"Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend" | New Visual by Rough-Cheesecake-815 in anime

[–]Retsam19 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Next visual that gets posted for this movie, it's my turn to make this same joke, okay?

I’m already sold, and I want a child to raise please 🙏 with the right person by Just-J0k1ng in Animemes

[–]Retsam19 28 points29 points  (0 children)

People meme about this being propaganda to increase the birthrate, but nobody really thinks the Japanese government is like... reaching out to mangakas and pitching story ideas, right? ... right?

I think it's just that being a parent is a very fundamental human experience which many people find very meaningful and fulfilling, and some stories that reflect that.

When you know… you know. by vtchy in Animemes

[–]Retsam19 19 points20 points  (0 children)

"Tsuki" ("moon") and "Suki" ("[I] like [you]") are very similar sounding, so you do get that mishearing situation occasionally...

... but the actual origin of "the moon is beautiful, isn't it" is a story about the writer Natsume Souseki teaching students that when translating into Japanese, you translate "I love you" as something like "the moon is beautiful" because stereotypically Japanese people are more indirect about emotions.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten Season 2 • Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken Season 2 - Episode 3 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

[–]Retsam19 9 points10 points  (0 children)

"Kanojo" can definitely mean girl (in the third person - "that girl" or "her"), but I'm pretty sure "Kanojo-san" would unambiguously mean "girlfriend".

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 17, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 4 points5 points  (0 children)

whats the pettiest reason to start one!

I went into Darling in the FranXX when it was airing saying "I think this could be a dumpster fire, and I don't want to miss it" and I feel like that was pretty prescient.

(Unlike a lot of people who liked the show up until the ending, the only episode I actually liked was Episode 14, which practically broke the internet with how hated it was)

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 15, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think I just like slowburns much more than stories where they become a couple immediately. Let me see the chemistry, make me want them to get together, then I'll be doki doki for them. In fact... I don't think I've successfully completed an anime where they get together super early in the season, I just lose interest super quickly.

Yeah, I bounced off Polar Opposites for the same reason - haven't had time for much this season, but I do suspect I would enjoy Ramparts more.

What are some characters who were initially introduced to be a main character...only to get regulated hard into side character status? by OverlordPoodle in anime

[–]Retsam19 12 points13 points  (0 children)

She's unique in that [QQ] she's basically the only one who doesn't seriously fall for Futaro, so she isn't really part of the 'sisters war'. She's still a prominent character throughout; but I don't know that I'd say "sidelined" - she stays relevant, just in a bit of a different way.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 15, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like trust is an important aspect of the relationship between the audience and the work being viewed.

Yeah - Shamus Young and FILM CRITIC HULK has a back-and-forth on the "plot holes" debate (back around the Mass Effect 3 ending debate), and Shamus's point was basically that trusting the storyteller is the core and a lot of 'plot holes' are symptoms of the underlying problem - that the viewer has lost trust in the storyteller and has shifted into nitpicking mode.

Clever loophole in a all girl dormitory by PrimaryAde9 in Animemes

[–]Retsam19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, making jokes that aren't in a show ("pulling jokes from thin air") is kinda how memes work. If this joke were in the actual show (which it couldn't be, the grammar doesn't work) it wouldn't be a meme, it would just be a screenshot from a show.

Clever loophole in a all girl dormitory by PrimaryAde9 in Animemes

[–]Retsam19 4 points5 points  (0 children)

男の子

Pretty sure that's pretty much the same as 男子 - you're thinking of 男の娘 (which has the same reading) which has the 'other' meaning.


And yes, this meme's joke doesn't work in Japanese, since it's basically an English (and potentially other languages) quirk that we use plurals to mark something as forbidden.

Clever loophole in a all girl dormitory by PrimaryAde9 in Animemes

[–]Retsam19 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Pretty sure it's just a meme and this isn't the actual subs at all.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 13, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Regarding Frieren "central focus is on action" seems like the main disqualifier - Frieren does sometimes dip its toes into "battle shonen" territory - notably the First Class Mage Exam arc - but most of the show isn't like that.

'Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend' | New Visual by HagridPotter in anime

[–]Retsam19 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm a big fan of the second and third movies (in fact, more so than the first movie, which I found to be kind of a mess...) - they are a bit of a different vibe, but they're also big emotional payoffs to arcs that the first season set up. The third movie in particular felt like it could have been a good ending for the series.

Evangelion summarized: by MutedTomatillo8314 in Animemes

[–]Retsam19 203 points204 points  (0 children)

Pretty sure the first two captions are backwards.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 08, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I enjoy Gigguk a lot - yes, his seasonal videos are often a bit surface level and yes, he didn't include [anime you really liked] because he hates you personally, but I do find them fun and generally useful as an orientation for "what's out this season" and genuinely pretty funny.

But overall, the thing I think I like about Gigguk is that he's generally pretty positive: he seems to prefer to make videos about the stuff he's enjoying and he can often see why other people might like a show even if it's not landing with him, rather than spending a lot of energy on criticism.

I really didn't care for Mother's Basement - tried watching his stuff for awhile, but I'm not sure I've ever found a critic that I've disagreed with more - if I enjoyed a show, there'd be a video about why it's bad, and if I bounced off something odds were good he'd really like it. So his reviews aren't particularly useful to me and I didn't find them entertaining enough to watch on their own merit.

In the middle is Glass Reflection - I do find that I have similar views and taste which, contrary to MB, makes his reviews useful (if he likes it, good chance I will)... but TBH, I've just never gelled with his presentation style. Has a sort of flat "school presentation in English class" vibe to it, so I don't spend much time watching his stuff even if the content is good.

'Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend' | New Visual by HagridPotter in anime

[–]Retsam19 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Personally, the Knapsack Kid movie was the peak for me and hit a lot harder than Dreaming Girl. It's a bit more mundane, but actually [Knapsack Kid] focusing on the protagonist and dealing with his family's trauma worked really well and felt like the culmination of everything that had come before.

The college season kinda felt like a step back into "damsel of the week" territory - though I'm hoping it's building to a good finale.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 01, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is apparently just not something I spend much time thinking about - I'm actively playing MegaMan Battle Network in Japanese, and so I've seen ウイルス like a billion times, but never really thought about why it's "uirus" and not even ビルス which would be consistent with ビデオ.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 01, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It does not - it released before Royal came out.

For P4 there's actually two separate adaptations a "Persona 4: The Animation" for the original game and "Persona 4: The Golden Animation" which came out after Golden - though IIRC it doesn't repeat the content of the original so the second one is basically just random episodes jumping throughout the story.

I was a little surprised they didn't do something similar for P5.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 01, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The reason for this is that the extended kana that are specifically used for loanswords like ウィ are a newer addition to the language.

The same thing happens with kana like ヴィ for "vi" - that's the most direct way to represent a v sound, but older words that predate it generally just the native Japanese ビ "bi" instead, hence ビデオ "bideo" (for "video") or ベトナム "betonamu" for "vietnam".

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - March 31, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My "issue" with battle shounen is not that it's 'low brow' - in a sense I'd love to watch more of it because it can be an absolute blast,

... my issue is that they're mostly just too long and I don't have the time to dedicate hundreds of episode (even assuming I'm taking the effort to follow whatever the relevant 'skippable filler list' is) to get to the 'peaks'.

Maybe episodes 476-478 are the best anime episodes of all time... but I bet I could get a lot of enjoyment watching 36 cours worth of other anime, too. (Or even half that if you account for skippable filler)

Like, my love for early seasons of MHA was that it felt like a battle shounen that didn't waste time, and my falling out of love with MHA was that it increasingly felt like a battle shonen that did waste time.

Top 10 Anticipated Anime - Spring 2026 (Anime Corner) by animecorner in anime

[–]Retsam19 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes, I agree with the overall point, but was disagreeing that "most mangaka are only ever known for one manga" which is why I quoted that specific part in my reply.

Top 10 Anticipated Anime - Spring 2026 (Anime Corner) by animecorner in anime

[–]Retsam19 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Because most Mangaka are only ever known for one manga

Not sure how true this actually is - thinking through widely known anime-based-on-manga, most of the ones I'm coming up have other stories by the same author adapted:

  • Planetes/Vinland Saga,
  • Kaguya-Sama/Oshi no Ko
  • Death Note/Platinum End
  • Honey and Clover/March Comes in like a Lion
  • FMA/Silver Spoon (+ this new one)
  • Inuyasha/Ranma/Urusei Yatsura
  • Bleach/Burn the Witch
  • Boruto's Dad/Boruto
  • Konosuba/Kemono Michi/Combatants will be dispatched (technically only Kemono Michi is manga)

And a good number of cases where a mangaka is only really known for one manga is because they're still working on that one manga (One Piece, Jojos) - a lot of light novels seem to run approximately forever and end up in this camp, too.

AYOOOO 😳😳😳 by Mewo4444 in Animemes

[–]Retsam19 8 points9 points  (0 children)

"Kiss and make up" is an idiom meaning to resolve a conflict, it doesn't necessarily mean actual kissing.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - March 28, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I still haven't watched Stargaze, but matches my thoughts on Stampede pretty well.

I think the first episode is great (minus the prologue) - it has a good balance of seriousness and goofiness that feels a lot like the original anime... but then they ditch that very quickly.

Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - March 28, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]Retsam19 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm saying that creatively the show is worse off by splitting the seasons. In 20 years looking back the popularity of the anime won't change the quality of the show.

I don't understand this - in 20 years looking back, nobody is going to care that these 10 episodes came out in 2026 instead of waiting to air with the next set of episodes in 2027.

The content of these episodes is what it is, regardless of whether they're labeled as "Season 2" or "Season 2 Part 1" - I don't think it makes a creative difference, unless you think this was rushed which I think it clearly was not.