I don’t tend to enjoy writing negative stuff. If I can make some kind of upbeat game or challenge out of it, like I did when writing about Strike Witches or Dragonar Academy, it can be pretty okay – but when it’s just a grim reporting of disappointment and failure, continuing week after week, that’s just the saddest kind of writing. I like being enthusiastic about stuff, and sharing that enthusiasm with people, and lately it’s been feeling like my week in review posts are just too dang negative. But like all good critics, I’m going to remain confident the problem isn’t with me, it’s with the media. I’m just watching too many bad shows! I’ve got bad shows I’m watching on contract and bad shows I’m watching on faith and mediocre shows I’m watching for their occasional glimmers of greatness. If not for all these bad shows, everything would be fine.
So yeah, I’m looking forward to next season. The only show I’ll really be sad to see go is Owarimonogatari, and that one ended so well that I can’t even complain (plus hey, Kizu’s on its way). Other than that, this shambling collections of rejects and ne’er-do-wells can just shuffle on into the past, and we can embrace a whole new collection of anime hopes and dreams. Plus I’ll be posting my top ten shows of the year about a week from now, and it doesn’t really get more positive than that! This cloud shall pass, but for now, let’s take a somewhat skeptical look back at this week’s shows and RUN ‘EM DOWN.
The first half of this week’s Utawarerumono had me vaguely wondering if the show was actually testing me. How bad can this show get before I actually lose hope there will eventually be forward momentum again? How frustrating can its episodic nonsense become before I wash my hands of it entirely? Haku has spent a lot of time collecting the vague equivalent of a harem, but what if he’s literally bequeathed an actual harem by the emperor? Will that convince me to stop thinking this show will ever be fun again?
Apparently the answer is no, because in spite of my desire to just turn the episode off right then and there, I ended up sitting through the somewhat more enjoyable second half. It seems like things really are about to start moving, ridiculous harem characters aside, and I’m at the point where I’ll happily just fast-forward through any future nonsense shenanigans to get to that juicy narrative center. I shouldn’t be here, but I am here, and the past is the past – even if Utawarerumono hasn’t earned this level of commitment, I’ve gone too far through the badlands to turn back now. Please, Utawarerumono. Please get good again.
Beautiful Bones decided to be bad in an exciting new way this week. Instead of its usual slow and unsatisfying mysteries that fail to earn their small emotional payoffs, the show went as bombastic as possible, whipping out the bulging eyes and counter-betrayals for a story about abuse and suicide pacts and evil bone collecting fedora guys. None of that worked, and all of it was pretty silly, and I mainly found myself relating to Hector the Dog, but it was also pretty interesting to me how unsympathetic the show was willing to make Sakurako herself. Sakurako has always been a distant and unrelatable character, one whose psychological context has generally been used for twists more than actual engagement, but in this week’s episode she came off as a straight-up monster. Tormenting emotionally shattered girls with the bones of their dead friend isn’t something I generally associate with allegedly sympathetic main characters, and Sakurako actually seemed to enjoy the experience. It’s not a good sign when the audience is disappointed the “hero” doesn’t actually get stabbed.
The Perfect Insider made one last mocking bow this week, tossing off a few more scenes of Magata and Souhei being ridiculous unintellectuals and an almost frustratingly good scene closing out Souhei and Moe’s relationship. I say frustrating because this show just isn’t that far off from a very solid version of itself. The aesthetics are strong, from the shot framing to the lighting to the occasional colorful flourishes. The character work is good, outside of the nonsense elements like Magata’s multiple personalities. But by doubling down on both its mystery and Magata’s assumed profundity, the show turned what could have been a perfectly reasonable character story into a totally nonsense philosophical one. If you replaced this show’s last two episodes with episodes of the show it could have been, you could basically fix the show without any other changes. I’ve actually heard this version of the story dives deeper into the character relationships than the live action drama version (understandably, since that’s only two hours), so I guess all I’m left with is the hope that this show’s solid team gets better material to work with next time.
Fortunately, we at least have Owarimonogatari to offer an escape from the darkness. This week’s final episode was straight-up transcendent, full of rich and satisfying conversations and character moments from the first minute to the last. Monogatari rarely gets to celebrate how much its characters have come to love and trust each other, but this episode was all about that. Araragi and Senjougahara getting what was probably their best conversation since That Bake Episode was just the first course in an episode that successfully framed Araragi in a better light than he’s ever seemed before. Araragi will likely never be a truly likable person, but the faith in his friends that he expressed here was both admirable and truly, satisfyingly earned. It’s rare to feel like a show that’s gone on as long as Monogatari has been going has actually made best use of all its episodes, but in sequences like this, you can feel the weight of every single trial these teens have challenged and overcome.
And beyond the base strength of all the conversations in this episode, this was also one of the moments when I found myself most appreciating the tricks Monogatari is pulling with chronology. You’d traditionally see an arc like this at the end of the series, as a capstone to all the characters have learned. But here, we’re actually way back at Tsubasa Tiger, prior to Sodachi Riddle, Nadeko Medusa, and Yotsugi Doll. The lessons Araragi articulates in this episode aren’t ones he’s truly internalized; or at least, his trust in Senjougahara and Hanekawa has not yet extended to a full understanding of his own limitations, and acceptance of his own value. Growth isn’t something that happens in a straight line – it comes in fits and starts, and often circles back around on itself (something also highlighted through how Riddle-era Hanekawa isn’t nearly as mature as End-era Hanekawa). Monogatari is using its shifting chronology to make satisfying narrative conclusions that through their placement reflect the complexity of personal growth. It’s a pretty handy structural trick.
Iron-Blooded Orphans was at its absolute angriest this week, pulling off a “glorious battle” that was about as grim and senseless as any fight can be. And that was the point, of course. As I’ve said before, Iron-Blooded Orphans is all about people who fight due to shitty circumstances, not high-minded ideology – aka 99% of people who are forced to fight at all. Masahiro’s debris companions cling to either revenge or the hope of reincarnation to bring meaning to their awful circumstances, and are killed by Mikazuki due to unfortunate circumstance. The camera emphasizes each death, making sure to capture both Mikazuki’s expertise (the classic giant robot focus) and the ugly collision of his horrible weapons. Masahiro is so rightfully disillusioned by his circumstances that even his brother can’t reach him. And in the end, Masahiro’s words come true – trapped between two groups working desperately for paychecks in service of ideological causes millions of miles away, debris “die in space like garbage.”
It was a furious episode, but even for that, there were still a scattering of nice little moments. I liked Mikazuki studying his basic vocabulary on the way into battle, using the terms of the next fight to give himself inspiration. And I really liked Orga telling Eugene that it “has to be him at crucial times,” a line that demonstrated how Orga’s growing ability to trust and delegate is making him a much better leader even in an emotional sense. Plus this episode also featured one ship ramming another in a space debris field, which is just an inherently good thing. Iron-Blooded Orphans is ticking a lot of very good boxes right now.
And One Punch Man ended as everyone likely expected, in an absolutely glorious but also kinda empty animation spectacle. The first half of this episode was basically one continuous beautiful ride, with Saitama’s fight against the head alien and his teammates finishing off the alien lieutenant being brought to life in spectacular and extremely diverse animation. There wasn’t any actual drama to this fight, since there never is, but as far as animation for its own sake goes, it was quite something. The second half was a lot less strong – it honestly felt like the show just then realized it should probably be about something, and basically danced between a few separate “but what if punching things is actually complicated” possibilities before just kinda ending.
In the end, One Punch Man leaves me kinda indifferent. It’s actually very similar to how I felt about Space Dandy – I could appreciate the stuff the show was doing visually, but it was attached to such lukewarm storytelling that I couldn’t really get invested. I’m really hoping the next standout animation spectacle has some emotional or thematic heft to match its visual highlights.
That’s it for airing stuff! As for other things I got to, I finally watched Little Witch Academia 2 this week, which was every bit as magical and full of lovely personality as advertised. This was gorgeous animation with an extremely important purpose – making Akko as endearing and relatable as possible, and making her world feel vibrant and exciting at all possible times.
Akko came off as a bit of a brat in this movie, but was wholly sold on the strength of her energy and physicality. Basically every exchange between her and the other characters involved rushing through a whole extended sequence of discreet expressions, each one clearly understandable and yet also totally unique. And the action setpieces, though a bit less consistent, were lovely as well, with one of Akko’s new friends seemingly existing purely because the animators realized a witch who was also an acrobat would make for some really great setpieces. They’re very different shows, but there’s a lot about LWA that really reminds me of Yozakura Quartet – each of them have a vibrant aesthetic and general energy that couples with their strong animation to create a rich sense of fun. Fun is a good goal.
And finally, I also went out to see The Force Awakens this week, which I thoroughly enjoyed. But I know plenty of people haven’t seen it yet, so I’m just gonna add some space here to avoid anyone getting unnecessarily spoiled…
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There we go! Anyway, Force Awakens was great. I felt it threaded the needle of what people want from a Star Wars movie versus what a movie needs to do to be an actually good movie pretty admirably. The choice to essentially retell A New Hope worked for me – it’s a good story template, this version brought a lot of strong new ideas with it, and making one of the film’s central homages more a structural one than an in-story one made it feel extremely “Star Wars” without having nostalgia overwhelm the actual plot.
Basically everything this movie did that was new, I really liked, from its fun protagonists (I felt Rey was kind of boring as a character, but worked perfectly well as the protagonist of a textbook hero’s journey adventure flick, and her dynamic with Finn was excellent) to the way it reframed the dark side. Having the dark side be a political temptation in the prequel movies never really sat right with me – beyond those movies’ own bad writing, the dark side is just an inherently simplistic force, one that appeals more to primal urges than anything higher. And so having the dark side’s new acquisition be a very confused and straight-up emo maybe-teenager felt perfect – his choices don’t have to be rationally sympathetic, because he’s a dude who doesn’t know himself and thus is lashing out. Kylo Ren’s interpretation of the dark side might actually have been one of my favorite parts of the movie.
And of course, the movie in general was just really fun, with a whole bunch of great setpieces and a nicely understated sense of humor. I liked how grounded the dialogue was, and I liked how the story wasted virtually no time on exposition – these characters exist, they are Heroes, it’s time to Have An Adventure. If there’s anything I disliked, aside from the relative simplicity of the central characters (which I again see as a reasonable concession to the genre), it was feeling that the film occasionally wandered just a bit too far into nostalgic navel-gazing with the old generation of characters. That story’s been told, and I don’t care about their expanded universe – little “hey, it’s Star Wars!” nods felt a lot less interesting to me than the new, very compelling story that was being told. Which is certainly to the movie’s credit – “get out of the way, beloved heroes, this new story is way more interesting” is probably the kind of problem this movie wants to have. So overall, yeah, I had a great time.
I still believe you should try Concrete Revolutio again. The later eps have done a good job placing all the puzzle pieces together, creating a strong thematic core. The emotional aspect is improving, too. Noragami has managed to exceed my expectation (well, it wasn’t very high expectation, but still good). The characters development has been good so far. I love the way it explore family theme.
Half-agree with this!
Concrete Revolutio has been enjoyable, but at times kind’ve incoherent. I feel like seemingly key plot points just suddenly erupt from the ether, sometimes dying as quickly, and that’s pretty much the whole series.
Noragami I actually thought was one of this season’s stronger shows until the past few episodes; it seemed like production kind’ve lost their footing with how to handle the last few. A lot’ve the emotional punch Noragami’d manage to pack in the first ~8 episodes suddenly seemed lacking, if that makes sense.
Still, both have had better runs than Utawareumono so far, which I hate to say, since I like Uta’s first season/prequel, and all I can say about the present show is that I am absolutely as exasperated as Bobduh with the endless harem/poorly done slice-of-life nonsense.
Sometimes shows (or whatever) just aren’t very good, and when that happens I find it’s better just to beat up on them a little bit. I’m not nearly as prolific a writer as you are but I find that being positive about everything all the time made writing a lot more difficult. Not that your writing needs help, I just found my own writing improved a lot when I started embracing my inner cynic. XD Besides there’s no reason you can’t be a little negative and still be enthusiastic. You just have to find the right thing to get fired up about!
On a different note I’m really looking forward to watching Owarimonogatari soon since I know it’s highly unlikely I’ll be disappointed. Monogatari and Ping Pong have been beacons of warmth and light in what seems like an extended anime winter for me. I’ve tried really hard to drum up some interest for some new shows but everything this past year seems to be off-center of anything I could really sink my teeth as far as style or story. I started watching Gatchaman recently due to some recommendations but even that, while addictive to watch, just hasn’t been doing much for me.
Also: Yay a new Little Witch Academia!
I don’t think you gave this week’s OPM enough credit. There was plenty of drama in Saitama’s fight with Boros, it’s just not the kind of drama you’d generally expect from a fight scene.
It isn’t that Saitama’s ever in any legitimate danger–of course he isn’t, that’s kind of the point of the character–it’s how he reacts to being put up against another person who understands his ennui, and is actually strong enough to make him put in a bit of effort.
Most of the other baddies Saitama’s fought are extremely sure of themselves. They’ll brag at length about how great they are and how Saitama’s basically nothing to them, which only makes the ease with which he dispatches them more frustrating for him. But then there’s Boros. He’s confident, yes, but a) he’s legitimately excited by the idea of a fight with Saitama, and b) he’s strong enough to take some casual hits and keep moving.
Saitama could still have obliterated him from the very beginning, though, as is clear by the end of the fight. But, instead, he decides to play along with Boros. He stays at the level of the first punch he threw, to let the guy get the release he’s been looking for for years; he even compliments his moves. He only lets slip just how utterly depressed he is by the whole shitshow when Boros starts gloating.
And it works. When Boros uses his energy steroid, the soundtrack from back in episode 1, when Saitama dreamed about getting a stimulating fight from the subterraneans, plays, and when Boros makes his final gamble, that “coming alive” heartbeat resonates. Saitama gave Boros what he could never find himself.
At least, until the very end, when Boros realizes the lie.
Yeah, all of this.
Anyway even if it wasn’t for that I’m a sucker for grandiose action set pieces and OPM gave us a really amazing one in this finale. There’s a lot of artistry in that too. Being anime a visual medium I feel it’s a bit unfair to give the primacy to writing over the art and animation – good writing can make an anime enjoyable, true, but excellent visual storytelling can be as much of a proof of artistry, it just involves a different part of the staff (also considering that here we’re talking about an adaptation, so the writing was done in a completely different context in fact, as ONE’s webcomic looks more like something churned out in one go rather than thoroughly planned. Also an interesting bit of trivia: apparently Boros was the main villain from a manga that ONE drew when he was a kid and that he had to drop because he was so strong he couldn’t justify his hero winning. Cue him dropping the same villain in OPM and letting Saitama take care of the job).
I think Bob’s problem is that he didn’t see the visuals as serving a storytelling purpose, most of the time–they were just there, even though, the vast majority of the time, the action lacked any tension at all.
I wish I felt like you guys; I basically had what I think was Bob’s reaction to a lot’ve OPM.
While the Boros fight seemed to me to have exactly the potential Carterfm described, I had trouble seeing it in the execution. We never really saw much of Saitama’s graciousness towards Boros; we had flickers here and there, and enough at the end to understand what had happened and how Boros and Saitama’s treatment of him was a bit different from prior combatants, but I never felt the show gave us enough emotionally meaningful characterization of Boros to really care that this was different, and, on the other end of things, Saitama is just an unthreatened neutral, all the time — even his emotional state never seems to waver in any significant way.
I think it would have been a lot more satisfying if either
A) the show gave us reason to invest in Saitama’s treatment of his enemy, and in the internal, emotional-intellectual isolation-ennui of the super-bored super-man he is
or, more likely
B) the show maybe spent another episode or two characterizing Boros, leading us with reasons to care about him, ideally reasons we didn’t notice were intended to do that until it was too late. If I had cared about Boros when that final fight started, it would have been a deeply moving battle — a great emotional expression of our lack of control, and excellent turning of our usual trope-driven emotional biases against us.
Episode 11 of Beautiful Bones felt like something of a train wreck. I also relate to Hector in this situation. If the situation had been the least bit relatable then maybe it would have been a bit better. Also Sakurako is, officially, a total unsympathetic bitch.
Nice notes, as always-
I liked LWA 2, but I just can’t help but compare it to the first, and it doesn’t feel nearly as magical. It’s pretty, and charming, and cute, and funny, but it’s just less than its predecessor. I’m glad I watched it, but I doubt I’ll rewatch it on a consistent basis, as I’ve done with the first.
As a fan of the original Utwarerumono and the VN it is based on, I can say I am thoroughly disappointed with this new one. It started off stronger than it’s predecessor, but ever since they came to the capital it’s the plot and pacing have ground to a screeching halt and we’re treated with mostly terrible and overplayed gags with an ever increasing harem of ever less interesting characters.
If you ever find the time I seriously recommend checking out the original because it’s far more competent than this one.
I haven’t played the VN, but I watched the original Uta series, and I feel exactly as you do!
I don’t mind Slice-of-Life in general; if executed well, it can be great. I’d’ve been very impressed if a series with a decent military-strategic first show/prequel then segued into an entirely different, visually more impressive and well told slice-of-life show.
But it hasn’t done that. :/ It’s still pretty well drawn, but that’s it; the characters have little depth (admittedly, I think this was true of the first show, too), the plot has gone nowhere (this is where the first show performed!), and 90% of every episode is a stultifying repetition of witless, crude sexual/BL/harem jokes.
As Bob’s noted repeatedly, the central two characters have fantastic chemistry, as written, drawn, and voice-acted. If only they could’ve leaned into that for their slice-of-life episodes instead of going the route of time-tested and time-terrible anime tropes.
I really like your point about meandering character growth and its relationship with Monogatari’s chronology, and would enjoy it if you wrote more on that in the future – especially once you finish Kizu, which puts Araragi’s, Shinobu’s, and Hanekawa’s characterizations into more detailed perspective (it was supposed to do that before Nise but whatever). Despite being largely SoL-ish, Koyomimonogatari will also contributes to this since each episode takes place in a different month.
I think a practical example would be comparing Araragi in Owari 12 to his Koi incarnation. He’s learned the Value of Trusting His Friends now, so how come he relapses when it comes to Nadeko? I’d guess it’s related to more subtle things like how directly responsible he feels in one case versus another, and the degree to which he respects Hanekawa’s agency versus Nadeko’s.
Kinda disappointed that you didn’t pick up the visual cues near the end of the Boros fight mirroring Saitama’s dream in ep 1. It was a brilliant callback that made me care more about Boros by visually showing us that his dream has come true.
However, I can’t blame you for feeling indifferent in the end. The second half is pretty forgettable and most of the fun in Onepunch man do comes from the fights
I’m going to post my thoughts about Utawarerumono Itsuwari no Kamen as someone who has seen and understood the game. This is copy-pasted from my post on Anime-Evo, by the way.
Frankly put, I believe that the anime director made some pretty major mistakes. The character introductions are far too drawn out, major plot points are omitted, and the lack of combat prevents the characters from showing their true competency.
1) In the game, whenever Haku went to sleep he would get flashbacks to his past, giving the audience hints about what was going on before he suddenly woke up in the cave. This is an EXTREMELY important point that is not only important to the plot of Itsuwari no Kamen, but the Utawarerumono series as a whole. I am 100% certain that we will get this reveal during the Uzurussia war arc, but I’m miffed that they didn’t bother to include any hints of it during these last twelve episodes.
2) The anime’s interpretation of the combat maps are quite a bit different from how they happened during the game. Here’s what I’m talking about:
a. Before Haku and Kuon arrived at the village, they were supposed to be attacked by a group of wolves. This forced Haku to a position of self-defense – he had to fight in order to survive. This is significant because it very quickly introduces our main character into combat and makes him realize that fighting is going to be a regular occurrence.
b. From there we have the Girigiri incident. In the game, it wasn’t only the soldiers who fought against those giant insects – Haku and Kuon fought alongside them to exterminate the infestation. Again, this is supposed to be able Haku getting more experience.
c. Fighting against the bandits – Haku, Kuon, Maroro, and the princess (technically it was Kokopo) all fought against them. It wasn’t just the bird wrecking everybody.
d. Finally we have the three maps that were supposed to happen in the capital. The first two were missions assigned by Oshutoru – one being an escort mission, the other being a bandit extermination mission. The last one was the princess rescue mission, except here Haku and co. were supposed to take an active role AGAINST Nosuri.
All in all, everybody got to show off how they fight – no one was left behind to do chores like cleaning up the gutters. This is meant to make Oshutoru’s high evaluation of Haku more believable – the game shows that Haku has smarts and is capable of pulling his own weight.
3) Many viewers are taking great issue with Rurutie’s fujoshi antics, and I don’t blame them. The gag was okay the first time, but it’s happened so consistently that it’s basically her entire character. Let me be clear – she is not like this in the game. Rather, she is a little bit like Eruruu from the first Utawarerumono in the sense that both represent the ideal housewife. Rurutie is a quiet and reserved princess who enjoys cooking and making tea for everyone. Haku made a good first impression on her, and she admires him a lot for it. She likes being together with him, so when the twins appeared, she became really jealous because it seemed like her role was being taken away.
4) The anime is not presenting Yamato’s culture effectively. Don’t get me wrong – we are still getting tidbits from the vibrant backgrounds, and we can clearly see that Yamato is enjoying a state of peace and prosperity. This is all fine, but it’s not complete.
The game provides a better picture for the audience since it does a lot more to emphasize the sense of national pride that Yamato’s citizens have. Their Emperor is essentially a god to them, alive even before the creation of the country. Moreover, everything about the empire’s capital is huge – the city gates, the ceremonial court, the temple – all of it speaks to the power and capacity of the nation. Then we have the Akuruka, generals who were personally recognized by the Emperor and given the right to use the power of their masks. They are the guarantors of the country’s peace, and are symbols of its military might.
That being said, this sense of nationalism is really important (especially during the second half), and I think that the episodes so far failed to capture it. The motivations of many characters can be attributed to this sense of loyalty and national pride.
As for how the meeting with the emperor went down – in my opinion, the game’s presentation was a lot more serious. Consider the differences:
1) Oshutoru was supposed to call Haku into his office first to tell him that the Emperor sent a personal invitation for a meeting. He explicitly points out that this is a HUGE deal – to the Yamato people, the Emperor is the one person they have absolute faith and loyalty in. Getting a personal invitation is the highest honor that a person could get. If Haku were to decline the invitation, the people would consider it a huge insult; even if the Emperor were to be understanding, Yamato’s citizens would not. In fact, not even being friends with the popular Oshutoru could protect him from the citizens’ retribution. He could get stabbed and local authorities would turn a blind eye to it. It’s THAT bad.
2) In the princess kidnapping stunt, Haku actually gathered his company to fight Nosuri and “rescue” Anju, trying to prevent the situation from blowing up. Thus, rewarding him for saving the Imperial Princess was actually legitimate, unlike how things played out in the episode. The significant point here is that nobody lied to the Emperor in the game, while Munechika clearly overstepped her bounds in the anime.
3) The generals’ reactions to Haku’s reward was also very different. Many of the generals actually questioned the Emperor’s decision to give away the Kamunagi of Chains. Saving the Imperial Princess certainly warranted a prize, but they believed that giving away the High Priestess’ daughters was too much. Only Mikazuchi spoke out, telling everyone not to pry into what the Emperor is thinking.
4) There was a little conversation between Oshutoru and Haku as they were leaving the palace. Oshutoru, like everyone else, was extremely confused about why the priestesses were given away since he also agreed that something like this was excessive. He notes that in the history of Yamato, there has been no one who received such great honors and rewards in such a short amount of time. He then tells Haku that his life is going to be filled with a lot more troubles from here on out.
Perfect Insider left me feeling similar to how I felt after the fifth Garden of Sinners movie. I liked the setup of the central mysteries, and of course there’s some really nice animation, but the existential philosophizing that both of them love to indulge in at great length (a school of thought I have very little patience for) and the actual resolutions of the respective mysteries all left me cold. I was generally okay with Perfect Insider from episodes 3-9, but the beginning and ending were both pretty dire.
Where I’m kind of scratching my head is that Perfect Insider is adapting the first in a series of ten mystery novels (not light novels, real novels) featuring Souhei and Moe, and the anime left me with absolutely no sense of how these characters ever became popular or interesting enough to the general public to sustain such a long series, unless their rambling soliloquies are somehow more tolerable on the printed page.
One punch man fights have great animation for sure.. but they lack a good choreography to back that up. It was even more obvious in this episode where there was tons of energy in display but no actual back and forth? It was just the bad guy whaling helplessly.
And yea the force awaken was a load of fun, I felt the same way about the new content, it was so great that I wish it would have been the whole movie, made the cameo and the retelling parts kinda boring. Also felt it was pretty lacking has a stand alone piece structure wise, though it presented a lot of compelling stuff and characters I want to see more of! And yea shifting the dark side to personal character conflict makes it much more compelling, its such a ridiculous thing to begin with.