Baka_Taku's Blog

Anime Relations: Zero no Tsukaima, Sword Art Online, Hataraku Maou-sama!, No Game No Life, Sword Art Online II, Overlord, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, Re:Creators, Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari, Sword Art Online: Alicization, Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken, Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?, Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta..., Shinchou Yuusha: Kono Yuusha ga Ore Tueee Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru, Itai no wa Iya nanode Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu., Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season, Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld, Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou., Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season Part 2, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Part 2, Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... X, Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru, Isekai Ojisan

Konichiwa Miina-san, Baka_Taku here. When you're a newbie towards anime, chances are that you mistook normal genres like Comedy, Romance, Horror, Action etc as genres in anime. It was much later that we realized that Anime has its own set of genres based on Demographics and Theme of the show itself, and the traditional genres such as Comedy, Romance, Horror, Action etc serve as sub-genres. The genres set in anime helps in distinguishing viewers much better than it does in traditional genres in my opinion and I happen to love one of those particular genres. In today's weekly blog, I'll talk about that particular genre, my introduction and journey towards it and why it became my favorite genre. I'll talk about Isekai genre in Anime, Manga, LN and much more.

Isekai is my most favorite genre. It falls in #1 among my top 3 genres with the other two being Shonen and Shojou respectively. But why is that so? And how did I start my journey towards it? If you read my Weekly Blog #2, you know that my official journey towards anime began with SAO. Little did I know that SAO was an Isekai Anime. I didn't even knew the existence of Isekai or Shonen or any other genres, I was a complete newbie. I was watching SAO out of curiosity and fell in love with the premise. For some reason, it felt like a dream world to me where my strengths and skills can be calculated and I can do cool moves and fight monsters. I liked video games and SAO showed me a life inside a video game world. But that was the only Isekai anime that I have watched during that time. As you know that I was a newbie and I was surfing through genres until I got stuck in Naruto because of the long episodes, then for some reasons I had to take a huge break. So, pretty much that was my only Isekai experience for the time being until I restarted my track with JJK.

In my Weekly Blog #5, I mentioned how I restarted my journey to anime with JJK. After finishing it, I was in dump. I didn't knew where to go from there or what to watch until Re:Zero came in front of my suggestion list. Once again, out of curiosity, I tried it. I found it repulsing at first because once again I was new to the Isekai genre and when I saw the MC's reaction to being transported to another world, I thought to myself, "Is that how you react when you are transported to another world?" and that was just the first episode. Once the first episode ended, I found myself hooked. Probably not because it was taking place in another world, probably because the story featured time-loop and I kinda liked those types of story. I was even introduced to my waifu Rem. Once I finished the anime, I went to the internet to see the possibility of Season 3 (knowing that animes take a huge amount of time releasing follow up seasons and I wanted to see my waifu wake up), that's when I found the term, "Isekai". I dug deep and found a whole new set of genres just for Animes. After reading it, I realized that Alice in Borderland manga was an Isekai Genre.

Suddenly I found myself hooked to the Isekai genre itself. I found myself watching Cautious Hero, Devil is a Part-Timer, My Next Life as a Villainess, Konosuba, Shield Hero, Tensura, No Game No Life and so on. I was hooked to the genre known as Isekai and I didn't even realized it. Majority of credit goes to Gigguk-san who is also known as the Isekai Man in the Anime Community. Who knew that the guy who made "Anime in 5 mins" skits would be major factor in my journey towards Isekai. In fact apart from Cautious Hero, Villainess and No Game No Life; majority of shows I mentioned after I got hooked to the genre were suggested from his channel. Heck, my MAL account has more Isekai PTW than any other anime. So that begs the question, why is it my favorite genre?

If we were to see the core aspect of the genre in general, we see a loner, friendless otaku who is bullied in the real world and finds himself transported in a world where not only is he strong but he is also beloved. If we take just that, then it sums up to one thing and that is escapism. We all know that the real world is not all Sunshine and Rainbows and sometimes we have to face the harsh realities. Maybe we didn't go to our dream school, didn't get a chance to our dream university, didn't get our dream subject, didn't get our dream job or in general we couldn't achieve our dreams at all. And at times like this we wish we were born in a world where we wouldn't have to worry about something like this and be free and that's basically what Isekai offers us. Isekai Anime, Manga and LN speaks to us through the eyes of those characters who are more or less just like us and got transported to another world. We see them transition from their miserable lives to achieving things that nobody else could achieve in a lifetime and feel a sense of joy because we are in the shoes of that character and we can understand how they feel. And even though it is something that we can't have, at least we feel happy that someone like us got something better. Or maybe it's just me who thinks it that way.

The second reason why Isekai anime is my favorite genre is probably because it's ever evolving. When Isekai first began it's main theme was that characters must find a way back to their original world, but with SAO the theme changed to the misunderstood Otaku who is powerful in another world. Basically the power fantasy that defined Isekai genre as a whole. With time it shifted from that aspect to a series of experiments. Such as: What do you get if instead of protagonist travelling to another world, they come to our world? We get "The Devil is a Part-Timer" and "Re:Creators". What do we get if the protagonists are the villain of the story? "Overlord" (yet to watch) and "My Next Life as a Villainess". What do we get if the protagonist didn't become a handsome buff guy that every girls will fall for? "That time I got reincarnated as a Slime" and "So I'm a Spider. So What?" (wondering if I should watch it). My journey towards Isekai began at that particular time or maybe much later when they were at the final stage of experimenting. Even now they are experimenting. Re:Zero, an Isekai anime with the exclusion of OP Protagonists and with a bit of "Groundhog Day" on the side. Konosuba, an Isekai Sitcom. World's Finest Assassin, what if John Wick got Isekaied instead. These are not my words, these are the words of Gigguk-san. By doing so, they keep the genre fresh and don't give us the same treatment that we get from other genres. One particular example is Mecha Anime, the anime that defined Anime before I was born die out because of lack of creativity. Isekai on the other hand saturates and over-saturates its tropes to give us fresh tastes in every form.

Another reason for my love for Isekai is maybe for their titles. A big credit for this probably goes to Familiar of Zero (I have yet to watch it), which was pioneer to the use of WN and LN for adaptation of anime rather than the use of mangas. And often to capture the audiences attention to the WN in certain websites, they use over the top titles that basically gives the story of the novel itself. Such as, "That time I got reincarnated as a Slime", "Bofuri: I don't want to get hurt, so I'll max out my Defenses", "So I'm a Spider. So What?", "The Devil is a Part Timer". Even shows that aren't Isekai use the same title format. The best example is "Higehiro: After I got rejected, I shaved and took in a Highschool Runaway". So what's the point of using such absurd title format? Don't they make the audience feel repulsed? Yes they do, but not the ones who watch anime. I remember avoiding some of the mentioned animes because of their titles only to change my opinion after watching it. So, why they do it? Why not just use a simple creative title and describe the plot in the description box. Well, according to the Anime Man, the site is more like a forum site where they just display the title, so often to grab the attention of their audience, they write the plot in the title section. Once the WN gets popular, they go into LN production to expand the number of readers and then manga and then anime. Sometimes when they make anime, they just can't change the title into something small because there are abundance of titles like the ones I have mentioned above, so they just keep it that way. The same goes for it when it gets aired overseas, they can't change the title because there are abundance of it, so they keep as it is. But they came up with some unique ideas of their own to make the titles more interesting. The best example is Re:Zero, it's full original title is Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu which translates into Re: Starting Life in Another World from Zero. But people around the world knows it as Re:Zero, so they just jumbled a few words and sold it as Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World, which is more or less the same title with the same meaning. Only one is literal and one is for show.

Even though the above reasons describes in detail as to why I consider Isekai to be my favorite genre, it does not do justice. I remember watching two episodes from Re:Zero Season 2 that gave me an insight as to how victims of mental health feel and the reality of people with suicidal tendencies. One was where Subaru finally able to spoke about the trauma he endured because of his time-loop ability and the other where he realized that him dying doesn't always help because that botched timeline will still go on without him. I saw Isekai genre pull an Uno Reverse card on their protagonist and make their lives miserable as opposed to great in the form of Shield Hero. I saw and Isekai Anime making me laugh at a characters bad luck in the form of Konosuba. Even now, I'm excited for Isekai Ojisan, which tells the story of a young boy dealing with his uncle who woke up from his coma and who may or may not have been Isekaied while he was comatose. I'll just quote Gigguk-san on this one, "Isekai Doesn't Die. It just reincarnates into another show."

With that, I think I should bid my farewell. I should also mention that I may not be able to write my next blog in next coming week as my exam is drawing near and I have to give it my all. But when I will write it, I'll either describe why I like Shonen Genre like majority of the Demographics or I will describe my journey towards Mangas and Light Novels. But we'll see about that when the time comes. Till then Sayonara!

Anime Relations: Naruto, Tonari no Totoro, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch, Naruto: Shippuuden, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2, Shingeki no Kyojin, Tokyo Ghoul, Berserk, Eromanga-sensei, Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen, Jujutsu Kaisen

Konichiwa Miina-san, Baka Taku here. Ramadan Mubarak to you all. Since yesterday, the month of Ramadan began. And to those who have no idea what Ramadan is, it is the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar consisting of prayer, fasting, self reflection and perseverance. Mainly, we starve and thirst ourselves for the next 30 days from dawn to dusk and offer Salat to Allah, all while reflecting on our actions throughout the year and asking for forgiveness for any sins we have committed. It is also noteworthy that during the month of Ramadan, we are forbidden from Speaking any Evil, Hearing any Evil, Seeing any Evil and Doing any Evil. Which also includes, "No Cultured Media" for a month. So yeah, you could say the No Nut November took inspirations from us. But I didn't promise you a blog lecturing you about the month of Ramadan. No! I promised you a blog describing my experience to the first Con I ever attended. So without further ado, HAJIME!!!

It was somewhere on October. Probably the beginning of October. I was going through my usual life of going to school, studying, eating, watching anime and so on. During one of those times a thought came into my mind, a lot of conventions such as ComicCon take place around the world and even Bangladesh has their own version of ComicCon, so is there a similar convention but anime themed? With that in mind, I googled, "Anime Con in Bangladesh." That took me to a Facebook page of AnimeCon that was set on 19 November 2021. I was interested. I saw the ticket costed 200 for regular and 300 for premium, with the money I had in my savings, I bought the premium ticket and set my reminder as "Going," instead of interested. But one thing I knew was that when you're going to such events, you have to go with a friend or a group, but my life was like in the early stages of an Isekai Anime Protagonist, i.e. Loner and Friendless. I still tried though with people I was in good terms with, but all of them had exams because they were a grade below me. So with a heavy heart, I made the decision to go this voyage alone. And I did.

I still had about 29 days or so before going. So I asked my middle brother who not only had a huge experience in the Otakuhood but also in terms of conventions. He told me how much money is spent on convention (minus the ticket price) i.e., 3000 to 5000 taka and I decided to save as much as I could. I also got a bit from my mother and my elder brother as well. With that, I got the total amount of 2500 taka to spend. With that, I was waiting for the D-day to arrive.

The AnimeCon took place in Tokyo Square of Japan City Garden (it's a place in Dhaka, not the actual Tokyo, Japan. I can't afford that much). Prior to that, I had walked from my college (high school) to the designated location after checking the directions on Google Maps. So I had the location and direction to the destination mapped out. I only took a change of clothes, towel and 1 liter bottle of water with me along with 2500 taka worth of cash and set out on my journey. When I was on the road, there were times I thought that I was lost, but I carried on. I was also a bit bummed out of the fact that I didn't have a smartphone, meaning I couldn't take pictures or have great moments saved up. But that all went away once I came to the AnimeCon's location.

I arrived at the Tokyo Square's parking lot where there lot of otakus such as myself (maybe more than me) and all of them were in groups. I wanted to ask someone a few questions but I was intimidated by the numbers they had along with them, but despite that I found someone who was present there alone just like me. He was in the Eren Yeager Cosplay and we instantly clicked. For privacy reasons I won't tell you his name, but he has a MAL Account under the name: SlakedLime. The moment the doors to the convention opened up, both of us followed suit. We thought we were going in the right direction, but little did we know, we followed the group of guys that diverged from the actual path and went to the back entrance of the Anime Con. The volunteers present there closed the doors behind us to prevent any further wrong entry of the attendees and sent us back to the entrance so that we could come in again with the ticket in hand. It could have been worse. Once we cleared up the whole back entrance debacle we went inside the Con which was still being prepared. Regardless, not even 5 mins since we entered, Cosplayers and regulars were taking pictures with each other. Many people approached SlakedLime and took pictures with even when we were going from one stall to another. We took out seats and placed our bags there to make sure to everyone present that it was taken. Then both of us went our own ways to check the stalls, I didn't have enough cash to spend on all the goodies present in each stalls, yet I manged to get a few and save more than enough money on my part. I got a Kakashi and Gojo still picture plastered on a glass, a Gojo Satoru Keychain, a Tokyo Ghoul and Minato Namikaze badges and a Death Note themed Notebook. Of all of it, I attached the badges and the keychain on my bag as a sign of proud Otaku, but sadly as of recently I lost my Tokyo Ghoul Badge and Gojo Keychain, both of which disappeared during my daily commute to my Karate Practice (Yes, I practice Wado-Ryu Karate). RIP Kaneki and Gojo, wherever you are. Now, back to the story. The event began as soon as I was done with my shopping spree. I managed to get a flyer from one of the stalls to see what were going take place in the convention at what time. There were Karaoke Performance, Screening of My Neighbour Totoro, Cosplay Performance, Dance Performance, Music Band Performance and so on. They also had a lot of things planned but due to the venue and mismanagement, they couldn't do all of it.

I wanted to take part in the Karaoke performance, but I guess I missed the time at which I could register my name. Still I enjoyed people singing intros and outros to their favorite animes. I should mention that the first song for the Karaoke performance began with the Opening theme of Pokemon (the English Dub version), everybody was on fire that day. After Karaoke we had the screening of My Neighbor Totoro. The volunteers told us to not video it with our phone, or else we'll receive a lifetime ban. Lucky for me, I had no phone. By the time the screening ended, the AnimeCon invited their Chief Guest, a consulate from Japan. I was wondering what he thought about us and people of Bangladesh, because the area was littered with food and leftovers. By the time the cosplay performance came, a huge crowd formed to the point that many of us had to stand up just to get a good view. The volunteer even scolded all of us to sit down, but that fell on deaf ears because there was no place left for anyone to sit down. The cosplay performance included Guts, Griffith, Lelouch Vi Brittania, Hinata Hyuga, The Child Doll from Squid Game, Nezuko-chan (2 of them) and Tanjiro, Chika Fujiwara (with her performing the Chika Dance as well), Saigiri along with SlakedLime's Eren Yeager and much more. I also managed to snag a few pics with some of them including the Japanese Consulate who was cosplaying as Tanjiro thanks to SlakedLime. I wish I could show you the pictures, but sadly I don't know how to upload pictures here. Once the prize giving ceremony was done, I decided to leave. I might have left early, but I wanted to see if SlakedLime won any prizes, sadly he didn't but his cosplay was amazing. When the prize giving ceremony was done, the Chief Guest, the Japanese Consulate dressed as Tanjiro and took pictures with everyone who was willing to take picture with him. I was also one of them (if only I could show you the picture). He then gave a speech where he described us Otakus as the bridge that connects Japan with Bangladesh. Was it cheezy? Yes. Did it feel good? YES!!!

I was nervous as hell when the date of the Con was arriving. Not just because it was my first Con ever or that I was going alone. But it was also because I would come across faces I didn't wished to see but had no choice but to cross paths with them because we shared the same tastes. They were the reasons I got into anime, yet they were also the ones who had left me with a bitter tastes towards friendship. There was also another person whom I had a crush on but had her creeped out and ruined my own image in front of her. n short, there were people I wished to not cross paths with. I didn't wanted to come across any of them and only managed to come in front of one of them (luckily it was not my ex-crush). But despite all that, despite all the crowding and mismanagement, I enjoyed my first con ever. And I can't completely blame them because it was their first con since the COVD-19 Pandemic, and neither did they expect such a huge crowd. When they saw the number of people who bought their tickets, they tried to get the hall right next to the one they held in so that they could handle the crowd but alas, they couldn't. So, they promised that the next time they will hold another Con, they'll do it in a bigger location. And they did it this year as they will be holding in ICCB (International Convention Centre of Bashundhara) of May 20. But sadly, I have to call it quits on this one because I have to prepare for my University Admission Test. But I hope that I can attend the next one they will hold next year and if possible, I will cosplay as a certain Isekai Anime Edgelord Protagonist (Iwatani Naofumi) and if possible, snag a prize for myself. In Sha Allah.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my blog. It was a long one and took a while to write. I'm thinking about having all my blogs pre-witten so that I do not have to go to the hassle of writing it on Monday itself and save myself some time. In this way you could look forward to my blogs within a certain time of a certain day. Do give me your feedbacks and tell me how to improve my blogs so that it could cater to your needs as well. Next time on my weekly blog, I will talk about my favorite Anime Genre that ranks #1 in my PTW, and that is Isekai. Till then, Sayonara!

Anime Relations: Bleach, Death Note, Tokyo Ravens, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2nd Season, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, Masamune-kun no Revenge, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season, Jujutsu Kaisen, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Part 2, Tokyo Revengers, Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru

Konichiwa Miina-san, Baka Taku here. If you read my previous blog (Weekly Blog #2 and #4), there I have mentioned how I took a big break from anime until I decided to jump back in with a bang. Today, I'm going to describe how and why I decided to jump back into the anime train after a huge break and what factors rode into this resurgence of mine. Soredewa, HAJIME!!!

The story begins on 12 June 2021. It's was the birthday of my longest BFF. He was not an otaku nor a nerd like I am, but he had a few friends who were and I had the privilege to meet them there. For the first time in my life I played the Japanese Playlist (consisting of anime songs) I had on somewhere other than my own home and we talked about anime and other related stuffs. I told them that I was on a break since my SSC (Equivalent to Japanese Junior School and High School Year combined), which was still ongoing due to my HSC (Equivalent to Japanese High School Year). And they suggested me to watch Jujutsu Kaisen if I ever decide to break free from the break.

After a month since then I was scrolling through Netflix (when we had our family account) and as always I was suggested with anime titles on Netflix which I initially used to avoid because they weren't on dubs (Baka!). But when I saw the title of Jujutsu Kaisen, I thought to myself, "I had been an HSC Candidate for about three years. And nothing has happened since then. So why not I give it a try." And Boy! Did I made the right call. The arts, the visuals, the fight scenes made me love anime all over again and I would often binge watch it way past my allotted TV time and would always be scolded for it. After JJK ended, I decided to watch ReZero, the show that introduced me to and made me love Isekai. But that's a story for another time. Then I watched Assassination Classroom on Muse Asia YouTube Channel and kept on going. With this, I watched 25 animes in 2021 alone, which may not be a big deal for a lot of people but for me it was. I even went to my first ever AnimeCon on that same year. Which is also a story for another time. I thought my anime train would go smoothly without any worries but boy I was wrong. Here's the thing about trains, the journey does not depend on the train but on the track itself. And if the track it self is under maintenance, then you have to stop and wait for a while or take the risk of being derailed.

I thought in 2022 I would bereak my record of watching anime and I decided to start with the World's Finest Assassin followed by Tokyo Revengers. But I underestimated the difficulty of Admission Test Phase (Which equvalent to Japanese University Entrance Exams). And with my family struggling financially and wishing for me to study in a Public University (which is Government Funded) rather than a Private University (which is Corporate Funded and more expensive than Public), I had to put down anime once again. Unlike last time, I have no intention to put it in ice like last time. I will bide my time and wait for new episodes to arrive and gather so that I can binge watch them, I am also reading several mangas, manhwas and webnovel as well. And I hope some of you could suggest me some webnovels.

Even if it was for a brief moment, I enjoyed my rejuvinated Otaku Phase, and a number of factors came into play to make that happen. First was that I had watched a few animes in the previous year as well which included Masamune-kun no Revenge, Tokyo Ravens, Death Note and Bleach (upto Soul Society Arc) they may not be as much as the 25 animes I have seen in 2021, but they led the foundation of my resurgence towards anime. Second was my long going HSC phase. Even though I said that our HSC phase is equivalent to Japanese High School Year, it different in so many ways. Unlike Japanese Middle School and High School where you have to spend 3 years in it each, we have to spend 3 years in JSC, 2 years in SSC and 1 and a half year in HSC. But due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, my HSC Candidate Tag stuck with me for about 3 years and by then I was as well. Our syllabus was shortened and finished and we were repeating the same studies over and over again, so this boredom led me to go towards anime again and seek solace from there. Even with all the obstacles ahead of me, I believe it is wise for me to put down anime for a while and focus on my studies, because (a) I can come back to it, (b) I rewatch my previously seen episodes to rewatch my favorite moments and (c) I still have my manga lists to keep me company while anime is placed in hiatus yet again. And I do plan on jumping back in again and binging it to the point that I become labelled as an Isekai Anime Protagonist. But till then, I should focus on what's important right now.

With that said, I have to give my farewell. But before I do, I'd like to give a special mention to a friend of mine: Hirako179. She read my first blog and with her feedback, I decided to make it a weekly thing. She resides in Ukraine, and if you are upto date on what's going there, then please pray for her safety. Secondly, look forward to 04/04/2022, because from then on, I will start a new journey with my weekly blog. If you've read my previous blogs, then upto the one that you've read till now are the detailed breakdown on what I wrote in my first two blogs. Honestly, even I was bored writing the same thing over and over again, but the I followed the plan I laid out myself. And according to my plan, I decided to continue on with my first AnimeCon Experience. Lastly, do give me some feedback (Constructive Criticism, not Destructive one) and let me know what I can do in my blogs to improve your reading experience just like Hirako did and be sure to share it with your friends. That will help. Well then, hope you enjoyed my blog. Look forward to reading another one next week. Till then, Sayonara!

Anime Relations: Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, Naruto: Shippuuden, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Sword Art Online, Tokyo Ravens, Sword Art Online II, Masamune-kun no Revenge

Konichiwa Miina-san, Baka Taku here. I'll try to keep this blog of mine short this time and talk about a topic that I have mentioned twice in my previous blogs. It's about how and why I took a huge break from Anime.

It was probably after my JSC (look at my previous blogs to know what JSC is) my break from anime began (or maybe later than that). My laptop was sold and many animes that I have yet to watch were deleted because I didn't want to delete all the animes that I have downloaded and spent time watching and loving every scene of it. I tried to keep the flame of anime alive by re-watching the few moments that I have downloaded or by listening to OST of the animes that I have watched (mainly SAO, FMAB, Naruto and its sequels). But these things can only work so far. As time went on, the flame of anime became weak and I went back into watching American TV Shows, Hindi Movies and some Movies and TV Shows that come up on TV Channel. Then my brother got a Netflix Account. At first we could just access it from just his PC, and so, we didn't access it at all. That didn't meant we couldn't watch anything. He would often offer us to watch something with him on Netflix and we would take up on the offer. If we suggested to watch something, he would take it and if he liked it, then all the more better. About a year later, we got ourselves a Smart TV and there was an option to install Netflix and we did. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I watched almost all the big-name Netflix Shows including Stranger Things, Money Heist and much more.

One day, my other brother who lives apart from us came into town and suggested us to watch Alice in Borderland (the Netflix Show, not the OVA). I was active on Social Media and so I knew what he meant. We watched the first episode and we enjoyed it. Then he told me that AiB was originally a manga which had an anime adaptation but it didn't do so well, so I became more interested. Suffice it to say, Alice in Borderland was the first manga that I read. But that's a story for another time. Netflix did offered me to watch anime but I didn't took that much of a step. But I did watch a couple of animes on YouTube. Mainly, Masamune-kun no Revenge and Tokyo Ravens because I watched some of its funny clips on YouTube as well. I did decide to watch Death Note but I was kinda bummed that they only offered in subs (PUT YOUR PITCHFORKS DOWN!!! I'm about to explain why) because I watched the first three episodes on dubs. Regardless, I continued it because the story was engaging. And as much as I hate Light and his actions, I watched it till the end and I won't re-watch it in dubs because it's an amazing anime that you can only watch once and I don't want to suffer heart problems by re-watching it. After that I started Bleach. After watching the first episode in dubs, I realized they offered it in dubs and so I watched it in dubs. I didn't like the Substitute Soul Reaper Arc and enjoyed the Soul Society Arc. But I was bummed at the fact that after that, they didn't offer it in dubs (I know! I KNOW! BOKU WA BAKA DESU!!!). But now that the 1000 Years Blood War Arc is coming, I'm planning to re-watch from first episode on subs. My official resurgence towards anime began on 12 June 2021, but that's a story for another time.

It was tough at first going on without anime. But as time went by I became used to it to the point that I thought maybe I don't need anime at all. I am not wrong but I am not right either. We can watch whatever we want and we can enjoy whatever we want. Sometimes we need to stay grounded to reality as well and realize that there is a world out there besides anime. I'm not telling anyone to forsake it nor am I telling anyone to leave it. I'm saying that we should learn to appreciate the real world along with the anime world no matter how painful it may be. Because at the end of the day, we're all Otakus but we're also humans. This is Baka Taku signing off. Sayonara!

Anime Relations: Naruto, Naruto Movie 1: Dai Katsugeki!! Yuki Hime Shinobu Houjou Dattebayo!, Naruto Movie 2: Dai Gekitotsu! Maboroshi no Chiteiiseki Dattebayo!, Naruto: Shippuuden, Naruto Movie 3: Dai Koufun! Mikazuki Jima no Animaru Panic Dattebayo!, Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 1, Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 2 - Kizuna, Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 3 - Hi no Ishi wo Tsugu Mono, Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 4 - The Lost Tower, Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 5 - Blood Prison, Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 6 - Road to Ninja, The Last: Naruto the Movie, Boruto: Naruto the Movie

If you guys read my previous weekly blog, there I mentioned how first watched Naruto under the pretense that it was a cartoon. Then how I ended up watching it until I had to keep it on hold. Today I'll describe my journey of watching the first of the Big Three of Anime, Naruto.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog, when I first watched Naruto, I watched a few episodes of the Chunin Exams Arc. And it was not on my own house because our TV was sold off. It was in the house of one of my mom's friend that lived close to us. I remember watching at least three different episodes of the Chunin Exams Arc. The first was where Sakura was beat down by the Sound Village Ninjas, second was when Neji fought Hinata and third was when Guy was mourning Lee's fate after his fight with Gaara. I was still a kid and I had nothing to watch except for shows on Cartoon Network, so there's that.

I officially started to watch Naruto as anime after I watched a couple of AMVs and Watchmojo's Top 10 list regarding Naruto. By then I had watched SAO, Tokyo Ghoul and AOT first season. So, I was interested. So, I asked an otaku friend of mine, "How many seasons of Naruto are there?" Keep in mind, I had just started to watch anime and the ones I've watched were all seasonal animes. So, it was pretty common for me to ask this question. However, my otaku friend was not alone. He was accompanied by a toxic otaku friend of his with whom he had been friends with longer than me. So, when he heard me ask that, he gave a look of disgust and had insulted me. It was really embarrassing considering that I haven't watched an anime with continuous rate of episodes. And that it was my first time watching one of the Big Three's. Regardless, I downloaded and started watching. On my first night, I watched over 20 episodes and skipped out on my coaching classes (which is similar to tuition in Japan). I enjoyed every moment of Naruto and once I took several episodes that I have yet to watch on a pen-drive when my mom and me were visiting my aunt's home. However, I had an accident with my mom on our way back. She broke her femur in three places and I got off scraping a huge chunk of skin on my right arm and leg on the pavement. Funnily enough, before we had the accident I was playing the Naruto Theme in my head on our way back.

I had to wait for my recovery for two months. I was at my aunt's home recovering because my mom was at the hospital suffering the broken leg and my brother was there beside her. I couldn't watch any episodes there because doctor had advised me to stay on bed rest and stay still to recover. And the room I was in didn't had any TV or computer where I could play the Naruto Episode in my pen-drive. But then my aunt and her family had to go because another one of my relatives suffered a heart attack back at my mom's hometown and they had to rush to go there. They didn't want to leave me alone, so a friend of my brother volunteered to let me stay at his home so that I can recover. His room had two computers, so I could borrow one to watch Naruto there and I did. I finished upto the 3rd arc until I had to move back to my home. My brother managed to make some arrangements so that I could stay at home. My relatives and he would take turns at looking out for my mom at the hospital and he would have some of my friends look after me at home. He left me with his laptop where I would download and watch Naruto episodes one after the other until I finished the entirety of the Naruto. All 220 episodes including the filler arc.

By the time I finished the Kazekage Rescue Mission Arc, I had fully recovered and my mom was back home and was recovering with physical therapy. I had also given my JSC exams (Equivalent to promotion to High School from Junior High) but there were many problems. The laptop I used to watch on was being sold off. So, I had to move a lot of my anime into my bhaia's PC. And if you read my previous blog, I had to delete several animes that I had yet to watch. It was painful but I sill managed to do it because life is not Daijobou. Even though it may sound contradictory, my anime viewing was not put on hold because of just selling of my laptop. Before my laptop was sold off, I watched all of the aired Naruto Shippuden episodes (upto 361) and since I watched dubbed episodes, I wasn't at all prepared for the jump to subs. But I did happen to watch a few subbed episodes that were being livestreamed on YouTube (mainly from Sauke Shinden to Naru Hina Wedding. And I was dissapointed that Kakashi Shinden was not animated. It would have been nice to see Kakashi Struggle with the Hokage Post after the loss of his Sharingan). After watching FMA Brotherhood on my brother's PC, I continued my Naruto Spree by watching its movies. I had already watched The Last - Naruto The Movie while I was recovering, so I only had to watch 10 other films (including Boruto) and of them Naruto Shippuden Movie 3 - The Will of Fire and The Last - Naruto The Movie were my favorites.

For a brief moment I watched a few episodes of Naruto by using the Crunchyroll's free account. But the sudden jump to subs after watching 581 (Naruto + Naruto Shippuden) episodes on dubs didn't help with viewing experience along with the ads that came with Crunchyroll's free account. But now that I am back on track with my Otakuhood, I plan on finishing the Dubs, then redoing with Subs and not bothering to watch Boruto. I'd prefer to read the manga instead.

Konichiwa Miina-san. How are you? If you read my previous blog, there I mentioned the first anime I have ever watched and animes that I had watched under the pretense of cartoons. I mentioned a lot of anime there including Pokemon, Beyblade, Dragon Ball, Kiteretsu, Perman, Ninja Hattori and so on. But I forgot to mention three animes there back in my previous blog which were a part of my journey towards Otakuhood. They were Naruto, Atashin'chi and Hagemaru. Probably because I forgot about them (and the fact that I only watched two or three episodes of the Chunin Exam Arc and was too young to understand it), and for that I apologise. With that out of the way, I can continue to describe my entry into the world of anime, manga and otaku. More specifically, my official entry where I didn't see them as cartoons but much more.

A big credit for my journey towards Otakuhood goes to my middle brother. Due to circumstances we had to live apart, so when I would come to visit he would often have me play games with him on the computer. He first introduced me to anime through Animax. It was a channel where anime was broadcasted instead of the usual soap dramas back in Bangladesh or India, and the weebs loved it. There he showed me two episodes of Fairy Tail (where Natsu fights a Metal Dragonborn), the final episode of Black Butler and probably the final episode of Yu Yu Hakusho because I only remember the Spirit Gun and the funny sidekick with the red hair. However, I was still too young to even get into Anime and I preferred American Cartoons over them (BAKA!!!). Then my older brother began to study about FTDM (Film Television and Digital Media) and his subjects also included Anime, so from the suggestion of his friend, he downloaded three episodes of Death Note and one episdoe of FMAB. After hearing about Death Note from a few otakus in my class I mentioned it to my bhaia (that's Oni-chan or Nii-san for us Bengalis), and we started watching it. We ended the three episodes and my brother was impressed but I was still too young to grasp it. But if you think this was baka of me, then wait till you see what I did. The otakus in my class talked so much about anime that I couldn't even got on the same wavelength as them because I began too watch some American TV Shows. And when they told me to start watching anime, I accidentally blurted out that I don't like anime (BAKA!!!). When they asked which anime I didn't like, I accidentally said Death Note (BAKA!!! BAKA!!! BAKA!!! BOKU WA BAKA DESU!!!). Suffice it to say I was shunned by all of them until I spoke the truth. So, ever since then I learnt an important lesson: If you're not interested, then don't watch it; but most importantly, don't lie about it. If you're wondering what happened to the one episode of FMAB, I watched it but I was still too young to walk the path (baka *facepalm*). However it all changed with one anime, just one. And ever since then I continued to walk the path of Otakuhood. It is an anime that has its fair-share of lovers and haters and is considered as the biggest contributor to the genre it was under and the pioneer of VRMMO genre. I'm talking about SAO.

So, the story went like this. Every month, I would listen to them talking about each anime one by one and they also talked about a certain anime (that was not SAO). One of those otakus that was in my class was also with me during coaching classes (which is tuition in anime) and I saw a picture of Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul on his phone wallpaper. I asked him about it, he explained it to me and we decided to have an exchange of tastes. Our deal was we would give each other a show from our own liking (American TV from me and Anime from him). I decided to give him and entire first season of Doctor Who while he would give me the entire first season of of Tokyo Ghoul. However, midway through, he changed tthe deal and gave me SAO and only 12 episodes. I followed through with my deal and gave him the entire season of Doctor Who. I thought I will just watch two or three episodes but before I realized it, I watched 10/12 episodes the night he has given me and I remembered the details which I wouldn't have done if I wasn't interested. I was in love with the Isekai Genre before I knew their name. When I asked him after few days if he has seen my suggested show, he said that he deleted it because his phone didn't have enough memory (Shinei!!!), when I asked him to give me more episodes because I finished those 12 episodes, he told me to download it myself (Shinei!!!). I had to spend a few months (probably a year) before I learnt to download animes myself. And I downloaded all the seasons of SAO (season 1 and 2 from Aincrad Arc to Mother's Rosario), the entire FMAB, the old FMA, AOT (two seasons), Cowboy Bebop, Tokyo Ghoul (and its sequel root A), Code Geass (both seasons), Naruto and Naruto Shippuden (upto 361) along with all of their movies. However, all of them were dubs and sadly I couldn't watch all of them. The only ones I got to watch were SAO, FMAB, the first season of AOT, Tokyo Ghoul, Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. I dropped FMA after 45 episodes probably because I had already watched its much superior remake. I had to delete the rest because the laptop on which I used to watch was going to be sold and not all of my files were able to moved to my bhaia's PC. So, with a heavy heart, I said goodbyes to the animes I couldn't watch because I didn't wanted to delete the animes I spent a huge chunk of my time downloading and watching (even though I did delete Tokyo Ghoul and its sequel root A). So, it was more easier for me to delete the one I have yet to watch because I knew I could download them again. However, the links of the site from which I could download was gone when I got back into anime. Suffice it to say, my journey towards Otakuhood came to a halt after the removal of the laptop. Still I was able to watch FMAB again with my brother and made a list anime I will watch if I had the chance. I should also mention this was the phase where I only watched Dubbed Animes. If it wasn't Dubbed, then I was not interested (BAKA!!!). The middle brother with whom I lived apart due to circumstances did try to get me into it by showing me the AMV's of Kuroko no Basuke, but I was a Baka to not try the beauty that was Subs. That all changed with Netflix.

Somewhere in 2019, my brother got himself a Netflix account and made a separate family profile. I spent most my time at that account watching movies, TV shows Netflix originals such as Stranger Things and Money Heist. In 2020, I decided to check the anime options in Netflix and I started with Death Note. Mind you, I was still in my Dubs phase and couldn't enjoy Subs (BAKA!!!) and I decided to watch from episode 4 since I watched first three episodes long time ago. Even though my jump to subs from dubs was sudden and it was a bit painful for me, I still managed to enjoy Death Note. I hated Light, I loved L, I hated they killed L, I loved when they killed Light. After that I decided to watch Bleach. And I finished watching first episodes in subs until I realized that they offered Bleach in dubs as well. I happily changed it to dubs (BAKA!!!), I regretted my decision because after the Soul Society Arc, they offered it only in subs. on 12 June 2021, my best friend invited me to his birthday party where I met several of his Otaku friends who told me about JJK and I was still an HSC candidate (which is equivalent to the third year in Japanese High School), so I thought I will watch it after my HSC. But on July, I decided "fuck it" and I decided to watch it. It was on subs, but I didn't mind because it was not like I changed the method midway. By the time I finished it, I was back on board on the Anime Train and most importantly, I preferred subs (FINALLY!!!). On the last six months of 2021, I watched 25 Animes (not including Sequel Seasons or Movies) alone including JJK, ReZero, KonoSuba, Shield Hero, Arifureta, Bofuri, Horimiya, Assassination Classroom, Classroom of the Elite, The Devil is a Part-Timer, The Misfit at the Demon King Academy, Both seasons of Kaguya-Sama, Millionaire Detective, SAO Alicization (including War of the Underworld), Higehiro and Sakamoto Desu Ga. Among them my favorites were JJK, ReZero, KonoSuba, Shield Hero, Horimiya, Higehiro, Assassination Classroom and Kaguya-Sama.

Currently, I am unable to watch anime because I have to get into a good University. And I hope I do because once I do, I'll binge all the animes in my wishlist like crazy until I become labelled as an Isekai Anime Protagonist. So till then, wish me luck and Sayonara.