Top 5 Depression Killing Anime Girls

Still alive fellow Otaku & Metalheads?

Originally, I had intended to get an anime review out a day or two ago, but I genuinely kept pushing it & pushing it till I didn’t have enough time before March was just about done, and given how the Coronavirus still has a tight grip on my country, I don’t have the strongest spirits. Fear not! I’m still planning on releasing content during this difficult time, and to give us all a boost & a smile on our face, why not talk about some characters that flat out kill sadness? Without further delay, here are my top 5 depression killing anime girls!

(I’ll do a top 5 depression killing anime boys later on in the year. We’re all probably gonna need it!)

5) Botan - Yu Yu Hakusho (Clip)

Starting off this list is a girl from a classic series, and it might be a weird choice for some. When one pictures a depression killer, the grim reaper probably isn’t what comes to mind. However, it the case of Botan, you’re getting a depression killer! While she is indeed a grim reaper, she’s about as far from dark & dour as you can get. She’s cheerful, always willing to help out & pep up any of her friends, and is an absolute cutey to boot. Yeah she deals with dead people a bunch of the time, but Botan is always there for anyone who needs her no matter what, and I always like a girl like that!

4) Rin Namiki - Kandagawa Jet Girls (Clip)

A relatively new character on this list, this adorable sweetheart has only been around since October of last year, yet has captured the hearts of anyone who watched her show or played the game the series is based off of. This cheerful girl’s optimism & smile are practically infectious, and her desire to follow in the footsteps of her late mother is genuinely heartwarming. Not only that, but her kindness attracts others to her, and immediately become fast friends. This show isn’t exactly one that’s essential, but this peppy jet racer is sure to make you feel good on the inside when you see her.

3) Sasami - Tenchi Muyo OVA (Clip)

Going back to the old school, here we have what is what I consider to be the essential Little Sister of classic anime. Though a trickster at first, it’s proven soon after that she can be a pretty hard worker. Not only can she cook & clean, but she can maintain a temple, plant & pick vegetables, and can even throwdown if she absolutely has to.....all the while being adorable as a button. Said cuteness factor is amplified by 10 when the lovable Ryo-Ohki is with her, yet her personality is just a part of what makes her such a depression killer. It’s her hard work & drive that can not only make one’s day, but is also really refreshing when other anime kids don’t do much. Regardless, Sasami paved the way for many other iconic anime kids, yet still remains a classic character to many.

2) Papi - Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls (Clip)

My number 2 and my number 1 were hard. Really hard. Picking who was going to be here was massively difficult, as the girls in question are mind-numbingly adorable, and reluctantly this adorable harpy makes it here. Right away, from either the 2nd episode of the show or chapter 3 of the manga, Papi is introduced to us smiling. That’s pretty much what she does most of the time. She’s either smiling, laughing, being cute, and just being incredibly kind. Though she’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, Papi also shows that she’s actually really good with kids, and can actually stand her ground on rare occasions. Though my number 1 just barely passed this blue feathered angel, Papi has proven time & time again she’s a character that can make any dark day sunny.

1) Senko - Helpful Fox Senko-San (Clip)

Yes fellow Otaku & Metalheads. Even more so than the blue-haired harpy, it’s 2019's adorable little fox girl that makes it to number one for good reasons. Like everybody else on this list (Especially Papi), she is incredibly cute. However, it’s what she does for you that makes her a depression killer. Like Sasami she cooks for you, cleans for you, and washes your clothes, but perhaps Senko’s biggest strength is that she’ll also sit down with you & listen to what kind of day you had. If you had a good day, she’ll be happy for you. If you had an okay or bad day, she’ll say the right thing to pep you back up, and do something nice to cheer you up. Despite looking like a child, Senko has been around for a long time, and thus knows all the ways to lift someone onto their feet. In this dark time, it’s girls like Senko (Along with everybody else on this list) that we wish were needed & real.

And those were my top 5 depression killing anime girls. Again, times are dark across the entire globe, but there’s always a little sunshine.....if you know where to look. Now, I kinda hinted that Compilation Month might return in April, but I have to delay it by a bit, as a rather sad decade anniversary is coming. Ironic, given what this post is about. Still, there’s always a shining diamond in the bleakened rough......as long as you want to find it.

My Top 5 Albums of 2014 (Revised)

Hi fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

With COVID-19 wrecking absolute face here in the United States & abroad, it’s kind of hard to keep one’s chin up. I confess I’m not necessarily up to snuff myself: healthwise I’m fine, but emotionally this has been tough. In fact, I admit this has kind of affected my desire to make content. Still, I gotta put out some other things this month besides my Katsucon 2020 review, and I was recently inspired by the past. I don’t always consider revising my oldest content, but after reading one particular list, the gears began to turn weirdly enough. So, let’s welcome the past, and take a look at my revised edition of the top 5 albums of 2014. A quick note: as far as the albums on here are concerned, not much has actually changed. For the most part, the records you saw back in 2014 are mostly here. This revision is more towards opinion than anything, but there is a familiar face taking a spot. Still, let’s see what’s up!

5) Sabaton - Heroes (Song)

I’ve said this before when talking about Sabaton, and I’ll say it again: it took me quite a while to become a fan of these fantastic Swedes. 2014 was sort of a rediscovery for me, since I skipped over their Carolus Rex period after discovering them in 2010. If I had been a fan of the band back then, then chances are I would have put Heroes on the list. Nowadays? I am most definitely putting this album here! Kind of an oddball of a release back then & now, but Heroes is also a unique record as well. Singing about some of the most iconic men & women during WW2, the album is perhaps Sabaton’s most optimistic release they ever did, only to be rivaled by The Last Stand in 2016 (Which is still one of the best albums of the 2010s, and still one of my top 10 albums of all time). Give how dark are time are right now, I think everybody needs a hero in their life.

4) Weird Al Yankovic: Mandatory Fun (Song)

I feel a little sad in moving this record down the list. Make no mistake, I still find Mandatory Fun to be hilarious. Weird Al has always been clever, and even at his most mediocre he can get a chuckle out of me, and his 2014 release is wondering. My big problem is that as time has passed, I seemed to recall this release less & less. It’s still funny, but most of the songs have gotten loose from my mind, and nowadays I don’t recall that many of them. That being said, Mandatory Fun is worth listening too regardless.

3) Judas Priest - Redeemer Of Souls (Song)

In the time since 2014, my love for Judas Priest has only grown. If I’m being perfectly honest, it’s been growing more & more since 2012, but it was the year that my Grandfather passed away where I finally allowed one of the world’s oldest metal bands into my heart. Though Nostradamus from 2008 was a unique Power Metal experience (That a majority of Priest fans had an aneurysm over), Redeemer of Souls was a return of sorts to their older work. It still had some flavorings of their prior release, but more often than not behaved like something you’d hear in the 80s & early 90s. Since 2014, I’ve actually become fonder for Redeemer of Souls. Not by a massive amount, but enough that it’s moved up a spot on this list. If you were disappointed by Nostradamus, then you might like this album more.

2) Devin Townsend: Casualties of Cool (Song) & Z2 (Song)

I said it back in 2014, and I’m saying it again: it’s hard to decide which of these albums are superior, and thus they’re still gotta be tied with each other here. Back then I enjoyed both of these records equally, but since then I’ve become a little more enamored with Casualties of Cool. Z2 is still great, and I love how silly it can be, but the Ambient nature of Casualties of Cool combined with Country Rock & Jazz is really neat. Not only that, but if you can get the version with the 2nd CD (Alongside a DVD), you’re treated to a few demos & tracks from the cancelled Ghost 2 project, and they’re just as good as the main CD’s material. Still, both albums from one of Canada’s premiere metallic artists are top notch, and you shouldn’t miss either of them.

If you recall my original list, I didn’t have any Honorable Mentions section. Reason being? I didn’t think of it at the time! With this revision, I think it was appropriate to have at least 1 Honorable Mention.....and I think I know just the album for this.

HM) Black Light Discipline: Death By A Thousand Cuts (Song)

Confession: I still kinda like this record. Back in 2014 I dug this release quite a lot, but my take on it has changed a bit. It’s still fun, but maybe I don’t find it as intense as I did 5+ years ago. Some tracks seem to try to be a bit too edgy sometimes, and the Industrial doesn’t come across as heavy as I once recall. On top of that, I only seem to have 2 songs stuck in my head, and out of 12 songs that’s not necessarily a good thing. Regardless, I still kind of find Death By A Thousand Cuts to be something of a nostalgic vision of the early/mid 2010s, and if any of you like Industrial artists who aren’t as well known as some of the more iconic ones out there, then this might be more of your liking.

1) Septicflesh - Titan (Song)

If there was one album on this list that I haven’t changed my opinion, it would be this one. In fact, my love for Titan has only increased since then. Funny fact: despite discovering this album in 2014, it wouldn’t be until March of 2016 when I actually bought a physical copy. That doesn’t matter, as my number 1 album of all time has stayed with me for 5+ years. The 3rd entry in the band’s Symphonic Death Metal journey, the singles that were released before the record hooked me, and when it fully came out, I was enchanted by every track. Enough to the point where I put the whole thing onto my MP3 player at the time. Titan is also important to me because it finally got me to understand Death Metal, and got me to understand the fans of the genre. I’m still not a full-blow Death Metal fan, but I’ve grown to be more accepting of the style.....and I have Titan to thank for that.

And that was my revised top 5 albums of 2014. Again, not much has changed from the original in terms of what was on here, but my opinions of what’s on here definitely has changed somewhat. I do have one last thing planned for March, and with April on the horizon.....Compilation Month may return for a 3rd time. See you all next time!


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If you’d like to see my original version of this list, click on the link below:

My Top 5 Albums of 2014

Convention Review: Katsucon 2020

 

Got some sad news fellow Otaku & Metalheads.

With the rabid  movement of the Coronavirus here in the United States,  many conventions and other large events are being outright cancelled at the worst, or delayed/postponed at the best. Genericon is unfortunately one of the conventions that in the cancelled category, and it breaks my heart. So, with a review for that con thrown out with the bathwater, I needed something to replace it.....so why not do a review of a convention I went to last month for my first time ever!? Yep, the cycle has been broken in going to just 2 conventions, and a new one has appeared in my geeky life that may become a permanent staple. With that out of the way, it’s time I showed you what I thought of Katsucon 2020. Let’s begin!

For starters, let me just say that I didn’t see gaggles of cosplayers & various shades of Otaku. For all intent & purposes, I saw the geek equivalent of Genghis Khan’s Mongolian horde! I haven’t seen this many people since the glory days of Connecticon, which at this point is 5 years this year. A lot of the hotel was packed: definitely not the hallways of the rooms, but everybody else had tons of people. Even the dealer’s room (More on that in a bit) was filled to the brim with con goers. I confess I was pretty overloaded by how many people I saw the entire weekend, but I’m not going to lie when I say that it was wonderful seeing so many individuals like myself!

Relating to the amount of people I saw, it was also incredible to see so much cosplay in one space! It didn’t matter what grade of costumes I saw: I witnessed just about each & every skill level there was. I saw basic cosplay, intermediate cosplay, and cosplay so good I can’t never even remotely re-create it. In fact, here’s just a sliver of the costumes I saw!

Next up is the hotel and convention center. For Genericon, I just room with a friend of mine, and he’s got nice digs. For Connecticon I stay with a couple buddies at the Marriot hotel next to the center, and that place is pretty swell. The Gaylord? Holy shit it was huge! Never in my entire life have I seen a hotel that massive in scale! It honestly felt like a miniature city, what with all of the tiny stores & restaurants on the bottom parts of the building, and the hordes of Katsu goers just added to this feeling. The convention center was pretty big too, and despite it’s similar layout when compared to something like the con center for Connecticon, it still felt like it’s own thing. Hell, even the area around the hotel & center was great, as there were plenty of restaurants and shops to visit if I didn’t want to stay within the Gaylord. Gotta love the options!

Next positive were the panels. I confess I hardly went to any of them, as being a new guy I decided instead to explore & watch everybody, but the sliver of them I did go see were awesome. My three favorites were the Cabaret show with drag performers (Who, btw, did a hell of a job), the hentai dubbing panel (There were supposed to be more than one host, but there were complications), and the rather humorous “Boob Physics” panel. That last one had a lot of.....jiggles, if you know what I mean. I definitely enjoyed seeing the descriptions of the other panels, but I enjoyed wandering around and looking at everybody that was there a little more.

And finally, I gotta talk about the dealer’s room. Like with the horde of people, I haven’t seen a marketplace this big since the last Connecticon I went to. There was a hell of a lot of stuff to buy, and it’s pretty much what you’d expect. With the exception of one specific thing (More on that below), you could find just about anything you wanted. I had spent almost all of my cash, but thanks to some swift impulse control on the last day, I managed to leave Katsucon with at least a little bit of money for pitstops on the way home. Pretty impressive if you ask me!

As for anything mediocre, I can’t really think of anything. I could argue that some of the lines were bad/long, but even then they all moved quickly & efficiently. I could argue that the trip down and back was long, and coming in at 8 to 9ish hours (I come from New York state.) I can see why some people from my neck of the woods would hate this, but it was smooth in both ways. In the end, I really can’t think of anything that was just.....meh.

Now we get to the negative stuff, and there’s really only 2 negative things I can say about my first Katsucon. The first would have to be the pricing. Not for the con-badge or hotel room, but for hotel’s food & such. Holy crap I haven’t seen anything this expensive in a while! At first I thought it was just me, but nope a lot was expensive. Even the bubble tea stand was 6 dollars per drink, and that’s not counting the 2 dollar individual Twix bars they were selling. The lunch buffet was around 15 to 20 dollars I believe (Excluding tax & tip), which isn’t that bad. The breakfast buffet? Coupled with tax & tip, it all came out to a huge 31-something dollars, which I think is absurd! I get that the hotel needs to make money (Hence why the Dealer’s Room had no food vendors), but there a fine line between making a living & making wallets cry.

The other negative thing I got to complain about would be the schedule app. To be perfectly honest, this actually wasn’t a completely bad thing. Granted, I highly prefer my schedule to be in the booklet itself so I can look things up quickly, but the app wasn’t bad by any means. All days were there, and it was easy to pick & choose which panels I wanted to go to. Again, prefer the schedule in the booklet, but the app wasn’t so bad.

Katsucon 2020 gets a 9 out of 10. For my first time, this is some pretty high praise!

And that was my review for my first ever Katsucon. Again, it was a wild experience, but this firestorm of insanity may very well be something I revisit in the coming years as long as I got the cash. Again I’m sorry for getting this out so late, but due to the cancellation of Genericon I figured that a review of this convention is a good substitute. I’ll see you later this month for some additional content. Until then.....stay crazy Katsu!