Jujutsu Kaisen – 16 [Kyoto Sister School Exchange 2]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

Another week, another episode of Jujutsu Kaisen’s token tournament arc. I imagine it’s tough to follow up Yoshino’s arc, that was both emotional and hype. But I was hoping for something a bit more… poignant from Itadori’s return. Still, this week Toudou gained some depth and Panda got a backstory, so not all is lost. So without further ado lets dive in!

Production wise this week was an improvement from the last. Along with the fights being overall better choreographed, Jujutsu Kaisen also brought back some of the sakuga. It’s still a far cry from the series highs, but it makes for a decent time nonetheless. The continued use of the CGI environments for rotating camera shots is interesting, but the forest is proving to be a challenging location for it. Unlike the sewers or the highschool, a forest is a natural location. It doesn’t have the same rigid, geometric style to it as man-made locations. So when you start trying to render it in CGI, to rotate around it, the fake becomes very easy to spot. I think it has to do with the trees, their leaves and the general spread of color through the scenes. It’s not great, but Jujutsu Kaisen makes it work well enough.

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Dr. STONE S2 – 3 [Call from the Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Dr.STONE

Welcome to week 3 of Dr. STONE! If you enjoyed last weeks emotional cliffhanger then boy do I have an episode for you. This week Chrome struts his stuff, Taiju gets punched in the face and Dr. STONE hits us with another tear-jerker of a climax. Without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, I can’t get enough of how vibrant and colorful Dr. STONE is. The colors always pop, especially when it goes all in on the big emotional moments. Yet it never seems to lose that thick line work that I love. Obviously as we zoom out to wide shots the detail decreases. We also see some increased CGI for some of the more mechanical science bits back at the village. But when it’s important, Dr. STONE never fails to craft some stunning stills. Add on to that the improved animation we have seen and it looks as if the production is in a very healthy place. I can only hope this holds true, because every week I find myself looking forward to more Dr. STONE. It’s not the hypest or most action packed series this season, but its competing for the most heart.

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 17 [A Journey Through Memories]

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

I am sorry miss Mayu Maeshima but I don’t think this anime is going to do a good job of promoting your new single. In a way I wonder if they are using Realise as a insert song so much to make up for it barely being present in the first cour. This is the fourth episode and we still haven’t seen the opening and truth be told I kinda want to see them only play it on the last episode out of pure amusement. The scary thing being that they just might do that but well today we have another thirty minute episode, all hail White Fox. A deep dive into Emilia’s backstory which has started off on a surprisingly fluffy note full of heartwarming cuteness. Which in Re:Zero is that alarm ringing to let you know that the nuclear bomb is about to drop and you should dive under the desk to prepare for inevitable pain and suffering.
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Spice and Wolf S1 – 2 [Wolf and Distant Past] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome to week 2 of Spice and Wolf! This week Lawrence and Holo have a sleep over at a church, get involved in shady deals and lie to a pastor. So without further ado, lets talk about these paragons of virtue!

Right off the bat, Spice and Wolf surprised me this week. You see, I’m typically not a fan of shows that are 90% talking. Hell, I don’t even like Re:Zero that much and that one at least has some murder. But some how, some way, Spice and Wolf did a good job of making its dialogue engaging. The back and forth between Lawrence and Holo was rather nice. Their constant one-upping of each other, of poking and prodding to figure each other out. I think a good portion of this is carried by Ami Koshimizu’s voice work as Holo. Her inflections and the way she speaks ride this line between smug and playful really well, pulling me along through the conversations. I especially like when she drops the playful bit and gets… maybe not sultry, but its a fitting word nonetheless.

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SK8 the Infinity – 03 [Undesired Hero]

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

The list of anime tropes I hate is considerably longer than the list of those I love. Even during shows that are largely enjoyable, small annoyances tend to derail episodes or even whole character arcs in my head. I think that’s what happened with SK8’s third outing, about which I’d noted a meager number of positives and one overwhelming negative by the time the credits rolled. As far as tropes go, there were plenty to turn up your nose at: strawman bullies who try to embarrass the object of their jealousy, women fawning over the banter of two handsome men, a Char Aznable clone foreshadowed to be the final boss. But those were minor enough to come out in the wash, unlike the one that prevented me from embracing this episode: an antagonist who repeatedly decried the concept of friendship, then learned the error of his ways after losing to a pair of best friends.

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Winter 2021 Summary – Weeks 2-3

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: There seems to be a consensus online that Winter 2021 is one of the strongest seasons in recent years, but not everyone agrees on which shows are doing the heavy lifting. For some it’s the powerhouse sequels; for others it’s the anime originals; for others still it’s the new crop of isekai series. No matter where your preferences lie, it’s impossible to cover everything – which is where this column comes in. This week we’re touching base with ten shows that didn’t quite make the cut for full coverage, but are still doing their part in making this a jam-packed start to the year. Hope you’re enjoying the season so far – as you’ll see below, we certainly are!

Back Arrow – 2/3

Wooper: Remember when mecha anime ruled the airwaves through a combination of spirited characters and semi-coherent plotting? Back Arrow remembers. “Semi-coherent” is a charitable descriptor, really – the number of meetings, partings, alliances and betrayals in these episodes was enough to make my head spin. Episode 3 was the guiltier party on that front, since it detailed a conflict over a futuristic warship which was largely obscured from view until the end. A clearer sense of just how imposing this dreadnought was, and why so many people would be willing to fight over it, would have been greatly appreciated. Even if the visual direction had been improved, though, a transparently corrupt cowboy leading an entire village by the nose would still make for eyebrow-raising viewing. The previous episode was simpler and more goal-oriented, which worked to the series’ benefit, but it was still packed full of nonsense. My tolerance for that sort of thing is generally pretty low, but the main character’s combination of big dreams and straight talk will keep his show tethered to my watch list for at least 2-3 more weeks.

Heaven’s Design Team – 2/3

Lenlo: This show is too clever for its own good. Somehow, some way, Design Team continues to make edutainment entertaining. Each half of an episode is cleverly pieced together so that every monster, every make believe creature, every feature of life seamlessly leads into whatever the end animal is meant to be. Somehow going from dragons to chickens to starfish, all while feeding into each other. It’s incredible really. Design Team is not and never will be an incredible, Best of the Season type show. But what it is, is interesting and entertaining discussion about nature and just how fucking scary and weird it can be. I love it far more than I should. Also it looks pretty charming.

Amun: I completely agree. This is one of the better “feel-good” shows of the season – maybe that should be an awarded category?

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Horimiya – 03 [That’s Why It’s Okay]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Romance, Horimiya

Any time a romcom dips into one of its characters’ sad pasts, a tightrope materializes beneath its metaphorical feet. Throw them a pity party and fall to the left; trivialize their pain and topple to the right. Kaguya-sama’s indulgent depiction of Ishigami’s backstory is a good example of what can go wrong during this process – it’s been lodged uncomfortably in my brain since I first saw it eight months ago, so I was highly conscious of the similar issue that Horimiya might create for itself. Now that we’ve gotten a glimpse of Miyamura’s elementary and middle school woes, it’s clear that the show intends to treat his past experiences with a tad more nuance than that, but it’s not out of the woods yet. The true test of Horimiya’s capabilities will arrive when we learn what happened to Miyamura ten years ago – what caused him to wish he could reassure that version of himself that things would be okay.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 15 [Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event 1]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

Everyone knows what time it is, its Jujutsu Kaisen time! I have an interesting week for you here. From Toudou making a friend to maybe, possibly, but not guaranteed, the beginning of the MAPPA melt. Don’t know what that is? Well read on and find out!

Starting off, what do I mean by “MAPPA meltdown”. Well if you were here when I blogged Dororo, review here, you have a pretty good idea. Its when Studio MAPPA falls apart production wise in the second half of the series. When their schedule and working conditions finally give out and the series can’t sustain itself anymore. I wonder this about Jujutsu Kaisen this week because it was… a bit rough, to put it kindly. Composites were all over the place, as if they were trying to replicate Ufotable’s CGI environment style, and general animation wasn’t what we were used to. There was some decent choreography between Itadori and Toudou yes, but outside that this is one of the worse looking Jujutsu Kaisen episodes. Hopefully this is just a one off before their big showcase, but I can’t help but be… hesitant.

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Wonder Egg Priority – 02 [The Terms of Friendship]

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

Frankly, I have never felt this immersed in an anime premiere since… Sarazanmai back in 2019, and if I look further down the line, it was Flip Flappers in the last quarter of 2016. And these comparisons are not at all coincidences. They all possess strong grips of visual storytelling with bold symbolism to explore deeper psychological turmoil of our teenage protagonists. Their worlds break the boundary of real world logic in service for dream-like state of mind and emotional relevance, and most of all, they are wildly imaginative, original with a resonating emotional backbone. And that is all I could ask for in this medium.

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 16 [Nobody Can Lift a Quain Stone Alone]

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

I don’t know what witch contract or magic lamp Tappei Nagatsuki got that managed to get White Fox to give his story so much effort but I hope it’s a sign that they are in this for the long run. Thirty whole minutes for a single episode, I even heard they bought up the time slot in order for the show to get more time. Even with that we still haven’t seen the opening or ending to the show so I honestly have to wonder who it is that is willing to go so far for it. Maybe I can pray that season three is much closer than we think and if so Tappei is going to have to get back to writing the rest of the story. Well after he’s done writing up that script for that new studio Wit show that is apparently airing next season. Not sure what to think about that as Tappei at least still has to prove himself outside of Re:Zero as one of his other works Sigrdrifa wasn’t all that impressive from the episodes I watched. But alas we are here for Re:Zero which remains really damn good.
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