Haibane Renmei – 13 [Reki’s World/Prayer/Epilogue] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Haibane Renmei, Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone to the finale of Haibane Renmei! We’ve made it through another season of Throwback Thursday and you know what that means: Time to vote for the next one. Like always you can find the poll at the end of this post. In the meantime though lets talk about about depression WOO!

So as far as my immediate impressions of the ending go I have to say that I am… satisfied. It didn’t go exactly as I thought it would, I figured it would be more bittersweet. One where Reki forgives herself but it’s to late for her Day of Flight. Or perhaps Rakka postpones her own so that Reki won’t feel alone here anymore. What we got instead was still good though. I feel that with this Haibane Renmei wrapped up and concluded everything important it introduced. We still don’t know much about the Factory or the Renmei and some questions remain unanswered true. But the crux of Haibane Renmei was always Reki and Rakka, and that feels properly handled. Haibane Renmei even addressed my concern about help being the only way out by instead making it about accepting help. That you needed the desire to change rather than stagnation.

So yeah, it was good. Now what about Reki?

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Fall 2021 Summary – Week 3

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Lupin III Part 6 – 2

Mario: Sherlock goes full Kingsman mode in this second episode (they missed their chance of using an umbrella instead of Sherlock’s walking stick but that’s just me) and yes, he manages to kick all the Lupin team’s asses. This episode is light on plot as it concentrates heavily on action set pieces. Lily is indeed the daughter of poor dead Watson and the last thing she remembers is that Lupin killed her father. Of course this is a red-herring but that is enough for Sherlock to confront Lupin and get his former partner’s daughter out of danger for good. The set pieces are fun and awesome and for that I’m looking forward to more Lupin to come.

Kaguya-sama S3 – PV

Wooper: Most anime PVs are pretty barebones, featuring a few bits of animation and a bunch of character intro stills matched with voicework from their respective seiyuu. A handful of PVs each season are fully-fledged trailers, pulling impressive cuts from a show’s first few episodes and smartly stringing them together to create a picture of how the anime will look and feel. And then there’s Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai, which just dropped an entire ten-minute episode to promote its upcoming third season. As if that weren’t enough, its story revolved around Ishigami and Shirogane’s excitement at their favorite manga adaptation getting a third season; I don’t know what the most self-referential anime comedy of all time is (Gintama? Osomatsu-san?), but Kaguya-sama just gave it a run for its money. This PV was a big surprise, and a very welcome one, given its hilariously authentic look at concealing your love of anime to escape the judgment of your non-otaku friends. The resolution, in which Shirogane proclaimed all people who have ever seen a single anime to be otaku, had a great handle on the sort of comedic hyperbole necessary to sell that sort of breakdown. Kaguya even made a reference to the classic WMT series Anne of Green Gables, confirming her Best Girl status once and for all. Great stuff all around – looking forward to season 3 in April of next year!

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 3 [Should Have Been]

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

Welcome everyone to episode 3 of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This week we continue our rewatch of the movie in the long wait until December for new content. So without further ado lets dive in!

This week lets skip the production talk. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it, this is a movie, it looks good. I’ve also already mentioned the pacing issues. So instead lets go right to the crux of the episode: Dreams. I mentioned last week that this was a pretty clever way to explore the characters, and I stand by that. However that’s only true if Kimetsu no Yaiba chooses to engage those characters in that way. And sadly half our cast don’t get that kind of treatment. Both Inosuke and Zenitsu seem to have been relegated to comic relief in this arc and I think that’s a shame. This was the perfect opportunity to expand on both of their characters but Inosuke especially. The guy never talks about himself, he doesn’t really share his personal feelings, and the dream was the perfect opportunity to get around that. It’s a missed opportunity if you ask me.

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Eighty Six S2 – 4 [Welcome Back]

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

Hello everyone and welcome to what is perhaps the dullest episode of Eighty Six yet! Think I’m exaggerating? Then you clearly haven’t watched the episode before reading this. And if you have but still disagree? Give me until the end of this post to prove it to you. So without further ado lets dive in!

Obviously the place we have to start is with Frederica. I know that this is becoming a weekly segment at this point but I have to get this out somewhere: She is the worst part of Eighty Six. From the blatant and pointless sexualization to taking over the conversations between the 86ers and making them about herself, she’s bringing down everything that made Eighty Six good. What’s worse though is that she also isn’t bringing anything new to the table to make up for what she’s ruining. A 10 year old waxing philosophical in her little “moe” voice about life and death, am I supposed to not laugh?! How am I supposed to take this whole knight and fallen kingdom plot seriously when it’s being delivered by fucking Moe Moe Kyun? And actually now that I mention it lets talk about this “Knight” plot because it’s incredibly lazy.

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Heike Monogatari – 06

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama, Heike Monogatari

Heike Monogatari returned this week to the more character-oriented stories of its first two episodes. The renewed focus on Shigemori’s children saw Biwa come back in a major way, and the introduction of Atsumori’s naïve character was handled with detail, giving the show a strong symbol of innocence that it can corrupt at its leisure. Kiyomori’s hoarding of wealth and power was contextualized by his abhorrence of aristocratic decadence, and his grandson’s continued military struggles received further consideration. (I’m still not totally happy with Koremori’s arc – why does the show continue to limit his screen time outside of military settings? – but I won’t spend a second post lamenting Heike’s shortcomings here.) Even retired emperor Takakura (now on his sickbed) got to share a tender moment with Tokuko, framing their relationship in a much warmer light than previous interactions. Much darker was the revelation that their son, the newly crowned Emperor Antoku, “starts crying when he hears the waves.” How’s that for foreshadowing the fate of a future drowning victim?

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Haibane Renmei – 12 [Bell Nuts/Passing of the Year Festival/Reconciliation] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Haibane Renmei, Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone to the penultimate episode of Haibane Renmei! Apologies for the wait on this one, I’ve been quite sick these past few days and didn’t get to write this early like I usually do. With my excuses out of the way lets dive into this weeks episode!

Starting off I think this was the first episode where I had a noticeable issue with Haibane Renmei’s visuals. Not across the board of course. The backgrounds are still nice and the colors, while largely washed out, still work to sell that almost ethereal nature of the Wall, halos and town. In fact I’m really only talking about one part in particular: Rakka’s face when she is talking to Midori. The way this shot is cut just… bothers me. Those 3 rapid frames as she reacts to Midori, the way it cuts between them is just… jarring. It took me completely out of the scene and the moment. I actually went back twice to see if I just blinked or something else went wrong. But no. Its just a really jarring scene. Is this a big deal? Not really but I had to complain about something before I gush.

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Ousama Ranking – 02 [The Prince and Shadow]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Ousama Ranking

Hello and welcome to my ramblings on this season’s prospective dark horse – Ousama Ranking.  Truth be told, I was looking at other shows to review before seeing the premiere of Ousama Ranking (which ended up being one of the last shows to start its run).  So far, I’m happy with my choice, but some storm clouds are on the horizon for our tiny king’s adventure.  Let’s take a look!

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Fall 2021 Summary – Week 2

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: New fall season, same old column recapping the last seven days in anime. I’m glad to be joined by Mario and Lenlo for the weekly summary’s return – join us as we express our pleasure and disappointment (mostly the second one) with a bunch of second episodes, plus a handful of summer leftovers.

Sakugan – 2

Mario: While in the premiere I complained about Sakugan’s rushed pacing, in this second outing it suffers from the exact opposite problem: it just wastes way too much time on the battle between father-daughter mecha and the kaijus. As a result, many better elements from last week were omitted – the backgrounds are blurred, the world-building is non-existent. To its defense, the CG models and fights aren’t too distracting, and Gagumber and Memenpu (what bad sounding names) make up for an unlikely but energetic duo to watch. There’s an implication that these kaijus target them specifically, which suggests that they might consider Gagumber as a threat to them. Now, it marks the end of the introduction arc as the duo leaves their town and embarks on new adventures. And hopefully it still engages me so I can follow along.

Love Live! Superstar!! – 9-12

Wooper: Well, I did it. I finished my first Love Live anime – and perhaps my last. It finished on a high note, with a series-best performance in “Starlight Prologue” (those piano chords during the final chorus had me jamming), and I loved that the final ED featured the whole group singing all the way through, rather than as individuals. After a nailbiting loss at the Tokyo tournament, the girls’ resolution to win next year opened the door for a potential sequel – but I don’t know if I can handle another string of episodes like the ones that led up to the finale. The comedy took a big hit for me over the last month, going from fun showcases of group dynamics to disasters like episode 9’s embarrassing livestream. A lot of the drama surrounding Sumire and Kanon’s lack of confidence was driven by scripts that had nothing else on their mind, leading to scenes like Sumire leaping into some bushes to catch a tiara (a symbol of Keke’s confidence in her) which had been blown away by the wind. If you read that sentence without raising an eyebrow in disbelief, you’re much more suited to this show than I am. There are lots of things to enjoy about Love Live – fun characters, creative storyboarding, smart fusions of 2D and 3D choreography – but its emotional logic is beyond me.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 2 [Deep Sleep]

by Lenlo, posted in Kimetsu no Yaiba

Hello and welcome to the Kimetsu no Yaiba movie Episode 2 of Kimetsu no Yaiba! That’s right, this week begins the movie retread. For those of you who have already seen it you won’t be getting anything new. And for those that haven’t? Lets dive in and talk about that.

Right off the bat you can tell that this is movie quality stuff. Not because of any of the big scenes mind you. Yaiba was always, and still is, pretty good about those. It’s more the consistency of it all. The small scenes that normally, in a TV anime at least, wouldn’t get animated. Stuff like Inosuke’s various snort effects, the various facial expressions or movement of background characters, etc. Of course the big things have their moments to though. I have issues with Ufotable’s CGI coming up in later episodes but god is this train pretty. The lighting, the tracking, the smoke, this is a good looking train! And Ufotable knows it, as you will quickly find out by the amount of full-model shots in the upcoming episodes. Whatever you think of the story, and I have qualms about it, you can’t deny that Yaiba is pretty.

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