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Are You Okay With a Slightly Older Girlfriend? Volume 1 | Light Novel Review

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Title: Are You Okay With a Slightly Older Girlfriend? Vol 1
Author: Kota Nozomi
Illustrator: Nanasemeruchi
Translator: Sean Orth
Publisher: J-Novel Club
ASIN: B08PKPCMG2
Copyright © 2018 by Kota Nozomi

This is one of of those times when a light novel is the perfect pick for the SJWs to cancel and convince themselves they’ve done something for society. There’s no anime adaptation, so it’s going to take a while before that happens.

First-year high school student Momota Kaoru just saved a beautiful high school girl, Orihara Hime, from a train molester. One thing leads to another, and they end up going on a date! They have a lot in common: they both love video games, they both jam to their favorite songs on mixtapes, they were even both born in the Year of the Snake. Except… Orihara’s first game console used cartridges… and her old mixtapes are all on MiniDisc… and, oh, her birthday is actually 12 years before Momota’s! When her secret comes out, she thinks it must all be over… but will Momota really let something like a little age gap get in the way of his love for Orihara? Find out if love really can transcend generations in this sugar-sweet romantic comedy!

The novel could be disturbing or it could be a beautiful story based on that description. I must say it’s neither.

The story is something you would expect from an anime of the romance genre with a bit of fanservice. It does its best to be cute, but at the same time, it breaks some of these adorable moments with teenage talk.

I’m going to give you an example of it. At the beginning of the light novel, our protagonist, a high school student called Momota Kaoru, is on his way to school on a train. He sees Orihara Hime, the other protagonist, and starts describing her beauty, her clothing, her hair, and then:

“And… so BIG. There they sat, underneath her blazer, pushing up her thinly knit sweater: two rolling hills with the ability to drive a man insane with one look. So abundant… hanging so heavy… the kind of terrifyingly beautiful breasts whose very existence feels like a crime, breasts that make you want to sue someone.”

Momota Kaoru

Through the story, you’ll find interruptions like that. I know that as an anime fan I should’ve gotten used to it, but some variety wouldn’t hurt readers, in my opinion. Kudos to the protagonist and the funny way to deal with the train molester. I won’t complain about some good humor.

After the things I said above, I must say that it does make sense. Momota is a teenage boy, and most teenagers have their hormones acting crazy. It’s expected to see our protagonist having an extra pick at a woman’s curves. However, in the relationship (it’s not a spoiler, from the title you know they’ll start a romantic relationship), Momota shows himself very shy; he gives Hime space and never tries to do anything weird to Hime. He always does his best to make her feel comfortable all the time and even finds the right words to make her smile. He acts his age and a bit mature at the same time.

Hime is where the problems begin. She’s a 27-year-old woman with a good job and a position as chief, although she mentioned that her position sounds more impressive than it really is. We get to know her more later in the book; some chapters focus on her first-person perspective. It is a good detail to see pages from her eyes and thoughts. But this left me a lot of questions—one of them asking who’s the real adult in the story: Momota, a 15-year-old student, or Hime, the 27-year-old worker. This is the first time, even in fiction, that I see an adult worrying so bad about a teenager and his feelings; and the feelings she started to have for him.

We see a really dumb explanation for it, and a dumbest reason why she was wearing a school uniform in the first place. I’m not kidding, I tried to imagine the situation they described, and I still don’t see anything that makes any sense.

If you think that the “age/maturity” of the adult protagonist is my only issue, you’re wrong. Their friends are the exact kind of weird people whose the more years they’ve lived, the more immature they talk. Momota’s friends are the high school students you would expect; they act their age and do their age. I have no problem with them. Hime’s friend, though, is another story; first, she is the reason why Hime was wearing a school uniform, and second, she spoke like an adult when we met her and warned Hime about the legal consequences that relationship might bring. Pages later, she seems so okay with that romantic relationship that she almost seemed like the person trying to make them go a little further.

To be fair, the light novel is not bad. I don’t consider it offensive or a cringe-fest. I am not sure, though, if the author just tried to make an excuse to make a student’s proportions that big telling she’s a 27-year-old worker. Hime acts so childishly that I can’t have any other impression of it, but I don’t know the author, and I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt. I guess if you like fan service with a few cute moments, this could be your cup of tea, but I bet there are many better options out there.

If you’re still interested in reading the light novel, here’s the official website – https://j-novel.club/series/are-you-okay-with-a-slightly-older-girlfriend

Thank you for reading my review.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? Volume 1 | A Light Novel Review

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Title: Do You Love You Mom and Her Two-Hit Mullti-Target Attacks?
Volume 1
Author: Dachima Inaka
Publisher: Yen On
ISBN: 978-1-9753-2800-9
ASIN: B07D2B5ZWD

Let’s have a quick look first. The light novel got an anime adaptation in 2019. The reception was mixed, from regular to terrible, but not for the story or characters; many people mentioned an Oedipus Complex. When we talk about anime, you know it’s easy to expect a lot of weird stuff. At the same time, though, people on the internet are getting offended by everything; apparently, any letter from the alphabet is an insult, so I can’t take any of their opinions seriously.

I am here to have a look at the light novel.

For some reason, the government in Japan is concerned about teenagers and their relationship with their mothers. That’s why they asked schools around the country to give students a survey. Masato, the protagonist, filled everything and wondered about the last question: If you went on an adventure with your mom, would you become closer?

This is the beginning of a story. After that, our second (or perhaps main) protagonist, Mamako; Masato’s doting mother. She is described as a housewife who could easily pass for a teenage girl, a transcendent being.

Masato feels very annoyed by his mom; she cares too much about him that he’s tired. I’m not going to lie; the boy is kind of a dick to her at the beginning. Although I believe a lot of people might remember being annoyed by their parents.

There’s a character named Shirase, whose name means inform in English; I learned it because every single time she speaks is to tell us she’s there to inform. A joke she kills immediately. Shirase is the person that distributes an MMORPG videogame… oh no, wait, I meant MMMMMORPG (Mom’s Massively Maternal Multiplayer Making-up-with-Offspring Role-Playing Game.) Yeah, that is what the genre is called.

This light novel is of the isekai genre, so it’s unnecessary to explain that Shirase, using Masato’s computer, transports both mother and son into the game. At first, Masato was happy because he would be the protagonist and perhaps the hero of a fantasy videogame until he noticed his mother, Mamako, was there too.

It all starts like any other fantasy game. They start with assigned stats and quests. The first quest is to choose the sword they’re going to carry along the journey. For some reason, Mamako was able to retrieve two swords. By this point, we know that the game is a beta version; thus, the characters believe that’s why the mother was able to do that. The overpowered trope is with most isekais, so there’s nothing strange here.

Mamako pulled out the lava and deep-sea swords as well. The legendary swords that only chosen could use, and she’d just picked two of them up.

However, it is predictable that the game is about mothers, so I don’t need to tell Mamako IS overpowered. And the series points out a lot that she doesn’t even know how to play a game, so everything she does is unintentional except when protecting Masato.

As with any MMORPG… right, MMMMMORPG, I’m sorry. The protagonists need a party to help them in the adventure. They recruit two characters; Porta, the loli of the group that works as the party’s support member; and Wise, the tsundere that functions as the mage. And that’s it. That’s all you get from these two characters, a loli and a tsundere; they are the definition of both stereotypes, and there’s nothing else.

I know that most anime characters follow these tropes, but here is what they are. There’s no trace of personality that could make them likable. Porta is adorable, yes, but she’s just a little thing in the background picking up loot.

I have to say that the protagonists are the stars. Masato is another trope, but his relationship with his mother makes him a unique character in a good way (and weird), and he grows throughout the story. Mamako is adorable, and she’s the reason the story has some progress; she even makes Porta and Wise look a little bit like something.

The world does not seem attractive, but I’m not going to blame the author or so. I believe we don’t see much of this world because it is the first volume of a light novel (light is the keyword here.) However, there are not many signals that there’ll be something to pick the reader’s interest. This situation is the same case as Porta and Wise. The story is set in a fantasy game, and that’s it—a generic fantasy world.

I must admit, though, that the reading is enjoyable. It is actually well enough to make you enjoy what is happening, and some of its imagery is very good despite any idea anyone may have of a light novel. Overall, I recommend it to any hardcore isekai fan. The characters and world are, as I mentioned, a pure representation of the usual stereotypes, but the mother is something that no one has ever done before, so kudos for that little addition.

For me, this first volume of Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? was not interesting enough to get the next number. I got tired of the isekai formula, and I believe there are better light novel series of the genre.

I could keep going if you ask me to. Other than that, this is my last review of the series.

There’s one important question now:

Is this light novel as creepy or disturbing as some people say?

No, I believe people are exaggerating a little. The light novel, however, is a mixed bag. I can understand that some of the situations that happen are very weird; we’re talking about mother and son here; it wouldn’t have anything strange if the things I talk about happened to the other party members.

The majority of Masato’s comments said that it’s weird to have a mother that looks his own age and others that she’s cute for her age.

Geez, she’s cute. No, no, no, wait, wait! That’s my mom! She’s, like, forty! Well outside the acceptable range of “cute”! Not the point anyway!

There is one part that went a little bit far. It did last a few lines, but that one part, I understand some readers got uncomfortable. The party was fighting a giant slime, and Mamako’s clothes dissolved after an attack. Her son tried to protect her, but he fell on her, and both of their bodies were slippery. And it didn’t help that Mamako herself said something like this:

“N-n-n-no, Ma-kun! We’re parent and child! I know you love me, but how could you push me to the ground and dissolve my clothes like this?! At least…at least turn off the light!” She continued to shine brilliantly.”

It was uncomfortable to read all of a sudden. As I said, the light novel is not like this all the time. I admit it surprised me. However, the rest of the light novel is your normal isekai full of the purest form of stereotypes. The ecchi tones are not even present, just in a few lines, but it is not nearly as disturbing as the internet is making it look.

Feel free to share your thought if you’d like. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

Love is a Mixtape, by Rob Sheffield | A book review

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Title: Love is a Mixtape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
Author: Rob Sheffield
Publisher: Crown Archetype
ISBN: 978-1-4000-8303-9
ASIN: B000N2HCMY
Copyright © 2007 by Rob Sheffield

I read the Kindle version of the book. It is not relevant, but I must say digital goods are very comfortable.

The book is an author’s autobiography. Here we’re going to find a good place filled with nostalgia. Rob is the narrator, and he’s going to tell us the story of how he met Renée and how the mixtapes became a considerable part of his life.

The mixtapes defined Rob, his passion for music, and his current work. Mixtapes helped him to gather new bonds. Mixtapes made him grow to be the person he is today.

But how is the book written? The book relies on imagery. His memories are well-put on paper since we can imagine everything he’s describing.

We have a couple of time skips, which are required because, as readers, there are many things irrelevant to a story. Just take a look at our own lives. Would you like to read a book about every single second of your life? I sure won’t; there are days, weeks, or even years where nothing exciting happens.

Rob succeeded in taking us on a nostalgia trip. There are many references to the most especial decades of rock and pop, the seventies to the nineties. I could not help but smile whenever I read something about the bands or genres we loved and danced.

We must remember, though, that life is not perfect. Life is not hundred percent about love and success. In everyone’s life, there will be a loss, and this is not an exception. Sheffield, as the title states, talks about something more than just his love for the mixtapes.

I suddenly realized how much being a husband was about fear: fear of not being able to keep somebody safe, of not being able to protect somebody from all the bad stuff you want to protect them from. Knowing they have more tears in them than you will be able to keep them from crying.

Rob Sheffield

It’s hard to think about losing someone. It is even harder to believe that that loss could come at any time. Death is unpredictable; one day, the love of your life is here, and the next that person is gone. This is a lesson the author accidentally gives to the readers. The nostalgic trip among the mentioned decades is part of the story, which is so well-written that dialogs are unnecessary. There are just a few dialogue lines, but these are just a complement to those memories he’s telling.

After Renée died, I assumed the rest of my life would be just a consolation prize. I would keep living, and keep having new experiences, but none of them would compare to the old days.

The second part of the story is where Renée dies. This is not a spoiler; it is mentioned in early pages that it would be an important part of the book—the loss.
Loss is part of our lives, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Everything needs to change, and moving away to give space to the new generations is a cycle the world has.
In the end, we don’t see a devastated man. We actually see someone that has accepted his life as it is.

The nineties moment has been stomped over so completely, it’s hard to imagine it ever happened, much less that it lasted five, six, seven years.

The decades, just like our lives, come and go. Nothing lasts forever, and just like the decades of music we loved, they will eventually vanish; but the songs are going to keep playing to remind the future teenagers that there was life before the 2000s.

Love is a Mixtape is a nostalgia trip. It is the mixtape that took the form of a book, the words that will make us look at the past and appreciate the moments we shared with our friends, family, and loved ones.

This is a book written in the United States of America, and of course, the life Rob describes might not be relatable to many people, especially the readers from foreign countries. However, the fascination for music and the constant references to those particular decades in music is more than enough to fall in love with this work. It is unfortunate, though, that perhaps in the future, most of these references, including the mixtapes, will be forgotten.

The Eye of the World | A Book Review

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The Eye of the World version I read

Title: The Eye of the World
Author: Robert Jordan
Publisher: Tor
ISBN: 978-1-250-25146-6
Copyright © 1990 by Bandersnatch Group, Inc.

The Eye of the World is the first entry of fourteen books, and a prequel, that The Wheel of Time has in the series. The book narrates in third person the story of a young man called Rand al’Thor and his friends.

The book presents itself with a lot of descriptions, a world building that I personally find fascinating. It is one of those books that, even though takes a lot of time before any action, it is enjoyable. Robert Jordan indeed took a lot of inspiration from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps A LOT.

This first entry has a lot of fantasy tropes, more specifically from Tolkien, which could be considered as an unoriginal story; from the start we meet Rand al’Thor as the normal young man that does not show anything out of the ordinary. Then there is this woman named Moiraine, known as something called the Aes Sedai, or the female Gandalf as some of the comments out there said. Also, we have her guardian, and the two Rand’s friends that join him on his adventure.

No one can deny that there are so many similarities between Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring and Jordan’s The Eye of the World. The inspiration and the tropes are there. However, does this make it a bad book or a carbon copy of Tolkien’s work. I say no. The situations and tropes are there, both the characters in both series are so different among themselves that make Rand’s gang unique. Yes, at the beginning we have the “hero’s journey” with the protagonist that seems like any other person and ends up being something else. But our protagonist, his friends, the Aes Sedai (basically powerful sorceress in the story), the guardian, and other characters, are very interesting. I feel that every step they take; every town they visit, every character they met, have something substantial to add to the story and they’re not only there to be a burden or a “filler” to force us to believe the world is alive. No, the world feels very alive.

“As the Wheel of Time turns,” Moiraine said, half to herself and with a distant look in her eyes, “places wear many names. Men wear many names, many faces. Different faces, but always the same man. Yet no one knows the Great Pattern the Wheel weaves, or even the Pattern of an Age. We can only watch, and study, and hope.”

One of the things that interests me the most about the series is the symbol, a snake eating its own tail, and as the story goes there are many hints that the world has been through many cycles, with different names, and different forms. This, among other words within the book, make of The Eye of the World… no, The Wheel of Time as a series, one of the most impressive world buildings I’ve read in fantasy literature. The rhythm could be a little slow at the start, but as you go through the pages the gears will move faster.

This is the first book of fourteen, as I’ve mentioned above, so I guess I don’t need to say that the conclusion of The Eye of the World is the start of a long journey for our protagonists. The Aes Sedai, just as Gandalf, leaves a lot of mystery for the main characters to solve.

Do not let the similarities get you, though. The Eye of the World, with its obvious inspirations, is different enough to help you enjoy the book. The character and world building is so good you just want to know more about the world itself, and I am sure we’ll know a lot more on the following entries.

Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil)

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This was quite a ride. I was not expecting something much from Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana,) but the results were fascinating. The anime is an adaptation of a manga of the same name.

The anime starts with Takao Kasuga, a student whose favorite book is Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal that has a crush on Nanako Saeki, a pretty girl he idolizes. Later, Takao stays late in school; before leaving, he finds Nanako’s sport class uniform and, as you can guess, the boy hesitates. He was about to put it back, intentionally or not, but there was a sound that made him run away from school, taking the girl’s uniform with him.

This is where the conflict begins. Takao believed he could get away with it and just give it back when no one’s looking. Bad luck shows up when one of his classmates, Sawa Nakamura, tells him she saw him taking the uniform, and if he does not want her to give him away, he should follow her orders.

The story goes beyond a boy stealing female clothes. Most anime shows with a starting point like that would be part of a comedy or something along the lines to give us a good laugh. However, Flowers of Evil is not the typical high school comedy or slice of life; it’s very far from being considered one of the mentioned genres. This is the first time, at least for me, that I see something on a screen an animation that presents the many conflicts of growing up, to fit in a society and their expectations; self-discovery is what the author is bringing to the table. If we think about it, being young is easy compared to being an adult, but it is also terrifying to see as we grow up how things are not going the direction we wanted.

As we really know what we want, our inner journey to personal discovery could be scary. And the series, indirectly, tries to tell you in its own way with a dark atmosphere that teenagers are vulnerable in a world where you must adapt, without a clear clue on how to do it, to be considered normal. Nothing is straight to your face, the images, the music, the silence, and the protagonists don’t grab your hand along the journey, but it is clear what the story is trying to tell you.

The general atmosphere are what grabs you from the first second until the end of the credits of each episode. Sometimes you just hear the sounds of the town, the anime wants you to pay all of your attention to the characters and what they have to say, perhaps its own way to discover yourself as well (as if you were a teenager) and remember when some of your decisions, meaningless as they had been in school, could mean the world when you wanted to be accepted but something, or someone, was there ready to make everything fall apart in a few seconds.

Everything adds to the general mood of the series. Its music is something you don’t expect, especially when the credits start rolling. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the feeling of uncertainty is present at every corner; the sole mention of an “other side” makes you believe there’s something deeper in the meaning of maturity. The choice of music at the end of each episode is strangely scary and yet beautiful. There’s an actual message, a poem about a flower; I recommend you look it up after watching the show.

Best choice is bad choice

The irony here is that the artistic choice of using a rotoscoped animation affected the show. Let’s be honest, most shows and movies that use that kind of animation tend to look weird or just bad (not all of them, to be clear). However, I don’t see the Flowers of Evil any other way. The animation, as bad as it could be, was the best choice for this. Rotoscope animation, along with the story, the music, and the characters themselves are a perfect combination of a story about the fear that comes from our natural cycle. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to look at it that way; I bet a lot of people have avoided the anime the instant they saw the type of animation used. Although I don’t blame them, judging something by just images is not a good thing, they might miss a great experience doing that.

A great experience hard to recommend

The anime is really good, one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I don’t regret a single second I spent in front of the TV watching the show. Sadly, it seems the anime was not very popular, perhaps for the animation, as I mentioned on the previous paragraph; this means it never got a second season, and it will never happen. I am talking about an anime that its thirteen episodes were aired in 2013.

I said it was one of my greatest experiences in anime, but it is hard to recommend when it is incomplete. At the end of the thirteenth episode we have a glimpse of a second season, something that never happened and never will. I guess you could watch it and see for yourself what it is about and then move to the manga to get the full story; but the music and the overall atmosphere from the anime is going to be missing. It is sad to see the anime incomplete.

If you want to watch Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil) Crunchyroll is your place. The anime is available for FREE (with ads) or for Premium users. Click here to watch it on Crunchyroll!

Sing “Yesterday” For Me

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Sing Yesterday PROMO

Promotional image

Sing “Yesterday” For Me is a drama (seinen) that surprised me. I rarely appreciate a drama about unrequited love. Most of the time it feels forced, and that is why I don’t enjoy the genre.

However, Sing “Yesterday” For Me felt different. It is refreshing to see an anime that takes itself serious, without recurring to all the yelling and jokes. I could actually see the story for what it meant to show the audience, and I could empathize with the characters. They all feel realistic (as realistic as an anime can be), they all have to deal with the issues in a relationship, or lack of one for the matter. Even when you dislike a character, it is because, somehow, you know this person needs some kind of help.

Sing YEES

Rikuo and Haru

The story centers around four characters: Rikuo Uosomi, a college graduate that is unsure about his future. While unsure he works at a convenience store; he is in love with Shinako. As his story develops, we see him being doubtful of everything, and it gets worse when he finally declares his love for Shinako. Unfortunately, she’s in love with an impossible love.

Shinako Morinome was Rikuo’s classmate in college and currently working as a high school teacher. She is still in love with Rō Hayakawa’s deceased brother. Though Shinako is not anyone’s favorite character because it seems she’s just using Rikuo, it is a very relatable character; sometimes is hard to let go some memories, not necessarily a person, but a place or a part of yourself. She could be taken as a representation of the people that holds a memory so tightly that one cannot easily let it go. Sometimes, even if we knew it would be better to move on, something drags us into a void, where everything around seems good, but deep inside it does not allow us move forward.

My favorite, is Haru Nonaka, an eccentric girl that adopted a crow and has strong feelings for Rikuo. She does know, though, that Rikuo is in love with Shinako, and as much as it hurts, she visits him at the convenience store before heading to work. Haru is a person that does her best to look happy; even when she tells Rikuo about her feelings toward him, she does it in a way that seems like teasing. That teasing is just a shield that helps her hide the pain.

The other character is Rō Hayakawa, he is Shinako’s childhood friend and holds feelings for her. He already knows that she still loves his deceased brother. Still, he wants to be closer to her. The character is the least important, and the anime does not explore much of him. But his behavior and age makes him someone important to Shinako, as another family member to take care of, or perhaps another obstacle for her to move on? I guess that depends on how you do perceive his character.

These characters and their circles make of this anime series something memorable. A tale of young-adulthood where anyone might be able to relate to personal experiences, or a feeling they’d had for an unrequited love. Although, the show does not try to teach you what is the best decision or what is not. It only wants to tell you the story of these characters and how they fell in love, how they try to hold onto a memory, and how other opportunities to be happy could slip through their hands. All of it, it does it pretty well.

Sadly, the anime, as it is today, is almost ruined by its ending. I am not sure if they’re going to add more episodes or not, but now it has twelve episodes, and the last episode ends abruptly. It looked as if the characters changed their minds in a second and things happen. I don’t want to say more because the anime is short and there are only four important characters; any more words and it would be obvious what I refer to.

I still recommend it, though, it is very enjoyable and relatable for some people.

Sing “Yesterday” For Me is available for premium and FREE members on Crunchyroll. Go and watch it clicking here!

Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

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20200725_1139042726069524534382071.jpg

“It’s Coraline, Not Caroline. Coraline,” said Coraline.

Coraline, as it is described by the author during its introduction, tells the story of a little girl called Coraline, not Caroline.Caroline… sorry, Coraline is a kid that is bored. Her parents are always busy, rarely paying any attention to their daughter. Even her breakfasts are bland. One day, Coraline wanted to explore but a dull and rainy day traps our little hero in her house. She must entertain herself, and her parents, as I have mentioned, are too busy, and one might believe they don’t even care.

She finds a little door in the drawing room and a key that fits in. That takes her into the otherworld where it looks like her house. However, Coraline does not find her parents there; she finds her other-parents, and guess what; her other-father and her other-mother are perfect! Both other-parents are very attentive with Coraline and the breakfast they cooked for her is so delicious.

“You will always be safe here with me.”

We’ve learned from movies, games, literature, and other media that whenever something seemed perfect, it means something is not right. Coraline is not the exception. Her other-parents have buttons instead of eyes, and this is not even the beginning; I mention it, but apparently our protagonist didn’t mind much. Though as the story progresses, we see the world is weirder than we’ve initially thought.

I want to tell you how much the other-neighbors are weird, too, but it would be too redundant. Is not like the real neighbors weren’t weird in the first place. They are not very relevant to the story, it is just part of the “scenery”, to call it a way. They do have a purpose, though, and is to tell you that everything has changed, not only in Coraline’s flat.

Coraline is very short, and it is a good book to read at any age. There are very creepy moments accompanied with some creepy illustrations (at least in the edition I have read.) It is the adventure of a little girl that wants to explore out of boredom, and ends up doing her best to be brave to get out of that world and its situation. Highly recommended if you are looking to read a child’s book that does not look for children!

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan

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GalkoPromo

Promotional image

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan doesn’t follow a plot per se. It has a few characters, each filling a stereotype that the protagonist breaks; Galko being the girl that despite her looks, she’s kind of a mixture of her other two friends. Otako, is the… otaku, because that was not obvious enough. And Ojou, who’s the most innocent of the three.

Galko is a combination of her friends and herself.

PleaseGalkoSCREEN1

I need to start by saying this is uncomfortable. It was not bad at all. In fact, it is good, but it was an uncomfortable anime to watch. It is hard to tell if the anime is addressed to the male or female demographic. It has a lot of fan service; just take a look at Galko’s design, her proportions are a bit exaggerated, but it serves a purpose here (no, I am not joking or trying to justify anything). The episodes explain it very well, her classmates have an image of Galko that is usually wrong. Even her two friends at the beginning.

Galko1

If you can pass that out, look at it with an open mind, it could be a fun show. Just a warning, though, that this is not a show you want to see with your family around. The anime speaks openly about teen-female perspective, body, and some other topics that are not discussed in public, some people (with some people I am referring to the male audience) may find discomfort here. Although, I believe one of the objectives is to bring a few subjects that for some reason are still considered taboo nowadays. Things that might be better if we could discuss without raising flags.

The animation is one thing I loved. It looks very good and colorful. It is a delight to watch. Its bright colors make each episode even more enjoyable.

Galko2

There are twelve episodes and these are twelve minutes long! I’d advice you to check it out, but that depends on certain sensibilities over what is called fan service. Though as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t find it clear if this goes for the male or female audience. I think it can be enjoyed by both.

The anime is available on Crunchyroll for both premium and FREE members. Click here to watch it!

Wakakozake

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WakakozakePromo

Promotional image

This anime is very short. It makes me wonder if I should consider it an anime at all; each episode is two-minutes long. Perhaps it could be considered an advertisement? I’d love to try all of their food just by looking at it.

Wakakozake Screen

There’s not much to explore. We have to admit that Japanese cuisine is very attractive, especially for us that don’t live in the country. Every time I see one of their dishes my mouth starts watering. And it is not strange that anime emphasizes a lot in culinary arts. Food Wars being the most popular example of this. Although, Wakakozake doesn’t follow the formula of cooking tournaments or anything flashy.

This anime reminds me of the live-action called Samurai Gourmet, except that this protagonist, Murasaki Wakako, is a young adult with a normal imagination. During the episodes she describes the food, drinks, and additional snacks or desserts. Sometimes she mentions her personal and professional work, but nothing in-depth to explore. This doesn’t make this a bad show, this is a short-episodic anime (or advertising) about food!

It is, somehow, charming. The animation is funny to watch. And I repeat, each episode is only two-minutes long. If you want to give a quick look at the Japanese food from the eyes of a customer, this is fun.

The anime, Wakakozake, is available on Crunchyroll for both premium and FREE users. Click here to watch it!

Hanebado!

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This is one of the animes I’ve enjoyed more during this quarantine. I wish I had had more time to enjoy it in two or three days; but it took me more than a week to watch the 13 episodes. 

By the way, you can watch Hanebado! legally on Crunchyroll by clicking here!

HANEBADO PROMO

HANEBADO! tells the story of Ayano Hanesaki, a first year student in high school that is a beast at playing badminton, but after a match against a certain character that left our protagonist as “not-the-best” her mother abandons Ayano, taking away her daughter’s motivation to play badminton along.

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Mother of the Year

The other main character is Aragaki Nagisa, captain of the Kitakomachi High School badminton club, she lost a game at the Junior Nationals without scoring a single point. After that, she’d started to take her anger out on her friends.

Things get an abrupt change the moment Elena convinces Ayano Hanesaki to join the club; trying to help her friend to find, recover, and follow that passion for badminton again. To forget everything that had happened before and play. At first, she didn’t want to listen to her friend, but it doesn’t take too long for her to try a few friendly matches. 

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“Why do you play badminton?”

This is a recurring question that everyone asks to each other. And this is where we start to really know the main cast. Every member of the badminton club has a reason to be there, one could be more substantial than the other; but that is not exactly the point. In real life, we’ve had our unique motivations to do our own things, a career to follow, perhaps.

What makes things interesting is as the details unfold for each of the main characters, they evolve along its thirteen episodes, for good and for bad. These motivations ended up affecting positively and negatively on their respective teams or teammates. This emphasizes more with the two central characters. And I must say that their evolution is very well-done; the story has a few subtle twists and a satisfactory conclusion.

There is one character that is the rival for Ayano, even though I liked her, I believe she went kinda out-of-character the second time they met. First encounter she wanted to win against Ayano, and the second time they met is a different story; almost as if she were being a different person.

Subtle fan service

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Kaoruko besto waifu

The fan service is subtle. Nothing that would distract you from actually enjoying the show. We know there are animes that had a very interesting premise, but that is ruined, DESTROYED, by their ridiculous fan service. Here, though, you can argue that the body proportions of some of the female characters are a bit exaggerated; I am happy to reply with a relieved “WRONG! Well, yes, but WRONG!”, nothing happened in the anime that turned into a distraction from the story. Just the matches are great enough to put you on the edge of your seat. Especially the final match!

Must not miss

This is definitely a good anime. The animation, the characters, and the competition against each other and themselves, make this a MUST choice for those looking for an anime focused in sports. Perhaps badminton doesn’t seem like an appealing sport, but that shouldn’t let you judge the series without having a look first.

Hanebado! is available on Crunchyroll for both premium and FREE users!