Migi & Dali – 5

Welcome all, to what is easily the weirdest episode of Migi & Dali yet. Is that a good thing? Who knows! A lot happened this week, from finding the room they grew up in to being taken hostage. We have plenty to talk about so lets dive right into it.

Starting off, what in gods name did I just watch? Migi & Dali has always been a weird show, that’s part of why I love it. But this one was extra weird. Almost to weird in a few ways. I could take feeding Migi dog food, trapping him in a secret room, and general homicidal tendencies. But the whole baby thing? Being dressed up in a diaper and put in a crib, fed milk from a bottle, all the while trapped in a room with no way out? Or pulling down Migi’s pants to fondle and examine his ass while the family watches? Those were uncomfortably weird, and almost to much for me. And yet… When considered as parts of a whole, when I think back on the growing feeling of dread throughout the episode as we learned more about the Ichijo household, it sort of works.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 14 [Fluctuations]

Welcome all, to an incredibly late episode of Jujutsu Kaisen! Apologies for that, I was traveling this weekend only just got home. Trust me, I’m feeling this delay worse than you, my backlog is getting insane so this is a busy Monday. Anyways, schedule management aside, how about we dive right into the episode?!

Starting off, let’s talk production. This week was easily the jankiest yet. I’ve been talking about it for weeks, the slow decline, the MAPPA curse, the issues Jujutsu Kaisen is having behind the scenes. Well this is all of that starting to show in the final product. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some great cuts here. Jujutsu Kaisen hasn’t burned out completely, the team is still doing the best they can with the resources/time they have. But it’s undeniable that large portions of the episode move and look like they weren’t finished. And if you look on Twitter, sorry “X”, you’ll find loads of animators who worked on the episode talking about how troublesome it was. It’s kind of funny in a way. The episode with the most troubled animation yet has the power based specifically on animation.

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Migi & Dali – 4

Welcome all, to another episode of Migi & Dali! This week is a weird one. I mean, they’ve all been weird, but this one especially so. Why? Well lets skip this preamble jump right into it, you should figure it out fast.

Starting off, this episode puts our leads, Migi & Dali, in a new environment: School. On it’s own this doesn’t change much. Their goal is still to discover the room they stayed in with their mother, to track down their killer. Where before they tried to make friends in scouts, now they have to do the same in school. What makes it interesting are the new challenges a structured placed like school brings. Now they are organized into classes, with little reason or ability to socialize with those outside of it. On top of that, these classes are organized by “intelligence”, and by that I mean performance on tests, something that their time as orphans has ill prepared them for. Combine that with all the new experiences school brings, from homework to romance, and there’s a lot of these twins to deal with.

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Dr. STONE New World P2 – 2 [The Medusa’s True Face]

Welcome all, to another episode of Dr. STONE! This one is a bit late, had a lot on my plate this weekend, but it’s ok now. This week sees the science kingdoms continued progress and the mystery of the islands shadowed ruler revealed. We have a lot to talk about, so lets dive into it!

Starting off, lets talk visuals. Dr. STONE has particularly cared about this. Oh the designs are nice, the linework, backgrounds and general style of the show is appealing, no one can deny that. However it’s never been what you would call “animated”. The characters have never moved much and the action we got was, generally, just bad. Dr. STONE has largely avoided this pitfall by just not having action. A smart move. Eventually however, someone is going to fight. Which is why it was such a surprise this week when it actually looked… decent? I still wouldn’t call it good, not in the same season as Jujutsu Kaisen, Frieren or Undead Unluck. But Kohaku’s spat with Moz was actually watchable. That’s nice! I don’t think anyone expected that, it feels like Dr. STONE is starting to figure that out. Hopefully it can maintain that going forward.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 13 [Red Scale]

Welcome all, to another week of Jujutsu Kaisen! This episode is basically one big fight, no big narrative moments, no huge revelations (yet), just the meaty crunch of fists on faces. And you know what? It’s pretty good! Lets go ahead and jump on into why.

Starting off, let’s talk production. I’ve been critical of Jujutsu Kaisen for the past few episodes. Talking about melt, issues behind the scenes, all that jazz. And a lot of that is still present in this episode as well. Some closeups still look meh, the contrasting red and blue looks fantastic in wide shots but doesn’t translate well to many of the closeups, that sort of stuff. Basically there were a lot of good ideas, but some of the execution was off. Overall though… God this episode is stylistically beautiful. It’s rough at times, yes, but there was clearly a vision behind it all. The shading, the fluid animation, the dynamic action, the board, the freaking POV shots. If you break it down frame-by-frame you can nitpick the hell out of it. In motion though, this might be one of my favorite episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen, visually, in a while.

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Migi & Dali – 3 [Let’s Make Friends]

Welcome all, to week 3 of Migi & Dali! This week our lovable twins go outside, make some friends, case some houses and beat a child senseless. Did that sound like it escalated? Good, because that’s what the episode did. Without further ado, lets dive in!

Overall I thought this was a good episode, I’m continuing to enjoy Migi & Dali quite a bit. Something about its odd balance of comedy and unnerving horror, how it infuses every scene with this sense that something is wrong, just does it for me. Take this episode for instance. Ostensibly it’s about the twins trying, failing and then lucking into, making some friends. There’s some classic anime bullying, it’s par for the course. But when looked at through the larger lens of the series, something you’re forced to do as every episode starts and ends talking about the murder of their mother, it becomes much more… eerie. These kids don’t actually want friends, they want to sneak into houses to see if any match their memories. They aren’t naïve, they know about the bullying, they just don’t care because it’s a means to an end. It’s… creepy. I love it!

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Dr. STONE New World P2 – 1 [The Kingdom of Science’s Counter Attack!]

Welcome all, to the 2nd new show of Fall Season, Dr. STONE! This is the continuation of the same season I covered earlier in the year, finishing up the Treasure Island arc. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, and we have a lot to talk about, so lets jump right in!

Starting off, can I just make it clear how happy I am that Dr. STONE is back? I had missed its special brand of Problem -> Solution -> Problem -> Solution. Something about how Dr. STONE specifically does it is just so good, like one big Humanity Fuck Yeah story. If I had to guess, I’d wager a lot of why it works is down to how the series solves its problems. The science behind it, while not perfect we can all admit this is anime-ified, works conceptually. Stuff like making air pockets under water to properly pour liquids, or crafting oxygen tanks out of existing pieces of metal and pumping them up themselves. Realistically, we know they couldn’t do this. But the way Dr. STONE portrays it, the effort they put in, the way it’s explained… It just sort of works. And like any good hard-magic system, that’s rewarding.

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Migi & Dali – 2

Welcome all, to the first show of the new season: Migi & Dali! I loved this one so much I just had to cover it. It’s so weird and out there that it felt like the dark horse of the season. And so far, 2 episodes in, I’m feeling vindicated by that! So without further ado, lets jump in.

Starting off, Migi & Dali continues to have really solid direction. The use of music, the shot composition, scenes like the twins slithering around like snakes only to cut it all off, music and everything, for a gag as the door bursts open. It somehow manages to be comedic without losing that underlying creepiness that made me interested in it. All of the jokes are just presented in such an unnerving manner that, until the punchline hits, you can’t tell if they are even mean to be jokes or not. Setups are done such that they could easily be misunderstandings through the eyes of naïve children or nefarious secrets if played straight, making you unable to properly dismiss them. It’s like the show is outright telling you something is up so clearly that it almost wants you to call its bluff. Everything about it is just so clever like that!

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 7 [Evening Festival]

It’s here everyone, Jujutsu Kaisen’s Shibuya is beginning. The event that’s going to be talked about for the rest of the year, and will inevitably get me yelled at. Before we dive into that though we need to finish up with Mechamaru. Does he survive his meeting with Mahito? Or is he the first victim of this coming war? Let’s jump in and find out!

Starting off, at it’s core this episode looked good. We had a nice fight in the first half, filled with Evangelion references, an Itano Circus and lots of just really cool moments. It’s a shame about the dimming though. And the after-images that almost ruined a number of scenes, like Mahito running through the trees in various forms. I get it, the anti-seizure law is important and exists for a reason. But part of me wishes these studios would animate within the confines they know they will be able to air, so that edits after the fact don’t ruin it. Another part though doesn’t want to restrict them, so we can get the wildest shit imaginable. Either way though, I know one thing for sure: The Jujutsu Kaisen Blu-ray is going to be well worth it when it comes out. Get rid of aaaall that dimming.

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Fall 2023 Season Preview

Lenlo: It’s time for another season folks! A bit of a more relaxed one I think, no huge returns like Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach or Mushoku Tensei to take up everyone’s time. More like a bunch of small things for everyone to pick and choose their favorites and just relax, with a few sequels and standouts to spark some conversation. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some worth keeping an eye on however. Dr. STONE and Mahoutsukai no Yome both return to finish off their most recent arcs, while newcomers like Apothecary Diaries and Undead Unluck arrive to try and steal the show. Will they pull it off? We have no way to know just yet. One things for certain though, I’m going to be keeping an eye on them. Curious about what else is airing? Then read on, and see what else caught my eye this season! And if you think there’s something I missed? Make sure to put it in the poll below so everyone can know what you’re watching!

What will you be watching this Fall?

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