Winter 2019 Summary – Week 2

Welcome to the new weekly section where I will cover current season’s shows that I’m still following that haven’t been blogged by us, the leftovers so to speak. That way readers who watch these shows below can keep tabs on how we feel about them. At the moments aside from the top tiers shows we blogged, there are 7 other shows in which I will drop 2 in the next week depending how they perform. Ideally this post will be at the beginning of the week. Without further ado, let’s jump in

Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue. (ep02)

Doukyonin is a healing show. Well, it’s a different kind of healing show where the two lonely individuals try their best effort to understand each other. It offers you a specific kind of mood and the second episode is a worthy follow-up to its premiere. Structure-wise, it follows the same pattern as the first where we at first follow the writer’s point of view before switching back to the cat. What makes it enjoyable is that the show nails its tone from start to finish. I enjoy the little gags of everyone keeps asking Subaru about his cat’s name and what makes this episode work so well is how the cat thinks totally differently from what we assume (Haru means food, simple as that), yet in the larger picture it just fits. Doukyonin is sweet and pleasant.

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (ep02)

Before going in this second episode, let me just stress that I didn’t really bother about the slavery aspect or the false rape accusation. This week it addresses the first one, and of course we see how the slave girl starts to open up to her owner, because yeah he’s the main guy and he’s misunderstood by everyone around him but this girl. While I would say that the narrative treads on familiar path this week, there are still some moments of good chemistry between them. Adding to the fact that I like the “I defense, you attack” to level up part. While the game mechanics still rubs me in the wrong way, every time they show up it takes me right out to the credibility of this world, I don’t mind the slave girl, I don’t mind the more problematic parts of the show so I will be keeping up with this one.

Gotoubun no Hanayome (ep02)

This week it’s time for Fuutarou to get to know better to one of the sisters, and it’s Miku, the quiet one who has a weird deep passion for warriors “old bald men” from the old era. While this show certainly doesn’t push any boundary in terms of genre convention, in fact we can say what happening so far is pretty much by-the-book, it never fail to be anything less than funny. The jokes keep piling up and Miku delivers some effective deadpan expression and proves to be a good foil against the main character. My favorite gag is the one where she impersonates Itsuki which fools Fuutarou even though she wears the same goddamn outfit. Boy, sometimes I just need a dose of good old harem madness and this show is just what I need.

Endro! (ep02)

Adding up to another comedy dose we have Endro, a laid back cute girls being hero show that has a chop for its comedic delivery. Like Gotoubon the humor is rather silly but like Gotoubon the show actually benefits from it. The girls are your archetypical type and the show has all the fun satire the heck out of their traits. This week, the gang decides on the group leader until they learn that no one is good enough to be one, hence ALL OF THEM will be. It’s that kind of nonsense logic that makes this show a whole lotta fun to watch and follow. My favorite character, however, is our loli devil lord teacher who tries her best effort to break up the gang, but instead help them in the process. If I have one mild criticism, it’s that the show repeats the flashback from first episode explaining again how they repeat this loop, which for me is totally unnecessary. Otherwise, it’s up there as one of the show I’m looking forward the most each week.

Revisions (ep02)

While this one already releases its full batch on Netflix, for the sake of my own sanity I’ll just watch one episode per week. Boy, does the main boy become annoying to watch. His hero complex amps up to the new extreme now that he has a toy to play with. The CG animation, especially in combats, is wonky and stand out in a bad way. Even in smaller character moments they do a very clumsy job of making their movements believable, and now that the plot is getting full mecha treatment I’m not that keen on seeing what happen next. The fact that Milo doesn’t know these kids mean that she might do a time travel later on, which for me is the only interesting plot thread in terms of plot-building. I will give this show another try, but things don’t look too good for team Revisions.

Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka (ep02)

While I’m going into this show fully prepare that it goes off the rails at any moment, so far I’m delighted that it hasn’t been the case yet. The trick for its success so far is “restraint”, as these kind of dark magical girl shows tend to be painful for the sake of cruelty or overdramatic for the sake of squeeze every bit of drama. It has all the ingredients of cruelty in there, and in fact I suppose it’s just a matter of time before Asuka breaks and goes berserk, but it also delves into the PTSD (mildly, but still) of a veteran who went through hell and many bit of gore happens off-screen (like a torture scene). That doesn’t automatically make it a good show, but I applaud the efforts of the creators wanted to make something slightly bit more substantial than just twisting this subgenre to the extreme.

W’z (ep02-03)

It is often the case where the show does things right we barely notice the construction behind it, be it the storytelling or the production values. Whereas watching something that stand out in a bad way like W’z, I keep coming up with the questions regarding the decisions they make when they building up this universe. Like for example, the way W’z uses its lighting is all over the place. I’m not talking about blue filter, but more on how there’s always that weird white lines in every scene, and despite being heavy with color there are many scenes where the face of the characters are just too dark and totally unnatural (look at the right screenshot). Add to that the dialogues are god-awful, and characters are so plain with obvious tropes. It doesn’t help at all that episode 3 brings the old cast back but they’re confusing and terribly underwhelming. For now, the visual keeps me fascinating but I don’t care one bit for the plot or the characters. Guess next week’s episode is gonna be the deal-breaker for me.