Best New Anime about Love (2021)

Romance is probably one of the most liked anime genres. It just makes you feel hundreds of emotions at the same time, making you all warm and fuzzy inside. The second year of the Coronavirus Pandemic, that being 2021, not only gave us with a bunch of action-packed anime, but also had some romance in store for us. So, without further ado, let’s introduce them!

Komi-San Can’t Communicate

Komi-San Can’t Communicate Manga is just amazing. It was a highly anticipated anime and 2021 really blessed us with it. The story revolves around Shoko Komi who is a socially awkward high school student. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t communicate with others. Her dream is to make 100 friends and one of his classmates, Tadano, decides to help her in realizing her dream. He must help her communicate with different people in order to get her new friends.

Horimiya

The anime adaptation of Horimiya was another surprise for the fans this year. It is one of the best romantic anime to date. The story involves Hori and Miyamura who are two high school students. Both of them have different personalities at school and different at home. Both of them happen to know about each other’s true personalities and grow close together. Their sweet love story begins that makes us feel all warm inside.

My Next Life As a Villainess

The second season of My Next Life as a Villainess came out earlier in 2021. Catarina Claes is the main character of the series who got reincarnated to another word. As she has dealt with all the death flags in the first season, she can lead her life peacefully now. However, Catarina is unaware of the challenges the new people are bringing at her school. The game she’s playing is not over yet. 

Girlfriend, Girlfriend

Girlfriend, Girlfriend has to be the weirdest romance anime of all time. However, it's pretty interesting in its own way. The story introduces us to Naoya Mukai who has no luck when it comes to love. However, luckily, he’s able to date his childhood friend, Saki Saki. Now , when he’s trying to commit to the relationship, he receives a confession from another girl named Nagisa Minase. Naoya rejects her at first but later decides to ask Saki Saki to date her as well. Saki Saki has to submit and their twisted relationship begins.

Bokutachi no Remake 

Bokutachi no Remake is a beautiful story that introduces us to Kyoya Hashiba who is not doing well at his work. One day, he wakes up 10 years in the past when he’s still in the university. There, he meets all the people from the future that he admired. He befriends them and decides to turn his life around this time.

We're ready when you are... Let's get cozy with these awesome romance anime!

Better yet, we definitely recommend you to watch these anime with your loved ones!

Or with your cats, dogs, iguanas, you name it...

Restaurant Review : Shoyu Sushi

While I was back home in California, I went to a new Japanese restaurant called Shoyu Sushi that was opening up around the corner from where I used to live. They hadn't had their Grand Opening yet, but I thought it'd be good to try out since it was close and has 5-star reviews on Yelp. 

Upon walking in, we were greeted with a loud "Irrashaimase!" (common greeting at Japanese shops and restaurants) and then seated. It was actually a bit dark inside, but relaxing. While we waited for the rest of our group to arrive, we ordered drinks. While we waited, the owner came by to talk with us. As it turned out, she was from Hawaii. When she found out my cousin was also from there, she gave us a round of grapefruit Soju on the house. It was good, though I didn't drink my whole cup since I'm not very big on alcohol. ^^;

Fast forward to the food...I ordered Katsu Dinner. I think everyone else ordered bento with different options. I don't remember what they all had, but everything was delicious. We were all pretty hungry, so we didn't really get pictures of our meals. Oops again! ^^;;

We had a really fun time there and plan to go back on the next CA trip. If you're in Central California or within a reasonable distance, check it out at 3605 Mt Vernon Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93306. 

ORE. RPGHero (Otaku Reviewer Extraordinaire)

ORE. stands for Otaku Reviewer Extraordinaire

Frequently in old school RPG games there were some pretty cool abbrev. which classified towns, character, character classes, attacks, magic spells and other story elements.

For example, some of the towns would bear the abbrev. such as St. Christos Lake Town. Such abbrev. would be cool, they would be reminiscent of decades, centuries, and maybe millenia past.

RPG games contained worlds of past, present, and future perfectly blended and mixed. It's no wonder that many RPG fans learn and keep their sense of turn-based mysticism, much the same as IRL eggheads, mystics, and other creatures of nether-celestial worlds.

Maybe just maybe, our new author is the Celestial Pierrot... Either way, she's our new blogger here at the Otaku Reviewers! She's cool, keep looking here to find out the otaku things that she alone likes ;)

Either way, RPGhero signing out.

Next time you see a St. relic in the real world, think about Final Fantasy or something...

Bleach Vol. 65 Review

"Bleach" is the hit manga by Tite Kubo that has taken the comic book and animation world for a thrilling, action-packed, supernatural battle adventure. Fans come from all countries, ages, and even genders. However, the series is mostly popular with girls and young women. "Bleach" follows the fictional events and story of Ichigo Kurosaki who started out as a fifteen year old high-school freshman that could interact with apparitions of "Karakura Town", the suburban town where he lives. Ichigo met Rukia Kuchiki who transferred all of her "Soul Reaper" power to him both at great cost to her reputation and so that he could save her life in that moment. Eventually the story in the manga post-hocs that of the anime and this manga is still running in North America.

In the manga vol. 65 of "Bleach", the reader sees Zaraki passed out without his eyes closed, defeated by the "quincy" opponents he was battling with.

The main opponents in vol. 65 are:
They're happy-go-lucky seeming girlish women (kind of), that actually disposed of Zaraki's "strongest sword" that he finally mastered, for battle. (Get your mind out of you know where lol). Jokes aside, Zaraki's fighting techniques are, or were, slower than Ichigo's from the beginning, so it makes sense that he lost four-on-one with those chicks.

Early on, Ichigo shows up and wants to fight, saying to Zaraki that he, "Came to help...". In review, I think that Ichigo's character hasn't been radically developed by vol. 65 or he would have learned how to talk to Zaraki's character on a more equal level, maybe Ichigo would even address Zaraki's more senior level "Soul Reaper" status than by a friendly kind of patronizing... Either way, Kubo probably decided that it is in the best interest of the manga not to radically change Ichigo's personality.

Not to reveal all of the contents of the volume, Ichigo takes on the four quincy chicks at once also, in a battle which shows the usual "Bleach" style onomatopoeia or sound effect speech graphics. Bleach onomatopoeia are easy to follow probably easier than "Naruto" but not as interesting as "One Piece".

Anyway, Ichigo fights and is caught in an awkward moment where he could have been defeated (not pictured). You'll have to read the volume for yourself. I believe, that's good enough reason to pick up a copy.

Throughout the volume on a few sporadic pages, the story follows the antics of the current antagonist, "His Majesty", who seems to be a quincy male with "untold power". That's while Ichigo is spending his "battle energy" on the four girlish women (kind of) who work for "His Majesty". The antagonist follows Kubo's typical "Bleach" event progression formula where "they" are off-scene from the main sequence and also from the "protagonist. Then that antagonist is advancing in a separate plot that hasn't yet encountered any relevant opposing influence (to the antagonist plot). In other words, Kubo uses a popular anime / animation trope for the antagonist characters. I think, that for Kubo and "Bleach" it works and he hasn't really changed his author approach in terms of that formula. Go Kubo?

The characters and their idiosyncrasies are where Bleach changes or progresses in its story. That's where "Bleach" has made its great success. Then in addition, for vol. 65, there's some funny jokes made by Urahara Kisuke (not pictured).

In review, there's good enough reason to pick up a copy of Bleach vol. 65 wherever and whenever, you want.

J-pop Oricon Weekly Chart Top 25
Week of November 2nd
Video cred:
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4beIM03AcdDlXhyjIUQ0xg

Jpop Song of the Day!

Ganbare, Nippon! This song plays on TV, in stores, even on street corners! The peaceful nationalistic love of Japan!

YUI - Fight

Lyrics after the jump!

PSA: Gintama is back!!!

If you may have forgotten... Gintama has come back! It's been six months of no Gintama but now you can watch it on crunchyroll once again!

If you watch it, you might wonder if they knew it would be good timing lol. If you are a liberal you might know what I mean...

Top 5 most played J-Pop songs I've Heard in Japan

Hello! As you may know, I'm studying in Nagoya, Japan. It's a great experience, and despite the personal nature of my journal blog, I encourage you to read it!

Despite what you might think, Japan plays a lot of American music in public spaces. I've heard renditions of "And I will always love you," "Soul Sister," and of course "Baby" (Justin Beiber) over vairous loud speakers. But when the Japanese play their hits, they tend to favor a select few...

... So! I've been in Department stores, phone stores, dining halls, karaoke bars, and delicious restaurants. And I can say with great pride that I've discovered some of the most widely played musical tracks in Japan's public spaces. Of course these are simply the most recent songs, but they're quite catchy and I wanna share them with you!

Note: They are in the order of most frequently played (from my experience this past week). They are not in accordance with the Oricon charts.

Gintama in the Works for late 2012 and 2013

Gintama is planning a super comeback for late 2012 and 2013. The anime is slated to return this October but there are no details as of yet, if the episodes will be completely new. Last time Gintama took a hiatus they re-mastered previous episodes under the name, Yorinuki Gintama-san. We'll just have to wait and see. You can watch Gintama on Crunchyroll!

There is also going to be another Gintama movie coming out sometime in 2013. Gintama creator, Hideaki Sorachi, has made the story for this film. The movie has been green-lit for production; we might see promotions for the movie in the upcoming anime! Sorachi has also released a picture of the story he's been creating for the movie.

Check out the story on Anime News Network

There's This Rumor Going Around...

That the anime "Hunter X Hunter" is coming out with a new season in this fall anime lineup!!

The announcement came from a promotional campaign seen in some bookstores in Japan. Hopefully this is true and that it's truly CONFIRMED for next season!

Hunter X Hunter is by Togashi Yoshihiro the mangaka who also created Yu Yu Hakusho and Level E. Hunter X Hunter debuted in 1998 and has 28 manga out! 

This anime can answer some questions about Gon's adventure!!! If you haven't been reading the manga!

Nico Nico Opens for us English Readers

The Japanese video streaming website Nico Nico Douga (Smile Video) has now created an english language mirror. I thought the Japanese site was confusing because they had so many screens before playing the video. Now this english language mirror allows english readers to better view the site. The titles are still written in Japanese characters though.
http://www.niconico.com/

Gintama Season 5 is HERE!

New Gintama is almost OUT!

After a long hiatus, the hit show is coming back out with it's fifth season. If it's anything like the others, then we're in for more uncontrollable laughs about celebrities, anime parodies, bathroom humor, hobos, Japanese straightman comedy, etc. Don't forget the serious shounen battles put in between it all!

Watch a preview on Crunchyroll here!

In RETROspect

Did you grow up in the 1990's? Do you remember...

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System?

I sure do! We were so excited that one special day when we came home from school and our TV was hooked up to a SNES! I remember that day... because it changed my life.

Back in the day you needed one of these to play awesome video games, and used RFU adapters O.O. Not even AV adapters or if you wanted to be HIP, you'd say HDMI is what you use to play your games nowadays...

I just thought it was so crazy to be playing alot of those SNES, PSX, and SEGA games on handhelds... Technology sure went far since those olden days...

 Nowadays we can play classics like Breath of Fire, Yoshi's Island, Mario Superstars, Chrono Trigger, Kirby Superstar, Mario 64, Final Fantasy, all on these systems!!!






No more fumbling with the RFU adapter or the SNES!! I think it's good though! I'm not one of those people who'll gripe about not being able to relive the good old days. Definitely, but excuse me I'm going to fire up the SNES to play Goemon...lol!