What Shows Am I Watching This Week?

   Hello everyone and welcome back! Let's dive right in shall we?

FINISHED The Great Pretender Part 2

So the second part of The Great Pretender aired this week and I was able to binge it all but to my surprise it was only 8 episodes long rather than another 15 like I expected and I'm left wondering why the show even bothered to split itself into two cours if that was the case. Honestly as a whole I do think this show did a commendable job with the story it was telling and how it managed to combine every case that we had previously seen along with Edamura's father and Laurent's backstory in such a creative way. I was honestly shocked when Oz appeared cause for some reason I thought he was either dead like the mom or still in jail but I loved how it ended up revealing to us that Laurent and Oz were teammates back in the day and that was why Laurent took Edamura in. Every member of his team was handpicked in order to exact this big revenge that Laurent chose in order to payback the mafia for killing the woman he loved even though we the audience found out later that she is still alive though seems to have lost her memory. It does make me wonder if it's a setup for a new season cause why else show us that scene when in fact we got a pretty great wrap up to this show. My only problem with this whole thing was the same problem I had during the last part and that's the fact that poor Edamura is always left out of plans and though I'm never worried (I've been around the block on con artist media) I do feel bad that they constantly treat him like an idiot when he's our eyes into this world. Overall though I did like this show a bunch and despite it's flaws, I am happy with what we got and here's hoping we get more!

xoxo Allie

Summer 2020 Anime Awards

Hey guys! So this week was the last week of the Summer 2020 Anime Season so I thought it would be fun to shout out some of the my superlatives for the season!

Anime Of The Season

Fruits Basket is definitely my anime of the season once again which makes me feel slightly bad cause it is a leftover from Spring 2020 but I think it should count anyway cause there was not one single anime that got close to making me laugh and cry as this one did. I honestly think Fruits Basket is one of the best anime out there in general cause it takes this premise that feels like it should be the same old same old but turns it completely on it's head. While so many anime attempt to tell the story of a kind girl and the reverse harem she builds, Fruits Basket actually shows us that Tohru isn't just kind with no other substance but that her kindness is actually a wall to keep people out. She pushes her emotions way deep down and spends most of her time helping others figure out their feelings. Her relationship with each member of the Sohma family is different and she doesn't so much as heal them as she shows them why life is worth living and opens up routes for them to find their own way out of the darkness. I love that this anime shows us that platonic love is just as important as romantic but also gives us so many wonderful ships to pick from. It's a story of learning to grow past horrible childhoods and the abuse cycle. Click here to read more of my thoughts about this anime.

Runner Up - The Great Pretender

Hidden Gem 

The Great Pretender is my pick for hidden gem of the season though it was a hard pick between this and the runner up. I was honestly really excited to check this show out when I first heard of it cause I adore con artist shows and movies and I've never actually seen an anime with this premise before so it was unique in the sea of similar anime to pick from. I loved every single character in this show and every con minus the first one was fun to watch. I do wish that our cons were a little shorter cause I felt like they went a little too long in terms of keeping my attention but I liked that each one shined a light on a different one of our main cast so that we could get to know them alongside watching fun antics. I also thought that the dubbing style of throwing in accents was super fun and honestly I low key wish it would have stayed that way rather than smoothing it out. I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the second part of this show when it airs in the Fall! If you want to read a more in-depth review, click here.

Runner Up - Koi to Producer: EVOL x LOVE

Best Sequel 

Fruits Basket Season 2 is without a doubt the best sequel of this season but then again it didn't have much competition as it was the only anime that I watched this season that was a sequel. I already gushed about everything I love about this show in the anime of the season section so here I guess I should talk about what this season did to progress the story forward. I honestly love the way this show lets us get to know our main characters and their backstories only to let us see the way they grow up and become better people. This season was a very Yuki centric one where we got to see him embrace the way he feels about Tohru without feeling ashamed anymore and learn to make friends and discover that the things he was so scared of as a child, aren't so scary anymore. Even Kyo was able to accept his love for Tohru and though he's still afraid to be locked up after he graduates, you can see how much less angry and hostile he is towards others. Click here to read more of my thoughts about this anime.

Runner Up - None cause this was the only sequel I watched.

Greatest Animation/Character Design

The God Of High School had the best animation this season cause even though I found myself losing interest in this anime as it went on, I can't ever say that the animation style was anything other than perfect from start to finish. This show is one giant Tournament Arc so the fact that it was able to take the designs from the webtoon that it started with and become animated into these lovely fight scenes and unique character drawings was everything. I do think that this show might have flubbed a little throwing us into the fights from the very start without introducing us to the main characters first and I find myself less and less interested in the Gods of this world but I know plenty of people absolutely live for this show so I can't say anything too much!

Runner Up - The Great Pretender 

Best OP 

Contradiction by Ksuke from The God Of High School is definitely my favorite OP of the season which is funny cause I usually don't love dubstep but this song really makes you want to jam out and be powerful! I definitely downloaded it onto my own playlist.

Runner Up - Home by Toki Asako from Fruits Basket

Protagonist Of The Season

Anos Voldigoad from Misfit Of Demon Academy is my protagonist of the season which is funny cause I'm usually not a huge power fantasy kind of girl cause other than The Irregular At Magic High School, I've never usually been a fan of the overpowered hero trope. Something about Anos though is just so fun to watch and I can't help but feel like it's power can actually be explained in world as he's the King of demonkind. I love his chill personality and how much emphasis he puts on family and love. It's so interesting that he has no problem with killing and conquering and yet protective and loyal to his own.

Runner Up - Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket

Antagonist Of The Season

Black Swan from Koi to Producer: EVOL x LOVE are my antagonists of the season cause honestly though I didn't watch a lot of shows where there were antagonists to be had, in the end I picked Black Swan cause I just thought they felt real. Black Swan is an organization very similar to Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants cause they see Evolvers as the next step in human evolution and that fascinates me cause humanity has always been terrified of that which is different and so it's totally believable why people would follow them especially when the cops themselves are out to kill Evolvers. Their evil plan is an ends justify the means type of situation where what they want isn't the most terrible but the way they want to get there is.

Runner Up - Akito Sohma from Fruits Basket

Ship Of The Season

Tohru and Kyo from Fruits Basket are hands down my ship of the season and really there was no competition cause Kyoru is out here reaching god level of romantic tension and pining while the other ships are swimming around in the shallow end! No but seriously Kyo is able to see past all of Tohru's walls to her inner emotions no matter how much Tohru pretends she's okay while Tohru not only acts as a safe haven for Kyo in the midst of all the Sohma drama that he has to deal with but also only opens up to him. Kyo learns to love himself and Tohru learns that it's okay to be selfish. These two are made from the same cloth but they're not two halves of the same coin. 

Runner Up - Misha and Anos from Misfit Of Demon Academy

And with that I'll see you all in the Fall 2020 Season!

xoxo Allie

Fall 2020 TV Schedule

Though it's finally the fall season which should be one of the most exciting seasons of the year, because of the global pandemic, most shows didn't have the chance to film so our schedule is looking fairly dry in terms of anything but anime! Having said that, the show must still go on so listed below is my 2020 Fall TV schedule (September to December) with their air dates listed. Asian dramas are not included on this schedule cause it is harder to list which dramas I'm going to watch ahead of time but you can check out my What Dramas Am I Watching This Week list for my Asian drama reviews. As per usual I will be making a What Shows Am I Watching This Week list for my American tv show and highlighting them in pink so you can check those out too!

SUNDAY

By The Grace Of Gods - Anime (October 4) (Series Finale December 20)

Talentless Nana - Anime (October 4) (Series Finale December 27)

MONDAY

Fruits Basket - Anime (Currently Airing) (Season Finale September 14)

Sleepy Princess In The Demon Castle - Anime (October 5) (Series Finale December 21)

The God Of High School - Anime (Currently Airing) (Season Finale September 28)

TUESDAY

Ikebukuro West Gate Park - Anime (October 6) (Series Finale December 22)

FBI - 9 PM on CBS (November 17)

WEDNESDAY

Mr Love: Queen's Choice - Anime (Currently Airing) (Finale September 30)

Noblesse - Anime (October 7) (Season Finale December 30)

The 100 - 8 PM on CW (Currently Airing) (Series Finale September 30)

THURSDAY

Akudama Drive - Anime (October 8) (Series Finale December 24)
Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 - 8:30 on CBS All Access (October 15)

FRIDAY

Appare Ranman! - Anime (Currently Airing) (Finale September 25)
Rent A Girlfriend - Anime (Currently Airing) (Finale September 25)

Haikyuu!! To The Top: Part 2 - Anime (October 2) (Series Finale December 18)

I'm Standing On A Million Lives - Anime (October 2) (Season Finale December 18)

Tonikawa: Over The Moon For You - Anime (October 2) (Season Finale December 18)

Wandering Witch: The Journey Of Elaina (October 2) (Season Finale December 18)

SATURDAY

The Day I Became A God - Anime (October 10)
The Misfit Of Demon King Academy - Anime (Currently Airing) (Finale September 26)
The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc - Anime (October 3) (Season Finale December 26)

STREAMING

Mulan - Disney+ (September 4)

The Great Pretender - Anime (September 21)

The West Wing Special - HBO Max (October 15)

The Mandalorian Season 2 - Disney+ (October 30) (Season Finale December 18)

Bridgerton - Netflix (December 25)

Vikings Season 6 Part 2 (Final Season) - Amazon Prime (December 30)

The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Season 2 Part 2 - Netflix (December 31)

xoxo Allie

What Shows Am I Watching This Week?

Hello everyone and welcome back! Let's dive right in shall we?

The Great Pretender Part 1

Here's the thing with this anime. I really wanted to like it cause by now if you're a loyal reader then you know how much I love con artist shows so I decided to wait until the full first half of the season was out on Netflix to watch it rather than trying to bootleg it and now that I've finally watched the whole chunk, I have to say that it was fun enough. I really liked the concept obviously and I loved the style choice of throwing in different languages and accents to fit the idea of these being an international ring of con artists but I kinda wish that we had stuck to it rather than wimping out after 10 minutes or so. The cons started out rough cause I wasn't especially interested in the first con but after a while I was able to settle in though I can't help but wonder if maybe it would have been better to have shorter cons so instead of 2.5 hours per con, one hour would do. That's about as long as a Leverage episode or a Confidence Man: JP episode and those con artist shows did plenty well. That way we could have focused a bit more on the characters who we could have gotten to know better cause we waited so long to introduce Abby and Cynthia's backstories and by that point I wasn't all that interested anymore. I know the plan is to break up the season into two parts (so we'll get the second chunk on Netflix around December or January) but I can't decide if that reason makes up for my problems especially since I didn't realize that there would be two parts until after I finished this first part. I did think was hilarious that Edamara kept trying to back out of cons and go straight but kept coming back like Boku did in Confidence Man: JP! Overall I don't think this will go on a list of my favorite anime of all time but I want to give it props for even trying out a concept like this.

Fruits Basket Season 2 Episode 21

Wow this episode guys! I think you know by now that I'm not especially a fan of Yuki and on the list of Sohmas I'd rather watch, he's fairly low so I was worried that with this being a Yuki-centric episode that I would be a little bored but in the end I shouldn't have been surprised cause this is Fruits Basket and if they could only do one thing right it's sad backstories! It's totally funny cause when I heard this was going to be a Yuki backstory episode, my first thought was that I thought we already knew his backstory but this filled in some of the gaps and also gave us the story behind the hat that Tohru keeps too. At first it seemed like Akito wasn't the horrible person he is now but over time he became terrible so part of me feels for Akito cause I'm sure that whenever we get his backstory that we'll see some horrible moments but the rest of me refuses to feel pity cause Akito took all the pain he was under and hurt others and that's not right. I did adore that all baby Yuki was a friend and that he was desperate for baby Kyo to like him but baby Kyo and current Kyo as well viewed Yuki as the reason for his misery and now all I want is for the two to actually talk and bond and become friends! It was also interesting that the hat that Tohru had was actually Kyo's but that Yuki was wearing it when they ran into each other cause we know from a previous episode that Kyo knew Kyoko which makes me wonder if Tohru knew him too but just didn't know that it was Kyo. I also want to shout out the fact that I called it last week when I said that Yuki sees Tohru in a motherly sense cause I was totally right. I'll also have you know that I'm holding back a joke about Kyo and being a dad cause this is a classy joint and all that.

xoxo Allie

Summer 2020 TV Schedule

Hey everyone!! It's finally June which means that the Summer 2020 TV Schedule is about to start!! As per usual I'm going to be posting what shows I will be watching along with their air dates! These all air from June to the end of August! Asian dramas are not included on this schedule cause not only is it harder to list which dramas I'm going to watch ahead of time, I will still be trying to keep up my What Dramas Am I Watching This Week list so that's where you can find all my thoughts on the asian dramas I'm watching but if you're interested in my reviews for the American shows and Japanese anime I watch, check out my What Shows Am I Watching This Week list. Those in pink are the ones I will be reviewing weekly.

SUNDAY

Gleipnir - Anime (Currently Airing) (Season Finale June 28)
The Alienist - 9 PM on TNT (July 19) (Season Finale August 16)

MONDAY

Fruits Basket - Anime (Currently Airing)
Stargirl - DC Universe (Currently Airing) (Season Finale August 10)
The God Of High School - Anime (July 6)

TUESDAY

Legends of Tomorrow - 9 PM on CW (Currently Airing) (Season Finale June 2)

WEDNESDAY

Kami no Tou: Tower of God - Anime (Currently Airing) (Season Finale June 24)
Plunderer - Anime (Currently Airing) (Series Finale June 24)
Mr Love: Queen's Choice - Anime (July 15)
The 100 - 8 PM on CW (Currently Airing)
Agents Of SHIELD - 10 PM on ABC (Currently Airing) (Series Finale August 12)

THURSDAY

Doom Patrol - DC Universe (June 25) (Season Finale August 6)

FRIDAY

Appare Ranman! - Anime (July 24)
Harley Quinn - DC Universe (Currently Airing) (Season Finale June 26)
Rent A Girlfriend - Anime (July 10)

SATURDAY

My Next Life As A Villainess - Anime (Currently Airing) (Season Finale June 20)
Sing "Yesterday" for Me - Anime (Currently Airing) (Series Finale June 20)
The Misfit Of Demon King Academy - Anime (July 4)

STREAMING

Hamilton - Disney+ (July 3)
The Baby-Sitters Club - Netflix (July 3)
The Kissing Booth 2 - Netflix (July 24)
The Umbrella Academy Season 2 - Netflix (July 31)
The Great Pretender - Netflix (August 20)
Lucifer Season 5A - Netflix (August 21)

xoxo Allie