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When you first see the title you think here comes another trashy romance filled with your typical tropey elements that have already been shown in Domestic Girlfriend. However, to my surprise, the show is actually a slow-burn romance which becomes very apparent in the first few episodes. It's a very realistic slice-of-life anime that mimics a potential situation that could happen in real life and for this exact reason, some viewers might absolutely hate it. There are no supernatural elements, no panty shots or unlucky situations resulting in ecchi scenes and no overdone tropes like tsunderes or hypersexualized characters. They might think it's boring. That ... the pacing is way too slow. That the characters have overly formal conversations and do nothing but go about their daily lives. But that's exactly how romance is in real life. If you look to anime for escapism to watch things you would never see in real life, you might dislike a show like this.

The first few episodes of the anime consist of very formal and awkward interactions between the 2 main characters Saki and Yuuta much like how you would expect step-siblings would be in real life. Much of their interactions are transactional and Saki in particular clings to this idea because she doesn't want to feel the need to "owe" Yuuta. Over time, though, Yuuta begins to break down this transactional relationship they have and begins to go above and beyond what Saki requests of him. When she asks him to help her find a job so that she can eventually live independently, he's seen reading books on how to become financially independent and even asks his coworker about potential places that are hiring. When she asks him for help with studying literature because she struggles to understand human emotions concerning love and jealousy, he tutors her and reads books on how to have more efficient studying practices. They even spend an entire episode discovering Lofi music (which might be the most unrealistic part of the show) and how it greatly helps Saki in her studies. But he doesn't seem to be doing this for her for romantic reasons and instead just wants to be a decent human being who is supportive of her. These constant acts of kindness are what make Saki slowly develop feelings she's never experienced before. She felt jealous that Yuuta went on what was essentially a movie date with his coworker and towards the middle of the show starts to act in ways completely new to her personality. She chooses not to go to the pool when Yuuta decided not to go and begins work at his workplace to potentially spend more time with him along with her original goal of earning money.

Like I said, however, while this anime did hit close to home for me, this show might not be for you. If you've ever experienced love or been in relationships, you may have felt that uncomfortable feeling of anxiety when you realized you were slowly developing feelings for a special someone over weeks and months of getting to know them. You spend time together and every small thoughtful thing they do makes you fall even further in love with them. When they mention other guys or girls they're close with you become anxious about the idea that they're interested in them and that feeling of heartache grows within you. All these aspects of love are explored within this show which is why I have been enjoying it. It might not have the incredible world-building that Frieren has or be super gay like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure or have an intricate power system like Hunter x Hunter but a pure slice-of-life hasn't existed like this since Koe no Katachi.

I first heard about Vagabond from the Trash Taste Episode about masterpieces of manga that should be read. Garnt in particular had high praise for this and so I was excited and ready to read about it. As a seinen manga, the art doesn't restrict on topics it explores. This was crafted after the 1600s when the way of Bushido was very much alive and so was banditry, rape, debauchery, etc. It is a beautiful depiction of Takehiko Inoue's depiction of the great samurai and philosopher Musashi Miyamoto's life as he finds his purpose in life. If it were just the art and atmosphere of ... the manga this would be a masterpiece but in my opinion, it falls short in many ways with the plot and honestly started to drag on. The early chapters are a quick fantastic read as we discover the animalistic nature of Takezo later renamed Musashi as his upbringing in the mountains and nature has made him a very inhuman being. His lack of humanity earned him the title of "Demon Child" as he learned to kill from an early age feeling no remorse as he lacked the development of human emotions. His character is contrasted by Matahachi the incompetent and pathetic secondary MC whose story we follow is filled with lies deceit and cutting corners all to achieve greatness on the same levels as Musashi.

My biggest complaint with Vagabond which I alluded to earlier is that I feel like it drags on and at some point shows violence where violence is not needed nor wanted. A good example is the massacre of the Yoshioka samurai after the death of the Yoshioka brothers. I felt like the death of the brothers was a fitting end to show the growth of Musashi as he accepted that he had become truly strong although I know others would disagree because they would probably argue that a final duel between Kojiro and Musashi is how the manga should end (spoiler the manga has not reached an ending and will probably never reach an ending which makes is one reason why I decided not to continue any further). He even considered leaving Kyoto and avoiding the 70 Yoshioka men because it was stupid and arrogant to do so but without a real explanation he decides to take them on. There was no meaning in that massacre, no philosophical lessons were learned, and no point was proven. He had already proven himself against fighting and slaying Yoshioka Denischiro, Yoshioka Seijuro, and Inshun Hozoin.

A true sign of character development would have been if he had escaped Kyoto and lived life with Otsu breaking away from the cycle of death and killing where he realized a fulfilling life was one where he was with the one he loved. Instead, the massacre was an event that seemed like it served only to be a plot point to a story that no longer had any direction. This is where I think a true masterpiece like Vinland Saga differentiates from Vagabond in that the story does not feel aimless. Something along the lines of Thorfinns "I have no enemies" moment was the revelation that I had been hoping to see from Vagabond, a story that at its core had been filled with nothing but killing and death in the journey to become one "invincible under the sun." I do believe this manga deserves high praise for its art but nothing more as I feel it lacks heavily in other areas that would make it deserving to be called a masterpiece.

As weird as the first season was I was able to dismiss it the same way I was able to dismiss all the horrible despicable plot points that happened to Guts very early in Berserk. However, this movie pushed it a little too far in my opinion. There was so much unnecessary uncomfortable nudity and references to penises that DID LITERALLY NOTHING to advance the plot point. Halfway through the movie at around the 55 min mark, Prushka asks Riko what a penis is and she draws it and explains it and Prushka exclaims "Oh a Papa Pole"... keep in mind this did nothing to ... advance the story and there was downtime that they could've spent literally doing anything else for example figuring out how to get Reg's arm back or how to deal with Bondrewd. It's such a pity because in terms of story and world-building MiA is superior to most animes out there and the creativity of fauna, flora, and rules of the world is so unique that can't be found anywhere else in the world. But it's too hard to NOT INCLUDE nude children