Winter 2022 anime

Hmm, are we discussing Ousama Ranking in here, in the Fall thread, or not at all? It seems like I haven't found any discussion from week-to-week. Granted, a heck of a lot seems to happen every week, so.

There's a dedicated Ousama Ranking thread here.

Hmm, I didn't notice at first that My Dress-Up Darling has a TV-MA rating (on Funimation, I don't know how Crunchyroll rates things). I'm getting flashbacks to my first time watching Shimoneta, where I went in knowing there'd be a lot of sex references and some fanservice, but didn't realise it was gonna go full-on ecchi. So now I'm kinda expecting that to happen here. That's not an interest-killer to me, just making an observation.

Oh, Dress-up Darling is ecchi alright.

Anyway, I’m dropping Akebi-chan. Like a lot of the time it feels like an excuse to draw pretty pictures of schoolgirls. I remember one of my buddies asking me why I watched slice-of-life, “nothing happens”, and that’s kind of what I feel about the show. Shame really, because it looks great, even if camera gets a bit… suspect at times.

Edited by fillerdude on Jan 22nd 2022 at 10:21:12 AM

The ecchi will tone down but it'll never stop thanks mostly to Marin's anime/manga taste. There is one scene that's straight up bad and I would rather get cut but overall it's quite enjoyable.

And like I said, glorified artbook. You stay for the pretty pictures more so than anything else.

The anime is toned-down compared to the manga... which I think is part of the problem? The horniness is really the manga's identity

It sucks that between discussing a light-hearted ecchi series about cosplay and an artsy-fartsy series with a suspect focus on middle schoolers, I need to ask which of the two Hylarn means.

Oh! I was talking about Akebi-chan. Which was actually something of a non-sequitur now that I'm looking at the conversation again

Oh, good thing you specified, because I did assume you were talking about Dress-Up Darling.

Well I’ve skimmed the first chapter of Dress Up Darling and I think the anime is hornier. And that Gojo and Marin’s seiyuu are doing a really good job at selling the jokes.

I shudder to imagine how the Akebi-chan manga is more lewd than the anime. It’s not just the camera. Like that scene where that girl called Tanigawa takes a picture of herself, with her clothes disheveled. Just because Akebi said she had beautiful legs. It feels like it’s written based on fetishistic whims.

It's kind of interesting seeing some of the reactions to dress up darling. I don't read a lot of shounen romcom so seeing people call it a generic manic pixie romcom for lonely guys is kind of head tilting.

dress up darling is based on a Seinen manga

Potayto potahto, you get what I mean. Regardless it's kind of interesting particularly because I've also seen people joke about how Gojou is a tall handsome dude who can cook, sew and is in touch with his feminine side making him come off as the more desirable catch of the two.

I would say My Dress-Up Darling is less ecchi animated. The skeevier shots of the girl are still there, but while they were splash panels in the manga, they are blink-and-miss-it on the screen. May be done for extra titillation, but it feels less exploitative.

What keeps it bearable for me is that aside from being near adulthood, Marin obviously wouldn't mind showing off her body, being into cosplay from eroge and all; and she is a very likeable person, a gyaru who is open-minded, friendly and caring. Gojou, on the other hand, annoys me with his extreme reticence around her.

But yes, the only reason to watch it is for the art, and it does a great job at delivering that.

Yeah I binged the anime Sunday night since I've been hearing a lot of praise for it. Specifically in regards to Marin as a character. I'm still debating if I want to pick up the manga but seeing as half the available volumes are out of stock on Amazon and the other half won't ship until mid to late February I still have time to decide.

There is a bit of a manic pixie element to it (and to similar series like Yancha Gyaru Andou-san), but just because Gojou is the viewpoint character doesn't mean Marin doesn't have her own depth and struggles. She just handles them differently because she's an extrovert, for the most part.

I don't mind Gojo being flustered by Marin's Shameless Fanservice Girl tendencies, that can be fun. But I did find his self-consciousness about being friendly with her at school grating.

Gojou is self conscious about everything. Especially if it involves things that affect people's perception of him he straight up hurts himself trying to make it to a deadline rather than inform Marin so they can work things out and almost does it AGAIN in a later arc until the side characters find out and tell him "What the actual hell are you doing, focus on your cosplay you don't need the extra burden"

I can see why you would find it grating, but Gojo’s self-consciousness is in line with his character and is an obvious facet of his personality that he will need to improve on.

With EP 4 of Tokyo 24-ku, I think it's safe to say that the dynamics of the RGB guys have been fully established, and the key visual can be adequately explained. It seems like Ran and Kouki, by virtue of their different backgrounds and outlooks, will start to gravitate strongly to one side of the upcoming trolley problems as symbolized by both of them being on opposite sides of the key visual while Shuuta will try his best to Take a Third Option symbolized by him at the center of the key visual.
Also, a lot of possible Chekhov's Guns laying around lately. I really hope they can fire them all.
Netflix Reactions: The Orbital Children
This was one hell of a space clusterfuck... I would say the message is breaking away from predetermined futures, but by the end, it was all predicted anyway. I could also comment on AI, but I don't think I'm qualified to do that. The most that I got from this show is to step out of our cradles, something I choose to interpret as stepping out of our comfort zones! Oh, and there's this part where they feed Second Seven all of the Internet, even with the ugly parts unfiltered. Maybe that could be one as well, or maybe it relates to the stepping-out-of-cradles stuff from before...
Oh, and the whole thing with Nasa... Really brings up the Among Us vibes! And to think Mina recording everything, even at the cost of her life, would propel her to stardom (pun intended considering that she became popular even outside of Earth).

Edited by thuse on Jan 28th 2022 at 8:05:33 PM

Threadless Talk

• Lupin III: We move on from the mystery behind the villainous group Raven and the death of Watson and now our crew of thieves are up against a mentor figure from Lupin's past. I can't say this greater emphasis on serious drama is doing much for me, but it's a decent change of pace. Continuing.
• Slow Loop: As standard as CGDCT shows go, but the combination of fishing and cooking edutainment is enough to keep reeling me in. Continuing.
• Tokyo 24-ku: Introduced a clear villain which I feel undermines the trolley problems the show loves throwing at the viewers, and those problems were already on the nose. RGB failing to save everyone from the tornado would have been a more interesting dilemma if someone hadn't outright caused it. That said, I liked the subsequent breather episode with RGB reassessing themselves and finding their footing again, just in time for a pending terrorist attack by a close acquaintance. Continuing but with lower expectations.
• Realist Hero: I do enjoy a solid verbal beatdown but I think we spent way too much time having Julius make a fool of himself. It becomes a display of his political incompetence rather than a display of Souma's acumen. Guess power fantasies will be power fantasies. Continuing.
• Futsal Boys: It's a skeleton of a sports series. Generic characters, and what's worse, these supposed national-level players can only make basic plays and strategies. About the only thing it did for me was make the wait for the Blue Lock anime more painful. Dropped.
• Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to: I consider this the Konosuba of 2022 (and hey, they both have whiny, trouble-magnet beauties). The three episodes released so far have all been laugh-out-loud funny. The dynamic between the two leads is excellent, with the voice actors absolutely nailing the punchiness of the back-and-forth in this bromance turned romance. The addition of a haughty elven chieftain to the cast just makes things wackier. Also, there's a surprisingly serious dialogue about gender identity, but who knows if that's a one-off or if the show will legitimately tackle such issues. Either way, definitely continuing.
• Sasaki to Miyano: Someone get this two dudes together already, they're so cute together. I've said it before but a BL show that doesn't have rape-y undertones is highly refreshing. Continuing.
• Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department: Somewhat disappointed it's leaning more on the workplace rather than the tokusatsu comedy, but it's alright.
• Sabikui Bisco: The hot-blooded redhead has officially teamed up with the levelheaded bluehead to find the magical mushroom that will solve the Rust problem. Here the road trip part starts, and I am excited to see just how crazy this post-apocalyptic setting is. Bisco and Panda seem to have already run into a bigger crab with a cannon on its back. Hell yes. The action scenes are delightfully over-the-top, with characters whacking at each other to the beat of hard rock. Hopefully this show can keep up this level of energy and spunk for its entire run. Definitely continuing.
• The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt: Not going to lie, I'm mostly following this for Ninym. Her voice is magic. Anyway... this is another case of a genius being a genius only because most of the people around him are stupid. So it's hardly a reliable guide. Can drop at any time.
• Tribe Nine: The baseball element is dressing more than anything. Not that I'm a huge fan of the sport, but it makes me wonder why this couldn't just be a superpowered gang war. Can drop at any time.
• My Dress-Up Darling: Amazing rom com. Marin is an utterly adorable bundle of energy perfect for lighting up Gojo's dreary loner life. I do like how they bond over having overlapping niche interests, so it never feelsl like Marin is only dragging a hapless Gojo around. In particular it's sweet that Marin really appreciates that Gojo played the game she recommended. As a fellow geek, my recs have been met with indifference before, and it stings. Looking forward to the progress of their relationship. Definitely continuing.

English dub of Dress-Up Darling premieres today. With the positive reaction this series has gotten so far, makes sense Funimation would want to get to it quickly. (Pandemic-era dubbing has gotten pretty efficient, but some shows still inevitably end up lower-priority then others). And judging by the preview clip on their Twitter, the casts for Marin and Gojo seem great.

Initial Reactions: Ryman's Club

For the last anime in my winter list, I have another sports anime with Jun'ya Enoki playing the main character, the last one I know of being 2.43. Like 2.43, it has some drama/trauma on the side, but unlike 2.43, the average age of the characters is higher, and it actually gets into the meat of the sport (in this case, badminton) in all it's fast-paced awe.
Well this'll be one ride of a sports anime!

The Orbital Children:

Liked the first two episodes. The children characters actually felt like children instead of the usual children acting like adults, which is kinda refreshing. The setting and use of technology are also good. I know the creator also made Denno-Coil, which also dealt with technology, though I never watched it so I don't know how this series compares to that one. The animation is just great and full of details, to the point I kinda wished it was in 4K. Gonna continue this one.

Edited by jun_kagami on Jan 29th 2022 at 6:20:57 PM

Dennou Coil is fantastic, I had no idea he was working on something new, so this is a very nice surprise.