The hammer started to fall in this week’s Tsuki ga Kirei, as narrative convention more or less demanded. Akane’s potential move seems like it could strike a fatal blow for our young lovers, but I hope they at least manage to enjoy what they still have. That aside, this was a pretty excellent Tsuki ga Kirei in all regards, as my review attests. Let’s get to it!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Over its first ten episodes, Natsume’s Book of Friends has settled into a clear rhythm. Depending on your own mileage, it’d probably be fair to call that rhythm either “comfortable” or “stifling.” The show clearly knows the kind of stories it wants to tell, but it’d be hard to watch all that many of them in a row. It’s a consistently competent exercise in a genre space I’m inherently fond of, but even I have had some trouble getting enthusiastic about continuous stories of youkai and humans just barely connecting.
And we’re back with more Ojamajo Doremi! Doremi has always been a charming and well-constructed show, but its last couple episodes have felt like a step up even by its own standards. Having fleshed out its initial platform through the addition of Hadzuki and Ai and completion of the Level 9 tests, the show is confidently employing its wider cast to great effect. Managing an ensemble production is inherently tougher than juggling just a few central characters, but Doremi is consistently demonstrating the many strengths of the approach. Let’s see what adventures our terrible witches get into today!
After several weeks of navigating various relationship crises, Akane and Kotarou finally got to have a genuinely good time for most of this episode. Their relationship blossomed very naturally across the course of this episode’s lengthy date, drawing them closer together in a way that felt totally true-to-life. These kids are alright.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my brief notes below.
Natsume’s tenth episode opens with a lovely forest shot and gentle piano, a picture of serenity before we return to Natsume’s daily troubles. Reflecting once more on how he’s kept his secret close, we first see Natsume once again navigating the difficulties of his isolation, as he plays off noticing a lost umbrella that none of his human friends can see. This umbrella isn’t actually lost, though – it’s harboring a youkai, the dedicated umbrella bearer Akagane. And along with Akagane is another youkai trapped in a small gourd, the gentle koto player Asagi.
And we’re back with more ef! I’m actually really enjoying this show at this point – it’s far from perfect, but it’s exactly the kind of messy I like. Chihiro and Renji’s narrative is legitimately great, and the other narratives continue to swing for the fences, even if they sometimes end up in the cliche romcom nonsense infield. The show’s visual style matches its narrative ambitions – consistently throwing everything against the wall, succeeding at least as often as it fails. Messy shows that try really hard are pretty great. Let’s see what this episode brings!
This was a terrific episode of The Eccentric Family, but I’ve already written basically every word I could think of to describe it, so just head on over to that review there. Writing about this show may kill me eventually, but I think that’d be a pretty okay death.
You can check out my full megareview over at ANN, or my notes below!
Wandering Son’s ninth episode opens with Takatsuki waking up and putting on a boy’s school uniform. The show spends significant time on this ritual, varying its shots and emphasizing his specific sequence of motions, like dressing in this uniform is some delicate and critical thing. This moment is delicate and critical – it is important to Takatsuki, and has significance far outside of its immediate, physical difficulty.
Tsuki ga Kirei’s leads took a trip to the amusement park this week, giving them a chance to sigh and fumble and generally not be sure what to do with their hands in an entirely new setting. This episode also saw the show at its most thematically focused, as basically everything here was designed to articulate one more specific and very relatable moment in adolescent love. Good stuff all around!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
It’s time for more Chihayafuru! Episode two led us to the founding of Chihaya, Taichi, and Wataya’s original friendship, after Taichi’s jealousy resulted in a pretty tumultuous sixth grade karuta tournament. The episode did solid work for both Taichi and Wataya’s characters, while also offering plenty of sunny Chihaya spirit to counterbalance her alternately gloomy and vengeful friends. The show hasn’t really hit a propulsive stride yet, but it’s still an enjoyable and generally well-realized production. Let’s see what episode three brings!