Aw dang I reviewed the Nightow-Matsumoto monster mash. My ultimate feelings on the show are kinda negative, but that’s mainly the result of potentially overly high expectations. Matsumoto’s a genius, basically, and so I expect her works to be masterpieces. Instead we got a very aesthetically compelling series of adventure vignettes with some crappy humor that somewhat falls apart in its second half. Certainly not a bad thing, better than most shows you see, but basically nothing I’d place next to Kyousogiga. But it’s unfair to judge every show next to its creator’s first masterpiece, and so I’m hoping that going forward, I’ll be able to temper my expectations a bit and just accept that even the best directors don’t always make the best works.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, which is definitely more positive than this little blurb. Or you can check out my brief notes for the finale below!
As always, the show looks gorgeous, from its composition to its designs to its direction. Clever, purposeful shot transitions, beautiful shots of the city, lovely colors. A great mix of diverse variables. A clearly confident hand
These early sequences in almost full grayscale except for the eyes. Because of course eyes are key in this show, as a narrative tool and form of identity
Mary (White) is a “living” part of the barrier, and has now been killed
Pretty slow buildup across this first quarter
We’re actually getting the fight scenes from the OP, lol
Everyone helping Leo get to the end
“What you call normal, the rest of the world would call courageous and high-minded” aw
I really like how Black has a bunch of White’s expressions
The story’s getting pretty damn muddled here
“Taking a step toward the light”
“First thing we have to do is save the world”
Well that sure was aimless and disjointed and cliche and unsatisfying. Fuck
I agree with most of your assessment and I hope Matsumoto gets more shows in the future.
Just a quick question about your point that the show falls apart in its second half. Is that mostly directed to the finale and how it doesn’t tie together well? Because I thought especially the 11th episode was far from that feeling.
I agree that the 11th episode was strong, but looking back at the second half, aside from that one episode, every single other one felt weaker than the first half. The underground fighting ring, the Zapp two-parter, the comedy lunch episode, and the finale all felt much worse to me than basically anything in the first half.
I thoroughly enjoyed the shows artistry, colour palette and world building aspects. Matsumoto is amazing indeed. Ironically enough, the episodes I enjoyed the most, were the stand alone episodes that had for the most part a humour content which you so disliked. I found the whole Black/White story rather meh and the dramatics toward the end rather forced. But I’m well aware that drama sells a lot more than comedy amongst anime fans.
Umm… I kinda enjoyed the whole show; and I think the decision to focus on Black and White story, rather than the adventures in the 1st half; that give the series more focus and more emotional height. It also always a plus that directors put their original input into adapted series, so basically I have no real issues towards the 2nd half of the series. Lastly; I don’t know if it’s just me; but I think the 3-month hiccup for the last episode actually affected badly to all the expectation, as well as excitement towards the series. I don’t have this problem as I’ve waited for the last episode to come out before watching it. But I do wonder if anyone having that problem?
Well, almost all emotional investment was gone (or me, at last) when the finale was released, and there may be some hype backlash in play here too (because we waited 3 months for an episode that wasn’t worth all the waiting).
Nevertheless, I didn’t hated that episode.
It reminded me that I actually liked BBB, and that I would be happy to see more.
So, for me, it felt a little flat as a finale (because I half forgot most of the things that happened before.), but as a prequel for an hypothetic second season, it did the job.