Focaccia

Useful for bready fat pizzas ands salty olive bread.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, dividedAdd to Shopping List

1. Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Put the bowl in a warm, not hot or cool, place until the yeast is bubbling and aromatic, at least 15 minutes.
2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1/2 cup olive oil and the yeast mixture on low speed. Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes on a medium speed until it becomes smooth and soft. Give it a sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
3. Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface, then knead it by hand 1 or 2 times. Again, give it another sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
4. Coat the inside of the mixer bowl lightly with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
5. Coat a jelly roll pan with the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. (Chef’s Note: This may seem excessive, but focaccia is an oily crusted bread. This is why it is soooooooooo delicious!).
6. Put the dough onto the jelly roll pan and begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan. Turn the dough over to coat the other side with the olive oil. Continue to stretch the dough to fit the pan. As you are doing so, spread your fingers out and make finger holes all the way through the dough. (Chef’s Note: Yes, this is strange. But when the dough rises again it will create the characteristic craggy looking focaccia. If you do not make the actual holes in the dough, the finished product will be very smooth.)
7. Put the dough in the warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
8. Liberally sprinkle the top of the focaccia with some coarse sea salt and lightly drizzle a little oil on top. Bake the dough until the top of the loaf is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let it cool before cutting and serving.
9. Oh baby!

Fuuma’s LGBT Anime Masterpost

There are a lot of great discussions about the ever-increasing amount of LGBT characters in anime, the roles they play, and what they add to the shows they’re in. I’m not doing any of that right now! Below is a list of every anime that has LGBT+ characters/relationships for your reference, somewhat grouped by general categories. Will be edited/reposted as needed.

These shows include a gay or lesbian romance! (in no particular order)

Sakura Trick – It’s a romance story between two girls who keep making out.

Yuri!!! on Ice – Competitive figure skating sports show with a gay love romance secondary plot.

Love Stage – a case of mistaken gender sparks a question of the main character’s sexuality in this romantic comedy.

Sasameki Koto – A lesbian romance story, but also a comedy about several lesbian high schoolers making a club for lesbians to bond and oogle girls and be gay in. Double gay as most of the main cast is gay.

Scum’s Wish – The main character has a relationship turned romantic/sexual with her lesbian friend who is pursuing her, though through this she discovers she is not gay.  They value their relationship though it then gets awkward, but is a very realistic portrayal.

Sukisho (Suki na Mono wa Suki Dakara Shou ga Nai!!) – a romance mainly but with drama and comedy elements as well. It’s about two boys who fall for each other through memory problems, moves, and multiple personalities.

Junjou Romantica – Two adult men end up living together and fall into a (gay) relationship.

Sekaiichi Hatsukoi – Onodera starts a new job and it’s not what he expected, especially when he realizes his new boss is his first love. They have gay romance

Netsuzou Trap (NTR) – She is a best friend and just playing around, or is she? Two ladies who already have boyfriends discover they’re gay for each other.

From the New World (Shin Sekai Yori) – This takes place in a world where the culture is that everyone is bisexual and same-sex relationships are considered a normal and healthy part of growing up. So all the characters are cannon bisexuals and there are several same-sex relationships.

Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers) – a coming of age and growing up story about several lesbians in high school.

LOVELESS –  a story about abuse and what it means to become an adult. the main character is in a gay relationship and there are several other gay and lesbian relationships included, most of the non-healthy variety.

Uragiri wa boku o namae o shiteiru (Uraboku) – a dark and angsty fighting show with gay men and their relationships also going on.

Togainu no Chi – Also a dark and angsty fighting show with gay men.

Super Lovers – A man ends up with an adopted brother he’s never met (that he knows) who comes to live with him as a teenager. Gay things ensue.

Princess Princess – a comedy about boys in an all-boys-school who dress up as “princesses” and are then lusted after by the general school body.

07 Ghost – There are many gay things and relationships here. It’s a alternate world fantasy show that’s mostly angsty and plot. The gay is a secondary.

Maria-sama ga Miteiru – A show about girls in an all-girls school who have relationships with each other.

Kyou Kara Maou! – the main character quickly and accidentally gets engaged to another man, and then stays that way for the rest of the series.  There is some gay romance that ensues, though not necessarily canon pairings.

Monochrome Factor – Guy ends up in a fantastic fighting scene and develops a romance with another guy.

Yurikuma Arashi – a plethora of lesbian characters, both human and anthropomorphized bear.

No. 6 – a sci-fi series where the main character also has a gay relationship with another guy.

Revolutionary Girl Utena – the main female leads are in a lesbian-ish relationship (it’s canon in the movie and extras) as well as having a lesbian duelist (Juri) and lots and lots of homoeroticly suggestive male relationships. Plus, it fights the patriarchy!

Maria-Holic – the main character is a lesbian who goes to an all girls school so she can enjoy a gay gay school life, who has to deal with a jerk who is a crossdresser and maybe trans prolly not though. Played for laughs and often mostly for a het male audience, it’s still got a lot of gay going on.

Saki – These Mahjong girls are so gay. Sometimes it is mostly subtext, but also some outright are gay. Is more for a straight audience. The main part of the show is mahjong fights but there is a burgeoning lesbian romance.

Mouretsu Pirates – The plot mostly revolves around the discordance of cute girls running a pirate ship and being girls and how confining gender stereotypes can be. In general is a story about female empowerment and growing up. The importance of deep female relationships is stressed and gay hint hint gets bigger and gayer as the show goes on. Then there is a whole huge arc towards the end where they go to rescue a lesbian friend from being forced to marry a dude because of gender roles and shit, and in then end the lesbians share an adorable kiss of triumph and everyone cheers.

Strawberry Panic – Girls at an all girls school fall in love and have relationships.

These shows include gender bending, non-joke crossdressing, non-binary, or trans characters (this category is intentionally broad because trans representation in anime is murky and complicated)

Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko) – One of the best trans representations I’ve ever seen in anime.  It’s a soft story about several children who are entering puberty and questioning what it means to do that. What it means to develop secondary sex characteristics and whether or not they want that. AFAB and AMAB characters go through this together.

Simoun – the story is about What would the world be like if people were all born female and then some became male after puberty, by choice or luck. And war and magic fighting, but there are a lot of lesbian kisses and stories that revolve around GENDER FEELS and gender development. Delves somewhat into the trans experience of having a gender assigned to you that you didn’t chose and how traumatic that can be.

Princess Jellyfish – the plot of this story revolves around the main female lead interacting with a genderqueer character, who is 100% a crossdresser and who can also be interpreted as trans or NB, depending on translations and interpretation.

Sailor Moon – Obviously it’s gender queering it up with Haruka and the Sailor Stars.

Paradise Kiss – Isabella is a trans woman, treated with dignity and respect and ends up happy.

Knights of Sidonia – Non-binary character in the main cast, has ability to become trans.

Rose of Versailles – Oscar, the main character is genderqueer, definitely a crossdresser and arguably a transman, but it is muddled.

Genshiken – there is a trans woman in the second season.

Kino’s Journey – Titular character is non binary.

Tokyo Godfathers – There is a older trans woman in the main cast who gets treated decently.

These shows have LGBT representation in the primary cast. 

Jormungand – Valmet is a lesbian in love with the main female lead, Koko. It’s a side storyline, but it’s still a major part of the main cast and some story arcs.

Sailor Moon – Uranus and Neptune! Also Zoisite and Kunzite!

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun – It’s got a lesbian supporting character and the development of her one-sided relationship is important to the show.

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid – It is left unclear whether or not Kobayashi is in a platonic or romantic relationship with Tohru, but Tohru is definitely a lesbian and attracted to and pursuing Kobayashi.  An adorable and heartwarming show!

Psycho-Pass – two of the main characters in the second season are in a lesbian relationship. An intense and dark sci-fi show!

Haruchika – One of the two leads is a gay boy.

Fuuka – One of the male band members is openly gay

Yami no Matsuei – The male villain is attracted to other men and there are homoerotic things going on everywhere

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi – Haruhi is cannon Bisexual.

Claymore – There are a lot of lesbian subtexts here. The story in general is about the clashing of feminine stereotypes and yet monstrous nature of the fighter women. Gender roles! Women loving each other!

Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) – Whether Sebastian wants to eat or eat Ciel is left ambiguous but Grell and other repeating characters are explicitly gay.

Tanaka-kun is Always Listless – A character confesses love to another lady character early in the show.

These shows have at least plausible deniability (so they’re not quite rep, not quite not LGBT either though) but is LGBT in the subtext, because of press releases or other supplements, etc. This category includes thing that can be considered queerbait or gay-in-the-fanservice-only. 

Madlax, Noin, and El Cazador De La Bruja – The main female leads are in a strong lesbian interpretable but not necessarily outright gay relationship. The story hinges on lady bonding and having a deep connection. Lots of fanservice that is suggestive. This is three different shows but they are all SO SIMILAR that I am clumping them rather than write this three times.

Neon Genesis Evangelion – Shinji is bisexual in the extended universe and some depictions and only assumed heterosexual in the others. One can assume he’s always bisexual and it just doesn’t come up much explicitly.

Attack on Titan – Ymir and Christa are confirmed in a lesbian relationship but only outside the show content itself.

D.N.Angel – Nothing overtly gay, but fanservice signals gay relationships between the main male characters.

Cardcaptor Sakura – The main character’s brother and his best friend appear to be in a gay relationship off screen, but it isn’t explicitly in the show.

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club – There is nothing overtly gay per se, but there is queerbaiting and female-gaze centric fanservice galore.

Sound Euphonium – Another show that queer baits. Nothing is ever explicit but there is a lot of lesbian relationship fanservice/hinting.

Ouran High School Host Club – The characters do a lot of fanservice that is gay suggestive, both for the audience and for other characters in the show.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica – A lot of the relationships between women here can be taken gayer or not at all gay, and there are fanservice things that are gay.

Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon) – The main character is seemingly in love with another boy (and therefore hinted bisexual) and there are queerbaiting moments but nothing happens or is confirmed in canon.

Amanchu! – The main character slowly becomes more enamored with another girl and they have soft and loving moments.  It can easily be read as a slow burn lesbian love story, though there is plausible deniability about whether the love they share is platonic or romantic.

Supporting or Minor character or plot is cannon LGBT 

Hunter x Hunter – Trans girl in the supporting cast.

Tiger and Bunny – genderqueer and gay secondary character.

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo – Lots of male homoerotic overtones of the Count, plus a secondary trans girl character

Michiko and Hatchin – several genderqueer and gay side characters

LGBT shows I haven’t seen or can’t remember and so can’t classify in above categories

Yuru Yuri – there are lesbians?
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – gay male queerbait?
Kikuhiko – ?
Samurai Flamenco – gay guy?
Mikagura School Suite – has a lesbian?
Monogatari series – Kanbaru?
Gatchaman Crowds – has a tran character?
Love Live – ?
Symphogear – Queerbaiting?
Doukyuusei
This Boy Caught a Merman
This Boy is a Professional Wizard – I know it’s gay but that’s it.
Gakuen Heaven
Dramatical Murder
Riddle Story of Devil
Corpse Party
Gakuen Handsome

Great sports anime about things you probably didn’t even know were sports!

Do you love a good tournament arc but want to see something other than basketball or soccer? Is there a deep love of training and practice montages inside you? Do you love watching rivalries and play-by-play analysis and deep speculation about the amazing moves of scary antagonists! Sports anime have your number and you love them, but really how many different baseball, basketball and soccer shows can you watch before it gets old? Don’t worry, there are sport-style anime out there for you with all kinds of subject matters! Check out some of the many many amazing sports-style anime about things that aren’t covered in gym class.

Chihayafuru

If I said “I have a great show you HAVE to watch about a good, old-fashioned, slap fight.” you definitely are going to picture something other than what Chihayafuru is about. And yet that’s what this show is! Chihayafuru is about the world of competitive karuta, a game where you rush to slap a poem away from someone else.  In all seriousness! Classic poems are written on cards, and they’re randomly called out.  You score by being the fastest and most accurate to slap the poem cards. Our main character, Chihaya, is in love with this game, and trying to spread that love while climbing the ranks to challenge the sitting #1 player, the Queen. There are gorgeous costumes, bishi moments, good romance subplots, and a cast of all kinds of characters to make you laugh, cry, lust and think. It’s got everything! It’s available to stream right now on Crunchyroll!

Hikaru no Go

From the creators of Death Note and Bakuman comes this story about a boy who gets possessed by a board-game obsessed ancient ghost. For real! The story starts there! Sai, our courtier ghost, loves Go, a game like chess that is both simple and elegant, and yet incredibly complex. Hikaru, our protagonist, has never even played before, but eventually gives in to the demands of his haunting and plays, where he slowly discovers a love and passion for the game.  The show is adorable, just one of the cutests things.  Sai is sweet and caring and nurturing, and watching Hikaru grow as a player, grow into his rival Akira, give you warm fuzzies while also lots of edge-of-your-seat, shocking and thrilling action! One of the bonuses is the show does actually teach you the basics of the game as you watch, with short segments in the end on how to play yourself (warning, playing Go is fun but also Go is REALLY HARD to get good at! >_< ). It’s addictive and wonderful!

Akagi

Most westerners think mahjong is a quiet game where you match tiles, but that’s actually a solitaire version.  It’s like mistaking poker tournaments for computer solitaire because they use cards! And because the suits and hands are bigger in mahjong than with cards, it’s more complicated and got way more hands to win than poker hands.  So think of Akagi as a dark anime where the sport they play is in poker tournaments.  Except not just any tournaments, life-or-death high-stakes mafia tournaments! Because in this show, the titular character Akagi gets caught up in the post-WW2 yakuza, but because he’s such a reckless thrill-seeker, he just keeps doubling down.  But he’s also a genius gambler! Watch him take on all comers! They play for money.  They play for lives.  He literally bets the blood in his veins just for the sick thrill of the game.  (for a lighter, moe, gay anime about playing competitive mahjong try out Saki!)

Food Wars!

Coming back yet again for another season, this recent addition to the food porn anime trend also involved competitive cooking, placing it as a tournament style sports/fighting show.  So be prepared to salivate to death over the DELICIOUS DELICIOUS looking food they cook, and laugh at their over-the-top reactions when they try everything, and cheer for your favorites as they fight for culinary supremacy at the top cooking school. There are teams, tournaments, and all the fighting action you lust after.  Plus, there is a lot of fanservice and nudity, of both genders (though there is an obvious gender skew that starts off minor but progressively the gap widens as the show goes on).

Aoharu x Machingun

Through a variety of interesting circumstances (no spoilers :P) our protagonist, a cross-dressing protagonist Hotaru ends up joining a team of people who shoot each other for fun.  Not with bullets obviously, but think of it as an paintball league that actually plays wargames! This show has a lot of appeal in it. Subterfuge! Romance! Gender-bending! War games! Eroticism! Action! Panting heavily as you contemplate your death underneath some bushes! While your enemies take out your teammates!

These are just a few examples of this robust and lovely corner of the anime world! Go and explore and be merry!

 

 

Seraph of the End: A anime that struck me as… just a Remix

I have such mixed reactions when I watched the new show Owari no Serafu/Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign. First, what a silly title. Move past that, the art on Hulu and for the show in general contains spoilers (for a couple eps in, but still). Get past that and watch the show, and you’re confronted with a super fast action packed sequence that established the premise and rockets plot off, and YAY for that! I was pretty excited to watch this show but a few minutes into it! And then an interesting and kinda classic gothic vampire world, but with really interesting backgrounds and setting details, but sadly REALLY stock characters. There’s the “we must fight them from within!” kid, the “I rebel against control” kid, and an assortment of adorable young’uns that immediately practically have “FUTURE VICTIMS” written on their foreheads. And as always on TV, fighting from within never works.

This was where I ran into my first, Wait, is this show just going to rehash Code Geass’s main conflict between within/without system main character arguments? Then lots of awful things DID happen, I was like “CALLED IT” but was pleasantly surprised when what was the cliche had some minor shocking and interesting twists and the fight scenes were really well done.

And then some more cliches, then a pointless school things that felt yoinked from Aoi Exorcist but not at all as well done. (It didn’t help there was voice actor similarities). Then exactly the beginning of every story ever happened (seriously, all of them. At least Deadman Wonderland killed-ish him! That had an interesting play on the school-attack-monster trope). Then We’re yanking the conflict from Devilman AND still running around as if being Aoi Excorcist/D.Gray-man versions 2.0…

I wanted to enjoy this show, but it just feels constantly derivative to me. It’ll do something in the details or execution I enjoy, but goes right back to cliches and I’m left disgruntled. Finally, I was like OMG it’s a REMIX! it’s got all of these things yanked right from other things! IT IS SUPER DERIVATIVE! But trying to be just different and interesting enough that people will like it, while still using all the main notes from these other shows.

And frankly, I think that it will be popular and lots of people will super enjoy watching it. Anyone who is super fond of this kind of shounen show is probably going to love it. It’s reminiscent of a lot of big hits that people would love more of, and here it is! More of that thing you enjoyed before! So hey, you like those things, maybe this will be a fun entertainment time for you, yay! Let’s all enjoy it (I’m certainly still watching it as it is released).

But is it good? So far I’m going with no. It’s almost completely unoriginal, and the three setting changes it’s gone through in the first few episodes abandons a lot of the details I think could make it standout and be awesome. It’s sticking so close to tropes it’s insanely predictable, sans minor “Oh he DID get one punch in before going down” ways, and that’s just not the kind of show I think is good. Passable and decent? Oh totally. So am I damning this show with faint praise? Yes. Unless it’s the exact kind of thing you’re into, don’t bother with it. Otherwise, it’s upon Hulu for north America free watching, happy viewings!

P.S. It’s got little in the way of positive or non-status-quo representation. This is not a show with interesting or unique female/gender diversity, racially diverse, ability or neurodiversity. I’m 10 eps in and zilcho, so… yeah. Don’t expect that.

K-drama for a change! Empress Ki

So for a bit of a change of pace, and since this season’s crop of anime has been disappointly full of sub-par anime, I’ve been checking out some K-dramas. Specifically, a few popular modern dramas and a few period dramas. I’m very picky about k-drama and have put aside most of them, but think I’ve got a winner with Empress Ki. It’s everything I’d want out of an epic fantasy novel sans the magic and dragons! The setting is interesting, the characters get involved in huge nation-ending plots and wars and fights. It has good characters and action and plot moves at a good pace. So yes, watch it! In specifics, the protagonist is actually really cool, and even though it’s a lady, all her plots don’t revolve around her vagina (you know that boring plot kind. Rape-threats all the time and the rest of the time it’s ugh lady sucks I must be Cersei Lannister level conniving and manipulative and then ladies getting shit for it). which yeah, okay in one character, but it drives me crazy when that’s the only lady portrayal in a story. But this Empress Ki had conniving manipulative MEN and WOMEN! The men are WAY WORSE than the ladies and really scary manipulators! And uncomfortable rapey time threats for male and female characters in about 50-50 proportion! and the man-rape-ish moments are actually the most plot important ones, which is super nice to not have yet another plot hinge on being-shitty-to-women. The main character also gets to have a lot of roles and settings and I’m enjoying that. Also, like most of the epic fantasies I enjoy, it’s doorstop-long. K-dramas are actually 55 minutes, and with Hulu’s free watching but added commercials, it takes about a hour and a half to watch, and there are 51 episodes! Hours and days of entertainment! You can binge-watch, but maybe try in batches.  I haven’t finished yet, but I have good expectations. And really, it’s so nice, as a western-living person when stories seem obsessed with medieval europe, it’s SUUUUUPER interesting to learn about the history and see all the interesting other forms of culture and dress and conflicts. Expand your worldview! so yes! If any of this sounds interesting, give it a shot! I’mnot going to say there isn’t sexism in it, as there is it’s set in a sexist historical society, but the actual STORYTELLING doesn’t rely on dreg-gusting cliche’s of watching women suffer, women get to do awesome things, there are more than one lady character that are awesome, so it’s got upsides! And so much fun drama!

Review: Death Parade

The premise is that the show takes place in a limbo/purgatory-esque place where people go after they die for judgement, and they play games or other such things to further that end. The architecture of said non-necessarily-real space is very bendable and over-the-top, but it makes for some great visuals. All the staff of this place are interesting visually and character design wise, and I’m very amused at the awesome and interesting hairstyles of the people ultimately deciding the fate of souls! So yeah, overall a fun visual experience and I think it was excellent art and animation. Fun touches of the surreal here and there!

The tone of the show at first was very much like Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl), but this show isn’t a series of vignettes, and intersperses the focus between the actual death arbiters and the dead people, which I SUPER appreciated. It kept it from being maudlin and depressing, and I love a good back-and-forth from the serious to the more lively tone.

And how can you not enjoy the pointing in the opening sequence?

So much pointing. And Air Hockey FOR YOUR LIVES!

Anyway, they present interesting questions about humanity and emotions and such, but nothing shoehorned in there or terribly weird gross preaching. The end (no spoilers) wraps things up that were ongoing, but does leave a little hanging in a room-for-a-sequel-y way, and also implies that certain things just keep going in a machinery of these characters way. But overall I liked and felt there was a good wrap-up to an overall great show that I really enjoyed. I think everyone who thinks it sounds interesting should watch it! In North America it’s streaming on Hulu and available through FUNimation.

Yay adult show with adults living hard lives and interesting speculation about life, death and meaning!

Anime from the Fall 2013 season that I liked/hated

Just the one!

Strike the Blood – Hilariterrible, bordering on just plain terrible. The premise is OH NOES MR VAMPIRE, DON’T BITE MEEEEEEE (said while presenting neck sexily). And it’s a harem anime pretending to be action, doing neither terribly well but also having some interesting magic things here and there. The characters are trite and archetypal, the setting is poorly constructed and fleshed out, and everything exists just so we can be introduced to yet another hot lady who will become sexually available to the protagonist. Its a fun, stupid watch, but it’s really poor quality.

Anime from the Fall 2013 season that weren’t good

Unbreakable Machine Doll (Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai) – The main female is literally an object, who is obviously obsessed with and constantly offering all sorts of sexualized things to the main lead, who we are supposed to be all like, WHOAH, SO ETHICAL AND AMAZING because he doesn’t want to treat women like objects, instead he is white-knighting them. BARF BARF BARF. It’s straight-up male power fantasy, white-knight-style, and that sexist, unexamined shit can barf barf barf. There is some uncomfortable violence against women by men and the plots vaguely interesting, if completely unoriginal, so the show really faffs off into bleh land.

Walkure Romanze – It’s a show about girls who joust. The main character is your standard-issue-non-entity-talented-but-not-too-talented-male-all-the-ladies-are-slashy-with. I didn’t like the main female, she’s too shrill and whiny and it’s hard to not be annoyed by her, but she tries hard and means well. The rest of the constant fanservice is just… tiresome. And eventually, the lack of unique or original characters or a plot other than School:We’re-in-it killed off any interest I had. To boring to watch.

I Couldn’t Become A Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get A Job (Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita) – Fanservice with the barest plot premise, which barely shows up until a rush at the end. It was kinda fun to watch characters fight with the tedium of actual living, rather than glamor of fighting the devil, but it all revolved around the genitals and breasts of the female characters, and how interesting those were! (hint: they’re not really). It had the potential to be an interesting parody, but it isn’t. As wank material, it’s a solid B if you’re okay with unremarked on female harassment and humiliation, but as an anime to watch and enjoy, a solid D.

Samurai Flamenco – At first, I thought this was an interesting show about a guy’s boyish dreams of being a superhero and how they clashed with reality, and how he was stubbornly trying to get them to fit in despite police, uninterested in perfection people, and the troubles of modern living. It was original and semi-parody and reminded me of Tiger and Bunny, and the characters were equal-opportunity slashy with a strong female lead. But then shit went downhill and downhill FAST into a flaming pile of Just-like-everything-else, totally cliche and uninteresting, inexplicable developments, and the sexual humiliation and physical dis-empowering of the female lead for no other reason than because women:amiright. From maybe an A down to a D show. Hasn’t ended yet, but only expecting poor things.

Non Non Biyori – A snoozefest. I’m not the biggest fan of slice-of-life genre, especially if there isn’t a supernatural factor, and this was just… SO… BORING. Nothing happens, the characters weren’t original or interesting. Unwatchable.

My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy (Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Lovecome o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru ) – I was mixed on this at first, because I love any plot line that includes god/gods, since I think that kind of overpowering supernatural force is super interesting. But it just didn’t do enough to counterbalance the constant harassment of women as a joke (sure, it’s embarrassing for him but the problem I had was with the way it was presented to the viewer). I just don’t like to watch that much humiliation and degradation of men, much less that much constant rapey-feeling bothering of and objectification of women. Unwatchable.

Diabolik Lovers: Haunted Dark Bridal – This looked at first like it might be a fun to watch silly anime about too many hot boys, but no. It’s an anime about watching a bunch of boys physically, verbally, and sexually assault a girl. Repeatedly, as if they were practicing for their Abuse 101 midterm, for 80% of the screen time. Completely unwatchable.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel (Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova) – Aliens? are keeping humans out of the seas, and isolating and reversing the effects of globalization. A plot and setting that sounded pretty interesting and like it could go somewhere! But Then they introduce the fact that the male lead is obviously uber-super-special (gag-me-a-cliche) and so a boat, personified as a female prostrates herself before him in all kinds of sexually suggestive ways, constantly talking about how super-special-awesomesauce the male lead is. It’s just too sexist in an infuriating way, and also, really unoriginal characters and pounds of sexist bullshit. Unwatchable.

Galilei Donna – The descendants of Galileo (the mom is really into that fact), three daughters leads to inexplicable things in an inexplicable world that is mean to them for no apparent reason. I feel like I was supposed to be intrigued or that it was a mystery for them to solve, but when the flying fish mecha showed up I decided that it was just inexplicable and uninteresting. Three lead ladies was maybe interesting and different, but it wasn’t.

Miss Monochrome: The Animation – Short, mildly amusing comedy about robots. Meh.

Kill La Kill – I was all excited to see this, hoping it would be well done and interesting seeing as it’s an action show where both the protagonist and the big bad are strong women. No, it is trite, completely unoriginal, uninteresting, and filled with rape jokes, threatening to rape ladies because they are in mildly vulnerable positions, and sexually humiliating women as fanservice. This show can fuck off and die.

Anime from the Fall 2013 season that were… alright.

Nagi no Asukara – Premise is that all people lived in the sea, but some went onto land and lost the seas-god’s blessing that lets them breathe water. The world building seems off, since sea life is exactly the same as land life and that seems wrong (down to electricity use), and the characters are archetypal and unoriginal, though well played out. The whole first 13 episodes move way too slow and were barely interesting to me, though plot kicks in mid-season and it gets way more interesting character and plot wise. Hasn’t’ ended yet, but so far it’s a B show, with a warning of the slow, boring school parts of the first half.

Gingitsune: Messenger Fox of the Gods – I wanted to like this show, it was cute and happy, and fluffy, but it was just too boring. It’s the kind of slice of life that just reminds you how very boring watching security cameras actually is. The Kitsune were cute and fun, the humans were well intentioned and living their lives, but I just felt disappointed by the storylines emotional payoff (nothing like Natsume Yuujincho, which this show wishes it could be), and relatively little character growth. A solid C show.

Magi: the Kingdom of Magic – 2nd season. Still enjoying this, though it’s problematic regularly. I still think the setting is unique enough, and the world and magic and characters are interesting. A solid C+ of a show, it’s a nice entertainment but nothing spectacular. Good for passing time.

Beyond the Boundary (Kyoukai no Kanata) – This show is about how if a boy fetishizes and is interested in a girl, that is a great and interesting thing and romantic and awesome. SERIOUSLY, that is the primary take-away message from episode one till the very last moments. Ignoring that disgusting and affronting and plain stupid aspect, it’s an interesting and well animated show about demons living among us, and those who fight them off. The plot has a nice pacing and development, and ends decently. The characters, for the most part, fulfill roles (such as mastermind, maid, info lady, fetish-object, fetish-haver), and don’t really have much characterization beyond that other than their tragic backstories. Overall it makes for an entertaining watch, with interesting settings and plot and magic and fighting, but with squick out moments of CREEPY EW EW EW NO OFFENSIVE ASS BULLSHIT that you have to gloss over. A decent time waster.

Kyousougiga – It’s got an interesting premise, of a man with supernatural powers making a happy and perfect world for himself and his family, but the disjointed presentation of the story and the mind-bending antics just didn’t interest me. None of the characters were particularly compelling, though they seemed at least modestly original. There were also definitely some interesting world building things going on, and I think this show might actually be kinda good, but it really just wasn’t my thing and I didn’t like it, it couldn’t hold my attention. I’d give it another shot if I heard it built better tension later or ended spectacular or something, but not my cup of tea as it stands.

Meganebu – This is very colorful and stylized anime about a bunch of boys who wear and LOVE glasses. They have silly antics, and that’s what this show is all about – over-the-top foolishness and fanservice. Not that bad, but wasn’t enough to keep my interested, and a little to cracked-out for my tastes. Not for everyone, not my tastes but it’s not bad per se, so I’d give it a B to C range.

Actually interesting anime that I’d recommend from the Fall 2013 season

Golden Time – This is a really interesting drama, where the main plots revolve around characters and character interactions and romance. I had low expectations when I started watching because the opening is really… setting you up for a different, terribler show. But the characters actually were well-rounded, interesting adults with interesting lives and semi-soap-opera problems, and I quickly got sucked into it. It’s still running, so I can’t give you any final comments, but so far it’s one of my favorite shows that’s running and definitely in the A range!

Log Horizon – I had low expectations for yet another show about how now an MMORPG is FOR REALZ. There was nothing especially interesting about the first few episodes, but I didn’t have issues with the treatment of the female lead, even though she’s lusted after by other characters, and there was something mildly interesting that kept me watching and I’m not sure what. And though slow to start, this show has become one of my favorites after it hit mid-season. There are super interesting world-building and setting things, character growing, learning about their new lives and how to deal with their situation that I think is crazy interesting and original. Haven’t finished, but so far, An A show!

Yowapeda: Yowamushi Pedal – This is a sports/guts show about an anime Otaku who just wants to make friends in high school, but turns out he has a talent for biking, thanks to his hoofing it to Akihabara every weekend. He ends up joining the ultra-competitive and impressive biking club, and ACTION! BIKING! RACES! GAINING SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH PHYSICAL ACCOMPLISHMENT. It’s super fun to watch and I <3 it. Hasn’t finished yet, but it’s a solid B+.

Valvrave the Liberator – I actually enjoyed this series. It has a plot that rushes forward and lots of action and plot-twists/turns. The characters have mostly differentiable personalities. It’s a fun action ride if that’s what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, it’s trying way to hard to be as interesting and awesome as Code Geass and kinda failing, plus the ending is less resolution and more deflation. It’s also really calling upon the tropes of the Mecha genre (which I do not like) and so at best I’d rate this anime a B-, maybe C+.