Well shit you guys, the season’s halfway over. Traditionally, this would be the time where instead of offering reflections on this week’s episodes, I rank the overall field of everything I’ve watching. However, once I started cutting down my seasonal watch schedule to only the shows I was genuinely loving, that became a pretty meaningless exercise. I could rank my viewing schedule, but everything I’m watching is something I’d highly recommend, so what would be the point? In light of that, I instead started to simply summarize my overall impressions of each show so far – but as one commenter pointed out, you can already get a pretty clear view of my overall feelings on a show from my weekly commentary. Given all that, today I’ll be offering… an entirely normal installment of the Week in Review! Yes, that’s right folks, we’ll be celebrating the seasonal halfway point by doing exactly what we always do. I can tell your excitement is already at a fever pitch, so I’ll wrap this intro up now, as we dive into one more extremely normal Week in Review!
Author Archives: Bobduh
Why It Works: Searching for Home in the Anime of Kunihiko Ikuhara
Today on Why It Works, I used the reveal of Toi’s backstory as a jumping-off point to explore the searching for a home that dominates all of Ikuhara’s anime productions. It’s nice to be able to put all those hours spent exploring and detailing Penguindrum’s themes to good use, and always a treat to revisit the art design of Ikuhara’s works in general. Here’s the piece!
Searching for Home in the Anime of Kunihiko Ikuhara
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 2
Folks, I am very happy to be returning to Girls’ Last Tour! The show’s first episode was equal parts charming slice of life, and, er, I guess more contemplative slice of life? It was essentially a post-apocalyptic travelogue, a subgenre that actually boasts a whole bunch of top-tier anime. Kemono Friends and Kemurikusa both fall in a similar space, while both Haibane Renmei and Sound of the Sky, though they don’t have a specific focus on journeying, capture a similar combination of warm slice of life contrasted against a majestic yet fading larger world.
Slice of life and post-apocalyptic despair might not seem like a natural combination, but the pairing actually makes a lot of sense to me. There are no longer any battles to fight in these worlds – whatever some action hero might have been able to accomplish, their deeds are no longer relevant, as the world has already arrived at its end. Instead, those who survive must focus on what they still have – and in any world, the one thing a broken civilization can’t take from us is each other. In a world gone to ruin, the comfort we can provide each other becomes all that much more crucial, and a natural symbol of how human kindness is ultimately undefeatable. Even in a world in decay, two people can still care about each other, and find comfort in each other’s presence.
Resonant premise aside, Girls’ Last Tour is also just a lovely aesthetic object in its own right, full of evocative backgrounds and tied together with incredibly precise sound design. Let’s see what adventures these girls get up to in episode two!
Toradora – Episode 4
Toradora’s third episode is largely dedicated to Ryuuji having his preconceptions about his classmate Minori forcefully challenged, first through Taiga’s defense of her close friend, and then through confessions by Minori herself. Trapped in a tool shed with a distressed Minori, he learns that the strength and energy which he sees as an effortless component of Minori’s base nature is actually anything but. Minori isn’t naturally confident or naturally strong; she simply plays the part, putting on an appearance of strength in order to inspire real strength.
Spring 2019 – Week 5 in Review
This season gets pretty lean when it’s time for a JoJo recap episode, huh? With Bucciaratti’s boys stuck reliving all their most recent traumas, it fell to my other three ongoing productions to keep the peace this week. Fortunately, all three of those shows are pretty darn good, so I wasn’t really left wanting for entertainment either way. Demon Slayer continued to stick to its familiar narrative template, but also persisted in bolstering that template with lots of phenomenal art direction, as well as some theoretical thematic substance. Sarazanmai also stuck to its regular formula, but did a terrific job of fleshing out Toi as a protagonist. And Carole & Tuesday basically shored up any deficiencies in the other two, offering yet another ridiculously charming and far too short collection of capers. All this at greater length, as we break down the highs and lows of another week in anime!
Why It Works: The Digital Arenas of Demon Slayer’s Battles
Today on Why It Works, I explored the unique ways Haruo Sotozaki and studio ufotable bring Demon Slayer’s battles to life. It’s always a little dicey to talk about “house styles” when it comes to anime studios, since the specific individuals on any given team can vary so much, but if ufotable can be known for anything, it’d be the unique way their expansive CG department informs their action cinematography. Today’s article is all about that, and I’m eager to get to it. Here’s the piece!
The Digital Arenas of Demon Slayer’s Battles
Bloom Into You – Episode 13
Folks, the moment has arrived. At last, we’re gearing up to explore the final episode of Bloom Into You, and see how this charmingly on-the-nose theater production plays out. Last episode saw Yuu experiencing a crucial and long-awaited turn, as she at last went against Touko’s overt wishes in order to try and make her friend embrace her own identity.
Through doing this, Yuu also neatly managed to embrace her own identity. Yuu started this series unsure of either who she currently was or who she wanted to become, with the twin pressures of her lack of romantic inclinations and lack of professional aspirations embodying each of those feelings. Touko, someone who has made a willful point of not embracing any personal selfhood at all, likely saw a lot of herself in Yuu, thus prompting her initial combined declaration of “I love you” and “please, never change your feelings for me.” But while Touko has spent this season doggedly defending her non-identity, Yuu’s insecurities were never based in any permanent or chosen truth about herself – they were just things a lot of people feel as a high schooler, and things she’s subsequently started to grow past.
While Touko was once able to use her confidence and ultimatums to make Yuu obey her (something Yuu accepted more or less willingly, given her own desire for direction), Yuu has at this point gained such confidence and determination that she’s willing to potentially sacrifice her relationship with Touko in order to help Touko grow. Though Yuu herself describes this instinct as “selfishness,” we in the audience can clearly see it as a combination of selflessness, strong determination, and love. If you really, truly believe you are working in someone’s best interests, trying to help them against their wishes is never “selfish.” If your desire to help someone is greater than your desire to stay by their side, congratulations, you’ve found love. Whether Yuu realizes that or not, I’m thrilled to see her embracing her own desires, and can’t wait to see how this performance plays out. Let’s explore the finale of Bloom Into You!
Japan Railway Journal: Yamanote Line
Well folks, today we’re diving into something entirely different. I normally keep things pretty anime-centric around these parts, or at least fiction-specific more generally, but today we’re branching out to something new: a video episode of the Japan Railway Journal. The Japan Railway Journal is Japan’s episodic NHK documentary on the various train lines of Japan, and today we’ll be exploring the Yamanote Line – the loop that services the Tokyo region, handling a ridiculous density of commuter traffic every single morning. And if you’d like to follow along, you can easily watch the episode yourself!
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 8
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a terrific work of art, but it’d be a stretch to describe it as a generally “fun” show. Instead of embracing the sense of exhilaration, freedom, and power that you might expect would come with piloting a giant robot, Evangelion instead emphasizes the great terror of that experience, and the sense of shame that would compel a depressed young boy to pilot such a thing. Given that general tone, Evangelion’s eighth episode stands as a stark break from our prior journeys through anxiety and isolation and depression and betrayal. For the first time, Evangelion proposes that maybe, just maybe, action could be fun? Could be cool? Could be genuinely validating?
Spring 2019 – Week 4 in Review
The anime is good, folks. I may have intentionally reduced my seasonal payload to a lean and star-studded roster which is almost categorically incapable of disappointing me, but either way, the anime is good. I think this week’s episode of Carole & Tuesday was actually the show’s best yet, which is really saying something, while Demon Slayer pulled off its most impressive visual feats so far. JoJo maintained its recent string of fantastic episodes, and though Sarazanmai is getting a little repetitive, there was still plenty to appreciate in the main stage debut of its third protagonist. But you’re not here to read summaries of summaries, so let’s get to it. Here’s to one more week in anime!