Author Archives: Bobduh

Symphogear G – Review

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I mean, did you think I wasn’t gonna keep watching Symphogear? Symphogear is goddamn awesome, of course I’m gonna keep watching it. G is actually even more “focused Symphogear” than the first season, which was really fun to talk about in a review context. The show plays in what might traditionally be considered “so bad it’s good” territory, where I find the drama as presented totally ineffective according to traditional storytelling metrics (I don’t actually care about the emotional problems of the characters, for example), but still brilliantly entertaining as narrative absurdity. And so I basically gave the show’s story a very fond C, where its very issues are what make it great. I could easily see the argument that this means the show’s story is successful, but considering either of these responses amount to “I had fun with it” and my review is overwhelmingly positive anyway, I think that’s a kind of hair-splitting distinction. Symphogear’s great, G was a solid sequel, bring on GX!

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

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Fall 2015 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective

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The preview guide is once again nearing its end, meaning it’s time to run down every single one of these goddamn cartoons that never stop coming out for one second ever. The actual hits this season were pretty limited, but that’s pretty much what I expected going in – even in my preview post, I was only actually looking forward to a bare handful of shows. Most of those shows turned out to be either solid or display some potential, though there weren’t any real positive surprises outside of just how nicely composed One Punch Man turned out to be. But what the hell are we even doing here if we’re not watching cartoons, and I gotta earn my too-many-words keep, so let’s run ’em all down anyway. TAKING IT FROM THE TOP!

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Giant Robo and the Beautiful Night

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A new essay has arrived! I finished Giant Robo a little while back, but it took me some time to really hammer down a piece on it. I’m happy with the result, though, and certainly happy with the show. Giant Robo is a titanic, triumphant series, a glorious melodrama that revels in old-fashioned adventure and giant robot storytelling while crafting a narrative pretty much anyone could appreciate. It’s both soulful and beautiful, full of riveting characters and gorgeous visual compositions. It’s a masterpiece, basically – you may not be the biggest fan of its style of storytelling, but it is essentially a perfect version of what it is trying to be.

My piece is up now over at ANN, so please check it out, and I hope you enjoy it!

Giant Robo and the Beautiful Night

I also wrote notes that got more and more thorough as I made my way through the series. You can check those out below!

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Owarimonogatari – Episode 1

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Monogatari is back, again (again). This new arc already seems far more compelling than Tsukimonogatari though, so I’m very ready to see where it leads. I already wrote a full piece on this episode over at ANN, but I also took a pile of episodic notes, and figured someone might get some use out of those. So here we go!

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Fall 2015 – First Impressions, Part Two

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Season previews continue, and hey, we’re finally into some shows worth watching! With the majority of the light novel premieres out of the way, this second set is full of shows I either fully recommend or at least feel succeed within their genre. Okada Gundam starts off strong, Comet Lucifer and Concrete Revolutio display reasonable promise, and One Punch Man just fucking dazzles with wonderful animation, art design, and humor. Things were looking kind of dire for a minute there, but seasons have a way of pulling themselves together. Now if only Sakurako and Perfect Insider can pull through as well, we might have a legitimately impressive season on our hands.

Starmyu

Once again, you can check out the full guide over at ANN, or click below the jump to see my added scores and individual links. ANIME HO!

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Paranoia Agent – Episode 13

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Yeah, this is how you end a series. Paranoia Agent’s finale completely discarded any ambiguity regarding the reality-versus-fantasy questions of the series proper, instead just directly embracing its fantasy leanings in order to create one of the most dramatically satisfying conclusions I’ve ever seen. Pretty much everything in this finale was perfect, from the gorgeous, heartrending conclusion to Keichi’s arc to the thematically thunderous finale of Sagi’s story. This was the ambiguous but optimistic closer Paranoia Agent needed, broadcasting Kon’s anger and desire to make people embrace the hard knocks of life as loud as it possibly could. Kon fucking hates artifice, and through this finale, Paranoia Agent established itself as a screeching ode to truth and sincerity. God damn. What a great show.

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

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Fall 2015 – First Impressions, Part One

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Preview week has begun, and I’m already knee-deep in anime no one should be forced to suffer through. Actually, this first wave honestly hasn’t been that bad – there hasn’t been much I’ve actually enjoyed watching, outside of the obvious Owarimonogatari, but there also hasn’t been much that’s so terrible I felt ready to forsake the medium altogether. Well, there’s been a bit of that. But less than expected! Plus I’ve already powered through a good portion of the light novel adaptations, and with them out of the way, I’m pretty confident nothing else can really hurt me anymore. All I need now is some shows I actually want to watch…

Heavy Object

You can check out the full review guide here, or check below for a rundown of my scores so far and links to specific reviews. LET’S ANIME.

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10 Royal Games Has Been Busy!

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Hey all! I haven’t been linking 10 Royal Games videos here every time they’ve come out, but they’ve definitely been coming out! We’re up to close to a dozen Metal Gear Solid 5 videos now, along with half a dozen Ocarina of Time ones, and in my unbiased opinion I think they’re getting pretty good! We’re bantering more easily, covering all sorts of topics, and switching off on people playing the games to keep things moving along. Ocarina of Time started with Neil and has shifted to Dan, Metal Gear Solid opened with Dan and has moved over to me, and I’m sure we’ll do more shifts and introduce more games soon (we’re thinking about the original Dark Souls next, a game we’re all huge fans of).

We’ve also set up playlists for both series now, so you can check out

Metal Gear Solid 5

there and

Ocarina of Time

there! Recent adventures have focused on calling each other nerds for reading books and making a sweet sniper shot seriously you gotta see this shot I’m super cool. We’re still fiddling with the show’s overall dynamics and trying to improve, so if you’ve got any requests or suggestions, please let me know! We’re having a lot of fun, but god damnit this isn’t about us. This isn’t about us.

10 Royal Games

Monster Musume – Review

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Yeah fuck it I reviewed Monster Musume. Hey, I’ve already watched the thing, right? It was actually easy to critique this one, since in spite of the hyperbole you may or may not have witnessed on twitter, Monster Musume is a pretty simple show with obvious strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. It’s a harem, but because it’s so absurd, it’s both a much better comedy than most harems and a show you can enjoy even if you’re not identifying with the derpy protagonist. There’s definitely some creepy sequences where it gets into uncomfortably voyeuristic/gropey territory, but most of it’s just a silly fun time, and many of the episodes are also elevated with some really terrific animation. Monster Musume was a light, enjoyable bright spot in a lousy season.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or… wait, I covered this one weekly. I guess that’s it, then!

Monster Musume

Summer 2015 – Week 13 in Review

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Hot damn it’s Wednesday. And a very special Wednesday at that – the final Wednesday of summer season 2015, possibly the weakest anime season since I started doing week in review posts. That’s actually worked out okay for me, though – given the relative scarcity of airing shows I cared about, I’ve been able to burn through all sorts of backlog and review material, getting through Love Live S2, Saekano, The Idolmaster, and Turn A Gundam all in record time. Plus I’ve gotten to watch Paranoia Agent weekly, and there still have been a couple airing shows worth their salt. So let’s start right there, with a show that’s consistently worked to engage its audience on multiple levels and challenge our conceptions of what anime can really be about.

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