Tower of God – 5 [The Crown’s Fate]

by Lenlo, posted in Tower of God

This week on Tower of God we have it all folks. Waifus! Fights! And even exponential inexplicable MC power ups! What more could you ask for? A lot, actually, so lets jump right in to it.

Right off the bat, I am going to play the bad guy here and say the production was… lacking. Compared to last week, Tower of God’s animation here just felt weightless and floaty. All throughout the combat sequences people were getting thrown about with no sense of momentum. Soaring through the air, or striking with the force of a 4 year old. I’m not asking for the ground to shatter or anything like that. But some impact would be nice, you know? That isn’t to say it was all bad either. Hwaryun, the masked red-head, had some great full body character work. The shading on the body suit had it look awkward at times sure. But on the whole, she was the best animated part of the whole episode. Overall though, I would still call it a step down from previous weeks. Even if I like the visual style.

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Spring 2020 Summary: Week 4

by SuperMario, posted in Weekly Summary

Mario: It’s the new week with the same hosts, the slice-of-slice devotee Mario and the isekai junkie Amun report on shows we’re still following, with more shows postponing and next season looks cloudier than ever. This week we see the last showings of Appare-Ranman and Houkago Teibou Nisshi before they hibernate, and some shows show signs of production issues, but it’s also a week where Hamefura proves to be our season’s favorite so far. Who could have predicted this at the start of the season? Well, color me surprise!

Hamefura – 04

Amun: This is possibly my anime of the season (although Kaguya is still this year’s heavyweight so far).  In the tale of the reincarnated benevolent villainess, Hamefura continually S.L.A.Y.S (steals lovers away, yes sir) as one by one, the unsuspecting enemies/interests of our hero/villain are conquered – despite Catarina being completely oblivious.  Any real tension of her actually being killed or banished is by now well dispelled (although I’m sure it’ll come back in the second half to great comedic effect).  Every week, a new excellence – this week was the battle for Maria’s home-cooked muffins.  If there’s one show that I really look forward to every week – it’s Hamefura.

Mario: My thought on Hamefura and our Catarina:

Tamayomi – 04

Mario: It’s hard when you see a TV production falling apart before your eyes. Tamayomi somehow avoids the delayed fate of many other shows, but at this rate it’s just a matter of time before they do. The quality in this episode is amateurish, with many off-model, cutting corners and inconsistencies in animation all over the place. The actual storyboard is fine, it’s just the melted animation that failed to hold things up and thus failed to leave any impact. Hopefully it avoids this pitfall later on, since there will be more baseball matches, and without sufficient production it’s gonna hurt the show a lot.

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[Manga Musings on Mondays] My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness – Review

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

Created by: Nagata Kabi

Chapters: 6

 

Welcome, friends and foes alike, to week 3 of Manga Musings on Mondays. This week I try to give my thoughts on Nagata Kabi’s critically lauded auto-biographical tale, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Let’s begin!

THE PREMISE:
A girl in her late-20s tries to come to terms with her sadness and inability to form human connections by developing acceptance for herself; weird, ugly, broken pieces and all.

 

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Arte – 04 [Courtesan]

by Armitage, posted in Arte, Currently Watching:

Welcome to another week of ‘Arte learns life-lessons while painting as a side business’. This week, we are reunited with the lovely Courtesan-san from back in episode 2, with whom Arte forms an unlikely friendship. Let’s break it all down.

Last week, we saw Arte developing feelings of romantic affection towards a man for the first time in her life, which made her feel a kind of pain she had been unfamiliar to all her life. She couldn’t understand her own emotions and this week too, she seems to be having a hard time dealing with them. Whenever Leo-san is anywhere near her or their bodies so much as brush up against each other, Arte finds herself stiffening up and overcome with an inability to process anything around her. Though, she still cherishes the moments when Leo-san appreciates her efforts in any way. She learns about a new method to improve the quality of the bread from the local baker and when Leo-san compliments her in his usual droll manner, it brings her real happiness, making her feel like the efforts she put in were worth it.
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Princess Tutu – 9/10 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Princess Tutu, Throwback Thursday

Hello once again to week 5 of Throwback Thursday with Princess Tutu! I hope everyone is doing well, what with all this Corona Virus business floating around. I’d like to say if the world has you down, a cheerful little magical girl show could fix that. But what Princess Tutu covers this week, focusing in on Fakir and Rue, doesn’t really fit that bill. Still, thanks for reading, and lets jump right in!

Now, I want to talk about the structure of these two episodes, because we are doing something different this week. Instead of going through each episode independently, instead I want to focus on Fakir and Rue. Deep diving into them, who they are, where they where, etc. Because my initial impressions of these episodes were… not necessarily filler, but hardly plot focused. Very little in regards to the greater plot was really advanced. Instead Princess Tutu focused in on these two, for better or worse. I say that because some segments were fantastic, Fakir and Rue getting some growth is well deserved at this point. But there were also some rather dull or outright annoying segments such as the extended marriage jokes. And even if some of these elements tied back in at the end, it made for a less enjoyable experience. So with that done, lets talk about Rue!

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Tower of God – 4 [The Green April]

by Lenlo, posted in Tower of God

Come one, come all, to one of the few shows unaffected my Miss Rona, Tower of God! It’s nice to be covering a show that’s already mostly, if not completely, done. Gives me a sense of security in these oh so trying times. So without further ado, lets jump into it shall we?

Now I always start off talking about an episodes production, but Tower of God actually earned it this week. Everything from the animation to the music was impressive, really standing out from prior episodes. Of course I can nitpick small things, like Hatz sword having almost no weight. Or Lauroe being rather… floaty during the latter half of his scene. But those would be just that, nitpicks. Shibisu was incredibly expressive this week, with both full body and facial expression that were to die for. Telecom Animation have dialed in on who the comic relief character is and committed to him, full stop. And none of that is meant to downplay Takuya Eguchi’s vocal performance either, so lovably stupid. Meanwhile Anaak’s weapon and the sheer volume of stretching limbs and such were great. I’ve criticized Tower of God for this before, but credit where it’s due, the animation worked wonders.

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Yesterday wo Utatte – 03 [What Is Love?]

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

If Rikuo and Shinako were the main characters of episodes 1 and 2, respectively, then it’s only right that Haru got her turn with episode 3. I’d say this installment was the most laser focused so far, with Crow Girl being present in nearly every scene. Only the Rikuo and Shinako ‘sick with a cold’ bits distracted from Haru’s story this week, and they still fed into her failed movie date later in the episode. Honestly, those back-to-back colds gave me the impression that distant chapters were combined in order to achieve this timeline, but maybe late 90s manga just leaned on illness for everything. Either way, the show pulled it off thanks to its measured, dialogic storytelling – in Yesterday wo Utatte, everything falls into place if you put the characters’ conversations at the front of your mind.

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Spring 2020 Summary: Week 3

by SuperMario, posted in Weekly Summary

Mario: This recent week was rough. We all expected this to happen, but still hearing shows after shows get postponed is disheartening. It’s to the point I’m hesitant to drop shows now because I don’t think I have enough options anymore. It might be a good chance to catch up with the old stuff, I myself have been picking up Bookworm isekai again so expect it to be covered here starting next week. We have nearly a dozen shows to talk about this week (thanks to Amun for contributing half of them), so let’s run them down:

Appare-Ranman! – 02

Mario: Another show that is affected by the COVID-19 and it’s a shame because the first two episodes so far have failed to catch my attention. Heck, we don’t even see much of car racing which is its central premise. My biggest issue with the show so far is the characters, which I find bland, uninteresting and filled with bad dialogues. Even the new girl is there because the show wanted to bring up the “girl can’t race” angle, and in the season where Arte is also airing I find it to be on the face. Appare lacks the emotional investment to any human around him that I find him rather one-noted instead of interesting. In addition, I still believe that the premiere is a waste as they could just start off with this one and we won’t really miss out much.

Hachi Nan – 03 

Amun: Just because this show was derided so hard by my colleagues, I’m going to write about it every week.  Hey, to be fair, this has actually turned into a halfway decent isekai. Now, it’s a little unsporting that two other above average isekais (Bookworm and Hamefura) are also in this season – but Hachi Nan is really a decent, run-of-the-mill, escapist isekai.  I think they’ve handled the plot at a good pace – sure, there are some contrived situations, but this is to be expected in backstories. I thought the situational irony landed well this episode, with misunderstood assumptions getting worked out in the end. This is very similar to Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, which aired a few seasons ago – not going to make anyone’s top anime lists, but enjoyable while it lasts.

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[Manga Musings on Mondays] A Distant Neighborhood – Review

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

    Created by: Jiro Taniguchi

    Chapters: 15

     

    Hello and welcome to Manga Musings’ Week 2! This time around, I look back at another series which is a favorite of mine but is not as popular among modern manga fans, Jiro Taniguchi’s opus, Haruka na Machi e or A Distant Neighborhood. Let’s dive in:

     

    THE PREMISE:

    48-year-old Hiroshi Nakahara is mysteriously transported to his 14-year-old-self back when he was in high-school, with the memories of the life he’s lived still intact. He slowly comes to terms with being out-of-time and out-of-place and even starts enjoying being given an opportunity to relive his life once again, only to realize that his actions have consequences on the future in ways beyond his control.

     

         

     
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Kaguya-sama S2 – 02

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

Kaguya-sama’s second season is off to a good start after two episodes, but of all the positive signs we’ve gotten thus far, my favorite is that Masayuki Suzuki returned to sing the OP. The man’s voice has a magical quality to it, to the point that even a brassy opening theme like “Daddy! Daddy! Do!” sounds as smooth as silk when he’s on the track. Suzuki is known as the King of Love Songs in Japan, so when each episode of Kaguya-sama opens with his voice, it’s a reminder that underneath all its exaggerated antics, the show has a romantic heart. That’s a reminder I sorely needed this week, since a lot of this episode’s caricaturish behavior rustled my jimmies (I’ll try to dedicate no more than a paragraph to explaining why). On the whole, though, I’m very glad that the show is back, and looking as fresh as ever – hopefully it survives the current wave of TV anime delays and finishes in June as scheduled.

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