Elves and Beasts and Lightsabers

  I lately saw these two comedy anime, both based off of manga. I found them really funny. Both shows have similarities and are also reminiscent of the anime Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, a series I am a big fan of, despite its unfortunate problematic elements (neither Gabriel Dropout nor Dropkick on My Devil have those kinds of elements). Both series are about they are about angels and demons coming over to the human world, in the slice-of-life genre. Both shows deal with folklore and mythos, which is always welcome. Gabriel Dropout follows two high-achieving angels who are sent to Earth via their student exchange program. Upon arrival, the main character Gabriel, almost immediately becomes addicted to gaming, losing her angelic disposition in favour of a misanthropic, slovenly, and lazy demeanour. The other angel, Raphiel, becomes a sadist. Then they meet two demons, Vignette and Satania. Vignette is a polite and kind person, ironically being more like an angel in behaviour rathe...

SAO or Sword Art Online is a popular and relatively well-known anime/light novel series. It's also terrible, as many people conclude. This conclusion is not misguided, given the series's paper-thin characterization, drunken plot where things just happen for the story, copious use of deus ex machina, and complete failure to achieve the potential of the concept. The series is about our insipid 'hero' Kirito, who is one of the ten-thousand players for a revolutionary virtual-reality gaming experience. But on the first day of gaming, they are trapped within the game by the creator for mysterious reasons. They must beat the game or die, as their real bodies (in hospital beds) wither in the real world each day they stay. It's a fantastic juxtaposition, the fantasy genre reimagined, and combined with sci-fi. A fantastical land that's actually digital, about the danger of the new age. It’s almost a cautionary tale of insidious agendas placed over unfathomably sophis...

This semi-obscure series has the honor of being mentioned as an inspiration for Stranger Things, in its narrative use of interpersonal relationships versus sinister research facilities, tied into mysterious superpowers. Elfen Lied follows the amnesiac Lucy, a tragic superpowered mass-murderer, as she is found and taken in by the taciturn Kouta and his cousin Yuta. Lucy has reverted to an infantile personality, only calling herself "Nyu". The cast grows to have Kurama, a well-intentioned scientist at the mysterious facility Lucy escaped from, Mayu, an abused girl who also comes to live with Kouta and Yuta, and Nana, a happy child with the same powers as Lucy. The story expands. SPOILER: It's revealed that Lucy was Kouta's childhood friend. His trauma comes from the mysterious death of his family and his repressed memories surrounding the event. It turns out that she was the one who brutally murdered Kouta's sister and father in front of him, in an extrem...

Attack on Titan is a speculative philosophical series hidden under the guise of a standard shounen. In-depth discussion involves detailing the spoilers of the series, as the plot’s unraveling is highly contingent on certain mysteries. This pervading, constant allure of mystery in the series amplifies its compelling nature. As such, this raises difficulty when bringing it up to others or discussing it in public, because to avoid spoilers, it's limited to the base concept.   The story starts with three children: a driven boy called Eren, his adoptive sister Mikasa, and their best friend Armin. They live at the outer edge of humanity’s borders, humanity now being limited to three walls. This is because the outside world is populated by Titans, inexplicable humanoid monsters; they are also giant and near-immortal. A Colossal Titan somehow breaks the wall, and the Titans enter the third wall; chaos ensues. Then years pass and they become soldiers, and then things get more and more ...