megane-kun

Indeed. Translating from Japanese is hard, even more so Japanese that involve figurative expressions and idioms (that are already usually hard to translate to and from any language to begin with).

Hate is such a strong word. But yes. The real world can get really tiring sometimes.

With that out of the way, off to my tangent. There’s probably two parts to explaining why there’s a lot of isekai works out there.

It is easy to write. It’s easy for the writer to basically insert themselves into their works. That way, they would have a far easier time working through the main character’s motivations, actions and reactions. Isekai also makes it easier for the writer to worldbuild. They can just do an anything goes setting with a god who specifically made the world in whatever way that’s most convenient to the writer. That is, lazy writing. That is not to say this means all isekai is bad, but rather, since it’s easy to write, there’s bound to be a lot of people who’d give it a go.

It’s easy to read. A lot of the isekai works I’ve read so far has been the type where I can just check out my brain at the entrance and dive in. A lot of this has to do with the kind of isekai I read, but with a setting that’s anything goes, and an MC‌ that I can relate to, I can easily snuggle into the work and pretend. Yes, it’s escapism, and I don’t think the genre as a whole has any pretentions otherwise.

As far as I’m concerned, isekai as a genre is like potato chips. It’s unhealthy, even not that interesting culinarily, but it’s also something I would love to indulge in from time-to-time. Add to that a tub of vanilla ice cream as a dip (probably a hot take) and I’m set for a relaxing night watching isekai. (Of course, the next morning, I’m back to the real world and all its shit).

Ah, thanks for that clarification. That much I can agree with in general.

This might be a hot take for an anime enjoyer, but what immunity are they talking about here? Immunity against nudity? Fanservice?

I’m leaning more towards “people losing immunity towards nudity (in shows)” but that’s one extreme. If every show on Earth has people fully-clothed, covered from hair to toe, and porn is relegated to an extreme taboo that one would go to great lengths and at great risk to access (kinda like Shimoneta, I‌ guess?) then maybe? But even then, sex is such a human need that people will find ways.

Now, this might be a wild shot in the dark, but if they’re talking about lack of fanservice leading to people not having sex, uh… Japan has a lot of problems with young people not having enough children, but I don’t think lack of fanservice has anything to do with it, and more about the pressures and bleak prospects.

IDK, I‌ just don’t get it and maybe someone who has access to the original interview quoted here can clarify things?

That was a clean ending, most loose ends tied up (Ivy’s starless status and Ciel’s existence being made known being made known to trusted people, as well as Sora’s origins), but with just enough leeway for another season.

I am not sure how far the source material has gone and whether or not it is enough for another season or two, but I fear they made the ending this way because they aren’t sure there might be another season after all.

The “postman arc” in the manga (though I think it’s multiple arcs under a bigger arc–but they’re unrelated, at least it seems at the start) really felt like a huge drag. Every town they passed by had a little arc of its own, some entertaining, some just felt meh. A hypothetical S2 might take some of those little arcs, perhaps two or three towns as they make their way. S3 could probably feature the rest of the way to their destination, but idk, at the rate the manga is being published, there might be just enough for an 2-cour S2, but not by much.

Definitely! The only reason I‌ put it on hold is that it got so raw and close to home that I had to stop watching for a while. Kinda embarrassing, but in a way, a statement to how good it is.

There’s already quite a lot of good recommendations here. I’ll just add another voice recommending Kino’s Journey and To Your Eternity.

Also, I’d say don’t expect Frieren levels of polish and awesomeness with the recommendations given, as Frieren is just a different level altogether (with lots of deserved hype).

As for my own recommendations? Let’s see:

• Aria the Animation, Natural, and Origination — this is but one anime series with three seasons of varying length. Every episode is more or less self-contained, but the characters develop slowly over the span of a lot of episodes (I counted 72 for all three seasons, could be wrong though). In a way, the character growth and exploration here is more comparable to real life. The pacing might be a bit too slow for a lot of people though. and the overall tone might be a bit too sweet for some. There’s some world-building here, but it’s really subtle at times—with the episodes focusing instead on the everyday and sometimes, the supernatural goings-on around the city the characters live in.

• Natsume Yuujinchou [Nastume’s Book of Friends] — six seasons of varying lengths. This is also mostly episodic with some character growth happening but the kind that you’d easily miss just watching the episodes. This one, however, has more supernatural themes, but also touches on how the youkai (non-human entities–to put things simply) differ from humans not only in mindset, but also in their perception of time.

• Mushishi — I haven’t yet watched this one in its entirety, but this is favorably compared to Natsume Yuujinchou, and so it might hit the same notes as that one.

Thanks! I had to do something to make the titles stand out since it’s just a huge wall of text otherwise. I also can’t be sure how it’d be rendered in other Lemmy frontends so, yeah! glad it turned out okay.

My warning backfired then. It’s actually just a cutesy animal thing with a lot of unfortunate implications baked in (and totally unintended at that).

I watched the show precisely because it looked like a cutesy animal thing, but yeah~ that certainly colored my opinion of it.

but when there’s a hidden boss you goddamn better grind a lot and level up to even have a remote chance, damn your skills and all that

HAHA! That pretty much sums up my own personal experience in fighting hidden bosses in FF7, FF8 and FF9. Not sure if there’s still such a tradition in more modern FF games tho. But man, I remember having to grind card games in FF8 just to gather enough cards to turn into consumable items just to give me a chance of lasting so many turns in the Omega Weapon fight. In FF9, I had to play that stupid Chocobo minigame for hours on end just to gather the materials. Ahem. I’m rambling. But yeah, I agree. Grinding is but the start with such hidden bosses. You grind for levels, you grind for equipment, you grind for materials and consumables all for a chance of defeating the hidden boss.

Going back on topic though, thinking about it from the author’s POV, it might be more helpful if they don’t give specific numbers or even a narrow range of figures to keep their options open (the LN is still ongoing, right).

My takeaway here is that Game Yumiella is pretty much possible to beat given enough patience, lol!

Just grind way past level 70, outfit your party with the best gear in the game, and you’re good to go! But then again, everyone making a big deal about how Our Yumiella has reached level 99 may perhaps mean that gaining levels above a certain point (let’s just assume level 60) the exp needed to gain one level is so insane, and mobs don’t give enough exp.

I’m just spitballing here though, but I’m glad that my quick guess from what we’re given in the anime (and some basic assumptions) doesn’t seem that far off.

EDIT: Fixed misleading punctuation.

Ahh, I see~

If I am remembering the first episode correctly, it was only after the MC realized that they isekaied into Yumiella that they started to grinding to level 99. If I am going by my earlier estimate of level 75 for the demon lord, Yumiella should be a few handful of levels above that, but perhaps not at the level cap.

But then again, from my experience of JRPGs, hidden bosses are way harder than end-of-story content. For example, Omega Weapon is way harder than Ultimecia in Final Fantasy 8. If we’re taking that into account, Yumiella might as well be at the level cap and then her stats artificially pumped up to increase the difficulty. She’d then spam the hell out of her abilities just to keep the players on their toes or something.

Huh, I tried formatting them as headings. I’ll edit it. Thanks for pointing that out.

Yumiella said something like “it takes a party of lvl 60 to defeat the demon lord”, and assuming an exponential exp to level function (as with most video games), I suppose the demon lord should be around level 75 or so. It’s just a quick estimation based on a half-remembered line from the anime though. But regardless, given that Patrick has just gotten to level 60, and was implied to be the hardest-working among the cast, I suppose Alicia and co’s average level is less than that. Perhaps level 50?

Alicia & Co. trying to defeat Yumiella if she was the actual hidden boss would be difficult indeed.

I’m curious as to what might lead to this. Perhaps Yumiella herself got roped in by the story to become the hidden boss. Perhaps Patrick gets killed, with Yumiella herself being framed for it. At any rate, she’d easily be casted as the true end boss, and entire armies across all kingdoms and nations will be sent to defeat her.

I usually watch slice-of-life series, but this season, I’ve had way more action and drama than I set out to watch. I’m a sucker for isekai, slice-of-life, slice-of-life isekai, though I feel like it isn’t reflected on the shows I watched for this season.

My top picks for this season are Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san [Mr. Villain’s Day Off] and Saijaku Tamer wa Gomi Hiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita [The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash].

Disappointment for this season is Sasaki to Pii-chan [Sasaki and Peeps].

Worthy of special mention (warning) is Isekai de Mofumofu Nadenade suru Tame ni Ganbattemasu [Fluffy Paradise].

With that, here’s my thoughts of the anime I’ve watched this season.

Finished, or about to be finished series

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto [The Apothecary Diaries]

I didn’t really expect much from this series, mostly because of the raves it got. I was pleasantly surprised though.

The characters and the writing are good. The “worldbuilding” is good too, giving us a well-fleshed-out view of the time and place the story is set. If there’s one complaint I’ve got about this series, it is that at some points, the plot seems to be pushed along by some deus-ex-machina. I wouldn’t mind a series where nothing much happens, but this isn’t that kind of series.

Sasaki to Pii-chan [Sasaki and Peeps]

Its premise and the impressive first episode impressed me. However, it ended up being a mixed bag for me.

On one hand, I‌ liked how the main character isn’t an overpowered protagonist blasting his way through his problems even though he has the means to, but on the other hand, his methods didn’t translate on-screen as well as it might have had in theory. He’s set up to be this masterful negotiator, but despite efforts to showcase this, it fell flat. The real-world intrigue as well as the other-world politicking also wasn’t developed well enough too.

This series might have fared better as a 2-cour season, though having more episodes to play with might just make its pacing problems even worse. All in all, I was disappointed in this one. It gave a promise of a good premise, but its botched execution just squandered it.

Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata [The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic]

Having already read the manga (but forgot until after watching the first episode), I just wanted to see how they adapted their source material. It’s okay, I guess?

The characters could have been written better for the anime though. Despite some effort, they still felt flat and stereotypical. The MC, most especially, felt to me as if he’s just being strung along the story, even despite declaring that he’s willingly staying and committing to the path that lays ahead of him.

Also, I felt that the title is a clickbait. I’ve encountered some discussion as to what the title meant, but I don’t really buy into any of them, even though I think one of them makes a lot of sense.

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu suru [7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!]

To be honest, I don’t even know what I expected when I started watching this one. I don’t know what I wanted out of this title, and I don’t know what to do with what I got.

It isn’t terrible, but I didn’t really care enough about the characters to care about what happens to them. I finished it, if only to sate my curiosity. Perhaps I’m just not the target market for this kind of series.

Isekai de Mofumofu Nadenade suru Tame ni Ganbattemasu [Fluffy Paradise]

Came in for the slice-of-life fluffiness, came out horrified by the fluffy [redacted] implications.

If somehow I can turn back time and warn myself about this series, I wouldn’t be sure if I want to warn myself. This series seems so innocent and fluffy, but the implications of what the MC is trying to do, which she fully believes in, is just horrifying.

Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san [Mr. Villain's Day Off]

This series is the fluffiest of all the series I’ve watched this season and is my favorite of all of them. If you’re looking for a quick relaxing watch before going to bed, or a palate cleanser after watching something horrifying, then this is a good series to watch. Just don’t binge it all in one sitting, I guess, as that’d likely cause a diabetic coma.

The characters here are as flat as a pastel drawing on paper, but I think that’s part of its charm. There are character backstories here and there, but these serve as a contrast to the scenes we do see being played out.

Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa Ura-Boss desu ga Maou dewa Arimasen [Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord]

This series is unexpectedly cute. Really cute. Almost rivaling Mr. Villain’s Day Off in sugar content. That the MC is overpowered means of mass destruction that can flick the story’s big bad boss away is just the cherry on top.

Saijaku Tamer wa Gomi Hiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita [The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash]

I didn’t even expect this series to have an anime adaptation. However, the source material of this is so good, I am glad it got an adaptation. As for the adaptation itself, it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I liked the anime better than the manga, or the webnovel. With that, it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s my second most favorite this season. It just lost to Mr. Villain’s Day Off due to this one having more melancholy drama and a bit of action.

Series that will continue until the end of the next season

Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su [Shangri-La Frontier]

Went in for the VRMMO Isekai shit, stayed for character hijinks.

This is probably one of my guilty sins of this season. I just enjoyed the mix of action and character interaction between the MC, his bunny girls, his bunny daddy, and his playmates.

Dungeon Meshi [Delicious in Dungeon]

I walked into this expecting a nice laid-back slice-of-life series, perhaps of a restaurant inside a dungeon, with stories from the different adventurers stopping by for a bite. However, I am not complaining about what I got, not one bit(e).

While the premise of this series reeled me in, and it certainly didn’t disappoint, the characters gave me a pleasant surprise. They’re deeper than I expected them to be, with their motivations and backstory giving their shenanigans a bittersweet vibe to it. Except Senshi. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got a surpisingly dramatic backstory as well.

Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu 2nd Season [Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy Season 2]

I’ll get one thing out of the way first: I enjoy trash isekai. I watched the first season of this series, and I‌ liked it. This season is also okay. I guess.

EDIT:

Forgot a series, some editing.

Some more editing to make the anime titles and sections stand out.

I tried ordering the series by airing date according to my MAL list, but ehh…

I jumped into watching Apothecary Diaries quite late in the game (I was at an out-of-town trip and had nothing to do, so I decided to watch a few episodes). I didn’t really expect much out of it, just that it not a huge waste of time. I ended up pleasantly surprised. The writing is decent, if not good. There were some parts that I think would stretch my suspension of disbelief, as well as some deus-ex-machina that pushes the story along (and I suppose would make way more sense as more of the material is adapted to anime). However, the way these plot points are developed is surprisingly good. I found myself strung watching one episode after the other.

Shangri-La Frontier, as the other commenter said, is a bit a niche thing. The shonen action is quite decent, but I am more into the worldbuilding aspect of it, and it is surprisingly decent. I also approached this series with no expectations whatsoever, and ended up pleasantly surprised.

An online friend expressed disquiet at how Laios seemed to be way too happy-go-lucky on the way to the dragon encounter (basically, the entire anime before this episode), and seemingly not as devastated at the revelation at the end of this one.

I‌ countered as follows:

I think Laios really wants to save his sister: that’s the main reason behind this dungeon crawl to begin with. however, not only is he saving effort (doing on-site procurement) instead of lugging along enough food for the trip to and back, but also he’s enjoying the trip in whatever way he can. I think it’s because he’s of the opinion that there’s really no use in worrying as there’s nothing much they can do other than to “try to defeat the dragon and deal with the situation afterwards.”

I think the latter half of this series would revolve around this “dealing with the situation” as their optimistic plans at the start (revive his sister once the remains have been found) have proved to be somewhat lacking.

They might need to find someone who can revive his sister given what’s left, or failing that, summon her spirit and have her inhabit a replacement body (so, necromancy, I guess).

As for the lack of a reaction (given how it came at the very end of the episode, I doubt it’s even shown), I think he’s just in shock. It’s pretty natural, I‌ suppose that one’s reactions might seem muted on the outside even though you’re distraught on the inside. I’m looking forward to how Laios deals with this situation, and what he might come up with next.

Edit:‌ I pressed enter too early, sorry about that.

I think the main purpose of this Marc arc is to show that Sasaki is masterful in his planning and negotiation skills, on a grander scale and with higher stakes. Not quite sure about the higher stakes tho, since even though Marc’s life is on the line, we weren’t really given much to care about him. I barely even noticed the character before his arc. But yeah. I‌ think it’s a wasted opportunity. It could have given us a much better feel of Sasaki’s interpersonal skills, but ehhhhhh, this is what we’ve got.

My biggest problem with this episode is that it kinda falls flat after “Sasaki’s plan” has been sort of hyped up. The negotiations are supposed to be the climax of all of Sasaki’s preparations to free up Marc–which it is. However, it wasn’t so much a payoff when a lot of the steps Sasaki did was just summarized after the fact. This approach could have worked if we were given a better idea of what it’s all leading to (though maybe there were enough hints dropped, but I just wasn’t paying enough attention).

All this left me with the impression that it was all a bit forced to give the audience an impression that Sasaki is really good at negotiation, and that it’s his go-to strategy as opposed to just blasting away enemies with Pii-chan’s help–which has already been shown to us in the first handful of episodes.