Rottcodd

An additional note - I just read through the first two chapters of Class de 2-banme and yeah - the adaptation's the problem.

For instance, there's a devastatingly vulnerable look of sort of hesitant and shy sincerity that Asanagi gets when she's being completely open with Maki - and I don't recall even the faintest hint of that in the anime. The adaptation can't have included that expression - at least not that well rendered - because I have no doubt I would've noticed if it had. And if they had just captured that one expression and shown it in its full glory a few times (most notably when she showed him her list of hobbies and interests, said that she was "stupidly honest like him" then asked him to be her friend), that would've gone a long way toward establishing the sincerity that I didn't see.

But I'm going to let it go at that. Tempted though I was, I didn't even go on to the next chapter to see how the confession played out. Giving the anime a chance first.

I haven't read the manga so can't compare them, but I especially like Koyun's character design. There's something very appealing about the contours of her face and the shape of her eyes - she has a "wise beyond her years" look about her.

And yeah - it's probably true that Koyun and Minato are similar, but in opposite directions. Minato is sort of an even worse version of the kind of person Suzuki in You and I Are Polar Opposites wanted to stop being. It doesn't appear that he's consciously manipulative - rather, it's that, in Suzuki's words, he constantly "reads the room" and tailors what he says and what he does to what he thinks will fit him in best.

But conscious or not, that still works out as manipulative, and Koyun sees it and isn't having it.

But Koyun goes too far in the opposite direction. First off, she fails to correctly read the room - she's hypersensitive to being teased and more to the point, she misunderstands it - the examples of her being teased in elementary school that bother her so much are relatively low key and appear to be, and are specifically said to be by other characters, examples of boys in particular saying teasing things because they like her and that embarrasses them and that's what boys do when they're embarrassed. But she thinks they're all just mean-spirited and deliberately hurtful, so she shuts them out entirely.

And Miki is actually sort of a mix of the two - shifting back and forth between her public persona, who constantly reads the room and plays the role demanded of her, and her private persona, who hides behind her wall and couldn't care less.

And then there's Youta... He appears to be entirely the opposite of the rest - he's entirely and completely open, with no walls and no poses.

Unless that's another type of pose.....

The look and feel is simply less “inked” as I’d like,

Funny, because I did notice that, and it sort of nagged at me, but I mostly overlooked it, because overall I was just so impressed by how true to the manga the art was (even with some sort of thin and sketchy lines). Most of the time, they don't even bother with that - it's more like the manga style as filtered through the studio's style. But there were moments in this where it actually looked as if they had just taken the manga art and colored it and made it move, which I thought was a really neat touch.

And yeah - we're in for a treat (and even more the people who haven't read the manga). There's so much character development in this, and so much warmth and humor.

Are you watching Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni Natta too?

I watched the first episode and really did not like it.

I haven't read the manga, but the impression I got from the synopsis for the adaptation was that it was a similar 'pretty girl is a secret otaku' setup. But the way it played out in the first episode was the girl approached him, basically forced her way into his home to supposedly share in their otaku interests, which lasted for an unconvincing matter of minutes, and then she sort of spontaneously transformed into a manic pixie dream girl and started trying to drag him out into the outside world with her.

I couldn't even figure out what the point was supposed to be. If felt like a bait and switch - as if the whole secret otaku thing was just a gimmick that they ditched almost immediately and now it's just a standard "awkward guy somehow gets a harem" story.

I assume that's not how it played out in the manga.

The Klutzy Class Monitor and the Girl with the Short Skirt looks to have the best art out of the current rom-com adaptations, but I’m less familiar with the manga, so I can’t vouch for the story there.

That one I have read, and the adaptation (so far) is following the manga almost 1 to 1. There's not a lot of story, or maybe more precisely, there's not a lot of direct engagement with a story. It's mostly episodic, and it's just that the two of them keep interacting, and as they keep interacting, their attitudes and behavior shift. It's a romance that sort of sneaks up on both of them - we can see it, and in-universe, pretty much everyone other than them can see it. They stubbornly refuse.

And yeah - the art in the adaptation was terrific - I really liked the exaggerated touches, like him striking a pose on the steps and pointing at her with such force that it generates a wind that blows over passersby.

Not the first time that I've noticed that "alcoholics" is a sort of non-specified but nonetheless apparently real and deliberately targeted demographic.

The pleasure's mine :)

It has nice art and music (very reminiscent of Ikoku Nikki) and already a fairly wide range of potentially interesting characters, with hints of lots of drama and rivalry and alliances and betrayals and possibly even some romance, all against the backdrop of a stately and well-regarded, and apparently quietly cutthroat, performing arts school. Depending on how much attention is given to character development, it could be very good.

But it's just not in my wheelhouse at all.

I think the thing I like most about this is that aside from the broad likelihood that Prince Cecil and Bertia are going to end up together, I have no idea where it's going. At every turn, she focuses on something that's supposed to work out some way according to the game, then he tries to arrange things so that they're at least superficially like they're "supposed to be," but they never really are, because in her version of how things are supposed to be, he ends up rejecting her, and already there's no way he's going to do that.

And thinking about it, it's sort of as if he's playing a previously unknown route in the game, and she hasn't realized it. He's going through the same checkpoints, but doing enough things differently enough that he's raising entirely different flags.

• Kimi no Na wa
• 5 Centimeters per Second
• Redline
• Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop
• Perfect Blue
• Miss Hokusai
• Expelled From Paradise
• The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi
• Sakasama no Patema

And I just have to note that the no sequels rule is the only thing that kept Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust off of this list.

This one makes me wish I knew someone who I was certain would appreciate it, so I could recommend it to them.

It looks promising, but it just didn't have much of anything to it that specifically grabbed my attention.

Huh... this has taken a sort of odd and interesting turn.

Koyun isn't quite the loner she initially appeared to be. She does have her "rampart of ice," but she showed with Yota that she's willing to let someone past, and fairly easily even, if they prove themselves to be trustworthy.

But she still has her rampart up with Minato. And although he came across initially as just sort of filterless, it's looking more all the time as if what he actually is is self-absorbed and reflexively manipulative, so that's probably a good thing.

More subtle dynamics than I was expecting.

This is everything I could've hoped for.

I love the manga and have been following it pretty much from the start. One of the things I really like about it is that the characters feel real and fully fleshed-out. Yes, it's an otaku and two gals (and a bunch of others over time), but they're not just stereotypes - they have complex personalities. And the thing that really makes that a great touch is that it not only makes the characters more interesting - it provides context for their relationships. It's not just very different people sort of arbitrarily stuck together oh look ha ha isn't that funny. It's people who are seen to be different, since they're in different cliques, and who really are different in a lot of ways, but who also have things in common, and probably more to the point are just generally decent human beings, so they spend time together and get to know each other and learn about all of the things they share and appreciate.

And even in this first episode, the adaptation absolutely nailed it.

And I love the art and the animation.

Mmm... I dunno.

The setup was "self-insert awkward otaku meets cute and popular girl who's a secret otaku," but then after just one quick otaku-ish scene, she suddenly transformed into a manic pixie dream girl who's determined to drag him out into the world. Which means... ? Was the secret otaku thing just a pose that she quickly abandoned? Was it some sort of authorial bait and switch? Did the adaptation just sort of skip over a bunch of actual otaku and growing friendship content to get straight to the pending romance bit?

I'll at least watch the next episode, but I'm not hopeful.

I don't think so.

It's only peripherally about art - primarily, it's about hot blood and gritted teeth and tedious declarations of pride and determination.

So basically a battle shounen, with art sort of awkwardly wedged in place of fists or katanas or magic.