Maire is a baker who lives in a nice little fantasy town. She doesn’t remember who she is or where she’s come from, however, she just knows her name. She also knows that she has a special power that allows her to infuse magic of things like luck, love, or other emotions/characteristics into what she bakes. Her life is turned upside down when bandits attack her village and she is taken away with others to be sold as slaves. The person who buys her is eccentric but seems to know about her powers. What does that mean for her and will she be able to get away from her owner?

The story seems pretty interesting, and I think that it’s okay. Now, what I think the author gets wrong is that she wants this to be an adult fiction book, so tries to toss in some heavier stuff, but this is really a YA book with a little bit off the screen sex and a few intense situations. But beyond that, I think with the plot, it just wanders at time without really feeling like you have much of a purpose when reading it. The writing itself is well done, but the plot if just kind of there. The person who buys Maire is intentionally not fleshed out that well, but is supposed to be a very interesting character and just ends up feeling pretty dull and you don’t get them. Which is some of the point, but it’s not handled in what I would call a good way, instead it just feels like they aren’t driving the plot forward like they should.

The characters, besides Maire and her owner and one other character aren’t really fleshed out. They feel more like your standard fantasy villagers, which they are, but they don’t have much of anything that stands out about them. There are also only three of them that you really get to know. Even Maire and her owner don’t feel like they have a ton of depth. Again, I think this is done somewhat intentionally, but it doesn’t make for the best book, even if it makes sense within the book.

There are a few more confusing bits to this book that I don’t want to get into too much. Let me say that it has some heavy laying on a fairy tale themes in the book. However, there is no reason for that. In the world that Charlie Holmberg has created, she’s done nothing to set-up more fairy tale themes. it’s just a standard fantasy world that she then brings in a few mentions to fairy tales and lays it on fairly heavily in the middle, and then ignores it again at the end. The end is the other big thing that doesn’t make a ton of sense. I won’t spoil it, but let’s say that it tries to get deep, and it feels a bit like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy mixed with an anime that has been about giant mechs fighting and the last episodes are an existential crisis, I’m looking at you Gurren Lagann and Neon Genesis Evangelion. I think it could have been done in a way that would have worked, but you are told bits and pieces of what is going to happen in the end, but you never feel like you have a real chance of discovering it with the character, versus just having her told what is going on.

Now, I have been pretty hard on this book. I do want to come back and say, I think that the writing style is pulled off well. You get this sense of whimsy that ties nicely into the fairy tale aspect and the cake baking. And I was able to read through it quickly and didn’t feel like it was a slog, because there are hints of interesting that you can keep on finding. I would say that this book is like rice. By that, I mean that the rice is good and helps make up a meal, but it’s nothing amazing just by itself and just kind of plain. That’s what this book is, it’s good but in the end, for a fantastical idea like it has, it just ends up being a little bit plain. Not bad and reading it I had my fill of the rice, there’s just nothing that makes me want to come back and have more of this book or things by this author, even though I am slightly interested in her Paper Magician series, but after one book, I don’t feel like I need to fill up on rice.

Have you read the Paper Magician Series or Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet? Did you like them? What are some books that you think a “rice”?

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Gurren Lagann is a pretty typical mecha anime. Something horrible has happened to the world and there are monsters of some sort who are trying to take it over or kill all humans or something along those lines. It’s only those who can control these mech armor suits that have a chance at saving humanity and defeating the big bad guy. This covers a wide swath of anime, including the one that I’m watching now, Code Geass.

More specifically for Gurren Lagann, the world and humanity have been forced to live underground because it’s too dangerous to live above ground, though not everyone knows why. There are underground villages, and in one of these villages we find a digger, who drills through the ground looking for things and expanding the village, whose name is Simon. Simon is an excellent digger and one day he finds the head of a mech. The same day, the roof/earth crust collapses in on their village and while people survive a giant mech crashes through. Followed by a girl who is trying to destroy it. Simon, the girl, Yoko, and Simon’s Bro, Kamina end up in the mech head that Simon had found and are able to destroy the mech that has fallen into their village. This is Kamina and Simon’s chance to get to the surface and they take it. Up there they find a world where humans aren’t allowed to live and the Spiral King is using beastmen in mechs to kill any humans who come to the surface, and the show continues from there as Simon, Yoko, and Kamina take on mechs as they try and reach the Spiral King.

My initial thoughts are are that is a pretty typical anime. There’s a fair amount of fan service, and the plot is pretty simple at the start of it. I will say that it grows into more of a plot and does an odd anime thing where half way through the show pivots hard. The more that I think about how it pivots, the more I think it does a decent job with it. Gurren Lagann doesn’t end up having a ton of depth, but does touch on a few interesting topics to think about. I won’t go into them as it will give away how some of the story ends up going. It reminds me of how it changes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is another anime I should watch again.

Gurren Lagann is also an anime that I feel like leans into it’s tropes as well. The fan service, the mechs, everything is done in a pretty typical anime manner. Even the bravado of Kamina is very typical. For that reason I can’t recommend it all that highly, though for a standard anime, it doesn’t seem to miss that many beats with what it does. The pivot in the middle is probably the point where it is the most rough as everything just pivots a little bit too hard and overall it isn’t the easiest to follow. As compared to Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann isn’t as self aware about the tropes that it is leaning into. I don’t think that is a bad thing, as it does make it more accessible to newer anime watchers, I feel like it’s just okay because of that. However, as compared to Kill la Kill again, it isn’t nearly as over the top. Kill la Kill is an anime that I wouldn’t recommend to a newer anime watcher because it is so over the top and leans into tropes in a way that will be confusing or will be harder to read and understand what they getting at and how they are subverting things and playing against tropes as well as into them at the same time.

Overall, Gurren Lagann is just an okay anime. It isn’t long as if you want to watching something that is pretty traditional mecha anime, you won’t go wrong watching Gurren Lagann. If you’re a more seasoned anime watcher and know more of the tropes and standards for mecha anime, I’d definitely recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion over it as a more classic anime and a better done anime.

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I do have some honorable mentions, as well. I mentioned Berserk and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Berserk is a dark, very serious anime, and Neon Genesis Evangelion is your classic mech anime. I enjoyed both, but they are both in very different realms. Kristen and I have also watched Fairy Tale, which I’ve enjoyed quite well, as it’s a blend of fantasy and silliness; however, there is some terrible filler in it. And speaking of filler, I have watched the first couple main arcs of a show that is almost 50% filler with Bleach. Bleach is a lot of fun, but the amount of filler and the fact that I haven’t watched much of the series has kept it off my list. And finally, Dragon Ball Z: Abridged, a fan parody of Dragon Ball Z, is just hilarious.

There are so many more anime that I want to watch and just need to make time for. What are some of your favorite anime? Seeing what I’ve liked, what would you recommend I check out next?

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