Sonny Boy – 4 [The Great Monkey Baseball]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Sonny Boy

Welcome all to episode 4 of Sonny Boy! Apologies for the delayed post, Otakon was this weekend and ended up going so its been busy the last few days. As for Sonny Boy, this is a weird episode, arguably a bad one, but one that interested me nonetheless. So without further ado lets dive in!

To start I thought this episode was pretty visually boring. Large portions of the episode consisted of nothing but wide shots as the characters talked about baseball. No pans, no interesting angles, not even motion to draw or keep the eye. Just wide character shots. And while I liked the lineless mini-versions of the characters, an almost painterly style, that didn’t make the scenes any more engaging. Now a friend of mine made the argument that these shots were to sell the “realism”. That it put us in the shoes of the characters as Cap wouldn’t shut the hell up about baseball. But all that tells me is that they made the scenes boring on purpose, which is even worse. Whatever the case, whatever the reasoning, I didn’t find this episode of Sonny Boy to be that visually engaging outside of the opening swimming scene. With that, lets talk narrative!

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Fumetsu no Anata e – 13-15 [Dropped]

by SuperWooper, posted in Fumetsu no Anata e, Series which were Dropped

This will be my last time writing about Fumetsu no Anata e. Several of its recent episodes have left me without a single positive thing to say, and while I’m regularly critical of anime, there’s no value in unchecked negativity. I flirted with the idea of throwing this post in the trash as well, but I’ll just throw up a warning here instead: only venture beyond this sentence if you’re as frustrated with the show as you imagine me to be.

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Kageki Shoujo!! – 06 [A Glimpse of Stardom]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Kageki Shoujo!!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the halfway point of Kageki Shoujo. This week we get more insight into the lives of a couple of other girls who are part of our class of aspiring actors. And as has been the norm so far, we also get peeks into the pasts which seem to drag them down. Though, the highlight of the episode was still the opportunity to be able to see our lead duo finally get to go out in front of an audience and display their acting chops.

Did that all these individual acts add up to form an irresistible tour de force?

Let’s find out!

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Haibane Renmei – 1 [Cocoon/Dream of Falling from the Sky/Old Home] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Haibane Renmei, Throwback Thursday

Hello and welcome everyone to the next season of Throwback Thursday, Haibane Renmei! I know nothing of this show going into it and after 1 episode I can comfortably say: What the hell have I gotten myself into? So without further ado lets dive into the 1st episode!

Starting off, Haibane Renmei looks… dated. And fuzzy. But mostly dated! I’m unsure how much of this is just artifacting from how I am watching it and how much is the show itself, so for now I will give it the benefit of the doubt. Regardless, it has the clear look of a show caught in the transition from cel to digital. The story and atmosphere calling for the more personal touch of paint yet suffering from the cheap and familiar look of the first digital animations. This isn’t to say it doesn’t have its moments, Haibane Renmei end’s on a particularly gruesome scene that shocked me out of my preconceptions about the show. But the coloring of the characters in this first episode felt flat and lifeless at times. My hope is that some strong editing and a good narrative can make up for this moving forward.

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Summer 2021 Weekly Summary – Week 5

by Amunchet, posted in Weekly Summary

Vanitas – 05

Amun: (Sorry, sorry, I know I’m not Armi). Vanitas this week was worth talking about – and how it’s faring as a vampire show overall. Vampires are a genre I’d love to see a resurgence after quite a few uneven showings in the last few years. The genre’s cornerstone – Hellsing – is unlikely to be replicated as the successors, like inferior offspring, fall into several traps: excessive brain-dead gore (Hellsing Ultimate), failed humour (Blood Lad), a confused zombie show (Shiki), or a monsters ensemble – which is not actually a vampire show at all (Kekkai Sensen, Monogatari series). Proper vampire shows are still around – Mars Red from last season was a decent attempt that tripped on its own feet halfway through. Vanitas so far has a great setup and a superlative twist – vampire and vampire hunter team up to defeat the threat…only it’s not a vampire hunter, it’s actually a vampire doctor. The bloodsuckers, so often the perpetrators, are the victims here – this isn’t human vs vampire, it’s a complicated world of humans helping/hurting vampires who are helping/hurting each other. That’s an excellent premise. How’s the execution? 5 episodes in, my verdict is: good! Noe is a surprisingly interesting viewer vehicle – he clearly has his own demons and is certainly marching to his own beat. Vanitas is what anti-heroes should be: not complete scum without a single redeeming quality, but a flawed person with good intentions and complicated motivations. The villain is sufficiently spooky and the supporting cast fleshes out well enough – I’m really quite pleased so far. I think this episode also had a great use of violence for a purpose instead of just for shock-value – you really feel Noe’s personal involvement with curse-bearers. Vampire shows are going to be a bit rough on the viewer, but that’s the nature of the genre, and I think so far – Vanitas has handled it excellently.

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Kageki Shoujo!! – 05 [The Chosen Maidens]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Kageki Shoujo!!

Our lovely group of girls aiming to be the top Kouka star return in this week’s episode to come back to their usual school life and all the pressures of competition that come with it. While some of them are happy to be making incremental progress, others are satisfied with where they find themselves in comparison to their peers. Someone finds a passion they want to pursue; someone else starts tunneling into a pit of extreme self-criticism.

How do all these conflicting scenarios unfold?

Let’s find out!
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Sonny Boy – 3 [The Cat Who Wore Sandals]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Sonny Boy

Welcome to another week of Sonny Boy! This is a pretty trippy episode all things considered, but one I still enjoyed. So without further ado lets jump in!

On the visual side Sonny Boy is still weird. I continue to like it! The flat coloring and low line count is very appealing and I think it works with the surreal presentation. Stuff like the background falling and splitting like a curtain was great! Yet some stuff, like Rajidani’s toys that he creates with his power, still feel out of place. The white outline around them combined with their incredibly cartoony nature doesn’t mesh well with the students. One could argue that this is on purpose! That these toys were made from a different world, a different set of rules, from the students and thus shouldn’t fit with them. I’m not opposed to that argument and I’ll wait and see how Sonny Boy continues to use them as sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. For now though consider me wary of their continued inclusion.

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Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon S – 3-4

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama, Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon S

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is its energetic commentary on the human experience. It’s interested in topics such as friendship, work-life balance, and finding greater purpose, but it always presents them with gusto, never using them as an excuse to drone in your ear. Ironically, nonhuman characters such as this series’ dragons are great tools to explore these issues – their lack of familiarity with human customs and behavior lets the show be a bit more direct in its messaging. Other anime with anthropomorphized casts tend to use their animal natures to drive the story, which often results in sensationalist plotting, but that’s not the case here. Miss Kobayashi’s dragons exist in the real world (or an ideal version of it) and seek fulfillment in ordinary life, despite their unearthly proficiency at nearly every task they try.

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Shiroi Suna no Aquatope – 02/ 03 [Getting Wet Is Part Of the Job/ Life Begins In the Ocean]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope

If you follow the seasonal preview and the first impression posts, you get an idea on where I stand about P.A.Works originals as a whole. I have deep respect for an anime studio that prioritizes original contents over adapting popular-but-empty isekais and idols and all that jazz. At the same time, it’s a bit frustrating to see these series are quite there but never fully reach their own potential. Almost all of their previous originals start strong but fail to stick the landing. After 3 episodes of Aquatope, I can sense the same patterns – it’s thoughtful and resonant in small moments but doesn’t quite have a strong narrative to carry its fuel.

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