High school is one of the most common settings in anime and in the psychological genre, but it is rarely discussed as more than a genre convention. It is usually treated as either a limitation, a cliché, or simply the natural environment for stories about teenagers.

I think it is much more interesting than that.

For that reason, after thinking about Classroom of the Elite, Oregairu and Monogatari, I ended up noticing how differently each of them depends on its high-school setting. This post isn't really an attempt at literary analysis in any academic sense. It's simply an attempt to put into words something I gradually realised while thinking about why these three stories, despite sharing the same familiar setting, feel so fundamentally different.

I've been thinking about why some anime set in high school, specially from the psichological genre, work for me and others don't, and I think I ended up finding a distinction that I hadn't really considered before. It started because I was talking about Classroom of the Elite, which is an anime that from a start, for whatever reason, has never rung with me.

At first I thought the problem was simply that I found the setting forced and the characters unrealistic. But that wasn't quite precise enough. There are plenty of unrealistic stories that I love. For starters, The Monogatari Series is completely ridiculous on the surface. It's probably one of the least realistic anime you could mention if we're talking literally about what happens in it. Yet I find its characters and their psychology much more believable than the supposedly more grounded world of Classroom of the Elite.

So the problem clearly isn't realism.

I think the problem with COTE, at least for me, begins with the fact that its entire story depends on me accepting its institution. The school isn't just the place where the story happens. Its rules, its class system, its strange economy and the way the students are made to compete with one another are the foundation of the plot. Everything the characters do is determined by that system.

The problem is that I don't find the system convincing enough to simply accept it and move on.

If a group of teenagers suddenly finds themselves in an institution with an unusual and highly restrictive set of rules, I would expect some kind of serious resistance or at least critical reaction towards the institution itself. Why are these rules legitimate? What happens if we refuse to participate? What are the limits of the school's authority? What happens if an entire class refuses to cooperate? Are there contradictions or loopholes in the system?

I'm not saying that every student should become a revolutionary. Obviously, most people would eventually adapt. But the fact that the premise itself seems to become accepted so quickly makes it difficult for me to believe in the rest of the story. The characters seem to accept the system because the author needs them to play the game. Once they accept the game, the author can start demonstrating who is intelligent, who is manipulative, who understands the rules better than everyone else and so on. I would say this system created by the author lacks internal credibility.

But I never really get past the first question: why are we all playing this game in the first place?

That is why the setting feels like a problem for me. The school isn't just a backdrop. It is a load-bearing part of the story, and because of that it has to be convincing. If the basic institution doesn't make sense to me, then the characters who build their entire lives and personalities around navigating it start to feel artificial as well.

(((I also don't think the fact that these stories take place in high school necessarily has much to do with the maturity of their underlying themes. Being set in high school doesn't mean a story has to be fundamentally about adolescence, or that its characters' problems have to be limited to being teenagers. Loneliness, self-image, social performance, dependency, insecurity and self-deception aren't particularly adolescent problems; they're human ones. High school simply happens to be an extremely convenient environment in which to explore them.

In that sense, I don't really see the high-school setting as a limitation. It can be the framework that makes the interactions possible while the actual subject of the story lies somewhere much deeper.))))

This made me realize how much of an interesting point is "the high-school setting" in modern narration; as a storytelling tool, because I don't think the problem is the trope itself. In fact, high school is probably one of the most useful settings an author can have.

It creates a stable environment where characters are constantly forced to interact with people they would otherwise avoid. You have a recurring cast, classes, clubs, school events, teachers, social groups and hierarchies. People are physically close to one another for years, and they don't have the freedom adults have to simply remove themselves from uncomfortable relationships.

This is particularly useful for certain types of characters. Imagine someone like Hachiman from Oregairu, as an adult. If he were a twenty-eight-year-old loner who disliked social interaction and preferred spending his time alone, there would be a practical problem for the author: why would he constantly meet interesting people?

He could simply go home.

If someone annoyed him, he could stop talking to them. If a workplace became unpleasant, he could try and change jobs. If he didn't want to participate in something, he would have much more freedom to refuse.

At school, that isn't possible in the same way. The person you dislike will still be sitting in the same classroom tomorrow. You're put into groups. You have events. Teachers can force you into situations. Your social environment is constantly imposed upon you. High school is therefore an incredibly effective social machine. It creates encounters without the author having to constantly invent new reasons for characters to meet.

This is where I think Oregairu uses the setting extremely well.

Oregairu needs its environment. Hachiman's personality doesn't exist in a vacuum. His cynicism, his isolation and his observations about people are constantly being tested by the social environment around him. Yukino's position makes sense partly because of the social world she inhabits. Hayato's role is also dependent on the existence of a hierarchy in which he occupies a particular position.

The Service Club itself is almost a perfect narrative device. It gives Hachiman a reason to interact with people whom he would otherwise probably never approach. It is admittedly a contrivance, but it is a productive one. The contrivance exists to create the situations in which the characters can reveal themselves.

And the school itself repeatedly becomes important. The cultural festival, class relationships, social groups, reputation, graduation and changes in relationships are all connected to the environment. The story needs the school because the school is part of what the story wants to examine.

Oregairu is interested in people, but it is particularly interested in what happens to people inside a social environment. How do they perform for one another? How much of their personality is shaped by reputation? What happens when someone occupies a particular role within a group? How much can people understand each other when they are constantly saying things they don't actually mean?

The environment puts pressure on the characters, and their reactions to that pressure reveal who they are. That is why I don't think Oregairu's dependence on the high-school setting is a weakness. It relies on it because it needs it.

And then comes Monogatari, which is almost the opposite.

The strange thing about Monogatari is that it takes place in a world where the characters are technically high-school students, but the school itself is rarely the important part of what is happening. The characters are introduced through that environment, and their relationships are partly made possible by it, but once the story has established those relationships, it can leave the school almost completely behind.

Most of the important things happen somewhere else. In locations and places that barely feel like normal physical spaces.

The school is useful because it gives the author a social network. Araragi is a student, which means there are people around him and there are believable reasons for him to know them. But the story isn't particularly interested in school life itself.

In that sense, Monogatari almost uses the high-school trope as an excuse.

It takes the useful parts of it without allowing the setting to define the story.

I think that is a very intelligent use of the trope. The author understands why so many stories use high school as a setting, but he doesn't feel obligated to make a traditional high-school story. He gets the advantages of having a recurring cast and forced social proximity and then simply moves the story wherever it needs to go.

What makes this particularly interesting is that Monogatari doesn't replace the school environment with another realistic social environment. Instead, it gradually becomes almost liminal. The physical world often feels secondary to the psychological world of the characters.

This is probably the biggest difference between Monogatari and Oregairu.

Oregairu needs the environment to make its psychology visible. The characters are placed inside a social system, and the story watches what happens when their personalities collide with that system and with one another.

Monogatari often does something closer to the opposite. Its environment can feel like an extension of the characters' internal worlds.

The supernatural is the obvious example. Monogatari is completely bonkers. There are vampires, curses, apparitions and all kinds of absurd phenomena. But the underlying psychology is often extremely mundane.

Someone is jealous. Someone hates themselves. Someone is lonely. Someone wants attention but cannot admit it. Someone constructs an identity to protect themselves. Someone is unable to ask for help. Someone convinces themselves that they are acting for another person's benefit when they are actually satisfying their own needs.

These are not supernatural problems. They're ordinary human problems. The supernatural simply gives them a form.

This is why I find Monogatari so psychologically convincing despite how absurd it is. The absurdity isn't replacing reality. It is often dramatizing reality.

You don't need to believe that the literal world works exactly as Monogatari presents it. You need to recognise what is happening underneath the spectacle.

The characters themselves are also grounded in this way. They can talk in bizarre ways, exaggerate everything, make ridiculous jokes and behave in ways that no ordinary person would behave literally, but the mechanisms underneath their behaviour are recognisable. They lie. They deflect. They intellectualise. They protect themselves. They misunderstand other people. They misunderstand themselves.

The dialogue is important here as well. Monogatari doesn't usually treat dialogue as a transparent delivery system for information. People don't simply say what they mean. Sometimes they lie. Sometimes they deliberately provoke someone. Sometimes they say something technically true in a way that makes you draw the wrong conclusion. Sometimes a conversation only makes complete sense after you know something that is revealed later.

The story doesn't particularly care if you misunderstand something.

That's something I value enormously in both Monogatari and Oregairu. They don't treat the audience as if it needs every conversation explained immediately. They are willing to leave things ambiguous, to let a character deceive you, to let you misunderstand a situation because the protagonist misunderstood it as well.

Sometimes you have to watch a scene again to understand what was actually being said.

That feels closer to real interaction. People don't come with exposition boxes explaining what they mean. You have to interpret them, and sometimes you interpret them incorrectly. Sometimes you only understand something they said much later, after you have more information.

This also makes the psychology of Monogatari more interesting to me. The characters aren't just collections of clearly explained traits. The story doesn't necessarily stop and say that someone is jealous, insecure or lying to themselves. You have to notice it in the way they speak and behave.

That is why I think Monogatari can be so absurd while still feeling strangely realistic. Its literal world is unrealistic, but its understanding of how people think and protect themselves is often grounded in very mundane psychology.

The contrast is probably part of why it works so well.

Monogatari is absurd and realistic at the same time, but not in separate parts. The absurdity is often the way in which the realism is expressed.

This is also why I don't think Monogatari is simply a "high-school anime with supernatural elements." The high-school setting is almost scaffolding. It creates the initial conditions necessary for the characters to exist around one another, but the real space of the story is often somewhere between the physical world and the minds of the characters.

Oregairu is different because its psychology is much more dependent on the external world. Hachiman needs other people around him. His worldview needs to be challenged by social situations. The Service Club needs to exist. The school events need to happen. The characters' relationships develop because they are trapped inside the same social environment.

Monogatari can almost leave that environment behind because the conflicts are more internal. The world itself becomes flexible enough to follow the psychology.

Both approaches work because they are useful for different things.

Oregairu uses the environment to expose the internal world.

Monogatari uses the internal world to transform the environment.

That is probably the clearest distinction I have found between them.

And I think it also explains something about what I value in fiction generally. I don't need a story to be realistic. I don't even necessarily need the characters to behave like normal people. I can enjoy comedy, melodrama, absurdity and supernatural nonsense.

What I need is for the story to understand what it is doing.

If the setting is important, I want the setting to make sense within the story. If the characters are psychologically complex, I want their complexity to come from believable motivations rather than from the author simply declaring that they are intelligent or mysterious. If a story uses a contrivance, I don't necessarily mind. I just want the contrivance to produce something worthwhile.

That is why I can accept a completely ridiculous world in Monogatari while struggling with COTE.

Monogatari is asking me to accept absurdity on the surface while paying attention to something recognisable underneath.

COTE asks me to accept an institution because the entire game depends on it.

Oregairu asks me to look at what happens when people are forced to live inside a complicated social environment.

They all use the high-school setting, but they need it for completely different reasons.The trope itself is not the problem. High school is an incredibly effective narrative tool. The question is what the author does with it.

You can build the entire story around it.

You can use it as a social laboratory.

Or you can take everything useful from it and then almost leave it behind.

Monogatari's approach is probably my favourite because it feels like it understands the trope without becoming dependent on it. It uses high school because high school is a very efficient way of making characters collide, especially characters who would otherwise have no reason to interact.

But once those characters have collided, the story doesn't feel obligated to stay there.

It has already taken what it needed.

And then it goes somewhere way deeper.

In Japanese culture, **Yandere** is a term (also known as “**stalker with a crush**”) for a female character, who is extremely clingy, obsessive, jealous and possessive.
They are ready to hurt or kill anyone who gets close to their crush.
Yandere anime\* characters are very fixated on their person of interest, and are\* willing to go as far as murder if anyone gets in their way.
Yandere characters are often willing to go to extreme lengths to be with their love interest, and they will go to unstoppable, psychotic rage if they are rejected.
They view their extreme actions as proof of their love.
They will shift quickly from sweet to psychotic.

If Anissa were a true yandere, she would have tried to eliminate Eve, Amber, and any other potential competitors so she could have Mark all for herself.
Characters like this almost always have the mentality that "**If I can't have you, no one can**".

>!Remember, there's a very thin line between being a yandere and being a rapist.!<

>!Originally posted in 2022\*!<

What I mean is, episode is 22 minutes (which makes sense, network television), intro is usually 1:30, which is usually a song by a somewhat mainstream singer or band with vocals, half a verse, then a chorus with the name of the song displayed prominently. a screen of some sort halfway through the episode to indicate a commercial, probably. closing also get its own song also 1:30. then usually a good chance it previews the next episode. seasons (cours) are 12-14 episodes long, generally aligned with 3 month blocks, always starting in jan/apr/july/oct, with each cours getting a whole new theme and ending theme (isn't this expensive instead of just using the same theme)?

definitely just something I noticed so i ask about it and not a criticism, so wondering if there was a reason the anime I start are so consistent in the format, and considering that anime spans many genres, that no matter drama or comedy or action all seem to follow this. I know not every anime is in this format but I feel whenever i start something new, i can generally expect this format (feel free to call me a larper and/or a tourist).

whereas non-anime shows from north america don't seem as organized as this between shows, or start a season whenever, or the length can be 6 episodes or 22 episodes or anything in between, the theme stays the same and may be just instrumentals or with vocals of any length or may just be the chorus, etc.

第一に、日本の オタクは 政治が 大嫌いだ。戦前 戦中は 右に、前後は 左に 全フリして 戦って、どちらも 見苦しい 負け方を した。負けた 連中が 紙と 鉛筆で やり直した。ここから マンガ アニメ が 始まり、それで 育った オタクは 社会運動や 極端な正義が どれだけ 見にくいか、感覚的に 知っている。だから 嫌いだ。
第二に 日本の オタクは 矛盾を 矛盾の まま 愛したい。
そのため に、リアルで 立体的な イメージより、記号的で 平面的な イメージを 大切に する。
日本人の 頭の中には 絵画 写真 演劇 映画 小説、単純に たくさん 見た イメージが たっぷり 詰まっている。もちろん 日本人で ある 自分達とは 矛盾する。しかし それを 修正しよう とは しない。それどころか、昔は 演劇で「赤毛モノ」と 呼ばれる ジャンルさえ あった。西欧や ロシアの 芝居を カツラ被って 付け鼻まで つけて 演じていた。バレバレの カツラや 翻訳された 不自然な 日本語で 妙な 調子で 喋る 短足の 役者達を、それでも 記号として 受け入れて、その世界観を 大切にした。だから 矛盾して 不自然で 壊れやすい イメージや 世界観をみんなで 協力して 守ろう！ という 意識が 生まれ、育った。同時に 矛盾や 不自然さに、あたたかい ツッコミを いれて、みんなで 笑いながら 愛する 文化も 育った。だから 冷たい 攻撃と、あたたかい ツッコミの 違いには 敏感なのだ。
第三に 日本の オタクは 正当化を さける。現実の社会にこそ、嫌な矛盾が ウンザリするほど ある。だから 愛すべき矛盾で 別の世界を つくり、矛盾と内面で 向き合って 深く 考え、それを 共感で 広げて いく。一方、正当化は、他者の矛盾を指摘して 攻撃するために 自分の矛盾を 正当化している わけで、これは 他者の 考え 感覚 行動を、力で 無理矢理 変えようと していると 感じる。世界には 戦わざる を えない 状況に 追い込まれた人々は たくさん いる。敵=悪 と感じる のも 自然だ。だが 日本の オタクは どちらが 悪かを 裁定するより、敵や 自分が 追い込まれた 状況 環境 構造に 向き合う。敵にも 自分にも 矛盾が あって 当然で あり、その矛盾と 向き合う スリルを エンタメに している。自分の矛盾は 正当化して、他者の矛盾は 攻撃する。オタクは こういう 不毛な 戦いより、お互いの 矛盾を 愛そうと する。

First, Japanese geeks hate politics. Before and during the war, they fought on the right and on the left before and after, and both of them lost in an unsightly way. The losers started over with paper and pencil. From here, manga and anime began, and geeks who grew up with it know how difficult it is to see social movements and extreme justice. That's why I hate it.

Secondly, Japanese geeks want to love contradictions as they are.

Therefore, we value symbolic and flat images rather than realistic and three-dimensional images.

Japanese people's heads are filled with paintings, photos, theaters, movies, novels, and images that they have simply seen a lot. Of course, it contradicts us as Japanese. But I won't try to fix it. On the contrary, there was even a genre called "redhead" in theater in the past. He performed Western and Russian plays with a wig and a nose. I still accepted the short-legged actors who spoke in a strange tone in blatant wigs and translated unnatural Japanese as symbols and cherished their worldview. So let's all work together to protect the contradictory, unnatural and fragile images and worldviews! The consciousness was born and raised. At the same time, we grew up in a culture where we all laughed and loved each other, with warm tsukkomi to contradictions and unnaturalness. That's why I'm sensitive to the difference between cold attacks and warm tsukkomi.

Third, Japanese geeks avoid justification. In real society, there are so many disgusting contradictions that make you tired of them. So I will create another world with lovable contradictions, face contradictions internally, think deeply, and expand them with empathy. On the other hand, justification justifies one's own contradictions in order to point out and attack the contradictions of others, and I feel that this is trying to forcefully change the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of others. There are many people in the world who have been forced into a situation where they have to fight. It is natural to feel that enemy = evil. However, Japanese geeks face the environment structure of the enemy and the situation in which they are driven, rather than ruling on which one is worse. It is natural that there are contradictions between the enemy and myself, and the thrill of facing those contradictions is entertainment. Justify your own contradictions and attack the contradictions of others. Otaku tries to love each other's contradictions rather than this kind of barren battle.

Today I watched a very popular anime movie called "A Silent Voice" and don't get me wrong its great however I feel its incomplete.

It spent like 15 mins showing us how Nishimiya had fell for Ishida, and how much she wanted to express her feeling, but she ends up not doing it. And as a romance anime fanatic it left me frustrated

So as a teenager I had this little job writing reviews for an animation fan site. "Job" is maybe too strong a word, I didn't get paid or anything, but I did get physical copies of whatever I was reviewing that I could then resell, sometimes for a fair amount of money. I got to watch a lot of anime and other stuff, and I loved writing reviews.

But at a certain point I started to struggle. Stuff was happening in my personal life, and also I was maturing and was suddenly self-conscious about my writing style; I'd begun writing for this site as a High School freshman and some of my reviews from that period were suddenly hard for me to look at. I was questioning what qualified me to write reviews at all - what did I know? Was I even a good writer? Could I get better? Would it be hard? Would it be worth it?

It all came to a head when I was assigned the show in the title, Gasaraki.

I'm a grown man now and more secure in my media literacy. I've, like, read Shakespeare, and shit. But to this day I have never had a piece of media fucking no diff me the way this one did.

What is Gasaraki about? That's what I'm trying to tell you; I watched it and I don't fucking know. There's this guy, and there are some mechs that look like tanks, and there's a war happening, and there's like this group that's running the war, and there's a girl too...and they do things...and that's all I got. I was just sitting there watching colors and hearing sounds without a single thought successfully forming in my head. This show was confusing to me! It was hard to tell what was happening and why! I didn't know who the characters were or what motivated them! Stuff was just happening!

I got to the end and I turned on my computer and opened a blank Word document and just stared at it. I had no idea what to say; I didn't even understand enough of what I had seen to criticize it.

At the time, I was not confident enough to say in a review that I had found the show confusing. Complaining that a show or book is confusing is like complaining that a video game is too hard; you can try to make the case, but you want to be sure it isn't just you. I was not sure. This show seemed to have confirmed my darkest suspicions about myself.

Maybe I'm too supid

A single tear ran down my supid supid face. (I am dramatizing some of this but this is a true story)

I ended up emailing the guy who assigned screeners at the site and telling him I had some personal stuff going on. I asked if someone else could take the screeners I'd been assigned while I worked some stuff out. He said yes, I mailed Gasaraki to, I pray, a more capable soul than I, and I never went back to that job.

As I said, I'm older now, and a few days ago this memory suddenly came back to me and I found myself wondering about this show that I'd struggled with. I've done a little googling, did find a few people who seemed similarly confused. Is it possible that the whole time it wasn't me, but the show, that had something wrong with it? The idea is compelling. It's probably on Crunchyroll; I could give it another try.

But first: anyone here heard of this thing? Any opinions on it? Is it actually peak, was I supid? Or was teenage me on the money and this is a dense, strange, unfocused show?

why are some anime/manga popular in certain region and some not. what separates one popular anime from other like is it fan service or is it plot, depth, theme, etc

yo guys im not a anime geek but i have watched a few animes. Am i a larp for reading vagabond and watching vinland saga. i have also watched different animes but my friends keep calling me larp for liken those two.

Ok I've spent all my anime life ignoring this show because to put it plainly I hate Tsunderes. But the Tsunderes ironically isn't what I'm complaining about rn. I have a lot of feelings about it but right now I didn't like it.

I didn't like how we had the love square ignored Minori and pushed Ami, the most unlikable character type I've seen in this world. People who want connection but proceed do everything in there power to destroy it unknowingly or not.

Now I only just finished binging it and it's 5am so maybe if I sleep on it I can come back again and think it over but right now I didn't like it.

I feel like the times there were 'jokes' my mouth didn't move even a second. The times I was supposed to emotional I was too busy cussing out Ryuuji for being dumb all the time and then I only got more annoyed because Ami was always three steps behind running her mouth like a Chihuahua. Trying to chide him or some shit.

And the emotional things in the first place. So much was happening all the time yet nothing happened at all. Like every plot happened stopped and it was never bought up again genuinely emotionally or literally the only thing 'outside' of Taiga and Ryuuji psuedo dating that was consistent was her feelings for glasses and his feelings for Minori.

And how all the characters interact with each other and OH MY GOD how they talked to each other. And that ending man. I know there seventeen but we went from 'I want to work and help my mom. > My mom got mad at me for working to help her? > Fuck her let's run away.' BROTHER IN CHRIST SHUT UP.

I hated how they TALKED. And I'm not sure if they were supposed to be written that way but it was dumb. Vice president was dumb. Girl president was dumb Ryuuji was dumb. Just so DUMB.

Everyone talked and no one listened. And Ami kept talking and making sense so it made me hate her more and Ryuuji just kept not getting it so Ami just kept talking. It's Ryuuijis fault I hate Ami so much. She deserved that whole 'i shouldn't have gotten involved' cause that's what I was saying the entire season. It was instant frowns when she was on screen I don't care if she was the reason things worked out I hate her smmmm.

And I think I'm gonna stop ranting cause I liked things.

I like people like Taiga people who are protective of what they have. In the way that she gets to rant about this but it's hers so no one else can and how she talked about her mom in that last episode she's just so cool.

I spent the second half of the season apologizing to her for how much I raved in the first four episodes. Ryuuji definitely deserved all that for how much he pissed me off. And yet Ryuuji still ended up third place. After Taiga ofcs and Minoris number one.

Minori is just really just written to be likable for me. And to contrast how my I genuinely got mad at Ami it was nice to see some one just trying. Genuinely trying to be likable.

And Taiga is just really cool and I have so much to say about her and I already said some and I'm too tired to think about all the other things.

And Ryuuji was fine. I liked him more than alll the other ones at least. Like he wants to be liked, wants to be the good person and that's admirable to me.

Anyways maybe I did like the show I just didn't like Ami. So like that's it 👍

Most Bleach fans look at the Thousand-Year Blood War as a simple story of good guys (Soul Reapers) vs. bad guys (Quincy). But if you actually look at the lore, the Soul Reapers are the historical villains of a rigged, corrupt system, and Yhwach’s rage was entirely justified.

Here is the full breakdown of why the Soul Society's propaganda is total lies:

1. The Intergenerational Terror of the Quincy (The 1,000-Year Shadow War)

This genocide wasn't an isolated incident; it was the continuation of an atrocities-fueled history. 1,000 years prior, after Yhwach's empire lost the first major war against Yamamoto, the surviving elite Quincy were so utterly terrified of being hunted to complete extinction that they were forced to abandon the living world entirely. They fled into the literal shadows of the Seireitei, creating the hidden Wandenreich. For 1,000 years, generations of these Quincy had to live in hiding, paralyzed by the fear of discovery, breeding a deep, justified trauma. Whether it was the families butchered on Earth 200 years ago, or the survivors living in secret fear for a millennium, the Soul Reapers didn't just kill them; they inflicted an endless cycle of psychological terror on an entire race.

1. The Soul Reapers Demanded a Death Sentence (The 200-Year Massacre)

People claim the Soul Reapers "had to" wipe out the Quincy living in the Human World 200 years ago to maintain the balance of souls. But look at it from the Quincy perspective: Hollow spiritual energy is a literal, genetic poison to them. A single scratch or breathing in too much Hollow reiatsu causes Soul Suicide. Asking the Quincy to stop killing Hollows is the exact same thing as telling them to sit quietly in a room filling with carbon monoxide and die. The Soul Reapers offered no solutions, no safe zones, and no medical help—they just demanded the Quincy accept a death sentence, and when they didn't, the Soul Reapers slaughtered their families, including innocent children.

1. The Intergenerational Terror of the Quincy Genocide

When the Quincy refused to just lie down and die, the Soul Reapers responded with an absolute, merciless slaughter. Imagine the psychological horror of ordinary Quincy families—mothers, fathers, and children—watching their loved ones systematically butchered right in front of them by the Gotei 13. The survivors were so utterly terrified of being hunted to extinction that they were forced to abandon their homes in the Human World entirely. They fled into the literal shadows of the Seireitei, creating the Wandenreich. For 1,000 years, generations of Quincy had to live in hiding, paralyzed by the fear of discovery, breeding a deep, justified trauma. The Soul Reapers didn't just kill them; they inflicted a millennium of psychological terror on the survivors.

1. Soul Society is an Authoritarian Nightmare, Not a Paradise

Rukia hyped up Soul Society early on, but it’s actually a hyper-stratified, oppressive feudal regime. The Five Noble Families and the Gotei 13 live in supreme luxury inside the Seireitei, while ordinary human souls are dumped into the lawless slums of the Rukongai to endure starvation, poverty, and violence. The Soul Reapers aren’t heroes protecting people; they are heavily armed border patrol agents protecting a corrupt, elitist system.

1. The World is Built on a Horrific Crime (The Ultimate Lie)

The current universe exists because the ancestors of the Noble Families betrayed, murdered, and mutilated Yhwach’s father, the Soul King. They hacked off his arms, legs, and organs while he was still alive, sealing his conscious corpse in a crystal block to act as a cosmic battery. Yhwach didn't want to destroy the world out of pure evil; he wanted to end the active, millions-of-years-long torture of his father.

1. Humanity Used Yhwach as a Spiritual Garbage Disposal

People say Yhwach shouldn't have tried to merge the worlds because humanity didn't deserve that chaos. But what did humanity ever do for Yhwach? When he was born, he was a sensory-deprived infant who couldn't see, hear, or move. Humans "worshipped" him purely as a transaction because touching him healed their sicknesses. But when those people died, all of their psychological agony, terror of death, and short lifespans were dumped straight back into Yhwach’s mind. Humanity used a helpless baby as a spiritual trash can, feared him when he grew up, and then the Soul Reapers literally did the exact same thing to his corpse after Ichigo defeated him—hacking Yhwach up and turning him into the new mutilated puppet Soul King.

Conclusion: Ichigo Was Fighting for a Rigged System

Ichigo Kurosaki isn't a political figure; he only fought because his friends lived in Soul Society and he wanted to protect the future of the living people he loved. But the narrative reality remains clear: the Soul Reapers protect a system built on a gruesome original sin, genocide, and extreme oppression. Yhwach was a monster, but he was a monster entirely created by the absolute cruelty of the Soul Society.

To preface, I'm a long time anime viewer and former weeb. I've seen the best and worst out there. What I've noticed is that more garbage has been finally reaching us. And I say finally lightly as it's been happening since the early 2000s.

When we first started getting anime in the U.S. we were already behind other countries that had become interested in it. Most Americans didn't see an anime until the early 1980's via VHS or latenight/early morning tv. The VHS releases, mostly if not all in the beginning, were dubbed by fans and then turned around to be distributed for fan viewings. It was a lot of effort so the care that was put into the selections translated were literally handpicked and reviewed. This made us spoiled in a sense that all the translated anime we were getting were highly rated in the first place by passionate people. That meant we weren't always coming across what even the Japanese would consider garbage anime.

But, then the anime boom rapidly fell circa 1990-2000ish, when the demand for anime and higher standards being held for it was no longer reflecting the market. With the rise of the internet, lesser quality anime was slowly becoming widely accessible. Anime had become much easier to make with the transition into the tech era. As of current, many studios use puppets and background models to aid with animation as well as the other spoils that come with layers, animation programs and files. That gives companies a way to make anime with less risk if there is less reward. 'If this doesn't work, this one might.' kind of practice. Animating is still a very difficult field, but it's become something very akin to a factory line, where studios pump and pump and pump out more product at the expense of the makers. Japan's work ethic is harsh and studios are often under suffocating weights of deadlines and expectations.

So yes, we are seeing more garbage anime, but only because it already is so excessively produced. We were spoiled in the beginning and now we have to face setting a standard for what we receive, though that's not going to happen. Unfortunately, our main distributers are being funneled to just a hand full of companies. This is a huge strain on the anime economy.
3rd party sites used to be the best way to see anime, but many have become ad minefields or paid subscription based. Work arounds like Adblockers are sometimes ineffective and younger viewers may not understand how to install them. We also have youtube and crunchyroll removing many anime that used to be available with some anime only locatable via Internet Archive. These extreme means make it very difficult to view old anime that aren't on any streaming services. Physical Media may be the only hope for those old series.

This means we're experiencing anime like Japan does. Over saturated. Just like how American TV is. We can all think of how much unwatchable stuff gets made by Americans for Americans, this is just that. Japan had made an identity with it though. Japan's biggest image here in the U.S. is anime, it's what most people think of when they hear Japan. So many little weebs were born in the 90's and grew up thinking Japan was all anime all the time and to be honest, it's not and it is at the same time. Because there are dedicated cities to entertainment, but beyond that anime is just cartoons to the whole country. It's not this ultra special art or poetry. It's animation. And animation can be special by those who make it. That's why we revere Studio Ghibli so highly, because of how special they made it. Yes its anime, but it's also a whole lot of love, passion, and patience. It's animation made with love. Passion will always effect the project.

Without time, rest, and love, anime is left suffering. Studios are being worked to death and customer demand will never be satisfied. A higher standard is set everyday and they have to compete or lose business.

So, Anime isn't even going to die.
It's just gonna go through the same bs it always has. Lack of funding, Lack of in studio support, and way too much demand.
If you want to find anime, you have to be specific in what you want to see. There's an anime for everything out there and you can't just say you want 'Good' anime. We also need to support the studios making said anime if we want it that bad. I can't say anything for American studios rn as they've been pissing me off for years with the lack of effort there's been and poor choice making but I digress.

Some key words you can use when looking for anime;
Josei - (female audience)
Shoujo - (female youth audience)
Seinen - (male audience)
Shonen - (youth action)
Mahou - (magic)
Isekai - (other world)
Ecchi - (Nsfw-ish)
Harem/Reverse Harem - ( main x several side characters)
(I'm choosing to exclude many more, too much text)
All of these greatly narrow down what you might be looking for and what you want to avoid. Hopefully it'll help you wade through the dark waters that is anime.

My biggest worry is how dog shit search engines and algorithms are rn. As fans, we are going to have to take somethings back into our hands, whether its physical media, recommendations or what have you. There's a lot of good anime out there. It's hard to find, but its out there.

I love anime, always have. But all of a sudden I can’t unsee how very little goes on in a scene. The background statues characters don’t move for like 20 seconds while the main character is talking and just stand there smiling…

Or someone is talking and everything is still except for their lips.

I’ve always watched anime and I watch it almost everyday but I have been watching it everyday for several several years and although I’ve been aware of its frame rate I’ve never clocked it as much as I have been the past… (well I guess since the newest simulcast season)…

I do notice it a lot more if I’m just bored and watching an anime I’m less interested in or I’m 10/12 episodes in and I’m just trying to finish it, but it’s still a little unnerving.

I have one in mind, but I’m curious what everyone else says first lol

Please avoid the popular ones like yugioh and dragon ball

Extra point for new series that still ongoing

Anime

Finished

Dragon Ball — Finished all series (OG, Z Kai, Super, Daima) (Movies: DBS Broly, DBZ Fusion Reborn , DBZ Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan)
Devilman Crybaby
Dandadan — Finished alongside specials(On S2 Ep 11)
One Punch Man — Finished (haven’t watched S3)
Berserk — Finished (1997 + movie series)
Jujutsu Kaisen — Finished (haven’t watched S3)
Evangelion
The End of Evangelion
Voices of a Distant Star
She and Her Cat (1999)
Neko no Shuukai (A Gathering of Cats)
Aki no Kanade
Enter the Garden
The Diary of Tortov Roddle
Pale Cocoon
She and Her Cat: Everything Flows
Furiko (Pendulum)
Kowarekake no Orgel
Highschool of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead
Midori
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches (OVA)
Perfect Blue
Sonic the Hedgehog OVA
Princess Mononoke
Puparia

Watching

One Piece — Episode 29
My Hero Academia — Episode 4
Sakamoto Days — Episode 5
Serial Experiments Lain — Episode 4
Yosuga no Sora — Episode 2
A Silent Voice — 1:21:13
Golden Boy — Episode 4

Not Continuing

Demon Slayer
Bleach
Hunter × Hunter
Chainsaw Man
Sonic X
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Bungo Stray Dogs
Solo Leveling
Naruto
Boruto
Attack on Titan
Kuroku’s Basketball
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure — Part 1 (finished but won’t continue)

Haven’t watched since 2025 but I’m getting back into the medium also wouldn’t mind suggestions!

Like genuinely, I got spoiled on one of the future Jujutsu Kaisen scenes and I have actively been cautious of what I watch or read on YouTube, but the top comments had to literally spoil something big for me 😒

9/10 | Released between 2018 and 2020 (in its first part), written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto (written in japanese as 藤本タツキ – Fujimoto Tatsuki), Chainsaw Man tells the story of a directionless young man who seals a contract with the Chainsaw Devil in order to pursue nothing more than an ordinary life. At first glance, it appears to be merely a work that blends comedy and action while indulging in narrative licentiousness; however, the manga crafts one of the most brilliantly written plot twists you will ever encounter in fiction.

Denji, a young man living a miserable life, works as a slave for the Yakuza to pay off his deceased father's debts. After being betrayed and killed by the mob, Denji signs a contract with his only friend, Pochita (the Chainsaw Devil), becoming a human-devil hybrid: the Chainsaw Man. Makima, an expressionless woman with cynical features who also leads the Public Safety Division, sees the state the boy is in and, to support him, decides to offer him a job as a Devil Hunter in her unit.

Note: this essay will only cover the manga's first storyline, the Public Safety Arc. Of the 24 volumes released, this first part encompasses volumes 1 to 11 (chapters 1 to 97 [out of the 232 published]).

In this introduction and origin of Chainsaw Man, we are introduced to what I previously called 'narrative licentiousness'. 'Licentiousness', in this context, is not used in its literal sense, but rather as a metaphor for an “I do whatever I want” attitude. Combined with “narrative”, the concept becomes: “I will do whatever I well please in my story!”.

When we are brought to see Denji living in such misery, it is common to assume that the plot will be about revenge, 'trying to become a better person', or any cliché of the sort. However, the turning point occurs when Denji becomes Chainsaw Man and literally bulldozes through everything without caring about tomorrow. It serves as a prelude to how the story will unfold.

[Warning: from this point on, this essay contains full spoilers regarding the plot, twists, and ending of Public Safety Arc of Chainsaw Man.]

Formation of Special Division 4

After Denji joins the division, Makima organises her team of Devil Hunters: Aki, Denji’s squadmate and rival; Power, the Blood Fiend (who is also an extremely troublesome girl); and Denji, the protagonist. The trio develops a chaotic family dynamic that, over time, proves to be warm and welcoming. We are also introduced to other hunters from different squads.

With the cast assembled... this is where the madness begins.

The hunters face several life-or-death situations when attacked by the Eternity Devil, the Katana Man, and the Mercenary Division. All the while, the author blends these moments of pure despair – with several characters dying abruptly – with a dose of cynical comedy (such as the 'nut-kicking' scene), dashes of insanity (the fights between Denji and Katana Man), and absurd, illogical moments in the best possible sense.

As all this chaos unfolds, Denji was developing an unusual relationship with Himeno, a hunter from another squad in the division. She ends up being one of the fatal victims in the terrorist attack by Katana Man and his crew. Denji's reaction to this loss is extremely cold, and precisely because of this apathy, he becomes fearful of his own nature, realising he did not genuinely care about her. Meanwhile, Makima makes her mysterious character more evident than ever by blatantly lying about her whereabouts during the attack – something that connects directly to what we see next in Reze's arc.

Reze Girl

Denji meets Reze, a charming girl his age who seems genuinely interested in him. As their relationship progresses, Denji considers abandoning Division 4 altogether (including his friends) to run away with Reze and build a life together. However, Reze reveals herself to be the Bomb Devil Hybrid and a Soviet government spy sent to capture Denji's heart (Pochita).

Even after Denji defeats her in a monumental and chaotic battle, he offers to run away with her. Reze, touched by his kindness and mercy, realizes that, deep down, she cares for him and accepts the last-minute plan. However, she is ambushed and abruptly murdered by Makima before she can reunite with him.

Once again, we witness Makima making a surprising and seemingly senseless decision.

The Beginning of the Tragedies

Following the battle against Reze, Denji (Chainsaw Man) becomes a public target for assassins from various nations. Up to this point, the motive behind global governments' obsessive interest in Denji remains unclear.

Notable battles include those involving the Crossbow Hybrid (Quanxi), Santa Claus, the Hell Devil, and the Darkness Devil against, of course, Denji (the target) and his group.

During the battle against the Hell Devil, Denji and the hunters end up being dragged into Hell itself and are slaughtered by the Darkness Devil, a primordial entity. Makima intervenes and rescues them.

Power and Aki are left immensely traumatised by the experience. Aki, especially after losing Himeno (his close friend) in the clash against Katana Man, re-evaluates his goals and develops a protective instinct over Denji and Power, fearing the loss of more companions. Power, in turn, develops a paralytic dread of being abandoned or seeing her new friends die.

What began as an almost juvenile devil hunt transforms, 'thanks' to Denji's existence, into something deeply disturbing and painful for the characters. What is happening there is serious and should not be treated as a joke (hold onto this thought).

The Control Devil

The United States government, fearing Makima's growing influence, makes a desperate pact with the Gun Devil. Shortly after, it is revealed that Makima is, in fact, the Control Devil.

Makima defeats the Gun Devil and forces what remains of it to possess Aki's body, turning him into the Gun Fiend. In one of the most tragic moments of Denji's life, he is forced to kill his own friend to save others, leaving him utterly devastated emotionally. It is in this state of emotional collapse that Makima invites him to her house.

The Final Apotheosis

We saw that there are several dogs at Makima's house, reinforcing the symbolism that everyone around her is nothing more than a mere pet. Makima asks Denji if he wants to be her dog too. Traumatised, incapable of processing the pain, and believing that if he simply obeys her commands he will bring no further harm to anyone, Denji ends up accepting.

Makima calls Power to her house as well. She asks Denji to open the door for her, and right after greeting her, Makima cold-bloodedly murders Power right in front of poor Denji. 'Bang!'

Following the execution, Makima lays bare her true intentions: 'I was wondering: "how could I break this contract?" How could I leave you so deeply scarred that you wouldn’t be able to live a normal life? So damaged that you could never recover for as long as you lived? Quite a challenge, wouldn’t you say? After all, you found so much happiness even living in extreme poverty with Pochita. So, I decided to start… by making you much happier. I gave you a job, money… and plenty of delicious food. I provided you with a family that would get along with you. Aki became a good older brother to you… and Power, the mischievous younger sister. I would make this level of happiness your new normal… and then I would destroy it all.'

Denji realizes that everything that happened up to that point was, recklessly enough, the result of his own choices. After all, why did he make the pact with Pochita? Simply to free himself from the shackles of human misery. Fair enough. But what came after? Did he use that power to act responsibly or help others? No. He chose to live as a 'semi-licentious' being.

'I want to have sex!', 'I want to eat until I’m sick!'. Fundamentally, what Denji sought was a life free of consequences. Giving no thought to the future, caring only about immediate gratification. And what did he expect from that? That consequences would never arrive? It is absurdly childish!

Deep down, Denji feels that the destruction around him, the deaths of millions of people, the deaths of companions like Himeno, Reze, Aki, Power, and even his father's death (which he had blocked from his memory) were his responsibility. 'What if I hadn’t made the contract with Pochita? What if I had just died at the hands of the Yakuza?'. None of this would have happened.

'Does a person like that really deserve to live a normal life, do you think?' – Makima asks Denji rhetorically.

Makima and Chainsaw Man

Remember when I said the manga presents itself through narrative licentiousness? That ends, definitively, right here. The story's narrative always mirrored Denji's mental state. Even when the manga presented tragic moments, such as the death of Himeno's squad, the author treated the event with a sudden disregard, almost a 'it happened, what can we do…?'. Denji himself did not grieve over it.

This complicity between the narrative and Denji's detachment crumbles the moment Chainsaw Man is exposed to the public. From the deaths of Aki and Power and the mass destruction caused by the hunt for his heart, the story abandons its cynical comedy to become openly traumatising, disturbing, and painful.

Continuing, Makima reveals herself to be an obsessive fan of the original Chainsaw Man and plans to use his power to erase concepts from existence and shape a perfect world under her control. We also discover why Chainsaw Man is so strong: the Chainsaw Devil is a devil that never stops revving his engine, which is why he always comes back. No matter how unfavourable the situation appears, he always returns by pulling his cord.

Traces of Power's blood remain in Denji's body after her death, reviving her just long enough for her to save him. With that, Power dies permanently.

Even while traumatised, Denji sees the world idolising the figure of Chainsaw Man. He decides to embrace this role not out of heroism, but as a psychological defence mechanism against the trauma of attempting to lead a normal life.

Realising that Makima never truly saw 'Denji', but only the Chainsaw Devil within his chest, he devises a plan: he uses a chainsaw forged from Power's blood to slice Makima while she fights a clone of Chainsaw Man.

To finish Makima off once and for all, Denji commits the ultimate act: he dismembers and consumes her body as meals. He does this not out of hatred, but out of a twisted form of love, wishing to 'become one with her' and shoulder her sins.

Sometime later, Kishibe (Makima's former colleague) hands Denji a young girl named Nayuta, the reincarnation of the Control Devil. We also discover that, deep down, the Control Devil's primary desire was to form affectionate bonds on equal footing – something her power of domination prevented her from achieving. Denji ends up taking custody of the young girl so she won't grow up lonely.

Epilogue

My final considerations, alongside what I have already mentioned, come down to two points: the way the author develops certain plotlines and the final revelation regarding the Control Devil's desires. Fujimoto sometimes appears overly rushed when establishing certain foundations. The way Aki, Power, and Denji come to treat each other as a family happens almost abruptly (even if there is a clear reason for it), much like the fact that Reze was a test subject in Soviet experiments (a major revelation that the author simply dumps into the reader's lap).

Furthermore, the final revelation that the Control Devil possessed a melancholy motivation ('I just wanted to form bonds and have friends') feels like the height of absurdity. The character (Makima) was built as an extraordinarily mysterious, manipulative, and villainous figure, only for her weight as an antagonist to be reduced to this justification in the end. Unpalatable!

Flaws in pacing aside, the arc is truly impeccable!

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