kodama

or more accurately: “Otoya is already really strongly attached to Nanoka and it’s adorable”, half-shitpost half-serious talk

I’m going to preface this by pointing out that while Otoya’s mannerisms are not too out of the ordinary, he uses some rather odd terms and is fairly polite with speech. For example, when saying “we” for him and Mao, one would normally expect the phrase to be watashi-tachi (commonplace “us” term) or the like, but he uses temaedomo which is… something you don’t normally see used, because while it’s also an “us” term, it’s used by merchants/store workers/inn workers. It honestly shocked me when I saw him use it for the first time; but in hindsight it makes more sense considering what he and Mao do while wandering around.

Anyway! As I was reading the raws, I noticed that when Nanoka goes back to the Taisho period, Otoya greets her with the typical Okaeri nasai! as many of you have probably seen in anime before.

Standard “welcome home!” greeting, which I thought was cute as hell because a) he was already anticipating her return, and b) they don’t even have their own home to begin with.

Then I got to the part where he and Mao are giving her the information they learned while she was away.

He uses a more polite phrasing of rusu no aida (留守の間), which as a blanket term means “in one’s absence” - Nanoka’s in this case. However, rusu (留守) on its own has several meanings with slight differences, all culminating on absence. One such is “being away from home”. If you really dissect this and his general attitude towards her, then man it looks like this tiny shikigami boy already really likes Nanoka and having her around - To the point that he considers their era her “home”.

Whether or not Mao shares the sentiment with his literally self-made partner is to be seen… I have no idea if Otoya is really a truly separate entity from him or not. A bit too early to tell, but even if Otoya and Mao are 100% separate from each other, it’s still adorable af.

Oh boy, I have plenty!

Princess Tutu - Really interesting storytelling, cute characters, and beautiful animation. Two major players from Sailor Moon (Junichi Sato and Ikuko Itoh) really put a lot of love into this. Especially recommended if you’re a fan of ballot, and non-conventional storytelling (enemy of the day fights are depicted as dance numbers!).

Cutey Honey F - I love the franchise as a whole, but I think Flash is the best one when it comes to storytelling. Character development and interaction are great, plus there’s a lot of nice twists and turns with the plotline. Last I checked it was being subbed by fans (though the translation is based off the German dub). 

Tokimeki Tonight - I’m not sure if I completely consider this a magical girl series, but it’s close to it. Very cute and fun show. If you’re a fan of Urusei Yatsura, or 80′s comedies, this is the way to go. The whole series has been fansubbed. 

Majokko Megu-chan - Undoubtedly the pinnacle of classic magical girl series. Definitely paved the way for future series like Sailor Moon. Deals with a lot of social issues, and great character development for the series lead. Wonderful mixture of drama, comedy, action, with the occasional romance. Unfortunately, not avaliable in English but it has been translated in Italian.