Fudgecakey

SOMEONE SAID IT.

I honestly share the same sentiment. Hoshiai no Sora goes against every single standard set by the anime industry in order to milk money from adult audiences, and the director has been making it veeeery clear from the start that he didn’t want to make a conventional anime and he’s strictly against relying on fanservice and stuff like that. He basically rebels against the current situation of the anime industry and wants young animators to follow that example. But the problem with letting someone like that succeed is that the industry would have to change and a lot of stuff would stop selling or start selling really bad, and they don’t want that now, do they?

There’s a way to support it. They’re making a campaign, apparently in order to gain the opportunity to make a sequel. It’s going on both on Twitter and in the official site. I’m gonna post details about it later, but basically, they’re asking for people’s feedbacks on the series. It doesn’t have to be in Japanese, I think.

Hoshiai no Sora has set the bar for a whole generation of slice-of-life and sports anime, and I’ll keep applauding it until I die. Even if we don’t get a second season, I’ll keep cheering for this wonderful staff, cast and director to keep delivering us the good stuff.

Also, with all that’s happened, I don’t ever want to see edgy antis in my inbox again screaming at me every time I talk about issues in the anime industry and trying to convince me that I’m just talking off my ass simply because they want to believe that they’re consuming “““progressive””” material instead of looking at the real situation of the business and the way it drives creators to the edge.

The current scene of anime production nowadays is extremely grim. So grim that anyone who tries to do things like Akane Kazuki and make a realistic series with present-time issues, rejecting fanservice and looking down on adults for neglecting their role of nurturing the next generations in favor of pretending that they’re doing what’s right, gets this kind of disrespectful treatment.

You’re not a bad anime fan for acknowledging that the anime industry is full of bullshit. If anything, you’re supporting creators who want to break this vicious cycle by doing that. There’s a lot of fakeness and so much shady stuff going on in it that most of you probably can’t even begin to imagine the true dimension of the issue.

this is rusame in a nutshell, right?

right?

The IDOLiSH7 anime OST, SOUND OF RAiNBOW, will be released on 4/25! They’ve revealed the cover of the OST, which you can see above, as well as the tracklist.

The OST will have 55 tracks over 2 CDs, including the Magical Girl Magical★Cocona OP and ED themes as bonus tracks. These tracks are sung by Cocona’s seiyuu, Hidaka Rina (who some of you may also recognize as Aya)!

Don’t forget to preorder the CD if you haven’t already! Check out the original tracklist here, and the translated tracklist below.

Let’sssssssssss dive into what Bluhen’s quest description says…

It’s nothing surprising or “whoa where did that come from” because we all kind of knew that he would choose the path of “I want to stay with the El Search Party even if I can’t be with them forever” but let’s just take a moment to appreciate

Bluhen’s, Erbluhen Emotion’s Lofty: Anpassen’s Ainchase’s journey

to this point

and what he went through to finally come to this resolution. When Ain was given his mission by the Goddess Ishmael and first arrived in Elrios to, now, say it with me, restore the energy to the unstable El, this was him:

Hear me, O creations of Ishmael: I was nothing but a single mass of light, before the will of God had reached me. Divine were the words that granted my form, and sacred was the mission my eyes opened to: “Thou shalt bestow energy on the weakened El.” To be born in the realm of God is to live by the words of God; I shall heed the call and accept the mission, to fulfill my purpose and return to the heavenly realm. I say again, By the sacred mission I have descended upon this land; My will is God’s will, and my existence is God’s wish.

Basically he’s saying

“Im getting the fuck out of here as soon as I do my job, which, the Goddess herself has given me, ehem, okay?”

And this mentality rings clear throughout the early stages of the Epic Quest in Ruben and Elder. Ain is eager to restore the shattered El and just get this shit done with as soon as possible. At first Ain couldn’t really understand why the ESP was helping the ungrateful human so much, and why they bother going through the trouble instead of focusing only on the objectives: restoring the El. Much to his dismay, everyone is a little too slow with the El Restoration business, and he’s beyond frustrated. 

Executor basically noped the fuck out of the party because they are too slow and he couldn’t stand human’s humanness (greed/incompetence/stupidity), Wanderer had a breakdown from all the lack of progress they were making with the mission. But Anpassen stayed, perhaps because he was fascinated by why and more importantly, how the El Search Party was finding the reason to do  things for others without expecting anything in return. 

What he discovered was altruism.

Ain becoming Lofty: Anpassen wasn’t because he was like “Oh cool so this is what human emotion is” or Lofty: Anpassen becoming Erbluhen Emotion wasn’t “I totally get human emotions now; so this is anger and this is happiness”

If you read his job descriptions carefully, you’ll learn that Ain was able to manifest El’s energy with something else; it wasn’t simply “human emotion” but compassion. Anpassen and Erbluhen is the product of Ain feeling compassion for his friends. The more he saw them helping each other even in times of hardship, he felt something within him. He was beginning to understand what it’s like to help someone and not expect anything for it. For Erbluhen, the ESP was in trouble and Anpassen desperately wanted to save them. It was something he never felt before. With his sincere desire to help his friends, he gained ability to control Eids even more effectively. So his entire character concept revolves around positive human social interactions like compassion, camaraderie, friendship, and such. It’s not “Oh yay I learned what sadness is today, I am so strong now.”

Now if this is a bit confusing from the way KoG throws around the word “emotion,” I understand. Sometimes I get the feeling they don’t know what they’re saying. This isn’t me saying I know their character more than them; I’m saying they blurred the line between compassion and “emotion” that it now all sounds really confusing and really what the f

I’m guessing they’re trying to say compassion and altruism are something only humans experience so a Celestial being such as Ain feeling altruistic is truly very “human” of him but we all know that’s not true; even animals can be altruistic and feel compassion for others. (See Elephants and Dolphins)

And they do try to draw a very distinct difference between Arme who loses even more “emotion” when he becomes Richter (reminiscent of Harnier losing herself as she becomes part of the El; Illuminos phenomenon, I guess it’s an effect of becoming more “God/Celestial”-like and less human), and Erbluhen Emotion becomes even more “emotional” when he becomes Bluhen. I guess being emotionally invested in others and helping each other is the concept KoG was trying to grasp. But simply saying “Emotion is Bluhen’s source of power” is really dodgy and confusing because malevolence and feeling murderous are also emotion…

So

Ain: I am going to finish my job and go back home to where I used to be a ball of light because humans are stinky

Anpassen: I don’t know why they’re wasting time; this is amusing. I wonder what motivates them to go out of their way to help each other. Oh hey what are these things they’re kind of cool; how do I use them???

Erbluhen Emotion: I am unsure exactly why but I want to help the party when they’re in trouble. I can control Eids however I want to and I can use them to make sure everyone in the party is safe… I want to be with them…? But they will forget me once I complete my mission and disappear. What’s the point of my existence, I wonder… Was I not created to fulfill an important mission? Am I allowed to care about my own well-being? For my own sake? I’ll leave my fate up to Elsword.

Bluhen: I thought I was going to disappear forever but I have been given another chance by the grace of Elia. I had fears and doubts about my future, as Henir’s influence weakened me. But my friends have not only saved me but also helped me find out who I am and what kind of future I want for myself. I want to be with the party as long as I could, even if the only thing left for me is regret because the times I have shared with them and will share with them is more important than the fear for my future.