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Sep 19, 2024
Domestic Girlfriend was a strange watch. In all honestly, the only reason I decided to watch it at all was because the opening theme is a banger, but I was disappointed to learn that was the best part of the series.
There's a few reasons to dislike Domestic Girlfriend (weird premise, characters that don't act like people, etc.) but for me I think the really disappointing part was that while the show kind of teases this idea of exploring the problem with teacher/student romantic power dynamics, it doesn't follow through. The show's framing of this issue becomes "this romance isn't the problem, societies judgementality is the
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problem", and I find that kinda problematic. There's very good reasons why society and regular people look down on teachers seducing their students, and the anime doesn't seriously address any of them, despite feeling like it was setting up that conversation.
Some people might like it for the romance, but don't expect any complex themes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 17, 2024
Vinland Saga's second season takes a pretty sharp divergence from it's first season in terms of setting. Last season, we followed Thorfin's growth against a backdrop of war and death, but this season we continue his journey in a sleepy farmstead. This offers a lot of new perspectives for Thorfinn, and we get to see him react to new situations having learned from his past as a warrior.
Last season, I said we aren't supposed to like Thorfinn - we can empathize with him, but he isn't a likeable character. This season that changes. Thorfinn starts off as depressed with no reason to live, but as
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he begins to find new meaning in life, he becomes more human and relatable, and finally a protagonist worth rooting for.
This change is really the main focus of the season. Thorfinn has to come to terms with his past, reconciling his newfound appreciation for life with all the murder he committed as a member of Askeladd's band. His new friends (Arnheid, Einar, and Sverkel) help him on this journey, and Thorfinn goes back and forth on what it's okay to fight for, and how best to do it.
We also get to see Canute go through something similar. Canute begins the season as a ruthless military monarch with honorable intentions, the kind of king who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty to ensure the prosperity of his realm. He basically spends most of the season committing war crimes in the same of paradise, contemplating if this is the same path his corrupt father started down when he became king. There was an interesting theme here, that power corrupts, and the strength of the crown means any actions taken towards a goal tend towards the extreme.
Lots of new characters are introduced - Wulf, Gardar, Snake, Einar, Arnheid, Ketil, Thorgil, and Sverkil just to name a few. Gardar and Arnheid's story is mainly used as plot device for Thorfinn's transformation, and as a good motivator for Einar, but it's not bad on it's own. One of my favourite scenes in the season is the fight between Thorfinn and Snake when the latter tries to capture Gardar. It's was chilling to see the parallels between S1 and S2 Thorfinn, both fighting but for different goals.
The final climax of the show is Thorfinn's attempt to dissuade Canute from annexing the farm he's serving on. I got a bit of a chuckle from the part where Thorfinn wins over the royal guard by surviving 100 punches from the burliest guard - something about that is so typically anime, and I loved it! The conversation at the end between Thorfinn and Canute is a bit on-the-nose, but it does a good job of codifying where each character falls at the end of season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 17, 2024
Vinland Saga was one of those shows that I couldn't help but binge watch. When I started watching it, it felt a little formulaic and predictable, but as the show went on it started to deviate from the norm.
The show gets a lot of hate, and I think this is because people assume they are supposed to like Thorfinn - I don't think we are. The show follows him and his journey, but also accurately depicts him as a kid who lost his father and grew up bitter. The show is about Thorfinn, but that doesn't mean he's a good guy. Instead, we get to
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see Thorfinn come to challenge his childish conceptions of the world. When he spends time getting to know an English family, his warrior facade drops and he tries to save them. Towards the end of the series, Thorfinn comes to view Askeladd as a kind of role model (albeit in a weird, twisted sort of way), and this causes him to challenge his initial motivations of anger and revenge. The point of the show is Thorfinn's growth and transformation, and I think that's lost on some people.
Along the way you also get to meet some interesting characters. Thorkell is your typical war-loving archetype, but he fills the role well and is enjoyable to watch. Askeladd is a calculating, mysterious mercenary type. It's not clear what his motivations are for most of the season, but towards the end they start fleshing out his story a little more. Askeladd is probably the most compelling character of the show, to be honest. Seeing him struggle to balance his need for survival, his desire to see Wales thrive, his loyalty to Bjorn, and his feelings of responsibility for Thorfinn was thoroughly engaging.
Conversely, Prince Canute is mind of mid. He's a bit of a Mary Sue, just a plain character who inexplicably becomes good at leading for the sake of plot development and conflict. His is probably the weakest character arc in the show, but it's forgivable in my opinion, since the other main characters are developed well enough.
Lastly, I did appreciate the show's commitment to historical accuracy. As always, some liberties are taken, but many of the characters in the show are purported to have actually existed in some form, and the show captures the setting of late tenth-century England quite well. The connection between the Welsh Britons and ancient Rome was also depicted in the show, which was a really nice addition.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 17, 2024
I found Haikyuu to be pleasantly surprising! I don't normally care for sport-based anime, but Haikyuu has a certain charm that really pulls you in. Something notable IMO is that the anime doesn't fall into the trope of making all these high-school age children into god-tier players. With the exception of Kageyama, all the characters in the show are performing at levels I'd expect of a HS volleyball team, and their secret moves (like floater serves) are the types of skills that advanced HS athletes would realistically be trying to learn. In that sense Haikyuu had a realism that made me very nostalgic for my
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own time playing Volleyball in HS!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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