August-October Favourite Anime

I watched quite a few anime from the Summer season honestly, there weren't many I could really call favourites haha, but I did enjoy the Okaa-san Online isekai (nearly dropped it because of the weird fanservice with the mum and since the story is kinda all over the place but it was still enjoyable) and To Aru Kagaku no Accelerator (never enough Accelerator haha, but story was average). I've also been getting through Cowboy Bebop, and it's good but not really my thing unfortunately haha. Anywho~ these are the ones I probably enjoyed the most in the time I haven't blogged hahaha.

Free! & Free! Eternal Summer
Genre: Slice of Life, Comedy, Sports, Drama, School
Episodes: 25
My Rating: 7/10

I remember when Free! first aired, the amount of fangirls fangirling over the guys' bodies etc turned me off, especially when there was this bias that if you liked Free! you were shallow and liked the BL connotations. Since I was a young girl, it couldn't be helped that those presumptions affected me and made me turn away from it for a long time because of my own created prejudice after that. However, after the KyoAni incident and more mentions of KyoAni works, I decided to try it out for myself and I think I can see why the show is so appealing. Tbh, it's still not my thing since the main premise is more of cute and cool guys swimming and mending their friendships. It's very wholesome, cute and an easy watch since you can just relax and go with the flow of it, I guess you can relate it to water, it's a pretty peaceful show hahaha.

Anyway, the story follows Haru, a guy who loves to swim freestyle and that's all lol. He is joined with the nice and amicable Makoto (my favourite boy!) and the childish but cute Nagisa. They've all been friends since elementary school, and at that time, they had another friend called Rin who persuaded them all to swim relay and opened their eyes to the beauty of swimming with friends in a race I guess. However, Rin left to train in Australia not long after that, and when they all meet again, Rin's this mass of...dissatisfaction with others and himself as he strives to be the best swimmer there is. So, in order to kinda motivate Haru back into swimming seriously (since he's got the skills), Makoto creates a new swimming club at the school and they aim to compete with Rin's school etc~ So yeah, plot mainly revolves around friendship and understanding the importance of forging that to enjoy swimming, whether it be in a relay or a solo race.

Honestly, the first season was pretty nice. It's cliche, it's definitely not something we haven't seen before, with guys losing motivation, losing their will to continue towards their dreams because of their past hardships etc, but the anime itself kinda knows that, so it never strays from focusing on this simple premise, and that's the best thing about it. It's nice to see them grow (mainly Rin), nice to see them have aspirations, nice to see them come together as friends and just swim together. It's short and sweet. However, I do have to say that although this is a swimming anime, you don't see much serious training or any regimens or even much focus on the swimming aspect, like it's there, but it's pretty easygoing about it? Which is one of the things I found a problem with I guess haha, but yeah, basically, watch it for the wholesome cute boys swimming and bonding rather than for the swimming itself lol. Animation is pretty btw lol.

As for the second season, I would have preferred it to be more focused on character development of the guys since it was rather weak in the first season, but instead they kinda introduced a new character called Sousuke who also wants to stand by Rin as a true rival and friend, so most of it kinda revolves around him, Rin and a bit of the others having the dilemma of what kind of career path they want to follow since they can't swim forever. As usual though, Makoto really shines through as the most wholesome and sweet guy that may be confused about his career, but he handles it well and finds what he aims to do. On the other hand, Sousuke was cool but rather forgettable imo, and Haru's dilemma was kinda nice to see since it was because of that, Rin and Haru were able to go to Australia together and bond! Speaking of Australia though, omggg, you don't know how much I was looking forward to the Sydney episode and how it just blew my expectations out of the freaking park. It was SO COOL to see Sydney animated! So beautiful and all the memories of me visiting all those places as well! Replicated getting off the bus at Bondi Beach very well and the view you get once you're off, it's crazyyy. The only unrealistic thing would have to be there being no one at the beach and there being no trash there lolll. Olympic Park was soo beautiful there too~ The train seats were so pretty! Not pretty in real life but dang did it look nice in the anime LOL. Honestly soo cute to see Haru and Rin eat at Harrys Cafe de Wheels, I only tried it a few months ago haha! But yeah, it was so cool to see anime characters I've followed for a bit going around places I'm so familiar with haha, KyoAni was definitely so amazing in animating all that, I couldn't help but keep taking photos of how beautiful the shots were to my sister and my friend hahaha.

Anyway! Free! is a pretty average anime, as long as you don't have that many expectations, I think you'll be able to enjoy how relaxing it is to follow a bunch of guys trying to achieve simple things in high school; making friends, achieving goals in a club together and making lasting friendships together. Even if there is fear of career paths diverging, they still remain tight knit and connected, and I think it's great to see all that (even if the swimming aspect is kinda neglected loll). Apparently there's a movie and a third season but I'm kinda tired of it right now so I took a break hahaha, I'll see if I'll watch the rest XD

Given
Genre: Drama, Music, Romance, Shounen Ai, Slice of Life
Episodes: 11
My Rating: 8/10

Firstly, I don't watch/read BL but this was good. I really enjoyed it, much more than I thought. I couldn't help but give it a try when so many people talked about how this is more like a pure normal romance with some drama, unlike a lot of the other rapey vibes that other BL may have. I know that's probably biased, but I'm still kinda traumatised from the many trashy BL I came across years ago that just completely turned me off it lol, it was just so uncomfortable to read. Anyway! This anime is the type of romance I love to read/watch about, whether it be heterosexual or homosexual because its' focus is apparent, it is on the interconnected relationships of the characters, how they learn to communicate better, and also improve their band together. I started reading the manga after and I have to say, I think it's a really nice adaptation of it, and the music is really good! The song that Mafuyu ends up singing does not disappoint at all, it's actually really beautiful and I think it was done really well in the anime, I legit cried and then kept listening to it afterwards lol. Given is definitely a nice emotional ride, it's not very long either, but has really nice slice of life pacing, you can say that the band guys did quite a few mundane things, but I honestly never thought any part of it was boring. I legit binged the 10 episodes that were out hahaha, and then waited a week for the last, this is definitely one of those that are best binged imo.

The story follows Ritsuka (who is more of a cold and aloof guy) going to his usual nap spot but instead coincidentally meeting Mafuyu, who happens to break his guitar strings. Seeing how clueless he is, Ritsuka helps him out with some basics, and thus, Mafuyu kinda follows him to his band's practice studio and eventually joins even though he's rather new to whole music thing. Honestly, I thought I'd like Ritsuka more than Mafuyu, but boy was I wrong haha, I feel like Ritsuka is definitely much more normal (not actually cold or aloof lol) than he appears, so he's very relateable and great as the MC. Mafuyu on the other hand carries a deep scar on his heart, and I think seeing him overcome it throughout the story really makes you fall in love with his character. I think I really loved seeing such a normal romantic relationship (compared to all the sappy shoujo and other stuff), it's actually really realistic how they interact, how they bond, how they find it difficult to talk to the other, how they argue with each other, and how they end up reconciling. I just found it all so nice to watch because of how smooth and real it all was. The side couple is also really nice to watch because they're so cute and cool hahaha, we won't get to see their story until the movie that comes out next year, but it was still great to see how important they are to the band, and what great friends they are to be able to help guide Ritsuka and Mafuyu who are younger than them. I feel like each character really fit together to make the band "whole" and it's just so sweet to watch over the budding relationship Ritsuka and Mafuyu create without even realising.

Overall, if you're looking for a nice romance with some good drama and some good music, then I think you'll definitely enjoy this one! They also explain simple music terms and things they use in the beginning for people like me, so it really helps you to understand their lives a bit better and be able to immerse yourself in the story better. I guess, it feels just like life, the anime really recreates the daily life vibe very well imo. Definitely an unexpected favourite of the Summer season haha!


Fruits Basket - 1st Season (2019)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life, Supernatural
Episodes: 25
My Rating: 8.5/10

Honestly, with my crappy memory, I didn't remember anything about Fruits Basket (since I watched it as a kid), all I remembered was that I liked riceballs because of it, and I can't get the Teru Teru Momiji song out of my head lolll. So yeah, it was great to be able to experience Fruits Basket all over again as if I've never watched it, and honestly, it was great. I got teary from a lot of the back stories, and it really hit in the feels a lot of the time. However, the good thing about it is also what can be kinda bad, since there are a lot of characters and back stories, if you binge watch, it kinda becomes your daily episode of sad back stories loll, but it's still good because of how easily the stories can come close to your heart and affect you, I feel like a lot of them..even if you can't relate to their experiences, you can really relate to their feelings and thoughts, and I think that was done really well.

The story follows Tohru, who due to a family tragedy and other subsequent circumstances is forced to live in a tent by herself. However, her tent happens to be in the private property of the Souma family. After explaining her situation, Yuki (one of the Soumas) decides to take her in, but it is then that she discovers their secret, which is that when Yuki and them are hugged by the opposite sex, they transform into their respective Chinese Zodiac animal, and I guess that's how Tohru's hectic life of dealing with the Souma family and her own family circumstances begins. At a glance, Fruits Basket feels like a harem, and even in the beginning, it kinda feels like it with the amount of pretty guys introduced, alongside our heroine "healing" them all with her words (that she learnt through her mother). However, I think the story is more of a slice of life drama, where everyone is struggling to cope with their different lives, their respective pasts, but they all happen to be able to meet Tohru who helps them accept themselves for who and how they are, whilst soothing everyone's (including mee) hearts. It's a sad but hopeful show, and I think the characters' stories really help to show that. The character developments of the characters alongside the mystery of the Soumas are probably the highlights of the show, and I think the characters really make it that great. There's so many, you have to like one of them! Haha. The romance is not as apparent for now, maybe aside from Kyo, but I really feel like what's forged over the episodes is more of friendship and appreciation with most of the characters, so maybe the next season will deal more with romance haha.

Anyway, I really enjoyed Fruits Basket, it's very wholesome, and I feel like I learnt a lot about how you can change your perspective towards life to help yourself and others. Tohru is an angel who is flawed, and I think it's great to see how different everyone is but still be able to get along and connect because of Tohru who follows her mother's wisdom. I also really enjoy how Tohru has great friends aside from the Zodiacs, and I think it's really nice to see how clumsy she is, but also how sweet she is. I think seeing her save others from their agony is so touching haha. Definitely a good show if you like something emotional but touching, something sad but hopeful and something mysterious but also sweet haha.


Kimetsu no Yaiba
Genre: Action, Demons, Historical, Shounen, Supernatural
Episodes: 26
My Rating: 8.5/10

Considering its' rise in popularity with one of the episodes, it's hard to not know this one haha, but I have to say, I enjoyed the anime the whole way through. I started this anime when the first episode came out and liked it mostly for Tanjiro and Nezuko's relationship rather than the animation (blasphemy, I know). However, as I watched, I did realise how beautiful the animation was, and how it really enhanced the story. When I read over bits of the manga after finishing the season, I really could see how whether it be the beginning, the training arc and others, the animation and the music really did help to make the story play out really well, I was honestly pretty hooked from the first episode haha, I can't help but love wholesome sibling relationships and shounen.

The story follows Tanjiro, the eldest son in a big family (with the father having passed away) who ventures down to the town to make money for the day, but is forced to stay there overnight due to someone telling him it's dangerous to go back up the mountain at night due to demons lurking around. As he arrives back home the next day, he sees his whole family slaughtered, with only Nezuko still having warmth, hoping that he could still save her, he decides to take her back to the village to see a doctor. However, before he can do that, he is forced to realise that his sister has become a Demon. As Tanjiro protects Nezuko from a demon slayer, convincing the latter that his sister still has her own will and won't eat humans, he is directed to go train with a former demon slayer corp guy as he trains to become a man who can protect his sister, defeat demons that are killing humans, as well as finding a cure to change his sister back into being a human.

As you can see, the premise is very simple and straightforward and I think that's the best thing about this show. It doesn't try to be especially superfluous or amazing in its' story and plot, it straightforwardly lays out that it's a typical shounen where they must defeat this villain that is causing devastation to humans, and Tanjiro must get stronger step by step to achieve that. Character designs are really pretty and unique btw, everyone looks really great and awesome. Although the animation is definitely something to die for, I have to say that the cuteness of Nezuko, as well as how sweet the sibling relationship is, is such a highlight of the show. Later, Tanjiro is joined with two more companions which honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of, but I still like their input to the story because I think their existence really highlights how much of a great big brother type of character Tanjiro is, and how wholesome but cool he is. I also really like Tanjiro's way of fighting, he becomes someone who is not hesitant towards killing demons since they kill humans, but he is also able to show benevolence and mercy to demons that have suffered a lot. I think Tanjiro and Nezuko really make the show, so it can be hard to like it if you don't like them tbh haha. For me, I love them and can't enough of them, so I'm really looking forward to the movie next year!

Overall, if you like a very prettily animated typical shounen with wholesome siblings adventuring together to grow stronger and defeat demons that are destroying the country, you'll like this!

GTO Manga and Anime Differences Part 2 (Episodes 9-19, CH 28-67) + Opinion

Fukuroda and the Introduction of Tomoko

In the anime, Onizuka and Murai etc are playing with water rockets, whereas in the manga, they are bungee jumping from the roof, in which this scared Fukuroda since they were close to hitting him lol. I gotta say, I prefer the water rockets in the anime though, it was SO satisfying to see the pervert Fukuroda get hit in the face by the water rocket, he totally deserves it! Also, the anime shows a scene with Fukuroda running to Onizuka's classroom (presumably to incite violence) and sees Onizuka karate kick something in half, and then he decides that they should compete by swimming. Whereas, in the manga, after Fukuroda sees Onizuka draw eyes over his eyelids to sleep during meetings, he immediately challenged him to a swimming match haha. Also, unlike the anime, Onizuka does bet some money. In addition, in the manga, Fukuroda keeps challenging him to 400m runs and push ups lol.

Tomoko looks sooo much better in the manga though, dang! Anyway, aside from the reason for Miyabi's plan and results being similar (with the basic idea of Tomoko failing to get Onizuka fired using her assets), Miyabi's actual plan in the manga was writing an erotic and seductive letter to Onizuka hoping he'd go to the AV room where Tomoko is, and then take photos of him assaulting her. Of which, the plan succeeds but of course the guy turns out to be Fukuroda. Tbh, I can understand why the anime changed this part lol, although GTO goes about some OTT themes, it does kinda rule out the other more questionable ones, such as this one, since naked Fukuroda literally was going to jump Tomoko after she got peer pressured into letting him grab her breast. After that, Fukuroda destroys the recorder evidence and tries to discipline Miyabi and them, but is saved by Onizuka. In terms of this, I kinda prefer the anime more, I think it was more hilarious with the tension on Onizuka's locker having so much dirty laundry etc and the reaction of everyone, it's also more tame and less scandalous hahaha. With how things went in the manga, you'd really hope that Fukuroda gets kicked out of the school asap, even though I already felt he should have in the anime! At the end of it all,unlike the anime where Miyabi pushes Tomoko into the swimming pool (where she's too silly to realise she can stand in the pool), Miyabi actually slaps Tomoko in the face (quite hard too!).

Tomoko's audition

In the anime, it seems like only Miyabi and her two friends are behind the ice cream on Tomoko's chair and throwing trash at her in the classroom, but really, it actually shows that all the girls participate in bullying Tomoko. Also, unlike the anime Fuyutsuki doesn't really talk to Onizuka about the bullying or anything, because this all occurs in Onizuka's class so she doesn't know. In the manga, when Tomoko is playing at the park herself with her dolls, some mean kids said she needs to taste the "hamburger" to really know if it's good or not, and she really does, and they call her out for being so stupid as she laughs it off. I'm kinda glad the anime cut that part out and just kinda showed her crying instead, because she's suffered enough already T_T I do enjoy how the anime put in snippets of Miyabi and Tomoko in elementary school memories for her to reflect on since she admires Miyabi so much, I think it was a nice touch and made it a bit more understandable why she liked Miyabi. Lmao in the manga when Onizuka told her to wait in this spot and not move (so he could get the costume etc for the next day) and she literally didn't move for the whole hour he was gone hahaha. Another difference is Tomoko's costume! Tomoko's costume in the manga is more of cosplaying a character and quite daring as well, but I think the bunny costume in the anime was pretty daring too lol, so I'm not sure if there really was a need to change it, but yeah you wouldn't believe she was 14 in the manga with her outfit haha. But otherwise, the transformation into the school gym clothes with the bloomers is the same.

As for the beauty competition, it was mentioned much earlier in the anime with Miyabi and the friends, so it's less of a surprise where she's going to be, but regardless, the dialogue is pretty much the same when they all arrive there. Although the contest kinda goes by relatively similarly with not too many differences, the acting part of the audition is quite different. Oh and I also liked the comedic moments in the anime with Murai shaking up Onizuka's soft drink etc hahaha. Anyway, with the acting part, I think the manga wanted it to be more funny yet sweet at the same time and kind of lacked impact on both areas imo, however, I do think the idea of Tomoko using the dolls to act out a story again is more in character for her since she's silly. It was nice when she continued even though the vice principal wanted to drag her back to school lol, kinda shows how much she was into her own little world. However, I do think the anime was more heartwarming in terms of her relationship with Miyabi and it kinda shows her real feelings with the encouragement of Onizuka. Since I watched the anime first, I can't help but be biased towards it, but I'm also a sucker for friendships and Tomoko's feelings of admiration and thankfulness towards Miyabi for being her "friend" despite everyone else abandoning her, and I think the anime conveyed that really well with flashbacks and everything. It's just saddening that regardless, Miyabi can't really reciprocate, but yeah I was really touched with the anime so I have to say, I preferred that rendition haha. Oh, but considering the plot, I do have to admit that because the anime changed this part, it did make things more complicated for the story, because in the manga, it's obvious that Miyabi was annoyed and dissatisfied with the outcome since someone beneath her got so much attention by the media etc, and considering how petty she is, this only furthers her dislike of Tomoko and Onizuka. It's also quite apparent from her frustrated exchange with one of her friends who tried to cheer her up (Miyabi said at least she made it into the contest unlike her) that their friendship is surface level at most, and based around who has the power and popularity in school. Anyway, in a sense, the anime kinda changes Tomoko's and Miyabi's relationship where Miyabi was actually someone friendly and nice when they were kids, which is possible but not what is needed atm, especially when she as usual she just ignores Tomoko for the rest of the anime. So yeah, I liked the anime but it doesn't connect with the story all that well in the bigger picture.

Teshigawara/stalker guy

Right before Teshigawara is introduced, there's a mini arc with the vice principal trying to call an emergency meeting to get Onizuka fired, of which the chairman agrees to hold, however, this is ultimately scrapped with Uchiyamada (vice principal) begging on his knees to not fire him, otherwise he'd leave too. This is due to Onizuka finding out on the train that Uchiyamada had been harassing a girl on the train (touching her ass) for a WHOLE YEAR, and the police finally got to him, but he ultimately escaped. Yeah, that was veryyy questionable, and I can understand why you would not see that in the anime lol. Sometimes you gotta wonder if there are any normal male teachers around... Anyway, the rumours of Uchiyamada grovelling to keep Onizuka in his job spreads around, and Azusa (Fuyutsuki) speaks about it happily to the infirmary nurse lady that's her best friend here, and she can tell that Azusa is in love with Onizuka with how happy she is that people are appreciating Onizuka now. So, since the anime cut out this best friend, instead of Teshigawara overhearing her feelings for Onizuka, he kinda sees how close they are with Onizuka driving her to school etc I guess. In addition, in the anime, Teshigawara mostly ignores Onizuka, but in the manga, he was quite vocal about how Onizuka is kinda like trash coming from his third rate school. It's also more apparent in the manga that many of the teachers dislike Onizuka and want to get rid of him (mostly the male ones), and they even held a meeting with Teshigawara at some place complaining about him lol. Also, when Uchiyamada lectured Onizuka after he used his elephant costume to squirt water on that lady helping Teshigawara get rid of Onizuka, I think the anime tried to play up the comedic effect as usual with only showing Onizuka getting emotional and worried over his career because of this mishap and being down over it, because in the manga, Onizuka actually says something meaningful, stating that these 6 years for students in school are very important to students before they go out to work, so he thinks that they should have more of a fun childhood than one only focused on worrying about their future. Although he does end up hurting Uchiyamada (his own fault of course) and he only started swinging him back and forth because Uchiyamada started insulting him. I'm not sure why the anime decided to cut that bit out, because Onizuka's philosophy for the kids is to hope to give them a happy and fun childhood before they go out into the world, so I'm sad they cut that piece of characterisation out.

Onizuka and the National Test

A funny thing that the anime left out was Onizuka packing up a huge ass wrapped up luggage to bring to Azusa's place when she suggested he go study at her place for the week to ace that national test. Although Murai and them did try to steal the test answers in the manga, he didn't know about it, and what really motivated Onizuka was when Kikuchi created this cheating device wig for Onizuka to wear so he could give the answers to him in real time (which sounds really cool!). And it was because of how hard they worked cooperating to help cheat for him that made Onizuka think, how could he be a teacher that allows his students to help him through cheating. Either way, I think both are fine, since I think Onizuka would have been touched with both instances, but yeah, as usual, it's always so sweet to think about how much Onizuka has affected their lives that they're willing to do such things for him. LMAO, I'm kinda sad the anime cut out the part Onizuka used a stun gun with 20,000 volts to keep himself awake to study during class at school, but I guess you get the point from the needles he used initially so that's fine haha. Also, even though it's not exactly important, I did think it was nice that in the manga, instead of Azusa and everyone just either wondering where Onizuka is or thinking that he ran away, Azusa actually tried to buy time for him by saying Onizuka called and said he'd do the tests in 3 hours instead of the five hours allocated. I also really liked how in the manga, when Onizuka was in the surgery room, Azusa cried thinking about how much effort Onizuka put into studying for the test just for his students. Something else that was in the manga was the proper aftermath of Teshigawara, considering how insane he was, it was kinda expected that he'd go a bit crazy, and that's more pronounced in the manga where some students were talking about how he lost to Onizuka in the test, and he shattered the girl's eardrums and hit her head, making him go on probation or something (ONLY???), which makes you think how could he still be a teacher but okay lol, the poor girl, I can see why the anime cut that out lol. Anyway, I don't think the differences are that important for this test part and was quite faithfully adapted, and I did really enjoy this part in both the manga and anime haha.

Kanzaki Urumi

Well, let's see how my favourite girl is in the manga~! Her introduction is pretty much the same, but at the coin laundty, the anime did cut out a scene where Urumi offered Onizuka chocolate and seduce him to play around with him, but it's not important. As for the king cobra prank, instead of the chairwoman being the one saying they need to cut it off before the poison spreads, it was actually the infirmary nurse lady in the manga. Also, everyone seems to know about the terror Urumi wreaks over the school, so Onizuka and Azusa are informed about past incidents where she's blown up garbage cans around the school at exactly noon etc, but no one can actually prove she was the one who did those things. However, instead of Azusa being scared and kind of wary of Urumi (as she is in the anime), in the manga, she instead thinks it's rude that they're badmouthing Urumi to be such a person and thinks that teachers shouldn't doubt their students. As for the excess amount of oxygen causing the explosion, it was nice to see that Kikuchi in the manga actually asked Urumi what her trauma was and if he could do anything to help her since he thinks Onizuka is a good teacher and doesn't want her to cause so much trouble. And lol when Onizuka tried to discipline her for that, in the anime, Uchiyamada stops him, but in the manga, Urumi just cries her way out of it and pretends to suicide if he doesn't believe that she didn't do it, and then makes Onizuka buy her noodles, so that's why they end up at a noodle stand later lol. However, I did enjoy the anime's rendition where Onizuka stupidly went to ask her about her trauma that he interpreted wrong as a monster "tora-uma" (tiger horse) and then they go eat noodles, it was really silly but cute. Btw, Urumi is reallyyy cute in the manga with her silly faces and everything, the anime also cuts out some random moments of hers that aren't important but really make her character, like when she wrote I love you on a board during class to Onizuka to distract him etc. Lmao, in the manga, besides hitting the yakuza guy with that beer bottle, she also crashed a police patrol car with the police close by, Onizuka really can't catch a break haha.

A more significant difference is that, when Onizuka went up to the rooftop to stop Urumi from suiciding, aside from her talk about being lonely and thinking what's the point of existing, she also talked about in the manga, that she had many "friends", basically men that talk to her just to "get her", but she still appreciates them because at least they listen to her, and I think that's important to her character. Although it's pretty much implied in the anime that she doesn't have anyone she could talk to as a friend after she was betrayed, I think seeing her talk about it like this was rather saddening. In addition, at this moment, Onizuka wrote down his phone number to give to her, and said he didn't mind long phone calls at any time, and that he'd be her friend and I think that was really cute. She even agreed to go and eat with him again after that. Also, unlike in the anime where it seemed like Urumi was crazy enough to manipulate and test Onizuka by making him accidentally push her off the rooftop because he tried to pick up some money, in the manga, he noticed the money himself and accidentally pushed her off, so she was surprised as well when she fell, but midway, she just kinda accepted that she'd die until Onizuka actually decided to save her. Personally, I think the manga way is more in character for her because I don't feel like she'd risk her life with no guarantees like that. I also think it's nice to note that in the manga, Onizuka did try to take her to a doctor, he was just in such a panic that he went to a vet, a liquor store and other places that didn't care loll. I also think it was a really nice touch in the manga where Urumi (after the genie bit and him taking her around everywhere as her genie) called Kikuchi and left a voice message telling him how she had such a wild day with Onizuka, whilst repeating that Onizuka saved her life, I think it really shows how touched she was at that aspect, and I think the manga delivered that part more conclusively than the anime.

There's a minor chapter with Onizuka talking to Saejima (Onizuka and Ryuji's police friend) as a sort of "extra" showing what kind of life Saejima lives, but it's not very important since it only shows him asking for call girls whilst Onizuka tells him about Kanzaki, but it's done in a monologue kinda way with Saejima being the only guy talking. Most of the stuff around the elementary teacher that told her secret to the whole class is pretty much the same, but her telling the story and everything was pretty straightforward, clear cut and immediate, rather than the anime where Onizuka and them would go to her house and listen to the story when she really just told them there after Urumi gave her the bottle that exploded. As usual, Urumi causes much more chaos in the manga, but the general effect is the same. Also, in the anime, Azusa drives the Cresta to chase after the Onizuka who has taken Urumi away for an "extracurricular lesson" but in the manga, it's just Kikuchi driving with the rest, I guess the anime didn't want to show kids driving? Haha. Aside from that, the way they got Uchiyamada's car keys were different too, they used a stun gun on him in the manga, as opposed to the rope tripping him over lol. In the manga, there aren't really flashbacks to show how important Fujimori-sensei was to Urumi when she thought she was going to die, which kind of clarifies things a bit more for me tbh, since Urumi never seemed to interact with this teacher again in the anime; I guess she was important in the past, but the one that saved her in the end was Onizuka so she'll obviously care about him more now. Urumi is much cuter in the manga though haha, I loved how she started smacking him after they got to safety saying she was really scared etc haha. But, I think the most significant difference was the talk they had with their warm drinks, in the anime, they just kinda talk about how much Urumi wanted to have the warmth of being close to Fujimori and thought of her as a mother, whereas in the manga, Onizuka has some of the gang tell her about their crazy childhoods nonchalantly to show that, if people spend all their time whining about their past, they're cheating themselves of their present, so she should just keep smiling and face everything, since her story isn't significant. As for the ending of the Cresta, in the anime it crashes because Azusa forgets to pull the hand brake and it rolls away, whereas in the manga, Kikuchi somehow sunk it lolll. I'd say the only thing I prefer from the anime is the ending of the Cresta and the more elaborate flashbacks, otherwise, I think the manga Onizuka expresses his life lessons much better. Overall though, I still enjoyed both since they're pretty similar.
Oh, the manga adds a bit more about Uchiyamada's life circumstances after totalling his Cresta (again), the possible affair of his wife, and a new rampaging dog destroying his life in the house with the same name as Onizuka lol.

Aaaand I'm done with another part! Well, that took longer than I thought lol, but I'm nearlyy half way!

GTO Manga and Anime Differences Part 1 (Episodes 1-8, CH 1-28) + Opinion

I recently watched GTO again and loved it a lot (as I did in the past), but I've always heard that it's quite different from the manga, so now I've decided to venture and see what the differences are! I also added my opinion on what I thought was nice in the anime or better in the manga but yeah~ this is gonna be longgg!

Opening/Beginning

Initially, in the manga, it opens with Onizuka at a job interview with the interviewers reading out his resume (him being a karate black belt etc) and telling him how ridiculous and inappropriate he looks with his black and blonde hair and his clothes making him look like a punk from his younger days. It then changes to Onizuka sitting by the escalators (just like in the anime), but the manga gives more reason and background as to why he was sitting there rather than just making it seem like he's a pervert there to stare at the girls' underwear. He's dejected over the overwhelming amount of rejection letters he's received from jobs and wonders if he'll just become an old man that looks up girls' panties and that's when those two guys come along and try to extort him for his actions. Also, at this moment, Onizuka still has his punkish hair (blonde top, black bottom and sides). He definitely doesn't look like he's prepared for a professional job at all lol. In addition, the anime skips over a little bit of Onizuka taking their money and making them buy new shoes for him + him then having to run and hide from the police that appear b/c of it, and then Ryuji appears to pick him up.

It appears that the anime took some parts, shortened and rearranged it in the anime, since Ryuji and Onizuka's talk about wanting to do something great in Tokyo and how Ryuji is already on his way by owning his own little shop is shown right here to establish background to their reasons for being here in Tokyo. In addition, in the anime, Onizuka has already been accepted as a student teacher at a school, whereas in the manga, he is still working at the construction site to pay his bills whilst looking for employment in a long term job, he also does not know what he really wants to pursue as a career and hangs out with his college buddies trying to meet girls as he wallows in his sorrows of not having a proper full time job he can be proud of.

One day, he meets a beautiful high school girl by the escalators and they start talking about themselves at a restaurant. To impress her and not disappoint her expectations of him, he lies that he's loaded, has a great paying job as a scriptwriter and owns a Porsche. They eventually exchange their pager numbers and Onizuka can't help but keep thinking about her and how pretty she was. Then, she really does end up paging him to meet up, when he decides to come clean about who he really is, he ends up seeing her at their meeting place in tears, so he forcefully exchanges his crappy sneakers with some guy's BMW LOL and ends up driving her to a love hotel/karaoke place for her to sing out her sorrows of fighting with her boyfriend. As he tries to tell her to be his girlfriend instead, the girl receives a message from her boyfriend that he's outside and she proceeds to jump out the window into his arms, and then it's revealed that her boyfriend is her teacher! Not only is he a teacher, but he's a short and bald old man that the girl is totally in love with and she quickly leaves with him, shocking Onizuka. Later, Onizuka relays this crazy story to Ryuji, and Ryuji tells him that this kind of thing is pretty common and that he should just find another older girl instead or whatever. But no, Onizuka's got something else on his mind, he's decided that he'll become a teacher! And that's the gist of the first chapter that is pretty much completely cut out of the anime,

I think I can see why it was cut out of the anime if there was a limited amount of content they wanted to shove into the first episode and still make it impactful (since I really do like the long first episode of the anime), the background in this first chapter of the manga fleshes things out much better and shows how difficult it was for Onizuka to find a proper goal and job, whilst showing how ridiculously simple, silly and one track minded Onizuka as a person is. I think it gives him a better first impression as a simple person that likes girl rather than a pervert that just wants to chase after girls that the anime makes. It's a similar impression I guess but the latter is more creepy loll. I do enjoy Onizuka's more thorough initial development through the manga, especially when it showed how highly regarded Onizuka was towards his hairstyle and yet after he decided on his career path, he actually cut it to be more presentable to school authorities.

Mizuki Nanako

In the manga, when Onizuka brought Nana back to his apartment, she never really talked about what her family does and that she'd cook sukiyaki for him, he just gave her some water or whatever, asked her what problems she had, and then she immediately stripped and told him to say cheese for the photos. So the whole thing with Onizuka in his fur dog suit preparing the futon whilst she was cooking kinda just amped up Onizuka's perverted tendencies, and I guess it was kinda funny but I did think that it was pretty uncomfortable seeing him do that tbh, so I kinda prefer the manga in this sense where he had thoughts about how this might go but he never did anything to show that he really wanted to make a move on her. Also, Onizuka tried to clean his place before inviting her in but she went inside herself, so yeah I do admit thinking in the anime why did he have a room that was actually quite clean already loll. Also, it was Onizuka who brought the gang to deal with the guys who took the photos and were now hanging in the park thinking about what to do with the money they'll get from him, the guys didn't anger some neighbourhood gang group and then needing Onizuka's help. I guess the anime's interpretation shows how renowned and strong Onizuka is in a different way, whereas for the manga, I actually find it more in character for Onizuka to lead a gang against them since he had finally lost his shit against these brats he's been hating and wanting to kill for a while haha.

I was always kinda confused why they suddenly went on a drive after Nana threw the sushi away in the bin, like why would Onizuka take her on a drive when she was already home? Anyway, in the manga, after dumping the sushi, Nana said she'd make him a nice dinner at his place, which ended up being fried croquettes. She even made a whole pile LOL, and it was then she talked about how she enjoyed having this warm cheap food her family always had compared to this cold sushi. She also talked about how Onizuka's small apartment reminded her of the old days and how cosy the family was in it compared to her big house, which kinda makes more sense as to why she's so insistent on sleeping over at his place. She didn't want to leave his apartment and it was only when he dragged her out and tried to drive her home did she jump off the bike, which imo definitely makes much more sense and flows much better. He also let her stay at his place to sleep after that, whilst he slept outside on the porch, which shows how much of a gentleman Onizuka actually is even if he is a pervert. That other student teacher is definitely even more trash than the anime though to suggest that Onizuka take photos of Nana and make her be at his beck and call because of it, disgusting! Nana also had already stayed over for like three days. Ahh, it was after that disgusting teacher's opinion that Onizuka wore that wolf costume and even thought about attacking her, but then she started talking about the memories she cherished with her family when they used to eat sukiyaki all the time (that's where the sukiyaki came from!), then he stopped and told her to go home since this was his apartment and not the one room apartment with her family back then, of which she complied. I'll admit that in terms of the wolf costume part, I did like how the anime kinda toned it down because it was pretty over the top and I could see how problematic it would be in an anime. However, I think they should have kept the part where she slept at his place and he slept inside, since it establishes the kind of pure character Onizuka is even if he's a pervert, since he doesn't take advantage of others when it comes to serious stuff. It also didn't take as much effort for Onizuka to break a hole into the wall as it did in the anime, but I can understand why the anime decided to extend it tbh, because as a person who watched the anime first, every strike from Onizuka's hammer to the wall resonated with me as much as it did for Nana, it really touched me how he was so insistent on destroying this obstructive wall in her heart and in her home. I really liked the impact and the music accompanying it.

So really, even though some things were different and some things were omitted, I still like both. I just think that reading the manga helps to make things make more sense, however even if you don't read it, you kinda get the gist of it anyway, so it's fine. So, I think if you want a better background of things and to have a more coherent recount of events, the manga is the way to go, but I have to admit that Onizuka's VA and the OST is so great that I think it would be nice to watch the first episode and then read the first 7 chapters for a more properly developed story. The emotional impact probably hit me harder in the anime with the music and everything, but the manga definitely develops and shows the story better.

Interview

It was nice to see that the manga actually introduced Saejima as a dodgy cop properly, and that Onizuka didn't suddenly land the chance to get an interview at the Holy Forest Academy so fast and easily, he got rejected numerous times. The Vice Principal is also a much bigger pervert in the manga, instead of enjoying "accidentally" rubbing his face on Fuyutsuki's butt in the anime, he blatantly grabbed her ass. Also, Fuyutsuki had a tear in her pants and he lends her his jacket to cover it, not that this is very important so I guess it's understandable why it was cut out of the anime lol. On the other hand, after his German suplex of the Vice Principal, I'm kind of sad that the anime cut out the little part where the "bad" students (that wanted revenge) felt bad that they ruined Onizuka's chances of becoming a teacher there for them, I felt that it showed that Onizuka was right, that despite what things they did, they weren't trash. I would have also liked to see Fuyutsuki shout to him that he can't leave because his words were so inspiring and she thinks that he would be a great teacher. You could feel that she felt that way in the anime, but seeing her verbalise it like that in the manga (especially right after they met) was refreshing and gave her more character, so now I'm a bit bummed that it was cut. As for Fuyutsuki telling Ryuji about the final interview, it didn't happen in the manga, all that happened was Ryuji calling him about it, so I guess that was a nice addition. The anime also cut out Ryuji, Onizuka and Azusa (Fuyutsuki) drinking in celebration of Onizuka landing the job, and he mentions that he's going to be living on campus despite Azusa saying she never got such an offer.

First Day at Holy Forest Academy

Instead of tearing his teaching licence in two on stage during the morning assembly introducing the teachers, in the manga Onizuka and Azusa met up with each other to excitedly show each other their respective licences, but Onizuka tore it in half. When he painstakingly sticky taped it back, the waitress in the restaurant spilled coffee all over it lmao. It also shows Azusa and Ryuji in a truck helping Onizuka move all his belongings to the school. Something I would've really liked to see in the anime would be Azusa and Onizuka both stepping into the school grounds together and calling each other a teacher. It felt like a really special moment and it was very heartwarming to see how many interactions between them that we probably missed out on in the anime. The anime also skips over the guy showing Onizuka to the rooftop as his new room. It was hilarious when Onizuka takes out his futon and sleeps in it, saying something like "you mean for me to sleep here?!" As Onizuka complains about his living space at night, he hears a girl giggling and a shoe drops next to him on the rooftop, of which is just a couple making out that he starts peeking on loll. He goes around the teachers' office and thinks of the positive aspects of living in school, and then sees some students in the courtyard trying to communicate with UFOs and kicks them out of the school hahaha. Then they start spray painting about UFOs on the wall, so Onizuka has to clean up hahaha. It is after this that Onizuka finds Yoshikawa tied up in a locker and listens to him talk, He asks Onizuka to get revenge for him, but Onizuka tells him to do it himself, which then leads to Yoshikawa going to the rooftop saying he's going to kill himself. As he tries to convince him to come back, he accidentally pushes him off instead. Thinking of what the news headlines would be like the next day, Onizuka reaches his hands out to catch him whilst using his slippers to latch on to the floor on the rooftop. Yoshikawa ends up standing on a windowsill safely, whereas Onizuka's feet slips out from the slippers and he falls on to the car below. The principal sees him and asks if he's okay, she ends up bandaging him up too and says that she got him to live up there so he can see everything that goes on in the school and become the superhero for this place, and if he does that, she will make him become a real teacher.

So really, there's no Onizuka nearly crashing into the Cresta with his truck full of stuff and no Onizuka telling Yoshikawa to carry his belongings whilst he carries the pillow upstairs and they don't discuss about games on the Playstation etc. The things he encounters at night are different from the anime as well. Otherwise, the opening ceremony/morning assembly and cherry blossom viewing  happened after the Yoshikawa event so I guess the anime kinda rearramged some stuff. In the manga, they directed Onizuka to where they could find the previous homeroom teacher rather than merely talking about her at the cherry blossom viewing. He found her at a questionable place where members would channel their "negative" energy to space or something to cure their psychological wounds and this teacher was one of them. Onizuka saw how much weight she put on here. He was also shown her class diaries which were scribbled on and she was sitting in a room with graffiti all over it, probably highlighting all the stress and trauma she had been dealt with by her students. The cherry blossom viewing happened after this reveal, and it was Onizuka who told Azusa what happened to the previous teacher. The anime also omits the appearance of a lady that works in the infirmary called Naoko who gives Onizuka pills for all kinds of problems since she thought he would need it as the new homeroom teacher of that troubling class, and she tells him about how the past three teachers of this class ended up either attempting suicide, disappearing or bringing gasoline to school trying to put the classroom on fire.

As usual, the manga gives a bit more detail on the teacher side of things imo, whereas the anime seems to want to focus more on the comedy. Despite that though, I think the biggest thing that anime watchers are missing out from is the scene of Azusa and Onizuka stepping into school together as teachers for the first time. Otherwise, everything else is kinda like minor changes or rearrangements, but I do prefer the pacing and the flow of the manga more since it feels more coherent, and of course detailed. The impact of how frightening this class really is was probably better in the manga as well, but I think you kinda get the gist of it in the anime. I did enjoy the anime originals of Onizuka carrying his pillow and stuff like that though, it was pretty funny, but at the same time I do feel like the anime focused a bit too much on his silly side.

The Start of Teacher Bullying - Kikuchi Yoshito's arc

Not too different but in the manga, Onizuka's wooden horse photo was plastered all over the walls in the hallways rather than on the school noticeboard, either way though, it was pretty much to the same effect with the same reactions. However, when Onizuka goes back to the staff room, it's a different reaction. The anime seemed to want to play on the comedy effect with Onizuka being silly thinking he really might have done it, alongside the Vice Principal strangling him for the Cresta, but in the manga, many of the teachers told Onizuka that this was the students' ways of doing things making composite photos, and that they had done it to the previous teacher as well. Tbh it also kind of highlights the toxicity of the teachers as well, since a few of them would talk about how they still had those photos of the female teacher (Kihara) in "implied" compromising positions and how they thought some of them were probably real. So really, there isn't much of a misunderstanding about the photos on Onizuka's part, so he never really went berserk over the photo of him and the Vice Principal on the class chalkboard, instead, it was right then and there that he asked who made this photo, Kikuchi admitted it thinking Onizuka would make him reflect with the usual punishments by teachers, but instead he took him to the side to ask him to make more for these girls he liked lol. With his silliness, he quickly recovered momentum for teaching the class too. Murai is also shown to physically bully his (no name) classmates for enjoying Onizuka's class. Fujiyoshi also reveals his plan to Murai and the others (Aizawa etc) to get Onizuka eat a female cockroach so that it'll lay eggs inside him and kill him (he saw it happen to someone on the news). HAHAHA, and of course it backfires during lunchtime, because of how much a glutton Onizuka is and pours back his curry (with the cockroach in it) into the pot and gets a larger serving, in the end, Murai ends up nearly eating the cockroach because Onizuka bumps into him lol. Due to this incident, Murai sets up a trap wire in the doorway to the classroom to make Onizuka trip and fall face first into a pair of opened scissors, but as usual, Onizuka pushes him and he nearly gets killed instead lol. You can say that, Murai is probably so much more malicious in the manga. It is also then that Murai goes to the game centre with the others (but gets left alone) and fights Onizuka in that game and loses tragically.

So really, most of episode 4 with Onizuka going berserk, Fuyutsuki and others misunderstanding, and then Onizuka going to clear up the misunderstanding doesn't really happen in the manga at all, since Onizuka was informed from the beginning what those photos were by the teachers (he was never interfered with listening to the story by the Vice Principal), and so he didn't need Yoshikawa to tell him that Kikuchi did it. Overall, I think the anime portrays Kikuchi's shock and acceptance of Onizuka better with his talk with Yoshikawa and how he expresses himself afterwards, since in the manga, after Onizuka requested those composites, it doesn't really show much of why Kikuchi thinks it's boring to do these things to Onizuka, it's more implied. Also, unlike the anime, Kikuchi isn't shown to be thinking of making more composite photos before being confronted by Onizuka to make some for him lol, but I guess I liked that addition following the "story" of the anime haha, anime Kikuchi seems better for now haha. Although, I do think that Onizuka knowing from the beginning that the photos weren't real was more in line with his smart but silly kind of persona, and I think I do prefer it in the sense of developing his character to the audience, but I also really enjoyed the comedy of the misunderstanding in the anime. It was a bit draggy in the anime though because the misunderstanding took up most of the episode, I think they could have shortened it, even though I did really like Onizuka's crazy reactions to the photos lol. In addition, instead of Onizuka having to clear up the misunderstanding with Fuyutsuki first and cheer her up, she instead goes to his room and apologises after realising her mistake, and offers to cook him dinner.

After this, the anime seems to mix up the sequence of events, the anime goes into Anko's part of firing Onizuka in episode 5-6, but the manga continues on with Murai's story, which is kinda depicted in episode 7. I'll go through the differences in episode 7 then loll. (more about this in next paragraph with Kunio)

Murai Kunio and his Mother

After losing at so many games against Onizuka in the arcade, like in the anime, Murai shackles Onizuka to the sumo wrestler game. However, their purpose in being there was different, since in the anime, Murai didn't want his mum to go on a date with Onizuka and that's why they played the games, whereas in the manga, they just coincidentally met there and he wanted revenge against Onizuka for nearly killing him (with his own traps lol). Whilst he's running away on a bike from the enraged Onizuka, he nearly crashes into his mum, and that is actually when Onizuka finds out that Murai's mum is really young and pretty. So really, there was no intended home visit by the homeroom teacher to start all this and I'm not sure why the anime decided to change it. And there was no dramatic saving the mum from a truck by Onizuka to show how reckless of a person Murai is. But the truth of the matter still remains, whilst Murai is constantly thinking that Onizuka is vying for his mum, going to karaoke etc, they're actually talking about Murai's future and his school results. The manga pauses Murai's story with Murai saying he can't trust teachers anymore because of what happened in the past, and then it goes back to Yoshikawa and Anko. I guess the anime wanted to keep the stories isolated but flowing, so it pushed forward the Anko part. In terms of episode 8 with the bungee jumping etc, it's mostly faithful to the manga, but I did enjoy the little spin the anime made, which was that the stolen car they rode in was the Cresta haha, I feel sorry for the Vice Principal but it's just hilarious hahaha. I guess, in terms of the latter half of Murai's story, I enjoyed the anime more because of the music and the Cresta part lol, I also loved how the anime shows more of the police chase on Onizuka so it really highlights the comedy of it. And I think the anime shows more of the friendly relationship between Onizuka and Murai's mum, which is kinda sweet since they are kinda fun, but not necessary I guess, since most of it is strictly talking about Kunio haha.

Anko bullying Yoshikawa

The anime seems to like to highlight Onizuka's perverted aspects and the comedy loll, but yeah, instead of Fuyutsuki playing games with Onizuka, in the manga, that's when she apologises for her mistake about the photos, and then Yoshikawa comes along and plays games with him. Although it's shown in the anime briefly that Fuyutsuki is happy that Onizuka is getting along with one of his students, I think the manga puts more effort into her character by verbalising her thoughts to the infirmary teacher (that doesn't exist in the anime) that she thinks compared to all the other teachers in this school, Onizuka is probably the closest to his students. I think it's also nice to see Fuyutsuki have a girl friend in the school, so it's saddening to not see that in the anime. Yoshikawa also admits and apologises to Onizuka that he knew what Kikuchi and them did, but didn't tell him because he was scared they'd pick on him again, which I'm glad the manga talks about! I always thought it was kinda weird (but whatever kinda thing) that he would tell Onizuka about Kikuchi in the anime like he was beginning to want to improve for himself, and yet go backwards with his other actions. I think this is more in line with his character. Not relevant but dang, Anko looks prettier in the manga haha.

I always wondered what happened to Kikuchi after Onizuka saves Yoshikawa from suiciding, like it doesn't make sense that he just goes home, you know?! Lol! So I'm glad to see that in the manga, Kikuchi is the one taking the photos of Anko and them loll, team spirit you know! It's also kinda amusing that Yoshikawa actively participates for this revenge in the manga, whereas he's more reserved in the anime about it. In this sense, I think the anime lends to his personality more considering how fearful he's always been, and I kind of like how it felt eye opening to Yoshikawa that the girls could be so vulnerable, and that they could be weak too. Whereas, in the manga, he was just rather satisfied that Onizuka helped him get revenge. So, I think in terms of the teaching theme, I did enjoy the anime more. Also, Moritaka (infirmary nurse) was the one to discover Onizuka's arm was swollen and broken, instead of Fuyutsuki. In addition, in the manga, Onizuka never went back to the school to try and fix things with his monkey suit etc, Yoshikawa just went to the private meeting held with Anko's mother and undressed, whilst Kikuchi played the tape, and she backed off. I'm glad about that tbh, because I always thought that monkey suit thing by Onizuka was ridiculous lol. In addition, Onizuka never talked to Anko saying there's more fun things than bullying and she'll come to realise that, like I know why the anime wanted to put that, but it really doesn't make sense when in the end, Anko doesn't change in later episodes, so I thought it was really...awkward? But yeah, Onizuka did run away from the hospital to go play games at the arcade, but that was after everything had been resolved by Kikuchi and Yoshikawa, and it shows Yoshikawa beating him at the game lol. Personally, I liked the way the manga did it because even though it was less dramatic, it made more sense, but either way, it reflects how much Yoshikawa and Kikuchi have been influenced and moved by Onizuka to help him out, so I guess the gist of the story stays the same.

And that's it for episodes 1-8! That was honestly more work than I thought loll, more to come soon? Haha.

June-July Favourite Anime

Back to reviews~ I haven't been reading much new manga since I'm doing another comparison post between the GTO anime and the manga, so probably no new manga for a while~ Well, it's mainly because I'm going on more of an anime phase again these days haha! I generally go through a cycle between being obsessed with finding new anime or manga to watch/read and I guess this year is anime!~ I really enjoyed watching the ones these two months and would totally watch them all again tbh XD

Dororo

Genre: Action, Adventure, Historical, Supernatural, Shounen

Episodes: 24

My Rating: 8/10

Dororo was a surprise. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, and I'm glad I tried it, because I wasn't too interested from the first episode. However, as everything progressed, I really enjoyed the morality issues, the demons, the fights and the interesting reliance on demons by humans, as well as the growth of a young man that wanted to rightfully take everything that was his back, and the repercussions of it all. I think it has great pacing and really set up everything about the world and their lives well. The second half isn't as great as the beginning but I still liked it. I think Hyakkimaru and Dororo's bond was cute, and I think the interactions between humans and demons coexisting was a nice take.

The story revolves around Hyakkimaru, a child  born with no limbs, no eyes, no skin etc, this was due to his father's pact with 12 demons that led to the sacrifice of this child in exchange for his prefecture's prosperity. Although Hyakkimaru was supposed to be disposed of, he ended up being saved by a man who gives him prosthetics and teaches him how to live and fight, because it was apparent through his encounters that he would inevitably face all the demons that took his limbs and everything from him and defeat them to regain it all back. Thus, he goes on this journey and meets a child called Dororo and they end up journeying together, and teaching each other things they both lack.

Although Hyakkimaru doesn't really talk, I really enjoyed how Dororo and him communicated and how they both learnt to cherish each other. Both of their stories are saddening and tough, yet they both strive to live and try their best to understand why it is important to want to live and yet how their desires to live can impact others. I really loved the fighting scenes btw! Great! I also enjoyed the stories of the demons and the people relying on them to live, it has this nice grey idea of morality throughout the show where it's obvious that most of what the demons and the samurai do are wrong, but everyone is doing what they can and what they think they should do in order to live. Sometimes they acknowledge that what they're doing isn't right, but that doesn't mean that they'll stop, because this is what they think to be the only way they can survive, and I think a lot of those stories resonated with me. The other stories are also like different projections of humanity and how people work and I really liked how they acted realistically to their situations. I think the stories of all the people the duo encounter alongside the overarching story with Hyakkimaru trying to retrieve his body parts back was greatly interweaved and I would totally recommend it if you like that historical sword fighting feel of an anime alongside demons haha. 

Yuu Yuu Hakusho

Genre: Action, Comedy, Supernatural, Shounen

Episodes: 112

My Rating: 8.5/10

As a fan of Togashi (author), and having watched Yuu Yuu Hakusho when I was a child, there was no way I would ever dislike this anime haha. I would just say that everything up until the end of the tournament arc was a solid 9 and the last two arcs were a bit less intriguing, so my rating went down a bit, but this is still one of my all time favourites. The friendship and personalities of all the main characters are great because they all have their respectively interesting powers and personalities. Their personalities are pretty much what they seem to be on the outside, but I love that despite all their differences, they are all softies on the inside. They all care deeply about people and their friends in their own ways and I love that. Yuusuke is a great protagonist that has the usual silly but straightforward personality, but he's really endearing with how interacts with everyone, and it's not a surprise for everyone to like him haha.

The story follows Yuusuke, a delinquent who ends up dying to save a kid about to be hit by a car. Due to this act of sacrifice that no one in the Spirit Realm (where humans go when they die) expected, they couldn't really let him pass on, so instead they ask him to become a spirit detective! Which means he'll help them solve cases on Earth relating to spirits or demons and he can then eventually regain his life back as a human. So the story kinda follows Yuusuke as he solves cases, meets his friends, learns to be more than just a mere delinquent, gains supernatural powers, learns martial arts and fights against those threatening his everyday life, since you know, he's a softie at heart hahaha.

What I enjoy most is definitely the characters and their growth in terms of their personalities as well as their powers. Gotta love shounen for their hard working power ups hahaha. I enjoyed Yuusuke's training and how emotional a lot of the interactions were, because everyone had their respective things to fight for. The main characters join up together to fight for their own interests but become friends along the way through mutual understanding and bonding, and I just love that hahaha. The fights are great too because of how cool it all is, I love the different fighting styles and how their personalities reflect their fights very well. Basically, I loved everything about it, the characters and the plot hahaha. It may be another typical shounen to others, but this is one of those shounen that I would always watch again and still love it as much. I loved it as a kid and still love it as an adult hahaha, although I do recognise more flaws to it now haha.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Sci-fi, Super Power

Episodes: 48

My Rating: 7.5/10

IF you've watched To Aru Majutsu no Index, then you'll know that Railgun is the side story focusing on the life of Misaka Mikoto and her friends in Academy City, in a sense, it focuses more on the science side of things. As a fan of Misaka, there's no way I wouldn't watch this hahaha. I've watched the first season before but forgot about it so I rewatched it so I could watch the second season chronologically (whilst anticipating for the third season!). The first season has more of a slice of life feel to it, where Misaka just goes about her everyday and the problems she encounters during them. Honestly, I really enjoyed the 'Level Upper' troubles where a lot of people tried to make themselves a higher esper level through unauthorised means, causing havoc and problems for people and themselves. It was really reflective of the situation in Academy City where a lot of your worth is dictated by your level, and I think it really portrayed well the dilemmas and helplessness of being a Level 0 or even just a Level 1 or something. As usual, you get to see how cool Misaka is, and how she tries her best to deal with these problems with her friends and how to utilise her powers in different ways to accommodate the difficulties of fighting enemies of different abilities and weapons. The later episodes go into a more literal slice of life after that and can be kinda boring, though I guess it is still quite fun since it's always nice to see Misaka living a normal life with normal friends.

Second season with the Sisters arc was so emotional and so great, I loved it. I would give it an 8 or 9 just for that arc alone because I think it really captured Misaka's feelings very well and expanded it greatly, so even if you know what happens through Index, it's still so worth it to watch this part from Misaka's perspective. It's just so terrifying, saddening and difficult to watch her have to struggle with her mistakes as a child causing such pain and destruction to clones of herself, accompanied by her hope just dwindling as she keeps trying to fight against the city that finds merit in creating more versions of her. You can really see how she came to that point of desperation, and how much meaning it really represented when she finally asked Touma for her help. That was definitely the highlight of the second season and would be worth watching just for that character progress and anguish. The rest of the second season was pretty lacklustre in comparison but still relatively sweet and engaging. I definitely recommend this if you like Misaka and would like to know more about her perspective towards everything, and how she goes about her everyday life hahaha.

GTO

Genre: Comedy, Drama, School Life, Shounen, Slice of Life

Episodes: 43

My Rating: 9/10

When I was a child, I watched Onizuka in Cantonese haha, but I still loved it, and honestly I feel like some of them sound better in Cantonese (or it's just my bias) haha. In hindsight, I don't know why the child me was watching GTO considering some of the stuff it shows, but I still enjoyed the comedy of Onizuka so it's fine hahahah. Basically, the best thing about GTO is Onizuka himself. He carries the whole show by himself and he easily carries it by himself. He's such a weird, perverted, hilarious, crazy and kind teacher that it's so exaggerated, but at the same time, you would really wish to have a teacher like him. Seeing him change the lives of so many people in his own quirky way and how he reacts to everything is just so funny but awesome, like how can it be so wholesome and yet so crazy?! Hahaha, I love it and I really want to watch it again already haha.

The story follows Onizuka, a former biker gang leader who has decided that he wants to be the greatest teacher ever...for immoral reasons of just really wanting to see high school girls. Thus dictates his journey of being sent to deal with the toughest class in his new school that has already caused several teachers to quit with mental problems, as he reforms these children who hate teachers. Although his reasons for becoming a teacher are skeptical, and the way he teaches is also something to be discussed, you can't deny Onizuka's passion. He's a pervert who believes that no students are trash. As a former student who was probably called trash daily, he knows how this affects students and honestly believes that no matter how "bad" a student may be, they are his students and he will help them. Honestly, everything he does is so over the top, he could never be a real teacher, but really, seeing him the way he is, doing his best to heal the hearts of these students that were hurt by their teachers, I couldn't help but feel touched, it's really heartwarming tbh haha. I love how he may use his violent ways to solve things, but he has a very tender heart, he really understands his students and tries his best to be a good teacher in his own way. I guess in terms of everything, he's not an educator but more of a teacher that will show them lessons on life. I love how he's such an idiot as well haha, a very lovable one though. I think if you want to watch something with a great over the top teacher helping kids who hate teachers realise that there are people like him who would sacrifice everything for them, you'll enjoy it. Also gotta love how Onizuka and them break the vice principal's car all the time lmaoo. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing, Onizuka's coolest moments are done so well, I've cried at how touching it was for him to help these students overcome their problems, the first girl he meets as a student teacher and the way he resolved it at the end was always the best for me imo, because I think it really showed how Onizuka helped her make the first step to repairing her family bonds, and that the rest of it was her responsibility and she knew it. Onizuka helps them, but they all recognise that he only helps them realise what they can do to repair things rather than him repairing it for them and that's all, and I guess that's what I love.


P.S Oh, this isn't a review but some thoughts. I also watched Fate Stay Night and Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, but I'm not a fan hahaha. It was all right, but I don't think I really enjoyed it as much as others did. The action was nice, I liked Shirou and Archer's determination and their stories, their beliefs and their talk, but I didn't really like what the war came to really be and I'm not a fan of Gilgamesh lol. Lancer was cool. I definitely think Rin is the best girl and I loved her character but I'm not a fan of the plot and how things were dealt with and handled imo so I don't really recommend it haha. UBW was definitely better than the first though haha. Like, I think there was nice ideas and everything but yeah... I'll probably check out Zero and Heaven's Feel in the future but not right now. Oh, and I'll still read the VN eventually because I love VNs and I think I might enjoy it more, since I am the person that didn't really like the Steins;Gate anime when I watched the first few episodes, and yet when I played the VN, I was pretty much instantly enamoured by the art and the story even though it's mainly slice of life in the beginning, and yet I loved it lol and I might have liked it more than the latter half haha, so yeah, the anime won't deter me from trying the VN, so I hope I enjoy that more~!

KyoAni Memories

I recently wrote a post on my feelings for Kyoto Animation, and I really wanted to keep it with me here on this blog as well, so I copied and pasted it here from my tumblr.

Tumblr post

It’s been a long time since my last post here, but something struck me hard the other day that I haven’t been able to come to terms with. For me, I thought I’d be transitioning into my 27 year old life rather normally, as every year is, but I never thought that something so horrific could happen 2 days before my birthday. It was really...shocking to say the least. After I heard about it, I couldn’t stop reading about it at 3am in my bed wondering what happened, how it could have happened, why would someone do something like that and how people were reacting to it. Every time I read a bit more information, I realised that I was crying. Honestly, it was a weird thing to experience. You read about so many tragedies on the news every day, yet I don’t think there was a piece of news that hit me as much as this one did. It honestly felt very personal to me, and I just couldn’t fathom the reality of it and the repercussions of it. It was a crazy thing to feel and I don’t think I can ever come to terms with it.

Tbh, it’s still kind of weird for me. I’ve been watching anime since I was 12, and really, it was only recently that I felt like I actually cared about what studio made what anime, and looked up the works the ones I liked did. KyoAni was one I always heard about and knew in the back of my mind as the one with all the fluffy happy stuff and the emotional stuff, and I always thought the anime they did were really cute. Tbh, I’ve only watched a few of their series but I’ve always known about all the series they had made, ever since I was a child. When I think back to the past, I remember all the hype surrounding Kanon and how emotional it was. I remember the mixed feelings about Air, but it was still nevertheless beautiful. I remember thinking Haruhi was weird in the first minute of the show and not appreciating it when I was young, yet loving the novels as an adult. I remember absolutely loving Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and rewatching it so many times because of how hilarious it was. I remember trying to watch K-On and Hyouka but it just wasn’t my thing. I remember volunteering at SMASH and all the girls were fangirling over an anime called Free! I remember watching Musaigen no Phantom World thinking it was pretty but that’s all. I remember teasing my friend about how much he likes that little dragon girl from Kobayashi. I remember watching Violet Evergarden with no expectations, yet I was enraptured by its’ beautiful animation and the idea of how it wasn’t weird of me to think that communication through letters are such a wonderful thing. I remember watching A Silent Voice in the theatres twice for different people, yet enjoying it so much because of how much it touched my heart and how well the story communicated to my heart. I’m a person that dreads watching the same thing twice, especially in the span of a week, and I don’t even like movies lol, but A Silent Voice just hit me so hard and I couldn’t forget about it.

But the one anime that probably changed me the most was Clannad. I’m the one that liked the first season more than the second haha, but ever since the first episode of it, I couldn’t help but be drawn to it. The music, the characters, everything really touched me and I absolutely loved it. Honestly, it was Clannad that made me venture into visual novels, and it was Clannad that made me play the same visual novel twice because I loved all the characters and all the routes, all the emotions and all their growth. If KyoAni never made the anime for it, I never would have opened my eyes to such a great story and all the other great visual novels I’m experiencing now. I think it’s an understatement to say that KyoAni was a part of my childhood because really, without me knowing or realising, I grew up with KyoAni. None of their works that I enjoyed were ever...forgettable even if I didn’t enjoy it as much as others did. It really pains me to think about how many of the people who brought such happiness and such emotions into my life won’t be able to experience the same things anymore. It pains me to think about the innocence in creating such works that change the lives of people to be met with such heartbreak. It pains to think about it and I hate to think about it. But I still will, because in the end, KyoAni’s works have so much rewatch value, they are things that have touched my heart and that I would definitely watch again. So, even if things may not ever be the same again, the thought that KyoAni is already doing their best to stand up again, I want to be more positive about things too and cheer them on and support them. I honestly don’t know how to end this, but I guess I just really wanted to thank all the people who worked so hard on these works that made my memories so precious to me even today. Thank you.

March-May Favourite Manga

So, I've binged quite a few series these past few months, so I've got quite a few :D I also read 3-gatsu no Lion and Kaguya-sama but I kinda talked about it through the anime post so I won't bother repeating what I said~ I'd recommend them as well for sure though!


5-toubun no Hanayome (The Quintessential Quintuplets) 
by Negi Haruba
Genre: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Shounen, Harem
Status: Ongoing, 81 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7/10

I'm not sure whether I'm so fond of harem because when I first step foot into the world of anime, I mainly read/watched harem stuff, so I'm quite partial and nostalgic with then, or maybe I just love the idea of people trying their best to win the affections of one person haha. Anyway, a recent popular one would have to be this quintuplets one. I watched the anime first and it was pretty meh kinda average, but there is a S2 coming and I think from the manga, it's worth a shot. The story is not bad but not great, I'd say the best thing about it is the waifu wars the commenters create loll. Anywho, the story revolves around Fuutarou, the poor but smart guy that focuses on his studies and has no friends. Due to his family's financial situation, he landed a job to be the tutor for the daughters of a rich family, but he didn't realise a few things, and that is that they all suck at studying, they're all quintuplets and that they all have no motivation to study either! But he's gotta do it for the money, so he persists and tries his best to get them all to improve their grades, and along the way the girls can't help but be romantically enamoured by him I guess? LOL

Plot is very simple and straightforward, one guy tutoring five girls to make them improve their grades and not fail school. I guess the appeal would have to be the variety of the sisters and how they are different and yet the same. They fight with each other but make up all the time because they know that what's most important is each other. I think one thing that really grips readers is that the ending is shown at the beginning of the story, which is that Fuutarou is marrying one of the quintuplets (although there are thoughts that with the amount of dresses shown, it could still be a harem ending haha), so we can be more assured that someone will be chosen for sure. A good thing is that there aren't many ecchi moments to over saturate the plot with, and Fuutarou isn't the super nice guy that most harem protagonists are. He's still nice of course, but he also has some spunk and he would communicate with them properly. I guess everyone just feels real to their personality and I enjoy that. It's definitely one of the few harem stories to actually concentrate on properly delving into the romance as the main focus and everything else like comedy is more on the side, so it actually does feel like a romance manga where everyone is improving themselves and working towards a romance with the person that they like. Overall, I think you'd enjoy it if you want a harem that mainly focuses on romance and isn't deterred by comedy and episodic chapters.

(Girls and my ship) With the many followings of each girl, I have to say that I was initially on the Ichika ship (her voice and design is so beautiful in the anime), but I think in the end, my favourites would be Yotsuba and then Miku. I'd say that in terms of character development and screentime to this point, Nino and Miku are the ones who hog most of it, so it can be saddening if you're a fan of Itsuki or Yotsuba since they do have moments but it's not as focused on them imo. Everyone seems to like Nino because of how forward she is and everyone seems to love Miku because of how sweet and precious she is even though she's very shy, but she does have her moments where she overcomes that so it's rather endearing. Ichika is supposedly the mature one but she gets kind of childish and overboard so I can't support her character anymore even though I can see why she did it lol, whereas Yotsuba seems to be the one that just wants everyone to be happy. I think I like Yotsuba the most because I align with her thoughts the most, or what I think her thoughts are anyway, I feel like she doesn't want to be a part of the war for the guy because she wants everyone to be happy, so she'd rather hide her feelings to keep everyone else from the agony of having every single sister as a rival lol. She's the energetic, kind one that always helps people no matter what and I love her for that. So if she loses, my ship will sink with her but I'm happy with that LOL.

P.S I am so glad that the author revised Miku's look from the oneshot because she looked sooo bland in it. On another note, I think I preferred Itsuki's look from the oneshot though, it's not that different but it kinda changed into the more generic look imo.

Solo Leveling
by Gee So-Lyung  and art by Redice (Jang Sung-Lak) & Akira Rei
Genre: Shounen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Status: Ongoing, 74 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7/10

Honestly, I have to admit that I found the first 30-40 chapters quite boring, uninteresting and quite a drag lol. Our MC Sung Jin-Woo was quite edgy, bland and tbh he still kinda is but the plot definitely became much more interesting after he changed classes. The chapters before it took me a while to get through mainly because there were no other characters that were potentially interesting or important besides the MC and for me, the MC couldn't carry the story with how bland they both were. However, afterwards, it gets a bit more interesting with how the potential for the MC to grow in his powers and world expands. It's still not the greatest, but I think the art definitely makes up for the story a lot of the time. Anyway, story revolves around MC who is the lowest rank "hunter" that can venture into these portals where monsters lie. Hunting monsters and defeating the boss in each of these portals to dungeons yields money for the group, and so our MC tries to feed his his family by doing so, even though he is extremely weak, gets injured easily and is teased by everyone around him because of that. One day, he gets through a tough dungeon, kinda through his death (this dungeon was nearly unbearable to read for me lol) and gets a new set of powers that makes him be able to get stronger and not be stuck on the lowest rank, and his journey kinda starts from there. It's basically the growth of a weak MC to an OP one tbh, pretty cliche but also pretty fun.

As I said before, story-wise, it isn't very amazing, but the art makes up for it with how vibrant and beautiful it gets. Initially, it wasn't very mind-blowing, but the art definitely gets better or maybe there's just better stuff to draw after lol. It's an easy read that is quite fun if you're interested in seeing an MC grow more and more powerful as he acquires abilities and improves on them to obtain a better life for his family. In a sense, I'd say it's kinda similar to The Gamer where the fascination isn't really in the story, but in what kind of abilities the MC gets, how he can improve on it, how can he make it even more OP and how will he fend against other monsters and humans kinda story. It's fun, it's pretty and quite nice to read~ I wouldn't say there's much character development or even any characters that are important besides the MC right now though lol, so definitely just read it for the nice effects of his abilities and the potential of it all imo.

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto
by Hyuuga Natsu and Nanao Ikki, art by Nekokurage
Genre: Drama, Historical, Seinen, Mystery, Romance, Slice of Life
Status: Ongoing, 25 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10

I really enjoy reading this one!~ It's unique, it's funny, it's sweet and it's interesting. The story takes place in the palace of the imperial court, where our MC Maomao has been put into servitude. Then she just kinda struts along through the story as a strong minded, smart and kinda crazy girl that everyone, whether it be the concubines or the officials, they can't help but be interested in her and get her help in solving many strange cases that happen around them. In terms of the plot, I'd say that it isn't clear (and there aren't many chapters) whether it really wants to just document the progress of Maomao's adventures with medicine (since she's kinda like a pharmacist) or whether they are building to something deeper with the romantic interest that seems to be quite taken with her, even though she doesn't notice since her one track mind only cares about taking different poisons and learning about them loll. I think Maomao makes the story much more appealing with how her attitude and personality is, she's unafraid to do what she wants and undeterred by others in pursuing her interests. Although I guess the guy does stop her (for a good reason) haha. Maomao is also a very situationally aware kinda person, she understands her surroundings well, she can deduce how people may think and she accordingly acts, and I think that makes her so likeable.

The cases she becomes involved in are also quite fun because it delves into learning about some medicine related properties and poisons, but it also takes the story further by showing through these cases how difficult it can be to live in the imperial court. However, amongst all this, Maomao stands out as interesting because she has no interest in gaining more power or to submit to her place, she just kinda aims to survive and does what she can to keep herself in her place to continue her experiments haha. She's very fun to follow and I would recommend reading this for her :D

Otome game no Hametsu Flag shika nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shite shimatta... (I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess with only Destruction Flags...)
by Yamaguchi Satoru, art by Hidaka Nami
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Harem, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Status: Ongoing, 17 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 8/10

Recently, I realised that the isekai types of novels have really expanded! There's been this new flourish of  isekai novels where the girl is reincarnated into otome games as the villainess and this is probably my favourite one! It's getting an anime soon and I'm so happy about that! It's such a funny and lighthearted story, I love it! I think the comedy is great and the art and the flow of the story really enhances the comedy. It really knows when to make them chibi with funny faces and the serious faces, it's amazing! The story starts with the MC being an average 17 year old that loves to play otome games having been killed due to a traffic accident (truck-kun probably), and she recovers memories of this past life of hers when she hits her head as the 8 year old Katarina Claes. She soon realises that this is the world of the otome game she was playing before her death, and that Katarina is actually the rival character of the heroine in that game! But what's worse is that after articulating her thoughts and confirming that this is the world of that game, she realises that most of the endings with the romantic interests in the game end up with her being exiled or killed since her character always tried to sabotage things for the heroine. Therefore, she decides that in order to avoid all these flags to destruction, she will improve her skills in swords and magic (since she gets killed by them) and due to her silliness, she kinda ends up picking up skills on vegetable gardening so that she can at least be a farmer one day if she were to be exiled LOL. I think the funniest thing is how much she actually enjoys gardening though hahahah.

I love how whenever Bakarina (Katarina's nickname b/c she's silly) thinks about how to avoid the destruction flags, she always has a round table meeting with copies of herself to discuss what the best course of action is, it's even more hilarious since they're all silly versions of herself hahaha. It's also hilarious how she's surrounded by people who love her and yet she doesn't even know! A harem of guys and girls too hahaha! I think a lot of people think her cluelessness to her harem is kinda OTT stupid, but I honestly enjoy it since the manga never really takes itself seriously (although the recent chapters seem to) and the highlight always revolves around Katarina being who she is, and I like that. I don't know if any of the guys will actually win considering that her mental age at the time she was 8 with her previous life memories probably makes it hard for her to even fathom having a romantic relationship with them since she probably always viewed them as kids. It doesn't help that she thinks of it all as the otome game, so who would fall in love with game characters? Otherwise, it's a really fun, carefree and happy comedy that really puts a smile on my face every time I read it hahaha (yes I read it twice lol).


They Say I was Born a King's Daughter
by Bi Chu, art by Kim Legna
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Josei, Romance
Status: Ongoing, 138 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10

I read this on a whim because it was one of the most popular manga on a site. Surprisingly, I liked it much more than I thought I would! It starts off with the MC killed by a sort of stalker guy as she regrets the fact that she never really got to tell her boyfriend Jinsu how much she really loved him. She is then reincarnated into another world as a baby princess with all her memories intact. As she rests in her baby cot unable to talk, she learns through the people around her and their attitudes that she is a princess, and that this is a misogynistic society where women are treated unfairly and with extreme prejudice. Basically, they're treated like crap because most of them are unable to use any powers whilst most men can, so they're like treated as the bottom of the food chain and no one cares about them. At the sight of this, Sanghee decides that she will change the treatment towards women in this world. In order to achieve this, she recognises that she must make her brothers and her father acknowledge her presence, so during her growth from baby to a young child, she sucked up to them, she acted cute to them and she suffered much humiliation but she persevered, and it's actually come to the point that her father and her brothers absolutely adore her and would do anything to protect her, and yet she's actually quite clueless to the extent of their love for her. Tbh, I might have described it in a kinda serious and dark way (but I guess it kinda is for all the women outside the castle), but the way Sanghee manipulates her brothers etc to do her bidding is actually quite funny and endearing, especially when the brothers soften up.

I really like the pacing of the story because it gives appropriate time to the heroine and the characters growing up. It starts the story from her being a baby and now she is a teenager. I think the part when she's a child is the best, because shes's sooo cute and adorable, and she knows it. She knows what her brothers are like and she knows how she can appeal to them, and this is the same with her father. It's just so cute, funny and sweet to see how everyone's attitudes towards her changes gradually and how they're not honest about it at all, but nevertheless, they care about her way too much hahaha. I think it's great to see all that unfold as she continues to think about how she can help change the lives of all women. I thought I'd like the male love interest since it's basically Jinsu from her previous life for some reason, but I think he's rather bland, so I'm not too fond of the romance. It also seems to finally start delving more into how she can change the world and everyone's perspectives towards women for the better, but it's still kinda at an infant stage so don't expect too much in that area, since she's essentially still rather powerless as a woman herself, even if she is loved by the men in her family.

Overall, definitely an enjoyable story if you can look over the misogynistic values in jest and in the face that things will change (slowly but gradually) since it really interweaves comedy and adorableness in one hahaha.


Eden no Ori (Cage of Eden)
by Yamada Yoshinobu
Genre: Action, Adventure, Ecchi, Fantasy, Shounen
Status: Completed, 185 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10

Cage of Eden will always have a special place in my heart. I recently read it again and I think my feelings haven't changed haha. I still thought it was interesting and engaging even though I pretty much knew what was going to happen. There are flaws, but I guess the biggest problem that many at the time were dissatisfied with, was the ending. The manga was axed so the last few chapters tried to squash in things without really being able to elaborate on everything I would have liked to know about, especially with that masked guy that seemed to follow alongside Kouhei etc. Anyway, the story begins with Akira on a plane trip back to Japan with his class, when the plane somehow crashes and he is lost in a jungle. As he struggles to find his other friends, he finds the genius smart computer guy and a flight attendant being attacked by a mysterious gigantic monster, and saves them with his quick wits and bravery. As they party up together to find the others, they find the plane deserted for some reason until he finds the recording of what happened after he had been thrown into the jungle by himself. The story revolves around the survival on an unknown island kinda plot, with the teenagers encountering extinct animals after another, whilst having to deal with the depravity of his classmates and others on the plane as they try to unravel the mystery of this island.

Honestly, the "mystery" of the island wasn't hard to figure out, which is why I appreciated the ending focusing on "why" this island came about instead, since the story pretty much roughly explained the "how". It's not anything groundbreaking but the manga does kinda overplay the shock factor as the story goes on, but I still liked it because I guess I liked following the characters on this journey to discovering it all, even if the ending did kind of undermine the journey a bit.. As for the characters, I'd say that, as usual for a lot of shounen, do not put hope into your female characters, they're very two dimensional. They're either there as fanservice, the "kind" characters that help the guys to find good in the bad situations, or they're there as fighters but really, nothing else. Although, I do have to admit that a lot of the characters don't really get the fleshing out that they deserve, but they do play their roles well. Akira is the leader that questions whether he can really be one, yet exerts the capabilities to act when needed and to care for everyone without prejudice. Mariya is the smart guy that is well versed with computers and remembers the animals from the encyclopedia that's on his laptop. Yarai is the other leader in the class that is like the lone wolf that is super OP that can take care of himself and protect the women following him. So really, I found watching them as they ventured on this journey, meeting the different people trying to survive, how they reacted to surviving and how they dealt with the "monsters" rather fun, but I wouldn't expect a lot from their characters. Art was great in terms of the extinct animals, very nice~

Overall, I'd say that if you read it as it is and just going along with the journey, you'd enjoy it much more than if you expected something mindbreaking about it lol. I enjoyed the ride and thought it was nice here and there but I did think it was a missed opportunity to not give the characters more...character? Hahaha. But as I said, they played their roles throughout the story well and I liked it as a chill sort of survival manga, because it can get you nervous/anxious for some situations (more in the beginning than later on) but everything mostly turns out fine. So, don't really look to this manga if you want a lot of deaths involving people you care about through the story, but more so for the adventure and seeing how the MC deals with different situations that could occur on a deserted island where they can't find external help.


My Dear Cold-Blooded King
by lifelight
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Mystery (imo b/c I can't find tags lol)
Status: Ongoing, 103 chapters scanlated (LINE Webtoon)
My Rating: 7.5/10

My latest favourite on LINE Webtoons! It has really beautiful art, and it knows it, which just makes the story (and the guys <3 and the girlll too!) so much more captivating. A lot of the scenes look beautifully artistic and it's hard to not be mesmerised haha. The story revolves around Mei, who was a merchant in town that couldn't help but butt her head into other people's business to protect the weak (since it's her personality) and she does have some skills to show for it. However, one day, she gets caught up in royal assassins and saves someone important. She is then "invited" to work in the kingdom helping out the physician, but as she stays there longer, she meets two men, Ryusaki and Katsu, who end up invading in her life as she finds it difficult to understand who she is really beginning to fall in love with. The constant overarching plot revolves around the idea of who the cold blooded king really is, why this "system" works and how everyone seems to try to protect the kingdom, and yet be straddled with so many internal and external problems with themselves, the people around them and the people against the king etc. There is also the mystery surrounding her brother that could only seem to be unravelled with her staying in the kingdom to solicit more information, and the mysterious red headed guy that is intent on capturing her. So with all these intersecting plot lines of romance and mystery, you can't help but want to turn the page to see what's in store and what Mei will discover in this chapter haha.

I really enjoy how the story goes. It's fun, sweet, enrapturing, mysterious but also quite funny! Ryusaki is like the life of the party, he keeps teasing Mei and flirts with her, and Mei is not one to be toyed with, so she really stands her ground with all the guys and people. She's stubborn, sweet, strong (physically and emotionally) and also beautiful in heart and appearance. I can't help but enjoy how much stronger she gets and how she deals with the situations she gets in. Katsu on the other hand is a cold, hard to approach guy that is actually very sweet and cute, so it's quite difficult to really know whose the best guy for her (until the recent chapters anyway), but seeing how Mei interacts with the guys etc, you know where her heart belongs eventually. I think the story is quite engaging. interesting and is something worth looking forward to.

Overall, if you love your romance, some love triangle (?), beautiful men, a bit of action and mystery in the plot as it all spirals into something deeper (probably in terms of the true king etc), with a side of comedy then you'll really enjoy this! :D