SHORT TAKES: Kageki Shojo vol. 7, Like a Butterfly vol. 1, Even Though We're Adults Vol. 6, A condition called Love Vol. 3, Stealing Rembrants (book), Tonikawa Season 2, Tomo-chan is a Girl Season 1

    I've been awol. Thankfully for good reasons. But I know I haven't posted in forever. But I've been reading and watching and here are some very very short takes on all of that:

MANGA:

Kageki Shojo vol. 7 - Now that I've embraced what the series is, and isn't, its a fun read. I continue to like that there really aren't any antagonists, and Sarasa continues to be compelling. I like that she's working to go beyond her natural talent and really thinking about her own development. I'm eager to see what she does in the performance.

Like a Butterfly vol. 1 - I like Suu Morishita's art but found her previously released series disappointingly conventional after a solid start (although maybe Like a Butterfly came out before it in Japan?). Sadly, the first volume of this starts out very conventionally. That being said, sometimes conventional is okay. A simple girl meets boy. I am cautiously intrigued to see how they develop Suiren's character given that I'm a bit skeptical of her presentation in this first volume. But maybe she'll be humanized a bit more. She feels a bit "objecty" to start. We'll see.

Even Though We're Adults vol. 6 - So I'm a huge fan of Takako Shimura. Huge. I'm still on the fence with this series. But thankfully it continues to be interesting and messy, things I love in her work. I've read this volume several times but it feels a bit like filler. I'm still very into seeing where things go and how they get there though.

A Condition Called Love vol. 3 - It's settling into a pretty conventional story. Valentine's chocolates. Conventional is fine, like I said about Like a Butterfly. But given how it started, I was hoping it would be a bit darker and moodier. Where is my next Kare Kano or Ao Haro Ride?

BOOKS:

Stealing Rembrants - I'm a big big fan of art theft books, art forgery books, etc... So I was interesting in this book detailing a huge number or Rembrandt heists throughout the years. Sadly, it was disappointingly written. The underlying stories are cool (and true) but the presentation was middling in the prose (and sometimes even worse) and the book was organized a bit strangely. An interesting read, but not an engrossing one which is a shame given the topic. There are better books out there on these topics.

ANIME:

Tonikawa Season 2 - I believe my review of season 1 was basically this: "Better than it should have been, pretty bad animation." And that's basically the review of season 2. Minimal character development, basically the same type of stuff as season 1. But at least we get a little more of the behind the scenes as to who Tsukasa might be (or what she might be?). The show kills time in an inoffensive way, but is very mediocre.

Tomo-chan is a Girl Season 1 - I had started the manga a few years back and got bored quickly. After the first couple episodes of the anime, I was feeling the same way. However, the anime very quickly got things moving, characters developing and changing, and was a fun series. The pacing worked here, perhaps better than the manga. I definitely enjoyed this as light-hearted fare. 

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

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