Author Archives: Bobduh

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru – Episode 12

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Hey guys. OreGairu time! But before that, let’s talk about… romance. 

In many of my rants, I’ll talk about how characters lack chemistry, or how they have an unequal relationship, or whatnot. This is honestly a pretty big problem in anime – if we’re not being told-not-shown characters are in love, we’re often getting those unequal, moerotic-based relationships between a man and a mental child .

OreGairu says Fuck That. We’ve seen Hikki and Yuki grow to respect each other through actively helping and supporting each other. Their banter has always been strong, and reveals the many places their philosophies match or compliment each other, as well as their clear status as intellectual equals . And the reasons they respect and even admire each other are perfectly clear – Hikki’s bluntness, insight, and ultimate loyalty, Yuki’s ambition, confidence, and refusal to back down. Romance doesn’t exist in a vacuum – you can’t just create two characters and add romance by saying they love each other . OreGairu knows this, and really couldn’t be handling it better.

That said, last episode definitely went a little too well for Hikki and Yuki, and I have a sinking suspicion this episode’s going to break my heart.

…fine. Let it be done!

Episode 12

0:41 – OreGairu once again writes the book on actual sibling dialogue. His sister’s deadpan ‘wow, so cool’ is pretty perfect

2:51 – I’m not the authority on OPs, but I really do love this one. Great wistful tone, perfectly appropriate lyrics

3:50 – “I’ll have you know I rate Sis quite highly. I wanted to be like her after all,” Well jeez, isn’t Yuki acting self-confident and honest all of a sudden. It’s almost like the last couple episodes have directly focused on strengthening her trust in Hikki and developing their relationship in a completely organic way or something

3:55 – “You’re fine as you are.” YES HIKKI GO

Sorry. You know I’ve always been a sucker for this show, and it hasn’t even focused on the romance before now, and good romance is actually my great weakness, so not just giggling and clapping here is gonna be pretty tough

5:07 – “Could you perform one more song?” Hayama’s a goddamn superhero. It’s funny that this show is accused of pandering to people who relate to Hikki, because Hikki and Yuki are the ones being regularly portrayed as immature, and Hayama’s the most realistically flattering portrait of a put-together popular guy I’ve seen

5:38 – “I’ll go look for her!” “That’s a terrible idea, and it won’t help anyway.” Nice little jab at the classic “oh jeez, we need to find them – let’s run around and search randomly!” anime trope. I’d call out a specific example, but I think this writeup’s already had enough Sakurasou-bashing 

5:55 – “But you didn’t say it was impossible” while actually smiling. I told you, you guys. These two…

6:24 – They’re wrapping up a lot of character conflicts here – Yuki asking her sister for help is a big step (and her kinda dickish sister lets her know it)

7:10 – Aw man, God Knows-ing it up. Goddamn do I hope Hikki gets to see it

7:47 – Speaking of resolving character conflicts… “Yui, can I rely on you for vocals?” Ba-dum-psh.

8:37 – I mean, she’s gotta be on the roof, right? They’re always on the roof

9:00 – “Roof of the special wing.” Some things never change…

10:09 – And now Hikki’s doing his best to live up to the trust Yuki’s put in him. They grow up so fast…

11:02 – Oh my god, that’s fucking brilliant. Hikki can’t be someone other than himself (kinda neatly foreshadowed with Yuki’s ‘that’s who I’ve always been’ and Hikki agreeing with her earlier), but Hayama is the perfect man for the job

11:22 – “Everyone’s waiting! Don’t worry – they all did their best for you!” God, could you imagine Hikki trying to handle this role?

13:03 – Man Hikki, you are so damn mad . Normally he doesn’t care this much – is he just furious at what she put Yuki through? Or is this him actually trying to be his most true self, to match up to Yuki’s example

13:50 – “Why is that the only way you know how to do things?” YES. FUCK. YES. DROP THE FUCKIN’ AXE, HAYAMA. ‘Yeah, you may see the worst instincts in people – but you don’t have to fucking work that way. It doesn’t make you special or insightful – it just makes you alone. Grow the fuck up, Hikki.’ Hayama for president.

17:37 – “There are people who’d get hurt by watching you get hurt. You’d be wise to realize that soon.” You’d be wise to realize a lot of stuff soon, Hikki. You need to hang out with Hayama more often

18:16 – “You pickin’ a fight?” Pretty close to the first thing he said to her, right?

19:07 – “Great minds think alike, huh?” Oh man, these two are so adorable it’s almost insufferable. So much love

20:02 – “Nah, feel free to lie. I lie all the time.” And that concludes our last narrative thread, right? Oh god.

22:00 – “Even this pointless chapter is one I’ll someday lose.” Oh man, getting super-overt about the intended audience for this show

And Done

Oh GOD DAMNIT. The last one is gonna be some bonus episode one-off or something, isn’t it? You know, considering this episode resolved every single conflict perfectly and whatnot.

So yeah. Fantastic episode. Hikki sticks to his guns on his personality but directly expresses his admiration for Yuki, Yuki gets ridiculously overt in her flirting, and Hayama lays down the fucking law. The drama is resolved handily, we get resolution to Yuki’s conflicts with Hikki, Yui, her sister, and even kinda herself, all the characters seem much more comfortable being themselves, and it ties it back around perfectly with a return to the initial dynamic, even making callouts to their very first conversation. The main relationship progresses in a way that remains true to the original characters while reflecting both their growing maturity and clear mutual affection. Hikki gets one more absolutely brutal analysis takedown. There are more honest smiles than in the rest of the series put together.

In other words…

Oh my god you guys this show is so good.  So, so good. That was perfect. Holy shit. So happy. Love these characters, love this writing, love these ideas, love this bulletproof narrative structure. The source material is obviously fantastic, and this series composition guy clearly outdid himself as well. Goddamn. So satisfied. Nice job anime you did it A+.

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 12

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Pretty close now – only two episodes left. Is Maou-sama gonna pull it off?

Probably – Maou pretty much nailed the dismount of the first arc, and I have no reason to suspect it won’t repeat that accomplishment this time. The dramatic stuff has never been the problem with this show – the characters are decently developed, the writing is sharp, and the direction is always pretty damn good. No, the problem Maouactually suffers from is a fairly common affliction, a little disease I like to call “Why Most Anime Comedies Suck-itis.”

Early on, the unique concept and good character chemistry offered ample fodder for humor – and this show mined it. It mined the fuck out of it.

And at a certain point, it struck solid rock.

So we got boob comparison jokes. We got “Lucifer sucks, laugh at him” jokes every episode. We got “Alsiel makes funny faces when he’s sick” for five episodes straight.

I don’t get it, you guys. [1] I’ve seen these jokes a thousand times. They were barely worth a chuckle the firsttime.

So yeah, that was kinda disappointing. Early on, the character relationships moved much more quickly, and thus new opportunities for humor constantly presented themselves – but when a show reaches a point of narrative and character stability, unless the jokes are really sharp or creative, the humor has a tendency to suffer diminishing returns. And that certainly happened here, at least for me.

But why am I being so down now, of all times? We’re actually in the middle of what this show does best – being a winking, fantastical semi-drama that undercuts itself with perfectly timed humor. Episodes 1 and 5 nailed the shit out of this formula, and I’m eager to see how this all resolves. Despite my complaints, I actually really like this cast – I like Emi’s personal struggle, I like the contrast between Maou’s helpful optimism and utter obliviousness to the horrors he’s created, I like Chiho’s unusually mature take on the usual upbeat girl archetype, and I like what they’re currently doing with Suzuno. I’m ready to see Maou save the fucking day. Let’s get to it.

Episode 12

0:10 – And of course Alsiel ends up in the hospital. This show always does have a way of naturally bringing the characters together when it really counts

0:40 – Oh Alsiel, so loyal. I know he’s my husbando and everything, but it’d be damn tough for them to make any of his conflicts work beyond comic relief at this point – they’ve burned those bridges pretty thoroughly

2:15 – Mm, this OP. I’d say “I really am gonna miss this show,” but it’s doing great in sales and there’s plenty more LN material, so I guess I’ll just kinda miss this OP

3:40 – “This is Heaven’s consensus.” So it seems likely the angels are just another self-interested bureaucracy

6:11 – Why do no other shows understand the power of a good reaction face? [2]

7:02 – And off with his shirt! I find this recent cross-studio realization that girls watch anime and like fanservice too pretty amusing

7:25 – “In what universe would a lovely lady suddenly move in next to a bunch of guys and take care of them?” There’s gotta be an otome adaptation for that – the reverse-Clannad setup

7:38 – “It stinks of sacred powers, but food is food.” Fantastic. This is what I was talking about – snappy jokes that come up naturally but don’t break the flow of whatever else is going on

8:13 – Maou chastising Suzuno. I hope they actually address the hypocrisy of him acting morally superior here

11:17 – “I’ll examine your body later.” Well this episode turned super-rapey super fast!

13:06 – “Heavenly Sliver of Progress,” eh? Hm…

14:17 – Are they gonna blow up the moon? Please tell me they’re gonna blow up the moon

20:10 – That rescue is pretty adorable. “Eh, I don’t have the energy to be tsun right now. Just put me down.”

21:40 – Okay, Alsiel repeating his “sorry I’m late” speech but actually missing the whole fucking thing this time got a serious laugh out of me

And Done

When are these villains going to realize that big, public displays of magical power are perhaps not the best way to defeat someone whose powers are based on frightening pedestrians? Jeez, guys.

Anyway, that conclusion was kinda tidier than I’d hoped it would be, but it was a snappy episode overall, and I think the jokes in general work much better when they don’t draw as much attention to themselves – I found Maou starting his victory speech, being yelled at by Emi, dropping her off, and starting the speech over without missing a beat pretty funny, for example. And his startled but kinda resigned expression when Sentucky started blowing up buildings he was gonna have to clean up was great, too. I wish the girls had a bit more to do here, but it was fine – I probably wouldn’t be complaining if the episode didn’t have another pile of boob jokes. Overall, I don’t think this arc’s conclusion was as satisfying as the first one, but I was definitely entertained.

It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the last episode – at this point, they’ve resolved basically none of the show’s actual underlying conflicts (Emi, Maou, and Chiho’s personal conflicts, the political shitstorm in Ente Isla), and I don’t think anyone’s expecting them to. This show’s in a pretty comfortable position regarding sequel potential, so it’s most likely going to be a few minutes dedicated to sending off our Team Rocket villains, a few minutes not-resolving the Chiho-Maou relationship, a few minutes of showing off the normal SoL dynamic, maybe one minute of Maou-Emi tension, and then maybe a last-second introduction of a new conflict to set up the next season (that or a joke where a seemingly personal moment ends up resolving with Maou being focused on his job).

Okay. Maybe I’m a little cynical.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – Episode 12

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Oh jeez, someone already made the thread. Alright, game face, Bobduh. You don’t have any notes or skits prepared. That’s cool. You’re naturally charming. The crowd loves you. You can DO THIS.

Hey guys! Do you know what time it is? Of course they know what time it is you idiot they’re reading the goddamn thread. Personally, I’ve got a beer in my hand in the middle of the week and I’m suffering from sleep madness after working two back-to-back ten hour shifts. I’m guessing that means it’s time for Crime Edge.

Two episodes left. Tension has been brought to a hot, sexy boil, with Kiri about to confront the most deadly and least appropriate of characters this show has decided to sexualize. Last episode saw him learning crucial details about the nature of his powers, such as the fact that his mentor probably has a large beard and was maybe an aristocrat or something I don’t know. Hopefully this vital information will aid him in the treacherous conflict to come. With only two episodes to go and the subjects of summer Comiket chosen months ago, we’re all running out of time to see Kiri consummate his love before getting his fool ass killed. Frankly, I don’t think he’s treating his situation with the seriousness it deserves – in a battle of Killing Goods, anything approaching stability will always be hair today, gone tomorrow.

Aw man, we haven’t even started this episode yet. Spittin’ fire, motherfuckers! Let’s get to it.

Episode 12: All Good Lolis Must Come to An End

Well, I assume that title’s relevant. Rolling with it.

0:10 – Oh man, starting off with Rage Maiden and The Other One. Could this mean the battle with Lolino will unlock his latent Author powers?

…I’m guess this means the battle with Lolino will unlock his latent Author powers

1:04 – Really, Kiri? Is this really the time to be taking pictures for your Pinterest?

4:13 – “She probably only sees death like going to a faraway country, or becoming one with the stars.” To be fair, that’s kinda the prevailing view at the moment. Aw yeah, secular humanist humor! 

4:30 – I’m a fan of any plan that begins with staring at a tiny girl and thinking “If I can get her to fear death…”

6:27 – I realize they’re going for the Alexander Anderson  thing, but from this angle I can only see him wearing a mining helmet 

7:57 – Wait, she’s not even wearing glasses! How come she get to do the Anderson thing?

8:27 – “Looks like I just dug my own grave.” Oh jeez Kiri, are you beginning to regret antagonizing the loli who handed you your ass yesterday?

8:40 – It’s actually strangely satisfying to see him get the shit beaten out of him for making such terrible decisions

9:34 – “Grayland didn’t kill 200 people? But… but, that can’t be! I believed in him!”

10:29 – That’s right Kiri, fall off that cliff! Best way to avoid being actually murdered: give yourself a Disney-villain death

10:46 – “Otherwise I’ve been overestimating my powers all along…” At what point was he ever basing his power level on the alleged murderiness of the scissors’ original owner? I figured he was basically just swinging them around and hoping that would work up til now

11:33 – Oh shit, here we go. Sensei o’clock

12:14 – Really digging these dramatic jenga angles

15:13 – Shit, kids! That scene was intense! And now, for the penetrating questions: how will Kiri’s newfound thirst for blood affect his relationship with Iwai!?

16:15 – Lolino is obviously well-acquainted with attempted Disney Deaths. Find the goddamn body, set that fucker on fire.

17:10 – If these readings are correct… Kiri has entered berserker mode! 

18:19 – “Taking pleasure in inflicting great pain.” Yeah, that’s pretty spot-on for this show. Light-side Kiri just indulges in a some light grooming, dark-side Kiri is all BDSM all the time

21:44 – “She was so unmoving… and now she’s just a mess.” Mission accomplished, guys! Well, I for one feel great about today’s work

And Done

God DAMN! That last quarter was legitimately intense and uncomfortable the whole way through; they definitely succeeded in selling the terribleness of embracing your inner psycho killer (qu’est que c’est). Kiri has definitively won his second bout with Lolino, and, in brutally assaulting her to the point of hysteria, perhaps taught her that Killing is Wrong. But at what cost?!? I assume he’s out there in the woods somewhere, reveling in his inner beast, attempting to howl at the moon but being significantly hampered by the scissors in his mouth. Will Iwai’s love be enough to draw him back to his healthy fetishes?

Yeah, it probably will. We gotta wait a week to see it though. Cya then!

Brief Aside – The Point of School Days

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Question:

What’s up with School Days?

Bobduh:

It’s an uncomfortably scathing and cynical commentary on the nature of most harems and dating sims. Not a fun ride, but a pretty necessary one.

Most harems exist as sexist power fantasies, relying on the relative inoffensiveness, blandness, or obliviousness of the protagonist, as well as generally a lot of not-taking-themselves-that-seriously, to (theoretically) avoid coming off as creepy and narcissistic. School Days doesn’t do that – School Days plays it straight. It takes a callow, nebbish male protagonist with a weak moral center, and surrounds him with girls with such significant personal issues and such weak self-image that his realizing he can have sex with people just by wanting it and pursuing it makes it actually happen. It’s a relentlessly negative show, but that’s the point – it’s saying that harems are pretty ugly things, and that the circumstances of a harem require a lot of shitty behavior on the part of the guy and a lot of psychological dependency on the part of the girls. By mapping the escapism of harems to characters with actual issues, it acts as a scathing critique of the idea of “winning” girls.

That said, the writing is suspect, the pacing is sluggish in ways that don’t support the material, and the show never actually grapples with its themes, it just exists as a representation of them. The points it makes are a lot more interesting than the package they’re wrapped in.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 11

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Oh boy Gargantia. We’re really in the shit now, aren’t we? All the dominoes set up, three episodes remaining, and at least half a dozen narrative, character, and thematic conflicts to be resolved. Ending this gracefully will take some doing, but I actually wouldn’t have it any other way – I think the different issues we’re juggling here are going to bounce off each other quite nicely. Let’s kill some squids.

Episode 11

0:40 – That’s right Amy. You don’t need no goddamn man in your life!

1:29 – Kugel’s looking ragged. Extremely likely he spent the six months Ledo was at the bottom of the ocean developing his cult

3:13 – Look at how happy Ledo is! Thank god for the Galactic Alliance – things were so much simpler back then!

4:53 – Episode title: Supreme ruler of terror. Feeling healed yet?

5:28 – “Welcome, envoy of the sky, clad in blah blah we’re a crazy cult.” Well that wasn’t hard to guess

5:56 – Nice visual there – their entire world is a pyramid with Kugel at the top. Anyone care to take a guess at their societal structure?

8:59 – “Pinion of the Sea of Mist.” Oh god fucking damnit. Pinion’s continued relevance to the plot is pretty aggravating – he’s basically chaos itself, and doesn’t do anything to help contrast the various viewpoints of this show against each other

10:10 – And the lobster? Well, I hope they’re going somewhere with this…

10:59 – This actually seems okay. I was fine with Pinion’s character until he went plot-crazy last episode and made a series of terrible and unnecessary decisions. We seem to be back to blunt but pragmatic Pinion now, who’s a solid character

12:02 – “Former humans, you mean.” Very nice that the higher-ups knew, and it wasn’t a big crazy secret that would change everything. Because as Chamber outlined last episode, it wasn’t and it doesn’t

13:15 – Okay, let’s plot out this philosophy a bit

“The weak and the strong support each other through rationality and each have their own ways to contribute and build a society.”

“Happiness is the realization of a circumstance in which the individual renders service to the entire group and the cost-benefit performance of that is at the greatest efficiency. As such, happiness is commensurate with the degree of stability of command.”

Alright, it works better laid out like that. So yes, Kugel is creating a society based around giving all potential resources to the realization of a predetermined societal goal which is supposed to be commensurate with “victory” or, in this case, “happiness.” It’s based on strict hierarchical control and absolute denial of the self. It’s an extreme, but not an unreasonable or unrealistic one

16:23 – Goddamnit Pinion. Their ruse was solid, but still, nice fucking negotiations asshole

18:23 – “According to your work, you receive a fair amount of rations from society.” No safety net here!

19:51 – “He has retreated into his cockpit to become a symbol.” It’s cute that at the top of a pyramid of self-denial, the leader has literally made himself cease to exist

20:44 – “Maybe I should have never left this cockpit.” Curse this ability to examine values from multiple perspectives!

22:15 – Oh come on, zooming the camera in to Amy herself? We get it, Gargantia

And Done

Interesting episode! It consolidated the existing conflicts pretty gracefully, but was mainly interested in talking about Galactic Alliance philosophy. Which is something I’m still working on taking apart – not the philosophy itself, which is pretty straightforward and basically the realization of a military-industrial complex as moral absolute, but the different elements of our own societies that it’s digging at. It rejects currency and individual goals, but idolizes individual effort. No compromise, no safety net, and all accomplishment (and the idea of happiness itself) is tied to realization of a central principle. Honestly, there’s plenty of stuff that reminds me of – theocracies and corporate philosophies seem like the big two, with their system combining a lot of Objectivism with a lot of piety and self-denial, which seems like it’d be an uncomfortable mix, but is certainly working out for them. Either way, not my scene (if you’ve got a few minutes, listen to that one, it pretty much covers the gist of it) – not a bold stance or anything, but I’m a pretty big fan of safety nets and self-actualization, myself.

Attack on Titan – Episode 11

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Well, this fucker’s taking a while to, uh, be legally purchased, so I might as well lay out the score.

I think this show’s been kinda struggling lately. My initial thoughts were: cool concept, the animation of the action scenes is great, the dramatic scenes come off as unfortunately melodramatic. My thoughts in the middle stretch, through the training and the gas raid, were: alright, cool, it’s pretty superficial, but it’s a fun action show and I like the idea of a sort of chessboardy squad-based tactical drama.

Recently?

Man, these last two episodes really didn’t do it for me. The pacing has slowed to something well below a crawl – we’ve spent 40 minutes of screentime watching Eren, Armin, and Mikasa have a brief argument with a lunatic. There have been a lot of flashbacks, a lot of gaping, horrified expressions, and a lot of frantic repeated arguments.

I have not been impressed.

Fortunately, Pixis is apparently a huge plot-progressing badass, and he has successfully shoved us towards our next daring action gambit. This show occasionally pulls out some really superb moments that push character/plot development while also working as frenetic entertainment – I’m thinking of stuff like Mikasa’s resolution to live just before Ereoten (yeah, I’m rolling Commie) appeared, or Eren’s transformation sequence into Ereoten at the end of 9. But I think the show is most consistent when it’s using the ensemble cast for daring heroism – and this attempt to re-secure the wall makes me hope we’re getting more of that. Either way, more Pixis for me.

Episode 11

3:06 – “That plan I came up with is ridiculous, and we’re just running with it?” “I was thinking the same thing.” Yeah Armin, turns out Eren just wanted to make you feel included last episode. Congrats on your character development, though!

3:57 – “The Titans aren’t our only enemies.” Well, first of all, I was running Commie regardless, but I am very thankful they’ve decided to back down on that incredibly self-satisfied translation. But more importantly, this hopefully means we’re gonna get into the psychology of war stuff – either through needing to give the people hope, or through needing to make a terrified populace accept something like Eren’s power

4:22 – Man makes horrified expression and grabs own head. Commanding officer turns back, wearing horrified expression. Horrified expression count: 2.

4:37: 4

4:44: 5

4:55: 9

5:01: 11

5:30 – Okay, mocking this show’s one expression is fun and all, but that sequence actually did go into the fraying mental state of the soldiers, which will hopefully lead to the importance of symbols or something (omg Eren is Batman), which is a good place for this show to be going

5:48 – “If a powerful external threat were to appear, mankind would cease its squabbles and unite.” Alan Moore nods approvingly

6:30 – I like Eren’s “head in the game, scrub ” expression

7:10 – And Eren can’t hold his liquor. I swear, this show has the weirdest sense of humor. On that note, brb whiskey

8:16 – Pixis just keeps going up. Awesome that he’s immediately framing Eren’s trump card as a known top-secret project, so it’s just another encouraging, reliable piece of their military apparatus, and not a crazy what-the-fuck-is-that nobody knows anything about

10:33 – “There’s a limit to how much one can be motivated by terror.” Interesting choice of words, considering it seems Pixis’ speech is designed to keep the troops level-headed and removed from their fear. Is this getting back to the complacency of the first episode, where the lack of an immediate threat weakened the military into indolence? Not sure what else they’re referring to

11:26 – “Traitors? I’LL CUT YOU DOWN WHERE YOU STAND!” Oh man! Weirdy beardy might be a terrible leader and strategist, but he’s got Pixis’s back! In his own, poorly-thought-through, likely-to-cause-a-riot kind of way

11:40 – Hold the phone, isn’t that the lady of Pixis’s dreams? 

12:17 – YES! Rally the FUCK out of those troops, Pixis! God, it is so good to see a goddamn general doing his actual goddamn job, and doing it well – I get pretty tired of all authority figures being incompetent buffoons

13:44 – This speech is fantastic. Maybe the best moment of the series so far. No complaints

13:45 – “I don’t know if I can move that boulder, but I do know my dick is diamonds after that motherfucking speech.”

14:07 – “I must become a symbol of hope for everyone.” What was that, Eren? I’m not sure I heard you – were you ratifying my suspicions about the entire point of this episode or something?

14:36 – Sweet, weirdy beardy’s glasses-pusher assistant will be joining us. I do love a good glasses-pusher

15:53 – Pixis knows the plan is a massive gamble, so he attacks the logical elites through their pride, not their intellect. He is taking this show the fuck over, and I could not be more cool with that

16:42 – Judging a man by the caliber of his drinking. C’mon Titan, I know when I’m being pandered to

17:30 – “I’m neither your little brother nor your kid.” It’s nice to see Eren directly address Mikasa’s very specific relationship with him. I think a lot of this show’s overwhelming commercial success lies in its avoidance of overt anime-isms, and “they have a weird super-personal relationship and nobody talks about it” is one anime-ism I am very happy to see die in a fire

19:25 – Excellent, excellent little piece of episode-specific storytelling there. That would-be deserter was given a full narrative arc: from urging others to justify his desertion, to leading the exodus himself, to being drawn back by his desire to protect his family, to acting as one of the most stalwart believers in the necessity of their plan. And he wasn’t even given a name. Fantastic storytelling

21:20 – Jesus christ, does this show burn 98% of its budget on these flying sequences? Not actually complaining

And Done

Damn! Not sure specifically what that ending implies, but it reeks of a cheap cliffhanger that will be resolved in the first ten seconds of the next episode, so I ain’t worried.

But fuck that noise. That episode was awesome! I think it was pretty easily my favorite of the series so far. My hopes for Pixis couldn’t have been better-placed – he kept the plot moving at an extremely satisfying clip, was full of entertaining one-liners and casually tossed off a ridiculously inspired and thematically relevant speech. Speaking of thematics, holy shit, this episode actually had some real ideas! For the first time, I felt this show moved beyond being entirely about narrative points moving to other narrative points, and dabbled in greater ideas of how our mentality and psychology can dictate our potential. It was pretty much the classic Batman stuff (the people need a symbol), but I’m not complaining. It also advanced several characters in a much less beating-you-on-the-nose way than Armin’s turn last week, outlined the greater significance of this conflict, and refused to wallow in tedious despair. Pixis, you’re a pretty cool guy. Keep on slapping this show into fighting shape

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru – Episode 11

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Well here we are boys and girls. The best part of the week. Working on these writeups is honestly kinda regularly stressful, but OreGairu definitely makes me appreciate the way 23 minutes can stretch to an hour. There are many shows that I love, but OreGairu is pretty close to the one I would actually want to make.

Okay, I’d actually emphasize the romance more, and there’d probably be an FLCL-esque fantastical metaphor for some of the underlying personal themes, and I’d let more scenes rise to cathartic release and not cut them off with harsh, realistic anticlimax. But still!

Many weeks ago, someone mentioned how the festival we’re now in the thick of would probably mark the halfway point of the light novels. Narrative-wise, that feels about right – Hikki still has a long way to go, and the character turn Yuki’s about to hit isn’t going to “fix” everything, or possibly anything. But it will certainly change things.

Both their viewpoints have always been naïve and hypocritical, but they’ve always managed to distance the contradictory elements of their philosophies and personalities from each other. Right now, Yuki’s caught deep in the lie of her need to be better than her sister – she can’t accept that she’s just a very different person with very different strengths. If things had gone normally, she’d probably be willing to rely on Hikki to help her at this point – he’s the one person who understands her well enough for her to act shields-down around. But right now, he’s also the person most representative of her hypocrisy. And so, with no escape route that doesn’t require giving up her pride, she’s fled from the situation.

Hikki’s viewpoint is less complicated – he’s convinced he knows the rules and hates the game, so he refuses to play and tells himself it’s better that way. Last week proved he’s not so callous as all that – he deliberately made a fool of himself for the sake of Yuki’s pride. He tells himself he can’t forgive her, but I think he already has, and the only reason this charade is going on is because he’s too attached to his fraying viewpoint as well.

Honestly, it’s freaking poetry watching this house of cards crumble down. They could certainly take an easy route out here – since Yuki accepted Hikki’s rescue with relative grace, they could conceivably have Hikki continue to resolve this situation – but that’s pretty much the last thing I want to see. Yuki needs this more than Hikki does. Bring on the blood.

Episode 11

1:19 – Jeez Hikki, calling Yui? You are terrible at not caring about this situation

5:41 – Aw man, they’re being such good friends here. No defensiveness at all – “I won’t tell you some idealistic nonsense, but this can’t be the right way to handle this.” “What is the right way, then?” “I don’t know”

6:10 – Yesssss. “Not ‘someone,’ or ‘everyone,’ rely on us.” Yui ain’t playing games with their philosophical bullshit – this is about whether they can trust each other

6:11 – And of course Yuki can’t possibly respond to that

7:16 – Hikki’s signature move – leaving the room when the other two express an honest moment, uncomfortable and assuming he’s not meant to be a part of it, the way it’s always been

7:38 – “They say if you change yourself you can change the world, but that’s a complete lie.” God, he’s such a fuckin’ prick. He’s being offered the open door here, but he’s still determined to stick to his pride. That’s understandable, of course – he articulated his fear of getting betrayed during the Yui fight. Still sucks to see it, though

9:20 – “If you look at it closely, one side is just relaxing.” Goddamn, Hikki. I doubt Yuki wants this – this is all yourrage here

10:40 – Nope, she’s cool with it! I don’t think initial Yuki would have taken kindly to being supported this way – she may not be willing to rely on them, but she certainly won’t reject their support

11:09 – And it really did help – Hikki’s attack put Sagami incredibly off-balance, allowing Yuki to regain control of the meeting and the committee. Damn, Hikki!

11:34 – “You make excuses for the dumbest things, but you won’t do it when you actually need to, will you?” Looks like he’s more of your ideal person, then you thought, eh Yuki? NOW KISS

12:29 – Oh my god they’re adorable. Okay, so Yuki wasn’t actually forced to clear up the initial problem, and Hikki did in fact make a tremendous peace offering. So the conflict didn’t force the Yuki breakthrough I was hoping for, but either way they’re back to bantering again

15:53 – Man, how is Sagami gonna fuck everything up? They’ve spent an entire episode having her make vindictive pouty faces

16:52 – “Vice-Chairman… we can all hear you flirting with Hikki.”

17:42 – This might be the first time I’ve actually laughed at Trap, purely because Hayama hamming it up is just amazing. Hayama is so great

19:16 – They share a look yet again. This is actually worrying – this episode is pressing Hikki and Yuki’s relationship so positively and aggressively that it’s pretty much guaranteed something is going to go horribly wrong

19:41 – “So I haven’t heard anything about what you want to know.” Seriously. She’s not an idiot, Hikki

And Done

D’awww. All three of these characters are so adorable when they’re actually getting along. The resolution to Yuki getting cornered ended up requiring fewer concessions than I’d expected, but of course, this show is always more about subtle changes in perspective than groundbreaking paradigm shifts. And this episode certainly changed some perspectives – Yuki in particular was much more honest than before, and her confidence is beginning to come across as less brittle and more natural. There’s no edge in her humor any more – she and Hikki are perfectly comfortable with each other (so comfortable they were making everyone else uncomfortable, which was a nice gag), and Hikki’s “inability to forgive her” certainly has a strange way of expressing itself, what with his casting himself as the villain specifically to rescue her. Granted, that’s something that’s always come naturally to him, but as opposed to his work with the club, this time there was no possible pretense involved – he was just working hard to help a close friend.

And yeah, “close friend.” This episode had Yuki regularly smiling, openly admitting her friendship with Hikki through that “see you tomorrow,” and pretty much overtly flirting with him. Meanwhile, Hikki makes an incredibly obvious pass at seeing how she feels about him, and gets encouraged to admit his feelings for himself. With two episodes to go, a traditional ending would dictate a final act of desperation from Sagami that throws everything in jeopardy, a temporary break in Yuki and Hikki’s current trust, and an ultimate reconciliation that wraps up all the loose ends. But this isn’t a traditional show, and it’s an adaptation of an ongoing series anyway. I’d personally be perfectly happy with Live Alive Redux followed by a full episode of smooches, but something tells me it’s not gonna be quite that simple.

Welp, time to not watch more OreGairu for seven days…

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 11

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Hataraku Maou-sama!

And jeez, look at the time. Three weeks left? What does that mean?

Well, first, it means we’re almost certainly in core narrative mode again – last episode followed twenty minutes of nothing happening with ten seconds of revealing that the Mysterious Assassin is Sentucky is Part Angel, which wasn’t exactly the most dramatic way to go about that, but whatever, that’s where we’re at.

What else does it mean?

It means I don’t give a fuck about losing the crowd. Let’s be frank for a moment – I thought last week’s episode was terrible. Worst episode so far. Pointless, didn’t do anything for the characters or the story, fanservicey, and the least funny episode of the season. I’ve lost the crowd by being too harsh on this show before, but believe me, I’m coming from a place of wanting this show to be great. And it normally is! At this point, I’ve pretty much come to terms with the interesting class/society stuff just being a lark and not actually a theme – all I really want is for the jokes to be funny, the narrative resolution to be snappy, and the character relationships to actually move forward a few inches. I don’t think that’s too much to ask!

So that’s where I’m coming from. Now let’s see where this is going.

Episode 11

2:12 – Yep, there’s Sentucky added to the OP. Kind of a funny reflection of this show’s balancing of drama and slice of life that it initially hides plot developments in the OP, but then adds them to the perky lineup as soon as they’re actually introduced

3:05 – Oh man, you know something’s actually gonna happen when they start the episode with an Ente Isla flashback

4:38 – HER WEAPON IS A GIANT HAMMER. Of course. Why wouldn’t it be? The giant hammer has a long, illustrious tradition as a tool of assassins and inquisitors

5:36 – It’s nice that they establish her as having doubted her work for a long time, so it’s not all just everyone falling for Maou’s irrepressible charms

6:00 – Interested in Suzuno? But… but …

6:31 – Why is this show so cruel to Alsiel?

7:57 – I was hoping it was liquor for a moment there. I’m pretty much always in favor of characters getting drunk together

8:53 – I’m pretty fine with the moments when this show just has the characters deal with the mundanities of life together, particularly when it’s acting as the scaffolding of a character turn like Suzuno’s here. I actually like slice of life with good characters, but am not a fan of the current-definition slice of life that is more escapism than still life, and doesn’t actually have any bearing on characters or situations I could possibly relate to

Hey, you know what’s good? Yotsuba

9:33 – So Sentucky is clearly part-angel, but his relationship to Suzuno is pretty unclear – Emi was half-angel, but seemed to be on the side of the knights and only allied with the church, not a part of their organization. With Sentucky proving angelic heritage isn’t the sole right of the hero, how does religion actually work in their world? Are the church and the deities they represent actually combined into a single influence-hungry power structure? Cynical idea. I like it

10:13 – Okay, so Emi actually was an instrument of the church

11:00 – This is great. Using the dramatic downfall of a very public figure to justify their brutal power-grabbing actions during times of conflict, and then immediately falling back on a more even-handed system when their supremacy is assured to keep the people from rebelling. Okay, it’s not particularly subtle, but what can I say? Organized religion and I have never really gotten along

12:26 – Yeah yeah, dump on Alsiel, etc. I made a joke before, but they are kind of running this gag into the ground

15:33 – Yes! Conflict! Make Emi take a stand on Maou! Make Chiho cry!

Man, this show is so great when it’s actually moving forward

16:00 – “Did you ever meet him before he became Maou Sadao?” Man. Perfect fucking question, that actually gets back at the heart of my favorite idea I thought this show had abandoned – the relatively well-intentioned people who are so high up they can’t see the consequences of their actions or the way the world moves beneath them

17:00 – I was just thinking, “It’s nice that Emi’s still here for this impassioned pro-Maou speech,” and then the show of course gives us a shot of her taking it all in

17:49 – The jump cuts between Suzuno’s protests and memories here are so well done – this episode has built to this moment masterfully. She has to be right. If she isn’t, what did she kill all those people for?

19:35 – “This is my ability… Convenient Enemy-Incapacitating Plot Device!” Oh come on. That bullshit’s for shounen tripe, Maou – at least make his ability relevant to their shared heritage or something

19:54 – Oh. They did. Carry on!

20:03 – Omigod his wings look so silly

And Done

Oh man! HEATING UP! Goddamn, the difference between an on and off day for this show is absurd. That second half was so good! Like episode 4, this one was extremely light on humor, but I didn’t care at all because the characters and drama were handled so damn well. Suzuno had earned a spot as a member of the comedy troupe, but this episode was obviously wholly focused on her dramatic arc. At first, I was afraid they were overselling a character who really wasn’t going to pull her dramatic weight… but that last exchange with Emi was definitely one for the show highlight reel. It’s looking like Emi isn’t actually going to be forced to take a real stand here (unsurprising, since there are apparently many more LNs to adapt), since Sentucky attacked her before she was ever forced to actually defend Maou, but if the show keeps up this level of tension and effective drama, that won’t matter at all. Sweet episode. Bring on the climax!

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – Episode 11

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You know I’ve reached the point where I type up intros for this crap, revise them, and then scrap them because they’re not good enough? This is ridiculous. I was planning on doing a Lovecraft redux, and actually have the prologue for that written, but then I realized my list of remaining Lovecraft-specific gags consisted of:

  1. Make a joke where the narrator thinks Kiri is invoking a dark ritual, but he’s actually just gagging on hair.
  2. Lovecraft is crazy-racist.

So, not a whole lot to work off. Either way, things are heating up in the land of knife-wielding loli imoutos, and I don’t just mean that sexually. Not to say sexually isn’t one of the ways I mean that. Be- because it is.

Just to be clear.

We have Lolino acting almost as tsun as her namesake, we have the vague and incoherent machinations of Gossip stumbling around in the shadows, and, close to home, we have our beloved title pair, tied together by the hairs of fate, torn apart by the heartless arms of plot necessity. Last week they relinquished their facades and vowed to maintain a new honesty, strengthening their implacable bonds of love and affection – but will it be enough? Will the power of love triumph over the forces of darkness? Will the good, clean honesty of Kiri’s unimpeachable fetishes triumph over the wicked, uncaring eyes of society?

Frankly, I hope not. If this shit gets renewed, I’ll end up with enough material to publish. Kill ’em all, Lolino.

Episode 11

0:00 – By the way, when I was building that last paragraph, I was trying to fit in a line about the manga’s author, and realized for the first time that the personal nature of this fantasy is even more overt than I thought – the author of a story lionizing weird fetishes has actually defined those fetish aficionados as superheroes known as… authors. Ba-fucking-dum-psh.

0:18 – Am I the only one who just sees continuous electricity between our main two at this point? Once again, I have to ask why fucking Crime Edge is the show demonstrating that relationship drama doesn’t get boring as soon as the characters actually enter a fucking relationship.

It reminds me of that new interview with the Chuunibyou director, where he said he’s going to slow down the relationship between the main pair because apparently tension is lost as soon as they kiss. No. No, that is a lie. No and fuck you very much. C’mon directors, grow a pair and realize not every interesting moment of a relationship occurs in the first five percent of one. Goddamnit

This may sound like me just ranting because I never get to see any of my favorite characters slobbering all over each other, but I assure you that’s only half true

3:52 – “Apparently she fulfills the requirements to be the Author of that magical artifact.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Don’t worry, it took me a few episodes too

6:15 – I’m so glad we’re getting such a thorough, detailed explanation of Lolino’s backstory and motivation. I was really wondering about that.

6:54 – These dogs are making me extremely uncomfortable. 6:35-6:44 is even worse thanNibutanixCerberus

9:20 – “So that’s why she inflicted so many small cuts on me.” Yes, her strategy was to not hurt you too badly, because otherwise you might die before her magic knife got to kill you. Well, as far as Crime Edge murder-strategies goes, that one’s actually fairly ahead of the curve

10:30 – C’mon, fish girl. Just lick them. You know you want to

10:43 – “I knew it. Killing Goods.” What a remarkable first guess

11:20 – “Not even a doctor could help you with these unhealing wounds.” Seriously struggling to not make a “Crawling in my skin” joke here

11:56 – I’ve never been one for the Innsmouth Look, but that is moe as fuck

13:06 – SHAME ON BOTH OF YOU! To think fishwoman would cheat on her sister like this… I’m sorry I ever thought she was moe

15:30 – CRIME EDGE STOP THAT THIS INSTANT THIS IS VERY CONFUSING TO ME

16:21 – “If I could see him in my dreams… would I become stronger?” Holy shit, that’s an honest-to-goodness reasonable plot development! Developing himself as an Author would increase his ability to protect Iwai while simultaneously weakening his resistance against the Killing Goods. A plot turn that also bears inherent relevance on the character development and relationship drama? I didn’t know you had it in you, Crime Edge!

17:39 – So is Grayland gonna become his spirit sensei now? Well, it’s worked before

19:52 – “Knife, Gun, and Poison.” Oh god, three super-authors and only two episodes to go? If this shit gets renewed I am going on strike

20:03 – Oh Kiri. “Now that I’ve told you what I’m doing and where I’m going, would you mind telling me if you plan on killing my girlfriend?”

22:25 – “Besides, today’s…” What. The anniversary of his death, perhaps? And you’re visiting his grave? The grave of the father of the girl who’s trying to kill you? The girl you’re attempting to become stronger than, because you know she’ll currently murder your ass flat?

Brilliant, Kiri. You’ve really outdone yourself this time

And Done

Damn! That last scene was beautifully shot and perfectly scored – one of the rare but consistent times where the show indulges a moment in a really great, somewhat beautiful and somewhat creepy way – like the extended piano song at the bar, or Kiri and Iwai dancing under the stars. More of those please!

Anyway. This episode would have been pretty dull if it weren’t being so goddamn lewd all the time… no, yeah, it was pretty dull either way. All dem infodumps were somewhat redeemed by actually being kind of effective, but they were still a series of infodumps about Killing Goods, and this show rarely makes me care about it by actually trying to make me care. As any of you who know my tastes can attest, only blood or sex will satisfy my anime lusts, and this episode was clearly holding out on me. If it weren’t for that strangely alluring fishwoman, I’d have to consider this one a wash.

Hmm… fishwoman…

Yeah, not sure how I feel about these emotions. I’m think I’m gonna go sort some stuff out, you guys. I’ll see you next week.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 10

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Well, you did it, Gargantia. You slowrolled the butchering for eight fucking episodes. You really did have me going there – the show didn’t really need to go to a super-dark place to make its points about society and identity. But I guess there was no way this Flange fleet separation was going to end well, and this choice is certainly suitably horrific.

What happens now? Ledo and Chamber seem to have a difference of opinion regarding the justice of their mission. Is Ledo’s highest-ranking-officer trick not gonna cut it now that Chamber knows the nature of this sensitive information? They’re obviously playing up the similarities between the Alliance and Hideauze as much as possible – though the Hideauze look more like animals, from the very first episode it seemed clear that the Alliance was meant to represent humanity as a single hivelike organism, with all individual actions filtering down from a central goal. Are the Hideauze any different? Is Gargantia itself the only example of a communal but still individualist society?

Fuck if I know. Let’s find out.

Episode 10

1:17 – The blood on his hands is a metaphor for the blood on his hands.

1:43 – Doesn’t everyone just love this jaunty OP?

5:50 – “Tell everyone we got the treasure! That’ll scare ’em!” Okay, Pinion, this is just dumb as fuck. There has to be a limit to his bravado – his choice to wipe out the nest was both calculated and based on his brother’s death, but this just the action of a lunatic, and reeks of plot necessity

8:55 – “I annihilated the hideauze! I FEAR NOTHING!” You are one damaged kid, Ledo. I really wish the episode would just focus on him, his breakdown is much more interesting than the damn fleet politics

10:23 – “Did Ledo really wipe out the whalesquids?” “Yes. It was a stupid thing to do.” Why? Why, from what they know of the situation, would it be a stupid thing to do? Clearly we know why – but we have a lot more information than them. Is it just respect for animals in general that motivates these guys? Because I have to say, if there were a nest of some generic wild animals standing between the fleet and hundreds of years of human science, culture, and technology, that really wouldn’t be a difficult choice for me. Sorry!

11:47 – “They’re out of ammo! Keep firing!” Reaaally not liking this crazy turn from Pinion. He’s changing from “pragmatic, egotistical, vindictive” to just “straight-up villainous,” and that’s never good for a story

13:05 – “We’ll be invincible!” So Pinion’s basically standing in for the dangerous blind ambition of humanity here? Man, that’s a whole other idea unrelated to the societal stuff, the identity stuff, or the arbitrary human conflict stuff from last episode. If they can actually pull these strands together…

13:26 – Between Flange and the pirate captain, we’ve also now had two leaders in a row swiftly lose their authority in the face of huge personal gain for their subordinates. That actually does contrast nicely against Gargantia’s ideal of humane co-prosperity

15:30 – “Or the first time I got inside Chamber… this Machine Caliber?” Love that little self-correction. Way more subtle of a distinction than the Pinion stuff

16:00 – “It’s a beam weapon similar to my own.” So have Ledo and Chamber basically just created the one superpower capable of actually fighting them on the planet? That might be the last necessary puzzle piece to see the ending  – one easy narrative route it could go from here would be having Ledo flee from the Flange group when asked to raid another nest, and ultimately have to confront them again on the side of Gargantia

16:28 – “Would it work if we harnessed the lightbugs?” Oh boy. If that’s also relevant, the theoretical end to the conflict would be mankind’s weapons of absurd overkill making their own environment unsustainable. Can’t imaginethat ever happening…

18:45 – Good. Chamber’s actually bothering to articulate the very relevant counterargument here – “yeah, sure, they’re humans too. So what? They’re still trying to exterminate us”

21:35 – I’m gonna need to watch through that whole Chamber speech a couple more times, but it’s kinda funny how much of the discussions last week’s episode prompted he’s now just directly articulating

And Done

What the fuck? How the fuck did Kugel get here – is there another gate? That would be… hm.

Man. The first half of that episode was pretty slow, and involved too much cackling villainy from Pinion, but the second half made up for it in spades, going directly into both Ledo’s personal doubts and the philosophical questions framing them. There was plenty to unpack in that last speech of Chamber’s – his points about intellect and civilization were reasonable, but it went all over the place… “beings who seek only happiness and self-gratification don’t require a higher intellect,” for instance. Could he be including the culture of Gargantia there? And talking about “the pride of the human race,” or how the Hideauze are actually a higher life form, or how Ledo will understand after he accumulates more experiences – his ultimate point seems to be the pragmatic “in a war between such linked but diametrically opposed forces, there can only be utter victory or utter extinction, and thus we must fight,” but he certainly took a roundabout route to arrive at it.

Either way, the show keeps introducing new ideas, but last week’s ideas were handled beautifully this time, so I’m very hopefully the introduction of Kugel will be a positive one as well. I got pretty much all the Ledo development I could have asked for, and Chamber proving himself to be quite the unexpected philosopher was just icing on the cake. Bring on the next episode!