I’ve got my relationship with Fumetsu no Anata e ironed out at this point. All the time it spends detailing new locations and characters? I sleep. The showstoppers it delivers once all the pieces are in place? Real shit. Right now we’re in the first of those two modes, but since our newest character Gugu is already grappling with existential issues, the other shoe can’t be far off.
Continue reading “Fumetsu no Anata e – 6-7 [Our Goals/The Boy Who Wants to Change]”
That’s right, I’m late on this weeks Nomad. But you know what? I’m still weeks ahead of some other writers on this site so I think I get some leeway. Burning my fellow authors aside, how about we get started?
The best place to begin is with my feelings on Nomad as a whole right now, because they are conflicted. You see I’m concerned with where Nomad is going. On the surface everything is… fine? The fights are fun and I do like Mac. But it feels like Nomad has lost sight of the themes and messaging of the first half. That it in it’s efforts to raise the stakes it has gotten lost in this larger than life story. Do we really need to be involved with Megalonia again? Does Nomad need another rich tech giant sticking their nose into the story? What do these things contribute to Joe’s journey to become a better person and to reestablish his connections with those he loves? I can see a possible future where all of these fit together. But I can’t help but be disappointed after the stellar first half.
Lenlo: Alright I have a lot to cover and only a paragraph to do it in so lets make this fast! Right off the bat I really liked the horror-style directing of episode 5. It took what was essentially a bottle episode, relationship filler, and did something interesting with its presentation. Of course we will only see if this episode was worth it or not later down the line when these relationships get put to the test. Charging forward we come to episode 6! More than anything else this episode was a show of what Bakuten’s CGI can do and it wasn’t bad. It looked the worst during the performance oddly enough, with the harsh lighting really making them stand out. But the interesting and dynamic camera angles along with the full body movements kept it visually engaging enough that I think I’m going to call that a passing grade for now. Overall though the CGI is definitely wavering. Finally episode 7, backstory! This was nice, it was satisfying to see all the dominoes come together and finally get a complete picture. I can’t say I care for the teacher that much but he’s at least a character now, so points for that. All in all I think these 3 episodes weren’t half bad! Bakuten is silent but solid this season. Not making any great waves but steadily holding course, consistent with its quality. That’s refreshing!
Also the manager is still cute. Shoulda submitted her for the State of the Season, damn.
Wooper: I have nothing nice to say about these episodes or Back Arrow in general. It’s thicker than ever with pseudoscientific dialogue, asphyxiating plotting, and screechy voice acting. Even Zetsu and Rudolph, the show’s two reliably fun characters, have gone from unpredictable forces of chaos to mere mouthpieces for writer Kazuki Nakashima’s half-formed thoughts on God. I won’t be mentioning this show ever again (though I’ll marathon the last four episodes when I’m in a self-flagellating mood).
Welcome back to another episode of Eighty Six, now with 100% more tragic revelations! Is that statistic legitimate? Probably not but you’ll have to read on to find out. So without further ado lets dive into this weeks episode!
And what do you know, Eighty Six is once again one of the best edited/directed show of the season. Tomohiko Ito, the man behind some of the best episodes of their respective shows, did great work this week. The way the fireworks were intercut between the mortar shells, Lena’s balcony shots, Shuga’s speech, it all looked good! And you know that. So instead I want to take a moment to talk about the one thing that’s bothered me with them: Continuity. Eighty Six has this obsession with shifting around shots so that they are discontinuous. Showing scenes earlier in the episode that happen later in the timespan. Sometimes this works to great effect! But I’ve found it can also be very confusing as to the order of events. Especially without proper indication of the order between the two main areas, the 86ers and the Albas.
Still my production gripes aside, however minor they are, lets talk narrative below the break!
Continue reading “86 Eighty Six – 7 [Will You Remember Me?]”
Alright everyone I have no excuse for how late this post was, I just forgot. Not to watch the show of course, Spice and Wolf is good shit! But it completely slipped my mind to do the writeup. Personally I blame the Government. Why? Because I can. Anyways without further ado, lets dive in to this weeks episode!
And what better place to start than with the pacing! Seriously its ridiculous. When I went to start the episode I saw “#4” and couldn’t believe we were only a 3rd of the way through. This season of Spice and Wolf feels so much denser than the last and this episode is a perfect example of that. The whole thing takes place in the span of just a few hours in the night as Lawrence mulls over the recent argument. Yet in it he confronts and accepts his feelings, strikes a deal, plots Fermi’s downfall, has a heart to heart with a friend and prepares to crash the economy of an entire town. Does that sounds like a lot? Good, because it was. Yet Spice and Wolf made it all feel natural and snappy. I was really impressed with how it handled the pacing this week.
Continue reading “Spice and Wolf S2 – 4 [Wolf and the Consequences of Shallow Cleverness]”
I guess Dynazenon is still airing, huh? Not only that, it’s connected itself to SSSS.Gridman in explicit fashion, with two of that show’s half-kaiju characters appearing as older versions of themselves. Anti and Anosillus II brought new life to the show, I felt, breaking up the Team Dynazenon vs Kaiju Eugenicists stalemate that had formed over the course of several weeks. This series is still operating at a high level, visually speaking, but the story has been in need of new blood, and now it’s got two fresh sources. They even wore spiffy black suits, a la the Neon Genesis Junior High Students from Gridman, indicating that they’ve pledged themselves to the cause of interdimensional justice. I don’t plan to go over all of Anti and Anosillus’s dialogue with a fine-tooth comb and extrapolate Dynazenon’s conclusion (I’d need knowledge of the toku series for that), but there was enough written between the lines to assume that the Hyper Agent himself will appear at some point. I’m already looking forward to it, as the human drama has started to wear on me in spots.
Rwaaaarg I’m back with another episode of Megalo Box: Nomad! I know it’s late, blame the State of the Season and work for being busy. Do you know how annoying interfacing with a dying protocol like XMPP is? Anyways without further ado lets dive in!
And like usual what better place to start than with production? Except this week we actually have something cool to talk about! That’s right Nomad actually gave us a well animated fight for once and I loved it. It shouldn’t be, it makes perfect sense why, but it’s incredible how much good animation can elevate a sports series. Seeing Liu and Joe go at with such clarity and speed really sells how far above the rest of the competition they are. Whether it be Chief’s fights or Joe’s underground matches, all of those look like child’s play compared to this. Just look at the way Joe’s hair moves in the clip below the break as he ducks and waves through punches. It’s a very different presentation of Boxing to Hajime no Ippo’s jet engines and explosive power. I hope Nomad can keep it up, I would love to see more.
Continue reading “Megalo Box Nomad – 7 [El tonto que muestra su carta no es un payaso estúpido]”
Amun: Of all the authors here, I think I’m watching the most shows this spring (20), so it’s fitting that I lead us off on the State of the Season post. Despite having only one tent-pole (MHA), this season features excellent mid-level sequels (Iruma-kun, Zombieland, Fruits Basket, and SSSS.Dynazenon) plus some surprising originals (Odd Taxi, Vivy). There are a few duds – Mars Red, Jouran, Shaman King – but overall this is a pleasant, quiet season following up the monster of last winter. Just don’t look too far ahead to the barren summer lineup and let’s enjoy some nice taxi rides and robot uprisings.
Amun: Honestly, I’m enjoying most of the shows I’m watching – I feel this season is solid. Vivy and SSSS.Dynazenon stand out particularly.
Lenlo: That I’m not reviewing? Odd Taxi has to be the pick for me. Aside from Megalo Box it’s one of maybe… 3 shows I’m excited to watch every week. Oh, I also binged the final season of Castlevania and while the story suffers from sequelitis god damn does it look good. So freakin good.
Helghast: Rammed through Invincible which is an original animation from Amazon and it was pretty good for an adult cartoon. I felt it dragged through its teenage drama for far too long but I can’t complain about having more subversive and violent superhero content.
Armitage: Megalo Box has been the clear standout. It’s even better than S1 and that was my favorite anime of 2018! Other than that, Vivy has been fantastic beyond my expectations and Odd Taxi has been the critical darling of the season. I do wish that Burning Kabaddi got more viewers as it’s a really solid sports anime. But yeah, that’s what I am enjoying the most for now. And let’s see, how many of these shows am I not reviewing this season? looks through notes Oh. 😛
Wooper: It’s not this spring’s best show, but it might be my favorite: Mini Dragon, the series of weekly shorts leading up to next season’s Kobayashi-san S2. It makes me happy to see TV work from Kyoto Animation again, even if it’s just for two minutes at a time.
Mario: Since I blogged none this season, my “non-blogged” favorites are also my overall favorites, and I have two. I will talk about the other show in the section below, so I want to raise attention to SSSS.Dynazenon. I still feel the shifts between its restrained character focus and its extravagant tokusatsu battles are a bit jarring, as well as its shifts from hand-drawn to 3D models – but I feel for the characters’ struggles, and its dream-like weirdness still holds my attention.
I’m back with another week of Eighty Six! This is another good week for the show, I think it’s on a roll. From some great direction and lighting to more of the narrative goodness, Eighty Six brings it all. So without further ado lets dive in!
Now I’m sure some of you are getting tired of this, I talk about it every week after all. But I can’t not mention Eighty Six’s continuously stellar editing. Seriously these snap cuts are fantastic! Ripping off the post-it to the sound of a gunshot, cutting to a single falling petal? It’s so quick but so impactful. Or the scenes of Undertakers brother, at the start and end. Not to mention Eighty Six’s lighting or scenery. The green moon, while unrealistic, was haunting. And the way the cherry blossoms glowed in the moonlight, suffusing the scene with a pink glow. When focused anywhere other than the robots this show looks good. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say Eighty Six is one of the best edited and looking shows of the season. Not animation wise but hey, animation ain’t everything.
This post isn’t about anime, but about the little chatbox on the right of the site. There’s nothing wrong with it, but this is 2021, so we’re trying out new things! Specifically, for those of you on Discord, a new channel called #chat-box was made. We’re looking at replacing the Chatango box with an on-site client for that. Read on!
Continue reading “META – Chat Box Update”