Planetes – 2 [Like a Dream] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Planetes, Throwback Thursday

Welcome to week 2 of Throwback Thursday, as we continue our dive into Planetes! This week we have a focused character story, some fun humor and lots of beautiful scenery. Lets jump in!

So starting off, Planetes continues to look fantastic. From the motion of the characters, to the colors and details in every scene. Even the lighting out in space is on point, with just their helmets to light the way. The sound design also adds to scenes. For example, the “Workin on a Railroad” whistle at the start of the episode. It’s a memorable tune, one that immediately sets how casual an event this is for them. Yet them being in space takes what is normal for us, just going to work, and makes it amazing. I think the blase attitude that Planetes character’s often take toward spell really help sell it. In other series it would be played up, “Ooo were in space”. But like Cowboy Bebop before it, to these characters it’s their day to day so why would it be amazing? Speaking of characters, a lot went on.

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Kaze Ga Tsukyoku Fuiteiru – 3 [A Single Flower]

by Lenlo, posted in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru

Hello and welcome to week 3 of Kaze Fui! This time our boys start running, Kurahara meets someone from his past and poor Akane ups and dies. Lets jump in!

So general stuff first, Kaze Fui continues to look just beautiful. The running animation really is nice, and its unique for each runner. From Kurahara’s perfect stride to Akane’s zombie-like walk. Clearly someone at Production I.G. likes walk cycles. Then there was the wind effects, like Kurahara’s hair or clothes as he ran quickly. Our boy looks beautiful! The thin line work also helps the characters fit in on the screen instead of feeling like they were just superimposed onto a background. This week we also learned that they only have 10 months to prepare for the Ekiden and I have to say, that is a bit ridiculous. A 20km run after 10 months of training? For goodness sake, just his goal of a 16 min 5k, which is basically 3 miles, is ridiculous! After 4 months I can barely do 3 8 minute miles. Just seems unrealistic.

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SSSS.GRIDMAN – 02 [Restoration]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, SSSS.GRIDMAN

Me blogging a Trigger show? Well, I’ll be damned myself but life does take some strange turn. Not that I’m a Trigger naysayer but if I’ll be honest, Trigger shows tend to rub me in a wrong way. The studio is seen as the successor of Gainax for one thing, and the overhyped reactions from anime fandom regarding their shows certainly don’t help. I always find their outputs full of cliche with one-note characters, along with expressive animation. So my point is that after being extremely down with Darling in the FranXX, another original anime that takes inspiration from Power Ranger-style Tokusatsu show didn’t interest me at all. But GRIDMAN caught me completely off guard. The most prominent thing about it so far, and that’s what makes it different from the rest of the pack, is that it’s very offbeat – to the point it’s risk sacrificing the audience’s involvement. For me though, it works in the service of the story and it makes the ride wholly unexpected and rewarding.

It starts with Yuta waking up with an amnesia. It’s a well-worn trope to the bone but here, amusingly every single character treats it like no big deal. This sense of a lucid dream where you can’t tell apart what is dream and true is further added up by many strange events that function almost like a dream: its kaiju monsters standing in the middle of the city, but no one but Yuta sees it or the school is back to normal after the big destruction the day before. What I’m impressed the most so far in GRIDMAN is the commanding direction. Many beats sometimes stay for almost too long, but until much later should we know how these scenes are integral to the narrative. Take the scene happened early in episode 1 where Akane (the blue hair girl) offers Yuta a bread roll that is immediately swept away by the random ball for example. GRIDMAN literally pauses on the scene for few seconds, creating a deadpan affect. Until episode 2 should we learn that the single moment IS the reason for the kaiju outbreak and the disappearance of the girls in second episode. That also explains some weird shot placements to those girls earlier.

Similarly, the dialogues are offbeat as hell, but they all complement to the tone of GRIDMAN. at one point, Yuta’s friend Utsumi says, “the situation hasn’t sunk in yet”, everything happened so far function with the same sentiment. This works in both good and bad ways. On the positive side, the air of mystery is still there and we get a clear sense that everything is more than what it seems. Moreover, GRIDMAN nails it at the deadpan tones that occasionally gives me a chuckle or tow. The appearance of Samurai Calibur for example, or how we eventually learn that he’s the grand soce sword for Gridman is hilarious. On the other hand, I could see why the audience can’t feel personally resonate to it. It’s decided so. But what it lacks in term of realistic dialogue or plot, it makes uo by the strong visual presentation. They communicate more by glances rather than words. By Rikka’s look we can clearly see her affection to Yuta, although the show smartly doesn’t play it up so far. A single image of Akane’s room with piles of trash and glass cupboard of kaiju monsters inform you more than enough about her character. In a sense, the first 2 episodes of GRIDMAN can be seen as an anti-Trigger, it’s understated in tone and storytelling and instead relies on visual to enrich its world and characters. If GRIDMAN can maintains its tone it could very well be the surprise hit of the season.

And did I mention the general plot of GRIDMAN? In an essence, it’s a battle between a mecha Gridman piloted by Yuta and Kaiju monsters created by Akane. As simple as that. The trick here is the unconventional way it tells the story.

Goblin Slayer – 02[Goblin Slayer]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Goblin Slayer

The opening to this series is surprisingly more melancholic than I would have expected. When the shows opening started I was waiting for it to break into heavy metal but it stayed low and actually does match the rather dark nature of the series itself. After all this is a series about a PTSD madman who dedicated his life to killing all goblins and unlike Eren Yeager has actually made decent progress on that resolution. With the first episode mainly acting as a introduction of our protagonist and antagonists, the second episode sets out to go into more depth with Goblin Slayers routine. There are changes from what i have read of the manga and I am not certain if it’s truer to the source light novels but I find White Fox are handling the material well. There are some misgivings among viewers over missing scenes such as the comedic moments but I find that White Fox are focusing more on Goblin Slayers cold and ruthless nature while having him slowly get more human as the story goes on. I still find it ridiculous that this guy can somehow have a harem of three(Incoming elf girl for four) girls despite having no real charm and talking about nothing besides killing Goblins. Besides with him constantly hunting Goblins I would suspect he would smell quite bad from all the goblin blood.

I like the way that White Fox is interlacing the Slayers speech about being like a Goblin from the Goblins perspective with his merciless slaughter of a goblin hideout and one thing about this series that I do like is that despite his effort purely being out of personal revenge as well as being looked down upon by other adventurers, Goblin Slayer has gained quite a bit of fame for his exploits due to the fact that he takes care of one of the greatest threats to normal villagers. The contrast between him and other adventurers is certainly interesting as the adventurers act very much like any rpg player would. Indeed when playing an rpg why would I bother with a quest that pays little, nets me barely any exp and has no real reward besides moral grandstanding. Thus Goblin Slayers mental trauma has effectively netted him much goodwill from the people despite him never doing it for them in the first place. Even with the Slayers backstory I appreciate that White Fox are toning down the rather problematic aspects of the story as we certainly do not need a full page spread of goblins raping the protagonist’s sister in order to understand that this was a horrific traumatic event which set his course of life from that moment forward. Nor do we need any shots of goblin rape to remind us that Goblins are horrific creatures that fully deserve every pain the Slayer bestows upon them. Be it getting stabbing in the head with a pickaxe or lit on fire. Actually on that note I might as well say that fire arrows are not actually a effective weapon in reality as the wind from the arrow traveling through the air would often extinguish the flame.

There are two points of contention with this adaption for me though with the biggest being White Fox’s odd decision to render Goblin slayer in both 2D and 3D. This isn’t necessarily a rant against CGI in anime as I have no problems with Goblins being CGI at points and understand the reasoning behind it. Having a single goblin model which you can copy and paste around the place is more cost effect that drawing fifty goblins. It’s the lack of consistency which annoys me and the opening scene of this episode is a prime example. In the opening scene Goblin Slayer is having a chat with his old childhood friend and constantly throughout this scene they switch between 3D and 2D. Perhaps they thought it was seamless but to anyone watching it’s like someone pasted a toy model to the screen with how much it fails to blend into surroundings.It’s iterating as it constantly takes you out of the show to see him change so suddenly so frequently and I don’t quite understand as to why it was needed. Making a walk cycle for his childhood friend was no problem but making Goblin Slayer walk is too much trouble? Or is it that they don’t want to ruin the fanservice girl because boy is this big titted farm girl been showing a lot of that. Her very first scene isn’t even her face but instead her nude body after waking up and we got an unnessary scene of her bathing later as well which I just find strange. Fanservice is certainly nothing new but in a series like this you can’t help but feel it’s a forebringer of darker tidings as any cute girl is marked as a potential target for future goblin rape. I am just saying that in a series which features a awful lot of rape, isn’t trying to turn on your audience rather distasteful? That could lead to some rather bad fetishes developing for some people. Either way i wonder what will happen next week? WIll Goblin Slayer kill more Goblins? Well Yeah, most likely.

Zombieland Saga – 02[I ♡ HIP HOP SAGA]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Zombieland Saga

Zombieland Saga is madness. Pure insanity that could be complete genius or absolute idiocy. So for those who haven’t heard this anime is not the zombie apocalypse show that was initially thought, as a matter of fact the zombie apocalypse footage in the trailer was in fact a video the producer showed the girls to illustrate what happens to zombies if humans realised that they existed. No, Zombieland Saga is not that kind of show for it is an idol show. An idol show whose idols do screamo death metal and scare the hell out of people when they walk around at night. Also our idols happen to be the living dead who subside on squid for reasons unknown. I truly wish I could have been at the pitch meeting for this anime and shake the hand of the man mad enough to greenlight it. This is truly why I love anime as this is the kind of story that could only see the light of day here and not to mention, actually be pretty good.

It’s fairly safe to say that the voice actor for the producer is having a real fun time Houyon Kyouma-ing it up and his interaction is pretty damn funny. Particularly when someone calling him on his lies and all he can do to respond is throw a tantrum. What is real goals are at this point certainly seem elusive as it’s hard to tell if he has any agenda at all or is just doing this for kicks. There are mysteries that he refused to elaborate on like how the girls became zombies in the first place which he dodged by just saying to watch a zombie movie, which is pretty amusing considering that most zombie movies do not elaborate at all on what actually causes the outbreak. There is also the matter of the legendary Yamada Tae who is the only zombie not to wake up, seems to be the first zombie that the producer brought to life based on her designation of the number 0 and that she is literally known only as the legendary Yamada Tae without any info on what in particular that makes her legendary. He doesn’t even state as to why an idol group would save the saga region or even why he is interested in doing so in the first place. But then again this guy can’t seem to decide what the bands name is and just throws them on a stage with little in the way of preparation. both times which somehow worked out

I died when they started rapping on stage as I watched this show go from Love Live to 8 mile out of nowhere. The manager beatboxing, the courtson putting in a beat with a shamisen and Sakura bobbing to the music while having a rap battle a undead fromer motorcycle gang leader who is pissed cause her tamagotchi died. All of it had me smiling ear to ear and not to mention the rap actually sounded good despite it being used for the plot for Sakura to finally get the girls on board with the idol idea. So the question is whether this show will eventually have them performing idol songs or are they just going to jump from genre to genre? Cause I hope it’s the latter option because it is far too entertaining to just have them spontaneously jump into unfamiliar genres and if they ended with a version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller then…well greatness shall have been achieved. But admittedly that does run the risk of making this show rather formulaic when surprise is it’s greatest factor and this episode did follow a similar plotline to the first episode. As a last note I hear that Funimation have decided to simudub this series for this season and god have mercy on them. This second episode is going to be a nightmare to dub but hopefully they can pull it off and hopefully the actresses they got can rap as well as sing provided they dub it and don’t just switch to japanese for the rap. So will the girls finally sing an idol song next time? Will the legendary Yamada Tae wake up? Will they finally decide on a group name? Will Saki get over the death of her tamagotchi? Find out next time on zombie love live.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara – 02 [I Can’t Stand Magic]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara

It’s always neat to see a work that feels every inch a P.A Works production. When you think about the studio, you’d immediately associate them with their original shows, chief among them ‘Mature women in workplace’ unofficial trilogy, and The Eccentric Family (I consider the latter their pinnacle work). For the last 5,6 years the studio has consistently built up their reputation, resulted in them having their own aesthetic lense and a great amount of control over their outputs. Come Irozuku, an anime that, while doesn’t totally blow me away, still complement many strengths of P.A Works as one of the best anime studio around. The production, for example, is simply stunning. Not only Irozuku excels on characters movement and expression, it has a drop-dead gorgeous and rich background designs and wonderful aesthetic. Moreover, it’s that the staffs know how to tell the story visually. The monochrome visual from Hitomi informs us a great deal of her psychological issues. Or the final moments in this episode, where the photography captain Shou sees Hitomi performing magic alone; that moment alone conveys more emotions than thousand words can describe.

With this second episode, I start to warming up on Hitomi as our main character. In the premiere, she’s clueless. She’s so passive that other characters or the plot have to carry her along. In this episode 2, at least I can see her drive and I can relate to many of her issues. She’s attracted to a boy in her school Yuto, or to be more precise, she’s attracted to his drawings. The paintings literally come into colors in Hitomi’s eyes and she wants to see that again. That’s pretty relatable in her situation and again, points for P.A.Works for their great touch of displaying the colors she sees (it’s not realistic colors but is more colorful and painting-like). Their first encounter is awkward, as it should be, with all the break-in affair and friends’ gossips. This uneasiness comes to the point where Yuto asks her to perform real magic to prove her story, and in turns brings up Hitomi’s another issue (look up to this episode’s title). In the end, however, they share a pretty intimate moment, where he kindly asks her to perform magic again sometimes. The bigger question I have for now is that how Yuto fits in 60 years from now. I’m not convinced he’s Hitomi grandpa or even anyone that she knows at that timeline. So maybe, just maybe, he will be gone at some points in the future? Is that Hitomi’s mission all along to save/ learn about him?

While Hitomi comes to school where her grandma goes is as tropey a plot point as it can get, there are few things that make her school trip a treat to watch. First is the yet-to-be-seen Kohaku, her grandma about her age. While she isn’t physically there, her presence and her energy are still felt in this town, to the extent that Hitomi’s classmate treats her like they’d treat a cranky lion. It’s a matter of time until Kohaku makes a first appearance (I guess maybe the next one or 4th episode), but her playful antic will add more energy to Irozuku and until then we can learn better the reason why Hitomi got sent back in this timeline in a first place. The second factors are the supporting cast, who are all members of photography club (clue for more gorgeous arts). They have an easy and natural chemistry and they help bringing Hitomi to enjoy the school life more.

We also get a glimpse of Hitomi’s magic and while it’s underwhelming, it’s not due to her lack of power, but her refusal to use it. It will be interesting to see how Hitomi eventually opens up to use more of her magic, at the same time to open up with friends and sees more color to her life. It’s a conventional growing up tale, I know, but so far Izoruku nails its slow-burning pace, and conveys emotional beat not by the melodrama (*cough VioletEvergarden *cough) but by the strengths of its visual storytelling. While Irozuku certainly has its lows, there’s still a lot to look forward to based on these first two episodes.

Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san – 2 [Let Me Introduce My Crazy Colleagues in This Bookstore!]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Comedy, Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San

Ladies, Gentlemen and everyone in between, I welcome you to the 2nd episode of Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San, the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Lets jump in!

Considering Honda-San’s material, I am not even going to bother with spoilers. It’s a comedy short, deal with it. These posts will also be a little shorter than my normal ones, simply because Honda-San is a short. So that out of the way, I have to say, god I love this series. It’s the sort of grounded absurdist humor that just clicks with me. The jokes are short and sweet in the minute, and then manage to wrap around together at the end for a single theme. It helps that Honda-San runs at a mile a goddamn minute, throwing jokes every sentence. If one misses, you barely have a moment to process it before the next comes flying in. It’s the sort of comedy the Simpsons employed before it went downhill in Season 8.

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Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 – 02 [The Stolen Sorcerous Blades]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Thunderbolt Fantasy

Fun fact, I had just been to Taiwan and while in their local old bookstores and DVDs, I saw a section of puppetry animation dvds in the corner of the store (should’ve bought one now that I think about it). Apparently wuxia puppetry has a niche market in Taiwan, and so I’m glad that me, along with many anime fans all over the world, are aware about it. Thunderbolt Fantasy plays a huge role of bringing it to mainstream attention. The first season offered a refreshing aesthetic and playful characters that you won’t see anything like it in this medium. This show, I’d argue, help redefining the endless boundary of anime medium. To those of you who complain that Thunderbolt Fantasy isn’t animation, you’re technically right (read my old post how I break down about its technicality), but I’m on the side who consider that this wuxia fool is every inch an ANIME. It’s just not a style you’d see anywhere else.

The first thing I have to note on this second season is that you don’t really need a prior knowledge of the first season, so for anyone who want to go for a ride you can just jump right in. The first two episodes do a decent job of setting up the main conflicts, at the same time they suffer in term of pacing because of it. There’s just way too much exposition with very little awesome battle sequences, which make the story so far a little underwhelming. We pick up some time after the end of the first season, but with the issues we all know will come like a ticking bomb. Our Shang Bu Huan has an index of 36 insane legendary swords (think of flashy-sounding name and weird affect sword in Katanagatari x 36) and naturally it’s just too much of a burden for him to keep them with him. So our lead seeks assistance from the formidable Xian Zhen fortress, known as the most secure fortress in the side of the land. Things go awry very quickly because, as far as action show goes, the moments you leave the treasure to others’ hands, it’s a guaranteed that you’d spend the rest of the series cleaning up the mess. One thing that I didn’t expect is how quickly the tide turns against Shang Bu Huan.

For this installment we have a whole new set of supporting cast, all of them who come from Shang Bu Huan’s hometown and having crossed the Wastelands of Spirits. So far, it’s interesting that they fit in different roles in this ongoing conflict. On the one hand, we have red-haired Lang Wu Yao and his demonic talking pipa who is the blabbermouth that appear to be our lead’s ally. Well, for now they are but I can see the status quo change quickly once we  learn their true motive. As opposed to Shang Bu Huan we have the Princess of Cruelty Xie Yingluo, who tends to use tricks and poison to do the dirty job. On the other spectrum, we have the general Xiao Kuang Juan who (by coincidence) was escorted by our Gui Niao AKA the guy who could not be trusted. Gui Niao is curious as soon as he hears the name “Shang Bu Huan”, and so far this side of the battle is more high mind and conversational than his friend’s counterpart.

One other major development in these first two episodes is that Xie Yingluo manages to steal two legendary swords out from her half-piece sword index. Thunderbolt Fantasy makes it pretty clear that sword-skill wise she can’t compare to Shang Bu Huan. However, with the assistance of The Night of Mourning – a sword of mind-control, she turns all the helpless villagers against him and intoxics him. It’s the other sword (which we haven’t known the name or its affect yet), however, that proves to be more fearsome. I’d say that sooner or later that sword will fall into the wrong hand. Although the trademark over-designed and mannerism help making each of new character stand out, it’s sad to note that so far they’re more like chess pieces rather than full-fledged characters. The campy fun is still apparent, though.

Fall 2018 Anime Coverage

by SuperMario, posted in About

While there are some shows still lagging behind, we’ve pretty much had the general sip of what this new season has to offer. While personally I don’t have a clear favorite (my top shows only have 70% potential, the lowest since I’ve taken this job), there are many shows that genuinely surprise me. Who would’ve thought an anime with “Bunny Girl senpai” in the title can be this solid, or shows like Zombieland Saga and SSSS Gridman that defy their own tropes in every turn? On the negative side, I can regard this season as the season of bad-taste rape-attempts. From yaoi show about a romance between two sexy boys poisoned by attempted rape; goblins sexual assault to loli abuse, incest romance and a boy who travels to another world to make love with 12 different girls. This season has it all. Welcome to another season of Star Crossed Anime.

Here’s our schedule for the 2018 Fall Season:

Aidan: Goblin Slayer, Zombieland Saga, Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl-senpai no Yume wo Minai

Mario: Thunderbolt Fantasy 2, Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara, SSSS Gridman

Lenlo: BANANA FISH (carry-over), Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru, Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san (short), Planetes (Throwback Thursday)

Let’s enjoy this last season of the year together, my friends.

Banana Fish – 14 [Tender is the Night]

by Lenlo, posted in Banana Fish, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Welcome to an all new episode of Banana Fish! This time with a new OP, ED and progressed plot points. Lets jump in!

So before I get into spoilers, let’s talk about the new OP and ED. The OP is Freedom by Blue Encount, while the ED is Red by Survive Said The Prophet. Personally, I am not to fond of the new OP. It’s good, but unlike the first one Found & Lost also by Survive Said The Prophet, it just doesn’t captivate me. It’s something I am going to listen to once, say its neat, then skip each episode. Meanwhile the 2nd ED hits me just as hard as the first, Prayer X by King Gnu. It’s different no doubt, and Prayer X is still probably my favorite ED of the year, but it works. Maybe its just Blue Encount, as to me their song feels more like generic rock while the others feel more unique. Either way, Banana Fish is doing good on the music front.

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