Crunchyroll & Anime

Back from Hawaii, posting can now resume. In lieu of there actually being greater than zero anime series that I am interested in watching I decided to give the Crunchyroll subscription trial a go to see how it is. Aside from Attack on Titan, I think it has been at least a year if not several years since I had regularly watched anime. Word on the street is that there are several decent shows that are not only worth watching but conveniently available for viewing on Crunchyroll so the week before last was devoted to small bouts of anime binging in-between wedding/vacation planning and the like.
Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son)
This show  is a slice of life drama about middle school students growing up with gender identity issues. It addresses cross dressing, puberty and gender issues in a down to earth/non-fanservicey manner. It’s serious but not dark or depressing. Shows, particularly anime shows such as this are few and far between.

Wandering Son has a slow but well paced plot line with a fairly gentle story that is surprisingly well balanced. It’s not for everyone but if you are looking for a quiet drama it is definitely worth a watch. Worth noting that this series is obviously geared towards the middle age crowd.
Hajime no Ippo The Fighting
Hajime no Ippo is a shounen boxing anime that follows a 100+ volume manga series of the same name. I am pretty sure that the series on Crunchyroll picks up immediately after where I had left off in Hajime no Ippo but I’m not 100% sure and not 100% sure it even matters plot wise. I am also pretty sure this series falls into the category of unending Shounen anime, but it has always been one of my favorites and one of the only sports anime shows that I really enjoy.
Kill la Kill
A way over-the-top super stylized action/comedy series that dips well into the absurd. Oh and it is also about clothing. Good pacing and likable characters. I mean, all any show or book series needs to have in order for me to at least enjoy it is a decent character story, which Kill la Kill has in spades. It is animated well and has a comic book like aesthetic which I like (thick lines). Kill la Kill is also definitely fanservicey and by definitely I mean that the nudity and boobage play a major  role in the story but ultimately aren’t the primary focus of the show if that makes any sense.

This show fell short of being the series that “saved anime,” but it garnered enough interest out of me to start watching not only kill la kill but other anime series again

Odds, Ends & Good Causes: May the 4th

First off: I guess this really isn’t within the wheelhouse of topics that I usually post about on this site but if you can spare some change, a donation to support Team Ashely for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation would be very much appreciated. It’s a good cause to support a good friend.

The 4 games that I have been playing recently are: Diablo III and FTL: Advanced Edition on my computer and then Threes and Neuroshima Hex on my phone (damn fine strategy board game available for both iOS and Android if anyone is looking for one). Diablo wise: I kind of want to switch back to my stun build because of the bracers that dropped last week, but I kind of don’t want to give up the movement speed bonus from the Tempest Rush build despite the fact that I’m not sure it really is all that damage efficient. Well, that and the fact that it is a kind of a squishy build as I am almost completely reliant on movement speed bonuses, which is fine and dandy until I get jailed or teleported into the middle of a green/arcane/fire poo pile in between seven sided strike cooldowns :/.

Errata:

  • In between books at the moment. Deciding between either Wool by Hugh Howey or The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks.
  • Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Complete Edition) is now on Netflix. It’s a great movie to watch if you can ignore things lot plot and physics.
  • Yesterday was a bachelorette party of sorts and well, a good time was had by all (beer, friends, and games). Also almost done with wedding stuff so, yay!

Site wise: I changed the layout/format of the seldom updated image gallery a bit and added a new category (I like birds and apparently they occupy like half of the photos that I take).