Just let this show end. Let it end. Let it die. Set me free.
Here are some pictures of Hector. Hector is good. This show is bad.
Author Archives: Bobduh
Dragonar Academy – Review
Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Clearly I had so much fun reviewing Strike Witches’ first episode that I needed a full series dose of High Quality Anime. Dragonar Academy was roughly as terrible as you’d imagine it to be, possessing essentially no redeeming factors whatsoever. It earns the distinct honor of being the worst full series I’ve ever reviewed for ANN, beating out such luminaries as the Bayonetta movie, Looking Up at the Half-Moon, and .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Congratulations, Dragonar Academy. You are basically as bad as a show can be.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my despairing notes below.
Fall 2015 – Week 11 in Review
This week in anime wasn’t the best, I’m sad to say. My reliable favorites were reliable-to-great, but… well, there are only two of those. And everything else kinda let me down. I feel like I’ve more or less set myself up for disappointment this season – instead of accepting that it’s a bad season and relying wholly on backlist shows to get me through, I’ve basically just assumed a handful of shows are permanently in “dud episodes” and keep feeling disappointed when they consistently prove their dud episodes are actually just their normal episodes. It’s no way to live, frankly, and I don’t actually know if next season offers any escape – considering how tentative my excitement is for basically everything on my preview list, it seems pretty likely that Monogatari and Iron-Blooded Orphans will be next season’s best shows, too.
But I don’t mean to depress you. Even if this week’s shows were bad (and even when it comes to what I was reviewing for ANN, they were), that doesn’t mean I don’t have stuff to say about ’em. And hey, not every show tripped on its face – in fact, Owarimonogatari pulled off an episode that I’d probably count among the best of the year. So let’s put on a brave face, assume a stiff upper lip, and contort your muscles in any other way you feel appropriate as we RUN ‘EM DOWN.
Rokka, Episodes 1-4 – Review
I finally got my hands on one of those wacky Ponycan releases! Their packaging is indeed very strange, and it looks like I’m going to have to store it sideways above my shelf or something, but unfortunately the show itself wasn’t quite as interesting. Rokka has a great first episode, but man does it ever tumble after that. I wouldn’t even be against it shifting from action-adventure to slow-burning getting-to-know-you episodes in the abstract – that annoyed me the first time I watched it, but this time I knew what to expect. The real problem is that the actual dialogue is just so very, very bad. If you’re gonna make a character-focused fantasy piece, you really gotta sell those characters!
Anyway. You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below!
Hyouka – Episode 3
Hyouka’s third episode opens with one of the most iconic scenes of the whole series, an intimate back-and-forth between Oreki and Chitanda that consumes the entire first half of the episode. Storyboarded and directed by Taichi Ishidate (who’d later get his first full series as director for Beyond the Boundary), it’s a stunning sequence, one that goes far above and beyond the original material through acuity of character acting and direction. The overt text of the scene is “Chitanda finally feels comfortable enough with Oreki to make a request of him regarding her missing uncle” – but the execution is a constant negotiation of comfort and misunderstanding and growing mutual engagement. It’s…
Eh, to hell with it. Let’s start at the top.
My Hero Academia, Volume 2 – Review
And we’re back to Shounen Jump, picking up the latest volume of My Hero Academia. The manga really kicked into high gear in this volume – nearly every chapter was studded with exciting fights and new power debuts, and even the quiet moments demonstrated a welcome grasp of pacing and understated character writing. My Hero Academia isn’t a story I’d point to as a great character piece (cough Silent Voice cough), but I really appreciate how its characters are given the right to be reasonable. These are talented kids who’ve worked hard, and they express that in every scene of congratulating their classmates for putting out a strong effort or recognizing the importance of a positive attitude over straightforward power. Couple that with the bulletproof visual execution, and My Hero Academia presents an immensely satisfying experience.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
Owarimonogatari – Episode 11
And Shinobu Mail pulls out its first perfect episode. Well, I guess “perfect” is never really the right word for Monogatari. But seriously, this episode was incredible. The conversation between Kanbaru and Shinobu that consumed the second half was one of the best exchanges in the series so far, simultaneously acting as a great showpiece for both of their personalities and a strong reflection of the themes both in this arc specifically and the show overall. Monogatari is looking as strong as ever moving into the final stretch of Owari.
You can check out my full review over at ANN or my notes below!
Hyouka – Episode 2
The light mysteries and other assorted treasures continue in Hyouka’s second episode. A month has passed since Oreki joined the classics club, and we feel the passage of that time. This episode opens with a sequence of lazy establishing shots, all of which emphasize the lovely but very specific color palette of Hyouka. Like Chuunibyou’s purple sunset colors, Amagi Brilliant Park’s bright pastels, and Euphonium’s deeper browns and greens, Hyouka has a very specific visual personality – auburn and yellow gold, the browning light of the late afternoon.
The Perfect Insider – Episode 10
Good lord was this episode ever silly. Perfect Insider’s mystery has always been silly, but this episode just completely leaned into its “reveals” as if it was expecting them to come off as either compelling or profound, and noooope. Like Souhei and Magata’s philosophy, it’s just total nonsense. I guess I got taken in on the long con by this show, but I don’t really mind – there were plenty of strong elements throughout (even this episode was very pretty), and I’d rather be optimistic about shows than not. Sometimes a show knows its characters are ridiculous, and sometimes it’s just as ridiculous as they are.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!
Hyouka – Episode 1
It’s interesting returning to a show like Hyouka after all this time away from it. Particularly given the unique circumstances of this return, and how different I am as a consumer now than I was then. Back when I first watched Hyouka, it was the second anime I’d ever watched as it was airing, with the first being Toradora several years before. I was just getting back into anime then, over the spring and summer of 2012 – playing through Katawa Shoujo that winter had prompted a renewed interest in anime-style media, and so I’d been catching up on shows like Madoka and Mawaru Penguindrum. Hyouka was less aggressive than those shows – in fact, its incredibly low-key execution first led to me dropping it only halfway through the first episode, before being convinced to continue by a friend with much better taste. And I watched through it, and I enjoyed it, and it became one of my favorite shows; but even then, I likely didn’t get out of the show what I’m guessing I’ll get now. Hyouka embodies KyoAni’s mastery of tiny moments – it is the studio, and anime itself by extension, at their best.