A sound rang out with unnatural clarity considering the chatter and indistinct noise of the area. Classmates divided neatly into groups, conversing about their day and daily happenings, snippets of their lives could be heard: Someone's dad getting a new job, a loved family pet having to go to the vets, maybe even a friend group talking about their friends romantic adventures. All that could be observed as you walked down the hallways but he paid it no mind, after a school day all he wanted to do was get home. This want to get home translated into many things. A slouched posture creasing his generic school uniform, that also had tatters and cuts in multiple places, he just wasn't in any rush to get it fixed. Soulless dead eyes with dark semi-circles under his bottom eyelids were a result of many sleepless nights with anime as his caffeine, which contrasted his piercing blue eyes, maybe someone was going to offer 5 Yen to him for a wish, but he was no god or anything special, as much as he wished he was. Also much like an anime protagonist, a brown thatch of scraggly hair hung down covering his eyes like curtains, many of the students wondered how he saw out of his eyes but daren't ask him.
As the school gates funnelled the students out of the school, he himself was lost in the tidal wave of the students following like water onto the streets. A beige and various colours of hair poking out as the only distinguishers, a tsunami of students. Eventually though they dispersed with more and more students either verged off the paths to hang out with friends at the local park, hearing only giggling from their direction getting progressively quieter and quieter until the raucous cackling of schoolgirls could be heard no more.
It was a bright day outside, the sun glinted from the windows and if you were in the way of it's path you would know about it. The blinding sun still didn't stop people from loitering around the many street shops and stalls outside the school campus, from snacks to gifts, they had it all. Conversation at a much more bearable level took part in the streets, and he preferred it more than the squealing of the hyenas that were the girls of his school. The air was gently passing his face and uplifting his hair and then gently placing it back down onto his forehead periodically, having blown all through the day and still going strong. Out from the regular rabble his ears perked at some noise to his left, some people eating some yakitori. A charred scent caught his nose, no doubt from the grilled chicken that was skewered on a wooden stick and being enjoyed by the two. "Oh dude! Did you see the latest episode? It was peak! Haroman and Werowear fought and he was like 'You dishonoured my family... I can't forgive you'" An enthusiastic male, brown haired student said to his more relaxed and calmer friend, and took another bite of his skewer while his friend responded.
"Careful, that's spoiler territory, I still need to catch up, but now I'm excited, I always knew that Haroman and Werewear were going to fight!" Now the more reasonable of the two started to reflect his friends behaviour. A stray can got sent barrelling across the pavement bouncing, coming to a halt at the brick wall it crashed into, the perpetrator had fists clenched and he marched up to the two students.
"Did you just say you were watching 'Haroman: A Tale Of Two Destinies'? You do know that it's ranked 39th on TheAnimagaCollection right? And I'm not surprised, boring story, predictable characters, unimpressive visuals, forgettable soundtrack. And don't even get me started on the pacing, I bet that slugs with rockets strapped to them in some sort of twisted scientific experiments could have more consistent pace, one moment there's a cook off between Haroman and Semolina and next there's a massive lizard rampaging in their city that just so happens to take the Key Of Divine Sanctity?! Furthermore there's tons of cliches, Haroman is just 'good is good, I only do good' and there's a really clumsy and oblivious girl who looks beautiful? I mean its practically just Cliche: The Anime." He stood there taking some deep breaths but soon continued on his destruction of someone's opinion completely unprovoked. "And.... and compare that to what I'm watching right now, it's a 12 episode character based series with deep roots in Japan, stunning visuals and a story that can cause people without tear ducts to cry, masterfully crafted characters with relatable problems and a chilling soundtrack. You should watch it, it's ranked 2nd: 'Soko-san, I have something to say'. It should be number one but people don't understand it.." And while the two were still digesting the words that some random guy conjured up out of nowhere, he vanished like a thief in the night.
After that, he, the mysterious anime vigilante, walked at a brisk pace along the path, not only did he want to get home but also because he was seething with anger. Growing up he had always been a huge fan of anime, even considering it to be at the very peak of fiction and wouldn't hesitate to tell someone why their favourite anime was so much more inferior to his. Because of these facts, he was known on the popular anime and manga site 'TheAnimangaCollections' as a little bit of an online gremlin. If you were to check his profile you would see mountains and mountains of reviews, comments and ratings, some kind, some irrationally harsh.
After about 30 minutes from exiting school, he finally reached his house in shorter time than he had expected, probably because he was power-walking and only had rage on the mind. A small one story building with a generally unimpressive look to it was where he lived, displaying the kanji for 'Hanagaki' closely nearby the drive. He unlocked and opened the traditionally Japanese door to the front room and the regular sight greeted him. Piles of eaten noodles, bottles strewn about the floor like landmines and a place that makes junkyards look clean. Nevertheless, this was the usual sight for him so it barely phased him as he plucked a stray bottle from the couch and replaced it with himself, turning the TV on and looking for his next anime to watch.
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