Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 34

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Terrific news, everyone. Another month has come and gone, and so it’s time at last for some more Ojamajo Doremi. With Chihayafuru’s second season in the past and third season waiting in 2019, Ojamajo Doremi has once again assumed the mantle of my chief comfort food anime, and it serves that role with absolute distinction. On a plain aesthetic level, Doremi is simply a very good show – excellent characterization, simultaneously beautiful and charming art design, carefully crafted stories, etcetera etcetera. But beyond that, Doremi’s faith in the decency of people, and its gentle sympathy for its heroines’ struggles, is an oasis in a turbulent world, a sunny reading nook that I’m always happy to escape to.

Media that simply comforts you, whose principle goal is to make you feel safe and content and loved, gets a pretty bad rap in many critical circles. Obviously Ojamajo Doremi is intended to offer more than straight comfort food, but I personally feel the general disdain for “pleasant” or “unchallenging” media is fundamentally misguided. This is a very painful and complex world, and after dealing with all our daily challenges, sometimes we don’t want the shows we watch to actively squabble with us, to make us feel pain or attack our worldviews. Sometimes it’s been a long day and we just need a friend who’s there and happy to spend time with us, no expectations, no anxiety, just the natural contentment of being in a place you feel you belong. People deserve media that acknowledges that need, and media which makes us feel loved doesn’t have to be any less insightful, artistically compelling, or emotionally resonant. There is space for joy in the world and space for joy in art, and I’m happy to return to a show that is so willing to share its joy with us. I’m happy you’re all here, and I hope things are going okay. Let’s settle in for an episode of Ojamajo Doremi.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 4

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A great part of it is the rain, or rather, the felt sensation of perpetual rain. It pours down at all times, holding us up in bus stations or entryways or lonely stairwells, forcing us to relive old failures again and again. It’s cold and damp, and it makes us feel cold and damp in turn, unclean, ashamed of our clammy skin. It steals color from our surroundings, painting everything in a somber gray, draining the vitality of the landscape just as it drains our passion for the things we love. Others seem not to notice the rain, but simply emulating their behavior doesn’t make it go away. Whether you ignore it or acknowledge it, the rain doesn’t care – in the malaise of depression, it will remain your only true companion.

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Simoun – Episode 16

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Let’s settle in for another episode of Simoun! The show’s last several episodes have done tremendous damage to the underlying fabric of this team, all while further elaborating on the individual motives of all our sybilla, and even reflecting Simoun’s overarching preoccupation with the natural conflict between faith and military pragmatism. They’ve frankly been one of the best stretch of episodes this show has seen yet, and have clearly demonstrated that the show’s consistent weaknesses in terms of pacing and narrative structure haven’t done anything to undercut its fascinating ideas or gripping character work. “Gripping ideas or characters, wibbly-wobbly narrative foundation” is pretty much how I’d characterize both Sho Aikawa and Mari Okada’s work more generally, but now that we’ve gotten out of the early episodes and their sometimes frustrating aimlessness, the show’s strengths are coming entirely into focus. We’re currently juggling close to a dozen individual character conflicts, and all of them are resulting in natural flare-ups of drama all through Chor Tempest, as personal motivation and public duty clash again and again. With most of the team gone and Neviril close to despair, is it Dominura’s turn to save the day? Let’s find out in Simoun #16!

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Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Episode 5

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Today we’re continuing our journey through Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha! I’ll admit, I still haven’t made much sense of the “lyrical” part of that title, but we’ve certainly had plenty of magical girl. In fact, last episode introduced our second magical girl, a mysterious stranger from Yuuna’s home planet who introduced herself by electrocuting a kitten half to death. She also knocked Nanoha the fuck out, and generally made an intimidating spectacle of herself in the course of nabbing a Jewel Seed. Rough day for the home team all around.

Beyond its actual narrative beats, last episode also did some work in solidifying Nanoha’s tone, themes, and visual storytelling. Not only did the introduction of this new girl give the show’s family focus more context, but the emphasis on her black and yellow aesthetic also returned us to the evocative art embellishments of the first episode. Episode four wasn’t terrific on the whole, and the show’s slice of life elements in particular could really use some tuning, but it was a solid step up for the series, and seemed to indicate we’re finally getting to this show’s core conflict. Let’s see what shenanigans these girls get up to in number five!

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Precure Hugtto – Episode 4

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Alright folks, let’s get back to Precure Hugtto! The show’s most recent episode was interesting and a little unexpected – instead of either directly advancing the central narrative or introducing us to another Cure, it focused more on fleshing out the context of Hana and her friends’ lives. There was some exposition related to Harry’s past and the nature of their enemies, but the bulk of the episode was simply dedicated to exploring Hana’s home town, meeting new people, and adding texture to her relationship with her friends and family.

I really appreciate that focus, personally. One of the things I like about shows like Ojamajo Doremi, and children’s anime more generally, is that they tend to embrace a communal approach to storytelling that emphasizes how we all live in a larger society, and are all connected to each other in a variety of ways. Anime aimed at teens often tends to adopt the worldview of teens – their perspectives are often narrow, families are barely present or absent entirely, adults are either fools or villains, and the immediate substance of a protagonist’s personal interests reign over all. That’s a fine and appropriate choice for many narratives (and given my love for Monogatari, I’m certainly capable of appreciating the emotional myopia of friggin’ teens), but it’s refreshing to counterbalance that with shows aimed at parents and their children, which in their general positivity and willingness to embrace overt moral lessons tend to actually come off as more mature in their view of society. And authenticity of the perspective aside, it’s simply nice to watch a show that loves its cast, loves its setting, and wants us to love them too.

Given that episode concluded by closing us back in on Homare, I’m guessing this next episode will guide us through her formal introduction to the team. If the hair scheming holds up, Homare will be a yellow cure, which I believe generally slants towards the spunky/sporty member of the team? I know blue cures tend to echo the Sailor Moon “blue is the nerd” approach, but I’m not really all that clear on the general trends beyond that. Regardless, with all this gentle setup behind us, I’m eager to explore more of Hana’s world. Let’s jump right back into Precure Hugtto!

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 3

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After barreling out of the gate with what was essentially a two-part opening episode, Evangelion’s third episode sees us slowing down for a moment, and adopting what you could theoretically call the show’s “neutral mode.” Evangelion’s narrative builds over time, but its episodic angel attacks echo many of its giant robot predecessors, with Shinji as the not-so-gallant hero defending Tokyo-3 from an inventive range of new horrors. Episode three does indeed ramp up to a new angel attack, but this episode isn’t really about that fight, or rather, the fight is just one final illustration of the points it makes all throughout. This episode is about Shinji’s own personal alienation, and its illustration of Shinji’s headspace is as tense and immediate as any terrible monster could be.

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Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Episode 4

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Alright folks, we’re strapping in for another episode of Nanoha! Last we checked in on this series, Nanoha had just fired a giant magical girl railgun at an evil tree, thereby saving her town. Personally, the most exciting part of that whole climax for me was the epilogue, where we learned the damage dealt by that tree was permanent. Magical girl shows often depend on a return to the status quo between isolated adventures, so I’m intrigued by Nanoha’s choice to allow for lasting, dramatic consequences, and hope it signals the show’s coming transition out of its initial, relatively familiar formula.

Outside of that, I’ll be frank – these first three episodes have been pretty darn messy so far, with only the visual creativity of the first elevating it into something truly noteworthy. Fortunately, having consulted my Nanoha-enjoying friends on twitter, it appears the consensus is “yep, Nanoha’s early parts are kind of a mess.” That relieves my fear that I’m just missing whatever it is people love about this show, and makes me eager to see where this rambling story leads. Nanoha is a very significant property in recent magical girl history, and given this site’s already been taken over by a mix of Doremi, Tutu, and Precure, it’s only appropriate that Nanoha hangs around too. Let’s see how this show handles the aftermath of its first truly consequential battle!

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Princess Tutu – Episode 15

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We open Princess Tutu’s fifteenth episode with an entirely new tale, as our narrator tells us the story of a man who fell in love with a doll. “Perhaps the man’s love made itself felt, for one day, the doll came to life and began to dance.” This transformation thrilled the man, who believed a doll could never betray his love, and that he would now possess the world’s most pure and innocent love all for himself. “But the doll, who had been given life, rejected the man’s love and fell in love with a different man.”

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Hugtto! Precure – Episode 3

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Settle in folks, it’s time to watch more Precure! I’ve been greatly enjoying this storied magical girl franchise so far, and am very happy to continue. The show’s second episode was relatively conventional, all things considered – it essentially just served as Saaya’s introduction to the team, establishing her personality, feelings of personal inadequacy, and initial friendship with our girl Hana. As far as all that goes, while the show’s production values remain excellent, Saaya’s personality felt a little familiar to me, and I’m guessing we’ll need a bit more time for her to develop a truly convincing rapport with our main lead. Outside of seriously dedicated thematic vehicles like Madoka Magica, a great deal of the strength of magical girl shows I’ve seen has come down to their character writing, and Hugtto isn’t quite there yet with anyone outside of Hana.

Fortunately, Hana herself remains a fantastic lead, and the threats arrayed against these girls are still decked in intriguing fragments of thematic resonance. If the show keeps up its current pace, we might be formally meeting the yellow cure this week, but I’d also be happy to see the show either further explore the nature of its villains or simply put in some time developing Saaya and Hana’s relationship. Either way, I expect the show to remain joyful and beautiful throughout, so there’s really no losing here. Let’s see what episode three has in store for our young heroes!

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 2

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I’ve always loved Neon Genesis Evangelion’s inventive and gleefully melodramatic episode titles, and none more so than the iconic “Unfamiliar Ceiling/THE BEAST.” Like so many of Eva’s narrative devices, the concept of an unfamiliar ceiling has become an anime trope unto itself, but here in its original incarnation, that title card feels like the essence of Eva in miniature. The first half’s title embodies Evangelion’s careful capturing of specific and alienating lived moments; the second half is the roar of violence lurking just beneath those moments’ surface. Eva doesn’t do pre-OP cold opens – it introduces its new drama directly, and its punctuation for that drama comes in the form of thunderous title drops. So much of Evangelion’s dramatic strength is a result of its utter confidence in its own tone, and these striking white-on-black mini-poems contribute greatly to that sense of solemnity and impact.

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