Sarazanmai, and Alternative IE
Beware Ares/Orion lovers, this chapter may diss the new season XD.
As a dissapointed Ares/Orion viewers (that was fast), I was miffed after giving up on Orion because of Ichihoshi's fiasco, the most respectful word I can think to describe it.
I have kept my anger mostly to myself, and tried to forget Ares and Orion's existence which robbed a lot of my time. Because I felt betrayed. After all the effort I put watching the web program that promoted Ares before it aired, taking screenshots, and summarizing each episode to post it in Scrapshots, I was let down by its writing quality.
However, my hopes lifted when I watched the first few episodes of Orion. My hopes were so high I wrote a post about it, now in this book. But once again, the writers dissapointed me. Badly enough to give up on it; to never want to keep up with the events again.
But that didn't mean I began to hate the series. My love for IE is as strong as ever. If I hated it, I wouldn't be able to write EAL.
It was a few days ago that I found an anime that merged details from the original IE and the new one in a way I was truly pleased.
This anime isn't like IE at all, mind you. It's made by an entire different company. But there are quite a few similarities to IE. This is because the setting is based of the same city that inspired Raimon town, except this one is more faithful.
It's obvious from the first few episodes:
Furthermore, the main character, Yasaka Kazuki has the same voice of the character I just couldn't see the point of his existence
Inamori Asuto.
They sound exactly the same I promise.
But this Asuto is much better written! :D
He has a strong motivation, solid personal ties, and hobbies.
He used to play soccer!
And the soccer uniform looks like Raimon's!
I couldn't help but squeal when this boy tried to bring Enta back to soccer X3. They are best friends, and they used to be the golden duo of the team.
They even had a pose!
These similarities made watching Sarazanmai much more enjoyable. However, the anime is great on its own.
It's produced by the genius who made Revolutionary Girl Utena, and took over in the later episodes of Sailor Moon, the episodes the public loves the most.
His works are weird, full of symbolism and and deep stuff. Yuri Kuma Arashi and Mawaru Penguindrum are two on my list as well. If there's a director that can talk about overthrowing patriarchy without me knowing for fourty episodes (Utena), they have my respect XD.
Sarazanmai is about desire, and the lengths people go to fulfill those desires. It drops clues all over the place: in the visuals, dialogue, expressions, and more. It's one of those anime with plenty of rewatch value. And a wtf-did-I-see kind of experience. Gorgeous animation and kappas.
A work by a queer person is bound to have queer characters. There's crossing dressing, queerness, BL teases; Ikuhara isn't shy to go outside the norm.
The best thing is the gay is real. My biased queer heart is so happy XD.
If you like weird anime, messed up characters, confusing and cool plots, beautiful animation, or queer characters, you might like this!
Last updated: 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
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