Let’s get back to ef – A Tale of Memories! It’s been quite a while since we ran through an ef episode, but the show is always a fine thing to return to. Marrying Shin Oonuma’s wild visual flourishes to a story that constantly contrasts romance against creative ambition, it’s a messy but consistently rewarding experience, the kind of strangely personal production anime is renowned for. The show also seems to be hitting its stride at the moment – with Kyosuke having been fleshed out in the last episode, basically all the pillars of the narrative are now carrying their own weight. I’m invested in all three of ef’s potential couples, and would also be happy to see the show contrast the creative visions of Kyosuke, Hiro, and Chihiro. Whether it focuses on romance or art, ef always finds a way to keep things interesting. Let’s get right to it!
Category Archives: Episode Writeup
Chihayafuru – Episode 11
Alright everybody, it is TOURNAMENT TIME WOOO. Technically last episode was actually the start of the tournament, but in practice, that episode was mostly about figuring out how Chihaya’s team will deal with the fact that Kana and Tsutomu are so much worse than their other team members. I’d been worried the show would essentially just push them off to the side, but thankfully, Tsutomu’s feelings of rejection and inadequacy were given almost a full episode’s worth of focus, and the idea of using them to waste their opponent’s best players was raised and rejected. Even Chihaya was forced to acknowledge she hadn’t been accounting for her teammates’ feelings, and considering Chihaya has the emotional intelligence of a large rock, that’s a pretty major breakthrough. But with all that very necessary emotional material settled, the team is now in a position to SLING SOME GODDAMN CARDS. I’ve been waiting for Chihayafuru to fully stretch its sports muscles, and I’m guessing this is the time. Let’s get right to it!
Classroom of the Elite – Episode 12
Classroom of the Elite actually ended pretty well this week, tying a satisfying bow on its most generally effective arc. The series of betrayals and counter-betrayals made for a very propulsive watch, and we even got some decent character moments with a few members of the secondary cast. In the end, Classroom certainly wasn’t a very good show, but it only really fell into terrible territory for its middle act there. Thank you Classroom for not being worse than you were.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Mawaru Penguindrum – Episode 20
Penguindrum’s twentieth episode (directed by talented key animator and Gainax mainstay Akemi Hayashi, who also gave us this terrific Space Dandy episode) centers on a new location and an old memory, at the forbidding Penguin Force Hideout. The hideout is located in a vast, colorless condominium, a structure that seems to underline our collective anonymity. Rows after rows of identical doors promise homes for everyone and no one, infinite potentially wrong paths. The young Shoma is dwarfed by this place, lost in long stairwells and ensconced behind railing bars. This is truly a frozen world.
Simoun – Episode 1
Alright, let’s get started on Simoun! I don’t actually know all that much about this series, but I know enough to have it placed on my internal shortlist of must-see anime. By reputation alone, Simoun seems to be one of those fragmented classics that end up on a lot of personal lists but never really receive all that much public recognition. Mari Okada seems very good at creating those kind of “this messy show is my ENTIRE SOUL” stories, and that plus an interesting aesthetic and a story that apparently takes a very unique approach to gender identity seems like a very fine recipe. I’ve tried to keep myself relatively ignorant of Simoun’s twists, and I’m excited to see where this adventure goes. Let’s get to it!
Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 21
Let’s get back to Ojamajo Doremi! Last episode saw Doremi and the gang experiencing a bit of a paradigm shift, as Majo Rika’s gambling ways resulted in her losing ownership of her own shop to her nemesis. At this point, Majo Rika is been reduced to living out of a van that also double as the gang’s new store. It’s actually a pretty cozy place, so I wouldn’t mind the show sort of idling here (no pun intended) as the new normal before actually resolving this whole Majo Rika plot. It’s been a little while since we’ve had a classmate-focused episode, so I’d be happy to see one of those as well. Either way, change is afoot in Ojamajo Doremi. Let’s get right to it!
Classroom of the Elite – Episode 11
Classroom of the Elite’s final arc had its second major misstep this week, as it attempted to pull off a structural trick that really stretched the limits of its aesthetic capabilities. Visual storytelling isn’t just garnish – your show’s ability to convey information outside of dialogue inherently dictates your dramatic range, and “slowly building pressure cooker” is well outside Classroom’s tool set. Still, I guess I have to give the show props for trying something different.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Tsuredure Children – Episode 12
We finally bid goodbye to Tsuredure Children this week, at least for the moment. This episode wasn’t much of a conclusion, but it was still a fine episode of Tsuredure Children, and that’s a very good thing to be. I’ll pick up the manga if I have to, but I do hope we get a second season eventually – there are few romantic comedies out there as funny, charming, or genuinely incisive as Tsuredure Children. See you next time, you incredible dorks.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Chihayafuru – Episode 10
Let’s get back to Chihayafuru! With her team fully established and a tournament goal already in sight, last episode saw Chihaya and the gang setting up a grueling training regimen. I had somewhat mixed feelings on how the episode handled Chihaya’s behavior there – it initially seemed like the show was going to acknowledge that Chihaya was acting in a pretty terrible way, but the finale saw her teammates forgiving her in a way that seemed like the show tonally supported her actions. Chihaya’s let’s-plow-ahead exuberance is her most powerful quality, but her actions aren’t always justified, and I’m hoping the show mines that for interesting drama eventually. Either way, we’re fast approaching the school team’s first tournament, so let’s get to it!
One Piece – Volume 14
The battle with Baroque Works continues in One Piece’s fourteenth volume, within the leafy confines of Little Garden. The initial conceit of Little Garden was “this is an island where the creatures are huge, but still dwarfed by the resident giants.” Those giants actually get more or less pushed aside in a narrative sense here, which I frankly didn’t mind at all. Their single-minded emphasis on “honorable battle” doesn’t really do anything for me, and though Usopp’s adoration of their focus is pretty adorable, I couldn’t really buy into their feelings purely for his sake. Instead, this volume quickly resolves the giants’ battle, and moves on to something much more exciting – the next showdown with the agents of Baroque Works.