The Most Blatant Foreshadowing in the History of Isekai
Actually, that may not technically be true as I am not a fan of the Isekai genre in general, and can't speak authoritatively upon matters of the most stupidest anything, but what Aizawa says about three minutes into last week's episode has got to at least be in the running.
I particularly like the bewilderment our heroine goes through trying to work out what's going on with what amounts to a paternity claim...except it's a maternity claim, and being the alleged mom, she'd KNOW if the kid claiming to be her child has any possibility of being correct. Of course nobody believes her, because she's the cute blonde witch in the woods. With the hat.
This is not exploring great philosophical questions or great conundrums of the human existence, but two episodes did make me laugh like a loon three times in one day. And I needed that.
1
I didn't laugh out loud, but I did enjoy it. It's like a Harem without the stupid guy in the middle of it getting all annoyingly flustered.
I've added it to my list.
Posted by: Mauser at Wed Apr 28 22:31:26 2021 (Ix1l6)
2
Leika looks nice in the screencap. I take it, Harukara the dumb Elf drunkard has not made her entrance yet?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thu Apr 29 13:59:24 2021 (LZ7Bg)
3
Leika is indeed pretty nice. Regarding the other character you mentioned, I guess that could count as an innovation for this series. Most fantasy shows have Drow, or Dark Elves in some capacity, this is the first one I've seen with a Dumb Elf.
I's not just alcohol, she's into all KINDS of drugs, and kinks, and shady business plans, and misunderstandings and...
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Apr 29 18:56:13 2021 (5iiQK)
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Apr 29 18:57:11 2021 (5iiQK)
5
I found it sufficiently amusing that I read the 9 light novels that have been released in the US. The number of girls actually living with Our Heroine eventually stabilizes, but the total number continues to increase. It does get into a rut of her thinking "isn't this New Thing exactly like something from Japan?", and the Halkara side stories are pretty awful, but otherwise it was entertaining fluff.
On this, the 5th episode of the 5th season of My Hero Academia, we are presented with the first episode that is entertaining, but not superb.
The rest have been stellar.
The season opens in the middle of last season's finale and has brought together a whole bunch of plot points that had appeared to just be background flavor text, but are actually quite important.
Like Schrodinger's Schoolmate from season 2
In a way it reminds me a lot about Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men back in the '80s (but that is a reference that both dates me and is opaque to the audience. Suffice it to say that the story is moving briskly and is internally consistent )
This is an emotionally moving series and this is looking to be the best season yet. The current episode is taking place in a brief tournament arc, a Japanese Shounen comic trope that seems to be demanded by the Shonen Jump style guide. These are generally dead-spots in a series and can often kill an otherwise promising show. However, My Hero Academia uses this conciet to expertly establish background info and develop characters quite entertainingly.
This season has previously reminded us that Best Girl has additional powers that we had all forgotten about.
Toxic Mucus For the WIN!
This show continues to be excellent and I highly recommend it.
1
Not really relevant to Boku no Hero Academia, but maybe you or your audience will have an answer.
There's lots of food porn manga, and some anime, currently (Shokugeki no Souma, various Restaurants/chefs in another World, etc), but is there any equivalent for other crafts?
Overgeared is nominally about a blacksmith, but we don't actually learn any blacksmithing. There are various farm-specific fictions (Silver Spoon). But not much about smithing, or carpentry. Does it exist and I just haven't found it?
Sorry for the irrelevancy, but this seemed like a good place to ask.
Posted by: jabrwok at Mon Apr 26 15:54:01 2021 (iyhH7)
2
I don't know of any blacksmith series that really get into the craft... but forges are Shinto holy places, and I think the few Buddhist smiths are doing Zen holy things. So it might be a little iffy to do anything other than show examples of "this is how we make swords."
There are a fair number of documentaries, of course.
The other side of this is that most smith families became machinists or mechanics.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Mon Apr 26 23:36:34 2021 (sF8WE)
3
@suburbanbanshee: I wasn't aware of the religious overtones. Thanks for the info. Pity though, the foodie stuff is very inspiring and often informative. Something comparable for other craft areas could be useful.
Posted by: jabrwok at Tue Apr 27 05:16:29 2021 (T4WaI)
4
Some years ago I had a fellow who's hobby is blacksmithing and LARPs at Ren-Faires go on a quee-spree over a show called "Sacred Blacksmith" because it was all about mainstreaming blacksmithery. I never saw the show and so don't know how into the weeds it actually got.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Apr 27 07:02:18 2021 (5iiQK)
5Sacred Blacksmith is available on Funimation. It's primarily a romance between a world-weary young blacksmith and a beginner lady knight. I watched several episodes back in the day, and dropped it after a few. Don't remember why. The smithing is magical and doesn't involve hammers/anvils/tempering, etc. However, he does chant all of the steps. I don't recall dipping it in water, but he probably used the proper term and I just missed it.
Posted by: Ubu at Tue Apr 27 10:01:40 2021 (UlsdO)
6
Having nothing better to do, I watched the first four episodes this morning. It's not what you're looking for. As a bonus, I now remember why I dropped it. Obvious villain is obvious. Ridiculous armor is ridiculous.
Paint by numbers characters, cheap animation (barely above Deen level)...there was nothing special about this anime, and Cecily shouldn't have survived her first fight unscathed. Why this incompetent girl was the head of her house, which seems to consist of only her... oh wait, I think I just explained it.
Posted by: Ubu at Tue Apr 27 11:18:39 2021 (UlsdO)
7
I remember Sacred Blacksmith, and yeah, it's not what I had in mind.
Thanks though:-)
Posted by: jabrwok at Tue Apr 27 11:30:17 2021 (iyhH7)
I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level
This is a show that delivers EXACTLY what it promises.
The hat is just a bonus.
Aizawa Asuza, aged twenty seven is an office lady who keels over dead from overwork after several consecutive allnighters. As our heroine mopes and presumably blows bubbles in Samsara while contemplating her meaningless, completely avoidable death, a random goddess shows up and informs her that because of her incredible dedication and said goddesse's boredom our heroine is going to get Isekaied to a world that the goddess has as a side project. Aizawa pleads not to forget what she's learned. "WISDOM!" the goddess rewards her with some more requests. Our heroine asks to live out in the country, on a farm and not get old and decrepit.
For some reason, instead of granting Aizawa a quick death, the Goddess sets her in a isolated farmhouse about an hours walk from a town with an adventurers guild, makes her a Witch, and gives her knowledge of a regeneration/immortality spell.
Ecstatic that she is now living in the country Aizawa Asusa resolves to NEVER do any work again aside from growing food. Her life lesson from her previous life is the importance of leisure! She will not forget that valuable bit of wisdom.
To her horror, she realizes she has to buy seeds, so she goes into town and along the way, she is attacked by a slime! The weakest of monsters is no match for a Witch and she notes that the little monster's death rattle produces a gem. After getting what amounts to a hunting license (joins the town adventurer's guild), she is able to turn these in for what amounts to money...which in turn can be exchanged for goods and services.
300 years pass, the economy apparently sucks as there has been no expansion of the town or notable sprawl. Aizawa goes into town every few days to turn in slime guts to the local adventurer's guild and buy stuff. During these three centuries our heroine becomes something of a local institution as that Witch in the woods with the hat: a farmer reluctant healer, and strict hermit. She has kept to herself mostly but has helped out the local town enough times that she is well liked despite being quite asocial.
She's in heaven. No schedule, long nights of sleep and leisurely gardening are her order of the day. She does NOT get bored with this...until one day the girl who processes bounties at the local adventurers guild asks to check our protagonist's "level" for records purposes.
It turns out that Asusa Aizawa has, over 300 years, killed enough slimes (and cast enough heals presumably) to have reached level 99...the maximum possible. That's remarkable. (Moreso if you play these video games.) Now this Podunk Adventurer's guild in the sticks has a level 99 that means prestige, and....challenges....you know...WORK.
Aizawa convinces the guild representative to keep her level secret as payment for having saved her life off camera.
Sadly the secret gets out, numerous adventurers looking to make a name for themselves show up to challenge the level 99 Witch. Her "secret" becomes spectacularly and pyrotechnically public, and finally a Dragon showes up...to...D...D...D...DDDDD...DUEL!
That was a cute first episode. I don't think it's going anywhere. It looks to be developing into a formula show.
The dragon, named Laika, is ignominiously defeated, but destroy's our heroine's house while writhing around with 'brain freeze'. Later, Laika takes the form of a cute girl, rebuilds Asuza's house and massively expands it to accommodate....a Dragon. You see the Dragon want's Asuza to take her on as a pupil as she believes she has much to learn from the human who is level 99 and defeated a frickking dragon. Asuza resists until Laika offers to be a live-in servant in exchange for bits of wisdom. Thus far her wisdom is mostly "Don't work too hard" and as the episode ends the Witch of Leisure is well on her way to destroying the bright young dragon's work ethic. The final credits hint at numerous other pupils. Frankly this is kind of Mary Sue, though the ridiculousness of the ease with which our heroine became so OP is not skirted. (In that sense it's actually a notch above most Isekai shows.) There is a bit of an indication that our heroine may in fact have some lessons to learn, as she has rather overcompensated for her earlier mistakes to the point of sloth. There appear to be numerous light novels in this series indicating it may have something to say, but I'm not expecting much. Still the pilot was stupid cute fun and a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things ... Isekai fantasy is something I did not have on my bingo card. So I'll watch at least a few more.
2
It's a very comfy story. Less wave pool and water slide and more lazy river.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thu Apr 15 00:54:48 2021 (v29Tn)
3
I have been reading the light novels, and an isekai slice of life where the main plot is Azusa (Not to be confused with Azusa from The Idolmaster.) collecting cute monster girls....Would be the long and short of it.
Posted by: cxt217 at Thu Apr 15 17:46:44 2021 (4i7w0)