Hello all. Sorry if the first post of the year was a bit of a rant, but it needed to be said. Now onto the good stuff.
It’s the start of the new year, and new year means new shows for you to stream. Here are three shows that I am currently streaming at the moment, with two shows new to the Winter season.
Land of the Lustrous:
On a planet where gems take human forms, Phosphophylite (or Phos for short) is considered the weakest of them all. At only a hardness of 3.5, she is considered useless by her peers. Because of this, Master Kongo (or Sensei as he is affectionately called by the Gems), has tasked Phos to create an encyclopedia logging everything there is to know about their planet. In the meantime, the other Gems ward off an enemy known as “Lunarians,” who attack for the sole purpose of collecting the gems to use as weapons.
Based on the manga by Haruko Ichikawa, Land of the Lustrous has been suggested for those who love Steven Universe, but the show is far from some of the cuteness and fluff that Steven gives. It has amazing use of both traditional and 3D animation that I’ve seen recently in any television anime. That alone is worth a look at.
Phos, the weakest of them all.
Phos is a very engaging character, determined to fight even though she is weak by Gem standards, and possibly costing the lives of the other Gems when they have to protect her.. She does it also to help others, especially when she finds Cinnabar, a gem that has a weakness of two (in comparison to Pho’s 3.5). Cinnabar is more isolated from the others because of the powerful poison that emanates from her body. Phos will stop at nothing to find a way for Cinnabar to rejoin the group.
Cinnabar, the poisonous one.
Land of the Lustrous is an exclusive to Amazon Prime. Recently, Amazon Prime has gotten rid of their Anime Strike channel. They didn’t have enough exclusives to warrant an extra $4.99 from Prime members, so Amazon got rid of the channel and just made the anime available as part of their Prime service. So you do still have to have Prime to view the show, but not with the extra fee.
Citrus:
Yuzu Aihara is your typical gyaru (translation: GAL) who loves clothes, make up, shopping, boys and the city life. Her mother remarries, and she transfers to a new school. Yuzu struggles to fit into her new, very conservative girls school, already making an enemy out of the Student Counsel President, Mei Aihara. Adding more salt to the wound, Yuzu’s mother drops a giant bombshell. It turns out the man she married is Mei’s father, which would make Mei her now younger stepsister. After another confrontation with Mei, Mei plants a steamy kiss on Yuzu. Yuzu is shocked that her now stepsister would steal away her first kiss!
Based on the manga by Saburouta, Citrus is an ongoing Yuri (girls dating girls) romance, currently on it’s 8th volume. It has just started streaming on Crunchyroll, and only has one episode. The first episode has a lot of story exposition to keep me hooked to watch the rest of the series.
I hate you, you hate Mei.
Yuzu on an outward appearance is basically if Brittany Spears were an anime character. She is very outspoken, flashy, fashionable, and opt to break the rules when it suits her. She wants to fall in love, but does not have a very realistic view of it. She does make one friend on her first day of school, Harumi, who confesses that she is a gyaru in disgiuse, and helps Yuzu find the loopholes in the rules set up by the school.
Mei is more reserved and quiet with a short temper. Most know not to cross her as she is set to inherit the high school, as it is owned by her grandfather. She is already engaged to one of the teachers at the school, arranged of course by her grandfather. She hates her father, feeling that he has abandoned her to take up the role of being in charge of the school too soon.
Citrus is currently streaming on Crunchyroll as they in Japan every Saturday.
Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card:
Sakura has now collected all the Clow Cards and because of the magic she inherited from famed sorcerer Clow Reed, they have become Sakura cards. Sakura has now started middle school alongside her best friend Tomoyo. To her surprise, Syaoran has also returned, this time making his stay in Japan permanent. Things can return to normal, or so it seems.
Sakura has a disturbing dream. Her cards shatter, and the cause of it is a hooded wizard. When she awakens, she knows something is wrong with the cards. Upon opening the book, she sees that the cards have all turned clear. What could this mean?
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is a direct sequel to the original Cardcaptor Sakura manga. Written by the mega manga group CLAMP, Clear Card already has two volumes in print. This will be a nostalgia trip for those familiar with the original series. Madhouse studios have done a good job so far as to keeping the original music and style on the new show. Singer Maaya Sakamoto has returned as well by singing the opening theme song, as she had with the original series. Also, if you are a huge CLAMP fan, keep your eyes peeled for a Magic Knight Rayearth reference in the first episode.
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is currently streaming on Crunchyroll as episodes air in Japan every Sunday. Since this is new as well, there is only episode as of this blog posting.
Happy Viewing!
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