Hello anime aficionados! And welcome to the first Anime Update of the new year. Akemashite omedetou! (“Happy New Year!”)
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to waffle less in my blog posts, so without any further ado, let’s get straight to what’s new to the library’s anime collection.
Starting with one of the biggest and most successful anime film releases of recent times. We’ve all seen it: maybe you even caught it at your local cinema. It certainly loses none of its impact in the rewatching, so why not borrow the DVD release from us and relive the experience?
Of course, I’m talking about:
Demon Slayer : Mugen Train – The Movie
Next up are two light and lovely slice-of-life series.
On the left, Asteroid in Love revolves around the activities and characters in an after-school club.
To the right – with one of the shortest anime series titles I’ve seen in a while (not!) – is If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die. A funny, tongue-in-cheek but also earnest and endearing glimpse into the lives of some idol fans (and the people they admire most in the world).
The next two series come under the broad umbrella of science fiction. Both are arguably ‘detective shows’ but have quite different vibes.
Left is a well-crafted, futuristic, detective thriller – Id : Invaded. (Think Minority Report meets Inception and you’ll get a bit of an idea).
Right is a hard to describe genre mash-up. Part old school detective noir; part steam punk vibe – but not; part dystopian future society struggling with the fallout of recent wartime technologies being released into the public domain. Not convinced to watch No Guns Life – Season 01? The main character, Juuzou Inui, has a gun for a head – literally!
Last, but not least, Part 1 and Part 2 of Hunter × Hunter (the 2011 anime incarnation). From the long running shounen manga of the same name, Hunter × Hunter is an action-packed adventure series written with a lot more intelligence than you might expect. It’s not going to be for everyone but if you can get into it the world building, story arcs and genuinely fascinating character development are well worth the effort (in my opinion, at least).
Hold on! Don’t go just yet. One final thing: we are happy to announce our Anime × Club is back in 2023.
Every third Thursday of the month, starting 16 February. Click here for more info and bookings.
