Wooper: Who’s ready for another 365 days of anime? I’m certainly not, but Japan won’t stop making the damn things, so our Winter First Impressions will start appearing soon. And what do you know, I actually managed to wrap up my thoughts on what I watched last season before the initial impressions post went live! I’d say “new year, new me,” but nobody is that gullible, so you’ll have to settle for the same old Wooper, plus whichever writers are game to keep this operation running (I know Lenlo will be doing some first impressions, at least). Hope everybody has a happy and healthy 2026 – we’ll be back again in a couple days!

Star Wars Visions S3 – 7-9

Of these last three Visions shorts, “The Smuggler” (number 7) was the most ordinary, with genderswapped Han Solo-esque heroine Chita trafficking a wanted prince away from his home planet – only to agree to take him right back at the script’s conclusion. This reversal underscored the shortsightedness of the writing, which prioritized adherence to a mission over character motivations, but the episode still had its positives, one of which was its animation of facial expressions. The character designs were appealing in general, but Chita’s head tilts and eyebrow arches gave her a good deal more personality than she had on the page alone. The quiet strength of the prince’s tall, thin ex-Jedi guardian was another plus, especially in her battle with a bomb-specializing bounty hunter. The Smuggler isn’t the most memorable of this year’s shorts, but it was fun while it lasted.

Continue reading “Fall 2025 Check-In – Weeks 11-13” →

Hyakushou Kizoku S3 – 7-9

Wooper: Last month I speculated about the possibility of Hyakushou Kizoku running out of material, since new chapters are published only sporadically, but the strength of these episodes makes me think I needn’t have worried. The first of the three was good for a couple laughs, as Hiromu Arakawa’s bovine avatar grinded her teeth about the frequency of agricultural theft, but things really ramped up in episode 8 (36 overall), where she dove into farm romance. The script’s list of increasingly strange but still plausible quirks at farmer’s weddings had me smiling the whole way through, from rushing to finish daily chores just hours before the ceremony to a bouquet toss featuring vegetables rather than flowers. There was also a shoujo manga parody toward the start that I thought might extend beyond the title card, Hoshiiro Girldrop style – and speaking of parodies, Initial D got a pair of references in episode 9, which was about road blockages, of all things. There were obvious ones like herds of escaped cattle, of course, but some accidents also had knock-on effects, such as an overturned manure spreader resulting in obstructive overgrowth a year after the fact. No matter how tight your turn radius, you can’t beat the combination of Mother Nature and fertilizer!

Continue reading “Fall 2025 Check-In – Weeks 9-10” →

Wooper: It’s just me this time, I’m afraid, unless another writer edits their seasonal musings into this post from the future. I was fairly pleased with what I watched over the past two weeks, though, so my usual negativity should be at a minimum here. The third volume of Star Wars Visions has gotten the brunt of it thus far, but I’m so hyped for its final episode that I’d trade eight stinkers in a row for the opportunity to watch the ninth. Hope it’s worth it in the end!

Pokemon Concierge – 6

I never thought I’d be bowled over like this by an episode of a Pokemon show. The franchise isn’t exactly known for its character-driven storytelling, so for Concierge to broach the topic of an elderly man’s abandonment of his Sealeo was an unexpected treat. The man in question is Dan, uncle to one of the series’ side characters in Tyler, and the strain in their relationship that resulted from the older man’s decision was just one of several strong human moments here. Another was the way the show humanized Dan – his concerns about growing too old to care for a Pokemon that could evolve at any time felt rooted in Japan’s real world demographic crisis, but regardless of their origin, the storyline was undoubtedly effective. The animation of Sealeo pushing itself along the ground with its fins, too, directly communicated the Pokemon’s need for freer accommodations than it had received at the old man’s apartment, partially justifying his fears. I’d honestly call this one of the most thoughtfully written anime episodes of the year – the fact that it has a feel-good ending (recruiting Dan to live and work at the resort so he can remain close to his beloved Sealeo) is just the Cheri Berry on top.

Continue reading “Fall 2025 Check-In – Weeks 7-8” →

Wooper: Happy November, all! Though behind the scenes we’re catching up on anime from all throughout 2025 (AOTY season isn’t far off), Lenlo and I still made time to type a few words about currently airing series. Actually, “currently airing” may be a stretch (or an outright lie) for some of my selections, but they’re accurate in his case. I’m hoping to keep these posts on a biweekly schedule from here until year’s end, so enjoy this first of four-ish posts, and we’ll see you in another 14 days or so.

Sanda – 2-6

Lenlo: Up until last weeks episode, Sanda was in a really weird place for me. Very much a Paru Itagaki creation, the author of Beastars, it had this weird obsession with underage sex. From child marriages to Fuyumura seemingly having the hots for/finding comfort in a 60+ year old man, I wasn’t sure what to think. But episode 5 really brought it together for me. Sanda is less about kids getting it on and more about the odd obsession people seem to have in controlling who children are, how they grow up, and what they should or should not feel, including Paru herself with her personal focus on children going through puberty and their sex drives. It’s… interesting. Weird, you can definitely see the resemblance to Paru’s other work, but not nearly as off putting to me. I like how each of the kids are interacting growing up in different ways. Fuyumura isn’t concerned about it at all because to her, growing out of her lanky and awkward body would be a blessing, to Ono it’s terrifying because no one else is changing around her, to Sanda it’s about taking on responsibilities and leaving behind that carefree life of a child, while to Principal Ooshibu it’s the most terrifying thing imaginable. Sure, Santa Claus is an odd metaphor to channel it all through, but like… I’m kinda into it. Combine all of this with a solid production and some of the most striking character designs of the season, and I think Sanda could end up as something great. I just need it to not get to weird with it like Beastars did.

Continue reading “Fall 2025 Check-In – Weeks 2-6” →

Wooper: The fall season is in full swing, which means now is the perfect time to offer weeks-late commentary on some summer anime! I’ve actually had most of these entries written for a while, but another collaborative anime project (which I’m hoping to post before year’s end) delayed the finishing touches. Posts on current series (especially Star Wars Visions and the Tatsuki Fujimoto anthology) will start rolling out in a week or so, but for now, here are my closing thoughts on some of summer’s lesser-seen series.

Captivated By You – 3-5

I was wondering when the Junji Ito-looking dude from this show’s original promo poster would show up. Turns out it wouldn’t be until “Nikaido Behind Me,” a two-part story comprising episodes 4 and 5, which featured an entirely different cast than the first three. I’d have been satisfied if the show had remained at its original all-boys high school until the end, continuing to connect all its stories through the inscrutable Hayashi, but I’d say the detour was worth it for episode 4 in particular. Its Rashomon-style presentation created an interesting relationship between Medaka, an ordinary high school kid, and Nikaido, a willfully gloomy classmate of his, with a mid-episode perspective switch revealing that the latter boy modeled his persona on the former’s temporary misfortune. Though the truth regarding that inspiration is never fully revealed to either character, Medaka quickly learns to see beyond Nikaido’s front, allowing the show to effectively comment on the topic of perception versus reality. (The sequel episode, which followed their class on a trip to Okinawa, offered much less to chew on.)

As for episode 3, I found it to be the weakest of the bunch, though it did manage to address the subject of bullying without inventing a puppy-kicking villain to get its message across, as anime often do. Hayashi played a role in giving the episode’s one-off protagonist the courage to face his tormentor, but the story’s resolution was too tidy, and the closing guitar track gave me ‘corporate training video’ vibes. All in all, Captivated By You didn’t exactly captivate me, but its sister series did – thoughts on that show’s final episode can be found after the jump.

Continue reading “Summer 2025 Check-In – Fall Edition” →