I am Yozora's air friend, Tomo-chan-kun. Or, well, maybe not. Tomo is actually a play on my name, Thomas, and some site said it's the Japanese version, but.. eh.. that's probably incorrect. Aside from having genius naming skills, I also have epic taste in everything.
Anyway, ironic self-glorification aside... If my taste somehow sparks your interest - and the first part didn't scare you away - feel free to hit me up. I'm always up for a discussion, and if you just want to send a simple friend request, that's fine too.
I made this account just to keep track of the anime I watched, but after a while, I noticed I enjoy putting my thoughts about series into words. So if you're interested in that, you can find it in the comments (beware, not the tags) on my list. The more eleborate reviews are often for sixes and lower, but I've also written small ones for all the others (everything in completed, on-hold and dropped).
My review of Meng Qi Shi Shen:
Promises to have an actual story in the beginning, but uses it only to set up romantic tension in an underwhelming way, and any feeling of danger fuzzes out after the first few episodes. Its cooking scenes look good, but the anime only has those sparingly, and a few are competitions with absolutely no tension. Nevertheless, the interactions are often pretty funny, and a few episodes have a fun, adventerous feeling to them.
6/10
And if you're interested in statistics, here's my Anime+
It's based on the MAL descriptions, but I took some artistic freedom with the following ones:
3/4/5 (very bad - bad - average) becomes (bad - weak - mediocre): Transitioning from bad to average is just laughable. I think 'average' is a vague and shitty word anyway, so I use mediocre instead. I'd say the jump from bad to mediocre is still too big, so I placed 'weak' in between.
8/9 (very good - great) becomes (great - excellent): I consider 'very good' and 'great' to be synonymous. In my opinion, the term 'excellent' does more justice to a 9, and I use the term 'great' for an 8 instead of a 9. Not that any of this matters, but I wanted to say it anyway.
10 (Masterpiece) - Something I fell in love with on a conceptual level. Nothing about it actively bothered me.
9 (Excellent) - Really spoke to me in some way, and was an amazing watch all the way through.
8 (Great) - Has many distinctive qualities, and is well worth a watch.
7 (Solid) - Very likeable show. Has its problems, or isn't that exceptional in the long run, but does well for the most part.
6 (Fine) - Doesn't really speak to me, or has major flaws, but is still enjoyable overall.
5 (Mediocre) - I don't actively regret watching it, but its shortcomings are abundant, and might have made me drop it partway through.
4 (Weak) - Has some redeeming qualities, but is fundamentally flawed. Just a tiresome watch, overall.
Remaining are votes I'll probably never give, since I'm fairly picky about what I start to watch... Let's describe them anyway!
3 (Bad) - Its positives are futile, and I dislike it quite heavily.
2 (Terrible) - I liked absolutely nothing about it, and was either annoyed or bored beyond belief. Probably both.
1 (Atrocious) - Like a 2, except it deserves to burn in hell.
I should note that I watch anime out of basically all genres, and have a few shows I love out of most of them. That said, my preference usually goes out to these genres: comedy, romance (without romcom clichés), music, adventure, supernatural, mystery and the godly genres known as psychological and thriller.
Next is a list of notable characters that stood out to me (sorted by the anime they are from).
This list is a mess in which given names and family names are incosistently ordered, because screw you lol
Ano Hi Mita Hana: Anaru (Anjou Naruko)
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu: Karma
Bakemonogatari: Oshino Meme
Boku dake ga Inai Machi: Fujinuma Sachiko
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Shiguma Rika
Chihayafuru: Mashima Taichi
Clannad: Nagisa Furukawa
Death Note: L & Light Yagami
Fate/stay night: Rin Toosaka
Gotoubun no Hanayome: Miku Nakano
K-On!: Ritsu Tainaka
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Chika Fujiwara (They're all amazing though)
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica: Akemi Homura
No Game No Life: Sora
One Punch Man: Tatsumaki
Ore Monogatari: Sunakawa Makoto
Re:Zero: Not actually one of my favourite characters, but Emilia is best girl and your opinion is wrong lol
Seishun Buta Yarou: Sakuta Azusagawa
Servamp: Hyde (Lawless)
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Igawa Emi
Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho: Hinata Miyake
Soul Eater: Death the Kid
Steins;Gate: Okabe Rintarou & Makise Kurisu
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu / Shoushitsu: Yuki Nagato
Toradora: Minori Kushieda
Yuru Camp△: Nadeshiko Kagamihara
I also have a playlist of my favourite anime songs. These are my top picks from that playlist:
Kalafina - Magia (Madoka Magica ED)
Fukashigi no Carte (Seishun Buta Yarou ED)
Aimer - I beg you (Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel II ED)
Nightmare - The World (Death Note OP)
Galileo Galilei - Aoi Shiori (Ano Hi Mita Hana OP)
Minami - Kawaki wo Ameku (Domestic na Kanojo OP)
supercell - Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari (Bakemonogatari ED)
I'd also rather find something new that I could possibly like, but I seem to keep a ratio of new watches versus rewatches, so while exploring some new shows, I also relive some old ones that I liked XD
Well yeah, if you want to consider the movies and stuff I've watched also, you'd have to add the statistics of my other account too XD
I generally value rewatches quite a lot; be it in anime or movies or anything, really. If I enjoy something or have a particular opinion on something, watching it again helps me pick up on details that I might have missed the first time around. I know not many people rewatch stuff, but I don't mind at all XD I even rewatched stuff from the very beginning, even when I only had like 10 shows completed.
Also, the MAL stats counting days don't consider time spent on rewatches and neither does the episodes count XD So the statistics aren't 100% accurate, but it is clear by the fact that I separate my shows and movies with a different account that I'm not just chasing after statistics XD There's more to being an anime fan than how much you've seen.
Oh well, updating my comments must be done though, so I'm just going to have to remember vaguely when I watched which shows XD Not that it really matters that much.
Eventually I will have rewatched almost anything currently on my list anyway XD
Would me changing my comment count as an update to the series? Because I do that quite regularly, so my other "last updated" might not be accurate if that is the case :(
I'm on board with that cold sweat emoji request XD
Well, the binge-watched shows vary in genre, one that comes to mind is Re:Zero, we watched it in a single sitting... Yes... A single 11-hour sitting with no breaks except getting up to go get snacks while the ED was on XD I'm not ashamed!
But Re:Zero is one that I haven't rewatched yet... Not sure why, I should rewatch it soon.
Another time we soft-binged March Comes in Like a Lion - which is obviously much more dramatic and relatable - over the course of a weekend (which isn't too bad, except we watched like 8 episodes at a time instead of spacing it out XD). I also hard-binged Kiznaive the first time I watched it.
So a whole selection of genres where my initial opinions were mostly the same as after I rewatched it, except that I was much better able to justify what I liked or didn't like about it.
For some reason, many of my friends who are also into anime tend to binge-watch everything. I just don't understand the appeal.
The only instances of me binge-watching something is when I watched it with someone who normally binge-watches XD
And then I proceed to rewatch whatever we watched at my own pace. Rather that than just in one ear and out the other...
Definitely, my first Death Note watch was over a single weekend when I was visiting a friend who wanted to watch it together. I'm not generally a fan of binge-watching like that, so I was going to rewatch it anyway, might as well pay attention XD
Yes, and it certainly helps to be able to explain exactly why you love the shit out of a show, especially to someone who might not agree at first, maybe you can change that person's perspective and help them enjoy something that you did too.
Yes, Noragami would have been fine if not for the post-credit scene. And No Game No Life isn't the biggest issue, since it's plot is pretty much preset, it would just be nice to be able to see all of the exciting games that they would play further down the line. A few friends of mine are still completely hung up on No Game No Life's abrupt ending, I guess I have just accepted it by now (even though I don't approve of the anime industry doing that as frequently as it does).
Figuring out Light's plan at the end of the Yotsuba arc was really cool - it shows the insane level to which Light had to go with what he had just to save himself from L's raw deductive intellect XD
The reason why I remember these things that I point out is that after my first watch of Death Note, I remember there being a thing or two that I wasn't crazy about, but I watched it all too rapidly to be able to pinpoint precisely, so after some time I rewatched it intensely; 1 episode per day to ensure that I don't miss anything. Then I managed to pick up the things that did annoy me. I guess since you don't remember these scenes that I bring up means they clearly aren't as bad as I make them out to be XD
I am criticizing a show that I give a mid-9 to though XD Sometimes justifying what makes a show not perfect is more important than what makes a show average. At least, that's how I think of it.
Have I at least somewhat convinced you that Pre-Parade is a good OP? XD
The thing is; even without showing the play in the end of Bloom Into You, I feel like the character moments that needed to happen happened when Yuu and Touko were alone. The whole point behind the play was a physical representation of Touko's struggle for identity. I feel like when Yuu finally broke through to Touko in the last scene, the purpose of the whole character arc was fulfilled. Sure, it would have been nice to see the play, but to me it doesn't feel like an absolute necessity to see it when we already saw the resolution to Touko's current arc (of course it isn't an immediate solution, but rather a decision that she has actively made that will slowly make her a more complete person). So the ending didn't bother me that much. Like I said, if a sequel comes out, great! If not, then I can still be satisfied with what I got.
As for Death Note; I agree with pretty much everything you said. It's great.
However, contrary to the popular opinion, my complaints about Death Note don't come from the last third, but instead from the second third - specifically episodes 16 to 24. The first 15 or so episodes I feel are near-perfect; the way that Light changes from a bored school genius with a sense of justice to an egotistical God-complex murdering genius is interesting, like you said and the entire Light vs L dynamic is amazing.
But as soon as Light surrenders ownership of the Death Note and joins the task force and the Yotsuba arc begins, I felt a serious drop in quality. Not only in writing, I feel like the animation also took dips in quality over that stretch of episodes. My main issue is that it didn't need to take up so many episodes and it feels quite boring - especially when compared to the rest of the series that always kept me at the edge of my seat.
What really happens in the Yotsuba arc after Light is released and joins the task force? We learn that someone else has the Death Note now, the task force finds out who has it and then catches him... That's it... It did not need 8 episodes for such an uneventful part of the story. A big cause of this problem is the fact that L becomes so depressed after having to release Light that he doesn't even try to find the next person who has the Death Note, so Light pretty much does all of the investigations himself. In my opinion, L should have gotten over his depression soon enough and then L and Light should have worked together and captured Higuchi very quickly (given that the two smartest characters in the show are now working together). Cut those 8 episodes down to say 4 episodes and pick the rest up when Light regains the Death Note. Then they have much more time to explore Near and Mello and all of the other things in the last third that seem to come out of nowhere because they didn't exactly give themselves enough room to fit it all in.
Although I do agree that the final twist is predictable in nature, it doesn't bother me as much as it did that Near wasn't treated the way L was. What I mean by that is that, like you said: "L never gets things right just for narrative purposes". But Near definitely did. The biggest instance of this - and I found it frankly insulting - is when Near just immediately guesses exactly who X-Kira is (Teru Mikami) without ANY evidence or ANY investigation or ANY thought process. He just sits in the middle of the room with TV screens all around him and then all of a sudden he just points to a screen and somehow knows with certainty that Mikami is actually X-Kira. That actually made me dislike Near's character, even though I feel he could have been a great character if we had more time with him.
So yeah, I agree that the "copy whole book in one night" was lame and that the end was clearly going to progress in that way, but I blame the second third of the show for that, since it took up so many episodes unnecessarily that could have been better spent on making the last third better.
The OP starts off with wavelets of different colors in tune with the beat of the song picking up. The first thing that this OP does well was
linking every one of the characters in the main cast with a specific color. This is made very clear later. It is very subtle, but it does give a level of coherence within the OP as well as simply creating a vibrant setting in which to introduce the characters. The next shot is showing Taiga over the length of the first line of the song followed by showing Ryuuji over the length of the second line. Simply the fact that these scenes were synced up with the song is something that some other OP's don't do right. The second thing that this OP does well - and this is important - it tells the viewer things about the characters without any dialogue. Since this is a recurring thing, instead of explaining it every time, it will just be referenced as being character building. In this case, Taiga is already seen scowling unnecessarily and Ryuuji seen cooking
in pink shorts and an apron; very small stuff, but just by seeing it, the viewer already knows something about these two characters - who are obviously the main characters by how they are shown first.
Then we get to the title card. The characters pop into frame one-by-one just as the symbols that make up the title pop up. The color of each
symbol corresponds to the color representing each of the characters. The way that the characters walk can also tell the viewer about them; mostly Minori and Ami: Minori walks very energetically and spectacularly - mirroring her personality - and Ami walks in an overly 'cutesy' and innocent manner - often a sign of an obvious facade. For the others, there really isn't character traits shown by how they walk (unless one gets into the psychology behind high school boys walking with their hands in their pockets to predict traits of Ryuuji, but that would definitely not have been intentional, so it will be skipped).
The next two shots are more proper introductions to the main characters, Taiga and Ryuuju. Each shot with some more character building. Taiga has an incredibly messy room, she throws a piece of paper on the floor and she's holding what looks like a kendo sword while standing with her back to the viewer (not the most inviting demeanor). Ryuuji is seen walking down the stairs of his house and when the camera focuses on his face, he looks away and pulls his hair over his face (showing his insecurity of his mean-looking face). These shots each have their respective names in the color representing them both - so now the viewer has their names as well. The next shot is simply the four main cast members walking down a hallway in opposite directions; Minori and Taiga walking to the left and Ryuuji and Kitamura walking to the right. One can deduce that each of these pairs are good friends already. The only other noteworthy thing in this shot is the fact that Ryuuji and Taiga bump into one another, despite the fact that Minori was walking to Taiga's right, so Ryuuji should have bumped into Minori. This is some foreshadowing of the main plot of the romance. Also, after Ryuuji and Taiga bump into one another, the other two characters vanish out of shot, both Ryuuji and Taiga blush and look away instead of at each other. Some more foreshadowing.
Then there are three more shots with titles introducing the remaining three characters, each keeping with the represented color. These shots are much shorter than Taiga's and Ryuuji's were, so there isn't much room for character building, but it does give their names as well as the fact that they clearly aren't part of the main focus of the show. Then as the chorus begins, there are numerous shots of less important events and characters; Ami's group of friends, Kitamura's crush on the student council president, Ryuuji's mom and their pet bird and finally, a quick frame of Ryuuji frantically cleaning and Taiga thanklessly eating. The next few sequences all simply show off the dynamic that the group of characters have - emphasizing the relationship that Taiga has with Minori as well as Minori's character; since she is the one bringing motion into most of the sequences. Then a couple of scenes showing each of the girls individually (some more character building without giving away Ami's true character).Then the final shot is Ryuuji and Taiga standing back-to-back, looking over each other's shoulders at Minori and Kitamura, respectively.The two of them are initially the only ones in the shot and they are standing the closest together, yet they still don't
look at each other, but instead at the ones that they first have crushes on (some more good foreshadowing and setup). Then each of them becomes a silhouette of the color that represent them, leaving a wavelet of the same color on the backdrop - and thus the OP ends almost exactly as it started. It is important to note that almost every one of these events and sequences are synced with the music.
Finally, as for the lyrics, there is no point in analyzing every line, but the general meaning is that one's first crush in youth is simply innocent preparation for true love someday - something that fits very well with the exploration of the romance theme throughout the show - hence the name "Pre-Parade".
Yes, Afrikaans is my mother language. I'm pretty sure you would be able to recognize some words from it at least XD But I'm equally comfortable with English as I am with my home language, so I would also rather just stick to english for now XD
Yeah, I'm not very hopeful for a Bloom Into You sequel, but somehow the ending to the season felt conclusive enough for me not to be frustrated at there probably not being another season. Unlike things like Noragami and No Game No Life that didn't have conclusive endings and just never continued in anime format; those are noticeably more frustrating to me. I definitely would not complain if we do get a Bloom Into You season 2, though.
All right, I'll get to writing it when I get the chance to ;)
By the way, if you want me to write an in-depth dissection of Pre-Perade to tell you everything I liked about it, just ask, I'm fully willing to do it XD
I was surprised because it's a yuri. I simply did not imagine that I would enjoy a yuri romance so much, but I really ended up loving it more than most other romance shows. Of course since it had no ecchi and hardly any sexual humor or implications at all, it definitely wasn't because of the girl-on-girl action that I liked it XD The show carries itself by not just telling the story of a yuri romance, but also the stories of multiple characters - which is why I would classify Bloom Into You as a character drama told through romance. It just really surprised me, since hardly anyone talked about it. Very pleasant surprise for me XD
No way, according to Raisin-kun's profile, he lives in the exact same city as I do and we are the same age. There is a possibility that I have actually met him IRL XD Maybe I should reach out to him too.
See, my OP and ED list don't only take the songs into account, but the visuals too. I found that the top of the list for OP's were tougher to rank than the top of the list for ED's. I'm pretty sure that it is simply because ED's don't serve the same purpose as OP's, so they just don't get quite as much effort put into them. I do like both the OP and ED from Bloom Into You (actually loved that show, which was a little surprising at first XD) but it's ED stood out more among other ED's to me than its OP did among other OP's. The visual symbolism in the OP was pretty great and the lyrics were thoughtful and relevant too. I just found the whole sequence of Bloom Into You's ED to be an amazing rundown after watching an episode in the way that it showed off all of the characters with some subtle hints to what will happen later on combined with the upbeat, somewhat catchy song with lyrics that tie into the title of the show.
The ones close to the bottom of my lists are the ones that I consider bad, my mean score over the two lists are somewhere around 7, so only about the bottom 20 or so are like 5/10 or lower, the ones I generally consider bad.
As for Pre-Perade, I can definitely see why you wouldn't like it, in fact, I also didn't like it much at first, but somehow, as the show itself grew on me, the OP did too and now I can't help but get a little excited every time I see it XD I definitely wouldn't listen to it out of my own choice like some of the other OP/ED songs, but I still think it is unique, memorable, sets a nice mood and the lyrics are actually super meaningful once you really pay attention to them. Not trying to convert you, I respect your dislike of the Pre-Perade song, but if you agree with anything I said about it, I'm happy XD
I don't know of Raisin-kun, I'm assuming he's a user on MAL?
All Comments (71) Comments
Oh man, all of the Dragon Ball movies ...
What do you think of Kill la Kill so far?
I generally value rewatches quite a lot; be it in anime or movies or anything, really. If I enjoy something or have a particular opinion on something, watching it again helps me pick up on details that I might have missed the first time around. I know not many people rewatch stuff, but I don't mind at all XD I even rewatched stuff from the very beginning, even when I only had like 10 shows completed.
Also, the MAL stats counting days don't consider time spent on rewatches and neither does the episodes count XD So the statistics aren't 100% accurate, but it is clear by the fact that I separate my shows and movies with a different account that I'm not just chasing after statistics XD There's more to being an anime fan than how much you've seen.
Oh well, updating my comments must be done though, so I'm just going to have to remember vaguely when I watched which shows XD Not that it really matters that much.
Eventually I will have rewatched almost anything currently on my list anyway XD
But it has been a while since I watced Re:Zero the first time, so I should definitely rewatch it sometime soon.
Well, the binge-watched shows vary in genre, one that comes to mind is Re:Zero, we watched it in a single sitting... Yes... A single 11-hour sitting with no breaks except getting up to go get snacks while the ED was on XD I'm not ashamed!
But Re:Zero is one that I haven't rewatched yet... Not sure why, I should rewatch it soon.
Another time we soft-binged March Comes in Like a Lion - which is obviously much more dramatic and relatable - over the course of a weekend (which isn't too bad, except we watched like 8 episodes at a time instead of spacing it out XD). I also hard-binged Kiznaive the first time I watched it.
So a whole selection of genres where my initial opinions were mostly the same as after I rewatched it, except that I was much better able to justify what I liked or didn't like about it.
The only instances of me binge-watching something is when I watched it with someone who normally binge-watches XD
And then I proceed to rewatch whatever we watched at my own pace. Rather that than just in one ear and out the other...
Yes, and it certainly helps to be able to explain exactly why you love the shit out of a show, especially to someone who might not agree at first, maybe you can change that person's perspective and help them enjoy something that you did too.
Figuring out Light's plan at the end of the Yotsuba arc was really cool - it shows the insane level to which Light had to go with what he had just to save himself from L's raw deductive intellect XD
The reason why I remember these things that I point out is that after my first watch of Death Note, I remember there being a thing or two that I wasn't crazy about, but I watched it all too rapidly to be able to pinpoint precisely, so after some time I rewatched it intensely; 1 episode per day to ensure that I don't miss anything. Then I managed to pick up the things that did annoy me. I guess since you don't remember these scenes that I bring up means they clearly aren't as bad as I make them out to be XD
I am criticizing a show that I give a mid-9 to though XD Sometimes justifying what makes a show not perfect is more important than what makes a show average. At least, that's how I think of it.
The thing is; even without showing the play in the end of Bloom Into You, I feel like the character moments that needed to happen happened when Yuu and Touko were alone. The whole point behind the play was a physical representation of Touko's struggle for identity. I feel like when Yuu finally broke through to Touko in the last scene, the purpose of the whole character arc was fulfilled. Sure, it would have been nice to see the play, but to me it doesn't feel like an absolute necessity to see it when we already saw the resolution to Touko's current arc (of course it isn't an immediate solution, but rather a decision that she has actively made that will slowly make her a more complete person). So the ending didn't bother me that much. Like I said, if a sequel comes out, great! If not, then I can still be satisfied with what I got.
As for Death Note; I agree with pretty much everything you said. It's great.
However, contrary to the popular opinion, my complaints about Death Note don't come from the last third, but instead from the second third - specifically episodes 16 to 24. The first 15 or so episodes I feel are near-perfect; the way that Light changes from a bored school genius with a sense of justice to an egotistical God-complex murdering genius is interesting, like you said and the entire Light vs L dynamic is amazing.
But as soon as Light surrenders ownership of the Death Note and joins the task force and the Yotsuba arc begins, I felt a serious drop in quality. Not only in writing, I feel like the animation also took dips in quality over that stretch of episodes. My main issue is that it didn't need to take up so many episodes and it feels quite boring - especially when compared to the rest of the series that always kept me at the edge of my seat.
What really happens in the Yotsuba arc after Light is released and joins the task force? We learn that someone else has the Death Note now, the task force finds out who has it and then catches him... That's it... It did not need 8 episodes for such an uneventful part of the story. A big cause of this problem is the fact that L becomes so depressed after having to release Light that he doesn't even try to find the next person who has the Death Note, so Light pretty much does all of the investigations himself. In my opinion, L should have gotten over his depression soon enough and then L and Light should have worked together and captured Higuchi very quickly (given that the two smartest characters in the show are now working together). Cut those 8 episodes down to say 4 episodes and pick the rest up when Light regains the Death Note. Then they have much more time to explore Near and Mello and all of the other things in the last third that seem to come out of nowhere because they didn't exactly give themselves enough room to fit it all in.
Although I do agree that the final twist is predictable in nature, it doesn't bother me as much as it did that Near wasn't treated the way L was. What I mean by that is that, like you said: "L never gets things right just for narrative purposes". But Near definitely did. The biggest instance of this - and I found it frankly insulting - is when Near just immediately guesses exactly who X-Kira is (Teru Mikami) without ANY evidence or ANY investigation or ANY thought process. He just sits in the middle of the room with TV screens all around him and then all of a sudden he just points to a screen and somehow knows with certainty that Mikami is actually X-Kira. That actually made me dislike Near's character, even though I feel he could have been a great character if we had more time with him.
So yeah, I agree that the "copy whole book in one night" was lame and that the end was clearly going to progress in that way, but I blame the second third of the show for that, since it took up so many episodes unnecessarily that could have been better spent on making the last third better.
The OP starts off with wavelets of different colors in tune with the beat of the song picking up. The first thing that this OP does well was
linking every one of the characters in the main cast with a specific color. This is made very clear later. It is very subtle, but it does give a level of coherence within the OP as well as simply creating a vibrant setting in which to introduce the characters. The next shot is showing Taiga over the length of the first line of the song followed by showing Ryuuji over the length of the second line. Simply the fact that these scenes were synced up with the song is something that some other OP's don't do right. The second thing that this OP does well - and this is important - it tells the viewer things about the characters without any dialogue. Since this is a recurring thing, instead of explaining it every time, it will just be referenced as being character building. In this case, Taiga is already seen scowling unnecessarily and Ryuuji seen cooking
in pink shorts and an apron; very small stuff, but just by seeing it, the viewer already knows something about these two characters - who are obviously the main characters by how they are shown first.
Then we get to the title card. The characters pop into frame one-by-one just as the symbols that make up the title pop up. The color of each
symbol corresponds to the color representing each of the characters. The way that the characters walk can also tell the viewer about them; mostly Minori and Ami: Minori walks very energetically and spectacularly - mirroring her personality - and Ami walks in an overly 'cutesy' and innocent manner - often a sign of an obvious facade. For the others, there really isn't character traits shown by how they walk (unless one gets into the psychology behind high school boys walking with their hands in their pockets to predict traits of Ryuuji, but that would definitely not have been intentional, so it will be skipped).
The next two shots are more proper introductions to the main characters, Taiga and Ryuuju. Each shot with some more character building. Taiga has an incredibly messy room, she throws a piece of paper on the floor and she's holding what looks like a kendo sword while standing with her back to the viewer (not the most inviting demeanor). Ryuuji is seen walking down the stairs of his house and when the camera focuses on his face, he looks away and pulls his hair over his face (showing his insecurity of his mean-looking face). These shots each have their respective names in the color representing them both - so now the viewer has their names as well. The next shot is simply the four main cast members walking down a hallway in opposite directions; Minori and Taiga walking to the left and Ryuuji and Kitamura walking to the right. One can deduce that each of these pairs are good friends already. The only other noteworthy thing in this shot is the fact that Ryuuji and Taiga bump into one another, despite the fact that Minori was walking to Taiga's right, so Ryuuji should have bumped into Minori. This is some foreshadowing of the main plot of the romance. Also, after Ryuuji and Taiga bump into one another, the other two characters vanish out of shot, both Ryuuji and Taiga blush and look away instead of at each other. Some more foreshadowing.
Then there are three more shots with titles introducing the remaining three characters, each keeping with the represented color. These shots are much shorter than Taiga's and Ryuuji's were, so there isn't much room for character building, but it does give their names as well as the fact that they clearly aren't part of the main focus of the show. Then as the chorus begins, there are numerous shots of less important events and characters; Ami's group of friends, Kitamura's crush on the student council president, Ryuuji's mom and their pet bird and finally, a quick frame of Ryuuji frantically cleaning and Taiga thanklessly eating. The next few sequences all simply show off the dynamic that the group of characters have - emphasizing the relationship that Taiga has with Minori as well as Minori's character; since she is the one bringing motion into most of the sequences. Then a couple of scenes showing each of the girls individually (some more character building without giving away Ami's true character).Then the final shot is Ryuuji and Taiga standing back-to-back, looking over each other's shoulders at Minori and Kitamura, respectively.The two of them are initially the only ones in the shot and they are standing the closest together, yet they still don't
look at each other, but instead at the ones that they first have crushes on (some more good foreshadowing and setup). Then each of them becomes a silhouette of the color that represent them, leaving a wavelet of the same color on the backdrop - and thus the OP ends almost exactly as it started. It is important to note that almost every one of these events and sequences are synced with the music.
Finally, as for the lyrics, there is no point in analyzing every line, but the general meaning is that one's first crush in youth is simply innocent preparation for true love someday - something that fits very well with the exploration of the romance theme throughout the show - hence the name "Pre-Parade".
Yeah, I'm not very hopeful for a Bloom Into You sequel, but somehow the ending to the season felt conclusive enough for me not to be frustrated at there probably not being another season. Unlike things like Noragami and No Game No Life that didn't have conclusive endings and just never continued in anime format; those are noticeably more frustrating to me. I definitely would not complain if we do get a Bloom Into You season 2, though.
All right, I'll get to writing it when I get the chance to ;)
No way, according to Raisin-kun's profile, he lives in the exact same city as I do and we are the same age. There is a possibility that I have actually met him IRL XD Maybe I should reach out to him too.
See, my OP and ED list don't only take the songs into account, but the visuals too. I found that the top of the list for OP's were tougher to rank than the top of the list for ED's. I'm pretty sure that it is simply because ED's don't serve the same purpose as OP's, so they just don't get quite as much effort put into them. I do like both the OP and ED from Bloom Into You (actually loved that show, which was a little surprising at first XD) but it's ED stood out more among other ED's to me than its OP did among other OP's. The visual symbolism in the OP was pretty great and the lyrics were thoughtful and relevant too. I just found the whole sequence of Bloom Into You's ED to be an amazing rundown after watching an episode in the way that it showed off all of the characters with some subtle hints to what will happen later on combined with the upbeat, somewhat catchy song with lyrics that tie into the title of the show.
The ones close to the bottom of my lists are the ones that I consider bad, my mean score over the two lists are somewhere around 7, so only about the bottom 20 or so are like 5/10 or lower, the ones I generally consider bad.
As for Pre-Perade, I can definitely see why you wouldn't like it, in fact, I also didn't like it much at first, but somehow, as the show itself grew on me, the OP did too and now I can't help but get a little excited every time I see it XD I definitely wouldn't listen to it out of my own choice like some of the other OP/ED songs, but I still think it is unique, memorable, sets a nice mood and the lyrics are actually super meaningful once you really pay attention to them. Not trying to convert you, I respect your dislike of the Pre-Perade song, but if you agree with anything I said about it, I'm happy XD
I don't know of Raisin-kun, I'm assuming he's a user on MAL?