Yofukashi no Uta – 12 [My Mom’s Out Tonight]

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.

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Welcome to the NHK Anime Review 95/100 – Throwback Thursday

When in your life you watch a show can matter just as much as the show itself. Perhaps you first found Tokyo Godfathers and its story of found family right after your parents divorce. Or Tatami Galaxy while in your freshman year of University. It could even be as simple as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood being your first anime ever. The show might be good, fantastic even, but the when is what made it timeless for you. How do I know this? Because that’s exactly how I felt as I watched Welcome to the NHK. Created by Tatsuhiko Takimoto and directed by Yuusuke Yamamoto, with music produced by Masao Fukuda and animated at Studio GONZO, I give to you one of my new Top 10 animated series ever made. Without further ado, lets dive in.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Welcome to the NHK. It also contains major spoilers in some sections, but these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Additionally, this series contains depictions of depression, abuse and suicide, which I will mention in this review. You have been warned. Continue reading “Welcome to the NHK Anime Review 95/100 – Throwback Thursday”

Welcome to the NHK – 23/24 [Welcome To Misaki!Welcome to The NHK!] – Throwback Thursday

Hello and welcome everyone, to the finale of Welcome to the NHK! We have a lot to talk about this week, some of it bad, most of it good. For those looking for the long and short of it leading into the final review? Good ending, good show, minor philosophical differences. And for those who want more? Well let’s jump right into it.

Visually there was some really good stuff in these two episodes. In fact, I dare say this finale is the best NHK has ever looked, with Tetsuya Takeuchi’s work in particular standing out. The way he, and others, brought these characters to life was just fantastic. I’m not just talking about bombastic over the top scenes like Sato running towards the cliff, though that was good. Rather it was all the smaller character moments, both before and after, that stood out to me. Sato and Misaki embracing in the snow. Misaki’s mother’s hair and clothing fluttering in a strong wind. The shock, grief, anguish and joy on their faces throughout both of the episodes. And all it pays off in spades! This really does feel like the end, and I think that’s important for a finale. Of course it was also all fantastically shot, as usual.

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Welcome to the NHK – 21/22 [Welcome To Reset!/Welcome to The God!] – Throwback Thursday

Welcome, one and all, to the penultimate week of Welcome to the NHK! From Sato to Misaki, Yamazaki to Hitomi, NHK is lining up all the dominoes for a grand finale. But is this setup any good? Or does it start to flub it’s lead at the finish line? Let’s dive in and find out.

First up we have episode 21, “Welcome to the Reset!”. This is, at it’s core, Yamazaki’s finale. And you know what? I’m kind of surprised it actually happened. I wasn’t sure that NHK would actually follow through with it, at least not this quickly. NHK jumped right into Winter Comiket when I thought for sure it would be the climax of the episode, not the opening. This leaves the episode feeling almost more like an epilogue for the character rather than a grand finale. The way Yamazaki packs up his room, gives Sato a bunch of his stuff, voices his frustration and puts to words the emotions I mentioned last week regarding his game being his last mark in Tokyo. It’s all very poignant. But… is it an actually good experience for the viewer?

Details after the break.

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Welcome to the NHK – 19/20 [Welcome To The Blue Bird!/Welcome to Winter Days!] – Throwback Thursday

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of Welcome to the NHK! We are nearing the end, and the arcs are starting to reflect that. Big character moments, final scenes and all around stellar episodes abound. So without further ado, lets dive into it!

First up we have episode 19, “Welcome To The Blue Bird!”. However rather than jump right in with the narrative, I want to talk about something even more striking: It’s visuals. This episode was storyboarded and directed by Erkin Kawabata. I can’t pretend to know much about the guy. I hadn’t even heard his name until I looked it up for this post. What I can say though is that this was perhaps the most visually unique episode of NHK’s run so far. It’s ugly and unrefined art style, combined with some stellar layouts, conveyed the episodes emotion incredibly well. However between those emotional highs, it also lead to very janky lows. Stuttering animation, awkward models, and just messy screens in general. Was it worth it? I think so. But I definitely wouldn’t want to watch an entire series done this way.

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Welcome to the NHK – 17/18 [Welcome to Happiness!/Welcome to No Future!] – Throwback Thursday

Welcome back everyone, to yet another good week of Welcome to the NHK. It feels like NHK has hit its stride recently. It was always somewhere between good and great, but the last like… 6 episodes have all been fantastic. And that’s including this week as well! So without further ado, join me as we talk about yet another great pair of episodes.

Right off the bat I want to praise NHK for it’s presentation this week. These two episodes are all about deception and manipulation, of one character deceiving the rest. Usually, this is pretty difficult! Because not only does a show have to trick its characters, it also has to convince the audience that the deception was good enough to trick the characters. Basically, NHK has to make me believe someone would actually fall for what’s being depicted. If it can’t do that, then everything falls apart because the audience hasn’t bought in. Yet its not surprising at all that NHK nailed this. The VA work, dialogue, presentation. Having someone giving audience cues to make them buy in, peer pressure, preying on anxieties specific to each character. It makes complete sense someone would fall for this. It’s not just a plot contrivance, and that’s why the scam works so damn well.

Am I being vague here? Yes, purposefully so. Continue after the break if you want specifics, cause this was another banger of a week.

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Welcome to the NHK – 15/16 [Welcome to the Fantasy!/Welcome to the Game Over!] – Throwback Thursday

Welcome back to another week of Welcome to the NHK! This is another fantastic pair of episodes as, for the 3rd time, NHK leaves me absolutely floored. What could it tackle to achieve that you may ask? Well let’s cut this preamble short and jump into it!

Like I said, with this arc NHK has once again flabbergasted me. The setup, lead in, execution and climax of this arc was simply perfect. From the type of neetdom it tackles to the arc/involvement of every character in it, french kiss. But before I get into details I want to talk about something I thought was really impressive: The way NHK fit this entire arc into 2, maybe 3 episodes depending on what the next one does. And this is only possible because of the consistency between arc, the way they flow into one another. Sato came into this arc after just being cut off by his parents, after trying to improve himself, failing, and then almost killing himself. Already the stage is set for him to desperately want money while being more horrified than ever by crowds and society. This setup leads us into the first episode.

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Welcome to the NHK – 13/14 [Welcome to Heaven!/Welcome to Reality!] – Throwback Thursday

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the 2nd cour of Welcome to the NHK. This week we finish up this whole “suicide cult” think, learn a bit more about Misaki, and Sato doesn’t get the girl. Sound like a sad time? Well it is, but it’s also a pretty good time. Lets dive in and talk about why.

First up is episode 13, “Welcome to Heaven!”. This picks up right where we left off on the beach and has all the same good stuff I loved about last week. The dark humor, the plot progression, the characterization, it was all great. I will admit that, going into this episode, I was a bit worried. Would NHK be able to pull off this suicide plotline? Would it be respectful or would it fall a part at the very end? How was everything going to get resolved? As it turns, NHK ended up going the rather vanilla route of everyone surviving. But it did so in a way that felt very human, very earned, for all of the characters involved. It wasn’t just a last minute switcheroo, rather it was something built up from the very start of the arc. What do I mean? Lets talk details after the break.

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Welcome to the NHK – 11/12 [Welcome to the Conspiracy!/Welcome to the Offline Gathering!] – Throwback Thursday

Normally this is where I welcome everyone to this weeks episodes of Welcome to the NHK. I have this whole spiel about what happened this week, maybe try to hook you in, its a jovial and happy time. But not this week. Cause this week, after an entire cour of soft balls, NHK finally decided to start playing hardball. And I’m all about it. So lets dive in.

First and foremost, mostly because I want to save all my spoilers for after the break, NHK looked janky this week. It was never a good looking show to begin with, relying heavily on clever and engaging direction. But we didn’t really get that. Instead, this week in particular with these two episodes, the production quality felt like it dropped like a rock. From static cars sliding across the screen to incredibly low detail closeups, NHK did not look good this week. Now luckily NHK isn’t the kind of show where that really matters. It would be nice, I would love this to get the unique production it deserves. But there’s just enough there to not take away from the story *too much.

And what a story it is. To give you a bit of a teaser: Turns out I was wrong, Hitomi isn’t a prostitute. That would have been an easier pill to swallow.

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Spy X Family – 11/12 [Stella/Penguin Park]

Hello everyone, and welcome to a SpyXFamily double feature! I apologize for missing last week. I was so caught up in writing the Danseur review that I completely forgot to do this. Luckily, the season is taking a break until October so I have all the time in the world now to get ready for the second half. A shame the industry needs this but hey, take what we can get. Now lets dive into the episodes!

So first up, lets talk about SpyXFamily’s animation. There was some great stuff in both episodes, but this week’s certainly takes the cake. There were so many small bits, like the water and character animation when Loid was checking the ID or when Anya was touring her penguin around the house at the end, that simply beautiful. For those who don’t know, parts of this episode were outsourced to Studio Madhouse, getting some help to finish off the season. Now I don’t know who did what scenes, but helping relieve some of the pressure clearly paid off with just how produced the episode looked. It really makes you wish studio’s would take less work so that teams could focus on what they have, rather than having to trade favors and get help just to finish an episode. Regardless, it looked good.

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