Day Twenty-Four: Decision to Leave (March of the Movies 2023)

Despite not being marked as such, this is technically a re-watch. I will not mark this as a re-watch since I do not already have an article covering it on this site. My first viewing of Decision to Leave came more than three months back upon the recommendation of a close friend. This same close friend recommended I re-watch it for this month, and so it has come to that point.

Back in December, I liked this film a fair amount, though its ratings felt a little inflated to me. Nevertheless, I did intend to re-watch it at some point because this film is pretty dense with its themes. And for reasons I will get into during this review. Oh, and there will be spoilers for this film going forward.

Continue reading “Day Twenty-Four: Decision to Leave (March of the Movies 2023)”

Demi-chan wa Kataritai (Re-Watch) (Merry Days of Anime 2022)

This will be the last series I re-watch this December. Upon finishing Dance Dance Danseur a few days ago, my heart randomly leapt out of the chest and pointed at this darling series that I haven’t seen since mid-2017. Figuring there was nothing to lose (except for the overall score), I went back to watch Demi-chan wa Kataritai.

Have you ever encountered something that feels tailor-made for you? This series seems to fit that description for me. Upon first viewing, I liked it quite a bit, though my original post is still smugly within an atmosphere of “I have to be an objective, snarky anime critic to stand out.” Still, I saw the signs of something deeper—a connection bridging who I would eventually become to the gentleness of this series’ writing. Watching it again now, I think I have a better understanding of why this invigorates me so.

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Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto (Partial Re-Watch) (Merry Days of Anime 2022)

In early 2016, I stumbled upon a series by the name of Umi Monogatari. For the record, it has nothing to do with the Monogatari series by Nisio Isin. This series has an abysmally low average rating on MyAnimeList, which intrigued me more than anything. After viewing it the first time, I left with a shockingly positive outcome. “This anime is severely underrated! How can people not understand that this is actually a pretty good series?” I thought to myself often.

Try as I may to keep things positive, a lingering doubt permeated in my mind as the years continued onward. Why is this so low in score? What is it that makes people find this so easy to despise? For this year’s festivities, I wanted to once again travel back to my younger twenties and see if things still held up, particularly a series that has seen its fair share of malignment. After three and a half episodes, I return with one question:

Why… did I think this was good?

Continue reading “Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto (Partial Re-Watch) (Merry Days of Anime 2022)”

Updated Thoughts on Mayoi Neko Overrun!

mayoi neko overrun cover

The OGs of my blog will remember my mentioning this series a few times in the past. Most notably, it made the top 5 in my Top 10 on awful anime I came to love. That, however, was back in 2015, when my status as a person was still within a process of trying to overcompensate the right brain with the left. On a complete whim (literally), I decided to rewatch the series I remembered fondly as a lovely trainwreck of stupidity and sexuality. Does it hold up? Obviously not, but how much… not? Continue reading “Updated Thoughts on Mayoi Neko Overrun!”