I came across this the other day after somebody posted about it in this community. I just binged my way through and it’s really cute, but also interesting.

I like how Serea is reincarnated, but she died when she was 10 in her previous life. So her mental age and physical age line up. Also, the prince was brought into the meta loop and they are working together to fight against the game force trying to pull them apart.

The entire Kingdom continues to conspire against this guy getting back to the Saint. With the king now aware of her presence, the secret is out at this point.

This was a bit of a weird episode. There was almost no interaction between our main couple because Honjoji is just shutting down. Instead, the bulk of the episode focused on a coworker and his divorce. I get why a show that is about an impending (fake, but maybe not fake) wedding would bring up divorce. However, the way it was handled this episode didn’t really work for me.

The show couldn’t seem to make up its mind about whether to treat this with humor or with seriousness, and it kind of ended up not succeeding with either tone. The whole acting like a gorilla thing was just bizarre. Meanwhile, we see glimpses of Honjoji’s memories of being a child to divorced parents. I feel like it is a missed opportunity to spend less time chasing a grown man-ape around and more time on either her or the child. I just didn’t think that chasing this guy around Scooby Doo style really served any purpose other than an attempt at humor that didn’t really land for me.

In any case, George was a nice discovery this episode. He is that one person in any workplace that has been around forever and no problem ever phases them. They’ve seen it all before and are the person that you turn to when you need to rely on that experience.

I am hoping that we get more of the main pair next episode. I mean, at least talk to each other.

Personally, I think Kyomoto is a couple things at the same time. She is a fellow artist that inspires a mangaka to do better and at the same time is a stand-in for the fans that provide the satisfaction that all that work that went into the art/story was worth it. I know some artists irl that are really good, but they are always comparing themselves to other’s art and think that they could do better.

Man, this is the most villainess-y looking villainess. She’s got the fan and everything. I am guessing her giant body guard is going to square off with Frost in some way.

I haven’t watched I Want to Eat Your Pancreas either, so I can’t directly compare the two. I think Look Back was touching for sure, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it reached the top tier of emotional anime movies for me. I ended up not needing my box of tissues for example.

By comparison, when I want to watch something like Tale of the Princess Kaguya, I prepare a fresh box of tissues and go ahead and clear my schedule for the whole weekend. That movie destroys me when I watch it.

I have been in the mood for something something ultra-sweet recently and after searching around, this fit the bill perfectly. It is just pure, unadulterated warm fuzzy feelings. Yeah, it’s tropey as hell and the plot doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny, but that’s not the point. Just sit back and enjoy the ultra-concentrated romance.

Confession time. Despite being a moderator for the !manga@ani.social community, I had never read this oneshot before. So, I was going in about as blind as I could have been. I knew from the way people talked about it to have a box of tissues on hand and that it was about manga, but that was about it.

There were so many great moments that were in here. First, I liked One Piece on the cover of Shonen Weekly Jump when they were looking up the results of the manga contest. @rikka@ani.social

Their partnership really seemed to work well. It was tough to see it come undone when Kyomoto wanted to go to art school. You can really feel how hurt Fujino felt in that moment as she was trying to exploit Kyomoto’s insecurities to keep her from leaving. The visual framing of this sequence was brilliant as well. They had consistently been showing Fujino leading Kyomoto around by the hand, dragging her out of her shell. Then, when this conversation happens, they aren’t joined together anymore and a tree is shown literally dividing the frame right between them. Driving the proverbial wedge into their relationship as Fujino is trying to shove Kyomoto back into her shell to keep from losing her.

The part that really started to get to me was when Fujino picked up the old 4-koma that she drew that had lured Kyomoto out of her room back when they first met. It was tragic to see her blame herself and her art for the death of Kyomoto. As we transitioned out of that, I had no idea where the story was going to go next. I was not expecting the supernatural turn that came next at all. I must admit that I was confused for a little bit about what was going on.

The alternate history timeline was interesting. We see Kyomoto at art school, doing her thing and somehow scraping by with some degree of independence just like she had wanted. One thing I liked about this alternate timeline was Fujino’s dynamic entry and rescue. It looked like it was straight out of a manga panel. The irony of this timeline is that if Fujino had not lured Kyomoto out of her room, Kyomoto would not have died at art school. Sidenote: this sequence of events has to be inspired by the KyoAni arson attack, right? It is too similar for it not to be the case.

The titular 4-koma that Kyomoto drew, depicting a humorous take on the attack and rescue was actually hilarious. I absolutely loved the joke in the final panel. As somebody that has read tons of 4-koma over the years, that is a top tier reveal.

The shelves of Kyomoto’s room being full of Fujino’s work was incredibly cute. It was very touching and did a great job of showing how Kyomoto never stopped being Fujino’s biggest fan, ever since elementary school. I loved how this scene culminated in Fujino literally looking back to see the coat that she autographed all those years ago hung up prominently on the door.

Overall, this was a great watch. The way in which these two managed to inspire one another to greater heights across time and space was very touching. Really enjoyed this.

So, so happy that Saki called out Kanon’s self-destructive thoughts. I was getting frustrated while reading this since it felt so out of character for Kanon. Then Saki gave voice to my frustration almost verbatim:

These two are the most adorable couple, and if anything happens to them, I will throw hands.

I find it really funny that Daichi is “aggressive” because he dared to say that he liked her. No wonder her friend is frustrated with these two.

Yeah, I think Akane has always had meta elements to her. If you weren’t aware, her attempted suicide arc from the dating reality show bears a striking resemblance to real-life events surrounding the death of Hana Kimura. I don’t think Aka has ever confirmed that this was the inspiration for Akane’s suicide attempt, but (especially for Japanese readers), the similarity is striking and clearly marks Akane’s character as one that can be used to connect to things outside of what is simply on the page.

Her narration this chapter reminded me a bit of an old Film Noir where, at the end of the movie, after the mystery is solved, usually the detective narrates a denouement to the story. I would like to think that this is a nod to how the fans of the series have, for a long time now, referred to her as Detective Akane. I have no idea if that nickname is present in the Japanese fanbase as well though, just something that makes me smile when I think about it.

Thank goodness that the right person won. Takae was clearly the best person for the job; Saotome didn’t even want it. I am trying not to hold it against this manga, but having an election storyline come to a climax this week feels like bad timing.

I wonder what Itachi is going to demand of the student council in the future. She continues to be the best character. I guess just like War Games, the only winning move in this harem is not to play.

They really play around with how they draw Ice. Like any good cosplayer, she really adapts to the costume. I was surprised to see an Albedo cosplay mixed in there:

Then, compare how she is normally drawn to when she is in model mode:

I was also glad to see Tsunehiro starting to think seriously about things like his mortality and what to do with the time he has left. He hasn’t told his new friends yet, but with what Ice told him this episode, I think it is just a matter of time before he does.

I really liked this episode and feel like it managed to stay fun with the fishing and goofy characters while also dealing with some serious emotions that Tsunehiro is going through.

Alright, this really is the last clip I made as part of the birthday celebrations. Thanks for the past year everybody!

Aww, shucks… Here’s to another year!

Glad you enjoyed it! When I first saw it (somebody else shared it in this community), it took me a couple chapters to get it, but it’s a lot of fun.

Oh no! I can’t believe you blazed through this whole series in a couple days. Now you have to wait for the final chapter with the rest of us.

You mentioned Akane in the other thread, and I think that she has become the most interesting character to me (my favorite will always be Miyako, mom of my heart). In this chapter, Akane literally became the narrator for us. I think it is interesting that she is criticizing Aqua’s plan, essentially criticizing the author’s plot at a meta level.

Now you can start watching the anime! It has been an excellent adaptation. The second season ended roughly halfway through the story (chapter 80).

I am really curious to see how the last chapter shakes out. I wasn’t expecting that note of optimism at the end. I was fully expecting Ruby/Aqua to go the Romeo/Juliet tragic deaths route.

Both Aqua and Kamiki being dead now also means that there is little reason to dig all that deep into Aqua’s actions to find Kamiki. Ruby and Akane know that he was looking for their father and maybe the director, but I don’t think the police are going to step away from their serial killer case to think too much about it.

Some really fun 4 komas in the extras. I especially liked the meta bit at the end.