Thoughts on Kemono Friends Comic Anthology: Japari Bun Collection

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Kinokuniya store in central Sydney while I was visiting my sister. For my fellow Aussie bloggers in the area, it’s absolutely worth a visit for their huge collection of manga (and their books in general). I was specifically looking for something which I could read in Japanese as I’ve been working hard enough on my studies that I wanted something to try out in the Japanese language, as drills will only go so far. Kinokuniya has heaps of untranslated manga (and also plenty of Japanese books in general, ranging from children’s books to novels), their 日本語 collection is actually bigger than their English manga collection. You can of course order online, but I think that browsing a bookshop can be quite enjoyable and help you spot things you may not have otherwise looked at.

I got a few things, but the first which I’ve had a chance to try out is けものフレンズこっみこあんそろじーじゃぱりまん編 (Kemono Friends Comic Anthology: Japari Bun Collection).

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Series Review – Kochinpa!

Kochinpa! is possibly one of the more unusual ‘anime’ I have watched owing to its exceedingly short episode length. It’s a series of 15 second episode shorts which has now had 2 seasons. The two seasons are pretty similar, so I’ll be talking about both seasons together. It’s hard to give a detailed analysis of something like this, but I thought that I’d still highlight this show as I found it quirky and fun.

Firstly, here’s my review of the series typed in 15 seconds for you.

Kochinpa is very short and while it is ostensibly about idols it is really advertising slot machines.

Series Review – Dance With Devils

Firstly my apologies to my readers. My health continues to be poor, and the most important thing for me is to keep my stress levels low by not placing high expectations on myself regarding things like writing blog posts, but I do still plan to post when I am able, I just have no idea what sort of frequency that will be.

Dance With Devils is a series which follows the experiences of Tachibana Ritsuka, whose life is thrown into disarray when supernatural beings, both devils and vampires start pursuing her as they believe she has knowledge of a powerful magical tool, the forbidden grimoire. As a reverse harem story, incidentally all the supernatural beings pursuing her are attractive males. The thing which makes this series unique from others of its genre is the fact that it is a musical, with each episode having one or two musical numbers which contribute to the storytelling. While there are musical stage shows of certain anime, this is the first anime series which I have encountered which is a musical (if there are others, I’d love to know).

I heard this series mentioned by Shoujo Thoughts as a series with musical elements which was unintentionally funny. If there’s something which I love almost as much as a good musical, it’s a bad musical, which was my motivation for checking out the series. In this regard, it didn’t disappoint.

I was not Maid for Dragons

I make no secret of the fact on my blog that two of my favourite genres of anime are slice-of-life and comedy, and I tend to like them even better when I get the two together. Everyday occurrences with a dash of humour sprinkled in seems like a surefire way of getting me to enjoy an anime. Except for when they’re not.

Love and Loss in One Room

Edit: This was my 1st April post. Probably don’t watch One Room.

Some of my readers may have been aware of the series of shorts One Room which recently finished airing. What you may be unaware of is that the synopsis of you being the protagonist is misleading; the protagonist is in fact dead, and it is a spirit, not your body, which is spending time together with these girls. In fact One Room is a touching series about three young women coming to grips with the loss of someone who they really cared about.

Series Review- Kemono Friends

Kemono Friends is an anime which follows the adventures of a human child named Kaban (bag/backpack in English) as she travels through Japari Park, a land filled with various ‘Friends’; anthropomorphic versions of animals, in an attempt to find out about her identity. Along the way, Kaban together with different Friends, especially her self-appointed chaperone Serval work together to overcome both personal and environmental difficulties in their quest for knowledge.

Series Review – Long Riders!

Long Riders! (hereafter referred to without the exclamation point) is a series which follows first year university student Kurata Ami as she becomes interested in cycling and embarks on a number of cycling-related activities with her friends. I wrote up episodic posts for the series which you can find here, so you can see my views on the series in more detail if you were interested.

As the typical ‘protagonist who has no hobbies or strong passions prior to the commencement of the series’, Ami sees someone riding a cute folding bike one day and decides to take up cycling. Together with her childhood friend Aoi, and new friends Hinako, Yayoi, and Saki, she transforms from a beginner into an experienced cyclist, participating in different activities and also building friendships. Long Riders is packed with cute cycling and cute food, two things which I find enjoyable.

Series Review – Agatha Christie’s Great Detectives Poirot and Marple

Agatha Christie’s Great Detectives Poirot and Marple is a 39 episode anime series based on the writings of Agatha Christie. The series covers a variety of cases taken from Christie’s novels and short stories. As a fan of Agatha Christie, when I heard about this series it was pretty much a must-watch for me. Agatha Christie’s work still has immense popularity throughout the world and I enjoy seeing different screen adaptations of her writings, so seeing an anime adaptation was definitely a bit of a treat.

Series Review – Military!

Salaryman Yano Souichi ends up becoming a mercenary in the conflict between the Krakozhia Dukedom and the Grania Republic and this puts his son, Yano Souhei in danger. Whether the danger is from the enemy side or from Lutgalnikov and Haruka, the officers sent to protect him is up for debate.

Military! (why have I been reviewing shows with such dumb punctuation in the title lately?) is a series of comedy shorts (3.5 minute episodes) which focus around Souhei’s everyday life which is suddenly full of military officers, who are cute girls who will use weapons at the slightest provocation.

Series Review – Encouragement of Climb Season 1

Encouragement of Climb (Yama no Susume) is a series of shorts (3 minute episodes), featuring Aoi and her friends on their adventures mountain climbing. There is a second season, but it’s markedly different from the first owing to its 13 minute episode run time. I may cover this separately in the future when I finish watching it.

Yukimura Aoi used to be interested in outdoor activities when she was young, but after falling from the top of a climbing frame and breaking her leg, she developed a fear of heights and preferred to pursue solitary indoor hobbies. On starting high school, her childhood friend Kurarue Hinata reminds her of their promise to watch the sunrise from a mountaintop and together the two of them start simply and work to overcome Aoi’s fears and reach their goal.