Spring 2022 Summary – Weeks 2-3

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: New season, new weekly recap column – except I doubt I’ll get around to writing one of these each week. As a matter of fact, this may be the only one I do all spring, but I figured I’d make a post since there were a couple shows that aired too late for our First Impressions. Plus, Lenlo wanted to express his approval of the new P.A. Works show, and who am I not to provide an outlet for anime appreciation? Read on to see what we’re watching this season!

Summertime Render 1-2

Wooper: It’s silly to pick a projected AOTS after two episodes (especially when the series in question is slated for 25), but my money is on Summertime Render nevertheless. Ayumu Watanabe has been stretched thin over the last few years, splitting his time between envelope-pushing features at Studio 4°C and TV projects at multiple studios, but he still found time to direct one of this spring’s best premieres – and followed it up with an equally strong second episode. The broad strokes story is engaging, of course: a murder mystery involving shadowy doppelgangers set in a small island town. The tone is eccentric, eerie and gruesome in equal measure, and protagonist Shinpei’s ability to return to July 22nd after death gives the show a big hook. Moreover, he makes smart choices about how to spend his limited time within each loop, which can’t be said for some other characters in similar situations. But the show gets a lot of little things right, as well, especially visual metaphors like water droplets on an air conditioner preceding a character’s tearful grief, or the town being framed within a spider web just before Shin finds himself in peril. (I also love the bespectacled Hizuru, whose peculiar demeanor and habit of recording voice memos put me in mind of Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks.) If Summertime Render weren’t so solidly put together, I might not have the patience for its central mystery, but it is, so I do. Bring on the next episode!

Paripi Koumei 1-4

Lenlo: Not checking out Kongming when it first aired was almost one of the greatest mistakes I’ve made this year. I thought it was just a stupid gag series, how can a show about throwing a general from the Three Kingdoms period into modern Shibuya be anything else? But there’s so much heart, both for music and history, character and legitimate history that it has quickly become one of my favorites for this season. You just don’t get scenes like episode 3’s “Soldiers and drink” without the creator being passionate about the subject, nor the references from the manager without the knowledge. My god, the manager. He might be my favorite character. Also it has a banger of an OP.

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[Short] Shikimori-san 2-3

by Amunchet, posted in Special Articles, Weekly Summary

Amun’s Note: I’m going to be doing some “Short” reactions for various shows that aren’t getting seasonal coverage.  I’ll also give my verdict of “watch”, “skim”, or “skip”.  This will be sporadic but let me know if you want a particular series, and I’ll try to watch it if I haven’t already dropped it!  Hope you enjoy!

Shikimori-san came into the season with a surprising amount of hype for what looks like a generic rom-com….which after 2 episodes, it definitely is.  But by golly, there’s something about it that’s made me want to watch it first every time it’s come out.  Episode 2’s sports (and fame) experience were plenty fun (although I could have done without the sick bay scene).  Episode 3 is standard date-gone-wrong fair – although it ends at his house?!  Didn’t see that coming (or befriending his parents…5D chess move right there). 

I think the charm from this show comes from its simplicity.  Are we going to break any new ground?  Nope.  But it’s plenty soothing, and for that I give it: “Watch“

Dance Dance Danseur – 3 [What Does It Mean to Be Manly]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Dance Dance Danseur

Welcome everyone to week 3 of Dance Dance Danseur! This one is simultaneously the most interesting, and concerning, episode yet. Why? Well lets jump in and find out!

Now normally I start these posts talking about the production, but you know what Danseur looks like. It looks good! So instead lets skip straight into what happened this week: Bullying. Conceptually I rather like it. This episode went all in on Jumpei struggling with being “cool”, being “masculine”, and that’s exactly what I wanted from Danseur. Not just some glossed over “I dance, everyone is cool with it”, but an actual full on look as to why Jumpei feels this way. Why he’s concerned and insecure about it and why there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. And I got that! By the end, Jumpei has started down that road. He has begun to figure out that being a “man” isn’t about being a fighter or whatever. It’s about being true to yourself and your beliefs. The only concerning thing about it is how Danseur got there.

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Legend of the Galactic Heroes Die Neue These – 25-30

by AidanAK47, posted in Legend of the Galactic Heroes Die Neue These

I am uncertain as to who is so committed to LOTGH that they continue to remake it even four years after the debut of the first season but I am certainly grateful for their efforts and the efforts of the animation team. Jumping into it again reminds me just how different it is to any other anime with its pseudo documentary approach to storytelling. Watching it is like watching history and I find it funny how often it goes to the effort of naming every minor character on screen, as though these were people of note in their own right. But I think the show realizes that there is no possible way for anyone to remember the names of all these characters(Especially for Japanese people to remember all these foregn names, not even counting for the fact that this used to be a novel which would make that straight impossible) as it does the equivalent of a sizzle reel naming every member of Reinhard’s court. I find though LOTGH deals with fairly broad subject matter, it never truly leaves the viewer behind and often puts information clearly enough in bite size chunks for them to get the current situation. It’s the difference between convoluted and complex in like how Kingdom Hearts storyline is simpler than you would think but the problem lies in how utterly convoluted it’s presentation is. Where with LOTGH we have the story getting across the cost of the coup by talking about the free planets needing to gain new soldiers with the loss of so many experienced ones and tying it into Juilian getting inducted into the military. Through Juilian we see the training and first battle jitters, as well as the classroom setting to exposite about the importance of the Iserlohn corridor. On the surface you have a basic A plot of Juilian entering the military and within that is many small bits contributing to worldbuilding at large. LOTGH in general makes frequent use of a microplot to give a greater sense of the bigger picture. Unlike Game of thrones for example it doesn’t jump between three different ongoing plots but instead focuses each episode on one specific topic and rarely if ever deviates(Though to be fair that’s based on this season as my memory of previous seasons is misty due to it being literal years ago.) Look at the last of the episodes here on Fezzan where every scene is about Fezzan and characters within Fezzan. We never switch to Yang or Reinhard to see how their current stories are going, but stay laser focused on just the events of Fezzan. So we are never overloaded with information as the anime sticks to showing you the details you need to know for the current episode.
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Now and Then, Here and There – 10 [Prelude to Chaos]- Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Now And Then, Here And There, Throwback Thursday

Welcome back everybody, to another (late) week of Now and Then, Here and There! This week Hamdo starts to go on the offensive, Lala Ru gets found out and Sara finally returns to the screen. We have a lot to talk about so lets jump right in!

Off the bat, there were some cool set pieces this week. I was not prepared for Hellywood to take off into the air, not for the underground cave of water in the desert. Now and Then truly does have some great locations and scenery! On top of that, Hellywood also had some good animation behind its flight. A lot of work went into the detailing and selling us on the weight of the structure, plus the debris falling off of it. The weakest part was just the interior shots being largely stills with some shaking, but I don’t begrudge them those. Now and Then has never been a “sakuga” shown in my opinion, so it’s managed my expectations well there. All I ask is that it keep up this picturesque style of visuals for the last remaining episodes to come.

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Spy X Family – 2 [Secure a Wife]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Spy X Family

Right away I want to apologize for the lateness of this, Easter Weekend played havoc with my schedule. Excuses out of the way though, welcome to my 2nd show of the season, Spy X Family! This week continues the adventures of Anya and Loid as the search for the perfect wife to round out their dysfunctional little family. So without further ado, lets dive into it!

Before we get into all the good stuff Spy X Family gave us this week, and there’s a lot, I want to mention my only real negatives with the episode: Production. The show doesn’t look bad by any stretch of the imagination. There are much blander, much less animated series airing right now. However this is a step down from the first episode in my opinion. Part of that has to do with with darkness in Loid’s harbor scene. I harp on this a lot with Now and Then, Here and There as well. You have to light these things properly! The other issue though is that a lot of the models this episode felt… off? Not massively so, I want to be very clear when I say these are not huge problems. It’s just in places like the party scene Yor and Loid’s overall designs felt a tad stiff.

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Spring 2022 Coverage & First Episode Awards

by SuperWooper, posted in Uncategorized

Lenlo: Welcome back everyone for another season of anime over here at Star Crossed! By now you’ve seen all of our impressions and have a good grasp of what’s good, what’s promising and what’s just a dumpster file. That leaves only one thing left to announce: Our weekly coverage! Or should I say my weekly coverage, since Aidan is the only one potentially joining me this season. Maybe if I poke at them enough here I can get one or two to join me beyond the weekly summaries, who knows. Without further ado though I present to you our Spring 2022 lineup as well as our First Episode Awards!

Fall 2021 Lineup

Lenlo
– Dance Dance Danseur
– Spy X Family
– Now and Then, Here and There (Throwback Thursday)

Amun
– Occasional Weekly Summary (DanMachi waiting room)

Aidan
– Potentially returning for summer’s “Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer”

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Dance Dance Danseur – 2 [I Can’t Be Friends With Someone Like Him!]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Dance Dance Danseur

Hello everyone and welcome to the first post of the first covered show of the new season! What I have here is Dance Dance Danseur, MAPPA’s latest attempt to make me like them as a studio. And you know what? It’s working. Lets dive on into it and talk about why!

Starting off I want to praise MAPPA for the visuals in this episode. I rag on them a lot, mostly because it’s amazing just how low their production can get at times. But in others, like here, it looks fantastic. From both an animation, background and direction standpoint, Dance Dance Danseur was gorgeous. I loved how creative Munehisa Sakai got with some of the scenes. His willingness to go wide to better show off the ballet, how it completely switched color pallets, lighting and editing style when the lead dancers came out in Swan Lake. Or the way Jumpei’s legs moved in his alleyway ballet scene, or Miyako’s almost ephemeral quality in the forest, or, or, or, etc. There were to many good scenes this episode to list. And while that may result in Dance Dance Danseur burning out later on, for now? I love it.

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Spring 2022 Impressions: Don’t Hurt Me My Healer, Ascendance of a Bookworm S3, Komi Can’t Communicate S2, Paripi Koumei

by Lenlo, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Don’t Hurt Me, My Healer!

Short Synopsis: Fast talking bear, dark (skinned) elf, and idiot hero conspire to waste 20 minutes of your time!

Wooper: “My Healer” isn’t worth watching in a vacuum, but viewed as a satire of bargain bin fantasy anime, it’s vaguely amusing. You know that type of series where the main character’s face is permanently obscured so viewers can more easily imagine themselves in his place? Well, this show takes that practice to such absurd lengths that it ends up functioning as a commentary on its stupidity. There are a plethora of blatant animation shortcuts which give off the same vibe, including this shot of the main character’s helmet suddenly tripling in size to indicate his frustration. Unfortunately, these winks at the audience are My Healer’s only source of value (that I could spot, anyway). Both the elf and the bear’s personality quirks make for silly dialogue that’s likely to have you reaching for your phone out of boredom, and the faceless frontman doesn’t have a humorous word to say all episode. Even if you hate modern fantasy anime more than anything and want to see a show take jabs at it, there are better options than “My Healer.”
Potential: 5%

Amun: “So bad it’s good” – the goal of “Don’t Hurt Me, My Healer!” production committee. I’m guessing the main writer interned at Gintama and learned all of the wrong lessons. I hate all these characters. I hate the dialogue. I hate the premise. I hate everything. Well, except maybe the bear – she’s a bit funny. Nothing really happened this episode except to contrive a reason this is a show at all. There’s some dark-elf face going on here too – is that still allowed? I can’t keep up. I have stubbed my toe to greater joy than watching this show. I bet Lenlo loves it (not really though – if you watch this, it’s not my fault). ^_^
Potential: 0%

Ascendance of a Bookworm 3

Short Synopsis: Small reincarnated girl tries to make books but ends up navigating complicated political matters instead.

Amun: One of the best qualities of “Bookworm” is consistency. The oddest isekai’s tale of a young girl’s struggle to make books has stayed remarkably on message for the three seasons – Main has overcome her obstacles, both political and physical, on her Gutenberg quest, while new foes rise to complicate matters. I think the largest looming subplot is the faintest hint of a love triangle emerging with her young friend Lutz and the head priest – poor kid never had a chance. This season is opening with winter and some kind of ritual (which seems a bit ominous) – plus there’s always the chance of Main freaking out and killing everyone. Which would be very entertaining, come to think of it. Our new enemy of the season is the Ink Guild – I think there’s a huge missed opportunity for their logo to be an octopus. Every sequel has some sentiment of “I expect it to be like the previous seasons”, but with “Bookworm”, I’d say you can fully count on it.
Potential: 90%

Komi Can’t Communicate Part 2

Short Synopsis: Komi-san makes some more friends.

Mario: The first season of Komi-san started strong but eventually lost its steam for me and went out not with a bang but a whimper, to the point that I considered not picking up the second season. Well, this premiere blew my socks off again with adept direction and well-timed gags. The three skits they have for this episode are diverse, and introduce new characters / reinforce the old cast in a fun and playful mode. That new “punk” character is a fitting addition to the cast. At its core, Komi-san is about the need for communication for those who are socially-awkward, so he parallels much of what Komi-san has gone through. All the jokes land at just the right moments. While I feel that airing this season puts this show at a disadvantage because of the comparison to Kaguya-sama (and I prefer the latter much better myself), Komi-san is still a must-watch show this season.
Potential: 50%

Paripi Koumei

Short Synopsis: A Chinese military tactician is reborn in modern day Japan, where he decides to become a pop singer’s agent.

Wooper: Anime has tackled China’s military epic “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” a handful of times, but never has it dropped one of its primary generals into the 21st century… until now. I was planning to skip this show, but we got a comment urging us to check it out, and it ended up being pretty fun! It’s a fish out of water story, a template that often feels tired because the contrast between its pond and its ocean (so to speak) is over-exaggerated. But when the fish is a 300 IQ military strategist and the ocean is 1800 years removed from the pond, you’ve got yourself a winning premise. Zhuge Liang (here referred to by his courtesy name Kongming) has an enormous intellect, which he uses to rapidly absorb both the broader realities and technological minutiae of modern Japan. He also has a genuine love for music and develops a strong distaste for EDM upon first listen, making him a thoroughly based individual. There’s a careful comedic hand at work behind his character, balancing his cluelessness (“And what, pray tell, is the blockchain?”) and brilliance in equal measure, allowing him to carry the entire show with ease. I’m less happy with him hitching his wagon to a wannabe pop star, since that’s the sort of tripe that can easily kill a TV show – if we start leaning away from Kongming and towards some “big dreams in the big city” bullshit I’ll bail, but for now I’m in.
Potential: 50%

Now and Then, Here and There – 9 [In The Chasm] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Now And Then, Here And There, Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone, to another week of Now and Then, Here and There! This week Lala Ru stumblse upon paradise, Hamdo escalates the situation and Shu learns that war is complicated. So without further ado, lets dive in!

This week Now and Then’s overarching theme really begins to unveil itself. What do I mean by that? Up until now, Now and Then has cast a wide net with its theming. We’ve seen how the older generations problems and actions can trickle down and effect the younger generations, perpetuating the troubles that came before. How war damages and brings down everyone, even those at the very top like Hamdo, benefiting no one. Even how it can destroy the land! And while all of these revolve around war in some way or another, I’ve been curious where Now and Then would choose to go with it. Would we get an idealistic, but ultimately naïve and hollow, happy ending? After this week, with the nuanced way Now and Then presents both sides of the argument, I don’t think we will. And I’m kinda excited for that.

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