Various thoughts on a variety of topics.
Brief glimpses into the disastrous life of Kusuo Saiki, a powerful psychic who hides his abilities from the public and tries not to stand out.
A random-style gag comedy broken up into 4-minute long segments. While there isn’t much in the way of plotlines, there is consistency between the episodes and the protagonist’s deadpan delivery stays constant throughout. The web episode from 2013 is included in this version.
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Tormented at night by a strange ribbon-wielding ghost, Kotarou Tennouji seeks out the president of the school’s supernatural research club for aid. He ends up joining the club along with several other students… each with their own hidden abilities.
The show starts out as a comedy, quickly introduces action and drama, and then fluctuates between the three in an almost episodic manner. While the genre shifts throughout, the theme permanently changes from school-life to ‘secret societies at war’ a little past the halfway point.
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Rokuro Enmadou and Benio Adashino are both exceptionally powerful exorcists with tragic pasts. Though Rokuro responded to the tragedy by swearing off exorcism, in Benio’s case it only motivated her to become more powerful. Now the two of them have been proclaimed the ‘Twin Star Exorcists’ and must work together to cleanse the world of evil spirits.
A battle shounen slightly darker than usual with a fairly even mix of comedy, drama, and action. The romance aspect, despite being introduced early, does not become a central focus until the 10th episode while the comedy eventually ends up taking a backseat to the action/drama.
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A couple years have passed since Sasuke left the village. Naruto and Sakura continue their search for him while Akatsuki persist on their quest to collect all of the Tailed Beasts, and all eventually get caught up in a catastrophe of world-ending scale.
Continuing from where the first series left off, this one ultimately isn’t much different besides having a fondness for flashbacks: It’s still a mix of comedy, action, and drama peppered with Anime-original filler content to extend the duration. The characters do behave less childishly though, and most of the canon content leans more toward the dramatic.
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Yona and the gang head to a hot spring, where some of Kija’s background is revealed after Jeha notices a scar on his back.
The first OVA is half standard hot springs fanservice episode and half serious flashback. It’s not directly connected to the second two.
After a drinking contest one night, Zeno finds himself dreaming of the past.
A two-episode flashback showing the beginnings of the Kouka kingdom and the details of Zeno’s history. There’s only a small amount of comic relief here with the rest consisting of reflective scenes and serious drama.
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On Tsukushi’s first day of high school he’s invited to a pickup game of soccer. Despite being awful, his burning determination is ignited and he soon joins the school’s soccer team.
A sports shounen that plays things straight and earnest. It does contain comedic segments, but the comedy primarily arises from the contrast between Tsukushi’s appearance/personality/ability and everyone else’s.
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Ren Homura has just returned to his hometown after a lengthy absence with no memories of the place. After being forced to replace his smartphone after an accident, he finds himself caught up in a game where monsters are summoned to do battle against one another… a game which seems to be related to his lost memories.
For the most part this is not a serious show and plays just about everything for laughs with a random sense of humor; it’s only in the last quarter or so it becomes a full battle shounen. It’s also shorter than the episode count would suggest, as each is only ~7 minutes long. Episodes with longer runtimes are padded with advertisements for various things related to the game and Anime.
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Following a mysterious mass disappearance that occurred 12 years prior, Rena just wants to live a quiet everyday life. This is not to be, as the past catches up to fling her and her surrogate family into a conflict over the power of lost gods.
Primarily consisting of action and drama, the show also periodically dips into daily life territory every few episodes as a sort of reprieve. Don’t go into it expecting lighthearted fluff though, as while it’s not full grimdark it still tries to play things seriously more often than not.
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Ling Xia has just graduated and is having trouble finding a job. After a run-in with a suspicious ‘fortune teller’ she finds herself embroiled in the spirit world, her fate entwined with that of a young general who oversees one of the limbo areas for the dead known as requiem streets.
The episodes alternate between a present-day time period focused on Ling’s tribulations (action/drama with a few bits of comedy) and flashing back to Yanbing’s past (mainly drama), showing how he became the area’s guardian. It’s essentially two separate battle shounens packaged as one and ends just as the real journey begins.
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A story of regrets and second chances. The protagonist receives a letter from her future self, on the first day of the second year of high school, detailing events that will soon occur and the choices she made at the time which in retrospect feel like mistakes. The letter implores her to not repeat them.
The time travel aspect is essentially just a gimmick, a bit of flair to make the show stand out. For the most part it’s a normal, realism-styled school life drama/romance that takes the uncommon step of dedicating a portion of each episode to showing how its characters (may have) ended up a decade later.
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