Author: Lenlo

Planetes – 13 & 14 [Scenery with a Rocket/Turning Point] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Planetes, Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone to another, rather late, week of Planetes! Apologies for that, work has been busy this week. This time we get to meet everyone’s families, Hachimaki makes a move and Fee gets a new ship. Lets jump in!

So in general, I thought these two episodes were well put together. Nothing phenomenal, I didn’t break down weeping at any point. But it looked good, and the characters were used well. A perfect example of both for me is Hachimaki’s little brother, Kyuutarou. Animation wise, his time in the shed looked great. After the break you will find an image of him testing his rocket that I think stood out. The contrasting blacks, to make the shot look brighter than it is, all worked. As a character he also provided us a look into Hachimaki and a continuation of Yuri. Both of which I was glad for. Did it make me question things like Hachi’s time on the moon, or tear up like Yuri mourning his wife? No. But it was good nonetheless.

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Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 9 [Mismatched Runners]

by Lenlo, posted in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru

Welcome one and all to another week of Kaze Fui! This week Haiji takes care of his team, the twin’s can’t keep a secret and Kurahara shows more growth sitting on the sidelines than some MC’s do in their pivotal moments. Lets jump in!

To start off, let this episode be proof of Kaze Fui’s Director’s skill. So much was conveyed purely through shot composition and framing. The entire track meet, with the angles, the focus on their expressions while running. Kurahara’s slow realization, showing us what he sees. I loved it. Definitely these details earn the Director a pat on the back. But to me, it also reflects well on Kaze Fui’s source material. To give the Director this much to work with. There is a clear difference in quality of writing it seems, between lite-novels and legitimate Novels. It helps that this is the same author who wrote Fune wo Amu, a personal favorite of mine the year it aired. She has a talent for writing realistic characters, who are more than just a bundle of personality traits slapped together. As proof, let’s look into some of those characters.

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Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San – 8 [Bookstores are so Wonderful!/The Shelves with and without Restrictions]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Comedy, Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving! This week Honda-San is back in form, as we refocus on the customers. We see a cavalcade of book lovers, the terror of children, and a peek into the publishing life of Honda. Let’s dive in!

As I sad in the intro, Honda-San is back at it with the customer stories this week. Once again, it shows that these eccentric personalities are the strength of the show. I can’t say it was hilarious, I didn’t laugh out loud at any point in the episode. But it was consistently entertaining. I giggled from time to time and the stories were, if nothing else, interesting. I think a short series like Honda-San benefits from a rotating/perpetually new cast of side characters. This way our set leads can bounce off them and show something new each week, occasionally bouncing off of each other. Both segments had numerous new customers with their own quirks, and with how short the segments are, none overstayed their welcome. With how short the are on screen, they don’t have to be more than interesting caricatures.

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Planetes – 11 & 12 [Boundary Line/A Modest Request] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Planetes, Throwback Thursday

Hello and happy Thanksgiving everyone! Welcome to another week of Throwback Thursday! This time Planetes covers the absurdity of national borders in space, Claire’s identity, and space terrorism. Lets jump in!

Planetes is starting to get into the meat of its story, I think. The issues are becoming less and less personal, and touching more on the world of the series at large. The current political and economic state, terrorism and para-military groups and the like. To me, these don’t really fit the much more personal stories of earlier episodes. Their purpose is to setup elements for conflict in the future. The war’s on the surface for example have been referenced multiple times. Previously in the first episode, as the removed some junk by dropping it in the atmosphere. And now in episode 11, in regards to the war in Altaniqua. Combine that with the growing military presence we see through Gigalt and his other student Hakim, and we have the makings of a rebellion story. The question is, which way will our cast go?

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Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 8 [Dangerous Character]

by Lenlo, posted in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru

Welcome one and all to another week of Kaze Fui! This time Kurahara takes one step forward and two steps back, the gang supports each other, and Haiji gets angry. Lets jump in!

Startin off, I loved this week of Kaze Fui. This is the kind of grounded drama I love. No 4-way love polygons, no ridiculous coincidences of overhearing the last line of a conversation. Just ideals and well done miscommunication. Everyone is trying their hardest, everyone wants whats best for each other. They want to succeed together. But they all have their own ideas of how to do that, based on their own life experiences. From Kurahara and Haiji, to Nico and Prince, each have their own perspectives. And right now, none of them are really communicating those perspectives with each other. Haiji and Kurahara at least both expect the others to just get it. To understand where they are coming from when they do or ask what they do. I love it, and all of this will be resolved once they just open up and talk to each other.

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Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San – 7 [Tell Me! Wholesaler-san/A Networking Drinking Party for Booksellers]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Comedy, Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San

Hello and welcome to another week of Honda-San! A quick note before we jump in. Since this is Thanksgiving week, no doubt most of my posts are going to be delayed. I am flying to Texas for a few days and will write when I can. I will try my best, but wanted to let you know. That done, let’s jump in!

This week, Honda-San was rather dull I found. The topics were generally un-interesting, and while the gags were decent, I was already partially checked out before it even really began. I understand the series is meant to partially educate, but these industry episodes are simply nowhere near as amusing. Our two topics this week were of course Wholesalers, unique to the book industry and already partially covered by Wizard Man last week, and networking. Wizard Man is fun, but no one likes Networking. The only people who like Networking have business degrees, it is literally their job. For everyone else, Networking is a necessary evil I have found. Interesting enough, Networking actually had the better jokes, but I think that is mostly down to Japanese culture vs Western culture myself. Still, they are worth looking at.

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Banana Fish – 19 [Ice Palace]

by Lenlo, posted in Banana Fish, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Another week, another episode of Banana Fish, this time with 100% more depression! This week Ash starts to break, Yut gets what he wants and Eiji steps up to the plate. Lets jump in!

So in general, this week was weird for me pacing wise. Certain sections felt slow while others passed at a blistering pace. This week alone hit multiple plot points and resolved them in the same episode. No doubt this is an effect of the sheet size of Banana Fish’s manga and how much is getting adapted for this series. I enjoy that there isn’t much downtime, something is always happening in Banana Fish. But we have no idea what or how much is getting cut. If anyone has any idea how much is being cut, then please let me know down below. I am very curious how this adaptation is doing on that front. Now though, let’s get into details, cause a lot happened.

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Planetes – 9 & 10 [Regrets/A Sky of Stardust] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Planetes, Throwback Thursday

Ah Planetes, one of the few things I look forward to every week since starting this. This time we have a number of background characters coming back in, Space continues to kill and Yuri gets some character. Lets jump in!

Planetes actually managed to surprise me this week, if I am being honest. I was not expecting the opening segment of the first episode to actually be relevant. Nor for Hachimaki’s previously unnamed mentor to re-enter the series. But continuing its streak of introducing or expanding on a new character each week, that is precisely what Planetes did. I will get into more depth on each of them later on, but right now I want to talk about a pattern I am noticing. Planetes keeps introducing these characters for one-off episodes, while still not having a central plot to advance. This makes me think that all of these characters are going to come back in the 2nd half. Aiding in whatever the final arc is. It’s a clever strategy, since it saves time on introductions in the future. I just hope Planetes manages to juggle them all well.

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Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 7 [Bear Your Fangs at the Summit]

by Lenlo, posted in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru

Welcome one and all! This week in Kaze Fui we meet the final boss, Kurahara gets a reality check and our team runs their first track meet! Lets jump in!

To start off, I have to say I loved the feel of Kaze Fui this week. Vague, I know, but hear me out. Kaze Fui did a great job with the atmosphere of the track meet. Everyone stretching, running, preparing. There was an air of tension as we jumped between some competitors. It also built on our character’s a bit with how they all reacted to it. Nico seeming to feel at home, Musa panicking, and Prince reading. All in all, well done there I feel. Kaze Fui also shined this week with the running animations, the 2D ones at least. Crunchy-Roll dimmed the scenes a bit sadly, but what we got still looked gorgeous. Their long limbs flowed and their hair tossing in the wind as they ran was fantastic. It’s only failure was the wide-shot CGI, which detracted from a number of scenes. At least the characters worked.

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Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San – 6 [The Man with a Secret Power/Our Fair-Day War]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Comedy, Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San

Welcome fellow book lovers, to another dip into Honda-San! This week was a bit dull as we learn about the difficulties of stocking, but the second half manages to pick it back up. Lets jump in!

So overall this week of Honda-San was pretty disappointing for me. Like usual it had some good gags in there, but nothing has yet to match up to the first episode. Take the first segment of this week for example. It was interesting for a bit. We learned about stocking books, and the magic of the Distribution department. But the jokes simply weren’t funny. It conveyed more technical knowledge than it did humor. The best part of it was the segment with the older customer and their love of a now deceased author. It was sweet, and something I am sure happens. But Honda-San is a sketch comedy series, and the comedy this week was simply not there.

The second segment was better. Once again the festival aspect, since we don’t have book store festivals in the West really, fell flat. However the turnabouts with the book-marks was humorous. Customer’s doing a complete 180 once they find out there was no problem at all. Then Honda basically being dead on his feet. There was some great visual comedy going on. I have said it time and again, but Honda-San is at it’s strongest when dealing with customers. I enjoy the rest of the cast, but every time we focus on them or the back, it’s more technical than anything else. The one time we focused on the back that was funny was the sketch about BL and porn. The reason that one worked was because the focus wasn’t on the technical aspect either.

All in all, while I still don’t think Honda-San wasted my time, it could be a lot better. It makes me very glad that the series is only an 11 minute short, as it would fall apart in larger formats. As is, Honda-San was just short enough that I managed to stick it through until it got amusing this week.

But what do you think? Is Honda-San losing steam, or is my taste in comedy abysmal? Let me know below, and I will see you next week!