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Ayaka: A Story of Bonds and Wounds (TV).


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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Fri Jun 23, 2023 12:30 pm Reply with quote


Ayaka: A Story of Bonds and Wounds (TV)

Source: Original (by GoRa)

Demographic: Shounen

Animation Studio: Studio Blanc

Genres: action, comedy, drama, magic, supernatural

Themes: magical creatures, monsters, sorcery, spirits

Plot Summary: Yukito Yanagi is an orphan who, one day, encounters an eccentric disciple of his father. The strange man takes him to his birthplace on Ayakajima, made up of seven islands where mysterious beings called "Mitama" and dragons are rumored to reside. There, Yukito meets two of his father's other disciples, who protect the harmony of Ayakajima which soon threatens to collapse.

Air Date & Platform:
July 1, 2023 (Saturday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes
----------------------------------

From the creator of K (TV), which I've never seen, but have heard good things about.

Based on the plot summary, the theme and genres I listed are pure speculation. The show, however, does sounds intriguing. It looks and sounds like a small group of magicians and/or onmyouji that are in charge of keeping the peace with other magical or spiritual things from running amok, or possibly destroying the world. Could be another cool "magic/spirit fighter" title to compliment Mononogatari and Jujutsu Kaisen, this summer.


Last edited by Tony K. on Mon Jan 15, 2024 6:40 pm; edited 4 times in total
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1121
PostPosted: Sat Jul 01, 2023 3:00 pm Reply with quote
This one was decent. The animation was just okay, and the plot isn't anything new. A character separated from a mystical legacy at birth returns home to reclaim his legacy and face whatever dangers killed his parent(s?).

That said, the execution is competent, and there are some entertaining moments between the MC and his new mentor, like when the main character goes all moody edgelord and starts explaining his suffering, and the mentor checks out and starts playing a video game halfway through.

It looks like there's a water based magic system and some island mythology, and I discovered that I've got a hankering for some island based anime right now. Maybe it's because it's summer and I haven't been to the beach yet, or maybe I just miss Summer Time Rendering that much.

So I'll give this one three episodes.
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2023 9:49 am Reply with quote
Episode 1

Yeah, this one seems worth pursuing. Seems like there will be a "team" forming, so I'll be interested in seeing the dynamics of that. That water train was pretty cool...
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1912
PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2023 11:29 am Reply with quote
I really liked the first episode. The setting seems interesting with all kinds of powers, creatures and unique customs, it made me remember the Avatar show a bit. The characters so far seem lively and I like how grumpy our mc can be. I am also curious as to why the father set up his will as he did, since it does indeed seem like a selfish way to go about things with your son. The animation is nothing special, but it makes up for it with some charm.

Seems like a solid watch so far.
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 7:38 am Reply with quote
You know, there is a line between being a roguish sensei who is rough around the edges and being an alcoholic, irresponsible and selfish asshole. After seeing episode two I would place Jingi firmly in the latter category. He drink a lot, goes to parties to get drunk and pollutes the environment which he is supposed to keep in balance, when it becomes a problem he tries to push it towards his poor pupil. Even after someone else had to step in to save his ass and solve the problem, Jingi does not reflect and only wants to drink more.
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2023 1:26 pm Reply with quote
So, I try not to make too many posts in a row, since that does not make for discussion, but just a one person blog. I do want to say that the anime has gone past the halfway point and it is sadly a disappointment. The initial premise was interesting and the presentation was charming enough. Sadly due to unlikeable characters and just plain goofy looking fights (of which there are many), it has devolved into a boring and very predictable show. The initial mysterious setting has also been utterly wasted.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2023 2:45 pm Reply with quote
smurky turkey wrote:
So, I try not to make too many posts in a row, since that does not make for discussion, but just a one person blog.

No worries. A good majority of the other threads I created seem to be just me posting reviews/screen caps, anyway. These forums are way less active than they used to be, and sometimes you just get the one person covering a series by themselves.

smurky turkey wrote:
I do want to say that the anime has gone past the halfway point and it is sadly a disappointment.

I totally agree. I've been keeping up with it, too, expecting it to be even a fraction of Mononogatari, but there are so many things that make this one feel really generic: mainly, the character designs, low-to-middling production value, and the writing. Although, I will say the score is pretty good. Other than that, I'm just watching it, now, so I can fill-in genre and theme descriptors and add it as another title to my My Anime list.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1912
PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2023 2:58 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, another Mononogatari this is not. That is not to say that there is no fun to be had, but a few irritating characters and horrible fights get in the way of it being anything more than mediocre.

Another pet peeve of mine was on display this week: trying to make something mysterious which has been made abundantly obvious to the watcher. Nearly every episode has tried to make you guess what the deal is with Yukito, but it has been very obvious past episode 2/3 or so that he is the missing water dragon. Trying to tease a mystery is fine, showing off what the mystery is to the viewer and then trying to keep it mysterious is not.
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camseyeview140



Joined: 26 Jan 2021
Posts: 211
PostPosted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:25 pm Reply with quote
I like the monster designs, but the rest? I'm just not into this one.

It feels like a half baked original idea. I want to be down for more original anime, but the characters here are insufferable.

Doesn't help the visuals aren't great. We just don't have time anymore to deal with half-baked anime concepts that are going to take a whole show to get good instead of episode 1.
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 8:15 pm Reply with quote
I agree with these expressions of meh-ness. I actually did drop this at one point, then brought it back and for some reason it's been able to juuuuuuuuust hang on in my schedule. Not quite sure why. Well, that water train is pretty cool...
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 29, 2023 2:37 am Reply with quote
Like I said, they have kind of wasted the setting. In the first episode the setting made you wonder about the magical islands and what they have to offer, yet all we got were janky looking monsters and combat that is not great at all to look at. We are heading to some sort of conclusion though.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 2:21 pm Reply with quote
Huh, what a weird episode this week. Yukito becoming a water dragon and re-establishing the balance on the island was actually pretty well done, it just feels weird that the result was over in like 5 minutes while the build up to it was several episodes. We then had sad times due to Jingi's death and actually got some solid character moments and mysticism near the end. It makes one think that this show could have been a lot better than it has been for most episodes.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 7:00 pm Reply with quote
I dropped this but Jingi's death would not have been "sad times" for me... rather cause for celebration. Did not care for that guy.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 5:07 am Reply with quote
Yeah about that, the explanation is that because he knew that he would have to sacrifice his life to have Yuuto be able to become the water dragon again some day, he decided to live his life in a selfish manner. Supposedly that makes it okay for him being an asshole, but I do not buy it.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 10:43 am Reply with quote
Actually, I kind of do. First, I only found him annoying as a character, not that he was a horrible person. This is just a "me" thing but I really hate when a character glugs a beverage loudly and them makes a big "ahhhhhh!" sound which Jingi did a few times. Yes, we get it, you love booze. I also found the sound of Jingi's voice grating which I don't blame the seiyuu for because I think we were supposed to find it grating.

Jingi was lazy and a mooch but he had a good heart. I can see if he knew he was going to die young, that he'd have a devil may care attitude. You've almost made we want to go back and watch the last few episodes, smurky turkey, damn your eyes...
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