Yearly Archives: 2016

Blast of Tempest – Review

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So yep, following up on my exploration of the first episode, I ended up marathoning Blast of Tempest and putting together a streaming review. The end result was frankly pretty unsatisfying – I know some people love this show, but it’s just such a messy thing that I could only rarely feel legitimately invested. It rambles and overtells and often feels like it lacks a strong throughline, failing in terms of storytelling fundamentals even as it impresses in terms of personality and creativity. It’s certainly an interesting show, and the cast is great, and I don’t regret watching it… but I can’t say it’s a show I’d actually recommend. Still, for better or for worse, I now feel like I’ve pretty much seen all the acclaimed 2013 anime. So I guess that’s something?

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my copious episode notes below!

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Hyouka – Episode 20

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Hyouka’s twentieth episode opens with a small light growing through a crack in the wall. As the light expands, silent shots of gardening supplies creating a sense of peace in a small space, until the silence is broken by Oreki’s breath. Clearly some time has passed since the last episode, the truth of which is confirmed by Oreki’s first words. “Hey, Chitanda. Do you think the saying, ‘what you do on New Year’s, you repeat all year’ is true?” And Chitanda gives him a thoughtful but comfortable reply as the camera hones in on their new level of intimacy, simultaneously expressing their emotional proximity and the claustrophobia of their situation. But it’ll take them a while to reach that point of closeness. First, Oreki needs a reality check.

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Eureka Seven – Episode 2-4 Notes

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My Eureka Seven watch continues, now complete with a bunch of stray thoughts and idle speculations! The show is still sticking in a very consistent genre space so far, and Renton honestly isn’t feeling like the most likable protagonist at the moment, but it’s still an eminently watchable show. Clean art style, solid direction, and each episode moves things forward to some extent. I’m guessing the show will slow down a bit for more “Renton getting used to the Gekkostate” stuff before any of the ominous military issues being hinted at come to the forefront, but everyone keeps telling me it gets better, so I’m going to assume I’m not being rused. Let’s take a journey back through episodes two through four!

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Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu – Review

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So yep, turns out I got to see Kizumonogatari just a little bit ahead of schedule. AND IT WAS SO GOOD. God damn this movie was great. An utter change of pace from what the current television series has become, but a very compelling alternate interpretation of what the series could be. Tekketsu spins a very sparse number of plot events out across vivid, atmospheric minutes, creating a sense of being trapped in Araragi’s head without actually saying a word. It’s a remarkable feat of execution, and I am extremely excited to see the next ones.

You can check out my very thorough review over at ANN!

Kizumonogatari

The Magic of the Stage in Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

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My newest editorial is up over at ANN! This one very unsurprisingly tackles my favorite show of the season, Rakugo Shinju, going into it largely from the perspective of how its framing choices elevate its performance scenes. Rakugo definitely gives me more than enough to talk about, and it was actually kind of a challenge here to decide what not to discuss. The show is a fantastic work, the easy highlight of the year so far, and I really enjoyed digging into it. I hope you enjoy the piece!

The Magic of the Stage in Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Rakugo

ERASED – Episode 8

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Looks like ERASED may truly be out of the woods at this point. Not only was this episode very strong, but it was strong in a way the show hasn’t consistently been, and really needed to express more of. This episode was understated and warm, focused largely on articulating the specificity of Hinazuki’s feelings, and it went a very long way towards giving the show a necessary emotional grounding. Satoru’s an alright character, but he can often feel more like the protagonist of a genre vehicle than an individual; he’s goal-oriented in a way that makes him feel too much like a narrative force. But Hinazuki is a person with a variety of feelings, and this episode gave her a chance to express them. I really enjoyed this one, and I hope the show stays at least close to this strong through the end.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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Active Raid – Episode 8

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Active Raid drifted back into the good lane this week, pulling off an episode that starred an understandable conflict that built off the show’s core political themes and also illustrated new things about the main characters. And hey, waddayaknow, just executing on those obvious storytelling fundamentals resulted in a much better story than the episodes that are about basically nothing. It seems weird to be offering criticism that boils down to “stop making bad decisions, instead try making good ones,” but that really does seem to be what it sometimes takes. Active Raid made good decisions this week, and was rewarded with a satisfying episode for it.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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Hyouka – Episode 19

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Hyouka’s eighteenth episode made explicit the distance Oreki and Chitanda have moved towards each other, and brought them even closer together over the course of a mystery investigation that might as well have also been a date. By the end of that episode, Oreki’s classic blushes at being caught by Chitanda’s stare were matched by Chitanda’s own feelings, as she found herself struck by new emotions she couldn’t really describe. Relationships have shifted slowly across the course of this series, but at this point, Oreki and Chitanda are so close together their noses are already touching.

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Winter 2016 – Week 7 in Review

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This week in anime was a week in anime. We’re entering that stretch of the season where shows often become kinda tough to write about – they’ve established a firm rhythm and personality at this point, but they’re not quite into the leadup to the climax, and so episodes can oftentimes just be described as “pretty much like the last episode, I guess.” Even a show like Konosuba, one of this season’s most inconsistent wildcards, is now at least becoming steady in its inconsistency. There were some slight dips and slight rises among individual shows, but everything is at the moment falling within the margin of error of its existing expectations. That doesn’t mean things are impossible to talk about – that just means I have to work harder to find good points of interest. So sit there and appreciate my hard work as I run this week down!

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UQ Holder, Volume 3 – Review

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The UQ Holder reviews continue, through a volume that… still isn’t particularly good. There’s plenty of spectacle here, but not much reason to care – the manga’s characters are still pretty one-note, and there are no tangible stakes in most of these fights. Writing a manga about immortal characters who already start the series with incredible powers is a pretty tall order, and it feels like Akamatsu still hasn’t quite figured out how to make that interesting. Fortunately, having read further ahead of this myself, I can say there is hope on the horizon! Three lousy volumes is a harsh way to start a series, but it turns out Akamatsu does have some good ideas hiding in here after all. Just gotta soldier through.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my frankly pretty limited chapter notes below.

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