Author: Lenlo

86: Eighty Six – 5 [I’m With You]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

This is it ladies and gentleman, this where Eighty Six redeems itself. Forget all of the Starbucks Philosophers and Liberal Arts jokes, Eighty Six is taking its shot. And I couldn’t be happier. So lets dive right in shall we?

Immediately before we get into all the politics, the narrative and all that jazz I want to talk production. Eighty Six is not the most well animated show of the season. That’s simply a fact. The CGI robots are fine and are used minimally however this is primarily a talking heads show. But what talking heads they are. Some of the shot composition, lighting and scene transitions were absolutely kino this week. Whether it be Undertaker and Lena’s moonlit conversation, the broken mirror, Lena’s reflection in the window or the bleeding fountain pen. Eighty Six was absolutely packed with clever shots. Connecting themes and events with physical objects that brought out the most in every single scene. Credit to Director Toshimasa Ishii and his team for this one. As for the actual politics and narrative of the scenes themselves? Well that was pretty good to.

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Spice and Wolf S2 – 2 [Wolf and the Calm Before the Storm]

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Another week, another episode of Spice and Wolf. This episode we see Lawrence hunt for answers, Holo for some quality time and Fermi for a relationship. Will any of them succeed? Lets jump in and find out!

To start off let’s talk about my only issue with the episode: Flashbacks. There were a lot of them. Credit where it’s due, these flashbacks did serve a purpose. They not only reminded us of certain events but the events they referenced prepped us emotionally for the episode. They put us in a specific frame of mind to view the episode through. From the flashbacks to the sewers arc in Season 1 to their first meeting, etc, these all prime us to see how their relationship is currently being strained. Lawrence going out alone to hunt for answers, Holo’s concerns about traveling with a mortal, it all connects. But we also already know all of this. Maybe this is only a complaint because we literally just finished watching Season 1. However I couldn’t get over how annoying the flashbacks cutting into the story sometimes was.

Luckily, that’s the only negative I got.

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86: Eighty Six – 4 [Real Name]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

Welcome back to another episode of Eighty Six! This week we see the fallout of the Liberal Arts student realizing that posting on social media doesn’t actually solve anything. Will she give up? Or try something new? Lets find out!

So starting off, lets talk about the fallout from last week. Because one thing that Eighty Six did that I really liked this week was to double down. I expected it to try and validate Lena, to try and reassure her “Oh don’t worry, you’re a good person”. You know, the regular anime bullshit. That doesn’t happen. Instead every single character just calls her an idiot. Her friend, for thinking she can actually make meaningful change. Her superior and uncle, for being naive and idiotic just like her father. Even the 86ers get in on it again at the end saying that even if she learns their names that this changes nothing. This is probably a small thing to be happy about, I know. But after the 2nd episode my expectations for Eighty Six were really really low. So I will take any pleasant surprise I can get.

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Megalo Box: Nomad – 5 [La tierra prometida respondió que el mesías no se quedará]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Another week another good episode of Nomad. It’s wild how a show ostensibly about boxing can be so good with so little actual boxing. But that’s just the nature of good character dramas huh? So without further ado lets jump into this weeks episode of Megalo Box: Nomad!

Starting off lets talk about the wonderous world of greyscale, because Nomad used a lot of it. Now I’m not inherently against greyscale. It can often be used to great effect in movies both new and old, 2019’s The Lighthouse for example. With proper or harsh lighting and no color to distract you it can add a lot of gravitas to a scene. In anime this is much more difficult though because you don’t inherently get any extra detail. You have to manually add it in and Nomad doesn’t. If that was my only problem however this wouldn’t be worth mentioning. Because in addition to this, the greyscale also robs Nomad of one of its greatest strengths: The coloring of its backgrounds. These backgrounds are often fantastic! But with over half the episode in greyscale we don’t get to see that this week. And I think that’s a damn shame.

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Spice and Wolf S2 – OVA + 1 [Wolf and a Sudden Rift] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

I hope everyone enjoyed Spice and Wolf because it’s back for round 2. That’s right, this season of Throwback Thursday is staying on the foxy waifu train, its Spice and Wolf Season 2. And as a bit of a bonus I even through in the OVA. So without further ado lets jump right into it!

And right off the bat I want to say that this season of Spice and Wolf looks leagues better. Everyone is just so much more… emotive. Characters are moving, physically interacting and in general being more than the cardboard cutouts they were in Season 1. From Holo stroking her tail, bouncing off Lawrence and her face after getting drunk to Fermi, Lawrence and Mark gesturing and walking. The fact that it managed this without dropping the background quality or heavily modifying the designs is just the cherry on top. I have no idea why Spice and Wolf shifted to Studio Brain’s Base, response for this season’s To Your Eternity, or how they managed to keep the same staff. But between the OVA and this first episode I’m glad they did. The production was one of my few issues with the first season and this addresses that in every way.

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86: Eighty Six – 3 [I Don’t Want to Die]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

Welcome back to another week of Eighty Six! I was pretty critical last week as many of you noticed. Whether you agreed or disagreed though I think we can all agree that this week was better. If only for the clever directing. So without further ado, lets jump into it!

So, what do I mean by better? Basically that this week encapsulated all that is good, and bad, about Eighty Six. Take the Lena’s multiple conversations with the 86ers for example. This dialogue was tight and conveyed a lot of information about both sides. On the 86ers side we saw a lot of disagreement. Arguments about how to treat Lena, about whether or not they should bother talking to her, and a lot of underlying tension in their relationship with her. Some characters were accepting of her, others dismissive, others still indifferent to the whole thing. And we got to see it all play out through dialogue and character interaction rather than having it outright explained to us. Most of the time at least. What really makes this scene work though is how Eighty Six juxtaposes it with Lena’s side of the very same conversation.

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Megalo Box: Nomad – 4 [Si la flor del alma florece, el amor no se perderá]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Hello once again, I am back with another episode of Megalo Box: Nomad! Apologies for the wait, I went to go and see Demon Slayer: Mugen Train this weekend and that sort of held me up. Eighty Six should also be coming out tomorrow for those looking for that. In the meantime though we have a lot to talk about with Nomad so lets get right to it!

Starting off let’s talk about the production troubles Nomad has. Just like the first season of Megalo Box, *Nomad’s fights don’t look good. Part of this of course is the weird upscaling, we’ve talked about that. But the other is that they just aren’t animated that well. A lot of the blows lack impact and characters move like stiff cardboard cutouts. In the first season this was a major hinderance, basically every episode was a big fight of some kind. But Nomad’s shift in focus is doing it a lot of favors here I think. The fights are no longer the important set pieces they were in season 1. Now they are closer to important character moments than action sequences. So as long as Nomad can nail the emotions of the scene, which it generally has, then the lackluster fights aren’t that big an issue. Hopefully it stays that way.

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Spice and Wolf Season 1 Anime Review – 81/100 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Romance, Reviews by Lenlo, Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Ah the late 2000’s, I remember you well. For those that remember what anime conventions are like, at least before the world shut down, there’s always a yearly fad. 2019 had Demon Slayer haoris, 2016 had My Hero Academia classroom outfits and 2013 was the year of Attack on Titan jackets. Of course the 2000’s were no different. From Naruto to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya there was no escape. Today I want to talk about one of those fads. Originally written by Hasekura Isuna, directed by Takeo Takahashi and produced by the since silent studio Imagin, I bring to you one of the titular works of 2008: Spice and Wolf. So without further ado, lets jump into it!
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Megalo Box: Nomad – 3 [Si deseas la dañina pudrición de las raíces, no bloquees la boca del ánfora]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Welcome back to another week of Nomad! A lot happens as Nomad kicks it into high gear, sprinting through the tournament. Meanwhile the hostility between the locals and the immigrant community has escalated to new heights! Without further ado, lets jump into it.

Like I said, Nomad is moving way faster than I expected. I figured this tournament would be the entire season and that the final match would, well, be the finale. Yet Nomad has sprinted through the first 2 rounds and we are already facing the final round next week. I love it! The pacing is great and this really opens the door for where Nomad has to go. Will Chief win and buy the land the community is on? Even if he does, how will that resolve the growing tensions between them and the locals? And what about Joe’s growth as a character, does this mean that he is going to return to the city and reconnect with Sachio? I have no idea but the options are limitless now that Nomad isn’t constrained to this one tournament in bum-fuck nowhere.

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86 – Eighty Six – 2 [Spearhead]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

I’m back and this time with another new Spring 2021 show, 86 – Eighty Six! God that’s a confusing name. Almost as confusing as the setting! That’s right I have a bit of a bone to pick with 86 so strap in. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Before we get to the meat and potatoes of 86 though we first half to talk about the production. And surprisingly, I’m rather positive of it! The CGI model spider tanks are off of course, CGI integration with a 2D work is notoriously hard. But enough work went into the composite that you don’t really notice until they start to move. And even then this is still better than the 1st episode where the first person shot looked like a cheap Michael Bay movie. All the explosions and jumping around, it wasn’t good. I also like how the two sets of tanks are differentiated. The clean crystalline style works well for the opposing AI and sets them apart from the grungy 86ers. My hope is that 86 will take these clear styles and focus more on wide still shots, making full use of the backgrounds, rather than the janky action.

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