Artisans of Splendent Vale

This is a game from Renegade games that is coming up on Kickstarter in September of 2021. This is a cooperative story driven game with a diverse cast of characters. There was a lot of attention placed on characters that you might not see in a normal fantasy setting.

The Designer, Nikki Valens, has worked on a lot of different games that I like. They have led the designs on Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition and Legacy of Dragonholt, both which are very good games. And this looks like they have taken some of both of those and created a cool and unique world. Not much on game play in the video, but one, because of Nikki Valens pedigree as a designer that I’ll checkout on Kickstarter.

Skybound Announcements

Tidal Blades 2

Tidal Blades 2 coming to Kickstarter this fall. It is going to be more of a dungeon crawl. It takes the characters from Tidal Blades and then now they are coming on a dungeon crawl adventure. It’s the same designers but not the dice building, dice progression system. More of a deck building style of game. Tidal Blades didn’t interest me too much, but a cooperative dungeon crawl set in that world, I’m very interested. The universe is really interesting for sure.

Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery

And then a game Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery. It’s an interesting thing because Kim-Joy is a baker who was on the Great British Bake-off. She definitely has a nerdy flare to herself and her life, so Skybound and James Hudson have met her and are working to create a game with her. It is a cooperative game, a bit of The Crew but also a bit of Kitchen Rush without a timer to rush you.

Boruto: Naruto The Next Generations The Board Game

So this is based off an anime, Boruto which is the sequel to Naruto from Blacklist games. Another cooperative game, and this one is a boss battling game. You get to play as characters who are senior ninjas and the junior ninjas so you can have a wide variety of combos to play with. And you are spending energy, shakra, and the cards you play give you as a group more shakra to spend to play more cards and stronger cards.

Unmatched Battle of Legends Vol 2

This is a continuation of what is showing up in Unmatched. This game has been put out by Restoration games. They are known for taking old games and modernizing them, and Unmatched has been massively successful for them. This is a tactical battling game where you are playing out cards to move, attack, and defend against another player. It’s a game that I haven’t played yet, and I think it looks solid, but I do want to try the game before I buy it. This includes Bloody Mary, The Monkey King, and more. Coming out later in 2021.

Flamecraft

Card Board Alchemy is announced a new game about dragons who are baking bread. This is a dragon placement game as they placing dragons around town. It’s small dragons who are making food, at the forge, or brewing potions, it could be a lot of different places. The artwork on this game is amazing. I feel like I know it from where, but I would need to look it up. This looks like a super cute game and it’s coming to Kickstarter in August, definitely looks like a cute game. I hope that it’s easy to play because that aesthetic is amazing.

Galaxy Trucker

This is getting a new version. They are putting out a free expansion, Rough Roads that was out before. But they are making it for the new version as well. They have been putting out small and free mini expansions that can be downloaded for a lot of their games throughout 2020 and 2021 to give more small content to their games. This seems like a nice refresh.

Portal Games Announcements

Million Dollar Script

This one is a party game from Portal games. I am not super interested in this one. While the theme is interesting, I just don’t know about making movies. You are trying to come up with scripts for movies, which I like, but I’m not sure how well it’ll work. I think that it could be funny sometimes, but it feels pretty standard. But you are creating the movie really well. I think that it looks like one which will be great sometimes and bad others, which is the type of party game I pass on.

Dune: House Secrets

This one I am super excited for. It is a Dune game that uses the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game. I love that system because it can offer so much. And it means that they can tell a really interesting story. Dune is an interesting theme for me, because I like the book pretty well. I think that the world of Dune is very fascinating. This is one that I’m pretty sure I’m going to pick up. I’m waiting for Portal Games to do their pre-order. I could order it from a store, but Portal tends to do pre-order bonuses. July 12th is when the pre-order opens up.

Queen’s Dilemma

Horrible Guild is announcing something super generic, but they are teasing the Queen’s Dilemma. They came out with The King’s Dilemma, a legacy game that I really need to play. It is a fascinating sounding game where you are making decisions trying to influence the king and it’s highly story driven. You play around the table discussing and making deals and trying to pitch things. This is one that I really need to play, like I said, so that when the Queen’s Dilemma comes out I’ll be able to play that one as well. It looks like they are building upon what they’ve already done. Also, I love Horrible Guild’s stuff that I’ve played thus far.

Paint the Roses

Another Wonderland based game. This is a theme that has been done a lot because, well, it’s free for public use. This is a cooperative game all about building the perfect garden from North Star Games. The art doesn’t look too bad. It sounds generic to me. But of course with the Queen of Hearts as your employer, she is going to be executing you. So she’s only handing out pieces of the puzzle to how to build the garden out.

So there is an element of cooperative deduction which is interesting. This seems like a try before you buy for me. You can’t discuss what your secret card is. But it is fun because you can discuss what you think other people’s whims, the secrets, are openly. And the whims might change throughout the game. The Queen of Hearts is very fickle.

Detective Rummy

This is a game from WizKids. It is a successor of sorts to Mystery Rummy. This is not a game that I know anything about. But it is a series of cases that you can play, so I am interested. I like games where you are trying to solve something. But the word rummy just throws me off as to what it is. I’ll need to look into Mystery Rummy to see how that plays and keep an eye out for more information on this one.

Machi Koro 2

I like Machi Koro pretty well. However, I got rid of my version of the game because I want to play the legacy version. It seems like a simple game that I and my wife could play as a legacy game for a little bit. Machi Koro 2 is interesting, however, I have Space Base, a game that uses similar mechanics that I need to play. This will likely be one that I want to try before I buy. Though, if you haven’t played Machi Koro, it is a great gateway and family game. This is coming out from Pandasaurus.

They are saying that this should be a bit more challenging for people who want to find a little bit more. The big change is that they have added in a wide variety of landmarks to build in the game. That means that you will have a different set than I will. I really like that because in Machi Koro you might be building too much that is just the same. The variety wasn’t there for me. This seems to be a simple change that just adds in more variety. And they will be in the market versus in front of a player.

Power Plants

This game comes from Kids Table Board Games (KTBG from here on out). I actually haven’t played anything before from KTBG but people tend to like their games a lot. And I am interested in their game Creature Comforts. This game isn’t about power plants producing electricity, but powerful plants. The style looks pretty nice and coming to Kickstarter this fall. Not much more about it in the video, just a visual tease.

Pegasus Spiele

Fire & Stone

This game is from the creator of Carcassonne, which is a great gateway style game. If you haven’t tried it, I definitely recommend it. This game has you trade resources and expanding across the globe. This doesn’t seem like my type of game completely, but I am interested because of the designer, Klaus-Jurgen Werde. I am thinking this will be a try before I buy.

Carnegie

They are bring this game to retail. It originally was on Kickstarter. Another Euro style game that isn’t high on my list of games to play. This one, though, being more available will make people who missed out on the Kickstarter happy. I’d play this one but I doubt it’d ever make it into my collection because it is a heavy weight Euro game.

Bonfire: Trees and Creatures

This is a modular expansion to Pegasus Spiele’s game Bonfire. In fact, there are three modules in there. Yet again another Euro game, this is one where if you already like the game, it’ll give you more to play with. Another that I’d play but it’s not up the alley for me as a gamer. It also lets you play a 5th player which is always a worry to me for a bigger Euro game because they can sometimes take way to long between turns depending on players.

Arcane Wonders

Onitama – Light and Shadow

This is an expansion for Onitama. It adds in a ninja. The ninja can move in secret which is a big change. I kind of still want to get Onitama as a simple abstract game, but I also know that I don’t play abstract games all that often. For fans of the game, though, this is going to be cool for you. The shadow play version has the ninja, and the light play version gives you an asymmetrical starting position.

Viral – The Hive

This is an expansion as well for Viral. Viral is a game where you play as disease that are going throughout the body. It basically adds in more viruses that you can play and viruses that are asymmetrical and can grow as you go. Viral is one that was interesting for me to play, but it kind of fell off my radar. I’m not sure that this pushes it back onto the map for me, but if you want a silly themed area control type of game, Viral might be a good one to checkout.

ALS: Critters at War

A new version of the game is coming out of Air Land and Sea. Not one that is on my radar. War themed games aren’t all that interesting and adding in critters isn’t all that interesting to me. The artwork does look nice, but a two player push and pull on three battlefronts could be fun, but isn’t really for me. Another one that I’d probably enjoy if I played it but won’t be one that I pick-up.

Picture Perfect

You are trying to set-up the perfect photograph. It’s an interesting sounding game about trying to set-up the perfect picture where each character has three things they desire to have in that perfect picture. You are trying to figure out the information but events keep happening that might give you more information or mean that you need to share some of the information that you’ve found. In the end you snap an actual picture with your cellphone. The concept is interesting but a try before you buy just from the sounds of it for me.

Mortum

This has a lot of things that I like. It is a cooperative storytelling and deduction game. All three of those things are really cool for me. It’s a grim setting in medieval Europe. The base game has 3 scenarios that all tie together. I probably will end up getting this one because, like I said, it has three things I really like. I hope that the game works well, and with a lot of Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game left to play from expansions, I might wait for reviews on this one.

Leylines

This one is further out from Arcane Wonders. The artwork looks quite cute on this game. It sounds like a resource gathering game and then getting victory points. In terms of the look, this seems way better than most euro style games, but for me it probably won’t be one that I pick-up.

Dune Imperium: Rise of Ix

Dune Imperium from Direwolf was one of a few worker placement and deck building games to come out last year. I have Lost Ruins of Arnak on my shelf waiting to be played, and I didn’t get Dune Imperium just because aesthetically this didn’t look as interesting. Now, they are both getting expansions. But I’m talking about Rise of Ix here. This one should be an easy buy for Dune Imperium fans as well as some just Dune fans who I know. While Portal is putting out the Dune game for me, this is one that I want to try and maybe own.

Wild Tiled West

Another game from Direwolf. This one is just a little sneak peek. We can safely say it’s an old west themed game, a tile laying game. And well, that the artwork is cute with it’s animals in hats. Beyond that not too much information on the game as this was just a little bit of a tease. This one is coming sometime in 2022.

What Am I Looking Forward To?

So what am I looking forward to most out of all of these? Dune: House Secrets has to be high on the list because it’s based off of a Top 10 game for me, or at least Top 20 game for me. Plus the Tidal Blades 2, the world is so cool in that game, and a dungeon crawl is more my speed. And then finally Queen’s Dilemma, yes, I do need to play King’s Dilemma first, but I love a good legacy game and I’ve heard nothing but great things about King’s Dilemma.

Which are you looking forward to most?

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Since my to-be-watched list of anime series is still really long, there’s a chance that at least some of the spots on my top 5 list will change as time goes on — but for now, here are my five favorite series!

5. Kamisama Kiss

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This series is one I’ve gotten into more recently — I’ve been watching through it casually when I have some spare time and am in the mood for something lighthearted. It’s a romantic comedy about a girl named Nanami who, through a bizarre chain of events, ends up becoming the Earth deity of a nearby shrine, taking over the post from the former deity, who has gotten tired of the job. A fox demon named Tomoe, a resident of the shrine, becomes her familiar, and is bound to her by — you guessed it — a kiss. Nanami’s feelings for Tomoe quickly grow into something more than gratitude and respect, but can a romance between a human and a fox demon ever work? Well…I’m still waiting to find out!

As I’ve said before when describing this series to friends, it’s like someone took all the best parts of Inuyasha and Fruits Basket and fused them together into a fun new anime that’s reminiscent of both of these, but that is still very much its own story. This series is an absolute delight for so many reasons — it reminds me of the series I loved when I first started watching anime, it has lovable characters whose interactions with each other are by turns hilarious and heartwarming, and it has just enough conflict to keep things interesting while still having plenty of fun, fluffy scenes to enjoy. I can’t wait to see the rest!

4. The Devil is a Part-Timer

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This is another recent watch for me, and one of two on my list that overlaps with Peder’s choices. We watched this one during the depths of last winter, when I was craving something goofy and fun to get me out of my annual February funk. It did the trick perfectly, let me tell you. I won’t go into the summary much, as Peder has already done the honors, but suffice it to say that as this series starts off, it behaves as though it’s going to be a high-stakes, high-concept fantasy piece, and then does a total heel-turn, becoming a silly slice-of-life story about an incarnation of the devil who’s stuck in our dimension and has to make a living as a part-time manager of a burger joint. Bizarre and hilarious doesn’t even begin to cover it, my friends.

My favorite parts of this show are when Sado (the devil) and his right-hand-man-turned-roommate are trying to figure out the ins and outs of everyday life in our dimension. They may look like normal humans, but just knowing that you’re watching two beings from a fantastical world try to set a budget for their meager income and deal with their overly eccentric landlady takes the absurd hilarity to new heights. It’s one of my favorite fish-out-of-water stories, and was exactly the kind of lighthearted fun I needed at the time I watched it.

3. Ouran High School Host Club

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This was one of the first anime to become a favorite of mine. It follows the story of Haruhi, a scholarship student at the elite Ouran High School. Early on in the story, she’s mistaken for a boy due to her androgynous appearance and clothing — not wanting to deal with the hassle of setting the record straight, she decides to just go with it. The members of the Ouran High School Host Club (a sort of flirty high society club that primarily caters to young women) take Haruhi under their wing, and before long, she’s the most sought-after member of the host club.

The premise of this show is pretty farfetched, and it takes at least a base knowledge of some aspects of Japanese culture to really get what’s going on in the story, but once you’re on board, you’re bound to have a great time watching this series. In my opinion, it’s shojo (anime aimed at teenage girl viewers) at its finest and most delightfully over-the-top, and watching it feels like reading a really fun yet really weird contemporary young adult novel. It’s a series I enjoy from start to finish, and one I’ll most likely end up returning to again and again.

2. Inuyasha

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When I was a fledgling anime fan, this is one of the first few series I really got into, and was also one of the first I watched all the way through (not too shabby, seeing as there’s over 160 episodes!). The story focuses on Kagome, a teenage girl who falls down the well in the shrine her family tends, only to be transported through time to feudal-era Japan. There, she meets a rough-and-tumble young dog demon named Inuyasha. He leads her through all sorts of adventures and scrapes as they fight off the other demons who are trying to get their hands on the shards of the Shikon no Tama, a sacred jewel that’s rumored to give great power to any demon who wields it.

This is one of those series with a premise that’s really hard to explain when talking about it, but which is really easy to get into when watching it. There are a lot of different opinions about this series — some (like me) find it really enjoyable and rewarding to watch, while others see it as too mainstream and formulaic. While it does fall into the monster-of-the-week rut fairly often, I love it anyway, and I can’t get enough of the great characters it’s filled with, or the unique settings and plot lines that set it apart from other anime I’ve seen. Regardless of others’ thoughts on this series, it’ll always have a special place in my heart.

1. Steins;Gate

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Soon after I started watching this series, I knew it was going to end up ranked among the very best anime I’ve ever seen. By the time we reached the end of it, it was my new favorite. As with my #4 choice, I won’t go into great detail with this one, since we’ve already talked about Steins;Gate quite a bit on this blog, but I can’t close out this list without talking about just how truly great this anime is. As we’ve noted before, the story of Steins;Gate focuses on the concept of time travel, testing the limits and possibilities therein, and finding out just how far-reaching and dire the consequences of messing around with it can be.

As we’ve mentioned before, Steins;Gate seems to almost transcend its own medium — more than being a great anime, it’s just a great story, period. The characters are masterfully rendered and feel so believably human, the themes the series focuses on are weighty and important, and the plot is (for the most part) tightly woven and emotionally satisfying. I can’t say I’ll rewatch this one often, as it’s pretty heavy (despite some humorous elements), but I know I’ll revisit it again someday. And regardless of how many times I do or don’t rewatch it, it’s a story I know is going to stick with me, no matter what.

To close–some honorable mentions: Bleach (so good, but so fraught), Soul Eater (just a good, solid anime with a great premise), Naruto (I loved it for a while, but it caused even more mixed feelings for me than Bleach did), Cowboy Bebop (space opera at its best), The Daily Lives of High School Boys (I’ve only watched a few episodes, but have absolutely loved what I’ve seen so far), Haibane Renmei (the definition of short and sweet anime), Little Witch Academia (just adorable and delightful in every way), and Fairy Tail (another I haven’t gotten far with, but am really looking forward to watching more of).

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Today I’d like to take you back on the anime timeline — both in terms of anime itself and my own journey with it. Back when I started watching anime and reading manga in high school, I mostly got into the stuff that was really popular at that time, like Naruto, Fruits Basket, and Bleach. But it wasn’t long before I discovered the anime that remains my favorite to this day — Inuyasha.

Inuyasha originally aired in 2000 in Japan, and showed up in the US in 2002. Really, this wasn’t long before the time I got into anime, but Inuyasha wasn’t as popular as some others among my fellow anime-watchers at that time, even though I was lucky enough to have it recommended to me. And now that it’s clocking in at 16 years old, it definitely qualifies as a throwback these days! And yes, that does make me feel super old, thank you very much…

Despite what the name of the anime might suggest, the main character is a 15-year-old girl named Kagome Higurashi, who lives with her family on the grounds of the Shinto shrine they tend. The story begins when a demonic centipede creature (the supernatural kind, not the kind that frequent my basement and nightmares) appears out of the dried-up well at the shrine and pulls Kagome in — this would be weird enough, but instead of finding herself at the bottom of the well, Kagome gets dragged back in time to feudal-era Japan.

Soon after she lands there, things get stranger still. She meets a belligerent, cocky young half-demon by the name of Inuyasha, who joins the struggle against the centipede demon. We learn that Inuyasha is searching for a jewel called the Shikon no Tama (as was the centipede demon — the jewel is what drew the centipede to Kagome in the first place) — Inuyasha believes the jewel can turn him from a half-demon into a full-fledged demon, thereby strengthening his already impressive supernatural fighting powers.

During the fight, it’s discovered that the jewel is inside Kagome herself — this is because Kagome is the reincarnation of a priestess by the name of Kikyo, who died protecting the jewel and was laid to rest with it. The jewel is extracted by magical means, but in the continuing fight against the centipede demon, the jewel is shot with an arrow and shatters into hundreds of pieces that spread across the land.

After the fight dies down, Kagome soon finds herself in league with Inuyasha. What follows next (and what drives much of the show) is Kagome and Inuyasha’s journey to find each of the jewel shards, and the battles they get into along the way with the demonic creatures that seek the shards for themselves. At first, Inuyasha’s only trying to regain all of the shards so he can put the jewel back together and use its power like he planned. However, Inuyasha and Kagome soon discover that Naraku, a nefarious half-demon megalomaniac, is trying to find the shards himself and use the power of the jewel to subvert the land under his evil control. The search for the jewel shards then becomes a race as Kagome and Inuyasha try to find them all before Naraku can carry out his diabolical plan.

As you can see, Inuyasha‘s plot is a convoluted one (as with most anime, let’s be honest), and there’s a ton more to it than what I’ve talked about here. You kind of just have to take the plunge before you really get what it’s all about. But be warned — once you do, there’s no going back, and you just might find yourself binge-watching your way through the series! At 167 episodes, it’s not a short anime by any means — you won’t get through it over a long weekend, but it’s certainly far more manageable than some series (I’m looking at you, Naruto…). And thankfully, the pacing moves along nicely to keep things from feeling draggy.

Due to the setup of the plot, Inuyasha can tend to have a pretty monster-of-the-week feel at times. Despite this, however, it mostly avoids a repetitive feel, and the story arc stays engaging throughout. Beyond that, the characters are fantastic. I’ll admit that the series falls into the common mediocre-protagonist-surrounded-by-fascinating-side-characters trap (which we’ve mentioned a time or two before on Nerdologists), but with such a well-rounded cast, this isn’t a big deal. We’ve got Inuyasha, who’s basically the anime version of Peter Pan (you kind of expect him to hop up onto a fence, point his thumbs toward his chest, and shout “Oh, the cleverness of me!” at any given moment); Shippo, a fox demon child who’s always getting himself and the other characters in and out of silly scrapes; Miroku, a womanizing monk (oxymoron much?) who has a wind tunnel in his hand that he uses like a vaccuum to suck up demons (and everything else within range); Sango, a demon hunter with a big vendetta and even bigger boomerang; Kikyo, Inuyasha’s undead ex-girlfriend who spends a lot of time hanging around and making Kagome feel conflicted; and Sesshomaru, Inuyasha’s older (and much more glamorous-looking) half-brother who’s trying to claim all the jewel shards as well. And that’s just for starters!

As I mentioned, Inuyasha is still my favorite anime after all these years — just writing about it is making me want to go watch it all over again! It’s still pretty much unlike anything I’ve ever seen, before or since. It’s got a storyline that’s serious enough to keep the stakes feeling high, but the episodes are sprinkled with plenty of hilarious moments to keep them fun. I can attest to the fact that it’s a great starter series for someone figuring out what this whole anime thing is about, and it’s also a great choice for an anime veteran who’s looking to mix it up a little bit.

So, have you watched Inuyasha? Would you add it to your list? What other older anime series do you love or want to try out sometime? Share with us in the comments!

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So what exactly are filler episodes?

Fillers take many forms, but they all have a few similarities. They can take place at fairly random points within an anime series, though they often show up after a big plot point has been revealed and the series is in between one story arc and the next. They’re usually pretty silly and random, may introduce characters you’ll never see again and who are otherwise unrelated to the series, are vaguely amusing at best and really annoying and/or tedious at worst, and — most importantly — virtually never advance the plot in any appreciable way.

Most anime series will have a filler episode or three along the way, though very short series may not have any. Longer, super-popular series like Naruto and Bleach are the biggest offenders when it comes to fillers — not only do they have filler episodes, they have entire filler arcs.

If they don’t add to the story, what’s the point of them? Why include them at all?

There are a few reasons, but as with many seemingly unexplainable things that happen with TV shows and anime, it basically comes down to money. It will always be weird to me that outside, real-world influences can affect what happens inside a fictional tale, in which anything ought to be possible, but there it is.

A series might have a few fillers throughout a season because the creators are trying to meet contractual demands — say they’ve planned for a 26-episode season, but there’s only enough story material in the original manga to make up 20 of them. That’s where filler comes in — they can keep the show running without jumping ahead in the story or deviating from the storyline they want to stick with.

Another reason might be that the anime in question is being produced more quickly than the manga it’s based on. Rather than ending up with a Game of Thrones-like situation and letting the show get way ahead of the source material and either having to end the show (and lose money) or change the story (and risk losing some fans, thereby losing money), the producers opt to add some filler to give the manga a chance to catch up. This is primarily why the super-long-running animes often include whole arcs of filler; when the story’s so long to begin with, it’s easier for the anime to repeatedly catch up to the manga storyline too quickly. It’s also due to the fact that Japanese shows typically don’t take season breaks or play reruns, the way Western shows do, which means they catch up even faster.

It sounds like fillers aren’t worth watching. Should I just avoid them altogether?

You may think the answer to this question is a simple “yes,” but really, it’s…not necessarily. The defining feature of filler is that it doesn’t contain information that’s important to the plot or character development, so naturally, you generally won’t miss anything by skipping them (unless you’re an incurable completionist, in which case…lord help you). But honestly, sometimes it’s not worth the trouble. My advice is that, if it’s a short series, don’t worry about scouting for filler. Anything under 100 episodes or so will likely have so few that it won’t be worth risking the possibility of spoiling the plot for yourself in the process of researching them to avoid them.

However, for longer series, I would definitely suggest taking the trouble to find out where the fillers are hiding, so you can decide for yourself whether they’re worth watching or not. For example, Naruto, with well over 500 episodes and counting (when you include the sequel, Naruto Shippuden, that is), is such a time commitment already that there’s really no reason to sit through the swaths of filler episodes the series contains; you’re much better off finding out where these sections start and end so you can avoid them altogether if you choose to.

To further complicate matters, there’s the fact that, while fillers are often lame and/or boring and/or just plain confusing (and always, ALWAYS weird), some of them are actually a lot of fun to watch, and would actually be kind of a shame to avoid just because of the hilarity (or in rare cases, actual depth) you’d be missing out on.

So as you can see, the realm of fillers is a little fraught, but it’s navigable, and sometimes even enjoyable. Like most things, there’s a lot more that could be said about them, but this should hopefully get you off to a good start. Now that you’re armed with this information, you’ll be more prepared to make your way through the tricky landscape of filler episodes!

If you’ve slogged through filler episodes you wish you’d avoided, tell us about it in the comments — forewarned is forearmed!

Or if you’re starting a new series and want to know if there are any sections in it that are better skipped, ask away below! We’d be happy to tell you, or help you research if the series is a new one for us too.

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A couple of other sources on what filler episodes are and why they happen (and where I got some of my info):

TVTropes.org (a great overview; gives more detail on the different types/variations of fillers)

Anime.stackexchange.com (reiterates some things, and touches on why there are sometimes different versions of an anime that’s based on a single manga story)

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