Category: Reviews by SuperWooper

Heike Monogatari – 11 (END)

by SuperWooper, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama, Heike Monogatari, Reviews by SuperWooper

Heike Monogatari’s TV finale contained just its second substantial portrayal of armed conflict, following episode 5’s Battle of Uji Bridge. One might think it a bit strange that a military epic would be so light on big battle scenes, but then, Heike Monogatari was never really about action or strategy. It was about family – a family doomed to extinction by its patriarch’s pride, but which still experienced closeness during its brief time on earth. It was about fate, and one girl’s journey to accept that although she could see it, she could not change it. It was about death, and the ways that humanity grapples with its inevitability: succession, spirituality, storytelling. It was a series with some structural problems, but which occasionally rose above those problems to deliver transcendent moments, with the greatest moment of all arriving during its final minutes.

It was a fine animated series – one of my favorites of the year. But before we discuss how fine or favorable it was, we’ve got to talk about how mightily it struggled to depict naval combat.

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Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon S – 11-12 + Final Thoughts

by SuperWooper, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama, Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon S, Reviews by SuperWooper

It’s shocking to me that season two of Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon was as good as it is. The 2019 arson attack, the loss of the project’s intended director, the demoralization of the staff – how did Tatsuya Ishihara and his team at KyoAni produce such strong work in the face of these obstacles? A word like “perseverance” seems inadequate given the severity of the situation, but “determination” might do – determination to honor their fallen friends, and to prove to Japan and the world that they wouldn’t be beaten. These final episodes were the product of artists at the top of their field, and also some of the best in all of Maidragon’s run, signaling the fulfillment of their vision for the series. Even if we get a continuation someday, nothing will ever diminish the conclusive statement issued by the second season: “Kyoto Animation is back.”

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Horimiya Anime Review

by SuperWooper, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Romance, Horimiya, Reviews by SuperWooper

It’s hard to be a romcom in a post-Kaguya-sama world. Audiences have gone gaga for that series’ arc-based storytelling and high attention to detail, creating a narrow set of expectations for other works in the genre. A show like Horimiya, which opted for a snapshot style to depict its much larger cast, was bound to face criticism for that decision. Despite that looseness resulting in a handful of marginalized characters, however, the anime did right by its primary couple, and even managed a couple of good spotlight episodes for its secondary cast. Over the course of 13 episodes, Hori and Miyamura’s relationship evolved from a tentative experiment to a lifelong commitment, with moments of both empathy and sensuality along the way. No one else in their unwieldy friend group reached that level of exploration, but the series managed to find consistent voices for several of them (most notably Yuki, who had really come into her own by the end). I’ll admit that Horimiya batted well below a thousand, but it had more hits than misses, so I’m here to play defense for it – mostly, anyway.

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Akudama Drive Review – 75/100

by SuperWooper, posted in Akudama Drive, Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Action, Reviews by SuperWooper

On the surface, Akudama Drive is far from my cup of tea. It’s a spectacle-first production that operates on the fringes of sanity, working with characters so thin that their names and occupations are one and the same. There was fun to be had in its early episodes (particularly the never-ending parade of carnage that was the premiere), but its adherence to heist and escort mission templates made it feel safer than such an otherwise-daring series should have felt.

That all changed in the series’ sixth week, which doubled as one of the year’s best action showcases and a statement on the futility of violence. From that point on, the show raised the stakes with each episode, quickly fraying the fabric of its dystopian setting and treating its characters’ decisions as major milestones. Akudama Drive was headed somewhere important – a belief that was justified by a finale that managed to be both catastrophic and hopeful. There were bumps in the road along the way, and we’ll talk about those, but overall the series gets a definite recommendation from me.

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Great Pretender Anime Review – 78/100

by SuperWooper, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Great Pretender, Reviews by SuperWooper

From an aesthetic point of view, Great Pretender is my favorite TV anime of 2020. I’ve spoken plenty about art director Yuusuke Takeda in previous posts, but since this is the last time I’ll be writing about this show for the blog, allow me to recap: he’s one of the best and most prolific visual designers in the industry today, and Great Pretender is one of his most striking works. His brash juxtaposition of color was a great fit for such a sharp, fast-moving series – as were the angular designs of legendary character artist Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Tasked with creating an entirely adult cast, he opted to give them prominent noses and messy hairdos, incorporating plenty of detail while still allowing the animation team room to breathe. They did their nimblest and most acrobatic work in the show’s first arc, but even as Great Pretender settled in for the long haul, it maintained a sense of liveliness sufficient to absorb you in its story.

So why the caveat that it’s my favorite only in aesthetic terms? What disqualifies it from being the runaway AOTY that I initially hoped it would be? And on the flip side, what does Great Pretender do right that most other series wouldn’t dare to attempt? Read on for one man’s thoughts on one of the year’s most original anime.

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The God of High School – 12-13 + Final Thoughts

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Action, Reviews by SuperWooper, The God of High School

I know it’s only been three months since The God of High School premiered, but given the density of the show’s second half, it feels like it’s been airing since April. I’m glad it’s over, if for no other reason than not having to blog it anymore. There are only so many ways to praise its visuals while criticizing [everything else] without falling into a repetitive rut. I won’t be writing a standalone final review for GOH, as that would be just another drop in the echo chamber of the series’ negative reception. Instead, I’ll attach some concluding thoughts about the show to the bottom of this post. Skip to the end for the wrap-up, or read the whole thing to relive the insanity of episodes 12 and 13 – the choice is yours.

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Yesterday wo Utatte Review – 72/100

by SuperWooper, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Romance, Reviews by SuperWooper, Yesterday wo Utatte

How much weight should a poor conclusion have in the final analysis of an otherwise well-executed series? Should you take a mathematical approach, calculating which percentage of its episodes didn’t meet an average standard of goodness? Or should you work based on feelings – the degree to which your memory of the show is stained by a lousy ending? Personally, I’d say that either method is fine, so long as you factor in the strength of the series before its implosion. In Yesterday wo Utatte’s case, its first 11 episodes were better than its finale was bad. That schizophrenic bus monologue and badly-timed confession can’t erase the heartache of Shinako’s backstory, or the show’s excellent supporting character work, or its vivid sense of nostalgia. This is an anime that stood atop the spring season for most of its run, then punted its crown in week 12. That doesn’t mean it joins Shachou, Battle no Jikan desu! and Shadowverse at the bottom of the seasonal barrel; it just moves down a couple spots on the winner’s podium.

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Dorohedoro Anime Review – 80/100

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

In late December of last year, I labeled Dorohedoro one of my most anticipated series of winter 2020. Honestly, that was a poser move. I’m not a manga reader, so my high expectations were based largely on secondhand praise, plus the potential for bloody irreverence promised by the PV and synopsis. There was one element of the show’s production, though, that I was confident would give it a unique appeal: the involvement of Shinji Kimura, background artist for such films as My Neighbor Totoro and Akira. He’s done plenty of great work as an art director, too, which was his role on this project. Sure enough, Dorohedoro’s grimy cityscapes and ramshackle interiors were uncommonly polished for a TV production – but the show had much more going for it than detailed backgrounds. A potpourri of violence, mystery, and a strangely loveable cast, Dorohedoro proved itself as one of this season’s strongest offerings, despite its task of adapting an unadaptable story.

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