Hi again. Sorry for the late post again - I know it's been a while, but life's super busy!
I've got a bunch of stuff for you today.
First off, I'm going to be going on Birthright this Sunday! For those of you who don't know, Birthright is a thing where people from the USA with Jewish Heritage get to go to Israel for 7-10 days for free! It's a trip that's part of my culture, but it's also a free trip to another country, so I'm super pumped :)
One of the reasons I get to do this is because my job has the nice perk of having the last week of the year off with paid leave for all its employees, so I'm super thankful for that. Add that to the awesome work I'm doing as a software engineer, and life's pretty great!
In other news, my first novel, Skyborn, will hopefully be ready to send to publishers sometime in January when I get back from overseas, which I'm nervous but also really excited about. My second novel is still in its early stages, but I reached 200 pages over the weekend, and its been really fulfilling to watch that story unfold as I write it.
Anyway, back to anime! This season of anime is wrapping up, and I've gotta say, this has been a good one. Here's my current ranking of shows I've seen this season (ranking stuff is hard, so I'll rank these into Tiers 1, 2 and 3):
Tier 1:
- Bloom into You - This is the first Yuri anime I've ever watched, and while I was hesitant to try it, it's actually surprisingly really good! The characters are super interesting, and the romances seem natural. Plus, one of the main characters is a writer, and I can definitely empathise with that :)
- Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - This is another one that I was hesitant to try, since the title and the cover art looked like they were just more anime harem nonsense. But the show is actually insanely well-written, and the main character and the girl he's in a committed relationship with have some of the best interactions and dialogue I've ever seen.
- Sword Art Online Season 3: Alicization - Others might call me out on this, but I love SAO. I think it's a truly awesome story, with really interesting characters and worldbuilding, and those who think otherwise will not sway my opinion. I've actually read all the novels the show is based on (the latest one came out today, and I'm super psyched about it), and the source material is really good too. Plus, the animation for the new season is gorgeous.
- RWBY Volume 6 - Even though RWBY isn't technically an anime, I'm listing it here anyway because it takes large amounts of inspiration from anime, and because it's soooo good. I can't say much since this is the sixth season, but I love this show so much.
Tier 2:
- Zombieland Saga: This show is really great, I wasn't quite sure whether to put this in tier 1 or 2, since it's kind of on the border. I can't really say much about this, other than that it's really good and you just need to watch it cold without any information.
Tier 3:
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: This show is a normal isekai anime, solidly okay, but nothing amazing. It's decent.
- Fairy Tail Final Season - I enjoy Fairy Tail a decent amount, but mostly as a guilty pleasure. For me at least, it sort of goes from really good to really bad in terms of quality.
Anyway, that's my update for me. When you hear from me next, I'll probably have just gotten back from the Middle East!
Happy Holidays, and see you next time!
-- Bradley