Fall 2019 Summary – Week 11

Wooper: There are just a couple of these posts left to be published before we proceed to a new decade and a new season. I rebooted this column because Fall 2019’s offerings seemed like a stronger-than-average bunch, but I don’t know if I’ll feel the same about this upcoming winter. I might keep it going, or another writer might take up the mantle, or it might disappear until another bounteous crop of shows surfaces deeper into 2020. That decision is still weeks away, however. For now, here are some thoughts about some presently-airing, rapidly-concluding anime from this fall season.

Assassins Pride 10

Amun: Unexpected show discussion alert! Assassins Pride initially faltered in the low-stakes Hogwarts mini-arc but has picked up steam….and randomly bounced between locations. I think the settings of this show really make it interesting – the characters are okay, but ultimately one dimensional. What I really love is the crater, the candlestick, and now this spooky library. The giant spider fight was underwhelming, but a nice try. The biggest takeaway is how improved future backgrounds will be for anime – freeing up the animators to work on characters, fights, etc. As for this show, I get the feeling there will be a lot of political intrigue, then a rushed finale here in the near future.

Mugen no Juunin: Immortal 11

Wooper: After last week’s ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ approach to conflict between sword schools, episode 11 narrowed the show’s lens to focus on a fight between two men. Neither Magatsu nor Shira can boast Hyakurin’s complexity, but what they lack in charisma and backstory they make up for with stamina. They’ve got sufficient stamina, in fact, to survive the numerous fatal wounds that they inflict on each other, which made the whole battle feel rather implausible. Most people who pass the time by watching a blood-soaked seinen about an immortal swordsman aren’t bothered about realism, though, and neither was I. The episode moves along at a good clip, never spending too long on dialogue-driven pit stops before launching back into the action. The background art was as pretty as ever, especially during Manji’s temporary farewell to Magatsu in the forest near the start. The swordplay looked much nicer than usual, as well – probably the best since Makie’s spotlight near the series’ beginning. I’m sure that manga readers are unhappy with one aspect of this episode or another, but I can find few things to criticize.

Hi Score Girl II – 08

Mario: Isn’t it a bit cheating that Oono lose… just so that she raises back from the death loser brackets and plays against Haruo anyway? I mean, I fell for that trick once I realize that their fated match is never going to be, and that would have been a much saddier (but braver) conclusion to have… just so that they reverse back to its happy route. Apart from that, the personal quest between them has reached its climax, and sure I would’ve loved for more Hidaka but truly this is an affair between Haruo vs Oono – with an unavoidable future ahead that doesn’t matter what they do, Oono will be leaving anyways. At least though, I can’t even guess who will be the winner here.

And so it all ends next week.

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 11

Wooper: This was one of the fluffier episodes of Iruma-kun to come along in a while, which I’m not opposed to in the least. Its two-part structure lent itself more easily to comedy than the previous arc, which was focused entirely on Iruma’s quest to rank up. By contrast, this episode generated plenty of laughs from the rivalry between Asmodeus and Sabnock, and especially from Clara, whose master/servant relationship with her familiar is turned on its head with charming results. It’s so fitting that the most fun-loving character on the show would draw no distinctions between her friends and a minion she summons with blood magic. We even got to witness the formation of a tentative understanding between Iruma and Kalego-sensei, to my surprise. Kalego’s resentment of his most perplexing student had to be shelved so they could cooperate against a new professor, whose lime green design matched his freakish enthusiasm. The newbie’s introduction was the least interesting part of the episode for me, but on the whole I quite enjoyed it.

No Guns Life 10

Amun: No Gun’s Life got me good with this one. What looked to be a whole new arc (with only a few episodes left), turned out to be a two episode introduction to the final arc – ah ha! I personally dislike train sequences in movies and anime, but NGL did a good job here – some heroic sacrifices and a surprisingly touching finale. All the pieces are coming together nicely, so we should see some real fireworks here in the penultimate episode. Also, Juzo is still metal Harrison Ford.

Kabukichou Sherlock 10

Wooper: This is the end of the line for Kabukichou Sherlock and me. It’s kind of a pity to drop it, since it’s hardly being talked about elsewhere, but after watching the last few episodes I’d say that’s for good reason. The show’s gleeful irreverence has turned to incomprehensibility with the recent focus on Irene and Kirisaki Jack. The other row house detectives haven’t been properly utilized in what feels like ages, unless you count the laughable revelation that Kyogoku is a knife-wielding antagonist. Sherlock and Moriarty standing above him at the end of the episode is a slap in the face, too, because it means we had to watch Watson’s bumbling for an entire episode just to learn of Kyogoku’s villainy, which those two had already discerned.

Just as irritating is the poor production. The series’ blatant use of pre-existing digital assets is no better than if they had used 15 year old clipart. In what universe, animated or otherwise, do towels look like this? Episode 10’s animation was almost certainly outsourced, as well, if the screencap album’s worth of Watson’s misplaced facial features are anything to go by. The “character acting” when he accused Moriarty of being Kirisaki Jack was so badly timed and unnecessarily weighty that it rendered the accusation dramatically inert. There was just so much dumb or visually displeasing stuff in this one that I can’t bring myself to watch another. I’m aware that the current arc hasn’t concluded yet, but I’ve got no interest in where it will lead.