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October 31, 2023 - 22:45; it's Tuesday (and Halloween!).
I'm baking cookies for the first time in my life after that last time in first grade when I helped grandma making krofne, probably.
I'm making them myself.
Okay, I'm a bit in a hurry now, so pretend that this read will be fullfilling for your eyes and your soul.
Today I'll make two themed recommendations. But I'm pretty sure I'll add something later.
'Buffy - The Vampire Slayer' is probably the first 'serious' show that I managed to start and to finish.
It's so amazing that I didn't know what season's OP to pick to attach here AND THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, lmao. The fourth is kinda 'meh' and the seventh one is too rushed and full of useless characters, BUT they are all enjoyable.
You should watch it (the regular show, but also the pilot and THE flopped MOVIE) because it's so camp and witty and funny and dramatic. It's probably what made urban-fantasy so popular. It's what made Twilight Twilight: Team Edward or Team Jacob? More like Team Angel and Team Spike. And you'll probably love both.
Riley as a love interest is so boring that it doesn't count. I also think that the actor that played him regretted it after a while.
It's so funny seeing David Boreanaz in the first couple of series because the dude didn't even know how to act. He just made strange (handsome) faces while whispering dramatic lines.
By the time he got a spin-off ('Angel') he got a lot better.
The shows explores a lot of serious themes, including those weird stages between adolescence and adulthood.
For certain aspects it's relatable, for others, you just like to watch these amazing characters interact with each other or just trying to kill each other.
The soundtrack is unique, the battle scenes are the coolest shit and the fact that you can visibly see when the stuntmen are in is amusing.
Buffy is a feminist down-to-earth icon, Willow & Tara are a gay down-to-earth icon, Xander is an icon who ends up with the most honest character who ever walked on the Hellmouth: Anya. Dawn is amazing and Michelle Trachtenberg portayed realistically one of the best teenagers written in modern fiction.
I can not leave out Giles. Giles is a British. But a cool one. I love Giles. You should love Giles. Giles is the father you never had and I will not elaborate more making stupid jokes. He doesn't deserve that.
Joss Whedon could be problematic in whatever way you want (I'm really sorry for Charisma, who btw is amazing as an adorkable evil queen bee/frenemie), but his talent as a writer conveys more than you'd expect from this type of media.
He deserves a special mention for 'The Body' (don't watch it before at least a couple of episodes first, because The Body is actually different and realistic), 'Normal Again' (same, don't watch it as one of your first episodes), 'Once More, With Feeling' (perfect for my heavily depressed people out there), and its opposite: 'Hush', here's a demonstration of how much scary are The Gentlemen:
Next, for the I-am-only-into-anime friends, the original (the original) 'Soul Eater', by Ookubo Atsushi, could be a fun show to enjoy.
Also, Maka Albarn loves to read. And she's also strong.
Every other character is, in the words of Soul, so cool.
The uncool part? Ecchi is everywhere here. Even in the manga finale, lol and sigh.
First edit, 11/01/2023; 00:45.
Just remembered that everything I know about self-respect (more less then you expect) I learnt it in middle school from one of my favourite gingers in anime, Lina Inverse. Another iconic feminist created by another man (heh...): Kanzaka Hajime. Look, there are things in anime and in TV shows that suck. Details, dialogues, problematic people. I generally assume that everyone in Hollywood is just crazy and sick and they need genuine help or a prison cell. But there was a time were making good content was a serious business and I'm here for that (but I also hope that who needs a prison cell, gets a prison cell).
'The Slayers', here, isn't Hollywood (thanks to all the gods in the outer-space), has some stupid sketeches about boobs and high-pitched voices, but has also a lot of amazing pearls. Everything started with a dumb hero and a cunning sorceress (well, actually everything started with the said cunning sorceress and her probably gay frenemie Naga, in the OVAs, but that's another story):
I also recommend to read Kanzaka's books because this show was created as a light-novels series.
Do you remember 'Sugar Sugar Rune'? Here's another cool ginger. I don't have a lot to say, but at the time, when I was a kid, I found the anime so refreshing and pretty (because Anno Moyoco is a very good storyteller and artist. If you want something more adult, read her 'Hataraki Man' and the heart-breaking 'Sakuran'. I personally like these two works more. Because I am not in the majokko age anymore. But I'm also deeply nostalgic).
The only thing I found unconfortable is the fetishization of young girls in the manga version of Sugar Sugar Rune. In the anime there are some interactions that I, now, as 25 year old adult, wouldn't really enjoy to show to my kid, but then again, I used to read & watch everything that I found. Which is bad for an underdeveloped and highly impressionable brain. But it's also a little inevitable. Also, maybe art isn't meant to educate us on good or bad morals, but it still shapes us.
What about 'Ojamajo Doremi'? We just can't let her out on the witches' night. It's super cheesy and I don't watch it anymore, but I feel bad not mention one of the original majokko. Also, if you have children or young siblings or you're a kid who wants to enjoy anime in the living room without weird stares from your parents, this one (and only this one in this list) is 100% safe. Lots of slices of life moments.
Then, we have Clamp's 'Card Captor Sakura', who just made me daydream so much when I was 10. To the point that I believed a troll on a public forum who claimed to be the real life version of Sakura. I mean, I didn't interact with that person (I was 10), but the thread was so full of other girls believing in that and other people just make fun of the whole situation.
So Sakura wasn't cool because she's the cardcaptor (in that specific universe, at least). She's cool because she knows how to roller-skate and has a major childish crush on her much older brother's boyfriend (see what I did there? So smooth. Not that this doesn't happen in real life, but of course they should remain unrequited childish crushes so beware. Otherwise, is called pedophilia, which is a mental illness and abuse towards minors. In this animanga there are also some student/teacher interactions. Clamp tend to portray different kinds of love/attractions, you probably won't find all of them acceptable/legal. I found them weird, when I discovered the uncensored version of this anime. That's okay. Be responsible for yourself & don't stay silent when you feel uncomfortable).
Also, Kero-chan is so cute and strong.
Anyways. I won't embed the original Japanese opening because it irks me, but I will share the two ones that Cristina D'Avena sang for us Italian kids, back in the day. Cristina and Giorgio Vanni are probably the number one reason why Italians are still so obsessed with dubstep/techno/disco music to this day.
Last, but not least, Clamp's masterpiece, the philosophical and horrorish and folk 'xxxHolic'.
I still have to finish the second season, but it's a 10/10. A bit slow maybe, but it gives the chills from time to time.
I'M GONNA FIX THIS MESS, I PROMISE, LMAO.
I posted it now because I wanted my Halloween post. :(
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