Alright! Time for the easily best show of the season. By virtue of its subtle plotting, incredibly naturalistic and understated dialogue, confident, meditative pacing, and realistic focus on family ties and community, Uchouten Kazoku has almost certainly lost the interest of the anime community at large. That’s okay! Turns out we still get actually good shows even when we consistently prove the community isn’t ready for them. I’m not bitter! Nope, definitely not bitter. Don’t think anyone could possibly accuse me of being bitter. Anyway!
Author Archives: Bobduh
Monogatari S2 – Episode 3
Welp, we’re two episodes in and so far the show has basically established “Senjougahara feels weird, conflicted, and somewhat defensive about her relationship with Hanekawa,” “Hanekawa has a justifiably warped perspective on self-worth” and “the tiger has somehow imprinted on Hanekawa, which seems to be a bad thing and might be related to her house burning down.” For a Monogatari series, that’s a pretty solid list! I really liked how the end of last week’s episode brought Black Hanekawa and Senjougahara into direct contact, and I’m hoping we see more intermingling of the spirit conflict and personal conflict going forward. And we’re off!
Episode 3
0:35 – “You both help people, but it feels like you’re almost opposites. It feels like Araragi is a fake, and you’re the real thing.” Oh god, are they going to bring up every theme of this series in the first minute? I don’t have all day, Monogatari
1:24 – “I’m sure the difference is the ‘grumbling the whole time’ part.” So… Araragi does what he’s supposed to because he feels obligated to, whereas that kind of distance doesn’t exist for Hanekawa, and she just accepts all responsibilities and burdens as the only way her life could be?
1:48 – “If you’re a good person, people will exploit you. That’s why Araragi pretends to be a bad person.” Shades of Karen Bee here as well. Every single theme indeed
2:19 – “You don’t feel anything about the ill will people have. You accept them as they are. You’re too pure white.” I always got the feeling that Hanekawa just expects people to continuously disappoint her, and that her light and dark sides were much more closely linked than Senjougahara is proposing here
3:00 – “You will fail in the wild.” Or pour all your negative feelings into some unhealthy release valve. Senjougahara is right here – she needs to embrace both sides of herself simultaneously
3:12 – That feeling when it’s super hard to rewind and pause to catch all the single-frame text in this stupid simulcast but the text ends up being irrelevant anyway
3:57 – Their skirt lengths are indicative of their personalities. I’ve noticed other shows do this too. I don’t know if this is actually something you get to choose, or just used as easy visual shorthand in anime
4:21 – And Araragi once again relies on Kanbaru when he actually needs an assistant for one of his adventures. Is this because she has the most in common with him? Because he knows she’ll look after herself? Because their relationship is the least fraught with weird tension? Actually, yeah, that’s probably it – aside from maybe Hachikuji, she’s probably the person he shares the most normal friendship with in the series.
5:00 – They’re very strongly casting this conversation from Kanbaru’s perspective. Look at this shot progression. It makes me feel like she’s “sizing Hanekawa up,” and basically pushing on her conversational comfort level in the same way Senjougahara was in the last couple episodes
5:56 – “It’s unreasonable for me to be mulling over him asking Kanbaru for help” (instead of me). And once again she pushes down her justifiable negative emotions
6:27 – “To think Araragi would seek that wench’s help over mine.” And of course Senjougahara has zero issues admitting this pisses her off
7:21 – “You won’t go? Then I won’t either.” Damned if she’s gonna let Hanekawa be more mature about this than she is. Not that competing with Hanekawa for maturity points is particularly mature
9:11 – “What a coincidence, running into you at your house like this. Did you know Hanekawa’s house burned down? Of course you did.” Senjougahara sure is a subtle one. I’m actually liking her character a lot more in this series – her strengths and weaknesses are more accurately portrayed when Araragi isn’t around
9:30 – “She has no place to sleep tonight.” Oh god, there’s gonna be another bad one, isn’t there? Keep it in your goddamn pants, Isin
10:09 – “NOT LIKE YOU CAN HELP OR ANYTHING.” This is the best face
10:55 – “So I’m now at the Araragi residence.” I am extraordinarily apprehensive at the moment. I mean, this is a fine plot development in the abstract, but… just…
12:09 – “Oh, don’t worry about talking to our parents. They too have a passion for justice.” Goddamnit the fire sisters are ridiculous.
12:44 – That’s a lot of clothes in that hamper. Oh god
14:33 – Whew. That actually worked. It wasn’t hammered as a sex joke like the shower scene was – it was a generally neutral and honest conversation (in fact, more honest than most of the conversations in this series), played much in the same way as the Shinobu/Araragi bath scene from Nisemonogatari. Thank you, Shinbou
16:08 – And now these two get a real conversation? Man, for all that “Araragi best MC” nonsense, this show sure does get interesting when he isn’t around. I love the composition of that shot, by the way
17:55 – “I guess the difference between the you before and the current you is like the difference between Terminator and Terminator 2.” That’s… surprisingly accurate
17:59 – The cat absentmindedly bats at the piece of string as it talks. These guys must think they’re pretty clever
19:50 – “We’re the same? That puts me at ease, but also puts a heavy burden on my heart.” So is she just relearning the forgotten lessons of Neko Kuro? I figured that movie pretty definitely stated “Black Hanekawa” was just a convenient way for Hanekawa to set aside the elements of herself she found painful or inconvenient
22:44 – Now that’s an iconic image
And Done
And Monogatari meanders forward in its own way. A few things I liked in this episode – seeing the relationship between Hanekawa and Kanbaru, the way this arc continues to very frankly humanize Senjougahara, and particularly the meeting between Vampire and Cat. There were a bunch of beautiful shots in that last act, and we learned that Hanekawa’s tiger is basically an unknown apparition, meaning it might be something self-generated or fake (for whatever that’s worth in this series). I have to admit I’d gotten pretty attached to that old run-down building, and I’m guessing things will be coming to a head shortly. I’m eager to see how the potential revelation of whatever Araragi’s been up to will reflect off Hanekawa’s tiger – there’s obviously the possibility that Hanekawa’s link with the tiger is responsible for the destruction of both her own home and the old building, which would make the next target Senjougahara’s house. Tense stuff!
Gatchaman Crowds – Episode 2
That first episode was pretty great, right? Definitely my surprise gem of the season. The visual design was great and the music was fantastically campy, but Hajime definitely sold it for me – I normally have trouble taking this kind of show seriously unless it really sells itself in some specific way, so having a protagonist who feels pretty much the same way as me (“Oh jeez, I’ve entered a very silly anime! Let’s screw around!”) is quite the breath of fresh air. I don’t know if her irreverent energy will stay as endearing if the show begins to try harder to take itself seriously, and I don’t know how the show would go about not ever becoming more focused on its actual story, but I am as always here as a student myself. Teach me, Gatchaman. Teach me your ways.
Episode 2
0:32 – “Ballets Pastelle!” Is she just making up these names as she goes along? Of course she is
1:20 – “So this is how you respond? That’s kinda different…” Genre savviness is a pretty great secret weapon
1:46 – Forgot how great this OP was
4:46 – “Oh, I live here now.” And then they’re just having dinner. This show certainly doesn’t waste time setting stuff up in a way that would make any kind of sense!
5:56 – “Maybe she was having a really tough time.” “No, it’s because she didn’t value her life.” They’re really hammering the difference between her relative and his hardline morality. I smell a theme!
8:19 – And they allude to but don’t fully explain some “disaster” while actually making the scene about elaborating the guy’s character. I didn’t expect subtlety here!
8:27 – “Yeah, I’m great. I fought a monster!” Pff, secret identities? Who’s got the time for that?
9:51 – “Senpai, let’s make collages!” It’s like a show from the actual perspective of a manic pixie dream girl. Pretty surreal, given anime’s usual female-character fantasies
9:56 – “Isn’t your sword pretty?” He is floored by how pretty it is. Again, it seems like this show is just fast-forwarding through setup and character elaboration that normal shows would linger on for full episodes (establishing the world, getting her to the apartment, creating a dynamic between these two, pushing his development via her enthusiasm). I am actually all in favor of this, since all this stuff is classic genre fare and they’re clearly trying to get to something
13:22 – Finally someone figures out Hajime’s actual game . How dare you insult our silly premise, Hajime!
13:58 – “Pai-pai, are you on Galax too?” And Hajime loses interest in their hero mission to return to her actual priority, social networking for her scrapbooking club
15:02 – “A manifestation of our soul – so that’s why our weapons are different! But why is it a sword for you, and scissors for me?” Yeah, I’m not used to seeing protagonists try and figure out their own visual motifs within the second episode. Loving this show
16:55 – “This place probably isn’t real, right? And we’re JJ’s employees, it’s not like he’d put us in danger. Welp, only one way to be sure! ”
19:30 – “I’m sure it’ll tell us where the missing people went!” Premise: defeated. Now to invite MESS-chan to the collage club…
20:55 – “We don’t need an ambulance. Galax is far more useful.” “The world has been updated. Plus fifty points!” They’re hinting at some pretty interesting ideas here regarding all that “gameification of real life” stuff the kids go on about. I wonder if they’ll go somewhere with it
21:42 – “Man, I’m starving!” as she throws the food, mirroring Hajime’s declaration in the first episode. And it looks like they’re immediately going somewhere with it
And Done
Holy shit, I think this show’s gonna be really good! It absolutely burned down the genre setup this episode, did a great deal of work further establishing the characters, and was just breathlessly paced throughout. The writing is also actually pretty high quality, revealed through the lightly written conversations that achieved both narrative and character purposes, the efficient, understated, and constant subversions of genre staples, and the various hints at a few actual thematic undercurrents. I particularly like how quick the show is to address its own ideas – things like her personality making her predisposed to not immediately believe in their mission, or the natural conflict between her and the guy’s personalities, aren’t just hinted at – they’re built over the episode and then brought to a boil, which fits with Hajime’s “this place probably isn’t real, so I’ll walk off a cliff to test that” philosophy. It’s still pretty breezy fare, but I’m both fine with that and no longer have trouble believing it could actually come together as a story. Surprise gem indeed.
Emotional Manipulation and Storytelling
Question:
People often describe shows they don’t like as “emotionally manipulative.” Don’t all shows do that anyway? What do people mean when they talk about “emotional manipulation” like it’s a bad thing?
Free! – Episode 3
Well I guess it is time for this show that I am obviously not tsundere for. Seriously, I’m not tsundere for Free!, I’m just yandere for beer. There’s a difference.
Now that that’s cleared up, yeah, last episode was definitely better than the first one. It still wasn’t good, in the way that, you know, good[1] shows are good, but it was certainly entertaining. It also featured a “let’s clean the pool” montage, and went incredibly deep on Haru-chan being perhaps a little bit obsessive maybe. I really didn’t buy the whole “oooh, he hurt his friend’s feelings that one time five years ago, that’s why he gave up his sole passion!” plot development, but if I can look past the fact that this is basically K-On with abs, I can probably look past a few extra-maudlin plot beats. Plus this has the added advantage of not being Everything Wrong with the Anime Industry™, and instead being A Winking Subversion of Everything Wrong with the Anime Industry™.
Note: this is not an invitation to argue about K-On. I dislike[2] K-On, you are all allowed to like[3] K-On, let’s leave it at that. This is my derpy show, I get fast and loose on reactions, if you’re uncomfortable with the temperature I’d advise exiting the kitchen.
Alright, I think I’ve picked enough pointless fights for this intro. Let’s Swimming!
Episode 3
0:00 – I like how I’m downloading all these in 1080p just because. KyoAni I am addicted to your drawings
0:21 – Truly the moeist[4]
0:54 – Yet also an untamed wild stallion[5]
2:45 – Goddamnit this OP. Rin’s single tear. This pain in his heart can only be settled IN ONE WAY. GET SET RED GYAO
2:58 – “Oh, you know, just some light reading.[6] ” COULD THIS BE A CLUE?
3:20 – “It was easy enough to guess.” Oh come on, do it. You know you want to.
3:25 – “Considering those recruiting posters in your bag…” C’mon, you’re deducing right now! DO IT!
3:30 – There it is[7] . Yesss, glasses-pusher. Embrace your nature!
3:50 – That face nooo. KyoAni’s powers are frightening[8]
5:41 – I like how they’re just going all-in[9] on Haru being nuts for swimming. It’s nice to see a KyoAni protagonist who’s such a derp – although really, this again is just showing how much more this show is falling into their moe SoL lineage. For all my problems with those shows, they certainly have more democratic ensemble casts than Haruhi, Chuunibyou, or Hyouka did – there’s less of a clear protagonist here, since while Haru is the central character, he’s also probably the least reliable member of the group
6:19 – Yesss do it again the crowd loves it[10]
6:42 – Jeez, did they think I wasn’t already enthralled[11] by club recruiting or something? Give it a rest Free!, I’m not that easy. Push glasses or gtfo
7:19 – Alright, this actually is a parody, right?[12] I mean, I’ve seen serious glasses-pushing[13] , but this is on another level
8:06 – He’s insatiable![14]
8:51 – “After all, humans evolved to live on land.” I see no faults in this argument
8:59 – They better keep making these[15]
9:39 – She’s awesome[16] . Her and Gou are both kind of one-note, but they’re making the most of it
9:48 – I noticed this with the train station pan too – what are they doing with these backgrounds?[17] They look like painted sketches or something. It’s very nice
10:37 – “But factor in shifts in the pole’s center of gravity.” Of course. How could you be so stupid?
11:02 – “You’re too focused on the technical side.” That’s right, glasses. You gotta feel the heart of the pole!
Wait that came out wrong
11:43 – “It’s Kou.” This show keeps surprising me with its’ humor. I’m a big fan of this style, where they mix genuine love for such a cliched genre with plenty of subversion and winks (like the absurd pole-calculations). Gatchaman Crowds is doing something similar, though I think that show’s running with it a bit more successfully. You should all be watching Gatchaman Crowds, by the way. No, I will not stop using this platform to advertise all my season favorites
12:21 – “They all have girly names…” Rei knows those girly names ALL TOO WELL[18]
12:58 – Someone hold him down[19] Okay I’ll stop (no I won’t)
13:48 – ALL RANGE MODE[20]
14:01 – Look I’m not the one doing it[21] . And we’ve gone too far to stop
14:54 – “Oh, Rei-chan!” “You’re Haru-chan? Show me your beautiful body”
15:10 – Free seriously I need to sleep tonight[22]
15:26 – I agree, this episode was[23] getting kinda slow
16:41 – “You can use one of our spares.” Wuhoh, what a wacky misunderstanding! But seriously show me him naked. Leave the glasses
16:44 – They did and they did[24]
18:18 – Ahahaha. Thank you for the doubletake KyoAni
20:40 – “Be free.” Hey, that’s the name of the show. And describes Haru’s power, and probably what Rin is trying to reach from whatever his megadark past is. Also, the soundtrack is often a little silly, but I really love the tracks they use for these low-key but climactic moments
21:09 – Once more for luck![25]
21:29 – Am I supposed to be interpreting this some other[26] way?
Well, whatever. I’m sure Nagisa will make a great dad
And Done
Alright, full disclosure: I’m actually having a ton of fun with this. Yeah it’s dumb, but it’s also funny. Yeah swimming is a hard thing to make look inspiring, but they’re doing their best. Yeah Rei-chan might be pregnant, but Nagisa is gonna take responsibility.
Anyway. I think that’s enough glasses-pushing for one night.
Ahahahahahaha[27]
Hm[28]
Okay see you next week.
Watamote – Episode 2
Welp, I’m a day late, but that’s really Watamote’s fault for coming out at 2 AM on a Tuesday. Just like her, isn’t it? Anyway, I actually really liked the first episode of this, which surprised me – I normally don’t like cringe humor and I feel most anime comedies suck at pacing and, well, making jokes that are funny. This one doesn’t. It has great direction, which is a massively underappreciated and very necessary component of a comedy. It has semi-painful but always pretty sharp writing. It has a great voice actress nailing one of the most necessarily melodramatic roles out there. It’s got the goods. Is it gonna keep delivering?
That got a little weird. Sorry.
Episode 2
0:30 – “What are you crying for? You talked to a boy who wasn’t me!” See? Fuckin’ thirty seconds and we get a weird, creepy, delayed setup-punchline that plays off her personality and the weirdness of anime culture in general. If any comedy’s going to actually impress me…
1:47 – Oh man this OP. Keep raging Tomoko, you’re obviously a special snowflake. This show’s a lot less subtle in its MC-mockery than OreGairu was, but it’s a perfectly valid choice
4:28 – “The only thing I’ve gotten better at is pretending to wake up from pretending to sleep.” That is brutal.
5:54 – “I can’t believe they don’t see the appeal of hungry characters.” Not really much to actually talk about here – this show is just really funny
7:31 – “Sleeping with a guy during the day…” This show strikes a good balance between actually kinda tragic scenes and Tomoko being so ridiculous that you don’t really feel bad for her. Normally empathy’s pretty important in shows, but if the point of the show is to shit on the protagonist, that’s not necessarily a great idea
7:57 – “Manager, huh? I bet she likes someone on the team. Or she’s into buzz cuts.” Yeah, sorry, Tomoko, you’re no Hikki – you’re just a lonely asshole, not an occasionally insightful lonely asshole
9:26 – When I heard they were adapting this, I figured it’d be as cheap of a cash-in as possible, but this all lookspretty okay
10:52 – “Happy people should just die!” “Talking about stupid crap all the time… don’t they have anything else to do?” Her turnaround on hypocrisy is like, what, three seconds? That truly is a remarkable lack of self-awareness
12:43 – “But his face says he has no experience with girls.” And your face says you have a lot of experience with meth. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, eh?
15:40 – Aw c’mon, don’t be coy with the damn picture! Damnit Watamote…
16:45 – “Do all girls smell this good?” Hah! Kind of a nice trick there – that’s normally the cliched line some harem self-insert would apply to one of his lust-object girls, but here they have our decidedly un-lust-object protagonist apply it to the standard anime girl who’s pretty much from a different species
19:09 – “Well, I haven’t played it in a while…” Things are going waaay too well here. What are they going to do to her?
22:15 – AHAHAHA, now the ED is just her alone listening to her fake yandere boyfriend? Beautiful
And Done
Well, at least the picture made her feel better, even if she is just a background character. Funny episode overall, too – I didn’t like it quite as much as the first (probably because I think she works best when she’s bouncing off her having-none-of-it brother), but it made me a lot more confident the show isn’t a one-trick pony, so that’s a relief. I still think the yandere boyfriend tape was the best gag of the episode, but there were plenty of nice lines throughout. Good times!
Katanagatari and the Weight of Legacy
Legacy is a funny thing. It can inspire the greatest acts of artistry or heroism, but has no tangible form. It can form the cornerstone of societies or empires, or just as easily lead to their ruin. It can inform all our actions, but when our actions are reduced to mere history as well, what does legacy leave us?
The World God Only Knows S3 – Episode 2
Well, we’re in the story now, so hopefully the pacing levels out a bit. I have high hopes for this – TWGOK has always been based on a strong, cynical understanding of story structure, and now that it’s actually committing to its ownreal story, I’m eager to see where it goes.
Episode 2
0:50 – After two full seasons, it’s really gratifying to see the plot actually move in this thing. Kanon stabbed? Their teacher possibly involved in the spirit business? The plot thickens!
4:15 – “From here on, your information will dictate my choices.” It’s nice to see Keima’s Lelouch impression being applied to an actually serious situation.
8:05 – I like that as soon as the situation becomes actually serious, he sends Elsie off on a side mission and has Haqua act as his Watson instead. I mean, Elsie’s great and all, but…
9:33 – “How does Elsie normally act?” “Just like that. Keep floundering around.” Great translation choice
18:17 – This episode is fantastic! Fast-paced and full of the series’ greatest strength, the demented anime-character-psychology strategizing.
20:33 – Keima himself getting conquered? This is amazing. Now I’m kind of sad they skipped that particular arc
And Done
That was GREAT. Breakneck pacing, but that made sense given the context, and I love how they’re finally forcing Keima to actually commit to this situation. Having him juggle so many silly love stories highlighted the romcom-parodying nature of the series in a good way, and seeing Keima himself get kinda seduced was one of the best moments of the series so far. Fun times.
Uchouten Kazoku – Episode 2
This season is shaping up nicely, and at the moment Uchouten Kazoku is its cornerstone. The first episode was unique, well-written, and extraordinarily sharply directed and animated. It seems like it might become an actually mature and thoughtful examination of young adulthood, which I probably don’t need to tell you is something anime virtually never does. Not much else to add – I’ve been waiting for this all week, let’s get to it.
Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi – Episode 2
First episode was borderline. Liked the comedy, liked the visual design, disliked a bunch of the mysterious stuff. For some reason I have a good feeling about this show.
Episode 2
5:18 – I kinda like the gravekeepers essentially being computers thing, but once again it’s the loli getting smacked that actually gets my attention. This show has issues
6:19 – “I can never forget!” That’s nice, actually. They tie her identity as a gravekeeper to her keeping the memories of her time in this place. That certainly justifies the job being important to her
9:35 – “The dead should go back to the earth after they die.” The show hasn’t really offered a compelling reason why, though. Obviously it knows this – so far all the dead people have been warm and honorable, and Humpnie’s been setting himself up as an asshole. I wonder where they’ll go with this?
11:20 – “You just don’t want to live anymore. But instead of killing yourself, you want to die for something.” Okay, so it looks like they actually are interested in this value of life stuff. I’m still not a fan of Humpnie being so mustache-twirlingly evil, though
14:22 – These backgrounds [RES ignored duplicate image][1] do a lot of work. Soundtrack’s pretty solid too. It seems like Humpnie (god that name is ridiculous to type… I might just stick with Dark Flame Master) might act dickish to force people towards their own resolve. But his affect is just… I dunno, it might just be the VA hamming it up too much for what this character is supposed to be, or something
16:15 – I like them using DFM’s immortality in kinda silly, kinda practical ways like this cliff-jumping
18:20 – “Being defective isn’t a bad thing.” Looks like we’re reaching the point where he drops his defensive act. I’m all in favor, that particular character arc is pretty tired
20:12 – “He got bored, so he decided to grant people’s wishes in the end.” More stuff about treasuring a limited lifespan, but we still haven’t seen any arguments for this not being a sweet wish, aside from the attached no-children thing
21:40 – “Half-dead fever.” Okay, here’s a hint of a downside. So there’ll probably be an actual threat of the undead, but the thematic point will be that life is precious because it is brief. At least, that’s what the evidence so far seems to point to
And Done
“They cling more desperately to life, and become selfish.” Hm. That’s an interesting idea.
Anyway, this episode didn’t really strongly change my impression of the show, but it does seem like it has some actual ideas, and DFM dropping his sneering antihero act was a very welcome shift. It’s also not overplaying its hand – it’s keeping the fantastical elements of the world sharply grounded in the way they affect the central characters, which is critical for investment in a story like this. I’m definitely still on board.