Snowflake Challenge: Day 12
Jan. 25th, 2025 09:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chibifukurouCreate a Rec Countdown.
5 Cute Girls Do Cute Things Series to Watch! (Focusing on some less well known series)
1. Bofuri I don't want to Get Hurt So I'll Max Out my Defense - With a setup similar to the very well know Sword Art Online but made much cracky/absurd this is a fairly popular series in Japan. And for good reason. Despite playing up crack in every area, the animation and action scenes are top notch. Boss fights keep tensions high in universe even though the characters are only dying "in game" without the die in real life twist some series use to ramp up the tension.
It does a good job giving each of the main staff their own breathing space to grow and have character arcs, though the main focus remains more heavily on the main two: Maple the titular character who is in her first full immersion VR game and makes it everybody elses problem with her VERY out of the box solutions. And Sally, her best friend, who is a record holding VR gamer who covers for any weakpoints left by Maple's chaos with sheer skill and force of will. (I absolutely ship, but true to the CGDCT format there are no major romance plots)
2. School!Live - One of the only Horror CGDCT's I know of. Zombie imagery abounds though is kept less gruesome than you would find in a more action themed show. In the anime, the focus is ok the main four girls and their dog. POV changes from episode to episode letting you get a feel for the different ways the characters handle their dangerous situation. Even at their most stressed and snappish the kindness and care they show each other is remarkable. As a horror and cute thing fan I loved the juxtaposition. Since the anime is short, only covering the first 20ish manga chapters I immediately had to go find the manga and tore through the then 12 volumes in days. While the cast grows and shrinks over the course of the manga the kindness remains and the ending was kept non-actiony enough to match the series' more gentle pacing.
3. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear - A newer series, that just got its second season run in 2024 this is a fun take on the reborn into my favorite media trope that's big right now. Only the lead, Yuma, not only finds herself transported into a fantasy world. She is also given a magical bear suit to help her survive. The bear suit offers nearly unparalleled power with one caveat. Every power must be 'Bear Themed'. Not all the bear puns translate to the dub but the absurdity is definitely kept.
Despite her absurd situation Yumas love of challenge and deep sense of fairness carry the story in a satisfying way. As she collects a series of little sister characters and rescues various towns completely by accident in an attempt to keep her "sisters" from being sad, this is a series that never forgets to have fun or slow down for a nice friends moment focused on emotional fulfillment despite its 1 town saved per 1-3 episode pace.
Honorable Mentions
Laid Back Camp
One of the Big Names in CGDCT titles. But if you aren't familiar with the genre laid back/yuru camp is a great place to start! I'm not going to do a full breakdown because e ery listical for CGDCT will have one but I promise you won't be disappointed.
Saki
One of the longest running kinda CGDGT mangas. Its gotten a few anime series subbed in English. But as an Ecchi series it's got an understandably limited audience. This one started as a more traditional girl sports rival story. Very girl friendship heavy plot and girl heavy cast with Ecchi visuals drawn not around romantic situations but gaming ones. Over its 19 year run it's transitioned more into the budding CGDCT genre, writing off any male leads and coming up with some amusing byplay backend like ability for women to have girl children without men to explain the now 99% female class. Additionally playing into the absurdist flandarization of the original Ecchi tropes one characters Bob's grow from book to book to the point of humorous absurdity.
Remaining non-romantic and female lead. Down to its focus on the rivalry vs team dynamics of mahjong, the manga has kept it's easy to read, sports anime style. in an impressive way. Particularly compared to a lot of other 20 year run mangas. Between its Eechi and Absurdist focus definitely not fir everyone but a fun ride.
5 Cute Girls Do Cute Things Series to Watch! (Focusing on some less well known series)
1. Bofuri I don't want to Get Hurt So I'll Max Out my Defense - With a setup similar to the very well know Sword Art Online but made much cracky/absurd this is a fairly popular series in Japan. And for good reason. Despite playing up crack in every area, the animation and action scenes are top notch. Boss fights keep tensions high in universe even though the characters are only dying "in game" without the die in real life twist some series use to ramp up the tension.
It does a good job giving each of the main staff their own breathing space to grow and have character arcs, though the main focus remains more heavily on the main two: Maple the titular character who is in her first full immersion VR game and makes it everybody elses problem with her VERY out of the box solutions. And Sally, her best friend, who is a record holding VR gamer who covers for any weakpoints left by Maple's chaos with sheer skill and force of will. (I absolutely ship, but true to the CGDCT format there are no major romance plots)
2. School!Live - One of the only Horror CGDCT's I know of. Zombie imagery abounds though is kept less gruesome than you would find in a more action themed show. In the anime, the focus is ok the main four girls and their dog. POV changes from episode to episode letting you get a feel for the different ways the characters handle their dangerous situation. Even at their most stressed and snappish the kindness and care they show each other is remarkable. As a horror and cute thing fan I loved the juxtaposition. Since the anime is short, only covering the first 20ish manga chapters I immediately had to go find the manga and tore through the then 12 volumes in days. While the cast grows and shrinks over the course of the manga the kindness remains and the ending was kept non-actiony enough to match the series' more gentle pacing.
3. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear - A newer series, that just got its second season run in 2024 this is a fun take on the reborn into my favorite media trope that's big right now. Only the lead, Yuma, not only finds herself transported into a fantasy world. She is also given a magical bear suit to help her survive. The bear suit offers nearly unparalleled power with one caveat. Every power must be 'Bear Themed'. Not all the bear puns translate to the dub but the absurdity is definitely kept.
Despite her absurd situation Yumas love of challenge and deep sense of fairness carry the story in a satisfying way. As she collects a series of little sister characters and rescues various towns completely by accident in an attempt to keep her "sisters" from being sad, this is a series that never forgets to have fun or slow down for a nice friends moment focused on emotional fulfillment despite its 1 town saved per 1-3 episode pace.
Honorable Mentions
Laid Back Camp
One of the Big Names in CGDCT titles. But if you aren't familiar with the genre laid back/yuru camp is a great place to start! I'm not going to do a full breakdown because e ery listical for CGDCT will have one but I promise you won't be disappointed.
Saki
One of the longest running kinda CGDGT mangas. Its gotten a few anime series subbed in English. But as an Ecchi series it's got an understandably limited audience. This one started as a more traditional girl sports rival story. Very girl friendship heavy plot and girl heavy cast with Ecchi visuals drawn not around romantic situations but gaming ones. Over its 19 year run it's transitioned more into the budding CGDCT genre, writing off any male leads and coming up with some amusing byplay backend like ability for women to have girl children without men to explain the now 99% female class. Additionally playing into the absurdist flandarization of the original Ecchi tropes one characters Bob's grow from book to book to the point of humorous absurdity.
Remaining non-romantic and female lead. Down to its focus on the rivalry vs team dynamics of mahjong, the manga has kept it's easy to read, sports anime style. in an impressive way. Particularly compared to a lot of other 20 year run mangas. Between its Eechi and Absurdist focus definitely not fir everyone but a fun ride.