It's rare that I feel compelled to watch an entire Anime all in one go but in this case I couldn't stop as I just finished watching AKIBA'S TRIP from 2017......https://youtu.be/cYVLfBDMVlo?si=hNZ9l2PGV1XLsLtkNow how I came to know of this show was one of those moments of serendipity as I was perusing the Anime section of my local Sunrise Records and spotted a copy of AKIBA MAID WAR, which is a great show that you should watch, while here's the OP.....https://youtu.be/jxN-HbcE0XQ?si=gxqhvy1fnpAl06gQAnd next to it was something called Akiba's Trip, so being the degenerate I am, I initially thought I had misread the title as AKIBA STRIP but that was obviously its intent as its a double entendre that ties into shows plot.I'll explain as the show takes place in the Akihabara, aka Akiba, district in Tokyo Japan. It's considered the epicenter for Otaku Culture which revolves around Anime, Manga, Video Games, and other Japanese subcultures. The word "otaku" is sometimes loosely translated as "geek," but in Japan it often carries a stronger sense of cultural identity.Over the last 10-15 years the Japanese Government started cracking down on the area to promote more tourism by removing, or at least tone down, it's more unsavory aspects which involved the promotion and sale of pornography along with prostitution. Here's some vids on its history.....https://youtu.be/3pBRLTpCocQ?si=mWhVzMk8eooOgCB5https://youtu.be/1FjMuuQosuQ?si=SbaOZE1FiQHpbxTuOne on Maid Cafe history/culture that Akiba Maid War is based upon to an exaggerated degree.....https://youtu.be/8_LtcUIH1s4?si=IfCgX8NjkCUj5Vd4And another more elaborate one from 2025 on how Akihabara has changed overall.....In 2009 actress Kirstin Dunst even shot her music video cover of Turning Japanese there, Directed by McG (Charlies Angels 1/2, Terminator Salvation)....https://youtu.be/C0X3CLJVMJU?si=1HbKLkxAg6EgkY40
>>284094272Anywho, I absolutely loved Akiba's Strip as, like Akiba Maid War, it takes an absurd premise and just runs with it to it's illogical extreme.In Akiba there are creatures called Bugged Ones who are possessed people usually dressed as cosplayers.Our protagonist Tamotsu is injured by one and brought back to life and recruited by Matome who has been fighting against the Bugged Ones for decades while still appearing as a young woman due to magical bullshit reasons. Meanwhile some sort of forcefield is in place, meant to contain the Bugged Ones to Akiba with the drawback being that neither Tamotsu or Motome can go beyond its limits either as they and the Bugged Ones both have the same sort of energy that grants them powers.One of the things I love about it is that, like Akiba Maid War, it's contained to a single season of 13 episodes with each having its own sublot peripheral and sometimes connected to the overall arching narrative that ultimately climaxes with a sense of completion that made me want to smoke a cigarette afterwards.The twist is, in order to defeat the Bugged Ones, the only way is to fully strip them of their clothes, or at least to their bra's and underwear, while it's not as explicit as you'd think based on that information, even when fully naked as most of it is implied instead of going full on hentai with the exposure expelling the Bugged Ones from their hosts in a plume of purple mist.The thing I like is how everyone just takes it as a matter of fact and accepts the absurd situations they're in while even pointing out how stupid everything is, but not in a sort of smug meta way like a lot of post-modern deconstructionist trash that does so to make themselves feel like they're above the subject matter while wallowing in it, like Scream which is a plain and simple slasher film no matter how you put it, only with layers of self-referential irony in front of it to pretend that it's smarter than it actually is!
>>284094294But Akiba's Trip knows how fucking stupid it is, revels in it and why it's soo much fun, while the characters themselves are well designed and distinctive both visually and personality wise, while I admit it even hit me in the feels a few times and if a show does that then it will always have a place in my heart.Also, I just discovered that two videogames based on it are available for both the PS4 and Switch.....Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed....https://youtu.be/oZAZLbjLHcE?si=z-4PIi1mjN_MnScaAkibas Trip: Hellbound Debriefed......https://youtu.be/oDJUyQYHwmg?si=taYBPJUoo13uOQQeAs well as on Steam.....https://store.steampowered.com/app/333980/AKIBAS_TRIP_Undead__Undressed/https://store.steampowered.com/app/1236780/AKIBAS_TRIP_Hellbound__Debriefed/While here's some reviews......https://youtu.be/bzCmmbn6WEs?si=XNAWZQF8TMAVQQJehttps://youtu.be/BHMB15yXLl4?si=CPTXQEIWq2S8PsYOAnd that's all I've got to say about this.....https://youtu.be/_mkiGMtbrPM?si=wznn99H2iqwB27o9!!!FACT!!!
Thanks Grok.
I rmwneevr you from tv
>>284094272Based
>>284094272Okay...
