This might seem like a page for reviews, but this is more like somewhere for me to write about my experiences and thoughts for the media that I'm into. I feel like referring to these as "reviews" implies that all of these entries are professionally written and have scoring systems and whatever, but I'm not really into discussing media in that way. Maybe I'll make the occasional recommendation or go in-depth about certain things, but I'm doing all of this for fun.
Important! A few of these entries might be for explicit media, meaning series that have sexual or violent content! I'm not going to write anything graphic or use NSFW images, and these entries will be labeled as 18+. I'm not sure how many of those series I want to cover here since it's probably embarrassing— not that there's even that many I would want to write about. Everything here is intended for other adults who might be curious about what I'm up to and my thoughts on different media, but I know I can't stop everyone else from reading. If you go out of your way to investigate the media that I write about, that's on you!
I sorted everything into categories, and they're all arranged alphabetically. The headers for the categories are collapsible lists that you can click on or tap. Information about when each entry was written/uploaded is listed at the bottom of their page. Entries that are a normal color are series that I wrote about after completion, while entries that are pink are series that I'm in the process of getting through, so anything I write is a "liveblog" that I'll continuously update until I finish. I might write my overall thoughts afterwards that I'll either attach to the start or end of the entry. I might even make entries in the future for media I haven't gotten into but still want to write about.
I'm not going to make entries for everything that I watch/read/play/whatever— just anything that I find noteworthy. I use a lot of tracking sites because I love archiving everything that I've experienced, so I don't have a reason to do the same here. I don't like submitting reviews on Anilist/MAL because I get kind of intimidated by the userbases, but I do want to work on making notes for everything that I have completed on those sites just so people can get some sort of idea of my thoughts/opinions if they're curious.
Synopsis: "A scourge has descended upon vampire society in the form of serial murders. The killings appear unrelated at first glance, but every crime scene has one thing in common: a card left behind, bearing the words "True of Vamp"—the name given to the legendary progenitor of all vampires.
The Vlad Agency, a secret intelligence operation, summons the renowned aristocrat Dali Delico to lead the task force investigating the murders. However, Dali refuses, choosing to focus on raising his children. His old colleagues—Gerhard Fra, Henrique Lorca, and Dino Classico—plead with him to balance his duty to the agency with child-rearing. He agrees on one condition: the other three men must also care for their children during the investigation.
Dali's estate therefore becomes a nursery and the base of operations for the four noble vampires. Meanwhile, a criminal organization Dali knows all too well lurks in the shadows with evil intentions that threaten to cause the collapse of the entire vampire society."
The way I discovered this series is kind of odd— I was using the Mudae bot in a server for the first time in a while and ended up rolling Dino Classico, whom I then claimed since his character design was really appealing to me (long-haired guy with glasses... nothing new here). I didn't really think anything of it, but fast-forward to a month or so later when I saw on Anilist that Delico's Nursery was currently airing and found Dino in the character cast. I then had it in my plan-to-watch list for a bit, but I didn't start it until November 24th of last year. I was looking for a short anime I could start, and I somehow missed the whole "nursery" part in the title/synopsis until after finally checking out the trailer and dropping everything that I was doing just to start the first episode. I didn't know until later that this anime is connected to a few stage plays and serves as a prequel for the True of Vamp manga, but considering I could follow along with the story, I don't think you'd have to watch the stage plays or read the manga before getting into Delico's Nursery.
I was instantly hooked just from the four beautiful vampires, especially with 3 out of 4 of them who are endearingly bad at being dads. I was obsessed with the style of this anime— not just the character designs and settings, but the atmosphere and tone for the scenes are just so pleasant to me. It's almost nostalgic to me in a way, but I'll get in-depth about that later. After the first episode, I had the feeling that I wouldn't be interested in the B plot. Or maybe it's the A plot. The plotline where the Vlad Agency has to investigate cases and fight against evil organizations. In hindsight, the anime mostly went just how I expected and even felt really clunky with its animation and story a lot of the time, but I was still weirdly invested in it. I really wanted to know more about the main characters as well as some of the members from Pendulum (evil organization), and I even liked how cliché/sappy some of the scenes were. I'm not sure if I would recommend this anime to anyone else because what I find endearing might be boring to others.
I was trying to come up with my ranking for the vampire dads, but Dali, Gerhard, and Dino might be tied! I love all three of them for similar and different reasons, and my character "priorities" are always changing. Henrique will sadly always be at the bottom of my list— not because he's a bad character, especially since he's probably the kindest and most laid back out of the four, but his design is the least appealing to me + he's more interesting when he's paired with other characters. He seems to have some sort of unexpected backstory, but it isn't really explored much. I also don't have a lot to say about Elena and Lucia (his daughters) either. They're all just okay.
Dali is the only one in the group who is extremely dedicated to taking care of his own children and has the expertise in doing so. He has a tragic backstory with (spoilers) his wife being murdered right in front of him, yet he's kind to others and would do anything to protect his two sons, Raphael and Ul— even if that means not cooperating with his agency. I really like his hairstyle and outgoing personality, and he sometimes has a hint of sadness behind his eyes, which I find really fitting for him.
Gerhard's design might be my favorite out of the whole cast. He didn't have any voice lines for his first appearance, and I kept praying over and over that this character with the pretty hairstyle and cute face was a guy— and my prayers had been answered once he started talking. I find his design to be very elegant, and he tries to act elegant as well, but he gets easily irritated and flustered. He especially gets shy and awkward when he has to take care of his son, Angelico, and the other children. His dynamic with Dali is also really interesting. He's partially the reason why Dali has such a tragic backstory, but he shares that trauma with Dali, and they still have trust for each other. It's probably not that deep, but I still feel compelled by it.
I like Dino a whole lot... Him being the reason why I got into Delico's Nursery doesn't affect his character ranking, but I do appreciate him for it. I have a feeling that people would be able to tell that he's cold and standoffish just from his appearance, but I adore how he's also just such a weird guy. He gets confused often when it comes to childcare, and he's so blunt about his confusion. He's confident, and also confidently awkward without realizing it. I started to feel conflicted towards him while watching the anime because he is (was) undoubtedly the worst dad in the group. He pressures his son, Theodore, to become a proper aristocrat instead of letting him be a kid, and he can be pretty aggressive about it. Him being an emotionally distant parent made me really sad, but (spoilers with a gif included) there's a scene where he reunites with Theodore, and Theodore expects his dad to be upset with him, but Dino apologizes for being so demanding and bluntly tells his son to come in for a hug, and Theodore starts sobbing as Dino comforts him, and I ended up crying a little.
As for the other characters, I don't care about them as much. Raphael and Theodore have the most depth out of the 6 kids, with Raphael who struggles with not being an only child anymore, and Theodore who struggles with his identity and (spoilers) being forced into an early "cocoon stage" (that's a whole other thing in this anime... it's like vampire puberty or something) that causes him to have hallucinations that torment him, all caused by his dad's expectations. I never cared about Pendulum, but I thought a few of the antagonists were interesting. I thought Kiki would be annoying because I always end up hating cute vampire girls in these sorts of stories, but I like how she acts like a big sister sometimes, and I like her dynamic with her henchman, Abraham. I thought that Katarina was the most intriguing out of the bunch, originally because of their design being kind of "out there". I like how they try to be understanding of the other members in Pendulum, and they're even somewhat kind towards those from the group's worst threat (the vampire dads from the Vlad Agency). A weird sidenote, but I feel like at least 60% of the animation budget went into drawing Katarina's back considering how well-defined and consistent it looks, especially in a later arc where they get a costume change. Julas (voiced by my favorite voice actor) and his involvement with the story was the most disappointing part of this anime to me. His whole thing is just a revenge story, and there just wasn't enough (appealing) depth for me to really care about him. I didn't intend to write about all of the members of Pendulum except for one, so I'll just say that Keith is extremely boring to me. I like Dali's nanny and butler. I like Henrique's wife. That's about all I have left to say.
I almost forgot to mention anything about the music. I admittedly didn't fully watch/listen to the opening until the last episode because 1, I wasn't paying attention when it played the first time, and 2, I almost always skip any openings until the last episode, especially if the anime has any sort of heavy plot that I don't want to be spoiled for. I know the visuals for them are intentional, but I would rather just go into everything completely blind. Anyway, I really like Delico Nursery's opening. I'm not in love with the entirety of the song, but some parts of it are really cool, especially when it's accompanied with/timed to what's happening on screen. I can't say the same thing for the ED since I always skipped it after hearing the first few seconds of it. I also enjoyed some of the tracks in the background (mostly the ones involving a woman beautifully singing in a language I couldn't understand), but I couldn't find any uploads of them online.The music does a decent job at setting the mood for each scene, especially for a few parts in the later arc.
Here is the inevitable conclusion paragraph for you all. Even though the main conflict felt clunky/lackluster and the parts with the nursery might have been redundant, the main characters were appealing enough for me to get through the episodes and have fun with it. It's sort of reminiscent of when I discovered anime and the first 10-20 that I watched, obscure or not, were all perfect to me, even though a lot of them definitely weren't. Delico's Nursery released just last year, but it seems so obscure to me because I haven't heard anyone else talking about it, and I wouldn't have discovered it if it weren't for small coincidences. I hope that it's popular somewhere because I would like to see the rest of the story/the original manga get adapted, especially since the last episode hinted at it. Or maybe they were just making references to it for fans of the manga? I'm not really sure. I didn't think I would deeply care for Delico's Nursery, but I wrote so much for this entry, and I'm planning on watching the stage play(s) and maybe reading the manga. The whole anime was mindless fun for me with a few boring parts and many surprises. I'm not sure if this series will stick with me for long, but I was able to at least write down my feelings before I forgot all of them.
I didn't know where to place this, but I needed to write about this illustration. I originally found a low quality image of Gerhard in an apron being sold as an acrylic stand, which led to me finding this image promoting a pop-up café. Everyone looks really cute... I knew that Gerhard wears high-heels, but I didn't know how high the heels really were and how he's the only one in the group that wears them. I was so distracted by Gerhard also being the only one to wear a frilly apron that I didn't notice how cute Dino is with his hair braided back (but if he was really concerned about food safety, he would tie his bangs back as well). My only issue with this illustration is that the placement of Dino and Henrique's kids bothers me since they should be next to their actual parents. I've seen other official illustrations online, and they're always so pretty. I wonder if more will be made since the anime finished airing a couple of months ago
Entry written: January 13th-14th Entry uploaded: January 14th
Synopsis: "The story revolves around high school student Akira Nikaido, a typical slacker living a normal life. That is, until he meets the mysterious Shirogane, a man who suddenly appears and tells him that they have a destiny together. When Akira hears this, he is shocked and doesn't believe a word of it. Aya, a friend of Akira, forgets something in the school one night, and asks Akira to help her and go find it. He agrees, and while there, he gets attacked by a shadow monster. Shirogane convinces him that the balance between the human world and the shadow world has been distorted and that Akira must become a "shin"- a creature of the shadow world- in order to help restore the balance. The anime has shonen-ai themes which are completely absent from the manga."
I discovered this anime a couple of years ago, potentially through someone's blog. I kind of want to reach out for confirmation, but I'm also really shy... I know the blog it would have been on, so it's not an issue of finding which person uploaded screenshots of the anime, I just don't know if I imagined this happening for some reason. I'm pretty sure it did happen though, and if it weren't for this blog, there's no way I ever would have known about this series with how obscure it seems.
I'm kind of fascinated by how the anime adaptation changed one of the characters to be overly flirtatious, and I wonder how the creator felt about this. Did they know? Did they care? (Sidenote: while looking at the creator's manga works just now, I discovered that they also made Cristo, which I only recognize because I looked through the "heterochromia" tag on Anime-Planet and drew a character from it). For a manga reader (and maybe the creator), this is a case of character assassination, for an anime-only watcher, they probably wouldn't have known about it or cared, and for me, I really like this portrayal of the character. Shirogane is the type of character I would have had a crush on as a 10-year-old, and it doesn't help that he shares a voice actor with Undertaker from Black Butler. Incidentally, this anime weirdly reminds me of Black Butler because, aside from the contract thing, my "crush" for Shirogane feels similar to the "crush" I had on Sebastian without really thinking much about it. I kind of used to wish I was Ciel as a kid (horrible idea in hindsight), and I definitely would have wished I was Akira if I watched Monochrome Factor during that same time. Does this make sense? Probably not, though I'm sure that there's at least one person reading this that understands or even relates to this sort of self-insert/crush thing.
I could only find this anime in 360p on YouTube, but I'm at least thankful that every episode is fully uploaded. I've never liveblogged an anime in this sort of style, and as long as I'm consistent with it, I'm probably going to have fun documenting my experience (hopefully). There's going to be various spoilers beyond this point (obviously), but the more serious spoilers are hidden like this.
Episode 1 (01/09)
I started this late at night and honestly skipped any part that I thought was boring. I was kind of surprised by how Shirogane comes on a bit strongly right from the start while still being mysterious, but I just find him to be really cute. I originally thought I hated Akira's hairstyle, but his appearance slightly changes when he's in the shadow realm (or whatever they call it) and becomes a "shin", and he looks so much better with black hair and darker clothes. Aya's design is cute, and I like the school's girls' uniform in general. I don't have anything to say about the other guy(s) since I mostly skimmed through the scenes that they were in. I only started paying attention when all of the characters got attacked, and Shirogane "had to" turn Akira into a "shin" to save him.
Episode 2 (01/11)
Now that Akira has become a "shin", he has to deal with Shirogane being his "shadow" and following him around everywhere, and it doesn't help that Shirogane isn't visible to the majority of people. I actually really liked this episode— Akira's school gets attacked at the beginning of the episode, he gets injured while fighting, but Shirogane receives even worse injuries while trying to protect him. The rest of the episode is Shirogane opening up about himself and why these monsters are attacking while also taking Akira to meet a bar owner, Shuichi (also referred to as "Master"), who is able to sense and interact with these special shadows. And then. This scene. Where Shirogane has to undress and lay out on the table for Shuichi and Akira to treat his injuries, and he whispers a request to "please be gentle", and he furrows his eyebrows and whimpers, and he struggles with his words when he tries explaining to Akira why his world and the shadow world are overlapping, and he cries in pain as stakes are being pulled out of his shoulder before passing out, and then something just snapped, something inside of me.
Moving on... I also listened to the ED since I didn't do so for the first episode, and this is my favorite ED for the time being. I'm obsessed with this song (not sure if it's genuinely good or if it's my strange tastes), and the visuals are really cool too. I am forever grateful for weird/obscure anime with wonderful OSTs...
Episode 3 (01/13)
This anime is starting to remind me of Sailor Moon with how the shadow monsters are now controlling people who have "darkness in their heart", and it seems like some of these monsters are being led by what seems to be a main antagonist. Kengo (one of Akira's friends) gets more screen time when the two try hanging out together, but it gets interrupted when Kengo's older sister, Mayu, gets possessed by a monster and attacks them. This episode was... uninteresting... Mostly because Mayu is kind of annoying, and the whole scene with her being possessed felt kind of cheesy in a bad way. Although, there is a part where Mayu is able to snap out of her possession just from the mere sight of Shirogane and nosebleeds everywhere (me too, Mayu), and Akira asks why they didn't just use Shirogane before. The anime makes a big point about how normal people shouldn't be able to see "shins", but considering Kengo and Mayu can see Shin Akira and Shirogane, they probably aren't normal.
Episode 4 (01/13)
There's another "monster of the week", this time with Aya's Kendo teacher being possessed. After Akira, Shirogane, and Kengo save Aya and the teacher, Aya joins Akira's group since she's not normal anymore either. I'm sad that Mayu is a recurring character because I kind of can't stand her, specifically with how much she clings onto Akira. Maybe it seems like a double standard since Shirogane also bothers Akira sometimes, but at least he gives him space when he asks, while Akira literally can't shake Mayu off of him + she whines and squeals a lot. I found out during this episode that Kengo is voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya, so that was surprising.
Episode 5 (01/14)
So, this is the first time I'm writing a summary immediately after finishing an episode. I'm not sure where to even start. All of the episodes are capped at 360p, but I was able to tolerate it until now because this episode featured so many slow-motion/low-frame/speed-line scenes that it just turned the screen into a mess. I forgot that nyaa.land/QB was a thing, so I've been downloading the files for the rest of the anime in the background.
Anyway, this episode was a little more engaging than the previous 2— Kenga and Akira fight and split up because Akira won't let Kenga be a part of their shin group ,and he later gets kidnapped by the main antagonist and ends up possessed by a "kokuchi" (I finally remembered the name of the monsters), which causes him to attack his friends. I thought this would play out like before, but the antagonist had a lot of dialogue this time, and a new antagonist was surprisingly introduced.
For the first few seconds, I thought she was cute because of her pink hair and outfit, but then she had dialogue of her own, and she's probably going to be another character in the cast that I don't like. I felt some sort of anime nostalgia in the bad way when she started comparing her breast size to Aya's. She at least revealed some of Shirogane's background to Akira (much to Shirogane's disapproval), but this new character just seems very… Annoying… I didn't know how to explain it at first, but Aya put it best when she got pissed off at this character and said how she "just hates bouncy, fluffy girls like her". I really want to go back to this episode once my files finish downloading only because Shirogane was especially beautiful. I actually wonder if this anime will pull back on all of Shirogane's prettiness and fanservice since we're getting further into the series and now Shirogane is getting his chest groped by Akira. Okay! It's one of those "it's not what you think!" moments where Akira is just rummaging through Shirogane's shirt pocket to give Kenga something, but Shirogane reacts to it in a way I should have expected. I was genuinely shocked when this happened and definitely didn't rewind it just because I'm obsessed with him. After that, the episode ends with Kengo finally joining the group. Yay friendship! Or something.
