Yofukashi no Uta – 6 [Might as Well Have Fun]

Welcome everyone, to the halfway point of Yofukashi no Uta! I’m a bit late for this one, sorry about that. Busy week plus I have that Welcome to the NHK review to write. Enough excuses though, lets dive into the episode!

Starting off, this week was a mixed bag visually. Yofukashi had some really, really high highs, don’t get me wrong. Ko’s face reflecting in the lake, or his complete change in art style and heavy linework while dealing with Shirakawa were fantastic. I love those kind of striking scenes and hope we get more of it. But there’s also such as thing as “to much” and that’s what happened with the neon this week. The entire pool scene in the 2nd half was just that. To much blue, to pink, etc. It drowned out any other color and shading work done on the scene and made it a pain to look at any of the finer details. It matches Yofukashi’s aesthetic sure, but at the detriment of everything else. Hopefully this is a one off and they stick to more restrained amounts of color in the future.

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Yofukashi no Uta – 5 [Well, That’s a Problem]

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of Yofukashi no Uta! This week sees a much needed shift in focus from our male lead, Ko, over to Nazuna. We get a peek into what her daily life is like, and how Ko’s introduction to her life is affecting her. Is it good? Is it interesting? Well let’s dive in and talk about it!

Starting off, this week Yofukashi introduced me to an idea that I can’t believe I hadn’t considered. Do you remember when I said that Ko was being forced to choose between day and night? Akira and Nazuna? And how Ko has seemingly chosen the night, but there’s a chance he could bring Akira over as well? Well the opening of this episode made me wonder, is Nazuna being given the same choice. We see just how alone and unfulfilling her days are. How late she sleeps in, how inconvenient it is, and how little the sun actually appears to bother her if she can wake up in it. So is there chance that instead of Ko being dragged into the night, into becoming a vampire, that Nazuna gets dragged into the day with him and Akira? It’s still to early to tell but I like that the option exists.

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Yofukashi no Uta – 4 [Isn’t This a Tight Squeeze?]

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Yofukashi no Uta! Just like with Isekai Ojisan, I would like to apologize for this being a bit late. Otakon is taking up a lot of my time this weekend so I’m getting these done when I can. As far as the episode goes, there’s a good amount to talk about so lets jump right into it!

Off the bat, the big thing I’m happy about with Yofukashi this week is Akira. Namely that she’s still around. I had a small fear that after her introduction, Akira would become relegated to the background. A reoccurring but ultimately unimportant character that only shows up for a chance of scenery. Instead, what Yofukashi gave me was hope. It spent this entire episode focused not on our MC, Kou, or our love interest, Nazuna, but on Akira and her relationship with the two. On her own issues, history and arc. And I couldn’t be happier! Because if you ask me? It seems like a really good arc. Lets talk details below break.

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Yofukashi no Uta – 3 [A Lot Came Out]

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Yofukashi no Uta, AKA Call of the Night! That name is never not going to be a mouthful, I swear. Content wise this week was a tad middling for me despite an otherwise good idea. Why? Well lets dive in and talk about that.

First off, a visual nitpick. You know by now that I think Yofukashi looks pretty good. Not from animation, it’s pretty basic there, but because of it’s backgrounds and color palette. I absolutely love the neon. But I noticed something… off this week. The foliage? The greenery? Everything that isn’t a building? None of that is really getting touched by the same neon lighting as the buildings. As such it results in a bunch of seemingly dark splotches in an otherwise bright frame. This isn’t a huge deal I suppose, it took me 3 episodes to notice so it’s obviously not a glaring issue. But now that I’ve seen it I’m afraid I won’t be able to unsee it. Hopefully it’s not to much of a problem.

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Yofukashi no Uta – 2 [Do You Do LINE]

Hello everyone, and welcome to my last show for the season, Yofukashi no Uta AKA Call of the Night. It’s a cute series, but I’m sure you all have other questions first, such as “Where the hell is the seasonal coverage post”. Well I’m wondering that to, so don’t worry. Currently waiting on some last minute additions from the other writers, so it will go out when it goes out. Don’t worry though, I’m going to keep a consistent schedule with my 3 (4?) series. So without further ado, lets dive into some late night vampire sexy times!

Starting off, Yofukashi continues to look good I think. There are some issues here and there with the composite, the characters feel very out of place at times. But I absolutely love the neon color palette. When combined with the darker, flatter backgrounds it lets the colors really pop. On top of that there are some really cool shots peppered throughout, even if the animation isn’t anything impressive in them. My only real issue right now is that some of the colors feel… off. My friend described the yellow ones in particular as a “piss filter” and I can’t get it out of my head. They really do look that unhealthy, questionable shade and simply don’t look as good as the blues, greens and purples. And sadly? I don’t think they are going away any time soon. At least the OST is fire, right?

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Dance Dance Danseur Anime Review 86/100

Everyone has a type. Whether it be fighting games, Shounen battle anime, even who they like to date. Everyone has something that they can point to and say “I like that, give me more”. Well after 450 anime, after Welcome to the Ballroom, Princess Tutu and so much more, I think I’ve figured out one of mine: Fancy dancing. And after this season, I think I can narrow it down even more: Ballet dancing. The entire aesthetic is something I can’t get enough of. And it’s thanks to the subject of this review, my favorite anime of the Spring 2022 season, that I figured that out. Produced at Studio MAPPA, originally created by George Asakura, Directed by Munehisa Sakai of Zombie Land Saga with music by Michiru I give to you: Dance Dance Danseur. Let’s jump into it.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Dance Dance Danseur. It also contains major spoilers in some sections, but these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur Anime Review 86/100”

Dance Dance Danseur – 11 [Oh, I Think I Love Classical Ballet]

This is it everyone, welcome to the finale of Dance Dance Danseur! This is a pretty eventful week all things considered. Someone gets the girl while another gets a scholarship, all the while a dementia ridden grandmother laughs along at the drama. So the question is: Is it any good? Let’s jump in and find out.

First up lets talk about the visuals. If you ask me, these are a bit of mixed bag. The first half was absolutely gorgeous. Like legitimately beautiful, I don’t think anyone can dispute that. The lighting, Luou’s movements, how it was all framed and storyboarded. Great stuff. However the second half leaves much to be desired, both in animation and storyboarding. Part of this no doubt comes down to the location. There’s no way a static classroom provides the same kind of scenery and options that a beach at sunset does. Beyond that, we also need to recognize that MAPPA problem: Melt. MAPPA has a history of productions falling apart in the second half, it’s just a fact. And we saw a bit of that as if you check the credits, this episode has 13 different studios working on it. I’m amazed it came out as good as it did.

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Dance Dance Danseur – 10 [Miyako… You Need to Be by His Side]

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of Dance Dance Danseur! And what a week it was. This episode was just so GOOD. I was worried that Danseur might flub it’s ending, but this penultimate episodes makes me sure that won’t happen. Why is that? Well lets jump in and talk about it.

Right off the bat, and as if this comes as any surprise, Danseur’s direction this week was stellar. There were so many incredible frames that I had trouble picking my screenshots for this post. Whether it be the almost fairytale portrayal of Luou’s small door, or the beginnings of Swan Lake on the beach, Danseur hits hard when its wants to. Now sure, there were some hiccups here and there. The transition from the train to Jumpei/Miyako running on the beach was awkward, as was the composite of them running in the background. Danseur wasn’t perfect. But it was beautiful. Like in the way that flaws in a masterpiece remind you that it was made by a human, rather than a machine, is all the more perfect for it. Now maybe Danseur isn’t masterpiece. But it is without question my Anime of the Season.

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Dance Dance Danseur – 9 [I Wanna Get Better, Too!]

Welcome everyone, to another week of Dance Dance Danseur! Apologies for the wait on this one. I haven’t stopped, just been rather busy since I started grad school and its left me feeling a bit more tired than expected. Excuses aside though, lets jump right into this weeks episode!

This was an interesting week, as we seem to be coming to a head on both Jumpei and Luou’s stories. Or at least this arc of them. Jumpei’s is going about as I expected, he’s been offered the scholarship by Oikawa and must now choose between her and Chizuru. About what I predicted right? But there’s an added layer here from Danseur that I wasn’t expecting: Natsuki and Miyako. I said last week that I wasn’t expecting any kind of romance to happen this season, but now we have a full blown triangle situation. And on top of that, they both seem to represent something different in the story. Like Miyako is personal expression, feelings, romantic love and everything we saw Jumpei exhibit in the Swan Lake performance. Meanwhile Natsuki seems to almost represent the institution of ballet itself, the ideal Jumpei seems to be striving towards. It’s… interesting.

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Dance Dance Danseur – 8 [Oh, I Wanna Do It Again!!]

Hello, and welcome to another week of Dance Dance Danseur! This is an odd episode if I’m being honest. There are scenes I really like, but also ones I find really concerning. Which is which? Lets jump in and find out!

So if I’m being honest, visually, this episode looked pretty rough. There were a few good shots with Natsuki practicing alone, and her jump/dance with Jumpei in the second half was fine. But by and large the episode relied on static models and flashy post-processing backgrounds rather than smooth or intricate character animation. There simply wasn’t much impressive going on! And beyond that? I think the episode was kind of a mess. Characters had rough, imprecise linework all over the place. It felt like we were zoomed in on wide-shot low-detail versions of the designs. I’m all for rough, thick linework. But that’s not Danseur, that isn’t a stylistic choice. It’s just evidence of MAPPA Melt starting to set in.

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