Character Spotlight: Rei Kiriyama and Hina Kawamoto

Artist: GeorgeTheOtaku

The second season of March Comes In Like A Lion (which I finished just last week) packs even more of an emotional punch than the first. Throughout its 22 episodes, I laughed, cried, and cheered as I shared in its characters’ many victories. Though the franchise has many wonderful characters (which is, by far, its greatest strength), my absolute favourite is Rei Kiriyama. That being said, Hina Kawamoto really gave Rei a run for his money during this second season. So much so, that I felt it would be a disservice not to jot down a few words about her too. Writing about more than one character might not be in keeping with Character Spotlight tradition, but the best thing about Watashi Wa Bucho!! (or I’m the boss) is that, yes, I’m the boss! This allows me to throw the rulebook out the window at any given moment, so there! 

Fruits Basket (2019) Episode Eight – New Year’s in May and Tohru’s Biggest Flaw

Happy New Year’s, everybody! I hope that you all had an excellent holiday season, spent enjoying family, friends, and good food! Wait, that’s not right… Ha, ha! I wish that anime would at least try to coincide its holiday-themed episodes with the actual time of year in which they’re aired, but oh well! It’s probably more complicated than I think! Unfortunate timing aside, this week’s New Year’s themed episode of Fruits Basket (2019) was a good one! Tohru may have encouraged Yuki and Kyo to spend New Year’s with the rest of the Sohma clan, but, after some reflection, they both decided to spend it with her instead. This saved her the heartache of having to spend the holidays alone for the very first time. With each new episode of Fruits Basket (2019) we gain more and more insight into our characters. This week’s episode was no exception…

Fruits Basket (2019) Episode Three – the Pitfalls of Jealousy

I couldn’t watch this week’s episode without getting all choked up! Nobody died. No, nothing like that… But what it did do was touch upon a couple of sensitive subjects… But more on that later! This week we learned more about Yuki: that he has a secret vegetable garden (very cute), that he’s scared of letting other people too close, and the reason why he and Kyo fight like cat and mouse rat…

Character Spotlight: Tohru Honda

Spring 2019 is positively stacked with highly-anticipated sequels, including One Punch Man’s 2nd season, the continuation of Attack on Titan’s 3rd season, and Bungou Stray Dogs’ 3rd season. Between all of these big names, it’s hard to decide what to look forward to the most! But the Fruits Basket reboot is definitely a strong contender! The original series, which strayed from its source material, may have been underwhelming, but Fruits Basket (or Furuba) has long been one of my favourite manga series, so, naturally, I’m pumped that the franchise is, after all this time, getting another iteration! In anticipation of this, I thought that I’d dedicate this month’s Character Spotlight to its plucky heroine, Tohru Honda. I hope that this whets your appetite for the upcoming anime!

Run with the Wind – Redefining Masculinity in the Context of Male Friendships

I’ll usually look less favourably upon an anime with no strong female characters (I get a real kick out of seeing my sex represented in a positive, significant way). And whilst Run with the Wind is one such show (with only one female character – and a minor one at that), I still adore the bare bones of it! It may be a bit of a sausage party, but, contrary to what you might expect, the way that our main characters interact with each other is completely and utterly devoid of any exaggerated masculinity. If anything, many of their interactions actually contain the hallmarks of, not male, but female friendships. These include intimacy, the tendency to encourage one another, vulnerability, and insight into each other’s characters…