Fall 2021 First Impressions: Komi-san wa Komyushou desu, Lupin III Part 6, Shikizakura

Komi-san wa, Komyushou desu

Short Synopsis: Internet’s collective waifu finally gets her anime.

Armitage: I have not read the Komi manga but I am aware of the literal cult-ish popularity it boasts of. So, I was pretty excited to see what all the hype was about. And now that I have seen this premiere, I can say that I get the appeal, even though I find myself reluctant to jump onboard. Komi-san is a series that seems to be formed out of two basic building blocks: the first is the earnestness with which it treats the character of Komi and her inability to form connections with others due to her timid and socially awkward nature. That part seems great. It works really well. But the part that doesn’t is the comedy. Not only is it the same kind of humor we have come to expect from high school rom-coms in anime but the slapstick nature of it all is also turned up to 11 with the frenetic direction by Ayumu Watanabe, who’s more known for his subtle eye, always looking to heighten the intensity of every punchline and three different camera angles leading up to the climax of every joke. It makes the already uninspired comedy just come off as rather grating and I don’t think this is a series that’ll ever be letting go of its comedic side to focus solely on the gentler moments. Unfortunately, if that’s indeed the case, I can see myself not enjoying it all that much.

Potential: 40%

Wooper: I’m typically a subtitle purist, sometimes waiting weeks for decent fansubs to appear for shows I’m interested in, but I made an exception for Komi-san. I’d heard some rumblings that its adaptation was beautiful-looking, and I figured they might be true given the chief director’s involvement with 2018’s After the Rain, so I wanted to confirm the rumors with my own eyes – and confirm them I did. Nearly everything about this episode, from its exceptional animation to its gentle composition (clearly inspired by KyoAni’s filmic style), blew me back on my ass. Shots of Komi nervously fleeing social situations or a jealous classmate using a compass like a ninja tool were so polished that I had to wonder whether the manga justified this sort of adaptation. I haven’t read it, but so far the anime is pulling off its nerd-magnet premise with aplomb. Most of the jokes landed for me, but Tadano and Komi’s shared anxiety wasn’t played only for laughs – the chalkboard scene in the second half, where they wrote messages to each other to circumvent Komi’s fear of speaking, was far sweeter than I’d expected. The symbolism of the chalk dust falling even transitioned from tears (despair) to snowflakes (renewal) as the scene went on, which was a lovely touch. I’d recommend waiting for official subs, which ought to be out in a week – this is a premiere worth anticipating.

Potential: 80%

Lupin III: Part 6

Short Synopsis: The Lupin crew bids farewell to the man who voiced Jigen Daisuke for 50 years.

Wooper: This so-called premiere was labeled “episode 0,” and it surely felt like one. It was disconnected from any larger story, and served mostly as an excuse for staunch traditionalist Jigen Daisuke to have a candid moment with each of the other characters. Why Jigen? Because Kiyoshi Kobayashi, the man who gave him a voice for half a century, has just retired, and this was his last hurrah (Akio Otsuka will step into the role beginning next week). Much of the dialogue here dealt with the idea of a new era that threatened to leave the old gunslinger behind, and the merits of sticking to your roots versus the benefits of learning some new tricks. Police drones, plastic guns – Jigen bristled at these innovations, preferring instead to hide from the evolving world and nurse some finely aged whiskey. It was a nice way to honor a veteran seiyuu like Kobayashi, at least on paper, but both the script and storyboard for this episode were highly unimaginative. The action was some of the worst that the Lupin franchise has delivered in years, and Jigen’s conversations with Zenigata and Fujiko didn’t do justice to anyone involved. If you’re not invested in Kobayashi as an actor, I’d recommend skipping this – next Saturday’s episode ought to be a much better launch pad for the new season.

Potential: Waiting for next week

Mario: It feels odd to bill this as the beginning episode of the new season, because in more ways than one it serves as the end of an era. It maintains the same themes and visual look as Part 5, and it focuses on Jigen with the final voice performance by the great Kiyoshi Kobayashi. Boy, did the final farewell sentiment feel through the entire episode. It’s about a man who feels old and tired of the ridiculous advancement of the new era, about a man who wants to hang up this life and have “one last hangout” with his old friends. This episode is much slower than your average Lupin episode, as it has its eyes set on the quieter, more sober moments of Jigen talking to his companions. As a result it produces one of the most heartfelt moments in the franchise (from the small sample I watched from it anyways). Not only that, when it comes to action scenes this episode doesn’t disappoint. So, as far as potential score as a means to indicate how good the rest of the season will be, this 00 episode is ill-fitting, but as far as quality goes you can’t wish for anything better than this.

Potential: zero, but in terms of enjoyment: 60%

Shikizakura

Short Synopsis: A boy gets attacked by monsters, gets saved by a bunch of weirdos and becomes a weirdo himself.

Lenlo: You know what… this isn’t the worst CGI of the season and I really expected it to be. Oh there are issues, characters move stiffly, the models still look out of place in the 2D scenery and the monsters especially look painfully generic. But someone clearly put a lot of effort into this! The 2nd layer of 2D on top of the models to still achieve the “anime” look, the swooping and dynamic camera, the full range of motion they run these models through. There’s some heart in Shikizakura and it shows! I still don’t think it will be anything special though. It’s a pretty straight forward Super Sentai series that’s also using the “I have a demon inside me” trope from Shounen. But at the very least it’s earned my continued attention for another week or two to see what it does. Maybe it’ll surprise me!

Potential: 30%

Mario: I’m not even kidding when I say that if you cut and paste elements of Tesla Note into Shikizakura I couldn’t tell them apart. They both have terrible 3DCG aesthetics, the characters look similar and talk the same way and they both have supernatural edges to their stories. In the case of Shikizakura, it’s “super sentai” with a Japanese folklore twist. It sounds good on paper but in reality the first episode runs pretty typically with a cast full of tropey characters. Admittedly, Shikizakura is much more consistent, both in terms of writing and production values, than Tesla Note. Still, I am personally more eager to watch more of the latter than this one. An easy pass for me.

Potential: 10%