Dr.STONE – 19/20 [To Modernity/The Age of Energy]

by Lenlo, posted in Dr.STONE

Hello all, to this double feature of Dr.STONE, as this lazy bones plays catch up. Apologies for missing last week, but a combination of factors made getting the post up in time… difficult. Enough excuses though, onto the episodes!

Starting off, since I missed two episodes, let’s talk about the production for a second. As in these two episodes we saw both what Dr.STONE does poorly, and what it does really well. For the first, the obvious answer is of course action. Quick, fluid movements, simply don’t play well with Dr.STONE’s visual style. Nor does it really fit the series itself. For as I have said time and time again, Dr.STONE is not an action series. However what the series does well, in my opinion, is filling tiny scenes with large emotions. Scenes that, in the grand scheme, mean nothing yet Dr.STONE fills them with human emotion. The easy example of this being Homura and the cotton candy in Episode 20. A simple thing, meaningless in the greater story, but to me it speaks of Dr.STONE’s true strength. That being its portrayal of humanity.

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Hoshiai no Sora – 06

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, Hoshiai no Sora

I’ll say this for Hoshiai no Sora – the tennis scenes look good. Characters are shown positioning themselves, swinging, and following through with remarkable consistency. The shortcuts that once plagued Baby Steps and Prince of Tennis rarely appear during this series, and that’s worth celebrating. There were even a few serves in this episode that approached Hanebado levels of frame density, so it’s clear that the show’s animators are reaching for the stars. That said, many of the characters are given the same form on their forehand shots, and the matches are composed with ample time for them to set up in front of the ball. Without mixing in more backhand winners, smashes, and diving returns, games will start to feel too familiar once we enter the eventual tournament arc. The alternative would be to be to rely on gimmicks, and judging by this episode’s third match, that’s not Sora’s strong suit.

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State of the Season – Fall 2019

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, State of the Season

Welcome to the second official State of the Season! I’m your host, Amun, and joining us are the esteemed Wooper, Mario, and Lenlo! For Fall of 2019, the anime community awaited more sequels than Star Wars – surprisingly, some first-season hidden gems lurk among these established franchises.

In this State of the Season, we’ll take a look at the shows we’re enjoying, make some bold claims, and crown one (well, several actually) Midseason Masterpiece, plus deride the shows that failed to hold our attention. Us writers then head to the anime confessional booth, where we’ll admit our guilty pleasures for the season. From the confessional to the altar we go, where we serenade the season’s waifus (…and a Firearm?!). Bringing it home are the shows we’re watching that aren’t airing, followed by a roundtable of one of this season’s most anticipated originals: Beastars.

From all the authors here at Star Crossed, we hope you enjoy!
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Neon Genesis Evangelion – 2 [An Unfamiliar Ceiling/The Beast] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Throwback Thursday

Hello all and welcome to week 2 of Neon Genesis Evangelion! I know a lot has been going on lately, what with the site scare, but don’t worry. A lot of work is going on in the back and we have plans. In the meantime, how about we just jump into this week’s episode of Giant Murder Robots?

Starting off, Evangelion continues to look good. There were some really nice shots this week, both in terms of direction and animation. For the first, I actually want to look towards the aftermath of the opening battle with the Angel. And how Evangelion really sells us on the scale of everything, not forgetting a single detail. What with the guns the size of buildings, and the bullets the size of cars. All with humans in the same shot, it establishes the scale of the conflict really well. For animation, I need look no further than the brutal fight itself. From the destruction of the arm to the almost fluid movements of the Eva. Most of all though, it was the impacts on the skull that sold it for me. Perhaps in the future this will become a bit much, but I think it sets the tone well this early.

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Beastars – 06

by SuperMario, posted in Beastars, Currently Watching:

This episode marks the beginning of the next chapter after introduction phase in the first five episodes. This week it’s all about expanding its unique settings. Many new players are introduced, most notably Juno, the female underclassmen grey wolf, and Gouhin the Panda, who all make a nice first impression. This week is also the first time we see the outside world, and most significantly, the black market. In addition, the core themes about “being true to their nature” takes a sharp progression in this episode, which forces Legosi to re-access what his feeling is for Haru. It’s a truly knockout episode in every sense.

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Chihayafuru S3 – 06 [Tatsuta River Ablaze]

by SuperWooper, posted in Chihayafuru, Finished Series: Sports

Every time I try to take notes on this series, I get sucked into its rhythm and hit the end of the episode before I know it. The show arranges bursts of competition, moments of inner monologue, and diverse crowd reactions for maximum effect. In wondering how it manages to cast that spell so consistently, I checked director Morio Asaka’s ANN page, and he’s got a ton of storyboard credits to his name. Almost all of his non-directorial work, in fact, has been in that capacity, and the team he’s got working on Chihayafuru right now has done storyboards for Utena, Monster, and HxH 2011, among other classics. That last one makes sense, as it’s also a Madhouse production, but even if the studios hadn’t matched, I could have identified the link between both shows. Chihayafuru often surrounds its characters with the sort of auras that Hunter x Hunter did, to the point that I got Meruem vibes from some of Inokuma’s scenes last week. Maybe that’s why I get so wrapped up in this series – the episode planners know exactly when to push the “camera” in, and how to make the characters pop when they do.

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Fall 2019 Summary – Week 6

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: I have good news and bad news, everyone. The bad news is that there won’t be a Weekly Summary next Monday. The good news is that our quarterly State of the Season post will be taking its place for one week only, packed with takes of all temperatures on the fall’s anime offerings. We hope you’ll be entertained by our divergent opinions and questionable tastes. In this week’s post: Mario drops a commenter favorite, amun continues to insist on the greatness of NGL, and Wooper assumes Immortal duty.

Hi Score Girl II 1-3

Mario: Hi Score Girl is back and it picks up right away. It’s a neat trick to start the season from Oono’s perspective, for example, since she’s a stoic character who doesn’t mutter a single word (how funny that she also participate in vulgar shiritori with her sister and Haru’s mom), and because the rest of these three episodes focus more on Haru – Hidaka dynamic. Out of the three mains, Hidaka remains the most sympathetic character, mostly because she is true with her emotions and the sad situation she’s in (the cursed third wheel). Her emotional progress towards Haru is believable, and her push towards Haru through physical means just signifies how desperate she is now. At the same time, there’s plenty of arcade games and its cultures throughout these episodes. There’s an original-content bit that I feel is well done as it strengthens the charms of this coming-of-age show. Haru’s taking part of Shibuya crowd is a bit to rush, though, given we see very little of how he spends time with them. All in all, Hi Score Girl is back in full force.

 

Kabukichou Sherlock 5

Wooper: I was waiting for this episode. Ever since we learned that Kabukichou features five detectives apart from Sherlock, I’ve been wondering when we’d get a case where he’s not at the center of things. Turns out it happened relatively early in the show’s run, as Sherlock didn’t make an appearance until the 11 minute mark here. Lucy is the primary investigator instead, and even though the title character solves the case of the swindled sumo wrestler before she does, she’s the one to confront the criminal, who also happens to be her former idol. That’s an important detail, because it makes the episode more personal for her. There’s a flashback to her early childhood (which is marked by tragedy and abandonment), and we also get the story of the future thief who saved her sister upon their arrival in East Shinjuku. It’s the first real showcase for any non-Sherlock character, and given how early it arrived in the series’ two cour run, it’s unlikely to be the last.

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Psycho-Pass 3 – 03 [Herakles and the Sirens]

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Psycho-Pass 3

It’s a slower episode this week for Psycho-Pass 3 but there is so much to unpack when it comes to details of the characters and how it relates to the latest case of the candidates for the governorship of Tokyo. There are family connections, hidden pasts and plot threads that point to something far bigger. Continue reading “Psycho-Pass 3 – 03 [Herakles and the Sirens]” →

Hoshiai no Sora – 04/05

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, Hoshiai no Sora

Let’s have a round of applause for Maki the Genius, everyone. In a tennis club full of clashing personalities, only he was incisive enough to see that hotheads and shy boys shouldn’t be paired together. Imagine everyone’s surprise when he put compatible players on the same doubles teams and they immediately started to work in synchronicity. He even took it easy on them to boost their confidence, a gesture that the script bends over backwards to illustrate. And just in case you missed his masterful makeover of the tennis team, Toma directly thanks him for bringing about all this change in such a short amount of time. How does Maki respond? “Naw, everyone is just trying their best.” Sasuga Maki-sama. Is there anything this kid can’t do? Apart from stopping his new best friend from signing his own death warrant, I mean.

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