Author Archives: Bobduh

Uchouten Kazoku – Episode 11

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So. Three episodes left. Three brothers and mom in captivity, Kaisei captured as well, with the fourth brother still down the well, still unaware his father’s death was not his fault. There are a bunch of relevant pieces still on the board, of course – it’s unlikely Kaisei will be watched as carefully as the family, Yajiro is likely one “it was a trap!” short of busting out to rescue the family (and considering both his train trick and the fact that he’s remained a frog for god knows how long, he’s apparently extremely good at transformations), and both professors and Benten are still out there and still involved in the day’s proceedings. Granted, Benten’s turn will probably not be this easy – her position in the plot is too complicated for that.

Let’s talk about Benten for a second. Clearly we haven’t gotten her entire story – this show often mentions threads without fully explicating them, but it always comes back around to explain things when it hits an episode focused on the relevant character. And the key question with her is – why the Friday Fellows? What made her so intent on joining their group that she essentially killed a man? And what is the exact nature of her regret now?

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Gatchaman Crowds – Episode 10

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So yeah, last episode the Gatchamen abandoned their creator in favor of starting up a sweet Youtube channel. Don’t bother asking me what they’re gonna do this week.

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C3-bu – Episode 11

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Yura we still love you don’t go towards the light.

Man, growing up can really, really suck. Kinda funny to me that the season with Watamote secretly also contains an actually vivid, empathetic, and development-friendly articulation of crippling social anxiety. Hopefully C3 will get their heads out of their asses and sacrifice a little bit for her sake – they’re all very stable people, and Yura needs to know it’s okay to figure out who she is. Man, I feel for this poor kid. Didn’t think moesoft would ever amount to much, but it’s really built itself into something worthwhile. Let’s see where it goes.

please be nice to Yura C3-bu life is hard let’s just be nice to each other

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C3-bu – Episode 10

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Well this show just got like fifty thousand times better. Still catching up, and episode 11 actually just came out, so I ain’t got time for chit-chat. All I know is that Yura is through with the petty joys and insufficient power of the C3 club. She is stronger now, wiser, hungrier. The fire is in her, and it will not be sated with tea and cakes. Now there shall be a reckoning.

Oh my god so good. Every moe show should end this way. This is amazing. Roll the episode!

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C3-bu – Episode 9

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Alright, catching up on moesoft. Actually, that’s not fair – C3-bu is far more of a sports show than a blob show, and the work they’re doing with Yura is definitely pretty solid. But anyway, two episodes behind at this point, so no time for chitchat. Show us the dark side, Yura.

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Summer 2013 – Week 10 in Review

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Another fantastic week in anime, but when the current season has a bewildering buffet on the scale of three good shows, that tends to happen. All three of my favorites were in top form this week, so let’s run down the list.

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Free! – Episode 10

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Ooooh god. Food coma. Hurts. Too much kebab, too many greasy fries. And here I am, about to watch lithe young swimmers show off their somewhat terrifyingly toned bodies, while I sit here drinking a beer and just get fat.

No, fuck that. I have a great self-image! Just had my annual physical, exactly the same weight as last year, exercise regularly and don’t overeat and everything. In fact, I’d say that pretty much my only vice is my borderline alcoholism. I know. I’m impressed too.

So fuck you, swimbros. I don’t gotta prove nothin’ to you. I’m gonna sit here and drink (one for glasses-push or smarmy Makoto stare, two for HaruxWater moments, three for emo Rin) and feel perfectly good about myself. In fact, everybody feel good about yourselves! Only good times now! We are watching the fruit of an entire company’s worth of people working diligently for months, all in pursuit of animating some teenage boys prancing around half-naked for twenty minutes a week. Fuck feeling bad about my decisions. I don’t feel ashamed for shit.

Wait, I’m actually watching those teenage boys, just so I can make silly jokes about them for strangers on the internet.

Oh god.

Oh god what am I doing with my life.

Fuck it cue the episode.

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Brief Aside on the Beauty of Uchouten Kazoku

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Management: So yeah, I’m pretty much just evangelizing at this point. I was asked why I found the visuals of Uchouten so striking, and basically compiled a collection of many of my favorite moments. Of course, every other shot of this show is beautiful, so this isn’t even close to exhaustive. As usual, my responses were to real questions, but I’ve shortened the questions to their most basic form to keep it as general as possible.

Question:

Can you explain why you find the visuals of Uchouten Kazoku so beautiful? I agree that there are a number of standout moments, but it often feels like the backgrounds are just photographs someone put through a posterizing filter, which can clash with the hand-drawn characters. What do you get out of them?

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The World God Only Knows S3 – Episode 10

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Keima how are you going to make this okay. Last episode sucked. And by sucked I mean it was clearly the best thing this series has ever done, holy shit TWGOK when did you get this good. Keima is finally suffering real consequences from constantly manipulating people, and the show’s not pulling any punches. I’m glad they’re also revealing how tired of all this he’s become – he isn’t just an asshole, and the fact that his standard system of dealing with the world has deeply hurt someone clearly weighs on him. I hope they don’t give that weariness up – frankly, I like shows that put their characters through the emotional gauntlet, and I’d like to see more cracks appear in Keima’s heretofore close to unflappable confidence. This is honestly the last show I thought I’d be hoping would take its characters emotions seriously, but last episode was a complete game-changer.

Of course now that I’ve said that, we’re gonna have a wacky misunderstanding festival date episode or something, right?

Episode 10

0:12 – Uh oh.[1]   Looks like he’ll have to use… that

Gawd that line’s so trashy. Can’t believe they used it in Gargantia

0:19 – Yeah I’m still good for another few of these[2]  

0:32 – Predator mode activated[3]  

2:38 – Will Keima’s talents ever stop emerging?[4]  

3:04 – And we’re back into anime archetype land[5]  . Sure, he callously mocked my best friend’s feelings – but he might like me!

3:31 – MAKE IT STOP NO GO BACK TO ANIME ARCHETYPE LAND[6]  

3:42 – This director really loves Ayumi’s boobs[7]  

3:49 – Seriously though these shots[8]  

5:17 – Oh god Chihiro’s scenes are like pulling teeth make it stop[9]  

6:10 – Maybe if you hadn’t shut her down in the dickest way possible this wouldn’t be a problem[10]  

7:08 – This isn’t wacky at all[11]  

7:34 – NOW he chooses honesty? Yeah, seriously[12]  

7:53 – I really could get used to this.[13]   Also love Keima’s incredibly terrible plan here

9:12 – Yeah jeez,[14]   how dare she be honest with Chihiro

10:09 – Still not seeing the wackiness[15]  

10:34 – Well crap.[16]   This escalated quickly

11:17 – Aw, Haqua gets her big damn hero moment[17]  

15:03 – It’s a self-aware harem comedy romance battle shounen[18]  

16:26 – Maybe my favorite line of the show.[19]   Look, we’re not making Shakespeare here, alright?

17:23 – Wow, this really brings[20]   the harem masculine savior fantasy thing to a whole new level

18:09 – A third-act peace offering from the loose cannon who doesn’t play by the rules?[21]   Hey, if the narrative shoe fits, wear it

19:27 – Ooh, good trick.[22]   Totally forgot about that

20:16 – Aw, just let her join the damn team.[23]   This show’s a big jerk

And Done

Welp, guess it’s endgame time. I’m glad they haven’t just dropped the significance of Chihiro’s situation – this episode certainly wasn’t very kind, but that’s vastly preferable to just dropping her character to focus on the derpy fantasy stuff (I agree with Ayumi, it could use a rewrite). As I’ve said before, her and Keima seem to possess actual chemistry, and not just senpai-noticed-me archetype-versus-MC level chemistry. I would be happy to see her be a more regular presence going forward.

Anyway, aside from that it was a pretty workmanly episode, mainly lifted by its best gags (Elsie once again works incredibly well in small doses). Looks like we’re well on our way to the thrilling finale.

 

Uchouten Kazoku – Episode 10

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Oh hey. It’s the most wonderful time of the week again.

Last week was beautiful as always, but it was also as close to this show comes to a board-arranging episode. By having the episode’s chosen character (as I’ve said before, the second half of this show has built its narrative structures around further illustrating one relevant character at a time) be the constant observer, the episode was able to give us a fairly broad overview of the different plots up to this point. The election is in two days, and the New Year’s Bash will swiftly follow. So was rendered powerless by the mere appearance of Benten, which might explain his being captured more than the liquor would. The Ebisugawas have at least one more trick up their sleeve, and it’s clearly a nasty one. We have yet to see the last two members of the Friday Fellows, and it’s likely Benten chose to introduce Yasaburou on the night she did specifically because they would be absent.

Even if I didn’t have absolute faith these threads would be successfully tied together based on the show so far, this is by the writer of The Goddamn Tatami Galaxy. Let’s see where we’re headed.

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