First up last week was the rest of season 2 of Non Non Biyori - Non Non Biyori Repeat. It was fine - not quite as good as season 1 IMO, but still fine. And I still like the manga better.

Next I cast about for something loud and frenetic as a complete change of pace, and boy did I find it. Dead Leaves (2004) It’s gloriously cel-shaded non-stop action. I could pull a lifetime’s supply of desktop wallpapers from its 50 minute runtime, and I have no doubt that it provided at least partial inspiration for a number of later works - most notably Kill La Kill and Redline. It has a semblance of a plot, but mostly it’s just an art design orgy.

Still in the mood for something unusual but looking for more plot, I gave a long-time resident of my TBW a shot Sonny Boy (2021). I only made it three episodes before I had to walk away. It’s an interesting premise (though famously already done by Drifting Classroom), but it has a flaw that particularly bothers me - aside from the three main characters and one other notable side character, every single character in it is an asshole of one sort or another. They aren’t even terribly plot-relevant assholes or assholes moving toward a redemption arc - they’re just assholes, for no particular reason other than to provide conflict.

So I went looking for something else and ended up clicking on MF Ghost. I didn’t even know it existed until relatively recently, and I didn’t expect a whole lot from it, but I liked Initial D back in the day and I’m a sucker for racing anime in general, so I had to do it. And I just started with the beginning of season 1 and binged it all the way through to the end of season 2.

It was fine all in all, but sort of odd. The animation is much, much better than Initial D, and the basic setup is different, but it somehow managed to follow pretty much the exact same formula, all the way down to the vague but earnest and unaccountably pretty MMC, his gonk best friend, constant droning commentary going into excruciating detail about cars and racing, lots of teeth-gritting declarations of a racer’s pride and recurring cries of “but my car is a 6.2 liter v10 with 900 horsepower, so he shouldn’t be able to beat me!” as the challengers inevitably get beaten. It was just the mindless entertainment I expected it to be, though at the pace the story is unfolding, it seems like it’s going to take at least a dozen seasons to really get anywhere, which is a bit off-putting.

Then I went back and finished Sonny Boy, which was okay all in all. More than anything else, most of the assholes were moved out of the story and the focus narrowed to the main characters who on their own were actually fairly compelling. The end was sort of vague and handwavey, but it was okay.

Then, to cap off the week, I went in search of something completely different and happened on a gem And @wjs018@ani.social - take note - you should go watch this ASAP. I guarantee you’ll love it. And anyone else with a liking for fluffy post-apocalyptic slice of life should check it out.

Escha Chron

It’s listed as an OVA, but I’m near certain that what it actually is is a planned full season anime that was inexplicably cancelled while still in production, so they just released the existing two episodes on their own. It only really hints at the background story, just as if more was set to be revealed in later episodes, but then there were no later episodes. So what we got was two helpings of episodic iyashikei/slice of life, sort of reminiscent of Mushishi, with a dash of a Girls Last Tour sort of background (the difference being that the girls are time travelers and the stories are set in our era, with a few flashbacks to their previous and apparently post-apocalyptic life). And it’s sweet and charming and soothing, and well worth seeing, and it’s a shame there wasn’t more.

And I don’t really know what’s next, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to delve into my TBW.