Kablam! is finally available legally!!!

Long time readers to the blog might remember a post I made about the mid-90's Nicktoon Kablam! It's a show that I have a lot of history with, something that I've come back to time and again since 2004. Suffice to say that it was a show that I have grown up with, and watching it as I move on into adulthood proves just as endearing as when I first saw it. I wanna get back into how, exactly, I was able to watch this show. While I did get introduced to the show on Nicktoons after my family switched to satellite, that wouldn't last long. The year after, Nicktoons had a rebrand to Nicktoons Network. With the rebrand came some schedule changes, pushing exclusive content upfront and phasing some shows out. Kablam was sadly one of the shows to leave fairly quickly after the rebrand, having been confined to 4 am anyway. While it did pop up again for a thanksgiving weekend event in 2007, that was that for the show airing on TV.

The Animation Capital of the World (before it got live-action shows.)

So how was I, a young boy who was enamored by this show that seemed to leave as fast as it came, supposed to find it again? That's where early video streaming came in. Thankfully fans saved DVR recordings to upload to Youtube and wherever else they see fit. Notice how I said fans. Nickelodeon themselves never really played ball with fans of Kablam after Nicktoons Network dropped the show. There were no DVD releases (not even any VHS releases when the show was on either!) Episodes or even clips weren't on TurboNick, their online video service. The show wasn't brought up by the network much at all, almost like it didn't even exist. It was up to the fans to hunt for episodes, since Nick wouldn't be much help.

I just wanted to have this here because nostalgia.

Things did seem to turn around after Nicksplat played Kablam in 2016 and 2017. Nick showed that they seemed to care about the show, only being restrained in that care because of the numerous rights issues involved in the different creators of every short. Somehow the stars aligned for a few nights and it was on again and just as quickly went away. It was a feeling I like to call "too good to last." I just thought that was that and continued to watch episodes on YouTube whenever I felt the urge to come back to the show.

Now let's flash forward a year. Just yesterday, I was going on Crunchyroll News in what's a routine activity to me. I did notice that when I stopped by, I got a message saying that VRV, a service that includes Crunchyroll had a 30 day free trial going. I shrugged that off as just another ad until I scrolled down until I saw an article for a new "channel" coming to VRV. VRV goes into many different mediums and genres, from anime to horror movies to cartoons. This latest channel was a major shock to me, even if it's fairly in line with what VRV tries to offer. It now has Nicksplat. I was wondering if my eyes were decieving me. My immediate reaction was "So I guess Teennick is done? There's no reason for it to exist." My next thought was "Kablam on this when?" Now here's where my sarcasm kicked in. I knew Kablam wouldn't be on there. Anyone could guess that it wouldn't be on there. Until I found out it was.

I'm gonna give a shoutout to Nickandmore on Twitter for letting me know about this godsend. I was just scrolling down his twitter feed on a whim, amused that he had Action League Now as his banner picture (is that what that giant picture that stretches across the top of the profile is called?) Then I found out Kablam was on Nicksplat. Just to put it in perspective, this show, a show that I have loved almost my entire life, that until recently had seemed like it never existed in the eyes of the network that birthed it, is somehow available on the same service as fucking Hanebado and Steins;Gate 0.

What.
The.
Hell.
Is.
HAPPENING?
Am I in some bizarro fever dream reality where the heavens throw me a bone? Am I in the best timeline? It feels like anything could happen these days, like anything's possible. Ending hunger? Easy! World peace? Sure! Haruhi season 3? How about 10 more seasons! Needless to say, I will be subscribing, and continue to subscribe as long as more episodes of the show are added. This news improved my mood tenfold and make me feel like things will turn out alright. We are in the Kablam timeline, we're all gonna make it.

Join me again next time, same Kablam time, same Kablam network!






(Pete and Pete for streaming when?)

SOC Eye: Issue #1

This is different. For the past several months, I had been using this digital space as a means of catalog. It feels like a record of my encounters with media over the course of the last summer. I've talked music, I've talked anime, but I haven't talked about myself. When I say "myself" I mean myself within daily life, not just how I interact with media. While yes, media makes up a susbtantial part of my life and how it's shaped me into who I am today, just as it has for everyone reading this right now, I figured I could pull back the curtain just a bit. I could use blogs the same way that many others with more exciting lives do, to talk about my own with the pretenses of a review or a look down memory lane. This is quite literally me and my state of mind at 1:21 in the morning on Saturday, August 25, 2018, and all the things that pop into my head at a particular moment in time. Here is a little ditty I call SOC Eye, and it goes something like this.

1. During the summer, I become a night owl.

2. There always seems to be someone who can stroll past my window during the day, so it's nice when it's night and the only thing you can see through the curtains is night.

3. I am too awake to fall asleep, and I tried sleep but it wasn't working

4. Late night HBO is a funny thing. Animals is a great show and Random Acts of Flyness is one of the most fascinating shows I've seen, one that defies description.

5. I was going to make a blog post about Random Acts of Flyness after seeing an episode last week for the first time and had more of an analysis about that one episode than I did any piece of TV I have consumed this year, live-action or not. I was just lazy

6. Apparently, when it's midnight and my body still can't rest, it's apparently second nature for me to go cook ramen.

7. Apprently, late nights and ramen seem to blend well together. Especially since I moved to a new state in 2016, I have spent many moons eating instant noodles under the artifical glow of light bulbs in the dining room.

8. Watching Boomerang at late nights is one of the best reasons to fuck up a sleep schedule.

9. I realize once again scrolling through my Kitsu account that the only reason I am able to partake in my hobbies this deeply is because my social life is almost non-existant.

10. I wonder if I'll ever put all the ideas I have in my mind into coherent thoughts for people to see.

11. I'm not sure whether I should be worried or excited about my upcoming college stint.

12. My mind seems to often wonder into just how different I would be if one thing had changed. I'll let your mind wander on what that one thing could be.

13. I've watched more anime on August 24th than I did any individual day all week.

14. This week imageboards and J-pop are what I gravitated to.

15. I can't stop buying strawberry milkshake pop tarts because of a powerful mix of 2000's nostalgia and limited edition status.

16. The fact that 2000's nostalgia is an idea slowly rising to popularity is bizarre yet utterly fascinating to me.

17. The SOC in SOC Eye is an abbreviation of Stream Of Consciousness.

18. The SOC in SOC Eye is pronounced sook.

19. Yes, it's just like that closing song from that band I like. You know the one.

20. Even if no one reads it, blogging is oddly fascinating, even if it takes up time.

21. The Eye in SOC Eye means I, referring to myself.

22. I'm sure this idea for a blog post will sound awesome while I'm in this state late at night, but maybe I'll hate it in the morning.

23. Do I need to have long essays for every blog post?

24. It just so happens that i do, except in the times that I don't.

25. I have realized that my post regarding Kablam is the best thing I will ever write this year.

26. I say this part because of the personal narrative woven into a look at a not-that-popular 90's cartoon, and part from the positive response I have gotten from my best friend.

27. I notice that the wait between Circle of Friendz gets progressively longer and longer. Always forward, never backwards.

28. One of the shows I look forward to the most is Ongaku Shoujo, even if it's not in my top 5 favorites this season.

29. Every time Souk Eye comes on, I wanna dance like an idiot.

30. I have a feeling that I will become a hikikomori in the near future, and I wouldn't really notice it.

31. I want to get into visual novels someday

32. I am too lazy to finish games.

33. Night is beautiful, and the nighttime in winter is astounding.

34. Everything comes back to night, I guess.

Circle of Friendz: Africa Express Presents....

Welcome back to the Circle of Friendz, my never-ending joy ride across music history to talk about the many, many groups with ties to everyone's favorite cartoon band, Gorillaz. I realize that this project is one that's for the long-term.  I mean, I'm only 8 albums deep into a 79-album experiment! Think of all the hundreds of hours of music that is! That's why I have always considered this project as, above all things, a journey. At least, that makes the idea of listening to all these albums and talking about them seem like a much more interesting prospect. In any great journey, the adventurer gets to see lots of different sights, each as distinct as the last, traveling what seems like a never-ending road. Here, I think that my experiences with this project are fitting to the idea of a great journey. It's been a great surprise to see just how diverse each album I've listened to so far has become. I mean, I've hopped from Welsh indie rock to ska to jazz, never content to settle for too long on one thing (Does that remind us of anyone?) I think this album is the first one I've reviewed so far that feels like a journey of its very own.

Who is this? The Syrian National Orchestra
What did they do for Gorillaz?  Performed on White Flag for Plastic Beach (that will be brought up later.)
When was this performed? June 25, 2016
Where was this performed? The Southbank Centre in London
Why is this so good? Before I talk about the Syrian National Orchestra, I should probably talk about the man behind the animated mask, Damon Albarn. Damon Albarn is a man of collaboration and experimentation. For years, he's showed up not just on other's projects but also had many, many artists come home onto his home turf with his own records. While he mostly kept to his own band Blur during the 90's, occasionally reaching out to people like Phil Daniels for the landmark Parklife and playing keyboards for his girlfriend's band, Elastica, this changed heading into 1999. Damon had found interest in hip-hop and electronic music, the electronic influence seeping heavily into Blur's 13 as the Britpop sound Blur had eroded into the passage of time. While Blur got more experimental, Damon wanted to take that even further. It's because of these new influences and this new desire for a change in style that led Damon to make Gorillaz. While Blur leaned mostly into Britpop and alt-rock music, Gorillaz was much more than that. The constant genre-switching reflected Damon's new interests that he could never fully explore with Blur. One aspect of Gorillaz that also wasn't expanded on much was his focus on collaborations. Gorillaz was and still is a way for Damon and his wide array of friends to scrape off their egos and perform music without focusing as much on their own celebrity status. This was amplified by a project that released a year after the debut Gorillaz album, Mali Music.

Mali Music grew out of a trip to Mali in the early 2000's that fostered a love of Africa by Damon. This effort was a much more low-key affair than Gorillaz or Blur before it were. While new copies of the album have Damon's name on the wrapping, don't be mistaken for thinking that this would end up being a new effort from either of those bands. Damon only has vocals on two tracks on the entire album. Instead, he hands the reigns over to local Malian musicians for the vast majority of it while he acts more as an overseer. It was from this album that grew from it Africa Express. In 2006, after Demon Days had finished and The Good, the Bad and the Queen was finishing up, Damon Albarn alongside many other musicians began a project that would act as a meeting point between western music and African music. Several people who would wind up being involved with Africa Express also happened to work with Gorillaz at some point, from Kano to Faia Younan. The goal would be for African music to leave a greater mark on the worldwide musical landscape. Africa Express would a project that would go on and off over the years, and the album I'm covering today was one of their latest efforts, a spin-off of sorts it seems like.

On June 25, 2016 in London, a 50-piece orchestra of Syrian musicians had gathered at the Southbank Centre alongside a number of different guests, both Syrian and not. This had been the first time that the orchestra had been gathered together in the same place since the end of the Escape to Plastic Beach world tour from 2010. In that time, civil war had broken out in Syria. In the ongoing conflict, thousands had died and even more lost their places to live, fleeing all across the world in hopes of a place to stay. After that world tour, there was a chance that the group would never have seen each together, either from displacement or death. But on June 25, 2016, the odds were defied and the entire group that Damon Albarn (or Murdoc Niccals, whoever you want to believe) had called on to play on the third Gorillaz album had reunited in one spot for another show. In the opening speech that Damon gives at the start of the concert, I can hear the disbelief and amazement coming off of him that he was able to have this massive undertaking finally come to light.  This show is a sight to behold. It's almost two hours of pure magic. I could feel this sense of warmth surround me when I was listening. Even my notes reflect this, or lack thereof for a few songs. Listening to some of these tracks, I just felt so caught up in the music to where I lost track of my surroundings! The show is primarily Middle Eastern orchestral and folk music with some western tracks thrown in the mix and given the amount of depth and wonder that only this show could provide. There are quite a few highlights throughout the show. As with other Africa Express performances, Damon takes a sideline to the array of musicians, but when he's there he absolutely shines. He pulls off a beautiful cover of Blackbird from The Beatles with Paul Weller. It's actually quite fitting that Blackbird was chosen for this event to be covered. Paul McCartney had given several reasons behind the tune's birth. The most common element of the stories involves taking a look at the civil rights movement of the late 60's. Having a song that could be about the black struggle could fit in well with the overall message of Africa Express. It's about being able to overcome any challenge and truly soar above the clouds, with this message being demonstrated through being able to make and play music as a group and overcome differences.  Damon also comes in to play a special version of the Blur track Out of Time. Out of Time is my favorite Blur song, coming from my favorite Blur album, Think Tank. It's lyrics perfectly convey that sense of loneliness that comes from someone leaving and a lack of communication. The vocals are quite possibly even better than they were on the track as it's accompanied by the gorgeous orchestra that gives the song new life. I'll be talking more about the original song on another section of my blog sometime or another.

Moving on to the guest performers, there are lots here. Of particular note for Gorillaz fans is that Faia Younan and Eslam Jawaad show up here. I'll be covering both of them sometime later for Circle of Friendz. Faia has two wonderful songs here, Zayene el Marie and the folk song Ya mahla'l fus'ha. She's got a beautiful voice and stands as one of my favorite performers at this event. Speaking of standout performances, there's a very fun performance of the Gorillaz track White Flag here, swapping out Bashy and Kano's grimey verses and the synths for a more stripped-back instrumental relying purely on the strength of the orchestra. Plus Malikah drops some fucking fire, she's easily my favorite guest here. She's got enough energy for everyone there! But the best of the bunch was a track that isn't related to Gorillaz. That honor goes to Al Ajahleh. It's an 18 minute epic of an intermission, where what it lacks in vocals makes up for that in the incredible performances on display by the orchestra, Bassekou Kouyate and Seckou Keita. When the track started I thought it was just going to be a 2-minute interlude going into White Flag, as that was what happened with a portion of the track on the Gorillaz tour (OK so it does kinda tie into Gorillaz.)  Then it became truly its own, as the track expanded farther and farther. Bassekou tears it up on his ngoni, which is this ancient West African string instrument that was used by storytellers every so often. I also really gotta give props to Seckou's kora playing, which adds a bit of unexpected funk to the song that I really loved. The track Bayat Samaei feels like a musical journey all its own with all the changes it makes in its run-time. It sounds like the score for a fantasy adventure movie and all its dramatic twists and turns.

If the goal of this concert was to get even one person to go home and try looking up some of the artists there, it worked for me at least. This was a pleasant reminder of just how powerful music can be, how it can tie together all of these distant people and cultures under one idea. It felt like, even if only for a moment, the world felt at peace as music filled the air. That's a pretty good feeling, don't you think? I give Africa Express Presents... a 9.5/10.

Summer 2018 Anime: 1 Month In

Hello and welcome, all three people who read this thing! I haven't done a post talking about anime in a while (it's been almost three months!) I did say on my first post ever on this site that I would cover anime, and I really don't think I've held up much in that regard. It's not like what I have used this blog for was a waste, by any means. I just could stand to talk a little more about my absolute favorite hobby! So here I go, as I take a dive into what's turning out to be another great season!

2018 for anime so far has been quite an amazing experience, with winter having lots of slice of life for me to consume not too long after having finished K-ON! and finding new love for the genre and just about anything with adorable anime girls in them. Spring was great too, with Wotakoi being one of my favorite anime this year and one of the best romance shows I've seen and other stunners like Megalobox and Steins;Gate 0 sprinkled throughout. I did end up putting a few shows on hold however, but there's was still lots of stuff that interested me enough to continue to now or finish. Does summer live up to the high expectations set in place by the rest of 2018? So far, I think it's doing a fine job of that!

I had stuck very close to the shows I had planned on watching when looking at the seasonal guide beforehand, a recent phenomonon of mine. I wanted to keep to thing that looked super super good that I felt like I could watch for the whole season. What deviations I did make from my planned seasonal watch list I ended up dropping anyway, and I might as well get those out of the way first before getting into the cool stuff. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs was a pretty typical supernatural harem comedy, with not much to impress me. There were some jokes that landed, but lots more didn't and felt too heavy on jokes that were already getting tired in 2008.  I guess it's cool that a more typical harem show has come out for the big fans of the genre, as harems that weren't tied to battle shows or fantasy adventures have become a bit of a rarity lately, but this didn't have enough in terms of characters or production to really grab me in. The other drop so far was the little-known space adventure series The Journey Home, a story of a chironomid bug and their friends trying to make it onto earth. The CGI is very fluid, and Gurihiru has some appealing character designs. There's also nothing really like it this season, but the focus on exposition dumping and uninteresting characters made this show feel like a bit of a chore that I wasn't really anticipating another episode of. It does say something about this season when even the shows I dropped weren't even completely godawful! That's a good sign in my book.

Now onto the stuff I believe I'm watching to the end. Keep in mind that many of the shows I'm listing I'm not caught up with, but I have at least seen the first two episodes of (with the exception of one show that just started in the last week that only has one episode as of this writing. I admit I've been falling behind, but that happens every season and is but a natural result of watching as many shows as I am. I won't be talking about any leftovers from past seasons either. First I'm going through the shorts this season rapid-fire to get those out the way first. Even though I haven't even seen the Cinderella Girls full length anime, I'm still enjoying the latest Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Gekijou season. It's short, sweet and I love the character designs, as there truly seems to be a character for everybody to latch onto and adore. Working Buddies 2 continues to be a neat little show of two cats working different odd jobs, as well as having a really fun twist for the third episode that I don't wanna spoil here. One Room, a show about literal self-inserting as you play pretend that you hang out with anime girls from a first person perspective, is back for season 2. I'm liking this just as much as season 1, and I don't mind 4 minutes of wish fufillment a week. Yamishibai came back for season 6 and it's Yamishibai alright. You love horror, you might be down for these shorts. Oshiete Mahou no Pendulum: Rilu Rilu Fairlu is a very calming 12-minute iyashikei show about a girl getting transported in and out of a land of fairies in a book. The animation in the fairy world is...rough, to say the least. I got over that pretty quickly when I saw how colorful everything is and how soothing it is. It's the only iyashikei this season, so it's an even more welcome addition to my season lineup. Hopefully fansubs don't die out too quick. Last but not least is the third season of Yama no Susume, a show I had been catching up on in anticipation for season 3 about schoolgirls going mountain climbing. It's just as wonderful as season 2, and I love that I get to see more of the adorable Honoka from towards the end of the second season. It's the best short of the season, by far.

Onto the full lengths! I'll be splitting these shows up by genre. Some I'm fully caught up with, but many I'm a little behind on.

Action: Sirius the Jaeger may very well be my favorite show of the season, even if I was starting to feel a tiny bit weary at the more exposition heavy fourth episode. The 1930's setting is really cool, and when there's fights, the fights are amazing. This vampire-fighting show is one I look forward the most each week. It isn't disappointing so far! Speaking of cool, Banana Fish has cool in spades. It's got cool oozing off it's setting and atmosphere, as well as it's badass action scenes. I'm certainly getting a "retro action OVA'' vibe from this like I did MAPPA's last work Garo Vanishing Line. Most importantly, I really wanna find out just what the hell that term "banana fish" even means. Cells at Work has one of my favorite color palettes of the season, one with lots of bright reds and light blues. There's lots of fun fight scenes and situations at play, and certainly educational too. Little can match up to it in terms of pure fun this season (and before anyone asks, yes the platelets are great.) Gintama is back from a quick break for a second part to the Silver Soul arc. I loved the first part's mix of drama and comedy into a total thrill ride, even though this season seems a bit more dramatic than last. I'm still on board though, Gintama all the way!

Comedy: There are several pretty fun choices for comedy this season. There's the demonic Jashin-chan no Dropkick. It's really fun to watch these different supernatural creatures just hanging out around the MC's house without much of a care in the world. The faces feel more 90's or 2000's in their design (maybe it's something about how angular the faces are?)  All the girls seem very cute, especially the gothic lolita main character Yurine. I really liked how the first episode was approached with the transition from Yurine summoning Jashin directly to a whole bunch of demons just hanging around Yurine's apartment having hot pot, that took me by surprise. My brother thought before the show came out that it would be more along the lines of Maid Dragon, seeing Jashin and Yurine on the poster and the brief description. It seems to be much more focused on getting big laughs than the mix of light drama and more soothing comedy of Kyoto Animation's slice of life hit. Another stark difference was how the characters were introduced. Maid Dragon took its time to introduce everyone and this show prefers letting the audience see how these characters interact with each other after settling in and maybe considering going back to see how they ended up there. I'm still having a really fun time with it. There's Next, Chio's School Road is another fun gag series involving vignettes chronicling Chio, an orange-haired gaming fanatic on her way to school. Every day seems to bring up new challenges for her to get there on time. This sounds like a show that could getting tiring pretty quickly in 24-minute chunks. Thankfully the challenges for Chio's journey to class are always hilarious. If it keeps being as funny as episode two and makes the situations varied it'll certainly be a highlight in a comedy-packed season. Ongaku Shoujo, an idol show with a lead who can't even sing. It seems to be idols doing some idol stuff. I really like the character designs, especially Uori's and it's a nice way to spend 24 minutes. Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san is a pretty breezy slice of life may-as-well-be-a harem with a middle school boy moving into a dorm with older women. It's got some bright pastel colors and a very cute gyaru in the cast, so I'm all in. Grand Blue is a really funny series about college parties, underage drinking and supposed diving. Episode two was the funniest of the episodes with the room decorating jokes. Watching this show is a load of fun and I would love to party with these guys. It's got some really funny reaction faces too. Speaking of reaction faces, Asobi Asobase is definitely one of the finer comedies around this season. I'll admit that I got fooled by the OP and poster and thought I would've gotten a Manga Time Kirara-style cute girls doing the absolute cutest things, maybe getting some yuri undertones along the way. What I got was something a little raunchier, focused on providing fodder for 4chan reaction image folders than the calming nature of many shows with a similar setup. I'm really enjoying the character dynamics on this one and how it deviates away from many of its kin in its approach. It's got this nice looking pastel artstyle too. High Score Girl is my second favorite anime this season, one that could possibly crawl up the ranks depending on how Sirius fares the next few weeks. I was a little weirded out by the CGI, but I got settled into it well after the first episode. Having a rom-com centered around 90's videogaming is honestly one of the most creative premises this season, and I love the dynamic between the two main characters and how Akira uses her body language to play off of Haruo. It's also thanks to this show that I found this awesome group who did the opening theme, sora tob sakana. They're this at the surface typical idol group that swaps out a more traditional J-Pop sound for a math rock approach. They have a really good self-titled debut I highly recommend if idols or math rock are up your alley. Back to High Score Girl, I am shocked about how quickly it pulls the timeskip card in comparison to other shows, with the aftermath of the tearjerking third episode. It's not a detriment to the show at all, just something that took me by surprise. I was hoping to find a romance show I could enjoy as much as I did Wotakoi after I saw the last episode of it and I was shocked to see how soon that day would come. Too bad there's gonna be people who aren't watching this because of Netflix doing what they do best and holding the show until it's complete and they have a dub for it but I hope people can find it and watch it because there isn't much better for anime romances this year than it.

Drama/Horror: I'm not actually sure what to think of Happy Sugar Life's first two episodes. There's crazy and there's yuri? I'll keep watching out of pure intrigue. I liked the three volumes of the manga that I could read for it, so I was shocked at the announcement for Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation to get a TV anime. It's a decently obscure Shounen Jump mystery/horror manga from the mid-2000's about a pair of spiritual detectives tracking down and banishing ghosts under Magical Law. The adaptation turned out decently well., getting what made the manga exciting right here in full color and animation. Moving away from horror into the dramatics, the number three spot for the anime of the season contender is.... Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight! A great premise handled excellently by some of the best directing of the season. When I saw the show on preseason charts, I assumed would be Love Live with performing arts (not a bad thing by the way!) What I got was something more dramatic with some crazy awesome performance arts fighting and a talking giraffe. Everything is better with a talking giraffe. This show is one of the most entrancing of 2018 for sure. The wait for episodes kills me inside.

Mecha: Even though I didn't quite finish any of them, I really liked what I've seen of the various Zoids series that came out throughout the years, so Zoids Wild definitely took me by surprise when it got announced for an anime after going dormant for so long. It's a pretty OK kids mecha show. I wouldn't mind getting a Wild Liger model kit. I don't have a whole lot to say about this one, maybe watching past episode 2 will give me more to say. Planet With is a fascinating project this season. Satoshi Mizukami's designs carry over well into animation, I'll admit that the main reason I wanted to watch this, other than for Mizukami having his hands over it, was because of Ginko's kinda cute design. What I'm staying for now is an intriging tale where you're not quite sure who's quite good or bad, or why the main character is fighting, leaving some interesting questions in between episodes. This show definitely has me guessing about what's coming next.

Sports: There's three different sports shows I'm watching this season, that all seem to go in different directions. First is Harukana Recieve, the Manga Time Kirara adaptation of the season about a girl named Haruka who moves to Okinawa and starts playing beach volleyball. Next is Hanebado!, about a girl slowly settling back into badminton after cutting off from it in middle school. Last is Free!: Dive to the Future, with the cast of the first two seasons as they move onto adulthood. Besides the different sports,  the three shows all seem to have different approaches to a sports narrative. Harukana leans the most on the comedic side of things, with a greater focus on fanservice and showing off just how cute these girls are. The girl is also a newbie to her sport as opposed to the other sports anime leads. Hanebado's lead isn't new, she was just hesitant to get back to playing. Hanebado also leans towards drama. Free also goes for drama but with an all male cast and having better animation than Harukana (it's about as good or better than Hanebado.) The lead is also the most experienced of the three, Haruka having been swimming since middle school as the show focuses on his college years. Which one is best? I'm going with Free, but Hanebado comes close.

Since I'm done with all the new stuff I'm watching I may as well start talking about plans for the future. Simply put, the way I watch anime in my day to day will be changed. Last week, I was putting more episode data in for my Kitsu.io list. Looking at that list, I had a realization. "I'm watching 55 fucking anime!" It just then, scrolling through my list of close to 500 shows I put on hold for later just how truly huge my viewing habits have become. So I had an idea. Let's not watch 55 fucking shows next season! As it turns out, it could be easier than I thought. I've been looking intensively at live guides for each anime announced for the fall season. Instead of just picking up whatever I come across, the 5-10 coolest looking shows are what I pick up, a far cry from the 30 new shows I picked up this time. I'm changing my strategy for a few reasons. For one, there isn't as much cool stuff next season, but the stuff that looks good looks really damn good. Next, I'm starting to watch some, and I can't believe I'm saying this...shows that aren't anime. DUM DUM DUM! Seriously, I do watch some cartoons and the odd live action series every so often (I'm watching Preacher right now!) I've just been meaning to watch more J-Drama, especially ones based on manga I've read or anime I've seen. I tried a handful a few years ago but never really finished any of them, and I wanna get back in the game. Most importantly, there's college. It's coming up fast, and the workloads will be heavy. There will inevitably be a cutback in any hobby time, anime included. It's not to say I don't love anime. It's the opposite, I love it more than I ever have before and I appreciate just how it has showed me things I never would've delve into otherwise more than before! It's also leading to my last reason for this switch. Backlog! Less focus on seasonal shows, more focus on shows I've been meaning to watch or finish throughout the 6 years I've been watching anime. I think this will be a refreashing change for me, i think. Oh, and I'll be sure to blog about these shows too. So what's your favorite shows from this season if you're watching anything? What sounded the most interesting from this that you wanna check out? Lemme know in the comments. Sayonara~