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"Usuzumi no Hate" was a manga that I found in MAL's "You Should Read This Manga 2024" Interest Stack List. And bloody hell, I am glad I found it.

The manga takes us fifty years into the future, to a world that has been ravaged by a race of aliens, nicknamed the "Executioners" by humans. Along with themselves, the aliens brought along a fatal and highly contagious disease called Crystiolis. We follow our protagonist, Saya Ushimitsu, a Provisional Special Investigator from the Ushimitsu Technical Research Institute. Their job is to look for survivors and "purify" the pathogen responsible for crystallosis.

To say anything other than magnificent about ... the artwork would be a disgrace to the author. The artwork is incredible. While the design of the characters may look a bit simple, I believe it to be complemented well by the intricate designs of each scene.

Something I enjoy about this manga is that each interaction with an android, the android recognizes the fact that there may be no humans left. But since they were tasked with a job, they will do that job until they cannot anymore. I also love that the androids have emotions; they're not just lifeless hulks of metal. They have some concept of empathy, beauty, and care for the well-being of the characters. And the characters in turn respect the wishes of the androids. I have never come so close to crying at a piece of media, but Usuzumi no Hate did it for me.

I am so glad I found this manga; it is truly an underrated gem. If you enjoy bleak storylines, incredible storytelling, and just as good artwork, Usuzumi no Hate is a manga that you should seek out and read.

Monotonous Purgatory is (to my knowledge, this number may be five) the third of three oil-on-glass films directed by Shiroki Saori. Monotonous Purgatory is a music video done in collaboration with the Tokyo-based band matryoshka for their 2012 album Laideronnette. The overall animation is quite stunning. Oil upon glass gives off a very unique look that you will not see anywhere else. The song itself is quite interesting. Despite being a bit hard to hear (for me at least), as long as you read the lyrics prior or during, you should understand what the vocalist is saying.

I will not try to interpret what Monotonous Purgatory ... is about; that is up to you to decide.

Now I would like to speak about the film's Director/Animator, Shiroki Saori. It appears that after this film, Shiroki has dropped animation. Through light research, I have not been able to find a reference to Shiroki in any credited role other than what I believe to be a compilation film released in 2015 for presumably a French audience (L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise - Volume 3). I was also able to find an archive of Shiroki's website; however, the last archive with any semblance of a website was on the 25th of December, 2012. And even so, many of the off-links were not archived. I will link it, as it is an interesting look through (https://web.archive.org/web/20121225234824/http://www.saorishiroki.net/). Neither of the socials Shiroki had listed on their site work, with the YouTube having been deleted and the X (formerly Twitter) account appearing to have had a new person use the handle on a new account.

I find it interesting how these animators appear from nowhere, drop amazing work like this, then disappear.

If you're wondering why a six for the rating, its just using my rating scale.

Yomigaeru Sora: Rescue Wings" is a brilliant depiction of the life, emotions, and actions of rescue pilots not only from Japan but from around the world. However, this anime is tainted by one quite strange plot point: the main character's romantic relationship.

With what I am going to be mentioning further down in this review, I am unsure if it will count as spoilers or will be vague enough to not be. But I will still mark this review as containing spoilers.

The animation of this anime is wonderful. When there is not actual animation but CG, it fits. It's not strangely out of place. There was ... not a moment when watching this anime that I thought to myself, "Oh, that looks strange" or "That was out of place." Everything fits as it should and how it would.

Sound design is sub-par, more so relating to the music. Actual environmental sound effects were amazing; they fit the scenes well and again, as they should and how they would. But the music just was not the same. It seems odd in some places, or even places where you'd think there would be some sort of background track, there was none. However, looking back onto it, I believe this was done on purpose. In real life situations, there is no background music. Its just the sounds and sights going on around you. And for that, I believe it was done in a great way.

Something that this anime does that I believe to be amazing is that it is not afraid to show actual failure. The first three episodes of this anime are a great representation of this. It sets you up to believe that 2LT K. Uchida is going to save that young girl, but no. She unfortunately loses the fight with her injuries and passes away. I believe this is the point in the anime where you can see 2LT Uchida's attitude change about being in the Komatsu Rescue Squad. It's not just a low-tier, bottom-of-the-barrel position; it's a position that truly matters and has actual life-or-death consequences.

Now let's speak about what I mentioned in the first paragraph. 2LT Uchida has a girlfriend, M. Hasegawa. Okay, that's fine on all, but this is a show about search and rescue. The way that 2LT Uchida's relationship is "interwoven" into the story seems to be bashful and out of place. Almost as if when the anime was first previewed by the producers, they said it needed something more personal, and that is what J.C.Staff came up with. For me, that is what brings the overall rating down.

Recently having watched The Great Passage, I believe it fair to compare the two as they are similar in genre. Both are workplace animes with romantic side stories. However, The Great Passage is able to keep the romance as a side story. It is not given any more time than it should have. It was well integrated into the story. Where as stated previously, the romance in this anime seems almost bashful in its integration.

If you're like me and enjoy watching realistic animes, this is a very good show that is quite heart-wrenching. My recommendation would be to just skip all the romantic plot points; they do not really add anything to the story.