Author: Armitage

[Manga Musings on Mondays] Let’s Talk About Ethics. – Review

by Armitage, posted in Manga, Manga Musings on Mondays, Reviews by Armitage

 

Hello, one and all!

As you must be well aware, all the shows airing this season have been adversely affected in various stages of production which has led to multiple delays or a considerable decline in quality. These are not the most exciting of times for following seasonal anime but on the flip-side, it’s a great time to sit in the comfort of our homes and read up on some manga!

And so that we can read along together, I shall be starting a new weekly series: Manga Musings on Monday. As the title suggests, every week, I would be going through a manga and posting a write-up with my thoughts on it on, well, Mondays. The manga I’d write about would be decided on the basis of a poll at the end of each post (scroll down to see the one for next week). The poll options would be a mix of series from my personal TBR and your suggestions (feel free to comment down below the series you’d like me to cover next and I’ll make sure to add it to the next poll).

Though, there are some ground rules put in place.

 

Firstly, due to the self-imposed constraint of posting the write-up every week, I would also have to finish the manga I start each week before the following Monday, at the latest. So, it would be preferable if you would recommend and vote on shorter series. Over time, I do plan to cover series like Kingdom, Holyland and Psyren but that will have to be done in chunks (maybe a few volumes per week) and for the time being, I want to put my best efforts into making MMOM a weekly feature.

Secondly, I would not be covering massively popular series like Demon Slayer, MHA or Yakusoku no Neverland. Instead, my main objective behind starting MMOM is to highlight lesser-known and under-appreciated gems of the medium. Also, I don’t dislike any particular genre but have a soft spot for josei, seinen and stories with dark, psychological undertones. So, covering something along those lines would be right up my alley!

Alright, with that all said, let’s dive in to the first manga!

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Arte – 02 [A New Life]

by Armitage, posted in Arte, Currently Watching:

Hello, Everyone! The Spring Season is officially underway and with that, I’d also like to announce that I shall be resuming my full-time duties as a blogger here at Star-Crossed Anime. And for my long-awaited homecoming, I have decided to blog the adaptation of a manga which is very near and dear to my heart: Arte. So, without further ado, let’s begin!

This week we saw Arte trying to adjust to her new life as an art apprentice. Master Leo agreeing to take Arte under her wing had come as a shock to the prominent artists of Florence and a pleasant surprise for Arte herself. But this week, she realizes that her battle has only just begun. Leo-san assigns her the task of getting together supplies to renovate the shed she has to live in, while being under his apprenticeship. So, she heads out to do just that. All the people she meets shrug her off or put her down just because she is a girl and they don’t approve of her doing things which they believe are only suitable for men. She gets disapproving looks from both men and women when they see her dragging a cart full of chopping-wood along. Seeing her struggle to carry her heavy load, one upstanding gentleman going by the name of Angelo Parker, decides to help her out. He cleans up her wounds and in a gesture of good faith, offers to help carry the wood as he realizes that a job like that was too difficult for a girl. And that’s when Arte reveals itself to give a glimpse of the story it actually intends to tell.
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O Maidens in Your Savage Season – 05 [Things That Changed Before We Knew It]

by Armitage, posted in O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Series which were Dropped

Um, okay. deep breath So, this show introduced a character who’s a walking red flag; a loud, wailing warning sign with the capability of turning any and every potential viewer away. And it somehow tries to humanize him in a way? The show tries to do the near impossible task of explaining his psychology to help us at least understand who he is as a person even if we cannot relate. Even though he is an out-and-out pedophile!! Does it succeed or should you stop watching now? Read on to find out!

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O Maidens in Your Savage Season – 04 [The Purpose of Books]

by Armitage, posted in O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Series which were Dropped

Imagine this. You’re a child. 9 or 10 years old. You don’t know how to talk to people or make friends. You feel lonely so you ask your parents to get you a pet. A puppy. Puppies are really loyal so he’d never leave your side. Your parents tell you wait to wait for some time. Wait you do. Time passes. Years. Everyone else who was a little like you has learned to fit into society. But you wait. Patiently. Diligently. Then, one day your parents tell you that you can have your pet now. But they can’t get you a puppy. Those require too much maintenance. They can maybe get you a hamster or something small. But you don’t want that. You want a dog. It’s your choice now. You can either wait for a puppy or you can be alone.

Hello, everyone. Good to have you back for week 4 of O Maidens in Your Savage Season. Apologies for the late post. I’ve been a bit busy with life stuff. Anyway, getting back on track, this time around, our side characters are fleshed out further and everyone in the cast now really feels believeable and well, real. There’s quite A LOT that happens in this episode. Let’s get to it!

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O Maidens in Your Savage Season – 03 [Willy’s Real Rear Wheel]

by Armitage, posted in O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Series which were Dropped

I hate stereotypes. Mostly because they’re just the viewpoints of people lazy enough to not make the effort to know better. And from personal experience, I can safely say that women bear the burden of facing this almost all the time. Unjustified and stupid as it may be. If you’re a blonde, you must be dumb. If you wear short skirts, you’re loose. If you’re Asian, you must suck at the Queen’s vernacular. And the most preposterous of them all: If you’re a woman, sex must not cross your mind or may even disgust you. And that, is the main theme of this week’s episode of O Maidens in Your Savage Season.

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Given – 02 [Like Someone In Love]

by Armitage, posted in Given, Series which were Dropped

Contrary to the common belief, I feel that sunrises are far more prettier than sunsets. That’s because they represent a shimmering, sanguine new beginning. So, with that random fact about me out of the way, Hello Everyone! It’s your girl, Armitage. And today, we kick off and let the metaphorical sun rise on our coverage of the NoitaminA show of the season: Given.

As you all might be well aware, Fuji TV’s NoitaminA block airs series that are aimed towards a more mature audience. But over the last few years, the quality of NoitaminA shows did deteriorate quite drastically. That pattern seems to have changed of late with recent hits like The Promised Neverland and last year’s Star-Crossed AOTY, After the Rain. This season we have another promising new show with albeit a niche target audience but no lack for ambitions, Given. In the premiere, we were introduced to Uenoyama and Mafuyu, our central couple/pair of characters. Uenoyama had resigned to Mafuyu’s persistent demands and agreed to teach him guitar. He had introduced him to the supporting cast comprising of Haruki and Kaji. Let’s jump in to this week’s events!

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Penguin Highway (2018) Movie Review – 89/100

by Armitage, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by Armitage

You’re walking along in your neighborhood, going about your daily routine. It’s a fine morning. The sun is shining brightly. But suddenly, you see something strange. You squint your eyes; even rub them, to make sure it isn’t a mirage before exclaiming with excitement, “Oh, look. It’s a bird. No, it’s a plane! No no. It’s a…penguin?”

That is how this particular morning started for young Aoyama, who is the perfect embodiment of a child you would call wicked smart. Smarter than almost everybody in his class. Barring maybe Hanamoto-chan, but Aoyama considers her a bit too complacent. He is a self-proclaimed pupil of science. A true man of research. Well, actually just about 3681 days short of being a man (he keeps count), but you get what I mean. He is secretly in love with the dentist woman. Who is much older but that doesn’t bother him. His love isn’t the sexual kind. Yes, he does think about her breasts 30 mins a day but that’s for relaxation purposes. His sole reason for visiting the dental clinic is so as to get to talk with her for a little while.

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O Maidens in Your Savage Season – 02 [Es Ee Ecks]

by Armitage, posted in O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Series which were Dropped

To someone on the outside looking in, the anime medium, or what it has become now, comprises of some incredibly good seasonal shows that never become truly great; behind these, we have a slew of solid ones followed by a sea of mediocrity. And all this covers a fifty feet deep pile of crap that everyone should best avoid as anything constituting it is severely injurious to health. That, is the general perspective of your average semi-aware anime viewer. While it is fairly adequate and won’t hinder their anime experience to a major degree, it would also mean that they fail to unearth the true gems of the medium which sometimes don’t get discovered because they aren’t immediately marketable or popcorn-media. And O Maidens in Your Savage Season is one of these gems.

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