The new anime season is off and running and I’m currently continuing on with almost a dozen shows. So naturally, it’s a perfect time to look into trying other anime and media…heh heh hrrrrr…
Despite this “busyness,” there are a number of anime and games on my mind that I do want to give a chance, but I’m likely to just let them go the way of the wind unless motivated by some outside force like YOU. And so, I leave it up to you dear readers and subscribers to choose which anime or game I dive into next. Here are the choices and my reasoning for including them:
Danmachi. There are a couple of thematically similar, super popular series that I’ve missed almost entirely: NGNL, KonoSuba, and Danmachi. Of the three, I’m most interested in the latter as my wife has been watching, and I caught a glimpse of the final episode of season two and found it pretty well-done and engaging. With season three now airing, it seems like as good a time as any to try officially give this series a go.
Fate/Grand Order. This is in reference to the game, not any of the series, as I contemplate a return to FGO after a couple of years. I really don’t know what role they’re playing, but I have noticed that one character I’ve always deeply desired to have, Shiki Ryougi (Kara no Kyoukai), perhaps seems to be part of the goings-on this month, and that Sakura Saber, who I do have, is involved as well? Maybe? At least that’s what I’m inferring by all the fanart of the two being produced over at Pixiv.
Genshin Impact. AniTwitter won’t stop talking about it. One of my friends won’t stop talking about it. And I’ve downloaded it, so I should try the game out, right?
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. I’ve only watched this movie once full through, despite the series perhaps being my all-time favorite. And with it being October, it feels extremely appropriate to watch this Halloween-themed film now and maybe post about it on or around the spooky day.
While Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook will only get the above choices, you get a few more because you’ve bothered to read through this post (I hope. READ IT!!). Here are three more choices I’m adding to the poll exclusively for blog readers:
Arknights. I started this game a few weeks back but stalled early on. However, roughly a quarter of the art I’ve been posting on Anime Pop Heart as of late has been related to the game. It would be nice to know who these people are that I’m posting. -_-‘
Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I haven’t watched a classic series in a while, and I’m a HUGE fan of the LotGH reboot, so shouldn’t I finally try the original? I wish it wasn’t on HiDIVE, though…significant barrier.
Oregairu. As if I didn’t post enough about the series this past season, I would like to rewatch the show in its entirety, mostly because I don’t know where I place it now among my favorite anime. The series was once my favorite, and the second season is certainly my favorite season of anime, but after a mostly satisfying third season, but one that’s the weakest act (both in the anime and light novel), I don’t know I would put Oregairu at number one anymore, perhaps placing it below Cowboy Bebop, Torodora, and maybe others as well (Genshiken?). A long-term project, but one I would like to do.
So let me know! What should I start next?
Man, I think I’m still processing how Genshin Impact, and miHoYo by extension, is really hitting it big right now worldwide. And I’ve been playing Honkai Impact 3, another one of miHoYo’s games, for over two years now, hahaha~ XD
Also, Genshin is pretty much miHoYo’s first game with English voice acting, and so far, I’m really enjoying it, especially Paimon’s, hahaha~ And so far, it seems that only Todd Haberkorn, who voices Razor, has stepped forward to claim credit for a role there (He retweeted people who recognized his voice and mentioned him along with Genshin).
Oh that’s interesting context! I know practically nothing about the game.
Well, miHoYo’s kinda new (est. 2011), after all, and they seem to have catered more to their native country (China) before they did Honkai Gakuen and Honkai Impact 3, both of them mobile games (though the latter now has a PC version, which makes sense thanks to their more hardware-taxing features lately). And Honkai Impact 3 took around two years before it was fully released globally (first released in China in 2016, then in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia in 2017, and then globally in 2018). It’s only with Genshin Impact that they went with a global and multiplatform release from the get-go, and with English and Korean voice acting on top of Chinese and Japanese voice acting. Though Genshin Impact did get flak when it was first officially revealed to be in development because it was perceived as a Breath of the Wild ripoff. But personally, I think miHoYo’s pretty good at rolling with the punches there, especially considering how fun their games turn out despite being reference overdosed.
Anyway, I hope you have fun if Genshin Impact comes out on top at the end of the polling period! If it isn’t Genshin that comes out on top, then hey, I still hope you have fun!
Thanks for all the context! I’ve started playing (Genshin Impact did win!) and am enjoying it!
You’re very welcome! And freaking awesome! 😀
The Cowboy Bebop movie is great!
By the way I think rewatching all of Oregairu is really worth it, but I wonder: why do you think it isn’t your favorite anymore? I’d like to see some more in-depth analysis by you of the ending as a whole, like if in your opinion Yukino and Hachiman really managed to overcome codependency, or that it wasn’t even there as much as they thought, like with the whole thing Hachiman set up so he could show Yukino that it was just by chance that she ended up depending on him.
Or maybe you really didn’t like how they ended up their relationship and that’s why you think it’s not your favorite anymore?
I am confused as well about the Oregairu ending. Maybe it’s because I did not rewatch the previous seasons properly before the last one, but it seemed to me that they just shrugged the codependency aspect in the declaration, Hachiman saying something like “I like the fact that you depend on me” which seems awful honestly, if we take that interpretation he basically seems to care more about wanting to date Yukino, in an almost manipulative way, than having her mature and overcome her problems. I was really loving the 3rd season even more than the previous ones because they addressed the codependency risk, but I am not sure if they overcame it (or at least did it partially/showed that their love was not only that, and put the right bases to do it completely) and not just hand-waved it away.
I am sure that I am missing something between the lines though, considering how subtle this series can be, so it would really be interesting to know you guys’ opinion about this.
I don’t think you’re the only one with this issue, Kimberly. The last season (and the last few volumes of the light novels) are my least favorite because I don’t think they’re written as well as the previous ones. Judging by the quality of the writing and the length of time it took Wataru to finish the series, I just think he had trouble wrapping up in satisfactory way. However, I’m okay with how he handled the codependency issue—though this may be me watching my beloved series through rose-colored glasses. I think the conclusion is that yes, Hikki did AGAIN help Yukino, but Yukino did her best to accomplish what she could apart from him without considering or thinking about what he was doing. In her mind, she was on her own, and certainly with the smaller prom, she took charge as well. While she was ultimately unable to run the initial prom entirely through her own methods, that mattered less than Yukino purposely relying on Hikki. By the end of the series, she’s grow in enough confidence to move forward and make decisions without depending on others: 1) Telling her mom that she wants to be considered as the heir to the company; 2) Leading the second prom; and 3) Telling Hikki her feelings, first when he’s unable to fully confess and then by saying it outright. Yukino may not yet be mature enough to do what she desires to do satisfactorily, but she’s brave enough to make decisions on her own, instead of depending on others to push her in wherever they will so that she doesn’t have to make those decisions.
Thank you very much TWWK! It’s really nice to read your take on this, and now that I think about it it really makes sense even to me despite having less emotional connection with the series, so I’m definitely not prone to see it through rose-colored glasses. It’s funny because I think 3rd season was the most interesting themes-wise with its tackling of codependency, but maybe the execution left it a bit unrefined.
I just wonder: why do you think Watari didn’t make it straightforward that Yukino had overcome it completely, but rather showed us that she had matured a lot in a subtle way, but kept us on the edge until the scene with the confession?
At a first glance, I’d say that it’s his style to show things with subtlety, and because it lead to a more impactful scene than if things developed more “smoothly”. But a little idea of mine is that he also wanted to show us that while codependency is bad and must be overcome, one can not save themselves on their own, ultimately. It’s important to grow and be able to make your own choices, but it’s genuine relationships that are the final goal of human beings.
Think of 1 John 4:20:
“Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”
In the end relationships with our brothers and sisters will always be a fundamental part of our growth in this life, and I think Oregairu expresses it from the beginning to the end, ultimately being the story of two loners who grow up enough to be able to love each other.
(I’m not sure what Yui’s growth is but maybe it has more to do with recognizing other people’s desires. )
In the end it’s very often through other people that we feel God’s love, like through our parents when they are true to their role and love us (sometimes with tough love!) even when we’re completely idiotic, or through our true friends who accept us for who we are and don’t stay with us just for their advantage. And I think in the end Yukino had indeed grown up a lot, but maybe to have the real change, she had to be loved first by Hachiman when he goofily starts the declaration and tells her that he likes her even with her own flaws (which she then responds to) to do the real breakthrough. So I think Watari had the intuition to highlight this, rather than making us see Yukino go through a materialistic, individualistic illusion of “self-improvement” at the end of which she had magically matured.
But this is just a theory of mine. If you want, let me know what you think, otherwise if like you said in some other comment you need some time to cool down and then go through the whole thing again rather than rushing some new content about it, I completely understand it. Better to write some quality content when you’re in a better condition to do it, than to rush something now and ruin it for you.
Thanks for sharing these insights! I like the word you used—“intuition.” I feel like he did pull his characters into directions that emphasized his themes and made sense to who they were. And if true, I can really get behind your theory, which at the very least, offers so much spiritual truth. By coincidence, I was reflecting on so much of what you said here about our need for relationship this past week. Oregairu emphasizes the depth of this need so well.
Thank you for all the food for thought. I’d welcome YOU to submit a guest piece reflecting on all this, sometime, if you’d like! Just let me know! 🙂
Hot take about Genshin Impact after finishing the story: definitely not worth it if you haven’t played Breath of the Wild yet. It’s just an uninspired clone of it with random anime characters slapped in. Your time is way better spent on the original.
Not to worry—as I usually do with games, I’ll get bored after a couple hours haha. I just hope I can develop an article or something out of that time! :O
Thanks for the questions. I’m too worn on to write a proper meditation on the ending, especially since I’d need to revisit the light novels to do so (I’d forgotten so much of them, I realized, as I watched the final season). But in short, I thought the final volumes just lacked the quality that the earlier ones did. I thought Wataru struggled to find an ending that brought all the pieces together properly. Prom and prom #2 felt like throw ins to get where he wanted to go, instead of letting the narrative get there more naturally. I will always love Oregairu, but the final season to me is the weakest, and that naturally would bring down my feelings about the series as a whole—still a favorite, but maybe not my VERY favorite any longer. That said, I just need to let it breath for a few months or more before I really consider what my all-time favorite series is (not that it particularly matters to anyone but me!).
Honestly, I’m conflicted…but then I remembered the old adage–
Whenever you put anything against Cowboy Bebop, the correct answer is always Cowboy Bebop.
Wise words.