So yesterday was my birthday
*yay, Happy Birthday to me ^_^* And before I took a couple days off work to celebrate, I was asked by my Anime Club what my top 20 (?!) favorite anime of all time was. Why 20? Because this year marks my last year in my 30s. Yeah, I'm announcing my age >_> Funny thing, I don't look my age at all, from what I've been told. Since I decided to be a good sport, and after lots of thinking and revising, here are my top 20 anime picks. This may be subjected to change in the near future because there are a lot of good anime being released. Without further ado, here is The Library Lady's Top 20 Favorite Anime. Enjoy! 1. Sailor Moon I will forever love this anime. Whiny girl evolves into a strong leader and fighter. This show is the reason why I love the underdogs and the “Zero to Hero” cliche. My love for Sailor Moon is so strong, I have a tattoo of Luna on my forearm, my phone case is of Sailor Moon, I’ve collected figurines, cosplayed as Sailor Saturn (my favorite character), and my Sailor Moon necklace is my prized possession. I’m never without it. Sailor Moon is one of the first series I’ve ever seen on Toonami in the 90s, and over 20 years later, I still love and cherish this series. It will always be my number one anime of all time. 2. Puella Magi Madoka Magica This show changed everything I felt about the magical girl genre. Episode three still messes me up, and the notion of “be careful what you wish for” rings so true with this show. 3. Cowboy Bebop Another classic with an amazing ending. Action packed, and Ed is just one of those characters you just want to love and hug. 4. Fruits Basket The remake was so unnecessary. It was fine the way it was and it’s damn funny. 5. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood I think this series deserves to be considered a classic. Everything the Elric brothers had to go through to get their bodies back was amazing storytelling. The show was perfectly paced, and the ending was just perfect. 6. The Promised Neverland Despite how I feel about Sister Krone, this show is, in my opinion, one of the best of 2019. The horror these kids have to go through to stay alive is heart-attack inducing and insane! 7. Vampire Hunter D film series On the list of movies that introduced me to anime (Thank you Sci-Fi Channel before you became SyFy, for some ungodly reason, why?). Bloodlust is my favorite because of the story and the animation. Half-human, half-vampire, all around badass. 8. Dragonball series (except GT) I grew up with Goku and this franchise. I bought the Dragonball FighterZ game and just love it. However, GT was a waste of time and one of the worst I’ve ever seen. 9. Hellsing Ultimate Anti-hero vs. Nazi Vampires. So much yes. I’m not a fan of animated gore, but this show is so damn good. In addition, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged is the funniest web series I’ve ever seen. Team Four Star are geniuses. 10. Ouran High School Host Club Kiss Kiss Fall in Love! Love this show. Haruhi is a character all girls should aspire to be like. She’s no nonsense, honest, and authentic. She changes for no one, and inspires others around her. She’s amazing. 11. Ranma ½ So many twists, turns, and backflips. I used to own the video game for the SNES. No joke! I loved this show and its stupidity. 12. Studio Ghibli films I love all of the movies, especially Hayao Miyazaki’s works. You can’t go wrong with Miyazaki's movies. 13. Voltron I love it that people forget that this was an anime!!!! It’s a classic! 14. Aggretsuko Adulting 101 with metal. Yes, please! Even though Season Two was not my fave, it was great to see Retsuko mature and decide to live her life on her terms. 15. Project A-ko One of the first movies I’ve seen when I was introduced to anime. I still have it on VHS. Super powered girl just wants to get to school on time while battling aliens, a jealous classmate, and her friend's bad cooking. That’s it! 16. Violet Evergarden A girl learning how to be human after being used as a weapon for war. Another beautiful story with amazing animation. Just beautiful. Johnny Five is alive with this one (points if you get the reference) 17. Assassination Classroom The story telling and humor are just amazing, but what really got me were the lessons Kurosensei was teaching his students and the faith he had in them to succeed, even if it meant the students killing him. You could see how much they all meant to each other. 18. Revolutionary Girl Utena A groundbreaking anime that allows a girl to fight for her own princess, instead of being the “damsel in distress.” Girl Power all the way! 19. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime The first episode had me hooked and laughing so hard. Normally I don’t like fantasy anime, but this was action-comedy gold. 20. How to Keep a Mummy Sometimes you just need a really cute anime to help you escape from the world’s issues. Besides, who doesn’t want a three-inch tall mummy as a friend?! So, which anime do you like?
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Or as I would like to call it, Ouran High School Host Club - Part Deux but with an all-female cast. The premise of Yuri Is My Job is the following (taken from Anime News Network): "Hime is a high school girl who deeply cares about her image as a sweet, helpful princess but on the inside only cares about herself. So when she accidentally injures a café manager named Mai, she’s willing to cover some shifts to keep her facade intact. Hime ends up working as a waitress at a place that's part café, part theater, where all the waitresses pretend to be students at a fictional all-girls boarding school. Hime finds herself falling for another waitress at the café, who in front of the customers gives Hime love and devotion like she's never known. However, behind the scenes, Hime's crush hates her guts." I'm going to try to be really nice in this review, but there were a number of issues that just irked me. First off, Hime is not a sympathetic character. She tries to maintain a fake image, just so people would like her. She's very deceptive, manipulative, and not genuine. People like this are one of my biggest pet peeves. When someone sees through her facade, does Hime learn from it? Does she see the damage caused by her actions? Nope. She just tries to be more manipulative. The main reasons Hime takes on the job is out of guilt for hurting the manager and to improve maintaining her facade. Wow. When Misuki, another waitress at the cafe, sees through her charade and calls her out on it, Hime doesn't try to be a better person. She decides to be more deceiving to make Mitsuki like her. Because nothing makes you appealing to a person by LYING and PRETENDING to be something you're not. That's a great message to present to teens and society in general. I know adults who do this, and it's so sickening that they believe being a fake, narcissistic person is more appealing than actually being genuine. I just can't, hence the facepalming. Thank you Nichijou for this image. But here's the best part of the story: Mitsuki is not buying it, and lets Hime know upfront. That's pretty much the only good part of the story. And she's supposed to be the love interest, and yet there is no romantic undertones in the story. If there was, it was very well hidden. Right now, it's not-existent. While the story is entertaining at times with its comedic aspects, it feels very dragged and forced. The art work is amazing but the covers, like Hime, are very misleading. I'm longing to see Hime actually learn how to be a genuine and caring person, but I lost my patience within the first volume. In addition, the cliffhanger could've been placed sooner in the story and build up from there. I just grabbed volume two, and I'm already dreading what I'm going to see. Now, the comparison to Ouran High School Host Club. Within the first volume, you see Haruhi influence her peers in a positive way. The boys, especially Tamaki, appreciate and value Haruhi for her boldness and personality. She doesn't care what people think of her. She wants to be accepted as herself, doesn't hide who she is, and the best part; this continues on throughout the series. Hime is the complete opposite as she continues to lie and keep up the facade, just so she's liked by everyone around her. Worst off, she sees nothing wrong with what she's doing. She's okay with lying to everyone as long as she gets what she wants. Please let there be an redemption arc soon, because I don't think I can handle another situation where Hime is manipulating to get herself out of another situation. Overall, I give Yuri Is My Job a 3/5. Again, I'm really being nice here. The art is amazing, Mitsuki is the only character that make sense as well as the story's saving grace, and there are comedic points. However, it's just not enough to keep my interest. |
Who am I?The Library Lady is a Young Adult Librarian and reviewer. She's also a music, anime, and film nerd. Archives
January 2024
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