Beastars 2 – 08 [Laughing at the Shadows We Cast]

by SuperMario, posted in Beastars, Currently Watching:

After the big reveal in episode 7, we go away from Riz for a more mundane school life story. I’m quite amused by how Legosi gives very little attention to Tem’s killer this week, and like I mentioned in my last post Beastars has this “one-minded” and oblique approach to it. It’s apparent in the way that after the big events, everything just reverts back to normal like nothing ever happened (the end of season 1 to the beginning of this season is one prime example). It’s visible in the way that some characters just disappear for a while and then pop back like normal and it’s apparent in the way Beastars keeps changing the focus from the murder mystery to the school events to the star-crossed love. The shift is jarring at times, but looking deeper it fits to the context of its universe. The normalness of Cherryton Academy is just the facade for the unspeakable tension between the carnivores and herbivores. It’s a crack beneath the beautiful pie which gives you a faux sense of peace on the surface, but crack through it and you can see the tension boiling up.

And the short sweet one-off segment of Shiira the leopard and Peach the sheep further examines that sentiment. Here in Cherryton, it’s trendy to have a selfie of carnivores and herbivores together, and Shiira isn’t comfortable with that as she thrives for more intimate relationships. Comes her sudden impulses of inviting Peach for their shopping mall trip and their bond over the dress code. This segment might be unrelated to what Legosi and the cast has been going through, but it’s a perfect examination of the carnies-herbies relationship and their attempt to go over that facade.

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Winter 2021 Summary – Week 8

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: With The Promised Neverland and Kemono Jihen having been ejected from the weekly roundup posts, this column was looking a little thin – good thing Mario is working through his backlog to beef up our selection of shows. Some of these entries may not be about seasonal anime, but hey, winter is old hat – the beginning of March means the Spring 2021 Preview is only weeks away. Hope you’re not thinking of unbuckling your seatbelt, because this ride never stops.

Go-toubun no Hanayome S2 – 06-08

Mario: It’s time for the final arc as the “pretense” tutoring is over and the romance comes in full force as the sisters are on the offense now. I am glad that these episodes focus on Miku (she deserves it) while never forgetting the other girls. Both Nino, Yotsuba, Ichika and Itsuki have their moments in these episodes – and it makes sense that Futaro faces his biggest challenges yet: not tutoring them but telling these girls apart and responding to their love. Nino makes the first leap forward here (true to her character) and that will push the others to do the same. It’s interesting to note that only Itsuki hasn’t fallen for Futaro yet, and that actually makes the whole “race” more refreshing. While I enjoy these characters immensely, the show doesn’t handle the time skips very well this season, given I never have a good sense of how long time has passed between events – and what happened to Futaro’s family in episode 7-8? They all but disappeared on the trip.

Heaven’s Design Team – 08

Lenlo: This might be the best episode of HDT yet. Not only were the animals and how they got to them interesting, but the theme was so clever I still can’t believe they did it. To give us a DBZ battle, rap and a stage production all under the guise of “mating presentations” was absolutely brilliant. I had fun the whole way through and it really revitalized my interest in the show. With this episode HDT has ensured that I will finish it, just on the off chance I get another one of these. Cause god damn was that better than it had any right to be.

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SK8 the Infinity – 08 [The Fated Tournament!]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, SK8 the Infinity

There’s nothing like a tournament arc to restore an ensemble feel to your sports anime. This episode tried to capture the viewpoints of as many skaters as it could in just twenty minutes, and did a pretty good job of it in my view. The dial on Reki’s angst returned to human levels, allowing SK8 to get out of his head and show us how Langa has been impacted by their separation. Joe and Cherry’s races created a ‘main cast’ feeling that they’d previously lacked, giving them strong roles outside of providing sagely advice and appearing in flashbacks. We got a bit of context for Adam’s present-day insanity, and a closely-related figure who I recently criticized as a “non-character” turned out to be far more important than I’d anticipated. Even Shadow, who’s been relentlessly clowned on since the series’ early days, was taken somewhat seriously! He still got a handful of his own firecrackers kickflipped into his face, but he took those miniature explosions like a champ – that’s a win where I’m from.

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Dr. STONE S2 – 7 [Secret Mission]

by Lenlo, posted in Dr.STONE

Yes, I know I’m late on this weeks Dr. STONE. In my defense work has gotten busy and I’m closing/moving into my new house this week, but the real issue is just not knowing what to write. This week of Dr. STONE was pretty straight forward all things considered. So lets leave all the flowery language and metaphors behind and just jump right into it.

I want to start by pointing out some clever directorial tricks I saw this week, starting with the languages. Dr. STONE isn’t the first anime have bilingual characters and it won’t be the last. But many anime struggle with how to portray this. Sometimes you get complete Engrish and other times they don’t even try at all, such as with Vinland Saga. But Dr. STONE was rather clever about it I think. It started in Engrish, established the conversation, before blending back into Japanese while still matching the mouth flaps the whole time. It’s a really simple trick but one I wish more anime would make use of. Beyond the languages, Dr. STONE also had some rather evocative shots this week. From Yuzuriha’s secret to Gen holding Lillian’s throat as he spoke with her voice. They did a good job of bringing emotion to a scene with limited animation.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 20 [Nonstandard]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome back to another episode of Jujutsu Kaisen! I hope you’re ready to boogie woogie till the sun goes down, because this week danced right back into my good graces. Toudou proves why he’s the best character in this entire arc, Gojo goes ham on a forest and Itadori sets a record. So without further ado lets dive in!

Right off the bat I think this episode worked much better than the last. Everything about the production, from the music to the animation to the sheer fun of it, is just better. It feels like there was a clear vision on how to present Toudou and his ability. Especially when compared to the inconsistencies in Hanami’s branches last week and my general dislike for Park’s style. This week definitely wasn’t perfect of course. Some of the early cuts, particularly the first Boogie Woogie, felt… slow and oddly paced. As if they were animated on 4’s instead of 2’s or 1’s. The composition of these shots worked but I don’t think the animation was able to keep up. After that though the episode just improved as it went. Things sped up, Toudou took control of the scenes and Jujutsu Kaisen just became a blast to watch. Gimme more of this.

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Beastars 2 – 06/07 [Fly, O Corrupt One/ Unforgettable Sweetness]

by SuperMario, posted in Beastars, Currently Watching:

Beastars throws a big curveball these past 2 weeks, with the revealing of Tem’s killer. Honestly, it came out of left field that it actually takes me by surprise how straightforward and quickly Legosi resolves this. But as with the nature of Beastars it’s more about the implication behind the killer’s motive and not really about who the killer is. Before we get to the meat of the mystery, however, let’s wind back to episode 6 to see the calm before the coming storm.

It remains true that this season of Beastars is interested in delving into the duality of Louis and Legosi’s fate as they embark on two opposing roads. Episode 6 finds Louis ends one relationship and opens up to another one, both herbivores who are living in a carnivore world. Both ends the way that is beyond Louis’s calculation. His father Oguma doesn’t budge when Louis points the gun at his face. He regrets the lack of emotional attachment between them and still offers Louis a place to come back to. For Cosmo, she blatantly asks him to run away from Black Market while he can. Everyone knows he is stepping to the land of mine here.

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Wonder Egg Priority – 07 [After School at 14]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Wonder Egg Priority

Hot damn, my favorite girl is back with an overall fantastic episode, in fact this is my favorite episode of Wonder Egg. Like Ai last week, at the end of the episode, Rika becomes stronger. But unlike Ai’s development last week (which I’m not that keen about), what she arrives at is emotionally wrenching and wholly rewarding. Out of all the four girls, Rika is the most vulnerable: the disparity between what she appears on the outside and what she feels inside is wide. This week we get to know about her tension with her Mom, and I love every minute of it. Turns out that her father’s advice that she keeps mentioning is the only memory she has of him. She wants to meet him, but her drunken Mother isn’t helpful (in Mamma Mia’s fashion no less). She despises her Mom, but at the same time she afraids to end up like her. At some point, self harm becomes self defense, as she feels cutting herself as an escape. I can see why she turned into an idol to get out of all this – such an achievement in character writing right there.

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Wonder Egg Priority – 05/06 [The Girl Flautist/ Punch Drunk Day]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Wonder Egg Priority

Welcome to the critical original darling of the season. If you read our midseason’s checkout you’d notice that all 5 writers uniformly regarded Wonder Egg as the top priority (pun intended), and for good reasons. Something as daring, original, emotional raw like this doesn’t come very often. It’s also fair to say that it has been walking on tightrope, yet somehow still manages to do the tricks. Take the events surrounding Sawaki-sensei for example. I (and I believe a lot of people) suspected him involving in Koito’s suicide, but I would never expect Wonder Egg to spell that out in that laid-back manner in episode 5, and as we soon learn in episode 6 it’s more because he’s dating Ai’s Mom. I will get more to that later, but my point is that Wonder Egg continues to change its shape and form but still manages to retain its unique personalities. What a feat that is.

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 6 [Wolf and a Silent Farewell] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone to the almost halfway point of Spice and Wolf season one! This week wraps up the arc as people get stabbed, Holo goes wild and Lawrence gets huge bill. So without further ado lets dive in and talk about “Wolf and a Silent Farewell”.

Starting off I want to take a moment to appreciate the OST of Spice and Wolf. Composer Yuuji Yoshino has a clear vision for how this series should sound and I didn’t realize until this week. They have chosen a few key instruments and centered the entire album around them. Take tracks such as “Hashiru” and “Zawazawa Suru” or “Satoki Hito Tachi”, all of which you can find here. The violin is a constant presence in each, tying all of them together and giving us a common sound throughout. But the way Spice and Wolf blends and leads into each track over the course of the episode is fantastic. I particularly enjoyed how the each song slowly ramped the energy of the scene up more and more until we got to the grand finale. It was an incredible example of what a good OST, fit to a scene, can do.

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 -21 [Reunion of Roars]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

I have started every recent Re:Zero post commenting on the thirty minute runtime but at this point I think I will just accept it as granted for the rest of the cour. Still I do admit that for such a long runtime it doesn’t feel like much happened in this episode as we have quite a lot of talking. The vast majority being dedicated to the verbal tossup between Emilia,Ram and Roswaal which I can say that I may be beginning to agree with Lenlo on this, at least in regards to this episode. Arc 4 in general does have rather weak pacing with Teppei even cutting it down for the light novel but it’s still the longest arc out of the story so far. I do still say though that this episode did engage me and those thirty minutes felt more like five which is often a sign of a good time. But it is one of those things that makes the week-long wait for each episode a rather detrimental aspect as with the story moving forward so slowly, having to wait a week for essentially a small step forward is frustrating. I am sure to those of the future who have all the episodes ready to binge though this is a weak complaint but it is indeed the case that Re:Zero may be taking its sweet time too much.
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