A few months ago I stumbled across a word for what turns out to be one of my favorite anime genres, although I didn't realize it had a name: iyashikei. It's a term for anime and manga specifically created to have a "healing" or soothing effect, and often crosses over with another favorite of mine, "slice of life." I came across this series after learning about that word - I'm watching it on Blu-ray, but it's also streaming for free on Crunchyroll.

(Content warning for the series:

My Roommate is a Cat stars Subaru, a 23-year old introverted mystery writer who's dealing with both grief over his parents' death and social anxiety. Being around people and noise exhausts him, and all he wants to do is read books and be alone. However, he's also terrible at taking care of himself - he doesn't properly stock his kitchen, he forgets to eat when he's on a deadline, and his social anxiety is so great that even talking to store employees is hard for him.

While visiting his parents' grave, he encounters a stray cat, is struck with an idea for his next novel, and ends up taking the cat in, the first living being he has purposely allowed into his life since his parents' death. Each episode is generally structured to first show viewers Subaru's POV and then all or most of the same events from the cat's POV. There's often a mismatch between how they interpret events, but they gradually come to understand each other and form a little family, which also leads to Subaru allowing more people into his life.

I have about three episodes left, and I'll be sad when it's over. It's a sweet series with occasional sad moments - I recommend keeping tissues on hand for the flashback scenes. Haru, the cat, views Subaru like one of her siblings, someone who needs to be taken care of and watched over, but she also occasionally gets a little irked by him. And I can definitely relate to Subaru's introversion. Although he often finds that his interactions with others go better than he expected and open up his world in enjoyable ways, it still exhausts him all the same. The episode where his friend brought his younger siblings over was pretty much how things went when my sister brought all the kids to my apartment a few years back.

The series is an anime now! This is its opening credits. It looks like four episodes have been aired so far, and I think this might be one of the few current anime series that hasn't been delayed by the pandemic. It's streaming legally with English subtitles on Crunchyroll. The few clips I've seen make me think it probably sits somewhere between the original novels (terrible but with fun aspects) and the manga (so much fun but inherited the novels' weird pacing) in terms of overall quality.

Land of the Lustrous is apparently due to be an anime soon, airing in October 2017.

I find this video super cool!  

And I'm pretty sure that the fact that I just started reading Written In Red (which also involves wolves, and bloody gory stuff, and the word 'Red'--which are probably the only things in common) made my coincidental watching of this video even cooler.

Don't mind me.  I babble when I have no idea what I'm talking about.  Written In Red really has nothing to do with RWBY.  But my mind makes strange connections here and there sometimes.

This is a trailer for the anime series RWBY, which, according to summaries, sounds like series with a world where youngsters train to become Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect their world from monsters.  Sounds interesting enough and looks pretty cool.

Although I couldn't help noticing that the video seems very video game-like.

I'm off to watch the other three trailers for the other three.

I found this video while reading a blog post at Because Reading.

[ANIME] Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiroimashita. (This Boy Caught a Merman)

I've just watched this new shounen-ai anime of a lonely sad boy saved by a merman when he fell into the sea. I think it was heartfelt and really sweet. The graphic was pleasing and also artfully done. Definitely worth watching.

                  Just look at the beautiful colours:

                  (sorry bout the lousy resolution of this picture kay)

              Isaki-san is just too cute. I want a merman in my living room too!

Synopsis:

They say look before you leap and make sure you can swim before you go in the deep water, but when a picture of his late grandfather falls into the ocean, Shima jumps in after it without thinking. Nearly drowning as a result, he is instead saved by a very perfect stranger... one whose strangeness extends to only being human from the waist up! For Shima, who's always felt like a fish out of water himself, it's more than just a revelation, and the young man and merman quickly begin to bond in ways neither anticipated. And yet, it's going to be far from easy sailing. After all, Shima and Isaki aren't just from opposite sides of the tracks, they're from entirely divergent species, and swimming in separate gene pools may make maintaining a long term relationship a whole different kettle of fish!   

Source: Sentai

Plot Summary:

 

Shima has always strove to be an excellent obedient child to his parents and to others, but in the process he could never be himself. Because of this he has always felt lonely, even with all the people who say they love him. When the picture of his recently deceased grandfather falls into the ocean, Shima nearly drowns jumping in after it. He is quickly saved by a mysterious man. In a daze Shima confesses his loneliness to the stranger, who then vows to stay by Shima's side for as long as he needs him. Shima quickly finds out that this stranger is a merman. Shima takes him home, and names him Isaki. Isaki and Shima quickly become friends, but find out that their feelings for each other might go past that of friendship.

 

- Credit: Anime News Network

(spoiler show)