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Rock 🥈 Paper 🥇 Buzzsaw 🏆 Love Is A Game °8.2° °excellent° 💯%🔍

Hikari Hanazono has always been able to do things that normal people cannot do. As a child, she assumed no one could beat her. ~Ever~ Then she met Kei Takishima.

Hikari & Kei hold the top two rankings in school and are among seven of the academy's best students in a class known as “Special A." The problem is (and this is a big problem for Hikari) Kei's ranked #1. Always #1. She's ranked #2. Forever #2. Thus, the lifetime rivalry kicked into high gear. It's Hikari’s very ... raison d'etre: She must beat him. She must triumph. She will. 😤 She absolutely will❗ What she doesn't realize is that she beat him long ago. He's already utterly 😍 vanquished. Not that she'd notice. She's BUSY.

SAC is 2008 release. It's 1 season consisting of 24 24-minute English dubbed episodes. The English voice acting is excellent, as always. Unfortunately, none of the written word is transcribed. One of the characters only communicates by way of writing on a tablet. We don't get any of that dialogue. I understand that it may not be cost-effective to put English words on the screen to translate what's written. But couldn't they, at least, have a voice actor read it for us? This is a common problem in older anime. Thankfully, newer shows do a much better job.

Hikari Hanazono is our FL. She's a bit competitive. When it comes to Kei Takishima, she's /rabidly/ competitive. Surely she can beat him once…. She will not give up. Even after scoring straight perfect💯 scores in exams, she came in 2nd (‘When I pointed out an error in the exam the teacher gave me 5 points,’ Kei explains). 😤 Not even then will she give up. Hikari is super fizzy soda, or a Red Bull, perhaps. Kei is an afternoon mint tea. He isn't expressive, and he's always acting cool, so Hikari can't read him at all.

SAC was written for warmth and chuckles. While it reinforces the better aspects of human nature, the value in SAC is found in its entertainment. Positive themes to be gleaned are the value of being earnest and hardworking. Also, we shouldn't judge others for good or bad based on the gifts (like intelligence) or privileges (like wealth) that they were born with, but rather their character.

SAC is a new twist on old style animation. The art has a signature look. It almost looks like a kid's drawing. Their portrayal of emotional expressiveness is above average. They cleverly use color changes to express emotion with fresh techniques. Pictures can say paragraphs when done skillfully. The almost rustic look to the drawing is full of bold long lines and is dotted with unique markers. It's almost dreamlike. People are long and lean with round eyes and simple features. Backgrounds stylized realism with simple lines, heavy outlining and pale colors. I've never seen another show quite like it.

SAC is a 24-episode smile. The show feels like it could have inspired the magnificent Maid Sama-10, which is a stellar romcom. This just works as a romance. She's oblivious, but he L💓VES her. Attraction builds slowly over the course of the show. The last half of the last episode nearly reaches the level of romance-porn, it's that good, and there's a great wrap up. They missed one opportunity: It's astounding that he never said to her that she's his #1, his first🏆place, and she had conquered him long ago. They opted to keep it playful. Perhaps they were saving that for the sequel? They did such a good job, overall, we can overlook it. As a bonus, there are secondary romances that are a wonderful compliment to the lead duo.

There's nothing as sweet as a challenge that one can't lose. That's where we find Hikari. Sometimes, NOT prevailing gives way to an even better reward. Hikari doesn't have any concept of that until the show’s end. While she was piddling around contesting inconsequential things, like test scores, she unwittingly won life's MOST consequential contest: She bagged a prince among men. She'll never be looked at as second best ever again.


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8 📝78 🎭83 💓8 🦋8 🌞65 🎨79 ⚡55 🎵/🔊6 😅6 😭2 😱2 😯3 😖1 🤔5 💤0 🔚9


Age 12+ for occasional language such as b@$+@rd & d@mm!. Rated TV-PG: Parental Guidance Suggested.


Re-📺? I plan to start a friend on this one, so rewatch is nearly assured.

💄True Change: It Was the Inside That Needed Fixing °7.5° °VG° 💯%🔍

“Who was it that decided that if you're ugly everybody gets to treat you like dirt?”

Dumplings. They are delicious. One of the best foods on earth. But nobody wants “Dumpling” for a nickname. Lim Jugyeong/Jug is ordinary looking. Her grades are nothing special. She likes heavy metal and horror manga. And she doesn't have one friend. She's an outcast.

Based on a web manhwa, TB is a 2024 Studio N, Cocktail Media Studios release. It is 1 season consisting of 13 19-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available. A 2nd ... season has been announced, but there are no details about it yet. TB is so Korean. That's a good thing. It was made into a Kdrama of the same name in 2020. Rated around an 8 between IMDb and MDL, it's 16 60-minute episodes, and the two leads are human specimens. I haven't seen it yet, but it's in the queue. This version of TB is rated 6.60 on MAL and 6.7 on IMDb. It's not the first romance rated in the 6's that is undervalued, imo. If you like romances, this is easily better than a 6. It is well conceived and written, the art is seamless, and it is a solid love story. Sure, there's some familiar formulas, but that doesn't matter much if the execution is good. The biggest drag on the show is how Jug is alittle too frantic. I wasn't crazy about her English voice portrayal. When I watch it again I'll probably try the Korean voice actors because I adore the Korean language. The art is good. People are drawn with old-style round eyes and simple features in standard fashion. Backgrounds are faded, low detail, and very much relegated to the background. The focus is on the characters here.

We're in HS. A misunderstanding leads to a mini cat fight with another girl. Unfortunately, it's enough to get Jug transferred to another school. Her mother wants her to make a fresh start.

Not one to be optimistic, Jug doesn't want to start over. She stumbles onto a makeup tutorial video and practices the craft. The results aren't half bad! When she shows up at her new school, everyone wants to know who the /pretty/ girl is. Actually, now she's getting too much attention. It's too bizarre. “Let's go have some lunch. I think they have dumplings today!” Jug has friends now, but just that word is still a trigger for Jug. .She feels like a fraud! If anybody finds out what she really looks like, if anybody discovers that she's actually ugly, it's all going to be over.

If she was that worried about being discovered, she never should have left the house without her makeup on, right? But that new manga volume is out. She read the previous volume 💯×s just waiting for this new release. So she goes to the bookstore, unadorned, and has a fight with a beautiful boy (Suho) over the last copy. He actually seems to know more about the story than she does! They did a rapid fire quiz back and forth to test each other's knowledge. He's the one who walked away victorious. The very next morning at school, there HE is, walking the halls 😬. He didn't recognize her. Whew!

Yikes! They keep running into eachother. Her friends have friends who are friends with him. Next thing she knows, he's at her lunch table. “Have we met before?” It's happening. He sees something familiar. She flat-out denies it.

Her life as master of disguise needs a little work, though. When he hands her the limited edition missing earbud that she dropped at the bookstore that night, it can't be denied: The beauty and the bookstore nerd are the same girl. Suddenly, she's his errand girl. That's how she's buying his silence. From the outside, they look like a couple.

Eventually, Jug notices other lost girls in need of help and reaches out in kindness. Every woman and girl should be equipped to look her best! Then, she's nominated for high school goddess. She knows she doesn't compare to the other candidates, especially the true goddess, Kang Sujin. E'erthing about that girl is perfect. Jug intends to withdraw as the contest is way too much spotlight for somebody with a big secret. However, the girls in her department see it as some kind of collective validation. They've rallied behind her and are ready to start a big campaign. This is their time in the ☀. She can't figure out a way to exit quietly into the night.

All this while, Suho is hovering around. He's slightly less demanding, of late, but still quite irritating. Also, a second student has seen her without makeup! Han Seojun is a new transfer. He found her wallet when she dropped it at the fast food restaurant. When he sees her at school he comments that she looks familiar and asks if they've met? ‘Of course not,’ she responds. Another wrinkle is how Seojun and Suho appear to be enemies: Long standing ones. They knew eachother before. Seojun dislikes Jug Because he believes she's Suho's girlfriend. He softens on her after she helps his sister, Han Gowoon. Soon, he /really/ softens on her as fate keeps winking at Jug and giving her a slap on the back side. She randomly draws Seojun's name as her portrait assignment. They end up spending time together. Adrenaline-filled time - he drives a rice🏍rocket. Jug will never get the tangles out of her hair.

In the background, Jug has an enemy. #1 school goddess, Sujin, has a crush on Suho. She wants to destroy Jug. Sujin sets her traps, but Suho ends up rescuing Jug (with the help of Seojun) and their bond increases. This all spurs Jug to want to win the high school goddess contest. Sujin isn't a goddess. She doesn't deserve the title: Sujin is a devil. Jug becomes so focused on Sujin that she doesn't notice she's involved in her own love triangle. Suho and Seojun have found yet another reason to be enemies. They both like Jug.

One reason that Jug has not noticed that these hunks like her is that it's never occurred to her before that a guy /could/ like her. Another reason is that she's busy with her new friends. Jug has made TRUE friends. Sua Kang, Han Gowoon, and Chaerin Ahn are her gang and she treasures them. What will they think when they find out the “truth” about her? Jug has to come clean.

“Why do the hottest guys always have the ugliest attitude?” Bullying, mean girls, shallow values, exterior appearances, and gossip are on display. “As an actor, I understand how nice it is to be able to turn into someone else every now and then,” Drama Club veteran, Suho, acknowledges. However, he doesn't see much difference between plain Jug and made up Jug! So he claims. His vision has gone beyond the exterior. He sees her for her, and he did the first time they met. True beauty comes from within. There's a few women out there who don't “need” makeup. That's a rare thing. Most women look better with cosmetics and they've been applying it since ancient times. There's always a tension between how things should be and how things are. Outward appearances shouldn't be how we're judged, solely. However, we should all make an effort to be our best and look our best. It's a matter of outward respect and inward dignity. Everyone has to find their comfort zone. These things have to be balanced. Somebody who's obsessed with just physical appearance is going to be a horrible, shallow person. Somebody who thinks physical appearance deserves no attention is self-absorbed and deluded.

TB is more about /True Growth/ than anything else. Jug fixed her outside… but she didn't fix anything, because it was the /inside/ that needed fixing. No matter what she looks like, she still believes she's ugly. Much worse than that, however, is that she believes that's where her self-worth abides - in her exterior wrapping. It's actually preposterous, if one looks at it from a merely logical point of view. Looks don't have staying power, and the looks of a person change as one gets to know them better: Plain people may become beautiful and beautiful people could become disgusting when the outside gives way to the inside. Furthermore, when we're talking about long-term strategy, looks don't last. If you are beautiful to someone from the inside then you will be beautiful to them forever. Isn't that the ideal?

TB is mostly about True Love. He saw her when she was plain and he liked her anyway. At the end of S1, these two still haven't had a chance to date. Suho has to leave the country for a family emergency. Jug doesn't know when he'll come back. Seojun, at least in part, hopes he never does.


IMHO〰🖍

📣7.3 📝7.7 🎭7 💓7 🦋6 🎨7 🎵/🔊🔚7.6 ▪ 🌞5 ⚡4.5 😅3 😭2.5 😱2 😯4 🤢1 🤔5 💤0 🤗5.5

Shazams: Heart for you (Seojun's thene) by blessed is beautiful.

Age 12+ Language: there isn't much but there is $h!+ ×1, @$$hole 1× he!! ×1
F💣: We see someone flip the bird. Rated: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older. A girl is criticized for checking into a hotel with a guy - that's actually a good object lesson.


Re-📺? Sure, especially when S2 comes out


From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

💘
Ouran High School Host Club-8,,
Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8,
Special A Class 💓8.2,
Maid Sama-10,
Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.4,
Mischievous Kiss,
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7,
Colourcloud Palace-7.5,
Hakkenden,
7th Time Loop-7.9,
Honey & Clover,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale-7.5
Real Girl-7.5,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Your Lie In April-9,
Violet Evergarden-9.5

👩‍🔬 The Empress Who Does Battlefield Trachs⚕ °6.5° °good tween watch° 💯%🔍


The one sentence review: DrE, being both good and flawed, is an enjoyable and educational romance that would particularly appeal to a younger crowd.

She was cold. She was rude. She had a short temper. She was imperious and bossy. She was a mean girl. She was a b!+ch.

She married the Crown Prince and became empress, but she was an IDIOT. And she died. She woke up (reincarnated) in Korea as an orphan. She grew up to be a doctor. Recalling her past life fully, and with her situation no longer ... a pampered one, her eyes were opened to human suffering (she's suffering!) and the error of her ways. She wanted to make up for the mistakes she made before, as she caused a lot of misery in her past life. She can see that, now. On her way to to do an operation, the plane went down. She woke back up in her old body, in her previous life, on the eve of her betrothal announcement to the crown prince.

Adapted from the Korean Manhwa, DrE is a 2024 release that is rated 7.25 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 12 23-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available. This is on a tween level. It is simple, sweet, and contained.

Elise de Clorance-1.0 was a spoiled ignorant brat. Elise-2.0 is a strong, intelligent, and caring 21st century woman & physician in the body of a teen missy in a time of medical skills that are 80-100 years behind her own.

Elise-1.0 had loved her husband, but she drove him to hate her. The thought of repeating their time together is the worst possible future Elise-2.0 can imagine. ANYTHING but that! She will not marry the this go-round! She won't ruin both their lives!! He was a cold and detached husband. He spurned all of her efforts to love and care for him, emphatically declaring that he only married her to please his father, but he cares nothing for her. Notta thing! Zippo. Goose egg. Total wreckitude.

This is her second spin. She has the benefit of a previous run. She knows what's going to happen. She just needs to tweak the bad stuff. On her first day back she's having lunch with the Royal family. She helps the king avoid a war he would lose. Next, she gave the family enough information so that the royal doctors could stumble onto properly diagnosing the King's diabetes. Finally, she asked the king to break off her engagement to his son. It won't work out. She already knows that. She has a ion for medicine, she explains. She wants to be a doctor, not his family, she tells the king, to his amazement.

By this point in the lunch, The King was looking at her as if she's extraordinary, and he was positively salivating at the thought of her being the next empress. When additional intelligence ops proved her right about their war plans, the King decided that the Royal family simply MUST possess her. Therefore, he wasn't thrilled at the idea of calling off the engagement. He however, looks at the quandary as a chess game. The king doesn't think Elise could possibly make it as a doctor. The thought of Elise-1.0 becoming a medical professional is laughable, truly. Medical training is arduous and grueling; it's gruesome and bloody, too. His majesty agrees to let her try it for a period of months. If she can make it and prove that she's more worth to the kingdom as a docotr than as its Empress, she will be permitted to pursue the profession of doctor. If she can't, she'll put her full attention to being a good empress. It never occurred to the king that he could lose this wager. He doubts she'll last a week.

Linden de Romanoff is our Crown Prince. He's tall, he's dark, and he's brooding. He became very brooding during their marriage and she re it well. Now he seems neutral about everything. What Elise-2.0 fails to notice is that the noticed her during that extraordinary lunch, too. She's on his radar. Big time.

They set her up at a middle tier hospital a town or two over from the capital.

Graham de Fallon is the doctor charged with training her as a “favor” to a noble. They kept the optics simple, so he has no idea the Royals are the ones asking the favor. Graham is a mixture of aggravated, disgusted, and impatient. He sends her to the most horrifying and hopeless ward in an effort to get her to give up. He'd already given up on these guys. Immediately, E-2.0 blows him (and everyone else) away with her knowledge. She has the place spic and span. She's operating on patients, who were considered hopeless, to enormous success. She's sweet and the people love her - patients and nurses. Graham is just stymied by her skills.

On an errand which will take him near the hospital where Elise is working, the decides to check in on her progress. Conveniently, the royal family are Masters of Disguise. Prince Linden disguises himself as a tall blonde man, Lord Ron. His Aid is shot in a robbery attempt and they end up at the hospital before they intended. The head doctor says that they can't stop the bleeding and the situation is hopeless. E-2.0 proceeds to treat them to the nation's first splenectomy. A legend is born.

We'll learn early on that Prince Lindon has an illness that he's trying to keep hidden. Elise eventually turns her attention to Lord Ron who has a persistent cough. She encourages him to come for treatment. He doesn't come right away. One day, she finds him wandering around the hospital property. He claims he was just ing by, but she surmises that he's there for medical evaluation. The scene where she's examining him is adorable. She explains that palpation is the only way to evaluate skin temperature and numerous other factors, as she intermittently holds and strokes his face. All he's thinking is: “Does she touch up all the other patients like this?” He's crestfallen when he hears that he's at the last visit,a few months later. Even worse, they'll be no palpation on this visit! He's healed - see ya later, Lord Ron 😱.

The King's birthday celebration is approaching. The crowd collectively gasps as the walks into the ball EARLY. He hates these things. When other young Lords are attempting to ask E-2.0 to dance, he steps in. At this point we are about midshow. The tension is that the king now /must/ have E-2.0 as the next empress, the Crown Prince is falling for her, and she's determined NOT to marry him again because it hurt too much the first time around. She isn't over him. That much is obvious. She's willfully blind to it, though. She refuses to indulge feelings at all.

Elise looks 12 or 13. She's tiny with pale blonde hair and indigo jellybean eyes. She regrets her past behavior and has discovered the joy of helping others. One of her favorite targets used to be de Childe Julian. Not only is Juian's family a political rival to Elise’s, but Julian is also quite obviously in love with Linden. E-2.0 shocks the girl by apologizing for her prior acts of aggression. Why did they ever have to fight so much? It looks like the two women may be able to be friends now, at least as long as Elise remains unengaged to Linden.

That's the gist of it. Every episode offers a short anatomy lesson. They give the best explanation of a pneumothorax that I've ever seen. The high IQ is one of the things I love about anime. The art is simple and flat. People are drawn for cuteness, not reality. The backgrounds are detailed and lovely. It seems obvious that these old world romance animes are a lot of work because the backgrounds have to be so ornate. There's ornate furniture and bobbles and vases and picture frames and wallpaper and gilded gold on everything. There's beautiful dresses, jewelry and hairdos.

The drawback is that this would be too simple for many. It's actually best suited for tweens. My rating reflects how lightweight the show is, at times. Nevertheless, the good outweighs the bad sufficiently to pull it out of average range. It's good enough to watch. The Romance is shaping up rather nicely; Linden has fallen for E-2.0. She fell for him a lifetime ago. Literally. What will it take to heal this relationship?


IMHO〰🖍

📣7 📝6.5 🎭7 💓5 🦋6 🎨7 🎵/🔊6 🔚? ▪ 🌞7⚡5 😅1 😭3 😱2 😯2 🤢3 🤔5 💤0 🤗4.5


Age 10+ Rated: PG-13

Re-📺? On to the next!

💘
Ouran High School Host Club-8,,
Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8,
Special A Class 💓8.2,
Maid Sama-10,
Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.4,
Mischievous Kiss,
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7,
Colourcloud Palace-7.5,
Hakkenden,
7th Time Loop-7.9,
Honey & Clover,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale-7.5
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Real Girl-7.5,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Your Lie In April-9,
Violet Evergarden-9.5

✒ 📈 On His Own Level 🐜 °9.5° °superb° 💯%🔍

Here's a show about a guy who levels up in a 🌏 where no one else can. SL, itself, levels up a few times as well.

“More than a decade ago, pathways appeared connecting our world to another dimension, ushering in untold horrors. These Gates, teeming with “Magic beasts,” proved immune to conventional weaponry. Some humans awakened abilities to combat the threat. They are known as “hunters”. The magic coursing through them determines their rank. There's S, A, B, C, D, leaving E as the lowest. No amount of training will improve their ... power once it awakens; strength & rank are set from day one.” (condensed)

No hunter is weaker than Sung Jin-woo.

Hunters must close the dungeons in under a week or the barriers will drop & allow beasts to escape. The public has no means to defend themselves against magical beasts. People are like ants to them. Only Hunters can fight them off. Healer. Mage. Taunt skill (all the monsters run to that guy). Stealth skill. Murderous intent. Sprint. There's many moves, modes, & skills to learn. Just like a video game, beasts leave behind crystals that have powers & other valuable properties. Almost everything one can pick up & carry out of a dungeon is valuable. The world economy now revolves around the dungeons.

SL is Korean web novel by Chu-Gong. The title could also be translated as “Only I Level Up”. It is a 2024 release that is rated 8.6 on IMDB. It's 2 seasons consisting of 24 23-minute English dubbed episodes w/ CC available. Season 3 has been greenlighted, already. Per goog: The manhwa consists of 200 chapters. The light novel version of "Solo Leveling" has 270 chapters. So far, they've adapted up to roughly chapter 66.

Hunters? Ant invasion? I sense a nod to Hunter × Hunter, which is probably my favorite anime. I appreciate the call-out. The art is wonderful. People are drawn w/ elegance. Backgrounds are minimally stylized realism. When things in the show turn mind-bending, the animation gets mind-bending. It's spectacular. Camera angles, segues, sound, dialogue… it all comes together beautifully. The show is excellently crafted & it's addicting.

We don't meet our protag until around 17 minutes in. At first, our ML doesn't look like much. He arrives on the job site and the gossip takes off: ‘He's the weakest Hunter alive. He's always getting hurt. It's a wonder he's alive.’ He keeps working b/c he's his family's only source of income. Dad is missing. Sis, Sung Jin-ah, is in school. Mom has Sleeping Sickness - that malady arrived w/ the dungeons & beasts. We will learn that muggles… Eh, non-magical folk w/ low resistance to magic will succumb to it.

Sung Jin-woo/ “Jin” is much like a prototype Japanese-anime-pure-hearted-blushing-maiden-male-protagonist. He's bad w/ names, but he's kind, decent, easily embarrassed, & earnest. He's a E-rank - barely. As two feds walk away from evaluating him, one comments that he's “basically a civilian“.

The first raid we see Jin in ends up being dangerous. One of the leaders wants to leave & Jin was the deciding vote to stay - he's gotta make that W💰N. This D-rank raid turned into a DOUBLE DUNGEON. There was a 2nd, much deadlier, dungeon inside the first one. They are trapped. “WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Thus closes ep1.

Jin is physically weak but he's mentally sharp. Lives saved in that horrifying dungeon are saved b/c of his deductive reasoning. Jin es out before knowing who made it. He was certain he did not. “I wanted another chance!” Jin screams into the darkness. A screen pops up in the air. He's been awarded The Courage of the Weak. Huh?

Hospital room? Well, the eps1&2 dungeon raid was a debacle; 7 of 13 hunters died. When rescuers arrived the dungeon was gone, the scary statues that had attacked the hunters were gone, in fact, all they found was Jin ed out on the dirt. The feds suspect that Jin survived b/c he underwent a reset of his power; a “ReAwakening”. That's rare - really rare. The few that have reawakened have all powered up to A or S class. ALRIGHT! Jin's excited now - for about 10 seconds, until they test him at level E. Still.

After they leave, a screen pops up in front of Jin. It's obvious that no one else can see it. He soon learns he'd better obey it, too. He ignored the order to do daily strength training. At midnight, he entered the penalty phase & had to run for his life from giant-killer-centipede-looking-things for 4 hours. Things have gotten really, REALLY weird. As Jin completes his daily exercises, he gets stronger & he also gets rewarded. He gets immediate recovery, so no fatigue. He's got skill & inventory screens & his quests continually add to his stash. He gets a daily loot box! He's also getting weird looks b/c people think he's talking to the air. One day the loot box gives him a key. Of course he's gonna use it! It unlocks a secret dungeon. Once in, he must clear it or stay trapped! Panic! Jin's doesn't have any confidence in his abilities. When the monsters start attacking, he's scared. But he fights. He fights, dodges, dips, dives, ducks… & he kills monsters. This is new.

Jin is eventually discharged from the hospital & he needs to make 💰. He may be much more powerful, now, but no one knows that. He's s officially still an E. He can't sell any of the high powered weaponry he's been awarded - no E-rank would have that stuff. He has no authority to enter the good gates, & that's how a Hunter makes money. He ends up answering the classified ad of an established team looking for help. That's how he meets D-rank Yoo Jin-ho/ ”Jho”, who shows up to the raid in brand new armor. Daddy's rich. He's bad at picking up on social cues, but he's very happy & friendly. It's only Jin & Jho who are the non-regulars. Once again, things go horribly wrong. “What happens in a dungeon stays in a dungeon.” A dungeon disappears once it's been cleared. If there's bodies left they disappear w/ the dungeon. There's no forensics, studying the crime scene, nor medical examiner. There's only the word of the survivors. Obviously, a system like this opens up the door for all kinds of nefarious crime. Everything in the dungeon is worth money & some people don't want to share. Jin & Jho have to defend themselves against their team and only they make it out alive. That team underestimated Jin, & he overpowered them. Jin doesn't know it, but he has a very scary enemy just for surviving that gate. The S-ranked brother of the team leader who will never leave that fateful dungeon blames the two survivors. Jin also has a new HUGE fan - Jho calls him “Boss,” now.

Jin came out of that dungeon rankled but much more powerful - every kill makes him stronger. Later that night he learns that the system will negate most toxins in /his/ system. So much for alcohol & he needed to get drunk. The game gives him another key. It's an S-ranked dungeon, this time. He figures he wouldn't have gotten the key if he can't do it, so he takes the plunge - & almost dies. This one takes everything he has. He defeats the monster, but the dungeon isn't clear. There's a castle there w/ a very ominous energy coming from it: The Demon's Castle. The reward is the Elixir of Life. Could it heal his mother? He knows if he goes there he'll die. He must get stronger first. Ep7 closes. What we learn about Jin is that he seems easy going, but he's STUBBORN. Give up? It hardly occurs to him. It's his tenacity that propels him. That is one of the themes: Never give up.

This author knows how to start mid-level-awesome & take the work to mind-blowing heights. Gates open to cave-like dungeons, but as Jin becomes more powerful, the gates become more complex & grand. There's whole cities, forests, castles, & towns. The gates that his loot keys unlock don't disappear; he can leave & come back to work his way through gradually. Some even have sentient habitants whom he can communicate w/. They cannot be swayed away from trying to kill him, however. More than one of them mentions a voice in their heads that commands them to hunt & kill humans.

All the while, in a world where nobody can level up, he's leveling up constantly. The game forces him to work out, so he's getting ripped too. His baby face is gone. He's lean. He's stronger, he's calmer, he's smarter, & he's quicker. He even got taller. He carries himself differently. People are starting to notice. /Women/ are starting to notice. The stronger he gets, however, the more he feels like he's falling apart inside. Lots of changes are going on. It's hard to keep up.

“If you gaze too long into the Abyss, the Abyss gazes back into you.” One villain gets that dig in after verbally reducing hunters to mere killing machines. It's true that violence can be a drug for some. Jin is getting accustomed to violence. “Has leveling up made me braver?” Has it made him more ruthless?

There's a sense of a force that is maneuvering all of them - the wizard behind the curtain - are they in OZ? Jin learns that beasts in the system don't even consider him human. The voice in their head demanding that they kill humans is silent when it comes to him. Another thing he learns is that the beasts speak another language. He's been speaking their language w/o even realizing it. Onlookers had to inform him that they couldn't understand any of his conversation w/ the Elf King, to Jin's shock. “THE SYSTEM WANTS ME TO LIVE. IT WANTS ME STRONG,” Jin realizes.

“The dungeons, the gates, the beasts, that's just the tip of the iceberg. They have the power to commit wholesale destruction.” So says a Hunter who was trapped in a gate for 10 yrs. Everyone is going about business as usual, while world-ending peril is fast approaching. S2 ends in a world-peril level cliffhanger. S3 can't come soon enough!


QUOTES🗣

Focus on succeeding not trying.

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣9 📝9.7 🎭8.5 🎨8.5 🎵/🔊6 🔚? ▪ 🌞5 ⚡9 😅2 😭4 😱6 😯4 🤢6.5 🤔4 💤0 🤗7

💓5 🦋2: Cha Hae-in is an S-level Hunter. She's laced into the episodes here and there, but we haven't seen much of her by the end of S2. It does appear they're going to be a “thing,” but it hasn't happened yet.


Age 16+ severed body parts and people being cut in half. Language; $h!+; Rating: R - 17+

Re-📺? Already did, and it's been a long time since I rewatched something right away.

Offshoot productions: A compilation film of the first season, titled Solo Leveling: ReAwakening. There's also a spin-off series called "Solo Leveling: Ragnarok" w/ around 200 chapters



From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

🚀🚨⚡
Scissor 7-8,
The Last Airbender-10,
Assassination Classroom-9,
Trollhunters-9.5,
Samurai Champloo-8.6,
Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon,,
Jujutsu Kaisen-9,
Hunter × Hunter-10,
Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Legend of Exorcism-8.8,
Invincible-8.5,
Tokyo Revengers-8.2,
Made in Abyss-9 (S1 so far….),
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood-10,
Arcane,
Solo Leveling-9.5,
Parasyte the Maxim 8.9,
Demon Slayer 9.3, starts slow… so what? once the train gets rolling it's unstoppable
Castlevania-8.4,
Blade Runner: Black Lotus-8.6,
Akame ga Kill! 8.6,
Primal-8.3,
Attack On Titan-8.9,

➰➿♻ A Charmed Groundhog Life ♻➿➰ °7.9° °Excellent° 💯%🔍

It opens grey and red. Grey castle. Grey weaponry. Grey skies with grey rain streaking down. Slashing the blanket of grey is red. Red roses and red blood are everywhere.

Hein Arnold, the Emperor of Galkhein: He started the war. The defenders are like bunnies against him. They can't land a strike. Our narrator pierces his shoulder as s/he (is this person a woman or man?) es into oblivion. “Next time.” Next time…. Then, Irmgard Weitzner Rishe is awake in an old, but new body and an old, but ... new life. As if /she's/ a villainess, the crown prince is declaring her an unworthy woman and annulling their engagement. Again. (So, she's apparently engaged to the crown prince… WAS engaged; ‘scuze me). As she departs with the prince drolling on in the background, she comments that she knows how this goes because it's the 7th time she's re-lived her life. SEVENTH.

The first time the dumped her she was upset, tbf. She demanded to know why. Her parents locked her out of the house and disowned her! That upset her /then/. None of that can upset her /now/. Not anymore. She now gives the 's molly-rant the attention she would a TV commercial. Ho-hum. Which direction will she go this time?

Life 1: She became a traveling merchant and saw the world. She died young in the war.

Life 2: Back again? Surely, she must be dreaming! She leaves the castle before the prince can even finish. This time, she's bringing more of her possessions with her to fund her travels. But this delay caused her to miss the merchant caravan! This life will be different. She studies herbs and medicine. She died young in the war.

Life 3: She went directly to Dr. Ivan, whom she met in her previous life. She will study under him. She died young in the war.

Life 4: She is a handmaid in a Duke's house. She died young in the war.

Life 5: Hunter. The war finally hunted her down.

Life 6: After being a hunter, Knight is a logical next step. She disguised herself as a man and fought as a knight - she's the narrator at the beginning of ep1. We witness that war related death.

She liked all of her lives. Each one was fulfilling, and Hein Arnold was the cause of her death each time. He's a warmonger! Even if it's only life #6 that he personally extinguished, he caused all her deaths, nonetheless. So what's all this living done for her? She's into simply EVERYTHING. She left the hothouse environment and pampered life of a Duke's family. She hit the road. She fended for herself. She learned how to make things grow, heal things, build things: She was productive. She learned how to fight. She's /still/ interested in swordplay.

She just can't seem to stay alive. This time, Loop #7, she's determined to live. Just as she makes that determination while rounding the corner, she walks into a broad set of pecs so firm they're akin to a stack of plywood more than human skin and muscle. These pectorals are attached to a man, and she hits him so hard that her nose is red. What's worse, is that it's her killer from her 6th life, Hein Arnold. (Huh? What's he doing here?) After some awkward introductions and exchanging of words, she shocks him by jumping off the balcony onto the grass below. See Ya👋❕

Based on a manga/light novel by authors, Kino Hinoki (Art) & Amekawa Touko (Story) 7thL is a 2024 release that is rated 7.51 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 12 23-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available.

As she heads down the road, she has no idea that she burned an impression into Hein Arnold's brain. He is utterly smitten. Rishe runs into the Crown Prince again. He wants to fight. He didn't get the emotional satisfaction he expected when he broke up with her. In fact, she doesn't seem to care about the at all! There's a confrontation. A crowd forms. One of the spectators is /that/ man, her killer, and the man who started the wars that decimated the world: Hein Arnold. He asks her to marry him (😯❓). “I respectfully decline.” Her response is immediate. He then starts laughing, which confuses Rishe even more. The King arrives on the scene. He clobbers his son, the crown prince, he apologizes to Rishe, and he sanctions her ⛓marriage to Prince Arnold⛓

Why would he want to marry her⁉ All she gets when she asks him is that he's ‘fallen for her’. Hmpfff. A likely story. Next thing she knows, she's in the carriage on her way to his place; HIM - the man who killed her #6, the man who started a war in 1,2,3,4,5, & 6. He's her worst enemy. She's smart enough to lay down some ground rules. #1: NO TOUCHING! 2. She tells this dark prince that she wants to laze around the castle and do nothing when they get married. She's hoping to turn him off. He doesn't seem phased. That's a boldfaced lie, anyway. This gurl goes until she drops. She'll literally fall asleep on the floor, in the middle of a room, from sheer exhaustion - mid sentence! She's irrepressible. Many times, the prince says he can't wait to see what she comes up with next. How is she going to surprise (shock) him next time?

/Her/ first shock comes after their group fights the bandits. As she surveys the bloody aftermath, she realizes that none of the bandits were killed. Every one of them is still alive. Clearly, this prince is not as bloodthirsty as she'd imagined. She's able to impress him (even more) with her healing capabilities.

I have to compare this to The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.6, which I watched back-to-back with this. Now I love Rae, but I love this heroine every bit as much, and maybe more. She is so /accomplished/, like the fabled /accomplished/ woman they discuss in Pride and Prejudice (the one who doesn't actually exist). Of course, she's lived 7 lives, which is lots of extra practice time. I like the ML in WREU@TDM more - he's a superb ML. It's hard to know where this Arnold guy is going, and he has a cold side that is unappealing, but Rishe seems to be thawing him out efficiently. WREU@TDM has a slight edge for being a total blast, but I loved both of these shows enough to pick up the manga and finish the stories - something I've never done before.

They get lots of mileage out of the no-touching rule. He gets into the habit of breaking it and then rewarding her with jewelry, or something like that, as compensation. He doesn't want to stop her antics (she even enters knight training as a new recruit!) But he wants her safe and he doesn't want to SHARE. They have distinct priorities which leads to tension between them.

She wants to nudge him into being a peacemaker, not a warmonger. She's able to stop some bad ideas and foster good ones. She's also transforming the palace and the people in it. She starts with the wait staff, moves on to his little brother, and then she focuses on the surrounding neighborhood slums.

The art is fresh and unique. People are drawn for fantasy with big eyes, big muscles, big colorful hair, and big color-palettes. Rishe's mauve-lavender hair almost glows in some scenes. Apparently, the manga was B&W, so they had full and free reign with the color for the anime, and they made a gourmet meal of it. Sometimes her hair is pink and other times it's purple, especially in low light. It always looks amazing. The backgrounds are stunning works of art. They live in opulence with ornate flowers, vases, gilded frames, crown molding, and wallpaper. It's quite beautiful. In one scene the Aurora Borealis is glowing in the background. People's eyes look like universes. They also had the task of drawing blinged out hair, costume, and jewelry. The art is absolutely top tier.

WREU@TDM is the anime that, for me, did what a 1-season anime is supposed to do: It made me want to read the manga. Most of those 1-season animes are just 12 episode commercials for the manga. That is why so few amazing animes get a second season. The door has not been shut on this one yet. We could get a S2. I hope we do! I'm almost done with WREU@TDM and I've already decided this one is the next one I'll read. I like it that much. Then I'll move on to Maid Sama-10, which I also love. How long will it take the prince to turn Rishe from NIEN-Arnold to ➿✨Hey💞Arnold✨➿? Ima find out.


IMHO〰🖍

📣8 📝7.8 🎭7.9 💓6.5 🦋7 🎨9 🎵/🔊7 🔚 ▪ 🌞6.5 ⚡5 😅2 😭2 😱2.5 😯3 🤢1 🤔5 💤0 🤗5.5

Light strings and other soft orchestra music is the usual accompaniment

Age 11+ it's romamtic but pretty tame. 1 kiss. Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older


Re-📺? W/o a doubt, but I'm hopping over to the manga/novels first


From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

Ouran High School Host Club-8,,
Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8,
Special A Class 💓8.2,
Maid Sama-10,
Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.4,
Mischievous Kiss,
True Beauty-7.5
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7,
Colourcloud Palace-7.5,
Hakkenden,
7th Time Loop-7.9,
Honey & Clover,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale-7.5
Real Girl-7.5,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Your Lie In April-9,
Violet Evergarden-9.5

In S2 the concept that humans and fairies should “stick to their own kind” surfaces. A fairy king emerges, though Ann calls him a fraud. We learn about Shall's origins as well. S1 ends with Ann's 2nd sugar exhibition and Shall must trade his wing, or freedom, to find her stolen refined sugar. As S2 begins, Shall is stuck at the Pagie workshop with the owner's daughter, Bridget, who developed an obsession with Shall.

Ann's practically forced into working at this school, whichmightbethesmallest one, so that she can be near Shall and try to win him back.

Bridget chafes against her father's traditionalism and ... rigid mentality. She hasn't been able to pursue her dreams because she's a girl. She, in turn, tries to control Shall. She becomes fixated on him. On the one hand, controlling love is what she knows from her father, but on the other it's quite hypocritical.

Ann gets the school chosen for the yearly church festival. It's a national celebration and this success will have a very positive effect on the ebbing school. A positive effect will be rewarded with Shall ‘s freedom. The heaster has promised. They are sequestered at a dilapidated castle outside of Lewiston to complete the work. One thing after another goes wrong. Most of it is due to deliberate outside interference. The main project the Paige team takes on has a snow theme. They labor over ornate snowflakes - hundreds of them. It really is very beautiful.

The manga goes on. As S2 closes, they aren't “official,“ but they are 90% there. Everyone else can see it and takes them as a couple. “What are you going to do?” Ann queries Shall. “Keep my promise. Stay with you. So you can be happy and free to live your life to the fullest. I'll be at your side…forever. Do as you please. Go as you wish, find someone you love. I'll you.” Ann repeats something similar back to him. Sounds like they've exchanged vows.

The anime adapts 6 of 18 volumes, so to find out what other promises they do and don't make, and maybe even a first kiss, one would have to read on, and idea as tempting as a 🍭.

🍧 A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Obsidian Go On❄ °7.5° °VG romance° 💯%🔍


This is a tale of long ago when the kingdom was a land of fairies.

Ann Halford loves stories about fairies. Fairies created silver sugar and Anne is a sweets artist. Fairies are at odds with humans now, but their confectionery arts never went out of fashion. This year Ann is ‘doing’ the sugar confectionery exhibition. Nobody's going to stop her, not even her friend Jonas.

Based on a light novel (and later adapted to manga), SAFT is a 2023 release that is rated 7.48 on MAL. It is 2 seasons each ... consisting of 12 23-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available. The setting is fun, but besides the point - This is a love story.

The adventure starts in the very first town Ann encounters. A fairy hunter is brutally torturing a fairy (Mythrill Lid Pod) who is only about 6 inches high. The brutal practice is to steal one of their wings and force them into slavery. They can't escape without their missing wing and squeezing the separated wing is torture for the poor creatures. This would be alittle much for young children. Ann watches in horror and finally she can't take it. She comes up from behind the brute, buckles the back of his knee, manages to get the fairy and the wing as he collapses, and the little guy escapes. (He will them later). She grieves the plight of the fairies. This is especially true when she goes to the fairy market and sees them chained up and locked in little cages. She asks for a battle fairy? “We would never keep anything that dangerous! But the guy at the end has one. Don't even bother, though. It's damaged goods.” Fatefully, Ann goes to that last tent at the end of the last row, and peeps inside. There's a full size man fairy. He's beautiful.

“Oh, it's only a scarecrow.’ What's he saying? “You. You're just a scarecrow.” He's talking to Ann. The shopkeeper enters. “This one's dangerous. He killed three fairy Hunters when they captured him. He's difficult, he insults all my customers.” Then the captive asks Ann to buy him. The shopkeeper’s astounded. “He's never done that before.” Ann gets caught up in the moment and decides to purchase this beat up, slightly used warrior, even though she was looking for a bigger and more burly one. The road to Lewiston where the exhibition is held, is dangerous.

Shall Fen Shall is the warrior. He's dark, handsome and brooding. He's brought to life in English by Ivan Jasso, whose voice is gorgeous. Ann promises to return his wing when his job is done. She's a naive girl who believes that fairies and “filthy humans”, eh, humans can be friends. Immediately, he's agressive-flirting with Ann. He hates her. He hates ALL people. But there is something /there/.

The Bloody Highway is 1200 miles long with only fort shelters between them and Ann's destination. Not a single town is on the way. “Go ahead and start praying. Reaching the first Fort shelter alive won't be easy,” Shall actually sounds bored. He's the cool type. With his sophisticated and graceful sword craft, he's lethal. He's so beautiful, however, that everyone assumes he's a “companion“ fairy. 😻 Wrrrooww ~ go ahead and fan yo-self, ladies!

Things go sideways at the exhibition, so Ann's on the road. She does a stint with a sugar master and then goes to a Duke's castle. That is one of many adventures. It's a romance. Nothing less, nothing more; better than more, bested by less. The plot, writing, character development and directing are easily above average. Ann might be naive, but she doesn't seem any less significant a person then Shall.

The simple instrumental background music is amusement park worthy, but it's fine. People are drawn with the finest of lines, old-style round eyes and simple elegance. Pale colors and pastels are the palette. Many scenes have a watercolor look about them. Some of the backgrounds are flat drawings like a book illustration. It creates an air of whimsy.

The dynamics of racism and slavery are on display. Slave owners presume their superiority. That deceptive feeling is necessary to undergird their heinous practices. The treatment of the subjugated fairies is horrific and, well, just wrong. People manage to become comfortable in the midst of all kinds of horrors. Even the “kind” people drop the facade when they don't get their way. As soon as things get inconvenient, the fairies pay the price. No wonder Shall is despondent and somewhat hopeless while fighting back bitterness and hate.

We watch Shall slowly thaw around the kind and loving Ann. By the end of S1 he's devoted to her. She is still oblivious (sort of) to his inclinations, but he seems to be aware of his feelings by ep12. So much so, that he makes a grand sacrifice. As S1 ends they are separated. Shall gave up his freedom to help Ann. This sets up S2. She's going to get him back.

In S2 the concept that humans and fairies should “stick to their own kind” surfaces. A fairy king emerges, though Ann calls him a fraud. We learn about Shall's origins as well. He was made from Obsidian. S1 ends with Ann's 2nd sugar exhibition and Shall must trade his wing, or freedom, to find her stolen refined sugar. As S2 begins, Shall is stuck at the Pagie Workshop with the owner's daughter, Bridget, who developed an obsession with Shall.

The anime adapts 6 of 18 volumes, so to find out what other promises they do and don't make, and maybe even a first kiss, one would have to read on, an idea as tempting as a 🍭.



QUOTE🗣 If you want to be a king, revenge and control or not things that you should enjoy.

IMHO〰🖍

📣7.5 📝7 🎭7.5 💓7 🦋7.5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊6 🔚? ▪ 🌞6 ⚡4.5 😅2.5 😭4 😱4 😯3 🤢2 🤔3 💤0 🤗6.5

Age 11+ Language: d@mn just once, maybe twice. It's Quite romantic but pretty tame. Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned


Re-📺? Hard to say. The whole world of anime awaits.


From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~
Toradora-8.5,
Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8,
Emma-7.8,
Hakkenden,,
Here Comes Miss Modern-8,
Honey,
Kayuga Sama Love Is War,
Land Of The Lustrous 8,
Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4,
Maid Sama-10,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Ouran High School Host Club-8,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Real Girl-7.5,
Special A Class-8.2,
Violet Evergarden-9.5,
YOUR LIE IN APRIL-9

🎩 Dr Lydia & Her Boy Blue °6.8° °Good° 💯%🔍

So you're saying a specialist in fairies still exists in the 19th century?

Edinburgh, Scotland: A man is being interrogated (terrorized) as to the location of the Merrow Sword in the opening scene. He blurts out that the fairy doctor, Lydia Carlton, would know. The questioner narrows his ash-mauve eyes to slits…

An adaptation of a manga & Light Novel by Tani Mizue (Art by Takaboshi Asako), E&F is an Artland Studios 2008 release that is rated 7.19 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 12 25-minute English dubbed ... episodes with CC available. It's a primer on fairyland.

Carlton Lydia is a fairy doctor. “A fairy doctor's weapons are her knowledge of and an ability to negotiate with fairies.” They facilitate relations between fairies and humans. Don't believe in fairies? “...I can say with conviction that they most assuredly do exist,” the narrator informs. Just leave a glass of milk in the window sill at night and a Brownie will appear. (Who would want to do that, though? All Brownies do is play tricks).

Lydia goes to London to visit her father. She runs into the Earl. She's just about to settle into her room when a strange man says “help me,” from the corner! Before she knows it, he's grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the house with several men chasing in tow. He pulls her onto a boat and into a cabin. The news reportshad warned of a mass murderer with the ash-mauve eyes being out on the loose, so she doesn't take to him immediately. While he is in the middle of introductions and explanations she's skeptical - she's leaving, she announces. “But the boat's already left port,” he points out. That's a microcosm of the whole show. He pushes prods, cajoles, and maneuvers her every step of the way. And she lets him. She would leave if she wanted to. She clearly doesn't want to, but neither is she ready to accept the truth about the 2 of them, either.

Lydia agrees to help the “Earl” (Is he truly the Blue Knight Earl? He claims to be, but he doesn't seem all that trustworthy). He saved her from abduction and circumstances are such that it's difficult to tear away. One thing after another keeps her at his side. She will not accept that their relationship is anything but professional, but she also “accepts” his gift of the moonstone ring (ed down from a long line of Blue Knight Earls). He pretty much backed her into a corner and used her kind nature to manipulate her, so they are “engaged” (she's wearing the ring, right?). She deflects that idea and tries to deny it, but she keeps the ring /on/. The moonstone ring provides some protection for her, so she won't be taking it off any time soon. The Earl wanted to use Lydia from the start. He cannot see fairies and he has an agenda. He's going to pay his enemies back for what they've done. It does appear, as things progress, that he really is falling for her. We will see.

J. C. Ashenbert, or Edgar, has a couple identities. One is “Lord Ibrazel, Earl of the Fairy Nation, aka the Blue Knight Earl, who was a mysterious figure granted a title by the King of England, as well as a domain in the fairy world.” (Wiki). Another 🆔 of his is ‘common thief’, or perhaps, ‘all-around scoundrel’. Soon we'll hear: “All I have is lies. A false name, a false life. Everything about me is a lie. With me there are only truthful lies and untruthful lies.. I'm sure that she understands that my truth is only found in truthful lies.”

Nope. All of that will go completely over Lydia's head. She gets the lies part. That's how she sees him, so when the Earl hits on her (which is when they are together and he's awake), she brushes it off as nonsense. This makes him come on stronger. She's dug into her views so she resists more. They've gotten into a deepening circular ➿ rut.

Edgar, with the ash-mauve eyes, has been an orphan ever since his parents were murdered. He was enslaved, sent to 🇺🇲, and had to escape because he was framed for a mass killing that he didn't commit. As part of his quest for power and revenge, he seeks the sword of Merrow. (Without Lydia's help, he won't even be able to SEE it, or anything else, in the fairy realm, though). The sword will lend authenticity to Edgar's claim that he is the "Earl of the Blue Knights". Everything he does is to further has agenda of bringing down the eeeville organization that enslaved him and their ruthless leader, villain and malefactor #1, The Prince.

Siblings, Ermine and Raven, escaped with him, but only Raven survived. Utterly dedicated to Edgar, Raven can take out a battalion in the bat of an eye. He's deadly. Edgar has been through some horrible things. He has plenty of demons to fight, yet he maintained his individualism and spirit of loyalty to, and love for, his companions. On the surface, he's a scoundrel, a rapscallion, a knave, a varlet, just a naughty scamp (😻 Rrrrowwah!), but there's more going on under the surface. They also enjoy playing his bad-boy persona for laughs. He complains about a mistake he made when he was drunk, but Raven observes that “you're not much different when you're sober, my Lord.”

Part of E&F's charm is all the fairies. Nico i's a fairy cat, so he's the best. They have him in a tiny trench coat sometimes - 😻Dawww! Kelpie - a man-eating horse fairy - He wants to marry Lydia. He's tall, dark, and handsome, too. He and Boy-Blue loathe eachother! Banshee - Banshees are overseers of noble families. Their tears turn to amber if they've foreseen a death. When they meet Banshee, she's crying amber tears. Ferman Paul a talented painter who hangs out with the Earl. He and Banshee have a secondary💘thing starting.

As for the needs-improvements, it wanders and is somewhat unfocused. There's several varieties of adorable fairies but they don't utilize them as well as they might. I'm not crazy about her wild hair and shaggy eyes. The animation is slightly messy, overall. There's a pale color palette, like dried flowers. People are drawn with old-style round eyes and simple features but they may take liberties with color. Backgrounds are flat but much darker and deeper in fairy world.

The show's appeal is him coming on to her - that and the wide variety of adorable fairies (Kelpie, banshees, Brownies, silkies, and so on and so forth). Lydia is earnest, sweet, and cute. She's focused on her work. She's not thinking about romance. She doesn't believe him. She doesn't /trust/ him. But he is not easily discouraged and he keeps trying. Sadly, the romance lacks any real heat. It's enough, though. It es the time pleasantly because it's comfortable, familiar, cute, a touch erotic, and low on errors or irritations. I like it; it could just be better. On an up note, it is very much on a tween level, so this is good for the 11+ crowd.

The ending is very romantic except one thing is ominously clear: The prince is coming. “You'll regret that I did not kill you here,” he promises Edgar.


IMHO〰🖍

📣6.8 📝6.8 🎭7 💓6 🦋6 🎨7 🎵/🔊6 🔚8 ▪ 🌞5⚡6 😅2 😭3 😱3.5 😯2 🤢2.5 🤔2 💤0 🤗3

Age 11+ it's a romance, and he's coming on to her, but it's really pretty tame. There's some aggressive and violent Acts and some scary elements but this is geared to tweens and Young teens. Rated: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Re-📺? Probably not

Associated productions: Side Story, Hakushaku to Yousei Specials (Special)


Here's some recs ~

Emma-7.8,
Toradora-8.5,
Belle-8.5,
Castle in the Sky 8.4,
Chihayafuru-8.5,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Up From Poppy Hill,
After the Rain 7.6,
Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8,
Colourcloud Palace-7.5,
Hakkenden,
Here Comes Miss Modern-8,
Honey,
Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon 8,
Kayuga Sama Love Is War,
Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4,
Maid Sama-10,
Mischievous Kiss,
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU,
Ouran High School Host Club-8,
Real Girl-7.5,
Special A Class-8.2,
Tada Never Falls in Love 7.1,
Violet Evergarden-9.5,
YOUR LIE IN APRIL-9

💕 Days In The Strife Of A Nerd 💞 °VG° °7.5° 💯%🔍


“Why do I suck so much at being a normal human?”

"Fictional girls are definitely better. The real ones are too cruel from my experience," says Itou Yuuto, Tsutsui's bestie. That's exactly how our ML, Tsutsui Hikaru, feels. He's the type of guy who worries about his perfect attendance at school.

So, when he's teamed up with a beautiful girl (who has a ❔? ¿questionable❓⁉ reputation) to clean the pool, he hates her already. The first thing she says to him is: “Don't you find it gross when your long bangs get ... into your eyes?” All he heard was ‘you're gross’. He's mean to her before she can be mean to him. However, he keeps running into her. Next, she helps him out in a small way, so he defends her from a boy who's bullying her. Every time he doesn't want to help her, one of his cartoon crushes (the one with the blue ponytails) appears over his shoulder, chiding him as a fool or a chicken.

By the end of ep1, this couple of outcasts, one a misanthropic geek and the other a beautiful girl who doesn't comply with society's expectations, decide to go out. This is a pleasant stroll with pleasant characters. There's not much in the way of drama, tears, conflict, excitement, tension, or laughs. It's just a stroll.

But, is she too good to be true?

Based on a manga, RG is a oods Entertainment Studios release consisting of 2 seasons with 12 22-minute English dubbed episodes each. Currently, only S1 is available for streaming.

We've got another blushing-maiden male protagonist - Asia's answer to the Western Hemisphere's love of blushing maidens in period romances. Tsutsui is so pecked and beat down that he accepts losing and being wronged as the norm. It's expected. So, he waits to lose his new gf. He /can't believe/ he has a gf. She'd be better off with someone else, though.

He doesn't even fight back when false rumors are spread about him. They never last long. He can just wait them out. His tendency to get overlooked is so potent that even his mother doesn't seem interested in what he's going to do after high school! ‘I don't care what you do as long as you don't become a NEET’ (Young persons Not engaged in Education, Employment or Training). Tsutsui's mom set the bar low.

Our FL, Iroha, is the hot girl who was never appreciated as a human being. She finally meets a nice guy. She's actually a little awkward herself. She never put on the femme fatale glamorous girl mold, it was foisted onto her. She longs to just be herself, not a made up construct.

Iroha has Tsutsui engaging with others at school now. He's attracted more attention, and his life is no longer just his. He needs advice one day and plucks up the courage to ask Ishino Arisa. Ishino. Ms attitude. She says something horrible to him. He takes it as the proper form, like how one is expected to respond in a formal setting. Therefore, initially, I thought she'd be a distasteful character, but she makes the show! It's her spark and spunk that take RG from average to above average, and her character is the most fun. She has a crush on the guy who is determined to bag Iroha (Iroha is HOT. His ego tells him she's the gf he deserves). It takes a long time for him to notice Ishino. But he's hanging around Iroha, and Ishino is always around. Together with Tsutsui and Itou, they were forming a friend circle before they realized it. Them, and Ayado Sumie. I like her… when I don't hate her. Her anxiety is often in overdrive and it gets wearisome. She is often in need of a slap. That's why I love Ishino, she'll take care of things like that. Itou loves Ayado.

I love a good romance, and RG is a good romance. It's well written and well executed. There's nothing to complain about. (Except, maybe: Why doesn't he just cut those bangs❔¿❓ Seriously). RG is a trip back to HS in which things work out for a change. The animation has a fresh look with its pale pastels and very 2D flat-effect. It's unique, attractive and relevant to the theme. They work in how difficult the anime business is, and how hard the animators work after one of the group is employed in the industry post graduation. We'll see a shy guy's retreat that as cute as can be.

"Why can't people just leave us alone? I'm doing the things that I like to do just like everyone else," laments Tsutsui. That's a great question. Only a damaged person gets sick relief from (non-constructively) pecking at somebody else - social media included. A lot of what Tsutsui says and feels resonates with me. He values kindness and he doesn't want to be mean to anybody. He's earnest and caring, but that side of him has allowed in pain. The world is cruel. Kind people have a tougher time navigating it. Before the end, several characters decide that they're going to be better people. They are going to become more REAL. There's nothing to not like about that!


QUOTE📢 If Hearts were that simple to figure out then we wouldn't have suffering like this.


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬75 📝71 🎭74 💓75 🦋61 🌞68 🎨70 🎵/🔊74 😅30 😭25 😱0 😯20 😖0 🤔30 💤20 🔚 75


Age 14+ The show is clean cut but and the last third there's several couples deciding whether or not to have sex. It's not dealt with a simplistic or trade way, at least. Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older.


Re-📺? No against it

🍎Holo Lessons °7° °good° 💯%🔍

“In the beginning there was nothing. There was only north. And then there were the promises that were made… When human beings achieved enough on their own there was no reason to be faithful to their promise anymore.”

When Lawrence Kraft rolls into town they are nearly ready for the harvest festival. The people are excited. The Earl's new planting methods habe yielded a bumper crop. There's no need to pray to that 🐺 anymore. Lawrence unties his wagon to unload and there's a woman sleeping there! Naked! She has Wolf ears! She has a TAIL! ... She claims her name is Holo. Holo is the old gods who has been blessing their crops. Modern methods have made the people believe they don't need her. For most of her 600 years she's kept her vow and watched over the harvest, but since the people have forgotten her she wants to go home to the north.

It's a road trip! She ends up taking a ride with Lawrence and they have many adventures on their journey. Early on, after Holo proves her worth, Kraft promises to escort her north and that's his excuse to hang on to her. She's quick witted, she's a better negotiator than him, she's schorchin hot, and she's always hungry.

S&W is a 2008 release that is rated 8.21 on MAL. It is 2 seasons consisting of 13 23-minute English dubbed episodes each, with CC available. There is a Sequel (OVA), Ookami to Koushinryou II: Ookami to Kohakuiro no Yuuutsu, and they actually remade this in 2024 with the same lead English voice actors. This is merchant operations 101. It reminds me slightly of Farming Life in Another World-7.7, which is civilization 101 and Novice Alchemist, which is setting up shop 101. It's as educational as it is entertaining. People are drawn with simple features and minimal lines and shading. They take some liberties with hair and eyes color sizes and shapes. It is a fantasy tale, afterall. Backgrounds are flat, muted and simplistic with scattered detail. They melt away into insignificance.

For the English voice acting, Brina Palencia is Holo and J. Michael Tatum is Kraft Lawrence in both productions. I prefer the 2024 version. 2008 Holo is too smug sounding for me to find her likable, though she has her finer points. The voice is only one reason I didn't take to her right away, however, a 600 year old deity would have seen alot of stuff and should be given leave to at the Elder statesman, in fairness. I suppose that's a god's (or higher spirit’s, we'll say, as she denies being an actual deity) privilege. Their personalities happen to take a back seat to the plot. We finally get to see some of what she's capable of in ep6. Apples. Holo is obsessed with 🍎🍎🍎. It reminds me of the Shinigami from Death Note. What is it with anime and 🍎🍎🍎?

As of ep12 I still felt neutral. The show is so popular that there appeared to be little question that I would love it, but I was closer to just existing with it. I don't mind it, but I don't love it. The tutorial on business is laudable. It's relaxing. That's good. The biggest deficiency is the romance. Love does bloom and grow, but they could have handled it better. I decided to watch the remake. I like the story and I want to see how the two versions compare. Straightway, in the 2024 version, i see that most of my needs-improvement list has been managed: There is more romance, the art is more refined (most likely because of tech advances) and Holo doesn't sound as smug. I'm enjoying the 2024 release quite a bit.

It's possible that the letdown (this show not matching my expectations that were based on the rating) has caused me to judge it harshly. I do like S&W-08, I just think it should be better.
Ep12 is awesome: Things get more exciting as S1 winds down. S2 is similarly up and down with the action. Whatever else is going on, Kraft will be thoroughly sifted by the end, just like wheat flour. He will be forced to choose, once and for all, what REALLY matters to him. Maybe it isn't owning that shop he's always dreamed of.

My biggest takeaway is that I want to make honey-pickled peaches someday. That seems to be what really matters to Holo, though Kraft looks to be a close second. If romance is your thing, from lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

Ouran High School Host Club-8,
Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8,
Special A Class 8.2,
Maid Sama-10,
Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.4,
Mischievous Kiss,
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7,
Colourcloud Palace-7.5,
Hakkenden,
7th Time Loop-7.9,
Honey & Clover,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale-7.5
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Real Girl-7.5,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Your Lie In April-9,
Violet Evergarden-9.5



QUOTE🗣

the lesson, not the disappointment


IMHO〰🖍

📣6.5 📝7 🎭7 💓5.5 🦋5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊7 🔚? It doesn't really end ▪ 🌞4 ⚡4.5 😅3 😭2 😱3.5 😯2.5 🤢3 🤔5 💤2 🤗4

Shazams: Tabi No Tochuu, by Natsumi Kiyoura is the opening credits song. It's quite nice.


Age 12+ Nondescript nudity, sexual innuendo and content; Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned


Re-📺? From the ratings I expected better. This is more for a young audience, I suppose. This one's in the good-to--the-time category, but I may never this way again….