Have you ever watched a show and thought, “My life is different now. Nothing will ever be the same.”?
Me neither… Okay, a few times. It depends on what I am looking at. I have to be interested in the plot, the characters, the aesthetics. I need to be intrigued and convinced to keep watching for more action, suspense, drama, laughter. Other than horror movies and Pixar films, anime has always made me feel a way. The first anime I ever watched was Sailor Moon back in kindergarten. At least, from what I remember that was the first one other than Studio Ghibli movies. God, Kiki’s Delivery Service was and, still is, a banger.
Now, I’m not one for violence and gore without purpose, oftentimes finding myself drawn to series and manga that strike a balance between the fight and the plot. The first episode of Undead Unluck took me by surprise and forced me to watch it whether I wanted to or not. It captured my love for silly comedy and hilariously overpowered characters. You have a girl who hurts people by accident and a man who hurts himself on purpose. They meet under strange and sad circumstance but form an alliance due to Undead’s strong personality. I won’t spoil it, but for your nose-bleeding perverted romance fans, there’s even a bit of flavor for you to enjoy a taste.
Unlock, or Fuuko Izumo, is a cute girl with a big goal and wants nothing to do with her unique but troublesome power. It was sad to watch a character exude self-hatred to the extreme (you’ll see if you watch it) due to a power she did not ask for. It hurts those she loves and causes death and destruction based on certain conditions. I imagine it feels like to be unrealistically physically strong and always struggling to delicately crack an egg over a pan, watching dejectedly as little pieces of shell absolutely destroy what would have been a wonderful omelet. Then Undead, named Andy by Izumo, comes along and challenges her very core, beliefs and self-worth. His power, unfortunate depending on one’s perspective, contradicts Unluck’s and they form a surprisingly adorable duo. It isn’t about whose power is better nor is it solely focused on romance, avoiding the cliche, “I fell in love at first sight”. More like, Undead fell in love with the exciting possibility Unluck’s power could bring him.
I have watched all four episodes and am eagerly waiting the fifth. The characters make me laugh, the fight scenes make me cheer and the little bits of romance, albeit more perverted than not, are cute in their own way. It is a refreshing series that reminds me of My Hero Academia. Both have characters with unique abilities and who struggle with real feelings, fears and triumphs. Deku does not inherit One for All and suddenly changes into this amazing hero with outstanding strength and readiness to fight the main villains. The dude can barely go an episode without breaking a body part from using a meager amount of his power. I feel like Undead is the same. He has been learning, experimenting and shaping his ability to make it something truly special for himself. The audience hears small statements and watches the occasional flashback that led them to believe Undead had to go through hell and back to become as strong as he is now. I’m still learning about Unluck, but so far, her young life has just been hell.
As I watch the series, I plan to write a few more articles about my thoughts and feelings, so be prepared for spoilers. Don’t worry – I will put up a warning should I chose to write specific details.
Watch Undead Unluck on Hulu now! Four episodes in and I’m already ready to devote my entire existence to this show and Jujutsu Kaisen. And Dr. Stone.
Witches get stitches, right? Especially ones that come from battling dragons and fighting off mayhem.
BURN THE WITCH! is a manga written and illustrated by Tite Kubo, first published in July 2018 in Weekly Shōnen Jump as a one-shot chapter with an anime movie adaption came out in October 2020 broken into three episodes. The world is set in the Bleach universe in a place called Reverse London. The protagonists Ninny, Noel and Balgo set off a mini adventure to defeat a Dark Dragon and figure out what’s going behind the scenes of the latest dragon attack. Now, if you don’t like movies or mini-series, turn the other way and go watch Bleach or One Piece with their hundreds of episodes. But I promise this little movie is worth the hour and a half it takes to watch it.
Although set in The Bleach universe, BURN THE WITCH! has its own charm and unique feel. The characters are a fun trio made up of hot-headed, confident Ninny; cool and collected Noel; and of course, comedic relief who can’t take his eyes off the pretty girl, Blago. Ninny and Noel go way back and are partners whose job as Witches is to detain or kill dragons. Balgo, a dragonclad, or someone-who-has-been-bitten-by-a-dragon, causes mayhem with the help of his adorable dragon friend, Osushi. This leads to a string of events from a dark dragon attack to a new character also causing headaches with their dragon-cladness.
Now with that out of the way, let’s get into my thoughts and feelings about this series. I’m a sucker for witches and dragons. Growing up, I always wanted to be a witch for Halloween (until the year I wanted to be Inuyasha) and loved anything to do with dragons. I even wrote the author of Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle for those interested) a letter telling him all about my love for his book and asked tons of questions about his writing process. He sent me a letter back AND an autographed picture of him AND a signed poster. To be fair, I also loved pirates, Vikings, fairytale creatures, folk lore and anything to do with mythology and legends. Call it nostalgia but when I saw the ad for BURN THE WITCH!, I had to give it a try.
Something the series does well is pack a good plot into a short amount of time. Yes, it has some holes and yes, it could do with a bit more time to really flesh out some character development. You can only stuff so much detail into a mini-series before it becomes a heaping garbage pile of… well, trash. In this series, you get a healthy dose of action sewn into little bits of character development that really make it feel like you’re watching a solid anime movie. The idea of a Reverse London reminded me of a book I love called “A Darker Shade of Magic” by V.E.Schwab, also set in “Londons” that are heaping with magical people and objects. The characters in the book pull you into the world versus the focal point being the world itself. The same goes for BURN THE WITCH!. You are quickly intrigued by Reverse London and what makes it different from whatever other London there is. I wanted to know more about dragons and Witches and the mechanics of Ninny and Noels world right away and appreciated that the series dove into those elements here and there, so you get a better understanding of why this isn’t exactly the world of Bleach.
Then there’s the characters. Ninny became my favorite character from the moment she showed off her sassy, hot-headed attitude. Arrogant characters are not usually my preferred flavor of personality, but Tite Kubo did a great job of making her likable – almost like Katniss Everdeen if she’s your cup of tea. Ninny gave me ‘I-will-hurt-anyone-who-dares-hurt-my-friends-or-anyone-I-care-about’ vibes. She may bicker with Noel and throw down tough love to Macey (another character), but it comes from a place of great trust and care. Otherwise, she wouldn’t give a crap and let everyone be attacked by dragons.
So, to watch or not, that is the burning question. I’d vote to watch it if you like action. Watch it if you like cute girls fighting dragons. Watch it if you like dragons or magic or something to turn on in the background while you zone out. It doesn’t hurt to burn some time watching a pretty good mini-series.
Two strange but adorable characters trying to understand each other.
Imagine this: You’re a young man – teenager to be precise – who likes all things macabre, including thoughts about the death of those around you. But, as life would have it, someone comes crashing into your orbit and changes your view on the world AND your opinion of them. Bam! Now your feelings are spiraling into the madness called self-reflection and pondering that your worldview may not always be the healthiest.
It sounds something straight out of a school life manga series. To be fair, the archetype of the troubled guy with a chip on his shoulder never gets old because many of us relate to a character like this. Most of us have felt the same way, cursing the world for its unfair treatment and harboring a bravado to put up with it. That, “I-don’t-care-what-anyone-thinks-of-me” attitude. It feels good and strong and powerful in the face of adversity. Like wearing maxed out armor with all the defensive points during a heated battle.
When I clicked on “The Dangers in My Heart” by SAKURAI Norio while scrolling mindlessly through HIDIVE, I was in the mood for something silly and light. But what I got was a show close to “Komi Can’t Communicate” with characters that aren’t completely oblivious to each other’s feelings (No offense Komi and Tadano). The dark, gloomy boy who hates the bubbly, outgoing popular girl enough to want her dead. A girl who can’t stop snacking and tries to hide it by seeking solstice among silent observers. Bits and pieces of plot that threatened to snap my heart strings. “Dangers” is a fun, flirty, sad and fulfilling story that shows the beauty of difference in perspectives and power of personal growth.
Ichikawa is an interesting main character. Resembling Atushi from Lovely Complex, he is short but, unlike Atushi, hardly athletic. He spends a lot of his time reading and thinking about death and despair. Although these are not original character quirks and done before in other series, what makes Ichikawa special is his ability to grow from fear of rejection and self-loathing to a teen who is able to show his deep pool of empathy, kindness and consideration of others. His dour, sour attitude is contrasted with his desire for people to care about one another’s feelings to the point that he feels his own presence to be a bother to others.
I really enjoy Yamada, his hate-love interest, as she resembles what he does not have. She’s easy-going, struggles to read the room and is described as an ‘airhead’. In my opinion, this ‘airheadness’ is her vibe towards life rather than something to do with her intelligence levels. While Ichikawa overthinks and stresses and worries, Yamada snacks, plays and otherwise tries to have fun during her days. Both learn the importance of their individual strengths and weaknesses, and by the end of the series, it’s clear that they find strength in each other.
Overall, “The Dangers In My Heart” is a 12-episode series worth the watch. I thoroughly enjoyed the freshness of both characters and plot line. This could have easily been a show focused solely on the differences between the two characters was a sprinkle of predictable romance and a dash of exaggerated humor. Thankfully, the manga artist and author created a beautiful tory line depicting real emotions, teenage awkwardness and sweet moments of acceptance. I definitely plan to rewatch in the future. What can I say: I’m a sucker for dangers in my own heart.
I discovered Assassination Classroom way too late. The manga, written by Yusei Matsui, was serialized in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from July 2012 to March 2016. The anime debuted January 2015 and I must have been sleeping. It’s the classic tale of a bunch of misfit students forced to band together to defeat an evil being and save the world. Except the evil being is actually a really nice guy with a tragic backstory and shaped like an octopus. Oh, and he’s their teacher. Literally their school teacher.
It’s my kind of weird and quirky, so I gave it a try thinking it would be a silly show to pass the time. Ten minutes into the first episode and I realized my foolish mistake. The series is chalk full of likable and relatable characters, fun adventures and plot that doesn’t feel like the artist just stuck things in random places to fill up time before the main battle. Every episode drew me into their world and I did not want it to end at episode 47. But, I’m not here to discuss the series details – that can be another post. It’s karma I want to talk about.
Okay, the title is a bit exaggerated. Other things changed my life more significantly than this one anime, but Kuroko No Basuke (Kuroko’s Basketball) did something to my dark, dingy heart. I was not blessed enough to find this anime or manga sooner in my life, but when I did, it was the right time.
Flashback to undergrad. I was in my third and final year, thankful to graduate early because I was sad, lonely and feeling low. Majority of my friends had moved out of state or transferred, I dropped out of my sorority due to unmatched morals and I had to quit boxing on the university club team to attend my three hour advanced painting course. There was no way to hide the fact that I was depressed and, after a couple horrible roommate experiences, missing home.
It is time. I have thought about this for ages and talk my self out of it every single time. Blogging about my thoughts, feelings and anime would never be relatable. I stated on Tumblr with my platform Anime Mental but quickly lost myself to work, responsibilities and other writing I had at the time. Who cares about my opinions on mental health and anime? Probably not a lot of people, so why bother posting, right?
Ever feeling like you could join a criminal group and be fine? Yeah… me neither…
When I first clicked on the ‘Watch Now’ button on Funimation for this anime, I didn’t expect too much. It sounded cool, pretty original and looked aesthetically pleasing. Bright color entice me.
What I got was a diverse cast of characters and immediate action. The first episode had my hooked from the moment Ordinary Person made an ordinary appearance in an unordinary city. It seems futuristic and, after finally reading the synopsis, it confirmed the setting as a dystopian future. Set in Kansai, which became a vassal state of Kantō (Wikipedia), the city runs rampant with criminals called Akudama. Ordinary Person gets roped into a mysterious, action-packed heist with five criminals who appear to collect a big payday at the Kansai Police Headquarters. There are some twists right off the bat and it was pretty entertaining watching this poor civilian have to lie her way to safety. Or, what she thought would be safety.
“Obviously you are underestimating Kurama. Do you know why I chose him to be my partner? To avoid fighting him myself. Watch, he’s more cutthroat then I am when it comes to battle, and unbelievably precise.” – Hiei, Yu Yu Hakusho
Yu Yu Hakusho Wiki – Fandom
He’s a genius, foxy guy with a lot of emotional turmoil. His surname is Yoko Kurama from when he was still a high rank demon living as a bandit in the demon world. After his demise, Yoko sends his soul flying to the human world and takes over the body of a baby boy named Shuichi Minamino. This the red-haired version of him that lives with his mother, goes to school and does normal human stuff. Although Yoko retains his memories and personality, Kurama has stated that he is both demon and human, both Yoko and Shuichi. I put him as first mainly because of my bias, but I truly think this character is well-designed, complex and unique plant-based abilities that set him aside from the pack.
Anyone else shook by the finale of the Entertainment District Arc? Because it felt like I had just come down for the longest rollercoaster ride since re-watching Yu-Gi-Oh fight Pegasus. As much as I would to spoil the finale, I also don’t want to do that because that it is not cool. So, I will focus on the Arc as a whole, and my take on everything that went down for our favorite demon-slayer and crew.
**Disclaimer: Light spoilers ahead. Read at your own discretion.
