wjs018 @ wjs018 @lemmy.ml

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2 yr. ago

Others in the thread have already given some good suggestions. In particular I will add another vote for Wotakoi and Horimiya if you haven't seen them yet. Some more that I enjoyed:

• Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!: I would classify this one as more comedy than romance, but it is a pretty good mix. Focuses on a former chuunibyou (during middle school) that has a new neighbor that is a current chuunibyou (in high school) and the relationship that they form. Along the way they pick up a crew of chuuni-adjacent friends.
• Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de: This one is more comedy than romance. The basic premise is that the leader of a sentai group of heroes falls in love with one of the generals of the evil organization they are fighting against. I adore this series and it always breaks my heart that the manga didn't perform well enough to keep it going.
• Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita: This one is not as strong as the others I have listed in my opinion, but if you are a connoisseur of the genre you might appreciate it. Basically, two data scientists try to mathematically prove through statistics/experiments that they are in love with one another. So, the comedy focuses on replicating a lot of tropes from the romcom genre and then collecting data about it. This one has two seasons, but I personally think the first season is a pretty good standalone season. The end of season 2 was...a choice...but it kind of ruined a lot of the good work done elsewhere in the series.

The comparison to Bunny Girl Senpai is a really, really good one actually since they do have an extremely similar storytelling structure. I watched that show+movie just recently, so it is fresh in my mind. I think the main thing that kept me engaged with Bunny Girl as opposed to Clannad is the characters. I really enjoyed the characters in Bunny Girl whereas in Clannad, whenever certain characters showed up (iirc, mainly the guy friend that keeps challenging a girl to a fight), I just found it annoying and took me out of it.

I think there is a lot you could compare/contrast between these two shows and it is making me think critically about what made one work for me and the other very much not work. Thanks for the food for thought!

There are a bunch of long-running series that make (or made) heavy use of filler content of, let's say, variable quality (Naruto, Bleach, etc.). Other than those, I have a couple that spring to mind:

• Recency bias might be factoring into this one but Ryza no Atelier. I just watched the final episode literally within the past hour and it feels like such a let down compared to the penultimate episode. We go from a huge boss battle to a peaceful scavenger hunt. It just seems like you had an obvious place to end the show on a climactic moment in which the protagonists overcome adversity and realize the beginning of their heroic ambitions; but instead we devote the entire final episode for some kind of moral lesson about farming and friends? Don't get me wrong, just cutting the final episode won't make this show actually good, but it would at least be improved; meeting the requirements of the post.
• Carole and Tuesday: I really liked this show, but I feel like the story could have been more focused. In the final third or so of this series, I feel like it rapidly expanded the scope of the show to the detriment of being able to focus on the main cast's story.
• Planetes: I might make some people mad with this one, but I really liked this show when it focused on the space garbage disposal bits and much less so when it forced a romantic relationship between two main characters. It didn't really feel earned and, frankly, the relationship focused a lot on reinforcing traditional Japanese gender stereotypes and left a bad taste in my mouth.
• Clannad: If I didn't make people mad with Planetes, I have certainly made some mad with this one. Full disclosure up front, I have not fully watched this series, so if some Steins;Gate level twist makes all the rest of the show great, then so be it. I just felt like the story would focus entire episodes on people/things that just ended up never mattering again going forward. I remember after a couple episodes just thinking, "What was the point of all that?". It has been a couple years since I gave it a shot, so I don't really remember specifics, but this one could really have used some editing. I imagine the movie version helps this problem, but I haven't seen that after what I experienced with the show.

I ended up enjoying this show way more than I thought I would at the beginning of the season. It ended up at a pretty satisfying end, but it looks like there is enough source to keep going if they choose to. The chemistry between Max and the Maou was really nice, we even get to see them have a genuine moment when they are leaning on each other this episode. We also found out that the girl Max plays badminton with was Yuria's oldest this whole time. It adds so much knowing that even though she hasn't been on screen until this last episode, that Yuria has remained important in Max's life. My one complaint is that the ghost in Max's closet that only Fred can see is completely unexplained...like not even any kind of hinting that I can discern.

Agreed entirely. It really shows how little they think of the viewer/reader that they feel the need to explicitly state it. Add it to the pile of poor storytelling choices in this show (my previous rant about this). I am not familiar with the source material, so I can't pinpoint where the issue lies, but it continues to disappoint.

Following up on my effort to find and post more good oneshots, here is one about a man stranded in Hiroshima and a friendly gal that helps him out.

I have made a conscious effort to seek out and post oneshots to this community as I felt as though nobody in the community was really posting any. So, I am going to devote my post this week to the oneshots I have found recently that are good. But first, my weekly reminder to check out Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyu-bu as it is my favorite SOL series going.

• Nondemiru?: This is a oneshot by a brand new author that won an award to get it published. It is very cute yuri and I really wish there was more.
• Senpai no Tokubetsu: Another very cute yuri oneshot that is a very quick read. Often these very short oneshots feel just long enough to setup a premise and then end, but this one felt a bit more fleshed out.
• Silver Rock: In case you thought I only read yuri content, here is one about a grandpa helping out his grandkid. It is on the long side, but is very worth it. I might be biased into liking this one since I lost my grandfather not too long ago.
• Shabondama: This is one that I would have never read unless I was specifically looking for oneshots. It is a quick read not only due to page count, but that there is basically no dialogue. The thing that I really liked about it was how the art style is very distinctive and dreamy while the content ultimately contrasts with that (trying not to give spoilers).
• A Villain Will Never Give Up: This one features a villain from a Sentai show and the bond that she forms with her evil robot creation. It's cute and worth the read.
• [NSFW] Hiroshima Gyaru wa Suki Darake: Found this one right after making this post initially, so I will just add it here. This one is about a man who is stranded away from home and a friendly gal that comes to his aid.

Lastly, a oneshot that I decided against posting to the community ultimately because I had a bit of a hard time following the story (flashbacks are not very well delineated), but some people might find it worth checking out:

• Heelmaker: This one is (I am pretty sure) about a former yakuza debt collector that becomes a professional wrestler, specifically playing a heel character. He forms a bond with a girl and her siblings that we find out he has a bit of history with.

Recently discovered this series and it's pretty fun. The MC reminds me a bit of Fudo from Love After World Domination.

Content warning: will make you miss your grandparents.

The obvious outlier this week is Rent a Girlfriend. I wonder what part of the story triggered the jump in votes. I would check it out for myself but I already hate-read the manga, so I don't think I can handle any more of that story in my life.

I am far from a bleach expert as I only watched the first couple of arcs, but my understanding is that the anime adaptation of Bleach ended since they had caught up with the source material and didn't want to keep making filler content while they waited for the manga. While the show was on hiatus, the manga continued with the final arc, called The Thousand Year Blood War. So, after the manga finished, they started the Bleach anime back up to adapt the end. That is what is currently airing.

This isn't your typical yuri oneshot. It's an award winning yuri oneshot.

Disclaimer: I have no insight whatsoever into the production process for this show behind the scenes.

That out of the way, it is a bit ironic that this show is the one with the troubled production and (likely) crunch for the staff as the whole motivation for the MC is to escape being overworked and pursue passions instead.

Agreed. Miyo just traded the Saimori family for the Usuba. The only difference between the two really is that she isn't treated like a servant with the Usubas despite remaining a prisoner.

I think the first half of this show was really strong, but I feel a bit disappointed by the latter half. I think there is a version of the story in which Miyo's dreams could help her piece together her mother's backstory while simultaneously strengthening the bond with Kudo as they work together to overcome the burden these undeveloped powers place on her body.

Dreams can be an incredible narrative tool, but as far as we know, the dreams that she was experiencing didn't really have any narrative importance other than that they were supernatural and very disruptive. It just feels like a squandered opportunity if you want to make a character whose superpower is related to dreams and then the dreams aren't really used to further the story.

It was a pretty sympathetic portrayal of the undead and it raises moral questions about the wholesale killing of them if they retain some sense of reason. This zombie kid had enough sense to understand what Boxxo said, go seek out a coin, and then track down Boxxo when he was in an unfamiliar location. That takes some amount of brain function.

I was expecting the kid to be somehow connected to the floor boss, but it looks like the boss fight is queued up for the finale so Lammis can try to overcome her fears.

As always, the meme credits page is one of the best parts of this series.

I haven't read any of the titles you mentioned, but I often check out the recommendations on Anilist for a title I like as a starting point. Here is the page for Eleceed, and I see My Hero Academia listed there, so hopefully there are some others in the same vein.

Kimiya about to go ultra instinct.

Recently discovered this series and have enjoyed it. It has plugged the hole that the end of Kanojo mo Kanojo left. The "twist" in chapter 1 is obvious, but the real twist comes in chapter 2.

Action-focused episode this week with some good action animation. We also finally know where Yuria has been, so hopefully she comes back with a bit of a resolution next episode. Also, I loved the fact that we have seen Max play with this candy for pretty much the whole season, but it turns out that it has been his trump card the whole time.