Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 23 [In The Wind]

by Lenlo, posted in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru

Welcome, one and all, to the finale of Kaze Fui. It has been a wild ride to get to this point, as the series did the impossible. It made running ~140 miles more interesting and dramatic than a fight for the fate of the universe (Looking at you DBZ). So, for the final time, let’s talk running boys.

Starting off, visually, Kaze Fui was beautiful this week. The animation team really kicked it up a notch, with numerous high fidelity shots. Examples of this include Haiji’s panning shot as he runs under the bridge and basically any shot of the dog. I swear, the frame count must have doubled, there was so much motion going on. As if that wasn’t enough, Kaze Fui also knocked it out of the part with its direction and cutaways. Conveying so much emotion in individual images or scenes, with no spoken words, is a feat worth lauding. Simply put, as a finale, this was more than up to snuff visually. Really, the last 5 episodes straight have met that requirement, with only minor CGI popping in. But this episode didn’t even have that. Now though, lets get on to the actual story.

Continue reading “Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru – 23 [In The Wind]” →

Dororo – 12 [The Story of Banmon, Part 2]

by Lenlo, posted in Dororo

Welcome to the first cour finale for Dororo! This week the Kagemitsu family reunites, Tahomaru turns a blind eye and Hyakki starts a war. Lets jump in!

More than usual, we need to talk about production, because Dororo really stepped it up this week. The direction, as always, was fantastic. There were a lot of shots I loved. From Daigo turning to face Hyakki, to Oku viewing him through the Buddha statue. Hyakki standing on the wall, forcing his way into the family and promptly being pushed away. There were a lot of great shots that stood out throughout this episode. Thats not even mentioning the step up in fluid animation we got this week in many of the fights. Sure, the archers are basically machine gun storm troopers, but hey. The actual sword and demon fights looked fantastic. The green flame flying through the air, taking shapes and lighting up the sky. Clearly MAPPA put a lot of care into the episode, and that’s not even mentioning the story content.

Continue reading “Dororo – 12 [The Story of Banmon, Part 2]” →

Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 12 [The Battle for Social Rehabilitation ~Friendship~]

by Lenlo, posted in Mob Psycho 100 II

Welcome one and all to the penultimate episode of Mob Psycho! This week Mob steps up, a Hobo finds his courage and Reigen finds a gun. Lets jump in!

Right off the bat, as always, I have to say Mob Psycho looked fantastic. There has been some disagreement/quibbling on my part about some still shots in the past. But none of that changes how, in motion, Mob Psycho is the best looking series of the season and probably year. The style in all of the important shots is beautiful, and the motion put into even the tiniest scenes is astounding. Often in anime, you will have scenes where the only movement is the mouth as they talk. Occasionally though you get a series, like Mob Psycho, that goes the extra mile. That animates body or facial movement to go with the mouth. Its a small thing, and often when reading subs you don’t notice it. But when you do, like I did this week, it makes you appreciate it all the more.

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 12 [The Battle for Social Rehabilitation ~Friendship~]” →

Spring Season 2019 Preview

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Seasonal Previews

HelghastKillzone: The Winter 2019 season of anime was pretty good, wasn’t it? It was filled with great adaptations, amazing animation work, hyped sequels, brand new movie releases from major franchises and the reimagining of old IPs. When it comes to the upcoming spring season though… I fear that it just won’t be as good as these last three months. We’ll give you our thoughts on what interests us but from a curious glance at the numbers from MAL and the PVs shown so far, it is certainly looking thin on hit shows.

Mario: Spring 2019 can also be seen as the season where the three arguably MOST INNOVATIVE auteurs working in anime today are releasing their new works. Shinichiro Watanabe, Masaaki Yuasa, Kunihiko Ikuhara… they all have changed the anime industry in some ways, and it’s unavoidable that their new works will be hyped to the sky.

This also marks the first time where Aidan steps down from editing this preview, so in a way, this is our first real collaborative effort for this type of post. Personally, doing this preview reminds me how much of a pain it is to run through these things. So we offer our gratitude for old man Aidan for giving his opinions on shows that we will eventually forget ever existed. As it stands, I’m not too sure if we will keep this format for upcoming seasons, but rest assured that we, the writers here, will come up with a more suitable format that still benefits you readers.

For this edition Helghast and I are also doing the Movie Preview section. Due to the nature of movie release, many films we preview below won’t be available to us for a good 6-months, or in some cases, a whole year, so this preview serves more as putting these titles into your radar. Keep in mind that this isn’t a comprehensive list (nor do we intend to make one), the list below is merely anime movies that we believe have some merits for you to check out. In the end, a whooping 13 titles are previewed for this season alone, just to say how the anime industry has been more concentrated to theatrical releases more than ever.

Again, sorry for the late post. If you are looking forward to certain shows this upcoming season, make your voice heard by either voting in the two lovely polls below or leaving a comment.

What will you be watching this spring?
VoteResults

 

The sequels/shorts we don’t care about

Araiya-san! Ore to Aitsu ga Onnayu de!? (softcore short)
Aikatsu Friends! Kagayaki no Jewel (sequel)
B Rappers Street (kiddie)
Bakumatsu: Crisis (sequel)
Beyblade: Burst Gachi (kiddie)
Bungou Stray Dogs 3 (sequel)
Chou Kadou Girl ⅙ (short)
Duel Masters!! (kiddie)
Diamond no Ace: Act II (sequel)
Han-Gyaku-Sei Million Arthur 2 (sequel)
Joshi Kausei (short)
Kedama no Gonjiro (kids)
KING OF PRISM -Shiny Seven Stars- (sequel)
Midara na Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai (short)
Nande Koko ni Sensei ga!? (short)
Nobunaga-sensei no Osanazuma (short)
Rilakkuma and Kaoru-san (kiddie)
Senryuu Shoujo (short)
The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Climax Season (short)
World Witches Series 501: Butai Hasshinshimasu! (short)
Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki (short)
Yousei Chiitan (kiddie)

Series we don’t care about

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai

Studio: Arvo Animation/ Silver
Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Script/Series composer: Gou Zappa
Source: Manga
Yuiga Nariyuki tutors three genius of different subjects in highschool to get a scholarship. Furuhashi Fumino is a genius on literature but horrible in math, Ogata Rizu is a genius on mathematics and science but literature and arts are terrible subjects for her and Takemoto Uruka is a genius in the athletic field but really bad in all the others. Together, they study very hard and want to get better at their worst subjects while Fumino and Ogata wants to go to college and work on these subjects for life.

Aidan: Well for this one let me ask you something. Do you remember Nisekoi? That manga and Shaft anime which had the internet fighting an endless waifu war over a series which was nothing but vapid harem antics that never led anywhere? A series born from a mangaka whose more interesting works like Double Arts got axed and just decided to make the most generic thing he could as a joke that became ridiculously successful? Well this series isn’t really related to that author but let me tell you that this is the new Nisekoi. Oh it starts with some promise of story and is even interesting to a degree. But make no mistake that much like To Love RU and Nisekoi, that story just evaporates and we are left with the harem girl of the week formula where each girl is given a momentary pedestal to give the impression that she’s somehow gonna get this guy only to be brushed aside by next chapter. The endless purgatory continues until the author finally decides to end it or stops getting paychecks. You may find some value in its opening episodes, readers, but take it from someone who read long into the series, this is just a waste of time. Continue reading “Spring Season 2019 Preview” →

Yakusoku no Neverland – 11[140146]

by AidanAK47, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Yakusoku no Neverland

Its safe to say that this series has been building up to this moment for a long time and it’s finally here. The escape has begun and for once Isabella has been put on the defensive. As far as this episode is concerned I feel it was pulled off excellently. Though I do feel that some choices were made that way solely for the sake of drama. The big thing here being that Ray revealed that he never intended to leave the house alive and fully intended to use his suicide by fire to distract Isabella long enough for the other kids to escape. His fatalistic notion seemly born more out of a sense of revenge rather than desire to end his own life though he does mention it as a sort of atonement for all the kids he sacrificed to get to this point. But alas this is not to be as it appears that Norman could really see through Ray’s intent to sacrifice himself and already gave Emma a note to ensure that this didn’t happen. But here’s where my particular gripe with this scene comes into play. For you see while this makes for a good twist, it also puts Emma’s actions into question as she reacted to Ray putting his plan forward as though she was hearing it or the first time. At no point during that conversation did Emma seem like she was ready to jump in as stop him. I must ask, if Emma intended to fake Rays suicide and had kids on standby ready to do so then why did she wait to the point where Ray drops a goddamn match?

In fiction I understand that some leeway must be made in order to accommodate the audience like villains vocalising their plans so that the audience can know of them. Here however it just seems ridiculously out of character that Emma would just stand back, let Ray douse himself in lighter fluid, light a match and drop a lit match before she interjected. Ray gave her plenty of time to do so so you cannot blame this on the usual concept of “Anime time” wherein the scene shown is not relative to the time it actually took place in. Ray laid out his intentions perfectly for a few minutes and not once,not once, did Emma speak up and let him know that she was ready for this. The only reason that could be given for Emma waiting that long is just to give the fake out to the audience and the dramatic flair of Emma catching the match at the last second. I feel that it would be better if Ray moved fast and did all this in a few seconds as we didn’t need him to spell out what he was planning as Norman does so within his letter. At least this scene would make more sense within the context of the story. Indeed this seems to be an ongoing flaw with this series as a whole, that being concessions made to include the audience by having character do illogical things within the context of the world they are in.

I also feel that this series has now demonstrated its unwillingness to kill off it’s main trio. Norman is still unconfirmed to be alive or dead but personally I believe him to be alive especially considering this latest fake out with Ray. These three have officially obtained plot armour so any dangerous situations they encounter won’t have me wondering for a second if they will make it out alive. The other kids of course are up for debate but as far as these three are concerned, I see them as unkillable until proven wrong. For a series that treats life and death as it’s main hook i can say that would be a big detriment to my enjoyment. Other than that I quite liked the music that played when Isabella had been outwitted, quite funky considering the soundtrack has been rather conservative so far. I didn’t really like Isabella going Krone for a bit just to let the audience know what she was thinking as it did seem very out of character for someone so reserved. Having Ray just be pure dumbfounded after the reveal of the true plan was rather comical and it is rather interesting looking back on previous episodes and even seeing signs that other kids were aware of their circumstances. Finally it appears the Chekhov gun to end all Chekhov’s guns has arrived as Phil’s master plan comes into full effect and the masterstoke of three dimensional chess planning of this little smiling demon child.

Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – 11

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

Can somebody explain why, in an episode where Kaguya’s loveless upbringing is shown to have profoundly damaged her, 14 minutes were dedicated to stories about eating ramen and not understanding Twitter? With only two slots left in your single cour run, these had to be among the most skippable chapters in the manga (assuming they’re not original material), yet they consumed the bulk of this episode. Was the goal just to pass time so the summer festival could double as the series’ conclusion? It feels like every time we get an episode that reaches the standards the beginning of the show set for itself, the next one has to take three steps back. I’m sure many of you are tired of reading these sentiments, but I’m just as tired of the weird missteps the anime is making. Taken as a whole, this batch of chapters wasn’t even bad, just the sort of unfocused grab bag the show ought to have ironed out of its repertoire by now.

The first of our stories this week was more about Hayasaka’s occupational weariness than Kaguya’s lack of technological prowess. We’ve seen that Kaguya’s valet does a great impression of a normal high school girl, which helps her blend in at Shuchiin Academy while looking after her charge. What’s clearer than ever after this week, though, is that she has a real desire for normalcy, and perhaps even an awkward first romance of her own. She plays it off as a bit of bathtime musing, but it’s clearly real, which is what makes Hayasaka such a good fit as Kaguya’s friend – they both want freedom from their household’s oppressive atmosphere. If we’re being honest about the broader appeal of this episode, though, Kaguya’s search for “Twitter” in the dictionary will probably make a bigger impact than anything about the girls’ relationship. Her struggle to replicate a captcha phrase was the kind of “so relatable” moment that barely outranks reference humor in terms of comedic effort. And just imagine all the 13 year old guts her confusion about protected accounts must have busted. Is my general disdain for social media coming through right now, guys?

Only slightly better was the ramen chapter, which handled narrator duties over to a brand new middle-aged salaryman character who will probably never be seen again. He creepily observes every step of Fujiwara’s ordering and eating processes, and judges her to be a worthier ramen connoisseur than himself after she buys a fantastic dish and devours it with childish abandon. Was this segment funny? I’d say so, yeah. Some of the dramatic shading on the narrator’s face and his overreactions were worth a chuckle or two. But it didn’t teach me anything new about the characters I like. Even Fujiwara was short-changed by this chapter, and she was the only council member to appear on screen. A far better version of the same story might have cut out the middle-aged man and included both of Chika’s sisters in the restaurant with her. Then we could have learned about two new characters, while getting a different perspective on a familiar one by contrasting her with her family. Perhaps the temporary narrator was meant to parody a Japanese pop cultural figure? If not, this chapter feels like a missed opportunity, as the show is quickly coming to a close, and every minute counts.

The bit with Shirogane and Kaguya visiting the student council room and missing each other by mere moments felt abrupt, probably to make room for the post-credits scene. Those few minutes were certainly the most intriguing part of the episode. At first I thought Kaguya had been summoned to their family’s Kyoto home for a marriage interview, given the table where she was sitting, but apparently all she was called to do was greet her father for two seconds as he walked brusquely past. Perhaps she was called out just to interrupt the shopping plans she made in a previous episode, which would make her father a meddler on top of being an “asshole” (Hayasaka’s words). This is the third episode in a row where Kaguya’s love for fireworks has appeared, and here it carries the most emotional heft of the three. Fireworks are loud, bright, and colorful – all things Kaguya was never allowed to be as a child. Shirogane had better get his shit together and properly invite her to the summer festival. If her pained vocal delivery is anything to go by, she needs to reclaim her lost youth now more than ever.

Paranoia Agent – 9 [Etc.] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Paranoia Agent, Throwback Thursday

Hello all, and welcome to a very… odd episode of Paranoia Agent. Which, knowing this show, is saying something. This week we tackle public gossip, the inconsistencies that come with it and if there is any truth to it. Lets go!

Starting off, let’s talk about the execution. Normally here, I talk about animation and production, but Paranoia Agent has been pretty consistent on that front to this point. Giving me little to talk about without repeating myself. So instead, how was this executed? In my opinion, it was very interesting to watch. You could never tell, at least at first, which pieces of gossip were real or not or how much so. With how crazy Paranoia Agent has been up to this point, this line of what is or is not believable was pushed very far back. So in that sense, this episode did a fantastic job expanding on the world while staying true to its weird/eldritch roots. That said, just like last week, this feels rather fillery. It doesn’t move the plot forward. At best, it tells us Shounen Bat is more prolific than we though.

Continue reading “Paranoia Agent – 9 [Etc.] – Throwback Thursday” →

Kemurikusa – 11

by SuperMario, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Kemurikusa

At long last, we have an entire episode in flashback and explains much of its Kemurikusa’s rich settings. Even at the risk of over-informed us with details, all the information we learn this week is both unexpected, and makes total sense. Before we get into the details, (AND WHAT A MAJOR REVEAL), I feel the need to mention the soundtrack/ score of Kemurikusa. The score isn’t flashy by any mean, but it fits very well to the tone of this world. TATSUKI is the person of praise here, as you can see the pure authenticity, the total control towards this indie project. While normally characters writings (and their dialogues) aren’t his forte, the way he builds up his world-buildings – details upon details, to the point you can see every bit in its world is there for a reason – is amongst simply masterwork. More than any other episode, this week sweeps viewers away by a flashback story between Wakaba and the First Person, which turns out to be a resurrected child name Riri, at the very start of it all. And Kemurikusa manages to close the episode seamlessly when it cuts from the cliffhanger to the extended ED that just by looking at the ED alone, you’d learn the entire context of what had been happening. Beautiful. This week certainly the best episode of Kemurikusa so far, to the point where it singlehanded raise the show up a notch for me.

So the first major drop is Riri herself, whom who soon learn is “saved” by Wakaba the researcher. The show distinctly points her as the only human in this cast (leaving Wakaba as an alien. We will get to that later). She does have a talent of mixing/ creating kemurikusa, and she’s the one who creates red toxic kemurikusa out of her goodwill. The irony is certainly there as she only wanted to make it just so that Wakaba won’t overworked. I certainly appreciate the art direction of this flashback, especially in regards to the red/blue hybrid post-apocalyptic world these girls are in now. The settings are drawn with dull (and much less aggressive) color palette compared to the current world. In addition, with only little screen time, the flashback does a decent job of selling us the chemistry between Wakaba and Riri.

The reveal certainly answers many questions, but in turns it brings another one: who and what exactly is Wakaba the present? His former self is an alien scientist who studies about Kemurikusa and making islands. He is indeed the Captain of these white bugs, and lastly the Kemurikusa technology is entirely man-made and unnatural. But what about his current self? I believe he’s Wakaba’s clone who inhabits his personality but not his memory. It’s pretty much up in the air whether the original Wakaba is still alive or already bite the dust.

Lastly, we have a pretty firm context regarding the origin of Kemurikusa girls (and how each of them inherits one of the First Person’s sense), and the content of the blurry text. By combining all Kemurikusa leaves and splits into multiple red hair girls, she gives up being a human with her mission is to save Wakaba. It certainly feels bitter how these girls have been struggling (and even lost their own objective) ever since. At this point I am almost certain that we won’t see other sisters again, and hopefully, Rin and Wakaba can take Riri’asbody back. I feel pretty much rewarding that I stick to Kemurikura’s ride until now, because this episode is simply a blast that reaffirms everything that comes before it.

Winter 2019 Summary – Week 9-10

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Weekly Summary

Another two weeks have passed, and Summer Season is coming in sight. It’s the time where most shows get busy as they reach their final arc. Mob Psycho 100 ventures into its shounen roots,  Run with the Wind does extremely well in its last leg, literally, and Kemurikusa girls part way emotionally. Let’s see how these 4 shows below perform in this last 2 weeks.

Gotoubun no Hanayome (ep09-10)

While this class trip provides many more opportunities for Futaro encounters (and improves) his relationship to the sisters, in a bigger scheme I’d prefer if there’s no overarching arc at all for Gotoubon. The fun here for me is how he tries to get closer and helps them in some ways, not about how he has to choose “the one”. I still enjoy it though how he find himself in the damnedest situation: either dance with Ichiba (and the whole Miku’s mess) or pretends to be a delinquent boy to dance with best girl Nino. The whole Nino and blonde dude situation is admittedly silly, but one that I don’t mind. This show has never shy away from rom-com tropes, and fan-service on top of it, but it’s the case where the creator knows exactly where it’s going. As a result, it’s mostly well-executed and the situations are snappy enough to land before another jokes come in. While I still regard the first half of Gotoubon is better (learning about the girls are so much fun), let’s hope this dance – which by itself will be a focal point of this cour – ends on a high note.

Continue reading “Winter 2019 Summary – Week 9-10” →

Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai – 09/10 [The Vagabond Leader/ The Aggressive Bombers]

by SuperMario, posted in Finished Series: Action, Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai

Welp, Kotobuki is getting really good. Normally this is the time where shows reach its final overarching arc, and sometimes it loses a bit of it magic because of that (like what I currently have with Gotobun), but with its tongue-in-cheek manner and its main storyline that is totally unexpected but weirdly fit to the narrative, I’m all in for this final ride. Needless to say the first half of episode 9 is an unusually quiet moment for Kotobuki, now that the Squadron is out of mission so that the members are taking side jobs. Again, it isn’t the story but the presentation that makes Kotobuki such a fascinating show to watch. All of these are colored by their casual conversations carried by a member of Kotobuki squad and some stranger that you could immediately tell these characters have known each other for a long time. They only leave Kirie behind the office and of course the eccentric Kirie isn’t too fond on the idea of sitting around. I’ve come to certain that Kirie is a perfect protagonist for Kotobuki the show. The show relies on rapid fire conversations, goofy but likable characters and well-choreographed aerial battles and Kirie fits the bill extremely well. Just see how she reacts when playing dead at the end of episode 9 you would understand the way she can shine in small moments like that.

And then the plot suddenly kicks into gear as Kirie takes Allen (Kate’s brother) on a sightseeing trip. He then informs about the holes that once let through the Yufang have opened up at other places and that Isao is trying to monopolize the city so that he can take full control of that hole. It has been established several times before about this hole (during the first time we meet Allen), but to think that the story would head this way is totally unexpected, but one that is welcomed. Of course, as soon as they find the hole they get ambushed by dozen air jets where they managed to shoot down some before biting the dust themselves. Allen proves that he knows more than he lets on here and proves to be a good addition to the case. By saying that nothing can beat the introduction of a new character IN FREAKING EPISODE 10 (but she’s awesome so…), Naomi, who was in a dogfight with Kirie several times before, and who is then revealed to be a pupil of Old Sab. This old dude sure is popular.

Regarding the big bad overarching plot, Julia is forced out of the council for being against Isao and she seeks asylum from the Kotobuki Squad. There are two interesting plot threads going on right now. First, what is the significant of this hole? We have witnessed it sucking the entire bombs and vanishing like nothing happened. There is a rumor where it sucks out the entire sea. What is going to happen when they go inside the hole? Will they get transported to another world (isekai material right there!!). Second is the very motive of the charisma Isao. He appears as a goofy loud character and so far he acts like a true tyrant (bombing, monopoly and whatnot) but that all has to do with the hole. So what is his relationship with the hole that he’d risk everything, even bombing the cities, to achieve? I guess in the next event he might team up to the Kotobuki Squad when the girls learn more about the hole. And that’s not a bad development at all in my book.