Spy X Family – 5 [Will They Pass or Fail]

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

Welcome everyone, to another episode of SpyXFamily! This week has everything. Action, wholesome family moments, a few jokes. It’s the perfect example of what an anime adaptation of an existing property could, and should, be. What do I mean? Well lets jump in and talk about it.

To say that SpyXFamily is getting a good adaptation would be an understatement. Kazuhiro Furuhashi and his team are going above and beyond this week, taking what was an otherwise pretty standard wholesome family chapter and turning it into an action-packed event. The whole sequence in the castle? With the balls, the quiz, the tower? That’s all anime original. The manga had the concept yes, the agents that got brought in and playing “Save the Princess” with Anya. But it only went so far as to knock over a table and call that a “prison”. The small fight with Yor was the only action the chapter had. So to see it expanded upon like this, to be turned into a sequence that can carry an episode, an excuse for absolutely fantastic animation? I think it just goes to show how dedicated this team are to making SpyXFamily a success.

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Dance Dance Danseur – 5 [I Can’t Die Now]

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

Ladies and gentleman, this episode of Dance Dance Danseur might just be my episode of the season. There’s so much love here and we have so little time to talk about it, so lets just jump right into it!

Obviously the first thing we need to talk about is that beautiful performance. Danseur really came out swinging this week with this rendition of Swan Lake. Not in terms of animation sadly, we haven’t gotten much 2D ballet work since Luou’s gym performance in episode 3. Instead MAPPA used CGI for all of those scenes this week, and it was painfully obvious. They stuck out like a sore thumb anytime Danseur switched to a wide shot with multiple characters and complex movement. It’s a shame, definitely the low point of the episode. But even with those, what stuck in my head after watching wasn’t the CGI models. Instead it was all of the beautifully lit and detailed still frames. The expressions on Jumpei, Miyako and Luou’s faces throughout, and prior to, the performance. Or the incredibly framed full-body posing with extreme lighting and camera angles. These were all fantastic.

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Now and Then, Here and There – 12 [This Bloody Earth]- Throwback Thursday

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

Welcome everyone, to the penultimate episode of Now and Then, Here and There! This week sees… well, it sees a lot. Bullets fly, people die and Hamdo re-enters the picture. Is it any good? Lets jump in and find out.

Overall I think this was an interesting week. It doesn’t add anything as a follow up to last weeks topic regarding abortion, children, pro-life etc, but I think that’s for the best. I stand by what I said last week, how I didn’t agree with its politics or what it was trying to say, so moving on was probably the best option. The worst thing to come out of that was how, thematically, it feels a little disjointed. But once you get into the episode and start experiencing what is happening I think the shift is negligible. Basically what I’m saying is: Now and Then had a small bump last week but we are now back on track and stuff is happening. So lets talk about this weeks tragedies.

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Spy X Family – 4 [The Prestigious School’s Interview]

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

This is it everyone. This is, for me, the perfect episode of SpyXFamily. It had everything. Layered jokes, wholesome family moments, good animation. There was even a one-off episode “villain” to watch be defeated. My opening review is: I loved it. Now lets talk about why.

Last week I said I didn’t enjoy episode 3, for what I thought were pretty good reasons. The jokes were simple and flat, the episodes plot was largely toothless and the only engaging bit was the wholesome family moments. Well I am pleased to announce that, as expected, SpyXFamily fixes all of those in episode 4. First and foremost among those being: The jokes. The best way I can put it is that if last weeks jokes were bland, one-off, ham & cheese sandwich’s this weeks were multi-layered, multi-meat subs. Even when repeated there was enough going on that you found different flavors, different things to enjoy, each time they came up. Have I confused you with my weird sandwich metaphor? You blame the dinner I’m eating as I write this then. To help illustrate what I’m talking about though, lets break down one of the jokes after the break.

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Dance Dance Danseur – 4 [I Can Do Ballet Now]

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

Welcome back everyone, to another week of Dance Dance Danseur. This week we follow up with Luou on the bullying, Jumpei embraces ballet and the show becomes just a tad bit more Shounen. What does that mean? Read on to find out.

Right off the bat I want to, once again, praise Danseur for its visuals. The eyes still look off in wide shots sadly. I think the lines just do not look good without the proper tapering and details provided by the closeups. There was also an issue regarding Miyako’s tutu just being a static image moving across the screen rather than any kind of animation. But I find both of these to be ultimately small, almost irrelevant, issues. Neither of them changes how good the character movement is. Especially the legs! Oh how I love the legs in Danseur. The attention to detail on their form, the way the joints move, the careful way they must be posed and walk during a ballet… I find it beautiful. I haven’t been able to fill hunger for dance since the Princess Tutu Throwback Thursday series, so this has been a welcome find.

And as for the narrative? Well that was pretty damn good too.

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Now and Then, Here and There – 11 [Eve of Destruction]- Throwback Thursday

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

Welcome everyone, to what is inevitably going to be a late post about Now and Then, Here and There! How do I know it will be late? Because I’m off traveling for work all day Thursday and I haven’t started writing this until Wednesday. So if I somehow manage to get it up on time make sure to tell me I did a good job. No please, Pavlov really works. Enough with the intro though, lets dive into the episode!

This week is a strong one. To lay it out in plain terms, this week was all about children and whether or not it is just to bring them in to a dying world. Now and Then poses this question to us through two different sets of characters: Lala and Sis, as well as Sara and Shu. With the answer to both of those being an unequivocal “yes”. On the surface, I think this is a pretty interesting question for the series. Especially when you look at how Now and Then has treated children, the future, prior to this in the show. As you dig deeper into it and look at the situations surrounding how Now and Then answers this question… It’s starts to get a little bit concerning. Even, dare I say it, a tad political. That’s right everyone, strap in, it’s time to talk abortion politics in anime.

This is gonna suck.

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Spy X Family – 3 [Prepare for the Interview]

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

Hello everyone and welcome to a (very late) episode of Spy X Family! Some of you might be wondering why this took so long. My answer? I actually struggled to write this post. The episode was just so milquetoast, I had very little positive, or negative, to say. Why? Well lets jump on in and see if I can explain.

The best way to explain it is this: I’m not a fan of slice of life. As a genre, I find it incredibly boring. Very little happens. And, regretfully, slice of life is kind of what Spy X Family gave us this week. It was just a normal day in their new lives. Yes, it was all very important. This episode established their family dynamic and overall relationships with each other. The whole thing was about them spending time with each other, that was the point. It’s necessary that this stuff is established now so that things to come make sense and flow naturally. To make a long story short: It has to happen. I acknowledge that. But it doesn’t change that I, by and large, found it boring. I’ve even prepared a few specifics after the break to help explain it.

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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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