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What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
Journal with Witch - It's about a novelist in her mid-thirties, Makio Koudai. A neurodivergent, introverted woman who balances her need for solace with a warm support network of close friends, Makio is not the most traditional, and was never really understood by her mother and older sister.
When Makio's sister dies in a car accident, her 15 year old niece Asa is left stunned and orphaned. Not wanting to see the girl passed around from one extended relative to the next, she decides to take Asa in. Now, Makio must adjust not only to living with someone else, but someone young, impressionable, and in the midst of a somewhat relatable, muted grief.
There's no violence in this show, no shouting drama. It's a quiet, contemplative, heartwarming piece about how the pain and confusion of self-discovery is often juxtaposed with the joy and beauty of the small, everyday things in life. There's no moral lesson, per se, just a collection of character studies that play out like a diary written in a foreign land (ikoku nikki).
The melancholy of the end credits, especially seeing young Asa about to pull the veil back on the mother she struggled to understand only to look up and see the doves ascending to heaven, is the perfect example of the soft, nuanced approach to tragedy this series takes.
It's up to episode 9 so far, but seems like it's going to be a sleeper-hit of the year. It's definitely shaping up to be one of my most favorite series.
Sakura Quest - A college graduate, Yoshino Koharu, dreams of making it big in the city. Striking out on interview after interview, however, she accepts the first offer she finally gets from her recruiter, mistaking it for a short gig.
Now, Yoshino has a one year contract to serve as a rural town's idol mascot - their "queen" - to market and promote the area's dying tourist industry. It's... not going well. But she has a big heart and is making friends with locals who want to save their town, identity, and way of life, in the process giving Yoshino something to believe in.
This one's a slice-of-life comedy with a modest budget but great backgrounds. The story style is "problem of the week", so expect some setbacks as each episode balances between being self-contained while driving the overall character progression forward. Again, there's no real drama, just conversations and light comedy. I'm only a few episodes in, but so far it seems promising!
I enjoyed Sakura Quest. Honestly I did get a little bored around episode 9-10. There's a moment midway through the series that really hit for me. From there I was fully invested in this story
Oh yay, good to know! I'm really liking the main cast so far, but it's fun finding out about some of the side characters little by little. I think the backgrounds are what's really shining for me. There's enough diversity in the settings so far that give the town a beautiful, lively feeling. I love the detail they've put in.
I'm not big on visuals. I'm more emotionality effected by music and sounds. So I didn't think about it much, but the scenery in the show is beautiful.
Still working through Lone Wolf and Cub, still great.
Also, started Our Precious Conversations, which I got through a fanatical bundle (you can find my post about it in ~books if you're interested). It's been a super cute (and predictably dialogue heavy) slow-burn romance. I'm on Vol 2, and there's only 7 total, so looking forward to seeing the story play out.
I've continued my Fate series watch through.
Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel
This one got really dark. It follows Sakura which I found interesting because she basically disappeared in UBW. It's very tragic. It was very surprising because the scope of her trauma goes beyond what was hinted at in UBW. The main opponents felt a lot more scary too. I also like that the movies basically skip the part of the story that doesn't change. I didn't need to see that again. As this is produced by the same studio as UBW, the quality was present. Also they didn't explain the Third magic or Heaven's feel very well. I didn't know what that was without looking it up after the fact.
Fate/Stay Night (2006)
So I believe I found two different version of this. I initially saw what I believed to be the original version. The art and animation looked like an anime produced in the 90's. Same with the English dubbing. Once I realized I was watching the same start as UBW, I found a different source. The art looked more bold in terms of lines and colors, but the style still felt a bit out of date.
In terms of the story, I didn't dislike it as much as I thought. I do see where they mixed the other routes from UBW and HF into this, but that didn't bother me. This did feel more like a classic YA, Shonen type story. It did a better job of explaining certain aspects of the lore than the other two. Overall I thought it was okay. Worth watching just to get the first route of the story since I'm not going to read the visual novel.
Fate: Zero
I liked this a lot. Mostly because most of the character's were adults which lead to a more mature story. I'm a bit tired of a lot of "YA" tropes. Watching Fate/Stay Night first was a great idea though. Seeing how this war unfolded and lead to the main series was really interesting. There was a lot more time to get to know the other masters and servants. It made me more invested in all their stories. It also explains aspects of the war that the main series didn't very well. Seeing this story and how it ended made the first route of F/SN more impactful. I understand now why Sabers story is the first ending. (Still like UBW better though)
Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note
I didn't expect much from this, but I ended up kinda loving it. The whole detective/mystery of the week thing is right up my alley. It was really cool following Waver and see how he changed after the war. The side characters were all very interesting as well. The story felt a bit short, but complete in terms of Waver's journey in this anime. I understand that they left out a lot from the visual novel. I may actually get into the Manga adaption to see what I missed.
Fate/Strange Fake
I'm only a few episodes in, but really enjoying this so far. Given what I just watched, I was really excited to see Lord El-Melloi II and his apprentices again. I love that he has this aged expertise to offer on these events. I've met all the masters and servants and really liking them all. The mystery going on BTS is also very intriguing. I'm curious to see how this unfolds.