12 Days of Anime 2019 – Chihaya Is Back!

It doesn’t happen nearly as much as I’d like (probably because of my fondness for kooky, off-the-wall anime), but every so often it seems the anime gods hear my prayers and bless me with more of one of my favourite shows. Hearing that Chihayafuru was getting its third season after six long, agonising years was one of those rare times. If you didn’t already know, Chihayafuru is an awesome series. This anime takes a sport that very few have heard of (and even fewer have played), karuta, and, through its characters’ passion for it, gets you invested in it too. Who knew that a card game with no magic, monsters, or ancient Egyptian gods could be so exciting? Not to mention that its characters are all perfect little cinnamon rolls! Thankfully, Chihayafuru’s third season is proving to be more than worth the wait and is helping to ensure that 2019 ends with a bang! 

Here are some of the things that I’ve liked the most about Chihayafuru 3 so far… 

12 Days of Anime 2019 – Dungeons and Dragons, Sorrel, and Kuranosuke

Artist Unknown

This year, in my ongoing quest to make friends and get out more, I joined a Dungeons and Dragons circle. Up until then I’d not played a single session and already had way too little free time to spare, but “What could one more hobby hurt?”, I naively thought… As it turns out, D&D is pretty addictive, time-consuming, and expensive (if, like me, you’re partial to pretty dice), who knew? But I’m already far too invested in my party and I’s adventure to back out now, so I suppose I’m in it for the long haul… Anyway, in typical Ty style, I just had to find some way to incorporate my love of anime into my new pastime, so, when creating my character I considered the anime characters who most bewitched and inspired me. After much deliberation I finally settled on the one I wanted to base my own character on: Princess Jellyfish’s Kuranosuke. Thus, my character, Sorrel, was born… 

Fruits Basket (2019) Episode 12 – the Boogeyman Appears

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this week’s episode since Fruits Basket (2019) first began! Why? Because during this week’s episode Tohru finally got to meet the head of the Sohma clan (and my absolute favourite Furuba character), Akito. The reason why this is so exciting is because, for all this time, it’s almost as if the show has done everything in its power to hide him from us. Up until now, we’ve only ever caught glimpses of him, with his back to us or half obscured by shadow. Not to mention that everything we know about him is second-hand knowledge passed down to us in the form of horror stories told by other characters. He’s like some urban legend – think the boogeyman or the chupacabra, only much scarier! But now, finally, he reveals himself. Below I go on to dissect this very exciting moment…

Fruits Basket (2019) Episode Two – Fire and Ice

Two weeks in and my excitement for Fruits Basket (2019) has yet to subside! So far the anime has followed the manga to a T. Even minor details, like Takaya-sensei’s captions and what characters are doing in the background of a scene, have managed to make the cut. Whilst this may change further down the line, it gives me hope that this adaptation will remain faithful to its source material in terms of both its tone and story. Not to mention that, should it continue to adapt two chapters per episode (as this episode did), it won’t be long before we get to meet more of the Sohmas! But let’s set the future of the series aside for now to discuss this week’s episode…

30 Days of Anime Challenge – #27 My Favourite Scene in Which a Character Acts like a Complete and Utter Badass

#27 What Is My Favourite Scene in Which a Character Acts like a Complete and Utter Badass?

Deku Saves Kacchan from the Slime Villain – My Hero Academia 1st Season

This may seem like a bizarre choice for my favourite scene in which a character acts like a complete and utter badass. Deku’s probably not the first character who comes to mind when considering all-out badassery. Maybe you think of a character like Guts, capable of taking on armies of one hundred or more soldiers single-handedly, one of JoJo’s many meatheads, or somebody like Sasuke, who’s as cool as a cucumber and always has a snappy clapback tucked away in his long, billowing sleeves. But I’d like to argue that Deku is just as badass (if not even more so) than these characters. And nothing exemplifies that better than the scene when, during My Hero Academia’s first episode, he rescued Kacchan from the Slime Villain. This was the scene that first won me over to the franchise and catapulted Deku straight into my Top 10 Favourite Characters, so it holds a special place in my heart!