We here at oprainfall don’t just love video games: we’re big fans of anime, too. So in celebration of the medium, we’re here to give you our thoughts on what we’ve been watching each week as we watch it. Old, new – anything goes.
Currently Airing:
Princess Connect! Re: Dive
Starting off on a rough note, the group is saved by members of the Caon Guild. This was a group that I’ve been waiting to make an appearance and they definitely didn’t disappoint. (As a Kaori fan, I could only ask for more.) They introduce another interesting character along with the Caon members too. Like the last two episodes, this one does get into the greater story and ends on one huge cliffhanger. The way the story regarding the shadows continued was interesting and not to mention the action scenes in this episodes were quite good. A pretty good episode that will make the wait to the next one feel quite long. – Walter
– You can watch Princess Connect! Re: Dive on Crunchyroll.
In the Land of Leadale
The episode starts with Cayna reaching her destination in a town that has quite a cultural combination. Here she delivers a letter that her daughter asked her to deliver, only to be greeted with surprise she wasn’t expecting. She acts quite harshly and excessively regarding some of the surprises with her family, but she mentions that she’s sorry for being a bit immature, which makes a bit of sense considering her situation in the real world before going into Leadale. From there, Cayna hears a bit more about her next destination and sets out for it but makes a stop beforehand. Here we see a battle against monsters that is not going well for the knights fighting them, with Cayna getting ready to join in. A bit less happens in this episode I feel compared to the previous one, but it does build a bit more on the story and character additions, so it wasn’t too bad – except maybe the donkey. The CGI animals stand out more than I would like. Other than that, seeing a donkey on a giant crab was good. – Walter
– You can watch In the Land of Leadale on Crunchyroll.
My Dress-Up Darling
Kitagawa and Gojo finally hit up the cosplay event so that Kitagawa can show off her cosplay among tons of other fans. It was nice to see so many different characters and so many different cosplayers and their skill levels represented, and the unabashed love for the medium. This show has been such a pure-hearted sendup of fandom in general, and having Gojo look over the crowd and remark how everyone there was doing what they loved without any sort of judgment was honestly lovely. Kitagawa also noting how it was nice to be around others who were just having fun doing something they loved drove the point home further. Among all the wholesomeness, we also got some good old-fashioned lewdness though, when Kitagawa needed to take a break thanks to overheating. Gojo telling her to be more quiet while she moaned in relief at a cold compress was legitimately hilarious. I love the way this series toes the line between the two extremes. I look forward to it every week because I know it’s going to leave a smile on my face, and this latest episode did not disappoint. – Leah
– You can watch My Dress-Up Darling on Crunchyroll.
The Case Study of Vanitas
We finally find out what Chloé has planned for the Alternation Engine her family created, as well as the true identity of the Beast of Gévaudan that’s been terrorizing the region for decades. Vanitas and Noé finally reunite, only for our favorite Chasseur to interrupt. After last week’s more measured pace episode, this one moves at quite a clip, though not so much it’s hard to follow. The few snippets of quiet between Jean-Jaques and Chloé we see in the past are nice contrasts to the chaos of the present. There’s some decent action scenes between Jeanne and The Beast, and it looks like next week we’ll get a nice match-up between Noé and Astolfo, but for now we get at least some inkling as to Chloé’s plans, and I’m excited to see how they pan out, considering Naenia is central to them. – Leah
– You can watch The Case Study of Vanitas on Crunchyroll.
Old Shows:
My Neighbor Totoro
A little over a year and a month ago, I finally added a few Studio Ghibli movies to my anime DVD collection after my siblings got me a few for Christmas that year. I first watched My Neighbor Totoro back in high school, during the one semester that I took Japanese. We watched it in Japanese with English subs. Although from what I remember, I had a hard time catching every line in time due to my subpar vision and sitting sort of in the back of class, with the movie being played on a pretty small TV. Regardless, I enjoyed it and having finally received a copy for Christmas the other year, I got to watch it for the first time in a long time. It turns out though, I ended up not having time to finish it when I sat down to watch. Deciding to watch it in English that time, I found Totoro to be a lot cheesier than I remembered. So, when I yet again finally sat down to re-watch it this past week, I opted to stick with the Japanese.
I’m honestly not picky about the whole subs vs dubs thing. I do tend to prefer English so long as there are no over the top, obviously poorly voiced characters, I mean it’s the language I know. But with something like My Neighbor Totoro, which is rated G and clearly meant for young children, I definitely think it’s much better in Japanese. I love how charming and cute the movie is, plus the scenery is so well done and looks really nice. I had a fun time sitting back down with Totoro, my sweet cat even curled up in my lap and joined me for a bit of the movie, which made it that much better. – Jenae
What anime are you watching? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Anime entries here!
