Posts made by Solstice

@de-villefort

I mean, that hardly makes you a filthy casual. Anime is a medium. People find things to jive with inside of it, and no two tastes are alike.

Personally, I'm at my happiest when I can get people to realize that saying 'I don't like anime' is akin to saying 'I don't like sandwiches.' Getting ahead of the crew who are gluten-allergic, intolerant, or legitimately don't like sandwiches, I mostly mean that there's a slew of people out there who think of anime as a monolith, that they must love or hate in its entirety. Sure, you might not like a ham sandwiches, but you might like this peanut butter and jelly, or some avocado toast, or a bagel with cream cheese (Let's not lie to ourselves. Totally a sandwich).

Interspecies Reviewers was an unabashedly perverted masterpiece that knew what it wanted to be and didn't hold any punches.

Konosuba is some of the hardest I've laughed at a show!

Accessible and family-friendly? Fuck no. But worthy of mention for their own merits, and enjoying them doesn't make you basic or anything.

The Summer season has finally kicked off! And that means a new batch of me watching almost every single episode one that exists and then whittling it all down into what's remotely watchable, because otherwise I might miss something worth watching.

I don't have a review site I personally trust, so watching everything is the only way.

Had to be me.

The story so far:

Sequels

If you enjoyed Beastars (finally out of Netflix Jail!), My Hero Academia, My Next Life as a Villainess, To Your Eternity, or Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, you'll continue to do so. These seem to all be in solid shape in maintaining their quality for their continuing seasons. The latter is thriving under a new director after the former director was killed in the senseless arson attack at Kyoto Animation's headquarters, and it's good to even see a Season 2 at all, let alone one with ludicrously high production values for what is just a (lightly servicey) slice-of-life comedy reel at its core.

What's New and Good According to Solstice

Eesh, gonna level with you... not much this time around, so I'm glad for the sequels. There is an awful lot of generic isekai garbage and pandering crap this season, so not much has managed to break out of that yet except for...

• The Aquatope on White Sand - A burned-out idol who got all but shoved out the door of the industry can't bring herself to go home just yet, and after doing some soul-searching about where she wants to be and what she wants to do, decides that the place she'd most like to be is... working at an ailing aquarium staffed by an energetic and passionate young owner. The direction is on point, and the artwork is colorful and clean. PA Works doing PA Works things.
  
  

• Kageki Shojo!! - The deeply competitive, highly exclusive Kouka Acting Troupe is known for putting on some hecking good shows, and our main character has always wanted to play one of the male leads in the shows they put on. Standing a head above her other classmates, our lead character is oft-ridiculed for her gawky appearance at a ludicrously tall 5'10" (snerk), but is unabashedly putting her all into showing the other girls that she's got the stage presence it takes to make her dreams come true. It's so unabashedly shoujo and I just love it. It's not the deepest story, but I watched two episodes in a go and was ravenous for more.
  
  

Honorable mentions that have redeeming qualities but aren't for me:

The Dungeon of Black Company seems like a goofy little show that might hit the mark for some folks, Remake Our Life! seems a fun romp into the 'what-if' genre of what you'd do if you had a chance to redo college, Sonny Boy is arthouse and weird and crude, and I have no idea where it's going yet.

Dishonorable Mention:

Wonder Egg Priority's delayed final episode was a messy stumble across the finish line that was an utter disappointment. If Odd Taxi was a case study into how to finish a show, this was how not to finish a show.

So yeah. I really thought this post would end up longer, but hey. Not every season is a winner, and at least I narrowed the field. Nothing wrong with coasting on the existing franchises!

ETA: A million small gif formatting tweaks.

@kalakh

I'm so sorry. That's the absolute worst. All of the hugs.

Extremely vivid and detailed nightmares about being fired from my job, interfering with my sleep prior to a difficult day onsite at my job. Thanks, brain.

I mean, I can see the logic, but fuck you very much, brain.

@arkandel

USS Callister is best Star Trek.

Fire bad.

Tree pretty.

... but tired Buffy quotes aside, dunno. Fireworks are pretty. Can't say I've ever found them much of a racial divide. Other than PATRIOTISM bros liking loud noises, which is more of the politics section.

ETA: Fireworks Displays are pretty.

More than happy to glow about that show at length. Everything is so tightly written in that show. Already rewatched it once and the attention to detail is fantastic.

Especially love the translations of the accompanying Radio Dramas that are being released that all focus around ***=Spoiler***

Lots of additional context, and an even deeper layer of easter eggs.

@ganymede

Thanks!

Yeah, I know sobriety doesn't make me a bummer by default, I more meant it feels frustrating to be the only sober person in the room while desperately wanting to join in. I was never a heavy drinker, but I miss my usual habit of an occasional margarita or two. Not currently possible without immediately feeling like I need to crawl into bed and pass out, because that just don't play.

This could just as easily be in RL Anger, but it's not even that.

It's also a rerun on things I've already said, but fuck it.

I feel so totally defeated by panic disorder. I can't find a single thing that works, or even brings much by way of relief, and oh gosh have I ever tried. How much have you tried, Solstice?

I've tried and failed with 14 medications over the past year. The reason for that high number is that I found out that every SSRI and most anti-anxiety meds carry the side-effect of 'drowsiness or dizziness'. What that means in terms of my jerk of a body is absolutely debilitating vertigo and nausea.

My health care team is pretty checked-out, and even though I've been on a journey of over a dozen medications with her, my psychiatrist frequently forgets who the hell I even am.

Hard not to despair. And because the only med that even halfway works is a benzo, I'm trapped on something that doesn't let me drink or smoke the devil's lettuce, which makes the parties I do have the spoons to get to a bit of a bummer, as I'm by default the sober person in the room.

Just defeated.

@roz

As someone who spite-watches entire shows that are deemed of cultural significance, my answer is usually so I have a well-informed counterpoint when someone interrogates me for not holding it in quite the same esteem!

That coupled with nothing better to do.

Since it's been brought up that this particular maker mostly focuses on female-presenting characters, there are a whole lot of others! (Bring your google translate.)

Sydney 95% of the time:

Sydney 5% of the time:

(I have no alts and wanted two pictures, too.)

I idle with screen activity flashes so that if someone catches me online and pokes me, I can have an option to respond.

I struggle with FOMO. A lot.

...And then I accidentally fall asleep with the game running and miss some invites and the cycle perpetuates.

@sunny said in 2021 E3 Hype:

Also excited about the Final Fantasy origins announcement; watching them take the franchise in yet another direction means that the whole line will benefit from whatever that game does. As a FFXXIV player I'm really excited for what that will do for us (much like the development of 15's party AI was).

Personally, I was more interested in the pixel-art-'improvement' rereleases, even if FF6 deserves an actual honest-to-god remake. But I am a total curmudgeon who has hated every Final Fantasy past 9 (Excepting FF14 ARR and expansions, but the MMOs don't really count for numbered franchise entries to me.)

3, hands-down. I appreciate the visual short-hand and dynamism that art can convey far more than 'Oh look, it's someone else who likes Benedict Cumberbatch.'

Off the top of my head:

Aggretsuko - The comedic chronicles of an intensely overworked red panda being grist for the mill of Japanese Office Culture. The only way she gets through it is by screaming her heart out at karaoke because she's secretly a deathmetal enthusiast.

Black Lagoon - A band of mercenaries who work for the highest bidder. There's a bunch of dudes, but Revy Two-Hands absolutely steals the entire show and makes it her own.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Or just the movie. Cyberpunky setting, and I shamefully haven't watched it yet, but everyone tells me it's great and I believe them.

Recovery Of An MMO Junkie - An MMO Junkie... attempts to not be so addicted to MMOs. She does this by gradually meeting up with people she meets online. Relatable.

Shirobako - A group of friends all vow to break into the anime industry, as writers, producers, voice actresses, and artists. Success is not guaranteed. Hard work, and good sneak peek of the industry, with some obvious artistic license to not show as much of the dismal wages.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - Two sets of friends who are dating one another, all of whom are geeks in their own right. Hard core gamer, anime-addict, Slash Fanfiction author/fanatic, a smattering of cosplay. Adults having adult relationships and hanging out with adults.

@macha

My horse is low. There is no tone on the internet. Sorry if it came off that way. I was intending, 'Hey, I know what you mean, having had such a voice. But try to keep that voice small.'

Certainly not an attack or lording over you.

The internet sucks.

@silverfox

With all respect, I don't feel the need to split hairs about it, and don't wish to, so I won't.

@macha

Honestly, this is just one of those things where you don't know until you know, and then you wish you didn't know.

I'm addicted to anxiety medication. I don't abuse it, but I can't quit it. I tried to taper off for like 6 months, and was left such a shivering, awful mess of a human being that I had to go back on, and I despise every minute of it. If my supply were cut off, I'd find ways to not feel the way I had to feel in withdrawal.

Prior to this? I felt a bit like you. Mostly getting it, but with that tiny voice of judgey-judgey.

Now I get it. I wish I didn't.

I would encourage you to attempt to empathize without ever having to relate. As much as it's improved my worldview to see how this shit really isn't someone's fault, or a failure or being weak-willed, I wish I didn't find out this way.