Neon Genesis Evangelion – 21/22 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Throwback Thursday

Welcome to this weeks episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, as presented by the History channel. This week we get into the history of one major character and multiple tertiary characters. Touching on everything from the origin of Angels to Asuka’s family! So without further ado, lets dive in.

Starting off, we have an infamous scene I want to look at this week. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it, it’s the elevator. And my opinion is… it’s not as bad as people joke. I understand what Anno was going for here, portraying the awkward silence between these two characters. Showing rather than telling, until eventually Asuka cracks, since Rei never would. That makes sense. However, it’s not near as brilliant as the supporters say, it serves its purpose. The issue though is that this was an incredibly dull 50 seconds of a mostly static image. Nothing really happened to break it up, excluding Asuna coughing once. There was no elevator music to keep someone even slightly invested. It just say there, until the viewer checked their stream/video to make sure it hadn’t froze. So from a narrative standpoint it works, but entertainmentwise it fails miserably.

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Chihayafuru S3 – 18/19 [The Storm Will Soon Carry Me/Bring a Life of Everlasting Love]

by SuperWooper, posted in Chihayafuru, Finished Series: Sports

Early in Chihayafuru’s first season, a young Arata told his new friend, “If you become the best in Japan, you become the best in the world!” He was speaking, of course, about karuta – the obsession of nearly every character in the series. There’s no money or fame to be gained from playing it, but an obscure sort of glory awaits two winners at Omi Jingu each year. Their victory places them atop a list of seven billion people, most of whom will never hear of karuta, much less sit down to play a game. Nevertheless, the allure of being the world’s best is sufficient to attract a small but devoted crowd of competitors. These two episodes are dedicated to four of them, each of whom play the game for different reasons, but all of whom fiercely desire to stand at the summit of the karuta world. Let’s go through them one by one, shall we?

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State of the Season – Winter 2020

by SuperWooper, posted in State of the Season

Wooper: Give yourselves a round of applause for making it to mid-February, everyone! Your reward is our third ever State of the Season post, where our regular contributors talk about which seasonal anime they’re enjoying (and which ones they aren’t). This won’t be quite the hot take bonanza it’s been in seasons past, since Amun’s real life has demanded real attention in 2020 thus far. Mario, Lenlo and I are here to talk about our winter favorites, though – read on to see which writer has the best viewing habits and opinions.

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

Mario: Dorohedoro. It says a lot that after halfway point it still manages to surprise. While it can feel random at times, I’m more eager than ever to see what kind of madness and trippiness and bloodiness Dorohedoro is gonna throw at me next. And I’d take them all with pleasure. Also, Kyokou Suiri with its lengthy dialogues but ultimately enjoyable chemistry between its cast.

Lenlo: Dorohedoro. I almost regret not trying to take it up from Wooper, because this thing is madness. Every week we go a bit further down the rabbit hole, down Dorohedoro’s special brand of insanity, and I love it. I have very little idea what’s going on, but I honestly don’t think that’s very necessary to enjoy the show at a base level. It’s there if you want some silly fun and it’s there if you want something with little bits of info hidden around every interaction.

Wooper: Eizouken, for sure. I love both anime and metacommentary, so a series that deals with the creative process, the intersection of finance and art, and the medium of animation is right up my alley. It doesn’t hurt that the characters have great designs and dialogue, either. No matter what the motion picture club gets up to each week, it’s sure to be informative and entertaining.

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Runway de Waratte – 6 [Superiority and Inferiority]

by Lenlo, posted in Runway de Waratte

Apologies for the wait everyone, but between cons and going rock climbing over the weekend, this got pushed back. Sadly though, I have to be honest, right out the gate, I wasn’t a fan of this weeks Runway de Waratte. As this week we have an idiotic fashion school competition, Itsuko being perfect and Chiyuki being the best part of the show. So without further ado, let’s just get into it.

Right off the bat, I want to talk about what I believe Runway’s biggest problem is, and that’s Itsuko. Supposedly, based on the OP and how the show opens, Chiyuki is our lead. Yet the focus is largely on Itsuko and his “struggles”, and it’s just not good. I don’t believe his struggles, his trials, I don’t believe that he overcomes them or that its difficult for him. We see time and again characters reference his living situation and how hard it is for him to do what he wants. But Runway never shows us this, we never see his challenge. He worries about money, but we never see him have to make tough choices with money. We hear about how difficult it is to design a dress, yet he got over it between episodes. The hardest Runway has ever been was the fashion show, and mostly for the assistant!

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken -7 [I Have To Do It For Myself!]

by Lenlo, posted in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

This was a pretty chill week for Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, as we focus more on our characters than the process. As this week gives us a glimpse into Mizusaki’s life, the continuing production of the Culture Festival movie and the best bathhouse ever. Lets dive in!

This week Eizouken mostly took a step back from the production side of things. Instead choosing to focus on one of our leads, Mizusaki. We got a look at her parents, her home life, her passion and how it all compares to Asakusa or Kanamori’s. For instance we saw about halfway through how Asakusa has to call her parents. How Mizusaki misinterprets that as control rather than concern. Which is rather interesting when you look at it because of how her own parents raise her. Giving Mizusaki free reign so long as she stays within their nice little box of a plan for her. Money, freedom, whatever she wants to do, so long as she becomes an actress. In a way, it’s more restrictive than Asakusa’s, and speaks a lot about how negligent Mizusaki’s parents are. Still, we know she has at least one positive figure in her life. Grandma!

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Dorohedoro – 05/06 [Caiman in Wonderland/The First Smoke]

by SuperWooper, posted in Dorohedoro, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

This was the worst possible point at which to write a Dorohedoro double post. Not only did I start a new job last week, but the show started unloading all its groceries in a single trip beginning with episode 5. I can just picture director Yuuichiro Hayashi with fourteen sets of plastic handles digging into his palms, carrying too many bags of source material at once in the name of efficiency. Not being a manga reader, I don’t know which part of the story he’s trying to reach before this cour ends, but I sure hope it’s worth this frantic pace.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 19/20 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Throwback Thursday

Well ladies and gentleman, there isn’t any easy way to say this, but strap in. This week of Neon Genesis Evangelion is going to be a long one, because shit went down. There is no other way to put that, so let’s just get right into it.

Starting off we need to talk about the production because Evangelion was very divisive on that this week. On one hand, 19’s animation and direction was fantastic. I loved how it paralleled shots from earlier in the series when Shinji left. Except this time he is more sure of himself, he has a real reason for it and is assertive on the matter. Meanwhile the movements of the EVA unit were bestial and organic, terrifyingly so. It was one of, if not the, best episode of the series so far. On the other hand though, 20 was very weird and often difficult to follow. I understand the point, Shinji was having a bit of an episode. However a lot of it was difficult to follow and often just outright weird. There were some interesting repeating motifs, such as the train that Toji saw, but overall it wasn’t great.

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The Case Files of Jeweler Richard – 04/05 [The Fighting Garnet/ Opal of Encounters]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard

An update in regards to Housekisho Richard-shi coverage. Amun decides to drop these cute boys and their gems so I will take over full-time now, with him covering Kyokou Suiri instead. These past two episodes saw Housekisho Richard-shi goes through some highs and lows, but overall I’m happy with what the show has to offer. The drama in its weekly case is low-key and mundane, and while Richard and Seigi aren’t necessary there to “fix the issues” (well, at least Richard doesn’t), in this show, inconsistencies in how the customers behave reflect their own insecurities and their own personalities. Add that to the gems they seek in which they usually have some interesting message behind, and it’s pretty much the appeal of Housekisho Richard-shi to me. The other aspects of the show, namely the chemistry between the two leads and Seigi and Shouko’s romance, aren’t that interesting to me, which I will address that in later paragraphs.

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Magia Record – 05/06 [There’s No Place for You Here/ I’ll Do Anything]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

At this point, Magia Record’s mobile game root becomes more and more apparent, as we encounter brand new characters with brand new rumors. Episode 5 closes off the Shrine Wish arc to a decent effect, with many intriguing ideas along the lines. Iroha and the after credit scene reveal that our little magical girls can transform into something dangerous. It becomes more apparent to me that these girls are the cause of these mysteries around Kamihama city. And maybe, like the original series, it speaks the core ugly truth about our magical girls: they can never grow up. As long as they have to fight these witches in ongoing battles, is there time for them to grow up to be an adult at all? 

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