January 01, 2023
Catching up, a little.
So I concentrated on finishing up the last of the Winter 2022 season shows I picked.
Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to - Life with an Ordinary guy who Reincarnated to a Total Fantasy Knockout
There may be some inaccuracy in the title translation.
Kind of a Junk Isekai. But not for the usual reasons. Two guys in their early thirties who have been friends since childhood get chosen to be heroes by the Goddess of Love and Beauty to defeat the Demon Lord (It later turns out that a number of gods have recruited heroes for the same chore, and they're kind of in competition, but that's deep background). Tachibana has always lived in the shadow of his friend Jinguuji, who is everything he isn't. Tall, handsome, talented and athletic, and a hit with all the girls.
That last though has made Jinguuji very skeptical towards women, and has also caused Tachibana grief because every girl he was ever interested in fell for his friend. So the show opens with them after a very unsuccessful night at a speed dating event. The goddess catches them in the park while a drunken Tachibana is saying that HE wants to be the cute girl, and Jinguuji is only concerned about protecting his friend and getting him home safe. She "Grants their wishes" and dumps them in the wilderness with little to no instruction. When they wake up, Tachibana has been transformed into a girl, and Jinguuji is super strong and virtually invulnerable, and can summon a portal that is the front door of Tachibana's apartment (which is now a pocket dimension, so they can't get out that way).
Aside from being a cute-ish girl, Tachibana also possesses a potent "Charm" aura that is inconveniently strong. Knowing who Tachibana really is, and his general distrust of women helps Jinguuji resist its effects, and later they obtain a tiara that helps keep people from actually noticing "her" and being affected at inopportune times. The first couple of episodes try to work the romantic tension angle you would expect from that setup, but fortunately they get away from that as the adventure develops. Which is good because what really drives the characters is not the state they are in now, but who they were from before. Tachibana has always harbored feelings of inferiority to Jinguuji (for obvious reasons), and Jinguuji's upbringing made him solitary and independent and stoic. Eventually they manage to work things out.
It's a comedy, and it's occasionally funny, but it's very uneven and weakly animated, and I can't really recommend it.
It's a comedy, and it's occasionally funny, but it's very uneven and weakly animated, and I can't really recommend it.
Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru - My Dress-up Darling
Yeah, I don't think that translation is exactly accurate either.
Before Spy x Family came along, Marin was everyone's "Waifu of the year", and I can see why.
Gojo is a second year high school student who lives with his Grandfather in the family's Hina Doll shop, and he is learning the traditional craft, which has utterly fascinated him since he first saw them as a child. However this devotion has left him completely socially awkward, and he has no friends. He is still not quite proficient at painting the faces, but he does well at sewing the miniature clothing.
At school one of the prettiest and popular girls is Kitagawa Marin, a blonde "Gyaru" with a gaggle of girl friends whose obsession with game and anime characters does not make her any kind of Otaku.
One day the antique treadle sewing machine at the shop gives up the ghost, so Gojo takes his current project into the unused home-ec room at school to use the machine there. As he's sitting down, Marin shows up. She's been trying to learn to use the machine to work on a cosplay of one of her favorite characters from an eroge she loves. She has zero talent for sewing. Somehow they manage to bond when she begs him to help her make the costume. He's never made clothes for humans before, so it's a bit of a stretch for him, but he throws himself into it.
And the result is stunning. He and Marin go to a Cosplay event and she makes some serious waves and their work is noticed. This later leads to working with another cosplay star, and a LOT of uncomfortable situations for Gojo, who has been raised extremely conservatively and traditionally, and Marin who is basically a total free spirit, flying solo since her dad works someplace remote and her mother is gone.
Interestingly, the experience also helps Gojo with his work on the dolls. Doing Marin's makeup probably has something to do with it.
Marin falls for Gojo because he is such a good and dedicated guy (And this is well before the end of the series), And Gojo really respects her passion for Cosplay, which resonates with his, but they don't quite admit it to each other. It makes you wish for another season just so they can get there.
The animation is lovely, the character designs and especially the costumes are spectacular, and yeah, you're left kind of wishing there was a Marin for you in your life.
Posted by: Mauser at
02:28 AM
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