Just wanted to share something of a hobby—
So this summer (or winter for most of the world), I somehow picked up watching anime again. Like, watching recent anime. A first for me is actually following a series that’s still currently airing—and I followed two.
It was a chance encounter with a reddit post on r/anime, talking about the highest-rated series of the season, or which good shows came out recently.
The fact that I even started subscribing to r/anime is astonishing to me, as I’ve spent the last several years being lukewarm towards one of my earliest, most passionate hobbies—being a weeb. I thought it was something I’d outgrown—some cringey phase that I’d rather forget about, but I don’t know why I let myself believe that. (I’m not going down that rabbit hole as it’s not the point of my post.)
Jump to:
The Apothecary Diaries (薬屋のひとりごと | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto)
So anyway, I got into a series called The Apothecary Diaries. redditors kept referring to it as second only to a series called Frieren this season. I wasn’t particularly interested in the latter. Someone described The Apothecary Diaries as having a shoujo aesthetic, and its setting being loosely based on Imperial China. I was piqued.
The series was available on Crunchyroll for free. And by free, I mean Crunchyoll loaded you with seven unskippable ads every four or so minutes. I don’t think any sane person could put up with that, so for a modest ~A$10 a month, I found myself subscribing to Crunchyroll. (I had briefly had a Funimation subscription, just to finish March Comes in Like a Lion).
Anyway, the series did not disappoint in premise, writing, and quality. I avidly followed it and when I realised it was still airing and had to wait for more episodes, I kept myself busy with Higurashi Gou and Sotsu as well as the new RuroKen (the fact that I’m not going to write about the latter would tell you there weren’t particular standouts. I found the entire Higurashi ‘reboot’ infuriating.)
Here’s the OP to The Apothecary Diaries:
After a scene in episode 12, I couldn’t contain my curiosity and proceeded to catch up to the manga online. I think that was mistake, because now I’ve lost interest in new episodes since I sort of know what happens next, and the overall plot development seems to take a while to build up.
Fun fact: the main character’s name is Maomao (猫猫), which literally means… ‘cat cat’? She turns catlike when doing a bit. One of the characters, who’s older and higher-ranked than her, calls her the diminutive ‘Xiaomao’ (小猫), meaning ‘little cat’.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (葬送のフリーレン | Soso no Frieren)
What happens to the main characters after the main plot is resolved, the main villain defeated, and the world now at peace?
That’s the premise of Frieren, which centres around the titular character, an elven mage who was part of the party that defeated the Demon King.
I wasn’t very interested in an action / adventure genre, but what helped make the case for me were:
- It was the highest-rated anime of the season.
- It surpassed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood as the highest-rated anime of all time on MyAnimeList.
- The lead character is female—important because if the genre were magical girl, or if the lead were male, I would not have been interested at all.
I watched the first episode just to see what I might be missing out on, and it set the tone for me that this series was going to lean a little bit on slice of life instead of just action. I committed.
Ben happened by the room while I was watching episode 2. I did not expect him to be interested in what I was watching, as he often wasn’t. But I forgot—Ben’s favourite book genre is high fantasy, and Frieren was stereotypically high fantasy, involving archetypal character classes and tropes.
That same evening, he requested that we watch episode 1 together, then pressed forward to episodes 2 and 3. By the time I went to bed, as we had work tomorrow, he was still sat at the couch and told me he would marathon all 28 episodes that night.
‘You would pull an all-nighter if you did that’
He did not. The series was still airing, so Crunchyroll stopped at episode 17 and he went to bed at around 3am. He was hooked.
I followed steadily, watching the episodes during lunch or dinner. By episode 9, I was an unabashed fan.
The story and world-building unfurl nicely, especially considering the somewhat challenging premise. The magic system is loose, but very interesting. There’s a big emphasis on magic as, as of writing, one of the main-ish characters has not been present in current arc, given that he’s a warrior rather than a mage.
Here’s the OP to Frieren:
I really like artwork—colouring and lineart. The mild palette is reminiscent of the style of Honey & Clover and March Comes In Like a Lion—two slice-of-life anime I love and that are written by the same creator.
Fun fact: All the characters have German words as names, which sort of suits their personality / background. I only found out from a Crunchyroll comment. Also, the original Japanese title of the series is a bit more loaded. English interpretations put it to ‘Frieren: The Last Funeral Rites’, ‘Frieren: The Final Farewell to the Dead’, as well as ‘Frieren the Slayer’, which is one of the episode titles.
So, Frieren definitely holds up. I won’t try to read the manga as I’m not really a manga reader and I’m very keen on following the show. I have high hopes for the series and I hope the story or characters don’t take some dire turn that would ruin it for me.
Which brings us to…
My most impulsive / frivolous purchase in recent history
Ben and I like decorating our home. A lot of our attention is on buying prints (Outre usually something interesting for everyone). Ben has collected a few figurines, namely a D.Va Funko—both pilot and mech.
Myself, I find that I don’t really have any strong attachment to any pop culture icon, character, or personality—until this month. I decided to look up if there’s any Nendoroid or PVC statue of Frieren that might catch my eye.
And oh my, I was not disappointed:
I particularly adore Fern—the dark-haired mage that is Frieren’s apprentice. (She’s introduced in episode 2, so I don’t think that’s really a spoiler.) I like her overall design and characterisation.
That figure-set above is preselling at the moment, and will not be available until Q4 2024. And it’s preselling for A$600.
Now, my impulse is strong for this. And I’m not really the sort of person who’s into figurines or collectibles, and for that amount of money I wasn’t going to commit without thinking it through myself—I’ve stewed on smaller purchases for longer, and often ended up not buying.
However, the last time I saw something I really liked, and held back, was for this D.Va statue, which was selling for roughly PHP 15,000 when I saw it on the Blizzard Gear store:
I reasoned to myself that I could get it anytime I felt like. Today, you can find it on eBay or AliExpress selling for upwards of A$1,500.
But that’s not the end of it. I also found three other figurines that I like:
For this last one, I’m a bit out of luck, as it’s sold out even as it’s on presale. I’m not a fan of moveable figurines but I think this one’s well done.
Like I said, I think the anime holds up, and I really like the two female leads. It’s a frivolous purchase and with inflation, our mortgage, and a baby on the way (not to mention my impending parental leave), it’s really not a purchase that I can justify today.
But I did anyway.
I actually have the funds / budget for this (I don’t purchase anything on credit, layaway, or on installments. I have never owned a credit card and, excepting our mortgage, have never been in debt either to a bank, financial institution, credit union, or to any person. My ethos on personal finances is that I can either afford to pay something in full today, or I can’t afford it at all). And as it was on presale, I didn’t have to pay up the full amount upfront. I’m not looking to collect this in hope of selling it someday as box in mint condition.
So, that’s my most frivolous / impulsive purchase in recent memory. I am comfortable with indulging myself this time.
Extra interesting bits
Curiously, I also found out from the same retailer of the following big-ticket items currently preselling as well, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Cardcaptor Sakura:
Very pretty and delicate. This listing comes with special notes for shipping and care, because of the material.
This one is pre-selling at a whopping A$1,900. It’s not a part of the 25th anniversary commemoration. It just stood out to me as… very expensive and intricate.
This next one has a much lower price tag, but IMO is a much better homage to the 25th anniversary:
It’s based on an old official artwork:
It’s interesting and also a bit risky to buy figurines that are standing cantilever-style, as there is always the tendency for the figure to sag due to gravity.
Although Cardcaptor Sakura was a cornerstone of my fond childhood (more high school years, really), I’m not really interested in any of these figures. I didn’t connect with Sakura’s character archetype—athletic, doesn’t like studying, and has short hair (oddly enough that turns me off of connecting with many female characters).
We’ll see how the figures come out! Heck, I might even buy an acrylic casing for the MADHOUSE × DesignCOCO Anime Anniversary Edition Frieren set.