So I was unaware that this season is a split – guess this is the end until January! And wow, what a cliffhanger. These last two episodes have been absolutely brutal in terms of body count…the plot armor on our mains is even wearing a bit thin. Let’s take a look at these last two outings as we say goodbye until next year. Want to see what I rate this half? Check it out below!
Continue reading “DanMachi 4 – 10/11 (Juggernaut/Endless) [END]”
Welcome everyone, to the big finale of Yofukashi no Uta! Well… I say big finale, it’s barely even a finale. For all that Yofukashi has built up to it, it feels like barely anything has happened and I’m just sitting here wonder… is that it. Why? Well lets dive in and talk about it!
In case it wasn’t obvious, my reaction to this finale was very lukewarm. In a word, it was anticlimactic. And the best reason I can give for that is it feels like, with this finale, that Yofukashi has only just started. It took 13 episodes of meandering about to figure out where the show wanted to go. And right when it figures that out… it ends. Right when Ko has finally resolved that yes, he wants this relationship, its done. That’s fine, it needed to happen with how long the show took to get here. But personally? I was really hoping for some kind of confrontation to go with it. Something that would set up the future of the story, to make me excited to either go read it or for another season. Maybe Anko and Nazuna could’ve met, since both are already aware of each other. Something like that.
Continue reading “Yofukashi no Uta – 13 [Call of the Night]”
Coming out on a wave of unprecedented hype before being lambasted as a disappointing release, Cyberpunk 2077 certainly has made its mark on the gaming industry. Having put in over a hundred hours into the game, I thought that story, characters, graphics and setting were really excellent but the stupid amount of bugs, missing or half-baked features and unfillfulled promises really marred my experience. It’s only now nearly two years after its initial release that the game is in a relatively stable state and substantial new content is finally on the cusp of dropping instead of trying to mend all the fractured pieces. Coinciding with the Edgerunner DLC release, CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger have collaborated together to release an anime out on Netflix’s streaming platform. The result is that the animation staff and writers, who worked on shows like Kill la Kill and Promare, have managed to revitalize a product that many gamers had written off as another overhyped and broken project. I don’t like the Netflix model of dumping the entire show at the same time. While it is not beholden to the weekly broadcasting schedule of TV channel providers, I would have preferred to spaced out the hype just like how Riot’s Arcane was delivered in three episode chunks over a couple of weeks. Edgerunnners is genuinely good and it’s a shame that it doesn’t get the traditional buildup of publicity and makes the discussion around the show uneven. It does seem that the show is still gaining popularity as evident by the massive increase in player count for the two year old game.
Welcome to the (almost) halfway point of His and Her Circumstances! This week sees us transition into a new arc, both for the show and the lead relationship. There’s a shocking amount to talk about this week so lets jump right into it!
Starting off, I need to gush a bit about how good Circumstances looked this week. It was mostly back-loaded into the 2nd half of episode 11, sure. But that 2nd half was an absolute joy. The eye catches, the expressiveness, the sheer amount of personality packed into each and every scene. From Tsubasa being a gremlin to Aya and Tsubaki being absolute terrors. That entire scene in the restaurant as they keep feeding Tsubasa more and more and more spoons. I’ve seen that scene, with no context, for years! And I never knew where it was from until today. It’s incredible how quickly Circumstances can go from well directed but barely animated to some of the best and most expressive character work I’ve ever seen. Makes me really concerned for just how far this show falls, based on what people have told me about the 2nd half.
We are mere weeks away from the airing of Chainsaw Man and I thought I would take this time aside to have a little chat. I solemnly swear this post will have no spoilers and is just a means of helping newcomers get why this show is a big deal, what you could expect and how you shouldn’t walk into this expecting it to blow you away. I mean the series already has haters which even the most beloved of series have but I do understand how this series may not be for everyone and if you read the season preview you can likely tell who I have had fairly heated arguments with about it. So I have tried looking at opinions from those who were not quite as keen on the series to perhaps put forward reasons as to why this may not click with you. I have structured this post in a way where I will detail one positive and then one negative and by the end you can make your own judgments.
Welcome all, to the penultimate week of Yofukashi no Uta! Remember how I said last week was an important week because Yofukashi had split itself in two directions? Well this week is Yofukashi’s answer, and it’s a damn good one if you ask me. So let’s jump right into it!
Like I said, my immediate reaction is that this was a really good episode for Yofukashi. Up until now, I was concerned about what kind of finale Yofukashi would have. Would it lean more into the relationship and be a romance, or pivot to a more serious vampire narrative? Both are solid choices, but sticking in the middle would accomplish neither. It had to pick a side, and this week Yofukashi did just that: It picked vampires. Not only that though, it worked hard to fully transition us from a goofy romance into that choice. Now sure, it did so in a roundabout fashion. The way it initiated this transition with the sudden introduction of Anko was rather awkward. But this week took everything she introduced and then focused on it as much as it could. No goofy romance, no jokes to break up the tension. Just dedicated thematic exploration.
Continue reading “Yofukashi no Uta – 12 [My Mom’s Out Tonight]”
Welcome back everyone, to another week of His and Her Circumstances! This week covers some of the fallout from the teacher incident, as well as takes a look how the rest of the school is reacting to their relationship. A lot happens, so lets dive right into it!
First I want to give credit where its due, Circumstances looked good this week. Not just in it’s usual way of expressive but still models, though that was also true. I more mean that it moved really well this week. The 2nd half of episode 10 especially, with Miyazawa running around the school, looked fantastic. Circumstances has spent it’s entire runtime establishing this highly expressive and loose visual style, the way it says “fuck models” and just does what it wants. So when it starts doing that in even wilder ways, with Miyazawa turning into an Oni, her face going purple and growing fangs or the myriad of other ways she changes, it doesn’t feel out of place at all. Instead it just comes off like a special treat. A part of me wishes the rest of the show looked like this to, but I’ll take what I can get.
I’ve been pretty positive on this season of DanMachi, but these two episodes weren’t my favorites. Basically, I don’t like the horror flashbacks (or flash forwards?) at the start of each episode. Let’s take a look!
Continue reading “DanMachi 4 – 08/09 [Mirabilis (Chaos)/Lambton (Ill Omen)]”
Welcome everyone, to what might be one of the most important weeks of Yofukashi yet. Why is it important? Because this week places us at a crossroads. Yofukashi can go down either one and be decent. Or it can attempt both, and achieve neither. So without further ado, let’s dive into it.
So, why do I say that Yofukashi as at a crossroads right now? Why is this episode so important? Well if you’ll remember back, waaaay at the beginning, I said probably something along the lines of: “Yofukashi will have to choose whether it wants to be about relationships or vampires”. And for the past few weeks, it’s chosen relationships pretty consistently. It’s brought vampires into them sure, we have a whole cadre of vampire waifus. But they all existed to examine relationships in one way or another, some more successfully than others. Well that changes this week. Because this week introduces the first thing that could be called an “Antagonist” to a series that’s otherwise not really had one. That antagonist would be the Vampire Hunter, Anko Uguisu. Or at least as close to a vampire hunter as Yofukashi is willing to take it so far.
Continue reading “Yofukashi no Uta – 11 [Do You Know What a Vampire Is?]”
Welcome everyone, to another week of His and Her Circumstances! I really need to stop putting off writing these until the night before, I’m gonna be late some day. Is that day today? I’ll find out when I post this. At least I spent it watching Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, that was a good time. Now onto the episodes!
Before we get into the episodes proper I want to take a moment to talk a bit about Circumstances production. You see, it occurred to me that some might find my handling of Circumstances unfair. That I constantly critique it’s more limited animation, yet always follow up by saying it’s fine. There’s a reason for that, and it’s rather simple: There is a difference between being “poorly” animated and “sparsely” animated. In the first, such as say… this seasons RWBY, the show moves but it does so poorly. Meanwhile in the second, Circumstances may not move much but it does a lot with the limited movement it has. Things happen on screen, characters express themselves, the editing and transition between stills do just as much to communicate with the audience as the pictures themselves. It’s using it’s limitations intelligently, rather than running headfirst into them. And that’s worthy of praise.