Hanebado! – 06 [It’s Our Last Summer, You Know]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Hanebado!

It’s a side-character focus episode this week, and Hanebado goes back to its “more subtle” drama (note: more subtle by the show’s standard), which I gladly enjoy. It’s the glasses Riko who takes the spotlight this week, as Hanebado challenges her own badminton’s ambition by putting her against the tough opponent right at the first round. The way the show sets up her emotional trigger is apparent right in the first few shots. When the club advisor Miyako talks to Nagisa and her about the new uniforms, she seems almost out of place. It’s the manner of her looking down, afraid to charge on that signals what about to come for her development. Speaking of that, while I appreciate how Hanebado utilizes the visual language into its storytelling, I have some reservation regarding its presentation. It doesn’t feel natural, thus it sticks out not in a good way. The shot of Sora turning her back against Ayano I mentioned last week for example is way too obvious it takes you right out of the scene, and the same can be said with many shots Hanebado employ this week regarding Riko.

It’s the last year of tournament for Riko and naturally she wants to make the best out of it, but as fate (and God magaka) decide, her chance of advance is threatened by facing the her old teammate, who finished in top 4 last year. It’s when she has a little crisis. All her hard-work and practice would come to nothing if she loses, and when it comes to tournament and competition, the result is all everyone care for. As Nagisa points out correctly it seems she gives up without even putting a fight. Although earlier I “dismissed” the visual storytelling as obvious, there are two scenes that stand out for me. First, Riko and Nagisa are on these steps, and Riko just stops midway as Nagisa walks by. It speaks right there the situation Riko currently faces and Nagisa as a distanced supporter. Second, the shot where Nagisa finds her sitting quietly on the stairs (again!), with the towel covers her head. It’s the saddest moment Hanebado captures in this episode.

While Riko has some space to shine this week, the top billed characters unfortunately have little to do in this episode. I particularly have mixed feeling about Nagisa’s involvement in Riko’s story. They have well-rounded chemistry, that’s for sure, but since her slump gone she acts way too straight, way too simple-minded that I don’t see the complex in her character anymore. Hanebado is still at its best when they can pull off some internal conflicts from our cast. As for the tournament… well, the appearances of Evil Mama and the encounter between crazy-looking face Ayano and equally crazy Kaoruko mean that the tournament will go in a predictable, contrived fashion. Let me just guess even without knowing anything about the draw. I reckon the semi (top 4) is going to be Ayano – annoying twin tailed pink hair girl and Nagisa – annoying twin tailed blonde girl before the final match of the “sisters” who fight for Mama’s attention. Prove me wrong Hanebado!

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight – 04 [Promise Tower]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

I bet most of us coming out of this episode feeling a little underwhelming. Where’s all these revue duel? Where is the talking giraffe? To its defense though, this week builds the central dynamic of our main Karen and Hikari, and giving the rest of the cast the whole “we are together” vibe. While one could argue these members looking out for each other plot thread goes against the competitive duels to pick out a “Top Star” Revue Starlight has accomplished for the last few episodes, I think it’s rather appropriate development. These 9 girls, as competitive as they are, still need to work together as a team for the Starlight production. So in fact they’re not unlike idol girls who work together for the group’s benefit. That doesn’t mean I’m selling short these girls’ dynamic towards looking out for Karen and Hikari as they’re well over their curfew, these are charming moments, especially the way Claudine speaks nonsense French and Futaba and Kaoruko have to tiptoe around the hallway to cover these girls. I like what we see so far and I guess I would become more dramatic when these girls who obviously enjoy their time together have to fight on a surreal audition later on.

So this week Revue Starlight focuses on our main duo Karen and Hikari. I enjoy the way the show highlights the girls’ lack of emotional bond by the showing the physical distance. Karen leaves out of campus and Karen goes out her way to look for her. I also enjoy the way their communication getting better as the day progresses. At first we have blurry pictures that prompt Karen to pick a totally wrong location (the miscommunication?), to Keren figuring out of aquarium but ends up in the wrong aquarium, then they have phone conversation together which is actually their first heart-to-heart conversation since Hikari moves back to Japan and finally, they meet up face to face at their destined place, the Tokyo Underground. For whatever the aquariums might represent in terms of their relationship or Hikari’s psyche I have no idea, but them meeting at the Tokyo Tower feels like a long-awaited fated encounter. From this point on I’m certain that they’d work together as the duel.

What they exchange over the phone is also important. They recall on the past they shared together, about the initial inspiration and their promises that basically shape their lives the way they are now. Hikari might be angry with Karen for losing, but it turns out she doesn’t know more about Revue audition compared to Karen. As a result, while this episode is indeed the Revue Starlight’s breather episode, it’s still an important one to establish all the bright sparks that these relationships bring (notice that the cast goes for usual pairs this week, I don’t suppose it remains like that as the story kicks into gear), also develop our main Karen – Hilari so we have reasons to care for their goals, so that when it’s time for these girls to “destroy” each other, it adds up in context. I still feel the confidence from the production breathing through in every detail of this episode.

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro – 05 [Thank You, George/ Mananacchio]

by SuperMario, posted in Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro, Currently Watching:

You know, watching Chio-chan I have feeling just like watching a brilliant kid playing around. It’s consistently funny from start to finish; it’s very, very relatable, but sometimes you can’t help but feel a bit nervous when the show resorts to fan-service tendency. To be fair, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having some fan-services in a show. Many shows depend entirely on the low-brow humors, but we all know Chio-chan can be just as hilarious without relying on those fanservices. Chio-chan this week has plenty of panty-shots, and toilet humor – or put it better, all the humors happening in the toilet, but I could argue that the show has some context behind it so somehow it gets away with it. We starts off with our Chio having the need to find a nearby toilet (oh so relatable), and things escalate from here as she goes to the men’s toilet and is unable to get out. It’s the basic formula to ensue hilarity.

First off, everything involving Chio’s decisions work well for me. The way she would do anything but walking out of the front door is just so consistent with her never-embarrass-herself policy. The overly complicated but somehow-it-works plan that runs like a domino effect is so absurdist in concept it’s actually funny to see if it works out. Her tactic involves distracting the cat with the toilet ball she uses, that in turns distracting the two school girl then as a consequences distracting the businessmen for looking at girls’ panties. There’s an awful lot of coincidences requirements here but I don’t mind one bit of that. Yep, I was talking about fanservice earlier and here we have juggling ass out from the toilet window, and goddamnit why the animation is so smooth and addictive? Heck, this might be one of the rare time that I can’t help but keep staring at that butt. I also love the exaggerated sound effect of the person who used the toilet next to her, and cute little George. Well, this segment is a winner for me.

The second segment, however, not that much. Mostly because of the new addition, Momo, who doesn’t really stand out except for playing straight against Chio and Manana’s antics. As she witnesses the duo keeps being awful to each other without remorse, she can’t turn her eyes away anymore and declares those two are bad influences to each other. While the setup is dime a dozen and in truth I think Chio and Manana’s dynamic doesn’t need this kind of reassurance, it produces what might be two of my favorite moments this week. The first of them is a total crash and embarrassing Mananacchio dance which basically how 5 year old kids would do when they imitate cats (cats appear to be the MVP here) and second, one of this sharpest line: “when people find out the relationship between teacher and student, all the blames will go to the teacher, so just try your best”.Goddamn Manana, listen to her advice and heads certainly will roll. Chio-chan and her way to school still have plenty fun to offer.

Banana Fish – 5 [From Death to Morning]

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

Banana Fish, oh Banana Fish, how you like to hit me in the feels. This week Ash finally gets out of prison, we learn just how depraved Dino is, and everyone preps for a road trip. Lets jump in!

So general stuff first, as per usual. Banana Fish’s pacing continues to be spot on. 5 episodes in and we have basically finished our first arc, so to speak, and we did so with a bang. It nails the minor climax to this NY arc before we go on a road trip, having completely established our major players on both sides. I am a bit confused how Max just so happened to get out of prison the same day as Ash, but am glad he is staying with the story. The animation also continues to be great. Im not sure if its just the style, really thin black lines instead of anime’s normal thicker ones. But it just works. Ash’s jacket and hair fluttering in the wind, and Shorters hair, always look fabulous to me. I love it all. Now onto the meat.

Continue reading “Banana Fish – 5 [From Death to Morning]” →

Steins;Gate 0 – 16 [Altair of the Point at Infinity -Vega and Altair-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

Hello and welcome to the return of Steins;Gate 0, this time with 100% more quality! This week, plot finally happens, secrets are outed and Okabe gets into a fist fight. Lets jump in!

To start off, simple general stuff, this is in my opinion the best episode of Steins;Gate 0 in a while. Mostly because things are finally happening, but even then, the 3 confrontations this episode were well done. This episode, finally, forced Okabe to confront and start thinking about time travel again. He’s been avoiding it like the plague, but with Daru and Maho’s secret out, he can’t any longer. From an animation perspective, there wasn’t much. It was mostly still shots. But those still shots looked good, the camera angles really worked. Even if there was some inconsistencies between shots in terms of position. The VA was the best part however. Specifically, Daru’s anger was perfect. For a second, I could really hear Gilgamesh for a few lines there. It was especially nice to see/hear the effects of Okabe’s attitude so far. Lots to unpack in these conversations.

Continue reading “Steins;Gate 0 – 16 [Altair of the Point at Infinity -Vega and Altair-]” →

Planet With – 03/04[Avenger 1/Avenger 2]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Planet With

Missed a week thanks to work being a hectic mess but I can say that it’s not due to a lack of interest in this show. For this show actually gets better and better each week. The backstory of what is going on is still rather vague but we at least know now that the main protagonist is an alien whose home planet was destroyed by a giant dragon. It seems that the heroes are currently making use of the dragons remains to be able to summon god armour to combat the Nebula sealers sending down the weird monsters which give people visions. Said sealers all appear to look like mascot characters and the cat sensei branched off into his own faction after failing to stop the dragon from destroying the main protagonists homeworld. Now he enlists his help because working with the boy ampilies his own powers and he wants the kid to start a new life on earth. Meanwhile the paladins leader appears to have the goal of using the dragons power to take over the world to form world peace which has caused a rift to form between him and one of the remaining paladins.

Episode four certainly shows the dangers of using the dragons power and I find it interesting in that this girl was essential repeating her past of wanting to avenger her best friend and despite events playing out similarly, the end result was far more disastrous. I am a little disappointed that they threw out some haphazard explanation about the area she shot a fireball at having be evacuated insuring no was hurt but I suppose it would have been a bit too much of a dark turn for this series.

It’s a bit of a shame that Nezuya didn’t happen to get his characterisation moment with the Sealer vision and looks to be confirmed to just be a big joke character as his vision just has to do with him wishing to be a harem protagonist like any anime very clearly catered to his demographic. If there is a weak link in this show I would say it’s him as he’s a comic relief character whose just not very comedic. I got more laughs out of Souya’s reaction to the “Cat Doping” transformation with him just echoing the thoughts of the audience as Cat sensei swallows what is essentially steroids. Not to mention that the aftereffects of it is a massive hangover which sort of is the opposite of berserker dragon Harumi who came out of this better. I do actually question her friendship with Miu and while I normally don’t go into these kinds of assumptions as I feel it’s short sighted and generally unfounded, here I think there is some evidence to suggest Harumi’s feelings for Miu go beyond simple friendship. I mean in her vision she saw herself as a princess with Miu being her prince which certainly is quite suggestive. So we have hit episode four and the paladins have been brought down to two not counting the president. This series has yet to truly excel yet so can it change from good to great with it’s remaining eight episodes?

Hanebado! – 05 [You’re Not Alone]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Hanebado!

So this week Hanebado moves from contrived drama into… shameless fanservice? Woah, honestly I didn’t see girls taking bathing naked coming in this series. In more serious affair, I enjoy the story lot better than last week. Despite the lack of smooth animation on the match, which I will discuss later, at least in this episode Connie is much more bearable. Hanebado drama remains a mixed-bag this week. The two conflicts that I mentioned last week, namely Ayano wanted to be part of the team and the sister having a beef at Ayano, are quickly raised and then resolved. Too quickly in fact that they feel half-baked. I appreciate that Hanebado raises more complex chemistry from the cast, but if they was building up Sora’s discontent of Ayano for almost 2 episodes (you can see in the top left screenshot she’s the only one who has her back against Ayano), they need to resolve it more thoroughly.

The Connie match, on the other hand, concludes in a satisfied fashion. It puts both Connie and Ayano into a new stepping stone now. For Connie, the match point her partner Tagajo saves her made Connie realize that her teammates always have her back, in addition she behave too cruel towards her friend. Ayano, in the opposite spectrum, uses it as an excuse for her lose. I reckon this nasty bit of her of blaming something else for the lost is the main reason her Mother left her. Or that could be the effect of her Mother left her generate the fear of being abandoned, that the teammates might give up on her if she doesn’t perform well. In any case, these girls have a Mama issue and soon enough her Mom will join in the picture so we can see things clearer through Mama perspective (and it’s better be good reasons).

The animation sadly takes a nosedive this week. Not that it was overly terrible but Hanebado uses many shortcuts for those sequences. Sports like badminton or boxing emphasis strongly on footwork. The production from the first few weeks nails that part down effectively with an intense footwork on the characters. But this week they focus instead on “big moment” that the don’t feature much of these small-steps movements. While it’s not a bad approach consider the match concentrates on drama rather than… sports, for a show that did everything right previously, this is a bit of a let-down. Overall, this week of Hanebado has a tonal issue, it can go way melodramatic at times, while other time go all fluffy and light-hearted. Still, I’m pretty much prefer this version of mad eyes, suffering Ayano than the plain, unconcerned Ayano who literally got dragged down to the badminton club.

Satsuriku no Tenshi – 04[A sinner has no right of choice]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Satsuriku no Tenshi

We hav sixteen episodes to work with and yet the pacing of this anime is almost breakneak, but admittedly that doesn’t quite feel rushed. It could do with a few more moments of slowing down and letting the atmosphere speak for itself or even just some back and forths between Zack and Rachel. So after alleyways, a hospital and s sewer with a graveyard we are brought to a prison with a new floor master who is keen on punishing those that enter. Unfortunately this new villain falls under the same problem as many of the others as being rather one note and going so over the top crazy that it’s hard to take her seriously. But I do like that she presents herself like a tv show host when talking of her plans to execute the two of them as it sort of eludes to the nature of executions being used as a form of entertainment in early humanity. Even prison executions has a audience and the idea of some bubbly host girl presenting the whole thing like a game show is rather novel. The theme of this floor is very much on punishing the wicked or excessive punishment as the traps the two encounter are all elaborate forms of execution.

Zack getting strapped into an electric chair is quite cathartic but I admit that I find Rachels extremely delayed reaction to releasing him rather frustrating. It is rather odd for how quick witted she’s supposed to be to not think of the factor that Zack can’t kill her if someone kills Zack. But admittedly there is the question of just why it has to be Zack that needs to kill her. The question that was brought up time and time again last episode was that if the goal is for Rachel to die then anyone could kill her. The only point that gives Rachel undying loyalty to Zack is that he swore to god that he would kill her. So let’s examine things. Rachel wants to die but she does not want to commit suicide. Thus she cannot give up and let others kill her as that would be a form of assisted suicide. Of course the big contradiction her is that once they get out of that place and Rachel lets Zack kill her then that too would essentially be assisted suicide. The only differentiation being the oath to god. Therefore I see this, Rachel wants to die but she does not want to be punished for taking her own life, or that she does not wish to be sent to hell. A point of interest as while it may have been a figurative taunt, the doctor in the first episode also stated that her parents where in hell. So could it be that Rachel doesn’t actually want to meet her parents and that is the reason she has an apprehension towards the idea of suicide? Because it would send her to hell where she would be reunited with her parents? Or it could be that she has a apprehension towards suicide because she already committed it? The opening does show a girl hanging from a noose which could very well be Rachel. Speaking of the opening I did find it amusing that Rachel and Zack had to take the same mugshots they were posing for in the opening in order to proceed.

This show is still weird but interesting but I do admit that I am having difficulty with Zacks voice actor. The problem is that having watched A certain Magical index subbed, every time this boy speaks I hear Accelerator. Word on the net is that most hear Bakugo in his performance but for me I hear more of Accelerator and that admitly takes me out of the show a bit. So seeing as the first episode of the simudub came out I figured this would be a good time to get some use out of my funimation subscription. I got to say that the dub for this show is really quite good, better than the sub in my opinion. I feel the english actor for Zack captures the goofball aspect of Zack a lot better than his Japanese and the small little dialogue changes add a lot more. If i had not chosen to blog this I would have likely watched this dubbed but admittedly I said I would watch Steins;Gate 0 and Hinamatsuri dubbed and yet fell behind on both. Watched High School DxD Hero week by week to completion yet fell behind on those…I am actually disappointed in myself for that.

Grand Blue – 03[A New World]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Grand Blue

At this point I think I know enough to see how this will all turn out for this show. The three episode rule may not be an ironclad measure of a shows worth but here I can see that without a big change in direction or animation this show isn’t going to live up to the manga. The director definitely seems to be using the philosophy of Illumination animation of making animation as cheap as possible. Case in point, the titan faces of the manga were often used for exaggerated outburst but in the anime it’s definitely not used out of loyalty but instead as an animation saving technique as just pulling a still image from the manga is easier than animating it. We even have this show pulling the removal of the background and replacing it with a gradient colour. The animation in these episodes is parse and once again I am reminded of Wotakoi which was hampered by its production values too. But the direction of the jokes also has me confused as the pacing is just wrong and jokes are changed to less funny versions.

As an example there is a joke with Iori planning to play strip rock paper scissors with the newcomer Azusa but has to play with some other guys first. Ten minutes later he comes back to Azusa posing dramatically ready to play but he’s got nothing left to strip. In the anime however, rather than have Iori go away for ten minutes, they just jump straight to the punchline and before it has even time to land the anime moves on. They also cut out Asuza laughing her ass off and saying to the other guys about how Iori was the best.

Same with the more lighter jokes like the guys trying to figure out how a girls school uniform could have to do with diving and Kouhei just casually dressing up a hug pillow in it. The punchline is there but the anime never lingers on it enough for it to make an impact and it just passes without much notice. This is part of the process of adaptionas with manga you have time to linger on any panel for how long you want and the sudden page turns make jokes hit you right in the gut. An anime needs to put extra effort in presentation to make the jokes land. You can’t just put the manga on a screen and call it a day, it needs work for the joke to land the same. The problem I see here is that the anime has the same punchlines of the manga but none of the build up to make them as funny as they were. Of course this problem doesn’t quite seem to be affecting first time viewers from what I see so it could be just that I know the jokes and hearing them a second time isn’t as funny as the first. Like a meme that gets repeated ad nauseam with slightly altered context to the point where it loses any humor it once had and just becomes a reference that people point at and say they get. Quite a number of Grand Blue jokes got ruined in this manner, like the lighter and water joke or the Grand Blue is a Diving anime joke.

Banana Fish – 4 [This Side of Paradise]

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

Welcome to another week of Banana Fish! I don’t have any clever hooks for this one sadly, it’s just too good to lampoon. This week we have more attempted prison rape, both of which end badly, and more info on the elusive Banana Fish. Lets jump in!

So general stuff out of the way first, Banana Fish continues to nail the pacing. So far, it never feels like nothing is happening, like a scene is just filler. For example, comedy. In a lot of anime there are little gags thrown around to keep everything light. Most don’t mean anything at all, and are often an entire scene. Banana Fish uses comedy to bookend its more serious scenes, to signify that we can relax for the moment. Like Shorter revealing himself as the waiter at the restaurant. Or the Afro Prisoner barging in on Max and Ash. The comedy doesn’t exist for the sake of the gag nor are they sprinkled throughout to just to keep the tone light. I love how Banana Fish’s comedy actually serves a purpose. So yeah, I gushed on its writing, lets get into the actual meat now shall we?

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