And Parasyte finally ends, with an episode that sure was incredibly boring to write about. I’m pretty happy to see it over, honestly – it’s been something of a trial in this second half, doing a full day of work only to know I’ll have to come home and say something about a show that could never quite be as good as I wanted it to. Ah well. I’ve watched plenty of ultimately disappointing anime, I’m sure I’ll watch plenty more.
My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!
Oh what’s this another stellar week in anime jeez tell me something I don’t know. All the best shows feel like they’re not even competing with each other anymore – they’re competing for placement on the end-of-year list. In contrast to last year, where I struggled to think of more than seven shows I’d be happy recommending, here we’ve almost got half a list already filled out. Shirobako is a legend, Death Parade is uneven but has staggering highs, Maria is consistently excellent and brimming with great characters, and Yuri Kuma Arashi is a little emotionally lacking but full of ideas and beauty. We also had a great finale for KimiUso and strong episodes for both Log Horizon and JoJo. What the hell is up with this season.
More streaming reviews! These reviews are actually a pretty great compromise between doing a Wrong Every Time piece and just, well, not writing about a show at all. Some shows don’t really reward the full theme-based pieces, but it’s still fun to talk about them. Although between Eccentric Family and all the Monogats, I do think I’m getting better at adapting what I liked about my old style into ANN pieces…
Anyway, Rage of Bahamut! Fun show, breezy and stylish and fairly unique among anime adventures. You can check out my full ANN review here!
The bears have returned! Lulu seems to be out of the picture for the time being, while Ginko has come back to devour Kureha. And Kureha has finally appeared before the bear court, who we now know are clearly here just to fuck with things in ways they find amusing, and adjust the rules whenever they feel like it. Will Kureha have to wager something to save Ginko, as Lulu and Ginko did in the past? Is love impossible without giving up something equally valuable? ONLY THE BEARS KNOW.
Let’s get to it!
A surprisingly excellent episode here at the tail end of Log Horizon II. The focus and production were just on a much higher level than usual, and Shiroe’s very understandable dilemma gave the whole thing a well-defined structure. Seeing the whole team work together was nice, seeing that team brought to life through some actual animation was even better, and in general the whole thing just worked, and moved the quest to go home in a fairly compelling direction.
My full ANN post is available here. Sadly no notes this week, as I actually watched this one on my house TV as opposed to my computer.
Welp, at least we’ll always have the fights. This episode really brought Rolling Girls’ narrative failings to the fore, with the busyness of this arc’s storytelling offering pretty much no emotional hooks whatsoever. But yeah. The fights! Plenty of fun fights this week, plenty of beautiful backgrounds, not an ounce of narrative sense. Ah well.
Here’s my full ANN post. Notes below!
It’s Monogatari time again! I don’t even know what words I have left to intro this piece – I’ve written the crap out of Monogatari, and will likely continue to write it up until the sun goes black in the sky. But Hitagi End is definitely a special one. Kaiki elevates the series, many characters reach dramatic personal revelations, and there’s virtually no Araragi at all. Everything you could want in a Monogatari arc.
Here’s my full review over at ANN. Lots of viewing notes below!
The strongest Parasyte in a while this week, with both the action and themey-wemey sides of the show putting up strong performances. The Gotou fight was the most well-depicted one in a while (a long while, actually… hell, maybe ever? Parasyte hasn’t exactly had the most impressive fights), and the final Shinichi-Migi conversation was great on both a character and idea level. I really thought the show was just falling apart altogether a few episodes ago, but this post-police stakeout arc has been pretty solid. Nice to see!
My full ANN post is available here, and notes as always are below.
A strong week in anime this time, with few surprises but plenty of impressive episodes. Some shows have been jostling in position recently, with KimiUso in particular making a major stab at a recovery, but things have mostly settled – Shirobako, Maria, Death Parade, and Yuri Kuma are consistently strong, JoJo and KimiUso are rallying, and the rest are, well, the rest. This has been a very strong season, and I’m ready to see it close out in kind. Let’s run ’em down!
Management: So I heard you guys like notes or something! As with Utena and Katanagatari, I took a whole crapton of timestamped notes while watching FMA, with almost any line of any noteworthy thematic relevance being recorded and commented on in time. They’re not intended to be an actual formal piece – they’re me gathering ideas and poking at thoughts as I watch the show in real time. But if you want a big dense journey into FMA’s threads that goes beyond my essay on the subject, here we are.