State of the Season – Spring 2021

by SuperWooper, posted in State of the Season

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.

What show are you enjoying that you’re not reviewing?

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.

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86: Eighty Six – 6 [Through to the End]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

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.

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Odd Taxi – 06 [Let Me Hear You Say WTF?]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Odd Taxi

(Before anyone gets on my case, yes I know I’m using a different title than the official English one, but I think “WTF” fits more than “What the hell”, since it’s more local slang-y.  Call me dumb if you like ^_^).  This week on Odd Taxi, things get heated in da club…and the story comes together nicely.

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Spice and Wolf S2 – 3 [Wolf and Irreconcilable Differences] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all to another episode of Spice and Wolf! Apologies for the wait on this one, I’ve recently discovered Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire and it’s taken a fair chunk of my time.  Not because I don’t enjoy writing these or because Spice and Wolf isn’t good, it is. But it scratches just the right itch for me. Enough about RPGs though, lets dive into this weeks episode!

And what better place to start than with me gushing about production again! I know I’ve done this before in the far flung past of episode 1 but seriously, I’m impressed. We are 3 episodes in to this season of Spice and Wolf and I’m pretty sure its already had more animation than the entire first season. From the large festival crowds dancing and cavorting in the streets, throwing wine on each other, to the more intimate moments between Holo and Lawrence in the inn. Even the small stuff like background characters cheering and laughing it up during Fermi’s challenge were nice touches. This isn’t to say Spice and Wolf doesn’t have stills or panning shots, it does. But they are integrated much more cleanly and have these fun animated scenes between them to break them up. It’s a small but very important thing to recognize I feel.

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Megalo Box Nomad – 6 [Aunque estés consciente de tu impotencia, Dios te ofrecerá su imagen para que la pises]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Welcome back to Nomad! This is a bit of a late post, I apologize for that. Busy busy weekend. So how about we skip the preamble just jump right into it!

This is a weird week for Nomad all things considered. There were no huge revelations, no big game changers, it just sort of… happened. Effectively acting as a check-in for the rest of our old cast so to speak. This isn’t bad! It’s all useful and important information. Nomad uses it to remind us who each of these characters are with their new designs and to remind us of their relationships with each other. The only person we haven’t yet seen is Yukiko, and technically Yuri I guess since he hasn’t talked yet. We get to spend some time with Oicho, Sachio, Santa and Bonjiri as they hang out and discuss Joe. Mulling over how they feel about him, how they still care for each other, etc. This is all good stuff but I wouldn’t say any of it was amazing or standout.

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Spring 2021 Summary – Week 6

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song – 07

Helghast: After the mayhem of the Metal Float, this week honestly felt like a Carole and Tuesday episode with Vivy getting a hard reset back into Diva and getting back to the musical side of things with a special insert OP. I do like her personality change as it’s overall less stiff than her previous version. She feels a lot more human with her confidence and expressions of a veteren songstress looking to make it big beyond the main stage of Nialand. It even extends to her willingness to throw herself off the building in order to get more information when the AI cube of Matsumoto makes his return in an almost reluctant way. While the first half of Vivy had setpieces keep getting bigger and bigger with falling skyscrapers, falling space stations and an AI island gone crazy, the twist of Ophelia’s future sucide doesn’t seem to have that WOW factor but I’m sure the author has several surprises for the viewers to lose their minds over. I can think of why an AI might end their existence due to the fact that they have failed their mission. While this may or may not be the case with Ophelia, Diva has proven that such a thing is possible at the conclusion of the Metal Float mission. Having her come to terms with it when she regains her memories and seeing how that will play into preventing her AI younger sister’s sucide will be moving at say the least.

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86: Eighty Six – 5 [I’m With You]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

This is it ladies and gentleman, this where Eighty Six redeems itself. Forget all of the Starbucks Philosophers and Liberal Arts jokes, Eighty Six is taking its shot. And I couldn’t be happier. So lets dive right in shall we?

Immediately before we get into all the politics, the narrative and all that jazz I want to talk production. Eighty Six is not the most well animated show of the season. That’s simply a fact. The CGI robots are fine and are used minimally however this is primarily a talking heads show. But what talking heads they are. Some of the shot composition, lighting and scene transitions were absolutely kino this week. Whether it be Undertaker and Lena’s moonlit conversation, the broken mirror, Lena’s reflection in the window or the bleeding fountain pen. Eighty Six was absolutely packed with clever shots. Connecting themes and events with physical objects that brought out the most in every single scene. Credit to Director Toshimasa Ishii and his team for this one. As for the actual politics and narrative of the scenes themselves? Well that was pretty good to.

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Fumetsu no Anata e – 04 [A Large Vessel]

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

I don’t know the process by which episode counts are decided for TV anime, but Fumetsu’s 20 seems like a strange number given the industry’s general adherence to multiples of 12 and 13. Some may perceive the glass to be half full – seven extra episodes, oh boy! – but after watching “A Large Vessel,” I can only view it as half empty. Fushi’s attempted escape from prison and resulting torture were stuffed into a twelve second montage, undercutting the horror of his experience and muddling his subsequent search for an exit. Parona’s encounter with a would-be rapist was neutered by its placement late in the episode (though her previous wall-scaling scene was suitably tense). Characters are being robbed of the ability to process their experiences, and in a series like this one, which is about the experience of life across cultures and species, that’s a serious issue. “Just add more episodes” is a hated catch-all phrase of mine, but fuck it, I’ll join the chorus in this case: Fumetsu deserved 26.

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