Endmaker

Maybe it's because of cultural differences, but do Japanese students really want a bunch of elitist leading them? Taniyama's leading argument would have made me want to vote against her. And yet the characters seem to treat it as though it's only natural.

Also, why is Alya still at the podium after stating her position? Shouldn't she return to her seat? In fact, why is there a need for them to start off at the podium? Just place a mic in front of each team! (And finally, Masachika took over by going to the podium, placing him center stage; this debate is rigged).

Then this is followed by Taniyama literally running away from the debate?! Wtf is this rubbish drama? What's more, her motivation behind the debate is so shallow!

This show should just stick to comedy.

Thankfully, Ayano and Suou Yuki's banter afterwards saved the day.

P.S. Ayano is overtaking Yuki as my favourite character of this show. She's like Pete Monahan from Silicon Valley (HBO) to me: she doesn't have much screen time, but when she does, she never fail to make me laugh.

@[email protected]

What is the last anime you watched over 100 episodes? (Or the longest you've watched if none qualify?)

Gundam SEED (SEED + Destiny + Freedom) just barely made the cut.

I'm not counting Saiki K because each episode was really short IIRC.

I usually don't watch long-running anime because the plot tend to drag on unnecessarily - probably because their creators are trying to milk them for their worth.

I would just drop them out of boredom and frustration with the lack of progress in plot. In fact, I feel that the Gundam SEED series could have been shorter.

I'd say Gintama has a shot at taking over as my longest-running watched series though.

What are some titles that have huge disparities in quality between its anime adaptation and the source?

Source > Adaptation

One of the recent big-name disappointments would be Chained Soldier (source: manga).

Another prominent one is One Punch Man season 2 (source: manga).

For non big-names, Bofuri season 2 dropped the ball (source: novel).

I also felt that the anime adaptation for Undead Unluck could have been way better (source: manga).

Adaptation > Source

Probably most adaptations involving music, such as K-ON! (source: manga).

There are probably lots more out there but these are just the ones where I have consumed both the adaptations and their source materials.

I find that in most cases, when a non-original anime is crap to me, it is because of a weak story and poorly-written characters. As such, the root cause of the crappiness is the source material.

Among my favourites, I'd say Cells at Work! fits the bill.

Completed Gate

The trope of a war between an advanced military and a hopelessly outdated one (is there a specific term for this?) isn't exactly new, but I haven't seen much of these shows. I guess it's because the outcome is too obvious (spoiler for anyone without common sense: it is a one-sided massacre), which means writers have to put more effort into developing the story pre-war and post-war.

Isekai is extremely common in anime but the way Gate did it resulted in a unique take on the genre as well the trope IMO.

The depiction of how people react as way as character motivations was believable. Just like how soldiers of real-world military frequently lost common sense (is there a name for this phenomenon?), the isekai soldiers started rampaging / plundering instead of working towards a clear goal. The way people (including the MC) reacted was understandable too.

The timeframe between the initial attack and the deployment of troops beyond the gate was reasonable too. I'd expect that long given the bureaucracy and inefficiency of politicians and military.

All these led to a great set-up, which the show then squandered.

Honestly, the first season (or cour? I can't tell the difference) wasn't too bad.

There have been minor annoyances for me from the very start, such as

There are probably more, but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. Anyway, I was willing to overlook these issues because the world-building and characters were fun.

I am willing to give it a 7 / 10.

The second part got way too dumb for me.

For example,

And that was only the second episode IIRC. It just became more and more braindead as the show goes on. I would have gave it a passing score, but by the last episode, the anime gave up all pretense of not being a trash isekai by shipping various characters together.

My guess is that the writer (and maybe the rest of the animation studio?) is a military nerd who worships his country's armed forces, but never actually served. The anime would fixate weirdly on details such as the backblast checks - clearly the writer did a bit of research - and yet completely missed some obvious / common-sensical things that anyone who have been in a military would know.

Unfortunately, he ended up doing a disservice to the JSDF that he looked up, portraying them as unprofessional and incompetent in a weird way (even if they are not).

Final score of 4 / 10. I would have given a lower score if not for some entertaining moments that sustained my attention.

This week has been superb for me when it comes to manga.

First up, there are two confessions:

Shoujo Nyuumon came to an end. MangaDex commenters are saying that it got axed, but I personally thought it ended at a good spot. Definitely better than series that dragged on unnecessarily.

Binged A Complicated Sibling Relationship 4-Koma right as its translation is being completed. It is a dumpster fire, but I'll be lying if I say it ain't entertaining.

I'd say fire-breathing can be quite useful.

In fact, they are all probably useful under the right circumstances.

Short and sweet👍

Seals are actually quite stinky when you get up close to them in the wild.

Since we are on the topic of funny stuff in code, here's one encounter I had earlier:

Romcom enjoyers be eating good.

Slideshow: The Anime