Runway De Waratte – 4 [Young Talents]

Everyone, we are now 1/3rd of the way through Runway De Waratte and I have to say… It ain’t great. There might be a few issues, just a few I promise. Such as the family drama that starts and ends within 5 minutes. Or the genius rival, or maybe just everyone standing around like stiff cardboard. All that side though, it’s great! So let’s dive in.

Starting off, and I know it can get annoying with how often we talk about it, Runway’s Production. Now, sometimes, it can look alright. The fashion show last week made decent use of lighting and direction to focus in Chiyuki. Much like an actual fashion show would, with everything around her dimmed. Most of the time though, such as this week, everyone just looks…flat. Lifeless. Like stiff cardboard, stuck in the same positions across scenes. There is no life to them, they all stand straight backed and immovable. It reminds me of Irregular at Magic Highschool, except without the excuse of complex character designs. Where the only thing ever moving in many scenes are the mouths, which are disturbingly small. Simply put, Runway is not interesting or engaging to watch, visually, at all. There is no aesthetic draw to the series, and the narrative doesn’t help much either.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 15/16 – Throwback Thursday

It only took 16 episodes, a couple of close calls and an odd recap, but Neon Genesis Evangelion has finally entered weird territory. There really is no other way to put it without getting into the nitty gritty. So let’s just jump straight into this weeks double feature.

Starting off we have Episode 15, Lies and Silence. This was largely a more Slice of Life style episode, really focusing in on Evangelion’s characters. The problem with this though is that without any major conflict, it really showed just how weak some of its characters are. Rei for instance was always and continues to be just lifeless. Devoid of almost any purpose or emotion behind what she does. I have suspicions for why this is that we will get into later. But regardless of if they are true or not, she simply isn’t particularly interesting nor can she hold a scene on her own. Similarly this week also shows us the worst parts of Asuka’s character and just how annoying she can be. Episode 16 continued this, with a tad more context yes, but she wasn’t particularly enjoyable to put up with.

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – 4 [Hold That Machete Tight!]

God damn, was Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken always this good? Or is Yuasa just on point this week? Because this was the best episode of anime so far in 2020 for me. I know, 26 days in is a bit earlier, but the heart wants what the heart wants. And right now the heart wants to dive in to some Eizouken!

Starting off, why exactly do I love this episode of Eizouken so much? Simply put, because it’s a reality check for everyone involved, viewers and characters, without losing the passion. Diving into the difficulties of making an anime, the compromises and tricks used to make something so difficult happen. There is actually a quote from Asakusa this episode that sums it up perfectly. “Less about finishing the project and more the outcome of passion crashing against compromise and resignation”. It’s like Yuasa and the team are pouring their heart out here about the truth of making anime. How you can have the best of intentions, the greatest passions, yet reality and time can limit you. Whether that be wanting to make every scene beautifully animated or colors or effects, etc. It’s a much more mature take than I was expecting based on Eizouken’s presentation.

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Runway de Waratte – 3 [Smile Down the Runway]

Welcome to another week of Runway de Waratte! This week is pretty straight forward, finishing up the fashion show and letting our leads get a win. The question then becomes, is it earned and how well is it set up? Well, let’s dive in and find out!

Starting off, I want to talk about Runway’s production this week, because I have issues. The big one is clearly the pacing, as we are going really fast. It feels like these last two could have been spread out among 3 episodes, to give things room to breathe. As my primary criticism with the series so far is how quickly our leads are moving up the rungs. Getting these “Victory” moments so quickly. I have actually heard a lot of dialogue was cut from the manga here, so that makes sense. Meanwhile the actual animation and such felt stiff. It’s not a big thing, as this isn’t an action series, but a lot of characters felt lifeless, and the direction didn’t help. Being pretty simple across the board. Sure, the actual walked looked nice as stills, but it didn’t manage to evoke any big emotions for such a big scene.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 13/14 – Throwback Thursday

Another week, another double feature of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This was an odd pair, as our lead 3 actually take backseat for the most part. Being largely irrelevant to the goings on and events up until the end of episode 14. Meanwhile the Angels figure out a new way to attack, Ritsuko gets some backstory and Rei goes on an acid trip. So lets dive in!

Starting off, lets just hop right in to episode 13, An Angel’s Invasion. This was pretty interesting actually, as Evangelion introduces us to a new kind of Angel. One that works like a computer, or a series of small nanobots. It really calls into question exactly what the Angels are. As up until now, we have only seen them as giant monsters, something an Eva unit is required to fight. Yet here we see something that the Eva units couldn’t hope to defeat, something that attacks computers and code. Of course it’s not perfect, there are a lot of questions about whether or not such a thing would even work. After all, its apparently some sort of airborne replicating virus, evolving to deal with whatever is attacking it. If it were made just to kill humans, it would have won easily. But instead it somehow knew about the Magi. How?

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – 3 [Let’s Accomplish Something!]

Another week, another fantastic episode of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! This week we continue to dive in to the technical side, as our crew begin to produce their first animated short. Learning about short cuts, time and business considerations, and just creative freedom. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, this week Eizouken gives us our first major goal, the Budget Committee! It’s a nice and manageable one I think, a way to get the ball rolling, and lets Kanamori strut her stuff. As this first goal, with its set deadline, really lets the time/business aspect of anime production shine through. For instance I loved how Kanamori just broke down how much effort a 5 minute shot would be, at a simpel 12 fps. Resulting in a 3600 frame count, along with all the other overhead. While its pretty obvious, and something anyone could figure out, it’s also something anime fans ignore a lot I think. The sheer amount of effort that goes in to a production, the sheer number of drawings that have to be produced for a single minute of footage. And yes, there are shortcuts as Eizouken shows us, but its still work.

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Runway de Waratte – 2 [The Professional World]

Welcome to the second new series I am blogging this season, Runway de Waratte! A really odd choice for me all things considered, but it caught my interest and I figured why not branch out. This week continues the surprises as Runway backs up the progress a bit and shows us just how brutal the fashion industry is. Lets dive in!

Runway opened up answering a lot of questions/issues I had with the first episode. Such as how quickly it was moving, how they became professionals almost immediately, etc etc. I didn’t like how it seemingly skipped over all the hard work/amateur level stuff they could have done. So to see Tsumura’s age come in, how they won’t hire high schoolers and such, was nice. It sets up the end goal of the season, getting hired, and makes them actually work for stuff. Now I am still not sure what Chiyuki’s position in all of this is, as her father seems pretty adamant about not letting her model. He didn’t even lift her suspension until the 2nd half of the episode, but that’s also not terribly important I don’t think. No, the important thing is what Runway does from here.

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – 2 [The Eizouken Takes the Stage]

Welcome one and all to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, the first of the new series I am covering! I’ll be honest, i’m excited about this one. Eizouken is looking to start the year off strong. Giving us a lovable look in to the animation industry we haven’t seen since Shirobako. So let’s dive in!

Right off the bat, Eizouken reminds me of these old cartoons I used to watch as a kid. Ones like Kids Next Door or Ed Edd n Eddy, which are just kids being kids. Hanging out in their day to day lives, using their imagination to make every day an adventure. It brings a sense of nostalgia with it that other highschool centered anime just lack. Most likely due to what they focus on vs Eizouken. Its this focus that, while the two previously mentioned showers were just good, sets Eizouken. As it manages to be both entertaining and informative, a sort of edutainment if you will. But while it manages to shed some light on the Animation process, that doesn’t feel like Eizouken’s purpose. More a consequence of Yuasa’s goal of telling/showing the viewer his, and others, passion for the medium. And I can’t wait for more.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 11/12 – Throwback Thursday

You know, I’m normally pretty critical of Neon Genesis Evangelion, it has a long and storied history to live up to. But this week’s double feature lived up to that. Focusing in on Misato and Shinji, giving Gendo some much needed characterization with some good fights on the side. So without further ado, let’s jump in.

Starting off, Evangelion continues to look pretty good. We got some more of Anno’s weird longing stills in certain places. But either they worked better or I am getting used to them. Like a weird sort of Stockholm Syndrome. That said, the fights we got this week looked pretty freakin great. I will always love the fluid movements of the Eva units, making them more like living beings than machines. And the Angels lead to some pretty novel “fights”. Meanwhile, I am starting to get in to the VA work. Kotono Mitsuishi is doing some great work as Misato, and Shinji is starting to let Megumi Ogata show some more emotion. Meanwhile Asuka is also toning down the “Tsun” part of her “Dere”. The only real issue I have is Rei, who is just flat and lifeless. Sort of the point, but not pleasant when she talks.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 9/10 – Throwback Thursday

Welcome to the first double feature for Neon Genesis Evangelion! A momentous day I know, but its nothing compared to what our cast went through. Evangelion threw everything from DDR to T&A to a fatsuit for whatever reason. Does it make sense? No. Are we gonna talk about it anyways? Hell yeah, lets jump in!

Starting off, in general these episode’s were a bit weird for me, in a number of ways. The most polite way to put it of course would be that the episodes were “problematic”. As both in terms of production and subject matter I were concerning. For the first, it’s not that it was bad per-se. The… performance, as I would call it, was actually well made. I never imagined I would watch multi-ton robots move that way. However I don’t think it worked as Anno intended, and actually took me out of the moment/point of the episode. Meanwhile laden through were a number of really concerning things in regards to Evangelion’s treatment of its female characters. There is a time and a place for these sorts of things, and in a serious character drama they can have weight. But serious is not how I would describe Evangelion.

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