2004

season 1: ✔

season 2: ✔

season 3: ✔

season 4: ✔

season 5: 22/?

2025

thoughts eventually...?

2025

season 1: ✔

season 2: ✔

2022

2025

currently watching: 7/8

Presents an uncomfortably prescient view of a world minutes, days, months into the future in which individualism is whittled away in service of LLM-driven collectivism

John Cena, as John Cena, presenting an infomercial highlighting cannibalism. As one does.

2025

currently watching: 1/10

2025

2025

currently watching: 1/10

2023

wtf how come no one told me about the old man yaoi i would have hopped on AGES AGO had i known

my jaw is on the floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2025

2023

Wrote about my experience with the drama and anime here; dropped at 3/10.

2025

Wrote about my experience with the drama and anime here.

2023

In true Ashita, Watashi wa Dareka no Kanojo fashion, the second season adopts a piercing critique of contemporaneity through drawing on tragic entanglements withering within the shade of Tokyo’s concrete jungle. Central to these narratives are women labouring within the commodified realm of romance-as-service/mizu-shōbai, providing emotional support (and in certain instances, sexual gratification) while striving towards personal fulfilment. S2 focuses on two different situations which intersect in a characteristically poignant fashion.

The first situation involves a detached soapland worker and an utaite, determined to compartmentalize the reckless and invasive behaviours of their clientele as a means of safeguarding emotional boundaries. Such a lofty approach grows increasingly difficult as the parasocial-driven complexities of online being, well, online, creep further into their relationship.

Throughout the tawdry exposés and public apologies it is frustrating to see the soapland worker cast in a relatively negative light whereas the utaite’s love of his fans is what’s able to propel him forward, attempting to present his manner of selling his affection as the more just of the two. Growing frantic in the margins is a high school-aged fan besotted with the utaite, yet her own situation fails to coalesce with the couple in a significant manner; the girl representing fandom culture as it waxes and wanes, lacking that personal element.

The second situation offers a sophisticated and empathetic critique of ageism within these commodified structures (particularly when side-eyeing S1’s attempt, which though laudable for its broaching of a growing cultural obsession with cosmetic enhancement nevertheless came across as tone-deaf and overly simplistic in addressing the complex social underpinnings brewed into the essence of the lotions and potions we recklessly down and smear across our collective face). Thankfully the forty-something Emi’s story blossoms into the emotional core of Ashita, Watashi wa Dareka no Kanojo S2 much in the same vein S1’s Moe ended up doing.

Squandering her youth supporting a good-for-nothing musician, she is pulled deeper into the toxic allure which nightlife possesses; unfathomable riches all but tumbling down from glittering stars. As the years wear on, you see era-appropriate costuming one would expect to find thumbing through a well-worn issue of Gothic and Lolita Bible, all tartan and black ruffles before shifting to teased-out ageha styles scored by lively eurobeat.

The time capsule eventually shatters, leaving reality reflected in its shards as Emi is all but pushed out of spaces where she was once in high demand. Though laced with bittersweet connotations, her journey towards self-acceptance is an emotionally fulfilling one leaving S2 on a relatively enjoyable note. It’s a shame that the first half ended up being so uneven despite its subject matter which does admittedly sour the affair, however I do need to return to the manga – perhaps it’s all handled a bit differently…?

2024

Despite One Piece being such a ubiquitous staple given pride of place on myriad would be-otaku shelves, I have never managed to eagerly wolf down devil fruit and embark on a journey across the seas with glittering eyes set on the Grand Line. As a teenager taken with Naruto and Bleach, One Piece tended to be spoken of in similarly favourable tones. Curious as ever, I picked up the first volume and… Found myself put off, to the point of not pursuing the franchise further (something to do with an injured dog…?!). And there One Piece remained, faint distaste towards the franchise rising as the years went by with every Whitebeard-shaped avatar tweeting ‘peak’.

When news of Netflix’s live action adaptation emerged, keen devotees of The Straw Hat Crew were, understandably, aghast, all but forcing the company to walk the plank. Their track record of adapting otaku media is notoriously inconsistent, so to get their grubby mitts on such a wacky and cartoonish property seemed destined for failure; tossed off the pier, sunken down to Davy Jone’s locker. Imagine my surprise when it proved to be a delightful affair, capturing the zeal and childlike wonder that I had always envisioned for a nautical epic like One Piece. Watching it with my partner, a long-time enthusiast, proved particularly enlightening as he was able to provide invaluable insights on character-centric queries which set my curiosity aflame.

I would comment on a background scene I felt was deftly handled, lacking in mawkish sentimentality, and he would advise how it was handled originally. Sanji’s backstory left me misty-eyed, the relentless sincerity of Luffy and his fundamentally humane approach to every individual he encountered helped me understand why he has remained such an admired pillar of otaku history, and I found myself admiring the level of artistry applied to ensuring that the cartoonish qualities felt credible within the franchise’s explosive world.

Will be boarding for season two, when it sets sail!