12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 3 x Kissing Frieren Figure Giveaway!
It wouldnât be Christmas without a gift, right? And weâve got one for you thatâs just in time for a new season of one of our favorite animeâand one of the most popular and critically acclaimed ones of recent years: Frieren: Beyond Journeyâs End!
And it depicts one of the seriesâ silliest and most memorable scenes. Surely, you must all remember Frierenâs âseductionâ of Sein?
Well, Goodsmile has developed a Frieren anime figure in its Pop-Up Parade line, depicting that very scene. And weâre giving one away as part of our 12 Days of Christmas Anime! Here are a couple of photos of the figure for that âwicked woman,â Frieren:
To enter our giveaway, follow, like and share our pinned posts on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and/or Facebook. You can enter on any or all platforms (the more you enter, the more chances you have to win!). And then double your chances of winning on each by answering this question:
Whatâs something you love about winter?
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The deadline to enter the contest is 11:59 ET on December 31st. So obviously, the winner will not receive the figure in time for Christmas, but you will be getting it around the time of the premiere for the new season of Frieren: Beyond Journeyâs End!
You can find additional rules on those pinned posts. Good luck!
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I saw this article calling Sasuke a Villain and how the live-action shouldn't include his "villain" arc, because it "felt tedious and too convoluted to the bigger narrative" and instead they should make him a pivot for the fight against the Otsutsuki...
Did this person watch the anime or read the manga?
Article from CBR, Title: The Naruto Live-Action Movie Doesn't Need To Adapt This Villain Arc
1. Protect Konoha from what? The Uchiha wanted to end the decades long discrimination and oppression they were facing at the hands of the higher ups... (Not to mention that when Kurama attacked the village (under genjutsu, when Naruto was born), and during the konoha crush, no other villages went to attack the Leaf after the events), not even after the Pein arc...
2. Most people would hate growing up alone, and why was that sentence in bold?
3. Sasuke didn't find out about the true reason Itachi did what he did, until after Itachi died, as well as the real reason behind said Coup... as far as I am aware. And why wouldn't he want revenge against Konoha (specifically the 3 people who are left that caused all of his trauma and the uchiha genocide, it'd be 4 but the Sandaime Hokage was already dead by this point in the story)
4. What "wars" against Madara and Obito? There was only 1 War against them, the 4th great ninja war, that lasted 2 days a.k.a. approximately ~212 episodes, including filler (volumes 55 through 59 in the Manga, according to google)
"Naruto and Sasuke were reincarnations of her sons (Ashura and Indra, respectively)"
Okay, so the author didn't watch nor read Naruto...
Indra and Ashura Otsutsuki are not Kaguya's sons... they are her grandsons đď¸đđď¸ Homura and Hagoromo Otsutsuki are her sons... and Hagoromo is Ashura and Indra's fatherâŚ
I feel like the author doesn't know much about Kaguya either, if they did they'd know her story.
"The advantage of Sasuke being a rebel without defecting from Konoha is that Naruto would have the help needed to fight the big villains of the franchise: the Ĺtsutsuki."
When the time came, was Sasuke not helping Naruto with that? đ§ And why shouldn't he have defected from Konoha? What good could they do for him?
Why does Sasuke need to be convinced to return home, when his home was taken from him by this "home" the author speaks of, that "home" being Konoha? Why should he return to the place that treated his people so poorly that they felt they no other choice but to do a coup against the people in charge of Konoha only to be wiped out for daring to stand up for themselves after years of oppression...?
Konoha, specifically Danzo, the third hokage, and 2 hogake advisors, Homura and Koharu (3 of which where Tobirama Senju's students and all 4 of which were on his personal team, and we all know what Tobi thought of the Uchiha) forced Itachi to wipeout his whole clan, excluding Sasuke, and then blamed him for it. They swept what they did under a filthy rug, that already had many skeletons piling up, and acted like he was the most evil person... He was a child and he was forced to do that and to become a fugitive by the old people in charge, who had no business being in charge of Konoha since there should've been a 5th Hokage by then... (regardless if Itachi regretted it or not, which he never really does)
I won't say it...đ
"Sasuke could learn more about how Indra developed a dark side, which passed down to the Uchiha, while Ashura's light gave way to the Senju and Uzumaki (Naruto's family) clans"
1. While I do agree that Naruto should've learnt more of the Uzumaki (and the Namikaze), besides finding out they excelled in Sealing Jutsus, had very long lives and were a bit savage (it wasn't in-depth at all, and there is no one to teach him, since the Uzumaki are also victims of genocide (in which Konoha did not help protect them) and well, I don't know what happened to Minato's people)
2. And that Sasuke should've learnt more of his people (but how was he going to, when he was the only one left at age 7/8?)
3. Indra's dark side... it wasn't passed down, nor did it emerge until his father gave his little brother the title of successor and expected him to follow without questions, having his birthright taken away because he was more introverted than his little brother whom their father called "the flunky useless dropout younger brother" (according to a panel I saw). And implied, at least to me, that ninjustu was created for wars and all things evil (Indra created ninjustu when he was just a child). ah yes his dark side the Uchiha inherited, that darkness of wanting to be treated like people and with respect in the village they helped make.
4. Kushina calls the Uzumaki, among other things, a bit savage. Batsuma Senju punched Hashirama, a child at the time, for being angry/sad that his little brother died, saying he was disrespecting his brother (and him) by basically questioning the system. Tobirama is a Senju, who was not shy about his hatred and prejudice against the Uchiha Clan (he is after all the founder of the bigoted psuedo science that was the "Curse of Hatred" the Uchiha are supposedly afflicted by, a clan that according to him is cursed and called Sasuke "a brat possessed by Uchiha evil") and that's on Ashura's "light" that gave way for his descendants, the Uzumaki and the Senju, "a clan of love~"đĽ°
Right, because he wasn't a pivot to the story, nor did his and naruto's story have any "heart and impact"... Right...
At some point, I wonder if some of this article is just satire đ
Finding the best Iyashikei Anime? Iyashikei may or may not be something you have heard of, and if you haven't, Iyashikei anime is a specific type of genre, a
Love slice of life Animes that give a âhealing effectâ?Â
Magical Girl anime have this tendency to provoke a binary reaction. Either you see Magical Girls on the promo material and want to watch the show, or else you donât. So, Iâd like to preface this bout of gushing-about-a-show-that-I-watched by saying that your initial reaction to seeing the below poster should be discarded and you should just watch this show.
No, really, I think itâs safe to say that if you have an initial gut reaction of âIâm not interestedâ then you are probably going to appreciate this show quite a bit, while those who are avid fans of the Magical Girl genre might actually end up being put off by their expectations. Not because of what this show is, but rather by what this show isnât.
In the same way that everyone knows that Darth Vader is Lukeâs father or that a certain noble from the North loses their head, there are some story twists which percolate into the general cultural consciousness due to sheer popularity and end up becoming common knowledge. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a series which blew up to such popularity in 2011 that youâve probably seen the characters somewhere before even if you donât watch a lot of anime. Youâve probably also seen this little guy
around, often in the context of memes in which either 1) he tries to get people to make a contract or 2) people inflict violence on him and his smug little face never changes.
So while I want to say that Madoka Magica will surprise you when it pulls a left turn into darkness and despair, not only have I just ruined that specific surprise for you but the internet at large more than likely already did that job for me. Not only was this show popular, which translates into a more widespread awareness of its overall tone and some of its twists, other more recent shows have pulled a similar deception. Only last year did we have Made in Abyss, which I havenât seen yet but which I understand exists for the sole purpose of having cute kids set off on an exciting adventure only to be eaten alive by Uncle Lovecraftâs Happy Fun Time Cave. If youâve been around the anime niches of the internet or, like me, have a former otaku for a sister then you know from the onset that this show is far more than meets the eye based on reputation alone.
To start with, take a good look at the promotional material for this show, such as the trailer. The production team did their damndest to ensure that from the outside the show would look like the most derivative Magical Girl show ever made, up to and including keeping Gen Urobuchiâs involvement in the production a secret. Gen Urobuchi (aka ButchGen aka The Urobutcher) is a writer who is known for being a bit of a downer, having been involved in projects such as Fate/Zero and Psycho-Pass. Heâs very outspoken when it comes to his distaste for heroic archetypes played straight and his tendency to drag his characters through the mud, so his presence as the showâs writer was what you might call a dead giveaway.
So what happens when a writer like this tackles a genre known for being all about hope, courage, and the power of friendship and love? There are many people who argue that Madoka Magica deconstructs the Magical Girl anime (Magical Girl Warrior subgenre) as codified by Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura. Some even say itâs the Neon Genesis Evangelion of the Magical Girl genre. As NGE showed us just how psychologically messed up a Giant Robot show would be if populated by actual human beings, Madoka Magica is about how having child combatants fight monsters in an urban environment with no support network does not make a well-adjusted childhood.
The effects of this kind of pressure and isolation on a bunch of adolescents is one of the elements of Madoka Magica, but fighting monsters with magic isnât the only thing that makes a Magical Girl story. Theyâre traditionally as much coming-of-age stories as they are stories about definitions of femininity and self-determination. Madoka Magica has the trappings of a MG show: an all-loving protagonist, a dark and aloof rival, a tomboy friend, a non-magical friend, transformation sequences, fighting against the manifestations of dark emotions, and a cute(?) mascot. Itâs talking the talk, but at its heart this is not a story about Magical Girl stories in the same way NGE was about Giant Robot anime (thatâs what Revolutionary Girl Utena is for). It certainly plays with many common elements of the Magical Girl anime, but at its heart Madoka Magica is about hope, despair, idealism and selfishness. Itâs a psychological drama and grand tragedy. It just happens to be wearing a Magical Girl outfit.
Which is not to say that one is superior to the other, of course. Just set your expectations accordingly if youâre already a Magical Girl fan. If youâre not, well, you might be in luck...
Twelve episodes isnât a whole lot of time and Madoka Magica does a lot in those twelve episodes, so while Iâm willing to spoil the tone of the story discussing the plot itself is a bit trickier. Kaname Madoka is our pink-haired milquetoast protagonist who doesnât think sheâs anything special, and just wants to make friends with everyone. Weâre introduced to her via dream sequence, where she witnesses a dark-haired girl fighting against an enemy ravaging the city. A strange white bunny-cat creature asks Madoka to make a contract and become a magical girl, and then she wakes up. It turns out that when not dreaming of plot foreshadowing, Madoka has a pretty good life; a cool mom, a loving dad and good friends. But today it turns out the new transfer student at school - Akemi Homura - is the same girl from her dream. Homura warns Madoka to never change, to stay exactly as she is if she doesnât want to lose her friends, family, everything she has ever loved. We wouldnât have much of a story if Madoka never changed, though, so it isnât long before the bunny-cat creature from the dream crashes into the narrative as well and introduces himself as Kyubey.
Kyubey offers Madoka and her best friend Sayaka an opportunity: make a contract with him and he will grant a single wish, any wish. In return the wisher receives magic powers and must now fight Witches. Not the pointed-hat, broomstick-riding variety, but rather strange, eldritch beings which bring about despair, death and suicide among ordinary humans. It sounds like a good deal: get magic powers and a superhero job on top of a wish? Who wouldnât want that? But the catch is that this job is for life. If youâre spending all your free time saving the world, youâre not spending time with friends, getting a boyfriend, even just having fun. Is your wish worth dedicating your life to?
This story has a lot to say about good intentions. Our characters are living pretty good lives, so is there really anything worth giving that up for? Perhaps the wish is better spent on someone who needs it. But, remember, make a wish and youâre essentially fighting on behalf of that wish for the rest of your life. Is what you wish for really what you want, or do you really want some other outcome? Say you wish for a dying friend to heal; do you actually want them healed, or do you really want their eternal gratitude? All the characters in this story have the best intentions, but thereâs a gap between intention and execution. If you donât know what you really want, all the idealism in the world isnât going to save you from your own regrets.
The phrase âI just wanted what was bestâ is a damning one. It's key to remember that the characters are adolescent girls, with all the contradictory vulnerability and immovable self-righteousness which comes at that age. It's the age at which ideas of how the world should be collide rudely with how the world actually is, and a person can either deal with it by changing themselves and developing coping mechanisms - healthy or unhealthy - or else break themselves on the impossibility of making their ideals fit with the system. Then again, it might be possible to change the system itself... but thatâs a long shot.
At one point Madokaâs mother gives her a piece of advice: if you see your friend hurting themselves while trying to to the right thing, maybe the best thing to do is to do the wrong thing for them to break them out of their self-destructive cycle. After all, theyâre all still young, theyâre at an age where recovering from mistakes is supposed to be easier than when youâre an adult. But this advice happens to come at the wrong time, because these kids are stuck in a situation where a mistake can cost oneâs life.
As it happens the relationship between Madoka and her mother is one of the highlights in the series. Mom is a career-chasing businesswoman who still takes the time to talk to her daughter, and though she may not be working her dream job sheâs living life on her own terms and is obviously an inspiration for Madoka. Her relationship with Madoka plays a surprisingly important role in the story, which is a refreshing change since parents are usually a non-factor or killed off for backstory purposes. The rest of the characters fit much more neatly into standard archetypes. Madoka herself has a big heart and wants everyone to get along, while her much more outgoing friend Sayaka is the go-getter who will take on problems head-first. Weâre introduced early on to a much more experienced magical girl named Tomoe Mami, and she ends up taking a sort of big sister mentor role. All three of these girls believe in helping and protecting others, though each has their own take on the best way of doing so. Homura on the other hand is the dark and mysterious loner who for some reason is fixated on Madoka. We feel like sheâs an antagonist, but another character who enters the story later turns out to be even more hostile. The red to Sayakaâs idealistic blue, this new magical girl feels like the antithesis to the magical girl ideals weâre used to: selfish, violent and hedonistic.
As elemental as each of these characters is, by the end of the story each one ends up in a very different place than where they started - or else had their starting position shifted altogether. Not everyone is what they seem. Homuraâs backstory in particular hits like a truck when it finally arrives and ends up being key to the resolution of the plot. That said, Madoka Magica is not a story that goes in for particularly complex characterization. Its twelve-episode runtime forces a fast buildup and resolution. Friendships and other relationships donât really have the time to mature on screen, and a lot has to be left to subtext or inference. Each characterâs arc takes them where they need to go for the story to progress, and itâs not necessarily a bad thing. Some of these character arcs are desperately tragic tales of misunderstandings and misplaced idealism, but in the end these are still archetypal characters, though perhaps not the archetype you expected. Ultimately, they serve more as conflicting views on the showâs central themes than as the driving force of the story itself. The short length of the show is a weakness, keeping the story from being able to develop the cast as much as would have been ideal.
On the other hand, the showâs compact twelve episode structure is also its strength, and the ârealismâ of the characters is much less important than what each one represents in the story as a whole. Itâs hard to say whether or not Puella Magi Madoka Magica wouldâve been able to hit as hard as it does if was any longer. This is a story very much focused on building its plot and keeping a steady pace, layering the tone and atmosphere and absolutely killing it in the aesthetics department. It is a straightforward story when allâs said and done, but it is densely constructed and cohesive. Every element of the show works as part of a whole and builds on the others, the visuals, the cinematography, the music, and even in the way the plot is structured. Itâs got no time for cheap fanservice, it makes full use of every moment, and it only gets better on repeat viewings. This isnât a show that supports casual viewing, and it expects you to be paying as much attention to the way a character is being framed in a shot as to whatâs being said (or not said) in the dialogue. This is ultimately a simple story, yes, but itâs dense and constantly being told on multiple layers.
Puella Magi Madoka Magicaâs ace in the hole is its mixed-media action scenes. Whenever our characters are fighting a Witch the show pulls a Terry Gilliam and starts doing very strange things with the animation. The medium of the art itself changes, with our cel-animated characters fighting against and among stop-motion objects. Paper cutouts and cotton balls. Lace and embroidery. The effect is unnerving and psychedelic and sometimes overwhelming. It can be difficult to follow the action whenever this happens, but then again these are supposed to be things that arenât quite in sync with reality, beings which practically run on magic. The fact that these unreal things and spaces are being represented with real-world objects intruding into the animation is a clever touch. Itâs an effect that Iâve rarely seen used in anime, and never in an action-heavy context.
(Authorâs addendum: Iâm aware that director Akiyuki Shinboâs thing is this mix of visual styles. I do think its usage in Madoka Magica is still notable, if only because it works really well here.)
Even when itâs being more conventional Madoka Magica is visually accomplished. Even though the wide-faced character designs threw me for a loop at first (so wide!) they did eventually grow on me. Thereâs something about how the eyes look almost penciled-in which keeps them from straying into overly-cutesy territory. The cinematography is likewise superb. Strong, stylized color work drives home tone and emotion. The setting often dwarfs people within vast, empty cityscapes, the background itself being a reflection of the charactersâ emotions and the seriesâ tone. In dialogue-heavy scenes we get momentary flashes of expression and action illustrating whatâs happening inside a characterâs head, and the framing of characters in a scene tells you everything you need to know about their relationships without saying a word. Whatever else you might think about Madoka Magica, it looks beautiful and tells much of its story visually through color, framing, light and shadow.
Going further than that, the structure of the plot is beautifully constructed as well. You could divide the story into four arcs of three episodes, each following the development of a different character, or else three arcs of four episodes, each one ending with a new point of no return. The third and tenth episodes mirror each other as well, each one shifting the stakes and giving us new context for everything which came before. The reason why this show shines so much brighter on a rewatch is because things that seemed like inconsequential melodrama or lazy writing the first time around take on a whole new meaning once backstory and motivation are revealed. Itâs for this reason that Iâm not terribly concerned about revealing Puella Magi Madoka Magicaâs swerve into darkness; high stakes and dark subject matter are not the only secrets that this series has got up its sleeve. By the end of the story weâre not only dissecting the intentions and desires of our characters, weâre asking hard questions about why this story had to happen the way it did at all, questions which lead to what might be one of the most satisfying conclusions to an anime Iâve ever seen.
That is perhaps what makes Madoka Magica the show that it is. Though the ultimate shape of the story is straightforward, we journey there through layers of twisting color and twisting plot. Though we have our perspective on the events of the story constantly re-contextualized about once an episode, itâs always building to a conclusion that both feels inevitable and yet less likely the closer we get. And when the end does arrive, it takes everything that has happened so far, every mistake, every hope, every good intention gone wrong and it makes them matter. Though the ending is theoretically open ended, itâs entirely self-contained. It has introduced us to a new world, revealed the lies underlying this world, and has shown us what these characters do about it. It raises questions, and in the end tells us what itâs been saying all along. Few shows, anime or otherwise, use such a cohesive combination of visuals, narrative, and music to deliver a message. Beautiful to look at, beautiful to listen to, and beautiful in how it unfolds.
As it turned out, a sequel movie was made anyways. I refuse to provide any comprehensive thoughts on Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion for now, because doing so runs the risk of being flayed alive by the fandom no matter your take. Suffice it to say that itâs incredibly self-indulgent, visually stunning, and it will make you regret wishing that the ending of the original series could have been happier.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is beautiful, and you really should watch it.
- Taihus, the wish-granting @raincoastgamerâ
(And I somehow manage to write all of this without actually discussing the soundtrack. The thing is, I donât really know how to critique a soundtrack. Itâs good, its use of leitmotifs is masterful and actually brought me to tears in episode 8, Magia represents the showâs true face behind the pleasant pink facade, and Iâve still got Sis Puella Magica stuck in my head.)
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Our streamer Whit drew this on our special Christmas stream last night. Ainât it fun? Come follow us on Twitch for more great art streams in 2025!
If you didnât join us last night for our livestream, youâre in luckâweâve got it recorded posted here just for you! Whit chatted with our subscribers last night as she drew Christmas-themed Dandadan art. Youâre gonna love it!
One of the most incredible things about being an anime fan in 2025 is the massive amount of anime figures available to collectors. And figure companies arenât just focusing on new seriesâtheyâre developing models for older anime, too! A decade ago, that would have been unthinkable, but now? Weâve got new Toradora figures!
We are giving away one Pop-Up Parade figure of Taiga Aisaka, everyoneâs favorite tsundere, from the classic series Toradora! Hereâs a little BtT trivia: my love for that series sparked a dormant love for anime within me, and it eventually led to me blogging about anime, which led to Beneath the Tangles.
Thank you, Taiga!
But onto YOU. How can you win this figure? Itâs pretty easy! Follow us, like and share our pinned posts on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, or Substack. And then double your chances of winning by answering this question:
What âold schoolâ anime would you recommend?
The deadline to enter the contest is midnight ET on June 13th. You can find additional rules on those pinned posts. Good luck!
And after you enter, read some of our Toradora articles from throughout the years:
The Code of Kushieda
12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 12: Toradora
My Experience with a Voice ActressâŚor, Get Over Yourself, Minorin!
12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 6: Toradoraâs âHoly Nightâ Is Animeâs Christmas Carol
âIs there any point in reaching the top by stepping on other people?â first-year Wakana asks her new roommate Kinue, to which the older girl responds, âPlatitudes wonât get you anywhere.â The world these girls have entered is a difficult one. Wakana, Kinue, Wakanaâs new friend Momoko, and others are attending Awajima Opera School, where they will become rivals to reach a place on the stage. But at their tender age, some will struggleâlike a talented opera singer who weeps when she has to share a bath with the other girlsâand they will try to find their way among girls whose skills may be different, but aspirations are the same: to shine.
