{"id":777,"date":"2019-06-19T13:55:46","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T13:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/?p=777"},"modified":"2019-09-21T13:40:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T13:40:31","slug":"off-topic-post-anime-and-manga-discussion-fifth-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/2019\/06\/19\/off-topic-post-anime-and-manga-discussion-fifth-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Off-topic post: Anime and manga discussion (fifth post)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This will be my fifth post on anime and manga, and I will make it a quick post. This season, I have only picked up one anime, but there are a number of anime I’m considering for the following season.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For this season, I’m only watching Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu<\/em>. Based on the manga by Katsuwo (also the author of Mitsuboshi Colors<\/em>), it follows a girl, named Bocchi Hitori (voiced by Chisaki Morishita; and yes, hitoribocchi<\/em> literally means “alone”), who, after graduating from elementary school, is tasked by her only friend to befriend everyone in her class by the time she finishes middle school, or else they will break up. Unfortunately, our protagonist is extremely shy, and she vomits and gets leg cramps whenever she is stressed.
\nAmong the girls Bocchi befriends include Nako Sunao (voiced by Minami Tanaka; sunao na ko<\/em> means “honest girl”), a girl who appears to be unapproachable from the outside, and is quite blunt, but is kind; Aru Honshou (voiced by Akari Kit\u014d; honsh\u014d aru<\/em> means “has a hidden trait”), who keeps a front of being friendly and reliable, but is in reality clumsy and prone to forgetting certain things, hence being called “unfortunate” (particularly by Nako); and Sotca Luckythar (voiced by Y\u016bko Kurose; and yes, that is how her name is spelt; it’s a pun from soto kara kita<\/em>, meaning “came from outside”), a blonde, blue-eyed foreign girl who is not only a fan of ninjas, but also sees Bocchi as a ninja. There is also Kako Kurai (voiced by Kana Ichinose; kurai kako<\/em> means “a dark past”), the public morals officer of the class, and a girl who tries to gain strength through self-sufficiency, making her a foil to Bocchi.
\nNeedless to say, nearly everyone’s names are puns of some sort. The teacher’s name is Teruyo Oshie (voiced by Minami Takahashi), which comes from oshieteru yo<\/em> (“I’m teaching”). Bocchi’s elementary school friend is Kai Yawara (voiced by Konomi Kohara), from yawarakai<\/em> (“soft”). And pretty much nearly everyone in Bocchi’s class is named after a pun of some sort; the only exception I can recall is Hanako Yamada (Aru’s friend and clubmate), whose name is as generic as generic can be. Granted, the naming situation is better than in Mitsuboshi Colors<\/em>, where I only know the full name of one character, and the surnames of three more (two aren’t given given names, and the third is mainly known by a nickname).
\nWhile the personalities of the girls are wildly different, overall, I found that the manga and anime actually did the interactions between the girls very well. While at times a bit idiotic (well, they are only twelve or thirteen), they provide support for each other. The story ultimately follow’s Bocchi’s journey to create as many friends as possible, and throughout the story she gets a number of people she can rely upon.
\nI cannot be bothered to give a review right now (or any time in the near future). However, I’m enjoying this anime. The final episode will air this week.<\/p>\n

As for the summer season, so far I’ve chosen two I’m definitely going to check out. One is, of course, this season’s Manga Time Kirara<\/em> adaptation, Machikado Mazoku<\/em>, and I have been waiting quite a while for even the announcement that it will be animated.<\/p>\n

The second is an original project by the animation studio Nexus. From what I know, Granbelm<\/em> mixes magical girl and mecha (the only other time I’ve heard the two terms together was in relation to Lyrical Nanoha<\/em>), and I’m exceptionally interested in how this will turn out. Now, to be fair, Nexus hasn’t had that much experience in the anime industry; as far as I know, there are only two anime animated solely by Nexus (Wakaba*Girl<\/em> and Comic Girls<\/em>) and only one with full-length episodes (Comic Girls<\/em>). However, I’ve watched both and enjoyed both (and if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a big fan of Comic Girls<\/em>), so I have rather high expectations.
\nOn the other hand, I was burned out by the previous mecha anime I watched, so…<\/p>\n

As for the rest, well… I should do more research.<\/p>\n

For manga, I’m intensely following the new manga being published in Manga Time Kirara<\/em> to see which will become popular. Personally, of the currently serialising manga that have yet to receive anime adaptations, the following interests me, in no particular order:<\/p>\n

Manga Time Kirara<\/em>:<\/p>\n