Author: Lenlo

Runway de Waratte – 11 [The Promise]

by Lenlo, posted in Runway de Waratte

This was a very surprising week of Runway de Waratte. I fully expected it to be a disappointment, to somehow screw up its grand finale, for Ikuto to ruin it… and none of that happened. It was surprisingly good. Not flawless, but probably the best episode of the show yet. Why? Well let’s jump in and find out.

Now, before I get all sappy and praise Runway, I want to talk about what it could do better. Specifically I want to talk about the animation of this week’s episode. Because while what we got is fine, I can’t help but think it could have been amazing. Runway had a huge opportunity this week with Chiyuki’s dress changes and walks to really show off its source material and subject. It could have shown us the dress changes in real time, animating the clothes being removed and add. We could have seen the difference in how Chiyuki walks by how its animated, rather than just getting upper-body shots. Instead though, we just the same presentation as we have for any other scene in the anime. Instead of being an event for the series… it was just another episode. And while its a good episode, ultimately, I am a little disappointed.

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – 11 [Each Other’s Existence!]

by Lenlo, posted in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Continuing my streak of “better late than never” this week, we have Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! Though this time with backstory, some dancing and more great Kanamori scenes. Lets dive in! And I promise, no more late ones, I should have things sorted now.

Starting off, this was a pretty straightforward week for Eizouken. Focusing in on a specific theme and tackling it from a variety of angles. However while the theme itself might not be particularly complicated, I think Eizouken did a great job portraying it. The idea of “Coexistence” was tackled from a variety of angles, from more professional ones in their club to the person in Asakusa’s flashback. Each one managing to both explore the characters while still building to a final peak. I will admit, at the beginning of the episode I wasn’t to enthused. I thought it was going to be another sort of montage filler episode. Which while it would still contain Eizouken’s usual quality, wouldn’t be particularly memorable. As the episode went on though and it revealed more and more of the primary thread, I came to love it. So now, let’s get to the details, yeah?

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Runway de Waratte – 10 [Must Not Lose]

by Lenlo, posted in Runway de Waratte

Apologies for the wait on this one everyone, between Evangelion reviews and this virus, it’s been busy! As far as Runway de Waratte goes, this week was actually… surprisingly competent. Not perfect, the first half was a bit of a wash. But for once something Ikuto was involved in *didn’t suck*. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Like I said, the second half of Runway this week wasn’t half bad. Ikuto’s fashion show worked. The outfits, while clearly not my style, were interesting and his theme consistent. I could do without the various poorly thought out metaphors, or the constant “Mr.Perfect” praise. But compared to what I was expecting to come out of his fashion show, it all actually fit together. The way Runway spelled out the expected order of the countries and how clear his theme was worked. And the the finale on the minimalist outfit was an unexpected surprise. Had Runway built all of this up, the characters, the families, everything, it could have been phenomenal. As is it’s just this sorta bright spot in an otherwise lackluster series. Still, next week is Chiyuki so we may have something to look forward to there.

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End of Evangelion Anime Review – 86/100 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Reviews by Lenlo, Throwback Thursday

During my previous review of Neon Genesis Evangelion, I criticised it for a lot of things. The tanked production value as the series ran on and Studio Gainax ran out of funding/time. Anno’s often insane direction or story, which sometimes made sense and sometimes didn’t. Most of all though, I criticised it for it’s ending, which effectively left Evangelion as a slightly disappointing unfinished product. But what would happen if Gainax… didn’t run out of time? If Anno had another chance after the original divisive ending? What if they just made two, completely new 40 minute episodes to replace it? Well ladies and gentleman, that’s how you get End of Evangelion. Is this finale to the fabled series a roar, to replace its previous whimper? Does it make any more sense than the TV finale? Will Shinji get in the damn robot? Let’s dive in and find out.

And one last thing! There will be spoilers so we can talk about the work in its entirety, both the TV series and End of Evangelion, no vagueness here. You have been warned.

(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 “End of Evangelion Anime Review – 86/100 – Throwback Thursday” →

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – 10 [Against Our Independent World!]

by Lenlo, posted in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Welcome all to another week of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Like the Runway de Waratte post, this one is going to be shorter, for very similar reasons. But where “more of the same” for Runway is a disappointment, for Eizouken its just a good time. So lets dive in!

As always, the animation and production of Eizouken is good, but this week I want to focus on something else. I want to focus on the meta aspect of it all, and how Eizouken cleverly uses its premise here. This latest episode actually gives me a perfect example of what I am talking about, ala how it visualize things. We see it when Doukemi, the sound club girl, is modifying the sound waves in time with the actual bell. Or when she is moving the sound waves around, layering and piecing them together. It’s a little choppy of course, it isn’t perfect. But I love the concept behind it and how Eizouken uses its premise and medium to depict it all. This isn’t the first time either, we have seen it throughout the series. This week just gave me a good chance to talk about it.

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Runway de Waratte – 9 [Rivals]

by Lenlo, posted in Runway de Waratte

Hello everyone and welcome to another week of Runway de Waratte! Apologies, but this one is going to be a short one. I just don’t have much to say about what was a pretty meh episode. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

Right off the bat, I have to say, this was a very non-episode episode. What I mean by that is that Runway didn’t really do anything new or different this week. There was no meaningful reveal or change from what is already a pretty standard shounen formula. And that isn’t to say a standard formula is necessarily bad. Kimetsu no Yaiba was one of the most standard Shounen’s of last year, but I loved it because it was competent. Runway’s problem is that it goes for a similar formula, yet it has none of the competence that Yaiba did. The stakes are either low or non-existent and there is never any real concern that Ikuto will lose. Meanwhile as a character Ikuto is very bog-standard in his actions. So when I say that Runway gave us more of the same, I mean that you could have predicted it last week.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion Anime Review – 77/100 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Reviews by Lenlo, Throwback Thursday

It’s not often that I get to review seminal works in a medium. I read and watch them often. Vagabond, Monster and Berserk are some of my favorite manga. Meanwhile Fullmetal Alchemist is perhaps the epitome of Shounen. But not once have I thought I could, and should, transcribe my thoughts about them into a single review. To boil down my feelings on them to a scant 4,000 or so words and a final, numerical score. Yet here I am having to do the same for a work arguably more important than any of the ones I mentioned previously. A work so universally known in the community that its like Japan’s Star Wars. I am of course talking about Neon Genesis Evangelion (Director’s Cut), directed by Hideaki Anno and made by the now fallen from grace Studio Gainax. With that, there is no point to dawdling anymore. Let’s dive in.

And one last thing! An End of Evangelion review will soon follow this. I am aware it completes the story, but this review is for the TV anime and that alone. I have not watched it yet. The movie will cover everything and how it completes the series as a whole. Also there will be spoilers so we can talk about the work in its entirety, minimal vagueness here. You have been warned.

(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 “Neon Genesis Evangelion Anime Review – 77/100 – Throwback Thursday” →

Neon Genesis Evangelion – 25/26 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Throwback Thursday

I had a lot of expectations going in to Neon Genesis Evangelion’s ending. After episode 24, I was sure that no matter what happened, it would at least be decent. We would learn about the Angels, Seele, the Scrolls. Maybe get a big fight with the Seele Eva Units mentioned before and complete some great character arcs. Sadly, only one of those things came true, at the expense of everything else. So how about we just jump in to what is going to be the most rant-style post I will ever make on this site, eh?

Right off the bat, I have to say, what the fuck did I just watch. Normally I go over each episode independently, but 25 and 26 together are just a joint “what the fuck”. It’s hard for me to even write coherent paragraphs here, because all I want to do is scream bullshit, but I will try my best. So first up, the good. This ending at least manages to tie up Shinji, Asuka and Rei’s characters. Not in a terribly satisfactory way mind you, as we basically sit through an hour of internal monologue from Shinji, but it does it. We see Shinji finally come to accept that he was pushing people away, self-attributing a lot of his worst traits. He believed that no one could accept him and in doing so turned it into a self-fulfilling prophecy as he looked for one-side relationships like Kaworu. Everything else though…

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – 9 [Aim for Comet A!]

by Lenlo, posted in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Every week I wonder how Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken is going to top itself. And every week it finds a way, it finds some area to improve or some new facet to explore. That is no different this week as we learn a bit more about Kanamori and explore the wonderful world of “labor costs”. Riveting. Lets dive in!

Starting off, I just have to gush about the character animation throughout this episode. Specifically, I want to call attention to Asakusa at the end, both during the sound effects and her realization. These were just some beautiful long shots, like the one you can see below. Really showing off how expressive Eizouken can be. Simultaneously keeping her on model while exaggerating the movements just enough to keep it energetic. I want to credit this cut to Izumi Murakami, but so far I haven’t yet seen any sources confirming who worked on it. Meanwhile you also have the general aesthetic of scenes like the Kanamori flashback. Turning the world into this almost watercolor or marker scene. It’s the same style used whenever they are imagining something out in the world, yet now its being used as a flashback, and I love it. Chibi-Kanamori is just fantastic.

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Runway de Waratte – 8 [The Designer’s Capacity]

by Lenlo, posted in Runway de Waratte

Another week, another dash of Runway de Waratte. However this week wasn’t actually that bad, as Ikuto is finally challenged, even if the pacing is a goddamn mess. So without further ado, lets jump into Runway!

Starting off, I want to talk about story structure for abit, because Runway failed miserably at it this week. You see, normally in a story you want to introduce a problem that challenges your character. One that forces them to grow, change and improve so as to tackle that problem. If you have an outside force, someone completely different, solve that problem then your lead character learns nothing. They don’t grow, they don’t change, they just exist and problems are solved for them. It leads to a terribly uncompelling narrative. Especially when you introduce said problem and then solve it in the same episode. No buildup, no challenge, no progression or rise and fall. Just “Here is a problem” and “Here is an easy solution”. Basically what I am trying to say diplomatically here is that Runway’s pacing this week was shit, and everyone knows it.

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