Anime Roundup

It's time for another Anime Roundup!

The Ramparts of Ice

A slice-of-life romantic dramedy about an introverted teenage girl (who, if you ask me, presents as autistic) and her friends and classmates as they navigate typical high school challenges while becoming romantically interested in each other, as teenagers are prone to do. Fun fact: the manga the show is based on started out as a self-published webtoon (H/T: Wikipedia). Go, go, indie creators!

Kill Blue

An action-comedy about a 39-year-old professional assassin who gets transformed into a middle schooler (long story), this one is sort of like, I dunno, 13 Going on 30 (but in reverse) meets Sakamoto Days, perhaps? Still, though, it does its own thing, which is a lot of fun. Speaking of fun, fun fact: apparently, the reason so many anime and manga have the word "blue" in the title (Blue Box, Blue Exorcist, etc.) is because Japanese culture associates the color blue with the concept of youth and adolescence (H/T: Reddit). I had not known that!

My Dress-Up Darling

A slice-of-life romantic comedy about two high school classmates: an attractive and popular "it" girl and a shy, reclusive boy who crafts traditional Japanese dolls. They end up bonding over cosplay and then...fall in love?? Maybe? You'll just have to watch it and find out! Things seemed to have sort-of-more-or-less wrapped up after season two, but there's more to the manga, so I'm hoping they make a third season. Fun fact: this show is one of the few I've seen that use actual brand names, like Canon and Don Quijote (a popular Japanese chain of discount general stores).

Akane-banashi

A coming-of-age dramedy that takes the "daughter avenging her father" trope and adapts it to the world of rakugo, a traditional form of Japanese storytelling (instead of finding and killing the person who killed her father, the protagonist--Akane--goes on a mission to reach the highest rakugo rank that her father failed to achieve after he was unfairly expelled from the profession). Fun fact: the writer of the manga the show is based on had no prior knowledge of rakugo and originally created the character of Akane for a manga about ballet (H/T: Wikipedia).

Scarlet

A feature-length film that takes the "daughter avenging her father" trope and, well...basically plays it straight, sending its titular heroine--a medieval princess--on a quest to kill her uncle who killed her father in order to usurp the throne. It does put its own spin on it by incorporating elements of purgatory, time travel, and surrealism, and it has some pretty stunning visuals. Fun fact: it reminded me a bit of my own manga-style comic book series Glorified with its kick-butt female main character and a companion who starts out as an annoying sidekick but eventually turns into a trusted friend who tries to help the main character overcome her anger.

Until next time, mata ne!