Author Archives: Bobduh

Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 15

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Alright, let’s get back on the Doremi train. I’ve recently been playing a whole bunch of Nier in order to get context for Automata, and I could really use some happiness to counterbalance all of the sads. Doremi’s cast certainly experience their share of problems, but the show is so suffused with optimism and love of its characters that pretty much every episode is an inherent pleasure. The world could definitely use more unabashedly joyful things!

Last episode saw us learning about two members of Doremi’s class at once, in an episode where Doremi, Hadzuki, and Ai had almost nothing to do. I’m totally cool with that style of story; our three leads are entertaining enough that I enjoy just watching them act as commentators, and it’s important for the show to demonstrate how people solve problems without magic. Let’s see what our clumsy witches get up to this time!

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One Piece – Volume 11

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At last, the moment has arrived! After nearly a full volume of Luffy slowly drowning, the Luffy-Arlong battle begins in earnest this volume. I’ve discussed before how the fundamental assumptions of One Piece make it awkwardly inevitable that Luffy finds himself tied up for long stretches of fights. The fact that Luffy’s power adheres to cartoon logic as opposed power level logic is one of One Piece’s most distinctive features – but it also means that it’s tough for him to share the stage, or for his fights to maintain tension for long. The simple fact is, nobody in One Piece has yet managed to test the limits of Luffy’s very silly strength. And so it goes with poor, doomed Arlong.

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Summer 2017 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective

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Times are tough, my friends. Having just powered through every season premiere that’s available on basically any streaming service, I am left with mere grains of sand, anime fragments that tumble through my hands as I seek to shape them into watchable shows. Seasons have been dry before, but we are in the desert now. My first recommendation for the summer season is “I hope you’re still enjoying My Hero Academia, Re:Creators, or Sakura Quest.” My second recommendation is “I’m sure there’s some backlog you’ve been meaning to get to.”

But still, I didn’t watch through all these friggin’ premieres for nothing. There are least a couple bright spots in the gloom, and even if there weren’t, I’m sure most of you are just here to watch me descend into gibbering and howls as the shows get worse. As usual, I’ll be starting with my top picks and grouping the season’s offerings into general descending tiers. For longer thoughts on all of these shows, click through the title and check out my full ANN reviews (look for Nick Creamer). Buckle up, cause it’s gonna get bumpy. LET’S RUN THIS SEASON DOWN!

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Casshern Sins – Episode 17

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Hey all, and welcome back to Casshern Sins. The show’s last episode was probably the best episode of the second half so far, offering a rousing look into Ohji’s backstory that tied him and Ringo into the heart of the narrative. It also saw the show’s principal players congregating and moving ever closer to some sort of final confrontation, with both Casshern’s group and Dio now on the immediate path to Luna. Of course, we’ve still got a full third of the show left, so there are bound to be a few complications on the way. But as long as no bad thing ever happens to Ringo at any point, I think we’ll be okay. Let’s get to it!

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The Wild Brilliance of Symphogear

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Hell yeah I wrote an article about Symphogear. FUCK yeah. The new season’s streaming situation is still up in the air, but it still felt like the appropriate time to hype the hell out of the previous three seasons. Symphogear is a treasure, and more people deserve to be introduced to its brilliance. SYYYYYMMMMPHOOOOOOOGEAARRRRRRRR.

The Wild Brilliance of Symphogear

Chihayafuru – Episode 5

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It’s time for Chihayafuru! We’ve fully transitioned over to the modern-day narrative now, though things certainly haven’t settled into any kind of reliable neutral. The main issue now seems to be that Arata’s gloomy-ass self has given up on karuta for some reason, leaving Chihaya with only two legs of her three-legged karuta stool. Taichi would clearly be fine with that, since he’s never really demonstrated much passion for katura outside of its ability to bring him closer to Chihaya, but Chihaya herself is presumably not pleased.

The depth of her desire is frankly still pretty unfathomable to me – not only did Chihaya only spend a few days playing karuta with the boys back in elementary school, but she’s passed through the entirety of middle school since then. I suppose I kind of have to accept some contrived “destined companions” stuff given the genre, but that disconnect keeps making it tough to engage with this show’s drama on the terms it demands. The matches themselves are great, but the connective tissue is a little iffy. But we’re still early in the show and it’s still fun to watch, so hopefully Chihayafuru will earn its drama over time. Let’s get to it!

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Summer 2017 – First Impressions, Part Two

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And we’re back with the second volley of new premieres! The summer season continues to be pretty much terrible on the whole so far, with my prospects at this point basically just amounting to one new show. Fortunately, that new show was actually terrific – I’ve heard questionable things about the source material, but Made in Abyss’s first episode was phenomenal. And hey, you guys don’t actually have to watch everything else, you can just enjoy me suffer.

As usual, you can see the full list of reviews over at ANN, or click below for my latest scores and direct links. Happy hunting!

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Aikatsu – Episode 7

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Alright everybody, let’s get back to Aikatsu. Last episode was a pretty important turning point for the series, and by that I mean “last episode was good, unlike the previous two, which were unfortunately bad.” Contrary to what many angry fans may think, I actually vastly prefer watching good things to bad things – I’d like to spend my very limited time on earth appreciating things that I find interesting or meaningful, not laughing at stuff that doesn’t work for me. “Ichigo undergoes rigorous/absurd training to improve her signature-writing” is a hell of a lot better than whatever the previous episodes were doing, so I’m hoping things stay kinda ridiculous from here out. Aikatsu ho!

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Summer 2017 – First Impressions, Part One

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Preview week is in full swing now, which means it’s time to to briefly take stock of all the nonsense I’ve watched. So far, Restaurant to Another World is pretty much the only thing I might follow up on, and that one’s honestly more likely to be dropped. With Kakegurui having been swept up by Netflix and Symphogear nowhere to be seen, the season’s still looking pretty barren. That’s okay, though – I’ve still got three continuing shows, after all, and there are plenty of contenders left to come. We’ll ride this storm out like we’ve done before!

You can check out my scores and links to individual writeups below, or just head to the overall preview guide right here.

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Natsume’s Book of Friends – Episode 13

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Natsume’s thirteenth episode, the final episode of its first season, offers a beautiful culmination of all this season has accomplished. First off, it’s simply lovely in a visual sense. Natsume’s vision of rural Japan has always been one of its strongest features, and this episode is rife with beautiful shots of Natsume’s adopted home. Whether he’s trudging through the woods or gazing out across the open fields, shots here are framed to emphasize the rich colors and layered architecture of the world around him. With the trees alive in fall colors, Natsume’s world has never looked lovelier than this.

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