Tag: Summer 2023

Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 5 [Premature Death]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, the the finale of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory arc! We’ve been talking about what makes Suguru become a villain for a month now, and it’s finally time to see what Jujutsu Kaisen comes up with. Here’s a hint: It’s pretty damn good. So let’s jump in!

Now in case it wasn’t obvious, as an end of an arc I really liked this episode. I think Jujutsu Kaisen wrapped everything up really well, tying up most of the loose threads. There was even a small bit at the end to tie us back into the present-day story, which I appreciated. The production especially was fantastic, with some really evocative shots. I’m not talking about incredible sakuga or anything, I mean that the episode was well shot and well framed. The way Jujutsu Kaisen communicated just how exhausted Suguru is was fantastic. From his tired eyes, posture and unkempt hair to that one scene in the showers. Even before he broke, before that final moment, you could tell how much all of this was weighing on him, driving him closer and closer to that edge. Honestly, just like the rest of the arc, it looked great.

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Zom 100 Bucket List of the Dead – 4 [Flight Attendant of the Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Welcome all, to a tremendously late episode of Zom 100! Sorry for that, turns out I got Covid at Otakon and that’s kinda fucking me up. Don’t expect anything to be on time this week, or even necessarily coherent, cause I’m currently sitting here unable to feel my throat. Enough about me though, let’s shift from talking about one deathly disease to another, zombies!

Starting off, this episode was all about Kencho and Akira really spending some time together. Talking about their dreams, being open and honest with each other, and really just rebuilding their friendship. In that sense, it was quite nice. I like that Zom 100 is giving them time to just hang out and establish their relationship before introducing more characters. There’s no big overarching “save the world” plot nor is some kind of super serious survival thing. Hell the premise of the entire episode was going out to get an 80 in flat-screen TV to play games on! And that’s nice! Zom 100 has this levity to it that, when the serious bits do kick in, you aren’t suffocated by them. It’s a nice dichotomy, and one we see in this very episode.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 4 [Hidden Inventory 4]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, to the climax of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory arc! Much like Undead Murder Farce, I apologize for this being so late. I was attending Otakon this past weekend and while it was a great time, I’m behind on… literally everything. So enough lollygagging, lets dive into the episode!

Starting off, while this episode wasn’t as visually as impressive I was hoping it would be, thematically I think it was fantastic. Yeah, there wasn’t the same degree of spectacle as say… the ending of Season 1, or Mahito vs Itadori. But in place of that Jujutsu Kaisen managed to tell a story with its fights. The way Fushiguro played with Suguru, explaining himself in such a way as to purposefully mislead him while at the same time powering himself up as per his pact. Or how it communicated Gojo’s mentality in the second half. And none of that is to say it looked bad, it obviously looked great. It was just more… subdued then I was expecting, in a good way. They didn’t go over the top and ruin it with poorly composited CGI backgrounds like the previous seasons forests for instance. Overall I’d say it was… Just right.

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Undead Murder Farce – 4 [The Headliner Appears]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Undead Murder Farce

Welcome all, to another episode of Undead Murder Farce! This is a late one, apologies for that. I was attending Otakon this weekend and that took up a whole lot of my time. Was fun though, and I can’t wait to go back next year! Bought some nice merch. My weekend adventures aside, on with the episode!

First up lets talk about the production, because Undead Murder Farce kind of disappointed me this week. There’s the obvious, such as the really bad greenscreen effect that we’ve seen before. I still don’t understand why the show is doing this, it doesn’t look good, it doesn’t add to the aesthetic, it just looks like they were to lazy to do it right. There’s just nothing good about it. The less obvious issue though is Tsugaru’s fight. Now this isn’t meant to be some kind of big set piece, I get that. Undead Murder Farce isn’t that kind of show. But even with that in mind, the choreography and lighting of the whole thing just felt… bad. It wasn’t engaging in the slightest outside of Tsugaru’s dialogue, which isn’t how you want a fight to be. It feels like, visually, we’re just getting weaker and weaker as time goes on.

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Zom 100 Bucket List of the Dead – 3 [Best Friend of the Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Welcome all, to episode 3 of Zom 100! This week introduces a new cast member and devotes its entire run time to his relationship with our lead, Akira. All things considered it was pretty good! So without further ado, lets dive in.

Early on I was actually a little concerned about this episode. I was afraid that Zom 100 was starting to take itself a tad to seriously, that it was leaning to much into the serious zombie stuff. Like it would transition into a legitimate horror, or that it would let Akira’s friend die and use it as a “Shock” wakeup moment for him to take the whole thing more seriously. To my pleasant surprise though, neither of these things happened. Instead it turned out the “Serious” stuff was just a background plot of an actual zombie movie, used as a joke more then anything else. And as for the friend? He survived, reborn, and is now joining Akira! It’s funny how much a change of hair color does, because I actually didn’t recognize him from the OP/ED, so this was nice.

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Undead Murder Farce – 3 [Immortality and Demons]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Undead Murder Farce

Welcome all, to episode 3 of Undead Murder Farce! Apologies for the delay on this. Much like with Jujutsu Kaisen I was out at a concert until 4am and just wasn’t able to get this out on table. On a side note though, you all should go and check out Ok Goodnight and Challenger Deep. My music tastes aside though, lets dive into the episode!

Starting off, the most off-putting part of the episode was the start. Undead Murder Farce just completely ignores the cliffhanger we ended last episode on and skips us forward to a pleasant lunch with the family. And while the lunch was nice, once again Undead Murder Farce has some great direction and shot composition, it made for a very jarring introduction to the episode. I actually stopped and wondered where the hell we were, what about the scene we were just in prior, the half-finished conversation. It’s very similar to how jarring the ending of the last episode was as well, and leaves me wondering if this is going to be the norm for the series. I sincerely hope not, I think they are rough at best, and it’s not like they can’t give us good endings like they did this week. Only time will tell there I suppose.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 3 [Hidden Inventory 3]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, to episode 3 of Season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen! Apologies for the delay on this, I had a concert last night and was out until 4am. On a side note, all of you should go check out Ok Goodnight and Challenger Deep, great bands. Enough of that though, on with the episode!

Getting into the episode proper, I need to reiterate that this is, hands down, the best Jujutsu Kaisen has ever been. Ever. Without question. Everything about this season so far is hands and feet above what came before. From the character interactions and individual stories in this little stand alone arc to its implications on the larger story. The only thing I think Jujutsu Kaisen season 1 may have a leg up on is animation. Not because this season is bad, in fact as far as direction goes I would say this season is still the clear victor. But This episode showed us a bit of what can happen when you get to ambitious. Some of Gojo’s fight looked kinda sloppy, such as Gojo’s Blue attack. The CGI, compositing, and general style of animation just weren’t quite there for me. At least the character acting was top notch though.

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Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 2 [Bucket List of the Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Welcome all, to the last of the new shows I will be covering this season: Zom 100! I couldn’t let it go by without talking about it, so here I am, once again taking to many shows in a season. So without further ado, let’s jump into it!

Starting off, as far as how it compares to it’s premier, I think this episode of Zom 100 is a bit of a step down. And that’s fine! Zom 100’s premier was fantastic, with some very strong visual story telling and some very striking imagery. It’s the kind of premier meant to hook you early. And it’s not like this episode looked bad either. There was some nice animation, nice shots, good story telling. It just didn’t “wow” me the same way, you know? Part of that is no doubt due to just how energetic Zom 100’s premier was, going from a dull office day job to literally blowing out the black wide-screen bars in joy at the zombie apocalypse. That kind of shit was always going to be hard to match. But I think it also had to do a bit with the episodes subject.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 2 [Hidden Inventory 2]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome back everyone, to another season of Jujutsu Kaisen! This shouldn’t come as a surprise, we all knew it was coming and you all know I like to try and cover sequels when I can. What is a surprise though is just how positive I am on it, as I ended Season 1 with some concerns. Why am I so positive on it? Well let’s jump right in and talk about that!

Starting with the production, it should come as no surprise that Jujutsu Kaisen looks pretty good, on basically every level. The animation is fun, whether it be character expressions or battle sequences, the direction feels nice with good use of visual metaphors, such as basically any scene with Fushiguro in it. We haven’t gotten anything particularly incredible yet, nothing that breaks the bank or makes you go “Wow”, but overall I think it’s solid. Definitely above your average “Shot-reverse-shot” anime production. If I’m being honest though, I’m not really all that concerned about this? Jujutsu Kaisen is MAPPA’s Golden Goose, they aren’t going to leave it out to dry. We will get some fantastically animated action scenes. We will also, probably, get some questionable composites and schedule crunch just like we did with Season 1. Will that stop me from enjoying the right though? Not really. And here’s why.

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Undead Murder Farce – 2 [Vampire]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Undead Murder Farce

Welcome all, to the first new show of the summer season: Undead Murder Farce! This is a fun one, the moment I saw it I knew I wanted to write about. It was just such a surprise that I had to do it. So without further ado, lets dive in!

First up, overall Undead Murder Farce looked pretty good this week. There were a lot of strong choices, from interesting shots and small facial/character ticks to some nice shading. After the premier this isn’t very surprising. However there was one thing that stood out to me, and not positively: The pixelated greenscreen effects. I don’t know if this was meant to look cheap, if that was the effect they were going for, but they really just looked like a complete and total failure of compositing. Like they were done by an intern on short notice or something. It’s really rather ugly in my opinion, and ruins a couple of otherwise decent shots. A shame in what is otherwise a pretty decent looking episode I feel.

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