Anime Sunday: Winners of 2018

 

This week for Anime Sunday I’m back with a post that is very overdue. It’s my Winners of 2018 post.

TenSura: I loved the original Web Novel of this series, and seeing it animated on screen was a real treat. It had awesome pacing, excellent voice acting, awesome animation although not quite at ufotable level of quality, and an excellent plot. If you haven’t given TenSura a try yet you really ought to give at least the first few episodes a chance. You’ll most likely be very pleasantly surprised.

Emiya-san: I’m always a sucker for Fate adaptations, but the fact that this is a non action oriented series that had some of my favorite characters of all time just eating good food and that it’s animated by my gold standard studio ufotable were what put Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family on this list.

SeiButa: I found this series to be rather interesting, with just enough supernatural to pique my interest and keep it. The fact that the romance doesn’t stray into the dreaded typical Japanese Harem with a dense MC scenario (like Nisekoi, Love Hina, or any of a number of other series) was just icing on the cake.

That’s it for this week’s Anime Sunday, and I’m sorry this post has been so overdue.

Anime Sunday: Menu for Emiya Family Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’ve got another series from the latest season of Anime. It’s my Today’s Menu for Emiya Family Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: The story centers around Shirou Emiya cooking dishes for the other Fate/stay night characters.

Plot: The plot is thin, this doesn’t take place in a Fuyuki where a Holy Grail War is waging. Instead it’s a simple Slice of Life series that is quite a bit like Shokugeki no Soma, except without the fanservice.

Characters: This episode only features Artoria, Shirou, Illya, Sakura and Taiga, but I imagine later episodes will show other characters like Rin or Medusa.

Art: The animation is done by ufotable, although it definitely has a softer feel than most of their usual series. That being said it’s still got awesome animation, as I’ve come to expect from their studio.

Music: The music is pretty good, although given the short nature of the episodes it’s not really the focus of the series.

Overall: A fun watch, and for those culture junkies or foodies you’ll enjoy learning about various tidbits that are littered through out this episode.

For those who like: Cooking, Culture, Fate, Awesome Artwork.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but how can you hate all of that?

Sensate Saturday: Dere

This week for Sensate Saturday I’m doing a quick primer on some stereo types people will find in Japanese romance, and to a lesser extent everywhere else! It’s all about Dere!

What is Dere?: It’s a Japanese onomatopoeia for lovestruck, dere dere.  There are four main types of “Dere”, Tsundere, Dandere, Kuudere, and Yandere.

Tsundere: Someone who runs hot and cold, or aloof but secretly in love. Some great examples of Tsundere characters are, Tohsaka Rin from Fate Stay/Night, Kirisaki Chitoge from Nisekoi and from Western Lit, Princess Ce’Nedra from the Belgariad and Mallorean series.  There’s also a variant where the person is generally sweet, but piss them off and they can become violently cold towards you. A good example of this is Stella Vermillion from Rakudai.

Dandere: Someone who is really shy and sweet, pretty much the exact opposite of Tsundere’s in outward appearance for the most part. Some great examples of Dandere characters are Hyuga Hinata from Naruto, Onodera Kosaki from Nisekoi, are some of the more recent outstanding notables, but there are plenty more.

Kuudere: Kuu, from the English word “Cool”, is someone who is cold and rather emotionless on the outside towards pretty much everyone, but that special someone can melt their heart in a quick second. Examples include Seishirou Tsugumi from Nisekoi, Meng Qing from Peerless Martial God, and Ayanami Rei from Evangelion.

Yandere: Probably the most disturbing personality type of the four, Yandere’s are typically crazy about someone. Literally. They don’t take rejection well at all and become incredibly violent. They might even go down the road “If I can’t have him/her, no one can”. Some notable and famous examples are Yuno Gasai from Mirai Nikki, Vander Decken IX from One Piece (What you expected this to be just a female only trope? Get real.), Harold and Nadine from Stephen King’s The Stand are some Western Literature examples as well.

That’s it for this week’s Sensate Saturday!