Alright guys, I’m starting to run out of enthusiasm here. After seemingly gathering itself into a genuinely respectable show, Darling in the Franxx shit the bed for the second time straight this week, meaning the season’s wild card is rapidly losing all hope resolving into a genuinely good show. On top of that, my interest in A Place Further Than the Universe has only lapsed further, as the show continues to indulge in just-kinda-par slice of life episodes. And with even After the Rain turning in a relatively so-so episode this week, it feels totally unfair to hang all my hopes for excellence on Laid Back Camp, a show that is just trying to have a good time and is feeling so attacked right now. None of this is unusual, of course – a great first episode is a lot easier to achieve than a great show, and every season’s back half ends up littered with the regrets of shows that could have been. But still, I can’t help but feel just a bit demoralized as we embark on this Week in Review. Let’s pick up our spirits the best we can and run this week down!
Author Archives: Bobduh
Why It Works: What Awaits in a Place Further Than the Universe
Today on Crunchyroll, I dug into the intangible sense of absence and longing that seems to guide so many of the stars of A Place Further Than the Universe. The show’s fixation with this ineffable something that will grant all our lives some greater significance is my favorite thing about it, so I was happy to dedicate a piece to specifically that. Hope you enjoy the writeup!
What Awaits in a Place Further Than the Universe
A Violence Like This: Tokyo Ghoul
“There’s a violence in everyone.”
– Typhoon
Liquid drips from a metal basin, pooling on the tiled floor. The sound comes from some distance away, which helps – at that distance, it is simply an anonymous liquid, not an actual, vital, absent part of Kaneki’s body. Closer at hand, the truths become harder to bear: his scar-crossed wrists, his grinding teeth, the half-formed toes ever growing in, ever being torn away. Ghouls who feed on humans possess great powers of regeneration, but right now, that regeneration is only denying Kaneki the release of death. His body gives and gives, and yet his tormentor keeps coming back, keeps demanding more. Having lived his life by the conviction that suffering pain yourself is preferable to inflicting that pain on others, Kaneki can only wonder how he reached this metal chair, how things ever got so messed up.
March comes in like a lion – Episode 39
March comes in like a lion made its long-awaited return this week, offering more of the oppressively intimate and often fatiguing character drama we’ve come to know and love. Up this week was Yanagihara, a regular member of the local shogi association who’d never really gotten much focus before. Yanagihara’s deal is “lion in winter, oldest class A competitor, and bearer of all his absent friends’ shogi dreams,” and this episode did an excellent job of making that deal a lived experience. March is back folks, and still really damn good.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Chihayafuru S2 – Episode 2
Let’s get back to Chihayafuru! The first episode of the show’s second season introduced a girl who’ll presumably be the team’s newest member, the altogether charming Hanano. Hanano is petty and scheming and exactly the kind of sharp-edged character this largely wholesome crew really needed. I’d actually expected us to get a crew member who fulfills this caustic tonal role a long time ago, but I’m still very happy to see her now, and looking forward to seeing how she settles into the overall group dynamic. We’ve also got plenty of traditional Chihayafuru drama to look forward to, and given the first episode was basically all “Hanano is a horny gremlin who doesn’t give a crap about karuta,” I’m eager to see how this episode actually hooks her into the sport, or at least the team. I mean, maybe she’ll actually remain at “karuta is boring, but Taichi is hotter than the seven hells,” but I have to assume she’ll get a bit more texture than that. Either way, she’s an endearingly cynical on-screen presence, and I’m eager to see what this episode brings. Let’s get right to it!
Princess Tutu – Episode 1
Today we embark on one of my most anticipated backlog titles, Princess Tutu. By reputation, I know Princess Tutu to be one of the most highly regarded anime of all time, and easily one of the best shows specifically intended for children. I also know that it is a story about stories, and that it’s one of the crown jewels of its director Junichi Sato’s catalog. Sato would be magical girl and children’s anime royalty even without Princess Tutu – after all, he directed both the first two seasons of Sailor Moon and a great deal of Ojamajo Doremi, two other towering standouts within the field. And even today Sato remains an influential figure, from his highly lauded slice of life productions like Aria to his ongoing work with the Pretty Cure franchise.
My Hero Academia, Volume 11 – Review
It’s the end of an era in My Hero Academia. This volume was easily one of Academia’s best yet, and All Might’s climactic battle gave me tons to sink into in both a craft and thematic sense. The themey-wemey stuff took precedence this time, though – All Might’s fight essentially condensed Academia’s views on the conscience of society as a whole into one furious bout, and the volume’s second half then returned us to the engaging parent/child focus of the sports festival. Ridiculously compelling stuff all around, and I had an excellent time writing about it.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Winter 2018 – Week 7 in Review
The anime was not so great this week, I am afraid to say. Darling in the Franxx tied off its recent rally with a mediocre beach episode, Laid Back Camp outsourced its aesthetically weakest episode yet, and March comes in like a lion was still a no-show altogether. Though this winter season opened with an unexpectedly appealing grip of shows, it’s at this point arrived at an average, or perhaps slightly below-average lineup. That’s still fine for me, of course – with After the Rain still kicking ass and readers guiding me into such luxuries as Toradora and Princess Tutu, I’ve still got plenty to enjoy every week. But as for airing shows, this is slowly becoming a season that encourages prolonged glances towards that ever-present backlog. But enough grumbling – let’s start with our comfy campers and run this week down!
Flip Flappers – Episode 10
Flip Flappers’ tenth episode opens with Papika in a mood we’ve basically never seen her in – insular and depressed, crouched alone in the dark, reflecting on this mysterious “Mimi” figure. It’s an appropriate starting point for an episode that essentially tears up Flip Flappers’ status quo, abandoning its largely episodic structure and setting pieces in place for the grand finale. This is far from Flip Flappers’ best episode, but unlike episode eight, that’s not really its fault. This is an unabashed transition episode, and though its turns aren’t all the most graceful, it’s all working in service of the great cataclysm to come.
ef – A Tale of Memories – Episode 10
Let’s get back to A Tale of Memories! We’ve been slowly winding our way through this production for a while now, and I’m certainly having a fine time with it. The show is divided between two very different narratives, but its obsession with the idea of truly existing and leaving an impact on the world carries through each of them. On the Hiro/Rei/Miyako side, Miyako is the most stark example of this theme, constantly panicking at the thought of being neglected until she simply fades away. On the Renji/Chihiro side, Chihiro has obvious reasons to be preoccupied with memory and the nature of being, assailed every day by questions and fears regarding her ability to truly engage with the world, as well as whether the active voice in her mind is even really “her.” That thread, along with the show’s wild visual experiments, have kept Ef engaging regardless of its romantic twists and turns, which have stuck to more traditional melodrama territory. My preference for the show’s thoughts on memory over its romantic drama likely informs my preference for the Chihiro story over the Hiro story, but I’m certainly enjoying both the show’s halves, and am very interested in seeing how all of this comes together. Let’s get right to it!