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ANIME DETOUR: STAY-AT-HOME EDITION





A couple of weeks ago, it would have been Anime Detour 2020. I've only missed 3 Anime Detours ever, and 2 of those were because I didn't know it existed. I've also been planning for and working at the Manga Reading Lounge since 2010, so it was weird not to be doing that. Also, my sweetie was out of town, so I had the entertain myself as best I could.

 So I did my best to get my geek on. I had ordered a Totoro kigurumi to wear at con and wore it all weekend, including working at my home office on Friday and taking a walk around the river (hope it cheered somebody up to see a little ridiculousness). 
Click here for large pics.

A colleague of mine who is an amazing cartoonist was doing the six character fanart challenge, so I suggested he do Makoto Kusanagi, and asked friends to suggest some characters for me to do. It took me a week or so, but it was a fun challenge. 

Anime Detour decided to have their anime music video contest, virtually, so I watched the livestream on Twitch. Luckily, there is a Twitch app on Apple TV, because I don't watch videos that are more than a minute on my phone. The streamer didn't save the stream for copyright reasons, but you can watch most of them here. 

Of course, I had to watch some anime too, so I fired up the old Crunchyroll. The lineup:

  • The Golden Kamuy (Crunchyroll)- Historical adventure about a Russo-Japanese War veteran looking for treasure in Northern Japan with assistance from an Ainu girl. Lots of intrigue, some lesser-known history and a rare depiction of Ainu culture. Check it out.
  • Rising of the Shield Hero (Crunchyroll)-loserish teen falls into a medieval-RPG-video-game world, has to form a party and win battles to get out. Kind of a serious Legend of Neil meets WoW reskin of Gantz, and definitely no Order of the Stick. I found the hero insufferable, so I couldn't feel any angst about his problems. When he bought a slave to assist him, it was time to nope right out of there.
  • Death Parade (Hulu)-After death, 2 souls find themselves alone in a creepy bar, forced to play a game that determines their fate in the afterlife. Kind of a Twilight Zone-type anthology series, except we learn more about the bar's "employees" than you might expect, as a new hire learns the ropes. Intriguing, will definitely keep watching. 
Also, because my fandom is nothing if not diverse, I also watched the First Avenue 50th Anniversary livestream, the Werq the World livestream of contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race, and the series finale of The Magicians (sob!). The first two were web-only, but AirPlay from my phone to the Apple TV worked smoothly. 

If you guys have any other streaming suggestions, let me know. My friend K. turned me on to Letterkenny, that should keep me busy for a while. For pure relaxation, check out the livestream from Cafe Meow.






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