Alright, 11 ep backlog, two days off. Might watch the Broly movie with my father later.
Tsurune ep 13. Fast forward to the finals. Amazingly, the stuff with the twins actually paid off, showing how fragile their egos really are. Great final match, too. Seiya is so fucking smooth, I really grew fond of him in the second half. The show found another nice role for the girls, their enthusiasm providing good contrast to the stoicism of the archers. I even liked Minato’s narrating everyone’s shot. It’s a bit weird that such a grounded show would suddenly have all that the extra sheen and sparkle, but it’s the final showdown, so I was into it. And, of course, Minato’s last shot was incredible. I’m still such a sucker for full-circle endings.
All in all, despite some weak characterizations,
Tsurune turned out to be pretty good, with visuals and art motifs that framed individual character motivations and emotions really well. Not all of it was great, but when they focused on Minato and Seiya, it sang excellently. And the kyuudo itself was awesome, very aesthetically pleasing. I liked it enough to slot in top 15 for 2018.
Manaria Friends ep 1. Why does Manaria get translated as Mysteria?
Anyway, this is basically
Maid Dragon if Kobayashi was also magic. I loved the designs, particularly the uniforms. (Well, at least how the uniform looks on Grea.) Not all of it is great, though, it’s got some dude with a gross mullet. The acting by minor characters feels weird, but there probably won’t be a lot of them. All the expository dialogue was awkward, but other than that, the leads have a nice dynamic. It should get even better now that introductions are out of the way. I do appreciate that, even with its shorter runtime, it’s willing to dedicate copious amounts of time to the leads just staring longingly at each other. Should be fun.