Shuzo Oshimi’s Happiness is a beautiful clusterfuck that I can’t get enough of, but let’s get one thing clear: there’s absolutely nothing happy about Happiness.
It all begins when high-schooler Okazaki is bitten by the vampire Nora. She grants him two choices: either live like her, or die.
Really, he has no choice.
When Dororo begins, Hyakkimaru’s at his strongest. Without nerves, he cannot feel pain, and without pain, what is there for him to fear? He can jump higher and fall harder than any man because there are no bones in his legs to break.
In many shonen anime, characters like Naruto and Izuku begin at the other end of the scale. Weak and untrained, their stories are about developing strength, yet Hyakkimaru’s is about developing weakness. Isn’t that weird? For each demon he kills, another part of his body is returned, but with that there is a price to pay.
January was a good month for this here anime blog. I published 6 posts, which may not seem like a lot, but for me, it’s the most I’ve published in years. This was reflected in the blog’s views, which went up for the first time since November. I don’t know if I can maintain this pace going into February, but I’ll give it my best shot.
It helps that anime just seems really good at the moment. This is a cracking season, with Dororo and The Promised Neverland leading the way, and Run with the Wind carrying over from last year too.
Run with the Wind is at a point now where every episode explodes with such a cathartic resonance. The boys are a mere qualifier away from the Hakone Ekiden and to get even this far, they’ve all had to work so hard: some more than others.
Before he was born, Hyakkimaru was sold to demons.
When it came to writing up my top anime of 2018 list, I realised that there wasn’t much from 2018 that I could really recommend. I would even go so far as to say that 2018 was a poor year for anime. However, in comparison, 2019 is already looking good.
There are some early visual cues that all is not right for the orphans in The Promised Neverland.
This is what I needed.
Dororo episode 1 is a visual treat, with its Mushishi esque painterly backgrounds and moody period setting.
My gut feeling is that Boogiepop and Others won’t be a crowd-pleaser.
“Seriously?!”
That was my reaction to the ending of Banana Fish.