It seems like a lot of people really, really wanted Dimension W to be a great show. It had every promotional advantage you could hope for, and it inhabited an extremely fan-friendly genre space, but the show just didn’t have the strength to follow through. Today I’ve got a sturdy review of this unfortunate anime stepchild. I hope you enjoy it!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below.
Let’s strap in for the week in review! We’re nearing the end of the season now, but it doesn’t really feel like it, at least from my perspective. With My Hero Academia simply ending a fairly minor arc and Tsuredure Children sticking largely to self-contained skits, Made in Abyss is the only show providing me with all that much closure – and even there, this week’s episode felt more like the introduction to a new stage in Riko’s adventure than anything truly final. But climactic or not, this week’s Abyss was a stunner in all regards, the dramatic payoff to all these weeks of knowing fandom titters. So let’s start right there, and then ramble our way through this week’s choicest offerings!
Tsuredure Children returned to its usual upbeat wheelhouse this week, offering another endearing sampling of romantic foibles. The show has been remarkably consistent all throughout its run, and I’ve heard there’s even more material, so I hope we somehow get a season two. The world needs more Tsuredure Children.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Today I’ve got some thoughts on the first Sound! Euphonium novel! They are not happy thoughts, unfortunately. Although the original novel does give us a closer look into Kumiko’s head, that’s pretty much all I can say for it – the prose is pedestrian, the narrative is actually far less tightly composed than the anime, and the cast feels less well-defined here than they do in the adaptation. This is a readable book, but definitely not one I’d recommend. Nice work polishing this into a diamond, KyoAni!
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
And so we approach the end of Casshern Sins. With Leda seemingly destroyed and Dio having embraced his chosen purpose, we’ve arrived at the final battle between Casshern and his brother, a clash in the rain that, no matter what happens, will certainly provide Dio with the closure he seeks. Meanwhile, Luna’s healing gift has proven to be a lie in more ways than one – not only is her blood a fickle power that doesn’t seem to permanently heal people, but too much of it can actually destroy someone. With Lyuze having entered the castle to rescue Casshern, that presumably leaves Ringo with Ohji, and I’m seriously hoping he has enough sense to keep her away from Luna. The pursuit of eternity has become a cursed thing in Casshern Sins, but I still feel these characters deserve some kind of salvation. Let’s see what the end of everything brings.
Today on Why It Works, I took advantage of Crunchyroll’s recent slate of acquisitions to rep a few lesser-known but very beautiful shows. It was nice to return to .hack, even if I was just looking for background images, and scouring through Aria episodes convinced me yet again that I really need to find time for that show. There sure are a lot of terrific anime out there.
The New Champions of Atmosphere in the Crunchyroll Catalog
It’d be hard for any episode to live up to Shigeyasu Yamauchi’s gorgeous interpretation of Tabuki’s rooftop duel with Kanba. That episode isn’t just great for this show, it’s an all-time great episode within anime at large. In light of that, it’s perhaps a bit less disappointing that Penguindrum’s nineteenth episode doesn’t even really try to compete with its predecessor. This is largely an information-expositing and board-moving episode, shifting us past the focus on Tabuki and into a new and somewhat abrupt arc starring Masako Natsume. This is the point where the cracks in Penguindrum’s overall narrative begin to show, but it still gets its job done.
It’s time to return to Casshern Sins! We’re nearing the endgame now, with the long-awaited arrival at Luna’s sanctuary raising more questions than it answered. After an entire show of seeking, Casshern seemed unhappy with the salvation provided by Luna, now having come to believe that death is actually an integral part of life. That philosophy makes sense of both his own unhappy invulnerability and the many lives he’s had to watch end, but it’s cold comfort to the robots who’ve spent all this time fleeing from Ruin.
Their counterpoint was directly articulated through Ohji’s harsh words, as he lambasted Casshern for idealizing the “beauty of death” even though he’d never had to fear it himself. Ohji’s counterpoint shook Casshern’s own confidence in turn, and so he essentially threw himself to Dio’s wolves. Casshern Sins’ thoughts on living and dying are only growing more complex and urgent by the moment, and this show could still end any number of ways. Let’s get right to it!
This week’s Classroom of the Elite represented a big step in the right direction for the show, returning to its bombastic comfort zone with a Lord of the Flies setup perfectly suited to its strengths. Even the show’s visual execution was much more engaging here, and the small outbursts of comedy were well-implemented as well. Classroom is certainly not going to turn into a good show, but this week put it on the right track to being an entertaining one.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Tsuredure Children actually got kinda serious this week, and demonstrated it can handle thornier dramatic territory just as gracefully as the fluffy stuff. There was plenty of fluffy stuff too though, making this an all-around excellent episode. Who would have expected Tsuredure Children to be one of the better character dramas of the… year???
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.