Fall 2021 Summary – Week 3

Lupin III Part 6 – 2

Mario: Sherlock goes full Kingsman mode in this second episode (they missed their chance of using an umbrella instead of Sherlock’s walking stick but that’s just me) and yes, he manages to kick all the Lupin team’s asses. This episode is light on plot as it concentrates heavily on action set pieces. Lily is indeed the daughter of poor dead Watson and the last thing she remembers is that Lupin killed her father. Of course this is a red-herring but that is enough for Sherlock to confront Lupin and get his former partner’s daughter out of danger for good. The set pieces are fun and awesome and for that I’m looking forward to more Lupin to come.

Kaguya-sama S3 – PV

Wooper: Most anime PVs are pretty barebones, featuring a few bits of animation and a bunch of character intro stills matched with voicework from their respective seiyuu. A handful of PVs each season are fully-fledged trailers, pulling impressive cuts from a show’s first few episodes and smartly stringing them together to create a picture of how the anime will look and feel. And then there’s Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai, which just dropped an entire ten-minute episode to promote its upcoming third season. As if that weren’t enough, its story revolved around Ishigami and Shirogane’s excitement at their favorite manga adaptation getting a third season; I don’t know what the most self-referential anime comedy of all time is (Gintama? Osomatsu-san?), but Kaguya-sama just gave it a run for its money. This PV was a big surprise, and a very welcome one, given its hilariously authentic look at concealing your love of anime to escape the judgment of your non-otaku friends. The resolution, in which Shirogane proclaimed all people who have ever seen a single anime to be otaku, had a great handle on the sort of comedic hyperbole necessary to sell that sort of breakdown. Kaguya even made a reference to the classic WMT series Anne of Green Gables, confirming her Best Girl status once and for all. Great stuff all around – looking forward to season 3 in April of next year!

 

Takt Op. Destiny – 3-4

Mario: In these two episodes there was a slight dip in terms of production quality, but for my money the show still looks better than most of the other airing shows this season. And like the first two episodes, while Takt Op is still impressive on the production front, the writing is much less so. These two episodes introduce another pair of Harmony: Lenny & Titan (great designs) and they serve as a mentor and an expositor for many of the show’s concepts. One thing of note is that they even acknowledge that our Takt-Destiny pair is abnormal even amongst the Conductor-Musicarts position. The bond between them is much stronger than normal pairs (to the point that Destiny sucks the life force out of Takt), and the events that happened back in episode 2 were orchestrated by someone, which I suppose has something to do with the sudden appearance of grand Maestro Sagan. Anna sadly doesn’t do much in these episodes. So far, Takt Op is fun to watch, but doesn’t really register much to my memory after the credits roll.

Star Wars: Visions – 2

Wooper: In contrast to Visions’ first episode, which was a work of pure homage, “Tatooine Rhapsody” takes concepts and characters from Star Wars and repurposes them to serve its own ends. This is the kind of approach I prefer in an anthology series (especially a multi-studio one), so I enjoyed the “power of music” story of this second outing. Truthfully, I was a little underwhelmed by Cedric Herole’s character designs – or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I was disappointed by their utilization. I’d have liked to see something that could compete with the three-dimensional musical performances in KyoAni’s past works, for example, but Colorido played it safe despite the malleable designs they were given. Still, the story of a Padawan-turned-rocker and his backing band saving their friend from death with a live concert was creative. I liked the inclusion of Hutts in the cast, especially original character Gee, who found the courage to play lead guitar even while he was marked for death, as well as Jabba, who spared his life after the band’s performance. The shots of Jabba wagging his tail and Boba Fett nodding his head to the beat were terribly amusing, as well. A much better second offering from Visions (in my inexpert opinion).

Sakugan – 3

Mario: For me Sakugan is a show that I appreciate more than I enjoy. First, I kind of like the unusual way it depicts the central dynamic between Memenpu and Gagumber – they are more like buddies than actual father and daughter – but boy I was never in tune with their bickering and they argue ALL THE FREAKING TIME. Second, I’m behind the “explore the new world” concept as it opens up to more diverse settings and goes deep into what it means to be a “marker”, but so far those new settings are kinda dull and uninspired. Worse (and this is entirely my own issue), the story progress keeps reminding me of Made in Abyss and the latter show is superior in almost every department. In this episode Memenpu did learn something important: she cannot do everything on her own and she needs Gagumber to support her. Next, we will see them encounter another marker, and if they go full MiA mode, the survivor of such an extreme environment will be just as dangerous as the monsters themselves.

Kaizoku Oujo – 12

Wooper: Last week I compared Kaizoku Oujo to Princess Tutu due to its sudden metanarrative twist, but based on this finale, it was actually Evangelion all along! Fena (Shinji) is granted the choice to either destroy the world or spare it (begin Instrumentality or not) by Eden, personified by her father (Lilith, personified by Rei). The issue with this conclusion is that, while Shinji was mentally broken and could have plausibly made the choice to end the world, Fena has absolutely no reason to do so. She’s shown some visions of her mother dying and her pirate friends murdered, but these scenes encourage her to sacrifice her own life so the latter future can be averted – they don’t have anything to do with the “save the world or destroy it” decision she was supposed to make. What’s more, Fena didn’t actually die! She just lost her memories and her hair turned brown, which is all it takes to save the universe in this series, I guess? It was a real head-scratcher of a finale, with unsatisfying metaphysical overtones and a limp love story to boot, but this episode was fabulously directed and animated, so I can’t say it was a complete flop. Kaizoku Oujo never went full B: The Beginning, but it did fall into Nakazawa’s penchant for anime nonsense by the end.

Mario: Since Kaizoku Oujo just wrapped up I’ll give my two cents on the show as well. Up until episode 11 my main complaints with the show’s final arc were 1) Fena suddenly became a walking stick who solves the mysteries because the plot calls for it and 2) the seriousness of the final arc unfortunately sucked away the adventurous fun that we witnessed in the first half. The finale addressed my first issue with the implication that “it’s all fate – everything you did was God’s plan”. On the one hand, I appreciate the show dealing with the serious theme of Fena’s predestined role vs. her freedom to choose an ending for herself, but at the same time it harkens back to my second issue in which the show’s seriousness does it a disservice. I would prefer for the show to have stuck to the journey of fighting the female pirates rather than arriving at destination. And God the show’s production is top notch from beginning to end. It’s a show that is blessed enough to receive an A+ treatment in terms of audiovisuals: stylized character designs, lively animation, solid color work and composition in general, and a soundtrack with some memorable tunes. Such a shame the third arc doesn’t live up to these qualities.