Hey all. I’ve been doing this anime blogging thing for a while now, and one of the my favorite things to do has been to manage an anime “book club” of sorts. We all watch an episode (or episodes) of an anime and then reconvene to discuss it once a week. While I like to watch anime on my own, it’s also great to get perspectives on series that I may not have come up with were it just me thinking about it. Does this sound like fun? If it does, I hope you’ll feel up to participating in the most recent incarnation of the S1E1 Anime Book Club!
Below is a poll of several potential series I’ve come up with. Some of the criteria for these selections were:
- Series that I’ve already watched all/some of (and am confident that there’s some discussion to be had)
- Series that are about 1-cour (12-13 episodes or so)
- Series that either have not been watched in my local anime club, or at least not recently
- Series that are available legally-streaming (in this case, Crunchyroll)
So how will we choose? Below is a poll where you can select all the shows that sound interesting to you (you can select multiple). Before that, though, I’ve posted some short descriptions of each, potential content notes I can think of, and links to their info at ANN.
Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World (2017) – Kino is a traveler who visits countries all over the world, but only for three days at a time. By visiting these places, Kino sees both the worst and the best that humanity has to offer.
- Pros – Lots of variety. Many of the stories are interesting parables. This incarnation (technically a remake of the 2003 series) spends some time with other characters in Kino’s world.
- Cons/content – Gun (and other) violence.
Library War – In an alternate future, government information censorship has gotten out of control. The people fighting to ensure freedom of information for the populace are the libraries and armed librarians.
- Pros – Decent story about censorship and various character relationships.
- Cons/content – Militaristic activities. It’s been a while since I’ve watched it (basically 10 years) so don’t remember if there’s more (apologies).
Bakemonogatari – Teenager Koyomi Araragi knows lots of girls who are haunted and empathizes with them, since he used to be a vampire. I watched this as it was broadcast but have not seen the full final arc, as Shaft hadn’t finished it in time (lol – this was many years ago).
- Pros – Full-on Shaft visual style. Story arcs in bite-sized pieces. Interesting character banter and relationships.
- Cons/content – Fanservice-y. Borderline (imo) stuff involving the younger characters. Can be violent at points.
No. 6 – The main character finds out that his utopia is a dystopia after meeting a counterpart from the wrong side of the tracks. Sci-fi with homoerotic undertones (or sometimes just tones).
- Pros – Interesting setting and relationship between the main two characters. Lots of exciting moments.
- Cons/content – Just kind of “ends” (show runs out of time). Bees!
Otome Youkai Zakuro – A fantasy romance taking place in Meiji-era Japan, where young women who are half-youkai team up with men from the military to defend against monster attacks.
- Pros – Very pretty, with a historical flavor.
- Cons/content – I can’t recall anything in particular (it doesn’t mean there isn’t anything)
Un-Go – In the dystopian future Japan, following several terrorist events, Detective Shinjuro solves “”””””Mysteries”””””” with the help of his (gender-fluid?) assistant, Inga, but almost never receives credit for his work.
- Pros – Interesting setting, commentary on government censorship. Based on a famous novel.
- Cons/content – Terrorism/war stuff.
Terror in Resonance – A terrorist attack strikes Tokyo one day, perpetrated by two individuals calling themselves “Sphinx.” Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, so character feels. Should note I have not watched this all or even most of the way through, but I feel like it’s my kind of show based on what I have seen.
- Pros – Watanabe directing. Good animation. Character-focused story.
- Cons/content – Terrorism (bombings and such). Also I have heard that, plot-wise, stuff is not tied up nicely (if that bothers some people – not me)
Flowers of Evil – Takao fancies himself an intellectual, and has a crush on a girl in his class. One day he’s compelled to steal her gym clothes, but there’s a witness to his crime. Thus begins a tense relationship between himself and the one individual who can see right through him.
- Pros – Very deep, dark look into the hearts of several teenage characters. Incredibly artful (though the aesthetic is very “YMMV”).
- Cons/content – Content is seriously dark and affecting (hard to describe). Painful teenage moments, dark intentions, human ugliness. Oh, and story will never be finished because the anime did so poorly on the market.
So, does anything strike your fancy? Please vote below for whatever series you find interesting. I’ll leave the poll up for a week at least, so check out the info above and let your voice be heard!