Author: SuperWooper

Winter 2021 Summary – Weeks 6-7

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: The recap post was on hold last week in favor of a bigger column, but three of us are back with a vengeance. Midseason fatigue is setting in where some of these shows are concerned, so prepare yourself for mockery, indifference, and swings of the executioner’s axe. How many shows will survive the next five weeks? At this rate, not many.

Reincarnated as a Spider – 06

Amun: Major plot updates this time out – no, not that kind of plot, you pervs. Without spelling it out, some major oddities in the OP/ED are now explained – mainly why are there multiple spiders. We also got some interaction with the hero and we found the weird girl from the OP who bites the world! Major developments, indeed. Meanwhile, Ms. Spider (who cares what her human name was) is still fighting and eating…and becoming more and more likely to be a Demon Lord. But more importantly is getting good food. Because that’s what really matters in isekai these days – next, she’s going to open a restaurant, staffed by sob-storied locals while she goes adventuring. Isekai is going great, guys…

Back Arrow – 06/07

Wooper: More like Bad Arrow, am I right? It’s hardly a stretch to say this is a bad show, and my tolerance for bad shows is low to begin with, so why am I still watching? My enjoyment of this anime could definitely be labeled ironic, but Back Arrow’s creators seem to be operating from a place of irony, as well. How else could one explain an episode that takes place at Pretty Boy Farms, a facility where human experiments cause their hot male subjects to sparkle nonstop? How about the hastily-invented plot point of Shu’s bomb collection, the discovery of which allowed Ren to escape suspicion, just as planned? The issue with this kind of writing is that it narrows the line between tongue-in-cheek and idiotic to a hair’s breadth – Arrow’s “betrayal” in the Pretty Boy episode was a nearly unbearable example of the latter. Still, the fact that it’s only week 7 and the Granedger crew have already made it to the wall means that there’s a lot of plot left in the tank, and it would be a shame to deprive myself of whatever chuckle-worthy moments emerge in the future. That’s my current justification, anyway.

Continue reading “Winter 2021 Summary – Weeks 6-7” →

SK8 the Infinity – 6-7 [Steamy Mystery Skating/We Don’t Balance Out]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, SK8 the Infinity

The screencaps above are a pretty good summation of my thoughts on SK8’s last two weeks. The vacation episode was bright and lively, while the angst episode was, well, angsty. The two weren’t totally divorced from one another, as the seeds of Reki and Langa’s breakup were carried through both installments until they bore fruit at the end of episode 7. That sort of continuity is a good thing, but when the payoff at the end is so emotionally blunt, it makes me wish the show would stick to the fun stuff. In that spirit, let’s start with the positives and talk about “Steamy Mystery Skating” after the jump!

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Horimiya – 06 [This Summer’s Going to Be a Hot One]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Romance, Horimiya

This week gave me just what I wanted from Horimiya: more clownish behavior from an absentee father whose daughter clearly resents him! The episode was bookended by dad scenes, which you’d think would provide the opportunity for at least one honest family conversation, but most of his dialogue led to punchlines instead. Complaining about being a stranger in his own home, failing to recognize Miyamura after his makeover, interrupting his daughter and her boyfriend just as they were about to kiss… These sorts of gags are typical of feel-good romcoms, but Kyousuke is far from a feel-good dad, so they feel out of place to me. This series has already shown us the scars resulting from Hori’s lack of attachment to her mom, so why is her father’s neglect being played for laughs? As a matter of fact, why is he still hanging around the house that he so rarely visits?

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State of the Season – Winter 2021

by SuperWooper, posted in State of the Season

Wooper: If you’ve been keeping your finger on the pulse of the anime fandom this winter, you’ve seen no shortage of proclamations that this is the best seasonal lineup in years. Some of us here expressed similar sentiments back in January, but that was a simpler time – one characterized by loosely-informed optimism, rather than weeks of compounded evaluation. Now that we’ve got a six week picture of the season, where do our writers stand? Totally validated, utterly betrayed, or somewhere in between? Read on to see how the Star Crossed crew is feeling midway through 2021’s first quarter.

What show are you enjoying that you’re not reviewing?

Mario: Sk8 has been a lot of fun. Yes, it’s your typical sports anime with larger-than-life personalities, but it’s gotten many things right so far. Reiki and Langa have that sweet brotherly bond, the races are always exciting to watch, and is it just me, or would ADAM fit in seamlessly with the Utena universe? On the sequel front, Yuru Camp delivers with every single episode and it’s just a blast to watch week to week.

Armitage: In order to give other shows a fair chance, I’ll try my best and not answer “Attack on Titan babyyyy” for all the positive responses in this seasonal check-in. So, yes. Best of the rest for me would probably be Wonder Egg Priority simply because of how ambitious and anomalous it feels while watching. Yes, it borrows from like 10 different places but it still manages to feel wholly original and even in a season absolutely brimming with quality like this one, there’s simply nothing else quite like it.

Amun: Since I’m not technically reviewing any shows this season (tehe), all of them! Special shoutout to Spider Isekai though – it’s been way more enjoyable than I expected. Sure, it’s low budget, but the spider MC really carries – something about the movements and use of the 8 legged expressive palette keeps me coming back every week. Obviously Wonder Egg has been superlative as well.

Lenlo: Quite a few! This is actually one of my most active seasons in a long time. From sequels like Beastars S2 to new originals like Sk8 and Wonder Egg, this season is packed for me.

Wooper: Attack on Titan’s fourth season has been pretty good thus far. It’s got many of the same problems as the Wit seasons, plus the baggage of being a strict visual downgrade, but the story’s leap across the sea has added a welcome layer of complication. So what if the new characters are painted just as broadly as the old ones? Titan is running almost entirely on plot at this point, which is precisely what makes it so addicting.

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SK8 the Infinity – 05 [Passionate Dancing Night!]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, SK8 the Infinity

One word, four letters: ADAM. Actually, let’s go with “Adam” from now on, as the show has started caps-locking a bunch of other skater pseudonyms as well, and I can’t be bothered to replicate them every time. Adam is this series’ breakout character without question, possessing a villainous, flamboyant energy that only Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter could dream of matching. I’ve written previously about how these traits could pose a problem for SK8 without proper context, and while this episode did send his crazy levels soaring to unforeseen heights, it also planted an important seed regarding his past – he used to be partners with Cherry and Joe. I was highly impressed with this reveal, not only for the casual way it was incorporated into the script, but also because it promised to build two side characters into something more than window dressing, then show us their former teammate’s heel turn. For a show that made its final boss so visible so early, what could be more promising than that?

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Winter 2021 Summary – Week 5

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: This will be the last recap post for a couple weeks, as we’re currently shifting our focus to the mid-month State of the Season update. Before that project drops, though, you can get a taste of what we’re watching right here: a bunch of mid-tier seasonal offerings, plus a couple mid-2000s anime on Mario’s end. Click through for the full post – it’s a big one this week!

Urasekai Picnic – 04/05

Mario: Urasekai Picnic so far nails the creepy atmosphere of the Otherside and not much else – the production is barebones. Granted, there aren’t many action scenes but you can see the clunky production through the extras walking by. The two worlds, especially the connection between them, are still pretty much ambiguous – in the sense that visits feel more like nightmarish trips than an adventure. There’s way too much we don’t know about the Otherside, as each episode the girls encounter different kinds of urban monsters but for me at least these monsters don’t feel connected to each other. The lack of information about its world-building does help, though, in the sense that we don’t know what will happen next – making it kinda work as a mystery show.

I was Reincarnated as a Spider, so What?! – 05

Amun: Lads, we can all rest easy. Our darling spider has finally gotten something good to eat. As Spider-chan continues to try and survive between a rock and a hard place (or more accurately, the frying pan and the fire), I can see some complaints you could have about this show. Lots of text. So much text (that’s also upside down). I think whoever made this show got really into typefaces. There’s also the human drama that no one cares about – although the parallels with the Spider-chan’s bully who was reincarnated as a land dragon are mildly interesting. But all that’s beside the point – Spider-chan is still doing cute things (training montage was hilarious) and overcoming enemies…albeit in less interesting fights than before. I’m sure the plot is going to converge at some point, but so far it’s some good ole’ arachnid slap-stick, and I’m here for that.

Continue reading “Winter 2021 Summary – Week 5” →

Horimiya – 4-5 [Everybody Loves Somebody/I Can’t Say It Out Loud]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Romance, Horimiya

This series wasn’t titled “Horimiya” for nothing, as the people whose names comprise that portmanteau are far and away its most interesting characters. Whenever they’re on screen, I’m engaged; whenever they aren’t, I’m thinking about what’s for dinner rather than attending to the show. Thankfully, this week’s episode kept them in focus for the majority of its runtime, but last week’s was so preoccupied with other characters that it gave me writer’s block (hence this double post). I kind of want to start complaining right off the bat, but in the interest of optimism, let’s avoid chronological coverage and jump straight to the three little words that bridged these two episodes.

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SK8 the Infinity – 04 [ADAM, The Matador of Love]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, SK8 the Infinity

I think it’s safe to say that SK8 the Infinity has abandoned the mask it wore during its first two episodes. This is no longer an anime about having a rad time skateboarding with your bros – now it’s about settling beef with your bros, and I’m not talking about the burgers that Miya refused to eat at A&W. Everyone wants to start beef with ADAM, a bloodthirsty politician from a well-to-do family who channels his aggression through extreme skateboarding. This is such an insane premise that the only way to make it work is by leaning completely into the insanity, which this episode did without hesitation. And it worked! By the end, I was laughing at everything ADAM said and did, from skating uphill groin-first to villainously licking Reki’s blood off his cheek (framed with a Dutch angle, no less). I still miss the version of SK8 that we glimpsed two weeks ago, but at least this new model is demonstrating some knowledge of its own stupidity.

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Winter 2021 Summary – Week 4

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: Another week, another roundup of what we’re watching that isn’t getting dedicated posts. This time we’ve got two demon-themed shounen series, two anime that take periodic trips to the great outdoors, and two shows where vehicles are the main attractions. Can you spot which is which?

The Promised Neverland S2 – 04

Lenlo: So I will, as a manga reader, admit to being a little bit biased when I write this but: What the hell Neverland? What is this? Not only are you skipping the only good arcs/characters left in your story to fast track to the bad stuff, but you are undermining what good you had from the first season with Isabella. I can’t think of another series that has managed to kill my interest faster than this. I’ll keep watching just to see if the author can manage to not screw it up a second time in a row, but I have no faith that this is going to end up good.

Pui Pui Molcar – 01

Wooper: I just learned of this show’s existence and had to spread the good news. Pui Pui Molcar is a stop motion series of two minute episodes about guinea pigs that are cars. I repeat: this anime is about guinea pigs that are cars. Whether you find that adorable or stupid depends on how much of a joyless Scrooge you are, but even if you fall on the “adorable” side, this show is more charming than you can imagine. The colors are bright, the soundtrack is jammin’ (the melodica track in the first episode is a bonafide ode to optimism), and the squeaks of the cars are provided by actual guinea pigs. There’s not much more to Molcar than cuteness, though it does win some points for telling its stories without any dialogue (despite the guinea pigs’ human drivers). Here’s a link to the premiere on YouTube (the first of five available episodes), so you can see for yourself why it’s become a minor sensation in Japan.

Continue reading “Winter 2021 Summary – Week 4” →

SK8 the Infinity – 03 [Undesired Hero]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, SK8 the Infinity

The list of anime tropes I hate is considerably longer than the list of those I love. Even during shows that are largely enjoyable, small annoyances tend to derail episodes or even whole character arcs in my head. I think that’s what happened with SK8’s third outing, about which I’d noted a meager number of positives and one overwhelming negative by the time the credits rolled. As far as tropes go, there were plenty to turn up your nose at: strawman bullies who try to embarrass the object of their jealousy, women fawning over the banter of two handsome men, a Char Aznable clone foreshadowed to be the final boss. But those were minor enough to come out in the wash, unlike the one that prevented me from embracing this episode: an antagonist who repeatedly decried the concept of friendship, then learned the error of his ways after losing to a pair of best friends.

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