whiteflame

I'm not angry, dude. None of what I've said was said out of anger. I'm annoyed that you're clinging to this so strongly, but I'm used to it from previous mafia games with you, so I'm honestly just frustrated that it's the sole source of discussion so far. Maybe that's because there are only three of us in the conversation and I'm just the one who spoke up first after you about my inclinations.

I don't think you're a spy. I'm not going to play that game, either.

Anyway, I have no interest in dragging this out with RM. We've had 3 of us speak up so far, no word from Pie, Earth or Supa. I'm more interested in hearing from them.

Yep, and here we go with the WIFOM. Dude, if you want to push the narrative that I'm one of the spies for saying that I'd rather sit back and see what happens during the first mission, be my guest. There's nothing contradictory in the logic I'm giving. A spy would have a solid motivation to not sabotage in the first mission. You might do it anyway because you apparently would have faith in your partner carrying you through the rest of the game. Of course, that would mean that you as a spy would have every reason to want to get on the first mission, which you have actively stated you want to be.

But I'm done with this shit, dude. If you don't want me in the mission, fine. I said I don't care either way and I really don't. If you want to play this kind of game, go right ahead. I don't feel any need to defend myself.

Perhaps so. Or, a spy would want into the first mission, refuse to sabotage it, and make themselves look entirely clean. They'd be brought onto future missions, and have an opportunity to point the finger at new members on those missions.

You do you. Not really interested in engaging with what is and isn't a scum tell at this stage. Too much WIFOM, but if that's your MO, so be it.

I'm fine either way. Put me on the mission or don't, Earth. I think I'll be able to take something from it either way.

I'll give it a shot. /in

We're still at least a week out from most of the anime of this season finishing (I say "most" because of a combination of delays (see: 86 season 2), non-simulcasts (see: Komi-san Can't Communicate) later-airing anime (see: Demon Slayer season 2)). There's also just a lot this season/year that I haven't watched that warrants some attention, which I will probably detail in my next post to push out my Fall 2021 list just a little further.

There are lots of Studio Ghibli films. I have a passing familiarity with many of the ones I haven’t seen (including recommendations not to watch Ocean Waves, Earwig and the Witch and Tales from Earthsea, though I’ve heard that most of the others range from fun to excellent), but I’ll at least list them here: The Secret World of Arrietty, The Wind Rises, My Neighbors the Yamadas, From Up on Poppy Hill, and The Cat Returns. There are also some movies that either are collaborations between Ghibli and other studios (The Red Turtle) or look like Ghibli films but are under another label (Mary and the Witch’s Flower), neither of which I have seen. I’ll also exclude The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and Howl’s Moving Castle, as I’ve already reviewed both.
 
With that out of the way, let’s get into a set of films that, I would say, range from good to excellent. I’ll start with my lowest rated and go up from there.
 
Ponyo (7.5/10)
 
A very young boy finds a young goldfish who turns into a princess longing to be human. It’s the lowest rated of the films on this list, but that doesn’t make it bad in any way. It’s visually gorgeous and the relationship between the main characters is adorable in the best of ways. If the story going on around them was more fleshed out or interesting, this would rate higher for me, but especially given Ghibli’s penchant for adorable films with cute characters, this one just falls short of their usual standards.
 
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (7.5/10)
 
I wanted to like this one more than I did, and especially given that the titular Nausicaä is a pretty great character all around and the elements of the world being so intriguing, it speaks to my issues with the plot that it’s this low. The MC is a warrior and a pacifist (strange combination) who is trying to prevent conflict between nations and save her dying planet. There’s so much to love about how this world is laid out and, in particular, what’s going on with these giant insect-like creatures and the technology that the humans use. There’s a lot of strong concepts and ideas at play in this movie, but it feels like we get little insight into it and the directions the story takes range from pretty obvious to confusing at times. Still, worth it just for the experience.
 
Porco Rosso (7.5/10)
 
I like this one more than my rating may suggest. A World War I pilot, who has been cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig, goes out on flying adventures in his plane. It’s actually a fun ride throughout, particularly when he gets into dogfights and has to prove his mettle. It’s a bit of a meandering story that doesn’t have any huge standout moments, but there’s nothing I really dislike in this one.
 
Castle in the Sky (8/10)
 
We take a substantial jump up for the next movie. Castle in the Sky is, to my mind, everything Nausicaä could have been if it had focused more on the character interactions and narrative flow. It’s not a perfect story. The story focuses on a young girl with a magic crystal who is rescued by a young boy. They fight against sky pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle. Everything about the setting and fantasy elements is awe-inspiring, even this long after the film’s release, and the characters are full of life. There’s definitely some issues with the dub voice over, and especially as more interests collide towards the end of the story, the story becomes too confusing to follow some of the narrative flow. That being said, the relationships carry this movie in a way that makes it easy to forget its flaws.
 
Whisper of the Heart (8/10)
 
This is a love story, one that involves a young girl who is crafting her take on “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (yes, really) while voraciously reading ever book she can get her hands on who finds herself falling for a boy who has been checking out all of her books before she can get a hold of them. It’s a beautiful story that slides deep into Imposter’s Syndrome as it goes, with the lead character asking if she is a gem or “just a rock?” She struggles deeply with insecurity, and she’s not alone in that, though she certainly feels that way. There’s a lot of feels in this one, and while I don’t think that the actual narrative does anything amazing, the strength of its themes elevate this one.
 
Kiki’s Delivery Service (8/10)
 
The cute story of a young witch going out on her own to make a life for herself in a large town with a talking cat, this has a lot of the elements that we expect from that kind of narrative. It manages to exceed many of those more basic stories, however, by really examining how Kiki changes during her time within this new environment, both for better and for worse. She finds a place for herself but finds it difficult to mesh with many of those around her, particularly those who are her own age. She also wrangles with the perceptions of the many who only know her as a witch, a stranger in a strange land who has to initially rely on the kindness of strangers but carves out a niche for herself. The ending, in particular, is quite spectacular in this one. I can’t say it roped me in to its narrative, but the aggregate of its various parts is good enough to land it up here.
 
When Marnie Was There (8.5/10)
 
This is a bit of an oddity for Ghibli. The main character is once again sent to the countryside, this time to help with her asthma, and craves solitude and an opportunity to sketch things around her, for which she has quite the talent. What makes it odd is that she’s incredibly stand-offish. Kiki had some trouble integrating into her community, but she actively tried and just found some things she didn’t appreciate from certain people. Anna, the MC of this movie, finds it hard to interact with anyone, especially those her own age, and can even be prone to fits of anger. It’s not until she meets and befriends a young, mysterious girl named Marnie that that changes and she gets swept up in her story. I wasn’t enthralled by this one, especially during the first half. Her relatives are really accommodating and people keep trying with her, but it’s hard to be on Anna’s side when she’s pushing everyone away. However, the movie ends brilliantly (I could see it coming, but appreciated it all the same – honestly my favorite of the Ghibli endings), and much of the latter half compensates for my issues with the first.
 
My Neighbor Totoro (8.5/10)
 
Among the many whimsical films of Ghibli fame, this one is probably the most famous and my personal favorite. There are dark elements at play, particularly later in the film, but this mostly gives off a sort of Alice in Wonderland vibe as two young girls move to the country with their father to be near their ailing mother. From the moment that Totoro, a large, almost plushy fantasy creature that looks like an inflated racoon-rabbit hybrid, is introduced (bearing a leaf on his head and another held over it as a makeshift umbrella) to their trip on the cat bus, this movie is a trip that is a joy to take with them. Even if the story is mostly fluff, it’s an incredibly comfortable movie to sit through.
 
Grave of the Fireflies (8.5/10)
 
This is part of a small collection of movies that I would say I love but have never liked, a movie that I have seen once, appreciated deeply, and would prefer never to watch again. This is a devastating film, easily the most difficult of the Ghibli movies to watch. While that isn’t the highest of bars, given that Ghibli is known for its whimsical films (see: Ponyo, Kiki and Totoro), this film sets the bar absurdly high as one of the saddest films I’ve ever seen, and considering that list features The Elephant Man, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Philadelphia and Sophie’s Choice, that’s saying a lot.
 
It also makes for some incredible difficulty with ratings. It’s a story about two orphaned children struggling to survive in Japan during World War II and… things don’t exactly go well. The animation isn’t really the selling point for this one so much as the grounded nature of its visuals. It’s hard to see this characters as anything but actual humans, and the trials they go through feel all too real as a result. The score I’ve given it is more of a gut feeling than anything else, but it’s still one of Ghibli’s best.
 
Only Yesterday (8.5/10)
 
Among the Ghibli films I’ve seen recently, this one was the most surprising and delightful. It’s a story about an office worker in her mid-twenties traveling to the countryside to work on a farm. While she does, she reminisces about her childhood. So the story shifts back and forth between her present and past self. That much has been done before, and I don’t think this movie does a whole lot to improve it until near the end. I won’t spoil what happens, but the way that the story bakes in both the look at her past self and her present circumstances really makes the ending beautiful and poignant.

Alright, I'll give mine.

Best Anime: Winter 2021

Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World (S2, Pt. 2)

Best Anime: Spring 2021

Odd Taxi

Best Anime: Summer 2021

Fena: Pirate Princess

Best Anime: Fall 2021

86 (S2)

Admittedly, I haven't watched AoT S4, Kobayashi S2 or Mushoku Tensei S2, though I know all of them are solid series.

Also, just to spoil my own choice for my retrospective:

Anime of the Year:

Odd Taxi

Alright, a bit of a departure again from the seasonal reviews. This time, I'm going into the rest of my all-time favorites. Picking favorites isn't easy past a certain point. Picking a top 10 list of favorite movies, for example, remains a difficult task because it's not just about one factor. Some movies stick with you because they struck an emotional chord. Some wow you with incredible effects. Some tell a story so effectively that it becomes the definitive telling in your mind. Some you just enjoy for no obvious reason. The same holds true with anime, though it's interesting that my top list for movies trends more classic while my anime list trends more modern.

I’d rate all these shows and/or movies, in their totalities, 9.5 or 10 out of 10 (the honorable mentions closer to a 9). I won't give specific scores for each, though I do have certain series/movies on this list that I'd place a little higher than others. Also, note that I am leaving out Mob Psycho 100, Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World, Made in Abyss, Odd Taxi and A Silent Voice because I’ve already discussed them.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2008)
 
SupaDudz already covered this, so I won’t go too in-depth, but I would say that what makes this show incredible is how well it delivers on its themes of believing in yourself and learning to both carry the weight of responsibility and live up to it. It’s a story about humanity literally and figuratively drilling its way out from underground to rise to new heights, recognizing both the elation of breaking through to the surface and the dread that awaits them. In some ways, it embodies Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, though the story tells us not to fear the blinding light, but to embrace it. Many might look at TTGL as yet another bombastic mecha anime with over-the-top characters, which it is, but it never fails to bring you down to earth, even as its characters reach new heights.
 
Fate/Zero (2011-2012)
 
This currently reigns supreme as my favorite anime to date, though I understand that that opinion is not widely shared. On a superficial level, it’s a story of actual heroes and villains from history being summoned by mages in a somewhat modern setting to fight over the Holy Grail, an object that will grant the sole winner and their servant a wish of their choosing. On a deeper level, it’s a Greek tragedy, a story of heroes and villains where the ideals and aspirations of the characters become their own downfalls. At so many times, this series will make you question who you should be rooting for and will continually force its characters to face grim truths that they either refuse to accept or simply cannot fathom. It has the big fights and spectacle so well-known to its studio, ufotable (makers of Demon Slayer and Garden of Sinners, two other gorgeous anime), but its direction and story far outstrip anything I’ve seen from them before.
 
Part of what makes this stand out to me, in particular, is that the originating series for the Fate franchise, Fate/Stay Night (2006), currently rates as the worst anime I’ve seen to date. I have not seen other Fate entries, despite quite a few of them currently being out and featuring a variety of incredible fights worthy of their own analyses. I’m honestly disinterested in the lore behind it all, and after seeing the 2006 series, I never wanted to see another show in this vein. It was bland, the voice acting was notoriously bad (look up “people die when they are killed” if you are interested), the animation lackluster, the story predictable and the characters ranged from frustrating to weak. That’s part of what makes Fate/Zero a miracle in my eyes. Everything that the 2006 series failed at so spectacularly, Fate/Zero managed expertly. It can be slow, but even the slow moments stood out to me as impressive. I honestly can’t praise this series enough.
 
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (2011)
 
This is a story about a young girl whose ghost has returned to haunt the boy she loved several years later. You would think that that is a horror story, but it’s both joyful and sad at the same time, focusing on its characters attempting to help the young girl’s spirit pass on. It’s honestly hard to not find a character that you relate with in this story on some level, especially as the cast expands to include the young girl’s entire friend group, who had largely gone their separate ways after her death. The ways that each of them dealt with that tragedy, how they have tried to move on from it and how they choose to address her renewed presence in their lives is very distinct, and you ride the roller coaster of emotional right along with them.
 
Your love of this series will depend entirely on how well you connect with it emotionally. I will be the first to say that not everyone will find that connection. The story is slow, and I didn’t like certain aspects of it myself, which I felt were

included more for intrigue or surprise than for managing anything actually interesting. But that is not the norm. I found that I related with almost every character on some level, and particularly the ending is incredibly evocative. I knew what was coming, but it still hit me hard. It’s not the best anime I’ve seen at pulling off this kind of emotional narrative, but it is damn close and I’d still count it among my favorites.

Cowboy Bebop (1998, 2001)
 
The most classic series on my list, this is a story about a ragtag group of individuals comprised of cowboys (bounty hunters), a con-woman, an eccentric computer hacker and a genius corgi all doing their best to earn enough money to afford fuel and their next meal as they trek through space. It’s basically a sci-fi western following an eclectic cast, each of whom is incredible in their own ways. There is a central narrative here and each of the characters has baggage that they carry with them, but much of the series is episodes that have little or nothing to do with advancing or resolving this, and that’s part of what I love about this series. You could get an incredibly serious episode with high stakes, followed by an homage to Alien, followed by a goofy episode where everyone gets high on mushrooms. They aren’t all important, yet they all matter in their own ways and they build on these characters in ways that I’ve never seen from other series. The movie, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, is one of the best anime movies I’ve seen based on a series and includes some incredible fight choreography.
 
This is just a joy to watch, and worthy of the praise and attention it has received. If you’re interested, the live action version is… very different, and is not an adequate substitute for this series.
 
Steins;Gate (2011, 2013)
 
Another classic, this one focuses on the story of a self-proclaimed “mad scientist” as he and his loosely defined lab members work towards creating what becomes the world’s first time machine. Everything spirals out from there in the best of ways. It’s a series that really knows what it’s doing with its time travel mechanic and does a great job rendering its characters and their efforts with both humor and seriousness when required. The common complaint I get about this series is that the beginning is slow, which it is, though I feel that that slowness gives time to establish the characters and make you care about what happens to them later. It’s a series that puts its characters through the ringer in widely varied, but believable ways. One of the tighter plots on this list, especially in the latter half, it has some serious chops when it comes to story-telling.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009-2010, 2011)
 
Probably the most well-known series on this list, its positive reputation is very well deserved. A series about two young brothers who are prodigies at using alchemy having committed a taboo to bring their mother back to life, losing physical parts of themselves in the process, with much of the series focusing on their efforts to gain those parts back. I originally saw the 2006 series, which is a pretty great series in its own right but left me with a sour taste via its anime-original ending. This series doesn’t have that problem, adapting the manga in its entirety. It doesn’t do everything better than the 2006 series, as it rushes through a lot of the early elements of that original series, which does handicap it slightly. In every other way, this series excels. Its magic system is one of the better-defined among anime series, it does an excellent job marrying religion and science via alchemy, its characters are vibrant and beautifully portrayed, and this is one of the tightest stories in anime, rarely missing a step in its progression.
 
Howl's Moving Castle (2005)
 
This is the story of a woman who lacks self-confidence and finds herself cursed to live in as a far older woman by a witch. She comes to live with an insecure young wizard in a walking castle with a variety of other eccentric companions. It’s hard to say why I love this movie as much as I do, especially considering that I place it higher than more critically-lauded Ghibli films like Spirited Away. It doesn’t help that much of what appears to be the most important aspects of the story are kind of a jumbled mess that never gets fully explained. And if that was the centerpiece of the film, it wouldn’t be this high on my list, because it also isn’t the best animated (beautiful as it is), nor the most cohesive story. What I find incredible about this is the interplay between its characters and the ways that their internal struggles are brought into physical existence. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a series or movie that so effectively managed to portray the intangible so well. Watching its lead characters in particular is engrossing, whether we’re talking about the titular Howl himself or Sofi, both of whom initially wrote off as one-note characters with some fantastical elements but who each grapple with their identity in fascinating ways as the story progresses.

Not sure I really get this, but fine.

I don’t buy it, dude. I really don’t. We’re not talking about an increase in taxation here, which practically every president since Reagan has done. We’re not talking about the freedom to make medical choices, though that is a separate and dubious choice in some ways. We’re talking about prolonging the worst effects of a pandemic for no reason apart from personal profit. What you’re arguing is that Biden (and yes, it is Biden at base - it doesn’t matter who else is involved because he has the power to do something about it) is sacrificing those lives, daily, for the sole purpose of enriching himself. If that was true, it wouldn’t just be an impeachable offense, though that would be the base response to learning that he knew a readily available and cheap drug was a proven, effective antiviral at doses that would not be harmful to humans. He would be responsible for thousands of preventable deaths, with that number climbing daily.

So, no, I don’t find it odd at all that ivermectin’s getting a bad rap. We’ve discussed this before and the evidence, based on everything I’ve read, is not there. Claims of effectiveness from medical professionals seem largely backed by anecdote, minimal and difficult to compare studies due to their use to different methodologies, and there are issues with clashing results between studies. At best, there’s a case to be made for pursuing further research, not anything that would establish a proven track record for the drug against SARS-CoV-2. 

At base, I guess the main difference between us is that you’d assume that, based on many of the actors in this case having done terrible things before (won’t challenge that), that they can and will do terrible things any time they get the opportunity, whereas I’m looking more at the risk/benefit scenario from their perspective. If it was just the pharmaceutical companies or just very specific parts of the government involved, I might be more inclined to believe that this could happen. From where I’m sitting, with the sheer number of people who have to be in on this and the almost complete lack of outrage, it sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

Frankly, I don’t get how you could go through the cost/benefit calculus of this decision as the central decision-maker for a country and side with the money. I’m not saying that money doesn’t corrupt, but I think the presumption that money is enough by itself to effectively prevent an end to the pandemic doesn’t make sense from the perspective of a president, especially one who has made ending the pandemic key to their platform, and even more especially if you have clearly proven evidence of antiviral efficacy in a readily available drug. Seems like this is the kind of thing that would place a tremendous amount of risk on any politician that buys into it, and getting a payday out of it, no matter how big, seems like a huge gamble with a massive downside.

Maybe this could happen, but I don’t buy it.

Appreciate the insights.

I hadn't read the manga for Spider. Mainly got interested from the awesome CGI, especially when used in the fights. I agree that it's probably at its best when the protagonist is working hard to overcome a challenge, often with her life on the line.

It is interesting how she chooses to respond to humans. Not sure if I'd say that that means she didn't employ a code of ethics, but there's definitely something missing there, especially given how she chose to respond in certain instances.

And yeah, I'd agree that as soon as she transforms, it lost a lot of its appeal.

Skipped a week, but now I'm back with the next two seasons.

Summer 2021
 
Didn’t miss anything that I’m strongly interested in watching. There was a season of Higurashi When They Cry that was apparently a pseudo-sequel to the classic horror series, but I haven’t gotten into it yet.
 
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (N/A)
 
I dropped this series in the middle. The new season has to pick up from a point that takes a lot of the tension out of the series, and having watched about half of the season, I don’t see it returning. The harem antics are still kind of fun, but the lead character’s naivete was getting on my nerves and I couldn’t be bothered to continue. No rating for this one until I finally finish it.
 
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (S2, Pt. 2) (7.5/10)
 
This season had a lot going for it, including some of the more hype moments of the anime, but its most effective payoffs are largely front-loaded. This half season was here largely to build up threats and establish its main character as even more of a badass, which is fine, but doesn’t hold up to the previous parts of the anime.
 
Fena: Pirate Princess (8/10)
 
This is an anime that stood out from the crowd. Pirates vs. ninjas is a solid premise for an anime to begin with, and the strong animation quality definitely sets this one apart. It’s a series about a young woman whose life was upended at a very young age and has destiny thrust upon her. She travels with a group of ninja assassins and is chased by pirates and something equivalent to the British naval forces. Along the way, magical elements are thrown into what is largely a straight up contest of wits, strength and speed. It’s a solid enough anime that drags you along with its characters to some strange places. Off as it was at times, I still enjoyed the ride.
 
The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace (7.5/10)
 
For much of this series run, I kind of loved it. The basic premise is that there are actual gods who run around on the planet and look like normal humans. They sealed what they thought was all the demons within a portal along with themselves, leaving one behind to train new deities that emerge in case other demons show up. It’s vibrant, I love the character models, the fights basically start at DBZ level and rise from there, and the whole thing just kinda ends when it was starting to get to its most interesting elements. This series would rate higher if not for that, but I still like what we got.

No.

Anime in 2021
 
Anime Series
 
Winter 2021
 
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Pt. 1) came out this season, and I still mean to catch up on it because it looks like a solid isekai with great animation. Its source material is actually the progenitor for much of modern isekai, and though it stretches the line with its main character being a massive pervert of a character, I’ve heard good things about his development. Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table also came out this season and I’m a pretty big fan of the previous seasons (minus the one right before this, which was far too slow and drawn out for my liking). Another gaming isekai where players are stuck in the game, this one just focuses on the actual playing of it and on building a life in the game world, and it does pretty great with all of it. Planning to get to this ASAP.
 
The Promised Neverland (S2) (3/10)
 
I haven’t seen the whole season and I do not intend to do so. Based on what I have watched and know about what it does, this season would hit a low across the years I’ve covered so far. I probably shouldn’t be this harsh, though this comes after multiple considerations. First, there is a clear and incredibly jarring drop in quality between this season and the first. By nature of how events change between the two seasons, there must be a shift, but for a series that was based on such intensely effective scares and psychological games, it loses more than a few steps in the transition. And that’s not to mention the way that this season ends, which eschews the deliberate, carefully arranged story-telling for something that can only be described as a rushed mess. Second, as someone who read the manga, what they left out and replaced is glaring. Multiple arcs, including two of the best portions of the manga, were left out entirely. Major characters were excised. The few bones they threw to fans were little more than colored in manga panels taken completely out of context and displayed in a slide show in the last episode.

Some of the shows I’ve covered previously on this list were very disappointing, but this one actually hurts. If it wasn’t for my issues with its adaptation from the manga, it would just be frustrating to see it waste its concepts, and I would probably put it at 4 or 4.5. I can’t be that kind to it.
 
So I'm a Spider, So What? (7.5/10)
 
This series set a new bar for CGI action that, by itself, makes it deserving of attention. In yet another isekai series with a twist (one rather similar to that of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime), the main character reincarnates in a fantasy world as a spider. Part of what separates this series from the aforementioned comparison is that, unlike Rimiru Tempest of Slime fame, the MC of Spider has to work very hard to improve her abilities and is almost constantly under threat of early death. Pretty much anything involving her in this series is incredible, whether it’s watching her struggle against overwhelming odds or learning to use her new abilities. What knocks this back a step or two is the other twist: she isn’t the only one who got sent to this fantasy world, but everyone else is a pretty boring stock character. Much of the story revolves around these other characters, and I just couldn’t get into them at all. This series is incredible to watch in so many places, more so than Slime, but its lows are also lower, so on the whole, it balances out to being a bit lower in quality.
 
Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World (S2, Pt. 2) (8.5/10)
 
This series is a bit of a roller coaster, but it remains on a decent high, even if it cannot reach the dizzying heights of the first half of this season. There’s some real catharsis in this season that I’ve been wanting for a while, and managed to do something similar to the first half, in that one of the lead characters I wasn’t fond of (in this case, Emilia) became far more likeable without any huge absurdities. It’s not quite as good a job as they did with Subaru, but that’s not a huge slight against it. I can’t explain why it’s lower without spoiling some elements of what happens this season, but it’s still more than worthwhile.
 
Beastars (S2) (8/10)
 
This season takes a turn into very distinct territory throughout, and while I appreciate the new direction, I don’t like that this season largely eschewed what came from the previous one. Not going to spoil anything here, either, but it’s a more consistent season with a focus on the very first event of the previous season: a friend of the main character was devoured by someone. Given that the previous season largely ignored this plot point, it’s warranted to revisit it, and the directions that it took its central cast were more interesting, so it gets a slight leg up on the previous season, even if some elements don’t end up working for me.
 
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (S2, Pt. 1) (8.5/10)
 
This season is an improvement with regards to the stakes being raised and the fights, including putting its main character at substantial risk. That elevates it slightly over the previous season, though that’s counterbalanced by a slight dip in visual quality and a weaker overall narrative.
 
 
Dr. Stone: Stone Wars (8/10)
 
Another anime that takes a pretty substantial turn, I liked the direction that this took as well. I think the main character is at his best when pitted against someone, makes for a more dynamic series, and though this isn’t the best instance of it (that will come later), I did enjoy this more than the first season.

Almost certainly. I'll keep an eye on it.

Going to space the rest of these out a little, given that the current season is ongoing and I don't want to post a retrospective on it without having finished those shows.

I'll focus on manga this week, including addressing some of the endings that I missed. I'll briefly cover movies as well, though I haven't seen any new movies this year and likely won't.

I haven't actually finished this one, though I'm working my way through it. The art style for the manga doesn't pop quite as well as the CGI from the anime, but it's just as insane and still a great time.

I don't have much to add here from my earlier review of this manga. Suffice it to say that it ended in solid fashion and that I appreciated what it brought to the table at every step. It's probably one of the most consistently strong shonen series out there, from start to finish.

Haven't finished this one, either, though I know quite a few people who sing its praises. Given how the anime has gone, this is probably worth the read, though the sharp turns that the series takes from season to season may not bode well for its consistent quality.

The only manga here that's getting reviewed (because it's the only one I've both finished and not previously reviewed), this series should stand as one of the best manga runs around. Having started back in 2009, the fact that this long-running manga not only remained relevant, but heated up over its long run is a testament to just how strong it was. I’ve only mentioned the anime so far, but most of my experience with the series has been with the manga, and it is a series that lives up to the hype. The story of a human civilization built inside a series of walls being attacked by humanoid titans becomes so much more than just a story of survival and revenge, and though its lead character certainly embodies the latter, his growth throughout the story is truly exceptional. It’s not a perfect series, particularly given some controversy over its ending, but the highs of this series are absolutely peak shonen (including what might be the best twist in anime/manga history) and well worth the experience.

Several big ones have either already dropped or will drop this year. The long-running action comedy anime Gintama has a movie called Gintama: The Final (it remains to be seen whether this will actually be the final movie). I'm only familiar with the series in passing, though I do know that its best action is solid enough to rank among the best fights in anime and that its sense of humor is largely parody-based, so if I had the time to run through it, it would probably be my jam. The Evangelion series and movies have dropped quite a few endings, but Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time is its most recent entry. It's a classic series that I still haven't watched, and though I know there's a lot of controversy over previous endings, this one is well-rated. Finally, Jujutsu Kaisen has a movie coming out late in the year called Jujutsu Kaisen 0 the Movie, which I am absolutely looking forward to watching. Seems like a bit of a prequel taking place with a different central character, which should be a blast.

Over the next few weeks, I'll post the anime from the previous three seasons, though as most of the ongoing series will not be finished for quite a few weeks after that, I'll probably use this opportunity to look at more classic series and movies. I've already posted a favorites list, but a deep dive into why I love those series will probably be where I go first (my top lists have changed a bit since I posted them). I'm also thinking of a Studio Ghibli retrospective, even though I'm still well short of watching them all (they have 21 films and I'm still missing 8, some of which I have no interest in watching). Classic anime movies might make it in as well (e.g. Akira, Metropolis, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time).

Yeah, I'm with you on this. I think the bridge game was all spectacle and poor substance within the context of these games. As a means of drastically whittling down the remaining players, it was very effective. As a fair contest, it wasn't.

Spring 2020
 
Tower of God (7.5/10)
 
Based on a manhua (Chinese origin), this series kicked off a set of three similarly Manua-derived series that drew from some of the stronger source material around to introduce anime audiences to something new. This is also the most effective of the three (I’ll talk about one of the others later), though I would say that all of them fell short of creating strong adaptations. A story about a young boy who is trying to climb a tower to find a girl who abandoned him to climb it herself and get her wish, this story has a lot going for it, including a very intriguing power system of which I have still only scratched the surface. A few characters in the central cast get some depth, though our main character continues to be a bit of a blank slate. There’s a lot of intrigue here, including a mess of side plots that never get fully disentangled. The series looks incredible, and as a starting point, this looks pretty good, even if it remains largely confusing. I’m interested enough to see more.
 
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (7/10)
 
Harem anime have always come off as a little samey to me: main character has some quirk or eccentricity that somehow makes them very attractive to a large set of characters, usually of the opposite sex, and adventures are had. Tenchi Muyo was my first foray into harems (also, one of the progenitors of the genre in anime) and came with a decent sci-fi hook that kept me watching. To its credit, this series does quite a bit to change up the formula, making its central character female with both male and female members of her harem. She’s also utterly clueless about having formed said harem, focused as she is on avoiding death flags. See, this is also an isekai, and the MC has been reincarnated as the villain in her favorite dating sim, so she knows that her character has a lot of bad endings that she must avoid. It’s cute and fun, though despite the novel elements, I can’t say it was my cup of tea.
 
Ascendance of a Bookworm (S2) (7.5/10)
 
Season 2 is roughly as solid as the first, though the stakes are higher. That doesn’t really elevate the series, though. I felt that this series was at its best when the problems that its main character was addressing were more personal. Still, it doesn’t get worse, so it gets the same score for me.
 
BNA: Brand New Animal (7/10)
 
Trigger always delivers on the over-the-top animation, but can sometimes fall short on the story and characters. That’s the case here. In a world like our own with humans and humanoid animals, this story focuses on a human-turned tanuki beastman who becomes embroiled in an investigation run by a powerful wolf beastman. When fights are happening, their gorgeous and colorful. The rest of the story is really just a vehicle to get to those, and while some elements of that journey are interesting, the story moves too quickly to linger on them and give them time to breathe. Still, worth the watch if only for the spectacle.
 
Appare-Ranman! (8/10)
 
A young, brash inventor and his samurai protector find themselves on a journey from Japan to the US, where they quickly become locked into a cross-country race with echoes of Wacky Races. A series of outlandish cars and their even more outlandish drivers take to the road in a cutthroat journey to win a small fortune and become immortalized. This series breaks a lot of conventions in its characters, and manages a kinetic and interesting story that builds to a solid climax. I don’t think it delivers quite as well as it could have, especially as the race takes several detours, but in many ways, it’s all the better for it.
 
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War (S2) (8.5/10)
 
Season 2 of this show is even stronger than the first. It really takes the opportunity to dig into more of its characters and build the dynamics between the main characters in a way that both makes their relationship stronger and doesn’t spoil the basic premise of the first season. In particular, the story behind Ishigami, a character with relatively little development in the first season, is truly affecting. It sets this season slightly higher than the original in my book.
 
Kakushigoto: My Dad's Secret Ambition (8/10)
 
A simultaneously heartwarming and hilarious series about a doting father who draws and writes a racy manga, but absolutely refuses to let his daughter find out what he’s actually doing. The lengths he goes to in order to keep his profession secret from his daughter are the central comedic element, while the heart can be found in its time jumps, moving back and forth between a period when his daughter is young and none the wiser, and one where she is older and has been made aware of his work. A lot has happened between these two times and the show slowly rolls out the details in successive episodes. It breaks enough conventions to stand on its own, and while it can be a bit slow at times, its narrative and characters are solid enough to push it over the average.
 
Scissor 7 (S2) (8.5/10)
 
Season 2 is just as fun as the first while upping the stakes. A fun ride, similar enough to the first season that it gets the same rating.
 
Summer 2020
 
Fire Force (S2) (7.5/10)
 
Pretty consistent with season 1, though I’ll admit that this started growing on me more during this season. I wouldn’t say that that has much to do with the season itself, but rather with the collective strength of the two seasons yielding greater attachments to the characters. It’s still not as strong on that front as other shonen series, but it remains relatively solid.
 
The Misfit of Demon King Academy (7.5/10)
 
Like Bofuri, this series is pure fun, though it actually has more in common with One Punch Man. Our main character is the reincarnated Demon King (2000 years post-death), born to effusively loving parents and saying his own name as his first words literally seconds after his birth. He proceeds to grow into his old self, an insanely overpowered character, within a very short timeframe and begins to try to reclaim his former title by going through the Demon King Academy. His overpowered abilities aside, what sets this series apart is intrigue, as the characters appear to remember a different Demon King. It’s a ridiculous series that just gets more ridiculous as it goes on, but that’s the fun of it.
 
The God of High School (6/10)
 
The second in the series of manhua to be adapted into an anime, this one takes a step up in the action, but a step down in every other department. A tournament is being held to determine who is the strongest high schooler, and our main characters are there to prove that they can hang with the best. Tournament arcs are a dime a dozen, and while the fights are beautifully done in most instances, there’s very little to the story here. There are supernatural elements that are poorly explained, but produce some incredible effects, but not a lot to grab onto in terms of explaining how they work. I don’t mind a fun, stupid series, but this one seems like it wants to be more, it just doesn’t have much to this first season. From what I’ve heard, the arc was rushed, which might explain why even I felt like something was missing from what we got. It’s fun, but that’s about it.
 
Deca-Dence (8/10)
 
I can’t speak to what sets this one a bit above the rest without getting into spoilers. Suffice it to say that there’s a substantial twist early in the series. The story is about a main character who has a mechanical arm due to some trauma she suffered early in life who is stuck cleaning the outside of the Deca-Dence, a large vehicle on which humanity lives and barely gets by. She wants to join a highly active group that protects this base, but continually gets rejected due to her disability. The fighting in this series is similar to Attack on Titan with a few caveats as they fight off monsters both big and small (with the bigger ones getting punched by Deca-Dence with some awesome animation behind it). Much of this reads as derivative, but it goes to some intriguing places after the twist that elevate the series just a bit. Some aspects of how the series wrapped don’t sit well with me, but that doesn’t do much to take away from one of the more innovative series I’ve seen this year.
 
Great Pretender (9/10)
 
As anime heist series go, I have been somewhat familiar with Lupin III, but that’s about it. That is a fun series, but it’s largely played for laughs and characters that are largely stereotypical. The Great Pretender does an excellent job making its characters three dimensional, turning each arc in this tense and gripping series into a means of in-depth introspection for one or more of the main cast. The series has levity, but it’s mainly about trying to execute on a plan, hitting roadblocks, and somehow managing to work their magic to get through. The fact that you know they will likely succeed in the end doesn’t make the twists and turns of the series any less affecting, and while it can be somewhat frustrating to see things from the perspective of the largely naïve main character, it’s simply masterful.
 
Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World (S2, pt. 1) (10/10)
 
This is how you do a sequel season. There are so many elements of this half of the second season that make it amazing, but what truly grounds it is the development of its main character. For a character about whom I was tepid at best after the first season, the way this season manages to make him engaging is nothing short of superb, and especially as it is only the first half of the season, it’s incredible what they managed to do.
 
Baki (S2) (6/10)
 
I don’t feel like this series changes in ways that really improve or hurt it. You’re here for the fight scenes, and their reasons for why these fights happen are relatively unimportant. If you like the martial arts of the first season, you’ll like this one. If you don’t, it adds nothing substantial.

Yeah, but in most series, those side characters aren’t tools used by the main characters. I don’t mind side characters being side characters, I mind when their deaths are made virtually insignificant in retrospect. If Il-nam really doesn’t care about any of them, that doesn’t mean that the audience shouldn’t, but by reducing the story to the relationship between Il-nam and Gi-hun, it at least tells us that we shouldn’t care about them at all because they were all destined to die when they joined his game.

As for apathy being a motivator… yeah, I’m having trouble with that. One doesn’t go through all the trouble of creating these games solely for the purpose of satisfying mild entertainment, and if that really is the motivation, then it’s pretty weak to me. Whether sociopath or psychopath, characters in the driver seat like Il-nam just don’t seem all that interesting when their main motivation is boredom because they don’t present as someone who is desperate to escape said boredom. They present as someone who is just, as you say, apathetic and uncaring. Hell, by this point, even the spectacle seems to bore him to the point that he decided to put himself in the game. I understand that better, but as motivations for masterminds go, this doesn’t really work for me. Maybe that’s just me.

A lot of that could be right, and perhaps if it ends up being the case, I'll have a more favorable impression of the show. As it is, it's not that I'm negative on it, I'm just not as positive as I'd like to be, particularly on the ending. As for the motive being some interest in just proving to himself that people would backstab each other, that doesn't work very well for me, either. Seems more like a social experiment at that point, and if he is the kind of person who is just fascinated in seeing that kind of thing play out, then I'd still expect to see more indication of that. It came off as though he was just bored, rich, and set up this very elaborate and expensive game to put these indebted people go through hell. Maybe the end goal of that was philosophically-driven, but I'd really like to see more about why that's important to him. If he doesn't relish in watching their agony, then I'd like to see why this specific goal drives him. If that goal is just to deal with his son in the end, then in some ways that improves the story by providing him with personal stakes, and in others it diminishes it because everyone else was functionally window dressing.

Alright, we can just open up with the spoilers. Anyone reading this, you’ve been warned.



My issue is two-fold. One, I don’t buy that the old man is that much of an asshole. He can say all he wants that people entered into this willingly (under pressure of massive financial debt and even death if they don’t join doesn’t quite meet that bar for me), but at minimum, the first game was not consented to with knowledge of what elimination actually meant. He knew what he was doing, yet his demeanor (perhaps a mask, though even when he was out of the games, he still behaved similarly) didn’t speak to someone enjoying those deaths. For someone who actively started this on the basis that it would liven things up to have these people die in front of him and his ultra rich buddies, we got no indication of what makes him so committed apart from him saying that he’s committed.

Two, it just introduces lots of little holes into the previous events. He either was willing to put himself in extreme physical danger that could have ended in his death (not sure how that would have affected these games, since he’s the mastermind behind them), or he gave himself easy outs (yes, I noticed the locks missing on his shackles for Tug-of-War) that would have made it obvious that he was playing by different rules if they ended up being necessary, which also disrupts the game a bit since everyone was supposed to be equal and his ruse would have been exposed. I think that the Marble Game, in particular, is harmed by this, probably the most emotionally affecting episode. He was never in any danger and had no cost to losing. Gi-hun was given the equivalent of an auto-win with no consequences, giving him an unfair advantage. If Gi-hun had turned around when the gun went off, it would have spoiled everything. The reveal itself doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, either. Gi-hun just learns that there are people out there willing to help, which… I mean, it was the police, it’s part of their job. It would have been much more affecting if he realized in the end that he was the one who could save the homeless person, which would have galvanized him to act for others as he does after that. Just seems like its narrative effect doesn’t make a whole lot of sense going forward and it actively confuses what came before. 

I'll address the other responses later, though I'd appreciate clarification on this first:

My interpretation, flawed though it has been at times, of your words here is that you accept that many studies of vaccines have produced results you would say are logically/scientifically sound, i.e. that there are definitive conclusions you could make regarding their results. I'm not sure if that encompasses what you could say about the effectiveness of those vaccines in a broad population, and perhaps your argument is that those kinds of broader claims are impossible to support in a logical/scientific manner. However, as your argument focuses on claims that vaccines prevent death, and you have also made the following statement:

I interpret that as an acknowledgement that vaccines do "work" in some measurable way that can be said to apply to a broad population. Again, I could be misinterpreting, but if your argument is that only the conclusions regarding prevention of death are insufficiently supported, then what conclusions about vaccines do you acknowledge as supported by the available evidence? In essence, I'd like to know what you would argue is proven by sufficient observational data with regards to vaccines.

I might be phrasing this poorly, but I hope you'll be able to determine my meaning.

Also, in general, I’m not a fan of the basic motivation behind setting all this all up. There’s likely more to it, but the reason given at the end is very superficial and doesn’t jive with the character of “the man behind the curtain”. As an explanation for why they’re doing this, it works much better when you have an unmitigated asshole at the helm, which Kaiji does.

Don’t want to spoil it for anyone reading, despite the title of the forum, but I think that the twist retroactively diminishes some previous events without adding anything substantial.

I suppose where I'm having the most trouble with your argument overall is that I can't understand what standard you would use to actually make a determination that anything works if you cannot use data obtained after the fact to make those determinations. What you're effectively arguing here, as far as I can tell, is that it's impossible to make these conclusions because it's functionally impossible to meet the level of stringency required to make them. Assuming that's the case, I sincerely question how we can make any such conclusions about any preventative measure. After all, the only means we have to evaluate the degree to which a population is afforded protection from an infection is, necessarily, after the fact. We can provide all the data to support what the vaccine actually does, establish how that helps immune responses, and determine that that likely contributes to declines in infections, hospitalizations and death tolls among that population, as correlates with the data. If your argument is that that's not enough to make these conclusions, then functionally, nothing is, and I'm honestly not sure why you buy into vaccines at all if this is really your perspective.

I like how you turned pandemic into an adjective, but that's not what makes a pandemic. A pandemic doesn't and shouldn't presume that a majority of the world population has been exposed to the virus at some point. It literally means that it occurs over an area that encompasses multiple countries and affects some significant subset of the populations therein. Significant amounts do not necessitate majorities. The fact that the virus had lots of time to spread before vaccination started doesn't lend credence to your claim, either. All it does is tell me that the virus infected a lot of people. I'll certainly grant you that the numbers of infected that we know about is probably quite a bit smaller than the real number of infected, but I don't grant that the actual number is greater than 50% of the population. That kind of claim requires support.

You say "necessary", and I agree that it hasn't been demonstrated to be necessary to add this specific immune response to the natural antibodies generated by many in order to see effectiveness. I would say that it has been demonstrated to be beneficial, and I would disagree with the statement that it's solely a plausible benefit. Even if we ignore basic viral mutation as a means of evolution and the demonstrated (yes, this has been tested) importance of the mechanisms inherent to the structure of the spike protein, it's not at all controversial to say that a more rapid adaptive immune response to the virus is beneficial in viral clearance, regardless of the virus. At worst, this immune response is net neutral for someone who has already generated their own antibodies.

I'm not going to get into semantics with you. Suffice it to say that if you don't like that style of presenting an argument as a means to allow the other person to clarify, then so be it, but it's how I tend to handle things I will likely continue to do the same. Carefully choosing my verbiage as a means of placing myself as the source of misinterpretation is worth a shot, but I'm not always going to be so careful in selecting my words, and I think it's still far better to suggest that a plausible misunderstanding is occurring than to state another person's position with certainty.

The rest of this just seems like it's revisiting the same points we've now talked about at length. I don't agree that it's non-scientific or fallacious in every instance to look at correlative data, especially on a very large scale, and make conclusions that infer plausible causation, especially when you can actually test for far more specific elements of said correlation (e.g. the development of antibodies and resultant activation of immune response when someone gets the virus). I really don't understand the argument that these studies cannot in any way inform how you are likely to respond to the vaccine or to the virus, but clearly, that's an area where we just won't agree. You can control for how an individual who has and hasn't been vaccinated would respond to the virus, even if you cannot control for every element of their behavior and prior immune development. If we're looking at it from that perspective, I would say that it's effectively impossible to control for every variable in any experiment once you get a sufficient number of people to make statistical inferences, which would mean that every medical study is similarly flawed.

I will, however, directly respond to this:

I’d agree on the characters. I think they did some things with the finale that won’t be fixed by a S2, but for the most part, I enjoyed the narrative.

I appreciated it, for the most part. Not so happy with the ending, but I'll steer clear of spoilers. Part of the problem for me is that I have a very similar series that I was watching around the same time to compare it with (namely, Kaiji), and it just doesn't live up to that classic. It's got elements that I think are better than Kaiji, but on the whole, it's not as solid.

Alright, if they post further to actually spam the site, then they’ll be dealt with accordingly.

Copy-pasting posts in the forums isn’t against any standard that I can think of.

Alright, I’ll bite: why are you noting these two posts? There’s nothing wrong with bumping your debates by commenting.

Anime and Manga in 2019
 
Manga
 
New Manga
 
Samurai 8: Hachimaruden (5.5/10)
 
This one’s still painful. Written by the author of Naruto, this series was supposed to be his next attempt at a blockbuster, and it unfortunately didn’t go anywhere. The story begins with a young boy who is incredibly sickly and can hardly do anything, evolving into a story about sci-fi samurai who can pull off incredible feats of strength that mirrors the magnitude of some of Naruto’s later fights. I think it had some interesting ideas going for it, but it certainly didn’t have the emotional weight that Naruto carried, nor were its fights nearly as awesome. It’s not a bad entry, but it didn’t stand out like it should have.
 
Kengan Omega (7.5/10)
 
Perhaps I’d rate this higher if I had seen/read Kengan Ashura, as the events of this manga follow directly on those of Ashura. Nonetheless, this series does a good job giving you background in its characters, so if you missed Ashura, you can absolutely still enjoy this. As far as fighting anime/manga go, this is my favorite to date. It feels more real than Baki while still enjoying some of the dynamics of that series in terms of superhuman feats. It showcases a broad range of fighting styles, interesting characters with dynamic interactions, and nail-biting fights. I can’t say I’m too into the main character, who seems like more of an audience surrogate at this point in the story, but the author clearly knew that the focus should be on the veterans and put it there eventually. I think this series can go far, so it’s worth getting in on it now.
 
Finishing Manga
 
Food Wars ended during this time, and though I did not read it, I am aware that the quality of this series remained high throughout much of its run time but dragged during this last arc. I won’t be reviewing it here, though I will note that this was one of the few series of Shonen that focused on something distinct from actual battle or sports, and I think it’s pretty clear that it was successful.
 
Anime Movies
 
Weathering with You came out this year, and I’m still meaning to see it. It’s by the same people who made Your Name, and from what I’ve heard, it brings a lot of that same heart and solid animation.
 
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Resurrection (7/10)
 
Code Geass is an incredible series (not without its flaws) with one of the best endings in anime. The story is investing, with an ostracized Britanian (basically British) royal who fights back against his family to secure independence for Japan and other colonies of the massive empire. Unfortunately, that ending automatically sets this movie up for failure, since it has to begin by reconning some of the most impactful elements of that finale and attempt to create a strong ending of its own. There are certainly some fun moments in this and it’s good to see the main character back in his element, playing 4D chess on the battlefield with his Geass (an eye-based ability that grants him the to command others), but it’s both an unnecessary addition and a far weaker entry than anything in the series. Granted, with all the same characters playing a role, it’s hard not to enjoy the ride all the same.
 
KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Legend of Crimson (9/10)
 
I missed reviewing the second season of this anime back in 2017 (would give that a slightly weaker rating of 8/10), but the series wasn’t as strong in its second outing as in its first, chiefly because it presented nothing new. It was still hilarious, but it lacked the punch of the original season. This movie brought it back in a big way. The story beats and the additional characters really ramp this one up to new heights, and while some of the jokes are a bit cringey for various reasons, I think that this is KonoSuba’s strongest entry since the first season ended. Well worth the watch.
 
Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World: The Frozen Bond (7.5/10)
 
Another OVA for Re:Zero, this one focuses on Emilia, getting into some of her history and filling in gaps that the series leaves open. That’s part of the reason why this rate higher than Memory Snow, as I think it does more to bolster the series than that one did. It’s also just more interesting to watch, since elements that even the show has only hinted at get some play in here. That being said, the main character of the show is barely present here, the dynamics between its many characters is absent, and Emilia and Puck can only carry the show so far on their own. It has some strong emotional moments and a great fight, but it still doesn’t rise to anywhere near the level of the series.
 
Anime Series
 
Winter 2019
 
The Rising of the Shield Hero started during this time, another big isekai with a handful of unique elements, mainly involving betrayal and the titular hero’s use of a shield as his main weapon. Heard it’s good, second season is airing now.
 
Dororo (7.5/10)
 
I liked a lot of this series. It’s built on a premise of the main character’s father being an absolute dick to him in the worst way possible: sacrificing his child, piece by piece, to demons to ensure the prosperity of his town. And when I say “piece by piece”, I mean they take everything from him until all he has left as an infant is exposed muscle and bone – no hands, no feet, no skin, eyes, hearing, the capacity to speak, even a sense of touch. With the help of a man who is proficient in making prosthetics, he grows up and starts a revenge mission to end as many demons as possible to retrieve these parts of himself. The fights are gory and well-choreographed (how he fights is particularly fascinating to watch), the initial motivation makes sense, and it’s particularly interesting to see who he connects to in his travels. It doesn’t end as well as I was hoping, as I think the series loses sight of what made it so interesting in order to flesh out antagonists who are just not that appealing, but I did still enjoy the ride.
 
Mob Psycho 100 (S2) (10/10)
 
I won’t be giving out many 10’s, but this is something special. The first season was strong, but the second is truly awe-inspiring. The growth of the main character and his mentor throughout this season is incredible, the challenges they face loom ever larger, and the themes of the series really get their chance to shine in this second season, especially as the emotional moments come out in force. Sakuga never looked so good as it does with this style of animation. If you felt that the first season was slow, as I did in parts, this one sets a much brisker pace without being overwhelming.
 
The Promised Neverland (9/10)
 
I’ll have a good deal to say on the second season when we get there, but the first season of The Promised Neverland is incredible. It can be a little slow in places and the animation isn’t good for everyone, but this has one of the most investing conflicts I’ve seen in anime. I won’t spoil anything here as one of the biggest twists happens in the very first episode, but if you like mystery thrillers with lots of mind games, this is absolutely worth your time.
 
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War (8/10)
 
This is a series about two brilliant high school characters who unequivocally refuse to be the first to express their love to one another. Yes, they’re both infatuated, and yes, there are lots of contrivances in this one, but that’s the beauty of it. They each scheme to get the other to give something away, either they fail or other characters get in the way, hijinks ensue. My favorite aspect to the whole thing is the narrator, who treats every single thing that happens as though it’s worthy of the most serious and detailed analysis. We get to spend a lot of time with our main duo, and while I appreciate what we learn of them, this season leaves the other characters relatively two-dimensional, a problem that I think the second season goes a long way towards fixing. Nonetheless, even in this season, there are some solid emotional moments with lots of levity.

To start, I think it's important to recognize that ivermectin is, at least, an improvement upon HCQ, which had a much less favorable toxicity profile.

That being said, many of the same problems with HCQ exist with ivermectin. Both drugs have effects on viral replicases at high enough concentrations, though it's notable that the concentration achievable without yielding toxic effects in vivo is far lower than the established dose required to inhibit these replicases in vitro. 

"An important controversial point to consider in any rationale is the 5 µM required concentration to reach the anti-SARS-CoV-2 action of ivermectin observed in vitro,17 which is much higher than 0.28 µM, the maximum reported plasma concentration achieved in vivo with a dose of approximately 1700 µg/kg (about nine times the FDA-approved dosification)."

The above article details several problems with the proposed mechanisms and implementation of ivermectin, though this one seems the most daunting. In fact, this is a problem regardless of the mechanism: any actual effectiveness must be established at concentrations that are achievable without substantial side effects in vivo. HCQ couldn't achieve it, and ivermectin looks to be in the same boat. 

As for addressing the other specific mechanisms you've provided, those would take quite a bit more research, but concentration-dependence is at least a point of substantial concern. The in silico analyses of what the drug could do give some good reason to believe it could be effective (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7996102/), but they're purely theoretical. Even when taking more direct studies into account (this is still in vitro), these suggest a very specific interaction between ivermectin and 3CLpro (the protease used by the virus) that would likely to be overcome by mutation if this intervention was employed widely enough (https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-01577-x). I will note that its antiviral activity, like antibiotics used against bacteria, can easily drive viral evolution, likely without sacrificing virulence.

Apparently

Well, that would explain it. Wrote this in the middle of the workday and didn't really think about it being a bot.

This sounds like a deeply personal problem, one that must have quite a bit feeding into it. Without that context, it's difficult to understand what you're going through and why that's yielding such a strong emotional response, though I perfectly understand if you don't feel comfortable sharing details publicly in this forum. I'm no marriage counselor, so I cannot (and, frankly, should not) provide any professional advice. Anything I say here is entirely built on what I've learned as someone who still feels very much like an amateur at marriage and relationships. I've been married for over 9 years, so I can only speak from my personal experience and that of those I know well. Still, if you are willing, we could discuss this via PM to keep things as private as possible.

All that being said, it sounds like the issues you're facing with your marriage are very real concerns and should be taken seriously. Speaking generally, I think that if you and your partner are willing to undergo counseling of some kind, that would be a good place to start. I know it helped my marriage immensely to do so. Divorce can and should be a consideration if you and your partner cannot meaningfully address the toxic elements of your relationship. I've never been through divorce, so I can't speak to how that process would affect you, but with regards to how you overcome the fear of taking that step, personal counseling can help, but managing as big a decision as this (where you likely live together and may even have a family together) is never going to be easy. The best place to start is being secure in your decision, which I think the effort to do couples counseling could help with. From there, it's about finding ways to make yourself feel secure post-divorce, which would depend on your financial status, how much help you're getting from family and friends, and the physical and emotional safety you could find. I don't know where you stand on any of that, so I'm speaking in generalities, but I think that taking stock of what you have and what you feel you need to be secure would be worth your time.

Anime and Manga in 2018
 
Manga
 
New Manga
Jujutsu Kaisen started this year. I haven’t read enough of the manga to review it, but what I’ve read deserves attention. I like the dynamic art style and frenetic action. I’m also particularly intrigued by how curses work as a power system, as they have a great deal of depth to their characterizations and lead to some fascinating fights.
 
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (8/10)
 
I should have put this under 2016, which is when this actually started, but the first volume of the manga was released in 2018, so I’m putting it here instead. As one of the most popular series in recent memory, there’s not a lot I can say about it that isn’t already very well known. A Shonen title involving sword-wielding fighters utilizing various elemental “breaths” to fight demons, this is a series built on tragedies that inspire its heroes to become strong enough to beat even the strongest of their demonic opponents. The art style is intriguing, though I can’t say it captivated me in the manga (I’ll get to the anime in 2019). The story, though somewhat formulaic, is incredibly well-refined and the fights are consistently strong.
 
Chainsaw Man (8.5/10)
 
This is a bit of an odd one. Putting it in the Shonen category just seems wrong given how many adult themes are at play in this manga, but that is how it’s classified. A story with a protagonist who has incredibly basic desires after living much of his life in the most terrible of conditions, it begins with him gaining the power to produce chainsaws from various parts of his body, which has the adverse effect of harming him in the process. He becomes fused with a Devil and is conscripted into Devil hunting, during which time he is subject to some of the most gruesome fights I’ve seen in any manga. Don’t become attached to anyone, as pretty much anyone in this is dispensable. The artwork is good and the story riveting, if a bit scattershot in places.
 
Finishing Manga
 
Hunter X Hunter (8/10)
 
On the one hand, it’s not fair of me to put this here. The manga is still technically ongoing, and the author is known for long hiatuses lasting over numerous months and even full years. However, it’s never been this long (well over a thousand days at this point), and at this point, there is a more than decent chance that the series will never return. That’s a shame because Hunter X Hunter might have the most well thought out power system in anime and manga and how Nen works is still being shaped by events in the story as the worldbuilding continues. The most recent anime adaptation is worth the watch (I’d give it the same review, despite missing some of the nuance and detail of the manga, as a result of its incredible animation), and the manga up to this point has been continually strong (apart from some nitpicks with the drawing and being overzealous with the explanation of what’s going on, which I think translates better into animation), so it would be a shame for things to end here.
 
Anime Movies
 
Mirai (9/10)
 
It’s not really surprising that I loved this movie. The director also directed Howl’s Moving Castle (one of my top 4 anime films to date), Summer Wars (another one), The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Wolf Children (all of these are really good). This one channels more of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time with some strange time travel shenanigans (it’s actually rather constrained in this regard) that result from a young boy’s efforts to cope with the arrival of a little sister in his family. It’s a fascinating look into the characters over time with a beautiful fantasy element. The more I’ve thought about it, the more has impressed me.
 
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (7.5/10)
 
It’s Dragon Ball Super. It involves one of the most overpowered characters (Broly) from the previous movies who was never really given any characterization before (they rectify that here, though he’s still not terribly interesting). It brings in the main cast to demonstrate how OP they’ve become in their own rights. It’s got a spectacular fight that is probably one of the best the series has produced for sheer spectacle alone, even if everything else is really just window dressing. It’s not deep, it’s not complex, but damn is it ever fun.
 
Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World: Memory Snow (6.5/10)
 
This one was pretty disappointing. Considering how much I love Re:Zero as a series, this should easily be getting a higher rating from me, since they kept the characters and setting intact and the animation is as good as ever. Instead, I feel like it does the bare minimum to utilize what makes the series interesting and places them in a rather bland plot that never grabbed me. I’d say that both of their OVAs didn’t rise to the high levels set by the series, but this one in particular just left me cold.
 
Anime Series
 
Winter 2018
 
Darling in the Franxx came out this season. There’s a lot going on in this one, from the giant mechs to the… odd way that their male and female pairs fly them, and though I heard that many loved this series for most of its run, its ending goes into solidly strange territory that divides fans. From what I’ve been told, Devilman Crybaby is basically a must watch for its incredible animation, story and characters, though with a good deal of sex and gore, it’s not for everyone. I’ve only seen part of Violet Evergarden, and though it is a bit slow for me, it’s gorgeous and emotionally strong.
 
A Place Further than the Universe (9/10)
 
I’m usually very tepid on slice of life anime. I find that the pacing of these series tends to be slow enough to frustrate and/or bore me, but this one is an outlier. A story about four high school girls who are struggling with various elements of their lives and seek fulfillment of a sort by traveling with an expedition to Antarctica. Beautiful visuals after their arrival certainly help elevate the series, but the girls themselves and how they’re affected both by each other and by the journey is what makes this series so great. Anyone who is watching this series would probably find a solid connection with at least one of them. Personally, each episode kept me riveted, and the further the series went, the more my attachment to the characters grew. Definitely worth a watch.
 
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (S2) (8/10)
 
This is a ridiculous and hilarious series. The main character is an insanely powerful psychic who has to restrict his own power both to conceal his power from those around him and to avoid causing incredible harm to the world. His friends are all absurd caricatures, his family either exploits him or actively competes with him, and Saiki himself cannot seem to keep himself in control despite his best efforts. To say the least, this series derives its humor largely from his interactions and the absurdities that occur when the main character uses his powers. The animation is nothing to write home about, and the humor of the series is a little same-y after a while, but it’s still just a lot of fun.
 
 
Spring 2018
 
The main one I missed from this season that I want to see is Golden Kamuy. It’s a series about a treasure hunt that integrates itself into history, and from what I’ve heard, has quite the cast of colorful characters and a riveting plot.
 
My Hero Academia S3 (7.5/10)
 
I’ve already talked about this series a couple of times, so I’ll keep this light. While there are some great scenes and a really important bit of plot occurs towards the end of this season, this isn’t really an innovative season for the most part, largely focusing on another attack by the League of Villains. I wouldn’t say that this one stands out from the pack, apart from said ending portion. It does give some good opportunities for certain characters to grow, but it doesn’t do too much on that front.
 
Hinamatsuri (8.5/10)
 
This isn’t the most consistent series in the bunch, but that’s much to its credit in my opinion. Mostly comedic, this series largely focuses on a powerful psychic being who suddenly drops into the life of a successful yakuza, who is essentially forced into caring for her. His life is upended, and as she is followed by others, things get complicated fast. Not every episode is a riot, and some of them are surprisingly emotional, with several of the characters showcasing quite a bit of heart in a series that is often characterized by over-the-top displays of power. While some portions of this series are good enough to rival the best in anime, I wouldn’t say that it’s consistently at that level, whether in comedy or seriousness. In particular, I think the ending to S1 was just abrupt and uninteresting. Still, the good outweighs the middling, and this one’s definitely worth a watch.
 
Megalo Box (7.5/10)
 
I came off of watching this anime thinking that it was one of the best, though I’ve grown a little more tepid with it over time. In a world of boxing where everyone wears mechanical supports to help them punch harder and faster, one man decides to fight without gear to become one of the best boxers of his era. There are some seriously incredible moments in this series, and I love the animation style (they went through a lot of work to make it look similar to the Cowboy Bebop era), but aside from a few big ones, there weren’t many surprises in this one. The choreography is good, though not up to the standards of other big boxing anime like Hajime no Ippo. I also have issues with the ending. Still, a worthwhile watch.
 
Steins;Gate 0 (7.5/10)
 
Steins;Gate is, in my opinion, one of the best anime series ever made. The ways that it works with time travel, the characters that it utilizes, and especially the main character’s struggles throughout the latter half of the series set it apart as an incredible piece of sci fi with a dark edge that never loses sight of what makes its characters great. Steins;Gate 0 takes place in a different timeline than Steins;Gate, though it crosses over with that series. Some of the story beats are still intriguing here, but it’s hampered in a lot of ways. The main character just loses too much of what made him interesting for too much of the series, the new characters do more to hamper the series than elevate it, there’s very little actual time travel for a time travel anime and given that fans of the series know how this one must end, it lacks much of the surprise that the first series had. It’s still worth a watch if you love Steins;Gate because it’s the same world and it’s still interesting.
 
Aggretsuko (8.5/10)
 
Calling this an anime is stretching things a bit. It looks more like Hello Kitty (the studio that makes this is also the one behind Hello Kitty) with its very cutesy animation style, but that’s part of the allure. Despite a lack of adult themes, this one really is meant for adults, as you watch a young red panda woman work at an accounting firm and go through all the drudgeries that come with that life. She gets out her frustrations by singing death metal by herself at a local karaoke bar. Almost every character in this series is fleshed out and three dimensional despite their appearances, and each arc forces the main character to face down some new trial that usually feels organic. The animation style is not for everyone, and not every story is a hit, but I’ve loved this series so far.

He won't be gone for long and will still be eligible to run.

Based on the trailer, I'm cautiously optimistic. There was a prior attempt to create such a series that you can still find the pilot for (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZOCCEuROPk&t=230s). It... isn't good. The acting is bad and, considering the scene that's playing out, this should have far more gravitas than it actually does.

Nonetheless, the trailer for this series has me intrigued and I think it's well-cast from what I've read of the actors. This is a series worth adapting, and there's plenty of material (14 books) to adapt, so they can take their time. I'm a pretty big fan of the books, so I'm hopeful.