Kyoko Suiri (In/Spectre) – 4 [Idol Dies by Steel Beam]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Kyoko Suiri

3D life has taken its toll on Amun, but we’re back with our favorite amputee and spooky company!

First of all, Saki. I haven’t seen a supporting character this good since Kilua’s introduction in HxH. I think introducing her at this point is brilliant, since we’ve become a bit accustomed to Kotoko’s peculiarities. Also, having a normal professional at this point is refreshing, given that the recent cast consisted of a giant snake and a human shaped yokai poison capsule. Plus, Saki seems capable, level-headed, hot…all the things Kotoko is not (shots fired).

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 17/18 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Throwback Thursday

There were a lot of directions Neon Genesis Evangelion could have gone this week. But I have to say, this one was one of the more unexpected ones. As this week we meet the Fourth Child, get another EVA unit and have Gendo destroy any chance of reconciling with Shinji. Sounds like a good time right? Let’s dive in!

Starting off, I want to give credit where credit is due. Evangelion had some fantastic English dub across these episodes. So much so I actually had to stop at the start of 18 to check that I wasn’t watching an English dub. They got legitimately full english speakers to deliver those lines, and I love that. I love the willingness to go the extra mile for just a few lines, when most anime would give us Engrish. And that isn’t to knock against Engrish much, it’s not their native language and they do what they can. Limitations of a localized production, I get that. It’s just when I do see the extra mile attempted, it’s something I think is worth pointing out. Evangelion could easily have just had Japanese there, and I wouldn’t have notice. Instead I got this, and it makes me happy. Now, onto the meat!

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Chihayafuru S3 – 16/17 [Takes Me Away in Haste/As My Sleeves Are Wet With Dew]

by SuperWooper, posted in Chihayafuru, Finished Series: Sports

Chihayafuru kind of lost me a couple weeks ago, but I had a (very) minor epiphany while watching episode 17 that changed the way I think about this season. The lack of sustained focus on karuta matches is still disappointing to me, but here’s the realization that offset some of that feeling. As the series has progressed and the cast has gotten larger, the amount of time that the main characters spend observing games (rather than participating in them) has increased. The narrower the field gets at the top, the less likely it is that your main players will be a part of it. This has led not only to an increased amount of time spent in the audience during matches, but also a shift in the show’s direction. It’s more concerned about the big picture than it is about card differentials or tracking a competitor’s psychology across a ten minute span. This is clearly illustrated in the first game of the Queen match, where Shinobu fails to take the Impassionate Gods card, sees Chihaya in the crowd and smiles, and suddenly we’re down to a luck-of-the-draw finale. How we got there isn’t as important as Chihaya’s personal link to the match.

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Dorohedoro – 04 [Roast Duck with Sorcerer Sauce]

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

Dorohedoro is making it really hard to construct these posts around particular themes. The show is so inventive, and covers such a wide range of topics every week, that it’s hard to know how to structure my discussion without the copout of chronological order. I shouldn’t have blown the food connection last week, because there was an actual recipe for roast duck in this one. Granted, the duck turned into a doppelganger after being basted with Shin’s smoke and veal stock, but assuming the transformation was simply cosmetic, the doll was composed largely of duck meat. I’m surprised Ebisu didn’t start chowing down after Shin punched a hole through its chest and the juices began to leak from its gaping wound.

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – 5 [An Iron Giant Appears!]

by Lenlo, posted in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken manages to pull yet another rabbit out of it’s hat this week. As we take a look at a dying genre, studio/client relations and yet again more animation techniques. Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Starting off, I was expecting Eizouken to tackle a lot of things this week. However the final death kneel of a genre was not among them. It was and continues to be a very fascinating topic to look at actually, the waxing and waning of genre popularity. Go back a few decades and Mecha was the shit. Yet in modern times it has been subsumed by battle shounen and Isekai, and Eizouken takes a small look into why. How the world has changed around the industry, and how that affects the passions and interests of viewers. Those inspired by Mecha grew up to realize that such robots were impossible or impractical. Inspired by them, yet disillusioned by reality. Meanwhile, man has made it to the moon, we have the ISS. Space is no longer so mysterious, and so Mecha and Space Opera’s have fallen away. It’s tragic, in a way.

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Winter 2020 Summary: Week 5

by SuperMario, posted in Weekly Summary

Mario: It’s time for another weekly summary. Geez, time sure flies fast. We’re nearly at the midseason already, can you believe that? Seasonal shows this week are… decent, I guess? Often the time this is a low period in seasonal anime, where anime studios rush and try their best to stay in schedule. We have a new show featured this week, and Lenlo is off to play volleyball rather than watching one. Enjoy! 

Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu – 04

Wooper: All this talk about Cham Jam “believing in their fans” and the glorification of unhealthy lifestyles lived in the name of idol appreciation are too much for this normalfriend to handle. I can tolerate sincere otaku fandom in small doses, but OshiBudo puts it front and center. This episode starts with a dramatic flashback to an encounter between Reo (during her time as a filler member of her previous idol group ‘Melty’) and Kumasa, her biggest fan. We’re talking “omit a key line during the conversation so that it can be revealed during the episode’s climactic moment” levels of drama, here. It ends up being a request for her to believe in him, which Reo passes on to Maina so that she’ll believe in her biggest supporter, Eripiyo. Meanwhile, Eripiyo is running herself ragged working three part-time jobs so she can buy dozens of Maina’s CDs and bump her numbers in the group’s popularity poll. That’s right, this week’s plot circles around to a popularity contest where supporting your favorite girl is viewed through an impossibly noble lens. The show still takes the odd dig at its dead broke otaku heroes here and there, but never with enough sharpness to puncture the balloon of idol worship at its core.

Kuutei Dragons – 02

Mario: After one third of the season done, I just remember a little show with no sub in which I enjoyed its premiere, Kuutei Dragon, so I decided to check the second one out, even with the 60 fps fan version (my first experience with 60 fpr and I still don’t get why people do that). Gotta say I still find this show charming. Whereas in Dorohedoro the characters share their chemistry by their love of food, in Kuutei Dragons it has only two things in mind: dragon hunter and dragon cuisine. The quest to enjoy this mystic beast’s meat is strong and it’s fun to watch. I also like its tongue-in-cheek humor and it has the same appeal of The Magnificent Kotobouki last year. I will check out the next episode, and if it proves to be as entertaining as the first two, then I’ll be happy to hop in for the ride.

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Runway De Waratte – 4 [Young Talents]

by Lenlo, posted in Runway de Waratte

Everyone, we are now 1/3rd of the way through Runway De Waratte and I have to say… It ain’t great. There might be a few issues, just a few I promise. Such as the family drama that starts and ends within 5 minutes. Or the genius rival, or maybe just everyone standing around like stiff cardboard. All that side though, it’s great! So let’s dive in.

Starting off, and I know it can get annoying with how often we talk about it, Runway’s Production. Now, sometimes, it can look alright. The fashion show last week made decent use of lighting and direction to focus in Chiyuki. Much like an actual fashion show would, with everything around her dimmed. Most of the time though, such as this week, everyone just looks…flat. Lifeless. Like stiff cardboard, stuck in the same positions across scenes. There is no life to them, they all stand straight backed and immovable. It reminds me of Irregular at Magic Highschool, except without the excuse of complex character designs. Where the only thing ever moving in many scenes are the mouths, which are disturbingly small. Simply put, Runway is not interesting or engaging to watch, visually, at all. There is no aesthetic draw to the series, and the narrative doesn’t help much either.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 15/16 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Throwback Thursday

It only took 16 episodes, a couple of close calls and an odd recap, but Neon Genesis Evangelion has finally entered weird territory. There really is no other way to put it without getting into the nitty gritty. So let’s just jump straight into this weeks double feature.

Starting off we have Episode 15, Lies and Silence. This was largely a more Slice of Life style episode, really focusing in on Evangelion’s characters. The problem with this though is that without any major conflict, it really showed just how weak some of its characters are. Rei for instance was always and continues to be just lifeless. Devoid of almost any purpose or emotion behind what she does. I have suspicions for why this is that we will get into later. But regardless of if they are true or not, she simply isn’t particularly interesting nor can she hold a scene on her own. Similarly this week also shows us the worst parts of Asuka’s character and just how annoying she can be. Episode 16 continued this, with a tad more context yes, but she wasn’t particularly enjoyable to put up with.

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Dorohedoro – 03 [Night of the Dead]

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

When this show’s OP dropped, featuring Nikaido preparing the meat for her famous gyoza, the catchphrase “Dorohedoro is a cooking anime” started to make the rounds. It probably existed even before that, when the manga was the only available version of the story. I get the humor behind the phrase – the show is so ambitious, so violent, and so unpredictable that referring to it as a cooking series is a fine bit of irony. But upon further reflection, Dorohedoro is as much about food as it is about anything else. How many meals have we seen the characters eat in just three episodes? Caiman and Nikaido’s relationship is built on food, and the cleaner duo of Shin and Noi relate to each other best when they’re eating. Sitting down and sharing a meal is the one real-life practice that made its way into the potpourri of madness that is Dorohedoro, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. When Shin talks about his past with Noi over lunch, or Caiman helps Nikaido buy that meat grinder she’s been eyeing, we’re reminded of how closely they resemble ordinary people. If Dorohedoro is a three course meal, the humanity of its cast is the main dish.

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Magia Record – 04 [This Isn’t the Past]

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

I can certainly see the game mechanics in new episode: a whole new cast, a new rumor/ mystery, with Iroha’s quest to find Ui as a central plot. This is not a bad episode by any means, but I feel largely indifferent when the EP rolls. To Magia Record credits, the visual Shaft displays this week is a stunner. Magia Record looks on par with Madoka Magica, and this week the visual is benefited from the gorgeous art designs of last minute event. The story, however, is not as neat. While I really like the rumor behind it – the “Seance Shrine” can grant you the wish of meeting your lost one – and how it ties up with another urban legend of a woman who does everything to bring her dead husband back, it’s the new set of characters who doesn’t appear as memorable and the plot does meander at times. I’m talking about Yachiyo suddenly goes shopping in the middle of the quest and somehow that advances the story?

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