Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 10/11 [What Are You?/Tonight]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome back everyone to a special double feature of Kimetsu no Yaiba! Apologies for missing last week, I caught the Covid and surprise surprise, it fucks you up pretty bad. I’m back now though, feeling fine and ready to talk about some demons! So without further ado lets dive in.

Starting off like we usually do, lets talk visuals. This should come as no surprise but, by and large, Kimetsu no Yaiba still looks good! The entertainment district still makes great use of Yaiba’s lighting and bright colors. Sure the CGI can still be off in a few places, mostly the wide shots with full-body models. But for every shitty one of those we get a first person sequence through a house, so its cool. The only real complaint I have is with last weeks episode which felt like it cut a tad to much. We were switching scenes all over the place, constantly cutting between characters and shifting the tension. Yaiba had to tell 3 different character experiences, I get that. But maybe just… let them linger a bit longer rather than constantly jumping, yeah? Otherwise though, looked good!

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Fall 2021 Summary – Weeks 11-12

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: Merry Christmas, everyone! Whether you’re spending the holidays with family and friends or you’re All Alone on Christmas Eve, I have a gift for you: a brand new weekly recap post! It might not seem like much compared to our impending winter impressions or the upcoming 2021 Anime of the Year bonanza, but hey, at least I got you something. Happy reading, and I hope your December to January transition is a safe and healthy one.

Aggretsuko S4 – 1-5

This is the first time in four years that Retsuko has taken a backseat in her own show, and I’m not convinced it was the right call. She’s currently part of a romance subplot involving hesitant leading man Haida and a handful of co-workers who range from well-meaning to meddlesome. While Tsunoda the Love Expert’s lectures in the office AV room are chuckle-worthy, Haida’s indecisiveness is mostly just annoying, as he’s bailed on a dinner date with Retsuko and refused an invitation into her apartment despite being head over heels for her. The show takes plenty of opportunities to point out Retsuko’s impatience with his cold feet, making the date they went on in episode 5 feel more like a dream sequence than anything else; I’m still half-convinced that it took place in one of their imaginations. I think I’d have preferred Retsuko to play a more significant role in the season’s larger plot: the restructuring of her company by an ambitious new president named Himuro. He’s the sort of single-minded profit seeker who views the company’s accounting department as nonessential, which puts him into conflict with the star of the season: Director Ton. Who knew that three years after being introduced as the series’ primary antagonist, Ton’s fight to retain all of his employees amidst downsizing would make him a hero? The glimpses of his home life (especially those involving his hilarious twin daughters) have added a lot to his character, and I’m excited to see how Ton turns the tables on Himuro once I get through the rest of season 4.

Continue reading “Fall 2021 Summary – Weeks 11-12” →

Winter 2022 Season Preview

by SuperWooper, posted in Seasonal Previews

Wooper: Let’s be honest with ourselves. This season is going to be remembered for two things: the long-awaited conclusion of Attack on Titan’s TV run, and the continuation of Demon Slayer’s story beyond the material of its record-breaking film. Those two properties will attract nearly as many eyeballs as the rest of this winter’s offerings combined – titanic sequels aside, it’s not looking like the strongest start for 2022 in terms of anime. There’s the usual assortment of isekai and MMO-themed fantasies, a stressful three CloverWorks series airing all at once, and a trio of shows about lesser-known (and in one case, fictional) sports. Personally, none of that really speaks to me – my hopes are pinned on a pair of series that aren’t likely to make waves in otaku circles. One serves as the return of an acclaimed director and master animator after a 14 year hiatus; the other is an adaptation of a batshit insane light novel by a studio handling their first full production. Read on for more thoughts on those and a bunch of other anime, and let us know what you’re looking forward to in the poll below.

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Middling Expectations

Hakozume: Koban Joshi no Gyakushuu

Studio: Madhouse
Director: Yuuzou Satou
Series composition: Ryuunosuke Kingetsu
Source: Manga

The Premise: A disillusioned policewoman decides to stay on the force a while longer after meeting her beautiful new boss.

Wooper: Hakozume is destined to draw a lot of comparisons to You’re Under Arrest, the female-led police comedy from the mid-nineties, but having skimmed the manga and watched the PV, I doubt it will have the action focus that YUA did. We’re probably looking at a ‘moving manga’ adaptation here, not on par with 2021’s Way of the Househusband but definitely on the low end of the animation spectrum. Workplace comedies can make do with that sort of stiffness, though, as long as the characters are strong and the stories give insight into the occupation in question (2006’s Hataraki Man is perhaps the ultimate example of that possibility). Policewomen Mai and Seiko may well fulfill that first criterion, as their understated banter will probably be just as fun to hear as it was to read. I’m less sure about the second part, though a large percentage of Hakozume’s civilian population seems to view the cops as a blight on Japanese society, which is something of a unique angle. This series isn’t anywhere near the top of my watchlist for this winter (it’s not on the list at all, to be honest), but it features adults in the real world rather than teens who get transported to a make-believe one, so I figured it was worth a mention.

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Lenlo is sick! I’m sorry.

by Lenlo, posted in Uncategorized

Hello everyone! So I’m sure you’ve noticed but both the Eighty Six and Kimetsu no Yaiba posts have been late. Well I’m afraid to say the same is going to happen to The Vision of Escaflowne and the reason is simple: I’m sick as shit. I just do not have it in me to write up the posts, I’m laid out. Combine that with Christmas and well… Suffice to say there will be no posts this week. Hopefully I will be feeling better and able to do a double feature next week for everything. Until then though you will have to go without me.

 

And that’s it for my announcement! I figured you all deserved to know why everything was delayed so heavily. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and I’ll see you next week, or 2022 at the latest.

Eighty Six S2 – 9 [Together Unto Death]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Welcome back everyone to Eighty Six! The shows been having a rough time recently, what with all the delays. In fact we won’t even be getting the last two episodes this year! What that says for the production I can’t say but odds are it isn’t very good. Anywanys, how about we hope into the episode.

Starting off, for all that the delays concern me Eighty Six gave us some good shots. From the time-lapse of the dragonfly corpse or Shin and Raiden’s talk on the bridge to the open vista’s and waving grass. The long panning shot of the mechs showing just how far away Shin was, mentally and physically, or Raiden and Shin’s shadows showing how he is alone only to reveal another person, etc. Eighty Six looked pretty this week. Of course there wasn’t much in the way of movement, the actual animation of Eighty Six seems to have taken a back seat. But if you ask me that’s fine! Fast paced action was never the main draw of the series, not visually nor narratively. So if we have to sacrifice it to get the snappy editing and scenic views back, I’ll gladly take that deal.

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The Vision of Escaflowne – 11/12 [Prophecy of Death/The Secret Door] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in The Vision of Escaflowne, Throwback Thursday

Note: This was supposed to go up Friday morning but the auto-scheduler didn’t work. So this time I have a legitimate excuse and know not to use it again!

Hello everyone and welcome to another week of Escaflowne! I’m writing this opening blurb on Wednesday and I can already tell its going to be late because I feel sick. So if you’re reading this on Thursday, go me! Anyways on with the show.

Starting off as usual, since I need to leave the spoilers for after the break, we have production. This was a pretty standard week for Escaflowne. Nothing terribly wrong with it, some reused liquid animation in both of Zongi’s big scenes but it looked good both times and the coloring differentiated them enough that I didn’t mind. Van’s fight at the end of episode 11 had some jank to it to of course. From sliding still frames to the rainbow distortion effect anytime they come out of invisibility. But these are only really an issue when you’re going back through looking for nice frames for screenshots, like I do. In the moment it’s totally serviceable and only minorly effected my enjoyment.

Now with production out of the way, lets head into the episodes proper!

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Fall 2021 Summary – Week 10

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Komi-san wa, Komyushou desu – 8

Wooper: This episode peaked early, as its funniest gag arrived just before the OP kicked in. It’s pictured above on the left – the “?!” represents the confusion of Komi’s ancestors at her claim that they’d had a nice graveside chat. In reality, she’s so awkward that even her internal dialogue earned a silent “…” when visualized on screen, which means even dead people are more expressive than poor Komi. That lack of expressiveness continued with diverse results, as she was able to play a board game with her cousin for the first time, and even got out a full (if fragmented) sentence to Tadano during their time at the Bon festival. It’s interesting to note that while a lot of anime treat matsuri as climactic events, Komi-san inserted its festival into the middle segment in one of its middle episodes. That’s probably an indicator that it’s on a different schedule than most romcoms, which typically aim for a confession at a fateful moment in their finales. Komi-san is on another sort of journey, it seems: pushing its heroine to the point where she’s comfortable around others (not just the guy she likes). I can appreciate that mission, just as I appreciated the perfect deployment of side characters Yadano and Nakanaka in this episode. Each girl had a tiny appearance at just one booth during the festivities, both of which made the most of their competitiveness and delusion, respectively. A fine episode on the whole, even if its sappy final segment was a bit much for me.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 9 [Infiltrating the Entertainment District]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba! Last week kicked off our new content but this week is what sold me on it. I have a lot of positive things to say so lets jump right in.

First the obvious: Kimetsu no Yaiba look good. I normally have a lot to say about Ufotable’s dependency on post-processing and after-effects, not all of it positive. They actually really over due it at times if I’m being frank. Just look at some of the recent Heaven’s Feel movies. But that very same love of after-effects and lighting lends itself really well to the nightlife of the entertainment district. The glow of the lanterns contrasting with the night sky, the colorful yukata, makeup and accessories everyone is wearing. I think it’s really nice, a veritable treat after the CGI tentacle fest of the last arc where the only light came from the train! That the entire arc is going to take place here is exciting and I’m looking forward to whatever bombastic fight they have planned.

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