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Let's talk about MagiDes

Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers (MagiDes for short) is an original anime with a, frankly, goofy and un-interesting plot. The plot's evidently non-serious, and a bit underwhelming, but then you watch the acclaimed opening sequence of the anime and it bombards you with a lot of neat symbolism with a pinch of good ol' FLCL-vibe, and now you're thinking, hey, maybe there's more to the anime than it seems. To which, you'd be... absolutely wrong, because the opening's a scam. Its only purpose is to dupe you into watching the actual, meaningless, mess of an anime.

MagiDes is quirky for the sake ... of being quirky and tries too hard to be a filter, which Ig it does succeed, but not in the way it intends to. It's a filter alright, but just not one of those respectable filters, like Lain Ig... MagiDes at best is a rehash of Rumble Garandoll or Shimoneta, and at worst is the aftermath of a category 3 hurricane. 4 episodes in, remember those neat symbolism you've had seen in the opening? Yeah I fail to see how they'd tie any of those to the actual content of the anime without coming off as forced. Another original anime that did feature its (teeny) bit of symbolism is Lycoris Recoil. But unlike MagiDes, LycoReco had a really good, rather deep and personal storyline underneath its non-serious, gun-wielding Joshikousei exterior which made the symbolisms work. MagiDes, albeit its lore-drops during the first two episodes, is a story without any foreseeable resolution or purpose. The worst part of MagiDes being an overall letdown is that its production does show its glimpses of promise — like, the transformation scenes are genuinely decent, e.g. But there's one particular aspect about the anime that does stand out the most, which is its soundtrack.

MagiDes original soundtrack is pure contemporary brilliance. It's diverse, well-produced, and some of the tracks are just absolute bops. Remember the opening I kept alluding to in the previous paragraphs? The ending sequence both visually (again including its fair share of symbolisms) and song-wise is just as commendable. Idk what's the track that plays during the after-credits, next-episode preview with storyboards flashing and whatnot, Idek what it's called, but that one's straight fire. The best part of MagiDes is its soundtrack, and I can't wait for its full release on Spotify.

The recent episode featured a bit of peak-lowres fanservice that kinda did manage to put me off, so hey, if it wasn't hard enough to recommend it already? I won't be either dropping MagiDes or putting it on-hold (testament to the fact that I just want to be done with it), but I don't actively recommend it to anyone either.

LycoReco is a fun little yuri-bait with lovable characters, well-written dialogues and decent production. The writing's mind-boggingly simple with a pinch of symbolism and deeper undertones that are rather superficial and easily uncoverable. Gun-wielding Joushikousei are a big selling point of the anime and the action's understandably pretty well choreographed.

Now if you can disregard the plot-armor as thick as Chisato's thighs, or the "non-lethal" bullets that can somehow pierce car doors without killing you, LycoReco is otherwise a genuinely good anime and a pretty darn fun watch.

LycoReco is a Mid-summer Christmas classic, and definitely one of the highlights of 2022.

Humanity Has Declined takes place really far into the future, when humanity has, well... declined – are on the brink of extinction. "Fairies", human descendants, highly intelligent and capable miniature creatures with an unhealthy affinity towards sweets, have emerged. Our lead character is an UN assigned "mediator" between people and fairies.

Humanity Has Declined is a satirical comedy. Through the exploration and recollection of a species discovering and reminiscing its long lost customs and values, the show questions these customs and values. You could say this particular aspect of show is in one way similar to Gintama – exploration of contemporary themes in a far-from-contemporary setting. ... The humor in the show is grounded and transient; as opposed to flashy and OTT in most comedy anime. The show's pacing/non-linear story-line, pastel color art style and soundtrack are exemplary as well. Special nod goes out to the ending; which, both in terms of music and animation, is easily right up there with the best.

Well, this anime does have a reputation as "that Bleeding Bread anime", due to one particular clip from the first episode. The clip was featured on Good Mythical Morning, which helped propel its popularity. But, guessing by the dearth of mentions this anime gets, a lot of people still weren't motivated enough to give it a try. This anime could be exemplified as one of those seasonal anime slowly lost to obscurity. It doesn't necessarily have to be that way, as it is a solid comedy anime after all. Do check it out if you haven't already!

Panpanya's Kani ni Sasowarete, An Invitation by a Crab in English, is a short manga or essentially a book comprising of 18 chapters in total. It follows a high school aged protagonist of indeterminate gender. Each chapter in the book(?) is seemingly random in the sense that none of them are exactly related: do not seem to follow a linear storyline. The manga basically disregards any and all conventions so it's a tough task assigning a genre to it. Since it disregards conventions other manga (or anime) pertains to, the basis of comparison is taken away; therefore it's pretty hard to score it (which I ... did anyway). Every second chapter there's an excerpt from the author; although they're unrelated to the story in the manga, they help understand the themes of it.

In short, An Invitation champions the thoughts that pops up spontaneously in your daily routine, and you're incapable of retaining them later on — testament to their insignificance. In every chapter the protagonist is introduced to some vague, ambiguous situation pertaining to these thoughts. What really seals the deal is how surreal these situations play out, and just how absurd the solutions are (if any). Albeit the fact that the only real takeaway from the manga is to appreciate the trivial things around us, it still holds up as an enjoyable, memorable experience solely because of how it's presented. The transient humor in the manga for example, due to clever illustrations and simple dialogues, is presented in a way that doesn't get lost on you.

So do I recommend this really short, Avant Garde, indie masterpiece? YES.

The title of the manga roughly translates to "The Private Report on My Lesbian Experiences With Loneliness", and more or less encapsulates its main themes. What starts an an autobiographical account of the author and her first meaningful sexual encounter, at 28, with a prostitute, slowly transcends into a recollection of her life over the past 10 years preceding the event. The story is candid as it is embarrassing, and provides a humorous insight into the author's struggles with depression, isolation, self harm, sexuality, family etc.

I seek out niche works like these; they seem to have one real purpose – to tell a story, but ... differently. Yes, the story is excellent, its relatable to an extent, but the illustration of the manga is what stood out for me. The manga is rather short, 6 chapters to be exact, but each individual page has as much as 3-4 pages worth of dialogues in it. There are several layers of dialogue in each page; apart from the usual narration, insight is provided into the character's inner thoughts and conflicts as well. The character design is cutesy and inviting; a stark but welcoming contrast to the weighty topics the manga deals with. Finally, there's a dominant touch of pink throughout the panels, it kinda evokes this almost psychedelic vibe, but is aesthetically pleasing as well.

Well, I did call it niche, but it's more of a cult classic as the manga did gain some exposure. Particularly in the West; primarily due to its handling of LGBTQ themes. Furthermore, it even managed to rack up a Harvey Award. But forget about that, the title of the manga, and its humble beginning in the depths of Pixiv, just take my words for it! This manga is an experience. Or don't take my words, just go and read it.