Jujutsu Kaisen – 4 [Curse Womb Must Die]

Welcome to week 4 of Jujutsu Kaisen! Last weeks cliffhanger promised us some death, but it looks like that will have to wait until next week. In the meantime we do get some dismemberment, some curses and a whole load of pretty colors. So without further ado, lets jump right in!

Starting off, everyone’s favorite section, production! Animation wise what stood out to me the most were the ragdoll physics. Watching Itadori get knocked around or Sukuna jump around was a treat. I really enjoyed how the limbs flew around or bodies bounced off the ground, etc. There was also a 3D hallway scene similar to the first episode, but whether it be lighting or the environment, it didn’t look as good this time around. That said, Jujutsu Kaisen continues to be very colorful, using a lot of bright blues, purples and greens to keep things interesting. It was really nice how ever scene had its own color palette to differentiate it. From the dark blue with the curse to the bright red of their initial entry to the green’s of the waterway. Not only did it make it easy to tell locations apart, but it simply looked good.

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Twelve Kingdoms – 10/11/12 – Throwback Thursday

I gotta say, I was a little bit worried last week with how Twelve Kingdoms handled a few things. Sugimoto seemed like wasted potential, still might be to be frank, and the pacing was whack. But Twelve Kingdoms isn’t letting that hold it back as it barrels forward into 3 more good episodes! This week we hear the King of En’s backstory, get a lot more information on King/Kirin relations and finally meet Kou face to face. So lets jump right in!

This week on my little pre-spoiler production section I want to take a moment to talk about the OST. While watching, Twelve Kingdoms sounded… fine, but not unique. Like basic background music. However when I went and listened to the full tracks on Youtube, boy was I surprised. Rather than a bunch of smaller one-note pieces, I found a smaller selection of pieces that shifted between these different melodies, each in their own style. Take the piece “Kuni-Touhoureiin“. It starts primarily as a flute piece, really evoking that Mulan, Eastern China vibe, before it shifts into this rolling drum beat before shifting again to let the strings take control. Another piece, “Ifuuoukei” does this as well with low flutes into strings and drums. Or “Getsumeifuuei” with soft vocals. It’s a small sample size for now, but I’m going to keep an ear out for how its used in the future.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 3 [Girl of Steel]

3 weeks, 3 good episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen! This week we meet the final member of our trio, get some THICC shots and end on a cliffhanger I can’t believe is real. All that and more in this weeks episode! So lets dive right in.

As always, we start with production, because this way I can put all my spoilers after the break. For only being 3 episodes in, Jujutsu Kaisen has had some pretty fantastic cuts. Whether it be running down a hallway or a dynamic camera following a fight, its looked good. This week though we see Jujutsu Kaisen slow it down a bit. Nothing bad, there isn’t a serious drop in quality or anything. Its just clear that MAPPA is in this for the long haul, saving the big animation for the big moments. As while it looks fine, there are no big standout “wow” scenes. We did at least get some cute little chibi reactions to fit with the lighter mood, and I like those a lot! They are very expressive. No, the only noticeable issue this week were some inconsistent backgrounds at the station but that gets left behind quickly.

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Twelve Kingdoms – 7/8/9 – Throwback Thursday

Another week, another three episodes of Twelve Kingdoms. I want to say we are starting to get into a groove, but this week marks Twelve Kingdom’s first stumble for me. Nothing major, certainly nothing that can undo the fantastic time that was its first 6. But a stumble nonetheless. Still, we will get to that in time. For now, lets go ahead and dive into this weeks episodes!

Starting off, this week in our little production section I want to talk about color palettes. Many of you have already noticed via the screenshots how brightly colored Twelve Kingdoms is. It’s impressive, for as war-torn a setting as Kou is, how many colors were worked in. Between the blues of the night shadow, the oranges of the rising or setting sun and browns of midday, Twelve Kingdoms doesn’t lack for color. The background artists have done a fantastic job of incorporating various greens and blues in the plants, water and sky to break up the brownish landscape. Additionally, Twelve Kingdoms has us traveling from town to town to break up the colors as well. With Nakajima’s striking red hair always giving us something bright to look at in the occasionally dark landscape. The series has done a great job bringing tasteful color to an otherwise bleak Kingdom.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 2 [For Myself]

Welcome all to the Fall 2020 Season, I am Lenlo and this is my first new show, Jujutsu Kaisen! I had no idea what this was before this season, didn’t even know it existed. Boy am I glad for that, because I don’t think I would be enjoying it as much as I am if I knew what was coming. Without further ado lets dive into the episode!

Right off the bat, lets talk some animation, because Keiichiro Watanabe went a little bit crazy this episode. Just like his work in Mob Psycho 100 and God of Highschool, Watanabe is all about the action scenes. Saying screw the model, screw physics, lets just have a good time. Combine that with the crazy camera of Seong-Hu Park, Director of last seasons God of Highschool, and you have a recipe for some insane cuts. From the opening fight on the roof to the expressive dolls in the second half, Jujutsu Kaisen looked great this week. I have absolutely no idea if MAPPA can keep this up of course. They are working on Taiso Samurai and Attack on Titan this season well. Combine that with the MAPPA curse and things look sketchy. For now at least though, I am hype. Gimme my action Watanabe! I need it my fix!

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Twelve Kingdoms – 4/5/6 – Throwback Thursday

Welcome to week 2 of Twelve Kingdoms, where we hit episodes 4, 5 and 6! The OG Isekai does it again, with this trio being just as engaging and interesting as the last. We have friendship, betrayal, politics and rebellion, all with a dash of character conflict. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Production wise Twelve Kingdoms managed to impress me once again. While not as consistently sakuga as the first episode, every scene that needs animation gets animation. I am talking fights, emotional character scenes such as Nakajima’s arguments with the sword etc. It isn’t an above average amount of animation like we see in modern works like Mob Psycho 100, but it uses what it has in the best ways possible. Additionally the color design and background work is all really appealing. Twelve Kingdoms is doing a great job of establishing the world, of making it all feel like the same setting while still keeping it visually interesting. The best way I can put it is that Twelve Kingdoms feels… consistent. Consistent in its artistic vision, in how it wants to portray the world and its characters. And that’s one of the best things you can be in my book.

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Twelve Kingdoms – 1/2/3 – Throwback Thursday

Welcome all to our 8th season of Throwback Thursday, this time watching Twelve Kingdoms! A classic of the Isekai genre adapted in 2002 with the original Light Novel dating all the way back to 1992. It’s a 45 episode episode, so we will be doing 3 a week so we can maybe finish this by next season. Without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, how does this series from 2002 actually look? Well it’s a bit soon for anything definitive, but I am noticing some early inconsistencies. The first episode was a clear step up from the 2nd and 3rd, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone. The whole introductory segment at the school, the giant bird, the port, all of that looked pretty good. I particularly liked the shot of the water spirit, Jouyuu I believe it was called, processing our lead Nakajima. It was some surprisingly solid effects for 20 years ago. Sadly nothing the other two episodes had really stacked up to this. They weren’t bad, each had at least one well animated shot in them such as flying through the clouds at the start of episode 2 or some fights in 3. But they definitely had some compositing and detail issues, especially on the wide shots

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Fugou Keiji Anime Review – 72/100

Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. There are a number of rather famous characters that fit this description, from Bruce Wayne to Tony Stark. And it was only a matter of time before anime came back with one of its own in Daisuke Kambe, of Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED. Adapted by Studio Cloverworks from a novel series of the same name, originally written by Yasutaka Tsutsui and directed by Tomohiko Itou of Silver Spoon and ERASED fame, Fugou Keiji is a lot of things. It is both a comedy and a mystery. A tale of murder and revenge, of heroics and villainy, and perhaps most importantly: of family. And while there is no shortage of missteps along the way I can say one thing with certainty: Fugou Keiji is a fun show oozing in style and I cannot wait to talk about it with you. So lets jump right in!

(Disclaimer: I am working to make 50 the new “average”. 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Carry on.) Continue reading “Fugou Keiji Anime Review – 72/100”

Fugou Keiji – 11 [All that glitters is not gold]

Holy crap, Fugou Keiji. You managed to stick the landing and somehow brought the entire show together in a single 20 minute episode. There are twists, there are turns and there are even a few jokes so lets dive right into this finale!

Right off the bat, lets talk about this ending, because I loved it. So much happened and the twist was both fitting yet surprising. Somehow throughout the entire season I never suspected what happened, which we will talk about after the break for spoilers, yet in hindsight it makes a lot of sense. So because the next few paragraphs are going to be spent with me gushing about the ending, lets talk about how the episode went right here at the top huh? All in all I think it did a great job of picking the ball up and running with it after the last few somewhat dropped it narratively. We got a 2nd round of character arc finales, a satisfying narrative finale and even nice callback all the way to episode one. I really enjoyed it and I think Fugou Keiji deserves props for that. Now for the details!

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Gunslinger Girl Anime Review – 57/100 – Throwback Thursday

I really wanted to like Gunslinger Girl. Made by MADHOUSE, Directed by Morio Asaka of Chihayafuru and Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card fame, Gunslinger Girl has a simple but compelling premise: child soldiers. Little girls trained and conditioned to become assassins for the Italian government, forced to do their nations dirty work. Whether that be protection, espionage or outright murder, Gunslinger Girl takes something reprehensible and shoves it right into your face so you can’t ignore. And then it dives into how the girls themselves feel about their position, whether or not its so different from things we do right here in the real world. So with such a premise, and such a strong production team, what’s not to like? Well strap in my friend, because I have a few thousand words prepared just for you. And be warned, this review will contain minor spoilers for Gunslinger Girl.

(Disclaimer: I am working to make 50 the new “average”. 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Carry on.) Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl Anime Review – 57/100 – Throwback Thursday”