2.43 Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-Bu – 6 [The Laughing King and Crybaby Jack]

by Lenlo, posted in 2.43 Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu

I know, I know, this Volley-Bu post is woefully late. In my defense however the episode was also dreadfully boring! I suppose boring is still an improvement on last week though huh? Without further ado, lets dive into this weeks rant on Volley-Bu!

Like I said, this week was a slight improvement from the last, mostly because it focused on someone else. As thankful as I am for that though, I don’t think this rival team introduction quite worked. The idea behind this episode is pretty sound. Volley-Bu is introducing us to the rival team relatively early so that we have time to get to know them. That they get a whole episode dedicated to them is actually pretty good! But the problem is that this came out of absolutely nowhere and wasn’t properly setup nor presented very well. Volley-Bu spends the entire episode hyper focused on Fukuho Tech, the new team, but it fails to present them through our leads eyes. We barely even see our leads reactions or thoughts about Fukuho Tech until right near the end. While it works for establishing them as characters, it fails to build much tension.

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State of the Season – Winter 2021

by SuperWooper, posted in State of the Season

Wooper: If you’ve been keeping your finger on the pulse of the anime fandom this winter, you’ve seen no shortage of proclamations that this is the best seasonal lineup in years. Some of us here expressed similar sentiments back in January, but that was a simpler time – one characterized by loosely-informed optimism, rather than weeks of compounded evaluation. Now that we’ve got a six week picture of the season, where do our writers stand? Totally validated, utterly betrayed, or somewhere in between? Read on to see how the Star Crossed crew is feeling midway through 2021’s first quarter.

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

Mario: Sk8 has been a lot of fun. Yes, it’s your typical sports anime with larger-than-life personalities, but it’s gotten many things right so far. Reiki and Langa have that sweet brotherly bond, the races are always exciting to watch, and is it just me, or would ADAM fit in seamlessly with the Utena universe? On the sequel front, Yuru Camp delivers with every single episode and it’s just a blast to watch week to week.

Armitage: In order to give other shows a fair chance, I’ll try my best and not answer “Attack on Titan babyyyy” for all the positive responses in this seasonal check-in. So, yes. Best of the rest for me would probably be Wonder Egg Priority simply because of how ambitious and anomalous it feels while watching. Yes, it borrows from like 10 different places but it still manages to feel wholly original and even in a season absolutely brimming with quality like this one, there’s simply nothing else quite like it.

Amun: Since I’m not technically reviewing any shows this season (tehe), all of them! Special shoutout to Spider Isekai though – it’s been way more enjoyable than I expected. Sure, it’s low budget, but the spider MC really carries – something about the movements and use of the 8 legged expressive palette keeps me coming back every week. Obviously Wonder Egg has been superlative as well.

Lenlo: Quite a few! This is actually one of my most active seasons in a long time. From sequels like Beastars S2 to new originals like Sk8 and Wonder Egg, this season is packed for me.

Wooper: Attack on Titan’s fourth season has been pretty good thus far. It’s got many of the same problems as the Wit seasons, plus the baggage of being a strict visual downgrade, but the story’s leap across the sea has added a welcome layer of complication. So what if the new characters are painted just as broadly as the old ones? Titan is running almost entirely on plot at this point, which is precisely what makes it so addicting.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 18 [Sage]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

This is it, this is the week Jujutsu Kaisen kicks it into gear! At least I hope it is. Between Hanami breaking into school grounds, Gojou getting locked out and one last flashback it better be. So with all that to talk about lets skip the preamble and jump into it!

The big one, the most exciting bit, is that the raid is happening! I can’t tell you how happy I am to see these curses because the first half of this episode was everything wrong with this arc. Once again Jujutsu Kaisen is shoving in another backstory/fight combo for one of its side characters whom I don’t even remember the name of. I get why it’s doing it, Jujutsu Kaisen wants to establish everyone’s powers and motives before heading into this big conflict. That’s good practice, you want you audience to know these things. But you can’t just introduce 5 new characters, info-dump their entire personality, and then expect us to care when you launch into a huge conflict. You need smaller arcs focused on each that build up to this big event. And it’s not like Jujutsu Kaisen can’t do this, because it did so with Toudou.

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Dr. STONE S2 – 5 [STEAM GORILLA]

by Lenlo, posted in Dr.STONE

This weeks sees the Senku 1 get both a name change and an upgrade! Meanwhile Chrome comes up with a plan of escape and Tsukasa begins to take action, all in this weeks episode of Pimp My Ride Dr. STONE! So without further ado, lets dive in!

First I want to talk about the slow shift in focus we’ve seen these last two episodes. I said in the seasonal preview that I was afraid this season of Dr. STONE would focus to much on the conflict and not enough on the science. And the next few episodes, 2 and 3, help alleviated that. We got a good focus on humanity, some scientific progress, the sort of thing you want out of Dr. STONE. But these past two episodes we are starting to see it slide back down the science slope. We’re starting to burn through science scenes, such as the quick upgrading of the Steam Gorilla with its new wheels and such, in favor of progressing the conflict more and more. My favorite bits like the humanity aren’t totally gone, and Senku got to showoff the paper shield a bit. Just not as much as I’d like.

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 4 [Wolf and Her Helpless Partner] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome back to Spice and Wolf everyone! This is a big week for the series, at least for me, as it completely breaks what expectations I had. So without further ado lets dive in!

Starting off, like I said, this isn’t what I expected Spice and Wolf to be. When I first heard/read about this show, when the other authors here described it to me, I figured it would be more Slice of Life-life. Either that or some kind of mercantile Kino’s Journey. Basically I expected the focus to be on following Holo and Lawrence around as they traveled the countryside. So imagine my surprise when not only have we not done much traveling, but that there is a legitimate plot! Back in my posts about episodes 1 and 2 I just wanted some one-offs surrounding the Church or Holo’s image. Individual stories to build up the world that has passed her by. Instead we get a fully-fledge plot about people kidnapping her for her control of the harvest and threatening to reveal her to the church, and I love it.

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 19 [The Permafrost of Elior Forest]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

It’s another thirty minute episode this week but at last we finally get to see the new opening at the halfway point of the second cour. An opening which all I can say is that it’s fine. Look I am not going to give White Fox grief for a lackluster opening which they barely even use and I honestly would say it’s good that they didn’t put too much effort into it. Though my fellow writer informs me that according to the credits they had around 2 unit directors and 14 key animators who worked on it so I guess they did work hard on it? I have doubts on that, not to dismiss the song as the song is good but the visuals are more or less recycled footage with a bit of special effects. There are bits of original content but I spotted quite a number of familiar shots. However I must repeat that I am in no way upset about this as really what is the point of putting effort into an opening that’s barely seen? The content of the show is what’s important and White Fox has not disappointed on that yet.
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SK8 the Infinity – 05 [Passionate Dancing Night!]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, SK8 the Infinity

One word, four letters: ADAM. Actually, let’s go with “Adam” from now on, as the show has started caps-locking a bunch of other skater pseudonyms as well, and I can’t be bothered to replicate them every time. Adam is this series’ breakout character without question, possessing a villainous, flamboyant energy that only Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter could dream of matching. I’ve written previously about how these traits could pose a problem for SK8 without proper context, and while this episode did send his crazy levels soaring to unforeseen heights, it also planted an important seed regarding his past – he used to be partners with Cherry and Joe. I was highly impressed with this reveal, not only for the casual way it was incorporated into the script, but also because it promised to build two side characters into something more than window dressing, then show us their former teammate’s heel turn. For a show that made its final boss so visible so early, what could be more promising than that?

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Winter 2021 Summary – Week 5

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: This will be the last recap post for a couple weeks, as we’re currently shifting our focus to the mid-month State of the Season update. Before that project drops, though, you can get a taste of what we’re watching right here: a bunch of mid-tier seasonal offerings, plus a couple mid-2000s anime on Mario’s end. Click through for the full post – it’s a big one this week!

Urasekai Picnic – 04/05

Mario: Urasekai Picnic so far nails the creepy atmosphere of the Otherside and not much else – the production is barebones. Granted, there aren’t many action scenes but you can see the clunky production through the extras walking by. The two worlds, especially the connection between them, are still pretty much ambiguous – in the sense that visits feel more like nightmarish trips than an adventure. There’s way too much we don’t know about the Otherside, as each episode the girls encounter different kinds of urban monsters but for me at least these monsters don’t feel connected to each other. The lack of information about its world-building does help, though, in the sense that we don’t know what will happen next – making it kinda work as a mystery show.

I was Reincarnated as a Spider, so What?! – 05

Amun: Lads, we can all rest easy. Our darling spider has finally gotten something good to eat. As Spider-chan continues to try and survive between a rock and a hard place (or more accurately, the frying pan and the fire), I can see some complaints you could have about this show. Lots of text. So much text (that’s also upside down). I think whoever made this show got really into typefaces. There’s also the human drama that no one cares about – although the parallels with the Spider-chan’s bully who was reincarnated as a land dragon are mildly interesting. But all that’s beside the point – Spider-chan is still doing cute things (training montage was hilarious) and overcoming enemies…albeit in less interesting fights than before. I’m sure the plot is going to converge at some point, but so far it’s some good ole’ arachnid slap-stick, and I’m here for that.

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Beastars 2 – 05 [Call it Like it is]

by SuperMario, posted in Beastars, Currently Watching:

Well, this episode certainly caught me off guard. As Legosi decided to enter the Black Market last week, I didn’t expect him to go back to school this soon, although it makes sense in retrospect. The plot threads of Beastars race and Tem’s culprit are still in there, after all. But more than anything presented so far in this second season, for me episode 5 best captures the essence of Beastars’ second season themes: the duality between Legosi and Louis as they are chasing different paths. There’s an interesting parallel between Legosi’s and Louis’s actions for the past several weeks, and this week it becomes predominant. As Louis is forced to eat meat to retain his social status, Legosi trains himself to go full vegan. As Louis determines to clear every ties to advance his ladder (and to prevent them from getting hurt because of him), Legosi tries to live in harmony with the herbivores. The roles have switched between these two, as Louis thinks and acts like a carnivore, and Legosi behaves like a herbivore.

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Wonder Egg Priority – 03/04 [A Bare Knife / Colorful Girls]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Wonder Egg Priority

Billed for many as the most ambitious anime of this Winter season (myself included), Wonder Egg captures difficult, heavy topics with striking imaginaries and raw emotions from its characters, and by the process captures viewers’ hearts as well. I can see why many don’t tune in its heartbeats, as shows like Wonder Egg tend to be for acquired tastes. These two episodes introduce the remaining two lead cast members and Wonder Egg does wonder as presenting them as archetypal types at first, then adds more layers to their personality, making them as compelling and heartbreaking as any victim they are trying to save.

It’s clear from episode 3 and 4 – as we get past the introductory first 2 episodes – that Wonder Egg starts to get less focus on the victims’ cases, and more on the journeys of the main girls themselves. By that I mean the two fangirls that Ai and Rika are trying to save serve most as comedic reliefs – and even to this point I still wonder why they’re needed to be saved to begin with. Unlike other victims they don’t go through any traumatic experiences, making their situations at odds with other characters. I guess it’s supposed to strike a balance with another victim, Miwa, who gets introduced in episode 4. Her case is downright unsettling and heavy, as she is sexually assaulted by the adult. Like I mentioned in my previous post, with subject matter as disturbing as this, it’s the approach that counts – insensitive and too heavy-handed will carry the risks of overly-preachy and emotionally-manipulated. Thankfully, this episode avoids that pitfall by starting it with a  consultant. It gives us time to hear the victim out, listen to their cries and feel it under their shoes.

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