I was getting ads for a Summer sale by Sentai Filmworks, an anime publisher. So I looked at their stuff and started putting a cart together, thinking I'd go through and filter it later.
Friends, I did not filter it later. I've been sad and stressed and I want things that will make me happy that don't involve stuffing myself 'til my stomach hurts. I bought all the anime.
In the evenings, I often haven't been up to doing much other than watching videos on YouTube (which feels really strange to even type given how little I've done that in the past), and I thought, maybe if I had some more engaging stuff that will make me feel good things instead of watching videos about infrastructure and electronics repair that make me *think* things when I'm not always up to thinking, it would help me get through.
So here's what I bought, along with my understandings of their contents from reading about them online. I would love it if anyone local wanted to watch any of it with me, assuming we can find a compromise that makes Covid risk acceptable. I could bring a media player and TV out on the patio if nothing else.
1 - Things that are not yuri:
*Hidamari Sketch Picture Perfect Collection:
I actually bought this basically because it sounds a lot like Azumanga Daioh. It follows Yuno, an initially shy and anxious girl who has been accepted to a prestigious art-focused high school, through her four years there as she progresses through the curriculum and gets to know other girls. Her older friends graduate and leave, freshmen join the program who she becomes friends with, and she wonders about what she wants to do with her life at graduation. Meanwhile, typical high school things happen. This is a lengthy series with a huge runtime of 1450 minutes!
This is probably another good example that's antithetical to Miriam's taste in anime. For my part. I loved Azumanga Daioh (another series about high school girls being friends together) *so* much that I never read the last few pages of the manga because I didn't want it to end. I hope I love this one too.
*Long Riders! Complete Collection:
This follows Ami, university student who's never had a bike until she sees someone riding a folding bike and decides something like that might be right for her and buys one. She and her friend Aoi start riding together, and they make more girls from the school who all enjoy long bike rides together. There's not really any conflict, and in most (every?) episode, they go for a ride together and share food. This is a 12 episode show with a runtime of 300 minutes.
Miriam has zero interest in this. My own reaction is "Can this be my life? Please?"
2 - On to the yuri!
*Bloom Into You Complete Collection:
I have 5 volumes of this manga and love it! Yuu, a high school student, is asked out by a male classmate. She loves romantic books and stories, but to her surprise feels nothing and declines. Later, she sees a second year student, Touko, similarly turning down a boy, and thinks that maybe Touko has uncertainty like her own. Yuu makes friends with Touko and they become closer, but then Touko expresses interest in Yuu! Again Yuu feels nothing and is internally confused about why, but still wants to be friends with Touko. The story follows the continuing happenings in their lives and relationship.
When I read the manga, Yuu's character felt a lot like demisexual representation, which I identified with strongly at the time, so I'm excited to see the anime! This is a 13 episode series with a runtime of 325 minutes.
*Fragtime
Misuzu can stop time for three minutes for everyone but herself, once per day. It isn't a long enough period to do anything complex, so she mostly just screws around with it. One day, she uses the power to look up Haruka's (a classmate she has a crush on) skirt, but it turns out Haruka is immune to the time freeze! (No, non-consensual things like that are *really* not ok, but it seems like she learns something about that.) This is a movie with a runtime of 60 minutes.
*Kase-san and Morning Glories Complete Collection
High school is ending and Yamada and Kase must decide if they want to stay together and explore a potential relationship, or let it go and move in with their post-high-school lives. It seems like this is almost a highlights reel of the much longer manga, reading reviews on Amazon, so if I like it I may look for the manga next! This is a movie with a 60 minute runtime.
*Mysteria Friends Premium Box Set
This has a fantasy setting at a school of magic! Anne, a human honor student and a princess, and Grea, a half-human/half-dragon who is *also* a princess, become friends, and eventually realize they feel more than friendship. This is a 10 episode series with a runtime of 150 minutes.
*Sakura Trick Complete Collection
Haruka and Yuu have sat next to each other through all of junior high because their names are so close to each other. But in high school, they were separated in the classroom! Oh no! So to show that their friendship is still important to each other they...decide to kiss? A lot? But they're really not girlfriends! They just really like kissing each other! This one is a 12 episode series with a 300 minute runtime.
Friends, I did not filter it later. I've been sad and stressed and I want things that will make me happy that don't involve stuffing myself 'til my stomach hurts. I bought all the anime.
In the evenings, I often haven't been up to doing much other than watching videos on YouTube (which feels really strange to even type given how little I've done that in the past), and I thought, maybe if I had some more engaging stuff that will make me feel good things instead of watching videos about infrastructure and electronics repair that make me *think* things when I'm not always up to thinking, it would help me get through.
So here's what I bought, along with my understandings of their contents from reading about them online. I would love it if anyone local wanted to watch any of it with me, assuming we can find a compromise that makes Covid risk acceptable. I could bring a media player and TV out on the patio if nothing else.
1 - Things that are not yuri:
*Hidamari Sketch Picture Perfect Collection:
I actually bought this basically because it sounds a lot like Azumanga Daioh. It follows Yuno, an initially shy and anxious girl who has been accepted to a prestigious art-focused high school, through her four years there as she progresses through the curriculum and gets to know other girls. Her older friends graduate and leave, freshmen join the program who she becomes friends with, and she wonders about what she wants to do with her life at graduation. Meanwhile, typical high school things happen. This is a lengthy series with a huge runtime of 1450 minutes!
This is probably another good example that's antithetical to Miriam's taste in anime. For my part. I loved Azumanga Daioh (another series about high school girls being friends together) *so* much that I never read the last few pages of the manga because I didn't want it to end. I hope I love this one too.
*Long Riders! Complete Collection:
This follows Ami, university student who's never had a bike until she sees someone riding a folding bike and decides something like that might be right for her and buys one. She and her friend Aoi start riding together, and they make more girls from the school who all enjoy long bike rides together. There's not really any conflict, and in most (every?) episode, they go for a ride together and share food. This is a 12 episode show with a runtime of 300 minutes.
Miriam has zero interest in this. My own reaction is "Can this be my life? Please?"
2 - On to the yuri!
*Bloom Into You Complete Collection:
I have 5 volumes of this manga and love it! Yuu, a high school student, is asked out by a male classmate. She loves romantic books and stories, but to her surprise feels nothing and declines. Later, she sees a second year student, Touko, similarly turning down a boy, and thinks that maybe Touko has uncertainty like her own. Yuu makes friends with Touko and they become closer, but then Touko expresses interest in Yuu! Again Yuu feels nothing and is internally confused about why, but still wants to be friends with Touko. The story follows the continuing happenings in their lives and relationship.
When I read the manga, Yuu's character felt a lot like demisexual representation, which I identified with strongly at the time, so I'm excited to see the anime! This is a 13 episode series with a runtime of 325 minutes.
*Fragtime
Misuzu can stop time for three minutes for everyone but herself, once per day. It isn't a long enough period to do anything complex, so she mostly just screws around with it. One day, she uses the power to look up Haruka's (a classmate she has a crush on) skirt, but it turns out Haruka is immune to the time freeze! (No, non-consensual things like that are *really* not ok, but it seems like she learns something about that.) This is a movie with a runtime of 60 minutes.
*Kase-san and Morning Glories Complete Collection
High school is ending and Yamada and Kase must decide if they want to stay together and explore a potential relationship, or let it go and move in with their post-high-school lives. It seems like this is almost a highlights reel of the much longer manga, reading reviews on Amazon, so if I like it I may look for the manga next! This is a movie with a 60 minute runtime.
*Mysteria Friends Premium Box Set
This has a fantasy setting at a school of magic! Anne, a human honor student and a princess, and Grea, a half-human/half-dragon who is *also* a princess, become friends, and eventually realize they feel more than friendship. This is a 10 episode series with a runtime of 150 minutes.
*Sakura Trick Complete Collection
Haruka and Yuu have sat next to each other through all of junior high because their names are so close to each other. But in high school, they were separated in the classroom! Oh no! So to show that their friendship is still important to each other they...decide to kiss? A lot? But they're really not girlfriends! They just really like kissing each other! This one is a 12 episode series with a 300 minute runtime.