Michiru holding a can of “Wednesday cat” beer in Takunomi.
I’m back with a few thoughts on new anime series and some other things.
January anime series debuts
- Watched 2 episodes of Laid-Back Camp (Yuru Camp): this series has been relaxing to watch, thanks to its serene outdoor settings and a relaxed slice-of-life pace. [Available on Crunchyroll.]
- Watched 4 episodes of Takunomi.: another series with a relaxed pace. This time involving four women in the 20s living in the same house, bonding over alcohol, and giving advice to each other. [Available on HIDIVE.]
- Watched 2 episodes of Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san: it’s playful and sweet with a bit of light romance between teaser Takagi and her middle-school classmate/victim Nishikata. It reminds me a bit of My Neighbor Seki but in reverse and without a mostly silent character. [Available on Crunchyroll and FUNimation (English dub).]
- Watched 6 subtitled episodes (and 3 English-dubbed episodes) of Pop Team Epic: it has felt delightfully chaotic at times. My favorite part of each episode is hearing different pairs of male voice actors play the two main characters (Popuko and Pipimi) in the same scenes also voiced by the “normal” voice actresses. FUNimation’s English dub has been been pretty good so far; it has also been rotating voice actors from episode to episode. [Available on Crunchyroll, HIDIVE & FUNimation (English dub).]
Other things of note
I watched the first episode of Girls’ Last Tour and want to watch the rest of the season. The haunting setting and the dynamic between Chito and Yuuri from Tsukumizu’s manga series seem to have carried over into the anime adaptation. [Available on Amazon Prime Video.]
I also rewatched Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei with some friends. I had forgotten how long some of the “I’m in despair!” extrapolations are strung along in certain episodes.
In the realm of live-action movies, I saw Justice League in a discount movie theater and liked it. It was my first exposure to the newest batch of DC Comics films. (I think the last DC Comics-inspired movie I saw was Superman Returns from 2006.) The story seemed to move at a good pace. It was more sullen than the Marvel feature films I’ve seen, but maybe that mood is expected since the villain is an alien commander trying to transform Earth into a hellscape for himself and his bug-like minions.
Lastly, I plan to start writing again on Sport in Fiction, a side project of mine. I am considering starting a Patreon and soliciting contributors (who would be compensated for their work), but that might be a few months off since I would first like to establish a reliable schedule.
