Author: SuperWooper

Dorohedoro – 05/06 [Caiman in Wonderland/The First Smoke]

by SuperWooper, posted in Dorohedoro, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

This was the worst possible point at which to write a Dorohedoro double post. Not only did I start a new job last week, but the show started unloading all its groceries in a single trip beginning with episode 5. I can just picture director Yuuichiro Hayashi with fourteen sets of plastic handles digging into his palms, carrying too many bags of source material at once in the name of efficiency. Not being a manga reader, I don’t know which part of the story he’s trying to reach before this cour ends, but I sure hope it’s worth this frantic pace.

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Chihayafuru S3 – 16/17 [Takes Me Away in Haste/As My Sleeves Are Wet With Dew]

by SuperWooper, posted in Chihayafuru, Finished Series: Sports

Chihayafuru kind of lost me a couple weeks ago, but I had a (very) minor epiphany while watching episode 17 that changed the way I think about this season. The lack of sustained focus on karuta matches is still disappointing to me, but here’s the realization that offset some of that feeling. As the series has progressed and the cast has gotten larger, the amount of time that the main characters spend observing games (rather than participating in them) has increased. The narrower the field gets at the top, the less likely it is that your main players will be a part of it. This has led not only to an increased amount of time spent in the audience during matches, but also a shift in the show’s direction. It’s more concerned about the big picture than it is about card differentials or tracking a competitor’s psychology across a ten minute span. This is clearly illustrated in the first game of the Queen match, where Shinobu fails to take the Impassionate Gods card, sees Chihaya in the crowd and smiles, and suddenly we’re down to a luck-of-the-draw finale. How we got there isn’t as important as Chihaya’s personal link to the match.

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Dorohedoro – 04 [Roast Duck with Sorcerer Sauce]

by SuperWooper, posted in Dorohedoro, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Dorohedoro is making it really hard to construct these posts around particular themes. The show is so inventive, and covers such a wide range of topics every week, that it’s hard to know how to structure my discussion without the copout of chronological order. I shouldn’t have blown the food connection last week, because there was an actual recipe for roast duck in this one. Granted, the duck turned into a doppelganger after being basted with Shin’s smoke and veal stock, but assuming the transformation was simply cosmetic, the doll was composed largely of duck meat. I’m surprised Ebisu didn’t start chowing down after Shin punched a hole through its chest and the juices began to leak from its gaping wound.

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Dorohedoro – 03 [Night of the Dead]

by SuperWooper, posted in Dorohedoro, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

When this show’s OP dropped, featuring Nikaido preparing the meat for her famous gyoza, the catchphrase “Dorohedoro is a cooking anime” started to make the rounds. It probably existed even before that, when the manga was the only available version of the story. I get the humor behind the phrase – the show is so ambitious, so violent, and so unpredictable that referring to it as a cooking series is a fine bit of irony. But upon further reflection, Dorohedoro is as much about food as it is about anything else. How many meals have we seen the characters eat in just three episodes? Caiman and Nikaido’s relationship is built on food, and the cleaner duo of Shin and Noi relate to each other best when they’re eating. Sitting down and sharing a meal is the one real-life practice that made its way into the potpourri of madness that is Dorohedoro, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. When Shin talks about his past with Noi over lunch, or Caiman helps Nikaido buy that meat grinder she’s been eyeing, we’re reminded of how closely they resemble ordinary people. If Dorohedoro is a three course meal, the humanity of its cast is the main dish.

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Chihayafuru S3 – 15 [Helpless Autumn Leaves]

by SuperWooper, posted in Chihayafuru, Finished Series: Sports

When this week’s episode opened with Chihaya staring dazedly into space, Arata’s voice looping in her brain, I thought we might be in for a slightly more romantic affair than the one we ultimately received. Chihayafuru has never dwelled for too long on that part of its story, but having crossed a major threshold just recently, there was no way to know for certain whether the formula might change. Now we’ve seen the karuta-heavy aftermath that had been in store all along, and any hopes or fears that the show might undergo some metamorphosis have been put to rest. Chihaya is still a lovable nerd, Arata is back in Fukui, and the secondary members of the karuta club are nearly irrelevant, as they have been practically all season.

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Dorohedoro – 02 [In the Bag]

by SuperWooper, posted in Dorohedoro, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

A couple notes before we get started: I’ve only read the first volume of the Dorohedoro manga, which was covered by the anime’s first two episodes. As such, I won’t be making comparisons between the two versions, so if that’s what you’re looking for specifically, you’ll have to search elsewhere. If you’re a manga reader, the plus side of my TV-only viewership is that you can read someone’s unspoiled thoughts on the series’ nutty developments. Plus, this being an anime review, I can talk about color, animation, music, and voicework – though that sort of discussion might have to be tabled for the first couple posts while I try to wrap my brain around the show’s unique logic.

Also, I’m watching with [anon]’s subs, which read more smoothly to me than either of the currently available alternatives. Just in case anyone was wondering which version to download, there’s my two cents.

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2019 Anime Awards and Top 10 List

by SuperWooper, posted in Yearly Summaries

Amun: New year, new writers, new website, and a new intro! 2019 saw many changes for Star Crossed, but as long as we have our anime with big eyes, bright colours, and minor epilepsy inducing flashes, everything will be alright! This was the year of sequels: good and bad. Not to worry though, as many smaller projects shone through – with a couple breaking out to become multi-season franchises and promised movies. Now that the year is over, it’s time for the Star Crossed writers to dole out our accolades to the anime that impressed and disappointed us; and we finish off with our collective top ten best of the year. So let’s take a look back at the annoying cat-girls, weird kappas, no longer mysterious Titans – and finish out the decade in style!

 

Worst of the Worst

Worst Show: One Punch Man S2

Lenlo: Some series had worse animation, some had worse story, and some had worse characters, but One Punch Man managed to be consistently terrible in all of them. The production by JC Staff fell woefully short of “acceptable”, the narrative adapted the incomplete setup to an actual arc that mattered, and it butchered some of the series’ best characters. Across the board, this season of One Punch Man was a colossal failure that every member of staff here managed to agree upon. And it only gets worse once you start to consider the legacy of the series. From Murata’s godlike art, to the labor of love that was the first season by Madhouse. There is a reason that, collectively, everyone here hated it.

Runner-up: SARAZANMAI. Star Crossed authors are deeply divided on Sarazanmai, with a vocal minority giving enough negative feedback to propel this to the runner-up spot; the detractors decry the pretentious, “woke” plotline and peculiarities masquerading as “artistic”.

Worst First Episode: Arifureta

Amun: Arifureta had the worst first episode I can remember. The animation was unacceptable for a production level anime – it was actually unacceptable in some places for a PowerPoint presentation. Normally, first episodes are meant to make a good impression by pulling out all the stops up front – quality then tapers down later. Not so here. The tragic part was that I came into Arifureta with reasonably high expectations: White Fox, who knows how to make a fantasy anime (even if I didn’t enjoy Goblin Slayer), helmed the project. The director Kinji Yoshimoto had several decently well known series under his belt (Queens Blade and I Couldn’t Become a Hero). Unfortunately, in a season marked by poor isekai adaptations, Arifureta stood out as the absolute worst. May its namesake award on Star Crossed First Episode Awards serve as a warning to other shows: at least make your first episode decent.

Runner-up: GIRLY AIR FORCE, for hideous production values and a script that set our minds on autopilot.

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Chihayafuru S3 – 14 [The Emotions Experienced]

by SuperWooper, posted in Chihayafuru, Finished Series: Sports

I’ve spent the last few months keeping the Chihayafuru shipping talk to a minimum, as I feel the show has a lot more to offer than a high school love triangle. For one thing, it has a cast that spans generations, which has been emphasized more than ever this season. For another, the series trades heavily in themes like self-improvement and finding purpose – personal quests which can easily get lost in the haze of adolescent romance. That goes for critics of the show as well as the characters within it. I’ve read reviews of Chihayafuru that are obviously colored by the writer’s preferred pairing. They view Boy A as the hero, and Boy B as the villain. They evaluate plot developments based on how favorably they seem to affect their favorite guy. Ironically, there wasn’t a strong basis for their bias, as the show only busted out the love triangle teasing in small doses… until this week.

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Some Quick First Impressions: A3! Season Spring & Summer, Dorohedoro and Ishizoku Reviewers

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

A3! Season Spring & Summer

Short Synopsis: The acting troupe Mankai Company scrambles to recruit new members to avoid losing their theater.

Amun’s review:

This isn’t really my kind of show. There, uh, was some acting and a reverse harem thing going on. And the guy napping the bulldozer was funny, I guess. Also….no one in this show except for the guy in black can even spell the word “business.” Pretty obvious he’s trying to give all the second chances possible. I also sorta spaced out halfway through to be honest. The shot of jumping over the fence was cool. But yeah, nothing about this even remotely interested me.

Potential: 0%

Wooper’s review:

As far as bishounen series go, this one was okay. The implausibility of the script is perhaps its main issue, as the main characters seem to be able to convince people of things just by speaking in elevated tones. The acting troupe at the center of the story has precisely one member, yet the owner is able to persuade their landlord not to turn this laughably unprofitable theater into a bar. There’s not an ounce of believability to this story, as the landlord is a major prick, plus he’s just watched the troupe perform for a whopping audience of two people (including himself). Nevertheless, our heroes venture into a sparsely populated city that seems built entirely around the theater industry. They recruit two people by 1) being attractive and 2) quoting Shakespeare, and return to show landlord-san what they’ve accomplished – which is virtually nothing. Has anyone in this series heard of a business plan? Did all of their mothers play motivational tapes when they were in the womb? This level of strained optimism makes it impossible to take the show seriously, but hey, let’s give it the same grade as the female idol show from the last post. Gender equality and all that.

Potential: 15%

 

Dorohedoro

Short Synopsis: A crocodile head has a human inside his mouth, and he goes around biting evil sorcerers, who are just trying to fill their evil quotas.

Lenlo’s review:

One of the weirdest things I’ve looked at so far, Dorohedoro had me going “wtf” from the start. Yet, part of that “wtf” has made me curious. Where is this bottled insanity going? Why is there a person inside the lizard? Why does everyone look like they just came off of a 16 year old’s first Punk Metal album design? No idea, but I kind of want to find out. Don’t get me wrong, the CGI is terrible and sticks out like a sore thumb. Dorohedoro is not a good looking show. Not by any stretch. But maybe it can pull a JoJo and keep me interested by sheer absurdity.

Potential: 40%

Amun’s review:

I’ve seen a few shows now that are using 80s/90s retro designs and style. I don’t like it. Also, this slum world just ends up looking dirty and dingy…I guess you can say that’s by design, but it makes the inevitable blood splatters just look overdone. I guess I’m marginally curious where this story goes, but honestly I haven’t seen enough content to keep me going. I guess the worlds and doors are neat, but the characters so far are meant for shock rather than sympathy. This is a pass from me.

Potential: 10%

 

Ishizoku Reviewers

Short Synopsis: This is ecchi. There’s also some kind of story and a hermaphrodite angel.

Mario’s review:

Here comes the trashiest show of this season. A human and an elf make it a mission to bang everything that moves, meet a bi-sexual loli angel and let him/her join the club: reviewing all the red-light district girls they have been sleeping with. Should I say any more? Oh yeah, the fact that the show makes a “hilarious” twist that other species find 50-yo call girl more attractive than old elf? I actually watched the whole thing so that I can inform you to avoid this show like the plague.

Potential: my mind hurts

Amun’s review:

This is atrocious. Like someone actually put significant effort into this. So instead of reviewing this, I want to list some shows that could use a second season, since these animators are clearly misdirected. Kamisama No Memou-chou. Hunter x Hunter. Angel Beats. Literally a brick wall.

Potential: No. Just no. It doesn’t have any.

Some Quick First Impressions: Boku no Tonari ni Ankoku Hakaishin ga Imasu, 22/7, and Kyokou Suiri

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Boku no Tonari ni Ankoku Hakaishin ga Imasu

Short Synopsis: An irritable high schooler must deal with a delusional classmate after they’re put into the same study group.

Wooper’s review:

This isn’t the worst premiere I’ve seen so far this season, but it’s certainly the one from which I gleaned the least enjoyment. Shows like number24 and Infinite Dendrogram were, at the very least, so bad that I could amuse myself by criticizing them. “A Destructive God Sits Next to Me,” as this series is titled in English, didn’t make me feel a single thing. Despite its decent production and plentiful reaction faces, it’s somehow less tolerable than last season’s Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy, which was another show about guys with eighth-grader syndrome. Destructive God’s protagonist is a “normal” guy, but he’s so aggravated by the delusions of his chuuni classmate that watching him becomes a chore. It’s like he doesn’t want to be in his own show, which certainly isn’t a good attitude to give your main character if your goal is audience retention. There’s no story to speak of, unless you count MC-kun experiencing endless frustration at his classmate’s game of pretend. This show has so thoroughly sapped my energy that I can’t be bothered to craft a closing sentence.

Potential: 1%

Lenlo’s review:

Bland. Blaaaaaaaand. BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND. This is the blandest premiere I have seen so far. I just finished watching it, and if you asked me questions about it, I wouldn’t be able to answer them. It’s like your most basic comedy sketch show, with a character that doesn’t want to be on it. And if the character doesn’t want to be on it, why should I want to watch it? Nope, sorry, this gets a solid:

Potential: Bland%

 

22/7

Short Synopsis: Eight girls are summoned to a zoo and informed that they will become idols in a week’s time.

Lenlo’s review:

ALL HAIL THE WALL! AS THE WALL COMMANDS AND SO SHALL IT BE! BRING ME YOUR YOUNG WOMEN WITH LITTLE TO NO MUSICAL TALENT. BRING ME YOUR DAUGHTERS WITH SKIMPY SKIRTS. BRING ME YOUR SHY AND DISILLUSIONED MC’s. THEY SHALL BECOME IDOLS FOR THE WALL. WHY? DO NOT QUESTION THE WALL, IT DEMANDS ENTERTAINMENT. YOU WISH TO WATCH GOOD ANIME? THE WALL DENIES YOUR REQUEST. THERE IS NO ANIME BUT THE WALL AND YOU SHALL ENJOY IT YOU FILTHY PEASANTS. ALL HAIL THE WALL! THE WALL! THE WALL! THE WALL! THE WALL!…

Potential: Wall%

Wooper’s review:

22/7 is the latest in a new breed of idol series from this season, come to inform us that idols “laugh at stupid things, wear frilly outfits, and shake their butts for their customers.” That’s a direct quote from the show’s main character, and it’s not a point of view that’s magically reversed by the episode’s end, either. The lead girl is anxious and lonely, and she only agrees to become an entertainer because she loses her part-time convenience store gig. Why does she lose her job? Because it’s the will of “The Wall” that she become an idol. What is The Wall? It’s an inanimate oracle of sorts, which provides guidance to a fated group of girls from an underground idol training facility. Why was this extravagant subterranean facility built to serve just eight young idols-in-training? Because it’s the will of The Wall that they become idols.

This show is dumb, to be sure, but its skeptical attitude towards its chosen industry is interesting – especially because the eight girls I mentioned earlier are voiced by members of the real-life idol group 22/7. All of their performances are unpolished; a few are believable in their roles, but most of them aren’t. When you factor in its rough art and animation, this show appears to be an easy skip… but something about its bizarre mythology and unconventional leading lady has me curious about where it’s headed.

Potential: 15%

 

Kyokou Suiri

Short Synopsis: Girl who mediates disputes between yokai seeks help from man who ate their flesh as a child.

Amun’s review:

Several seasons ago, I was head over heels for the first episode of a show called Kyoukai no Kanata. It had great visuals, great chemistry, wonderful character designs, the works. I felt it was destined for greatness…when in reality, the pinnacle of the show was an idol routine that ended in a…sliming (yes, that’s a verb). I say all of this to express my reservations on the excellent first episode from Kyoukou Suiri – I will not be tricked again! With a main girl who reminds me the world of Charlotte and a bland, over-powered MC, I must resist my yokai sympathies and temper my expectations for what surely will be another letdown…actually, I’m super hyped, this is AOTS for me, I’m sure of it this time!

Potential: 1000000000%

Mario’s review:

Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It takes a while for the true plot to kick in, but it carries through by a solid chemistry between the two leads. This premiere has long but engaging dialogues, and how their conversations lead into the show’s main themes work well for me. The backstory of the girl being a mediator for weak yokai, for example, is intriguing, but I can’t say I’m that impressed on the boy’s story. Her backstory, in addition, lacks suspense, consider that she was kidnapped and lost her eye and leg in the process. On the production side, Kyoukou Suiri has a pretty solid animation, but I am not at all a fan with its muted color palette. So far, it’s the intriguing themes and the solid character chemistry that serve as main strength to me, and I am happy to recommend it as the one to look out for in this Winter season.

Potential: 60%