Astra Lost in Space’s premise is simple enough: set in the distant future where space travel is a normal, everyday occurrence, a group of high schoolers, while on their class trip, suddenly find themselves transported to the far reaches of uncharted space. There they find an abandoned spaceship and soon begin their perilous journey back home, touching down on each planet they pass in the hopes of scavenging resources. Surprisingly, deadly aliens aren’t the only threat our characters face. In fact, the real threat turns out to be much closer to home. Astra may seem like an odd choice for my hidden gems series. After all, it only finished airing last year and hasn’t yet had the time to fade into obscurity like my other choices. Nevertheless, I feel that Astra, with its less-than-stellar marketing, was oft-overlooked in favour of anime like Fire Force, Dr. Stone, and Demon Slayer. I’m hoping that this review will convince you to give the show a try if you, too, passed up on it last year.
That Was Much Better Than Expected!
All posts tagged That Was Much Better Than Expected!
Before beginning today’s blog post let me summarise the plot of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny-Girl Senpai (since its title doesn’t really tell you anything)! It’s protagonist, Sakuta, whilst studying in his school’s library, catches a glimpse of his beautiful, yet aloof, senpai, Mai, dressed up as a bunny girl. After confronting her he learns that she is a victim of puberty syndrome – a mysterious phenomenon where the conflict that an individual experiences during adolescence manifests itself in strange and unusual ways – and that only he can see her. The rest of the show consists of Sakuta, your prototypical white knight, rescuing her and his other cute cohorts from the clutches of this bizarre condition.
The young girls of Bunny-Girl Senpai struggle to communicate with other people, to earn the recognition of others, and with their ever-evolving identities. These issues, whilst painful and unpleasant, are not altogether unusual for girls their age. Even dissociation, in response to traumatic events, is not unheard of in girls of Kaede’s age. However, as a result of these problems, the girls experience some pretty unusual phenomena. Tomoe learns to manipulate time in order to achieve her own ends, Mai turns invisible, and Rio splits into two versions of herself, a la Freaky Friday. All of this got me wondering, is there any merit in using supernatural phenomena like these to explore everyday issues? Below I briefly consider this question.
2018 was a year chock-full of pleasant surprises! Miraculously (given how busy I’ve been), I managed to find the time to watch approximately 80 anime. Of this number, the shows that I enjoyed the most were often the ones that surprised me the most.

Artist Unknown
A couple of months ago I finally watched Darling in the FranXX (DitF). Why would I do such a thing when aware of the furor it raised among anime fans worldwide? Well, I wanted to see for myself what all of the fuss was about! But instead of the awful experience that I had mentally prepared myself for, the experience that I did have with DitF was remarkably, well, fine. Good at times, even…
This is most unlike me, a planner through and through, but I don’t have a definite idea of where to go with this blog post. I just know that, after being moved to tears by Assassination Classroom’s second season, I want to jot down some of my thoughts about this amazing show! To date I’ve seen hundreds of anime, including many of the classics, shows that have stood the test of time and are widely considered to be the best of the best. As a result, it’s now extremely rare to find myself affected by what I watch, as most anime today simply doesn’t hold up to these classics! So when it does happen, as it did with Assassination Classroom’s second season, I want to mark the occasion by writing a few words. I’ve dubbed this collection of thoughts: “What Koro-Sensei Has Taught Me.” I hope that you enjoy reading them. A word of warning: you may not wish to proceed if you haven’t seen both seasons of Assassination Classroom, as there will be spoilers ahead! Instead, please read my review of season 1. I hope that it will convince you to go away and watch this awesome show!