Things didn’t go so well this week! The majority of the shows I’m watching demonstrated some pretty lackluster episodes, from my favorites down through the bottom of the pack. Owarimonogatari’s new arc started off poorly, The Perfect Insider stumbled over its worst episode yet, and Utawarerumono tried to perform the same mediocre trick for a third time straight. In contrast, One Punch Man actually consistently impressed me, working as a satisfying episode of anime even outside of its visual tricks. We’ve got a lot of doldrums to get through, but let’s start with that positive note, and then maybe finish up with a guest appearance by something I really, really did enjoy.
Tag Archives: Beautiful Bones
Beautiful Bones – Episode 6
Well I liked half of this episode! This one definitely had some strong things going for it, with chief among them oddly being the fact that Shoutarou and Sakurako were barely in it. Kougami really hasn’t had much time to develop a character so far, but the pacing of an episode with her, along with her back-and-forth with her teacher, made for a much stronger base dynamic than the usual stuff. There was even a conversation that made use of what we know about her as a person! Additionally, this episode was also just very pretty – better direction than usual, and some very nice backgrounds. The actual plot was bad, but hey, this is Beautiful Bones, of course the plot’s going to be bad.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!
Fall 2015 – First Half in Review
Holy crap we’re already at the halfway point. It doesn’t really feel like a halfway point – Owarimonogatari’s just finished its first larger arc-sequence, and Okada Gundam is still basically in its preamble, so it kinda feels like we’re just getting started. But apparently everything else is already half over, and the halfway point ranking thing has become one of this site’s many random traditions (look, routines help with my insecurities), so here we are again. As usual, this will be the one and only time I rank this season’s overall shows. Ranking shows when they’re only halfway done may seem like an inherently useless gesture, but I assure you, that is definitely the point. “But Bobduh,” you might respond, “you rank your favorite shows of the year anyway, so how can you say you’re making a point about the futility of rankings when you then proceed to buy into them in the same exact way everyone else does?” “Shut up,” I say to this. “Shut up, stop talking, your face is bad.”
With all that cleared up, let’s get right to the listing! What has risen, what has fallen, and what is just sort of staggering on? ALL WILL BE REVEALED.
Beautiful Bones – Episode 5
Welp, the cursed man arc ended this week, and it was… fine. Not really much to say about it. The show’s doing better than it was in the first few episodes, but it’s still not really something that excites me – it’s boilerplate mystery procedural stuff, the same kind of show that airs for 25 out of every 24 hours here in the states. Making the protagonist a chuunibyou woman with a dead brother doesn’t really do much to up the excitement voltage.
But hey, at least this episode introduced an Evil Painter. That’s kinda funny!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Fall 2015 – Week 5 in Review
One more week of anime has come and gone, meaning it’s time once more to sift through the embers and see what riches have been left behind. This was another reasonable week of anime in what is turning out to be a reliable but not particularly dramatic season. The only top tier show I’m watching is Owarimonogatari, and that’s been a known product for years – aside from that, it’s really just One Punch Man as the production powerhouse and Iron-Blooded Orphans as the stable narrative. If things continue at this pace, it’s looking like my top ten shows of the year will be 80% consumed by the year’s first two seasons – not exactly the most impressive finish to a year that started off coasting from Shirobako into Oregairu S2 and Euphonium.
That said, there’s still plenty to talk about in what shows we have left. And I’ve also heard Concrete Revolutio has been doing some noteworthy things – I wish I had a bit more love for pop art, but if you’re less put off by the aesthetic than I am, it’s probably worth a look. There’s always something worth talking about out there, so let’s take a break from the naysaying and run down some fresh new cartoons!
Beautiful Bones – Episode 4
AW SHIT BEAUTIFUL BONES HAD A REASONABLE EPISODE. Yep, either my standards are falling fast or Beautiful Bones is actually improving, because I legitimately enjoyed this episode. And it wasn’t because of subtle changes in writing or whatnot – the two-parter structure just fits this show so, so, so much better. It is really damn hard bordering on impossible to tell a satisfying, atmospheric, character-focused mystery in twenty minutes, but in forty-ish? Yeah, you can get there. So we got more nice character moments, more actual mystery elements, and more atmosphere than ever before. Great work, Beautiful Bones. Now please don’t immediately go back to your old formula and continue to suck at it.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!
Fall 2015 – Week 4 in Review
It’s that time again! We had a reasonable crop of episodes this week, with four out of my six active series offering solid episodes, and one of the last two never promising to offer a single solid episode in the first place. I think at this point it’s safe to say Iron-Blooded Orphans is the breakout star of the season – it’s not the flashiest show, but it’s just absolutely solid in everything it does, full of strong characters and well-chosen dramatic turns and plenty of threads I’m excited to see through. Other shows are more tentative, but still enjoyable so far – in particular, I feel like it’d be easy for either The Perfect Insider or Utawarerumono to fall apart, but I’m still having a fine time with them so far. And One Punch Man is starting to wear out its single joke, but I’ve heard the original series picks up from here out, so I’m hopeful this is just a temporary lull. Overall, this isn’t the flashiest season, and certainly can’t compare to the year’s stellar first half, but I’ve got enough that I’m enjoying that I can’t really complain. But that’s enough news in brief, let’s get to it and RUN ‘EM DOWN!
Beautiful Bones – Episode 3
Beautiful Bones has returned! And it’s still garbage, don’t watch it.
Seriously, it’s just garbage. Not even interesting garbage. Just a bad show.
Here’s my writeup of the third episode. Notes below, somehow.
Now to sleep off the headache I get from writing about writing this bad.
Fall 2015 – Week 3 in Review
Aw dang it’s the week in review what the fuck do we even have to talk about. Well actually, there’s plenty to talk about now; it’s a relatively new season, there are far more legitimately watchable shows than The Season That Shall Not Be Named, and last week’s awkward halfway point between preview week and the usual fare means we’ve got a sizable glut of anime to get through. I actually surprised myself last Sunday – I was doing my usual accounting of what was about to air, and suddenly realized I had three friggin’ shows to choose between for my first watch, all of which I actually wanted to see. Following a season where “you know what, this snake girl is actually pretty cool” was close to the top end of anime discourse, that’s a pretty nice place to be. Between Owarimonogatari, The Perfect Insider, and… well, I guess any more favoritism than that would be telling. So let’s get started this list of ‘well friggin’ crap these might actually be worth watching’ shows. Let’s RUN ‘EM DOWN!
Beautiful Bones – Episode 1-2
My first episodic review of the season is up! Don’t get excited though, it’s just Beautiful Bones. I end this review by calling Beautiful Bones “watchable,” and that’s exactly what it is – not good, not egregiously terrible, just twenty minutes of fairly bland mystery shenanigans and occasionally really bad dialogue. So far it’s the anime equivalent of white bread soaked in water – I’d like for it to improve and be something actually worth talking about, but we’ll have to see. Hope springs eternal!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes for episode two below.