Animisery – A Blog About Living Miserably with Anime (Among Other Things)

To be honest, I keep opening up this site to type out a blog and then I lose my steam and leave my ramblings in my drafts to rot forever more. This will be no longer! I’ll recap everything I watched from the previous month at the start of the next month so I can blog wildly and predictably as the WordPress deities above intended!

If you frequent this blog (and if you do then thank you! It means a lot!) then you may be aware that I swore that this year would be a return to form for my anime viewing habits. I swore to myself that I would watch more anime and get back into to the spirited discussions and binging that marked my 2019 to 2021 years. At the end of January, I only really completed four shows and a movie but that is such an improvement comparatively to just 2023 when I would go long stretches without even opening up Crunchyroll. I love anime and, like any loving long term relationships, sometimes you just need a break to rekindle the fire. While I can’t profess that my habits have returned to a full on raging inferno, the fires are being kindled and I’m sure it’ll be in due time before we’re looking at a nice anime campfire with nice anime s’mores.

Without much further blog foreplay, here are my January anime!

DANDADAN – SEASON ONE

I noted way earlier in my blog that Dandadan had the capacity be the FLCL for a new generation and after completing the series, I think I might have actually had a rare solid take. Dandadan, like FLCL, is unabashedly weird yet Dandadan exudes an unshakable anime charisma with fun characters and humorous antics while also managing to smear tears across your face with one of the most heartrending scenes in anime that I’ve seen in a long while. It possesses the magnitude of strange that makes anime such an infallible and unique form of entertainment and Science Saru are making that animation budget work as they craft beautifully rendered action scenes that border on high budget movie quality. While some have cried foul at the season one cliffhanger ending, it’s not like we didn’t already know that Dandadan was going to be a part of a huge media blitz which signaled that more would soon be on the way. The brazen sexuality of some scenes of Dandadan may be off-putting but it was a great way to start 2025 as my premiere anime by reminding me of the amazing capacity that anime has to give us as far as outstanding media goes. A very sincere 9 out of 10 for you Dandadan!

SOLO LEVELING – SEASON ONE

Solo Leveling was essentially all style with no substance from the word “hajimeyou” with a predictable plot with standard characters that weren’t at all interesting to me. Granted that Solo Leveling, as far as the novel/manhua goes, is the franchise that popularized some of the most exhausting tropes to me as far as this medium goes but that still didn’t salvage any good will to me. Jin Woo is your standard wish fulfillment stand in for the audience as he starts as the weakest hunter in the world but then becomes a real bad ass that can’t be stopped because he has a secret power that no one understands including not even by his stepdad Kevin KEVIN YOU’RE NOT EVEN MY REAL DAY and everyone thinks he’s cool when he gets his OP powers. I’m dunking on Jin Woo and Solo Leveling yet I binged it in a feverish pace because, while it may be predictable, it’s a feast for the eyes and satisfies that action anime craving with engaging feats of animation splendor and fights that get the pulse quickening. I would say that Solo Leveling, to me, was the equivalent of a Five Guys burger. It’s really nothing special for the price you pay to be there yet it satisfies like nothing else when you’ve got your hands on it. Solo Leveling was a solid 8 out of 10 for making me watch it on my phone. That’s how down bad I was for fights.

THE COLORS WITHIN

I like Naoko Yamada’s work so I went into this film with the eager expectations that I would be healed by the magic of anime and Yamada’s talent. I was not disappointed as The Colors Within was one of the most marshmallow anime that I’ve seen in quite a while as almost no drama occurs that isn’t easily rectified and the characters suffer no legitimate internal strife that isn’t quickly solved. That sounds like criticism but The Colors Within makes it clear rather early on that it is not a film about “drama” but rather it is a film about “feeling”. The Colors Within is based around the premise that the main character can see the colors of another person (essentially a rainbow vibe check, I suppose) and she witnesses a brilliant color in her class mate and just wants to hang out and get to know her. Said class mate is struggling with the internal pressures of her life and just has fun getting to know the main character and they make a band with a third character and comfy times ensues. The animation and colors implemented in the film are absolutely stellar and some of the sakuga involved with just casual scenes caught me off guard. Part of me did actually want some more weighty drama when particular plot points occurred later on yet I didn’t feel left wanting for something else after I left the theater. If there was ever a film that felt “fuwa fuwa” then it is absolutely The Colors Within. I wish there was one more color to the rainbow so I could say your score reflects the rainbow but there isn’t and this analogy sucks so 8 out of 10 colors (within).

THE APOTHECARY DIARIES – SEASON ONE

I started this anime in 2024 when it finished but it put it on hold after three episodes… I have never felt more foolish (as it concerns putting an anime on hold). Jinshi is my new husband and Maomao is my new best friend and we’re going to live happily ever after with no one to stop us. That’s my exact sentiments of The Apothecary Diaries. It is a perfect blend of humor, drama, and mystery that never ceased to have me hooked and ready for me. In fact, I originally binged through 12 episodes on my return because I was just that hungry for more with each episode. The characters are stand outs as they easily hoist this show’s premise skyward with simply delightful interactions that kept a smile on my face. If I did have some criticisms (and I do like I’m about to type them give me a minute dad), I would say that some of the episodic mysteries were rather unsatisfying. I’m not too keen on what makes a good mystery but having the solution be something that the protagonist knew in passing and waving it away with “of course I knew it I’m X so I knew it had to be that” can be just flat boring some times. I’m aware that Maomao being an apothecary and having her solve mysteries involving medicine and medical issues means that it’s well within the spectrum of her knowledge and character but it just felt deflating sometimes. It never managed to dampen my investment in each quandary that Maomao was in so maybe this is just poor criticism at the end. I also adore the final episodes as they were a satisfyingly heart warming pseudo redemption arc and elicited TERRIBLE ugly tears on my behalf. The Apothecary Diaries was a great medicine for the soul and 9.5 doctors out of 10 would recommend. The last doctor was cut in half when he was recommending. It was very tragic.

WIND BREAKER – SEASON ONE

I was so hyped for this anime when I discovered it. Delinquents!? And they’re fighting other schools!?!? The pieces were all there for me to have a fighting good time and for the first few episodes, I wasn’t complaining. That said, by episode 7, I was kind of just over Wind Breaker. “I’m past the half way mark so I might as well finish” was my sentiment and if that’s your motivation for finishing a show then it’s probably like a billboard that kills people: it’s not a good sign. Wind Breaker has some crisp fighting animation for sure and that seems to be the selling point. CloverWorks is out here to flex their animation muscle and they succeed quite well. The problem is that all of these characters are absolutely boring templates of characters I’ve seen before and I don’t particularly have a single care about their strife. The main character was bullied for being different (it’s because he has anime hair in an anime and I am not joking) so he’s bitter and wants to prove himself. The big brother leader of the school thinks that fights are just conversations that you have with your fists. There is an annoying side character who can’t fight that supports the cast by just being there. It’s absolutely Anime 101 and that shouldn’t be an issue if the cast could manage to do anything worth investing but it’s all such seen it before shonen drivel that it exhausted me. If you enjoy shonen storytelling then Wind Breaker is here flying your banner unrepentantly. If you’re someone like me who can only tolerate so much typical shonen fare then the fights and animation therewithin are going to have to carry it for you because the story certainly isn’t. I think I just ended up being so down on the show because I had expectations for it to be something that it never could be. I can’t get mad at a shonen show for being a shonen show yet I feel compelled to rail on it since I did want so much more out of it. The first episode has some captivating imagery and the fights were as if I was watching a brilliantly done live action film. The setup was there for me to have a good time yet the main character Sakura just pushed me further and further away every instance that he opened his mouth. Having a male tsundere as your lead is interesting enough, I guess. At the end of it all, I don’t WHOLLY regret my time with Wind Breaker yet I don’t think I’ll pursue season two unless I see some outstanding visual work in a PV or something. It’s 6 whole punches to the face out of 10.

That’s it! That’s everything I ended up finishing in January! I did end up starting a few shows like Full Metal Panic, Kaiju No. 8, and Pseudo Harem at the time but they kind of hit the back burner as I played games and read a few books from my TBR. I’m doing some seasonal watching like the second season The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really REALLY Love You in the background too so I’m sure I’ll make some blog posts when the season is over. I hope you had a great January of watching anime and feel free to leave what your January anime journey was like in the comments below! I’d love to read it and talk with you.

Thank you for reading my blog! It means a lot! If you want more of my anime thoughts and opinions then feel free to check out the Anime Brothers Podcast which I host with my good pal Earthworm wherever you get your shows! Have a great day!