Welcome back (or just welcome) to my blog. As we enter September, I’m reminded of the events I was going through last year during this month, as well as the time I’ve taken to reflect on everything that’s happened. I’ve been able to come a long way, and I can really only be thankful that I’ve been able to find a bit of myself in the people I’ve been able to meet, media I consume, my narrative writing, and of course, this blog. It’s also been plenty eventful outside of my own personal happenings, with Ame’s not-graduation, various anime announcements such as Frieren and Grand Blue S2, the death of Sayuri the singer, and everything else that’s going on around the world. Life continues to go on, and while there’s much to be anxious about, I can still find a bit of solace in those tiny glimmers in the day to day, like where I am today.

Getting into September’s media offerings, I didn’t actually get to consume much this month, as I’ve pretty much been spending all the free time I had in September preparing for an announcement that, depending on when you’re reading this, I might’ve already made. Honestly, it’s been hectic recently, so I’m hoping October’s a month where I can unwind and get back to chipping away at my backlog. I’ve really wanted to get back into playing JRPG’s again, as many of my recent favorite experiences with media in the past few years have been with various JRPG’s. I have Trails into Reverie (and Daybreak haha…), LAD Infinite Wealth, Monochrome Mobius, Nier Replicant, among many others to get to. It’s just been difficult in the past year or so to sit down and play a JRPG than to be able to watch a film or anime, or even be reading a visual novel while I’m doing something else. I can maybe find some time soon, or when I’m eventually finished with my current project, I think I’ll throw myself back into the many worlds that the genre has to offer.

But for now, it’s easier to manage my time with watching an episode here or there, or watching a self-contained film without having to commit to an incredibly long 100+ hour journey, so I’ll see if that changes. I already have 2 exciting October movie prospects: the Bocchi recap movie and Look Back, both in theaters! On top of a new anime season starting, I’m expecting to have a lot to write about in October.

Before getting into September’s offerings, I’ll hold off on writing about Oshi no Ko S2 and My Liberation Notes until the next post. For Oshi no Ko’s case, it has one episode left before it ends and it seems more appropriate to talk about it as a whole after that, and for My Liberation Notes, I wasn’t able to get to much of it this month because of time. So yeah, setting those aside, let’s get into the month of September.

I haven’t actually written about this previously even though I was keeping up with it as it aired, but with the end of the summer anime season came with the end of That Time I was Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3. Slime Isekai, as I prefer to call it, has always been somewhat of a comfort watch, teetering between being mildly entertaining and occasionally compelling. Isekai shows that use any form of “video game mechanics” as substitute for its own world building never tend to be any deeper than what that prospect tends to suggest, and while Slime Isekai isn’t exactly a herald of masterful worldbuilding, it does tend to use its strengths in ways that often circumvent the trappings of so many of its isekai peers.

The show has some occasional flashes of cleverness in this way, such as the first season building upon the premise of its main character being a slime by incorporating what we’d expect of slimes (consuming, dissolving, fluidity) into compelling ways that Rimuru grows as both a character and in power. Unfortunately, I’ve thought that as the seasons have progressed, Slime Isekai has started leaning more on just “Rimuru gets this skill, and its OP!” sort of deal, without any of the intrigue of its early content. Thankfully, much of its “kingdom building” aspects remain, and that was always something that I could always be a bit invested in. I think it might’ve been when I had watched the 2006 Utawarerumono anime (and subsequently, the Prelude to the Fallen VN) that I realized that the process of building up from nothing to building a vast reaching “home” is something that really interests me.

While season 3 had its weak moments, owing to its focus on narrative threads that were characterized by some… not too compelling characters, it was still a serviceably entertaining watch that maintained much of what I like about the show. I actually thought the parts that revolved around festival planning and just general relaxing were the best parts, as they gave the main cast many more opportunities to just be goofballs. Slime Isekai is best when it takes a tone that’s fitting of its comforting presence, and there was enough of that for me to have enjoyed my time with the show once again.

I had the opportunities to visit the theaters once again in September to check out the US premiere of Dandadan: First Encounter with some friends. A Science Saru adaptation of a beloved manga is already a recipe for success, and I’m happy to report that the the movie was just as good as I was expecting. Science Saru’s always been a studio that exudes a love for animation and just the act of creation in general, never relenting in its pursuit of creating something greater than just churning out a product. It’s appropriate that a studio as creatively inclined as it would be able to adapt the unfiltered chaos that is Dandadan.

The movie itself is basically just the first three episodes of the anime that has actually already started airing as of me writing this, but also contains some “behind the scenes” clips of its creative process. Something that stuck out to me the most in these scenes was one where the director was explaining his approach to direction as a whole. He explains that he keeps a journal of references to media and his own ideas of how he’d be able to convey various scenes. It’s apparent from the way that he talks about it and the labor that he’s shown that he loves to create, and he doesn’t treat the Dandadan anime as a work that just needs to simply “be an adaptation” but rather its own unique entity that takes advantage of the medium of animation in its own way.

It then follows that the Dandadan movie was a visual marvel, equally vibrant and crushing in its action as it was subtly beautiful in its quiet moments. Everything from its horror framings, to the uncanny supernatural enemies, to its vivid character animations were in service to its unabashedly ridiculous source material, making for an absolutely explosive premier.

There’s still much to be seen with this work, as I’m not too certain how it’s going to build upon its supernatural aspects of its world, as well as the interpersonal aspects of its leads, while solid so far, leaving a lot of room to build upon its depth. But so far, it’s been a wild ride and once the anime’s caught up to the material that was covered in the movie, I’ll be sure to check it out.

As we move on from the anime for September, we revisit Steven Universe for the final time. After the brilliant and glimmering celebration of the show’s thematic threads and character journeys that was Steven Universe: The Movie, I made my way through the entirety of Steven Universe Future. I’d already had somewhat of an idea of the tone and focus of Future, but I’m not sure if I could’ve been emotionally prepared for it all the same. Future is the difficult but necessary closing chapter of Steven’s story – one that doesn’t turn away from the uncomfortable truths that Steven must face after all his accumulated experiences.

If it’s not already apparent, Steven Universe is a difficult watch. It takes a tone that’s much heavier than its previous seasons, with Steven no longer being able to be that sturdy foundation of hope and joy that each and every one of the show’s characters could find a bit of solace in. Steven is the one who has to come to terms with the callousness of the world this time, and he often is unable to find that hope for himself that he was able to give to so many others. With Steven’s transition into adulthood and the experiences of Future, he’s old enough to realize that his dad didn’t always make the best parenting decisions, his mom’s selfish actions have inflicted long lasting wounds on many, he’s “different” from others and he might never share a shared community in simply being a “human” or a “gem” like others, and that because life goes on without him, he’ll come to figure out that there isn’t really those “happy endings” that he’d always expected. Once these realizations set in coupled with the disappointing experiences that come his way, his anxieties start setting in and Steven starts to wonder what he’s doing with his life and how things have come to this point. Facing constant disappointment from the people around you and yourself, how do you continue on?

Steven Universe Future doesn’t have any easy answers to this, as is in real life. Rather, it faces and explores the trauma, feelings, and pain of Steven’s experiences in such a piercing but empathetic and understanding way that I can only feel the same as Steven, looking up to the stars, lost in thought.

I think I can understand why many might not like Future. With how the previous seasons were, it might almost seem like Future is doing a disservice to its predecessors by taking on a much heavier tone. While I can understand this sentiment, I think it’s only in the face of the world’s callous truths and such intimate, piercing depictions of Steven’s emotional struggles that the gem that lies at the heart of Steven Universe can shine and glimmer all the more. A campfire on a cool night can be warm all the same, but it’s when you’re huddling by the fire on a harsh winter night that it flickers with its most reassuring flame.

As difficult of a watch as Steven Universe Future was, it manages to transcend the heights of what the show previously reached by so intimately exploring the pain that inevitably lies beneath the surface of even the kindest and strongest of people. It’s an epilogue and capstone that some might not have wanted, but it’s what Steven Universe needed. With the end of Future, Steven Universe firmly establishes itself as one of the best shows I’ve watched, and one of my favorite pieces of media as a whole. It’s reassuring to know that a show like this exists, reminding people that it’s okay to hurt, and that we’re still deserving of love. Stay strong, Steven.

A morning browse of Reddit somehow led me down the rabbit hole of reading through all 22 chapters of Ore ga Doutei wo Sutetara Shinu Ken ni Tsuite, a manga about a man who finds himself back in his high school days after getting murdered presumably because of his unfulfilling and muddied life of sleeping around with women. The initial premise didn’t elicit many high expectations from me, as it’s initially framed as “the main character gets murdered by his best friend because the MC lost his virginity before the best friend.” Which… doesn’t exactly lead me to believe that the rest of the story would end up having any more depth than its premise demands. Thankfully, this story ended up being much more than what it initially sells itself as, with it being able to retain my interest and eventual emotional investment all the way until the end.

While some of the characters are a bit half-baked, and the ending doesn’t quite stick its landing, I thought this manga’s portrayals of Kazuya, Rika, and the resulting consequences that their experiences have on them, carried with it a surprising amount of emotional weight. Both Kazuya and Rika led complicated and troubled lives in the original timeline, with many of their experiences with sex and relationships leading them to be the broken people that they were. It was in this exploration of consequence and difficulty in human experiences that the story was able to capture my investment in.

Both sex and relationships can be complicated, and the situations we often find ourselves in are ones where we can only wonder “how did it come to this?” The resulting negative experiences with those kinds of circumstances can lead to long lasting emotional consequences such as shame, self-hate, apathy, fear. In Kazuya and Rika’s case, the weight of their experiences can maybe only be captured in the portrayal of their relationship in the original timeline – together in bed, not really knowing how they got their or how things came to be, not able to express how they feel, and only able to longingly and wistfully give pieces of themselves to each other. The scene where Rika (the one in the original timeline) tells Kazuya what happened to her before coming to college was emotionally powerful, not just because of the content of her experiences, but because of the honestly human portrayal of the characters. Rika’s sad smile and attempted light-heartedness while explaining, Kazuya is unable to say much in response except to ask why she told him all that, and Rika wondering why she did – it’s a scene that I thought captured the complexity in coming to terms with our own difficult experiences.

Aside from those scattered quiet moments, the plot itself was actually better than I’d been expecting, as it actually connected it with the main characters in a way that was natural and cathartic. It didn’t follow that all the way through as I felt like the direction that the ending took was a bit unnecessary and leaves a bit to be desired. Overall, while this manga won’t be drastically changing the ways I see media, it was an entertaining afternoon read, leaving me engaged all the way until the end.