Blue Spring Ride

Aka: Ao Haru Ride.

This season has had so many fantastic titles but if i had to pick the one i looked forward to the most it would have to be this one.

Every time it ended i whined about how next monday was so far away.

I knew from episode one that this would be my fav of the season because it deal with a lot of themes i love exploring and can easily identify with.

Anyways....

Futaba and Kou liked each other in middle school but thanks to a misunderstanding followed by Kou moving they end up having their last meeting being a bit of an awkward one.
Fast forward 3 (i think) and a lot has changed.
after being teased for being too cute during all of middle school Futaba works hard to not stand out and actively does stuff to try and gain the acceptance of her female classmates since she is terrified of being alone again.
One day by chance she bumps into a boy who looks a lot like Kou but he has  different name... and an attitude problem.
Of course it is Kou and the two of them have to deal with that fact that while they are the same people things have changed and you can't go back to the past.
Still the two become unlikely friends and slowly their group grows over the course of the semester.

Also it's shojo so you got your normal tropes that you tend to see in that genre but i think they work well.

Anyways.... true story time!
around the halfway mark i wondered if the manga had been licensed... and it has......... in german and french.
I am debating getting the french one since it is a language i can speak (though not speaking it for over a decade has forced me to lose quite a bit of it... luckily reading and listening weren't affected too much) but i am still hopeful that Shojo beat (aka Viz) will notice how popular the show got and maybe license it in english.... i can dream.

True story 2
because i couldn't find an english license to this series i looked at another series this author did called strobe edge.... i ordered it all and just devoured those books. So good.

True story 3
while i never changed my personality to be liked by anyone a lot of people are surprised when they get to know me... my normal day to day wear is comfy things i don't mind ruining... so jeans and Babydoll t-shirts mostly.... a sweater if it's cold.
I do this because my work (either at home or on a show) can be messy and there is nothing worse then getting paint on clothing you like.
However my taste lean way more towards the girly... i love ribbons and frills (just incase you couldn't tell from my art)  I do not shy away from Pink or sparkles (though because i'm freakishly pale i kinda have to wear dark colours to not vanish entirely)
My friends have accused me of being a closeted girly girl and i reply with the fact that i don't hide it... i am just way too shy/cheap to dress the way i like.
All throughout highschool my friends were mostly male and any time i did dress a little girly they made fun of me... it wasn't mean spirited or anything but considering how self conscious i already am it wasn't an experience i enjoyed going through so i just continued to save the girly clothing for special occasions.
So all that shit helped me relate to Futaba and it's part of the reason i love the show so much.... that sense of  "been there done that" is amusing to me.

True story 4
when i was young we moved across the country.
I had moved once before but i was too young to remember it.
I was terrified and miserable on moving day... my parents feeling a little bad saved up and just over a year later they gave me a plain ticket so i could spend Christmas Holiday back in my hometown.
It was both amazing cause i would get to see all my friends again and terrifying cause i had never been on a plain before (we drove to get here) and i was doing it alone.
At first when i got there it was great but i quickly realized something.
Even though i had kept in touch with my friends... even though it had only been a year.
we had all changed so much.
it was a massive wake up call
I realized a few of my friends only tolerated each other cause they liked hanging out with me.
I realized some people i considered friends probably didn't like me that much to begin with, i was just quiet so it was better to hang out with someone then be alone.
I realized that with my focus on Art that everyone though i was just acting like a child and should grow up.
In 2 weeks i learned so much about myself and those around me.
I learned how to spot my true friends and how i shouldn't spend time on effort trying to get in touch with people who want nothing to do with me.

I haven't gone back there since... it's been over 10 years now...
and i couldn't be happier.
So when Kou mentions he doens't want to relive the past, or have people trying to find the past him in his current actions i get it... i understand that 100%  and i love seeing that theme explored in a show.

There is one more story i could tell but i think you've had enough.

anyways.

The good:
Everything...
the music is great (especially that amazing intro song)
The characters are lovely and for the most part believable (more on that in a bit)
the story is great and could easily have another 2 seasons but that endign did seem kinda final.... i want more... MORE
i just loved every moment of it.
it is extremely girly so maybe guys wont like it but i dunno... i think anyone could enjoy it personally.

The annoying:
there are scenes where Futaba kinda... tests Kou.... and his reaction t oone of the tests i do not buy for a second... he had no reason to do what he did...
it's amazing and adorable that he did do that but realistically it wouldn't have happened.

This is another show Sentai picked up that i will be buying as soon as it's available.
and i'll continue to hope that Shojo beat pics up this manga cause it's really really good and i wanna read it all and i know it's longer then the show.

alright all thats left is DRAMAtical Murder if i ever catch up on it, Glasslip on Thursday and then Barakamon in two weeks... i keep forgetting to talk about it since it's the only Funimation title i'm watching this season.
Sorry for all the stories but i figure they help in showingmy bias on while i love the show as much as i do.
will it beat out Natsume Yuujinchou as my fav show?
no
but it's easily up there as one of my all time faves.... especially if it gets more seasons.