Leaderboard

Is it legal to praise Crunchyroll on the internet? Not only is their library in my region steadily improving, they also cut the subscription costs heavily for regions without access to their full catalogue. I don't feel bad about giving them money for the first time in years... Anyway, got through some fun stuff lately! Continuing with Studio Ghibli, I've seen the legendary My Neighbour Totoro and while I understand it's a kids' movie, boy was it not for me in any way. It was mostly just two small girls screeching in headacke-inducing manner and a tiny bit of whimsical fantasy stuff that didn't amount to much overall. A beautiful thing visually-speaking and the main themes were nice, but while I'm very tolerant to narrative emptiness, this movie was a narrative void for most of the time and managed to tire me out in record time (it's actually short, especially if you exclude the OP and ED songs, but did so little in its runtime it was kind of sad...). 6,5/10? On the other hand, Princess Mononoke is a genuine masterpiece. Miyazaki definitely has his taste for environmentalist messages, but I really loved how it was delivered here, without demonizing either side or providing some overly-convenient resolution. It's also way more focused and intense than all of the Ghibli films I've seen so far, beautifully balancing the personal journey of Ashitaka and the grand conflict he's trying to mediate in. The environments and music are also spectacular, obviously not on Spirited Away or Hawl's Castle levels of refinement, but incredible for its time. With no nostalgia for Ghibli movies, this is the one that fully convinced me that Miyazaki's fame is not just all hype - basically flawless, considering what can be done with this formula. 10/10 Coming back to modern stuff, I've dug out an obscure fantasy show that really fits my tastes... At least in theory. Banished from the Hero's Party is basically all ingredients I love mixed in a very sloppy fashion. A story of two outcasts once involved in the god-chosen hero's quest to save the world, but now pushed aside and trying to find a place for themselves at the fringes of the civilized world. The protagonist is Hero's older brother, who fell behind the rest for the party in martial prowess and was convinced to leave, faking his death. On his exile he's reunited with a Princess of a militaristic kingdom, who once fought alongside the hero's party, but was forced to leave her country due to a succession dispute, becoming an adventurer. Determined to leave their pasts behind and create a new, quiet life, they try to settle down, but their pasts slowly catch up to them... The whole thing is mostly a slow-burn romance story set in a fantasy world with bullshit RPG rules... But in abstraction, I love pretty much every idea and major plot element behind it. It even manages to build up and resolve a really complex conflict around the hero within 13 episodes, without really feeling rushed or creating too many obvious plotholes. It's just... Not that well written on scene-to-scene basis. The dialogue is clunky, the romance overly juvenile for who the main characters are... It just always slips away from being that perfect chill fantasy series I'm always looking for. Still, it's IMO quite underrated - 7/10. Than, Moonlit Fantasy is such a weird, contradictory spin on isekai. Basically a combination of Konosuba (a protagonist rudely dismissed by a Goddess and cursed to be a pariah among other humans) and the Slime anime (building a nation of non-humans on the fringes of civilized world), but one that transforms from near pure comedy at first to VERY REAL at the end of the season. It might seem weird/impossible to justify on paper, but it's a really interesting form of story progression. The protagonist's journey starts whimsical and chaotic, with his incredible powers kind of auto-piloting him through various challenges... But than, as he gains influence and builds a domain of his own, he's tragically reminded of the responsibilities he bears. It all begins as a farce, as it looks ridiculous and random from his perspective, but the show is shockingly consistent in building up towards something, unlike most cheap isekais that kind of just flow pointlessly - it matures in tone as the protagonist himself is forced to mature to build a future for himself and those that rely on him. I thought it would just be a parody series after the first episode, but the story turned out quite solid by the end and I'm really interested in what the second season is going to show, as the foundation set here is really good and the source material seems highly-rated. 8/10

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

Hey, don't die quite yet Fuwa. I won't allow it, because my favourite studio, Ekachi Epilka of Maou-sama Retry fame, is going to deliver us the culmination of anime history, this fall: My Life After I Became a Dummy Head Mic One Morning. ASMR themed shoujo ai original series starring a dummy head ASMR microphone as a protagonist, apparently. We can all die in piece, after we watch it.