Hi everyone! This will be the last blog that I post on this site, kinda sad about it not gonna lie. But this week I figured I’d do something a bit different. I’ve been recommending some of my favorites, (and one of the most horrendous animes I forced myself to watch) and giving summaries in hopes that you would be interested in watching some of the animes that I really enjoyed. I haven’t actually gotten a chance to really break down my opinion on some shows I have posted. So I’ll use this post for that or maybe add my two cents on some shows I haven’t reviewed on here.

*This post will have spoilers*

1. Owari no Seraph

I have watched this anime at least 8 times. It’s not my favorite anime I’ve ever watched, but it is a show that I have never really gotten tired of watching over the years. When I first watched it I was 12 and was obsessed with the action and the plot but over the years I began to appreciate the writing of the characters. I grew out of the protagonist antagonist mentality and started appreciating the characters for what they were. Each character was flawed and had some sort of tragic backstory to justify the path that they were on, and understanding the complexity of each character helped to understand how things unraveled the way they did. I especially loved watching how each character’s trauma had such an integral impact on their fears and morals (I’m a psych major I can’t help it). For example, Yuu was abandoned by his parents and then had everyone he ever loved die before he turned thirteen. This turned into an obsession for revenge and the protection of his family, new and old, no matter what side of the war they were on. Also, Mika is really hot, just a bonus.

2. Nana

This show is tied for the #1 spot on my anime list sitting with Banana Fish and Fruits Basket. I heard of this show through tik tok, and decided to watch it because I was under the impression that the main characters were closeted lesbians pining for each other. It may not be written in the script, but I wholeheartedly believe this to be true. The comedy in the show was one of my favorite things about it, but I also felt strangely connected to them because even though their behavior may seem wacky and dramatic, I can understand exactly what motivates them to act that way. Before Hachi met Nana and moved to Tokyo, she fell in love with almost every guy that showed interest in her, consuming herself with them and thriving only off of the praise she felt from them, even though she knew they would not love her the way she desired. She would get heartbroken but soon fall into the same trap. Nana was a separate case entirely, she fell in love with Ren when she was young, and he actually felt the same way about her. But because she was so young and so dependent on him, soon she became all he had, and she needed him to feel whole. I strongly believe that both Nanas felt connections towards their male love interests, but they were not in love with them, not in the way they were with each other. They only dreamt about a happy future when they were together. Nana even said that she regretted not fulfilling her dream of buying Hachi a house, just for the two of them, so that they could live together and always rely on each other’s love, especially when the men they were with couldn’t uphold their promises. If that compulsory heterosexuality, I do not know what it is. I literally cried for hours when I finished the show, but it was written fantastically.

3. Banana Fish

This has got to be, one of the most soul-wrenching, heartbreaking, (so many other amazing adjectives) shows I’ve ever watched. I wanted to write a review on it, but I could not bring myself to watch it again or make myself remember everything that happened because it is just that depressing. I loved every minute of it, and it was tragically beautiful. ( I tried to watch it with my best friend, got to an episode where one of the main characters (Ash) begged God that He wouldn’t take (Eiji) away because he was the only reason that he kept living, broke down into an hour-long cry and told myself I could never watch it again.) If you decide to watch this, read the appropriate trigger warnings because this show does depict a lot of traumatic events.

4. Tokyo Ghoul

I loved loved loved this show. However, this show did not do any justice to the manga. The manga is hands down the best series I have ever read, trust me I have read quite a few. The drawing style is much more graphic and harsh, and it perfectly highlights the gruesome tones and plot of the story. Kaneki’s transitions between personalities and the way they are drawn in the manga are jarring but so freaking cool.

Anyways, this has gotten pretty long so, thank you so much for reading! Goodbye:)

Hello! This week I will be talking about an anime that aired in 2017 called Classroom of the Elite. If I’m being completely transparent, I was halfway through writing a review for an LGBTQ+ anime called Doukyuusei (which I HIGHLY recommend you watch) , but I saw a post on social media saying that this show will be receiving a season two after a 5-year wait! I couldn’t stop myself from recommending it to whoever reads this blog!

The anime starts off with the main character Ayanokouji Kyotaka riding the bus to his new high school. An elite school designed to produce upper-class citizens who produce nothing but success, guaranteeing that 100% of students who attend get into university or find employment immediately after graduation. Each student lives on campus, giving them the freedom to do essentially whatever they want. Ayanokoji placed in class 1-D, the class of students who were accepted but scored the lowest on their entrance exams.

While many advanced private schools are competitive, the Tokyo Koudo Ikusei Senior High School is well known for its success rates, but its methods and curriculum are completely unbeknownst to anyone who was not attended or worked at the school. Soon, the main character and the rest of his classmates realize why the success rate is so high. After a month of goofing off, skipping class, splurging on food or expensive items, the students are shell shocked to find that their spending points (which they thought would be renewed for every month), remained barren.

The system works according to this policy, hard work will be rewarded, but only if the hard work is collective. Because a majority of class 1-D did not take their education or responsibilities seriously, they ended up spending almost all of their meal points within the first month, and have little to no money to sustain themselves for the next month. Ayanokoji learned earlier in the month that something was suspicious about the distribution of points by observing the behaviors of students in Class 2D, and watching how Horikita Suzune, a top student in class 1D, refused to make any unnecessary purchases at the beginning of the school year.

Horitoka takes it upon herself to turn her class around so that they can work to regain the points they lost and eventually, surpass the academic prowess and ability of class 1A. When Horitoka struggles with socializing with the rest of the class and getting the others to cooperate, Ayanokoji makes a deal with her. He promised to help her in her mission to reach class A, only if she stopped trying to figure out who he is.

*THIS SECTION WILL CONTAIN POTENTIAL SPOILERS TO A CRUCIAL PLOT POINT, IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW STOP HERE*

You may be wondering, why would Ayanokoji tell Horitoka to stop trying to figure out who he is, what does he have to hide? And in all honestly, I must say that I do not know.

In the first scene, something that stood out to me right away was the look in Ayanokoji’s eyes, it was dead, cold, calculating, and extremely observant. At first, I thought I was crazy and that was just the character design, but in the first episode, it seems like every movement or word that comes from Ayanokoji is somehow calculated as if he’s trying to make himself seem nonchalant or just plain stupid so that he can blend into the class without being noticed.

When the scores from the entrance exam were released, it shows that Ayanokoji scored exactly a 50% in every subject he took, meeting the exact limit that he needed to get into the school, but not a point higher. Horitoka thinks this is incredibly suspicious (as she should) and questions Ayanokoji, with no luck. The viewer will soon realize that this is no coincidence. Whenever there is an issue or something that could cause an inconvenience to him or Horitoka, he magically finds a solution and makes Horitoka do it instead of him. Quite literally manipulating the people around him to success. The president of the student council catches on to his background behavior and asks him to join the student council as a first year, which is definitely unheard of, especially for a first-year student in the lowest class.  Ayanokoji refuses him, denying his part in any of Horitoka’s success.

Throughout the series we see flashes of young Ayanokoji in a large white room filled with desks and other children, seemingly being tested and observed. These flashes always end up with Ayanokoji by himself, the same cold and dead look that he holds throughout the series. As I was watching the series the first time, I came to the realization that Ayanokoji could be defined as the “perfect human being” in every send of the word, but he seems to enjoy hiding and does his best to avoid whoever he was with before he came to the high school. At the end of the series, it leaves off on a cliffhanger, leaving the viewer confused and desperate to figure out just who Ayanokoji is.

*SPOILERS OVER*

Anyways, the show is pretty interesting and there’s definitely a lot going on, between the war between classes and the secrets among the students. It’s an interesting watch and I definitely recommend it!

Just prefacing, thank you McKenna for the wonderful and convenient idea of reviewing this movie for my passion blog because I am small-brained and was about to let the opportunity fly right past me.

Okay! I’m sure you’ve already guessed but this week I will be giving my review of the recently released Jujutsu Kaisen movie which I saw in theatres last Friday. By the way, this movie is a prequel to the fantastic ongoing anime series Jujutsu Kaisen, which I highly encourage you to watch. Season one is fully aired and it’s one of the best animes I’ve watched, and trust me I have watched quite a few in the 18 years I have existed on this planet. Now, onto the review!

To be completely frank, I went into this movie with 0 expectations and only the knowledge that this movie occurs a year before the timeline of the anime series begins. It was awesome to be introduced to new characters and get to see different sides to the characters I’m already familiar with.

The movie started off with a tragic and graphic encounter between Yuuta Okkotsu and three bullies in his school. We see Yuuta cowering on the floor, cornered, whispering, and begging, seemingly terrified, “Don’t kill them, please don’t kill them.” At first, I thought he was begging the bullies, but soon it was revealed that a strong monster-looking curse was placed on Yuuta. However, unlike regular curses, this curse has no intention of harming Yuuta, but every intention of protecting him. Rita brutally pummels the bullies and stuffs them into a closet, altering the attention of the council of sorcerers (whose job is to dearth with dangerous curses).

Soon after, Yuuta is taken to Jujutsu Technical High School, a school that specializes in training and certifying sorcerers. Yuuta soon reveals that the curse put on him is actually his childhood lover, Rika, who died in a tragic accident. Not willing to be parted from him, she transformed into a powerful curse, and in a twisted way, keeps her promise of staying with him for the rest of their lives. When Yuuta learns that the curse on Rika can be broken, he makes a vow to train so that he can break Rika’s curse and protect the friends he has made at Jujutsu tech.

While this is happening, another powerful sorcerer is making plans behind the scenes. Getou Suguru is one of four special grade sorcerers, but unlike the others, he does not fight to protect those affected by curses and humanity, he fights to protect fellow sorcerers, people born with the ability to exorcise curses, and those he deems worthy.  He started creating a family and building an army of sorcerers to eradicate all humans who were not born with the ability to become a sorcerer, viewing them as worthless vermin that plague the Earth.

As Yuuta is training, Getou secretly follows him and learns about the magnitude of Rika’s power, wanting that power for his own army. He creates a plan to steal Rika and overthrow the council of sorcerers, aiming to wreak havoc and destroy humanity.

To learn how everything goes down, go out and watch the movie! I highly highly recommend it.

Bonus: The fight scenes were absolutely immaculate I was bouncing like a little kid the whole time. Also if you’ve watched the anime already, you’re gonna be seeing a lot of your favorite characters get their own shot during the battle!!

Thank you for reading, see you next week!

This week I will be reviewing the anime Charlotte!

This series follows the story of four students who go to a high school meant to protect gifted students in an alternate reality. The main character, Yuu Otosaka, is 15 and about to enter his first year of high school. When he became a teenager, he gained a strange ability. He was able to jump into the bodies of the people within his vision for at least five seconds, controlling their movements within that small time period. He quickly learned to use this ability to his benefit, jumping into the bodies of smart students to cheat on tests or even body jumping into someone he was fighting, disorienting them and causing them to lose.

Unfortunately, Yuu is a slightly power crazed teenage boy with questionable morals and no present parents to guide him, so he uses his ability to become the top student in his middle school and cheat his way into one of the top high schools in his district as the top student. In his new high school, he uses his ability to achieve a new goal, dating the prettiest girl in his class. Unfortunately, she is one of the only girls not interested in him, purely because she is so attractive that she no longer finds interest in men trying to pursue her.

So, Yuu, the lunatic, creates a plan that will make her fall for him. When he sees her standing at an intersection about to cross the street, he body jumps into a truck driver, forcing the car out of his control and sending it hurtling towards his crush, then jumps back into his body in the nick of time, saving her from a fatal accident and successfully winning her heart. Now, if you’re thinking, “that counts as attempted murder” you would be right.

Thankfully, Nao Tomori, a gifted student who catches onto his schemes, gets video footage of Yuu using his ability to cheat and forces him to transfer schools to a school meant to protect teens who have developed strange abilities like him. Funnily enough, when he tells his crush that he is moving, she breaks up with him right then and there, accusing him of being ridiculous for trying to make her go out of her way to see him frequently. (Power to her cause that man was not worth it)

He and his little sister move and switch schools. Yuu joins the student council there, whose main goal is to look for abilities teenagers who have been misusing their powers, warn them of the danger, and try to protect them from scientists and researchers out to kidnap them and study their abilities.

Moreover, after a couple of episodes, Yuu begins having vivid dreams. In those dreams, he is kept in a facility full of gifted teenagers, basically trapped and constantly experimented on. He has vague dreams of a long-lost older brother and a tormented life, constantly fighting against their captors and for freedom.

If you’d like to know how the story continues, I highly recommend watching the anime Charlotte! Thanks for reading!!

ALRIGHT WAIT WAIT WAIT, BEFORE YOU READ THIS, GO LISTEN TO THE OPENING, IT’S SO GOOD. IT’LL INSTANTLY PUT YOU IN A GOOD MOOD, TRUST ME. YOU CAN LISTEN WHILE READING I PROMISE GO GO GO! If you’re feeling adventurous you should listen to the season one ending too, I personally just like it cause as soon as I hear it something juicy happens and then it transitions to the ending, plus it’s just really really good music (in my opinion).

Onto the review (lol), today I will be talking about Kamisama Kiss. The anime is set in Kawagoe City, Saitama prefecture, Japan in 2012. High schooler Nanami Momozono is riddled with problems, essentially being self-sufficient for most of her life and trying to deal with her father’s gambling problem and extreme debt.  All come crashing down when she ends up being evicted from her home with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.  (It sounds tragic but it’s actually a romantic comedy)

Hopeless and angry, she runs into a man seemingly being harassed by a dog and helps him.  After shooing away the dog, she ends up telling him everything that’s happened. He tells her that he ran away from his home many decades ago, and offers her his home as a way to run away from all of the people he left behind.

Surprise surprise, that random man was actually a god who had abandoned his shrine and left all of his familiars to take care of the shrine on their own. Mikage passes on his position as god of the shrine to Nanami and in turn, gives her a new home and a whole new life, but no one said it was going to be easy.

When she gets to the shrine she finds that it is old, run-down, and rarely ever used. On top of that, the familiar that Mikage left behind, Tomoe, becomes rightfully angry that Mikage has run away again and has decided that he can’t be bothered working for Nanami and refuses to help, leaving her helpless and without a clue of what she got herself into.

However, Nanami is no damsel in distress. In the same way that she has lived her life, if she is given an opportunity and sets a goal in her mind, she will do everything in her power to make it happen. Because Tomoe isn’t human, he retreats to The Other World, filled with dangerous creatures that love to feast on humans. Nanami decides that she needs to convince Tomoe herself, so she charges head-on into the Other World.

In an attempt to save her from one of the creatures chasing her through the Other World, Tomoe tries to catch her as she falls out of a high tree in the forest, but she takes that opportunity to kiss him, sealing their bond and enforcing his place as her familiar. Throughout the show, their dynamic changes, from begrudgingly protective, to friendly, to admiring.  As they share more time and adventures throughout the series, their bond develops into something beautiful and dangerous. I highly recommend you watch this show. It’s the perfect mix of comedy and romance and you will not regret it!

With a beautiful opening shot of cherry blossoms blowing in the wind, the anime Your Lie in April portrays a beautiful story of young love, pain, loss, friendship, and hope.

I think the moment that I saw one of the first scenes in the first episode, I knew that this show was going to haunt me forever. Right after the theme song plays, a young Kousei Arima (around 10 or 11) is depicted as he is competing in a classical music competition expertly playing Beethoven piano sonata No. 14 3rd movement. Not only was I shocked by the sheer amount of skill and talent he possessed, but I was also left speechless by the lack of light and life in his eyes as he played such a lively piece. This portrayal is one of the many bone-rattling, jaw-dropping, and heart shattering scenes incorporated into this masterfully created anime.

The show then transitions to Kousei Arima at age 15, in his third year of middle school. He no longer plays the piano, traumatized by the stress of being a young prodigy and the weight of his mother’s death, he expresses that when he plays the piano, he can no longer hear the notes. It’s not a matter of auditory impairment, but when he begins to play, he transcends into a self destructive mindset, imagining that he is drowning with the piano, the harder he plays the farther he falls.

When going on a double date with his two best friends, Tsubaki and Watari, he comes across a girl dancing on top of a playground with kids playing a melodica while the kids harmonize on instruments. At that moment, he is so captivated by the image of her and the cherry blossoms falling around her, that he imagines that his world begins to take color, after an eternity of seeing black and white, almost like piano keys.

Unfortunately, the poor guy tried to take a picture of her at the exact moment when the wind blew up her skirt, creating a very bad looking situation for him and the girl on the playground, Kaori. Kaori turns out to be the girl who is supposed to join them on the double date, cementing her presence in Kousei’s life and unknowingly changing his life forever.

Kaori is a competitive classical music player, a violinist. When she meets Kousei, she tries to convince him to accompany her, making it her mission to rekindle his love of music and his passion for life.

Let me just say, the soundtrack in this show is absolutely phenomenal, the plot is comedic and heartbreaking, and the show itself is a masterpiece. I highly highly highly recommend that you watch it and watch the story unravel for yourself!

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I will not be anywhere near as outraged as I was writing my blog from last week! That show just ingites a pure rage and hatred in my bones, but this show… is just, fantastic!!

This week I will be reviewing the anime known as Nana.

The anime Nana is set in Tokyo, Japan around winter time in 2006. The two main characters Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki meet by pure coincidence when they are on a train to Tokyo. When their train is delayed because of the snow, they get to know each other, quickly getting comfortable and sharing about themselves as they are stuck in a five hour delay.

When the train finally gets to Tokyo, they depart ways abruptly, Nana Komatsu hoping to meet the beautiful stranger on the train once more. The episodes after their meeting detail the backstories of both Nana’s, letting us in on their personalities, passions, and reasons for moving to Tokyo.

Nana Komatsu, the woman with honey blonde hair in the poster, is 20 years old and has finally decided to move to Tokyo so that she and her boyfriend can live together and quit being long distance. From the beginning of high school, she has always easily fallen in love with the men around her, ranging from her art teacher, to the man at the book store, another teacher of hers, a pizza delivery man, and finally, a married man she meets at the movies. While she never held a deep connection to most of them, the man at the movies holds a particularly strong hold over her. When she collapsed from light heatedness, he took care of her, told her she was beautiful and disappeared. They met once again and started having sex with each other once a month, Nana was a senior in high school at the time. In every one of these situations, Nana was looking for affirmation or a form of validation from the men she pursued. She felt particularly crushed by the last man, because she was very aware of the fact that he was married and could never love her in the way that she desired, yet she craved the intimacy he would give her on occasion. In the end, she never learned his name and he got moved to Tokyo for work. After that, she went to college, took a break from men, and eventually fell in love and created a healthy relationship with her boyfriend, the one she planned to move to Tokyo for.

Nana Osaki, the woman with black hair, is also 20 years old and has decided to take the next step in her musical career and move to Tokyo so that she can sign a label and make it big. With no real parental figure in her life, Nana was left in the care of her strict grandmother, who created restrictions so that Nana could not become a “temptress” like her mother. In Nana’s rebellious streak, she gets kicked out of high school based on false allegations and joins a band with Ren Honjo, Yasushi Takagi, and her friend Nobu. Her vocal talent is raw and as she gets more gigs with the band, Black Stones, her fans are confident that with the right coaching and progress, she can make it big. She fell in love with the guitarist, Ren, started dating him and living with him when she was 18. Ren wears a lock on his necklace, the key belonging to Nana. This necklace is an accurate representation of how attached the two are to each other, despite their differences and their on again off again dynamic. Ren moves to Tokyo after being asked to famous band and a year later, Nana decides to start the Black Stones again in Tokyo with a new guitarist.

This show is fantastic. The writing is incredible, the fashion and aesthetics of each character is so amazing. The show has an early 2000’s grunge style that is incredibly pleasing to the eye and only contributes to the alluring qualities of every character that is introduced.

My all time favorite aspect of this show is the dynamic between Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki. Time and time again, they are hit with hard decisions, disappointment, hardship, and conflict, but the one thing that for the most part remains constant is their love for one another. Every episode begins with an excerpt from their letters to one another in the future, expressing how deeply they love one another and expressing their regrets about how they were too scated to express how they felt towards each other among other things. Though Nana Komatsu found herself having many boyfriends and love interests, she continually expresses how loving Nana Osaki is the strongest emotion she has ever felt and will ever feel throughout the entirety of her life. One time she expresses this jokingly to Nana Osaki, and Osaki says, “I don’t want you seeing me in that way.” While this could be interpreted as her rejecting her advances, it is clear that Nana Osaki feels the saw way that Komatsu does, but has a lot of insecurities that stop her from ever fully expressing how she feels. I think that in that moment, Osaki feared that Komatsu’s feelings would be fleeting in the same way that her connections to her male love interests come and go. From the beginning to the end, their relationship is deemed as special and more important than any drama or relationship that they may involve themselves in as they learn how to live life on their own in the bustling city of Tokyo.

(THIS IS UNNECESSARILY LONG IM REALLY SORRY BUT THIS IS LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS IN THE WORLD I COULD GO ON FOR HOURS, I HIGHLY RECCOMEND IT OKAY THANK YOU FOR READING IF YOU GOT THIS FAR!!)

Disclaimer: I am in no way shape or form encouraging anyone to dedicate any time of their life to watch this show. If you read my blog and decide to watch this show, I am in no way responsible for the intense regret you may feel after making this decision, which I strongly warn against.

Now, onto the review. This week I will be talking about the anime Super Lovers! (This is not me showing I’m excited it’s just in the title.)

This anime details the story of Ren Kaidō, an orphan who was found on the side of the street and adopted by Kaido Tadashi and Kaido Rui when he was 6. As a child, Ren had deep abandonment issues and struggled to feel safe and accepted in his new home. He would run and hide in the woods behind his house. He befriended the wolves and often slept and played with them in the forest. Eventually, it became evident to his parents that it would be extremely difficult to acclimate him to society due to his animal-like behavior and anti-social tendencies.

This came to change when one of his older brothers, Haru Kaido, came to visit his mother in Canada after she sent him a message saying she was dying. She wasn’t actually dying she just wanted to give her son a good reason to come home. Haru learns of Ren when he gets to his mother’s home, but quickly befriends him and takes care of Ren, successfully getting him to start the civilization process before he leaves.

Here comes the weird bit. As a reward for doing what he’s told, he kisses Ren on the mouth. You did read that correctly. How old is Haru you’re wondering, seventeen? What business does a 17-year-old brother have kissing his eight-year-old brother on the mouth? I don’t know! Thankfully, Ren’s trip comes to an end and he goes back to Japan. Unfortunately, he got into a car accident when he arrived back in Japan, and the parents that were taking care of him after he left Canada died in the accident. Haru experienced amnesia and lost all of his memories of Ren.

There’s a time skip, Ren is now 14 and he moves to Japan to live with his brother and Haru slowly regains his memories of Ren. While Haru is technically Ren’s guardian, he also views his little brother as his lover. Yes! You were correct to think that that little boy sitting in his older brother’s lap like that is weird! It gets much worse, eventually Ren declares that he is in love with his older brother and they develop a romantic relationship in the second season. Did I mention that Haru is 24? Not only is this illegal, weird, and morally wrong, its grooming. I don’t know how anyone can justify Haru’s actions throughout the show and honestly, I don’t want to hear it.

I’m not even gonna try to be unbiased about this, this show is pure hot stinking steaming sloppy shit, absolute garbage. Coming from someone who forced themself to watch the whole thing through TWICE  to try to understand why people liked it, I can confidently say that it got viler as I went on and I regret the hours of my life I wasted consuming it. -300/10

I know reviews usually don’t start off like this, but this is one of my favorite shows, ever. If I had to give this show a rating, I would give it a 15/10, and this is coming from a person who will binge-watch three seasons of a show in a weekend then rate it a 7. Now then, let’s start the review!

This week I will be reviewing the 2019 version of the anime Fruits Basket.

This romance anime follows the story of 15-year-old Tohru Honda. As the show is being introduced, we see her speaking softly about the zodiac animals to a picture of her mother. She recounts the story her mother told her when she was a child about the zodiac animals, explaining how the cat was tricked, abandoned, and unable to go to the banquet with the rest of the zodiac animals.

This is one of the first moments we witness Tohru’s pure heartedness. At that moment, her mother had recently died, her father had been dead for many years, and she had no place to live because her grandfather was doing renovations on their house and had no space to accommodate her. Instead of burdening her friends, she bought a tent and lived in the mountains near to her school, continuing to go to school and keep up her social life after losing almost everything she held dear. Hearing her misfortune, you would assume that she could be easily discouraged or on the verge of breaking down, but Tohru is one of the strongest main characters I’ve ever watched. Throughout all the loss and grief she has experienced, she continues to hold onto her ideals and the lessons her mother taught her, holding on to the memory of her loved ones and pushing through struggles with a smile and kindness.

Later in the episode, she meets Shigure Soma and Yuki Soma, the uncle and nephew who live on the mountain and own the property that she was staying on. After a landslide destroys Tohru’s tent, Yuki and Shigure ask Tohru to live with them and to make food and clean around the house until her grandfather’s renovations are over.

BUT, the Somas have a secret. For generations, select members of the Soma family have been born with the curse of the zodiac. They are born 2  months early and turn into their respective zodiac animal whenever someone of the opposite gender hugs them. Tohru discovers this secret when Kyo Soma charges into the house in an attempt to ambush Yuki in a fight, accidentally hugging all three of them and seeing them turn into a cat, dog, and rat.

Throughout the show, Tohru gets to meet all of the official members of the zodiac, acclimating to their personalities and learning more about the Soma family secrets as she integrates herself into their family.

One of the special things about this show is the attention to detail on every character that is introduced. With each zodiac member comes a past and present of trauma, grief, and shame. Almost every member lacking in a comforting presence in their life, assuring them that they are not monsters, weird, or freaks and that they deserved to be loved. This trauma runs especially deep in Rin Soma, Momiji Soma, Yuki, Kyo, and Kisa. As the zodiac members meet Tohru, one by one they are overtaken by her innate kindness and they are drawn into her comforting presence. This show has a lot of heavy-hitting and powerful episodes and dynamics, but by far Tohru’s overwhelming capacity for compassion without wanting anything in return is what makes this show so special to me. I highly recommend you watch it because the romance is only one of the many components that make this a fantastic show!

(By the way, you can watch Fruits Basket on Hulu or Crunchyroll!)

Hello readers!

I’m so glad you decided to check out this site. Warning, these reviews may contain spoilers and if you feel that I have motivated you to watch the show yourself and you do not want to know any important plot points or endings, I will put spoiler warnings. That being said, enjoy my first official anime review on this passion blog!

Set in a post-apocalyptic universe of today’s timeline, the main plot of the anime Owari no Seraph, more commonly known as Seraph of the End, takes place in 2016 in Harajuku and Shinjuku, Japan. In this version of current times, the world has devolved into chaos and the human population has been significantly reduced. In 2012, an unknown sickness caused all of the humans in the world over the age of 13 to drop dead, leaving all of the kids stranded and vulnerable as the world fell apart around them. Soon after this sudden sickness took humanity by storm, the vampire population that had previously been kept at bay by the protection of the military began to move and started kidnapping the children left over, using them as human blood bags and taking them to camps in the vampire kingdom.

The main character, Yuuichiro Hyakuya, was 12 when the world started falling apart. He lived in the Hyakuya orphanage (very very important) with the rest of the orphans, 7 kids who would soon become the only people he could trust in the new and changing world. After Yuu and his family were kidnapped, they were told that everyone who used to live in the human kingdom had either died, been taken, or would die once they reach the age of 13. As a result, they lived as hostages in the vampire kingdom.

As time progressed, Mikaela Hyakuya and Yuuichiro become extremely angry at the way they are treated and started talking about plans to escape to the real world and enjoy life before their imminent death. Mikaela took their hopes into his own hands and formulated a plan to escape. He offered himself as a personal food source for one of the noble vampires, Ferid Bathory, in exchange for gifts. He obtained a map of the vampire kingdom and stole a gun from Ferid, hoping to safely sneak his family out of the kingdom.

*SPOILERS STARTING NOW*

Unfortunately, Ferid purposely emitted all exit routes except for the one that went through his mansion on the map that he let Mika steal. When the Hyakuya family arrived, Ferid brutally slaughtered every member of the family other than Yuuichiro, who managed to escape in the nick of time and is taken in the Japanese Imperial Army. Yuuichiro then spends the next four years training to become a soldier of the Moon Demon Company, aiming to exact his revenge on the vampire race for taking his family from him.

The anime follows Yuu’s journey as he is promoted to the Moon Demon Company and slowly becomes aware of the weight of the burden he carries as a soldier, along with the responsibility he must bear. At the end of the first season, it is revealed that Yuuichiro was abandoned by his parents and given to the Hyakuya Orphanage (which was a front for the Hyakuya sect who performed experiments on supernatural beings and children) to be experimented on. We learn that he is partially possessed by the second angelic trumpet belonging to the King of Salt, making him more powerful than humans, vampires, and demons. These experiments are what caused most of the human population to drop dead, leading Yuuichiro to have to make a choice of whether he would let himself be used by the humans or vampires, both looking to take advantage of him or kill him because of what he is capable of.

*SPOILER-FREE ZONE*

This show masterfully develops Yuu’s character, doing a great job of showing his slow development to maturity while highlighting his moral values. The one thing that Yuu holds on to despite all of the misfortune and betrayal he’s experienced is his faith in family and desire to protect them.  This show has a great combination of feel-good moments, action, drama, and comedy. I highly recommend this show!