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I want to divide this brief review into two parts: my review of the manga proper, and why it encouraged me to go out to a shady fruit market to buy a guyabano.

To me, the takeaway from this manga is appreciating novel experiences. Our childhoods felt like they dragged on for so long because they were packed full of them, and your brain was taking in so much new information. Guyabano Holiday, to my mind, recommends living in emulation of that stage of your life, minus the incontinence and crying thankfully. Mixed in with this is also cultivating an anticipation for what you may not ... have experienced yet (see the short story where panpanya walks through a memory of their local area), and also a mindfulness of the world around you even down to the most minute detail (see potentialPizza's review). All of the stories in this manga revolve around these themes, and if you enjoy such a premise then I would definitely recommend you give it a shot!

The primary weakness of all manga and comics, in my opinion, is the period of time that are left in between panels. The audience is required to the fill in the gaps using the information that has been provided on the page to construct an internal chronology of the scene in question (how long the events are taking, where things are in relation to each other, etc), which detracts from the 'immersion'. However, I don't think any of panpanya's manga suffer from this common pitfall in the slightest. At no point in Guyabano Holiday are you under the illusion that what you're reading has any grounding in reality, even the paramount story in this manga - panpanya's quest to buy guyabanos - is of tentative plausibility. At most they're dream diaries, and we only know that in some cases because panpanya just outright says so. You might think they sound reasonable enough to have actually happened, but you don't know that! The fact that you don't know to what degree the story is fiction or not just adds to its charm. Novel experience is wonderful, whether it's something you actually went out and did, or a story that you read.

For these reasons, I see this manga as very positive and uplifting. If panpanya can go out, into the rather dull cityscape of (iirc) Tokyo, and find enjoyment in just about anything, why can't I? As a consequence, I made it my mission to find a guyabano, called soursop in my country, because up until I read this manga I'd never even heard of it. True to form it was rather difficult, and after reading through old blogs written by gen x mums a decade ago, I was able to find a local south-east Asian fruit market that was purported to have them somewhere. My friend and myself spent about an hour or so wandering around in heatstroke-inducing temperatures. Eventually, as we were navigating through a shop shielded from the sun with a green tarp and squeezing past an old Vietnamese man who was packing boxes full of various fruit and veggies to look through the aisles inside, I saw it through the corner of my eye, a guyabano sitting on the checkout counter! I was joyous and immediately purchased it with my friend's money - cash only and quite expensive. Once I got home I cut it in half, got my spoon out, had a mouthful... and it was mid, I'm sorry to say. Too many seeds and the taste kinda hits too quickly, very overpowering. Still not the worst fruit I've ever had, not by a long shot. I have posted a link to a pic of the guyabano we bought on my profile (I can't post it in this review because of the woke mob)

Without panpanya I never would've tried such a strange fruit. I never would've gone to this weird part of my city that I had never been to before, not have had a nice day out with a friend, and not have seen the strangest looking Vietnamese catholic church I'd ever seen in my life. It takes a certain kind of manga to inspire me to actually leave the house in summer, but this one managed! Recommended!

I'm sure everyone reading this has already seen several reviews for Shimeji Simulation before, so I'm going to try and briefly approach it from the perspective of someone who feels like they're not the target demographic.

At its core, I believe this manga is about learning to be a normal person and integrating into society whilst also coming to terms with the parts of it that you don't understand nor respect. Right from the start it is clear that protagonist Shijima prefers the path of least resistance, she is like water. Underneath that exterior is someone who /wants/ to be invested in life the ... same way everyone else seems to be. The rest of the manga is essentially just her trying to find a reason to be invested, but I won't go further, that would be telling! Tsukumizu is a brilliant artist whose charming style is packed full of emotional depth, I've heard it referred to as depressed moe. Don't let that turn you off it, I know most moe is garbo, but trust me when I say there is substance to it, they actually have interesting things to say about finding meaning to life and relationships. Even if you're not a dude or a lesbian (aka the moe audience), I really think you'll find the characters to be charming and their personal stories worth listening to. In a sea of generic school life manga and anime, this one stands out as a diamond in the rough, as I found it extremely unpredictable and the story gripping. If you're a few chapters in and think you know where it's going, you're overconfident, my friend.

If you've found the concept of this manga interesting enough to where you've come upon this review, then I strongly encourage you to give it a go!

Yuugai Muzai Gangu is, in my opinion, one of the best mainstream (in Japan at least) ontological manga out there, even giving Alison Airlines a run for their money. Most of it pertains to who 'you' are and the nature of being, and whilst it's not particularly deep, it does ask big questions that provoke strong emotions in many people. If you think about consciousness, death, the meaning of life, identity, etc, then I can heartily recommend it with flying colours, as it ticks all those boxes and then some. Most anime and manga have low points where the excitement can die down and you ... mostly persist just to get into the more interesting parts again, but this one has absolutely no such troughs (probably thanks to its short length. You can finish it in an afternoon). It took me a bit to get used to the art style, but eventually it grew on me, and I feel it matches the tone of the work - the clothes are intricately detailed yet the faces are minimalist! Overall, I loved every page, cover to cover.

If you end up enjoying this piece, I would also recommend the rest of Ura Shino's work. I think this particular edition stands head and shoulders above the other two that are available in English, but they are also worth your time. So give it a go, at least before you die in your sleep tonight.

CyanData's review about this manga falling off and becoming a generic fight manga after ch. 10 is accurate unfortunately. Since then, it seems that beyond ch. 20 it takes another turn and may become interesting again, although I suspect that the fights are still going to take centre stage (I can't confirm this as I can't find a translation beyond 22). Really, Coffee Moon is at its best when it just doesn't talk about factions or fighting, but instead about wrestling with your desires/dilemmas. The art in the first ten chapters is also really good, it has a calming bitterness to it that really captures ... the mood of the story. Honestly I just really like it! Regarding characters, there's a tendency for them to wallow in despair too much in manga/anime like this, but none of those from before ch. 10 do this much, I think. They're quite solid overall.

There's two ways to read it in my opinion: either you stop at the end of ch. 10 and headcanon your own ending (there's still some loose ends but it can kinda work), or find a way to read beyond ch. 22. If you try the former, you'll find a solid short story, 8/10 I would say, but if you go with the latter, I can't guarantee you won't be disappointed as I was.

NieA_7 is, surprisingly, a mixed bag. It isn't mediocre the whole way through, far from it, but instead it has stellar highs and irritating lows. To summarise: I found the human side of the story (ie Mayuko's) extremely compelling - if the entire show were simply devoted to that, I would be willing to recommend it much more readily. The alien side (Niea's), however, I have little praise for.

Mayuko is a deeply relatable character and navigates the common stressors of life with a certain elegance. I felt her story delivered lacklustre answers to her questions at times, such as what she wants to do with ... her life, or how to deal with student-derived poverty, which I actually consider a strength. These problems are commonly discussed because they have no definitive answer. Maybe you're approaching 30 and still have no savings, or sometimes you enter university or the workforce with an ambivalent heart whilst your peers may have had lifelong career goals that they are now pursuing. Dispassion is not a bad thing, and I'm glad NieA_7 doesn't seem to present it like it is, the mundane nature of life is quite enough. The bathhouse is shown to provide a valuable community service, and when its situation develops (no spoilers!), you have an investment in the standing of this business, care for its well-being, and those reliant upon it. I enjoyed Mayuko's story from start to finish, and on its own I would give it as high as an 8-9/10. On the other hand, all of Niea's scenes, and those involving aliens in general, are consistently just awful. None of the jokes land, and Chada's characterisation frequently enters racist territory. The hierarchy of the alien society is never expanded or commentated upon in any meaningful way, and I felt it presented it as a force of nature rather than anything socially constructed. I understand that it can seem that way on an individual scale, and Niea does at times appear to try and make peace with it, but again, there isn't any substance to it. I would give Niea's story a 2-3/10.

Is NieA_7 a bad anime? Not at all, there's gems of beautiful sentiment woven into it. Is it a good anime? Only just, Mayuko, Kotomi, Nenji, the Karitas, and perhaps Genzo do the heavy lifting, the rest are just dead weight. Be prepared to find the show boring at times, especially in comparison to ABe's other works (to me, it doesn't hold a candle to the magnificent Haibane Renmei), which was how I discovered it. 6/10.

Earth Maiden Arjuna is my problematic fave. It has many glaring flaws, which will be mentioned below, but despite these, I resoundingly adored it. If you like environmentalism, Hinduism, or ontology (in that order), then you should try this anime. The basics of this show have been discussed elsewhere, so instead I'll focus on THREE of its most important elements that catapulted this anime unexpectedly into my favourites list.

FIRSTLY: The obvious, Arjuna's most polarising feature is its very overt and nuanced environmentalist message. I am in the camp that sees this as its greatest strength. It acknowledges that there is no way out of our ... wanton disregard for the Earth's well-being without there being either mass human suffering if we were to go down the path of suddenly halting all environmentally destructive behaviour, or, phasing this out slowly and being faced with continued ecological degradation over the coming decades, resulting in a mass extinction event (in the real world we went with option two). This is a mature take on the problem, and surpasses other media of its kind with their unfounded optimism.
SECONDLY: Its (albeit too brief) exploration of non-dual philosophy, especially in episodes 4 and 13. Juna's discovery of mindfulness meditation and Indic non-dualism (NOT monism, crucial difference!) play an important role in the journey of any spiritually inclined environmentalist. Ecosystem destruction is not only harmful to humans insofar as it will cause the disruption of a complex web of biological networks that must be maintained in order for civilisation to exist, but also because, at the end of the day, we are not separate from nature. Babies do not possess the same ego-else dichotomy that adults do, and rather than developing this feeling more strongly to live in harmony with the universe, as we should, we choose instead to crush it in favour of pursuing a misguided mastery over an 'otherised' Earth. I think the anime does a good job of representing the three possible divergences from this idea; the 'normies' who do subconsciously see humans as above nature, the ecoterrorist who sees modern civilisation as unredeemable, and the old man who finds the middle way.
THIRDLY: Juna's experience with being unable to eat meat had a strong impact on me personally. It depicts the struggle of trying to go vegan in a meat-oriented society quite well, though with the usual anime peacocking lol. [MILD SPOILERS] Tokio's reaction is quite authentic as well, and is reminiscent of conversations I've had with friends on the same topic in similar circumstances. It's hard to give up meat, but it's the right thing to do, and Juna can't seem to understand how anyone can continue to eat it even after they know how factory farms work (nor I, truth be told), so in this sense, her reaction is also quite understandable and human [END SPOILERS] I loved Juna's and Tokio's character and relationship growth, to my mind, they echo the conversations that we have with ourselves when we learn about these issues.

Ultimately, I agree with most of the criticism: the animation is rough around the edges, Chris is a bit irritating, and some of its more scientifically controversial takes leaves a sour taste in one's mouth, BUT, despite all these, again, I loved Earth Maiden Arjuna. I am the exact type of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy loving, acid dropping, environmentalist hippie that this anime was made for, and despite its low rating here on MAL, it is a truly heartfelt and tasteful work of art, unfairly maligned.

I haven't written any reviews for anime before, but I'm going to have a crack at Sonny Boy.

I enjoy philosophy, mostly Indian (esp Advaita!) and Chinese, but have also read some Western works as well, so when I'd heard of Sonny Boy, I was eager to dive in. Upon reading the synopsis, however, I was immediately sceptical. Isekai? ew, but I figured I'd take a chance, and don't regret it!

When I watched it, I did so rather quickly, across only a few days. I was reasonably confident in my assessment of the show, believing I understood its themes and message quite clearly. I branded ... the series a social commentary on power dynamics (privilege, mob mentality, all that sort of thing). But as it progressed, my thoughts on it felt increasingly jumbled up and nonsensical. The wide variety of interpretations for the series just fed into my belief that perhaps the way I was approaching this show was all wrong. Despite my love for philosophy, I strongly believe that the entire profession is foolhardy and anthropomorphising. The universe may appear to operate entirely according to (theoretically) predictable forces of nature, but from my understanding of quantum mechanics (not my speciality, please don't rip my head off I'm trying my best!), this is not always true, and that a large portion of how our lives turn out is due to random chance. Though it must be stressed I don't believe that this is true for the universe at large, as in that case, much of the early universe was dictated by predictable forces. As such, I believe that a core tenant of maturity is learning to accept that very few things in your life are within your control. I'm not trying to be deterministic to the point of being defeatist, but ultimately, my education in philosophy has left me increasingly confused as to the nature of existence. I've had an inclination towards nihilism and absurdism for some time now, but Sonny Boy is the first anime I've watched since then that brought up those ideas organically to me.

Hence, my revised approached to the show is that its meaning can be whatever you want it to be. If you see it as a series focused on social commentary, philosophy, or even just a coming of age story, then, in that moment, it is. I, however, now see Sonny Boy through an absurdist lens. It's confusing, much like the universe, and you will never tease objectivity out of it, stop kidding yourself. No matter what hypothesis you conceive of, someone will still be able to find flaws in it somewhere. To sum up Sonny Boy's ending, I can resolutely say that I loved everything about it. Nagara's experience didn't change him as much as I expected it would, but his eagerness to return to the mundane real world is so profoundly human. Apart from death itself, whatever you may experience throughout the day, eventually you'll return home, make dinner, hop into bed, and life will go on tomorrow. In this, I saw a meditation on impermanence. Both the universe and Sonny Boy are chaotic messes that can only be understood a fraction of the time, and that's ok. I love the rain, the automated motions of life, the freedom of insignificance. Nagara and Mizuho are the true victors here, despite how some may see it, they win the peacefulness of mundane existence. Even if Sonny Boy doesn't have a deeper meaning and it's just shallow window-dressing pretending to be sophisticated, I still found it to be good fun to watch!

My only complaint would be the music, I absolutely hated it! It was so grating to listen to, but the sound effects and voice acting were amazing, so those, plus the piece at the end (we all know the one), bump its sound score up to 6. Everything else, though, is either a 9 or a 10. This anime may turn out to be one of my favourites once I have a few weeks and months to think about it, but at the moment, I would give it a 9 overall. Highly recommended!

tldr: nothing makes sense, i'm so confused bruh

EDIT: Upon rewatching it, I only love it more! I have raised my 9 to a 10, I can definitely see myself rewatching it in a few years every now and then! I've even come around to enjoying the music!