March 2022 Patron Newsletter and Staff Picks (Patreon)

Happy Spring Anime Season, AniFam!

Our staff is emerging from hibernation and our long-promised rebranding is right around the corner. Site logos and icons are complete and all that's left is finalizing the new podcast logo design. Assuming everything stays on track, we'll have a proper Site Update sometime in April, so keep an eye out for that!

In other news, we're about to barrel full-throttle into spring premiere reviews and winter season retrospectives, so the team may seem a bit sleep-deprived in the coming weeks... But before we can tell you about all the new stuff, we've got a couple older picks to send your way.

March Recommendations:

El-Hazard - The Magnificent World

Format: Anime (sub/dub)

Picked by: Caitlin

What’s it about? Mizuhara Makoto was an ordinary high school student until a freak earthquake sent him, his friend Jinnai Nanami, his rival and student council president Jinnai Katsuhiko, and teacher Fujisawa Masamichi into the world of El-Hazard. All of them end up in the kingdom of Roshtaria, except Jinnai, who lands among the Bugrom, an insectoid tribe hell-bent on conquest. Now, both sides are racing to unlock the ultimate power of the Eye of God to aid their side in the war, with Makoto in disguise as the missing princess Fatora all the while!

Content warnings: Bugs, earthquakes, comedic crossdressing, predatory lesbians, war, genocide, harem elements.

Why we like it: This one is a problematic fave and I’m not afraid to admit it. El-Hazard - The Magnificent World is a product of AIC, the same studio that produced the Tenchi franchise in roughly the same era. It is, like its sister series, a comical fantasy adventure, but this time with a stronger central plot and a canonical romance at its heart. Makoto is genuine and caring, and his pure-hearted investment in Ifurita keeps him out of potato territory. Plus, there are plenty of big personalities and a genuinely interesting world and story to draw viewers in, even if young Mizuhara doesn’t do it for them. At seven episodes, it’s the perfect length to tell its story and build its characters just enough.

That said… there’s no getting around some of its issues. A cis boy being forced to dress as a woman for comedy hijinks isn’t ideal, and then when you add the oversexed lesbian Allielle into the mix, things can get downright cringey. Plus, even though Makoto only has eyes for Ifurita, the writers just couldn’t help themselves when it came to adding harem elements, and every minute I spent watching Shayla-Shayla and Nanami squabble over Makoto is a minute I wanted back. And don’t even bother with the spinoffs and sequels. But those first seven episodes? That’s some good classic ‘90s anime.

The God and the Flightless Messenger

Format: Manga

Picked by: Vrai

What’s it about? Messengers are born to care for the gods they’re assigned to; but with wings too small to fly, Shin is unable to fulfill even that basic mission. When a chance to prove himself appears, he jumps at it, and finds himself serving a mysterious god on the very lowest mountain.

Content considerations: Mild peril/supernatural violence.

Why we like it: This one-shot threw me back to the 2000s in the best way, evoking CLAMP-inspired, angst-with-a-happy-ending supernatural action series like Tactics or Descendants of Darkness while actually delivering on an overt queer romance. Its tropes are familiar but well-executed, from brash-but-naïve Shin to the maybe-dangerous, maybe-misunderstood god whom Shin names Baku. It’s a sweet, self-contained story that could easily be shared with a 10-year-old.

There are only two caveats worth noting. First, Baku is referred to as “they” while taking the form of a large amorphous puffball but “he” upon taking a humanoid form, a decision I’m not sure whether to blame on the translation or the core text but kinda annoys me nevertheless. And second, this is unfortunately a Tokyopop release. That means both that the release quality is substandard (several pages are in need of copyediting and dialogue gets cut off because of the way pages are aligned/printed) and that buying it means putting money in the hands of noted grifter Stu Levy. Still, this was such a charming little PG gem that I couldn’t bring myself to let it go wholly unremarked upon.