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Dim Sum Down-low

Dim Sum Down-low: Ramengvrl dishes out anime expertise

How often does Ramengvrl watch anime? Every single day

LiFTED | Ramengvrl | 8 Mar 2021


What do you do besides music? LiFTED takes the long-loved afternoon talks at a dim sum joint in Asia to get the scoop of what artists enjoy besides making music in Dim Sum Down-low. This month, our spotlight is on Indonesia’s Ramengvrl, one of the fiercest MCs in Asia, and her life-long love for anime.

When not releasing tracks with a who’s who of Asia’s hottest artists like Pyra, YAYOI DAIMON, or Yellow Claw, or working on the long-term goals of making herself a household name, Ramengvrl chills with anime. After the global insanity of 2020, Ramengvrl 2.0 is here. She’s refocused and promises that 2021 is just ‘gonna be different.’ But first, she explains why she’s been in love with anime for all these years by giving us her five favorites.

“I started watching anime when I was as little as five years old. Back in the days, all the kids were stuck watching Doraemon or Ninja Hatori every Sunday morning, which was the coolest thing you can ever find on local TV in Indonesia. Fast forward to the present day, anime is just on another level. It was never just some kid’s animated show as a lot of people think; anime touched a lot of legit points in our lives, and sometimes taught me a lot more than other shows or movies could. The stories can be complex, too, like Neon Genesis. At the end of the day, anime should be taken as seriously as any other form of visual media, only that it’s more fun to watch coz I’m a sucker for 2D characters and crazy hair.” 


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ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM

Honestly, I was just putting this aside for a while because I thought this was just some simple slice-of-life anime. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Assassination Classroom makes you happy and warm inside, then it brings you down in the most humbling way, and then it’s gonna make you cry. The story, including the ending, isn’t cliche at all. All the characters are relatable, and you’ll be left with a hole after watching it, but hopefully, that’s a satisfying hole. The aftertaste of Assassination Classroom is like saying goodbye to a really good friend you’ve made a lot of memories with during a one-month holiday trip.

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ATTACK ON TITAN

I don’t think I need to say anything more about this. It’s just good. What struck me first was just the idea of being in constant fear of getting eaten by these weird-ass titans (trust me, they’re really creepy), but the real hook is.. what got these titans there in the first place? And all other juicy conspiracies. Makes you really think about the value of human life. Plus, the action scenes are dope. And yea, Levi is a husbando.

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HUNTER x HUNTER

If you like tournament arcs, going into HxH is gonna be a breeze. I’m not usually the shonen anime type, but something about HxH is different. It might be because it was on TV back when I was little, or it might be the tournament arc, or it might be Gon as the main character that’s not gullible af, and Hisoka..I LOVE Hisoka, so I guess I have a thing for creepy characters. Downside: It stopped three years ago, and not even the manga continued. Just keep that in mind.

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DEATH NOTE

Death Note is a classic and intense battle between two genius minds, each thinking and doing things according to their own version of justice. It’s not that often you see the so-called bad guy doing what he’s doing because of a strong ideology instead of just, ‘I wanna rule the world! Hahaha! Bow down to me you lowlifes.’ But this is it, and even if you’re not an anime person you’re gonna be hooked. Some cinematic points are fun to digest too, like the infamous ‘chips eating’ meme you’ll definitely find on YouTube. Have fun discussing who’s really ‘just’ in this anime with your friends. Don’t kill each other, though

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Sailor Moon

Let’s be real, it’s not THE BEST anime ever. I got some other titles that can easily snatch this position. But still, you gotta give it to this classic 90’s anime. Yes, there’s a lot of cliches, a lot of plots that are ‘too convenient’ (Why is Sailor Moon in love with Tuxedo Mask again?), and a lot of sexist and body-shaming dialogues like ‘you’re fat’, or scenes like Usagi working out too hard in the gym because she wants to be skinnier so she can get a boyfriend (P.S. she’s already very skinny)—those might not fit too well in this era of wokeness. BUT, keep in mind that this is the anime ADAPTATION of the manga, and people are just tryin’ to keep it PG for TV. If you’re interested enough in doing some research, Sailor Moon is actually ahead of its time, considering it’s arguably the first popular all-female heroes show (in a sea of Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece), there’s a lot of queer characters AND even an LGBT relationship. Fun fact: the creator of Sailor Moon is the wife of the creator of HxH.

Check out Ramengvrl on Pyra’s latest track, ‘Yellow Fever,’ here.