Fall 2020 Season Preview

by SuperWooper, posted in Seasonal Previews

Wooper: The arrival of this particular fall season is significant less for the cartoons it’s bringing to our screens, and more as a prelude to the end of this ruinous year. Even for creatures as cloistered as anime fans, pandemics, hurricanes and wildfires easily outrank the new crop of fall series in our general consciousness. Star Crossed hasn’t missed a season preview in years, however, and we’re not about to break our streak now. The all-star sequels like Attack on Titan, Beastars, and Re:Zero S2.5 might not be airing until 2021, but there are still a few shows to look forward to this September. (EDIT: Attack on Titan S4 is now set to premiere on December 7th of this year.) Among them are a nicely-staffed Shounen Jump adaptation, a reboot of an iconic horror anime from the 2000s, and another season of Volleyball Boys, which is always a good thing. You’ll also want to prepare yourself for the appearance of anime’s godliest MC when he returns to television early next month. I’m sure most of you have heard his gospel by now, but if you don’t know which stone-faced power fantasy protag I’m referring to, you’ll have to read on to find out!

This poll is no longer accepting votes

What will you be watching this fall?
VoteResults

MIDDLING EXPECTATIONS

Taiso Samurai

Studio: MAPPA
Director: Hisatoshi Shimizu
Series composition: Shigeru Murakoshi
Source: Original

Wooper: There’s not a lot of info available about this original gymnastics series, but as our resident sports anime guy, it’s high on my list of things to check out this fall. The synopsis actually makes it sound like MAPPA’s attempt to recreate Yuri on Ice, with a fateful encounter changing the course of a flagging athlete’s career. What makes Taiso Samurai stand out is its setting – the story takes place in 2002, and is set to depict a low point in Japanese gymnastics (presumably making the main character’s turnaround that much more impressive). The other reason I’m interested is the horizontal bar animation on display in the PV. It’s obviously rotoscoped, but that doesn’t disqualify it from looking awesome, much like Hanebado did a couple years back. Of course, Hanebado’s mess of a main character wrecked its chances at a gold medal finish, but Taiso Samurai might fare better with the writer of checks notes Zombie Land Saga on board? Ehh, we’ll see how this one shakes out.

Continue reading “Fall 2020 Season Preview” →

Fugou Keiji – 10 [Life shouldn’t be printed on dollar bills]

by Lenlo, posted in Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED

Welcome all to the penultimate episode of Fugou Keiji! Apologies for the wait, I had to catch a plane and those don’t really wait for anime blogged. On the up side though we have a lot to talk about this week as Daisuke and Kato catch the bad guys and the story starts to wrap up. Lets dive in!

Starting off I want to get some production concerns out of the way. Because for all that Fugou Keiji tried really hard this week, the production made it… awkward at times. With the entire episode taking place at night, on this secret ship, the lighting really should have been better. From Daisuke’s black hair and suit to the dark rooms and exterior, the lighting made it difficult to see what was happening. I understand that lighting a night scene is difficult, especially in anime of all things. How do you make things easily readable without sacrificing the dark and oppressive nature of well… darkness? However this is a solved issue for the most part, with the hardest part being the execution: Use moonlight! Frame the moon behind people, throw a slightly bloom filter, something! Just let me see Shigemaru’s arm clearly against a black background, please!

Continue reading “Fugou Keiji – 10 [Life shouldn’t be printed on dollar bills]” →

Gunslinger Girl – 13 [Stella Cadente (Shooting Star)] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Gunslinger Girl, Throwback Thursday

Here we are everyone, the finale, the end of Gunslinger Girl Season 1. This post isn’t going to be terribly long, I am saving most of my thoughts for the final review to come out soon. Thanks for stickin me through the series and remember to vote on the next Throwback Thursday poll at the end of the post! Without further ado, lets dive in.

Right off the bat I want to be clear: This was a good episode. But it felt more like a good middle episode, rather than a finale. Gunslinger Girl tries its hardest to make this a more definitive ending of course. It references all the girls, their short lifespans, etc. It focuses in on how they feel about their situation. How they could have been real girls, how they don’t regret it but the handlers might, etc. All of this is good stuff. However… none of it is particularly new. Gunslinger Girls fails to wrap it all up in any meaningful way, it fails to really end any greater story. There is Angelica of course, and we will get to her. But as a whole it feels like we just finished the prologue. And in a way, we did, since there is a 2nd season after this. But not meaningfully.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 13 [Stella Cadente (Shooting Star)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 11 [The Taste of Death]

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

In my coverage of this series I can acknowledge that I have likely spent too many of my posts covering the actual events of the episodes as opposed to my opinions on them. When considering that this is my favorite series of the season and surely my favorite of the year, it would be easy to drum up opinions on episodes that I clearly enjoy. However I have found myself restricted by my own declaration to not spoil details from the source as the current events in Re:Zero are dependent on mystery and speculation to which I cannot speculate due to my own knowledge of future events. Still it is also an issue that the quality of the series speaks for itself as when airing the first season had a more polarising view to the anime community but in light of a four year wait and the outstanding calibre of the second season, many are rethinking it to be a potential anime masterpiece. So what am I to say when you could just watch the series and see it’s splendor for yourself? Perhaps it will still not be everyone’s cup of tea but as many a corporate capitalist media maker fails to realise, a story tailored to everyone is a story that appeals to no one. Taking that into account, I am just going to assume you have seen the episodes plot and meander into my adulation and diatribes.
Continue reading “Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 11 [The Taste of Death]” →

The God of High School – 10-11 [oath/meaning, lay/key]

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

These two episodes delivered exactly what I wanted from The God of High School at this late stage: nonstop action between ultra-powerful fighters. They also abandoned all pretense of caring about story or characterization, which isn’t a bad thing – the cast’s believability has been on the skid since late July, and the plot hasn’t fared much better. Now that celestial combat techniques and carnivorous tentacle monsters are the show’s main concerns, it’s free to blow itself up in the season finale, and I won’t feel obligated to watch a potential sequel. Plus, we’ll get some nonsensical, animator-driven action along the way, as we did this week. Many shounen fans will have bailed on GOH by this point due to its lack of cohesion, but I’m still here, and vaguely looking forward to the conclusion. If you’re with me, hit the jump and witness my futile attempt at parsing its most recent pair of episodes.

Continue reading “The God of High School – 10-11 [oath/meaning, lay/key]” →

Fire Force S2 – 11 [Dark Hero]…plus an update on the future

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Fire Force

Here we are again.  I was feeling pretty good after the last two episodes – both solid outings. 

BUT. 

This week, it’s just another episode of Fire Force with immense potential….squandered.  This may be one of the last episodes I review, as we’ll discuss at the end of the post.  But for now, let’s get into this tragedy of an episode.

Continue reading “Fire Force S2 – 11 [Dark Hero]…plus an update on the future” →

Fugou Keiji – 9 [A golden key can open any door]

by Lenlo, posted in Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED

Another week, another episode of Fugou Keiji! This week we confront Shigemaru, Daisuke pulls a Christopher Nolan and Modern Crimes finally get their time to shine. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Once again I have to say that Fugou Keiji could have done so much more. Whether it be playing up the serious drama with HEUSC or taking away Daisuke’s money. Show us how he has grown since the series started, show us what he can do without his technology. Have him grow to be self-sufficient like Kato, etc. Yes this takes away from the “Batman” or rich boy power fantasy Fugou Keiji started as. But the series itself has already moved away from that when it became more of a serious crime drama. However I am not here to be a debby-downer, because regardless of what more it could have done, I really enjoyed Fugou Keiji this week. From the consistent Batman references to the Modern Crimes shenanigans, everything was just a lot of fun, and I won’t complain about what we got.

Continue reading “Fugou Keiji – 9 [A golden key can open any door]” →

Gunslinger Girl – 12 [Simbiosi (Symbiosis)] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Gunslinger Girl, Throwback Thursday

You know, its still technically Thursday for me when I send up this Gunslinger Girl post, so i’m not really late. My own poor scheduling aside, considering how much more consistent it is than the other writers snap, lets dive into some cyborg children! Damn that sounds weird to say.

Getting into the episode, right off the bat I am going to say I wasn’t a big fan. Once again Gunslinger Girl is cutting back to the terrorist/politics plot, following up on Filippo’s information from prior episodes. They made a plan, used Claes as bait, things went wrong, etc. Everything you would expect from an episode about espionage. But my issue is that Gunslinger Girl is neither enough of an action show nor enough of a drama to make this work. Action wise, Gunslinger Girl occasionally has some good scenes, decent fights. But we didn’t get anything spectacular enough to really hold our attention this week. Meanwhile on the drama side, which can often carry lackluster action like in Re:Zero, there is very little emotional investment or catharsis. What do I mean by that? Well follow me after the break and i’ll talk about it.

Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl – 12 [Simbiosi (Symbiosis)] – Throwback Thursday” →

Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 10 [I know hell]

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

As it stands I would say there are only two characters in anime(Or even all of fiction) who can say “I know hell” and make me truly believe it. The first being Sakura Matou who experienced a childhood so horrific that it could drive an ordinary person to madness just to experience three days of what she endured. The second being Natsuki Subaru who has experienced death a total of sixteen times and gone through experiences that, despite what they may claim, would break any watchers mind down to splinters. Though to know hell is but one thing and while Subaru has experienced it, I doubt he has gone through the worst it has to offer. With another episode Re:Zero continues a string of great episodes that could very well go to the end of the cour and the viewers will be experiencing the hell of cold turkey.
Continue reading “Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 10 [I know hell]” →

[Manga Musings on Mondays] Our Wonderful Days – Review

by Armitage, posted in Manga Musings on Mondays, Reviews by Armitage

Created by: Kei Hamuro

Chapters: 19

 

That’s right, people! Your eyes are not deceiving you. Manga Musings is BACK!

Um… kinda.

Like most people all over the world, I too have been feeling a general sense of demotivation and have been procrastinating endlessly for the past few months (Well, the procrastination was always there, the lack of motivation is new). I had been going through a terrible anime/manga slump and thus, for a long long time, I was on the lookout for a manga to rekindle my love for the medium.

After months of fruitless toil, I finally chanced upon this lovely little story of four high school girls just hanging out and being nice to each other! Continue reading “[Manga Musings on Mondays] Our Wonderful Days – Review” →