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Hey, I've got to watch a few interesting ones while dying from the absolute insane heat that came to Poland right now. Finally, I've started catching up on Studio Ghibli movies, starting with Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. Was pretty surprised with how whimsical and meandering Miyazaki's movies can be – it's a very different vibe than what I'm used to with serialized anime and movies that tie into those. There's a lot of beauty and wonder in those worlds, but not necessarily much "worldbuilding" or solid plotlines. More symbolism/alegorical stuff than just stories, which I guess put those two closer to classic fairy tales than to what anime usually is today. Also, it was interesting to see what a harrowing anti-war movie Howl's Castle was, with the motiff of chaotic lashing out against the injustice of it all. Easy to see how it was inspired by the Iraq War, I remember quite well the feeling of horror and powerlessness while my country jumped into the US' bandwagon back then. What seems a bit weird to me is to see how many people miss the fact that the whole story feeds into those themes, the absurdity of war and saving your own humanity in the face of conflict you are powerless to stop. Both movies are 9/10 for me, masterpieces mostly in the visuals/craftsmanship department, with actual storylines being on the weaker side, but overall very compelling. Than, going back to trash-tier stuff... Wataten. The "creepy lolicon onee-san crushes on a 10-year old girl" show. I skipped on it when it aired, as the concept seemed irredeemable, but then saw relatively positive reviews, and... Well, it's not that bad, to be honest. It's definitely a show about a lolicon, and she is very much a creep, but the way the series handles the underage characters is surprisingly not lolicon bait. Pretty much devoid of fanservice and constantly calling out how inappropriate the main character's behavior is. The comedy it also quite solid, with gags being creative and not becoming overly formulaic throughout the season. Honestly, it's way better than it had any right to be. Still a bit creepy though and labeling it as yuri kind of made it feel worse than it was (there is some very subtle subtext between the girls, but the "main" romance is so one-sided and farcical, the categorization hardly applies). 7,5/10? And ending with something recent, Don't Hurt Me, My Healer!... Is actually a decent gag comedy, that got me curious for receiving absolutely HOSTILE reception at first. It seems if someone doesn't like this kind of humour, it really rubs them the wrong way. It's a story about a dark elven "healer" who forms a party with a trash-tier warrior to mercilessly troll both him and everyone they meet along the way. It's kind of dumb, but also kind of brilliant – a pairing of a Don Kichot-like loser high on heroic tales and a borderline-malicious weirdo, in a world that mostly moved past the conflicts they could be useful for. Monsters just mind their own business, quests are trivial, and Karla, the "healer", usually seems to be the most dangerous thing around. Apparently "useless" at first, over time she's shows to be pretty powerful with different kinds of magic, including healing spells. She just can't be bothered to use any of it properly... Because where's the fun in that? Overall, a decent, absurd gag comedy with a tendency to subvert fantasy tropes in a fun way. 7/10