[Manga Musings on Mondays] Chi no Wadachi – Review

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

Created by: Shuuzou Oshimi

Chapters: 75 (Ongoing)

 

Greetings and welcome to another Monday week and as usual, it brings with it another manga review! This time, I look at a manga which has been getting a lot of buzz around lately (yes yes, it was the Super Eyepatch Wolf video which made me interested in this in the first place) and for good reason. Chi no Wadachi or Trail of Blood is the latest work by the mangaka of Flowers of Evil so you can expect a lot of messed up psychological elements and the thrilling setup aims to provide just that, but does the overall execution deliver on the promise? Let’s find out!

 

THE PREMISE:

An overly caring mother goes to great lengths to protect his son’s happiness and to make sure that he never comes in harm’s way.


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Summer 2020 Season Preview

by SuperWooper, posted in Seasonal Previews

Lenlo: Time passes, leaves grow, allergy season fades and first world nations descend into civil war. Yet still my barber is closed due to COVID-19. Hard times, huh? He isn’t the only thing closed though, as studios continue to postpone series, with only 19 new anime airing this season, 6 of which are sequels. But oh, what big sequels they are. We have two of the biggest Isekai currently on the market, the return of literal fire fighters, and everyone’s favorite high school based romantic drama. Needless to say, just because there aren’t many series airing doesn’t mean we will be lacking for good choices. So strap in, as we here at Star Crossed Anime break down the 2020 Summer Season.

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What will you be watching this summer season?
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ALREADY AIRED

Great Pretender

Studio: Wit
Director: Hiro Kaburagi
Series composition: Ryouta Kosawa
Source: Original

Wooper: What if I told you that fansubbing isn’t dead? This Netflix Japan series made its way online at the start of June, and a whopping 10 episodes have been translated at the time of this writing. I’ve seen only two of them, but they were good enough to make me optimistic about the show’s expected run of 23 episodes. Actually, “good enough” is doing this thing a disservice, so let me rephrase; Great Pretender’s first pair of episodes was an unqualified success. From the hard bop jazz score to the multiple layers of its con artist-centered story, this is a series that never takes its foot off the “style” pedal. Director Hiro Kaburagi has attracted a bunch of the industry’s top talent to the project, including Yuusuke Takeda (of Eccentric Family fame) as art director and Gainax legend Yoshiyuki Sadamoto on character designs. This thing looks and sounds like an absolute dream, and the characters are all career criminals whose banter and one-upmanship give them undeniable personality. Honestly, Great Pretender is the whole package. It’s ten whole packages. And if you’re still on the fence about watching it for some reason, look for its OP and ED on YouTube (the latter of which is performed by Freddie fuckin’ Mercury), and prepare to groove harder than you’ve ever grooved before.

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Arte – 11 [The Faliers’ Portrait Painter]

by Armitage, posted in Arte, Currently Watching:

Hello and welcome to the penultimate episode of Arte, the artist who made best-girl Katarina cry. This week, a child pines for the attention of her newfound friend while the friend pines to see her employer back in Florence as the employer pines to have his apprentice with him again, which all makes for a whole lot of pining as Arte doubles down on its themes and presents a conflict which was yet unexplored to set up an exciting finale for the coming week.

After the emotionally cathartic episode we had last week, things were always going to shift one way or the other. So, while it did come as a surprise that the part of this story chronicling Arte’s (possibly) last days at Venice got shrouded by a somber melancholy, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. It’s kind of how in our lives when things are headed towards completion that we get overcome by memories and feelings which wouldn’t cross our minds on other ordinary days.

Endings just do that to us sometimes.
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Kaguya-sama S2 – 09-10

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Comedy, Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai

Two weeks ago, I wrote that Kaguya-sama’s second season was stuck in an alternating pattern of great and mediocre episodes. Among the mediocre ones, there was a tendency to create five-minute plots to push the cast into strange modes of behavior (Shirogane’s glare disappearing), or repeatedly underline a character’s most obvious trait (Iino’s conservatism). Those trends were largely absent from episodes 9-10, however, having been replaced by a dedication to backstory and self-commentary that made this the series’ best one-two punch since the first season. Honestly, I enjoyed every one of the show’s seven most recent chapters, and “enjoy” is not a word I use lightly when discussing TV anime (most of which I watch out of obligation). So instead of ranking them in order of subjective excellence, I’m going to run them down in airing order, because I’ve got something complimentary to say about each one!

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Yesterday wo Utatte – 09-10

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Romance, Yesterday wo Utatte

I’m not the sort of person who chooses #teams while watching love triangle plots, but after this pair of episodes, if you put a gun to my head, I’d pick Haru. She’s received much less screen time than Shinako, but that only makes scenes like her hug with Rikuo on the apartment landing more rewarding. Their contrasting heights and levels of enthusiasm made for a great shot, and their follow-up conversation was one of the best the show has orchestrated in weeks. Even if we still don’t really understand why Haru likes this dude so much, she’s straightforward about her feelings! She keeps stopping by his apartment because, in her words, it’s “more fun than waiting” for him to contact her or reciprocate her crush. She’s clingy, but she’s also way more honest than either Rikuo or Shinako, who keep dancing around each other like teenagers (ironically, Haru is the only teenager among the three of them).

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Tower of God – 11 [Underwater Hunt (Part One)]

by Lenlo, posted in Tower of God

Last week I was rather harsh on Tower of God. Justifiably so I believe, but the fact is I heavily critiqued it for its adaptation. As a source reader, I still believe that it screwed up a fair number of important scenes. This week however I can happily say that Tower of God has brought it back. Both in terms of pacing, adaptation and in showing scenes that I previously believed had been cut. Yes, I could still nitpick plenty of small things. Endorsi not getting her new outfit, cutting small dialogue or changing the fights a bit. Except those are actually improvements this time. You see in the original Webtoon, this arc took up 18 long chapters, and often felt rather bloated. Some of this was simply poor pacing between scenes or long bits of dialogue. But large chunk of it is combat, which animation can naturally adapt faster.

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Princess Tutu – 23/24 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Princess Tutu, Throwback Thursday

Welcome one and all to the penultimate edition of my Princess Tutu watch. Everything comes to a head this week! As Fakir rescues Ahiru, Kraehe learns the truth about the Raven and Mytho succumbs to the blood. Will Ahiru get the happy ending she wants or will Drosselmeyer win in the end? Well its time to dive in and talk about it.

Starting off we have episode 23, Marionettes. In recent episodes Princess Tutu has been really focused on the more story based aspect of its setting. Going in on things like authorship of stories, the responsibilities and power authors have with their characters. When the focus is on Fakir this can be a rather uplifting and positive notion, as he doesn’t want to abuse this power. This week though we see the other side of this power in Drosselmeyer. Where Fakir doesn’t want to control or abuse, Drosselmeyer will only be satisfied with his story and his ending. He is all about control over the story and forcing it to fit his desires. Going so far as to stop the story entirely by taking Tutu out of it until she bows to his control. Simply put, he wants a tragic ending of his own design, without caring what his characters want.

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Spring 2020 Summary: Week 9-10

by SuperMario, posted in Weekly Summary

Mario: My apology that we missed out last week. Since the restriction relaxing in my hometown it has been even more hectic and busy for me lately, to the point that I am busier than I was before the lockdown. Anyways, we are here for anime and while the whole anime industry is suffering at this point (with next season looks even grimmer), the easing of restrictions in Japan’s main cities is an encouraging sign – hopefully the anime industry picks up its pace soon.

BNA – 7-9

Mario: Okay, the first half of BNA might be a little shaky (the baseball episode was pretty meh to me), but episode 7 through 9 the show seems to get a handle on framing the big overarching act, as the main players are all in places now and these three episodes provide some twists and turns. Not all of them are effective but now BNA has a sense of knowing where it goes, unlike the first half when it fails to enrich the Anima city worldbuilding. We know about the true reasons behind Michirou’s beast ability (many see this coming), the true identity of Ginrou (it’s not hard to see this coming too), Syvasta’s roles so the next three episodes where the show wraps up can build up to an exciting climax. Hopefully it sticks the landing.

Hamefura – 9-10

Amun: Hamefura got back on track this week!  After two below average (and I’d like to point out the average for this show is very high) outings, episode nine gets back to Catarina winning hearts and minds – this time of her troubled maid.  This was heartwarming, in character, and a wonderful re-perspective of the high class hijinks of whatever this academy is called.  Also the end story, where everyone gets her the exact same thing, had me rolling.  Simply top notch.  I want to point out another interesting tidbit: her parents (father in this episode, but mother in the past) are quietly supporting her shenanigans (despite her mother’s anguish at her gardening).  Nice little detail thrown in there.  Next episode looks like a confrontation, so I’m hyped – I would just recommend weapons (axes or hoes) instead of the magic trip hill.

Mario: Just chime in here for my general thoughts about Hamefura in this second half run. It wasn’t as great as the first few episodes for me, unfortunately. The issue I have with it so far is that it overplays the supporting cast’s affection towards Catarina every single freaking time. Episode 9 adds another side character whom Catarina “changes” for the better. As their love for Catarina grows, it’s hard to distinguish the cast from one another because all they have in mind is Catarina, and it’s kind of the same feeling as the show keeps beating that dead horse. Episode 10 introduces a villain who hated her gut, which for me is a nice change of pace but… is Catarina going to save his soul like everyone else? AGAIN?

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Arte – 09+10 [Naughty Child | Katarina’s Dinner]

by Armitage, posted in Arte, Currently Watching:

Hello, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the first (makeshift) double-header post covering Arte. While I couldn’t cover these two episodes in their own respective posts, these were the show’s most adorable and heartfelt episodes and I feel that it would be unfair if they don’t get proper write-ups. So, the following are essentially two separate full-length episodic reviews posted under one title. Yes, that’s right! Two for the price of one!! Come one, come all.

Starting off with Episode 9, Arte is still facing difficulties in tutoring Katarina. Even though she’s well-versed in public etiquette and mannerisms, she refuses to behave as expected in front of her parents. Katarina tells Arte that there’s no formal education regarding etiquette that she can teach her so, it is best if she just leaves her to minding her own business. By that, she means dozing off in the middle of the day.
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[Manga Musings on Mondays] Opus – Review

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

Created by: Satoshi Kon

Chapters: 19

 

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today, we resume usual serialization of Manga Musings by talking about probably the most metafictional manga I have ever read in Satoshi Kon’s Opus. As a fan of most of his works (I still maintain that the final third of Paranoia Agent is bonkers for bonkers’ sake), I went into this completely blind but with relatively high expectations. Does the story hold up to Kon’s high standards or does it fall woefully short? Let’s find out.

 

THE PREMISE:

A manga author gets sucked into the lives of his characters (literally) and realizes that not everything is entirely in his control in either world.

 

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