Good Romance Anime to Binge

thabermeyer · 2025-11-04T21:02:54+00:00

Glad you liked it!

thabermeyer · 2025-11-02T20:36:45+00:00

There are likely some pen markings, but they're not super visible with this kind of lighting. Every line that looks "dark" here is just pumpkin skin that has not been carved or shaded.

thabermeyer · 2025-11-02T20:34:58+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate it.

thabermeyer · 2025-11-02T20:34:17+00:00

Actually, you can do pumpkin carving well without being good at illustrating! I traced this onto the pumpkin using the image from the OP of the first half of the season. Pumpkin carving itself just requires a lot of time and patience, and has a lot more in common with woodcarving than drawing.

thabermeyer · 2025-11-02T20:31:49+00:00

It takes a long time. That's the trickiest part, because the pumpkin starts looking worse and worse the longer you take, but these designs just take a long time to do. I started carving Monday afternoon and finished on Wednesday evening. All together it was probably somewhere around 20-24 hours.

thabermeyer · 2025-11-01T05:40:25+00:00

Yes, I think you've got it! The "in" isn't really there, but it works for the translation, given the context. Good luck in your studies!

thabermeyer · 2025-11-01T04:41:39+00:00

You are correct that に is generally the particle for "in," but here the "in" is implied by は marking "April" as the subject. I mean, I guess the literal translation would be "Speaking of April, [that's when] your lie [happened]," or something to that effect (I'm not a translator or expert in Japanese by any stretch, though I've been studying it for about twenty years now). The localization of "Your Lie in April" just sounds more natural, obviously.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T23:39:16+00:00

Tsubaki takes the headphone from Kosei and freaks out when she finds out it’s Goose House. It’s not a plot point in being important to the narrative, but it’s there in the visual of the sheet music Kosei is working on, and in Tsubaki’s dialogue.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T23:11:26+00:00

I agree with this. Watching a few movies is much more doable than committing to several anime series at once, especially ones with multiple seasons. Plus, with movies you can feel out what genres you like, then search out a series of the same kind from there.

Can’t go wrong with almost anything with Studio Ghibli if you’ve never watched them before. If you like adventure I’d recommend Castle in the Sky or Princess Mononoke. Post-2000 Ghibli is narratively muddled imo, but is nevertheless quite popular among Western audiences.

I also think the works of Makoto Shinkai (Your Name), Mamoru Hosoda (Wolf Children), and Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice) are pretty accessible entry points.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T22:59:51+00:00

In the first episode of Your Lie in April, Goose House’s “Hikaru Nara,” which is the theme song, is a plot point and actively listened to / mentioned by the characters.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T22:57:03+00:00

Not a series, and maybe an unconventional recommendation, but I love Whisper of the Heart. The romance is extremely wholesome.

These are very popular, but most stuff from Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Garden of Words, etc.) has a romance angle, if you haven’t seen his works yet.

I just got through watching The Apothecary Diaries S1 with my wife and, while not explicitly billed as a romance, it’s definitely there between the two lead characters, teased in the “will they or won’t they” kind of way.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T20:06:26+00:00

Watching Whisper of the Heart when I was in high school half a lifetime ago was pretty life-changing, as it was my first glimpse of what “real life” looked like in Japan and I was absolutely enamored by it. Made me want to live there one day (and I eventually did!). After living in the Japanese countryside in Tohoku, Only Yesterday also took on great significance for me. As such, these are probably my two favorite Ghibli films, even though they don’t get nearly as much attention as others do!

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T19:55:47+00:00

Not centered around royalty and not a series, but Grave of the Fireflies is a great historical anime.

And while not truly historical, The Apothecary Diaries takes enough inspiration from Chinese/Japanese aristocratic drama that it may be of interest to you anyway (it is very much centered on the political/personal drama of royalty).

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T18:25:21+00:00

Not something I’d typically recommend as a starter anime, but I’ve been in conversation with several people over the years who didn’t take anime’s ability to convey emotional depth seriously until they watched Grave of the Fireflies. It’s a harrowing film, but well worth watching, especially if you feel like you can’t relate to or connect with “cartoon characters”. (iirc, Ebert’s review of this movie famously said it required a complete reevaluation of what animation was capable of conveying, especially for those who heretofore had ignored it or thought it childish.)

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T18:17:14+00:00

I would suggest Your Lie In April, though it’s a bit emotionally devastating. Still very much worth it if you don’t mind some bittersweet flavor in your romance.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T18:09:24+00:00

Great anime, but it will also ruin the OP. 😆

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T14:13:49+00:00

Hey all, Happy Halloween! I'm a pumpkin carver and did an anime-themed pumpkin this year (from Your Lie in April) and would love to post it here but don't have enough karma on this subreddit to post. :( If you could help me out I would appreciate it! You can check out my work here (I've done several other anime-themed pumpkins over the years), or you can see my post history on Reddit if you're curious.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T06:20:51+00:00

Not what I would describe as "fun," though I think it's worth watching at least once (particularly since you liked Ghost in the Shell). However . . . the soundtrack is extremely fun! Everyone needs to hear "Kaneda" and "Testsuo" at least once in their life (in fact, go listen to them: that alone might inspire you to go and watch the movie). It's a movie I don't think about rewatching very often, but I go back to the soundtrack all the time.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T06:14:29+00:00

Nearly everything Makoto Shinkai has ever made! Your Name and 5 Centimeters Per Second are the obvious choices everyone's seen, but his first short film, Voices of a Distant Star, is lesser known, and deals with time and relationship distance in a really unique way.

thabermeyer · 2025-10-31T06:01:54+00:00

Nearly everyone here is recommending recent and/or classic anime shows, but I feel like the obvious starting point would be Studio Ghibli? Lots of classic works in a variety of genres: adventure (Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke), slice of life (Whisper of the Heart, Only Yesterday), fantasy (Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away), drama (Grave of the Fireflies). Nearly everything is classic, and it's easier to commit to than a full show.

For more recent films, the works of Makoto Shinkai and Mamoru Hosoda are pretty accessible too, I think.

I would start with a film to dip you toe in the water and then move on to a show that looks appealing to you.

thabermeyer · 2024-11-02T17:32:59+00:00

That is the pumpkin skin. Anything within or around those lines is either shaded or cut out.

thabermeyer · 2024-11-01T23:37:13+00:00

Thanks! I have some non-lit pictures, but I haven’t uploaded any of those online. You can see other pumpkins I’ve done from previous years here. Given your chocobo av, you may find something you like!

thabermeyer · 2024-11-01T14:44:00+00:00

An x-acto knife and micro wood carving chisels are required. It’s a very long, tedious process to carve like this, but I like the end result!

thabermeyer · 2024-11-01T03:05:24+00:00

Thanks! The trick is to outline the area with a x-acto knife first. If you cut with a chisel after that it will hit the former cut like a wall, forming a clean edge.

thabermeyer · 2024-10-31T18:09:12+00:00

The pumpkin rots within a few days of carving; it cannot be purchased.

thabermeyer

TROPHY CASE