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*Spoilers!* Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Review

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Demon Slayer Infinity Castle by Favorisxp on DeviantArt Overall Thoughts I didn't start watching Demon Slayer until after the Entertainment District was already out. It was my 4th anime overall (I'm a late bloomer) and it really showed me what the medium of anime was capable of. I've been endeared to it ever since. I read the manga after the Swordsmith Village Arc and read the Infinity Castle arc again when the movies were announced.  I had high hopes going into the first Infinity Castle movie, but when I tell you that it blew my mind, I mean sometimes I was sitting slack jawed in amazement at the animation. That was a given. But the story aspects were well-woven together and didn't deviate much from the manga. Though I have read it, I'm not an expert, so I can't say exactly what they changed or didn't, but from what I remember, they kept things in pretty much the same order. I was wondering if they would chop up the fights and make sure we saw all of one fi...
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Giving One Piece a Chance

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Up until a couple months ago, I was a One Piece hater. I had many reasons--the fanbase was obnoxious and pushy, the anime was way too long, and the artwork and story didn't look interesting me. These could be casual reasons for not watching, but they turned into hate because of how ubiquitous the show is on social media (and how loud their fans are). But I realized that I couldn't hate a show I hadn't ever watched. Friends and internet strangers told me it would take 50, 100, 200, even 500 episodes to "get good". Initially I assured them I wasn't going to watch something that took that long to be interesting. Rather than take their word for it, I had to see for myself. If the early episodes truly were bad or boring or whatever definition of "not good", I'd drop the show and go back to hating it. I'm currently 70-ish episodes in, the crew is on the way to Alabasta Island. It's safe to say that I like the anime, even at this p9oint. I reall...
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My LGBTQ Identity Is Actually Pretty Straight-Forward

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I've known since I was at least 12 that I liked girls. I knew it was more than just as friends, too, because of the funny feelings I'd get between my legs. I even experimented a little bit with my best friend at the time. I wrote about it in my diary. The excitement and desire was clear from my writings at the time. I don't remember when I learned the word bisexual or if that was the same moment I accepted myself as bisexual, but as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter. I've been this way for a long time. Despite this, my sexual and romantic experience has been overwhelmingly male dominated. Not exclusively, but predominantly. It's not something I was happy with per se, but I felt I had had little choice in the matter. It had just worked out this way. I remember my sponsor in a 12-step program told me that she had heard of experiences of women addressing their trauma and deeper validation issues and then going on to exclusively date women. I'll never ...
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Black Butler vs Black Clover

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 Why am I comparing these two shows? Is it because they both have the color "black" in the title? No! That is merely a coincidence. It's because I started watching them roughly at the same time. I don't have good things to report, mostly, but one of them I have more good things to say about and am still watching. Overall, I like the premise of Black Clover--a plucky protagonist wants to show that through hard work and not giving up, he can achieve an impossible goal, even though he's different from everyone else. But I noticed something pretty quickly about the combat. Stop me if you've heard this one: a big bad casts a magic spell, and no matter how difficult or scary the enemy is, Asta cuts through it with his magic-nullifying sword. It gets old. With just a swipe of his arm, he can nullify any and all magic. I do like Yuno, but like every spellcaster in the show, he doesn't have to work to learn new spells or even gain them. Good shit just happens to hi...
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What I'm Watching

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Currently watching: Naruto Shippuden - I'm at the Five Kage Summit arc. Not much else to say right now without getting into specific plot points about Madara, Itachi, and Pain. I'm enjoying it but the show is a massive undertaking and has a lot higher stakes and bigger consequences than the OG series. That can be exciting, but it's also intense.  My Hero (Rewatch) - This might actually be my favorite anime, not Haikyuu. It makes me so happy to watch or to listen to the soundtrack! I could easily plow through the rest of this (I'm just past the Overhaul arc in Season 4), but I'm trying to slow down so I can savor it. Black Clover -  I didn't expect to like this so much. It's really simple and by the numbers, but it's fun and entertaining. I am only 12 episodes in so far. I thought Yuno would be my favorite but he hasn't been in the show that much. I'd say Magna is my current favorite. Recently finished: Death Note (rewatch) - I had two main reas...
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I realized what my favorite anime actually is

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A decoy of various anime characters   For a long time, my default answer to "What's your favorite anime?" was Naruto. At that time, I had only seen the OG but it was a comfort anime and had become really special to me, even though I saw it in my 30s for the first time. Naruto and his Rasengan After I saw Attack on Titan and Vinland Saga back-to-back, they became my1a and 1b answer for favorite anime--and have been for at least 6 months now. Attack on Titan: Misaka, Armin, Levi, and Eren Thorfinn across the years, Vinland Saga But now, a new challenger appears. It worked its way into my heart in 2024 with my first watch-through, cosplay, and beginning of the manga. It's Haikyu!! Haikyuu's Karasuno High School Volleyball team More than just a sports anime, this is an anime (and manga) with great storytelling, heartwarming emotions, lovable characters, and an inspirational message that goes beyond just "I've got to get stronger". It manages to combine t...
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How Vinland Saga helped me appreciate Mob Psycho's 2nd season

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Mob Psycho 100 cast The first time I watched Mob Psycho (in 2023), I liked it but didn't love it. I wanted to love it the way everyone else did, but I had a major problem: I couldn't relate to Mob. I could not understand why he wouldn't use his powers, even when he was in danger, even when others were in danger. Well, he would use them, but not to actively harm another human being. It was maddening to me. Sometimes violence IS the answer, I reasoned. It was frustrating to see him refuse to solve problems in a way that felt so obvious. Then I watched Vinland Saga's 2 seasons. My current rewatch of Mob makes a lot more sense. There's more than one way to be strong, as Thorfinn taught us. In fact, it's not always about winning. Certainly not with brute strength or intimidation. He truly opened my eyes to what pacifism can look like, especially in a world where fighting was not only common, it was expected. Mob's 2nd season is a perfect encapsulation of what the...
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