sad Machine" is named after a fictional band in the show.

It's a really good show; I definitely cried toward the ending because the OST, character development, and world creation combine to create a cathartic and moving experience when it all comes to a head.

Yuyushiki

Three girls browse Wikipedia and make jokes that you need a PHD to understand for 12 episodes.

Philosophical Inquiry

The line of thinking that this series takes is honestly closer to a Socratic dialogue than any show I've ever seen. Every issue is explored in-depth (whether apparent or not) and at the end of it all one is so exhausted that just what has been explained is almost never clear.

Imagine you're walking around on-campus and someone's suddenly canceled plans on you, meaning that you have waay too much time on your hands. Then instead of scrolling through your phone you decide to sit in on (without any prior experience) a high-level differential geometry class: that's Yuyushiki. Just replace the abstracted proofs and complex diagrams with veiled references to Meiji-era literature and children's puppet shows and that's exactly how the show feels.

Recommended?

Absolutely.

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru

Neon Genesis Evangelion: EOE

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Self-insert character wants to marry his sister.

Hot-takes

Ayase is the only redeemable character in the whole series.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Over-rated mecha anime.

Hot-takes

It's been a hotly contested issue for centuries but I will settle it here once and for all time:

  1. Ayanami Rei
  2. Sōryū Asuka Langley

And the best boy goes to:

  1. Nagisa Kaoru
  2. Ikari Gendō
  3. Ikari Shinji

Enough has been said about this series; it's an excellent introspection of heroism, idolatry, and self-actualization; this series is close to being my favorite anime of all time. This show is not for those mecha-Otaku or similar, however, it's far, far more sensitive than a typical tokusatsu-filled mecha.

Yuru Yuri

Very gay; the first season is a tremendous demonstration of how exciting a director can make an anime which by-definition has no plot; seasons two and three lack this bombacity and impact IMHO.

K-On!

High-school girl-band makes good music and everyone loves them.

Why are you crying, Yumi?

The show is just so touching; sometimes I think back to when I started watching anime and I'm always reminded of how impactful this show was for me. The simple times that the girls in Hōkago Tea Time share together, the memories that they make as the transition from high-school into college resonated with me as I did the same; the feelings of nostalgia and youth explored in this show still echo in my ears today.

Art Style

Every frame in this show is beautiful; Kyo-ani does a superb job at rendering the instruments and the architecture of the school, not to even mention how well they render the girls in the band!

Best-girl ranking

I'm not even going to bother telling you who I think is the best girl; there's absolutely no point in debating it for a show of this caliber. All the girls are perfect because each is a character unto herself.

I highly, highly recommend K-On to anyone anywhere; it's never too late to enjoy this masterpiece.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

Magical teenagers fight against Witches and each-other and get progressively more sad and angst-filled across 12 episodes.

Just how sad can being a Magical Girl be?

Answer: very sad. It's Schadenfreude: the show

There is hardly a moment in this show which does not utterly destroy me. Every minute of Magica is filled with such dense and complex emotion which only compounds itself as the characters find themselves increasingly entrenched in a personal war against magic, aliens, and (more often) themselves... though in-between these times of angst and anger you see glimpses of compassion and sympathy: it is as often depressing as it is sweet; that is a (confusing) issue which this show treats well.

Nichijou

An expositional slice-of-life of the absurd every day adventures of several high-school girls.

Puns

This show is filled with puns that require paragraphs of translator's notes. As such it is a little hostile to the non-Japanese audience, but its care-free tone and lazy atmosphere seem to have resonated with the Western audience.

Thank you Arawi Keiichi.

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