Episode 10 of Heike Monogatari felt slightly more measured than last week’s blitz of character deaths, family reunions, and political/military developments, but upon closer inspection, the two installments have much in common.
Heike Monogatari – 10
The Vision of Escaflowne – 3/4 [The Gallant Swordsman/The Diabolical Adonis] – Throwback Thursday
Hello everyone and welcome back to The Vision of Escaflowne! This week we meet our next party member, receive our mandatory exposition dump and get to know our villains. We have a lot to talk about so lets dive right in!
First up we need to talk production because Escaflowne took a bit of a dip this week. And then a rise. And then another dip. In just the 4 episodes I’ve seen it’s already clear to me how wildly inconsistent Escaflowne’s visuals are. Sometimes you get this really strong contrast! Saturated colors, heavy blacks and bright whites! The kind of stuff I love. But other times the linework becomes thin and weak, feeling almost rushed, and the colors lose a lot of their luster. You can see this most clearly with Allen and his blonde hair. The way it loses a lot of depth between scenes and the black lines become almost pointless, or how his chin suddenly becomes a lot weaker. And then there’s the fire at the end of Episode 3! Oh that fire. It does not look good…
State of the Season: Fall 2021
Lenlo: It’s that time of the season again everyone! The time when we get all the writers together to fight about the best show of the season and complain about the worst. From Ousama Ranking and Heike to Taisho Otome Fairy Tail and Komi-san, we have quite the list of topics ahead of us. So without further ado, read on! And I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and Christmas season.
P.S. I will be out this weekend attending ANYC so Eighty Six and Kimetsu no Yaiba will no doubt be late.
What show are you enjoying that you’re not reviewing?
Mario: Ousama Ranking and Komi-san. As we talk about the little prince and his shadow down below, I’ll say more about the latter. Komi-san’s adept direction elevates this gag-based material greatly. It knows when to amp up with the jokes but still allows the emotions to slip in. The comic timing and the text bubbles that explain the situation are spot on. It makes fun of the characters but never makes light of them.
Lenlo: Apart from older shows outside the season? Probably Sakugan and Doukichan. One of those because I like underground mystery adventures as much as the next guy. The other because office ladies.
Armitage: Ousama Ranking is the obvious answer here. I am ready to wax poetic about this show at any moment you let me but I am given an official opportunity to do so down under and so, guess you scroll over to the end to read that. Apart from our smol king, I would say Senpai ga Uzai has been especially charming week in, week out.
Amun: Annoying Senpai has been pretty good so far; World’s Best Assassin Isekai went all-in, which makes it better than expected; Kicked Out of the Brave Man’s party I praise below. And I love World Trigger irrationally.
Wooper: Ousama Ranking! It’s got a fantastical setting, an adventurous plot, lovable characters and powerful fight scenes – what’s not to love?
Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 5 [Move Forward!]
Welcome everyone to another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This week is going to be a bit of a shorter post, we don’t have to much to talk about. I’ll do my best to cover everything that’s important though so lets dive into it!
Starting off, animation! And like usual Kimetsu no Yaiba fares pretty well here. I especially like the elemental effects. These things continue to be gorgeous, I absolutely love the Ukiyo-e style water and fire effects. The thick, contrasting lines of white and black within these bright colors sets them apart from everything else. And because of how heavily saturated the colors are I find myself not caring about the lack of detail such as shading or how they are composited. Maybe its just my love for heavy blacks, but I think it looks really good and reminds me of cel-shaded animation and games graphics. And on top of all of that the 3D camera work is actually really solid! At least… as long as you ignore the poop tentacles. Yes, you read that right. Poop tentacles. And they look just as ugly as they sound.
Ousama Ranking – 05 [Intertwining Plots]
I’ve been harder on Ousama Ranking than any other reviewer I’ve seen. I’ve criticized, nitpicked, complained. But it’s not out of spite – it’s out of love, because I can see the immense potential here. So let me be the first to say – “Intertwining Plots” was absolutely fantastic. It earned the highest compliment that I can give a seasonal episode: I watched it twice in a row. This episode was everything I want out of this show – and more. Let’s take a look!
Heike Monogatari – 09
The year is 1184. Having fled Fukuhara to escape Genji troops, the Heike are forced to undergo several further relocations in order to avoid their pursuers. In the meantime, Go-Shirakawa returns to the capital and crowns a new Emperor in Antoku’s absence, thus undermining the Heike’s plan to return to their former influence. Go-Shirakawa is not without opposition in Kyoto, however; the Genji general Yoshinaka captures him in a bid to strengthen his control of the capital. Yoshinaka plans to launch an attack on his cousin Yoritomo and make himself head of the Genji, but Go-Shirakawa sends a messenger to alert his would-be victim of the plot. With this warning in mind, Yoritomo assigns his calculating half-brother Yoshitsune to attack the capital, resulting in Yoshinaka’s death. As this Genji infighting plays out, the Heike return to Fukuhara and make a stand at the Battle of Ichi-no-tani, but are outmaneuvered and forced to flee once more, their troops having been reduced to a mere 3000.
The Vision of Escaflowne – 1/2 [Fateful Confession/The Girl From the Mystic Moon] – Throwback Thursday
Hello everyone and welcome to a new season of Throwback Thursday! This time, for those who weren’t already aware, we are watching The Vision of Escaflowne from the late, great Studio Sunrise! I say late, they are still making anime today but how much of it is any good. No seriously, how much, I don’t watch Gundam or Aikatsu. Anyways my bad jokes aside, lets dive into it!
And what better place to start than my old reliable, the visuals! Initial impressions: I quite like how Escaflowne looks. It has all the hallmarks of the cel-era of animation, as it should since it was made in the 90s. I’m talking heavy, saturated colors instead of the more modern pastels and the uneven linework you just don’t find in digital. On top of that it also makes use of heavy blacks in some of its more dramatic moments, a style I’ve loved since I first saw it in late 90’s comic books. And then we have the character designs! These people are long and angular, with sharp edges all over their outlines. I love it! It makes them feel so much older than a lot of modern series where the designs emphasize the softness of youth over the stiffness of age. So yeah, Escaflowne, right up my visual alley.
Fall 2021 Summary – Week 5
Wooper: Just me again this week. Our State of the Season post will replace this column next Tuesday, and it’s looking like a heated one – lots of conflicting opinions on the fall’s anime so far. I’ll be back on the 23rd with impressions of one or two new things, hopefully with a friend or two in tow.
PokeToon – 6-7
PokeToon is an anthology project consisting of short pieces set within different regions in the Pokemon universe. There’s tremendous variety between each episode’s art and animation styles, which is the sort of thing I love – all the more so when the perennially underrated Studio Colorido is involved. Their work on last year’s Twilight Wings established them as the go-to group for vignettes in this world, and they’ve only improved their batting average here, handling four of PokeToon’s seven episodes thus far. That includes episode 6, an adorably spooky tale about a girl who turns into a Gengar while exploring her school after dark. I found the story’s climax to be genuinely suspenseful, and then surprisingly emotional once the tension had been resolved, thanks to the age-old ‘character steps from darkness into light’ trick (bolstered by Colorido’s standout lighting, which is second only to KyoAni’s). Here’s a link to [I Became a Gengar?!] as part of a playlist with the earlier episodes. Be advised that it doesn’t contain the most recent one, a less impactful but still attractive story about a trio of boys who rescue an abandoned Snorunt. Its shorter runtime and limited animation make it one of the series’ minor offerings, but its art design, which borrows from felt and paper cutout animation, is worth seeking out if you like those styles.
Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 4 [Insult]
Welcome back everyone to another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba! We had a bit of a break there, partly for the show and partly for me, but thats fine more time for Ufotable to work on the second half. Or maybe… maybe even to work on this half. Because if my suspicions are correct, this isn’t just a reprint of the movie. Not entirely at least. Lets dive in and talk about it!
Starting off, if I didn’t know any better I would say there were some new cuts in this episode. Stuff that wasn’t in the movie! Really Kimetsu no Yaiba? You’re going to spoil me? And indeed, going by this post from reddit user “eitherism” there was a good bit added. From the falling scene with the young man in Tanjiro’s dream to making his suicide a bit bloodier as well as moving some stuff around to better fit these new scenes. Of course not all of it is great. Yaiba is still cutting out the occasional character or exposition scene it seems and causing some continuity issues. But ignoring what are admittedly very small issues, Yaiba has added more than it took out. As someone who expected this to be nothing more than the movie cut up and re-aired, that’s kind of impressive.
Eighty Six S2 – 6 [I Won’t Forget]
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Eighty Six! This week we follow up on Lena, see her organize the defense of San Magnolia and have an all around good time! Or at least that’s what I would like to say. Instead we see even less of her this week. What happened in place of that? Lets dive in and talk about that.
First up though I need to give Eighty Six credit for this, the storyboarding is back baby. There were some really, really nice shots this week. Not much in the way of interesting cuts like we got last season sadly. But almost the entirety of Shin’s meeting with the general was just… really evocative. The way the sound cut out, the General’s dialogue fading away as Shin read between the lines and heard what they always did: Eighty Six. Expendable. The squad poofing away into the scrap metal with their names, clattering behind down behind him. This scene was probably the most engaged I’ve been with Eighty Six this entire season. This is the good shit! Now I just need Eighty Six to keep giving us this and less of the loli.