It's something I never expected to see from Mona, but it's a song about becoming an adult and also about... love! The same Mona who used to say "love is no because I want to achieve my dream first". She basically goes around asking her parents, grandparents, sister, what it is to love and imagining what it would be like to be with someone.
Here it is! It's called Honto no Watashi or The Real Me.
It's a very sad song about Mona's feelings, how she feels like she's no good and can't do anything. She still fights through it with the love that she gets from around her. It's beautiful but still very sad.
I didn't want to write full reviews of everything I watched, so instead I’ll just give some personal awards to shows since it’s more entertaining! I did that for myself at first and then thought I might as well share it for anyone interested. Please note that this is only from what I watched. I know there is still amazing shows I didn’t look at, but I couldn’t watch them all. Also, this is my personal opinion. We all like different things and you are free to agree or disagree with what I say.
Top 3 best shows of this season
First place: Fumetsu no Anata e (To Your Eternity)
As expected from the author of Koe no Katachi (one of my favourite manga and anime), it is amazing. But the truth is, even if I tried to describe what I liked about it, I couldn’t explain much. There’s something about it, even through all the suffering, that makes incredibly beautiful to watch. It’s very simply done and I like simple things. To see the main character grow is something I love to see and that’s exactly what happens here. We go through a journey with the main character, meeting new people and understanding what they go through.
That’s about it. There’s no hype, it’s not something that you could really binge, but it’s something beautiful that is definitely worth the watch.
Second place: Mairimashita! Iruma-kun (Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun!) second season
Iruma-kun (the series) always bring sunshine wherever it goes. It’s the only series I can actually watch/read and have a big smile on my face, simply because it brings happiness. Second season, like the first one, was a pretty much flawless adaptation of the manga and we even got some animation of a spin-off prequel (which was a nice surprise, considering the thing only came out about 2 months ago). There’s something about it, about it’s world building and characters, that makes it special. It’s a very simple show, but it’s very good at what it’s going for and it’s all it takes to make it great.
Well about season 2 now. Two arcs were adapted in this first part and second part should be adapting one or two more with some fillers (careful here, fillers in Iruma-kun is not a bad thing). As for the rest… cute Amelie is very cute and Ronove is even louder than expected. Of course, Irumean is just Irumean, really. I loved to see all of those moments be adapted and I can’t wait to see what will be next and, of course, a possible third season.
Third place: Shadows House
I’m half satisfied half disappointed. The first part of the anime (let’s say up to episode 10) was very well adapted. A character was skipped, but it was honestly understandable since the questions regarding that wouldn’t be answer until the end of a second season. However, we got an anime original. I wouldn’t say the original part is bad, but it definitely is a serious downgrade compared to what should’ve been there. We’re talking about some things explained/showed in late chapters obviously shown too soon and character actions that look odd.
I’m still satisfied with the anime (it’s still in my top 3), but I would advice anyone who was interested in the story and want to know more to read the manga from the beginning or starting at chapter 18 (where we meet the skipped character). I hate to seem like a " manga purist ", but it has to be done here.
Best opening of this season (from any show)
Mashiro no Oto’s opening: BLIZZARD by BURNOUT SYNDROMES
I can’t say anything about if it represents the anime properly since I didn’t watch it, but I can enjoy the sound well enough. I always loved traditional sounding songs and this one is just one more example. The mix of modern and traditional sounds is perfect. That song slaps.
Best ending of this season (from any show)
Shadows House’s ending: Nai Nai by ReoNa
This ending is perfect, from the music to the visuals. Yes, the song is fire (I can’t remember how many times I played it on repeat), but the rest is also incredible. The lyrics themselves are extremely meaningful if you know about the story. The ending's visuals are stunning and there’s a nice easter egg for any manga reader.
Best first episode
Fumetsu no Anata e (To Your Eternity)
Anyone who watched it probably gets why. I think that was the fastest I’ve been broken in anything I’ve watched. I got attached and destroyed within 20 minutes. That shows how good the writing was for this. This episode itself, if longer, could’ve made an excellent movie and that’s what makes it so special.
Best final episode (only for shows that ended completely)
Bishounen Tanteidan (Pretty Boys Detective Club)
I won’t give any spoilers here. It’s one of the shows that is the most underrated this season. I think most people kind of " missed the point of it " as it doesn’t really fit in any precise genre and people got disappointed thinking it will be like the Monogatari series. The best word to describe the show is " strange " and even " crazy ". The final episode fits into this perfectly, with its weird way of being interesting. It’s a heartwarming and quite satisfying ending, a rare sight in anime. Overall, good ending to an anime about childhood dreams and having to grow up.
Best art and animation
Bishounen Tanteidan (Pretty Boys Detective Club) made by Shaft
Shaft rarely disappoints when it comes to artistic elements, that’s just one more exemple. The art style itself is, of course, really pretty, but that’s not all there is to it. Shaft has this very special way of creating atmosphere and sceneries and it’s even more amplified by the fact that this was written by Nishio Ishin (aka the author of the monogatari series). It’s, visually, a work of art that you could watch just for the sake of looking at it.
So I woke up this morning, found out about the gorgeous cards and prepared my team for the event. Then I went in vs live and it's under maintenance
Ok ok... You won bandori. Now that I have nothing to do, I'll have to spend those 10k stars I saved for a new Tae card that might come soon. The gacha is also under maintenance
I'm in pain
Precisions: Bandori Twitter said that the maintenance should be over by tomorrow (July 1st) around noon (in Japan, of course). There will be compensation.
Here it is. It's the Mona (Shiina Natsukawa) version of Hokori Takaki Idol or Proud Idol.
This time, it really feels like her (I mean, it's her voice). It feels more clumsy, but that's exactly what makes it great! It's Mona finally saying what she wants to say :)
Bandori x Zombieland Saga is the best bandori collab (yet)
It’s not just because I’m more hyped because it’s happening now, it really is the best.
The cards
Those cards really feel special, like collab cards should be. While other collab cards have normal untrained version, this one has untrained versions that really feel like it’s linked to that specific series. The other collabs that did this were Afterglow’s and Hello Happy’s. The appearances and " vibes " of the bandori cards also matches the Zombieland characters, something that was lacking in some other collab cards.
The songs
Yes, technically, this is the collab (with the Hello Happy one) that has the lowest number of songs, but that’s only because there wasn’t any Zombieland songs prior to that. The songs are, in my opinion, the best cover songs that we had for a collab. Not only are they both total bops, but they allow every member (or several for Popipa) to sing, which is always amazing! I love that they are level 26 songs, since it’s, for most players, fun but challenging. I did full combo them, but I had a very hard time with the flicks in those songs. The beat maps are really fun to play.
The stickers
We have exclusive stickers!!! But not just any stickers: stickers that are all cute and normal but that can also become zombie ones with a BANG. I love it! It’s simple, but it’s really nice.
The series (Zombieland Saga) itself
First of all, it’s happening now. This is the best timing to make a collab since the second season is currently airing. That means everyone that knows about it is already familiar and engaged in it. It increases the hype.
Second, it’s an idol anime, which means that a lot of bandori fans are already engaged in it. Even if Re:Zero is popular, it’s possible that a lot of bandori fans didn’t like it or didn’t watch it. For Zombieland Saga, it’s different. A lot of Bandori fans are into the idol genre and Zombieland is one of the must-watch of the genre. An idol anime collabing with an idol game is a perfect match for the fanbase.
Of course, that’s still just a personal opinion. What about you? What was your favourite collab?
It was the song I was waiting for the most when it was announced several weeks ago. It's a total blast, I love it! It's great to see some more backstory as well, no matter how dark it is.
So, the visuals mainly show Dai's backstory. It's not joyful at all, his parents were human trash. The lyrics kind of depicts how society and people are fake. I can't be 100% sure about anything more precise, the song is weird to translate.
