Author Archives: Bobduh

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Volume 7-8 – Review

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I’m back for more Biscuit Hammer, and this volume… unfortunately couldn’t live up to the standards set by the last couple. It’s not that surprising, really – Biscuit Hammer has always been a compelling but wildly inconsistent production, and its victories come down to personality triumphing over craft more often than not. Biscuit Hammer is one of those weird stories that succeeds largely by ignoring storytelling fundamentals – when it works, it’s because some vague semblance of craft manages to attach itself to the story’s clear and ever-present talents for character writing and quirky execution, not because it’s a fully realized story executed with a confident understanding of how to actually tell one. I really, really like Biscuit Hammer, but I get the feeling that whatever this artist is working on three stories from now is going to be the real masterpiece. But I’m fine with this wacky-ass, aesthetically ridiculous, utterly heartfelt shounen drama until then.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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August 2015 Patreon Roundup

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So! As I first mentioned a couple weeks ago, I dump a whole bunch of words into Patreon mini-essays every month, and I figured it’d be a waste to just let those words languish in the bowels of ask.fm’s non-existent search function. Instead, I’m going to be collecting my new answers at some point during the course of a month, and also going back through the archives so you guys can actually get to see all that writing. I’ll be starting to answer October’s questions soon, but for now, here’s the whole set of answers from August. If getting a response like this sounds cool to you, my Patreon door is always open, and either way I hope you enjoy the work!

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Owarimonogatari – Episode 5

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We got our first emotional peak in this week’s Owari, and it was certainly something. These last few episodes have largely painted Oikura’s story as something that reflected Araragi’s issues, but this episode was all about Oikura for her own sake, and let her fill in the pieces through an oppressive recounting of her life to date. That was all well done, but it was the last third or so that really got to me, when Hanekawa, Araragi, and Oikura basically all offered their own personal reflections on depression and happiness. These were some of the sharpest exchanges of any arc of the show, and were just one more example of well Monogatari really gets its characters and people in general. I’m sure I’m not the only one who could relate to a discussion on the relative safety of a known unhappiness.

You can check out my supersized review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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The Perfect Insider – Episode 4

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Welp, we’re in full murder-mystery territory now. And as far as that goes, The Perfect Insider isn’t really the best – its variables are kind of hokey, from the nature of Magata’s laboratory to hackneyed twists like the fact that she has multiple personalities. There are still a number of interesting little clues, though, and I still like everything around the mystery. In this case, that mainly comes down to Moe and Magata’s pasts – the show is drawing constant parallels between the two of them, and I’m interested in seeing both how they eventually come together and if Moe ever gets to have a second meeting with Magata, or whatever form Magata might now take. Perfect Insider isn’t making all the right moves, but it’s still an interesting show.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below!

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Beautiful Bones – Episode 4

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AW SHIT BEAUTIFUL BONES HAD A REASONABLE EPISODE. Yep, either my standards are falling fast or Beautiful Bones is actually improving, because I legitimately enjoyed this episode. And it wasn’t because of subtle changes in writing or whatnot – the two-parter structure just fits this show so, so, so much better. It is really damn hard bordering on impossible to tell a satisfying, atmospheric, character-focused mystery in twenty minutes, but in forty-ish? Yeah, you can get there. So we got more nice character moments, more actual mystery elements, and more atmosphere than ever before. Great work, Beautiful Bones. Now please don’t immediately go back to your old formula and continue to suck at it.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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Fall 2015 – Week 4 in Review

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It’s that time again! We had a reasonable crop of episodes this week, with four out of my six active series offering solid episodes, and one of the last two never promising to offer a single solid episode in the first place. I think at this point it’s safe to say Iron-Blooded Orphans is the breakout star of the season – it’s not the flashiest show, but it’s just absolutely solid in everything it does, full of strong characters and well-chosen dramatic turns and plenty of threads I’m excited to see through. Other shows are more tentative, but still enjoyable so far – in particular, I feel like it’d be easy for either The Perfect Insider or Utawarerumono to fall apart, but I’m still having a fine time with them so far. And One Punch Man is starting to wear out its single joke, but I’ve heard the original series picks up from here out, so I’m hopeful this is just a temporary lull. Overall, this isn’t the flashiest season, and certainly can’t compare to the year’s stellar first half, but I’ve got enough that I’m enjoying that I can’t really complain. But that’s enough news in brief, let’s get to it and RUN ‘EM DOWN!

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Inari Kon Kon – Review

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Time for another show review! This time we’ve got Inari Kon Kon, which was… a show, I guess? It was watchable, but not much more – this one felt very overtly and almost awkwardly like a direct advertisement for the original manga, given its adaptation made zero use of anime as a medium and basically all the conflicts resolved in “go read the manga, available at a location near you.” That said, it was pretty much a harmless experience all around, and there were some cute moments between the central characters. It flopped as a romance or drama, but did reasonably well in depicting some friendships.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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Owarimonogatari – Episode 4

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Owarimonogatari continues in an episode that was basically 50% Ougi being sinister and 50% Hanekawa kicking ass. So, essentially a perfect episode.

Alright, maybe not a perfect episode. In spite of this week’s adventure foregrounding my favorite character in anime period, it wasn’t nearly as visually interesting as the stuff at Oikura’s old home. And we’re clearly in a build-up stage at the moment, with all the various conflicts just sort of simmering as things move back towards Oikura. Hanekawa was great, and some of the ways the show articulated the spell Ougi casts over Araragi were great, but I’m definitely ready for the show to hurry up and get to the next Oikura confrontation. This was a great idea for an episode, but in execution not exactly a highlight.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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The Many Lessons of Gatchaman Crowds

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New essay time! Jeez, I’ve been spoiling you guys lately. There was a bit of a lull when I was getting used to managing my time for ANN, but now you’re getting articles on idols, articles on classic OVAs, and now an article on Gatchaman Crowds. I wrote about Gatchaman’s first season way back when it ended (jeez, that was two years now), but I think I’ve gotten a little bit better at consolidating my points since then. This isn’t a breakdown of every single thing that happens – this is a condensing of the core themes that emerge in different ways across both seasons. I hope you enjoy it, and may our lady Hajime shine upon you!

The Many Lessons of Gatchaman Crowds

Gatchaman Crowds

The Perfect Insider – Episode 3

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The Perfect Insider returns, and this week we finally dive into some actual mystery meat. That was poorly phrased. Not in the cafeteria lunch terms, but in… well, you get it.

Anyway, this was a fine episode all around. Magata’s alleged death kind of throws a wrench in my ideas about where the story was going – I figured it’d end up being more about the dynamic between Moe and Magata, but unless Magata really is performing quite an impressive magic trick here (perhaps involving her “sister”), it’ll likely be more focused on revealing both Moe and Magata’s past. In spite of losing that thread, I enjoyed where this episode went – the dynamic between Moe and Souhei felt more equal this time, and the mystery stuff never overwhelmed either the character material or the atmosphere. The show still feels very confident in what it’s doing.

You can check out my full writeup over at ANN, or my episode notes below!

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