Kokkoku – 3 [The Third Moment]

by Lenlo, posted in Kokkoku

Welcome to another episode of Kokkoku, the premier time based anime of the season. This week we have growing mysteries and intelligent villains. Lets jump in.

To start off, I want to talk about our main cast and the mystery surrounding them, as that seems to be the core of Kokkoku. Blood and family ties have come up often, both in regards to our heroes and the villains. Blood is what is used to activate the Stasis Stones, though we don’t yet know if it matters whose blood is used. It also appears that each member of our leading family has some sort of ability. The Grandfather is able to teleport short distances while Juri is able to expel people from Stasis. So far neither has been able to use the others abilities, though it is possible they might learn them in the future. If blood does matter however, I am curious what abilities the villains will develop, as they also have a stone and can enter the Stasis. Next up is the mysterious spirits.

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Darling in the Franxx – 02[What it means to connect]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Darling in the Franxx

As it stands now, this is essentially an animated version of a double entendre. Each line is laced with a double meaning so heavy that you can postface lines with the words “That’s what she said.” and it would fit perfectly. I find my stance on this to be rather mixed as while the fanservice is ridiculously blatant what with it’s robots piloted by ass controls and changing room boob groping, it feels like the show itself recognises just how silly it all is. Let me put it this way, shows like Cross Ange present their fanservice with a straight face as it has the age old cliches we all know and hate while Franxx seems to be having fun in acknowledging its own absurdity. I honestly chuckled when one of the pilot said upon starting his machine “Did I do it right? I didn’t suck?” and having his partner reassure him that he did fine. Still while this playfulness is rather comical, it does conflict with the serious plot the story appears to be trying to present. For you see, when you are trying to make a point, it can be difficult to be taken seriously when your statements sound like a sex joke. I mean Franxx doesn’t suck hard but it does suck a little, and while sucking a little can be enough to satisfy some people, I know there are those of us who would prefer it to perform better so that we aren’t left limp when the time comes for it to go fast and heavy. You may be beginning to see my point.

It is pretty apparent that this series is paying homage to mecha series like Evangelion and its contemporaries and as odd as it may be to say, I think that it would be a mistake for this series to attempt to take a darker turn in it’s later episodes and attempt an Evangelion. For you see, nothing will top Evangelion, it is on a pedestal so high and fortified by age, legacy and nostalgia that even if you made a series that was objectively a better version of it in every way, it still wouldn’t top Evangelion. Even Evangelion couldn’t top Evangelion, that’s the point we are at. Attempting to do so would just make this another one of those shows that followed it can came up short and i feel that the idea’s have really all been done. So while this may sound ludicrous to you readers, I believe Franxx should put it’s focus on it’s other aspect which happens to be using mecha as allegory for relationships. I know it sound odd for me to suggest this considering my rant above about this series approach to sex but I feel this is the only real path for Franxx to be its own entity. Mecha and sex have been previously compared before and even the idea of using them as pseudo relationships, off the top of my head I can name Aquarion Evol which dabbled in this. But if there is one aspect that anime has hardly explored, it’s the nature of relationships. In anime, a relationship has a beginning and an end but never a middle. Romance anime either end at the confession or time skip to the marriage and very little of the rather tremulous ground that is the relationship itself is covered. So if this anime can somehow use the ground of mecha to explore sexual relations then this could turn out rather interesting.

Already we have some ammo for this kind of story as this episode can essentially be taken as a tale of erectile dysfunction. The main has to prove his worth by trying to pilot a franxx again but this time he is paired up with another girl called Ichigo who seems to be romantically interested in him. Despite a promising start the robot ends up rejecting the connection leading to the girl trying to get the main “in the mood” so to speak. I am not really pushing to make this symbolic connection either, in fact it’s rather obvious this is what it’s alluding to. Being “in the mood” is looking to be a big factor when piloting these robots as his opponent, cocky little upstart he is, effectively kills the mode in his robot when he openly admits that he would take the Ichigo as his partner, essentially the equivalent of calling out another woman’s name during intercourse. This pisses off his partner, shuts down the robot and we have an ending with Ichigo making the rather suggestive comment that the main was “awful”.

So we have a love triangle here, Zero two is the dangerous girl whose been with a number of guys and is experienced, exciting and spontaneous. Not to mention she’s a dominant bold partner in piloting which may be a factor in getting the main ”in the mood”. Ichigo on the other hand is a submissive partner whose boring, predictable and ordinary, essentially the safe relationship option. But we also have the issue of cheating as Ichigo already has a partner whom she is highly compatible with and well he seems to be aware of her feelings. I admit this may be me simply trying to justify the high amount of suggestive fanservice into something more acceptable as people did with Kill La Kill and I fully admit that this might not be the intended focus of the series. But it certainly would give me something more interesting to talk about.

Junji Ito Collection – 03[The Crossroads Pretty boy – The lovesick dead, Slug Girl]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Junji Ito Collection

Our two stories today regard the handsome man at the crossroads and slug girl. The handsome man story was given the most screen time and it is a decent story, albeit unfinished. What was presented here was only the first part of the story and I believe it will be continued in later episodes. But what we have here is a town haunted by a mysterious figure whom people have taken to asking about their love life. Which would be fine if the mysterious figure didn’t always claim that their love would be unfulfilled and his words have such an effect that the girls commit suicide. There’s never really and explanation as to why or how this monsters came to be but if I had to make a guess I would say the monster of this town is the mysterious fog that appears whenever the pretty boy is walking about. The catalyst for these events seems to be an incident in the main characters past, where he told a pregnant woman that her love was doomed and that caused her to commit suicide. This appears to have given the fog a taste for blood as it appears to be trying to trap more girls souls within it by spawning the pretty boy and having him make girls commit suicide. At least that’s my interpretation though it doesn’t quite explain that the murders seems to only start up once the main character moved back into town.

The big question here is whether the handsome mans words are some kind of mind control considering the effect he has on his victims or if the mans words only have such an effect because they cause the victim to realise something. We have a case here of a girls friend asking the pretty boy about her friends love life only for the pretty boy to say that she should worry about her own. His words causing the girl to aggressively pursue the main character as though he were her last chance at love. Eventually leading to her suicide when he rejects her numerous advances. Considering how the girl becomes like a woman possessed as she transforms into a ugly visage of herself it would be easy to say that it’s all just some form of mind control. However it could be that this girl did have worries about her own love life and the pretty boy’s words merely confirmed her greatest fears of never finding love. Thus she pushes herself to find love no matter what and her efforts just backfired disastrously. Though it could be some kind of primal instinct stimulated that pushes for the ultimatum of either procreate or die. Thus this begs the question that if the main character did accept her advances then could she have potentially gone back to normal?

Slug girl was given the shorter runtime of five minutes but the story it presents is a rather good example of Junji’s approach to absurdist horror. There is no explanation as to why it happened but for some reason a girls tongue turned into a slug. While the first transformation was horric, the second does bring to light a certain problem I have with Junji ito’s works. Name that Ito has a tendency to go a bit too silly with his ideas. An example would be a chapter from his work Uzumaki where the people of the town gain the ability to create whirlwinds by spinning their fingers. A rather weird tonal shift for what was a rather tense grim story. Here we have the parents of the girl convince her to bath in a bath full of salt to kill the slug. I feel the parents went a bit overkill by having her bath in salt considering that her mouth was the main area affected and oddly enough this resulted in the girls body completely disappearing, leaving her as just a head with a slug coming out of its mouth like some kind of messed up snail. The implication that the girl is somehow still alive despite being reduced to a snail shell is a rather disturbing concept but I just find the logic of it to be rather flimsy. Sure it’s all fiction and it doesn’t make sense to have her tongue turn into a slug in the first place but it just feels like Junji had a disturbing idea and took it to too much of an extreme to be taken seriously.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 15 [There is no place like home]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Mahoutsukai no Yome

Welcome to another week of Mahoutsukai no Yome. This week continues Chise’s bad relationship with water, Elias’s with Fae and gives Silky a history. Lets jump in!

To start off, I want to talk about the best part of this episode, that being Silky’s history and alone time. For the longest time Silky was a pointless background character, and she largely still is. But now she is a character with a backstory and relationships outside of our leads. Silky’s solo time is spent well, with her cleaning the entire house and demonstrating her loneliness as time passes. Mahoutsukai even uses the chibi are they have been shoving down our throats in the perfect manner, since Silky cant talk. Mahoutsukai is much more successful at making me care about Silky here than say, Joel. Most likely because of the lack of speech, forcing the artists and the watched to pay more attention to Silky’s movements and expressions. It’s a great buildup to her backstory and the better half of the episode.

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After the Rain – 02 [Rain Drops on Green Leaves]

by SuperMario, posted in After the Rain, Currently Watching:

It has been exactly a year since I last blogged you, noitaminA shows, and this time again it’s another romance drama. Unlike Scum’s Wish last year, however, Ameagari has one simple premise, but it executes the idea with such grace. This second episode is even stronger than the first, setting the stepping stone for Tachibana and Kondo’s relationship. Now, big elephant in the kitchen so you know where I stand on its most “problematic” aspect. I don’t have a problem on the suggested relationship between 17 year old girl towards the 45 year old man. It is neither fantastical premise (It’s uncommon, but such relationship exists; and it’s easier than you might think when a junior having a crush on their senior), nor is it illegal or morally deranged. The age of consent in Japan is, curiously enough, 13 years of age. Granted that each province in Japan provides their own law in order to protect underaged children (usually about 16 year of age) from sexual abuse, but sexual tension is never the intent of Ameagari. At this moment, my gut telling me Tachibana falls for the wrong guy, but it’s not DUE TO their age gap.

What raise this little romance drama to the top of its genre is the excellent production values. While Ameagari never exactly stand out, the quality is amongst the best this season has to offer, simply because how the audiovisual storytelling and smart framing contribute neatly to the tone and the theme of this romantic story. Walking on such a tricky premise (ya know, a love story with such age difference already raise a yellow flag out of the gate), it’s remarkable that there isn’t any real misstep so far. I was impressed by Ameagari’s eye for details in those seemingly insignificant moments. For example, I love every moment of the one-minute entrance of this second episode where we simply follow Tachibana in the train to her workplace. There is a nice contrast between her and other girls her age, there is an attentiveness to the everyday life of our protagonist, and the music score is pitch perfect to bring the atmosphere out (weird consider how much I was put off by Violet Evergarden’s score). Or the scene where Kondo drives her to the clinic, we could see his stuffs in the backseat: a ball, a jump rope, and a bunch of umbrellas. What do they tell about his personality? A lot I say. As we know last episode he prepares extra umbrellas in case of his co-workers held up by the rain. At least he seems like a truly kind person.

It helps that both our main Tachibana and Kondo are immensely are relatable and likeable bunch, in that order. The entire plot so far is told by Tachibana’s point of view, and like everybody her view is peppered by her own subjective perspective. Moments where she has a chance to talk to Kondo feel purposely light and hopeful. Scenes involving her and the track feel sad and nostalgic, and moments between her and her classmate Yoshizawa feel overly nonsensical and comical. The latter especially due to the fact that she doesn’t care one inch about her friend, but doesn’t she realize he’s in the very same situation with her regarding their crushes? For Kondo, so far Ameagari successfully frames him as a goofy likable kind man, the man who would go out of his way just to make sure that his co-worker is safe and sound. The majority of plot progression this week centres around Tachibana gets herself injured again after sprinting to the guy who forgot his phone, so Kondo takes her to the clinic and goes house-visit the next day. Tachibana has gotten loose around him, a sign in which he himself notices, but the real plot-changer comes afterward, when she actually confesses to him, and he dodges it. What a smart way to get out of the problem, Kondou, although I suspect he still doesn’t really get it. No matter, we have 9 more episodes along the way, but from what I have seen in the first two episodes (near flawless accomplishment), there will be a lot of good materials to look forward to.

Violet Evergarden – 02 [Never Coming Back]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Violet Evergarden

I’m thankful that this second episode plays out much quieter and more subtle than the first, because I’m not a fan at all with the grandeur approach of the first episode. This makes the second week of Violet slightly better than last week, but I still find myself not totally satisfied with the whole experience. This week shows our Violet making her first step over the Auto Memories Dolls job, which despite its name it actually refers to real girls ghost-writing letters for those in need. Violet gets acquainted with the team members, learning about the jobs: how to type, how to input information, how to translate what the customers mean into the right angle… the last of which Violet totally lacks of. The most important characteristic in this job is the ability to communicate, including the ability to read between the lines. When put it in that light, Violet is totally unsuitable for the job. She’s straight-forward (which failed in terms of communication), she can’t read the subtext and she lacks emotions. After all, like the show said, contradiction is the barebone of human’s emotions. How one feels isn’t exactly the same with how one acts, and it’s those inconsistences can tell you exactly who they really are. I agree with it, in theory at least, because the actual case Violet Evergarden shows us is so banal. Is that how women tend to act? Now I feel stupid for not knowing it, just like our poor Violet here.

I guess my biggest issues of Violet Evergarden so far lie in the main character, Violet herself. It’s a common pitfall for a show to create obvious flaws for the main character in the beginning of the story in order to make their personal growth more significant, and I feel Violet steps in that line here. The problem with that is that those flaws make them feel utterly unrelatable, given no human being would act like such. It’s part of the show’s narrative, I know, since everyone regards her as a killing machine, she sees herself as someone’s royal dog, the show visualizes her as a bleeding doll, and the novel purposely frames her as a robot, anything but a human. It’s also the show’s narrative that Violet needs to learn these emotions in order to truly become a human. At that I feel the need to point out about the change in the anime’s order compare to the Light novels’. The novel starts when Violet is already an established Doll, and then it traces back to her origin as we learn more about her. The anime gives all their attention to the growth of Violet, hence here we are, following the blank-state Violet as she navigates to the new environment. Sure, it’s more conventional but the progress is also more obvious, and I’m not sure “obvious” is what we need here.

So naturally, the emotional engagement I have for Violet Evergarden point towards the other team member, Erica. She, like Violet, feels like she’s unsuitable for the job, unable to write letters that make her, or her customer satisfied, and the success of her peer, Cattleya is a cherry on top. Yet despise knowing Violet’s shortcoming, she asks the team to not giving up on her, because she believes Violet can improve. That’s a contradiction. Just like despite her own shortcoming, she still wants to continue after she realizes her original passion for writing letters that touch the heart of readers, in one rare musical score of Violet Evergarden that isn’t overbearing. The production otherwise remains impressive. The flowers café house, for example, stands out and the animation remains fluid. If I have one criticism it would be the interior scenes feel a bit too dark for its own good. All in all, we are still pretty much in the introduction phase of Violet Evergarden and I suspect until Violet herself gets more fully-formed, and more relatable, is when this show hits its stride.

Kokkoku – 2 [The Second Moment]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Kokkoku

Hello and welcome to the 2018 Winter season! This time, we have an interesting little time-based drama called Kokkoku. It has mystery, it has cults, it has dead-beat parents and apparent god-like beings. Lets jump in!

To start, a quick blurb about our characters. Personally, I like them so far. They are all flawed and imperfect people. From the hikikomori Uncle/Brother to the laid off father, these are people with problems. Emotional issues that, hopefully, will get resolved or at least get started down that path. For instance the Uncle is already starting an arc. He is first introduced as a game-focused otaku, upset when his game is turned off before he can save. But when unplugged, clearly cares for his family, he just doesn’t know what to do or where to go with his life. The father that when danger came to his family, however foolishly, resolved to only put himself in danger by going alone. I am hoping that throughout this series we see him, and others, grow more and more. Even if, technically, this entire series takes place in a single frame.

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A Place Further than the Universe – 03 [The Follow Backs Don’t Stop]

by SuperMario, posted in A Place Further than the Universe, Currently Watching:

“I could just die right now”

That line, spoken by our new member, Yuzuki, bookends this week’s Universe. It marks the shift in the new girl’s character growth. Last week, the Expedition girls mentioned they have a plan to raise fund, right? Turns out it’s not the mother, but the young girl herself, is used as their TRUMP card (bad pun, I know). Tsuhiki Ararararag  Yuzuki is an idol/ child actress/celebrity, so naturally the Expedition Team wanted to use her image as a promotion for the Antarctica trip, in which she feels zero enthusiasm to go. First, I must note about the voice acting of these main girls. While they’re even louder this week (I swear those voice actresses had such a BLAST time recording this), they share a natural forth-and-back dynamic that feel so pleasant. It comes as no surprise, that three of them, Kana Hanazawa – voicing Shirase, the one that need no introduction anymore, Yuka Iguchi (voicing Hinata) and Saori Hayami (voicing Yuzuki) all worked together before in the Monogatari Series (dubbing Nadeko, Tsuhiki, Yotsugi respectively). The other voice actress, Inori Minase, is no slouch either. She played Meteora in Re:Creators (AKA that one character who had to spill all the expositions), Rem in Re:Zero (that captured thousands of boys’ hearts) and most impressively for me, Chito in Girls’ Last Tour last season. These voice actresses clearly have fun playing those characters and so far, the acting elevates the chemistry shared between these girls whenever they interacting to each other.

Yuzuki, our new addition, is as different from the other girls as it could get, especially compare to Hinata last week. While Hinata stops school because she doesn’t feel belong to the big group, it’s the acceptance of friendship and the thrust to live a normal life with her “friends” are what Yuzuki yearns for. So far, Universe has been successful on creating very relatable issues from those girls. Yuzuki’s personal struggle, for instance, is something I can feel attached to. She hates the idea of going to Antarctica, and for good reasons (well, except “cold”). The idea of being pushed around, doing whatever her Manager/ Mommy thinks are the best for her is just plain… frustrating (#Mamaknowsbest). I have a feeling Universe glosses over some serious Mommy issues here. Yuzuki wants to spend more time to study so that she can go to school properly AND make friends properly, since she doesn’t have any friend due to her constant touring. I like the way the shot composition makes sure Yuzuki always situated at either end of the frame, looking out in order to highlight her being trapped in her own situation. That moment where she confesses her struggle, following immediately by Mari hugging her is goddamn effective and touching, another case of simple but sweet. When she realizes that these girls are far from best friends, that they just barely know each other but all heading for the same destination, it hits her that having the same goals, and sharing these experiences along the way together, might be what makes friend “friend”. I’d prefer if “the dream sequence” were true instead, since I feel Universe copped out at the end. Making it a dream sequence has its merits, mind you, given that Yuzuki now realizes that she wants to spend more time with the girls as her buddy; but it would’ve given me much more personal impact if these girls climb up the stairs for real instead.

In term of the big picture, well, after their plan failed last week, I feel that the girls find another solution almost too convenient. Another high school girl will join the Expedition Team, right after they refused a high school girl who is more equipped and willing to go? And that said girl comes up to meet the group no less. I let that slide for now because the girls still have to work hard for the approval, and changing an idol’s mind sure isn’t easy. Apart from successfully introducing the last member of the quartet, what makes Universe clicks the most this week is the delightful interactions between our girls together. Shirase really goes wild this week, in a quirky adorable way. “I’m gradually starting to understand how this girls work” is probably my favorite line of the week. It’s character writing right there. Finally, Universe gives some time to flesh out the relationship between Shirase and Hinata (remember, before that there’s always Mari stands between them) and they spark off some nice chemistry with some thoughtful wise advice from Hinata over Shirase’s charging on to the Antarctica trip at all cost. Those girls so far are a total delight and the coming trip promised to be a whole lotta fun, and lots more obstacles as well. This trip to the place further than the universe is now in sight.

Junji Ito Collection – 02[Fashion Model, Long Dreams]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Junji Ito Collection

After the first episode started off as a black comedy, I was worried that this series may suffer the same problem as Kino’s Journey in that the weaker stories in his work would be chosen for adaption. Lucky this does not appear to be the case but there is another problem which is not quite as easy to resolve. Junji Ito’s work has always faced problems regarding his work getting adapted, much in the same way that Stephen King’s work has had a lineup of failed adaptions. The big issue with Ito’s work is that the quality of it isn’t so much in the characters and writing but rather the idea and artistic value. Ito knows how to think up disturbing and strange horror concepts and work to illustrate and panel them to become massively unnerving. However when you strip away his artstyle, the apparent silliness of his ideas becomes more visible. Much like how Ufotables adaption of Gyo turned out, which was an admirable effort but sadly didn’t quite succeed. The live action efforts are marred by bad CGI and other factors, though the Tomie movies seem to have succeeded to a degree. Now Deen are taking a stab at it and their take appears to be sacrificing movement for detail. This has been a double edged sword as while this anime may be the closest to Ito’s style, the lack of movement makes it very much like a slideshow of the manga at times.

Our first story brings to front Ito’s style of using unconventional and sometimes humorously strange monsterities. It features a horrifically monstrous model whom a college film crew decide to include in their movie. Without Ito’s signature style this story could very easily fall flat on its face but it actually succeeds in being rather creepy here. I like it for being a bit of the subversion of the heart of gold trope in that usually in anime and media, a monstrously ugly person actually turns out to be nice and misunderstood. However in this episode we have a monstrous looking woman whom everyone gives the benefit of the doubt but really turns out to be just as horrific a monster as she appears. For judging book by its cover is bad but that doesn’t mean that someone can’t have an ugly appearance and an ugly personality as well. It also shows the deep discomfort of having caught the undivided attention of someone whom you don’t find attractive or the torment of being stalked. The main character has caught the attention of this monstrous creature and it’s quite disturbing to think that this woman won’t so much rip him apart with her fangs but instead…ugh…eat him in another sense. If i had a problem with the stories presentation it would be that the ending was rather abrupt and parts of the original story showing how the main distorted the women’s image in his head was missing but otherwise it was strongly shown how uncomfortable the situation was.

The second story is Ito at his best as while not really scary in the usual sense but the very idea of it is deeply unsettling. Detailing a story about a hospital patient who is experiencing long dreams, dreaming in which he spends large amounts of time stuck in and growing longer by the day. While time passes normally for everyone else, the patient goes to sleep and lives through 8 years in his dream. This is contrast by another woman whom has a massive fear of death and believes she will die soon. One is scared of their time getting cut short while another is terrified that their dream will continue for eternity. It’s a pity that the anime cut out a few panels with the patient describing his dreams such as 10 years as a soldier wandering a jungle, 6 years cramming for student tests and 8 years with a full bladder searching for a toilet that doesn’t exist. Made worse when his body begins to adjust to the time he spends in dreams and age prematurely, eventually transforming into a macabre husk. Leaving only dust and strange crystals behind. The last scene make for an interesting twist as the doctor treating him administers the crystals to the woman which in turn gives her long dreams as well. The doctor rationalises this that a eternal nightmare is better than the void of nothingness that death could very well be. Personally I find the idea of being trapped in my own mind for a century in a single night to be a atrocious alternative to death. But well if you can get the internet in there, maybe I would think about it. The presentation falls a bit shorter in this story but luckily the story itself is enough to carry it.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 13/14 [East, West, Homes Best]/[Looks breed love]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Mahoutsukai no Yome

Hello and welcome to the new year! New Year, a new Cour for Mahoutsukai no Yome, this time with slightly more plot. These past two weeks have been a bumpy ride of Mahoutsukai, with plenty to talk about. So let’s jump in!

To start off, the new OP is terrible. The music isn’t as good and the actual animation part is mostly just reused shots from the 1st cour. Initially I thought this was a placeholder, but episode 14 proved that wasn’t the case. Disappointing, considering the quality of the 1st OP. As far as animation and art goes everywhere else, it all looks good. There are some interesting bits like episode 14’s ending scene with Joel and Chise’s creation of the Fairy Ointment. Mahoutsukai continues to make the magic and lore surrounding it the most interesting part of its story. More so even than the characters or the non-existent overarching plot. From the looks of things though, the latter is starting to change.

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