I'll be honest, I was pushed away by 1. the dumb title and 2. fear of cold war brainworms. The brainworms are extraordinarily minimal, but the show is cute as hell. An excellent watch.

    • GaveUp [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      The author admitted in an interview he literally has 0 knowledge of history or politics and is just making shit up lol

      • MaoistLandlord [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        :wojak-nooo: SOURCE??? WHERE ARE YOUR WORKS CITED!!!

        :gigachad-hd: I saw it in a dream

    • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      It has a surface resemblance to East Germany, but beyond the city names and secret police it's not really like East Germany at all. Shoutout to that 80s American schoolbus Anya takes to school in 60s Berlin(t).

      • PrincessMagnificent [they/them, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I kind of get a weird vibe from the East where it's simultaneously a socialist worker's republic and aristocratic Prussia. Like they had a revolution but it was carried out by the nobility so they never abolished themselves.

        • CriticalOtaku [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          Yeah, for the show's politics to somewhat make sense it should be set 20 years earlier in the 1930's, but I guess the author liked the Cold War aesthetic more. (Also yeah Weimar Germany was very different from Berlint in the show so even that wouldn't be exact.)

  • CriticalOtaku [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The worst thing about the show is how it doesn't know what to do with Yor, who should be a major character in her own right but is just sorta stuck in a traditional gender role holding pattern, and even introducing a love-rival doesn't help.

    But Anya makes up for any shortcoming the show has so it's all Gucci.

    • CriticalOtaku [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      To expand a bit:

      The show at it's best: It's not fair I just want to see these 3 deeply traumatized people (and 1 dog) be a happy adopted family why must the fate of the world rest on their shoulders IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

      The show at it's worst: Oh noes Yor can't cook wet fart noises

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Yor not knowing how to cook almost seemed to suggest they were trying to break her out of the traditional gender role. Her athleticism, her bloodlust competitiveness, and her sense of independence almost give the impression she was going to be a well-written female lead character. But they spend so much time on Twilight while just kinda alluding to Yor doing assassin sidework.

        I thought the magical realism of Anya being psychic (and then the dog being prophetic) was going to be the most annoying thing about the show, but I'm more-and-more drawn to how this initially dynamic, exciting, mysterious mother figure just becomes a damsel in distress for Twilight to rescue from social situations.

        Still fucking love it. But its just another reminder of how bad anime is at writing women.

    • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yor's brother cares a bit too much about his sister. Maybe he should get some therapy.

      • CriticalOtaku [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Ah I meant Fiona not Yuri.

        We need more Yuri/Anya interactions tho they're hilarious.

  • NoYouLogOff [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I thought season one was kind of mid to above average with some standouts, but I've been enjoying season 2 more consistently as I slowly make my way through it. It's also really doing its best to appeal to me by having a Bump of Chicken OP and a cute ED.