Lupin III The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – 4 [Vissi d’arte, Vissi d’amore]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

Whew, its been a long wait since my last post on Fujiko Mine, but I have an excuse, I promise. I’ll let you know what it is when I think of it. In the meantime, this episode on Fujiko Mine we see the return of Lupin and Zenigata in a story straight out off the stage! So lets dive right in.

Right off the bat, this episode was nothing like what I was expecting. I figured we would start to see some team-ups, and in a way we got that with Lupin’s return. However the primary focus seemed instead to be on Zenigata and getting him properly introduced to the plot. We met him before of course, all the way back in episode one, but this is our first proper look at him. And what a look it is. This is easily the most misogynistic episode of anime I have seen in awhile, and I can’t tell if Fujiko Mine did it on purpose. So many of Zenigata’s interactions with Fujiko were demeaning or sexual in nature, really just nailing her with sexist jokes/actions over and over. There is probably something in there about lust vs love, considering the episodes topic, but Fujiko Mine really laid it on thick here.

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Summer 2020 Summary – Week 6-7

by SuperMario, posted in Weekly Summary

Houkago Teibou Nisshi – 07

Wooper: This episode was a reaction face gold mine. As Hina gets more comfortable around her new friends in the Breakwater Club, she’s less cautious about letting her feelings show on her features, which means her hero worship of Oono and disdain for Natsumi have become obvious to everyone. This week’s stories shone a different light on each of those characters, however, poking a hammer-shaped hole in Oono’s athletic image, and revealing the booksmart side of Natsumi’s personality. Though there was nothing visually noteworthy about Hina visiting her friend’s house to study, it was still my favorite of the two halves because of how it treated their friendship. The reveal that Hina had never visited a friend’s house before was thankfully a casual one, but I’m sure she appreciated the chance, and Natsumi’s pre-midterm helpfulness and interest in her friend’s handicraft hobby were really kind. Now that we’ve seen this side of both girls, I’d like to see a softening of their teasing dynamic during club meetings and fishing outings – though I’m sure the relationship will work either way going forward.

Japan Sinks – 06

Mario: This episode wraps up the Shan city arc and ho boy, it’s not great. I see a lot of lost opportunity here in this arc, and I question the roles of many characters here as well. Take Daniel, for example. His placement in this arc feels really odd for me. Is he supposed to be an outsider (his nationality) to signal the Mutoh family about how he has no place to return to? Then why does he fit the living style in Shan city like a glove? And then the cult leader. Are we supposed to take her superpower seriously? What is the meaning behind exploring the cult’s strange activities and worships and then proceed to end it with an earthquake? And then the poor boy who just says that one line before the huge rock falls over his head. I don’t know if we are supposed to feel shock, but there was good comedic timing right there.

Continue reading “Summer 2020 Summary – Week 6-7” →

Great Pretender – 11-12 [Snow of London]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Great Pretender

This is the year of Great Pretender. The first 14 episodes were recently made available worldwide on Netflix, and the back 9 will be released in Japan next month, at which point fansubbers can do their thing. The only downside to the whole thing airing in 2020 is that it can’t be AOTY twice in a row – but I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ve got to investigate its third case, Snow of London, to see whether the show is still on track to compete for that title. After two episodes, this arc is off to a strong start, so hit the jump for some unqualified praise for once.

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 07 [Friend]

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

While Re:Zero has had a slow start, once it’s got going it hasn’t stopped. I again feel that same anticipation upon starting and the dejection upon finishing an episode because I know I need to wait another week for a continuation. This episode was when I felt that level of immersion that this 26 minute episode felt like five minutes and when the credits rolled I was in disbelief that it was over already. In that regard I may not have much to say about this week’s episode as there were only about three critical events. The talk with Beatrix, Subaru’s imprisonment and the eventual rescue. So I guess we should start with the first.

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Fugou Keiji – 6 [Ill Got, Ill Spent]

by Lenlo, posted in Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED

Come one, come all, to the week of Fugou Keiji’s metamorphosis! This week we have intrigue, mystery and a dash of murder. So without further ado, lets dive in.

Starting off, this week completes Fugou Keiji’s transformation from a comedic parody of rich superheroes to a legitimate detective series. Where once the money-based gags were front and center, they have since become the moments of levity between harrowing intrigue. And I am loving it. I said in prior posts that I preferred Fugou Keiji when it was a parody. At the time that was true. I wasn’t convinced at that point that the series could pull off a serious detective story. Daisuke was to ridiculous and the presentation to comedic. Which is I want to think its incredible just how well Fugou Keiji managed this slow tonal shift. Over the course of 3 episodes it toned down the comedy and dialed up the drama bit by bit. Until we got to where we are today, all without ever giving away the game until Daisuke blows up a car.

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Gunslinger Girl – 9 [Lycoris Radiata Herb (Cluster Amaryllis)] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Gunslinger Girl, Throwback Thursday

You all know the drill at this point, its another episode of Gunslinger Girl! We got guns, we got depression, and both are delivered by this weeks new girl Elsa. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, quick call out as Gunslinger Girl brought back its animation chops this week. Elsa’s opening firefight in the hotel was chef kiss, great. I will always love how fluid the series can be with the girls movements or the bullet casings falling to the ground. It makes the rest of the series seem stilted in comparison at times. Moving on though, this episode introduces us to another sort of “bad” Handler/Assassin relationship. Until now the primary example of that was Jean and Rico, with a very “Tool/Master” relationship. It was very professional in nature, with Rico knowing and being completely OK with this arrangement. Here though with Elsa and Lauro, we are shown a relationship of extremes. One of obsession and utter disinterest, both taking elements of prior relationships to terrible extremes. To be frank? It’s pretty damn interesting.

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The God of High School – 07 [anima/force]

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

It’s never a good sign when an anime has you thinking, “What’s the point?” in the middle of an episode. Realizing afterwards that it wasted your time is bad enough, but to prompt the question during an initial viewing? Unless you’re watching some sort of mystery series where generating questions is the goal, that’s probably a bad look. Consequently, The God of High School was looking bad at multiple points this week – except for the part where it looked incomparably cool.

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Fog Hill of Five Elements – Animation Appreciation

by Lenlo, posted in Random Anime Recommendations, Special Articles

Hello everyone and welcome to a rather weird post about a Chinese series you probably haven’t heard of, Fog Hill of Five Elements. Now odds are you have no idea what I am talking about, and I don’t blame you. Not only are subs for this notoriously hard to find, but the ones you do find probably aren’t that good. A Graphic Design Service Subscription does not suffice in finding them. Part of that is just the difficulty of finding Chinese translators, since the Japanese translation scene is well established at this point, but another part is that no one really knows this show exists. And let me tell you, if for no other reason than the animation, the goal of this post is to change that. So lets dive in.

First up, a little about Fog Hill. As far as I can figure, Fog Hill was originally created by Hun Lin in this little 5 minute YouTube video here. Whether he made the whole thing, VA and music and all from scratch himself I have no idea. I don’t even know if Samsara Studio, the animation house behind Fog Hill, is his studio or just one he is working with. Since this is their first project and all the information is in Chinese, as an ignorant American I just don’t know. But what I do know is that 3 years later, in 2020, Fog Hill got a full 8 episode ONA season that is currently being released right now. Directed, Scripted, and Coordinated by Hun Lin, this is clearly a passion project. And even if I can’t understand the words, I can understand hype. And this? This animation is hype.

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State of the Season – Summer 2020

by SuperWooper, posted in State of the Season

Armitage: With the entire world slowly returning to order after being kicked in the shin and knocked around in 19 ways, it’s only fitting that we check-in to see that everyone is getting back to their normal lives. Now, since this is an anime blog, our normal is basically watching a crap-ton of anime every season! And even though this summer we got far fewer shows than ever, the dark horses delivered, the sleepers packed a punch and the heavy hitter(s) really knocked the living hell out of a recently married high-school girl wielding a wooden sword. cough cough

But of course, since we’re all different people, we’re bound to have different tastes! Did we too like that one show you feel guilty about watching every week or are most of us not fans of your favorite anime this season?

Read on to find out!

What show are you enjoying that you’re not reviewing?

Wooper: Though I give Houkago Teibou Nisshi shoutouts in our weekly summary posts, it isn’t getting the full blogging treatment, so it gets my vote. If you like cute girls, fishing, relaxing ambiance, or reaction faces, this show may be for you. If you like at least three of those four, this show is definitely for you. It’s one of the better high school club shows I’ve seen recently, and though it won’t go down as many viewers’ favorite anime of the year, it’ll make your Tuesdays a bit happier each week.

Amun: I’d normally say Re:Zero, but since it’s a given that most anime fans are watching that this season – Misfit of Demon King School. It’s so bad. It’s so bad that I’m not even sure I have the name right. But if you enjoyed the sage of technological One True Tatsuya a few seasons back – this kind of (over) power fantasy is right up your alley.

Lenlo: Fujiko Mine, Deca-Dence and Great Pretender.

Armitage: Re:Zero is back and great as ever! So, obviously I have to watch it because you can never have too much death and suffering in life. I am also watching God of Highschool week in, week out. It’s amazing how relaxing this show is for me. I just have to turn off my brain and just like that, half an hour has passed. Take that, lockdowns.

Mario: Deca-Dence and Great Pretender. Since we’re going to talk in detail about the former at the end of this post, I want to give a special mention to Great Pretender. It’s a show that if you think too deeply about some plot twist or plot development then all the pieces can fall apart (like the explosion that kills no one in the first case, yeah!), but its main appeal lies in how entertaining it is. From the fun and smart stories to the bouncing off between the cast to the drop dead gorgeous visual designs, it knows and embodies the “cool” factor. It also gives our cast some outstanding character development; Cynthia’s fierce bids in that auction wouldn’t be that rewarding without knowing her backstory and how she became who she is now. In other words, Great Pretender is cool as fuck.

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