Seinen heartbreak, AGAIN

Oh god. Oh seinen. Oh the gods of seinen.

I thought a seinen mecha comedy would take it easy, being, you know, comedy. Riiiight.

I'm on episode 15 of Tiger&Bunny, and a heartbreak in the middle of otherwise satiric action series came as a kick in the shin.

It's not even the protagonist, you know. Just the corniest of the superhero bunch unknowingly falling in love with a malfuctioning android, getting emotional help from her and then just as unknowingly ripping her to pieces as a part of his job. And then looking for her all over the city to say thank you for restoring his self-confidence, y'all.

Hate you, seinen. Love you, seinen. Aren't you the best?

omg my dreams of Kyoya-centic shoujo came true!

Before you get too taken in by the imagery, I probably need to apologize. The anime is not about him, BUT DARN IT doesnt he look just like baby Kyoya of your dreams?

Ahem I might be getting carried away here, sorry.

Let be start from the beginning. It's my first year of discovering a new season - meaning the season when most spring-summer animes get their finales and new ones start airing - as it slowly unfolds. Never before have I seen first episodes for anime only days after they started airing, sampling various projects to see which ones I liked enough to continue watching. To tell the truth, the experience feels great, since there wasn't time for any of the shows to get enough reviews to establish either a positive or a negative reputation and therefore letting me make up my own mind about them first.

I've decided to give a few of the shows a try - namely, Tamayura, which had lovely OVAs, Phi Brain, Kimi to Boku, Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai, and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai which I already wrote about.

Of this season's premiers I was probably expecting least from Chihayafuru, and that's why it took me by surprise. The annonation gave me a really vague idea, showed me some startled-looking girl in a kimono and promised some youthful romance. What I got in the first episode was so many things I like: childhood friends harbouring romantic feelings, one girl-two guys triangle, cute boys (seriously, smart, pale and outcast boy in glasses vs outgoing, doomed-to-be-friend firy one - what else do I want for my shoujo triange?), a pretty but really goofy girl (I liked how they straightaway acknowledged both facts), and a poetry card game called karuta that looks surprisingly hot for such an innocent pastime. I have to say I like the stories that incorporate traditional Japanese activities like tea ceremonies, calligraphy or ikebana into romantic stories, and I remember I liked this game from one of Motomi Kyousuke's short stories, One Thousand Year Love Song. Funfact: it also features my all-time favourite best friends to lovers romance.

My verdict, judging solely by the first - and so far only - aired episode: I'll be watching that. Unless they screw something royally, there's always a pleasure of exploring childhood friendship and growing romance inside a triangle, and I'm excited to see more of karuta. And can a girl hope to see Arata (that's what baby Kyoya is called) all grown-up and in a kimono? I mean, they certainly showed us the girl wearing one. Just saying:)