Author Archives: Bobduh

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 9

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Last week was awesome – in my opinion it was the funniest week yet, it pushed a couple plot threads forward in a very satisfying way (I particularly liked Chiho and Maou’s mature conversation about their feelings – lesser shows would stretch that kind of artificial drama out across full seasons), and it was the first episode where I really felt Suzuno added something wholly new and worthwhile to the cast. Hopefully that episode signaled an end to the kind of aimlessness 6 and 7 suffered from, and the start of more momentum-gathering leading towards the climax of this second arc. Let’s find out.

Episode 9

0:01 – On a tangential note, as I wait for the damn episode… after both having conversations on here and checking a variety of subs against others on my own time, I’ve switched to Commie on pretty much all applicable shows. As far as I can see, although they’re definitely somewhat liberal, their priority is maintaining the spirit of the original line while offering a translation that flows naturally in English. Though this does mean I have to suffer through occasional ostentatious Commie-isms (randomly colorful language, bullshit like Eotens), I feel that’s a price worth paying for the focus on those other priorities, and their general ability to construct conversations in an organic way. Just so you know!

3:13 – Man, I’ve worked retail. This sketchy fuck making manager is the least realistic thing in this show

4:13 – “Divided opinions, I see.” Man, the deadpan is so good

4:34 – So this is working on, what, three levels of misunderstandings? Her friend misinterpreting their relationship, Suzuno misinterpreting Emi’s motivations, Emi misinterpreting her own motivations, looping back around to the point where her friend is right, but for the wrong reasons?

Nice

4:51 – Yes Alsiel my god this scene just got so much better

I wonder if any scene in any show would not be improved by the addition of Alsiel. It seems difficult to imagine

5:20 – “We don’t have the financial leeway to fill the coffers of our enemies.” Alsiel, master strategist

7:00 – Maou stop it I can’t breath[1]  . Also love this scene of desperate strategizing, hearkening back to the Great Frier Catastrophe of episode 1

9:46 – “Primarily a real estate and personnel placement agency.” This is like a fucking OreGairu episode. It’s knocking down every pin the last one set up so perfectly that I have nothing to add

12:07 – Alsiel did not need to go on a hilarious, rambling three minute speech to continue being Best General. Was that… gasp! Was that for me?

13:05 – Goddamnit Rika, don’t go making those doe eyes at my Alsiel

14:04 – That creeper is like a third the size of Emi

14:45 – So, yeah, if I want to get all story-craft analytical on this absurdly perfect episode, obviously they’ve been highlighting the Sentucky manager far too consistently for him to be a one-off gag. It’s not guaranteed he’s either the villain or oshit you thought he was the villain but secretly he’s an ally of this arc, but there’s a very solid chance of it

20:52 – “He met the old man while doing community service earlier.” This show’s style of humor is so fucking good. Set up a classic dramatic reveal explanation scenario like this, and then just layer in ludicrous sappy ideas like Maou making friends with the elderly while he just happened to be doing some community service. So good

And Done

Fuck, it worked! They built up a perfect collision of all the central players, and then played them off each other to amazing effect within the confines of a tidy, well-established dramatic arc. Great jokes, great craft, plenty of Alsiel.

If anything did bug me, it’s that Maou and Emi’s relationship seems to have actually regressed over time – they were much more confrontational this episode than they’ve been from even the earliest episodes. Am I imagining this? It could just be in line with the LN writer realizing he had an actual series on his hands – they had pretty genuine camaraderie by the end of the first arc, but that seems to have largely dissipated, and that could be because losing their antagonism basically kills the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Either way, this episode was awesome. Looking forward to next week!

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – Episode 9

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Briefly:

I was reading Slaughterhouse Five earlier today.

No, that doesn’t mean I’m a high school freshman – I read the goddamn thing ten years ago already, and I don’t know why they assign that book in high school anyway. I don’t really know what you’ll get out of Slaughterhouse Five before you learn you’re actually going to die one day, and I’ve never met a high schooler who was fully aware they were going to die. Which is good in some ways, and bad in others – good in that everyone deserves their nostalgia, and bad in that I sure wish someone had told me prior to college that I was gonna die pretty soon, and I didn’t actually get unlimited chances to spend four years hopefully becoming a well-rounded, educated, and articulate adult human being.

Which brings me back around to this present day, where I am slumped in a booth on lunch break eating a slice of pizza and reading Slaughterhouse Five and listening to some drooling, sterilized pop-country dribble through the speakers and thinking about the hopelessness of human nature and how me writing irreverent takedowns of an ineptly written Japanese cartoon probably doesn’t do a whole lot to further our collective struggle for a just and humane future where we no longer spend all our energy killing and oppressing each other or trying to avoid being killed and oppressed.

Story over! No moral. Time for anime!

Episode 9

0:01 – Ahahaha that felt great. Seriously though, connecting through art is sweet and rewarding and absolutely valuable, I just wanted to coldcock you guys with that one. <3

0:55 – Did someone just throw that key through his leg? That was… exceeding helpful of them!

2:36 – Man, screw you guys. I was just sitting here all politely nursing a glass of water, trying to get over Con Plague from Anime Boston… but utter sobriety will clearly hamper my aesthetic, and so I’m going to get a beer instead. I damage myself for you

3:02 – “Lyrical Night Fright.” – HAH! They don’t make actual puns for the title every episode either! I’m off the hook!

Wait, that could just be a shitty translation. Fuck

3:31 – Iwai. What. Iwai. There’s a fucking… you see the key, right? The key. In front of you. Iwai, please. Iwai

3:51 – Iwai, this isn’t the Pokemon movie, your tears ain’t doing shit. Just – look, just take the key, and… Goddamnit Iwai

3:57 – Hurray, he’s alive! Incompetence wins again!

5:45 – “You disappoint us, sharkteeth.” Fortunately for him, if this show’s general methods of brutal assassination are anything to go by (throw a girl in a lake, rescue her, attempt to hypnotize her boyfriend into killing her… invite the target to a fancy gala, put him in a fursuit and his girlfriend in a cage, attempt to strangle him in an elaborately staged supernatural battle), I assume this poison will actually just temporarily turn him into a fish or something

6:10 – Nevermind, they’ve learned! If you want to kill someone in this show, double kill them

6:50 – “Man, these fifty daggers sure do sting… good thing that poison’s dulling the pain. cough It’s a shame they didn’t… triple kill me…”

7:13 – Wait, one of the Killing Goods is just A THOUSAND KNIVES? That’s, like, an ACTUAL weapon! Isn’t there a ruleagainst that? Sharktooth, check your rule… oh. You’re dying

8:14 – Kiri bites his tongue, his mind awash in regret. Sure, they had had their disagreements… like when they met, and sharkteeth tried to kill him. Or the next time they met, and sharkteeth tried to kill him. Or this, their third and final meeting, where sharkteeth tried to kill him. But goddamnit, this was no time for squabbling! He was gonna remember the good times!

8:26 – Apparently Violet Witches wave hello with their boobs

9:30 – Is it just me, or did that explanation not fucking explain anything?

11:12 – Man, you know you’ve got some good worldbuilding on your hands when the more they explain, the less sense anything makes

11:36 – “…and shot by a gun.” Oh, so the key just flew out of his robes, not through him. Also, apparently Iwai figured out what keys do some time during all that exposition

12:09 – Wait, there are actual crime scenes in this world? I thought the police shtick was just to add a sexy uniform to the strangling stuff

12:42 – …see, now that they’ve introduced actual police, I’m just thinking how Gossip is probably the least effective and most obvious criminal organization of all time. Like, what would happen if the police busted them? SWAT team busts in! Authors bust out gardening shears and featherdusters and back-scratchers! “THEY’RE RESISTING ARREST!” BAM BAM BAM.

13:42 – “I thought of him as a troublesome little brother… who I got off on being strangled by.”

16:23 – Why do I think this scene of them discussing the murder scene is, like, basking in sexual tension? What has this show done.

And Done

HOT DAMN. Well. Jeez. I, uh, hope you guys will forgive me for failing to commentate that last scene there! Apparently my prediction was not wrong. Nope. Can’t say that it was.

Cough

Well! Anyway. About halfway through that, I was planning to pause and say “Once again, this show proves it’s at its legitimate best when it’s just the main two together.” But after that…

Yeah, fuck it, this show is at it’s legitimate best when it’s just the main two together. That totally worked. It was weird and awkward and intimate and pretty much the core of the one meaningful thing this show has been thematically striking at the whole time. Nice work! I hope their relationship actually continues to progress and be articulated this honestly and distinctly!

The rest of the episode was textbook Crime Edge, so I have no complaints. That’s kind of the unique pleasure of watching bad but distinctive shows – sure, this guy might not be able to write a competent shonen battler, but he can certainly nail the occasional fumblingly romantic teenage gesture!

Anyway, I’m gonna take a cold shower. Cya guys next week.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 8

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Gargantia!

In my opinion, this is a really good show. I love the environmental design and general visual aesthetic, I love the subtle but persistent themes regarding identity and society, and I love the confidence and experimentation displayed through these linked but semi-episodic slices of life. I don’t think it’s the most consistent show I’m watching (probably Aku no Hana), nor the best (OreGairu), but I think it’s regularly excellent, and I would happily watch many more like it.

But there are persistent complaints against it, and some of them are well-founded – unwelcome fanservice, uneven pacing, and, in particular, the accusation of moral simplicity.

I don’t think this is Dances with Waterwolves. I think it has a lot more to say than “war is bad, natives are good, Ledo is wrong.” And I’m hoping these next couple episodes will vindicate my faith in this show.

Let’s get right to it.

Episode 8

2:16 – “I can’t go home.” Interesting. I like that they’re closing the book on that particular plot thread (I don’t think involving the space conflict would really contribute anything to this show’s ideas, and we don’t have enough episodes for that to be effective anyway), and this will force Ledo to actually find a permanent role in his new society. For him, the war has actually reached that “if you don’t have any more orders, what then?” point – but of course, for now he won’t see it that way, and will probably all the more fervently latch onto attacking the whalesquids to maintain some sense of purpose now that his center has been taken from him

3:03 – Thinking about that also made me kinda realize the likely futility of proving this show’s thematic purpose. While I see the conflict with the whalesquids as a stand-in for his hierarchical and single-minded society, anyone who wants to could even more easily just see it as a stand-in for the idea of war itself. Phooey

5:55 – “A fleet commander with lax regulations is a ripe target for pirates.” See? SEE? Man, I could go over a line like this all day. First, they’re drawing a direct comparison between strictness of government rule and success or failure as a society – the Flange/Gargantia split wasn’t being paralleled to the Ledo/Gargantia disagreement as far as societal structure went before, but it sure as hell is now. Because of this, the likely failure of Flange’s separation will point to the idea of mutual co-prosperity being preferable to a singular goal-oriented society, not just “war is bad.” Finally, Flange is actually right, and like Ledo’s reaction to the whalesquids being born of a frank and believable reaction to the circumstances of his life, his opinion here is practical and with strong merit – nobody is fully right in this situation, and a prosperous yet humane society requires more of a balance between pragmatism and idealism than either side is yet willing to accept.

8:13 – “I’m glad we shared this journey together.” I really like that they’re spending this much time to humanize Flange. The problems here are legitimate differences of ideas, and characterizing any of these people as villains would destroy the legitimacy of any points they’re trying to make (in addition to just being bad writing)

13:04 – “What you have to think about is who to rely on, and for what.” Which ties directly into Amy’s decision to abide by her commitment to her brother – this episode’s riding one thematic point pretty strongly, though I guess we’re just getting to the point where the pieces start fitting together. This Ridget stuff is also the most clearly directed towards young, uncertain graduates. Growing up is hard to do

13:13 – “You make good use of the things I salvage for the fleet.” Your own commitment to our society gives my contributions meaning – that’s why you deserve to be a leader. This episode’s fucking great

13:51 – Great, expressive animation of Amy here

17:12 – “A child who cannot fight cannot survive… I do not want Gargantia to become like the Alliance. I still have to fight.” Ledo’s motivation has shifted, but the song remains the same

And Done

Fucking bam. That episode was everything I love about this show, wrapped up in a fantastically structured mini-arc regarding the mourning of the fleet commander. That last scene with Ridget, the commander, and the Gargantians was built to perfectly, the most interesting ideas were more or less directly addressed, Ledo’s position was made even more clear and understandable, Amy’s feelings were more directly expressed than ever before… really, not a single complaint about anything. That was great. Screw the haters. Long live Gargantia.

Attack on Titan – Episode 8

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Last episode was pretty damn great. I thought Mikasa’s “regaining her resolve” scene was probably the best paced and best directed scene of the show so far, and the appearance of this sexy-haired titan definitely complicates their world in a possibly interesting way. I could see this turning the show in a more shonen and less tactical squad-based combat direction, which would make me unhappy, but we just don’t know enough to make a call like that this early. So let’s find out.

Episode 8

1:01 – It looks like they might be helping to manage the budget demands of a show like this by replacing cold opens with little recaps prior to the OP. I honestly didn’t think there were super-visible slips in quality earlier on, but I’m the story guy, so I’d probably be ignorant to this stuff even if it were fairly obvious. Either way, I don’t have much of a problem with this choice either – if they think it will better maintain the quality of the show, that’s a fine stance to take

3:04 – Okay, maybe recapping and then actually playing the last minute of the previous episode straight through is a little excessive. But I guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do

3:55 – Aw yeah, Armin using that big strategic brain of his. Good to see any of the characters exhibiting their individual strengths. That post-OP replay also kinda makes sense in retrospect, since it led directly into the pacing of the first new scene

6:02 – Also great to see Jean figuring his shit out – he’s one of the few characters that have really defined themselves outside of a single trait or two at this point, and the one I most want to see get more development going forward. They seem to be setting him up as another leader with a very separate style from the one Eren used, which I’m a fan of – blandly positive and hotheaded leaders are less interesting than caustic ones fighting through their own doubts and own personality to pull people together

Yeah, now that I think about it, Jean’s easily my favorite character in this show

6:33 – Goddamn is that titan’s hair ever lustrous

8:20 – “How many casualties did I cause… defending it is your goddamn job!” See, this shit is great. He’s an inherently antagonistic person, and he’s never had anything close to this level of responsibility, so he keeps veering between competent leader and the worst kind of team-breaking troublemaker

9:04 – We’re so proud of you son 

14:09 – The gang’s first tactical operation! Good, they’re doing this the way I’d hoped – no Mikasa-style crazy groundless showboating, and instead a specific plan using the squad in the best way they can think of. They even fit in a little time for banter between all the main squadmates. I’ll be interested in seeing how they concurrently develop the… what is it, nine or ten core characters of their squad?

Well, I guess they could always just kill a bunch of them off…

15:43 – KAWAIITAN LIVES

17:36 – Man, this show is just doing every single thing I wanted it to. I like how Freckles assumed squad leadership and stayed strong for the less capable squadmates during the operation, and I like him helping Jean through his doubts as well – it’s furthering Jean’s character arc while simultaneously establishing his own personality and role in the squad. Excellent

21:17 – Another well-directed scene here, with that slowly building song doing a lot of work

And Done

Nice, I like ending on such a quiet tone for once.

But more importantly, yeah, Eren’s back. We’re finally up the point I’d read to, so I can finally stop acting like a genre-blind idiot in these writeups and say, yeah, that was definitely happening. The huge Mikasa flashback kind of gave it away – placing a flashback like that directly after killing one of the two characters it develops just doesn’t happen, and with both Mikasa and Jean they directly combined that sense of general hope and purpose Eren instills in people with appearances by the shiny-haired titan.

How do I actually feel about this development?

Conflicted. I don’t know if this story really needed Eren, and the idea of a shonen where the standard “we can do it guys!” protagonist gets himself killed within the first arc is a pretty compelling one, and also pretty damn appropriate for this show. Having a story where everyone just has to pick up the pieces in his absence would be fairly interesting… but not all the characters were that invested in Eren in the first place, and as we saw this episode, they can pick up the pieces pretty damn well, so maybe there’s less to mine there than I figured. I do like how his presence means we have three very different styles of leadership between him, Jean, and Freckles, though I’m kind of worried about this becoming-a-titan development. Clearly that syringe from before is going to come into play… if Eren can actually control what he just did, it will be hard for them to maintain really harrowing stakes going forward – squad combat is a lot more interesting and fraught with peril than titan boxing. And of course, calling takebacks on a protagonist death always comes with the inherent risk of devaluing all the stakes of your story, so hopefully this isn’t a bad sign in that direction either

That said, I really liked this episode! It finally pulled the whole team together and started developing them as a unit and diverse set of internal relationships, and pushed forward a bunch of the individual characters. I find that stuff really compelling and one of the best ways to add some substance to action shows, so hopefully the focus stays on that going forward, and having Eren back doesn’t center the perspective too much around him.

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 8

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Maou-sama!

I dunno, Maou-sama. You have a great deal of potential here. You’re a sharply written comedy with an endearing cast of characters, some subdued but poignant themes regarding capitalism and class awareness, and a lovely, expressive visual aesthetic. But these last two episodes, Maou-sama. I’m gonna be frank here: your performance has not been stellar. And I know, we’re amigos, and I appreciate all the times we’ve had. Please understand that I tell you this as a friend. But frankly… your themes have been abandoned, your character writing has been stagnant, and your humor… even your humor has been somewhat lacking. I’m sorry.

But I believe in you, Maou-sama! I know you can rise above these follies, and I tell you these things out of love. So please, do not take this as an attack. All my criticism is expressed with the warmest possible regard for your strengths – hell, I wouldn’t be saying any of this if you hadn’t impressed me time and time again.

But it’s time to step it up, Maou-sama.

So let’s get to work.

Episode 8

0:47 – Well there’s another Chiho face[1]   for the archives

2:48 – Man, every face she makes in another one for the archives…

3:57 – “Where’s the fried chicken?” I like it when comedies are confident enough to not highlight every joke, and I like how the shot of all their chopsticks grabbing the fried chicken kind of becomes a joke itself in retrospect

4:24 – Another face. You can get so much personality out of animation alone… it’s nice to see a studio outside of KyoAni or Trigger realizing this

8:30 – Niiice. It’s great to see them not dragging the Chiho/Maou misunderstandings out any longer, or trying to get any false drama out of it. And this is a pretty damn mature stance from Chiho, as well. Good stuff

9:22 – And now we get Maou’s honest feelings on the situation? Awesome. I hope this and OreGairu start a trend of characters actually talking about stuff, and not dragging out nonsense romance

9:48 – It’s also awesome to see a male MC having people fall in love with him because he’s, you know, mature and thoughtful and confident, not just because he’s the MC

10:45 – And again, instead of mining this Emi/Suzuno misunderstanding for diminishing comedy returns, they use it only for that one deadpan scene last episode and then a set-em-up/knock-em-down double-take here, keeping the plot moving while getting the best value out of the misunderstanding. I freaking love smart comedy writing – it’s got so much craft specific to it, and it’s great to see it done well

12:17 – Man, I love this show’s style of humor – just extending this ridiculous conversation, and continuously framing the shots so we keep focusing on the fact that they’re in this dingy subway terminal, so it becomes more absurd by the moment

13:47 – And then it bounces to a bunch of far more direct physical and visual comedy gags. Wow, this episode is so much better than the last one

14:48 – …and then they do a bizarre sort of un-joke with those annoying little cream capsules. I know it’s a very different style of show, but I find it funny that a gag Lucky Star would probably extend over like seven minutes is here used during exposition without even being acknowledged by the characters

16:35 – I was kinda hoping Emi would actually have to address how ridiculous her current stance towards Maou is here, but I guess that’s kind of the driving tension of the show at this point, so we don’t get to resolve all the things

17:43 – This fucking show[2]  

20:56 – I think it’d take a long time for scenes of Suzuno yelling at machines to get old

And Done

Awesome! Great episode. The plot’s finally in full gear again, we resolved a few of our lingering dramatic threads, the comedy was constant and really diverse, and I think this was the first episode where Suzuno really sold herself as a great addition to the cast. They’ve set up a great house of cards for next week as well, and I can’t wait to see however this turf war ends.

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru – Episode 8

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Shit, I’m late! No homework this week. Let’s get to it.

Episode 8

1:07 – Oh boy, a full minute of silly trap jokes. Considering the usual stupid-joke-to-brilliant-insight ratio, the rest of this episode must be nuts

2:24 – Man, even this OP makes me stupid-happy at this point

2:49 – It is kind of funny that Trap and Yui have matching outfits

4:39 – waaaat

5:23 – Like with the stupid maid cafe, they sort of retroactively redeem the swimsuit stuff by contrasting it against his reaction to Yuki, who’s actually still wearing a shirt. They’re amping up the relationship between these two every episode now

6:18 – And then they do some more boob jokes. Dammit

8:46 – Hikki’s attitude: actually no different than the elementary schooler, but backed up by a whole lot of math and amateur psychology

11:18 – Hayama clear best costume

11:36 – “I have an idea.” “Looks like it isn’t a very good idea.” These two are getting way more playful in their banter. I’d think even Yui would notice it at this point

13:56 – This is a very complicated plan. I like how totally into it the popular crowd is getting, though

15:30 – Wow, I’m glad even Hayama realizes Hikki is just rationalizing here. Is that in line with his character? He’s more savvy than I thought

17:42 – “One small misstep and this could’ve turned into a huge problem.” No shit. That was a pretty demented plan, Hikki

18:48 – Brain’s Base getting their Shaft head tilt on

19:55 – Hayama is just a pretty great character. An actually well-adjusted teenager is weirdly enough one of the rarest character types to get such a full articulation (well, it’s not that weird, it’s probably because there’s less room for drama and character development with someone who’s already sure of who they are)

And Done

Hm, setting up some drama at the end there. It seems kinda weird to link Yui and Hikki’s past connection to Yuki in such a strained way, but I’m eager to get into more of Yuki’s family situation, so that’s something to look forward to.

As for the episode overall – eh, not my favorite. I was never hugely invested in the elementary schooler plotline outside of how it reflected on Hikki and Yuki’s own perspectives, and I’m a little disappointed this episode didn’t run with Yuki’s projection about the situation from the last one (saying the girl reminded her of Yui, when she’s clearly just a miniature Yuki), or her fight, for that matter. This episode did have some good Hayama moments, as well as a continuation of the changing relationship between Hikki and Yuki. Their banter only gets more adorable.

The resolution of the storyline was also pretty solid, and I particularly like how marginal their “fixing” of the situation really was – it’d be very out of character for anything in this show to really be that easy. This episode did have the highest concentration of scenes and jokes I could have done without (trap stuff, fanservice stuff, boob jokes), but I guess I’m just gonna have to learn to live with that.

Mainly I’m just mad I have to wait another week to finally get into Yuki’s issues. How this show tests me…

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – Episode 8

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It’s kind of weird to adopt the stance that something is too dumb to be offensive. I mean, I live in America – I amcontinuously surrounded by ideas, organizations, and people whose stupidity in no way lessens their offensiveness. But Crime Edge, I mean… yeah, sure, it’s kind of implying that preference for kinky sex can be conflated with actual addiction, and sure it’s got all sorts of questionable (in any other writeup I’d write ‘problematic,’ but the second I use that word in the context of Crime Edge I become the punchline) notions about sex and violence, but, I mean, it’s Crime Edge. It’s like a puppy who chewed up your sneakers (have I used that metaphor? I’ve probably used that metaphor), or Uncle Nestor who sets his hair on fire at Thanksgiving cause he’s got the dementia. So yeaaah, maybe it’s, well, “misguided” in its sex politics, and yeaaah maybe the author’s conflating his own love of kinky shit with a god-given right, but, I mean, c’mon. Look at that face. Look at that stupid, stupid  face.

Episode 8

0:06 – Oh jeez, thank god they’re recapping the fifteen seconds of actual plot development that occurred last week. It’s tough to keep all this stuff straight in my head

2:45 – “Cut 08: Party Chopper.” I was going to make a joke to the effect of asking if all the episode titles had been stupid puns, but then I realized that wasn’t even a pun, that was just the word “party” with something related to scissors attached to it. Hrm.

2:51 – Okay, gotta pause, I won’t be able to pay attention until I’ve figured out a stupid pun they could’ve used instead. Hm… Cut-rate Party? No, still doesn’t really make much sense. Gossip Party? On the nose, but not cringe-worthy enough. Barber… barbed… witty… repartee…

Losing focus here. I’ll call this one a draw.

3:22 – “Could it be her?” Oh jeez, could our protagonists be having second thoughts about attending the partywhere every fucking person wants to kill them?

4:44 – That is actually my favorite moment by big sis so far. Kiri and Iwai totally captivated by the play, but big sis in the background all just shoving a fork in the appetizers. Don’t give a fuck

5:36 – “Black hair… Queen…” I don’t get it. Can someone explain this play to me? I’m not so good with symbolism

5:38 – “It’s about me.” OHHH…

6:38 – “Is the Queen real?” “I believe it.” “I dunno…” Iwai: “IT SEEMS LIKE NOT EVERYONE HERE KNOWS EVERYTHING.” It looks like the theme of this episode’s gonna be “explain everything again as soon as soon as the show finishes explaining it”

8:22 – “You two are to assist with the entertainment. Please, put on these constumes.” “Kiri, is this what people do at these parties??” Think fast bro, “Oh yeah, pff, obviously!”

10:17 – Sharktooth grin appears in the shadows.

Man, that was actually classy as fuck. It’s kind of hard to play that as a joke when they’re making such great use of his winning smile

11:20 – Hah! “She’s really strong willed. Totally not my type.” Wow, actually admitting the way these kinks work. That got an honest laugh out of me

11:54 – Hahaha, you fell for my fiendish trap! And to think, all I had to do was invite you to a party hosted by an organization founded to kill you, knowing you’d accept, and also that you’d willingly be ushered backstage and into some demeaning costumes I for some reason included in my scheme

14:11 – Big Sis sees sharktooth in a priest’s robe, Iwai in a giant cage, and Kiri choking on a spectral noose. “What the heck are they doing?!” Man, she is really redeeming herself this episode. It’s nice to see someone as barely invested in this melodrama as I am

15:05 – Big Sis’s face. “Really? A dead body? That’s tonight’s entertainment? Man, I could be at home right now, I still haven’t even finished the new season of Arrested Development…”

17:40 – I’d say that there’s no way for a fight between a dude wielding a pair of scissors and a dude who strangles you by furiously fanning through a book to possess dramatic tension, but… well, they’re kinda proposing a strong argument to the contrary

19:29 – Okay, so as heartwarming as all these flashbacks and new bursts of resolve are, how is any of this even working? “I came this far… to protect Iwai!” This is literally true, right? Since he started getting his sexy, sexy deviant urges off on the Hair Queen, there has not been a single narrative indication that he lusts for scissory blood. Why is the rulebook actually working on him this time?

This is actually kind of annoying, because having a slow-building narrative thread where his Authorial urges were spiraling out of control, to the extent where even with Iwai to Instead it up he was finding himself enjoying the fights, would be a really solid addition to the story. Unfortunately for this scene, that thread does not actually exist

21:14 – Number three! Is that a record for “most times ostensibly choked to death in a single fight”?

21:15 – BIG SIS THAT FACE YES. Seriously, is there any other way to interpret that than an “Ugh, what else is on?” face?

And Done

WELL. If this show hadn’t blown its dramatic tension load ALREADY, this episode certainly did the trick! Maybe it’s just been too long since I’ve watched a truly shitty shonen, but I think three choke-outs in one episode is pretty far beyond my limit for believing a character’s in any kind of mortal danger. That’s okay though, because Iwai spent three quarters of the episode wearing silly ram horns while mugging theatrically and crying. Clearly a net win!

Harems, Deconstructions, and Good Storytelling

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Management: As per usual, questions rewritten to better map to responses.

Question:

Why do all harem anime contain casts of unbelievable characters and avoid all long-lasting drama or relationship changes like the plague? Do we need a deconstruction of this genre to make it worth anything?

Someone Else’s Answer:

We had a deconstruction. It was called School Days.

Question:

From what I’ve heard, School Days doesn’t make the harem genre make sense in the way Madoka and Evangelion do – those shows make their genre elements make sense in the context of a specific world. Couldn’t there be a harem where the characters actually make sense as people in the same way?

Bobduh:

Evangelion and Madoka work not because they’re deconstructions, but because they’re good stories that happen to have the aesthetic trappings of certain genres. The fundamental nature of harems is to be unrealistic power fantasies, making good storytelling pretty close to impossible – if you make a harem with well-written, realistic characters and relationships, it generally ceases to be a harem and becomes a romance instead

Question:

But most anime romances seem to just be love triangles, where in the end the main character abandons the actually complementary romantic choice to stick with the weird/sickly/frail girl. I haven’t seen a single romance where the main character actively pursues both girls. What makes the “fundamental nature” of this genre less storytelling-friendly than magical girls or mecha? And how about The World God Only Knows, doesn’t that kind of work in this territory already?

Bobduh:

There are a few elements to discuss here, so I’ll take them one at a time.

First, you’re making some pretty broad assumptions about romance there. They’re not all about love triangles, and the nature of the characters involved is a lot more diverse than the setup you’ve outlined.

A romance anime where the MC actively courts both females

School Days probably is what you’re looking for – it’s pretty hard to have a protagonist remain sympathetic while willfully courting multiple women. School Days plays this straight; most harems play it for laughs, because in a realistic situation it comes off the way it actually is – dickish and narcissistic. The World God Only Knows only maintains sympathy for its protagonist and works on a narrative level by combining comedy, amnesia, and the fact that his harem-acquiring is based on an unrealistic, fantastical plot contrivance that forces him to act this way. It’s also self-aware and constantly draws attention to the tropey nature of anime characters, further distancing itself from reality. This is necessary; the closer this situation veers to reality, the closer it veers towards the MC being an asshole.

Fundamental nature of genres

The way I see this is that for magical girl shows it’s “girl transforms into frilly version of self with powers to fight evil.” With mechas, it’s “boy pilots giant robot.” Both these core concepts are silly, but they don’t inherently fight against good storytelling or characterization. Meanwhile, harems are fundamentally “boy/girl is surrounded by lovers who fight for their affection.” There are a lot more hoops you have to jump through to make a premise like that valid for a meaningful story – it’s not impossible, but it’s more of an inherently problematic premise than either of the other two, and seems very difficult to justify in a way that respects all of its characters and works towards a coherent and worthwhile point. I think School Days actually does this, but it does it by saying “all these characters are insecure and dependent, the MC is emotionally dead, and this genre is a rancid pit” – it doesn’t create a distinct story using the trappings, it just attacks its own genre.

Deconstructions

I honestly just don’t find deconstructions that interesting in the abstract. I don’t need a deconstruction to tell me that boys riding giant mechs is a silly idea – like I said originally, Evangelion and Madoka work because they are less interested in tearing down their genre than they are in telling great stories and saying meaningful things using some of the tools of those genres. To me, this is less deconstructing the genre than redeeming it – finding something meaningful to say with traditionally meaningless tools. I find School Days a lot less impressive than those works because (along with it having a much lower standard of aesthetic craft and storytelling) it never goes any further than tearing down its genre – but like I said, the harem genre is a very hard one to tell a great or meaningful story within, so perhaps that’s just the best a show can do with those raw materials.

Kotoura-san – Episode 12 and Final Assessment

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So! Last episode of the most inconsistent show of the season. Although at this point, I guess it has developed a kind of consistency, in that I’ve always been somewhat disappointed with how things are resolved, but like the characters and writing enough to be hopeful for the next thing. They completely, abruptly, kind of ridiculously concluded the mystery plot last episode, so I guess we’ve got a whole episode to deal with Mommy Dearest. I think I know how this one ends. Let’s see it off!

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Attack on Titan and Violence as a Storytelling Device

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Management: As always, I rephrase original questions if it’s necessary to make my responses make sense out of the context of a conversation. None of these questions are meant to represent one specific person, they’re just stand-ins for the conversations that provoked my responses.

Question:

Do you believe the necessity of censorship in what can be shown on television is hurting Attack on Titan? It seems like the camera has cut away from extreme violence pretty regularly so far.

Bobduh:

I don’t think it’s really being censored; frankly, I can’t imagine they could really go much further than they currently are and not have it devolve into self-parody through its extreme nature.

I generally feel that less is more when it comes to this brutal stuff, since I’d hope the point is generally to convey the effect this violence is having on the characters involved, and not just to portray brutal stuff for the hell of it. The scene where Eren saw Misaka’s parents is a good example of this – the door opens, then there’s a quick series of cuts: blood on the windows, blood on the door, a distant, obscured shot of the room, and then a reaction shot. All the information is conveyed in a way that draws the viewer directly into Eren’s overwhelmed perspective, and tying violence to characters you’re supposed to empathize with always makes it land as more personal and visceral than just showing the viewer some gore.

In fact, I think popcorn slasher films use this truth for the opposite effect – they keep the characters impersonal and generic, and the violence hyper-visible and ridiculous, to ensure the viewer is normally at a safe, removed distance from the proceedings. Whereas truly effective horror films imply a great deal more than they reveal (getting the viewer’s imagination to do the work), and tie the viewer very closely to characters who’ve been well established, making the viewer much more personally involved and thus much more vulnerable. And there are a ton of effective spins on this mechanism – for instance, Battle Royale combines stylized violence with melodrama to create a little distance and make the viewer’s experience more akin to an adventure film than a horror film, as well as ensure the film’s underlying ideas aren’t overwhelmed by character focus.

The use of violence in media has to fall in line with that media’s goals if it doesn’t want to result in viewer disconnect, and I think that if Titan’s goal is to make you empathize with the characters, it needs to always be in control of that, imply at least as much as it shows, and save the ultraviolence for only when it’ll be truly effective. I actually think it’s gotten a lot better about this, but I think it had much less control early on, and it’s always a balancing act.