SHAMAN KING EPISODE 1

why the fuck does every shounen opening from the 2000s go so hard? anyway

we open on this short kid named manta, going to school and minding his business. when he's walking home one night, he runs into a weird boy standing in a graveyard, staring up at the sky.

"the stars are so pretty. you came to see them, right? come watch with everyone."

"uh, isnt your grammar wrong? you wouldnt say 'everyone' to refer to two people..."

"no, i mean everyone" and then A BUNCH OF FUCKING GHOSTS APPEAR!!!! and manta runs home screaming. the next few days kind of suck really bad for manta because nobody believes him that he saw ghosts so he goes back to get pictures but theres a gang there and they beat him up.

weird boy is named yoh. yoh feels bad that manta got beat up. yoh's grandpa always said spirits only show themselves to good people, so manta must be a good person.

yoh takes manta BACK to the graveyard a third time to confront the gang. he has to tie manta to a tree so that he can watch (if he wasnt tied to the tree he would run away)

yoh summons the spirit of a samurai and turns it into a ball and lets the samurai possess him to battle the gang. we learn that yoh is a shaman and this is what shamans do. Sure!

after the battle, yoh is nervous that manta wont want anything to do with him now that he has revealed his power. manta doesnt care and now theyre friends.

despite how much action there is this was a pretty slow paced episode 1, which isnt by itself a BAD thing but the first 15 minutes are just Manta saw a ghost! Nobody believes him! He really saw a ghost though! His classmates do not believe him! For 15 Minutes. It Was Boring. and also manta is a little annoying by himself LOL

the fight scene was incredible, though! i was completely invested in it

do i want to watch more?

mayyybe just one more to see what the tone is like now that we know the two main characters.

favorite screenshots

the artstyle of this show is so silly i love the perspective shots they do
An exaggerated top-down shot of Yoh, Manta, and a ball-shaped Spirit looking up at the camera, with the Shaman King logo in the top right corner. The angle makes their legs look very short. An exaggerated bottom-up shot of Yoh dragging Manta with him. The angle makes Yoh's legs look very long, and Manta even smaller than he already is. Yoh holding a ball-shaped spirit towards the camera with a confident expression. Subtitles read, I'm a shaman. End subtitle
THIS POOR FUCKING GIRL

FRUITS BASKET EPISODE 1

THIS POOR GIRL!!!!! tohru honda you have such a sad life. and you try SO hard. TOHRU!!!!

this is another one of those episodes where i really dont want to give you a synopsis. i think you should watch it. the like last 5 minutes of that episode were maybe the most out of left field thing ive ever seen. go see it for yourself. (it makes sense in retrospect but that is fucking NOT the direction i thought they would take it in at ALL)

i will say that tohru has a VERY strong character, i was worried she would just be stock-standard Y/N personality but she's got resilience! she doesnt want to cause trouble for anyone! she wants to take up the least amount of space possible and i want to BLOW HER UP.

everyone has really strong characters actually there werent any moments where i was bored watching a scene that didnt have tohru in it. awesome!

do i want to watch more?

YES. and i WILL be watching more. LATER

favorite screenshots

i need to be so real i wasnt expecting the artstyle so the first screenshot tohru looks genuinely kindof scary to me. but i got used to the artstyle after that and i think it's very cute now ^_^
Tohru peeking inside of her tent, speaking to a photograph. Her eyes are further apart and wider than I expected them to be, so she struck the uncanny valley chord of my brain. Subtitles read, Okay mother, please watch over things today, too. End subtitle An exaggerated shot of three girls that are apart of the LOVELY YUKI Club veering backwards from the camera in fear. Tohru is standing behind them normally. An up-close shot of Shigure Sohma's face in a chibi style. He's smiling with his eyes closed. The background has tiny chibi Shigures dancing. Subtitles read, Welcome to the House of Sohma! End subtitle A close-up of Saki Hanajima. She has glowing purple eyes and a look of distant disgust on her face. Subtitles read, I will make you [bleep] with harmful vibes. End subtitle. Yes it actually says [bleep].

... i can't lie to you. after this i did watch the rest of fruits basket. i couldn't stop myself i KNOW i KNOW that's one of the FUCKING RULES of my anime quest. But i had to break it. for fruits basket. i'm sorry... but i still think you should go watch fruits basket especially if you don't know anything about fruits basket somehow. not the remake though fuck that remake it makes everyone look like different people