Two warnings; first, I switched between using the new WordPress post editor and the classic one, so I apologize if this post is crazy bad formatted with some crazy ass grammar. Secondly, some of the images in this post will contain CARTOON NUDITY (specifically nipples), as well as some other images that might get you into trouble if you work in a church and/or are reading this in a church. As well, there might be some minor spoilers.

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Fall 2018 – Supernatural Love!

Every recommendation post has to have a theme, regardless of how much I have to stretch to make that theme relevant. This season, there isn’t too much of a stretch as there are a couple of shows that are supernatural in nature, a couple of romances, and one that includes Goblins engaging in sexual assault. I don’t think that falls under either, so it will be the outlier. Get all the way to the bottom of the post for some bonus content! By which I mean some recommendations from the Summer 2018 season since I was too busy being terrible to bother to create a post for it.

TOP RECOMMENDATION: Bunny Girl Senpai

The show, whose full name is Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai) is a supernatural, romantic comedy that has literally only one scene with a bunny girl in it, despite the name leading you to believe that the story is focused around said rabbit women. The ‘bunny girl’, Sakurajima Mai, is somehow slowly fading from existence. The reason? Something that the show constantly refers to as ‘Adolescence Syndrome’. This syndrome seems to be the cause of a bunch of scars on our male protagonist’s (Azusagawa Sakuta) chest, as well as possibly related to why his cute little sister Kaede doesn’t go to school (and hangs around home all day in an ADORABLE panda outfit). There are various other supernatural occurrences that result in Groundhog Day-style day repetitions and other shenanigans.

Through all of this, a great love story begins to form between Mai and Sakuta, complete with all of the harem anime required misunderstandings (despite there actually being no real harem). Sakuta does have a fake relationship with an underclassman, who I am pretty sure is actually in love with him, but he is firmly in Camp Mai. The supernatural stuff can be a little hard to follow but it’s worth watching anyway. All of the main characters are quite likable, the love story (stories) that are developing are very sweet, and KAEDE IS FUCKING ADORABLE. Bunny Girl is on Crunchyroll.

Zombieland SAGA

I had a really, really hard time deciding which was going to be my top recommendation; Bunny Girl Senpai or this show. In the end, I consulted the bible, and finding no answers in there, I flipped a coin and ended up the way I did. First and foremost, this show is hilarious. The premise is ridiculous. A music promoter reanimates the corpses of seven girls in order to make them into idols so that he can revitalize the prefecture (that’s Japanese for state) of Saga. Why zombies? Who knows, considering that they do all they can to conceal the fact that they are zombies. At the beginning of the show, they are Walking Dead-style zombies, but eventually, all but one of them become ‘awake’ and coherent. The last one, well, not so much.

I think 58.05% of the humor of this show is watching Tae-chan try to ‘keep up’ with the rest of the girls. She seems aware enough to understand commands and choreography, but not quite aware enough to repress her base zombie urges.

As zombies, the girls have various issues. One of the most serious is the fact that they tend to fall apart. Literally.

At the end of the day, the girls with their leader, Saki, do their best to entertain; even if the actual idol singing/dancing scenes look like some weird 3D taken from Miku Miku Dance. (Some MMD/Thriller for you here – updated to a Zombieland Saga version!!!) Even with the horribly abusive manager, this show will have you laughing your ass right off your body. Consider it recommendation 1.1. Zombieland Saga is on Crunchyroll.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara

a/k/a IRODUKU – The World in Colors, this show is either supernatural or magical or both. It takes place in a universe where magic exists, and muggles are well aware that magic exists, but not everyone can do it. Some are better than others as well, which comes into play in the plot. Our protagonist, Tsukishiro Hitomi is a high school-aged magic-user. She doesn’t like magic, I assume because she’s not very good at it (spoiler: yes, she is).

Hitomi, for reasons unknown (unless I missed an explanation which is always possible), cannot see colors. She’s not color blind, and she seems to have been able to see colors in the past, but now all things are monochrome.

Hitomi’s grandmother, Kohaku, uses magic to send Hitomi sixty years into the past so she can meet up with a high school-aged Kohaku. A reason nor a goal is not provided to Hitomi or us, the audience. Using simple story deduction, one can assume that Kohaku thinks her younger self can convince Hitomi that magic is awesome and Hitomi loving magic will restore her ability to see color.

The show also turns into a love story as Hitomi finds out that she CAN see colors, but only the colors of the artwork of a boy, Aoi Yuito (whose home she inadvertently burglarized). The show is fairly slow-paced, which is not a bad thing for this show. The relationship between Hitomi and her young grandmother is both sweet and amusing. Shy and cute Hitomi is a very likable character.

The supporting characters in the Magic Photography Art Club that Hitomi and Kohaku hang out with are fun. The show itself is beautiful; there are a lot of bright colors that stand out (which makes you feel kind of bad for Hitomi, but also makes you want the Blu-Ray version RIGHT NOW) and the magic effects are spectacular. Some effects artist certainly earned their salary with this show. Iroduku is a must-watch and my recommendation 1.2. Iroduku is on Amazon.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru

If you had told me 15 years ago that I would intentionally watch romantic comedies, I would have likely slapped you in the face. Once I got out of jail, I would realize that I am a bit of a softy and actually do like sweet shows like Yagate (a/k/a Bloom Into You). I will acknowledge that younger me wouldn’t have enjoyed these types of shows as much as old man me does.

Bloom is a yuri (girl-girl) anime that while not being boring is quite simple. Student council president Nanami Touko has fallen in love with her campaign manager, Koito Yuu. Yuu has always dreamed of your typical shoujo manga style love story; toast in mouth, crash into a guy, love at first sight. However, a boy confessed and she was like ‘meh’. Now, having a woman fall in love with, and kiss her, is not something she was ready for.

The focus of the show revolves around Yuu’s feelings and unless you’re an idiot, you can clearly see that she develops feelings for Touko, but she doesn’t know how to explain or deal with them. After all, girls go with boys, right? Yuu’s dad even makes a quirk about her being with another girl would kill him.

Touku has her own issues, living as the cool girl that everyone looks up to. Underneath though, it turns out that she’s just a normal girl with feelings, shortcomings, and fears. She does all she can to get closer to Yuu and get her feelings reciprocated.

As I said, the show is very simple in its premise, but the writing and the characters make this a very enjoyable anime. Generally, all anime like this is fairly predictable and you know how it will end, but nonetheless, the journey with Yuu and Touko is worth watching. The visual style of the show is a work of art in its own right as well. Another must-watch and recommendation 1.3. Bloom is on Hidive (which you can now get on VRV).

Release The Spyce

Okay enough of this mushy stuff, time for some ass-kicking. Presumably, this is where I would talk about SSSS.Gridman, but I haven’t watched it yet. Thought it would just be a boring mecha anime, but Reddit’s multiple threads on the character’s… dimensions… have me curious. So I’ll get caught up on it later. For now, let’s talk about cute ninja girls. Release The Spyce.

Spyce is an anime about a girl name Minamoto Momo, the daughter of a policeman who died in the line of duty. She revered her father and wants to carry on his legacy of protecting the city she loves, Sorasaki (no word if it’s in the Saga prefecture). Momo stumbles across some ninja girls kicking the asses of some bad guys and ends up being recruited into Tsukikage, the cute ninja girl private intelligence agency that works to take down the organized crime in the city.

These cute ninja girls also take crack (they call it Spyce) to enhance their mental and physical abilities before each fight. SPOILER – THE BAD GUYS HAVE SPYCE TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The plot is easy enough, Tsukikage vs. a bad corporation. Tsukikage has a mole, which HAS been revealed, but I won’t mention it here. Momo is a great character, she is very easy to root for. The main characters are all cute, their outfits are probably sexier than they should be, the OP is awesome – has a 70’s detective show feel to it (more in the visuals than the actual music), and the soundtrack rocks (lots of bass and up-tempo). Spyce is recommendation 1.4. It’s also on Hidive but here’s the link to Hidive on VRV.

Some shows that I ‘like’ but didn’t want to go into a great deal about!

Goblin Slayer

So initially I started watching this because I kind of like fantasy shows and most of the other shows that involved cute girls and a fantasy world including guilds and adventures were light-hearted and fun. Then I got about 10 minutes into the first episode of this show. I don’t often pause the video while I am watching a show to stop and reflect on what the fuck is going on, so when I say I paused the fucking video to stop and reflect on what the hell was going on.

Without spoiling too much (which is kind of moot if you look at any of the images below), let’s just say I was surprised at how dark this show got. The premise is that there’s a dude who only kills goblins. Turns down all other quests and only focuses on goblins. Why? Who knows.

A young priestess that he saved from goblins starts tagging along with him and learns all the tricks to not being attacked by goblins, like covering yourself in goblin blood. There’s a busty farm girl who’s in love with him, haven’t seen why yet. The show is edgy as fuck, but it’s good. If you can handle some serious stuff (e.g. rape goblins), this show is a good watch. It’s on Crunchyroll.

Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san

a/k/a Ms. Vampire Who Lives In My Neighborhood is a cute anime about a high school girl, Akari, who falls head over heels with a loli vampire because the vampire, Sophie, looks like a doll. Akari has an unhealthy obsession with dolls.

Akari is so obsessed with this adorable little vampire that she moves in with her. The show is a cute slice of life with a supernatural twist. Sophie is a nice young (370 years old) vampire who also appears to be an otaku, as any self-respecting vampire would be. She doesn’t bite humans, just orders blood from Amazon (that’s something you can do in anime, apparently) and happily sleeps all day and reads light novels at night.

Again, just a cute slice of life to take your mind off the horror that is Goblin Slayer. Ms. Vampire is on Crunchyroll.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken

This is, as the guys at Cinema Sins call it, a recowarn. Part recommendation, part warning. Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) is an anime about Rimuru Tempest, a slime ‘monster’. I put the quotes around monster as he’s pretty damned cute. The story is that some dude was murdered and he got reincarnated in a magic world as this slime. As what I assume is some kind of karmic retribution for him being murdered, he becomes obscenely overpowered. When I say overpowered, I’m not talking about typical isekai overpower.

Rimuru is essentially a god. He can do anything and can win any battle. He can learn any spell and despite being the size of a soccer ball, he can eat a fucking dragon. He turned some goblins (good ones, not the rapey ones from Goblin Slayer) into supermodels and made peace with the dwarves. The show has its moments, and the OP makes you believe that there will be some action coming soon. Hopefully really soon because honestly right now the show is boring. There’s no tension even in tense situations because Rimuru is so powerful.

It does have its moments and Rimuru is a likable character despite his GM status. I recommend this show mainly out of hope that something cool is coming soon. It’s on Crunchyroll.

Senran Kagura Shinovi Master: Tokyo Youma-hen

Honestly, I have not watched this yet, but I am going to kinda recommend it just based on the fact that the first Senran Kagura Shinovi was fun, and the game is enjoyable, which I understand is more of what this season is based on.

As well, I feel obliged to recommend it and give props to Crunchyroll for airing it uncensored (it’s ecchi), something that is quite rare for them to do. Excelsior, dear Crunchyroll. Please remember this anime boobie love whenever the fifth season of High School DxD comes out. Senran can be found here (the link goes to the Fall 2018 season page as you have to log in to access the video page and I don’t have a Crunchyroll account anymore – VRV).

Others

UzaMaid is terrible but it is pretty funny. Watch it at your own peril. Conception… I am trying to get through, but not pushing myself. Not exactly sure why I don’t really like it. It has a high score on MAL, so I will keep at it. Beelzebub-jou no Okinimesu mama (As Miss Beelzebub Likes) is another one of those shows that have its moments, but I am not sure I am going to continue slogging through it. My Sister, My Writer is boring. Still watching it for some reason. The Girl in the Twilight is a show with a really interesting premise. I’ve not kept up with it, and I should be watching it instead of My Sister, My Writer. Boarding School Juliet turned me off in the first episode, but everyone is raving about it. I will give it another try. Several other shows I am planning on watching but haven’t gotten to yet. Screwed up last season by giving myself too many shows to watch, which is one of the reasons why I didn’t do a recommendation post! This leads to the:

BONUS MATERIAL!

Nothing here other than me telling you that in the next couple of days I will be making a belated Summer post! Won’t be that detailed, but will tell you which anime from last summer you should watch if you haven’t or are planning on going back in a time machine. I will also tell you what I am sure you’re quite curious about. What did I think of Angels of Death? Preview:

https://twitter.com/erinwinking/status/1033604633749405698?s=20&t=Y44dMXeEx3C3MJbTBpV12A

See you next time. (This post has been slightly edited due to my own idiocracy.)