I’m not sure if the first season of Kemono Friends is something that can hold someone’s attention all the way through any more now that it’s out of it’s weird niche zeitgeist that it held even some time after it stopped airing. When it seemed like every single twitter artist was just making the prettiest/weirdest/cutest art of the seemingly most minor moments from it.
Still though, it’s show made on a shoestring budget about a mobile game that was shutting down even when they started making it but then actually ran with that to add a creeping post-apocalyptic undertone to it. Also watching a show with a protagonist who slowly learns to have some self-confidence by meeting weird animal cosplaying girls with a grabbag of different personality quirks is really nice when you’re depressed. I still think about the ending a lot…
Oh, so that’s who’s responsible for these that youtube started recommending me when I wanted to find out what Million Arthur was (or specifically the chinchin thing)
Sailor Moon came to my mind in the brain thread as a perfect anime for comfort during covid especially. What’s so special about Sailor Moon is its inspired key animation, in terms of emotional range and precision to how the moment would really feel. And the show deploys that to create wholesome and inspiring friend dynamics. Sailor Moon can play the role of either a guide to how to develop a loving and supportive friend group, or a surrogate for that at a more lonely time in your life.
In the context of depression, Sailor Saturn especially came to mind. And it reminded me why Sailor Moon S is the highlight of the entire series. Sailor Moon classic and R developed and refined the affectionate dynamic among five sailors who are the same age at school. Sailor Moon S throws in the additional elements of a cool, confident adult couple, and a withdrawn and self-protective middle-school sailor. Neither of these elements can simply become part of the original friend group, and yet the wholesomeness continues in a more complex way, adding elements of akogare and of supporting people you are only partially intimate with through difficult times.
I’m extremely late to this particular party but I got DVDs of Dirty Pair recently and my wife and I have been loving it.
Goofy 80s sci-fi action hijinks, from a more optimistic time. A balm for my modern aches. Also they said trans rights in 1985 so that’s a big plus in my book.
There is an HD transfer out on Blu-ray as of last year (not out in English yet) and it looks amazing, but somehow watching in SD and imagining it’s coming off a LaserDisc feels more appropriate!
devilman crybaby | it’s yuuasa. i’m still angry that the ending was changed to be less gay but what the show did right was display just how low the human condition can sink but not glorifying it. you are meant to be repulsed. you are supposed to feel terrible during and after watching. don’t rec if you’re not cool with gore. this show doesn’t top the OVAs for me but i think it’s fine for what it is.
paranoia agent | satoshi kon. the name speaks for itself. nice psychological and surreal show about the weight of society and the general unease of functioning within it told from a jp lens. couldn’t appreciate the story until i was older because i didn’t understand what was going on fully. i watched it anyway because the atmosphere drew me in. the character studies are great and just really deep shit. like the previous entry you may feel terrible during and after watching but with this show at least it’s not soul crushing–just poignant.
mawaru penguindrum | ikkuhara! ikkuhara! ikkuhara! one of my favorites of his output, the twists and turns you go through are so satisfying and the journey itself is harrowing. another one that had me in silent tears by the end. the only thing i regret is not watching it sooner. a treat visually and with characters i really cared about, this isn’t the usual high schooler romp. it’s still light enough to enjoy some laughs too but as usual, it will get dark. it’s worth it.
pop team epic | i know y’all have seen this. this is the most sb anime ever made next to utena. two anime girls that are gay. they like to beat people up. two girl girl gang. references to everything you love and maybe some you don’t. lots of fun and hoping there will be more after this shitshow of an existence lets up a bit.
the vision of escaflowne | okay, my bias is clear now, right? classic of classics, yoko kanno on the huge soundtrack ( lush sounds with a lot of bagpipe influences ) nostalgia creeps in wisely. a girl and her tarot deck, a boy and his mecha. 90s shoujo that manages not to be ( completely ) problematic.
??? | i can’t remember the name of this show at all but i found it when i was looking for bosozoku stuff. it honestly was pretty cheesy but that’s all the more reason to watch. it’s dudes with dyed pompadours on motorcycles. i didn’t enjoy it as much as i did the shonan junai gummi OVAs but can’t really review it well because i don’t remember enough.
I know Gatchaman Crowds already got mentioned but I want to throw out another rec for both seasons (Crowds and Crowds Insight). the first season is about how social media and social media activism are bad and the second season is about how voting a demagogue into office is bad
I’ve been thinking a lot about them recently for no particular reason
also since my eye caught Penguindrum (note: I’m not calling you out, good person), let me talk about how I’m seemingly the only person here to like Yuri Kuma Arashi, mostly because I have a totally idiotic and probably unfounded reading of the show and the motivations it has with what it’s assuming is its audience
i never did finish my rewatch of insight but i did watch crowds and enjoyed it a lot. i can see why weebs ( and plenty of other people ) slept on it because it fucks with a lot of people’s sensibilities by actually addressing how hive mentality sucks. people saw themselves in the hive and turned away.
yuri kuma arashi is something i started but never finished. i really hope to at some point. it’s only fair since i watched all of saranzamai ( and liked it a lot ).
My biggest beef with Gatchaman Crowds is it’s just barely Gatchaman. You kinda have to squint to see the bird motifs and the only reason its called Gatchaman is to play with the themes of old style heroics not being applicable in modern society.
If I’m gonna be sold Gatchaman I’m gonna expect some bird ninjas fighting for science.
