Author: Lenlo

Planetes – 7 & 8 [Extraterrestrial Girl/A Place to Cling To] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Planetes, Throwback Thursday

Welcome one and all to another week of Planetes, continuing Throwback Thursday! This week we have a beautiful contrast of Life and Death in space followed by a lighthearted affirming of the group dynamic. Lets jump in!

Before I get into actual plot elements, I want to once again praise Planetes for its use of technology. Every week it finds a new avenue of science to explore, trying its best to be correct. Weaving in political elements and commentary throughout. Take for instance the damage caused by Radiation Poisoning in Episode 7. Or the difficulties of capturing a liquid debris in space. That these are questions at all in a Science Fiction anime is amazing. I recently learned that JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, actually served as a technical consultant on the series. And that on the US DVD’s, interviews with two NASA Scientists were included. Combine all of this with the care Planetes takes to connect these elements to an actual, deep personable story? It makes me want to find and buy these DVD’s just to get more Planetes content.

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Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San – 5 [It’s a Book Signing!! Everyone Gather Up / A Fascinating Erotic Story]

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

Another week, another 10 minutes well spent with Honda-San. This time we have Golden Kamuy references, a Brazilian and lots, ridiculous amounts really, of gay Erotica. Lets jump in!

To be honest, Honda-San started off worrying me this week. It wasn’t until maybe the 3 minute mark that it seemed to pick up. I think it is a clear example of Honda-San’s strengths being the customers and situations, instead of the business side. But it pulled it back fast. Honda-San was great once it got started. Not only does it have a much larger cultural representation than I was expecting, but none of them are offensive stereotypes. To me, at least. We have had French, American, Brazilian and multiple examples of each, up to this point. Not to mention his “Lets Bullshit English Time!”, which was just fantastic. Honda-San is just so… upfront with its actions and jokes. A great example of grounded absurdist comedy. Now I just need to avoid being that Brazilian guy when I go to Japan in February.

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Banana Fish – 17 [The Killers]

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

Ah, finally Banana Fish is back in form. This week we have murder, intrigue and a new terrifying character. Lets jump in!

With the hospital arc done, Banana Fish seems to have found its footing again this week. The hospital, while it had its moments, was largely dull compared to what came before. This new arc of cat and mouse however is much more interesting. With Ash being this unstoppable genius, having him on the back foot provides a much better story. Banana Fish can do a lot with it, especially considering it’s a much more personal one than the last. Add on to that Yut’s current story, and Eiji’s confusion as to where he stands, it gives Banana Fish a lot to work with. All it really needs is to make good use of Sing and all the characters will be moving in a good direction.

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Planetes – 5 & 6 [Fly Me to the Moon/The Lunar Flying Squirrels] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Planetes, Throwback Thursday

Ah Throwback Thursday, quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. Welcome to another 2 episodes of Planetes! This time we have suicide pacts, space ninja’s and incredible technological feats! Lets jump in!

So non-spoilers out of the way first, Planetes continues to impress me with it’s use of technology and physics. Really, every time it does it I love the series just a little bit more. Rotating a spaceship quickly to generate G-Force’s was brilliant. The detail of having a phone call from the moon be delayed because of distance? Fantastic. It’s the touches like these that really drive home how the series is in space. Without these details, the focus on technology, our characters could be anywhere. They could be in some random ship, or any other futuristic slum indistinguishable from all others. This is how you build a believable Science Fiction world. No info dumps, just repeated usage of the technology in the story. Leave it to the guy who writes Vinland Saga to be a stickler for the details I suppose.

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Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 5 [The Ones Not Chosen]

by Lenlo, posted in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru

Hello and welcome to perhaps the most personal episode of Kaze Fui yet. This week we have the struggles of growing up, the reasons why we run and some great character details. Lets jump in!

Before I get into specifics, I want to talk about what Kaze Fui did this week that I simply loved. Kaze Fui is, quite successfully, spreading the love and attention of the characters. With such a large cast, it would be incredibly easy for some of them to fall by the wayside. For our characters to be nothing more than window dressing for our leads. But Kaze Fui manages to spend just enough time with them to make them all feel like their own people. It let’s them talk to each other, without our leads, giving them independence in the story. They resolve their own issue’s, like Shindo deciding he wants to run on his own. Kaze Fui even gives us consistent, if brief, glimpses into their private lives. Showing us their rooms or the different ways they sleep based on personality. Simply put, I love the characters portrayal.

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Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San – 4 [Mission: An Outside Work-ish Job]

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

Ah, another week another short relaxing dip into Honda-San. This week we have mandatory employee training, cults and a step in the right direction. Lets jump in!

So luckily, it looks like Honda-San took my advice and stepped back on the educational bits. This week it focused on taking a basic facet of a service position and magnified aspects of it. Most people in a service position have probably been through something like this. A mandatory, extremely awkward and boring, training seminar. Honda-San took this seminar this week and exaggerated all the worst, or weirdest parts. The teachers became cult leaders, with their masks. The apathetic employee’s forced to be there became humerus caricatures, and the tasks at hand were executed with gumption. Personally I thought it all worked quite well. Honda-San truly is at its best using grounded absurdist humor, instead of educational humor.

As far as the actual jokes, they still came at a slower pace than I would have liked, but largely worked. It setup my expectations with the first terrible smile, which I have seen at these kind of events. But then completely surprised me with the ridiculousness of the pretty ladies actions. The damn “oo ee oo ee” sound murdered me. It came from nowhere and was just unique. Honda-San also nailed some of the visual humor this week, with the “perfect” employee as seen in the image above. I do think it spent a bit to much time actually explaining the seminar though. This is something most people can grasp immediately I imagine, I don’t think the viewer needs to hear it spelled out. Hopefully Honda-San continues to move in this direction though.

So all in all, Honda-San was better this week. It was still just a bit to much on the educational side, and the 2nd Skit of the episode might as well not of been there it was so short. But for a 9 minute a week short comedy sketch, I still think Honda-San is worth your time. Watch it on the bus, or during lunch or something for a quick chuckle, and I would say its time well spent.

Apologies for the shortness of the post here this week, but there really isn’t much to talk about with a comedy skit like this. I would rather be succinct and to the point than waste your time with a 1000 word essay. Hope you enjoy, and see you next week!

Castlevania Season 2 Review – 73/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo

According to much of the Western Anime community, this series wouldn’t be relevant for a site like this. Being made in the West by Americans, and English being its first language, many would disqualify it from the start. However I name them all fools for Castlevania, Directed by Sam Deats and Ryoichi Uchikoshi is clearly inspired by and modeled after Anime. Just like Avatar: The Last Airbender or the currently airing RWBY, let Castlevania stand as a testament that Anime can be produced beyond the borders of Japan. A damn good one at that.

Lets jump in, and beware of spoilers!

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Banana Fish – 16 [Lo, the Poor Peacock]

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

Another week, another episode of Banana Fish. This time we have a quality escape, an expected murder and some odd comedy. Let’s dive in!

This week Banana Fish managed to, just barely straddle a very fine line. Being an escape attempt, Banana Fish had to make it both difficult, yet possible. I felt that Banana Fish straddled that line rather well. The security came off as competent, with good coverage, yet sabotaged from the inside by Dino. The fact that Ash and Co were routinely found and chased/captured really made the chase much more engaging than the guards also just barely missing them. Combine that with things like the infrared cameras giving Ash away and shutting down the elevator, and Banana Fish accomplished a good escape sequence. My only gripe is that, at parts, the felt out of place. I will get into more specifics on this later on, as quiet a few of the jokes worked and none were bad. It was just a matter of timing to me.

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Planetes – 3 & 4 [Return Trajectory / Part of the Job] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Planetes, Throwback Thursday

Hello one and all and welcome to another week of Throwback Thursday, with Planetes! This week I am trying something a bit new, running 2 episodes instead of 1, to try and cover more ground. Let me know what you think, and lets jump in!

So far, my favorite aspect of Planetes is its singular focus each week. Instead of marginally moving forward some greater plot every episode, Planetes has a singular theme each episode. The themes for these two weeks were clearly Mortality/Death and Privilege, financial privilege at least. Naturally, I am gonna talk about these episodes in order so don’t worry, we will get to both. Planetes also continues it’s trend fantastic visual representation of space. This time we got liquids! Little balls of soda floating in the air, waiting to be picked. I love fluid dynamics, it’s always visually interesting, and space just makes it more so. For an example of how good looking water can affect a series, just go watch Garden of Words. I swear Makoto Shinkai has a fetish for it. That done, onto specifics!

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Kaze Fui Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 4 [Shadows That Don’t Fade]

by Lenlo, posted in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru

Welcome one and all to Week 4 of Kaze Fui! This week we get some backstory, loads of friendship, and hints to old problems. Lets jump in!

In general, I once again enjoyed Kaze Fui. It manages a nice balance between the high emotions of Kurahara’s struggles and the light hearted interactions of the other dorm mates. In fact, I am quite happy with how much attention Kaze Fui is putting on the rest of the dorm cast. Seeing Akane with his friends, acting sociable and not just as a shut in, or Yuki and Masa eating lunch together helps reinforce them as people with their own lives away from Kurahara. It also makes them feel more important as characters, so their presence and opinions actually matter overall, instead of just how they affect our lead. Really, every episode that goes by I fall more and more in love with this cast of goofy college students. And I have no idea how Kaze Fui is making that happen.

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