Hi everyone, welcome to another long-overdue week(+)-in-review. It’s been a while since I’ve had anything to include in one of these round-up. Last weekend when I’d normally be doing more writing, I ended up spending large chunks of the day out-and-about at the Minnesota Yarn Shop Hop – an annual event where several Twin Cities local yarn stores participate and provide free patterns, special hand-dyed yarns, and door prizes, among other things. Those of you who follow me elsewhere probably know that I indulge in the fiber arts from time-to-time, so this was something fun to do in relation to that other major hobby.
The event ended up being incredibly popular; I think after cancellations the last couple of years due to the pandemic, people were really hungry to get out of the house and participate in this in-person gathering of hobbyists (if Anime Detour was any indication, this trend is likely to continue on for quite a while). More than half of the stores we visited were already sold out of their special yarns. As a completionist who was hoping to buy all of the yarns/kits for the event patterns, this was a little bit disappointing. On the other hand, I’m hoping that this means the event was a success for all the participating brick-and-mortar stores. While I’m perfectly happy to order my craft supplies online (even from these very stores), there’s just no replacing the experience of visiting them in person and touching/squeezing all the yarn hanks (and also hanging out with friends and traveling to various metro area cities, of course).
For my post round-up, I’m including posts from the beginning of the current anime season, even though they were written more than a week ago. I mostly wanted to get caught up and back on track, now that my schedule is a little bit more back to normal.
First Impressions:
- Thermae Romae Novae – This new adaptation of a manga involving the study of Roman and Japanese bathing cultures starts off on a much more subdued note than the previous adaptation, which has its pros and cons.
- Kotaro Lives Alone – A young boy seemingly lives alone in an apartment. He slowly builds relationships with the other surrounding tenants, who each seem to be dealing with complicated personal situations. I’m really interested to watch the rest of this soon; it’s my understanding from other people I know that it’s bound to make me emotional.
- Aharen-san wa Hakarenai – The protagonist meets an awkward girl who seems to have a poor sense of physical boundaries with others. There are some amusing sight gags and visual comedy, but the underlying premise is at times somewhat uncomfortable.
- The Executioner and Her Way of Life – This series studies the isekai concept from the POV of the people living in the world into which Japanese people continue to be summoned. It’s an interesting take on the subject, and the protagonist seems to be someone with a story of her own.
- Ya Boy Kongming – This story of a Chinese historical figure brought into the modern day to act as promoter for a struggling musical artist is fun pretty much from the get-go. The music is good, the odd-couple relationship between the leads is amusing, and the concept itself is creative.
- Estab Life: Great Escape – In this dystopian society, people are clustered into separate sections of Tokyo, where they’re forced to live their lives in isolation from other areas. The heroes facilitate unauthorized travel between these clusters. This is an interesting idea that I fear isn’t executed as well as it could be.
- Love All Play – A high school badminton series that unfortunately doesn’t do much to feature the sport in question in episode 1. While that’s not a requirement by any means, the lack of compelling forward motion and excitement doesn’t do this premiere any favors.
That should just about bring us up to the present. As usual, this season has already been an interesting buffet of selections. Thanks for sticking with me as a sample a little of each one. I know I’m absolutely not the quickest to review all the premieres and there are plenty of other places that do this schtick, but I appreciate anyone who stops by to read my impressions anyway.