Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Kiznaiver – Episode 4

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A weaker episode of Kiznaiver this week, as it leaned on lousy comedy and archetypal beats and basically the kind of stuff you’d expect from a mediocre character-focused show. There was still good material too, though – the relationship between Yuta and Hanako is great, for example, and the show’s visual design is still top notch. There are still plenty of question marks hanging around this one, since it’s aiming for emotional profundity that it hasn’t yet earned, but the occasional sharp conversation does give me some hope it’ll at least approach a solid ending. Kiznaiver is a creaky show, but I have a lot of difficulty blaming shows for ambition.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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The Lost Village – Episode 5

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The Lost Village convinced me it was an intentional comedy this week, because quite frankly, I couldn’t really imagine the show being this funny if it wasn’t trying to. The show is just too well-constructed as a comedy – there are too many intentionally funny non-sequiturs and deliberate punchlines, too many clever setups and clear running jokes. It’s legitimately one of the most consistently effective anime comedies I’ve seen; basically everything it does lands for me. I wasn’t expecting The Lost Village to be this particular show, but I’m very happy to have it.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below.

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Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Episode 10

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“I / I am a time bomb, and I / I only live in that one moment in which you die.”
– The Dismemberment Plan

Episode ten opens with the arrival of a new student – Homura Akemi, a shy girl with braided hair who’s been isolated in the hospital due to a heart condition. She doesn’t say much, but it’s clear through her defensive body language that she’s uncomfortable, and not used to interacting with lots of people. Fortunately, she’s saved from the questions of her curious classmates by Madoka, a smiling girl who leads her to the nurse’s office. Though Homura is so insecure she turns everything into an insult towards herself, Madoka is kind to her, and attempts to draw her out of her shell. The contrast between the confident and outgoing Madoka and the nervous, lonely Homura is striking.

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Nana – Episode 1

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I’ve actually been looking forward to getting to this episode for a while now. Nana is one of those rare unicorns of anime – an adaptation of a josei manga, the manga designation that in my mind might as well just mean “good manga.” Shounen manga are aimed at boys, shoujo manga are aimed at girls, and seinen manga are… well, generally aimed at adult boys. The seinen label rarely conveys actual maturity – it’s more the adolescent veneer of maturity, stories with lots of blood and guts but often even less to say about people or the world than their shounen counterparts.

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Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Episode 9

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Madoka Magica’s ninth episode opens with a terrible transformation, as the witch that was Sayaka Miki takes form. Not yet aware of the true nature of witches, Kyouko fights back against this new creature, asking what it did with her friend. But even if the audience hadn’t figured out the truth by now, Kyubey has finally spilled the beans.

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Flying Witch – Episode 3

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Flying Witch had another fine episode this week, one that set up a nicely specific contrast between the beauty of rural life and the wonder of Makoto’s magic. The show is achieving a good balance so far, where the magic is understated enough to not dominate the production, and the farming and cooking and whatnot are all compelling enough to keep things moving as well. The cast has a great chemistry, the tone is consistently on point, and the humor isn’t always consistent, but still keeps things charming throughout. I would happily watch a slice of life this good every single season.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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Kiznaiver – Episode 3

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Kiznaiver went a long ways towards alleviating my main concerns in its third episode. The important thing here was that in contrast to the first two episodes’ big, bold declarations of feelings, this one had some legitimately sharp incidental character writing. Obviously Mari Okada is perfectly capable of sculpting fully realized characters, but the first two episodes made me worried this whole show was going to exist at a ridiculously heightened emotional revelation tenor, and this episode avoided that entirely. I’m happy to see this sensitivity and restraint, and I hope it keeps up until the show decides to punch us in the face with emotions again.

You can check out my full writeup over at ANN, or my episode notes below!

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The Lost Village – Episode 4

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This week’s Lost Village initiated what I hope will be a consistent trend, where the more the show leans into its actual horror plot, the less it feels like a show that shouldn’t possibly exist. The Lost Village has an absolutely ridiculous cast and ludicrous dialogue, but when those characters are being forced to react to monsters and killers appearing in cracks of thunder and stuff like that, they react pretty much the same way anyone else would. So I guess as long as this cast keeps being continuously attacked and terrified, The Lost Village will continue to be able to pretend it is actually a real show.

You can check out my full writeup over at ANN, or my episode notes below!

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Planetes – Episode 1

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Oh man, what a premise. So, in an age of bountiful space travel, humanity has discovered a new threat lurking in the atmosphere – its own accumulated garbage, courtesy of many decades of letting dead satellites and junked ships and various other machine parts all just kinda float there. So in order to avoid having more and more ships and satellites get damaged by ultra-fast flying garbage, companies begin to create debris gathering departments, the most high-altitude janitors in the business.

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Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Episode 8

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“Like a spent gladiator / crawling in the colosseum ducts / he can count on his remaining limbs / all the people he can trust.”
– The Mountain Goats

Sayaka Miki is falling apart. As she strikes again and again down on the fallen witch, we see a girl who’s completely given in to her anger, because she has nothing else to guide her. In the wake of her fight, she doesn’t even use this chance to protect herself – she tosses the Grief Seed to Kyouko, saying she doesn’t want to “owe” Kyouko anything. Sayaka’s need to be a hero has isolated her entirely now, and Kyouko revealing that they have much in common has actually made things worse for her. Sayaka doesn’t want to believe Kyouko is an older, wiser version of herself – she wants to believe she’s an enemy of justice, and thus foists that identity on her. What Sayaka wanted has spiraled beyond her reach, and with the situation no longer in her control, she reverts to her simplistic “I just have to be stronger to make this work.” But none of these characters are strong enough to make it alone.

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